2472/The path of Kirikirafantastica

The path of Kirikirafantastica
Date of Scene:	15 April 2025
Location:	Plot Room 5
Synopsis:	Hinoiri takes Amy and Mamoru into Kirakirafantastica to get supplies to make wedding cake! And to see the world of ponies! It's a wild adventure of fun, excitement, and fast food... also, pawn shops.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara, Mamoru Chiba, Amanda Faust

---

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara was waiting by a platform on which a unicorn statue stood. They were on the school grounds, in one of the lesser used gardens. Why did this school have so many?

Hinoiri was waiting, leaning against it, arms crossed, for the two who'd be coming with her to go collect things from that other world. There had been a few rules, of course. NEVER tell anyone about the portal who didn't already know. DON'T cause a scene. Most importantly? Do NOT go through without her. There was a whole castle and whatnot and the last thing she wanted was for anyone to find out about her little visits... and get banished again. More severely.

Of course, once they arrived, she'd motion for them to follow her through a portal on the back of the platform... And then, well. She'd give them a few moments after stepping through the portal to regather themselves and identify how their new bodies worked. She, meanwhile? Unicorn, as one would likely suspect.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
So, Mamoru is apparently a dark blue unicorn with a two-tone black and red mane and tail, a quartered golden circle on his flanks.

...it takes him a second to right himself after doing a faceplant on his way through the portal, and with his hooves on the ground, he gets a really startled look. "It's like I'm on the moon, or-- in Sharon-san's snow dimension," he tells Amy: the very first thing he reacts to is the feel of the ground instead of the fact that he's never felt this wobbly, uninjured, in his life.

Then he says experimentally, as his stance steadies, "Buck." Then he frowns and says with more emphasis, "Buck." And he just starts laughing. "I wanted to check! Sorry. Is it impolite here?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is excited. They're gonna go see a magical world!

    Okay, yes, she got to do that once before, but Chanteur was like, a memory bubble projected by Sharon of the castle and its environs, and not functionally a whole world. And the memory bubble of the Moon and Golden Kingdoms were also memories, of human worlds. Mermaid places are pretty cool but she's always had to fight or stick to inside a building, and like, they're underwater half-humans and anyway that AND this can both be neat and exciting!

    She nods at the rules, and watches, mouth agape, in astonishment as Hinoiri reveals the portal was right on Radiant Heart grounds the entire time. And then she smiles in excitement at the others and walks through with them

    Amy starts to look around at the colorful (land? Inside of a castle?) but then walking feels slightly off. She tilts forward and starts to fall and puts her hands out to catch herself and they do and she subconsciously expects to feel like she's awkwardly on all fours with her butt kind of in the air but that's not what her kinesthetic sense is reporting also she's standing on fingers and toes--

    The others see a teenage mare with a cream-colored coat, red mane and hair, a cartoon rocket cutie-mark -- it's aimed diagonally up and forwards, white with a red nosecone and fins and white and stylized flames shooting out the back -- and...

    A horn jutting out of her forehead.

    She looks at the others, wide-eyed. "The moon?" she echoes. "Oh, because you're away from earth. So I look like that too?! How does..." she looks intensely thoughtful, "I'm gokking ooweesh a mushzoo, how--" She stops, and shakes her head, and tries not to think about it. She smiles at Mamoru, "Yeah, zhish i-- this is bucking wild! ...Bucking. Ohh that's weird too." She experimentally lifts one hoof at a time off the ground, rocks back and forth. "I feel like I'm walking on my fingers and toes..."

    She looks at Hinoiri, sort of half-bouncing from side to side as she shifts weight between her hindlegs but keeps both forehooves on the ground, "What do I look like? Is there a mirror? Do you have a mirror spell? Or a... selfie spell? Wait, where's my phone..."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinks a few times, giving Mamoru a confused look. "Wanted to check what? If you could say buck? Yeah, I, admittedly, probably say it more than I should. Fuck won't really work here, since most the people wouldn't even know what it means... Wait, is that what you were trying to say? Why are you laughing?" Hinoiri asked... completely bewildered and unaware she just walked into his trap.

She then motioned behind Amy... to the mirror they'd come through. "Magic mirror. It's active for now and probably a few more hours yet, but then it'll close and who knows how long until it opens again?"

She... didn't... quite... yet. But she was getting there. It was getting more accurate, at least. Both of them were unicorns, neat. "And yeah, you'll get used to it... try not to think about picking things up with your hooves, though. It drives most people nuts." She then glanced around. Storage room still, neat. "I'll call you guys up in a minute, just be careful, gonna check the coast."

She then trotted up the stairs, peering aorund and... day time. Okay. Easy enough. "Okay, you two, come on up! So, try not to draw too much attention..."

Getting out of the building, at least, wasn't too hard... and sneaking along the grounds was a bit.... exciting. They'd likely see some guards, and some large stainedglass windows of what looked like the world's most massive alicorn...

