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Post by Nightsong on Feb 25, 2013 6:26:21 GMT -5
After a few days of rest from his ordeal in Hoofington, his acquaintance with the zebra he met there arouse his interest in the Zebra lands. Nightsong packed another satchel of supplies, took his newly made map, and embarked on a new journey. With everything set, Nightsong bid his master a farewell, not knowing how long he’d be gone. Nightsong focuses, takes a deep breath, digs his hooves into the ground, and within a few seconds, he takes off at an amazing speed. “Heh heh, he always enjoyed the journey more than the destination.” His master said watching him run off.
As the hours went by, Nightsong galloped across he lands, taking short breaks every now and then. After running a few more miles, he noticed that the landscape gradually turned went from grassy and plain, to a more barren space with lush flora. There was also an increase in temperature; however it didn’t seem to affect him that much. “There are so many trees here. Hm…let me try something” Nightsong scoped out all the trees in the area and without further thought, he went into his meditative position. After few seconds, his flew open and he struck the several trees hard, yet fast. Within a couple of moments, different types of fruit of different colors fell from the trees. “Yeah!” Nightsong quickly cheered, as he grabbed some of the fruit and had an afternoon meal. “Hm, I wonder where I am, it’s hard to see anything with the thickness of these leaves.” After resting for a little while, Nightsong decided to scope out the area by leaping up the tallest tree he could find. Once he made it to the top, he caught a glimpse of zebra walking a long on stone path. Without hesitation, he decided to catch up with the zebra, in hopes to find out where he is. “Hey, wait up!” Nightsong caught the zebra’s attention, causing him to stop in place. “Sorry to bother you, but do you know where the zebra lands are?” The zebra had a look of confusion on his face, but his confusion subsided as he realized that Nightsong wasn’t around these parts. “The sky will soon turn as dark as your pelt, remain out here any long and danger is what you will be dealt.” Nightsong noticed that this zebra rhymes as well. “Do all zebra’s words rhyme? Well anyway, do you know where the nearest town is?” The Zebra pointed in the direction opposite of where he was going. “If a sanctuary is where you wish to be, then gallop along the path to the town of Neighroby.”
“Hey thanks, if there’s any way I could repay you…” Before Nightsong could finish, the zebra responded with a friendly smile. “Preforming nice deeds of your own accord will bring a good soul its own reward.” Nightsong smiled back at the zebra. “Wow, I have to learn how to thyme too. Anyway, thanks zebra, be safe!” Nigtsong ran off to the direction he was pointed to, with the zebra’s word stirring around in his head. “Good deeds will bring a good soul its own rewards…?” After a few minutes, Nightsong has finally stumbled upon what seem to be settlement built around an even larger building. “Whew, finally here…” Nightsong eyes felt heavy because of his lack of sleep, but ignored his weariness and walked further towards Neighroby. As he approaches the town, he notices that the giant building appears to be a school. “This must be where the zebras do their training. Maybe tomorrow I can observe the type of magic they use. Then again, maybe I could just take a look inside” Nightsong ignores his weariness, and decides to inspect the building.
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Post by Bowie on Feb 25, 2013 14:10:09 GMT -5
The building was quiet, which perhaps made sense considering the hour. The hall was lined with classrooms, only one of which appeared to be in use. Its door was open, revealing a group of zebras sitting at desks and busy writing on parchment. Well... most of them. One or two appeared to be doodling. They were all sorts of ages: young, old, and in-between.
At the front of the class was a female unicorn with a light gray pelt, pointing at the blackboard with her ruler. She could have looked fairly young, but the bags under her eyes had aged her appearance considerably. "Now remember, take your time when writing lowercase A's. If you're quick and sloppy they'll end up looking like O's or uppercase Q's. Then no one will be able to make sense of what you're trying to say."
Spotting Nightsong in the doorway, the mare lowered her ruler. "Can I help you with something?" she asked neutrally, the zebras in the classroom turning to look at the newcomer.
