//------------------------------// // 10. Prince? // Story: For Friendship and Adventure // by Jamis //------------------------------// The question was barely passed Rarity’s near shrieking lips when Vulkan began to steadily chuckle. It evolved into a throaty laugh quickly before a sharp untick in volume and depth occurred, “Hohoho! HOHOHO! YUZ PONIEZ AR FUNNY! I MOIGHT BE TA BIGGEST BOSS YA EVA DID SEE, BUT I AINT NO PRIZY PRINZ!" his tone and voice the increasingly more common form of outburst. "It would be much more accurate to say myself and my surviving brothers would be the best suited to leading the Imperium. Seeing as my father is a spooky half living skeleton right now.” On the flip of a dime the primarch's voice regained its much more normal tone. The others looked like they wanted to speak but their words were stuck in their throats. Ella for her part woke up at the loud noise that came from Rarity's voice. The manticore looked up still sitting in annoying mood, Fluttershy looking at the man absent mindedly petted Jona into a near sleep state again. In this silence Pinkie broke the walls down, "BOO!" Vulkan looked at the earth pony to his right, "Did I scare yea, you said your dad was spooky was I thought it lighten the mood! So did it work?!" her smile was very broad. The brick wall was in barely standing with a hole in it. 'Was that wall there before?' the remaining seemed to look at Pinkie instead, their shock temporarily forgotten to collectively sigh. Applejack spoke as she turned back to the giant, "Well, Ya say ya aren't a prince. And you sure don't act like any we know," Rarity started to shudder before she clamped down on her thoughts, "But being the next in line for a ruler is the best comparison we have right now." Her accent seemed to be rather clear despite the difference from Vulkan's own. "I mean what else would everypony even call you if not prince?" Rainbow Dash spoke in a confident tone and gestured with her hooves pointing around then at him. "I would assume most if not all would call me 'my lord'." Rainbow went to contridict him but fell silent before putting her hoof to her chin slowly nodding. "Yeah, checks out I guess." as she spoke Fulttershy left Jona's side and hovered over to stand next to the giant. A rather brave move given her demeanor. "You said earlier you said that many of your brothers were dead or missing, is that true?" her tone was not one of innocence so much as confirmation. "Yes, and I miss all of them..." his eyes took an air of calm, "Even the ones that hated everyone." at those words the pegasus stepped forward and tried her best to hug him. Pinkie quickly joining her a small comforting smile that seemed almost alien on the hyper ponies face after his small amount of interactions with her. After a few moments the primarch chuckled, "Thank you." when the two let go of him he looked over at Twilight. She had put down her note pad met his eye. "Do you have any more questions?" The alicorn shook her head and spoke in a tone of sympathy. "No, I think that is enough for now. So you intend to travel? Where will you go? When, will you go?" several questions all at a much slower pace compared to last time. Her eyes showed minour concern, though one could suppose it was both for the human and anyone he scared. "WEZ WANT TA GO EVRY WHER! I plan to see as much of this strange land and its people as I can while I am here. As for when I will go, DONO!" slipping in and out of the odd voice seems normal for the giant. And while they didn't understand. The group had all seen weirder than that with just Pinkie. At this point Fluttershy returned to Ella who stood and stretched by raising her hind legs and lowering her front. Afterward she let her back legs fall and pushed up with her front legs. Twilight took the lead again, "Well if you don't know when. Would you like to stay the night in Ponyville? If nothing else I could give you a map." she paused after a bit of thought on what he might need, "Though, maybe a paper with my mark explaining your reasons would be better. It could at least stop you from getting attacked by the guard in certain towns." The man stood slowly, followed by those who were still sitting on their haunches. "If you don't mind my presence for a night. And a map would be nice. " Twilight nodded as she thought, "Where you would stay tonight is the issue right now. Not many places that would be big enough. And that assumes any of them would take you." Vulkan opened his mouth to say that wouldn't be needed. But before he could speak Applejack spoke again, "Well, ma family farm has space in the barn for you and yer friend. A night's stay ain't much, but I can't leave somepony hanging when I can help now can I." small smiles exchanged between both of them when Rarity bumped in. "You know, despite your oddities you do have a noble air about you, you being the heir to an empire makes sense." her voice held the same regal tone as always but that didn't stop an eye roll from her blue pegesus friend. "Oh yeah, I bet. Say, how about you and I have a race before you leave to go on your...road trip. With how long your legs are I bet you can move pretty fast!" the primarch turned to see she had devilish smile on her muzzel. "YUD BE SORPRISD!" as they spoke, Vulkan found his sight blocked by Pinkie who was looking at him upside down. Her hooves on the man's shoulder pads. '...this must be normal to a degree, no one has commented on how she somehow got onto me without drawing attention. "SOoo, who wants to have a welcoming party!" her shout and smile were almost infectious, her friends seemed to smile after she said that. "Cause I for one think you need to enjoy some Ponyville hospitality!" she jumped off of the giant. "Of course Pinkie, we should probably also check on everyone who is hiding. Otherwise we could have an issue." Twilight sounded almost like a older sister. Though that took a pause when the door to the tree house opened and Spike walked out rubbing his eyes. After a yawn the young drake started talking still half asleep. "Hey guys, you aren't gonna believe the dream I had there was this HUGE thing that was next to a manticore and-" he stopped after looking at the others all around the subjects of that sentence. "... I am going back to sleep." the dragon turned around and started to close the door.