Hibiscus stared at the letter for a moment than looked darkly back at Snow. "Sure, I'll deliver it. He's a nice pal. But that cider...where are you going to get five barrels of it? Seems awful suspicious. I'll deliver it for free, you know. Next farmers' collaboration is coming up, and I'll just slip it to him there. No need to steal from what precious stores we got left." He took another glance at the letter. 'Is it really so important as to be woth five barrels of cider?' He thought.
"Oh thank you kind sir!" she said as he walked away, then headed off towards the unicorn castle, with the knowledge that her letter would get to her father.
With the end of that conversation, Hibiscus shrugged and turned to walk back home. He had sobered up enough to get there on his own now. As he walked, his thoughts flew this way and that about the recent conversation. He contemplated pulling it out and looking at what the letter said. 'It would be much too obvious if I opened it.' Hibiscus thought. 'I'll just sneak a peek when I get it to him.'
"Who are you?" the Pegasus replied, finally taking notice of her. Thresh paused a moment to catch her breath, and then replied, "I am Representative Thresh of the NorthEastern Earth Pony tribes. And what would be your name, kind Pegasus?" She stiffened her legs and raised her chin, trying to look simultaneously dignified and humble. Hopefully this one wasn't one to ask too many questions- she barely held onto her job as it was, but backing down and giving this one too much dominance would just be asking to be walked all over. And then she might lose her town representative status...she'd made that up, actually, hoping to get a free paycheck at first. But she'd meandered into politics, and now was sticking her hoof into what she had said she would do. And if she screwed this up, she could lose it all. No, best not to worry. You're only distracting yourself.
"oh man all this talk about politics and personal stuff has made me tense i need to go to the club and get a shot of Cider and listen to some good music and forget everything about today but first i need to find Ice" Cal says aloud
Snow got to her room in the castle and instantly collapsed. She felt exhausted, she hadn't slept in almost a full day and had done more walking than she had ever done in the castle. "Tomorrow, I will visit him. I hope that Hibiscus gets the letter to my father." she said to herself and then passed out.
"First representative of the pegasi Icy Wind, but ponies call me Ice for short" He said to the earth pony that stood before him as he stepped closer still speaking with a calm intimidating voice.
"hmmm... wheres Ice better check back in the meeting room. ok so oh there he is oh great he's talking to an earth pony representative.Hello Ice and Ma'am what are you two up too."
"First representative of the pegasi Icy Wind, but ponies call me Ice for short," said the Pegasus with the icicle for a cutie mark. So Icy it was. And boy did the name fit- blue fur, icicle mark, and a calm voiced that belied implied threats with the simplest words. Thresh forgot that soon enough, however, in her intense inward focus- business was to be done here, no time to be examining vocals. Her mind blurred the details and focused on the objectives. "So, Icy, mind if we have a chat? Now, I know you're a busy Pegasus; such a skilled, cultured, and powerful pony such as yourself must have a lot to do, but I'm afraid this is a dire situation," Thresh said, trying to apply a comforting tone to her voice, with an equal amount of urgency. Suddenly, she heard a new voice coming from behind her. Oh no, always the interruptions... "Now, Icy, if we could just find a bench or an alcove or a nice private room, these truly are urgent matters," Thresh said a little faster
Ice looked at the earth pony curiously then finally spoke "Cal I am going to handle this one alone go ahead back to the cloud city i will join up with you later" he said to Cal.
"Cal I am going to handle this one alone go ahead back to the cloud city i will join up with you later," Icy shouted to the other approaching Pegasus. Okay, so the second one is Cal, they live in Cloud City, and are close friends. Well, could be useful. She gave him a large smile, and beckoned him towards a side parlor of the complex. It's a shame she didn't have any cider, or wine, or hay- those would be useful. Not to mention fulfilling. 'Oh supper, I'll never leave you again'...no, no, task at hand. She pushed the wooden door open with a hoof and gestured for Icy to come inside- he hadn't yet even said he would chat with her, but his dismissal of Cal suggested he was interested. A good sign.
"alright man see ya back home i'll be at the club look for me there when your done with business" [Later] "Give me a shot Mike i need to loosen up a bit"
Ice follows the earth pony curious as to what she wants to speak of. His wings flap every once in a while to stretch them out. When she opened the door to what he assumes is her place she gestured for him to go inside and curiously and a bit suspicious he walks in.
