private Disharmonious

[MasterCombine 316]

Spirit laughed and gulped down the rest of his beer. The refreshing coldness of the beverage, along with the delicious pie that he was voraciously consuming, had mostly succeeded in replacing the aftertaste of the Rainboom in his mouth. He gestured to the barmare with a hoof and a smile and promptly had his glass refilled. Just one more. Or two... he thought. Spirit turned back to the short, blushing mare at his side. "No. They don't. You can either take a shot of that stuff or get lost," he remarked with a suddenly straight face, and pointed away from the bar.

 

After a few seconds of silence he burst into laughter, placing his hoof calmly back onto the counter top. "Ah, I'm just messing with you. Of course they serve non-alcoholic stuff!" Spirit tossed several more bits onto the bar in front of where the mare and the long-haired stallion were sitting. "Get yourself some cider. I hear it's great." He chuckled again. "Or perhaps some water, if that's too much for you to handle." He watched as the mare's face grew a deeper red, and furrowed his brow. "Hey, relax," he said with a smile, "there's nothing to be embarrassed about. I wouldn't exactly say that drinking's my thing either. Of course..." He paused to take another sip from his glass. "That certainly doesn't stop me from doing it on occasion."

 

Spirit observed his two new companions with curiosity. "You know, I haven't even introduced myself. Name's Spirit Whitemane." He extended a hoof to each of them. "I haven't really been here in town all that long. How about you two?" He could see that the long-haired stallion was clearly occupied with something else, staring away from the liquor stand and into the surrounding crowd. Spirit eyed the bag of bits on the counter and called out to him. "Pretty eager to get that money back to whomever it belongs, eh?" He said. "Don't worry pal, we'll get going here in a sec. Besides, the day is young! I doubt the owner's gone very far. Especially in this mess." He gestured to the throngs of ponies shuffling past each other in between the stalls.

[Aureity 3,055]

Ampyrion yawned as the warm midday sun danced across his face."Hmm?" he asked sleepily, as his mental functions slowly began waking up. Blinking out the light from his eyes, he glanced around him. "Did I...shoot." He rubbed his eyes furiously as he staggered off of the comfy park bench he had been lying on. "It was just supposed to be a nap," he sighed. "I must have dozed off again." He took a second to collect his thoughts, before the memories of his morning's plans came back to him. "Shoot...the bazaar." It hadn't yet opened when he came at dawn, and he had elected to spend a few hours napping on a nearby park bench while he waited. Next time, I'll bring an alarm clock with me. He could already hear the clamor of large crowds everywhere around him as ponies ran to and fro. Momentarily overwhelmed by the amount of activity, he grabbed his saddlebag and eagerly leapt off the bench.

 

Okay, which part of this market am I in right now? He tried to recall the location, but his mind drew only a blank, as he concentrated unblinkingly at the ground in front of him. This turned out to be a bad idea. The crowds of ponies paid him absolutely no attention as they shoved him rudely out of their way, hurrying towards their destinations. Ampyrion was shoved once, twice, three times by different ponies, before he finally got the message-move or get trampled. Hurriedly trotting around the outer edges of the market boundaries in order to avoid the majority of the crowd, he slowed down, finally finding a bit of peace. A perfect time to check out what's for sale. As he glanced around the area, he realized that most of the vendors were selling food of some sort. Well, that answers my question. I'm in the food court. He was suddenly aware of the aromatic smells of fresh pastries, boiling soup, and roasted vegetables. His belly gave a loud rumble, reminding him that he hadn't had a bite to eat since last night.

 

The first stall he arrived at was no more than a flattened pile of wood on top of which some freshly-baked pies were resting, an odd contrast. The pony behind the counter glared at Ampyrion as he approached the remnants of the stall.

 

"Another unicorn! Scram, I've had enough outta you clumsy oafs!"

 

Ampyrion frowned, surprised by his sudden rudeness, but nonetheless continued along, passing through the line on his way to the stall just a bit westwards of his current location. A pot was bubbling merrily on the tabletop, and the irresistible smell of curry stew was making his mouth water. Cutting through two crowds-an unpleasant experience-to get to the stall, he finally arrived, slightly battered and squashed. The cheerful red-maned mare behind the counter greeted him.

 

"Heya, want some stew? It's the best there is in this side of Equestria! Seven bits gets ya the tastiest meal you'll ever have!"

 

"Yes, of course," said Ampyrion eagerly, his stomach giving another rumble. He flipped open his saddlebag, using a simple levitation spell to flip seven bits neatly through the air, where they landed with a merry clatter on the table. The mare swept them up eagerly.

 

"Alrighty then, here ya go!" Quickly grabbing a bowl, she expertly flipped open the lid, expertly spooning out a healthy portion of steaming stew and plopping it in the bowl. "Careful," she warned with a slight grin on her face as Ampyrion accepted it eagerly. "It's rather spicy."

