Dusk is in the Center, talking with Nimble, looking over Nimble's own set of wings. He wants to see if can help rebuild the basic structure with some magical assitance for him. Then let Rarity assist with the fine gem detailing like before.

Dinky emerges from the storeroom she's been housed in. Her mane is a mess--it looks badly combed today, rather than her normal -un-combed look. Could she have been experimenting with hiding her horn? And she looks weary and beaten, rather than panicked and traumatized. Not clear whether this is a step up. She sees Nimble there and stops walking. Her expression is flat, but her face is full of emotion. She doesn't speak.

Nimble_Hooves sighs, looking over his damaged set of wings. Right now they don't look much like wings. He has disassembled them as much as possible. In front of him is and assortment of gears, springs, armatures, leather staps and other parts. His eyes scan the pile. "I-I r-really was h-hoping I-I could salvage more parts." Another sigh. "O-Oh well, a-at least I-I was a-able to salvage something." He looks up to Dusk. "I-I will n-need access t-to a forge t-to rebuild these--" He guestures to another pile of parts - parts that were clearly broken or twisted.

BlueFeather perches atop a cabinet, hopefully hidden from sight, just watching what is going on below her, her tail giving the ocasional little flick. Her head tilted a little to onbe side as she trys to make sense of the words being spoken by Nimble and Dusk.

Dusk hmmms, nodding to Nimble as he explains what's what with the wings and what needs doing. "Oh, then I think this is where I might be able to assist. With a little work, I could alter each part to what it was before it was damaged." A part of his talent, dealing with alternate paths of possibility. "The wings as a whole would be a little too complex without my having a complete understanding, since it involves so many parts. But individual ones are much easier." He raises a hoof and puts it over a bent gear. He pauses and focuses for a short while, then removes his hoof, revealing the normal gear. But then now as far as you recall it was normal to start. Why'd he put his hoof over it? And why is it over with the broken parts. Only if think back enough might recall it was broken. He knows Blue is up there, but he doesn't look up, not giving her away. But he does look up upon feeling a familiar presents and looking up to see Dinky, "Ah hello, Miss Dinky. I hope rest helped at least a little." He looks less than entirely with it himself.

Dinky has the sense someone mysterious is watching... someone unavoidable but ultimately unimportant. The fact that this place is alive with gears and possibilities and people is the important part, not who Bluefeather is. She slowly shambles forward. It's like getting marks and an adult horn has transformed the rest of her measurements, as if she needs to learn how to walk again. But she's as shrimpy as ever. "Hey," she says to Dusk. Her stinging amber eyes turn to Nimble Hooves. "Hey," she says again. "You're probably--well." She dips her head. "If I were any good with parts and things, I'd help. Wish I were. Sorry about what I did yesterday."

Nimble_Hooves looks to the gear, perplexed as to why he'd deemed it a failed part. He takes the gear an examines it closely, his eye scanning the surface for any tiny cracks or flaws. After a moment or two he sets it on the good parts pile. "I-I guess I wasn't p-paying attention when I put this one a-aside." He stops, hearing another voice and turns to Dinky. He looks serious for some moments, part of him hurt and even a little angry over what happened, but then his expression softens. He bends down, closer to Dinky's level. "I-It is o-okay Miss Dinky... I-I know y-you are sorry, a-and I-I know you didn't mean t-to break them." He smiles, "G-Good things c-can come from this too... I-I have a chance t-to improve m-my wings, a-and I have s-some good ideas a-about that."

BlueFeather continues to watch, if anything she ducks down even more, wings opening a little, ready to bolt of she needs to, shes watched others, she knows how the fillys with the marks on there flanks like to hurt smaller ones without it, she wants no part of that, no part at all! So she keeps hidden as best she can, watching what happens below her, ears twitching a little as she listens, still trying to make sense of the words being spoken

Mirage has arrived.

Dusk smiles, glad to see the altered gear meets Nimble's inspection, even if he doesn't realize what happened. He'll start working on some more of them. Some will still be easier than others. Some may have gotten broken no matter what, and be harder to find good alternatives. Dusk glances up to Blue before turning to Nimble and Dinky, listening to them both. He nods, "Indeed, it clearly wasn't anything anypony foresaw happening. Sometimes it just can't be helped. Oh? What new ideas, Mr. Hooves?" Perhaps this will be a more positive path as well.

