Tales of Arcania

Chapter 6: First Day Off

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Cut scene 6: Heading back home

After Retro falls unconscious. Blaze starts to carry him with his crimson tinted magic.

From the room Bloodlust had exited, two pegasi commanded by Bloodlust come out with a sky wagon hurriedly and tell Blaze that they have orders to take them back home. Blaze thanks them as he gets in, sets Retro down carefully, and he gives them directions to Continume.

The Pegasi carefully leave through the pair of large golden doors. As the first closes the doors, the second pegasi waited patiently.

The first pegasi finishes, saddles up, and they both take flight towards home. Everyone is silent on the long flight home, until Retro wakes up.ee

Play

"No! Stop! Dont let the chapter end yet!" I yell as I jolt up from my sleep.

Blaze looks at me and tells me "We just started chapter six."

Damnit!

"Every single time!" I yell out in frustration. "I wont fall asleep at the end of this chapter!" I shout out, determined.

"Yeah, keep saying that brother." Blaze says, trying to dash my determination. But it wont work! Ill be awake at the end of this one!

"Hey Retro?" I hear Blaze ask beside me.

"What?" I asked in return, assuming that I was about to get a scolding lecture. To my surprise though, he thanked me for saving him, and told me that I was his personal hero. And as he tells me, I see home in the distance, Reminding me of my displacer button.

"Hey Blaze?" I ask him.

"What?" He asked me

Right before I said "First one home wins!" quickly.

I saw him give me a confused look before I slammed my hoof down on the button.

Next thing I know is Varo taking the button from me, and asking how it went. I tell him exactly how it went, and he looks prideful of my successful mission.

"You did well... But you are very lucky that you survived. Here" He said as He injected me with a syringe faster than I could react, and I blacked out again.

I'm getting sick of the darkness...

Where am I? I think I'm dreaming again... I'm in the dark, that's all I know. I cant see anything. I cant even see my own hoof in front of my face... Wait... I cant even MOVE my hoof in front of my face. I cant even feel it, or anything else for that matter. Wait... Something has come into sight. Two strange purple things. They seem to be radiating in this darkness. They're getting closer...

When I awoke, I felt better than I had in the past few days, like all the pain that I endured had never even happened, it felt great.

I see Blaze talking to Varo, but I could hear nothing as a mechanical arm went over me, and I blacked out again. I woke up, this time in a comfortable bed.

"Good morning Retro" Varo says and continues "I repaired your ribs, your skull, your pelvis, and repaired the scar tissue on your flank. You are now fully healed. This was a gift, so dont go getting yourself injured again. Im not going to do this every time."

I ask him where Blaze is and he tells me that he went home to rest while I healed. He also handed me five hundred bits.

"Wow." I said in response to the amount of money.

"That is your pay for the first job only." He said. "And if your a very good boy, and do well, I will accept a request from you and/or Blaze, and Ill do my best to follow through with it, consider it me trying to help my employees live a good life. I've already accepted Blaze's request."

I think for a moment before asking about Blaze's request. "Varo? What was it Blaze asked for?"

"Well he asked that the two of you work separately from now on. So I said yes. You could get things done faster that way, and I like efficiency."

What the fuck? How could he think that's a good idea? "He nearly died! And so did I! Why would you agree to that?!" I shout at him angrily.

He answers me calmly. "You and him had finished the desired mission and you alone somewhat finished the next one . You were brilliant. It was his choice, not mine, so direct your anger towards him."

Dammit, he was right.

"Wheres Dirge? And why isnt my AI active?" I ask angrily because I was starting to worry about them.

"Dirge stayed for a short study of his structure and then went home with Blaze. And I'm going to assume you forgot to let the device around your neck cool down?" He asked like I was an idiot...

I guess I am an idiot...

I forgot about that part of the dazzle manual. "Must let it cool down." I say out loud without realizing it.

Varo snickers at me and starts working at his table like he usually does.

"Hey. What about my request?" I stop and ask him before leaving his laboratory.

"What about it? Ask and Ill grant it. Stop wasting my time." He demands.

"Can I have the directions to a place called Predicipal on my holo-map?" I ask, remembering the offer from the Harmonic Melody.

