Nothing particularly interesting seems to be going on in the manor for once, a couple of faces stick out among the various attendants in the main hall. Steve seems to be helping with some furniture and Sutan is just standing at the entrance, having not said a word since joining up. Jean could be seen chasing a cricket, too. But where is Oboyo? Surely some horrible spirits need vanquishing and his presence is immediately required?

Instead of working her turntable, for once, or listening to her compositions as a DJ, Vinyl Scratch is simply sitting in the foyer, sprawled out rather haphazardly across one of the couches.

Hastur leans against the wall in the foyer, whistling a tune to himself, ever-vigilent in his new job as Vinyl's bodyguard.

With a sudden "POP" Helios is dumped out of a rip in the fabric of reality and into a nearby potted plant. "...So, that's where the void rift behind the kitchen sink goes..." After a moment of sitting there dumbly, he shakes around in the plant in a valiant attempt to get out, but is unable to extricate himself from it's leaft green clutches. "Uh... Could we have some assistance over here?"

Lenai stretches out as she enters the main hall, looking about. "Must be a slow day," she says aloud, shrugging as she sits down on the floor, leaning against a wall.

Trixie wanders past Helios on her way through the main hall "Yeah, you could tell Trixie where Jinsaka is... he was going to help with... something." the tail end of her cape flicks at the robot seemingly of its own volition, before she glares at him "Speaking of things that are annoying... what happened with that little 'watch' you gave to Trixie?"

"Man... This is so borin'... The day I decide to take a brief break from playin' my sick rhythms is the day nothin' happens... Go figure." With a sigh, and considerable whirring, Vinyl Scratch is rolling off the couch to land on her metallic hooves with faint clanging. "Oh, well. 'Least I get to hang out with the rest of this wicked cool crew."

Hastur smirks at Vinyl, then walks over to the plant Helios landed in and plucks him out of it. "You gotta be more careful with those rifts, Helios. What if that hadn't stayed in the Cleft? You could've ended up in a different dimension." he sighs and shakes his head, then looks at Trixie and gives her a faitn smile.

"The cloaking field? We are still fixing it after you trashed it!" Helios struggles around in the plant some more, doing little more than shaking some leaves out of it. "You completly crushed the control circuts and the field emiters are warped and clogged with dirt." He stops struggling with an irritated sigh as Hastur pulls him out of the vile greenery. He glares at the plant, vowing to pave over it one day.

"Many thanks, Hastur. And we are sure we would have been just fine." Helios looks over at Trixie. "The repairs are almost finished, actually. We should be able to completly fix it tonight, but the power supply is going to have to be replaced with a new system. It burnt out from constant charging last time."

"Yo, Heli. What's kickin' with you? And maybe my setup has somethin' you can use to charge that crazy stuff." Even though she's looking bored, for a robotic unicorn, anyways, Vinyl Scratch just shakes her head and turns to watch Helios and Trixie through her glowing ruby-colored optics.

"Oh, hey Vinyl. We were running some tests on portals in and out of reality for some stuff on the transport." Helios looks back at the plant. "It kind of worked." He shook his core. "That could work, what types of outlets do you have on you?"

"Well, that still doesn't answer Trixie's question on what happened to the invisible thing..." Trixie grumbles as she heading for the stairs, lifting her forehooves in irritation "And where did Jinsaka get to ?!?" she goes back down on all fours with a hmpf, climbing the steps to the second floor.

"Coolness. And I'm not doin' much, so why don't we go and check out my gear?" With a nod, and a steady rhythm of head-bobbing as she starts up some dubstep, Vinyl Scratch is turning and moving to her private - and rather small - studio situated in an empty room of the manor. Trixie's outburst and depature has the robotic DJ tilting her head, though, and looking up. "What's eatin' her...? And where IS Oboyo?"

Hastur follows his charge, shrugging. "Dunno, on both accounts. She had something that Helios made her that turned her invisible, but it got broken. He's working on fixing it, I think, but you know Trixie."

Helios seems to shrug. "Havent seen him in a while. Oh, hold on." Helios turns back to the plant and look in it. "There it is!" He somehow manages to drag out the cloaking device from the plant and carries it as he darts after Vinyl. "She is upset because she broke this cloaking field emitter. It's almost fixed, but we have to make some final adjustments to the wiring and give it a charge."

"I get ya." With a shrug, Vinyl Scratch opens the door to her small studio with her magic, stopping to raise both forehooves and clap to trigger the lights. "Feel free to look everythin' in here over, but don't break it, yea?"

