Post by Eris on Jun 12, 2015 21:17:02 GMT -5
From an RP between Snapdragon and Eris, in the Town Hall...
Eris has a problem. A very large problem. An urgent one. One that could benefit from reinforcements! And so a rather exasperated pegasus, some sort of secretary in town hall, had been sent on a mission: Find Snapdragon, and summon her to Town Hall to see the Chancellor. The fact that it was somehow disgustingly hot /and/ a torrential downpour did not exactly make the secretary happy, and when he'd returned, he gave Eris a sour look, dripped in her office, then went to dry off.
Snapdragon, on the other hand, doesn't seem to mind the wet very much. In fact, from the mud splattered up her legs and belly it looks like she's stamped in every puddle between here and there. There's a brief pause, just inside the door where the little pony stops and shakes off like a dog, but then she's tracking muddy hoofprints across the floor, "Eris? Hey! ERIS! You here? That lady said you wanted to see me!"
Eris yells from her office, "Snappy?" How she learned Snapdragon's name, we'll never know. Probably something to do with Town Records and abuse of power. Eris trots out of her office and waves the filly in. "C'mon in, I gotta talk to you 'bout something." Perhaps it has to do with the large box that has now, somehow, made its way into the middle of Town Hall, despite it being bigger than the doors.
Snapdragon has found the box, and is poking at it. She'd all but forgotten that she was summoned here to see Eris - that is, until she hears her name being called. Then her ears go up, and after a second of confusion spins on a hind hoof, and advances towards the grifflet, "Hey! I really like your box."
Eris watches Snapdragon for a moment, then grins when she turns towards her. "Actually, that's why I asked you to come over." She walks to meet the filly halfway, then looks at the box. "You... know what it is, right? The rumors have been all over town."
Snapdragon, as she reaches Eris, turns and stakes back across the room towards the box, "Oh yeah. I know all about it." The lie might even be convincing sounding. She can't let anyone know she was out of the loop, "It's full of sugar, right? My friend Sweet Treat said that the last chance-lord banned sugar, and now they sent a big box to replace everything he got rid of!"
Eris rolls her eyes. "No, it's /much/ cooler than sugar." She heads for the stairs to go up to the second floor's indoor balcony that overlooks the atrium. "C'mon, you gotta look in the top of it." Thankfully ponies are trustworthy, and they just leave the top of the thing open. Eris had them remove the top because, uh, something-something-swimming-in-bits.
Snapdragon looks /extremely/ doubtful about the prospects of this being cooler than sugar, but she follows along dutifully, her mud-spattered tailtip flicking behind her as she clomps up the stairs. She's about to say something smart-alecky, but when she reaches the railing on the mezzanine, and sees what's inside the box, she immediately forgets what she was going to say, choosing instead to say, "Uhhhhhh." As she stares down into the bits.
Eris looks left, looks right. Most of the ponies in Town Hall have gone home for the day. With a grin, she clambers up on the railing and takes the short jump onto the bits. She lands with a sort of crunch-jingle. "C'mon over!" How many opportunities do you get to stand upon a giant pile of bits?
Snapdragon seems immediately taken by the idea, and doesn't even hesitate. Indeed, she's already winding up to jump before Eris is done speaking, "Cannon ballllll!" Is her response, as she leaps from the railing, and tucks into a rough-spheroid.
Eris raises a wing to shelter herself from the inevitable rain of bits. "Ow, owow, ow ow... ow." Sharp eyes and quick reflexes keep a few wayward bits from going overboard to the floor below - she snags them out of the air with her talons, and returns them to the pile. "Uh, yeah, try not to spill any." She crawl-wades over to a corner and looks down, then back towards Snapdragon. "So, uh, I gotta figure out what to do with all this."
Snapdragon emerges from under the coins, and then rolls over onto her back, into an easy backstroke towards the edge for the box. Then emerges from the coins, and stands on top of the horde, looking over the edge down at the floor floor of the hall below, "You know, you could totally rebuild the library with all this money." Actually her first impulse was to say there should be a giant building made out of gingerbread and spun sugar, but libraries are cool too. And less susceptible to melting in rainstorms.