But Hinoiri obviously knew the area well, and was able to sneak them out towards the city proper through a secret passage through the wall.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"... got you to say 'fuck' like I'm in third grade," Mamoru hoof-guns Hinoiri with zero maturity whatsoever, and then says "Sorry," somewhat sheepishly. But he peers around Amy to see the mirror, and his eyes widen. "I *love* mirror portals," he says, eyes wide. A beat. "I mean. This is my first real one, but when I was a kid I always used to imagine I could just step through to another world..."

But then Hinoiri leaves and Mamoru waits quietly until she calls them up, and then he sneaks along noiselessly with them across the grounds and out of the palace. And the whole way, Mamoru is absolutely fascinated by the fact that as long as he doesn't think about it he feels normal.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Fortunately, Amy turns to look at the mirror before she can centipede's dilemma herself thinking about how to manage that motion. A colorful equine fairy creature looks back at her, imitating her movements, kind of like when she downloaded one of those facetracker apps just to see and one of the models was furry.

    It's strange how looking in the mirror and seeing something else and then feeling her brain recognize a girl, a doll, or a pony as her reflection is becoming a familiar experience.

    Also she happens to sneeze at just that moment, "Ah-shew! ...Oh gods, that was adorable..." She blushes a little, and then resumes staring at the mirror in fascination, slowly walking towards it and raising a hoof to touch-- which she yanks back as she remembers it's a portal and not a touchable surface. That's right, it's a temporary portal... if things went wrong, she could end up stuck here, like this, and how would she feel about that?

    That's what Hinoiri's been dealing with all this time, huh...? Amy thinks to herself, and then she stares at the hoof in fascination. "Oh, that is fucking weird..." she waves it around a little, "Wait, I can pick things up with this how? Like a powerpuff girl?"

    She starts to turn her head the way Hinoiri went, then abruptly whips her head back to stare at the mirror. "I'm a unicorn?!" her voice squeaks as she says the word, raising her right forehoof to awkwardly, lightly tap it.

    And then Hinoiri's back and saying the coast is clear. Amy follows, trying not to think about how she's walking and sometimes stopping and slowing way down when she does think about it. Heart pounding a bit as it becomes clear they have to sneak past guards. If they get detained will they get stuck here?!

    When they aren't around guards she breathes a sigh of relief. "I feel you, about the mirror portals." She smiles. "I've loved transformation stories since I was a kid, so. Mood."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"Remind me to introduce you to Blue sometime, he's all about mirror portals," Hinoiri said with a small grin. She did NOT comment on the 'fuck' thing. Nope. She was NOT touching that.

Admittedly... watching Amy staring at herself reminded her a bit of how it felt when she went through the mirror and had fingers and toes.

"Okay, so, here we go," Hinoiri said proudly when they stepped out from the secret tunnel in the wall, the stones sliding back into place as they trotted towards the rather large 'city'.

Sure, it was nothing compared to Tokyo, but there was a walled castle and a lot of buildings. And it all overlooked a massive forest, valleys, a smaller village down below...

"There's some good bakery supply stores nearby, we'll hit there after the pawn shop," she said before her horn glowed and...

Then some saddlebags fell onto the two. "Here, this'll make carrying things easier. You can both probably do basic telekinesis, but... it might ake a biiiiit of getting used to. I'll help you figure it out as we go." She headed into the town and...

There were SO MANY colorful ponies. Some with wings, some with horns, some with neither. Even a few griffons, a dragon, it seemed like a pretty nice, if magical, day.

There was even a street performer, a blue unicorn doing what looked like magic tricks.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Yep! Mamoru will never mention it again. He tosses his head and there are literally bokeh lights and sparkles framing his face for a second, which means he won't be doing that again either.

Unless he's here again, and Usagi is also here. Then he'd do it again.

"Yeah. Escapism for me, haha," he says to Amy.

Eventually they're out on the street and Mamoru keeps his mouth shut because he doesn't know if he has an Earth accent or something, but he watches the other ponies carefully to see how they're doing things, and-- they're just doing them, so Mamoru accepts this and just does things too. Like get the saddlebags adjusted. Sotto voce, he's all like, "Telekinesis is a basic ability here?? That makes sense but damn. Or is it a unicorn thing?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The stones actually slide back into place like it's a movie. "Are there counterweights in the walls, or is it magic...?" she wonders, trying to turn and look back and finally tripping and falling. "Oof! I'm okay, I think." Okay, stand up from lying on your side. She's seen cats do this before. It can't be hard. Turn the legs on one side-- no, she can't get a good angle. Wait, pull the opposite legs up, then she can-- no, that doesn't help either.

    "Uhh," Amy lifts her head and shoulders and tries to turn to the others, "Little help?" Then looks down at the position she's in, having instinctively gotten her forehooves under her the moment she stopped overthinking it. Which gives her the leverage to get her hindlegs under her, "Neeeever miiind!" she sing-songs, but then smiles as she trots after the others, looking exceedingly pleased with herself. "Look! I stood up on my own!"

