Chapter 29: Preparing For...
"Last Chance" Stopover Arc
“Oh, wow… I look like a princess!” Wilka giggled as she admired the modest, yet pretty seafoam gown she was wearing in a mirror.
She really didn’t but nopony was up for ruining her delight; the rest weren’t so happy.
The mares were in the servants’ quarters of Melchior’s mansion getting outfitted for their mission that night; they’d been there much of the day getting coached on their roles and manner for the dubious operation into which they’d been roped.
Essenta was much at odds about her assigned manner of dress, “I look like some priestess…! This thing’s really hot… and it itches…”
Clad ears to tail in a habit that covered even her pastel mane, it was about as comfortable as being stuck in a giant sock. At least her ears, hooves, and lower legs were free.
Loress, looking very fetching in a turquoise ballgown with her mane done up, giggled at the princess, “Now, now, Princess… This is normal attire for a lady-in-waiting of Terrow; you look fine.”
Essenta bewailed her predicament, “I know what ladies-in-waiting are supposed to look like; I have five of them, y’know… The wimple doesn’t need to be form-fitting…”
Essenta tried adjusting the cloth covering her head and neck to no avail.
“In Terrow it does, Princess. At least you can move your ears; some wimples deny even that. Suck it up,” Loress hoofed Essenta.
Dechaa and Zyra had fewer qualms regarding their own outfits. Dressed in ornate tunics, though ones befitting unicorn servants, the manner of dress was functional and inoffensive. They’d worn tunics very similar back home.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” Orni uttered at the outfit Delia the maid presented to her. “I’m not wearing that!”
The Earth pony maid was more concerned with her own skin than what would cover Orni’s; her laidback, half-mast eyes looked more at ease than she sounded, “If Mr. Clovis wants you to wear the colts’ traditional blouse and knickers as a colt of Avra would, you’re going to wear them, ‘Nior’… Feh! I still can’t believe the six of you would turn up in this city of all places-”
“Seven of us,” Zyra interrupted; she was still sore that Ama was locked up, especially since they hadn’t been able to see her that day.
“Right… seven,” Delia recalled, knowing for the last couple days who they were and where they were heading. “And you just had to wind up on Melchior’s bad side. Your fucking luck, girls… You lot must have the worst luck of nearly any visitors I’ve seen come through in a while and I’ve seen some ponies lose their life-savings down to the fillings in their teeth! What you saw yesterday… he’s terrifying!”
“What we saw?” Essenta bawled, so angry she wasn’t even bothering to filter her words. “You excused yourself for the punchline so are you talking about him popping Pallo’s coin purse or him showing you how to mop up the mess he made? ‘Now that’s how you clean a fuckin’ bloodstain!’? Oh, that was magical… just magical!”
The company recoiled at Essenta’s nasty statement; she was in a right sour mood, straining at her restrictive garment.
Delia was unamused and leered, “You’d better watch that kind of talk, Princess… That stallion’s mood is nothing to take lightly. What would you’ve done if Mr. Clovis hadn’t jumped in to save you the other night?”
Loress was playing with the ruffles on her gown, “We probably would’ve slung the asses of everypony that got in our way and kept right on traveling. Clovis was the only one to know who we were, and he still didn’t know who he was messing with.”
There was plenty of truth to this statement; in retrospect the girls wished very much they’d just fucked off… better yet they shouldn’t have even paused in the city for more than supplies.
Delia was fussing with Wilka’s blonde, voluminous mane, “Oh, please… You and the princess alone?! Five of you were so drunk you couldn’t even stand; in a pig’s ass you’d have escaped! And you’re all real tough, ganging up on Mr. Clovis yesterday.”
Zyra couldn’t hold back a chuckle, “Hey, that was Cap that nearly broke his ne-”
Essenta cuffed her old friend into silence, glowering, “Well, it isn't entirely my fault!”
Zyra laughed right in Essenta’s face, “You'd better be kidding when you say that. I soundproofed the room is all. I thought you’d just rough him up a little, not strangle him!”
The two bickered and were halted when Loress came up and clocked their heads together, “Stop acting like a couple of foals!”
The sound was a dull whock! The rest of the room cringed, watching as Essenta and Zyra rolled on the floor, wailing.
“You 19-year-old virgin!” Essenta spouted; she was so worked up she yelled out the very first thing that came to mind.
Loress smirked, “I turned 20 last week, Princess…”
Zyra winced as Delia hoofed her noggin, eyes welling up, “You asshole! That didn’t tickle, you know!”
