Continuing, and hopefully introducing new characters.
And on the wrong damn post number
1713 replies and 80 files omitted.
>>177285>>177286>>177287Silver feels the urge to blush after his extended staring contest with the beautiful archaeologist mare, but he manages to keep his composure. "You look good as well! You already looked great, but now you look even moreso! I...I think this is because of that fruit we ate."
Silver wonders, looking at how harsh the sunlight seems to be on Posey's fur, if she also could have used some of the mystery fruit that he is mentioning.
>>177288>>177285"Eh heh." She looks down, smiling, and probably blushing. "Yeah, I- I think it was the fruit too. I knew it was unusual."
She tilts the front of her body back, and pushes her tail down with her hoof, and sits down on the ground. She looks back towards Silver, and then to Posey.
"I think it was the fruit. That fruit... it reversed aging. At least twenty years. Thirty or so."
>>177289Silver starts moving various parts of his body, lifting up legs one by one, bending his midsection left, right, up, and down, showcasing a remarkable amount of flexibility and dexterity. He lets out an amazed chuckle at every movement.
"I can not get over this, how I feel. I had gotten so used to so many aches, pains, and so much stiffness, I had forgotten what it feels like to be, well...young!" He bounces and prances around for joy.
>>177290Pear turns her head away, looking over at Silver, and occasionally breaking away.
But she does extend a foreleg, and wiggles it around.
>>177284>>177289"It seems as though those were the fruits of Curwhinny's labors. He seemed rather obsessed with the concept of immortality, and went to rather grotesque lengths to further his research." Rosey Ring says, acting strangely unimpressed by this strange turn of events
(she hasn't actually seen them before they ate the fruits, so she can't tell the difference; and even if she could it's a meh issue to her)"Be wary though. Such great magic always comes at an equally great price..." She adds, ominously, as she walks past the two into the site, Gloomy trailing behind.
>>177288Rosey Ring is wearing a heavy cloak and chain shirt barding + dastana, and has pulled up her hood to shield herself from her sun. Her fur doesn't appear to glow like it did in the darkness, making her appear like less of a supernatural manifestation of pure fear and more like a regular pony, albeit a bit duller than before. Before she pulls up her hood, her eyes, no longer glowing, appear a bit sunken in their sockets, seemingly from fatigue.
>>177291>>177292Silver is too preoccupied enjoying his younger body to truly hear Posey's ominous warning. Instead he goes over to Pear, wrapping his forelegs around the petite mare and attempts to pick her up.
>>177292“Like what?”
Pear asks before being picked up by Silver
>>177293squeakyPicking up mares seems easier now.
Silver is able to wrap his leg around her chest and pick her up.
>>177294Silver gives his petite mare a friendly squeeze, and lightly swings her from side to side.
"Hah hah! This brings back memories!"
Thankfully for Pear, he doesn't keep this up for very long, and he sets her back down gently.
>>177295>His“Ah!”
Pear is flung through the air as Silver picks her up, swings her around, and puts her down, ending with a “hehehe.”
The last mare he felt like this was Mollis, who was just slightly bigger barreled and more muscular. She feels soft.
>>177294>“Like what?”"It depends." Rosey Ring replies
"For consumed magic.The kind of magic that extends the longevity of the subject is drawn from one of two sources: from the lives of pony's sacrificed to produce it, or the dignity of the subject who benefits from it. It's the rarest and most dreadful magic, the type of which coveted by sorcerer kings who are ruthless enough to pursue it." she continues
"If you're lucky, you can count on the probability that Curwhinny sacrificed the lives of very many ponies to harvest the magic to produce the fruits that you just consumed. If you are unlucky... Then it's likely that the fruit took something from you, something that was worth twenty years of your life."
She's now hiding her face, having turned away and raised her hood, but pear thinks she might've seen the ghost of a dreadfully sadistic smirk as she slowly walks away
>>177298Pear blocks, and after a pause says,
“It kind of looks like he found a tree that makes it. He was obsessed with alchemy…”
>>177296>>177298>>177299If his dream from last night was any indication, he should be glad to enjoy her softness for years to come. Years he certainly has in him now, after having eaten that fruit. He seems to shrug off the even more ominous warning that Posey makes.