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Post by Nightsong on Mar 3, 2013 3:34:44 GMT -5
"Can I help you with something?" Nightsong stood there for a few seconds before realizing that the instructor was referring to him. “Oh, don’t worry about me, I‘m just watching.” As Nightsong notices the instructor’s haggard and wary face, it reminded him of how exhausted he was, but he continued to shake it off as he wasn't ready for sleep just yet. Rubbing his eyes again, he notices a small group zebra seated in the classroom, with the much older zebra standing in front. “Hey, you must be one of this school’s masters. Do you know where I can learn about “zebra magic?”
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Post by Bowie on Mar 3, 2013 23:29:14 GMT -5
((Just an FYI, Nightsong: the instructor is a unicorn, not a zebra.))
The mare narrowed her eyes, frowning at Nightsong's question. "Certainly not here," the unicorn answered, now beginning to pace the room. "Neighroby is a place for zebras to learn, to pull themselves out of the primitive lifestyle they've sauntered into. Reading, writing, Equestrian history; these are the things we teach at this institute. Not tribal magic and bogeyman superstition."
A few of the zebras rolled their eyes, others seeming to shrink in their seats. "These zebras don't come here to learn 'zebra magic'. They come to educate themselves. Perhaps one day they can educate their own tribe."
One of the zebras, a young adult male, muttered something under his breath. The instructor's eyes immediately shot over to his location. "What was that?" she snapped.
"Nothing ma'am," the zebra answered sullenly.
"Five sentences. On the board," the mare said, pointing with her ruler. The zebra stood up from his desk, walking over to another blackboard on the side of the room and picking up a piece of chalk. There he began to write out a sentence, occasionally looking at a list of rules on the opposite wall for guidance on how to draw the letters.
I WILL NOT INTERRUPT TEACHER.
"Now," the mare said, turning back to Nightsong, "If you would like to stay and watch, you may take a seat at the back of the class. Otherwise I ask that you leave."
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Post by Nightsong on Mar 5, 2013 9:30:38 GMT -5
"If you would like to stay and watch, you may take a seat at the back of the class. Otherwise I ask that you leave."
Nightsong felt very negative vibes coming from the teacher, but he decided not to pay it any mind as the teacher did look very tired and most likely grumpy. Since it was so late at night, Nightsong assumed there weren't many students here and that the school was vacant.
“Okay, Master! I’ll just take the seat back there.” Seeing this as an opportunity to learn some new techniques, Nightsong walked to the back of class as instructed and hopped into a seat, resting his satchel on the desk in front of him. Feeling his eyes weighing down again, he pulled out a small soft wrapping. He squeezed a thick orangey substance from the wrapping onto his tongue. While he put the liquid back into his satchel, his eyes began to lighten up a bit. Being more focused now, he notices a bored looking zebra sitting next to him. “Hey. What were you guys doing in here this whole time?” Nightsong whispered softly.
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Post by Bowie on Mar 10, 2013 2:46:51 GMT -5
The zebra's eyes shot up from the half-hearted letters written on his paper. He took a quick glance at the front of the class, finding the teacher writing on the board and with her back to the students, before turning in his seat to better face the newcomer. " 'Learning' ", he then answered, speaking in a hushed voice but not losing any sarcasm in the process.
"Ms. Marker seems to think the best way for us to learn is to do the same thing over and over again. It's not good enough that we know the letter, we have to know everything about it perfectly. Upper case, lower case, how it sounds, silent variations..." The zebra let out a sigh, turning back to his paper before the teacher spotted him not paying attention. "I just want to learn how to write, not all these complicated rules."
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Post by Nightsong on Mar 14, 2013 11:35:09 GMT -5
Though the student sitting next to him had a patronizing tone in his voice, he did sound genuinely frustrated by his studies at the same time. “It’s good to know what you’re doing, but it’s also good to know why you’re doing it”. Nightsong turned back to the front of the room to see the instructor putting a bunch of markings on the bored. As the class went on, NIghtsong felt the instructor was going a mile per hour due to how she went too into detail. “Well, now that ya mention it, if my master did this type of thing, I’d be bored to death. Fortunately, she knows how to make learning interesting, especially in the martial arts.”
Some zebras upfront were half paying attention to what the instructor was teaching, while some of the ones near the back of the room slightly turned their eyes back in Nightsong’s direction. “For a unicorn, I didn’t know she’d be so against teaching about magic, or the boogeyman. It’s cool for a master to help you learn something, but they should also help you to learn something about yourself.”
