open Shifted

[Strong Hooves 289]

Sport spotted Artsy as she was staring wide eyed at the crimson dress. He had to admit it did look rather nice, not too flamboyant yet exquisite at the same time. "You've got a good eye" he told her as he approached.

 

As Artsy asked for the price of the dress, Sport noticed her expression. It seemed she did not have anything to pay for this dress, these 'bits' that the filly mentioned. He began to think, then came up with an idea, "Uhh, hey Artsy, if you need help getting... bits, I could see if I could find a place to make the money. Unless you might be able to think of another way to get it." he then looked to the filly, "Is there some way to pay off the debts a certain amount within a certain amount of days? Like a payment plan?"

 

He didn't know why he wanted to help someone he had just met not half an hour ago, it could be the fact that they both shared a common problem. And if it weren't for her and Serah, he would most likely still be wandering this town still thinking everything wasn't real.

[Aureity 3,055]

Crystal scratched at his mane and awkwardly looked at the ground. "Not really," he answered. "I was going to go for a walk, but I got too tuckered out. Need to learn not to push myself to the limit, really. I literally fell asleep on the ground." He gave a nervous laugh, and flexed his wings. "I feel slightly better now though. So what about you?" he asked.

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt nodded as he stood up on all four legs. "I'm feeling better, too," he responded, stretching once more. After finishing his stretches and feeling better from doing so, he asked, "Anyways, since none of us had the opportunity to look around town yet, how about we go and do that now?"

[Wolfe 71]

Seeking perfection of character...

 

Impossible...

 

I thought I did my best, but I was never close. Never. What good am I if I can't do anything good in one area... What is my use? What is my purpose? Maybe I'm a stepping stone. At this point... I don't care. Let them. Discord was right... I lack an identity, a trade. a will to continue finding... Why should I move on with the rest of them? I'll only be slowing them down...

 

Maybe they can stop Discord without me. They all have their skills. I don't... Even as a human... from what little I can remember... I wasn't particularly good a one thing. Just okay with many. I was smart, but not known for it. Fast, but not recognized as the runner. Nice, but never the nicest guy around. Just a bad jack-of-all-trades. I was just... me... I was just hanging around there. I was never the main. Never the go-to guy. Never branded for a key skill or trait.

 

It's just over for me. I give...

 

As Brave expressed these thoughts to himself, his coat went from a bright yellow to a faded yellow. A sad look appeared over his face, taking a new meaning to the phrase "Why the long face?"From his internal darkness, he awoke again in Artsy's hotel room. He slowly stood on all four hooves. He was in agony, but now it was much worse. He stared at the blank side of the flier for a bit and then put a hoof on it. He tried kicking it, and it flew up a bit and twirled back down, going back to the side with the Gala details.

 

...Nothing I can do about it... They can.

 

He stepped out of the room and quietly closed the door, as best as a human-turned-pony could do. He slowly walked the hallway over to the lobby. He noticed his faded coat as his head was hung low. He noticed a few other ponies in the lobby, but he tried to avoid eye contact. He turned toward the main desk and asked for a first aid kit in order to bandage his wounds. The inn owner remembered him carrying Artsy before and quickly nodded. He rushed from the desk to find a kit in the inn somewhere. In the meantime, Brave waited at the desk with his head hung low, hoping the others would just ignore him.

[Deshi Bashara 6]

I can't wait to see more of this place! This is gonna be so awesome! Cole thought excitedly. It's like a whole other world here. The things, the places...it's like Wonderland, almost. Except there's talking horses instead of people. He looked out the window and watched the ponies bustling by without a care in the world. It looked so nice out there. So peaceful. He almost wanted to stay...

 

Cole flattened his hair with his hooves. Jeez, what am I thinking? he admonished himself. My parents are probably worried sick right now. Sam's probably trying to figure out what happened to me. And I want to stay here? Celestia, I can be so selfish someti- He paused for a second. He had said Celestia. Not God, Celestia. Maybe this place is trying to reconstruct my thought pattern into one of them. he guessed with a sudden chill. Maybe I'm going to end up here forever like this.

