"I don't care where we stay, as long as it's private and has a good book-reading spot," said Shield amicably. "So do you think Pinkie Pie's employers will know anything? Or if they do, will they tell us?" As he said this, Silver was looking at any ponies that happened to be within his range of sight, observing their actions, facial expressions; as much as he could, basically. He was mildly surprised that Twilight had been practically the only one they'd met who had seemed friendly; he had heard a lot about the citizens of Ponyville and how kind, caring, generous, and all-around nice they were, but he had seen none of this evident yet. Was he merely misinformed, or was something wrong?
After thinking for a little she decided with a nod; "I'm going to look for an inn, or a tavern we can stay at. That way, we'll have a place to keep things without worrying about prying eyes or sticky hooves. Do tell me how it goes at Sugarcube Corner." With that, Mystic Heart begins to head for the center of town. Not with a fast pace, in case anypony had something to add.
Silver, after a short moment of indecision, decided to follow Heart. Before he left, he whispered to Follia: "I think it would be advisable for you and Grey Mane to stick together like glue." He paused, stealing a slightly paranoid glance around him, then continued. "I don't think it's safe enough to wander about on our own, even outside Twilight's house." "I think I'll come with you," he called out to Heart, trotting after her. "I'd like to have a say in deciding where our home will be for the next bit of time."
"Ah, wonderful, I love company!" She started searching for an Inn of some sort. "Plus, it's probably best that we work in pairs or as a full group, but never alone."
"My thoughts exactly!" said Silver, relieved that he wasn't the only one who thought so. "So, where should we start?" He then noticed where she had been headed before he'd even begun following her. "Oh, yeah," he said. "The center of the town seems like a good place to look."
In short order, Mystic Heart and Silver Shield find a suitable inn, “The Oaken Stable.” There are a few ponies milling about nearby. They stop conversing with one another as the two unicorns walk past them and into the inn. Just before they make it inside, one of the milling ponies whispers something to her friend. Spoiler: Roll Perception-Listening Mystic Heart – 69 + 6 = 75 Silver Shield – 4 + 8 = 12 Mystic Heart, being closest to the group of ponies at the time, hears the one say, “Why do you think they’re here?” Mystic Heart and Silver Shield make it inside before either of them could hear a response. A dark blue pony with a candelabra Cutie Mark tends the desk before the pair. He looks up from his ledger as the two approach and grabs a nearby pencil in his mouth. His voice is slightly muffled, but you can both understand him well enough. “Welcome to the Oaken Shtable. Sho…ish it jusht the choo of you? Namesh, pleashe…” ---------------------------------------------------------- At Sugarcube Corner, Grey can see that the proprietors, Mr. and Mrs. Cakes, are busy cleaning the windows of their shop. Their foals, Pound and Pumpkin, are playing with blocks on the floor nearby. The pastry displays are mostly empty. Mrs. Cakes spots Grey and Follia first. She nudges her husband, “Dear. We have customers.” “Aw, drat,” Mr. Cakes replies. “I’ll handle it, Buttercup.” He steps down from his stepladder and approaches. “So, what can I help you with? As you can see, we’re very busy. Is there some way I can help you?”
Mystic Heart suddenly gets a strange feeling and quickly pipes up. "I'm Mistbell! Me and my friends, there's actually four of us all together, we were hoping for two rooms that were side-by-side for an undefined amount of nights, possibly only this one, or possibly more!"
Pencil still in his mouth, the innkeeper mentions, "Itsh 2 bits a night per pony..." Then he scribbles down the name "Mistbell" Then, "+3" Then, "2 rms ? nites". He points the pencil at Silver. "Your friendsh got namesh, too? That way I can jusht shend them to the room when they get here if you aren't around. Shavesh me the trouble a' findin' ya."
Silver nodded as Heart said all of this. It made sense to use pseudonyms, but it would have been more effective if they had thought of that before meeting Twilight. Now, if Twilight saw somepony call Heart "Mistbell", it would raise questions... But that was unlikely, and besides, he hoped that this would all be over soon. He smiled. Extending a hoof, he said, "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Steadfast Bulwark. We won't be moving into the room straightaway, but we'll come back later with our friends; we just came in order to reserve our place."
[Sorry about the delayed response, school] Toxic Rain hesitantly followed Folia and the dark mare beside him, and lifted her head hesitantly. She fluttered her wings for a moment to catch up, banishing the antisocial butterflies stirring in her stomach. "Hello, Dr. Folia, I've come from my laboratory with some studies that might add us.."
