The Arliegian air always had a special way of tickling ones nose. Never being too offensive to bear, yet never being pleasant enough to ignore. It was a special kind of familiarity to Sprinkles, one she could rely on, something she could state without fear of strange looks, not that she minded, getting people’s attention was the duty of a bard, and one she took seriously, or, as serious as the kilt wearing woman could be. Sprinkles, or Beatrice to certain others, was a silly sort, she loved to dance, and sing and play, and that was fine, but she often did it too much! To her family, it was fine to be joyous, but they were warriors, men and women of arms and war! But, Sprinkles didn’t care, she had other wants and dreams. Though, most of those dreams involved frosting, they were still dreams darnit.

As she sat atop a New Krayan home, legs kicking happily as she did, she felt the cool summer breeze pass over her, tossling her wild pink hair as well as carrying with it the scent of the slums she’d come to live in and love, smiling all the while. Life was simple, life was easy, and life was ‘Boring!’ she thought, indeed the still life was not one for the bardess, instead she wanted, well, something, and something she’d have!

Like a gift from the heavens, something came to the woman as she heard the doors open below her. Looking down, she saw a head of rainbow hair atop a slim physique. Giggling to herself, she stared at the colorful woman right before she took a suddenly aggressive position and began yelling something, prompting many onlookers to move away. At the same time, another noise caught Sprinkles attention, and this time it came from behind. Crawling atop the building to investigate, she saw this time a brownish woman with a wonderfully styled, though now messy, head of royal blue hair, in her hand a satchel of coins. This made Sprinkles giggle more as she quickly put the pieces together.

“Well, ah suppose ah should trah and get to havin’ a bit’a fun m’self, aye?” she whispered softly, smile creeping on her face, “But, ah wonder what’n the worl’ ahm’a suppose to be doin’, perhaps ah can go’n take a bit’o a looksee to find m’self some adventure.” with that she tumbled down on the the ground with a flourish before setting off.

At first, the woman thought to explore the pub for fun, but wasn’t interested in being pinched, ogled, and probed by a drunkard into playing a few tunes for him. No, she wanted something more interesting, but what was a bard to do in a foreign town? Surely, the kilt wearing, wide eyed girl could find something interesting, and she knew just the place to find it!

Sneaking off into the royal district of the town, near the castle, the bard pulled her lute out and decided to try her hand at a bit of trickery. First she cleared her throat, then shook herself excitedly, then began to play a song, but this song was no ordinary song as the more weak minded people about began to draw to her like gnats to fire, thoughtlessly staring as she began to dance around playfully kicking just high enough to excite some of the more lecherous of her watchers. Once she felt them suitably distracted by her shenanigans her deft fingers got to work, snaking around several satchels as she did the honest duty of alleviating the wealthy of their golden burdens. She did this for a while, plucking one hapless fool of his wealth after another until one, pink clad woman beside a young, ragged boy, took to noticing her.

“H-hey, stop!” the pink haired giant shouted at the bardess from down the road.

‘Ooh, it’s Fluttershy, oh this is going to be so fun!’ Sprinkles thought as she waved at the woman, hoping to poke the bear a bit before running off.

Making chase the larger of the two put her massive leg span to use as she hurriedly rushed the pink haired thief, who took small breaks in her running to make silly faces at her pursuer.

“In the name of the law, you’re under arrest!” the plus size paladin pronounced, urging Sprinkles to chuckle more as she continued to run.

Rushing forward, happily dancing around several people as she did, Sprinkles took herself a sharp left through the market district. Hoping to ditch her playmate among the crowd and stands, she began leaping over stalls and darting around salesman with playful precision before stopping to turn and see her pursuer still hot on her heels. Taking a moment to thank that heavy armor for slowing her buddy down, Sprinkles turned and continued her daring escape.

Hearing the continued clinging of her friends armor nearby, Sprinkles turned again, this time heading for the slums, knowing of a few abandoned buildings she could sneak through to get away, and she’d need to get away soon as she couldn’t keep up with her much more wellbuilt pursuer who, after Sprinkles had turned her head to examine, looked as if she hadn’t even been phased by all the running. 'Jeeze, I didn't know I'd get so tired so fast.' she thought, breath beginning to heave as she continued on. As Sprinkles turned her head away from her friend she noticed, just in the nick of time, a sign post that threatened to take her head off if she hadn’t slid beneath it, rolling to her feet right before she heard the sound of splintering wood behind her. 'She really wants to get me' she thought, taking a quick gulp of worry.

Having made it to the slums, Sprinkles turned to see her pursuer again, now with chunks of wood in her hair, still after her with no hint of slowing down anytime soon. It didn't take long until she recognized one of the buildings in the slums, and not just any building, but one with an obstacle she could abuse. Urging the large woman with a wave she ran into the large building that once housed a small gang before being routed out by the local guard years, ago and, if memory served the last time she explored this place there was a ‘Aha, the hole!’ she thought cheerfully as a large, wide hole was set dead in the center of a hallway that, at it's other end, had a door for her to leave through. Inhaling deep she focused hard on the hole before kicking off seconds before meeting it, leaping over to the other side with a roll before continuing onto the door where she stopped to take a breath.

