(Tyhpon, Arrival era)
So, I discovered my tablet had a few additional functions.
It could run a... modified version of the 'game', and the camera and drawing apps could give me captchalogue (put in my inventory) ghost images... I explained to Wind Whistler that any single one of the last two was ridiculously useful; both were downright insane. A ghost image was basically locking the card and making it useless as an inventory space, but allowing me to get the captcha-code of the object without physically obtaining it.
With the code, I could make the object, or combine it with another.
I would still need physical cards to perform the process, and the ghost images took up a lot more memory than I'd like, but working around those things wasn't going to be very difficult.
I had no place to settle, so I had to hold off placing the devices - the machines that would allow me to make and combine the objects in my inventory. I just hoped I could get a base of operations soon, because six clean cards, while useful, were not going to be enough if I found something that I'd like to keep.
The Wallet allowed me to put something the size of a building in my inventory, without the usual caveat of being able to physically lift it or such limits. There where others with a similar capacity, yes, but the Wallet was infinitely simpler to use - it was just a wallet; you want to store something, you put it in; you want to retrieve something, you pull it out.
I shared a couple of granola bars with her - after making sure I wrote the code for each type on the Note app - and simply wandered about in the general direction of Cloudsdale.
She... her mood wasn't very... she was clearly upset about something, and after thinking about it for a bit?
"Why were you out here?" I asked.
"Excuse me?"
"Seven and a half miles, while not exactly a long distance for a pegasus, is still quite far to go without a place to go in mind."
"And what makes you believe I did not have a set destination or similar endeavor?" She asked, quite defensively I might add; her ears were pressed back and everything.
"Well, there is nothing here but wide open spaces and some shrubs, you don't have any bags with you nor are you carrying anything, and you admitted to never having traveled to another town. Finding me was a coincidence, I'll bet." I pointed out, trying to make sure she could see I was concerned for her.
She thought about it for a while - half a minute, I'd say.
She took a deep breath, but apparently lost her nerve; she took a second, and unleashed a stream of words that took all of my concentration to follow.
The gist of it was that she was a descendant of Commander Hurricane, though not one of the 'main' branch since her aunt (or somepony like that) was born first... Celestia, in all of her 'wisdom' was making breeding charts and determined that the 'best' match was a stallion named Storm Chaser, who came from a family of really good fliers - the best Hurricane had. Before she reached marriageable age in a few more years, they were to know each other so that the love between them would strengthen and flourish.
Three guesses as to their actual levels of compatibility.
He was, or so she attempted to say, too stubborn, self-centered, incapable of listening, and many other things that she simply utterly hated about him. It didn't help that he treated her just like 'another mare Celestia herself has graced me with' - oh, right, I caught mention of him having another 'appointed' herd-mate previous to her, whom Whistler also hated. Celestia was attempting to 'strengthen the ponies' (merely made me frown, since Discord's stay in power did cause a bit of a mess among the families from many unplanned and nigh-untraceable foals) but, more worryingly, 'increase the Harmony in Equestria'.
I groaned and slapped a palm to my face.
"You can't 'breed' Harmony!" I shouted; my teen-aged brain messing up my emotional control a bit. "Playing matchmaker is one thing, but you can't make a pony love another!"
Wind Whistler... she was smart, observant, and simply had a different idea of what she wanted in life. The other mare was fine with Storm, they were much more compatible, but that just made the clash with Whistler worse; Wind Whistler liked being heard when she spoke, while Storm Chaser hated the topics she talked about, a sentiment which was reciprocated; the three of them could be friends at best, but there simply was no way Whistler was going to trust Chaser enough to actually marry him.
The problem was that Celestia was seen as the next best thing to a goddess they could have, and utterly incapable of doing wrong. At the least she discouraged them from thinking she was an actual goddess...
"That is quite the mistake." I said.
"Oh, but she said..." Whistler started, but trailed off for a moment. Then her eyes widened dramatically.
She remembered what she had told me a short while ago.
"She... she said that I would not have to worry about mistakes... but, but I just said that bad ponies..." She had a world-shaking revelation, so I wasted no time in hugging her and comforting her like she had done to me.
Ponies are really small compared to humans, even in my pre-growth-spurt state; I had no trouble picking her up like a baby.
"Breathe deeply." I encouraged her. "Hold it for two seconds, then release... just like that, now, in... out... yes! Like that!"
I spoke as soothingly as I could, rocking her gently.
Eventually, she regained a normal breathing rhythm. I earned two levels, becoming a 'Breath-Saver' and gaining a little over a hundred bits, plus other things.
Her revelation earned her a level, curiously enough, reaching the 'Wide-Eyed Filly' rung in her ladder. She got fifty bits.
Only I was the official player, but everything and everyone around me could gain a level, it seemed.
Still, now I had an arranged marriage to ruin.
I was going to have so much fun!