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[Dsarker]

(No pictures.)

FLASHBACK NO. 1

Morning Dew was alone in the room with the stallion she had had a crush on since she had arrived at the fort. They were just chatting, a little, but it still almost set her heart a-thumping. The stallion was feeling something stirring inside him too.  Something he hadn’t felt in many years.  Morning Dew was a nice pony that he was enjoying chatting with.  Pretty too, but he felt here was so much more beneath the surface.  She was shy, but he felt with just a bit of prodding he could get her to open up a bit.  “So, I was thinking... I’m going to be free a few nights this week.  Would you like to join me for dinner one night?”

Morning Dew’s heart thumped a fair bit more. “Really? Um, yes, that would be nice. I’d love to,” she said. “Um. What night will it be?”

Inside, he was beaming.  She said yes!   As his heart began to slow down he said, “How about tomorrow night?  You’re not too busy then, are you?”

“I shouldn’t be. My nights are usually free,” she admitted with a slight sigh.

“Great,” he said with a small smile.  “How about seven tomorrow night?  Same place?”

“That sounds like a good idea,” she said with a little smile.

“Alright then.”  He sat for a little while, saying nothing as he thought.  “Well, it’s getting pretty late.  Perhaps I should be going?  I’ll see you tomorrow night.”  He could barely contain a grin as he spoke.


That next night, the two ponies walked back to the same room, plates perched on their backs. At some point, they had ‘accidentally’ wrapped their tails around each other’s, but neither seemed to be too ready to stop it. Morning Dew smiled happily to herself, pure enjoyment at her time with her crush. Maybe, though she didn’t think it too likely, maybe he liked her too. Oh, but he did.  He was feeling a bit giddy inside, although he wouldn’t admit that to anypony.  He hadn’t known her long, but something just felt right about her. Once they are inside, he finally coaxed his tail free of hers and finds an empty spot to offload his dinner.  He still wore a small, slightly goofy smile as he looked over to her.  “It smells great, Cream Puff really knows how to cook.”

“Doesn’t she,” said Morning Dew in agreement. “Her sandwiches are the best.” Her smile matched his when she looked at him, and a giddy rush coursed through her body.

“I can’t wait for her to have somewhere a bit better to work.  I can’t imagine what she’ll cook up for us once she does.”  He smoothed the sheets on the bed and transferred their meal to the centre of it.  Then, with a slightly awkward attempt to prepare a spot for her to lay, he said, “Ladies first.”

Morning Dew couldn't stop a giggle as she reclines on her part of the bed. “Why, thank you, my noble knight,” she said to him with a smile. “Will you join me?”

“Of course, milady,” he said, slipping up onto the bed carefully. This was already working out very nicely, in his view.

Morning Dew giggled a little more, and sighed happily. “Well, shall we eat, then?”

“Let’s,” he agreed.  They were making a pretty big deal over a few sandwiches, but it was the thought and the mood that counted.  He took a bite of his sandwich, surprised to find the distinct flavour of tomato mixed in with the peanut butter. Morning Dew tried her own sandwich, and while she didn’t trust the mixture of flavours, they did seem to work. Somehow.
The sandwich was quite strange, but interesting enough that he kept eating. As he finished it, he had a little chuckle.  “Well, that was certainly interesting.  I think I may stick to the more conventional one in the future though.”

“Yes, I might too,” she said with another little giggle. “Well...There’s one left... Do you want to share?” she asked.

Oh, what could one more funny peanut tomato sandwich hurt?  “Certainly,” he said with a smile.  He took his half in his mouth, letting the slightly soggy concoction hang above the plate.  Now he just had to figure out how to split it. Then Morning Dew stepped in, and took her half in her mouth with a smile, stopping his fumbling around before it even happens. When he realised what happened, he started to laugh lightly.  That was certainly one way to solve the problem.  A smile formed around the bread in his mouth and he pulled back gently, splitting the sandwich close to the centre.  She got the slightly bigger piece, but that was perfectly fine with him.

Morning Dew happily munched away on the sandwich. This had been one of the best nights of her life. The stallion with her felt the same.  He hadn’t been this excited since he arrived in Duskfields, and not for many years before that.  He finished his piece of the sandwich, not really paying attention to the flavour as he stared into Morning Dew’s eyes.  She was so pretty. Morning Dew stared right back, a smile on her face. She leans over to him, and hugs him tight. “Thank you for the night. I really enjoyed it.”

He gave her a firm hug too.  “No, thank you.  I enjoyed it too.  We should definitely do this again soon.”

[Telgin]

A rather long update this time, with a little bit of interesting stuff in it.  I'm turning migrants back on now, so anybody who was waiting for a pony may not have to wait much longer!



Temperance's Journal - 4th Hematite, 270

And the fighting goes on and on!  Today an ogre tried to enter through the south, no doubt attracted by the smell of the rotting discordant pony corpses.  The soldiers were thankfully nearby, and Flamberge quickly downed the creature, from the reports I heard.


I sent Redhat to fight it (you'll see why in a moment), but Flamberge wandered by and stole another kill.  Show pony.

Apparently the ogre first encountered Redhat's pet wolf, who was found lying in the trench and bleeding from just about everywhere.  I saw the poor thing as she was pulled out of the trench and taken to the doctors, and I don't know how she's even still alive.


Looks like the modding has saved two lives so far, at the expense of making enemies much more difficult to kill...  In any case, she'll live and should make a full recovery.

If they weren't so busy tending to Praetorian she might have a fighting chance, but I don't see how she could possibly survive.  Redhat looked absolutely devastated, and I can't blame him.  I haven't had a pet in a very long time, but I know what losing one feels like.  Maybe the doctors can pull off two miracles...

8th Hematite, 270

Things have settled down slightly.  Now that the threat of imminent death at the hooves of discordant ponies has died down to just at the surface of my thoughts instead of dominating them, I've taken back to making sure that ponies are working on the necessities.  It should help take all of our minds off of what's happened.

Construction is still proceeding on the houses.  We need to finish seven more before everypony here is under a permanent roof, and I'll be taking the last one.  Space is already at a premium, so with Woodchips' approval we started adding a second floor to two of the house blocks.  That should give us enough room for everypony who lives here already, and give us a head start toward any future arrivals.



We also had to move the animals a bit further north yesterday.  The grass was almost all gone in the pasture we had set up.  I'm thinking that the yak and camel might be happier somewhere else, so when the next caravan rolls through I'm thinking about trading them away.


The bigger grazers eat way too dang much to be worth the trouble.  I'm not sure where the blood came from either.  Probably the animals kicking each other in the face.

22nd Hematite, 270

They've returned, again.

A discordant unicorn stallion showed up this morning, and ran into Case Study as he was fetching some thread from the cloth stockpiles to go treat Praetorian.



A quick before and after.  Flamberge once again mutilates a pony.  That's his head lying a little southwest of his body.

The fight was short and brutal, as always.  Crosshair stunned the pony with a shot to the leg, when Flamberge and Redhat came galloping to the fight.  Flamberge got there before Redhat could, and decapitated the stallion with a stroke of his sword.

The unicorns are more unsettling than the others still... even as I looked at the head lying in the grass, his eyes continued to glow with a hideous red hue.

I was so shaken up, all I could do was to go see that Case Study was alright and how Praetorian was doing.  The stallion is still in terrible shape, but is slowly improving.



Case Study and Convalescence have been watching him day and night, and still believe he'll pull through.  He's the toughest stallion I've ever met.

Perhaps even more impressive though, is Redhat's pet wolf also made a miraculous recovery and is up and around, although clearly in pain.

These lands might be cursed... but they may be blessed too...

2nd Malachite, 270

Serenity came to me with some disturbing news this afternoon.  Flamberge has apparently been making some rather aggressive advances toward Cream Puff, and Serenity is worried that he may actually hurt her if she doesn't submit to him.

That sort of behavior disgusts me, but I'm in no position to really do anything about it.  I'm afraid to admit that if Flamberge really wanted to, he could almost have his way with this entire settlement, especially with Praetorian incapacitated.

I don't know what to do other than monitor him and hope this is a misunderstanding or a mistake somehow.

I'm still a bit mystified.  I never would have pegged him for that sort of behavior... but you never know a pony...

17th Malachite, 270

I saw Smoothblock digging around along the southern edge of the settlement today, and when I asked her about it, she said she was done digging the trench and was trying to guage how deep the soil went before we hit the aquifer.  It wasn't very deep apparently.


Just 2-3 z-levels, depending on where you start.  Easy to get a moat, hard to do anything else.

She was pretty irritated at it, as that means we're going to have a very hard time accessing any stone.  That's unfortunate to hear, since we could really use some for a wall or any number of other things.  It's starting to look like we're going to need to use wood for the wall, which will have to do...

In the meantime, she asked if we could start working on building a few pumps to start displacing the aquifer to maybe dig past it.  Since we've all but finished enough housing, I agreed to add it to the list.  Which recently includes more barrels, since she and Cream Puff filled all we had up with some much needed fruit juice.

I was a bit too distracted to do that after I saw Praetorian up and around!  He's still in rough shape, but he's lucid and well enough to leave the hospital anyway.  I can't believe that stallion is still alive, much less this well after just six weeks in the hospital.



Back to work, first thing after getting out of the hospital!

Things are finally starting to look up!

25th Malachite, 270



It looks like that apple tree was actually a lemon tree.  I'm not the sort of pony who likes to just eat raw lemons, although a few do I gather, but I'm sure Cream Puff can find a lot of use for some sliced lemons or a bit of lemon juice.

In other news, since we've almost finished constructing enough houses for everypony, I'm finally diverting a bit of attention elsewhere.  First off, the hospital is in an absolutely sorry state.  We have no real well, so I've had Smoothbock dig out the start of a cistern for the well, which should hold a lot of water.  I've got the carpenters working on a few pumps to help get some water there from the aquifer too.



I haven't forgotten that Dr. Serenity needs an office too, so that's going to come up on the list soon too.  She's been really patient with me so far, and I appreciate that a lot.  Maybe I can push that up a bit, since the hospital is working for our needs so far?