Dinky smiles a little, just halfway. She shakes her ill-kempt mane. It would be impressively ironic to Dinky if she knew why Bluefeather is afraid of her right now. "Yeah. It's true, sometimes I have tantrums and I break things on purpose," she admits, or perhaps declares. "But this time, I was just scared. Just scared," she repeats, looking at Dusk. "I didn't mean to break anything. Just wanted to, like, knock some sense into the world, somehow." She closes her eyes and speaks very quietly. "Shoulda known better." As for Dusk, she scuffaws, which is what it sounds like. "Can't be helped. Right. Sure." Then she remembers his talent, something she's seen in action quite a few times by now, even if she's been pretending to do her homework. "Oh. That's right, you should know about things that can't be helped. Wh--" She hesitates. "Uh... I'm not saying it's a good idea, but... if I wanted you to, would you be able to undo... what Mirage did? Make me my more or less normal self again?"

Nimble_Hooves looks curious to Dinky and then steps forward to give her a hug. "I-I do f-forgive you... b-besides I-I do like t-to fix things, a-and I can't r-really fly a-at the moment anyway." He releases the hug and steps back to the workbench. Those looking closely would notice a limp in his step. He spares a glance at a third pile - the pile of gems and decorations that were part of Rarity's additions to his wings. He would hopefully deal with that soon. His attention gets pulled to Dusk. "O-oh, yes... some improvements. S-somethings that can i-improve my takeoffs and landings. I-I still haven't w-worked out a-a way to hover yet."

BlueFeather continues to watch, and listen, ears twitching a little, as make makes out a few of the words spoken, still, its difacult for her to really attach much meaning, not with how quick everypony is speaking, or with such words being used. SHe continues to hide, better safe than sorry, she does not wish to be victem again.

Dusk has altered another part, though leaves it there for inspection at some point. "It was very unexpected, yes. And oh that does sound good, Mr. Hooves. Perhaps Lady Starfire can help with suggestions for yours as well, as she was helping with Mr. Bolt's." Poor Blue. She's fine hanging around a big scary changeling that came into town. But she's afraid of little Dinky. To whom Dusk turns, "I know you didn't mean to as well, of course." He pauses at her question, the implications sinking in. His reaction though seems to imply he's familiar with this path. "As in magically alter you, like these parts.." He gestures to the bench.. "Into a you that didn't happen?" He lowers his head some, "I'm afraid the answer is no, Miss Dinky. I'm not sure I /could/ alter another pony, directly, in that way. And even if I can, I refuse to do so. To do so would be to replace you with a pony that was not meant to be, and the real you here would be lost to the void of infinite untraveled paths." He shivers a little at the thought. "No, I would not inflict that upon anypony.. I'm.. sorry." He dips his head for a moment, then lifts it again. "And losing this you might lose the more important you. You might not think this is the better path, but you don't know that. Dear Mirage gave you this.. her very magic.. to try and help you. Even if you disagree.. have you perhaps even tried it? Maybe learn something from it? Then see where it takes you?"

Dinky listens to Dusk's answer coolly. She doesn't flinch. She doesn't wince. She stands processing for some time before finally flicking an ear. "Kay." She turns away, back to Nimble. "Can't fly? How come? Is it the crash you took? I can't fly either, if that's any consolation. I'd say I can't do magic, but." She turns toward the door, her horn sparking green. Dinky sputters. "No, I haven't tried it," she says to Dusk. "If it did this, who knows what else it could do? Listen. One thing at a time, all right? Is there some way you can... like test these c...cutie marks? See if they're genuine or... like, fakes? Like when Apple Bloom did her whole loop-de-loop ^#%@ and wasted hours of class time? You must've heard about that."

Nimble_Hooves nods to Dinky, "Y-Yes... th-the crash. I-I think I-I twisted my ankle, b-but it is n-not feeling better yet... n-not like usual." He speaks from experience, having crashed plenty of times in his early wing experiments. The stubs of his real wings stir under the cloak he is wearing. "M-maybe when w-we finish the wings for Mr Bolt, e-everypony w-will be able to fly i-if they want to."

BlueFeather does perk up a little, her tail giving a little twitch, her head tilting sharply as she hears Nimble talking. Her wings give a little flap, sending a little eddy of dusk flying from the top of the cabinet shes hiding on. Still, she very carefully remains right where she is, trying to stay hidden, and watch, though the talk of flying seems to have cought her attention.

