~Phoenix~

@Blitz Boom Phoenix looked up at Smokey from her sitting position as he explained why he hadn't told her. she gave a slight nod in agreement. she could definitely understand why he would be so careful about telling ponies about his wealth. it were an easy thing to judge somepony by. and Phoenix herself would hate to be judged so harshly, especially considering where she had come from. although, it certainly seemed like whatever this job was, it did a fair bit more than simply pay well although it were a bit of a shock at first, she was able to quickly recover. she stood up happily as the subject quickly turned to food. she were excited to see what sort of food would come of a place like this. for most of her life it had been simple baked goods, and any raw unclean vegetables she could scrounge up. she knew of a patch where wild edible roots often grew, and she had plenty of them to keep her going. but they were quite flavorless and tough. as they approached the kitchen, Phoenix could pick up a scent of sorts. she didn't know what it was, but it certainly got the right amount of attention from her. her mouth began watering from the delicious scent, and she had to swallow a few times in order to stop her mouth from overflowing with saliva. as the kitchen came into view, she noticed another pony there. being the awkward one that she was, she tried to ignore him, in hopes to avoid the possibility of conversing with him. she would simply not have anything worth saying. as Smokey talked to the unfamiliar stallion, Phoenix found herself a seat at the large U-shaped table. she marveled at it, and took note of its rather odd shape. just how many ponies were meant to be able to dine here? although she wouldn't dare ridicule smokey on his decisions, it most certainly seemed like he went overboard with this place. as this train of thought rolled on by, Phoenix was suddenly surprised by the strange tall glass that was placed in front of her, along with the fruity smelling blood-red liquid. she was rather unsure of what to do. she looked up at Smokey, who was sat across from her "well, i do have a few questions... but i don't want to ask anything you're not willing to answer..." she replied to smokey's statement. she knew that some ponies could be rather annoyed when too many personal questions were asked of them.

@Widdershins @Foxy Socks @Blitz Boom Rainbowdash Shook her head in confusion. there was no way that whatever the heck happened had anything to do with her. she walked into the boutique and next thing she knows everyone turned into crazy spider robots and then she found herself in that strange dress. something certainly wasn't adding up here. next thing she knew, the collar of the dress was tugged up into the air, and she felt her hooves flail helplessly as they searched for something, anything to anchor themselves to. she would have flapped her wings to fly out of this situation, but seeing as how this dress wasn't built for Pegasi, her wings were entangled in the fabric. next thing she knew, she fell a few feet down onto the wooden floorboards with an "oof!" she sat herself up and looked over at Rarity "But, i told you!-" she began to try and explain herself once more, but quickly realized it was fruitless as Rarity had disregarded the situation. "... Ugh, never mind i guess" she muttered as Rarity had just about Exited the room. Rainbowdash blew a lock of her mane away from her face with a quick little puff, and began trotting behind Rarity as she had just about Exited into the next room.

@Blitz Boom Phoenix's eyes widened as the answer to her question came from Smokey's muzzle. he lived here? as the answer sunk into her head, many thoughts, and many more questions began to swirl around in her head. why such a large house for only two ponies? was it common for Smokey to have visitors? and where did he get all of this money? was he royalty? or were his methods of acquisition a bit less savory than that? and then there was rose. his cousin? it must be nice having family around. although, she didn't appear too fond of Phoenix herself. perhaps she simply didn't like the sudden intrusion? phoenix simply walked her way over to the nearest chair, and sat herself down to try and calm herself from all of these dizzying thoughts. there were no physical signs of anxiety, rather she was simply stumped. she had so many thoughts and questions that she simply didn't know where to begin "wow..." were the only words to escape her lips. as all of these thoughts swirled around, her empty stomach reminded her once more that it was there, and that it was empty. their little snack on the train had been at least three hours ago. as they approached the afternoon, Phoenix began to hunger for some lunch. perhaps she would have a chance to ask him some more questions over a meal? "about your offer for that feast... i'm actually kinda hungry right now" she let him know. she better get her blood sugar levels up before she fainted yet again.

