“A job?” Captain Morningstar demanded, “What made you think you were in a position to start accepting jobs?”

“I didn’t think I had a choice!” I began, “They were already upset with me for unintentionally announcing their presence, and they’re keeping a piece of me hostage.”

Having returned to the inn, Indigo went back out to gather the rest of the group, and it didn't take long for them to come back. I did my best to explain the situation, but Captain Morningstar quickly got hung up on that specific detail.

“What piece?”

“Um…” I scooted back in my chair and lifted my foot onto the table, putting my broken toe on full display.

“Part of your hoof?” Rusty asked,

“Foot,” Dr. Duck corrected,

“That’s like hardly anything though.” Rusty said,

“Not to me!” I exclaimed, putting my foot back down, “And I can actually get this one back.”

“By doing what exactly?” Captain Morningstar questioned,

“I…” I pushed my palm against my thighs and averted my gaze. “I have been asked to do something about the construction of a road through the forest.”

“And you still accepted?! That job will interrupt the lord’s plans!” Captain Morningstar said, “Do you know what happens to ponies who do that?”

“Uh, not… good things?” I guessed,

“Yeah, not good things.” Captain Morningstar affirmed, then he sighed, “But you’re not going to refuse, are you.”

“No.” I said,

He placed a hoof between his eyes again, “You said this was a job, what’s the pay like?”

I pressed my lips together and shifted my gaze to the other side of the room, “There… was going to be a reward, but… things didn’t work out, so… at the moment… there’s nothing.”

Captain Morningstar slammed his hoof on the table, “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!”

I flinched, “That things would be worse if I didn’t take the job.”

“Worse than opposing the lord?!”

“But I’m not opposing the lord,” I argued, “I’m representing the forest. Look, they don’t want a road cutting straight through the forest, that’s it, that’s all they want. They don’t care about gems getting mined, or who’s doing it, as long as their part of the forest is safe, then everything will be fine. But if the road gets built, then things will get complicated, which might result in conflict…”

“But the road is directly related to the gem mine! They can’t just not build it.”

“Then put it somewhere else.”

“Heh, good one.” Dr. Duck said, “You realize the forest spans almost the entire border with the volcanic lands right? There’s literally nowhere else to put it besides the forest. You can’t go around it.”

“Why not just move the road out of the way enough to not cause issues?” Fletch asked, “You said they were only worried about part of the forest, so just avoid that specific part.”

“That’s… a good idea.” I realized, “Thank’s Fletch.”

“You better take that up with Sir Manuscript then,” Captain Morningstar ordered, “And your new forest friends.”

I nodded, “My first plan was to come up with some sort of compromise anyway.”

Captain Morningstar exhaled loudly, “I am not taking responsibility for this.”

“That’s fine.” I said, “I accepted this on my own, and I’ll do it by myself if I have to, but I’m still going to ask for help. And so. Does anybody want to help? I can’t promise you anything now, but I will absolutely pay you back in the future.”

The mercenaries all looked at each other for a moment,

“No.” Dagger said,

“We don’t exactly do well with debts,” Dr. Duck said, “Rusty still owes me at least two hundred bits.”

“And I’m getting to it!” He responded, “But I’m out as well, it sounds like you’ll be doing a lot of diplomacy stuff.”

“Dip-lomacy?” Maul tilted his head,

“Lots of talking.” Rusty clarified,

“No thanks. Sorry Phos.”

“It’s okay,” I said, then looked towards Fletch,

“I’ll… help.” She began, “I haven’t found much to do in this town anyway.”

Indigo leaned forward, “You’ve been doing okay work so far. How will you pay me back?”

I thought for a moment, “You know I don’t have anything to my name, but you also know that I might be working with you in the future. What if I give up some of my cut for a bit? I’ll pay you with that.”

“Hmm, I like that. You’re smarter than you look.” Indigo said,

Why does she keep insulting my intelligence? “Do I really look that dumb to you?” I demanded,

“Sometimes.” Indigo smiled, “But it’s not just how you look, it’s how you act. You don’t act smart.”