"This does not feel like dark magic. It feels like light magic, holy, or Harmonious magic. Like..."
gasp "..like Tree of Life!"
>>177300>>177298“I mean… she’s certainly right that we don’t really know what that fruit will do. Or how long it will last. What will happen if or when it wears off. If it does have a cost…”
>>177300>>177299Rosey Ring shrugs as she walks away
"If you are lucky." she says, nonchalantly
>>177301"I hope it does not wear off, I could get used to feeling like this again. I think she is just trying to scare us. You ate that fruit just like I did. Did it feel at all like any sort of dark magic to you?"
>>177303"No uh..." Pear looks past Silver, her mouth partly open. "This was... electrifying but not intoxicating... like dark magic."
Posey goes about examining any plantlife aboveground as she finishes her job.
>>177304Silver nods in agreement. "It felt right with my soul. Deep in my heart I know it to be true, that was from Tree of Life. This was good, light, wholesome magic, straight from creation. I do not know however if this will wear off or not. I hope it lasts, at least. Even if it does not, however...I think this further reinforces that you and I should go out there and find it."
>>177306Pear’s eyes go wide, and he sees her tail move. She raises her hindquarters as if starting to stand up.
“Go out and find it? You and I?”
>>177305The plants do not display signs of magical disruption, though even this is inconclusive. Though grasses and a couple shrubs grow over top of the catacombs structure, the trees that grow elsewhere on the same lot are absent, though if the catacombs extend to not far below the surface, there may not be much room for root systems.
>>177307Silver nods and takes hold of Pear's forehooves yet again, which may delay her abilities to stand up. "Indeed! I still want you as my partner, going out together and following these clues to find Tree of Life."
>>177308She sits back down. Silver takes her hooves. Her ears go up, and eyes go wide. She looks back into Silver’s eyes, then looks down. “I… heh…” she smiles showing her teeth, and some of her mane comes down to cover her eyes.
>>177307Posey picks a flower or twig and does the same thing I described above, and prepares to leave.
>>177309Silver takes one of his forehooves away from hers to brush her mane out of her face. "Heh, I think your mane has grown bit as well. It is trying to cover your gorgeous eyes."
>>177310How would Posey react to another stallion pulling up in a truck and coming to the scene? Would it change her reaction if this stallion were obviously military? What if he had a gnoll with him?
>>177311“Heh, what? Hehe.” She giggles and looks up at him, making eye contact.
>>177312Silver looks deep into her eyes, risking them both getting lost in each other's again. His are still a shining, sparkling blue, like looking into a bright sky.
>>177313She slowly closes her lips, and forms a more warm and gentle smile, still occasionally showing teeth with a “heh heh” giggle.
“I… I would like that. I don’t know if I can, but I would like to.”
>>177312>militaryPosey would cautiously observe the newcomers as they arrive, trying not to draw too much scrutiny to herself. She draws Gloomy close to her side.
>What if he had a gnoll with him?Hopefully my clout with the Gnoll community is about to pay itself off.
>>177314Silver smiles with a level of warmth and gentleness that might not have been possible earlier. It's not that his previous smiles lacked warmth or gentleness, but now that he appears to be back in peak condition it's as if they beam at her like Celestia's sun. He looks to be back in his prime. He comes in closer, pressing his forehead against Pear's, making sure to angle his head so that their horns don't get in the way. They still touch, however, as do the tips of their muzzles.
"I would love that, too."
>>177316>their horns Pear is an earth pony…
Pear’s snout makes contact with Silver’s, and the soft pink of Pear’s touches Silver’s. Pear continues smiling and looking at him. She giggles.
>>177312What are the soldier and gnolls doing?
>>177317Shit, right, forgot. Still, forehead against forehead, but easier since there's only one horn to take into account. Silver laughs along with Pear, his laughter ringing out with the tones of youth and joy, and he wraps his forelegs around the back of her in a warm embrace.
