//------------------------------// // How Peachy // Story: Reincarnation // by Silver Butcher //------------------------------// Leaf storm sighed as she made her way outside, having wanted to hide away for the day she was less than happy about being drafted into Pinkie's Family Forgiveness Plan. Leaf walked up to Holders Bolder and sat down in front of it, knowing if she just sat long enough Peach would probably appear. "How odd," Peach said as she seemed to suddenly appear next to Leaf "Every other time some creature walks up to the rock they try to touch it when I'm not looking, but you seem to have no desire for it," "I don't feel like being hurled across the skyline," Leaf said simply. "Hm," Peach and Leaf both stared at the rock in silence, Leaf stared silently at the Purple scale on the side of the rock and felt the need to ask. "That scale is all that remains of the Dragon who use to call the Cavern below the castle home," Peach said simply "It's been sealed off but I managed to find a way in, a few of his scales were still laying around and I've been using them in an old Pie family Rock repair recipe," "Oh," Leaf cocked her head as she looked at the scale paste, feeling an odd familiarity with the goo, "My family has an old recipe for rock repair," Leaf muttered "my Pop-pop has it framed in his room since His Pop-pop's pop opened an Antic shop when their family rock farm went bankrupt," "Tragic," Peach said sadly, "Did you ever go visit it?" "My Aunt Smog got the dead to the land when my Granny passed away, she died when my mother was seven months pregnant with me, and My Aunt paved the rock farm and rented the space out as luxury apartments, so no, I never got to see my family's legacy," "I've never seen mine either," Peach said as he gently rubbed Holders Bolder "It caved in on itself and ended up being a deep lake, this rock is all that survived, but by saving it my Great Auntie Pie Pinkie committed the crime of using magic on it, and the words of my Great Granny Pie Limestone say no one must ever touch Holders Bolder, especially those who don't belong to the Pie family, and Magic must never desecrate it," Peach sighed. "So, where is the Pie family?" Leaf questioned. "They have a large plot of land that was once called Appleosa, they only let members of the Pie family in, save for one day where they let new blood visit to help replenish the bloodlines, but once the children are born the new blood is banished," "Yeah, no that's not crazy," Leaf said casually "Probably a normal family practice," "No, my family is a lot, I love them but in the end...my way of life left me in the same position as my Great Auntie Pie," Leaf wanted to ask, but could feel the boundary Peach was already preparing to set up. "Sorry to hear about that," Leaf decided, not wanting to push Peach too far on their first real talk. "I like you," Peach decided "Not a lot of creatures can notice when I don't want to talk about something, and they keep asking about it even when I ask they drop it," "I understand having secrets that you can't share," Leaf said simply. "Thank you," Peach said before going back to staring at Holders Bolder, Leaf joined her, making sure to keep a respectable distance as she did so. "So," Peach said in an attempt to start up a conversation "How did you become Discords assistant?" Leaf turned and Peach immediately shook her head "Ah, I see, some secrets can't be shared," Leaf smiled at Peach before turning back to the Bolder. Leaf wasn't sure how long she had been staring at the rock when Mortamire showed up next to her. "Bonding over a shared love of rocks?" He questioned. "Back away Mortamire," Peach hissed in instant irritation. "You touched the rock," Leaf recognized immediately as she shook her head "Shame upon you Morty, fore shame," "It was an accident," Mortamire cut in "mostly, I just wanted to get a closer look at the scale," "The scale is a bandage, and if you touched someone's bandage they'd tell you to stop touching them, so touching the scale is the same as touching the bolder," Peach said angrily. "Alright, sorry, I'm leaving," Mortamire held up his hands and Leaf got up. "I better leave, he'll just come back if I stay," "What a horrible creature to have crushing on you," Peach said sadly. "I do not have a crush on her," Mortamire called back "It's her delicious knowledge of Equestrian History and the fact that she can channel the Fires of Spike the Dragon," Peach ears perked at that. "You can do what?" She asked with mild interest. "Oh yeah Discord gave me some fire he saved from Spike the Dragon and infused