 

Of course, Ampyrion was too hungry at this point to care if he was swallowing chilli peppers. Taking the bowl, he quickly ran over to the nearest park bench-which just so happened to be the one he had been napping on-and sat down to enjoy his meal. It was rather hot at this point, and Ampyrion, too impatient to wait, chilled the contents considerably with a glow from his horn, until it was lukewarm. Shoot, I don't have a spoon. Oh well. He raised the bowl to his mouth, and tilted it, allowing the stew to slide neatly into his eagerly awaiting mouth. It was delicious, every last drop, and his stomach practically cried for joy.

 

Licking his mouth eagerly with his tongue as he drained the bowl, he sighed contentedly, pushing the bowl aside as he settled down on the park bench. What should I do next? His winced a little as his mouth started smarting. First a little. Then more so. And more. And then, suddenly, he staggered in pain. His throat felt like it was on fire. He gagged. "Too spicy! Gahhh!" He leapt up from the park bench, his throat still on fire. Water, I need water! For crying out loud, why did I eat the peppers with the stew?! His throat burned as he desperately searched the market for a glass of water, his eyes eventually coming to land on a liquor stand. Without hesitation, he bulldozed a path to the bar, not caring who he knocked down. He skidded to a halt in front of the stand.

 

"Water! Someone get me a glass of water, quick!" he gasped.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Aureity

[Nico 790]

As this new unicorn barreled through ponies up to the liquor stand next to him, Nicolas grabbed the bag of bits defensively in his mouth. 'Can't just trust leaving this lying around,' he thought to himself, 'Who knows who might try to take it?' Placing the sack of bits into his saddlebag he walked around this new unicorn who was clamoring for water, next to Spirit, taking his hoof and shaking it briskly.

 

"Name's Nicolas. Thanks for the help, but I'm afraid I must be off. Got to return these bits, and I've got more stuff to do for myself, you know? Have a good day," he turned and nodded at the little mare, "You, too. Try not to blow anything else up." He let out a light chuckle as he started to trot away. "Take care, maybe I'll see the two of you again before the day is through!"

 

Making his way back into the massive crowd of ponies he found himself being pushed to and fro, all the while trying to peer over the heads of surrounding ponies in an effort to find the unicorn who so generously bailed him out of trouble. Spying a bench nearby he cantered over, standing on it to better see over the crowd. He spotted what appeared to be the mare he was looking for, still in the food court. She was quite far away from him, and there was a sea of ponies separating him from her.

 

'Well, if I'm gonna get this back to her I suppose I'd better just get to it,' he thought to himself, stepping off of the bench and venturing back through the surrounding crowd. He didn't make it very far before the ponies around him were nearly suffocating him as they pushed him around. Quickly becoming disoriented, Nicolas soon found himself wandering with the crowd aimlessly, unable to dislodge himself from the cluster of ponies around him. 'Well, this is going swimmingly. Perhaps at this rate I might still find her before the end of the day!' His thoughts sarcastically rang out in his head. 'Maybe I should have waited to go with Spirit after all. No, he's done enough for me anyway. No reason to rely on everypony to be generous all the time.'

 

A hole in the crowd around him opened up and he dashed through, finding himself next to a small stand selling lemonade, run by a little filly. "Hey there, mister! Do you want some lemonade?" She asked eagerly, her eyes lighting up. Looking around, Nicolas noticed that nopony was around this stall. Was he her first 'customer'? Perhaps her lemonade just tastes terrible and nopony wants any?

 

He looked down at the filly, a strange expression on his face that seemed a mixture of embarrassment and sympathy. "Sorry, but I can't buy any lemonade. I actually don't have any bits." The light in her eyes died down as a frown formed on her face.

 

"You sure you don't have any, mister?" She asked him, her lip quivering. "Nopony's got any bits for my lemonade stand!" Nicolas bit his lip. This poor filly clearly wasn't getting many customers today. Letting out an exasperated sigh he pulled the sack of bits out of his saddlebag.

 

"How much for one glass?" he asked her through clenched teeth. She pointed her hoof toward a sign which had a crude drawing of a bit next to a glass of lemonade. "One bit, eh? All right," he set the bag on her counter and pulled one bit out, setting it on the table. "I'll take one glass, please." Her eyes lit up again as he went to place the bits back into his saddlebag.

 

"Thank you, mister! Here you go!" She pushed a glass of lemonade toward him as he turned back to face her. "Have a nice day, mister!" Nicolas picked the glass up and took a sip. It was fairly bitter; there didn't appear to be much if any sugar in it. He attempted to keep a straight face as he tipped the glass up and downed the rest. It wasn't a pleasant glass to drink, but he didn't want the little filly to know that. Pushing the glass back across the counter toward her, he thanked her, turning to walk away.

 

'No more distractions,' he thought to himself, 'And definitely no more spending that mare's money. Well, here goes nothing.' He trotted back into the crowd, once more being pushed to and fro, and wandered more in search for the peach colored mare.

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

The stallion known as Nicolas bolted off before she could respond. Even knowing his true name, he would always be Gaff-Gaff within the recesses of her most odd mind. Now she was left with the unicorn who had identified himself as Spirit and had apparently assured her there was nothing to be embarrassed about. Although she felt a bit more comfortable at his words, she couldn't help this sense of awkwardness that had overtaken her. He was a stranger pony, and she was alone with him. Didn't even know who he was. At least with Gaff-Gaff, it was slightly less awkward.