“Chase meh now ya silly girl.” she rasped heavily as she bent over, palms on her knees, trying to regain her lost wind. A moment passed by as heavy stomps could be heard from in the building as the paladin made her way, full speed, towards Sprinkles “Come now,” Sprinkles yelled “Y’can’t make tha’ jump.” she spoke with confidence, but that didn’t slow the paladin down in the least, instead she seemed to speed up, which caused Sprinkles to wince in surprise “C’mon, you’re goin’ ta hurt yerself.” she said with a tone of worry, slowly inching backwards, just before the paladin sprung over the hole, leaving the bard wide eyed as she landed heavily on her feet and continued towards her “Oh, well darn.” she muttered as she pulled herself back into a hurried sprint.

“How’d ya even do that, paladins aren’t good jumpers, and you’re in medium armor!” Sprinkles yelled in disbelief, clearly out of character, but this didn’t deter her pursuer as the large woman kept her pace, arms shifting back and forth methodically ‘Ok, ok, new plan, I’ll take her back around near the castle, there’s going to be some definite traffic there.’ she thought, though this would prove difficult as Sprinkles had long since become exhausted and was just barely keeping ahead of the paladin.

Sticking to her new plan, Sprinkles lead her pursuer back to the royal district, just in time to see a group of merchants leading a trail of wagons. Happy with the blockade, Sprinkles pushed herself one last time as she, with incredible agility, jumped up onto one of the guards who was with the wagons and over one of the large wooden transports to the other side before continuing a little bit further, stopping to turn and gloat “Ah..*pant* win… *pant* …” she said with ragged breath, completely drained from the prolonged exercise, however what happened next sent Sprinkles jaw to the floor, as the large figure of the paladin came bursting through one of the wagons, followed by several radishes.

“My radishes!” the merchant yelled as the paladin pulled back up to her feet, dead set on catching the bardess.

“Son of a biiiickersnicker!” Sprinkles yelled as her friend relentlessly came after her, now decorated with several cuts and bruises.

Desperate to escape, the bardess ran just a bit further, exhausting herself to near unconsciousness as she hastily, and recklessly ducked into a small alley before clammering up an auspiciously placed ladder, panting and wheezing harder than she ever had before “Ya silly girl, ya sh’da looked up.” she thought happily as she knew she’d evaded the paladin… or so she thought.

As Sprinkles hopped her way off the building, still looking in her pursuers direction, she failed to noticed the cross armed woman standing right below as she fell right in front of her.

“Oh, yer a clever one.” Sprinkle said with a gulp as she realized she was trapped.

“I’m sorry, but, y-you have to come with m-me.” the larger woman said hesitantly, her dominant stance faltering a bit.

“ Aye, but first, ya look a wee bit tired, why dontcha sleep a while?” she said as she cast a spell right on the others head, only to find it take no effect “Huh, ah take it you’re a lot less tired than ah thought.” the smaller of the two smiled as she peeked off to the side, noticing a rather large crowd was milling nearby.

Fumbling with her satchel, the paladin pulled out a pair of manacles “Now, just give me your arms.” she urged. Knowing the simple manacles would be easy enough for her to slip out of, the bardess complied with a smile as she offered her wrists before feeling the cold metal latch over her

“Aye, yah caught me, ah admit defeat, but might ah ask ya for a bit’o water though, ahm a tad parched from runnin’” Knowing her friends altruistic nature would peek over to the game, she was given a sip from her flask before they began walking.

As her friend led the way, a poor mistake on her part. Sprinkles began to release the water she held in her mouth onto the manacles, hoping for just a bit more slip so she could escape their bonds, though, this was only a part of her plan as she knew there was more she could do to make her daring escape far more successful.

“Hey, you, what kinda music d’ya like?” Sprinkles asked, smirking as they had just entered into the aforementioned crowd.

Realization etched on her face, the pink paladin turned “Please, don’t…” she muttered, with unbearably cute puppy dog eyes, but by then it was too late as Sprinkle began her song, causing dozens of people to swarm the two.

Despite being obviously musclebound the other woman refused to forced her way through, instead pleading gently for order as Sprinkles sank away into the crowd, slipping off the manacles before sneaking away for good.

Exhaling heavily, and wiping her brow Sprinkles took a seat in an alley and began to count her coin ‘Sorry Flutters, hope you’re not too upset about losing that one.’ she, or rather her player thought joyously. As she finished poking through her third pouch she felt an unsettling rumbling.

“Oh sweet Celestia she’s back!’ she yelled, breaking character in fear of the return of the tenacious paladin. However, instead of being met with a large mass of pink she was hit with a much larger mass of blinding purple which caused her to fall prone, hands desperately clinging to her face in pain.

A few moments passed as the woman carefully blinked her sore eyes until her vision came back, and as she opened her eyes she was met with a swirling spire of magic, the sound of energy echoing in her mind as she felt it’s presence “Wowee…” she muttered and she knew she was in for much more than stealing coins...

Author's Note

Yeeeeeee... I should probably take more time on these, but eh, I'll probably go alot slower moving forward. This is mostly practice, and practice I shall. Next chapter I'll probably do a full process for. I'm also still looking for pre-readers so I can knock some of the bumps out quicker, but, eh. Anyways, if you enjoyed it leave a comment and stuffz. Anyways, check ya lata!