26th Galena, 222The time had come to put Lattice’s plan into action. Silver Rush had invited Tunda over to his place for dinner on this day, hoping that he could somehow pull off the ‘spill and steal’ trick he had mentioned to the seamstress mare earlier. Bowls of mixed fruit soup were the main course, with some heavily-buttered barley bread to compliment it. Cups of blueberry juice were present to wash the meal down, as well as a couple of slices of frosted, strawberry cake. The food items were chosen specifically for their messy nature.. If nothing else, at least he could find out if the zebra enjoyed the desert. That would help him decide what kind of cake to make for her party.
Just then, a series of rhythmic knocks sounded at the door.
Well, this is it. Just play it cool. Can’t make her suspicious. The bat-pony trotted over to the door and opened it widely, “Ah, just who I was hoping to see! Come right in! I’ve got everything set up.” The stallion then walked towards the borrowed table in the middle of the room and pulled a chair out for her to sit in.
Tunda walked in with a smile on her face, already eyeing the dinner he set out. "Such a gentlestallion you turned out to be," the mare commented, going over to the chair to sit down. "This all looks delicious, at least to me."
“Well, I was just thinking that we’ve had our own houses for a while, but I never actually took the opportunity to have a friend over for dinner. Don’t get me wrong, eating with others in public is alright. Yet it never does match a quiet gathering in the home, wouldn’t you say?” Silver then took his own seat, “I’m sure you’ll recognize what’s in the soup, since you grew it yourself.”
Tunda leaned forward to sniff at the pleasant-smelling soup. The smell confirmed what the sight suggested, as she sat back up. “A great deal of the things I’ve grown. Though I couldn’t have made them so appetizing together on my own.”
“Yep, Ms. Shortstack knows how to throw together good food from good ingredients,” the fanged equine acknowledged as he took a spoon in the cleft of his hoof, “Oh, did you hear the news from Ms. Frame? It seems that she’s aware of the caravan schedule in these parts and says that we can expect one in a month or two. I can’t wait to see what kind of interesting things they’ll bring with them. Maybe some new foods for us to try, new seeds for us to plant, or new materials to build with?”
“Avoiding her isn’t something for which I aim,” Tunda said, picking up her own spoon. “But still I rarely speak to Ms. Frame. I would like some new seeds, for new plants on which we can feed.” The mare took a sip of her soup before her rhymes got even clumsier.
The owner of the house followed suit, making sure to take a piece of dried apple in his spoon in the process. He liked what he tasted, “Yep, variety is the spice of life! I’d like to see some more citrus around here, but most anything new would please me. Maybe the caravan will even have some musical instruments.” So far, he seemed to be doing fine in acting like nothing was amiss. With any luck, Tunda would make a mess on her own and Silver wouldn’t have to resort to being a meanie and spilling something on her by ‘accident’.
Unfortunately for Silver, zebras are dextrous as a rule, and Tunda is no exception. She deftly handled her utensil, making satisfied sounds as she drank more of the soup. She had to say, she’d never heard of a
fruit soup before, but now she isn’t sure why. “You could ask Miss Isolde to ask the caravan for orange-” Tunda deftly re-worded her sentence, to avoid falling into that particular trap, “-seeds to grow. It may be they won’t flourish here, but if we don’t try we will never know.”
“I can always hope for that, but I suppose the finger limes here will have to satisfy my desire for citrus for now. Not nearly so enjoyable as oranges on their own, though. They
are quite good when candied or made into marmalade, at least.” The cat-eyed horse looked over the edge of his cup as he sipped some juice, taking note of Tunda’s lack of messiness.
Curse her good eating habits..."Oh, I learned something interesting while visiting a neighbor," Tunda remarked between bites. "It seems Jack has interests besides tree-cutting labor."
“I know he likes a good drink now and then,” her dining partner chuckled, “but I’m guessing you meant something that had to do with us? Plants? Ghosts?”
"I don't believe he knows about phantoms, or helping plants grow, but he seemed a little interested in joining the show."
He lowered his slice of bread for a moment, “Really? Mr. Pine? I never would’ve guessed! What kind of talent does he have to showcase? It must be some feat with an ax, like throwing it into a target board.”
Tunda took her turn now to laugh. "That does seem masculine enough, I admit. But, no, he's not just a lumberjack, but plays an instrument to wit."
A smile crossed Silver’s face, “That’s even better! Now we can have some music to go along with our singing. Assuming, of course, that he would be okay with that. What does he play?” The stallion had finished his bread by now. He was starting to become a bit nervous under his joyful exterior.