Dusk has to chuckle a little, "You think Lady Mirage may have inflicted you with the Cutie Pox?" He grins, and it does feel kind of good, relaxing a little. "I highly doubt that's the particular case. In fact I can feel Lady Mirage's magic with you. But yes we can trying some testing for that, and a few other known possibilities." He looks around the shop, magicing open a couple of draws and cabinets, including the one Blue is on, hovering out various items over to him and closing it back up. "But I still think you should try practicing, Miss Dinky. Even if it /were/ to turn out to be 'fake' or temporary, then this might be a limited chance to learn what the magic feels like, and how to draw it out and control it. And if it's not temporary, then you should probably learn to managage it sooner rather than later." He works for a bit on materials for a few tests, listening to Nimble, "Oh, how insightful, Mr. Hooves. I hadn't considered that. Perhaps Cloudsdale would become a popular tourist attraction."

Dinky shakes her head. "No, I mean... I mean, look. I'm not -supposed- to have a cutie mark unless I'm -supposed- to, you know? I never -heard- of anything like this. I want to know whether they... whether they -work- the same way." She scuffs the floor angrily. "Is it all, like, cosmetic, can I do illusions, will I -care?- I mean, you don't want to change me with your magic, you can change gears--" And she slams a hoof on a fixed gear, glaring at Nimble, but not breaking it anew--"...but you won't change ponies. Your girl doesn't seem to feel that way, Dusk. I dunno, maybe it's all a joke and I'm not really changed inside. But don't worry, I'm gonna practice. Once I know what's up with it."

Nimble_Hooves sees a little eddy of dust drift down, and he looks up to see BlueFeather. He looks like he's about tosay something, but instead decides to keep quiet. He lifts a hoof and waves it to the filly, when noponyelse is watching. Dinky slamming her hoof on the gear pulls his attention back to the other conversation. "I-if Mr Dusk c-could fix ponies l-like that, I-I'm sure he w-would have done so a-already. M-maybe h-he could h-have even f-fixed my wings, b-but than I-I wouldn't be me. Th-the me a-as a pegasus, Nimble Wings--" He winces, finally revealing his real name, the name he was given as a foal. "--probably w-wouldn't have b-been a very nice pony. D-despite a-all that has happened t-to me, I-I wouldn't g-go back and change it."

BlueFeather ducks down a little when she sees that Nimble had spoted her, trying to hide, ears slicking back, fearfull of the potential attentin it might bring

Dusk raises a brow as Dinky suddenly stomps at one of the gears. He's even a little surprised she's aware of what he's altered. She must have been paying much more attention around the shop than he gave her credit for. "Well what Lady Mirage did is much different than what I'd do, even if it might seem the same on the surface. She took your path and bent it sharply. But you're still the same pony. Mine would cut it off, and replace you with a version of you that could have but doesn't exist. If it worked you'd not even remember it having happened, because it wouldn't have with the new you. Nor would others remember it. And it wouldn't necessarily restore it back to Lady Mirage either, without having to alter her path too. And then her magic would be lost entirely. But I do agree, one shouldn't be able to have a cutie mark before they get it naturally." He's seen some things too, but not the way Mirage did it. He nods, and smiles to Nimble, "Yes, you understand exactly. At the time I'm sure you wanted nothing but to have them back." He finishes with some of the test materials.

"No?" snaps Dinky at Nimble Hooves's statement that he wouldn't go back, her earlier contrition apparently forgotten. "Well -I- would." Her ears go flat and she backs away from the table, looking consumed by something. "So would mom," she croaks to herself. She looks back to Dusk, nervous that she's blown things. She's always been a little too bright for her own good. Oh well, in for a bit, in for a byte. "Do you -know- that?" she asks Dusk, leaning in, eyes fiery. "Do you actually -know- that if you change someone they won't remember? Or are you guessing? 'Cause if you're guessing it's okay to guess, but you should admit it." She takes a breath and sits down for more muttering. "Willing to try and give everypony in the world wings, but afraid to make big changes. I love it."

Nimble_Hooves winces a little at Dusk's words. "Y-yes. F-for years a-all I-I wanted w-was to have them back. B-but nopony could help. N-no magic c-could regrow them. I-I even wrote to Princess Celestia asking f-for her to give my wings back. H-her reply s-said that th-there was even things th-that she cannot do.... i-it was that that d-drove me to build n-new wings. S-sure there a-are things I-I w-would change... m-my stutter for instance, b-but even that couldn't be changed w-without changing who I am. Th-the teasing a-and abuse th-that lead t-to my stutter w-was the same thing th-that drove m-me to find refuge in my father's forge. W-without th-that, I-I would never h-have made my wings...."