"We can't-" Eris starts to say, but then realizes that Snapdragon /didn't/ suggest something outrageous. "Er, uh... a library?" She's seen paintings of the Great Library of Griffonstone, and knows what an amazing public institution of literacy, knowledge, and research can be. Probably good she hasn't seen what it looks like nowadays. "That's... actually not a bad idea." She looks down at the bits. "I'm sure all this could build one....right? It's, like, 370 million or something." The griffon dives into the box, surfacing somewhere near the middle. "You think the townsponies would want that?"
Snapdragon picks up a five bit coin, and with a deft flick of her head sends it skipping over the surface two - three - four - five times! before it loses momentum and skids to a halt on top of the pile, "Maybe! All I know is I wanted to get a copy of 'Advanced glass-blowing techniques for the common pony' - but the library here didn't even have it. IT didn't even have a roof! It's like - like it was exploded or something!
The library here got uprooted and is hanging from the ceiling in the War Room of the Fortress of Friendship. So... likely it doesn't have that, no. "Well, uh, where do you go to get a library built? Is there, like, a library store? Or do I mail a cheque to Princess Celestia and she just magics one here, or something?" Eris... may not be familiar with the nuances of subcontracting.
Snapdragon probably visited the old site before the removal, and promptly forgot there was a library in town until this /exact moment/. The question about sourcing the building makes her think, her mouth scrunching up, her brow knitting together, "Hmmm. Maybe in Canterlot. You can get anything in Canterlot!"
'Princess Celestia magic library' it is! That's... what Snappy means by 'Canterlot', right? "Huh, you're probably right! And I spend most of the time in Canterlot anyways, nowadays-" Remote Chancelloring! "-so, it should be pretty easy for me to find a library store, or... whatever." She might actually ask Princess Celestia if, y'know, she hadn't gone AWOL, or joyriding, or on a hunting trip, or a bar crawl - or whatever it is she did. "But, uh, what if that doesn't work out? I was thinking, like, a public scratching post! Or, like, a big feaking boulder in the square..."
Snapdragon nods wisely as she listens, "Yeah, yeah, that sounds -- what? What now?" She /is/ paying attention after all, "A freaking big boulder? What would we even do with that?"
Eris looks a bit incredulous. "A /feaking/ boulder. Y'know, a boulder... to feak on?" Stare. "Feaking? To keep your beak clean and sharp?"
Snapdragon's confusion gives away to mild interest then becomes incredulity, "Yes. Yes. To keep all of our beaks clean and sharp. I'm sure that would be wildly appreciated."
"Exactly! Pretty much ever griffon has a feaking stone in their houses, and they're just awkward to clean around, interrupt the decor, and you gotta get a new one every once in a while..." Eris is on a roll! "And it's such an antisocial thing, sitting at home, in front of your feaking stone, when you /should/ be outside socializing! A public feaking stone lets you keep your beak up and..." She sort of peters off. "Uh, yeah, ponies don't... yeah..."
Snapdragon can wait. She settles down onto a bed of coins and idly pushes a small pile of them around as she listens, sucking on her teeth as she does. That helps her to keep from interrupting. When the explanation finally wraps up Snapdragon puts on her most indulgent smile and says, "Well, it's still a pretty good idea. I - I think you should talk to Celestia about it first."
Snapdragon says "She - uh - she might have -- input?"
Eris nods. "But... she hasn't been around for a while. Maybe I'll ask Princess Fluttershy, or Princess Applejack!" Or Princess Twilight, or Princess Cadance! Y'know... someday. "I guess same thing for the scratching post, too, huh?" She was also going to suggest a giant public salt lick, but after thinking about that for more than five seconds... ew. Eris flops back on the mound of bits and stares at the Hall's ceiling. "Maybe we could have, like... a big festival or something? The Ponyville Town Fair!" She sits up. "With, like, contests and shows and stuff!"
Snapdragon looks down at a forehoof as claws are mentioned, nudging abstractly at what appears to be a Saddle Arabian riyal, though she has no way of knowing that. It's just got some cool swords on the reverse side! "Uh - maybe we could have like a big old festival grounds so, uh, like there could be parties, and -uh- maybe bands and stuff could come and play..."
Snapdragon says "So there could be a fair every year! Yeah!"
