17. Plans
The trio consisting of Crimson, Charity Belle, and Alex returned to the small, tent filled plaza. Belle was excitedly chattering about how amazing the Crystal Kingdom must be, and asked if Alex really, really couldn’t do any magic. Alex once again told her no, only for her to ask him again a few minutes later.
They returned to Dusty, who was patiently waiting for them. As he noticed Belle’s behaviour towards the two newcomers he had to smile. Due to her jovial nature Belle always made fast friends with everyone, and those two were no exception to the rule it seemed. Back when Crimson first showed up at his camp, he was added to her friend list just as fast.
“You seem happy Belle.” Dusty said as they approached him. “Something good happen?”
Belle flashed a smile in his direction.
“Yep!” She said enthusiastically. “They’ll take me to the Crystal Kingdom, where I’ll get to see magic up close!”
“I didn’t agree to take you yet!” Alex said. “Remember, you gotta prove that you’ll be useful first.” He grumbled.
“Oh don’t worry! I’m the best travel companion there is!” Belle said happily, sure that Alex would take her with him.
Alex just rolled his eyes and sat down. Belle and Crimson joined him, on his left and right respectively. Dusty chuckled at Belle’s antics.
“That’s great. I know you always said you wanted to go there one day.” He said. “But it’ll still be sad to see you go. You’ve been here for so long, you’re like a daughter to me.”
He couldn’t help but dip his head in sorrow. It didn’t last long, before he looked at Alex. A knowing glint in his eyes.
“I think you’ll find Belle here, to be an useful addition to your little group.” He said. “I’m sure her special talent will be useful to you. It was for our little group.”
Alex raised an eyebrow at Dusty’s statement, before he looked towards Belle’s flank. Once again his view of her Cutie Mark was obstructed by layers, upon layers of dirt. A bit of white shined through at a few places, but he couldn’t make anything of it. Belle caught his curious gaze. She swiped at the dirt on her flank, displacing the accumulated dirt, and granting Alex his first look at her Cutie Mark.
It was a red cross superimposed on a white heart. Judging by the looks of it, Alex guessed her talent to be something along the lines of medical practice. Having someone along versed in treating ailments would definitely be an advantage. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, so he shot a puzzled gaze to Belle.
She caught his inquisitive gaze and smiled. “My special talent is treating the wounds of the injured!” She exclaimed proudly, puffing out her chest in cute little display.
“Physical and mental, I might add.” Dusty said before he gave a curt nod.
“Well that would be pretty useful.” Alex thought out loud. His eyes widened as he looked towards Belle who was smiling broadly at him. “But that still doesn’t mean I’ll take you along!” He said to her.
Belle just continued to smile, sure of herself. Alex rolled his eyes after a while and looked away.
“So what are we going to do about bits?” Crimson asked, who was silent for the whole exchange. “I have a little bit stashed away in a safe place, but that’s nowhere near enough for three of us.”
Alex’s gaze lingered on the ground as he fell deep in thought. He had tried almost everything in the past few days, and Crimson seemed to suffer from the same problems he did. Getting money would prove to be no simple task for them.
“I have some saved up for emergencies!” Belle exclaimed. “It’s not much, but better than nothing. It’s all yours if you take me along.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Alex, which looked away from her sort of annoyed.
Taking Belle with them sounded more enticing with each passing second. Alex seriously considered whether he should actually do it when Dusty spoke up.
“If you’d take her with you, I’m sure we could give some of our group’s savings towards your travel funds.” He said. “We are a small community, but we look out for each other. If it’s for Belle, I’m sure the others won’t mind.” He added with a smile.
Alex was broadsided by his statement. This would probably solve their financial problem, at least temporarily. He looked towards Crimson to get a second opinion. He nodded to Alex, showing his approval.
“Alright!” He said in a semi annoyed tone. “We’ll take you with us.”
He wanted to say more but his vision was quickly blotted out by a dirty pink coat. Alex wobbled a bit before he reunited with his old friend, the ground, as Belle practically tackled him into it with the bear hug of the century.