BlueFeather narrows her eyes and perks up a little, wings giving another little twitch, allmost jumping down and defending Dusk, allmost, but she controls herself, and mostly remains still, quetly watching

Dusk does eye Dinky slightly more appreciatively. But the only thing that's 'blown' is that he might make her work all the harder then, knowing she can do it. "Guessing? If in the sense I've never done it to a pony, you can say that. But it's pretty clear. The replaced object never had that experience, so there would be nothing to remember. I didn't fix the gear. I swapped it for one that never was broke. So I don't have to know it's made. Mr. Hooves made it. When I alter things, they even bring that history with them to the things around them. But.. the paths of ponies, and others, are much stronger too. Perhaps protected, or perhaps just the force of that life inbued in it. It would be much harder for me to cut. Perhaps not even possible. And if you thought my reaching out and just touching your magic was painful? What might reaching out and /cutting/ your very existance feel like? Do you want to risk that? It could be hundreds of times worse. But yes, I'm just guessing on that one." And to him, the implications go further. What if it works flawlessly? He fears that even more. What he if could just go around changing ponies' lives to suit his every inclination at a whim? To play god and shape the world to his every desire, and nopony ever even realizing it was any different.

Dinky sulks down onto her haunches. In a way, she's content: she's put Dusk's thoughts on a course that upsets him deeply, and she can tell. But Dinky isn't all sadistic. She wanders over to the snack table, seeing some stale crackers there. Looks like with Mirage away, this table doesn't get refilled much. After crunching down a cracker, she comes back. "My life's some kind of crazy dream now, but I'll take it. Dreams aren't -all- nightmares, anyway. You're right, I don't want you to cut my path or whatever. I was just saying." Arguing for the sake of argument? She remarks to Nimble: "There's plenty I'd change about myself, though. Changing who I am? Sounds like a ball." And to Dusk. "So how about that cutie mark test you mentioned, huh?"

Nimble_Hooves nods to Dusk, shuddering at the implications if he could go about realigning ponies timelines: a one pony Adjustment Burro err Bureau. He turns his attention back to the assortment of parts, and thinking for a moment. "I-if you are swapping these for parts th-that were never broken, i-is there a problem w-with bits f-from multiple p-probable timelines w-working together? W-would that create a-a whole new timeline, o-one that wasn't intended t-to exist?"

Fri Feb 1 09:04:22 GMT 2013

BlueFeather gets bored enough hiding, she really can't help it, its so boreing just lisxtening and watching, she slips closer to the edge of the cabinet, then, with a flick of her wings, she hops down, landing relativly lightly apon Dusk's back, her wings faning a little

Dusk takes a deep breath and settles down himself as well. "Well that's good, Miss Dinky," he says with a bit of relief. As she goes to check on some food he turns to Nimble, "That is a valid concern. Fortunately the future is always fluid. Nothing 'intended' to exist or not yet, as I see it at least. I only swap out as of the present moment. Brining the past history, but not actually changing the past. So only changing things going forward. That is much safer." As Dinky comes back he nods, "And nothing says you can't still change all those things, even better than if I were to. But yes, let us check a few things." But he doesn't get far as Blue finally comes down and he grins, "Oh my, there's something on me! Oh it's Little Blue.." He does the playfully surprised thing, reaching up to fuzzle her.

Mirage has disconnected.

Fri Feb 1 09:30:00 GMT 2013

Dinky stares, appalled, at Bluefeather at her sudden descent. She snorts and looks away. "Replace me with a pony that was not meant to be, huh? But nothing's 'intended'? Huh. Think I smell hypocrisy, or whatever it's called." She looks at Nimble with puzzlement. "Look at what Dusk's doing. He's changing things so I was -really- lucky. So when I had my rampage, I hit your wings but I -just happened- not to break any of the pieces. But what if I don't want to be made lucky? Changes are changes, right?" Dinky may not quite understand all the nuances, but she's trying, in her own special way.

Nimble_Hooves blinks as BlueFeather descends, surprised as she emerges from hiding. He waves a hoof to her and then listens Dinky. He sighs a little, perplexed and looks over to the pile of broken parts. "Th-there are plenty o-of broken parts... a-and some th-things just cannot be repaired. E-even if Mr Dusk c-can swap out some parts, I-I doubt h-he could do i-it with everything... s-some parts may only exist i-in this reality... o-other parts m-may have different tolerances o-or different structure.

BlueFeather bouncies a little atop of Dusk's back, alowing him to mess up her mane, not that its easy to see, her mane is a bit of a mess to begine with. She sticks her tongue out at Dinky, not at all likeing Dinky, or Dinky's attitude, and she makes her dislike rather obvious when she speaks up, "Issa bad pony, make go away!" She chirps at Dusk, glaring at Dinky.

