Chapters Twelve Wasteland Days of Hearth's Warming
Invitations for Everyone!
A Hearth’s Warming Fantasy
Hearth’s Warming or as I like to call it Christmas… A holiday where everyone gets to hang around chatting, playing, poking at each other, all the usual stuff you would expect on this holiday! And I got a visit by a lot of ponies here! Let the fun begin!
Snow, the pure white fields of it covering the former Wasteland made by no other than Littlepip herself.
Our Hearth’s Warming event came after the world was slowly recovering from the effects of all the wars that came. The fight against the Eater of Souls, the war against Fillydelphia and Neighvarro, the fight against Nightmare Noob (I still find that nickname hilarious…), the inside fight of Fillydelphia, it was after all of that. You have no idea how much I wanted to do this after all of those events and invite all the people involved in it.
Okay, let me get started on how it all began. Yeah, I knew that Blackjack’s friends are deceased with the exception of Rampage (Or should she be named Arloste now? I don't know...) and Scotch Tape, but I had the ability to bring them back if only for a short amount of time just for Blackjack. Poor mare, having to lose all of them against the Eater of Souls. The same thing can be applied to Puppysmiles since her friends miss her. Littlepip and Murky were a bit luckier with their friends still alive. Of course both of them have conditions that seriously hampered their lifespan so they can’t live for long.
But enough of all those sad feels, this is Hearth’s Warming Eve! Where you’re supposed to be happy throughout this rare moment! That would have been easy if I wasn’t so sleepy trying to get up! I’m lucky that Pandora managed to wake up from my slumber, “Hey you sleepyhead! Get up; you’re going to miss out on the snow!”
I got of my bed as she went to the bathroom. I gave out one big yawn as I covered my mouth a few times looking outside the window seeing the beautiful crystals of ice fall down on the Wasteland. I walked up to the window opening it and smiling seeing the snow fall on my face. Surprisingly, it isn’t that cold today despite it being winter.
I checked on my PipBuck seeing the date. I had my biggest grin seeing what today is. I left the master bedroom of ours as I went into the living room. We had a house of our choosing in Baltimare after all of those. It’s not as comfy as one might think but it was relaxing to have a house just for me and Pandora. Of course everyone in Baltimare was generous to even give us a house even though I did decline the offer at first. Pandora talked me into renting the house and, well, here we are.
With that out of the way, I went to making invitations for everyone to come to… Where should we hold the Hearth’s Warming party? Originally, I was thinking of hosting the party in our house, but the space would is too small and it would cramp up a lot of space. Tenpony Tower seemed like the best idea but even after the war, everyone was still alert for who knows if the Enclave or Red Eye’s Army might come back. Dragon Cave was my next idea but I’m not so sure if… Nah, of course Spike would be happy to oblige, he needs some friends to come along to cure his loneliness.
I started on writing the invitations as Pandora came down from the bathroom hugging me from behind and kissing me on the cheek. It was warm and comforting to have that, “So, what are you doing?”
I gave her my best ‘do you have to ask’ look but only chuckled as I told her anyway, “I am making invitations for everyone we met so that we can gather at the Dragon Cave of Spike’s.”
Pandora smiled hearing that realizing quickly what today is, “Hearth’s Warming Eve huh? Well now, shall I get the food ready?’
I kissed her for a short while before departing our lips, “If you think you can cook enough food for about I don’t know twenty or so of our friends, be my guest.”
“You know I can cook enough for all of them!” She chuckled as she began to start cooking on the food. Getting the ingredients for her signature foods, a knock came upon the door as she started cooking, “Zodiac, someone is knocking on the door!”
“I got it!” I left the dinner table as I went to the door opening it to see both Epsilon and Harmony together, “Harmony! Epsilon! It’s good to see you two here!” I hugged them both as they hugged me back.
They pushed me away as I let go of the hug, “We wouldn’t miss a chance of celebrating this momentous occasion! Right Harmony?”
“Aw shut up brother of mine!” She gave a punch to his metal arms as the both of them. Harmony lifted her nose upward smelling the aroma of the food being cooked. She turned to see Pandora cooking as she walks to the kitchen, “Hello Pandora!”
“Harmony welcome!” They hugged each other and backed away from each other as Pandora focused her attention on the cooking, “Say Harmony can you help with cooking?”
“Sure I’ll help with the cooking!” She set her jacket down on the coat racket getting some of the ingredients that Pandora requested for.
“Be careful that you don’t make a mess when you cook Harmony…” She blew a raspberry as she averted her gaze back to helping Pandora’s cooking. He came close to me ear as I still making the invitations for our friends, “She’s a terrible cook I dare say, don’t eat her food.”
I chuckled lightly as I was getting more paper for the invitations. So many friends it was crazy to have this much, it was like a sort of a family reunion in the Wasteland I’d say. Another knock came upon the door as I was getting some materials, “I got the door! Say Epsilon can you finish those invitations for me?”
“Already on it!” True to his word, he was getting the materials for the invitations as I went to the door. I opened the door to see Noir and Aura there. I hugged the both of them as I welcomed them, “Noir! Aura! Welcome you two, come enter!”
Noir entered and was already awash in the family love of Harmony and Epsilon and me and Pandora’s intimate love, “Ah so much love! Especially the intimate love for you and Pandora, Zodiac!” He turned to see me blushing a bit from that exchange. Pandora could only chuckle from hearing that, “What?”
Both Harmony and Epsilon just shrugged while Aura sighed hearing that response from our beloved changeling, “You just had to say that out didn’t you Noir?”
“Hey, at least I didn’t need a jacket comparing to you. I hate the fact that you’re half draconian, half pony.” He poked at his lower draconian half putting emphasis on it.
Aura just rolled her eyes from that, “Don’t go blaming the existence of the kirin race Noir.”
Pandora and Harmony were making delicious food as the aroma hit all of our nostrils. Aura couldn’t help but let a few bits of saliva escape from his mouth as he walked to the food. Pandora eyed the kirin as he looked at the food. He did back away a bit but Pandora found some use for the kirin, “Say Aura, can you help with the cooking?”
Aura smiled as he grabbed a cooking apron ready to help them. I smiled seeing the three of them helping each other. Me and Epsilon were getting to finishing the last of the invitations as I checked the time. We still had a lot of time at the moment as we finished. Epsilon gave me his half as I stacked the other. I grabbed some jackets and a scarf for me. What? An alicorn can still freeze to death; we’re all not that powerful even if we are omnipotent, “Alright everyone, I’m going to send these invitations out now! Do all of you know how to get to Dragon Cave?”
Noir looked at everyone and all they did was gave a shrug, he did as well, much to my chagrin, “Are you guys serious? I took you all to Dragon Cave before! You should all be able to…!” A smirk appeared on everyone’s face as I realized that I got caught in that, “You’re all playing with me aren’t you?”
“Maybe…?” They all said it at perfect unison still having those smirks on their faces. I could only scowl as I left the house to give the invitation to all of our friends. They all exploded into laughter as I left my household. Haha, very funny…
Normally I would teleport to their destinations to make it quick, but with all this wonderful snow falling on my body, I decided to just fly to those destinations as I can enjoy the scenery. My first one was to deliver the news to Spike first. He needs to know this because I really don’t want to surprise him when he sees all of our friends gathering there.
I looked above me as the pure white clouds glistened in the night like stars in the endless space. Many of the snow landed on my belly sending chills throughout my whole body. It was very nice to feel the snow trickle on my body. I looked downward and see the children playing around in the snow making snow angels and snowponies (Have no idea how they do that…), playing a snowball fight, and sliding down some snow hills with sleds. The joy on their faces we very much deserved after so much turmoil to achieve peace.
I looked ahead to see the mountain where Dragon Cave is. I hasten myself hoping to see Spike still there probably sleeping at the moment. I landed in front of the entrance surprised to see Spike not only awake but also chatting with a Pegasus I’m very much familiar with. I banged on the metal walls hoping to get Spike’s attention. That sound made Fluttershy jump a bit as she went behind Spike. I rubbed my head forgetting the fact that she was still timid even if she is leader, “Ah… Sorry Fluttershy, forgot that you were still timid…”
She popped her head out of Spike first out of fear but then calmness took over for her seeing that it was just me, “Oh it’s nothing Zodiac… I just came by… to visit…” She made a squeak sound as she put her face behind her tail. I came forward, comforting her as she stood up, “I know that I’m supposed to be the leader, but it’s just so…”
“Difficult, frightening, the usual stuff?” Spike said that answer for me. God damn it, even now someone cuts me off from what I was about to say.
“Yes… I know that, but I can’t just help about it at times.” Spike bought his gigantic hand behind Fluttershy comforting her this time instead of me.
“No worries Fluttershy, you’ll be able to do it, I know you can…” He shifted his attention to me, “Now what about you? Why are you here?”
I facehoofed there forgetting about what I was here for! Stupid memory of mine, “Sorry Spike I forgot. Well since Fluttershy is here, I was going to…” At that moment, something hit me there. Without even realizing that I just said it out loud, “Fluttershy, how did you get here?” Spike raised his hand to answer that question. Well, that pretty much simplifies things there didn’t it? “Okay that answers that, I came here to tell you that I’m inviting some friends here for a Hearth’s Warming celebration.”
Fluttershy almost smiled immediately as she heard that, “Oh really? I’d like to join in this, maybe I might get a chance to talk with Littlepip.”
Spike nodded his head in agreement hearing what I offered, “Yeah, I’d like that, helps to bring every one of our friends here for a bit of fun right?”
My wings fluttered in happiness hearing their responses, “Thank you Spike, well I got to send all these invitations out soon, don’t want to be late. Oh! Spike I have a favor of you to ask.” Spike’s ears perked as he brings his head close to me. I pushed him away a bit, I need my personal space here, “Can you go to my home at Baltimare? I go friends already cooking the food for all of us…”
Spike smiled giving me a thumbs up as a response, “Sure, I’ll be there soon!”
“Thanks Spike, I really appreciate it.” I went out of the entrance and flew to the closest destination as Spike carried Fluttershy off to Baltimare. I wonder which destination was closest from Dragon Cave? I checked on my PipBuck checking which area is closest and found that Tenpony Tower was to be our next destination. An arrow pointed to the general direction. I made a hard right to Tenpony Tower holding onto the invitations for Homage and possibly Calamity and Velvet Remedy.
Again the sound of children playing around in the snow reached my ears. It still was very soothing to see them playing around. Having already reached Tenpony Tower in record time, I landed on the spire of Tenpony Tower gracefully. Well, almost gracefully, I slipped on some ice that was caked on the roof tumbling until I gained some traction skidding to a stop. Note to self, don’t land on it like you would do with an airplane.
I entered through the door at the roof entering the radio station where Homage was delivering some news as DJ Pon3, “Good morning wastelanders! This is DJ Pon3 here and what a day it is today, Snow is falling and you guys know what today is? That’s right! It’s Hearth’s Warming Eve! To all those who have family members or friends out there, go join them and celebrate the fun times. Don’t go staying in your homes when you all can share in the opportunity to have some fun with friends and family! Eat a buffet, play around in the snow, or just gather around a fire and enjoy one another! As of right now, no news of the Enclave or Red Eye’s army lurking around so all of you are safe from them! Again have some fun because DJ Pon3 won’t be around during this time, because he’s going to visit some friends! This is DJ Pon3 signing off for now until the holidays are over!”
I saw Homage put her hoof off the transceiver smiling to deliver good news for today. Her ears perked as she turns around to see me clapping my hooves here, “Well done DJ Pon3! Well done indeed Homage.”
She came charging at me and hugged me, “Zodiac, it’s good to see you here!”
I hugged her back in return of hers, “As it is to see you as well Homage.”
I let go of the hug as she distances herself, “Well what brings the Angel of Darkness here?”
I looked away a bit, my face blushing a bit from that response. She chuckled lightly there seeing my reaction. I cleared my throat as I pulled out the invitation for her, “I got invitations for you, Xenith, Velvet, and Calamity to come to Dragon Cave for a Hearth’s Warming dinner. You want to come?”
“Of course I’ll come! I wouldn’t miss the chance to go there!” She took the invitation seeing that two more invitations were under it, “I’ll make sure to bring the others along! Say you bringing my little lightbringer there as well?”
I tried to stifle a laugh there. Damn, Homage just never stops to crack me up even if we were far away, “Yeah of course I’ll bring Littlepip along as well.” I winked at her knowing what she is going to do once I bring her in. She did blush a bit from that, but returned the gesture as well. We said our farewells as I left for the next people to invite. Now who’s closest now? Checking on my PipBuck, I saw that Puppy’s friends were close from Tenpony Tower, just right around the edge of Emerald Shores now renamed Nightmare’s Fall where Puppy’s tombstone is next to her mother.
They are probably mourning for the loss of such an innocent filly like her even though she was dead before. Well, that’s going to change very soon! I flew to the next destination being Nightmare’s Fall. On a holiday like this; I am not going to see sad faces! Oh goodness, am I starting to be like Pinkie Pie right now?
The flight there was relatively short. Over the soon-to-be-rebuilt city of Nightmare’s Fall (I got to find a way to not say the city name constantly), The sounds of water crashing into the cliffside soothed every little bit of my body. At the edge of the cliff stood Puppysmiles’s friends and her own tombstone saying their share of words. It warms my heart to see them saying their words to a good friend. I waited for a few minutes, best not interrupt them right?
Henrietta of course was the most hurt out of all them despite her being a griffin from what I can tell. As they finished up, I came forth to her gravestone which caught some of them off guard. To be honest, I never got the chance to visit the tombstone and leave a gift for her. For my gift, I left a bouquet of flowers on her tombstone. After that was over, then they decided to ask specifically Henry, “Who the bloody hell are you?”
Of course, I never properly introduced myself to them before but regardless I gave each one of them an invitation to the Hearth’s Warming dinner, “My name is Zodiac, and well, I happen to be one of those people that Puppy here touched.” I looked back at the tombstone shifting my attention back to them, “Sorry for not being there when the fight against you-know-who happened. I heard about it from a friend named Watcher… er Questioner I meant”
They all looked at each other for quite some time before Henry spoke for them, “Hey if you know Puppy then you’re a friend to me.” The other agreed with each other as they pulled out the invitations I gave them, “What this for by the way?”
“Oh that? It’s an invitation to Questioner’s cave. Me and a bunch of friends of mine are going to have a Hearth’s Warming Eve party, wanna join?” Of course many of them were somewhat disagreeing with me here. Expected, but I had a little trick up my hoof, “What if I were to tell that I can bring back Puppysmiles for just this holiday?”
All looked at me like I was crazy. They did initially believe me since I was an alicorn but they wanted proof that I can do it. That question came from a ghoul by the name of Molten Gold, “Can you truly bring her back from the dead?”
Of course after that Henry came very close to my face glaring daggers at me, “Don’t lie to us, if you so much as joke about it, I will not hesitate to kill right here and right now even if you are an alicorn.”
Happy and Jamie pulled her back giving me the truth eye wanting to believe me. Oh much tension by these guys it was ridiculous, then another pony came up carrying a saddle with him, “Guys? What are you doing here…?” He saw me with a bouquet of flowers behind him.
Happy told this merchant everything so far. He looked to Jamie seeing if he was imagining this but he pointed at me for the question. He put down his stuff coming to me, “Is it true that you can… bring Puppy back?”
They all eyed me wanting me, again, to prove to them that I can do this. Of course I wasn’t going to keep them waiting for so long! I concentrated my magic on the form of Puppysmiles herself. Her form begins to take shape in my mind and suddenly a bright light emerged from where I pointed the horn. Everyone but me covered their eyes as I looked to see the form of Puppy complete.
They all took their arms away and, much to their surprise, they saw her in front of them. Even that was proven by her actually speaking, “Guys? Are you all alright? Is there something on my face?” I was watching her trying to get what was on her face off only to see that she was in the suit, “Aw! I’m in the suit again! Wwaaahhhh!” She turned around to see me behind her. She smiled as she waved to me, “Hi there Mister Zodiac!”
“Hey there Puppy!” I lowered myself and rubbed her helmet like I would do with a mane.
Before she got the chance to do anything else, Henry picked her up and hugged tightly much to my surprise, “Puppy! You little rascal! How’s your day with your mom going?”
Puppy could only smile seeing Henry and her friends well including myself, “I’m good! I got the chance to meet my mom in this cool place and…” She went silent as the snow fell on her helmet melting with it, “Oh snow!” She went down and did a snow angel giggling as she waved her arms and legs. Most of her friends had tears and joined in with her. I couldn’t help but chuckle seeing them all of them do this.
Henry stood up shifting his gaze to me, “Well you just proved that you can bring this little ball of crazy…”
I saw Puppysmiles get up and, well, you know what kids do, “Hey! I’m not crazy!”
Henry ignored her and continued to chat with me, “We’ll join your party! Say where this Questioner is by the way?”
Without me even me seeing it coming, she jumped on me and made me go on my back hopping like Pinkie. “You got to meet Questioner? Can I see him!? PLEASE!? ”
I got Puppysmiles off me with some telekinesis answering her question for her, “You will Puppy! No worries…” I looked at each one of them as they stood up looking at me, “If you guys want to know where he is, he’s right up there.” I pointed to where Spike would be from my understanding.
They turned their attention looking at where Spike’s Cave would be and without them even knowing, I teleported every one of them to Dragon Cave. Most of them were dizzy and were blaming me for that, but managed to calm down. Puppy on the other wanted me to do it again, “Sorry I can’t do it again but you can see Questioner right there.” They all turned and were shocked to see a dragon there.
They were about to run until he spoke to Puppy, “Puppy is that you?”
“Hi there Questioner! Wow, I did not know you are a dragon, can you show you did it with the bot thingy?” He looked at me wondering if this was real or not. I denied that this was fake poking at Puppy to prove my point. She yelped in pain (Does she even have pain receptors?) when I pinched her, “Ow that hurt there!”
I only chuckled as Puppy’s friends came in seeing that Spike was gentle, “Guess you guys are the first one that’s not my friends! I got to go and invite more people here, don’t try to do anything disastrous!” I left them much to their disapproval as I went to invite the next few people left. Goodness, this inviting thing is taking much longer than anticipated. So far, mine was here first than its Puppy’ friends second if I was correct. That leaves Murky’s friends and Blackjack’s friends who are... Nope, no negative thoughts today please.
I should head to Fillydelphia, I hope that Murky is there for me to give the invitation because I’d be happy to see his reaction when he finds out about Littlepip himself. Oh boy am I evil today!
==========
The flight to Filydelphia was a bit shorter than expected. No smog covering the city thank goodness, that stuff I would hate to breathe in. I flew to the Mall where supposedly Murky would be. Landing on a part of the broken roof of the Mall, I was a bit surprised that he was not here, instead someone else was here. A mare to be exact.
What was her name again? I can’t seem to remember. I checked the invitations seeing if her name was written on here. I did find the name of this mare, Unity. Huh, what a nice name and her being the love of Murky, it would make things interesting. I flew down in front of her much to her surprise. She did calm down upon seeing who I was, “Oh it’s just you Zodiac.” She stood up shaking off some of the snow that cling to her body, “What are you here for?”
I gave the invitations to her, “Invitations for you, Murky, anyone who you know. We’re throwing a big Hearth’s Warming Eve party and well, I’d like to see you there.”
She smiled thanking me for the invitations; “Thanks I’ll see to it that everyone here gets them.” Before she left to give them to her friends, something clicked in her mind, “Oh, can you get some alcohol for Glimmerlight? She said that she would want some for the party.”
Aw great, do I really need to get them? I reluctantly agreed with Unity’s request. She smiled as she left for Murky and company. Great, we’re going to have two drunks in the party, one being Blackjack and the other Glimmerlight. This just cannot get any worse right?
Well next on my list, Blackjack. Flying from Fillydelphia to Hoofington is probably going to take a while from my guessing. I wonder how Blackjack is handling this right now? Hope I can still invite her in even with her friends gone. Then again I can bring them back for this one holiday so it’s like she’s not going to the party right?
==========
Turns out finding her is not going to be easy as I thought. She was hard to locate with all of this snow. Her coat is white and that makes it even harder for me to find her under this field. I checked out all of the possible locations she could be in such as Chapel, the Stadium, almost all of them. Ugh, this is going to be difficult than I imagined. Throughout my search, I had almost given up in finding Blackjack until I managed to find her standing on a cliff looking over the ocean.
I flew to where I saw her and landed to her side. She didn’t to hesitate as she responded when I neared her, “Hey…” I moved to her side looking over the ocean as well. The sounds of the ocean, again, were soothing to my ears. I wonder if she was here to relax, “This was where I almost committed suicide.”
Come again? “This here spot? You almost committed suicide?”
She was silent for some time looking over the cliff and into the endless vast sea, “Crazy huh? One minute I was here wanting nothing but to commit suicide and the next thing you know, Spike came and showed me the Gardens of Equestria.”
I looked at the vast ocean in front of me looking at the snow that descends in front of us, their cold touch making contact with my coat. I was about to put a wing over her body to comfort her but decided better to not go for it focusing in the roaring ocean, “Time sure does fly by fast doesn’t it Blackjack?”
She was silent again, this one lasting longer than the last one. Was she still troubled by the loss of three of her friends? I wanted to give her the invitation but… I’m not so sure if I should though. Blackjack talked me out of my thought process looking into the ocean, “It sure does. To be honest, aw what am I saying I don’t think I’m ever honest…”
“You still bothered by the loss of your friends aren’t you?” I was right to the point as she looked a bit down. She knew well enough and was in that ‘I want to kick myself’ trance. I whacked her rump with my tail eliciting a yelp from her, “Come on Blackjack, I know you are the guilt-tripper but had your friends and you not have done all of what you did, I don’t think even Littlepip would have survived to see another day.”
Blackjack was rubbing her rump in pain with a bit of red on her face. She did understand what I said though as she looked at the ocean again, “You’re right. I guess that I feel a bit lonely even with Scotch and Rampage. Thanks Zodiac, really needed that.”
“No problem Blackjack, why do you think that I enjoyed being around you and Littlepip?’ She was chuckling as she did a jab on my chest. I pulled out the invitation with Rampage and Scotch in it and gave it to her, “Here, invitations for the Hearth’s Warming party if you, Scotch, and Rampage want to come. I’ll also bring Littlepip and your deceased friends back for just this holiday. Everyone should be here to celebrate and I want to see you smile.”
She did indeed smile as she turned around, leaving the spot where she almost committed suicide, “I’ll be there! Get me some of that Wild Pegasus so we can really throw down!” She ran back to where Rampage and Scotch would be as I stood where she was. Yeah right, like I’m going to give her some of that stuff, I’m denying her and Glimmerlight that privilege. I don’t want them drunk like a certain Scottish explosive man I’d rather not think of. She screamed back at me from faraway apparently about me denying her booze, “And don’t you dare deny me some Wild Pegasus!” Did she read my thoughts before she left?
Well I got everyone I needed to invite, all that remains is Littlepip and we have a complete set. I extended my wings checking to see if they have enough for one more flight. Popping some of the bones, I took off to the S.P.P. in hopes that I can get her for Homage to have some fun times with Littlepip.
==========
I had already reached the S.P.P. with tired wings as I saw Littlepip… sleeping through the job. I looked at Celestia who just shrugged. I pulled out some potions as I gulped it down. Immediately my stomach felt as I expelled green fire onto the barrier opening it for me to enter. Never thought Dragon’s Flame would be as handy as a curative for radiation and as a way to enter the S.P.P tower. I slipped through the barrier easily entering inside the tower and to the side of Littlepip sleeping. I looked at Celestia who was chuckling.
I had a funny idea that I wanted to do on Littlepip ever since I saw her. I never got the chance to use it but now that I’m here and she’s asleep, well why not use this opportunity? She was sleeping peacefully snuggling her… Homage doll? Well this is something I’m not willing to forget ever!
I licked my hoof (Tastes so disgusting comparing that to hands) looking at Celestia seeing if she approved this. Her trying to stifle her mouth pretty much confirmed her answer. I pressed my salivated hoof onto her chest and rubbing it upwards. Littlepip was shuddering from the feeling but was not waking up.
Well, that didn’t work. What would happen if I? I pulled an alarm clock from the bag and set to ring loud like a freight train. Five seconds after that, I covered my ears and the clock made the loudest ringing sound I ever heard. She jerked up screaming her lungs as she looked at the alarm clock. I was rolling on the floor laughing my lungs out seeing her reaction! She was definitely not pleased with that, “Not funny Zodiac!”
“Oh please! If… you hadn’t… slept through the…” I could not stop laughing though my chat with as I was clutching my chest from so much laughing. She just rolled her eyes as I stopped laughing. I stood up and wiped a tear away from all of that, “Ha… Ha… Oh I am so sorry there Littlepip.” I cleared my throat returning back on topic, “Well since you are now awake want join me and many others in the Hearth’s Warming party we’re holding? We’re all waiting on you.”
She eyed me curiously and raised her eyebrow on me? This can’t be good… “Um, what’s Hearth’s Warming Eve?”
I looked at Celestia wondering whether I was dreaming of this or she’s gone cray-cray from that wake-up call. She shook her head on the yes category. I just stood there with my mouth open looking at Littlepip and then proceeded to facehoof there because this is just wrong, “You’re kidding? You’re kidding right? How could you not know what Hearth’s Warming is!? You should have…” A smirk appeared on both Littlepip and Celestia as I got caught in that trap again… “Why do I always get caught in this trap?”
Both just shrugged not minding why about it. Ah, whatever, at least this got me a little giddy to bring her to the party. I placed a lifespan spell on Littlepip granting her temporary extended lifespan to that of alicorns. Knowing almost all of the known spells from across the many universes has its perks. She stepped out of the pod with as Celestia made a green portal to the party, “Well, you ready Littlepip?”
She looked nervous as far as I can tell, “I’m not so sure, this is my first time going to this kind of party…”
I wrapped her around my three right wings as I comforted her. “It’s okay; it’s everyone’s first time since after a whole slew of events. You’re not alone.” We both smiled as we entered the portal and outside the S.P.P. into the Dragon Cave where literally everyone was here. They all looked at us oddly with different expressions. I looked at the direction where Homage and… oh no… Blackjack and Glimmerlight were eyeing us with those mischievous grins on their faces, “So… Did you two managed to have some smexy times?”
The two of us immediately backed away from another, our faces blushing red. I did remember the promise with Blackjack as I resurrected Glory, P-21, and surprisingly Lacunae, not so sure how on the alicorn but not like it really matters. After that feat and of Littlepip denying what those three said, the whole party started and it only got crazier from then on.
Twelve Wasteland Days of Hearth's Warming
The First Day: The Grestest Snowball Fight
The First Day
With everyone here, I was ready to start the events here. Most of the ponies were groaning at the fact that the food was not ready yet. Pandora understood them all and gave a speech to them, “I know all of you are hungry, but just you wait, everyone! When all of us are done, you’ll have such a feast ready to go!”
All of them cheered loudly hearing that. Guess when you get very hungry; you’re bound to get such a cheer like this. With that out of the way, Pandora and the rest of my friends went into the kitchen that Spike provided. Weird since he doesn’t even have a kitchen that last time I recalled being here. Ah whatever. I whistled out loud getting everyone’s attention, “Okay since everyone is here! Let’s say we start the first twelve days of Hearth’s Warming right now!?”
Everybody cheered louder than I expected. I had to cover my ears for a second for a second, the same thing applied to Murky. Sensitive ears do not help here right now. I picked my ears clean from the ringing sound normally produced if too close to a grenade, “All right, wow, what a cheer…” I flew over to the entrance of the cave gesturing them over, “If we’re going to start the event here, might as well do a snowball fight!”
Everybody did a loud roar of approval as they went out of Dragon Cave and outside. I looked at Spike as he went to assist my friends in the cooking. Good to see him do something to help like the old days. I flew down to the base of the mountain as the others ran down the mountain. This was going to be fun no doubt about that but I wonder if I can add a little bit of a spin to it?
I was first to the base of the mountain as I see the vast beautiful field of white snow. While the others were coming down I prepared four forts for the teams at hand. It might be silly, but the spin to this will make things all the more fun, I just know it. As I was finishing the last touches on the forts, everyone managed to arrive enjoying the finishing forts being made. I released a sigh of relief as I finished the forts. I imagined a checkpoint at the center of the four forts leaving everybody here baffled.
I turned around as I explained the team set-up and the rules of the game (though I bet everybody here knows anyway) adding a few twists to the game. Their ears perked as I explained these added rules, “See that checkpoint there? The reason I added that is to make this a bit more intense. The goal is to capture the point. Whoever gets it first within three minutes is the winner.”
All had smiles on their faces liking the idea I’ve put on board, “You guys can also get at each other throats’ whenever necessary…” Their eyes glanced at me thinking that I was crazy to enforce something brutal like a beat down. I still continued my smile as I casted a spell on every one of them. They looked at me wondering what I did to them, “I’ve placed a spell on all of you that not only turns off your pain receptors, but also allows you to spawn back. In other words, die and you come back in your fort with no injuries at all.”
