//------------------------------// // Missing Shade of Red 2.3: Stale Air (Revised) // Story: The Pony Dialogues // by Knowledge //------------------------------// Chapter Context: 1.3: Ei Rikr and Sophia want to register as immigrants. If they don't find housing today, they will return to their camp at night after the pacification spell has worn off. Sophia also wants to talk to Twilight Sparkle about unicorns. The green sun shone brightly about the village of ponies as Ei Rikr and zir daughter Sophia trotted to the town hall. In the streets around them lay a hoofful of ponies who had passed out due to the spell. They would wake soon as their brains adapted to energy vacuum activated by their emotions. Along their journey, the horsefly and zir daughter encountered three mares who had collasped while watering their flowers. Sophia sneezed. "Are you alright, Sophie?" Ei Rikr asked. Sophia tried to respond but started sneezing and coughing violently. Her parent embraced her. "We are flying above this." Warm tears streaked down from Sophia's brown muzzle as she clinged to Ei Rikr. Ei Rikr buzzed zir wings hard. With all zir strength, the horsefly lifted both zir daughter and the book laden saddlebags off the ground. "I should have left those books behind," Ei Rikr commented. Above the pink roofs of the pony village, they escaped the pollen-thick air of the flower gardens. "Can you see a place we can land?" Ei Rikr asked. "Not yet. Too much tears," the unicorn filly replied with much difficulty. "Well, I am going to have to land, so here we go," Ei Rikr flew forward a few dozen meters that ze could managed with zir limited strength. Ze managed a haphazard descent. Sophia was protected from the edges of buildings but the same could not be said for her parent. Once down, Sophia blinked her eyes a few times. "I think I can manage, now." "What happened?" Ei Rikr inquired. Several clicks of fright and worry emanated from zir throat. "The air here is very stale. As we have previously observed, there is no natural ventilation in Equestria or at least in Ponyville. Some ponies were cultivating flowers, which were emitting particulates in significant quantities due to the season. I have a poor history with flowers. [She indicated her crown of blue polka dots before continuing.] I had allergic reaction which you would not understand because you lack histamine as a being made of fire." "You should tell me sooner if the air is bothering you. We will try to avoid flowers in the future," the horsefly said. "I was thinking about pony culture," Sophia lifted her parent's hoof in the direction of a lone mountain off in the distance. Ei Rikr opened and closed zir mouth slowly, chewing this cud of information. Sophia was abandoned in a field of blue flowers in the forest, and now that she has finally returned to her homeland, Sophia was being killed by flowers. The horsefly only wanted zir daughter to be safe and happy. "I am not going to give up!" the horsefly announced to the sky. "Who are you talking to, parent?" Sophia asked. "Oh, the universe, Sophie, the universe." Sophia cocked her head. "You know that the universe does not and cannot care about you or me. It is mostly empty, cold space." "I know, dear, I know," the philosopher replied. "Uh, so where is that town hall." "I think the immigration office is in that round building to your six, if my grasp of ancient horse shoe script is correct," Sophia said. "Oh, that is convenient. I guess the universe must have had pity on me for me to have accidentally landed where I needed to be. I will have to thank it the next time we have a talk." Sophia cocked her head again. "But the universe can't" Ei Rikr shushed her daughter. "It's okay dear, now help me into this building. The building Sophia had indicated was a large round building with several floors called Town Hall. In front of it was a long pink sign, which indicated what office was on what floor. According to Sophia's ability, the sign read the following: Town Hall U: Municipal Representatives of Magistracy of Harmony Magistracy of Magic and Science 301 Magistracy of Friendship 302 Magistracy of Aesthetics 303 Magistracy of the Royals 304 P: Local Services Office of Tourism 201 Office of Animal Care 202 Office of Sports 203 Office of Weather 204 National Services Local Royal Guard 205 Post Office 206 E: Office of the Mayor 101 Municipal Court 102 Office of Education 103 Festivities Hall Office of Festivities 104 Office of Confectioneries and Baked Goods 105 Office of Agriculture 106 N: Office of Immigration Domestic Transfers 001 International Arrivals 002 Municipal Police Offices 003 Jail 004 Sophia had never read a sign before, so it utterly confused her. "This sign says the Office of Immigration, but there is a lot on the sign." "Describe