“There she is.” Highfether said like a proud dad. “We never officially named this island due to its low population but the locals called it The Outpost. Not very creative, I know, but the island itself is nice.”
“Wow, it's large.” I said looking over the island. We had gotten closer now so we could see the entirety of the land.
“There’s a smaller island off to the side, can we land there?” Camden asked Highfether. “It would be unwise to try and start living on the larger island.”
“Why is that?” Highfether asked, he almost sounded offended.
“It’s how we operate.” Nyjill added in. “When taking a new area we like to start with a smaller location to make into our base of operations.”
“Humans can be very paranoid. Our experience with Zombies hasn't helped.” Matthew agreed. “With somewhere we can call home, a safe spot of sorts, we can work much more efficiently.”
“How could you possibly know this?” Luna asked the group. “Sure you had to travel and reestablish with the outbreak but you talk as if you’ve done this hundreds of times.”
“We have...in a way.” Cody started. “Remember computers? And the games on them is how we all became friends. Well one such game was called Minecraft.”
“It's a game where you start with nothing and you basically conquer the land.” I finished. “We played an ungodly amount of it so we have a system that we are used to. Though we never used it till the apocalypse. It proves quite effective though.”
“You conquer land for fun?” Highfether asked incredulously. “What kind of crazy world do you come from?”
“Well it’s much easier in Minecraft because everything is measured in cubic yards. Two of which would be as tall as I am.” Camden pointed out. “But there were lots of games of that type we played.”
“Oddly enough most of them had to do with zombies…” Matthew added.
“Yah, it was kinda weird that the zombie theme was so popular before the outbreak.” Nyjill said absentmindedly. “I figured someone loved zombies so much they made one.”
“Anyhow, most of the games we got so close with were based around starting with nothing and making your mark on the area.” I said. “So, like we said before, can we land on the smaller island please? I promise we will get to the rest later.”
“I suppose.” Highfether said. “You people are strange.”
And with that nice little conversation we were on our way down. Highfether was telling us all about the larger island since we weren’t going to see it till later. He said the smaller island was home to the Griffin that oversaw the island as an outpost. So there was a house already there. But the larger island had some mines already started and an abundance of trees. It had good output of resources but it was just too far to justify exporting it. So the griffins that lived there just lived day to day. It was the same economics of a small village with no unifying currency. Interesting, sad that we ruined it, but now it's ours...or will be soon. He finished his spiel as we “landed”.
“So here we are at Outpost.” Highfether said. “Let’s take a quick tour before we get into other matters.”
“Sounds good to me.” I said getting a nod from my group.
We “landed” in the water and crossed to the beach on a ramp lowered from the side of the ship. The house was close by but we took a stroll around the perimeter of the island. Highfether pointed out another small mine on this island, a spring where we could get fresh water, an area that the previous griffins had started logging to build his house, and finally the house itself once we rounded the island. It was much smaller, taking only a little over two hours to stroll around. But it was nice to see everything and get a feel for the island.
“Alright, let's move to the house to discuss the legal parts of this transaction.” Highfether said walking to the house. It was a two story house, mainly consisting of wood with a roof made from individually carved shingle type slabs.
“O goody.” Celestia said. Couldn't really tell if she was actually excited or was being sarcastic…
“Here comes the loan.” Nyjill said. “Other than the island we don't have much collateral, the interest is going to be through the roof.”
“And I’m pretty sure our Celestia is a loan shark.” I said back jokingly. “Good thing it takes her a few days to get here.”
“I could get here in a matter of hours thank you very much.” She said without turning around.
“And I can get in your head every night.” Luna said turning and smiling innocently.
“We’re fucked.” Matthew said unceremoniously.
“Lets try and butter them up before we get to all that.” I fake whispered to my group.
“Celestia you’re mane is looking extra ethereal today. And your complexion outshines your own sun.” Cody said.
“And Luna, your brilliance is all it's own. You eclipse your own sister.” I kiss-assed.
“O my Luna, I do believe they are kind people.” Celestia said.
“Indeed sister.” Luna said through a light blush. “Perhaps we should go easier on them than we originally intended.”
“Score!” Nyjill said quietly, pumping his fist.
We entered the reasonably sized house. It was definitely the house of someone in charge of everyone around him. The woodwork was beautiful but the furnishing was sparse, I guess he took everything he could when he left, no surprise there. On the first floor there was the foyer that we entered from running to the center of the house. On the left was a parlor of sorts with a bar built into the far corner, to the right was a kitchen two good sized storage areas, presumably for food. Further down the hall on the left was a spacious living room and to the right at the end were steps to go to the second floor. Adjacent to the living room was the dining room, and connecting the dining room and the kitchen was a short hall that traveled under the steps. The ceilings were ten feet up and the doors were seven, designed for fome flying I assumed. We walked through the kitchen into the dining room to have our meeting. Celestia magiced up a table and chairs for us to all sit.
