In another part of Nox's abode is a room very different from the Gothic-like composition that makes up its majority. It is a small
room, but a very cozy one; with decor that looks very much like that of the neighboring Ponyville. A single hay-stuffed bed sits against
the wall flanked by two end tables, one of which has a candle that is nearly spent.The main focus of this room though is the table in the
center cluttered almost to its breaking point with what appear to be machines and other mechanical contraptions; most of which appear
to be either half completed or non-functioning. Standing at that table is a young lime green earth pony colt currently in the midst of a
coughing fit due to a large cloud of gray smoke coming from one of the machines on the table.
*cough cough* "Well..*cough... that didnt go as planned. Probably should have disconnected the fuel line before I realigned the
crystal lattace."
"Damn it Trotimus! What in all the realms is going on down here!" Shouts Nox as he appears in the room.
"Oh Nox hey! I was just working on a new invention. Wanna see?"
"I don't have time for this boy. Something is wrong, I cant contact Lilith or anypony for that matter."
"Well this is why. Tada!" says Trot very enthusiastically while presenting the contraption that lays in front of his on the desk.
"A metal spider..."
"Not just any spider my friend. This baby here is my new creation. I call it ...well..i havnt figured out a name for it just yet, but what it
does it the fancy part! See the crystal inlaid in its back?"
Looking down, Nox does indeed see a pristine saphire embedded in gold lattuce work in what woulkd be the spiders cephalothorax.
"That crystal is charged with null magics, and when this little bugger is activated, it will automatically seek out active binding magics
and nullify them. Isnt that amazing!"
"Yes..amazing that you failed to tell me you would be tampering with anti-magic devices in a magically sustained structure!' With a
long sigh, Nox rubs the bridge of his snout with frustration. "Just... give me notice next time. I am a little on edge with our new guests
being here."
"Guests? We have guests? When do we ever have guests?" asks Trot.
"Yes, and if you were in attendance with the rest of us last week you would have known this."
"But those meetings are soooo boring Nox. Prim is always sooo uptight, Lash never stops talking and Lilith treats me like a little
colt!"
"In her defence young one, you are but a colt."
"Whatever..." says Trot as he walks away from the table and begins to fiddle with another machine propped up against the wall of
his room.
"So..?"
"So what Trotimus?"
"When can i meet them?"
"Tomorrow morning at breakfast."
"But why not now? Its been forever since ive seen another pony."
"I said tomorrow. Young colts need their sleep. Now off to bed with you and no more tinkering without asking me first. OK?"
"Fine."
"Good night Trotimus." says Nox as he teleports out of the room and back to his own.
Laying in bed and staring up at the ceiling, Trot begins to wonder..."Other ponies...I wonder what theyre like..." With that final
though, Trot drifts off to sleep.
Back in his own room, Nox walk to the center of his floating platform and sits down on the floor upright and crosses his hind legs
over on another buffalo style. Pulling his hood over his head, Nox begins to drift off into what one could consider his version of sleep
though it a very different thing. His guests would sleep, but Nox prepares himself for his own nightly rest as he begins to walk the Ether.
The Ether is a strange place to those who dont know its twists and turns. One could become, and have been many times, lost here
for an eternity; their souls forever bound to the maze that is the Ether. To the untrained or unfamiliar, the Ether would appear as both
nothing and yet everything that their mind could conjure. Lost and forgotten memories can manifest themselves. The greatest evils that
ones could call forth from their imaginations become very real and will torment those that gave them life within this realms endless
expanse.
Nox know this all too well, having seen the poor souls here that dabbled in something that they could not comprehend. Though it
has been ages since he saw anypony else here, these magics having been lost to but the oldest of Equis' inhabitants. yet this night
though, Nox spots an oddity around the formless magical energies of the Ether. Floating up to him and hovering at his eye level is what
appears to be a dark purple and blue cloud. Always on guard within the endless nothingness that he now occupied, Nox examined this
strange anomaly.
"Hmm... what are you...?' he asks of the strange cloud.
As if the cloud could understand his, it circled his head once before coming to rest back in front of him.
With his milenia of ecperience, Nox soon deduced what this was, it was another creature walking the Ether; though one who was
inexperienced at it. One of the first thing taught is how to manifest a representation of ones physical being being, this allows for an
anchor to your body back in the physical world as a way to easily return.
With a smile now forming on his face he speaks again to the cloud,"May i help you little one?"
Again acknowledging Nox, the cloud bobs up and down in an attempt to replicate what one could gather was a nod.
"Very well, hold still now." Nox simply touches the cloud with his right forhoof and with a pop, it turns into somepony whom he
would rather not have seen here.
"Luna... to what do i owe the pleasure?" says Nox with a sour tone.