Chapter 21: Charm
The dining room didn't veer away from the rest of the hotel's amateur aesthetic: white stone, more paintings hung about by the same artist, pottery and flowers on display in the corners, an ordinary house carpet laid flat in the center, and so on. Even the long dining table fit in, being of plain wood and covered in a white cloth that lacked all decoration. It hardly would have appeared out of place in an ordinary home save for it's above-average length. Only the place settings produced any image of finery, with the best example being the napkin holders: made of polished silver, and shaped of course to resemble the heart-silhouette of two ponies nuzzling.
Venus and Vesuvius waited to greet their guests. Both ponies were in a calmer mood compared to when they had initially separated from the group: less warm in the face, less physically energized by raw excitement, but no less enthused overall. They were impeccably cleaner as well. Both had quickly washed up recently, and the beautiful mare had also changed into a new lava-lava while applying some fresh perfume. All about them was an aura of lazy, relaxed happiness; something they put into the air as they leaned closely into each other, at joyful rest.
They were quietly shocked when they saw that their arriving guests weren't coming to the dining room individually lead by their specific guides. Applejack came first, and she did appear without any other ponies save for Till who exited into the kitchen without saying a word to her. But after the farm pony came James and Fluttershy together, lead weakly on by a downtrodden Humble Herd who disappeared back into the hallway as quick as he had come. Then came Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, all brought in together by an unusually mellow Hulahoof who nonetheless still smiled with unfailing politeness before he left. Lastly arrived the pair of Rarity and Spike, oddly lead by both Sweet Nothing and Summer Wind. Sweet Nothing attempted to deliver to Rarity a classy introduction to the dining room, but to his great frustration he was cut off by his cohort who only gave a fast and dirty welcome to both guests before she dragged the dark stallion away. The two guides seemed to snip at each other on the way out.
Venus looked at her other half and whispered a worried whine.
"No, it's alright," Vesuvius consoled her softly after allowing himself a moment of thought. "They're all friends and they're freshly arrived. Of course they're choosing to spending time with each other. We should have anticipated this."
"Are you sure?" the mare feared. Her gut accepted his opinion, and she did feel herself being a teensy bit irrational, but she almost couldn't help her worry. "Suppose it's because we haven't made a good enough first impression?"
"We've never had a group this large," he reminded his beloved. "It'll just take a little more time and effort for our own to get close. For now... dinner, yes?"
"... Yes," she acknowledged, hopeful. "You're right."
As the guests gathered they naturally erupted into numerous small conversations among themselves; friends rejoined. Mostly they spoke about either their rooms or more of their predictions for the vacation to come.
But James, bound to his mission to apologize for his earlier blunder in the garden, used the opportunity to make individual appeals for forgiveness. Strengthened by the kind wishes and support from admirable Fluttershy, he found no trouble in sincerely humbling himself before each and every one of them. Each apology was direct and whole: admitting his terrible carelessness, expressing regret for making everypony uncomfortable, and asking for pardon.
And all his friends were fast to accept his apologies, though in part because even vaguely recalling the context of his error made them want to swiftly move on to another topic. Truly they were thankful for his earnestness but to them the whole scandal was a mind-bending, unbelievable, vulgar thing that was best left buried and never spoken of again. And so he moved down the line of quick apologies until he came to the friend he had instinctively saved for last: Pinkie Pie.
The pink pony was the single, nervous exception to his unflappable strength. Not even Fluttershy's blessings helped him. However this time his difficulty WASN'T just because of his usual distaste for handling a stick of dynamite like Pinkie Pie. When he had unleashed his cavalcade of over-the-top sexual euphemisms the pink pony had ACTUALLY been embarrassed. Her red face was something he had never seen before; something that, given her usual self, had been all but impossible to imagine. For a pony so crazy and unpredictable, understanding that such an ordinary and unspoken side of her even existed made her almost HARDER to deal with; humbling and dreadful all at once.
Pinkie Pie felt jittery as soon as he approached. The long conversation in her room between her, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash still weighed on her immensely, and she crushed some of her most natural instincts as per the pegasus' request. It wasn't easy, especially with the battle inside of her between her hope – which so badly wanted to hear him say something friendly – and her grim despair – which told her again and again that he never would.
After Rainbow Dash had received her own apology she had seen the confrontation between man and pink pony coming a mile away, and she made a point of watching closely but not interfering.
Very carefully the man walked up to the nervous pony. Instead of effortlessly flowing into his speech like he had with all of the others there was a noticeable delay. He propped himself up, trying to find a standing that felt defensive enough.
"So, as you've surely noticed by now," he finally opened, "I'm trying to make up for my rudeness earlier in the garden. I said some things that were very off-putting to everypony, and it was terrible and thoughtless of me." Despite his words very physically resembling the same speech he had been repeating to the others, there was something so tentative and different about his presentation. He spoke as if translating himself from a language he was uncomfortable with, or as if she wouldn't understand him without some cautious enunciation. "Anyway, I'm really sorry about how I behaved, and I hope you'll forgive me?"
There was a startling stillness from the pink pony. She did look up at him at least.
"Okay. Sure," she said, very dry. "Thank you."