Their jaws dropped at the idea of a spell like that. I only chuckled seeing their reactions. The teams were made by the four friends. Blackjack’s, Murky’s, Littlepip’s and Puppysmiles’s. I explained as much as possible while ignoring the spin to this wanting to surprise them. I was on a cloud cover overlooking the field; everyone went to their fort of choosing. They were as eager as ever getting ready for the fight at hand.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“S’ any bright ideas right now? ‘Cause Ah ain’t goin’ out there without a plan o’ action.” Calamity gestured as we went into our fort of choosing. I’ll admit, for something made out of snow, Zodiac sure managed to make it sturdy enough to last.
“Well Calamity, we’re going against possibly some of the best people we’ve seen, I mean have you seen the big stallion that’s with Murky?” Velvet was making some snowballs for everyone to use. Since all of us can respawn should anyone of die thanks to Zodiac, the worry of dying didn’t really faze us much. Of course we can’t use our weapons, only snowballs so that’s thrown out of the window. He did say, he would scatter some weapons
“Or Rampage herself? I do not wish to not go against her considering her skills in battle.” Xenith had a point, almost everyone I was with had a point actually. I’d never thought this was going to be this tricky.
Even Homage was helping out in here. I’m not so sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing right now considering what she said when I entered, I am never going to get that out of my mind ever… I looked through the window seeing everyone talking their plan of action to take the checkpoint.
My friends were still conversing with one another trying as they were preparing. What I didn’t expect was for them to look at me, “What? Why are all of you looking at me?” The idea suddenly clicked as I stared at them, “Wait, why do I have to make the plan!?”
“Yer the leader Li’lpip, what’cha got in mind?” Ugh, I know that I’ve proven myself time and again but using that to vote me to make a plan is getting annoying now.
I was checking our surrounding seeing for any possible chances of getting the point first before the others. There were a few points of interest I noticed as I scanned the area. Okay, I see the landscape and the checkpoint. Maybe, could it work? Well it could work depending on what the other teams’ actions are. I smiled as I looked at them. They smiled seeing my own as I explained the plan, “Okay, I noticed that there are some points where two people can be cover fire. Homage, Velvet, you can be the cover fire.”
Xenith and Calamity were seeing that they were going to be involved with me as they glanced at each other. They continued their smile as I told them their part, “You two can make a guess that you’re helping me cap the point. Calamity can be our cover when we go for the point. Xenith, you be our melee fighter, we may end having to fight someone like Rampage…”
Xenith clopped her hooves together, “Then we have a plan correct?” I nodded as I looked at the other teams. I hope everything works out to our advantage, it’s a bad idea to put that much faith on a plan that may backfire, but for what it’s worth, I hope it doesn’t backfire.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“It’s good to see you Blackjack again. Just wanted to say that…” I smiled hearing that from Glory. I will not lie and admit that seeing her and P-21 made me happy. Of course, seeing Lacunae and Boo alive as well makes me very happy but those two just make me feel glad to have not faced the challenges alone.
P-21 was with Scotch looking outside checking the surrounding area, “So any bright ideas right now? We’re going to have to deal with a lot of people trying to cap a single point.” He was right, all of us were going against not only Littlepip’s side but two others I’ve just recently meet. I mean we do have an alicorn on our side and that’s one advantage, but that’s still a small advantage.
If I remember the names of the other opposing teams, they were Murky’s and Puppysmiles’s I believe. I still was going through a state of disbelief finding out the fact that the filly in the radsuit was dead all along. She had such a peppy personality; I felt sad hearing that. Even Glory and Scotch was down despite all of us just meeting her. Okay, I am getting off topic here, where was I?
Scotch looked with her father as they were scanning the area. Rampage of course was getting bored. Thank goodness she has a way to entertain herself but her patience was getting thin, “How long do we have to wait until the fight actually starts? I want to buck someone on the face with a snowball badly.”
All of us chuckled hearing that from her of all ponies, “Rampage, I know you’re eager but can you wait until we hear Zodiac giving us a heads start?” She just shrugged not minding about it.
Lacunae was on the roof of the fort overlooking the area with Scotch and P-21. I heard her voice in my head as relayed a telepathic message to us. Not so sure why but it was nostalgic to hear her voice inside my head again, I see spot of opportunity for an attack on some of the forts.
I ascended up the stairs as I was looking where she was looking at, “So you think we can attack the other forts?”
“We can provide a distraction while one of us gets the point or perhaps we all charge at the point. It is your preferred method am I right?” I stifled my laughter there. That is so my kind of strategy right there.
I saw Glory come up the stairs of the fort as she looked around the field of white. She looked towards us as I was eating a ruby. Goodness, Spike sure hoards a lot of gems in that cave of his though that should have been expected coming from a dragon, “So we got a plan?”
P-21 just gave that smirk I recognized all too well. Hey, that’s my Blackjack level smirk there! “Yeah, and it’s reckless like Blackjack here.”
Rampage came up from the stairs hearing the conversation, “Did I just hear that this plan is reckless like Blackjack?” She gave a big smile hearing that. For once I don’t feel weirded out by that.
“Aren’t Blackjack’s plans always reckless?” Thank you Scotch for pointing out the obvious there… P-21 let a little laughter escape as he comforts Scotch. Well, a family reunion like this would be something. Now we just gotta wait for the call. Did I mention how much I hate waiting?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I was cleaning out my big right ear from all the loud screams still. Sensitive ears like mine do not help at all. Many of my friends with the exception of Brim apologized to me for the loud screams in the cave. I didn’t blame them for it, it was just so loud. While cleaning my ear from the lingering sounds, Glimmer was checking out the surrounding, “Well, I think we got something here. Anyone got some idea?”
I saw Glimmerlight shift her head looking at the three of us. Between my diminutive size and wings (I’m surprised that Littlepip is about my height and already has a marefriend of her own), Brim’s size and rather destructive force, I think we have a chance. Glimmer sighed seeing the three of us being silent, “So, no ideas right now?”
I was looking at Unity who was eyeing the scenery. We had gone through snow before in Fillydelphia, but it was irradiated and thus, we couldn’t stay out for so long. Here, however, it wasn’t irradiated and we’re getting the chance to play around with so many ponies. I’d never thought that everyone of us would get the chance to play with a lot of people here. It’s too bad that Protégé is not here with us, he could use a break.
I looked outside seeing the capture point in the center. We were outnumbered if I saw the numbers on the teams we’re going against. While Brim may be tough, going against an alicorn that Blackjack has was risky. I saw a small hill with a pocket in the snow relatively too small for anybody to fit. Anybody but… my mind clicked as an idea formed in my head, “Glimmer, can you see that small hole there?”
She came over where I was as she observed where I was looking at. A smile formed on her face as she noticed the hole, “That’s small… small enough for you to fit in and sneak past!” She hugged me tightly, “You are awesome Murky! Right with that detail now, I finally got a plan!”
I saw Brim’s ears perked from that, “Well, what you got in mind Glimmer?”
She gestured them to where I was at as she pointed at the small hole underneath a snow hill connecting to the control point, “See that small hole there? On the hill that snow hill that goes to the point?”
I gestured to the general direction of where it is. Both Brim and Unity saw it as Glimmer told them her idea, “Okay, Murky is small enough to get to the point without being spotted but the opposing teams may catch on to us if they discover Murky missing.”
Unity backed away from the window looking at me, “Are you sure you can handle this? I know we managed to do it but…”
I put a hoof as did Glimmer, “Hey now, you don’t have to worry. All of us are playing a snowball fight for fun! Well, until Zodiac decided to make it more exciting that’s for certain.”
I let a small laugh escape, “Don’t worry Unity, I can handle this on my own.” I gave a reassuring smile as I looked towards Glimmerlight, “So what about you three? If I’m going to sneak past them, what are you three going to do?”
Brim picked up the small details as he explained for Glimmerlight, “If I know her, she’s going to let me cut loose while they do the cover fire. Did I get that wrong Glimmer?”
Glimmer gave a loud laugh for me at least, as she punched Brim on the chest, “You always get ahead of me when I’m about to say the plans!”
I flew up as I extended for everyone to put their own on mine, “So we’re ready then?” Everypony put their hooves on mine. After our gestures, we raised our hooves high in the air; this is something all of us will enjoy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“So you got a plan right now ‘cause the call is coming by soon!” I was not a happy griffon right now. Trigger Happy and Jamie were coming up with plans while I was scanning the area.
I had to listen to Puppy going cheery and whining over not being able to touch the snow. Despite her annoying voice, it was good to hear it again, “Look at all of this snow! I want to make a snow angel again! Can we Henry?”
I snickered there as I covered my mouth. Eeyup, still good ol’ Puppysmiles, “You’ll get the chance Puppy, but first, we’re going to play a snowball fight alright?” She elicited quite a loud ‘yay’ as she left to see Jamie and Happy.
I end up following her as I repeated the same question again, “Well? Got any bright ideas you two love-birds?” They gave me a glare and all I did was smirk much to my amusement. What? A griffon needs to find a way to not get bored somehow.
They just shook their heads in annoyance from my words as they continued hearing their chatting. Of course Puppy was excited to join in their conversation. I just happen to stumble upon it, “Oh, can we head out there and join in the fun!?”
For all of Puppy’s idiocy, all of us just chuckled hearing the question. I saw Trigger Happy put a hoof on Puppy rubbing her back, “No worries Puppy, we’ll all get the chance to play with all of our new friends. Isn’t that right Jamie?”
He wasn’t paying attention to the conversation at hand. It only took me poking him to get his attention, “Huh? Oh right of course…”
Puppy was not going to allow him to just stare outside, no sirree. If I knew any better, she’d be hopping him right telling him to stop thinking about stuff and just play for fun. Of course she indeed does that and it got him to smile, “All right Puppy, maybe I should stop thinking about all of this…”
“Well you can think about your plan during the capture. Better to think during the snowball fight…” Every one of them looked at me oddly. I just shrugged as I pulled the little rascal to me, “Alright Puppy, so you know how this game works right?”
“Yep! I do.” She literally explained almost the whole thing word for word. You know for someone who is such a ditz at times, she can be smart about it. Well, no plan though, just charge and capture simple right? At least you don't have to worry about dying here that's for certain.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I pulled out some Sparkle-Soda as I looked at my PipBuck. It was interfaces with the checkpoint so that the timer set on it will reset every time someone captures it. I cleared my throat as for the first time; I decided to use the royal Canterlot voice, “COMBATANTS ON THE FORTS! ARE YOU ALL READY!?” They all loudly roared their ‘YES!’ as I set my PipBuck for three minutes, “THEN MAY THE BEST COMBATANT WIN THIS GAME!”
My horn illuminated the whole battlefield bathing it in a shimmering light. Everyone was looking determined even Puppy herself looked determined and yet all cheery to play. The light bathing the battlefield blinked three times. The last blink I screamed from the top of my lungs, ”BEGIN!”
This was going to be very exciting. I looked at each side, wondering which one would be most interesting. All of them had different tactics to get the control point. My PipBuck was ringing as I was scanning the field. I checked to see that my surprise has started its countdown. I couldn’t help but not let a devious smile form on my face. I looked at the battlefield seeing the amount of chaos caused trying to capture the point in the middle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
So much chaos! Everyone here is doing crazy things trying to capture a single point! Is this what it feels like to have some fun while being competitive? I narrowly dodged a thrown snowball from Blackjack as I was running for the control point. While Homage and Velvet were returning fire back at our adversaries, me, Calamity and Xenith ran forward to the point.
Calamity was throwing some snowballs as he hovered over us providing air support while I threw some snowballs at unsuspecting people. Things were looking well so far for us as we continued to the point unabated.
Then as expected, things start to get downhill slowly. Someone saw Calamity hovering and went straight for him as a snowball hit him in the face. I saw him wiped the snow off his face scowling over that, “What in tarnation? Who threw that snowball at mah face?!”
“Me dipstick!” A griffon came charging at Calamity as both of them came crashing on each other on the ground. Both recovered and fought each other as I saw them ascend to the sky. I believe the griffon’s name was Henrietta right? Whatever the case, Velvet saw that and went chasing after those two. I do hope she isn’t making a mistake chasing after those two… Think about it for another time, got to get the point!
Me and Xenith were crawling to the point as a barrage of snowballs came over our head. I can’t believe there could be this much craziness for trying to catch just a single point! Did Zodiac actually expect this kind of craziness to ensue when he added the rule of capturing the point? Because if he did, then I might have to call him the crazy one from now on!
I saw Blackjack’s entire team charging for the control point. I find that rather reckless for all of them to charge for the point immediately. Then again, this is Blackjack I’m talking about; of course this plan would be up her alley. I looked to see Murky’s side and bore a look of confusion on my face. Only the big stallion was on the charge for the point while two mares were providing cover fire for the big guy. I wonder where Murky is… I did remember that he’s a pegasus if I recalled right.
I looked up scanning the air to see if Murky was hovering. No sign of him, only the two aerial fighters duking it out. Weird, just what is he thinking right now? I felt Xenith poke me as I glanced to her direction. She pointed to see that we were nearing the point. We might be the first to capture the point after all… if not for the reckless Blackjack…
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What’s the best word to describe all of what’s happening around me? Well I got one and it is chaotic! Fucking hell, it’s like the time going against the Eater of Souls! Only against friends trying to get a single control point in a rather harmless snowball fight! Okay forgo the harmless part as I looked up seeing Calamity and whoever the griffon’s name was fighting it out. They sustained some serious injuries from the way they looked as they landed on the snow.
I wanted to help those two; really I want to help them so badly. I wanted to see if their injuries were fatal and call this intense snowball fight over. But the second I was actually thinking of stopping to run for the point and check up on them, I saw some runes circling around them.
The runes glow a respective color for teams as a light enveloped them. Blue for Littlepip’s and Yellow for Puppysmiles’s teams, huh wonder what color they picked for me? The light was bright enough for everyone to see as they stopped for a moment to look at what was going on. The runes illuminated the field as the light pierced the sky as enveloped the two. All of us were covering our eyes as the light became too bright for us to see.
As the light subsided and all of us looked at where our former down allies were, most of us including ourselves had gaping jaws seeing them gone. Like poof! I looked at Zodiac whose horn was glowing. I couldn’t help it; I asked wondering what happened to them, “Zodiac! What did you do with them!?”
He looked down at me with eyes of innocence as he explained what just happened, “No worries Blackjack! Remember what I said, any one of you can respawn should the injuries deem too much. In fact…” Almost on cue, I saw the two of them burst from the forts and back on the battlefield like nothing ever happened to them.
Funnily enough, Calamity lampshaded about it, “Wow, Ah never thought t’ come back like that at all… feels s’ weird.”
“You’re telling me Calamity…” The griffon was looking at all of us wondering why we were gawking like we just saw something unreal, which mind you, coming back from the dead all normal and feeling great would be unreal, “Why are all of you gawking at us two? Shouldn’t all of you get back to the game at hand!?” Well those words pretty much caused everyone to return their focus into the game.
I will admit that Zodiac sure prepared ahead of time if something like that accidently occurred. Still, I’m only going to say this once, “Everyone here’s gone officially bloody crazy!” Okay, I did get a few odd looks but otherwise that felt good saying that.
Back to the snowball fight at hand, all of us managed to get to the point first. Now here’s the part where we defend this until we get the signal that we captured it. Of course it was not going to be easy. I saw Xenith leap forward on Rampage as they duked it out. The same thing applied with the big stallion on Murky’s team as he went for Lacunae.
That left me, P-21 and Glory to defend the point and capture. Easier said than done when almost everyone is trying to get us off! Again, everyone has gone bloody crazy! I think I might have to call Zodiac the craziest pony… er, alicorn ever!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Wee! Look at all these snowballs! I want to join in the snowball fight!” Sometimes I really wonder how I end up being friends with a dead and whiny filly like Puppy of all things. And why not, it’s not like I got any choice right? I mean she saved my life twice and I love her like a sister, weird how things go right?
‘Kay back on topic, I just separated from Calamity and decided to take out Blackjack and the other three trying to cap the point. I know that we’re all doing this in the spirit of fun and I won’t lie and admit that I am having fun in this. But Zodiac managed to make this game into a fun competition, and although I don’t mind losing, we griffons do not like to lose!
Others, besides me, had the same idea as I saw Littlepip come out from seemingly nowhere and tackle Blackjack off the point. Sheesh, even she has some guts to tackle her like that. I saw Homage running out of the fort and coming after Littlepip. Why do I get the feeling that she just came out of the fort just to have sex during the snowball fight? Okay even I find that wrong, but considering Homage’s track record, that doesn’t seem that farfetched… What is wrong with me right now?
I saw both of Blackjack’s friends shocked to see Littlepip tackle her. Apparently both me and someone else took that as an opportunity. The other pony in question was Velvet Remedy as she tackled Glory down from the point. And here I thought that she was a pacifist…
I came in after Velvet, grabbing the blue stallion and lifting him through the air. He was struggling to get out of my grip and trying to land on the ground. Well, I complied and bought him down, by throwing into a snow pile for cushioning. Yeah, I’m that kind of griffon. After that toss, I was on the point alongside Puppy. She went on my back as I looked at the blue stallion poking his head out of the snow pile.
Now we had to try to stay on the point for capture. Not easy even with my flight… I swear if I fly and Puppy starts whining about it, I’m going to be the one to start complaining to her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I managed to get to the side of the point without anyone seeing me. Good thing I found that hole in the snow hill because I’m not one to go into the fray head on. I was at the end of the small passage and near the control point. I looked at it seeing the griffon and Puppy standing on the point. Henrietta was the name of the griffon right?
I don’t know how long they’ve been standing on the point but I think they’ve been on the point long enough. I looked around wondering where Brim was. I glanced to the right and saw him going against the purple alicorn. I knew that he was strong especially remembering the fight against Big Brutus, but I’m not so certain he has a chance against an alicorn head on.
I crawled to the side of the point slowly as I looked around me. So many fights going on around me, I’m glad to stick to stealth. I saw Glimmerlight run out of the fort and running for the griffon not wanting to end this prematurely. The griffon saw her charging at her as she flew off the point and above her. She stuck out a tongue at Glimmer before getting rammed by Calamity. Ouch, that’s going to hurt.
I went on the point without garnering much attention on me. Everybody was so busy trying to get the point while having to deal with other troubles that they never noticed me at all. I find that a little bit silly.
Right now it was just me on the point as I looked around me seeing if there were any hazards for me to avoid. Both Unity and Glimmer went forward as stealthy as possible as well. Though it went well for the most part, they got caught by some of the opposite team members. I saw a few snowballs tossed at us three as we went for cover.
I looked ahead to see a blue stallion throwing those snowballs at us while a gray pegasus came to capture the point. That didn’t last long as Homage came running as she pushed Glory (I think that was her name) out of the way. Glimmerlight went running at the two as she pushed both the blue stallion and Homage with her down.
After that whole ordeal, both me and Unity went on the point hoping to end this quickly. We ducked over a few thrown snowballs. I glanced at where does were shoot from to see Littlepip charging at me to cap the point. I ran away from her as best as possible while Unity stayed behind to defend the point. I hate to say this but this is one crazy snowball fight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Goodness the amount of events happening below me is staggering! While I was seeing a lot of people trying to capture the point throwing snowballs at one another, there were other events that did not involve snowballs.
I looked at the clock seeing that the event has gone on longer than expected. Well, this was to be expected. Putting some way of competition into a rather simple snowball fight would make things last longer than expected. Speaking of which, perhaps it might be time to unravel my little surprise.
My PipBuck was ringing as I checked it out. The timer was up and a devious grin formed on my face as I let loose my surprise. I tap into the royal Canterlot voice as a ethereal wheel appeared above them, “THE WHEEL SPINS, LET US UNRAVEL WHAT WILL BE UNLEASHED!”
Everybody looked up confused as to what was going on. I looked at my PipBuck wondering what effect was going into play here as the wheel spun. It starts to slow down as the effect comes into play. As the wheel completely stops, the effect was shown to me and I begun casting the spell of that effect on everyone while saying it out loud, “THE WHEEL HAS LANDED ON ITS CHOSEN EFFECT! YOU ARE ALL NOW INDESTRUCTIBLE!
Runes surrounded everyone as a bright light enveloped every one of them as my glowed to its brightest. As the light dissipated and I saw the result, I was more than pleased to see it. However, everyone else had mixed reactions to what I did. I only listened to some of the funny one and some cringe-worthy ones.
I saw everyone looking at themselves wondering what I did. One prime example was from Blackjack who I couldn’t help but laugh out loud hearing hers, “What the fuck!? Why am I shiny!?” I wanted this epic snowball fight to continue but Pandora was calling everyone back in Dragon Cave. Everyone cheered loudly as they went up still crystallized.
Oh well, can’t keep an event like this up for so long right? A light enveloped around me as a sphere of magic formed and a sound of a pop was made as I teleported from the cloud cover to the entrance of Dragon Cave. Looking at the table, I saw a hue buffet table of food right in front of me. From the delicious apple pies, to the sweet smelling aroma of a cooked radhog (I still wonder why we eat that), everything on here smelled delightful.
Pandora looked at me gesturing to the food at hoof, “You think you can make the food duplicate itself? I don’t want to go through all the hassle to cooking them all again…” I smiled as I casted the spell on the food. Should it ever run out or is close to it, it duplicates itself for an infinite supply of food. You got to love that right?
Everyone was running up as I saw them barging through the entrance. The crystal spell begun to wear off as they passed the entryway. Most of their mouths were frothing with saliva from seeing all the food spread out.
I did a few hooftaps as I gathered their attention, “Alright I know that all of you guys and gals are hungry, but let me just say this…” I cleared my throat, “I know you all want to return home and back here for the events we have, but no worries! I can handle that for you. If any of you wishes to return back, just call me and I can teleport you all back to your homes for the night.”
They all nodded as almost every one of them gave me their thanks for what I was doing to get them home quickly. With that out of the way, I wanted to get this going underway. Rather not let them wait on an empty stomach, “Okay with all that out of the way. Let us celebrate the first night of Hearth’s Warming!”
They all raised their hooves and a few hands up to the air as the feast on the food made by Pandora. The first day is over yet there still is excitement for the next eleven days. I do hope things get very interesting on those days.
Dusk was beginning to ascend as everyone finished their side of foods. I had the trouble of teleporting each and every one of the people invited here. It was rather tiresome, but all worth it for the coming days. As I managed to teleport that last pony to their home, I was back at Dragon Cave. Wanting nothing than some well-deserved sleep, I lay down on the make-shift bed.
I looked up to see Spike sleeping already. Probably tuckered out from the events and resting for the days ahead. My friends also stayed in Dragon Cave sleeping in comfortably as possible. A smile formed on my face seeing all of them and others back at home in tranquil peace, “Eleven more days until the finale…” My body and mind entered a silent slumber as my eyes closed for tomorrow’s events.
View Online
Twelve Wasteland Days of Hearth's Warming
The Second Day: Conversations Between Strangers
The Second Day
The warmth of the Sun bathed me, my friends, and the sleeping dragon from our slumber as the second day of Hearth’s Warming begun. The food was still there unspoiled thanks to me creating a barrier around the food to prevent it from spoiling.
I initially did want to bring back everyone here again but my hygiene says otherwise… that and my friends’ reaction to my smell. I don’t smell that bad right? I took a whiff of my own… Holy sweet mother of Celestia do I smell fucking terrible! Did I forget to shower yesterday or did the events get to me?
Whatever the case, I am not going to pick them up while I smell disgusting. I walk to the door leading to the shower (Why is the shower room still small?) hoping to clean myself well enough. Turning the faucet, the lukewarm water cascaded down my body. Maybe I should let myself soak in a bath for the heck of it…
I lay on the tub as it begun to fill itself from the water pouring over my body. Good thing that this water is fresh and not irradiated. Hate to give myself radiation sickness even if the traces are small. I picked up a bar of soap with my magic. Soaking the soap bar in the water, I rubbed it over my body in between the hooves, to my wings, getting all spots that would be difficult to clean.
Not so sure on how long was I cleaning myself, but I think I’m clean enough for the most part. I pulled the plug as the water flowed into the drain making a tiny whirlpool. I stood up as I picked up a towel and wiped myself of any excess water clinging to my body.
As I fully dried myself and was out of the bathroom, I heard voices from within a private quarter when Spike was younger. Call me curious but the voices I heard were not of my friends. I walked to a door to Spike’s old bedroom. I put my head on the door as I was listening to the conversation. This is stupid of me to listen to someone’s conversation, but curiosity is tempting me right now. Immediately I was able to pick up some sounds of groaning.
Groaning… Is someone going through torture? I’d rather not want a person to go through it during my favorite holiday! I was about to barge in the room until more sounds were emitted through the door. I fought my instinct to just barge in a room and put my head on the door as the sounds were beginning to get more pronounce. A conversation was starting as I was listening, “Goodness, that’s the twenty-first orgasm you’ve undergone my little Lightbringer…”
Stupri gehenna … I now recognize what I was listening into. I was listening through an intercourse with Littlepip and Homage. My face was blushing just from realizing this. Hold on, how did they get here without me knowing? Probably came here by Calamity now that I think about it. Did they wake up during my shower?
Regardless, I made a few slow steps away from the door as I turned around ready to leave. Of course, things always go the way I want to. I made a resonating sound in front of the door. I froze in place silently cursing to myself as I heard the voice of those two starting with Littlepip, “Did… is someone hearing on us?”
Aw fuck the heavens above…
I moved still slowly as I heard their conversation still going, “I’m sure you’re just hearing things Littlepip…” I was about close to thanking the heavens above until the next dialogue came and I almost wanted to sprint right now, “But I’ll check just in case. I’m doubtful that someone could be hearing on us though.”
Yep, really wanting to sprint right now! I flew over some of the clutter on the floor and outside the tiny hallway. Now you’re all wondering why I did not fly away from it in the first place right? Well, you know how when one panics and they can’t think straight for a moment. That was what I was going through.
I managed to fly away from the door fast enough without making a mess as she opened the door. I saw looking around the door as I was hiding behind a wall. She shook her head and left into the room with s smile. Well, I managed to avoid one such moment today, am not wanting to go through that again thank you very much!
I went out of that room and into the big space of Dragon Cave. I only saw Littlepip’s entourage here meaning that the others have not arrived yet. Good, at least I can get them without having to think about something for today. I needed to do something anyway because I was getting a bit bored.
==========
After managing to get everyone here again, they all went to the food while conversing with one another. Good thing I was able to duplicate all of these foods before it had disappeared completely. I managed to pick some of Pandora’s delicious apple pie! Might be able to compete Applejack’s pies in terms of delectableness.
I went to the far corner of the cave pulling out a book for me to read while I was eating. Yeah, I’m kind of being a loner, but this was something I’m very use to… During my reading, I heard some hoofsteps nearby. I looked over my book to see Fluttershy sitting next to me with Spike’s tail behind both of our backs, “Hey Zodiac, come on, don’t be like that! I don’t want to see someone being Twilight right now!”
I let out a chuckle from that as I gazed at Spike, “Thanks, but you know that I’ve been like this for some time ever since we met. I normally let someone else start the conversation before I join in…”
Spike covered his mouth as he let a small hearty laugh escape while bellowing some smoke through his nose. Good thing the smoke was small otherwise this whole room would have been filled with smoke. His laughter died down as he lowered his hand “Yeah I forgot about that, so wanna start then?”
I gave out a sigh and closed the book, putting it in the saddle bag for now. I still continued my smile as I liked at both Spike and Fluttershy. Fluttershy was rather happy to be with so many ponies here, she was still a bit shy but I can tell she wasn’t being her shy self right now. I put a hoof on her shoulder. She let out a rather cute Eep! sound as she felt my touch.
She looked at my general direction seeing my smile. She let out a little chuckle and let out a small but, again, cute squeak sound. Seriously though, how can she sound and look so cute even as ages passed? Going off topic in my head there, I glanced at Spike awaiting his, “Sure Spike, what you have in mind?”
I saw him scratching his chin wondering how to start this conversation. Immediately as he opened his mouth Fluttershy interrupted him with her start of the conversation, “Um… sorry for interrupting Spike, but I wanted to ask Zodiac something…” Wow, never thought of her ever doing something like that. Spike just shrugged as she waved his hand to continue. She was a bit shaky but smiled as she asked, “Zodiac… um… oh… dear…”
My hoof was still on her shoulder as I tried to comfort her. She still had a lot to go through even as her confidence was going strong, “No worries Fluttershy, take your time, I can wait.”
My words apparently gave her the confidence she needed to ask. I couldn’t help but say that I might be a contagion for confidence, “Thank you Zodiac…um…tell me…why didn’t you return to your world? You’ve done…well…” She gestured a motion to everyone that was attending here, “Everyone here has done everything to bring back the Equestria that was once forgotten… so…why did you…stay?”