@Widdershins i think that the version of Rainbowdash i imagine is present behind the scenes would work well in a romantic relationship with rarity. at a time, i used to think Rarijack was a great match. but after reading a really really long fanfic (of over 200,000 words) i came to like Raridash a lot better. i do think that TwiShy is another good one. however, i don't really see Pinkie shipping well with any other members of the mane six, besides Rainbowdash (but Rainbowdash should be with rarity, anyhow) and although your reasoning for discord and pinkie works, i think it just seems a little too unrealistic. i don't know enough about any other characters besides the mane 6 to ship them well. i haven't watched anything beyond season 4, and that was a few years back. as you can see i remain active in the fandom simply because the idea of a magical world of ponies pleases me, and i also enjoy roleplaying

"i'll be fine, i promise you. it's nothing major" she explained in attempt to calm him. it was sure to be annoying for the next few days, but it was nothing she hasn't dealt with herself. she wasn't going to attempt to use healing magic on it either, as such would be a waste of her energy for something so small. she would simply let it heal naturally. the thought of food actually caught her attention. almost as soon as Smokey offered, her ears perked up, and she was made aware of an empty feeling in her abdomen. that made her think a bit. how long had it been since she last ate? "i actually have a question for you first... how long was i out?" she asked him. there was almost no way she could have gotten that hungry in a short amount of time. she must have been out for a couple of hours. another thing struck her quite odd about Smokey's behavior. he was offering her so many things, it almost made it seem like he lived here. she wondered if Smokey even had a home, or if he lived in this hotel, and that's why he was so familiar with everything in it. or perhaps, he was the proud owner of this building. after all, she hadn't really seen anyone else around. the only other pony she saw in here was Rose, who he was clearly on a first name basis with. she started to seem like more of an occupant of this large place along with Smokey. curiosity prompted her next question "and, where exactly do you live?" she asked.

So... UPS or FedEx. Which is better? Also, which characters do you think Would make cute couples, I suppose? It's already no secret I share interest in raridash

@Blitz Boom as Phoenix walked out into the large foyer, she couldn't help but notice how lavish it was. it matched well with just about everything else in this building, whatever it was. among all the colorful pieces of art, her eyes eventually fell on Smokey, who she was admittedly quite happy to see. a warm smile involuntarily crept onto her face. she stood there, listening to him whistle, and watching him browse around the room, until he had noticed her. perhaps he was the type who appreciated this kind of art. she stepped towards him, meeting him in the middle of the room. she took on a rather bashful posture as he had compared her to the statues in the room, and saying that she should be on display as well. as flattering as it was, it was actually a rather frightening thought. after all, it was that very same feeling of being out in the open around so many ponies that caused her panic attack earlier that day. she continued to listen to him as he went on about the perfume. "is that what that was..? i didn't know whether or not i was supposed to use it.." she said after listening to him describe it. she turned her head down to try and get a whiff of it herself, curiously seeing if she could pick out the separate scents that were listed off. she continued listening on rather tentatively as he talked about the bath salts. truth be told, she had no idea what they even were. "i didn't know how to use them" she answered. next time she had the chance, she likely would. by the way Smokey was describing them, it seemed worth it. as Smokey stepped closer to her, she took a step back herself, but she remained rather close. it most certainly looked like they were standing at a friendly distance rather than being so standoff-ish like before. she scrunched her nose a bit as she thought back to the scene at the platform. she knew she had fainted, but did her fall really look that bad? that would explain the spot on her head that felt rather sore. almost as if there was a bruise hidden under her now silky mane, which ended in soft curls. "now that you mention it, i do think there is a bit of a bruise on my head" she said rather casually as she brought a hoof up to it. using her hoof to put a little pressure on the area elicited a wince, confirming her suspicions. however, she didn't quite understand the concerned expression on Smokey's face. she knew it was probably normal for a friendly pony to show concern for someone that they considered to be their friend, but this type was a bit more deep than that. she wasn't unfamiliar to sustaining small injuries out there in the wild. in fact, she would trip over unsuspecting roots and be scraped by low-hanging branches on a fairly regular basis.

