LonnaKitty

@@Illiad Easle, Argante sighed in relief. Though she may not look it she was actually quite the glutton, a trait that persisted to even adulthood, so she was quite happy at the mention of any kind of food. Maybe she would be able to try all kinds of new food now that they were released. As they followed the zebra, she took more note of the zebra, from her jewelry to her mark. 'Zebras are really mysterious, if I remember right Midnight told me they were really good at potions...' she opened her mouth to speak but closed it back. 'Would it be okay to ask her about it? I mean I barely know her...well, might as well leap I suppose.' "So uhm Zecora, do you...do you make potions? Midnight told me that Zebras were really excellent at making them."

@@Illiad Easle, She stared after the strange pony, when midnight spoke to her she came out of her thoughts and back to the matter at hand. "Yeah, your right! I feel bad that this was what my first trip to a town ended up like though, however, I am glad we met Miss Doo, she is very nice." Argante stood beside Midnight and smiled, "Shall we then?" she started to walk on ahead, back towards the forest. It might be longer for her citizens to blend back with the world than she hopped. Maybe not all is lost though. If she could just figure out something that would help. She stopped for a moment and scratched her head. 'Hnng this is going to take a lot of work.' As they walked, she continued to glance around the streets and stores till one caught her eye, as well as her nose. The bright building that had such wonderful smells coming from it made her mouth water. She frowned though. With things as they were right now, sweets should be the furthest from her mind, however her tummy, with it now rumbling at her in argument, would happily disagree. "We should probably eat some berries near the forest once we get there, I knew I should have grabbed some food before we left."

Argante frowned, looking down. She could sympathize, in a way. Things one could have done but didnt. "I guess...thats just one problem that one deals with, when you are immortal...." she glanced away looking at the smiling ponies around them. After what has happened her citizens got a taste of what being immortal was like. Now that everything was back to normal, well, the cycle will continue, and the ponies she knew would be gone, new ones replacing the old. She shook her head trying to clear away the thoughts that were passing through her mind.

@@Illiad Easle, Argante looked shocked for a temporary moment. Double checking herself if her cloak was still on. It was. This pony was perceptive. She nodded, and slowly touched hooves with the small mare. "I-Its nice to meet you, I'm Argante." Yes, good, that was a sentence. Not bad for just meeting a new pony. She looked over her and with her crisscross eyes and very happy demeanor, it put Argante in a very happy mood, she thought the pony was adorable. A good in a bucket of bad. She tilted her head ever so slightly and asked, "How did you know what I was though?"

@@Illiad Easle, She nodded and followed slowly behind. She looked around, her body felt uncomfortable with the occasional stares. She kept close to Midnight. As she looked, ignoring the stares, she noticed there were quite a few stores that caught her interest. She made note of them for a possible trip later on. Hopefully her next trip her might be a bit more welcoming than this. As she glanced, she would occasionally lock eyes with a pony, the look they had as they hid back away hurt her. She was so used to being surrounded by love and acceptance from her own ponies, that this shunning was taking a toll on her. She glanced to Midnight, she couldn't imagine the feelings he had weighing in on his mind. She shook her head, trying to stand up straight, trotting a bit to stand beside him,staying close to his side. She smiled at him, hoping it was a reassuring one. She was going to ask some questions, but she was afraid to even speak in this type of atmosphere.

@@Illiad Easle, Argante looked sad that this was happening, especially to a new friend. It made her blood boil, but a quick zap from her bracelet was enough to reel back the anger quickly. She looked toward the zebra that approached and smiled at the kind demeanor that she held for Midnight. She trotted to stand beside Midnight and bowed her head as a sign of respect to the zebra. "It's nice to meet you Zecora." she kept the excitement down to a minimum, she didn't think she was going to meet a zebra so soon. As she looked at her, she realized how pretty she was. Were all zebras this pretty, or maybe mysterious would be the proper word. She then shook off the thoughts and continued to speak, "We aren't the first?" for such a friendly looking town to be so, unfriendly kinda put a damper on her spirit. (hehe its okay, she will be a bit upset but she tough >3)

@@Illiad Easle, Argante blinked at the harsh sunlight, rubbing her eyes to get used to its brightness. As she adjusted she gasped and surveyed the bustling town. There were so many ponies, so many houses and stores. She continued to look around, looking at the hills that was around, looking up to see a few pegasi clearing away some unwanted clouds, and some laying on them. She went a little forward to get a better look, watching the ponies go about their lives. She smiled, sniffling a small bit. This looked like a nice town, full of acceptance, maybe her ponies would be alright coming into this new world after all. It made her heart swell with relief and then it was filled with excitement. She was ready, ready to go down and look around the town. Her wings quivered, she held them tightly to her body though. "Come on lets go!" she giggled.