"Of course." he said.

I hear a "T'ponk" from my dazzler. How did he...? I pull out the holo-map to notice that Predicipal isnt so far from my home town, Continume. I could buy a two way train ticket, and be back later today!

"Okay get out Retro." I hear him say as I find myself outside of his lab again...

How does he do that?

I walk myself home without any troubles, thank Purity for the break. I notice that the sun is rising now. I must have slept through the night.

I opened my door as the smell of freshly cooked dough and fresh lettuce pours out and hits me right in the face. Well, Blaze got me my breakfast finally. Then I see Dirge baking the bread.

Or you know, Dirge got me breakfast... Good enough.

"Hello Dirge." I say, startling the bat pony, and he drops the pan hes holding. I catch it with my magic and save the bread with it.

He flusters and thanks me. "H-hey Retro. I didn't expect you home yet." He says as I look him over.

"Ya... I see you kept that maid outfit." I say to make fun of him a little.

His face flushes more and he calls out to Blaze to tell him breakfast is ready. At first, his voice was broken, but he recovered his voice. Cute, I embarrassed him. That bread looks good though, so Ill make fun of him more later. For now, some food.

Blaze entered the room and said "Nope" as soon as he saw me and left the house.

"Well then." I say to Dirge. "Whats up with all that?" I ask.

He answers me with "I think he wanted to continue onto his next mission. He said something about you being two points ahead of him."

Well then... Oh wait, I'm winning. Haha. I'm a winner! I'm beating Blaze!

Dirge gets my attention by placing a plate of bread and lettuce. Before I start devouring my food, I set my dazzle to cool down so that it will function properly later. Dirge makes his own plate and sits on the floor with it.

"What are you doing Dirge? You can eat at the table. You aren't a slave any more." I tell him, trying to be thoughtful. "And the maid outfit isnt mandatory either." I tap my hoof against my chin "I mean, unless you want it to be." I say, trying to be funny. I guess it worked telling by his smile.

Then he tells me that my statement is false.

"Whaaat...?" I say out loud.

I try to figure out what he means by that when the idea of sitting next to him on the floor pops in my head.

So I bring my plate on the floor next to him. I sit beside him, and bump his flank with my own to get his attention.

He looks at me and I tell him "You should come with me to a place called Predicipal. I was invited to dinner by a beautiful mare, and I was thinking that maybe she had some pretty friends you might like to meet."

He looks away and stares off as if thinking. He took too long to answer so I tried to persuade him some more. "It'll be alright Dirge. If you got into any trouble there back when you were doing your courier thing, then Ill protect you. And if you feel bad about money, then Ill just pay for you, gift for saving my life. It'll be fun."

He thinks a bit more before smiling and nods his head in agreement.

"When do we leave?" He asks.

I look to the clock on the wall. Remembering the times I'm used to the train sounding off.

We have... seven minutes... Fuck...

"Right now!" I answer his question as I scarf down my food and start to rush out the door.

Dirge looks at the mess on the table with a worried face, trots in place, then decides to just leave it and follow me.

I rush to the train station, and say "Two, two way tickets to Predicipal for the train about to leave." as I get my bits out from my inventory screen.

"One hundred bits please." he tells me with boredom in his voice.

I take out a fifth of my bits, and hand it to the stallion, and in return, he hands me two tickets and suggests that I hurry. I thank him and notice that Dirge isnt far behind me...

No, wait...

I'm not far behind Dirge.

Actually I am.

Hes on the caboose of the train... And its starting to go. Couldn't I just have been thirty seconds faster?

Dirge grabbed me with his telekinesis as I was running for the train, and had floated me onto it before I realized that I could stop running.

"Thank you." I say to him.

As we walk into a cart with more passengers, I notice that he didn't have time to get out of the maid outfit.

"Bahahaha" I laugh at the bat pony.

Confused, he asks what it was that I was laughing at.

"I uh, well..." I had nothing but the truth to tell him, so like the good friend I am, I changed the subject. "Here's your ticket." I think to myself 'Nice save Retro' when he asks how much it was. I lie to him, telling him that it was only a tenth of its actual price.