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Post by Bowie on Mar 15, 2013 21:12:56 GMT -5
"She thinks that if we want to learn zebra magic we need to do it in our own tribes," the Zebra answered, glancing at Nightsong. "Which is true I guess. And they can't really teach pony magic here since none of us have those things on our heads." He tapped a hoof to his forehead for emphasis, indicating where a unicorn's horn might normally go.
Meanwhile, a chain of whispers had been started somewhere in the middle-left side of the classroom, slowly making it's way to Nightsong's location one zebra at a time. When it finally reached the zebra next to him, he was relayed the message. "They want to know your name."
Two or three of the zebras across the room were looking at Nightson curiously, obviously the ones who had started the whisper chain. Clearly they were more interested in the new pony than whatever their teacher was writing on the board.
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Post by Nightsong on Mar 16, 2013 20:05:08 GMT -5
“I thought this school was like the magic academy in Canterlot. I thought that here would be a good place to look. Guess I was wrong…“ Nightsong felt a little disappointed because of the recent turn of events. The zebra he was sitting next told him that it was also a bad place to learn about pony magic a well. “Oh, I already know about pony magic, my master is a unicorn. The cool thing is, is that even though I’m an earth pony; I can use a type of “magic” as well. The spiritual power of chi.” A few moments went by as more eyes started to focus on Nightsong, however he and the zebra he was talking to didn’t seem to notice. During the conversation, the zebra politely interrupted him. "They want to know your name."
“Huh? Who wants to know my name” Nights asked in a confused manner. He scoped out the room, noticing some zebras were looking his way. What surprised Nightsong is that he didn’t even notice anyone else talking besides him and his acquaintance. Nightsong whispered to himself “Whoa, the zebras must also have a secret telekinetic communication technique.” With this naive notion in mind, he rubbed the temples of his head with the tip of his hooves, while staring at the zebra next to him. Not ceasing his amateur psychic act, he said “My name is Nightsong, a martial artist from the Equestria and I am channeling my thoughts to you.” This confused some of the other zebras while making others silently chuckle.
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Post by Bowie on Mar 16, 2013 23:32:24 GMT -5
The zebra next to Nightsong watched as he rubbed his temples, giving him a bewildered look as he spoke. "Uh... what are you-"
"Idili! What are you two doing?!"
The zebra snapped back to facing the front of the classroom, his eyes shooting wide open. "I-I-I..." he looked over at Nightsong before looking back at his teacher. He really had no explanation for what was going on. The sight of Nightsong attempting to "psychically communicate" while directly facing him looked rather silly, and certainly not like something that should be going on in a classroom.
"We're you paying attention?"
"Y-yes Ms. Marker," he said, frantically lifting his paper into the air. "I've gotten everything on the board written down. I was-"
"Ten sentences," the unicorn commanded, again pointing with her ruler.
Idili's mouth was hanging agape, before he finally closed it with a gulp. "Yes m'am," the unicorn said, walking over to the side board with his head hung low. The eyes of the rest of the zebras followed him on his walk of shame.
"As for you," the teacher said, stepping closer to Nightsong. "When I offered you to sit in on my class, it was not an invitation for you to disrupt my students. You will either sit still, eyes forward, and remain silent or I will ask you to leave."
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Post by Nightsong on Mar 17, 2013 0:39:33 GMT -5
"As for you!" Nightsong was shocked out of his buffoonery as he saw a very angry unicorn near him with an annoyed look on her face. "When I offered you to sit in on my class, it was not an invitation for you to disrupt my students. You will either sit still, eyes forward, and remain silent or I will ask you to leave."
Completely oblivious to what happened, he saw Idili walking slowly to the board, hanging his head in shame. Nightsongs’ startled state soon turned to guilt, realizing he just got his new friend in trouble. Without hesitation, he raised his hoof in the air, saying “Wait Master, It’s my fault . If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't be up there right now.” Nightsong stood up and ran to the board, stopping Idili as he was about to touch the chalk to the board. “I’ll write the sentences in his place.” Nightsong jab his hoof at the chalk in Idili's hoof at an amazing speed, snatching it from the zebra without him noticing until a few seconds after.
