1st Diversion - Action

[surpriserainbows]

[Now that she's fairly well convinced that she isn't dead and this is some bizarre afterlife/her mind's death throws, Surprise has found it kind of a necessity to get busy. If she keeps from work or from doing something for too long, she inevitably begins to ponder. And just as inevitably pondering tends to force her mind to go down some dark, dark roads she's rather keep from even setting hoof on. The question for a bit had been what to do with her time. She'd already decided going back to Cloudsdale and the Weather Factory wasn't worth it, and that for the most part she wasn't sure she could take going back and seeing what it was like in this world. But something she did know was that she needed to make money. And it was a few days ago that a plan started to form.

In the square where many of the ponies have shops and fruit stands Surprise has started her own. It's a small little wooden stand, not much different from a kid making a lemonade stand, though it at least seems more sturdily built. The sign on the top of the stand, written in white paint, reads "REPAIR AND PAWN SHOP".

Anyone bothering to really look at the sign will notice in much smaller and neater letters under the main sign has been written "All sales final prices subject to change". It's not particularly reassuring, but hey at least she said it outright. Sort of.

As for the stand itself, it seems to have several very simple mechanical goods scattered on it and around it: alarm clocks, watches, a toaster or two, some of those stupid mechanical bobbing birds that drink water. Most of it was junk Surprise had found around town and managed to repair. It had, in fact, been finding and repairing it that gave her the idea to even try this.

As for Surprise herself, she's wearing an incredibly loud purple suit and tophat. She isn't exactly the best salesman, however, as her plan to draw attention seems to just be pointing at random ponies passing by on the street and shouting.

Right now she seems to be trying to pass off one of the many, many little mechanical drinking birds she has.]

Hey, you know what you need? You need this little guy right here! Wow, just look at him go! I mean, I guess you could see him drinking water if I actually had a glass of water, but if I did oh man he'd be drinking that water so much it'd be crazy!

...Okay, so you don't like the one little mechanical bird. Okay, okay! How about....

Two mechanical birds! Wow! Can you believe how crazy it's getting here?

[Her sales pitch could use a bit of help.]

Comments

[tinkertytonk]

Oh, you're a factory girl, are you? Jolly good, that. I don't suppose there's a pony by the name of Rosie M. Little, née Banks? She writes all sorts of stories about such f.g.s tossing their hair boldly and taking up with the owner's son to overcome. Not my particular interest for a good read, but I understand it's very good if you enjoy that sort of thing.

[surpriserainbows]

[Man, what are you even talking about? Anyone tried to sass the factory workers where she had been, they'd get thrown into the machine themselves. The idea of "taking it up" with the owners is surprising to her.]

Really? Like, these factory girls wouldn't get punished for sassing the owners or nothing?

[tinkertytonk]

[He muses for a moment as he places birds back on the table.]

Well, I mean, I think a few of them come close to being given their marching orders, but a fine girl with wit and not a little bravery to stand up for her fellows can melt the heart of any stallion of high standing.

It's all a bit soppy, but the principle of the thing is sound.

[surpriserainbows]

[That kind of all sounds like nonsense to her. She eyes Bertie oddly, as if he's a madman, as she speaks.]

Like, I dunno man. Anyone tried to do that here, I don't think they'd be walking much of anywhere.

[tinkertytonk]

[Surprise is not the first to eye him as if he's a madman. In fact, it's a not insignificant portion of the looks cast in a his direction.]

Really? Seems you beazels have got matters locked down here, though. Princesses at the top of the order, and heroines dashing around every corner. I'd think tossing your hair with eyes flashing would be a fairly standard practice to sort things out before moving onto something emphasizing athletics over aesthetics, what?

[surpriserainbows]

[She has to think that over a moment. In part, it's just to keep up with and make sure she's hearing Bertie right. She's a clever pony, but Bertie's way of speaking is strange to her and it takes her a moment to parse all of it.

It doesn't help that she keeps forgetting this isn't her Equestria. It looks like it so much, but deep down? It isn't at all.]

...Look man, there's being a hero and then there's being a working pony. Maybe you can be one but you can't be both. Courage isn't something every pony has, even if they're the ones who ought to have and need courage the most. You understand what I'm saying?

[tinkertytonk]

[He really has no idea what she's saying.]

