Everfree Village

Morning rolled around in time and the ray of sunlight happened to hit Granite right in the muzzle. The mare fought it for a while, but then gave up with a sigh, which turned into a yawn.

She stretched her hooves out luxuriously, but then froze and wrinkled her nose.

Her eyes opened and the pony looked at the stallion and the chief sprawled beside her. Then she put her muzzle against the pillow and inhaled deeply, a calculating look on her face.

"Um, Lodestone?" she whispered and nudged the stallion, hoping to wake him up but not the human. "These leather things smell weird. I think I'd rather sleep on the hay in the old hut tomorrow, okay?"

Despite that, the pony seems to have gotten a good night's sleep and was feeling cheerful.

Always a light sleeper, Lodestone had already begun to stir as Granite stretched and yawned. When she spoke, he cracked open an eye and nodded sleepily.

"I can't deny it's comfy," he was interrupted by a huge yawn, then continued blearily, "...but I'd rather not sleep on something else's skin."

As his head cleared, he suddenly remembered what he and the Chief had done last night and nervously glanced down at his belly, but it looked clean. Then he sniffed warily, and could only make out the faintest whiff of his spunk. Hopefully the odd smell of the leather would throw Granite off, but he'd have to wash in the river soon.

Responding to the movement in the bed, the chief wrapped an arm around the stallion and extended the other one out so it landed in the fluff of the mare on the other side. Eyes still closed, she took a deep, content breath.

“Mmnnnn... not yet... few more minutes...”

"Hmmm," Granite murmured, not entirely comfortable now that the pegasus had brought up the whole 'dead animal' thing. She stayed put for the moment, but was obviously itching to get up.

"One minute, but only if I can do this," she finally agreed, grabbed Lodestone around his barrel and buried her muzzle in his chest fluff. ""on't 'anna 'mell it," she explained in a muffled voice. Moments later she pulled away. "Ugh, you stink of it too. I'm getting up..."

Granite didn't wait for permission, but rather slipped from the bed and stood, stretching for a while. Her muscles were obviously sore and she moved them with exaggerated care until she tested their full range. It ended up with the mare dropping her head to the floor and pushing her rump as high as it would go in an almost cat-like stretch. The swishing of her tail was either unintentional, or she didn't realize her back was facing the bed and Lodestone.

With the Chief's arm draped across him and the mare nuzzling his chest, Lodestone would have been happy to doze back off to sleep again, but he was disappointed when Granite quickly left him. He scoffed indignantly at her comment.

"Hey, you smell like it too! We've been laying in it... all..."

The stallion trailed off as Granite began her stretch. For a few seconds he was too stunned to respond and simply stared at her rump, then hurriedly looked away. He sat up and turned around to face the Chief, stretching his forelegs and wings both up above his head.

Whether he realized it or not, he’d accidentally smacked her in the face with a wing. While it didn’t hurt, it definitely caused her to jump back in annoyance.

“Fine, fine I’m up! Didn’t have to smack me...”

Granite yawned again and straightened up. "There, that's better. I'm gonna go check on the plants. You wanna come?"

The mare addressed her question to both of them, but she was watching the stallion in particular. Something was making her feel funny and Granite hadn't yet put her hoof on it exactly. She was eager to be out and doing, despite the previous day's hardships.

"I'm feeling lucky. We might see the first shoots today! Oh, and I wanna plant some of the other things I saw your people bring!"

That last bit she had said to the chief.

Lodestone winced when he felt the impact with his wing and reached out with a hoof as if to rub where his wing hit. Realizing she'd probably be more annoyed by such a gesture than by the smack itself, he stopped himself at the last moment.

"Oh gosh Barbara I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to, I was just stretching, you were closer than I thought."

His ears folded back as he realized he had just said her name and he resisted the urge to glance at Granite to see if she'd noticed.

“Just be more careful next time.... if there is one. I caught a little of what was said a moment ago. You don’t like the beds because they are made of animals, huh?”

She sat upright and let the blanket fall. With the sun out as it was, both ponies would see the meager amount of clothes she wore during the night. It was basically just a bra and panties, allowing them to see her abs and powerful legs a bit more.

“We tend to think of it this way: it would be disrespectful to the animal to not use all it can offer. If we need to eat it to live, we may as well, right?”

