//------------------------------// // Vol. 2 Pt. 4 // Story: Pipsqueak the Valiant's Adventure Journal! // by Casca //------------------------------// 24th Honesty, Evening Sun Dear Adventure Journal!, Today Mayor Mare acted kinda funny. We didn’t go out today, we just stayed inside. That was okay I guess because I was kinda tired, because I woke up in the middle of the night because Mayor Mare was talking in her sleep, but I don’t remember what she was saying. I didn’t tell her about it because she looked really tired and cranky and I think she might have been embarrassed. We had cereal for breakfast and Mayor Mare had a lot of coffee. Mayor Mare told me we had to stay here for a while. There’s complications, apparently, which is just a complicated way of saying something bad happened. I asked her what it was and she said she didn’t know either, but whatever it was, she had to fix it first. While Mayor Mare read the newspapers, I tried playing by myself, but it was so boring! So I decided to write a story about pirates and captains, but then I remembered I was supposed to save up on ink. So I asked Mayor Mare if I could have more ink and she said it was okay, and she’d get as much as I need, which was great so now I can write your full name again. Every time I write AJ I think of Apple Bloom’s sister because you two share initials. Actually Applejack is one word so her initials is just A but that’s how everypony says it, AJ, so I guess that’s what it’s like. So I tried to write a story but then Mayor Mare came over and asked me what I was doing. So I got a little embarrassed and said “Nothing” which is kinda a lie I guess but not quite I think because plenty of ponies are always doing something but also “nothing much”, they say so all the time. Then she asked me if I was writing a story and I said no. She tole me that Dinky liked to write stories, and I said yes I’m writing a story. I asked her what kind of stories did Dinky write and she said she didn’t know. Oh well. I miss Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and even Scootaloo. I miss Snails and Snip and Spike. I miss Mummy and I miss Dinky too. It’s so boring by myself, even if I’m on a mission, because we’re not doing anything. 25th Honesty, Setting Sun Dear Adventure Journal!, Today Mayor Mare taught me how to play cards. She said she needed a warm-up partner. Apparently playing cards is a very serious thing because Mayor Mare made me sailor swear that I wouldn’t tell anypony about this and that I wouldn’t ever play cards with anypony except for her. There are fifty-two cards in a deck. There’s the spades, the hearts, the clovers and the diamonds. And there’s numbered ones and a J, a Q, a K and an A, but the A is the last unlike in the alphabet where A is first. A is also the biggest but only sometimes, like in Big Two 2 is bigger than the other numbers, which is weird and doesn’t make sense. I think 10 should be the biggest because it’s the biggest number. I mean J Q and K have pony pictures on them but there’s still only one pony on them, but there are 10 of them on a 10. Mayor Mare taught me how to play poker first, which is the one where I get 2 cards and there are 3 in the middle, and you have to follow if you want to open 2 more cards. I don’t know why Mayor Mare keeps on folding and letting me win though. I just keep following. Poker isn’t very hard but it isn’t very fun either. I like Big Two more, but it’s really hard to hold the cards because there’s so many of them. Because there were only two of us, we had to split the deck in half instead of quarters. Normally it’s played with four ponies. Mayor Mare taught me that for ponies, the best way to hold cards is something called the Venetian Twist which sounds really cool, and looks cool too when Mayor Mare does it. First you stack your cards, and then you push the cards with one hoof so half of them are off the edge of the table. Then you push the cards up with your other hoof, so the bottom one faces you, and then you twist both your ankles so that the cards spread out like a fan. Mayor Mare does it really well and it looks like a peacock’s tail but I keep dropping my cards and my ankles hurt. Anyways, we played cards for the whole day and I won half the games, but that was because Mayor Mare kept on folding in poker. Still, it was better than doing nothing. After dinner, Mayor Mare looked worried and kept on frowning. I asked her if I had done something wrong but she said it wasn’t my fault. I tole her that she had won half the games, but she said something weird. “Breaking even isn’t enough”. What does that mean? Anyways, cards is a cool game. Dinky’s smart so she should be able to learn it quickly and then we could play, but I did promise Mayor Mare that I wouldn’t mention it to anypony, and a sailor always keeps his sailor swears. 27th Honesty, Rising Sun Dear Adventure Journal!, I’m getting worried about Mayor Mare. She’s getting kinda nervous, but still in a cool way. Like, she mutters things to herself but doesn’t sound weird. She trots around the room and keeps on flipping a bit, but she never drops it, and I can’t flip a bit even once. Actually I don’t know how she does it but she keeps on doing it, fast, and it always makes a chink sound. Every morning we have breakfast and then Mayor Mare takes out the cards and plays by herself. It’s not poker and it’s not Big Two. It’s a lot more complicated. There are five piles of five put in a row, and then there are three piles of three, and then two piles of two, and she has five to herself, and the rest is put to one side. And then she opens the top one from each pile and starts moving them around. I asked her what it was called and whether I could learn it. She replied that she didn’t know what it was called, and it was too complicated for me to learn at my age. In fact, she said, it’s too complicated for a lot of adults too. And it sure does look complicated. Just watching her is pretty interesting. I like to try and guess whether the next card she opens is black or red. I guess right quite often. I think something’s wrong. Mayor Mare looks like she needs cheering up. Like that time when Red Jacket’s dad tole him he couldn’t come out to play with us anymore because he had to help with fishing, so then we got some sweets for him at recess and played a little and he got to be captain even though it was Cherry Pip’s turn, which was really nice of her because Whistler doesn’t think girls should be captains so she doesn’t get a turn that much. I asked Mayor Mare what she liked. She asked me what did I mean, which is weird because I thought it was a simple question. So I tole her I meant what does she like and she asked was it about food, and I said that worked too. So she thought about it and said dried cranberries. Then she asked me why I was asking, but I just smiled at her. It should be all right if I just go out for a bit. I mean, as long as I wear my cloak and don’t look at anypony and remember my way back, I should be able to find some. Mayor Mare left me a bit of money in the bottom drawer in case of emergency, and I think that should be enough to get some of those. 