Good old Anon, our favorite lost cause. That's who (you) are.

Like a fair few of us, you had the same goal since 2011. You would be loyal to your lovely waifu (the version in your head you made up), and be reborn in Equestria. Well, lucky-ish you. At the ripe age of 35, you choked on food while alone and died flailing on the floor. Pathetic. A death that only the tortured would envy is what you ended up with. At least the suffering ended. Not long after, your sorry soul left that ill-kept body and you managed to reach the right plane, but not the right place. Maybe not even the wrong time. It's not quite clear yet. All you know is that it doesn't quite feel right.

You look around, and find yourself in a dark, damp cave, dimly lit by the nearby exit to the outside. By the sound of it, there's a rainstorm going on outside. A heavy one. The air flowing from outside feels cool and sticky. You are not deep enough underground to experience the warm ambient temperature many caves reach.

"At least I didn't end up in the middle of the ocean," you thought. "Or worse, SFM anthro hyperfuta Equestria. Nobody wants to go there." Ever the humorous one you are, Anon, not that you can prove you're not in the latter. The realization that you don't know it's not the latter makes you stop and shudder. Keep calm, Nonny. The odds of that happening are very slim.

You look at your hands. Hands… Yep. This seems like it might be another one of those human Anon in Equestria plots. “Damn…” you think to yourself. “I was really hoping I could be a filly.”

You look around again, and notice a glint in the darkness: a tin bronze oil lamp of plain design. No rust or tarnish, so probably not very old.

You know what to do, /mlp/. Don’t make me regret this.

Rub the lamp, wish for unlimited wishes.

>>42208915 (OP)
Take the bait and rub the lamp. Better be a thicc mare in this damn lamp!

insert lamp spout in pooper and rub ^:3

>>42208915 (OP)
I only have one shot at this. I can’t hesitate. I drink from the lamp to gain genie powers.

>>42208915 (OP)
>Nonny
>was really hoping I could be a filly
unsurprisingly faggoted from the start
please do try to write less like that
anyway
>take the lamp
>hold it on my crotch
>rub off the flame spout end like im jerkin muh cawk

>>42208915 (OP)
Jerk off the lamp

SHOUT at the OIL LAMP to make sure it's not a CHANGELING or some shit. You never know when you could have landed in some godforsaken kaizo text adventure, so better autistically check everything to be sure it won't attempt to rape you.
Should the oil lamp refuse to and/or attempt but fail to harm you, pick it up to show who's boss and check if there's any fuel, it'll be a pretty useless oil lamp without oil in it.

>>42208918
>>42208927
>>42208974
>Knowing how these stories tend to go, you place your hand on the lamp and rub it like the good girl it is.
>You keep rubbing and...nothing...happens.

>>42208947
The lamp contains no fluids. Seems like it's never been used.

>>42208958
>The writer takes note of his newfound constructive criticism.
>Anon, however, rubs it on his crotch, hoping to assert dominance against the genie mare to show her who's boss
>Nothing happens
>Extreme embarrassment. It would have been even worse if you listened to >>42208936

"Huh. I expected this to be the plot hook. I was hoping there'd be a wish-granting qt patootie in there. At least nothing happened instead of something bad happening."

>>42208983
"FUCKING GENIES! GET OUT OF THE LAMP! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

>>42208992
Goddamit god, not only are we not a filly, you couldn't reincarnate us normally at all, could you? You owe us big time!
Anyway, see if we're the genie and do some magic or some shit. Doubt it since no cartoony smoke connecting us to the lamp.

>>42208992
>random oil lamp in a cave
delve deeper to find more treasures

>>42208992
Well dang, pawn shop it is.

>>42208992
Just take the lamp and plan to sell it later. If you can't have a cute genie mare grant you wishes, you might as well get some bits to buy something to eat like the fat ass you are.

>>42209004
>>42209012
>>42209053

>Well, at least you weren't reincarnated as something stupid, like in one of those Chinese cartoons.
>You've never done magic before, but you try really hard and eventually your finger glows like you're E.T.
>It's not amazing, but at least it's practical.
>Once you figure out how to maintain it on that hand, it's no more difficult to maintain than carrying a gallon of milk.
>Because it's practical, you decide to leave the lamp to head deeper into this dingy cave
>From your newfound light, you find glints of metal on the ground
>They're coins. You don't recognize the faces or script on them, though they are clearly ponies
>They're even lined up, as if someone wanted you to follow them
>Suddenly, you find yourself stuck, like you're held back on a leash
>You seem to be unable to go more than a 10 meters from the lamp
>Yep. It's your lamp. There are many like it, but this one is yours
>In a stroke of genius, you pick up the lamp and take it with you
>You travel deeper into the cave and find out it's goes roughly as far that way as you were far from the entrance when you started. >At the end of the cave, something written on the wall in charcoal
>picrel

>>42209101
Be compassionate. Seems simple enough, if we weren't an asshole that is. Take a quick look inside our lamp/home. Then, carry our lamp and look outside the exit of the cave. Do we see any signs of civilization nearby?

>>42209101
I wish a cute mare would rub my lamp

>>42209101
>3 suns
>not moons
Who could be behind this post?

>>42209129
>You go into the lamp through the wicker spout
>picrel
>the furnishing certainly has a ponyish nature to it, but designed in accordance to human proportions, as if someone were expecting an inhabitant such as you
>certain things are designed with someone who can float in mind, clearly
>a stained glass window lets light in from the outside, but there was no such entrypoint for light there on the outside
>certain things are clearly standing in accordance to gravity, but you didn't really carry it level when you were exploring the cave. You theorize that this space has its own gravity
>There are some obvious amenities missing, but that's future Anon's problem
>there are some other things present that stand out to you, but you can come back here at any time. You heard a very weird bird outside and want to see it
>you exit the lamp, then head to the exit of the cave, which is actually pretty small. The human you once were would have had to duck and slide his way in
>outside is an earthen forest trail, hoof and wagon tracks filled with muddy water from the ongoing rain showers. the trail stands between you and a steep drop-off to a brook of rushing brown water.
>further beyond that what appears to be a collection of stone structures amidst the hills It's hard to tell what it is from here with all the fog

>>42209164
>You wish a cute mare would rub your lamp.
>Behind you, you hear a labored and pain-filled grunting, mixed with an odd contentness

CANTRIPS KNOWN (can be used freely):
Light
Enter Lamp

WISHES REMAINING:
2/3

>>42209260
And of course a genie themselves is limited by three wishes, because why the fuck not? Anyways, turn around and identify the hopefully thicc and cute mare. Ask her why she summoned us to fuck with her.
Nice comfy art, qm.

>>42209260
Go and check out those stone structures, but be sure to stay as hidden as you can. Who knows what these people might think of genies or floating lamps?

>>42209260
Oh shit! Quickly enter the lamp and exit again to make a good impression on the mare. Then inform her that she has 2 wishes (after taxes (Also don't give her our wishes, she should get her own right?))We're going to end up being the asshole type of genie aren't we?

>>42209274
>>42209284
>You turn around and see a dark shape shifting in the corner
>You see a sorry sight
(remove spoiler)
"Ahhhhhhh...... Haaaaa....aaaaaaaaaaa (cough)"
>It's an older unicorn mare, not only worn from time, but clearly worn from whatever took place prior to you seeing her
"I...didn't think I'd be alive to see it. I knew...the investment...paid off. I left some notes (cough cough) for you. I know fully well what you can do, but you should know that I don't deserve it. Not after what I've done to get this powerful...and the life after death I took from you."
>she laughs and smiles in a light-headed manner

>>42209260
If we take to account what was written on the wall, we probably get more wishes by waiting three days or through compassion, probably? Either way, introduce ourselves to the masturbating(?) mare. Hard to not connect painful grunts full of content to that.

>>42209322
Honestly, we prefer this over passing on so far, so we don't mind. What notes is she talking about anyway? In fact, what is she talking about at all?... Also, she gets three wishes... maybe?

>>42209325
???: "Anon...you humans have such (ha) goofy names. Well...old Hopeful Athame here has used every trick in the book to cast that goddess spell. Few black mages can do such a thing and survive long enough to complete the ca-
>>42209332
Anon: "Sorry to interrupt, but this is a lot to take in at once. What about notes? Also, what does that message at the end of the cave mean? 3 suns, 3 wishes, compassion...I want to make sure I actually get what you're trying to convey."
Hopeful: "You didn't see them on the table during your little dive into the lamp? I assumed that would have been the first place you'd look. I hope you like the place. I (cough) don't really know what humans like all that well, so I had to guess in some places. As for what I wrote in charcoal down the tunnel, the immense power of the jinn is limited by the will of providence. You can only pull upon so much power before being punished. You are powerful, but that which you can will into being, even if you invest all three wishes into one great thing, is finite. This rule is weakened if the wish is made by another...
>she was gazing off into the distance until now, as she looks right at you.
Hopeful: "This might sound bizarre, but can I...haha...touch... the lamp? Something draws me towards it again, but I'm not sure if I can stand up right now. Haha...ha."

>>42209388
So three wishes for us, and that's it, huh?
Give her the lamp, but more importantly, ask if she's going to be okay and what happened to her. Try to use some healing magic to heal her wound. May as well try.

>>42209322
Uh, did you cut yourself?

>>42209388
What kind of amulet that you wearing there?

>>42209388
I wish for this mare to be healed

>>42209398
Anon: So three wishes for us, and that's it, huh?
Hopeful: "Three wishes and that's it? Ha, noooo."
>She cackles like an old witch
Hopeful: "Three days and you'll be back in action. It wouldn't be worth it to be a genie if you simply DIED after the third wish, huh?"

>You give her the lamp and she rubs it in an oddly affectionate manner
"Thank you. I don't know what came over me.
>The wish at >>42209164 has been fulfilled

>>42209452
>You try to heal her with magic on par with the light
>It's not enough to change anything
>You wish for her to be healed, and her skin becomes less pale, as if much of the blood she lost was replaced with younger and cleaner blood than what she had in her veins prior
WISHES REMAINING: 1/3
Hopeful: "It's clear you're driven to help others, even if you have nothing to gain. That's good. I would have healed much more had I wished for it too. I wonder if I'm...selfish for that."

>>42209401
Anon: "Uh, did you cut yourself?"
Hopeful: "A bit of blood is just one of many ingredients for a minute of the goddess form. Like I said, not even a greater black mage could sidestep this."
>She clearly lost more than a bit.

>>42209427
Anon: "What kind of amulet that you wearing there?"
Hopeful: "A recapture catalyst. You might not know this, but much of the light and sound in magic is actually waste energy. This amulet is designed to suppress entropy and force as much energy into the product as possible. That's how why cyclops canons don't shatter on use. Half of what would have been the explosion's vibrations is forced to be inertia in one direction, or so I've heard. This one got overloaded and broke.

Hopeful: "Anyway, I am honored to experience such compassion. I suppose I'll have to repay it by...living on with my heavy memories and seek more atonement. I hoped all the pain I ever felt could be over in one great swoop, but now I feel like that wouldn't grant fulfillment. As for you, the lamp will draw in whoever it feels needs you the most. That's not me, for certain. My filthy soul would exploit you greedily. If I remain alive, I'll part ways soon. It was a pleasure meeting you."
>She attempts to stand, but her strength isn't there.

>>42209504
please don't waste our last wish on your pedophilia.

>>42209505
This. Besides, doubt our own wish would have enough power for that.

>>42209502
Blow the smoke off her horn like a badass action hero.

3:40 AM...Being at work by 9 AM... It was a ballsy move to start this so late. Make sure the thread isn't gone by the time I'm back from work, can you? Also, sorry for the whiplash of taking things from goofy to dark so fast. I'll try and find a reasonable balance to that and answering to all of this input. Good night.

>>42209502
Before that, any specific place you want to lay rest or buried at? Also, what your cutie mark representing?

do genies have dicks?
this is important info

>>42209502
Hey, come on now, don't talk as if we'll never see each other again through an ominous end. We'll wish that possibility away if we have to! We still have a whole world to be introduced to, after all! How can we make grand wishes with that much ignorance on our part?
>>42209629
Probably hidden in a library or a cave system near civilization. Essentially, somewhere close but not too far off the beaten path if someone were to be called to us for help. Would say somewhere where bat ponies mainly reside as well, but suspect that you have your own ideas on who we'll meet already. As for Hopeful's cutie mark, would say a weak candle in ominous darkness. Foreboding with a tint of hope.
>>42209525
It's all good. It's an engaging start, that's for sure. Thanks for a good start.

>>42209502
Getting killed was part of her plan. So what would have been the next step in her master plan?

Good morning everypony. There's a lot I'm gonna have to respond to after work (I'll miss the neet life already), but while I have this thread open, I have a question. Do you really want massive lore dumps this early in the story, or would you rather I space things out to when they're made relevant?

>>42209502
Pat the pony and tell her she's now bound to return and use her wish(es?) since she rubbed the lamp. Them's the rules!

>>42210061
Lore dumps are always bad. Space it out. A good CYOA is a story first and a game second; don't let player choices ruin the story. Bend our wishes and choices a bit if you have to.

>>42210067
I second this

>>42209629
what a qt

>>42210061
Hmm. I think the answer is that yes I want the lore dump, but as QM you should still space it out for pacing reasons and also to keep suspense.
As an autist I want to know everything about this world but also if you keep things mysterious and have the quest slowly reveal things it adds suspense rather than spoiling everything from the get-go.

At the same time as a player I do kind of want to know what's up with this lady and why would she summon us, expect it to kill her, and all the while talk about how evil her heart is. Is our summoning part of some grander plan that will bring about ruin and destruction in some roundabout way? Her words, her actions and her own claims about her supposed personality just don't mesh together, and I do want to pester her more about this to understand why, before we move on and proceed to unknowingly act as agents of some greater evil due to her master plan or something.

But again, as QM, that doesn't mean you should just explain everything immediately the moment we ask. Maybe the mare is cagey. Maybe she tells us just enough to make some things make sense but doesn't explain a lot else.

>>42210061
Depends on what you mean by massive. If you mean a brief explanation by Hopeful on the state of the world we're in currently, that seems generally fine and reasonable for her to explain to us, but deeper details should be omitted. Not because she didn't want to explain things, but because she thought it was obvious enough for us to know to cause a miscommunication. Kind of like being a tourist and committing an obscure faux pas that your guide didn't explain. No ill will, but just an accidental omission.

I have returned from the job to give the living CYOAs

>>42209629
Anon: "Before that, any specific place you want to lay rest or buried at?"
Hopeful: "In accordance with the customs of my tribe, the proper fate of my body is cremation. Leave burial to the earth ponies. You'll never find a gravestone in a town of unicorns or pegasi, that's for sure."

Anon: "Also, what your cutie mark representing?"
Hopeful: "Cutie...cutie...oh! Hahaha! You're thinking of ponies in places like Equestria and the Crystal Empire. "
>She shifts to rest in a different position, and jarringly, what you see in >>42209629's image is exactly what you see in person
Hopeful: "The ancestors of those in Equestria embraced Harmony when she was still a pony. The ancestors of us in Volontria? Well, like the kirins, we rejected her."

>Outside, the sun has clearly gone down. When combined with the ongoing rain, the cave is now extremely dark
>Though you yourself are slightly glowing all over, it is not enough to illuminate anything
>You do the finger thing. Athame's horn is clearly not ready to be used again
>In accordance with >>42209681, you look down at your body
https://youtu.be/yA7BAecrm2U?si=OVjy0AwONpLWNp3O
>You might have to fix this later

>>42209773
Anon: "Hey, come on now, don't talk as if we'll never see each other again through an ominous end. We'll wish that possibility away if we have to! We still have a whole world to be introduced to, after all! How can we make grand wishes with that much ignorance on our part?"
Hopeful: "My, you get attached so fast. You're under no obligation to worry if I leave. The lords and judges of the land are afraid to enforce their laws on even former members of the Black Mage Guild, so I have nopony pursuing me with ill intent that I know of. If you really want me to stay, I guess I can help you do more than have a glowing finger? I left a spellbook in your little new house, but I suppose it's easier if you have somepony helping you."

>>42210065
Hopeful: "I'll take that as a yes."

>>42210961
Let's start learning then. Maybe a spell that can help us cast fire, so we can get more illumination.
What is it always her intention to summon a being from another universe? We're pretty sure unicorns and such didn't exist back when we were alive.

>>42211000
Do it out here, or bring her into the lamp?

>>42211183
We can bring her inside the lamp? Well, may as well do that then.

>>42210961
Might as well start learning some more non-wish magic.

>>42211202
>>42211298
That's right. You can bring her in, and you did. This is something you can do. "Yeah," said the purple unicorn. "I got you the means of making tea and coffee, but I couldn't afford to have plumbing installed. The water jugs are going to have to be refilled later. No coal, either. The furnace is completely new. Slid some store-bought logs under the cabinet. Certainly not a place to spend a few hundred years alone in as things stand, but the open air design just SCREAMS potential." The way she said that made her sound like a real estate agent. Not like you have any other options for homes in the area.
"Back there are a few books I dropped off, hoofpicked by me just for your situation."

>>42211603
We can attend to literature after we get our bearings, and also after we figure out just what our mysterious benefactor(?) mare's story is.

>>42211603
Let's get started on what she deems essential spells to know. Also, another hopefully less depressing question, but why exactly did she want to create a genie like us?

>>42211603
First things first. We should learn how to light a fire so we can offer her and any other guests some tea.

>>42211662
Anon: "Let's get started on what she deems essential spells to know."
>Limping over with poor balance, she brings you a book
Hopeful: "This book is the most recommended for those just starting out with magic. It's pretty cold, and you have a master with you, so I think we should for a simple firestarting spark."

Anon: "Also, another hopefully less depressing question, but why exactly did you want to create a genie such as I?"
Hopeful: "Back when I started researching it, I was planning to upgrade myself.... I had the delusion that I was so enlightened that I could save the world from its own evil. It was not until recently that I saw I had no less evil in me than those who use power for evil. Hate...is unfortunately universal. This is a fact of life. This is where I drew a theory. The net I cast into the stream of souls seeking rebirth in this cluster of planes, the one who would fill the role best would be one who hates not this world, but hates himself. One who did that, I imagined...would know good and evil regardless of who did it. Looking back, I question the logic I used in that state of mind. I hope that it was not delusional, and that all goes according to plan. Let's move on. I do not wish to discuss my path further when I am already so tired."

>>42211814
Boop to release latch on book and depression.

>>42211814
Make tea for two

Learn a better light spell
Learn a candle finger spell
Learn a week telekinesis spell

>>42211814
Sounds like genie powers are not that impressive, given the strict rate-limit (an average of one per day, and that's with optimal usage) and how it appears to be relatively limited in power and reach due to the cosmic thingamajigs you mentioned. Really sounds like a powerful mage might have more reach and fewer limitations than us, so why was becoming or making a genie specifically part of your plan?

Also, doing menial tasks like making tea is annoying. Are you sure there are no loopholes that let us use tiny wishes more often than three times per three days? I wish we could just wish for tea without wasting our last wish right now, for example.

>>42211917
*click*
>the book drops to the ground
"That wasn't very polite."
>You take the book and skim through it
>More space on the average page is taken up by pictures and diagrams than text, with a very cutesy and colorful artstyle
>the caster is always depicted as a young colt or filly with an adult as a supervisor
>potentially dangerous spells always have a list of warnings and contexts to avoid using it in
>Printed by the "Education Belongs Everywhere Society" and Endorsed by "Mothers of Unicorns and Kirins United"

>>42212419
>You remark on how weak these wishes have felt so far
"Well, you only JUST started casting a few hours ago. You're not going to wake up one day and be Twilight Sparkle." She said in a reaffirming and calm manner. "Just keep practicing and I'm sure you'll turn a hut into a castle"

>>42212081
>You arrange a few logs neatly in the iron furnace, your autistic mind needing them to be exactly parallel
>The plants from which most of crushed leaves and petals in the tea area derive are not of your Earth, so Hopeful picks "accelerated time bamboo flower," a much cheaper alternative to naturally grown bamboo flowers, but she avoids bringing that up
>The page of the book dedicated to kindling a fire probably has the most precautions out of anything in the book, and it's near the back.
"Usually this is meant to be done later, but you seem very mature."
>At first you're just giving yourself hand cramps and headaches trying to do it. You do not have an appendage as specialized for the purpose as a unicorn horn, but your hands seem similar enough
>Her encouragements, directions, and adjustments feel a bit patronizing, but not intentionally mocking or cruel, and it eventually works.
>The final spark ignites the wood, creating a stable fire

I need to be out the door one minute ago. I'll get back to the comfy later, and further after that, I have some exciting things going on outside of this damp tunnel

>>42212677
Can I use wishes on myself? (I wanna have a cock, I’m not letting her know that, though)

>>42211814
What!? We don't hate ourselves that much!

>>42212677
Make some tea for her as a thank you.
>>42212823
Does it count as self-loathing if I hate you?

Bump

>>42212734
Yes, you can wish for a cock. You can absolutely, 100% wish for a cock.

>>42212947
"I trust you to do this by yourself. I...really need to lay down for a bit."
>She departs to go lay on a carpet
>The cave is now pitch-black, but through unknown means, the lights are working. They are controlled by a pull switch, in spite of the distance it has to the ground.
>This environment was clearly designed for only those who can hover or use telekenesis in mind
>Mud ponies simply cannot compete
>Produce tea
>Drink tea at the table with her
>picrel
>The two of you try a spell that can make things lighter or heavier, which you sort of figure out, but fail to master before she insists that she needs rest
>Mere seconds after laying down, Hopeful falls into a deep sleep
>You go in order to sleep too on your weird hammock thing, tragically lacking in your favorite plushies, which will either be pawned off by family or thrown away

>>42213537
How did we end up dying so we could get summoned here? Probably not important, just wondering.

>>42213585
It was already explained in >>42208915 (OP)

>>42213537
Our poor plushies. If only there was a way to get them back... oh well, time to go to bed and see if we still dream as a genie.

>>42213537
>>42213537
If a mare wishes for our cock, wouldn't that make it more powerful? Hmmmmmm
Anyway, magic or not, we should probably source some food for her recovery in the morning. oh no the voices are back
BOOP HER NOSE WHILE SHE SLEEPS TOUCH HER HOOVES PAT HER HEAD

>>42213699
Resist the voices, anon. Too many boops is bad for one's health.

>>42213537
>>You go in order to sleep too on your weird hammock thing, tragically lacking in your favorite plushies, which will either be pawned off by family or thrown away
I wish our plushies were here. We can't leave them alone like this.

>>42213537
Yeah seconding >>42214700

>>42214700
DO NOT

>>42213537
Find a towel or cloth, soak it in hot water, and wipe the sweat and dirt from her face.
Also give her a blanket!!

>>42214770
faggot!!

>>42214700
Let's at LEAST save the last wish for someone else other than us.

>>42214700
Not this. Save the wish for something useful that isn't a haha moment because of how useless it is.

>>42214816
Fine, I wish to go to sleep and wake up in three days when I have fresh wishes to use

>>42214816
Fair point. Maybe we can make a letter and send it to our relatives and friends and tell them that we're fine in our afterlife so they won't be sad. Or we can wish for a second bed for our Alladin mare so she wouldn't need to sleep on a carpet like a dog.

>>42214842
You know, that's a good point. Can the mare actually live with us here?
Would she want to? >>42213537 We need to ask. And I know she's gonna say stuff about how she does not deserve life or whatever, I don't care, I do wanna know if she has specific plans or places to be - that do not involve dying out of self-pity - that would prevent her from crashing here.

And if it's good, then wish for a second bed or whatever she might need while staying here. We can get our plushies in a few days anyway.
Would she need food and stuff while staying here, considering she's not a genie herself? Or will the lamp sustain her somehow?

