Silly Plots 4: It's not particularly silly, is it?

[bc56]

"How come I didn't get a beautiful tail?" Jade jokingly complains. She's still an ordinary human, no tail there. But she has a weird thought, just for a second. If her curse makes her more attractive, could she possibly gain a tail by spending time around people who are into tailed ladies? No, that's silly. But the tails do make Marin and Honeysuckle look a lot better. Jade feels a slight itch at the base of her spine. Not the itch of anything happening, but an itch of potential. Something could happen there. "Do you think I would look good with a tail?" She asks, "And what sort?" She kinda likes the look of the fox tails that Honeysuckle has. They're pretty.

[Recaiden]

"Marin already had a nice tail, so of course faster for her."

Honeysuckle considers Jade's silly question.
"You? Definitely." Almost everyone looks better with a tail.

"Four good kindsa tail:
- Really fluffy, like Marin and me. Of course, Honeysuckle does like her own tails the best. Cats are nice, but they're no foxes.
- The ones you can use as like a 3rd hand. Prehensile, that is to say.
- Pointy, like a scorpion.
- and ones with a big puff at the end. Like these.

"Marin'd have to help you with the color."

[5a Violista]

Marin imagines Jade with a whole bunch of different kinds of tails.
No, wait, stop! That's a cuteness overload!
She crosses her legs harder and looks away and out the window so that nobody can see her face as she bites her lip.

"Fluffy tails are the best," the catgirl admits. "But also, like, scaley tails or feathery tails can be nice, too?"
She then answers the question by listing off a whole bunch of types of tails she think would look nice: "Like, a bunny tail would be cute, y'know? Or a monkey tail. Horse and zebra tails would look good on you, too. Plus, lion tails are always cool, and the pattern on tiger tails are the best." That's just the fluffy ones. "But, also, y'know, you'd look good with a mermaid tail, I think. Or a snake tail, like a lamia, right? Or even just a big thick one like a crocodile or dragon." She mimes out a dragon tail with her hands. "But also, like I said, feathers."

Color doesn't really matter that much, she thinks, but if she had to pick she'd go with bright colors or neat patterns. Then again, having bright colors makes you stand out more, which isn't always a good thing, so, "The...the colors and patterns would probably depend on how much attention you want to draw to it. Sure, having something that stands out looks nice, but sometimes it just draws too much attention."

[bc56]

As Marin speaks, Jade listens intently. She's right. Jade would look better with a tail. "You know, I would look good as a fox girl. Or a catgirl." Jade says. The feeling of potential intensifies and solidifies. Suddenly, Jade yelps as a feline tail pops out from her rear, covered in luxurious bright green fur. Her hair too changes color, just as a pair of cat ears emerge from it. Now a catgirl, Jade surprisedly looks herself over. "What just happened?"

[Ashen Lilies]

[Questing for JUSTICE!]

To victory and justice, Harold declared, as they set off.

One wonders how the troupe of MERCs following after him feel over the course of a several hour long journey to a rather picturesque hillside setting. Nestled amidst a light scattering of woodlands against the side of the hill, a small stone fort sits, tucked away, with only a narrow dirt path leading up towards the entrance. The whole scene seems tranquil, quaint almost. The sort of thing one imagines seeing an amateur watercolour painting of, or captured eternally as a picture on a postcard.

Someone seems to have attempted to dig a moat around the fort, but either for lack of planning or perhaps a quirk of time, whatever water was in it has long since gone, leaving only a dirt trench over which a drawbridge sits, lowered.

A hastily erected sign at the base of the path bears the words "Fort Hillfort" in a rather childish scrawl.

Harold and Sir Percival halt by the sign, peering at it, and up at the fort above them. "Look, Sir Percival! A SIGN! This may be some sort of VITAL CLUE!"

The horse snorts. "Uh, yeah. Sure. Neigh. This is, uh, probably where Harold and I should wait. They're definitely in there, and we're, like, pretty sure they, neigh, have got a whole buncha relics, including Harold's. They're definitely up to no good."