    And then she realizes what she just said and giggles. "Things babies would say if they could talk..."

    They have a walk to a fantasy city in the distance! Amy's focus goes back and forth between looking around at the world and the distant city, and thinking about moving. Which slows her down a bit, so after getting moderately comfortable with walking and trotting she tries to accelerate, bounding more like a squirrel or cat or something until she catches up.

    "You really do live in a fantasy world..." Amy breathes in astonishment at the view just outside the city, then realizes what she said. "I mean... You know what I mean. Do you have any fiction genres that describe worlds that look like ours?"

    And then she's handed-- err... saddlebags are levitated to her and she stares at Hinoiri and her jaw drops even more on being told 'you can probably do telekinesis' so nonchalantly. "WHAT?!"

    And then she lowers her voice, lest she attract undue attention... so she follows Hinoiri, and tries to think about how to do telekinesis(?!?!?!?!) but it seems like every moment there's something new to see:

    Ponies with WINGS?! FLYING?! A griffon?! A dragon?! A unicorn doing a magic show and she has to wonder what passes for stage magic in a world where everyone has no hands to perform slights with but telekinesis is common, and stops to watch for a couple of seconds before realizing she's falling behind and hurrying to catch up.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara couldn't help but smile as Mamoru works. He was a calm one, at least. Amy, on the other hand? Oh, watching her was a thing of beauty, in a way. She almost wanted to use summon lesser popcorn to nibble on while she watched the girl. And she sat down to give the girl a hoof applause when she stood on her own. Just for a second. But oh my gosh it was like watching a newborn foal. It was, oddly, endearing.

However, when Amy asked? "Oh, yeah. Humans were just a myth as far as any of us knew. We have like, monkeys, and even some sentient primate species. But humans, as a whole? And a whole world of them? That is the thing of myths and legends."

"And right, I should clarify. All unicorns, well. Most unicorns can do telekinesis. Then they often have a second magic that is focused on what their talent is. My talent happened to be magic itself, so I can, in theory, do any magic. I wasn't the greatest mage since..." She paused and then sighed. "Right, you wouldn't know the name anyway. A legendary mage of our world."

She stopped outside of a small shop before pulling out the things she'd been given by Setsuna to pawn... "I'll be back in a minute. You can come in... but do not touch anyhting, okay? Half of this stuff is magic and the last thing we need is one of you going bald."

It wasa pawn shop.... except it was full of wands, jewelry, all manner of strange, weird looking trinkets...

Amanda Faust has posed:
(Oh right, sool jim. Uhhh...)

    Amy's soul gem hasn't vanished, of course, although it obviously can't be a ring here (maybe on the horn?) It's manifested set into the front of a choker intead.

    "Wait, you have MYTHICAL HUMANS?!" Amy squeaks in excitement when she learns that's a thing. "What do they say about us?! What cool mythological powers do we have? Are we, like, cryptids or fae tricksters or a good omen or an ill omen or like helpful house spirits, or what?"

    When Hinoiri says they are going inside a magic shop she is grinning as her jaw drops again-- and then shuts at the threat of going bald. "Right. I mean, I knew not to touch anything," she says, not entirely convincingly, "That's how a lot of those stories start, after all."

    Once inside she absolutely looks closely at -- but does not touch -- any potions or suspicious magic clothing/accessory items or mirrors or masks or really anything that looks like it might, indeed, contain transformation magic.

    What's weird is that she somehow has a sense about this and will naturally gravitate towards something that does, if extant.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's like a mantra. 'Don't think about it.' So does Mamoru avoid Centipede-san.

But he's clearly enjoying himself, the change of perspective, the change in senses and motion; he can think about the differences as long as he doesn't involve an analysis of the mechanics. He looks behind and waits for Amy to catch up, smiling, and then continues to walk after Hinoiri, gaze lingering surreptitiously on the closest griffin without being so rude as to stare.

"I guess I feel bad for unicorns that are bad at telekinesis, then," the prince winces-- and then he stomps a foot, tossing his mane again and flicking his tail at Amy. "Shh, not so loud with the squeaking! We're trying to be subtle," he whispers, worried, and then follows Hinoiri into the shop.

He sees things he is really tempted to touch. Like a beautiful gold compass that probably does something terrifying like put you on a boat in the ocean somewhere. But it's so pretty and it's proof this world has magnetic poles, which he can't tell which is also fascinating--

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod to Amy, before.... putting the things on the counter. There was going to be a bit of debate between the two, a heated negotiation... before the pony nodded, and disappeared towards the back.

Hinoiri then glanced back to Amy. "Honestly? It really depends. A lot of our stories are more akin to your older legends. Humans being beings of great power, fighting off gods, or having phenomenal magic. Frankly, they likely have more in line with the magical world we fight in than the world you're more used to. Things like cell phones were never even imagined."