>It's not super easy going to sleep, what with all the stressful chaos that day, mixed with your cognitive dissonance over how to use that last wish
>As you wake up, you forget most of what happened in that night's dream
>The only part you remember is [UNHIDE SPOILER]
>Pretty average
>Not even here do you manage to dream of ponies
>The Sun is at a such a precise angle that its light is shining almost directly down the tunnel, resulting in a vaguely golden hue of light coming through the window
>The edgy little poner is still asleep by what little is left of the fire
>She wrapped the carpet around herself to become a burrito

Abilities:
Light
Ignite
Change weight
Enter/exit lamp
3-dimensional movement

Lamp contents:
Bed hammock, table with 2 chairs and a note, iron oven with stove, wooden, tea materials, the most basic of cookware, soot, spell book for ages 4+, 2 unknown books, big ceramic jar, 7.75 gallons of water, Hopeful Athame, carpet

Wishes:


Time until restock:
At most 2 days

>>42215009
>dreaming of Cocks
haha faggot

>>42215009
>>She wrapped the carpet around herself to become a burrito
Cute. We need something for her to eat, let's go out and uhh try to find some berries I guess.

>>42215009
Once she wakes up I really wanna ask her what would the effects be if she lives with us in our lamp

>>42215061
>You decide not to wake her up or engage with anything else in the lamp and leave her in there
>You pick it up
>You leave the cave
>It is no longer raining
>pic
>You are on a packed dirt path near a cliff face, overlooking a river brown from the runoff generated in the rainstorm
>There are three directions to go in, including back, unless you want to be a goober and go forward

Abilities:
Light
Ignite
Change weight
Enter/exit lamp
3-dimensional movement

Lamp contents:
Bed hammock, table with 2 chairs and a note, iron oven with stove, wooden, tea materials, the most basic of cookware, soot, spell book for ages 4+, 2 unknown books, big ceramic jar, 7.75 gallons of water, 7 shekels (forgot to add that the first time), Hopeful Athame, carpet

Wishes:
1/3 (Guess 4chin doesn't take kindly to unicode)

Time until restock:
At most 2 days

>>42215271
Time to do one of the few things we're good at and ruin a family. Get those eggs.

>>42215356
>You feel a wave of guilt rush over you, but now you have a future breakfast
>You don't feel like going back to the lamp immediately, so you suck them into your body like an amoeba and store them under your translucent skin

Abilities:
Light
Ignite
Change weight
Enter/exit lamp
3-dimensional movement

Unstowed inventory:
3 unidentified eggs

Lamp contents:
Bed hammock, table with 2 chairs and a note, iron oven with stove, wooden, tea materials, the most basic of cookware, soot, spell book for ages 4+, 2 unknown books, big ceramic jar, 7.75 gallons of water, 7 shekels, Hopeful Athame, carpet

Wishes:
1/3

Time until restock:
At most 2 days

>>42215516
Can we phase through objects? Can we get wet?

>>42215516
Are we on a cliff or just up a steep hill? Also, do we need to eat and drink or is that all just for any guests we might have?

>>42208915 (OP)
They never do.
They only get worse.

>>42215356
Wtf, and what do we even do with them now? We don't have a pan or oil or salt. Boil them in a kettle?

>>42216139
I'll teach you to suck eggs!

>>42216141
Gay

>>42215672
Nah, Anon'd win.

>>42215571
Have you tried?

>>42215587
It's steep enough that anything that tries to walk on it would end up sliding down. There are rocks and tree branches on could hold onto under less wet and slippery conditions, not that this matters in any obvious way to you. The depth of the water is unclear, but there's enough tree trunks piercing the water surface to tell you that it's usually shallower and probably a lot less turbulent

>>42215672
That's why if the story becomes messy and incoherent, I can deflect all blame to everyone but myself

>>42216529
What are we waiting for? Geronimo!

>>42216529
Go left.

>>42216529
To the right!

>>42216766
>>42216808
>>42217343
https://strawpoll.com/eNg6vW4mWgA

>Go left (North)
>You are surrounded by the sound of rushing water, crows cawing, and wood being pecked
>You float for about 15 minutes, the path not changing in any significant manner, and the collection of stone buildings seemingly never moving relative to you
>That is, until you see an ancient stone bridge in the distance, embedded with eroded statues of ponies you know nothing about
>That bridge leads to the East, towards the buildings you have continuously seen
>The dirt path continues North
>Approaching the bridge, you see a signpost, with plants with flowers and berries surrounding the base
>The plants are low to the ground with thin, tall green stems. Sticking from the stems are a plethora of smaller stems that bend in an arc shape, attached to each of which is either a white, bell-shaped flower, or a small tomato-colored berry
>To the North is Chalknest
>To the East is Fort Peerless
>To the South, the direction you came from, is Saugertrot

>>42217600
Take a quick look inside the lamp to see if mare is awake.

>The ancestors of those in Equestria embraced Harmony when she was still a pony. The ancestors of us in Volontria? Well, like the kirins, we rejected her.

So they're Jews then.

>>42217600
Fort Peerless sounds interesting and also exceedingly welcoming to strange outsiders.

>>42217600
May as well pick those berries.

>>42217683
>Unless something happens soon that makes you change your mind, Fort Peerless will be your next destination

>>42217873
>You foolishly pick the berries

>>42217628's days are numbered

>>42217605
1. https://files.catbox.moe/hbwsqc.png
2. https://files.catbox.moe/ypc2pu.png

Unstowed inventory:
N/A

Lamp contents:
Bed hammock, table with 2 chairs and a note, iron oven with stove, wooden, tea materials, the most basic of cookware, soot, spell book for ages 4+, 2 unknown books, big ceramic jar, 7.75 gallons of water, 7 shekels, Hopeful Athame, carpet, 3 unknown eggs, lily of the valley berries

Wishes:
1/3

Time until restock:
At most 2 days

>>42218079
>You foolishly pick the berries
Really should have read the post more closely instead of immediately reading "berry" and going with that. Damn on my part,
Anyways, ask what happened to Hopeful.

>>42218079
Well, we don't HAVE to eat the berries. We could crush them up and use them to dye fabrics, or... dry them out and incorporate them into some kind of herbal wall decoration. And failing any of this arts and crafts nonsense, we could always just throw them back to nature so that the cycle of life can persist.

>>42218974
or poison a pony on purpose

>>42218079
Yeah but we're made of magic smoke so surely it can't hurt us

>>42218079
>"You know lily of a valley is lethal, right?"
Nope. Hey, I'm a city slicker, be easy on me.
>>42219128
Yeah sure because dead ponies are much better teachers than alive ones. A healthy amount of paranoia is okay but this is just retarded.

>>42219128
I think if we find ourself poisoning a pony on purpose we're probably failing at our job here

Bump

>You leave the lamp to talk with her face-to-face

>>42218242
"What happened to me? I woke up and felt like getting fresh air. I probably should have thought about how muddy it would be first... Oh well. It'll wash off."
>After the state she was in last night, she's holding herself up unexpectedly well
"Anyway, this trail north is going to get you to the local gryphons, or the last in the area at least."
>From what you can see between the leaves and pine needles, the mountainous terrain gets visibly taller and taller
>Against one of many cliff faces, you see a thatch roof, followed by another, then another
>There are too many trees in the way from where you are now to make out much more
>She then looks to the East
"Lovely lake that way. I couldn't tell you how many towns surround it. Anyway, me... I see myself soon going to go back to Saugertrot. There's an old friend I've had the itch to visit. I can stay for a bit longer if you want me to, though. By the way, it took some time to get that form of yours to constitute and stabilize. Maybe it was a day that you spent as a shaking ball of fire? I doubt you remember it. I think that 3-day timer resets tomorrow."
>This takes a little bit of stress off of your shoulders

>>42218242
>>42219406
No need to beat yourself up over a missed detail, yet.

Unstowed inventory:
Hopeful Athame

Lamp contents:
Bed hammock, table with 2 chairs and a note, iron oven with stove, wooden, tea materials, the most basic of cookware, soot, spell book for ages 4+, 2 unknown books, big ceramic jar, 7.75 gallons of water, 7 denarii (After >>42217628 there's no way I'm going to use the word shekels), carpet, 3 unknown eggs, lily of the valley berries

Wishes:
1/3

Time until restock:
1 day

>>42220321
Or the last in the area at least?

>>42220321
Sheesh, maybe I really do need to run that CYOA panel. You need to provide your players with a goal to work towards and also preferably a set of logical options that somehow progress towards it. Anons aren't going to write the story for you or decide where it goes. We're along for the ride, not building it.
Managed Democracy is the only true way. Otherwise, it'll be pure chaos as people vote left and right!
I have no idea where we should be going or what each option will do, so I say we go left.

>>42220321
We are GOING to the Fort. Definitely. Maybe we should read that note while we travel.

>>42220873
That's a good point. The setting seems really interesting, but so far I've mostly been curious about exploring our new state of existence, our magic potential, and our summoner. Walking around the wilderness I guess might lead to some vague story progression down the line but doesn't really have anything to interest me right now, so I've actually sat out some of the decisions so far when it's just been us walking around outside our lamp. We're a damn genie, we need to learn how to do genie things, not explore some random thicket with a muddy river - unless there was a good reason for us to need to wander around or go anywhere, a reason that was more interesting than being reincarnated as a freaking genie.

Boy, I sure WISH I could get some sort of motivation, maybe involving solving a problem for a friend.

>>42220873
>>42221188
Thank you for your feedback. For a while I've been wanting to reveal more things to engage with, but I was so worried about throwing too much information at the players early on and railroading that I most likely overcompensated. I’m going to make sure those plot characters show up faster.
>To your left is solid rock and roots

>>42220859
>>42220905
Anon: “Only a day before I have three again? That takes a lot of weight off my shoulders. Anyway, what exactly does “or the last in the area” mean?”
Hopeful: "Well. there used to be a lot more in the area. The North half of Pannerskill was pretty much just gryphons when I was a filly. After they started digging deep for that big gold vein, they didn't deal with the byproducts in a good manner. They can't eat the fish from around here anymore. It weakens their eggshells. That's why they're leaving. None of them want to deal with the owner of the mine either. He's awful to work with."
Anon: "Well, it's a good thing I was about to head East anyway. I figured you’d probably be hungry, so I went foraging. I found some eggs and berries, so in terms of something to eat, I suppose just eggs. No butter or oil to fry them with, though. Most I could probably do is boil them.”
Hopeful: "That was very considerate of you. I finished up the last of my oats last night, thinking I wouldn’t live long enough for it to be worth saving. This is actually perfect. You might (snicker) find this a bit strange, but I remember boiling eggs and eating them plain back in college. I’ve never been a master of “work-life balance,” I’m afraid. I’m honestly a bit tempted to just wish for a whole breakfast banquet. I feel like that would be incredibly selfish, though.”
>You consider going through with it.
Anon: "I’ll make sure to make something after I find a place to put this lamp down that isn’t dirty. Speaking of which, how did you get out of the lamp so quietly?”
Hopeful: "My magic is pretty silent. I told you that the sound and glow of magic is just friction against the laws of nature, and therefore is just inefficiency, right?”
Anon: "Close-ish to that.”
>You go to the stone bridge
>Despite being a bit mossy, the rain has kept it free of dirt
>Also, placing it here might help you remember you were in the process of going this way
>In the slim off-chance somepony comes through, you make sure the lamp is left nowhere near the middle
>At first you’re ready to place the lamp on the bridge’s right guard wall, but you feel anxious leaving it so close to a ledge, so you place it at the base of said wall, where the occasional drainage slot in the brickwork is too short for the lamp to fall through
>Also you feel it might prevent the slim chance that the pony might end up exiting the lamp and ending up in the air away from the bridge
>Everything you do creates a new paranoid thought, so eventually you give up on tiny adjustments, which Hopeful seems to express amusement at whenever you’re not looking at her
>You both return to the lamp
>When you do, you remember the note that was left on the table and read it
>Athame fidgets nervously in response
Note: https://files.catbox.moe/olm2ua.png
Hopeful: "I......suppose that note is full of outdated information...."
>She scratches herself

SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION:
>Right now, you are in the lamp, which is now situated against the parapet of an ancient stone bridge
>You have the intent of making breakfast for the small and depressed amre and yourself, since you're still not even sure if you can or must eat or not.
>She says she's okay with eating plain boiled eggs, but you have the urge to use that wish on a proper breakfast banquet, or proper materials for current and future cooking, like butter and bread.
>You also still want your dick back.
>There are obvious reasons to attempt to study magic again afterwards, but the exact nature of what you want to study you're a bit unsure about
>There are also a lot of details in that confused and rushed note you just read that you don't fully understand or feel don't answer all of your questions

Unstowed inventory:
N/A

Lamp contents:
Bed hammock, table with 2 chairs and a note, iron oven with stove, wooden, tea materials, the most basic of cookware, soot, spell book for ages 4+, 2 unknown books, big ceramic jar, 7.75 gallons of water, 7 shekels, Hopeful Athame, carpet, 3 unknown eggs, lily of the valley berries

Wishes:
1/3

Time until restock:
1 day

>>42221626
In addition, you will be departing again for Fort Peerless as soon as you leave the lamp again

>>42221613
>I’m honestly a bit tempted to just wish for a whole breakfast banquet. I feel like that would be incredibly selfish, though
Not so much selfish as just impulsive. Wish instead for a set of culinary supplies that will last for some weeks of travel!
It's not like we have anypony else to use wishes on right now, and it refreshes in a day - and as I understand it it's use-it-or-lose-it with no rollover, anyway.

>>42221967
This. May as well use the dish for something somewhat practical.

>>42221626
Lets wish for a proper meal. She was on deaths doorstep just recently after all.

>>42221967
>>42223084
>You agree to wish for cooking ingredients together
>You think of many things: bread, butter, oil
>You clarify with each other what you both think is needed more
>You’re not even sure if the quantity of things you want counts as multiple wishes or not, so you come up with a scheme to wish for a basket WITH the items
>A genius you are, Anonymous
>Economics itself will cower before you
>A basket that contains a loaf of bread, a bottle of cooking oil (preferably olive), a vial of salt, a vial of pepper, a wedge of cheddar cheese (Have to make sure to specify that. What if you ended up with blue cheese?), a stick of butter, canned chili, and a bag of oats
>You don’t want to overdo it
>You wish with intent, and lo and behold, a basket manifests
>An overstuffed basket that contains a loaf of bread, a bottle of olive oil, a vial of salt, a vial of pepper, a wedge of cheddar cheese, a stick of butter, canned chili, and a bag of oats
>The handle has been given a cute little bow
>The bread is warm to the touch. It smells like it just left the oven
>The cheddar and butter are both perfectly yellow. The butter tastes salted, meaning it'll last a lot longer
>A sack in the basket contains oats of varying irregular shapes
>The basket’s material is woven chaotically and strands seem to separate and fuse, but it’s the right shape and seems as sturdy as a regular woven basket
>The bottles are shaped in a strange and asymmetrical manner, with a paper label covered in nonsensical scribbles that only superficially resemble written language, but the “0llw@ Oll” is determined to be olive oil, the “saH” is table salt
>You decide not to open the an of "P0tk ßoan <hll" to preserve the seal, but given the rest, you trust it to be pork bean chili
>Despite the oddities, everything is exactly what you asked for, word for word, in generous sizes too
>Despite how strange it is, Hopeful completely trusts it and is eager to try this culina ex nihilo
>Eggs and toast with black tea, that sounds like a wonderful breakfast after today and yesterday’s existential meltdown
>She oils the pan and two slices of bread, each cut releasing a small puff of steam towards her face
>You load up the furnace with some the firewood still present, knowing that anything you collect outside would still be wet
>Together at the table you eat buttered bread and lightly salted fried eggs, with black tea
>Two eggs for her, because in spite of your size difference, she needs to recover
>This bread would have gone better with jam than butter, you feel, but you doubt you’d enjoy lily of the valley jam
>Being at the seat which has the best view of the window, you see that the bridge is now covered in crows
>An inquisitive one hops over and starts pecking at the lamp’s bronze exterior, then focuses on its own reflection
>The most obvious options right now are to either leave the lamp and scare off the crows, or ignore it and practice magic or ask more questions

>>42223895
Abilities:
Light
Ignite
Change object weight
Enter/exit lamp
3-dimensional movement

Unstowed inventory:
N/A

Lamp contents:
Bed hammock, table with 2 chairs and a note, iron oven with stove, tea materials, the most basic of cookware, soot, spell book for ages 4+, 2 unknown books, big ceramic jar, 7.75 gallons of water, 7 denarii, Hopeful Athame, carpet, lily of the valley berries, woven basket, partially used loaf of quality bread, partially used stick of salted butter, large bottle of olive oil, oats, salt, pepper, large can of canned pork bean chili, quality cheddar wedge

Wishes:
0/3

Time until restock:
1 day

pity bump

>>42223895
pop out for a second and startle them away with a light spell

>>42223899
Scare birb away before it pokes us off the bridge or something.

>>42223895
>>42223899
Can we bring the crow into the lamp? I wanna tame a crow familiar

>>42224979
>>42225049
>All these crows are making you anxious, especially the pecker right outside
>You leave the lamp in a sudden burst of light, which startles them all so much that they launch themselves away as fast as they can
>That was an easy problem to deal with
>You look at the lamp, which wasn’t dented, and then around
>A canine howl can be heard in the distance, or maybe three in rough sync
>Turning to face it, you see a small pony, partially emerged from the bushes
>Holding completely still, the sight is like a deer in headlights
>She looks young and dirty
>You don’t know how long it was for, but you both made eye contact

>>42225242
>Someone yells from far away, loudly and angrily
>As if instinctual, the mysterious pony attempts to jump into a sprint, but falls to the ground, her right rear leg entangled
>She tries to pull herself free, but even as the branch breaks free of the bush, the branch does not unravel itself from her leg
>The dimensions of it stop her from running, even if she used only three legs
>A hopeless struggle

What do you do in this situation?


Abilities:
Light
Ignite
Change object weight
Enter/exit lamp
3-dimensional movement

Unstowed inventory:
N/A

Lamp contents:
Bed hammock, table with 2 chairs and a note, iron oven with stove, tea materials, the most basic of cookware, soot, spell book for ages 4+, 2 unknown books, big ceramic jar, 7.75 gallons of water, 7 denarii, Hopeful Athame, carpet, lily of the valley berries, woven basket, partially used loaf of quality bread, partially used stick of salted butter, large bottle of olive oil, oats, salt, pepper, large can of canned pork bean chili, quality cheddar wedge

Wishes:
0/3

Time until restock:
1 day

>>42225247
Oh no! Tell poner we're a friend and then let's get that branch off.

>>42225247
save the poner!

>>42225265
>>42225272
Thoughts on getting the pone into our lamp? If we do, we can worry about removing the branch later, but I'm kinda unsure about letting strangers inside our lamp just like that.

Maybe let's start by asking the pony why is she being chased after. That should help us figure out if we need to save her asap or what.

>>42225247
Run up to her and pour olive oil all over her leg to lube it up

>>42225400
What if the chasers have some really bad intentiosn? I'd rather the pone to be save in the lamp.

>>42225461
>Someone yells from far away
If they're "far away", surely we have like 5-10 seconds to ask her and hear her answer. Then we can lamp-vore her if really needed.

>>42225467
>lamp-vore
we're not calling it that.
we're not calling it that.

>>42225467
>>42225478
L A M P V O R E
A
M
P

V
O
R
E

>>42225400
>>42225424
>>42225461
>>42225467
>You approach the filly, her legs squirming and her eyes fearful, searching for mercy
>Unsure if she's running for a good reasons or a bad reason, you simply ask "What's wrong? to the filly, who you assume is called Dandelion
Dandelion: "Please, I need to hide. I don't know what you are, but I need you to hide me! Fast!"
>Her voice cracks
>The yelling and barking are approaching remarkably fast
>You soon understand how, when you see two winged creatures through the treeline
>Due to the clear lack of time, you instinctively pull her towards you without touching her, like a unicorn would
>Once the incredibly shocked filly is close enough, you lampv- I mean... you warp her into the lamp
>The lamp drops to the ground and gyrates in circles on its base before settling
>Smashing through the foliage from the direction she came from, a pair of cerberi pounce where the filly once stood, six loose-skinned heads sniffing and four giant front paws digging confusedly at the ground
>One comes to sniff the lamp, but not a single brain draws the connection so they just walk in circles
>You now have a yellow filly in your lamp
>She looks and smells terrible, her fur and mane darkened by dirt and her hooves worn down further than you think they would get from normal use
>Luckily, she's not on death's door like Athame did when you found her
>Speaking of Athame, she never left the table and she's still sipping tea, oblivious to what just happened and why there's a dirty earth pony filly in here
>pic

Abilities:
Telekinesis
Light
Ignite
Change object weight
Enter/exit lamp
3-dimensional movement

Unstowed inventory:
N/A

Lamp contents:
Bed hammock, table with 2 chairs and a note, iron oven with stove, tea materials, the most basic of cookware, soot, spell book for ages 4+, 2 unknown books, big ceramic jar, 7.75 gallons of water, 7 denarii, Hopeful Athame, Fandelion, carpet, lily of the valley berries, woven basket, partially used loaf of quality bread, partially used stick of salted butter, large bottle of olive oil, oats, salt, pepper, large can of canned pork bean chili, quality cheddar wedge

Wishes:
0/3

Time until restock:
1 day

>>42225818
>Hey Athame we got you the foal sacrifice you needed!

>>42225818
Ask her if she's hurt and if she'd like some tea. Then what the heck her story is.

>>42225915
this but put the lily of the valley in the tea

>>42225918
And then force this anon to drink that tea before giving her a normal cup.

>>42225918
pls no killy the filly

>>42225913
>>42225918
You two are going in time-out corner.

>>42226275
Ree the first one is a funny joke while the second one is just murder
Not fair!

>>42225915
After that she needs a bath

>>42225915
Anon: "Are you hurt? What was going on out there?"
>It takes a while for her to give a somewhat concise answer
Dandelion: "I'm running away. I'm running away and not looking back. They made me work in the mine. I miss my parents."
Anon: "What?"
Hopeful: "Oh yeah, Mr. Quicksilver, the birdcat with the gold mine. I think I brought him up earlier. Yeah, he doesn't hire his miners. He buys them. Preference for kids because they fit in tight spaces better. When he sees a house burn down, he doesn't feel pity. He wonders how desperate the parents are for money."
>Outside, you hear the voices of a shrill codger and an aloof brute, arguing over something muffled by the barrier between inside and out
Anon: "Is that even legal?"
Hopeful: "I thought the note implied that."
>You don't reply to that
Hopeful: "Anyway, did you say you were hurt?"
Dandelion: "Yes. I cut myself on some thorny plants and twisted my ankle. I couldn't deal with it because I had to keep running."
>You see irritated and inflamed skin too in some parts
>You think back to Verity in your world
Anon: "I wish there was a tub in here so we could get you cleaned"
>You have a short panic as you prepare for a bath tub to appear and crush something, but fortunately, nothing happens
Hopeful: "I have leftover rubbing alcohol and bandages from my trip out here. I can help out somewhat."

>>42226286
Don't argue with your mother. Time-out, now.

>>42226656
Let's dress those wounds as best we can.

So when we're outside and we want an item in the lamp do we have to make an in-and-out trip for it or can we just extendo-arm our hand into the lamp and grope around for the items we want and pull them out?

We've been in Equestria for only one day and we already have a wife and a daughter. Even before we got our dick back, impressive.

>>42226961
>Hopeful uses what little she has left to clean Dandelion's scratches and wrap them
>The kid is clearly hungry so she also offers her cheese
>She scarfs it all down as soon as it's within reach
>She ate ALL of your cheese

>>42226982
I hadn't really thought about that. Sure.

>>42227197
The wish counter refreshes tomorrow

>>42227375
Put a bow from the basket in Dandie's mane ^:)

>>42227381

>>42227428
Cute

>>42227375
Ask her where her parents are.

>>42227428
Dawwww ^:D

>>42225818

>>42227428
My first wish once we our wishes are recharged is to bath her

>>42227453
Dandelion: "Maremont... in Spuhr Valley"
>"Two horse puns for places that aren't even on the same continent. The writer is really stretching it," you think
Dandelion: "My mom is, at least. My dad...he...was."
>You're not sure if you want to ask
Dandelion: "Are you a genie?"
>Before you can answer that, one of the gryphons picks the lamp up
"What's this you sniffin?"
"Stop wasting time. She could be anywhere right now. Did you check under the bridge?"
"Looks like one of those old oil lamps. Who still uses these anyway?"
"Who's not doing his job right now?"
>The lamp changes talons
"Maybe if you rub it, a GENIE'll come out."
"Gump...you pigeon-brained peck-"
"No balls"
"What did you just say?"
"No balls"

What are you gonna do? Pop out and say/do something, or just wait it out? Reminder that you're out of wishes

>>42228455
Yeah I think a genie out of wishes is not much of a genie at all. Let's just wait it out.
I am very much looking forward to popping out in the face of future rubbers once we do get some more wishes (and get better at wishing in general), but right now there's not much we'd be able to do.