Again there was a delay on James' part; dead space carved out by prediction's inability and surprise's trepidation.
"Great," he nodded at last. Another pause. Then, unsure as to whether he was feeling a need to reward her reserve or rather simply be spontaneously polite, he bowed to her and added more graciously, "Thank you."
Quickly he turned and stepped away, escaping immediately. Pinkie Pie watched him go, leery as much as she was melancholy.
"Hey," Rainbow Dash wandered up to the pink pony, "See? That wasn't so bad!" She delivered a slap to her friend's back. "A good old apology, and you didn't need any cakes or cards or balloons or anything like that. Just an easy 'thank you' and you're done."
"I... guess...," Pinkie Pie moaned.
Not long after, the hosts invited everypony to take their seats. Venus and Vesuvius themselves sat together at the head of the long table, immeasurably close to each other. Twilight was encouraged by Venus to sit nearby, and eagerly the guest unicorn did, seizing a seat on the corner next to the island lady. Applejack made a wide ring to pass around the still chatting Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, and once she was on the further side of the table she sat down next to Twilight. James went to the same side as well but, still coming down off of his apologies and feeling somewhat contrite, left a safe space between himself and the farm pony. Rarity had gotten herself caught up with complimenting Fluttershy's necklace again (as well as bragging about her new dresses which she unfortunately hadn't had the time to try on yet and, oh drat, she should have worn one for the occasion!) The two ponies floated over to the table and almost absentmindedly took seats next to each other as they stay engaged, with faithful Spike quietly filling in on the other side of the lovely seamstress. They had incidentally placed themselves with one seat open between them and their hosts: the empty space across from Twilight.
"Oh," Rainbow Dash realized, "time to eat. Come on."
She strode up to the empty corner seat between Fluttershy and Vesuvius, but as she was about to sit an uncomfortable tingle jolted through her. It was something about the way everypony in the room still seemed to be waiting so expectantly. She twisted her neck and looked back.
Pinkie Pie's rump was glued to the floor, her frightened tail curled around herself.
Oblivious to any social awkwardness, even with some of the others staring, the pegasus went back and asked her friend, "What's got you, Pinkie?"
The pink pony scarcely made a sound, but her whining eyes clearly craved the seat Rainbow Dash had selected.
Looking again the pegasus noticed that, of the two remaining open seats, the only other one was next to James. The one she herself had first selected was the seat farthest possible from him, diagonally across the table. But it wouldn't have been any trouble for her to abandon her seat for Pinkie Pie and-
Oh no... The open seat next to the man was ALSO unfortunately next to Applejack...
Her grumbling in check, the pegasus whispered loudly, "Come on, Pinkie! Just sit next him! It's only dinner! You can do it!"
"But Rainbow Dash!" the other pony softly cried back. She didn't follow up with any specific complaint but her mind projected a thousand black-and-white films of her helplessly engaging in some vaudeville shenanigans; flinging around sugary desserts, coordinated dances upon the table, and even just throwing her face onto her plate like a pig. How was she expected to sit next to the man for a whole meal AND be in control of her normal emotions? It was just too much, too soon.
The aggravation bubbled its way up through the rainbow-maned pony, though it wasn't her PINK friend that she was angry at per se.
At last she bottled her frustration in her mouth and swallowed it down into her stomach. Stepping aside she raised her voice and offered dully, "Here, Pinkie. Why don't you take this seat-"
With a buzz of lightning the open space between to Vesuvius and Fluttershy was conquered by the silently thankful pony.
Rainbow Dash sighed, spread her wings, and carried herself over the dining table. She came down in the last free seat immediately between Applejack and James, much to the irritation of both herself and the farm pony.
Throwing her head away from her supposed friend, Applejack griped low out of the corner of her mouth, "Oh, what? This an eatin' contest now?"
"You'd lose," the unhappy pegasus bit back.
"SO!" Twilight clapped her hooves together very, very loudly. "What's for dinner?"
"Oh, Mr. Till has prepared us quite a meal!" Venus was proud to share. "As an appetizer we'll have some fried oats and beetroot soup. Our main course will be special sweetened bran cakes, with two sides: boiled carrots, and buttered grass imported directly from the Marengeti Plain." The final dish didn't come to her immediately, and she held up a hoof to hold her place while she remembered. "Ah, yes," it broke through finally, "and for dessert... he was most excited to make us some fresh apple pie!"
James looked away, burying any small trickles of annoyance under a smirk. Presumably in her friendship biographies Twilight had neglected to outline his dietary needs because the described meal didn't carry much appeal. Usually he could stomach a lot of the common foods shared between him and ponies, but this fancy dinner packed an unusually high number of incompatible, or just plain undesirable, dishes.
A half-peek at Spike confirmed that the dragon felt in a similar boat, though he didn't appear terribly vexed overall. He was more pleased than anything to be seated next to Rarity, and a subpar welcome dinner was a gladly-meager trade for the blessing.
Somehow, for different reasons, the man felt quite the same. What was one dinner? He could sip at the soup, pick at the carrots, mop up the apple pie, and be fine. It was a small price, but one well worth it to explore the island. He was getting excited.
