My Pretty Pony
IC date: Autumn 15, 1007, early evening
OOC date: 10/4/2012
PCs: Carronade, Jellybean, Typhoon-Wave, Winter-Solstice
NPCs: Seaside Shimmer, Tropical Sunset
GM: Ruby-Blossom

Horseshoe Harbor - Portside

It's an early evening in Horseshoe Harbor and plenty of folks are getting ready to start the weekend early. After the turning of the seasons, there's a deepening nip in the air, the waning sun's light thin and bringing less warmth by the day, but it's a nice day, and many are doing their utmost to make the most of it. Of course, here along the docks, that generally means 'be lazy,' the atmosphere one of inebriated relaxation- for the most part. Out in the water, a number of ships are doing their best to prepare for one last trip before the official onset of winter, their crew gazing bitterly towards the layabouts and sunset-worshippers ashore.

Winter Solstice is just such a layabout! Of a sort. Sure, she has a big cart of material she looks like she was lugging about, but right now she has it pulled to the side and unhitched, as she instead sits by the boardwalk with a big tropical drink. It's tall, it has an umbrella in it, and a little slice of lime. It is fluorescent orange and fizzy. She slurps at it through a curly straw as she soaks in the atmosphere. At her sides are a pair of saddlebags, bulging with mysterious contents.

Thump thump thump thump. Heavier than usual hoofsteps clomp along the boardwalk, mostly due to their owner being bigger than your typical colt. Until he finally stops, inhales deeply, and then lets out a loud sigh. Followed by a deep, almost booming voice as he speaks "Aaaah, the PEACE and QUIET of the BEACHFRONT." .. Well, it was quiet until he showed up, at least.

Jellybean is feeling a lot less 'need to hide'y now that he's talked to grown-up ponies and convinced them not to summarilly throw him and Typhoon into the fountain. So on a nice evening like this he's trotting down the boardwalk alongside Typhoon-Wave, bundled up in a nice cozy scarf. He's about to say hello to Winter Solstice when a certain loud and booming announcement about peace and quiet makes him go 'meep' and duck behind the cart.

Suddenly pony! To the right of Winny a white pony with green hair and hints of blue appears "Wow!" To the left another white pony with green hair and hints of blue. "Wow, indeed sis." "Check out that bod." "How come we can't find stallions this buff?" "That'd be be awesome." "Totally awesome." The pair leaning in front of Winny to come into the mare's field of view - white-coated twins that share the colors blue and green! "Hey there." they pipe in unison. "What are you up to?" "Building something? "Helping Kludge maybe?" Attention darting to the thumping along the boardwalk. "Another big one!" "Land of giants." "Maybe there's something in the water? "Hope not. I like being petite." "Petite? You've been eating an aweful lot of cake lately." "Wh..wha!?" one sister swatting at the other.

Typhoon-Wave trots alongside Jellybean, smiling happily. She's been doing that a lot lately! It's so uncharacteristic. But it's a nice day, and she's with Jellybean, and maybe she was just happier as a foal! One can never tell. She does, however, jump at the sudden loud voice, ears pricking as she looks around.

Winter-Solstice slurrrrp. That's a good Violently Fluorescent Troplical Drink, she thinks. It's like luau in my mouth, and everyon's invited. She looks up around her straw at the LOUD NOISES approaching from over yonder, though, leaning forward to peek around her cart and in Carronade's direction, along with many others in the assorted crowds. Along the way, she thinks she catches sight of Miniature Jellybean, hiding just out of sight, and is about to get up and investigate when the twins interrupt her.

Winter blinks, slurping at her drink a bit more, looking back and forth between the two for a few moments. As their rapid commentary gives way to bickering, her lips curl into a smile, and then a grin as she lets go of the straw. "Kludge? Nah. This is for a, a, a, I can't remember who it was. So I stopped here to try and remember." She reaches out with her free forehoof to give the cart a thump; inside are several large sheets of metal, stacked neatly. "Know anybody looking for ten sheets of four by five steel? You guys, maybe? That's not why you're here, is it? Looking for a lost delivery? I hope not, ha! I thought I was only KIND of late, not TOTALLY late, so late they came out hunting for me." She stirs her drink a bit more with the straw, eliciting more fizzin', and turns to peer over at Typhoon. Winter doesn't recognize her, but she's hanging around near the cart, so… "… are YOU the one looking for steel plates? You're kinda small, but hey! That happens to a lot of people around here!"