Because that's what Ponyville needs. The Rodeo and the Sisterhooves Social each had their own grounds, and there's probably more - so another would be perfect! "That could be pretty awesome, yeah!" Eris says, gleefully, "Maybe... maybe all this is enough for a library /and/ a fair!"
Snapdragon knows that holding a concert at a rodeo grounds is /super lame/! Ponyville will never get the big acts if they don't shake their hicks from the sticks image! Maybe they could tear down the market square, and put in some modern shops and things. She's bouncing in place by the end of things, laughing, "And - AND - enough candy to fill every pony's closet at least once!"
Eris is on a roll! "Yeah! Candy! And, and, like, a sno-cone stand that gives out FREE sno-cones! And a war-kite fighting arena! And... more candy!" The griffon giggles, then dives her forefeet into the bits, holding them up and letting them fall through her talons. "There's... so much. I- I could do whatever I wanted..." Outside, the sky darkens, and there's a crack of thunder. The scene fades as the camera pulls back from Eris, and ominous music plays in the background. Blink, blink. "For the town, I mean. Whatever I wanted /for the town/."
Snapdragon's glee evaporates as she watches the display of griffonic (is that a word?) avarice, her pupils shrinking down to pinpricks, her ears laying flat. As the thunder rolls, then fades, and Eris seems to come back into herself Snapdragon can only nod, laughing a nervous 'please don't hurt me' laugh, "Y-yeah! T-the town! Definitely the town."
Eris looks a bit confused at Snapdragon's reaction - what? She's gotta have /some/ megalomania, or she wouldn't be allowed in office, right? Eris picks up a big gold coin and stares at the horseshoes on it. Why don't they have /griffon/ bits, too? And dragon ones, and... well, there's lots of things around here /other/ than ponies. The griffon tosses it, catches it on one of her pinions, then lets it drop to the pile. "Uh, yeah, so... should I just... do this stuff? Or... should I have a meeting or take a poll or something?"
Snapdragon doesn't seem to have any lasting ill effects. Indeed she's already rolled over and making a snow angel in the coins. Coin angel? Whatever. They make such a pleasing clink as they slide against each other, "Well, ponies love surprises, right? Like presents and parties and stuff?"
Eris ooohs. "Yeah, they totally do! Like, like... that one pony holiday!" That's the one. Eris swims over to the edge and grabs onto the balcony, hauling herself out of the money pit. "Yeah, that'll totally work. A surprise! That's what these ponies need!" A 370-ish-million-bits surprise.
Snapdragon says "What? You mean Hearthswarming? Yeah! Everypony likes Hearthswarm-- Oh, hey!" Snapdragon's eye is distracted by something in the coins. It's a copper half bit, "Neat! I've never seen one of these before! Hey? Hey? Can I keep this?"
Eris grins and is about to say yes - but... she can't just give the town's money away. "Uh..." Eris looks torn for a few moments, then her face lights up with an idea. "Just a second!" She rushes off, down the stairs, and into her office. She comes back not too long after with a sheet of paper. After hopping back in to the coins, she wades over to Snapdragon and hands the paper to her. It's a receipt. For consulting services rendered. 5.5 bits. Eris picks up a shiny 5-bit-piece and hands it to her. "Here! This one and that copper half-bit. For helping me- er, the Chancellery with, uh... strategic planning."
Snapdragon climbs out of the crate and waits patiently for Eris to return, watching the paperwork with a more than mild curioiusity. It's the extra five bits that makes her grin though, "Hey! Thanks!" She balances the coins carefully on the tips of her hoofs, admiring them, "I like the way the copper one has Celestia's face printed into it, heads and tails. That's kind of neat!" Then she flips the coins, one after the other, catches them in her teeth, and tucks them away.
Eris grins. "Yer welcome! And yeah, they are kinda neat, aren't they?" She looks out over the box full of bits, with a little smile. "I wonder what other neat coins and stuff are buried in there?" Cue longing gaze. Camera pulls in on the bits. "Uh," pan back to the griffon, "Thanks, though, for helpin' me think of what to do!"
Snapdragon bounces herself in place, listening for the jingle of coins in her school bag, but they're lost amid the russle of candy wrappers. Well, that was anticlimactic, "Huh? Oh! Oh! You're welcome! That was super neat! Thanks for inviting me."
