and
Wood Chip, after finishing a light brunch, arrived to the dwelling of the former mayor slightly unnerved but neverless intent on seeing him. He actually bothered getting dressed for what was hopefully a semi-formal occasion, wearing what could have passed for a pair of horseshoes if they were not pounded nearly flat, and his not-ceremonial axe on his side, looking small compared to the rest of him.
In all, he was all but sweating bullets when he slowly knocked on the door. He could only hope that he was home, or had a few hours or so. Should he have sent a note or somesuch?
“Coming,” somepony called from inside. The door swung open, and Temperance peeks outside. “Wood Chip? Come in, what’s on your mind?” he said, making room for the unicorn to come inside.
Wood Chip, smiling apologeticly and ducking slightly instinctivly as he passed under the door, found himself in a modest looking room. Before he sat down somewhere, he greeted his greeter earnestly. “Sorry about coming in before sending some sort of note, it’s about, well, the state of things, and I think your one of the smarter ponies in town who can help me.”
“Uh, don’t worry about it,” Temperance said, closing the door. “So, what’s the problem, exactly?”
Wood Chip gave his host a quick glance, and let himself relax slightly. “It’s problems, actually. I have a small pile of suggestions as head of the milita, but the new mayor is still caring for her foal and you seem to be the only pony here with a good head on his shoulders who could help me.” His eyes darted around to what might have been the entrance to another room. “Congrat’s on the new foal.”
Temperance cocked his head slightly, finding his guest’s behavior a bit peculiar. He brushed it off and said, “Thanks, things have been a bit busy for me too with him.” He made a small chuckle. “So, several problems? Related to the militia? I’ll see if I can help somehow.”
Wood Chip was a little unnerved by Temperance’s interested look, and hoped he was not coming across as odd. “Well, we could start with Maize’s...” a little ball of fear began to swell in his chest “...Maize’s condition. I must ask, as I do not know her quite well, how has it been addressed?”
“Her condition? Uh... what do you mean exactly?” As far as Temperance knew, she had just been a bit nervous around others, but Serenity and Praetorian had helped that. So, he said, “Wait, I think Serenity and Praetorian have been helping her a lot with that.”
Wood Chip felt as if a small brick was thrown in his face. They either didn’t tell the mayor or were ignorant of her actual condition. Knees shaking slightly, he looks at Temperance in the eyes. “You were never alerted to the nature of her condition,ever?”
Temperance was beginning to look quite concerned. “Is something wrong with her? Is she alright? Nopony has told me anything.”
Wood Chip suppressed the urge to stomp a hoof, and after a few moments at glancing at the door looked at Temperance once more. “That is...very distressing. I am sorry for asking, but you have a office, correct? I do not wish to force you to hear me talk for a hour or so standing up.” he said, attempting humor to hold back his mild anger.
“Uh... yeah, if you would rather talk in private. Come on,” he said, leading Wood Chip to his office. As they get inside and take their seats, Temperance looked at the unicorn across from him, trying to guess what this was about. “Okay, we’ve both got seats and a bit of privacy now. What did you need to tell me about Maize?”
Wood Chip was unsure if he felt more worried for Maize or Temperance at the moment. The latter was doing his best to confuse him about his intentions. “Well, how to explain this...Temperance, do you know why I came to Duskfield with you a few years ago?”
Temperance raised a hoof to his chin. “Actually... come to think of it I’m not sure we’ve ever really talked about it. Although... I seem to recall a rather unhappy story you told of a previous home.”
Wood Chip felt somewhat relieved. “ It was a little coastal village so close to zebra lands we actually had a few living there. However, one day, a few of the adults began to act oddly. I was much younger then, so I don’t believe I have best possible account of what actually happened, but there was secret meeting happening at night and such. Stuff that would have been thought of as oddly in a place like this, but the community was quite tight and close. However, I can say that many of the adults and quite a few ponies who were not displayed symptoms identical to Maize.” He pauses, seeing if Temperance’s reaction.