Pushing a rolling wave through his fingers and rapping upon the table, he turned back to the hosts and smiled as he remarked, "Sounds delicious."
Despite everything the dinner proceeded rather pleasantly. Till, dressed in a waiter's apron but wearing a chef's hat, wheeled carts of food in and out of the kitchen, and with absolutely quiet professionalism he served each guest one by one. The tranquil environment helped hold any potential embarrassments at bay: little feuding was done by Applejack and Rainbow Dash except for disgruntled glances at each other, Spike and James sampled smaller portions from their plates without a single complaint while presenting themselves as nothing more than politely not-hungry, and there wasn't an awkward peep from any other nervous pony.
Most of the table talk was between Twilight and the hosts. The guest unicorn was eager to drive the discussion along with her many genuinely curious questions about the island's history, recent and distant. The hosts, though keen to share, were quite selective with their words. Through their answers they guided her towards their personal history first. Twilight wasn't discouraged in the slightest, happy enough to follow their lead when she sensed them building towards their own story. In particular they began to reveal a side of themselves that she very easily empathized with, and she grew ever more delighted and impressed with them as the dinner carried on.
Venus and Vesuvius, between each other, shared a fairly diverse amount of knowledge. They had passing familiarity with archaeology and anthropology, in amounts fitting for their assistance to the Island Society's research effort. It also became clear they had doused themselves extensively in botany and ecology, at least so far as was related locally to the Carriaggean islands. Finally they had also exposed themselves to some rudimentary studies of magic, though Twilight curiously noted that it was not in any area like friendship; instead they had poured over beginners' works on charms, psychomancy, and an obscure subfield of enchantments known as trophtheurgy (laypony's terms: 'food magic.') Neither host was an expert in any of their recently adopted fields – they completely admitted to starting their amateur studies only after they had begun work on their island enterprise – but their interest was endearingly earnest, heartfelt, and full.
And they were good students; their studies were almost an extension of their pre-island lives. Both had in the past been formally educated in different areas of sociology; he in demography, family, gender, and such things; she in politics and psychology. Separately they had followed similar paths in their individual histories. Though each had received an education, neither had been particularly devoted to academics and so both had gravitated towards practical applications of their knowledge. Mainly they had lived what they each described as boring existences: traveling around Equestria to do short-lived work that tried to utilize their formal studies.
It had been their initial meeting of each other, and their first trip to Isla Equufera, that had opened a miraculous new path for them.
"... with the job on Pinto Rico for the Island Society finished," Vesuvius brought the island masters' conjoined story towards its climax, "they asked me if I'd be willing to sign on for something extra. They needed supplemental crew for a research trip to THIS island. They didn't really expect my expertise to be of much use; it's hard to say much about an extinct society, after all. But they now knew that I'd be able to work alongside their team without trouble." He shared an embrace with his lovely mare. "To think, the only reason I signed on was because I thought it would be like time off and I was due for a vacation!"
After a happy giggle Venus continued, "It was a friend of mine who pulled me onto the same trip, also as supplemental crew. They figured they could stick the outside help together as partners for the trip, so..." The two had hardly broken their prior hug when Venus initiated another one. "... that was how Suvi and I first met."
"Oh!" Twilight jumped in, as happy as a foal being read their favorite bedtime story. "So it really was the island that brought you two together!"
"Absolutely," acknowledged Vesuvius. "We met boarding the boat, but actually we didn't think too much of each other at first. We certainly got along like any professional coworkers would but... there weren't any big first impressions. Not that I truly remember." He leaned over and gave his love a fun nudge. "... A little lost in herself too much of the time, I thought."
Venus, grinning blissfully, returned the touch with even more heavenly enthusiasm and breathed, "A little too grouchy and foul-mooded, I thought."
"It wasn't until we landed on the island and spent our first night here that we suddenly realized we had something special," the stallion explained.
Both ponies embraced each other with such a happy warmth, and the mere memory of that one night heated their bodies. Their energy filled the room.
"That first day was just some tedious work," Venus recalled. She couldn't pry her gaze away from her stallion in order to speak directly at her guests, and eventually she settled on closing her eyes and resting her head against his neck so that she might have the concentration to continue. "We mostly helped set up a camp, talked with the researchers, followed along as they went on their first quick foray about the island interior, and so on. It was that evening which I remember the best.
"That wonderful night the whole camp gathered to eat before we all settled into our tents to sleep. It wasn't much of a meal; I've seen pig troughs filled with tastier things than the rations we brought along. But I used what we could find around the island to make our supper a little more flavorful. Then, finally, we retired." One of her hooves, stilling holding the stallion, wandered about and stroked his back. "As partners Suvi and I shared a tent. The camp was set right on THIS VERY BEACH where we've now built the Passion's Embrace... and..." She grew too red to continue her thought, holding him tightly.
Her pleased stallion continued for her, "But we didn't get much sleep that night. We laid down apart but... then... the feeling just suddenly came over us... like magic."
He brought his nose down to touch hers, and their heads came up together; a heart built from nuzzling ponies.
Several of the guests swooned over the tale of fated romance; or at least those did who hadn't already checked out of the conversation because of all the earlier boring talk about culture, plants, and travel. The way the hosts had told their story had sounded so magically spectacular: her; him; a destined trip; a night alone together; and (presumably) the sudden call of true love having driven them into an embrace... and one, special, magical kiss.
