The next week saw another house made from the inexplicable bricks PSI made, this time a jeweler’s shop. It was done partly as a means to store their gems, but it also gave Iron Birch a home to call his own. Mining operations were also strengthened by the adition of Dawn and two other ponies to the mining force, due to their spare copper pick and two iron ones being forged. They had only a few days before it was June now, and they wanted to to have the mass processing station built before summer's end.
The residents of Jackirons also began laying the foundation of a barracks, so PSI could begin training the touched to become as merciless as she is. Replica was also becoming quite the adept in carpentry, turning out better and better furnishings and bins.
-
“GAH! WHO THE HELL DID THAT!?” Iron Birch shouted as an ice shard impacted and shattered against the masonry shop's side. He looked around angrily and spotted a startled tentacle pony.
“YOU!” he shouted with a snarl. The tentacle pony had a look of absolute horror on its face as the stallion dove over the side of the work station and came at him at a full gallop. The would-be snatcher didn't have a chance, and while he almost got to a thicket of tree that the charging stallion wouldn’t be able to pursue him through, it wasn’t enough.
Iron birch leapt on the snatcher and the two went tumbling into a tree, hard enough that the tentacle pony vomited when he slammed into it by his midsection. Birch wasn't exactly pleased with the situation and when the tentacle pony swung his dagger, the tentacle holding it was bitten on, causing it to let out and ungodly shriek as the sensitive appendage's hide and fat were torn. Birch stood up on his hind legs and hoisted the tentacle pony up and began to slam the thief's head against the now vomit coated tree. After four or five blows, he threw down the diomedian and brought both forehooves down with as much force as he could, the skull cracking and giving way and yielding a satisfying, if a little sickening, squish.
He dragged the body into town and left it by one of the shops, the icy stare on his face giving even PSI chills.
He trotted into Indigo's office afterward and shortly after an order for an iron war-scythe as well as two extras came out of her office. After the incident, Skyfire also offered to train up a squad of marksmen and marksponies, since they had several arbalests on hand with a quiver-full of ammo for each. Hyena also offered to lead a hammerpony squad, and Cap Star a separate group of axeponies that weren't part of the touched.
-
“Hey, uh... Cleave Fracture right?” Dawn asked the stallion as she lugged a wheelbarrow with a strange ore.
“You can just call me Fracture. Whatcha need?” The stallion replied, eyeing the ore.
“Do you have any idea what this stuff I dug out is?” She asked, confused by the ore's luster. “I've seen my fair share of iron ores and kaolitinite, but this stuff is a little weird.”
Fracture took a look at the ore, even producing a little rock plate and scraping it across it before making a judgment. “ferrovanadium. It's an iron ore basically, but the vanadium in it makes steel stronger.”
“Huh. So I guess the three other piles I scraped together are a good thing?” The human asked.
“Very. Every bit of weapons grade ore we dig up is a benefit to the town.” Fracture said, eyeing the ore again. “This is one of those ores I don't have much experience with personally. Honestly it's times like this that I'm glad I payed attention in geology class.”
“Hey, do you guys know where that red shit is?” A grayish purple mare with a blonde mane asked the two. She was actually quite pleasing to the stallion's eye, but then he had a mild attraction to Alina and PSI so maybe his standards were just really low.
“You mean the kaolitinite? Stored below the foundry, why?” He asked the mare.
“I figured since we aren't using it I may as well try something new. Might get my cutie mark for it even.” Bell said, heading into the foundry. Sure enough, when Fracture looked she was a blank flank.
“Odd.” he thought aloud.
“What is?” Dawn asked, not sure what he was referring to.
“She looks like she's sixteen or seventeen. Most ponies have their marks by the time they're nine or ten.” He said with a shrug. “Probably nothing. Given the state of the world right now I wouldn't doubt she never bothered to find out what she's good at.”
“That's great buddy, ask me if I care.” Dawn said, walking away with the load of ore.