Temperance reacts by raising an eyebrow and leaning a bit closer to him. “Symptoms? I’m... not sure I follow? I haven’t noticed anything odd about Maize.”
Wood Chip was somewhat expecting this. “Temperance, have you ever felt like something powerful, and, perhape’s more importantly, antagonistic has visited you? Perhape’s during a dream you cannot remember or during the day, just before or after you really wake up?”
To that, Temperance simply swallowed hard and looked Wood Chip squarely in the eyes. “Uh, well, not long after we got here... there was the uh, incident with the mechanics shop. I haven’t really spoken with many ponies about it though. Seems I was just... well... nothing like it has happened since.”
Wood Chip inhaled sharply, but kept calm. “Well, that will help, I suppose. Now, that...feeling, that is what Maize feels nearly every day. Now, the issue with that is....” Wood Chip gave Temperance a judging look “Do you want to know what happened to my home, Temperance? It will certiantly put things into perspective here.”
“I...” Temperance began, trailing off as he thought over what he was just told. “I remember part of your story, but I don’t remember if you said what happened exactly. if you think it’s something I need to hear, then yes, please tell me.”
Wood Chip shifted his weight to the side slightly, and after a few moments of deleberation looked at the manager pony in the eyes. “One day, I woke up alone. The village was quiet, and when I went outside to pick berries, I found the livestock missing. I later...” He winced slightly at the memory, “I later found many ponies cooking them and the zebra family that stayed there on the other side of town. Almost everypony was there, all of whom suffered so much from the odd occurances that it was accepted as just another part of life by the ponies.” he finished with a little odd choking sound, visibly pained and tired.
Temperance listened to the tale, not liking at all where it was going. He waited for Wood Chip to collect himself a bit, and said, “I see... and.... you think that the same will happen to Maize?”
Wood Chip repressed a urge to swear. “ Yes. More importantly, this is magical in nature, very dark magic. If it means anything, well, I knew the pony that tried to attack Cream Puff a few weeks ago. The discordiants are not born crazy, at least not all of them. It spreads, I would think, and when goes, other’s follow.”
This was beginning to make a frightening amount of sense. Temperance leaned back in his chair and sat silently in thought. “If... if what you’re saying is true... then we have a huge problem on our hooves.” He sighed. “But what can I do? Force Maize to leave?”
Wood Chip smiled slightly, albet forced. “No. However, you have knowlage and power in the fort, Temperance. Conval, even if she is mayor, will be too buisy with her foals to do much around the fort, and you are the only pony here with any true skills in managing in the town besides the leaders in the military. She trusts you, yes?”
“Uh, well, I believe so, yes.”
He smiles grimly. “You are one of the few true leaders in the fort, Temperance, dispite what you might think of yourself. The only other true options for mayor, if her rulership is questioned, are all in the military or in this room, frankly. She is almost certiantly eager to please, and I would like for you to be the one who alerts her of the truth behind Maize’s condition and what it could mean for the fort. I would also think it would be prudent for any pony who shows sign’s of odd behavior to be watched far closely then they have been before, especialy if they are in the military.”
Temperance felt a bit uneasy at the praise, but that’s quickly increased by Wood Chip’s request. He made a small nod. “Alright, I’ll tell Convalescence about all of this, and to keep an eye out for any odd behavior. Maybe it’s nothing.” He hoped.
Wood Chip simply nodded his head, and simply decided to move on to less dreadful topics. “On that note, as head of the Militia, I must also make a request that ponies, rather than be trained in crossbows, be trained in the use of a melee weapon as well. As it is, the current state of the militia is shabby, and while I cannot say that every pony in town must be a master of fighting, as it is the typical pony here is better off throwing there crossbows at a foe than try and aiming a bolt in there direction. Surely there is a decent spearpony in town who is capiable of showing a few decent ponyfolk here how to use a spear properly, yes?”