As Ice trotted into the parlor, Thresh quickly plucked the torch from the wall outside, lighting the parlor to a cheery warmth. Settling down upon a pillowed seat across from the Pegasus, she looked around anxiously, then, finally feeling secure, began to speak. "Now, Ice, I know we have just met, but there is something very troubling astir here, and as a weak, helpless Earth Pony too busy farming for you and your people to deal with such things, I trust you. I have to. And surely, I can count on you being trustworthy, Ice? This all has to be confidential- we might make a few enemies, and if you were to say it was me...why, I'd surely be dead by morning. I know you may disagree, but will you do it, for a fellow pony who believes in you? I must have your word that this shall not be traced to me, whatever you think of it." Thresh put on a face of utter terror, curling up as if afraid of assailants coming from the very walls. Then she turned her eyes to Ice, broadcasting a look of helpless incapability. Emotion was always good to have on your side with these sorts of deals. Unless the Pegasi were truly as brutish as they were said to be, of course, but this one looked cold, not angry. She might just make this yet.
He looked back thinking for a moment. "You have my word as a pegasi of honor." He said curious as to where this was going.
Thresh smiled hopefully before recovering herself- this was progress. "Now, Ice, I'm sure you might have heard rumors from time to time- particularly one rumor of 'synthetic food'. Supposedly, the unicorns have discovered some sort of magic spell, or...something or rather unicorny. Whatever it is they do. And it creates food from nothing, which should be rather self-evident. Now, don't start, I know what you are thinking- that this is just magic food, nothing serious. But let me tell you: synthetic food means only one of a few things, all of them bad. This is worse than any weapon or monster, Ice. This means they don't need us any more, the Earth Ponies. They are either trying to break away, or are preparing to do so. Why else would they need to create food that needs no soil, needs no weather...think about that. Both of us are gone, nowhere, stranded, our peoples stranded without leverage. They could bring down the sun and let us starve, to kill or enslave us. No longer is it mutually assured destruction. And think about it. The unicorn ambassador seemed a little...odd today, didn't she? Maybe a little...anxious? Afraid of something, on edge. Something big is coming from Platina, the arrogant witch, and we will both suffer for it. " She finished her rant, nearly in tears, falling out of her seat.
Ice stepped over to her and stops her from falling "Calm down. I don't know where that could lead and truthfully it could lead down that direction but for now we need to see how it develops. Also how would you prepose to stop it? Kill them? That would be bad for all of us cause they raise the sun and moon everyday. Also i don't want the blood of innocent ones spilled if it can be avoided." He said as he pets her trying to calm her. "For the time being we will keep an eye on the situation." he reassured her as best he could.
She looked up at him, tears still stranded in her eyes. "I suppose we could. I had thought perhaps we could arrest the ones who made it. I thought maybe we could force them to hand them over, so no one gets hurt and everypony is happy, but I've been so scared...I might be a little delirious. It's hard to know what to do; unicorns have always frightened me. They have that horrid magic- to spy, to kill, to watch down on us, thinking we can't do anything about it. I just get so very panicked at the thought, I don't know what to do..." She'd planted her ideas, and was ready to stop. She focused on her own fear of discovery, her anxiety at the whole situation, and managed to work herself up more and more, until she could barely breath. It was beyond her now, so she could afford a little drama. She drew as close to him as she could bear, throwing her weight onto him for support.
Ice is taken by surprise and holds her up as best he can. "Umm... are you ok?" he asks as he starts to think she is having trouble breathing will all the stress she is dealing with, which he can relate to since he holds the weight of the worries of his fellow pegasi.
Thresh let herself calm down a little, stabilizing herself on Ice while her breathing returned to normal and her face transformed into one of shame. She tried to twist it into something more fearful, but between the lack of dinner, lack of sleep, and emotional breakdown, that wasn't happening. Instead she simply slumped for a moment, before mustering a quiet "Thank you." That had taken more from her than expected, and she was surprised to find her body shaking against her will. It took only a moment to stabilize herself on her own four feet, and then she began to trot out the door, her head bowed.
