//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: Party in Town // Story: Rise of the Runelords: Burnt Offerings // by redtau //------------------------------// It felt like they had been walking down the road for days, even if it had been only a couple of hours. They had been lucky to find the road in the first place, stumbling inland from the cliff until they crossed it. Fluttershy had wisely stopped a passing bird and asked directions, enjoying that she could understand the animals even in this world. While the town may have only been a short way away by the bird, Twilight was beginning to feel blisters form on the bottoms of her feet. They came round a bend in the road and she smiled. There, just up the road a little farther, were the town walls. The gates were wide open and even from this distance Twilight could see a great number of people moving about. "OOOOH! I'm going to meet so many new ponies!" Pinkie Pie said, bouncing with excitement. "Hey! I just realize that we will be the new ponies in town! Do you think they will throw us a party? Maybe there is a party thrower in town like me!" Twilight flinched at the thought of two Pinkie Pies, memories of the mirror pool incident flashing in her mind. "They're called people Pinkie, not ponies, and I don't think there is going to be a party." Twilight ground her teeth and glared Pinkie into silence as they passed through the open gate. Inside the town was a massive festival. Streamers, banners, and balloons seem tied to any building that didn't run away fast enough, and the sights and sounds of a party filled the air. People chatted amiably as they walked around, children with butterfly face paint ran past playing tag. Pinkie kept flicking her head back and forth so fast she was getting dizzy, uncertain what to do first! "Hello there!" A friendly street vendor called to them, waving them his cart stuffed high with buns of some sort. "Here for the Swallowtail Festival?" "Yes," Rarity said, instantly turning the charm up, "But we also wanted to sell a few items we found out adventuring. Where might we turn a small gem into some money?" The man seemed to consider for a moment before pointing down the road. "Maver Kesk the jeweler is just down down the way a few doors on your right. Can't miss it. Come see me again when you're done, I've got the best kolachies in town!" "Thank you sir." Rarity said turning away. Rainbow Dash poked Twilight. "What's a kolachie?" Twilight marveled at Rarity's ability to sit and smile as though she were certain of the result. Maver Kesk had been turning each gem over carefully in a set of tweezers, staring down at it through a jewelers monocle and holding each gem up to a small bright lantern nearby. Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie sat behind Rarity while Rainbow Dash and Applejack were trying to out glare the four burly guards standing just inside the shop. Maver put the last gem down and looked up at Rarity. "I must say that these gems are quite extraordinary miss-" "Rarity," Rarity said, turning up the smile another notch. "Miss Rarity," Maver said. "Their cut and quality are very good, almost too good." He looked over her and her party. "Where did you find them again?" "In some ruins far to the north." Rarity said sweetly. "Mr. Kesk, please, how much are they worth?" "Worth?" He asked, rubbing his chin. "I can give you about five hundred gold for them." "Surely they are worth at least twice that much." Rarity protested sternly, a frown appearing on her features. "I was told you were an honorable man sir. I cannot believe you would cheat a lady like myself or my friends out of their money." "They might be worth twice as much, three times with the right fitting and setting. But that's to the right customer who comes in months from now, and only after I've had a chance to do my work to bring out their beauty." Maver Kesk rubbed his chin again. "I can give you six hundred at most, and only because sales have been good with the festival." Rarity sighed. "I suppose we shall have to accept." Rarity said. Maver picked up the gems and went back to his open safe, returning with six small bags that clinked dully as he set them down before her. "Now, would you be so kind as to direct us to a good place to eat." Sitting at a table in the White Deer inn and tavern just up the road from Kesk's Jewelery, the group each looked at their small bag and sighed. "A hundred bits a piece," Rarity said, "What a strange world where gems are so worthless, I wonder how the man