Post by Derpy on May 12, 2014 20:25:44 GMT -5
In which Luna's assignment from the previous log is followed up on, and Dinky, grounded for carelessness, visits with her two boyfriends during one of their mutually friendly phases.
Derpy's Hovel
| * * * HOME SUET HOAM * * * |
Nestled--no, crushed between two hills on the outskirts of Ponyville sits a little home that belongs to the local mailmare and her daughter. Until recently, it was an ill-fitted little three room structure made from plastered walls raised between the hills and covered by a ceiling of wooden planks and shingles. Now, the house is stone and square and the hills themselves are tattered, the stone having been ripped from beneath them. The stone structure sags slightly into the gap between what remains of the hills, and a little space remains visible beneath at their crux.
Inside, the stone house is segmented into four rooms through two perpendicular walls, also made of bedrock. One room, the largest, contains the small house that existed here previously, now even more shambled than before. Its walls are crumbling and crooked with cracks between them and the ceiling, and the furnishings blend in with the floor coverings and walls so seamlessly that one can't be sure of what's a load-bearing bathmat and what's a laundry bookcase. Everywhere are gaudy colors, old patterns, mouldering fabrics and odd smells.
Of the other three stone rooms, one is a kitchen with a crude stone oven. There's not much here, but it smells of muffins. Another, apparently Derpy's workroom, is filled with papers, file boxes, bills, scrolls, stamps, and envelopes, all piled over various pieces of furniture meant for sorting it all and doing a rather shabby job.
The final room is the smallest and sits nearly empty. This is Dinky's bedroom. It contains a mattress, a duffel bag, and a hollow nightstand with books inside. And that's all there is to see.
[Let's have a little background!]
You page, "What. Are you doing out there?" to Sky_Blue.
Sky_Blue pages, "Just waitin' out here fer a comet! n.u" to you.
You page, "You are such a dork. Don't you know I'm grounded? Why haven't you visited me?" to Sky_Blue.
Sky_Blue pages, "Ah didn't know y'all were grounded, sugarcube! What happened? D:" to you.
You page, "Let's say I sent you a letter. It's a terse letter on gray-purple paper, about how I was at the Siblinghooves Social and Apple Bloom and I were getting tense, the way we do. I threw a horseshoe before Bloom or her sister could get off the field, and it hits them both. They weren't hurt too badly, but they could've been, so Mom astonished me by deciding to ground me." to Sky_Blue.
[And now some temporal context for this log.]
Rainbow_Dash shouts "Hey ponies! In about half an hour we're going to have the conclusion of yesterday's Jousting RP!" (Public-shout)
[Well, enough background. On with the scene!]
It's early afternoon. If it weren't summer, Dinky would be in school right now, if she didn't have anything better to do. But today, she's staying busy at home as well as she can. Earlier this week, Dinky sent out a few letters, one of which went to Quasar. "Hi. Got grounded at the Siblinghooves Social. I was a dunce and decided to throw my horseshoe before Maple Bloop and her sister could get out of the way. Managed to hit them both. So yeah, I could use someone to keep me company. If you're free, I mean. Don't want to get in the way of your studies. --Dinky"
Of course Quasar had volunteered for a summer internship in Canterlot and has been busy working with Professor Bright Star during the weekdays. He even has a small dorm he shares with another young colt who is a prodigy from Trottingham. But, this weekend he is home and received the letter from his butler when he arrived. Happy to be invited out, he headed over to Dinky's place with a saddlebag full of books and knocks on the door.
Dinky arrives at the door after about thirty seconds. You wouldn't think it would take that long for her to get there in such a small place... but the house is bigger than it used to be. More numerous, too. Now it's a ratty falling-apart house inside a big square stone house, nestled sloppily between two crumpling hills. Dinky has a helmet made out of a skull on when she answers the door. It doesn't cover that much of her face, though. "Quasar. Huh. Kinda didn't think -you'd- show up. Uh, come on in."
"Oh, well - I got your letter so I thought you wanted me to come over. Um... is .. is that a skull on your head?" Quasar asks as he adjusts his glasses and trots in after her. "I'm sorry to hear that you got grounded. I hope it's not for too long. Are you going to be out soon at least to enjoy some of the summer?"
Dinky's eyes and neck tilt up somewhat. She shakes her head and pulls off the intricately edged skull fragment, along with the two lines of smaller bones running down behind and fastened with gold wires. "Oh. Not a whole skull, no. Yeah, had a bad moment at the Social. Even so, I was stunned when my mom punished me. She never punished me. She didn't say how long it'd be, though, so I figured we'd make it a week and call it a day. Well, call it a week. Whatever." Inside, they pass through what seems like a very bare kitchen and turn right into an even emptier room containing just a mattress, a nightstand full of books, a duffel bag, and a big wooden planter. The planter has grass and a flower in the middle. The flower is sagging a little and the grass around it is doing worse.
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Quasar says as he looks about the house as he walks along behind her. His ears wilt back slightly. He suddenly starts to feel bad. He lives in this huge manor with butlers and staff and this place is practically falling apart. ".. So.. you live here? Are you.. and your mother doing alright?" He asks quietly.
"Sorry to hear it's only a week? I thought you wanted me to get out. I should be free in a couple of days unless my mom decides to make it longer. Even then." She swishes her tail as she goes to the nightstand to drop off the helmet. "Oh, well. Yeah, we live here, but this place used to be a lot smaller." She gestures toward a door in the left wall blocked off with a board. "The old house is in there. Princess Luna came over the first day I was grounded and messed the whole place up. She lifted the house in the air, built a new house out of stone underneath, and put the old one back down inside it. Terrified me half to death. Anyway, yeah, we're okay, I think."
"No, I mean sorry to hear you're grounded at all. I have never been grounded. But, I'm sure it's not too much different to what I do now, which is study all day." Quasar says as he rubs his nose. "Wow, Luna did all of that? That's.. weird and cool at the same time." With a tilt of his head, he says, "Well.. I know this may sound weird but.. if you.. need help.. you know.. financially.." He trails off as he stubs his hoof again. ".. you can .. ask me for help. No paybacksies. I have a big.. um.. trust.. fund thing.. and.. I'll help you if you need it. You're my friend after all."
Dinky nods, turning back with a wry expression. "Yeah, your mom's got your number good. She gets to punish you all the time, but instead of seeming like a bad mother, she gets to make it look like it's all a big gift. But hey, you got away today!" She sits down near the planting box. "Yeah, Luna's weird, all right. She wanted to teach me a lesson and give a gift at the same time, I think. Basically just confused and scared me. Mom was confused too, when she saw the new place." Then she takes in the offer, and her ear twitches. "No kidding? You'll give me money? Just 'cause..." Dinky blinks rather than finish.
