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Post by Kuro on Apr 25, 2012 23:24:49 GMT -5
Demure had been quiet since his attempt to console the pony. Evidently he had not heard, noticed, or remembered the duty that Piston had been assigned to, for he had been surprised by her tackling the poor unicorn out of nowhere. If he had said anything, it had been lost either in the ruckus or in the unicorn's crying. He had not looked upon her sad display with annoyance or disbelief, but with sympathy, sadness, and the same concern from before. He had kept his eyes on the unicorn until her forced departure, which had prevented any further attempt from him to make her feel better.
Demure blushed and made a bashful smile at Piston's compliment even though it had been directed towards everyone, and said a quiet "Thank you". He listened to the blue unicorn's introduction. Midnight Starchaser? What a nice name; it practically rolled off of the tongue.
"...If it's always this exciting then I think you guys are going to need me for a while."
"That would be nice." Demure had said that rather quickly and put his hooves to his mouth. He put them back on the ground and cleared his throat, embarrassed, looking away from the others as much as he could without seeming impolite.
"I-I mean...Yes, that would be nice." He gave a tiny, tiny, smile whose tugs at the edges of his mouth mere practically microscopic.
Then there was the matter of the beautiful and famous Cotton Feather standing right there in front of him! Now his smile was much more noticeable as he spoke. "C-cotton Feather?! Y-you're, you're, uh, ahem, you're, uh, that one pony, with the, uh..." He had seemed very excited at first, but then tried to keep his cool, acting as if she was just some other pony. She must have spoken her name quietly for a reason; she might have...hated him if he had just blown her cover. He was blushing again now, this time out of embarrassment rather than romantic happiness, and it showed on his face and how he self-consciously stepped back a step or two as if trying to exit the conversation, his head low. "Y-yes, that one...pony. Sorry, I mixed you up with some other pony.", he lied.
"Um, I am Demure Grayback. I, I clean up the trash in Ponyville. Th-thank you for the help, bad things would have probably happened if you ponies and stallion had not been there.
A-and for the record, I am, actually, a stallion. S-sorry I couldn't help much..." He blushed once again as he solidified the status of his gender. He had never had to do that before...
"I don't know who she is. She did cause quite a mess, but she seemed so sad. But she wouldn't have just attacked people because of it, right? I mean, she doesn't seem like that kind of pony. Something about her seemed...off." He looked from Cotton to the red Pegasus whose name he had not yet heard. "Questions? W-well, what kind of questions? I mean, I'l come, I was just...curious."
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Post by Neurotick on Apr 30, 2012 22:29:49 GMT -5
While Demure stuttered in his attempts to keep Cotton's terrible secret, Midnight's pupil-less eyes lit up with recognition. That cotton candy mane. The sparkling feather cutie mark. That weird recording contraption around her neck that she was constantly mumbling into. This was THE Cotton Feather, Midnight's third-most-favorite author ever. Midnight ignored Demure's assurance that he was, indeed, a stallion (and really Demure was just too cute and shy to be anything but a sweet little filly as far as Midnight was concerned) because her head was buzzing with questions to ask miss Cotton Feather about her books and her writing process and her pickle fairy marshmallow kumquat.
Midnight was still feeling the effects of trying to use her injured horn.
She jumped excitedly in place, which given her current state was more of a precarious wobble that looked as if she would topple over onto Icarus again at any moment.
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" Midnight squealed with delight, "Cotton Feather! THE Cotton Feather! THE. COTTON. FEATHER! Dude I had no idea you lived here, this is so AWESOME! You're like my third favorite author EVER! Oh my gosh~"
Midnight shook her head rapidly and tried not to fanpony all over Cotton so soon. Authors were weird. They needed things like "time" and "personal space."
"I mean, uh, that thing that just happened? Yeah, that was totally not normal. Was it normal? I know for a fact that it ain't normal around other places. I bet there's some evil mojo going down here. Totally not awesome evil-doers doing evil. But that's what I'm here for! Well no, actually I'm here cos I'm supposed to be resting up like the doc said, but who cares about that stuff when there's ADVENTURE afoot!"