Luckily what the chief was saying preoccupied Granite and she didn't notice Lodestone's slip-up, at least not right away. She blushed a little and looked away. "Well, I-"

She fell silent, thinking about how to reply in the most respectful way possible. "I guess... I mean, maybe? Most of us ponies don't eat meat, so I never really thought about... skin and... stuff."

The mare visibly shuddered at the thought, but kept herself mostly under control. "Look, I'm not gonna judge. What I will do is get your vegetable farm going so you don't have to eat... so many animals anymore, okay? Deal?"

"That's what I was thinking," Lodestone said, nodding slowly, "You only need to eat animals because your farm is... well, terrible."

He glanced apologetically to the Chief, then hopped down and stretched more thoroughly now that he had a bit of space. He continued talking through his stretch.

"But I guess I agree, if you have to kill an animal, may as well put as much of it to use as you can. Anything less would be disrespectful to the life you took."

He sniffed disdainfully, then added as an afterthought.

"Though I think I'll sleep in the hay tonight all the same."

“Exactly. More vegetables means less killing, which also means more focus on things within our walls. Speaking of, after you check out the farm, we should probably properly introduce you with the mine and our storage areas.”

Barbara stretched her whole body upwards and groaned slightly in the process. Within a few moments she had another fur outfit, different from the prior days, on and was ready to step out.

“I’ll meet you over by the smith, since I know you’re familiar with that by now. Go on and check out the farm.”

Granite was only too happy to oblige. She walked around the bed and to the door, but paused a few steps away to sniff around a little. "Huh,..." she murmured to herself, then shrugged and went on. As she was leaving out the door, the pony stuck her head back in. "Coming with me, or would you rather check out the smith?"

Before Lodestone could answer Granite's belly grumbled. "Hmm, might take me a bit - I think I'm gonna graze today so I don't eat all their food..." she said altruistically.

Lodestone hurried to the door before she could rush off without him.

"I'll come with you. When I was flying around earlier I noticed all the grass in the village is trampled by everypony walking around. The only good grazing will be outside the village walls."

He turned back to the Chief.

"It should be safe if we're only just outside the gate, right? There will be guards nearby?"

“They’ll be close, yeah, but safe... well, you might not wanna get your hopes up. I can come with, if you want. Protecting you two is part of my responsibilities as Chief.”

She had a gleam in her eye like she wanted him to say ‘yes’ so she had an excuse to go out. Before an answer could be given though, she held up a finger and then rushed inside. When she came back out, she had a large, imposing battleaxe that looked like something only the strongest Minotaurs might have used.

“Eh? Eh? How bout it?”

"Oh, wow... that thing is huge!" Granite praised, at the same time uneasy in the presence of such a weapon and somewhat reassured about going outside. "Yeah, I guess if we stick close to the gate... that should be okay, right?"

The mare addressed her question to the pegasus: "Yeah, that sounds fine, right? Just a quick breakfast of some fresh grass. Um, do we need that much protection? Lodestone?"

She wasn't overly enthused by the idea, but it would feel rude to just decline, so she left the poor stallion on the hook instead.

While he appreciated the Chief's eagerness to protect them personally, he was a little put off by it too. It felt more like she was hoping there'd be a fight out there.

"I... think we'll be okay, that's why you have guards, right? I'm sure you have important... uh, Chief-y stuff to do. No need to watch over us little ponies."

Granite didn't wait for the two to make up their minds. She was too hungry for that so the mare just headed in the approximate direction of the main gate. It was easy to find - the roads were better traveled.

He almost changed his mind at the forlorn expression on the Chief's face as she slowly lowered her enormous Battleaxe, but he didn't want to lose sight of Granite and with a final apologetic wave, he hurried off after the little mare.

As he caught up, he gestured to the nearby river with a wing.

"Mind if we splash in the river a bit first? I want to get the stink of leather out of my fur."

"Oh. Okay! Good idea!"

Granite twisted her neck around and sniffed her own coat. Then she grimaced. "Ugh, it's on me, too! Yuck. I never knew leather smelled this bad."

She gave a guilty giggle. "I didn't wanna say in front of the Chief, but... well, using all of the animal is slightly better I guess, but it's still.. morbid. Isn't it morbid? I thought it was kinda morbid, the whole thing. Um, don't tell her I said that, okay?"