 

He shook his head at that thought. I'm just getting paranoid, that's all. Cole assured himself. He turned back to Electrobolt and Crystal. "Sounds like a plan. Let's roll." he agreed.

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt nodded as he began to walk towards the door, but then stopped as soon as he caught a glimpse of someone he had seen earlier. *Wait... Is that...?* he thought, looking over towards Brave. He looked sad for some reason, and then he remembered the 'dream' he had where he saw Brave fighting Discord. He also noticed that Brave's coat was a different shade of yellow. *Something must be up...*

 

He wanted to ask Brave what was wrong, but at the same time, he didn't want to. Shaking his head, he returned his attention to the door. *I'll leave him alone for now...* he then thought, still feeling a bit unsure of what he should do. *If... No, not if... When I see him again, I'll try and talk with him...* Replacing his sad face with a small smile, he looked over to Crystal and Cole, saying, "Well, let's go."

[SuperTheAwesome 199]

Speed woke once more in the hospital bed. "Alright, Speed. We've finished patching you up!" The doctor started, "If I see this Artsy, I'll tell her not to mess with you anymore."

 

"Th- thanks", Speed said, faking a smile. Before she knew it, Speed was already outside of the hospital. She walked around Ponyville, taking in the sights. She saw decorative houses and shops, and other ponies. Speed noticed a grey pegasus carrying a flower pot... with her hooves? How was she even doing that? As soon as the pegasus had seen Speed, she smiled. The pegasus waved at Speed.

 

But she let go of the flower pot in the process. Speed had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by the falling object."Watch it!" Speed yelled at the other pony, shaking her hoof.

 

"Oops, my bad!" The pegasus said. Speed just walked away...

Edited April 28, 2012 by SuperTheAwesome

[Aureity 3,055]

Crystal turned his head, surprised. Electrobolt was there one second...and now he was gone. "The hay?" he muttered in irritation to Cole, who he could still see. "Where'd he go?" The next second Electrobolt came trotting back, calling out, "Let's go." Oh, Crystal thought embarrasedly. "Erm, right." He had a nagging feeling inside of him, and wasn't quite sure what it was. Was it...laziness? Yeah, that was it. Here he was, about to waste an entire day walkking around, when he had already wasted the previous one asleep. Talk about a waste of time. He made a resolution to himself to go find a job in...whatever this place was called-Ponyville, I think-as soon as possible. There was no way they could all survive on one pony's hospitality for long.

[Deshi Bashara 6]

Cole nodded to Electrobolt and stretched his front hooves. "Alright. Where do you guys wanna go first?" he asked him and Crystal. "I'm thinking the market sounds pretty good, but it's your choice."

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt nodded at Cole's suggestion and said, "Sounds fine with me. What about you?" He then looked over to Crystal and asked, "Do you think we should go to the market first, or can you think of someplace else we can check out first?" He wanted to get everyone's opinion before they set out and had their own tour through Ponyville. *We might as well see all that we can while we're still here...* he thought. Half of him wanted to go back home to his parents, and yet... The other half wanted to remain here. Sure it isn't the place he grew up in for 15 years, but this place just has that charm to it that appealed to him.

[Aureity 3,055]

Crystal Flame shrugged. "I'm okay with the market." Really, all he wanted to do was find the rest of the group. But seeing as that wasn't going to happen, this wasn't such a bad idea either. "But, erm...if none of us have any money, what's the point in it?" he asked inquisitively. See, this is why you should stop lazying around and get a job. What have you been doing for the past two days, sleeping? Crystal frowned. "We might wanna consider, um, finding work if we're going to try to support ourselves here, you know."

[Electrobolt 2,069]

As soon as Crystal had uttered something about finding work, reality hit him like a ton of bricks. They needed money if they were to purchase anything, and they couldn't rely on Peach to help them with just anything. "Yeah..." he began. "Maybe we should look for a job while we're out looking around town..." He wasn't sure whether many places would offer jobs, but he had to try and find something at least. With that in mind, he began to think about what jobs ponies would do in order to earn money.

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

She blushed a bit as Sport complimented her good eye, and then snapped herself out of her rather stupid-looking expression of blankness.