Fortunately, the objects themselves... well, the ones out in the open, were not so dangerous. Some could turn your hair neon, or file your horn, or paint your nails. The compass, for example? Had a simple 'S.O.S.' spell on it to call for help.

Neither of which should be touched... Unless they desire to send off a magical flare or have new hair. Though the flare WOULD be hilarious in a shop.

But there were some things in a glass case, for example, a black amulet with an alicorn motif and a big, red gem...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It's not even magical. She can just subconsciously pick up on subtle cues, even ones unknowingly placed there by mages who, after all, think kinda like humans, and make things for a purpose.

    She does not feel mysteriously drawn towards anything in particular, though she does look over all the item types previously mentioned.

    "That's really interesting. I wonder if maybe we did travel between the worlds, before... well, before the current era?"

    Amy watches how the others use telekinesis with interest, and tries to imitate it with the saddlebags. It's weird -- it's magic, but also it simultaneously feels more natural than her actual magic and not at all, perhaps due to whatever effect is letting her handle this body instinctively. Her magic aura is the same ruby red as her soul gem.

    And now that she's poking at her magic she seems to have managed to pull her phone and a stylus from her pockets, wherever they went, to the saddlebags, and is struggling to work out telekines-ing multiple objects at once; she ends up levitating the phone and taking pictures by holding the stylus in her mouth and poking at it, until she gets sick of that and grabs the phone in a hoof so she can try moving the stylus telekinetically.

    It's kind of awkward, she's having trouble managing to control the angle and position of the stylus with fluidity at the same time; Either she's holding it nigh-perpendicular to the phone but clumsily jabbing with it not unlike how she was with her mouth earlier, or she presses the tip with precision but the stylus kind of flops as if she were holding it by the tip.

    Eventually she stops and stares at her hoof and the phone in shock, the stylus dropping to the floor. "How am I doing that?!" And of course now that she thinks about it the phone slips from her hoof too. Fortunately it's in a good protective case and is completely unharmed.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The second after Hinoiri tells Amy about the KKF legends, Mamoru's gaze goes from the thing in the glass case to Hinoiri, and he shuffles over to nudge her and then point a hoof at it. "That looks like the kind of thing Riv-kun would love to get his hands on." And then he points a hoof at the compass. "What does that do? It's really pretty."

And then Amy's struggling with her phone and stylus, and one corner of Mamoru's mouth turns up. "Don't think about it so hard," he whispers to her, "Close your eyes if you have to, that sometimes helps with fixing your proprioception and unfamiliar haptic feedback in place."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a small shrug. "Possibly. I mean, Sovereign Sora always did tell me that, like... the portal led to an incredibly dangerous world, one I must never, ever go to," Sora mumbled as she looked over the objects. "... I wonder if that's why I decided to go there. I wanted her to come after me... no, I definitely did. But she didn't. Never even asked me to come back. So... yeah. Pretty clear how she felt."

"... Maybe Sora came back in your world centuries ago and helped with something, who knows? I suppose it could be worse, though. I could have come over to your world as one of those mascots. Imagine a mascot me running about, I'd have probably had to find a way to give one of you magic girls magic and... yeah. THAT would have been rough."

She looked to the amulet when Mamoru pointed it out and... "Huh. Surprised they're displaying something like that. Gotta give them points for representation, at least. I think it's just a fake, though. Probably some collector's item." She then looked to the compass. "Emergency call compass. Neat."

Then she glanced to amy and cringed when she saw the phone, "Put that away," she hissed. "First of all that tech doesn't exist here, second of all it's going to end up fried if you fiddle with it too much. The magic and rules of both our worlds are different, you can't just bring one thing into another and expect it to fully work properly."

And that, at least, was true. As the pictures taken were... definitely distorted and wild... as was the image on her screen.

It was then the shopkeeper returned with a back of bits which Hinoiri took quickly, before nodding and *scrambling* to get them out of the shop before an incident was caused.

She was, admittedly, probably over reacting.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Close her eyes? "But I'm trying to use my--" She takes a breath, and closes her eyes, focusing on breathing, on the feel of slight air currents on her fur (fur?!) and on the feel of her hooves in contact with the floor. "Wait, when did you have to-- was Endymion's body that different? Or was this when you were a doll?" After a few seconds, she remembers and thinks-- Disguise pen? "Oh." is all she says out loud.

    And then her tail flicks while she's focusing on her body and her eyes snap open "I have a tail?!" and she tries to look behind her and circles a few times like a dog slowly chasing her tail before realizing it's fruitless.

    With the shopkeeper back, she steps around the phone and crouches so her body covers what she's fiddling with as she puts the phone and stylus away and slips them into her saddlebag and then back to... wherever her stuff goes.

    Of course, she completely forgets that her horn's aura shows she's obviously handling something she doesn't want them to see, which is probably a little odd, but whatever, the danger is hopefully past.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru squints sidelong at Hinoiri, who looks like the sun compared to his night-like colors-- an interesting dichotomy, the back of his head observes as he's engaging consciously with someone's major hangups, projection, and assumptions. He's about to say something, but there are other things going on, he can wait.