Hastur looks around at the equipment, examining all of the switches and knobs and buttons, intrigued.

"Wouldn't think of it." Helios begins hovering around the room, comparing various cables and adapters to the port on the battery for the emitter. "This might work..." He hooks it up, waiting for the little light on the battery to come on. "Ah, there it goes. Good, we will just leave this here for now." Helios sat the rest of the device on a table and began to disassemble the cover to get to the inner workings.

Nodding once, Vinyl Scratch watches the duo in her DJ's studio, before setting up a small bed in an empty corner of the otherwise machine-filled room, and curling up to sleep.

After making a few adjustments to the wiring, Helios picks up the emitter and examined it. "That should work." He quickly replaced the cover and attached the battery, watching as the little display lit up again. "Perfect." He turned and looked at Hastur. "Would you mind testing this for us?"

Hastur nods. "Sure thing. just hand it over and tell me what to do to activate it."

"Well, you just tap the screen here and it takes care of the rest." Helios tossed the wristwatch-like emitter over to Hastur, he cable trailing behind it.

Hastur grabs the watch and puts it on his wrist, it barely fitting due to his large size. He taps the screen carefully and waits for it to take effect.

After a moment, Hastur fades away. Well, for the most part. The cloaking field's coverage is kind of patchy in places due to Hastur's large size. "Well, that should work well enough to keep Trixie happy. The field should fade out in a minute, or we could..." Helios motions to the cable ocnnected to the battery. "If you pull that out, it should die fairly quickly."

Hastur shakes his invisible head. "Nah, I'll just let it wear off on its own."

Helios seems to shrug. "Well, whatever works for you. After it shuts off, just put it somewhere so it can fully charge." Helios looks around the room. "We can give it to Trixie after it's finished."

Hastur nods. "Yep. Maybe this will calm her down a bit."

"Wonder if she found Oboyo yet." Helios begins hovering to the door as the cloaking field around Hastur fades out. "We may as well go and find her to let her know it works again."

Hastur nods at it completely fades, then sets it down near where it is charging. "Yep, let's go find her." he heads out of the studio, looking around for Trixie.

Twilight Sparkle rather calmly sits down right outside the door to her room, horn glowing as she studies a map and marks past encounter with a magically-suspended red pen. "Now..."

Helios peers up and down the hallway. "Where could she have gone off to?"

Even though she's busy with the map spread out over the floor, Twilight Sparkle lifts her gaze and looks around, horn cocooned in a faint purple glow and wings twitching. "I haven't seen anyone the entire day..."

Hastur goes up the stairs, looking around for Trixie. As he notices Twilight, he smiles and waves at her. "Hey, Twilight! Have you seen Trixie?"

Helios follows after Hastur as he hears him calling for Twilight. "Yeah, we got the cloaking device fixed for her."

"Be careful not to step on the map, please..." Even as she keeps said map laid out on the hallway floor, Twilight Sparkle shakes her head, turning to look up at Helios and Hastur. "I haven't seen her, but try checking her room?"

"Right, thats a good idea. We will have to check there." Helios looks at tha map. "What's all this for?"

Hastur looks at the map, cocking his head to the side.

Twilight says 'Oh, this? I'm just taking note of all the places where we've fought ghosts, thus far, so there's a record that can be used if Oboyo needs it.'

Hastur smiles and nods. "Good thinking, Twilight. This'll be a great record, and pretty useful, I'd think."

"Oh?" Helios looks at all the marked places on the map. "That's a good idea. Maybe there might be some sort of pattern in there."

"Once I'm finished, I'll help you both look for Trixie. Alright?" Twilight Sparkle returns her gaze to the map, looking it over for anything she might have missed.

"Works for us. We will see you once you are done, then." Helios motions for Hastur to follow him as he heads down the hall towards Trixie's room.

Hastur gives Twilight another smile, then heads down the hall with Helios.

After a short trip, Helios arrives a Trixie's door. "Hey, Trixie! We fixed the cloaking device. It's charging right now, but we can get it to you soon." Once he has said all that, he realises that she might not even be in the room and he probably just made a fool of himself again. Helios sighs.

Hastur chuckles and knocks on the door, smirking.

With one last marker on the map, Twilight Sparkle rolls it back up with her magic before levitating it into her room and shutting the door as she trots after Hastur and Helios with her wings extended.