6th Galena, 270

Finally!  Finally, we've got enough rooms for everypony.  I moved into my house this afternoon, and the feeling was a bit bittersweet.  I've gotten used to sleeping on the floor in my office, so adjusting to having a room of my own is going to be a bit strange, but I'm sure it won't be hard to acclimate.  There's been room in the communal dorm for me to sleep there if I wanted, but I'm in my office so late most nights I usually just slept there.  Well, no more!



We've actually got one room to spare, so I'm thinking of offering it to Max.  He's helped out a ton with putting these rooms up and didn't really ask for anything as payment, so I think it's the least we can do.  He says he has a home of his own out in the hills or something, but maybe he'll take it.

I think everypony has more or less gotten used to him being around, so hopefully they won't be too concerned.  I trust him anyway.

As I was getting settled in, I did realize just how bare these rooms are though.  We've had to put almost all of our wood to use putting the houses up, so we didn't have much wood or labor to spare for making furniture, but I think we can start on that now.  A few chests and chairs for everypony perhaps?

12th Galena, 270




Zebras were spotted out north by Holly!  I'm glad to see them, we've been in need of a lot of things from traders, and after the disappointment with the home caravan last year I've got high hopes for this time.  I'm also a bit more sane this time, so maybe I'll get a bit more accomplished.  It's going to take a little while for them to reach us, since the woods are so thick, but we'll be ready.  Maybe we should send some troops out to help escort them in?  I'll bring the matter up with Flamberge next time I see him.

In other news, Dr. Serenity's office is now finished!  I'm certain she'll be happy to not have to share my office, and it's in a better location if privacy is a concern.  Out past the fields up northwest where nopony generally wanders.  I hope she doesn't mind the chickens clucking too much.  We should probably see about getting them moved somewhere else, come to think of it.



20th Galena

The zebras didn't disappoint!  We traded a bit of our harvest for a lot of metal from them, which included a lot of things like anvils and musical instruments that we have no use for.  I actually feel a bit odd about buying the instruments just to destroy them for their metal content, but we do what we must.  Oh, and I sent the camel and yak with them.  Hopefully they'll be a bit happier somewhere that they can have a bit more space.

The zebras also brought a lot of plants and seeds with them, so I snatched up what I could.  Some potatoes, corn and green beans are the highlight there, and I'd love to add those to our rotation some point soon!

Oddly enough, we also ended up buying up a bunch of sand.  Seems strange that we'd need to do that, but the soil around here is great for growing crops, but really isn't suited to making glass of any sort, and we could use some glass windows or something some time soon I think.  I'm not sure if anypony has any skill at working it, but we'll find out soon.

The zebras unfortunately didn't bring any stone with them, but they did bring some fire clay which we can use to make a furnace with at least.  I'm not too surprised really, the zebras don't do much digging from what I understand.

I don't think he noticed me notice him, but I also saw Praetorian out there after I left looking over their wares.  It looked to me like he picked out a nice orange gem.  I wonder what he needs that for?


Cheapest gem they had, but hey, at least it's pretty!

While they were here, the merchants took a little tour of Duskfields, and they seemed to think we've set up a nice little place out here.  Coupledye let them know where we were, and we can probably expect them to come back every year as long as we have things to trade.  I think we'll have a nice strong relationship.

[TheBronzePickle]

~Maize's Diary~ 4th Hematite, 270
A poor little puppy came into the hospital looking even more torn up than Praetorian. Case Study said it got hurt by an ogre. It was Mr. Redhat's pet, and he seemed really sad about the dog. I tried to reassure him, but since Praetorian's still in the hospital, I don't think I helped much.

22nd Hematite
Case Study came back to the hospital really shaky today. He said he nearly got attacked by a discordant unicorn. I didn't know there were discordant unicorns, I bet they're really scary. I wonder if I'll ever be that scary. Anyway, the puppy got better and was released today. Praetorian might be better soon, too.

17th Malachite
Praetorian is okay now. He's still in lots of pain, and Case Study said I should give him space, but he let me give him a big hug and he's back to sparring, so I guess he thinks he's alright. I've been back to the fields, too. Morning Dew doesn't seem to be doing that well, but Mountain Dew is a little sweetie, which seems to be helping Morning not feel as bad. I've been back to comforting her, too.

20th Galena
Zebras came, and we got some more plants from them. We even got the plant I'm named after, maize. Most of the ponies here call it corn, though. We also got potatoes and green beans. I'm certain Cream Puff will be happy with all three, there's so many good dishes that can be made with them.

[TheBronzePickle]

and

Maize studies her chair. Technically, it’s not mine, she thinks, but she has been sitting on it for so long it’s almost like a part of her now. She almost misses it when she gets up, even.

Cream Puff enters the hospital, and gives Maize a small smile.  She even gives Praetorian one, even if he can’t return it.  Poor stallion... he deserves better than to be hospitalized.  She sets a meal on a table nearby.  “Heya Maize.  How’re you doing today?”

Maize returns the smile, though it’s more courteous than sincere. “I’m... alright. Prae-pr... Praetorian’s doing okay, I think. At least, that’s what Case Study says.”

Puff nods and sits by her friend.  “Did he say how much longer he thinks Tor will be here?”

Maize shakes her head. “He just says to be patient. Most ponies don’t even survive what happened to Prae-prae.”

Puff tries not to think about how Tor looked when he was first brought in.  Case Study and Convalescence are miracle workers for sure.  “Yeah... but he’ll pull through this.  He’s tough.”

Maize nods. “And... I’ll keep waiting for him.” She sighs. “Not that that makes me tough or anything.”

Cream Puff gives Maize a quick hug.  “It makes you a good pony.  I know he’ll be happy to see you when he wakes up.”

Maize smiles a little. “I’ll be happy to see him, too.” She looks over to the bed. “It almost feels like that body on the bed isn’t really him. Sort of like... that discordant thing in me isn’t really me, you know?”

“Yeah... it’s kinda surreal to see him laying there, instead of being up and about.”

Maize nods again. “Yeah... it’s almost like he’s some kind of statue in a museum. Case Study doesn’t even want me touching him because of how many bits of him are broken.”

“How about you, Maize?  How are you holding up?”  Puff looks a bit concerned, worried that maybe Tor isn’t the only one seriously hurt over this.

“I’m... I’ve had a lot of time to really think about a lot of stuff... sometimes I think about silly stuff, sometimes I think about nice things... most of the time I think about bad things and sad things and scary things, like am I the reason all these discordants are here, or am I ever going to hurt somepony by accident, or even things not really about me, like if this place is going to kill us all...”

Puff gives her a friendly nudge.  “Aw, come on, Maize.  You can’t dwell on stuff like that, and you can’t blame yourself for what happened.  And I know you won’t hurt anypony.  You’ve got it under control, Maize.”

Maize looks up at her friend. “I... guess you’re right. But that’s not all I’m worried about, either.” She looks toward the door, seemingly trying to imagine the world behind it. “Morning Dew has been getting a lot of nasty things said about her, and it’s really getting to her. I feel really bad, but I don’t know how to help, so when I try to help her it only helps a little.”

“Hey, a little is better than nothing.  I could only point her at Serenity.”  Puff giggles a little.  “Mountain Dew is such a sweet little filly, too.”

“Yeah. She likes to grab my snout a lot.” Maize scrunches her nose. “She’s quite the grabby little thing, I bet she’ll grow up to be very huggy and cuddly.”

“Hehe, yep!  She also gets into everything.  My stash of sweets vanished a few days ago, and I hear little Mountain almost gave Serenity a heart attack with her sugar-fueled antics!”

“Little ones can be like that.” Maize smiles as she fades into her memories. “As a maid, I had to help take care of a few foals of a noble among my duties. They were the sweetest little things, but they couldn’t help but get into trouble. We ended up locking away everything that was low enough to knock down.” She shakes her head. “That’s when the little pegasus filly figured out how to fly.”

Puff giggles at that.  “Hehe, yeah.  Mountain Dew is still having her magic surges and doing all sorts of crazy things.  She was walking on the ceiling in my kitchen the other day!”

“As long as she doesn’t turn anypony into a dog, I’m sure it will be fine.” Maize giggles a little herself.

“Hehe, can that happen?  I’ve heard of all kinds of crazy magic done by foals, but never something like that.”

Maize shrugs. “If it can, I’ve never heard about it. That would probably be really scary, though.”

“Probably why it doesn’t happen.  If Mountain is any indication, foals just want to have some fun, not scare anypony.”

“Foals just wanna have fu~n.” Maize quietly sings the line, seemingly part of a song.

Puff’s eyes widen a little.  “You can sing?”

Maize shakes her head. “Not with any strength. But sometimes I’ll sing to myself in the fields.” She looks at her chair. “I’ve been doing it a lot here, too.”

Cream Puff smiles at her friend.  “I bet Tor loves it.”

Maize blushes a little. “Do you think he can hear?”

She nods.  “Definitely!  So make sure to remind him why he needs to get better soon!”

Maize dips her head. “I’ve been singing a lot of kind of sad songs, actually...”

Puff smiles and hugs her again.  “Try something happy?  Just think about how great it’ll be once he wakes back up.”

Maize thinks for a few moments. “I... can’t think of anything.” She droops her head. “I guess that says a lot about me...”

“Well, I’m not much of a singer, but I know a few happier songs.  I could teach you them?”

Maize manages to perk up just a little. “I guess that would be good.”

Puff gives her a gentle squeeze.  “That’s the spirit!  Just imagine surprising him with a happy song when he wakes up!”

Maize’s mouth curls up a tiny bit. “Yeah... that sounds nice.”

[Kryptid]

I was told those tools would last at least 5 more years. Perhaps Case Study should have been wary of the low price of the medical items that he had purchased from that pegasus back in Coupledye. In a small box he carried upon his back were several scalpels, a bone saw and forceps which had grown a coat of brown corrosion too stubborn to be washed off. He wondered if it might be possible for one of the blacksmiths to melt them down and produce new, better equipment. Although the metalworkers were probably more used to creating weapons and armor, this surely wouldn't be too difficult of a task for them. The light blue pony trotted out to the forge and knocked a hoof on the door.

"Enter." A gruff, yet distant sounding voice says. When Case Study enters, the pegasus working the forge stops and turns to him.
"So," He asks, wiping sweat from his brow with a foreleg, "Watcha need? I'll make anythin', and I'll make it damn well, too." The golden pegasus stares intently at Case Study, or, rather, a point just above his head. His eyes are slightly dull.

