Up in the North, the ponies have successfully found who, or rather, what was damaging the mine. But their quest is not over, as they go to look for the source of the trouble. In Baltimare, Iron, Silver, and Dark Star enjoy the fruits of defeating the cultists, while Midnight herds the remaining rescues.
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1803 replies and 54 files omitted.
>>127827Her smile softens somewhat
"I guess that is true. I just think collecting may be a bit less of a challenging for us than calculating"
>>127829Iron can't help but widen his smile, turning slightly mischievous. "Oh come on," Iron mutters out, chucking somewhat before looking at Cauldron "do you see me as a pony who backs down from a challenge?"
>>127830She smiles wider at him,
“I see you as a pony that didn’t do any better at math in school than I did”
She giggles
>>127831Iron chortles at the response, lightly tapping Cauldron's chest. "Hey," he mock protests after a bit "I will have you know my father made me study the magical number thingies or unless I sought to get spanked." He pauses, smiling widely "I admit my flank got beet red more than I would like to admit."
>>127832She gives a toothy, kind of awkward smile
"My father wanted me to do well in school, I just kind of... slacked off and did other things"
>>127833Iron cocked his head. "Oh?" he lets out, intrigued by her potential hobbies as a filly "What did you do before?"
>>127834"Well, you know. Talk to other fillies and colts. Play around."
She looks down at the notepad
"I would often ask the teacher when I would ever have to use math in life. I had no idea..."
>>127835Iron can't help but chuckle. "Me too, actually," the native admits sheepishly, rubbing his cheek "I did not expect to have to use them for all sorts of things either, even less that it would apply to something like this."
The native pulls up his foreleg, looking pensively "I thought we would simply be coercing ponies from the money they owed, nothing more."
>>127836"No, you have to get the money to lend out from a boss, find creatures that need money but can't get it from the bank or pawn shop, sell them the loan, keep track of where they are, how much they owe, and then collect on it. And this is on top of issues like the police, or if borrowers are borrowing to cover debts to a different lender"
>>127837Iron can't help but smile at Cauldron. "Seems you caught on pretty quick, I would say," he replies gingerly, wrapping a foreleg around the zebra "to nopony's surprise, of course."
>>127838As Iron places a foreleg around her, she at first pulls away from the movement, but then relaxes into it
"Well, you either catch on, or you fall behind. That seemed okay in school, but it isn't in life, so I caught on"
Her smile is subtle and confident
>>127839"I sure can tell," Iron confirms warmly, "from your snout poking prowess to this stuff we just went through, I bet you could do anything you wanted with enough time and effort."
Iron moves his head to stick by hers, glancing at her from her side. "Speaking of, do you think all of the goods I have gotten would be able to be invested in a trade you really want?" he asks
>>127840She stops, her eyes are focused, her ears go straight up, and her fur seems to stand up
"What do you mean?" She asks
>>127841Iron tilts his head. "What do you mean 'what do you mean'?" he asks in return. The native feels something is off, making sure he didn't miss anything in terms of her emotional state.
[1d20+2 = 8]<Sense motive roll
>>127842She seems surprised or excited
"What are you proposing?" she asks
>>127843"You know, the whole potion maker business," he clarifies, rubbing her back with his foreleg reassuringly "in order to boost your money making further up, help your family and be safer from this crackdown in the future, remember?"
>>127844"Yes. And?"
She is definitely excited
>>127845"Well, I
did create a lot of capital through the goods I have gotten," Iron suggests happily, excitement clear in his voice "meaning you could be able to invest in preparations for it. Not to mention I got a few extra hoooves as well if you need more hired help either at your father's place or with your promising enterprise."
>>127847"Yep!" Iron confirms happily, eyes closing and smiling at Cauldron.
>>127848And...
WHOMP!
Cauldron jumps on him, hugging him
"Thank you! Thank you!"
>>127849Iron's ears straighten, eyes widening at the glomp as he finds his body falling backward due to both unpreparedness and tiredness, but happily accepts the hug, now on the floor, belly up, wrapping his forelegs around her back. "O-oh it is nothing, Cauldron," he stammers out, taken aback by such a massive gratitude exhuding from the mare, clearly blushing hard "you did f-far more."
>>127850After finding she's knocked him to the ground, she stands back up, blushes and smiles awkwardly
"I mean... Thank you"
>>127851Iron blinks once or twice, still laid down on the ground, before looking back at Cauldron, laughing heartily, eyes closing as he waves his hoof dismissively. "Oh do not be worried about my personal space," he comments happily "I am glad I could help you after what you did for me."
He extends both of his foreleg, yet stays prone, smiling warmly "Besides, it is not like you could sour my mood after such a cute display," he comments.
>>127852She scrunches her mouth in a twisted smile, then walks over to Iron, over top of him, and hugs, or lets him hug him
>>127853Iron gladly reciprocates the hug, being overly gentle and caring, feeling all the Tartarus he went through back at Hoebuck and the Pier worth it. Her coat... her hugs... her smile...
her. It was all for her, for what she did for him so far.