“Lovely, Miss Terran…” Delia waxed with great sarcasm, examining the growing bump on the tearful Zyra’s head. “Mess up their faces when we need you all looking nice, tonight…”
Orni blanched, “They’re gonna have goose eggs now! Why’d you do that, Loress?!”
“Because they don’t need to look nearly as pretty as the rest of us tonight…” Loress quipped.
At that silence reigned for a few seconds; smiles began tugging at lips.
Dechaa was the first to snork; it was like a breath of oxygen to a weak flame…
And the whole room howled with laughter, even Delia. They laughed until the tears and mascara ran; Loress had to catch her own teardrops as not to stain her gown.
Out of breath, falling about the place, they all felt a little better… a little saner.
As they caught their wind, Essenta looked to Zyra, “Sorry.”
“Me too, Cap…” Zyra murmured.
Clovis suddenly burst into the room, “How’re things coming in here? I couldn’t hear anything from outside.”
Wilka jumped in alarm at the sudden entrance; the rest frowned at him
Delia glared at him, “Mr. Clovis… we’re dressing in here.”
It really wasn’t the biggest deal; they were ponies after all.
“I knocked! Nopony answered,” he protested.
Still unhappy with Clovis the girls just ignored him.
Clovis sighed and took in the scene; he had a lot riding on the success of the night and wanted to keep tabs.
Approaching Orni, Clovis wasn’t unhappy, “I’m glad we had an outfit like that lying around; it’s supposed to be in style out west, so you’ll fit in.”
Orni wasn’t so happy wearing the clothes of some unfortunate colt/stallion who was probably buried in a ditch nearby but knew it was part of the plan.
“That silly outfit fits you pretty well, Orni,” Wilka said with less than virtuousness in her voice and a twinkle in her eye.
The Knollwing scowled, “I don’t understand suspenders on a pony; it makes no sense… At least it’s not uncomfortable.”
“If that’s the best thing you can say about it then it’s not so bad,” Delia then went about struggling with a hem on Loress’s gown, “My, my… You don’t have much meat on you for a Terran… They’ll be all over you tonight.”
Loress simpered, dimpling a little; she enjoyed being what she was.
“Oh, and Delia- you’re going too,” Clovis said as he passed by Delia and Loress.
The prickly mare jolted, turning as she gawked at him with death in her eyes, “What?!”
The company was a little… surprised; Delia had appeared to have mostly respect for Clovis and now she was looking at him as if he was shit on a sundae.
Clovis flinched at her response, “You’re going along with us, Delia.”
The stallion again didn’t look so sure of himself, staring down the little maid.
Delia pulled off her bonnet, exposing the messiest mane any of them had seen in recent memory, and threw it in Clovis’s face; with fire in her voice she gushed, “If you think you’re pulling me into your grab-ass farce to out the mayor as a colt-tickler you can go suck dick in the sewer, Clovis!”
The little company was becoming impressed with Delia’s foul mouth. She also wasn’t calling him “Mr.” anymore.
Magicking her head-covering aside Clovis declared, “Do it and I’ll see you promoted to warden of the property.”
He said this as if he were handing her the greatest gift imaginable. She didn’t seem to think so and glowered at him.
“You're more than capable. Think about it, Delia… No more scrubbing the floors. It’s not like you’ll be able to buy your way out with your current job anytime soon. I can’t pay you extra for the job, but I can offer you an opportunity.”
This statement struck the girls. Was Delia a slave? They noticed Delia stir at what Clovis had said.
But the little maid set her mind in concrete, “No, Clovis… I’m not keen on being in charge of that lunatic’s estate.”
Clovis blanched, “Delia! Watch your mouth!”
“If you paid much attention you’d know the mage over there’s been keeping a soundproof bubble over the room half the day; that’s why it seemed so quiet to you,” she gestured towards Zyra. “And you may be okay with running his affairs outside of here, but would you be willing to oversee the mansion?!”
It was obvious Clovis would rather stick his dick in a termite hill; he hung his head, “…No…”
Delia glared at him, “Yes… you know what goes on just as well as I do. But when’s the last time you had to clean up somepony’s nuts? Wait- don't answer...! Eww... Regardless, I can deal with that, but I will not run the show. I’ll take my time getting out of here. By the time I’m 20 I’ll be free of this. Now… why don’t you piss off and let me finish dressing them?”
Clovis looked defeated but had one more thing to say, “Please… if not for a chance at getting out of here early… do it for me…”
“I owe you nothing, Clovis,” Delia uttered as she was again pinning Loress’s gown.