Fluttershy in particular was quite moved. Rubbing the sapphire heart hanging from her neck she mentioned, "That's such a beautiful story. What a wonderful way to fall in love, finding each other like that."
Vesuvius, still with his eyes upon his mare, replied, "Love, yes. And so much more. We spent the rest of that trip inseparable from each other."
"We hardly left our tent," Venus's giggle floated out of her. "I honestly don't remember much after that first night. I have such a dazed memory of the experience. I can only recall the days passing like a sunny storm, every moment filled with such a perfect feeling of..." The thoughtful delay seemed to come from her vocabulary simply lacking a proper enough word. "... release."
"So," Twilight wondered, "how did you go from falling in love to starting up a resort?" She was already an avid fan of them, and there was literally nothing about them that she did not want to hear more of. "It's a huge leap from the kind of work you two used to do."
"After our experience, every last piece of our old lives became irrelevant to us," said Vesuvius. "What only mattered was our future. We agreed: what happened to us on this island wasn't normal love. We KNEW we had to share what we had discovered with the rest of Equestria. All ponies should feel what we felt. But HOW could we spread our special message? We weren't so sure other ponies would understand."
Her hoof still over her necklace, Fluttershy mused, "I think all ponies understand love. At least in some way." Weakness crept into her. Her hoof fell off the sapphire heart, her eyes drifted down to her plate, and she treaded barely above silence, "Or at least all ponies wish to feel it."
"Love is universal, but," the host stallion quickly expanded his position, "this is something different. Something special. Something more."
"So you've said," Twilight pushed her hardly touched plate aside so that she could lean forward over the table, "but what exactly do you mean by that?"
Venus patted some reassuring taps on one of Twilight's hooves. Smoothly she took over for her lovely stallion, and she promised, "You shall see. It's something special about this place. And like we told you: we believe its tied to the ponies of old who lived here once; their legacy, perhaps."
Swift, sudden, remorseless, and very immediately, she pushed to move on, "You were asking about them, yes?"
"Oh, right," Twilight remembered, taking a moment to roll with the conversation's sudden shift into the past. "I was asking what you've been able to learn about them since being here; before we got sidetracked with how you two met. (That was a fantastic story, by the way! Thank you!)"
Vesuvius nodded. "Insofar as the ponies who used to dwell on this island... it's hard to say much of anything with any certainty. There's little left behind."
"Yes," Twilight responded, "you had mentioned in the garden something about how it was all still a mystery. But is there really so little?"
"Oh yes," the stallion heaved a big nod. "There's jungle, which buries dirt, which buries dust, which buries only scraps. They didn't just vanish one day and leave everything behind, but nor did they go quietly enough to leave an expected record of evidence. No ruins of homes; not even an intact wall. No written records. Just bits and fragments of little things spread around in disordered chaos."
Puzzled, Twilight commented, "That's hard to believe! There's no signs of other ponies ever having lived here in the interim, right? Time will wash away a lot of things but it shouldn't be so thorough."
"Most of what we do know still only comes from writings found in old archives on the nearby islands," Venus said. "Some more-complete records from the ancient natives of THOSE islands happen to mention the inhabitants here. But even so, such records don't often talk about this island."
"It turns out the ponies here were particularly reclusive," lamented Vesuvius, dipping his head sadly. The whole subject had him distraught. "Despite a thriving trade economy which existed for centuries within the Carriaggean there wasn't much mingling between the other islands and this one. There's more than one citation describing trade attempts with this island being met with cold suspicion or crude rebuffs. We don't know why they would isolate themselves like that. Perhaps such foolishness contributed to their disappearance."
"Fascinating," Twilight uttered, vacuuming up the knowledge.
Venus, speaking steadily, shared, "There's one account that I remember reading where a ship from Galloloupe was passing near the island and spotted an unconscious mare adrift on some flotsam. They saved her from drowning and discovered she had come from here; out on a small boat when she had gotten caught some rough waters, perhaps. But the sailors didn't want to risk an encounter with the islanders just to return an unconscious pony so they took her back with them to their home and helped her recover there." She prefaced the rest of her words with a look of helplessness. "Even from her they never learned much. She was a withdrawn pony who spoke little and wanted little. She befriended nopony, hid away in the home they gave her, and never said a thing about this old island; not even about wanting to go back or not. For the most part she lived alone and secluded from all the other ponies on Galloloupe until the end of her days."
"Do you have any copies of these records?" asked Twilight. "I'd be thrilled to read through some of them myself while we're here."
Slightly surprised by the guest unicorn's sudden initiative, Venus threw an undecided glance to her beloved. He in return gave an uncertain stare right back, bouncing his brow once. The risks seemed to jump back and forth between them until the stallion finally surrendered a harmless shrug.
"Yes, we... keep copies around for study," Venus turned back to Twilight. "You're... more than welcome to read them, but... there-... there'll be time for that later."
"That's right," Vesuvius leapt in. "You're here to relax, enjoy, and share with us!"
