Post by bluefeather on Apr 29, 2012 21:52:35 GMT -5
Here is yet another log from the poor little foal Bluefeather, fighting for her honor, and the posession of an unknown artifact.
Enjoy.
Fluttershy's Cottage
><~><~><~><~><~>< ~ ~ ~ FLUTTERSHY'S COTTAGE ~ ~ ~ ><~><~><~><~><~><
Here, sprouting from a sparsely wooded meadow beside a languid stream, is a charming, expansive cottage with a lush, grass-covered roof. The dwelling's door, windows and overall shape share an enticing domelike motif. Lovingly crafted birdhouses adorn the roof, chinmey, and surrounding trees, and flowers bloom along the winding path.
This is the home of Fluttershy--veterinarian and naturalist. The interior is cozy, featuring a pretty rug, low chairs and tables, and a welcoming loveseat. Little staircases built for tiny creatures lead from the floor to exit on the walls. There is an adjoining kitchen and a bedroom upstairs.
Near the cottage is a chicken yard and coop, and further along the path lies the beginning of the huge, ominous Everfree Forest. This is therefore a house perched on the border between nature's bounty and nature's wrath.
( It's been two days and Marble is back out of the hospital... again. This time for severe electrical burns. He also found out the statistics for accident treatments and mending at this particular hospital, and how many ponies are in the psych ward. It wasn't encouraging. But now he's out, walking. Slowly. Slowly walking. Away from the hospital. He is beginning his two-hour journey back to Fluttershy's cottage. )
BlueFeather is herself floating on her little cloud at the cottage, actualy shes outside, enjoying the sun, mostly asleep but not quite all the way, a little stufed blue pegasus under her one good wing, the artifact carefully hidden quite close to herself.
It really is unfortunate that Marble only has memory of the Mystery Object being in the form of a toy and not the cause of his hospitalization. So this means that the poor bureaucrat is possibly doomed to the same vicious cycle: Stallion meets toy, stallion loses toy. Stallion is hospitalized for second degree burns. He is getting closer to Flutterhy's now. What is his plan?
BlueFeather starts chewing on her artifact, blissfully unaware that Marble is heading twords her, enjoying some time out in the sun, soaking up the warmth of the sunlight, and enjoying being outside. Now and again, she speaks, though its very soft, mostly its like shes mouthing the words to herself, than actualy trying to speak. Mostly because her memory is starting to return.
( Spotting BlueFeather, Marble begins to meander her way. Ohhhh, if he could just get ahold of the Mystery Object! Then he could finally go home. To his condo. And his office. And his pens and stapler! And be home and not in Ponyville. Look out, BlueFeather! )
BlueFeather is once again chewing on the object, the drool coated artifact well withen her muzzle, and she looks allmost thoughtfull as she chews apon it. She does not really notice Marble, after all, shes mostly lost in thought, it should be soo easy for Marble to just march up to the distracted little foal, and steal her toy away from her.
( Marble can see how clearly he could take it. Just grab it... and fly. Fly very fast. For Canterlot. If an angry mob arrives at the palace, deny all knowledge! He comes up right behind Bluefeather and reaches a hoof to snag it right from her mouth. Yes! AND HE WILL GO HOME! SWEET HOME! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! )
A long, soft pink mane trails like ivy from an upper-story window, and a pair of big blue eyes peer out from behind it. "Um...i-it's good to see that you're up and around again so soon. W-what are you doing?" Fluttershy's fluttereyes flit between Marble and Bluefeather. "I, um...I-I don't think that's a good idea."
BlueFeather continues chewing on her artifact, not realizing that Marble has come up behind her, though that changes after a momant, when she hears a rather wet 'splat' Some way or another, someone just threw a banna cream pie, right into Marble's face, blinding him for a momant, and quite likely distracting him from his reach for the foal's toy.
MapleWing trots along in his own little world for the most part, on his way out of ponyville and toward Fluttershy's cottage. He seems almost lost in the lovely weather, especially as he finds himself further and further out of town. Not that he doesn't like Ponyville, but there is something special about being outside amongst the trees on a lovely spring day. Across his back is neatly tied his somewhat rough looking and fairly plain saddlebags that appear to be weighted down by a couple good size boxes in each.
( He almost has it! HE IS JUST ABOUT TO-- NO! HIS EYES! HE DIDN'T BLINK IN TIME! Marble flails about stumbling recklessly about, though generally in the direction of Fluttershy's front door. "Mmmmph! Mmmmmeehhh mmmmahhannnttpht fffphbeeeeee!" )
Oh no! Marble Memory is in trouble again! Um, maybe. Fluttershy leeeeans out her window and finally just launches herself out, taking the quick way down. Always courteous and aptly confused, Fluttershy politely opens her front door so Bureaucrat Ace can stumble through if he's so inclined. "Bluefeather, did you throw a pie at Mister Memory?" asks Flutters, eyeing the foal dubiously. While she's looking that way, the yellow pegasus spots something else - another stallion coming over? Oh dear.
BlueFeather blinks and turns her little cloud around, with the flick of her good wing, for the momant, her jaws allmost loose apon the artifact, then her jaws come down, and there is another 'splat' as another pie comes out of nowhere and smacks right into Marble's head. Its hard for her to restrain herself from laughing aloud at poor Marble, wich just causes her jaws to come down again apon the artifact, and another pie, chocolate this time, 'splat's on the poor keeper of artifacts
MapleWing slowly comes back to earth as he nears Fluttershy's cottage, though the rather distinctive thud, and possibly subsiquent crashing that is had when Marble falls probably helps a little at drawing his attention. He pauses a moment at the gate, peering up at the pony seeming quite content chewing on something, and seeming quite amused at the scene below. With a light knock on the gate he calls over "Hope I'm not interrupting?" he says with a smile.
Marble is in her lving room, stumbling about when two more pies strike him. One moves him in the general direction of the coffee table, then when he manages to get the first pie off his face, teh third pie causes him to faceplant into the coffee table. Ouch.
Fluttershy wasn't planning on serving cream pie today! And now it's all over her table. "Um, uh, n-no, of course not. E-everything's fine," she assures the new arroval, with a big, sunny grin on her face. "Um...e-excuse me." Fluttershy suddenly zips back inside to rifle through her cabinets. Bandages, check...
BlueFeather just watches from the doorway, chewing on her artifact, each time her jaws come down apon the artifact, there is another splat, as yet another pie smacks into the poor buricrat. Where the pies are coming from, well, thay seem to be comiong from everywhere, and before too long, Marble is allmost barryed in sweet treats. Then, allmost as if to add insult to injury, there is a softer spat, as a single bran muffen drops from above, and lands atop of Marble's head. In total, there is something like 40 diferent cream pies that have hit the poor fellow.
MapleWing tilts his head as the flurry of activity seems to move its way inside and out of clear view from the stallion at the gate. He nods to Fluttershy who excuses herself somewhat abruptly, to whom he offers a light wave of a hoof. Upon finding himself more or less the only one still outside he leans over the gate to trip the latch and let himself through, closing it with a hind-hoof while keeping a keen eye on the door to Fluttershy's cottage, especially as a rucus sounds from within as poor Marble is accosted with not-so-phantom phantom cream pies. By the time Maple reaches the door, all tahts left is a pile of pieplates and cream with a bran muffin on top. "You sure? Perhaps I should come back another time..." he says with a quirked brow, looking a little unsure. "you seem pretty busy at the moment." he adds with a light chuckle.
Marble just lies there. Wondering what just happened to him. What happened in his life that brought him to this point? Just what? WHAT?! Did he anger somepony and get cursed? Or maybe he went into the wrong career. Perhaps he should have listened to his mother and moved back to Cloudsdale and learned how to make hailstones like his dad. At least the pies stopped.
Fluttershy is hunched over Marble, staring helplessly as the poor, poor stallion is assailed with pie after pie after cruel, cruel pie. The vet pony opens her mouth, then closes it, and finally settles for just tearing off a strip of gauze and pasting it over Marble's forehead. Um...bandaids fix everything, right? She really has no idea what to do with these ponies any more. Fluttershy looks up at the stallion in her doorway. "N-no, it's okay. Um...really." It certainly doesn't LOOK okay. "Um...c-come in."
BlueFeather just wartches from her little cloud, for the momant not chewing on the artifact, much more distracted by watching poor Marble burried under all thoes pies, though that does make her start to feel hngry
MapleWing clears his throat a little as Fluttershy reassures him that despite apperances, everything really is under control. "Mmm, if you're sure." he chuckles and steps into her cottage before lifting a wing and leaning back with his head to reach into his duffle bag to pull out a neatly tied box, which he transfers to his hooves to hold out for inspection. "I stopped by to deliver your... order.. I suppose you could say." he says with a smile and glancing occasionally to the bubbling mound of cream and aluminum pie plates. "Ive heard you use unorthodox healing techniques, but whipped cream?" he asks, a crooked smile acoss his muzzle, showing that he's at least not entirely serious.
The gauze slowly slides down from where his forehead... probably is. Finally the bureaucrat messily attempts to shake himself off. It's a lot of pie, though, which isn't exactly light. At least his head is... kind of cream free. He gasps, taking in some air. Unfortunately, he inhales some cream and starts coughing up a fit.
"O-oh, thank you very much! I'm sure these will come in handy." Fluttershy crosses the room by wing to look over what Maplewing's brought. The splort-cough-hack-hack from behind is a little bit worrying, though. "Um...I-I think I might need to use them right away, actually."
BlueFeather cocks her head and just wtches, she thinks its so amusing, Marble coated in pies, but still, she does not make a sound, even though shes allmost crying its so funny to her
MArble reaches out a hoof and relaxes it on the coffee table as he keeps coughing. Finally he can breath again. "W... water... I think I ne--" And he starts coughing again as more sugary goodness finds its way into his mouth. Sugary goodness! COUGH! COUGH! HACK!
MapleWing winces faintly as the mound of cream surges and bgins to move, the pegasus stallion raising a wing defensively as the mound begins to shake and send some arcs of cream spattering in all directions, fortunately the range isn't quite enough to douse the innocent bystanders, well, at least not him anyway. He tugs the string on the box and lifts the lid to reveal rows of neatly packed treats, though the shade is slightly different than one might expect. "Has the herbs you asked for, though I did try to cut the sweetness down a bit... don't want medication being /TOO/ tasty, would we?" he chuckles, casting a watchful glance over the sputtering blob which slowly reveals a pony as he hands the box to Fluttershy and allows her to tend to her apparaent patient. "Well I hope they do the trick" he grins "Looks like he could use... /something/" he says after a momentary pause for thought.
Cough cough hack. Fluttershy winces. "I think *some*pony needs a through lasange," she says, and flits back across the room. Flutters vanishes into the kitchen and reappears with a glass of water. "Um...h-here you go, Mr. Memory." The pale pegasus balances the glass carefully on whichever part of the table isn't completely coated with whipped creme, takes one of Maple's cupcakes, and just sort of...puts it down beside the glass. "Thank you again for bringing them, Maple. I get most of my medicine from the hospital and Zecora these days..."
BlueFeather tilts her head a little, blinking, ohhh cupcakes! SHe likes cupcakes, she starts to slowly float her little cloud closer, intent in swiping one of the cupcakes.
Chance pushes his head into the door, glancing about. At least it's not so.. Oh, he's wrong. It's still rather crowded. He carefully trots inside, looking around to see what's going on. Spotting the others, he wanders on over.