No response comes from inside Trixie's room, but the sound of a small explosion resounds from the direction of the training room.

Hastur blinks, then rushes to the training room, ramming his shoulder into the door to bash it open. "Trixie?!?! Are you alright?"

Helios seemed to shrug. "That's probably more promising than a silent room." He hovered down towards the training room after Hastur had ran ahead. "We are sure she's fine."

By comparison, Twilight Sparkle simply closes her eyes in concentration, horn lighting up and pulsating before she - in quick succession - disappears and reappears inside the training room with a flare of light.

The door was already cracked open, and banged open easily, the three members of the PDF finding the unicorn laying unconscious and seemingly untouched in the middle of the room, the few training dummies in the room lying facing toward Trixie.

"Looks like she was trying some sort of new spell." Helios hovers over to Trixie and scans her. "She should be fine with a bit of rest, we think."

After shaking the detritus from her fur, Twilight Sparkle opens her eyes, keeping her horn lit as she goes to lift Trixie gently, looking rather concerned. "What could she have been doing...?"

Hastur walks over to Trixie and kneels dow to look her over. "Geez... that was pretty loud. What the hell type of spell was she trying in such an enclosed space?"

Hastur looks at Twilight. "I can take her to her room, Twilight."

"That works. This will give the device time to charge fully anyway." Helios nods.

Twilight says 'It might work better if she's taken there as quickly as possible, Hastur... And, owing to my wings and magic... Well, I don't want to make you seem incapable, but I'm just worried for her...'

Hastur raises an eyebrow. "It's just down the hall, Twilight. Helios said she'll be fine with some rest. It's not like she'll expire as I'm carrying her there. And you think I'm not worried about her? Why do you think I offered to take her?"

Helios rolls his core. "Would one of you two just take her already? No need to argue about it, you both care." Helios nudges both of them towards the door.

With a sigh, and a sad expression, Twilight Sparkle simply extinguishes the glow of magic around her horn and Trixie, moving away after making sure Hastur has her. "...just take her, then."

Hastur holds Trixie gingerly, then looks back at Twilight. He closes his eyes and sighs, then heads out the door to take Trixie to her roomm muttering to himself. "Great job, asshole..."

Trixie groans as she wakes from the disagreement on who should take her to her room, looking back and forth between her teammates as she's lifted "Can you two argue elsewhere.... Trixie has a headache..." she lies her head back down on Hastur's arm and covers it with her hooves.

Hastur stops part the way out the door, allowing Helios to scan Trixie, looking at Twilight sadly, ashamed of the way he acted.

Once again, Twilight Sparkle concentrates, horn lighting up as she teleports back to her room and locks the door before stepping out onto the balcony, remaining quiet as she looks out over the back yard of the manor.

Helios sighs and shakes his core. "Great, more issues. Oh wait, she's coherent! We were sure she wouldn- Would be perfectly fine. Yes, just fine." He hovers over and gives Trixie another scan.

Trixie blinks up at Helios before looking up at Hastur again "Trixie.... missed something...?"

Hastur sighs and nods, looking down at Trixie sadly. "Yeah, you missed me making a complete ass of myself."

"What good is it going to do for me to show I care if he's just going to snap like that...? I know he wants to protect me, but..." Twilight Sparkle turns, heading back into her room and magically locking the balcony doors before climbing into her bed and burying her face in the pillows with another sigh.

Helios nods. "Just a mild concussion, then. Um... Do whatever you are supposed to do for concussions, we suppose." He looks around. "We have a few more experimants to run, so we need to go and do those." He looks down at Trixie. "The emitter is done, just stop by Vinyl's room after about seven hours or so and it should be fully charged. See if you can get the cable from Vinyl too, you need it to charge it now. We had to remove the mana battery and replace it with a conventional one."

"The new battery gives you only 60 seconds of invisibility, but that was the best we could do." Helios seems to shrug. "We are sure you can still use it. Anyway, we must be off. Drop by Egon's lab if you have any questions about it." With that, He turns and darts down the hallway towards the lab.

Hastur sighs and heads out the door, carrying Trixie towards her room. "Seems like one of your spells backfired, Trixie. We heard the explosion and came running. After we check to make sure you were okay, I offered to take you back to your room, and then... well, then I made a complete ass of myself."

"Oh... right... Trixie was doing... tests." Trixie shakes her head slowly and lies it back down again.

