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[Maklak]

(( Moonstone 261: Indigo asks for carpets. ))
(( This is less than a fortnight after Indigo slept at Amor's place and after she went to work in the caverns. Before Jaxler's arrest. ))

Indigo feels pretty good. He has been able to sleep almost normally since that night he spent in Amor's bedroom and working on the surface has helped to return his life to normal as well. Unfortunately intruding upon Amor's hospitality means, he has a rather big debt of gratitude to her, regardless of what she said. He wants to give her at least a token gift. He considered making a figurine of hugging ponies. The design is ready in his head and he tucked away an appropriate piece of marble. Amor seems to be a sucker for such memorabilia. Heck, she might even use it as a model for a statue or decorate it with gems matching their eye colours or do something equally crazy. On second thought maybe a figurine was not such a good idea after all, but the way Indigo sees it, everypony has some flaws. Just as he is going to settle for giving her a figurine anyway, he is stuck by an epiphany. He can give her something much more practical and maybe even get it for free.

Impressed by his own cunning, Indigo goes to see Virtue. With standard formalities, Glaive lets Indigo in and stands by the door. "Hello Lady Virtue," begins Indigo.

Virtue sees Indigo enter and feels an instant of worry, but his expression looks reasonably calm, so she follows suit and relaxes. "Hello, Indigo." She looks down to her daughter Serenity, who she'd been playing with, and tells her, "Run along, mommy has some work to do. Go see if you can find your brothers upstairs." As the filly grins and complies, she looks back to Indigo. "How can I help you?"

"I've been to Amor's room and noticed, she lacks some standard furniture. She only has a bed, a chest and a cabinet, but no table, chairs and shelves. She is one of the oldest residents, so I imagine this thing got overlooked."

That was interesting... there had been a blemish in the stock records along those lines that she had never figured out. "Oh? I wonder how that could have happened... I'm sorry about that." She raises an eyebrow as she thinks. "I wonder why she never brought this up to me before?"

Indigo frowns. "I'm not sure. She has access to room layouts and should know about it. Maybe she is too shy to ask for a table and some chairs, or got used to not having them. Still, she is eligible to get more furniture. There isn't anything suitable in the warehouse, but if you write the work orders, I can do the rest."

"Oh, of course," Virtue says as she fetches some blank work orders. She knew hanging onto a few would prove useful one day. "They're hers anyway if she doesn't have them yet. I suppose Longshot should sign off on this, but on the other hoof my signature probably still gets things going, even if I'm not the record keeper anymore."

Indigo nods "I'll confirm this with Longshot, just as a formality, of course." He glances at the filled papers, smiles briefly, puts them in his saddlebag and turns back to her. "Now, there is something else, I'd like to discuss. I live on the second floor, but I've recently noticed, that the rooms on the ground floor get very cold in the winter. The proper way of fixing it, would be to replace the cobblestone floors in those rooms with wooden ones and leave some space between them and the ground, but that is a major construction project and ponies wouldn't be able to use their rooms for a while. An easier solution is to put some carpets or rugs on the stone floors to make the rooms slightly warmer and more colourful. Since the clothing industry is up and running, and we seem to have enough clothes, making carpets shouldn't put any strain on more important industries."

Glaive interjects. "Well Indigo. Since I imagine the 'Free' furnishings are accounted for in the cost of the rent, I think that it would be better to not include them automatically, thus driving up the cost and hurting some of the less well off ponies, but to simply allow ponies to buy carpets themselves if they want one. Falcata and I did that, we live downstairs and when our foals were born, we didn't want them playing on a cold stone floor in the winter, so we bought a carpet from a caravan."

"Well... that would work even better. Glaive is right for another reason. If carpets were included in the standard, you'd get a line of ponies wanting one. If they are provided at subsidized prices, say 200 bits per room downstairs and full cost for anypony upstairs, there is going to be fewer ponies who want one as soon as possible. Still, winter is upon us, so I imagine the demand will be high."

Virtue crunches the numbers in her head and arrives at a similar conclusion about the whole thing. "Well... I think the town has enough bits in the treasury, so that giving the rugs away wouldn't be a major problem... but a subsidized offering might be better. We don't have a lot of capacity to make them, so like you said it might be best if demand was as low as possible." They could of course just make them and give them out for free, but who decided then who got the rugs first?  Probably better this way. "It might upset the economics a bit as well, if we just gave them away."

She ponders the thought a moment more and reflects on how cold the floor got in her office during the winter. They really should have done something about this before. "I'll go speak to Longshot about the logistics of it." She gives Indigo a small smile. "But I think it's reasonable that the cloth workers, weavers and dyers are at the top of the list to get a rug."

"Well, me and Carmine are going to dye the thread of course, but I don't actually need a carpet. I live upstairs and my wooden floor is warm enough and easier to clean anyway. I'd like Amor to be one of the first ponies to get a carpet, though."

Virtue nods. "Well, alright, if you'd prefer to give her your spot in the list that's fine. I'll have to get back with you on the price exactly... I'll have to talk to Longshot first."

"Of course" answers Indigo. "Another matter is that well, it has been a while since the rainbow pony massacre and they have been sending assassins instead of diplomats. I think we may as well consider the goods from the caravan to be a property of Dawpnick, but there may be some legal procedures for that. It is a matter of practicality. There is no way to give them back now and they just occupy space in the warehouse.

"That is a good point..." she admits. "I don't think giving them back to the rainbows is much of an option, nor would it likely do much good at this point." She thinks about the contents of the caravan and says, "Perhaps they brought some cloth or thread with them. I think it's reasonable to put any of their supplies to use in making the rugs. Anything else, well, Longshot has the records now, he'll have to decide what to do with it all. I'll ask him about that too. Was there anything else?"

"No, that is all. Thank you and goodbye." says Indigo and goes away, looking pleased. Well, I didn't get everything for free, but Amor should be happy. Other ponies on the ground floor as well.

After Indigo leaves, Virtue collects a few work orders from her desk and jots down a few numbers. Longshot could help her get it all settled and get started on all of this. The carpets were a great idea, really. She wondered why nopony had brought it up before.

(( PROVERB: If a beggar asks you for an apple, give him only half an apple, so that he won’t go crazy from happiness. Or better yet, find somepony else to give him an apple. That way you will make two ponies happy: the one who gives and the one who receives. ))

(( NOTE: There are no carpets, floor rugs or tapestries in-game. They are just an unpopular suggestion on ESV. Therefore the carpet idea is purely in-RP with no in-game representation (the closest thing would be putting lots of ropes in every room, but that's kinda creepy.) ))

(( NOTE: I assume the price of the cheapest rug to be 20 bits per tile. 200 bits is quite a bargain for a well or finely crafted carpet of dyed thread, covering the whole room of 9 tiles. The full price should be 1000 bits per carpet or more, that's why Indigo asked for a subsidy. He could afford it anyway, but a gift for Amor is not worth that much to him. ))

(( Maklak says: Well, my head cannon is that the rooms in dormitories are like blocks of flats. Standard items, such as bed, table, window, chairs, chest, cabinet and shelves are considered to be a part of the room and provided for free (or with the rent or whatever). Ponies can customise their rooms above and beyond it. Amor's room lacks even some of the standard items, so they should be given to her, unless she doesn't want them. ))
(( Telgin says: That fits with about what I imagined too. [..] ))

(( Telgin says: Of course, I've already used up a lot of the crap from the caravan, if not all of it by now, but for RP purposes... ))

[Maklak]

(( Obsidian 261, almost three months after Kit was wounded in the caverns: Amor gets gifts from Indigo. ))

After proposing to Lady Virtue that some carpets be made for ponies living on the ground floor, Indigo got one of the first for Amor, by letting her take his spot in the queue. This caused some raised eyebrows, especially when he moved her new carpet to his room, but he managed to get it in her name and at reduced price. He also made (and got paid for making) a =grabbo table= and carried the work order for two chairs and a shelf to Longshot. It resulted in Silver Tongue making two -lemon tree chairs- and one -lemon tree shelf-. With the carpet rolled in his room and the receipts for two chairs, one shelf and one table, he was looking forward to see Amor. The price was affordable: 200 bits for the carpet and nothing for the furniture, which she should have anyway. She was certainly taking her time in the caverns, but ponies exiting the mines told him that she just  kept working a lot and was fine, so he didn't worry. In the meantime, a few other ponies got their carpets.

Amor ascended from the mine and was met by the late afternoon sun, fading off in the distant west. The mare fought off a bout of vertigo and photo-sensitivity and went to clean herself up at the well. After that she went about catching up on the news and talking to what friends she had, saving her favourite one for last. She knocks with her hoof on the palm door to Indigo's room and lightly shouts; “Indigo, it's me, are you home?” Things have been mostly uneventful on the surface and this made Amor happy, but only so much could be learned from listening to ponies chatting along the roads.

Winter days are short, so everypony finished work early. Indigo worked on transmuting leftovers from the kitchen into wood. It isn't as good as natural varieties, but is quite suitable as fuel or for making planks. Since he wears his guard uniform to work, he got into the habit of spending some time on its maintenance everyday. He is cleaning his helmet, just before going to eat dinner, when he hears Amor. He is quite happy to finally speak to her after two months. He opens his door with telekinesis, “Come in, I'm just finishing up, so we can talk.” His room hasn't changed much, except there is now a rolled carpet in the middle of it. Indigo puts away his chaffron and cleaning utensils and waits for her to enter.

Sighing in relief at the stallion's presence in his room, she opens the door more and sways it half close for some privacy. To her surprise, she sees a pig tail carpet, dyed beetroot red and midnight blue lying rolled in the centre of the room. Amor looks over it briefly and gazes back at the blue pony. “Hello Indigo, did you make the carpet with your own hooves?” She asks in her normal quiet tone, as she enters his room.

Indigo smiles at her. “No, I just dyed the thread for it. I got it as a gift for you. Just let me grab a few things and we can carry it to your room.” He takes a few documents from his drawer, along with a hammer and some nails, places them all in his saddlebags and puts them on, then turns to face Amor. 

As the blue unicorn dons his saddlebags while talking, Amor walks further into his room. She marvels at the gift carpet with her peripheral vision, not taking her eyes off of Indigo. She wonders about the full extent of the pattern and the papers he took. “And the documents? Are we going to see the Duchess or mayor later?”

Indigo expected her to be more surprised at getting a gift, even more so an expensive carpet, but decides not to ask, if she already knew about it. “Later. I already paid for the carpet, but since it is for you and you get a subsidy, you need to sign the receipt. Now, let's get this to your room.” says Indigo as he lifts the carpet and puts it on his back at about a quarter of its length and gestures for Amor to do the same.

Amor moves under the remainder of the carpet and speculates on what he meant by subsidies. I recall signing some documents when first migrating here and receiving a room. Something about gratis furnishing for the room, but I rejected it on the account that others were waiting for their furniture and I didn't want to be a burden. She leads the two out the door and down the stairs with some difficulty and Indigo pauses briefly to close his room. At her apartment, she uses her horn to simultaneously unlock both the mundane and the hidden bolt to throw off any suspicion. As she opens the door, she is surprised to see two months worth of accumulated dust in her room. “I think this should have been the first place I came to after the caverns.”

“Is something wrong?” asks Indigo, standing too far to see inside her room, with the carpet still on his back.

A thin layer of dust is covering all flat surfaces in the room and some of it was stirred into the air by the change of pressure caused by opening the door. A cloud of dust reaches Amor's nose and she cutely sneezes. “Dust is everywhere, maybe before visiting others, I should have cleaned up. Can you wait as I get rid of the dust?”

“Ah. Sure” Why haven't I thought of that? “Let's just leave this in the corridor and hope nopony complains.” It is not like we are leaving a drunk Jaxler outside. Come to think of it, maybe I should leave him laying across Sarissa's door if he hits me too hard during sparring? “I'll go get a broom”. answers Indigo as he drops the carpet on the floor and goes back to his room.

Nodding, Amor sets the carpet to the side of the hall, striving not to impede any ponies coming by. The curly mane pony carefully enters her room, trying her best not to kick up too much dust and opens the window. She ponders on where to move her already present furniture in case it gets in the way. Amor gazes out of her room and sees nopony about. Her horn blazes a radiant azure glow as she telekinetically grabs her bed, cabinet and chest, moves them outside and leaves them out of the way.

Indigo grabs a broom, a scoop, a brush, a bucket for the dust and some rags. Should I get a bucket of water too? No, it is too cold for that, and we need to put the carpet on a dry floor. He returns to her room and sees her standing in the middle of it, just after removing her furniture. He puts all the tools next to her door. She moved all of this by herself so quickly? She really is strong and resourceful. “Here” he moves a clean piece of cloth in front of her, while tying a similar one over his face, “makes it easier to breathe with all the dust.” He telekinetically picks up a broom and begins to swipe her floor.

Amor ties the rag around her head, as a makeshift dust mask. She then takes the bucket with rags and proceeds to clean the crags and higher places from cobwebs. Afterwards she moves to clean the furniture that is outside of her room. Guess I won't have to do much cleaning in the spring now, the mare thinks as she wipes the dust off of her bed's headboard. As this goes on, the bucket fills with sweepings collected by the two ponies and the rags turn to blackish-brown colour.

Indigo works slowly and deliberately, with short swipes to minimise spreading the dust into the air. He collects it in piles, then moves it on the scoop and puts it deeply into the bucket before emptying it, again not to lift too much dust into the air. When he is done with this, he puts the bucket and the broom outside her room.

Coming back with her bed-sheets upon her back after dusting them off, she finds Indigo placing the bucket of dust outside her room. “Are we ready to lay down the carpet?” She says with a hint of excitement. Glad he didn't find my floor cache. The mare's mind drifts into worry.

“Almost done.” He switches to one of his utility spells and cleans all the dirt left in her room, until the place is nearly spotless. As he moves the active area of his spell to one of the corners, he notices a lingering spell, pauses for a moment and frowns. Seems to be some kind of alarm spell, but one I'm unfamiliar with. Oh well, this must be a stash. I didn't know she knows any spell other than weak telekinesis, but maybe some other pony did it for her. Nevermind. He just continues cleaning until he is done.

Watching as the stallion manipulates the 'strings of fate' to disperse the dust and grime, makes Amor a little envious. She knows about the spell, but she has spent too much of her training under her Old Master, learning less beneficial magic craft. Then her heart begins to race as his spell grazes the hidden compartment. The binding and mercury traps were superiorly crafted and well hidden and would be unaffected by his spell, but she could not tell if Indigo noticed them or not. He notices it, just brush it aside Amor. Indigo respects your privacy and would never force it open. Amor thinks, staying cool and lets Indigo finish his work.

“I think we're ready,” says Indigo as he turns to Amor, then looks at the carpet. She nods and they move it inside her room, unroll it and place it on the floor. It covers it whole and fits her room almost perfectly.

Amor is happy with her rough cinnabar floor being completely covered by the soft carpet. It is midnight blue in the centre and trimmed beetroot red. The mare feels the fabric under her hooves. “Thank you Indigo, for being such a good friend.” She says, forgetting that he even noticed her cache.

“Well, I wanted to repay you for that night two months ago. You really helped me. Now, is your furniture ready to move back?” he walks out of her room and applies to her furnishings the same cleaning spell, he used for her floor.

“I'm glad to be of help to my friends. Yes, it is time to move the furniture in,” she says nodding and walks out of her door with Indigo. Out in the corridor, she enjoys watching him work his cleaning magic. When he is done, they return each item to its original place. The carpet balances the colour of wooden walls and items, but clashes in Amor's eyes with her conjured wild strawberry chest. She pays it little mind.

