In Changelingia (West Equestria), Brie gains the support of a Changeling queen for his endeavors. Spark is doing his best to help an ill Wolf spiritual leader.
In Free Equestria (East Equestria), Iron is trying to intimidate a group of criminal griffin interlopers. Fantasy Play is helping to shut down an Anarchist press. Silver is helping his new household. Amber Sunset is walking through the city, and Dark Star has just finished helping the orphans.
2415 replies and 51 files omitted.
>>133780Mala is the first to finish eating, licking the plate repeatedly, then his lips, and then sitting up. Jubilosa takes a little longer, eating the stroganoff and then the alligator meat with her fork. Khoi is still eating, picking up strands of noodles, and then using her spoon to pick up mushrooms. She doesn’t pick up cream, but she doesn’t push it off the noodles either.
>>133781To be considerate, Silver waits for Khoi to finish before getting up. He turns to Jubilosa and Mala.
"So, what did you two think?"
>>133782Mala nods, with his triangle ears now pointing towards Silver as he smiles. Jubilosa
“Hehe, what is this stuff called again? Is this from your homeland?”
Khoi is silent until at least Jubilosa is finished speaking
Do you smell what the Iron's cooking?
Iron softly exhales from his snout, stabilizing his breath after his small skirmish against the two weapon-wielding griffin mafiosos back at the pier.
(We might be here for a while,) he muses.
>>133800No... But Iron can smell salt water and cigarettesA fast but light "clop clop clop," and then:
"What the hell was the that?" White Sands sounds a little frustrated
"You made them pull weapons on you."
She turns her head to the side, then quickly turns it back
"Be grateful they didn't have submachine guns."
>>133801Good. Because he's a terrible cook.Iron turns to Sands, ears drooped and puckered lips at the truthful accusation.
"I might need to practice goading them into hoof fights," he admits in a low tone, realizing the circumstances he's in "the coat shredders, "suh-ma-chin" guns, really hurt last time I got hit by them."
Glancing at the planks his hooves currently perched themselves on for a bit, he glances up at the mare once more. "...Should I directly challenge them to a hoof fight from the getgo?"
>>133802Shee blinks, and her entire body seems to ease up as tension fades away
"That's most likely better than vague threats. Insults will make them angry. They will make them want to hurt you. Threats, however, may just make them fear you. And every creature, no matter what it is, is at its most dangerous when it is afraid."
She moves along again, past Iron
"Hoof fights... who knows. You'll have your most success with the bigger ones, the ones who think they're most likely to win in a fight against you. But successful hoof fight challenges are definitely the safest way to do this."
She looks back to him from past him
"Then again, the whole point of this operation
is scare them away... so you can't really ever completely remove the danger from it."
[Read more] >>133806Iron nods, somewhat understanding the balance explained to him and being reminded specifically what he had to do to those griffons.
"So I should find bulkier individuals whose main course of action is to fight barehoof," he answers "so that they choose to fight with it even with threats."
Nodding to himself, the native smacks his lips, thinking up the remainder of his plan. "If I recall correctly, there was a famous griffin in this area. They must have a bulky guard on him to dissuade any sort of goading towards him. He might be a good target to scare by beating up those protecting him."
>>133807She moves directly in front of him
"He'll have a guard or two or three for sure. They'll need to be beat up... To send a message. What worries me is if they have hitgriffs. Professional killers. Those griffins could be far deadlier..." she looks down, then back up
"Challenging the bigger ones to a fight, or otherwise provoking them... that's a good move. But the smaller griffins, well, they won't want to attack you without weapons." Then she looks to Iron with her head tilted away.
"Maybe they could be lured into a trap. They could think they are going after an easier target."
>>133809Iron hums softly, glancing at the probably smaller griffons behind Sands.
"What sort of traps would they be attracted to?" he asks out loud before looking back at Sands. "Perhaps we could try to stand up to the civilian ponies that may have suffered from any aggressive tactics aimed at them in order to scare them into complacency instead. They're essentially the easier target, although I do not recall hearing any complaints about them."
>>133811"Trying to stop whatever they are doing will definitely do it, that's for sure. If they don't know what they're fighting they won't be prepared.
But, if that doesn't work, their attempts to teach an obnoxious unicorn mare a lesson could go horribly wrong."
>>133812Iron's snout scrunches slightly, having the faintest feeling of dread from her last sentence, blinking softly in response.
"...D-did you just-"
Then as suddenly as the apprehension appeared, it dissipates from the bigger plan in motion, spiking his ears up.