@@Illiad Easle, "Well I already told you the first half, I figure you should hear the rest," 'painful as it may be...' she thought that last part keeping it to herself. She looked around the forest, keeping her eyes peeled, she was so used to dense forest, she wasn't sure how well she was going to take the light. She looked at all the animals that were skittering about, enjoying the sounds of the birds chirping. She closed her eyes enjoying their song. 'This is so nice, I hope my citezens will also get to enjoy this one day as well'

@@Illiad Easle, She smiled and bumped him softly on his side with her own. "Happy to have you as one, not many get to see me take off the bracelets. I think I will tell you the other half of my story on the way home, since you have answered so many of my questions, and will probably answer a whooooooole lot more once we reach the town." She grinned, though under the laughs and calm exterior she was nervous. She didn't know what she would see after all. She will have to bite her tongue and try to keep excitement to a minimum, she reminded herself that she could take some mental notes, so she could remember questions later on. Her wings shivered a bit in anticipation. A whole new world basically to explore. What a wonderful concept.

@@Illiad Easle, Although Argante was shocked at the story she couldn't help but let out a small laugh. It wasn't a laugh that was meant to be mean or anything, but she imagined him as a boogy pony and couldn't help but laugh at the image. "Sorry, sorry, just imagining you as a boogy pony made me laugh," she coughed trying to stop her small giggles. "Well hopefully none of that will happen, if something happens, I will back you up! After all you are becoming my friend." she blushed at her words and then continued quickly, "I-I-I mean i-i-if you want to be friends that is, we just met, b-b-but its been nice to talk to you and learn and I...I will be quiet now..." she tried to have her white mane cover her face, as it was red with embarrassment. What she said she meant though, she did hope they were becoming friends, but maybe it was just her? She did only have the same ponies to talk to for three thousand plus years.

@@Illiad Easle, She frowned at that. Rewriting history? That was horrible, no matter the wrong doing history was very very important. Especially to Argante, history kept them knowledgeable, kept certain mistakes from being repeated. She shook her head free from the thoughts and smiled. "I guess a good question would be, what should I expect in Ponyville?"

She nodded and lead him back through the keep quickly. As she had suspected there were several cloaks near the front, as they went past she quickly grabbed one and wrapped it around her gracefully. She pulled up the hood so they wouldn't be stopped, she pressed a small bit of magic around them to make them go unnoticed. Long enough to get to the wall that lead towards Ponyville. Argante looked around, smiling when she realized the coast was clear, putting a hoof to the earthen wall. The wall melted away a large enough hole for them to pass through, she let Midnight go first and she followed suit, sealing the hole behind them with new earth. She nodded at her hoofwork and then looked to the forest. She had always liked looking out into it, but now that she was in it was a whole different story, It wasn't so much scary as it was awe inducing to her. She liked the coolness of the forest, it made her wings shiver slightly. As they walked, having him lead the way, she glanced to him and smiled. "Well now, questions questions, I have so many and I am sure you have some too, or I could finish my story on how we got trapped but, I guess I will start with a question, what is the Equestrian royalty like?"

She nodded interested in his story. The part about killing ponies shocked her a bit, she kept a bit of a poker face though. "Killed who exactly? What is the story on that?" she tilted her head as Orange Blossom brought over the things they ordered. She thanked the mare and sipped on her cider, waiting for him to carry on.

@@Illiad Easle, "I would rather go than someone else, I dont think my citizens will be ready to venture out just yet, it might be...a shock? I know I will be excited, but I will keep composure at least. Also, sneaking out sounds a bit fun, and honestly I would love to cause a bit of mischief before I go, I was a pretty good little prankster back when I was little, Hoofbeat was my prime target cause he was easy to rile up." she giggled at the memories of playing little pranks on the stallion, from pails of water, to switching the colors of his robes, they were fairly harmless. "It might be why he is always on guard around me now, never know when a pail of water will go on him," she laughed some more and then coughed. "But honestly I grew out of it, especially since we were trapped, I didn't wish to cause more trouble than we were already in you know?" she sighed a bit as she walked to the door. "Well lets get going, I am so excited! There should be spare cloaks near the front gate that I could just grab."