 

She had to admit that Nicolas' leaving comment only made her blush grow to include her forehead rather than just her reddened cheeks. In attempts to negate this, she nervously chuckled.

 

"Oh... oh no. It's just a thing of mine. Ignore it. I'm fine," The mare paused for a moment, before giving out her name. "I'm Artsy. Um... I guess cider sounds absolutely zipzammingly zoraciously good!" She exclaimed with a bit of a brighter grin on her face, making up more odd words. It always calmed her a bit to completely alienate other ponies with her odd languages that she didn't even know what the heck they meant. Grabbing his hoof and shaking it in a manner akin to a wet noodle flapping about freely in the air, the awkward unicorn then looked down at the ground and began to mentally bash her strange mannerisms until she realized she still had no bits.

 

"But then again, I don't need any cider. I'm not really thirsty. Maybe I should... go too..." Artsy hoped that she had conveyed a convincing tone, as she didn't want this stallion to offer to pay and take any more toll upon his generosity. As well, she felt a little overwhelmed by all of this social contact, and sought to go draw something on her own and release her eccentric and creative urges that were building up within her. Of course, as she went to walk away to leave, something collided with her and knocked her to the ground.

 

"Ooof!" The small mare exclaimed as she glared at an impertinent unicorn in search of water.

[PeachPalette 1,000]

Peach sent Electrobolt a nod of her head. "Well, they're rather small which is why I imagine they were so cheap, but they're delicious and well worth it," she said, praising the doughy goodness that now filled her belly happily. she trotted off to the side to allow him room to get through so he could also partake of the baked goods at the stand.

 

Standing there, she took a moment to look around again. There were so many things she planned on collecting today. Her ears lowered, again, remembering she was no broke without a bit to her name. She sighed lowly to herself. Well, if she was to have bits to eat tomorrow she would do well to leave now and find a spot to camp out for the night and paint a few things to sell. "Well, it was a pleasure, Electrobolt, but I must be going," she said as she turned facing the wandering herds again, her bright yellows still slightly looking back at him. "Do enjoy your breads."

 

With that she disappeared into the crowd again, and within seconds it was back to struggling against the thick sea of rushing bodies. Even worse, she was heading against the current, being pushed back, having her hooves stepped on, and tails whipping at her face. She couldn't wait to leave this place for now. It was far too busy. Perhaps she'd come back in the early morning. Maybe then there wouldn't be such a massive and unmanageable crowd to fight with.

 

"Oomph!"

 

A rushing pony sent her stumbling out of the crowd after side swiping her hard. She reared back on her back legs as she struggled to remain standing. She was off balance, however. Her saddlebags weight her back just enough to make her topple over, and into another pony who'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. "I'm so terribly sorry!" She exclaimed returning to her hooves again, using her tail to brush the dust from her side. She finally glanced up, hoping she hadn't created more negative energy. There'd already been too many bad run in's today for her liking. "You see, somepony bumped into me and...hey...you're..." It was the taller brownish pony from the pie stand. And, how could she forget him? He seemed to be the tallest pony she'd seen in a while.

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt had a small smile appear on his face when Peach mentioned how the croissants were delicious and pretty cheap. He was definitely going to get some now. "Alright, take care!" he responded back to Peach as she began to walk off again. "And I will, thank you!" With that, he turned around to the bread stall as he waited in line to get a few rolls of croissants. After waiting for a while, he finally got to the front as he asked for two croissants. Once he paid four bits for them, he took the small container that was holding them and looked around for a place to sit so he could enjoy the bread without being in the middle of the road. Eventually, he found a bench off to the side as he proceeded to walk over there.

 

Once Electrobolt sat down at the bench, he placed the container down in front of him as he opened it to pull out the first of the croissants. As he sniffed it, he could smell not only the bread, but something else as well. Ignoring the other scent, he took a bite into the freshly-baked bread. "Mmm..." was the only sound he made as he chewed the deliciously doughy bread in his mouth before swallowing. As he was about to take his second bite, he thought he heard some laughter of some sort. Ignoring the sound, he proceeded to take his second bite out of the croissant, which was just as good as the first. As he chewed the second bite, he heard some more laughter.

 

Swallowing the chewed bread in his mouth, Electrobolt looked around, unable to see who was laughing. Seeing that nopony around him was laughing, he proceeded to take a third bite before hearing someone call out, "Hey, you!" Lifting his head once more, he looked around again as he saw a tall, brown stallion looking at him. "What do you think you're doing? I just painted that bench! Didn't you see the sign?" Sign? He didn't see any sign when he sat down, but when he got off the bench, he looked down at his body as he saw that the parts of him that had rested against the bench was now colored brown! "I... I'm sorry..." Electrobolt responded, looking to the ground almost embarrassed. "I... I didn't see any sign, so I thought it was alright... Um... How many bits do I owe you...?" The stallion responded to his question, "Ten bits. And next time, if you don't see a sign, check the bench first."