He watches Hinoiri hiss-whisper at Amy, then looks back at the two things he'd indicated, and you know, "I kind of want to buy the compass, rip," he murmurs.

Then the dark-blue unicorn shakes his head, his fluffy mane traveling with it, and he says quietly, "Sometimes I have to remember how to have a body." But he sounds really cheerful about it--

Then the shopkeeper returns and Mamoru finds himself being bundled out of the store, and he doesn't protest even though he didn't get that compass. "Sorry," he offers to Hinoiri. And still quiet, "Also, I want to talk to you about Sovereign Sora later, if I can? A serious conversation. And if it turns out it's something you don't want to talk about, I won't take it personally at all, it's your business."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara took a slow, deep breath once they were outside. She then nodded to Mamoru. "I'll.... I'll see about getting you the compass later, okay? I'll just need to make sure it won't like... explode, or turn into a feral monster, or sound like a high pitched siren unless you dip it in lemon juice when it goes through the portal."

She then looked to Amy and... despite herself... she smiled. "And yes, you do have a tail. It's a very nice tail." then, once again, back to Mamoru. "Honestly? I do the same, but it's mostly like... the fingers and toes. Having a body is normal for me. Those? Soooo weird still."

The shopkeeper watched them vacate, cocking an eye, before shrugging. Nothing seemed amiss, and hardly the first weirdo he had come in.

Hinoiri then started walking, sliding the pouch of bits into her saddlebags. "What did you want to talk about? We have to walk a bit, so you can go ahead and ask. I'll... try to answer. But I can't guarantee a 'Hinoiri spills all' expose."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's ears do turn curiously at that comment about remembering how to have a body, but then she's vulnerable to compliments from people she cares about as ever, blushing, "Really?" she does not mind having a nice tail at all!

    But then they're being hurried out of the store and she has to focus on not focusing on walking, with mixed success -- she manages to not fall over, at least.

    As they start walking along, she wonders, "Hey um, while we're here... any chance we could try local cuisine? I gotta know what foods humans can't normally eat taste like. Like those hay fries you mentioned."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oh you don't have to, if you're not even supposed to be here-- you're already doing me such a huge favor getting ingredients from here. I mean, it's for the wedding, right?" he grins.

There's a 'hmm' from the prince as he looks back and forth between Hinoiri and Amy, and then settles on Hinoiri again. "It's questions that are like... did she encourage you to ask questions or did she get impatient or unpleasant about them? Did she, um, did you KNOW you ran away to the portal? I mean... she didn't destroy it..." His head's tilted, there's a little furrow on his forehead, he's not quite frowning -- it's a thinking face.

Then he glances to Amy again and BLINKS. "Wait, there's special pony fast food?" He immediately gets huge shimmery eyes and turns them on Hinoiri like the most ridiculous case of tactical cuteness. "Pleeeease?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked a few times and nodded to Amy. Yup. Cute tail. Note to self, if Mamoru is getting the compass, get Amy a self-brushing brush later. "And it's fine. I'm not banished from the city, just home. Err, the castle."

She took a slow, deep breath when THOSE questions were asked. "Yeah... she... really didn't. I mean... at once point, she did. I think. I... thought she did. But the last few years I was here she... really didn't anymore. I think she was tired of me. I probably agitated her a lot. But... yeah. She knew I went through the portal. I mean... I kind of... uhhhhh... it was... guarded... then... I kind of... err. The guards... well... trust me. THEY knew I went through it. And likely had the concussions to prove it. It used to be in the castle proper... now? It's in storage. So I think that speaks for itself. Notice it isn't very well guarded at all anymore." The grounds were decently, but not the mirror. "And I'm not really worth destroying a priceless, ancient artifact over. That thing is hundreds, if not thousands of years old."

And then? Then Mamoru did the face. Hinoiri urked, going rigid. "I... that... it... OKAY! Okay, fine! We'll get Hayburger! Okay? Just put that away. But only AFTER we're done shopping, geez! Is that the face I make when I'm a pony in your world?!" No wonder, my gosh!

A pair of ponies with their foal nearby snickered. They didn't hear all of it, but they could understand 'Okay, we'll get hayburger! Just put that away!'

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Oh I'm not banished from the city. "Wait, what?! I thought you were banished from the world," Amy realizes she's getting a bit loud and lowers her voice, "...and that's why you had to leave."

    She smiles at Hinoiri hopefully when Mamoru is also excited about food, and then-- "Yess!" She kind of half-hops on her front hooves a little since she can't pump a fist in victory. Although immediately she has more questions, "Hay burger?! How does that work? Oh right, another world..."