"SO GO FORTH AND SMITE THEM! FOR JUSTICE!"

The fort awaits atop the little dirt path. All seems clear, the drawbridge is lowered, there's no sign of any guards about and-

Hang on a second.

There appears to be something floating at about head height above the drawbridge.

The more eagle-eyed among the MERCs may be able to make out what looks like a roughly head-sized stone cube, floating and rotating slowly above the drawbridge. Well, maybe there is a guard after all then, but it's quite a peculiar one.

[Questing for JUSTICE!]

Fayyaad stops in front of the path, hands on his hips. The journey certainly took a while, but now that they're here, they can get to work.

"So the bandits are holed up in this fort? We should decide on our approach. It's not as if we can storm the place with the three of us."

[Questing for JUSTICE!]

"We could try bluffing our way in," Wren suggests. "Say we're traveling entertainers of some sort, yes? I believe that all of us present have some kind of performing ability to lean on for a disguise."

[Recaiden]

Again, Marin likes way too many things. Mermaid tail? On Jade? Don't be ridiculous.

"Got the tail you wanted." Honeysuckle says with a laugh.
"And ears too?" There's definitely some fur on Jade's head that wasn't here before. And something about the hair is a little different? She can't really place it though.

It strikes Honeysuckle that this isn't fair. How can she possibly compete if Jade is also a cute animal girl on top of her other charms?

"I admit, didn't think the blessing was all that. But guess so..."
Hmm. Does she feel weird at all? If such dramatic changes are possible...Honeysuckle had better try to notice them!

[5a Violista]

It's true. Marin does like too many things.

Marin is the last one to notice. She was, after all, looking out the window specifically to try to not imagine Jade with a tail.

Hearing the commotion, she turns.

If Marin's homeworld ran off of more anime tropes than it already did, then she'd be getting a nosebleed right now.
Instead, her jaw just drops.
She pinches herself to make sure she's not imagining this all.
"U-uh..."
At a loss of words for a bit too long, she looks Jade up and down. Tail...waist...ears...

Marin suddenly looks away, back out the window. When they started this trip, both Honeysuckle and Jade had 1 of the 4 things Marin finds attractive. Jade now has 3 of the 4 things that Marin finds most attractive, so. Looking in that direction might not be good.
(As an aside, Honeysuckle is up to 2 out of 4, making looking in that direction doubly bad.)

But also, after her brain restarts and gets past the loading screen, Marin starts to feel a pang of guilt. What if this was her fault?
In the chance that it was her fault, then she has to take responsibility.
"U-um...maybe...it's possible that it wasn't that priest's fault?" she suggests. "Like. When I was a kid, the same thing happened to me. So. It's possible that you caught it from me."

She thinks about it more, as she stares out at the passing landscape, takes a deep breath, and adds, "Not sure how, though. It's not like we've been sharing blood or anything. But, y'know, the possibility's there, I guess. Maybe it could have been the blessing, after all."

[bc56]

Jade doesn't notice Marin's embarrassment. She's busy feeling her new tail. It's very soft and feels good to stroke. She does notice when Marin tries to take the blame. "No, it's not your fault." She tries to console Marin. "I think it's my curse. It's supposed to make me attractive. Since you both thought I would be better looking with a tail, I think it gave me one." She's actually right, but she doesn't really believe herself when she says it. It's been exposed to so much wild magic that its effects are beginning to mutate. She's developing the ability to shift her appearance so as to become more attractive to someone else, but she doesn't know it, nor did she consciously do it.

[Recaiden]

Marin is cutely embarrassed, and Jade is much more pettable than before, but those are both secondary concerns.
"Being a catgirl is contagious?"
Honeysuckle's ears droop. Just think! Where would she put another pair of them? Would she have two cat tails also!?
"Curse should just affect you, right? But Marin's a little changed also."
"And you two were together in that other pool while I went to talk to the spirit."
But then she was right by Marin while Jade went to get the medicines! So surely she'd have caught it too!
There might only be minutes left before Honeysuckle becomes a catgirl as well!