@Blitz Boom Phoenix gave a slight nod as she began to follow the mare. as she did so, her curious eyes couldn't help but peer up at all the artwork that lined the walls. she herself enjoyed the looks of some of them. as she continued to trot down the hall behind the mare, she pondered at how the place looked more like an art gallery than anything else. an art gallery with bedrooms? this place was sending out so many mixed signals that Phoenix was no longer positive if this place was a hotel or not. as she reached the door to the bathroom, her eyes widened in surprise. there was so much to take in that it was almost overwhelming. however, it was in a good way. she definitely wasn't going to faint unlike when she was overwhelmed by the crowd at the train station. "Alright", Phoenix said in reply to the mare's conglomeration of sentences. after she was done in here, however long it took, she would make it a point to find Smokey right away. she trot into the large bathroom, and as she did so, a royal blue aura surrounded her horn. the door magically shut itself behind her. she took a look around the bathroom, noticing how pristine it was. she looked down at her own hooves and noticed how the dirt from them was leaving small spots on the beautifully polished tiles. she blushed a bit as this happened, not realizing how much work she was putting the staff through, or whoever would end up cleaning this place when she was done. she walked straight towards the large, luxurious bathtub, and stepped into it, one hoof at a time. even though they had bathing areas in her old village, she had never seen anything as modern or as high end as this. her horn began to glow again, with the familiar royal blue hue. as it did, the aura spread to multiple different parts of the knobs and valves, as she tried to figure out how to turn the thing on. as she did, a torrent of water began flowing from the spout just in front of her. she could feel how cold the water was around her hooves, and she lifted them each up slightly, trying to escape how chilly it was, but to no avail. all the while, her magic touch continued to work the knobs, until eventually the water began running warm. now that was more like it. as it did so, she haphazardly pulled on another little valve on the top of the spout, causing the water to change directions as it began raining onto her from the shower head above. as it did so, the water began to soak itself into her rather dirty, and somewhat matted mane. becoming heavy with the wetness, it began to fall down in front of her eyes, making it difficult to see. however, there was no need. Phoenix had decided to close her eyes anyway when she realized just how good the water felt as it hit her head. it was soothing, almost as if the water was massaging her scalp. perhaps she would end up spending more time in here than she had originally planned. she was able to feel her way to the wide selection of shampoos and oils. she used her magical grip to bring a few of them in front of her, as she sniffed each one. she finally found one that had a very pleasant floral scent, and decided she would go with that one, ignoring the rest for now as the wide selection seemed a bit overkill. after also finding a loofah, she decided to pour a bit of the shampoo onto it. after doing so, she gently brought the loofah around to her back, where it began to scrub her. that felt almost as nice as the water flowing over her head. she made her way around with the loofah to each of her separate limbs, and to her belly, making sure that every inch of her fur got a good dose of the stuff. eventually she made her way around to her rear, being a bit more gentle as she went over and around some of the more sensitive areas. in fact, she had always been a bit more cautious than most when it came to that. after all, she still wasn't used to it, and she had absolutely no resolve to go exploring. however, images in her mind of Smokey made it a bit easier as she finished up, she turned the water off, simply repeating the combination of knobs and valves that she had used before, only in reverse. she stepped out of the tub, with bits of water dripping off of her and pooling onto the tile floor below. she rubbed some of the water away from her eyes with her forehoof, and looked around for some towels. once she had them in her crosshairs, she was able to levitate one of them over to herself. she rubbed the towel over her entire body, trying to get it as dry as possible, but to little avail. back in the wilderness, after bathing in the river, she would simply let herself air dry. sure, it wasn't all that pleasant on the cooler days, but it was simply the easiest thing to do. however, she felt it would be wrong to track water all over the nicely carpeted floors, so she at least made the effort. after all was said and done, she was mostly dry. there was just a small layer of dampness on her fur. surely if she left the steamy bathroom, she would be able to air dry in only a few minutes. on her way out, she noticed something a bit strange. she had passed by the mirror, and noticed that her mane seemed to be in a complete mess after the furious towel drying that just happened. after looking around a bit, she noticed that the mirror itself seemed to be protruding out of the wall quite awkwardly. after some further investigation, she found out that there was indeed some items stored in there, much like a cabinet. in it she was able to find some sort of brush. she also found a bottle of perfume in there, it was a beautiful crystal bottle full of some pink fluid. she decided to bring that out as well. she closed the cabinet, and looked into the mirror as she began to brush her mane. not to make it look fancy or anything, just to make it look presentable. as she looked herself in the mirror, she took note of her own features. she had never really looked in a mirror at her new self like this. as odd as it was to think, she really had no idea what she looked like. it was a bit of a shocking moment. she noticed how petite her snout was, how her eyelashes fluttered as she blinked. to someone else, she looked like a young pretty mare. "i don't need a damn mirror to tell me that" she said grudgingly, through grit teeth. even though she had been this way for more than half her life at this point, it was still a bit of an unwelcome wake-up call. but why was she so upset? was she upset at her situation, or upset at the fact she was beginning to enjoy it more, ever since she met Smokey? she shook her head to snap herself out of that daze, and her mane returned to it's beautiful, naturally soft curls. those were questions for another day. as she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind yet again, she quickly spritzed on a single squirt of the perfume, and exited the bathroom. she made her way down the hall, and to the main room just as the mare had instructed her. as she did so, she looked down at the floor, feeling the soft carpet beneath her hooves. she sorted out all of her thoughts into a metaphorical filing cabinet as she entered the main room, lifting her gaze only to see if Smokey was there or not. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ @Widdershins @Foxy Socks @Blitz Boom Rainbowdash looked up at Rarity, who has inevitably noticed her. but her choice of words was a bit strange. one of HER pranks? oh, heck no. "what do you mean MY prank? i walked in here and you and a couple other ponies turned into these disgusting spider robots and attacked me!" she complained. if anything, this was Rarity playing the prank on her. with the dress still on her, she tried her best to get herself on all four of her hooves. it was a bit difficult, however, with the skirt of the dress getting in the way of her hind legs. she was sure that it wasn't impossible, and somepony who was used to wearing this things could probably do it without an issue. she looked down at herself to see the weird ball gown "yeah, i agree with you.. i don't think this suits me at all" she said as she dusted herself off once she was alright, and on her hooves, she tried, but to no avail to pull the dress off of herself. it was apparent she would need an extra pair of hooves to assist her. or a horn, for that matter. she was almost amazed at how she ended up in the dress to begin with.

