Wanderlust: Equestrian Nights, Part II

They both look at him, and Water yawns again. "Ok, fine, but you have to go nicely explain to Taffy why we're leaving." "And are we totally certain this can't wait until after breakfast and/or hangover?"

Scorch raises an eyebrow to all this. First Discord, now Princess Twilight? Just what the hell was that suitcase and how did it get Wandering working with royalty? "Yeah, how soon do you all have to leave?"

Discord rubs his chin thoughtfully. "... You should be able to get breakfast first. Especially since one of you is sleeping off the Neon Green," he says. "So. How about you three-" he continues, gesturing to the Twins and Bubbling Spring, "go and track down Taffy Stretch and see if she'll join us, while I talk with Scorch here and bring him a little more up to speed than he seems to be. How does that sound?"

The twins shrug and go downstairs, looking for Taffy.

Steam Twins

Bubbling Spring says nothing, falling in behind the twins sullenly.

The trio does not find Taffy Stretch at the bottom of the stairs. They do find Sky Lotus, shuffling papers and a cup of coffee as she gets the spa ready for the day.

---

Scorch

Discord waves silently as your friends leave in search of the other friend. "Now," he says, turning back towards Scorch, leaning back against the wall, hands behind his head. "Where would you like me to start?"

Steam Twins

"She probably went to the Luna-Brew down the road," Sky Lotus says without looking up. "It's down that way about half a block," she continues, pointing down the street with an outstretched hoof.

"Thanks." The twins head out and in that direction, entering the Luna-Brew when they see it.

Steam Twins

The Luna-Brew turns out to be a smallish building in an unassuming corner, sporting a cute-looking logo featuring Princess Luna hugging an oversized mug.

Or that was probably the builder's intent. The long line of tired, groggy ponies extending out the door makes it stick out like a sore hoof. Luckily, you can see Taffy in this line, just a few places away from the door.

"Oh wow, you're really waiting in this line?" Water asks her as they approach. "Hey, so, Taffy, how would you like to... go on a trip?" "And maybe meet a princess?"

Steam Twins

Taffy turns her head slowly, giving you a dreary look.

"... Coffee first."

"Well yeah, but after coffee." "We're gonna have breakfast first, but then we're leaving right after that." "You wanna come or not?"

Steam Twins

"... Coffee first," she insists.

"I don't think we're going to get anywhere with her that way," Bubbling Spring offers helpfully.

"That's fine, we'll wait." Soft looks ahead to the front of the line to see how fast its moving, while Water turns to the pony behind Taffy. "Is this the only coffee place around here? Must be really good to wait in a line like this."

---

Perception to see why the line isn't moving: 12+7=19
Insight to figure out other things: 11+7=18

Steam Twins

Glowing Soft's ears can just make out some sort of commotion inside the store, although it's hard to tell what's going on.

Water Drop is answered by a groggy, grey coated stallion.

"There's another one, but it's on the other end of town," he explains. "I dunno though, it might actually be worth the trouble today. It's taking a lot longer than normal."

"Hmmm..." Water flaps into the air and hovers to the doors, entering. Soft just follows with a few quiet 'excuse me's, and both of them head towards the counter to see what's going on.

Steam Twins

Many of the ponies protest, but none of them resist.

The inside proves to hold about five more ponies worth of line. However, the line is also about four or five ponies "wide" in here, with a number of ponies electing to form groups.

Behind the counter is a unicorn stallion with a brown coat and red mane who seems to be desperately trying to run from one end of the counter to the other repeatedly as he tries to keep up with the rush.

Water flaps up to the counter and leans on it casually, addressing the stallion with a sarcastic grin "Hey, ya busy?" "Oh, is he working alone? No wonder it's taking so long." "Do you need help?"

Steam Twins

The stallion stops to catch his breath a moment. "Yeah, you could say that. Neither of my other guys have showed up yet," he explains, picking himself up to get back to it. "Really sucks!"

The twins look at each other. "Ok, we'll help." "I don't think we-" "No it's fine." Water nudges Soft and flaps over the counter. "Ok, so let's start with a cup of coffee, if that's alright?" Water looks around. "Does it need to be brewed or is there some ready?"

General Knowledge: 18+7=25

Crystalite wrote:Discord waves silently as your friends leave in search of the other friend. "Now," he says, turning back towards Scorch, leaning back against the wall, hands behind his head. "Where would you like me to start?"

"Well, let me tell you what I know," starts Scorch, "Wandering went off to look at some suitcase, and he didn't need me to help him so I went off on a secret vacation. Then yesterday I found him here. He tells me the suitcase was some chaos magic... which I suppose explains why you're around, and that he now has two marefriends. Then the blue unicorn told him about some sort of herdmind and now he's got assassins on his flank or something like that. Honestly anything that happens in between would be a good start."

Scorch

"Hmmm.... How about I start with with what we know about the Herdmind, then? That seems like a fairly in-the-middle thing," he says, conjuring an armchair with a snap of the fingers.

"Now. Several days ago, a group of ponies in black robes - very cliché, but no matter - led a three pronged attack on Equestria. They were here in Fillydelphia, in Ponyville, and in Canterlot," he says. A sort of map forms in between you, with bright red X marks on the appropriate cities. "The attack was considered a failure on their part - damages where minimal, and there were ponies missing, but no confirmed casualties on our side. But that's not the odd part. All three attacks happened at the same time, down to the minute at least. Perhaps further. This kind of coordination at those kind of distances is... We'll say "improbable" and leave it at that. Are you with me so far?"

---

Steam Twins

As luck would have it, the whole setup is fairly intuitive. The brewer has a number of flavors marked by buttons, each accompanied by a nozzle, and there is also a station for adding cream, sugar, and other such fluff. A small little box periodically spits out orders, with names marking the appropriate customer. The twins feel quite confident that they can work this out.

The unicorn comes back from the other end with a startled look. "Hey! What are you doing!?"

Scorch replies with a nod. "Yeah, I know the guys you're talking about. Didn't know they attacked multiple places. So, what next?"

"Well, did you want us to help or not?" Water grabs a ticket, pretends to read it, and then grabs a cup and begins filling it with coffee. "Ok how much for one cup of coffee?" She nudges Soft, who stares for a moment, and then catches on, her horn beginning to glow.

Steam Twins

The unicorn stares a moment in disbelief, a sparkle of something like hope in his eyes. "You... You'd help me out? Just like that?"

---

Scorch

"Wandering Eye was involved in the defense of Ponyville, along with his new-at-the-time marefriends, and the blue unicorn - Bubbling Spring is his name. Now, I wasn't there at the time, but evidently he was able to pick up a magical scan on one of the attackers, paired it with several observations, and concluded that a collective consciousness existed between the different attackers," Discord continues to explain, taking a sip of mug from a coffee. "Yesterday afternoon Bubbling Spring was able to confirm this through one such member, as well as several other pieces of valuable information about this collective. They call themselves the Herdmind," he says, pausing to take another sip, drinking some of the handle, leaving it somehow floating next to his hand. "Still with me?"