"...and you'd have sworn she was angrier about the damage to our raiment than the damage to our troops!" said Megan, as they crossed the last hex boundary and entered Ponyville.
"Are dollamancers really like that?" asked Twilight. "End of the line, by the way."
Megan hopped off, walking next to the Foolamancer instead. "Not all dollamancers. Ours, yes, but I once met one who -"
A passing pink pony took one look at the two of them, leapt into the air with a loud gasp, and instantly fled.
Megan and Twilight stared. "It's never a good sign when your side's Predictamancer does that, is it?" asked Twilight.
"It's hard to tell, with her," said Megan. "I've never managed to understand a single thing she does."
"Well," said Twilight, sounding nervous. "Shall we manage the city?"
"It's been a long journey," replied Megan, "but I guess we'd better get it done."
"I'll extend my spell to translate for other ponies as well," said Twilight, "as long as I can understand them..."
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"Well howdy doo, folks, and welcome to Ponyville's premier apple orchards! Or Sweet Apple Acres, as I like to call them." The bright orange mount vigorously shook Twilight's hoof. "And you can call me Applejack."
"Yes, um, quite," said Twilight. "What sort of output are you getting here?"
"Well, I've only been here a couple of turns," said Applejack. "But a little bit of dirtamancy goes a long way. I've put in a new irrigation system, fixed up the farmhouse, enriched the soil... we should be producing enough apples in here to halve the upkeep of every unit in the city!"
"Wow," said Megan. "That's incredible."
"Say what?" asked Applejack, momentarily taken aback. "How long have you been able to understand me?"
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"Heeeeeeey!" called out a blue flying mount with a distinctive rainbow mane. "It's the Rider! And our new caster! I am Rainbow Dash, warlord supreme, and next in line to be chief after Spitfire! Not to mention which, I have the highest move of any unit on our side!"
"You and every other flying warlord," said Megan, frowning.
"Hey, you can understand normal people now?" asked Rainbow, nonplussed. "Heyyyyyyyy, listen, that stuff I was saying back at Cloudsdale, I promise you, I didn't really mean it, I was just -"
"It's Foolamancy," explained Twilight. "She can't understand you, but I can make her hear what I hear."
"Oh. Right. I, er, I knew that."
"So, tell me more about this 'Cloudsdale' place?" asked Twilight.
"Well, we had a bit of a campaign there a few turn ago," explained Rainbow. "They produce Cumuloons - you know, big, puffy white flying units that can take like a dozen riders apiece? Stuff 'em full of archers and you've got a kind of mobile attack platform, and it turned out we had mostly stabbers. But Cumuloons have like one hitpoint each, so I just took a spear from a stabber and in ten seconds flat -"
"If you'll excuse us," said Megan firmly, "we've had a long journey, and we have a city inspection to finish. We'll swap war stories later."
"Sure," said Rainbow, "and this time maybe you'll understand my better ones!"
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"Um... may I ask exactly what it is you're doing here?" asked Twilight, cautiously.
"Not just yet, darling," said the white unicorn. "I'm in the zone, as it were... no... no... no... ah! Yes!" From a procession of green ribbons, she selected one which, to Megan's untrained eye, looked just the same as all the others, and attached it to the wall. "What I am doing," continued the dollamancer, "is adjusting the signamancy of the Tower in order to -"
She stopped as she got her first good look at Twilight.
"Darling, are you going around entirely naked?"
"...is there something the matter with that?" asked Twilight.
"Oh, darling, darling, darling, you must let me show you what a couple of good dollamantic accessories can do for you! I can get you a set of duds by the end of the day, or something a bit more elaborate by this time tomorrow..."
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"And so you're the last warlord in this city?" asked Twilight.
The yellow flying warlord squeaked, covering her head with her wings.
"...and you're shy?"
squeak
"Fluttershy," explained Megan. "Afraid of fighting, but a brilliant tamer of natural allies. I don't think there's an untamed feral within twenty hexes of here."
Twilight sighed. "All right, come on Megan, let's get to our quarters. I think we've seen everything and everypony to meet here."
Megan nodded. "Coming."
Fluttershy gasped. "You can talk to her? Please, I've got to know! What's her favourite ration? Where was she popped? How old is she? Is she really older than Celestia? Can she -"
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"Well, I'm glad that's finally over with," said Twilight, as she closed the door of her and Megan's shared quarters. "I am going to be so glad to get to sleep."
"Yeah, a long journey like that, and then having to meet a whole bunch of people?" agreed Megan. "It was a bit much. Where's the light in this pla-"
The lights abruptly went on, to reveal a considerable crowd of ponies, mostly in party hats, and standing around.
"Hey, Twilight!" called out the bright pink preditcamancer. "SURPRISE!"
The rest of the ponies in the room, except for Twilight, cheered loudly.