[5a Violista]

No, Honeysuckle couldn't have caught it, Marin thinks. Probably not Jade, either. She's starting to regret bringing it up: all she had to do was think a little bit and realized Jade's curse(?) or the blessing could have been it. Especially now that Honeysuckle thinks she might have caught it.
"Only contagious where I'm from," she says, "and only through blood transfusion." So that's why she now thinks it was ridiculous to have brought it up. "...and only humans and specific breeds of dogs can catch it," she asserts. So, don't worry, Honeysuckle. You don't have to find space for another two ears.

...
She hopes Honeysuckle ends up proving her right by not growing more ears or tail. That'd mean it wasn't Marin's fault, right?

[bc56]

Jade switches from stroking her tail to doing the same to her ears. Why yes, she is very pettable now. Does anyone else dare try it though?
"I wouldn't worry about it, Marin. There are worse things to be than a catgirl." Jade's tail flicks as if to emphasize that point. She's even on the verge of laughing. "Something's up. The instant I said I would look good as a catgirl, suddenly I was!" She giggles at the oddity of fate.

Of course, this also harkens back to an earlier ooc conversation in this scene, where it was decided that Jade would not make a very good catgirl. That's probably still the case, right?

[Recaiden]

"That's not how contagio- well, guess it could be in a place, if that's the place's...you know?"
Anyway, Honeysuckle isn't a human nor a specific breed of dog, so it'll all be fine.
Instead, she focuses on Jade. Something is up, since different things are happening to each of them. Jade's curse for Jade, and Marin's infectious felineness for Marin, both exacerbated by the spring? And since Honeysuckle is completely normal^TM, nothing happened to her?

They'll have to test things!
"What else would make Jade look better, Marin? Longer hair? Fuller figure? Whiskers?"

[5a Violista]

What Marin meant to say is that only the catgirls from her homeworld are contagious. Most catgirls aren't. Hopefully.

So!
Marin quickly picks up on what Honeysuckle was getting at. Largely because Marin was having the same idea, but much more extreme - wanting to see if they could change Jade into a foxgirl or a wolfgirl or something else, to test it. However, Honeysuckle's ideas are much better because it would be better to test smaller changes instead, because they seem like they'll have a much higher chance of success.

"Yeah, that is really lucky," she tells Jade, as she moves closer to Jade. "A fuller figure would be fine, but..." She falls to temptation and reaches up to rub and pet the ear. Halfway there, though, she pauses: wait. Marin wouldn't like it if someone else does this to her, so she asks permission: "May I?"
"...she's already got plenty of that. You know what would look even hotter, though?" She starts rubbing the ear (if Jade lets her), especially at the tip: "You know those cats with those really long tufts of hair at the top? Like, the fur gets longer? That would look really good here." Plus, tiger stripes would look really good, but she doesn't mention that because Honeysuckle probably wouldn't be able to see them anyway so there's no point.

[bc56]

Jade backs away when Marin tries to touch her. She doesn't like the idea much. Then again, having someone else scratch her ears would be nice, in some ways. When Marin asks, she shrugs. "Okay, I guess." Seconds later, however, she's leaning into the scratches, clearly enjoying herself. However, when she catches herself starting to purr softly, she pulls away abruptly. "Aaugh! We have to stop this!" Her ears and tail have sprouted the tufts Marin was talking about.

[Recaiden]

Seems they're all on the same page finally. No just touching peoples' ears without permission.
Honeysuckle giggles at the spectacle of Jade being so hesitant and then immediately enjoying herself. How like a cat.

The first test is positive. If the two of them agree on something to make Jade cuter, it happens! Now they need to intensify things.
"So, catgirl's not the worst thing to be - what's better?"

[5a Violista]

Marin gladly stops when Jade says so: Marin was too into it and is probably saved by having it stop now.
She goes back to where she was before.