Hastur opens the door to Trixie's room and takes her over to her bed. He pulls the covers down and lays Trixie down gingerly, proceeding to tuck her in. "Now, you just rest, okay? I'll be around if you need me, but for now, I need to go apologize to Twilight." He kisses Trixie's head lightly, then heads out of the door, closing it behind him.

Mostly, Twilight Sparkle remains motionless in her bed, with the only signs of activity being the occasional twitch of her wings and tail.

Trixie grumbles as she rolls over in her bed "Well... that idea was pretty much a flop."

Hastur goes down the hallway slowly, making his way to Twilight's room. He stands outside of the door, takes a deep breath, then knocks lightly. "Twilight? It's Hastur.... look, I know you're probably pissed at me, and for good reason. I just wanted to say... I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I snapped at you, and that I acted like complete jerk. I took what you said to be condescending, even though I know you wouldn't be like that. May I come in so we don't have to talk through a door?"

"Just... leave me alone, Hastur, please... What you said to me really hurt, even if you didn't intend it..." Though she doesn't really move from her bed, Twilight Sparkle DOES unlock and open the door slightly, only to shoot her guard with a pained gaze through the little space available.

Hastur looks back, pain and sadness evident in his gaze. He looks down in shame, a tear falling from his face. "I...I understand, Twilight... you're angry, and you have the right to be... I'll leave you alone. But, first..." He opens his pack and pulls out several books, setting them by the open door. "I found these books about magic and travel through dimensions. I remembered back a long time ago that you were looking for books about that, so I dedicated a good chunk of my free time over the past few weeks to finding books. I hope you find them useful, Twilight. And again, I apologize for being such an asshole... I never meant to hurt you..." With that, Hastur sighs and heads back down the hallway to his own room, entering but leaving the doorway partially open as he sits on his bead and meditates, trying to calm himself down and failing.

Horn lighting up dimly, Twilight Sparkle seizes the pile of books cluttering the door to her room and slowly levitates them into her closet, burying her face in the pillows again.

Trixie is soon trotting beside Hastur shortly after he leaves out the front gate, silently walking alongside him, her cloak and witch hat resting on her as natural as her own skin.

Hastur sighs, giving up on meditating. He just sits on his bed for several minutes, doing nothing but looking at the ground. "Hastur... you suck. You hurt those you care about, you bring danger everywhere you go, you're barely able to keep the beast inside in check..." He sighs again, and after a few minutes, he takes two pieces of paper from his backpack and a pencil. He writes something down on each of the pieces of paper, then folds them and get up from his bed. He goes out of his room and goes to Twilight's room, then Trixie's. Hastur slips a paper under each door before heading downstairs and straight out of the manor, carrying only his backpack and his money pouch.

Eventually, Twilight Sparkle gets off her bed, sighing again and shaking her head right before she catches sight of the letter resting under her door. "What...? Please don't tell me..."

Hastur keeps walking, looking down at Trixie. "what are you doing, Trixie? I have to do this alone, stop putting people in danger. Go back and live your life as best you can. I have to do this, This is my battle." His voice is sad, almost in a pleading fashion.

'Though it pains me to know you're leaving... I hope that your journey is successful, and that they're beaten...' Sighing again, and ignoring the few tears that fall, Twilight Sparkle heads for the bar, not bothering with teleportation or her ability to fly.

Trixie shakes her head slowly, not bothering to look up as she trots along beside Hastur "If you're going to do something this stupid, Trixie's going to be a part of it. You're not getting away that easily."

Hastur looks ahead, still walking at a decent pace. "I need you back at the manor, taking care of Twilight. Someone needs to be her guard while I'm not around, and while the reploid is no push over, I don't know if she can protect Twilight well enough. Better for her to have two people that love her and care about her and don't constantly fuck up than having three and one that can't get a damn thing right." He takes out a small crystal from his pocket and holds it out to Trixie. "If I need you guys, this crystal wil lead you to me. PLease, go back, take care of Twilight. Let her know that I love her and that... that I'm doing this for you and her. So you two will be safe."

As she sits down at the bar, despondent, Twilight Sparkle wearily reaches for one of the bottles, uncorking it with her magic and taking a rather large pull from it.

Trixie doesn't stop, shaking her head again, though she does take the gem after a moment, looking up at Hastur with a grin as she slips it under her cloak "See, now you can't even escape Trixie if you try to leave on your own, and you know that's not going to happen." she gives a small laugh and shakes her head in amusement "You need a bodyguard almost as much as Twilight does."