“I know you don’t… I’m asking… Mel’s different than usual… If this doesn’t go well… then… …I need your know-how! You worked that summer in the mayor’s mansion after the last renovation, when Mel wanted to 'repay' the old mayor a favor! I know you know the place just as well as you do this one… Mel had you case it, after all.”
Not looking at all happy, Delia sighed, “Fine… I’ll go... for the good of everypony… So, don’t get any other ideas. I swiped a new waitress uniform from city hall for just such an occasion, so I’ll make sure to wear that. Come on back when we’re ready for the final preparations. Now… go."
Without another word Clovis slunk off and out the door.
Zyra was impressed, “Wow… you got him to slither away without laying a hoof on him… Not that giving in had to be any better."
Delia sighed, “We’ve been… co-workers for a decade. Let’s just say we know each other pretty well. He came here with his crew… and I was dumped off to pay a debt.”
Wilka recoiled at hearing this; Orni put a hoof on her best friend’s shoulder and asked regardless, “So you’re… Are you…?”
“A slave? No…” Delia finished Loress’s hem. “I’m better off than that but not by much. Slavery technically doesn’t exist here, but indentured servitude surely does.”
The girls listened.
“Mom died years ago… My dad… ran up some gambling debts when we were traveling through here… Normally his scheming would've made him a bundle but... let's say the ponies running the game around here are a little more savvy than most. He ‘sold’ me to Master Melchior to deal with them. Thankfully, the master capped off what I owed him so it’s not like Dad could’ve just kept piling on the debt. He didn’t stop, though, and amassed more debt, to the point he owed more than what I owed. Dad never drank... or ran with mares of the night but he loved gambling."
This didn’t bode well; the girls had learned what kind of stallion Melchior was and could see where this was going.
“So… Did Melchior… uh…?” Zyra stumbled.
Delia waved a hoof, now poofing up Wilka’s ruffles, “Oh, no… Master Melchior could’ve offed him, but he put him to work instead. Thankfully he got stuck tending the vineyards, so I wouldn’t have to look at his worthless ass much…”
Loress decided to ask, “Is he still here, now?”
A sad, little smile crossed Delia’s lips, “No… But I will say this: once he got ‘put in his place’ I actually started to love him again. He shaped up and took great care of the vineyard. Considering he’d been a ‘professional’ gambler and lowlife as far back as I can remember he was… really happy. Despite what brought us here… we were both happy.”
That wasn’t the worst thing in the world, they supposed.
What Delia said next was expected, “And then one day… when I was 14… he died. I’m 18 now; that was four years ago.”
“I’m sorry,” Loress murmured.
“Don’t worry about it, Loress,” Delia chuckled. “He was out walking with some of the other farmhoofs… Dad was laughing at some joke he’d heard in the greenhouse… He slipped on some freshly-washed stairs in the courtyard, fell down three flights, and broke his silly neck.”
With Delia hooting over the matter, the girls were appalled; Dechaa was close to tears, “How could you laugh at that?!”
Deadpan, with her eyes at the now-familiar half-mast, Delia answered, “It was a really funny joke, Dechaa; he died laughing.”
Another burst of oxygen hit the low flame among the girls and they howled anew; their high-pitched laughter echoed as it hit the ceiling. This time they had a harder time cleaning up their faces, but a little unicorn magic took care of the mascara stains in Loress’s gown.
Having calmed down again, Delia called for order, “Okay… we’re just about ready. I’ll change into the other uniform.”
The little maid opened a wardrobe and began to shed her house uniform. Zyra, always one to address the elephant in the room when it struck her, put a hoof to her mouth in thought.
“Hmm… One thing that worries me…” she was eyeballing Orni.
Orni didn’t like the way she was looking at her, “What?”
“It’s your voice,” Zyra acknowledged. “It’s too… feminine.”
Orni bristled, “Well excuse me for being a filly! Not all of us sound like we gargle rocks!”
Wilka knew this was directed at her; she had a rather gruff voice, “Hey!”
Loress put in, “It’s not a big deal if Orni sounds like a young mare… She’s playing a 12-year-old colt after all. I mean… some of us have brothers; we know about colts’ puberty with the voice changing and all.”
This was very true.
But Essenta wasn’t fully convinced, “My brother Abe’s in the middle of it right now… During some lessons I taught at the schoolhouse, right before we left the Dale, I remember he tried reading a passage out of our constitution; he croaked like a frog. He was so embarrassed when some fillies giggled at him. Giving Orni just a little crack in her voice would make it much more convincing.”
Delia was struggling with the buttons on the back of her uniform, which Dechaa kindly went to assist her with; the maid mused, “Convincing is good… Is it doable?”