"I don't know. My mother just has my best interests, that's all. She wants me to be the best that I can be and reach my full potential before I waste it." Quasar says as he lifts a hoof up and rubs at his nose a few times. "My summer internship is pretty fun though. I helped Bright Star discover a new nebula and we named it QBS-53." He chuckles softly before he gives another nod. "Yes, just cause. If you and your mother need it and about to be homeless or...starving or something.."
Dinky's tongue roves around her inner lips. "That's... wow. That's really $&#$@* generous. I feel like probably friendship doesn't work like that, though. Not sure. Maybe I should just say yes and if it screws our whatever we've got, oh well." Her voice gets quieter as she speaks, partly to herself. But she shakes it off. "I'll think about it. Maybe you could pay off my mom's debts. Anything more than that'd just be weirder than usual. I mean, we've been poor my whole life--we wouldn't know how to deal with anything else."
Quasar nods his head slightly. "Well, yeah. I don't think anypony should be poor. It's not fair and it's not .. healthy. Your mom is a really nice mare and you're super smart. You guys deserve better." He says as he clicks his tongue against his teeth. ".. and we have so much and it's not like we're using it. Mother just surrounds herself with all the fancy stuff because it's.. how she is. She's Canterlot elite. But I don't care.. I just want my friends to be happy."
Dinky looks... suspicious. But maybe not of Quasar. She lets herself lie down before the planting box, facing Quasar across it. "Yeah? That what she does? Well, tell you what. Maybe we should go over there sometime and help ourselves to some of the stuff she's not using. How does that sound?"
Quasar gives a shake of his head. "No, mother will know it's missing. She has everything itemized and catalogued in the house and she has the staff once a week organize it. That and it's stealing and that's not fun. Mother just does this to keep her mind off father." He says as he looks at the wilting flower. As he stares at it, he slowly tilts his head to one side, then to the other. Reaching out with a hoof, he gently slides it along the stem to straighten it out, his horn starting to sparkle.
Dinky chuffs. "Really? Everything catalogued? Paah. Yeah, stealing might be fun, but that's not. You'd get in trouble. And seriously, what's her deal? It's not like I lie about moping about my father. Anymore. But did I menti--" She stands up, seeing what Quasar's doing. "Um... what are you doing? That's my homework. You shouldn't be messing with it."
"Mother really loved my father. But she does not like to show such emotions externally. Her stages of grief is different than most. For her, it's business as usual." Quasar says softly as he continues to stare at the plant, his eyes slowly glazing over as he continues to gently stroke the stem with his hoof. "What is your homework? To keep it alive?"
Dinky watches Quasar's horn to make sure it's not glowing. When tipped, the flower tilts from one direction to the other, still sagging. "Eh, kind of. I'm supposed to make it stronger and bigger by using the energy from the grass around it." She points to the rings of brown and yellow grass surrounding the flower's base. "So far, I'm just killing grass, though. So what did...what'd you do to it?"
"Nothing if you don't want me to." Quasar says softly as he gives a small chuckle. "But, I've solved the problem of your assignment. It's.. um.. it's not hard, actually." His horn gives only another small twinkle of silver before it fades away and he pulls his hoof back. The stem sags again to one side. "How are you trying to solve it?"
Dinky wrinkles her face. "You solved it? How? You can't solve my problems. I mean... well, okay. Maybe you could figure out how to move the life energy from the grass to the flower, if that's part of your talents. Luna seemed to think it was a pretty rare ability, but I guess you're a magical superstar, so." She leans down close and puts her front hooves in the green grass on the edge. "But you can't know how to do it with what -I've- got." She closes her eyes for a couple seconds and thinks. "Look, it's all I can do just to feel that the grass -has- energy. It's grass. Not like it spends its time -doing- much."
"Energy is in everything. The first step is to understand biology at it's core. Something that my mother constantly forces me to study. You have to understand how it is a plant survives under normal circumstances. Photosynthesis. Six CO2 plus twelve H2O plus photons. Carbon Dioxide plus water plus the energy of light becomes glucose plus oxygen and water. You can't simply pull energy from the grass and bring it into the flower. It's not about transfer of energy but replication of energy. Pull the water from the air about you. Moisture is in everything. Once you absorb the moisture and force it into the soil, you will nurture the grass which in turn will nurture the flower. It is about balance." Quasar says softly as he draws his hoof gently along the stem of the flower again. "It's not about magic. It's about science." He says softly. "I can't fix it with magic, but maybe you can use your magic to fix it with science."
Dinky listens carefully with some skepticism and some apprehension. She shuts her eyes again. And opens them. "Nno," she decides. "No, that's not it. Luna's not trying to trick me. I've seen when she gets tricky, and this wasn't it. She wants me to take the life energy from the grass and let the flower feed on it. Maybe the water in the air could have something to do with it, but sticking it in the soil's not gonna help. I've already been watering these things. And as for carbon dioxide and sixes and twelves? No idea what you're on about there."
"She isn't tricking you, Dinky. It's the natural way of life. Ponies eat grass, right? But how is grass made? It comes from the circle of balance that the cycle of the day provides for us. Warm sun and cool nights. It's a cycle. That is the lesson. Trust me. Pull the moisture out of the air and feed it into the soil. Once it revives the grass, then you can pull the energy from the grass into the flower. You can't take nothing from something. Like.. squeezing water from a rock." Quasar insists with a chuckle. "I gave you the photosynthesis equation."
Dinky rolls her eyes, sitting back. "I've already been putting water into the soil, with a pitcher. I can't take it out of the air. I'm not a pegasus. And this grass still has... well, some of it still has some life left in it." She swishes her tail and stands up. "But that's a point about squeezing rocks. I'm gonna try transplanting some of the good grass next to the flower, see if that helps. You wanna help?"
Quasar chuckles softly as he perks his ears. "Sure, we'll try it your way. What do you need me to do?"
Dinky wanders out through the door they came in, and into the corner of the stone kitchen. There's a broom, a dustpan and a mop there, but not much else. "Huh. Wonder where the trowel went. Oh well, the dustbin may work. Could you dig out the dead grass on the near side of the flower? Don't, like, mess with the flower's roots, if you can help it." The flower is kind of tallish and has a purple blossom, but it's a kind whose name isn't well known. They're common and grow by water. "So. Your professor put the Q first and the BS second in that nebula you found, huh?"
"Uh huh. It was nice of her. She's found hundreds of nebulas in her lifetime so she let me have this one." Quasar says as he starts to gently work out the dead grass away from the flower pot. "I still think you should try it my way." He says with a grin.
Dinky scowls at Quasar as she passes by to go digging around in what remains of the old house, a hodgepodge of creaking beams, crumbling plaster and colorful textiles draped and strung everywhere. "Yeah, I told you, I can't. I can't do anything with water in the #&*#+$ air. Not. A. Pegasus. And water isn't living." She disappears and the faithful sounds of angry rummaging begin.