“Thank you!” She repeated over and over, tears of joy forming in the corners of her eyes.
Dusty and several other ponies looked at the scene with smiles on their faces. Even though they lived pretty well for a group of beggars, they still were at the bottom of the barrel. So when they heard that Charity Belle had a chance at a better life, they couldn’t help but feel happy for her.
--------------------------------------
A cloaked pony danced along the shadows of the castle. Its movement’s reflected a cold and calculated mind trained in stealth. The fall of its hoofsteps were made almost inaudible by the silencers on its hooves. The pony moved ever deeper into the castle, avoiding guards, and servants alike. Unseen it made it’s way through a hidden passage, that lead into the throne room.
The throne room was as massive as it was lavish. The ceiling stretched almost a hundred feet upwards, supported by massive columns of blackened stone. A red carpet was laid out along the middle, leading from the massive main doors to a magnificent throne.
The wood used to construct it was painted black, blending in nicely with the color scheme seen throughout the castle. The sigil of the royal family was carved into the high back support. A grain of wheat crossed over a sword, encircled with laurels that were open towards the top.
Countless cushions were placed along the walls, and running perpendicular to the center carpet, providing seating for nobles and peasants alike during the day. Even though no one was present at this time of day, the pony continued to move on in silence, until it stood directly in front of the throne.
It looked around one last time, before stomping a pattern with its hoof. After a few moments a secret door opened up behind the throne, and another pony stepped out.
The pony was a mare who wore a regal looking black robe. Her blue fur shimmered in the moonlight, filtering in through the ceilings high windows. It was complimented by her midnight blue mane, which was styled to perfection. She made her way over to the cloaked pony, who removed its hood before it bowed as deeply.
“High Queen Eventide.” A masculine voice said. “This humble servant appears before you to report on a matter of utmost importance.”
“I hope it's important for your sake.” She answered. Her melodious voice carrying throughout the hall. “For disturbing me at this hour will be punished severely when done for naught.”
She let her statement hang in the air for a few moments, ensuring it was understood, before ordering the stallion to raise his head. His dark blue mane swayed as he got up from the floor, revealing his turquoise fur. The look in his eyes remained serious and unwavering, as he gave his report.
“Madam,” He began. “One of our agents has discovered the location of a class one target. The objective of operation Morning Sun has been found. Requesting further instructions on how to proceed, as per your instructions.”
High Queen Eventides eyes widened in surprise. An evil grin appeared on her face, as the long awaited moment had finally arrived.
“Additionally, there seems to be a unicorn close to her, who claims to be an immortal. He can be captured for examination if you so please.” The cloaked pony added.
“What’s the location of the target?” She asked, ignoring the addendum for now.
“She has been spotted residing with one of the smaller beggar communities within the slums, your highness. At east horizon plaza to be exact.”
Queen Eventide started to cackle, breaking the illusion of her calm and collected self she had maintained up until now. Everything fell right into place.
“Perfect!” She said loudly. “Just Perfect!”
The cloaked pony patiently waited for the Queen to calm down.
“Contact agent Dry Desert, his activation callsign is ‘old coot’.” She ordered. “I want her dead as soon as possible. Tell him to bring me her head.”
“Yes, your majesty!” He responded, while once again bowing.
The Queen turned before walking towards the secret door she came from earlier. “You’re dismissed.” She said casually.
“Ma’am, what about the supposedly immortal pony” The pony asked.
“All unicorns are notorious liars!” She spat, looking over her shoulder. “He’s just as full of shit as every one of them. I don’t care what you do with him. Kill him for all I care! At least there’d be one less of those filthy horners!”
Queen Eventide left the throne room with an air of finality, the stallion remained in his bow until he was sure she had departed. He pulled up his hood again before he departed for the shadows. Intent on executing his orders to perfection.
--------------------------------------
Belle, Crimson, and Alex trotted through the streets of High Rock. They spent the night at the hobo camp, glad to accept their hospitality. Dusty was currently collecting whatever his friends were willing to part with for Alex and his friends adventure.