The blacksmith's enthusiasm was welcome. "I wish to inquire if it would be possible to order some new surgical instruments?" Walking over with the box, Case removes the lid and reveals the dull red items. "I need a replacement for each of these. You may feel free to melt them down and reuse as much of their content as you can. However, I believe their composition is of inferior quality and a more rust-resistant metal may be required to give them the life expectancy I desire. Do you have any recommendations?"

Steel Rivet suddenly winces and clasps his head. He quickly shakes it off, though, and gingerly takes each tool and turns them over in his hooves. He looks thoughtfully at each rust-encoated tool, making a "Hmmm" sound as he does. "Whoever forged these did a horrible job. Look here," He points to the especially rusty scalpel. "This was obviously forged by an amateur who'd never been in a forge before." He snorts derisively, then turns to the doctor. "I'll see what I can do. Come back a little later, and we'll work things out, okay?"

"Alright, so when should I return? I can see that you are currently busy with a prior project, so perhaps I should stop by tomorrow morning or afternoon and discuss things at length then?" The period of time required wasn't of too much concern to him, unless some unforeseen injury between now and then occurred in some hapless pony that required the very tools he was seeking. The doctor felt that he could probably get by with what instruments he had left over in an emergency; or so he hoped.

Steel Rivet watches Case Study leave, then turns his attention back to the tools. "Shameful. Just shameful. Now, let's see what we can do here, shall we?" He nods to nopony in particular, then gets to work. His stomach growls loudly, but food can wait. After all, work before play, right?

The next afternoon, the doctor came back to the forge. He had just gotten finished with his regularly scheduled jogging and stretched to wind himself down. Taking a deep breath of relief, he knocked on the door once again. Perhaps it was too soon to expect that his tools had already been completed. If that was so, Case felt that he could wait.

There is no response, but Case Study can clearly hear Steel Rivet inside, moving around agitatedly, cursing in some strange language that he's never heard before. When he finally says something Study can understand, his voice is profoundly different. It's deeper, older, and louder.
"HOW DARE THEY TRY TO STEAL FROM US! FROM US! FOOLS! WRETCHED FOOLS, ALL OF THEM! EALLVARDA TAKE THESE THIEVES AND SMITE THEM!" The voice then goes back to ranting in that other language.

More than slightly perturbed by the venomous words, the physician slowly cracked the door open. He asked plainly, "...is this a bad time?"

He sees Steel Rivet moving around from station to station, uttering darkly to himself and taking no notice of the doctor. Steel Rivet even walks righ by Case Study and gives him no notice whatsoever.

"Yeah...okay...I think I'll come back later..." Case closes the door. Maybe I should have found a different pony to cast my equipment. Come to think of it, I never even learned his name.

The next day, Case Study hears a tentative knock on the door of his "clinic".

As a doctor, he never made assumptions; he knew that pretty much anypony could be outside his office. Having already been up and about, Case trots over and peers out. Oh, the blacksmith. Hopefully this was about his order being completed and not about that strange rambling he walked in on yesterday, "Hello, sir. Any news?"

"Not much," the pegasus sighs sadly. He perks up slightly and winks roguishly at the doctor. "I'll have your tools soon, though." He exhales slowly, running a hoof through his golden mane. "Um, listen. I've been having these really bad headaches recently and...um...well, I was wondering if maybe you...could...help?" Steel Rivet trails off at the end, then suddenly bursts back into movement with an "Oh!" He smiles sheepishly at Case Study, "Steel Rivet, at'cher service." the blacksmith says as he shakes the doctors hoof.

"...I actually have migraines myself from time to time," the somewhat bewildered pony responds, "There is this plant that I use. They call it 'tenderoot' where I come from. You can either chew on the stems or extract the natural oils and apply them directly to your forehead. The topical application acts more immediately, but chewing the stem tends to be more powerful and lasts longer." He paces over to his desk and opens the top drawer, "I haven't been able to find many of these plants growing wild near Duskfields, and that concerns me. I've been thinking about asking one of the farmers to plant some of these and attempt to grow them." Case pulls out a couple of green stems and passes them along to Steel Rivet, "One bite of the stem should be sufficient, so I think this should be enough to relieve ten attacks in the future. I'll try to find more in the meantime."

A FEW DAYS LATER

A heavy pounding sounds on Case Study's door. The pony on the other side is clearly impatient, as the pounding comes again less than a minute later, louder and longer this time.

Case is a bit concerned. Clearly this sounds urgent, and yet normally an emergency would have been announced by shouting for the doctor's immediate attention. As he trots towards the door, he predicts that this is not of a medical nature. Nevertheless, he expects it to be potentially unpleasant. Before turning the handle, he asks, "Yes, who is it?"

He recieves two words in answer: "Blacksmith. Tools."

All of the pounding just for that? Case opens the door and welcomes him in, "I'm glad to hear about it, Mr. Rivet. I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you."

"Not at all. Apologies. Distracted. Plans. May plans. Weapons. Better armour. Less injuries." He gently places the box on Case Study's desk and opens it. The tools are perfect. There are tiny runes on the end of the scalpel, and the scalpel itself emanates an aura of sharpness.

The doctor noted that the way in which the gold pony was speaking was a bit unusual, but he made no mention of it. Lifting the blade from its container with a hoof, he examines its polished surface, "It certainly looks superior." The blue pony fails to interpret the engravings, "I don't believe these are any symbols that I'm familiar with. Are they your trademark?" Something certainly felt different about the item, but Case couldn't put his hoof on what it was.

Steel Rivet shrugs. "They're just something that my family has always done. I don't know what the runes mean, but they work."

"Work?" He says as he investigates the other items in the box, "So you're implying that these are charged with magic of some type? What does it do? Keep the blades from growing dull? Increase their sharpness? Protect them from rust?"

Steel Rivet glares at Case Study slightly. "I'm pretty sue I said that I don't know what the runes mean." He sighs and continues in a more civil tone. "I think they do things like that, though." He shrugs. "Can't say more. Now, must go. Work to do. Same with you." He walks out of the clinic, muttering to himself and gesturing around with his wings.

Case twists his mouth in confusion. That was rather odd. So he put runes on these tools, yet he doesn't know what they do? He would eventually find out, preferably by experimenting with them before using them on any ponies; the last thing he needed was for some unusual magic to cause undue harm to a patient.

[Telgin]

and

The day after the zebra caravan leaves, Flamberge, in full military uniform approaches Temperance’s office, during his normal working hours. He knocks on the door, “It is Commander Flamberge, we need to discuss a few things.”

Temperance looks up from the map he was working on, and hesitates a moment.  What could this be about?  Not Serenity or Puff, hopefully.  “Uh, come in!” he calls.

Flamberge opens the door and comes in, his cheap armor clanking loudly, as he closes the door. He does not sit. “Hello Temperance,” he says while almost looking down on the manager pony.

He was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable already, but Temperance forces a smile.  “Afternoon commander.  How can I help you?”

Flamberge begins, “I require your report on the current situation in regards to the construction of the wall, or rather, the lack of one. I ordered it’s construction months ago and haven’t seen a single post put in place.”

Uh oh...  Temperance coughs and looks away briefly.  “Oh, ah, yes.  The wall.  The, uh, carpenters said that they needed to wait for Smoothblock to finish reinforcing the trench walls before they could really start on the wall.  She’s, uh, done with that now though.”

Flamberge nods, “Good, the wall is necessary unless we want more ponies to end up like Captain Praetorian. I hope you will remember it is your top priority.”

“Yes, of course,” Temperance says, nodding.  “Everypony’s safety is my top priority.”  Hadn’t stopped him from pushing the houses more than the wall though, which was in hindsight clearly a mistake.

“The second thing I wish to discuss, is the town’s lack of metal. I understand this is not your fault and the situation can’t be easily remedied, however,” Flamberge pauses for emphasis, “We are in a very dangerous area, Discordian raids are only going to intensify. We do however have plenty of wood and string. I would like to order the construction of a crossbow, quiver, and bolts for every adult in Duskfields, that they will be responsible for maintaining, and using in an emergency.

Temperance frowns and says, “I did manage to get a little bit of useful metal from the caravan, but not enough to make much.  As for the crossbows... I don’t know if anypony here knows how to make any, but I’m sure Wood Chips or Veneer could make some given enough time.”  He looks a bit like he’s just swallowed something disagreed with him as he adds, “Do... do you really think the raids will get worse?  Bad enough that we’d need such a contingency?”  He tries to picture himself, or really any of the other adults, aiming a crossbow and it’s not a pretty sight.

Flamberge nods, “Absolutely, things are going to get worse before they get better, and you can’t rely on me to stop them all, I’m only one pony.” He holds up his leg scarred from the bolt that pierced it not too long ago.

Flamberge continues, “I know that they are not soldiers, but they don’t need to be, firing from the relative safety of the walls and such will be a great help. I would suggest that as the bows are made, each pony be required to spend some time each year in training. Spread out so the whole town isn’t off work at once, and maybe during the winter when there is less to do. You can schedule it however you like, but we’ll need some targets constructed as well.”

“It’s going to be hard to find the time, since we’ve got so few ponies working as it is.”  He taps his hoof briefly while he thinks.  “I don’t disagree that we need more protection though.  I’ll do what I can.”  This was not going to be a popular thing among the others.  Better annoyed than dead, though.

“Excellent.” says Flamberge, taping a hoof to the wooden floor, “Finally, the metal you did acquire, I would suggest it goes first towards augmenting our armor for the full time military, before anything else.”

“I’d planned no less,” he replies.  “There’s very little steel, I’m afraid, but I did manage to get some iron and bronze, which is better than nothing.  You, ah, were able to scavenge some of the discordants’ weapons and armor, weren’t you?  How does that leave things?  I imagine you’d want to scrap them and just reuse the materials?”

“As for what was looted, we got 3-4 good peytrals and cruppers, a set of boots, two chanfrons, a couple of metal crossbows and I think one serviceable spear and two iron warhammers.” Flamberge begins, “Melt down the warhammers, keep the rest for now I think. We would lose material in scraping them, and it is better to have one crappy peytral, than half of a good one. I am still going to be looking to expanding the number of full time soldiers, when more ponies arrive, and this will help outfit 2 or 3 of them.”