There is a loud sigh from Quasar as he reaches out and gently pets the flower. ".. I'm sorry that you're going to die." He whispers to it as he lowers his mouth to it's bud. He rises up to his hooves and trots after her. "What are you looking for?"
"A trowel. And a gardening knife. I know mom has one somewhere, she used to do unspeakable things with flowerpots," says Dinky. Yeah, she's in the deepest tiny room in the weird house, and it's a mess. Piles of things are threatening to tumble. "Were you talking to the flower?"
"No, talking to flowers would be lame." Quasar says as he trots into the room with her, looking around as he starts to shuffle a few things about. "So, besides being grounded, what have you been up to?"
"So what were you talking to?" Dinky counters without much force. "Up to? Reading this huge book about Zebrican mythology and rituals. Writing letters. Being bored. Feeling up grass on the inside. My horn still doesn't glow, by the way. Even if I am doing a tiny little bit of magic. Oh, and I tried on the armor Luna gave me. It's hard to put on, though." She pulls out a piece of wood that turns out to be a xylophone mallet. A bunch of objects including a broken xylophone tumble down, nearly burying her.
Reaching out, Quasar wraps his forelegs about Dinky and pulls her out of the way of the avalanche. "Oh that sounds fun! When you finish your zebricon mythology book can I borrow it?" He asks curiously as he lifts his ears upwards. "Your magic is going to be way stronger than mine I am sure."
Dinky whews, wide-eyed, as the avalanche of stuff nearly grazes her. She stumbles back through brackets and dowels and torn mailsacks and dust. The pile of junk still seems precarious--unlike grass, it never runs out of energy. "Yes, you can borrow the book. Wow, and I thought the prince and I liked to read. You read like all the time and you -still- want more. As for my magic being stronger than yours? I've got no idea why you think so. I've got, like, the weakest magic I ever heard of any unicorn ever having." Angrily, she snaps forward and seizes an object. -There's- the trowel!
"I can only do .. um.. small types of TK and not much stronger than a book." Quasar says with a smile as he starts to pick a few things up and organize them about as he moves almost as if he had no will of his own. He's mechanical in his actions. "The Princess of the Night is tutoring you personally. It is obvious she knows you are special."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess. I think she just likes my attitude, actually. Like, no one else has the nerve to talk to her straight up. Something like that. That and she likes my mom's acting. I still feel like a #@%*$ cripple." She ignores Quasar's clean-up efforts and walks back around to the room with the planting box. "Okay, yeah, good start in here. I'll try and dig some grass up from this corner."
[Time for a third character to arrive!]
Speaking of magic and cool stuff like that, Eclipse appears! He sort of steps out of a shadow that seemed a bit too thick in the back corner. Following him is the longest sandwich ever. Seriously, it's a bit longer than the length of his body, and stuffed to the gills (Do sandwiches have gills?) with a variety of fresh veggies and whatnot.
"You are not a cripple. Just that your magic muscles are not exercised yet. I am sure if you dedicate yourself to magical study you will soon become really adept. Mind over matter after all." Quasar says as he finds a box and tips it over, emptying what appears to be candy wrappers and other assorted trash. That he uses to start to pack in some smaller items to salvage.
Dinky sniffs. "You're nice to say that, Quasar. Really? I don't know why you're so bad at being popular. I mean, not like I would know, but it seems to me you're really easygoing and should get along with everyone. Maybe it's all the stress your mom puts on you, Idunno." Dinky sniffs again. She manages to pry up a more or less squarish section of grass in the wide trowel, and tries to get the roots dislodged... and then she sniffs the air a third time and turns toward the source. "Ohhh alllicorns, that sandwich looks good, Eclipse."
He floats the sandwich over to a table and drops it atop it, probably making the table groan a protest. "Yeah? I... oh hey Quasar. I didn't know you were coming by too." He blinks a bit, "Wha'd I miss?" the Prince wonders.
"They don't mess with you because you're a nerd who is also tough as nails. They mess with me because I'm fat, wear glasses, a nerd, and un-athletic. I'm an easy target to beat up because I do not possess the physical capability to defend myself and also because I'm such a rules-stickler they know I would not fight back so I make for the perfect punching bag." Quasar says as he starts shoving boxes up against the wall once he packages them, then isolates the trash into a garbage bag. "But, thank you for the kindness Dinky. I really like you too also. You're probably my best friend." At the sight of Eclipse, he lifts a hoof. "Hi."
"I didn't know he was coming either," explains Dinky. "But I sent a letter, so, yeah." She smiles. An unprovoked, unsarcastic smile from Dinky is pretty rare, so enjoy it. Yeah, it doesn't last. "A nerd? You think I'm a nerd?" She pffffs, stepping away from the planting box. "Figures. I thought to you I was this big socialite, friends with all the princesses. Well, goes to show. And yeah, I guess if you've got a lot of reputation to lose, it's kind of a handicap, huh?" This remark is directed to both colts. "So, where'd you get the sandwich, Eclipse?"
"In Las Pegasus," Eclipse says, "They make the...ok so I just poofed over to the palace kitchens and asked them for help making one. The cooks there are super nice, though I think overworked making cakes for some reason." He shrugs and sits down, "Umm, what're you guys talking about?"
"I don't think you're a nerd in the literal sense. But, you are an academic and the second highest grade in class. I just don't think you look the part and your cursing scares most of the others. It's why they don't pick on you. That and your social status as the Prince's girlfriend, and of course being friends with the Princess. I know that if I was a bully I'd be scared of you." Quasar says as he continues to make order of the trainwreck of a mess that he is faced with. "Hi Quasar. We've just been talking about science that soon turned towards the intimacies of the social ladder climb."
"I may have the second best average grade for the school year," says Dinky, "but not for the spring term. And I would've dropped more except Miss Cheerilee still likes me, for some reason. I'm not so sure about her anymore. I used to, like, worship her." She's interrupted in her thought by Eclipse. "Oh, that's cool. There's no radish in there, is there? I can't stand radishes. Hey Quasar, what are you doing, anyway?"
"Just one," Eclipse says, though its unclear if he's joking or not. He just blinks blankly and looks between the two of them, ears twitching some. The conversations moved about since he left. Last he knew they were talking about food, and making grass die or something.
"Miss Cheerilee is an adequate teacher for the students of intelligence in her class. It's not her fault she can't control most of them. The Crusaders set the classroom on fire the other day during our first and last day of chemistry." Quasar says as he continues to work. "And uh -.. I'm.. organizing.." His voice trails off a bit.