The twin sisters catch sight of the big, burly stallion - prompting a very amused grin from the sisters. The green-eyed, green-haired mare - Seaside-Shimmer piping "Wow!" The blue-eyed, blue-haired Tropical-Sunset continues the train of thought. "Ask you and receive." "Right on queue." "I'll see." "This warrants a closer look." "Certainly a closer looker."

Winter's words draw the attention of the sisters away from the unfamiliar stallion, then again everypony around these parts are unfamiliar. "Afraid not not." "Nope, no need for steel." "How about a flank of steel?" "I think we could find a use for that." the pair hopping down to trot towards Carronade while looking at all the ponies "Way different." "Last night it was just Ruby and her boyfriend." "Yeah, believe that? Ruby has a boyfriend!" "Even if they pretend otherwise. "Totally into each other." Cheerfully piping in unison as they near Carronade "Hi!

Jellybean pokes his head out from behind the cart sheepishly before rejoining Typhoon and waving a friendly little greeting to Winny. "Hi miss Solstice," he says, bobbing his head. "What's that you're drinking? Is that grown-up juice?"

Carronade seems oblivious to his inherent loudness disrupting a few ponies as he resumes his trot, nudging past Winter and her two conversational companions. "EXCUSE me." After a few more strides he stops again, turning his head to look one way up the boardwalk and then down the other. Then back again. And then gets distracted from trying to decide where he's going by the twins catching up to him. "Oh HELLO LADIES. Need something?"

Winter-Solstice 's voice trails off as her gaze trails after the twins. Her grin dissipates, her expression growing a bit abstract and unreadable. She is clearly Thinking Something, but her thoughtful distraction is gone a moment later as she overhears their conversation. "Ruby and Kludge ARE an item! I KNEW it! He tried to deny it but I totally saw through him like… like a…" Furrowing her brow, she stirs her drink. "Like a wall, but the wall is made of… of GLASS, so it's like a glass see-through window!" With a confident smirk, she dips into her drink once more, and almost snorts it up her nose as Jellybean makes himself known. "Jellybean! I KNEW it! I thought it seemed particularly Jellybeany around here!" She hauls up to her hooves- or three of them, at least, still holding her drink in the other. How? -Skill.- She is even skillful enough to keep the drink from spilling as Carronade pushes past- although she hardly seems to notice. "And this? Grown-up juice? You meal alcohol? I guess. I think? They tell me lots of stuff is alcoholic but I'm starting to believe they're always lying because I never ever actually taste any of it. How's it going, squirt? Who's your friend? I like your scarf. Wait- wait! WAIT. Wait." She sets her drink down, pauses, eyes Carronade and the twins, and scoots her drink a bit further back away from them, then turns to face Jellybean and Typhoon. "-Wait.- Is this Typhoon? You know, your girlyfriend?"

The twins beam cheerfully at Carronade. "Just thought we'd say hello." "Neighborly thing and all." "Not really neighbors yet." "That'd constitute a home." "Ruby promised a place to stay." "That she did." A sudden look of shock as the twins realized their attention is misplaced! "Oh!" they exclaim before Seaside-Shimmer continues "I'm Seaside-Shimmer, and this is Tropical-Sunset." "Pleasure to meet you!" The pair of white mares beam all friendly like. "You're a big one." "Very big." "I reckon that mare might be larger." "Oh! Let's have them leg-wrestle." "Yes, lets!" "Will you?" Tropical-Sunset addressing Carronade, and Seaside-shimmer Winny "Will you?"

Typhoon-Wave blinks and blushes, looking over at Jellybean and then up at Winter shyly. "Oh, uh… w-well, I… yeah, um, I'm Typhoon-Wave." After a moment's pause, she added, "Nice to meet you," upon recalling her manners.

Carronade has to keep turning his head from one side to the other to try and keep up with the rapid fire conversation between the two mares. Unfortunately he starts to lag behind at the end, and by the time they're asking about leg-wrestling he's only gotten as far as the introductions, rumbling a somewhat ponderous "… I'm CARRONADE."

Jellybean beams widely at Winter Solstice, throwing a leg around Typhoon suddenly. "She's my very special somepony!" he announces with an almost goofily happy grin.