>>42228533
I don't think we have a choice, part of genie code is to always comes out if somebody rubs our lamp
I say we that when we're summoned we toss a couple shekels to the side to distract them, then we book it with the lamp in tow

>>42228577
If we're following genie code then grabbing our own lamp and running away is absolutely not part of that.
If we do come out, I think the best course of action would be to just come up with some way to wittily refuse to grant any wishes, "you ruffians are not worth my time" or whatever. But I still think we're under no obligation to come out.

Think about it this way, if "genie code" involves coming out when rubbed, the same "genie code" involves granting wishes when summoned by rubbing. You don't see genies being rate-limited by saying, nuh-uh, someone else had already rubbed me yesterday, so please wait two more days to be able to wish. Not only that, but "genie code" also often says the genie is unable to wish for themselves, something which doesn't apply to us at all. And of course a standard genie will not be limited by trifling things like summoning an accurate breakfast, whereas our wishes right now are so weak we'd probably become a laughing stock if we answer the summons.

In short, I don't think we're anything like the kind of genie you're thinking of, and don't have to behave the same way.

If you really want to, think about it this way: when a genie is summoned, they always have wishes to give, but that doesn't mean that rubbing always works. So since we're on cooldown that's one reason not to answer summons.
And we're basically still only an apprentice genie, not actually anywhere near ready to provide full-powered wishes, so we can't be expected to do the job fully yet. That's a second reason not to act as if we were a fully-fledged genie.

I guess we can try reading one of the unknown books while we wait

Maybe we could push out a tiny strip of paper that reads "Closed for Maintenance"? We need a little WHIMSY in this bitch.

>>42228455
We got no wishes, so there's no reason to come out

>>42228533
>>42228599
>>42228619
>>42228697
and that looks to be a pretty big lead for staying put


>Quicksilver apathetically rubs the lamp, and as he expected, nothing happened
"There. You done fixating on someone's trash?"
>He tosses it behind himself and it bounces on the stone bridge until it hits a roll
>Though gravity is always in the direction of the floor, each impact is still a small tremor
>The gryphons and cerberi check under the bridge and find nothing amidst the ancient mossy arches
>They leave, heading further south
Anon: "Also yes, I am a genie."
>You go to check the other two books on the bookshelf
>One is a history book focused on the general history of the world's diasporic pony cultures, which you feel might not go into great detail on the other myriad races
>The other is an alphabetic encyclopedia
>Hopeful hoofpicked these books just for you
Dandelion: "Does that mean you can grant wishes?"

>>42229139
Yes, though only able to grant couple of wishes per day for now at least.

Also here birds.

I hate birds. Tomorrow I'm going to wish for them to go extinct, consequences be damned.
>>42229139
What's your opinion on these beakfags, kid? Say, if something bad were to happen to them, how'd you feel?

>>42229267
This image is beak content

Anon: "Yes, but I'm currently out of them. Tomorrow, I promise, I'll be able to."
>Dandelion went from hopeful to let down to excited over the course of that sentence

>>42229617
>To get revenge and test your powers, you kind of destroy the gryphons
Anon: "What's your opinion on these beakfags, kid? Say, if something bad were to happen to them, how'd you feel?"
>Staring wide-eyed, Hopeful keeps sipping on her now empty cup to stay out of the conversation
Dandelion: "What's a beakfag?"
Anon: "I'm talking about the catbirds. The gryphons."
Dandelion: "I don't know. I don't know if they caught my brother or not, so if something did happen, I wouldn't want him to be in the crossfire."

>I don't know if they caught my brother or no
Should we seek out him today, or be lazy and wish-teleport him tomorrow?

>>42229969
"So your brother escaped too? When was the last you saw him?"

Bump

>>42230110
Anon: "So your brother escaped too? When was the last you saw him?"
Dandelion: "Yes. I was following him. There was a rapid and we both went in different directions to find a crossing. It was towards the North. He went left and I went right. We were originally planning to hide in the old fort. I think he would have gone there and waited if he escaped. I don't know if he did though."
Hopeful: "Was that recent?"
Dandelion: "Today."

>>42230047
I don't know, what WILL we do?

>>42231147
Wait in the lamp doing whatever for at least half an hour so that our pursuers will fuck off far enough. Then we should go to that fort and see if the colt is there, and if he's not present then just wait for him. Actively searching the forest might be dangerous for us, if gryphons see our lamp again they won't throw it away this time for sure. So unless we want to confront them we should stay low for now. Anyway even if he gets caught and punished for escaping as long as he's alive we can always heal him with a wish.

>>42231221
Seconded.

>>42231221
Can't we just wish him towards us?

>>42231511
0/3 wishes remaining

>>42231536
Well we could once our wishes are recharged which should be soonish?

>>42231221
>>42231281
>>42231561
Anything you'd like to do in the meantime?

>>42231815
Maby the poners inside the lamp could use some relaxing scratches behind the ears

>>42231815
Skim through the alphabetic encyclopedia. To see it anything interesting caught our eye.

>>42232296
>dandelion tea
Would drink straight from the tap ;)

>>42232296
The poner needs a bath

>>42231843
>The girls are clearly stressed out, so you try to soothe them the way you would a pet
>Athame has been fixing her bed mane and re-braiding it, which you interrupt by patting on the head
>initially shocked by it, she slowly raises her hoof
Hopeful: "I know you appreciate me, but I'm not that kind of-"
>she stops herself and gives in
>she even leans into it
>you move to gently scratch the inside of her ear, which her hind leg shifts in response to
>when it's over, she's clearly embarrassed
>Attempt to do the same to Dandelion
>She reflexively flinches when touched
>She never says "no," but it's clear she doesn't really want it
>You stop and give her space


>>42232296
Look at that snoot

>You decide to skim through the encyclopedia, which is a bit out of familiar order, due to the different history to the native language's script to your own
>For a moment, you wonder how anyone, you included, ever ends up in another world and understands the native language
>The thought slips your mind when you see a disturbing creature
https://ponerpics.org/img/view/2024/9/21/7059038.png
>You hope to never encounter it
>Interested to learn more about the places mentioned so far, and maybe how to get there
>There's something odd you notice about them
>You know that borders generated by history, culture and geographical defenses have more natural shapes that follow mountains and rivers
>These borders? With the exception of coastlines, the borders are always made of predominately straight lines and right angles
>Strange
>You decide to read up on Harmony (with a capital H), and it's a clearly abridged explanation about a pony who became a goddess in pursuit of bringing certainty in a world deemed too random
>Though depicted with a marble alicorn statue that could easily be mistaken for any other princess, it says she dissolved into new laws of magic and nature, her soul fusing with destiny
>Places where her presence is the strongest for long periods of time often grow gigantic crystals, for she values structure and consistency
>You see changelings described as "love tapeworms," which, while a gross analogy, does make you chuckle
>The term "Hollowers" stuck out to you back when you read that note, so you decide to finish off by reading that
>The creature you see, it resembles one of the species of talking ungulate you've seen before, but it's all so...wrong
>There are things that don't belong there, especially not in the internal cross-section
>The gryphons are long out of sight, so you close the book


>>42232343
See >>42227886


>>42232683
There's a colt out there that we don't know the condition of, and the water outside is still full of runoff. Despite how much Athame hates the smell of this dirt-caked preteen, and the lack of wishes right now, I'll leave this choice to the consensus of anons.

>>42233165
Let's juat get searching for the colt. Since we can just hide in the lamp if any catbirbs get near.

>>42233370
Retard.
>>42233165
We head out to the fort. Surely there'd be a lake or a river near it, so we can wash our filly there. Keep an eye open for mushrooms or berries, can never have too much food.

I wonder if we can partually come out of the lamp, like get our head out but keep the body inside?

>>42233165
SKIBIDI GOLLY DOP DOP DOP YES YES!

>>42233644
BEGOGONE FOUL BEAST

>>42233938
heh it seems you have made a typo
skibidiGODS win again

>>42233165
We should probably make a plan, first moving the lamp back upright before any exiting guest gets hurt, then scouting the area for Dandelions brother without getting spotted ourselves (We could wait out for more wishes but we'd miss out on any time-sensitive issues). If we can spare a blanket from the hammock then maybe we can fashion a makeshift cloak for one of our guests to hide themselves with?

>>42233370
>>42233408
>>42234693
>You decide to not waste any time and find that colt
>Dandelion doesn't know how far back the rapids were from where she merged with the road, so you decide to go diagonal to the road, the crumbling stone spires that poke above the trees a compass
>In the forest, Dandelion notices a colony of mushrooms
>Emerging from the ground, they have rounded red caps with many bumpy white spots, white gills beneath the cap, and a white stalk with frills growing from the upper portion of said stalks
>The bright color reminds Dandelion of cherries and strawberries, which excites her
I'll let the audience decide if they picked the mushrooms or not and if so, what they do with them.
>It feels like every couple minutes you see a crow watching you
>Other times multiple at once
>You ask Dandelion what her brother looks like
>You learn that his name is Pyrite and that he's slightly darker than she is, more of a yellow-brown, and that he's younger than her, but the same height
>"At least he'll stand out," you think
>You come to the top of a hill that overlooks a brook that drops off into a one-story tall waterfall
>If it were not for the current velocity of the runoff water, the pool at the bottom of the waterfall would make a nice swimming hole
>You feel Dandelion exaggerated when calling these rapids
Dandelion: "See those rocks leading down over there? I climbed down those. If he found a way across, he'd be in the other direction."
>In the direction opposite of where you crossed, you eventually do find a conveniently fallen log that crosses the (admittedly still dangerous) brook

>>42234706
Goober

>>42234795
>mushrooms
These look like are flyagaric. Deadly poisonous raw, but some of them, if boiled for a while, can be eaten. Or dried into a drug. What does Hopeful know about them? If she's not sure whether they can be eaten after a proper preparation or not, I say we don't take a risk and leave them alone.

>>42234795
Do not let the filly eat poison mushrooms. Let's cross over the log.

>>42234795
Anon would pick the mushrooms and put them together with the lily of the valley. Let's start a collection of inedibles.

>>42235206
This. Everybody needs a hobby

>>42235073
>>42235083
>>42235206
>>42235299
>You tell Dandelion that they're poisonous
>For some reason, you feel like starting a poisonous plant and fungi collection, and pick them
>Today you will not be going to Tanetane Island
>The log is covered in moss, but some of it is peeling off in strange patterns
>The tearing is in the shape of hooves
>You see an area covered with scratches as if there was a slip and struggle, with scrapes going along the rest of the log until it reaches your side of the brook there are hoofprints in the mud, heading away
>Also, there's a weird buck across the brook with a non-deer-like posture and strange proportions, looking straight at you without any fear
>You decide not to cross

>>42235575
Does it look like there were any paw prints on either side of the river? If not, then we're in luck, there were no cerberi chasing Pyrite, only gryphons if any.
>there's a weird buck across the brook with a non-deer-like posture and strange proportions, looking straight at you without any fear
Any /k/omrades here?

Also, are we immune to phisical damage, or not? Can one of the mares hit us real to see if we should be afraid in the first place or not.
Also also we don't need that log to cross the river, do we? We can just fly over the river carrying our lamp with ponies inside. We can even fly over that buck lol.

>>42235692
That's a great point. Time to make things interesting. Everyone, it's time to choose your difficulty setting!

>>42236086
It feels weird picking the "easy" option but we're literally a genie, a djinn, a mythical spirit of fantastical powers. It would make no sense for us to be vulnerable to punches from random mortals or to suffer from thirst and hunger like some lowly corporeal being.
I'm sure this world is full of powerful mages who could counter us, of enchanted weaponry who could damage even our incorporeal form, and other powerful opponents who might be a match for a wish-granting genie. So choosing "easy" doesn't need to make our journey any easier, it feels like it'll just ensure we face opponents appropriate to our existence as a djinn, rather than making us some kind of joke of a spirit for whom some random griffon thug will always be a threat because apparently punching a translucent, floating, wish-granting, ageless being is effective.

>>42236086
I vote easy but with a modifier:
We should not be able to pick up our own lamp if we can't take physical damage, at least once the lamp is out of this area of the world. Even if we don't *need* to eat, we do need to take care of our friends, and in turn our friends help take care of us for stuff we can't fix with wishes or do ourselves. Sure, the wishes will be more powerful, but surely there is a hard limit on what we can do at even the highest level of magic- a powerful genie is still a genie, after all, and it would be a little boring if all we had to do to keep our lamp out of danger is float off with it

>>42236148
Yeah this makes sense to me. Being able to hold our own lamp is bloody convenient, but it feels circular and almost like a loophole. The lamp holds the genie but the genie holds the lamp?
I'll miss the loophole but it would make sense to retcon it.

In turn I will also mention that it doesn't make sense for us to feel hunger. We can literally float through objects and yet we need to eat material food? Since we have friends, they'll need to eat anyway so we'll still need to find food. Plus it seems too easy anyway to just say "we'll learn to live with our hunger" if need be and ignore it, so I don't think it'd serve much gameplay purpose.

>>42235692
>hit us real
Only now I realised that I forgot a word here.

>>42236086
I may be misunderstanding the point of this CYOA, but I do wish I had reality-warping powers like this, so I can do nice things to those who need them with just a snap of the fingers. I don't feel like tryharding here, I feel like being lazy.

But you know what? You can still make things harder. We have a long way of learning magic before us, and we have a hard limit of wishes, so you can present us more problems than we can solve. Something something Pathologic (I haven't played that game for that very reason). That'll keep things interesting (I think) and at the same time it'll keep us as a powerful spirit we are supposed(?) to be.

>>42236148
>>42236172
I agree about the lamp thing. Being able to move wherever we want is a bit boring.

>>42236086
>don't worry about it
Worrying about it.

>>42236107
>>42236148
>>42236172
>>42236174
Unanimous vote. You're right. We are a genie, so that being a vote at all was stupid. We are high on the food chain. The ponies aren't, but they have you. While Equestria had a bunch of teenage mares with magical artifacts to save them, you ARE the magical artifact. Whatever adversaries you have will be purely limited to the upper echelons.

In regards to the "carry your own lamp" thing, in the first draft I was going to have you stuck in the cave until Dandelion found you while Anon went crazy from isolation. Amusing in concept, but I was worried it would have been boring. Ironically, people didn't really seem to enjoy the exploration anyway. Too directionless.
In regards to eating, yeah, we technically aren't material beings. Folklore still has them eating food left out by humans, though.

>Moving away from the creepy deer slowly and avoiding eye contact, you start to feel a searing pain, similar to a sunburn
Anon: "Ack, what's going on? What's this burning feel?"
>Hopeful looks really ashamed and guilty right now
Hopeful: "How did I forget to warn you? Stupid, stupid, STUPID! Ugh. Okay. Incorporeal beings don't really do well when exposed to sunlight. Considering you're one of the most powerful among them, it's not THAT big of a deal, but sorry, I think you might want to stay inside more often."
Anon: "Alright, rub if you need me."
>This is just like your old life
>You return to the lamp, which Dandelion takes
>You have the window and can hear things from the outside, so you'll be up to date on whatever happens
>The pain is still there, but it feels like it's subsiding very slowly
>Maybe you'll just read while stuff is going on.
>Muddy, colt-sized hoofprints lead in the direction of the fort, so Dandelion has faith that he went straight there
>As they leave, the deer stops at the brook, apprehensive about crossing, and returns to the foliage
>Half an hour later, the towers loom overhead, and the two stand on a hill overlooking the road, leading straight up to a ramp and stair combo into what's left of the gatehouse into Fort Peerless
>As the Sun now lies to the West, the stone brick walls and charred wood almost glow in the yellow-tinted light
>There are far more crows here than there were previously, in the trees that now cast long shadows
Hopeful: "Dandelion. Do you see that? Over the walls. Smoke. Somepony is in there."

How do we approach this? Remember, letting ponies decide things for themselves is always an option. The only true player character is Anon.


>>42236822
Looks like you no longer have to worry about it


Wishes:
0/3

Time until restock:
Less than 1 day

>>42237430
Oh, so we're a vampire now? Cool. We should avoid garlic from now on, just in case.
>more crows
I have a bad feeling about this. Fillies should be careful not to leave our lamp unattended, we probably don't want to get stolen by fucking birds.
>How do we approach this?
Does Hopeful know an invisibility spell? The smoke is not a good sign, somepony who is supposed to be hiding would not alert the whole forest about his presence like this. Granted, he's a small colt, but still.

Since we can't go around by ourselves anymore and Dandelion will get caught immediately if it's gryphons out there, it should be Hopeful who goes there and checks things out, while we hide in a bush nearby. In that case Dandelion has to stay outside to keep the crows away.

Or! We can hide Dandie in the lamp and Hopeful will take it with herself. If gryphons ask her about it she can tell them she found it in the forest and desided to take it with herself to sell later or something.

>>42237607
Let Hopeful take the lamp and investigate, she probably has some spells to camouflage or protect herself. While Dandelion and we wait inside the lamp.
Dandelion’s been running from gryphons all day, and I doubt she has the stamina for another round.
That way, it’s less likely to alert the crows and give away our position if only Hopeful is out there.

>>42237607
>>42238028
>Dandelion is eager to go, but Hopeful puts her forelimb in front of her
Hopeful: "I don't trust this place. This whole situation is suspicious. Stay back here with the lamp."
Dandelion: "Not out here. You saw that deer thing. What if it's still following us?"
>You poke just your head out of the lamp
Anon: "What if I just take Dandelion in here while you take the lamp?"
>Hopeful shrugs
Hopeful: "Not the worst call, but it still might be dangerous. I don't want you to be in harm's way."
Anon: "I'll be fine. I'm a genie."
Hopeful: "Fine. I'll hide you in my bag."
>After you suck the filly into your lamp, Hopeful simply floats you into her left saddlebag and goes to the front gate, unimpeded by the lowered portcullis, even if it was never attacked
>The gatehouse floor consists of a subtle trapdoor over a pit
>There is nobody to operate it anymore, but the wood is so rotten that Hopeful takes no chances and teleports all the way across, the noise startling some crows and her invisibility faltering for a bit before being restored
>The fort itself contains a small town built on levels that could be likened to Incan step farms, a great staggered ramp creating a straight lane to the keep's main entrance stairs
> branching from that lane are damaged buildings and grass so overgrown that they could hide standing ponies
>At first it looked like the place had experienced fire, but now you are not sure about that. It looks more like it was dissolved by something corrosive
>Hopeful sees the building near the top, from which a single chimney still emits smoke, it and a few of the most adjacent buildings having tarps over their caved in rooves
>A few rough and shoddy fences wrap around what you imagine are farms
>There are so many crows here, especially near the keep entrance, the towering double doors also having never been attacked, but having rotted off their hinges
>It's the windows to the keep that were broken to penetrate the walls, the frames of which being the most molten areas in the entire complex
>Getting closer and closer, Hopeful hears a rustling, then sees an old stallion earth pony, scything the fenced-in plants in a uneven manner

>>42238515
Ask him how do we get to the library.

>>42238515
Let's ask Hopeful in a whisper what she thinks about this pony before we approach

>>42238560
Anon: "Ask him how do we get to the library."
Hopeful: "The what?"
Anon: "The library."
Hopeful: "What library?"
Anon: "If they have a library I want in."
Hopeful: "Ummm, okay. I'm not sure if they're friendly or not, but I'll try to remember that."
Anon: "Good. Remember: Library."
>You hang up a landline phone that doesn't exist
>Hopeful wonders what that sound the lamp just made was


>>42238656
>Hopeful climbs the ramp and hides amidst the tall grass
>Holding his scythe like a weapon, the stallion perks at the rustling and quickly approaches his level's ledge, looking around in a head-jerking and shaky manner
>His pupils are dilated and teeth greatly discolored
>Finding nothing, he returns to his work, mumbling nonsense
>Hopeful waits for him to make distance before whispering
Hopeful: "He's some kind of addict. Can't tell if he's on crack or meth."

>>42239337
Eesh, let's avoid this guy and... Hmm, idk how close the house with the smoking chimney is, if we can get there without being spotted by tweaker mcgee then lets, otherwise we should quietly book it a street or three away to get some distance and head for the keep doors

Bump

>>42239512
>you advise her to avoid the tweaker go for the house with the smoking chimney
>she goes invisible and sneaks around him
Hopeful (in a whisper): "Grogar's lettuce, coca, peyote, sphinxnip, poison joke...there's got to be a dozen species of illegal to grow plants here."
Anon: "A drug operation in a ruined castle? That's bold."
>The building with a smoking chimney has its windows completely covered with curtains and particle board, but the door is slightly ajar
>Peering in, Hopeful sees what looks to be a chaotic and disorganized lab, with blue petals strewn about, implying the usage of poison joke
>She also sees what looks like a pony on the floor, until she sees certain donkey-like features that hint to her that it's a zebra
>Another earth pony toils away at the pressure valves, completely ignoring his incapacitated coworker
>His eyes, tongue, and saliva are a deep shade of blue, implying that he took, either intentionally or unintentionally, joke or something derived from it
>She theorizes that the poison joke took away all the white in his body, leaving only the black
Hopeful (whispering): "Poor guy, he must have been trying to make punchline or irony poison, and failed to purify it properly. That stuff is really popular with the guild initiates."
Anon: "Is he gonna be fine?"
Hopeful: "Everything but his coat it seems."
>Crows emerge and converge in the windows around the keep's front doors, and from within said keep, a feminine voice can be faintly heard, unintelligibly, but eloquently
>Another pair of voices can be heard in another house nearby
>Hopeful almost steps on a crow, but stops herself

>>42240037
What the heck is with these crows?

>>42240037
Well, we got no use for drugs unless the poison plant collector anon wants to go up a notch. Where else can we go?

>>42240037
poor fella got deziggafied

>>42240144
The poison ain't strong enough

>>42238515
>teleportation
>invisibility
Hopeful is a one damn powerful unicorn.
>>42240037
Ask Dandelion if she knows anything about these guys.

>>42240649
Well Hopeful did literally create a mythical being, using a soul pulled from a distant dimension. I don't think that's something every unicorn learns.

>Ask Dandelion if she knows anything about these guys.
Seconding.

>>42240144
That is indeed a lot of poisonous plants but just picking them from a poison farm feels like cheating. Also some of these are dangerous even to touch, so since we've got roomates in the lamp we should wait in adding poison joke and stuff until we rig up some slightly more secure storage space for this shit.

What would happen if we wish for something non-existent? Like a bottle of snowpity.

>>42240721
90% of all genie wishes are wishes for the non-existent. I don't think it's a problem.

>>42240721
We probably need to make sure our wishes aren't quite this anemic first
>>42241260
Also, physically non-existent is not the same thing as conceptually non-existent. "I wish to create a breakfast out of thin air", or even "I wish for some specific artifact or weapon, that doesn't currently exist but I can describe it" makes sense. But "I wish for gkfhgsflkhgs" is unlikely to give anything useful, or anything at all.
Wishing for a bottle of snowpity is not unlike wishing for a bottle of love. Logically, it would really depend on the nature of such things in the magical world. Maybe distilled feelings, or the essense of concepts, can exist, and then you will get it. But if it can't, I think it just can't be wished for.

There are, after all, impossible wishes. Wishing for more wishes for starters, I'm pretty sure it's not forbidden because genies are dicks and want to keep all the fun to themselves, but rather because it metaphysically doesn't work. Wishing for a paradoxical object that cannot exist wouldn't be possible either: "I wish for an object that will never exist". (Unless, again, the world is such that paradoxes can in fact somehow exist, warping logic and reality around them or something).
A genie is not omnipotent, after all.

