1835 replies and 47 files omitted.
>>130551She looks up at the presumably grand building and walks through its venerable doors. If the floor is stone then she may expect her hoofsteps to echo through the foyer. Is there anypony at the entrance?
>>130553Iron tilts his head slightly before hovering his head atop the rice for a quick sniff of the rice.
>>130554It's a two story stone building with recessed windows and no columns. The most interesting feature is a blue roof. Nevertheless, she may enter. Inside there is a stairwell to another floor, an open lobby around the entrance with railings on the second floor, a desk, and rows of books. Darker woods dominate. There is a pony behind the front desk.
>>130555More spices, tomato, and a light steam coming off of the rice
>>130556Seeing no obviously strange ingredient on the food, Iron neatly nips at the rice for a quick little taste.
>>130557It's rice, of course, with a tomato flavor, as well as onions, red pepper, garlic, and more than a bit of curry. The rice itself is almost perfectly cooked, but the tomato is a bit overcooked or even burned, and the onion and pepper could have used more sauteing. The spices, once again, are heavy
>>130558Iron hums softly as he munches on the rice, nodding along. "This one she will need a bit more practice," he surmises before going for another, bigger bite, chewing softly.
>>130556She walks up the pony and talks in a low voice.
"Hello.
May I look around?" she asks politely.
>>130560It's a unicorn mare. You could almost say "another" unicorn after the receptionist a while ago, although this one is a little older
"Sure, sweetie. If you need any help, just ask"
>>130559Much the same as the last set of bites. Sands looks on over
>>130561Gulping it down with a little exhale, Iron looks at Sands. "This may prove to be a bit too strong for your taste," he admits before continuing his munching, wondering if Sands will actually go for it anyways.
>>130561Amber smiles and nods. She enters the library proper and looks at what sections are on the first floor. How many books are there?
>>130563If Amber is going to count books, she'll be there all day. It is, however, a reasonable assumption that this is the largest library in the metropolitan area. The first few sections seem to hold primarily non-fiction books
>>130562She shrugs
"I trust your judgement on that"
>>130564She certainly does not want to be there all today, she's a busy mare. She does however look to see where the history, biography, science/magic and guide sections are, particularly the one on music. She lets her eyes pass over a few titles.
>>130564With a nod, Iron finishes off the rice as he leans back into a hopeful backrest, huffing lightly in both mild satisfaction and flavor assault on his tongue. "Seems she is at least adept," he comments "and I am pretty sure she will get the hang of these dishes in a day or two. Heavy on the details and a bit too much of something in the rice paste, but everything else seems correct."
>>130565These topics are large enough to have their own rows. There are beginners guides, an esoteric guide to the harmony of the spheres, books on string instruments, books on music theory, and so forth
>>130566"Well, it sounds like she better. They don't trust a kirin to do a Zebra's job, and she doesn't seem pleased to leave Zebrica to come work for Zebras."
>>130567"I think I should have brought my bags…" she mumbles to herself. She looks for stairs up to the second level.
>>130568The second level has more practical books, like on how to do taxes, and a children's section. At least some of the works of fiction are upstairs as well. Tables for reading are located primarily upstairs
>>130569I wish there was a section on renting an apartment without going into debt…She briefly browses through the fiction section to see what kind of stories are there. Does it look like more fiction books are elsewhere?
>>130570Novels seem to be the most popular format, although there are compilations of poems and short stories as well, and a few epics. Fiction seems to span parts of both floors, and comes in all genres. In some areas across the library, numbers of books have been pulled off the shelves, but the library is mostly well stocked with domestic and even in some instances, foreign books.
>>130567Iron nods along Sands' explanation before suddenly tilting his head towards the unicorn at the second part of her explanation. "Why would she not?" he asks as his left ear droop alongside his head tilt "Do their species have a fued between eachother or something?"
>>130572“I just doubt that is what she had in mind when she thought of Equestria, Homeland of the Pony race. That is all.” She answers
>>130573"She does not strike me as one to worship ponies' hooves, considering her neutral demeanor towards the ones she has seen so far," Iron answers as he pokes his chin in thought.
>>130574“And she shouldn’t. But she probably had different expectations.”