“Good, that’s something at least,” Temperance says, feeling the tiniest bit relieved.  “I’m hoping we’ll get more ponies soon.  I just hope we don’t attract even more discordants as a result.”

Flamberge makes an affirmative sound, then asks, “That is all I needed to say, Temperance, is there anything else you need to report to me before I take my leave?”

Oh, there were a few things he’d like to ask, but decides it’s better to follow Serenity’s advice.  “Eh, not much.  Just... how are the other soldiers holding up?  Have you seen Praetorian recently?”

“I have, he’s... up and around at least, he’s not back at anywhere near 100% though. Redhat is the same as ever really, and Captain Crosshair is doing well enough.”

Temperance smiles.  “Good... good, I’m glad to hear it.  If anything changes, I’d appreciate it if you kept me informed.”

Flamberge nods and turns to head out the door.  As he departs, Temperance slumps back into his chair and runs a hoof through his mane.  The foreseeable future was going to be a lot more work than he’d expected.  It was for the best though...

[Amorack]

Dr. Convalescence's Journal

14th Slate, 270
   It's been almost half a year now since Patches and I moved out here to Duskfields. Yesterday he was telling me about how he's been keeping a journal, and I guess it's not an unpopular thing to do around here, so I figured I may as well try it myself. Well...it's been pretty nice so far, there's an amazing meeting hall, and the other ponies are friendly. I've been working in the hospital with the other doctor, Case Study. Today one of the mares, a farmer I think, gave birth to a healthy unicorn filly. No one is sure who the father is, and of course that's the sort of thing that lends itself to gossip, but I'm just glad her and her new foal are fine. Well, that's it for now.

20th Felsite, 270
   We had another attack today by Discordant ponies. Two of the militia, Flamberge and Praetorian were injured. Praetorian has a major concussion and damage to his skull, but Dr. Case Study believes that he will eventually make a recovery. I'm glad we came to Duskfields, I can do some real good out here.

2nd Hematite, 270
   Flamberge was released today, after making a speedy recovery. Praetorian, on the other hoof, is in much the same conditon.

4th Hematite, 270
   I remember reading a quote once about how "When sorrows come, they come in battalions" or something like that. Basically when it rains, it pours, and it sure seems like it lately. An ogress attacked Duskfields, and mutilated one of the militia's pet wolf. She has severe lacerations and possible brain damge, but diagnostics was never my strong suit. Thankfully, Doctor Case Study has more skill in that regard. I wish we could do more for her, but we still have Praetorian to worry about as well. With all these attacks I'm almost tempted to find my old crossbow and volunteer for the militia myself, but it's been a long time since I've used one, and I know they need me here.

17th Malachite, 270
   Praetorian has finally recovered enough to leave the hospital, and I'm glad to see him feeling better. Medically, I'd prefer he stayed to rest and recover more, but he probably feels compelled to return to duty. I can't blame him too much, I know the feeling.
   Anyway, things have calmed down in the past few weeks. It looks to me like there should be enough houses for everypony soon, and Patches and I can't wait to move into ours when it's ready. I do hope the next construction project is improving the hospital. There's only so much we can do without fresh water nearby, or soap to prevent infections, and I couldn't stand knowing that we could have done more for a patient. Still, I think Temperance is doing a good job so far, and he wouldn't overlook something like this.

((PS, Telgin, if it's not too much trouble, could you post my Relationships screen with the next update?))

[Dsarker]

, Morning Dew, and

Morning Dew sat outside Serenity’s office, waiting for her. Little Mountain Dew had been playing around most of the morning, and was now fast asleep on Morning Dew’s back. Hesitantly, she decided to knock on the door.

Opening the door, Serenity greets her with a smile. “Hello there, Morning Dew. Please, come inside.”

“Um, thank you,” says Morning Dew as she smiles a bit and walks into the room. Mountain Dew remains asleep. At least, she doesn’t open her eyes.

Serenity ushers the pair into her new office - clean, uncluttered, and now with a proper therapy couch. She gestures towards it. “Please, have a seat.”

Morning Dew sits down, scooping Mountain Dew off her back before she’d slide off, and resettling her on her lap. “It’s a nice place here,” she says.

“It is. I’ll have to remember to thank Temperance for having this built.” She turns back to Morning Dew. “So, there was something you wanted to talk about?”

“Um. Yes. Our next session. Um. Since the last was interrupted,” she says, giving Mountain Dew a little nuzzle.

Serenity nods, pulling a chair over by the couch. “Ah, yes. So, when we left off...”

Morning Dew takes a deep breath, and closing her eyes, begins to speak again. “We’d...We’d been dating for a bit of time now, and we were happy together. I...I found a little herb out, while I was farming, a spice I thought, since I’d seen Cream Puff collecting some other plants like it. We were having another date, and I added it to the food. Um...” She takes another deep breath, and forces herself to continue. “Be-before we ate, he said he had something special to ask me. And... And he asked me to marry him,” she says.

“And what did you say?”

“I said yes,” she says.

Serenity nods. “And then what happened?”

“We...We ate a little salad, and he gave me a necklace.” She breathes deep for a third time, trying to calm herself. “And... Then he seemed a little...different. And. He... He said that. That since we’re engaged now...” She closes her eyes and bows her head, not wanting to say any more.

Serenity moves over to sit beside Morning Dew, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

“I... I woke up the next morning, and...and he was gone. I tried to speak to him, but he avoided me. I... I carried myself into my work, that being the only thing left for me. And then I saw that Maize didn’t pick the herb I had like she had with the other wild spices we found. I... I went to Cream Puff, to ask her what it was...And...And it was all my fault,” sobbed Morning Dew. “It wasn’t a spice, it was a drug! I was...I was too ashamed to try and talk to him again.”

“Maybe you should try explaining things to him. If he truly loves you, I think he’ll understand.”

“But...But I can’t. It was all my fault! I...I should have known better.” She hangs her head. Out of the corner of Serenity’s eyes, she can see Mountain Dew’s eyes open up wide, and begin to make the International Signal For A Baby Foal In Distress.

“...I believe little Mountain is in need of her mama.”

Morning Dew jerks up, looking to her little daughter. Just as she does so, the foal bursts into a wailing stream of tears. Morning Dew hugs the little foal close to her, and starts rocking her and muttering little calming phrases to her, but it seems to have little-to-no effect. “Um, I might need to feed her,” she says, somewhat apologetically.

Serenity nods. “Whatever you need to do.” She slides over a little to give her some privacy.

Morning Dew started to feed the little foal, and waited for Serenity to say whatever she was going to say next.

Serenity averts her eyes, and continues. “As I was saying, if you were to tell him about your mistake, he may be willing to forgive you.”

“I...I...I don’t want him to. It’s my fault. It’s always my fault.” As Morning Dew finishes speaking, the little foal seems to no longer be hungry, and in a flash, jumps to the floor, and starts running around.

Before she can get far, Serenity catches the little filly in her magic and sets her in her lap. “That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve forgiveness.”

“Does it?” Before Serenity can answer, the foal buzzes with magical energy, and disappears. The two can hear the pitter-patter of tiny hooves outside the office, and running off. “We’ve got to find her!” cried Morning Dew.

Serenity hops off the couch. “The kitchen! She’s probably after Cream Puff’s toffees.”

Morning Dew runs to the door, and opens it quickly before scrambling outside. “There she is!” she shouts, pointing to the rapidly disappearing form of the foal, before running off after her.
Serenity follows after them as fast as her legs can carry her.


FLASHBACK NO. 2

Seeing the stallion she loved coming to her, Morning Dew perked up. “You’re here!” she said, and gave him a peck on the cheek and a little nuzzle. “It’s good to see you again,” she said.

He returned the nuzzle and small kiss.  “It’s good to see you too, Dew,” he said with a large smile. Morning Dew blushed a bit, and expanded her smile to match his.

“I’ve already got some food for us,” she said, gesturing to a bowl of salad on the bed. “Cream Puff made it, and I added a little something special I found while out in the fields.” She smiled. “I hope you’ll like it.”

“Oh?  Something special for me?” he teased.  “I can’t wait, I’m sure it’ll be great.  Are you and Maize growing some new spices now?”

“Some, mostly for Cream Puff. But this wasn’t one of our crops. It’s from a wild plant,” said Morning Dew, with a little smile.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were an herbalist,” he said.  He smiled and stepped over to the salad to give it a good whiff.  “Not going to give me any hints?”

“Nope,” she said with a little giggle. “You should try some, though!”

He grinned at her and pointed to the bed.  “Alright then, shall we?”  It smelled nice enough, and he was pretty hungry. Morning Dew smiles, and pops up onto the bed with a smile, and gestures to him to join her.

Being the gentlecolt that he was, he dipped a bit out for each of them.  That was mostly a way to delay things as he worked up his nerve for what he was going to say next though.  After a moment or two of nervously looking down at his hooves, he reached into the small bag he brought with him.  “Morning Dew, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while now,” he began, fishing through the bag

“What is it?” Morning Dew asked curiously, but with a hint of expectation. Maybe...

He produced a small, simple necklace made of what looked to be leftover flax thread, with some green glass beads strung around it.  He held it up for her to see, and with an extremely nervous smile he said, “Morning Dew, would you marry me?”

Morning Dew’s mouth fell open in surprise. “Buh, ub, buh,” she said, then shook her head, and repeated herself, saying “Of course I will! Yes yes yes!” She glomped the stallion onto the ground, smiling with delight.

He took a little while to recover from the sudden mare atop him, but grinned and nuzzled her again.  “I love you,” he said, feeling all of the anxiety from a few moments ago dissolve into pure euphoria.

“I love you too,” Morning Dew replied, hugging the love of her life tight for what seemed like a blissful eternity.

The two held each other for what was at least minutes, but felt like hours.  Eventually, a small gurgle filled the silent room, and the stallion said, “Perhaps we should eat now?  I’m dying to taste that little secret of yours.” Reluctantly, the mare let go, and after standing up, helped the stallion to rise.