@@Illiad Easle, Argante fidgeted, rubbing her bracelet again. "Is it...is it okay if I join you, on your trip to..uh Ponyville? I understand if I have to hide that I am an alicorn, I could wear a cloak! I would just like to, you know, take my first steps out of this forest...." she started to mumble her words towards the end. She was nervous about going out of the forest in general, even if she really wanted it. However that wouldn't stop her from taking those first few courageous steps out into the new world.

@@Illiad Easle, "Most of our decisions are told to the public sooner or later, most of the time its sooner cause of Hoofbeat, he is a grouchy stallion and loves to vent to poor Blossom, since it would be public knowledge here soon, I suppose he didn't wish to hold his tongue with his displeasure." she shrugged and then continued, "Unless its top secret stuff that we, as the council, don't wish the citizens to know, all members are free to discus what happens." She smiled as he asked about her latest experiment. "So a bananaerry is a mixture of a banana and a strawberry, since we traded very often we always got things that were quite new to us. We grew strawberries before but we traded bananas once and learned to grow them. Well you see," she blushed and smiled sheepishly, "I had a dream of a strawberry banana and well, I like tooooooo, dabble in horticulture from time to time and asked our resident green hoof if we could make a cross breed of that and see if it would be possible." she beamed as she explained, excitement all over her features, "And it worked, they say its edible too, we have been working on it for several years now, and now with the barrier broken, we will get more sunlight and be able to grow even more things!" Her excitement was almost infectious, she loved when new ideas worked, even the silly ones she comes up with. "Imagine all the types of food we could make with it!"

"Huh, I only really know Luna, and I have met Twilight and her friends once before." she pondered a bit, trying to remember who they were and how they acted. "Is Luna really going out with one of the Watchers?" she didn't know what that was exactly, she assumed it was like a guard so to speak, so she knew there are certain rules against that sort of thing. Much like it was here.

@@Illiad Easle, "Of course!" She reached into her saddle bag that as dangling from the chair and pulled out several pieces of parchment, as well as a quill. She set them on the table and smiled at him. A knock then resounded on the door, she tilted her head to the side. No one really ever knocked before. She left him to his writing leaving to go answer the door to see what could be so urgent. As she opened it Orange Blossom and her head maid stood there with worried looks on their faces. "Is uh, something wrong?" Argante questioned, slightly fearing the answer. "Princess you can't leave! What will happen without you!?" Orange Blossom shouted, tears in her eyes. Argante's ears went down as the older mare shouted at her. This was what she was afraid of, she hadn't even made an announcement yet, she gathered it was probably Hoofbeat who told her. The angry stallion always went to the tavern to vent to poor Orange Blossom. She could only sigh and put a gentle hoof on her old caretaker. "Listen it's something I have resigned to do, and something I must do. You know for at least a thousand years I have been trying to get us out to..." Argante looked down, her wings unfurling to also match her mood. The old mare understood immediately and hugged the alicorn. "Oh dearie, I'm sorry, I didn't, I mean, I just....I'm sorry...." was all she could whisper to her. She knew the burden their princess held in her heart, but over the thousands of years, it was easy to forget. A troublesome memory indeed. "Me and Sweet Flower will go and do some packing for you, the essentials and whatnot. You can look it over later okay?" she wiped a hidden tear away from Argante's cheek and smiled, trying to make her smile. She did, it wasn't big though, it was full of sadness too. Then she had a thought, the tavern was too far for Hoofbeat to tell Blossom anything, she pulled up and looked at the mare curiously "How did you know I was leaving?" "Oh please, Hoofbeat was mumbling while I was coming in and you know how he talks, I overheard him." she answered. "Well then why were you coming to see me originally then?" Argante asked, she hoped she wouldn't dread the answer. "Oh! Right, totally forgot in my panic, the experiment worked, the fruit bloomed, and it is non poisonous." "That's amazing! I am so glad it worked, I honestly didn't think it would since it was based off a silly dream of mine." "Give yourself some more credit princess, but the bananaerry was a success, we will see if it will produce the same thing with the seeds it produces." "Please and thank you!" Argante all but jumped for joy, happy that it went well. The two bowed and left, Argante closed the door and walked back to Midnight with a renewed spring in her step. "How are the letters going?"