 

Electrobolt opened his saddlebag as he pulled out ten bits and then gave them to the stallion. "Again, I'm sorry..." he added, before taking the container with the whole croissant and half-finished one and ran off, feeling very embarrassed. *I hope nopony else sees me like this...* he thought, as he began to head back to the inn. If he made it back quick enough, he would get in the shower and clean the paint off himself before it dried.

[Aureity 3,055]

Ampyrion staggered to the front of the line, shoving other ponies out of the way to do so. Was he making a bad impression? Yeah, probably. Did he care? Nope! I'll apologize later, it's an emergency! He had knocked into quite a few ponies by the time he triumphantly reached the front line.

 

“Water,” he gasped at the bartender. “Get me some water!”

 

The bartender smirked. “Bloody idiot, you just cut in front of the line. Get to the back!”

 

“Just get me some water,” snapped Ampyrion, his throat still burning up. “It's an emergency, here!” He tossed a few bits on the counter. “Keep the change.”

 

The bartender looked indifferently at the money, then shrugged. “Business is business. Here ya go, now scram.”

 

He tossed Ampyrion a bottle of water he retrieved from a large wooden crate, which Ampyrion eagerly uncapped and drank almost immediately as he backtracked out of the line to allow the others to place their orders. He finished the bottle in roughly five seconds, sighing in contentment as the cool, refreshing liquid slid down his throat and quenched the burning flames. Ampyrion dropped the empty bottle and coughed-some of the water must've gone the wrong way. But at least his throat didn't feel like he had just been force-fed lava anymore. “Never...again,” he muttered, panting slightly-after all, he had just sprinted a long way. Take it slow next time, and you won't make a fool out of yourself.

 

As he walked away from the stand, he noticed more than a few ponies casting him ugly looks, and he remembered what he had done. Oops...I hope I didn't HURT anyone. He awkwardly shied away from those ponies, until he noticed a particular unicorn lying on the ground, glaring at him and clenching her teeth. Oh...shoot. Ampyrion stopped in his tracks as he looked awkwardly at the fallen unicorn.

 

“Um...” he was at a loss what to do. Nothing he could say would change the fact that he had just barreled right into her. He paused awkwardly, his mind racing, before he glanced behind him reflexively, and zeroed in on the barstall. Or, more specifically, one of the glasses of cider resting on top of the counter. Pointing his horn at it, he carefully levitated it towards him. The bartender turned, startled.

 

“Hey! Whaddya think you-” he furious words were interrupted as Ampyrion, having retrieved the glass, flipped open his saddlebag and levitated a small shower of bits in a neat arc onto the bartender's head, causing a few ponies in the crowd to snicker as the bartender went cross-eyed in attempting to retrieve them.

 

“Keep the change, “ Ampyrion called. “If you can find it, that is.” Most of the crowd were grinning now, a few stifling their laughs. The bartender irritably snatched the bits up, his foul mood dissipating instantly when he counted the bits and realized how much was actually “change”. Sensing a more positive shift in the crowd's attitude towards him, Ampyrion turned back towards the fallen mare, the cider floating above him. “Erm, here,” he said, offering the cider to her as the awkwardness returned. After all, what were you supposed to say to someone you just knocked to the ground and ran away from? “My apologies for this unfortunate incident,” he added, attempting to forestall any protest she might bring up.

Edited April 13, 2012 by Aureity

[Electrobolt 2,069]

(OOC: Invoking the 1-day rule)

 

After rushing over to the inn as fast as possible without bumping into any other ponies along the way, Electrobolt ran into his room. Tossing the container onto the bed, which stayed shut thankfully, he hurried to the bathroom as he turned the water in the shower up to warm. "Please don't dry please don't dry pleeeeeeeeeease don't dry..." he muttered to himself, wanting to get the paint off of him as soon as possible. Once the water was warm enough, he hopped in as he proceeded to scrub himself the best he could with soap, trying to get the paint off. At first, the paint wouldn't come off, so he scrubbed harder. Eventually, he saw the paint begin to wash off. "Phew... At least that's one disaster I avoided..." he sighed as he continued his shower.

 

Later, he came out, cleaner than he was when he first woke up. Looking over to his container, he remembered he still had one whole croissant and half of one left from when he had run into that fiasco with the bench. Seeing as he was already in his room, he decided to stay and eat the rest of the bread while he was there. "I can go out and see the other stalls later on," he decided, as he sat down at his bed, returning to eating the doughy treats.

[MasterCombine 316]

"Take care, maybe I'll see the two of you again before the day is through!"

 

Spirit raised an eyebrow, briefly considering protesting Nicolas' sudden departure, but simply raised a hoof and waved instead. If the stallion wanted to take off, Spirit certainly wasn't going to stop him. "Yeah, maybe you will," he called out nonchalantly, floating the glass of beer to his mouth and finishing off the last few drops within. He watched as Nicolas disappeared into the throng of ponies surrounding the liquor stand before casting a glance back at the barmare. He pushed his empty glass back towards her.