>>42241260
True. I suppose that even if we wish for a thing that doesn't exist in nature and nobody has thought about it before us, it'll still try to manifest itself, as long as we have a mental image of the thing with a set of properties it should have in our head, even if vague. Take snowpity for example. It's supposed to be a meaningless meme to troll newfags a pony's essence. So if we wish for it we can get something. Something that didn't exist before now in a form that could be collected in a bottle. If we wish for a liter of love, I can see something appearing: we know what a liter is, we vaguely understand what love is. But what if we wish for 1? Literally, just a number. What could appear? One apple? A piece of plastic shaped like an symbol '1'? What if we wish for something contradicting, like a rock that cannot be lifted no matter what and then wish we can lift it? What if we wish for kjdsfioasoiupwajnasdfa? Will nothing happen? Will something happen? What would happen if we wish to know everything? What would happen if we wish to have unlimited wishes? What would happen if we wish for everything? I want to know.

>>42241417
Can a genie wish for a powerful being to appear right infront of them? Like could we wish for fucking Discord?

What if we wish for our subsequent wishes to be stronger? How many power-up can we stack before OP tells us to fuck off?

power-ups*

>>42241439
I'm not the QM but logically I'm pretty sure it should depend the relative power of our magic vs. the target's.
Not in the sense of "you have to be strictly more powerful than Discord to be able to wish him around" but in the sense of, to some degree, it being a contest of magic power.

Given that wishes are just a unique form of magic (and that, for example, we can also spellcast normally and the strength of that seems correlated to the strenght of our wishes), in general I wouldn't be surprised if powerful magic users had the capability to interact with, and maybe even counteract, wishes that affect them directly. Maybe not everyone knows how to do it, for example, but it would make sense to me if magic can influence each other and for there to exist e.g. unicorn spells that can protect one against genie wish magic, and stuff like that.

>>42240649
>>42240704
Anon: "Hey, kid, do you know anything about these guys?"
Dandelion: "No. I heard that some other miners were planning to run for Fort Peerless, and nopony ever heard back from them, so we assumed they got away."
>Hopeful decides to sneak by the farmer to eavesdrop on the conversation across the road
>The farmer hears hoofsteps on the cobble road, but sees nothing
>He starts screaming "GHOST! GHOST! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" and runs away
>An emaciated hag with a mop-like mane peers through the window of the house Hopeful was heading to and returns to her conversation with an unidentified stallion
>Hopeful uncloaks herself after all that magic exertion, replacing it with the cloak of tall grass
???A: "I'm not pulling your chain at all! I crossed the brook straight up North, kept going uphill, and all in a circle was a bunch of dead animals hanging from trees, with all of their insides completely pulled out and in a pile! I'm not going back there to show you."
???B: "And you sure you weren't high?"
???A: "I promise I wasn't.."
???B: "That's terrible! My favorite foraging spot, overtaken by whatever that is."
???A: "What an awful time to run out of magic mush. There's no way I'm going out there now. To think those gryphons want US out of here when there are REAL monsters in-between us."
???B: "Not ALL gryphons. They're our biggest buyer."
???A: "A toast to squatter's rights?"
???B: "Heh, a toast to squatter's rights."
*clink*
>As they do that, many crows emerge from the molten windows of the keep, all cawing in unison, drawing crows from the field into the keep
???A: "Looks like the queen wants an audience again. Prolly about that yellow kid."
???B: "I'll get the lab kids. You chase down Earth Magic."
???A: "Alright."
>The mop-haired hag unlocks and exits the building, oblivious to Hopeful as she goes to the lab
>She sees the fully blackened zebra on the ground, looks at him for a few seconds, then starts bickering with the pony still standing over the zebra's newfound state
>The Sun is now falling toward the westward hills, slowly getting closer to shooting its tinted light directly at the windows

With one inhabitant incapacitated, two arguing, and one chasing another, what do you do? Do you enter the keep without knowing where to go or what you're looking for, or do you wait for ponies to go in and see what they do? Maybe Athame knows more about this place than Dandelion.

>>42240721
Snowpity does exist. I've seen it.

>>42241439
Maybe if you know him well enough or he doesn't contest it, but do you expect Discord of all higher beings to do as you ask?

>>42241450
Hmmm....

>>42241417
Wishing for a cute mare to rub your lamp DID result in one being brought back from the dead

>>42241498
>a bunch of dead animals hanging from trees
>picrel
>Maybe Athame knows more about this place than Dandelion.
I assumed she would've told us something if she knew anything important, but seeing how she "forgot" to tell us about the sunlight, we should definitely ask her about this place and it's habitants. Also ask her for how long she can keep the invisibility spell and how fast she can run.

>>42241525
>Maybe if you know him well enough or he doesn't contest it, but do you expect Discord of all higher beings to do as you ask
It was a rhetorical question. Just me wondering how powerful we can get and if it's even possible. Getting to know and befriend him or the princesses to the point where they wouldn't mind us wishing them to our side for aid sounds reasonable.

>>42241498
>yellow kid
Sounds like that might be Dandelion's brother. Maybe "Earth Magic" refers to him? Or maybe that's some other pony. Either way, seems worthwhile to tail guard A.

>>42241498
Oh shit, does that mean they control the crows?

>>42241566
>>42241790
>Anon pokes out of the lamp, which frightens Hopeful, but she keeps the noise in
Anon: "Athame, what the hell is going on here? What do you know about this place? Why is it half-melted? Why are the ponies here listening to crows? What did that tweaker mean by "dead animals hanging from trees with insides pulled out?""
Hopeful: "Shh! Pipe down. The most I know about this place is that, at the start of last century, they used the dungeon for changelings who had replaced random civilians. They were eventually liberated violently."
Anon: "By other changelings?"
Hopeful: "Yes, but not by changelings of the First Queen or the Living Head King. No. The latter wasn't close to born yet. They were hollowers, and the inmates likely pledged allegiance to Hemolymph soon after. The ponies here? The crows? I do not know, and I fear what kind of "queen" they might have. And if that stallion was telling the truth, I am glad that we stayed away from that deer. I had a suspicion it was a changeling with how poor its acting was, but no, we were lucky enough to evade a skinwalker."
>Great. Instead of getting to spend time with Twilight and her friends, you ended up reincarnated into a place that has skinwalkers

>>42241637
The pony who agreed to chase Earth Magic, who was referred to as "???A", is currently trying to calm down the tweaking farmer who is still screaming and swinging his scythe dangerously on the lower levels. This is the way you came from, so it does not seem worth it to follow. The door to the keep has been propped open and two of the houses still in use have had their doors left open. The houses not in use were looted a long time ago. There is an ongoing screaming contest over the topic of the de-striped zebra.

>>42241790
If that's the case then we're done and should plan on wasting at least one wish from the tomorrow's batch if we still want to save that colt (we absolutely do). Not much we could've done to prevent that, I don't think. We have to assume that the queen already knows about us trespassing, but most importantly she knows that we're a djinn. So we can either gtfo from this place right now and pray that there'll be anything left from a colt to teleport tomorrow, or get ready to grab him as quickly as possible as soon as the queen refuses to let us go and hide from these weirdos in the lamp until tomorrow, and then teleport us all away.

Or maybe some Anon here has a silver tongue and can talk our way out of this mess?

>>42241842
As much as I want to to explore the keep and figure out what the fuck is going on in here, >>42241957 has a point about waiting for a the wishes to refresh somewhere safe and wishing Dandelions's brother to us. It would be the safest option... for our current party. Some fuckery is afoot, and I fear that if we wait, we may only be teleporting a corpse.

The sun is setting, so even without wishes, we can do some fuckery of our own given everyone in this area is high as balls or between sessions of getting high as balls, and worse case scenario we teleport our party out the moment we can.

I say sneak into the keep with everyone distracted, I think Hopeful has good senses to rely on to keep hidden, even if she isn't forthcoming.

>>42241842
reverse lamp vore

>>42241842

We should wish for a gun. That'll make later encounters with creepy fuckers much easier.

>>42242770
Would they be friends?

>>42241957
Gonna agree with this anon, we gotta get out.

>>42244336
pussy

>>42241957
>>42242607
>>42244336
>>42242607
>>42244336
Anon: "This is way too dangerous. I say we leave, and wish him to us."
>Hopeful raises an eyebrow
Hopeful: "I understand your sentiment, but do you even know what might happen to him in the meantime, or what has already happened to him?"
Anon: "If worse comes to worse, I can wish for him to come back to life."
>Hopeful looks disgusted by that sentence, and within you can feel a disturbance in the lamp
>Returning fully to the lamp's interior, you see Dandelion run into one of the only corners she could find and cry
>She looks back at you partially, still
>In this moment you understand what she's thinking. You don't know that he's not getting hurt, tortured, cooked, or violated
>You know that the longer he's in there, the longer this anxiety will last, and that even if you could bring a pony back to life, or cure wounds, the suffering inflicted by that was already experienced, and that won't go away alongside it
>You can imagine Dandelion telling you all this, but she has been conditioned by Mr Quicksilver to not complain
>You don't know what you can say or do that'll calm her
>Somewhere within you, a subconscious thought (>>42244342) calls you a pussy, and you hate it not for insulting you, but for being right
>You return to Hopeful Athame and tell her "Get back to looking. Now."
>She emerges from the grass and looks to the tall door ajar atop the main keep staircase
>Through it, a ruined foyer is observable, multiple stories tall, with balconies for each floor
>Hopeful restores her invisibility and heads in, avoiding making a sound
>Above the doorway is a low ceiling that would have contained murderholes had it not been dissolved into one big messy hole, covered in a brown crust that Hopeful explains is what happens to changeling slime when it dries out and all the cells in it die
>In spite of some obvious mold, and issues that would demand complete demolition in your home world, all the fallen debris has since been cleared out, and the sconces look to have been refilled
>Had the windows behind not been shattered in the jailbreak, one could tell from the colored shards still pointing out from the frames that this place would have been bathed in stunning colors of light in its heyday
>Now the place is full of straw nests built by crows
>Hopeful seemed disgusted by the musty smell at first, but now she's smelling the air with interest
Hopeful: "That smells...just like my mother's brownies."
>Down the hall, a pony in a maid dress goes from a doorway on the distant right to a doorway on the left
>To the left you can hear some kind of speech being given
>To the right is the smell of brownies
>Flickering light can be seen through a door on the second floor
>At the end of the hall is a doorway to a stairwell, which goes both up to the balconies or down into the unknown

Five directions: left, right, up, down, and back

>>42242996
Anon: "Tomorrow, I need to wish for a gun."

>>42244698
Forgot to add the handle. While I'm posting, I'll stick this here to add some mood. Imagine this, but dirty, dilapidated, littered with birdnests, and covered in acid-made cavities. The lack of those in the picture could be used to instead imagine it in its glory days

>>42244698
Can Hopeful levitate the lamp somewhere closer to the left so we can eavesdrop on ponies(?) there, while she goes right and checks up on the source of that smell?

>>42244698
Eavesdrop on the left as much as we can with Hopeful's assistance, escape to the right if we hear hoofsteps approaching together, let's not split up just yet

>>42244698
I vote down. I have a feeling that this lot is the type to use the dungeons

Bump

>>42245016
>let's not split up just yet
But why? By the cartoon logic we absolutely have to split up the next second we walk into the scary place.

>>42244734
>>42245016
Anon: "Float the lamp over there and let me get the first look."
Hopeful: "Okay."
>Hopeful makes her way to the left doorway and hovers the lamp towards peeking into it
Anon: "No, Hopeful, wrong side. The one--way window is on this side. Okay, there. Perfect. Let's go."
>You peek inside
>This section of the building was built as a chapel, and still looks like one, but it has been damaged in the same manners as everything else you have seen here, maybe even moreso
>It is clearly no longer used as chapel, though. The altar has been removed to make it a throne room
>Atop a wooden throne, observed and venerated by various disheveled ponies and cooing crows, and flanked by relocated debris full of straw nests, is a figure in a long robe made of black feathers with a twisted scepter
>All eyes are on this leader, leaving you completely unnoticed still
>Mixing with the smell of rot and drug use is the smell of incense
>At the bottom of the steps to the throne, you see a dirty, off-yellow colt on the ground
>He matches Dandelion's exact description
>the Crow Queen shifts in her seat and continues to speak
[UNSPOILER IMAGE]
Crow Queen: "Let us begin our ceremony with a prayer. Please bow your heads.”
>The whole room bows
“Crow Queen: "Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for today, another day in which we can serve you. As your appointed priestess, I ask on behalf of us all for your blessing on our gathering today as we baptize our dear Pyrite and bring him into your flock. We thank you for the love which you shower upon us each day. In Odin's name we pray, Amen.”
>The maid continues forward with a bucket of water
In unison: "Amen."

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>42245732
Grab the teapot we have and throw it at the maid

>>42245732
We still outta wishes?

>>42245732
I mean, Odin's not so bad, right?

>>42245746
You don't want to throw away our only teapot, do you?

>>42245732
...Let's ask hopeful what her odds are that she can dash in, grab Pyrite so we can lamp him, and GTFO without getting hit by something? We can throw the teapot if it helps but we need to followup on that before the second of shock wears off

Idk what pony Odin is like, but given how many fucking crows there are around here that likely isn't a coincidence (good case is that they only think Odin is here among the crows, bad case is something actually here is attracting the crows)

>>42245732
Hmm.
Surely getting splashed with a bucket can't actually do anything too bad, right?...

>>42246218
If we have time to ask Hopeful, we should first ask her what she thinks of the ceremony. If we're lucky it's mostly just ritual for show, or at least not anything particularly powerful, and we should bide our time.
But if she thinks getting doused with that bucket might actually have significant ramifications, then yeah, we gotta do something. Maybe Hopeful can levitate some random rock or rubble to distract the maid first.

Actually, if necessary (i.e. if the maid is RIGHT about to "baptize" Pyrite and we need to act right now), we could throw some lily berries at the maid. That should distract her for a moment and hopefully confuse everyone enough to pause the ceremony briefly, and give us a minute to discuss our next actions with Hopeful.

>>42246218
>>42246252
We don't have time to talk! They want to turn him into a crow, we need to act right now!

>>42246194
Throw our lamp then, I dunno.

>>42245732
So, he decided to join the drug dealers? Well, it's an upgrade from being a slave I suppose.

>You relay information back to Hopeful

>>42246748
>Pyrite is visibly bowing to the "queen"
Anon: "Is he...joining the drug dealers?"
Hopeful: "This seems way more complicated than a drug dealing operation. They're acting like a full-on cult. Maybe they knew he had nowhere else to go."

>>42246218
>>42246252
Anon: "What do you know about this ritual? Being from my world, it looks like a rough imitation of a Christian baptism, but in your world, it might mean something else."
Hopeful: "I feel the presence of something divine and magical, and not exclusively in their veins. However, with a dark magic background I can safely say that there is no dark magic in use."
Anon: "What's with all the crows then?"
Hopeful: "Though crows frequently carry some dark magic, it's mostly what rubs off on them when dealing with the dead and traversing planes. I don't sense a dark flow."
Anon: "Okay. Is having this many crows around a good or bad thing? Also, the baptism, is there a spell tied to it, or is it just sprinkling water?"
Hopeful: "For the crows, I wish I could tell you. For baptism, I feel that's a gross oversimplification of-"
Crow Queen: "I'd like to apologize, fallen fledgeling, for the fact that we didn't have holy water prepared. We weren't expecting a wayward out of the blue. Fortunately, our dear Polish has politely brought us some fresh water, that I will use the power entrusted to me by Hugin to make hallowed."
>The maid passes Pyrite to climb the stairs, then places the bucket of water before the throne
>The crow queen shifts in her throne, and rests her rear hooves within the bucket to soak them
>Hopeful's mouth is left agape
Anon: "Okay, what are the odds that we can dash in, lamp the kid, and get out without getting hit? Maybe I can throw something, like the teapot."
>Hopeful looks at you disheartened
Hopeful: "Do you not like the teapot? I'm sorry. I wasn't really sure what you'd like, so I just guessed."
Anon: "No, it's not a bad teapot, it's just that I was gonna try to distract them with something loud."
Hopeful: "You don't have to be dishonest with me. I've faced worse humiliations than being told I give bad gifts."
Anon: "No. You're misinterpreting what-
>Back outside, you hear twelve hooves, eight of them walking, and the other four struggling to walk
???: (labored) "Come on, Zeke. You can make it up the stairs. We'll deal with the poison joke later. The queen won't be happy if you keep on missing her gatherings."
>Zeke, the zebra from earlier groans in pain, the sort of pain one would associate with a night on the bathroom floor, vomiting so frequently and violently you can't catch your breath
???: "No, don't slouch now. Ugh. Help me with Zeke, please."
>The three in question are not within line of sight yet

>>42245755
Still out. You have enough telekinetic range to yoink him like you did to Dandelion, start fires, raise/lower the weight of things, produce light, or pretend to be a ghost to make them think the place is haunted

>>42247029
Maybe WE should join the drug dealers. Might buy a few seconds to get to know what's going on, and the queen hasn't been violent or anything.

>>42247029
If that is Dandelion's brother, perhaps she should appear and talk to him before the ceremony goes any further

>Back outside, you hear twelve hooves
Congratulations, faggots, we missed the perfect moment to ambush them.

>>42247093
>Maybe WE should join the drug dealers.
No way fag.

>>42247119
>More talking
At least do this first
>You have enough telekinetic range to yoink him like you did to Dandelion
So he won't be in a danger anymore.

>>42247758
Honestly, for all we know, he might've asked to join. So the rescue plan is more Plan B right now

>>42247781
We yoink him first and them ask him what does he think about all this stuff. We should unlampvore Dandie too to show him that we're friends.

>>42247119
>>42247758
>>42247786
>You find a loose brick in the wall and pull it out, ready to throw
Anon: "I'll throw this brick and when I say go we both yoink the kid and run."
Hopeful: "Run where?"
Anon: "Anywhere. The walls of this place are swiss cheese and the windows are shattered. Everywhere is an exit."
Hopeful: "Okay."
Anon: "One...two...THREE!"
>You lob the brick towards the maid, but fall just short at her
>She still jumps and screams, turning all heads towards her
Anon: "GO!"
>Together, you telekinetically grab Pyrite by the hind legs and drag him towards you
>He screams at the sudden grab and whiplash too, bringing the eyes back to him, and therefore, to you
>Pyrite is no longer anywhere to be seen, but they do see a unicorn with braided hair and an odd large creature
>Pyrite finds himself in a strange and new enclosed space and starts panicking
Dandelion: "Pyrite, it's okay! It's me!"
>Pyrite looks to her in confusion, still terrified
Pyrite: "Dandy?"
>On the outside, it's clear that there's commotion
A pony at the base of the stairs: "What the-? What's going on in there? I'm coming!"
You here the sound of a sick equid hit stone brick
Zeke: "OOF"
>Above you, the roosting crows start flying frantically, and you hear a ghostly noise a few stories up
>On the wall, two to three stories up facing the chapel, you hear a ghostly noise and see several crows flying in a circle
>In the middle, an inky black and imperfect circle grows, throw which a pegasus in a feather cloak passes through
>The Crow Queen looks down in anger
Crow Queen: "Who are you? Did you sneak in? I know, you're FEDERAL AGENTS! GUARDS! SEIZE HER!"

You can try to run to the dining room, run through the front door, run back in the chapel, teleport to the second floor, run to the basement, explain, or fight them.

Wishes: 0/3

Abilities:
Telekinesis
Light
Ignite
Change object weight
Enter/exit lamp
3-dimensional movement

>>42247859
"It's IRS, we're confiscating that colt because you didn't pay a property tax! Don't resist or you're gay."
>Change object weight
Does it work on a living target? If yes, make that pegasus as heavy as an elephant.
>teleport to the second floor
We should teleport as far as we can. I hope Athame is not too tired yet.

>>42247859
We're incorporeal, right?
I'm not sure if we're inside the lamp or outside of it, we jumped back in with Pyrite I think? Pop back out and quickly whisper to Athame to teleport to the second floor with our lamp and we'll be the distraction. Then stay floating and try to explain, or at least make the guys talk to stall time (but would be great if they could tell us who they are).

I hope the portal pegasus doesn't have some magic bullshit that can hit incorporeal spirits. If it looks like they're not talking and things are going bad, we go through the ceiling into the lamp (assuming Athame doesn't yank us away first).

Next order of business would be checking on Pyrite to ask wtf was going on, but I don't think we have the time for that now.

>>42247859
Dining room. I bet they'll have fun and exciting things to throw around and/or light on fire to cover our escape if we go out that way. Kind of want to stay away from teleporting in case it tires Athame out, no idea what kind of bullshit the Crow Queen can do yet.

>9

>>42247859
>I forgot to draw her cheap plastic tiara in this one
I'm a fraud

>>42247968
>Does it work on a living target?
Yes. The issue is that it gets harder the more you try to change the weight. Not currently sure if I want to allow negatives or not

>>42247947
>I'm not sure if we're inside the lamp or outside of it, we jumped back in with Pyrite I think?
Anon is still out of the lamp. He just chucked Pyrite in, who is currently in there with Dandelion.


>Athame looks up to the shattered circular window that stands multiple stories above them, but then remembers seeing that the room which connected to the murderholes had an utterly melted wall to the outside
>The door to this room is visible
>Athame teleports to the second floor balcony, taking your lamp with her
Anon: "Okay, uhhhh, I think we started off on the wrong foo- the wrong hoof here. We're not with any government agency."
>Athame attempts to sprint, but her hoof catches on a pothole and she falls gracelessly
>You slowly float up
Anon: "We're just here to take the runaway boy and stop him from joining whatever this is, which from what I can tell is a cult, a cartel, or both at the same time."
>The crows are smart. They can tell she plans to exit through there, so the crows near the front entrance and circular window all flock to block that door by the time she's back up
>The queen gets uncomfortably close
Crow Queen: "Take the runaway boy? So what? You're with the GRYPHONS?"
>Anon: "The gryphons? No, no. We're with...uhhh"
>You know, you don't really know enough about this world to know what there is to pledge allegiance to
>The crows near the exit Hopeful planned to take begin to circle around like the ones that brought the Crow Queen to you
>Emerging from it are a tweaker with a catchpole and the farmer from earlier with his sharp scythe
The tweaker: "I'M GONNA TIE YOU TO THE GUARDRAILS AND RAPE YOU!"
>The tweaker charges at Hopeful Athame with his instrument of ensnarement, to which she responds by sending an electric current through his body, making him drop and curl up in pain
>The farmer sees Anon, his eyes widening before dropping the scythe
The farmer: "GHOST! GHOOOOST!"
>He runs away
>Unheard by Anon and Athame is the two foals in the lamp discussing what lead up to this situation
Crow Queen: "Whoever you're working for, tell them that we are an INDEPENDENT NATION and we do not acknowledge the Fugitive Slave Act NOR any substance bans! You have NO proof that we are directly exporting it to provinces or duchies in which the products are illegal, and are under NO obligations to produce our records!"


I'd like you to pick what they both do. If running, there are four doors nearby: to the stairs, to the dining room which I have retconned to be up here because dumbwaiters usually bring food upwards, to a room unknown, and to a room so melted that it might as well be an outdoor space but has a lot of crows. She can also teleport further up, maybe to the big shattered window

>>42247859
Nice job causing escalating things to a combat situation while diplomacy was still possible

>>42249132
We're not actually with anybody. His sister was just really worried about his safety and we felt it best to give the two of them a chance to talk things out rather than allow the ceremony to continue before anything undoable occurred.

>>42249132
Ignite the closest flameable object and bolt it to the melted room

>>42249292
I'd like to point out that they've shown the ability to freely teleport around the fort, so another impulsive distraction is of little value to us

>>42249132
>Crow Queen: "Whoever you're working for, tell them blah blah blah
Okie dokie.
Boop her.
>She can also teleport further up, maybe to the big shattered window
Why don't shejust teleport outside?

>>42249145
>Nice job causing escalating things to a combat situation while diplomacy was still possible
We don't negotiate with criminals.

>>42249292
Can we set crows on fire instead?

>>42249873
Why would she teleport outside while we're inside?

That's the rule for terrorists, not criminals. Also, it might end up being cruel if we try to decide for them. So we shouldn't burn that bridge on the off chance that they decide to join.

>>42249970
>That's the rule for terrorists, not criminals.
Fuck, you're right. Does that mean we're the terrorists here? Then we absolutely have to burn this whole place down.

