Loose Change
Grand Plan skittered around the corner of the building, panting heavily. He was sure she was on to him. He peeked his head around the corner, looking for that tell tale shimmer. Left, right, nothing. He let out a sigh and retreated back into the shadows.
How had it come to this? The scheme was meant to be flawless, foolproof, he should have been rich, famous, spoken of in the same breath as the Flim Flam Brothers. Ok, maybe not like that, but still, anything but his current predicament.
He peeked out again, looked clear-wait! What was that? A shimmer in the corner of his vision set him running again, squeezing through the back alley, trying to get away. He dashed out from between the buildings and sprinted across the street. Left, left, right, there! Grand Plan dove into the shadows behind the bakery.
He needed a new scheme, and quick, one that could make a lot of bits in a short time. A very short time. What was that? The sound of hooves? He looked around, nothing out of the ordinary.
Suddenly there was a little shimmer in the corner of his eye and he felt a hoof on his back. A voice whispered in his ear,
“Where’s my money?”
Grand Plan let out a squeal like a filly as he jumped up in the air, almost peeking in the first floor window of the bakery at the apex of his jump. He clattered back to the ground in a pile of hooves. Raising his head he looked up at the newcomer.
They had a crystalline cyan coat covering them, shimmering even in the dim light behind the bakery, with a softer cyan mane tumbling down to their knees. Their matching tail seemed to drag on the floor it was so long but Grand Plan’s eyes were draw back up to their face, and the prismatic red eyes that stared down at him.
“Where’s my money?” they repeated, taking a step forward, the muscles in their foreleg flexing, causing the light to ripple through their crystal coat.
“L-L-Loose Change,” he stuttered, eyes flicking to the crystal pony’s cutie mark, a pile of gold bits, “s-s-so good to see you,”
The crystal pony was only of average height, but seemed to tower over him as she stepped forward again.
“Where. Is. My. Money?”
Grand Plan gulped, backing up, “I, uhh, I don’t have it Loose,” he squeaked at the glare from those red eyes, “n-not on me, but I can get it to you soon.”
Loose Change stared at him, then her serious face brightened up, “Okie dokie lokie,” she said, a smile on her face, “See you tomorrow Grand Plan.”
She trotted away from the stunned pony cowering on the floor, stepping towards the sunlit street. As the sun shimmered off of her crystal coat she turned back towards Grand Plan,
“Better have my money tomorrow.”
---
Potato Jewel
Sparks danced before her eyes, the contrast of bright light against dark tools one of the few sights left to her. Relying on instinct and muscle memory the earth pony pulled the white hot metal from the forge, slamming it onto the anvil with a flick of the head.
Her bracelets jangled as she scooped up a hammer with a hoof, transferring the tool to her mouth as she tucked the cold end of the metal under her foreleg. The fuzzy dim surroundings of the forge were suddenly lit by sparks as she slammed the hammer into the metal, redirecting the rebounds to conserve energy.
Her ears were still good and she listened to the ring of the metal and the jangle of bracelets as she shaped the metal, shuffling her foreleg to twist the bar around, helping it take shape. When the glow had faded enough that she couldn’t see the metal she swapped things around again, manoeuvring the metal back into the forge to reheat.
The play of light and dark continued, the symphony or ringing and jangling playing about her as she worked, muscles aching in a familiar pattern. That was how she knew she was close, as her sight had been burnt out by the forge she had come to rely on other tells, the sound if the metal, the burning in her muscles, the feel of the bar as it bent around the anvil.
She was at her limit now, and the glow was fading again. With a quick touch, the felt out the shape of her work, matching the curves to her memory of how this looked. Pulling back a slightly singed hoof and smelling the tell-tale scent of smouldering purple hair she smiled slightly. All done.
With one more spin of the bar she quenched the metal in a trough of oil then swung the bar back to the forge, heating the joining point between tool and product. One last toss of the head brought it back to the anvil, a series of taps broke it off the bar.
She heard little hoofsteps entering her forge, a smile spreading across her face.
“Auntie? Are you in here?” the small voice called out, drawing the forgemare’s blurry gaze as she swung her head round to face the voice.
“Broccoli Field, your timing continues to be perfect,” she scooped up the piece of metal she had been working on and trotted towards the voice.
A second, deeper voice drew her eyes to the dark corners of her vision, “Ahh, Potato, have ye finished?”
She nodded her head and set the piece down,, “one ploughshare, as requested.”
“Potato Jewel ye are a gem.”
The forgemare nodded, remembering the lines of the stallion’s face she could no longer see, how his eyes crinkled with his smile. It had been a long time since she had seen her brother’s face clearly, and her sight had been too far gone to get a good luck at her niece’s smile.
