Canterlot [Spellbound] The Fixer-Upper (Bellosh101 & Tacobob)

[tacobob]

“Must have been heartbreaking for your friends to be invited to the wedding of the century with the very high honor of being bridesmaids for a princess only to be both possessed by evil magic and then to be dumped moments later.”, the unicorn mused out-loud as he studied his new finding, “Also must have been an rather interesting bachelorette party. Wonder what happened to the bug-queen-pony and her minions? Heard they were hurled into the Badlands. I could only imagine they will be back with vengeance." His horn let loose a small bolt of green energy which struck the invisible wall in front of his snout. He let out a grunt before turning his attention to the mare, "The 'Revelio' spell informed me what I probably could have figured out on my own, but I really wanted to be sure before I continued."

He slapped the invisible wall with his front right hoof, "Someone left a little present here and surrounded it with some sort of invisible force-field. Didn't put up much of a fight.", he started a countdown from ten to one. The second he hit 'one', a short wave of green energy revealed a small wooded box, "Moonie, would you care to...", he try to stiffle a giggle, but failed his saving throw, "Sorry. I'm starting to get flashbacks from my high school days when the gang and I would gather up and play a little bit of Advanced P&D..Er..", he cleared his throat before asking the mare, "Could you please check it for traps? Magic or and not-so-magic?" He quickly backed away from the chest, "Just don't stand to close! This might be a mimic."

[Bellosh]

 

“Ehh, I don’t think those changelings will come back,” Moondancer hesitantly joined in the theorizing; “Something tells me they’ve learned their lesson and will just move on to an easier target. I feel bad though for whoever they invade next…” In the back of her mind however, the moon-flanked unicorn felt her reassurances to be hollow. Assuming it was true that Equestria contained more love in its borders than any other land, then in reality, there was no question that mean old Chrysalis would hatch some other scheme yet.

 

Meanwhile, Pocket Change’s detective work revealed the presence of a tiny box of wood. But apparently it wasn’t safe to get near it quite yet; the stallion first asked Moondancer to check for traps. “Check for traps?!” exclaimed the young mare in surprise; “Nopony ever taught me practical trap checking spells in magic school! Uggggh, I think there is something I can do though; gimme’ a few minutes, and let me concentrate big time. I’m gonna’ need it.” Closing her eyes, Moony blasted forth her magic at the box; her objective, to analyze the molecular structure of the container.

 

With a well-homed combination of continuous spellcasting and meditation, a gifted unicorn could hope to become “one” with whatever they were trying to analyze. But the process brought intensive demands, and could take upwards to an hour depending on how complex the analyzed object was. As this was just a simple wooden box though, the process ought not to take too long. As Moondancer worked, she reported on her findings; “Hmmmm… object appears dead as a doornail; meaning no ongoing biological processes, and so no chance of our prize being a Greater Equestrian Mimicker… too bad though, I heard young ones make great pets just as long as you don’t make it turn into a million things all the time. Hmmm… no sign of any residual radiation either, which means no enchantments are present. Sho-be-do, sho-be-do, sho-be-do..... No machinery as far as I can tell, and there seems to be a whole lot of empty space in the middle.”

 

Satisfied, Moondancer stopped her spell and opened her eyes again, but found herself utterly exhausted and suffering from a mild headache; “What you’ve got here is just that; an ordinary box.” But that wasn’t all, for the mare excitedly turned towards Pocket Change despite the persistent need to rub her head; “I did feel something in the empty space touching the bottom… which mean’s something’s inside. Couldn’t tell what it was though; we’ll just have to open the box to find out."

 

~There's got to be a more efficient spell for this sort of thing; ow my head.....~

[tacobob]

Pocket Change could not be even more pleased than he currently was. Moondancer was such a clever pony! "Thank you Lady Moon.", he gave a proper bow as he felt like a adventuring pony from his role-playing games. Generally when a treasure chest was discovered in an adventure, the party's rogue would be directed to discover and defeat the chest's traps, magical or not. Since his 'group' did not have such a character, he instead was aided by Moon's magic. In his game, she would have received experience points and maybe would have gained a level. "Guess we now get to see what epic treasures lay inside!", the pony made a 'squee' sound as he cantered over to the chest.

What treasures would he find? Thoughts of an endless supply of bits filled his head, but this quickly vanished as he realized the chest could probably hold only a small or mini 'horde' of coins. Maybe a selection of jewels could be found? Maybe even famous ones! Like the fabled 'Clopmare Diamond' or ' Silmarils' jewels. Maybe it was a map to a proper horde of treasure!? While his head continued to be filled with suggestions, Pocket pushed it open with a free hoof. As the chest slowly opened, his eyes grew larger until they appeared ready to pop out of his head. Then reality quickly made its way into the stallion's head. He saw the contents inside. It wasn’t bits. There were no fantastic maps to be found.

"It's just a bunch of moldy old seeds.", he grumbled, "They might be Krynoid buds or maybe even Papadalupapadipu spores. I'm not sure.", while the pony did attended the required botany classes, he had managed to forget most of his lessons over the years. As he wondered what type of seeds they had found, a small yellowed scroll floated out of the chest and landed directly onto Pocket's face. "Gah! Bats! Bats on my face! Help!", he yelped as he tried to remove the offending paper from his eyes.

OOC: Pocket Change is not a brave pony.