"Oh! I see! That sounds like a good idea, actually. Specially if said mare has some injuries on her. But where could that happen?"
>>133814"Where ever the griffins are, we go to them. Or if you are willing to take more time, whatever it is they value, we go to that and threaten it. Either way, let them not know what is coming."
>>133815"Find the griffins," Iron repeats, confirming the first option to be more fool-proof before glancing around the area "...where were those places, again?"
>>133816"Well, evidently they have a location operating hear around the piers. They are trying to operate a fishing company, or something. But they'll want to have businesses as fronts, and as places to congregate... There's probably a restaurant or a bar or something somewhere around here they like to congregate too."
>>133818"Sounds to me we'll stick around these piers for a while," Iron responds with a nod "unless we get hungry for... feathers?"
He wore a small, sheepish smile as he glances, finding it mildly difficult to keep the hidden meaning flowing along smoothly.
>>133819"Heh" She briefly smiles, but returns to a serious expression.
"One more thing. We're not in Baltimare anymore. Police will probably still respond to gunshots, and always be careful of witnesses, but if they find us, they aren't going to assume we're involved in gang violence, or that we are potential thieves. They are going to see a poor, innocent mare, and her stallion - admittedly a slightly scarier looking stallion, but a pony stallion nevertheless. And when they look at our adversaries, they will see big, mean griffins with foreign accents, questionable paperwork - Interlopers in land that in their eyes, belongs to ponies. And they will make their own conclusions as to what happened, who was the aggressor, and who the victim."
>>133821"I understand," Iron answers with a nod "so keep the gang talk to only key moments and do it subtly so only the gangsters hear the threats."
>>133822"Well, don't be afraid of the police if you can't outrun them. No need to dive into salt water this time, for instance..." she narrows her eyes a little at these words
"But as for the gangsters, it's a delicate balance to make them want to hurt you, without making them think they need to destroy you."
>>133823Iron nods once more, licking his lips softly as he look to his naked form, hide hopefully covering whatever scars he may have gotten these past few days.
"...considering somepony else will activate their drive to hurt, I do not think it will be necessary for me to do much..."
As soon as that thought crosses his head, his eyes widened and, with a small excited hop and renewed vigor, he quickly turns to Sands. "I know! I will stutter on purpose so my threats are not as deep as they usually would."
>>133824He'll need a long coat for that, as he is quite scarred. Hopefully hair will cover what time has not yet.
She nods
"Stuttering. That sounds like a clever trick. Make your enemies think that you are already afraid of them. They won't feel as threatened."
>>133825"Great!" Iron exclaims, getting excited to execute their plan before inhaling deeply, composing himself in order not to be blinded by the raw anticipation of battle "Let us commence our plans, then: Find griffons, the mare goads them and the stallion comes out the moment they take action. Like fishing... birds in a... pond."
The native took a second to process his last statement before chuckling softly at his raw attempt at a simile.
>>133827A malign smile comes across her face
"A plan well executed is always a pleasure to behold."
>>133829Iron nods a couple of times excitedly, clearly agreeing about it more due to it meaning more battling, before starting his quest to find more griffons on this pier first and foremost, hoping to test out their new plan's effectiveness to further their own ends.
>>133830>>133831Iron's griffdar snout points towards a set of buildings further down on the water front. It looks like a two story office building, plus a larger building that resembles a warehouse and goes directly to the water
>>133832Ears flicking towards the building, Iron starts to slowly turn his head as well. "I feel griffons over there," he tells Sands in a hushed manner "Scout ahead to see if you can find any. I will follow you as inconspicuously as I can."
>>133787"Stroganoff! It is indeed from my homeland of Severyana. It is nothing considered fancy, or eaten by tsars, but it is tasty, and quite cheap."
>>133833The first building is two stories, brick with a flat roof, and a white sign saying “Salty’s Seashore” on it. There’s a couple windows on the first floor with the blinds down, and a simple door.
>>133850[YouTube] Russia Theme - Industrial (Civilization 6 OST) | Kalinka
[Embed]She is silent for a moment
“Huh. That’s pretty neat. Nice of you to share.”
>>133851Silver smiles at Jubilosa, then looks to Khoi when she gets close to finishing.
"What about you? What did you think?"
>>133851Iron's hooves clip clops in attempted inconspicuousness towards it, letting Sands go in front of him as she's more knowledgeable about the place and charismatic than he is.
He would keep an eye out for any griffon activity he could spot on his approach while he quickly cranes his neck towards the mare taking point.