One of Winter's ears- the one facing towards Carronade, natch- goes flick flick flick as he bellows. Loud noise aaaahhh. Otherwise she seems cool with it. She also seems cool with Typhoon, and her subsequent smile lights her face up so much she's practically a fizzy drink herself. "Nice to meet you too, Typhoon! 'Bean here told me all about you. Like how-" Her chatter abruptly halts and her mouth hangs open. She closes it, pauses, and tries again, "And like how you-" Again, the brakes are abruptly applied. She stares at the pair of foals for several long moments. "Actually come to think of it he didn't say much except that you guys think you can't make it as an item as adults, or at least more adulty than you are now, which, I don't know. I think that if that's what you think then that's what you think and that's okay. As long as you are being HONEST." Her steel blue gaze bores into Jellybean for one moment of insistence, before Winter perks back up. "Hey, Jelly, good thing you're here, too. I thought of something you're perfectly sized for. You wanna play a game?" Reaching over, she starts rummaging around in one of her saddlebags.
You paged Ruby-Blossom with 'Kludge denied it and he's so gonna get an earful about how he's a lying liarpants'.

The twins are simply glow with amusement as they bombard Carronade with attention - wanted or not! "Carronade?" "That's a cool name" "Way cool." "I like it me. "Me too." "We're new in town." "Fresh off the boat." "Pleasure to meet you." "I'm sure you'll agree it's a pleasure!" the twins nodding in unison. "How lucky are you?" "Two cute mares totally talking to you." again nodding in unison. "But enough about that." "What do you do?" "Where do you do it?" "How'd you get those muscles?" "Those big muscles." "Those firm muscles." An addorable little callout in unison "Tell us?"

Typhoon-Wave blushes a bit deeper, casting a sideways look to Jellybean. Well, that wasn't /exactly/ it, was it? It wasn't that they didn't think they could make it as a couple at /all/. It was that they were worried they'd make it all confusing again, and be too shy to admit they /wanted/ to be a couple. Right? That's totally what it was. They /could/ make it as a couple! If they just didn't get all shy again.

Carronade replies with a proud booming "CANNONS" like it answers everything they asked. Except it actually does answer most of what they asked. You know how big and heavy a cannon can be when you need to push them around? Even cannonballs are fairly weighty, when you're not a unicorn that can just magic them into a barrel.

Jellybean blinkblinks. "A game? Sure, I like games. What do you want to play?" He closes his eyes for a second. "Is it Hide and Seek?" He notices Typhoon's expression and gives her an encouraging little nudge.

Winter-Solstice looks up from her rustlin', watching Typhoon's sheepish glanceabouts, hesitating slightly. Wait, was she wrong? This girl is quiet. Is that bad? Probably good for Jelly. He screams around loud things. Loudness is infectious. She glances at Carronade momentarily, then back to Jelly, smiling brightly. "No! Yes. Yes! Hide and seek! Sometime, not now. You would clearly have an advantage. Ah ha!" She finds what she's looking for: A brush. A pink brush. She holds it in one hoof, then turns towards Jellybean with a smile as menacing as it is cheerful. "I call this game My Little Pony."

She closes the distance between herself and Jellybean in one smooth stride, and assuming he is not quick enough to escape, he soon finds himself being scooped up by Winter, who drops down on her duff, positions Jelly before herself, and wielding the brush, reaches up to… brush out his mane. Her eyes are practically glittering. "The point of My Little Pony- it works best with LITTLE ponies, you see, and you're pretty little right now- is to make the prettiest pony you can." Brushie brushie brushie. One might fear she would BRUSH with enough enthusiasm to defoliate Jelly's scalp in short order, but she shows a surprising degree of restraint, although there doesn't seem to be much of a method to her brushing. "The winner is whoever wins. There is no scoring system. Also nobody loses. Come to think of it it's not much of a game. Maybe I'm thinking of something else. All I know is that I had a bunch of little dresses and a nice hat and some little ribbons and I thought, ''Bean is little, this will be PERFECT.'" Brushie brushie~

Winter-Solstice glances up from her work at Typhoon. "Hey! What's better? Blue or… or actually a… actually sky blue or more like a, like a deep oceany? Kind of blue?"

Jellybean's mane is certainly brushable, albeit floofy in the extreme. He doesn't seem to mind the attention, certainly. "Can Typhoon play too?"

Typhoon-Wave looks back at Jellybean, perking up again and smiling sheepishly. It doesn't matter, after all! They don't have to grow up anytime soon, right?

She blinks and giggles as he's scooped up and brushed. "You're gonna make it all… poofy." Poofier? She ponders the question. "…I like lotsa blues. Blue's kinda nice in general."

The twins smile "Cannons?" "Whoa" "Double whoa" "Awesome." "Loud, but awesome." "That's so interesting." "Tell us more?" "During dinner?" "This weekend?" the constant exchanges between the sisters more than a little confusing. "We look forward to it!" they beam in unison.