That was a question I never expected Fluttershy to ask. Of all the questions she could have asked, she went for why I did not return to my Equestria after all the events are over. I can’t help but wonder why she would ask that. Of course that was answered by another question from her, “Don’t you miss your Equestria?”
Although my smile was still there, it shrank a bit. I let out a sigh as looked at her eyes. So much full of pain and yet a longing for understanding for why I decided to do what I did. I still continued my smile as I put my hoof down, “I’ll be honest here, I do miss my Equestria… the aroma of nature, seeing the two princesses and of my Twilight and the others, everything there, I truly miss.”
It was now Fluttershy’s turn to comfort me in my time of need. I saw Spike put a tail around the both of us as he eyed us with a smile of his own. Thanks Spike, I really appreciate what you’re doing. I heard her ask a question during my thought process, “Then why stay here? Why not go back?”
I saw the dragon looking at me; guess he too was curious as well. I eyed them both before telling my answer, “Why? Because this world is still recovering from the ravages of war… that and I feel like a part of this Equestria comparing to the true Equestria…”
Both bore an expression of surprise though it was not that mild, “I’m happy to be a part of a world that desires my help. Not that my Equestria has it fair share of trouble but they are rather small can be taken cared of easily…”
I couldn’t but think of all the fond memories made there. So much of my time was spent here doing something drastic while there, I felt not so important. But the memories made there was something that I will forever cherish no matter what, “Here? This world as I said is still recovering. Until the world can stand on its own four legs without support, I’m staying behind and make sure that Equestria here can stand, without the need of heroes like me and them.” I gestured to everyone here.
Each and every one of them had to struggle for so much, for so little, to regain back the Equestria they once knew and love, the one I came from. I felt, for lack of a better word, proud of all the people here who could have just left this world to rot and let me handle all of the work. But they’d rather go through life and death, to see this world return back to its original state, a world where friendship and peace was the foundation of the growing country.
I couldn’t be more proud of having friends like all of them to do what they believe is right. A single tear freely fell from my eyes just seeing the happiness expressed in their conversations. They deserve all this happiness even more so for the holiday based on new friendships. I wiped that tear away as I looked at them. I still had one thing to say to them though it’s going to ruin the sadness looming around the three of us, “That and I can return to my world whenever I desire. Everyone in my Equestria knows so…”
Yep, definitely ruined the sappy moment there but it had to be said. I stood up from the corner extending a helping hoof to bring Fluttershy up. She blushed a bit as she reached for my hoof and grabbed it, “Thank you Zodiac… that was… a rather nice conversation…”
I continued my smile as I looked at Spike, “Well, want to eat with me and Flutters?” He nodded as he followed us to the dinner table. I’m quite happy to have that kind of conversation no doubt about that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“This sucks on ice! Where is the Wild Pegasus!? I need to drink some down right now!” I am not a happy unicorn here. I told Zodiac to get me some Wild Pegasus for me to drink up on, but nope, he doesn’t buy any of it at all. I knew I should have bought some of the stuff on my own… now I’m regretting not buying some.
Well at least I’m not alone on this, “You want on some booze?! I need some right fucking now! I can’t live a day without the stuff!” I really am lucky to get the chance to speak with others besides my friends. You’d never expected anyone like Glimmerlight here. I’d only met Littlepip and Zodiac (The alicorn here not the professor…) and yet Zodiac met all of these people here.
I wondered on how he manages to meet me, Littlepip, Murky, and Puppysmiles in one walk on the Wasteland. I don’t find that coincidental at all, “Why do you two want to gulp down on some booze so badly? I don’t see the reason for it…” And then Pandora interrupted my thought process.
It’s kind of awkward and yet interesting to see the four big crazy lovers talking with one another. I mean counting myself; we’ve got Glimmer, Pandora, and Homage talking with each other. Strange how groups made by chance work huh? Homage went to starting the conversation off, “Well while you two are going crazy over not having some Wild Pegasus, I managed to get to number thirty-five for my little Lightbringer…” Of course she was going to bring that up… See what I mean?
“Thirty-five? What do you…?” I saw Homage pointing at her Lightbringer who was speaking with Murky, Glory, and Unity for Glimmerlight. Pandora looked as well wondering what she meant. I saw Littlepip turned around seeing the grin on Homage’s face. Her face had shades of red as she looked away and moved to a different area with the three she was talking with. How does her face keep on getting new shades of red?
Both Pandora and Glimmerlight understood that perfectly well looking at Homage in disbelief. I‘d agree with the both of them if I wasn’t like below Homage in terms of loving to embarrass. Seriously, she has got to be like the queen of embarrassment here! I heard Pandora asking that question, “Are you kidding me? Thirty-five orgasms? I find that hard to believe…”
“You’d be surprised when you actually witness Homage doing her thing…” I had a big grin and chuckled imagining that right now. I can’t help it but I looked at Glory still wearing my grin. She saw me and her face had some shades of red like Littlepip as she trotted to the three. Goodness we were on a roll for the embarrassment train today.
Glimmerlight was laughing out loudly seeing the two of us do our thing as she was on the floor clutching her chest. I looked at Homage and then to Pandora wondering what was that all about. She got up as she wiped a tear away from her laughing, “I am so sorry about that but the way both Blackjack and Homage are doing all of that makes me kind of jealous of your antics!”
I just shrugged o her answer while Pandora waved a hoof at her like what Rarity would do. Homage let a small chuckle seeing this conversation going well, “Well if I were to rate you Glimmer, I’d say you’d be third and tied with Pandora. I’d be first and Blackjack would be second, am I right Blackjack?”
She was giving that look alongside the grin, the ones she would reserve for Littlepip, to me now. Now I was blushing seeing that look being used on me. Damn that look and grin is being used on me now! I heard both Glimmerlight and Pandora laughing seeing me in my current situation. Yeah, just wait when she uses it on you guys, then I’ll get the last laugh.
Both Pandora and Glimmerlight stopped laughing as I saw Homage look away from me, that grin and look of hers fading. Good because I do not want to go through that again! I saw Pandora eyeing Zodiac and all three couldn’t help look as well. We were seeing him chatting with both Fluttershy and Spike. Huh, when did he go into conversing with others?
He noticed us looking at him. Although he did blush a bit, he also gave us a sly grin. I’m not so sure if that was meant for Pandora or all of us but I recognized that grin anywhere. I looked to see both Pandora and Homage blush. Did Homage ever blush before?
Glimmerlight on the other hoof returned that grin back as she turned to see the two of them blushing. This time the both of us went down on the floor laughing. Though I only got the last laugh at Pandora and Homage, it still counts for me. Told you I’d get the last laugh didn’t I?
I looked at Zodiac again seeing him holding in his magic a bottle of… no way. He did not actually buy the stuff… He was shaking it while giving us his devious grin. Oh I swear I’m going to get the guy to get my hooves on that bottle! Apparently Glimmer had the same idea as I saw her legs twitching for those bottles. And my friends say that I’m the reckless one for drinks like that.
I heard a sound of a pop as he appeared next to the four of us. I looked at Zodiac who was now holding two bottle of Wild Pegasus in his magic. Damn it, he was tempting both me and Glimmerlight to jump on top of him right now… Since when was he this devious? Last I remembered, he only was devious once to my friends and Littlepip’s and now? He seems to be enjoying it, a lot too…
I saw the magic around the bottles dispel as he places them next to me and Glimmer. We looked at him oddly as to why he did that. He just shrugged while keeping that grin of his as he neared the four of us leaving some words, “If you girls want, I can remove those kinks of your if you know what I mean…” He motioned to the small bedroom originally belonging to Spike when he was young and winked at us as he teleported back to Fluttershy. The sound of the pop scared Fluttershy as she jumped away from the sound.
The four of us were very much silent from what just occurred. What just happened? I shook my head wildly wondering what in the actual fuck just happened. Did he just? Nah, he can’t be serious… Yeah, he can’t be serious about doing what I think he means right? Right?
I looked at the three and sure enough they were blushing from what just happened. I think I might join in their numbers on the blushing department. Even Homage pointed it out for me, “He…he can’t be seriously thinking about what he said there right you three?”
We were all silent for a long time. I think it’s safe to say he was pretty much thinking about it there. Again someone else points it out except it was Glimmerlight this time, “Uh Homage, I hate to break the news but I think he was very serious about what he said…”
I swear I hope she was lying on that part there. All three of us looked at Pandora who was the most shocked to see him do something like that. I waved a hoof in front of her face while trying to get her attention, “Hello? Equestria to Pandora respond here!”
I backed away from her as she was shaking her wildly while clutching her head, “What just happened? I never saw him like this before in my whole time with him…” She turned looking at the three of us staring at us, “What? Is there something on my face?”
She out a hoof on her face checking for anything out of the ordinary. She looked at us again wondering if her question would be answered. We shook our heads in denial to her question. She turned her head In confusion as to why we were silent. Her memories kicked in as she remembered Zodiac’s current little stunt with us four and she too fell silent. I think we just got on the receiving end of the embarrassment train and by Zodiac of all people…
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Why did Homage have to do that of all times? I was enjoying my conversation with Murky, Unity and Glory when she gave me that look of hers. I felt heat coming up on my face as it gained new ways of getting shades of red. I looked away and went away from the area with the three. Of course, that didn’t escape both Unity and Murky’s attention, “What was that all about?”
I saw Unity also looking at me. My whole face still had some traces of red as I was still blushing. I hate the situation I put myself in. Glory answered that question for me as I was still gathering my thoughts, “Homage and Littlepip are… um… together is a way to say it?”
I saw both Murky and Unity looked at each other as their brains were processing this information. They looked at me still bewildered by how I would be embarrassed by Homage, “So? I’m not seeing a problem with that…”
My face still had some shades of red still but I answered for Murky. I did not want this conversation to continue on any longer please, “It’s not the relationship! Really it isn’t!”
“So what does seem to be the problem?” Even Unity was wondering about my problem as usual. I am never going to get out of this am I? I looked at the direction where Homage was and this time saw Blackjack looking at this direction. I glanced at Glory to see that she too was blushing like me. Oh the irony of the situation right now…
Both Murky and Unity glanced at where we were looking seeing both Blackjack and Homage chatting with Pandora and Glimmerlight. I took some time to learn about everyone who was invited here, but Goddesses, I never expected so many people to come here! I wondered how Zodiac got the chance to meet me, Blackjack, Murky, and Puppysmiles during his journey.
A sound of a pop that signified someone teleporting next us emitted to our ears though I think Murky caught onto it first before I did. Out of the field of magical aura came Zodiac who looked rather interested in our conversation… oh… please tell me he’s not thinking what I’m thinking of, “Hello Littlepip… Murky, Unity and Glory, how goes the conversation?”
Thank the Goddesses that he wasn’t heading to that topic. I can finally change the subject at hoof. Both Glory and I picked ourselves up thankful for his intrusion, “The conversation was rather okay… I...don’t want to go further into the conversation please…”
I covered my mouth almost instantly wanting to take back my words. Zodiac’s ears perked when I said that and looked at me curiously. I am doomed… I felt myself roll into a ball for a second before I felt Zodiac’s magic grab me and put me back. I looked at Zodiac who, before was curious and still is, but now bore a look of someone unnerved, “Don’t do that please, I’d rather not see you like that especially during my favorite season and holiday. Now tell me, what was the conversation about?”
My whole mind was still racking like crazy right now. I was too into my thoughts that I almost didn’t’ hear Murky giving an explanation, “Something about her and Homage. I honestly don’t understand right now… I did saw Murky blush a bit but it was gone in seconds.
I gazed at Zodiac, his eyes focusing on the four. A grin appeared on his face as he looked at me first before to Murky, “I think I understand perfectly what’s troubling Littlepip and Glory.” He pulled the both us next to him as he whispered something to us, “I’m going to do something a bit surprising with those four. If you two want, I can handle theirs and your kinks if you know what I mean?” He winked at us as he teleported away.
Although the whisper was rather quick, I think both me and Glory received new shades of red from that. Sweet merciful Celestia, what did I do to deserve his attention now? Unity saw the two of us blushing and couldn’t help but remark on it, “It’s like I’m looking at two individual Littlepips here…”
Murky took notice and also noticed the similarity, “Wow you’re right Unity, which one is the real Littlepip?”
Both me and Glory looked at each other for some time before responding to what they said about us, “S-shut up!”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Watching the little rascal running around chasing Scotch Tape (I believe that was her name) was making me smile seeing Puppy play with another of her age even though she’s, well, dead. I looked to Calamity and P-21 who were experts in their field of weaponry. That’s good because I wanted to talk about something just for me to not get bored, “So anything you two stallions want to talk about ‘cause I’m getting bored here…”
That got their attention away from the happy-go chasing children. Both looked at each other wondering which one of them wanted to start the conversation. I hated waiting for them right now… I felt Puppy poking my wings as I looked towards her, “Hey Henry! Can I join with your conversation with the two please!?”
Aw no, she’s using that Puppy-eye look on the three of us! Scotch seemed to catch on and did the same thing as well. Aw come on! Now we’re looking at double the cute looks! The two shuddered seeing the looks of those two. I wanted to slap myself just to look away from their adorable looks, “Alright! You can join in the conversation, just don’t use that look on us please!”
Both screamed out Yays! as they went on the table listening to ten conversation. Great, now I can’t talk about weapons in front of two kids here. That’d be a bad way for me to do so, “Well any of you dipsticks want to start on the conversation?” They looked at each other first and then to me before they shrugged. I facepalmed there just seeing them do that, “I hate you two so much right now…”
“Perhaps I can start on the conversation?” I turned to see the fancy alicorn with us. To this day, I still had to resist the urge to shoot her since she’s an alicorn here. I just let out a sigh as I motioned her to continue, “Thank you Henrietta how goes your day and night the five of you?”
Huh, start with a rather simple question eh? I can dig it. I looked to the other four and they didn’t seem to mind. Might as well get started instead of holding up the conversation, “Fine for the most part, got to see the little yellow rascal again.”
I saw Puppy change expression. She very much did not me calling her a rascal, “Hey! I’m not a rascal Henry! I’m a ball of fun here!”
“Oh yeah? Well you’re a rascal of fun to me! Come here you!” I grabbed her and started tickling her like crazy. For all the craziness Puppy goes through, I’d be happy to be a sister to her. She was laughing loudly as he four watching me were chuckling seeing a griffin like me doing this to a filly. Who cares what they think, I’m just glad to be able to see Pups again.
She was struggling with all of her might but I got a hold of her easily. It’s only when she begged me to stop tickling her that I put her down and let her breath. Lacunae (I think that’s her name as well, gah, I hate learning names sometimes) slowly died down her laughing, “I must admit, I’d never seen a griffin like you at all.”
P-21 (What the heck kind of name is P-21?) and Calamity were whispering to each other. I was able to overhear their conversation, “Ya think that she might be a bit cuckoo on the head? Ah’ve never seen a griffin act like that before in mah life.”
He chuckled from hearing Calamity’s response, “Calamity you know as well as I do that this is not even crazy comparing to what happened in Hoofington...”
“Well, y’all must have had one heck o’ a fighting back at the Hoof…” They were getting off-topic after that remark from Calamity.
I didn’t mind them getting off-topic, at least they get the chance to chat with one another. I looked back at Puppy and Scotch running away from each other playing tag. Lacunae walked up next to me watching the scene as well, “You enjoy seeing Puppy again do you not?”
That question was rather sudden for my griffin ears. I looked at the alicorn wondering what was with the question. She looked at me and was actually curious about me? Well, I’m not to hold back an answer, “I do… a lot actually, but why of all people, you had to ask that question?”
“Call me curious, I always have a curiosity for things like your bond between you Henrietta and Puppysmiles.” Well, I can’t argue about that logic. I looked back at the two playing around, I wonder if more children like those two would play with them?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After everyone had the chance to chat with another, some decided to return home and rest for the night. Others decided to stay inside the cave not wanting to go through more walking again, which is understandable; I’d rather not tire myself from the continuous walking. I was in Spike’s small bedroom now unused for some time. Surprisingly, most of the guests went to sleep in the cave rather than in here. I wonder why?
I was in here for the most part reading a book, not wanting to disturb everyone else’s slumber. I heard a knock on the door. Weird, I don’t remember anyone coming in here tonight except Pandora. I grabbed onto the door knob and turned it with my magic wondering who could be waiting outside. Opening the door, I saw the four mares I pulled that rather dull prank, if I say so myself, enter.
I wonder what they were doing in here. I looked back at the door also seeing Littlepip and Glory coming in as well. Why do I get the feeling that I triggered something bad with them entering? I looked at Pandora wanting an explanation about this, “Pandora, not to be rude, but what are they here for?”
The four mares had rather intimate grins on their faces… Oh dear, please tell me this is not what I am thinking of right now, “Oh you know just the usual dear Want to join in with us?”
I think I dropped my book right then and there. Sweet merciful Gods they were thinking about it! Okay admittedly I should have seen this coming but… ugh, blame my misunderstanding for how a joke works. Actually blame me for being terrible at jokes at all. I went to pick my book with my magic trying to find a way out of this situation, “Pandora, I really should not be a part of this… I’ll just be going now.”
As I was about to stand up and depart, Glimmerlight was right in front of me looking all ready to drop on me, “Now why would leave now? You started this when you said so; you might as well do as you said right?” Okay, am officially screwed right now for not thinking ahead about this. I looked at both Glory and Littlepip wondering if they were not embarrassed with me here. I got the complete opposite of embarrassed. They looked like they rather want me to stay and join in their festivities.
Aw shit, do I hate myself right now… Wait, I forgot I can teleport out of here! I let the magic course through my body to my horn as I thought of any destination out of this room. Of course that got interrupted in a painful way as I collapsed on the floor.
I was rather dizzy, but I put a hoof on my horn seeing if what I was thinking of was on it. Sure enough there was an anti-magic ring inhibitor on my horn, “Thought you might try to teleport out so I placed that on your head.”
Gee thanks Blackjack… Great, I’m stuck in a room with nothing but six mares looking rather ready to get it started already. Ugh, I hate myself right now…
Aw well, might as well satisfy their intimate desires right now. I looked at any of the mares gesturing them to remove the ring on my horn. They looked at me oddly not trusting me at all with the removal of the ring at all.
They all looked at each other debating whether to remove the ring on my head or leave it on. They did initially did decide to leave the horn but not before setting the ring to a weaker level. Well, I can’t teleport out, but I can still cast magic. Tch, really am wondering why I started that when I knew the end results?
My horn glowed as a magical aura surrounded me. As the magical aura dissipated, five duplicates of myself emerged from behind me looking at each of the mares. That spell was still taxing but I was getting the hang of it. I was not enjoying being forced to do this but too little, too late, “Let’s just get this over with okay? I’d rather read a book right now than this.
I saw all of them with grins and giving me looks of desire. Oh my lord, this is going to be something I’m going to regret for a long time.
View Online
Twelve Wasteland Days of Hearth's Warming
The Third Day: An Explosive Volleyball Matches
The Third Day
Ugh, last night did not go as I wanted it to be… I mean having to go through all of that with those six mares that are very intimate in their behaviors and motions did not help me in the slightest at all. At least I managed to satisfy their desires with a load of… I’m not even going to say anything further than that…
I got off the bed ready to clean myself up from the rather dizzying experience. The mess we made on the bed can be described by a few words: Gooey and sticky mess of the millennium… Wait, that’s more than a few words isn’t it? Damn it…
Regardless, I went to the bathroom again to clean myself up of all of what happened last night. Ay, that was not one of my better moments there… I don’t think I need to describe how good does the water feels cascading down my body right?
After a rather good shower and, I dried myself up and flew over the people sleeping heading outside. Outside the cave, it was still night out surprisingly, but that did only made me smile as I looked at the beautiful starry sky. I put a hoof in front of my vision tracing the known constellations that I can recall. So many of the beautiful stars each differing in color and brightness.
I heard the pitter, patter sounds of hoofsteps coming from behind me. I turned around to see Xenith coming, “I see that you are a lover of the stars yes?”
I chuckled a bit from hearing Xenith say that. My own name would have been a dead giveaway for the question, “Xenith, my name itself would have been enough of answer.” I saw her give out a smile as she sat next to me looking at the stars as well. This was rather odd of her to do this with me I couldn’t help but ask her about it, “Hey Xenith, why are you interested in the stars?”
I saw Xenith still for a moment. I hope I did not touch upon a sensitive topic, I’ve been known to touch upon them by accident. Xenith looked at me still retaining her smile, “I am interested because of what you are doing.”
What I was doing? Oh, she means my movements with my hooves? I can explain if she already knows it though, “Interested by what I was doing eh? Tell me, do you know what I was doing?”
She still retained her smile as she did exactly what I was doing, “Tracing the stars with your hooves and creating the constellations known in your mind yes?”
I gave a smile of my own to match hers, “Spot on Xenith, you would do this at times even with those legends?” I traced another constellation with my hooves; the shape in question was a bow and arrow, a symbol for one of bravery and love of archery.
Xenith traced out another shape for me awhile she was answering my question, “Yes… I would do this from time to time, just to past the time.” She sketched in the night sky a compass. Huh, never thought of tracing a compass before.
Another sound of approaching hoofsteps reached our ears. We both turned around to see my friends awake and smiling as they came to me. They didn’t need to explain as they begun to trace the night sky with constellations.
==========
After that whole fiasco with tracing the night sky and Xenith and my friends returning back in the cave, I stood outside for some time as I saw the morning sun rise above the cloud covers and shining over the endless sea of clouds. If there’s one thing I love being above the clouds, it is this sight you will never forget.
I heard a commotion going on inside the cave. I head inside to see some people chatting over the next event. Well, aren’t in a hurry today? Everybody looked at me wondering what today’s event should be, since when did I become the center of attention? Aw well, not like this really matters to me much anyway.
I flew up high enough for everyone to see me, “Okay, I see that everyone has managed to rest well and is waiting for me to start an event right?” Many of their heads nodded in agreement. I gave a smile seeing their response, “Well I see everyone is in agreement, I’ll tell the event but it’s an oddball… We’re playing volleyball.”
I saw mixed reactions from everyone. Some were scratching their heads in confusion; some shrugged and didn’t mind this being an oddity while others, well, was eyeing me awkwardly, “So how do we start this then?”
I smiled hearing that question from Littlepip, I explained the team set-up and the rules of the game (though I bet everybody here knows anyway). The teams were made by the four friends. Blackjack’s, Murky’s, Littlepip’s and Puppysmiles’s. My friends were getting the buffet table ready again as the game was going on. I was sitting on a chair drinking some Sparkle-Soda as the referee watching the whole event watching of any fouls and what not.
First came Blackjack’s and Littlepip’s teams. The decision was chosen by vote and surprisingly, it was unanimous for Littlepip and Blackjack’s teams to go first. This is not going to end so well… I can just feel it right now.
Littlepip got the ball and started up the serve. Ball over and I saw one serve from Blackjack and a set from Glory then P-21 delivered a spike with… a grenade attached to the ball!? To be fair, I made the ball to survive explosions and that P-21 is smart enough to not use a powerful grenade but really!?
Calamity was ready to set up the serve before the ball exploded on his face leaving a black-singed face, no flying bits, just a cartoony black face with a puff of smoke coming out of his mouth. Velvet got a towel and gave it to Calamity as he wiped his face, “Hey! Y’all ain’t supposed t’ cheat!”
I telekinetically grabbed the ball giving a death glare to P-21. An idea popped up in my head with that move and I had my most devious grin on my face. Everyone who knew that grin were very worried about what I was thinking even Spike, “Hey Spike hold onto this ball for me?” I tossed the ball to him as I tried to imagine another on front of me. Before I did however, I needed a vote on numbers, “Guys can you all make a vote on which number please?”
They all looked at each other bewildered about why this so suddenly. They did do my request with so many votes. Keeping track there were…
Seven ponies voting on seven, typical that Murky’s friends would do that. I couldn’t help but smile at that.
Two ponies voting on thirty-two… And of course that came from Blackjack and Homage even Littlepip and Glory reluctantly voted on it making that four… Poor them…
My friends voted for fifteen making that five there. The majority of the ponies voted with my friends on fifteen. Well guess I got my number then. I managed to manifest a black ball with four screens on the sphere and gave it to Blackjack which of course asked right away what it was, “What the heck is this thing? And why the numbers?”
“Just toss it at me and see for yourselves…” I ascend from the referee chair as Blackjack tossed it hard. I hit it with my hoof and the ball exploded on my face. Many of their jaws dropped from that. The smoke cleared and I was unscathed save for a face covered in black ashes. I recreated the ball and gave it to Blackjack, who was glaring at P-21. All he did was shrug much to his amusement, “The numbers by the way…” The number fifteen appeared on the two screens on the ball, “Is the number of hits you can do on the ball before it explodes.”
All participating members looked at me again with the jaw drops. Blackjack, ever so, even said it for me, “You are evil…”
“Hey, I’m evil on the mischievous side!” I pointed to Homage who was confused as to why I was pointing at her, “She’s evil on the, shall I say, kinky side!” Homage looked proud and mischievous. Littlepip on the other hand? Boy did her face have shades of red mixing together. I went back on the referee seat as I blew the whistle, “Oh and in case you guys are wondering, no worries, the ball only causes a concussive explosion that will push you guys back and make you dizzy.” I still had that devious grin on my face, “Let’s get this game going!”
“With pleasure!” Why did I get the feeling that Blackjack saying that is going to make things worse? She served the ball as it counted that hit reducing the number to fourteen. This is going to be fun! I watched the ball as Littlepip set the ball and Calamity spiking it to Blackjack’s side.
Twelve and counting. Lacunae hit the ball setting it up for a serve, too low for a spike. Rampage literally bucked the ball high enough to the air setting it for a spike to which Blackjack had the honor to do. She delivered the spike on to Littlepip’s side as Homage dived for the ball hitting it upward. Xenith (Surprised that she was having fun) set the ball for a spike again. Calamity flew up and gave one, but not before Scotch returned the shot back to Littlepip’s side.
Five hits remaining… Oh this is going to end with a literal bang soon. Littlepip dived for it this time saving the ball from landing. I saw her looking at the ball trying to remember how many hits left. She hid a grin telling me she knew as well as I do that Blackjack’s side was in for a surprise. Velvet set the upward high enough for another spike. Xenith hoped off Velvet gently as she delivered a kick to the other side.
Two more hits… Oh boy, am I going to feel very sorry for this. Rampage charged for the ball and saved it in the nick of time, little do they know, that was going to be their last hit. I can just see Littlepip’s grin getting bigger. P-21 looked at the ball for a few seconds before realizing it too late. He tried to warn Blackjack about it she but she already hit the ball.
BBBBBBOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!
The ball exploded pushing everyone about one meter back. The explosion was not bright so everyone saw the event happening. Blackjack’s whole side was clutching their heads very dizzy from that explosion each one unique to their way of clutching their heads. I couldn’t help but not burst into laughter!
==========
After Blackjack’s team recovered from the concussive explosion, both Littlepip and Blackjack’s sides left the field. The ones on the volleyball field right now are Puppysmiles’s and Murky’s team. I actually had to debate with myself on whom to give the volleyball to… In the end, I gave the ball to Puppy’s side.
I blew on the whistle as the game begins. Henry served the ball as it goes over the net and onto the other side. I saw Coral save the ball as her son watched the game being played. The ball was set and Brim immediately went for the spike. Three hits down, twelve more hits to go…
Trigger Happy dived and saved the ball from making contact with the ground. James set the ball up as Puppy, with a little help from Henry, kicked the ball sending it to the other side. Good thing we told how volleyball works otherwise, she might catch the ball. Nine hits remaining now, wonder which side the ball will explode on?
Glimmerlight was under the ball as she set the ball up. Murky flew up to the ball and served it to the other side, it was weak but what did you expect from a pegasus that’s had any time to undergo physical training?
James set the ball as Puppy raced after it and jumped up as the ball was set. Henry flew up and delivered a hard spike to the ball sending it to the other side. Four hits huh?
I watched the ball descend over Unity as she readies herself. She sets the ball as Glimmerlight jumps and spikes the ball back. Two more hits… I think I can make a guess as to whose side will get the explosive treatment.
Both Trigger and James managed to save the ball although they tumbled upon each other as the ball was set and was over the net. Puppy hopped off Henry and she went for the ball, oh dear this might not go well for her. Unbeknownst to me, Murky was flying and was reaching for the ball too.
Both were in front of the ball ready to spike. This is not going to end well for the both of them, Murky and Puppy made contact of the ball at the exact time as the number was shown in front of them being reduced to zero upon contact. In that split second, almost everyone’s reaction was of shock as the ball grew in size and was changing to an orange color.
KKKKKAAAAAABBBBBBOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!