 

"Another round, hun?" she intoned sweetly, the look on her face betraying the fact that she was hoping to squeeze a few more bits out him. Spirit smirked and swept one of his forehooves in a short, horizontal motion.

 

"Nah, I'm fine. I think I've had enough for one day. Or morning, at least." He had a pleasant little buzz going already, just enough that he could still keeps his thoughts clear and straight, and he didn't want to ruin it by drowning himself in more liquor than was necessary. He turned to the short, tan mare at his side. "So, you were saying?" She was still blushing, redder than Spirit had ever seen a mare blush before, and he couldn't help but grin.

 

"I'm Artsy," she managed shyly. "Um... I guess cider sounds absolutely zipzammingly zoraciously good!" With the sudden, nonsensical outburst she reached up, seized one of his hooves, and shook it loosely and enthusiastically. Spirit didn't quite know how to respond to that. The mare certainly was more than a little eccentric.

 

"Well it's nice to meet you, Artsy," he said. "In that case, how about I-"

 

"But then again, I don't need any cider. I'm not really thirsty. Maybe I should... go too..." she suddenly added, the enthused look on her face fading away. She slipped down off of the bar stool and started to inch away.

 

"Oh, don't be silly," Spirit said. "I insist. Besides if anyone could use a drink, alcoholic or not, it's you. I don't think I've ever met a more nervous pony in my life," he teased, hoping somewhat that the comment wouldn't offend her. Before Artsy could respond, however, a dark blue unicorn stallion came barreling out of the crowd behind her and shoved her aside, flinging the poor mare to the ground. Disregarding what he had just done, the stallion threw himself at the bar counter in a frenzy.

 

Spirit jumped off his stool, planted his hooves firmly on the ground, and approached the newcomer, looking considerably irritated. "Hey pal," he called out, stepping up next to the spot where Artsy was sprawled out, "watch where you're going! And at least have the courtesy to-" The stallion ignored him, frantically trying to get the bartender's attention while gesturing at his own mouth.

 

"Water!" the unicorn cried. He had a pained expression on his face, accentuated by streams of tears running from his eyes. Spirit was starting to wonder if the stallion was injured when he cried out again. "Get me some water!"

 

"Oh." Spirit sighed. He reached down and helped a rather upset-looking Artsy to her hooves as the unicorn drained a bottle of water that the bartender gave him. His thirst apparently quenched, and whatever was causing him so much distress apparently vanquished, the blue unicorn wheeled about and started to trot away before noticing Artsy. The awkwardness became palpable.

 

"Um..." the unicorn muttered. Spirit watched as he levitated a mug of cider off of the bar and towards Artsy, tossing some bits at the barkeep to quell his protests. "Erm, here," he said, and offered the mug to her.

 

Spirit smiled. "Well that's nice of you. Just do try to be more careful, eh?" He looked back to Artsy with a mixture of amusement and concern. "You alright?" He chuckled.

Edited April 14, 2012 by MasterCombine

[Nico 790]

Nicolas was startled as a pony fell over into him. Was everyone in this town as clumsy as he was or something? "I'm so terribly sorry!" The pony exclaimed as Nicolas turned around to see. "You see, somepony bumped into me and...hey...you're..." Her voice trailed off as she recognized him. His eyes widened with excitement as he realized who she was, as well. Finally, he could giver her back these bits and properly thank her. His mind had been running amok with worry that he might not ever get these back to her.

 

"You are exactly who I've been looking for!" Nicolas' voice was ecstatic, "I've got something right here for you." He reached back into his saddlebag and retrieved her purse, holding it out in front of her. "I really appreciate your help back there, you know. I can't take all of the credit for getting these back, though. A nice unicorn named Spirit is responsible for actually getting them back from the stall owner. Still, though, I wanted to return them to you myself. Thank you very much, again." A nervous smile formed on his face as he realized he was rambling to this pony. "Uh... sorry for rambling so much." He chuckled anxiously, still holding her wallet out toward her.

[PeachPalette 1,000]

She seemed to go cross eyed as she saw her purse again being dangled in front of her. She looked up at him, slightly surprised at the act of kindness that was returned back towards her. She thought this town had forgotten what it was to be kind. "T-thank you," Peach stammered still in shock. Her horn began to glow as the purse gently pulled from the tall pony's mouth and drifted through the air, opening in front of her. Her curious eyes peering into it to see how many bits she still had in it. "This...really helped me out. I thought I was going to have to sleep in a cave or something tonight."

 

With a sheepish smile she magically dropped the purse into her saddlebag and returned her gaze to the tall pony. "So, is there anything I can call you besides "That clumsy pony that has something against pie stands"? She asked with a playful smirk. Her tail whipped behind her as she cocked her head to the side awaiting for a proper name from him.

[Electrobolt 2,069]

After a couple of minutes, Electrobolt finished his croissants off as he carried the container to the garbage bin that was in his room. Looking outside his window, he saw that the day was nowhere near over, so he put his saddlebag back on as he walked out of his room for the second time today. Those doughy treats did the trick as his stomach was pretty much full now, so he could browse the stalls without being distracted by food.

