driftfleet | 003 - Weasel Stomping Day

Who: Cheese Sandwich and YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Bishop
When: Tonight!

[Cheese appears on the video feed, BEAMING excitedly. He's in the Bishop's cargo hold, which has been decorated with paper chains and vaguely Christmasy (but not TOO Christmasy) decorations, tinsel, little lights, you know the drill. There's also a single card behind him, because ALLEN remembered and now he is the best. Good job, Allen.]

Happy Hearthswarming Eve everypony! This is a special holiday where I come from where we celebrate the founding of our country. We have this big feast the day after and raise the flag of Equestria BUT tonight is even more important, because it's when we get together and have parents to tell the story. I'm the only pony here so ...uh you just got me, but hey, we work with what we got.

Okay! So a long, long time ago, the three pony tribes lived in an uneasy peace. None of them liked the others, but they had to work together to survive. The unicorns raised the sun and moon, the pegasi controlled the weather and the Earth ponies grew the crops. The unicorns and pegasi demanded more and more food from the Earth ponies for their services, more than the Earth ponies could afford to give without starving themselves, and so the three tribes started to bicker and fight over who had more right to the food.

[He grabs some cotton wool which make an interesting fake snow and starts spreading it about him.]

As they argued more and more, a magical storm started to gather. It got worse and worse, until they realised they had to hold a summit, to try and garner a peace between their tribes. The three leaders of the tribes got together, along with their three advisors.

[They all had names, but that's not important in the telling, not when he wants to make it easy for other species to understand.]

They didn't find peace, though, they only argued more, and it was decided that the three tribes would split up, and find their own land away from the others. And so, they all set off on a treacherous journey, and soon they escaped the deadly storm.

One day, they found a perfect place, good food, good water, it was the best possible land ever. Unfortunately they all found it at the same time, and as they fought over who got bagises on the new land, the magical storm came again, forcing them to all hide in a cave to avoid it. They kept fighting, and the storm followed them inside, freezing the three leaders in ice, and threatening to do the same to the advisors!

DUN DUN DUN! For the kids, don't worry, this is the scariest part. He picks up a stick, with a carboard cut-out of a strange horse-like creatures

One of the advisors suddenly realised what was causing the storm. Windigos! Magical creatures that thrived on hatred and anger! The three advisors huddled together and admitted they never disliked one another, and they would rather be friends and equals. The unicorn advisor suddenly let out a burst of magic, which formed a heart, we call it the Fire of Friendship. It shot the windigos away and as the three got closer and began to tell stories and sing song through the night, the snow and ice melted away.

Soon the three leaders melted, too, and learned what had caused the storm. They decided they were stronger together, and decided they would live in the new land equally. They called it Equestria and it still stands to this day.

And that's how Equestria came to be. Thank you, thank you, don't forget to tip your waiter.

[Bishop Crew]

Hey guys! Look under your beds and then come meet me in the cargo bay! Another tradition this time of year is that everypony living together that day puts their own little hoof-made doll of themselves on the hearth to signify togetherness and all that good stuff. We haven't got a hearth but hey, we can make do with some...boxes or something, right?

[And sure enough, under their beds will be a little crocheted doll of themselves. It's not a bad likeness actually.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I wouldn't want to get any of the traditions wrong. [ Haruka tries to sidestep around Cheese, but she sees where this is going. It ends with her at the party, doesn't it. ]

[There is NO ESCAPE. He sidesteps with her, still smiling. ]

It's okay, I can teach you. It's pretty easy, anyway.

[ Haruka knows better than to fight the inevitable. Her shoulders relax, and she sticks her hands in her pockets. It'll take her mind off her throat, anyway. Weird how it tickles. ] What's first?

[It's okay, he's got warm cocoa for that! He heads back to the faux hearth, sitting beside it. ]

We spend time together, and tell stories.

...I don't have anything prepared. [ But she's following. Her little person is on the "hearth", so she might as well cooperate. ]

You don't have to have anything prepared. Any story from the top of your head will do.

[He smiles up at the Hearth. ]

This isn't exactly a traditional Equestrian Hearthswarming anyway, so I figure we can play fast and lose with things.

Good of you. [ She looks around, not super keen on telling stories - or maybe thinking up a good one, who knows. ]

...You put a lot of work into this.

[He nods, his smile fading a touch. ]

This is the first Hearthswearming I've had where I've had anything like an actual home. I wanted to make it look special.

[ ...and that's what she gets for jumping to conclusions about happy times in pony land. Haruka finds an area that looks good for sitting and heads over. ] Did your story earlier count?

[ Like, is it her turn? She is not super into the idea of it being her turn. Maybe she can find someone else to listen to first. ]

[HIs life before he found himself was a festering pile of crap and even when it got better, it was still one of crippling loneliness. Equestria is a cruddy place. ]

Sure did, it's your turn now.

[ ....so no pressure. Got it. Haruka blinks, then stifles a smile. A story, huh? ]

I guess a true story would be too boring....

[ ....and no one would understand a story about motor sports....and she isn't about to share anything about her Mission... ]

Any story at all will work. Anything you'd enjoy telling.

[He'll smile up at her expectantly. No pressure at all. ]

[ Hooray. Well. ] Let's see.

[ Hands in her pockets, she tilts her head up. If she's going to do something this indulgent, she'll go all-in. ] Once upon a time, there was a gust of wind. It flew freely over the trees and the mountains. There weren't any heights it couldn't scale. But the farther it climbed in the atmosphere, the colder it grew.

[ She blinks, continuing to formulate her story as she goes. ] But it never tried to picture anything but flying ever higher. If it did, it was afraid it would disappear.

[He sits, enraptured by her tale, hanging on her every word. ]

So it let itself get colder in case it disappeared?

[ Haruka nodded. ] Soon enough, it'd gotten so numb it didn't even notice the cold.

But then, as it blew farther and farther, it flew out over the ocean. And although the water felt cold on the surface, too, there were vents at the bottom that let off heat. So the ocean had a warmth no one suspected.

[ Her expression grows dreamy as she describes the ocean. Maybe Haruka really likes beaches. ] Before the wind knew it, it was drifting closer to that warmth.

[This isn't like any story he's heard before. This is fascinating to him. ]

Oh wow. What happened then? Was it okay?

[ ...huh. He's engrossed. Haruka laughs a little. ] It didn't know how to feel. This wasn't a path it'd ever imagined taking, and once it realized how close it was getting, it tried to run away.

But the ocean understood. [ She shrugs. ] It gave off so much warmth that the air around the wind began heating up, wrapping around it. And that's when the wind really began to fly. Up into the atmosphere. Free of all gravity. And buoyed by the warmth embracing it from the ocean.

[ One more little laugh. ] I guess that's a happy ending.

So it...was free to float off into space?

[A pause. ]

Wouldn't that kill it?

[ And that's what she gets for diving too deep into her metaphor. ]

....it came back down now and then to see the ocean again.

Edited 2016-01-05 23:11 (UTC)

[That's exactly what she gets. ]

Oh! Oh, well that's okay then. It could travel away and always come back to see its buddy when it wanted to.

[Wow, that's like HIS LIFE or something. ]