Eris has a problem. A very large problem. An urgent one. One that could benefit from reinforcements! And so a rather exasperated pegasus, some sort of secretary in town hall, had been sent on a mission: Find Snapdragon, and summon her to Town Hall to see the Chancellor. The fact that it was somehow disgustingly hot /and/ a torrential downpour did not exactly make the secretary happy, and when he'd returned, he gave Eris a sour look, dripped in her office, then went to dry off.
Snapdragon, on the other hand, doesn't seem to mind the wet very much. In fact, from the mud splattered up her legs and belly it looks like she's stamped in every puddle between here and there. There's a brief pause, just inside the door where the little pony stops and shakes off like a dog, but then she's tracking muddy hoofprints across the floor, "Eris? Hey! ERIS! You here? That lady said you wanted to see me!"
Eris yells from her office, "Snappy?" How she learned Snapdragon's name, we'll never know. Probably something to do with Town Records and abuse of power. Eris trots out of her office and waves the filly in. "C'mon in, I gotta talk to you 'bout something." Perhaps it has to do with the large box that has now, somehow, made its way into the middle of Town Hall, despite it being bigger than the doors.
Snapdragon has found the box, and is poking at it. She'd all but forgotten that she was summoned here to see Eris - that is, until she hears her name being called. Then her ears go up, and after a second of confusion spins on a hind hoof, and advances towards the grifflet, "Hey! I really like your box."
Eris watches Snapdragon for a moment, then grins when she turns towards her. "Actually, that's why I asked you to come over." She walks to meet the filly halfway, then looks at the box. "You... know what it is, right? The rumors have been all over town."
Snapdragon, as she reaches Eris, turns and stakes back across the room towards the box, "Oh yeah. I know all about it." The lie might even be convincing sounding. She can't let anyone know she was out of the loop, "It's full of sugar, right? My friend Sweet Treat said that the last chance-lord banned sugar, and now they sent a big box to replace everything he got rid of!"
Eris rolls her eyes. "No, it's /much/ cooler than sugar." She heads for the stairs to go up to the second floor's indoor balcony that overlooks the atrium. "C'mon, you gotta look in the top of it." Thankfully ponies are trustworthy, and they just leave the top of the thing open. Eris had them remove the top because, uh, something-something-swimming-in-bits.
Snapdragon looks /extremely/ doubtful about the prospects of this being cooler than sugar, but she follows along dutifully, her mud-spattered tailtip flicking behind her as she clomps up the stairs. She's about to say something smart-alecky, but when she reaches the railing on the mezzanine, and sees what's inside the box, she immediately forgets what she was going to say, choosing instead to say, "Uhhhhhh." As she stares down into the bits.
Eris looks left, looks right. Most of the ponies in Town Hall have gone home for the day. With a grin, she clambers up on the railing and takes the short jump onto the bits. She lands with a sort of crunch-jingle. "C'mon over!" How many opportunities do you get to stand upon a giant pile of bits?
Snapdragon seems immediately taken by the idea, and doesn't even hesitate. Indeed, she's already winding up to jump before Eris is done speaking, "Cannon ballllll!" Is her response, as she leaps from the railing, and tucks into a rough-spheroid.
Eris raises a wing to shelter herself from the inevitable rain of bits. "Ow, owow, ow ow... ow." Sharp eyes and quick reflexes keep a few wayward bits from going overboard to the floor below - she snags them out of the air with her talons, and returns them to the pile. "Uh, yeah, try not to spill any." She crawl-wades over to a corner and looks down, then back towards Snapdragon. "So, uh, I gotta figure out what to do with all this."
Snapdragon emerges from under the coins, and then rolls over onto her back, into an easy backstroke towards the edge for the box. Then emerges from the coins, and stands on top of the horde, looking over the edge down at the floor floor of the hall below, "You know, you could totally rebuild the library with all this money." Actually her first impulse was to say there should be a giant building made out of gingerbread and spun sugar, but libraries are cool too. And less susceptible to melting in rainstorms.