He in turn helped her back up onto the bed before pulling himself up, careful not to spill the food laid out.  “Shall we?” he asked, before sampling his food.  Whatever it was she found, it definitely added a nice kick to the salad. Morning Dew eats a bit of her own portion, staring at the stallion with dreamy eyes.

“Where’d you find the necklace?” she asks him after having a bite of the salad.

“Oh, uh, well,” he began, choking down a bit of food.  “I made it, actually.”  He scratched the back of his head.  “I’m not much of a jeweler or weaver, but even somepony like me can take some thread and string beads on it.  I found those lying around the mechanics shop.  After, well, you know,” he said, rolling his eyes at the last bit. Morning Dew smiled at him, still a bit giddy that he had asked her to marry him.

He continued to devour the food before him, feeling the euphoria continue to grow.  He knew that love was supposed to feel good, but had no idea it could feel like this!  Oddly, he was starting to feel a bit sleepy too.  Everything seemed to be slowing down around him by the time he was done eating. Morning Dew looked at him, and asked him “Are you feeling alright? You don’t look too good...” with a hint of apprehension to her voice.

“Huh?” he asked, blinking the sleepiness away.  “Oh, no I feel fine.  Great, actually.”  He looked up at her, and was suddenly struck by just how beautiful she was.  Who needed salad right now?  “Say, since we’re engaged now...” he said, giving her a sly grin. Morning Dew felt a bit uneasy about this, but he was going to marry her...


Puff lays on her back in the short grass, bored out of her skull.  The lunch sammiches were made, and it’d be several hours before she’d have to get working on the dinner sammiches.  A real kitchen would be so nice...

Morning Dew, keeping her head down and looking nervous, walks over to Cream Puff, and waits for her to notice her.

She cranes her eyes up to meet Morning Dew’s face.  “Heya Morning Dew.”

“Um, hello Cream Puff. Um. Can I ask you something?” she says, not noticing she is already.

“You just did, but feel free to ask more.”  Puff rolls to her hooves and shakes off the grass, not wanting to look bored with the conversation.  Not that she wasn’t bored, it just wasn’t Morning’s fault.

“Um.” She digs in her saddle bag. “Um. This herb. What is it?” she asks.

Puff tilts her head and examines the plant.  “Hmm... is that coriander?”  She gives it a few sniffs, then shakes her head.  “No, coriander has a much more assertive scent.  Why do you want to know?”

“Um. Would it make somepony act...differently?” she asked, anxiety setting in.

“Coriander?  Na, it’s just a nice aromatic.  This thing, though, I have no idea.  Have you tried asking Maize?”

“N-no, I haven’t,” says Morning Dew.

“She’d probably know, but she’s so cripplingly shy she might not actually talk.”  Puff then face-hoofs.  “Right, you’re a farmer, too!  You probably know her better than I do!  I’d definitely go ask her.  Maybe try Case Study, too?  If it’s medicinal, he might know.”

“Um. Okay. Could you come with me?” Morning Dew pleads.

Cream Puff smiles.  “I could and I will!”

“Thank you,” Morning Dew says, a bit of a smile forming.

The two go off trying to find Maize, but find Case Study first, painting.

The weather was nice enough, so the doctor had decided to practice one of the few hobbies he had come to acquire over his thirty-eight years of life so far. It was a painting he had started before arriving at Duskfields, but was only just now getting around to finishing it. He paused for a moment, taking in the movement to his right. Cream Puff and Morning Dew, “Good day Ms. Puff, Ms. Dew.”

Morning Dew bows her head and nudges Cream Puff a little.

“Heya Case Study.”  Puff smiles at him, then shows him the strange plant.  “Do you know what this is?”

He leans over and squints at the vegetation in her possession, “Not off the top of my head, I’m afraid. I do have a book about wild herbs and such. For what purpose might you need this knowledge? Do you plan on attempting to cook this?”

“Um. Somepony might have eaten it,” says Morning Dew quietly.

His eyebrows pursed together, “How long ago was this? Are they exhibiting any symptoms of poisoning?” The pale blue stallion suspected that it may have been a foal, “I doubt it’s of significant toxicity, but I can always check to be sure.”

“Um, they were acting...strangely, sort of,” answered Morning Dew.

Case put down his brush, “Hallucinations perhaps? That could be a serious problem. How are they doing right now?”

“Um. I haven’t really talked to them since then,” she says with a little blush.

He wrinkled his nose, “Uh...was this recent? Or are you talking about something that has happened a decent while ago? You don’t seem to be implying that this is urgent...” Case was beginning to wonder who it was that Dew was speaking of.

“It was a short time ago. They haven’t been acting really strangely after it. Just that day,” she said, the blush beginning to widen a bit.

The slight reddening of her face had become obvious now. The physician could only wonder what that might mean, “I suppose I could go retrieve my plant reference. Wait here for a moment.” He abandoned his work and trotted back to his office. It was a short trip, so he soon returned with a saddlebag of books on his back. After the proper literature was obtained, he went through the pages to find the identity of the mystery plant. “Hmm, looks to most closely match ‘Karmare Cilantro’. It appears to be nontoxic, although it can have inebriating effects. Some even report enhanced libido...”

Morning Dew is suddenly very interested in inspecting the ground. Lots of dirt and grass there. Yup. Important stuff to keep an eye on. For a farmer. Good to know about how the dirt is doing. Don’t want it to dry up.

It didn’t take a Ph.D to figure out what had happened, especially not after Dew’s instant lack of interest in the subject became apparent. Case coughed, “Well...I assure you that the pony in question is in no physiological danger...whomever he or she is...”

“That’s good,” she says in a quiet voice. “He’ll be okay?”

“Well, the only hazard this would present would be in the form of increased risk-taking behavior. As long as he isn’t under its influence during times when precision and care are required, I imagine no harm will come to him or others.”

“That’s a relief,” she says, her previous anxiety fading away. “Um. Thank you, doctor,” she continues, still facing towards the ground.

“You are quite welcome, Ms. Dew. Do you have any further questions?”

“Not at the moment,” she says. “Um. Actually. One other... how will I know if I’m...well...expecting?”

“Ah yes, that...” He rubs his chin, “It can be difficult to tell early on. A missed estrus cycle may be the first indication. Gaining weight unexpectedly will come next. Changes in mood and eating habits are also things to note. There are also some magical pregnancy tests that exist, but I am not in possession of any items with such an ability.” Yep, Case knew for certain what had happened now.

“Thank you, Dr Case Study. Um. That’s all I need,” says the mare.

The gray-haired pony nods, “Have a good afternoon, Ms. Dew, Ms. Puff.” He takes the paintbrush in a hoof and continues to work on his art as before.

[Impending Doom]

Maize steps into the new office. “Wow... it’s really nice in here.”

Serenity beams. “Yes, they did a wonderful job. And look!” She trots over to a corner, where a comfy-looking padded therapy couch sits.

Maize walks over to it and plops down, snuggling in. “It’s almost as nice as my bed. I like it a lot.”

“I’m glad you like it.” Serenity pulls up a chair, sitting beside the couch as a proper therapist would. “Much less intimidating, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, a lot better.” Maize rolls a bit on the couch, getting comfortable, and looking sort of like a puppy, albeit a very large one.

Serenity cannot help but giggle at Maize’s antics. “You look adorable.”

Maize blushes, but giggles a little, too. “I’ve heard a few ponies say that about me. I... guess I just act different from how ponies expect sometimes.”

“It’s as though... you aren’t really concerned what ponies might think. You don’t have any inhibitions about just doing what feels right, instead of what you think everypony else wants.”

Maize shrugs. “Ponies sometimes think things are right, even though they’re not. Even I do, sometimes, but I just try to do the best I can.”

“And... I really like that about you.”

Maize smiles. “Thanks. I... well, I really like how you go out of your way to help ponies. Like you did for me.”

Serenity returns her smile. “It’s something I’ve always enjoyed doing. I just want to make ponies’ lives better. I’m sure there are a million easier ways to do that, but... none of them are nearly as rewarding in the end.”

“Yeah. I bet.” Maize looks around the room a bit more. “I wish I were half as smart as you. I think I’d be a lot better at making other ponies feel better.”

“You already do a wonderful job making other ponies happy. Cream Puff, Morning Dew, Praetorian...” Serenity blushes lightly. “...me...”

Maize looks to the mare before her and offers a smile, plus her own light blush. “I’m glad I make you happy. I just... wish I could make you all even more happy.”

“...What do you mean?”

“Well... Morning Dew has been getting really mean things said about her, but I can’t really stand up for her because I don’t know who is saying things, and even if I did... I’m not exactly scary.” Maize shows off her lack of muscles. “Cream Puff wants to be in a relationship, but she doesn’t feel right with any of the stallions here and she isn’t into mares. And you... well, I don’t know how I could make you any happier at all. I don’t know if you have any problems or wants.”

“I... don’t really have any, no.” Maize can detect just the slightest hint of dishonesty in her voice.

Maize seems really interested now. “You don’t have to lie to me. Everypony has something they would like.”

Serenity averts her eyes. “It’s nothing, really...”

Maize makes puppy-dog eyes. “Please tell me. I just want to help you.”

“I-It’s, well, uh...” Serenity takes a deep breath, swallows, and continues. “Maize... I like you. In fact, I think I... really like you, but...”

“But what?” Maize gets up and hugs Serenity. “I’m okay with you liking me. I like you a lot, too.”

“...But you’re with somepony who truly cares about you. Who fits you perfectly, like the two of you were made for each other. And I’d hate to ruin that.”

Maize nuzzles Serenity a little before pulling away. “I don’t think Praetorian would mind that much, actually. I’ll just ask him.” She smiles. “The worst he could do is say no, right?”

Serenity accepts the nuzzle gratefully. “...I suppose you’re right.”

Maize’s smile grows a little wider. “So... now that I’m helping you, maybe I should let you help me, huh?” She plops back onto the couch. “Go ahead, doctor.”

Serenity smiles wide at her friend, and leans back in her chair. “Now, in our last session...”

[Dsarker]

and

Maize lies in her bed, looking out the window. She’d normally be out working, but today she decided she wanted to eat lunch with Praetorian, so she’s waiting for him. She suddenly remembers that he has memory problems, though, and rises, heading for the door to try and find him and make sure he didn’t forget.