    Amy blinks. "Man, this whole trip has been... like, between dealing with the bodies and hearing about a whole other world there are just always more questions and then the next thing and I think I get how Emi feels whenever she asks us stuff about magic now."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I think I shot myself in the foot with Emi by being Too Much, and also a troll," Mamoru says a little mopily even though Emi literally called him for help. "She's a cool person with cool powers and a really good heart and an endearing chip on her shoulder and commendable committment to the bit. So I'm really happy she's got you two, and everyone else who's been gathering around her. She deserves every happiness."

He pauses, then asks in a smaller voice, "Is it rude to say 'commitment to the bit' here?"

But they're walking! They're walking along the street, and -- Mamoru's eyes gleam. "Yes, I could feel my face doing the thing you do. It's gratifying that on some world it works for me too. HAYBURGER!!" He doesn't notice being snickered at, but wouldn't change his behavior if he did.

"--but yeah uh actually-- don't you think she was making it easier for you to sneak back without anyone noticing? Maybe she thinks she's giving you space. I mean, you can shut me up about it just by saying, but-- speaking as someone who really can tell when people don't like me and when they're just cranky, you might be surprised at what kind of horrible misunderstandings can happen when people don't talk about their problems."

A beat. "Or maybe you wouldn't."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara rolled her eyes. "No. For all of... Sora's anger at me, she did not literally banish me to a world she thought was dangerous and deadly. Might... have made it easier if she had." ... But no. She had been banished from HER world... just not THE world. And that was what made it so hard.

"... Also, it's not that hard. Your world literally has veggie patties. And while most ponies don't eat meat, we have awareness that some species do."

"But yeah, troll Emi, it's funny. She gets all flustered and tries to be lil miss tough girl, it's cute," Hinoiri said with a light snicker as she trotted. "She's a good kid who thinks she has to be bad. She's just going to keep resisting until she gets it through her head that the people here want to help her... Luckily, she's nowhere near as bad as I was. And no, commitment to the bit actually means the same thing here. Oddly."

"... Maybe... but..." She sighed and shook her head. "I... want to think that. I really, really do. Thing is... we had... there was a way for her to contact me. To... call me, kind of. Well. Write me. A book we have. We... both have. It's kind of... what ended up triggering me to going Sunset of Sora. Why I couldn't handle dark energy anymore."

"... It was how we talked to each other. I brought it with me, but didn't look at it until... I snapped. Because I knew... I knew whatever she said... it might break me. Make me change my mind and come home. I didn't know if she'd be mad... or hurt... or disappointed... But... I knew it'd hurt me. But, finally, when I thought I was ready... I opened it..."

"... She never said anything about me. Never... asked me to come home. Never wrote me a demand. Never said... never even asked how I was doing," Hinoiri whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "... Since then... she has a new student. A... better student. All the pictures of me... in the castle... are gone. Every so often I hear people talking about her new student. How great she is. Talented. I thought... I disappointed her... turns out... she didn't really... care at all. I don't even think she remembers me..." She took a long, slow, deep breath. "And... and I think that's my limit. Let's talk about something else, okay? Like... what kind of thinks you are hoping to get baked?" she asked, before walking into a store with the sign 'Life is what you bake of it'.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There are definitely going to be attempts to help in the future, but yes: that's Hinoiri's limit, and that's accepted and respected; Mamoru's face clears, and he immediately switches topics to the suggested one--

"Well, doughnuts, but maybe be careful about them if Lacrima ends up coming?" he asks a little sheepishly. "But I don't know, I love so many sweets. I'd be interested to know what Bow's recreation of the Golden Kingdom's hand pie recipe would taste like with ingredients from here -- and maybe my favorite cookies, too, which Mako-chan figured out a recipe for? I'll just try something of everything! I suspect Usako and Mako-chan will be plotting and being particular, and I trust them with it-- but I might ask for those two."

He pauses and thinks about something else, then sidelong-grins. "While we're here, can we run, somewhere?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Yeah but I'm trying to imagine ground hay being shaped into a burger..."

    "Huh? Does Emi not like you?" Amy wonders, of Mamoru. "I wonder if I've been Too Much, too..."

    Is it rude to say commitment to the bit? Amy cocks her head to the side slightly and thinks. "Huh? Oh, like, bit and bridle... uh... I mean, would a civilization of intelligent ponies even have that concept to find it offensive?" She looks away awkwardly. "Then again, maybe it'd be viewed the same as talking about such things in relation to humans..." She's relieved that Hinoiri has more to say about Emi and the portal.

    "Wait, she 'thinks she has to be' bad? Why? Also, um, I talked to her and found out she has no privacy from her truancy officer, like, he can just go through all of her stuff, am I the only one who finds that messed up?"

    And when she heard Hinoiri wasn't actually banished from KiraKiraFantastica, her thoughts had been starting to go in the direction Mamoru's had, as she wondered at how Hinoiri wasn't being treated like some sealed evil at all.

    Amy listens intently as Hinoiri opens up more about this, reveals she held onto unread messages from Sora, nods, she can imagine the temptation and fear, and wonders what it is Sora must have said to make Hinoiri go Sunset.

