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.
We welcome any new players to join
1803 replies and 54 files omitted.
>>128537"Very well" he says. His voice is pretty deep. He wears a green Uniform
"But I do need to search you for weapons or explosives"
>>128538"Sure, but don't get too touchy," she says.
>>128539"Hmmm"
He runs his hands - yes, he has hands - along the pony, though he tries to have some respect for her femininity
Unless Fantasy Play is actually hiding a knife, gun, or bomb, no dice roll will be used
>>128540Well, right now she only has a saddlebag with coins in it and nothing else.
>>128541He looks through the Saddlebag, and part of her mane and tail (trying to not disrupt her mane style or touch certain areas of the tail itself).
"Very well, you may go through"
Fantasy Play may go in to see an atrium with a large, patterned marble floor, railing for a second floor above, and a marble counter top to the left, with a small white unicorn mare on the side closest to the street
>>128542Fantasy goes up to the mare.
"Hi, I would like to ask some question regarding Black hoofs as an organisation? Can you answer these?"
>>128543Before Fantasy goes up, she is looking down, evidently typing on a type writer, and is nearly startled when Fantasy comes up
"Oh! Yes. I can help you with that " She smiles nervously. Her accent seems to imply Manehattan, though Fantasy can't be sure
"If not, I can get Seabreeze in here. He is one of the captains"
>>128544"Mmm."
Fantasy nods.
"So I'm not from here? I'm from Nuzzleville, a place yoou probably never heard of, and as far as I knew, we were ruled by princesses but it seems Equestria has fallen. It's is all very surprising."
>>128544I need to stop here for today. See you tomorrow.
>>128546Alright. See you
Things should pick up from here
>>128545"Uh... Nuzzleville... Right. I've heard of it" She smiles awkwardly and unconvincingly
"But... Yes. The Princess tried to protect griffins against ponies, but not her own ponies against the Changelings. So the Blackhooves political party, then and now centered in the old Equestrian Dominion of New Mareland, seized Equestrian territory before it could be conquered by the Changelings in a longer and bloodier war. Then they made a deal with the Changelings to save much of Equestria. Now it's governed as a series of Autonomous regions under Blackhooves supervision. Not all that much of a difference, really. There was one Princess, and now there is one Duke to govern us."
>>128501Get groceries for Khoi, and head back to the house.
>>128552Silver is able to find a grocery store quickly enough - they are very common - what's harder to find are some of the spices she requested, and rice noodles. Mint and Ginger are simple enough, but what the hell even is "Lemongrass"?
>>128553Maybe it'd be a good idea to ask a worker if they know what it is.
>>128554The Zebra behind the counter has no idea what it is
"Lemongrass? Ain't never heard of it"
But then Silver feels a knock, and may look back to see a silver scaled brown Kirin, of all creatures
"You wan[t] Lemon-grass? Yes? Is big herb with leaves with smell of Lemon. You can buy in store down road."
He tries to make a gesture with his hooves to show the length of the leaves of the plant
>>128555Silver smiles at the kirin, and gives them a hoofshake.
"Thank you!"
He buys what he could find at this store, and then heads to the other for lemongrass and what else he might be missing.
>>128556He is suprised by the hoof shake, and is almost jerked around
Going down the road Silver finds what is clearly the location implied, which even has some goods like certain plants outside. Inside, the walls are brick, packs of fireproofing hang across metal rafters on the cieling, and the rows are packed tightly together, with plants sticking out, and absolutely no room for two ponies to walk past each other. There is an entire aisle devoted to coconuts, coconut milk, coconut cream, and other coconut products. But Silver can clearly find what appears to be large quantities of Lemongrass, spices like curry, and even rice noodles
>>128557"Perfect! I will have to remember this place for Khoi."
He buys whatever he's missing from his list.
>>128558At the counter, he finds another male Kirin - only like the sixth or so Kirin he's seen anywhere, and the fourth he's interacted with. The Kirin understands that Silver intends to purchase the items placed on the counter, and he points a hoof to the metal symbols that stick out from the register to show the cost (7 bits, if it even costs that much) and that is the extent of their ability to communicate with each other.