"From what he said to me, he plays the guitar," Tunda explained, setting her spoon down gracefully to start in on the bread soon. "But I don't know if when he'll join is near or far.”
“I think that could go pretty well with quite a few of the songs we have. I just hope he’s not too shy to come right out and say he wants in. I never have known Jack to be much of a friendly one. At least not to me.”
I’d better take it slow on the juice. I don’t want to run out just in case I need it. I really don’t want to have to do this. I’m not sure I can...“I don’t think he’s an unfriendly pony, but rather more the sort who gets lonely.” He seemed to appreciate the visit. Unaware of the plot, Tunda continued eating some fruit, savoring the literal fruit of her labors.
The pony started to scrape his spoon against the bottom of the bowl, realizing they’d both be done with the main course soon. Could he really rely on the cake to get the job done? “If that’s the case, then maybe we should invite him to sit with us sometime during dinner. Assuming you have no objections.”
“None at all, that I can conjure.” Tunda looked at Silver Rush, and very slightly tilted her head. “We wouldn’t want him to feel alone and somber.”
“Heh, yes, right,” the bat-stallion replied, now beginning to fidget a little in his seat. He was silent for a minute or two, trying to think of alternatives to his original plan.
There’s got to be a better way to get ahold of that dress. How exactly would I even get juice on her from over here? I guess I could say that I was going to go get something to show her and spill my drink as I walked past her. What if she watches me the whole time? Can I make it look like a convincing accident if her back isn’t turned?"And his music, in the show it would belong… Silver, is there something wrong?" Tunda asked, putting down her spoon as her host looked more and more bothered.
He snapped to attention, “Huh? Oh, n-no! All’s good over here! I was just… admiring your hooves! Somepony must be giving you really good hooficures for them to be so smooth and shiny despite all your work in the dirt!” The deceptive stallion put on a Cheshire Cat grin.
Tunda sincerely smiled back, holding out her hoof to examine. "I do my best to take good care of them, even after pulling up weeds and chasing hens." That certainly explained his distraction.
The metal-named pony reached out and took her hoof in his own, “Yeah, I can totally see my reflection in them! It almost looks like they were carved from some good, dark-colored tiger iron stone. Yep! I bet those other mares are jealous.
That was a lucky save, but it doesn’t solve my problem yet. If only I could tell her that I needed the dress for something without telling her what that something was. Should I lie?Tunda waved her other hoof, as if to fend off the flattering, albeit deserved, compliments. “Oh my, that’s very kind of you to say, Silver Rush...” Though, maybe they could look even better… “Next time merchants are here, I should ask for hoof polish and a brush.”
“I’m sure it would look great on you.”
Okay, think! What do I say? I want to examine the fabric? No. Ms. Frame wants to make a dress like it for herself? Oh, wait. That’s a good direction to go with this. Yes! I’ve got it! He allowed her to have her hoof back, “Oh, I did have a question that I wanted to ask you. I hope you don’t think I’m being presumptuous, but it concerns your dress.”
“Go ahead and ask, no need to stress.” Tunda put elbows on the table and rested her head on her chocolate-striped foreknees. “I’ll answer your question about my dress.”
So far so good. “See, I’ve got a younger sister back home named Candlebright and she likes to wear clothes from other cultures. Then I remembered that she doesn’t have anything made by zebras. So I was going to ask you if you’d be willing to let me borrow one of your dresses, for just a little while, so that I can bring it to Ms. Frame and have her create one similar to it. Then, when the time is right, I can have it shipped back to Hackamore Basin so that Candle knows I haven’t forgotten about her or the family.
At least that wasn’t too much of a lie. I know she does like to wear griffon-inspired clothing. Who knows? Maybe I’ll actually go completely through with this plan and send her a zebra dress. Maybe she’ll like it."I didn't know that you had a younger sister! And that's such a thoughtful idea to have one made for her," Tunda told the sweet stallion. She almost wanted to ask more about the filly right now, and would if not for more immediate concerns. "Of course you can take it for Ms. Frame to learn how." The zebra mare's voice lowered, and her hoof traced shapes on the table idly as she asked, "…Would you like me to take it off now?"
“I have four siblings actually: three brothers and a sister. I’m just the oldest of the bunch,” Silver clarified, feeling thrilled that Tunda was going along so willfully.