“I'll be back, just let me get rid of all this stuff,” says Indigo as he collects all the cleaning utensils he brought. He walks outside to clean them, carries them back to his room and cleans himself on the way. When he gets back, he uses the same cleaning spell on her.

The curly mane mare marvels at her room as Indigo is away, but her attention is carried to her own grime. Much of her upper forelegs and her mane are off colour and dusty. As she turns to head towards the west exit of the central dormitory, Indigo catches her in his spell. It tickles and lightly tugs at her coat and mane. “Indigo, I'm not a little filly any more, the well is right outside.” She says in mock protest and suppressing a laugh.

“Oh, sorry, I got carried away. You do have some dust on you, and this is faster, you know.” Indigo smirks, but continues. “Besides, you won't get wet and I'm almost done anyway.”

Amor lets the stallion continue, enjoying it, until she reflects about the last time she had this much foalish fun. Ashlar… Indigo's magic starts to leave behind a faintly burning sensation, but she tolerates it for a time and then says with a light dominating tone; “I think I'm clean enough, Indigo.” He finishes quickly and they head back into her room.

Indigo follows her inside and pulls a document out of his saddlebag. “This is the receipt for the carpet. As a dyer I could get one of the first ever made, but since you live on the ground floor, and it's for you, you get a subsidy. As you can see, I already paid the reduced price for it,” he points to the place with 'paid 200 bits' and Longshot's signature. “This is bending the rules a bit, but Lady Virtue approved it and nopony protested about it. Just sign here and take it to Longshot in the morning.” He looks at the carpet. “By the way, Spool would like to have some feedback about his carpets. For example, does it move to the side of the room over time? Is it too big and a smaller one or several smaller ones would be better? Is it more difficult to clean than the stone floor? I'd imagine it so, because to beat it outside, you'll need to move all your furniture. Does it make your room any warmer and cosier?  Does it make moving chairs over the floor more difficult? That sort of thing.”

Amor is surprised that Indigo would forward his carpet to her and bend the rules to get the price down. The bargain made her look at the stallion with a little shocked, but happy expression. Something like this should cost at least three times that. The mention of chairs confuses the mare; Spool's question for feedback may have been generic, but she still looks at the side of her room where she would place the chairs. “Maybe I should buy some chairs, if I'm going to invite more friends over.”

“Oh, about that.” Indigo pulls out three more receipts from his saddlebag and gives them to her. “Every room should have a table, two or more chairs and a shelf. This one didn't, so I cleared that up for you. Your new furniture is waiting in the warehouse, so let's go pick it up. You don't have to pay for it, as standard furnishings come free with every room.”

Again, Amor's mind is thrown back to when she first received the room and allowed others to furnish their rooms before hers. It was high time for her to receive her furniture. The two walk to the warehouse, where Indigo uses his light spell. He leads her to a =gabbro-stone table=, two -lemon-tree chairs- and a -lemon-tree shelf-. She examines the table and the hoof-work matches what is stated in the receipt. A thought crosses the mare's mind. “Indigo, did you happen to receive payment for this?”

Indigo laughs at that. “Well, I had a work order for a table, so I saw no reason not to do it myself and get paid for it. Furniture are some of the better paid orders. I didn't do the chairs and shelf, because I'm not as good with wood as I am with stone, so I just left those work orders with Longshot. Sure, I could have made two stone thrones, but those are heavy and unwieldy, so chairs are simply better. You have no reason to complain, I did a very good job on that table... or would you prefer to get the work order, make it yourself and get paid?” He laughs again. Not that I don't have savings, but every bit helps... and 200 bits is still a significant expense.

Amor joins Indigo's cheer, amused by the notion of getting paid for furnishing her own apartment. I would have never thought to do that. I wonder if anypony else ever gave me a gift and got compensated for it, instead of paying. The mare places the table on her back and finds it to be rather heavy, but nothing compared to the solid stone boulders that she dealt with at the masons' workshops. Indigo takes the chair and shelves. As the two return to Amor's room, she breaks the silence of the night. “Indigo, have you done this for anypony else?”

“What do you mean? Have I gone from room to room with a check-list and reported everything missing to Longshot? No. It is actually a good idea, but I'd rather somepony else did it. I'm not directly responsible for providing furniture to everypony.” answers Indigo. And I'd rather not see some of them anyway.

Amor shakes her head. “I meant have you ever showered another pony with gifts like you are with me?” She questions, wondering what she means to the stallion.

“Oh, that. Not really, or rather not for a long time. Anyway, like I said, you really helped me that night in Timber, and I abused your hospitality. I got you the carpet to compensate for it. I got you the furniture, because with all the trouble it took with carpets, it was easy, and the cost was actually negative.” Indigo smirks, but she is in front of him, and can't see that. “If you're asking, if I have some ulterior motive for giving you things, I don't. But then again, if I did, I wouldn't tell you, would I?” he laughs.

With a fuddled heart the mare mentally sighs; Please, why do you have to play with my damaged heart. Maybe I could invade your mind and see all your schemes for myself… She almost hangs her head in disappointed on her own thoughts. “Thank you Indigo, more for being a friend than anything.” She whispers. The two get to her room and place the table down against one of her walls and put the chairs next to it. Then Indigo nails her shelf to the highwood wall of her choice, using tools from his saddlebag. Glaive and Falcata complain about it through the wall, but are answered with cheerful “We'll finish soon!” When the shelf is in place, Indigo asks. “Are you hungry? I haven't eaten yet, so that's what I'm going to do now. Are you coming?” He collects his tools and turns to leave.

“I have lost track of time down in the caverns and missed a few meals, so I could eat.” Amor says as she snuffs out the candles in her apartment. Before closing and locking up her room, she marvels at how cosy it got and then goes with the stallion to the dining hall.

Indigo gives her a quizzical look. You missed a few meals, didn't even go to your room to change, and visited me first? Something is off about your priorities. Unless you just wanted to say hi, and I took up a few hours of your time instead. “You should have said so. I had my flask and some biscuits with me the whole time.” They briefly split to pick up their food. “Let's get this back to your room, shall we? Redecorating an apartment is as good an opportunity to celebrate as any.”

Amor joins him, loaded with a tray of carrot and celery soup. Hearing his proposal, she thinks that it is rather late and doesn't want to disturb her neighbours any further. “Indigo, the dining hall is nearly empty, do you mind if we eat here? We have already caused enough commotion for tonight. Besides, I wouldn't want to soil my new carpet and table so soon.”

Indigo rises his brow at that, but nods and points to an empty spot in the dining hall. They go there, sit and eat. “You haven't told me anything about your stay in the caverns yet. I asked a few ponies who left before you, but they said nothing interesting happened. How is the wall progressing? I'd imagine the scaffolding takes a lot of time.”

Setting down and eating with as much elegance as a unicorn pretending to be an earth pony can manage, she recounts the boring parts and tells him about her time with Sarissa and that the wall is going to be completed in the summer next year. She finishes the tale with her general impression. “I love the caverns, they have so much that can be explored and the life down there is nothing like the surface. From the white Tower-caps to the mystery of the cave spiders. I enjoy the sheen of their webs, but it is nothing like the webs of slippy-ponies.” She doesn't mention her experience with the Draltha, not to hurt Indigo's feelings.

Indigo stops eating as he remembers his own experiences below. “Yes, the caverns are beautiful. The expedition to explore the area around our airlock and set up the alarms, was quite an experience. The problem is... there are some really dangerous creatures down there, so we do need the wall. Though when I looked at the map, I couldn't help, but think that we could have secured a bigger area with similar effort.”



After slurping down some of her soup, she thinks on how to set Indigo's worries aside. “There are always the other cavern levels. We can learn from our mistakes and not repeat them, when building new walls there. If we spend too much time fixing the mistakes of the past, the future will pass us by. We do have plans for the other cavern levels, don't we?”

Indigo sighs and closes his eyes. Then looks at her and speaks. “The deeper we dig, the worse it gets. About the most dangerous things we found in the first cavern are Dralthas. Below that, there are some giant abominations. Yes, there are plans to kill them and we have a trap, but it failed twice so far. The most sensible plan at this point would probably be to build a really thick wall between us and those things, but even when there wasn't an airlock, something got into the mines and killed Wool.” He sighs again. Thinking about it makes him lose his appetite, but he forces himself to eat the rest of his supper, keeping his eyes on the food.

Amor notices Indigo's change of mood and her own stomach ties in knots. “I have noted that the newer mine entrance, same as the old one, has no hatches, or any other way to be sealed off, if we needed to. The rules here are so lax that anypony could walk in at a whim and get in trouble.” Her tone is gloomy and she thinks; Even a foal or two have come close to dying in the mines. It would be best to end this topic. “Are you happy to be dyeing thread and cloth again?”

Indigo swallows and looks at her. “That is a good idea, actually. When the entrance to the mines was outside the gate, locking it made little sense, but now it does. Although... anypony stuck inside would be on their own, and we would either lose access to the mines or need to take them back by force anyway.” He frowns. “It is not a bad idea, but I don't think it to be a brilliant one either. All it would do is to trap some ponies inside, while the military takes time to mobilise.” His eyes light up a bit. “Yes, I'm pretty happy to finally be dyeing something. I have nothing against masonry, but I still prefer doing things related to my special talent.”

Amor enjoys the new direction their discussion is taking. She drinks down some lime juice, not taking her eyes off Indigo. Her ears scan around once in awhile but the stallion holds her interest. She sits her cup down and speaks. “I can enjoy doing things outside of my gift of working with stone, but there is nothing like working in your element. Hearing the chipping stone and seeing an image take shape in rock… there is nothing like it.” Her eyes glimmer but soon fade. “I also enjoyed working with clay, but we went so long without a kiln that my skills become rusty and faded. Is it the same with you?”

Indigo smiles, listening to her passionately talking about stones, then answers. “Yes, I forgot a few things I thought I knew, but I'm getting back in shape. I'm... sorry for you about the kiln, but there isn't much you can make out of clay, that we can't make out of stone or wood and the fuel is needed for making steel.”

Amor is pleased to hear that Indigo is getting back to speed with his forte, but also a little apprehensive that his job as a dyer is going to put him away from her during work. When she first made friends with Indigo, the stallion was usually but a stone throw away, even when he worked at the craft-shops... Then he joined the reserves and the mason workshops were moved closer to the entrance. Maybe some separation might keep this from progressing. “I'm happy for you.” After saying that, she stays silent for the short remainder of their late dinner.

After their late meal, Indigo sees her off to her door, where they bid each other goodnight. Afterwards he goes to his room to prepare to sleep. He feels happy and tired. As he lays in his bed, he recalls the events of the past few hours. She wasn't as surprised or happy or impressed as I expected her to be. Did she know beforehoof about this? Maybe she is just really good at 'expecting the unexpected', as Sekashi would put it? She seemed a bit concerned about me 'showering her with gifts', but a little caution is always good. Well, maybe I overdid it? The furniture was easy enough, but the carpets needed some thinking and work. Does she think... well, I am very fond of her, and it is a possibility, but... that would be a very serious decision and there is much, I don't know about her. Well, for now I'll just stop giving her things and give her some more breathing room instead. That should help to calm her down, although... I do like spending time with her. Oh well, at least it made me happy to make her happy, thinks Indigo as he falls asleep. The next day he wakes up rested and in good mood.

Alarmed by Indigo's abnormal chivalrous behaviour, she has a slight panic attack, but it subsides soon after he leaves instead of entering her room to stay for the night. Back inside she takes pleasure in her new furniture, sliding the lemon coloured and scented chairs around. I need to thank Silver Tongue later too. Her nose catches a rather obnoxious odour that was not much different from that of tanners. The scent reminds her of Indigo and she lies down on her new pig tail thread carpet, enjoying its retention of heat. Sadly, it does not last long until her coat and skin start to burn. She shakes it off as being new and the excess dyes have yet to hold the fabric, but doubt lingers on the edge of her mind. Maybe, you got a problem Amor. She gets dressed for bed and sleeps, having a nightmare where everypony is covered in thistle and weeds.

Next morning, feeling just short of well-rested, she does her usual morning routines and proceeds to the manor; this was before Longshot's golden door mandate, which Amor would later see as distastefully immodest. In his office she is flabbergasted to learn that Indigo set up the whole scheme, which will be beneficial to many ponies, presumably just to get her a carpet at a discount price. A part of Amor does not enjoy this display of affection; she is ill-suited to return it, even if she has feelings for Indigo. She likes neither the pain that it causes her, nor the future pain it could cause Indigo. Still, when the stallion is in her sight, the mare's heart flutters at times. You can't be wise and in love at the same time Amor, so stop trying. The pony thinks to herself at times in confusion. She is standoffish to Indigo for a week, but after a month her feelings and their relations return to normal.


(( NOTE: Moving the furniture in the evening and early night is a lot of commotion. I'm sure, some ponies noticed it. Especially those living on the ground floor of the central dormitory, such as Glaive or Falcata, but it was just easier for me and Psalms to do this scene alone. The carpets should be common knowledge by now, and so is Indigo and Amor spending a lot of time together. ))

(( NOTE: Just for the lolz at what poor Silver Tongue must have come through, take a look at this. ))

(( NOTE: Psalms says: At cost, a carpet would be worth around 2450 bits. That's not including workponyship, dye, or anything else. Worked out the size of a cape, worked out the size of an average bedroom in real life for DF, used that as a basis. For a six tile rug, you're looking at 25 and 1/3 yards of carpeting. An average cape for an adult is 1 yard of material. Working out at one bolt of cloth for a cape, 98*25.33 = ~2450. Dsarker's maths and my don't match. Toady settled for a square being 2x2x3 m. Witch if it was 1 tile wide... makes the cost up to 3266 bits. We're talking almost double the cost, 6468 bits. 9798 if triple. Carpet is expensive stuff. ))
(( Maklak says: Let's just settle for the full price being rounded to a thousand bits for 9 tile room. A carpet definitely shouldn't cost more than ten thousand bits. One more thing: Furniture is tied to rooms, not to ponies, so if your pony paid 200 bits for a carpet while living downstairs and moves upstairs, the carpet stays where it was.))

[zomara0292]

, , Savory, and Whirlwind

"Keep going." commanded Jury, adding another tally mark to the parchment. "Twenty-one more to go." The prone figure in front of her and Partisan had long since ceased pleading, now only making the occasional agonised cry or groan. Apparently, Virtue really hated having her bins exported, because this was one of the most excessive yet permissible punishments Jury had ever seen issued, never mind by such a seemingly meek pony. Maybe she really was a terrible, terrible judge of character. Virtue was apparently full of surprises.

“Look at him.” Partisan pleaded. “He’s had enough. Let's give him some leniency.”

“Lady Virtue has finally started to grow a spine; you will enforce the punishment she has laid out, as the guard captain of this town! Now strike again!” replied Jury coldly, averting her gaze from the battered, whimpering pegasus on the floor.

Partisan raised his crossbow as commanded, to strike again, but lost his strength and nearly dropped it coming down. Though the strike was feeble, it still stung the poor creature when it came into contact with his bruised skin. Partisan shrank a bit with the pained moan.
“We have to stop. I can’t do this anymore.”

“You will stop when you have completed your orders, Partisan, and not one strike further! Continue!” ordered Jury, still resolutely looking anywhere but at the stricken figure of Whirlwind.

“Damn it Jury,” he said as he raised his bow once more. "It’s not like he stole something!" It was obvious that he was not liking this one bit. He struck three more times, each one far weaker than the last.