The store does have some other food items, if Silver were interested, like seaweed, coconuts, rice, and more coconuts
>>128559Silver is fine with what he bought for the moment. He pays 7 Bits for the ingredients, and heads home.
>>128560Silver carries the groceries and the new cart back to Cherry Hill. The cart feels a little heavy even when empty. Well, filled with groceries, but close enough. Just getting to Cherry Hill from redheart takes some time, though he does arrive at the Beach House
Presumably parking the cart next to or underneath the Beach House - and there is enough room under the house to enable that later possibility - Silver goes up the stairs to the front door. He does not see either creature inside the living room area
>>128561"Huh..."
He sets the groceries he bought down on the kitchen counter, and looks around for Khoi and Jubilosa.
>>128551I'm a american now.
Fantasy rolls her eyes and shakes her head.
"Alright, whatever. That probably happened. And really, it would just a be a waste of time to cry over spilled milk or in this case spilled blood," Fantasy winks at the mare.
>>128562Now, he just needs to find that Kirin message parlor...>>128564https://youtu.be/Rr8ljRgcJNMhttps://youtu.be/GzXAbm55DOEShe looks unsure about how to judge Fantasy’s response
“I’m just the receptionist, if you want somepony with more knowledge...”
>>128563It’s a decent amount of groceries, but Silver is able to bring it up the stairs. He can see the two creatures outside, on the raised wooden porch next to the living room, looking out over the bay
>>128565Silver pokes his head out onto the patio
>>128565"Ah, don't worry about it." She waves her hoof dismissively. "I probably wanna join. Do you have use for an illusionist in your ranks? You're preparing for war with the changelings again to retake Equestria, right?"
Fantasy Play polish her hoof against her coat.
>>128567Khoi has a bowl of grass, leaves, or done other sort of yard plant next to her that she seems to be eating. Jubilosa has a glass of wine and an open wine bottle next to her. They seem to be talking, and looking out over the bay.
Khoi must have heard him opening the door, because she looks back at him
>>128568The receptionist looks at her with a skeptical expression, then pulls out a flashlight and shines it in her eyes. Fantasy Play is almost blinded by the sudden light
She pulls it down.
“The Blackhooves wish for the unification of East and West Equestria under pony rule, and wish for the return and preservation of all historically pony lands. However, the Blackhooves wish to achieve this by means of diplomacy and non-violence, with all respect for Changelingkind and their Queen, who has the only valid claim to lead Changelingkind. The New Mareland State certainly has no plans or intentions of any hostility with its Changeling neighbors.” Once she is done repeating this statement in monotone, she says
“But of course we have room for an illusionist! I’m sure Seabreeze would be happy to meet with you
>>128569He waves at them.
"Apologies, I did not mean to interrupt..."
>>128570Khoi stands up, and walks over towards Silver
"Now you come back"
Jubilosa tries to sit up, and look back towards Silver
>>128571"Yes. I found everything you asked for. There was store in Redheart owned by kirin that had everything."
>>128572"Oh? That is great!" Her mouth seems to light up in excitement as she runs forward towards the door. Then she stops, closes her eyes, and breathes in, before opening it to go through
>>128573Silver lets Khoi go inside, then he goes to Jubilosa.
"So...this is maybe weird question, but...do griffons eat meat?"
>>128574If she had a beak, she would scrunch
"We're not monsters who swipe down from the skies to pick off sheep, or foals. But we
can, yes"
>>128575Silver scrunches back in embarassment and looks away for a couple seconds before looking back at Jubilosa.
"I...was not trying to imply that...I was just going to invite Mala to eat somewhere that served meat, and I was wondering if you wanted to come along...if you ate meat, that is."