[Bellosh]

 

“Oh, your words are too kind gentle sir,” Moondancer indulged Pocket Change’s sensibilities, craning her head in a sideways glance while exaggeratedly covering up her chest with one foreleg. A kind gentlecolt always deserved knowing that their lady was flattered! The moon-flanked mare wanted to squee in turn, but her minor headache put a slight damper on her mood. However, the aching wasn’t enough to keep Moony from tightly grabbing Pocket’s unused foreleg as she tried to guess beforehoof what the box contained.

 

What the two unicorns found were seeds… and not too much of them either; only enough to cover the bottom of the small chest. Like Pocket Change, Moondancer hadn’t made botany her strong point, so she didn’t have a clue concerning what the seeds were for. But Moony also noticed something else before her companion did; a worn-out piece of paper that floated up to Pocket’s face and made him freak out beyond all belief. Forced to let go of the shrieking stallion, Moony had to decide whether to calm down Pocket or watch him wail at nothing; the girl almost instantly chose the latter, thinking the sight before her to be utterly hilarious.

 

Giggling all the while, Moondancer gracefully swiped the offending letter from Pocket Change’s face with a hoof so she could read it (she didn’t feel up to using a levitation spell yet). “Tehehehe, let’s see what, heh heh, this letter, he he, has to… to.....” Moony lost composure and broke into a giggling fit for a few more seconds. Once she remembered to present herself with a modicum of dignity again; the girl cleared her throat to begin reading the letter out loud:

 

“Hello!

 

If you’re reading this letter, this means you’ve found the last remaining lumi seeds in Equestria. If you don’t know, lumi trees grow very special fruit that glows white whenever the Moon’s out at night. Everytime I eat one before bedtime, I’ll never get nightmares!”

 

Based on the unrefined hoofwriting and the incredibly basic word composition, Moondancer figured this was written by a kid. But somehow, something seemed a bit… familiar about what the mare read through.

 

“But the lumi trees grow in one spot only, in a grove near my village. One day, a mean pony came by and paid everypony lots of money to buy the lumi grove. She wanted lumi leaves, which also glow in the dark and can make other things shiny too somehow. The meanie wanted only the leaves and didn’t care about the rest. So she had the lumi trees cut down, all of them. I tried stopping the meanie, but Mom and Dad and the other grownups said that money was more important than a few trees.”

 

Yeah, something seemed very familiar about this account to Moony.

 

“I was only able to save a few seeds because that mean ole mare destroyed everything else. She didn’t want to replant the lumi trees. She just wanted to quickly leave and make money someplace else. I would’ve replanted what I saved, but I didn’t want the trees to get cut down again. So I went into the big city, found an empty salt lick warehouse Dad told me about me in one of his stories, and hid the last lumi seeds here.”

 

“HA!” Moony jokingly gloated, her body shaking to the tune of a victory dance; “Take THAT, Pocket! I knew my salt lick theory was correct.”

 

“I hope that by the time you find these seeds again, everypony else will be sad that the lumi trees are no longer around. Grandma always used to say that you never know what you got until it’s gone, and I hope she was right. Please, plant a new lumi forest and treat the saplings with care. Protect them from axes that hack, and maybe the lumi trees and their shiny fruit will come back.

 

Love,

Moonswirl"

 

The white unicorn's sense of déjà vu steadily increased as neared the letter's ending. Something kept gnawing in her mind, and the mare's apprehension increased right up til she read out the all-too-familiar name "Moonswirl". “NO. WAY,” cried out an incredibly shocked Moondancer, covering her mouth out of reflex with her other hoof. Everything made so perfect sense now to the gasping mare!

 

“THAT’S MY GRANDMOTHER!!!”

 

*DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!*

[tacobob]

Pocket Change's face scrunched up a little as Moondancer read her letter. While he was good at reciting, he knew she was better. Did the writer actually make rhymes in the text of her lines? She did write about the trees with fruit that did shines. But these were taken away by a mare who was a true meanie! She could have been nice to the trees and ponies and instead had an Martini. Once the forest was rid of this special tree, then and only then was when she decided to flee! These images made him hurt so deeply in his gut, but even then he couldn't but help but stare at the mare's ample and very shapely bu..... The unicorn tried to shake the rhymes from his head. After meeting a zebra in Ponyville who the gift of the verse for an adventure, he couldn't help but think or speak in rhymes the following day.

"Wow, it's actual lumi trees seeds, the types of trees that all ponies needs! I've heard of these seeds and their mystery, and how they were lost into hist...er...". The stallion remembered that forced-rhyming could be stopped just like the hiccups. He just needed to place both his front hooves over his ears and make them pop! Once that was done, his rhyming was gone. "Sorry Moon.", he chuckled as he cleared his throat, "Talk about a coincidence!", he slowly rubbed the back of his neck with his free right hoof, "To think Lady Nivial just happened to purchase the building your Grandmother used to hide the last of these seeds. Or maybe it's just destiny?", he gave the girl a wink before meekly asking, "Er, is your dear Grandmother still with us? If so, we could use her help if we want to plant these seeds. If she's not able to help, we could seek the help from maybe Gray Lexis or Licorice Black?"

[Bellosh]

 

Moondancer remained in shock for several more seconds, meaning that she didn’t pay any heed of Pocket Change’s abortive attempt at rhyming. This had been the first time the moon-flaked mare heard anything about lumi trees since… well, since she was just a kid. Moony thought her grandmother was loony whenever she mentioned how the magical grove got cut down; surely ponies would never let something awful like happen anywhere in Equestria? Never believing the tale, the girl ended up forgetting all about it as she moved on in life; that was, until now. Pocket was right in a sense; it was dumb luck that Nival purchased the same property used by Grandma Moonswirl to hide the seeds.

