Wanderlust: Equestrian Nights

"Yeah, Eyeball and I already had that argument," Nightmare says in grouchily, ignoring Bubbling Spring and sparing a wary, hateful eye towards Scorch. "I'll be more impressed than anybody if you change his mind."

"Well then I guess Bubbling is just going to have to come along as well." "As unromantic as it sounds, he's been almost killed, what, 3 times today?" "So if our new dragon friend isn't going to stay back with him, and Taffy has already turned in, then he's gonna have to come with us." The twins look over at him sympathetically. "No way we're gonna leave you off on your own again, not if what you told us is true."

Bubbling Spring nods appreciatively. "I'm grateful for the offer, but I think I might just be able to conjure up another plus one for the night, if someone can show me where we left Discord's funky suitcase. I'm going to set it on fire and see if he shows up." Having finally said the idea out loud, Bubbling Spring is suddenly aware of how silly that sounds. "...Admittedly, I wouldn't choose his company over yours normally. But I don't want to leave Lavender skulking around the city overnight." He tries very hard not to think that if they left her out for too long, she might leave.

"Nice to know where I sit on that scale," Nightmare says grumpily, going inside briefly to retrieve the suitcase in question, dumping it unceremoniously at Bubbling Spring's hooves.

"Have at it. One spectator is quite enough," he says, glaring at Scorch as he says it.

He turns back to the twins. "With that out of the way, we should probably get going, or we'll end up standing on the street all night. Not high on my to-do list," he says as he fiddles with the crown on his head. "Which begs the question, where shall we go? Eyeball never did ask around about the good places."

By the goddesses, Nightmare had a penchant for extreme theatrics. And in spite of all that, he hadn't gone for any spell that was remotely flashy. What he had done was a tremendous magical feat, but Bubbling Spring doubted anyone else around understood what had just transpired. Suitably impressed (but trying not to show it), he lets a puff of flame lick at one corner of the suitcase...

"I already have a place in mind," growls Scorch to the Nightmare. "There's a small restaurant on the edge of town called The Willow. It's homely, a good price, and has nice views. It doesn't serve hopes, or dreams, or happiness, or whatever it is you eat, but I'm sure you'll make do."

"That sounds fine." "It's not too far is it? I'd like to not have to walk too far back to our rooms." "I'll just carry you." "Or you could not." "Or the dragon could carry you." "... Or you could carry me. Or I could just walk back." "Or you could just walk back." The twins begin heading off, then pause. "You're gonna have to lead the way, buddy."

Twins and Scorch

"Of course I can't carry you," Nightmare mutters, voice dripping with sarcasm. "That would be too gentlemanly. Oh well. Lead on, Scorch-Breath."

---

Bubbling Spring

As the rest of the party leaves to find dinner, your flame starts to crawl across the suitcase.

Slowly.

Painfully so. You almost wonder if anything is going to happen...

... When suddenly something does happen. By which "Something" means "The suitcase", and "happen" means "burst into a fiery inferno". This in and of itself does nothing (Besides ruining the suitcase and singeing your fur a little). But you feel a sudden sense of dread, and are quite certain something awful is about to happen...

Scorch-Breath leads on, mumbling under his breath...

Scorch leads the three to and alongside the river, until they reach a building built on a small raised platform, with both decorations and flora hanging downwards from where they hang. The building itself is wide but only one floor, albeit tall enough to count as one and a half, with white walls and a thatched roof running over it. Lanterns sitting upon the posts on the small horse fence that runs alongside the raised platform illuminate the way in to the restaurant; two at the bottom of the stairs up the platform, two at the top, and one near the wooden door inside, although lights shines out of the circular windows on the front and side, and the bay window that overlooks the river and forests on the other side...

Nightmare has, by now, somehow stuck himself in between the twins as they walked. "Quaint little place, isn't it?" he asks rhetorically. "I wonder if we can get a window seat," he suggests, nudging the twins towards the door.

The inside proves to have warm, homey feeling to it: chandeliers overhead cast a soft glow over creamy white walls and a wooden floor. Large fireplaces on either end add to the warmth while also providing additional light to the big, round tables dominating the center, with square shaped booths lining the window, and a long bar lining the opposite wall. Several ponies with aprons scurry about as they attend to a fairly light crowd, and the sound of a skillfully played piano provides a cheery, sedated overtone to the whole affair.

Bubbling Spring was unamused. It used to be that there were laws about the motion and travels of fire, and that fire kept to those laws at all times. In the past few days, he had begun to understand that the 'laws' were probably better described as 'loosely-worded suggestions,' and the fact of that did not make him happy. In the meantime, however, taking cover and letting the suitcase burn itself out on the cobblestones (another 'law' that could well be circumvented) seemed wise, so Bubbling Spring darted after the rest of the group until he turned a corner, then poking his head out from behind the wall to watch someone else's pyrotechnics show (for once).

Twins and Scorch

After several moments one of the aproned ponies - an orange earth mare - approaches.

"Welcome, welcome! Four tonight? Have a seat anywhere you'd like,  and we'll... Uhm... " She suddenly falters in the middle of what was probably an automatic line as she eyes the crown on Nightmare's head.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Nightmare says in an irritated tone.