As if driving her plea home, the mare stepped closer and bumped her rump against Lodestones, before laughing and breaking into a gallop. "Last one in is a rotten egg!" she yelled over her shoulder.

"Ha, you said it!"

His wings snapped out to give him a boost of acceleration and he shifted instantly from walk to an all-out gallop. Aside from the initial burst of speed, he avoided using his wings, as hoof-flying was incredibly tiring.

Earth ponies are faster and stronger on their hooves, but he was larger than Granite and in good shape. It was a good race and the two of them splashed into the river at almost exactly the same time. With no referee around, there was no way to tell who was first, but Lodestone hung his head in defeat anyway, sure that Granite actually really wanted to win.

"HA!" the mare yelled excitedly as she splashed around, "So much for fly boys! Earth ponies rule!"

She ended up laughing, until she drew some water into her mouth and gargled for a moment. After she spat the mare sighed. "I need to get a toothbrush or something..."

She did it a few more times but it wasn't the same. In the end, Granite just drank her fill and relaxed, floating in the water for a minute. "It's nice. Lodestone?"

The pony didn't wait for a reply. "Sorry I'm such a... well... cow sometimes."

As soon as he entered the water, Lodestone began scrubbing his belly, just in case. The motion looked somewhat indecent so he was careful to mostly do it when Granite wasn't looking. When she turned back to him, he quickly lifted a hind leg and began rubbing the dirt from his frogs. At her words, he hesitated, giving her a confused stare.

"You... what?"

He lowered his hoof and stepped closer to her, draping a wing over her shoulder.

"Hey, none of that, okay?" He waved his other wing out toward the village, "This is one hay of a weird situation we find ourselves in. All things considered, I think you're doing great."

Granite knew it was a little white lie, but she smiled anyway. The blushed showed up prominently on her white patches. "Thanks... Um, wanna get out?"

Without really waiting for an answer, the mare began to trudge to the shallow end, but she waited for Lodestone to join her before going out completely. "Water's great and all, but I think I need something more solid in my belly," she explained. Right on cue, there was another grumble. "I mean now, Lodestone!"

"You act like you haven't eaten for days!" he said with a chuckle, "Do earth ponies have a stronger appetite, too?"

He reared and spread his wings, flapping them twice to fling the water from the feathers, then snapped them down hard. He thrust into the air and his wings smacked the surface of the water, flinging bits of water in a wide arc to either side, spattering Granite lightly in the muzzle.

"HEY!" the mare complained, but she was smiling so it wasn't a serious complaint. "Us earth ponies do extra work so we need extra food, okay?"

She didn't bring up how Lodestone had easily carried more rocks around than herself the previous day, but she also didn't bring up her morning spent working the farm. Granite wisely just left it at that.

"Now come on before you have to carry me!"

She didn't have his wings, so the mare shook herself like a dog would. It didn't get her all that dry, but at least it stopped her dripping water everywhere as she walked towards the main gate, resolutely ignoring the curious humans watching their antics.

"Yeah..." he sighed wistfully, "it must be hard work, always using your hooves to go everywhere."

He was hovering directly above her as she walked, her damp mane fluttering in the wind from his wings. He lowered his head and made an exaggerated sad face.

"You poor thing. Do you want a ride? I can show you the wide ocean of clouds from above!"

Granite decided wisely not to take the bait. She just poked her tongue out and walked on, ignoring the hovering stallion show-off. Quite soon they found themselves on a little clearing just outside the gate where the grass wasn't as trampled.

"Oh, Lodestone?" the pony said sweetly, "one cow joke and I'm bucking you through the wall, okay?"

At that she walked a few paces along the wall, then bent down to get at the sweet, young grass there. Lodestone would quickly see why she had warned him. This action drove the image of a grazing cow home . Even her tail swished around. The only thing lacking was a bell around her neck.

Suddenly somber, he landed a couple feet away and took a few steps closer.

"Come on, Granite, you know I'd never."

He lowered his head and began to munch on the grass as well, their heads only inches apart. He let out a pleased whinny as the grass was surprisingly good here - crisp and sweet, without too much stringiness or dirt.

"Oh, you wouldn't?" the mare said cautiously. She quickly hid her grin. "What if I do this?"