Zyra smirked, “I can’t do it… but Dechaa can!”
All eyes turned to Dechaa, now fumbling with Delia’s buttons; she noticed and was shocked, “What? Why are you looking at me?!”
“Weren’t you listening?” Zyra’s smile widened. “We need to change Orni’s voice.”
The healer looked at Zyra with less than a lot of love.
“No…” Dechaa deadpanned, going back to Delia’s uniform.
“C’mon! You were able to help your big brother that one time when he asked that filly he liked to the ball!”
“Zyra, that was to help him…” Dechaa explained. “It was just a tonic to even out his voice, so it wouldn’t crack like corn when he talked to her. I’m not going to cook something up to irritate her throat! What’s wrong with you?!”
Orni was glad to have Dechaa in her corner; she was loathe to admit something that suddenly popped into her mind, “Yeah… and as much as I hate thinking about it… This mayor is supposed to like… little colts. A cracking voice might put him off…”
Zyra chuckled at this, smiling at Orni, “I don’t know about you, but I love hearing a colt’s voice crack! It’s so cute…”
“Fuck you,” Orni replied; her language hadn’t been the cleanest since their servitude began.
Not put off by Orni’s simple retort, Zyra laughed. The other members of the company didn’t always get Zyra, even after as long as a couple of them knew her.
“Who knows? It might give him a jump, thinking it’s his last chance with this one!” Delia sniggered nastily.
Six jaws dropped at this foul statement; Delia had a filthy mind, they were learning.
Dechaa pulled the strings on the uniform tight, silencing Delia’s laughter, “Oh, ish…!”
The girls found Dechaa halting Delia’s merriment funnier than the sick joke. They laughed at her plight as she wound up dancing on her back legs, gasping for air. As she managed to loosen the uniform they saw it wasn’t just any waitress uniform; it was that of a cocktail waitress… and she wore it well. Her pastel purple coat was complemented nicely with the green dress.
“Wow…” Wilka gawked. “You’re gorgeous!”
The rest concurred; she was just as pretty as Dechaa on a good day. She had a litheness about her from her years of laboring. But the maid was set on working, not receiving complements.
Delia set about straightening her straw-colored rat’s nest of a mane, “Whatever… Back to business… Now, Orni’s voice is fine for this. Just don’t squeal like a filly getting ice-water poured down her back and we should be fine. I’m nearly ready; somepony call in Clovis."
With that, final preparations were to be made for the ball.
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Uhh I sense some nice plan getting horrible, horrible wrong there.
But I really like that humor there. You do like that kind of fun eh?
So, thank you as always for this new chapter and your hard work. seeing that we have fairly good weather here, I hope you’ll get it that good too. til then, just have some Baumkuchen with fondant and a hot tea. maybe a cold beer for the end of day relaxing.(Flensburger is perfect for that.)
9107573
The plan isn't nice to begin with; they're throwing Orni in as bait. But I doubt anypony giving them trouble would be a match for her if it comes to that.
I swear the mares get dirtier mouths every chapter. And too many death/molestation jokes. That caught me off guard.
That was really gross but I laughted.
9109286
Ah, it's just harmless fun.
9109317
Why do I have this nasty feeling the next chapter will be gross?
9107573
This was pretty gross right?
9109323
Experience? Relax; you'll probably enjoy it.
9109327
Yes, wich it makes just perfect. Sometimes I have that feeling our author here takes that kind of humor straight from my family.
9109555
Nope. I got this way all on my own.
9109555
I do not know how he comes up with some stuff.
9109583
Hmm not quite as cool as what I had in mind, but it works out. You're just that little bit german I think.
9111186
A huge amount of bacon, chocolate and a great mind? Or he is just as insane as me but more creative.
9111412
Great minds love chocolate covered bacon.
9111418
I agree great minds are usually covered in bacon and chocolate.
And now I'm kind of hungry...
9111761
I shall make bacon in the morning. And I will dip it in chocolate.
9113428
Darn those different timezones. It is morning here, ok late morning. And all I had was just some bread fresh from the oven with some butter and honey. I think it's time for a second breakfast with bacon and chocolate.
This chapter felt like filler. Nothing really happened except a little bit of Delia establishment.
9156814
I dig what you're saying; a few things here will never again be touched upon and some things will be. It's a setup chapter primarily and it's just the way things got edited. Just didn't find a better way to incorporate it into the previous or following chapters.
I hope you at least got a chuckle or two out of some of the lines. And thanks for continuing to follow the story.