 

The young mare’s shock dulled down into a melancholy as she finally spoke to Pocket Change. “Granny’s… well, you know what they say about the debt that all ponies pay,” Moondancer put it rather euphemistically, giving a long sigh; “Don’t worry Pocket; it all happened many years ago. I just prefer… not to get mopey about it if I can help it; gotta move on and all.” Desiring a shift of subject to the present, the white unicorn further suggested; “I think we should get Immie to help us too if we can. I know she’s a member of the Apple family, so she has some background in growing things and stuff.” However, one more urgent question needed to be asked; “But Pocket, shouldn’t we let a professional forester plant these lumi trees? How is a magic club like us supposed to care for a nearly extinct plant species.....?”

[tacobob]

Pocket's ears drooped a little, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.", he frowned a bit before turning his attention to the chest and its contents, "Oh yes, it would be a good idea to get the best behind this, but I wonder if there are special instructions for your Lumi Trees? While most seedlings can be pretty much dumped into the ground, covered in fresh soil and sprinkled with water to grow properly, I've heard that some magical plants or trees like the Lufwood or Zap Apple that actually require really odd and downright incredible steps one must follow to the tee or you won't end up with anything. I wonder if your grandmother had any instructions or rules on how to properly grow these properly.", he glanced down into chest to see if he could find anymore scrolls. "I'm just worried if we hoof this over to an modern arborist without any proper preparation, we might end up wasting these last seeds. I wonder if we could also find the exact place these trees originally grew. Would be rather special to return these trees to the same spot your grandmother once trotted upon. We'll just need to know the name of her village, who currently owns the grove and if they're willing to work with us. If we're lucky, they might even be a proper forester!", the stallion was back to being bouncy. "This is so utterly fascinating! We're about to grant your dear Granny's final wish and return a long forgotten and magical tree back to its place of origin!"

"We should head up top-side, unless there's something else you need to do. If not, we head up, I'll see about fixing the trap-door so nopony else makes a wrong step and falls through and then we can figure out what to do next." The unicorn was fully energized! He was granted a quest, and he was eager to finish it!

[Bellosh]

 

"...I've heard that some magical plants or trees like the Lufwood or Zap Apple that actually require really odd and downright incredible steps one must follow to the tee or you won't end up with anything. I wonder if your grandmother had any instructions or rules on how to properly grow these properly I'm just worried if we hoof this over to an modern arborist without any proper preparation, we might end up wasting these last seeds."

 

“Nope, Granny never told me how to grow lumi trees,” explained Moondancer as she also reinspected the chest, but not finding anything; “In fact, nopony at all has ever succeeded in cultivating them… at least, anypony Grandma Moonswirl knew of. If somepony had known, lumi trees wouldn’t be extinct in the wild, now would they?” Sighing, the mare admitted; “It looks like since nopony else knows, it’ll be up to us to find out how to grow these things ourselves. Hopefully, we won’t have to resort to trial and error; as you said, we shouldn’t waste the seeds.”

 

"I wonder if we could also find the exact place these trees originally grew. Would be rather special to return these trees to the same spot your grandmother once trotted upon. We'll just need to know the name of her village, who currently owns the grove and if they're willing to work with us..."

 

The moon-flanked unicorn mused for a moment as she took another peek at her grandma’s letter, this time feeling well enough to levitate the letter to flip it onto its backside. Noticing nothing but blank space and a weird fruity smell, Moony turned her attention back to Pocket; “Ehhh, that may be difficult; my grandma and her folks moved out of Hollow Shades long before my mom was even born. Nopony in our family lives there anymore, and I don’t know if their old homestead even exists anymore. We’d basically be going in blind and hope that whoever’s the oldest pony around can point us in the right direction.”

 

"This is so utterly fascinating! We're about to grant your dear Granny's final wish and return a long forgotten and magical tree back to its place of origin!"

 

“Actually,” Moondancer corrected dryly, her eyes awkwardly drifting around the chamber; “Granny’s last wish was that the family take a trip to the Gallopocus Islands; she even left us vacation money in her will. My old mare didn’t really want anyone to feel sad over her..... I can sympathize.”

 

"We should head up top-side, unless there's something else you need to do. If not, we head up, I'll see about fixing the trap-door so nopony else makes a wrong step and falls through and then we can figure out what to do next."

 

The young mare nodded in agreement, although she did so half-heartedly; “Right... we still got a warehouse to fix up, I guess.” Unlike Pocket Change, Moony was not as pumped up about this new development. As she trotted back into the main basement chamber, she fretted over whether she and her friend were actually capable of bringing a long-lost plant back into the world successfully.....

[tacobob]

The moon-flanked unicorn mused for a moment as she took another peek at her grandma’s letter, this time feeling well enough to levitate the letter to flip it onto its backside. Noticing nothing but blank space and a weird fruity smell, Moony turned her attention back to Pocket; “Ehhh, that may be difficult; my grandma and her folks moved out of Hollow Shades long before my mom was even born. Nopony in our family lives there anymore, and I don’t know if their old homestead even exists anymore. We’d basically be going in blind and hope that whoever’s the oldest pony around can point us in the right direction.”