They were currently approaching the district of town that had the most pegasus activity. Although they were just as hated as the unicorns, they were a bit better off. Mostly because of the couriers branch located in town. Even though pegasi were disliked by the locals, they couldn’t deny the benefit of their services.
Alex got his first good look at the building as they stepped out of an alley. It was a two story building, mostly made of wood. Pegasi could be seen periodically lifting off from the roof, carrying saddlebags or even packages with them. No fancy decorations adorned the outer walls, and if it wasn’t for the couriers logo displayed above the entrance, one could mistake it for just another building. The logo consisted of a single winged envelope superimposed by the letter C.
“This is where we’re going?” Alex asked confused.
“Yup.” Crimson responded.
“But I thought you were kicked out of the couriers?”
“Technically, yes. But I still have some friends here, and even if I didn’t, the storage boxes are open to the public anyways.”
Alex hummed in understanding as the two of them approached the entrance. Alex looked around and furrowed his brows.
“Where’s Belle?” He asked.
“She ran in as soon as we got into view, you didn’t notice?” Crimson said. “She moves pretty fast, I’ll give her that much.”
Alex cursed under his breath. He hadn’t noticed her move away from his side, he must have been to occupied with checking out the building. Knowing her, she’d probably be stirring up trouble inside, so he quickly made his way inside, followed shortly by Crimson.
Sure enough, when they entered a ruckus could be heard to their left. Belle was talking with an olive green pegasus. Or rather she was bombarding the poor mare with tons of questions, at one point even daring to blatantly touch the mare’s wings in wonder. The Pegasus looked obviously uncomfortable, and other patrons started looking towards her with sympathy.
“BELLE!” Alex barked. “Get back here.”
Belle flinched upon hearing Alex’s voice tear through the room. The rest of her body froze, as she turned her head slowly. She flashed him a sheepish smile, but Alex kept a stern look on his face. Her whole body slumped in disappointment, before she slowly made her way towards the duo.
“I’m sorry, if she disturbed you.” He said, looking at the olive pegasus.
“Oh no… It’s, ummm, it’s ok?” She said timidly.
Alex smacked Belle over the head as soon as she got within range and he hissed a silent “Apologize!” towards her.
“I’m sorry.” Belle said, lowering her head while her ears pressed flat to her skull.
The mare simply nodded, overwhelmed by all the attention that was on her. Alex patted Belle on the head a few times, which he found to be infinitely harder to do without hands, careful not to hurt her with his hard hooves.
“Good Girl.”He said to her.
Belle instantly perked back up again at his words. She resumed scrutinizing every inch of the interior she could. Her gaze lingered on the mares wings for an uncomfortable amount of time, but Alex decided to ignore it. Looking never hurt anybody after all.
Alex moved over towards Crimson, followed by Belle. The red pegasus was currently fiddling with a key in front of a small locker. The whole right wall was lined with lockers of various sizes, providing a safe space to store various goods for their owners. He managed to get it open just as they caught up with him.
Inside Alex spotted two small bit bags, most likely holding Crimson’s bits. There was also a canteen for water, and a small first aid kit. He dumped everything into Alex’s saddlebags.
“So how much do you think that is?” Alex asked him.
“Should be around a hundred bits.” He responded. “Give or take.”
They made their way over to the counter, where a sky blue pegasus mare greeted them.
“Hello and welcome to the couriers, how can I help you today.” She said in a pleasant voice.
“I’d like to close my account and turn in my key please.” Crimson told her as he put his key on the counter.
“Very well.” She said with a smile, taking the key and hanging it on a keywall behind her. “Alright let me just get you your twenty bit retainer.” She pulled a small bag out from somewhere under her counter, and pushed it towards Crimson, who placed it inside Alex’s saddlebags.
“Would that be all?” The mare asked.
“Yes.” Crimson responded. “Although, if you should see Cloud Bank, could you tell him that I’m going to the Crystal Kingdom? My name’s Crimson by the way.”