All members of each team were pushed back by the bomb as the fell on their backs. They all stood up from that clutching their heads as their heads were dizzy. While I did laugh over seeing this again, my mind was conflicted. How do I deal with a double knockout like this? I’ve never had to deal with this situation before in this kind of volleyball game.
I was scratching my head as everyone was helping the teams recover from their dazed state. I know that Littlepip’s team won and Blackjack’s was on the loser’s bracket but how do I deal with a tie? Ugh, me repeating what I said before will not help me here. I looked at the teams seeing their recovery. I let out a sigh as I made my decision, “Well this is rather difficult for me to decide here but…”
An idea suddenly popped in my head. I looked at all four teams wondering if the sudden idea might work out or not… a smile formed on my face seeing the idea seeming to work, “On second thought, I have a better idea…” Everyone looked at me with concern in their eyes.
I grabbed the ball in my telekinesis looking at the green fifteen on the ball. I gestured the four being Littlepip, Murky, Blackjack, and Puppysmiles forward to the field. They all looked at each concerned but did do as requested. Looking back at the number, I used my magic on it to change the number of hits delivered on it.
Looking back at the four standing on the volleyball field I gestured each one of them to go to their side, Blackjack and Puppy on the left side of where I’m at and Littlepip and Murky to the right, “This will be the last game for the day guys, after this it’s all on the dinner table!”
Everyone cheered loudly seeing the table was almost finished settled up. I tossed the ball to Littlepip who like the four of them were eyeing me wondering what I did to the ball. I just shrugged there as I answered, “I increased the number of times you can hit the ball now. Instead of fifteen you get…” The ball glowed an orange color as the number changed to thirty, “Thirty hits before the ball explodes.”
All four looked at the ball first before looking at each other determined to win the game. Littlepip served the ball to the left side as Blackjack was under the ball and served it up. Puppy went under the ball as she set up the spike for Blackjack to which she proceeded to do. Four hits, twenty-six hits remaining left.
Murky was under the ball as he served the ball up. Littlepip ran towards the ball and was under it as she set the ball up. Murky flew up and tried to deliver a hard spike but Puppy intercepted the ball thanks to Blackjack. Littlepip dived for the ball saving it from touching the ground. Murky spiked the ball to the other side this time as Puppy dived for the ball. Twenty hits now remaining huh?
She managed to save the ball as it ascended into the air. Blackjack was under the ball as she set the ball for a spike. Using her magic, she lifted Puppy into the air. In front of the ball, Puppy delivered a buck to the ball sending almost to the end of the field. Seventeen hits left, oh boy they are being serious about this.
Murky dived saving the ball in time before it made contact setting it for a spike. Littlepip boosted herself with magic as she soared spiking the ball hard. Both Puppy and Blackjack were running to save the ball. They managed to get under the ball and send it up before they tumbled on each other. Fourteen hits left and things are already starting to heat up if it wasn’t already…
Both of them managed to untangle themselves as Puppy managed to set the ball in time. Blackjack readied herself for a spike, but Murky delivered the spike before Blackjack did. Puppy dived for the ball setting it up once again. Blackjack this time managed to deliver a hard spike as it was heading for Littlepip. She braced herself as she managed to hit the ball and served it up. Ten more hits and soon that ball will explode…
Murky flew and delivered a hard spike sending to the opponent’s side. Blackjack was under the ball and served it up. Puppy was under and set the ball for a spike. Blackjack was running towards and was only able to serve the ball to the other side. Seven hits left, and I’m already getting tense from wondering who is going to win.
Murky was under the ball and immediately set the ball for a spike. Littlepip jumped and delivered a hard spike but was intercepted by Blackjack as she returned the ball back. Murky dived for the ball sending it up. As Murky was recovering from that, Littlepip set the ball up for another spike. Murky flew up and delivered a spike passing Blackjack as she was trying to intercept the ball. Two hits, oh dear lord I think Littlepip’s side is going to win!
Puppy was beneath the ball and set the ball for one final spike. Blackjack pulled Puppy besides her as she jumped for the spike. Littlepip and Murky also joined in the jump to send the ball to the other side. The ball was under the net and very close to me as all four inched closer trying to hit the ball. As they made contact with the ball, the ball was glowing orange. I joined in the four’s shock as the ball exploded sending all five of us back.
The referee chair dropped down with me as I collapsed on the floor. A ringing sound was emitting from my ears as I stood up and was clutching my head from the explosion. My vision was a bit foggy but I can hear sounds of everyone cheering at first and then hoofsteps assisting all of us up.
All five of our visions and hearing was returning back to us as we stood up on all four legs. After the rather dizzying experience, all of us looked at each other for some time before bursting into laughter. It was rather sudden but did all of us need a good laugh. I wiped a few tears away from the uproarious laughter as we saw the food finished being prepared for the dinner. Well, guess this night was better than the last.
View Online
Twelve Wasteland Days of Hearth's Warming
The Fourth Day: Songs and Interface Craziness
The Fourth Day
After everyone ate the respective food and fell asleep in the cave (I’m surprised everyone fell asleep in here rather than their homes, guess they were that tired), I retreated to the bedroom to read up on some books. Yeah, I can officially call myself the historical geek to complete the list of friends here, not that it bothered me anyway. Checking upon the calendar that hanged over the door, tomorrow was to be the fourth day. So far, if I remembered right, we had played snowball, a weird case of volleyball, and simply chatted with one another. I wonder what's the next best thing in mind all of us could do?
Well, I definitely do recall Blackjack being able to play the double-bass (or was it a cello, a basonet? I can't tell the difference sometimes) so maybe all of us could probably try to play songs for tomorrow? If that were to be the case, I know what instrument I'm playing! I felt a small smile forming upon my face. Tomorrow would be a blast if this goes well. As unlikely as that is, who knows? Although I might have to teach some of them how to play an instrument with the exception of Velvet, she can just utilize her voice fine or can everyone decide to sing?
In any case, I need to prepare for tomorrow's event. Though as much as I want to do it now, sleep was beginning to claim me and I could not deny its offer. I yawned loudly as I closed the historical book I was reading. I lay down on Spike's bed. Funny, this bed was his when he was still a little dragon and now look at him. Big and strong, this bed was just likely another faint reminder of the past. I was thinking a bit much there. I let my eyelids close as my thoughts drifted into slumber. I wonder how tomorrow with music would be like? Maybe a whole compilation of songs from everyone. Hehe, that'd be the day.
==========
After a well-rested slumber that was ruined by someone rudely awakening me, I groaned in protest as I opened my eyes. Much to my surprise, it was Puppysmiles who woke me up, "Come on Mister Zodiac, you're going to miss out on the party again!" She was hopping on my chest in case you're wondering how she rudely awaken me. I swear she was named like that for the sole reason of always bringing a smile to even the grouchy people like me right now.
I smiled (as expected when around Puppysmiles) as I got off the bed. I delivered quite a loud yawn while covering my mouth in a sequential pattern. After the yawn slowly died down, I turned to look at Puppysmiles who was still running around and playing with the toys. I'm not going to even ask where the toys came from. Amongst all the toys was a toy instrument. My suddenly clicked as I recalled from yesterday night, "Hey Puppy, think you can tell everyone that we're planning to play instruments and sing?"
Her eyes gleamed at the idea of playing instruments and singing with everybody. Without even a single answer, she darted out of the room to deliver the news. You know, I'm starting to think she's Pinkie Pie reincarnated and fillified if that's even a word to begin with... In any case, I should start getting ready to teleport back and forth to gather the instruments. I wonder how the others are doing. Dah, less talk more doing please! Also, where the heck is the camera going to?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Why is there a camera watching me? Oh whatever, at least I get to converse my thoughts at least. Today just seems like a weird day for all of us… I was keeping watch of my brother competing against Calamity (for possibly the third time today…) in a sharpshooting contest. Other hardened shooters like Henrietta, Blackjack, basically those who could shoot sans Littlepip, joined in their contest.
I sat down on the long table messing with whatever needed my attention alongside Glimmerlight and Glory. I was rather surprised that Glimmer was a tinker like the two of us. Guess things will still surprise everyone sometimes. Scotch and P-21 were chatting I guess? I can only make a guess what with their mouths moving a bit.
Xenith was with Brimstone oddly alongside Murky as they were having a conversation. On what topic though, I don’t know. Rampage and Psychoshy (I wonder how she got here…) were of course, fighting rough on each other as Stygius and Lacunae just watched them oddly enough. I will admit that it was rather amazing to see a threstral with my own eyes. Aura and Unity were chatting with one another about apparently their experiences, not so sure why.
Velvet and Noir were waiting outside of a door where, if you were to use the process of elimination with the names I’ve said so far, you can bet that both Littlepip and Homage are… I got off by a muffled scream as I turned to the door where my changeling friend was apparently smiling while Velvet could only look in confusion. I’m going to make a guess that scream belonged to you know who. Goodness though, how do those two even have the time to be doing all of that and still go at it?
Right, getting off-topic, need to focus on the three of us tinkering with whatever was in front of us. I wonder what is taking Zodiac so long though to get out of the bedroom. I hope Puppysmiles managed to deliver the news right now, I’d hate for him to sleep through the whole fourth day right now. Just as I thought of that, I saw her coming forward with a big smile as she saw me. Whenever she has that big of a smile rivaling Pinkie’s, I know that something peaked her interest greatly (in fact, I think anything would get her attention a lot). She came running towards me rather fast then promptly delivered the news to me, “Mister Zodiac is awake Miss Harmony! He said to tell you that we’re all going to be playing instruments and sing today!”
Singing? Playing instruments? That sounds like something I could enjoy, maybe alongside Velvet and Calamity as we sing away. I saw Blackjack turning towards the filly in the suit, her eyes looking… like she wanted to join? What, can she… oh wait; she can play the cello or was it a double bass? Damn it, I got to ask her someday about what string instrument she’s playing… Course the first one to make a remark about this would be the scrupulous mare next to me, “Wait, we’re going to sing and play instruments today?” I saw her flash a sincere yet devious smile. I knew well enough that this is going to have both good and bad results, “Well what are we waiting for!? I want to get singing right away now!”
To be honest, I want to as well but we all knew that we had to wait for Zodiac before we start singing and dancing. Luckily, he came forward with instruments on his back with a pop while wearing a sincere grin, “Sorry for not being here on time, but I had to grab a few instruments for us to play with…”
I could only smile as I looked at the set of instruments he bought. Surprisingly, he bought every known instrument that any one of us could play. And he managed to gather all of those instruments in a span of a few seconds. That’s something I didn’t expect, even from my alicorn friend… I saw him looking around though why was the main question. He answered that for all of us, “Where’s Littlepip and Homage? I don’t want them to miss out on this…” I heard Glimmerlight snicker as she pointed a hoof at the direction of a door where Velvet and Noir were at.
He raised an eyebrow much to his confusion for a second before realization dawned upon him. He could not help but let a smirk form as he stepped forward right next to Velvet and Noir. The mare thought if a good time to leave as she went to check out the instruments. I did too as I released my tools from my magic and went to check out the current instruments. I saw almost everyone rummaging through the mess trying to find something they could play.
My brother Epsilon was checking through the instruments when a smile formed upon his face. Before long, he pulled a trombone, “Oh, my favorite instrument in my hooves!” He put his mouth on the blow… thingy (I am not well-versed into instruments) and blew as he played a familiar tune. He smiled as he left with the trombone. Blackjack apparently already has her cello as Lacunae gave it to her (possibly from her teleport to their location and grabbing it for her). I just watched the scene playing out as we waited for the two couples locked in the room to come out. Speaking of which, I wonder how that’s going right now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
While everyone else was getting instruments and playing round with them, I was with Noir outside the door awaiting those two to be finished. You know, I really do wonder how the heck those two even keep this up. Not wanting to wait any longer, I just knocked on the door. Noir snickered as she left, leaving me to pick up the slack (I can tell she clearly enjoyed feeding on their intimate love). I waited and wondered if there was going to be a response. A few minutes have passed and nothing yet and even everyone was getting bored of waiting.
I banged hard on the door three times hoping that got their attention. There was no way they could not have heard those bangs. I heard some shuffling accordingly alongside some crashing sounds like those of bookshelves tumbling down. That made me somewhat worried there. Without any permission from the two of them (knowing I will regret that), I slowly opened the door. The room was rather dark much to my bewilderment. At least that answers one question as to those crashing sounds though why in the dark. Are they trying something to hurt themselves with or something?
I heard the sounds of moaning as I saw the forms of both Homage and Littlepip getting out of their precarious position. I could only chuckle as I grabbed them with my magic and lifted them back on all four of their feet. I did initially wonder what they were doing (besides the plain obvious that lingered in my thoughts) so I ended up asking, “What were you two doing in here? Besides the possible obvious answer…” The two of them were looking at me like I asked a silly question. I decided to not bother about it right now as I went straight for the news, “All of us are waiting for you right now… we’re singing and playing instruments today.”
That got them out of their predicament as they tried, emphasis on tried , to go pass me and head towards the instruments. That was a bit out of their character now that I think about it, or was it just me? Right I’m thinking too much right now, let’s just get this started right now, I really want to play on my favorite instrument today. I stepped out of the room and saw almost everyone holding instruments and playing with them, heck even Puppysmiles was somehow playing an instrument despite her helmet or both Rampage and Psychoshy playing them at all is something to behold (although I do see them looking ready to whack each other with their instruments).
My smile was beginning to grow on me as everyone was chatting and playing around with glee. After all of this, I wonder what we can do tomorrow. Anyway, I’m getting off-topic time to start this fiasco, “Well it looks likes everyone wants to join in playing and singing eh?” They all turned to me with rather big smiles on their faces. I almost shuddered a bit, I felt like I was watching a case of uncanny valley…
In any case, they all clearly wanted to have some fun with this as many spoke out quickly deciding which song to play that featured all of them. This of course led to a small yet increasing argument about what songs to play in general. I looked at Homage wondering if should be able to pick us a song we could play and unfortunately, she too was rather picky on which song to play… I let out a sigh. Looks like I’ll have to decide which song then. Suddenly, my mind clicked as a few songs came forward. One of them made me smile as I imagined events foretelling with said song playing as the background.
My favorite instrument came as last in this song but not that it matters anyway. My smile lingered as I saw a nearby gong. I grabbed the stick and pounded on the gong once. That managed to get everyone’s attention as they turned towards the direction of the sound specifically me. My smile was enough to tell them that I had some good news, “Okay since everyone was arguing about which song to play first, I’ll be the first to decide and I already got a song that features all the instruments here.”
Many looked at their instruments and then towards me with a sense of understanding. Some did decide to ask what to do after the first song. I just shrugged and told them after this, anyone can suggest a song to play. They all cheered as they went to get themselves ready. I looked towards Homage with an idea in mind, “Say Homage, think it’s allowed to play inside Tenpony Tower like an orchestra?”
She turned towards me with a smile seeing what I had in mind, “Sure! If we’re going to do it for fun, might as well let them see us playing huh?” I nodded in agreement. I looked at my hooves and imagined some sheets of paper that would teach everyone here how to play the song we’re all going to do. In a few seconds, a humongous stack of papers was in front of me. Good thing these are strapped down with a string or else these things would fall down on me. I lowered them on the ground and looked at Homage again before telling everyone, “Everyone! I got sheet paper here for the song we’re all going to play! I’d recommend--” Everyone got the idea as they grabbed the papers in a rush to learn quickly. I chortled a bit there, “Never mind, looks like you guys and girls got the idea.” Before they got the chance to study, all of them were enveloped in my magical aura. Immediately after seeing the aura once, they all got teleported without a much of dizziness or a burnt body. They looked to see they were in Tenpony Tower much to their surprise. One look at me and many were able to get an understanding as to why and returned to studying the music chosen.
“When you all are done, tell me so we can get to play the song!” I said out loud for them. They did get the idea but I felt it needed to be repeated just in case. I decided to sit down and wait it out. My smile was still there just imagining all of us playing the song. As long as they get to have some fun playing their chosen instruments, I won’t argue much. I pulled out a book and continued to read it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
An hour into practicing
Well isn’t this great? I get to play Octavia’s cello again (or was it… I don’t even know) this time without so much craziness around me or the three ponies here with me. I was looking at the sheet music and trying to get it just right. Let’s just say that is easier said than done. Looking ahead, I saw many of my friends practicing their instruments with different groups. Not that I’m complaining but it feels weird to not have them around you know? Instead I got Littlepip and Puppysmiles here which is kind of ironic considering how much shit the three of us went though.
Anyway, the three of us were doing you know what with our instruments when Puppy here bought up something I (and probably everyone else here) didn’t have in mind, “So what song are we going to play!? I want to know!” She was hopping around like a rabbit gone drunk. Okay, that was a thing the world was not meant to enjoy there.
Both me and Littlepip were looking at each other kind of agreeing with what Puppy here had to say. I looked at the music sheet to find… no damn title of the song we’re playing? What the hell? I got cut off my thoughts as Littlepip bought my attention, “So what song are all of us playing?” I just gave her the music sheet as my answer. She saw the same thing and matched my look. How are we supposed to know what song are we playing when there isn’t a damn title for the song?
I did see everyone gather around Zodiac in question. Whether to ask what the song is or they’re done practicing (which we probably all are again), the three of us decided to join in. Getting close, I can hear their questions and almost every one of them was about the name of the song. Eeyup, everyone here is confused alright. Hey, what is there a camera looking at me? Wait a minute, why is there a camera watching me? Wait, don’t tell me… Hey, come back here you! Did you record me struggling with all the trouble or…? Oh Goddess’s sake don’t tell me… you did!? Come back here and let me erase those then!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Welp, the camera’s back pointing at me and why is Blackjack charging at me? Wait! Don’t…! I did not get a chance to say anything else as she tackled me down hard. Everyone saw that and was confused what that was all about. I just got up holding onto my head from the collision while Blackjack was looking around like crazy and asking the one question I didn’t expect to hear, “Where the heck is the bloody damn camera!?”
Well, that pretty much answered my question as to why the take down. As for the camera, I do wonder why that exists in the first place and now it’s invisible to everyone but me. I just go up and wiped off the dust on my body while putting a hoof on her shoulder, “Hey no worries, I’ll be certain to delete whatever was recorded in that camera Blackjack ‘cause right now it’s following me…”
She looked at my general direction then at me in confusion, “But… I don’t see the camera that was following you…”
I just shook my head as I understood why, “Invisible to everyone but the person it decides to track, in this case it’s me…” Blackjack could only let her jaw drop from the revelation before grumbling a bit over the news now, “Like I said, I’ll delete whatever it recorded and you won’t have to worry.” In actuality, I can’t delete the progress once it records, only watch it again from someone else’s perspective. So in this case, I was partially lying. Partially, because only the person it recorded can see the events again so it was a win-loss situation.
She just grumbled again before returning back with the crowd, poor Blackjack. You know, I wonder what the heck did the camera recorded. Knowing her probably some gory stuff alongside maybe a few of those scenes with intercourse… Wait, what the heck am I saying!? I shook my head wildly returning back to the topic at hand, “Okay sorry about that everyone, but no worries since every one of you has managed to practice, I’ll mention the name of the song we’re all playing… right after we play it of course.” They all looked at each other at first before they all shrugged not minding this at all. For some odd reasons, they gathered in a way of an orchestra would be when facing a crowd. I doubt that was coincidence but still weird…
Anyway, we’ve managed to practice enough for today, let’s getting playing with the song I’ve chosen. I saw some of the ponies living here bringing in a piano per my request. It looked rather worn but that’s mostly because no one’s played one of these in a long time. As they managed to set it down just right, I looked who was my flute player to surprisingly find Puppysmiles was chosen as one. How the heck is she able to play it is beyond my understanding but it didn’t bother me too much I hope?
I pulled her forward and on top of the piano as she was overlooking the crowd of ponies gathered. A smile formed as she was center attention. I let a smile as I looked at everyone with instruments and they were all getting ready to play. Well, no time to waste waiting now. I looked at the filly in the suit and poked her helmet trying to get her attention. She turned at me with glee. Goodness, is she trying to kill me with adorableness? In any case, I went to ask her, “You remember how the flute is supposed to be played and sound like, because I’m counting on you Puppy as our leading musician.”
She was nodding her head and let a big smile form as she played the flute (again how?) with the notes corresponding with the song chosen. Alright, looks like she knows though I had to smile in return both for seeing this filly being able to play the flute of all things and for her excitement. Well, we waited long enough, I gestured everyone to ready themselves. They responded and bought their instruments up and ready to go. Well, it’s now or never. I waved a hoof around for everyone while counting down for Puppy. Just as I got to zero, the filly closed her eyes and begun to play the flute.
At the three second mark of the flute, all instruments save the piano played with it as a slow start. On the five second mark, I joined in and the song begun. The flute stopped exactly when it should. I smiled to Puppy seeing that he got the song just right, this might end up going well for all of us then. At the twenty-seven mark, the filly played the flute again with me continuing. We kept at this for awhile until the forty-five second mark where the instruments were slowly joining us until the one minute mark where they fully joined.
The flute went silent and the instruments joined in with me on the piano. We kept this up again and just as all of us hit the crescendo at the halfway mark of the first minute, I was playing the piano in I believe a moderato speed. The instruments backing me up were getting louder and more pronounce and just at the two minute mark, the flute joined in proudly and all of us ascended high in volume and speed. We continued on with the song and right at the halfway mark of the two minutes, the speed and volume rose up high.
All of us kept up with the current speed right about three minutes into the song and we did a big crescendo and I believe are running on adagio in speed. All of us were into the song; many did not spoke any words at all, just playing our instruments with precision. Halfway into the three minutes of the song, all of us boomed loudly. The crowd was watching with awe as we continued to play the song itself. I was rather surprised to see Puppy so focused into the song that she was not hopping around like she was usually.
At the peak of the song in volume and speed, all of us played together and we were very into the song that we, almost in a literal sense, soared high up. We continued and were reaching the resolution of the song. All the instruments quieted down almost immediately leaving me alone to play the piano. Around thirty seconds, I continued playing it and soon Puppysmiles joined in with the flute and the rest of the instruments as well. At the resolution of the song, I finished play the piano with a few final notes as well as the instruments slowly lowering their volume and thus ending the song.
All of us apparently closed our eyes at the ending part. We opened our eyes to see the crowd clapping their hooves slowly before cheering us proudly. We all smiled as we stood up and delivered a bow to the crowd. Puppy was a bit late, but she got into it just right. After the bow though, all of us were hugging each other with the success of the song. It felt good to get it done right the first time eh? I felt a hoof poking my shoulder and I got embraced by Puppysmiles, “That was fun Mister Zodiac!”
I smiled as I hugged her back and lowered her down, “It was wasn’t it?” She nodded with glee and was hopping around like she would do. Suddenly, something clicked in my head and I lapped my forehooves together. I looked behind me and slowly everyone remembered as well as they looked at me, “I almost forgot to keep my promise there…” Okay using the word promise was kind of ironic considering the name of the son itself, “The name if the song you all played was called The Other Promise . It’s a song that I love to play and hear considering who and what it represents.”
I was scratching my head and chuckled a bit before everyone joined in. After all of the hugging and what-not, the crowd behind us wanted another son being played from us. I looked at everyone and they gestured me to consider the next song. Well, there is another song in mind but… “Velvet, mind being the lead singer for the song I have in mind? For the backup singers, I need all participants to be mares while we stallions take over the instruments.” Many did find that a bit offensive though they were clearly joking as they did not mind at all. For the mares, I waved to come around me. Since we haven’t got a chance to practice singing this song and the crowd wasn’t going to be patient for us (I could be wrong but you never know), I casted a memory spell on them as the lyrics of the song in mind was etched into their thoughts as well as the right tone and volume for them.
It was a dizzying experience but it was successful as they nodded and clearly were liking the lyrics and sing in mind. I pointed and the bleachers for the backup singers and they responded. I was rather a bit surprised that Littlepip joined in quickly though I soon noticed her being nervous and all. The other mares comforted her to the best of their abilities and soon she was not shaking too much (though I think she still is nervous from the fact that it’s all mares I think). I looked at Velvet who was as confident as ever as the lights focused on her.
I looked at all the current stallions as I gave them the same treatment with the mares only with instruments being played. They nodded and with a smile went to their selected instrument of choice as I was behind the piano again. I looked at the crowd first and decided to tell them anyway, “Since all of you want another song, I had t be quick and do all of what I need is necessary. I honestly was planning to leave with just one song but you all want another huh?” The crowd’s cheer was deafening and everybody here was clearly enjoying it. Well, that answers that question, “Well be lucky that I managed to come with another song for you people and that Velvet is the leading pony here. So without further waiting and ado, I represent the next song, Star Sky .”
While the name was questionable, the tone of the song was not so. I started playing the piano and the instruments joined in as well. Just at the fifteen second mark, the instruments boomed in volume and speed. After this went to the thirty second mark, it was just me playing the piano and Velvet beginning to sing…
Here we are, riding the sky, painting the night… with the Sun… You and I, mirrors of light, twin flames of fire, lit in another time and place… I knew your name; I knew your face, your love and grace… Past and present now embrace, worlds collide in inner space… Unstoppable, the songs we play
As she said that last line, all instruments boomed loudly and synchronized with both the main and backup singers in what I can describe as an otherworldly sensation…
Burn the page for me, I cannot erase the time of sleep… I cannot be loved so set me free… I cannot deliver your love or caress your soul, so turn the page for me… I cannot embrace the touch that you give… I cannot find solace in your words I cannot deliver your love or caress your soul…
As they finished the repeating chorus, the instruments died again leaving me with playing the piano and Velvet leading again with the next set of lyrics…
Age to age, I feel the call… Memory of future dreams… You and I, riding the sky, keeping the fire bright from another time and place… I know your name; I know your face, your touch and grace… All of time cannot erase what our heart remembers stays... Forever on a song we played!
Burn the page for me, I cannot erase the time of sleep… I cannot be loved so set me free… I cannot deliver your love or caress your soul, so turn the page for me… I cannot embrace the touch that you give… I cannot find solace in your words I cannot deliver your love or caress your soul…
At that final lyric, every instrument played together and went to finish the song. All of us were playing away with our instruments as the lights focused on us this time. What felt like a minute has passed and we already reached the finale of the song. We managed to finish off our song and the crowd as well s ourselves cheered loudly. Today with songs was definitely going to be a night I will enjoy a lot more than expected.
Twelve Wasteland Days of Hearth's Warming
The Fifth Day: Game Fananza!
The Fifth Day
Yesterday at Tenpony Tower playing song after song after song until all of us were too tired to even continue was probably one of my favorite days. I’m not so sure if another will top it or what. All of us ended up sleeping in Tenpony Tower once we were done playing instruments and singing which is a given considering we played until almost the next day. Again I was the first to be awoken early but that didn’t bother me much considering its normal for me now. Looking around, I saw many of the friends and family members sleeping together in relative peace. Course we were in the main square of the tower but that didn’t bother the citizens as they all smiled at us, I think.
So what to do next now that I’m awake? Since we’re here in Tenpony Tower maybe we could… Hmm, do we have any video game consoles? I’ve never really bothered with that idea ever since I first stepped in this world but now that I think about it, with the advent of a technological boom, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was such a thing if only to keep spirits or something up. Better ask Homage about it soon when she wakes up. I think I might try it out depending on certain circumstances.
Hovering above everyone asleep and to the other side of them, I decided to go to the library just to relieve some time and wait for everyone to wake up. My mind was being questionable right now but I decided to just do what my mind has in store and try to read some random books for now. I landed all four feet on the floor scanning around the library for a specific aisle. Looking around a bit, I let a form smile as I found what I was looking. Walking towards said aisle, I shuffled through the shelves and gathered some books and put them on a nearby table. One that was done; I walked to the table, sat down and went to reading.
I let out a yawn as I was flipping through the first book. Looking at the direction where everyone fell asleep, they were still asleep. The clock revealed that it was almost morning soon. I wondered whether I should wake them up or let the Sun awaken them. Well, I’m hoping that the first pony to be awoken would be Homage but you never know who is going to get up. To my surprise, I felt a hoof on my shoulder. Looking as said hoof, the color definitely matched that of Homage and behold, she was right behind me with a smile, “What are you reading today?”
Huh, change of topic today? Oh well, at least she’s awake though when was the question, “Oh just some random book involving technology and what-not. Say Homage, when did you wake up? I think I saw with Littlepip right?” I looked at the crowd of sleeping friends and family to find... her not there apparently.
I looked at Homage to see her chuckle a bit from me checking, “I woke up a bit early as well, though I got beat when I saw you in the library reading something. You sure are an early bird huh?”
I just shrugged from my wake-up call, “Hey can’t help it, millennia of battles would do that to you…” She put a hoof over her mouth and let a small laugh escape. I smiled in return to the chuckle though I did remember what I wanted to ask her, “Oh! Homage, do we have a video game console still functioning or something? I have an idea what we can do today but I want to know if we have at least a functioning one…”
The… I have no idea what I should call Homage, maybe the Littlepip embarrassment or intercourse machine? Anyway, she was looking at me in confusion for awhile. I pulled the book forward and pointed to the contraption in question. She stared at it for awhile with her hoof on her chin until she looked at me, “I think I have one like this in the storage, I can take a look if you like but… I do know that we don’t have game disks so what do you have in mind if no game disk?”