MapleWing bites a lip as the doused pony coughs and wheezes his way out from under the whipped cream and asks for a glass of water. As Fluttershy takes off to tend to Marble's request, Maple reaches into his saddlebag to pull out a rag and offer it to the 'creamed' stallion. "Here, try this. Might work a bit better than shaking it off" he laughs with a friendly tone as Fluttershy returns from the kitchen. He leans in a little, curious as to the effectiveness of the little concoction he was charged with helping to produce. Not that he doesn't trust the medicinal knowledge of Fluttershy of course. "Mmm? oh! right" he says, having gotten lost in his own thoughts for a moment when Fluttershy thanks him. "You're quite welcome. Always happy to help out y'know.. I hope this stallion hasn't caught anything... serious?" he asks, turning back toward Marble as he says this, half asking both him and fluttershy his question at teh same time.
Marble takes the water and drinks it down, freeing his mouth from the tyranny of a sweet cream. "Ohh... I feel better." He sets the now-coated glass down and spots the treat. "You know... how many ponies, uh... quit their jobs?" Marbe takes the treat in a hoof curiously.
"U-um...no?" Fluttershy drifts downward just a little to be more level with Marble's cream-covered head...and so she can whisper to Maplewing. "I-I'm not really sure. I think he just had a nervous breakdown or something." CMFIS. Yep. There's no mistaking it. "Bluefeather, wait. T-those aren't candy."
BlueFeather expects it might allready be too late, shes got one in her hoof and is lifting it up, twords her muzzle, not really paying attention to the conversation, her tail giving a slow litle flick
Chance gets within a few paces of the others and greets. "Hello everypony. How are you doing, Marble?" He glances over to Blue, then looks to Fluttershy. He offers a friendly smile. "I see you're keeping busy. I'm glad to see Blue doing fine as well." He settles down to his flank, not wanting to get much in the way. "When you have a mmoment Fluttershy, I'd like to ask about how to get to Zecora's."
MapleWing grins lightly as Chance guzzles down the water, the sheer relief it brings quite evident. He can't help but let his expression light up a little as Marble notices and takes the Medi-treat and smiles a little, curious as to what the first guinea-pig pony will think, gien he's the first perscribed recpient of one. "not many I'd assume?" he chuckles "Guess one would need to take a poll to find out for sure." he says to Marble's question before leaning in toward
Fluttershy as she moves closer, his ear flattening a little and angling toward the whisper of the already practically whispered voice from the pegasus. He nods a little to her and smiles "sounds like a diagnosis of R&R is in order..." he chuckles quietly back to her with a wink before straightening his posture again. As Fluttershy draws his attention to the sneaky foal, he stretches out a hoof to tap the box closed, trying to do so at least before BlueFeather can snag any of the medicinal treats inside, though in doing so he over-extends himself and fi
( ...finds himself FWUMPING firmly to the floor after losing his balance. "No.. definitely not candy..." he chuckles through a soft groan and begins to pick himself up off the floor, dusting himself off a little and offering a light wave and tip of his head to Chance upon his arrival. )
Marble had unwraped the treat, popped it in his mouth and started to chew. Then he manages, through some fluke, to hear what was just whispered about R&R. This causes him to inhale his treat, lodging it in his windpipe. He can't breathe. A look of alarm plays on what parts of his face aren't covered in pie... He gestures toward himself wildly.
Fluttershy does her best to hold Bluefeather back, too; if she eats that medicine, there's no telling what could happen, and in the foal's present condition, it could be disastrous. "H-hello, Chance. J-just a second," she says as she struggles with the filly. Oh, where is Angel when you need him? No, that isn't nice, Fluttershy. She apologizes to Angel in her head, nearly forgetting what she was supposed to be doing - what was that? Oh, right. "M-Marble? Are you - what's wrong?" Bluefeather is released and Fluttershy is across the room again in a flash. "Do you need more water?"
BlueFeather is justr a foal, its easy enough to dislodge the tret from her hoof, though she reaches again for it, not minding in the lest t hat its been on the ground, hey, shes been known to eat grass off the lawn, so whats she going to worry about a treat thats been on the ground?
Chance sees Marble pop a treat into his muzzle, and.. it dissapears, leaving him flailing. He lets out a light huff and quickly hops to his hooves. He's already near the pony, so reaches him just shortly before Fluttershy does. He snags the pony with a foreleg, pulls him up and heimlich's poor Marble.
MapleWing grins a little as Marble pops the treat into his muzzle and quirks his brow, letting out a light sigh as he sees Fluttershy has intercepted the foal, or is at least in the process of doing so. His brow furrows as Marble begins to choke, causing a faint moment of confusion in MapleWing before realizing what is wrong. "You're suppose to savour them, not INHALE them." he exclaims and joins Fluttershy in aiding the pony, sliding around behind, and nearly slipping across the room on the whipped cream surrounding Marble and sends him sliding straight past the choking pony and crashing into a nearby piece of furniture, leaving him in a heap across it, and leaving the way clear for Chance to step in and take charge of helping Marble. "SOmeone needs to safety-proof this furniture of yours, Fluttershy" he groans.
( Marble is flailing about in a panick when Chance, always better at thinking these things through than he, grabs him and gives him the heimlich. A few long seconds later, the treat is evacuated and he's gasping for air. Again. "Oh Celestia... I thought I was going to die!" )
Oh no! Don't die, Mister Marble! Not right on Fluttershy's table! The pegasus' big, round eyes follow the treat's trajectory as it exits Marble's mouth, and for a moment, she's so stunned that she forgets all about Bluefeather and Maplewing. Fluttershy shakes her head and blinks. "O-oh, Maplewing, I'm so sorry. I thought it *was* built for safety." At least she manages to grab Bluefeather again before she can meet the same fate.
BlueFeather awwss a little, the treat just out of her reach, she struggles, well, squirms a little, trying to extend her good foreleg far enough to reach the thing, but its just out of her reach.
Chance carfully lets Marble back down once he's sure the other pony is breathing. Marble talking is a good enough sign of that. He pats Marble's shoulder lightly. "Let's try not to breath your treats anymore. Lungs don't work as well with treats in them." He slides a few feet away and settles back down. "You'll be fine." he says, giving a smile to Marble, then glances over to MapleWing momentarily, then turns his head to look toward Fluttershy. He waits for a few moments so she finish doing whatever she's attempting with Blue, then "..." He's about to say something, but decides against it. It might make Fluttershy feel bad. He decides on something else after a pause. "If you could find a cure for accidents, you'd be famous." he says, giving the filly a smile.
MapleWing sighs with relief as he see's the treat soar across the room thanks to Chance's quick thinking and well planted hooves on the whipped-cream slick floor, not to mention the whipped-cream slick Marble. WIth a slightly awkward roll he rights himself and gets his hooves beneath him again and returns to the group, offering Chance a pat on the back. "Good job." he compliments with a smile. "You okay?" he asks, directing his attention to Marble now that the emergency seems to have passed. He chuckles lightly and smiles to Fluttershy "I'm just playing." he says, straightening himself a little and adjusting his vest a little. "The important part is this stallion here is not choking anymore. So far this hasn't been a terribly good track record for my dabbling in the medicinal delivery system field." he says, flashing a crooked smile due to his playful remark. As Fluttershy detains BlueFeathers, he does his best to reach over the two ponies and snatch the box from where it lay and draw it in against his body. "You ca
( ...can't have those ones, but..." he says as he sinks down a little and reaches into his pocket and pulls out a regular hunk of wrapped maple taffy "...this one is completely fine for you to have. How's that sound?" he asks as he holds it out to the foal and smiles up to chance "Either that or wrap all of the accident prone in clouds, though I'm not sure how practical that would be." he quips, chuckling a little at his own joke. )
( "That treat looked really tasty, too." Marble sats, sinking back down into his chair and sighs. "I need to write the princesses, too. What am I going to say? I found the Mystery Object, but can't seem to lay a hoof on it." He glances over at BlueFeather. He wonders if maybe... maybe he can trick her. )
Marble Memory? Wwwwhat are you doing? The look in his eye is starting to freak Fluttershy out more than a little. Um. O-okay, one crisis at a time. At least Chance makes her giggle and takes the edge off. "Thanks, Chance. I-I really needed that." Now, first off, Fluttershy nudges Bluefeather toward MapleWing's latest offering. "Look, Blue. That's for you." Okay. Next, she turns her attention back to Chance. "T-thank you for helping Marble Memory. Um...I-I'd be happy to tell you where Zecora is, but..." But she's still worried she'd be sending Chance to his doom somehow. Still...he wants to go so badly, and he *is* indestructible, right? "Um...I-I'll show you the path in a moment." Finally, Fluttershy shoves a carrot into a discarded saddlebag, appeasing the rabbit before it can cause even *more* chaos. Whew.
BlueFeather sighs a little and gives up on the treats, shes not trusting the one that Maple offers her this time, it will just be taken away from her again, just like the last one, and just like her last toy. Instead, she takes the artifact in her muzzle, and starts chewing on it again.
Chance glances momentarily to MapleWing. "Just glad I could help." then gives Fluttershy a gentle smile as his little joke seemed to help her a bit, then he turns his head toward Marble. "Yeah, we saw what happened when you tried to take it. I think it singed something." he says with a crooked smile. "Though.. perhaps if I got it.." He thinks for a few moments. "But I wouldn't want it to zap Blue. It'd need to try to zap me. Maybe if I ground myself. Or if Blue put it down first.." He turns an eye toward Blue and pauses. "Of course, Blue might not want to part with it. You might have to put it down as 'item chewed into oblivion'." he says, directing the last part to Marble. His ears perk toward Fluttershy as she mentions Zecora. "I would appreciate that, Fluttershy. Thank you. First though.." He stands up and wanders over to Blue. He steps through the cream and.. keeps a firm hoofing, only pausing to shake some excess off. "Hello Blue." he says with a warm smile. "Do you think you'd be willing to trade that old to
trade that old toy for something else? I'll get you whatever you want." At least that'd keep Marble sane. At least as sane goes for Marble.
MapleWing grins to Marble and shrugs "Well, since you didn't get to taste the last one much, maybe it'll be safe for Fluttershy to diagnose another?" he suggests, glancing momentarily to Fluttershy and nods in agreement to her assurance to BlueFeather that the offered treat is indeed for her. "The ones in the box are for Fluttershy, I made them especially for her." he says as he passes the box back to her. "This one, is all for you, and I promise nobody will tell you otherwise, even if it might spoil your dinner." he says, adding in a little wink to further encourage the foal as Fluttershy collects herself and tends to Marble, Chance and seems to feed a ravenous saddlebag. "You did indeed." he comments back to Chance, letting his gaze shift between the foal before him and Chance, moving over as Chance moves toward Blue, and givs him some space to speak to the foal. His brow furrows a little at what is said, not terribly understanding what is going on. Given the goings on in the last little while, he's not terriblysp
WHOOPS
... sure he /wants/ to know either.
Marble is just a walking, talking mess of stress. And it's already happening. He clops his hooves on the coffee table. He's afraid to grab at the Mystery Object now. But he needs it! "May I have some parchment? And a quill, please?" He needs to ask the princesses how to proceed. It's the only way!
Fluttershy smiles softly. Chance and Maplewing are making a noble effort for peace, and Fluttershy can appreciate that more than anypony. She doesnt' have the heart to tell them Blue can't speak pony yet - maybe they'll get lucky? "W-whenever you're ready, Chance. Um..." While she waits, Fluttershy takes a moment to oblige Marble, slipping a quill and paper into his hooves. "Is this okay?"
BlueFeather rather deliberately clenches her jaws tighter on the artifact, shes not sure what Chance just said, but shes pretty sure hes trying as well to get her toy from her, and theres no way shes going to let it off her person, at all, for now. She remembes too well being told she can't have this, or if she gives up something, thay will give her something better, she knows better now. Her good wing opens, and she starts to fan it, in an attempt to excape chance, and Marble. Shes allready given up on the treat that Maple is offering, she knows that game too well, its the same one that Chance is trying to pull on her. The flick of her wing brushes a momant against Fluttershy, then she starts to move, shes sure she can find somewhere to go. She does her best to get away from the ponys who are wanting to take her toy away from her. Even as Fluttershy deals with the more emdiate problem of Marble.