It was hard to tell if Midnight's exuberance was because she was so excited, or because she had hurt her head so badly that pickle snarf magic melon monkey eyes.
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Post by CJ on May 1, 2012 16:21:46 GMT -5
Third favorite author.
Third favorite.
Third.
Cotton's eyes were huge, standing between Demure and Midnight. She looked like a bug more now than a pony. Her head slightly tilted to the left as she tried to process what Midnight was saying to her. She was devastated. Who could possibly be a better author than her? It was impossible. It was all terribly wrong.
It would have been better if Midnight had said nothing at all or mistaken her like Demure had. Her ambition to interview her was now completely lost. She barely remembered the situation at hand, looking slightly back at the others without a thank you or acknowledgement of what they had said.
"I'll be going now. Good day to you all, have your big adventures and tons of fun. Try to avoid relying on your emotions for the time being. You could find yourself on a rampage as well."
But Cotton was perhaps looking worst of all. Her pupils were gigantic, as though searching desperately for the bright light that was her success as an author. It was all that she had, as she didn't have any friends.
Cotton looked up sadly and slowly began to trot out of the library. She carried nothing with her, and gained nothing... or so she might have thought.
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Post by KaosuKishi on May 2, 2012 10:26:08 GMT -5
A lone colt was walking though the streets of Ponyville, a black and white mane flowing in the wind, his green and blue coat giving him a rather strange appearance even among the inhabitants of Ponyville. Muscles gained through a life in the wild rippled with every movement and seemingly empty blue eyes took in the sights of the town.
Ponies stopped and stared at the colt, for it was no ordinary colt, but a zebra. A zebra with a green coat and blue markings, so very unlike the zebra they knew. On top of that, he a had a cutie mark, a type of green herb. They were nervous, he could tell, but didn't hold it against them. Wild Herb was unique among zebras and ponies alike, after all, being half zebra and half earth pony...
'So this is Ponyville. Seems like a nice enough place, at least they don't run from me, screaming in fear...' He kept up his sight-seeing, seeing some rather unusual buildings, like a tree that was a library and a building that seemed to be made from various kinds of sweets. Soon, the library got his attention, not only because it was a potential source of information, but because of the guards that had just left, a unicorn in tow. Even he, having spent most of his life on the road, would recognize Princess Celestia's guards everywhere. Deciding to find out what happened and whether there were ponies in need of medical attention, he entered the library. Approaching a nearby group of ponies, he spoke up, his voice calm as ever.
"Excuse me, but what happened here? Is everypony alright or is there someone who needs....?" He trailed off as he recognized one of the ponies, a certain unicorn that looked rather unstable right now. Smiling softly, he made his way over to her, leaning against her lightly to steady her, making sure the poor pegasus on the floor wouldn't be flattened anymore, his body having no problem of supporting her.
"Why am I not surprised? Wherever there's excitement, whether for good or bad, there's Midnight Skychaser. What did I tell you about knowing your limits, Chase?" His voice seemd like he was scolding her, but it was also full of mirth and teasing, with a hint of happiness at seeing her.
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Post by Neurotick on May 2, 2012 15:39:44 GMT -5
Midnight mimicked Cotton's head tilt, in utter confusion. She was silent as she watched Cotton walk away with a strange, somewhat dejected look on her face. She hadn't even responded to Midnight's clearly ingenious explanation for what had happened in the library. That was just rude, even if Midnight had totally ignored about half the things that had been said to her. She had head trauma! What was Cotton's excuse? What if she was under the evil spell too!? Wait, no, she was still bright pink and blue. Was it...
"Was it something I said?" Midnight pouted a bit. She couldn't understand what had made her act that way. But then again, authors are weird. Thinking was already something that Midnight was not quite accustomed to, but now thinking also made her headache worse. It was so difficult right now that she didn't even notice that a certain bright green zebra had entered the fray until she felt someone prop her up from the heavy lean to the left that she didn't know she had until she was standing upright again.
"Why am I not surprised? Wherever there's excitement, whether for good or bad, there's Midnight Skychaser. What did I tell you about knowing your limits, Chase?"