@Blitz Boom Phoenix could almost feel a certain thickness in the air, as if the tension was palpable. however, she still could not understand why. it was almost as if this rather beautiful mare was shooting daggers at her. this much was obvious now. she got her answer as to where her companion was, and she pondered if she should simply wait for him, or if she should do something to prepare herself. that's when she got the offer to use one of their showers. heck, if Smokey was getting himself washed up, why shouldn't she? besides, it's been an embarrassingly long amount of time since she was able to bathe herself... and even then, it was in a river, simply to get dirt off. there was no such thing as soap out in the wild. only now, among all this cleanliness is she beginning to be self conscious about her own stench. after all, ponies weren't meant to be living out in the wild for as long as she has. "yes" she said affirmatively, giving her head a slight nod as she did so. having a nice shower might give her some time to think things over. did she really want to stay here? after all, these crowds of ponies in a city as large as this weren't necessarily something she favored. and even then, if they did leave, would she wan't to continue traveling with Smokey? the answer to that was undoubtedly yes, as much as she didn't want to admit it. but she couldn't quite figure out why. what made her enjoy being around him so much? those were questions she still needed to think about, and perhaps a nice shower would help. but wait... aren't hotels supposed to have lavatories in each room..? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ @Blitz Boom @Widdershins @Foxy Socks Rainbowdash wore an expression of triumph as her final dodge was successful. expecting the last of the nasty robots to be defeated, she turned to look upon her handiwork with pride. unfortunately, the results were quite opposite of what she had expected. standing there before her was the last of the bots standing nearly unscathed. her prideful expression quickly washed away from her face as she realized that the robot was about to pounce at her again. Rainbowdash herself wasn't posed to dodge either. there was simply no way she was going to escape this one. she had probably only half a second to say her goodbye's luckily for her, she didn't have to say goodbye. she didn't have to dodge the thing either. a big blob of confusion sat itself inside her head as the world around her began to spin and whirl, morphing from the reality she was in, to one where everything seemed normal, in almost the blink of an eye. she felt some unknown force shove her, and she went rolling across the floor. "oof!" she groaned as she sat up. when the room stopped spinning around her, she looked down with an expression of surprise as she realized she had somehow ended up in one of Rarity's unfinished dresses. not only that, but it didn't even look cool! she would need to get out of this thing before Rarity noticed. and then maybe she can figure out what manner of rotten berries she ate that made her hallucinate like that. as she looked around the room, she realized that Rarity was right there, across the room from her, and a blush washed over Rainbowdash' face as she realized there was absolutely no escape from this humiliating situation.