“What does that even mean?”

“The way your eyes wander, how you always have that dopey smile, and with your most recent choices, it doesn’t exactly make you look good.”

Have I really been doing that all this time? I can’t believe I didn’t notice. “I can’t help it, I’m happier than I’ve ever been, I want to take in all of my surroundings, and I’m sorry for wanting to help people as best I can.”

“Oh my goodness, you’re so innocent.” Indigo deadpanned,

“So what if I am?” I frowned.

“Mercenaries aren’t innocent.” Captain Morningstar stated, “If you can’t handle that, then you shouldn’t be one.”

I crossed my arms, “I want to try.”

“And stubborn,” Indigo added,

“Is that also a bad thing?” I asked, exasperated,

“Not really, it means you’ll probably stick with a job until completion.”

“And that’s what I intend to do.” I stood up, “Now if that’s everything you needed to know, then I’m going to go figure out what I’m going to do.”

“You realize if this doesn't work out, then you won’t be able to become a mercenary, right?” Captain Morningstar asked,

“Yes,” I nodded, “maybe I can consider this as an initiation test then.”

“That’s stupid,” Dagger stated,

Captain Morningstar just sighed, scratching his head with a hoof, “Fine, but you’ll still have to perform well on a real job.”

“Looking forward to it.” I pushed my chair in, and started heading for the exit of the inn, with Fletch and Indigo following behind.

♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦ ♥ ♦

“So.” Indigo began as we walked, “Who are these new ‘forest friends’ of yours exactly?”

“Forest spirits… I think.” I answered “I don’t really know what else to call them. They’re deer, and really good with plants. It seems they care a lot about the forest, and I kind of hit the nail right on the head with my interpretation.”

“What do you mean good with plants?” Fletch asked,

“Like, making trees grow in seconds. They made body parts out of roots, they made this.” I poked my dirty face mask, it had a spongy texture to it. “It’s alive.”

“Whoa…” Fletch trailed off,

“That’s some serious magic to be throwing around,” Indigo said, “If I wasn’t looking at the result right now, I wouldn’t believe it.”

“There were also these little pixie things, they were called Breezies.”

“Okay, that makes it more believable... I think.” Indigo continued, “You don’t see them very often, and they don’t stick around in one place for very long. If there are Breezies in that forest, then there must be something keeping them there.”

“Like a forest spirit?” Fletch asked,

Indigo nodded, “This is still unbelievable as a whole though.”

“You’ve seen them before?” I asked

“I’ve heard of them, and even then not much. The last pony that actually saw a Breezie died over a hundred years ago.”

“Do you know what they are?”

“Magical wisps, and nasty little ones at that. I’ve heard they pack a mean punch when disturbed, so it’s best to just leave them to their flowers, or whatever it is they do.”

I tilted my head, “They’re not… little creatures?”

Indigo looked at me strangely, “How close did you get to these ‘Breezies?’”

“I held one in my hand.”

Indigo’s jaw literally dropped, but she caught herself a moment later.

“Does that mean they’re like bees?” Fletch wondered,

“A bee sting is just an annoyance,” Indigo cleared her throat, “You’d be lucky to get back up again if a Breezie hit you.”

“They didn’t seem very dangerous,” I said, thinking back.

“Stuff like that can be deceptive, there’s no guarantee that what you saw were actually Breezies.”

“Well do you know of any other small, flying lights that hang around forests?”

“N-No…” Indigo muttered, she shook her head, “but nevermind that, what’s your plan?”

“Um…" I blinked, "If we want to negotiate, then we need to talk to both sides. So the first step would be to get in contact with Sir Manuscript again.”

“Is that where we’re headed?” Fletch asked,

“Is it?” I asked, “I thought I was following you.”

Indigo immediately facepalmed, face-hooved, “You're worse than Maul.”

“How? Why?” Is this another jab at my intelligence?

“You took the job, you’re taking the lead.”

“Oh… Right, then we should probably head over to the manor.”