I let a smirk of mine form. She saw at first looked at me in bafflement before joining in my smirk, “Got the idea huh? I happened to have a few game disks saved with me during my adventures though the characters in mind are not ponies…”
She just continued to smile as she pulled me, “Oh no worries, I don’t think that won’t be a bother as long as you got something to keep us entertained. You’re going to have to help me though find it since you suggested it in the first place.”
I just shrugged as I followed Homage to the storage. Before I forget though, “Can I suggest setting this up in the room where you had dinner with Blackjack’s company?” She nodded as we ascended up some stairs and to the storage. That felt a little quick though I was probably thinking of things so the ride was rather short to me at least.
Having walked to the storage in question, the two of us were rummaging through all the organized clutter (that was rather ironic considering the words) trying to find the game console. I flapped my wings trying to get rid of the dust gathering on some of the old relics. Now considerably, they’re not that old but in my case, I can’t tell whether or not they are old as the dust is or not. In any case, it took us awhile trying to find it. Looking through some of the items form the past, I had to sigh from both not finding the thing in question but for also seeing all of this gathering dust. I do wonder if there was a chance to let all this shine again in the current present. My thoughts got interrupted by Homage shuffling through the things here and gasping. I looked to see her trying to reach something. I was next to her as I used my magic to grab whatever she was trying to reach. To our joy, we managed to find the console, “Well we found it, but I wonder if it still works?”
I scratched my head as soon as Homage asked that question. She did bring up a good point about it at least. I looked back where we found it to see four controllers available. Grabbing them with my magic and the console, we both went to the room in question. I hope they have a television here because then all of us wouldn’t be able to play you know? By the time we arrived at our destination, that question was pretty much answered in the form of a big screen TV. Since when did they have such a big television?
I was getting rather lost in things. I looked to see Homage grabbing the console with her magic and begun to set it up as she handled the wires and all the gist of technological knowledge that I lack for the moment still. I pulled out a random book from my thoughts and went to reading it (in case anyone’s wondering, I conjured it up from my thoughts). I sat down and waited as I reading while Homage was setting it up. It took some time before she said that she was done, “All done!” I looked to see the console ready to go. The next process was pretty much what we both thought of, “Now let’s see if this works still.” She pushed the button and at first, there was no indicator of it working. We both scowled a bit before the power button emitted a blue glow. Looking at the TV screen we saw the console working in full effect. I couldn’t help but hug Homage tightly a bit to which she just took it in stride. I let go of her and scratched my head while blushing in embarrassment. She only chuckled as we looked at the progress, “Well since this is working now, what game disks do you have in mind?”
I let a smile form this time as I conjured up I believe as man disks as I can think of, “A whole lot of them we can try…” She kept her smile as I showed her the games in mind and she went to teach me about the basic gist of the controllers. We can wait for the others to wake up anyway. I’m sure the Sun would like to wake them up from their slumber.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ugh, no lights please. I hate waking up with the Sun shining on my face sometimes… I had to open one of my eyes slowly to adjust to the brightness. I can’t believe we all sang and played instruments for the whole night. Admittedly, I was rather nervous about singing with just mares when that song I think it’s named Star Sky came up. I think I felt heat coming up on my face from the idea of being surrounded by just mares (and one filly, I almost forgot about Puppysmiles). Even if it was just singing, the idea was rather um… awkward I guess?
At least I can confirm one thing; everyone else is getting up no thanks to the Sun. Sometimes, I think Princess Celestia likes to spite us out of enjoyment even as a hologram. In any case, I got up from my rather comfortable sleep. That’s a little odd but my mind was less focused on that. I was more on wondering where Homage is. Three of my friends were still sleeping and the many new friends here are as well leaving both her and Zodiac if I were to use the process of elimination.
Speaking of them, where are they? If I were Homage, where would I go? Well, there are three places in mind I could think of. It would be either the top floor of the radio tower, the bedroom of hers, or in that room where my friends and Blackjack’s friends came together to eat up. I decided to go to that dinner area first before the others. Well, up the elevator I go. I wonder what those two were doing since they were the earliest to wake up. I really hope that they weren’t… No! What I am I saying!? There’s no way that they would go right for it! Ugh, I’ve been hanging around Homage too long to get anything involving her out of my thought now.
The elevator ride to the floor where that room is felt like it was going on forever especially with those thoughts lingering in my mind. It finally stopped at my location. The doors opened and I tried to locate the room in question. I found the room and was about to enter until I heard a conversation going on inside. I can tell from the voices that it was Homage and Zodiac but what the conversation was about left me wishing I didn’t hear it, “You sure about this Homage? I mean you realize that you’re sitting right on top of me right?”
“Uh huh, but I don’t mind as long as we’re having fun right?” I heard the both of them chuckle as I was met with silence. Celestia’s burning plot, are those two having… sex with each other!? I felt my face heating up from the idea of those two going along with that. Oh Goddesses, why did I have to stumble upon this conversation!?
I was about to leave with a blushing face until I heard the conversation going on after a few seconds of silence, “You know, it would much more fun if Littlepip and Blackjack were here to play along right? Not ignoring the others mind you but those two know when to have fun…”
“Hmm… good point, should I get those two right now?” Now I felt my face getting even hotter by the second!
“Maybe, but let’s wait it out a bit. I want to finish this right now before we get them okay?” Oh my goodness when will this end?
“Sure, then all of us can play together.” Another chuckle came from them and then silence. I need to leave, like right now! Going back to the first floor pronto please! Before I could even get the chance to go back, I ran into something in my embarrassment that left a loud enough of a sound. I stared at the thing for so long until I broke out of it by someone I didn’t wish to hear, “Did you hear that?”
Luna’s tight flank, I am so doomed, “Yeah I did, is someone awake?” I heard hoofsteps coming towards the door, each step louder than the last. Need to hide, need to hide, need to hide! I was looking around the floor frantically, trying to find a good area to hide myself quickly form Zodiac. In the split second of searching, I found and suddenly dived towards the hiding spot of choice. I don’t even know what I’m hiding in but I better hope it works.
I heard the door open behind me as I stood stiff still. I was so nervous on not being founded I didn’t get the chance to hear Zodiac question me at first. It was the second time he asked the same question while poking… whatever he was poking at, “Littlepip, what are you doing hiding in a pot?” It took me awhile to respond to my predicament.
Apparently, I was in fact hiding inside a pot of sorts. I guess my diminutive size managed to almost fit inside the pot. My head popped out of it, my face wearing a sheepish grin on my face, “Uh, hi there Zodiac. How goes the day?” I am so doomed.
Homage came out of the room as well and was looking at me with one of her patented sultry looks and confusion? Okay, the sultry understandable given this is me she’s giving it to but why the confusion? I felt magic surrounding me as I saw Zodiac pulling me out of the cramped pot. It took some time before he managed to do so while setting me down on the floor. Before I could answer his question though, Homage came forward with her question that made more heat rise towards my face, “And what’s my little lightbringer doing up here?”
I was left stammering because of Homage. I saw Zodiac shaking his head and sighing before he begun to laugh, “Homage, do you always leave Littlepip stammering every day or so?” She just shrugged with a satisfied yet mischievous grin on her face. My face was getting even hotter than normal again!
I wanted to leave so badly but another voice intruded in behind me, “So what’d I miss this time?” Luna’s merciful moon, why her of all times? I turned around to see Blackjack looking at me alongside Murky and Puppysmiles. I felt like I was beginning to shrink under all of this attention.
It took me a long while to get out of my predicament with an answer to Zodiac’s question, “I… was looking for the two of you.” I saw Zodiac raise an eyebrow while Homage just continued to give me her sultry look, “I overheard a conversation between the two of you… did you two have um…” I put my two front hooves in front of me and imitated someone going through… you know what. Though Blackjack and Murky were confused as to what it means and Puppy was imitating what I was doing because it looked fun to her, Homage and Zodiac slowly had realization dawned upon them. I felt heat rising on my face as they looked at each other than towards me. I guess they wanted confirmation on what they’re thinking. Before I asked them, I gestured to Puppy. They were able to understand quickly and covered her ears so she doesn’t hear the question. She was pouting from not being able to hear the question but at least she can see. I asked away, “Have you two… um--” That last part when by so fast only Zodiac got it quickly, “Just had sex with each other?”
I saw Zodiac gesturing Homage to come nearby. He whispered and I saw her slowly wearing a grin that just screamed yes to me. She looked at me and with a slow raise of a hoof on Zodiac’s body, “Yes we did have sex.” I only saw her sly grin before I blacked out from that statement.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What? I was looking at the down Littlepip then at the two of them. Murky was so caught off by that, I didn’t notice him having a gaping mouth. She chuckled though as I saw zodiac coming forth, “She was just teasing her Blackjack, we didn’t actually have intercourse…” That right there, I let myself snicker a bit before falling to the floor laughing hard.
The little pegasus was looking at me in confusion as I was pounding on the floor. My laughter slowly died off as I managed to get up from that and wiped a tear of joy away from my eye, “Oh my God… That was a good laugh there. I really needed that.” I saw Littlepip surrounded by Zodiac’s magical aura and was floated right onto his back. I don’t know why but I think I might enjoy this day then yesterday night. Eh, who knows though? Homage definitely shared in my laughter there for a second before gesturing us to the big room.
I followed and what came sure as hell surprised all of us. I was so stunned that zodiac noticed it fairly quickly as he lowered Littlepip down, “Like it? Today, I was thinking of playing some video games today and lucky that I have a few games in mind.”
Zodiac’s smile was beginning to get rather big on me. I swear whatever is in his mind is making him Pinkie-level of excited and it kind of makes me both giddy and nervous. His smile returned to normal levels (thank Celestia) as he turned his attention to Littlepip. From out of nowhere (where does he get the stuff?), a bucket appeared next to his head. Slowly it turned down to Littlepip as tiny drops of whatever liquid thing (I hope that’s water) dripped on her head. One drop, two drop, three drop, four drop, five drop, sixth drop, seven being the lucky number as her eyes were fluttering open, “Ugh, can you please stop dripping water on me?” She fell back into unconsciousness again. All of waited a bit wondering if she was going to wake up again. She did just that except she jerked up in shock and I think I saw a bit of awe behind that surprise? The surprise came first and of course, it was about hearing those two having sex. I couldn’t help but let out a snicker again as she was stammering again, “Oh... oh my Goddesses, I… I… I…” Silence was made before she responded, “Xenith was right, I am so doomed…”
Again I fell backwards and laughed hard. Puppy saw it and she too found it funny as she was laughing with me though it’s probably because she found it just funny. Both Murky and Homage saw it being funny no and let a little chuckle escape. Zodiac chuckled as well but was already popping in the first game of the day. Me and Puppy were hugging each other while laughing before we calmed ourselves and let go. I managed to get just as our alicorn was picking up the controller and getting set up, “Well I got the game inserted. Say Murky, Puppysmiles, think you can wake up the others and tell them to come here?” Both nodded as they left to get everyone downstairs.
On the table, I saw three controllers left. Wanting to join in the fun, I picked up a controller with my magic and sat down on a couch that Homage and Zodiac set up. Littlepip joined as well and surprisingly Homage as she grabbed one. I didn’t get the chance to see what game we were playing but apparently, Zodiac already set things up and was waiting for us to join as three open slots meant anything. So Zodiac was first, I came second and those love-birds came third and fourth. Before the game begun, it had to load which was a good time to the two of us to learn the controls provided by both Homage and Zodiac truly.
We managed to learn everything just as the game loaded though I had to ask quickly before whatever we were playing started, “So… what game are we playing, because I’m trying to understand what we’re playing here Zodiac.” I looked up to see the screen split into four smaller screens. I moved my character and found out that I was on the lower left side.
To my surprise, it said something, “Who didn’t pay the electric bill?” Now that I look around, I just notice that there was indeed no power. Wow, and the guy noted it for me. Looking behind me, I saw a machine labeled Pack-A-Punch. What the heck does that do? My character again said something, “Pack-a-punch? Oh my God, I think it makes vodka!” I couldn’t help but smile a bit. Okay I love the character I’m playing as.
Anyway, on the right sides of our screens were four, from my guessing, blood smears that held points though for what for? Everyone else moved and we managed to found out who we were playing as. These characters looked very odd, bipedal and yet have no coat just skin and are wearing clothing? Who are these guys we’re playing as? Apparently that was answer by Zodiac, “In case you’re wondering, we are playing as humans here. Creatures from the way past that still remain an air of mystery. I’ll answer them soon, just focus on killing the zombies here.”
Zombies… That single word managed to make me and Littlepip look at our alicorn friend in surprise, “Did you say just zombies? Please tell me you did not say zombies.” He gave me a look that pretty much said yes, they’re zombies now focus to which I did. Everyone went their separate ways and currently occupied three of them. So I ended up taking over the last one. Not surprising, zombies came up and boy did they look gross. I’m actually thankful that Zodiac taught us how to play and that we aren’t actually facing against them personally. I still remember that at least headshots do a lot of damage or at least kill and considering how slow these guys are, I just went to shooting their heads off.
I saw the smaller number deceasing with each shot. I can tell what that means easily alongside the big number next to the tiny one. At I believe my third zombie I delivered a headshot, I heard the character I’m playing as say something, “Have a round on me! Get it? Because… never mind, fuck you.” I had to snicker a bit from that response and flash a smile at what he said. I’m repeating this again, I am loving the character I’m playing as. I need to know who this guy is! I was so caught off guard wanting to know this character that I got his as a split second of red indicated. I knifed the zombie in return and well, my answer to the question came by him, “You see what happens when you touch Nikolai?!” Nikolai eh? I ain’t arguing about his name ‘cause I love this character too much.
Around the fifth zombie that somehow managed to get past the door just as it broke down, a floating x two was hovering in front of me. Curious I grabbed the power-up in question. It was later announced as, “Double points!” to which my character responded, “Points?! I’m trying to stay alive here!” Okay, I love this guy too much.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I heard those quotes from Blackjack’s side and admittedly, I think all of our characters are crazier then I wished it to be though I had to thank her for the power-up. I just gave a headshot to a zombie and my character I’m playing as, well, “Hey! Someone needs to clean up those freak bits!” I could almost wholeheartedly agree with him even if I’ve done my fair share of killing.
I was looking at Homage’s side to see her handling this well surprisingly. I was rather worried about her handling the killing part even if what we’re going against are undead. Seeing her calm still while she’s taking care of them did alleviate some worry from me. She gunned down the last zombie I supposed and I saw the tally increase to two after some music of sorts. I guess that increase essentially means that this is one of those How long you survive games. As the new round started, I heard a weird sound that sounded like machinery. Looking at Zodiac’s side, he just opened a new entranceway for us. All of us followed him and was met with another blocked entrance, “Could somebody pay their points and open this for me?”
Blackjack’s character went forward and opened the door as well. I was wondering what Zodiac was doing but then I remembered that both Homage and Zodiac were awake first so they knew this better than we do. Another door was opened by our alicorn friend except he left it immediately. I wondered why he would open when he answered for me and Blackjack, “Don’t worry, that comes later!”
We continued and Homage this time removed the debris in front of us. I saw Zodiac heading left and we were met with a soda machine of sorts. I saw his number went down by 3,500 points and drank the soda in question. Homage came in next and drank it. The two of us just followed suit and bought um… Jugger-nog? I heard Zodiac answer our questions as I was just wondering, “That perk allows you to survive more hits about five to six precisely.” Well, that’s definitely a good perk then.
I heard the sounds of zombies tearing down the wooden planks alongside their cries of anger or something of the opposite? Anyway, we dropped down to the first floor and found a generator. Of course, I knew what was needed thanks to Blackjack’s character noting it and well, I turned the power on. The buildings buzzed with electricity as I saw lights and others things turn on. Then my eyes went towards a box with three glowing question marks on it. I can make a guess that this is a random box of sorts.
Looking at Zodiac’s screen, he unlocked two more doors before I managed to see why he opened them as I saw a contraption of sorts. He was under it when his character said something, “Attach part A to grommet B… Oh screw it, just press buttons!” and then begun to run back immediately to where we started just as something else was said, “You have twenty-five seconds to link to the main frame.” I guess he’s going to take care of that then? Anyway, we were messing with the random box when I saw it open and shuffling through random weapons. Now I know what it does then… After some shuffling, it stopped and became a… monkey bomb? I saw Homage’s character grab it and well, “Unleash the little guy, Takeo!” They can interact with each other? Who knew?
Blackjack’s character came next just as I heard two things, “Teleport successful,” and, “You have twenty-five seconds to link to the main frame.” After Zodiac finished running back and forth with the three teleporters in mind. The Pack-A-Punch machine was fully ready to go. The other two noted and decided to try it out with their new weapons.
I was the last to go for the random box. After some shuffling of weapons it landed on a… dirty teddy bear? A laugh of a girl came up as the bear ascended and the box was moving around like crazy and before long, my character says something, “Oh, of course! I get the damn teddy bear!” After the initial laugh, it changed its tone to scary and then said farewell as the box disappeared shrouded in electricity.
It took both me and Blackjack some time to register what just happened before Zodiac came back, “Well that sucks don’t it? No worries, it just moved to a random location…” That made me and our juggernaut a bit annoyed about it. Homage chuckled seeing our reaction which pretty much said she saw it coming. Behind us, many of our friends and family were coming in and seeing us well, killing zombies. I think I heard some almost losing their lunch. Honestly, I would to but I’ve gotten accustomed to the zombies.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
By the time everyone managed to get upstairs and into the room, we were already in round six of the zombie mode. I’m surprised that Blackjack and Littlepip are doing well despite this being their first time playing a game. At least I taught Homage about this but still, it was rather surprising. We were down to one crawler zombie that was following me. My character was in delight of seeing it chase him to which others questioned his sanity especially with him sounding giddy, “Look at it, crawling to me!” I swear, if I were to pick a character to like the most in this game it would be a split between Edward Richtofen and Nikolai Belinski. Admittedly their quotes managed to get a few to cheer, cringe or chuckle from the crowd behind us. Right now, I got a few cringes both from the crowd and all three playing with me surprisingly as I killed the last zombie with a knife, “Their screams are so… erotic… ja.” Insanity at its finest, thank you very much.
The music went by as the sixth tally disappeared before all hell went loose (literal in this game) as the seventh tally came forth. A different musical version came forth the as the tally showed and I knew that this just got bad as I was running towards an area perfect to handle what was coming while a demonic voice announced itself and echoed, “Fetch me their souls!”
The other three took notice of me running (Littlepip, Blackjack, and everyone behind me were beginning to panic as to my running and the announcement of demonic voice, Homage not so much as she knew what’s coming) and were following me. What came after the echo effect was over was first a quote from Nikolai, “The air hangs heavy with stench of dog shit.” to which a few did chuckle. After that, lightning after lightning came raining down upon us.
One of them was nearby us and everyone save me and Homage almost screamed when they got to see first sight of a hellhound (The humans’ perspective anyway). I shot a few bullets at it with a machine gun before knifing the damn thing to which Richtofen took the honors of saying, “What have you done to the POOR PUPPIES?” I think Fluttershy was about to say that even though they’re attacking us and gone ferocious, poor Fluttershy having to see us kill these things. I killed another and Richtofen’s said quote was one I’m familiar with if anyone were to know the backstory, “Take them back, Samantha!”
That got a few raised eyebrows but we were so focused on surviving this onslaught that they didn’t bother continuing the subject. We continued running for a while when spawned nearby Blackjack’s character. In instinct, she shoot the hellhound down when her character Nikolai said something rather funny after he spat, “Ugh… it got fur in my mouth.” Funny but it sure as hell wasn’t to Flutters. Maybe I should tell her about this soon.
I managed to find a good location where they don’t strike from behind us as all of us gathered there. The lightning rained down faster as the hellhounds came surging forward with their fangs bared. Of course, all of us fired at will as they came charging. One of them was on fire and came towards me. It managed to get a bite out of me before it got shot by Littlepip’s character and exploded in front of me. In the words of Tank Dempsey, “That’s the last leg you’ll ever hump!” Okay, that I did not see coming. That caused some squick moments in my thoughts now. A few within the crowd can partially agree with me there what with their faces turning a bit green and their hooves on their mouths.
This whole game lasted for some time as we past the hellhound round, safe to say, it sure lasted a long time until about an hour into the game did all of us die. We all died around round sixty I believe. That’s not a bad score for us. It’s a good thing too because all of us would have gotten bored sooner or later, at least now everyone can join in the fun now with different games. Though I do wonder which game we should play next now. Who knows?
Twelve Wasteland Days of Hearth's Warming
The Sixth Day: Ensuing Randomness
The Sixth Day
Well that was a fun day of just games today… After that show with the four of us killing zombies left and right and then dying because we ended up being overwhelmed which is not a surprise given the number of zombies swarming the map. So today is the sixth day and… oh dear, I seemed to be running out of ideas right now. Well damn, this could be a problem…
Oh well, maybe I might get an idea during the day, who knows? Right now it looks like everyone is already awake (How is the question) and doing random things today. Randomness eh? Well, might as well let the camera that follows me focus on another today. I’m a bit beat today. I wonder who will be the first pony here the camera will decide to follow…
==========
Never thought to be using Spike’s bathroom again and… Oh great, it’s this camera again. I really hoped that Zodiac somehow managed to delete those videos of me having sex with Glory… or as far enough as Stygius? I had to shudder there, nope not wanting that. Hey camera! You hear me?! You better not spread those videos of me and… whoever else I had some fun with!
I had to suddenly pause at my words. That’s never a good thing for me considering I only pause whenever I saw or remember something really bad. I felt my eyes widened after a startling realization involving the camera. Oh Goddesses, no way… don’t tell me you recorded the time where I had a threesome with Homage, Littlepip, and Glory… or worse yet, the time where all of us mares went to… um, have our with fun with Zodiac! No wait, bad choice of words!
You fucking did record it?! Oh hell no am I not allowing you to spread that video out to everyone! I am not getting my own brain to break down on me again after I saw Glory and Homage of all ponies kiss each other in front of me! Get over here you piece of floating trash! Don’t you dare run from me you sex recorder! Wait that sounded terrible! Bah, forget it! Come back here you hunk of junk!
==========
“You sure about all of this Epsilon? I mean you are helping me cook here, not cause a bit of chaos enough to rival Discord here.” My brother is really great but sometimes he can get over himself when he wishes to help me, not that I’m complaining. I love my brother all the same and no, not enough to the point where I would go through intercourse with him. Incest really? I’m wondering who in the right mind would do such a thing (Oh wait, forget that question).
“Oh sure, what makes you…” He went silent. That’s normally not a good thing when my brother does that. However, “Why is there a camera watching the two of us?” That was not what I had in mind as I turned to see the supposed camera in question. Sure enough, there it is, but why us? And why is Blackjack running towards… Oh Goddesses… My brother beat me to what I was going to say to our running cyber-mare, “No Blackjack, don…!” He couldn’t finish the sentence as she tackled the two of us down. I’m wondering why she tackled us down instead of questioning the point of why we were being tackled in the first place.
No sooner did my question popped up did she answer it in the most bizarre yet understandable notion to an extent, “Where’s that camera?! I want to get my hooves on the damn…” I saw eyes looking at the camera that now followed us instead of her, “Aw come on! You’ve got to be kidding me!”
I was still struggling to get out of under her and of course, I did the most logical thing that my mind could conjure up, asking her, “Um… Blackjack, could you get off of me and Epsilon please? I’m a little squished here and I need to... breathe!” To my surprise, I was having trouble breathing here.
She saw the two of us and sheepishly got off quickly. I was taking deep breaths from my supposed suffocation. Goodness, do I not wish to face my fate by loss of oxygen please. I was expecting Epsilon to begin scolding right then and there but nope, it never came. Instead he’s talking to Blackjack as to what the camera recorded that’s making her go crazy. At times, my brother can still surprise me with his quick thinking, “So what did this camera record when it was following you? I’m assuming that it’s something involving you having intercourse with multiple sources?”
I saw Blackjack looking at him in abject shock. What, did she really think we wouldn’t catch on to her or something? Then again both Homage and Littlepip go through this as well so who knows. Wait, what am I saying? Of course we would catch on to her anyway. I just remembered that in her Stable, they treat sex like it was the most normal thing ever. Heck, even Scotch who is just a filly treats it like it was a normal thing. Now that’s something you don’t ever see or hear from somepony so young, “H-How’d you know about that?!”
“I didn’t, I just made an educated yet somewhat ridiculous guess to me at least. I didn’t think I actually would be right…” To be honest, I’m not surprised as well. I would have made that guess as well if only the ponies in question were known to be those kinds of mares like Littlepip (although she was not that at first, I think?). Blackjack and her companions are a different category all on their own.
I picked myself up and looked at where the camera… was supposedly there at first, “Um, the camera’s gone you two…” I looked towards Blackjack whose expression definitely spoke Oh crap as the camera was nowhere in our line of sight. Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder who it decided to record now. Hope it’s not in a middle of witnessing something embarrassing. The poor people who would watch it and the victims of said camera’s attention. Oh wait, I don’t think the people watching us would be bothered now right? All of us on the other hoof? Eeyup, we’d be embarrassed for a long time like our poor cyber-mare here.
==========
Why did I sign up with Homage to learn how to cook? Well, at least Calamity and Velvet are helping us too and Aura is supervising us but why do I have to learn how to cook? According to all four (Why did they have to gang up on me?), I needed to learn because there might be a time where I will have to cook my own food. That’s kind of true except I’m a terrible cook, “Littlepip, I don’t think it works like that…”
And today, life after the Gardens just wants to seemingly make fun of me right now. I was thinking too much that I didn’t pay attention to my cooking. So as a result, the steam that originally was white was now a charcoal black. Great, I burnt my own food. Apparently, that got a chuckle out of Aura, “Hey, it’s okay Littlepip, you’re not the only one. Did you know that Sweetie Belle was a terrible cook as well once?” That somehow got all our attention as we looked at our kirin friend in confusion. She chuckled again as she continued, “I’m serious, one time during her youth, she was so terrible, she somehow ended up burning the orange juice!”
That managed to get a few words out of Velvet and she is very confused, “How does she manage to burn orange juice of all things? It’s a liquid right? I don’t see how that’s possible.” I have to agree, the idea of burnt orange juice is so bizarre yet… I can’t help but chuckle at the idea.
Apparently our kirin friend was confused too as she shrugged her shoulders, “I have no idea! You’d have to ask her about it and I doubt you can now!” That is true in the long shot but I wonder if Sweetie Belle ever got the chance to write those things in a journal or diary of her own? I wouldn’t be surprised if that were to be the case.
“Also why is there a camera watching us?” Huh? All of us followed her gaze and sure enough, there was a floating camera watching us. Not a sprite-bot but a literal floating camera. There’s not even a sign of magic at work here if it somehow being afloat without a sign of a magical aura said anything. When was there a floating camera in the first place?
Calamity was interested that’s for certain as he flew up and looked at it. Now the camera focused its sights on my curious friend instead of us which makes me wonder about whom it specifically was paying attention too, “Huh, would ya look at that? Now it’s focused on me ‘ere. Ah wonder why?”
I wasn’t the only one who shrugged, Aura shrugged with me as well. Velvet on the other hoof answered in a way that I had to look at her twice just to be certain I heard that right, “Maybe they like you more so than the rest of us? That or something weird I can’t explain.” Coincidently, now the camera focused on Velvet instead of my trigger-happy friend. That made her back away in worry and confusion, “Um… why is it focused on me now?”
I had to stifle a laugh there but I was confused as well admittedly. The camera looked at Velvet for some time making me question why. Then a voice broke me out of my reverie and it’s a voice I wished to not hear today, “Hello you three! Been wondering where you guys are!” Sweet merciful Celestia, don’t let this camera record something embarrassing please. Homage was just within my peripheral vision as she entered, “So what were you three doing?” A sound of someone clearing their throat was made. Homage turned around and saw Aura doing said sound to catch her attention, “Oh, sorry Aura, didn’t see you there.”
The kirin just smiled, “No worries, you’re fine.” I noticed her index finger (I think that’s what’s it‘s called) pointing upwards towards somewhere. Initially, I was reluctant but curiosity got the better of me and I looked at the direction of its point. To my surprise, the camera was not there anymore. While I’m a bit elated that it’s not there anymore, I wonder what happened to the camera? I looked towards Aura who just winked at me. I guess that’s her way of saying that I’m saved for now. That’s a good thing.