 

Once again, Electrobolt finds himself outside of the inn, as he decided to walk around to try and see if he can't find a stall that's selling any kind of trinkets. *It'd be nice to find something nice for my parents while I'm here,* he thought as he wondered what he should try and get. However, although he had filled himself up with the bread, he forgot one thing. *Darn... I should have gotten something to drink...* he thought, as he rubbed his throat, which was dry from not having anything to drink from when he had his bread.

 

Having to put off browsing for a trinket of sorts again, Electrobolt proceeded to look for a stall that sold drinks now. Eventually, he came across a busy stand, which seemed to be selling drinks of all kinds. He began to approach, before he noticed they sold alcohol there, too. *Um... I might wanna go find another place to get a drink...* he thought, as he slowly began to walk away from the stand. After all, he was only a young colt, not old enough to drink any sort of alcoholic beverage. This, combined with the fact that there were a good number of ponies that looked older than him there, had made him feel nervous.

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

So much had happened that she had barely had time to contemplate it. Artsy twinged unpleasantly as Spirit had informed her that if anyone needed a drink, it was a nervous mare like her. Though she knew he had not meant anything by it, she sighed. He was right, she was a nervous wreck. Soon, the unicorn had seen that it was yet another male unicorn who had just barreled in out of nowhere and collided with her. This blue stallion was very thirsty, and she snorted slightly. There was no need to disregard the needs of every other pony for his own.

 

Apparently, Spirit had felt the need to yell at this other pony for her. She wasn't really going to do it herself, so she had sort of appreciated it. Though she felt embarrassed that she couldn't felt her own battles. The crimson intonations upon her face still did not fade away, this incident ensuring that her blush would remain for a long time to come. Conflict wasn't something she relished. Especially not when said conflict was somewhat mortifying.

 

It didn't get any better. Things only increased in awkwardness as the blue unicorn wheeled back in to apologize. With the help of Spirit, she regained her stance and once again stood. But really wished she could be anywhere but here. Artsy extended a hoof slowly to take the tankard of cider, and nodded towards the two of them thankfully.

 

"Th... thanks... it's really not a problem. I'm zaltacious! ...I mean I'm okay. Yeah, that's what I meant." She took a sip from her cup of cider, hoping that this got the attention off of her.

[Aureity 3,055]

Ampyrion sighed inwardly in relief as the unicorn took the mug of cider. Would have been really awkward if she had refused it. There was an awkward pause as he gave her the mug, and he was uncomfortably aware of the other pony looking at him-the one who had muttered something while Ampyrion had been barreling everyone over in search of water.

"Well, that's nice of you," commented the pony in a slightly amused tone. "Just do try to be more careful, eh?" Ampyrion simply nodded. What else could he say?

 

"My name is Ampyrion, by the way," he added, trying to inject some conversation in the silence that now filled the gap between the three ponies. "Erm...yeah. So if you need to ask me anything, you know who I am." He shuffled backwards quickly, until he had merged with the crowd again. Phew, that was awkward. Least they're not mad. Now, what should I go shop for...? he wondered to himself, pausing to consider the different stalls.

 

"Oof!" Ampyrion collided with something, and jumped backwards in surprise. A green-coated colt stood in fron tof him, equally surprised. "Oh no, not again," sighed Ampyrion, facehoofing. "I'm sorry, I just seem to be extraordinarily clumsy today." The awkwardness has been...doubled. As he looked over the colt, he forwned slightly. "Aren't you a bit...young...to be in this section, though? It was a slightly hypocritical move, seeing as Ampyrion was barely the legal age himself, but it was the only piece of conversation he could come up with.

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt wound up being the one to get bumped into this time as this dark-blue unicorn accidentally bumped into him. "Oh, it... It's alright... Accident and all, right...?" he responded when the unicorn said he had been extremely clumsy today. Once he mentioned the fact that he was too young to be around the area, he looked away slightly. "Um, yeah..." he answered. "I... I noticed this was that kind of drink stand when I got close enough... I was going to get some water or something, but..." He shook his head. "There are other stands that have drinks, after all... Right?"

[Nico 790]

The clumsy pony who has something against pie stands? He would definitely prefer that people forget about that incident sooner than call him out on it as a way to get his attention. "Uhm... Yeah, that. The name's Nicolas Quill, and I'm sorry we had to first meet on such circumstances. Today just really isn't my day. I promise you that I normally have nothing at all against pie stands." He laughed a bit, a goofy grin on his face.

 

"So, what can I call you besides 'the lovely mare who bails out clumsy ponies'?" He held out his hoof toward her. "It'd be nice to, uh, actually make your acquaintance rather than have you spend copious amounts of bits fixing my problems."

[MasterCombine 316]

Spirit shook his head slightly. What was with ponies running into things in this town? Sure, the bazaar was crowded, but surely it wasn't that hard to be aware of one's surroundings, right? Then again, maybe it was just him. A couple of decades in Manehattan could forge anypony into a master at navigating crowds. He shrugged as he watched Ampyrion retreat awkwardly into the swarm of ponies buzzing around the marketplace and glanced at Artsy out of the corner of his eye. The poor mare was still standing at his side, sipping contentedly at the mug of cider that she'd been given, cheeks still flush with embarrassment.