Well, there are certainly some divisions in the filly ranks I'm aware of, old girl: dashers and dormice being the most prominent, but I don't see what working's got to do with having a splash of courage to paint the heart.

It's the sort of thing that starts in all of us, isn't it? Lady or gentlecolt. Bit hard to spot sometimes when the days are dim, but it just takes the right circs and chums you're fighting for to bring it out!

[surpriserainbows]

[Because sometimes things are better off if you don't have courage. Are so much easier if you keep your mouth shut and just do what you're told. And she's managed to lead the conversation to a place she's no longer comfortable discussing.

Darn it. How does she keep doing this.]

Yeah. Well. Sometimes courage don't account for nothing.

Look man. Sometimes things just aren't as nice as they look. Just keep that in mind here, okay?

[Because even if it isn't her world?

She still isn't ready to admit it's entirely a fine place, either. She hasn't seen enough to decide that yet.]

[tinkertytonk]

[Bertie's not in a position to argue on the 'looks can be deceiving' front. Many's the fatally beautiful profile that's stopped a chap's heart only for said chap to discover he's just landed himself with a well-dressed shark.

On the first point, though...]

Courage can account for everything when it matters most! Er... at least where family isn't involved. Or guns. Or a fist. Well, all I'm saying is that there are times when you can stand with a spine of steel, lift your chin, and sneer derisively at blaggards. Those are the moments courage sets stallion or mare apart.

Very good for building up one's character, as well, I'm given to understand.

[surpriserainbows]

Well, there are other things that build up character too you know? You don't need courage. You can have...can have...

[She waves a hoof in the air in an absent-minded manner, trying to think of some kind of virtue she can extol.]

A sense of duty! Or responsibility! Or meek subservience!

You don't...you don't need courage to have character!

[She laughs weakly, as if trying to hide how awkward this has become. How, deep down, she's ashamed of her own cowardice on a matter no one here could really know.]

[tinkertytonk]

Well, that's true enough. My chum Gussie's positively overflowing with character, and he's a newt-fancier. Still, it's a solid way to go about building the old c., a bit of vim and vigor. And there's nothing to say you can't have more than one character-building exercise at a time, what?

I can get behind duty and responsibility - king and country, you know? - but I'm not so very sure I understand what you're getting at with meek subservience, Ms. Surprise. Does that really build character?

[surpriserainbows]

It...well....it goes back to king and country!

[Our queen and country, in her case she supposes.]

You don't want to be getting in your king's face, right? Who would ever want to do that? Or why! It's much safer to just agree with everything they say, no matter how crazy or malicious or destructive it might sound!

I mean, right?

[She is trying, really hard, to sound sincere about that. In part, she is sincere about it, if only just as a means to stop the possibility of being accused of spreading any kind of falsehood or lies about Celestia.

Even though she realizes she doesn't need to worry about repercussions on that end here, she does it anyway.]</small.

[tinkertytonk]

[Bertie doesn't think that's really how the knights of old went about it when seated at the Round Table with King Arthur, but Surprise seems just a little desperate.]

Oh, of course! Hah! I'm a bit thick sometimes, you understand. Mentally negligible and all that. You seem to have got a handle on building up your character whichever way you choose, old girl.

[surpriserainbows]

...Yeah man. I've got...I've got all kinds of character.

Where are you from anyway? I don't think I've ever heard any pony talk like you.

[tinkertytonk]

Oh, I'm not a pony. Well, I mean I am pony at the moment, but not usually. I'm a human. There's a country called England on my world.

Ms. Flare Star said the closest she'd heard to my accent was in... Trottingham? Which sounds rather like Nottingham. That's a city north of where I'm from in London.

[He doesn't want to be rude, even though he knows nothing of Equestrian geography.]

And where might you be from, Ms. Surprise?

[surpriserainbows]

Huh. I never met any pony from Trottingham. I guess that could be right.

[The human thing flies over her head. All she could gather from earlier conversations was that humans were weird, hairless monkeys, though she suspects it'd be rude to keep asking about that.]

Oh. Uh. I'm from Cloudsdale! It's where we're from! Uh, where most of the pegasi in the region are from, I mean. Like, look over there...

[And she'll point a hoof at one of the larger arrays of clouds in the sky.]