"Hmm?" Midnight looked to the newcomer and her pout became a large grin. "Doc Herbie! What are you doin' here dude? ...you ain't gonna tell me this is 'too much excitement for this little pony' are you?"
Midnight teased Wild Herb right back. She stuck her tongue out at him playfully...and then it just kind of stayed stuck.
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Rinji
Pirate
The Catman King
Necromancer
Posts: 171
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Post by Rinji on May 2, 2012 19:21:16 GMT -5
"Well I don't know about you ponies, but I want to know what that was all about. I'm going down to the holding cells to see what I can find out." Izzy began to trot out of the library and looked to see that it was getting somewhat dark outside, as the sun was about half way under the horizon. He stopped to wonder for a moment. How could Princess Celestia rise every single morning and raise the sun, every day without fail. Even the greatest ponies made mistakes or missed a day. Such a strange thought.
Whether or not anyone went with him didn't concern him, he traveled on anyway. With a flap of his wings, Icarus lifted off of the ground and flew away, keeping near the surface so that he could find that place. What could have driven someone to go so crazy? I mean, yes, sometimes relationships don't quite work out, but going ballistic like that is just unfathomable.
There it was, the holding cell was still somewhat busy with the latest entry. Icarus flew down toward the front of it and started to walk in.
"Hold it!" A much bigger Pegasus flew straight in front of Icarus, holding his hoof up. "There is currently no admittance in the holding cells! We are currently in FP Con Charlie!"
Icarus froze for a moment, but tried to say something.
"Umm... but, you see..." He was interrupted by the Pegasus shoving his chest against Icarus's face.
"Are we going to have a problem!?!?!"
Icarus froze somewhat and his eyes grew wide... What the hell was he going to do?
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Post by Kyubey on May 2, 2012 19:22:28 GMT -5
Piston Mustang blinked and listened for a few moments, not doing much else. So there was some sort of stuck up celebrity, a trash cleaner, and... an awesome adventurer, if that was a real job. That last one seemed fun to hang with, if nothing else. She couldn't remember the last time she tried interacting with anypony in that part of town without being swiftly asked to leave. Especially since these ponies looked rather well to do. It was a strange feeling. She wondered what would happen if she stayed a while longer, and listened some more. New experiences were always good, and they almost always inspired her in some way. She paused for a while, listening to everypony's introductions, and taking mental notes on who everypony was.
"What happened here? Well, that sorta thing happens kinda often in the places where I hang out, but this is the first time a... Oh. OH. You're leaving. Great."
Piston Mustang had no idea who Cotton Feather was, and didn't care all too much about her status as an author. To her, authors usually just said things like, "leave us alone, uncultured hooligan," and "would you please stop that racket, it's 2 AM!" but now that such a pony presented herself, Piston Mustang wouldn't just let her go. Such a proper, educated pony was just the inspiration Piston needed for the lyrics of her latest anti-establishment song, "Party in Canterlot." And who knows, perhaps a writer of songs and a writer of books could find something in common.
"Hey, Cough Cough THE Cotton Feather. Where are you goin'? It hasn't even been five minutes and already you're trotting away like that? I don't know who you are or what you write about or nothin, but you should chat with your fans for a while, at least." She turned to the others, and found they were talking to a strange looking green pony. "Er, maybe they're busy right now, but stick around anyways. You don't have anywhere you need to be right now, right?"
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Post by Kuro on May 2, 2012 21:34:21 GMT -5
Demure wasn't exactly happy at Midnight's very loud reaction to the mention of Cotton Feather; it meant that he had not done a good job at trying to hide it. His eyes widened and he almost grimaced when he heard Midnight call Cotton her "third favorite author". He didn't know much about ponies, but even he knew that one wasn't supposed to say something like that straight to a pony's face. Sure enough, Cotton made a face that almost broke Demure's heart even though he barely knew her. He looked between Midnight and Cotton for a bit, as if not sure who to talk to, then trotted over to Cotton's side when he saw the blue pony start talking to someone she knew. He honestly didn't know what to make of him. He certainly looked...different. He couldn't tell if he was a zebra or a stallion. Of course, he wouldn't discriminate or anything, but it was just so...new. And he knew Midnight. He supposed that Midnight did find someone on her adventures after all. Not a huge...surprise.