    She's surprised, at least, to learn the truth. And then Hinoiri goes on and how could anyone not cry being in that situation--

    Amy rushes forward to hug Hinoiri, sort of awkwardly hesitates for a half-second as she considers how to hug, and then decides to go for the more equine gesture of leaning in facing, with necks crossing and pressed side-to-side pressing her cheek or jaw against the back of Hinoiri's collar, in a sort of translation of a hug with one hand raised to press at the upper back.

    Man that was incredibly awkward and unwieldy to describe there has to be a better way to write it.

    After a moment, Amy lifts her head and steps back.

    She doesn't really have input on the food, it's Mamoru and Usagi's wedding, after all, but when he says hey can they just try running somewhere she smiles and nods with interest, "Oh, yeah! I'd love to like, have a little time to try and get a better feel for this body, if that's alright!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a snicker at the idea of the donuts. "Don't worry. I'm... working with Riventon on keeping Norie supplied with donuts. I'm hopeful it's going well. It's not perfect, but... it helps. I tihnk. I hope..."

The hug, at least, made her blink a few times, but she nodded.

"Yeah, met him once. A bit... rough around the edges, seems okay enough. Don't think he likes me, much. He thought I'd be a good influence apparently. Poor choice on his part, to be honest."

She then blinked and looked at the two of them. And almost said no.... But...

Oh my gosh... they were like two big, adorkable kids. How could she? She wasn't a monster.

"Yeah, tell you what. Once we get the ingredients we need, we'll grab the fast food, then I'll take you to a nice spot I used to have picnics when I was studying. You can run and frolick to your hearts content there, okay?"

She grabbed a cart and started pushing it through the store... my gosh they had cart technology.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Amy's talking about committment to the bit, and, "What? OH. Yeah let's-- leave that-- yes," flusters Mamoru abrubtly, jogging (cantering? trotting? horse jogging?) ahead of Amy and Hinoiri for a second, and then showing off by walking backwards. He only stumbles once, but he sees the whole hug and everything.

"I want to gallop!!" he says, and that's where he stumbles. Then he laughs and stops until the two fillies? catch up to him, at which point he goes back to following along.

"Oh wow that's a really great itinerary, I am so down-- can I talk to Usako about this? I mean, she's been here, right?" Mamoru's at least keeping his voice down, and he looks around the store with great interest.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    We'll grab the fast food and then you can run and frolick to your heart's content!

    Amy grins as wide as she can and sort of hops from hoof to hoof excitedly in place, opposite hooves on the ground at the same time like in a trot. Although the moment she starts thinking about it she ends up rocking from side to side before stopping as her front and hind legs sync.

    Her jaw drops at Mamoru backwards walking -- maybe he's doing it without thinking, but he's showing off and that makes it likely he's figured it out, right?

    When he says he wants to gallop, PonAmy nods in agreement, "Me too! I haven't figured it out yet, I mean I guess maybe I'd do it instinctively but we're not running much..."

    (If they were paying attention when she fell behind and caught up on the way to the city, she stuck to <walk -> trot -> bound with front together and one hind leg hitting just after the other -> bound with front feet synched and back feet synched> as she accelerated, too self-aware at the time to let instinct handle it)

    She can't read the narration but thinks filly sounds a bit juvenile -- but honestly she'd go with local cultural norms. It's not like she insists on being called a woman instead of a girl. Perhaps because she's been a girl not even two years, and a pony for less than an hour. So technically by that measure perhaps she'd be a foal...

    "Oh, Usagi-chan was here??" Amy tries to imagine a pony like Sunset but wearing Sailor Moon's fuku and hairstyle. "What did she think of it?

    Once they're inside, she first of all looks around at what a pony store is like. "Huh. This is more modern than I'd have expected... are those cash registers at checkout?" And also, she looks a but surprised at Hinoiri pushing a shopping cart. She honestly would've expected not to put the cart before the horse. "Huh. Does that position not feel weird?"

    PonAmy tries to rear up on two legs, doesn't get there and falls back to all fours, tries a few times until she can stand... and notices her arms dropping by her sides like a human's. "Ohhh. I don't think Earth pony forelegs can--woah!"

    Down. Catch up to Hinoiri. Up again. "This feels weird, but like," she unsteadily takes a step, "I guess it's like how I could hop on one foot for a bit... I guess you can do that too."

    After a few more steps she drops back to all fours again and is distracted just... looking at everything. Watching in wonder as these aliens go about this activity just like humans -- but with little alien touches, like unicorns levitating things from any shelf they can see without having to walk over to it, or pegasi flying to get things off the top shelf or quickly fetch an item from the next aisle or look for foals that wandered off.

    "The whole 'a third of you can fly and a third of you have telekinesis' thing is really fascinating... I wonder how that changes a society..."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a sheepish smile to other ponies when they passed. "They're uhhhh, just so excited to be in the capital," she said quickly, before chuckling and blushing. She occasionally pushed the cart with a hoof, but often used her telekinesis.