“Partisan,” hissed Jury, looking somewhat uncomfortable herself now, “it is not ou- your place to question, only to act. Virtue has mandated forty strikes, and forty you shall deal. And gods help us, you shall strike him properly!” 

Damn the mandate. That thought stuck with Partisan until he had only ten blows left. By that point he was fed up. He did not want to lay another hoof on the ill fated pony.
“No. More.” Partisan slurred out with an angry huff. His vision was getting red and his temper was rising. He didn’t agree to being the Captain of the Guard so he could hurt others, but so he could help them. What was he doing this for? On the floor, Whirlwind's whimpers continued to come, the unfortunate pegasus long beyond listening or counting. If he thought forty had come and gone, he was about to be cruelly mistaken.

By this point, Jury had turned away from the pitiful sight, doubt and duty warring within her. Even to her, forty whole strikes with an appropriate instrument seemed excessive, especially for the apparent crime of flouting a trade embargo, but as she’d said to Partisan it was not her place to question.
“Partisan! Proceed! Proceed or stand aside and I shall do your duty in your stead, if you are so unwilling!” she forced herself to say, keeping her face as rigid as ever. The punishment is within legal limits...but at the very, very maximum. Yet what we are doing is right, by all the laws of the land... she tried to reassure herself.

“I will not have you do this! Ever!" Partisan had no choice but to submit once again. He could not and would not let Jury go through the actual pain of harming somepony she knew. With each new hit, he tried to hold back a bit, but Whirlwind’s pained howls only grew in volume. Five left and once again the screams seemed to fill the room.
“Jury.” Partisan's voice came out flat and pained itself, though it could barely be heard over the screams of agony.

“Five more,” stated Jury, now looking decidedly nauseous. “Finish it and- and the next one can be brought in. Get it over with, Partisan!” she snapped, wishing the macabre spectacle would end. At least nopony could say they had shirked their duty.

He only grunted his reply. Swallowing hard, he closed his eyes and gave the last five strikes. Each one shook Whirlwind’s body until he went completely limp from the immense pain.
In fear Partisan checked him carefully. He was breathing, but barely. Partisan took his time to carefully remove Whirlwind from his binds so as to bring him no more pain.
“He is going to the hospital. We can let him rest it off for a bit, but he has to go to the hospital.”

“Yes,” mumbled the purple mare, crossing the room slowly. “Straight to the hospital.” Her gaze alighted on the chained figure of Savory as she opened the door, her expression half mournful and half baleful. Beforehoof, she would have given him her usual death glare, glad to see him suffer retribution like the criminal he was, but now even she wasn’t so sure. Not for a crime so mild.

There was deep fear in Savory's eyes as he looked on to his fate, soon to be shared with the unmoving, brutalised pegasus in the room beyond. It looked like they had beaten him until he was dead and was just going to leave him on some straw. He squirmed in his chains, hoping to get free and run away.
“This ain’t right!” he screamed as he looked at the seemingly malicious intent on Jury’s face.

“Be quiet!” barked Jury, already feeling sickened and in no mood to deal with a rowdy prisoner. “Be quiet and await your sanction!”

"No! Why should I? I did nothing wrong!" Savory quieted down after that anyway, more out of caution than fear. He brooded and plotted as she came close. Some of the spells he'd learned over the years for scaling and boning tough fish had worked to some degree on his chains. If she came close enough...

"I told you to be silen-" began Jury before Savory interrupted her by ramming his face right into hers, pushing her on her rear and breaking his chains totally at the same time.
Caught completely off guard but reacting on instinct, Jury nevertheless shunted a jolt of electricity into her horn, a protective measure she'd picked up years back in Coupledye. The defensive spell went wild on account of her panic, however, and her horn fizzled out in an unimpressive display. So she screamed instead. Loudly.
"PARTISAN!"
Savory pinned the mare beneath him, jabbing his now-lit horn painfully into her throat and locking two fear-filled eyes with hers, though he addresses Partisan.
“I never did anything! Whirlwind neither! Stay the buck away and let me go or I swear I’ll k-”

The snapping of the chain, popping of a failed spell, and frightened cry of his wife jolted him straight into attention. He bolted toward them with all the speed his wings could muster, dropping the injured Whirlwind in the process. As he rammed into Savory, he caught a glimpse of Jury laying on the ground, clutching a bruised head and a slightly bleeding throat with two hooves. His anger returned to him as he bucked hard, forcing his target to tumble around a bend, and continued to give flight.

“Partisan!” cried Jury, picking herself up and stumbling after him, staggering up the corridor towards the violent noises from around the corner. As she comes into view of the scene, though, she freezes in shock at the sight before her.

Partisan and Savory were wrestling on the floor; each one trying to gain the upper hoof on one another. Partisan raised his crossbow to try and knock him out, but was interrupted by a small flash of light from the unicorn's horn and a flailing hoof. The attack hit him straight in the jaw, which gave way to a painful sounding click. Savory watched as the weapon fell and landed off to the side, tearing his attention from the pegasus. This gave Partisan just enough time to recover and strike back, throwing an angry hoof right into Savory’s face. And again. And again. And again. The blows rained down like lightning, his fury knowing no bounds. The punches were totally without restraint, fuelled by an immense anger, thundering down with lethal force on the increasingly bloodied and defenseless unicorn.

“Stop! Stop! Subdue and restrain him again, we can deal with him after tending to Whirlwind! Partisan, stop!” shouted Jury, leaning against the wall for support. Her head was still spinning, magical feedback and blunt trauma not proving helpful when you were trying to stand up.

Several more blows were made before Jury could finally snap him back into reality. But the sight of what he did pushed him far past that. There in his hoof was a broken stallion struggling just to make a last labored breath. He had seen it many times before in the past. One time in particular haunted him, and, though he was on the same end, the shoe was now on the other hoof. Even as he watched in horror, Savory's final breath slackened and he slumped, utterly still.
“What did I. . . .” Partisan choked on his words as he looked from his bloody hooves to the cook.

“Partisan?” asked Jury, coming closer, perturbed by the unnatural and sudden quiet. “Partisan?”

He didn’t speak. He didn’t even move. No tears were shed, just silence. Silence mixed with dread. All these years, he claimed that his loyalty belonged with the ponies of Dawnpick. Here he was, now, holding a citizen of Dawnpick, of whom he was to protect, in a crippled position that he had caused. he was the lowest of the low. No better than his father.

“Partisa-” began Jury, cutting herself off as the realisation hit her in turn. “Oh my gods...” She abruptly turned away, retching all over the floor at the sight of the dead cook.

Partisan turned to ask Jury to carry the newly dead pony only to be met with the sight of her heaving the dinner they had earlier all over the floor. He just left her to finish and did his best to carry the body on his back to the dungeon. Whirlwind was still there, lying awkwardly in some straw.

Eventually, Jury came to her senses, and wordlessly trudged over to Whirlwind, lifting the unconscious, battered pony onto her back and setting off for the hospital, a haunted, vacant expression on her face. She was going to Virtue about this as soon as she could, make no mistake. Jury would have found it humorously ironic, were she in any state to do so.

(Some time before)

It was a slow day today, like it had been for the the last few weeks. Partisan was busy making dinner while Jury went out to get some fresh apples and wine. There was a soft knock at the door, but Partisan was in his own little world and didn't notice it, nor the papers left under the door.

Jury opened the door, various food items levitated in a basket beside her. Her hooves crunched down on parchment as she entered, and she coughed to get her fiancé’s attention.
“Partisan. Papers on the floor again. Rectify, now.” She trotted on past, heading for the desk to put the basket down.

“Give me a second, Juju.” he said, just to spite her. Partisan chewed on a bit of lettuce as he walked over to get whatever it was that Jury called him for. The paper in question was quite new but the words seemed be written in a bit of a rush.
“It’s official looking, but I’ll read it after dinner.” Partisan exclaimed to as he began to put it with other documents he had to read that day.

“Read it now, you lazy colt,” snapped Jury, irritated by Partisan using that abhorrent pet name for her again. “Or you shall be getting no dinner at all.”

“Hey,” he jokingly snapped back, “I cooked it. I should at least get to taste it.” But he submitted anyway, picking up the letter and opening it. His eyes went wide at what he saw. It didn't make any sense to him.
“Jury. We will talk about this after dinner.” His voice was firm, indicating that this wasn’t one of his usual suggestions.

“What? Is it important?” queried Jury immediately, recognising Partisan’s tone. She abandons sorting through the contents of her basket, looking towards the now stony-faced guard captain with a serious expression of her own.

“”After dinner.” That was all he said as he went back to finish making the meal, carrying the Official note with him so Jury would not see it. in the kitchen, he could be heard speaking to himself.
“This was supposed to be a nice and quiet day. I was supposed to sit down and talk to my wife about the wedding, but no. This had to come up. Of all things.”
His ranting continued until he came out with a prepared meal for them.
Dinner was quiet, though. Partisan just couldn't find any words to lift up his now drooping spirits.

“Are you all right?” asked Jury eventually, after the umpteenth long, silent minute had gone by. “You seem distracted.”

“I. . .” He considered telling her he was, but that would be a lie.
“No. No I am not. We just got an edict from Virtue. Two ponies are to receive beatings, and another three are to be put in jail.” Partisan got up, unable to finish his portion of the meal, and walked back into the kitchen.

Jury nearly choked on her food, spluttering briefly in an attempt to recover. Beatings? That wasn’t the Virtue she knew, not by a long shot.
“Are you sure?” she called after him, her gaze fixated on her plate as if it held the answers to the many questions whirling round her mind. “On what grounds?” Never would I have thought that Virtue would ever actually pony up to any degree, let alone hoof out beatings. The perpetrators must have done something terrible to warrant that from such a mild-mannered pony.

Partisan came out once more, this time with papers in his maw.
“This says why they are in the trouble they are in, but says nothing as to why such a decision was made. Its not marked urgent, but it says that it has to be done today.” He placed it all in front of the unicorn so that she could see it for herself.

Jury read the papers with interest, surprised and almost...impressed with their contents. "For breaking a trade embargo...the sentence Virtue has imposed is near the maximum possible, perhaps even the maximum." So much for 'a soft touch'!
She looked up at Partisan, her expression neutral. "Well, we shall do as we are bidden. Standard procedure - you will execute the sentence and I shall act as official confirmation that the punishment was dealt properly."

He hated when Jury said things like that but it was late and he’d rather not make things worse for them by getting her worked up. Giving her a nod, they got to work writing up a quick summons for use in getting the ponies in question to come without a fight. It worked for the most part. The most trouble they had came from Whirlwind, who was quieted only by Jury throwing around her rank and other stern words.

[Kryptid]

It was a bit over a month since Sarissa had asked for Moral's advice about pyrokinetics. Another day of experimentation was at hand. The armored mare had set up a testing site just outside of Dawnpick's walls on a wide patch of barren soil. Several items were present; a small glass container holding blood procured from the butcher shop, a strip of scrapped steel left over from the blacksmiths, and a bucket of water for safety. Enchanting a piece of practice metal before attempting it with her own axe would insure that her valued weapon would not be harmed. She had the basic knowledge of blood and heat, but combining them in a meaningful way would be tricky.

Her method was to enchant the strip of steel with a prototype spell, but not inject any magical energy into it at first. Then, a drop of blood would be placed on top of the metal. From a safe distance, Sarissa would proceed to douse the area with magic, charging the enchanted steel with enough energy to activate the spell. The process proved to be draining on the unicorn, which limited the number of attempts she could try per day. Because of other responsibilities, Sarissa is unable to experiment as often as she would like to. Over the weeks of her experimentation, she had taken notes of what had occurred during various attempts on each day. The summary of her discoveries are as follows:

Spells #1 through #5: Enchanted steel has no apparent effect on blood (multiple corrections made, but no activity yet seen).

Spell #6: Enchanted steel causes drop of blood to blacken and dry into ash. No heat present.

Spell #7: Enchanted steel has no apparent effect on blood (must have made a mistake in tweaking Spell #6).

Spells #8 through #10: Enchanted steel causes drop of blood to rapidly convert into red smoke. No heat present.

Spell #11: Enchanted steel causes drop of blood to burn and melt through the steel as if it were concentrated acid. Much heat present, but blood does not boil even though steel becomes very hot (In essence, the reverse process of goal spell).

Spell #12: Enchanted steel causes drop of blood to heat rapidly, exploding in shower of orange sparks. Cracks left in steel afterwards.

Spell #13: Same as Spell #12, except steel explodes as well. No injuries sustained (need to reduce rate of heating and procure new strip of steel).

Spell #14 through Spell #16: Enchanted steel causes drop of blood to bubble and boil. Steel also heats up enough to begin melting (step in the right direction, but reduce heat further).

Spell #17: Same as Spell #16, except steel appears unharmed (Looks promising!).

After modifying her prototype enchantment many times, Sarissa believes that the seventeenth variant of the spell may be the winner. The unicorn seeks further testing in order to insure there are no adverse side effects. In every repeated test, the steel remains perfectly intact, no matter how much blood is poured onto it and boiled away. Now feeling confident, the axe-pony decides to imbue the metal blades of Elegy with the spell. The two silvery blades now glow the same green color as her magic as the spell is charged up. She admires the luminescent iron alloy for a few moments before allowing the energy to dissipate. As her axe's appearance returns to normal, Sarissa heads back for the inside of Dawnpick's walls. She is rather happy that everything appeared to go well. Appearances, however, can be deceptive...

[jaxler]

and Clear Skies.


Oh Jaxler had a nice night. He spent all his time tonight drinking. The pony won 3 drinking games tonight, and by the time he stumbled out the meeting hall door, he had left 4 empty barrels in his wake. He wandered around the fort for around 10 minutes before dropping his crossbow in a tree, and then walked around for another 5 minutes before blacking out on the draw bridge.

   Clear Skies groaned as he dragged Jaxler away from the fort. Peony told him about something funny out in forest Jaxler is just going to looove. Knock Him out, huh? If he could just remember where it .. yes, there it was was, by the river. Clear pushed Jaxler down a hill into a patch of neon blue flowers.

“Hehe, Sweet dreams, Jax.” Clear grinned , wringing his hooves

***The Next Day***

Jaxler woke up near the river and remembered nothing about last night. He had an annoying headache and a pain in back. He felt like he had been dragged around. The pony got up looked around. somehow he ended up outside the fort, and he couldn’t find his crossbow anywhere.

Jaxler walked into town, and search of his crossbow. it took him awhile to find his beloved weapon hanging from a tree, and unharmed. Strangely enough, ponies kept introducing themselves to him, and stallions kept looking at him funny, which was strange. Jaxler was walking to the craftspony’s workshop when he noticed a familiar pony was nearby.

Granite hopped down from a nearby tree and stood in front of the workshop with a questioning look on his face.

Jaxler looked at Granite puzzled. “Aye Granite.  Why do you seem confused?” there was something strange with Jaxler’s voice, but it was probably just a cold or something.

“W-who are you and how do you know my name?! Also why do you have Jaxler’s crossbow?” Granite says, his voice shaking with fear.

Jaxler tilted his head in confusion. “What the hell are you saying Granite?”

“H-how the hell do you know me?!” Granite says. “Who are you?!”

Jaxler was starting to get really confused. “I’m bucking Jaxler, and did you fall out a tree and hit your head on a damn rock or something? you're acting strange as bucking hell.”

“I’m sorry, but the Jaxler I know doesn’t have a horn or IS A MARE!” Granite shouted. “So who are you?!”

“Granite... What the buck? I’m not a mare, and I don’t have a horn. Do I need to take you to Panacea or are you JUST BEING A JACKASS!?”