"Uh, wait, Cotton!" He didn't yell, it was just that he was trying to get her attention. His voice was full of uncertainty or anxiety, as if he wasn't sure what to say. It was definitely a sharp contrast to his attitude when he had been trying to console the unicorn a few minutes ago.
"You're, uh, you're my favorite author, and you're the favorite author of countless ponies here in Ponyville, probably. There's no reason to be- oh, uh."
He had been interrupted by Piston Mustang, who began to say her own things to Cotton. It was understandable if she had not noticed Demure; he was rather quiet, and, small, and... Well, anyways, he listened to Piston Mustang's words and spoke to Cotton after he was sure she was done talking. He didn't want to be rude, or make a bad impression, or make an award moment.
"Yeah, see? You have a ton of fans...How else could your books be so popular? It only seemed like yesterday that everyone was reading Black Beauty. Yeah, that one was good. So, how about we change that face? I would hate to impede you if you wanted to go anywhere of course, but, if Piston's right and you don't have anywhere you need or want to be right now, then you can just, talk to us, right?"
He had a bit of a smile on his face, trying to reassure the pony, trying to make her feel better...Someone whose name started with C needed a smile on her face, and he would not let her down.
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Post by CJ on May 3, 2012 11:19:14 GMT -5
Cotton Feather was almost free when Piston Mustang interrupted her escape. Her one eye twitched when the tall earth pony blocked her travels. She tried to avoid this pony at all costs, though she could not run from acknowledging her rebellious reputation. Though they were both artists, she likely did not respect the pony as much as Piston might have respected her (which, as Cotton did not know, was likely not very much either).
"I have places... to be," Cotton muttered.
The mailpony caught Cotton's eye from outside the library, handing out letters to ponies in town. In its mailbag was a particular package with a large skull mark. She knew what it was. It was the thing from her associate Crazy Bones that she had been waiting for so long. At any time she could just walk over and ask for it. But no, this pony was in her way. How could she get away from her?
But then she saw Demure. He had been there for a while but Piston's boisterous attitude distracted her. After studying (stalking) him for some time for research on a poem, she knew he was a rare breed, a pony who meant everything he said. He wasn't one of those obsessive fans. She could see that almost immediately from the calm way he was speaking about her latest work.
Cotton cracked a small, thankful smile... until she realized the only reason Demure existed in their world. His talent was to bring joy to others. He must have been working some spell on her, she assumed (even though he was an earth pony and not a unicorn). She immediately frowned and bowed slightly to him.
"I appreciate your kindness, Demure Grayback and I am thankful you read my novels. But I really do need to be somewhere. That incident with that unicorn greatly troubles me... but there is a skull marked package that mailpony has that I need right away. It is more important than meeting anyone or attending to anything else right now."
Cotton realized she sounded rather selfish by saying that. But it was the truth. She had to have the item in that package. It would change her life... though not in the way she would expect it to.
"I'm sorry... could you please excuse me?" she asked meekly.
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Post by KaosuKishi on May 5, 2012 18:36:38 GMT -5
Herb chuckled at Chase's teasing. "I'd tell you to stop calling me doc, but I already know you won't. And no, all I want to say is that you should be careful, especially with your magic."
Carefully, he slipped his saddlebags off his back and reached inside, pulling out a small bottle with a dark blue liquid inside, holding it between his teeth. Placing it before Chase, he spoke up once more.
"Drink, this will help with your headache and the dizziness. And no worries about the taste, it's rather sweet-tasting." He looked around the library. "Anyone else in need of help?"