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Post by Bowie on Mar 17, 2013 15:18:29 GMT -5
Idili looked worriedly at Nightsong, then at the unicorn teacher. "No, you will not," she said stubbornly. "You will leave this classroom, you will no longer disturb my students, and you will not come back again." With that, the unicorn led Nightsong to the door, slamming it shut the instant he had stepped into the hallway.
Well, that was that. It was still ten or fifteen minutes until the end of the hour, which would likely be when the class was let out. Nightsong could either wait in the hallway until then, or go and see what the rest of Neighroby had to offer. There may not have been many classes going on right now, but there was still had the rest of the settlement he had yet to explore. Surely there was something of interest going on.
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Post by Nightsong on Mar 19, 2013 0:00:26 GMT -5
Nightsong looked through the glass window on the classroom door, seeing Idili writing out the sentences on the board. Being exiled from the class, Nightsong felt helpless seeing someone take the rap for his actions. “Sorry, striped one…” he says as he walks slowly out of the school. Nightsong noticed that it was thirty till midnight, and knew that the energy gel he ate earlier wouldn’t last much longer, so he decided to find an Inn to rest for the night.
He spent around ten minutes searching Neighroby only to see closed shops and dark households. “Maybe in the morning I can shop for a souvenir.” Upon looking further through the town, he noticed a building with a sign that says “LandStrider’s Rest”. Entering the building, he noticed a counter without a keeper behind it. Nightsong assumed the keeper was taking care of business somewhere else, otherwise the inn wouldn't still be opened. So, Nightsong sat down on a couch in the lobby, resting his satchel near him. Seeing all he could do now is wait, he just reclined in the couch watching at the fire place, lit with a bright flame.
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Post by Bowie on Mar 20, 2013 0:12:15 GMT -5
Several minutes passed with no sign of any innkeeper or receptionist until finally Nightsong heard stirring from behind the counter. Apparently there was someone asleep back there! Soon, a tired-looking zebra's head had popped up from behind the counter, wearing glasses that were sitting crooked on the bridge of his nose. He had a dusty brown coat, and looked to be a young adult. The zebra gave the room a weary scan, before spotting Nightsong sitting on one of the couches.
"Oh, gosh. Sorry, sorry. I can help you if you need anything!" the zebra called, quickly adjusting his glasses and standing up straight. "Did you need a room? We've got plenty. Again, really sorry. Please don't tell the owner I was sleeping on the job. We just, uh, don't get many visitors at this hour! So I thought I might uh... heh heh."
The glasses-wearing zebra looked nervous about getting caught slacking off, but friendly and helpful none-the-less. "Oh, I almost forgot. I'm Beduni and welcome to LandStrider's Rest, the oldest inn in Neighroby. If you're looking for a place to hit the hay, we're the place you'll want to stay."
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Post by Nightsong on Mar 20, 2013 14:53:53 GMT -5
Feeling his eyes slowly closing, Nights was about ready to conk out right there on the couch. A few seconds after closing his eyes, suddenly he heard a very nervous voice call out to him. "Oh, gosh!" Nightsong's eyes shot open as he fell off of the couch onto his stomach. Sorry, sorry. I can help you if you need anything!" Opening his eyes, he saw a zebra moderately dirty looking zebra looking at him from behind the counter. "Did you need a room? We've got plenty. Again, really sorry. Please don't tell the owner I was sleeping on the job. We just, uh, don't get many visitors at this hour! So I thought I might uh... heh heh."
The zebra was speaking a thousand miles a minute before Nightsong could get a word. Wiping his eyes, Nightsong walked to the counter as if he were in a dizzy state. “Oh, uh don’t worry…I won’t tell you were sleeping on your…visitors…” Stumbling over to the counter, he shook his head to help combat his spinning head. "Oh, I almost forgot. I'm Beduni and welcome to LandStrider's Rest, the oldest inn in Neighroby. If you're looking for a place to hit the hay, we're the place you'll want to stay." Nightsong finally regained himself as he got closer to the zebra behind the counter. “Another one that rhymes.” He said under his breath. “Yeah, I want to know if I can stay here for the night.” Shuffling around in his satchel, Nightsong pulls out as many bits as his hooves could claw out, and place them on the counter. “Will this cover it?”
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