“Alright you sound like Jaxler, but you don’t look like him. Do you want me to get you a mirror or something?” Granite asks.

“wha... what?” Granite was acting strange. “Sure I guess, are you sure you didn’t hurt yourself?”

“Not to my knowledge. I’ll be right back...” Granite goes off and comes back with a mirror in his mouth. He spits it out at “Jaxler’s” hooves. “Take a look.”

“Fine, fine...” Jaxler looked at his reflection on the mirror. “WHAT THE BUCK BUCK BUCK BUCK BUCK CLUSTER-BUCK BUCK!!” this was bad... at the sight of his face, Jaxler about died. Somehow he had been turned into an alicorn mare. “DA BUCKING HELL, MAN!”

“Well at least I know you’re Jaxler, except an alicorn mare that’s oddly attractive. I always considered you ugly when you were a stallion, huh.” Granite stated nonchalantly. “Anyway, do you have any idea how to fix this? Or do you know how this started?”

As much as Jaxler wanted to continue screaming at the top of his lungs, he knew he needed to keep his calm. “I don’t know, I just woke up by the river looking like this...” Jaxler then sighed heavily. “At least now i know why things seemed lower than before, and why the other stallions keep looking at me funn... oh god...”

Granite thinks for a moment. “Oh god I just picked up on what you meant. Sucks to be you... Anyway, we should probably do something about this... can you retrace your steps?”

“Well, yes.. I actually know exactly where I woke up. It was by the river and I remember waking in some flowers...”

“Do you know what color the flowers were?” Granite asks. “I’m sure somepony could put two and two together and figure out what happened. But I bet the flowers had an effect somehow...”

Jaxler’s eye’s turned into little tiny dots as he realized something. “do-do you think me being a alicorn mare is permanent?”

“Who knows? Is it really that bad?” Granite asked.

“yes... I just got a mare friend... other stallions are gawking at me... and I’m A BUCKING DAMN ALICORN!!!”

“Yup it’s that bad. Should we at least visit your mare friend and tell her the news?” Granite asks.

“I-I think I should go alone...” Jaxler sighed heavily. How the hell could he- she have let herself turn into... this.

“Well... best of luck to you then...” Granite says. “I might go check out those flowers later... maybe get some information...”

“Okay...” Jaxler then left the workshop, feeling both depressed and traumatized. How could she have been turned into an alicorn, it was disgraceful and being a mare too, she felt horrible. At least she had her crossbow this time, or else this would be a repeat of her time in jail. It took her awhile for her to finally get to Marilee’s house. She extended hoof and knocked on the door.

Gregor answered the door, eye-level with the unfamiliar pony. “Hello there, miss. May I ask your name?”

Jaxler sighed... this wanna gonna be awkward. “Um... it’s Jaxler Blackflutes... can I talk to Marilee?”

Gregor raised an eyebrow. “...I know a Jaxler Blackflutes, and you’re not him, ma’am. So again, who are you?”

Jaxler sighed again. “Gregor, I’m Jaxler. I have the same scars and my cutie mark is the same.”

Gregor craned his neck to see the mare’s cutie mark, then ducked down to confirm that the jagged scar on his - well, her belly was there. Then he stood there for a moment, before turning back to call over his shoulder. “Ah... Mari?”

Jaxler felt awkward, so she didn’t say anything else to Gregor. She couldn’t help but think this was about to get bad.

Marilee came to the door, standing by her father. “Um... hello?”

Jaxler sighed. This was not gonna end well. “Aye, Marilee. I kinda got turned into an alicorn mare...”

“Uhm... what are you talking about, miss? I don’t understand...”

Gregor nudged her gently. “It’s your friend Jaxler, hun. It looks like he’s run afoul of some magic.”

Marilee gasped, holding a hoof to her lips. “O-Oh my! A-Are you alright? How did this happen?”

“I think I’m fine.... and I don’t have the slightest clue how this happened...”

“Oh, Jaxler... come on, come in.” Marilee took Jaxler by the hoof and led him into the room. Germaine was lying on her bed, an open book before her. As she looked up to see the tall black alicorn entering their room, she opened her mouth to speak. Gregor stopped her with a hoof on her withers. “It’s Jaxler, hun. I’ll explain it later... when I’ve figured it out myself...”

“Does anypony here a clue as to how this happened...”

“W-Well, it’s probably just a spell, like you said, right dad?”

Gregor turns to her. “I’m not sure, Mari. Admittedly, I don’t really know anything about magic. Though if I had to guess, I’d say yes.”

“Do you think I can go to back to normal?” Jaxler seems stressed as could be, possibly even scared.

“I... I’m sure there must be a way.” Marilee reached up to hug him, trying her best to comfort her new colt - er, marefriend. “We’ll find a way.”

Jaxler caught off guard by the hug, but it helped. “Thanks...”

Marilee released Jaxler, but stood beside him and leaned against him gently. “So... do you want to stay here for a while?”

“I would love too, but I need to know what happened and how- if I can fix this, as soon as possible.”

“I know, and I want to help, but... I just don’t know where to start.”

“Well, be best idea of heard so far was from Granite. I told him about some flowers I woke up in, and he told me they might have had something to do with this.” Jaxler was pretty sure that flowers were powerless, but it was the best and only theory to have arisen, thus far.

“Okay. I hope he finds out... and doesn’t end up like this as well...”

“I think I’ll have those flowers burnt, and keep one or two, and have a herbalist look at them.”


“I’d hold off on that. If they’re what did this... they might be needed to make the cure.”

“You're right, I’ll take more than a few, but I still think I should have them destroyed. If somepony else walks in those, it would be my fault.”

“It wouldn’t be your fault, Jaxler. You couldn’t have known they were there, or what they would do.”

“Still I’m obliged to destroy it. If it can do this then I need to remove it in order to keep others safe.”

“I understand.” She managed a smile. “you have to protect ponies. It’s what you do.”

Jaxler smiled back,  “Thanks.” Jaxler then diverted his attention to everypony in the room. “Does anypony here know where I can get an airtight container?”

Germaine raised an eyebrow. “Well... maybe a jar with a waxed cork? is there a glassmaker in Dawnpick?”

“I believe there is, and if not I’ll just have to go with an iron pot.” Jaxler then got up and made her way for the door, but stopped right when she reached it. “Marilee, thanks for not dumping me because I’m a mare.”

Marilee just smiled at him. “What kind of a marefriend would I be, if I left you when times got tough?”

“Thanks... for everything.” Jaxler then went out the door, toward the glass furnace. She bought a large Jar upon reaching the the furnace. She turned around to head off toward the drawbridge when she noticed somepony else she knew was nearby.

Flux exits his furnace, planning to gather more ore and charcoal, then notices the odd alicorn mare exiting the glass furnace.  She looks oddly familiar, but he can’t quite place her.  Which is odd, the only alicorn mare he knows is Stiletto.

Jaxler sighed deeply. Judging by Flux’s face this wasn’t gonna end badly, but it was probably best to get taken care of now as apposed to latter. So, Jaxler walked up the pony. “Aye, Flux.”

Flux looks more confused.  “Uh... sorry Ma’am, but... do I know you?”

“Do you honestly not know who I am?”

Flux nervously shuffles in place.  “Uh... sorry, no.  You look familiar, but I can’t place it, Madam.”

“Flux... I’m Jaxler.”

Flux raises an eyebrow at that.  “Um... he’s shorter.  And doesn’t have a horn.  And is a stallion”

“I’m Jaxler, I have the same scars and cutie mark.” Jaxler figured if it worked for Gregor it would work for Flux.

“There’s... more than one way to accomplish that.  If you’re really him... you know how.”

“Damnit you’re making this difficult, just ask me a question only Jaxler would know.”

“...I did.”

“Well, if I was a changeling too then why would I have his crossbow?”

Flux’ eyes widen and he tries to shush Jaxler.  “Ok!  It’s you!  Um... what happened?”

“I woke up by the river in a bed of flowers looking like... like this. Either somepony did something to me, or the flowers are magical. Either way I’m gonna put a few of them in this jar, and then burn the rest.”

“Stiletto might know something?  She’s not a bad herbalist.” 

“Well....” Jaxler wasn’t sure if there were any herbalists in the fort. “Maybe, I’ll talk to her once I’ve burned those flowers.”

“Uh, alright.  Did you need my help with them?  I’m on shift right now, but I could take my break if you need me?”

“Yes, actually. I plan on having Moral incinerate them. I know he’s a bit whacky in the head, but he should be able to destroy them thoroughly and I’d like you the be there, to help in case he gets, a bit...”

“...a bit Moral?  Alright, give me a couple minutes to sign off on my break and I’ll meet you at the drawbridge?”

“I’ll go grab, Moral while you take care of that.” Jaxler walked straight to the craftspony workshop. once he got there she just told Moral he needed to burn something. Moral even believed that Jaxler was Jaxler without any explaining. they then headed for the drawbridge and waited for Flux.

Flux soon came trotting up, carrying a mitt to hopefully make handling these odd flowers safer.  “Hmfh!”  He blushes and sets the mit on his back.  “Hey!”

“Hay, um...” Moral then took a small book out from under his wing and looked in it. “Flux?”

“Aye, Flux, are you ready to take care those things?”

“Um... probably not, but I don’t think I’m going to get any more ready than I am now.  Where are they?”  he asks before taking up the mitt again.

“They are down by the river, near where the old pier used to be.”

“How long til’ I get to burn things miss Jaxxy?”

Flux chuckles around the mitt and follows, curious about what could have made Jaxler into an alicorn mare.

Jaxler ignored the stupid alicorn for the entire walk. It took them a little while, but eventually they reached the spot. It was a bed of blue flowers, like none that had been seen around Dawnpick before. “Okay, on account of the fact that you have the mit, can you pick the flowers, Flux?”

Flux gives an uncertain nod and gestures for Jaxler to set the jar down before slowly and carefully reaching for a flower.  He carefully plucks a flower and places it in the jar, and repeats this several times to have a decent, and potentially toxic, bouquet.  Satisfied, he takes several steps back.

“Okay, Moral, please ignite the rest of these flowers.”

Moral smiled ear to ear as his horn glew dark red and an sickening red aura overtook the flower bed. It took a while, but after a while the bed spontaneously combusted. “Dear flux, may I ask you to remove your mitt? Seeing how it just contacted those, foul plants it might be best if it is disposed of.” All said while keeping his eyes on the fire

Flux’ eyes widen and he tosses the mitt into the blaze.  He shuddered to think what this stuff might do to him if it could change Jaxler into an alicorn mare.

“Good, good, I’d hate to see you share a similar fate to our Jaxler over here.”

Flux gives a nervous chuckle.  “Um, ya...”

“Moral, why the hell are you talking like normal pony?”

“Why the hell are you a mare?”

“Hehe.”  Flux chuckles again at the two alicorns arguing.

“Shut the hell up.”

“Honestly, I can’t comprehend why you are so enraged. You actually don’t look as ugly as you used to now that you're a mare.”

“Damnit can you please just leave”

“Fine, but it would be best if we all left this site.”

Flux nods, coughing a bit from the smoke already.

[Dsarker]

and


Zearoth had finished his training for the day and decided to simply enjoy the rest of the evening in some peace. After setting his weapons away he decided to take a short walk around Dawnpick. Eventually taking a moment to rest in the meeting hall.

Zearoth sees what appears to be a sketchy-looking earth pony to one side, a wooden expression on his face.

Even though Zearoth wasn’t in the guard, he felt he could at least see what was up with the strange pony. So he walked over to him, and greeted him with a nod.”Hello. I don’t think I’ve seen you around the fort before.”He said.

The pony’s response sounds a bit muffled, but understandable. “Hello dere, pony. Wotcha doin’?”

Zearoth paused for a moment at the muffled words.”I’m.. Just walking around for a little while. I haven’t much to do aside from train. Can I, ask your name?”Zearoth asked as he kept his attention to the newcomer.

“Sure ya can, erfy pony,” comes the still muffled response. “Me name’z Loose Screw. Wot’s yers?”

It still took a moment for Zearoth to get a hold of the muffled words, though he gave a smile once he knew what Loose Screw said.”I’m Zearoth. I train with the militia. It’s nice to meetcha, Loose Screw.”

“Yer, dat’s wot you ponies ‘ere do, innit? Trainin’ all da time, innit,” Loose Screw says, continuing with “I’s a pony just like you, that’s right.”

Zearoth quirked his brow at the ponies words.”I... Yes. You certainly are. Though training isn’t what we all do... Just the guard, militia and reserve train. We do have others like bakers, woodburners and such that don’t really train.”He replied.

“...Yeah, dey has ta train too, don’t they? I’z...I is from da capital, right. Yer, dat Couplydie place. I’s from dere.” His voice pauses. “Yer, not much trainin’ dere. All da ponies dere know wot ta do.”

Zearoth gave a slow nod to Screw Loose as he heard him talk.”Well I’m sure that’s because they’ve already trained... But I was just talking about combat training. Using a weapon and such. I don’t see much reason for a baker to learn how to swing an axe.” He said. Though strange, he was enjoying the conversation at least.”I didn’t know that ponies from Coupledie had such an accent. It’s certainly.. Different.”Zearoth gave a nervous grin as he said this.”Can I ask what you used to do there?”

“I’z...I does stuff, yer. Like...Stuff, yer. Dat’z wot I do. Like...fer other ponies loike me, right,” Loose Screw says.
The conversation was certainly going in a weird direction. Was he really from Coupledie? Who exactly was he and what did he do? These and other questions all slowly filled Zearoth’s mind until he decided on one.”Ponies like you? Are you... Different in some way? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Nah, I’z just like all da ovva ponies here. I is just annuda erfy ponie,” he says hastily.

Zearoth already thought Loose Screw was acting a little sketchy. And the hasty answer only furthered this thought.”Oh, okay... It just seemed from what you said. You do anything else aside from, um... Stuff?”

“Uh...Nah, not really. Just da stuff, dat’s wot I do.” The pony stops talking for a second. “Uh...Yer a guardie ponie, ain’tcha?”

Zearoth opened his mouth to answer, though paused. Maybe he could get something from this...”Maybe I am? Does that change anything?”

“Yer, ya gotz a wepun, dontcha?”

Zearoth sighed inside. He was kinda hoping to get more from that.”Well... I’m more of a militia. But I do have weapons, yes.”

“Dat’z gud. I can ficks up yer weapun, make it betta.”

“Make it better?”Zearoth thought for a moment.”What exactly could you do to make it better?”He asked. Seeming more curious now.

“I can makes it more choppy...or stabby, or...make it shootier, wotevva it needz.”

Zearoth gave a nod.”So you’re.. Like a weapons maker? I’ll think about it... But I’m happy with how my crossbows work already.”

“Sure ya are. I can still make it betta.”

Zearoth nodded again. He certainly couldn’t go against Loose Screw’s logic. Maybe he could make his crossbow’s.”...Shootier”Zearoth mumbled. He was just thinking of heading back to his home by now, though he remember that there was something curious that he wanted to ask about.”Oh. Can I ask why your voice is, um... Muffled?”

“Uh...” The voice seems to become clearer. “I dunno wot yer talkin’ bout, ya grot!”



“I...”Zearoth looked absolutely confused. Moments ago the voice was muffled, and now it just... wasn’t.”It sounded muffled moments ago... ANd, what do you mean by grot? Are you insulting me?”

“It weren’t muffled, ya git. I’z nevva ‘ad a muffled voice in me loife, ya grot!”

Zearoth shook his head. Figuring he’d have no luck. Though it was clear the strange names were getting irritating.”Okay, you weren’t. But don’t insult me. I... If, that’s even an insult.”He said, still a little confused about it all.