 

"Hey... why would you come here if you don't have any money?" Sweetie Belle tilted her head inquisitively, as she resisted the urge to press her tan hoof to her face. Artsy turned back to look at Sport as an excuse to spare herself from this embarrassment, and also to listen to his words. "Well... how would you know how to get any? If you just got here, I doubt you'd have any money." She sighed sadly, doubting that this place had a sort of payment plan, and put her head down as she went towards the door.

 

"I apologize to have bothered you... I guess I should go..."

 

"W-wait!" Exclaimed the small orange pegasus known as Scootaloo. "Maybe we can work something out..."

 

"Work something out, Scoot? But Rarity wouldn't want to give out her dresses for FREE!"

 

"Give us just a sec..."

 

Scootaloo pulled aside the other two as they spoke rapidly to one another in hushed voices.

 

"If we don't do something, you'll lose a possible customer!"

 

"But she doesn't have any money... and I doubt my sister would want me to give out things for free."

 

"Maybe you should do that... uh... payment plan thing. Ya know, have her pay it off little by little. Like that stallion said."

 

"Yeah! And who knows? Maybe we'll get cutie marks for being master sellers!"

 

"Hmm... well... all right. She does look pretty sad..."

 

The group of young ponies pulled apart as the ivory unicorn stepped forth and nodded towards Artsy. "I'll tell you what - you can pay this off little by little. I'll give you until the end of the week to pay off the dress. Is that a deal?"

 

"Are... are you sure? You don't want a sort of down payment?"

 

"Down payment... tha'll be ten bits," said the ribboned pony with the accent.

 

"I... still don't have any money," Artsy gazed down at the ground, genuinely crestfallen and embarrassed as her face turned absolutely crimson.

 

"All right, all right! No need to look so sad... you can have it for free for now... but ONLY if you promise to pay 200 bits by the end of the week." Evidently, Sweetie Belle gazed at her sympathetically.

 

"You're... you're sure?"

 

"Yeah, Sweetie Belle, ya really know what you're doing?"

 

"I insist. Please take it." The small unicorn smiled at her as Artsy stared at her incredulously. Such generosity these ponies appeared to have had.

 

"I promise I'll pay it by the end of the week. I swear. Thank you..."

 

"It's no problem. I think it's what my big sister would've done. She never leaves a pony in need."

[Legendary Emerald 622]

Serah inspected herself in the mirror, seeing how the dress fit her.

 

"Passable..." she muttered to herself.

 

"Not worth the price tag, though. Not that I have any money."

 

Serah's ears pricked up as she heard Artsy talking with the store employees. The three young fillies started speaking in hushed voices with one another, and Serah saw her opportunity.

 

On silent, cat-like hooves, she stepped out from behind the curtain and began to slip out of the store. The clerks didn't seem to notice her, focused on their discussion of a payment plan.

 

"Better make sure the others know that I've left. Don't want them causing a scene."

 

She decided to pass Sport on her way out. She tapped him on his shoulder before pointing towards herself and then the door. She held a hoof up to her mouth to indicate silence, but something about the gesture was lost without the use of fingers.

 

"I'll be outside." Serah whispered to him as quietly as possible. Then she headed towards the door and slowly inched it open, cringing as a tiny bell tickled ever so slightly, despite her best efforts to keep it silent. She squeezed through the tiny opening she made and closed the door behind herself.

 

Outside, she took a deep breath. She smiled.

 

"Like taking candy from a foal."

[Strong Hooves 289]

Sport continued to listen to the conversation in silence, having nothing else to say in the matter. Before long he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked to see Serah making some weird motions with her hoof. He looked confused until she whispered to him that she was going to be outside.

 

He got up after she had disappeared, "I'm gonna go stretch my legs" he said nonchalantly and trotted out of the boutique. He saw Serah in the dress, but didn't remember her ever paying for it. He gave her a stern look, "What are you thinking?" he whispered, "Why'd you steal that? We were just talking about a way to pay these things off later! Do ya want to get in trouble?"