"We can't-" Eris starts to say, but then realizes that Snapdragon /didn't/ suggest something outrageous. "Er, uh... a library?" She's seen paintings of the Great Library of Griffonstone, and knows what an amazing public institution of literacy, knowledge, and research can be. Probably good she hasn't seen what it looks like nowadays. "That's... actually not a bad idea." She looks down at the bits. "I'm sure all this could build one....right? It's, like, 370 million or something." The griffon dives into the box, surfacing somewhere near the middle. "You think the townsponies would want that?"
Snapdragon picks up a five bit coin, and with a deft flick of her head sends it skipping over the surface two - three - four - five times! before it loses momentum and skids to a halt on top of the pile, "Maybe! All I know is I wanted to get a copy of 'Advanced glass-blowing techniques for the common pony' - but the library here didn't even have it. IT didn't even have a roof! It's like - like it was exploded or something!
The library here got uprooted and is hanging from the ceiling in the War Room of the Fortress of Friendship. So... likely it doesn't have that, no. "Well, uh, where do you go to get a library built? Is there, like, a library store? Or do I mail a cheque to Princess Celestia and she just magics one here, or something?" Eris... may not be familiar with the nuances of subcontracting.
Snapdragon probably visited the old site before the removal, and promptly forgot there was a library in town until this /exact moment/. The question about sourcing the building makes her think, her mouth scrunching up, her brow knitting together, "Hmmm. Maybe in Canterlot. You can get anything in Canterlot!"
'Princess Celestia magic library' it is! That's... what Snappy means by 'Canterlot', right? "Huh, you're probably right! And I spend most of the time in Canterlot anyways, nowadays-" Remote Chancelloring! "-so, it should be pretty easy for me to find a library store, or... whatever." She might actually ask Princess Celestia if, y'know, she hadn't gone AWOL, or joyriding, or on a hunting trip, or a bar crawl - or whatever it is she did. "But, uh, what if that doesn't work out? I was thinking, like, a public scratching post! Or, like, a big feaking boulder in the square..."
Snapdragon nods wisely as she listens, "Yeah, yeah, that sounds -- what? What now?" She /is/ paying attention after all, "A freaking big boulder? What would we even do with that?"
Eris looks a bit incredulous. "A /feaking/ boulder. Y'know, a boulder... to feak on?" Stare. "Feaking? To keep your beak clean and sharp?"
Snapdragon's confusion gives away to mild interest then becomes incredulity, "Yes. Yes. To keep all of our beaks clean and sharp. I'm sure that would be wildly appreciated."
"Exactly! Pretty much ever griffon has a feaking stone in their houses, and they're just awkward to clean around, interrupt the decor, and you gotta get a new one every once in a while..." Eris is on a roll! "And it's such an antisocial thing, sitting at home, in front of your feaking stone, when you /should/ be outside socializing! A public feaking stone lets you keep your beak up and..." She sort of peters off. "Uh, yeah, ponies don't... yeah..."
Snapdragon can wait. She settles down onto a bed of coins and idly pushes a small pile of them around as she listens, sucking on her teeth as she does. That helps her to keep from interrupting. When the explanation finally wraps up Snapdragon puts on her most indulgent smile and says, "Well, it's still a pretty good idea. I - I think you should talk to Celestia about it first."
Snapdragon says "She - uh - she might have -- input?"
Eris nods. "But... she hasn't been around for a while. Maybe I'll ask Princess Fluttershy, or Princess Applejack!" Or Princess Twilight, or Princess Cadance! Y'know... someday. "I guess same thing for the scratching post, too, huh?" She was also going to suggest a giant public salt lick, but after thinking about that for more than five seconds... ew. Eris flops back on the mound of bits and stares at the Hall's ceiling. "Maybe we could have, like... a big festival or something? The Ponyville Town Fair!" She sits up. "With, like, contests and shows and stuff!"
Snapdragon looks down at a forehoof as claws are mentioned, nudging abstractly at what appears to be a Saddle Arabian riyal, though she has no way of knowing that. It's just got some cool swords on the reverse side! "Uh - maybe we could have like a big old festival grounds so, uh, like there could be parties, and -uh- maybe bands and stuff could come and play..."
Snapdragon says "So there could be a fair every year! Yeah!"