She plopped right down on the grass, legs tucked away underneath her. Then she began chewing with exaggerated motions. It wasn't cud - Granite couldn't do that, but it damn sure looked exactly like it.

"Hmm?" she said, waiting for the verdict with her ears folded down and a blush starting to form.

He hesitated and chewed thoughtfully for a moment, well aware that while she was comfortable making the joke herself, she'd be furious if he took the bait.

Instead he grinned, then adjusted his posture, looked nervously around him, and cautiously extended his neck to nibble at a leaf hanging from a nearby large bush. It was a reasonable imitation of a timid deer... albeit an unusually stocky one. He primed himself to leap away like... well, like a startled deer, at the first sound or movement from Granite. He hoped it would startle a laugh from her.

The mare didn't get the image, so she just leaned her head to the side and watched for a moment. "Um, what are you doing?" she asked at long last.

Giving up on baiting the poor stallion, she smoothly stood up and went back to nibbling on the grass. "Whatever it is, I don't see it. What's that bush by the way? Is it edible?"

She didn't recognize the variety.

With a grimace, he spat the half-chewed leaf into the bush it came from, then decided to try a different mimic, one she'd be more likely to catch.

He reared onto his hind legs, dangled his forelegs down along his barrel so they almost completely blended into his fur, and let his wings hang open by his side. He took a couple clumsy steps on two legs, then reached out with his wing and grabbed some different leaves from a nearby tree. Holding them in his 'hand,' he munched them thoughtfully. Then, pretending he just realized Granite was there, he smiled and lifted his other wing to wave his 'arm' at her.

"Hmm, nope. Still nothing," Granite said, but then paused and grinned. "Wait! You're a human, right? You're trying to pretend like you're a human?"

She came closer and curiously poked him with a hoof to see if she could tip him over. "Do all pegasi have this kind of balance?"

As if to test a theory, the mare stood up herself and tried walking around, but couldn't manage much more than a couple of steps before falling back down.

"This looks like it takes more practice than I'm willing to put in..."

Lodestone dropped back to his hooves with a chuckle.

"I don't know, maybe flight requires better balance? I never thought about it"

Still grinning, he folded his legs like Granite had earlier and started to graze again, but stopped and looked back up at Granite.

"Actually this is surprisingly comfy. I've only ever grazed standing normally before."

Granite rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh, but she came over and plopped down right next to the stallion, so their sides were touching.

She took a few more nibbles on the grass, but it was mainly for something to do. The mare had her fill, it looked like, so she just enjoyed the sun drying out her damp fur and the warmth and the peace. After a while she leaned a little on Lodestone and gave him a nuzzle. "Thanks, though," she said quietly.

Some explanation was called for, so Granite added: "I mean for... taking care of me... and everything."

She nudged the stallion a little with her muzzle. "So you fixed your... um 'problem'? When? I didn't hear you get up in the night..."

He had turned to grin at her and was going to say it was no problem, then the sudden shift of topic caught him so unexpected he tensed and almost choked on a bit of grass in his throat.

After a reaction like that, there was no hope of pretending otherwise, so he just sighed and looked away, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah... the Chief kinda... surprised me in the middle of the night. We stepped outside and she... uh, used her hands."

No way he'd tell her they had actually sat just at the foot of the bed while she slept. He shifted uncomfortably, conscious of every inch of her body touching his.

Granite stiffened and her breath caught. After a few moments she let it out, very carefully. She didn't meet Lodestone's eyes. "Oh. So- I guess you and her?" the mare left the question hanging.

She remained where she was, but not for very long. Taking another bite of the grass, Granite stood up and shuffled her hooves. "I think I'll go back and check on the farm now. You gonna graze some more? Well, you know where to find me..."

The pony turned very carefully so she didn't accidentally bump into the stallion, but she didn't quite start walking yet. It felt as if she was uncertain about something.

"Me and...?" Lodestone stared at her, then waved his hooves violently in front of him, "Oh, no! No no no, we are absolutely not together! That was definitely a one-time thing."

Now that it was out, he was talking quickly, as if it had been pressing on his muzzle the whole morning.

"I think she was just trying to help me cope or something. Ponyfeathers, I figured she'd want the favor returned afterward but she just got up and went back to sleep, didn't even seem to want me to touch her."