>>42249132
Run to the dining room, many things to chuck at this teleporting bitch

>>42249970
>we're terrorists
You're a genius anon, that's it

>>42249132
We're anarcho-terrorist lone wolf actors! We're unaffiliated!
Due to our ideology we were obligated to terrorise you all with our entry. Sorry for all the chaos! But now that's been taken care of, we can discuss things civilly. Pleasure to meet you! Can you tell us what was the ritual you were working on? Which we apologise for disturbing by the way.

(And in the meantime, I hope Athame can handle the crows. I don't think we're playing for her, right? Surely she knows enough magic to, I dunno, make a shower of sparks to keep them away, or fireball them in a pinch but I really hope it doesn't come to that, at least not right now.)

>>42250708
>We're anarcho-terrorist lone wolf actors!
There's two of us though so it's more like dual wolf actors

>>42250798
We're the wolf and she's uh our wolf-wife. Don't worry about it.

>>42250798
>>42250826
Crows and wolves are often mutual symbiotes in the wild, but the players do not seem keen on that.

>>42249145
>>42249292
>>42249873
Anon: "I don't know what any of that means. I'm with his big sister and she doesn't want him here. Whatever the fuck you're doing here is not our problem."
>Hopeful dashes towards the melted room with the intent to teleport into bailey
>Recognizing that she's about to cast something, the crows blocking that path circle together to cast a magical barrier
>Knowing the spell herself, Hopeful comes to a screeching halt and instead creates a burst of flame in the center to terrify the crows, which works, forcing them to scatter
Crow Queen: "Wait a minute, are you a genie?"
>Hopeful takes the opportunity to dash through, ready to make a leap of faith to the statue below, then to the ground
>The distance from the lamp causes Anon to stretch out like rubber
>In this final moment together, you reach your hand out
(Pic section 1)
Anon: "And yeeeees, I aaaam a genieeeee."
>You are pulled away, through the inner keep walls, under a dark brown and blue sky, and surrounded by pitch-black hills and trees beyond the outer walls, which are crumbled enough on your side that there are various places to climb up and jump out. You already have the ability to change things' weight
>The Crow Queen can be heard shouting for you to come back, but it's muffled by the stone wall between you
>There was a desperate tone to it, but you imagine that she only wants wishes
>Hopeful jumps down but stumbles and slips
>Her impact into the ground is rough, but there's enough adrenaline coursing through her that she gets up effortlessly, and is ready to run and teleport until she reaches the woods
>As you recover from the whiplash, a pony teleports in front of her, without the aid of crows
(Pic section 2)
>It's a unicorn colt, from the glow of his magic you see a sword in his mouth, a shield by his side, and a few scraps of mismatched, oversized armor
Colt: "Give back Pyrite!"
>Due to his size and weight, he's not nearly as intimidating as he clearly thinks he is, and his shakiness shows it
>Since the sword shows no signs of being magic, you can probably just knock him over, toss him, or change his weight without hassle, and run
Colt: "You think I'm afraid of you? Even the skinwalker is afraid of me!"
>That is the most obvious lie you've ever heard
>Look at him. There's no way he'd be able to put up more of a fight than the tweakers inside

Your known spells:
Telekinesis
Light
Ignite
Change object weight
Enter/exit lamp

Athame's spells:
Scope Unknown

Lamp contents:
The only things of importance right now are Dandelion and Pyrite

>>42250903
Okay so. The crow queen doesn't seem super murderous so I think even if they come chasing after us, we will be able to actually talk things through; and we're in the open so we should be able to escape again even if things really turn for the worst (which I seriously doubt, by the way, these guys look both rather incompetent and not particularly malicious in the first place). The colt is obviously not a threat. Let's take a breather.

Athame might be hurt. And Pyrite and Dandelion might have their own opinions on the entire matter. OP, can ponies inside the lamp leave/escape on their own at will? Or does that require some skill? Athame did it earlier but she obviously knows exactly how the lamp works. I'm wondering if Dandelion and/or Pyrite would be able to leave if they wanted to.

Either way, IMO first order of business is to reply to the colt to ask him why he wants Pyrite. Get him talking, make it clear we're willing to stay and talk ourselves, and de-escalate. Second order of business is to check up Athame to make sure she's not too hurt. Third order of business, if the situation can be made stable enough, is to pop back into the lamp and see what's happening with Pyrite and Dandelion.

For all we know Pyrite was actually willing to join these guys, and they might not be evil in the first place. Just... a bit anarcho-capitalist, but a hippie drug farm with a crow cult doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world compared to a slaver mine for example. I seriously think we should stop fighting everything in our path and try to establish a conversation with these guys (and Pyrite!).

>>42250903
>(1)
Love her expression here.

>(2)
First move in front of Hopeful, so that we'd be inbetween of them. Then ask the big guy what's the next part of his master plan is if he's friends with Pyrite and why does he want him back. If his reply to the former question is positive, then I guess it's high time for us to ask Pyrite himself whether he wants to leave or not.

>>42250928
>For all we know Pyrite was actually willing to join these guys
Was he?

>>42250953
>Was he?
Anon. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/for%20all%20one%20knows

>>42250903
Boop the colt's snoot so he drops his sword and tell him that we're here to save Pyrite.

>>42250961

>>42250903
It's Pyrite's choice if he wants to come back and it's rude to them to not give them the time to make that choice

>>42250903
Cute colt. Let's knock on the lamp and see if Pyrite feels like coming out and explaining everything that went on just earlier.

>>42250928
>OP, can ponies inside the lamp leave/escape on their own at will? Or does that require some skill?
The big door in the lamp is how you leave the lamp. That's why there is a sort of stepladder in front of it despite being a space designed for one not bound to the ground.

>Just... a bit anarcho-capitalist
*anarcho-monarchist

>>42250963
Unfortunately, you have to wait for the boop cooldown to recharge

>>42250928
>>42250953
Anon: "What are you gonna do to ME? You can't hurt me with a non-magic sword."
>The colt makes his sword dimly glow
>It is now a magic sword
Anon: "Oh great."
>Dandelion appears outside of the lamp to speak
Dandelion: "Spirit! You're alive"
Spirti: "Of course I am. I've been knighted by Queen Meagan herself."
>Spirit, the colt, pauses for a moment
Spirit: "Dandelion? Are you with them?"
Dandelion: "Yes. We're not taking anypony back to the mine. I don't know where we're going to go. We're just not going back."
>He lowers his guard
Spirit: "He seemed fine just a minute ago being here."
Dandelion: "I was talking to him about it, and no offense, but I don't think this place is good for him."
>Pyrite appears too
Pyrite: "You can't keep talking on my behalf. I can make my own decisions."
Dandelion: "Then start making good decisions."
>Pyrite glares at her with clear anger, which does scare her somewhat because in spite of her age, she's smaller
>While this is happening, you check on Hopeful, who isn't noticeably injured. She might feel pretty sore tomorrow though.
Hopeful: "What are you doing out of the lamp? It's dangerous out here."
>The tweaker with a catchpole emerges from the hole Hopeful jumped down from
Tweaker: "A FILLY TOO? I BET YOU'RE MOM N' DAUGHTER. CAN'T WAIT TO FORCE YOU BOTH TO WA-"
>A group of crows creates a portal in front of him as he jumps, removing him
>Still discomforted by the fact that the tweaker said that, Hopeful warps both Dandelion and Pyrite back into the lamp, not even giving them a chance to answer
>She gets up and turns to Anon sternly
Hopeful: "Hurry up, Anon. Move!"
Crow Queen: "Please ignore him. He's just really...really excitable. Hehe."
>You see the Crow Queen, "Meagan" as Spirit called her, poking out of the tall door, with an incredibly forced smile and eyes that shimmer with greed
>The way she looks and talks right now creeps you out on an animal level
>You'd almost say she's as scary friendly as she is angry
>The zebra is still lying abandoned on the base of the stairs, ignored by everypony

>>42252851
Well than, we'll just be leaving now. If either of the siblings genuinely want to join with you, they'll be back later. That is unless you deny the former slaves the freedom to make their own choices.

>>42252851
Oh no, a family conflict! Anyway, don't they have a mother? Shouldn't she have a word in this too? We don't know for sure how good their relationship is, true, but Dandie didn't express any negative emotions when we asked, so we can assume it's fine. She still can be an irresponsible drug addict or something, but hey, aren't we supposed to be in Equestria of all places? Shit like this isn't supposed to be exactly common here.

>To Meegan
Sorry to disappoint, but I already have a loooong queue I have to grant wishes to. If you wish to reserve a place, write me a letter. I'm just a little busy right now. Any piece of paper will do, forward it to the Genie of the lamp and burn it down to send.

>To QM
If we can't hold our lamp ourselves anymore, can we still carry a pony who in turn holds our lamp?

>>42252851
Check the status of the de-striped zebra.

>>42253087
>don't they have a mother?

Dandelion: "I'm running away. I'm running away and not looking back. They made me work in the mine. I miss my parents."
Anon: "What?"
Hopeful: "Oh yeah, Mr. Quicksilver, the birdcat with the gold mine. I think I brought him up earlier. Yeah, he doesn't hire his miners. He buys them. Preference for kids because they fit in tight spaces better. When he sees a house burn down, he doesn't feel pity. He wonders how desperate the parents are for money."

Dandelion: "Maremont... in Spuhr Valley"
>"Two horse puns for places that aren't even on the same continent. The writer is really stretching it," you think
Dandelion: "My mom is, at least. My dad...he...was."

Not the time for emotionally charged topics

>>42253124
Lovely

>>42253085
>>42253087
>>42253124
>There's a lot of conflicting feelings you're having about these ponies right now
Anon: "I don't know enough about this situation. Was Pyrite joining because he wanted to or because he had nowhere else to go?"
Pyrite: "Name another place that won't turn us in."
Dandelion: "Far away. Look at this place. You're better than the ponies here. This isn't a place for you."
Pyrite: "What do you know about places for me?"
Dandelion: "So you DO want to be surrounded by ponies like this?"
Pyrite: "Stop changing the topic!"
Dandelion: "This is an important topic!"
>You speak to Hopeful in whispers and come to a consensus
>Queen Meagan looks at Hopeful in jealousy and waits anxiously for her opportunity to bring attention back to herself
>The zebra, of course, is still being ignored by everypony
Hopeful: "Would you two like to stay under cover with us for the time being? If you truly feel at peace here, we can drop you back off like nothing ever happened."
Dandelion: "Please. You just need time to think. Don't let them exploit our uncertainty. There are more options than you think."
>Pyrite scowls, but gives up and agrees to go along with you. The siblings have already discussed the basics of what happened after the split, but that remains a partial mystery to you
Crow Queen: "Do I have permission to butt in? Haha."
>She flaps her way over to you, trying to subtly pressure Hopeful into moving aside
>Hopeful refuses, and both mares look a bit annoyed with each other before she looks back at you with her uncanny smile
>The way she moves her hips and shoulders is cute and inviting. Despite how everypony else here looks, she's actually really pretty, and clearly takes good care of herself
Crow Queen: "While uhhhh, yes, you DID throw a brick at the nicest pony in this whole kingdom, I'm a generous and merciful queen, so I think we can let this slide if you permit a bit of...diplomacy, aha."
Anon: "Over what? The kid?"
Crow Queen: "The kid? HAHAHA, no, he can do whatever he wants as long he keeps his mouth shut about the true meaning of "net agricultural exporter.""
>She turns to Pyrite and whispers something that frightens him, something about "eyes" before it is once again all about you
Crow Queen: "YOU, on the other hoof, you I see a lot of potential in. I think we both have a lot that we can offer each other. A lot we can do together. You might be the second best thing to ever show up here, you handsome devil!"
>A crow comes in and offers her a phillips head screw, which she thanks the crow for and directs her where to put it
Crow Queen: "We were going to have brownies to commemorate our newest citizen, but since he seems like he might not be interested in staying, perhaps you would be interested in discussing this further over them? Maybe some wine too? Cider? Specifically hard?"

>>42254160
I am currently hungry so brownies sound good
I'm like 99% sure we're not really interested in joining a crow cult but let's mooch some free baked goods off them for now

>>42254160
>Pyrite: "Name another place that won't turn us in."
>turn us in
Am I being an ESL nigger again, or is he implying that they were (((legally))) sold into slavery? Either that or they did something really naughty earlier.
In any case... Why don't we wish for the local guard/ponice/other law enforcement department to forgive them? The more people wish something, the stronger the wish becomes, that were the rules, right? So that problem can easily be fixed and they'll be able to return to a normal life again.

And then we have this pretty birbpone.
>She flaps her way over to you, trying to subtly pressure Hopeful into moving aside
We must stand our ground and not let her do that. Don't move away from our ponies and try to keep standing between her and them. It's simple psychology.
>Despite how everypony else here looks, she's actually really pretty, and clearly takes good care of herself
And stop looking at her like that. We don't have a dick anyway.

1/2

>>42254336
That's how you get poisoned. What if she douses them in a love potion or something similar? I don't think we have an iron stomach and balls of steel to eat or drink anything an evil witch offers us. We have no balls at all.

I got an idea. We can cut all brownies in small parts and give everyone, including the queen herself and at least one of her subjects, an assortment of them so that if any of them were poisoned, the queen or her subject will have to eat a part of poisoned brownie too. So, there're four of us, Meegan and Spirit? We then have to cut every brownie into six pieces and give everyone a single piece of which one. Now everyone has six pieces in total from six different brownies. She won't be able to poison any of them without poisoning herself and her knight as well.

The same thing works with drinks. We should refuse anything with alcohol because kids are too young and it's already a poison in itself, then we take our cups (obligatory step, the ones she offers could be enchanted) and pour the liquid into them for everyone from the same vessel.

2/2

>>42254408
>I don't think we have an iron stomach and balls of steel
Yeah me neither, because we DON'T have a stomach and our balls are made of LAMP CUM
We are a fucking GHOST who can pass through solid matter you nincompoop, how the fuck do you "poison" a spirit?

>>42254511
>how the fuck do you "poison" a spirit?
By using a magical potion. Yes, we don't know for sure if we're vulnerable to that, but we're not alone. Hopeful, Dandie and Pyrite are bone and flesh.

>>42254160
Politely decline (even if we skip the alcohol the brownies probably have something in them, not as a plan but because weed brownies are awesome and if you're already making brownies and already have drugs on hoof it's kind of a given)

Ask for a moment to talk to Pyrite in private to figure some stuff out, and if she's willing to give us a moment, apologize for nearly hitting the maid with the brick, it really was only meant as a distraction. Maybe a single piece of brownie to sample too while we sort stuff out. And maybe somebody to help that poor zebra on the floor?

If she won't give us a moment, then grab everyone else (including the zebra) and book it

>>42254541
>Politely decline
We shoul be careful with angering her given how close to us she is now. Outright refusing her "generous" offer may make her mad. I suggest we play for time instead by going along for now. No way she'll give us some private time to talk with Pyrite, so we'll have to do that in the meantime.
>and book it
Without a good distraction we'll only make things worse now.

>>42254403
since you missed the earlier implication: It's possible that their mother sold them into slavery after their father died.

>>42254621
I did think about that possibility. Still, I believe we can still grant them a normal life. Find an orphanage (lol) or a good family to adopt them. I, personally, against the idea of them becoming criminals.

>>42254652
It depends on what kind of society exists in these regions outside of Equestria. As fucked up as it it, a criminal group might actually be a step up.

>>42254814
I refuse to believe you. It cannot be that bad. Even if somehow it is, we'll have to change that then. We have the power.

>>42254829
Don't forget why Hopeful was willing to sacrifice her life to summon us

>>42255119
Sorry but I already did. What was it again?

>>42255125
Since I don't feel like spoonfeeding you, Here's the note she left to explain things to us when she thought she wouldn't survive: https://files.catbox.moe/olm2ua.png

>>42255242
I remember that letter, it was too long; I didn't read it.

>>42254336
>>42254403
>>42254408
>>42254511
>>42254537
>>42254541
>>42254581
It seems the vast majority says yes to dinner, as long as she cooperates with some tests. I'll keep that on standby because there's other choices before that.

>You stand your ground
Anon: "Could you excuse us for one sec? I'd like to discuss these matters with my colleagues, in private."
Meagan: "Yes! Yes! Take all the time you need!"
>She gives you space
Anon: "Also, could you please do something about that donkey over on the stairs? He clearly needs help."
Meagan: "Oh yeah, that. SOMEPONY! GET ZEKE SOMEWHERE HE CAN VOMIT RIGHT!"
Somepony: "On it, your Majesty!"
>"Colleague" was simply the first word you could think of. Do you even know what your relations with any of the ponies you've met so far are?
Anon: "Okay. Pyrite's your name, right? I'm still out of the loop on things. I just want to ask you some things. First off, what did you mean by "place that won't turn you in?" Is slavery some kind of legal institutionalized thing here?"
Pyrite: "Allowing slavery differs from place to place, but legally all are required to help recapture any runaways. That's what I understand. I don't know much about politics."
Hopeful: "He's right. Spuhr Valley doesn't allow slavery, but technically, if you adopt a child there and go somewhere that lets you sell dependents into slavery, that's A-OK in the eyes of the law."
Anon: "That's rigged as fuck."
Hopeful: Everypony knows that, but anywhere where dragons rule other races ends up making legislature into an auction house."
Anon: "Oh yeah, your note said something about the lords being dragons or something. Don't they usually stick to themselves and hoard a bunch of wealth they don't spend?"
Hopeful: "Well, for places like Equestria, they're too afraid of Celestia to try anything. Over here, some of them came to realize that they could use their power to make others do all the hard parts for them."
Anon: "I understand. Is it possible we can get these two back to their mother?"
>Dandelion hides her face in sadness at that mention
Pyrite: "Our...our mother can't act like our mother anymore. She got...she got hollowed."
>Saying that pained him
Anon: "Hollowed?"
Pyrite: (said quickly) "A hollower pretended to be our dad!"
>You feel the need to change the subject
Anon: "Let's talk about something else. This place. Is hiding away from that law the only reason to stay?"
Pyrite: "That's part of it. They also have food. I haven't eaten in so long. And shelter, and jobs that pay! We'd afford things, Dandy. All those things we had before ma started selling them, we can get it back!"
>Dandelion is heartbroken that she can't think of a counterargument right now
Pyrite: "Ooor maybe the genie can fix her! Bring everything back to how it used to be!"
>Dandelion changes mood at a rate where you can see every step of the transformation
Dandelion: "Can you do that, genie? Can you take us back home and change her back to normal?"
Anon: "I..."

>>42255355
We don't know the first thing about Hallowers, so Hopeful would need to answer that one.

Looking like my suspicions about their options are, sadly, rather accurate

>>42255355
Shit, we can try, but we have no idea how genie magic interacts with hollower stuff. Like, theoretically we will eventually become strong enough to overcome any weird conditions we would need to overcome, but that might not be for a while

Yeah we really need to know what hollowers are in great detail and what becoming a hollower entails before we try anything that might make the situation... unsalvageable ("Everybody in the guild knows there are few things as painful as living in a body that is not suited for life.")

We can say that we can once we become more powerful and knowledgeable, but we can't promise that day will come soon- all we can offer is our protection and shelter until that day. That said, so long as these ponies aren't in of themselves slavers or otherwise putting him or others in direct danger, it wouldn't be an issue if he preferred to stay here. It's not great, but anyone keeping slaves free surely can't be too bad.

>>42255355
That would whittle down their options to finding a group or individual that will protect them. Any other noteworthy groups that that might work? What about guilds, any that would help them set down roots and protect their identities?

>>42255355
>Pyrite: "Our...our mother can't act like our mother anymore. She got...she got hollowed."
>Pyrite: (said quickly) "A hollower pretended to be our dad!"
What's the difference between hollowers and changelings?

>>42255542
>>42255557
>>42255688
>>42255914
>You turn to Hopeful
Anon: "Can you and I talk about hollowers? It's clear those two don't like talking about it."
Hopeful: "Sure."
>You two separate from the kids
Anon: "Okay, so what exactly does getting hollowed do? I understand they're related to changelings, but what do they do that's different?"
Hopeful: "The baseline changeling is like a brood parasite. They latch onto streams of love that naturally come out of whoever they're feeding on without giving any back. Hollowers take things a step further. Rather than taking what comes, hollowers found a way to dig straight into the heart and drink from the source. They have venom that causes both paralysis and amnesia, so they can stick around until the victim is completely empty"
Anon: "What happens when they're empty?"
Hopeful: "They're empty. The things they care about simply stop mattering. The things that once made them happy make them feel nothing. Sometimes they even forget how to do certain things. Irritability is one of the most common early symptoms. Many manage to recover and find new things to make them happy, I've seen it, but for some... going on stops being appealing."
>You think about what this process might cause a mother to turn into, but you don't like thinking about it so you stop
Anon: "A pony with a cutie mark is destined for a purpose, right? Is that why they're so afraid?"
Hopeful: "Exactly. Ponies that chose to follow Harmony are highly specialized. Their hearts are so exposed, so linear in design, that they are the fastest and most nourishing to feed on, but the victim always dies."
Anon: "Is that why Equestria and the Crystal Empire are closed off now?"
Hopeful: "You are correct."
Anon: "I think I understand. Let's talk about the kids. Is there anywhere besides here that they can live out of bondage?"
Hopeful: "Let's seeeee. Well luckily for them, the Fugitive Act might be a multinational treaty, but the countries of Volontria don't really care enough to look through each other's records unless they're being forced to. You're also not likely to be turned in unless somepony REALLY does not like you. Worse comes to worse, we can always just buy them, but I hate the idea of Quicksilver winning like this."
Anon: "Me too. What if we just kill him?"
Hopeful: "Well...I mean...I guess that's possible? Every birdcat in Whitenest hates him for firing every miner the moment slavery in Pannerskill got relegalized. He's got bodyguards. But you're going to have your wishes back at midnight, so I'm not sure how much you care."
Anon: "This is a lot of stuff for the future. Right now, let's figure out what to do about what's in front of us."
Hopeful: "I agree."
>The siblings are looking at you
>The queen is looking at you from afar
>Zeke has been moved
>Spirit is currently paying attention to a worm
>Some other pony is still angrily mumbling about the skinwalker in his foraging spot
>Pyrite's stomach growls
>you still have some food left

>>42256015
>Many manage to recover and find new things to make them happy, I've seen it, but for some... going on stops being appealing.
So I guess we can fix her. With two (or even three) ponies to back up our (or rather their) wish surely it'll work. We'll try anyway.

>Is there anywhere besides here that they can live out of bondage?
As much as I don't like the idea of staying here, we have to, at least for the night. Kids can use some actual food and Dandie needs a rest.
>The queen is looking at you from afar
This is actually really good that she backed off. Her acting nice and not pushy might mean that she genuinely is. But even if it's just a facade if we want that free food and shelter we'll have to play along. And now if we try that hyper paranoidal thing with food I suggested before it'll put us in a bad light, so we might have to take a risk or come up with a more subtle way to check the food for poison. Play nice, smile, apologise for breaking in, but don't drop your guard.

>Anon: "Me too. What if we just kill him?"
Kek, that was my first thought too. But maybe we should rather with to change his personality, to make him nicer? We'll need a couple more former slaves who still believe in good things despite everything that happened to them for that to work out. If we were to simply kill him someone could just replace him and nothing would change for us. Not the time to worry about that anyway, that comes later.

>>42256015
Can we wish for a one-use death note?

>>42256222
Maaaaybe

>>42256119
>we might have to take a risk or come up with a more subtle way to check the food for poison
Any ideas on how?

>>42256222
Should we?

>>42256321
Maybe we can distract her and her maid by talking their heads off, seize the apportunity to serve the brownies ourself and casually juggle with them, making sure everypony sees that, especially the queen. The point is to mix up the normal ones with poisoned, if there were any, so that nobody would be able to distinguish them. Then look closely what the quuen tries to do and hope she won't risk poisoning herself or her people to get us for herself.

As for the drinks we can suggest tea instead of alcohol because kids are not supposed to drink that, then "remember" about our teapot, apologise to Hopeful and insist we use it as to show her that we do in fact like it and we were dumb to think about using it as a weapon. And jiggle the teacups too, just in case.

