//------------------------------// // Chapter 29. Sulfur stew. // Story: The Choice // by Not_available_now //------------------------------// Chapter 29. Sulfur Stew.                     Martin walked through Ponyville alongside Twilight. Since he wasn’t really introduced to Ponyville properly a lot of the ponies ducked behind their stand or ran quickly inside. He paid no attention to it as he got used to this kind of behavior during his time in Canterlot.                     They walked into the ‘Sofas and Quills’ store and up to the counter. “Hi mister Ink. Nice to see you again.” Twilight said to the shaking shop owner.                     He looked closely at Martin and whispered in Twilight’s ear. “Why are you bringing this monster in my shop. He might try to eat my foals.”                     “Oh, he is of no harm.” Twilight said as she looked back at Martin. “Just don’t anger him and all will be fine.”                     The shop keeper stood up, still shaking, and gave them a sheepish smile. “Wh-What can I do for you? Would you like to take a look at my latest shipment of quills?”                     “Normally I would, but today I am here for a sofa. My nice,” She thought a bit about her next words. “friend ruined the couch and I need a new one. So do you have on that matches,” She looked at her checklist. “Type ‘New Equestrian’ and model 2, revision 7?”                     The shop keeper swallowed and pulled out a large book. He started flipping through the pages, looking for the correct sofa. After a few minutes of searching he looked up and showed the page to Twilight. “Is this the one you are looking for, miss Sparkle.”                     “Yes, do you have it in here?” Twilight asked after examining the drawing for a while.                     “I think I do, miss Sparkle, let me take a look.” He says as he turns around and walks into the back.                     Martin, who was waiting near the door, walked over to Twilight. “Why do they only sell quills and sofas here? They can’t possibly make that profitable.”                     “They do somehow and the quills that they sell are very good. If somepony need a quill or a sofa than they go here.” Twilight said.                     The shopkeeper returned without a sofa. “Ï do have the sofa in stock, but today my helpers have their day off. So I can’t move it. You’ll have to wait until they come back.” He said to Twilight, but then he remembered that Martin was standing next to her and started shaking again.                     “That is no problem. I can wait. I will wait for the sofa then,” Twilight extended her hoof and the shopkeeper shook it. “Goodbye.”                     Twilight turned around and started to walk towards the door.                     “Couldn’t I carry the couch back?” Martin said as he looked at the size of the common sofa in Equestria. It was a bit smaller than a normal one on Earth.                     The shopkeeper looked at Martin and then thought about the wellbeing of his sofas. “S-Sure, you could do that,” He pointed towards the back of the shop. “Follow me.”                     Martin followed and came out carrying a sofa on his back.                         Spike heard a bonk coming from the front door and left his pans and pots for what they were. He opened the door and got a face full of couch.                     He spat out a couple of feathers and was finally able to talk. “Why is there a couch in my face?”                     Martin put down the couch next to him. “Could you get out of the way?”                     Spike snorted and kept standing there.                     Martin rolled his eyes. “Please.”                     Spike smiled and stepped out of the way. Martin dragged the couch into the living room and put it in the spot of the last one, right in the middle of a destroyed floor. He wiped the sweat of his brow and puffed out a puff of air. Twilight came through of the door, carrying a couple bags of groceries, and sat down on the couch.                     “Thank you for helping me move that couch. If I would have to wait until it was delivered that I would have to read books on the floor and that would leave me  behind on my schedule and then the princess  the princess would get angry and then she would send me  back to magic kindergarten.” Twilight’s mane got a bit disheveled and her eye twitched once. “But that won’t happen because of the couch.” Her mane got back to normal and so did her eye. She grabbed a book form her saddlebags and started reading.                     “Is she always like this?” Martin asked Spike as he moved the couch just a bit so that it would be in the right spot.                     “Most of the time.” Spike said as he walked back to the kitchen. Martin, having nothing to do, followed him. “But only when she’s got to hand in an assignment.”                     “Ah, and when does she have assignments?” Martin asked as he sniffed at something that was in one of the pots. It smelled like rotten eggs. “And what is that smell?”                     “She always has assignments and that is sulfur stew, it’s my lunch.” Spike said as he tasted the stew. “Needs a bit more pepper.” He added the pepper and put the lid back on the pan.                     “Are you making anything for us too?” Martin asked as he looked in some of the other pots, finding nothing in them.                     “Uhm…” Spike said as he scratched his chin. “No, I don’t think so.”                     Martin looked expectantly at him.                     “Ooh, you want some lunch too. Sure, I’ll some it for you.” He started grabbing various plates and pans. “What would you like?”                     “Just some bread would be fine.” Martin said.                     “Then you’re a lot easier than Twilight. You should see some of the request that she gives me. She even gave me a blueprint for the perfect daffodil sandwich and if it’s even a couple of millimeters out of place she’ll scoff at me and order a new one.” Spike said while pointing to a blueprint that laid in a drawer next to Spike.                     Martin picked up the blueprint and looked at it. It looked quite similar to something he had seen before.