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Gabriel sighed, "I told you I didn't mind your last party." But that wasn't his idea of fun anymore. A Halloween party is mentioned, and Gabriel frowns faintly, "I wasn't invited." And he isn't entirely thrilled about going to En's place, mostly so because he's worried he'll lose his temper and try to punch En in the nose. He would have said more about the party, when Luci says something to Ferous that has Gabe snorting, then grinning, then having an all out gigglefit, while little pink and purple 'LOL's pop up over his head. "Purple...she's purple!" He manages to gasp out between fits of laughter. For whatever reason, he finds that hilarious.

He'll manage to make his way over to Luci, while while still snickering quietly and rubbing tears from his eyes. He was a strange one, that was for sure. He'd manage a wave for Ferous, and a few more hearts would pop out as he got himself under control. He'd give Ferous a big smile, "Have fun!" It's genuine at least. "Bye Spike!" Poor little dragon, Gabe felt bad for him.

Then his attention is back on those that had gathered with Luci. He's got no party ideas, so he'll keep quiet, but he knew better than to go with Ferous; because he probably would have been snoring within minutes.

Applejack was slowly backing away from Luci as he spoke.

"Well, we appreciate yer hospitality... but, I think I'm gonna stick with Twilight and Spike. Somethin' could happen to 'em, and they're my friends, and" "And holycowlookatthetimegottago!" interrupted Rainbow Dash, who had just drawn a watch on her wrist.

"Weeee, let's GO!" That was Pinkie Pie, of course. Who did you think it was?

Of course, it was a foregone conclusion. Applejack would never let her friends out of her sight in such a weird place. Anywhere AJ went, Dash was sure to follow. Anywhere Dash went, Pinkie was never far behind. Fluttershy would follow Pinkie anywhere, and Rarity wasn't about to take her chances on her own.

Fluttershy and Rarity said their goodbyes relatively politely (at least compared to Dash and Pinkie), and caught up with the others. AJ, Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity were just in time to see Twilight jump a solid six feet in the air as the latest strange and magical being manifested in front of them. Spike, strangely chivalrous toward somepony who wasn't Rarity for once, put himself between Twilight and Ferous and did his best to look intimidating.

Well, he doesn't seem any more psychotic than our previous hosts.

Twilight recovered her composure somewhat as her friends crowded around her, partly to lend support, but also to get a look at the latest weirdo to show up.

"Uh... heh heh... did you say carbon-based? I'm... not quite sure what you mean?"

Twilight's body language and her earlier reaction should make it abundantly clear that stroking her coat would not be the greatest idea ever right now.

{Actually, the tech level of Equestria is difficult to pin down, being heavily dependent on the needs of the current episode's plot, so I'm not really sure if the average pony - or even an egghead like Twilight - would know about atoms and electrons and things like that. Based on the show, I can deduce that her favorite areas of study are magic, magic history, and astronomy, so I'll limit her in-depth knowledge to those areas.}

Edit: replaced abbreviations - this was originally posted from a phone

Ferous didn't expect to have the entire herd coming alongside. "Carbon-based. It's..." Ferous realized it was a magic cartoon pony, and the explanation may just... fly well overhead. "Science-talk from our world." Typically one to respect boundaries, Ferous still had to try and poke and feel what Twilight might be composed of at a glance. Failing that, the old spook turned to face the others, seeing a frustrated Luci behind grumbling about them being no fun.

"All right! Who wants to see my lab?!" It came in a voice more suited to entertaining puppies.

"...That is NO fair. You never let me in! I always have to find the new entries and break in!"

"A fine example of why I do not like you in my lab."

A horse lept his own counter, and with a spiral there was a man with dejected pout propping his hands on his chin. "Well, there goes that. And Gabe, if you ever hear about a party I'm holding, presume you're invited by default. We're good like that. Do you think I had to invite Perseus any time I gathered people up, or do you think when he heard he just decided to show? And before you dismiss yourself, you've saved two different worlds on two different occasions, had an odyssey in a world that most people thought fiction, and channeled the good Lord effectively enough to seal hatred embodied. You're a hero. Heroes are like... VIPs at Club Loki. ...'Long as they don't give me any trouble, but if I give them great benefits they tend to avoid smiting me, yeah?" Heros with benefits.

"...I'm watching my shop a little longer." He tapped at the counter before noticing the check, eyes boggling. "...You're giving me that much for a twisted version of Jack and the BeanstalkSnuffboxGoldenHairs? ...Man, I've been undercharging." ...He'll pocket it anyway. "You want to head off with the ponies or hang it here for a while? Sounds like you might get in the not so secret secret lab Populus keeps next to my basement." Yeah. He's found out about it. And yeah, he calls it his basement now, considering what's kept stored.