"… Okay?" Carronade looks a little confused, like he's not entirely sure just what he's agreed himself into because of the way they bounce back and forth between each other. But he heard dinner in there and food is always a good thing.

Winter-Solstice brushie brushie. At one point she seems to be smoothing Jelly's mane down entirely, then she stops, and decides he needs a pompadour, and brushes accordingly. Her face works into the sort of expression of intense concentration one might expect from a surgeon or a master sculptor or an artisan sushi chef or something. "Yeah? Lots of blues? That's exactly the right answer! All of the blues." She sets the brush down atop Jelly's head and leans back to dig through her bags, pulling out a wad of ribbons, all some shade of blue or another. It takes a bit of effort and some tugging with her teeth and maybe cutting one or two but eventually she dislodges a pair of ribbons- one is a Sapphire Blue, another sort of a Sad Bluebird Blue. Reaching up, she starts gathering up Jelly's mane and tying the ribbons into it, although she is not very good at it. Her pieplate hooves probably aren't helping, fumbling about the back of Jelly's skull. "Typhoon can play, too, I guess, if she wants? Here, Typhoon, pick something out." She digs into the other saddlebag and produces a buncha dresses. There are some with polkadots and some with lace and some with frilly frills and others with silky pleats. Most of them are blue-ish. They're all foal-sized, and nice and clean, if a bit rumpled.

Jellybean makes little noises as he his marehandled. Polite little noises, mostly, but the occasional startled one. A question beckons. "Where did you get these, Miss Solstice?"

Carronade blinks a couple of times as the twin mares run off. "… I THINK I just got ASKED on a DATE…" he muses to nopony in particular. Blinks again. Then goes back to trying to remember where he was going in the first place

Typhoon-Wave brightens at the dresses, ears perking. She trots over to them, looking them over curiously. These might actually fit her! Yay! Fancy pretty dresses. She sorts through them carefully, looking for something pastel.

Winter-Solstice glances up to Carronade. "Spot on, mate! I think you got asked on date, too!" She turns back to her work and continues fumbling with the ribbon. "Here, hold this," she asks, handing the second ribbon to Jellybean, and by 'hand' I mean 'drapes it over his nose so it dangles down to either side like a satin fu manchu.' "The dresses? From a reputable source, I assure you. These are not illegal smuggle dresses or anything like that, ha ha ha!"

There are pastel ones! There are pastel greens and blues and a pastel pink one, too. Cooler colors, generally.

After a few more fumbling moments, Winter bounces. "Aha! Got it! Look! Yeah!" The world's most unruly pigtail sticks out from the side of Jellybean's head. Winter nabs the other ribbon on his nose and gets to work on a second pigtail, humming cheerfully. "My little pony, my little pony, you ain't no phony, sticky and stoney~"

Jellybean is utterly oblivious to what's happening to his mane, instead happily humming along and watching Typhoon with interest to see what she chooses. "You think it was a date, mister? That sounds nice. Dates are fun. Tasty, too."

Does dinner with twins count as two dates at one time, or a double date with two ponies? Oof, this is going to get confusing fast. "YEP." Hopefully the date won't involve a meal with dates, because then it's just going to get bizarre. "Oh YEA. GUNPOWDER." Can't fire cannons without gunpowder, after all. HAving remembered what he was originally going for Carronad loudly tromps off towards the shops.

Winter-Solstice turns to wave to Carronade. "Gunpowder! I agree!" She's not sure what she agrees with, but when someone says something that loudly and self-assuredly, then dagummit she's not about to let the opportunity pass her by. She looks back to Jelly. In her moment of distraction, she has somehow tied the second ribbon around one of his ears. "Whoops! Ha. That's not how that goes at all." SHe undoes it and once more attempts to attain pigtail symmetry.

Typhoon-Wave picks out one of the pastel blue dresses, peeking over to see what had come of Jellybean's mane so far. She blinks and giggles. "Yeah, though ear-ribbons look kinda nice too, I guess?" she offers, pausing to tug the dress on.

Jellybean's ear flicks a little when it gets tied up like that but he still remains patient. A Grown-Up is Doing Things, after all, and it would be rude to fidget. "I wonder if ear-ribbons are a thing somewhere," he ponders aloud. "You could do a lot of things with them, after all."