Dusk grins to Dinky, "A fair enough point. But not quite the point. Altered parts and altered ponies are a significant difference. But ah yes I see what you mean, Mr. Hooves. And that is correct, a different you may have built the wings differently, just as you today brought up different ideas you have for them. So if I took those parts, they would indeed be different. So I have to limit my choices from the possibilities from after these parts were made. In fact I'm trying to limit them to from that very day, to minimize how much I have to search for them, and any differences. It can be even more subtle than that. So if they had fallen a different way, or hit in a different place. Unfortunately Dinky was rather thorough," he says with a grin her way, "so I'm not finding any good ones she avoided entirely. I guess it was meant to be." He finds that sometimes. Some points just can't be missed for some reason. Sometimes the littlest things too. He smirks at Blue and nuzzles, "Little Lady, Miss Dinky is just upset, it's okay. She's not a bad pony..." Well.. deep down he's going to say yes that's true. "She has been here regularly."

"My point," growls Dinky, "was that altering a part alters all the ponies around it, too." She takes a deep breath and rears back, readying herself to rephrase her argument. And she listens to Nimble's analysis as well; her ears are flaring. But when Bluefeather demonstrates her hatred for Dinky, that all pops. "Right, well, you know what?" the filly snaps, trying to ignore Bluefeather but unable to do so. "Don't listen to me. What do I know? Apparently I'm a bad pony and I should go away. Fine." She kicks the floor. "I'm sure you could all use a break from me, alicorns know -I- could." She wraps herself in her sweater and coat, grabs her bag, and turns for the door. "Sorry about the wings," she says to Nimble Hooves. "I guess it was meant to be." With that, she grants Blue's wish and is on her way to who knows where.

Nimble_Hooves's ears pin back, at the outburst, unsure what is happening between Dinky and BlueFeather. He is about to call out, but is unsure what to say to calm Dinky. Perhaps this is one of those unavoidable events. All he can do is wave a hoof to the departing filly, "T-Take care Miss Dinky... I-I hope that things d-do work out."

<OOC> You say, "Still have my pose, but wanted to say thanks all of ya's for a fun RP. Enjoyed talking about and exploring Dusk's talent some. And was looking forward to talking more if wasn't so late too. :-)"
<OOC> Dinky agrees. There's more where that came from.
<OOC> Nimble_Hooves smiles and hugs, "Thank you for the RP too... Was able to bring out a little more of Nimble's past."
<OOC> You say, "Yes that was nice too!"
<OOC> Dusk smiles and hus back.
Fri Feb 1 10:34:22 GMT 2013
<OOC> Dinky says, "And Dinky is just a knot that keeps on folding and unfolkding."
<OOC> You say, "She's her own magic trick. :-)"
<OOC> Dinky says, "Could explain a lot."
<OOC> Dusk wonders if Blue got RL'd.
BlueFeather has disconnected.
<OOC> Dusk will take that as a 'yes.'

Dusk nods, and is listening to Dinky closely too, and more than willing to try and explain things as best he knows. Not that he knows it all. But he has been dealing with it for some time, so at least can explain what he does know. Not that he does clearly all the time either. "Yes, they appear to bring their own history with..." But before he can make further attempt at it Dinky is already getting up and heading off in a huff. "Apparently," he echos, but somehow not in a negative way. "But we know how often that means it is." But at the same time he doesn't try to stop her, as indeed tomorrow is another day, and may be good to start again. "But have a good night. You're always welcome here, even if Little Blue complains." Blue is perhaps not all that different from Dinky in some ways. A troubled childhood. Not well understood by other ponies. A rough outwards behavior. He watches as she heads for the door, and he glances back to Nimble and Blue.

Dinky hears and acknowledges only with a flip of her tail and a backward glance... a somewhat longing, but troubled glance. With that, she departs.

<OOC> Dinky says, "Good night, guys."
<OOC> Nimble_Hooves says, "Sleep well."

Dinky has disconnected.

<OOC> You say, "Ni..ght. :-)"
<OOC> Nimble_Hooves says, "Take care and have lovely dreams."
<OOC> Dusk smiles and hugs, "And yes, good night for me as well! Thanks again and see ya's soon. :-)"

Stat Name____________________ Sex________ Species___________________________
IC Mirage[asleep] Female Earth Pony
IC Dinky[asleep] Female Unicorn
IC BlueFeather[asleep] Female Pegasus
^.~ Dusk Male Unicorn
IC Nimble_Hooves[4m idle] Male Pegasus
OOC Starfire[asleep] Female Pegasus
AFK Snow_Bolt[asleep] Male Unicorn
---( )----------------------------------------( 2/7 Magic Research Center )---

Fri Feb 1 10:57:21 GMT 2013

Come back later!