He realized he was rambling and clamped his muzzle shut before he dug his hole any deeper. He was sitting on his haunches and his wings were popped half-open in his distress.

"Well," Granite said, her tone calm and very tightly controlled, "I think I'll stay the buck away from all that for now, okay? It sounds like you need to work it out with the Chief..."

The mare managed a tiny smile, but it was very obviously fake. "We'll talk later. I need to think..."

With that, she started walking back to the encampment and - presumably - her gardening effort.

"W-Wait, Granite! You... I'm... "

Lodestone was standing now, frozen in place, unsure what he could say, and even less sure what he was trying to say anything for. It felt like there was a whirling tornado in his brain. He stammered to a halt and could only stand there, dumbstruck. Numbly, he lowered to the ground again, his face a mask of confusion and worry.

The mare did pause and looked back, head leaning slightly to the side as if curious. "Yes?"

She walked back and sat on her haunches so she stared the bewildered pegasus right in the muzzle. "What? I'm just saying I'll back off until you work out whether you wanna... do anything with chief or not. It's that simple."

Granite managed a small smile. "I mean- I'm not the kind of pony to hit on you while you're trying to decide between two mares- well, a human and a mare."

She got up and poked his muzzle with hers, just for a moment. It wasn't a kiss, but maybe it was a slight, friendly peck. "You just do you, okay? I'll be fine!"

That last was meant to convince herself. It looked like Granite really had her heart set on the stallion, and now she'd decided there was no chance, so she was trying to put on a brave face.

Her words confused him even more, but as she leaned close and their muzzles touched, it was like all the wind in his mind dispersed in an instant. His mouth hung open slightly and as she looked at him, her eyes brighter than the blue sky behind her, his thoughts were clear.

"There's nothing to work out."

He closed his eyes and took one long, slow breath, and when he opened them again Granite was watching him curiously, expectantly.

"I'm done with her. I'd already long since decided I'd be sleeping in our hut tonight."

His chest was pounding so hard it almost hurt.

"I'm only here for you, Granite."

The mare gave Lodestone such a look of incredulous hope that it looked almost like a second sunrise. "Y-You mean that?" she breathed out in a whisper.

Then Granite shook her head and took a grip on herself. "I mean- tell that to the Chief. Not gonna get my hopes up until that's settled."

It was obviously too late. This time the tentative smile was real as she watched her pegasus flame. Her stoic self-control didn't last.

"Aw, what the hell!" Granite exclaimed and leaned in for a very quick, but also a very definite kiss. No real action, but their lips did touch for a second. "Don't read too much into this, please!" she begged.

A sudden laugh burst out of him and he stepped forward, giving Granite a solid nuzzle along the side of her face and neck. His wings were still half open but they were trembling with excitement now.

"I can't read you any more than I can read the wind!"

Then suddenly shy, he stepped to the side and looked away nervously.

"We should probably get to the farm soon but... I wouldn't mind grazing a bit more."

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, a small hopeful smile playing about his muzzle.

Granite looked thoughtful, but only for a moment. Then she smiled and walked over to a fresh patch of grass. "Sure. C'mere..."

She waited until they were side by side before leaning down and taking a nibble. "So - tell me about yourself?" she prompted. "I feel like you know my entire life story, and here I don't know anything about you except that you work for those Flam and Flim fellows."

She bumped his rump as if to try and get him talking some more.

He settled in beside her, almost giddy with his near miss with disaster. Before he could answer her, he chewed thoughtfully for a moment.

"How much do you know about Flim and Flam? And I suppose Neighagra Falls in general?"

"Um, the Flim and Flam guys," Granite corrected her incorrect naming from earlier, "not much. You just said you work for them. What kind of bosses are they? What sort of business do they run? Is it just mining, or is there other stuff?"

She gave some thought to the other part of the question, but shrugged. "Dunno much about Neighagra though. Isn't it a big famous waterfall or something?"

Granite continued grazing while he spoke. He hadn't really been that hungry but he didn't think she had grazed enough and he enjoyed being near her, so he was content to talk while she ate and listened.

"I'm only working for them because I couldn't find anyone else that needed a Sky Crane like me. It's a surprisingly niche job... most pegasi tasks need fast flyers, not strong ones, and I'd tried a dozen other companies first."