Dinky raises her eyebrow. "Just one, huh? Well, you'd better take that part, 'cause if I get the radish I'm spitting it at you." She goes over to the kitchen, pours some water into a trough from a bucket and washes her front hooves. "Yeah, she's good enough, sure," acknowledges Dinky. "And yeah, those three are insane. Wait. Organizing? Uh..." She's not sure what she thinks of that. "Like how?"
Solar_Eclipse just grins a moment. He looks back and forth between the two and just shrugs gently. He's not sure what all he can add in here so just floats a knife over and starts cutting the sandwich into segments.
"I'm uh - organizing everything.. you know.. um... removing all the garbage and bagging it for the curb and then boxing and moving things of value against the wall. Using a stacking method." Quasar says softly. ".. Just.. habit.. I can stop if you want. It's just that this is so messy and you almost got hurt when it was gonna fall on you."
Dinky sighs and thinks. "I mean... how do you know what's garbage and what's not? 'Cause I tried that once or twice, and it turned out Mom's attached to all sorts of sentimental junk you would never..." She reflects further and shakes her head. "You know what? Go for it. You can take the blame and you won't be here. Besides, you've got a degree in being smart, or whatever, so maybe she'll think it's for the best." She finishes washing and gets up on the table, since there's only one stool. "Solar Eclipse! That's the gardening knife! I brought that over for cutting grass roots!"
Slice, slice, sl-- "Eerr, it is?" Eclipse says floating the knife over and peering at it. "Oh. Well...uh...I didn't cut /that/ much," he offers, dancing on front hooves a bit.
"Well, I mean.. I'm separating the obvious stuff like empty pizza and cereal boxes." Quasar says as he motions with his hoof. "I mean you can tell what is actually garbage. And if it's been buried so long she has probably forgot about it." He gives a half smile. "I won't throw anything out. Just.. I'll put what I think is trash on the left and the stuff I think isn't on the right." He pauses, then trots out of the room. ".. or I'll just.. stop.."
Dinky glowers, but then bites her lip. "Look at me. Yelling at the guy who brought the food. It's fine, I didn't actually get it dirty. But here, here's another knife. Probably kinda sharp." She passes it over from the dishrack in her teeth. "Thanks for the sandwich, it smells great." She looks neutrally over at Quasar. "Yeah, that sounds good. Heh. I've got two of the richest, most gifted colts in the country working for me here, cleaning and cooking. That kinda tickles me on the inside." She chuckles and takes a bite from the middle of the sandwich, ignoring the cuts Eclipse has made.
Richest? Gifted? Well, his mom told him he was special a few times, though Eclipse recalls it in a tone that's not exactly nice. "Riight." He makes another cut with the clean, sharper knife before Dinky gets to it and he just has a seat by the table, "Oh? I mean, you'd probably do the same for us if we were grounded and stuff."
As he flops down upon his haunches, Quasar looks back at the flower, almost sadly as he takes in a deep breath. "Well - I can.. always uh.. go and leave you two to hanging out if you want. I don't want to be in the way or anything."
Dinky looks sharply over at Quasar, shoving the food to one side. "Don't you go anywhere. You come over here and have a piece of this sandwich, and then get right back to organizing our junk. Eclipse and I will finish transplanting the grass. And maybe we can all talk about our mommy issues while we do."
Dinky is hosting a mommy-issues party, apparently.
"Yeah, I mean there's enough sandwich for everyone..." In ponyville. Eclipse just shrugs and grins lightly. "It should be good and there's no radishes. Not really," he tells Quasar, in case he doesn't like them either.
"Oh. I like radishes. They're very healthy." Quasar says as he scuffs a hoof against the ground back and forth in a sweeping manner. "Are you sure you want me to stay? I don't know if.. um.. talking about.. mother .. issues is .. socially acceptable, at least not as much as we tend to do. Mother says that focusing on negative thoughts lead to negative lifestyles." He murmurs.
PUB >> Dinky has one or two father abandonment issues too.
PUB >> Firefly says, "One or two?"
PUB >> Dinky says, "Depends how you count, yeah."
PUB >> Firefly grins.
Dinky giggles cruelly. "Yeah, that sounds about right. And since that fits right in, here, I feel like thinking negative." She grins and takes another bite of sandwich, pulling out a big chunk of pepper. "So what's the dumbest thing your moms ever had you do? Me, I'd have to think about it."
Solar_Eclipse blinks a time or two. "Umm, well," he starts, thinking a few moments. "I had to learn how to do ballroom dancing and stuff," he says. "That's kinda dumb, right?" He rubs his head, "And I had to go to a party, which was pretty dumb because I accientally blew it up."
Scuffing his hoof, Quasar looks a bit uncomfortable. ".. Can we .. please.. maybe focus on your flower? You were going to try and take energy from the grass and bring it into the flower, right?" He says as he chews on his bottom lip a bit harder, staring at his hooves.
Dinky smiles wickedly. "Once, Mom made me sort a whole batch of mail in alpabetical order. Which was moronic, because it's supposed to be sorted by address. But I guess she--" Quasar interrupts then with his protest. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we'd better finish transplating the grass when we're done eating. It's just sitting there dug up without much soil." The sight of the poor grass makes her chuckle further. "So how'd you blow up the party?" she asks the prince.
"Ummm, I just did," he says. Eclipse shrugs, "One of those headaches that turned into magic surge. That room was pretty messed up, then I got sent here. I didn't even get any cake."
Nodding his head, Quasar looks back at the plant for a few more moments, taking in a deep breath. As he listens to them, he settles back upon his haunches, staring at his forehooves as they tap against the ground gently.
"Colt," says Dinky. "Good -thing- you didn't get any cake. I thought those surges only happened when you had too much sugar." She eats a little more, but realizes she can't finish the gigantic piece she's begun. "Quasar? Aren't you gonna eat?"
Chewing a bit on the sandwich, Eclipse shakes his head, "No, I mean, not always, I'm told I was growing into my magic or something and it happens sometimes." He blinks, "Started with a headache, ended with cracked walls." He looks over and grins, "Yeah get some sandwich. It's good. Just avoid the um, first few pieces. Garden knife..."
Quasar trots over and picks up a piece of sandwich with his hooves, then puts it on a plate before settling it in front of him. He lifts it up and begins to chew, not using his magic to aid him.
"Nah, the garden knife was clean, just harder to cut with. No problem. And heh. Maybe I'm growing into my magic. Maybe I start out ridiculously harmless and then I get random crazy surges for my whole adult life. That'd be about right." Dinky chews and swallows. "I like the sauce on this sandwich. And the tomatoes are great. Tell 'em that." She glances over at Quasar, glad to see he's finally eating.
"They do a good job with it all," Eclipse says. "It's tasty." He squints a little bit and then hmms, looking to the other two a moment. He eventually stops using his magic and chews a bit on the sandwich he's holding. "Maybe. We all develop differently."