@Blitz Boom Phoenix looked at the mare Opposite her, and took in everything about her. the first thing she noticed was just how beautiful the mare was. she had been in and out of a few places, and she hasn't seen many others in her time, but this one stood out from the rest. the abundance of flowers and the way her mane was done reeked of elegance. it was quite obvious to nearly anypony that layed eyes on her that this mare was trying to impress Somepony. more specifically, she was probably trying to catch the eye of some stallion. whoever he was, he must be lucky. the next thing that struck Phoenix was a strange look in her eyes. there was no mistake, that on her face she wore a smile, but part of Phoenix could feel that something was off. she couldn't tell if there was something wrong with herself, or if this mare was simply having a rough day. it was apparent, however, that there was something bothering this mare. but that was not for Phoenix to worry about. she was more concerned with the whereabouts of her traveling companion. figuring he must be waiting in the lobby, or in some room of his own (presumably to give Phoenix her privacy), it seemed as though Phoenix would need to do some asking around to find out where he is. considering her little episode earlier in the day, that might not be the easiest thing to do. she took a glance around at the long elegant hallway, and fortunately, it didn't seem like anypony else was around to bother her. realizing that being around too many ponies could have such a terrible effect, she deemed it worth while to be cautious. "actually, i'm fine..." she responded to the kind mare's concerns, "i was just looking for somepony... i came in here with a Stallion named Smokey. do you know where he went?" she asked. she had no clue how large this hotel was, or how many ponies were in it. she also had no clue if this mare even saw Smokey or knew who he was, but this was as good a place to begin as any. her heart nearly skipped a beat as she said his name. she'd never really had to say it out loud before, besides the incident at the platform. however, now that she could use it in a casual conversation, she found there to be a bit of charm behind it. a warm glowing feeling began to fill her chest, and a slight smile was brought to her face. she had remembered feeling something like this back in her old village. pondering a tad on it, she couldn't quite think of a reason, or what to connect it to. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ @Blitz Boom @Foxy Socks @Widdershins Rainbowdash looked down with concern as the Briarbot toppled over. her kick didn't seem to be too effective. what made the situation even worse was that the robot now seemed to have a hold of her. she beat her wings as hard as she could, but there was absolutely no escaping the strong grapple of the machine. however, after the robot appeared to suffer from a few tremors, she was inexplicably freed from the metal claws. she had dented the thing, for sure, but she was almost positive that it wasn't going to be enough to vanquish it. however, her expression was soon replaced with that of a pleasant surprise when it imploded on itself anyway. looking down at the pile of trash that was the Briarbot, she noticed the plethora of sewing needles that were stuck in the cube on the backside. "Psh. flimsy robots can't even handle a few sewing needles!" she boasted to herself. however, her sense of victory was short lived as she realized that her kick had failed to do virtually anything against the last robot. as the spikes began to spring up all around the robots fake skin, her heart lept into her throat, as she tried to swallow it back down with a loud gulp. her fears were realized in ten fold when it suddenly Hopped onto the ceiling and began crawling around. she had no idea how to react, other than to just hover and stare at it with a sense of "oh man, i'm screwed". as it lunged towards her, Dash' instincts took over, and she immediately dodged the thing. it was clear that brute force was no longer an option, unless she wanted to see herself stuck by the intimidating spikes. she would need to be crafty. as she dodged the thing once more, an idea popped into her head. she could use the robots hopping against it. she would just need something for it to leap into, and then she would just have to lure it like a bull fighter. at this point, Rainbowdash was almost constantly moving to avoid the leaping attacks of the monster machine, flying in a constant circle throughout the room. she sped up and slowed down to avoid the lunges that happened every few seconds. once she found the right moment, she cut a path straight down the center of the room, and swooped a bit lower, stopping for only a moment to right the sewing machine. right after she did so, she waited a few seconds for the Foxybot to leap at her once more, and Dash dove to her left, dodging it immediately after.

@Blitz Boom Phoenix's little nap certainly wasn't a pleasant one. not only had she fainted, but her unconscious thoughts were plagued with nightmares, the very same she'd been having nearly all her life. almost as soon as the strange mare exited the room, she began to toss and turn. a few inaudible mumbles as well as a few groans escaped from her maw. eventually, she thrashed herself so hard that she fell over the edge of the rather large bed, pulling the quilt with her. the feeling of falling was enough, however, to jolt her awake. as soon as she hit the floor, her eyes shot open. immediately, she knew she was somewhere she wasn't quite familiar with. she kicked the quilt off of her self, and used the bed for support as she pulled herself up to a standing position. "a bed...?" she asked herself as she looked it over. the last time she had seen a piece of furniture like this, it had been in her home village, all those years ago. and those beds were just singles filled with straw. she shook her head to chase away those memories. she had no sense of nostalgia over them. but no, she had most certainly never seen something as luxurious as this. she poked one of her hooves at the soft silken quilt that now lay on the ground in front of her, and noted just how soft it felt as well. whoever owned this place certainly had wealth above that of the average pony. once she had her bearings, she decided to take a look around the room. she looked at all of the strange bits of art and furniture, as well as the chandelier as she circled around the room. the fact that the room had no sense of personalization made her believe she was in some sort of hotel room. had smokey brought her there until she was able to walk the rest of the way? if so, why would he pick a place as expensive as this one? either way, she needed to find him. she checked herself over to make sure everything was still in tact, and that's when she noticed a shooting pain in her head. she brought a hoof up to the area of concerned, and she gently poked at the area. a pained expression washed over her face as she winced a bit. she was definitely a bit bruised up from her fall earlier that day. but it didn't matter too much, she would treat herself with some spells later. what was important to her was to find Smokey so they could be on their way, lest she embarrass herself more by having another episode. she reached the door, and slowly pushed it open as she stuck her neck out into the hallway. as she turned her head, she saw the back end of some mare who seemed to be walking away from her. thinking she may have been some sort of hotel staff, she decided to try and flag her down "Um... Excuse me miss? do you happen to work here?" she asked quite a bit awkwardly as she attempted to act like a normal pony. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ @Blitz Boom @Widdershins @Foxy Socks Rainbowdash gulped as she saw the two remaining robots grow in strength, and escape their yarn trap "It's okay, Dash. they're just flimsy robots" she muttered some words of encouragement to herself. she flew up towards the ceiling of the large room, in hopes that they wouldn't be able to reach her as she began to ponder her options. there's no way she could try the windows or doors, not with that amount of thick webbing on them. she'd just get trapped, and then she would really be doomed. seeing as how her only resource was fabric and thread, her options to come up with something crafty were very limited, and she had just about exhausted them all already. "then i'll just have to use more brute force" she said to herself as she began to fly around, gaining momentum for her next strike. of course, her hoof was still a bit sore from the last kick, so this time she was going to use the other one, obviously. however, she wasn't just going to hit one of them. she was going to try and knock them down like a bunch of dominoes. she could feel the wind whipping through her mane as she began to fly at a speed that was probably much too dangerous for somepony indoors. however, it wasn't a problem for an ace like rainbow. she lined up her shot, with the Briarbot being closest to her, because she wouldn't want to charge into the sharp claws that the other one had. she began her strike run, aiming for the center of mass. she struck it, knocking the briarbot with considerable force into the other robot.