Hastur sighs, then shakes his head. "Alright, alright... I guess there is still that one I left in Twilight's note... it'll be sure to lead her to us if we find that Mother of Mine is... stronger, than before." He keeps walking, his face serious and somber.

Hastur sighs again. "I just hope she knows to bring the rest of the PDF with her."

As she sits down at the bar, despondent, Twilight Sparkle wearily reaches for one of the bottles, uncorking it with her magic and taking a rather large pull from it.

"...wait, what in Celestia's name am I DOING? This isn't how I need to look after them, or work to resolve the problems between us." Narrowing her eyes in resolve, Twilight Sparkle focuses magic to her horn, tossing the half-empty bottle away and shaking her head as she teleports to her room to retrieve her rifle and the letter before flying out of the manor.

Hastur blinks as he hears the flapping of wings rapidly approaching, then turns and looks up to see Twilight. "Oh, for God's sake..."

Trixie shrugs some, most certainly not turning back alone "Or, we could turn around and get her ourselves. Either way, Trixie is not leaving you to fight that crazy bitch alone." she looks back to see Twilight winging her way over, giving a wide grin as she materializes and lights a beacon lantern for the other mare.

"There is NO /BUCKING/ WAY I'm just running anymore from the problems we face. You're counting on me to help you through tough times, just like everyone else, and I'll be damned if I turn tail like a coward!" With her expression resolute, Twilight Sparkle touches down, ears flicking as she nods to her teammates.

"And there's no /FUCKING/ WAY I'm going to be okay with this! This woman will kill you without a second thought! If you stand in her way, she will destroy you! I can't allow that to happen! Not to one of the girls I love! I need you here, in case we need help. That crystal in your note was supposed to lead you and the rest of the PDF to us if we found out she was too much for us." Hastur stands, his arms crossed, his face serious.

Trixie scoffs some and hops up to plant her hooves to Hastur's chest "And if you think either of us are going to let you try leaving us behind on a creature even you're worried about, then you obviously know nothing about either of us." she jabs a hoof to his chest before hopping back down with an indignant hmpf "Thought you were smarter than to try forcing a lady, let alone a witch, to change her mind."

"I understand you're scared, Hastur, believe me. To be honest, I am, too... But even in the face of the unknown... Well, I've been around Rainbow Dash long enough that I can't simply accept giving up as a means of surviving!" Twilight Sparkle unflinchingly stares back, conviction in her gaze. "No matter how strong these enemies are, even if it's suicide to go against them, we won't give up!"

Hastur sighs, rubbing his temples and shaking his head. "I had to fall in love with the two most hard-headed women... fine, alright. Before we go, is there any way that we can call the PDF for backup in case the Mother of Mine is a little too strong?"

"And if we need help, from the rest of the PDF... We're more than just a pair of weak and pretty faces, which you'll have to realize. Both Trixie and I are capable of strong magical attacks, and we can get them here quickly, on top of that." Twilight Sparkle's gaze softens slightly, even as she points to her horn.

Hastur smirks a bit. "Never said you were weak. Pretty, certainly, but never weak. I want you two to please do something for me. When we find her, stay away from her. Don't let her touch you or even get near you. Her touch will cause those who weren't steeped in the magics of the ancient eldritch beings from birth to writhe in agony unlike any other. Can you two at least do that for me?"

"We can do that, right, Trixie?" Calmly, Twilight Sparkle turns to the showmare, keeping her gaze even.

Trixie begins to grin at Hastur "Eldritch energies and ancient religions are no match for a good explosion, or even a grouping of electrified wire." she lifts a multitude of wires from her like metal tendrils, giving Hastur a large grin.

Hastur chuckles, kneeling down and wrapping an arm around each mare, hugging them tightly and planting a kiss on Twilight's cheek, then Trixie's. "Well, I guess it's settled, then. We're all going out to find and kill Mother of Mine. Just because the destination is serious and will likely be a complete drag, doesn't mean the journey has to be. Let's try to keep our spirits up as we travel, eh?" He smiles at his two best friends.

"So there you go. You know I'll be doing everything I can to fight from long-range when possible." Meaningfully, Twilight Sparkle's horn sparks a few times, even as she holds up her sniper rifle while turning a faint shade of crimson at the kiss and nodding.

With a book levitating in front of her, Twilight Sparkle is staring straight ahead before, with a brilliant flare of light from her horn, she disappears.