Praetorian is wandering around the line of houses, looking lost. Some kind soul appears to have placed a tray of food on his back, though he seems not to have noticed.

Maize quickly finds him thanks to the rather small area that the living quarters take up. “Prae-prae, silly, my room is this way!”

“M...Maize?” he says, shaking his head to try and clear the mental fog that seems to have set in. “What is it?”

“You got your head bumped and now you have trouble remembering things. A lot of new stuff was put up while you were out, too, so it’s easy to get lost. Just follow me.” Maize wraps her tail around Praetorian’s withers, gently pulling him along.

Praetorian follows the mare with a slight sense of helplessness. “Okay,” he says, thankful that at least he can still speak.

Maize leads the stallion into the room. “At least you still remember this place, right? Case Study said the older the memory was the less likely you’d forget it, and mine was the first room finished.” She sits down on the bed and pats for Praetorian to sit with her.

Praetorian walks over to the bed, cautiously. The tray on his back rattles a bit. “I...think I remember?” he says.

Maize smiles. “Do you remember the bed? You used to love lying with me on it, just snuggled together.”

“No, I don’t remember that,” he answers. “I...I did?”

“Mhm. We’ve been together for a while.” Maize takes the food, setting it out between them.

“I think I remember that part. I...I was teaching you to read?” he asks, looking for some confirmation on his memory.

“Mhm.” Maize giggles. “And I guess I just swept you off your hooves.” She starts eating, voraciously as always, although with a slightly more mannered approach than she used to use.

Praetorian, cautiously and almost looking for her to stop him, begins to eat as well, slower than usual.

“Are you comfy, Prae-prae?” Maize seems to take note of his cautiousness and offers a bright smile to try and encourage him.

“Yes, I think so,” he says. “Just... not remembering.”

“That must really stink. Case Study said it might take a while for you to get your memory back, but it should all come back at once.” Maize continues to eat.

“...I hope so,” he says, and begins to eat a little faster.

Maize soon finishes her meal and relaxes, waiting for Praetorian to finish his.

Praetorian finishes soon afterwards, and waits for whatever is to happen next.

“I kinda wanted to ask you something,” Maize starts. “I know you don’t really have the best memory, but I’m a bit too impatient to wait for you to get all the way better. But, anyway, would you mind adding another pony to our relationship?”

Praetorian asks, saying “What do you mean?”

“Well...” Maize thinks of how to say it. “You know Serenity, right? The psychologist?”

“...yes?” He thinks he does, at least.

“Well, she’s kind of lonely, and she really likes me, and she kinda likes you, too.” Maize smiles nervously. “And I was wondering if you’d be okay with having her in our lives as well.”

“I... I don’t want to hurt her...but aren’t there any other ponies?” he asks, trying to think of any off the top of his head, but the fog is like pea soup.

“Not really.” Maize thinks as well, but doesn’t come up with anypony she knows that would be a good match. “That’s why I want her to be with us. Between the two of us, we can show her lots of love and care, and she’ll be able to love us back.”

Praetorian tries to think. This didn’t feel...quite right. And he felt a little hurt that Maize was thinking about it, maybe a little jealous. But... if Serenity really was feeling down, or hurt, or lonely... at least a platonic relationship. He felt that fog continue to cut off his thought, and he just wished that he could be somewhere else, without having to deal with this sort of thing. “I... Can I think, for a little bit?” he asks.

Maize nods. “You have all the time in the world to think about it. I don’t mind.” She leans forward and gives Praetorian a peck on the lips. “Just remember that no matter what, I’ll always love you.”

“Does...Does she want this?” he asks, still trying to come to some sort of a decision.

“Mhm.” Maize nods. “I already talked to her about it. You can talk to her, too, if you want. That’s probably a good idea, really.”

“I’ll talk to her,” says Praetorian, with some relief at having found a way to delay a decision. “Alone, if I can?”

“Sure, of course.” Maize nuzzles him a bit. “I trust you. And if you decide you don’t want to do this, or Serenity does, that’s okay, too.”

As mentally fogged as Praetorian is, he still recognises the warning sounds, typical of the female for the species, that he’d better do what she says or else. "Yes, dear."

Poor innocent Maize, however, means nothing beyond her words, and silently allows Praetorian to feel at risk without any knowledge of her unintended threat.

[Dsarker]

FLASHBACK NO. 3

It had been a long time since Morning Dew had last seen him, and now she was starting to show. She’d concealed it from the others before, but soon everypony would know. She forced a weak smile to her face. Maybe he’d come back. Maybe...

A knock came at her door.  “Morning Dew?  Are you home?”

Her heart started to leap in her chest. It was him! “Y-yes, I’m home,” she said.

“Uh, can I come in?  There’s something I’d like to talk with you about,” he said, trying to keep the apprehension out of his voice.

“Yes, yes, please come in!” she said, walking slowly over to the door with the weight of her foal starting to hinder her movements.

As she opened the door, he looked her in the eyes and gave her a small sad smile.  “There’s a few things we should talk about.”  He stepped inside as she made room for him.  “First off, I think I should apologize for... well, a lot.”

Morning Dew waves it away. “No...No, there’s nothing for you to apologise for...” she says with a bit of a sad tone in her voice.

“Oh, but there is,” he said, still not looking directly at her.  “I’ve been avoiding you for a while, because I lost something kind of important.”  He looked up at her.  He didn’t really need it.  It was time to stop fooling around.  “Something that I... thought... I...” he trailed off as his eyes rest on her.  More importantly, something new about her belly.  He cocked his head.  She couldn’t have just gained that much weight that fast.

Morning Dew just looked to him, hoping beyond hope he’d know why it was. “I...It’s my fault,” she said.

“Dew...” he began, raising an eyebrow.  “Are... are you... pregnant?”

“Yes,” she said, as her heart began to sink.

It felt like she had reached into his chest and ripped his beating heart from his body.  He was too stunned to even say anything, and he took a step back.  A few colorful emotions washed over his face, and he finally managed to say, “H-how... how could you?”

“It... it was my fault. I’m sorry,” she said, her words sounding hollow even to her.

Her fault indeed.  “Your fault?” he said, letting a bit of anger rise in his voice.  “I should say it’s your fault,” he went on.  “How could you do this to me?” he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

“I’m...I’m sorry,” she said as her first tear began to bead up.

“Sorry?  Sorry?” he demanded, letting tears of his own form in his eyes.  “And-and to think...” he said, choking up too much to speak.  He looked away, clenching his eyes shut and wiping away the tears.  “I... I can’t believe this...”

Morning Dew, the bottom having fallen out of her world, collapses onto her fore-hooves, and cried.

And as Morning Dew began to cry, the stallion backed up another step and wiped his eyes again.  He couldn’t stop crying either.  The mare he loved had gone and done this to him.  He couldn’t bear to look at her anymore, and barged out of her home without another word.

He bucked the door to his office open, slumped into his chair and buried his face in his hooves on the desk.  “What did I do to deserve this?” Temperance whimpered between sniffles.


, , Morning Dew, and


Temperance is sitting in his office as he does for much of the day, running the numbers and trying to prioritize how best to handle Flamberge’s requests.  They had lots of wood growing around them, but it was starting to run out in their stockpiles.  Could they cobble together twenty crossbows, plus set up a wooden wall, plus finish the hospital, plus make furniture with what they had?  It was starting to look doubtful.  He sighs and scratches the tables off the list.  It looked like they would have to get by with bare bedrooms for a little while longer. There is a rapid pitter-patter of tiny hooves coming towards the door.

He looks up, curious who that could be.  It didn’t sound like an adult, so it was probably just one of the sheep wandering out of the pasture again.  They should probably look into getting a fence for that at some point.  After this other mile long list of things to do, of course. There is a flash in the room, and little Mountain Dew appears. “Buh ubba!” she says.

Temperance is stunned for more than just a moment.  He stands and walks over to the little filly, utterly confused at how she just appeared like that.  Then his eyes rest on her horn, and it falls into place.  “Mountain Dew?  What are you doing here?  Where’s your mommy?” he asks, kneeling next to her.

“Bluh buh,” says the foal, and looks around for something to play with... then finds it. The pony’s head! She jumps up, trying to get on the new jungle gym.

“Gah!” Temperance cries out as he’s suddenly treated to a face full of filly.  He pries her free and sits on his haunches, holding her out in front of himself.  “I should probably go find your mom.”

“Buh da buh,” agrees the foal. Meanwhile, while he’s not doing anything, she will mess up all his reports and lists and everything. No fun being restrained otherwise. Her horn glows, and the papers start to lift from the desk.

“Temperance’s eyes go wide as he sees his careful work being very uncarefully shuffled around.  “Hey!  No, no Mountain Dew, those aren’t for playing,” he says, setting her back on the ground as he tries to grab some of the floating sheets.

“Buh,” sighs the foal as she sees her fun taken away from her. Fortunately for her, she spots a pot of ink open, and her eyes go wide with delight. “Buh ub da!” she says, and her horn glows as the ink starts to rise out of the pot in her grasp.

Seeing his papers float around was one thing, but a pot of ink’s contents were much more alarming.  He tries to grab as many papers as he can and get them out of the way of the floating disaster waiting to happen.  “Mountain Dew, why don’t you just wait a second while I find you something to play with?”

“Bluh eba,” says the foal, finally agreeing to wait. But not waiting idle, of course. As her horn continues to glow, the ink starts forming an image of a heart, with two ponies inside. The sound of running hooves comes from outside, and the door bursts open with Morning Dew looking frantic, and Serenity looking only slightly less frantic. “Mountain Dew? Mountain Dew!” cries Morning Dew as she dashes over to the little foal. As she remembers whose office they are in, she bows her head. “Um. Mr Temperance. Um. I’m sorry if. If Mountain Dew was bothering you. Um. It’s my fault.” A tear begins to bead in her eye. “A-again.”

A slightly sad expression washes over Temperance’s face as he says, “No, no, it’s fine.  She hasn’t hurt anything.”  The giant blob of floating ink hadn’t permanently altered anything, yet anyway. The little heart image is almost distinct now, and Morning Dew can be recognised as one of the ponies in it, and the other an earth pony.

Amber magic envelops the floating ink, causing the image to dissipate and the whole thing to pour carefully back into the inkwell. “Still, we’re sorry to burst in on you like this.”