Grey Mane turned to face this new arrival. She then turned back to Mr & Mrs. Cake. "Hello! I was looking for a friend of ours, Pinkie Pie. Do you know where she is? I have a party she would simply love!" She turned and wispered to Follia and Toxic. "Please, play along"
(It's cool, PsychoPunk. We all got RL stuff.) Silver Shield and Mystic Heart The innkeeper scribbled down the name "Steadfast Bulwark" under Mistbell's name, then dropped his pencil. "Alright. I got you two down. As long as one of you is present, I can let your friends into their rooms. He then reached under the desk and withdrew a pair of keys with numbers on them. One was numbered "7" and the other was numbered "9". "Sorry, but this is all I got. Number 8 is being stayed in right now and all the other rooms are booked solid." ----- Grey Mane, Follia, and Toxic Rain (Willpower) Mr. Cakes had never seen the ponies standing before him in his life, but knew that it wasn't completely outside the realm of possibility that she had friends that he didn't know about. He scratched his head and turned to his wife. "Say, hon? Have you seen Pinkie anywhere? These ponies are friends of hers." Mrs. Cakes glanced up from her work and replied, "You know...now that you mention it, I haven't seen her in a couple of days. I just hope she comes back before tomorrow; she has to babysit the foals." She then returned to her work. Mr. Cakes grimaced, then turned to Grey Mane and the others. "You see, Pinkie has this habit of...disappearing... [size=-3]Especially when there's work to do...[/size], so this kind of thing isn't unusal. Have you checked Twilight Sparkle's house? The last I saw her, that's where she was headed. Something about Twilight organizing some sort of party..." He shrugged. "I didn't think she was the type. I guess some ponies are full of surprises..."
Rats. It would have been nice to get two rooms next to each other... ah well. It was of trivial importance. "Thank you so much, Mr...uh... say, I didn't catch your name, sir. What was it?"
Grey Mane, Follia, and Toxic Rain Mr. Cakes rubs his chin with his hoof. "Oh gosh, Pinkie has friends all over Ponyville..." "She must be talking about Pinkie's Best Friends, Muffin," Mrs. Cakes interjects. "You know, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle." "Oh, right," Mr. Cakes chuckles. "They're pretty famous 'round here." He goes on to tell you where they each live in or around Ponyville, giving very specific instructions as to the locations of their respective homes. Then he mentions, "But Carousel Boutique has been pretty weird lately. I heard talk that Sweetie Belle's been running the place since Rarity left a couple days ago." He chuckles again. "Frankly, I'm surprised the poor filly hasn't burned the place down yet..." ----- Silver Shield and Mystic Heart The innkeeper raises an eyebrow. "Huh. Most ponies don't even bother asking my name. They just call me Mr. Oak. The name's actually Ambiance. But you can call me Mr. Oak if ya want."
Grey Mane tapped her chin. "Thank you for your time Mr and Mrs. Cake. He will tell you if we find Pinkie." She nodded to the others. That would be thier cue to leave and choose thier next step.
"Mr. Oak, then." She bows her head gently with a smile. "A pleasure to meet you, and I look forward to my stay."
"Toxic! My word!" He said, turning and beaming at her. "I wasn't expecting you down here, working on this! I thought the foal-sitting was sorted with just me." Well, she hasn't been one of the professors that attempted to grind him and his department into the ground. A pony that's not got a dagger waiting is a friend. "Well, I don't know why they keep sending the wrong experts to deal with this. Alchemy and Study of Creatures Capable of Various Forms of Magic. They might as well have sent plumbers to handle this." He then grins at Mrs Cake. "Plumbers are good at blowing up balloons, you see. Scientifically provable; followed by clowns and judges. But all the Professors I've met could drink you under the table." He then winks at Grey.
Toxic smiled at Mr. and Mrs. Cake, bobbing her head respectfully, before trotting away with Grey Mane and the professor. She then turned a grin to Dr. Folia, and brushed a lock of mane from her eyes. "Well, I don't know much about the foal-sitting, but I was sent because I have some information about that particular book. Honestly, I would love to get my hooves on it, if only to preform a few experiments, but it seems it may have some.. dangerous consequences." She nodded to Grey Mane, and introduced herself. "I don't recall seeing you around campus, but my name is Dr. Rain, Toxic Rain."
Ambience? He supposed that that fit, considering he was an innkeeper. "Well, Mr. Oak, thank you once again. You have been most helpful. We will return with our friends, as soon as we find them." He smiled at the inkeeper. "It was nice meeting you. A great pleasure." After shaking hooves, he and Heart left. (Hope you're okay with that, Eight Star. If not I'll edit this.) Once they had gotten out of the town square into the less busy part of town, Silver whispered to Heart, "Umm, are you sure it was a good idea to go under false names back there? I mean, was there a reason we should have? Everypony around here has to know that we're outsiders, no matter what our names are, and I doubt they have ever heard of us anyways. I mean, we're not exactly famous." Silver waited for an explaination; he was sure she would have a good one, as she had been right about most things thus far.