"U-um. Yeah. We probably shouldn't take it too far," she says. She's unwilling to look directly at Jade right now; her face is burning too much. "But maybe a bigger and fluffier tail would be better. Like, y'know, a fox's." Sort-of like Honeysuckle's. Honeysuckle said that's the sort of stuff she really likes, right?

[bc56]

"Hey! Cut it out!" Jade says as her tail puffs up to become bushy and foxlike. Of course, she doesn't expect them too. And she deserves it a bit, for the fun she had at Marin's expense. And she's curious about this to. "Okay, fine. Just don't go overboard." Jade resigns herself to the fate of having herself repeatedly transformed for the rest of the train ride.

[Arkhosia]

Questing for JUSTICE!

Spoiler: Forging Onward

Show

[Questing for JUSTICE!]

To victory and justice, Harold declared, as they set off.

One wonders how the troupe of MERCs following after him feel over the course of a several hour long journey to a rather picturesque hillside setting. Nestled amidst a light scattering of woodlands against the side of the hill, a small stone fort sits, tucked away, with only a narrow dirt path leading up towards the entrance. The whole scene seems tranquil, quaint almost. The sort of thing one imagines seeing an amateur watercolour painting of, or captured eternally as a picture on a postcard.

Someone seems to have attempted to dig a moat around the fort, but either for lack of planning or perhaps a quirk of time, whatever water was in it has long since gone, leaving only a dirt trench over which a drawbridge sits, lowered.

A hastily erected sign at the base of the path bears the words "Fort Hillfort" in a rather childish scrawl.

Harold and Sir Percival halt by the sign, peering at it, and up at the fort above them. "Look, Sir Percival! A SIGN! This may be some sort of VITAL CLUE!"

The horse snorts. "Uh, yeah. Sure. Neigh. This is, uh, probably where Harold and I should wait. They're definitely in there, and we're, like, pretty sure they, neigh, have got a whole buncha relics, including Harold's. They're definitely up to no good."

"SO GO FORTH AND SMITE THEM! FOR JUSTICE!"

The fort awaits atop the little dirt path. All seems clear, the drawbridge is lowered, there's no sign of any guards about and-

Hang on a second.

There appears to be something floating at about head height above the drawbridge.

The more eagle-eyed among the MERCs may be able to make out what looks like a roughly head-sized stone cube, floating and rotating slowly above the drawbridge. Well, maybe there is a guard after all then, but it's quite a peculiar one.

[Questing for JUSTICE!]

Fayyaad stops in front of the path, hands on his hips. The journey certainly took a while, but now that they're here, they can get to work.

"So the bandits are holed up in this fort? We should decide on our approach. It's not as if we can storm the place with the three of us."

[Questing for JUSTICE!]

"We could try bluffing our way in," Wren suggests. "Say we're traveling entertainers of some sort, yes? I believe that all of us present have some kind of performing ability to lean on for a disguise."

Cantata's eyes widen a tad imperceptibly as she notices the weird floaty cube thing. She doesn't know much about magic, but she recognizes a drone when she sees one. Or what she assumes must be a drone, at least. Whistling to get the party's attention, the saboteur motions with a tilt of her head to the object, hoping that her subtlety in pointing it out will be taken as a signal to note its existence with a similar tact.

That is, hoping that it doesn't spot Harold or record audio at least. Then the attempt at subterfuge is kinda sabotaged.

[Morty]

[Questing for JUSTICE!]

Fayyaad grins.

"This might be just audacious enough to work. Although we'd need to hope these bandits are-" he pauses when Cantata points out the cube. "-perhaps we should stay out of sight for now."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Questing for JUSTICE!]

As the party discuss their options, Harold and Sir Percival sit back and listen.

"Uh, yeah, neigh, we don't really know how many there are. Other than that, like, they're human-y and it took, like, three of them to get the jump on Harold and make him...you know." Let's not go over the vomiting of holy relics in detail again, for everyone's sake. "So, neigh, I don't really know what they'll think about entertainers, but-"

Then Cantata whistles.