"When you think you have spotted a good opportunity to start the scenario, whisper "Honeybee," he asks.
>>133853With a glow of her yellow-green magic, she toggles the door knob.
"It's unlocked"
She twists the door knob, and goes through into the room.
[1d20+7 = 22]>>133852Jubilosa smiles back
"Is... Is nice." Khoi says, smiling awkwardly
>>133854Iron couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, feeling strange around this area built yet unguarded. He opted to keep his snout shut for the time being, content with simply looking around for anything worth paying attention to: Danger or curiosity apply.
[1d20+2 = 12]<Spot Check
>>133854"Are you sure? You will not hurt my feelings if you did not like it."
>>133853>>133854>>133855She goes inside for a minute. Then another minute. Then another. Then the door opens:
Female voice that isn't Sands:
"Ms..."
Sands:
"Heron"
Female:
"Ms. Heron, we are closed and we have nothing to do with any 'illegal dumping.'"
Sands, sounding very angry
"Do not give me that talk pretty feathers, you dumped something that poisoned my dog and I know it. Pay the medical bills or I will have the city council investigate. I use the same tailor as the mayor; I have connections."
As she opens the door and steps back out, she turns her head to give a slightly worried grin to Iron. She does not say the code
>>133856"It's... it's nice, but where are the chopsticks, and why are there animal products?"
Jubilosa
"Also... I don't want to sound rude but... Where's the wine?"
[Read more] >>133857Figuring there wasn't anything worth in there from how she didn't say the code to spring him into action, the stallion simply remains quiet, opting instead to remain vigilant yet passive for any attempts on her life until the mare currently kicking Sands out lets her walk off the premises.
>>133858She turns her head in
"No, I'm telling you. I'm telling you we have the dog outside. No. You listen here. No. Your negligence poisoned my dog. I am not leaving. You poisoned my poor, poor Honeybee."
>>133859(Huh, guess she really thinks this is a good target,) Iron thought to himself before approaching the scene, ready to put on his macho act to back up his mare in need.
With a careful nudge inside the door alongside Sands, Iron puts up a disdained yet weak scowl.
"Y-you two better take responsibility for o-our dog," Iron stutters out, making sure to up his usually pitch to sound even more pathetic yet with anger clear in his voice "s-she meant everything t-to us. Y-you cannot g-get away from this."
>>133860I absolutely love Civ 6 and especially its sound track. Every song has so much character to itSometimes I like to match areas of the occupied world to civ themes. I would give Baltimare the England theme, because that music has a feeling of reserved granduer, but also a feeling of age, of sorrow, and the feeling that the best days are behind you. [YouTube] England Theme - Industrial (Civilization 6 OST) | Scarborough Fair
[Embed]
I would give the Northern areas, like Bales-Whinnysota, the America theme, because of the youthful optimism and belief and in progress, because the Northern areas seem historically younger and they are more obviously American in inspiration.
[YouTube] America Theme - Industrial (Civilization 6 OST) | Hard Times Come Again No More
[Embed]
I would give the German theme to the Griffonian Empire, because that song sounds like an outright funeral dirge, like the death of that culture is a fiat accompli. It also for some reason sounds like you're moving over snow covered streets in a very old city, buying candy at Christmas time. It has a majesty to it, in addition to resignation to fate [YouTube] Germany Theme - Industrial (Civilization 6 OST) | Ich hab die Nacht geträumet
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>>133861Now, Iron can see what is in the room. There is a female griffin there. She's further back. But in the fore, trying to push Sands out, are two very large griffin males. Both have darker brown feathers. Both do not look like they are interested in messing around, and both say nothing. They are not brandishing weapons and don't seem to be threatening any violence at all, but the message is clearly "get out and never come back."
Their eyes meet Iron's
[Read more] >>133863(It will work as an excuse,) Iron thinks to himself before his brow furrows in further anger. "H-hey! What are you doing with her?!" the stallion cries out in shock, partly because the shoving may actually hit her in her burn marks and the opportunity to strike rises "You are not allowed to do that! She is recovering! H-how dare you treat a hurt, grieving mare in such a manner?!"
For now, Iron is content with simply adding extra weight to push out by stepping inside as well in order for the male griffins to escalate further.
>>133864[1d20 = 1]One of them raises an eyebrow at the new pony, who is twice the size of the mare being pushed out.
The other one speaks. Though even these few words betray that Ponish is not his first language, his deep voice is clear:
"
Get Out"
>>133864>>133865And one of the griffins walks right into Sands, causing her to yelp, "Ah-oo"