You see it? You see those clouds over there? Look hard enough, you'll probably see some of the buildings on the outskirts of the city, or maybe the top of the Weather Factory.

[tinkertytonk]

Is that the factory where you work, then? Or... worked?

[surpriserainbows]

...Yeah. That's the place, man.

[She just looks up at it, amazed a little with how small it looks from down here. How far in the distance it seems, when it had been the one place she'd known intimately to any degree. It seems so foreign, almost.

She can't help but just stare at it. She isn't grimacing, not exactly, but the look on her face isn't really fond. More pondering.]

[tinkertytonk]

[Bertie looks from Surprise to the distant factory and back again. When he speaks again, his voice is gentle.]

Not the happiest memories made there?

[surpriserainbows]

Huh?

[Surprise looks back at Bertie in shock, having managed to forget the pony she had been speaking with for a brief moment.]

Oh no! No!

[Surprise puts on a smile, obviously forced, but trying her best to make it work. Even if there's no reason to hide her hatred of the factory.]

It's great, you know? I mean, why would I work there for so long if I didn't like it?

I just....miss it...

[That's painful to say. Partially because it is, in fact, true. She may hate the place, but it was where she spent most of her life working.]

[tinkertytonk]

[Bertie's credulity comes back full force at the mention of missing the factory. He offers a sympathetic nod.]

Ah, well, chin up, Ms. Surprise! I'm sure this stand of yours will be positively overflowing with bits enough to drown a five-piece band before you can say 'Robert's your father's brother!'

Is that what you're saving up for? A trip back to Cloudsdale?

[He tilts his head as he considers this.]

What did you do at the factory? Must have been a jolly good time if you're missing it. I've never missed any work in my life.

[surpriserainbows]

[Surprise pauses. And then just laughs a little.]

You know what man? You're alright.

...Naw man. If I really wanted to go to Cloudsdale I could just fly there. It's what the wings are for, you know?

[She wriggles her wings a little bit, as if she needed to demonstrate the fact she had them.]

It just wouldn't be mine. Maybe it's best if I don't go.

....Yeah. I never missed a day either.

[Another pause.]

...I worked with the rainbows.

[tinkertytonk]

[Bertie's mouth forms a small 'O' of surprise.]

You worked with rainbows? Oh, I say! That is to say: I say, Ms. Surprise! That sounds like the absolute tops. Were you making them? Or testing them? How would you test a rainbow? Well... chuck a pot of gold somewhere and see if it follows, I suppose. But aren't they supposed to be made by leprechauns? Do leprechauns? Smallish coves with shamrocks on their hats. Do they work at the factory, too? Are they pony-esque in proportions?

[The rest off her commentary catches up with him, and his rambling trails off.]

What do you mean it's not yours, Ms. Surprise? Are you like Ms. Flare Star? Princess Luna said she might be from a different Equestria.

[surpriserainbows]

[Surprise is just...trying to follow along with this verbal torrent that means nearly nothing to her. Pots of gold? What? Leprechauns? What?

She just smiles awkwardly a bit more, trying to find a time to speak.]

I...uh. I was the engineer for the machine that we used to grind up pigments and spray the rainbow! It was, you know...

[Horrific.]

Rough work.

Don't know about any lepercans. I'm...not really sure what those are, okay!? I'm pretty sure I haven't seen any.

...Yeah. This isn't my Equestria. This one is a lot....it's a lot quieter, you know!

[tinkertytonk]

[He doesn't particularly know anything, unfortunately, and his world is just about as idyllic as this one. Sorry, Surprise. He nods appreciatively at Surprise's title, though.]

An engineer? That certainly does sound like the stuff to bend the back in honest toil. It's a shame, though. About the leprechauns, I mean. Not that ponies making rainbows themselves isn't the cat's pajamas, but I think you'd like them, Ms. Surprise. They wear all green and sometimes have top hats and tails like you've got. Or bowlers hats if they're feeling a bit more feudal on a given day. Nightmare Moonishly tricky blighters, every last one of them. They collect pots of gold and hide them at the ends of rainbows. If you manage to route one out and trick him into telling you just where the rainbow ends, you'll be set for life on the oof.

Sorry you've gotten picked up out of your world, too. That's dreadful luck. You wouldn't have any ideas how it might have happened?