Even with waves of reality smacking the stallion upside the head, Pocket Change was still in very good spirits! Things might be far more difficult than he may have wanted it to, but he was still very enthusiastic about the whole project. "Your grandmother wanted you all to go to the Gallopocus Islands?", he let out a surprised chuckle, "I've heard some good things about that place.", not that long ago, he had listened to the barmaid of one favorite hangouts describe the popular islands to him in detail and he couldn't help but want to go. "One of these days I wouldn't mind going there, just as long as the sea life is a little more friendlier than say 'Bridleback Bay'. A friend of my sister's was attacked by a kraken over there, if you could believe it!". The unicorn realized he was quickly moving away from the correct subject, so he did a little backpedaling while clearing his throat and as he did, he tried not to think of Moon frolicking around the fabled sandy beaches of the Gallopocus Islands while wearing an bikini. "Oh nutbunnies.", he yelped as that pleasant image found itself in his mind.

The stallion glanced down at the hard floor under his hooves,"Er. Hollow Shades. Heard it was rather lovely. Never been there, but I heard that's where the whole legend of the 'Headless Horse' came from.", he managed to push away a light blush once he remembered the school play he and his sister performed with the race of his class back during primary school. Pocket Change played a tree. His only line was 'russle russle'. "Town is blanketed in trees so thick, the residents can't even see the sky. So I'm guessing if we were to plant these trees, we would probably have to do it there. These 'Lumi' probably require the correct sort of podzolised soil only found under such conditions, and the trees themselves, I'm guessing would not survive in direct sunlight. We could also be safe to assume there might be unique magical residue in the area that might have helped the trees as well."

The young mare nodded in agreement, although she did so half-heartedly; “Right... we still got a warehouse to fix up, I guess.” Unlike Pocket Change, Moony was not as pumped up about this new development. As she trotted back into the main basement chamber, she fretted over whether she and her friend were actually capable of bringing a long-lost plant back into the world successfully.....

Pocket Change followed the mare into the other room, "Should we keep the chest of seeds down here for the time being?", if she wished for the chest to remain behind, he did nothing, but if she asked to being along, the stallion disappeared into the other room and will carry it along with him via telekinesis. "Now then, if you would like, stand still for a moment and I'll levitate you (and the chest) back to the main room and we can continue working on our guild hall."

[Bellosh]

 

"Er. Hollow Shades. Heard it was rather lovely. Never been there, but I heard that's where the whole legend of the 'Headless Horse' came from. Town is blanketed in trees so thick, the residents can't even see the sky. So I'm guessing if we were to plant these trees, we would probably have to do it there. These 'Lumi' probably require the correct sort of podzolised soil only found under such conditions, and the trees themselves, I'm guessing would not survive in direct sunlight. We could also be safe to assume there might be unique magical residue in the area that might have helped the trees as well."

 

Silly Pocket Change realized that he went on yet another tangent again, so he quickly got back on-topic. Not that Moondancer minded all that much really; Pocket it seemed took after Grandma Moonswirl in that regard. Moonswirl always had a new story to tell every time she and Moondancer were together, and often in her excitement fumbled around trying to figure out which tale to focus on. Good thing Granny kept private diaries around; or else her stories would have been lost forever. Maybe Pocket ought to get a diary too, one day.

 

Anywho, as Moony followed the source of light back to where she and her partner originally fell down, she felt some questions were needed to be asked in response to the stallion’s guesswork; “What makes you think the lumi trees can’t withstand direct sunlight? I’m no biology expert, but Granny never mentioned anything that suggested those trees had to stay in the shade. Plus there’s the possible relationship with the Moon to consider; Granny always said that the leaves glow brightest when hit by the light of the Moon. Surely it wouldn’t be possible for lumi to grow unless they could receive lunar light?”

 

"Should we keep the chest of seeds down here for the time being?"

 

"Nah, bring them up," answered the young mare; "I'd rather we not keep anything down there until we get around to making it cozy. I'd rather not have to wander around in the dark if I can help it." As Moondancer didn't feel up for an exhaustive teleportation spell right now, she nodded in approval to let Pocket levitate her back up top-side. However, one more question remained; "Hey Pocket, how are you going to get back up.....?"

[tacobob]

"It's just a guess.", The stallion scooped up the chest with his telekinesis and took it with him, "Hollow Shades is a rather unique little place and I'm assuming the assortment of different factors have produced these special trees. If not, we would have had your Lumi trees in other locations. Some plants and trees do manage to grow rather well in partial or full shade, like our Red Spruce or 'Hearth's Warming Eve Tree'", he nodded his head as the mare spoke of the tree glowing when hit with lunar light. "Well, I guess there's that as well. It still could be shade tolerant, as in it does not need sunlight to grow, but can still be touched by both the sun and moon's rays."

Once they found themselves in the basement's first room, Pocket Change glanced up towards the entrance, "You could just use your magic to toss me up towards the opening. I can grab onto the side and climb up. Once there, you can wrap your front legs around the rope and I can pull you up, and then together we can lift up the chest with our magic. How's that?"

If fully approved by the mare, Pocket Change will go about doing these things. If not, he will patiently listen to her suggestions.

[Bellosh]

 

"You could just use your magic to toss me up towards the opening. I can grab onto the side and climb up. Once there, you can wrap your front legs around the rope and I can pull you up, and then together we can lift up the chest with our magic. How's that?"