Rarity innocently snickered, "I do think Twilight would find reading up on history to be rather relaxing and enjoyable."
For half-a-moment a dark glare blasted out of Vesuvius at the seamstress. He shook it off quickly and then sat up straight to refresh how presentable he appeared.
"There'll be time later," Venus reiterated. Her inviting warmth easily counterbalanced any uncomfortable heat from her stallion. "For now," she suggested, "we want you to indulge in us, and our hospitality. And to that end we have a schedule prepared for tomorrow."
James had been drifting in and out of listening, but at the host's comment he looked up.
"A schedule, sure," the man said. He thought for a moment about Prism. "How busy a schedule, though? Like, are we going to have some free time? You know, to do anything that interests us individually?"
"Well, yes," the island lady replied. "It's part of the experience we cater here. Everything is designed to give you all a chance to mingle and get closer with others. Over time we'll give you more and more space to do as you like; we just want to start with some things to encourage you along."
Vesuvius chimed in, "The experience we want you to have here is all to help you... FEEL a special connection to others. And it starts with some simple being-together."
Twilight took a fast look over her companions, the shaky imbalances in their friendships still clear in her head. A hopeful grin came upon her.
"That sounds exciting. So what's on schedule?"
"Nothing too formal," Venus assured everypony. But the anticipation got to her and she couldn't suppress her energy. She leaned again closer to Vesuvius, and great pleasure overtook her bright face as she told the guests, "In the morning there'll be some time on the beach with everypony, for swimming, sunbathing, and games; whatever you like. After lunch we'll take you on a tour, including some of the island interior, which should be fun if you're interested in the history, or in our little farm that we have here. There'll be some time for rest after that. And as evening closes in you'll be able to experience a special treat: we'll go to see the bell moths. Immediately after we'll come out to the front of the Passion's Embrace and finish the night with a big party; food, song, dance. It's going to be grand."
"Party?" Pinkie Pie perked up, having been unusually quiet the whole time.
Rainbow Dash too awoke from having her head in the clouds, saying, "Party? And snoozing on the beach, and games? Huh, this is actually starting to sound pretty good."
Something different triggered Fluttershy, and her awed eyes glistened.
"Bell moths? You have... bell moths on the island?"
Quite happy, Venus replied, "Oh, yes. And tomorrow night is the start of their mating season. It's quite a spectacle."
Beautiful dreams snagged the shy pony's heart and flew all the way to heaven with it, leaving her breathless.
Around the table more agreement spread through the remaining guests.
Happy to see all of their accepting and ready faces, Twilight nodded to the hosts and affirmed, "We can't wait."
"Good," Vesuvius smiled. "Then let's finish our dinner, and that will be all for tonight. Feel free to return to your rooms and rest, or perhaps spend some time in the lounges or the garden terraces. And if there's anything you need... I believe you are all getting acquainted with somepony who can help you?"
There was hardly a race to answer his question, but nopony at least vocally disagreed. A few did respond positively.
"Excellent," the stallion said.
Yet suddenly his eyes changed under the cover of a single, realizing blink, and his smile dropped.
"And a reminder," he solidly emphasized, "please do not wander off, or even leave the building at night. We'd hate for you to find-... ah, well, again: this island is a historical site, and we'd like to have nothing disturbed accidentally."
Endless was the rushing rumble of the surf on the shore, even after the sun had set and the waves could be seen only by their sparkling reflections of starlight and moonlight. For some ponies the back and forth of the slow sound was a rocking lullaby whose song drifted over the Passion's Embrace. But for others it was a restless noise; a grinding that gnawed upon the sand ceaselessly; itchy and irritating.
Summer Wind had her forelegs resting over the balustrade of the third floor garden terrace. She was slumped upon the rail, her wings not neatly folded but dully hanging down. Out towards the ocean her eyes hung, though scarcely they bothered to see anything, and the rising sound of the churning water wandered its way up only to drill into her twitching ears.
Spike was on her mind. Days of trepidation over her coming responsibility and then suddenly he had arrived and it had turned out to be the best and worse of everything! He was a sweetheart; a charming little lizard with a faithful, adorable, and generous attitude; and he was far from flawless in such a perfectly inspiring way. But he also wasn't grown, lacking a ready maturity. Most especially of all he was without a large body and satisfying stamina. Everything she had feared: absent. And everything she had secretly wished for: missing.
It wasn't possible for her to follow through with her assigned role in the plan anymore. She would have to tell Venus and Vesuvius as such (not that they probably hadn't already guessed the same the very instant they had laid eyes on the dragon.) Deep within her there was a single throb of a quiet, empty ache. So much frightening but exciting buildup and then in the end, like always, she just couldn't reach fulfillment. Nothing had changed.
She shivered in the warm night.
"AHEM."
The clearing cough was so overly intentional as to be obnoxious. The large pegasus hadn't even finished disengaging from the balustrade and turning around before she tossed her groan into the air, "What do you want, Sweet Nothing?"
Surely he had sought her out for the sake of vengeance. Some plan to vent his anger at her for her earlier interference? But against her expectations he was very much his normal, assured self: affable if selfish, excessive with confidence, and sporting a cocky grin. No glimmer of harshness or hostility. The worst threat about him was merely the sly half-turn away he held his head at, never quite giving her the full respect of his face.