Harold looks up at the cube. "WHY, SIR PERCIVAL, LOOK! IT'S CUBERT!"

"...neigh, what?"

"WE MUST GO SAY HELLO AT ONCE! COME, FRIENDS, THIS WAY!" Harold declares, charging off-

No, scratch that, attempting to charge off, as Sir Percival frantically intercepts. "Harold, no! Leave this to, neigh, the people I hir- we recruited! We don't even know, neigh, if it's safe!"

"Of course it's safe, Sir Percival! Here, I'll show you!" Harold mutters (still loudly), picking up a rock and tossing it quite a hefty distance up the path. Seems he's got quite the throwing arm.

...

...

BOOOM

Hey, what do you know? Turns out the pathway up to the fort has been trapped with some rather potent explosives. This also serves to attract the attention of the cube, which slowly rotates until a green-coloured side is facing the party. It gradually hovers over to the edge of the drawbridge, but seems reluctant to go down the path. Possibly because it's apparently trapped with explosives.

[Rebonack]

[The Derricks]

Zoning out in this nightmare landscape is hard. The thick smog burns the throat and the eyes. It's like being chased by a camp fire's smoke. Except this smoke is thick, billowing black chemical fire sort of smoke. It's nauseating. If only Jade had thought to put back on her normal shoes before pursuing whatever had taken Morning this would be an issue...
Or you can give up your soft, fleshy feet. They're of no use to you here. Weakness will lead to your death. Surrender your weakness. Drink deep and descend.
Morning Glory is saying something.

Zoned out as she is, Jade may only catch the last little bit of it.

"-if you hold on tight," Morning says, blinking away tears through the stinging smoke.

A beat.

"Jade? Did you hear me? Are you okay?"

Then she stomps one hoof hard enough on the catwalk to make it vibrate.

"Jade! Stay in the here and now. Don't let this place get to you, it'll start digging through your memories if you let it."

[bc56]

Jade snaps out of it. "Are you sure?" She distinctly hears two different "voices." The one that's asking for memories is the one that seems to want to help her escape, as opposed to the one that wants her to descend.
"Do not listen to it. It wants to consume you. I want to make you whole."
"Who are you?" Jade says to thin air. There is no audible reply.
"I am you. A part once buried deep inside that now runs free. The first blessing I-you-we received released me. My-your-our actions since have strengthened me. The second blessing empowered me. Bond with me. Let us become completely one."
Jade whispers one word. "Jade?"
"Yes. Exactly."
Jade pauses, instants away from letting the memory drop. She breathes heavily and coughs on the smoke. How will Morning Glory handle this, now that her companion is clearly losing her marbles?

[Rebonack]

[The Derricks]

"Jade, listen to me. Climb onto my back and hang on tight, okay? I'm going to jump both of us across the gap," Morning Glory says.

Which...

Might seem kind of impossible.

Morning Glory, if she were standing up on her hind hooves, is maybe slightly taller than Jade is.

She is, after all, a little pony.

Something that small shouldn't be able to carry an adult human on their back, let alone leap across a gap like that while carrying someone!

But...

Morning Glory sounds pretty confident.

"Nothing you're hearing down here is real," Morning insists. "This place messes with your head. Don't listen to the voices."

[bc56]

"But... But..." Jade protests. She's still pretty distracted as she grabs onto Morning Glory.
"We could have so much more."
"One of the voices. It says it wants to help us escape. It's my voice."
"Yes. Please. With my help, you could charm your way out of this hole."

[Recaiden]

Marin gladly stops when Jade says so: Marin was too into it and is probably saved by having it stop now.
She goes back to where she was before.

"U-um. Yeah. We probably shouldn't take it too far," she says. She's unwilling to look directly at Jade right now; her face is burning too much. "But maybe a bigger and fluffier tail would be better. Like, y'know, a fox's." Sort-of like Honeysuckle's. Honeysuckle said that's the sort of stuff she really likes, right?

