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#Post#: 3372--------------------------------------------------
0, The Fool
By: Ruby Fortuna Date: September 7, 2014, 1:45 am
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Three solid knocks on the bedroom door woke the magenta mare up
with a start. In her half sleeping grogginess, she sat up and
raised a hoof to her eye to rub the rheum out of it, groaning a
little as her mind pulled together a few questions from its
sluggish consciousness. Did I wake up in my bed? Did I wake up
in my bed? and What time is it? She cracked open her right eye,
brushing the low hanging bangs to the side to make out the
blurry brown blob of wood in front of her. With another defeated
groan, she set her head back down on her desk, having answered
the first two questions she thought of. There was no bed to have
woken up in, it was another night where she fell asleep at her
desk, amidst the pages of a book that, for the time being, is
serving as a rather uncomfortable pillow. Her mind cranked
itself awake slowly as the knocking on the door continued, and
her name was called through the door, "Ruby? Are you still in
here?"
"Ugghh... yeah," came her half-assed response. She looked down
at the book, slouching in her chair as she tried to figure out
what she fell asleep doing. The book was open to a page on
Doppelgangers once more, just as it was the day before, and her
tarot card deck sat next to it, the cards knocked lightly over
into a long fan across her desk. Her horn glowed as she picked
up the cards, rifling through them and counting to make sure
that the deck was still whole. 0, The Fool. I, The Magician. II,
High Priestess... The voice from behind the door came once more,
"Can I come in?" Ruby collapsed the deck into a neat pile and
placed it back in its box, turning in her chair to face the door
as she answered, "Yeah."
The door opened and in walked an older mare, her mane tied back
in a bun, taking a quick look around the room before asking,
"Were you reading in the dark again, Ruby?" to which she quickly
answered, "I wasn't." The older mare looked at her, expecting
more to the answer, and sighed as she realized that today was
going to be a difficult day, "Were you sleeping then?" The
answer came flatly, "Yeah." "Do you know what time it is?" "No."
The older mare gave an exasperated sigh as she said, "Ruby, I'm
not in the mood to play twenty questions with you today, so
please, work with me here..." she trailed off as she looked at
Ruby, then back around the room, asking nervously, "Wh-Where's
your snake?" Ruby looked around the room as well, glancing
quickly under the desk and in her drawers, "Iunno. She might be
hunting for food again-- oh, here she is." Ruby opened a drawer,
peering in at the python that coiled itself up in one of the
many empty drawers that it liked to make itself home in. The
python shifted as the drawer opened, flitting its tongue towards
the intruder before resting its head back on its coils.
Ruby closed the drawer halfway and turned to look at her foster
mother, arching her brow as she let out a sigh of relief. "Oh
good," began the older mare, "anyways, it is nearly four o'clock
in the afternoon. You've been sleeping all day, it's time to
wake up. C'mon." Ruby flinched as the dim lights were flicked
on, standing up on wobbly legs as the foster mother asked, "What
are you going to do for the rest of the day? Clean your room I
hope?" Ruby looked at her foster mother with a withering stare
before setting her saddlebag on the chair, closing the book on
the desk and putting it in the bag, along with a few other tomes
and her deck of tarot cards, "I have to return these books
before the library closes first, and then I'm meeting some
friends to see a movie." Not one, but three blatant lies in one
sentence: the books weren't due for another week, she had no
friends to see a movie with, and there wasn't even anything
interesting playing in the theater today and thus never planned
on going. Her foster mother, oblivious to this, frowned and
conceded, "Well, alright, but be back before eleven tonight.
You're getting into your bad habits again."