@Blitz Boom Phoenix had swung around to look for smokey, and through her shaky vision, she spotted the exchange. she noted the look on smokey's face as he received what looks to be a small piece of parchment. was this another friend of his? or was this face unwelcome? she stood there, waiting, as her heart began to run a mile a minute. all of these ponies around her, and with her out in the open. it certainly wasn't anything she was used to, and the feeling was overwhelming. she calmed a bit as smokey approached, but her condition was far from gone. He would clearly be able to see that she was distressed. her breathing was heavy, as well as deep, and she placed a hoof on smokey's shoulder for support as her balance began to degrade. she listened to Smokey as he rattled off their options, with her goal simply being to get away from all of these ponies. "L-let's go to your place..." was all she managed to get out. she sounded rather winded as she began to lean more on Smokey for support. as she leaned against him, she looked down at the wooden floorboards of the platform. the edges of her vision began to blur. the floor boards weren't staying still either. they waved and spun as her vision became less and less focused. to her surprise as well, they seemed to be getting closer... *WHAM* and just like that, Phoenix had fallen to floor like a sack of bricks. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ @Blitz Boom @Widdershins @Foxy Socks Rainbowdash followed through with her kick, and felt the sting on her hoof as the strike didn't leave her unharmed either. no biggie, she'll just need a moment or two to walk it off. but this definitely wasn't the time for that. she payed almost no mind to the fact that it imploded into a small cube. at least now that she knew they were robots, and slow moving ones at that, she'd be able to defeat them rather easily. she smiled a devilish grin as an idea came to mind, she was about to attempt a move that she was pretty sure she had seen in a movie before. however, it seemed like it may be effective in this case. she attempted to dodge the spiders grasp as she did a flying corkscrew over them, and she immediately went to where rarity kept her stashes of fabric "Sorry Rarity, but also not sorry." she muttered as she took hold of the end of the spool in her mouth, and she immediately began flying towards the other 3 spider-bots. as she drew near them, she shifted her velocity and began making wide circles around them. as she did, the long strands of cloth began to wrap around the robots, with the intention of constricting and trapping them in place, so that Rainbowdash can make things easier for herself. easy-peasy.

@Blitz Boom Phoenix rolled her eyes as smokey made his light-hearted remarks about his breath. she stood beside the seat, waiting for her companion of sorts to get up so they can be on their merry way. she peeked over Smokey and out the window of the train car, and that's when the realization hit her. she had been too focused on Smokey, rather than the beautiful city laying just beyond the walls of the train. she had never seen a city so magnificent in all her life. of course, she had heard it mentioned by the shop keeps and other passing ponies in the few moments she did spend in that rural town every now and then, but none of that could have prepared her. that's when Smokey's words hit her "the best wake-up i can remember" she repeated to herself in her head. it sounds an awful lot like he was fully aware of their little nap. he could have been simply talking about how well he slept, but let's be honest. a nap on a train by itself isn't much to be desired. a couple of expletives went through her brain as she tried processing all of it. was it that she hated it? or is she just embarrassed at herself for secretly enjoying it? of course, when this curse was put upon her some years ago, never in her wildest dreams did she think she'd enjoy spending time with a stallion, and yet here she was. in any case, she needed more time to try and figure things out in her head before she could really warm up to the idea. at least napping next to him helped to stave off the nightmares... expecting him to get up and follow her, she began to trot towards the train exit. once she got off the train and onto the platform, she noticed just how many Ponies there were, going to and from many different places throughout Equestria. it was a little overwhelming for her to say the least. for someone as introverted as her, it wasn't an easy bundle of information to process, and she soon found her breathing quicken, and her heart began to race. she was out in such a large crowd, without her cloak to mask her. not that it mattered, but it always made her feel safe anyway. maybe Smokey could help her out of this mess. "S-Smokey!?" she yelled out, and whipped her head around, trying to find him. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ @Blitz Boom @Foxy Socks @Widdershins Rainbowdash simply eyed her friend Rarity as she muttered that last phrase. clearly this was something they had rehearsed earlier. were they trying to prank her? "har har, very funny guys" she said with a smug grin. what a lame prank that was anyway. a little spooky, to be sure, but it's not something that's gonna give her nightmares. of course, what happened next was almost guaranteed to. "uhh... guys?" she prodded, trying to get a further answer from them as they began to shift and morph right in front of her. her eyes grew wide. after she realized what they were turning into, her eyes filled themselves with fear. "A-alright guys... i was just joking" she pleaded with them "It's actually a pretty decent prank" she muttered with a shaky voice. realizing that none of her words were working, instinct began to take over. her wings began to flutter, as her hooves quickly lifted themselves off the ground. her first instinct was to escape out of a window, but after trying one or two of them, she soon realized they were all covered in a very thick webbing. there was no escape. well, that's alright. if fleeing wasn't going to work, then that narrowed down her option to fighting. using her flight and her speed to her advantage, she immediately flew to the side of the shop furthest from the giant Spider-ponies. with a primal war cry, she immediately began flying towards the spiders at the fastest rate she could in such a confined space. as she drew near, she shifted her position so that one of her hind legs was pointed out, aimed at one of their faces as the blow connected.