A stallion that works on the train comes down the isle, punching holes into the train tickets of other ponies.

He comes up to us and says "Tickets please." We both cooperate and hand him our tickets. He punches holes in them, then he hands them back to us and says "Thank you." and continues down the train cart.

Dirge seems to be enjoying the ride. He keeps looking out the window for extended periods of time, feeling the seat that we're on, and is smiling the whole time. Im happy to see that him being a slave didnt effect his abilities to be happy. If of course, that could effect happiness.

That gets me thinking. How old is Dirge? I look at him and try to guess when a mare with a metal cart goes down the Isle, catching my attention. Shes asking if anyone wants food or drinks. Dirge responds quickly and points towards a basket of biscuits. Then he checks his maidly pockets. Nothing in them. He looks at me and gives me a sheepish smile.

"Of course." I tell him as I buy two of the biscuits, and hand them to Dirge.

"Thank you master." He says to me. I would have said your welcome, but he caught me off guard and I couldn't find any words to say.

Why would he call me that? We're on equal grounds... Right? Does he think hes less than me?

I feel a biscuit nudge against my front right leg, and I look to face Dirge offering it to me.

"What?" He holds it out to me. "Oh, no, they're both for you silly." I tell him, and he gives me a confused look. "I bought them both for you. Specifically for you. You dont have to share them... All yours... For you only."

His eyes seem to glow with thankfulness just before he devours the second biscuit. He rubs his belly, and continues staring out the window gleefully. I look out the window as well to see that our destination is still a while away. I decide that it would be better to sleep the way there.

As I nod off, I think about what Dirge called me earlier...

I can't feel again... I'm in the darkness once more... I quickly look around for the purple things... I'm caught off guard when I see them right next to me. They look like... Eyes.. Eyes without pupils... Oh... They are eyes... They're looking right at me, maybe even into me... A form starts to fade in around the eyes. It looks like a pony the size of an alicorn... it's slim, and has no mane, tail, horn, or wings... It's pitch black... It looks kind of creepy... It has no mouth...

"Retro." A voice with an echo following it says.

"Retro" I hear again as I feel something touching my side.

I woke up to Dirge nudging me again, not with a biscuit this time, but still nudging.

"Were here." He says to me gently, as if not to bother me in my still half asleep state.

I shake my head, trying to wake up a little. Once I wake up a bit more, and get to walking, we leave the train.

Standing on the train platform, I take a look around. Well, for the capital city... its a bit dirty... Wait, no, that's just the train station that's dirty.

I say "Welp, lets get started Dirge" while stepping off of the train platform, and onto the grey bricks that make up the walkways of the city.

I wait for Dirge, and as I do, I see Harmonic Melody standing by the train station. Well thats nice, she was waiting for me.

I trot over to her and greet her. "Good..." I stop to look around for a clock tower, and give up when I cant find any means of telling time. I finish my greeting with "Afternoon-ish? I guess?" as she covers her mouth with her hoof and giggles. I kind of do too.

Before I continue talking to her, I look for Dirge in the small crowd, and signal him over to us. I ask her why she had been waiting, or how she had known that I would even be coming in soon.

She answers in that, oh so class filled voice again "Well, hero's have tight scheduals. They cant afford to be late, they have a title to live up to. So I thought that perhaps you would have to come back soon."

Well that answers it.

She says "I see that you have an assistant."

I look back at Dirge approaching us. "Oh, him? Hes more of a follower than an assisstant." I say as he walks up besides me.

I notice that a unicorn mare came out of no where and put her front right leg around Melody.

"Hey." The new mare says while messing up Melody's mane. "I missed ya Mel." Melody's face looks like she completely enjoys life right now... or you know, hates it completely.

Melody talks to me again "She is also the reason that I am here."

Awh... And here I thought I was being especialy waited for.

"Hey, who are these guys Mel?" The mare asks.

"An acquaintance that I had Invited to dinner, and this is his plus one." Melody answers.

The mare starts talking again "We'll introduce everybody later. Right now, we need to get home. I havent washed myself since I left, and I really gotta."

"Pleasant." Is Melody's responds to the statement in a barely concealed look of digust.

