Ponyfinder: Potions and Swords

by David Silver

18 - Recalibrating Aim

"A fellow striper." Sonja advanced across the room, smiling brightly at Zecora. "If you're big on languages, not really my thing. I prefer to collect and admire firearms more than various lingos." She jostled herself, making her canons shake with the motion. "Sorry if that seems 'crude'."

Zecora was looking over the other zebra. "It is a rare treat. You are fine and complete. I too am not a master of many." She raised a hoof to tap at a dangling potion there. "I make potions and brews by the plenty."

"Alchemist," agreed Sonja with a knowing nod. "Nice. Good additions to any group, keep our aim right. Now, sorry about how things went, but I won't let that happen again. You're in Sonja's care." She thumped her chest and primped herself up. "It won't be quiet, but I'll get you there in one piece."

Zecora looked past Sonja to where Jon stood. "What do you think?"

Jon didn't hide his surprise. "Hm? She seemed genuine. I like those guns of hers." That got a smug grin out of Sonja. "We do still have a lead."

"Tell me." Sonja turned quickly. "Did you have a plan before the wind shifted and threw off your aim?"

Zecora smiled gently. "Perhaps we are in sync. My words do rhyme, while yours..." She gestured her nose at Sonja's larger gun. "Our way of speaking keeps scores."

Sonja's ears twitched atop her head before her smile grew. "I like you." She threw an arm over Zecora. "You're all round and squishy, but I like the line of your barrel." She squeezed the round Equestrian pony with a merry laugh. "We'll get along just fine."

Jon circled around the mares to their front. "As I mentioned, we do have a lead. A siren that used to work for the queen? We know where she last was. She may be able to get us back to Equestria."

"Where's that?" Sonja released Zecora from against her armed side. "Whatever, we have a target, good! I hate not having one, if we're being honest. Wandering aimlessly, looking for a target? Not my angle. Give me something to center on." She fixed her aim on a mirror on the night stand. "Bang."

Zecora was looking at Jon. "What did you find, besides our new friend." She inclined her head towards Sonja. "Is your troubled heart closer to an end?"

"That's my line." Jon undid his sword and hung it up on its loop on the corner of my bed. "Had a nice chat with the innkeep. Good guy. I get the feeling I wasn't the first patron he ever had with this kinda worry."

Sonja snorted at that, sinking to the floor on her belly. "Any tavernkeep gets to make that shot so often he's probably a crack at it. People drink to remember and to forget, and he's doing his best to help them do that. Good job from the sound of it, has his sights set just so."

A thought came to Jon suddenly. "Should I have tipped?" Both of the ponies looked at him quizzically. "Is that not a thing?"

Sonja shook her head slowly. "If you drank enough you feel like tipping over, well, you're in bed. Take the shot."

Jon could but smile at the miscommunication. "I should probably go ahead and do that."

A new party had formed, and with a new equilibrium set, they settled to slumber.

---

Sonja led the way towards the river, clopping her hooves with each step, her armaments jingling against her. None moved to challenge them even as they approached the dividing line that was the dam. "We'll catch a ride here, straight shot down the river." She pointed down the river that was in view. "Enjoy a sail for a few days... Where are we going again?"

Zecora looked to Jon. "To find Adaggio?"

Sonja turned in place. "And where is that?"

"That's a great question." Not that Jon knew exactly. "She worked for the queen, remember?"

"I didn't lose sight of the target, just not seeing the angle that gets us a shot." She frowned faintly with consideration. "We'll want a boat either way... But are we going up or down river? Shooting in the wrong direction will not help us."

"Marafiki!" came a loud and jovial call. A third zebra emerging from the crowd. Sues trotted towards them. "Good, you are still here." His eyes darted towards Sonja. "You I do not know, but that is easily fixed, dreapta?" It should be noted that Sues' accent shifted sometimes out of sync with his words. He would speak strange languages and the common one with the accent of others, without a hint of shame.