==========
Oh! Hi there floating camera! So who are you watching?! I hope it’s me, please tell me its little Puppy here! It is? Yay! Oh I get to have so much with everyone watching me, yay! I am so happy; I’m bouncing around in circles! Unbeknownst to her, everyone who was watching her was having a heart attack of sorts thanks to her innocent adorableness including the poor author. Oh look! Henry is coming this way! I’m so excited! “Puppy, who are you talking to right now?”
I was pointing at you Mister Camera in my excitement, “I’m talking with Mister Camera here and people who are watching me Henry!” I saw my friend looking at it in confusion. Why are you confused? Please tell me why Henry!
“Oh so there are people watching us huh? Hello? Do you all mind going away from this little kid? Or do you all want a heart attack with Puppy here?” Why do you want Mister Camera to leave me Henry? That is not fair… Wah! Again, the poor people who were watching this had another heart attack. Yeesh, I think we need to find a new designation before all of you die of another one.
“No wait, please don’t leave me! I only got to see you once!” Sorry kiddo, but the people here are dying from your cuteness; I need to move to a new pony here. I did enjoy being around you if that helps a little Puppy, “Really? Yay! I’m so happy!” There she goes hopping around in excitement again and… everyone died of a heart attack again. Great, I think I might make her the second pony to be a literal weaponized cuteness next to Fluttershy. Okay, I take that back, any filly and colt or those adorable baby ponies’ counts as weaponized cuteness. On to the next target, see you Puppy, “Bye Mister Camera!”
Okay I swear, she’s Pinkie Pie reincarnated in a filly body right now, “No she isn’t silly! There’s only one room for Pinkie Pie here! She just copies my style because of how young she is!” What the heck? How did you get here? I thought you were already in the afterlife Pinkie! “Silly, I’ll always be around to cheer people up in secret! But don’t tell anyone about it mister! It’s a secret!” Uh right... Well, I’m going to a new pony before things get crazy to the point I might crash my own servos. Bye everybody!
==========
Me and Unity alongside other ponies gathered here were watching a competition of sorts between Brim and Xenith. They said that they were doing this for fun which I was fine with but how can you have fun with a fight? Not that I should be complaining considering I’m not a fighter anyway. I felt Unity poking me for my attention during the fight, “Yes? Is there something you need?”
While it caused to make a slight chuckle, she mostly pointed to what was behind me. I turned around and… saw a floating camera watching us and maybe the fight? Her question mirrored my thoughts about it, “Why is there a floating camera here?”
I was about to answer but apparently the camera found the fight behind us more interesting as it raised itself a bit to see the fight. Well, no complaints from me there. The two of us just looked at each other and shrugged and turned around as we watched the fight. I did notice that people were betting who was going t make it out of this. Guess even after all of what’s happened, people would still bet albeit on good terms.
I saw Zodiac popping up via a teleport and was flying as well to get a bird’s eye view of the fight. I guess he liked there being a fun brawl and watching it? I don’t know the guy well enough to think why he was watching but who knows? There’s not much of me I can compare. To my surprise, I think everyone saw the camera in question. The fighting stopped for the moment and everyone’s gaze was upon the floating contraption. I wonder what was going to happen…
==========
Oh dear… everyone is looking at the floating camera. I was just above it as it was watching the fight. I was beginning to wonder what was going to happen now that everyone saw as seconds become minutes (at least to me) pass by with everyone watching the camera. I was kind of tempting to take away the camera and let this day continue on but that all went down the drain when a certain mare came out and screamed, “Come back here you piece of junk!”
Said mare being Blackjack, tackled the thing and proceeded to try to dismantle the thing. Of course, it was much sturdier than expected and managed to survive all the hits being dished out on it. Others saw an opportunity to test their strength and well, proceeded to do as expected. What was once a fight to test their mettle was now a camera abuse situation? I will never understand today now.
Twelve Wasteland Days of Hearth's Warming
The Seventh Day: An Unexpected Visitor
Author's Note
F**king finally! I manage to publish this damn chapter! For those who favorited this story, I am so sorry for not uploading for a long time! I blame my laziness and partially for me being distracted by college stuff. I hope you can forgive me for the very late upload. I hope to not keep prolonging these for so long and not get caught up in writing three separate books from now on...
Anyway, huzzah, I've decided to add the characters from Heroes into the party! Although it's not fully complete, I didn't want to miss them out but I wanted to also be smart about how to bring them in since not everyone here has ever heard of Dise or even visited the place in question. Again, I'm sorry for the late upload! I hope to complete this story very soon and I mean it. I don't like to see incomplete stories...
The Seventh Day: An Unexpected Visitor
The Seventh Day
I am seriously running out of ideas on how to continue this! This is getting ridiculous for me! By the Gods themselves, I never thought thinking of events to continue with the twelve days would prove to be so difficult! After today’s weirdness, I had a conversation with the leaders of the respective companion groups specifically Blackjack, Littlepip, Murky, and Puppysmiles (I’m not so sure on Puppy’s case but since she managed to garner friends of her own, she counts I guess). I had started the conversation and boy, was I having quite a panic attack, “What do we do?! I’m running out of ideas on how to start the seventh day off!”
I was flailing my forelegs back and forth like a madman trying to binge drink some alcohol of sorts. It took a slap from Blackjack to knock some sense into me, “Calm down, you’re beginning to outrank me and Littlepip in the panicking department!” I was rubbing the right side of my face from that. Ouch, that hurt like hell there.
Well, someone took over the conversation for me as I trying to get the feeling on my face back. Sweet mother of mercy, those legs of hers hit like a speeding chariot. Then again, that was bound to be painful coming from Queen Whiskey herself. Ouch, “Well, now that we’ve all calmed down now, how do we start this off? I’d vote for a drinking contest but I know who’s going to win easily…” Murky was looking towards Blackjack who was smiling. He let out a sigh before smiling as well towards her.
I was beginning to have some sense of feeling back on my face but it still felt a bit numb. Littlepip spoke next and I pray that what she has in mind isn’t a sexual innuendo especially since we have a filly in a space suit (albeit a deceased one but still) here, “Well, can’t we invite others into the party? I mean we can get others right?”
We all were looking at her, each one of us wearing a different expression. You can imagine the others expressions including myself. For once though, she made an idea that was actually smart. That almost made me say the line but Blackjack beat me to it just as I opened my mouth, “Alright, who are you and what have you done with Littlepip?”
I closed my mouth in response to that while Littlepip just raised an eyebrow at her in confusion, “What are you talking about Blackjack? I’m right here! What, is there a copy of me somewhere?” I tried to resist laughing there as I covered my mouth and snickered. Blackjack on the hoof just burst out into laughter as she fell backwards and was clutching her chest. Murky and Littlepip could only watch her in confusion while Puppysmiles was mostly wondering why she was laughing and wanted to join the laughter.
Blackjack managed to stop her laughter and picked herself up. She was still struggling to stop laughing for a bit but for the most part, she was feeling great today. Murky spoke but he was clearly still baffled about what Blackjack said, “Okay… So, someone we can invite right? Question is who… You’ve got pretty much a lot of people that went through so much… um, what was the word again?”
Our queen of whiskey was looking at Murky in surprise. Why? It was until she spoke that I understood somewhat yet still a bit perplexed, “You’re joking… You’re joking right Murky? Have you even said a single swear in your entire life?” A simple shake of his head made Blackjack facehoof. Again why? I was scratching my head in confusion from all of this as she was speaking, “Wow, Brimstone wasn’t kidding when he said that you’ve never swore once.”
Okay, I give up. I had decided to speak after Blackjack was done because it would have been rude of me to interrupt her once she started speaking, “Hey, he isn’t the only one who hasn’t swear here, I’m guilty of this as well! Why is the two of us not swearing a problem to you whiskey queen?”
I hope that title didn’t come out as offensive there. If it did, she sure didn’t show any signs of her being angry there. Only another facehoof was made from my speech before she let out an exasperated sigh before raising her forelegs and shaking them around, “I give up! I can’t even understand how you two can’t seem to swear at all! I mean how in fuck’s sake do you two go through so much shit without even saying those words I said once?!”
What she said only made me and Murky raise our eyebrows at her in bewilderment. I just spoke for the both of us since she needed answers badly. That and poor Blackjack was clearly losing her mind with this revelation despite how useless it was to even think about why we haven’t swore once, “Blackjack, Murky can't say them for God's sake you know that right? As for me, I chose to not swear in case you are wondering..."
If I were to be honest, I had hoped that this would put a bit of sense into Blackjack for a few seconds. Unfortunately, that was not likely as she was looking at me like I was crazy, "What? Really? You can do that? But..."
Yep, she was clearly stumped right now. I had to hold in a sigh at this point because right now, we need something to keep the day's going until we reached the final day, “So invite another set of people you say Murky? I could do that, problem is who though?”All of us put our heads together (literally mind you, our heads were touching each other) as we pondered who could we bring to this party of ours.
Littlepip was the first to respond and her answer did surprise me at the time, “Hey Zodiac, since you could bring back people for a certain amount of time, you think you could being back any of your friends back when you were… young I guess?”
A smile initially did begin to form with that revelation but soon was becoming a sad smile as I shook my head, “As much as I would like to see my past friends once more, I don’t think they would like to see that this Equestria, the country that they once loved, was reduced to a state of destruction despite it now healing. It would break their hearts if I call them now.” Most of them wore a sad look on their faces but understood why I had said that. Puppy, for obvious reasons, did not understand why everyone was all sad.
After that rather upsetting moment, they went back into thinking about who should they bring. I looked towards them wondering if they had anything in mind. I saw Blackjack slowly raising her right foreleg and opening her mouth until she suddenly shuddered and lowered them. I became rather curious about who she had in mind after that action, “Who’d you have in mind Blackjack?” She turned towards me wondering why I picked if her expression meant anything. I let a little smirk form, “I saw you opening your mouth and raising your right foreleg as if you were about to say something. So?”
I saw her eyes begun to widen from my discovery and suddenly, she begun to deny it, “What me? Nah, there’s no way that poor me have someone in mind we could bring, nope, no way.” Everyone else was looking at her with curiosity now. She was weakly laughing trying to deny it still but I knew that I caught her quickly. I was tempted to read her mind but I decided against it for now. She was going to tell it sooner or later someday, she can’t keep this charade up for long. Everybody was waiting patiently watching Blackjack beginning to lose the fight. She was looking everywhere around us, trying to find a way to divert the topic quickly. It took I believe a minute or so for her to give up the fight and tell us what was on her mind, “Alright, I give up! Fine I’ll tell you what I was thinking of! You all are driving me nuts…”
I let a smirk form seeing that I (maybe we considering everybody one of us watched her with abated curiosity) managed to break her, “Well? We’re waiting Blackjack, don’t keep us on hold here.” I saw her give me one of her, if she and her friends were correct, patented shooty looks. I won’t lie, that is one very impressive look she could do. I think I’m beginning to see why friends and foes notice that look way too often.
In any case, I saw her let out one deep breath. Did she ever do that before I was around? I’ll have to ask her about that later, right now she was about to speak, “I heard there was a city called Dise somewhere possibly outside Equestria, I don’t know where the city is honestly. I heard it from a mercenary that I, well, rescued from the moon that I shall never name… at least for now. Maybe you could find somepony there?”
“Someone Blackjack…” I corrected her. She was about to speak but I stopped her, “But perhaps you’re right. Maybe I could find someone who went through similar troubles we have gone through and I did say similar because there is no way someone could survive what our queen of whiskey underwent. I’m not counting all of you out, just saying that she went through worse… maybe. I’m pleasantly surprised that you didn’t make P-21 the clown and Scotch the princess since I keep calling you Queen Whiskey Blackjack in my thoughts and now, out loud…” At that moment, I saw her mouth slowly forming into a big grin. I swear, the uncanny similarity between hers and Rainbow when I was still with them is kind of creepy. In any case, I just gave her an idea I might regret after my ordeal with finding someone. In any case, there was one problem with my search, “Does anyone here know where Dise is precisely?”
All of them shook their heads. This was going to be a difficult search if I don’t know where Dise is in the first place… My question was interrupted as I heard a door opening. Turning around, I saw Homage coming and greeting us, “Good…” She let out a yawn causing her to stretch and cover her mouth in a synchronized timing, “Morning you five… I thought I would normally be the early bird but I guess I got beat today.”
A smile form seeing that she was the first to be awake out of everyone gathered here, “Good morning Homage, this is actually perfect timing, do you know where…?” I was about to ask that question until something caught my attention. Within Homage’s right foreleg, held very comfortably and looked like it was snuggled, was a Littlepip plushie. I immediately looked at Littlepip herself and saw her face getting some shades of red upon seeing that doll held in her foreleg. Blackjack was covering her mouth as she was snickering. Puppysmiles was ever so curious about that plushie now and Murky? Well, he’s a bit baffled on how to feel about this. I for one was silent at first before I spoke with a sudden change of topic in mind, “Homage? Why do you have a Littlepip plushie held in your foreleg? Wait, better question, why did you make one in the first place?” While I’ll admit that seeing this is not the first time for me, I am still a bit surprised and maybe perplexed at this.
All I heard was a simple chuckle from her and a rather straightforward answer, “Because why not? She’s normally in the S.P.P. Tower and I can only visit her so many times…” She then leaned towards me and whispered. To be honest, what she said did not surprise me one bit considering their interesting relationship with one another, “Mostly it’s just so I can mess with her and have my way with her you know what I mean right?” She then winked at me before backing away from me. Eeyup, that’s their relationship in a nutshell right there.
I let a simple sigh escape before getting back on topic, “Okay, ignoring the plushie that is being held in your foreleg Homage, do you know where Dise is?” I saw a look of confusion dawning upon hearing my question. I hope that means she knew where the location is because right now, she was my only hope of knowing its exact location, “Do I need to repeat the question Homage?”
She shook her head and although she still wore a look of confusion, a smile formed, “No, I heard the question well. I do know where Dise but why are you asking?” I almost wanted to hug her right then and there but I suddenly stopped myself and silently scolded myself for thinking of it. Not that it’s a bad thing mind you, but it would have lead to an awkward situation.
I looked towards her and silently thanked her for bringing my hopes up, “All of us were thinking of bringing someone who has went through similar troubles and journeys from Dise here. We all came to an agreement and… Well, I volunteered to be the pickup for anyone there.” A look of understanding dawned upon Homage’s face.
It wasn’t long before she lifted up my right foreleg and started tampering with the PipBuck that I forgot I wore in the first place. Seriously, I think I might need to give this away now since I rarely use this in the situations I have in mind. After a few seconds, I heard it beep and an arrow appeared, “That arrow will lead you straight to Dise. I sure hope you find someone there because this trip would have not been worth it on your case.”
There was something I can agree with, “I hope so Homage. I can teleport back still but I hope this flight is worth it.” I stood up and begun to depart Tenpony Tower from the roof. I had almost forgotten that we were in here instead of Spike’s cave. Hope the guy is not feeling lonely without us around him. Maybe we should visit him again once I get to Dise. Anyway, the walk up is rather short but I just simply teleported up there to save up time. I looked at my PipBuck once again checking if I’m looking at the right direction where Dise is supposedly is. Once I adjusted my position, I flapped my wings a few times and begun to make my way to the city of Dise.
The distance was being determined during my flight. After some time, I heard some beeping from my PipBuck (I really wonder if anyone else needs this more than me…) and I decided to check. From what it could calculate, I was expected to get there by a few hours or so at the speed I’m going. That was enough time I suppose to make it back to either Tenpony Tower or Spike’s cave. What was going to take my time was finding the pony I can bring back in a big city like Dise. Oh well, can’t be helped. I lowered my foreleg and looked ahead as I was zooming through the sky very fast. Rainbow would probably be jealous of me if she were to see me zipping through the sky at this speed. Either that or she’ll admire it, maybe a mix of both.
I noticed during my flight that the area was beginning to subtly change. There were a few landmarks here that I’m not familiar with and the terrain was a bit craggy. I heard my PipBuck beep once again prompting me to check. It just noted to me that I was in a new country by the name of Caledonia. I don’t remember that country existing before. Then again, much has changed during my absence here so this was to be expected. Still, the city of Dise was in a different country? That’s interesting.
Lowering my foreleg and looking ahead, I saw a tower with a Pinkie head from the distance. That’s very bizarre… I also noticed searchlights below the tower itself. Though I was still quite afar, I can easily tell that I’ve reached the city in rather record time. I looked at the thing of mine and my PipBuck all but confirmed that I was nearing the city. I felt a smile forming as I landed on a cliff overlooking Dise. As this was the first time seeing this city, I must say that it looked rather impressive up here. Now comes the hard part, finding a pony that went through similar ordeals like all of us back at Tenpony Tower. With a big city like this, that’s easier said than done.
Lowering my foreleg and looking ahead, I saw a tower with a Pinkie head from the distance. That’s very bizarre… I also noticed searchlights below the tower itself. Though I was still quite afar, I can easily tell that I’ve reached the city in rather record time. I looked at the thing of mine and my PipBuck all but confirmed that I was nearing the city. I felt a smile forming as I landed on a cliff overlooking Dise. As this was the first time seeing this city, I must say that it looked rather impressive up here. Now comes the hard part, finding a pony that went through similar ordeals like all of us back at Tenpony Tower. With a big city like this, that’s easier said than done.
I spread my wings and was about to fly down to the city but I stopped immediately as I heard galloping hooves from behind. Who would be charging behind me of all times? I tucked my wings and turned around only to realize too late as I felt someone hugging me from the neck. The forelegs were struggling to close on my neck. I can assume that it was a filly that is hugging me. I looked down and of course, my assumption was correct. The filly was trying to close her forelegs to no avail but her face clearly showed excitement upon seeing me. That and her tone when she spoke had traces of excitement as well, “Oh my goodness! An alicorn! I’ve never seen any of you before in my life! Can you tell me what it feels like to be an alicorn? How does one become an alicorn? Oh I have so many questions to ask you right now I want to know!” She went on an on with the question in mind. While I enjoy seeing this from a filly, I’m also suddenly reminded of her being Pinkie and why I was here in the first place.
I was about to gently pull the filly away but a voice almost did that for me, “Serenity, let go of the alicorn you’re hugging…” I looked ahead to… see a cyberpony? My brain processing what I was seeing in front of me. I’d never thought to see another one of them besides… well, from Blackjack’s side of things. I look down to see the filly giving the pony in front of me puppy dog eyes. Dang it, do those eyes make me want to give in so quickly. The mare in front of me however wasn’t cowed so easily as she spoke, “It’s not going to work on me Serenity. Let the guy go now…”
She pouted and let go of me. I rubbed the areas where my neck was somewhat hurting but otherwise they were fine… I guess? In any case, I look towards the two in question. I had already picked up the filly’s name as Serenity but the mare in front of me (who I presume is the mother) escapes me. I wanted to ask but that would have been rude of me so I decided to introduce myself, “I’m sorry for intruding you two at this time, I was not expecting somepony here.” I let myself bow towards them, “My name is Zodiac. It’s a pleasure to meet you miss?”
For just a moment, I noticed the cybermare showing a small sign of hesitation. Was it perhaps because of who I am or was it a different matter altogether? It took some time before she told me her name to which I found perplexing, “Hired Gun… and you already know the filly next to me…”
Before she could introduce herself, somepony else decided to pop up and ruin the moment. It was a pegasus and he was definitely of the former Enclave if his uniform meant anything. The filly was not happy with the interruption and begun to scold the pegasus, “Flare, you ruined my introduction with your sudden entry!” Well, at least I found out the name of who this pegasus is.
He managed to pick himself up from his supposed crash and was scratching his head, “Ah sorry about that Serenity! I couldn’t stop myself when I saw this alicorn here.” I hope he’s not thinking that I’m evil and all… Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. He was just curious about what kind of alicorn I was which was bizarre but who am I to say about him, “Say what kind of alicorn are you? I’ve never seen your kind before in my life…”
I am… not so sure on how to answer that question honestly. I was left silent for some time trying to think of an answer for that. Apparently, my silence lasted for some time that they thought my mind was broken causing them to wave their forelegs in front of my face. That got me to blink once and look at them in confusion, “Yes? Did you think that my mind broke for a second there?” That made the three of them closes their mouths in response. Yep, they definitely thought that I broke there. I let a chuckle escape, “Sorry if my silence made you think otherwise, I was just not so sure on how to answer that question well.”
They had different gestures but the one thing in common was that their gestures were of relief. I let another chuckle of mine escape seeing their reactions. I wanted to ask them about their journeys but that would have been rude of me and make me look suspicious which was not in my mind. They asked a question I didn’t have in mind which made things easy I guess. This was coming from Hired by the way which I can tell was an alias, “So… why are you visiting Dise? Isn’t it a bad time to visit the city at this time?”
Now that she bought that up, the city did look like it was in a bit of a crisis. Still looked peaceful for a moment but it did look like it was struggling to heal I presume. I haven’t been here anyway so who am I to say? Anyway, back to the topic of her question, “I came mostly because of somepony suggesting me to come here to pick anypony (anybody honestly) who went through similar troubles like my friends back home. Troubles including the whole body starting to fail from radiation, taint, etc., going through slavery, having to die three times and return back to life the same number of times (How does that even work for Blackjack?), was dead already… You get the point.”
Initially, they were looking at me like I was a crazy and probably drunk alicorn. After me counting down three seconds, they begun to slowly accept it? Either they went through similar troubles (which I pray was the case) or something else was amiss in my thoughts. Thankfully, they answered it for me but it was still quite a surprise on my part, “Well, I guess that could be considered normal for us since Hired had to fight a dragon.”
While my mind was processing that, Serenity decided to speak next and I was not surprised that it was focused on Puppysmiles current form and Blackjack’s… resurrections, “I think the only not normal trouble would be the last two. How does someone die and come back three times while the other is already dead? I don’t get that!”
I had to speak on this because I too was baffled when I first heard of this, “Trust me; it’s already confusing enough having to think about it. You’d be better off not knowing young one especially the three time resurrection. I can’t for the life of me, explain that one well despite my intellect.” I was shaking my head back and forth without me even knowing that I was doing it. I guess I was so conflicted about it that it came to me by instinct.
Anyway, since I manage to give a good enough of a reasoning, Hired (I have to ask what her actual name is) did look interested in coming with me. That was a good thing on my part, “Okay, so you wanted to bring somepony from here back to where the ponies that went through what you said right?” I simply nodded and awaited her next response, “Do you think we count?”
I felt a smile forming as I looked at the three of them, “Of course you do! I’ll bring you along so you can meet the rest of them and hopefully find out about their troubles.” I extended my hoof forward, “Just grab my hoof and I can teleport us there. Hope you can handle teleport sickness though.” I let a sheepish smile form from what I said. They didn’t seem to pay any mind to what I said though as they grabbed my right hoof.
Still wearing my smile, I imagined our location and in a flash, arrived at our destination. What I didn’t expect was to hear a yelp coming from Littlepip alongside her signature swearing, “Luna’s succulent marehood! Don’t do that ever again Zodiac!” Luna’s succulent marehood? Did I just hear that from her correctly?
That was very much a yes since Blackjack just confirmed it for me, “Luna’s succulent what Littlepip? Did you just seriously thought that having her flower hovering in front of your face is delicious?!” I then turned towards her who was, as expected, blushing like crazy.
Our new invited guests were probably gaping at her swearing until Homage’s voice broke their and possibly everyone’s reverie, “Oh look, new faces!” Everybody turned towards the ponies from Dise and I knew that we have a long way with introductions.
Twelve Wasteland Days of Hearth's Warming
The Eighth Day: Reminiscing Memories
The Eighth Day
Apparently, introductions lasted for quite awhile yesterday that we ended up with everyone dozing off into slumber. Nighttime was approaching so I can’t blame that, but still, it was a surprise. I was probably the only one awake the whole night gazing at the night sky above. I didn’t really need sleep much anyway as alicorns can goes through weeks without slumber but sometimes, a good night’s rest helps us out. I was on the roof of Tenpony Tower when I saw the morning sun rising from the horizon causing a brief smile to form. The breeze was blowing through my mane as the warmth of the Sun embraced my immortal body. The sight of this never ceases to amaze me. Suddenly, I had an idea beginning to form after seeing this beautiful scene. I stood up and begun to walk down back to the room where everyone decided to sleep in. Yes, I can teleport to make things easy for me but after that last teleport surprising Littlepip, I decided to forgo that.
Now that I bring that up, when I mentioned that Littlepip was the Lightbringer in question, Hired found that hard to believe that she was the famed pony being mentioned on the radio. I still have to ask her what her actual name is but the sight of that made almost all of us chuckle and made me forgot about that in the first place. Then again, night was coming and I felt that it would be a bad time to ask when everyone was feeling sleepy. For the most part, the new guests managed to get along with the others rather well.
As I was walking down the stairs, I can some small conversations going on without my presence. Guess a few manage to wake up and do some simple chatting which was fine by me. The voices I managed to pick up so far were Serenity, Scotch Tape and Puppysmiles. So the little ones were the first to wake up from their slumber, I wonder what they are chatting about? I stopped myself as soon as I reached the doors and listened to their conversation. I know that this is rude but I couldn’t help but be curious.
==========
“So… you like a lot of things right Serenity?” I know that we were introduced rather late when Zodiac literally popped in. I still have Littlepip’s swear from last night stuck in my head. I’m now beginning to see why Blackjack said that she had some very colorful swearing but I didn’t expect that kind of swearing especially from her! Make a mental note, don’t underestimate her swears.
I was thinking into her swearing a bit much that I almost missed a part of the conversation, “…Like a lot of things! There was this one time where I asked Hired during our stay with the Hazai if I could get some cybernetic upgrades or something like those alloy wings!” Those words made me look at her in relative surprise that she would want cybernetics. I mean sure they are cool and all that, but does she know how painful it is to go through such a thing? I was just lucky that Blackjack was asleep during the whole thing the first time she went through one.
Puppysmiles was indifferent though and of course had no idea what cybernetics are. I really wonder how she was able to go through without knowing a lot of things. Then again, she came from the time when the bombs came down upon Canterlot if I heard her correctly so I can see how she doesn’t know everything. That and she’s dead yet somehow living. Does that make sense? Anyway, I was missing out on the conversation just by thinking to myself right now. Good thing the only thing I missed out on was her asking what cybernetics is so the next thing was Serenity trying to describe it, “I’m not sure on how to describe it well but I’m sure Scotch can describe it better than me right?”
Both were looking at me like I was some sort of… well, I don’t know the best word to use here so I guess I had to go with speaker for now. Though I was still a bit confused on one thing, “Why are you asking me to describe what cybernetics is? I thought you knew about this Serenity!”
One of many things I got from her was a shrug before she actually answered, “I do! I just want to see if you can describe it well if what you said about knowing them is true.” I swear, upon hearing Serenity say that, I thought I saw her forming and hiding a smirk.
Oh no, you are not going to do that on me even if you are becoming a new friend of mine! I want to know if what you’re saying is true as well! I let a look (I’m not so sure if I was able to mimic Blackjack’s shooty look honestly…) of mine emerge as I stared down the mare in front of me, “Oh yeah, why won’t you describe it since you said you know about this stuff as well?”
She raised a hoof to her mouth and gasped while putting a pained expression on her face, “You think that I was lying about that? You meanie!” The sight of her being hurt like that honestly almost made me want to apologize to Serenity right then and there. And I was about to as I raised my hoof up until I saw a small smile form on her face, “Gotcha Scotch!” She let out a hearty laugh as she was clutching her chest hard.
I had initially frowned upon me getting tricked like that but that was soon going away as a snicker escaped from me and before long, I joined in her laughter. You know with all of this, I had almost forgotten the fact that Puppy is right next to us. Thankfully my mind remember and I slowly begun to stop laughing to look at her, “Sorry Pups, I forgot that you’re with us!”
All she did was smile though as she spoke, “I’m alright! I learned from my mother that I have to be patient with others and wait.” I had to let a smile form upon hearing that. At least she learned from a good mother, I had to learn only from a father who is temporarily alive thanks to Zodiac. That made me suddenly sad now that I think about that. I started to feel a tear escape my right despite me not wanting to shed one. Puppysmiles looked upon me with confusion and worry, “Is something wrong Scotch? Did I do something bad?”
Serenity joined as she too showed concern. It was good thing that said concern was coming from others about my age (even though I know that Puppysmiles was temporarily alive like my dad). I wiped that tear away and let a smile form, “No it’s nothing you two, but thanks for being concerned for me.” That brightened their moods as they too smiled in return. I looked towards Puppy whom I just remembered that she had a question, “Now, do you still wish to know about what cybernetics mean?” Multiple nods were done by Puppysmiles causing the both of us to chuckle before I spoke first, “So… how should I start this topic off?”