 

"I guess nopony likes sticking around to chat, eh?" he chuckled, pawing absentmindedly at the ground as his eyes scanned the area around the liquor stall. So what now? Spirit's ears suddenly perked up and he reared up slightly, straightening to his full height and standing briefly on his hind legs. He looked from side to side, sweeping his gaze over the heads of the ponies that filled the bazaar, glancing from stall to stall as if looking for somepony. He came back down on all fours and spun around to face Artsy again.

 

"So, Artsy, I've had about enough of this place," he said with a smirk. "What do you say you and I get out of here?" He paused for a moment to allow the mare to respond before suddenly raising an eyebrow in concern. "Oh, I should have worded that better." He chuckled nervously. His words had been harmless enough, but as easily embarrassed as the mare was, he didn't want to risk her misconstruing his question as a weak attempt at flirting. He felt a slight heat rising in his cheeks, but managed to swiftly regain his composure. "What I meant, of course, was do you think we should go looking for Nicolas? Guy seemed like he might knock over another pie stand if we leave him alone for too long. I have a feeling that's not the first time he's done something like that."

[PeachPalette 1,000]

She found it astonishing how quickly she managed to drown out the bustling herd of shoppers. Then again, this tall pony that she knew knew as Nicolas was in a safe spot. There wasn't much of a threat of getting trampled where they now stood.

 

She smiled and stood up straight, puffing out her chest a little as her eyes closed. She held a hoof out to him very lady like. "My name's PeachPalette, but please call me Peach. It's what I'm more accustomed to," she said as she finally opened her bright yellows again. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Nicolas Quill." One eyebrow raised curiously as her eyes peered over to his flank. A quill over a scroll. Well, that made sense.

 

"A writer, eh?" She asked him with a grin.

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

She watched as the other pony who had bought her the cider got out of there in a hurry. Honestly, she couldn't blame him. If it wasn't for her abashed nature to avoid confrontation and dislike for saying "no," Artsy would've run out too. Downing the rest of her cider, she sighed in relief and gazed back to Spirit, who had almost said something that sounded like a flirtation. Before he hastily corrected himself. Was it just her, or had she seen a very slight blush upon his face?

 

Trying not to think about it, she nodded and chuckled slightly at her comment about Nicolas. "Yeah, I think we should go find Gaff-Gaff. That guy is... a bit of a disaster. A zedraster. No. Wait. A disaster. Yeah. Um... let's go find him." She stopped herself before she started a long ramble zedraster, then put down her empty tankard and used her magic to store her new sketchbook and pencil into her saddlebag.

 

Staring into the throng of ponies, she gulped slightly. So many of them. She just hoped she wouldn't be a klutz this time to give Spirit a reason to mock her as she had Nicolas. But then again, it was that guy's fault anyway. For some reason, she felt a subconscious need to blame him. He seemed like the sort who could be easily mocked.

[Aureity 3,055]

Ampyrion raised an eyebrow as Electrobolt muttered some sort of excuse under his breath. "Aw, cmon," he said jovially. "You don't have to play dumb, I'm sure you were hoping to get a taste of your first hard liquor." He smiled. "Being inquisitive is nice. Lemme tell ya though, the first time you down a bottle of beer, or whatever it is you were wanting, your head will spin. So it's best not to, err, chug it all at once. Unless you want to puke your lunch all over the place."

 

He glanced around conspiratorily. "I could...get you a bottle if you wanted." He coughed awkwardly. "Consider it a sort of...apology...for bumping into you."

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt's eyes shot wide open when he heard what this unicorn was saying. Did he just offer to buy an underaged pony alcohol? Shaking his head rapidly, he spoke out, "Where did you get that idea from? I just wanted some water!" Freaked out by this pony's offer, he slowly began to back away once more, before tripping over his own hooves. "Oof!" he muttered, landing on his back from his little backwards trip.

[Aureity 3,055]

Ampyrion smirked. "Water? You've gotta be kidding me. There are fountains everywhere you could have taken a swig from in the other parts of the market. You came to the only place where there isn't a drop to be found. For free, anyway," he added, remembering his little "incident" only a few moments before. An-oh, come on!" he sighed in iritation as the green pony tripped over his hooves in terror. "I'm not going to hurt you. Jesus. Now I know you want a taste of the hard liquor, so I'll give it to ya. Just go over there-" he pointed at the line in front of him, "And pretend you're legal age. If they don't believe it, say you got into a horrible shrinking accident. I'll vouch for ya."

[MasterCombine 316]

"Well then, let's get moving!" Spirit laughed, giving Artsy a wink. "Just stay close, okay? Wouldn't want you getting lost and blowing anything else up, now would we?" He hadn't actually seen the little mare blow up any pastries with her magic, but from what Nicolas had said it sounded like it had happened. Spirit bit his lip immediately after talking, pausing momentarily. You know, maybe I should stop teasing her, he thought. She blushes any harder and she's going to turn into a tomato. "Um, so yeah. Let's go!"