>>128569"Actaully, I'm the representative of a powerful group of necromancers. We have a proposal to the Black hooves whic goes like this: You let us raise the many dead from the wars, and you let us experiment on changeling captives when we attack with our newfound undead army." Bluff: [1d20 = 16] +4Is what I kinda wanted to post but I'll refrain frrom it because another idea popped up and it would probably derail things.
Here's her true response:
Fantasy smacks her lips then she gives the receptionist a smile.
"Well, ah. Yeah, mmm. No, this is probably my best option. Okay, I'll see this Seabreeze or yours. While you featch him, I encourage you to tell him to stallion up and make a move on you already," Fantasy says as her playful smile returns.
>>128576This makes her jump up onto her claws
“There’s meat?!?”
Then she looks over past Silver, presumably into the dining area with an “oh” expression, and says much more calmly
“Yes, I would like to go. Even if I do have to share with that
creature”
>>128577She blushes, and smiles awkwardly
“Oh... okay then. I’ll get him for you”
Just for reference sake, there is at least one guard inside of the lobby area
The mare comes back with a limping stallion. He looks to be 30 or so, likely older, and is a unicorn with a dark blue coat, a green uniform, an even darker mane and light yellow eyes. But that isn’t the first thing you’d notice about him. His horn is cracked, and has a silver cap. His right foreleg and hind leg are entirely gone, all the way up to his upper thigh, replaced with wood and metal prosthetics that let him sort of limp around. His right cutie mark is entirely gone, with just scarred pink skin in its place
“Hello there, missie” he says with some kind of accent
>>128578Silver is a little sad at the reference to Mala, but he smiles at her.
"I suppose we should buy some meat for you if we find some for sale...as well as some more wine."
>>128579As she stands up, she is clearly smiling, and her wings unfold in part as she walks back around
“Oh yes! I haven’t had mutton in a while... I do feel sorry for Khoi though. She seems to want to make dinner. Although I’m not sure she and I are on the same page about what is edible...”
>>128581"Well, we can go out to eat with Mala, then be back here to be able to enjoy some of Khoi's Ngua Nam cooking. Sound like good plan?"
>>128578"Hello, there," Fantasy says and nods."I like to join your crew."
>>128582>This commenthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_CaZ4EAexQ>>128583Jubilosa stretches out her body, including especially her rear paws. She really does look like a long and slender cat. Then she stretches out each wing. First her left, then she closes that, and stretches out her right. Long, mostly white feathers on a brown wing. Each wing is rather long, longer even than a pegasi's.
"Alright. I'll try not to eat too much, but I really am hungry"
>>128584"Well" He offers a hoof, his left hoof to shake
"Why don't you come in and tell me a bit about yourself. Of course we accept new members, if we believe we can trust you"
>>128585The unicorn can't help but appreciate the elegance and grace of the griffon form before him. He snaps out of it after a couple seconds, and smiles at her.
"Alright, let us go."
He heads inside to leave out the front door, waving at Khoi and letting them know they'll be back for dinner.
>>128586She doesn't seem to mind Silver looking at her in that sort of way, judging from how he looks at her. She tucks her wings back in place, and follows him
"Alright"
Khoi is already cutting vegetables with a long knife. Even if some of her ingredients are unfamiliar to Silver, her selection of vegan ingredients still seems to have some appeal (or at least, would to the average pony). She looks confused and almost distressed that the two are leaving now
"You are leaving?"
But she backs off
"Very well. This will be ready"
>>128587He smiles to her, and goes outside. There he trots around looking for a taxi to hail.
>>128588He takes her down a hall, into a room, alone with him. It's not a very long walk. When they get inside, it is obviously a hotel room, or at least, once was. But there is no bed there. Rather a set of chairs, and a table. He wobbles over at the slow paced speed of the disabled, and sits in a chair across from her.
"So. You are looking to join, you say?
Why?"
>>128589She almost seems to grab his foreleg, but then refrains
Silver finds that for all that Cherry Hill has to offer, a large number of taxis is not one of them. But he is able to walk down a couple blocks, and a taxi drives by them, which they hail. A young pegasus drives.