stays in business." "Good afternoon folks," A handsome waiter said, sweeping up to the table, "What will you have today?" "Afternoon?" Applejack asked. "No wonder I'm starving! I've missed breakfast, dinner and lunch!" "That's no good." The waiter said, smiling at Applejack. "A strong, beautiful girl like you shouldn't need to starve yourself! You're fine just the way you are." Applejack blushed at the compliment, looking down at the table. "It's not just her," Rainbow Dash said, "We've all missed breakfast. And dinner last night and lunch!" "What, are you all fashion models?" The waiter asked. Fluttershy followed Applejacks example of blushing furiously and trying to beat the table at a staring contest. "We've been traveling and ran out of supplies." Twilight explained. "What do you recommend to help us catch back up?" The waiter pondered. "Well, it's a bit late in the day, but I'd say we could whip ya'll up some of our specials. It's a breakfast that'll last you till dinner!" The plates came down and instantly Twilight worried there would be a problem. The waffles, hash-browns, and eggs were easily identifiable, but one of the other items was going to cause a stir. "What is this?" Rarity asked, skewering a sausage patty and lifting it up. "It smells wonderful." "Pork sausage." Twilight said miserably. "Pork?" Rarity asked confused. Applejack's fork dropped to his plate, a bite of sausage impaled on the end. "Ya mean, made by pigs?" Applejack asked. Twilight shook her head. "I thought not." She turned her attention to her eggs and hash-browns with a gusto. "I'm sorry girls, I should have mentioned that these bodies are omnivorous." Twilight said sheepishly looking around. She stopped and stared wide eyed at Rainbow Dash as she popped the last of the sausage in her mouth chewed and swallowed. Realizing she was under scrutiny Dash looked at the others. "What? An athlete's diet needs to have a lot of protein in it. Back in Ponyville I'd have some smoked salmon every now and then to help keep up my physique. Honestly I'd prefer it to this stuff but beggars can't be choosers." Rarity sighed. "Fluttershy, I'm so sorry you have to put up with such barbaric-" "I don't mind." Fluttershy said, nibbling at her sausage. "Not you too Fluttershy!" Applejack cried out in dismay. "Oh Applejack, I treat omnivorous creatures back home all the time. I even treat some carnivorous ones. One time I helped a baby snake and his mother brought me half a mouse as thanks. I had to swallow it in front of her too, or I'd hurt her feelings." She smiled, "Besides, where do you think Dashie gets her salmon?" "Well, I don't care if we are om-universe." Applejack said "I ain't eating no sausage." "Though your grammar is atrocious I quite agree with you Applejack." Rarity said as she and Applejack started in on the hash browns. "Omnivorous!" Twilight corrected. "Carnivores eat just meat, herbivores eat just plants, omnivores can eat everything." "I am Pinkie the all consuming!" Pinkie cried out, drawing attention to herself. She had puller her waffle in front of her, topped it with syrup, hash-browns, eggs, sausage, toast, and several spoons of sugar, and was busy sawing a wedge of the horrible mess free and plopped it in her mouth. "OM NOM NOM NOM!" Twilight felt nauseous watching Pinkie eat, though that wasn't a new occurrence. She turned her attention back to Rarity and Applejack, who were shoveling the hash-browns in as fast as they could. "What's in these that makes them so good?" Rarity asked between bites? "Cheese? Onion? Tomato?" "What are these little tan cubes?" Applejack asked. "They are fantastic." "That's ham." Twilight said. Applejack and Rarity stared at each other, mouths stuffed full. Each slowly swallowed. After a long pause Applejack speared a piece of sausage with her fork and brought it to her mouth. "Not. One. Word." She said. Rarity nodded, taking a piece of her own sausage. "Agreed." They finished their meal in silence. The waiter returned and collected the dirty plates. "That was wonderful." Twilight said. "How much do we owe you?" "The specials are fifteen copper apiece." The waiter said, collecting the last of the flatware. Her friends all winced at the price, 90 bits just for them all to eat once. "Don't worry girl, I've got this." Twilght said, pulling the first gold coin out and setting it down. The waiter picked it up. "I'll be right back with your change." He said, running off to the bar. Twilight blinked. "Change?" The waiter returned and set ten small coppery