-
“Come here you little mother fucker!” Iron birch said, chasing a slippy pony thief uphill onto the cave. It shouted something back that was unintelligible, to which Birch replied “Oh come on, little buddy, I only wanna stab you!” he thrusted his spear forward up at the little cretin and it dove over him, which from Birch's perspective wasn't exactly a good idea, as it effectively dove into open air without wings, which was in itself stupid, and landed head first, though the impact wasn't fatal being only a couple feet.
It tried to get to its hooves, and was slice in half b y one deft swing of the upright scything blade. Iron birch seemed to take a little too much joy in killing them for some reason.
Following this, a second was spotted by Fracture and Indigo, the latter of which blasted it in one leg with an ice spike, which slowed it long enough for Fracture to tackle it and stomp its head into mush.
Indigo didn't react nearly as badly as she had before at the sight of a death she had a hand in, and Fracture paid it as much mind as somepony who'd stomped on an ant.
-
The following day, a there was a surge in work on the town's agricultural infrastructure. Replica took it upon herself to irrigate the ground so their their fields wouldn't be too broken up, and several ponies cleared the ground and prepared it to receive crops, and a windmill was raised early in the afternoon. A wood burning hut was also constructed to provide ash that was to go on to make potash for fertilizer and pearlash. Tropic Thunder volunteered to be the one to put the trees to the furnace, due to her brother-in-law being killed in a raid by tree-worshipers on a town far to the south several years ago.
A blind cave bear raider was found early that morning in a cage trap as well, and was promptly stripped of his dagger and attire, which would be sold to whomever came across the town to trade.
It was also put to a vote as to what they should begin work on next, after the barracks was completed and the general consensus at a meeting by the well was they should build a nice tavern, to promote community and provide a greater amount of space to sleep and eat until everyone had their own homes. A foot note during this was a scream followed by a disturbing laugh that was later identified as coming from Iron Birch, who had found another thief and sliced it in half in front of the brewery.
The final highlight of the day was Indigo Surprise being elected to serve as Sub-Overmare for the settlement.
“Why me?” She questioned the assembly.
“Well, it was you or Pinfire who were best qualified and I know damn well he won't let me kill those damned slippy ponies underground.” PSI answered. The others all simply agreed that since she had headed the expedition that founded the town, she should lead the town in a more respectable position. Alina and Fracture even volunteered to put a wall in the space behind her inward door to give her a more respectable office for a mare in her position.
She didn't comment on the matter, and simply agreed to serve as Sub-Overmare. Before the day was out, she found her back door unlocked with a sign on it reading “Office of Sub-Overmare Indigo Surprise.” Inside, she found an additional cabinet and chest as well as her office chair and desk (which she at first thought had been stolen.) one wall was bricked with porcelain, and statues of the same adorned the room, which Bell and Jumper. Were still smoothing out.
“Aww come on everypony, this is just ridiculous.” Indigo said with a hint of embarrassment.
“No it isn't a bunch of us just showed up out of the blue and you let us stay here. Honestly the only two ponies you would have been obligated to let stay were Cap Star's foals.” Jumper said after finishing his current smooth-down and putting her desk chair back in place.
“Plus, from what your friends tell us, it was your idea to set up here in the first place. I gotta say, aside from that slippy pony infestation you have you've quite the nice little settlement going.” Bell added.
Indigo sighed and rolled her eyes. “If you want the honest truth I made that call because PSI insisted on killing them for throwing rocks at Replica. I was positive she'd go and hurt herself.”
“That may be, but I'd say it turned out for the best. Hey, Jumper, I'm going to go get some dinner before it's all gone, you don't mind right?” Bell said, stopping just shy of the door.
“Yeah I got it, not much left to do here.”
After Bell had left, Indigo decided to ask one stupid question.
“Why are you named Jumper?” Indigo asked. Given he wasn't a pegasus it didn't seem to fit.
“I have a phobia of jumping spiders. I've just been called it so much now my given name gets mistaken for a surname.” Suddenly his face seemed to darken. “Do you have any wood?”
“Was that your way of asking if I wanted a dicking?” Indigo asked with a chuckle.