But as he spoke it wiped away any doubts about her initial guess as to his motive.
"Oh, what's wrong?" he openly faked sympathy. "Not spending time snuggling up to your big, mighty dragon?"
Summer Wind turned back around and replanted a single leg on the rail.
"Shut up," she grumped.
The dark stallion smiled, "That's a callous attitude even for how cruel you were earlier."
"Shut up," she said again, drawing upon her weariness. Her weight pressed forward, depending on the rail to hold her up, and her free hoof lent her temple a tired rubbing.
Sweet Nothing approached closer, and he stopped an even step behind her left, his face still half-turned away. The large pegasus moaned louder at his nearby presence and paid his indirect gaze with one of her own, but nothing she did persuaded him to leave.
"So," he eventually spoke right through his smug grin, "I seem to be free tonight. Due to certain interruptions, which I'm sure you remember."
His scarcely masked implications hooked her right through her nose and yanked her appalled face towards him.
"You'd be free anyway!" she chastised him, coming out hard against his egocentric attitude. "It's only the FIRST NIGHT!"
Now that he had her full attention he stepped completely up besides her, though he continued to deny her fair access to his face. Placing his own hoof onto the railing for balance, he casually lifted his other hoof and inspected it. Necessary or not he cleaned it against his chest.
"You've always had trouble recognizing great things, Summer Wind. I had her eating out of my hoof."
"So? What does that matter?" the offended pegasus lambasted him again. "We're not supposed to do anything the first night! It's too soon!"
"Says who?" He was positively oozing smarm.
"Don't pretend like you don't know how this works!"
Dropping his hoof and indignantly throwing up his nose, Sweet Nothing remarked, "I think it's hardly fair that Venus and Vesuvius are allowed to spend their every night having fun together but WE'RE asked to wait." He snorted before grimly whispering to himself, "Insulting. Degrading. That won't do."
"WE," the large pegasus reminded him harshly, "are supposed to be available for our guests." Most of her brimming abrasiveness came from merely expelling her own frustrations. After all, the stallion already knew all of these details. But she was like a chained, hungry dog having only one bone to chew. And chew she did. "We need to ease them into it. Slowly, and all at the same time! They're friends; they'll be talking to each other."
"Hmph. Good. All the more reason I should have had her tonight," he asserted. "Rarity will have only praises to sing, I assure you."
Summer Wind threw her gaze away from him with a foul grunt. As ever, his surly self-aggrandizing and unfriendly habit of forsaking cooperation was something that was supremely difficult to endure. She gave her wings a preemptive stretching out, strongly considering a late night flight through the clouds. There was hardly any good reason to stick around and put up with him.
The dark stallion noticed her teetering on the edge of a decision, and he at last turned more fully towards her.
"Well, anyway," he said, "all my careful plans for the night have been ruined, as already mentioned. Thanks for that, by the way."
She still limbered her wings. "I'm NOT sorry."
Deep under a hoarse breath he gave a crass mumble, "Maybe you should be..."
But quickly he snapped up with a bright, if less than sincere, smile. Edging himself closer to her, he slid his rail-top hoof next to the leg she had draped over the balustrade and tapped her faintly.
"I just thought that," he invited her, bringing back his greedy grin, "as long as my night is free now ANYWAY... I might be a little magnanimous and give you the chance to make it up to me."
Again it was like piercing the pegasus' nose with a hook and reeling her back towards him with a despicable pull. One incredulous glance at his hoof, sitting so close to her leg that she could feel the pale tickle of its presence, and then she hoisted her almost dumbfounded stare at his eager, shrewd, conceited smile.
"What?"
"Come on, Summer Wind," Sweet Nothing seemed to taunt her. "Why spend the night alone?"
"Our guests are here now! You're Rarity's!"
"And she's not available tonight."
"So?!"
The large pegasus had to take a breath, not finding the appropriate words with which to fill the gaps in her flabbergasted thoughts. His disdain for the island masters she knew well, but that he would so brazenly defy their plan was something inconceivable, even for him. Eventually she just turned aside and tried to throw her focus off of him.
"It doesn't matter anyway," she dismissed. "We haven't opened our passion. And since Venus and Vesuvius have already retired for the night it's too late to seek special permission from them. So... even IF I wanted to... we couldn't."
So astoundingly full of himself the dark stallion revealed a secret, "I keep my own stock."
"You..." Just what he had said took several moments to wriggle its way into her mind. Again she was shocked, her face drawn automatically towards him. "... you steal from the supply?"
"Steal," he scoffed. Over the rail he spat bitter anger, hoping somehow that the air currents might whip it around and carry it straight to the island masters' window. "What about all their talk of changing the world? Of sharing new ways for ponies to love each other? Awfully selfish of them to horde it all, and dole it out as they see fit. It's not theirs; it's all of ours, isn't it? If one of us knows how to use it well then we have the RIGHT to use it."