The other mare continues once more "Though we have to wait for the bag carrier to grab my stuff first."

Dirge and I offer to carry it for her.

"That'll save some time." She looks over to Melody and smiles. "I like these guys already Mel." She says as she guides us to her bags and we lift them with our magic. She says "Alright, if you two have it down, just follow me and Mel home." as she nudges Melody and we start to head deeper into the city, towards their home.

Flash Forward

"So guys, whatcha wanna do first?" The mare named 'Glitzy Light' asked.

I learned that, that was her name from their conversations on the way here.

I also took the long walk as an opportunity check them out....

Not that kind of check them out though, to see what they look like...

You dirty thought-ed reader, you.

Melody has a grey coat, deep blue mane, deep blue eyes, and a deep blue colored musical symbol as her cutie mark.

Glitzy Light has a charcoal colored coat, two different shades of neon green colored mane and tail, green goggles, and a similar green musical note cutie mark. Haven't seen her eyes yet though.

"Well?" she asks, looking at me.

"I'm sorry?" I ask.

She takes her goggles off and suggests that Melody entertain us. I notice, her eyes are green too. She starts to walk towards what I assume is the bathroom after spreading the contents of her bags around the living room, and puts her glasses on a red pillow with golden trimming. Shortly after, Melody comes in from another room and stops at the sight of the room.

"Glitzy!!" She yells out in anger at her roommate and storms into the bathroom.

I hear the shower head pouring water, and Neon laughing. The door closes and I hear it lock. I dont hear much more after that.

The silence is interrupted by someones voice behind me. I turn quickly, startled. When I do turn I find a box on the table with sound coming out. I hide behind the couch because I think it may explode. Dirge is on the ground laughing at me.

"What? It could explode! I haven't had the best of luck lately! How am I supposed to know what it is?" I ask embarrassed as I get up from behind the couch.

"Its a radio silly. It lets people talk into microphones and their voice travels through the radios to be broadcasted. Usually for playing music or for entertainment but sometimes there are emergency broadcasts that help out too. DJ's are the ponies that run the stations that broadcast the stuff. Like this guy." He says as a smooth voice comes on.

"Good evening ladies and gentlecolts. Id like to welcome you again to my station, and thank you for being on it." The voice says

This guys voice is heaven. I cannot divide my attention from him.

He says in his heavenly voice "The news of the evening is that the heroes are raising their hire prices again. Come on you stuck up ass holes, that is not the way a hero is supposed to be. Heroes risk their lives without expecting something in return, get your shit straight. Oh, and on another note, Im sorry to be so selfish and sign off early today, but my baby sister is back in town, and I havent seen her for some time. This Is your host Mix Master Scratch, Signing off. Enjoy the music."

Music starts to fade in after his voice dies out.

"Awh." I sigh and sit back on my haunches. "I want a radio." I say to Dirge.

He smiles a bit and rolls his eyes at my dissapointed statement.

Glitzy and Melody come out of the bathroom, in that order, with towels on, talking to each other. Melody is telling Glitzy to clean her mess in the living room, and to make the table, while she changes and starts dinner. Both of their manes and tails are still wet, and it's a good look.

NOW I'm checking them out in the way you were thinking earlier, reader.

Melody walks away into the other room, but Glitzy is still in the room searching her scattered mess for something to dress formally in.

"You know, I'm diggin the maid's outfit you've got on." She says to Dirge while shes searching.

He stays quiet and then looks at me.

"What? No one is stopping you from talking, go ahead." I say, and he smiles at the statement.

"We were in a rush to get on the train, and I was making breakfast. I didn't have time to change." He explains.

"Oh" Glitzy says "Ill give you some clothes if you trade me that outfit."

"Why do you want an old maid's outfit?" I ask curious to know the answer.

"Why was he making breakfast in a maid's outfit? You know what? It doesn't matter, that's besides the point." She says as she guides us into another room.

She tosses her towel on the floor of the room and opens the closet. Its all stallions clothes for some reason, but I dont question it. She gets him out a grey suit, and an aqua tie to match his coat and eyes.

"Classy" I say to him as he hands his outfit to Glitzy, and puts on the suit and tie.

