//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Storage upon storages [1] // Story: Band of Bronies // by The Watcher 509 //------------------------------// The two entered the room, finding it surprisingly dark. Plus, Tom felt someone breathing on his back. "Hey, what's with this room? It's strangely creepy..." John said as he cautiously walked forward while still holding his precious cupcake. "I don't know, haven't seen this room in..." Pinkie checked her hoof where a watch somehow appeared attached to it. "seven years. I wonder if this place changed." "Hmm, well we better-" John felt a thin string-like material hit his back "AAAAAAHHHH WEB!" He started slapping the air, hitting the string a few times. "That's not web." Pinkie reached for the string and pulled it, showering the room with light "See? It's just a... Wowza!" What the two saw would surprise even the most stoic guard of Canterlot... or someone that doesn't get surprised easily. As Pinkie turned on the light in the room, they found themselves surrounded by knick-knacks, papers, unimportant history books, and even party props. They also noticed the room was bigger on the inside. "Well this is... unusual," Tom said as he surveyed the room. "this room's full of..." He looked at the stored knick-knacks and props. "junk... useless junk." "Hey, they aren't useless," Pinkie's head popped out of a pile of knick-knacks, her head now adorned with a sombrero with a green strap in the base and a somehow fitting mustache. "they're super useful for costume parties! I wonder why Mr. and Mrs. Cake kept all these in here." "I don't know," He felt a shiver up his spine. "but we better find those blankets quick. I feel like we should linger here too long..." Pinkie dived back into the pile, searching for the blankets and some other stuff, putting the other stuff as herfirst priority, she "swam" deeper. "And who told you that?" a voice digitalized asked. John's head whipped left and right, searching for the source of the voice. Little did he know that the source would be lying on top of the junk, watching the two friends' every move. "Don't fret Johnny ol' boy, just a passerby." "Who are you? Where are you? Are you talking in my head? How do you know my name?" asked Tom, quite irritated by the voice's tone. "Hold on for a second, you still haven't introduced yourself to me. Quite un-gentlemanlike if I do say so m'self." A figured walked down the pile and got closer to John's back. "Why would I need to tell you my name if you already know it?" John glared daggers at absolutely nothing, not bothering to look behind him. "Did I tell you your name?" "Yes you did" "No I didn't." "YES. YOU. DID!" "No I did," The voiced was twelve meters away from John, he sneakily walked closer. He held his hands above John's shoulders and grabbed them. "not." "AAAH!" John's head immediately looked back to be greeted by a smiling red face with glowing white eyes and mouth. Jumping backwards, the "face" revealed itself to be a helmet reminiscent of Deadmau5's own. Looking upon the source, he quickly noted that it was bi-pedal and had a suit on. "What? Am I really that scary?" "Y-you're a human?!" He pointed at the figure. "Not quite, but good guess." "Then what are you?" The figure raised it's hands and lifted one finger and waved it left and right in a "no you don't" fashion. "Ah ah ah, spoilers." John silently growled at the stubborn being in front of him. Pinkie popped out of one of the piles and trotted to John's side, now a Mario shirt added to her apparel. "It seems that the duo is complete, no?" The figure laughed and began circling the two. Pinkie, being her bubbly self, trotted up to him with a smile on her face. "Hello weird bobble-head! Nice to meet you, I'm Pinkie Pie and this is my friend John. We're searching for the blankets Mr. and Mrs. Cake left here. May we please gain entrance, Storage King?" Upon hearing the title 'Storage King', the figure laughed in an uncomfortable manner and wiped the left eye of its helmet as if he was wiping a tear. "S-Storage K-Ki-ahahahaha!" It was practically rolling on the floor now, clutching its sides and a fainted quite quickly. Realizing that the figure just fainted due to air loss, the duo hesitantly walked towards it. The figure suddenly arched its back and the two heard a sharp intake of breath. The figure