Serenity begun to brighten up just as I said, “Oh I know how to start this off!” Well, she sure wasn;t joking about knowing this stuff is she was clearly excited. That happy mood didn’t last long though as she begun to contemplate on something. I was about to ask what but she spoke just as I opened my mouth, “Though maybe we should wake Hired first since she has cybernetic parts and all…”
That bought some memories concerning Blackjack and I couldn’t help but add to the conversation, “You know, Blackjack had cybernetics before…” She looked towards me, her eyes glowing with excitement upon hearing what I said. I knew what she was thinking yet I couldn’t help but chuckle, “I’ll tell you how but right now, can we teach Puppy about cybernetics please?” Serenity pouted but relented as she spoke first.
==========
A smile of mine had already developed during their conversation. I know that I was peeping here and that it’s rude as I’ve said before, but I won’t lie and say that hearing their conversation was kind of worth it. I won’t do it again though that’s for certain. I cleared my throat (not so sure why) and slowly opened the door to greet them, “Hello you three, how are you fillies doing?”
I saw Scotch frown a bit when I addressed her like that. I was wondering why that seemed to offend her but that was somewhat answered by her response, “I’m not a filly anymore Zodiac after what I’ve went through with Blackjack, I’m a young mare.” The other two were looking at her in confusion causing her to be baffled as well, “What? You two don’t think we’re adults by now?”
That caused a momentary chuckle from them. She rolled her eyes from their response but she knew in her heart that they agreed with her even as they answered it for her starting with Serenity, “We know Scotch but some of us like to be kids just for once.”
“Yeah! I like being an adult but sometimes it gets so boring being an adult for too long!” That managed to elicit laughter from me. Puppysmiles joined in and the rest came afterwards. Our ruckus awoken some of the residents sleeping here starting with Littlepip’s entourage. They were looking at the four of us like we were crazy.
I looked at them with a knowing smile, “Don’t be like that… You were going to wake up anyway; we might as well be early alarm clocks for you three.” I heard a grumble from Littlepip and I can clearly tell that it was about her being awoken so early with the way she’s acting. I covered my mouth and let a snicker escape as I was trying to hold in my laughter.
Blackjack came next and her eyes looked a bit bloodshot suddenly shifting my attitude from enjoyment to concern. She noticed and formed a smirk, “Did I get you there Zodiac? Because my eyes looking like this is considered normal for me...” She blinked once and suddenly they were gone. How was that even possible, I don’t even want to know.
I looked towards the three fillies full of energy and gestured them to awaken the others. Although they happily obliged, I saw them looking towards me. I was baffled and was wondering what was going on in their minds right now. Serenity gestured me to come closer and I accepted. When I was in whispering distance, she whispered not only to me but to the others around her. I wore a look of apprehension at first over the idea but soon I felt a mischievous smile form. I looked towards them and they too shared the same expression. I gave a simple nod and begun to alight my horn. I looked towards Blackjack and she had that same expression as she covered her ears. The currently awakened were confused as to why she was covering her ears and closing her eyes. My magic soon enveloped the fillies and I covered my ears and closed my eyes just in time as they simultaneously said this line, “Wake up everybody sleeping! It’s morning time!”
Thankfully, me and Blackjack covered our ears in time because right now, this just made everyone’s ears ringing like they were next to a grenade that just exploded. I’m not so sure on how Blackjack knew but I’ll just leave that behind for now. I slowly opened my eyes and the sight was hilarious to behold.
==========
Thank goodness I immediately understood what those three fillies were doing because I’d hate to get ringing ears like I have the multiple times I was nearby an explosive or something. I saw Zodiac opening his eyes just as I did. Looking at the scene in front of me, I nearly had burst into laughter right then and there. Everypony, erm… everybody? Ah forget it, you get the point anyway. I saw ponies who were originally asleep suddenly getting out of the rooms or jolting awake while clutching their ears. Even my own friends were clutching their ears like so. I was trying desperately to hold my laughter but I couldn’t and I collapsed into a laughing fit.
My eyes were shut closed during my laughing spree but I can clearly tell that the three adorable fillies (well, one filly who’s dead and two young mares but they’re still adorable) were definitely satisfied with their work. As soon as my laughter ended, I opened one of my eyes and I saw everyone giving me, the fillies and Zodiac disapproving looks. What? They had to be woken up anyway so I consider this the perfect alarm clock for them. Goddesses know that I was at the end of that with Scotch. Ah, those were the good times.
I saw Zodiac coming and helping others who were jerked awake by our loud alarm clock. I did see his horn working in action prompting somewhat of a frown. While I was happy that I at least was now capable of magic like teleporting, I still felt a twinge of jealousy from him. Wait, what am I doing? I’m being negative again… Got to start thinking positive right now! Ugh, but how?
Apparently, Zodiac managed to notice me being negative despite his back turned away from me. I’m not going to even the five millennia old alicorn at this point, in fact any alicorn whose smarter than me I run into I won’t question. As soon as his horn stopped glowing, he looked towards me with a look of concern I’ve seen on everyone’s face once in a while, “Something bothering you Blackjack?”
Well, at least the smartest pony here was being concerned for me, might as well answer his question and hopefully get a good answer, “Yeah, I’m being a negative nancy right now. Got any way to make me think positive thoughts? Because right now, I need positive thoughts pronto…”
A simple chuckle escaped from the alicorn which suddenly prompted me to raise an eyebrow. He looked towards the others who were slowly gaining back their hearing while still speaking towards me, “Why won’t you share some pleasant and happy memories you have? I had this idea in mind where all of us can share a happy memory they had to everyone here.” I suddenly had a glimmer in my eyes as I was about share something awesome. That is until this came up, “And no, you will not share any memories of you involving…” He suddenly fell silent which made me concerned about what he had in mind. I was counting down in my head wondering what was going on in his thoughts. By the time I reached ten seconds, he spoke, “On second thought, I take that back. You can share any memory involving you having well… you know what. But tell us when you are about to so I can set some precautions just in case.”
While I looked at him questionably about his precautions , I was at least happy that I can share my fond memories involving that stuff! I almost picked myself up and rammed him in a hugging embrace. I wanted to so badly but I ended up stopping myself as it would have lead to an awkward situation. Not that I've been in those kinds of situations before but when it happens, all I do is stay absolutely still and look at the person weirdly. I'm not so sure on how he would react to being in a weird situation though. Did I mention that I hate difficult stuff? I did remember that I had to give him a heads up if any memory I recall would involve a certain vigorous ritual if you would call it that. Well, better now than never, "Hey Zodiac, I got a memory in mind but just saying a word since... You know what..."
I lied about having a memory involving all of that but who knows? His attention did not look away from the ponies he's helping yet he acknowledged my words with a simple nod, "I hear you Blackjack, just let me be sure that everyone is awake." I let him be as I begun to ponder... Wait a minute, I was thinking? Well, I know that I can think and all that, but I didn't expect to actually think about what memory to bring up. Guess maturity does that to you sometimes... Normally, I would say that I hate thinking but I think it's starting to grow on me... If it hasn't already in the first place. I was rubbing my head trying to think of a good memory I could recall. I saw Zodiac finishing up with checking if everypony was awake. His attention was now on me and I can tell that he was about to ask it, "Having trouble recalling a good memory?"
I felt myself beginning to sigh as I gave up. A smile did start to form on my face as I gave a shrug, "What can I say? I'm a horrible thinker Zodiac and you know it..." He raised his hoof and covered his mouth trying to not let a chuckle or two escape. Huh, I'm not so sure if I could even consider that a good joke but if it made him of all ponies quietly snicker, then I'll consider it a good joke. Anyway, after he was done chuckling, he looked around a bit. His face looked like it was debating on something. I could probably hazard a guess as to what it is but I'll just wait until he finishes what he's doing. About ten seconds later (I counted), he decided to now speak while wearing one of those looks that suggests he might regret the choice he's making. Hey, only I'm allowed to make that face there! Okay maybe Littlepip and maybe a bit of Murky there (I'm not so sure about Hired) but I'm the only one who makes that face!
I was about to slap some sense into him again before I stopped myself just as he spoke, "I hope the fillies and colts don't mind this topic in mind... If you all do just tell me and I'll take you all out of here. I'm only going to say this once though sadly because I think we all waited a bit long enough... Despite the fact that you all woke up abruptly by those three fillies." He pointed at them and all they could do was smile innocently and chuckle. I couldn't help but join with Zodiac in finding that amusing, "Right... Anyway, if this topic is too sensitive, you fillies can leave whenever; just tell me if you are doing so okay?" They all nodded leaving me suddenly realizing where this was going, "So Blackjack... I'm only going to ask this once..." He took one deep breath before he asked the question I expected, "First intercourse, how did it feel the first time?" Everyone, I repeat, almost everyone was looking at him like he was bonkers and possibly drunk. All he returned was a questionable look towards those people, "What? I can't ask that question? You know how Blackjack's life was... The only happy memories in mind I can think from her mostly correlates to her having sex, no offense to the other memories you have..."
I just waved a (courtesy of Rarity) dismissive hoof. I won't lie, I can somewhat agree with him since he knows me well enough. At least he apologized about the other happy memories I had in mind because those were good times for me. Anyway, before I could answer that, something about the question confused me a bit, "I'm fine though... First sex? You realize that I went through a lot before I was the security guard of Stable 99 right?"
He nodded though thankfully he realized where this was going. He was in deep thought for only three seconds before I saw him forming a smile, "So how about this? First intercourse..." I noticed his eyes darting towards Glory causing me to almost smirk there, "Where you truly enjoyed it after all of the others that you would say are rather... boring I guess is the right word?" I think I saw her picking up on the words and she was suddenly flushing in embarrassment.
Now that I can do and suddenly I was going to enjoy this a lot especially with her looking like that, "Oh you mean the time where I enjoyed Glory's massage ?" He nodded and I saw her sinking herself deeper into a ball position. I was about to speak out further until I noticed both Velvet and Glory together. An idea popped up in my head though I was going to have to ask Scotch about this since this was in her thoughts as all, "Hey Scotch, mind if I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it?" I leaned in and whispered my question. She was turning a shade of red at first about the idea but when I mentioned Velvet and Glory, suddenly her red was beginning to be less pronounced. Oh it was there but she kind of liked the idea of them breaking down or something. She ended up relenting as she spoke, "Fine I'll let you Blackjack, I'm just not going to live this down..."
I patted her head and whispered, "No worries Scotch, I think Zodiac will be happy to erase this particular event out of everyone's mind for your sake." I looked towards him and as if he heard my response, nodded and smiled. I swear, I think the guy has super sensitive hearing or something. In any case, that seemed to brighten her mood very much. Now, onto the idea of mine, "Zodiac, I have a better memory to share!" Everyone was looking at me. Now I began to suddenly regret what I said as I was stammering a bit, "Uh..."
==========
I had to step in for her sake and for being able to continue this. I was thinking of standing next to her and ask her what was in her mind but I think telepathy would be better for this situation, Blackjack, are you alright?
She looked like was about to scream until she stopped herself in time and glared at me, Next time, tell me when you're going to do that Zodiac! You scared the daylights out of me!
I let a smirk formed from hearing that I managed to scares her, I thought you couldn't be scared O great Queen Whiskey. That almost stopped her in her tracks when I mentioned that title. Now I managed to make a connection with her though, I was rather curious in what kinds of horrors has she faced during her time in Hoofington. I couldn't help but dig into her memory for a bit, And besides, what kind of horrors did you see that would make you this jumpy? I heard her mentally screaming towards me but I didn’t heed it as I manage to find the memories I was looking for. Yeah, I know that this is intruding and all but at least it isn’t something private or embarrassing though I might have to slap myself afterwards for even doing this out of curiosity.
So I manage to find the memories in question and well… looked at what kind of horrors she saw in general. Let me tell you, while I stood like I was normal, inside my mind, I was mentally wondering just how in the world did she had to face these kinds of horrors and live to tell the tale. I looked towards and thought this to her, Mind you, I’ve seen my fair share of horrors during my old life but you… Sweet mother of mercy above, I wonder how are you able to walk away from those while keeping your sanity in check…
All she did was scratch her head and chuckle, Honestly, I’m not so sure myself… Suddenly, everyone was looking at her just as she stopped laughing. She gulped once before she thought this out loud to my head, Aw shit…
I spoke for her quickly before things got awkward from here, “I connected to her mind and chatted with her, no worries everyone.” That managed to get everyone’s attention towards me now. Thankfully, I can at least handle this though there was something that bothered me, “So Blackjack... What did you want to say? I didn’t get to hear or learn it from your mind because you’re the one who decided to bring it up for us.”
That earned me one of her patented shooty looks as everyone’s attention was on her now. Looking at Glory, at least she managed to get out of her ball position made from embarrassment. But now she and Velvet’s mind might end up becoming broken after this conversation. That is, if Blackjack can speak what she has in mind because right now, everyone was waiting on her…
==========
Boy, I have a bad feeling about this if Blackjack has a better memory in mind. Thank Celestia that it wasn’t Homage because I would have been in the same position as Glory. About ten seconds in, she finally spoke although I noticed that she has a bit more pep than usual, “Okay, so there was a reason why I asked Scotch and now I get to say it.” Why was she a bit peppier? I didn’t see her drink anything related to alcohol so why this sudden excitement? That was somewhat answered, I guess? Anyway, it was answered as she spoke, “During my time on the moon…”
I saw Serenity raising her hoof up in the air. Yeah, I picked up on her name quickly during that surprise teleport. I hope that she doesn’t remember my swearing from yesterday because that was embarrassing for me, “Wait, you went to the moon?” A grin was her answer and she begun to suddenly get wide eyed with sparkles in them. I hope I wasn’t the only one who noticed that, “That’s so cool! Can you take me to the moon?! I want to go there!”
That question was immediately was shoot down by Hired who I’m still surprised was inspired by me to do some crazy stuff. First I had an influence on Murky to escape from Fillydelphia (How come I didn’t even notice him before?), and now Hired from Dise too. Do I have this much of an influence on people that I might as well be a figurehead? How should I know? Thankfully, I didn’t miss out on what Hired had to say, “No, you will not go to the moon Serenity. We already went through enough crazy stuff as is like fighting an adult dragon.”
I was just drinking some Sparkle-Cola when I heard that. It took me awhile to process that before I begun to spat out the drink. That hit Zodiac straight in the face though he didn’t seem to mind what just happened as he picked up a towel and cleaned himself. Glimmerlight somehow found that funny as she chuckled. I wiped off some that lingered on my mouth and looked at Hired, “You fought a dragon of all things?!”
She just shrugged as she looked nonchalant about it, “It surprised me a bit but yeah we did. I still find it hard to believe that you’re the Lightbringer in question… Speaking of which, did you fight a dragon?”
I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. Calamity came to help thankfully though I think he was also playing around a bit, “Eeyup, she definitely did… mean dragon too. It was in Old Appleloosa that we fought it an’ golly, Ah sure as hell did not see that comin’! She threw some darn grenades into the thing’s mouth an’ blew it from the inside out! Let’s just say that things got a bit crazier from there on out.”
Hired was surprised about that no doubt and suddenly looking at everyone else around, she only had this to say, “Yeesh, we all have went through some crazy stuff… I’m surprised that there are others like you guys that went through hell… Suddenly, I don’t feel so lonely about it.”
Brimstone spoke for once. I haven’t heard him speak yet to my surprise, “That I think all of us could agree with. I may be a former raider but it does do me some good to know that there are people that went through hell and back during their time.”
Everyone nodded fully with him. Zodiac spoke for us next and what he said, I can definitely agree with fully, “We all went through some tough journeys Brim but I think Blackjack deserves a medal for most craziest of them all…” He suddenly fell silent and put a hoof on his chin as if he was likely thinking of something. I suddenly wished that it wasn’t what I was thinking of. He put his hoof down and spoke again, “Eeyup, I can’t think of anything right now. Can we get back on topic please?”
Blackjack smiled with glee with that being said. Seriously why? I really wanted to know right now and she sure was taking her time with it, “Thanks! Anyway, during my time on the moon, for some damn reason, me and my friends were able to hear each other’s thoughts…” A look of understanding and concern was etched on P-21’s face and some laughter escaped from Rampage. Something tells me that this is going to break both Velvet and Glory somehow, “We all realized it soon and during that, someone panicked here and thought this out loud…” Blackjack tried to imitate Scotch’s voice and after hearing what was spoken, I think I understood why the smile. I’m not so sure if its exact but the message is clear as daylight, “Don’t think about having sex with Blackjack, don’t think about having sex with dad. ”
Of all the people that reacted to that statement, Velvet and Glory were most expected as their mouths were wide open. Glimmerlight definitely was surprised though for a different reason as she looked towards her, “Whoa, you seriously thought of that Scotch?” A chuckle filled with embarrassment escaped from her. Glimmer smiled as she picked up her and hugged her tightly, “This is something I didn’t expect to hear in… ever! I should help you do it right now then!”
Homage came in and joined with her, “Maybe I could help as well. Though… I’m going to need a good volunteer to showcase what I have in mind.” She was looking at me and winked. I suddenly curled up into a ball after seeing that. Celestia’s blazing butt, I am so doomed…
==========
Well this was a sudden surprise of events and here I thought Glimmerlight wouldn’t approve of it even with her known streak. Homage, I am not too surprised about especially after what she said towards Littlepip. I’m still a bit let down that Littlepip has a marefriend but I can live with it as long as it makes her happy. Though I wonder if me and Unity might join in… Right now, I was just waiting for both Velvet and Glory to speak their thoughts about this right now. I was about to say that they broke after hearing this revelation but they finally responded starting with Velvet, “Wait! You can’t teach Scotch how to have sex! She’s just a young filly! I definitely heard some groaning from P-21 and Scotch though they’re surprised that Glory isn’t saying anything. Brimstone was just looking at them in confusion as to this revelation.
I heard a conversation from the brother and sister and friends of Zodiac. They were talking about this no doubt but thank to my big right ear, I was overhearing it. Bad I know but I couldn’t help but be curious about it, “I’m surprised you aren’t going to argue about this.”
I can only guess that Harmony was shrugging towards Epsilon’s statement as I was looking at both Velvet and Glory. My ear twitched as she spoke, “Well, unlike her, I’m willing to accept the decision Scotch made now. She’s a young mare now in case no one realizes. She can make her own decisions now though I can see that her youth is going to cause problems for her ahead once this is over. I just know it.”
I saw Zodiac smiling from the corner of my eye. I guess he heard the conversation as well I guess? It took them awhile but Velvet spoke and it looks like her question was focused on Zodiac, “Tell me you aren’t going to accept this right?”
Zodiac definitely looked confused as he looked towards Velvet, “Why are you asking me that question Velvet? Shouldn’t it be towards Blackjack?” I had to agree with his answer.
That got her and she looked towards the pony in question, “I was right… You are a bad influence towards not only Littlepip but that poor filly as well Blackjack.” She just let a grin form while Scotch was appreciating the small support she never expected.
I heard a groan escaping from Zodiac as he spoke up, “Velvet, sometimes you can be quite a headache when dealing with this…” She was about to retort to that but he interrupted her, “Scotch already went through her first intercourse. Any argument you make is invalidated I’m afraid.” Her mouth just gaped once again as she heard that.
Blackjack’s grin only grew bigger as she spoke, “He’s right you know… during our return trip from the moon, she went through her first sex while I was in the Perceti… thingy. When I removed it and saw the situation, let me say that I was pleasantly surprised.” She definitely forgot to add that she enjoyed the sight for a moment but I doubt it’s that important anyway considering its Blackjack we’re talking about here.
Glory to my surprise, did not gape like Velvet was. She just chuckled and shrugged at hearing that, “At this point, I’m just not going to question this anymore because it’s just going to get into a debate I can’t win against.”
Velvet looked at her friend like she just heard the most outrageous thing spoken, “Not you too!” After seeing that Glory admitted defeat towards this, she stood up and looked liked she was about to leave this place. I was wrong though on that because she only managed to scream this line towards possibly everyone here, “Am I the only sane one here!?”
I’m sane here and I don’t mind what was being spoken I guess. In fact, I think everyone doesn’t mind it at all if I presume it. Zodiac spoke and I have a bad feeling that it only made things worse, “No you’re not the only sane one Velvet, you’re just taking this too seriously. Did you forget that Stable 99, the stable they came from, allowed sex like it was the most normal thing ever? Yes, even children are allowed to indulge themselves I presume. So stop whining about it alright?”
Velvet looked flabbergasted as he looked towards Zodiac, “I’m not whining! I’m complaining!” That got a momentarily chuckle out of me there.
Our immortal alicorn suddenly looked at her in relative surprise before he suddenly chuckled. I was about to ask why but he beat me with the answer, “You know, Rarity said something similar when she was asked to stop whining. Your answer was exactly word for word from her.” Velvet didn’t look pleased about it as she was complaining about the sex ordeal still. I for one, found it funny.
I looked towards Glimmer and I saw her giving Blackjack a grin that clearly wrote Oh I so want to join in for fun , “You’re stable was like that Blackjack? Think I can join in and indulge those stallions? I need a good one for my cravings right now.” Yep, I called it there.
Blackjack for the most part just shook her head, “Maybe but trust me when I say this, it gets very dull over time there. I’d say you’d probably have better luck elsewhere. Besides, it’s not the same anymore back when I was there as a security guard. It’s changed drastically…”
Glimmer seemed to put for a second but smiled as something came up in mind. I wonder what it is that popped in her mind? Well I got have that question answered, “Why don’t we all throw a booze party right now? Drinks are on Zodiac’s tab!”
I couldn’t help but recall the last party back in Fillydelphia, “Oh like that last party way back?” She nodded and couldn’t contain her glee for some time. I know that this party might end up becoming like the last party. I just hope I can keep myself in check.
==========
A booze party? I have a feeling I’m going to need to keep Serenity away from this if that’s the case. I’m pleasantly surprised that I was actually enjoying this for once. I don’t remember if I ever had been joyful during my crazy life. At least I know that I’m not alone with having to go through such a dangerous journey. All these people here have gone through hell… Just like I said with Littlepip (I still find it hard to believe that she’s the famed Lightbringer), I suddenly don’t feel so lonely. Anyway, Zodiac was clearly not pleased if his reaction means anything, “First Velvet focuses her questions on me and now I have to get the drinks Glimmerlight? Why am I suddenly the focal point for things now?”
I don’t know why but I found that funny for some reason. Apparently Serenity decided that it would be a good time to say something besides the excitement she had when Blackjack said she and her friends went to the moon. How in the world did they do that, I don’t even want to know. Anyway, back to Serenity’s response, “Can I join in drinking the booze? I want to know what it tastes like!”
I was afraid she was going to say something like that. Thankfully, Zodiac politely denied it though he also said something else in mind I didn’t expect from him honestly, “No booze for you or for that matter, for all of you…” Almost everyone was suddenly screaming at him for that although they didn’t realize yet that he was wearing a smug grin. I wonder why he was wearing that kind of grin? That was promptly answered by him of course, “No… I’m giving a more special drink in mind…” Suddenly, everyone was curious about this special drink in question. I saw his horn glow and from out of nowhere, cups appeared in front of him and there was some bubbles fizzing out of the cup. There was enough for everyone in here as he gave them all. Everyone grabbed it and looked inside it. A drink that fizzes like that of a soda, what in the world was this drink? I think everyone had that question in mind. Again it was answered by yours truly, “It’s one of Pinkie Pie’s special drinks. Word for word by her, I only use this drink for the super special extravagant awesome parties !” After that he wore a big grin that made me wonder if he was channeling Pinkie Pie right now.
In any case, I had to be first to ask since well… Serenity, “Is this drink alcoholic? I want to be sure because you gave this to the fillies as well.” Seriously, I noticed it and that started to make me wonder about it a bit.
The Pinkie Pie level of a grin was gone though he was still smiling, “No it isn’t though the drink still acts like its alcoholic in that in makes anyone tipsy like any usual beer would do. Don’t ask me how; this is Pinkie Pie we’re talking about here. I don’t think anyone can understand how she does so.” Well, that at least alleviates most of my worries out of me. Though the fact this drink makes anyone tipsy still makes me wonder how she does that.
Serenity spoke again only this time she was very excited, “So this isn’t actually booze but it still makes me tipsy like a normal one would do?” A nod from Zodiac confirmed her question. She raised her glass and spoke this one line before she went to it, “I get first drink!” I was about to stop her but I was too late as she gulped the whole thing. Oh goodness, I am worried now. A few smacks from her mouth came and only a few seconds in is she already tipsy if the big irises and her hiccupping means anything, “Wow… so this is what… hic it feels like to be tipsy… Wow, the whole world hic is swirling around me. Wee… hic .”
She was swaying her forelegs like she was doing a hypnotic dance of sorts. I couldn’t but ask if she was feeling well right now, “Serenity, are you alright?”
She looked at me with a big smile as she was still swaying her forelegs, “Oh I’m hic fine Hired! I’m just hic enjoying this hic sensation! Ah wee!” She stood up on one backleg and begun to spin around like a ballerina before collapsing to the ground in a heap while swaying her arms still and saying a long Wwwweeee .”
I was so surprised at how potent this drink was in making someone tipsy already. All of us looked at Zodiac about it and all he could say was this, “Yeah, the drink is that potent in making anyone tipsy. Just one gulp and you’re in a stupor already. Again don’t ask me how Pinkie does it, she just somehow does it. You’d have to be really resistant to its effect to even be able to think properly. I’ve seen the Ministry Mares drink it and let me tell you, among them all, only Rarity and its creator can somewhat resist its effects. Even I end up succumbing to its effects somewhat.”
Everyone including myself was flabbergasted at the idea that a rare few can resist it. Heck even the all-powerful alicorn can’t fully resist it. I looked at it and wondered if I should even drink it. Someone already decided to drink it now and I was not surprised to say that it was Blackjack. Like Serenity, she was now tipsy as she went into a happy mood, “Oh this hic drink is so hic good at doing its hic job… I hic feel like I want to hic sing right now!” She opened her mouth and sang whatever song she had in mind.
I looked towards Puppysmiles who unfortunately couldn’t drink it because of the suit she was wearing that kept her form, “Aw boo! I can’t drink this! Stupid suit!” Zodiac stepped forward and tried to assist the filly in question. His horn glowed and the drink was now gone. Although I questioned what happened to it, how Puppy was going around pretty much answered my question, “Oh! So this is hic what it feels like to hic be tipsy! I remember that hic my mom said that hic drinking this makes me feel hic weird…” She joined with Serenity as she collapsed to the ground and swayed her forelegs while hiccupping.
I looked towards Zodiac wondering how he did that even though she’s deceased. He just simply winked as he returned back to his spot. If the drink can make even the deceased like this than damn, that’s a powerful drink. Glimmerlight noted it as well, her tone definitely sharing my surprise there, “Wow, its potent enough to make even the dead drunk…” She looked at hers and smiled as she gulped it down quickly. One smack and of course, she was in a drunken stupor, “Sweet mother of hic Celestia above… I feel like a hic million bits right now…” She looked towards Blackjack and made the biggest grin I’ve seen, “Singing? hic I’ll gladly hic join in!”
Great, another has fell victim to the powerful effects this drink has. Well, if Serenity drank it and now those two, I might as well join in then. I took a gulp of the beverage and as soon as I finished it, the whole world swirled around me…
==========
I was just watching Hired moving like a drunk as expected and joining Serenity in the swaying of the forelegs. Blackjack singing was a bit of a surprise and admittedly, she’s a not bad singer. I looked towards everyone as they looked at their drinks reluctant to gulp it down. I raised mine to the air tempting them to join in the fun, “Well? Who wants to party like what they’re going through? I don’t want to leave them out on this!” It took awhile before everyone and I mean everyone, gathered here drank their beverages including myself.
Just as expected, I can already feel the effects kicking in as I drank it down. As I said though, I can somewhat resist to have enough clarity to at least think. The others are already in their drunken stupor as they finished their drinks. I lowered my drink down and watched the festivities of everyone’s drunken attitude kicking in. From Littlepip somehow letting go of any bad thoughts and fully wanting in the action, to Murky who was just flying around erratically with Unity riding on top of him like a horse yelling out of the top of her lungs, and now Hired, who I found out her real name is Silver Storm thanks to her drunken state, is moving around like a drunkard, everyone was having their own brand of fun.
I, on the other hoof, was just gleefully watching the festivities going like crazy. As the effects were still going strongly, I had the urge to just join and let myself go. But I didn’t want to because I wanted to be sure that nothing really bad happens during this party. Up on the table, I saw Littlepip, Blackjack, Silver, Puppysmiles, and Murky up there singing and dancing like crazy. Thankfully, I grabbed Unity with my magic and put her on the ground due to Murky going upside down and joining in the scene by crash landing. He still managed to pick himself up and join in the singing though.
The sight of all this craziness was something akin to a mad house. I even saw Velvet pole dancing for some damn reason. Sheesh, the drink made her let go like crazy. I felt someone poking my shoulder though causing relative surprise from me when I found out that it was Homage who was trying to get my attention and even more so when I hear say something perfectly well even with the hiccups, “Never hic thought to have a party like this… I was hic honestly thinking this would have been reserved for hic the last day.”