She was horrified when his response was some strange language she'd never heard before.
-
Jumper came charging through the tiny dormitory at a full gallop, knocing Alexander on his ass and bowling over Pinfire and Phantom, shouting whatever it was he was shouting. Bell seemed the only one with any knowledge about it.
“It's broken dwarven.” She said when Pinfire asked what was up Jumper's tailhole. “Something from on high is pretty much telling him to make a fancy trinket out of a tree.”
“How do you know?” came somepony's response.
Bell took a sip of iron beer and cleared her throat. “Well, my sister Kreia had a bit of an episode like this, only with more depressed stares and random scrawlings and less psychotic raging and shouting for wood and rocks in dwarven. She made a pretty bitchin' crossbow actually. Weird thing is, she didn't remember making it, so Jumper probably doesn't even realize what he's doing. There's just a tiny problem.”
“What's that?” Pinfire asked.
“Err... Well, if he doesn't get what he wants for whatever the hell he's making, he'll either become a rambling mess shouting random things until he starves or dies of dehydration, become suicidally depressed and probably drown himself in one of the ponds outside, or become a raging, equinocidal psychopath intent on trying to beat us all to death. Probably with a shoe.” The unicorn explained. “But only if he doesn't get what he wants.”
“And if he does?” Phantom asked, a look of terror on her face.
Bell smiled. “You get to see a work of art that would make gods weep.”
----
“Jumper? Buddy? You ok man?” James said, taking a cautious step towards the stallion. Jumper shouted something at him ina language he didn't understand and and tried to make off with a single large chunk Neltharite. “You want a hand with that?” The human asked, hoping not to get the rock thrown at his head.
Again, Jumper only shouted at him angrily and dragged the stone by.
-
“Hey Twig. Whatcha doing sitting out here?” Cap Star said to the mare who was sitting staring at her own house.
“Jumper took over my workshop and locked the door.” She said, a hint of irritation in her voice. “He's been in there since late last night.”
“Why the hell would he have done that? We have an extra workshop out here.”
“I have no idea. But if he wrecks my house, I'm gonna wreck his face with whatever shiny thing he ma-” Twig was cut short when Jumper came into the door looking confused with a... Trumpet?
“Uh guys... Where'd this come from and why am I in Twig's house?” Jumper said, sitting on his haunches and holding the offending instrument up.
“Holy shit.” Cap Star blurted out upon seeing the item.
“How the hell did you make a trumpet out of wood?” Twig asked in bewilderment.
“I... I have no idea. One minute I was finishing up Indigo's office and then this. Can either of you translate what the hell is carved in this?”
Deathfin, The Feral palace [Sadly the runes didn't transfer over to chrome. ]
It was a beautiful trumpet, even if it was made from a nonsensical material. It seemed to have been carved with a single piece of the finest piece of maple, with bands of off-white tainted featherwood and raised segments of maple running from one end to the other, and bright red rings of neltharite. Hung from its underside.
-
“Hey, Bell, can you translate what's one this trumpet?” Jumper asked, having been told Bell knew what he'd been shouting at everypony for the better part of the last twenty-four hours.
“Well! Glad to see you didn't lose your shit. And I might, why?” Bell said as she took a few steps towards Jumper and saw the trumpet dangling around his neck on a wool chord.
Bell levitated it off of its creator and gave it a good long stare. “Deathfin, The Feral Palace. Pretty queer name for a trumpet, but I've seen worse names.” She said after a tense moment of silence between the two ponies.
“How the hell can you read that?” Jumper asked as she levitated the instrument back onto his neck.
“I've.... Been around a long time we'll say.” She replied quietly. You should go ask Pinfire what it's worth.
Jumper did so and found Pinfire playing with Rachel outside of the half finished barracks. “Pinfire, you got a minute?”
“Hmm? Oh, sure. Run along and find your brother Rachel.” Pinfire said, nosing her back to the communal space.
“Ok daddy.” The little girl said, walking in the direction she was sent.