Chance blinks as Blue starts to attempt to flutter off, and lets out a light sigh. "Please Blue? You don't want Marble chasing after you all day and night, do you?" Instead of trying to pounce Blue out of the air, he instead turns to Fluttershy. "I do hate to impose, especially when I'd be asking to impose on Blue, but for Marble's sanity and Blue's safely.. because if it zapped Marble, who knows if it'd eventually zap Blue.. could I implore you to try to talk that toy away from Blue? I'll replace it with something else she likes. I'll even take it first. That's the safest way, letting it zap me. Perhaps I could grab it from a short distance away from the other ponies.." he considers. "That way no one would get hurt."
MapleWing raises to his hooves and lets Chance do his thing, especially as it seems his taffy has been turned down by the youth. He turns and makes his way over to the obviously stressed Marble, popping the taffy into his muzzle himself. "Try not to stress yourself out too much, probably won't solve anything." he tries to say reassuringly as he looks up to Blue as she tries to take off in avoidance of Chance's apparently failing efforts, thinking the little foal is a tough nut to crack given how much trouble it seems is being caused by her posession of, from what he can tell, a teething ring. His ears perk lightly as he catches Fluttershy's comment to Chance. "Heading out Fluttershy? Hopefully the place will still be standing when you get back, barring any further disasters." he chuckles playfully, at least until Chance begins to emplore that Fluttershy aid in seperating the 'toy' and the foal. "So... what's so important about this thing anyway? Ponies talk as if it's dangerous." he says with a hint of confusion in
The last pie. THE LAST PIE. That broke the Marble's back. Not literally, thank Celestia. But he throws the pie off his face, shakes off, and shouts, "Stress.... solves *NOTHING?!* STRESS SOLVES NOTHING?! STRESS SOLVES EVERYTHING! I WILL SHOW YOU! I WILL SHOW *ALL* OF YOU!" He sits and starts to write an angry letter. "Dear... Princess... Pootyheads. Roses... are... red... Violets... are... blue... Mollases... is... smelly..." He pauses a moment to think. A good moment. "... And... so... are... you. ... ... ... I Quit. ... ... Ha... ... ... Ha... ... ... Signed...."
Dusk has been out checking on a few things from his research projects. He comes in from the front door of the cottage, giving a yawn as he stiffles it a hoof, getting set to call out that he is home.. and pauses mid yawn looking around at what all is going on. "What the...?" He puts his hoof down, perking up and trotting in up towards Fluttershy, "What is all going on here?" he asks to her or any pony with an answer. Of course he sees Marble here and his appearent state, as usual, and thinks he has an idea.
"Oh, no! Marble, you don't have to quit!" Fluttershy's wings fly into overdrive. She can't even imagine something so bad it'd make her want to quit taking care of animals! How bad does it have to be for a pony to- to-- *abandon their cutie mark?!* Ohhh... "S-somepony please catch up Dusk and Maplewing," says the yellow pegasus, and she darts across the room once again (seriously, she's going to collapse from dizziness at this rate) and finally lands, cutting off Bluefeather from the door. "Um, Bluefeather, sweetie...p-please let us have your ring. W-we'll get you a new one. But Mister Marble needs this one or...or he's going to do something really crazy."
BlueFeather flinches away from Fluttershy, her eyes widening fearfully, then, she curls up and tightly as she can, and if anything grips that artifact even tighter, theres no way shes willing to let go of it, not now at lest. A soft little whimper can be heard coming from her, she expects to be beaten again, but shes not going to give up her toy. Shes had too many things taken away from her, and shes not going to take it anymore. It does not help that she does not really understand a word of what is being said.
Chance's head snaps around as Fluttershy zips one way, then another. He'd sure to get whiplash from this if his talent didn't get in the way. He looks over to Dusk and Maple as Fluttershy asks for some pony to fill them in. He's the only pony who can. Marble is a bit busy trying to bury his sanity under the might of the pen, paper and paucity of his grip on reality. "Blue's chew toy is a shape-shifting artifact. It zapped Marble when he tried to take it away, with magic lightning or something. He's tasked with finding it and getting it back. Been looking for it for weeks. Didn't know what it looked like.. until last night." There, all caught up. He hopes. He glances back as Blue suddenly drops and cowers. His ears go back and his look softens to worry. He lets out a soft sigh and trots over to the little filly, sliding down onto his folded legs near her. "Blue?" he speaks softly. "It's okay. We're not mad at you." His first guess at what seems to be bothering BlueFeather. "We just want to give Marble his teething
to give Marble his teething ring back." He pauses a moment, never having expected that combination of words to come out of his mouth. "We'll get you something special in place of it." He suddenly recalls something. Blue writing something and being skilled at it. He saw it once. He gets up, scurries over, snags Marble's pencil and paper away from him, and hurries on over. He writes down basically what he said to Blue a moment earlier, and slides it gently over to where Blue can see. "Please?" he asks softly.
MapleWing sits back a little as Marble quite literally, starts to lose his grip and begins to rave before diving into the angry letter. Sidling closer again once Marble is engrossed in his letter, he patpats a hoof reassuringly on the stallions back, ears flattening a little as his brow furrows. "Um... isn't that a /little/ harsh, Friend?" he asks, having not really been formally introduced to Marble yet. "lets not act rashly now, what do you say? I'll give you anotehr one of my maple candies!" he exclaims, hoping the same ploy to placate Blue will cheer up Marble as Dusk, another pony he does not recognize steps through the door with a quite suited stunned expression at the group, mess and ravings going on. "I'm just making a delivery.... the rest..." he says pausing a long moment and giving a bewildered shrug. He returns back to trying to at least bring Marble back to Equestria as Fluttershy springs into action to solve the matter, at least with Blue, which doesn't seem to go well at first given within moments Blu
( ...Blue is a tight ball on the floor clutching the object of such great desire and need. Slowly, as Chance is more or less charged with filling him and others in, his head tilts and his brow quirks, forming into a bit of an expression of disbelief. ".....Oh.... That totally makes sense now." he says after a long pause. Whether or not he was being serious or sarcastic is hard to discern, but he seems to take it for face value as he deep down hopes that between Chance and Fluttershy, they can coerce the foal to cooperate. "I think you need a vacation after this one.." he says to Marble, offering another hoofpat to his back. )
( "DON'T!" MArble says, turning away from his letter, his eyes scary. He stands and turns to face MapleWing... taking the treat and swallowing it whole, wrapper and all. He is no longer facing his letter. One could easily replace it with a *happy* letter and he might not notice. "NEVER USE THAT WORD! It is an eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil woooord! Like... like... like... something NOT BRAN!" His mouth splits into a crazy expression. "Not... bran!" He grabs ahold of Maple."Not. Bran. You know how *serious* that is?! When something is *not bran?!*" ; )
Dusk nods to Chance, "I was there last night, yes, but thank you. I was hoping the ruckus wasn't due to that, as it seemed to be finished last night, and Mr. Memory was taken away. Even Miss Clera agreed to leave Blue in peace. But seems we are unable to keep this one," indicating Marble, "at a safe distance until it is resolved." He gives a soft sigh. Not upset but worried this is going on like this. He sees poor Fluttershy looking nearly at her wits end, and Blue looking terrified. Seeing Marble currently over with MapleWing, to whom Dusk nods and thanks in reply, he decides to get to Marble later, and steps towards Blue. "Please keep Mr. Marble at a safe distance, if you might," he asks in general. Chance's idea of writing is a good one, but Blue isn't even looking now. Then he leans in and nuzzles Blue's head, giving her a tender kiss. He chirps to her in Blue-speak, /It is okay, Little Blue. None shall harm you. The crazy pony wants your teething toy because it belongs back with others./ He ke
Dusk keeps consoling her.
Fluttershy just backs off to give Chance and Dusk room to work; for her part, she's just going to smile at Bluefeather and hope that's enough to calm the paranoid filly down. She keeps herself in the doorway, too, so Blue can't just bolt away that easily. Somewhere across the room, the saddlebag stirs...
BlueFeather if anything curls even tighter around her toy, Dusk might be able to see that her muzzle is strained with tears, yet she holds strong, shes not going to give up her toy, though her heart is wounded greatly. She says nothing, she can not speak with her jaws so tightly clamped apon the teething ring, she knows shes going to be beaten, maybe even killed, but shes not going to let go.
Chance tilts his head down a bit as Dusk attempts, futily, to chirp reason to little BlueFeather. He sighs as it seems to have no effect, and she seems rather.. scared? "Blue? Sweetie? Are you alright?" he asks softly. Of course, he'll get no reply. "I know she likes that thing, but.." Suddenly he gets an idea. He glances to Dusk, then over to Marble. He hopes something good comes out of it. "Marble, I've got a mission for you, if you hope to finish the search for the artifact. Go into town and get a teething ring for Blue. Make it a better one. Make it two better ones!" He looks back to Dusk. "Can you make the object shift into something she wouldn't want to hold?" he asks, then peers up at his own horn. "Mine's kind of useless for that.." he mumbles. Hopefully he can kill two.. parasprites.. with one stone. Fluttershy likes birds too much to think that. Get Marble distracted, and try to get the artifact back. If changing its shape doesn't work, maybe swapping it out will.
MapleWing's eyes go wide as Marble turns on him and seems to flip his lid even furtehr than before, which is impressive considering Maple didn't think doing so was actually possible. Live and learn! He raises his hooves as Marble grabs him and begins his foray into further hysteria after swallowing the candy, wrapper and all. He lets Marble finish, nodding in agreement albeit still wide-eyed until Marble finally calms down, his hooves gently pressing against Marble's chest trying to gently guide him /gently/ toward the couch to lay down and hopefully relax a litle. "Okay, okay, I won't use Va...err 'the bad word' again, just... try to calm down... They're trying to help, just, calm..." he says in as soothing a voice as possible, occasionally glancing over to the group now flanking Blue and apparently trying a new tactic thanks to Dusk. Though given his unfamiliarity with most of the ponies here, is unsure if it even stands a chance, but he certainly hopes so. Afterall, he thought he was visiting the home of what is
...is well known to be a quiet and calm pony's cottage, not a pony short of having her own personal asylum. He shakes his head a little and sighs as things seem to be going quite literally nowhere with Blue, if anything things just steadily get all the more bleak. He lets out a deep sigh to ease some of the weight of the emotions circling the room until Chance has an idea, causaing Maplewing's expresison to brighten. "Brilliant!" he exclaims and grins to Marble "good as shot as any, whatcha say?" he says encouragingly to the other pegasus.
( Marble's bloodshot eyes help him to sit on Fluttershy's couch. "Find her-- Find-find her a new one. A new one a new one. Find..." Yes! That's a plan. A plan! "I... I think I need some... cofffeeeeeeeee..." Is caffeine really what he needs? )
PUB >> Little Boss Marble says, "If you squint at the boxes in my top left corner you can make out the shape of my buddy list."
Dusk sees Fluttershy at least get a moment to take a breath, which is good. Though he feels bad that Blue is still so upset. He leans in, and licks her face, cleaning her tears. /But worry not, I will not let him take your toy without your permission, Little Blue. You and it are safe with me./ He looks up to Chance and shakes his head, "It is truely an artifact. It hid itself well, but when it released its magic, there was no denying. It would be foolish to attempt to directly magic it, especially one with such a defensive bent. But right now, everypony just needs to calm and relax, and help make Little Blue comfortable. Nopony will be taking anything without her permission." He sounds pretty definitive about that matter, looking across the room. "Once that is achived we can discuss what she is willing to do." To which he has something good in mind as well, but doesn't stop any attempt to send Marble off on a distraction. Dusk is greatful for MapleWing keeping his attention and helping him settle onto the couch. Dusk returns to nuzzling and licking the poor foal, /You are safe. Flutter Shy and I are here. No pony will hurt you or take your toy,/ he assures her again in those chips only they fully understand, though Fluttershy has been learning some.