it to me, honey. Perhaps, I can help you figure it out," Ei Rikr suggested more than commanded. Sophia described the sign in as much detail as possible. Ei Rikr contemplated a bit. "I have no idea what the letters before the sections of offices means. but I am pretty sure the digit in the hundreds place indicates the floor and the whole number refers to the office room number. The room we are looking for is 002. What I find interesting is that this culture lists the floors in descending order." "Why is that confusing?" Sophia asked. "If 301 is on the top floor, then its location on the list corresponds where it is in the building. The other way the top floor is on the bottom of the list, which is counter-intuitive." "I never thought of it that way. I guess I have been so used to it being the other way for so long that I was blind to it being any other way." the blind horsefly commented. "We better get out of this air. It should be better in the building." Sophia took the perforated hoof, taking note how large the holes had become over the course of the morning, and guided her parent into the building. Inside Town Hall, the duo were introduce to a high roofed circular enclosure. The walls were pinks and blues, and office doors line each floor. A waxed floor for recreation and events took up most of the ground floor. A stair case led to the upstairs and had a sign near it that read just like the one outside. There were also a few equines milling about carrying stacks of paper up and down stairs between offices. A mare and a stallion who had exited a nearby office walked out and was moving towards them. The mare had a grey mane and a yellowish-grey coat, and the stallion had a grey coat and a black mane. They are less colorful than the other ponies we have seen, especially that rainbow one that had grabbed me, Sophia thought to herself. "Hello there," Ei Rikr addressed the two conversing ponies. The horsefly could not see this but ze could still sense it. "Don't be alarmed, my name is Ever Ruler. I just a peaceful traveler, come to raise my daughter in the land of her people." "Hello," the stallion replied politely. "Pardon me for saying this, but I have never seen your kind before." "I am a horsefly, an endangered species on the continent," Ei Rikr answered. "I have never heard of a horsefly. Have you?" he asked the mare to his side. She shook her head. "Could you excuse us for not introducing ourselves, he and I are feeling out of sorts," the mare said. "My name is Mayor Mare, and I am in charge of Ponyville on behalf of Her Highness, Princess Celestia. This here is Judge Right, the judge of Ponyville." The mare lowered her head so that her muzzle was only a few inches away from the filly's, who didn't mind the invasion of her personal space. "I do not know you. Where are your parents?" "That is Sophia, my daughter," Ei Rikr said on zir daughter's behalf. If they could, they would have taken that as a joke or thought ze had misspoke. The Judge merely blinked. The mayor stared. "I think I am confused." Ei Rikr defended. "I adopted her." "Adopted, never heard that term before. Have you Judge?" the Mayor asked, legitimately perplexed. Judge Right blinked and then promptly explained. "I have. It is a thing some foreigners do. Another adults takes over the responsibility of the parents because they are decease or incompetent. We have a few laws for dealing with foreign dignitaries who are adopted by their monarchs. I am glad we ponies don't need adoption because we all have happy families protected by the princesses." Mayor Mare thought about the Apple family for a moment before she dismissed the thought. "Enough with unpleasant topics like non-equine disharmony. What we really want to know is what is that green sun outside." "Allow me," Ei Rikr offered. Ze gave a brief overview of zir calm spell and its current status as a green sun over the village, which will die out by sunset. "It would make sense," the Judge replied. "I should probably see if any laws had been broken by this horsefly, and you [the mayor] should probably send a report to the Evening Glimmer's office, since this is an act of magic." The judge walked towards a door that said court room, where his office was located. "I should?" the mayor blinked. "I should," she repeated with more certainty. With that, the mayor started walking back into her office with mechanical recognition of her duty. Ei Rikr noticed that the mare was moving. "Wait! I had a question to ask you." The mayor stopped but did not turn around. "I wanted to know where I could find the immigration office." "It is on the non-equine floor below this one," an anonymous earth pony painter said upon a ladder near the entrance. The philosopher thanked the stallion and had Sophia guide zir to the stairs down.