stood up and stared at them. "So, you want to find the blankets?" The two nodded. "How about a riddle? Walk past the steel, take a pick of the road. Out there you will seal, a bright and happy abode. You cannot escape, a line shall help. You shall hit its nape, a sting shall be felt. A door by three, opened by the scarred. Beyond it flee, to get the reward." "Wait, why do you think we're gonna do this little riddle for you?"Tom said but was greeted by a white eye close to his face. "Cause I have..." He raised his hands revealing... "YOUR CUPCAKE!" "Nooo!" Then suddenly, the figure disappeared. "I'm pretty sure we need to follow that green matted floor." Pinkie said as she gestured a hood towards a path with arrows pointed towards it. "... Arrow-trusting instincts don't fail me now!" And they set off... "-hen he told the bartender that he was the one that committed the theft, which resulted to a big crisis on who is the one stealing from who. The colt then went to his best friend's party to spike the punch with laxati-" "Pinkie," The pink pony looked at John with a questioning glance. "I think we have the first line done." He pointed at four piles of metal that lead to roads and Pinkie looked. 'Walk past the steel.' Pinkie thought. "I think we need to find the pile with the most steel items... Okay, can you distinguish steel from other metals?" "Well, all I know is that it's melting point is... umm, about 1425 to 1540 celsius. Now since we're in a metal pile, there's a chance we might see a- Aha, there it is!" John ran towards a plastic cylinder sticking out of a pile with something metal attached to it. John pulled it out and it revealed itself to be a flamethrower. "Forest Fire, now 1320 to 1630 celsius! Heh, I don't know how a flamethrower can amass that much heat but looks like we're in luck." Pinkie eyed the weapon. "John, what's that? And why doesn't it feel hot, like you said?" She started poking it, trying to feel if it got amy hotter. "Oh, it's a flamethrower, it's a weapon that... well, creates flames. It doesn't feel hot because," He pointed at the nozzle with his index finger. "the flames come out here." "Oh, well that's pretty convenient." She said as she thought of another brilliant plan. "Oh I know, I'll get one metal thing from each of the piles!" She quickly galloped off to get them as John was getting acquainted with the Forest Fire. After about Thirteen minutes, Pinkie has gathered a cup with coins in it, a strange yet fascinating twenty-four inch statue, a pure metal gold club, and a somewhat large sword. She laid them down to the ground and smiled at him. "Here you go Johnny, one of each pile." she beamed at John, somehow wearing more knick-knacks and stuff on her body. Now she has a shirt that has a marking of a certain princess... Yeah, you know what princess I'm talking about; Repunzel from Tangled. "Um Pinkie, why didn't you take out the coins in the cup?" he said as he raised the cup. "Oh, I just left it as it is, it seems more fitting that way." "But wouldn't it hinder the results? Possibly making it longer to melt it? "I have a feeling it wouldn't." He placed the cup next to the others. Feeling that trusting Pinkie would help anyone from anything, and his guts, his small yet trustworthy guts, he turned on the fuel for the flamethrower. "This is gonna be hot..." One facepalm and a few laughs later, the figure looked at the screen and was amused by the events. "Looks like he's having fun," The figure removed the small voice modulator on his neck. Not hindered by digitalization anymore, his voice revealed a masculine yet feminine tone. "... nah, he's just enjoying the inferno. Good for him though." He (as he prefers to be called most of the time) then drank from the cup which held one of the most sweetest concoctions in the galaxy; a Bontilian Jelly Shake. "Didn't I tell you to watch the info? I mean, sure that helped explain why you called me a he, but can't you not say that that was most people call me?" W-well, it seemed a really interesting fact, and I- "Don't sweat it, it's just that I love teasing you," He started pointing at the empty air. "you sound so cute when you try to give out info like that." Moving on, he was watching John burn each individual for about Two minutes or so. He was sitting in front of a hundred screens showing different periods of