Fluttershy isn't so sure about the distraction; the moment Marble Memory reaches Ponyville, chances are all chaos will break loose. But it's better than him being here upsetting all the animals, and worse, Diamond Dancer. Flutters only hopes Diamnd had the good sense to get clear once the panic started. She glances down at Bluefeather, then at Dusk and Chance, and with a nod, the yellow mare steps aside and clears the doorway. "Bluefeather, it's okay, really," she murmurs, as soothingly as she can.
BlueFeather remains tightly curled in a ball, refursing to respond in any way for the momant. Her jaws allmost painfully tightly clutching on her toy, refusing to uncurl, still silantly crying. That might be one of the stranger things if someone things about it, shes nearly totaly quiet, even though she seems to be racked with sobs. She can hear Dusk, but, she can't exactly respond, and even if she trusts Dusk still, she does not trust anypony else at the momant, and expects that if she even trys to talk someone will try and take her toy away from her. She wants to tell Dusk about everything, but, shes not in the lest willing to loosen her grip, so she just huddels as tightly around her toy as she can.
day, getting sound and image clips from the show shouldn't be terribly difficult."
Chance nods lightly to Dusk as he makes a decision about Blue's 'toy'. "Though I doubt it's defensives could stand up to mine, I'll still defer it." He sighs a bit as he glances down to BlueFeather. "What's bothering Blue so much? She's being more then just possessive of the ring." One ring to confuse them all, one ring not kind to them, one ring to make them fall, and with insanity bind them. "She's acting like she's.. afraid of something." He glances up to Dusk. "Any idea what's wrong?"
MapleWing nods lightly to Dusk and lets out a soft sigh, the tension indeed building more than hed have thought this morning, but is the sort of pony to help where he can. "I don't think anypony wants to hurt or upset Blue, but, if everything is as it's been said it is, the teething ring isn't safe for her to have, and we definitely don't want want anything to happen to such a little foal." he says in agreement and, perhaps in a bit of ieteration to help clarifyy things, at least in his own mind anyway. His brow furrows a little as he stares down at the little mare huddled around the toy and hmms as he listens to whats said about the room, the reasonings, the ideas the weight of the stress in the air when he finally has it hit him. "You know what... I'll bet she's feeling as stressed as we all are..." he turns to Marble and asks carefully "is there a deadline to when you need to aquire the... artifact?" he asks, "Maybe it would be best to let Blue, and everyone relax, becasue it doesn't seem like /anypony/ is about
...to budge on their positions with their backs up." he suggests and flops back into an open spot on the nearby couch.
Oh dear. Maple used the "d" word. His eyes go wide, his pupils constrict to Salsa-thin dots. "DEAD LINE! THAT DOES IT!" Marble jumps up on the couch, "NOPONY MOVE! NOPONY LEAVES!" This is a no. There was no deadline. But his OCD is such that he believes if he didn't resolve it in a day he'll never resolve it. He laughs crazily and nervously.
Dusk nods back and smiles to Fluttershy as she helps with Blue. Though even as he keeps trying to console Blue it doesn't seem to be helping. But he understands too, when she gets this scared. He stays near, comforting her, "She appears to be frightened of all that's going on. She was abused when young.. originally young. I think she needs some time to calm. If you might give a little space, Mr. Chance, and let Fluttershy and I help her." Dusk also stands to Blue can use him somewhat to sheild from the other ponies. "Then hopefully she will let us know." He nods to MapleWing, "Indeed, the stress is pretty much the case. Fighting for it will not solve the issue." Thinking he might have things in hoof, he then rolls his eyes at the new Marble outburst. Okay. Assuming Chance steps aside, he magics a bubble around Blue, Fluttershy, and himself. It's invisible, but it blocks out all sound and deflects anypony from coming closer. He at least needs a little time for Blue. /There. Your toy is safe,/ he chirps. But he waits until Blue can relax at least some, seeing no one is hurting her or trying to take it.
"Oh, um...a-all right," mumbles Fluttershy to nopony in particular. She steps out of the bubble, head hanging wearily, and stops in front of Marble Memory. "Um...M-Mr. Memory, um...I'm sorry, but please calm down. There's another patient here, and she's *very* *delicate*. She really shouldn't be around anypony who's panicking..."
BlueFeather can hear Dusk just fine, but shes not willing to relax just yet, rather she maintains her tight curl, wraped around her toy, her one good wing twitching a little. Its not that she disbeleaves, or distrusts Dusk, its that she does not trust the others around. She does start to relax, once the sound from outside the bubble is blocked out, but shes still keeping quite a tight grip on her toy, she does not trust Marble, or anyone else really, not to try and take it. For the momant, she does not even trust that Fluttershy will not try again to take it away from her.
Diamond_Dancer Is (And has been) juuuust outside of the house. She was trying to leave when the whole situation got started but now she's just....she's just sitting. Quietly. Staring out into the front yard and towards the edge of the ever free forest. "......We're fine...Fluttershy. "She says softly, breathing in slow, delicate strokes. "Don't worry about a thing...just help our patient..."
Chance nods a bit to Dusk and stands up. "Of course. If giving her space will help, then I'll be happy to." He turns his head toward Marble at the pony's new ravings and snorts a bit. "Excuse me for a moment.." He heads straight to the nutty pony, hoping to help Fluttershy, and places a hoof on his shoulder. "Marble, calm down. Fluttershy's right. This isn't helping anypony. You don't really need to have the thing right away, right? Besides, doesn't a nap sound nice about now?" he asks, seeing how bloodshot Marble seems to be.
MapleWing eyerolls as Marble panics again and the normally soft spoken Maple is forced to raise his voice a little, his hooves raising to try and catch Marble's muzzle between them in order to look the stallion in the eye as he sternly says "CALM DOWN." the words sounding more an order than a request, though hoping the stern tone would be enough to bring Marble back to Equestria. He turns and nods to Dusk in agreement. "I agree, fighting over it isnt solving anything and honestly, I think Blue is the most fragile one here, and needs the tending to, even above and beyond ones job. At least for now." he says, turing back to look Marble in the eyes, making his meaning clear before stepping back and letting Fluttershy take a crack at calming the distraut Marble, hoping she has better luck than he. "Perhaps.." he begins after Fluttershy has finished "...Some of us neeed some fresh air, clear our minds and relax a little. Whatcha say Marble?"
( "Don't tell me to calm down! Calming down is the worst thing to do. My job is on the line. There's *nothing* without my job, *nothing!* There is no job without Marble, and no Marble without a job! I neeeeeeed to gooooo hoooooome." Marble starts sing-song in a creepy voice. "So... it's ssssoooo sssssimple. I get the toy and everypony goes... home. Including me. Including me! INCLUDING ME!" He's hopping on the couch now, clearly distressed. "I can go home. And we'll all be happy. HAPPY HAPPY! YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPY IS LIKE, DON'T YOU, MS. FLUTTERSHY?! WHAT IS IT LIKE?!" )
Dusk smiles and nods to Chance, "Thank you, yes." He tilts his head at Fluttershy's initial comment, then watches her walk off shortly behind Chance too. Well hopefully the others can help calm down Marble together. He certainly knows
Fluttershy is about about most calm and soothing pony he knows. He doesn't notice DD just outside. He turns back to Blue, /So just us right now,/ he tells Blue. /You do not have to let go. You can just nod. If I made you your own pony toy similar to the one Funny pony had, plus another teether, would you trade?/ He himself can still hear what's going on outside, but is glad he has the bubble in place, and still standing to block her view of the others.
"Um." Even Fluttershy's 'ums' have become flat and distant. Her mane is fraying in places, with little bits of frizz sticking out here and there, and her eyes are drooping curiously. She just sort of...stares at Marble for a second, as though there's a buffer that the outside world has to go through before it registers properly in her brain. "W...what?" The poor pegasus is tired, so tired. "Marble, please...I-I don't understand."
BlueFeather finnaly uncurls a little with a soft little sniffle, tears still streaking down her muzzle. She shakes her head slwly from side to side, her jaws stil;l clenched tight apon the artifact, not letting it loose in the lest. Its actualy a rather good thing that no one else actualy got close enough to touch the toy, or there would be a lot more pies, and worse littering the place. Thankfully no one actualy managed to physicly touch her, or things might have been much worse.
Diamond_Dancer Marble Wing may be entirely incorrect about Blue being the most fragile one here. Diamond hasn't moved and inch...silently sitting, back to the cottage, and tears slowly trickling down her cheeks. She's trembling...quivering quietly where she sits, ears perked listening to the panic and situation and stress going on in the other room before that bubble crops up. So many negative emotions...and all of it raising the situation to new heights. Drawing everyone...and everything into a dizzying tizzy...distress...fear...panic...anger...Blue's afraid of losing her toy, Fluttershy is afraid of the situation causing Diamond stress, and Marble is afraid he won't get to go home...and Diamond went to Fluttershy's place to peace...
*to find peace
Star_Paige suddenly appears next to fluttershy and says "Have you seen marble" She asks as she smiles and spots him in the next moment "Marbly how are you?" She prances over to him and says "What you up to?"
Diamond_Dancer stands, slowly and stretches out her wings. "We must visit the library. Be well, Fluttershy. We shall see you very shortly. "She announces, and trots off quietly towards Ponyville.
( Marble pauses as Fluttershy stares at him a moment. And for whatever reason. It calms him down. Completely. No agitation left at all. "I-I'll... calm down... f-f-for you.... Um... Ms. Fluttershy." He very slowly lowers himself down on the couch and keeps watching Flutters. Then he curls up and closes his eyes. "I'll c-calm down." )
Dusk nods to Blue, /Then you do not have to. I will talk to him later. Would you like to go off to bed, Little Lady, or stay here?/ He gives her a smile, nuzzling and cleaning her face with a few licks. He's a little surprised at the late night sudden arrival of Paige, hoping it doesn't cause any troubles with Marble. But he doesn't let it show, just smiling caringly to Blue. But thankfully it seems Fluttershy has things in hoof instead, much to his relief.
Star_Paige curls up next to marble and uses the time to catfh up on her beauty sleep, even though she just arrived
Fluttershy doesn't really understand what just happened. Star Paige and Marble Memory are suddenly crashing on her couch. She glances back over her wing - Bluefeather is still refusing to get up. She...still doesn't understand Blue that well, especially since she stopped talking again, and they're still in their soundproof shield anyway. Fluttershy rubs her eyes, collapsing to her haunches. Mmf.
BlueFeather cocks her head a little, thinking about it, then she gives a slow little bob of her head, before chirping up, carefully, with her good foreleg lifted and covering her muzzle to prevent anyone trying to snatch the toy from her, /Tired. Shy tried to take my toy./ Her head dips a little, /Not sure can stay here./
Dusk sees things quieting down quickly with Marble slipping off. He drops the little bubble, and starts walking Blue towards the stairs up to her room, but first pauses and turns, /You know Flutter Shy loves you and would do nothing to hurt you. If she did try, she must have thought she had to, to protect you. I will tell her you wish her not to take it, okay?/ He smiles over to Fluttershy, "What a night. Little Blue seems more at ease again, at least."
Fluttershy nods, glancing back over her shoulder at Dusk for a moment. "I'm sorry," she whispers, letting her mane drape over her face. "I tried to fix it..." She just sort of drapes a couch throw over Marble and Paige and leans against her coffee table. "I'm not sure what to do."