>>130575"Would it make that much of a difference if her employers were ponies instead?" he asks, scritching his chin futher "Like I said, I do not think she came here just to have a pony as her employer either, and considering her seemingly lack of skills to provide, it does sound she came here for necessity rather than to thrive."
>>130576She leans back in her booth
“I don’t know why she came here. I can only assume she cane here because she thought things would be different here than the place she left behind, and I suspect she’s already found fewer differences than she hoped for. And that is all I can say about her.”
>>130577Iron once more changes the tilt of his head from one side to the other, still confused at Sands' conclusion. "How can you tell?"
>>13058 →“Because she told that Zebra mare, to her face, ‘I thought there would be more ponies in Equestria,’ and because I very sincerely doubt that, when she got on that boat, her smugglers would enslave her, try to sacrifice her to some kind of griffin god or whatever it is, and that she’d have to fight griffins with a hammer here in Equestria. But really, I don’t know what she expected, I don’t know why she’s here, and I don’t really care. If she was disillusioned with ponies before she got in that boat, then good for her. But if she literally sold herself into slavery and left her family thousands of miles behind to go to a place she didn’t think was any meaningfully different from zebra cities she could have gone to for less money, less risk, and less distant from family, then I have a very low opinion of her intelligence. Either way, it isn’t really my concern, and I won’t pain myself over it. I have pain enough looking out for myself.”
>>130579"There is a chance she was escaping some sort of persecution or war," Iron offers but soon pouts lightly "...although this land is not exactly going to be peaceful for long either, but perhaps she was practically forced to escape."
>>130580Her expression changes from mild annoyance to curiosity
“Not going to be peaceful for long?”
>>130581"There is a lot of fearmongering being spread around of the chinitous fellows," Iron surmises "which will inevitably cause a spark sooner or later. I have no clue when it would happen, however."
>>130582“Yes yes, what about them?”
>>130583"I have a feeling their endgoal is to garner enough fear to actively hunt them down and wipe them out," Iron presents tentatively "mostly because they probably are not too confident about subjugating an entire species whose main abilitiy is to blend into the crowd."
>>130584She picks up the beer - which she has barely touched thus far, and she has already finished her coffee - and takes a sip.
“You said a couple nights ago that you wanted to meet a Changeling, but can’t. Don’t be sad. Nature gave them the talent they needed to evade their enemies.”
>>130585"Hiding only works for so long," Iron counters with a pout "and considering this amalgamation of a jungle this is, they probably will crack said nature of theirs with enough time."
>>130586“So you understand why Chrysalis chooses to knock down the front door.” She takes another sip of the beer. “You can hide for a long time though. Wouldn’t we all like to hide from our problems.”
>>130587"In all honesty, attempts to hide from problems will inevitably destroy a pony," Iron replies as he averts his gaze slighlty "it grows and grows until it pops out an outcome even worse than confronting the problem."
>>130588“Somehow... I doubt that is how you really feel.”
>>130589"You could say it is not something I follow myself," Iron replies with a little sheepish smile before sagging his shoulders and resting his neck on the booth wall. "It is extremely scary to... open one self to others and hope that one day, I can manage to do so."
>>130590“Well, you ran from the police last night. I know that.”
She takes another drink
>>130591Iron can't help but wheeze softly, looking at Sands once more. "That is not even close to what I was talking about," he answers with a smile on his face.
>>130592“Well, I don’t really know what you’re talking about”
She takes a long pause to light a cigarette
“But I did see you run away from your business partners last night, while they stuck around, and I can’t imagine you’ll be sharing in any bounties they collected.”
>>130593"There was not any bounties that I have been told about," Iron answers with a shrug "so I figured the latter option was a better idea."
>>130594She holds her cigarette in the frog of her left hoof
“Then why did they stay?”
>>130595"Moral obligations, if I had to guess," Iron replies "everypony there wanted to ensure it stopped if I read the room correctly."
>>130596“And you didn’t have any moral obligations? To make sure it stopped?” She raises an eyebrow
>>130597"More like I was sure they would manage without me," Iron clarifies "since I am not much more than a foreign brute whose skillset is punching things, unlike the others. My part was done when the main threat was taken out."
>>130598“Well, they certainly weren’t afraid of the police, but you were, and I can’t imagine they would have worked for the police if there wasn’t a bounty.”