Oh wait, did she just offer to take her clothes off here and now? At least a pony without clothes on wasn’t such a big deal here. The stallion himself usually wore nothing more than his blue neckerchief to public events. “Uh, heh, I didn’t mean that it had to be the dress you were wearing right this moment. Any one of them will do,” he said with a nervous chuckle.
Smiling coyly, Tunda sat up, preparing to stand. "Doing it now is no trouble whatsoever." The mare stood, leaving her food for now, and slowly removed the clothing, striking something of a pose. It took longer than strictly necessary, and she watched the stallion for a response as she finished, and held the cloth out draped over her hoof. "If this was a ruse, it was very clever."
The winged horse leaned back, soon afterwards sinking into his seat as an eye twitched. Only now does he realize that he made a mistake by complimenting her hooves so thoroughly. “R-ruse?” The panicked pony stuttered, “N-no! I
do have a sister and I’m
definitely going to have a dress made for her! Ruse...what does that word even mean? Hehe… heh...” Silver looked everywhere around the room except directly at Tunda.
Seeing the reaction, Tunda took a few figurative steps back, while taking a few literal ones forward, and set the dress down on the nervous gentlestallion’s bed. When it’s there, she deftly folded it with a few dextrous flicks of her hoof. “Worry not, I don’t doubt the filly is real,” she lightly spoke on her way back to her seat. “I only meant to tease, and add some humor to our meal.”
Silver let out a breath that he had been holding, feeling relieved at her last sentence. Somewhat. “Oh, hehe, of course, of course. I can appreciate a joke or two,” he answered with a cheesy grin, quickly swapping his soup bowl for the slice of cake, “Strawberries, and cake! Yep, that’s what this is! Time for a bite!” He took in a fork-full and tried to savor it, “Mmmm, yeah! Good stuff!”
"It's cute to see a pony flustered by a pretty mare," Tunda commented, forgetting her modesty for a moment. Agreeing though, she got a slice of cake for herself and pulled it near. "But you're right, it is time to try the rest of this fare." If looks are anything to judge by, she can't wait to taste it.
Cute to you, maybe… scary as buck to me! For a moment there, I was afraid that I was going to have to reveal my… flaw. Silver remained quiet for the rest of the time that he worked on the cake, which incidentally wasn’t long at all. Seeing that he had finished all but his blueberry juice, he took a quick glance up to see how close the zebra was to completing her own meal.
Tunda is less far along with hers, not feeling any particular reason to rush. It’s such a moist and delicious cake that she savored it, instead of scarfing it down.
After polishing off his juice, Silver decided to break the awkward silence, “So… you like strawberry cake? Do you have any other favorites?”
Looking up from one of the last bites of her cake, Tunda took a moment to think. “I like blueberries too, though I’ve never seen one on a cake. It’s good they’re something we grow, because I love them in another dessert that is baked.”
“Ah yeah, those are good. What other dessert do you like them in? Pie perhaps?”
“Exactly right my batty pony, and and when it comes to pie, not blueberry only. There’s another ingredient that where I lived before, finding was hard. But here I’m thankful that on my plot I grow rhubarb.”
The current conversation reminded him of another project he had planned, “Speaking of growing, I’ve been entertaining the idea of putting a garden or something like it in front of my house. You know, to liven it up a bit? I could plant berry bushes of some kind there, but what I wanted the most were some black flowers. Unfortunately, those seem to be rare and I couldn’t find anything like them after searching the surrounding woods. I’ve told Dr. Gunther to keep an eye out for them when he goes foraging, but he hasn’t reported anything back to me so far.”
“I go foraging with the doctor every other day, and have never seen any black flowers, I’m sorry to say,” Tunda sympathetically informed him.
“I knew it was a long shot,” Silver lamented, leaning back in his seat as he watched the zebra’s cake slowly disappear. “I suppose some other plants will have to do instead. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about caring for vegetation. Maybe you could give me a few tips when the time comes?”
“When the time comes for you to start a garden of your own,” Tunda answers, nearly finished with her meal by now. “You needn’t go very far to find me at home.”
“Right, and I’m thankful for that,” Silver gave a narrow smile at her generosity. The two talked for a few more minutes before a peak outside revealed that it was getting dark. After saying their goodbyes, the zebra left the stallion’s home and her dress with it. Now alone, Silver walked over to his bed and sat down, glancing over to the red robe.
I wonder if all of that really was a joke? Sometimes she does get a certain look in her eyes. Maybe she’s just flirtatious by nature. It doesn't really mean anything. Does it?
Author
Topic: Shadytrails (My Little Fortress) (Read 39898 times)