[And that's when they had to go, so, there you go. I assume the sandwich got eaten and the grass got transplanted and subsequently killed. And thus Dinky endured her week of grounding.]
Derpy's Hovel
| * * * HOME SUET HOAM * * * |
Nestled--no, crushed between two hills on the outskirts of Ponyville sits a little home that belongs to the local mailmare and her daughter. Until recently, it was an ill-fitted little three room structure made from plastered walls raised between the hills and covered by a ceiling of wooden planks and shingles. Now, the house is stone and square and the hills themselves are tattered, the stone having been ripped from beneath them. The stone structure sags slightly into the gap between what remains of the hills, and a little space remains visible beneath at their crux.
Inside, the stone house is segmented into four rooms through two perpendicular walls, also made of bedrock. One room, the largest, contains the small house that existed here previously, now even more shambled than before. Its walls are crumbling and crooked with cracks between them and the ceiling, and the furnishings blend in with the floor coverings and walls so seamlessly that one can't be sure of what's a load-bearing bathmat and what's a laundry bookcase. Everywhere are gaudy colors, old patterns, mouldering fabrics and odd smells.
Of the other three stone rooms, one is a kitchen with a crude stone oven. There's not much here, but it smells of muffins. Another, apparently Derpy's workroom, is filled with papers, file boxes, bills, scrolls, stamps, and envelopes, all piled over various pieces of furniture meant for sorting it all and doing a rather shabby job.
The final room is the smallest and sits nearly empty. This is Dinky's bedroom. It contains a mattress, a duffel bag, and a hollow nightstand with books inside. And that's all there is to see.
[Let's have a little background!]
You page, "What. Are you doing out there?" to Sky_Blue.
Sky_Blue pages, "Just waitin' out here fer a comet! n.u" to you.
You page, "You are such a dork. Don't you know I'm grounded? Why haven't you visited me?" to Sky_Blue.
Sky_Blue pages, "Ah didn't know y'all were grounded, sugarcube! What happened? D:" to you.
You page, "Let's say I sent you a letter. It's a terse letter on gray-purple paper, about how I was at the Siblinghooves Social and Apple Bloom and I were getting tense, the way we do. I threw a horseshoe before Bloom or her sister could get off the field, and it hits them both. They weren't hurt too badly, but they could've been, so Mom astonished me by deciding to ground me." to Sky_Blue.
[And now some temporal context for this log.]
Rainbow_Dash shouts "Hey ponies! In about half an hour we're going to have the conclusion of yesterday's Jousting RP!" (Public-shout)
[Well, enough background. On with the scene!]
It's early afternoon. If it weren't summer, Dinky would be in school right now, if she didn't have anything better to do. But today, she's staying busy at home as well as she can. Earlier this week, Dinky sent out a few letters, one of which went to Quasar. "Hi. Got grounded at the Siblinghooves Social. I was a dunce and decided to throw my horseshoe before Maple Bloop and her sister could get out of the way. Managed to hit them both. So yeah, I could use someone to keep me company. If you're free, I mean. Don't want to get in the way of your studies. --Dinky"
Of course Quasar had volunteered for a summer internship in Canterlot and has been busy working with Professor Bright Star during the weekdays. He even has a small dorm he shares with another young colt who is a prodigy from Trottingham. But, this weekend he is home and received the letter from his butler when he arrived. Happy to be invited out, he headed over to Dinky's place with a saddlebag full of books and knocks on the door.
Dinky arrives at the door after about thirty seconds. You wouldn't think it would take that long for her to get there in such a small place... but the house is bigger than it used to be. More numerous, too. Now it's a ratty falling-apart house inside a big square stone house, nestled sloppily between two crumpling hills. Dinky has a helmet made out of a skull on when she answers the door. It doesn't cover that much of her face, though. "Quasar. Huh. Kinda didn't think -you'd- show up. Uh, come on in."
"Oh, well - I got your letter so I thought you wanted me to come over. Um... is .. is that a skull on your head?" Quasar asks as he adjusts his glasses and trots in after her. "I'm sorry to hear that you got grounded. I hope it's not for too long. Are you going to be out soon at least to enjoy some of the summer?"
Dinky's eyes and neck tilt up somewhat. She shakes her head and pulls off the intricately edged skull fragment, along with the two lines of smaller bones running down behind and fastened with gold wires. "Oh. Not a whole skull, no. Yeah, had a bad moment at the Social. Even so, I was stunned when my mom punished me. She never punished me. She didn't say how long it'd be, though, so I figured we'd make it a week and call it a day. Well, call it a week. Whatever." Inside, they pass through what seems like a very bare kitchen and turn right into an even emptier room containing just a mattress, a nightstand full of books, a duffel bag, and a big wooden planter. The planter has grass and a flower in the middle. The flower is sagging a little and the grass around it is doing worse.
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Quasar says as he looks about the house as he walks along behind her. His ears wilt back slightly. He suddenly starts to feel bad. He lives in this huge manor with butlers and staff and this place is practically falling apart. ".. So.. you live here? Are you.. and your mother doing alright?" He asks quietly.
"Sorry to hear it's only a week? I thought you wanted me to get out. I should be free in a couple of days unless my mom decides to make it longer. Even then." She swishes her tail as she goes to the nightstand to drop off the helmet. "Oh, well. Yeah, we live here, but this place used to be a lot smaller." She gestures toward a door in the left wall blocked off with a board. "The old house is in there. Princess Luna came over the first day I was grounded and messed the whole place up. She lifted the house in the air, built a new house out of stone underneath, and put the old one back down inside it. Terrified me half to death. Anyway, yeah, we're okay, I think."
"No, I mean sorry to hear you're grounded at all. I have never been grounded. But, I'm sure it's not too much different to what I do now, which is study all day." Quasar says as he rubs his nose. "Wow, Luna did all of that? That's.. weird and cool at the same time." With a tilt of his head, he says, "Well.. I know this may sound weird but.. if you.. need help.. you know.. financially.." He trails off as he stubs his hoof again. ".. you can .. ask me for help. No paybacksies. I have a big.. um.. trust.. fund thing.. and.. I'll help you if you need it. You're my friend after all."
Dinky nods, turning back with a wry expression. "Yeah, your mom's got your number good. She gets to punish you all the time, but instead of seeming like a bad mother, she gets to make it look like it's all a big gift. But hey, you got away today!" She sits down near the planting box. "Yeah, Luna's weird, all right. She wanted to teach me a lesson and give a gift at the same time, I think. Basically just confused and scared me. Mom was confused too, when she saw the new place." Then she takes in the offer, and her ear twitches. "No kidding? You'll give me money? Just 'cause..." Dinky blinks rather than finish.