Because that's what Ponyville needs. The Rodeo and the Sisterhooves Social each had their own grounds, and there's probably more - so another would be perfect! "That could be pretty awesome, yeah!" Eris says, gleefully, "Maybe... maybe all this is enough for a library /and/ a fair!"
Snapdragon knows that holding a concert at a rodeo grounds is /super lame/! Ponyville will never get the big acts if they don't shake their hicks from the sticks image! Maybe they could tear down the market square, and put in some modern shops and things. She's bouncing in place by the end of things, laughing, "And - AND - enough candy to fill every pony's closet at least once!"
Eris is on a roll! "Yeah! Candy! And, and, like, a sno-cone stand that gives out FREE sno-cones! And a war-kite fighting arena! And... more candy!" The griffon giggles, then dives her forefeet into the bits, holding them up and letting them fall through her talons. "There's... so much. I- I could do whatever I wanted..." Outside, the sky darkens, and there's a crack of thunder. The scene fades as the camera pulls back from Eris, and ominous music plays in the background. Blink, blink. "For the town, I mean. Whatever I wanted /for the town/."
Snapdragon's glee evaporates as she watches the display of griffonic (is that a word?) avarice, her pupils shrinking down to pinpricks, her ears laying flat. As the thunder rolls, then fades, and Eris seems to come back into herself Snapdragon can only nod, laughing a nervous 'please don't hurt me' laugh, "Y-yeah! T-the town! Definitely the town."
Eris looks a bit confused at Snapdragon's reaction - what? She's gotta have /some/ megalomania, or she wouldn't be allowed in office, right? Eris picks up a big gold coin and stares at the horseshoes on it. Why don't they have /griffon/ bits, too? And dragon ones, and... well, there's lots of things around here /other/ than ponies. The griffon tosses it, catches it on one of her pinions, then lets it drop to the pile. "Uh, yeah, so... should I just... do this stuff? Or... should I have a meeting or take a poll or something?"
Snapdragon doesn't seem to have any lasting ill effects. Indeed she's already rolled over and making a snow angel in the coins. Coin angel? Whatever. They make such a pleasing clink as they slide against each other, "Well, ponies love surprises, right? Like presents and parties and stuff?"
Eris ooohs. "Yeah, they totally do! Like, like... that one pony holiday!" That's the one. Eris swims over to the edge and grabs onto the balcony, hauling herself out of the money pit. "Yeah, that'll totally work. A surprise! That's what these ponies need!" A 370-ish-million-bits surprise.
Snapdragon says "What? You mean Hearthswarming? Yeah! Everypony likes Hearthswarm-- Oh, hey!" Snapdragon's eye is distracted by something in the coins. It's a copper half bit, "Neat! I've never seen one of these before! Hey? Hey? Can I keep this?"
Eris grins and is about to say yes - but... she can't just give the town's money away. "Uh..." Eris looks torn for a few moments, then her face lights up with an idea. "Just a second!" She rushes off, down the stairs, and into her office. She comes back not too long after with a sheet of paper. After hopping back in to the coins, she wades over to Snapdragon and hands the paper to her. It's a receipt. For consulting services rendered. 5.5 bits. Eris picks up a shiny 5-bit-piece and hands it to her. "Here! This one and that copper half-bit. For helping me- er, the Chancellery with, uh... strategic planning."
Snapdragon climbs out of the crate and waits patiently for Eris to return, watching the paperwork with a more than mild curioiusity. It's the extra five bits that makes her grin though, "Hey! Thanks!" She balances the coins carefully on the tips of her hoofs, admiring them, "I like the way the copper one has Celestia's face printed into it, heads and tails. That's kind of neat!" Then she flips the coins, one after the other, catches them in her teeth, and tucks them away.
Eris grins. "Yer welcome! And yeah, they are kinda neat, aren't they?" She looks out over the box full of bits, with a little smile. "I wonder what other neat coins and stuff are buried in there?" Cue longing gaze. Camera pulls in on the bits. "Uh," pan back to the griffon, "Thanks, though, for helpin' me think of what to do!"
Snapdragon bounces herself in place, listening for the jingle of coins in her school bag, but they're lost amid the russle of candy wrappers. Well, that was anticlimactic, "Huh? Oh! Oh! You're welcome! That was super neat! Thanks for inviting me."