coins before Twilight. "Um, sir?" She asked, confused. "I'm sorry, did you want that in silver?" the waiter asked. "No, it's just... we're from a ways off and aren't familiar with the exchange rate for currency here." "Ah, you probably from up near the elven lands. Their coins are a bit bigger so it's usually eight to one but down here we like things in units of tens so it's ten copper to a silver piece and ten silver to a gold." The waiter frowned. "I hope no one else tried to swindle you." "No, of course not!" Twilight said with a nervous laugh. "Here, for your troubles." She pushed the ten coins back at him and he gracefully accepted. The six friends stared at their little bags in awe. "If one of those copper coins is a bit." Rainbow said. "And there are ten copper bits in a silver one." Rarity added. "And ten silver bits in a gold bit." Pinkie said with a growing smile. "Then Ah'm holding ten thousand bits?!" Applejack asked, staring at the bag in wonder. "WHAT KINDA GEMS DID YOU SELL?!" "The right kind I think!" Rarity responded, not taking her eyes off of the small fortune sitting before her. "We can go get equipment!" Rainbow Dash said happily. "Do I have to?" Fluttershy asked, looking timidly at the dagger Rainbow Dash held out. "I have a staff, I don't really need something like that, do I?" Rainbow huffed. "Yes. If you won't wear something better than that old hide armor, you are going to need something to fend off attackers." Rainbow had her own dagger tucked into a sheath on her new belt, nest to the two strange hooked weapons the salesperson had called kama. "You aren't wearing any armor at all." Fluttershy countered. "Because I don't need any armor. I'm way too fast and that stuff will only slow me down. Besides, I've got more weapons than a long stick." "Honestly darling," Rarity said, swishing her shiny new rapier in a few quick test flicks before sheathing it. "You should have at least something with an edge on it, if only for harvesting herbs. To hear the shop keep talk, we should have all been eaten twice over just for walking down the roads." Fluttershy looked over at the shop keep, a mature woman named Savah who looked like she'd seen some battles in her past, who was talking animatedly to an enthralled Twilight and a worried Applejack. "And then there are the owl bears!" She said. "The size of a bear with an owls sharp beak and a nasty disposition! They-" "What kind of bear?" Twilight asked, looking up from her notes, "A brown or a black bear? And how fast are they? What kind of armor can they cut through? Are they much of a threat?" Savah looked a little miffed at being cut off but answered anyway. "They stand about half again as tall as a man, and are as fast as your average thief, but their claws can cut pretty deep and they can rend a person apart in a matter of minutes. Still, three or four town guard can usually take one down without much trouble." Applejack looked longingly at a beautifully crafted crossbow sitting behind the counter, a strange cartridge and extra gears mounted to it allowing it to reload and fire extremely quickly. The sign bellow named the weapon on Vansaya and listed the price at 2,300 gold. Applejack looked down at the three remaining gold coins she had left and sighed. Fluttershy couldn't believe that Applejack could possibly want more. She already had shiny new scale mail wrapped around her torso, a dagger and short sword hanging off her hips and a light crossbow and about two dozen arrows for it strapped to her back. The former farm pony looked like she could murder a town by turning around too quickly. Sighing, Fluttershy accepted the dagger gingerly and tied it to her belt. Even Twilight had one, though she'd bought little else. Pinkie Pie looked slightly out of place in studded leather armor, a small shield buckled to one arm and a spiked mace called a "mourning star" clenched in her hands. A dagger hung loosely at her belt, and she was rubbing a spot on her backside and wincing. "I though I would be good with a whip, but it must be a snake in disguise because it bit me!" Pinkie said. Finally prying herself free from Twilight's never ending questions, Savah smiled at Rarity and asked "So are you all in town for the festival?" "We are here for more than that, the festival just happened to occur when we got in." Rarity replied. "Actually we are interested in the history of the town, as well as the local sights. Could you give us some good places to see while we are here?" Savah seemed to consider for a