This choice: Continue with the main story, or... • Go Back...Chapter #3Drawing up the Plans... by: Boris   The rising sun woke the two ponies. They took turns washing up, leaving whoever wasn’t washing to make their bed. When they were ready they got dressed in their cloaks and went to the lobby for breakfast. Upon arriving at the lobby, the two ponies were greeted by a different smiling pony at the front desk. This one was a Unicorn and seemed just as cheerful as the pony behind the counter the night before.
”Hello, welcome to the Maretro Hotel! How may I help you this morning?” the Unicorn behind the desk said.
”Good morning,” the Pegasus began, “we’re from room one twenty-six, and we’re looking for the café for breakfast. Could you point us in the right direction?”
”Certainly, ma’am. It’s just at the end of the hall to the left. The coffee should be ready very soon.”
The Pegasus thanked the clerk as she and the Unicorn walked to the café. They could faintly smell the breakfast selection from the desk, and as they got closer they could tell everything must have been made that day. Muffins of many different flavors from the nearby bakery, fresh orange and apple juices, waffles... and that’s not counting the uncooked foods. There were also many different fruits, packaged bread slices for toasting, a selection of jams and butter for spreading, and hardboiled eggs.
”That’s quite the selection,” the cloaked Unicorn said upon seeing everything available. Using his magic, the Unicorn levitated two plates and began loading them up with food for him and his companion. As he began putting bread into the toaster an Earth pony came in with a pot of coffee. The Earth pony flinched momentarily when she saw the cloaked ponies, but quickly regained her composure and placed the coffee pot on the table near the orange juice. She bowed to the couple before leaving out the same way she came in.
*****
Satisfied with breakfast, the travelling ponies left the hotel and made their way to the northern edge of the city, the Unicorn using a teleportation spell while the Pegasus flew. Only part of the work was completed with the placing of the crystal rods around the city. Now they had to be connected in some way, the most effective for something this large was digging lines through the dirt. Utilizing a nearby tree, the Unicorn used his magic to break off a large branch. He cut it down to a smaller size and sharpened a point so it would be effective for cutting lines in the dirt.
The Pegasus, meanwhile, had landed slightly away from the Unicorn. She looked around for a few moments until she heard something that sounded like a branch breaking from the nearby tree. Investigating it, she noticed the Unicorn working away at the branch that was broken. She cantered over to the Unicorn and waited to hear what the Unicorn had in mind for her today.
”There you are,” the Unicorn said when he saw the Pegasus. “Just to double check, I will need you to fly over the city and make absolutely sure everything is evenly placed. To help, I will use a spell that will make each rod painfully obvious to you… and most of everypony with line of sight to the rod.”
Nodding slightly, the Pegasus flew into the sky above the city. The Unicorn closed his eyes and focused on the crystal rods, channeling a spell into each one to produce a very bright red light. A few moments later, the Pegasus landed next to the crystal rod nearest the Unicorn and removed it from the ground, placing it a few feet closer to the Unicorn. She left again and returned much faster than before, nodding to let the Unicorn know everything was good.
”Good,” the Unicorn began, walking towards the crystal rod closest to him with the sharpened branch following. “Now we can start work on the outer pentagon. It will likely take all day to go around the city completely, so if you get hungry go ahead and get something to eat. I don’t have anything planned for you for the rest of today, but it would be helpful if you removed and replaced the rods so the lines can get finished faster.”
The Pegasus lifted the first rod out of the ground as the Unicorn brought the branch over the small hole in the ground. He noticed the sharpened part of the branch was too thick and would leave the rods loose in the ground, so he shaved off enough from each side to get the desired size and keep it even. When he was satisfied he stuck it in the ground where the rod was and used his magic to push it in the direction of the next rod, using the edge of the city to help guide them in the right direction.
Right after the third rod the Pegasus left to get some food for her and to bring some for the Unicorn. Wanting to get it done quickly, the Pegasus flew as fast as she could as soon as she cleared the tops of the buildings. She was heading for the café in the hotel they were staying at, but from what she could see there was only a staff entrance that lead to a kitchen right beside the café, so she had to go through the front doors and walk through the halls to get to the café. She felt terrible leaving her master alone like that, even though he gave her the go ahead to get food when she gets hungry. If not for him, it’s very unlikely she would be around to this day. She’s still not entirely sure if what the Unicorn did to those two Pegasus colts was an excessive punishment, or even why the Unicorn was there when he was, but she is eternally grateful he was there and it is not exaggerating to say she owed him her life.
After eating enough to satisfy her, the Pegasus grabbed a plate full of food for the Unicorn. She wrapped a couple napkins around in an attempt to keep it safe and less likely to spill everywhere when she left. At first she expected someone to stop her from leaving with a plate, but that wasn’t the case. The pony at the counter, the Earth pony from the night before, waved at her and told her to be careful out there. Either she didn’t notice the plate, or she didn’t care. That didn’t matter to the Pegasus. What did matter was her master was probably hungry by now, and she would feel absolutely horrible if she didn’t bring her master something to eat after getting herself something to eat. Using one of her front legs to hold the plate close to her from beneath and the other on top of the plate to keep it balanced, she flew towards the fourth rod, assuming the Unicorn must have made it there with how long she’s been gone.
The Unicorn was about a couple yards away from the fourth rod. He placed the sharpened branch on the ground to his side and was about to use his magic to remove this rod from the ground when the Pegasus landed in front of him. She placed the covered plate on the ground and removed the rod from the ground, placing it to her side.
”You should take a rest and eat something,” the Pegasus said, pointing a hoof at the plate on the ground. “I can take care of this while you rest.”
”While I appreciate the gesture,” the Unicorn began, “that branch is heavier than it might seem. Don’t hurt yourself trying to help me.” As the Unicorn finished speaking and started eating, the Pegasus lifted the branch with both of her front legs and started cutting where the Unicorn left off. She certainly was struggling, mostly because the awkward way she had to hold it caused her to nearly trip over herself, but also because she had no idea if she was still on the path unless she angled her head uncomfortably so she could see behind her. She eventually made it to the hole in the ground where the rod was placed, and when she was about to put the branch down she felt it slip out of her grasp and saw it just about fall on the rod, if not for the Unicorn taking hold of it with his magic. He placed it back in the ground and started cutting away from them and towards the fifth rod while the Pegasus placed this rod back in its place.
”I’m so sorry,” the Pegasus said, unable to look her master in his eyes. “I should have listened to you, I wasn’t able to-“
”Don’t apologize,” the Unicorn said as he placed a hoof around his companion’s shoulders. “You did a good job. Obviously it would have been easier if you could look forward as you worked, but I had prepared this stick thinking you wouldn’t want to help. If you still want to help, I can prepare one for you for tomorrow. I will likely need an extra hoof, there will be plenty of going back and forth throughout this city.” The Unicorn continued cutting through the ground as the Pegasus followed, removing the next two rods when it came time to do so.
With the lines cut into the ground and the last rod placed back into its spot, the two ponies made their ways back to the hotel. The sun had set when the last line was half finished, making it slightly harder to see as they finished. But now it was done, and the two could relax for the evening. The Pegasus had made sure to grab the plate on her way back, which was rather difficult because she couldn’t see it very well in the amount of light she had. Finally done with the day, the two ponies retired to their beds, hoping tomorrow would go by faster than anticipated.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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