“There are a few, yeah,” Temperance said. “Flamberge is the one who ordered the militia in the first place, so I’d need to run it by him, but I don’t think he’d disagree. They should be able to find a bit of time to train the civilian militia.” He wasn’t really looking forward to learning to stab things with a spear though. But whatever was necessary...
Wood Chip grew concerned at the mention of Flamberge. “I would prefer if Flamberge was removed from this as much as possible, but please, whatever is needed. I fear that he has, well, shown aggression and agitation that compares with that of Maize, and I do belive that he should be looked at the most out of any pony, more so after his feat of slaying the dragon.”
Temperance sighed. “This isn’t something I can really do without him okaying it. But believe me, I try to avoid him as much as possible.” He thought a moment. “Although... now that you mention it, maybe he really should be watched too.”
Wood Chip echo’s Temperance’s sigh. “ I truly regret that I have not addressed this with anyone sooner, but this is needed for not only our prosparity, but the whole of the towns.”
Temperance nodded. “Yes, if what you’re saying is true, this could have grave ramifications for all of us. Fortunately, it seems that nothing particularly alarming has happened so far, but now that you’ve brought all of this to my attention, I’ll certainly be keeping a closer eye out for it.”
Wood Chip nods, but remember’s one other thing. “What of the griffon, Max I think his name was. Anything of note?”
“I don’t think there’s much that can be said about him, really. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories about the dragon by now. He’s pretty torn up about it, but I don’t think he’s going to cause any trouble.” At least he really, really hoped not. That event had already been tragic enough.
Wood Chip hummed slightly. “Fair enough. I do not think is is a threat, but others might be quick to blame him if anything goes wrong. One must think if, well, I suppose I would be dreadfully upset if SmoothBlock was killed by griffons I was staying with. Poor creature.”
“I know, it worries me too. If anypony tries to blame Max for anything that goes wrong, they’ll have to answer to me.” He blew out his breath. “At least we don’t have to worry about the griffons as a whole. I don’t think Max has any ties to them at all.”
Wood Chip smiled wristfuly. “One must wonder about that. I am not sure how they do it in there own lands, but I must question if he and the dragon were not seeking shelter of some sort.” his smile sank downward “A pity it ended like it did. The dragon could have feasably lived in one of the mines, and it’s not as if Max was, well...” he trailed off, somewhat prepared to step up from his chair and leave.
Temperance wanted the conversation about Max to be over with, so he simply nodded. “Yeah... tragic...”
Wood Chip nodded at Temperance’s sullen words.” Before I go, Temperance, I have one last request, as a pony rather than the leader of the militia. Can you alert Serenity to set up a meeting between me and her next season? I...I would prefer if I did not have to do so in person myself, and I do not want SmoothBlock to worry about me.”
Temperance looked a little concerned. “Of course. I’ll speak with her about it. Anything I can help with?”
Wood Chip gives him a detached look. “Unless you can help with thirty years of nightmares involving your childhood crush eating your little sister, I am not entirely sure.”
Temperance hung his head. “Sorry, no, I don’t think I can,” he finally said.
Wood Chip looked at the smaller pony, nodded slightly, and sat up in his chair in preperation to leave. “Is there anything you want to tell me before I go, now?
“I don’t think so, no.” Temperance looked back up. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention, though.”
Wood Chip, without further hesitation, stood up from his chair and started to make his way for the door before stopping. “One last thing, Temperance. If things...here do go south, do not go to the dragon’s old cave. There is a building off near the edge of town that was used to hold seeds during the first year, and it has a basement with food and drink. If anything bad happens to the point you must flee, I suggest you go there.” On that distressing note, he walked out of the room and headed for his own dwelling.
Temperance cocked an eyebrow and waited for Wood Chip to leave. “Uh... alright...” he said at last. He wasn’t sure
what he’d do if everything went south, but he’d keep that in mind at least.
Author
Topic: Duskfields (My Little Fortress) (Read 47922 times)