it with my Nirik form, but it also opened me up as a magical conduit so now any magic that has been present in these parts for long periods of time is flowing into me like a sponge," Leaf began walking away and was immediately followed by Peach. "Could I see it?" She asked with interest, "The Dragon Spike was one of the oldest living creatures in history, his scale alone has increased the healing process of Holders Bolder tenfold, if I had some of his actual fire I could distill it down into pure magic and with that, I might actually live to see the rock fully repaired," "Owch, that's some slow healing," Leaf noted before holding up her hoof and summing forth Green flames "I can provide the flames but I'm not entirely sure how exactly to distill literal fire," Peach simply stared at Leaf storms hoof in awe for a moment. "Come back tomorrow," Peach decided "I'll have everything set up and if this works you'll have my eternal gratitude, even if you are only here because my Auntie Pie asked you to aid in her scheme," "I'd be impressed, but you're a Pie so I'd be lying in saying I didn't suspect you knew what I was doing right away," "Regardless I do appreciate you didn't go for a touch, the last create she sent tried to rip the scale off," "It sounds bad when you say it that way," Mortamire called out "I just wanted a little piece was all," "Oh Morty," Leaf shook her head "what are we gonna do with you?" "He's a dam fool," Shiver declared loudly, causing Mortamie to jump slightly as he found Shiver standing next to him, Shiver laughed at Mortamire and Leaf instantly burst into Pink flames. "Oh not again," Leaf groaned as Shiver began wheezing. "Shiver go get medicated, there is no sane reason to laugh at every tiny thing," "Your Pink," He wheezed "Why are you Pink?" Leaf Attmepmted to jump to Shiver with her bouncy power and smack him to stop his laughter, but her ears went flat as she bounded up and a familiar sound filled the air. "Oh I did not just boing," Leaf said irritably as she jumped again, and the sound that followed Pinkie Pie everywhere she bounced sounded out, "I did," Leaf landed and attempted to stop bouncing only to immediately bounce back up, "Help, I can't stop, some creature shut up Shiver or wack me away from the bolder," Leaf regretted her demand as Peach proceeded to light her horn and calmly slam Leaf Down to the ground, "What a bizarre power," Peach said as she looked at the pink flames "I bet my Great Auntie Pie loves it," "She does," Leaf wheezed as Shiver began wailing on the ground as he laughed, "Morty shut him up please," "Come on Shiv," Mortamire said as he picked his friend up like luggage "You coming in for Dinner Leaf," "Once I turn off the Pink," Leaf replied simply only to be picked up in the Magic holding her down. "We have a lot of prep work to go over for the distilling of the flames, I don't usually like eating with others but I have protection spells around the rock so I'll know if anyone tries anything funny," Peach carried Leaf Storm inside and Leaf was about to speak when Peach once again said what Leaf was thinking "I'm aware, but she won't be announcing it until tomorrow so we won't be seeing her until then, and we'll already be on the train by then anyway," "Oh," Leaf took a moment to fully understand what she had just heard "I'm sorry train?" "We'll need a few ingredients to distill the Magic, and most of them need to be fresh so we'll be going to the Crystal Empire, if we leave just before sunrise we should be able to get back just before Midnight," "Oh, man that sounds like so much fun," Mortamire chuckled "I'm sure you and Leaf will have a ton of fun..." "I'll show up an hour earlier than that so long as you force Mortamire to come purely to make him carry everything," Leaf demanded in response to Mortamires mocking laugh. "Deal," Peach said instantly "I'll ask my old Friend Sunflower to lean him to me for the day," "Why did I think I was gonna get away with that?" Mortamire moaned out "You're the Assistant to the flippin' God Chaos, why did I think I could just mock you and not pay for it?" "Well on that note of thinking why did you touch Holders Bolder?" Leaf countered earning a smile from Peach. "You know, I think distilling a Gallon of Magic from your flames will be about enough, don't let that fool you though each drop of pure magic is heavier than a vice," "I hate you both," Mortamire muttered. "Maybe two Gallons just to be safe?" Leaf countered with an evil grin. "Let's met in the middle and make it Three," Peach decided as Mortamires cry of disdain rattled the castle.