"I don't know. My mother just has my best interests, that's all. She wants me to be the best that I can be and reach my full potential before I waste it." Quasar says as he lifts a hoof up and rubs at his nose a few times. "My summer internship is pretty fun though. I helped Bright Star discover a new nebula and we named it QBS-53." He chuckles softly before he gives another nod. "Yes, just cause. If you and your mother need it and about to be homeless or...starving or something.."
Dinky's tongue roves around her inner lips. "That's... wow. That's really $&#$@* generous. I feel like probably friendship doesn't work like that, though. Not sure. Maybe I should just say yes and if it screws our whatever we've got, oh well." Her voice gets quieter as she speaks, partly to herself. But she shakes it off. "I'll think about it. Maybe you could pay off my mom's debts. Anything more than that'd just be weirder than usual. I mean, we've been poor my whole life--we wouldn't know how to deal with anything else."
Quasar nods his head slightly. "Well, yeah. I don't think anypony should be poor. It's not fair and it's not .. healthy. Your mom is a really nice mare and you're super smart. You guys deserve better." He says as he clicks his tongue against his teeth. ".. and we have so much and it's not like we're using it. Mother just surrounds herself with all the fancy stuff because it's.. how she is. She's Canterlot elite. But I don't care.. I just want my friends to be happy."
Dinky looks... suspicious. But maybe not of Quasar. She lets herself lie down before the planting box, facing Quasar across it. "Yeah? That what she does? Well, tell you what. Maybe we should go over there sometime and help ourselves to some of the stuff she's not using. How does that sound?"
Quasar gives a shake of his head. "No, mother will know it's missing. She has everything itemized and catalogued in the house and she has the staff once a week organize it. That and it's stealing and that's not fun. Mother just does this to keep her mind off father." He says as he looks at the wilting flower. As he stares at it, he slowly tilts his head to one side, then to the other. Reaching out with a hoof, he gently slides it along the stem to straighten it out, his horn starting to sparkle.
Dinky chuffs. "Really? Everything catalogued? Paah. Yeah, stealing might be fun, but that's not. You'd get in trouble. And seriously, what's her deal? It's not like I lie about moping about my father. Anymore. But did I menti--" She stands up, seeing what Quasar's doing. "Um... what are you doing? That's my homework. You shouldn't be messing with it."
"Mother really loved my father. But she does not like to show such emotions externally. Her stages of grief is different than most. For her, it's business as usual." Quasar says softly as he continues to stare at the plant, his eyes slowly glazing over as he continues to gently stroke the stem with his hoof. "What is your homework? To keep it alive?"
Dinky watches Quasar's horn to make sure it's not glowing. When tipped, the flower tilts from one direction to the other, still sagging. "Eh, kind of. I'm supposed to make it stronger and bigger by using the energy from the grass around it." She points to the rings of brown and yellow grass surrounding the flower's base. "So far, I'm just killing grass, though. So what did...what'd you do to it?"
"Nothing if you don't want me to." Quasar says softly as he gives a small chuckle. "But, I've solved the problem of your assignment. It's.. um.. it's not hard, actually." His horn gives only another small twinkle of silver before it fades away and he pulls his hoof back. The stem sags again to one side. "How are you trying to solve it?"
Dinky wrinkles her face. "You solved it? How? You can't solve my problems. I mean... well, okay. Maybe you could figure out how to move the life energy from the grass to the flower, if that's part of your talents. Luna seemed to think it was a pretty rare ability, but I guess you're a magical superstar, so." She leans down close and puts her front hooves in the green grass on the edge. "But you can't know how to do it with what -I've- got." She closes her eyes for a couple seconds and thinks. "Look, it's all I can do just to feel that the grass -has- energy. It's grass. Not like it spends its time -doing- much."
"Energy is in everything. The first step is to understand biology at it's core. Something that my mother constantly forces me to study. You have to understand how it is a plant survives under normal circumstances. Photosynthesis. Six CO2 plus twelve H2O plus photons. Carbon Dioxide plus water plus the energy of light becomes glucose plus oxygen and water. You can't simply pull energy from the grass and bring it into the flower. It's not about transfer of energy but replication of energy. Pull the water from the air about you. Moisture is in everything. Once you absorb the moisture and force it into the soil, you will nurture the grass which in turn will nurture the flower. It is about balance." Quasar says softly as he draws his hoof gently along the stem of the flower again. "It's not about magic. It's about science." He says softly. "I can't fix it with magic, but maybe you can use your magic to fix it with science."
Dinky listens carefully with some skepticism and some apprehension. She shuts her eyes again. And opens them. "Nno," she decides. "No, that's not it. Luna's not trying to trick me. I've seen when she gets tricky, and this wasn't it. She wants me to take the life energy from the grass and let the flower feed on it. Maybe the water in the air could have something to do with it, but sticking it in the soil's not gonna help. I've already been watering these things. And as for carbon dioxide and sixes and twelves? No idea what you're on about there."
"She isn't tricking you, Dinky. It's the natural way of life. Ponies eat grass, right? But how is grass made? It comes from the circle of balance that the cycle of the day provides for us. Warm sun and cool nights. It's a cycle. That is the lesson. Trust me. Pull the moisture out of the air and feed it into the soil. Once it revives the grass, then you can pull the energy from the grass into the flower. You can't take nothing from something. Like.. squeezing water from a rock." Quasar insists with a chuckle. "I gave you the photosynthesis equation."
Dinky rolls her eyes, sitting back. "I've already been putting water into the soil, with a pitcher. I can't take it out of the air. I'm not a pegasus. And this grass still has... well, some of it still has some life left in it." She swishes her tail and stands up. "But that's a point about squeezing rocks. I'm gonna try transplanting some of the good grass next to the flower, see if that helps. You wanna help?"
Quasar chuckles softly as he perks his ears. "Sure, we'll try it your way. What do you need me to do?"
Dinky wanders out through the door they came in, and into the corner of the stone kitchen. There's a broom, a dustpan and a mop there, but not much else. "Huh. Wonder where the trowel went. Oh well, the dustbin may work. Could you dig out the dead grass on the near side of the flower? Don't, like, mess with the flower's roots, if you can help it." The flower is kind of tallish and has a purple blossom, but it's a kind whose name isn't well known. They're common and grow by water. "So. Your professor put the Q first and the BS second in that nebula you found, huh?"
"Uh huh. It was nice of her. She's found hundreds of nebulas in her lifetime so she let me have this one." Quasar says as he starts to gently work out the dead grass away from the flower pot. "I still think you should try it my way." He says with a grin.
Dinky scowls at Quasar as she passes by to go digging around in what remains of the old house, a hodgepodge of creaking beams, crumbling plaster and colorful textiles draped and strung everywhere. "Yeah, I told you, I can't. I can't do anything with water in the #&*#+$ air. Not. A. Pegasus. And water isn't living." She disappears and the faithful sounds of angry rummaging begin.