Though his unexpected and unfaithful revelation had somehow done a blow to her strength Summer Wind still protested, "We let them decide because-... because... it's hard to gather a lot of it! We're still working on learning how to-... well, you know about all that. And Venus and Vesuvius are only trying to play things as carefully as they can! A lot of ponies wouldn't immediately understand what we're-"
"Oh, hush." He leaned in close to the large pegasus, sweeping his enmity towards the hosts away to some hidden place, and he spoke softly, "We could go right now. Think of it. Think of the FEELING. The SATISFACTION. Come on. You know, I still find you quite alluring despite your attitude."
Her opinion of the self-centered stallion hadn't turned around at all, not an inch, but yet she still sensed a subtle weakness inside herself that didn't feel right for what her powerful body should have been capable off. The idea of fawning over him remained laughable when it wasn't disgusting, but still she felt assaulted by a hesitant shiver. Was she disquieted by the fact that, with his secret shared, his offer had suddenly become so much more REAL? So much more actually POSSIBLE?
"We shouldn't," she shored herself up and maintained, "because-... Well... Venus and Vesuvius are in charge for a reason. I can't believe you stole some! We'd just be wasting the supply. No, we-"
"Hmmm," he wickedly smiled, "so if I'm listening correctly... you're not going to tattle on me then?"
The dark stallion took a step away specifically so that he could strike a bold stance, pushing out his chest and giving a mighty twist to his neck. His muscles were carved from stone, shaped heroically and clamped onto him like fine armor, and the energy they radiated was endless and intense. He wasn't exactly her size, being slightly smaller, but he was so tightly woven as to be a match for her in any show of strength.
"Come on, Summer Wind," he continued to encourage, precisely aiming his words, "I'm the only pony on this whole island who can keep up with you and give you what you want."
The pegasus paused, for a very brief moment unable to even make a sound.
Yet... this was still Sweet Nothing she was dealing with.
"No," she informed him, having to work a little extra to bring out her confidence. "We're not supposed to." Just in case, she rotated her face away to keep his body out of view.
From under his cool cover the stallion's anger reared itself. His hooves scraped against the stone floor as his stance hardened, and his teeth clenched down in a snarl. But quickly he buried his rage again.
"Fine!" he allowed only a harsh tone out, the rest of him under steady control. Carefully maneuvering his voice he reproached her, "I thought I would be generous but have it your way. I'll just be all the more refreshed and ready for Rarity when her time comes."
As he pivoted away from her he studied her body language. Gone was the ungrateful resistance she sometimes put up to hinder him; the antagonism she often reveled in flinging at him. Though she had her head turned away there was such a tension in her neck; she was constantly reeling herself aside, resisting the tug back towards him. He noted how her hind hooves creeped up and down, never resting in place as she mildly rubbed her rear legs together.
Oh, she was only wishing she didn't need him. But she was fooling herself.
Beginning to walk off, he added in as a final barb, "Enjoy the baby dragon."
A terrible shiver ran through Summer Wind again.
Her whole life she had been satisfied with herself: soaring through storms like there was never going to be a better tomorrow; pushing herself until she sweat so badly that she was the rain; being everything her cutie mark had told her she was. It was only after having come to this island that this great empty pit of dissatisfaction had appeared; voids which nuisance ponies like him could exploit. Only after being on this island had she become a mare who was ACTUALLY UNHAPPY to have discovered a gentlecolt DRAGON set to be hers who wasn't fully grown.
But she was still better than needing Sweet Nothing!
Steeling herself she let go of enough resistance for her neck to crane back, granting herself one peek.
Despite the apparent intentions of the stallion moments earlier he hadn't fully gone. His cocksure departure had been a noisy show, clopping loudly as he had walked towards the open doorway which lead back into the Passion's Embrace. But rather than having faded inside he instead stood waiting in front of the open passageway.
Summer Wind gave a cynical snort, launching her face away from him again.
The dark stallion stood stiff in an inflamed stillness, showing no sign of how furious he was at her continued rejection. It was about more than getting what he wanted now.
"Or maybe you'll go back to Humble Herd?" he suddenly called over to her, digging the knife in. And for good measure, "You know, I heard he CRIED through the whole thing. Tell me... is it true?"
The wicked words had their own power to draw up the dark, disappointing memories. It had taken her some time to get to know the reserved Humble Herd but in the end she had determined he had a beautiful soul. It was only later that she had found out intimately... he had a less-than-sufficient body.
But never would she give this... this... cold-hearted son of a dam the pleasure of an answer to his callous jab. Her sharp wings shot up. The only pleasure she wanted to give him was a drop from five stories into the ocean.
Yet she stopped herself, instead looking out over the water. Each curling wave which slammed down on the shore was like the knock of a new idea upon her door. That abominable stallion was an unrepentant jerk... but... maybe she could still get what she wanted AND stick it to him at the same time.
She whirled about so brashly that even Sweet Nothing was surprised by the devilish grin she wore. Now intently refusing to pay him the full attention of her face she ambled a few steps forward.
"Tell you what, Sweet Nothing: I'll be with you tonight... if..." She drilled deep. "IF... tomorrow you apologize to Humble Herd for the way you treated him today."
The offense spilled out of dark stallion, "You must be joking!"
"Fine!" she smugly turned her back to him. Once again she returned to the rail and hung her forelegs over it. With an upturned nose she spat, "I thought I would be generous but have it your way."