as the train rolled on by, so did the time. Phoenix, being the smaller mare that she was, was able to fill up rather easily on the snacks that Smokey was generous enough to provide. what was left of them, however, was nothing but a bunch of crumbs only signifying that at one point some snacks may have existed there. unfortunately, she hadn't really kept it in mind to save some room for when they arrived at Canterlot. perhaps they'll just have to wait a bit longer and have a late lunch when they arrive and rest for a bit. as Phoenix slept, her body instinctively gravitated towards the warmth of Smokey's body, and her hooves began to wrap around his midsection as if she were giving him some sort of hug. the soft feeling of Fur on Fur was enough to elicit a pleasant groan from her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ even more time passed, and the train was rolling into station. anyone left on board the train was now exiting, and all of the commotion was enough to wake Phoenix up. her body may have been stubborn with her on that last bump, but not this time. her eyes slowly opened, and the sight she was greeted with was one that was pleasant to an unsettling degree. she looked up to see Smokey's face, and the realization dawned on her. In her sleep, she was cuddling with him! her face immediately turned a bright crimson red, and she pushed herself off of him. she shot up from her seat and shook her head a bit, as if trying to snap herself out of a daze. she turned back to Smokey, and luckily for her, it looked like he MIGHT still be asleep. she crossed her hooves that he didn't notice it before-hoof. a moment later, after she was able to calm herself down, she lifted up her fore-hoof and gave Smokey a bit of a rough nudge on the shoulder. "Come on, we're here" was all she said before turning her back to him, and waiting for him to get up. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ @Widdershins @Foxy Socks @Blitz Boom as the few of them were going about their business, a sudden noise could be heard as the door to the shop was suddenly thrust open. a very recognizable presence stood in the door way. who else but your favorite rainbow-maned Pegasus. she fluttered her wings a bit to announce her presence "Awe, come on Rarity. you didn't even try to stop me after i flew off!" she huffed as she rolled her vibrant Magenta colored eyes. her wings fluttered a bit more, and her hooves slowly lifted themselves off of the ground as she hovered over to the group of Ponies. she looked a bit surprised to see them there. "i see you've made some new friends" she says with a soft, friendly smile as she eyed the odd pair. her hooves regained contact with the ground and her wings folded to her sides. as she looked at Briar, her head cocked a bit more in curiosity. he most definitely didn't look like he was from around here.

looks like this thread has been pretty slow. so i thought i'd drop by for a visit. i don't know if this was asked before or not, but does widders have any relation to discord? also, do you think discord still has any evil intent? what if the way he is after his "rebirth" is all a facade?