 

“Hmmm, that sounds good,” answered Moondancer; “I would teleport up there already, but I’d have to wait several minutes more to recover from that analysis spell… and I’d rather get back up the fast way. Yeah, levitating you up there won’t be as hard.” Which was a good thing right about now, for Moony really wanted to escape from the darkness and get back working again. Or maybe even eat a thing or two, since lunchtime was probably getting near.

 

Once the two ponies were ready, the young mare didn’t waste a moment before reaching out to Pocket Change via magic. As a magenta glow surrounded the other unicorn, Moondancer begin the process of telekinetically lifting Pocket upwards. It felt like to Moony that it’d be a piece of cake; she can have her partner reaching the top in only a few seconds.....

[tacobob]

The stallion stood still as Moondancer's magic quickly covered his body. In just a few seconds, everything was all very magenta, which did not bother the unicorn one bit, but it did feel a little ticklish. Pocket Change giggled for a moment, "Ah, It's been a long time since I've had somepony use a spell like this on me.", he tried his best to keep from closing his eyes as the spellcaster gave him a boost towards the small opening. Once he got high enough to the edges of the old warehouse floor, he quickly caught them with his two front legs and quickly pulled himself up. As he did, the young pony wisely decided he would never get on the mare's bad side knowing she could probably throw him further and faster if she had to. After making sure the rope was still secure, the white coated spell-caster glanced down into the opening, "Alright Moony, just wrap your legs around the...rope..", he stammered a little bit.

Once she was ready, he started to pull on the rope. "Hold on tight!".

[Bellosh]

 

Breathing in relief that she got Pocket Change up safely, Moondancer waited for the stallion above to throw a secured rope down. The mare followed her instructions, hesitantly indicating that her grip over the rope was secure; “Okaaay, I’ve got the rope, Pocket! ..... I think…” Truth be told, Moony wasn’t looking forward to perilously dangling over a deep shaft, now regretting she didn’t come up with a different plan for getting out of the basement a couple minutes ago. Oh, how she wished she didn’t fall down a second time!

 

Closing her eyes, Moondancer did her absolute best to stay on the rope this time around as she felt it slowly being pulled upwards. It didn’t appear likely that she’d sign up for one of Pocket’s adventures anytime soon, especially since his average adventure probably contained more peril than a simple basement with non-harmful protective mechanisms or hostile creatures. At any rate, she learned today to never treat such situations casually the way she did back when the unicorn bungled her descent earlier, and nearly crashed into Pocket Change below.

 

When Moony finally found the courage to open her eyes, she saw nothing but herself dangling a good distance over the dark basement floor below. The young mare involuntarily shuddered before looking up and seeing her proximity to the top. As she took deep breaths and looked on at her stallion companion with apprehension, Moondancer really hoped that nothing would go wrong; not when she was so close.....

[tacobob]

Pocket Change waited to make sure that the mare was holding onto the rope as tight as she could muster. "There you go! Just hold on and I'll get you up right away." After he triple-checked the rope to make sure it was fully secure, the stallion started to slowly pull the rope, making sure to keep up a slow, but steady pace. If he went too fast, she might slip off the rope, and if he went too slow, her legs might get tired, causing her to fall as well. As he pulled, the unicorn tried his very best to encourage the moon-flanked mare, "Good job there Moon, just keep holding on for dear life. I could have used you in my last adventure with Ember Spark and Emerath. Not only did we encounter dangerous traps and some sort of shadow monster, we did get to see all manners of ancient art along with the rather beautiful white griffons of the north."

Once Moondancer was close to the edge, the pony gave one more pull, bringing her over the threshold and back on solid ground. "There you go! Nice and safe.", he glanced down at her with his big green eyes, "You can let go of the rope now. ", he quickly held out his right hoof to help her up,"That wasn't so bad."

[Bellosh]

 

"Good job there Moon, just keep holding on for dear life. I could have used you in my last adventure with Ember Spark and Emerath. Not only did we encounter dangerous traps and some sort of shadow monster, we did get to see all manners of ancient art along with the rather beautiful white griffons of the north."

 

Moondancer couldn’t even begin to figure out how to dignify Pocket Change’s belief with a proper response, considering her current predicament of gripping a rope as tightly as possible. “Ah. Ha. Ha,” came her sarcastic response; “Uhhhhh… eeeenope. You’re not taking me out on a date to a haunted boobytrapped temple anytime soon, Pocket.” Huh… those were odd words just now; why in the world did the mare phrase it as a date? Was Pocket really having that much of an effect on her? Who knows; the only thing Moony knew for certain was that she SHOULDN’T FALL!

 

"That wasn't so bad."

 

Before she knew it, Moondancer felt her stomach contact the solid floor again; she made it back in one piece! In her exhilarated state, the young mare stared into Pocket’s bright green eyes as she took his hoof to get up back onto her four legs. Gosh, that stallion looked so irresistible; eyes, mane and all. Moony recalled that this sort of event whenever a pony felt closer to another pony after a seemingly perilous event had a name she couldn’t remember at the moment, but who cared? The lady had a fever, and the only prescription was more Pocket Change.

 

Moondancer’s purple eyes gazed into the stallion’s own yet again; her hoof not letting go of Pocket’s. The mare felt deja vu coming down on her, for the two ponies were in a very similar situation right before Pocket’s untimely “discovery” of the basement... not to mention the incident afterwards when the girl "fell" for the adventuring stallion quite literally. Having noted this and how her face hovered only inches next to her companion’s, Moony blushed big time and let a dumb smile form on her face as she lamely admitted; “Yeah… I uhhh... guess so.....”