Unseen by him she smiled when she heard his hooves pound the stone beneath him.
"What a ridiculous idea!" Sweet Nothing fumed at her. "As if that wet rag is owed an apology for getting in MY way! What possesses you to think that my time can even be compared in value to HIS? Measly, garbage, waste of a pony!"
"Well," she answered smugly, "if he's not such a big deal then why would you have any trouble apologizing?"
"You lousy mare..." The fire seeped through his grinding teeth.
Summer Wind spread her wings broad, giving a good two flaps to prime them. "Enjoy your night alone," she warned him.
"Alright!" he capitulated angrily, barking. "What do I care? He can have his worthless apology if it makes you happy."
"Hmph. Thanks." Amazing how she could still offer him gratitude with an ounce of sincerity despite the circumstances.
Sweet Nothing, vengeful at her turnabout, stomped off. But not before he very venomously reminded her, "Just be in my room shortly. No games."
"Yeah, yeah. Give me a few minutes. I'll be there."
Folding up her wings she rested herself upon the balustrade once more. While she waited she went through several big breaths, all as deep as sighs. Just once she checked behind herself; the dark stallion had made no plays and had finally left. Regardless, she slumped further down upon the rail. It would be better if she let the nausea pass before going in to see him. What a sickening pony.
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I apologize for this chapter being published so long after the last one. I've said it before but I'll repeat myself: while there's no commitments between us I still am appreciative of your readership and lament that I am not a person skilled at keeping a regular schedule.
Lots of little things added up to become larger delays, but mostly it all boils down to three rather big things:
1) Just lots of stuff going on around here in general. Life happens. And sometimes it happens more.
2) I had to rewrite a bunch of this chapter. In the original notes I just had, essentially, "Put a dinner scene here; good spot for exposition." So of course the characters have been mentioning the upcoming dinner for a bit in the previous chapters. Only I realized as I was writing it... I've dumped a huge amount of exposition already with just the characters interacting... it was going to be a massive waste to do a big dinner scene that honestly was adding very little. So instead you now get a much shorter dinner scene with slight foreshadowing, and a brand new scene which I wasn't thinking of doing originally but now finishes the chapter. I'm really happy with the extra scene.
3) Lastly, trading time between this and the new story I started writing, Pride Goeth.
I'm actually writing a bit faster than I used to, but doing two stories at once is still draining some of the writing speed on both of them.
If you weren't aware that I started another story then I of course humbly ask you to check it out. It's an expansion of Prideheart's story from Melancholy Days, so if you were into Melancholy Days then you may like Pride Goeth.
6515449
Melancholy Days is my least favourite of your stories, so I can't say I'm too stoked about that part, but the rest is just the sort of thing that happens and really nothing you need to apologize for.
Wel, screw me to a nut like a submarine hull plate slot. This isn't just some obsession with carnal love, there's some kind of drug in the middle.
And oh, don't think for a second that I didn't see the word "psychomancy" there among the areas the two chief zealots are dipping their ankles into. If someone doesn't know their prefixes and radicals, that conventionally would stand for mental manipulation.
That, plus the slip of Vesuvius's tongue about them possibly finding something the owners would hate them to see at night outside the resort, makes it a thing: these eight BETTER stick together, at least until Nothing's ego fucks it up for the whole "lust cult" organization and turns the heads of at least two of lur heroes.
6515625 Seconded.
6516165
"Psyche" and "manteia," adds up to "predicting the future by thinking about it," roughly. Yes, I know that's not what it's supposed to mean, but I love how bland of a statement it is when you spell it out like that.
6516186 Hmm... that's strangely removed from the conventional meaning we see nowadays. Wonder when that divergence started and why it gained so much force.
Some kind of drug addicted love-cult?
Still feeling really off and uncomfortable about this place, like it's a facade and there's cracks beneath the surface...
6516389
Personally, I'm blaming necromancy. The whole trend started more or less around the time sword & sorcery pulp novels began using it as a generic word for death magic, not just calling up ghosts to ask them about the future. That's about when the fantasy genre in general started to really take off and consequently the whole thing just kind of stuck.
If you want something a bit more historically accurate, I suppose "noumenurgy" would work. Means "thought-crafting," roughly. "Thaumaturgy" has been used as a general term for magic since the 16th century and means "miracle-working," so I suppose that would be the next closest thing.
6516446
This is absolutely correct. -Mancy is essentially divination, so e.g. pyromancy is divination through fire; reading flames and predicting the future through them. I'm on board with necromancy probably being the root of the shift, but that's just the way language changes over time really. In this case I've intended to use it as per the modern vernacular.
I did also manage to get an -urgy in there with "trophtheurgy," which is really just a word I pulled out of my butt using greek roots. I'm not going to lay any claim of skill to wordcraft.
6516528
Lose the second th, "theurgy" is specifically religious service. Can't be worse than all the various whatevermancies otherwise, though.
6517092
As I recall, I added the extra sound because "trophurgy" just wasn't as comfortable on the tongue as I would have liked. Didn't like the way it looked either, so I pumped the buffer in to make it "trophtheurgy." I'll make a note of that though, thank you.