“Will do.” She said while jutting down the info on a scroll, ensuring she wouldn’t forget. “Have a nice day.”
Alex and Crimson responded in kind, before they turned around to leave. Alex had to lightly bump into Belle to cut her out of her daze, but she soon enough followed them outside. They started to make their way back towards the hobo camp while discussing their further plans.
“So Crimson, what’s the best way to get to the Kingdom?” Alex asked.
“Well, the safest and fastest way would be to go there by chariot.” He responded. “There’s several services in town that will take you anywhere if the price is right. But considering the current border situation, it would be best to just go as far as the border, unless we want to leave a hole in our funds. The border isn’t that far away, just two days by chariot, so the price should be manageable.”
Alex hummed in thought.
“Any guesses on how much they're going to charge?”
“Probably too much since we’re not earth ponies, but probably around twenty for you and me, and ten for Belle.”
“I got fifty bits back in my stash.” Belle exclaimed happily. “It’s not much, but I’ve been saving up for a loooong time!”
“Alright, so we’ll take the chariot until we reach the border, and continue on foot from there?” Alex asked.
“Exactly.” Crimson said.
“Okay, that sounds like a plan” Alex said as a foul odor rose into his nose. He had gotten kind of used to it after a while, but now it reminded him of something important.
“Belle.” He said, catching her attention. “You’re gonna have to take a bath before we depart. I’m not spending two days in an enclosed space with you, while you smell like a garbage dump.”
Welcome to the first wednesday chapter! Alex has now been in High Rock for four chapters/ six days which is the longest he's spent in one place(not counting the unconcious time he spent at Vibrants). And they're getting ready to move out again!
Also you get your first look at High Queen Eventide. The current ruler of the Earth Pony tribes. You already know Gold Bar leads the unicorns, while the pegasus leader is an unknown for now. Will you get to see them too at some point? You'll just have to continue reading to find out! 
Hope you had a good read, and feel free to comment!
Once again, thanks to my proofreader/editor Ambros for a job well done!
Todays chapter was brought to you by¨this song. Kinda, sorta fits. I think?
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Nawwww that's mean to poor Belle
Uh-oh... Final boss alert...?
The story pacing feels both slow and red herring-ish, as if the other traveling ponies are red shirts.
The only way i see morning bell surviving is if Alex rolls a 20 to grapple himself onto all of the assassin's blades.
Agent Dry Desert = Dusty the hobo leader.
Good chapter! Damn Queen...
Keep up the good work!
At first Iwanted to say that I don't like her having such an easy time with both of them, but I think I just like it more complicate, however her special talent was a good reason for me to take her with them.
The next thing was her looking again like some sort of lost princess, and I'm not really sure why she is the first one of his friends that I have a harder time to like.
Maybe I just don't like it if Characters with her type of personality have such an easy time with getting everything they want, but that is just a quick guess. I'm not always sure why I don't like something , but I get the feeling it has to do something with this type of character, maybe in a few later chapters I can accept her easier, but they are all dead in the future anyway, since this is some sort of prologue.
The second half of the chapter however I actually liked her, and not because of the fact that Alex was a bit stern towards her. Sometimes I think I don't like certain stuff, because I had read similar stuff in a few bad fanfictions when I first started.
edit: I hope I didn't made more mistakes while typing in a comment I already made on the Wii u from my brother, had to use this today to write, but I couldn't post it on it.
The General or whomever is leading the pegasi will be wary to attack a supposedly immortal tango until he tests that, so most likely a poisoning or the more fun approach, An ambush.
'Cause of course just doing a short visit to High Rock was too simple and easy
So... they have a 150 bits, and 20 bits equals the $2dollar key refund for a P.O. Box unless it's like a safety deposit box or travel locker.... So, I take it they have $15 USD... They're going to be living the high life if a third of that goes towards a chariot ride. I suspect the reason the accommodations were so cheap had to do with ponies going commando and eating grass clippings if they're on a budget. Talk about inflation, I remember when two bits equaled 25cents.
well, then....