[tacobob]

"Well then.", the stallion's ears perked up as the mare spoke, "If you don't want to hold our first date in an spooky, booby-trapped temple, how about we have one in the scenic Everfree Forest, or maybe, a place you'd like to go. I know all the hot spots in Canterlot.", he glanced further into the never-ending beauty that was Moondancer's eyes. "Just don't count yourself out in the whole bravery-business. You're a good deal more courageous than most of the people I know, be it ponies or griffons.", he continued to try his best to be charming, but he continued to lose himself as he stared into her eyes. Those eyes of deep purple made his heart beat a little faster.

"You leaped into a dark and rather scary pit without any concern for your own safety, and you also performed well on the rope. And of course there's that whole mastering magics that many spell-casters such as myself just get the chills just thinking about. Teleportation!", he shivered just a little. "There are things you could teach me about bravery. You take chances. Something I haven't been very good at until recently. That makes you...er.", if the unicorn had been back in his dorm-room playing table-top role-playing games with his friends, his character 'Pocket Change' would now have failed his saving throw. While his stats were decent, the cute expression that fell upon the mare's face completely destroyed any resistance he had managed to muster so far. So he leaned a little closer to the spell-caster and quickly placed his lips upon hers.

And here he was, kissing the gal he fell head over hooves all those years ago, but was far too intimated by both her status and beauty to even gather the courage to say 'hello'. He also finally realized that this was the first 'real' adult kiss he had ever shared with some-pony. While he had kissed mares before,it was always 'cute'. A quick peck on the cheek or lips. All sweet and sugary little foal-kisses. But this was a kiss that really meant something. It had structure, like the walls of the great castle in his beloved city of Canterlot!

Now he was starting to get silly thoughts in his head. Castles? Structure? This kiss was melting his brain! Or maybe it was just a simple 'tingle' in the ventral tegmental area of the ol' grey matter. The good sort of tingle.

Now it was her turn to respond to the ongoing kiss.

Would she end it?

Would she kick it up a notch?

Only time would tell.

[Bellosh]

 

"Well then. If you don't want to hold our first date in an spooky, booby-trapped temple, how about we have one in the scenic Everfree Forest, or maybe, a place you'd like to go. I know all the hot spots in Canterlot."

 

“I... I know all of Canterlot’s hotspots too,” Moondancer weakly reminded Pocket Change; “You’re not the only unicorn who... who lives here.....” And so, arranging a date with Pocket got added onto the young mare’s to-do list without an absolute second thought, along with tidying up the guild HQ, planting Granny’s lumi seeds, catching up with schoolwork, saving the world someday, and cleaning up her dorm room when she came back to the University.

 

"Just don't count yourself out in the whole bravery-business. You're a good deal more courageous than most of the people I know, be it ponies or griffons. You leaped into a dark and rather scary pit without any concern for your own safety, and you also performed well on the rope. And of course there's that whole mastering magics that many spell-casters such as myself just get the chills just thinking about. Teleportation! There are things you could teach me about bravery. You take chances. Something I haven't been very good at until recently. That makes you...er."

 

Before Moondancer could say anything else, her companion went back into his old complimenting routine…kinda. Unlike the other times however, Pocket Change seemed less jovial and more like he fell into an enchantment. Moony took notice, and so she didn’t giggle or try dismissing his words or anything like that; she merely tugged harder on the stallion’s hoof. The moon-flanked unicorn had to admit; none of the other ponies she knew wouldn’t have been willing to go down after Pocket in the basement themselves. Staring into Pocket’s slowly approaching eyes, Moondancer guessed maybe she actually did have a little bit of extra courage in her than she supposed.

 

Pocket Change must have also found a dash of extra courage of his own; at this juncture, the girl found herself half-wanting the other unicorn to bridge the gap between their muzzles. The other half of Moondancer’s brain wondered if perhaps they should wait for a date and know each other better before taking things to the next level. But then, the rational part of her mind remembered that Pocket already revealed a great deal about himself already through his words and actions. In some respects, this day fulfilled many of the requirements of-

 

Oops, Moondancer over-analyzed for too long; Pocket Change took matters into his own hooves and kissed the girl. Moony kept her eyes wide open in shock, not quite sure how to describe her feelings. Unknown to the stallion, this also was Moondancer’s first ‘anticipated’ adult kiss; one shared with a stallion her age without accompaniment from any prior weird awkwardness. This time though, she didn’t know if sharing a kiss with Pocket felt right, but she definitely could say within two seconds of the stallion’s move that being kissed by him felt AMAZING BEYOND ALL COMPREHENSION!

 

Once Moondancer recovered from the shock, she went ‘all in’ as much as anypony reasonably would for a first kiss. Closing her eyes, she made an aggressive first attack on Pocket’s lower lip at her earliest opportunity. To make sure Pocket wouldn’t suddenly freak out from his impulsiveness and dash off in embarrassment, Moony pulled the stallion’s hoof so that it touched her chest, letting him know she welcomed her partner’s boldness. Pocket could probably also feel Moondancer's own rapid heartbeat too with his hoof now. When it came time for the two unicorns to break off their lip-locking several seconds later, the mare, wearing a content smile, hoped she hadn’t kissed her now-special somepony too hard.....