Sonja's nostrils flared. "I smell books. Are you a book friend?"

Sues inclined his head at Sonja, but burst into laughter. "I was not expecting to be mhothaich mi by scent alone."

Sonja threw a hoof towards Sues. "And here is a more 'classic' example of a zebra. All the languages, all of them." She frowned at her fellow stripe-wielder. "Cut it out. Not a person here can understand you."

Jon gestured at their returned friend. "Good to see you again, Sues. What brings you by?"

"You do." Sues waggled a hoof among the party. "I was researching your problem, and the head librarian noticed. She took me aside and asked what I was doing, and when I did, oh caro, she chewed me out."

"Because you were studying on the clock?" suggested Jon.

"Nein!" Sues grinned at Jon. "Because I let friends in need walk off without helping. I told her, madre, that I had given an oath to the temple, but she practically threw me out. 'If you are loyal to Luminace, than be loyal to friends first!' she cried. 'Take good notes, and be safe.' And the door to the library was shut in my face, just like that."

Sonja's hoof suddenly landed right on Sues' head. "Get to the trigger. You were researching them." She angled her head at the other two. "Did you find anything?"

"Ah, yes Si." He curled on himself, pulling out a book with smaller papers stuffed in it at various angles. "Your siren friend, she did not go unnoticed. A temptress and an asset, they say she was blessed of Kara, who took her in eagerly."

Sonja huffed at that. "Kara's a tricky target to get a bead on. Goes for her followers."

Zecora looked between the other two zebras. "Then you know where she is hiding?" She kept turning towards the dam. "Is it up or down river we'll be riding?"

"Up!" He pointed the way and began trotting. "I've never been on an adventure before. This is seru." He cantered right in the middle of his trot in a little gay skip. "To Silverdream!"

Sonja suddenly hurried up to his side. "Silverdream?! Do you have your aim right?" She circled in front of him, thumping her head against his. "Border town with an attitude a mile wide, unicorns only, which none of us are, I'll remind."

"I didn't choose for her to go there," defended Sues, taking a step back. "That is where she was last seen, and she isn't subtle. The siren shows up, people talk about it. Iki o nomu yōna, that much seemed certain."

Zecora advanced ahead of Sues, interposing herself between the two. "He only found the truth. To be mad at it is just uncouth. Can we sail to this town?" She turned her head towards Sues, then Jon. "What sort of trouble will a human bring down?"

Sues considered Jon with a thoughtful noise. Sonja was far less contemplative. "He's with us." She thumped herself on the chest. "If they have a problem with that, they can have a nice chat down the barrel." She thrust her right side forward, larger gun jutting forward. "A short but meaningful chat."

Jon advanced past them all, resuming the journey. "We'll figure it out. So we need a boat headed, uh, that's north, right?"

The group resumed their trek, allowing Jon to take point for the moment. "How much does it cost to get a ride that far? How far are we talking?"

Sues inclined his head faintly. "Only a sailor could say for sure. The tides are a little ingatag. Let's find a boat and they'll give us their prices."

"Not a standard faire? Travel back home was a simpler affair." The trains of Equestria had posted prices that didn't vary very often. "Be that as it may be, we must get there to talk with this lady."

As they went, Jon looked over his new party. He was the only thing on two legs. He was the only thing that didn't have stripes. He was the only swordsperson. Speaking of that... "Sues?" The zebra looked up. "What do you do, as an adventurer?"

"Well, gee. This is my first proper adventure, but I did say before." He nodded with confidence. "I am an investigator." He tapped the side of their head as they walked. "I look for clues, put the pieces together, and I'm not a bad play at the sword."

Jon perked. "You like swords too?"

"Oh, sure." He glanced aside at Jon's belted blade. "I prefer a little lighter than that."

"But you have none." There was nowhere for a sword to be hiding on Sues. He was unarmed.