7207038 Mini Boss at most
7207330 So you don't like self- confident characters? Don't worry, the second part was actually more character defining than the first one. Belle was just in "business" mode because she REALLY wanted to go with them.
7207987 I don't see why the pegasi leader would have any beef with Alex... for now
7208242 When are things ever easy?
7208268 Technically they have a 120 from Crimson and 50 from Belle. Also they'll still get some from the hobo camp in the next chapter. If we really start to need to compare bits to dollars,(which we really shouldn't) one bit in my story would be about two bucks. If you compare it though some stuff won't really make sense, as I've created a Economy where there's no prize regulation at all. So everybody can more or less prize their stuff however the fuck they want. OFC they'll need to adjust, so as not to be outprized by other vendors and lose all their customers. Even though that makes the storage units at the couriers expensive af, they're still very popular, and almost all of them are occupied.
Bottom Line being: They have a good amount of money, but depending on how they spend it, it could be not much at all.
7208566 Why post the original?
7209195 Let me count the whys
1. i liked that movie
2. in context
3. colour
4. just comes off as more powerful, IMHO
5. it's the version i think of when i think of that song
7209239 allrighty then
I went for the pony version because... ponies 
7209195 well I think you could define self confident in many ways, but I don't exactly know how I may have sounded like I meant that...
I was probably just not succesful with my description. I think it's more .....urrgg I don't have a good example right now.
Like I said I'm never to sure why I think like that, but right now that I think about it, and even if she isn't exactly like that, it may has remind me about a story where people that acted like her always had their way with the main Char, which made the whole story look bad.
7209195 A'ight.
7209266
The pony version of 'you can be king again' sounds like a performance by the chipmunks... So I used one with a similar theme to the chapter I read in 'Quantum' Vault because I wanted to let the author know that I both read the chapter and how it made me feel... I suppose I could have expressed my feelings textually, but while my words contain voice they seem a bit lacking in emotional resonance, otherwise I suspect my jokes would be that much funnier. Not to mention, an exit through the gift shop is not nearly as powerful as the idea of sacrificing all of one's magic to to protect the life of another...
7210534 Everytime I read your username in a notification i go like: Oh god, here we go again!
Did not disappoint this time either
7210721
Indeed, the name was meant to be unsettling.
I'm just curious about the world you've created. For instance, what is your stance on the rocks of equestria?
Are they really rocks, or are they living beings like succulents, pyura chilensis, coral, or exotic/primitive blue or green algae that later evolved into plants?
...
Is it possible the rocks are extra celestial in origin? Are they all that remains of undigested fondant, jewel corn, and jelly beans left over from when dragon sized rabbits ruled? Inquiring minds want to know!
I have within my power the resources to make every enquiry equally disturbing if you doubt my alter-centric nature.
Why is Alex such a jerk...
Ok, so my d&d analogy wasn't far off. The party now consists of a useless, but immortal MU, a high CHA, low int cleric, and a fighter, who seems to be the only competent one of the group.
You know, even if the quality of the fic dramatically dropped or I lost all interest in ponies (Not bloody likely), I'd still want to read this to its conclusion, if for no other reason than I want to see her reaction to being proved wrong and her reaction to an immortal "horner", as she put it
7463700
"u r stupid horny pone"
"no u r stoopid i no die"
"lie"
no
"oh no"
"ha you ebliv"
"no i didnt guys kill for me k thx bby gte some succ 2nite" "yey"
"balaaglgggarbrgggrargb;rgkkbkbkhkbhkhkllkkkkkghkghhgkhkgkhkhllghgkhkbrhgkhrbkh"
ha you lie i win
"no"
"how do"
"imrotle"
"no i "
"ha"
7796256 What language is this?
So like, did Alex forget everything he knew about MLP, or is he just too slow to see the Pinkie Pie resemblance?
7910970
Too busy planning, thinking, to even consider it, and he's not looking for it in the first place. Plus, it's several thousand years too early for that.
shone
"On what?" Belle and Crimson asked together.
You know.... I JUST realised.
Almost the same thing. X)