"Alright, hurry up you two. We dont wanna get caught in here." She says as she trots hurriedly out of the room.

Dirge and I look at each other and follow after her. I wasn't paying attention, so I bumped into her. She had a guilty look on her face.

My eyes followed hers until I saw a red unicorn stallion with a silver colored mane and tail, and golden eyes. His mane and tail looked like they were made of very fine strands of chrome. And his eyes were a neon gold, or yellow, and they glowed like they were too.

"Your home for barely a day, and I'm already cleaning your mess?" He says in a familiar smooth voice.

"I was about to clean it." She responds.

"I'm sure you were little lady. Who are these two? More club buddies? You should really be careful of who you bring home." He says with a hint of concern in his voice.

She responds by telling him that we are Melody's guests.

His eyes widen and says "Oh no. I better be on my best behavior then." In a fake scared tone.

I ask him "Are you Melody's special somepony?"

He answers me by looking at Glitzy and laughing. "Hahaha. Ask her during dinner. She'll have a nice answer for ya." He tells me.

I would think hes screwing with me, but that voice of his is so alluring, hes got to be serious.

"Ahem" Melody clears her throat from the kitchen doorway. "Our meal is ready and waiting on the dinning room table." She says as she takes off her apron and trots to where I assume her room is. "Ill join you shortly." She finishes.

"Sounds good to me." The stallion says as he happily goes into the dinning room.

Dirge, Glitzy, and I follow him. The table with our food on it is round with a seat for the each of us. We sit with Dirge to my right, the stallion to his right, and Glitzy to my left, leaving an available seat in between the stallion and Glitzy, for Melody. Our plates have stir fried vegetables, arranged to have an eye catching design, I assume its to look more exquisite.

The stallion is talking to Glitzy aboutt her trip to a place called 'Collesum' when I finally recognize his voice from the radio.

"Your Mix Master scratch aren't you?" I ask trying to hold in my excitement.

"Only to strangers, yes. My real name is Strobe Light." He answers as he holds his hoof out to shake mine.

I feel honored and shake it.

"I'm Retro" I say, introducing myself to him.

Melody comes back into the room with a dress that complements her colors beautifully. She sits at the table with us and allows us to start eating.

"Strobe Light, have you met my little hero here?" Melody asks.

He chokes a little bit before swallowing. He looks at me, and then to Dirge. His expression goes from happy to uncomfortable when he sees Dirge as my follower. "Hero...? Like 'hero' Hero?! I didn't notice he was a hero." He says to her in a not so happy tone.

"Yes. I'm not aware of who had the money or the care to hire him, but I'm very happy that they did." Melody says back to him, seeming as if she didnt notice that he was angry.

What does she mean pay me? Im not that expensive... I didnt even know I was getting paid for that job. "Excuse me?" I cut in to their conversation. "Why would I be expensive?" I ask them both.

Strobe Light answers first. "Because your organization is full of stuck up, pompus, ass holes."

Melody answers second. "Because the work your organizition does is very dangerous, and therefore, expensive."

Strobe light cuts in again. "Oh yeah, and your slavers." He finishes.

"Stop it Strobe Light. He saved my life, and was gracious enough to accept my invitation. Be nice to him." she says.

Now I have no Idea whats going on. "Im not part of an organization. I was hired by a guy named Varo. My brother was too. I bought this guy from some underground slavers, and... I'm sorry for any confusion I caused."

Strobe Light's expression changes to happy once again as he asks me questions. "So you aren't a part of Hero's guild?" I tell him that I am a hero, but only in the sense that I saved Melody's life. "And you almost died for her, without promise of being payed?"

I tell him that I almost died a few times without the promise of getting paid.

"Did you free that guy of his slave papers?" he asks, pointing to Dirge.

"Um... Free of his papers?" I ask. I also open my inventory screen to find that his papers are still in there from when I bought Dirge. "I guess I forgot about it until now." I say to him.

"Do you want him free?" Strobe Light asks me.

"Hes my friend, of course I do." I tell him, being completely honest.

"Good." he says. "Your turn Melody."

Oh good, now Melody gets to do some questioning... All these questions...