Keep in mind that the walls here may have ears in the form of crows, so we should keep our suspicions to ourself for now. Try to give Hopeful a hint if she starts messing things up, but not more.

>>42256015
I'm more of a karmic justice kind of guy. How about him suddenly losing all of his slaves and wealth and than becoming a slave himself?

>>42256015
Pass Pyrite some food

>>42256864
>karma
But why should we keep the scales of good and bad in balance when we have the power to tilt it in any direction?

>>42256222
>>42256321
What was the ruler's name of this land again, Quicksivler or sumthing? Would be a shame if he suffered a sudden heart attack.

>>42256992
Would be a shame if we spend a wish to kill him only for someone close to take his place the next day.

>>42256985
>more oc
Nice.

By the way, we should ask her how long she has been watching us. Not this bluntly of course. We should start by showing interest in her crows but only after she mentions them first, or subtly lead the conversation this way if she doesn't in a while. Start with something innocent first, like what do they feed them with, compliment how cute they are or whatever, then mention the crows we meet on the bridge and apologise for scaring her friends. She might tell us everything we want to know without being asked; carefully prod her if she easies enough and doesn't.

>>42256900
Considering how bad things are, we'd be bringing things towards balance as long as we do something against him. The problem with just killing him is that it's shortsighted and might just end up with his second in command taking over his operation, thus nothing really changing.

>>42257379
But what if that second in command gryphon would be more susceptible to our brainwash magic? This way we could kill two birds with a single stone, assuming we deal with Quicksilver using... more primitive tools.

>>42257392
Whoever said anything about brainwashing!?! The discussion was murder vs not murder!

>Anon: "Me too. What if we just kill him?"
>Hopeful: "Well...I mean...I guess that's possible?

>>42257510
I said. Here >>42256119
>But maybe we should rather with to change his personality, to make him nicer?

>>42256992
He's not a ruler. He just owns a gold mine


>>42256864
>>42256900
>>42257044
>>42257379
>>42257392
Anon: "Actually, as much as I want revenge on their behalf, would killing the gryphon actually change anything? If there's a next-in-line waiting for him to punch out, wouldn't it just be the same deal but with another gryphon?"
Hopeful: "You're right. I have my own gripes with Mr Quicksilver, but... I don't know who's related to him, or who's second in command, but the slaves are probably somewhere in his will or company property. If that's the case, I suppose it might not be as simple was killing the bad guy. We can add this to the list of things to figure out."
>Meagan was tapping her hoof impatiently until you turned around to look at her
Anon: "By the way, Queen Mee-Meagan, I have a quick question for you."
Meagan: "Yes?"
Anon: "I've noticed you have some form of...communication with the crows. I had actually seen a lot of them on my way here. If one were coming towards this keep of yours, when would you know?"
Meagan: "Oh? Ha. Funny you bring that up. I was actually told earlier today about a metal teapot on the bridge, quite like the one your friend has been carrying around. They said some kind of MONSTER popped out and dragged a random pony into the teapot. I have a good idea who that was. Apparently the monster was seen picking up fly agaric later, so the crows assumed you'd eat them and end up walking past us. Based on how you act, I'm gonna assume you simply pocketed them."
Tweaker (distant, but attention-seeking): "If you still have fly aggie, I'll buy some!"
Meagan: That's very nice. Hmmm. Where was I? Oh I was also being pecked at during the initiation about a mysterious unicorn sneaking in, but I kept telling them I was busy. I figured it was the chemical guy doing his drop-off. I should have paid more mind to the "sneaking while invisible" and spying parts."
Anon: "Okay. Thank you for the information. You seem very powerful."
>She tilts her head affectionately
Meagan: "Awww, that's such a nice thing to hear!"
Anon: "Also, can you tell me what's for dinner in full? Surely for a queen, by virtue, is given more than just brownies."
Meagan: "Oh yes. Brownies are to be saved for desert and then future snacking. Monday, in line with local customs, is BAGEL PIZZA NIGHT. Might as well get them while they're hot. Wouldn't you agree?"

>>42256868
>Though you do feel mostly settled on eating with the crazy bird lady, you feel bad for Pyrite due to how long it's probably been since he's eaten
>It is at that moment you remember the oats

>>42257557
>nobody cared who I was until I put on the feeding bag.png
>Anon: "By the way, Queen Mee-Meagan, I have a quick question for you..."
Lmao, that was the worst execution of "try to fish for information without acting suspicious" possible. So silly, but if it works it works.
>Tweaker (distant, but attention-seeking): "If you still have fly aggie, I'll buy some!"
Now they're offering us money? This place becomes better and better with each passing second. I say we could sell them but one, for the collecton.
>BAGEL PIZZA NIGHT
Sounds nice, let's go for it.

How about this as a plan against Quicksilver?:
1.Teleport all slaves here
2.Teleport all of his wealth and split it between all of the slaves, all of the former miners, and send the valuable objects (due to requiring the extra step of fencing the goods to make use of the wealth being infeasible) to the local lord as an anonymous gift with a note mentioning that Quicksilver might lose the gold mine in the near future.

Also, I'd wait until just before pay day for his guards.

>>42257821
I think we shouldn't rush it, we still haven't finished our first quest. He can wait. Also we need to gather more info about him before we start planning his execusion: there could be pitfalls we aren't aware about yet.

>>42257843
I didn't say we do it, I was asking for opinions on the idea.

>>42257866
And I say we shouldn't be making plans this early, it's meaningless. But if you want my opinion, it's dumb. Like, what are all these slaves going to do next? The'll get robbed and sent back as soon as someone sees them.

>>42257887
So you think the queen wouldn't leap at the chance to recruit them? Or did you miss the "here" in the first part?

up

>>42257650
>After figuring out with Hopeful what 1 denarii and 1 fly agaric mushroom might be worth, you offer to sell one mushroom for 5D
>The junkie accepts immediately
>You can probably just manifest a gold bar at a later date, but for now, you'd say you made a profit

Feel like there's nothing left to do or discuss outside? Are you ready to go indoors with the queen?

Lamp contents:
Bed hammock, table with 2 chairs, iron oven with stove, tea materials, the most basic of cookware, soot, spell book for ages 4+, 2 unknown books, big ceramic jar, 7.25 gallons of water, 12 denarii, carpet, lily of the valley berries, fly agaric, woven basket, partially used loaf of quality bread, partially used stick of salted butter, large bottle of olive oil, salt, pepper, large can of canned pork bean chili

>>42258944
Let's a go!

>>42258944
Pizza time!

You guys enjoy your pizza bagels. Just a reminder they're all junkies except Meegan maybe, that they were going to cut us up, at least one of them was going to brutally rape the ever-loving shit out of our mare and a little filly, and god knows what shit they'd do/have done to the colt(s). Just, ya know, something to keep in mind while we're snacking.

>>42259721
Yeah. I'm not feeling this too hot either. We need to stay wary.

>>42259721
>>42259912
What? Nonsense! I'm sure you remember the way they all invited you in with open arms, right? You were the instigator, you bad, bad boy. You should be more thankful of the queen's generosity.

>>42259041
>>42259277
>>42257650
Anon: "Pizza bagels? Let's go!"
Meagan: "That's right! Better get 'em while they're HOT!"
>She turns away and heads inside
Meagan: "Come on, my subjects. Let our guest join us."
>Everypony follows, including the kids
Hopeful: "What did you say to her while I was teleporting? It completely changed her attitude."
Anon: "I told her...I was a genie."
>She nods, then reluctantly walks along
>Back into the corroded castle you go, upstairs to the dining room
>It's not quite as rotten as everything else, with enough newer decorations to cover up all the acid holes
>You are enthusiastically offered a seat in close proximity to the queen herself, a high honor in any land
>you ask for Hopeful and the siblings to have seats next to you, which Meagan complies with, though not as enthusiastically
>Food is brought up through a dumbwaiter across multiple trips, distributed by a second maid
>The pizza bagels are laid out for all those present
>Meagan gets two because she's the queen
>You also get two pizza bagels
>drinks are served, for the most part cans of cheep beer, which disgusts Hopeful, but all 5 foals present are happy to have it granted to them
"Is Zeke gonna be okay?"
"Probably."
"How many times has he been de-striped?"
"I think 3."
"lmao"
>A hanging clock decorated with the theme of alicorn princesses, most likely the Two Sisters, ticks away to your three wishes returning
>8:53 PM
>You hear strange honking from behind you, similar to a goose, but stretched out and trilled

Analyze things, roleplay things out. You know the game you're playing.

>>42259941
oh thats a
thats a crucified pegasus

>>42259941
I take my words back, this place is bucking horrible. Mom, I want to go home.

>>42259941
Well, no need to go straight into flight mode. I mean, we're all having a good time here. Maybe we can metaphorically work our way towards the door without alarming anyone, you know?

So uhh... What's with the crucified, disemboweled, no eyes having pegasus over the mantel there? Is that a penguin?

I like what you've done with the place, by the way! Say, is that clock right?

We could also potentially hang around for 3 hours and then genie our way out of this shit. I'd also like to point out that we do have minor powers that we haven't really used yet, so if shit hits the fan we can probably blind a few ponies or set them on fire or throw them off of high places or something.

Also, this lamp. So earlier we could feel it being knocked around even though the gravity kept us on the floor and nothing went flying off the shelves or anything. Can we like... take refuge in this thing? If she throws us against a wall or puts us in a fire we aren't gonna get all fucked up, are we? And what if someone were to actually try and use the lamp as a lamp? Do we get flooded in oil and burned alive?

>>42260027
How do you propose we probe any of these mysteries without courting death?

>>42260031
Well, I was really fishing for answers from our QM. Or maybe Hopeful knows. But ya know, if nothing else I figure it's probably a good idea to just throw it out there as something for us to maybe figure out on our own at a future point in time.

>>42259941
...huh. Really regretting not peeking into the dining room sooner.

Complement the penguin. Casually ask about the crucified pegasus, as how we proceed is going to really depend on how she tries to pass that off as acceptable (If it's a slaver they caught in the act or in transit, then that's much more ok but not where they eat c'mon that's just unsanitary)

Holy fucking shit I'm was so fucking retarded. We shouldn't worry about her poisoning our friends at all because she knows we're a genie and can curse her (we absolutely can) if she does anything to them. She doesn't know a limit of our powers yet, and we should do everything we can to keep her in ignorance.

All we have to do is to make sure only WE don't get poisoned/charmed/affected with magic in any way. If I were smart I'd have come to that obvious conclusion way earlier. Oh well. We don't really need food so we can try to fake eating it somehow, like hiding it in a lamp. Shouldn't be too hard to do while being watched from all directions by a couple dosen sharp eyes, right?

>>42260111
I suppose maybe if we can fake eating one and save it for later. Unless there is some benefit to us eating things. We could break up the other one into three bits and pass it out to the chillins.

>>42260120
>I suppose maybe if we can fake eating one and save it for later.
You mean add it to our collection of poisonous inedibles, kek.

>Unless there is some benefit to us eating things.
We don't HAVE to eat, but we still can feel hunger. Shouldn't really be a problem, we have some food in our lamp so we can eat later at night alone while we watch over our ponies. If we decide to stay here, instead of venturing into a dark forest full of vendigos or whatnot, of course. We can take a nap tomorrow after we run away from this damned place.

>We could break up the other one into three bits and pass it out to the chillins.
The problem is if they refuse or the queen insists we eat it ourselves, it'd be even harder to fake, since we'd draw attention to us.

>>42260009
>>42259948
>>42259979
>>42260009
>>42260061
Meagan: "I'm sure you're dying to know more about us and our glorious nation of Crowatia."
Anon: "Yes, I am. It's a very...interesting country. Yes."
>It occurs to you that you never told the foals to be careful about the food, and now it's too late, because they scarfed that down like somepony was ready to steal it
>Turning back to find the source of the honk, you see a lone emperor penguin trilling
>It waddles closer
Meagan: "Aw, that's the fastest Emile has ever come to like anyone."
Anon: "Emile..."
Meagan: "That's his name! He might not be able to fly, but he's still one of my favorite crows."
*honk*
Anon: "Right. I think he...has very nice feathers."
>You look in her direction, when suddenly notice something you didn't on your way in that alarms you
Anon: "...and what WONDERFUL decorations you have!"
>She looks back, not immediately sure what specifically you're talking about
Meagan: "Oh yeah, Matt! One of the first followers I had! He was an asshole.
"Yeah."
"YEAH HE WAS!"
"Sure don't miss him!"
>The crows nod
Meagan: "Oh, man, you should have been there! The way he SCREAMED and called to the heavens above as my feathered friends were chomping away at his eyes, tongue, and all that good stuff, unable to move his limbs to protect himself! OH, the CATHARSIS! Now he's a decoration. Sometimes we dress him up in accordance to holidays. Not too long ago he was a reindeer."
Anon: "That's...a story I'd love to hear more of some other time!"
>The foals are already eyeing your two bagels, which you have not touched, hungrily and jealously
>You struggle to think of what you should say next, so you look at the clock, wishing (not literally) time would go faster
>Meagan looks at the clock too and frowns
Meagan: "Ugh. The clock is wrong AGAIN? What is it with that thing?"
"On it."
>A pegasus gets up and flies to it, adjusting it to 8:33

Why not ask her questions about herself? Also, do you split up one of your bagels, eat both, pretend to eat both as >>42260061 and >>42260111 suggest, or give one to the children and pretend to eat the other? If you use the lamp, it'll land on the floor and thus become inedible. It would be a shame if a completely safe and non-poisonous pizza bagel was ruined in such a manner.

>>42260027
And what if someone were to actually try and use the lamp as a lamp?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GniRsw4siPs
but yeah it'll just feel like you live atop a very active fault line unless serious damage is incurred

>>42260266
Pass them to the foals. The young need nourishment to grow well.

>>42260266
I say let's cut the chase already, and maybe try to play the good genie part a little to keep everypony on their toes around us.
Could go like this, depending on how the other character react.

"So, what do you want to wish for, oh esteemed Crow Queen?"
"I am thankful for your sudden hospitality, but I'm not foolish enough to ignore your motivations."
"Know that many have brought their own doom by careless or greedy demands, as the evil eye is quick to bring retribution to those who wish to cheat their way to the top."
"Truly the best wishes are those earnetly motivated by the desire to make things better for everybody."
"You DO wish to make things better, oh queen, right? For you and for your people."
"The lot of you are on the edge of course, anybody could feel it. And I understand that urgency and anguish might turn you all to the rashest of behaviours."
"We were pretty rash yourselves earlier, and I don't hink I've apologized properly for it yet. So allow me to say sorry for the chaos we've brought to your estate today."
"But now, I'd like you to think, what if instead of just surviving and doing with what you have, what would you wish things were truly like? If everypony could have their share and be at peace with the way things are?"

Also, if questionned about whether we can actually make things happen :

"In due time. If I could rewrite reality on a whim, we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place. Consider me more like a helper than a maker. I can certainly help bringing fruition to any good deed you might think of, but it'll work all the better the more you invest yourself in it first. And it'll take time."

>>42260308
this

>>42260266
Give our bagels to the children and ask the queen what her biggest goal currently is

>>42260308
>You split the two bagels between Dandelion and Pyrite and accept hunger
>The queen raises an eyebrow at this
Meagan: "Is something wrong with your food?"
Anon: "No. It's just that these two have been clearly underfed, so I feel they deserve it more."
>She smiles and nods
Meagan: "Ah, a generous and selfless soul! An act truly worthy of respect. Do all agree?"
"Yes."
"Yes"
"Guwa"
*HO-O-O-O-OOONK*
Meagan: "Get each of these three one more bagel pizza."
>She sips a bit from her expensive bubbly wine
>It looks like champagne, but Champagne is only a place in your world, so it is therefore just carbonated wine

>>42260445
>>42261744
>This act is getting a bit tiresome. You know exactly what she wants
>You're just going to commit to the genie thing more aggressively
Anon: "So, what do you want to wish for, oh esteemed Crow Queen? I am thankful for your sudden hospitality, but I'm not foolish enough to ignore your motivations."
>All eyes are on you
Meagan: "Well, I suppose I WAS acting a bit blatant in hindsight, haha."
Anon: "Know that many have brought their own doom by careless or greedy demands, as the evil eye is quick to bring retribution to those who wish to cheat their way to the top."
Meagan: "Is...is that a threat?"
>Hopeful is looking at you in disbelief
Anon: "Truly the best wishes are those earnestly motivated by the desire to make things better for everybody. You DO wish to make things better, oh queen, right? For you and for your people."
Meagan: "Why, I am the queen of this land. Of course my actions are in the best interest of my flock."
Anon: "We were pretty rash yourselves earlier, and I don't think I've apologized properly for it yet. So allow me to say sorry for the chaos we've brought to your estate today."
Meagan: "Apology accepted. I suppose I might as well cut to the chase. Is it true that a genie can grant three wishes, no matter how grand?"
Anon: "In due time. If I could rewrite reality on a whim, we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place. Consider me more like a helper than a maker. I can certainly help bringing fruition to any good deed you might think of, but it'll work all the better the more you invest yourself in it first. And it'll take time."
Meagan: "I see...so there is greater complexity to it than I thought."
Anon: "As it is with all things."
Meagan: "My little ponies are struggling and this young nation is facing challenges that hinder its ability to reach its full potential."
Anon: "Please, tell me how you intend to use my power to aid your ponies."

1/2

2/2

>>42261856
Meagan: "There are two things I seek first and foremost for this kingdom. One has a clear benefit to us all, but we can perhaps achieve on our own with time, and the other I feel you will be one of my only chances to achieve it with.”
>You say nothing, waiting
>She looks around at the space they inhabit
Meagan: "When my first followers and I took our pilgrimage, we picked these ruins because there were homes already made, no occupants but the dragon upstairs, and security from prying eyes. However, the reasons nopony else came to reclaim it, I’m sure you have seen. It can get cold here, and the tarps have not been good insulators. As said, though, we can solve this with time. The other wish can only be done with a great deal of magic.”
>Meagan looks up to the clock again, with its two sisters aesthetic, longingly
>The ponies are not used to seeing these emotions in their leader
Meagan: "Though, yes, it was the pegasi who ruled over other races through might in antiquity, the balance has since then shifted. I am no Kataigida the Great or Meteorikos the Terrible. The blood of Zeus has been diluted over the millennia. Even as a descendant of Kataigida, we continue to lack the firepower to back up this title. The ponies of the world seek leaders that can not only protect them from the ceaseless horrors of the world, but to see themselves represented through their leader, no matter their tribe. There is one thing that can be truly be that, one thing I have always wished to be. I wish to be as the princesses of the Sun and Moon are: an alicorn. With alicorn magic, I can protect the riches we accrue from those who wish to take it or those wish to see us gone. I will gain the respect that is long overdue to me, and those outside my flock shall see the stakes to this land I have made, and the authority I have been granted by my flock...as legitimate...at last. What use would the first wish be if we cannot ensure that we keep the place after you’re gone? Whatever we wish for as our third wish will also rely on my ability to keep it ours and ours alone.”

>>42261859
Damn. That second one is a pretty heavy ask. I have no idea how we'd even go about doing that, not to mention that I'm not at all convinced it's a particularly good idea. At least she seems genuinely motivated by a desire to make things better. On the first count at least. Surely it wouldn't be a bad thing to give these ponies a proper place to live, right? Even if they are uhh... the way they are. I'm just kinda assuming they are all drugged out lunatics, since those are the only ones we've really had a chance to interact with in any way and what with the crucified desiccated corpse on the wall. Still, they took in that other colt (whom we completely ignored when handing out our pizza bagels btw, very rood desu) and made him a knight. Kinda a cute thing to do. Maybe they aren't all insane anti-social menaces? We could always talk to him later to make sure they've been treating him right. Or even just let him loose with the other kids and see what they have to say.

Probably best just to keep up the genie act for now. The Queen at least professes to have the best interest of these ponies in mind, no reason to question that while we are her... guests. Some info on these names would be nice. Maybe if we ask the right questions she won't know that we are a complete stranger to this land who is totally ignorant of its history and she'll volunteer some lore. Everyone likes talking about their glorious ancestors, right? Maybe Hopeful could help with that and lay out some exposition for us.
>"Oh wow you mean you're a descendant of Kataigida the blah blah blah who did such and such?"
That sort of thing. I have no clue what to do with the alicorn wish. What's going on with Hopeful right now? Let's see how she is reacting to this whole thing. She's kinda our companion and guide. We're in this together, right?

And hey, maybe it's a long shot, but this whole place seems pretty wacky anyway... If need be I'm sure we could conjure up a "unicorn horn" for her to strap to her head.

>>42261859
Becoming an alicorn is certainly no small feat. Is there even a good understanding of what an alicorn is other than powerful and awe inspiring?

>>42261859
>First whish
What is the primary things preventing them to rebuilt the place better? Lack of workforce? Materials? Lack of somepony with knowledge in building or carpentry/masonry?

>Second wish
Think about all the times the princesses have been worfed
Wheeze internally
Fail and wheeze externaly

Bruh, the two sister are not respected because of raw power or status or physical appearance, more for their wisdom and ability to make the kingdom of equestria go round

Also remember the orange ninja parable.
You do not obtain the respect of others by becoming the Hoka...ahem, an alicorn
You become an alicorn by obtaining the respect of all your people

A bit more seriously, why would she need a horn when she has crow portals? And
Ask her to tell us bout her bird friends by the way. Are they summons? Are they friends? Servants? Did she befriend them all? Are they still here of their own volition or controlled in some way? Can she befriend other birds of nature or only crows? There's a penguin right here or is he a transcrow or something?

Maybe she doesn't need to become an alicorn for her goal. A queen in symbiosys with the wilds could have just as much reputation

>>42261859
We don't have to make her a proper alicorn like this Anon said >>42262198
Shouldn't be too bad if we give her magic to bring the good in the world? Just make sure to restrict it in a sense that the more harm her magic causes the weakier it gets (unless it's a reactive self-defence) to the point of her not be able to kill or mutulate anypony with her powers at all. And the more she orders others to do the dirty work, the weaker her good magic becomes.

>>42261859
>The dragon upstairs
What's the status wish them by the way? Are they friendly? Indifferent? Do they have conditions for you to stay around? Do you often interract with them?

>>42262342
>What's the status wish them by the way?
*What's the status WITH them by the way?

>>42261859

Alright then, so you think an alicorn will serve as the keystone for your society, yes?

Well then, where are the alicorns now?

>she persists
There is one known way to create an alicorn.

You must be as an alicorn. You must become a ruler capable of holding their nation together and repelling its threats. Once you've done that, and achieved your aims, you must then cast a spell hidden in history which will throw you into a test which nobody can help you with and which the universe made for you personally. This test will risk everything, can only be taken once you have everything, and can only be passed with the will of god behind you.

Then, once it's all done, you'll be a giant mutant doofus. You'll legitimately hold a lot of magical power, and it won't make you anything more than a single mare, who can be tricked or suckerpunched just like the rest.

>she persists still

Your task is to comb this world for every scrap of paper the princesses ever laid eyes on, learn every single thing about them, and find the scroll which only they shared. Watch my little pony, and see the path to power. (Watch, my little pony, and see the path to power)
Or, you can demand I do it, and hope you live long enough. Better make that your third wish.