>>130599"Like I said, they probably felt inspired enough to stay there and mop up for the police as some sort of civic duty," Iron explains "considering nopony but me asked about payment."
>>130601"That is what I said, yes," Iron replies with a nod "although we were never told about how deep this whole operation went save for making immigrants work absurd hours without the leaders' permission and some strange events we did not understand until now."
>>130602“Okay... but don’t tell me you didn’t run and hide”
>>130603"I never said I did not," Iron answers with a tilt of his head "What gave you that idea?"
>>130604“Mister ‘confront your problems head on.’”
She drinks from the beer
“I will stick to hiding.”
>>130605Iron tilts his head further. "...I never did tell you not to run and hide," he answers, mildly surprised "only that, long term, constant hiding will inevitably cause far more problems than facing them head on."
>>130606"Okay, that's fine. You do your thing, Khoi does her thing, and I do mine." She takes a long drink
>>130607Iron blinks a couple of times, flabberghasted by the drawn out discussion stemmed from a misunderstanding. "Uh," Iron utters "are you really hiding from so many things that even the idea of not hiding will never be worth pursuing?"
>>130609"I never said hiding is a death sentence everytime, either," Iron replies with a scratch on the side of his head "but your relentless defense towards hiding and saying it is your thing implies you hide a lot from others."
>>130608>flabberghasted by the drawn out discussion stemmed from a misunderstandingWho could ever see this coming?Anyway, I finished with an exam so I'm ready to go again.Amber is quite pleased at the stock that exists.
I've never seen so many books since I visited the library in Canterlot.
I could spend all day here. Nonetheless, she wrenches herself away and goes to talk with the receptionist.
"Ma'am, I'm interested in exploring the northern part of town.
Is there a church around? Are there any restaurants you would recommend? How about music halls?" She asks these questions eagerly.
>>130610She pulls back in her seat, and tilts her head away
>>130611"Yes, there are several churches. The northern Parish Cathedral is Saint Eligius. The town opera house is nearby, but there are may restaurants and bars with live music. As for restaurants, there are several depending on what kind of food you are looking for."
>>130612Iron exhales through his nostrils as he leans forward. "I do not mind if you have things to hide because it can get you killed," he explains "but constantly having your hidden aspects chew inside cannot be healthy for one's mind. Thanks to you last night, I realized that."
>>130613"Whatt do you mean?" She asked
>>130614"What I spilled last night to you was something I probably would have never even considered saying to anypony," Iron explains "only because you came forward and admitted there was something severely amiss was when I uttered all those... pathetic lines that, more likely than not, would have spooked any other pony away from me."
He sighs softly as he, in turn, leans backs once more. "It would have tore me apart if I had not done that," he admits softly.
>>130615She frowns, and takes a draw
"Lovely"
>>130616"Now I am here, seeing you showing the same signs I had," Iron continues "and it worries me that you might break from that same pressure into doing something drastic."
>>130617"Well... You tell me last night that there is nothing about me to love, and you confront me and argue with me when I give an opinion on that kirin, or make a remark about Changelings."
>>130618"That is because I want to know why you think what you think on the second two points," Iron replies "while the first one could be simply fixed by something you keep hidden that I do not know about. Even after all you have told me, I have this feeling we are still strangers to eachother. Do you not feel it, too?"
>>130612She exclaims,
"Oh, that sounds good!" before catching herself. She whispers,
"Could you please give me directions to there? As for restaurants, I'd be happy with any good Old Mareland cuisine that has ponies I could meet." >>130619"I just don't want to argue" She says
>>130620"Oh, you'll find a diner easily. The opera house is six blocks south and two east"
>>130621Amber thanks the mare and leaves. She goes instead to the north where the cathedral is.
>>130622It's not quite as large nor as ornate as the Neo-gothic cathedrals of some of the older cities further north, but it's a hell of an honorable mention. The church is many stories tall, with two large stone towers
>>130621"I only want to get to know you," Iron responds, followed by a sigh "but I do not have a lot to go off of."
>>130623Amber's eyes widen in amazement. She just stands on the steps for a few minutes, looking at all the reliefs, carvings, and windows in detail. When she's finished she tries to open the door and walk inside.