===================
A half an hour later, Ruby sat in her usual place in the market
square: on top of a cushion next to an isolated table with an
umbrella sheltering it from the sun. Her saddlebag sat empty
beside her, the python curled up inside it as it continued to
bask while Ruby stayed out of the sun. Her books sat piled up on
the table, supporting one that was propped open upright for easy
reading as she shuffled her tarot cards. It was a beautiful
afternoon, and there was still a few hours in the day left
before it would start getting dark. Some of her regulars were no
doubt annoyed that she was not where she usually was, or even
around for the time they were looking for her, but really, what
was the point of being a mystic if you were going to be in the
same place at the same time every time? She needed to mix it up
a little every so often, and today was one of the few days that
this table was free. It was so much better than a dank alleyway.
There were, nonetheless, a few interested ponies who had
approached her for readings, and she charged her usual fee of
one bit each. From starstruck lovers, to ponies whose hearts
pined for greater things, she would see many different kinds
approach her, and many more consider it. It was only one bit
after all, only half of an apple, mere pocket change. What was
the worst that could happen? Right now though, she waited,
reading her book on divination out of the corner of her eye as
she shuffled, waiting for a customer to talk with, and possibly
perform a reading for.
#Post#: 3373--------------------------------------------------
Re: 0, The Fool
By: Brash and Carri Date: September 7, 2014, 2:25 am
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Carri prances through the market with a smile, saddlebags full
of many oddities mostly of a metal variety, and a filly on her
back with a long list, Brash. Shopping for machine parts and
scrap metal, even if some of said scrap metal was being sold as
"art". Carri is suddenly distracted by a mare shuffling cards.
Carri approaches Ruby and happily asks, "What sort of games do
you play here?" She assumes the stack of books are rulebooks for
an assortment of playing card games.
Brash looks up from her list, "Gambling? Good thinking Carri, we
need a sustainable source of income." She rolls up her list,
hops down and places a bit in front of Ruby. "I bet on whatever
has the biggest payout."
#Post#: 3375--------------------------------------------------
Re: 0, The Fool
By: Nightingale Date: September 7, 2014, 4:12 am
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Four o'clock and there was nothing to do. Pouting vehemently,
Nightingale sat on top of the jungle gym of the playground as
she glared towards the view of the open market square she could
see from her perch. The leaves of the tree above her had slowly
been changing as she sat there, the glowing horn atop her head
the sole indicator that it was she who'd gradually been changing
the leafy green into a rainbow assortment of cotton candy.
Practicing her illusions was about the best thing for her to
kill time with, so far, and even that was getting a little dull
today. Partly because there weren't any other children around at
the park today to impress.
She needed excitement. She needed adventure. She needed to mess
with somepony and giggle childishly at their reaction. Yeah,
that was the ticket. But who, and how... There were pretty much
always ponies wandering around the market square, but most of
them were either not worth the time to bother with, or much too
easy to bother. Eventually, however, she could spot a mare
sitting alone, looking unlike the other stalls set up nearby.
The small parasol and... stack of books, it looked like, piqued
Nightingale's interest. That was her target. Grinning to herself
and already giggling a bit, Nightingale hopped down from her
perch as she cut her spell, the cotton candy leaves returning to
their normal selves.
It only took a brisk trot for her to reach the square a few
minutes after, after which was when she had to put her plan in
motion. First, she needed to make either way either behind or
beside the mare, then create a crate around herself. Next, was
slowly creeping up on the mare, the crate sliding along the
ground as it kept up its illusion around Nightingale, the filly
inside completely unawares that the tippy tip of her horn could
still be seen outside her fabricated illusion. Then, finally,
when she'd arrived at her destination, she took a look around
from inside the crate, trying to figure out how she'd do this.
The books weren't really an option. She didn't have any ideas
for those yet. Neither were the cards--they'd be seen pretty
much instantly, and that was just too easy. But this
saddlebag... Seemed empty at first, but it turned out there was
actually a snake in it, and ponies who carried snakes around
with 'em usually loved them to death. For some stupid reason.
Either way, Nightingale had found her quarry. Gathering up
another illusion, the snake inside shimmered a little bit as its
appearance started to change--it went from a scaly abomination
to a cute little pink balloon. It moved and felt every way that
it did before, but now it looked much, much better in
Nightingale's opinion.