“She just turned four.” Pinfire said with a relaxed smile. “I'm amazed really. Usually children don't make it past their second year this far north.”
“Right, well, could you tell me what this thing I made is worth?”
“What? Oh, 'course I can. Let's have us a look...” Pinfire levitated over the object in question and began his scrutiny. “Damn...” He muttered. “What?” “Proportions are impossibly perfect! How the hell did you make this?”
“Bell says some god or another made me its bitch to make it.” Jumper answered with a shrug.
“Well, I'm not exactly a pro with this, but, I'd say this is worth just under 14500 bits. You oughtta hang onto that.” pinfire said, placing it back around Jumper's neck.
-
“Hail ponies!” Came a strangely accented voice one morning. A zebra caravan master, a bizarre approximation of an alicorn, flanked by two warriors came strolling into the settlement.
“Morning. Who're are you?” James asked, being the closest to the zebras.
“Hello human, it is good to see you are not among those unfortunates fighting far to the north. I am Smash Choonitummy, of the Liberator Glade trading company. We were informed you were out here and have decided to make a detour to see your wares.” The zebra said politely.
“Uh.... Sure. Hey guys, go and bring some of the stuff up from storage. Anyone know where Pinfire is?” James said, gesturing to the others to bring goods up.
“He's taking the day off to spend some time with his kids.” Twig said, trotting off.
“Great... Well then Smash, go and get your caravan, I'll meet you in the depot to see if we can work something out.” James said with a hint of annoyance.
“Of course. We shall return momentarily.”
-
“A pleasure doing business with you, Smash.” James said after he had managed to move a fair amount of clothing left by the snatchers and numerous bone goods.
“Likewise. And, I have a small proposition, as a gesture of goodwill on the part of my company.” The emperor zebra said.
“Alright, shoot.”
“Well, one of my warriors decided to poke around and he has found our are sorely lacking in medical supplies. I would like to donate what cloth we have, since it is difficult to sell the stuff when most townships produce their own plus enough to cover your country's military needs. We donate what we have, and we can write it off as a gift and keep more of our profits from this exchange.”
“I get ya.... throw in whatever chamfrons you got and you have a deal.” James said, pointing to a row of three helmets, one copper, one felsteel, and one made of palm wood. “If nothing else it'll make any head trauma survivable.”
“Then we are agreed. Would it be too much trouble if we remained here for a few days, to rest for our journey?” Smash asked the human.
“I don't see why not. Just keep those two on the wagons away from me.” He muttered, gesturing to two 'anthroszebras' as Bell called them.
“Ah, I see. Those two are but two of many. The product of less than ethical research by many scholars in many places that had small human populations. I understand. If it makes you feel any better, any strange looks are because they've never seen a human before, not even those that were used to sire them.”
“Great. So I better sleep on a roof tonight then.”
-
“What the hell is that thing?” PSI asked Glaive as she dragged a body into a butcher shop.
“Some kind of monkey thing. Coati or some shit. Tried to steal a bundle of ammo.” She said after dropping its tail.
“Stab it enough times?” PSI asked with a chuckle, walking over to the shop to get to work.
“Stupid sword Cap Star made doesn't cut, so I had to stab it.” Glaive said with slight irritation.
“So make him make you a new one.” PSI said, one of her scythes making a *THUNK* as it took off the coati's head.
“Meh. I can deal with it. Speaking of which, he wanted me to tell you your boots and mail are ready.”
PSI perked up at that. “Oh cool! Alright, I'll be over to pick it up when I'm done here.”
There was a sudden piercing cry coming from near the foundry followed by a psychotic laugh.
“Iron Birch caught another Slip.” PSI said without a care, a scything limb driving into and pulling open the coati's abdomen.
----
The night following the trade with the the zebras, there was a fell roar that emanated from below the settlement, ringing through the caves.
“The fuck was that?” Snap Shot said fearfully as everypony looked at Indigo's office.
“A monster from the deep.” Skyfire said in a low voice. “Indigo Surprise, you've the keys to the hatch leading below ground yes?” The royal said as she drew her arbalest.