Draeval had taken to bouncing around a bit, he was feeling....tingly all over again and it was starting to show around his pony hide. Wisps of orange aura rising and electrifying the air directly around his body. He'd been doing this for a while now, partially stuck between times. He wasn't fretting just yet, he'd been stuck before but his mind wandered and he'd lost track of ponies and Spike. Then Luci said something and he lifted his head and tossed it a moment or two. He'd been lost in his mind and now he was startling back.

He shifted next to Gabe and laid down by folding his legs beneath him, then just kind of rested his head on the ground. Suddenly Drae was not feeling so well. Words about parties and science just kind of floated around him for the moment before he snorted and gave his mane a shake.

He wanted to say something but suddenly found he didn't have the energy for it, so he just kind of mouthed at the grass. Silly timey whimey, why isn't there a ding?

Like all ponies, Twilight's body is a composite of marshmallow, jello, cotton candy, and joy. Her coat and mane have the texture of clouds that are made of sunlight (also like all ponies).

She did not notice this gesture, as she was already lost in her studies. Her horn glowed as she took magical readings of the area and relayed them to Spike, who was recording them with a quill and parchment that he always seemed to have on him whenever it was appropriate.

"Science-talk... I see." She was looking around as she spoke - she had only half-heard Ferous. "Well, I'd like to learn more about it..." She continued relaying arcane syllables and numerals to her assistant.

Her friends were becoming restless and talking quietly among themselves - they felt like it would be kind of rude to interrupt Twilight in her work. She was trying to get them back home.

{I done derped}

Gabriel isn't going to follow the ponies, even though they had been fun and awesome, and he really wishes he could have gotten to talk to Pinkie Pie more. Luci's speaking though, and Gabriel just looks at him like he's grown a second head. "Um...okay. Thanks?" He's really confused though, and it shows. Not like he could deny any of those things, because they were all true, but it felt weird hearing Luci put it quite like that.

He'll shake his head on going with Ferous, "I'd be bored to tears. Science is just not for me." That isn't to say he didn't understand it, he just didn't enjoy it the way that Ferous and Mitchell did.

Gabriel's still lingering near the doorway though, a decent distance away from Luci, when Luci finally looks at the check. Gabe wrings his hands, "You're sure it's enough?" He's not acting, he was honestly afraid it wasn't enough and that it might be taken as an insult. "You said you needed it." That was the only reason Gabe needed to give it to him. He's looking ready to hit the exit at any second, most likely because he can't afford Luci's wages when he notices Draeval.

"Hey...are you okay?" He'd frown faintly and he'd kneel down next to the pony!wolf.

Let's just say Ferous couldn't quite tell what Twilight was composed of at a poke. A brow raised.

"I've a few things to learn from you, I imagine. Care to join me? Just follow my lead. And don't worry. If Via was on the up-and-up enough for you, I'm just peaches and lawful cream." Thankfully they were out of range for Via to hear that and make a joke.

'THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!' came a distant holler.

Apparently not.

Ferous sighed, pressing a finger at a temple. "...Care to follow?" With that, Ferous was walking one direction whether they chose to follow or not. Three choices there: The nutbag in one direction, the odd einstein-haired one going the other, or finding their way all alone.

If they did follow, it was going to be a few blocks before an odd building came into view. From the outside it looked like a church, though rather than a steeple there was a weather rooster, and the front large stained glass windows displayed two peacocks: One typical royal blue and elegant green, another pearly white. The door was laid with multiple nordic runes marking positive influences; home and protection, family, and so forth.

"I dunno." Luci shrugged. "There's enough ponies. A rainbow might come out of someone's ass and turn Populus as colorful as I am. That could be pretty amusing. Much less watching Poppy trying to figure out the science behind it. And seriously, stop --" He paused to yell down the street-- "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!" (how did he hear it mid-conversation?) and returned to Gabe, "worrying about it. Money is my least favored form of currency but it can get me what I need later. It's just less direct towards my cause, but this should be able to get me the... what was it, ten minutes I gave you?" He flicked the check and folded it into a pocket at his belt.

Gabe noticed Drae first, but Via's eyes quickly snapped over to him. "...I was about to close shop but uh, do you need something? ...Discount rate! ...Just kidding. Free. If you're dying or something."

Twilight had paused a few minutes ago to consult with Spike - she was having him read back to her the readings she had taken, and her horn was glowing as she projected what appeared to be a map of the surrounding area in to the air around herself. It included everything within about a hundred meters of the path they had traveled so far, exploded, and rotating in place. Superimposed on this were the actual magical readings, in the form of complicated geometric shapes that had been color-coded. One shape in particular dominated the mix: four-dimensional red spheres.

"Holy horseapples Twilight, what IS that?" Applejack managed to sputter. None of the ponies had seen her do anything like this before, and they were all staring at the light show.

