This choice: Continue with the main story, or... • Go Back...Chapter #4The Finishing Touches... by: Boris   This morning was very much like the previous one for the two ponies, with only a couple changes. They woke up as the sun rose, washed up, made their beds, got dressed in their cloaks and walked to the café for breakfast. Already knowing how to get there, they didn’t say much to the Unicorn behind the counter. The Pegasus gave a polite wave to the Unicorn clerk while her master just kept walking. While eating they saw the same Earth pony that brought in coffee yesterday, this time bringing in a pitcher of milk. Both of the cloaked ponies wondered in silence about how understaffed the hotel must be if they only saw three ponies working during their stay. Surely there must have been more than just those three ponies working here and the cloaked couple were only around when those three ponies were, but it was quite the coincidence and very unlikely. No matter though, they’ll all be gone soon enough.
Finished with their breakfast, the two ponies once again made their way to the rod at the northern edge of the city. The Unicorn searched around for the branch he used the day before to cut lines in the ground when the Pegasus landed, drawing the Unicorn’s attention in her direction and that of the branch she was standing next to. He lifted it with his magic and brought it closer while the Pegasus trotted right behind the floating piece of tree.
”Do you remember what you said yesterday?” the Pegasus asked, causing the Unicorn to raise an eyebrow. “I would like to help you with this process.”
”Very well,” the Unicorn said, breaking off another couple of branches from the nearby tree. He sharpened one end of the first branch while smoothing out the rest of that branch. With that branch done, he focused all of his energy in smoothing it out and bending the other one so that it could rest on the Pegasus’s back. It was a rather time consuming process, but if the Unicorn rushed the process, the branch would have snapped and he would have had to start it over again. With the two branches ready, the Unicorn placed the bent branch on the Pegasus’s back and used a spell to bind the dull end of the sharpened branch to the bent branch.
”That should do it,” said the Unicorn as he looked at the Pegasus. He had positioned the sharpened branch in a way that caused the Pegasus’s hind legs to come up from the ground a few inches. “You probably feel ridiculous, but I was never really good with carpentry. When you’re ready, lift your backside into the air and slam back down so you can get the branch into the ground. At least then you’ll have all four legs on the ground again instead of just the front two. When you get to a rod, you’ll need to remove it and bring the branch through. You will probably be better off if you bring yourself off the ground when you turn and slam the branch into the ground when you’re ready again. Don’t worry about replacing the rods you remove, I’ll go back and stick them into the ground again. Oh, before I forget…” The Unicorn closed his eyes and placed his horn on the Pegasus’s forehead, focusing for a few moments. Getting a strange feeling in her mind, the Pegasus closed her eyes as well. She saw a sort of map in her mind, most likely of the city, but with very prominent red lines going through the streets and forming a five pointed star. When she opened her eyes she could see a couple red lines coming from the rod nearby and going into the city.
”I’ll need you to cut along the lines,” the Unicorn said. “Pretty self explanatory, and as long as everything goes well we should get done with this much faster than yesterday.” The Unicorn removed the first rod from the ground when he realized something. “I didn’t think of this before, but I’m glad I did now. If you get a building in your way, you’ll need to bring the branch out of the ground and resume when the building is no longer in the way. I’ll need to go back and find a way to continue the line through the building, without destroying it.”
The Pegasus moved over to where the rod was, chose a line to follow, and slammed the sharpened end of the branch into the ground. As she followed her line the Unicorn used his magic to place his sharpened branch in the ground and began dragging it along the other line, stopping for a moment to place the rod back into the ground. They both went their ways following the lines they chose, only briefly stopping when buildings or other ponies got in their way.
*****
Just a few hours later the two ponies met along the final line roughly halfway through it. Unfortunately, there was a fountain in their way, which would cause more trouble cutting through than through a building. The Unicorn COULD cut through it, but the water that would obviously spill will most likely ruin the lines, which would ruin the spell when he needs to cast it.
”Humph,” the Unicorn grunted, rather annoyed with the fountain being in the way. “Guess I’ll have to move this fountain. What a waste of energy. Oh well, I might be able to use it to my advantage later.” He rested his sharpened branch on the ground to his side and focused on the fountain. It took quite a bit of effort to move it, mostly because he didn’t want the water inside to spill into the line, but also because there were a few pipes beneath it to help circulate the water and prevent algae from forming. It worked, and it certainly looked pretty, but it was in the way and would have more use elsewhere. The Unicorn made sure it was far enough out of the way and brought it towards a seemingly soft patch of ground. He brought it forcefully down on this section of dirt, but the pipes chose not to cooperate. Instead of going into the ground, they managed to force their ways into the main body of the fountain. Deciding this would also work, the Unicorn brought the rest of the fountain down to the ground. The pipes made it the rest of the way through the fountain, and the fountain managed to embed itself in the ground a little. Some water splashed out of the fountain, but nowhere near enough to bother the lines. With the fountain now out of the way, the Unicorn flattened the ground where it was originally standing and filled in the holes where the pipes were pulled from while the Pegasus finished the line.
”What do you know,” the Unicorn said as he brought the branch thing off the back of his Pegasus companion. “That was much faster than yesterday. What should we do for the rest of the day?”
”These lines stick out quite a bit,” the Pegasus began. “They also don’t form the… ‘friendliest’ shape. How are we to be certain somepony won’t try to disturb the lines?”
For the first time in a very long time, the Unicorn had not planned ahead for something. He completely overlooked the fact that some ponies were scared of change, and they might try reverting the ground back to its previously unaltered state. If such an event occurred the spell would most definitely not work, or in the worst possible case, might lash back at the caster of the spell. Shock would probably best describe the look on the Unicorn’s face. He wasn’t necessarily fond of the idea of death; he was fine with others dying, but he wasn’t quite ready for the eternal slumber. So much still awaited him in the land of the living, such as taking over the country when he takes out the Princesses tomorrow afternoon. After a moment of staying like this, he spoke.
”I… Hm. I think I have an idea…” The Unicorn faced the line in the ground, closed his eyes, and brought his horn down, sticking it into the line. When he brought his horn up and out, something that resembled a current of electricity flowed inside the line. “There, that should take care of it,” said the Unicorn. “That current of magical electricity goes through each line we dug up, including the ones from yesterday. Anypony that steps on a line will get a nasty shock, and any dirt that falls in should get shot out as well. Just make sure you watch your step. Now go ahead and get to the hotel. I still need to put the rods back into the ground and make some holes in a few buildings.” The Pegasus listened and flew to the hotel while the Unicorn teleported to the rod on the eastern side of the city. Deciding to save some time the Unicorn put his horn at the hole in the ground and did his normal spellcasting routine to summon two magical buzz saw-like circles to follow the two lines in order to cut the lines for the spell where the two ponies couldn’t. When they run into each other with their fronts, they would dissipate. Now having one less problem to worry about the Unicorn set forth with replacing the rods, teleporting from point to point before getting to the hotel to enjoy some food at the café. The next day will certainly take a toll on him, but it will certainly be worth it when he makes the Princesses disappear.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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