 

He nudged his head in the direction of the crowd and started off, Artsy in tow. He felt lighter than usual, and took that as a sign that the beer and liquor had done their job. Spirit was thankful that he had stopped when he did. He weaved in between the densely-crowded ponies with all the grace of a practiced Manehattanite, glancing back over his shoulder occasionally to ensure that his companion wasn't falling behind. He came to a rest at an intersection near several stalls, next to a stand at which a bright-eyed young filly was selling lemonade.

 

"Hi, Mister!" the filly yelled, leaping to her hoofs and scrambling to prepare a glass. "Can I interest you in some freshly-squeezed lemonade?" She looked so excited at the prospect of a new customer, her voice tinged with just a hint of desperation, that Spirit almost felt guilty turning her down.

 

"Oh, no, no," he replied with a chuckle. "I think I've had quite enough to drink for now." The filly's face sank, and she cast her gaze at the ground, her lower lip quivering. She looked as if she was going to cry. The sight nearly broke his heart, and he glanced at the glass jar of bits sitting at the corner of the stand. There was a single coin inside. "But, you know, I wouldn't mind making a donation!" The filly looked back up at him, her downcast expression changing into a slight grin.

 

"Really, mister? You'd do that?"

 

"Of course. I'd love to support a, um, young entrepreneur such as yourself." He removed a ten-bit coin from his coat and levitated it into the jar on the counter top. "Just a word of advice, though. Do buy some sugar. I'm sure you'll see your sales skyrocket." He gave her a nod and a smile. The lemonade stand was completely devoid of any sweetener. No wonder she hadn't been having very much success.

 

"Thanks, mister! I'll do that for sure!" The little filly bounced happily and then ran back behind her stand. Spirit turned around, trying to regain his bearings, and scanned the crowd once more.

 

"Come on, Nicolas, where are you? I'm certain I saw him walk off this way." Something caught his eye, out of the corner of his vision. It was a vibrant shock of orange and pink hair, attached to the peach-colored body of a unicorn mare standing off in the distance, under a tree where the crowd hadn't spread its reach. She was chatting quite contentedly with a tall stallion with rather long hair. Spirit recognized him at once. "Hey, that's him!" he shouted. He smirked back at Artsy. "Is that the mare he was talking about? The one he had to get all that money back to?" Without waiting for her to respond he gestured for her to follow him and took off. Pushing through the crowd, Spirit emerged on the other side, near where the two were standing. He approached and started waving, a smile plastered on his face.

 

"Hey, Nicolas! Artsy and I were just looking for you! Glad to see you're still in one piece!"

Edited April 21, 2012 by MasterCombine

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt got back on his hooves, but instead of getting in the line like the unicorn had asked him to do, he dashed off into the crowd. *No way am I gonna get a taste of alcohol!* he thought, still freaked at the thought of that unicorn offering him a beer. After running for quite a bit, he looked behind him and didn't see the unicorn that he had seen earlier. Taking this opportunity to catch his breath, he stopped next to one of the stalls there.

 

At that moment, Electrobolt heard a voice call out, "Hi mister!" Electrobolt looked towards the stall and saw a young filly running the stall. "Um, hello there..." he responded to the small filly. "Would you like some freshly-squeezed lemonade?" the little filly responded, as she began to pour a fresh glass for this potential customer. A smile appeared on Electrobolt's face as he responded, "Of course I would." This in turn caused the little filly's face to beam as she eagerly handed the glass to the colt. Grabbing the glass, he began to take a sip of lemonade. Sure it was pretty sour, but he didn't care, as he finally had something to drink.

 

After finishing off his drink, he pulled out 10 bits and put the coins into the jar. "Thank you, I needed that." he said, smiling. The filly replied, "No, thank YOU!!! Take good care, mister!!!" Just seeing this little filly beam put Electrobolt in a great mood. With that, he went off again to see whether there were any stalls with little knick-knacks that he could purchase as a souvenir of sorts.

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

She nodded slightly at him, trying to ignore his remark about her blowing things up so that she wouldn't make a fool of herself. Though she was a bit slow to keep up. His long tall legs seemed to cover a wider area. Though she noticed he had a bit of a... clumsyesque bounce in his step. Must've been the drink.

 

The mare also ignored the little filly nervously, hovering away some distance as she was distracted by selling lemonade to Spirit and then galloping away before she could be guilted by the likes of children. She galloped a little too quickly, and had to stop herself from crashing into Spirit's flank as he had abruptly stopped and yelled something she didn't hear as she wasn't paying attention. Luckily, she was a little more graceful this time. The unicorn gazed ahead to spot the peach-coloured pony and... Gaff-Gaff.

 

Artsy and I were just looking for you? More like she was being dragged along in a situation she was... vaguely aware of. But now that Gaff-Gaff was here, he'd probably do something stupid that would take off the embarrassment of her awkward mannerisms. That stallion did seem like the rather clumsy and somewhat oafish type.