He shifted awkwardly before continuing. He knew what his bosses were and didn't like it, but felt he had no choice.

"See, Flim and Flam... they're sorta infamous. They're scammers, see? They go around tricking ponies into giving them money with false promises and products that seem good but are actually horse manure."

He could see Granite was surprised and not very happy about it, but she kept her judgement to herself for now, for which he was grateful.

"I don't like 'em, but I didn't have much choice in the matter. By the time I got to Neighagra Falls, I was getting desperate, and when I heard a local mining operation had been looking for a Sky Crane, I leapt to it and signed on before I even knew Flim and Flam were involved - it was months before I even saw them."

He sighed and shook his head wearily.

"Look... I could go on about them all day, but long story short, their mining operation is ninety percent honest mining and ten percent stuff I try not to think about. I've never had to do anything wrong myself, but I know it happens. They sent me here to see if there's a good place to mine in the forest, but now that I've seen this village, there's no way I'll bring them here. They'd exploit these poor humans in a heartbeat."

He fell silent for a time and munched halfheartedly on some grass with Granite. Eventually, he stood up.

"We should be going. Don't want those humans mucking about the farm without guidance for too long, right?"

The mare really wasn't overly enthused about the whole prospect. She had to work a bit to get rid of her disapproving frown, but the pony managed. "Well, okay. It sounds complicated. I just hope you know what you're doing..."

She had stopped eating and looked back to the encampment's main gate. "Yeah, let's go back. Oh, by the way," Granite looked back with a mischievous grin, "you owe me a date."

At the farm, the ponies noticed the humans taking weaved baskets of things towards a cart. With their extra height, it would be hard to tell what it was, though it became clear as she noticed a group pulling different vegetables from the ground itself. Not only that, but the fruit bearing trees looked greener as well.

It was completely unexpected, so Granite stopped and stared for a moment. She watched all the bustle, then walked over to the first familiar human she saw. "Um-" she didn't remember the name, but talked anyway, "what's all this? What happened?"

The pony looked around for her little garden and her tools. "I was going to check on the plants..." the mare said helplessly.

As he approached, Lodestone took to the air and saw it was true across the whole field. Plants he had helped seed just two days ago were suddenly full and ripe as if they'd had months to grow. He alighted next to Granite as she stepped up to one of the humans.

"I'm gonna guess the Shaman had something to do with this," he gestured with a wing, "If she can grow my damn wing back together, growing a few plants is probably a trot in the park."

"It was a miracle, thas what! We came 'ere in the morning and it was all grown!"

One human, a man who was clearly not one of the farmers, scoffed as he began to examine the dirt. Granite would be able to tell the quality of the dirt was quite high, based on how finely it trickled out of the man's hand.

"It was her, you dolt. She brought out the magic in the earth and it caused this food to grow nearly overnight."

At that, all the human gathered around the mare and knelt in front of her. Though they were all speaking different words, it seemed like they were thanking her and praying for her to continue being blessed.

"Um..." Granite began and stepped back, ears laid completely flat as she looked helplessly at Lodestone. "Ummm..."

She couldn't take a lot of such 'praising' and darted to hide behind the stallion, as useless as that was. "Help!" she whispered to him. "Get me outta here and you get a big, sloppy kiss, okay? I mean it! I dunno what happened here and I need to think!"

Just to be clear, she added: "I didn't do it, I swear!"

While he didn't care so much about the 'big, sloppy kiss,' though that would probably be nice, he could already see the whites in Granite's eyes and she was clearly on the verge of simply bolting in sheer panic.

Lodestone didn't waste any time. He spun around and grabbed Granite around the barrel, popping his wings out and back in a tight arc. The humans startled slightly as a significant dust cloud burst out behind him, creating a small space in the crowd. Scooping Granite up easily, he flung his wings forward, lurching back into that open space and a half second later they were off, the strange monotonous chanting following them up into the sky.

The people, annoyed that the pegasus took Granite away, grumble and go back to their harvest. After all, there was still more to collect and be stored. Those vegetables, paired with what was left of the meat, would make a decent meal over the next couple of days. With his height advantage, Lode would see the Chief waiting out by the smith while talking to Stalig.