[Deshi Bashara 6]

Cole slapped a hoof to his face when Crystal mentioned the part about finding work. "He's got a point." he agreed, feeling like an idiot. Good thing he reminded us. That would have been stupid if we had just gone there without anything. Besides, who knows if we'll get back home. We might end up stuck here for the rest of our lives, so we might as well make the most of this while we can.

 

He thought for a minute or two, and managed to come up with a plan. "I have an idea. We can start from the inn, make our way around town, then come back here and decide which job each of us wants." he offered. "It's better then wandering around in circles for the whole day."

[Legendary Emerald 622]

He got up after she had disappeared, "I'm gonna go stretch my legs" he said nonchalantly and trotted out of the boutique. He saw Serah in the dress, but didn't remember her ever paying for it. He gave her a stern look, "What are you thinking?" he whispered, "Why'd you steal that? We were just talking about a way to pay these things off later! Do ya want to get in trouble?"

 

"I didn't know you considered three little girls a threat." Serah insulted. "We're going to be taking care of their monster problem. Those three are lending a hand, even if they don't know it yet."

 

She caught herself openly smirking, and tried to stop before Sport could notice.

 

"Besides, I doubt any of us will be earning money anytime soon, so any payment plans would be neglected by necessity. We're already humans out of our element, with no homes, and nothing to do but fight. We don't need to be in debt too." Serah concluded, saying all she could say on the matter.

 

"Best rationalization I can give. Not that I need a reason to do what I do. I'm who I am, and the rest of the world just has to deal with that."

[Strong Hooves 289]

Sport gave a sigh, her logic made sense, but still his morals pulled at the back of his mind. "I see your point Serah, but still, I guess I still can't believe you'd steal from children. Whatever though, you are who you want to be, no use in me trying to talk against it." Sport noticed her smirk, and gave a disapproving glance.

 

He then stood up, looking out at the town, "Well, out of our element or not, we need to make best what we do have. We need to find some kind of job or way of getting money. We dont know how long we'll be here, so we'd best buck up and try what we can to stop whatever this... Thing is"

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt nodded after hearing Cole's suggestion. "That sounds like a good plan," he responded, after thinking about everything that had been stated. "We'd be able to find a job where we can get some money, and we can also take in our surroundings. Two birds with one stone!" He then wondered what kind of jobs these ponies did. *Hmm... What jobs would an, uh... Earth Pony, was it?* he thought. *Anyways, what jobs would a pony like me be able to handle...?*

[Aureity 3,055]

Crystal scratched his head as he tried to think of a job he could get. Anything, really. I'd take the pony equivelant of McDonald's, whatever that is. "There's not much to do in this town," he said glumly. "Ponyville looks pretty tight-knit to me-mostly everything's probably already taken. Or maybe I'm just being pessimistic, but..." he shrugged helplessly. "We can only try, right?" He looked back at the inn they had spent so much time in and made a face. "Thought I was rid of that place forever...alright, let's give it a try, shall we?" Choosing a random direction off the top of his head, he decided to head westwards.

[Wolfe 71]

Brave gave a sigh of relief as the other ponies left the inn. He didn't want them getting entangled in his mess. The inn owner returned with a first aid kit in his mouth and set it on the table. He opened it and told Brave not to move. Brave nodded slowly. I can't do this either. So might as well let him. He carefully dried Brave's wound and disinfected it before wrapping gauze over it and his chest. It seemed long, and maybe it was because Brave had been holding onto the pain for a while. He stood conscious for what seemed like days to him.

 

The owner then saw Brave with his tired look and told him that he should rest up. He escorted him to the end of the hallway, all the way in the back. Everyone else seemed to have taken the closer rooms. He opened up the door for Brave and gave him a quick, summarized tour of the room. Bed here, table there, bathroom here, and all the other basics. Brave gave a low thank you to the inn owner as he left and closed the door. He walked over to his bed, which looked pretty comfy. He bit the covers over and stood onto the bed. He lowered himself and barely managed to bite the covers again and pull it over himself.

 

He slowly drifted to sleep in his current position: back toward the door, laying on his side with weak eyes, and his wound being covered by the bed. Everything went black and it was all he dreamed and saw.