I felt a smile form as I looked towards the party goers rocking out for lack of a better term, “Having trouble resisting the effects Homage? I know I still am…” The drink was still swirling inside my stomach and I can feel it churning it like a surging ocean from the farthest corner of the world where sirens would sing about, bringing and seducing stallions and mares from any ship in many ways possible giving them that special feeling when under a grassy hill in a park. That… sounded bad… did it sound bad? Ah… Damn it, the effects are breaking my line of thinking right now.
I heard Homage chuckle just as a hiccup came to interrupt it, “I’m quite hic resistant to some drinks but this hic is on a whole new level. I’m surprised you aren’t hic hiccupping like the others are right now.” She chuckled only for a hiccup again to interrupt it.
I chuckled as well and only now did I get a single hiccup escape from me, “Dang it, I just hiccupped just as I was reaching the end of my laugh.” That got Homage to laugh a bit before the same thing happened again. I sighed as I watched the scene unfold in front of me, “Yeah, it’s quite hard to resist it. My line of thinking is getting a bit blurry thanks to it. I’m surprised that I’m able to resist it as far as it can go.” I casted magic just in time as someone was about to jump into a crowd stopping her mid-fall. That pony was Scotch to my surprise. I gently put her down while I was still chatting with Homage, “I had a better idea in mind for the last day but this idea came up after the memory chatting. I had to indulge myself because it was probably going to be the one time where everyone gets to drink that concoction of Pinkie’s”
Homage was getting the hang of the effects as the hiccups were getting less pronounce though they still lingered from time to time, “So… was this a hic memory of yours you are sharing?” A simple nod confirmed her answers causing a smile to form, “How did it feel the first time you hic drank this special drink of Pinkie’s?”
I looked at her just as I settled Scotch down onto the ground before a smile of mine formed, “Crazy… I didn’t know what to expect from the drink so when I drank it by Pinkie’s request, let’s just say that I ended up in an awkward situation…” I saw Homage opening and I knew what she was about to ask if her look means anything, “No, I will not elaborate on what that awkward situation is…”
She pouted at first before letting a smile form, “Well, I guess the concoction is making me hic privy about personal stuff right now, haha!” I had to join in her laughter right then and there. That drink can cause so many random effects on anybody that I might as well describe it as a potion of sorts. After our laughter ended in a hiccup, she turned and was about to join in the festivities until she had this to say towards me, “After everyone gets a hangover, how about you and I get a bit more personal?”
She was definitely wearing that grin that clearly spoke sex, right now, in a private room . I’m not so sure if the beverage made her kinky side more common or she’s doing so out of her own willpower but I couldn’t help myself but grin. Hey, the effects are still kicking in and messing with my thoughts, I might as well indulge her for a bit. At least I have the clarity to know what I’m getting myself into, “Sure, why not? But after we get them situated in bed then we can do so, but I’m going to need to cast the anti-pregnancy spell three times on you.” She looked at me in confusion wondering what I meant by that. I just chuckled and let myself roll with what came out, “Have you ever heard of the phrase, Third time’s the charm ? Yeah, I am not risking getting you pregnant with my drunkenness being very pronounced as clear as daylight even if I am resisting it. That is Littlepip’s or your job to make yourselves pregnant with a baby, not me.”
That made her chuckle once before she nodded in agreement, “Sure, after all of that said and done with this party…” She winked at me once before disappearing into the crowd. I let my smile linger a bit as I continued to supervise the drunken party we were in. Taking a glance at the clock, it was almost close to night. Did we talk about our memories for that long? It felt like it was only a few hours or so since we started it. Time sure does fly by fast and then there’s this drunken festival. Considering the effect of the beverage is meant to last for about an hour or so depending on the pony itself, I’m expecting hangover to come very soon. And then there’s that thing with Homage… Honestly, after all of that, I wonder how the next four days will be like… Maybe even better or worse? Who am I to say? I’m just going to enjoy this party until night comes and tomorrow enters the fray. I just hope I can live with these effects kicking every now and then before I succumb to them. That’ll be the day.
Twelve Wasteland Days of Hearth's Warming
The Ninth Day: A Slice of Life
The Ninth Day
I love to get plastered almost every time but if there’s one thing I tend to not be happy about, it is the hangover normally after having a drinking spree. That beverage of Pinkie’s that Zodiac bought up though already made me drunk as all hell in just one go. And I sure as hell wasn’t the only one to end up like that. That filly, Serenity, drank one before me and already she was acting like a drunken mare. I soon followed and sweet Celestia, is that drink potent in making anyone drunk as all hell. And it isn’t even an alcoholic drink or anything! How did Pinkie manage to make a drink that makes anyone tipsy but not make it alcoholic?! With that said, the funny thing is… I don’t have a hangover… I’m awake like I would normally be on a good day. I guess that adds to the truth that the drink is not alcoholic…
Anyway, I manage to pick myself up from the cozy bed and yawned a bit loudly. I opened one of my eyes to notice that I was sleeping with Murky, Littlepip, Puppysmiles and Hired. Heh… Did we leading mares decided to sleep with one another during our drunken haze or did someone purposefully bought us here in the same room and tucked us to sleep? Well, with Puppy in mind, I can tell that we didn’t do what I was thinking of. Since I was first of us to wake up, I decided to take my leave and eat up. I am hungry that’s for sure.
Rolling myself out of the bed and hopefully not waking the others out of their sleep, I made my way towards the door. I’m curious, since everyone was tipsy; I wonder if Homage bought someone to her room and played with whatever lucky pony she decided to pick on. Littlepip was here so that rules her out so who else? Well I better find that out myself! Weird, I was hungry before but now I lost my appetite. Eh, I’ll worry about that later. I felt a smirk forming as I took the elevator up to radio station. I don’t know if she’s awake already or still sleeping though. The elevator stopped at the floor and the doors promptly opened. Sheesh, since when did I get better with my words? Who knows?
So after some walking, I was in front of the door that is Homage’s bedroom. I put my ear on the door checking for any sounds. All I heard was nothing but absolute silence, if that makes sense. I was tempted to open the door but wouldn’t that be intruding? Heck, what do I know about privacy in question? I’ve been intruding in this kind of stuff like crazy and I came from a stable that doesn’t really have a sense of privacy; I might as well open the door for the heck of it.
I opened the door slowly and took a peek. So far, it was rather dark so I couldn’t see who was here. I did see two silhouettes, one of them I recognized was Homage but the other was a mystery to me. So one lucky pony did get to have some fun with her. I wonder who the pony was. I was about to enter but that pony’s body was moving ever so slightly. I stood there as I heard a yawn mostly out of relative surprise. Of all the ponies I was expecting, Zodiac was the least likely yet he was sleeping right next to Homage. He looked at me and was confused but looking pleased as he got out of the bed, “Hello there Blackjack, it’s good to see you awake. Why do you have that look on your face right now?”
I had a look on my face? I felt like I was just shot multiple times on the gut and mind you, I have been shot enough times to know the feeling. I think I was at a loss of words for a bit there. It took me a while before I could even speak let alone ask the question, “Uh… Did you two do what I think you did…?”
He just flashed a smile that very much wrote yes to my question. His statement just even solidified that smile of his, “Were it Littlepip, I might’ve joked about it just to see her hilarious reaction but since I’m talking to the mare that goes through this a lot throughout her journey and in her stable… Yes, I have indeed gone through what you are thinking.” He just winked at me… He just damn winked at me! He hasn’t shown this kind of behavior since… ever! I won’t lie and admit that I almost felt a grin growing on me but as he spoke, it only made it harder to resist grinning, “I won’t lie, I have went through it so many times that it tends to get dull but her? She has that little charm that I can’t help but be reminded of the first time I went through a good intercourse.”
Okay, I give up. I had to grin here, it’s just too hard to not do so especially after that little statement of his, “Oh really? Who was the lucky mare to get a treatment from you?”
He just chuckled before flashing a smug yet knowable grin, “Not telling you ever or even in your dreams Whiskey Queen.” I’ll take that but why was he this… erm, peppy I guess? I think energetic is the better word to describe him. This is not like him at all to be this… Damn it, I don’t even have a word to describe what was going on with Zodiac.
Another yawn was heard, this time from Homage herself. We both saw her getting up from the… sweet Celestia, as soon as she got out from under the blanket and removed it from the bed; I got the chance to see the most messiest bed I’ve ever seen. Heck, I can even smell the familiar aroma of a… you know what I mean. I’m starting to get a bit jealous right now honestly… Why didn’t I get to have some good fun with them? I almost didn’t hear Homage during my quiet rant, “Morning Zodiac, morning Blackjack.” She looked on the bed and immediately shared my thoughts on the poor bed, “Goodness, did we make this much of a mess on the bed? I guess it’s to be expected when all three of my holes are full. I can still taste it even after we fell asleep.”
All three? I mean, I know that Zodiac can duplicate himself and all that but all three?! Normally, I’m not one to be jealous (Yeah right…) but right now, I couldn’t help but complain about it now, “Why did you two get to have all the fun when I was asleep?! Actually, better yet… why didn’t you do like this the first time?! No fair…”
I saw that look of nervousness etched on his face… Wait, nervousness? Since when did the guy ever shown that kind of emotion? Well, that was going to be answered now, “Oh… you mean that one time where all you mares minus two wanted me? Well, as much as this was easier for me, that last one wasn’t because… that was my first group related intercourse.”
Seriously? This guy can go through it easily with one mare but a group of them? Then again, he did say it was his first so I guess the first time is expected. Although now that he bought it up, I couldn’t help but grin again, “Really? Well… do you feel confident enough to go through it a second time?” He looked at me like I was speaking crazy at first before he wore that same smug grin of his. Oh he was really thinking about it alright. Something about this bothered me though and I’m not so sure why. I feel like it would be a good time to ask about it before I forget, “By the way, why are you like this? This is not like you…”
That caused his grin go away before a regular smile formed instead, “I guess it’s mostly because I’ve been neglecting this for five millennia mostly due to personal reasons. That and I did say it gets dull over time and I’ve lost that feeling of excitement ever since the first one. Now? I remember the feeling of going through it the first time and I’d rather use this opportunity to indulge myself before my mind begins to see this getting dull. Trust me when I say that I don’t want to miss this out.”
Well if he wanted to do this now before as he says, it gets dull on him then by all means, I’ll let have his fun though I wonder. I looked towards Homage and instantly, she understood what my look suggested right now, “I think the messy bed can answer that for you Blackjack but if not… despite him neglecting it as he says, he’s quite a prodigy at it to the point where I think that getting that kind of treatment from him is like every mare’s dream.”
That made me grin then and there. Our alicorn friend here partly agrees except for one thing that’s nagging at him, “Thank you but… do you really think that? Last time I remember mares (and stallions alike) getting me was only because I was the friend to the General of the whole military not for the usual stuff. I am not joking here. Only one mare loved me for who I really am and that was the mare I ended giving my treatment to.” Wow, that mare must be the most luckiest pony in the world to have him. That being said, we are withholding this out for long enough and I can tell that from Zodiac’s expression clearly noting that the excitement was beginning to wear off on him. Well, time’s a wasting! I was next to Homage and looked at her before we looked at him with looks of glee. He just simply smiled as his horn glowed and out from behind him were three more of him all sharing the same thought, “Let’s get this started before we lose that excitement of ours.” Oh, I was going to enjoy this day a lot.
==========
Ugh, I never thought the drink would be that potent in making me tipsy… I honestly thought Serenity was playing around a bit there but when I drank it, oh goodness, I didn’t really expect to get instantly drunk. I can already assume that everyone was drunk as well if my foggy memory is right. Well, at least if there’s one good thing about the drink is that I don’t get a hangover from it... somehow. I managed to pick myself up from the bed and stretched a bit. As I was about to get off, I heard a single tapping sound you would hear from glass causing me to freeze up a bit. I look below and saw Puppysmiles sleeping peacefully on a small makeshift bed.
You know, seeing her asleep right now was kind of adorable, reminds me of another filly. Speaking of another filly, where is Serenity? I hope she isn’t up to anything crazy. Just as I said that, a loud banging occurred. How that didn’t wake the others, I have no idea but I wanted to know what that sound was all about. After managing to tiptoe my way to the door and getting out of the room, I went straight for where I heard the sound. Once I arrived though, I was caught off guard with what I was seeing. Serenity was there alright but so were others that woke up. Those who were with her in question are Brimstone, Glimmerlight, and Noir. They were gathered around a table with cards in their hooves and cards gathered in the center with numbers and four colors. I heard Serenity speaking first as she placed a red five above a yellow four, “Anybody here almost got an Uno? I’m down to two cards left!”
Glimmerlight then smirked as she lifted her hoof showing the same number of cards, “Two here! Looks like one of us is going to be the winner! Boy, I never thought that this card game you found Serenity would be fun!” I was rather confused on what kind of card game they were playing. In fact, the cards themselves look very different from the ones I’m familiar with. I was distracted by the game that I almost didn’t hear Glimmer’s voice, “Hired! Good to see you awake! Wanna join in?”
I looked towards her and the others in confusion, “Only if you can explain what kind of card game you all are playing because I’ve never seen a card game like this before in my life…” Of course, upon me saying that, Serenity went giddy with excitement as she went on about the rules of the card game and what’s it all about. The thing is though… She was speaking so fast that I wasn’t able to register anything she said about the card game in general. I wasn’t the only one though as the others were looking at her in confusion despite them knowing the rules of the game in question. She noticed everyone looking at her leaving her the one to be confused now. I had to make note of what she did anyway since I was the one who asked, “You were talking fast Serenity. None of us were able to understand what you said…”
That left her scratching her head and chuckling while embarrassed that it happened. I could only be amused at the sight of her like that. Noir definitely agreed with me in her own unique way but… “Yep, I almost mistook it for a changeling buzzing call…” it which only made us confused on her this time. She looked towards everyone and just looked at us questionable, “What? You all don’t even know what changelings are in the first place… I might as well say that anyway without worry about what it means to you four. Be thankful that you at least know the basic stuff about us changelings.”
All of us ended up shrugging since what Noir said was true unless you’re Zodiac or something. But that was beside the point, I just remembered why I was here in the first place, “Hey… did any of you hear a loud banging sound? I came here mostly because of that and to see if Serenity was going anything crazy…” I saw her looking at me like I was an overprotective mother of sorts. I’m not that overprotective am I?
Anyway, my question was answered in the form of Brimstone, “That was my fault, I was carrying this table here and I dropped it by accident. I’m surprised that it didn’t wake everybody up…” I can definitely agree with the big guy here. That sound was loud yet it wasn’t able to wake anybody up form their sleep for some reason. Were we all heavy sleepers or something?
Well, heavy sleepers or not, I still wanted to know what the card game the four were playing currently anyway. I pulled up a chair and sat down as I looked at the cards, “Anyone still wants to explain what this card game is all about? Because this is far from any card game I’m familiar with…” That was answered by Serenity putting a piece of paper in front of my face while wearing a big smile. I picked it from her and looked through it while ruffling her mane as thanks. Apparently, these were details and instructions about the card game itself they were playing. Well, according to the instructions, this is quite a twist to a card game. Makes sense that they have their own special cards.
While I was reading the paper, the four were continuing to play the game they were currently in. At least this way, I can learn what and how this Uno works, “So me and Serenity are close to having an Uno here. Think you two can prevent us from getting a victory?” Serenity was too busy looking at her two cards to notice what I saw. She just flashed one of those sultry smiles towards the two. Does every kinky mare in this entire world have to give one of those or is it just me? I’ve seen one from Homage, Blackjack, and now Glimmerlight herself. Who’s next on the list of mares that give those smiles? I hope I don’t run into another mare that is secretly kinky or something.
While I was thinking all of that, Noir was sniffing like she just smelled the most delicious food. She then looked towards the ceiling which left us confused. I definitely saw her blink twice though I’m not so sure why. We were all wondering what was going on in her mind right now. What she said surprised all of us awake, “I taste some love from someone going through... Oh my, this tastes like they’re really enjoying the moment. Two mares and four stallions… Wait, the four stallions are the same being. Duplication spell?”
I’m surprised to admit that the topic almost changed from us playing a card game I’m just learning to us finding out who was going through a good sex. We still planned to play the card game mind you but suddenly finding out who was undergoing it was our top priority. I’m not so sure if I should let Serenity be a part of this conversation or not right now. I was about to ask the question but somepony beat me to it, “Oh! Who’s going through a good sex?! I wanna know right now!”
Noir sniffed the air once more and looked towards us once again, “Okay, the two mares in question I smell are definitely Homage and Blackjack. I can even tell that all—“
I covered Serenity’s ears as she was way too young to learn about this know. She was definitely not happy with not being able to know the knowledge, “Noir, we have a young filly here! Unless said filly is Scotch in question, don’t tell us the details please!” I seriously am surprised that Scotch Tape, who is just a filly, not only learned about sex but also can handle being around ponies undergoing it and partake in it fine with no repercussions if yesterday was anything to go by. What kind of Stable did she and Blackjack originate from that allows sex like it was the most normal thing ever?
I felt my hooves being forced off Serenity’s ears by her no less. She definitely wanted to know badly no doubt but what she said sure surprised me, “Hired, it’s okay; I understand what you’re trying to do. But Zodiac said himself that the earlier I learn about this, the better chances for me to avoid it…”
I was left silent about that advice in question. I had to blink twice just to be sure I heard that right. Since I know that the guy is about five thousand years old, I bet he was being truthful about the advice he gave towards Serenity. I ended up sighing since you never question anyone who is that old, “Alright, I’ll allow you to hear it, but only because he said so. You never question someone who lives that long and has had to deal with more trouble than usual.” I saw Glimmerlight smiling though I’m not so sure if it was because she was proud of me or something else. I looked towards Noir in question, “So Homage and Blackjack’s three holes in question are full? By who though?”
Noir sniffed the air once more. When she took one deep sniff, she looked at us wide-eyed. I have either a bad or good feeling about what she is about to say, “You’re not going to believe this but its Zodiac who’s doing them a favor.”
That definitely caught some of us off guard. Brim could only smile though, “Heh, I knew that guy had it in him to do something like that. I mean, with him being that old and if I remember right, him neglecting it for so long, I knew he was bound to do it someday.”
That only made Glimmer pouty though, “Aw, but I want to join in the fun! I’m missing out on this!” She sprawled over the table clearly not happy about hearing this. I did let a light chuckle escape seeing her like this. Serenity also found it a bit funny but she kept her laughter inside.
Noir was stifling her laughter as she was sniffing the air. When she took that one deep sniff however, she couldn’t hold back her laughter as another giggling fit escaped from our changeling friend, “Welp, you’re a bit too late Glimmerlight. I can smell that familiar aroma of someone ejaculating right now and goodness, that is a lot of white I’m seeing.” That only made her moan and groan like she was going through the worse torture ever. Oh boy, I hope Littlepip doesn’t find out about this. She’s definitely going to have her mind blown no doubt.
==========
Ugh, what’s with all that moaning and groaning? I hope Glimmer isn’t doing her usual stuff right now or worse, in public. I heard a quiet yawn right next to me. I shifted in my bed and looked towards the source of the yawn. I was a bit surprised, but was smiling nonetheless to see Puppysmiles waking up from her slumber. She got up from her bed and tried to rub her eyes but her hoof hit the glass helmet. That didn’t stop her though as she waved at me, “M-morn…” She wasn’t able to finish that sentence as she let out one loud yawn.
I have to admit, I smiled at that rather adorable yawn of hers. I moved the blanket off of me and picked myself up from the bed then stretched every part of my body from my legs to my wings while I was chatting with her, “Morning to you too Puppy… It’s good to see you awake and well.” She was fumbling around as she was trying to pick herself up from the bed but slipped and landed back on the bed with a thud. I stifled a laugh as she tried to stand up again only for the process to repeat. I decided to help her out as she was clearly struggling to get up. Looks like the effects of that drink were still going on in… I don’t even know how they were working inside Puppysmiles when she clearly has no body in the first place. Why do I even question it in the first place? Anyway, I felt like asking her about it just to be sure that I was correct, “Do you still feel like your body is a little… wobbly?”
I almost forgot the fact that while she was clearly older than us (except for Zodiac but that’s kind of obvious since he’s an alicorn), she still has the mentality of a filly. So as a result of that knowledge, I had to ask her while trying to be simple enough for her to understand. Thankfully, she understood the question I asked, “Uh huh… My body feels so weird. It feels like I went through a sugar rush…” Huh, her body still feels the effects of… whatever that non-alcoholic yet still has the effects of an alcoholic beverage, you get the point. Anyway, the effects are still kicking? While I have little knowledge about this kind of drink in the first place, I think I could chalk it up to her body if only because it was the first thing that popped in my head. In any case, I wonder if the rest are awake… Hearing Glimmer might have answered that question though. I looked towards Puppy who was swaying her two hooves. I was about to question why she was doing that until she spoke, “Oh… I feel like I’m swimming in the ocean…”
Eeyup, the drink was still in effect for Puppysmiles. I poked her back two times as I tried to get her attention. Good thing her mind was cleared up as she stopped with the swaying and turned towards my direction. I had a smile etched on my face as I looked towards the door, “Why don’t we go out of the bedroom and see if anypony else is awake? I’m sure they’re busy doing something…”
That got her very excited as she was bouncing on the bed, “Yay! I get to see everyone again!” She stopped jumping up and down on the bed and ran off towards the door in her excitement. I swear her enthusiasm is going to end up being contagious to all of us like Pinkie’s laughter or her level of energy.
Anyway, I followed soon after I managed to somehow avoid waking Littlepip in question. Is she a heavy sleeper or is she still a bit drunk in her slumber? Who knows? After I slowly opened the door and departed the bedroom while silently closing the door in return, I looked around wondering where Puppy wandered off to. Thankfully, she was easy to locate as I hear her voice alongside Glimmer and Brimstone in question. In fact, I saw Glimmer sprawled out on the floor looking like she was going through one of those bad times if her groaning means anything. Hired was reading something while the others were laughing, probably at whatever was going on with Glimmer. Well, can’t wait to find out what’s troubling her, “Hi everypony…”
That managed to snap Glimmerlight out of her trance for a moment to say this line… “Hey Murky!” before she decided to go back into moaning in supposed pain. I looked at Brimstone with a raised eyebrow wondering if he did something. He only shrugged and pointed towards our changeling friend in question.
She caught onto the gesture though and answered my silent question, “Let’s just say she’s not happy in missing out on the fun going on upstairs…” Not only did she put emphasis on fun but also gave me one of those familiar smiles. The gears in my brain were churning and turning slowly before my expression took on a look of understanding. She could only smirk as she saw the look, “Eeyup, she’s lamenting the fact that she’s missing out on some good ol’ sex.” Just mentioning that word caused Glimmer to moan even more.
I wasn’t so sure how to feel about this to be honest. I decided to switch the topic because I did not wish to delve into this topic further, “So… what card game are you all playing?” I won’t lie and say the cards I saw did get my attention considering they don’t even look like the cards I’m familiar with.
Hired decided to speak and give me the paper he was reading from, “It’s a card game called Uno apparently. The paper holds instructions on the rules of the game in question. I have to admit, I want to try this card game for some fun…”
“What kind of card game is Uno anyway?” All of us turned towards the voice in question to see Homage, Blackjack, and Zodiac looking like they went through the worse situation ever.
Before Serenity could answer that question, Glimmerlight spoke and she sure doesn’t sound happy with the three of them, “The better question is why did you leave me out on the action?!” I was looking at her with a bewildered expression before my eyes widened once I connected the dots. I then looked towards the three of them in question. The two mares looked towards each other before chuckling to themselves while Zodiac had a mildly annoyed expression on his face as he looked towards Noir in question. Although those two never spoke, they understood what she meant. Our changeling friend had the weirdest expression that I ever seen. It consisted of a humongous grin and wide eyes looking like he was pleased with what he did. Oh and to top that off, I could just be imagining it but I swear I thought I heard a stallion’s voice saying trollol in repeat. This is getting very bizarre right now and I’m in the thick of it. I just wanted to try the card game right now.
==========
Was I the last one to wake up from the drink? Because right now, I can hear a bit of a ruckus going on outside the bedroom I’m sleeping in. Oh well, one long yawn while I was covering my mouth a few times later, “What a drink… Note to self, never drink that ever again.” Still, I’m surprised that I don’t have a hangover from the drink despite me being drunk. Guess Zodiac wasn’t kidding about it being a non-alcoholic drink.
After I manage to pick myself up from the bed and stretch, I walked towards the door and was about to depart until I overheard a conversation from the ponies outside and there sure was a lot of them awake today, “Really Noir? You told Glimmer about that? Because that expression of yours says yes…” Told Glimmer about what? Could someone answer that question for me please?
My question was somewhat answered by two voices that I recognize much to my embarrassment, the voice coming from Homage, “Oh Zodiac, why are you bothered by it? You knew that someone was going to find out either way…”
Luna’s pulsating clit, why did my question have to be answered by her of all ponies? The second voice only made my blush redder than I had in mind, “Right! You know, maybe we should have bought you know who with us so we can have triple the fun!”
Oh sweet merciful Celestia above, can someone end my unknown yet embarrassing torture from those two please? You know that that I said that they somewhat answered it for me? Just from hearing the voices in question, I was able to connect the dots and suddenly, my whole face was blushing up a storm. Blackjack’s confirmation only made it worse. When I heard Zodiac’s voice, I honestly thought my prayer was answered. That hope was immediately shot down with what he said, “You know, now that I think about it, why was I embarrassed by having multiple mares having their way with me the first time? I just remembered something that I somehow forgot…”
Why Zodiac? You were my only salvation to stop the torture… I was covering my red face while listening to those two wondering about his jogged memory. I already slightly opening the door originally to see the conversation but the torture shrunk me back into the room with the door still slightly opened, “You remembered something related to the… Um… I forgot what day that happened.”
It was on the fifth day I think. That still didn’t help much with my torture. While Homage agreed with me unknowingly on what day it happened she still wanted to know what memory they jogged form him, “I think it was the fifth day… but still, what memory did we somehow helped recall from you?”
Please don’t tell us about it please… For the love of all things that is good in the Goddess’s hearts don’t tell us. Unfortunately, that prayer was also unanswered. With Celestia as my witness, how long will this last? I’m not so sure how long can I take this, “Well, there was this one time I got these three girls into my house and had a simple conversation with them. Mind you this was in a dimension unknown to all of you but… they were about one millennium old and yet they still look like they were young in body.”
Okay, despite the aforementioned torture I was going through, I admit I was curious about the memory he was recalling. I just hope he doesn’t go into detail about any intercourse in mind, “These three girls in questions were bad people and were homeless, emphasis on were … They’re not too bad now but are still a bit mischievous. I gave them shelter and I offered them sustenance and while they agreed to have it all, they wanted it under one condition… Said condition was… Do I really need to say it?”
Are… are you serious? He took in three mares that while look young are that old and gave them shelter despite them being bad? And their condition for their stay was sex? What? While I was questioning his memory, the ponies currently awake somehow found it funny. Glimmerlight spoke after she finished laughing, “Are… are you serious? Because if so, dang those are some girls if their condition was to ask their rescuer to a good ol’ sex after they were rescued…”
Blackjack was the second voice to come and I was not surprised with her next question, “I know right? What? Did you recoil in surprise from their condition?” I took a small peek despite my red face and was relatively surprised that he shook his head. Blackjack as surprised as well but not really yet, “Are you sure Zodiac?” Another shake of the head alongside a smile answered her question.
Homage then decided to join in and I swear I thought she noticed me and gave a sly smile. I hope I was imagining that but if that’s the case... Celestia’s flaring orgasm, I’m doomed… Her question snapped me out of my fetal position only because I just wanted the torture to end, “Let me guess, you didn’t give one of those sly smiles, you were okay with the condition, and those three were the ones recoiling in surprise… Am I hot or cold?”
His smile never faded as he answered that question, “Hot… very hot…” That only made the three kinky mares smile like they enjoyed that he did. During all of that, he did something I or rather all of us did not see coming. Without so much as a glance towards my direction, he said something so unexpected on my part; it made me want to retreat back into the bed like my life depended on it, “You can stop hiding and come out now Littlepip, I know you’re awake. You even overheard the whole thing didn’t you?” Eeyup… I’m doomed. I am so doomed. Even if I tried, can you really fool an alicorn that is five thousand years old? I ended up stepping out of the bedroom with my still beet red face going on. Everyone who saw my face was struggling to contain their laughter. Zodiac’s words only made my face redder than before, “Enjoyed what you heard and went through?”
I could only weakly look at him despite my blushing face, “I hate you so much right now Zodiac…” He could shrug as he pointed towards the mares next to him. That gesture clearly wrote on his part don’t blame me, blame them. They pulled me into this act. Blackjack and Homage could only chuckle and slyly looked at me as they, in Zodiac’s words, bro-hoofed. Why did I have to through all of that on the ninth day of Hearth’s Warming…