[tacobob]

"Maybe it doesn't have to be in Canterlot, we could always try Fillydelphia. Heard there's a family run tavern that's out of this world, and there's always the fabled Gallopocus Islands.", Pocket Change tried to fight off an image that quickly found its way into his mind of a bouncy, frolicking Moondancer in a bikini. As he shook of the daydream, he quickly added, "E-even Hollow Shades would work. While it can be a spooky place, it's also a bit of an romantic getaway. Historical buildings. Legends behind every nook and cranny and all. At least that's what I've heard." He pondered why he never had visited the little village.

(Kiss goes here)

As Pocket Change slowly finished off his kiss, he was welcomed by return on his investment. As the mare started up the ol' 'lip-o-suction', the unicorn took notice and worked on her top lip while she worked on his bottom.", his right eyebrow rose a little higher as Moondancer positioned his hoof onto her chest. For a moment, he was rather confused. Did she want him to start kissing her there? Wouldn't that be taking it a little too fast?". It took a brief second when he realized it was simply her way of telling him that everything was going fine. Once they both pulled away, it took the stallion a moment for him to catch his breath. "I know you know I know that I know that I tend to over-do it with the complements, even though you deserve everyone of them, so I'll be brief on this one.". It took him another moment before he continued, "You were amazing.", his knees buckled as the pony quickly found himself flat on the ground. He silently thanked whatever gods and goddess out there that made sure none of their guild members took up the offer and helped the pair with the guild hall refurbishment.

[Bellosh]

 

"I know you know I know that I know that I tend to over-do it with the complements, even though you deserve everyone of them, so I'll be brief on this one..... You were amazing."

 

When it became evident that Pocket Change needed to catch his breath after the kiss, Moondancer felt concerned for a moment that she overdid things. The young mare’s worry briefly transformed into sheer elatedness as the stallion charged forth into one of his drawn-out accolades again. Why, this meant that Moony didn’t screw up her first honest-to-goodness kiss! HOW AWESOME WAS THAT? Now she finally had a first kiss story which didn’t end in-

 

Moondancer’s blissful expression suddenly turned rather lifeless as Pocket Change collapsed onto the floor. Ah well, looks like the moon-flanked unicorn would have to keep her super-duper kissing skills in check next time, because that handsome stallion lying in front of her couldn’t withstand it. Too bad for him; he’ll be missing out, heh heh.

 

But the girl didn’t her light-hearted internal thoughts from revealing themselves through her face. “You were quite amazing yourself,” Moondancer deadpanned as her accusatory eyes and joyless muzzle bore down on Pocket; “It’s as if… you’ve done this sort of thing before.” If it wasn’t for the periodic puffing of her cheeks and neck that indicated poorly suppressed laughter, one could say that Moony was giving her new coltfriend the evilest eye in the world. Just because the two were apparently an item now didn’t mean that the juvenile teasing needed to end.....

[tacobob]

"Ah shucks mam'.", Pocket Change tried his very best country-accent while he tipped his hat, "Didn't you go to the same grammar school as I did? One day I went from a 'Yuck! Girls are yecky!' stage', to 'Gotta kiss all the pretty mares'. Used to get in so much trouble!", he let out a chuckle, "Mind you, it was mostly the older girls and on the cheek, but sometimes on the snout and usually with assistance from the mare's friends. They'd bring their friend over to me, pretend that I had a question and when I politely asked that the mare would come a little closer so I could hear better, I'd land a quick wet one!"

He watched as Moondancer puffed out her cheeks, "If you keep that up, I'll just end up kissing you even more and we'll never get anything productive done to our little guild hall. Not that I don't mind.", he quickly added as he slowly rose up from the ground, " He kept a smile on his face as remembered the mare when he first saw her. She was usually in a little group of her own, but unlike most cliques, their doors were always open for anypony to join, even the unpopular ones normally cast aside by the other groups. But still, there she was, the most pulchritudinous of pony-girls. He would have never imagined in a million years that he would be on the receiving end of her kisses.

Once his hooves were on the ground, he tried to clear his mind. "We really should set a proper time for some hanging-around. And for the record, I live in a little apartment with my sister in the 'college park' area. It's part of an old, but decent complex next to a small shopping area and a park. A college park-park. I'll also make sure to pop over here after class tomorrow as there will be a moving crew here to drop off some stuff. Need to make sure somepony is here to let 'em in."

[Bellosh]

 

"Ah shucks mam'. Didn't you go to the same grammar school as I did? One day I went from a 'Yuck! Girls are yecky!' stage', to 'Gotta kiss all the pretty mares'. Used to get in so much trouble! Mind you, it was mostly the older girls and on the cheek, but sometimes on the snout and usually with assistance from the mare's friends. They'd bring their friend over to me, pretend that I had a question and when I politely asked that the mare would come a little closer so I could hear better, I'd land a quick wet one!"

 

Moondancer didn’t exactly intend for Pocket Change to confess anything, but it was quite interesting hearing about how different he was as a kid. The Pocket she knew today would not have dared sneaking kisses like that; otherwise, her college friends would have ratted him out as a creep long ago. At least little colts had the excuse of seeming harmless to older girls; in the young Pocket’s case, Moon wondered if he hadn’t somehow been roped into a gang of older tricksters who needed the guy to carry out smooching pranks on their unsuspecting pals. It certainly explained why mares went along with Pocket’s immature mischief back in the day.

PS: Pocket Change better not speak in a fake country accent ever again. Dang, that was awful!