>>130624"Well, I hoped you learned something in the past few minutes"
>>130625The ceiling is high and valuated, with small kind of diamond shaped ornaments springing out from the edges. At the top is a stone carving of what must be Celestia. Below her is a frieze, which seems to depict scenes from the colonozation of Equetsria, like the proclaiming of "earth" and the meeting of the three second-in-commands in the cold cold caves under Canterlot.
Opening the doors, she sees the inside of the Cathedral. It's tall, a minimum of 40 feet under the vaulted ceilings, with stained glass depicting an unknown saint and Princess Celestia, although a lone panel depicts all four princesses. No pony
immediately greets her
>>130626"...not really," Iron mutters disappointedly, exhaling softly.
>>130628"I do not know," he answers with another little sigh "...will every conversation we ever have end up like this?"
Amber freezes in place, mouth agape, for half a minute as her eyes pan the interior. Hesitantly, as if afraid to make a sound, she walks down the nave, stopping every few moments to look around again. Oh my princess…
>>130629"I'll give you some advice, not that you'll take it. Just so I'm on the record, whatever that is worth. Every word spoken, ever act taken, every little thing she does... It tells you something about the person. You want to know a person, don't demand more information, make better use of the information you have. Or at least, ask more specific questions."
At this point, she looks down at her glass, to see that it is empty, and at her cigarette, to see that it is entirely consumed.
>>130630It's nicely silent. Electric candles keep the area lit. The altar is raised and has black marble, or at least a facade of it.
>>130631"I doubt that will work out in this case," Iron replies, further deflating into his seat before giving her a weak smile "but thank you for trying nonetheless."
>>130631She walks down a bit farther, looks around, and enters a pew that is about midway from the altar. She lowers herself down until her hock joints touch the floor and she puts her front hooves on the railing in front of her, then closes her eyes.
I assume that's how ponies kneel Thank you for granting me a safe journey, a job, and lodging… she silently mouths.
>>130633Iron simply lets out another defeated exhale, waiting for Blanche to end this conversation.
('Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is?) his mind echoes softly inside his head in his father's voice.
>>130636Iron blinks a couple of times, trying his hardest to hear her voice amist his own mental monolouge. ('Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting things to change.') it continues on as he rubs one of his eyes.
>>130637It sounds like something to the effect of "I can say nothing without him disagreeing"
>>130638"Hi there!" >>130639Amber blinks as she raises her head and looks around, ears swiveling.
>>130640Behind her is a rather plump earth pony, with a white-ish coat and black and white religious garb.
"Oh. You were praying. Uh... I'll let you go then"
>>130639Iron lightly bites his lip after hearing it, unable to properly make a rebuttal out of it. ('The first time somepony told me about it, I didn't believe it,) his father's voice continues (left her not soon after that and went on with my day.')
>>130642Blanche comes in with an awkward smile
"Uh... was there an agreement about payment?"
>>130643"O-oh," Iron replies absent-mindedly in his own little world "h-how much was it?"
('Soon enough, however, I started to see her point,') the voice carries on ('everpony was stuck in their own little routines while complaining about it everytime with their peers and in turn they nodded along.')
>>130644"Well, it's... it would be 13 bits for the whole set, normally"
She has a very uncertain expression
>>130644He jumps up
"Oh. Hi! Welcome to Baltimare! Nice of you to visit!"
>>130646('That. is. crazy.') the voice whispers in his ear before dissipating into the deeper confines of his mind.
"R-right," he utters out before pulling out 18 bits from his pouch and passing it to the striped waitress "here you go."
>>130648Blanches's nervousness - and she was indeed nervous - dissipates. She takes the bits
"Have a nice day!" she says
White Sands stands up
>>130649"Oh..." He says
"Sure! We can talk outside or in a side room"
>>130650Amber stands up and leaves the pew.
"Lead the way," she says softly.
>>130651He walks over, between the pews, and then finds a way to a door on the side.. He opens it to a small room that has a hallway to the right, tile floors, and a few windows to the side
"We are out of the Sanctuary now... so... What's your name!?"
>>130650With a little exhale, Iron follows suit, simply standing there with a blank look on his face for a few second before turning to Blanche. "Tell the cook: For your first time, it went better than expected."
With that, he starts to walk towards the door at a slow pace in case Sands wanted to stay for a bit longer, without any clear destination in mind.