Winter-Solstice gathers up some Jellymane and starts tying the ribbon, then stops. "Whoops. Hold on." She gathers up some more Jellymane and starts tying the ribbon, then stops. "Whoops. Hold on." She gathers up some more Jellymane and starts tying the ribbon, then stops. "Whoops. Hold on." She gathers up some more Jellymane and starts tying the ribbon, then stops. "Whoops. Hold- actually wait." She resumes, then ahhhhs and draws her hooves back. "Magnifique!" Jellybean now sports two pigtails, one sticking out at a roughly two o'clock angle, the other at more of a nine o'clock. Pippi Longstocking comparisons would not be untoward if this was a setting where she existed. Winter then peers at Typhoon. "I meant pick out a dress for 'Bean, silly! But honestly, girl, you are makin' that dress -work,- so you keep it. Here-" She reaches over and nabs another from the pile. This one is sort of a pastel mint green, fairly simple, with a lacey collar and buttons~ "Jelly! Stand up. Also don't look in the mirror yet!" There is no mirror.

Jellybean stands up in a manner both obedient and puzzled. He works it well. He's also blushing in a very happy way and bouncing up and down gently o his hooves. "I wanna seeeee," he says excitedly.

Typhoon-Wave blinks and blushes deeply. "Oh. Uh, right. Sorry." She starts to shrug the dress off, but pauses at Winter's words. "Keep it?" She blinks over at Jellybean, biting back a giggle. "That's a new look for you! I've never seen your mane like that."

Jellybean scuffs a hoof. "I'm a li'l too clumsy to do it myself. Sometimes my big sister does my mane for me, though."

"Not yet! Not yet!" insists winter. She hooks a hoof under Jelly's middle and hauls him upright, then drops the dress down over his head. "Hup!" He is lifted and turned about and the dress tugged this way and that. "Whoop! Ho ho! Yeah!" More turning and tossing. Outside the satin folds that cover his face, the world feels upside-down to Jelly. "Hup, hup, huzzah! There!" Winter sets the foal back down. The dress is backwards and binding two of his legs together. "Wait, no! No. Okay. Let's try that again. Be less sticking-out-of-the-armholesy this time," insists Winter, before picking Jelly up and turning him about once more in the manner one works a rubik's cube. Again, she's gentle, but there is sort of a dizzying spin cycle effect on the poor foal. "Yeah, keep it. It doesn't fit me at all," she says to Typhoon as she works.

Eventually, though, she seems to figure the puzzle out, and sets Jellybean back down. The dress appears to be in the right spot, and NOT inside-out, and what's more, somehow he has another ribbon tied around his left foot. (This one is green.) Winter stops and stares for a moment before squealing with delight and digging into her saddlebags. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Okay, okay, now you can look!" Tromping around to Jellybean's front, she holds up a book. "TA DA- wait." Tossing the book aside, she reveals a little hoof mirror of polished and worn silver.

Jellybean looks into the mirror and beams widely before leaping and hugging Winter Solstice. "Thank you, Miss Solstice! It's so pretty! I wanna show it off to everypony." He assays a clumsy little twirl gleefully, his tail swishing back and forth eagerly.

Winter-Solstice beams brightly. "Good! I mean I'm really really bad at this but if you like it then I guess it all worked out, ha ha! And don't call me Miss Solstice. You can call me Winter. Miss Solstice is my -mom.-" She thinks. "Actually that's not true, my mom's name is Number Cruncher. So I guess that makes me Miss Solstice." She smiles at Jellybean, and then for one very brief, very terrifying moment, she feels very old and very silly, and her pupils dilate and her brow furrows and then just like that it passes and she grins super big. "Well then! I consider this game a SUCCES. We win! Huzzah! Hey, want a ride on the cart? I think I remembered where I'm supposed to bring this stuff. You wanna come too, Typhoon?" She makes her way over to the hitches of her steel plate-stacked wagon and goes about hooking herself back up.

Typhoon-Wave nods agreeingly to Jelly. "You do look real pretty!" He does. That's a nice green. Yay, green. She looks over to Winter, tilting her head. "A ride on the cart? Uh, sure! Okay! Where're we going?"

Jellybean flaps his wings and hops into the cart, looking like the happiest little filly at a beauty pageant. Or colt, anyway. "Okay!"

"Jellybean! Help the lady up," announces Winter, hitching herself up. "And where are we going? Over there! We'll find out what's over there when we get there!" And with that she sallies forth, wagon and bedress'd foals in tow.

The remainder of the riotously orange drink and the dresses remain in the street, but dockside drunks take care of both before night falls.