There is a loud sigh from Quasar as he reaches out and gently pets the flower. ".. I'm sorry that you're going to die." He whispers to it as he lowers his mouth to it's bud. He rises up to his hooves and trots after her. "What are you looking for?"
"A trowel. And a gardening knife. I know mom has one somewhere, she used to do unspeakable things with flowerpots," says Dinky. Yeah, she's in the deepest tiny room in the weird house, and it's a mess. Piles of things are threatening to tumble. "Were you talking to the flower?"
"No, talking to flowers would be lame." Quasar says as he trots into the room with her, looking around as he starts to shuffle a few things about. "So, besides being grounded, what have you been up to?"
"So what were you talking to?" Dinky counters without much force. "Up to? Reading this huge book about Zebrican mythology and rituals. Writing letters. Being bored. Feeling up grass on the inside. My horn still doesn't glow, by the way. Even if I am doing a tiny little bit of magic. Oh, and I tried on the armor Luna gave me. It's hard to put on, though." She pulls out a piece of wood that turns out to be a xylophone mallet. A bunch of objects including a broken xylophone tumble down, nearly burying her.
Reaching out, Quasar wraps his forelegs about Dinky and pulls her out of the way of the avalanche. "Oh that sounds fun! When you finish your zebricon mythology book can I borrow it?" He asks curiously as he lifts his ears upwards. "Your magic is going to be way stronger than mine I am sure."
Dinky whews, wide-eyed, as the avalanche of stuff nearly grazes her. She stumbles back through brackets and dowels and torn mailsacks and dust. The pile of junk still seems precarious--unlike grass, it never runs out of energy. "Yes, you can borrow the book. Wow, and I thought the prince and I liked to read. You read like all the time and you -still- want more. As for my magic being stronger than yours? I've got no idea why you think so. I've got, like, the weakest magic I ever heard of any unicorn ever having." Angrily, she snaps forward and seizes an object. -There's- the trowel!
"I can only do .. um.. small types of TK and not much stronger than a book." Quasar says with a smile as he starts to pick a few things up and organize them about as he moves almost as if he had no will of his own. He's mechanical in his actions. "The Princess of the Night is tutoring you personally. It is obvious she knows you are special."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess. I think she just likes my attitude, actually. Like, no one else has the nerve to talk to her straight up. Something like that. That and she likes my mom's acting. I still feel like a #@%*$ cripple." She ignores Quasar's clean-up efforts and walks back around to the room with the planting box. "Okay, yeah, good start in here. I'll try and dig some grass up from this corner."
[Time for a third character to arrive!]
Speaking of magic and cool stuff like that, Eclipse appears! He sort of steps out of a shadow that seemed a bit too thick in the back corner. Following him is the longest sandwich ever. Seriously, it's a bit longer than the length of his body, and stuffed to the gills (Do sandwiches have gills?) with a variety of fresh veggies and whatnot.
"You are not a cripple. Just that your magic muscles are not exercised yet. I am sure if you dedicate yourself to magical study you will soon become really adept. Mind over matter after all." Quasar says as he finds a box and tips it over, emptying what appears to be candy wrappers and other assorted trash. That he uses to start to pack in some smaller items to salvage.
Dinky sniffs. "You're nice to say that, Quasar. Really? I don't know why you're so bad at being popular. I mean, not like I would know, but it seems to me you're really easygoing and should get along with everyone. Maybe it's all the stress your mom puts on you, Idunno." Dinky sniffs again. She manages to pry up a more or less squarish section of grass in the wide trowel, and tries to get the roots dislodged... and then she sniffs the air a third time and turns toward the source. "Ohhh alllicorns, that sandwich looks good, Eclipse."
He floats the sandwich over to a table and drops it atop it, probably making the table groan a protest. "Yeah? I... oh hey Quasar. I didn't know you were coming by too." He blinks a bit, "Wha'd I miss?" the Prince wonders.
"They don't mess with you because you're a nerd who is also tough as nails. They mess with me because I'm fat, wear glasses, a nerd, and un-athletic. I'm an easy target to beat up because I do not possess the physical capability to defend myself and also because I'm such a rules-stickler they know I would not fight back so I make for the perfect punching bag." Quasar says as he starts shoving boxes up against the wall once he packages them, then isolates the trash into a garbage bag. "But, thank you for the kindness Dinky. I really like you too also. You're probably my best friend." At the sight of Eclipse, he lifts a hoof. "Hi."
"I didn't know he was coming either," explains Dinky. "But I sent a letter, so, yeah." She smiles. An unprovoked, unsarcastic smile from Dinky is pretty rare, so enjoy it. Yeah, it doesn't last. "A nerd? You think I'm a nerd?" She pffffs, stepping away from the planting box. "Figures. I thought to you I was this big socialite, friends with all the princesses. Well, goes to show. And yeah, I guess if you've got a lot of reputation to lose, it's kind of a handicap, huh?" This remark is directed to both colts. "So, where'd you get the sandwich, Eclipse?"
"In Las Pegasus," Eclipse says, "They make the...ok so I just poofed over to the palace kitchens and asked them for help making one. The cooks there are super nice, though I think overworked making cakes for some reason." He shrugs and sits down, "Umm, what're you guys talking about?"
"I don't think you're a nerd in the literal sense. But, you are an academic and the second highest grade in class. I just don't think you look the part and your cursing scares most of the others. It's why they don't pick on you. That and your social status as the Prince's girlfriend, and of course being friends with the Princess. I know that if I was a bully I'd be scared of you." Quasar says as he continues to make order of the trainwreck of a mess that he is faced with. "Hi Quasar. We've just been talking about science that soon turned towards the intimacies of the social ladder climb."
"I may have the second best average grade for the school year," says Dinky, "but not for the spring term. And I would've dropped more except Miss Cheerilee still likes me, for some reason. I'm not so sure about her anymore. I used to, like, worship her." She's interrupted in her thought by Eclipse. "Oh, that's cool. There's no radish in there, is there? I can't stand radishes. Hey Quasar, what are you doing, anyway?"
"Just one," Eclipse says, though its unclear if he's joking or not. He just blinks blankly and looks between the two of them, ears twitching some. The conversations moved about since he left. Last he knew they were talking about food, and making grass die or something.
"Miss Cheerilee is an adequate teacher for the students of intelligence in her class. It's not her fault she can't control most of them. The Crusaders set the classroom on fire the other day during our first and last day of chemistry." Quasar says as he continues to work. "And uh -.. I'm.. organizing.." His voice trails off a bit.
Dinky raises her eyebrow. "Just one, huh? Well, you'd better take that part, 'cause if I get the radish I'm spitting it at you." She goes over to the kitchen, pours some water into a trough from a bucket and washes her front hooves. "Yeah, she's good enough, sure," acknowledges Dinky. "And yeah, those three are insane. Wait. Organizing? Uh..." She's not sure what she thinks of that. "Like how?"