But she couldn't stop there. As she had begun to mess with the
card-mare, two other ponies had approached the table: one grey
filly and one orange pegasus. Nightingale's eyes narrowed behind
her 'impenetrable' fortress of illusory wood as she scanned her
two new victims. The filly didn't have anything immediate she
could use, but the pegasus... Creating another illusion
alongside the other two she already had up, the wings at the
pegasus' side also shimmered, changing into what would look like
a wing made out of orange cotton balls, rather than the feathers
normally present.
Satisfied with herself, she sat back in her crate, waiting for
potential confusion to ensue.
#Post#: 3388--------------------------------------------------
Re: 0, The Fool
By: Ruby Fortuna Date: September 7, 2014, 10:05 pm
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Ruby looks up from her reading as an orange pegasus approached,
this one carrying a smaller pony on her back. This was nothing
out of the ordinary, it was a bunch of young kids who were
interested in what she was doing, maybe partake in her services
just for the sake of the laughs. Whether or not they were going
to take what she had to offer seriously was none of Ruby's
concern though; she was only here to make some money, not think
too hard about what ponies are saying behind her back. It looked
like the two of them had been shopping for a bit, evident by the
saddlebags the orange one carried, so maybe they just had some
extra change to expunge before they were going home to the
parents that charged them with their task. As Ruby looked a
little closer, she had to double take quickly at the sight of
the orange one's wings, which seemed to shimmer a little before
she could see that they were an absolutely fluffy mess.
It was hot out, and mirages were pretty common on paved areas
like this one as the concrete heated up, but as far as the wings
were concerned, Ruby had no idea. She was no pegasus, and from
what she knew, feathers tended to molt, and from what she'd
overheard before, molting time tended to be a rather
embarrassing time. She could see why now, this pegasus looked
absolutely silly, if somewhat familiar. The orange one
approached Ruby's table, asking what kinds of games she was
playing, followed by the gray one jumping up and plopping a bit
on the table, talking about... gambling?
She let that sink in for a few seconds as she gathered up her
cards, looking at them through the top of her eyes as she
shifted the book she was reading, to the side so that the title
was a little more visible: The Art of Divination. "I do not play
games." Ruby stated plainly after giving them a chance to read
the title, "Gambling though, I suppose you could say what I do
is something similar to that." She looked at the bit that sat on
the table, pushing it back towards the small gray filly, "If you
are giving this to me and expecting a game where you have the
potential to obtain greater riches, then you are paying me for
the wrong reasons. UNLESS..." she paused, shuffling it back
towards herself, "you wish to have a glimpse at something that
could be a lot more important than money." Letting her flair for
theatrical drama begin to come through, she continued, "I am
talking about your future of course. Ask me any question you
have about the future that you are unsure of, and in three
cards, I will provide you with hints as to what it could
possibly hold for you, all for the easy price of one bit."
A slight tickling at her leg caught her attention, and she
dropped her left foreleg to her side to pet the snake that had
climbed out of the saddlebag to see her. Without even looking,
she picked up the snake that had the illusion cast on it,
letting it wrap itself along her foreleg without even looking at
it. It still felt as scaly as her snake usually was, not at all
the consistency of a balloon, so she had nothing to worry about.
It was now, however, in plain sight of the other two, and Ruby
was absentmindedly petting it as she awaited their answers.
#Post#: 3390--------------------------------------------------
Re: 0, The Fool
By: Brash and Carri Date: September 7, 2014, 11:22 pm
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Carri watched as a balloon crawls up the mares foreleg, she
smiles and is mesmerized by the neat magic trick.
Brash on the other hoof pays it no mind and squints at the mare,
unsure of how helpful these hints might be. Most questions about
her future she knows the answer to, like how she's obviously
going to one day stand at the top of pony society and rule with
an iron fist, or how she'll be the one saving Equestria from
dangerous monsters with her all-powerful automaton.
