• Published 13th May 2015
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My Little Fortress: Shadytrails - PersonalGamer



Set 30 years before the founding of Dawnpick, Shadytrails is a newly-established trading outpost run by the Prestigious Confederation, one of the few merchant guilds spanning the gaps between civilizations.

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[36] 24th Malachite, 222

24th Malachite, 222

Later that evening, after finishing with her journal, and stewing her own thoughts some more, Patina heads outside, walks to the house that has been given to Tunda, and knocks on the zebra’s door.

It doesn't take the zebra mare long to get out of bed and cross the small room to open the door. She gives the little unicorn at her door a lovely smile, not that the expression often leaves her face except to show different degrees of amusement. "Oh hello Patina Dreams, what brings you here beneath my eaves?"

"Hello Tunda, just... err... just a friendly visit to my new neighbor. Are you busy now? Could I come in?" Patina asks, deciding that blurting out her concerns outright would be less than ideal.

Tunda can't turn down a friendly visit, and holds her door open further for the timid mare. "Of course you can enter, and I am not busy. But I warn you there isn't much to see," she jokes, gesturing at the bare, featureless, walls of the one room home.

Patina chuckles, "well, we only just moved in, I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to fill it with all manner of interesting zebra-y things before long."

Patina enters the house and looks around for, at the least, a chair to rest in. Finding none, she instead sits in the floor near the hearth.

The zebra mare gives Patina a funny looks, as she sits her haunches on her bed and pats it next to her. “You don’t need to sit there on the hard floor. I wouldn’t want you telling ponies that as a host, I’m quite poor.”

"Oh... I didn't want to impose. Alright," Patina Dreams moves to sit on the bed next Tunda. "So... how are you liking your new home?" Patina asks.

"It is very cozy I have to say, but could do with a window or two. I can hardly tell when it's night or day!" She answers, chuckling. "How is your new home treating you?"

"Hmm..." Patina hesitates, "I'm... conflicted about it. It's a... nice home, but... I don't understand why I was given it..."

"Hmm...? What is there to not understand? You were with us when we first settled this land."

"Well... I don't feel right about it. I serve Mistress Isolde, I shouldn't have a private room before she does. I... I tried to tell her, but she insisted that I take it... Feels wrong."

That... Is not what Tunda expected, but she can try to comfort the mare regardless. "Do you know when miss Isolde plans to have a place to nest? Or is she being charitable and building houses first for the rest?"

"I don't know when... she did say she had something special in mind for her home. Something in the trees above, after everyone else has a roof... but it still seems so... improper for our leader to be the last to have a place for themselves. I greatly respect that she doesn't want to waste resources on something grand right now... but she should have my house. I don't deserve it."

Tunda is quiet for a moment. "I don't think it's improper for you to have a house, but I want to find some way these concerns to douse."

Patina lays back on her back, "Maybe... I don't know, I'm not from around here. If you don't think Mistress Isolde is acting... strange, maybe I'm just... I don't know, confused I guess. I'll try not to worry about it..."

Tunda lays down as well, but on her belly next to Patina, and folds her forelegs in front of her. "Miss Isolde is acting normally for here, but that doesn't mean you're wrong to have this fear. Perhaps for her house you could draw up a plan, and ask her to have it built as soon as she can."

Patina scrunches her muzzle in thought for a moment, then nods at the ceiling, "That is, a good idea Tunda. I will do just that."

Patina turns her head to look at Tunda, "You know... I was going to try and talk her out of the treehouse idea. It's terribly impractical... but I think her having a house above the town like that is an interesting idea... I'll start sketching some ideas tonight."

Tunda smiles warmly for the desert-dwelling mare. "A house in a tree would be quite a thing to see. Merchants will see it when they come to town, and leave to tell others about an architect of great renown."

"I hope not," Patina replies without thinking, then seems to think better of it, "I mean, probably not, but it should be nice at least..."

Patina continues rambling on, "with a balcony or two, and large windows to let in the sun... when we get a competent glassmaker. And... the still living tree going right up through her sitting room..."

"It sounds idyllic, though making it will be a trick." Tunda shifts to lay on her side, curling up her braided tail over her hindlegs. "But just remember for when we have a glassmaker or two, I'm sure the rest of us would like windows too," she says lightheartedly.

"Of course," Patina nods, "We planned for that when constructing the walls. They should be quick to install when we can."

Tunda nods, and gives a few moments before changing the topic. "So, I've never met anypony from where you're from, and I'm interested in why to this place you'd come."

Patina frowns briefly, then recovers, "Oh, well, I do love my homeland, and hope to return one day, if the gods are willing, but... well I needed to get away for awhile. Someplace far away. I'd never been this far south and... so I came."

"...When I ran out of money," the gold and jade adorned unicorn says, "I started looking for a wealthy pony to serve, and I found Mistress Isode, and now I'm here."

Thee quick-witted zebra asks the immediate question. "You never sold your gold and gems? Should I guess there was no price high enough for them?"

Patina nods, "I sold what I could part with. These I still have, they belonged to my mother, a fair price for them would not be fair enough. I would not sell them unless my life depended upon it... I am grateful that I found work when I did."

"As am I, my friend. Else you may not have ended up on this land I tend."

"I must admit, settling an entirely new town so far from home... is not what I ever could have imagined I'd be doing with my life."

"I don't mean to twist a knife," Tunda begins, hoping the mare isn't sensitive about this point, since she brought it up. "But what did you expect to do with your life?"

Patina sits up, “I expected my father would arrange a marriage for me, hopefully to a kind stallion like my brother in law, whom he picked for my eldest sister. Then… then I’d be a mother, and continue pursuing my talent as… a hobby more or less.”

“Many fillies dream of becoming a mother and a wife, but would you have been happy living that life?” Tunda asks curiously.

Patina nods, “Yes. Quite happy I believe, but it was not meant to be.”

Tunda rests her head on one of her foreknees. "Perhaps you'll find a stallion here, and have your talent and somepony dear."

“Oh, I do hope so,” Patina says laying on her side now, facing Tunda, “I’m hoping we can attract some nice single stallions as the town expands, not really many good choices right now. Other than Silver Rush, of course but… I think you’ve got dibs on him.”

"Truly, is it that clear to see?" The zebra mare puts a hoof to her muzzle in a display of faux-bashfulness. "It's the oldest romantic story there is: I can't say how he feels about me. So I do not know yet if I can say I have 'dibs'."

“Well, I wish you luck then,” Patina says reaching a hoof to her friend’s hoof, a moment passes, and Patina looks down at Tunda’s hooves.

“Oh, Tunda, look at these… you’ve been working in the fields too long, when was your last hooficure? Don’t answer that,” Patina gets up out of the bed, “Come with me, back to my house, if you are going to impress Silver Rush, we are going to have to pretty you up some more.”

Tunda flips her braided mane with a flick of her head. "I wish you luck, trying to make me more tempting." Regardless, she gets off the bed and makes to follow Patina, happily. "Though I won't object to your attempting."

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