Bump

>10

>>42262139
>>42262178
>>42262198
>>42262246
>>42262717
>>42262342
>Restoring the ruins has clear benefits to the inhabitants, and with how utterly demolished and decayed it was, it makes sense that a dozen drug addicts aren't going to fix it
>You think to yourself about the things you know about alicorns
>It's certainly a large feat to repair that much, but if Wish's power grows when someone else makes the wish, what would happen if it were the wish of every pony in these ruins? Does it work like that?
>You think about their origins, abilities, what it takes to be one...
>and you determine that you know next to nothing about any of them (you don't feel like it's a good call to use fanfics as a baseline, especially not G5)
>However, you have access to Wish, and if it really is scalable, perhaps you really can sidestep the whole process
>Though she seems to acknowledge her "flocks'" problems, you don't know how fit she actually is to fix them, or if she truly has a good enough heart and strong enough will to be what she's asking to be
>Or enough mental stability
>She also doesn't know that you aren't that powerful on your own right now, and you don't know what she might try to do if she sees your weakness
>You decide to redirect the conversation so you won't have to deal with it for now
Anon: "Oh yeah, the dragon. I noticed that scaly tail swaying just above... Emile... and I was interested to know the history behind your apparent coexistence."
Meagan: "His name is Chase. He decided to nest on the upper floors at some point between abandonment and our arrival. We compensate him financially to be here. He calls it "rent," but I prefer the name "Indigenous Inhabitants Compensation Benefits.""
Anon: "Right. Anyway, I'd like to hear how you came to be a queen of crows. Why do they listen to you?"
Meagan: "Ah, really putting me down memory lane this late at night, ha. I was a lonely filly. The most popular ponies did not like me, so everypony else avoided me because they wanted to be near popular ponies. One day, I saw a bleeding crow, being tortured by a local cat for fun. He was my secret friend. Ma would have never let me keep it. She'd say he was bad luck to avoid the blame for losing so much money every weekend. Anyway, I nursed it back to health, and let it go when it was healthy enough to be on its own. He didn't leave for long, though. He came back with friends, and when I fed them, more would come, and those who I treated the best gave me things. They were random, and I didn't know what to do with them, but they made me feel WANTED.”
>Her smile goes from ear to ear

1/2

I went too hard on pic related

2/2

>>42264442
Meagan: “The cycle continued. Later on, some of those popular fillies turned out to have been stalking me on my walks through the forest near my house. They brought colts with them. Not just colts, but rope and a camera. They were going to force me to do terrible things on camera, so they could depict me as something I'm not, and make my situation even worse. Turns out my actions paid off. There was a tree full of watchful crows, and they were VICIOUS. They swarmed those kids. Most got away, but one of them, oh, the one I hated most...she slipped. She looked at me pleadingly, begging ME of all ponies to help. Well, seeing her in such a hopeless state...I decided to do the world a favor while nopony else was around to witness it. I got on top of her, and kept my hooves on her neck until it was over. That was the happiest I had ever felt up to that point. Still zero remorse. Years of torture ended, just because I saw an unlucky crow at the right time. I got used to seeing more crows around me, the money in her purse was useful, and I eventually figured out how to communicate with birds. Corvids are incredibly smart. Maybe even smarter than I. I don't even know where they put the corpse of that filly I left in the woods, because I didn't even find a bone. They can travel between worlds, you know, so who knows where the bones ended up. Makes me wish I could've choked more of those kids. They have a lot of capacity for magic if they cast it as a group. I envy them."
>During that explanation, she laughed at a lot of parts that disturbed you the most
Anon: "That’s an...incredibly interesting story. You also said you're descended from Katia...
Hopeful: (sharp whisper) "Kataigida"
Anon: "Kataigida the Terrible. That must be a title that you are proud of."
>Hopeful holds back a scoff at her title
Meagan: "Yes, that very same Kataigida who united the pegasus tribes and gave the earth ponies civilization. The demigod emperor that established the order in which earth ponies farm and pegasi control the weather. An army on his own, with the authority to muster armies still rarely matched. It's quite funny, isn't it? The fact that a descendent of Zeus is Odin's chosen? It pains me that I'll never live up to his legacy. Perhaps a percent of what he achieved as opposed to the one one-thousandth I have done so far. If only I had the privileges afforded to another descendent of him, Celestia. I'm sure you're aware what I mean."
>Oh boy. Back to the alicorn thing
Anon: "There is only one way to become an alicorn, and it is not straightforward or fast."
Meagan: "But I see a means to skip that, right in front of me."

>>42264446
Shortcuts can lead to disastrous outcomes.

Right, she seems pretty insistent on that one, ehh? We better figure something out. Problem is unless we can go our separate ways on good terms we’re gonna have to deal with a murderous murder of flying, highly intelligent, dimension hopping killing machines. That’s not good.

We’re either gonna have to charm her pants off- Err, her dress I guess, or we are gonna have to go nuclear on this place. What if we could encourage that dragon upstairs to kill everyone? We don’t even have to bargain with him. We could just set something up and then all hide in the lamp while he fucks the place up.

>>42264446
Best let her know that alicorn-ification isn't in her near future. She's insane and can't be trusted, even if she's better than the rest of those in power. We can give her some bullshit and lie through our teeth so we can leave safely without her knowing how weak we really are.

"Not even a genie's magic can grant every wish. The magic of an alicorn is great enough that even a peek at the path required to become one requires all the power of a wish. So I can guide you, briefly, but the power must come from within yourself -- not even a wish can change that."

If things work out well, we can even save a wish for ourselves instead of letting her have all three tomorrow, and just tell her some wishy-washy stuff about being a great leader and maybe something about Harmony and pretend like it's some great insight from the universe. If not, we can always actually wish to know if she has some path to becoming an alicorn and hopefully we're experienced enough for such a wish to actually work at this point.

>>42264446
>Meagan: "But I see a means to skip that, right in front of me."
... Skip what, meagan?
I'm telling you that what I have in mind is long and circular to the point where I don't think you can do it alone. I'm intending to make it possible at all.

If you didn't have me, what long path would you take to reach your destination? What, exactly, are you wishing to skip? Maybe I can improve that path, instead, if it is real.

>g5
I was talking about magical mystery cure, though the other guy was talking about orange julius.
The conclusions are close to the same in terms of what actions need to be taken.
G5-icorn is basically not a real alicorn in the first place, and gains power a lot like one would become the focus of elements. As far as I understand, having not seen the movie directly, you have to obtain like some artifacts and then become a leader of all three races. By implication, your borrowing the powers of those around you.

The g4 solution requires you first strap the elements to yourself, or an equivalent set of artifacts like what the pillars had. You then need to cast the spell starswirl made, which puts you in a scenario that ruins your life. You then need to fix you life by reconstructing the lives of all the other element users. This test could be far harder than what twilight went through, and it's only luck that her friends had such strong bonds that they transcended causality and restored relative order. Then, while in this state, you have to cast the improved spell.

So what happens if, in their very weak and ornery state, one of your 5 friends gets fucking killed in this dangerous world? What if you're a violent dick and your main response to this frustrating scenario is to feed these failures to your birds? What if you aren't strong enough to pick your friend up and drag them to the friend who's living their life? What if you're not diplomatic enough? What if the test given to you is simply fundamentally different from the one given to twilight? What if you pass, perfectly, but then nobody comes to rescue you in the magic tv room like celestia did for twilight?

But what if you can just cast the improved version of the spell directly? Wouldn't that be lame?

>but I don't WANT to include the lame fucking spell in my story!
Right, then you take the first part of this response and only use that part. Just have her tell us what she had in mind, and so make THAT version of becoming an alicorn into the one we can consider instead of the versions which the show uses.
Just take the invitation to exposit and run with it.

>happy medium
Well, the first step in both cases is to have a group of friends and a magical tool imbued with your life story to the point of becoming magical.
She has subjects, but does she have friends?
Also, are the crows imbued with magic by her, or has she been given access to the secret symbolic power all crows touch? They could become one of the tools which forms her contribution to the elements.

>>42264650
Another upfront concern, she knows she will have to change for this, right?
Like, who she is as a person will not be the same by the end, if this is to succeed.

Both of these are phrased as challenges, because that's what's being done. She wants a thing from us, and she thinks she can just push for it directly. If she won't accept criticism, she can't be guided. If she's so unbearably arrogant that we can't point out flaws or mistakes, then we can't make her succeed and will be relegated to a good luck charm she keeps on a shelf and expects to occasionally warp probability in her favor. That will only worsen everything about her, particularly that same arrogance. It would directly reward that arrogance.

The arrogance, probably, is fueled by defensiveness. Being seen as weak or flawed in the past lead to literal murder. So, pointing out a flaw now would imply an escalation all the way to mortal threats. Mentioning potential negative results in the future would trigger the same set of mechanisms, where it's better to just kill the issue now.
So, there's only a few options here.
1. be a strong threat
2. be weak, in which case it doesn't matter if we're a threat, but we will go on that shelf in the long-term just like everyone else in this crackhouse and be blamed for her failures
3. strike the medium, which means tying in this dick measuring competition.

Offer challenge, imply she can satisfy that challenge with some ease, and so institute a norm which involves her humoring our challenges.
In the case where she doesn't have any plan at all, then her greed will be revealed, but she will have to admit weakness. That's a problem, but it also shuts her down really well here. I somewhat suspect she would pretend to have a better plan despite not having one, in which case she may be tricked into blowing her wish on her own fake plan instead of on ours. That seems like a real good way to get away with never turning her into an alicorn.

So that's
1.what's your idea smart gall?

>my plan is (bullshit she makes up on the spot or insane childish rambling)
2. pfff, granted (so she finishes her plan eventually and tolerates us but doesn't become an alicorn)

>I don't actually have plan :.<
2. ...so then we can accept my terms then, right?

>my plan is (actually tell us her valid plan)
2. Hmmm, ok I'll help with that (however we can do that. I can't know until she says)

It occured to me that we never discussed the rules under which we should grant wishes. Like the genie in Alladin couldn't kill, bring from dead and make someone fall in love, but we're supposedly capabale of doing all that, so why don't we make our own rules? We can tell her that giving someone power that'll be used to cause harm is against the rules so we cannot make her an alicorn or whatever until we're sure that she won't start killing everypony around just because they looked at her wrong.

>>42264807
We would have to either say true rules, which someone could use against us, or we would have to say fake rules, which may then limit our behavior later or else make people think we've been holding out on them.

I like the implied rules as they stand. They are very convenient for a partial fraud like us. We basically work in "mysterious ways." We help those who help themselves, allegedly.

>t'll work all the better the more you invest yourself in it first. And it'll take time."
sounds a lot like we don't do shit and you get your wish when you go make it yourself, right?
We're positioning ourselves to take credit for the results of what appear to be perfectly natural series of events.

Have we said anything else so far which implies our limitations?

>>42264824
>We help those who help themselves, allegedly.
Okay, I like that rule. Sorry, I don't have time to thoroughly think about your posts but I agree.
>Have we said anything else so far which implies our limitations?
Prooobably not?

The crow queen is definetly a mix of desperate, crazy and violent, but I have a hunch this is the case for about everybody around these parts, and that we're not going to find anything much better to start with.
So what I'm suggesting is to try to steer her in the right direction regardless of her obvious issues.

>>42264446
"Crow Queen. Do you know what will happen if you turn into an alicorn overnight? Do you think ponies and others will start looking at you with respect and admiration because of an unearned horn? Because you suddenly get a smidgen of practical power? No. They'll come to shank you in your sleep to find out how you did it. This is what will happen. I'm not talking about anypony around the table, if that isn't obvious, but about whichever outsider the queen wants to impress This is precisely what I wished to warn you about, when I told you earlier about wishes bringing doom to the careless wish-maker."
"Believe me. I wish to make you a better Queen, Meagan."

"I say, let us start tomorrow with making this place more liveable. I think everypony, and even everybirdy can agree on that. I will help you make it all better."

>>42264807
I suggest to go by the non-specific "I'm a helper more than a maker" to tell others. I think it does a good enough job at implying 'easy-way-out' or too selfish demands aren't okay. And also, I see no reason to hide the real part about our wishes being all the more powerful if we have intend from others to support it, at least to this audience.

>>42264807
>the genie in Alladin couldn't kill, bring from dead and make someone fall in love, but we're supposedly capabale of doing all that
FUCK! I completely forgot about the bringing back from the dead part. What have I DONE?

>>42264746
>>42264824
>>42264979
>You know the queen is a killer, and can recognize that she is both committed to getting what she wants and sensitive to criticism
>If you really can make her an alicorn, you really don't think it's a good idea, not that you're going to say that to her face
>You have an idea. You finally figured out how to say "no" without potentially criticizing her
Anon: "I do have the power to sidestep it, but I think you and your kingdom are safer without me doing this for you."
>Meagan tilts her head
Anon: "You seem like an incredible ruler and individual, but if you simply show up in public as an alicorn and can't prove you took the long way there, you'll be met with suspicion, not praise. Being one of the only alicorns in the world also paints a target on you. They have great capacity for power, but they can be taken down just as any other pony can, and if those not under your control feel you don't deserve to be an alicorn, I'm not sure if your followers are numerous enough to protect you. I cannot change that."
>For a second, she looks angry. She wants to say something, but can't find a thing to say that discredits you
mop-haired tweaker: "More eyes on us? Surely an alicorn queen would offset the impact of that, right? ...Right?"
>The queen rubs her temples
rape tweaker: "There's so many gangs pissed at us for sellin' shit close to 'em, but the government's been ignoring us so far."
Earth Magic: "If that genie's right, they's gonna STOP ignorin' us! We actually WILL be a threat!"
mop-hair: "Are we gonna have to lay low forever?"
Spirit: "I'll protect you from anything that-"
maid: "Is everypony ready for desert? The brownies have arrived!"
Meagan: "SHUT UP!"
>All goes silent
Meagan: "Whatever...happens...I'll...be...able...to..."
>All eyes are on her
Meagan: "Oh. Haha. The-THE BROWNIES! The BROWNIES ARE HERE! Let us FORGET OUR TROUBLES while we enjoy these LOVELY BROWNIES! THERE WILL BE NO MORE QUESTIONS! JUST BROWNIES! Simply CALM DOWN, and this will ALL BE SORTED OUT when MOST CONVENIENT, in a RATIONAL AND WELL-INFORMED MANNER. Whatever happens next is for the best of my flock. Everything. Is. Fine."
Meagan: *sniff* "Don't these smell GOOD? Let us remember to thank the chef later!"

>>42265512
Indeed there's no reason to be angry. Tomorrow we're gonna take a god look at this place and make it a cozy home for the lot of you

>>42208915 (OP)
time to actually pay attention, I think

>simply knew it was equestria
This is consistent with the nature of wishpower, and being a genie. Information is turned into action efficiently, without explicit and detailed guidance. Clarification not required. It makes some sense that we would have the most minor 6th sense about the context of reality. We could go without, but that would mean that we, also, wouldn't be able to really control our wishes, as they alone would have access to that fuller context which their existence implies.

That would make our spells almost like chaos magic, if that interpretation were the case.
Lets just say that our clairvoyance is minimalist and proportional to our wish-power reserves, or limited to great magic flows like what made us,
or just that we assumed like a fat lard, which is most likely.

>hyperfuta
we must bring about an era of hyperfuta. All our exercises of power will be used to drag the world closer and closer to this outcome. A hundred thousand granted desires, all pulling toward a side-effect conclusion nobody asked for: an endless land of wanting and needing meat, obsessive and trapped, but peaceful and, worse of all, stable.

Or not, probably not.

>want filly
... so then we idealize the idea of being spunky, ornery, intense,
but also abortive and disregarded

we want to be a little spicy jerk sometimes
Can run with that

no oil?
It's an oil lamp... right?
Seems like a question that gets answered soon.

>enter lamp is a spell
that's... weird?
I guess it implies we can't shrink and/or use our shrinking/growing creatively in order to shapeshift.
Every day we drift further from hyperfuta
oo
woo

>tiny furniture
ok no SOMEONE is getting a booping right in their snout
that's some fucking skill
shit like that should be horridly expensive if fashioned up to what we would normally consider functional standards.
It's one think to make a chair-shaped thing. It's another to make a working chair, unless you lower the standards such that a rock is a chair.

Or it's just a teleportation spell. That would be simplest.

>you wish for a mare
>the mare, reasonably, would have been there regardless, and fits neatly into what would have been a perfectly unmagical wishless set of events
Ah HA
we ARE a mysterous-ways genie! This also implies we'll never be able to 100% prove that we've got wish magic at all.

> It wouldn't be worth it to be a genie if you simply DIED after the third wish, huh?"
It... yes, yes it would. Holy SHIT yes it would, lady.
If you had to spend a human life for two (reasonably powerful) wishes, that would be a fair trade. If you had to spend the life of an immortal for the third wish, that would eventually become worth it, at least to them.

That, or being an immortal actually kicks ass and is worth more than a wish anyway.

>>42265683
>use too much power, and you will be PUNISHED
ah, what strange wording.
so it is implied that the entity in charge if intentionally dishing out punishment gives less punishment for happy and good wishes. At some point we will have to get to know this entity on a semi personal basis. We'll probably only ever meet them indirectly through punishment, so they will take quite some time to learn about.

>the goddess form.
Ah
so there's a... comparatively "well known" method, but it's temporary and may not be full alicornification even for that time, if it even is alicornification
What a funny way to grant the wish.
If we just give the crow gall alicorn form using our current power, she'll flicker into and alicorn and then back to normal
That's funny, but I expect the ultra-genie to smite us with lightning if we pull some shit like that. It wouldn't exactly be compassionate.

>sound like a real estate agent.
oh, so she DOES have a black soul

>hates self\
ah
So we have a different and less fun reason for wanting to be a filly. This also implies that we, just like the other characters, believed on an emotional level that we would be changed by a change in form, or that it would solve problems.
Well, maybe a little.
Idealizing greenfilly is still idealizing gremlin-mode.

>wishes directly called casting by witch
I... think she's wrong? It will be hard to prove the exact way in which spells and wishes are different, but they should be, probably.

>goober and go forward
thinkin about resting mare in her tiny bed when the river floods in through the giant hole in the wall

>uninformed anons picking right and left randomly
>you're the writer
ok I mean yes, but it's possible that every little detail of these choices has already been mapped out, down to what happens in each place on each day. In that case, the process of randomly checking each location is like pressing each button/key in an unfamiliar program. That kind of detail would make for an interesting experience, just slow at first instead of trying to hook us into a specific narrative. We would have to learn the meaning of each choice before our choices would start having reasons behind them.

Feel like this sort of criticism is being flung a little early and harshly, even if it might turn out to be accurate and applicable.

>>42221613
>fuse
Ah, right then
This is, by chance, the EXACT language used by my understanding of the most-essential level of equestrian magic. This hints at our ideas being highly compatible.
So, I may make some very very persuasive mistakes regarding my expectations of what should be possible at some point. This is my chekhov's gun, this and also being annoying.

>pocket dimension with localized gravity and legitimate woodworking miracles
you fuck you don't need me to grant wishes
you got the power to do it yourself, luthor

>do not waste wish on revival
nope, just on a casual nudge toward never needing to revive... oh and also shitty blood transfusion... so I guess we did exactly that, by the letter

>friction against the laws of nature
That... seems incorrect, narrativeized, and doctrinal.
But maybe it's right.
I'll think hard about that later.

>griffons and a gold mine
>lamp has a jojo's curse on it
ah
Well I haven't fully read the part where the griffons show up later, but I'm assuming they would have been satisfied with an extremely pure, simple, and compassionate wish. Probably should have gone with them, and so started our wish snowball.
Well, gotta play the hand we've got instead of the hand we wish we had, at this point.

>we actually wished for a bunch of food
Of note, this food is NOT like the other wishes, in that there is no in-universe explanation for how it got here.
The result is that the food is covered in artifacts of its creation.

>crow investigates
could have cast lower-weight on the crow
would have been hella funny
when it tried to flap or hop

>hadn't thought about that
ah
and so the gave-you-too-much-credit counter rises to "1", it seems.
careful or we'll become jake the dog and we won't even be answerable to the wish-governor for it

>ate my cheese
gotta stick a nipple in you
least the cheese didn't sit there and mold

>the griffins were NOT pure of wish, and did not want to protec egg
ok but we could have granted it like really really easy, even without any wishes.

Think of all the kilowatts of wish energy their cold crusty hearts would have yielded for us!

>the genie code
So we're a magical construct in a world which has changelings and cutiemarks and which borrows from "other planes". People thinking our wishes are real makes our wishes more real.
It's pretty likely that following the genie code 100% of the time exactly like the alladin genie would have granted us power exactly like his, and just as cursed as his, simply off of the sheer power of assumption and expectation.
Bit late for that, and the wishes these guys would have wished would have had pretty negative results probably. The writing on the cave wall also immediately implied that we were a different kind of genie, so we never had a real chance of being exactly like a normal genie, other than by implying that the witch mare simply didn't know what she was talking about, which was possible, but would be really hard to sell.

>>42266003
>food left out by humans
That's likely the same as an offering which is often given to gods at little shrines. A tithe of wheat for a better harvest or a lucky path cut by a blade. Gods don't need food, they need the symbolic representation of their domain, of the patience and good temperament of the humans involved, and the value which the humans place in their sacrifice.

And we need people to believe in wishes and wish for our will to come to fruition, by default.
It may not have been clear, but that's what I meant earlier. If people give us general goodwill, and generally want what we want, that should make those people count as minor general support for wishes we grant.

The tradition of offering us cookies as some kind of religious sacrament would probably feed us really really well, if we got a group of people doing it. We're not there yet.

>can you wish for discord
only if it's funny
or if he's pissed at you specifically
so just say "fluttershy is worst pony" and you'll meet him

>a skinwalker
ok look that one could have been SO much worse
be fucking glad, frankly, that we just have skinwalkers to deal with

>it's mostly what rubs off on them when dealing with the dead and traversing planes.
uh..uh? Was this the first mention?
Somewhat unfortunate for our current goals, if crows here just innately always had this connection. It become near impossible to turn a specific crow or flock into a legendary object, if they are already a potent magic symbol, interchangeable, and leave reality regularly.

>I'm a fraud
She's moving frantically through a oval made of crow. You could have just had one of the crows pick up the tiarra from where she dropped it, near the thrown. you could have also had the tiarra wrapped inconveniently around one of the crows as it flopped about on the ground, which would give some "texture" to the portal she used here by implying it got hooked on the portal itself, and therefore that the portal is still physically made of crows and maybe contains a small tunnel made of crows.

>whoever you're working for
this surrounding bit of speech here knocks my opinion of the crow girl down a few pegs. She's deciding to rules lawyer us in a way that assumes we'll still report back to superiors.

>throwing a brick at
that's a technically correct inaccuracy, but I don't think you can do better and you're motivated to push that line, so whatever

>commemorate
.... so are we about to be really high or what?
Wait we don't have organs
question stands
non literally

>my colleagues, in private."
>Meagan: "Yes! Yes! Take all the time you need!"
she's really less of a directly threatening presence than I was interpreting and more cloying
If she manages to mature a bit without fixing the rest of her mental, she would be terrifying. For now, she's a kid with a gun, playing, which is a different kind of spooky.

>>42266003
>dragons hoard kingdoms
Do they take months/years/decades long naps which cover the sky in smoke or not?
Because the main reason a dragon wouldn't do what you're describing is the implication that they must live in badlands caves so that it is harder to sneak up on them while they sleep. A dragon which trusts a bunch of ponies with their safety while they sleep is a dragon that has to not be a dick, or who dies.

A bunch of workarounds exist for that. Just as long as you don't end up confirming a plothole later.
I'm not demanding an answer be given to us specifically, though.

>bagal pizza
so pony digestive systems don't have to work like human ones. I generally expect that they need, or can tolerate, more sugar and wheat than us, and more flower petals, because horses eat a fuckload of baked goods in the show.
But that's basically headcannon and, even if somewhat true, still wouldn't stop them from potentially eating just like us if they wanted to.

>wonderful decorations
>oh he sucked
So, she recognizes immediately the true meaning of these forced pleasantries. That implies she, when being similarly pleasant, isn't even being dishonest. She just honestly expresses her misgivings in this way, fluent.

And with that, I'm caught up

>>42265512
>rape tweaker
this in now my favorite pony

>anyway
Ok, so your housing warmth, right?
The world gifted you a free castle with a rent-able dragon and you put holes in it. That's part of why it is cold, right?

Much like with the alicornification, just granting your wish and filling your walls with sawdust would kill you. These bricks are supposed to keep out the forest and hold up that dragon's perch. Even just sealing up your walls would just mean you would put more holes in the walls later. That assumes that the crazy magic-acid doesn't hold a curse, which could fight against my attempts to repair the rock. You may well have fucked up the walls in one of the few ways a genie can't fix, not that I know that yet.

Again, we can't take a shortcut without expecting bad results.

So, here's what I suggest.
Tomorrow morning, you gather everyone and all wish for an enchanted set of cleaning equipment which repairs cleaned stone and shatters after finishing the whole job.
After that, you and yours scrub every acid hole in this castle. Supply whatever chemical solution you've got which works on this gunk. After that, it will be your job to organize a system which keeps wall-melting acids away from the good stone.