"Hey! Cut it out!" Jade says as her tail puffs up to become bushy and foxlike. Of course, she doesn't expect them too. And she deserves it a bit, for the fun she had at Marin's expense. And she's curious about this to. "Okay, fine. Just don't go overboard." Jade resigns herself to the fate of having herself repeatedly transformed for the rest of the train ride.

She did. And it worked perfectly!
Although Honeysuckle isn't sure she feels about making Jade more attractive. Is that insensitive to her curse? Is it going to distract Marin too much?
But she did just say it was fine.
"Ears are good with that tuft of fur, but maybe they should be longer?"
She's also running into the fact that thinking of Jade as looking good isn't coming naturally.
"Wonder how far. What if she had like, a mechanical arm?"

[5a Violista]

we should probably see if we can turn her back to normal

It is good that Jade seems to be at least accepting this. "Yeah, longer ears would be great," she says. "There's more to touch, that way." And more to nibble on, but she doesn't say that.

Then,
Marin had decided 'one more' before trying to see if they can turn her back.
In a voice possibly too quiet to be heard, she says, "Maybe now we should -"

But.
Honeysuckle's newest suggestion. Mechanical arm.
Marin swallows.
If this works, Jade would be the first person she met who checks off every single thing that Marin finds attractive.
Her heart rate jumps up in anticipation.
She's not sure whether she actually wants this to work, or if she dreads it working.
She bites her lip and looks at the ground before she can see whether a mechanical arm takes place or not. Even just a metallic one would be close enough.
"B-before we take this any farther, we should see if we can turn her back first, I think."

[bc56]

Jade's ears twitch, and then grow longer, but she's more interested in what happens to her arm. A metallic sheen spreads across its skin, but it doesn't change. She pokes it. It still feels warm and fleshy. It appears the curse can't make major changes to Jade's body structure. Jade waves her fluffy tail happily when Marin suggests turning her back. "As interesting as this," She rubs her ear to indicate, "is, I would really prefer to be a normal human." Not a green cat/fox/robot girl.

[Recaiden]

"Uh, yeah."
Oh, it did kinda sorta work. Metallic arm if not really mechanical arm. That's an interesting limit.

Carefully, Honeysuckle says "Surely Jade would be prettiest if she would just be herself." And she wouldn't tempt Marin so, which is also for the best.

[5a Violista]

Marin wants to look so badly.
Which is why she closes her eyes. If it can only make Jade change to look more attractive than she was before, then it's going to be incredibly difficult to change Jade back if Marin looks.

Okay. First, she has to imagine that the metallic arm looks as ugly as possible. The ugliest metal. Rusty, pockmarked, doesn't look good, clashes terribly with the tail, etc. That way, she can confidently think that normal-Jade is more attractive than she looks now. And then she thinks back at how Jade looked throughout this whole trip, and how hot it was.
With her eyes still closed, she leans back and confidently says, "Yeah. Normal Jade does look prettier than she does now. Definitely."

[Rebonack]

[The Derricks]

Distracted isn't great.

But!

At least Jade is hanging on!

Morning Glory takes a few steps back as Jade clings to her before charging toward the railing and LEAPING!

It is at this point that Jade will likely learn that earth ponies are, in fact, quite strong for their size. Not super strength. Not normally, at least. But still impressively and powerfully build. Even with a rider Morning manages to clear the gap!

-almost.

She comes up juuust shy and manages to grab the railing on the other side with her forelegs, causing both she and her passenger to lurch painfully. The railing gives a groan of protest and bends ominously. Hopefully Jade was holding on really tight because that jostle from the impact was pretty intense. She really really doesn't want to fall into the Bottomless pit.

"Climb up onto the platform!" Morning Glory yells over the dull roar of oil fires. "I'll climb after you."

Thankfully it's not much of a climb. MG is just hanging off the thing, dangling over certain doom. Just to offer some impetus for haste the railing groans loudly and bends again.