“I’z not da grot ‘ere, ya git. I’z bigga, so I’z da boss, ya puny ponie!”

Zearoth huffed as his brow furrowed.”I’m not a git. And you’re no boss of me.”He said as he pressed his hoof against Screw Loose.

Loose Screw appears to hold up normally, and continues to stare right at Zearoth. “Dat’z wrong, grot, I’z definitely bigga dan ya, and stronga. Dat meanz I iz da boss of ya.”

Zearoth shook his head as he firmly set his hoof back down.”Bigger and stronger you may be. But that does not make you the boss of me.”Zearoth said with another huff.

“Yez it doez, ya gretchin. I’z da biggest, so I’z da boss. Yer just a puny grot!”

Zearoth’s look quickly turned to a glare as he looked Loose Screw right in the eye.”I, am not, puny!”He shouted before taking a breath to calm himself. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep talking, he felt it might only lead to a fight... And if this pony really was stronger...”I’m sorry. But I really must get going. It was... Nice... Meeting you.”He said, practically forcing it out before turning to leave.

“Yer, sure it was,” says Loose Screw.

[zomara0292]

and

(Takes place between the time Jury forced partisan to ask Her out and when they first meet)

It had been a few days since He woke up with Jury in his bed. It still racked his brain as to how it lead up to all that, if it truly led up to what he thought it did. What got him more is why he could not stop thinking about her. Each evening, after training, he found it necessary to clear his head with a long walk. This one, though he decided to get a nice drink in public. Jaxler wasn’t talking to him as of late, so he had little choice but to go it alone.

Meanwhile, Jury was in the dining hall for her usual brief period each evening, gathering up some food and a flagon of beer to take back to her quarters. Nopony else here was worth even her acknowledgement, let alone sitting and dining with any of them. She preferred to eat alone.
The arrogant mare continued to pile her plate high, a large mug levitating beside her as she chose her food.

Partisan kept his head in the food for the most part. Usually he went down to get fresh ingredients for his own homemade meals but, this time he felt compelled to just get a meal there. After digging through a few fruits and stakes, Partisan looked up, feeling someone really close to him, to see Jury. Mainly her backside, though. Embarrassed he turned away.
“Oh.”

Jury glanced up, feeling someone bump into her from behind. It was Partisan, her only real acquaintance of any sort in this place, though he was only a colleague. Nevertheless, she didn’t bother to treat him any differently from anypony else, giving him a fierce glare in reply. “Excuse me?” she inquired, the question very much barbed.

“I am sorry. I didn’t see you there.” his voice came out very formal up into the point that he looked into her eyes. His mind trailed off with his words shortly, before he caught his act and backed up a little.

“A guard captain should be more vigilant than that,” retorted Jury, running her eyes over him in turn. To her, he cut an unassuming figure, meek and almost staring wide-eyed back at her. It was not something she was used to; usually she had the effect of making ponies stalk off in disgust at the sight of her, not this seeming enthrallment. She wasn’t sure whether she liked it or not.

“II will make sure to be far more attentive next time.” Partisan answered calmly.
“Would you care to. . .” He had thought about asking her to eat with him again, but, now, as he was saying it, it didn’t seem like quite a good idea.

“Would I care to...? Speak up!” Jury probed, impatient as ever.

“To. . . . never mind. You seem quite busy anyway.” He felt his face heat up like the first time they spoke, and he turned away, picking up the first thing he could see, which happened to be a large cup of apple cider.

“Excuse me!” interrupted Jury, planting a firm hoof on his withers to stop him moving. “I told you to speak up, Partisan! If you have something to say, say it! I am not too busy to hear a few words!”

“Fine.” His words came out with only the minute hint of insecurity. “Would you like to eat with me?”

“Now was that hard?” Jury asked, her gaze softening slightly, though it still looked like she was glaring at him. “I will consent to join you, yes.”

“Thank you.” he replied barely hiding the happiness that was swelling inside him for no reason.
Why am I getting so giddy. She is just another pony. Sh- His thoughts were broken once again with another look into her emerald orbs.
“I will find us a table while you get the rest of what you want, if you don't mind.”

“Agreed, I shall come and find you when I am ready, then.” replied Jury, delving back into the choice of food to fill her plate even further. The young guard captain was almost endearing. Almost. Ever since she’d shared that barrel of cider with him... Still, she was glad of the company. Even a pony as grating and antisocial as her could get lonely, she reflected.

As he searched for an open table, he thought hard to himself. There was something about her that was more than alluring. But, he just couldn't put his hand on it. It wasn’t like him to get flustered around women.
After a few minutes of walking he found a decent and clean area to sit. Partisan placed his food there and went to get Jury.
“I found a spot.” he was surprised just to see the amount of food she could manage to fit on a plate.

“Really? I would never have guessed,” said Jury, her sarcasm either a poor attempt at humor or just her usual rudeness. It was hard to tell. She put the plate down carefully, steadying the wobbling tower of food with her magic. “I am more than entitled to all this,” - she gestured at the massive amount of food - “and you yourself too, considering the amount of work we have been doing as of late. There are a great many records, as I have already said countless times. And not that many mistakes to fix, either. You have been doing a good job.”

Unless he was taking it the wrong way, Partisan assumed she was giving him a compliment. "Thank you, but it won't help to eat all that. You might get sick." He tried to sound as sincere as possible.

“I doubt that.” she replied curtly, already attacking the uppermost layer of the mountain of food. “I do not get sick, as a rule. Certainly not from eating.”

“Well. We shall see.” he said as he chose the slower method of eating. Taking each morsel of food and slowly chewing. Every once in awhile, he would look up from his own food and at her.

Jury studiously ignored the pegasus opposite, devouring her food as if she hadn’t eaten in days.

Partisan ate silently, hoping she would say something, but she seemed to engrossed in her meal to speak. So, he just continued, still every once in a while, staring up from his food, until his gaze eventually stayed on her for one second too long.

“Yes?” Jury broke his reverie with a single word, waving a forehoof in front of his eyes to break his stare. “Is something wrong?” She had paused in her eating, regarding him with a quizzical expression.

“Ummm,” He tried to make something up. He honestly didn't know why he was staring at her, and saying that would make things worse. “I was just thinking, sorry.

“Thinking of what?” she asked. Her tone was almost teasing, but still somehow managed to sound deadly serious.

To him, she was calling his bluff, and what he said next might be taken the wrong way.
"Nothing really." he replied just a little too quickly.
"Just about life in general."
Life? Really?, he thought acidly to himself. I couldn't come up with anything better?

“Really?” Jury said, echoing Partisan’s own thoughts. “Does looking at me help with thinking about life, then?”

"Well, you, as a member of Dawnpick and as my co-worker, do play a role in my life." Partisan felt like he just won the award for biggest goof-ball, and went back to eating his food. This time, though, he ate much more rapidly.

“I see,” said Jury, a hint of amusement barely detectable in her tone. “Your work is a major facet in your life, is it, then?”

"That and my friends’ wellbeing." He answered, taking a bite from his nearly finished plate. "That’s why I quit being a spearpony and took up the bolt."

“Do spears not protect just as well as crossbows? I would have thought whether the enemy ends up dead or not was the primary concern.” Jury answered, drinking from her flagon.

"There is a lot more to it than that, like how close the enemy gets." Partisan tried to explain. "You can get more chances at offing a far more skilled opponent the farther they are from you, and you have less risk of injury. This means that I have a higher chance of staying alive long enough to keep everyone else for harm. Including you." His final sentence was heavily emphasized.

“Including me? You are too kind,” she answers, with just a hint of coyness. “I am honored.”

Her response caught Partisan off guard and stopped him from taking in anymore food.
"I apologize. I was being self-assuming, which is unfitting for one in my position." He took a glance at his plate, which was empty besides some pieces of lettuce.
"I think I will call it a day, if you don't mind."

“Farewell,” came the reply from across the table, Jury regarding him with the same piercing expression she always used. Unreadable.


Partisan gulped down his drink, savoring the warmth it filled him with, and then started to pick up his leftovers. Suddenly a memory came to him.
"I will be at my office later than usual, tomorrow. I will need the time with my team in training. I will leave my door unlocked so you can get in." He then grabbed his things and left wondering why he acted the way he did while Jury was there.


                   

[Khenal]

Jaxler had the Jar of flowers balanced on his back. The pony was having a horrible day, and now he had to deal with an alicorn, other than himself. He really felt like crap, and though he’d usually feel better that Flux was coming along, he actually felt worse. Stiletto and Flux apparently loved each other, and if Jaxler got angry at Stiletto, things would get bad. “Aye Flux, I might go berserk if Stiletto starts laughing at me.”

“Maybe I should go in first, then?  Let her know what’s going on and give her a chance to get it out of her system, if she needs it?”  Flux wasn’t really looking forward to this.  Jaxler was his friend, and he loved Stiletto... but he knew they didn’t get along well.  With any luck, this would go quickly... but he very much doubted that.

“I’m sorry, but if she insults me I will retaliate.”

“I know.  That’s why I was wondering if I should go in first.”

“You probably should... Do you still think I’d be an alicorn if I filed this horn off?”

“...yes.  Hoof me the jar?”

Jaxler sighed and handed Flux the Jar.

Flux sets it on his back and heads to Stiletto’s apartment, unsure how to approach the subject.  He knocks on the door, still trying to think of a way to ask Stiletto about these strange flowers.

Stiletto’s door swings slowly open, revealing the large amethyst Alicorn in long black spider silk dress. She yawns and looks at Flux “Hello, my kindest love, what brings you by today?”

Flux gives her a warm smile, momentarily forgetting about the potential disaster if she sees Jaxler.  “Heya Stiletto!  Um, Jaxler found these strange flowers, and thinks they might be dangerous.  Do you know what they are?”

Stiletto leans forward and sticks her muzzle into the jar of flowers to get a good whiff. After a moment she rears her head back and screws up her face. “Ah..Ah..Ah..Ah!” she stops and backs up a fews steps “ACHOOOO!” the sneeze seemed the blast the massive Alicorn across the room. Her black dress slapped against the far wall and fell to the ground. Stiletto was nowhere to be seen.

Flux’ eyes go wide in panic.  “Stiletto!” he shouts as he rushes to check the dress, not expecting to find anything, but he hardly had any other options, did he?

The ball of dress mumbled, then shook. Slowly, a blunted horn slid its way free from the pile of black silk. Another shake and very small but large eyed Stiletto struggled her head to freedom. She looked up at Flux “What...?”

Flux hugs the tiny Stiletto, glad that she looks unharmed.  After a few moments, he remembers he had a question for her and takes a few steps back.  “Um... they did something different to Jaxler.  Why did you stick your face in the jar?”

“You offered ‘em to me, and I tink I wus still asweep....” Stiletto stops and looks at her forehooves, almost falling over when her wings don’t automatically hold her up, she catches herself at the last moment “oof.” She stands and looks back up at Flux “Poison Joke wood.” Her voice was tiny and matched her new appearance in adorableness.

“Poison Joke?  Uh... how bad is it?  Oh!”  Flux facehooves at his rudeness.  “Jaxler!  Come in here please!  Stiletto, um... got into the flowers...”

Jaxler was waiting outside the building, and sighed. This wasn’t going to be good. He came in, and was surprised to see Stiletto on the ground, and foal sized. “What the bucking hell?!”

Stiletto attempts to waddle forward, still half caught in the dress, then she stops abruptly and sits. “I needs a smawer dwess.”

“Well, they apparently don’t just turn ponies into alicorn mares...”

“Do you at least know what the plants are?” asked Jaxler

“I toad wou! Poison Joke!” Stiletto hrumphed and looked at Jaxler “Gwash, wou look pwitty Jaxwer.”

Jaxler sighed. “Why do ponies keep calling me pretty...”

Flux coughs into his hoof.  “Well... you are easier on the eyes like this.”

Jaxler gave Flux an enraged gaze. “God, this is horrible... can I please just file off this horn and cross dress until the day I die...”

“Nuuu. Dis will wear off eventuawy... or we couwd tawk with the Zebwas.” Stiletto opens her cupboard with her magic and pulls out several dresses “I know Kat weft one here.”

“ugh... If I remove this horn will I still be an alicorn?”

“Um... I’m pretty sure, Jaxler.  Besides, it wears off.”  Flux looks to Stiletto, just barely suppressing a d’aww.  “How long does it last?”

Stiletto gives Flux a small frown, huffs and says “Twee weeks... or twee days?” and rolls her eyes.

“Is there anything I can do to, make this stuff go away? And what do I do while I wait?”

Flux can’t help but snicker some.  “M-Maybe get magic lessons from Stiletto?”

Jaxler gazed back at Flux. “Why would I want to spend time with an alicorn?”

“Because you are one?”

“It couwd not hurt.” Stiletto struggled to make one of Kat’s smaller dresses to fit properly. “Wook da other way.”

Jaxler turned around. “Why the hell did this have to happen to me... and what happens with this horn goes away? I know some unicorns will actually kill themselves when they lose their horns because the idea of living without magic is simply traumatizing.”

Flux looks away, snickering a bit still.  He didn’t see why Jaxler was so worried.  He’d lived his whole life without magic, why would this upset him?  Wait a moment... something feels off.  He looks to the door and sees it’s closed, and tries to change his form... and nothing happens.  “Uh... Stiletto?  What happens if poison joke is burned?”

“Buwned! I... can not... wemember... dat cwass was fowty yeaws ago!” Stiletto puts her forehooves to the sides of her head and almost falls over again. Her muzzle poinks on the ground before she can catcher herself this time. “oof, swopid wings.”

“So, is it a bad thing that I had that alicorn dumbass Moral burn that stuff?”

Stiletto pushes herself up and looks the two in the eye “Dat, wus, pwobabwy a bad idewa.” her magic finishes tightening the last strap on the smallest dress Kat had left in Stiletto’s apartment. “We shouwd put dat owt.”

“Moral, incinerated it. It’s already out and the smoke is in the air, why is it bad?”

“...because I can’t change... or sense emotions.  And I think it was the smoke.”  says Flux, looking concerned and confused.

“Dat is jwst wunderful... we bettwer get somepony tue tell everypony to say inswide.”

“Shit, will I go to jail for burning them?”

“Yue couwd not hawe known.”

“Will.I.Go.To.Jail?”

“Um... I don’t know?”

Jaxler stayed silent. He apparently just did something that could harm everypony in the fort, and it was all his fault, and now he could end up going back to jail. “Could you hold off on telling Virtue that we burnt that stuff?”

“I won’t tell her.” says Flux, still feeling off without being able to sense emotions like he normally can.

Jaxler then gave a concerned look to stiletto upon realizing that he might be narked on. He had been a generally Jackassy toward her, and she had every reason not to like him.

“Den who awe we going tue tell? We need tue get ponies inswide.”

“Well, by now the smoke has probably dissipated and heading inside probably won’t help... I could talk to somepony in the hospital tomorrow.”

Flux nods.  “If this stuff affects anypony else, we’ll probably know by tomorrow.  I think it’s a bit late to try to prevent anything...”

“We shouwd stiwl tewl somepony!” she tried to look intimidating, but her big eyes and small Foal frame cause the look to have quite the opposite effect.

“No, I’m saying that us telling ponies wouldn’t help control an outbreak anymore. I plan on having them know, just in a way that doesn’t get me in trouble. I can’t go to jail for another nine months again...”
“Um... blame me?”

“NUUUUUU!” Stiletto stomped her little hooves, causing a loud puff sound.

“Under no circumstances will I do something like that, Flux.”