>>177320“Heh.” She closes her mouth and looks back at the foreleg in acknowledgement, then resumes the embrace
>>177321Silver rubs the tip of his muzzle against hers. "I hope they let you come with me to look for Tree of Life. Getting to go on adventure with you...I think it would be amazing."
>>177322Pear closes her eyes, leans forward, and with a smile, rubs her snout against his, accidentally catching his lower muzzle as well.
“So many mysteries to uncover… Adventure… it sounds exhilarating…”
>>177323"It very much is...doubly so, with somepony like you to share them with..."
Hmm...dare he? To test the waters, Silver goes to place the end of his muzzle against hers. It's not
quite a kiss...but their lips are indeed touching now, and if Pear were to show interest...it would be very easy for it to turn into a genuine kiss.
>>177312Does anypony else react to the truck?
>>177324She opens her eyes and raises her ears. She opens her lips, and says
“Together?”
>>177325It’s a hypothetical
>>177326"Together."
Silver goes in, kissing the petite mare in his embrace deeply.
>>177328Pear leans slightly closer, opens her lips, and tilts her head to try to meat Silver’s. She closes her eyes and her ears go back. Silver can hear her - feel her - breathing out. Her lips are thin, as Silver can feel as she rubs against him.
She’s not very good at this.
>>177327Because I’m trying to figure out how to do this
>>177329Heh, Silver supposes she doesn't have much experience with this sort of thing. Kind of like Khoi, though he suspects for different reasons. Silver goes slow for her, parting their lips and gradually leading her through the process using his lips and tongue.
>>177330She lets him open her mouth, and slowly moves out her tongue. She keeps her eyes closed, though her ears return upright. Silver can feel and hear her breath, sometimes through her mouth as it’s interlocked with his own, but more often out of her snout, which rubs against his own, or even against his lips when she tilts her head to get a better angle into his mouth.
>>177331Accurate >>177332Gradually, Silver increases the intensity of the kiss, wrapping his tongue around hers in a dance, exploring the insides of her cheeks and roof of her mouth. His hooves, currently embracing his petite mare, pull her in tighter, until she's pressed firmly against his soft thick fur and the less-soft flak jacket he's wearing. He feels quite strong, beneath all of that fur, with how he's able to hold her like that...
>>177334Pear presses against his chest with another hoof which is slowly buried into her fur. And tries to match the movements of his tongue, though she can’t really keep pace.
Then all of a sudden, like she’s awoken from sleep, she gasps and pushes herself away from silver. Her eyes open wide and dart around as she looks at her surroundings.
>>177335Silver lets his petite mare escape, with a string of drool still connecting their mouths together. With enough distance it snaps, but she can still taste Silver regardless. That fruit might not have had the intoxication of dark magic, but Silver appears to be almost as intoxicating. He chuckles as he sees her look around.
"Worried about what others might see?"
>>177336>>177335Posey, Gloomy and all of the surrounding archaeologists looking at the two making out while covered in grave dust:
>>177272>>177273Cavaliere indeed sits down. Since apparently smoking is permitted, he pulls a cigar out of a case and lights it with a match, taking a puff. The edges of his mouth at his beak turn downwards as he hears about the riff-raff used to patrol the border, but he continues to listen with interest through the officer's ramblings. If the griffon was indeed a spy, he would consider Major Dark an easy and ready source of information. Though, who's to say it is accurate information?
Once the officer has finished his monologue, Cavalier holds the cigar between his talons, tilts his head up and blows a puff of smoke into the air. He pauses and looks back at the officer.
"Major, that is a colorful and informative summary of this fair city. I should also thank you for making my job a little bit easier in Nova Griffonia, by hiring a substantial number of would-be criminals. Unfortunately, we do have social democrats as well, but they aren't quite as powerful. As for labor disputes, I do have experience resolving them, particularly when both parties are butting heads and refusing to listen to reason. Having to deal with this within a large city will be new to me, however, but I'm up for it. How much do you expect to 'pay for results'?">>177337It's nothing compared to what Dark Star and Blue Sky were doing while burning said grave