“Yes ma'am I- Wait, you aren't seriously considering going after whatever that was are you?” Indigo asked, looking horrified at the prospect.
“Indeed I am. I want you to lock the hatch behind me in the event I fail to bring the monster down.”
[
]
-
Skyfire landed gently on the cave moss and observed the scene of a long ended slaughter. Bones of slippy ponies littered the cavern floor, but the presence of numerous campfires and abandoned items spoke of more being in the area. She looked around and found no sign of the beast, and flew over to the water's edge. She levitated over a several torches and floated them out over the water to see if it lurked in the depths.
Then she saw it, a form of a human many times her size wading up room the water. She withdrew the torches and tossed them at several slippy ponies hiding in the cavern's dense underbrush, who caught them clumsily in their mouths or forelegs.
It was are for those of her kind to ever be intimidated by anything unless it was a true threat, but this monster, this abomination to nature was a tall, wiry thing composed of enchanted water with a silken core. It reared its head back and let out another thunderous roar that sent several slippy ponies scattering from their hiding places further into the inland of the caves, and it took a step towards the royal.
On instinct, she first called upon a basic offensive spell taught to all unicorns and alicorns upon reaching adulthood for self-defense, the ever reliable, if simple, ice bolt. The shard flew through the air and struck the beast in the upper body, where its arm met the shoulder. Unfazed by this, it simply wrapped a watery fist around the ice shard and pulled it free, throwing it to the side in fury. T then raised its other arm, the hand splitting revealing a solid silk nozzle.
“What the fu- OH SHIT!” Skyfire stared at the nozzle in confusion until she realized it was going to do one of two things: Try to incinerate her, or blast her with a thick chord of webbing so it would do only the gods knew what to her. She bolted upward as a thick strand of silk came spiraling towards her. It roared angrily and fired again, but this time it didn't have the benefit of a weak ice shard striking it.
A silksteel bolt flew from Skyfire's arbalest and stuck the beast in the lower body, slicing its silken core in half, sending the monster's upper half crashing to the ground with a splash. Skyfire wasn't far behind, landing on her back with a thud, coated in silk.
-
A knocking came from the hatch in Indigo's office, where most of the residents sat anxiously waiting. Indigo unlocked and unbarred the hatch, and up came the alicorn, bits of white silk still clinging to her face, neck, and mane.
“Did, uh..... Did you win?” Bell asked with a giggle that was clearly due to an immature thought in her head.
“The beast is dead, yes.” Skyfire said with as much dignity as she could muster when she realized Bell wasn't the only one choking back a laugh. “Now if you'll excuse me, I need to clean this sticky crap out of my mane.”
“Hey, PSI, you're up out here, me and the Zebras caught another thief.” Iron Birch said as he waked in as the ponies and humans dispersed.
“Alright. Oh hey, Skyfire!”
“Yes?”
“How many slippy ponies are down there?” Psi asked eagerly. A little too eagerly for Skyfire's taste.
“I saw some, yes, why?”
“Just curious.”
-
“Who gets the apartment above leatherworking place?” Someone asked when it was finally finished.
“Whoever makes something in the workshop it comes with.” Indigo said with a shrug.
“I'll do it!” Hyena said with a smile.
“You sure? You'll probably end up with the job of producing a lot of our clothes.” Indigo warned. It was true. Some of their limited attire was beginning to wear out.
“Sure! My family needs a home after all, so I can handle it!” She said with enthusiasm. However the warning wasn't so much of the workload, but simply on the grounds that leatherworkers, while considered vital still carried an old stigma. Even if most Equestrians set aside their slight aversion to leather for pragmatic reasons, actually working the hide of a living thing was something that some still disliked thinking about.
-
“What the hell... hey, Alina, Fracture, take a look at this.” Dawn said, gesturing to a strange blue stone her pick strike into the mass of neltharite had revealed.
“I think, don’t quote me on this, is Blood of Yogg-Saron.” Fracture said upon inspecting it. “I have no idea what it's used for though.”