 

"If you keep that up, I'll just end up kissing you even more and we'll never get anything productive done to our little guild hall. Not that I don't mind..... We really should set a proper time for some hanging-around... I'll also make sure to pop over here after class tomorrow as there will be a moving crew here to drop off some stuff. Need to make sure somepony is here to let 'em in."

 

With the indication that Pocket Change saw right through her act, Moondancer relaxed her features to their natural friendly state again as she helped pull the stallion up. “Sounds like a plan,” replied the young mare, trotting back towards the shaft opening once Pocket was back on his hooves, “But first, let’s get around to getting my Granny’s lumi seeds up here, shall we?” As she waited for Pocket to come by, she also told him; “Oh, I live in the campus dormitories in case you’re wondering. Ask the RAs, and they’ll take you up to my room. Nothing special about my place… except for the mess I’ve made in it, eh heh heh.....”

[tacobob]

"Right. Those seeds.", the unicorn glanced down into the dark and formally spooky pit, "The box wasn't that heavy, but I'm not sure I can trust my magic alone to bring the chest up." While a few rounds of smooching did wonders to the unicorn's 'magic-mana-mojo' (Or M.M.M), he was rather concerned that alone, there was still a very good chance he could slip and drop the box, and who knows what would happen to Moon's precious cargo if it did? "We'll have to work together, and with our magic combined, we should be able to get the old box up here safe and sound.", Pocket Change quickly studied the young mare to see if she was in shape for such a thing, "We don't have to do this just now, we could rest if you like.", while giving (and receiving) a few more kisses from the mare of his dreams would be even better, the unicorn knew he had better pace himself with Moondancer, feeling she was going to be far more special to him than any other mares he had known.

As for the dorms, he had spent his first few years in the dorms and had rather liked it. Many were old family manor homes that had been donated to the school and converted into suitable and rather homey dormitories for the university. "Used to stay there myself, but my sister needed looking after.", he glanced back over at the mare, "Unlike lazy-ol'-Pocket, she was the 'gifted' one. While we're the same age, she's already finished with school and had a degree before I was even thinking about my major, and she used to be really obsessed about her work. Like really really. As in 'skip breakfast, lunch and dinner just to finish a project' obsessed. I deeded to take a break from class and give her a helping hoof before things got really bad."

While not sure why he mentioned his sister, the unicorn shook his head, "Sorry. Not sure where that came from. Er. Shall we try the chest, or would you like to rest?"

[Bellosh]

 

"Right. Those seeds. The box wasn't that heavy, but I'm not sure I can trust my magic alone to bring the chest up. We'll have to work together, and with our magic combined, we should be able to get the old box up here safe and sound..... We don't have to do this just now, we could rest if you like."

 

“Nah,” Moondancer waved off Pocket Change’s concern about her well-being; “I’m not going to need any more rest to help you lift that thing up here. Levitation is foal’s play, you know.” The girl was right; she had plenty of strength right now to perform such a basic task as what they were about to do. Taking a look at Pocket to assess his likely magical strength (and smashing figure), getting the seeds would be a piece of cake!

 

"Right. The Dorms. Used to stay there myself, but my sister needed looking after. Unlike lazy-ol'-Pocket, she was the 'gifted' one. While we're the same age, she's already finished with school and had a degree before I was even thinking about my major, and she used to be really obsessed about her work. Like really really. As in 'skip breakfast, lunch and dinner just to finish a project' obsessed. I needed to take a break from class and give her a helping hoof before things got really bad........ Sorry. Not sure where that came from. Er. Shall we try the chest, or would you like to rest?"

 

For his next story, Pocket Change described how his sister became so much of a workaholic that he had to intervene to make her learn to relax more. Moondancer knew an old schoolmate of hers who acted just like Pocket’s sister; Princess Celestia’s ex-student Twilight Sparkle. From what Moony heard, Twi ended up sent to Ponyville specifically to learn about friendship… which appeared to work given that Twi’s a princess now instead of that one mare who never stopped reading and studying.

 

When her partner repeated his question from a minute ago, Moondancer giggled before answering; “I told ya’ silly; I’m ready to go!” The unicorn mare thought Pocket Change’s considerate nature deserved to be rewarded though, so she sidestepped to the stallion’s side to heartily rub her cheek on his; “Your concern is most sincerely noted, Mister Pocket Change............ Not let’s do this thing!” Pulling her head away, the young mare’s horn sparked with a magenta light, indicating that Moony was ready for business.....!

[tacobob]

“Right! Let’s do this!”, Pocket Change’s horn soon was surrounded with its own green magical energy. While he was very sure either Moondancer or he could have lifted the box on their own, considering the importance of the content of the box, he did not want to risk a single chance of dropping it. Telekinesis was one of the more basics of unicorn magic. As it was one of the more easier spells to learn, it was usually the first spell a young wizard would learn in school, but unlike many spells, there were many facets of the spell that could be learned, from being able to lift multiple items at once, to being able to movie items of inordinate sizes.

The unicorn glanced briefly at Moondancer and couldn't help but notice that she somehow looked even more beautiful in the magenta glow of her magic. He sighed to himself before turning his attention to the box. With proper planting and a whole lot of tender loving care, the two ponies would make one of Moon's Grandmother's dreams come true. Actually, to make it sound even more dramatic, it was her final wish! That's better! After nodding at the mare to show that he was ready, the stallion projected his magic towards his side of the box. In his mind, the box was being lifted by strong, but gentle hands. A green glow quickly found its way to the side of the bow, now it only needed to be matched by Moondancer's magic so that it might be lifted to the ground level.