"I suppose I could ask something, now that I don't want to take
back the bit you touched." Brash glances over to Carri, not
noticing her wings at first, "However I'm sure Carri has much
more concerns than I."
Carri looks up from the balloon, "Oh, uh..." She thinks of the
first future thing she is unsure of, "What am I having for lunch
tomorrow?"
Brash grunts and shoves Carri aside, "Don't waste my bit," This
time taking notice to Carri's wings, "And preen your wings or
something, you're embarrassing all of us."
Carri stumbles but regains her balance as soon as she notices
her wings as well, she gasps and gazes at them in panic fearing
that she may have contracted some rare wing disease. Desperately
brushing them with a hoof and gnawing at the strange cotton.
Brash turns back to Ruby, "Well, how's her future in general
lookin'?" She asks nonchalantly.
#Post#: 3394--------------------------------------------------
Re: 0, The Fool
By: Nightingale Date: September 8, 2014, 9:10 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Nightingale had to suppress a yawn after the pink one spoke,
finding her speech incredibly stuffy and boring. Why did bigger
ponies always have to talk like that? Plus, she didn't play
games? Talk about lame. She deserved to be pranked like this.
Although the little bit about being able to give hints about
stuff that might happen in the future was pretty interesting.
Maybe, if she could get the chance, she could take a look into
it and make her see what she would wind up doing when she grew
older. It was only a single bit, and she could make that easy by
singing for ponies.
Then, she began to grow excited when the pony picked up the
snake she'd turned into a balloon animal, hoof planted firmly
over her mouth to suppress any giggles that might be had. To her
chagrin, however, the pony didn't even glance at the snake. Just
kept on petting it. Avoiding every impulse to grumble about that
and give away her position, she just glared at the mare before
looking over to the other two on the other side of the table.
Soon after, attention was directed to the pegasus' wings,
causing Nightingale's glare to turn into a giddy look of
amusement, especially when the pony began to panic.
She needed more, though. With the pink pony not reacting to the
snake yet, she needed something else to cause a little mischief.
The grey pony seemed a little rude--brash, even--so Nightingale
would give her something to help reflect that. Her gaze locked
onto Ruby, watching and waiting until the pony was no longer
looking at Brash. At that moment, Nightingale created another
illusion, this time aiming it towards Brash's ears. With another
shimmer, her ears were replaced by horns that sprouted just
slightly higher than what normally was there--horns that looked
similar to what a minotaur's did. Once that was finished, it was
time for her to sit back again, and wait for new developments.
#Post#: 3401--------------------------------------------------
Re: 0, The Fool
By: Ruby Fortuna Date: September 8, 2014, 6:32 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
"The future in general," Ruby began, trying hard not to sigh at
the generic question, "is always in fluctuation, and will
continue to change as long as ponies are able to make their own
choices. Perhaps you are more interested in how your endeavors
in your immediate future are going to pan out? It would take a
great deal of time and an impossible amount of effort to
determine how the future in its entirety will be, but for
specific things, it is much easier." The python on Ruby's leg
moved further up her leg as she continued to passively shuffle
her cards, most likely looking for some sort of attention in the
meantime. Ruby gave a quick glance to the python to maybe see if
she needed to give it a more comfortable perch, but immediately
froze when she saw it.
This was not a snake that she was looking at, at least, not in
the traditional sense. What she was looking at was some sort of
inflatable abomination, a bright pink balloon snake. As she
stared at the thing on her shoulder in outright, wide-eyed
surprise and horror, the snake flitted its tongue out, and a
long kazoo sound could be heard. Of course its tongue was a
party favor, what else could she expect. Hesitating a little
bit, she gingerly set her other hoof under the balloon snake,
picking it up and setting it down in her now empty saddlebag.