“It’s...It’s all my fault,” says Morning Dew, choking back a sob. “I’m sorry again...”

He sighs and steps over to her.  “It’s okay.  Really,” he says, resting a hoof on her withers.

“I-it isn’t!” she sobs, and runs out of the office.

Temperance gives Serenity a slightly puzzled look before he gallops off after her.  “Dew!  Dew, wait!”  She’d obviously just been seeing Serenity, so being upset about something made sense.

Serenity thinks to follow them, but then realises that somepony must stay behind to watch over Mountain Dew. She looks around for the little filly. “Mountain?”

Mountain Dew is looking annoyed at Serenity, almost slightly angry. Once more, she picks up the ink from the ink pot.

Serenity catches the ink once more, returns it to the pot, and corks it firmly. “No.”

Mountain Dew pouts, and then gets another idea. She jumps onto the desk, and picking up one of the papers in her mouth, she lifts the words off of it. The words begin their transformation into the same heart that she was making with the ink.

Serenity sighs, and decides that the loss of one single sheet wasn’t so bad. She shifts the others out of Mountain’s reach, and sits down to watch. “What are you making there, little one?”

The image is of a heart. On one side is Morning Dew, or at least it looks like Morning Dew, and on the other is another earth pony. A stallion. One with a wavy mane and tail, and a short and thin body.

Serenity squints at the image of the stallion, quite unable to discern who it is. “...Is that your daddy, sweetie?”

The foal nods, and Serenity is probably able to recognise the cutie mark now.

Serenity sees the sealed scroll on the mystery pony’s flank, and chuckles. “Oh, no, sweetie. Mr. Temperance isn’t your daddy.”

The foal nods more emphatically, and the heart breaks apart, with a little foal next to Morning Dew and the two ponies looking unhappy. “Buh ubba,” says the foal firmly.

Serenity shakes her head. “No, that simply can’t be. He wouldn’t have left Morning Dew to raise you alone.”

“Bu bah?” points out the foal, indicating Temperance running after Morning Dew.

“He’s just concerned about her, that’s all.”

“Buh buh,” says the foal in a voice that radiates unconvincedness. Or maybe hungriness, it’s hard to tell when the foal is speaking meaningless syllables.

She stares at the image for a little while longer, a slight smile forming on her face. “...They do make a cute couple... who knows? Maybe he will be your daddy some day.”

“Buhbu!” the foal says again, once more pointing out to the clouds of dust almost settling down after Temperance’s passage.

Serenity shakes her head again. “No, it’s simply not possible! I highly doubt Temperance would forget falling in love with Morning Dew, or asking her to marry him, or... being... drugged?” Her pupils shrink, and her face goes pale. Serenity turns tail and gallops out after Temperance. Mountain Dew shrugs, and starts running after her. Or to the kitchen, whichever is closer.

Temperance sees Morning Dew run into her room crying and slamming the door shut.  Something inside him told him that he should probably just walk away before this got ugly, but he couldn’t.  He trots up to the door and pauses a minute before knocking lightly with a hoof.  “Dew?  Please, what’s wrong?”

A gentle sob is all the reply he gets, muffled by the wall.

What now?  Try to force his way in, or just talk to her through the wall?  “Dew... please... can I come in?  Mountain Dew didn’t hurt anything.”  He tests the door, but finds that it is indeed shut.  No simply slipping in.

“G-go away! Y-you’ll just hate me more!” cries Morning Dew.

A knot forms in Temperance’s gut, and for a moment he’s tempted to take her advice.  Instead, he decides that this whole thing needed to be fixed.  As much as it could be anyway.  “Dew... I don’t hate you.  I never have,” he says.  That last bit might have been stretching it, for that one moment so long ago, but it was true now anyway.

“Y-y-you...you don’t?” she asks, as the sobbing pauses for a second.

“No, I don’t.  Can I come in?  Can we talk?”

“Um. Y-yes,” she says.

He eases the door open and steps inside.  “Thanks.”  He joins her at her bedside and asks, “Is that what’s bothering you?  You thought I hated you?”

Morning Dew is hunched over, a few tears still running down her face as she clutches a little necklace in her hooves. “Y-y-yes,” she says through the tears.

Serenity comes galloping up to the pair. “Temperance!” She takes a moment to catch her breath. “Temperance... we need to talk.”

He looks up to her for a moment, and raises a hoof as if to say, “One moment.”  He looks back down to Morning Dew, and says  “Dew... you broke my heart.”  A few hints of moisture become evident in his eyes.  “But I’m not a pony to hold grudges,” he lies.

“I-I-I’m s-s-sorry...I... I’m not good enough for you...” says Morning Dew, the tears beginning to start again.

“You were more than everything I could have hoped for,” he replies, all but choking up.  “That’s why... why it hurt so much...”  As he fights off sobbing of his own, he notices the necklace in her hooves.  “...Dew... where did you find that?”

“Y-y-you g-g-gave it to me. T-t-that night,” she chokes out through the tears. “Y-y-you can h-h-have it back, if you want...”

Serenity gapes. “It was you... the whole time, it was you?”

Temperance was becoming genuinely curious what Serenity was talking about now.  The necklace was almost too important to diverge from, but he hazards, “What was me?”

“The stallion Morning Dew loves... Mountain Dew’s father... it’s you.”

Temperance furrows his brow as he looks back and forth between the two mares.  He certainly loved her once, and she loved him.  Maybe she still did.  But Mountain Dew?  “No, no... I’m not her father.  I...”  He raises a hoof to his forehead.  “I can’t be.”

Serenity steps inside. “How good is your memory of that night? Rather fuzzy, I’d assume?”

“What night?” Temperance asks, growing only more confused.

“T-the night when you p-p-proposed to me,” Morning Dew says through the tears.

“But I... I didn’t?” he says, not really asking a question.  He looks at the necklace, and an odd feeling washes through him.  “I-I was going to, but I lost the necklace.  Then I was going to anyway... but...”

“As I suspected. Morning Dew...” Serenity sits beside her, helping her to her hooves. “I think it would be best if he heard it from you.”

“O-okay,” says Morning Dew, trying to blink back her tears. “I. I. That night. We’d had a salad. And. And I found something t-t-t-that I thought,” her lips start wobbling, “I thought it was a spice, s-something to add some flavour. A-a-and. You p-p-proposed to me. But. When we ate. You. You started acting strangely...and...and...” She bows her head, and stops speaking.

“But... but I... I don’t remember ever eating salad with you,” he says, frowning slightly.  “I never did any of that...”  ...did he?

“T-t-that’s the problem!” cried out Morning Dew. “I-I-I took some to C-C-Case Study, a-a-a-and it wasn’t a spice! It was a d-d-d-drug!”

“...what?” he squeaks.  This was starting to make a frightening amount of sense.

“A-a-and...And...And...And it...it was all my fault... I-I-I told you you’d hate me more...” says Morning Dew as she hangs her head.

Temperance sits heavily.  This was almost too much to believe.  He still wasn’t sure he believed it.  Maybe not all of it.  A feeling of deep terror wells up inside him as an absolutely despicable thing enters his mind.  “D-Dew... wh-what exactly ha-appened?  Wh-what did the drug do?”

“Y-y-you...You asked me if...if...because we were engaged now... and... I... I said yes,” said the mare.

He looks back at the necklace cradled in her hooves, and calms down slightly.  “I... I see...” he says, still sitting motionlessly.  How could he have done this?  Was he not strong willed enough to resist?

“D-d-do...Do you still hate me?” Morning Dew asks, still tearing up.

He locks eyes with her, and slowly shakes his head.  “No.  No, I don’t hate you, Dew.”  Seeing her like this was making him start to tear up too.  Whether or not all of this was true, it was still as if one of the carpenters had just hit him in the face with a plank of wood.  After a moment more, he scoots slightly closer to her, and lays a hoof on hers.  “I never hated you.“

Mountain Dew finally arrives at the house, and runs into the room. “Bu lubba!” she says in excitement.

Serenity scoops up the little foal. “I think mommy and daddy need a little time alone.”

Temperance acknowledges the foal’s arrival with a puzzled look before he turns his attention back to Morning Dew.  He keeps his hoof on hers, and asks, “Dew... if this is true... why?  Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I...I didn’t want to hurt you... I-I’m sorry...” she says as she hangs her head.

He starts thinking about the things he said to her that day, which was starting to feel like somepony was twisting a knife around in his stomach.  “And you let me hurt you like that?” he says, not trying to dry the tears that began to roll down his cheeks.

“Y-y-yes. I... I wanted, still want, you to be happy,” she says.

He shuts his eyes and takes a moment to level his breathing out before responding with, “But... all those things I said to you... all of it, and it was really my fault.”  He raises his other hoof to his chest, which was now aching.  “Gasis forgive me...”

“I...I... D-d-d-do y-y-y-you forgive m-me?” she asks, lips trembling again.

“Forgive you?” he asks, his voice high and uneven.  He makes a weak chuckle.  “There’s nothing to forgive you for.  I should be asking you to forgive me.”  He shakes his head, recalling again the hurtful things he said.  “Even if you forgive me... even if Gasis forgives me... I don’t know if I could forgive myself.”

“I...but...But...w-w-w-will you still...will you still m-marry me?” she asks. “P-p-please?”

He makes another weak chuckle and wraps his hooves around her, drawing her into the tightest hug he could manage, which wasn’t much.  “If you could ever forgive me.”

“I already do,” says Morning Dew.

He continues laughing weakly, pausing as he chokes up.  He rubs her back with a hoof as he presses his face into her mane.  “Then yes... yes.  I never stopped loving you.”

“T-t-thank you,” she says, her tears starting to stop. “I love you too, Temperance!”

Serenity smiles at the little filly in her hooves. “Okay, now you can go.”

The little filly jumps out of Serenity’s hooves and runs up to the two and hugs their legs together.

[Pokon]

"The next five journal entries are not journal entries at all. They are just scribblings, with the occasinal picture of ponies with sharp objects stuck into them that are on fire."

[DVNO]

Max once again flies back towards the cave. unbeknownst to him, he had a stealthy  and curious pegasus on his tail . . .