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Post by Kyubey on May 5, 2012 20:58:24 GMT -5
Piston Mustang's eyes narrowed, and she gave a small snort. She knew when somepony was trying to get out of talking with her, for it tended to happen more often than not. And when somepony was avoiding her, she tended to get rather irate. She probably should have expected such treatment, given that she knew what she was doing when she took the risk of approaching an author, and a famous one at that, but it still peeved her to be dismissed so quickly. Not to mention that not too long ago Cotton Feather had thrown orders at Piston, which she still hadn't forgotten. And then there was her fanpony, who she was also brushing off. It struck Piston as strange that a much beloved pony would ignore those who gave her fame in the first place. Piston's stubborn instincts started to kick in, but she fought them back for the moment. It wouldn't do anypony any good to do anything that would start up a confrontation. Also, there was a chance that Cotton might have been telling the truth. There was a mailpony nearby, after all, so maybe Cotton really was expecting a package. What package was more interesting than a conversation with the Ragin' Scourge of Ponyville, Piston couldn't guess, but that made it all the more interesting. And Cotton Feather didn't even talk down to them at all. If that wasn't potential friend material for Piston, she didn't know what was.
"Sure, that's cool. I understand." she stepped aside and grinned in a friendly manner. "I got nothing to do, and neither does this guy." She dearly hoped that was true. "We'll just wait here while you take care of whatever you've gotta. Take as much time as ya need. Maybe we can talk about, I dunno, writing or something later, yeah?"
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Post by Kuro on May 6, 2012 20:33:17 GMT -5
Demure's heart melted at the sight of Cotton's smile, despite it's brevity and small size. His own smile grew bigger, and he became so happy that he had gone to the library that day...
And then she frowned. Demure was brought back into reality and as if linked with Cotton, his smile disappeared.
"Oh, o-oh of course! S-sorry, so sorry, of course. I-I won't get in your way." He stepped back a bit, just in case he was somehow blocking her. "I-I hope that maybe someday, we can...talk...again." When Cotton left, he seemed very uncertain of himself, looking down and gently kicking the ground a little. After a while, he looked at Piston Mustang.
"Uh...yeah...so. Um. Uh, how are you, Piston? How are you doing with your music?" He knew all about her reputation as a "scourge" of Ponyville, but she couldn't possibly be that bad. She...kinda helped...er, she tried to help with the unicorn, although he didn't exactly approve of her sudden tackle. That didn't help with him consoling her at all. Still, yeah, there was no way she was as bad as people thought...he hoped. He had not actually ever been a victim of one of her "terrible acts". Regardless of her reputation, he still sounded as uncertain and maybe even scared as before.
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Post by CJ on May 6, 2012 23:00:43 GMT -5
"Uh huh, yeah," Cotton said quickly, barely comprehending what Piston said. She nearly bumped into Demure, trying desperately to catch the mailpony. They really were the last things on her mind.
Eventually she caught up to him and took the package in her mouth. With a slight nod of thanks, she immediately went to a bench and began to tear at it with her teeth.
Shimmering in the sunlight, a strange helmet sat in the unwrapped package. It was a metal cap with a horn-like protrusion sticking from it. Attached to the horn was a cord that coiled into the back of the helmet. On the side was a skull insignia, the mark of Crazy Bones, her scientist associate.
Cotton had the stupidest grin on her face. It was the artificial horn Crazy Bones had promised her years ago. Now it was finally done. She couldn't wait to try it on.
She positioned it on her head, buckled it, and peered at a rock in the grass. She concentrated on lifting the rock in her mind. It was a simple task, not too hard. It wasn't like she was trying to transform anything. She just needed to lift things so her writing proficiency could be doubled.
But nothing happened. There was no spark from the horn, no magical glow, no nothing. Cotton began to become distressed. She noticed a note on the bottom of the package she had not previously seen.
It was instructions from Crazy Bones herself.
"If friendship is magic then friendship is needed to utilize this artificial horn..." she read aloud. "I need friends to power this?"
Cotton's eyes nearly exploded out of her head. They were even bigger than her bug eyes from before. She didn't have anypony she could call her friend. She was not as close to her sisters as they were to her and they were both living in Cloudsdale.
That's it! she thought. Crazy Bones!
But just as she assumed the scientist could be potential for a friend, her eyes focused on the bottom of the letter.
P.S. Oh, and by the way, we're just associates so don't think I can be your friend. I'm really busy right now... so busy we wouldn't be able to hang out for months. GOOD LUCK!