“...Then don’t tell anypony?”

“I’ll tell somepony, Just... give me some time to figure out how I’m gonna tell them...”

“Dey need tue know dey do not need tue worry.”

“Just, let me tell them tomorrow once of thought this out...” Jaxler then sighed. “Unless you tell on me, alicorn.”

“Okay?! Where diwd dat come fwom?” Little Stiletto tilted her head to one side.

“I have a damn good reason for talking the way I do about your kind.”

“Maybe you do, but you hawe no weason to tawk tue me wike dat!” Stiletto yelled more out of a need to be heard then anything else.

“I have every reason to do so, alicorn.”

“Oh weally?! Do you now? Name one.”

“Screw you, if you want to bucking know, ask Flux.”

Stiletto sits next to Flux and tugs absentmindedly at his mane “Fwux? What is he tawking about?”

“Um... Alicorns burned his home... his civilization to the ground.”

“It is wike I said. Dat was not me.”

“So?”

Stiletto looked at Jaxler dumbfoundedly and then tugged on Flux’s mane again. “I do not think he can understand me.”
“He does.  Just... imagine if, say... pegasi destroyed your very culture, Stiletto.  Everypony you knew and loved, your family, friends, everypony.  You’d probably not care for pegasi much anymore, even if they weren’t involved.”

Stiletto’s eyes suddenly got very watery, a moment later she was full on balling her little head off.

Jaxler out his hoof up to his mouth and pondered what he had just done. As much as he hates alicorns, he couldn’t let a foal start crying in front of him... “Um, are you okay Stiletto?”

Flux feels really awkward, having made his love cry like that.

Stiletto begins to rub her face into Flux’s side, trying to dry her eyes and get control over herself. “Nuu! I wemember *Shniffle* wut my pweople did! I feewel horwible abowt it!”

Jaxler sighed, now he was feeling horrible. He had made a little foal cry, and was honestly being a jackass. He walked over to Stiletto. “I’m sorry, for being a jackass, and... I forgive you...”

Stiletto stopped crying. She looked up at Jaxler with a huge smile on her face. The little Alicorn foal dashed forward and hugged Jaxler’s foreleg.

Jaxler sighed, and crouched down to ground level and hugged, the little foal back.

Flux beams at them and quickly joins in the hug.  Jaxler might finally be getting over his past!

Stiletto wrapped her little forelegs as far around the two of them as she could. “Thank you.”

Jaxler didn’t feel like saying anything, and just hugged the two ponies.

[jaxler]

((If anything in here contradicts the above, just pretend Jaxler forgot some details.))



Granite awoke more stiffer than usually. As he stood up, he felt much heavier than normal. Granite took a few steps and crashed into the earth. “Ugh, what the buck?” Granite asks. He remembered the little bonfire Jaxler and Moral had last night. “Buck, looks like the smoke carries the effect...” Granite said. He tried to get up again and after several tries he managed to leave his apartment. He tried his best to hide in the shadows as he dashed to Jaxler’s apartment down the hall. “He better have answers for th- UGH!!!” Granite said as he hit Jaxler’s door and tripped at his doorstep. “Jaxler, it’s Granite! Open up!”

Jaxler woke up to the sound of a pony hitting his door. Jaxler sighed and got up, Granite’s yelling only made his head hurt more than it already did. He then looked over to his door, which seemed to be bent. “WHAT The hell did you do to my door!” The irate pony then stormed to his door and opened it. To his surprise he saw a living statue at his doorstep. “Granite... is that you?”

“Ugh... I was never clumsy... god... or heavy...” Granite looks up to Jaxler, his eyes giving off a slight glow. “How bad is it? I think the smoke did something...”

Jaxler grimaced a little. “Um... have you looked in a mirror?”

“Not yet... how bad is it?!” Granite said. “I’m clumsy as buck, I feel too heavy, and I put a dent in your door. How. Bad. Is. It.”

“Well, it’s pretty bad...”

“Am I ugly?” Granite asks. “Has my face changed in appearance?”

“Well, your not ugly, in fact some might call you finely sculpted.” Jaxler chuckled nervously at his joke. “Um, just look in a mirror.”

“Fine...” Granite looks for a mirror. “What’s with that ‘finely sculpted’ crap- oh...” Granite found a mirror. His hair was a gray color with a slight greenish glow, his eyes glowed a dark blue. Granite was made of stone. He was a walking statue. “Jaxler what the buck is this...”

“It appears you're made of granite...”

“I get it... my names a rock... I’m a rock now... bucking blue plant. Why’d you burn it anyway, I think the smoke affects us just like the flowers originally did...” Granite says. “This better not be permanent...”

Jaxler looked concerned. He thought he was protecting ponies by destroying the flowers, not hurting them and now his son was harmed once more because of him. “I thought I was protecting ponies...”

“Jaxler it’s okay, you tried to help. That’s good in my book. You... just... made a little mistake...” Granite said. He tried to pat Jaxler on the back with his stone foreleg.

“But I don’t know how long it will last...”

“It’s probably not permanent, it was probably something in the plant that caused this, there’s surely something out there that can cure it. We just need to find out where it is.” Granite said. He managed to put enough control into his leg to gently pat Jaxler’s back and he quickly brought his leg back beneath himself and put a hole in the floor. “Crap.”

The hoof strike was loud enough to wake Jaxler’s dog, who had been sleeping under the room’s table. The dog got up and walked over to Granite, The dog titled it’s head and paused for a moment, but still proceeded to lick the earth pony.

“Hey you got the dog!” Granite said. “Nice job.” He looks at his hooves. “Jaxler I think I’m stuck...”

“Yeah, his name is riddix.” Jaxler then  tried to pull the pony’s leg out from the hole. “I think I’ll need to go get a saw.”

“I think I can pull it out...” Granite says. He tries to raise his leg up and ends up taking some of the floor with it. Granite falls backwards with a shift in weight and gets the upper half of his body stuck in the floor boards. Half of his body was in Jaxler’s room, the other half was stuck in the ceiling of the one below. “Pull me back up!” Granite says. He looks around the room and nopony seems to be present.

Jaxler tried to pull the earth pony back up, which was hard, but he eventually got the mass of solid stone away from the floor’s iron gasp. “I think we should go to ground level.”

“Yes, I like that idea.” Granite makes his way to the staircase and promptly falls down it. BAM. “Ugh...” Granite shook it off and tried to stand up.

“Please can you try to lean on something while you walk?”

“Okay Jaxler, I’ll try to find a cane that can hold this up!” Granite says. “Let’s just go... where are we going anyway?”

“ground level, and then probably the hospital.” Riddix then walked out of Jaxlers room and walked back up to the two, “I guess I can walk my dog while we’re at it.”   

“Why the hospital?” Granite asked.

“They might be able to give you a crutch or something, and you probably won’t get sued by the ponies in the apartment below me if it’s written down that you are like this.”

“Good point. Let’s go.” Granite says.

The two ponies and dog started walking toward the hospital. “If you need a crutch I can make you one. I bought some blood thorn from the caravan, and it should make a suitable crutch for you. I mean it is a strong wood.”

“Fine, but hurry up please.” Granite says. “I want this to end soon. This sucks...”

“Okay.” the ponies made their way to the hospital. Jaxler knocked the door and waited for somepony to answer

Hearing that there was company, Chestnut put down a scalpel she was cleaning and walked over to see who it was. Opening the door, she felt a bit of surprise seeing a pony whom she did not recognize. Looking up at the alicorn, she questions, “Oh, hello. Are you new here? I don’t believe I’ve seen you before.” Turning her attention to Granite, she doesn’t notice that the statue-like form is alive, “Did you carve this? It bears a great resemblance to a pony that lives here. Masterful work, I’d have to say. Oh, um, may I ask what you are seeking?”

Jaxler sighed. “I’m Jaxler.”

Granite takes the hint and tries to hold as still as possible.

Jaxler slammed his forehoof on Granites back as soon as he realizes that Granite is trying to act like a statue. “Granite, stop acting and say something.”

Now feeling rather confused, Chestnut gives an apologetic smile, “Did you say your name was Jaxler? The Jaxler I know is a pegasus...and male.” She can’t help but see some similarities between the two, however. Identical color schemes, the same accent. “Perhaps you mean that you are related to Jaxler? Sister perhaps?” Maybe this pony was a bit off in the head. Claiming to be Jaxler and talking to a statue as if it were a real pony.

“Then why do i have the same scars as Jaxler and have the same cutie mark? AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD MOVE DAMNIT!” said Jaxler as he started to push Granite with his hoof.

Riddix walked up licked Chestnut, having no clue how strange the things around him were.

Granite stood silent and unmoving. A grin started to form on his face.

“Look he’s smiling now!”

Granite quickly reverts back to his previous expression.

Rubbing the dog on the head with a hoof, the medical pony sighs in confusion. I’m not a mental doctor. “I...I’ll figure this out later. Anyway, is there something I can help you with? Do you have a medical problem? Or am I needed elsewhere, perhaps?”

Jaxler sighed and pointed to the scar over his kidney. “See, I’m Jaxler and my cutie mark is the exact same as Jaxler’s that’s all the proof I need, and if i wasn’t jaxler then why is Jaxler’s dog following me around? So, can you help me with this whole being a mare thing, and also whith Granite here, who was petrified.”

This pony could have just painted the scar and cutie mark on for all she knew, but she’d play along just to make things go more smoothly, “Okay, so you’re Jaxler. What’s this about being a mare? Are you saying that you were changed into a mare...and that this statue is the real Granite?” She had never heard of anything so bizarre. “Well, how about some more information. Do you know how this happened? What’s the last thing you remember before the ‘transformation’?

“It was poison joke and it turned me into a mare, and Granite into Granite.”

“Poison...joke?” The unicorn had never heard of such a thing before. “As in, a joke that’s poisonous? I’m afraid I don’t follow. Perhaps you should come have a seat on the table.” Chestnut was going to do a routine check-up so that it would at least seem as if she was doing something productive.

Jaxler sighed, and walked in and took a seat. He had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well. “poison joke is some plant that has magical properties.”

The black alicorn’s pulse seemed to be normal, “A magic plant, huh?” Yeah, I’ll bet it was ‘magic plant’ alright. “If this is the case, it would be helpful if I could have a sample of it for study. Do you have any with you right now?” Chestnut checks for bruises to the head which might cause delusions. None are present.

“I don’t have any at the moment, I had all the plants burned, and the smoke apparently caused Granite to be afflicted.”

“Interesting...” Chestnut retains her normally cheerful exterior, but is concerned on the inside. ‘Jaxler’ can’t produce the mythical plant that caused her supposed transformation. Seemed sort of like an excuse to her. Perhaps she should divert this mare to somepony else. Silver Tongue might have better knowledge of mental illnesses, and Virtue should probably be made aware of a delusional stranger in their midst.

She came up with a plan, “Let me take a little sample of hair.” The unicorn uses a pair of scissors to clip a tiny bit of black fur from the mare’s side, “I’ll do some testing on this to see if there is a cure. In the meantime, you may want to go see Lady Virtue. If there’s a hazardous
plant around here, our leader needs to formulate a plan for dealing with it.” If there was anything fishy about this mare, surely whichever pony who was guarding Virtue would see to it that she was detained if deemed dangerous.

“Bucking hell, you think I’m jank in the head, now don’t you?”

“Oh, no no no, of course not,” the chubby unicorn smiled, “Like I said, I’ll try to work out a cure. If you’d like, you can leave your statu-, er, I mean Granite here for me to run tests on as well.” She places the few strands of black hair in a small jar and charges it with golden magic. “Don’t worry, I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“I don’t like it when ponies lie to me.”

Suddenly Granite bursts out laughing. “BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh god Jaxler, that line never ceases to make me laugh!”

Jumping back with a shout, Chestnut then tries to catch her breath, “Y-you...the statue...you really are Granite?!” Rubbing the side of her head, she turns to the taller pony, “So...you’re the real Jaxler after all...” Her demeanor turned more serious, “I’m sorry for not trusting you, but none of it seemed believable. W-we should see if anypony else has been affected like you two have.” The situation was now genuinely worrying her; she hadn’t the foggiest clue about how to fix this, “I-I don’t understand how this is possible...”

“Talk to stiletto, she said the effects would wear off eventually and also.” Jaxler got off the bed and threw a kick, aimed for Granite’s face.

Granite put two and two together and leaned into Jaxler’s hoof.

Wrinkling her mouth, Chestnut comments, “I know you’re frustrated, but there’s no need for violence...” Returning her attention to Jaxler’s last sentence, she asks, “So Stiletto knows about this plant? I may need to speak with her. Did she mention how long it takes for the effects to pass? It may be possible to simply wait it out. Still, I think I’d like to do some tests on anything you can provide to me. Even the ashes from the burnt plant might help me find an answer.”

“Chestnut, you are my childhood friend, do not go near this crap. It will mess you up.” Granite says in a serious tone.

“I appreciate your concern, Granite, but a doctor sometimes has to take chances in order to help others. Usually, it’s a disease. In this case, it’s a magical plant. I’ll take precautions to keep it from spreading. If you can bring the ashes in a tightly-sealed container, that will help lower the risk.”

“Oh, will my hair test not be enough for you? and I had moral incinerate them, but if you're really concerned just go look down by the river.”

Chestnut looks back over towards the jar, “It might give me the answers I need, or it might not be of any help at all. That awaits discovery. I’ll run some tests, but if nothing fruitful comes of it, I’ll need the ashes. It’s entirely possible that burning the joke disenchanted it, though. I’ll do everything I can. Panacea may be able to help as well, since she has more experience with medicine than I do.”

“Oh, really? are you sure you need to do that? Maybe me moral just had a lil’ play date and I’m just insane.”

“Well, what I mean is that all of the magic may have been released into the smoke. The ashes may be inert.” She taps a hoof on her chin, “Even if that is the case, the ashes may yet yield chemicals of some use.”

“Oh, but before you go are you sure you don’t want to stick me in a padded room?”

The medical pony closes her eyes, “I said I was sorry. Is that not enough?”

“Jaxler can you let it go?” Granite asks, slightly irritated. “We got work to do.” Granite takes a step back and trips. “Son of ah-” BAM. Granite slams hard into the hospital wall, leaving a few cracks in it. “Sorry...”

Chestnut facehoofs, “Per-perhaps you two should go so that I can think more clearly. Solving this problem won’t be easy.” She walks over to the jar and pulls out a few strands of the hair inside and puts them into a chemical solution, “I’ll let you know if I discover anything.”

“Meh, fine, but can you at least give Granite a crutch or something, he keep falling over and breaking things.”

“Well...there are some crutches in the back...let me take a look.” After looking through one of the compartments in the large closet of the hospital room, she levitates a couple of sturdy crutches towards the stony pony, “I believe these are the strongest ones we have.”

“Thanks...” Granite says. He tries to use them and ends up breaking both. “... Totally not my fault...” He responds.

The fat pony grinds her teeth, trying to keep her normally perky personality, “That’s...okay. Maybe somepony has a small wagon or something you can ride in, if Jaxler or somepony else is willing to pull you around in it?”

“Actually, the wood you're using is not very impressive, you’d want to use either glumprong, or blood thorn. I could make you a bloodthorn one, given you aren’t a religious freak, it would be strong enough to support you.”

“I don’t make the crutches; you may want to go talk to the carpenters about that,” Chestnut replies, “I don’t know what else I have on hand that could help.” She scratches the side of her head and looks around the room. “If I were to bind four crutches together to make two stronger crutches, would that help?” Despite her proposal, she is reluctant to risk destroying any more items from the hospital.