You can also consider paying the landlord up there for fire based heating, but I don't think he's be interested, would you... what's your name?

>>42266494
>Tomorrow morning, you gather everyone and all wish for an enchanted set of cleaning equipment which repairs cleaned stone and shatters after finishing the whole job.
>After that, you and yours scrub every acid hole in this castle. Supply whatever chemical solution you've got which works on this gunk. After that, it will be your job to organize a system which keeps wall-melting acids away from the good stone.

This. More that directly wishing from the job to be done, enchanting some tools to help them do it is a good way to go

>>42266494
The dragon's name is Chase.

>>42267246
>Not a big cute dragon lady
I am dissappoint, but that'll do

>>42267315
>I am dissappoint, but that'll do

>>42265681
>>42266494
>>42266513
The consensus seems to be "try to help them help themselves" tomorrow, which is very convenient for us. It's safe to say that the queen probably doesn't want to hear any more talk for the time being, so the question for now is:
Do you eat the brownies?

>>42267833
I figured she didn't want to hear anymore negativity, fear, and failure, for the time being, and that she needed some motivation in order to not rapidly see us as pointless or develop a lasting bad mood.

But if she seems that intent on drowning in brownie, or unreachable, then we can wait.

We also need the tweekers to be, like, awake and ready tomorrow and happy with us tonight while we sleep, which is a slightly larger problem. The impact of springing work on them first thing in the morning might be harder to manage. Then again, that IS her burden which she has to carry, so it is fine and mostly not our problem, really.

So fine, drop it.

>accept food from culture we're going to bless
Feels like we basically have to, for a few reasons. We, thankfully, can't leave the lamp. Entrust it to whichever of our three ponies is willing to protect it all night and consume coco.

They can eat their coco if nobody starts acting weird in 30 minutes.

>>42268051
>You don't know what's in the brownies, so you decide to hold off on eating them until you know what happens to ponies that eat it
>You slip your brownie to Hopeful and whisper to her to keep them and wait until it's clear the ponies aren't high or tripping out before eating them
>She goes along with this
>The siblings seem saddened by the idea of not eating the brownies
>Hopeful glares at them until they reluctantly and slowly comply
Meagan: "Attention. I have made a decision. I want everyone to write one wish for the genie, and by tomorrow, if this genie plans to stay for so long, I shall present to him what I believe would be the most reasonable and mutually beneficial. That is, if he is planning to stay. Will you be here for long, mystical genie?"

How should Anon reply?

>>42268491
>didn't munch
>ALL of us didn't munch
That's....not what was said? We look like a jerk now. Said one of "them" would wait but that "we" have to eat.

Not sure if miscommunication or informed executive decision. If it's the latter, fine.

>meagan DOES want to talk now, but not actually really talk
fucking
My plan was to push the teambuliding exercise on them by noon tomorrow and then split for a few days while they work on that.
Then, we would maybe leave the brother here to work if he wants and then we would separate from witch mare at a crossroads 30 minutes away, as that seemed to be the approved and diplomatic action.

Even in this scenario, we can just get the colt's initiation ceremony finished and then give him a note with the same wish we suggested on it. This has the added benefit of potentially raising the colt's status in the group if that suggestion is chosen.

>what to actually do on this turn
"Have them ready by noon, earlier if you can."
There. That implies we'll be here later, without promising to stay that long really. Say something about "Until you're done with your first wish" in order to imply they will be getting a second wish, as that implies that we'll come back when we leave. Do not mention leaving unless asked.

>>42268491
We must since the foals need a good nights sleep before we could possibly leave

>>42268491
>that face
Look at her in the eyes like pic until she hopefully realize how embarassingly blatantly evil she looks

"Let us have a good night of sleep, and tomorrow we can start making things better for everypony. If I may advocate for it, this idea about making the castle more livable by fixing the holes in it seems like a very good starting point"

We might want to make a run for it in the night at this point

Also, are the crow eating any brownies

>>42268623
It was a miscommunication. I read "They can eat" and figured you meant all four of them

>>42268736
>Are the crows eating any brownies?
Yes. Emile is especially hungry. No, I have not researched if crows can eat brownies or not.

>>42268051
>We, thankfully, can't leave the lamp. Entrust it to whichever of our three ponies is willing to protect it all night and consume coco.
What do you mean we can't? We can and we should stay awake looking after our ponies because they need sleep, while we don't.

I'm happy to have gotten beyond the 400 post mark, in spite of how often I fumbled. Not to mention how poorly timed my posts can be. Thread #2 is finally in reach, and soon I won't have to look at that awful original post anymore.

>>42268623
>>42268736
Anon: "Let us have a good night of sleep, and tomorrow we can start making things better for everypony. If I may advocate for it, this idea about making the castle more livable by fixing the holes in it seems like a very good starting point. Have them ready by noon, earlier if you can."
Meagan: "YES, yes, I'll make sure my flock has adequately participated. It's getting late, though, so I'll have my maids prepare a space for you! It'll be great! Is there anything you'd like in the meantime, such as a tour? A bath? More brownies?"
>The crows are enjoying the table's crumbs
>Emile rudely sticks his beak between ponies to eat

>>42270143
>A bath?
Dandie needs one, her wounds may need some tending too.

>>42269721
>>You seem to be unable to go more than a 10 meters from the lamp

If we were high or whatever, it would be a real pain if we woke up 3 miles deep in the forest after blowing all 3 of our wishes on inconvenient shit.
That's less likely if we give dandelion our lamp and make her our designated driver.

>>42270143
>Rather than following the flow and putting our suggestion in the suggestion box, we open our mouth and be loud.
Kind of think there might have been another miscommunication, and no, nothing needs to be done about it.

Note, should it ever appear that someone is advocating for a retcon, they aren't, until they make that extremely clear. Would hate to run into that issue.

>>42270143
Knowing what passes for a bath here seems useful, even if we didn't need one ourselves.

>>42270152
>>42270330
Anon: "A bath? Well, the filly with me has been through a lot on her way here, and got scratched up fairly bad. Would you be able to have her fully cleaned up and have her wounds treated?"
>Meagan smiles and nods
Meagan: "Of course! This can absolutely be done for the little rascal. That can be done right now. Anything else?"
Anon: "Nothing comes to mind immediately."
>She nods
Meagan: "Alright. By the time she is done, I promise you, she won't even be the same color."
>She calls to the closest maid to start a bath for the filly, then looks around at the dining hall
Meagan: "I assume all of you have started thinking about your vote. I want them all deposited in the throne room by midnight tonight. If you have difficulties with reading or writing, I will have a pony assist you in getting it written. We have to keep things speedy for our wonderous guest, SO NO, DO NOT WAIT UNTIL MIDNIGHT!"
>She hastily puts back on her calm façade
Meagan: "You are dismissed."
>There's a scrambling in the room
>Though many of the ponies were looking <pic related> until just now, the queen is taken seriously enough for them to scatter
>She turns to you
Meagan: "You are free to do whatever you please as this happens Mr....."
>The calm façade fades again as she gets flustered
Anon: "Call me Anon."
Meagan: "Aaron."
whispers: "His name is Aaron?"
whispers: "Shh!"
whispers: "I think it's a wonderful name."
>Dandelion is escorted out of the room
>Besides the birds, the room is now mostly empty of life
>Being small creatures with less blood, whatever was in the brownies has caused them to relax way more than the ponies got
>Meagan sighs

>>42270781
If we're alone with a high queen, let's try to mellow her out a little.

"You seem to really like your crow friends, and they all look like they appreciate you too. How did you meet Emile? He's a big cute boy. Does he like to be pet?"
Would Meagan like to be pet?

>>42270781
Honestly as much as an opportunity as this would be, with our other party members temporarily separated from us it's best to play along a little longer. A good petting session might do wonders for loosening her up and we can even offer her more brownie later since we didn't eat ours (we can claim we were saving it as a nightcap) and try to learn more about her past

>>42271116
>>42271919
Anon: "You seem to really like your crow friends, and they all look like they appreciate you too. How did you meet Emile?"
>She looks at Emile eating off the table like a slob
>He honks apathetically
Meagan: "You know, I don't actually remember where he came from. He always seems to dodge the question."
Anon: "Can I pet him?"
Meagan: "I wouldn't try to force it. He's more of a "chooses when to be pet" type of crow. Also, he decides how long it lasts. I learned that the hard way. Almost lost a finger."
Anon: "Ah, so he's like a c- a finger?"
Meagan: "A finger? What are you talking about?."
>She tilts her head, her hooves definitely still hooves
>You decide not to pursue this topic and realize Emile is just finishing up the process of waddling over to you
Meagan: "Looks like he's chosen you for right now. I swear, sometimes he acts like he's the one in charge."
>You pet the large flightless crow. Some species of crow do have white on their torsos. Maybe this is a hooded crow or a pied crow?
>This place is getting to you
Anon: "Oh, yeah, and about the brownies. We're not rejecting them. We're just-"
Meagan: "I know. Sometimes you just want to spread them out."
>You nod
>Man, you want to pet the crazy bird lady, but boy, are there risks
Anon: (whisper) "Hopeful, there's something I want to do, but I'm not sure how safe it is."
Hopeful: "Mmm?"
Anon: (whisper) "I'm thinking about petting the queen. Is that a good idea?"
>The crows seem to be telling the queen something
>She looks at you and hides a little blush with her hoof
Meagan: "You sheem vury promishcuous. Do yew kneow that?"

>>42272010
There's nothing shameful about petting or being pet by a genie. It is a universal gesture of friendship and trust.
Us genies have a very long history of petting everything we can.

It is tragic that the act of petting makes you uncomfortable, because, YES, I very much would like to pet you, crow queen, but I'll respect your boundaries if you're not okay with it.

>>42272010
>Anon: "Oh, yeah, and about the brownies. We're not rejecting them. We're just-"
Oh my god
OH
my god
fucking screaming

And I understand you're doing the same thing which is why this has happened in like 6 out of the last 7 posts I'm going to lose my fucking mind

>>42272010
Crows have very good hearing, noted.

>>42272180
Anon: "Your crows like to gossip, don't they?"
Meagan: "This being...wants to feel my body..."
Anon: "I'm not one to try and force it. I respect any boundaries you have."
>She looks around to make sure nopony sees
>Spirit is still by her side
Meagan: "Spirit, shield your eyes. Do not open them until I permit."
Spirit: "Yes, my liege."
>He shuts them and turns away
Meagan: "You may touch my hair for ten seconds."
Anon: "Poggers! This is absolute kino."
>You fly over and do the thing you like to do to ponies
>You start with a slow and simple touch, then move your hand exploratively
>She permits this
>This is an incredibly luxurious mane. She clearly takes very good care of it
>She smells great, too. There's a massive difference between her and her subjects
>The desire to sniff her hair and body is strong, but even your autistic ass knows that's going too far
>You have to make use of the time allotted, but don't want to do anything that might anger her. It's a careful balancing act
>You are sure she likes this
>You are just about to get to the ears when she starts bearing teeth
>Time is up. What a shame
Anon: "Thank you, queen."
>You reluctantly return to your spot, a displeased Hopeful glaring at you along the way
>She wipes something from her face hastily one second, then goes back to glaring
>Clearly, she's just jealous
Meagan: "You have permission to open your eyes."
>Spirit complies
Anon: "There's nothing shameful about petting or being pet by a genie. It is a universal gesture of friendship and trust."

>>42272475
At this point, it feels like the only crow you trust is Emile

>>42272716

Forget about cocks. At some point we shall wish for your pets to become legendary

Alright so I had decided that there was nothing I felt I should express something like approval of more content.
Maybe, I thought, waving a flag representing your story.
However, your story doesn't really have anything that would count as a symbol of itself yet, so the flag is blank.

Woo
go letters

This was also immediately after we attempted to apologize for something after previously deciding to avoid even asking about it, so I was not in the mood to attempt being clear again.
So, instead of trying to communicate what I want anon to do, here, have a headpat, birdwriter.

>>42272949
forgor

>>42272949
>>42272958
It's a story about the destined liberation of the glorious land of Quebec

>>42273132
Ah, of course, I remember.

Anyway, it's been 30 minutes at least due to text-time being generally faster than real-time.
I want to have a short interview with the kids before they eat those brownies. We don't understand this world or these kids well enough to make a real judgment call here. We also have no real authority over them, though I suspect the filly will want to listen to and obey whatever we tell her, generally.

So
do NOT tell them what to do, particularly not in a permanent or long term manner, or as a real demand. Anything we ask is a request, even if phrased as a command, and all commands should be made with their own good in mind, preferably on their own terms. An example of a good request is "Get the fuck down before the griffins see you." An example of a bad request would be "I forbid you from making out with that bird any more." Don't say that, no matter how weird it is.

Anyway, ask questions, almost exclusively.
>First off, I'm not your dad.
>Ask them to define basic things like "spiked" and "drugs" and what the social/personal opinion of these kinds of things/people is. Why do you like/dislike whatever?
>no matter what conclusions we reach, this is the food we've been given and we're going to be here at least 16 more hours. You'll eat, probably.

We probably get to watch them both slowly get buzzed while we hang in a big tub with a comatose stripeless zebra.

Bump

>>42273327
You did nothing to stop Dandelion from departing, so out of the two kids, you only get to talk to Pyrite

>After this much time, you feel no intoxication, concluding that either you can't get intoxicated as a genie or there was nothing odd in the bagel pizzas
>Pyrite had the bagel pizza, but no brownies, and he doesn't look high. From this you are certain it's either both or the latter
>You know that you aren't their father, and doubt you'd ever be able to fill that role
>However, you really don't want things to happen to them that they don't understand the cause of
Anon: "Pyrite?"
Pyrite: "...Yes?"
Anon: "Okay, I'm not trying to control you. I just want to make sure you understand certain things."
Pyrite: "Okay...?"
Anon: "How much do you know about drugs? Do you have any strong opinions on any of them or ponies that use them?"
Pyrite: "Oh, please. EVERYPONY has to learn about that. They never shut up about it. Nopony listens to it, though. Do they not do that where you come from?"
Anon: "So have you ever done any? Yeah, I used to drink and smoke a little in the school bathroom. No biggie. Couldn't get any of that at the orphanage. They were super airtight about that stuff. Dandy was always a massive tattletale too."
Anon: "Rrrright. Do you consider yourself to have good impulse control? Does it affect you a lot?"
Pyrite: "Puh-lease. My self control is great, even after a beer or two
>His voice has confidence in it, but kids tend to have really high confidence and large egos, so you're not sure how true his reply is
>This is a conundrum. If you keep the brownies and beer from him, you'd basically be nullifying what you just told him, but if you get Hopeful to relinquish them, it might be read as actively encouraging him to do drugs, which you also don't want to do

How do you morally proceed with this?

>>42274160
So Pyrite used to drink and smoke in the school bathroom, right? I think that's what happened?

Hopeful is an experienced mare. Can you really not tell if a brownie has weeds injected in it or whatever, or is that just a thing like ponies who drink will swear up and down that hard alcohol tastes good and goes down easy? Does it smell like it's full of poison joke or mushrooms? What does she have to say about it?

I know we just told this kid that we aren't out to control him, but he's just a fucking kid. He doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. I would not feel super good about letting him eat it if it had something in it. Ask him how old he is.

>>42274160
We're not enabling this, but we're not showing our hand, either. Ask Pyrite how he evaluates his sister's relationship with substances. Fingers crossed we can spot a contradiction.

>>42274160
Alright, so I don't know how well this translates into your setting, but a colt is basically half an adult in the show, and an adult is basically a big foal.

Again, he's going to probably be living here, and half the food here is spiked. If this was modern earth society, or a human child, I would have a different opinion. Instead, I'm relinquishing the goods. Even if we don't, he can just find the broniemare and get another for himself when we blink.

"Lets make sure your sister isn't getting into any trouble."

I'm also not really 100% satisfied with the talk we gave him, but it is close enough that I'm willing to accept this result, considering how unwieldy we are to control.

If someone REALLY wants to keep this colt off drugs, we have to convince him with words in the next few seconds, and absolutely must give him the brownies. I'm pretty sure that acting as an authority figure will cause him to do the exact opposite of whatever we say.

>want him to do drug? Give brownie so he can.
>want him NOT to do drug? Still give brownie so that we don't trigger his contrarianism and don't side with his sister implicitly.
We can wait up to 1 extra turn for this.

>>42274160
One of the worst things that can be done with the young/rebellious is to say "No". Better to sit them down and properly explain things, without being disrespectful to them, and give them the freedom to make their own decisions with the knowledge that you'll be there to help them if/when they fuck up.

>>42274795
How about, instead of encouragement, just, "Are you going to eat this?" while we hold it out?
That forces him to speak the truth to us, which alone implies he can and does trust us. It also get the brownie out of our possession without implying we approve.

>>42274826
I wasn't saying encourage, more respectfully warn and allow him to decide.

>>42274493
>a colt is basically half an adult in the show, and an adult is basically a big foal
Anon... how many brownies did you eat!?

>>42274012

>>42275926
Thanks. I just had another one of those 7-hour naps that makes your body ache.

>>42274314
They are in fact weed brownies at minimum. They have an earthy smell and there are small bits of green. No blue. Most likely no PJ or active ingredient derivatives.

>>42274317
>>42274493
>>42274795
>>42274826
Anon: "Well, I think you're old enough to make your own decisions."
>You elbow Hopeful to and point to the brownies
>She complies and puts it back on Pyrite's plate
>Emile is sliding around on his belly, apathetic to the quiet conflicts
>Pyrite stares at you in uncertainty, pulling the plate towards himself
Anon: "Hopeful, do you think we should check on Dandelion?"
Hopeful: "I don't...think a grown man should look at young girls bathing. I'll check on her."
>She turns to the queen
Hopeful: "Your majesty, can you tell me where the young filly would currently be?"
Meagan: "The royal quarters are on the fourth floor. Spirit will escort you. Please do not touch anything that looks fragile."
Spirit: "Yes, your highness."
>Hopeful and Spirit meet up in the middle and begin to depart
>9:45 PM
Meagan: "It's fairly late, Aaron. I believe your quarters have been prepared. Is there anything else you wish for?"
Anon: "Nothing at the moment. Will there be anypony on standby if we have any issues?"
Meagan: "I will be with my subjects to ensure they are handling the task I assigned them properly, but for you, I will ensure that there is somepony on standby."
Anon: "Thank you."
>She smiles and gets up, ready to depart
>You look to Pyrite, who did eat the brownie
>You're not sure if it was because he wanted it or because he's just that hungry
Anon: "Pyrite. I have something to ask you when we're alone."
>You'd like to avoid the topic around the queen, but the question you plan to ask him will be about if he wants to stay here, even if you think you might be able to save their mother

Do you let things proceed as they are, or do you want to say "Actually, one more thing" to somepony leaving? Do you let yourself be escorted to the guests' quarters, or is there something else you want to do right now?

>>42276235
I have several thoughts. First: is that Hopeful stuffing her face with a brownie? Second: You guys are naked all the time anyway, whatever. We better figure out this pony modesty thing so as to avoid any faux pas in the future though. It seems pretty clear that our pony petting is somewhat scandalous from the way everyone has reacted, and given that, I'd say we're actually pretty damn lucky that Dandelion was as cool about it as she was when we basically asked to feel her up earlier. We can't always count on that being the case however, so we better get our shit straight. Which brings me to another thought actually: is this >>42272720 simply the face of an insane mare getting pets, or the face of a mare losing her mind from pets? I mean if that's just some head pats, imagine what we could have done with those ear scritches. We could truly hold some sort of power over these ponies, or at least the Queen. Fourth: we are now going to be left alone with only a colt who has just eaten some happy-time brownies to carry us around, so we had probably better get to wherever we are staying before he gets too messed up to walk straight or take directions.

Before we bid farewell to the Queen and get stuck in a room with a drugged out colt, I would like to know where our companions will be staying. If it was noted somewhere before and I missed it, my bad. I'd like it if we were all to be in the same place, seeing as our ability to be able to protect them at all is dependent on our being right next to them. I'm also a bit worried about Hopeful and Dandelion being away from us right now. Maybe directly confronting the Queen about their safety, even in a polite manner could be insulting though. Perhaps a cute comment to our brave sir knight of the drug table here would be sufficient to make clear to the Queen that she must make sure our friends are not troubled by her less savory subjects. "Brave knight, look after Hopeful and Dandelion for us." That sort of thing.

Other than that, I have no qualms with retiring to our quarters and dealing with our Pyrite problem.

>>42276235
Oh yea, and Hopeful had better hand off that lamp to Pyrite. If she keeps it in her saddle bag we're gonna be seeing that filly bathe whether she wants us to or not once it starts pulling us along with it.

Wait a fucking minute...
>Emile is a chooses when to be pet type of crow, also he decides how long it lasts
>"I learned that the hard way. Almost lost a finger."
>"sometimes he acts like he's the one in charge."

>voice desire to pet crazy horse.
>suddenly Queen is speaking like she is different, like she is very intoxicated
>Emile eating off the table like a slob
>being small creatures with less blood, whatever was in the brownies has caused them to relax way more than the ponies got
>permits us to pet for 10 seconds
>pic rel >>42272720
>time runs out, starts bearing her teeth... like she is gonna bite off a finger(?)

Fellas? Is... Is Emile ACTUALLY the one in charge here?

Also we clearly hurt our magicmommy mare waifu’s feelings with that pet. Not cool, yo.

>”You know, I don't actually remember where he came from. He always seems to dodge the question."
You guys gotta believe me! We’ve stumbled upon a criminal syndicate run by the penguin.

>>42276390
>I would like to know where our companions will be staying
One room. Keeping things simple.

>>42276390
>>42276422
>>42276953
Anon: "Wait! Hopeful!"
>Hopeful stops and looks at you
>You phase through the table to pet her mane
Anon: "Also, my lamp."
>Hopeful understands and floats it over to you
Anon: "Thank you."
>You return to your seat and place it on the table
>The queen was a bit weirded out seeing you physically ignore the table, but now she has left
>An unkempt pony comes and tells you she'll show you to your shared quarters
>You ask Pyrite to hold onto your lamp for the time being, to which he complies
The unkempt amre: "Are you ready to depart?"
>You turn to Pyrite
Anon: "Are you?"
Pyrite: "Yes."
Anon: "We're ready."
>The two of you are escorted up multiple floors to a collection of rooms that were likely used for honored guests by the original occupants too
>The floors are covered with carpets that emanate a displeasing, but tolerable odor
>The walls have beautifully intricate, but very faded wallpaper above reddish wood wainscots
>The wood on the tables and chairs are intricately carved, and despite being very scratched up and repaired through lazy means, nothing here is dusty
>You can definitely feel the hierarchy in this colony through visual contrast alone with what you saw in the castle town
>You can only imagine what kinds of rooms were present in the multi-story space that the dragon has made into a den
>There are enough beds for everyone who is intended to be here
>The bedsheet layers are varied and numerous, though they also kind of smell weird
>The bathroom has a lot of tile damage and a cracked mirror, but it's about as clean as your bathroom usually was back home
>The glass covering most of the picture frames on the walls have also been cracked, you now notice
>The fireplace has already had a fire made in it in preparation for you
>The potted plants died long before your arrival, though
>For a bunch of crackheads, this is probably the best you're going to get
Amre: "Please make yourself at home. Ring the bell over there if an issue arises."
>She politely leaves you two to yourselves
Anon: "Okay, Pyrite. Now that we're alone, I want to ask you something. I don't know how much you do or don't want to stay here. I don't know if you were gonna join out of a desire to be here or because surrounding places are worse. I don't know enough about these lands to make that judgement. Here's what I do know: I can grant wishes, so I MIGHT be able to save your mother from whatever hollowing has turned her into."
>Pyrite's eyes widen
Pyrite: "R-really?"
Anon: "If you stay with your sister and I, I'll try. If it works, you can have one happy family again, together. If it fails, I can easily get you back here. What do you say?"
Pyrite: "I'll do it!"
>You smile

>>42277017
Well that easy. Cool.

So close to that bump limit wew

>>42277390
Sure was. What are you going to do when everypony is back together? Is there anything left to discuss? Now that you've had more time to see how this place is, do you want to grant wishes tomorrow, or flee in the night? So far, I've seen differing stances on that