Enjoy.
Fluttershy's Cottage
><~><~><~><~><~>< ~ ~ ~ FLUTTERSHY'S COTTAGE ~ ~ ~ ><~><~><~><~><~><
Here, sprouting from a sparsely wooded meadow beside a languid stream, is a charming, expansive cottage with a lush, grass-covered roof. The dwelling's door, windows and overall shape share an enticing domelike motif. Lovingly crafted birdhouses adorn the roof, chinmey, and surrounding trees, and flowers bloom along the winding path.
This is the home of Fluttershy--veterinarian and naturalist. The interior is cozy, featuring a pretty rug, low chairs and tables, and a welcoming loveseat. Little staircases built for tiny creatures lead from the floor to exit on the walls. There is an adjoining kitchen and a bedroom upstairs.
Near the cottage is a chicken yard and coop, and further along the path lies the beginning of the huge, ominous Everfree Forest. This is therefore a house perched on the border between nature's bounty and nature's wrath.
( It's been two days and Marble is back out of the hospital... again. This time for severe electrical burns. He also found out the statistics for accident treatments and mending at this particular hospital, and how many ponies are in the psych ward. It wasn't encouraging. But now he's out, walking. Slowly. Slowly walking. Away from the hospital. He is beginning his two-hour journey back to Fluttershy's cottage. )
BlueFeather is herself floating on her little cloud at the cottage, actualy shes outside, enjoying the sun, mostly asleep but not quite all the way, a little stufed blue pegasus under her one good wing, the artifact carefully hidden quite close to herself.
It really is unfortunate that Marble only has memory of the Mystery Object being in the form of a toy and not the cause of his hospitalization. So this means that the poor bureaucrat is possibly doomed to the same vicious cycle: Stallion meets toy, stallion loses toy. Stallion is hospitalized for second degree burns. He is getting closer to Flutterhy's now. What is his plan?
BlueFeather starts chewing on her artifact, blissfully unaware that Marble is heading twords her, enjoying some time out in the sun, soaking up the warmth of the sunlight, and enjoying being outside. Now and again, she speaks, though its very soft, mostly its like shes mouthing the words to herself, than actualy trying to speak. Mostly because her memory is starting to return.
( Spotting BlueFeather, Marble begins to meander her way. Ohhhh, if he could just get ahold of the Mystery Object! Then he could finally go home. To his condo. And his office. And his pens and stapler! And be home and not in Ponyville. Look out, BlueFeather! )
BlueFeather is once again chewing on the object, the drool coated artifact well withen her muzzle, and she looks allmost thoughtfull as she chews apon it. She does not really notice Marble, after all, shes mostly lost in thought, it should be soo easy for Marble to just march up to the distracted little foal, and steal her toy away from her.
( Marble can see how clearly he could take it. Just grab it... and fly. Fly very fast. For Canterlot. If an angry mob arrives at the palace, deny all knowledge! He comes up right behind Bluefeather and reaches a hoof to snag it right from her mouth. Yes! AND HE WILL GO HOME! SWEET HOME! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! )
A long, soft pink mane trails like ivy from an upper-story window, and a pair of big blue eyes peer out from behind it. "Um...i-it's good to see that you're up and around again so soon. W-what are you doing?" Fluttershy's fluttereyes flit between Marble and Bluefeather. "I, um...I-I don't think that's a good idea."
BlueFeather continues chewing on her artifact, not realizing that Marble has come up behind her, though that changes after a momant, when she hears a rather wet 'splat' Some way or another, someone just threw a banna cream pie, right into Marble's face, blinding him for a momant, and quite likely distracting him from his reach for the foal's toy.
MapleWing trots along in his own little world for the most part, on his way out of ponyville and toward Fluttershy's cottage. He seems almost lost in the lovely weather, especially as he finds himself further and further out of town. Not that he doesn't like Ponyville, but there is something special about being outside amongst the trees on a lovely spring day. Across his back is neatly tied his somewhat rough looking and fairly plain saddlebags that appear to be weighted down by a couple good size boxes in each.
( He almost has it! HE IS JUST ABOUT TO-- NO! HIS EYES! HE DIDN'T BLINK IN TIME! Marble flails about stumbling recklessly about, though generally in the direction of Fluttershy's front door. "Mmmmph! Mmmmmeehhh mmmmahhannnttpht fffphbeeeeee!" )
Oh no! Marble Memory is in trouble again! Um, maybe. Fluttershy leeeeans out her window and finally just launches herself out, taking the quick way down. Always courteous and aptly confused, Fluttershy politely opens her front door so Bureaucrat Ace can stumble through if he's so inclined. "Bluefeather, did you throw a pie at Mister Memory?" asks Flutters, eyeing the foal dubiously. While she's looking that way, the yellow pegasus spots something else - another stallion coming over? Oh dear.
BlueFeather blinks and turns her little cloud around, with the flick of her good wing, for the momant, her jaws allmost loose apon the artifact, then her jaws come down, and there is another 'splat' as another pie comes out of nowhere and smacks right into Marble's head. Its hard for her to restrain herself from laughing aloud at poor Marble, wich just causes her jaws to come down again apon the artifact, and another pie, chocolate this time, 'splat's on the poor keeper of artifacts
MapleWing slowly comes back to earth as he nears Fluttershy's cottage, though the rather distinctive thud, and possibly subsiquent crashing that is had when Marble falls probably helps a little at drawing his attention. He pauses a moment at the gate, peering up at the pony seeming quite content chewing on something, and seeming quite amused at the scene below. With a light knock on the gate he calls over "Hope I'm not interrupting?" he says with a smile.
Marble is in her lving room, stumbling about when two more pies strike him. One moves him in the general direction of the coffee table, then when he manages to get the first pie off his face, teh third pie causes him to faceplant into the coffee table. Ouch.
Fluttershy wasn't planning on serving cream pie today! And now it's all over her table. "Um, uh, n-no, of course not. E-everything's fine," she assures the new arroval, with a big, sunny grin on her face. "Um...e-excuse me." Fluttershy suddenly zips back inside to rifle through her cabinets. Bandages, check...
BlueFeather just watches from the doorway, chewing on her artifact, each time her jaws come down apon the artifact, there is another splat, as yet another pie smacks into the poor buricrat. Where the pies are coming from, well, thay seem to be comiong from everywhere, and before too long, Marble is allmost barryed in sweet treats. Then, allmost as if to add insult to injury, there is a softer spat, as a single bran muffen drops from above, and lands atop of Marble's head. In total, there is something like 40 diferent cream pies that have hit the poor fellow.
MapleWing tilts his head as the flurry of activity seems to move its way inside and out of clear view from the stallion at the gate. He nods to Fluttershy who excuses herself somewhat abruptly, to whom he offers a light wave of a hoof. Upon finding himself more or less the only one still outside he leans over the gate to trip the latch and let himself through, closing it with a hind-hoof while keeping a keen eye on the door to Fluttershy's cottage, especially as a rucus sounds from within as poor Marble is accosted with not-so-phantom phantom cream pies. By the time Maple reaches the door, all tahts left is a pile of pieplates and cream with a bran muffin on top. "You sure? Perhaps I should come back another time..." he says with a quirked brow, looking a little unsure. "you seem pretty busy at the moment." he adds with a light chuckle.
Marble just lies there. Wondering what just happened to him. What happened in his life that brought him to this point? Just what? WHAT?! Did he anger somepony and get cursed? Or maybe he went into the wrong career. Perhaps he should have listened to his mother and moved back to Cloudsdale and learned how to make hailstones like his dad. At least the pies stopped.
Fluttershy is hunched over Marble, staring helplessly as the poor, poor stallion is assailed with pie after pie after cruel, cruel pie. The vet pony opens her mouth, then closes it, and finally settles for just tearing off a strip of gauze and pasting it over Marble's forehead. Um...bandaids fix everything, right? She really has no idea what to do with these ponies any more. Fluttershy looks up at the stallion in her doorway. "N-no, it's okay. Um...really." It certainly doesn't LOOK okay. "Um...c-come in."
BlueFeather just wartches from her little cloud, for the momant not chewing on the artifact, much more distracted by watching poor Marble burried under all thoes pies, though that does make her start to feel hngry
MapleWing clears his throat a little as Fluttershy reassures him that despite apperances, everything really is under control. "Mmm, if you're sure." he chuckles and steps into her cottage before lifting a wing and leaning back with his head to reach into his duffle bag to pull out a neatly tied box, which he transfers to his hooves to hold out for inspection. "I stopped by to deliver your... order.. I suppose you could say." he says with a smile and glancing occasionally to the bubbling mound of cream and aluminum pie plates. "Ive heard you use unorthodox healing techniques, but whipped cream?" he asks, a crooked smile acoss his muzzle, showing that he's at least not entirely serious.
The gauze slowly slides down from where his forehead... probably is. Finally the bureaucrat messily attempts to shake himself off. It's a lot of pie, though, which isn't exactly light. At least his head is... kind of cream free. He gasps, taking in some air. Unfortunately, he inhales some cream and starts coughing up a fit.
"O-oh, thank you very much! I'm sure these will come in handy." Fluttershy crosses the room by wing to look over what Maplewing's brought. The splort-cough-hack-hack from behind is a little bit worrying, though. "Um...I-I think I might need to use them right away, actually."
BlueFeather cocks her head and just wtches, she thinks its so amusing, Marble coated in pies, but still, she does not make a sound, even though shes allmost crying its so funny to her
MArble reaches out a hoof and relaxes it on the coffee table as he keeps coughing. Finally he can breath again. "W... water... I think I ne--" And he starts coughing again as more sugary goodness finds its way into his mouth. Sugary goodness! COUGH! COUGH! HACK!
MapleWing winces faintly as the mound of cream surges and bgins to move, the pegasus stallion raising a wing defensively as the mound begins to shake and send some arcs of cream spattering in all directions, fortunately the range isn't quite enough to douse the innocent bystanders, well, at least not him anyway. He tugs the string on the box and lifts the lid to reveal rows of neatly packed treats, though the shade is slightly different than one might expect. "Has the herbs you asked for, though I did try to cut the sweetness down a bit... don't want medication being /TOO/ tasty, would we?" he chuckles, casting a watchful glance over the sputtering blob which slowly reveals a pony as he hands the box to Fluttershy and allows her to tend to her apparaent patient. "Well I hope they do the trick" he grins "Looks like he could use... /something/" he says after a momentary pause for thought.
Cough cough hack. Fluttershy winces. "I think *some*pony needs a through lasange," she says, and flits back across the room. Flutters vanishes into the kitchen and reappears with a glass of water. "Um...h-here you go, Mr. Memory." The pale pegasus balances the glass carefully on whichever part of the table isn't completely coated with whipped creme, takes one of Maple's cupcakes, and just sort of...puts it down beside the glass. "Thank you again for bringing them, Maple. I get most of my medicine from the hospital and Zecora these days..."
BlueFeather tilts her head a little, blinking, ohhh cupcakes! SHe likes cupcakes, she starts to slowly float her little cloud closer, intent in swiping one of the cupcakes.
Chance pushes his head into the door, glancing about. At least it's not so.. Oh, he's wrong. It's still rather crowded. He carefully trots inside, looking around to see what's going on. Spotting the others, he wanders on over.