“I could probably walk, I just might cause some property damage along the way...” Granite says. “And yeah I shouldn’t waste the hospital supplies.”

Not liking where this is going, Chestnut makes a decision, “Ugh, alright. I’m giving you doctor’s orders to go back to your room and stay there. I’m sorry, but what you have may as well be considered an illness. If even just walking around is going to threaten other ponies or their belongings, it’s best if that risk is averted. So, j-just stay in bed until either the effects wear off, I find a cure, or a safe way to provide you with locomotion can be ascertained.” The unicorn begins writing a doctor’s excuse just in case he needs to miss any duties due to her recommendations.

“Ugh if it’s okay with you, could I just wait around here and act like a statue over in that corner? I really don’t want to go back to my room on the second story...” Granite asks.

“Fine...just sit down and don’t try to go anywhere on your own. If you need anything, just let me know and I’ll bring it to you.” She returns her attention to the chemical brew of hair and charges it with magic, “This will probably take a few hours, so I hope you won’t get too bored.”

“Meh, Can I bring my dog in here? Riddix always seems to keep me entertained.”

“As long as you can keep him out of trouble,” the mare replied as she began to stir the mixture.

Granite carefully lumbered over to the corner of the room. Granite stood as still as possible, the glow in his eyes and hair faded.

Jaxler walked over to the door and let his dog in. He then noticed Granite seemed depressed. “Are you okay Granite?”

Granite’s glow came back. “I’m fine Jaxler, don’t worry. It was like I went to sleep for a few moments... if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna take a nap.” Granite’s glow disappeared and he remained motionless.

Jaxler smiled ear to ear. If he couldn’t get back at Granite by hitting him maybe keeping him awake could. He then looked down at riddix and said quietly so that Granite couldn’t hear. “Go hug Granite.”

The dog stared blankly at its master and then ran over to Granite. The huge fluffy dog, as opposed to being annoying like Jaxler wanted, tried to take a nap while leaning on the earth pony.

Granite hears everything around him. He remains still as Riddix naps at his hooves.

[Dsarker]

and

Flux heads to the mechanics shop on one of his rare days of working mechanics instead of the furnaces.  He hums to himself as he enters, then stops in his tracks at the unfamiliar sight in the shop.

Loose Screw continues his work. Da choppa trap fing dat da boss loiked needed more of da fancy gubbinz to get it workin’.

Flux was about to say something, but stops to watch the newcomer work instead.  It looks a bit rough, but definitely solid and certainly deadly, even for a spinning blade trap.

Flux can just tell, in an instant, that the pony at the mechanic workshop is a Deutschmeiner. It’s written all over him.

Flux gives the mechanic an odd look and gently pokes him with a hoof.  “Um, excuse me?  Why... do you have ‘Deutchmeiner’ painted all over your fur?”

“Cuz I’z wunna dem deutschyminor. Dat’z why. I’z wunna dem deutschyminor boyz.”

Flux gives him an incredulous look, but doesn’t contradict him.  He had the size, certainly, but... not much else.  “So, um... what are you working on?”

“I’z makin’ dis ‘ere fing more choppy, dat’z wut I’z doin’, by addin’ more of dese fancy gubbinz. Wot’re ya doin’ ‘ere askin’, ya gretchin?” the apparent Deutschmeiner asks.

“...I’m one of the mechanics.  I actually made the preliminary designs for the disc traps, though they’ve been refined a lot by now.  I’m Flux, what’s your name?”  Despite the oddity, Flux still felt he should be polite.

“Uhhhh...I’z...Loose Screw, dat’z my name. I’z a normal ponie, just like you.”

Flux can’t help but chuckle at that.  “Yes, I believe you’re as pony as I am.  So, that trap.  You’re adding gubbins?”

“Dat’z roit, I iz.”

“Um... what do they do?”

“Dey makez da trapz betta, of course. Wut’d ya think?”

“Well, I guessed that.  But how do they make it better?”

“Dey makez it more choppy, ya grot. Wot did ya fink dey did?”

“I wasn’t sure.  They... well, they look weird and might throw it off balance.”

“Nah, ya git! Dey don’t needz balance. Dey addz to da choppy.”

“But if it’s off balance, it’ll swing slower, making it, um... less choppy.”

“Nah, ya gretchin! It’z all red, so it goes faster! Dat’z ‘ow da gubbinz work!”

Flux quirks an eyebrow at that.  “But... if it’s balanced and red, it’ll go even faster.”

“...Wotchu talkin’ bout, gretchin? Dat’z all wrong! Ya needz more spinny gubbinz to make it more choppy, an’ den ya putz on da red paint da makez it fasta! Dat’z all ya needz!”

Flux looks at the disc with the ‘gubbinz’ on it, thinking.  “If you put a, uh... gubbin here... and here... it should be faster and um... choppier?  Balance it first, then it’ll be even faster when you... paint it red.”

“...Ya don’t needz dis balance fing for yer choppy gubbinz. Dat’z just silly.”

Flux was starting to get a headache from trying to explain the mechanics.  “Well, alright.  As long as it’ll work right when it’s needed.”  He exits the workshop, shaking his head.  What in Equestria was a buffalo doing in Dawnpick?

[Dsarker]

and


As Moral is walking down a corridor, he sees something like a strange looking earth pony standing still. Somehow, Moral can just tell that the pony is from the Deutschmeiner. He has it written all over him. The wooden expression on the pony’s face doesn’t seem to change as Moral passes by...his? It’s hard to tell in this light, but it looks like a him. Anyway, the expression doesn’t seem to change as Moral appears in view.

Moral paused, and looked the nice pony right in the eye. He couldn’t wait to have himself a new friend, and this guy looked extra special! “Hi there. How you being Mr. wooden face!”

The voice sounds a little muffled, and he looks like he’s speaking through his teeth. “I’z doin’ gud. Who are yer?”

“Oh, um I is moral um...” Moral then lowered his hat magically and looked inside it. “I AM Moral Decay, Bringer of DEATH and Perpetual INCINERATION AND... um DAMNIT! wait... OH! I is Moral Decay... what was I doing...”

“Yer needz ta stop talkin’n’muckin’bout!” says the voice, the sketchy-looking pony still staring right into Moral’s eyes, not moving one bit. “I’z Loose Screw.”

Moral smiled ear to ear. “Hi mister um... uh.. OH! Loose screw” Moral then extended his hoof in hopes of having a hoof shake. “I is moral!”

The strange-looking (and acting, come to think of it) pony doesn’t shake immediately, but eventually extends a hoof. His leg looks a bit strange, for some reason that Moral just can't pick up on. Regardless, the shake is forthcoming.

Moral’s smile somehow got bigger after shaking the pony’s hoof. “So, I is grand master, what you do?”

“I... I does stuff. I iz a pony, ya know.”

“That nice, ya wanna see what I do!”

“Uh...Yer, ‘fcourse. I’z a normal pony, yer know!”

Moral hadn’t the slightest clue what the guy just said, but showed his talent anyway. Moral extended his forehoof to his left. his horn emitted a horrible red glow and the hoof was soon engulfed in the exact same hideous aura. suddenly the hoof was surrounded by a ball of fire, but the pony wasn’t being the slightest bit burnt.

“Yer wunna dem ponie weirdboyz, are ya? Wunna dem unicornies? I’z an...I’z wunna da erfy ponies. Wunna da normal onez. I’z a normal pony, roit.”

Moral kept his eyes fixated on the fire. “Please dear loose, I’d prefer if you wouldn’t so blatantly insult my dignity and call me such a disrespectful name as ‘weird’. It’s best for both or healths if you don’t make a grand master pyromancer such as myself irate, especially when you sir aren’t one to pass judgment when it comes to being ‘weird’. More so seeing how you would be one of the guilty parties.”

The...apparent pony...still doesn’t change his expression, but he still looks...strange. Like he was made of paper or something strange like that. Like he was cardboard or something. He continues to speak, though. “Wotcha talkin’ about, unicornie?”

Moral grimaced at the other ponies ignorance. “you sir, are weirder than a multi-personalitied sadistic, genius, pyromaniac. Your face is as cold as ice, and your comprehension of this language worse than my own. AND you clearly aren’t smart seeing how any pony with an IQ above 80 would have apologized by now for insulting the one pony who can COOK THEM FROM THE INSIDE OUT!”

“Who’z insultin’ who, unicornie? Yer a weirdboy, sure as sure, yer did dat magicky stuff. Dat’z all da weirdboy stuff. Yer can do it, yer’z a weirdboy,” says the voice, still sounding calm.

“That, ‘weirdboy stuff’ is still capable of kill you horribly.”

“Yer, yer. Yer still a weirdboy. Dat’z all da weirdboy stuff. I’z just a normal ponie. I’z not a unicornie like you are.”

“Meh, Also I’m currently not a unicorn, I’m an alicorn... though I don’t fly much anymore.”

“Same diff’rance,” says the voice. “Just a unicornie wiv wingz.”

“I suppose. Have you been attempting to demoralize me, or have you just been having a difficult time articulating your language?”

“Har har har! Yer a joker, ain’tcha! Demoralise Moral, har har har!”

“Oh, I suppose that was a good, play on words... Still, if you were trying to insult me then I must apologize for my actions.”

“Yer, yer, okay den Moral.”

Moral was having a hard time comprehending this strange pony...“Okay then... Well, see you letter dear chum. It was a pleasure making your acquaintance.” The fire on Moral’s hoof suddenly disappeared. “I is go see you later buddy!”

“Okay, seez ya later, Moral.”

Moral stated blankly at the other pony. “What was I doing again?”

“I dunno. Sumfin fun, I bet.”

“Probably... HI I’m Moral!”

“Yez, ya toldz me.”

“Oh yeah.... “ Moral then smiled and started to walk away. “See ya!”

[jaxler]

Jaxler had a dilemma. He really, really needed to drink today. Being turned into an mare, and an alicorn had to be near the top his list of nightmares. He figured being drunk would help, but he felt like he couldn’t just go to the meeting hall and drink his brains out. The way the stallions were looking at him made Jaxler feel really uncomfortable. She could stay at her house and go drinking, but he always seemed to wonder about when he was drunk. So, Jaxler decided she needed to have somepony look after him while he went drinking. Jaxler walked over to Marilee’s house and knocked on her door.

The door opened, and the familiar black-maned mare peeked out. At the sight of her mare/coltfriend, Marilee’s face brightened, and she opened the door fully, stepping out to embrace him. “Jaxler! How have you been?”

Jaxler was caught off guard by the hug, but still managed to hug her back and smile. “I’ve been okay, but I need to ask you something.”

“Of course. Would you like to come in?”

“Sure. I’d kinda like it if you would... um stay at my house with me tonight. I kinda don’t feel comfortable drinking alone.”

Marilee gently led Jaxler inside. “Uhm... you remember what happened last time, right?”

Jaxler shrugged. “Well, yes but I don’t want to go drinking alone.”

“So then, you won’t mind if I don’t do any drinking myself?”

“I don’t mind at all. Also seeing how it’s how it’s starting to get a bit late, would you be willing to come over right now?”

“I can do that, sure.”

“Great, also do mind dogs?”

“Dogs?”

“I kinda have a dog now...”

“Ooh, how sweet! What kind of dog?”

“Well, the guy I bought him from said he was like a wolf, pyreneese mix, I don’t know that means exactly but the dogs fluffy as hell and around three feet tall.”

“Oh my, he sounds lovely. I’d love to meet him.”
“Good, so I think should probably head over now.”

“Alright then.” Marilee turned back to bid her parents goodnight, and trotted out beside Jaxler.

Jaxler and Marilee walked to his apartment, but Jaxler stopped right when he reached the door. Jaxler opened up his door. The room was nice, though slightly unkempt. There was a kabnet, a table and chair, a wooden chest, and a big fluffy dog sleeping on a bed. “So, this be my house.”

Marilee stood in the doorway, taking in everything in the room. “It’s a nice place.”

“Thanks, I try to keep the place nice.” Jaxler then trotted in

Marilee followed Jaxler in, sitting by the bed to get a better look at the massive dog sleeping there. “So, what’s his name?”

Jaxler walked over and took a seat on his chair. “His name’s Riddix.”

“Is he friendly?”

“he’s very friendly, actually. Which is strange considering what the caravan planned on doing to him.”

“Oh...” Marilee reaches out a hoof and gently rubs Riddix’ ears. “You poor dear...”

“Yeah, I honestly wanted to hit the the guy I bought him from in the face for what they did the dog. They stuffed him in a cage made for an dog half his size and said they planned on eating him.”

Marilee raises a hoof to her mouth. “...eat a dog? Surely they couldn’t have been that desperate for food...”

“Well, from what I understand some caravans are just that sideways and cruel.”

Marilee just nods, still watching the sleeping hound. “So... are you going to go get something to drink?”

Jaxler looked around his room, and was surprised to realize that he didn’t have any booze. “Oh, seems I forgot to buy some booze before I asked you over... I’ll be right back.” Jaxler got up from his chair and walked over to his door. It took Jaxler a while, but he came back with a few barrels of booze, when he came through the door. “I’m back”

“Welcome back.” Marilee sat down by the table, leaving the chair open for Jaxler. “So... why exactly did you want me to sit with you, and why are you drinking at home? Normally, you just head to the dining hall.”

Jaxler put the barrels by the table and sat down in the chair. “Well... I feel kinda uncomfortable going drinking alone. The stallions keep looking at me strange, and I don’t want to do anything I’d regret while I’m drunk, or have them do anything to me while I’m blacked out... And I always wonder about when I’m drunk.”

“I understand.” Marilee giggled softly. “I promise I won’t take advantage of you, Jaxler.”

Jaxler smiled. “Thanks.” Jaxler then got up and went over to his cabinet and pulled out a mug, walked back and opened the barrel and filled the mug. “So, anything interesting happen to you recently?”

“Yes, actually. We got a letter from my sisters today. They finally heard from my brother! He’s alright!”

Jaxler smiled “Really, that a relief, did he say why he wasn’t sending any letters?”

“Just that he and his fiancee went somewhere, and they couldn’t get any letters to us. But it’s so wonderful to hear that he’s okay. And he got married, too!”

“He got married. He must one lucky fellow. Who’d he marry?”

“A pegasus mare, named Otik. He met her just a few months after he got sent to Glitterglen, and they’ve been together for years.”

“Well, I’m happy that he’s doing well.” Jaxler then downed his mug and filled it again. “What’s this Otik like?”

“Well, I’ve never met him in person, of course, but Starkey seems absolutely crazy about her. He says she’s very kind, and caring. She adopted two orphaned fillies while they were dating.”

“She adopted them, aye? Well, she must be a great pony to do such a thing.”

“Yeah. It’s easy to see why he fell for her.”

Jaxler took another sip of booze. “Well, she still doesn’t seem as wonderful as you.”

This causes Marilee to blush hard, her face practically glowing pink. “Oh... y-you don’t really...”

Jaxler shrugged. “Well, I never lie.”

Despite her blushing, a smile spread across Marilee’s muzzle. “W-Well... thank you.” She sat silent for a moment, before leaning over and, hesitating for a moment, gave Jaxler a quick peck on the cheek.

Jaxler started to blush. “Oh, what was that for, I was only pointing out the obvious.”

Marilee smiled warmly. “It was still very sweet of you.”

Jaxler Smiled back. “So, I heard some of your father’s soldiers came to town.”

“Oh, yes. They’re the family’s personal guards. Dad hand-picked the best ponies from our security force to protect us. I’ve known most of them since I was a tiny foal. It’s very nice to see them all again.”