Cotton nearly fainted on the spot.
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After sprinting back to the library, Cotton slowly walked up to Piston and Demure, panting as she went. She kept her head low, nearly covering her face with the artfical horn.
"So... I'm back, like I promised," Cotton lied. "So yeah, what's up... friends?"
The word "friends" came out of her mouth like she was trying to get a bad taste out of her mouth. A strange, half smile formed on her face as she said the word. Yes, Piston was a rude sort of pony but neither she or Demure did anything to deserve her selfish treatment. She could only pray they would not opt to abandoning her. She needed friends if she was ever going to figure this horn out.
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Rinji
Pirate
The Catman King
Necromancer
Posts: 171
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Post by Rinji on May 7, 2012 0:03:55 GMT -5
"Ow..." Icarus trotted down the street, his eye blackened and his leg limped. Those barbaric guards found every reason to accuse Izzy of misconduct, and use of force when all he was trying to do was get into the building, claiming to be a witness, but none of that seemed to matter. Now he was one-sided seeing and he probably needed to put an ice pack on his front, left leg just above his hoof.
What a wonderful day it was so far, not only did he know nothing about what just happened at the library, but now he was hurting, and probably wasn't going to be in any kind of mood to tell his stories to the children that evening. He stopped near the library to see that many of the ponies were still there, he wasn't sure what the situation was, but now he really wasn't sure he was in the mood to talk about anything anyway. Still, he felt inclined to go and help with cleaning up the library, as he knew they would need all the help they could get.
He trotted by the other ponies with his head tilted some to try and hide his black eye.
"Hey..." He said as he ambled by them, still not in any mood to really talk to them. What was he going to say? He was interested in finding out more but, oh sorry guys, they wouldn't let me in, so I just left you all and came back with nothing. I'm a total loser? Well yeah that's pretty obvious. He sighed, and continued onto the library where he could at least pick up the pieces to his already broken tale.
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Post by Kyubey on May 9, 2012 23:11:24 GMT -5
Piston gave a friendly wave to Cotton as she left, not really expecting her to come back. It was at that point when she first really noticed Demure there. She didn't know a single thing about him, and he seemed rather quiet, but he was also pretty nice, she assumed. Nobody ever showed intrest in her music before, aside from her old music teacher.
"I'm doing pretty good. Well, haven't gotten a good gig in a while now, and I'm having a bit of trouble with the lyrics to my new song, but that's life, ya know how it goes. Ah, dang, didn't bring my guitar with me. I could've played something for ya." She paused awkwardly, not really knowing what to say to the shy looking pony. "So... what kinda music you like?"
The moment was soon interrupted, however, but Cotton Feather appearing. Wearing the strangest hat she had ever seen. Everypony present was rather lucky Piston wasn't taking a sip of anything when the author pony returned. It looked as if she took part in some freakish scientific experiment while she was away. Piston knew it was rude to laugh at other people's manner of dress, she was socially aware enough for that at least, but it was hard when the person she was talking to was wearing a ridiculous helmet. She didn't laugh, but her snickering was very poorly concealed, and she was making a clear effort to not look anypony in the eye.
"Er... uh... hi there. That... didn't... haha... take long. Ha. Er, so... you guys wanna... go... someplace?"
Thankfully, she was saved from that uncomfortably hilarious interaction by the sudden appearance of Icarus, looking like he had been beaten up by the royal guards. Without even asking, Piston knew who had administered the beating. Those soldier types ALWAYS went for the legs, she learned that from experience.
"Whoa whoa, what happened here..." she tried to think of his name but just drew a blank. She knew she had seen him around town, but names were never her strong point. "...man, you look awful. What happened? Need me to go do something about this? 'cause I will." She was absolutely serious about that, too. Nopony went and oppressed perfectly friendly citizens, not in Piston's town. Just the sight of Icarus made Piston want to march directly to Canterlot and demand an explanation from Celestia herself for the behavior of her soldiers. The company she was in was all that prevented her from attempting just that. Still, she wanted answers, and could feel herself getting more heated by the second.
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