Flying was a little better for Granite, but not much. Her grip around whatever part of Lodestone she could grab was like a vice and the mare was whimpering a little.

After a few moments she closed her eyes and tried to relax so she didn't bring them both down by wiggling or twisting.

By the time they landed she would be noticeably paler and wouldn't let the poor pegasus go even after her hooves touched solid ground. Very slowly she opened her eyes and managed a small smile.

"T-Thanks!" she said shakily and carefully loosened her grip. She thought for a moment longer, then darted back for a quick peck on Lodestone's muzzle. "Big kiss later, okay?" she whispered, but unfortunately she was nervous and said it too loudly.

Lodestone ignored the Chief for a moment, sitting in front of Granite and marehandling her to the ground.

"Sit down, Granite. It's okay, the humans didn't follow us, you're safe now."

She was twitching nervously, her gaze darting around like she expected a new swarm of humans to pop out any second.

"You need to calm down. Close your eyes and take long, slow breaths, in through your snout, out through your muzzle."

He lightly flicked one of her ears with the tip of his wing.

"Hey, you listening? Close your eyes, Granite. Focus on your breathing."

Once Granite was much calmer, the chief bent down to match their heights and studied them closely.

"People following you? Must be what our runecarver went to check out at the farm earlier today. Ehh, don't let em bother you. Those farmers are scrawny, just knock em over and go. Now... You want to get truly associated with the mines and our storage areas?"

Rising back up to her full height, she gave the pair a smirk and awaited their answer.

Anything would be a relief from all the attention at that point, so Granite nodded happily. "Yes, please!" she said in a small voice, still standing too close to Lodestone. Every time her tail swished it smacked the poor stallion, but Granite didn't seem aware of that. Her ears were poking back up as she got curious about this time.

After all, the mare had wanted to get away from farming and try mining instead. "Um - what kind of ore do you dig for?"

"Yes," he said, nodding to the chief, "Please lead the way."

He glanced worriedly at Granite and twitched an ear as her tail flicked him again. He flicked her rump with his own tail, hoping she would get the hint.

"And sorry for ignoring you. I hope you can see I had little choice."

Now that he'd decided to keep this place safe from his exploitative bosses, he didn't care so much about the mining operation here, but after seeing their crystal chamber of the gods, he was still curious on a personal level and stepped forward eagerly.

"We look for three things. Copper, Tin, and large chunks of rock we can easily mine out."

The storage area ended up being two large stone buildings that were cleverly built against a rock surface. Without knowing it was there, one might easily pass it up. The stone doors took even the Chief some effort to move, but she opened up each.

"This one on the left is for things we find that we don't have a use for, the one on the right is unused materials, typically the metals that we turn into what we use around town."

With the light behind them, both ponies would see the glimmering from the left storage building. It was undeniable as to what was stored in it. Gold. Heaps and heaps of it, enough that the humans could easily pay professionals to remake their town from the ground up.

"Oh, wow!" Granite exclaimed. "You dug all of that up? That's a lot of bits right there!"

She didn't make a move for it, though. However silly the mare might be, at least she wasn't greedy. She watched the treasure for a few moments more and her tail almost whirled in excitement, repeatedly smacking poor Lodestone. Every time he tried to move away, Granite would simply follow, without even realizing she was doing it. Right next to the stallion, that's where the mare wanted to be in that particular moment.

"You think we could use it to get some supplies over here?" she asked her pegasus friend.

The Chief seemed confused by their interest in what was effectively their waste bin, so he turned to explain.

"This soft yellow metal you're just throwing away doesn't have many practical uses so it makes sense you wouldn't care about it, but it is incredibly valuable to ponies. It's mostly used to make beautiful jewelry and ponies would pay a lot of bits for..."

He trailed off, suddenly realizing he'd never seen them reference any sort of currency.

"Wait hang on, you probably don't even know what money is, do you?"

At the Chief's blank stare, he resisted a chuckle and stepped up to the bin, grabbing a piece of raw gold ore about the size of his hoof.

"Let me put it this way: see this tiny bit of gold here? This is so valuable you could trade it for hundreds of eggs, maybe thousands. You could trade this one chunk of gold for a dozen spears of higher quality than you've ever seen."