Phoenix placed her head against the window she sat next to, as she waited for Smokey to return. he sure was taking his sweet time. she looked out into the woods, her eyes simply tracing the landscape to pass the time. after a while, she heard the door to the car open, and it was none other than the Stallion in question. she looked up for a moment to confirm that it was him, and she shook her head a bit as she noticed him greeting ponies here and there. "quite the social one, he is" she thought to herself as she placed her head back against the window. she could feel the cushions of the seat beneath her shift as Smokey sat down beside her. she looked a little upset as she heard the bad news. it was already getting late into the morning and she hadn't had a single thing to eat since... well, she couldn't really remember in all honesty. however, her eyes lit up with delight as Smokey opened the box in front of them. she was about to ask him where he got all of these, but as if he could read her mind, he explained that for her. her horn began to glow with a royal blue hue as the ticket levitated itself out of Smokey's hoof. she placed it in the little clip on the seat to signify to any passing conductor that her ticket was already payed for. meanwhile, her eyes were fixated on one of those chocolate muffins... "Thank you..." she said with a soft smile, pausing for a moment only to be polite as she didn't want to look like some hungry animal in front of him. a moment or two later, the muffin levitated out of the box and towards Phoenix's mouth as she began to munch on it. this would definitely help to stave off the hunger and allow her to wait a bit more patiently to arrive in town for them to have a real meal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ it had been a while after her snack, and due to her night terrors, she could almost never get enough sleep during the hours of night. normally, she'd still be able to function, but with the soft rumbles of the train as it went over the tracks, as well as the soothing images of the countryside as they passed by, Phoenix couldn't help herself. over the course of the last few minutes, she had slowly drifted off to sleep, leaning against the window. the train hit a bump in the tracks. luckily for Phoenix, her body wasn't going to let her miss out on the chance for more sleep, and as such she wasn't jostled awake. however, the jolt was enough to disrupt her position, and Smokey would soon find her leaning against him, with her head on his shoulder.

I enjoy putting romance into my RP. And adding those extra details can make it all that much better if done tastefully. Seeing as how it can be a slippery slope, I wanted to ask before it happens, to make sure.

Phoenix backed up a bit as the Large Locomotive came to a screeching halt. if she didn't know any better, she'd go as far as to say that they were going to skip this stop until they saw Smokey and herself. her ears twitched and she turned her view over to Smokey as asked her to go find some seats. she gave an affirmative nod, and was about to step onto the train when she heard another Pony approaching. it was very clear to her from the look that he gave Smokey that they knew each other. and after hearing both of them speak, her suspicions were confirmed. of course, one little detail of their conversation definitely jumped out at her. being called a "lovely companion" certainly elicited a bit of a blush. she shook her head and wrote it off as she stepped onto the train. she had no idea how many ponies would be on there, but there were enough. finding an empty seat for two wasn't impossible, but it certainly provided some challenges. on her instinct, she immediately found the car that had the least amount of ponies in it. upon doing so, she found a seat near the corner of the car, where she could keep to herself. lucky for her, all the ponies seemed to be congregating on the opposite end.

hold on just a moment though. i have ONE more question, and this one i think sorta skims the edges of things a little closer. what about touching and caressing? i mean, obviously not in the nono zones, but for instance, what if the stallion in question were to place a hoof on the flanks of the mare in question?

@Randimaxis thanks! that actually helped to clear things up a lot. i kinda already knew that going all the way was a definite nono, but was unclear as to where the edges lie (of course, if i'm in berlin then i know without a doubt i'm in Germany. but i have no clue where the border lies) truth be told, i had no idea before asking this if you could go beyond kissing and cuddling. perhaps blush faces the next morning was all i could really imagine when trying to convey how things went the night before. although, when i used to roleplay on other mediums, i was no stranger to the lewd details. i can deffinitely still understand how a descriptive mind can fill in the gaps. in fact, i think i got plenty from your demonstration at the end of it all, i thank you for helping me to understand where the line is, and it will certainly make my RP experience better off for it.

as far as i'm aware, yes. i'm just trying to figure out to which degree you can take your affection before it becomes too much.

Alright. I typically like to speak in a roleplay sense, because that's what I end up doing on here most of the time. I'm a huge fan of romance, and I'm certainly no stranger to being descriptive when it came to two characters interactions in the bedroom. So, it's okay to reference it, but not go into detail? Would it be okay to imply that two characters interacted in an nsfw manner, without directly going into detail about it?

i wish more people knew this.

perhaps it would be better to discuss this with a mod in PM, but i have a few questions in regards to what sort of things are allowed, and where the line between fine, and NSFW lies.

Phoenix carefully took in everything that was there. in all of her time living in these woods, she had always heard the train passing by. after all, in such a calm quiet place, sound really does travel. however, she had never seen the tracks, or any station with her own eyes. it was a bit surreal, not knowing that this train was here the entire time. she began eagerly trotting towards the platform. although she had been staying away this entire time, trying to hide herself, she couldn't help but be curious and wonder. after all, it had been ages since she's seen another pony, let alone civilization. the events of the other night were certainly a lot to process, and only now was she beginning to realize. after all these years, hiding herself away began to sound a bit irrational. not only that, but her stomach gave her more than enough motive. she arrived at the platform, ahead of smokey. it seemed as though she had forgotten for a moment or two that she was even with anypony to begin with. she was looking around the place as if she was seeing it for the first time. and truthfully, she was. as she paced up and down the platform, her hooves clicked and clacked against the wooden boards. eventually, she turned towards the tracks, and stopped. she cautiously stuck her neck out and watched as the train approached.