time and space. "You shouldn't have done that..." "Hello, I'm..." "We gotta stop these- um... What are you called again" "The meaning of life, the universe, and everything is..." "-o what ya want cause a pirate is free..." "I... have a dream..." "Well, looks like I have a long day of Watching ahead of me" "Well, that was fun," John set down the flamethrower onto the dry grass. "wait, what the hell?!" Behind him, near a pile of chairs, Pinkie Pie on her haunches and was humming a small tune with a potato chip, a penny, and a tissue as she heard his small outburst. "Something wrong Johnny?" she asked as she stood up and trotted towards John. "You bet there is a problem," He pointed at the gathered metal that he burned earlier, all of them attaining an almost exact same "melt-mark". "they all melted at the same pace and seconds. How're we gonna know which is steel?!." He sighed. "Looks like we aren't gonna get the blankets for 'em... I give up." Pinkie, donning a serious face, briskly trotted in front of John and placed her hooves on both his cheeks and pulled him down to her level. "Looky here Mr. John, a friend doesn't give up on another friend, now we have to sit down and think this through!" Slightly scared of Pinkie, he quickly sat down, staring at the, now seated, mare. Gathering his bearings, he quickly ran through every possible solutions in his head. Re-thinking if he missed something, he recited the riddle in his head several times, making sure to pay close attention to the first line. 'Walk past the steel. Steel...' He eyed the half melted objects in front of him, noticing the cup full of coins. "steel," He looked at the coins. "steel... EUREKA!" Turning to John with a toned down serious face, Pinkie looked at him with a face of hope. "What! Did you figure it out?" "Yes!" "Well, tell me then." Pinkie started poking John in with a smiling face. "It's not like it's super complicated... right?" "No it isn't really complicated. You see, steel is a metal right?" "Yes indeedy." "So, what is the steel he was talking about was the verb? As in, 'to steal some money'." "Money? Ooh, you mean bits." "Yeah, something like that," He pointed at the half-melted cup. "I noticed that this cup full of coins is stealing due to you not really owning it. My completely logical reasoning skills say that we go to the pile where you picked up the cup full of coins." He picked the cup up. "By the way, how did you gather all of them in one trip?" "Oh, some of the, bounced with me." "Uh... what?" "Oi, I though wouldn't give us away lass?" said a grumpy Scottish voice coming from John's hand. John looked over his hand and saw the cup acquire a face with a slightly bushy mustache. "GAH! What the hell?!" The cup fell from John's hand, but quickly stood. "I didn't tell him you were alive, I just told him you bounced with me." "It still doesn't defend yer little back stab, ye did say that I was bouncin'. Wha' kind of cup does that?" "Well, when you attach a string on them..." "... Ye be walkin' a thin line there lassie." "Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait. Let me get this straight, you're a real live cup?" John pointed at the cup "Aye" "And you didn't scream when I was literally melting your face?" "Ye would be surprised what we metal go through before we turn into cups o' pantries." "... Wow," said John as he picked up the cup again. "so, are you the one from the pile we must follow?" "Aye, ye be smarter than ye look." "He is kind of a smarty-pants Mr. Cuppy." said Pinkie as she suddenly lost all of her apparel on her face. "Mister... Cuppy?" "I told ye tha's not me name. It's Kardish DeCuppo, with a K." The cup donned a face of pride. "... So Mr. DeCuppo then?" "Me friends call me Kary. Ye be a wee bit on the stranger side, but ye can call me that." "Okay Kary, should we leave you to your pile or would you like to join us?" "Tha' pile be borin' me to tears lassie, I'd rather join ye and yer... very eccentric friend." "Thanks!" said Pinkie. "Well, okay then. Let's get on the road!" Meanwhile in Golden Oaks Library... "This has to be one of the most interesting books I have ever read in the entirety of-- wait, why am I reading a book?" Roane closed the book and started walking towards the kitchen. "Hey Roane," said a voice inside the kitchen. "you have to try these petals! They're amazing!"