Fletch and Indigo turned to begin heading in that direction.

“Wait,” I stayed in place, “We don’t even know where the road is going to be, we should find it first and go from there.” I thought for another moment, “Have they even started building it? I mean you guys just reported your findings last night.”

“They started construction before we even set out,” Indigo answered, “and they were probably going to continue it regardless of our report. I highly doubt that a single juvenile dragon would stop the lord’s plans.”

“What about the forest?” I asked,

“That depends on you, doesn’t it? So, what is your plan?” Indigo repeated,

“To negotiate.”

“About what?” Indigo demanded, “Be more specific.”

“Well… Going off of Fletch’s idea, we just need to get them to agree to move the road enough so it doesn’t cut through the…” I struggled to find the right words. “Inner sanctum of the forest?”

“And where is that?”

“It’s um…” I tried to recall the path I took, it didn’t help. “We’ll need to get the deer to define their boundaries then.”

“Or else?” Indigo added,

“It would… I imagine there would be some sort of fighting.” I finished,

“Then there you have it: A rough plan and an argument.”

I went through the motions of the plan. We talk to Sir Manuscript, convince him to revise the road plan, get the information from the forest spirits, and if all goes well, then there won’t be any conflict. “Wow, thanks Indigo,”

“You can thank me by paying me.” She replied with a smile, “That’s right, my advice costs extra.”

And here I thought Rusty was bad.

I groaned, “How much extra?”

“How much were you planning on paying me?”

“Let’s see,” I squeezed my eyes shut, the transparency of my eyelids still allowing me some view of where I was going. “I’ll be giving you a portion of my cut from the next few jobs, enough to pay for this one job so… Twenty percent of my earnings from the next five jobs, and the same goes for Fletch.”

Fletch paused to do some mental math.

“Again, smarter than you look,” Indigo said, “but that won’t be enough.”

“Why not?” I demanded,

“Because not all jobs pay the same. We could make barely anything for our next few jobs, and that definitely won’t be enough for this. Plus you have to pay me extra now. So for the next… let’s say ten jobs, I get thirty percent of your cut, while Fletch still gets her twenty.”

I did a double take, “That’s literally half of my earnings!”

“Yup.” Indigo smiled,

“And you stand to gain upwards of three times what you normally would.”

“Not necessarily, but how about this, we get our cut for ten small jobs, or three big ones.”

“That’s… fair… -er,” I said, rubbing my chin, “Okay fine. I did say I would pay you after all.” I held out my hand,

Indigo had to reach up a bit to shake it, but we still managed. Fletch was a bit more hesitant, and overall she just looked lost.

“That uh… that all adds up, right?”

“More or less.” Indigo answered,

She slowly reached up to shake my hand as well.

I wasn’t too happy about giving up fifty percent of my pay, but besides what I already knew I had to pay for, I wasn’t too sure what I was going to use the money for. It probably wasn’t a good idea to say that out loud though, so I kept my mouth shut.

In the time we had spent discussing, we had reached the edge of town again. We were a bit closer to Sir Manuscript’s manor than before, and there was a stack of felled trees immediately visible at the edge of the forest, with another one being dragged over at the very moment. By moving past the last few buildings, we could see a sizable chunk of the forest cleared away, with dozens of ponies milling about, some cutting down trees, others pulling up stumps, and a few others doing miscellaneous work.

“Is this it?” I whispered to Indigo,

“What else would it be?” She replied, “Are you going to be putting on your act again?”

“Yeah, I kind of have to.” I said,

Closing my eyes to focus again, I began getting ready, and that started with my cover story.

I’m a forest nymph. Though I may have left the forest to assist my saviors, I still hold my allegiance to it. After returning to my home for a bit, I was sent to investigate the disappearance of a large number of trees in this area. Since the cause was ponies, I brought ponies of my own to help understand. I explained this to Fletch and Indigo.

“That’s not too far off from the truth,” Fletch noted,

“Exactly, it makes it easier to keep track of everything.”