“I will be using an auto-writing quill to speed things along. This will all be documented. Is that ok with everyone?” Celestia asked, to which we all nodded in return. “Good, here we go. I Celestia, along with Luna will be representing Equestria. We will be backing Shawn and the Humans of Earth in the purchase of these islands from King Highfether, who is representing Griffonia. Does everyone agree so far?”
“Agreed.” We all said in turn. I knew I was the spokesperson for our group but I didn't think it was this serious. Figured it was more of like buying a house with me being the buyer and the rest being co-buyers. Not that I was basically representing Earth.
“Shawn, would you like to express the reason for the purchase of these islands so we can agree to or decline your proposal?” Celestia asked.
“Yes.” I started nervously. “Me and my group have come from a different world that is no longer safe for our people. We have sought out this world for a new beginning, and have been approved to proceed with the transfer of our race. The next step is to secure land for our people, so we have asked if Equestria could back us in the purchase of these islands.” Not bad for pulling this out of my ass right?
“We have heard your proposal and we agree to it.” Celestia said with no hesitation. “Does the representative of Griffonia, King Highfether, agree to sell these lands to Shawn and the Humans via Equestria?”
“These terms are fine with me.” He said slightly more laxed than us.
“Then we will proceed.” Celestia said. What is the size and location of the island that will be sold to Shawn and the Humans?”
“The first island is one-hundred and twelve square miles at co-ordnance 38.889964, -77.009182. The second is three square miles at the co-ordnance 38.887643, -77.006178 .” He replied.
“How much will you be selling the island for?” Celestia asked.
“The cost will be one-thousand bits per acre, the island is seventy-three thousand six hundred acres. So the total cost would be seventy-three million, six hundred thousand bits, but I’ll knock it down to seventy million bits for you guys.” He said nonchalantly. I had to keep myself from just about shitting myself then and there.
“A reasonable price, we accept.” Celestia said smiling. She looked to me. “Do Shawn and the Humans agree as well?”
“Yes, we agree upon the price stated for the land offered.” I said still trying to not shit myself. It would take our whole lives to pay this off, maybe longer!
“Then the deal is made.” Celestia said disabling her note taking quill. “Now, Highfether will sign here, Shawn will sign here, the rest of his group will sign here, and my sister and I will sign here.” She said pointing at each area with a quill.
We all signed in the paces we were told to on the long legal document. Highfether was selling the land, I was buying it with my group, and Celestia and Luna were backing us with Equestria’s money.
“There, the land is now yours.” Celestia said while magically copying the document into three and giving each party a copy. We got the original so that was cool.
“Now we talk about how you will pay us back.” Luna said with a sly grin.
“Mommy.” Nyjill whined.
“O stop it Luna.” Celestia chided. “But she is correct, we need legally binding paperwork on that as well.”
“It's understandable.” I said sighing. “I knew buying an island would be expensive but I did not expect seventy million! By the way, what is the price for something like an apple, gallon of milk, and other day to day items?”
“Well, an apple from Applejack’s farm is two bits, a gallon of milk runs around five bits, and a hay burger, hay fries, and drink meal from a restaurant averages around 8 bits.” Celestia explained. “Are you trying to get a grasp on what our currency is worth compared to yours?”
“Exactly. And it seems like it's just about the same from dollar to bit.” Camden said somewhat morose. “That means we need to pay Equestria seventy million dollars.”
“About how long will we have to do so?” Matthew asked.
“O, let’s say two hundred years will be your deadline.” Celestia said smiling.
“So it's the problem our kids can deal with.” Cody said smiling.
“Just like it was on Earth. Hey, we destroyed the economy and now we’re retiring...have fun with that.” I joked.
“Well, I think that is doable.” Nyjill said. “If we get established and start rebuilding our infrastructure we could generate plenty of income .”
“And without a deadline staring us down it should be much less stressful.” Matthew added.
“Good, I already have the paperwork drawn up so if you will just read and sign it we can be on our way.” Celestia said.
We agreed and read over the document before signing, just because. It was the best loan I have ever taken. No interest, a deadline set after my death, and for seventy million bits! Can I take more than one?
“By the way, what will you call these islands now?” Highfether said.
“I am also curious.” Luna added.
“Well, we figured what better way to keep the spirit of Earth and humanity alive than naming its new home something unoriginal and in a long dead language.” I said smiling. “We agreed on Paulo Fragmen Terra, or Terra for short.”
“What does it mean?” Celestia asked.
“‘Little Piece of Earth’ in Latin.” I answered.