Where did Pharasma go? In her mind, she tried to run through the
different things that could have possibly happened, but it was
clear that she was a little shaken up by the fact that there was
a balloon animal that felt an awful lot like a snake on her leg.
"That's... what..." she muttered out loud, having been
distracted long enough for Brash's ears to have taken on a new
illusion. She turned her attention back to the filly in
question, starting to get ready to voice her apologies for
having to stop what she was doing so that she could try to
figure out what happened to her pet, but immediately recoiled
with a little yelp as she saw the horns that had sprouted where
the filly's ears had been. In her surprise, the grip on her
cards slipped, and a good quarter of the deck slipped to the
ground in front of a crate, a few of them landing face up,
including The Empress, The Fool, and Death, as well as several
different suits. "Kid, what the hell is wrong with your ears!?"
She exclaimed as she scrambled backwards, nearly bumping into
the crate. As low as confronting a demon child was on her list
of things to do that day, she still had priorities, and she
scrambled to pick up the cards that were dropped, having been on
the ground long enough for any pony paying attention to study
them.
#Post#: 3404--------------------------------------------------
Re: 0, The Fool
By: Brash and Carri Date: September 8, 2014, 7:58 pm
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At this point Carri took off her saddlebags and began rolling on
the ground, now fearing that the cotton may engulf her entirety
even though it never left her wings. She starts breathing
heavily and groaning in distress.
"Maybe just her health, I mean, am I going to need a new one?"
Brash tries to ask as the mare is distracted by her balloon
snake. Now realizing something odd must be going on, with
Carri's wings and the mare's reaction to what Brash had assumed
was a simple magic trick. However, even knowing this, Brash
couldn't find a source for the happenings.
Yet, Brash only wishes to increase the chaos, since defusing the
situation would be boring. After Ruby reacts in fear to
something about Brash's ears she jumps on the opportunity, and
the table. "I see you've noticed that I..." she points a hoof to
herself and trails off a moment to think, "am
extraordinarily..." Brash thinks of the most generic thing that
could go with her new ears since she can't see them. "Fearsome!"
She proclaims.
"Now!..." Brash points a threatening hoof at Ruby, but was far
from wanting to do anything criminal to a scared pony, "Grovel
before me, peasant!" Brash's mind suddenly reels back at that
moment as she considers that her ears might change back or
become something silly at any time, but she's gone too far to
worry about it now and she sticks her nose to the sky.
Meanwhile, Carri lays her wings flat on the ground and begins
shoveling dirt onto them with her hooves because her mind had
led her to believe this was the solution.
#Post#: 3415--------------------------------------------------
Re: 0, The Fool
By: Nightingale Date: September 9, 2014, 4:14 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Nightingale had to clamp her hooves tightly over her mouth now
more than ever as the pegasus began rolling around on the
ground, it taking every fiber of her being not to giggle at the
obvious distress the pegasus was going through. This was exactly
what she wanted to go for. To her, this was one of the highest
forms of entertainment, and it could only get better from here.
The pink pony finally seemed to notice her snake, apparently
causing her mind to shut down. Everything was going so well. All
the pieces were falling into place, and it made Nightingale a
very giddy filly.
Next came the grey pony's ears being addressed, and although to
Nightingale's slight disappointment it hadn't caused all that
much chaos, she still had to give the pony props for rolling
with what had happened, even if she couldn't see what was being
talked about. She almost wanted to clap for the pony, but knew
better than that. Even better, the pink pony dropped her cards.
This, of course, caught Nightingale's attention and out of
intrigue she stopped paying attention to the scene before her
briefly to look at some of the cards that had landed before her
crate, not even flinching when the pink pony nearly bumped into
her 'fortress'.
With a look of intense concentration, the filly's eyes scanned
over three of the cards laying before her, a plan having come
into motion. If the drawing of the cards was important, then
that meant she could try to influence it a little bit by
'putting' those cards in front. Whatever they meant. The thought
of the noble looking pony wielding the scepter followed by the
pony standing on the cliff with a knapsack, followed finally by
the skeletal looking pony greatly amused Nightingale, however.