---

Bubbling Spring

Ignoring the loosely-worded suggestions of physics, the flames begin to climb into the air, forming into a familiar draconequine shape. The flames rapidly flash through several different colors - orange, green, blue, and purple - before a bright flash leaves behind a somewhat confused (And sadly not burning) Discord, currently facing away from you.

"... Well. That happened. Is anypony here?" he asks out loud, turning around in search of the one responsible...

((Stealth check to remain hidden, please. If that's you want to do, of course.))

"I cannot believe that worked." Bubbling Spring says, grinning as he steps out from behind his brick shield. "Um...first order of business: I almost died three times today. In the process, I got some..." His smile fades. "Not particularly tactically useful information, but it's good confirmation, at least. Princess Twilight should hear about it. Second order of business: Lavender is missing, and I want to find her." The next sentence catches in his throat just a little bit. "Will you help me with that?"

Scorch stands arms folded, not saying anything, waiting to see what happens...

The twins share subtle looks over the Nightmare's back on the way to the restaurant. When addressed by the hostess, they both sigh. "Yeah, four of us, unfortunately." "Do you accept crowns as payment, or...?"

Twins and Scorch

The server's eyes widen. "Uhm - sure! Absolutely! In fact, let me show you to a balcony seat," she says, disbelief in the event clear on her face.

The balcony seat turns out to be one of two separate balconies hanging over the river, each with but a single table, providing a marvelous view of the moonlit surface. The fireplace conveniently happens to be right next to the open doorway providing a well balanced warmth against the cool breeze, and the piano music drifts out over the river to dance across the surface.

The server puts down menus along four of the seats, allowing Nightmare to seat the twins in turn.

"My name is Glowing Lantern, and I'll be your server tonight! What would you like to drink tonight?"

Nightmare glances up from the menu towards the twins across from him, as if awaiting a cue of some kind.

---

Bubbling Spring

"Oh? Getting right to the point, are we? Let me see..." A snap of the fingers produces a wide, thick book labeled "To-Do List", which he begins to scribble on as he talks. "You mysteriously seem to have not died, so I'm going to ignore that. Twily's asleep right now, so no use bothering her. That leaves... " He snaps the book closed, leveling a a creepy smile towards you. "... Lavender. Such a shame. You've lost three friends in as many days. One of them might have even been your fault! So tragic," he says in a sympathetic voice. "Lavender is miles down the road. And no, I don't know where, precisely. So, how about you walk with me, and tell me aaaaall about it," he says, gesturing down the street.

Scorch takes a look around for any other tables that are empty but still give good view of the table the twins and the nightmare were going to sit at...

Scorch ends up choosing a table inside the main room (seeing as how there's only one on the balcony) just beyond the doorway next to the fireplace. Conveniently, it also affords him a good view of the door and most of the rest of the establishment, including the massive grand piano, although he can't see the painist behind it.

The twins shrug and take seats, noting that Scorch opted to sit away from the table. "I will have some wine, please. Best Red you've got." "Hmm... what's your most expensive cocktail? I'll have two." The twins smile at the waitress and then turn to their date. "So, we're here." "You wanted us, you got us, so now what's the game plan?"

"Lavender's...gone?" Bubbling Spring felt like staggering once more, but it had little to do with exhaustion this time. Instead, his brick shield becomes a brick support as he leans on it. "She left?"

Twins and Scorch

"Let's just get a bottle of that Red, shall we?" Nightmare says to the server before she scurries off.

"Now. I must confess to a little ignorance on this part," Nightmare says calmly, putting the crown on the table next to him. "Ordinarily, we'd start telling each other about ourselves to strike up conversation. That is rather the point of dating, is it not?"

---

Sunbeam

"Yes, it's quite sad," Discord says supportively, sitting down to wrap a scaly arm around your shoulder. "Shh. It'll be okay. Tell me all about it."

"Ordinarily, yes." "But don't you already know all about us from our date with Wandering?" "And we know pretty much all there is to know about you." "Unless there's something you'd care to tell us that will make this more interesting."

Twins

"That's not the same as knowing everything about you," Nightmare retorts. "And I'm willing admit I was... Distracted during the train ride. So tell me," he says, leaning forward to rest his head on his forehooves. "Tell me... Tell me about your pastimes. What do you do when you're not caught up in the conspiracies of a collected consciousness with murder on it's mind?"

Bubbling Spring gives Discord a baleful look. "You're inherent ability to piss me off is making me feel better." Nonetheless, he sighs and sits down properly. "Less sad, anyways. The first of my myriad murder attempts today happened while Lavender and I were at a wishing well." He wrinkles his nose. "Probably the one you were thinking of, given what happened later. Anyways, I got thrown down the well by someone who made it clear that Lavender was somewhere high up on her hit list. So were Wandering and the Twins. When I got out of the well, Lavender was gone. Taking cover and finding help were completely sensible actions, so I tracked down the others assuming she'd done the latter, and when she wasn't with them I assumed she'd done the former. Which...I guess she has." He sighs again. He has a lot of things bouncing around in his head, and can't pick out which ones are worth saying.

They give a collected sigh, obviously not getting out of this. "We travel a lot." "I get temp work as a weather pony, and make MOST of our money." "Yeah well... I do other stuff. Odd jobs that I can find whenever we get to a new town. It's not stable, but we don't like stable." "Especially since we're.... well. We aren't looking to settle anywhere just yet."