He would suffer a million wounds, drown a thousand times, break all his bones and even hoof over his life.
All for that smile, that joy, that cheerful enthusiasm.
He closes his eyes, enjoying such a peaceful, soul strengthening climax as they both hugged for as long as Cauldron wanted.
>>127854She actually doesn't feel all that soft and fluffy. Certainty not as much as White Sands. A kind of hard and muscular body underneath short, if kind of soft fur. But she hugs him more. A little harder now even. She closes her eyes, and seems to have tears coming down from them
>>127855Iron's ears straighthen at the sight before hugging her slightly tighter as well, letting her pour all her emotions on him. "I am glad to help, Cauldron," he whispers to her ear, lightly nuzzling her cheek "You deserve it."
>>127856She kind of tenses and curls her neck in at the nuzzling
"Well I don't know about
that"
>>127857Iron chuckles, retreating his snout, the back of his head returning to the floor, smiling wide. "At least I think you do," he honestly replies, half lidded, grateful eyes staring at Cauldron's own "and nopony could change my mind about it."
>>127858She smiles, now warmly
"Thank you"
And then she leans in, and hugs him around the neck
>>127859Iron reciprocates the hug, happy to have her hug his neck as he closes his eyes and hugs her back, smiling warmly as well. "Thank you as well for giving me this much time of the day," he mumbles happily, content as ever to hug her crush so intimately.
>>127860Zebra is hugged"Oh, it's no problem Iron. You know that"
>>127861Iron hums happily at Cauldron's words, heart fluttering slightly. "You are going to make me blush with words like that," he mock protests, still calmly hugging the zebra.
>>127862She smiles again, warmly, but pulls away from the hug
"So... We have items to sell, do we?"
>>127863Iron nods. "Indeed we do," he confirms, turning himself around and standing up.
>>127864"Well... I haven't touched it since last night. I'm not sure what all you had there. I could see that you were really in a hurry last night."
>>127866"Some directly useful notes and bits, along with some fancy coins I have never seen before and 'bonds', whatever those are," he recounts "as well as some papers, some having pictures of a stallion bedding a mare or two used for blackmail for some reason, then some shiny gemstones and some fancy looking liquids."
>>127867"Uh.... Okay then. You
really have a lot to learn if you want to be a good criminal here. But there's probably something good in there."
>>127868Iron nods understandingly. "Perhaps we can go back and you can take a more thorough look?" he suggests.
>>127869"I think we should. Yes."
>>127870"For the best," he agrees "lead the way."
>>127871"Alright"
She goes out from the back room, into the bar, picks up her sweater, and onto the street. It's a walk of many blocks before they get back to her apartment, her unlocking the door, then locking it back after they enter inside
>>127872Iron blinks a bit, still slightly tired from yesterday's events before turning to Cauldron. "Alright, so I believe it is time for your judgement," he suggests with a grin.
>>127873She goes into the closet, and unwraps the towels that cover the horde
"Jewelry and gems." She says, looking at the first portion of the find. "We'd need to take this to a jeweler or somegriff who can determine the exact value of these, but these are at minimum a few hundred bits. Probably more." She looks at the cash. "Nice! A thousand bits. Or 1100, more like." Then she looks at the bonds. "Even better. 1500 bits worth." She quickly looks at the photographs, and as quickly places them away without comment, as if she were forbidden to look upon them. She holds up the coins. "I don't know the exchange rate on these, but it's worth something to the griffins, especially on the foriegn markets." She looks at the crystal glass, and almost drops it as she immediately starts laughing. "Hahaha!" She places it back down without comment. Then she looks at the vial of pink. "Hmmm... Now this is something. I don't know the retail value, but 100 bits minimum." Then she looks at the three rifles, operating the lever action on the lever action gun. It fits her hooves well. "I don't know if you were intending to sell these.... Well, these aren't really as desired as bolt actions. They don't have quite the range or power. But they are easier to create fake permits for, they look more like legal guns, and in any case, guns are at a premium in the city now. Maybe 250 to 350 per gun."
>>127874Albeit the stallion jumped after hearing her laugh at the crystal glass, Iron listened intently at Cauldron's appraisal, nodding slightly.
"So, the next priority is to go to a jeweler?" he asks, trying to get into the ropes before looking at the rifles "Maybe we can keep one in case the gang is not as charitable with their weapons."
>>127875"They will be less charitable now than they were a week ago, I can tell you that. But we can go to a jeweler, yes."
>>127876Iron thought for a second, considering his future, planned lineup. "...actually, let us keep the metal shooters," he informs " we may need them for later use."
With that, Iron looks over at the gems. "Would now be a good time for looking for jewelers?" he asks, a bit unsure mostly out of ignorance.
>>127877"Well, they may want to close up for lunch hour. But that won't necessarily stop them from wanting to do business"