Ponyfinder: Potions and Swords

by David Silver

10 - South Side, Represent

They had arrived in the first thing that could be called a true settlement, a city. Sure, Prism counted, but they had just rode through it, so it didn't count for much. There were ponies mostly, but also the occasional human and other biped. It was a metropolitan place, and how many legs one had was not a barrier to entry. "Wonder what they were complaining about?"

"Who?" Longma looked to Jon at his question. "Who is complaining?"

"Before." He gestured back at the past. "A bunch of goblins were worried about pony patrols, but they've all seemed pretty welcoming so far."

Longma's smirk grew three sizes that day. "You are just precious. One, you were talking with goblins, why?" She rolled her eyes at the thought. "Second, going to bet they almost mugged you, if they didn't actually do it."

They had made noises to that effect... "What, are all goblins just bad by default?"

Longma raised a hoof to her chin. "Now you're getting philosophic. Good, expand your mind. Me? I'm just going to avoid talking to goblins, except angry shouts if they touch my things. You." She looked to Aeorean. "Where do we need to be?"

Zecora closed with Jon as Aeorean discussed directions. "Jon, your concern touches close to my heart. Different behaviors and appearance make it easy to set apart." She inclined her head. "It would be a better world, if we were all given a chance. But too often, we are judged at first glance."

Jon nodded a bit. "I... haven't really been on the receiving end of that much?" Well. "Actually, I guess a tiny bit since I got here? Pretty tame. People are interested in the human." He shrugged a little bit. "Guess I'm the minority now, but people aren't even stressed about that. Hardly counts."

"That you have been spared the touch of that whip, I'm perfectly happy for that to skip." She nodded in satisfaction. "Still it may not always be so. I will be there, an equine to show." She perked an ear. "There is something that bothers. When do we return to the land of our mothers and fathers?"

That was when Jon realized, he hadn't been looking for a way back. Everglow had been... kinda fun really. What was so bad about it? Still... "Let's ask Aeorean." If Zecora needed some rescue, he'd be a terrible adventure to not try to help her. Sure, he had experienced more pain than was standard, but he'd also withstood it, and kicked some butt. "Aeorean, if someone needed to do a little, uh, planar travel, what would you suggest?"

Aeorean looked back over his shoulder, twisting into backwards flight. "You picked the wrong spellcaster for that." Longma's smug smile had returned. "Don't give me that look! Wizards are only slightly better. Clerics are the pros when it comes to that kinda thing, which I'm not." He brought his hooves together silently. "Divine magic is all about connecting the here and the not-here, if the not-here is so not here it's another world entirely."

Jon nodded a little. Clerics, healers, he knew that basic idea. Though how that tied into world jumping, he wasn't as sure. "So... like praying to their gods gives them an edge to reaching that way?"

Aeorean blinked softly. "Huh, yeah, like that. I'm a druid. We're rooted right here." He landed, turned back around. "Our powers are all around us. Nature's kinda right in your face, so our magic isn't as good at reaching to other worlds, why would it be?"

"Also." He thrust a hoof out, ambling on the other three without pause. "There's the place!" It didn't look that much grander than the building surrounding it, though it dared to reach two stories high, tall for that portion of town. "Welcome to the Seekers!"

Longma inclined her head at the building. "Looks like it could us a fresh coat of paint. Whatever, if they have our rightful money."

"You didn't earn it." Aeorean trotted ahead. "It was my job, but I did promise to share it."

Zecora advanced to keep up as they entered into a room that took up both of the floors the building had. That entry hallway was surprisingly tall, with a few desks right there in the center. A... secretary? was writing with a quill in her right hand. A gnome, brightly colored hair draping over a shoulder as she worked.

A pony was also there, heavyset, male, and reading a paper with a musing expression. Both glanced up as the group came in. "Aeorean!" called out the male with a big smile. "One of my favorites, and you have company." His eyes darted, taking measure of the others. "Don't recognize them, don't keep me in suspense."

Aeorean flew up with a spin to point at each. "Jon, Longma, and the best, Zecora." He raised a hoof to stage whisper, "She rhymes! It's her thing and it's adorable."

Zecora advanced with a light clearing of her throat. "I hope I have other qualities. To simply rhyme may reek of frivolities. I am told you the one to speak, Aeorean's pay is what we seek."

Aeorean's wings spread wide despite being back on the ground. "Oh yeah, the rift's all closed. Pop, all gone. It was guarded by a dragon." He thrust a hoof back at Longma. "She's also a dragon, but she's with us."

The stallion started at the news. "O-oh... Welcome." He nudged a bowl forward with a hoof. "Candy?"

Longma prowled up to the desk and reared up to have a look at the brightly wrapped treats. She opted for a chocolate one. "Mmm." In her mouth it went, wrapper and all. "Hm, oh, there it is." She chomped through the paper and began to taste the properly sweet part. "Not bad." She inclined her head at Aeorean. "So, his pay?"

"Yes, of course." He pulled up a bag, held between his hooves pinching it before it was tied off. "Aeorean does good work, and good work deserves to be paid, hmm? All closed?"

Longma rolled her eyes. "Completely."

"100%" agreed Aeorean with a quick bob of his head. "Oh, they were wondering if you knew anyone that could go between planes?"

"That's a sudden topic shift," chuckled out the pony as he sorted through coins, counting out the pay into a new pile and tied the bag back tight. "Dawn would be good at that. But he drifts where the, how did he put it...?" He drew quotes in the air with his hooves. "'Where the gods demand him', that's right. Oh! Why don't you check by the temple? If you don't see him, you may run into another divine sort that could help."

"Great idea!" Aeorean swept the coins off the counter with a wing, catching it with a bag he held in his mouth. With an agile flip, he had the bag put away. "Let's go to the temple! I hope Dawn's there, nice guy."