MapleWing bites a lip as the doused pony coughs and wheezes his way out from under the whipped cream and asks for a glass of water. As Fluttershy takes off to tend to Marble's request, Maple reaches into his saddlebag to pull out a rag and offer it to the 'creamed' stallion. "Here, try this. Might work a bit better than shaking it off" he laughs with a friendly tone as Fluttershy returns from the kitchen. He leans in a little, curious as to the effectiveness of the little concoction he was charged with helping to produce. Not that he doesn't trust the medicinal knowledge of Fluttershy of course. "Mmm? oh! right" he says, having gotten lost in his own thoughts for a moment when Fluttershy thanks him. "You're quite welcome. Always happy to help out y'know.. I hope this stallion hasn't caught anything... serious?" he asks, turning back toward Marble as he says this, half asking both him and fluttershy his question at teh same time.
Marble takes the water and drinks it down, freeing his mouth from the tyranny of a sweet cream. "Ohh... I feel better." He sets the now-coated glass down and spots the treat. "You know... how many ponies, uh... quit their jobs?" Marbe takes the treat in a hoof curiously.
"U-um...no?" Fluttershy drifts downward just a little to be more level with Marble's cream-covered head...and so she can whisper to Maplewing. "I-I'm not really sure. I think he just had a nervous breakdown or something." CMFIS. Yep. There's no mistaking it. "Bluefeather, wait. T-those aren't candy."
BlueFeather expects it might allready be too late, shes got one in her hoof and is lifting it up, twords her muzzle, not really paying attention to the conversation, her tail giving a slow litle flick
Chance gets within a few paces of the others and greets. "Hello everypony. How are you doing, Marble?" He glances over to Blue, then looks to Fluttershy. He offers a friendly smile. "I see you're keeping busy. I'm glad to see Blue doing fine as well." He settles down to his flank, not wanting to get much in the way. "When you have a mmoment Fluttershy, I'd like to ask about how to get to Zecora's."
MapleWing grins lightly as Chance guzzles down the water, the sheer relief it brings quite evident. He can't help but let his expression light up a little as Marble notices and takes the Medi-treat and smiles a little, curious as to what the first guinea-pig pony will think, gien he's the first perscribed recpient of one. "not many I'd assume?" he chuckles "Guess one would need to take a poll to find out for sure." he says to Marble's question before leaning in toward
Fluttershy as she moves closer, his ear flattening a little and angling toward the whisper of the already practically whispered voice from the pegasus. He nods a little to her and smiles "sounds like a diagnosis of R&R is in order..." he chuckles quietly back to her with a wink before straightening his posture again. As Fluttershy draws his attention to the sneaky foal, he stretches out a hoof to tap the box closed, trying to do so at least before BlueFeather can snag any of the medicinal treats inside, though in doing so he over-extends himself and fi
( ...finds himself FWUMPING firmly to the floor after losing his balance. "No.. definitely not candy..." he chuckles through a soft groan and begins to pick himself up off the floor, dusting himself off a little and offering a light wave and tip of his head to Chance upon his arrival. )
Marble had unwraped the treat, popped it in his mouth and started to chew. Then he manages, through some fluke, to hear what was just whispered about R&R. This causes him to inhale his treat, lodging it in his windpipe. He can't breathe. A look of alarm plays on what parts of his face aren't covered in pie... He gestures toward himself wildly.
Fluttershy does her best to hold Bluefeather back, too; if she eats that medicine, there's no telling what could happen, and in the foal's present condition, it could be disastrous. "H-hello, Chance. J-just a second," she says as she struggles with the filly. Oh, where is Angel when you need him? No, that isn't nice, Fluttershy. She apologizes to Angel in her head, nearly forgetting what she was supposed to be doing - what was that? Oh, right. "M-Marble? Are you - what's wrong?" Bluefeather is released and Fluttershy is across the room again in a flash. "Do you need more water?"
BlueFeather is justr a foal, its easy enough to dislodge the tret from her hoof, though she reaches again for it, not minding in the lest t hat its been on the ground, hey, shes been known to eat grass off the lawn, so whats she going to worry about a treat thats been on the ground?
Chance sees Marble pop a treat into his muzzle, and.. it dissapears, leaving him flailing. He lets out a light huff and quickly hops to his hooves. He's already near the pony, so reaches him just shortly before Fluttershy does. He snags the pony with a foreleg, pulls him up and heimlich's poor Marble.
MapleWing grins a little as Marble pops the treat into his muzzle and quirks his brow, letting out a light sigh as he sees Fluttershy has intercepted the foal, or is at least in the process of doing so. His brow furrows as Marble begins to choke, causing a faint moment of confusion in MapleWing before realizing what is wrong. "You're suppose to savour them, not INHALE them." he exclaims and joins Fluttershy in aiding the pony, sliding around behind, and nearly slipping across the room on the whipped cream surrounding Marble and sends him sliding straight past the choking pony and crashing into a nearby piece of furniture, leaving him in a heap across it, and leaving the way clear for Chance to step in and take charge of helping Marble. "SOmeone needs to safety-proof this furniture of yours, Fluttershy" he groans.
( Marble is flailing about in a panick when Chance, always better at thinking these things through than he, grabs him and gives him the heimlich. A few long seconds later, the treat is evacuated and he's gasping for air. Again. "Oh Celestia... I thought I was going to die!" )
Oh no! Don't die, Mister Marble! Not right on Fluttershy's table! The pegasus' big, round eyes follow the treat's trajectory as it exits Marble's mouth, and for a moment, she's so stunned that she forgets all about Bluefeather and Maplewing. Fluttershy shakes her head and blinks. "O-oh, Maplewing, I'm so sorry. I thought it *was* built for safety." At least she manages to grab Bluefeather again before she can meet the same fate.
BlueFeather awwss a little, the treat just out of her reach, she struggles, well, squirms a little, trying to extend her good foreleg far enough to reach the thing, but its just out of her reach.
Chance carfully lets Marble back down once he's sure the other pony is breathing. Marble talking is a good enough sign of that. He pats Marble's shoulder lightly. "Let's try not to breath your treats anymore. Lungs don't work as well with treats in them." He slides a few feet away and settles back down. "You'll be fine." he says, giving a smile to Marble, then glances over to MapleWing momentarily, then turns his head to look toward Fluttershy. He waits for a few moments so she finish doing whatever she's attempting with Blue, then "..." He's about to say something, but decides against it. It might make Fluttershy feel bad. He decides on something else after a pause. "If you could find a cure for accidents, you'd be famous." he says, giving the filly a smile.
MapleWing sighs with relief as he see's the treat soar across the room thanks to Chance's quick thinking and well planted hooves on the whipped-cream slick floor, not to mention the whipped-cream slick Marble. WIth a slightly awkward roll he rights himself and gets his hooves beneath him again and returns to the group, offering Chance a pat on the back. "Good job." he compliments with a smile. "You okay?" he asks, directing his attention to Marble now that the emergency seems to have passed. He chuckles lightly and smiles to Fluttershy "I'm just playing." he says, straightening himself a little and adjusting his vest a little. "The important part is this stallion here is not choking anymore. So far this hasn't been a terribly good track record for my dabbling in the medicinal delivery system field." he says, flashing a crooked smile due to his playful remark. As Fluttershy detains BlueFeathers, he does his best to reach over the two ponies and snatch the box from where it lay and draw it in against his body. "You ca
( ...can't have those ones, but..." he says as he sinks down a little and reaches into his pocket and pulls out a regular hunk of wrapped maple taffy "...this one is completely fine for you to have. How's that sound?" he asks as he holds it out to the foal and smiles up to chance "Either that or wrap all of the accident prone in clouds, though I'm not sure how practical that would be." he quips, chuckling a little at his own joke. )
( "That treat looked really tasty, too." Marble sats, sinking back down into his chair and sighs. "I need to write the princesses, too. What am I going to say? I found the Mystery Object, but can't seem to lay a hoof on it." He glances over at BlueFeather. He wonders if maybe... maybe he can trick her. )
Marble Memory? Wwwwhat are you doing? The look in his eye is starting to freak Fluttershy out more than a little. Um. O-okay, one crisis at a time. At least Chance makes her giggle and takes the edge off. "Thanks, Chance. I-I really needed that." Now, first off, Fluttershy nudges Bluefeather toward MapleWing's latest offering. "Look, Blue. That's for you." Okay. Next, she turns her attention back to Chance. "T-thank you for helping Marble Memory. Um...I-I'd be happy to tell you where Zecora is, but..." But she's still worried she'd be sending Chance to his doom somehow. Still...he wants to go so badly, and he *is* indestructible, right? "Um...I-I'll show you the path in a moment." Finally, Fluttershy shoves a carrot into a discarded saddlebag, appeasing the rabbit before it can cause even *more* chaos. Whew.
BlueFeather sighs a little and gives up on the treats, shes not trusting the one that Maple offers her this time, it will just be taken away from her again, just like the last one, and just like her last toy. Instead, she takes the artifact in her muzzle, and starts chewing on it again.
Chance glances momentarily to MapleWing. "Just glad I could help." then gives Fluttershy a gentle smile as his little joke seemed to help her a bit, then he turns his head toward Marble. "Yeah, we saw what happened when you tried to take it. I think it singed something." he says with a crooked smile. "Though.. perhaps if I got it.." He thinks for a few moments. "But I wouldn't want it to zap Blue. It'd need to try to zap me. Maybe if I ground myself. Or if Blue put it down first.." He turns an eye toward Blue and pauses. "Of course, Blue might not want to part with it. You might have to put it down as 'item chewed into oblivion'." he says, directing the last part to Marble. His ears perk toward Fluttershy as she mentions Zecora. "I would appreciate that, Fluttershy. Thank you. First though.." He stands up and wanders over to Blue. He steps through the cream and.. keeps a firm hoofing, only pausing to shake some excess off. "Hello Blue." he says with a warm smile. "Do you think you'd be willing to trade that old to
trade that old toy for something else? I'll get you whatever you want." At least that'd keep Marble sane. At least as sane goes for Marble.
MapleWing grins to Marble and shrugs "Well, since you didn't get to taste the last one much, maybe it'll be safe for Fluttershy to diagnose another?" he suggests, glancing momentarily to Fluttershy and nods in agreement to her assurance to BlueFeather that the offered treat is indeed for her. "The ones in the box are for Fluttershy, I made them especially for her." he says as he passes the box back to her. "This one, is all for you, and I promise nobody will tell you otherwise, even if it might spoil your dinner." he says, adding in a little wink to further encourage the foal as Fluttershy collects herself and tends to Marble, Chance and seems to feed a ravenous saddlebag. "You did indeed." he comments back to Chance, letting his gaze shift between the foal before him and Chance, moving over as Chance moves toward Blue, and givs him some space to speak to the foal. His brow furrows a little at what is said, not terribly understanding what is going on. Given the goings on in the last little while, he's not terriblysp
WHOOPS
... sure he /wants/ to know either.
Marble is just a walking, talking mess of stress. And it's already happening. He clops his hooves on the coffee table. He's afraid to grab at the Mystery Object now. But he needs it! "May I have some parchment? And a quill, please?" He needs to ask the princesses how to proceed. It's the only way!
Fluttershy smiles softly. Chance and Maplewing are making a noble effort for peace, and Fluttershy can appreciate that more than anypony. She doesnt' have the heart to tell them Blue can't speak pony yet - maybe they'll get lucky? "W-whenever you're ready, Chance. Um..." While she waits, Fluttershy takes a moment to oblige Marble, slipping a quill and paper into his hooves. "Is this okay?"
BlueFeather rather deliberately clenches her jaws tighter on the artifact, shes not sure what Chance just said, but shes pretty sure hes trying as well to get her toy from her, and theres no way shes going to let it off her person, at all, for now. She remembes too well being told she can't have this, or if she gives up something, thay will give her something better, she knows better now. Her good wing opens, and she starts to fan it, in an attempt to excape chance, and Marble. Shes allready given up on the treat that Maple is offering, she knows that game too well, its the same one that Chance is trying to pull on her. The flick of her wing brushes a momant against Fluttershy, then she starts to move, shes sure she can find somewhere to go. She does her best to get away from the ponys who are wanting to take her toy away from her. Even as Fluttershy deals with the more emdiate problem of Marble.