The pony kept sneaking by, trying to make it by undetected. “where the hell is that bloke going...” He always wondered where this guy lived, but honestly, when he saw him fly off this far he had to check. For all he knew he could be a spy.

Max did his usual song and dance, he walked up to the entrance,  he put his claw in the holes and opened the stone. The stone again flashes brilliant illuminate blue and rolls away.

The pony tilted his head as the stone rolled away. “oh yeah, magic...” and then he looked down to see bonnet was gone, and now was right behind max, giving his leg a little nuzzle. “are you a mentally handicapped lunatic” he said under his breath as the wolf kept being nice and cuddly.

Max looked down and recoiled his leg. “Ugh! Oh Look, another pest wolf out here.” He grabs the wolf and lifts him up by the scruff of the neck quite harshly. He cocks his head. “Is that a collar? I’ve seen this dog before!”

The dog made a little whimper and tried to get down. She just wanted to be nice and friendly with max...

“Bizarre . . . “ Max takes a glance behind him. Nope, no pony around. Max walks into the cave with the wolf in tow and the stone rolls back in place.

And then redhat sighed and walked up to the door and gave it a knock. “GOOD SIR HAVE YOU SEEN A HOUND IN THESE PARTS?!?”

No answer.

He placed his hoof on the same place the gryphon did.

The stone pulses blue again, and after a moment, a lever shoots out of the ground.

“well ain’t that convenient” he pulled the lever.

The floor drops from underneath him. Redhat is flung down a chute beneath his hooves. The slide of smooth stone takes all manner of flips, twists, and turns in the pitch black. Redhat finally lands not so softly in a pile of bones inside.


The pony starts to struggle around and fight, until realizing the things he landed in were dead, “god, that’s just not sanitary...” he hovered above to bones for a while, trying not to dirty himself. “hello!”

Max’s head swerves a full one eighty like an owl. Who the buck could that be? “Carnith? Is that you?” He called out quizzically.

“You walked off with my hound you yellow bellied twat!” He said as he slowly flew over.

“And you’re invading my home, you red hatted quadrupedal ditz!” Max stomps up to Redhat in a huff. “How did you even get in here anyway?”

“All I did was knock on the door, and some leaver popped up, begging to be pulled.”

Max cocked his head and gave him a confused look. “Ooh, the spike trap. I keep forgetting a spike trap with unreplaced spikes is just a hole. I need to put the spikes back in one of these days, it seems. . .”

“You know, having a safety hazard like that with little ponies walking about might get somepony killed! What do you expect to happen if nightmare night comes along!”


He puts a claw under his chin in thought. “ I guess it would be a lil’ too much horror for the chit’lins . . .” He shakes his head. “ if they were to hike up a mountain in the first place!”

“You shouldn’t have a deathtrap aimed at killing indiscriminately! what if you just made this a holding pen, and you could have the spikes pop up and kill whatever came down here after you’ve deemed it a threat!”

He cocks a brow. “Why am I arguing with you?” He grabs the pony by the shoulders. “Little pony. Listen to me, you are in a lot of danger. You need to get back to Duskfields for your own good!”

“I’d do that, but you see, I’m currently missing my wolf. Now, i’m not leaving until that wolf is put back into my custody or else Me and the guard are coming back here.”

“Oh. The wolf. That might might be a problem. You see -” A deep voice boomed down the cave, sounding like the shriek of metal against a surface.The voice was loud enough to shake the walls! “Ha Ha Ha! This guy just likes to play doesn't he? Max, Where are you?”

Max starts to sweat. “Uhh . . .”

“Okay... if I don’t get that wolf back i’m putting my spear through your head.”

“Okay! Okay! Okay! I’ll see what I can do! Yeesh!”

“Why are you nervous, and who was that?”

“Nothing at all! I’m Fine!” Max gasped, nearly having a panic attack. “I’ll be right back with your ‘dog’.”

The pony followed after him. “Who the hell are you harbouring in this residence!”

Max stops. “Ho ho ho, You’re not coming with.” The voice booms again. “Max?” “Coming!” Max chirped, with as calm of a voice he could muster.

“and how exactly do I get out of here once you’ve handed me back that wolf. Also that nothing seems really needy.” He kept hovering over the pile of dead bones. 

Max points at him. “ The chute. Stay.  Right. There.” Max flies into the main hall. “Max?” “Yeah, it was nothing, the spike trap went and broke, like half the stuff around this ol’ crypt . . . “

At feels like an hour and a half passes until Max finally walks back in. He has Bonnet cupped in his claws like a baby, and Bonnet is shivering in fear.

“Here’s the wolf. jeez, the thing’s I had to say to him convince him to let go of ‘em . . . Tetanus, rabies, possibly feral, the whole nine yards. . .”

“I’ll be on my way then...” he started to look up the shoot. “yeah.. anyway, thanks for letting me in, and... well...” he tried to think of something nice to say about the place, but then he thought he felt a maggot from the bone pile go up his hoof. “i’ll be taking my leave now...”

“Now hold on, you can’t ‘just leave’.” Max growled. “First I have to know; What did you exactly see in this cave? What did you hear? Incase, oh, say Flamberge of Praetorian asks where you’ve been?”

“I saw a one eyed, one horned flying purple people eater as far as you're concerned.” He then started to float up the tunnel. “also,  I know you’ve got a skeleton in your basement...”

Max frowned. Looks like that was the closest thing to a ‘nothing whatsoever’ he was going to get. He didn’t actually see anything after all. He walked over and pushed a button. there was a distant -shunk- back at the entrance.  “The, uh, door’s open.”  he gestures at the opening as if he was shooing a fly out of a window. “Skeleton in my closet, duly noted.”

He sighed and flew up. “goodbye now, have a fine evening.”

Max puts a claw over his beak. that was the most awkward conversation he’s ever had. This complicates things indeed.  “Carnith? We need some more spikes, makes sure to grab some the next time you go out pillaging!” Max shouted.

“You’re not my mother.” The Voice in the hall bellowed.

[Dsarker]

and

Praetorian tries to go to Serenity’s office, but cannot remember where it is, and wanders around looking lost.

Serenity happens to pass Praetorian, on her way back from the tavern with a plate full of food.

“Serenity?” asks Praetorian, thinking that he’d found the right mare, but not entirely sure.

Serenity turns. “Oh? Hello Praetorian.”

“I...Maize... she wanted me to...talk with you, I think? About something?” Praetorian says, trying to claw memories from somewhere, but the fog is too thick.

Serenity cocks her head. “Are you feeling alright? You sound... confused.”

“Maize said something about memory, I think,” says Praetorian. “I don’t think that was why I was supposed to talk to you, though...”

“Yes, I imagine your memory would be quite fuzzy after what happened. Maybe you ought to come inside and sit down.”

“Well...If you think so,” agrees Praetorian, and he starts following her.

Serenity leads him into her office, gesturing for him to sit on the couch.

Praetorian follows her in, and sits down on the couch.

“So,” She begins, “Do you remember what Maize wanted you to talk to me about?”

“Not... not really. It was something I had to decide about, I do remember...”

“...Maybe we should go ask her?”

“I think it was supposed to be alone. It was...important.”

Serenity thinks she has an idea what it is. “...Was it about me?”

“It might have been? A relationship?” says Praetorian hesitantly.

Serenity nods. “Your relationship with her?”

“...I don’t think so? With you?”

“...Your relationship with me?”

“I think so... Does that make sense?” he asks.

“Sort of... though I’m not sure what kind of relationship we have, exactly...”

“Well, what do you mean?” he asks with a hint of curiosity. “What relationships might we have?”

“Well...” Serenity leans back in her chair. “You and I are friends.”

“Yes, and I know that, but then I... I don’t know why we’d have to talk about it. It must be something more...”

Serenity stares over the tops of her glasses. “You want it to be more?”

“I...I don’t know. But it must be what Maize wanted me to talk to you about,” answers Praetorian after a moment’s thought. “What do you want?”

Serenity sighs - she does that a lot these days. “I think I know what she wanted you to ask. You see, I would like to be... close... to Maize. But at the same time, I don’t want to end up hurting her or you.”

Praetorian is silent for a time. “I see,” he says, finally.

Serenity averts her eyes. She had an idea what that tone meant...

“...Well. Maize seems to want the same thing you do,” says Praetorian with a dull tone. “If it makes her happy, then go ahead.” In his current state, he can’t hide all the bitterness, and the tiniest bit marks his last few words.

Serenity bows her head. “I... I don’t want to drive a wedge between you. If this is going to cause problems...”

“No. I want her to be happy. If this is what she wants, then so be it.” Praetorian stands up, and starts to leave.

“...It wouldn’t be just me and her.” She looks up. “She wants the three of us to be together.”

Praetorian halts. “Wait, what?” He turns round to face Serenity. “What?”

“That’s what she wanted. I’m okay with that...” Serenity grins sheepishly. “...You are a nice stallion.”

“But...what, why?” asks Praetorian, still slightly confused.

“I... you’d have to ask her that.”

“I meant you, Serenity,” he says, shaking his head a little. “Why would you want that? If you wanted Maize alone, to yourself, that... I could understand, but... why this? You know that, with myself, you could never be more than second place to Maize, whom I love with all my being.”

Serenity nods. “That would be enough for me.”

“But...why? Isn’t there some pony out there who would love you as you deserve, Serenity? You are a good pony, and deserve good. I doubt I can give you what you deserve as well as how you deserve.”

Serenity sighs. “I’ve thought about that. But... I...” she slumps in her chair. “I don’t know, maybe I am just being a selfish foal.”

“...” Praetorian walks over to Serenity, and wraps her in a hug. “Serenity... I don’t pretend to understand why you want this, or what you want from this... But if this is what you want...”

She returns the hug, leaning into him. “...You’re sure?”

“Serenity, there is nothing more I’d like than to be with two of the kindest, smartest, and cutest mares here. I... I will tell you this straight up, though. I love Maize with all my heart, and I will tell you this. Though we may be in a relationship, it will be purely platonic. Can you accept that?”

Serenity nods. “I can.”

“Serenity, you’re a good pony... And if this is what you and Maize want...then so be it,” he says after a short wait. “I will love you as best I can.”

[Splint]

And so did this thread get some of my daily daww rations.