“It also makes it easier to lie too.” Indigo added,

“Yeah… I guess,” I said,

“So, what’s your plan? Or do you want more advice?”

I held my hand in front of Indigo’s face, “I am going to ask why they’re cutting down so many trees. Once I find out, I’m going to raise the issue until it reaches Sir Manuscript himself.”

Indigo blinked, “You don’t want to put in an official request for a meeting?”

“Would a forest nymph know to do that?” I countered, “I figure we see how far we can get with this, then try something else later.”

“Hmm, that makes sense.” Fletch nodded,

“Do you think there’s a pony in charge here?” I asked,

“Like a foreman?” Indigo asked, “Yeah, there should be.” She glanced around the area, “But we’re so close to town, they might not be on site. Try that tent over there.” She pointed to the largest tent set up along the edge of the forest.

“Gotcha, let’s go.” I stepped forward.

“Wh- Just like that?” Fletch sputtered,

“Well yeah, we’re just going to be talking.” I said, “What were you thinking?”

“Um, that we would be infiltrating the camp…”

Indigo chuckled a bit.

I just smiled, “That sounds fun, maybe we should do that instead.”

“Don’t tell me you’re seriously considering that!”

“Uh, well, I…” I looked between them for a moment, Indigo had gone from looking amused to miffed, while Fletch had gone from embarrassed to downright humiliated, “Uh… M-Maybe next time, sorry Fletch.”

“...okay…” She whispered,

“Honestly…” Indigo shook her head, “Whatever, let’s just go.”

I nodded slightly then continued forward. I didn’t immediately head for the tent though, and instead walked over to the pony pulling a freshly cut tree over to the pile. I rolled my shoulders, flexed my hand, and straightened my back, then I pulled down my hood.

The worker was in the middle of untying the ropes connecting the tree to their harness, but as soon as I drew near they stopped to look at me.

“What is this one going to be used for?” I began, tracing my fingers along the trunk.

“Uh…” The worker stared at me, “It’ll prolly be used as lumber.”

I looked up at the rest of the pile, “And the others?”

“The same, I think.”

“At least the will not not forgotten.” I let out an audible sigh,

“That’s not why we’re cuttin’ em down though,” The worker continued,

I made a show of widening my eyes. I’ve never had to feign surprise before, I just hope I came across how I thought I was. “What drives you to take so many from the forest?”

The worker sniffed, and rolled his jaw, “We’re buildin’ a road.”

“A road?” I frowned slightly, “Must you expand into the forest?”

“Well yeah, how else are we gonna reach the gem mine?”

The worker pointed, and I followed his directions. Of course I didn’t know exactly where the gem deposit was in relation to the town, but I could assume the road was being built straight towards it.

This was it, this was the moment I had been waiting for.

“You can’t do that!” I shouted, gathering the attention of almost every pony in the vicinity, “I won’t allow it!”

“Woah!” The worker took a step back, “Calm down there, uh… miss.”

I never experienced it personally, but I’ve seen plenty of stories about this type of person. “Who’s in charge here?!” I demanded, “I want to speak to your manager!”

The commotion had the attention of the entire construction site now, and pretty soon I saw a pony exit the large tent to come and see. As soon as they laid eyes on me, they started to march over, but I didn’t let on that I knew, and continued to direct my ‘anger’ towards the worker.

“I cannot tolerate such destruction! You must cease your work at once!”

“I-I’m just doin’ my job, miss.”

“Who are you?” The pony from the tent demanded, having finally gotten close enough to speak.

I turned to look at him, doing my best to keep my scowl. “I am Chlorophyll of the forest, and I do not condone your actions here!”

“Chlorophyll?” The pony asked, “As in Phyll, Chlorophyll?”

“Uh… Yes?” I replied,

Indigo groaned behind me. I don’t think she was expecting the wind to be taken from my sails as fast as it did. Neither was I for that matter.

“Sir Manuscript wishes to speak with you.”

To Be Continued…

Author's Note

What's the deal with Breezies? How much of an Alternate Universe are we dealing with here?

That's for me to know and you to find out. ☻