Chance blinks as Blue starts to attempt to flutter off, and lets out a light sigh. "Please Blue? You don't want Marble chasing after you all day and night, do you?" Instead of trying to pounce Blue out of the air, he instead turns to Fluttershy. "I do hate to impose, especially when I'd be asking to impose on Blue, but for Marble's sanity and Blue's safely.. because if it zapped Marble, who knows if it'd eventually zap Blue.. could I implore you to try to talk that toy away from Blue? I'll replace it with something else she likes. I'll even take it first. That's the safest way, letting it zap me. Perhaps I could grab it from a short distance away from the other ponies.." he considers. "That way no one would get hurt."
MapleWing raises to his hooves and lets Chance do his thing, especially as it seems his taffy has been turned down by the youth. He turns and makes his way over to the obviously stressed Marble, popping the taffy into his muzzle himself. "Try not to stress yourself out too much, probably won't solve anything." he tries to say reassuringly as he looks up to Blue as she tries to take off in avoidance of Chance's apparently failing efforts, thinking the little foal is a tough nut to crack given how much trouble it seems is being caused by her posession of, from what he can tell, a teething ring. His ears perk lightly as he catches Fluttershy's comment to Chance. "Heading out Fluttershy? Hopefully the place will still be standing when you get back, barring any further disasters." he chuckles playfully, at least until Chance begins to emplore that Fluttershy aid in seperating the 'toy' and the foal. "So... what's so important about this thing anyway? Ponies talk as if it's dangerous." he says with a hint of confusion in
The last pie. THE LAST PIE. That broke the Marble's back. Not literally, thank Celestia. But he throws the pie off his face, shakes off, and shouts, "Stress.... solves *NOTHING?!* STRESS SOLVES NOTHING?! STRESS SOLVES EVERYTHING! I WILL SHOW YOU! I WILL SHOW *ALL* OF YOU!" He sits and starts to write an angry letter. "Dear... Princess... Pootyheads. Roses... are... red... Violets... are... blue... Mollases... is... smelly..." He pauses a moment to think. A good moment. "... And... so... are... you. ... ... ... I Quit. ... ... Ha... ... ... Ha... ... ... Signed...."
Dusk has been out checking on a few things from his research projects. He comes in from the front door of the cottage, giving a yawn as he stiffles it a hoof, getting set to call out that he is home.. and pauses mid yawn looking around at what all is going on. "What the...?" He puts his hoof down, perking up and trotting in up towards Fluttershy, "What is all going on here?" he asks to her or any pony with an answer. Of course he sees Marble here and his appearent state, as usual, and thinks he has an idea.
"Oh, no! Marble, you don't have to quit!" Fluttershy's wings fly into overdrive. She can't even imagine something so bad it'd make her want to quit taking care of animals! How bad does it have to be for a pony to- to-- *abandon their cutie mark?!* Ohhh... "S-somepony please catch up Dusk and Maplewing," says the yellow pegasus, and she darts across the room once again (seriously, she's going to collapse from dizziness at this rate) and finally lands, cutting off Bluefeather from the door. "Um, Bluefeather, sweetie...p-please let us have your ring. W-we'll get you a new one. But Mister Marble needs this one or...or he's going to do something really crazy."
BlueFeather flinches away from Fluttershy, her eyes widening fearfully, then, she curls up and tightly as she can, and if anything grips that artifact even tighter, theres no way shes willing to let go of it, not now at lest. A soft little whimper can be heard coming from her, she expects to be beaten again, but shes not going to give up her toy. Shes had too many things taken away from her, and shes not going to take it anymore. It does not help that she does not really understand a word of what is being said.
Chance's head snaps around as Fluttershy zips one way, then another. He'd sure to get whiplash from this if his talent didn't get in the way. He looks over to Dusk and Maple as Fluttershy asks for some pony to fill them in. He's the only pony who can. Marble is a bit busy trying to bury his sanity under the might of the pen, paper and paucity of his grip on reality. "Blue's chew toy is a shape-shifting artifact. It zapped Marble when he tried to take it away, with magic lightning or something. He's tasked with finding it and getting it back. Been looking for it for weeks. Didn't know what it looked like.. until last night." There, all caught up. He hopes. He glances back as Blue suddenly drops and cowers. His ears go back and his look softens to worry. He lets out a soft sigh and trots over to the little filly, sliding down onto his folded legs near her. "Blue?" he speaks softly. "It's okay. We're not mad at you." His first guess at what seems to be bothering BlueFeather. "We just want to give Marble his teething
to give Marble his teething ring back." He pauses a moment, never having expected that combination of words to come out of his mouth. "We'll get you something special in place of it." He suddenly recalls something. Blue writing something and being skilled at it. He saw it once. He gets up, scurries over, snags Marble's pencil and paper away from him, and hurries on over. He writes down basically what he said to Blue a moment earlier, and slides it gently over to where Blue can see. "Please?" he asks softly.
MapleWing sits back a little as Marble quite literally, starts to lose his grip and begins to rave before diving into the angry letter. Sidling closer again once Marble is engrossed in his letter, he patpats a hoof reassuringly on the stallions back, ears flattening a little as his brow furrows. "Um... isn't that a /little/ harsh, Friend?" he asks, having not really been formally introduced to Marble yet. "lets not act rashly now, what do you say? I'll give you anotehr one of my maple candies!" he exclaims, hoping the same ploy to placate Blue will cheer up Marble as Dusk, another pony he does not recognize steps through the door with a quite suited stunned expression at the group, mess and ravings going on. "I'm just making a delivery.... the rest..." he says pausing a long moment and giving a bewildered shrug. He returns back to trying to at least bring Marble back to Equestria as Fluttershy springs into action to solve the matter, at least with Blue, which doesn't seem to go well at first given within moments Blu
( ...Blue is a tight ball on the floor clutching the object of such great desire and need. Slowly, as Chance is more or less charged with filling him and others in, his head tilts and his brow quirks, forming into a bit of an expression of disbelief. ".....Oh.... That totally makes sense now." he says after a long pause. Whether or not he was being serious or sarcastic is hard to discern, but he seems to take it for face value as he deep down hopes that between Chance and Fluttershy, they can coerce the foal to cooperate. "I think you need a vacation after this one.." he says to Marble, offering another hoofpat to his back. )
( "DON'T!" MArble says, turning away from his letter, his eyes scary. He stands and turns to face MapleWing... taking the treat and swallowing it whole, wrapper and all. He is no longer facing his letter. One could easily replace it with a *happy* letter and he might not notice. "NEVER USE THAT WORD! It is an eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil woooord! Like... like... like... something NOT BRAN!" His mouth splits into a crazy expression. "Not... bran!" He grabs ahold of Maple."Not. Bran. You know how *serious* that is?! When something is *not bran?!*" ; )
Dusk nods to Chance, "I was there last night, yes, but thank you. I was hoping the ruckus wasn't due to that, as it seemed to be finished last night, and Mr. Memory was taken away. Even Miss Clera agreed to leave Blue in peace. But seems we are unable to keep this one," indicating Marble, "at a safe distance until it is resolved." He gives a soft sigh. Not upset but worried this is going on like this. He sees poor Fluttershy looking nearly at her wits end, and Blue looking terrified. Seeing Marble currently over with MapleWing, to whom Dusk nods and thanks in reply, he decides to get to Marble later, and steps towards Blue. "Please keep Mr. Marble at a safe distance, if you might," he asks in general. Chance's idea of writing is a good one, but Blue isn't even looking now. Then he leans in and nuzzles Blue's head, giving her a tender kiss. He chirps to her in Blue-speak, /It is okay, Little Blue. None shall harm you. The crazy pony wants your teething toy because it belongs back with others./ He ke
Dusk keeps consoling her.
Fluttershy just backs off to give Chance and Dusk room to work; for her part, she's just going to smile at Bluefeather and hope that's enough to calm the paranoid filly down. She keeps herself in the doorway, too, so Blue can't just bolt away that easily. Somewhere across the room, the saddlebag stirs...
BlueFeather if anything curls even tighter around her toy, Dusk might be able to see that her muzzle is strained with tears, yet she holds strong, shes not going to give up her toy, though her heart is wounded greatly. She says nothing, she can not speak with her jaws so tightly clamped apon the teething ring, she knows shes going to be beaten, maybe even killed, but shes not going to let go.
Chance tilts his head down a bit as Dusk attempts, futily, to chirp reason to little BlueFeather. He sighs as it seems to have no effect, and she seems rather.. scared? "Blue? Sweetie? Are you alright?" he asks softly. Of course, he'll get no reply. "I know she likes that thing, but.." Suddenly he gets an idea. He glances to Dusk, then over to Marble. He hopes something good comes out of it. "Marble, I've got a mission for you, if you hope to finish the search for the artifact. Go into town and get a teething ring for Blue. Make it a better one. Make it two better ones!" He looks back to Dusk. "Can you make the object shift into something she wouldn't want to hold?" he asks, then peers up at his own horn. "Mine's kind of useless for that.." he mumbles. Hopefully he can kill two.. parasprites.. with one stone. Fluttershy likes birds too much to think that. Get Marble distracted, and try to get the artifact back. If changing its shape doesn't work, maybe swapping it out will.
MapleWing's eyes go wide as Marble turns on him and seems to flip his lid even furtehr than before, which is impressive considering Maple didn't think doing so was actually possible. Live and learn! He raises his hooves as Marble grabs him and begins his foray into further hysteria after swallowing the candy, wrapper and all. He lets Marble finish, nodding in agreement albeit still wide-eyed until Marble finally calms down, his hooves gently pressing against Marble's chest trying to gently guide him /gently/ toward the couch to lay down and hopefully relax a litle. "Okay, okay, I won't use Va...err 'the bad word' again, just... try to calm down... They're trying to help, just, calm..." he says in as soothing a voice as possible, occasionally glancing over to the group now flanking Blue and apparently trying a new tactic thanks to Dusk. Though given his unfamiliarity with most of the ponies here, is unsure if it even stands a chance, but he certainly hopes so. Afterall, he thought he was visiting the home of what is
...is well known to be a quiet and calm pony's cottage, not a pony short of having her own personal asylum. He shakes his head a little and sighs as things seem to be going quite literally nowhere with Blue, if anything things just steadily get all the more bleak. He lets out a deep sigh to ease some of the weight of the emotions circling the room until Chance has an idea, causaing Maplewing's expresison to brighten. "Brilliant!" he exclaims and grins to Marble "good as shot as any, whatcha say?" he says encouragingly to the other pegasus.
( Marble's bloodshot eyes help him to sit on Fluttershy's couch. "Find her-- Find-find her a new one. A new one a new one. Find..." Yes! That's a plan. A plan! "I... I think I need some... cofffeeeeeeeee..." Is caffeine really what he needs? )
PUB >> Little Boss Marble says, "If you squint at the boxes in my top left corner you can make out the shape of my buddy list."
Dusk sees Fluttershy at least get a moment to take a breath, which is good. Though he feels bad that Blue is still so upset. He leans in, and licks her face, cleaning her tears. /But worry not, I will not let him take your toy without your permission, Little Blue. You and it are safe with me./ He looks up to Chance and shakes his head, "It is truely an artifact. It hid itself well, but when it released its magic, there was no denying. It would be foolish to attempt to directly magic it, especially one with such a defensive bent. But right now, everypony just needs to calm and relax, and help make Little Blue comfortable. Nopony will be taking anything without her permission." He sounds pretty definitive about that matter, looking across the room. "Once that is achived we can discuss what she is willing to do." To which he has something good in mind as well, but doesn't stop any attempt to send Marble off on a distraction. Dusk is greatful for MapleWing keeping his attention and helping him settle onto the couch. Dusk returns to nuzzling and licking the poor foal, /You are safe. Flutter Shy and I are here. No pony will hurt you or take your toy,/ he assures her again in those chips only they fully understand, though Fluttershy has been learning some.