moment. "Well......" The day was slipping towards night, and the warm sun had darkened to a bright orange and kissed the horizon as the six friends collapsed onto a picnic table at the edge of the town square. Twilight had four separate notebooks, one for notes on monsters and beasts, one for local history, one for arcane notes and research outside the spell book, and one because she was Princess Twilight Sparkle and she was going to be prepared for anything. Applejack had a large stuffed orange pony under one arm, having won it in a sharpshooting game earlier. Rainbow Dash seemed to be solemn and contemplative, looking into his bowl of stew as though it held all the answers in the world. Rarity was still looking a little irked and Fluttershy was looking ill, not even touching the stew. "This town is crazy!" Twilight said. "Did you see the prices in that bookstore? I could have bought Applejack that ridiculous crossbow for what three of those books would have cost me!" "Ah think he runs the shop more so he has somewhere to stash his collection Twi." Applejack said. "Then why not just turn it into a library?" "Probably worried about what these horrid people would do to the books." Rarity said in a huff. "Probably get them all sticky." "Look, darlin," Applejack said comfortingly, "Ya couldn't have known-" "The Pixie's Kitten?! Who names a place like that The Pixie's Kitten? After the Hagfish bar and the House of Blue Stones temple I thought the place might be a clothing boutique of some kind! The people inside certainly needed more clothes!" "Calm down Rarity," Rainbow Dash said calmly, "Take a deep breath. Remember, this isn't our world, they don't have our customs." "And besides," Pinkie chimed in, "You told me you thought the guy in blue silk pants was cute." "That was before I knew he charged for 'services' by the hour! I mean really, this place has a grand theater house, why would it need that kind of entertainment as well." "Honestly, I'd rather have stayed there than gone to those s-s-stables." Fluttershy said, looking ill again. "How could someone do that to those poor creatures? The sign of one being stomped on was bad enough, but all those ears nailed to the beams!" "Right you are dear," Rarity said, abandoning her own indignation for a moment to come to her friend's aid. "And that horrid man didn't need to drag out that jar after seeing how upset you were. Who keeps a head in a jar anyway?! I should go get the town sheriff and have the man locked up!" "Ah don't think you want to do that." Applejack said, "Ah'm pretty sure Ah saw the sheriff in the Kitten." "Probably talking the owner into shutting the place down." Rarity hissed. Applejack tried to hold back, but she wasn't the bearer of Honesty for nothing. "Naw, the way he was looking at that girl and she was looking at him, ah don't think he was doing any arresting. Looked more like the start of a romantic date." "Hmph!" Rarity turned up her nose at the whole affair. "There might still be handcuffs involved." Pinkie Pie offered, only to get shocked looks from her friends. "What?" "Anyway," Twilight said, pulling the conversation back to more pleasant topics. "We should get a room for the night and then start looking into the town's history, ancient legends about powerful evil wizards, and possibly even employment if we are going to be here a while." "I understand the employment and the legends," Rainbow Dash said, "But why town history?" "Didn't you notice the scars?" Rarity asked. "The temple looks brand new, and a lot of the buildings near it either look new or have had partial repairs. I know they say they just rebuilt the temple, but there is obviously more to it than that." "Not to mention all the cut up beams and pillars all over town." Pinkie added in, pointing to a nearby shop whose awning support had a two foot section marred by old axe blows. "Like this town tried to just erase something that had happened all over." "OK, so something strange is going on." Rainbow Dash said, backing down. "Tomorrow we-" There was a crack of thunder, and everyone in the square fell silent. Twilight and her friends turned to the small stage in the center of the square where and elderly man in ceremonial robes held a small stone aloft. "Ahem!" He said the the gathered crowd. "Thank you. Now, in honor of the Swallowtail Festival-" There was commotion from the back of the crowd, agitated and frightened voices filling the air as people began to move in a panicked fashion. Then someone screamed, and the running started.