Still running the image of the cards cards through her head, she
looked back to the scene when the cards were picked back up, her
eyes finding their way to the pegasus once more. Deciding the
orange pony had had enough, Nightingale cut the illusion on her
wings once they were covered in dirt before turning her
attention to Ruby, ready to cast the illusions on the faces of
the cards before they were drawn, in the order of the Empress,
the Fool, then finally Death.
#Post#: 3451--------------------------------------------------
Re: 0, The Fool
By: Ruby Fortuna Date: September 11, 2014, 1:44 am
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"No seriously," she said after picking up all of her cards,
leaning in a little closer to Brash, "what did you do to your
ears there? Were you born with them or something? Are you some
sort of... supernatural demon thing?" Her startled state faded
after a while of staring at the horned filly, now looking more
curious than anything as she tried to get a better look at the
horns. The illusion that she was looking at looked amazingly
real, so good in fact that she could not even tell if it was an
illusion even upon closer inspection. She was going to have to
treat this as if it were the real thing; it probably wouldn't
let her touch its horns anyway, so there was no way she could
really go about dealing with it. What she wasn't going to do,
however, was bow to a demon, even if it was a child. Of the many
books of the occult and spiritual that she had read, it told her
that any sort of act of submission or show that the demon has
power over an individual is an invitation for them to ruin your
life in many different ways.
Cautiously, she returned to the table, assuming that since she
hadn't been roasted alive yet that this kid must have been here
just looking for subjects to torment, glancing over Brash's
shoulder to see that Carri was still freaking out about her
wings. Perhaps it wasn't a molt if a pegasus was freaking out
about them like that. As she saw the pegasus, she remembered
that she was paid to do something. Better to get the reading out
of the way now and see to what happened to her balloon animal
snake than to risk breaking her arrangement with this demon kid.
Money for a reading, a fair trade that needed to be upheld.
Taking a deep breath, she shuffled the cards and said, "How
about... instead of grovelling, I just... finish your reading,
and you can be on your way. Find some less educated soul to drag
with you to the depths of Tartarus." After she said that, she
repeated Brash's question, "How will the health of this pegasus
fare in the future?"
She then drew three cards, placing them face up one after the
other, not seeming to notice that at as soon as they were drawn,
they were changed, so the three cards that seemed to end up in
front of them were The Empress, The Fool, and Death. Looking at
the three cards, Ruby had to pause for a bit, furrowing her brow
and wincing a bit. "Well, umm..." Ruby began, trying to figure
out a nice way to word the news, "I've got bad news and...
mostly bad news. You see, these cards are drawn in the order of
past, present, and future." She pointed to the card with the
picture of the pony with the scepter, who looked to be in her
second trimester of pregnancy, and said, "In the past, there is
The Empress, who represents fertility, which I could say is a
very promising start, something everypony should have,
hopefully, but... it gets worse." She pointed to the card with
the picture of the pony about to walk obliviously off a cliff,
"In the present, we have The Fool, which represents being
carefree, reckless, and foolish. I'm afraid your friend did, or
is going to do something pretty stupid, and it is going to tie
into her... um, fertility."
At this point, Ruby was trying to avoid eye contact, having a
difficult time hiding her awkward discomfort, but pressed on
just to get it over with, "Then, as is reasonable to follow a
foolish act, comes loss. How severe this loss is, or if it is
even good or bad is something that I can't say, but something
important regarding your... oh gods, regarding your fertility
will be lost." Ruby looked up between the two ponies, trying to
gauge any sort of reaction as she remained tight-lipped with her
cheeks flaring red. "Soo... you're going to be fine, but you...
aren't, so to speak. Let's just hope whoever you decide to
become close friends with likes you just as much as you like
him."
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