"Why did you claim to be a hero?" she asks.

"I thought you meant it by me saving you, not as an occupation." I answer.

"That's all I had to know." she says and continues eating.

Glitzy and Dirge had already finished their food while listening into our conversation. As we eat, I wonder why no one ever questions my dazzle device.

"Hey you guys? Why aren't you curious about this thing?" I ask, pointing to the dazzle device.

"What? Your Dazzler?" Strobe Light asks.

"Yes... Wait, Dazzler? Its actually called a dazzler?! I've been calling it a dazzle device!"

'So Close.' I think to myself.

"Wait, how do you know what its called?" I ask.

"They aren't very rare. Oni co. put them on the market a very, very long time ago. I wasnt even born when they were released. Though of course, yours does look different from the Oni co. models." Strobe light says.

I ask "Oni co.? Who are they? What do they do? And what does their Dazzler do?"

Strobe Light seems to be easier to talk to, knowing I'm not a hero, and answers me happily. "Oni co. is a tech based company that has been around hundreds of years. They create all kinds of awesome tech that is extremely helpful, and hurtful to our world. They help during wars, but they're also probably half the reason for said war in the first place. And their dazzler does four things. It shows a map, has a journal, has an inventory, and some of them are durable enough to be armor."

Ha! Mines better than theirs!

We dont talk much after he explains the Dazzler to me. Other than one last question that I asked Melody.

"Hey Melody?" I ask.

"Yes Retro?" She responds.

I ask "Is Strobe light your special somepony?"

To which she laughed and said "No dear, hes Glitzy's brother. Glitzy is my lover."

And then they kissed.

Whoa, plot twist.

I help Melody with the dishes and we talk some more while the others clean Glitzy's mess in the living room.

"So Retro, you dont have a problem with filly foolers do you?" She asks an unsuspecting me.

I feel a strange feeling and smile as I answer her "Of course not. As a matter of fact, I'm a colt cuddler." What... did I just say?

She stops scrubbing the dish that shes holding "Oh my, I wouldn't have guessed... Is Dirge your lover?" she asks.

"Yes!" I answer brightly... What am I saying?!

"You havent shown any affection towards him this whole time, dont you think he might feel a little neglected? You dont have to feel shy here, you can show some love, we dont mind." She says.

I say "I guess I should." without thinking...

I'm thinking to myself 'I hate you Retro, I hate you so much, just stop talking.'

I try to tell her that I didn't mean what I had just said, but instead, I turn around happily and walk out of the kitchen, into the living room. I come up behind Dirge and tap him on the flank.

He turns to face me and asks "what?"

I look him right the eyes, smile, and kiss him deeply.

He looks confused or maybe panicked for the moment.

When the kiss is over, he then turns a new shade of red that I had yet to see, stares blankly for a moment, and goes back to working on cleaning the room with the others hurriedly.

"Whoa dude, I didn't know you rolled that way." says Glitzy.

Strobe Light bursts out laughing as the strange feeling leaves me.

"Retro."Strobe light stops talking for a moment to compose himself from what he thought was a hilarious kiss. "Did you want to free Dirge and celebrate it tonight?" Strobe Light asks.

I'm somewhat flustered myself from the situation, and from Strobe Lights open laughter. "S-sure. I... Uh... Alright, yea."

I take the papers out and hand them to Strobe Light. I mean, I try to hand them to Strobe Light, but they combust into flames and turn into a pile of ash on the nice, clean carpet.

I notice the glow on Strobe Light's horn die down as he says "There you go kid. Dirge, let me allow you to make Retro your first official friend in freedom."

Dirge smiles weakly at me, as if hes about to cry out of happiness. "Th-thank you friend..." Is all hes able to say before falling on his side...

I think I temporarily broke him from the kiss and freeing him.

Strobe Light says "Get your newly freed friend and lets go." As he heads towards the front door.

I tell Melody and Glitzy that we're leaving, and to have a good night. I get Dirge, who is still quite flustered from the kiss, and lying on the ground, and we leave with Strobe Light.

I wonder where he's taking us?

Oh well, at least I'm not unconscious this time.

Pause

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