He gestured a wing at the massive pile of glittering ore.

"With this much gold, you could probably buy an entire city."

"Reeeallly? That's good to know! Only problem is that we're still stuck in this forest that you've noted as dangerous. It's not like we can actually reliably get out and trade the stuff, right?"

In fact, knowing it was valuable only made her that much more annoyed. It made it seem like there were goods that were just out of her reach as a result of where they were forced to dig themselves in for so long. With a sigh, she led them into the other that, as she noted, was filled with the metals they needed, as well as a few they were trying to figure out. Among them, the humans had a small amount of iron, though not enough to be helpful.

"Least we have the stuff to make Bronze for a good while. We could probably make more things out of stone too, if only we didn't have to fear them being destroyed now and again."

Granite finally stopped slapping Lodestone with her tail, but only because she had wandered around the pile of gold to inspect a few more nuggets embedded in rocks. She experimentally stomped one, hard.

It made her hiss in pain, but the rock crumbled and left just the lump of gold, which the pony picked up. "I guess a hammer would be a better idea," she commented, but didn't seem any the worse for wear.

Dropping the nugget back, the mare made her way back to the two and sat on the ground in front of the Chief. "So, what do you need us to do?"

Lodestone raised a hoof to interrupt before the Chief answered her.

"Honestly, at this point I'm starting to think we'd be more useful to you by simply flying some of this gold back to Ponyville and buying you a plotload of supplies. There are things we could bring back from civilization that we couldn't make here on our own even if we worked non-stop for a year. Medicine, tools, clothing, building materials, weapons... hay we could even hire some extra hooves to move in here and help."

He trailed off and considered the ramifications of this discovery. This was so much gold they'd actually have to be careful not to bring in too much at once or they would just crash the Equestrian market and tank the price to a fraction of its current value.

The chief sat and crossed her legs as she went into deep thought. The spirits had directed the ponies to help, though not how. This wasn't like before, where they would be abandoning their task to someone else, namely ponies the humans had never met, yet it still worried the woman.

"We can't... leave. Those spirits up there, they help us, they guide us. I know not everyone will agree. Our people want to feel safe and not have to worry about their next meal, which I agree on that part. But I feel like if we leave, we abandon what we've been working for."

Not to mention, them leaving would leave that priceless gem vulnerable, should Flim and Flam try to take the area after hearing about it.

"However, I also can't turn down the help."

Granite looked as if she was thinking about something. She shook her head and gave the human a bright smile. "Well, we could take some of this gold and go buy supplies like Lodestone said. We don't have to just leave..."

Her tone suggested that personally the mare would like nothing better than to get out of this insanely dangerous forest and back to civilization, but she was too polite to say it.

"I'm sure some businesspony would be happy to organize trade caravans for this much gold... With guards and all. Unicorns and maybe even griffins."

Lodestone shook his head.

"No, we're not going to set up a trade route, not for a long while. Not only would it be an overwhelming culture shock for the people here, it would be shirking the task given to us by those spirits."

He turned toward Granite, his face somber and serious.

"It's not going to be easy, and it's not what either of us wanted, but we are responsible for this village now. You and me, Granite, we have no choice but to stay in control of this situation. We're effectively the primary ambassadors for this species now. Whatever help we bring, you and I must remain the ponies in charge."

"Exactly. The spirits tasked you, which is why we trust you so. They can look inside you and see things you might not know about. If they say you're good, I believe them. The whole village will believe them."

She places a hand on Granite's shoulder and gives a soft smile.

"Doesn't mean the whole of our people is on your shoulders though. So don't go thinking if you "let them down" that we're doomed."

The mare was just starting down that train of thought, but now smiled bravely. "Oh. Okay! Thanks!" Despite herself, she leaned a little into the touch. "So, what's next?" she asked. Then she remembered.

"Something weird happened with the farm. I'm not sure how, but all the vegetables were fully grown. How is that possible?"

Again, Lodestone held up a hoof, giving Granite a look of apology.

"Should we maybe go back outside and meet with the other leaders before we discuss this anymore? The Priest, Shaman, and Rohan?"

Barbara nodded thoughtfully, "We'll need to talk to them about opening trade. As well as maybe get the smiths to turn these nuggets into bars... I'm sure it will be easier to figure out their worth like that."