“Huh. Guess we should tell Indigo about it then huh.” Dawn said absently, picking a piece of it up.
“Not right now we can't Indigo wants this chamber dug out by the end of the day so we'll have stone for building the inn tomorrow.” Alina said, shoving her way between the two and slamming her pick into the blue stone.
-
“Oh come on you two, I learned how to use an autogun when I was his age, he can learn how to use one of these clumsy things.” James said at the new range he'd put together.
“He only just turned six!” Pinfire protested.
“What sort of sick bastard makes a six year old fight!?” Hyena said angrily.
“He's not a pony. He's a human, and it's a human rite of passage. Technically I should be trying to buy a rifle and ammo off a drifter for this.” James said with annoyance.
“I don't want my son fighting, James.” Hyena said threateningly.
“He's still human and needs to be raised like one. Besides, it's not like Indigo or PSI will let him anywhere near something that will try to kill him unless we need the manpower. I mean for fuck's sake, the range is right next to the most trafficked part of town.”
“There is a child present James, watch your mouth.” Pinfire said in annoyance. Then he turned to Hyena and with a sense of resignation, said “He's right.”
“W-WHAT!?”
“Alex is a human, he deserves to be treated like a human. James, go ahead and set him up.”
“Thank you.” James said with a bow. “Come on runt, Uncle James is gonna teach you how to shoot.”
-
“Hold up, who are you.” Iron Birch said to an approaching group of ponies.
“Calm your shit there, stallion, we aren't diomedians.” The leader of the group, an alicorn (A much less formal one at that,) said.
“Where are you ponies heading?” Birch questioned.
“This is Jackirons right?” The mare said, sounding annoyed.
“Y- Oh no, nonononono. We don't have room for everypony we already ha-” He was cut short by a note shoved in his face with with a midnight blue aura, along with a hefty bag of bits being dropped in front of him.
“Give that to whoever your sub-overmare is. I'm sure she'll be willing to accommodate us. The note has our names, race, gender, and our skills on it. Have a good one stallion.” The alicorn said, trotting by, followed by two earth ponies, a pegasus, a unicorn and a human.
“Hey, haven't I see you somewhere before?” Birch asked the man.
“...I was in the caravan heading for Luckrose, if that's what your asking.” He replied.
“Archer right?” Bitch asked, shaking the note off his muzzle. “Mind sticking that in under my scythe?”
“Sure thing, and yeah, I am.” The human said, stick the note where asked. “Tomas Varrow. You?”
“Iron Birch. Come on, I gotta round up your buddies and introduce them to Indigo.”
-
Indigo was writing in her journal when the knocking heralded Iron Birch's arrival. “Come in.” She said absently, using her magic to open the door.
Birch walked in and pat the bit-bag onto her desk. “Got new arrivals. Can I have some of that moonshine?” He asked, licking his lips. “That bag's made of burlap or some shit.”
Indigo pushed her mug to him, which he took gratefully and pointed to the note under his weapon. Indigo levitated it out and took a look, to see what it was.
'Hello, My name is Gear Drop Seertulip. I and my associates have recently been evicted from Taloncanyon for an altercation involving two royal guard members and a reindeer bull, which we have brought with us for the bull's sake. We have given you 4000 bits as payment to be allowed to stay. Below is a table regarding our groups.
Gear Drop Seertulip - alicorn mare – Mechanic and fisherpony
Opal Shift - pegasus mare – Swordpony and general woodworker
Swift Stroke - Unicorn mare – Spearpony and fish dissector
Spring Quarry - Earth Pony mare – Gem cutter and fish cleaner
Velvet Sands Hailcuddle - Earth pony mare – Clothier and administrator
Tomas Varrow - Human male – Retired merchant guard (archer)
Thank you,
Gear Drop SeertulipIndigo slammed her head on her desk.
More fucking mouths to feed and house.
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Topic: Jackirons - Rampage Mod Community Fortress - Retired (Read 12406 times)