"True... Did I mention this is my first time adventuring? I didn't have a weapon to bring with me. You get me, and my pack." He shook himself, causing his saddlebags to jostle. "I'll pick up a weapon along the way, whatever's laying around if I have to."

"What did you fight with before? You practiced, I assume?"

"Sure sure." Sues nodded with easy confidence. "But I was borrowing them, from my school, from the temple, wherever I happened to be. All I have on me is this." He lowered his head and pulled a dagger free of its sheath, sharp, but small. "Not many things like being poked with this, ngiyakuqinisekisa."

"No idea what that means," admitted Jon flatly. "Still, good to see you have some weapon."

"Better off with a gun," groused Sonja with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "Serves as a warning before you take the first shot, and leaves an impression after that. An ideal weapon all around, the way I see it."

"One thing." Jon began down a flight of stairs towards some docks on the right side of the dam. "How do you fire that and not go... deaf. You have big ears." Big cute fuzzy ears! He left that part out. "And they are really close to that cannon. Doesn't that hurt?"

"Practice," she retorted as if that was obvious. "As if your human ears don't ring after something this large goes off. You get used to it, with enough determination. Just try not to have detailed chats in the middle of a firefight, because I will not be listening!"

Zecora edged away, putting some distance between herself and the armed other zebra.

Sues was also separating, but more to advance more quickly, headed for a sailor tying a rope in their feline hands. "Good day!" he called, waving at the she-cat. "Your ship have room for some travelers?"

The purrsian huffed, whiskers lifting. "Depends. Are these paying travelers?"

Jon hiked a thumb northwards along the river. "We need to get to Silverdream, all four of us. What's the going price on that?"

"Silverdream, hm." She went quiet a moment, throwing her coiled rope down on the deck of her ship. "That's a good sail. If you don't mind my fishing on the way, 5 silver a head. If you're in that much of a rush, double it."

Sues frowned. "That's quite the price."

"Silverdream's a dead end." The purrsian rolled her eyes. "And I'm a good captain. You want to get there fast and safe, you pay up. Otherwise, shove off, I have fishing to do."

Author's Note:

Jon did not expect to be in a party with three zebras... but is that all bad? Luminace be praised, as she sends friends when they are needed.

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Comments

[Dravkwn]

Fisher feline fords favorable fish fields fully?

[Booster Spice]

Traveling with three zebras?

Could be worse.

There could be moire.

[Dravkwn]

10915540
Then Jon might be dazzled by their zeal.

[Booster Spice]

10915569

Be careful. Those who go a little too Zen, are feated to be Danned.

[Earthpatriot117]

Jon is probably like 'zebras, zebras everywhere!!!'. Lol
Sonja was enough of a surprise on it's own, but then we also get our striped librarian too!? Double shocker! Xp

[David Silver]

10922687
Each with a linguistic tic. It's a zebra thing.

[howard035]

So glad to see Sues joining the party. John should see if the gunslinger is OK with pets. If no one in this party appreciates pets and/or ear scritches, the story might need a tragedy tag.

[Chrome Masquerade]

"What did you fight with before? You practiced, I assume?"

"Sure sure." Sues nodded with easy confidence. "But I was borrowing them, from my school, from the temple, wherever I happened to be. All I have on me is this." He lowered his head and pulled a dagger free of its sheath, sharp, but small. "Not many things like being poked with this, ngiyakuqinisekisa."

"No idea what that means," admitted Jon flatly. "Still, good to see you have some weapon."

Apparently it's Zulu for "I assure you".

[Chrome Masquerade]

"Better off with a gun," groused Sonja with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "Serves as a warning before you take the first shot, and leaves an impression after that. An ideal weapon all around, the way I see it."

"It's like a sword... but you can kill a guy over there!"
Like if you got that reference.

[David Silver]

11054871
Are you trying to get a date with Sues. Catching a zebra's linguistic tics is a good way to get on their good side.