| 3 |
You tell Justice that you will make the trip to the Undercity next. Before you go, however, you ask if they know who will rule Midgard now that the throne is empty.
Auric Bastion: "The future is uncertain. Yet, when Sir Solar Flare confronted Empyrius, he revealed that a king was never to rule this land, but that twelve knights were meant to lead together as equals. I see wisdom in this.
Yes, I believe that the future of Midgard does not belong to any one pony, but rather to the commonfolk. As such, I will propose that a council be formed, consisting of a named leader from each of the twelve regions."
Justice: "As coincidentally symbolic as that sounds, are there not eleven regions in Midgard?"
Auric Bastion: "Ah, forgive me. I could not help but count the Undercity among them, though I now realize that given our history, you may prefer to remain independent."
As Justice considers this, she takes a look around — from rebels mending stone walls alongside paladins, to outcasts chatting merrily with local farmers, to colts and fillies playing in the snow for the first time.
Justice: "Well, that's not for me alone to decide, but I think you might be onto something."
Auric Bastion: "Glad am I to hear it. And with that, pray do not let us keep you any longer."
You nod, and after bidding farewell to the two unicorns, your party begins to slowly make its way to the old waterworks, and down to the Undercity.
Beams of golden sunlight shine down from the large ceiling windows, and onto the nearly deserted streets of the subterranean city. Aside from security and a few busy workers, it seems as though most residents have gone to the surface to lend a hoof.
You soon arrive at Novelty's research lab, and find the mare alone with her equinculus Eleven, tinkering away. The pair greets you as you enter, and a smile creeps onto the unicorn's face.
Novelty: "Here for your reward, I take it? You're late."
You nod, and playfully tell Novelty that it is good to see her as well.
Novelty: "I always thought you lot were troublemakers. And now that you've gone and achieved in a few days what we couldn't in a lifetime of trying, I couldn't be more sure of it."
Despite her words, she doesn't seem bitter about it in the least. On a more sincere note, you tell Novelty that you could not have done it without her guidance.
Novelty: "What matters isn't who did it, but that it's done. Now, we can finally look forward to a brighter future. Not a moment too soon, if you ask me."
Eleven: "Su rof enod evah uoy lla rof lufetarg era ew."
Novelty walks over to a nearby counter where four bracelets are on display. She distributes them among you and your friends while explaining what they are.
Novelty: "Here, I call these antimagic toggle bracelets. The spring-loaded mechanism on top connects and disconnects split shards of diamagicite, which naturally powers your very own personal magic-repelling field."
You get Antimagic Toggle Bracelet!
Moonflower: "Oooh! So now we got lil' antimagic fields that we can turn on and off?"
Novelty: "To grossly simplify, yes."
Smoke: "This isn't going to mess with my magic sword, is it?"
Novelty: "Not while it's inactive. The radius of the field is directly proportional to the crystal's volume, and below a certain size — like that of the split shards —, the radius becomes smaller than that of the crystal itself.
When the shards on these bracelets connect, they become as one, and emit a field of roughly eight hooves in radius, which should be more than enough to cover the area around your average pony."
Smoke: "I didn't catch all that, but it sounds pretty sweet."
You thank Novelty for making the bracelets for you.
Novelty: "Those were meant to be your payment for escorting the expedition a while back, but let's not pretend like you haven't done more for us than just that, before or after. If there's anything else we can do to even it out, let me know."





Enter a comment
Next we should look for Rocket Rush and ask her if she can teach Apple Basket how to drive our new improved boat. There’s no point in having a fancy new engine, if nopony knows how it works.
Let's ask Moony if she is ready to meet the squirrel again to get the Seed of Whatever, we still need to help her on that. On a side note, maybe it's time to be a mare again, let's test if the bracelet is working as intended.
These are amazing, and have a variety of uses. This also solves a problem caused by a certain magic item's interaction with the defensive antimagic fields, and allows an opportunity to help in ways similar to that ancient tribe that created the spell for said magic item.
But that's personal business.
As for what we might need and/or want... that's a big potential variety there, but a few simpler things come to mind, if Novelty is willing. We should confirm that Apple Basket can keep the new engine on his boat, and how to maintain it.
Also, we might have only met Twilight once, but a piece of diamagicite and some information on it would be a good surprise gift for Twilight just because, whenever we manage to get back to ponyville. She's a researcher on magic too, if Novelty is willing to share.
Actually... huh. We might end up meeting some royalty again to share the news fr
Also, maybe flirt a little...