“c’mon Broccoli, we can get back te work with this.”
She heard her brother trot over to his daughter and give her a little bump to spur her into motion. She instead ran over to Potato Jewel and threw her forelegs around the older mare.
“bye bye Auntie,” she said, then whispered i to her ear, “I wanna forge stuff like you.”
A sad smile spread across the purple mare’s face, “ahh child, but there is such a price.”
Then she was gone, just hoofbeats that tapered away as the smudges that were her family left the forge.
Sniffing slightly, Potato Jewel turned back to the forge, throwing more fuel in and staking the blaze, staring back into the light. Another bracelet perhaps, something to keep her busy and to keep the light in her eyes. It would be for Broccoli, so she would hear her niece coming.
---
Iridescent Vapour
“Of course, it’s the perfect opportunity!” the magenta pegasus fluttered across the room, “at last I will have revenge!”
“Vape,” a blue pegasus followed, “I don’t think this is the time. She’s just here to sample cake.”
“She impugned my honour,” the pegasus, Iridescent Vapour, passed by a table covered in bowls of glowing sprinkles that matched the ones on their flanks, “she took my eye!”
“you don’t think the literal neon sprinkles had something to do with that?”
Iridescent Vapour whirled around to stare at the other pony, their left eye pale and milky, their azure right eye full of anger. They dropped to the ground and stomped back across the floor, their platinum mane falling to the side over their blind eye.
“It. Was. Her. Fault.” Each word was punctuated with a hoof poke into the other pegasus’ chest, “you’re supposed to be on my side Oasis.”
“I am Vape,” Oasis Brook pushed the poking hoof down to the floor, “I am, but, she takes that cannon everywhere... Somehow. I don’t think you being surprised by it really means what happened was her fault.”
Tears welled up in Iridescent Vapour’s eyes before they whirled around again and continued their path back to the other side of the room.
They reached a pair of double doors and wrapped their hooves around the handles, throwing themselves backwards with a beat of their wings. The doors swung open and Oasis’ mouth dropped open.
“By the pits of Tartarus Vape, what is all this?”
Behind the doors was the largest collection of weapons the blue pegasus had seen outside of a museum. There were knifes of all descriptions, and swords, from a Horstrian dueling sabre to a Zebra gladius. Exotic weapons decorated the edges, a Saddle Arabian patar here, a pair of Neighponese nunchaku there. There were even firearms of various sizes including some large battle saddle mounted ones.
Iridescent Vapour scrabbled in one corner of the horde of weapons, trying to grab something out, “it’s my collection Oasis, now, let me just...” they pulled hard and something came loose.
Oasis’ eyes bulged, “is that a cannon?!”
A smile spread across the other pegasus’ face as they wheeled the cannon across the floor, “it surely is. It’s the perfect response, turnabout is fair play afterall.”
Grabbing the cannon in their hooves, Iridescent Vapour flapped their wings and lifted the weapon.
“Pinkamina Pie won’t know what hit her.”
Oasis Brook sighed, shaking their head. While they loved their friend they couldn’t see how Iridescent Vapour getting cupcakes topped with glowing neon sprinkles in their eye was necessarily Pinkie Pie’s fault. Even if the surprise party cannon had made the magenta pegasus jump while carrying the tray of cakes. But Iridescent Vapour always got very agitated if Oasis brought it up, it was a touchy subject.
“Revenge will be mine!”
The blue pegasus followed their fixated friend out of the room, resolving to make sure they didn’t put their other eye out with this stunt
---
Prompts used;
Loose Change
Your new character is a crystal pony.
Your character is a female adult, and her cutie mark is themed around a pile of bits.
She is of average height, with a burly figure. Her scraggly mane is knee-length, while her tail is floor-length.
She has long fetlocks.
She has no quirks, oddities or physical deformities.
Her colour pallet is (Red) (Cyan) (Soft Cyan)
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Potato Jewel
Your new character is an earth pony. Your character identifies as female, and her name is Potato Jewel. Potato Jewel is of average height, while having a serpentine figure.
She is mostly blind in both of her eyes.
She has a collection of bracelets.
Her personality can be described as powerful. Her cutie mark is themed around forging tools.
Her pallete looks something like this; (light purple) (blue) (dark purple) (green-cyan)
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Iridescent Vapour
Your new character is a pegasus. Your character identifies as non-binary, and their name is Iridescent Vapour. Iridescent Vapour is of average height, while having a small figure.
They are partially blind in one of their eyes. They have a secret collection of weapons.
Their personality can be described as touchy. Their cutie mark is themed around making sprinkles.
Their pallet looks something like this; (Magenta) (Platinum) (Azure)
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Generate your own prompt at: https://perchance.org/mlp-oc-generator