“Ah, I’ll have to meet them sometime. They seem like nice guys.” Jaxler then downed his mug for the third time and filled it again. “How good are they good at fighting?”

“Well, they’re very highly trained. And the few times somepony has come after mum, or dad, or... or one of us, they’ve been able to keep us safe. I’m... not much of an expert on fighting, so I can’t tell you much more.”

“People come after your family?”

“Yeah...” Marilee looked away. “I...guess it comes with the territory... being wealthy, I mean.”

“It’s almost funny. When you're poor as dirt, your life is constantly in danger, and when you're rich, you’re still in danger... I’ll never let anypony harm you or your family.”

Marilee smiled at this. “That’s very kind of you. You have a good heart, Jaxler.”

Jaxler smiled back. “It is no more so than your own.”

The pink glow returned to Marilee’s face. She giggled lightly.

Jaxler smiled, and went straight for a kiss.

Marilee was quite taken aback at first, but soon enough she relaxed and leaned into the kiss.

Jaxler eventually broke the kiss.

Marilee looked up at Jaxler, cheeks flushed eyes wide. “W-Wow, t-that was...” The thought briefly crossed her mind that she had just been kissed by a mare but quickly vanished.

Jaxler chuckled a little bit. “That’s was what?”

“That was... lovely.”

“Well, if you ever want more, I’m always available.”

“What about... right now?”

Jaxler went in for another kiss.

Marilee returned the kiss gratefully, leaning into Jaxler.

Jaxler held this kiss for a little while, but eventually broke it. Jaxler then looked into Marilee’s eyes. “You're beautiful”

“You’re... handsome? Beautiful?”

“Am I beautiful enough to kiss again?” said Jaxler half jokingly.

As an answer, Marilee went in for the kiss this time.

Jaxler leans in and lets Marilee kiss him.

After a long moment, Marilee broke the kiss. “W-Wow...”

Jaxler didn’t say a word and just went for another kiss.

Marilee gratefully accepted yet another kiss, leaning her whole body against Jaxler’s chest.

Jaxler held the kiss for a while, but broke it regretfully. He looked deeply into Marilee’s eyes, when suddenly he felt something jump up on his side and knock him over. Apparently Riddix had woken up, and felt like being playful. Jaxler fell to his side, and effectively hit his head on the table, hard, before hitting the ground.

Marilee gasped, bending down to make sure Jaxler hadn’t seriously hurt himself. “Are you okay? Here, let me help you...” She took his hoof in hers, gently helping Jaxler to stand.

Jaxler got off the ground. “I think I’m okay, but I’m having a hard time seeing straight.”

“I think you should lie down, and rest for a while.”

Jaxler nodded, and took a step forward, almost falling over in the process. “can, you help me over to the bed?”

“Of course.” Marilee lent Jaxler her shoulder, helping him stand and hobble over to the bed. as they reached the bed, she pulled the blankets back for him. “Here you go. Hop on in.”

Jaxler got in the bed, and sighed. “Sorry...”

“It’s alright, really.” Marilee started to pull the blankets over Jaxler, paused, then climbed into bed beside him and snuggled up to him.

Jaxler kissed Marilee.

Marilee wrapped her forelegs around Jaxler as she briefly returned the kiss before breaking it. “My, you’re very... eager.”

Jaxler put his forelegs around Marilee. “Well, it’s hard not to be, with somepony as beautiful as yourself.”

“Oh, Jaxler...” Marilee tightened her grip, snuggling in closer to him.

Jaxler planted another kiss on Marilee

She giggled, returning the kiss before drawing back and staring deep into Jaxler’s eyes. “So...”

Jaxler looked back into Marilee’s eyes. “I Think I love you.”

“I... I think I love you too.”

Jaxler smiled at this, and went in for a kiss.

Marilee gratefully accepted yet another kiss, holding this one for as long as she could.

Once the kiss broke, Jaxler didn’t hesitate to go in for another.

Marilee accepted, but had to break the kiss earlier than she would have liked to draw a few breaths. “S-So... does this mean we...”

Jaxler held Marilee a little bit tighter. “If you want.”

“Are you sure? I-I could understand if you’d rather wait until you’re cured...”

“Why wait?”

Marilee smiled, blushing brightly. “Whenever you’re ready.”

[Dsarker]

My dear Alastair,

You have written to me oft-times concerning your discovery of a most strange buffalo, acting differently to the normal ones.

The following passage comes from Bertucher’s brilliant dissertation on the written language of the buffaloes, also known variably as buffalorks, brownskins, brownies. We feel it sheds some light on your studies of the type of buffalo you may be dealing with...

Following this idea gives us exciting questions about ‘typical’ translations of Buffalo texts. For if the meaning is determined from outside context as well as in-text context, then it leaves the language previously understood to be limited and typically useless in a state far more useful to xenologists. To help us with this debate, we shall examine a text discovered in the ruins of Dawnpick in remarkably good condition.

((a series of glyphs follows))

Now, this text would be typically translated as follows:

I have come to light, the strength of the ponies, and I do not know. I am getting the goods.

But following this, we can give a proper translation.

I am at dawn pick  and the ponies don't know what I am. I am getting the good things.

Having finished the translation on this text, we can establish the author’s names.

Firstly, he is known among the buffaloes in general as Nazrunt Wazbad.

Secondly, among the ponies he is known as Loose Screw.

Thirdly, he is known as ‘Stabim’ by that peculiar group of the buffalos known as the Kommandos...

[Maklak]

(( 28 Malachite, 262 ))

Indigo saw something absolutely outrageous and decided to talk to Lady Virtue about it. She must have known about it already, but... couldn't she see where this was all going? Is she this naive? He approaches the keep and is reluctantly let in, after leaving his saddlebags with the guard standing by the door.

"Hello Lady Virtue. I've seen six rainbow ponies walking around the town. What is worse, they have weapons and armour. They aren't a part of any caravan and we are supposedly at war with them. So why are they here?" asks Indigo, looking visibly disturbed.

Virtue swallows an imagined lump of apprehension and tries to think of the best way to explain this to Indigo without arousing too much suspicion or agitating him further. "They are mercenaries. From the rainbow coalition. Gregor arranged for them to be sent here to help protect us in the event that we did end up in actual combat with the rainbow ponies."

"If you need mercenaries, I'm sure Coupledye has many. Heck, some may even agree to serve for 5 years in exchange for a good suit of armour, if money isn't enough of a lure. So why do we even need the Rainbows and Stiletto, I just don't understand."

"I did petition Coupledye about all of this right after it happened, and they sent a few soldiers like Bardiche and Voulge." She thinks for a moment about asking for mercenaries. "I didn't ask them for any mercenaries at the time... perhaps I should. I just have to hope their loyalty isn't too easily swayed by rainbow pony money. The Shadowglaze family is very wealthy..."

"So... we are at war with another rainbow pony family, and these are 'good' rainbow ponies, who want to help us? Really? Who told you that? Gregor? Do you believe him? Did you confirm his story in any way? It sounds awfully convenient. Even if it were true, and Gregor and his family don't want any conflict with us, the prudent thing to do for them would be to leave as soon as it is safe for them to do so. What possible motive could they have to stay and help us defend against rainbows working for some other faction, they had no problem travelling with in the first place? Competition? Feud? I just don't see, how they could benefit from becoming traitors in their own land, therefore I don't believe Gregor's story. Besides, if you are concerned about sell-axes turning their cloaks on us, I'd say the rainbow mercenaries are even less trustworthy than ones from Coupledye."

Indigo was right in that she was taking a lot of it at face value, but so far that hadn't come back to bite her in the flank. She could hope it wouldn't come to that. "I'll admit that I don't understand the rainbow politics or if they can really work so independently of each other, nor do I completely understand Gregor's motivations, but he seemed to believe this would benefit his family in the long run. Exclusive trading with Dawnpick, possibly, I'm not sure." She sighs. "Anyway, when I first talked with him, I had little to go on other than his word, but so far he hasn't shown himself to be untrustworthy, and I've had Partisan watching him to be sure, not to mention I've been screening his messages. Nothing alarming in any of that."

Indigo frowns. "It is good, that you are taking these precautions, but why didn't they just leave? There is a lot of bad blood between us and the rainbows now and the presence of Gregor and his group raises some tensions. I'm happy he and his family didn't die in 260, but they were supposed to leave after the wounded mare got better. Not only were they allowed to stay and wander around, looking at our defences, but now they have bodyguards as well? Their group is big enough to safely travel to Glittergen, back to their homeland or wherever they hay they want to, so why don't they?"

Truth be told Virtue wasn't quite sure why they hadn't left yet, but Indigo had a point regardless. "I actually don't know for sure..." she admits.  "He was concerned about travelling while hostilities still existed between us and the Shadowglaze family, but now that he does have an armed escort and it seems he could leave whenever he wants. Perhaps he is waiting for more soldiers to arrive in a caravan to travel with... I'm not entirely sure."
"I've heard there was some conflict around Glitterglen as of late as well, perhaps that is a factor. As for the guards... well, right after the caravan incident Gregor offered to request aid from his own family's defence force. At the time I was desperate to bolster our defences when, as far as I knew, an attack could come at any time. Things have become a bit protracted, I'll admit... but I don't think they're spies. I've been screening the messages they've sent and received, and I've had Partisan watching them." continues Virtue.

Indigo frowns This is beginning to make sense. "I've been attending these captain's meetings for years now, and I never heard any of this. One of their functions is to provide you with advice on our defences. Even if you needed to make a quick decision, you should have informed us during the next meeting and in the meantime consulted this with Halberd or maybe Fauchard. Have you? Because if not, I imagine Halberd will be quite unhappy about it."
"Besides... you asked Gregor to bolster our defences? Really? Stiletto is bad enough, but at least she is from a neutral fraction and for all the trouble she causes, she might, just might, be worth it during a war. Rainbow ponies on the other hoof... It is quite likely they are infiltrators, who will turn on us during a siege. What else could they be? Oh, I'm sure they will help us fight badger pony bandits or some things in the caverns, just to throw off suspicion, but when we start trusting them and give them steel, they will be in a good position to turn on us."

Virtue sighs. "I'm sorry for not letting you know earlier... I went to Halberd privately right after this happened... Naginata happened to be there at the time."  She realizes that implied she didn't think his opinion mattered, which it did, and so quickly tries to continue along. "Anyway... I did consider all of that. Most importantly, they're not allowed access to our armoury, so hopefully that won't be an issue. Regardless, while I don't think they're spies of any sort, I've asked the other captains to keep an eye on them and make sure they aren't doing anything suspicious. I should have involved you too, I'm sorry. If you want to help out, then please do report anything unusual you see." Now she just had to hope that this didn't spark another conflict like the trade depot incident if one of the soldiers did something untoward... "In a fight... well, I'm trusting Halberd to deploy so that we can mitigate any risk of them turning on us."

Indigo sighs. "Well, you at least considered some of these things and took some precautions. Still, we have around 20 soldiers, and I don't think those six will make much difference." he frowns "I really hope you are right about them, because if you aren't... Well, just don't tell me I didn't warn you after they kill the guard at the gate, open it to a siege and disable the traps. Or help another assassin." With that, Indigo leaves, somewhat calmer, but still worried.

Virtue watches him leave and chews on her thoughts for a few minutes. He had a lot of good points, but she wasn't really sure what to do about it. They still might need the extra troops if a fight ever did come... but there was a persistent nagging in the back of her mind that Indigo might be right. She imagines one of the soldiers shooting her, Harvest Moon or one of their children in their sleep and shivers mentally. But what could she do?  Maybe she should talk to Gregor and try to ease her mind... but she had to be careful not to provoke him, lest she makes matters far worse than they already might be.

Suddenly another thought dawns on Indigo, but he doesn't come back to talk about it. What if Gregor has a feud with that other family and somehow killed the diplomat without leaving any traces, then hid with his own family before the trouble started? They were the only survivors and how would they get to our warehouse anyway? Let alone just in time? The depot was watched. If they are wealthy enough to get mercenaries, they couldn't possibly be simply trying to steal something at the time. If Virtue was right about them willing to have exclusive rights to trade, they wouldn't want to leave. They would want to stir conflict between us and Shadowglaze, or whatever they're called and earn our trust. Getting his wife and daughter involved in something like this would be a huge risk, but then again what better way to throw off our suspicions, than a gambit like that? It makes a scary amount of sense. Wool said the diplomat died of natural causes, but then again he could have been blackmailed and silenced in the mines. Nopony could explain what he was doing there in the first place and how that beast got there. If he was drugged and left in it's path... Maybe I should tell Partisan about my suspicions and voice them during the next captain's meeting.


(( NOTE: Indigo shares his concerns during the next captain's meeting. Indigo, Naginata and Halberd don't like the rainbow presence, which in Halberd's case means rudely and loudly scolding Virtue for letting them in. Glaive and Fauchard don't have any serious problems with it. While they are in favour of keeping an extra close eye on the rainbows, it is well known to Glaive that they are Gregor's ponies and that Gregor isn't allied with the ponies who tried to kill Virtue. Partisan sees all rainbow ponies as potential spies and threats, but doesn't want to treat them poorly or antagonise them, if they are allowed to stay. Conclusion: They are here to stay, but will be watched and won't get any steel from the armoury. ))

(( NOTE: Indigo's speculative theory about Gregor being behind the diplomat's death is rejected, based on lack of evidence, but his group is still regarded as a bunch of opportunists. ))

(( NOTE: Indigo will talk about his concerns to important ponies, who want to listen. Or just ones he is often in contact with. This should sow some healthy distrust towards the newcomers and antagonize them in return. "We have come a long way to help defend these ponies. So why do they hate us? Why do they refuse us better weapons and armour when they have plenty?" (Actually the last one is not that difficult to explain away; mercenaries may be supposed to have their own gear, and getting or being lent something new would be considered a part of their payment.) ))

(( NOTE: Indigo will of course report anything abnormal he sees or hears, but not before he gets some kind of confirmation or evidence. ))

[Dsarker]

My dear Alastair,

I received your letter not two days ago, requesting more information on this buffalo, and I will do what I can.

This buffalo, so far as we have been able to locate in the records, left behind several manuscripts in remarkable condition. These are typically maps, small records of missions, and the like. Less often he left behind what appears, at first look to be diary entries. These are typically singular prior to the records from Dawnpick, but tend to be more descriptive than the ones in Dawnpick.

Most of these say things that seem to contradict myths or other lore about the buffaloes. Whether these are universal, or present only in kommandoes, or even solely in this specimen, is still up for debate. But this story, from one of the pre-Dawnpick records, seems to dispel at least the tale that they butcher any foals they can lay their hooves on. We have translated it from the buffalo. Where terms are ambiguous, the possible meanings are all listed. The first one is our favourite for the correct term.

Today/This day/This week/Yesterday a special event/battle/war happened. While I was sneaking/tricking/lying in a village/army/encampment, a young/chosen/marked/holy pony/ponies/other came by. She saw through/understood/foresaw my disguise/lies/trick. I hit her and knocked her out. I took/stole/robbed her from the village/army/encampment. When she awoke/was born/died/killed, she wanted/wished/fought for going home/cave/herdstone. She was crying/cheering/shouting/taunting, and I allowed/agreed/decided it.

She went home/to the cave/to the herdstone, and a pony/ponies/other was there. The pony/ponies/other beat the young/chosen/marked/holy pony/ponies/other. I went in and attacked the hated/unworthy/unbeing/hateful pony/ponies/other. From him, I claimed/won/looted his wings and the cutie mark (lit. mark of shame/pride/side). I took the young/chosen/marked/holy pony/ponies/other and left.