She giggled and nodded, she understood boredom, too well. When she heard about the gossip though she perked up. She hadn't heard about too much gossip, too busy with other things. Her wings fluttered in anticipation, she normally wasnt a gossiper but hey, when presented she supposed. "Go on."

@@Illiad Easle, "As much as I love my citizens they rely too heavily on me, Alicorn I may be, but I am no higher being. They must rely on the other council members as well. So yes, just the two days to prep to go to where you live, however long I stay there will be up to you. But I want the members to go back to what they used to do, each had their own expertise and they forgot about it over these years. So its going to be quite the kick in the rump to get them back to work." she winked at him and let out a small giggle at the bit of mischief. "What I am hoping for is to trade again, we used to be so rich in trade with other cultures, ponykind, among other things, but when we were cut, a lot of the luster was lost, so I hope to make good relations with lots of delegates. I want that richness back in our lives. I miss it..." she trailed off looking a bit sad for a moment, shaking her head to answer his last question. "Well since they still think you do not know about it, its about my bracelets," she rose her back leg showing the back bracelet for a moment and putting it back down. "He was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle taking them off and putting them back on, which is a reasonable fear, you saw what happened the other day. However the full extent would be that these, fill up with magic, and everyday I have to replace them with new ones, and clear the excess magic from the old ones. Now when I do take off and replace them, a small magic shock wave happens and I am in a small amount of pain for a little bit, not too much, I have put up with it. He was worried I might mess up and cause trouble." she didn't go into what kind of trouble that maybe, she seemed kinda reluctant to say as much. She rubbed her fore bracelet and looked to him with a shy smile. "I hope you don't mind the long winded explanation."

She giggle at him and looked towards a dark orange mare approaching them. "Good afternoon Princess, hope your doin well, would you like the usual?" she asked, her voice bright a cheerful. "Yes please Orange Blossom." Argante nodded to her, Orange Blossom nodded and then looked to the large stallion. She was only shocked by his size for maybe a moment before asking him the same question. After getting his answer she would trot away to go get what they asked for. "So what is a pony like you doing wandering all by your lonesome anyways?"

@@Illiad Easle, "Fillydelphia seems like a better choice for now, if we play our cards right we can offer a path straight through the forest linking Ponyville and Fillydelphia..." Argante pondered aloud, no one interrupted her as she spoke. Her eyes wandering all over the place, her mumbling getting faster. The council members shifted uncomfortably, but it was Raindew who put his hoof on the princess making her stop dead in her tracks. She shook her head and looked around, smiling sheepishly. Raindew only smiled and sat back down. They nodded to each other and then looked to the council. "Are we in a agreement?" she asked, looking at each ponies eyes. They looked back and forth to each other and then nodded one by one. Argante sighed and then gulped bracing for the next topic. "Our next business is something that came up recently, I would like to go with Midnight to see where he lives and the lives of others, learning and bringing back what I learn to here." They all stared at her like her wings fell off. "No!" "What about the citizens?" "What about...." Joyleaf stopped his sentence and looked away. Argante knew what he was going to ask, all she did was sigh at their yelling and waited for it to die down before she spoke in a calm manner. "The citizens do not need me everyday, that's what you all are for." she glanced at them and they shifted uncomfortable at the stare she was giving them. She was gaining confidence, she could feel it in her feathers, she can't back down now. "And as for the other thing, I am more than capable of handling it on my own as long as I am careful, Raindew taught me just in case." They all glared at Raindew who looked off to the side like he didn't care about their glances or disapproving eyes, he was too old for their shenanigans anyway. He did turn back to Argante and gave a large smile, the signal for her to continue on. She nodded and smiled back. "It is only right for me to go and make connections with the outside world we know nothing about, I want one good legitimate reason I should not go." she glared, daring them to question her logic. They only glanced away, uncomfortable that their princess was now getting the uperhoof. "Then I will go, I will prepare for it, it might take a day, two at the maximum, but I will start tomorrow, I will make the announcement to everyone before dinner." They only nodded, she brought her hoof down, a signal the meeting had ended, everyone stood up, taking their hooves above their chests and bowing to each other before leaving the hall. Raindew was the last to leave, giving a playful wink to the young mare on a job well done, before exiting the hall, closing the door behind him. Argante gave the loudest sigh to ever sigh, laying on the ground in exhaustion. "I can't believe that worked in my favor..."