"This is a simplified holographic projection of a five-dimensional topomagical map of the immediate area," Twilight answered. Not that she had really explained anything. More to herself than anypony else, she muttered, "That's at least twenty unstable, dormant trans-dimensional portals for every ten cubic meters! Well, that at least explains why we travel to a new universe every time I so much as flub a spell to brush my teeth. I wonder if Equestria's space-time is just as unstable?"

Suddenly Pinkie Pie was right in her face, with her head turned upside down in a manner that was nine kinds of impossible.

"Of course it is, silly! How else do you explain all those fanfics?"

Twilight's map collapsed as her attention shifted. "Pinkie, what the hay are you talking about? What's a - oh, forget it."

Just then, she heard Ferous's offer. "Certainly! Luna knows I'm not getting anywhere on my own with this spaghetti code. Who knows how long it might have taken me to find the right portal back?"

"About twenty-two minutes!"

"Huh?"

"Never mind!" Pinkie Pie bounced over to their new friend - she didn't stop bouncing when she got there, of course. As they walked to the church-looking building, she conversed with Ferous in a very calm, reasonable manner, speaking slowly, giving him plenty of time to respond.

"HI! I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name? I like your mane! Why do you have so many zippers? How come everypony here walks on two legs? Do you fall over a lot? Do you like cupcakes? What's your cutie mark look like? Do you have cutie marks?"

The rest of the ponies just enjoyed the show, making no attempt whatsoever to rescue Ferous from Pinkie.

Heard the ponies go off with Fer, his tail twitched and he considered the odd feeling in his stomach. It wasn't much fun this timey whimey business, well on some days. His nostrils flared and he continued to mouth at the grass.

The two voices made his ears flick as they spoke to each other. Then Gabe spoke to him, and then Luci... Drae made an effort to clear the queasy fog from his brain. "I'm alrite...juz...zlippin in n out." Right, because that sounded alright. His sides heaved and he curled up like he would as a wolf. Granted, it's almost more adorable as a pony.

In enough time he'd start to shimmer, and then as Gabe had seen before there was the after image left. A sort of ethereal Drae!Pony. This one was still stuck, but the rest of him was back in Alexandria again. Probably popping in after a trip to the library. "Zee? Iz alrite, juz a lil timey w'imey nonzenze." He shifted to twitch his pony tail at Gabe.

Gabriel's looking at Luci with a bit of a confused expression, before his attention is taken by Draeval. "Oh...now you're all tingly again." He'd reach out to touch Drae, as if to test his theory. He'd look up at Luci, "If you're closing up, I guess I'll head on out. I've taken enough of a break anyway. I have some things I need to do." He'd look down at pony!Drae, "Care to join me? Most of it's just cleaning." And that would probably go by faster if he had somebody to chat with.

Luci performed a routine, practiced rewind of the shop's unveiling, right through to details of shoving it behind the tent as if it never existed, and rolling it back up, snapping it and causing it to withdrawn into the same technicolor shepherd's cloak he'd worn earlier. And with a twirl, his petasus rested back atop his head, fingers sweeping through it once to ensure the plumes stood as they shood. "Just remember, Gabe--give me a call. I get back to you. Eventually." He glanced to and fro sheepishly. Of course, it settled onto Draeval. "You sure you're okay?" God knows where he got the cliche traveler's pack on a stick to sling over one shoulder. "...Drae, this might not be the time to ask, but there's one thing I just don't know the answer to. ...When you throw up while traveling in time, what happens to it?" ...Well, he knows it can make the wolf a little woozie. "I mean, does it just stay there or...?"

...Whatever the answer it'd be certain to draw a grin from him. "Hnh! Adios. Au Revoire. ...Bye bye." But first, he just... had to check in quietly on the ponies. Poof-poof. He just has to watch. The ponies might get better view of him than Ferous does, considering he's popping in ahead of the crowd, which his monochrome peer was looking over.

Twilight, in the very least, drew a cocked brow from Ferous with her little holographic display, stopping at the block end opposite the odd little 'church'. "All right, then. We--" Pinkie drew silence and blinking from Ferous. "I'm--" cut off, "Thank y-"... The next series of questions just earned the literal sensation of dots hanging in the air over the other, who by the end of it was glancing aside hopefully to Twilight. Actually, they were real, being held up in a dot bubble as a sign over Ferous' shoulder, with one Luci as the culprit. Not needing to see to sense the other, Ferous turned, glanced up at it and sighed. Before the elbow reached Luci, he disappeared just as quickly in a combustion of rainbow glitter. "--are you sure she shouldn't go with Via?" hint hint.

Regardless, reaching the temple was somewhat unavoidable. Ferous took the step of opening the door, stepping in, and unlocking the office. See description Olympian Offices in Fer's profile. They would likely have to mull in the main area.