Solar_Eclipse just grins a moment. He looks back and forth between the two and just shrugs gently. He's not sure what all he can add in here so just floats a knife over and starts cutting the sandwich into segments.
"I'm uh - organizing everything.. you know.. um... removing all the garbage and bagging it for the curb and then boxing and moving things of value against the wall. Using a stacking method." Quasar says softly. ".. Just.. habit.. I can stop if you want. It's just that this is so messy and you almost got hurt when it was gonna fall on you."
Dinky sighs and thinks. "I mean... how do you know what's garbage and what's not? 'Cause I tried that once or twice, and it turned out Mom's attached to all sorts of sentimental junk you would never..." She reflects further and shakes her head. "You know what? Go for it. You can take the blame and you won't be here. Besides, you've got a degree in being smart, or whatever, so maybe she'll think it's for the best." She finishes washing and gets up on the table, since there's only one stool. "Solar Eclipse! That's the gardening knife! I brought that over for cutting grass roots!"
Slice, slice, sl-- "Eerr, it is?" Eclipse says floating the knife over and peering at it. "Oh. Well...uh...I didn't cut /that/ much," he offers, dancing on front hooves a bit.
"Well, I mean.. I'm separating the obvious stuff like empty pizza and cereal boxes." Quasar says as he motions with his hoof. "I mean you can tell what is actually garbage. And if it's been buried so long she has probably forgot about it." He gives a half smile. "I won't throw anything out. Just.. I'll put what I think is trash on the left and the stuff I think isn't on the right." He pauses, then trots out of the room. ".. or I'll just.. stop.."
Dinky glowers, but then bites her lip. "Look at me. Yelling at the guy who brought the food. It's fine, I didn't actually get it dirty. But here, here's another knife. Probably kinda sharp." She passes it over from the dishrack in her teeth. "Thanks for the sandwich, it smells great." She looks neutrally over at Quasar. "Yeah, that sounds good. Heh. I've got two of the richest, most gifted colts in the country working for me here, cleaning and cooking. That kinda tickles me on the inside." She chuckles and takes a bite from the middle of the sandwich, ignoring the cuts Eclipse has made.
Richest? Gifted? Well, his mom told him he was special a few times, though Eclipse recalls it in a tone that's not exactly nice. "Riight." He makes another cut with the clean, sharper knife before Dinky gets to it and he just has a seat by the table, "Oh? I mean, you'd probably do the same for us if we were grounded and stuff."
As he flops down upon his haunches, Quasar looks back at the flower, almost sadly as he takes in a deep breath. "Well - I can.. always uh.. go and leave you two to hanging out if you want. I don't want to be in the way or anything."
Dinky looks sharply over at Quasar, shoving the food to one side. "Don't you go anywhere. You come over here and have a piece of this sandwich, and then get right back to organizing our junk. Eclipse and I will finish transplanting the grass. And maybe we can all talk about our mommy issues while we do."
Dinky is hosting a mommy-issues party, apparently.
"Yeah, I mean there's enough sandwich for everyone..." In ponyville. Eclipse just shrugs and grins lightly. "It should be good and there's no radishes. Not really," he tells Quasar, in case he doesn't like them either.
"Oh. I like radishes. They're very healthy." Quasar says as he scuffs a hoof against the ground back and forth in a sweeping manner. "Are you sure you want me to stay? I don't know if.. um.. talking about.. mother .. issues is .. socially acceptable, at least not as much as we tend to do. Mother says that focusing on negative thoughts lead to negative lifestyles." He murmurs.
PUB >> Dinky has one or two father abandonment issues too.
PUB >> Firefly says, "One or two?"
PUB >> Dinky says, "Depends how you count, yeah."
PUB >> Firefly grins.
Dinky giggles cruelly. "Yeah, that sounds about right. And since that fits right in, here, I feel like thinking negative." She grins and takes another bite of sandwich, pulling out a big chunk of pepper. "So what's the dumbest thing your moms ever had you do? Me, I'd have to think about it."
Solar_Eclipse blinks a time or two. "Umm, well," he starts, thinking a few moments. "I had to learn how to do ballroom dancing and stuff," he says. "That's kinda dumb, right?" He rubs his head, "And I had to go to a party, which was pretty dumb because I accientally blew it up."
Scuffing his hoof, Quasar looks a bit uncomfortable. ".. Can we .. please.. maybe focus on your flower? You were going to try and take energy from the grass and bring it into the flower, right?" He says as he chews on his bottom lip a bit harder, staring at his hooves.
Dinky smiles wickedly. "Once, Mom made me sort a whole batch of mail in alpabetical order. Which was moronic, because it's supposed to be sorted by address. But I guess she--" Quasar interrupts then with his protest. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we'd better finish transplating the grass when we're done eating. It's just sitting there dug up without much soil." The sight of the poor grass makes her chuckle further. "So how'd you blow up the party?" she asks the prince.
"Ummm, I just did," he says. Eclipse shrugs, "One of those headaches that turned into magic surge. That room was pretty messed up, then I got sent here. I didn't even get any cake."
Nodding his head, Quasar looks back at the plant for a few more moments, taking in a deep breath. As he listens to them, he settles back upon his haunches, staring at his forehooves as they tap against the ground gently.
"Colt," says Dinky. "Good -thing- you didn't get any cake. I thought those surges only happened when you had too much sugar." She eats a little more, but realizes she can't finish the gigantic piece she's begun. "Quasar? Aren't you gonna eat?"
Chewing a bit on the sandwich, Eclipse shakes his head, "No, I mean, not always, I'm told I was growing into my magic or something and it happens sometimes." He blinks, "Started with a headache, ended with cracked walls." He looks over and grins, "Yeah get some sandwich. It's good. Just avoid the um, first few pieces. Garden knife..."
Quasar trots over and picks up a piece of sandwich with his hooves, then puts it on a plate before settling it in front of him. He lifts it up and begins to chew, not using his magic to aid him.
"Nah, the garden knife was clean, just harder to cut with. No problem. And heh. Maybe I'm growing into my magic. Maybe I start out ridiculously harmless and then I get random crazy surges for my whole adult life. That'd be about right." Dinky chews and swallows. "I like the sauce on this sandwich. And the tomatoes are great. Tell 'em that." She glances over at Quasar, glad to see he's finally eating.
"They do a good job with it all," Eclipse says. "It's tasty." He squints a little bit and then hmms, looking to the other two a moment. He eventually stops using his magic and chews a bit on the sandwich he's holding. "Maybe. We all develop differently."
[And that's when they had to go, so, there you go. I assume the sandwich got eaten and the grass got transplanted and subsequently killed. And thus Dinky endured her week of grounding.]