Zecora nodded to the stallion they were already leaving and turned her eyes instead to the pegasus they were following. "A friend of yours, I do gather? Better to ask a friend, than with a stranger blather."

Jon fired an emphatic thumbs up. "Sounds like we have a--"

Longma circled in front of them. "Did you already forget? For such a short lived set of species, you forget quickly. Wait, that's a short lived thing, isn't it? Whatever. You said we get a day of pampering. Give me my luxury funds so I can get on that." She held out a hoof expectantly.

Aeorean looked between Longma and his other two companions. "Oh, uh... can we check for a cleric first? I promise, day of relaxing before we go anywhere, but it won't take long to see if Dawn's there and if not that, maybe someone else can help."

Longma fixed Zecora in her sight squarely. "Put off for a rhyming alien zebra? I see how it is..." She talked to walk alongside Zecora. "You're lucky I have a soft spot for aliens."

Zecora edged a step away from the dragon that was also a pony, closer to Jon. "I do not mean to ruin your day. There will be time to relax and play." She lifted an ear. "You remind me of a refined pony I know. Perhaps you would care to show?"

Longma threw her head back with a thick cackle. "Oh, look at you. Tempting me to show off? I'll bite that bait." She chomped the air for show. "Once we finish with the priests, I'll take you out for fun and relaxation. You'll be so pampered you won't be able to walk."

Jon hiked a brow at that logic. "Not sure I want to be that relaxed."

"Too bad, this is a lady's trip." Longma thumped right against Zecora, unaware or just uncaring of her discomfort. "You'll have to take Aeorean."

Aeorean peeked back over his top. "We don't know each other that well, sheesh."

Jon took note that the pony hadn't angrily denied. Were the ponies just easy going in more ways than caring if you had hands or hooves? Still, he was a straight arrow so far he knew. "If you want to hang out, as friends, nothing wrong with that. We're a party, should be friendly."

"Gosh, yes." He clapped his hooves with a grin. "Now you're talking. Party fun! I didn't realize how much I missed having a party... Last time I was with Steel. We got into so much trouble!" He laughed, a much kinder laugh than Longma's cackle. "We barely got out of it sometimes, but we did. Oh, good times."

Jon's shoulders lifted lightly. "Steel? A friend of yours?"

"Steel Prism," completed Aeorean with a grin. "We're both adventurers, like Dawn Event. Oh wow that would be too fun! Get us all together!" He bounced in place, excitement building. "What are the odds, if both of them were there?"

"The fun starts after the temple," reminded Longma with a little huff. "So let's get that part over with as quickly as possible. Zecora and I have places to be lazy at."

"Have your fortune told," beckoned a wizened pony mare, an earth-bound. She had a turban on her head, and wore flowing clothes. Like a gypsy, if one expected a gypsy on an alien world. "Part the veil of the unknown," she beckoned, looking back and forth at those who passed her. None were taking her offer.

Jon tapped at Aeorean lightly. "New to this world and all. Fortune tellers, full of it, or legit source of intel?"

"Sometimes both." Aeorean looked over at the fortune teller. "She looks nice enough. Want me to test?"

Zecora advanced curiously. "There is a test for such things? To easily tell if from her words the truth rings?"

"Ah, a zebra." The fortuneteller had spotted Zecora. "But not of the usual stripes. Is it magic, or divine acts that brings this about?"

Zecora turned a hoof on herself. "I come from a far away land. But I am just a zebra, nothing grand."

"Now that's a lie." The old fortuneteller wagged a hoof chastisingly. "Your fortune is bright and interesting... Would you care to hear it?"

Aeorean slipped between them. "We actually have to get to the temple, you know how that goes. Maybe after?" He nudged Zecora away. "We really should be off."

"So hasty to speak for your friend." The fortuneteller's eyes were locked on Zecora. "But it is her choice, not yours. I think she wants to hear what the winds whisper to me, but...?" She rolled a hoof slowly.

Zecora could set her hooves down, planted despite Aeorean's attempts to move her. "Easily said, a trick to entertain. What proof do you have that wisdom is here to attain?"

"A little trust." The strange mare spread her hooves. "They are only whispers. I can only promise I speak as they do."

Author's Note:

To listen or be about your way? Pick one quickly, or Longma will get bored.

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Comments

[badninja]

Jon I think you have had something more important to be focusing on other then getting home right away. You just got to the first place that could reliably get you the information you need.

[David Silver]

10832129
Jon isn't the one trying to get home. But he is trying to be a bud to Zecora.

[Earthpatriot117]

Depends how much it costs, I dont know the exact amount of coin they have, but since theres a good possibility that she may be the real thing, it wouldnt hurt I suppose. That's my thoughts anyway. Xd

[Booster Spice]

Information is information. Depends on if you just want to take the words directly, or what they mean around you also?

That, and the number of times our GM has had to pull street vendor outa his ass cos one of our party was trigger happy and scragged the adventure start entity for a bit of cash.

[geomease]

Not sure if this bit was Jon’s ignorance shining through but I feel I should point out that the term ‘gypsy’ is actually a derogatory slur against the Romani people.

[David Silver]

10833498
Jon is an average American White Dude. He is so not thinking about that.

[geomease]

10833546

Yeah I kinda got that vibe that that was the reason, since you’re above average on catching or avoiding such things as a writer based on your other works.

So far this story is pretty good. Is it going to have any significant tie in with your others?

[David Silver]

10833596
It's in the same universe. Twilight ran into Everglow earlier. The CMC have visited it. Apple Bloom runs into it AGAIN later, oh no! (that story is in progress!)

[cloudchaser pony]

I would definitely listen to what she has to say as those in her profession are wise in ways different than The pretenders and it is easy to tell which is which