Fluttershy isn't so sure about the distraction; the moment Marble Memory reaches Ponyville, chances are all chaos will break loose. But it's better than him being here upsetting all the animals, and worse, Diamond Dancer. Flutters only hopes Diamnd had the good sense to get clear once the panic started. She glances down at Bluefeather, then at Dusk and Chance, and with a nod, the yellow mare steps aside and clears the doorway. "Bluefeather, it's okay, really," she murmurs, as soothingly as she can.
BlueFeather remains tightly curled in a ball, refursing to respond in any way for the momant. Her jaws allmost painfully tightly clutching on her toy, refusing to uncurl, still silantly crying. That might be one of the stranger things if someone things about it, shes nearly totaly quiet, even though she seems to be racked with sobs. She can hear Dusk, but, she can't exactly respond, and even if she trusts Dusk still, she does not trust anypony else at the momant, and expects that if she even trys to talk someone will try and take her toy away from her. She wants to tell Dusk about everything, but, shes not in the lest willing to loosen her grip, so she just huddels as tightly around her toy as she can.
day, getting sound and image clips from the show shouldn't be terribly difficult."
Chance nods lightly to Dusk as he makes a decision about Blue's 'toy'. "Though I doubt it's defensives could stand up to mine, I'll still defer it." He sighs a bit as he glances down to BlueFeather. "What's bothering Blue so much? She's being more then just possessive of the ring." One ring to confuse them all, one ring not kind to them, one ring to make them fall, and with insanity bind them. "She's acting like she's.. afraid of something." He glances up to Dusk. "Any idea what's wrong?"
MapleWing nods lightly to Dusk and lets out a soft sigh, the tension indeed building more than hed have thought this morning, but is the sort of pony to help where he can. "I don't think anypony wants to hurt or upset Blue, but, if everything is as it's been said it is, the teething ring isn't safe for her to have, and we definitely don't want want anything to happen to such a little foal." he says in agreement and, perhaps in a bit of ieteration to help clarifyy things, at least in his own mind anyway. His brow furrows a little as he stares down at the little mare huddled around the toy and hmms as he listens to whats said about the room, the reasonings, the ideas the weight of the stress in the air when he finally has it hit him. "You know what... I'll bet she's feeling as stressed as we all are..." he turns to Marble and asks carefully "is there a deadline to when you need to aquire the... artifact?" he asks, "Maybe it would be best to let Blue, and everyone relax, becasue it doesn't seem like /anypony/ is about
...to budge on their positions with their backs up." he suggests and flops back into an open spot on the nearby couch.
Oh dear. Maple used the "d" word. His eyes go wide, his pupils constrict to Salsa-thin dots. "DEAD LINE! THAT DOES IT!" Marble jumps up on the couch, "NOPONY MOVE! NOPONY LEAVES!" This is a no. There was no deadline. But his OCD is such that he believes if he didn't resolve it in a day he'll never resolve it. He laughs crazily and nervously.
Dusk nods back and smiles to Fluttershy as she helps with Blue. Though even as he keeps trying to console Blue it doesn't seem to be helping. But he understands too, when she gets this scared. He stays near, comforting her, "She appears to be frightened of all that's going on. She was abused when young.. originally young. I think she needs some time to calm. If you might give a little space, Mr. Chance, and let Fluttershy and I help her." Dusk also stands to Blue can use him somewhat to sheild from the other ponies. "Then hopefully she will let us know." He nods to MapleWing, "Indeed, the stress is pretty much the case. Fighting for it will not solve the issue." Thinking he might have things in hoof, he then rolls his eyes at the new Marble outburst. Okay. Assuming Chance steps aside, he magics a bubble around Blue, Fluttershy, and himself. It's invisible, but it blocks out all sound and deflects anypony from coming closer. He at least needs a little time for Blue. /There. Your toy is safe,/ he chirps. But he waits until Blue can relax at least some, seeing no one is hurting her or trying to take it.
"Oh, um...a-all right," mumbles Fluttershy to nopony in particular. She steps out of the bubble, head hanging wearily, and stops in front of Marble Memory. "Um...M-Mr. Memory, um...I'm sorry, but please calm down. There's another patient here, and she's *very* *delicate*. She really shouldn't be around anypony who's panicking..."
BlueFeather can hear Dusk just fine, but shes not willing to relax just yet, rather she maintains her tight curl, wraped around her toy, her one good wing twitching a little. Its not that she disbeleaves, or distrusts Dusk, its that she does not trust the others around. She does start to relax, once the sound from outside the bubble is blocked out, but shes still keeping quite a tight grip on her toy, she does not trust Marble, or anyone else really, not to try and take it. For the momant, she does not even trust that Fluttershy will not try again to take it away from her.
Diamond_Dancer Is (And has been) juuuust outside of the house. She was trying to leave when the whole situation got started but now she's just....she's just sitting. Quietly. Staring out into the front yard and towards the edge of the ever free forest. "......We're fine...Fluttershy. "She says softly, breathing in slow, delicate strokes. "Don't worry about a thing...just help our patient..."
Chance nods a bit to Dusk and stands up. "Of course. If giving her space will help, then I'll be happy to." He turns his head toward Marble at the pony's new ravings and snorts a bit. "Excuse me for a moment.." He heads straight to the nutty pony, hoping to help Fluttershy, and places a hoof on his shoulder. "Marble, calm down. Fluttershy's right. This isn't helping anypony. You don't really need to have the thing right away, right? Besides, doesn't a nap sound nice about now?" he asks, seeing how bloodshot Marble seems to be.
MapleWing eyerolls as Marble panics again and the normally soft spoken Maple is forced to raise his voice a little, his hooves raising to try and catch Marble's muzzle between them in order to look the stallion in the eye as he sternly says "CALM DOWN." the words sounding more an order than a request, though hoping the stern tone would be enough to bring Marble back to Equestria. He turns and nods to Dusk in agreement. "I agree, fighting over it isnt solving anything and honestly, I think Blue is the most fragile one here, and needs the tending to, even above and beyond ones job. At least for now." he says, turing back to look Marble in the eyes, making his meaning clear before stepping back and letting Fluttershy take a crack at calming the distraut Marble, hoping she has better luck than he. "Perhaps.." he begins after Fluttershy has finished "...Some of us neeed some fresh air, clear our minds and relax a little. Whatcha say Marble?"
( "Don't tell me to calm down! Calming down is the worst thing to do. My job is on the line. There's *nothing* without my job, *nothing!* There is no job without Marble, and no Marble without a job! I neeeeeeed to gooooo hoooooome." Marble starts sing-song in a creepy voice. "So... it's ssssoooo sssssimple. I get the toy and everypony goes... home. Including me. Including me! INCLUDING ME!" He's hopping on the couch now, clearly distressed. "I can go home. And we'll all be happy. HAPPY HAPPY! YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPY IS LIKE, DON'T YOU, MS. FLUTTERSHY?! WHAT IS IT LIKE?!" )
Dusk smiles and nods to Chance, "Thank you, yes." He tilts his head at Fluttershy's initial comment, then watches her walk off shortly behind Chance too. Well hopefully the others can help calm down Marble together. He certainly knows
Fluttershy is about about most calm and soothing pony he knows. He doesn't notice DD just outside. He turns back to Blue, /So just us right now,/ he tells Blue. /You do not have to let go. You can just nod. If I made you your own pony toy similar to the one Funny pony had, plus another teether, would you trade?/ He himself can still hear what's going on outside, but is glad he has the bubble in place, and still standing to block her view of the others.
"Um." Even Fluttershy's 'ums' have become flat and distant. Her mane is fraying in places, with little bits of frizz sticking out here and there, and her eyes are drooping curiously. She just sort of...stares at Marble for a second, as though there's a buffer that the outside world has to go through before it registers properly in her brain. "W...what?" The poor pegasus is tired, so tired. "Marble, please...I-I don't understand."
BlueFeather finnaly uncurls a little with a soft little sniffle, tears still streaking down her muzzle. She shakes her head slwly from side to side, her jaws stil;l clenched tight apon the artifact, not letting it loose in the lest. Its actualy a rather good thing that no one else actualy got close enough to touch the toy, or there would be a lot more pies, and worse littering the place. Thankfully no one actualy managed to physicly touch her, or things might have been much worse.
Diamond_Dancer Marble Wing may be entirely incorrect about Blue being the most fragile one here. Diamond hasn't moved and inch...silently sitting, back to the cottage, and tears slowly trickling down her cheeks. She's trembling...quivering quietly where she sits, ears perked listening to the panic and situation and stress going on in the other room before that bubble crops up. So many negative emotions...and all of it raising the situation to new heights. Drawing everyone...and everything into a dizzying tizzy...distress...fear...panic...anger...Blue's afraid of losing her toy, Fluttershy is afraid of the situation causing Diamond stress, and Marble is afraid he won't get to go home...and Diamond went to Fluttershy's place to peace...
*to find peace
Star_Paige suddenly appears next to fluttershy and says "Have you seen marble" She asks as she smiles and spots him in the next moment "Marbly how are you?" She prances over to him and says "What you up to?"
Diamond_Dancer stands, slowly and stretches out her wings. "We must visit the library. Be well, Fluttershy. We shall see you very shortly. "She announces, and trots off quietly towards Ponyville.
( Marble pauses as Fluttershy stares at him a moment. And for whatever reason. It calms him down. Completely. No agitation left at all. "I-I'll... calm down... f-f-for you.... Um... Ms. Fluttershy." He very slowly lowers himself down on the couch and keeps watching Flutters. Then he curls up and closes his eyes. "I'll c-calm down." )
Dusk nods to Blue, /Then you do not have to. I will talk to him later. Would you like to go off to bed, Little Lady, or stay here?/ He gives her a smile, nuzzling and cleaning her face with a few licks. He's a little surprised at the late night sudden arrival of Paige, hoping it doesn't cause any troubles with Marble. But he doesn't let it show, just smiling caringly to Blue. But thankfully it seems Fluttershy has things in hoof instead, much to his relief.
Star_Paige curls up next to marble and uses the time to catfh up on her beauty sleep, even though she just arrived
Fluttershy doesn't really understand what just happened. Star Paige and Marble Memory are suddenly crashing on her couch. She glances back over her wing - Bluefeather is still refusing to get up. She...still doesn't understand Blue that well, especially since she stopped talking again, and they're still in their soundproof shield anyway. Fluttershy rubs her eyes, collapsing to her haunches. Mmf.
BlueFeather cocks her head a little, thinking about it, then she gives a slow little bob of her head, before chirping up, carefully, with her good foreleg lifted and covering her muzzle to prevent anyone trying to snatch the toy from her, /Tired. Shy tried to take my toy./ Her head dips a little, /Not sure can stay here./
Dusk sees things quieting down quickly with Marble slipping off. He drops the little bubble, and starts walking Blue towards the stairs up to her room, but first pauses and turns, /You know Flutter Shy loves you and would do nothing to hurt you. If she did try, she must have thought she had to, to protect you. I will tell her you wish her not to take it, okay?/ He smiles over to Fluttershy, "What a night. Little Blue seems more at ease again, at least."
Fluttershy nods, glancing back over her shoulder at Dusk for a moment. "I'm sorry," she whispers, letting her mane drape over her face. "I tried to fix it..." She just sort of drapes a couch throw over Marble and Paige and leans against her coffee table. "I'm not sure what to do."