 

No Discord.

 

No Blank Face.

 

No Self.

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

She walked out of the store carrying her dress in her mouth, the stolen one not appearing to be noticed by the three young ponies. Artsy vaguely wondered how these ponies managed to build such a society resembling humanity without the vital necessity of hands. Carrying everything in her mouth was quite unsanitary, and her horn didn't seem to be working at the moment. It was probably exhausted from the previous events.

 

Reconvening with the others, the tan unicorn made no comment about Serah's dress. It was best for her not to cause unnecessary conflict via the questionable actions of the other unicorn. Artsy was hardly surprised. She seemed like the sort of person to do that. Walking in the middle of the conversation of theirs, she had really no idea what was going on. So she addressed Sport as she heard his last sentence about settling down.

 

"An interesting thought... but that would imply that we're here permanently. We're not. We're here to get that Discord monster to take us back somehow. There's no time for... settling down." She sounded a bit more brisk and dismissive than usual. This day had exhausted her quite a bit, and left her irritable. But most of all, the thought of staying permanently and anything to imply it made her very uneasy. It was a notion she wanted to reject entirely. "So we've got to find everyone else, tell them about this party thing, and somehow get them the proper outfits for it. That's our plan for now."

[Marcato 2,143]

Silver got bored of waiting and finally decided to get back to reading. As he walked through the library he noticed that the books were very well organized. Guess it's best to start at history. He thought to himself. He decided this was a good idea considering that if he wanted to learn about this world he would need to start from where it began. He began exploring this new section, using his magic to sort through the many books. Finally he found one that appeared to be the most reliable in terms of older information.

 

The book had to do with those two sister princesses again. This one went farther back though. He even noticed it mentioned Discord. Now this is what i'm looking for. Silver thought. And it was. Discord had apparently been around for a very long time, before Luna had even been banished. The two sisters used the Elements of Harmony to stop Discord that time. A lot of help that was this time... Silver though grudgingly.

 

Silver began to wonder about Celestia and Luna. Where were they and why weren't they helping? Now that they were in the main world, that appears to be called Equestria, why don't they appear to them in perso- er... pony? He began to get a little annoyed at this fact, but managed to push it aside only by think of how they need to keep things ordered and controlled, governing their respected times of day. Still, he wished at least one of them would appear to him to at least give him some guidance and answer some of the questions he had.

 

After some intense reading, he was beginning to understand how some of Equestria worked. All ponies like he had heard before, eventually discover cutie marks, which are signs of their special talent. Once again Silver though about the arrow on his flank. I must still be good with a bow if I have a cutie mark about it... Unless it holds some other meaning. He continued reading and discovered something interesting. From the looks of things cutie marks don't always just mean your talent. On rare occasions they hold some other significance that hints at their life, whether it be through reference to OTHER marks, or about their life span.

 

But these things happened rarely according to the book, so Silver pushed it aside. The cutie mark he has makes sense anyways, so why would he worry about it? He kept reading and learning all he could about Equestrian history, lore, and about Discord every chance he got. He had lost track of time, and several times gotten up to look around and take a break, but there had been no activity. So he just kept reading.

[Strong Hooves 289]

Sport nodded in understanding, "Right... well I'm just saying... always be prepared for anything... even if it's something you won't like..."

 

He looked down, he did this whenever he was in thought, not that he would've remembered that, but the habit still lingered. He was surprised when she didn't mention Serahs dress, but didn't press the matter, she seemed a little irritated at the moment. Sport walked alongside Artsy, an awkward silence ensued for a few minutes until he decided to ask, "So... what's this creature like? The one that brought us here."

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt sighed when he heard Crystal mention that there might not be any available jobs in the town. "You may be right, but then again, with how things are..." he began before shaking his head. Then when he heard Crystal say that they should give it a try, he nodded. "Yes, let's look around and see if we can find anything available." After that, he began to follow Crystal, looking around for a possible job spot while taking in the sights. *After all, if I am to get a job, I should remember where it is located at, along with the town in general. Don't want to get lost,* he thought.