30th Honesty, Latenoon Sun Dear Adventure Journal!, Yesterday night was really exciting! It was super scary so I’m not sure if I’d do it again, but it was definitely adventure! Mayor Mare stayed indoors on Rising Sun and only went out yesterday night. So after she had left, I got my things ready and sneaked out. It’s a good thing I remember how to get down from the room. Open the door, lock the door, make one right, then down the stairs until you reach the bottom door. Our apartment opens up to a big road. There were a lot of ponies on the road walking around. They looked a bit happier and there was a lot of talking and laughing, so it was easy to blend in. So I took deep breaths and made myself brave and started walking. I decided that it’d be easier to make my way back if I only walked down one side of the road. For a while, the only shops were clothing stores which were closed. Thinking about it Rarity’s store is a lot bigger and a lot different from the ones here, which look small and cramped. I think it’s because there’s so many other buildings around. There was a shop with a lady pony outside who had a lot of makeup on. She smiled and waved at me but in a kinda sad way. I wanted to ask her if she sold any cranberries but I didn’t think she did and her perfume made my nose itch so I just waved back and moved on. There were a few restaurants which had a lot of ponies, and smelled funny, like the inn we were at in the port. There was a lot of weird sounds coming from them, and it was catchy but also sounded really alien. The only thing I could recognize was the drum but even that didn’t sound like a proper drum. The ponies inside were big and talked loudly and I didn’t want to be seen so I moved on quicker. Then somepony tapped me lightly on the shoulder, except it was a griffon. He smelled like dust and wore a nice suit and necktie, and he took off his mask to talk to me. “Are you lost, child?” he asked me. He had a really deep voice like Big Mac. “What are you doing out alone at this time of night?” I tole him that I was looking for dried cranberries to give a friend. He frowned a little and then said, “Would you like me to help you? There’s a convenience store across the road and down a few blocks, but you might not make it in time. The lights at the crossing are hilariously bad.” I didn’t know lights could be funny, but he seemed nice enough, so I tole him okay. He took me gently though his claws poked at my ribs, and then we actually flew! It wasn’t very high though, and only a little way away. So we went into the convenience store which was nice and lit with white light and I asked the shopkeeper if he had any dried cranberries. He said he did and got me a packet, and tole me that it was twenty remii. I asked him what a remii was. The shopkeeper looked a bit angry, but then the griffon paid for me and then we walked back out. He then asked me if I wanted an ice-cream. I tole him no thanks, I don’t eat ice-cream at night because I might get a tummy ache. He nodded and said so did he. He asked me, “So why are you getting dried cranberries for your friend anyways?” I figured that I shouldn’t tell him too much about Mayor Mare because I remembered we were on a mission, so I just said, “My friend’s upset for some reason, but she likes cranberries, so I got her some.” “She?” he asked and smiled. “Is she your age?” I tole him that she wasn’t, she was a grown mare with a gray mane. “I was hoping for some kind of urban unrequited childhood romance, but okay,” which is really weird because me and Mayor Mare have no romance and she isn’t a child. He seemed kinda disappointed. After we had crossed the road, he asked, “Do you need help getting home?” I tole him it was okay, I lived just down the road. Then he asked, “Say, colt. Are you afraid of me?” He was a nice-looking griffon. I tole him no, not really. “But don’t you know what griffons eat?” he asked. I tole him griffons eat flowers and grass like everypony else does. It’s funny because he should know, he’s a griffon. But then he shook his head and said, “Griffons eat meat. And ponies are meat. Don’t you see?” His expression suddenly became angry. “I could kidnap and eat you even now!” It was funny because his eyes scrunched up so much when he put on his angry expression. I tole him he was being silly because if he wanted to eat me he wouldn’t have helped me buy the cranberries. And griffons weren’t pony-eating monsters anyways. Manticores are, or so I thought, but Fluttershy tole me that not even they are pony-eating monsters. In fact I don’t think anything eats ponies. I sure wouldn’t want to though. So I tole him that there isn’t anything that eats ponies, and probably nothing that eats griffons either. He started to laugh and then he was back to his old self again. He asked me where I was from and I tole him I couldn’t tell him and he said that was fair enough. So then I got home and I was really relieved to be back inside. As soon as I took off my clothes I realized I was sweating alot, so I took a shower and dried myself off. I hope Mayor Mare cheers up when she sees the cranberries. 31st Honesty, Evening Sun Dear Adventure Journal!, I gave Mayor Mare the cranberries this morning! She looked really shocked and asked me where I got these, and I tole her I got it last night from a convenience store. She asked me if that meant I went outside and I tole her yes but I wasn’t alone, a nice griffon took me to the store and helped me cross the road. She asked me if the griffon touched me and I tole her only on the ribs to carry me but that was it. Then she said she needed to sit down somewhere so she did. It was the first time I saw Mayor Mare look like this. It reminded me of Mum. I got worried so I tole her it was okay, I was only out for a bit but I was sorry but I wanted it to be a surprise because surprises cheer ponies up more. After a long while she took the cranberries and said thank you very much, and it was okay, she wasn’t angry, just surprised. I said that was a good thing and then I asked her if she was feeling better. She had a really awkward smile on, but she said yes, and that’s what’s most important. Then she tole me that we’d be leaving Central at last, which is great, because now we’re one step closer to getting home! And I can’t wait to tell Mummy and Dinky all about my adventures! They’ll be so excited!