She notably... didn't tell them to stop. Why? Because they were *adorable*. "Of course, you can gallop to your hearts content. And Usagi was a pegasus. Heh. Who knows? Maybe as a wedding present I'll see if I can get you and moonie a honeymoon suite. Maybe even a room in the castle," she joked. "As if that'd ever happen. But if I did something like that I'd need a pretty major role," she joked.

Meanwhile, the two got to stand forefront and center at another Kirakirafantastica experience...

In the aisle dedicated to sprinkles? Four ponies were doing a full synchronized dance. "Chocolate, mint, or buttercream, how will I know which will be her dream? This night has to go perfect But I don't know how, otherwise her mother will have a cow!"

"Don't go down that aisle," Hinoiri warned. "You'll get sucked into the song and there's no telling how long that one will go. Sounds like it's on the... second chorus, I wanna say?"

"The three didn't used to get along, though. Earth ponies have earth magic, they can grow food. Pegasi control the weather, unicorns raised the sun and moon. There's some mixing between the three these days, but weren't always. Eventually we united and worked together, there's a LOT of plays about it, but there are some non-Kirakirafantastica countries that are unicorn, earth pony or pegasi primarily or only."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Amy-chan," Mamoru says with a little laugh, apologetic, under his breath, "other ponies can maybe hear you and you sound like a tourist from another dimension, so, until we get to picnic time, let's just be... uh, somewhat less extradimensional in our tour...ism..." he trails off as he hears music.

And then he sees why he hears music, and his jaw drops. He absolutely cannot help reacting like an extradimensional tourist. "Right, okay, right," he says as he backs away from it and skirts around the entrance to the aisle, eyes wide.

Then he powerwalks to catch back up with Amy and Hinoiri. "I don't think I can dance outside of henshin," he confesses in a low voice once he's close enough. Then, "That sounds cool, Hinoiri! But I have very little say in the wedding details outside my specialty areas... so negotiations for a role are absolutely to be had with Usa," he laughs. There: if she didn't mean it, she doesn't have to talk to Usagi, and it was a joke. If she meant it, well then! She knows to talk to Usagi! Either way, Mamoru will never know which it was if Hinoiri doesn't have a role in the wedding.

Social conundrum, safely solved!

And then he listens carefully to Hinoiri's explanation of the broad strokes of her society's origins, and he nods, and then he blinks. And he laughs. "I'm surprised I'm not an earth pony, maybe, but I have no idea what my specialty is. Did you have to learn names and dates and genealogies too? When you had history as a subject."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy gives Hinoiri a curious look at the news that Usagi was a pegasus, and then appears thoughtful at the idea of the couple taking a magical vacation in another world.

    And then they almost walk into-- "Is this a flash mob?" Clearly Hinoiri is getting them back for pretending they were censored earlier. Amy looks back towards Hinoiri as she walks on,
                                            "I have to make her heart sing..."
    "Oh come on, that can't be a thing."
                                      "Which of these fondants shall I bring?"
    "Wait, what's happening?!"
                                           "For her, which is the best icing?"
    "Personally, fondant's pretty great!"
                                         "Her birthday's gonna be first-rate!"

    Amy finds herself swept up in the routine as ponies swirl past with their opinions--

          "Who doesn't like chocolate!?" "Strawberry's divine."          
                 "Don't worry, it all ends up in your belly!"                
              "Does it have to be icing? What about jelly?"              

    Everyone stops for a beat and looks at the sticky-hooved stallion holding an economy size jar of jelly whose reappearance here is a callback to some earlier song none of the party were present for. The song resumes.

                                           "Maybe the flavor of berries blue,"
               "What she cares is that it'll be from you!"                
                                   "I'll look up what's top chefs' 'best of'!"
              "She won't care as long as it's baked with love!"              

    The last line is shouted by the other three ponies and Amy, who was in the middle of mouthing 'berries blue? Seriously? Who--'

    The lead singer looks at the assembled audience and speaks. "Really?" "YES!" they all shout.

    After a moment, he takes a box off the shelf and tosses it in his cart, and resumes shopping, softly singing a reprise to himself. 'I have to make her heart sing...'

    And then everyone else can return to what they were doing.




    Amy stands looking shocked, like a deer in headlights. "WHAT WAS THAT?!"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara blinked and glanced towards Amy as she got swept up. Whelp. Hinoiri warned her, her duty of care was done. She then motioned towards her. "Trust me, the magic? Does not care. You get used to it." She continued singing as if her co-conspirator wasn't stuck in a dancing pony flash mob.

"I wouldn't worry about it. I'm pretty sure if I tried to do something like that, Sovereign Sora would double banish me," she said before grabbing some eggs... and then tapping them with a spoon. She shook her head, grabbed a different batch aaaand... "Perfect," she said, putting them in the cart.

"Dates? Rarely. We more focused on the how and the way. Lots of names, though. I never had issues memorizing that kind of stuff, though. I mostly studied different creators of magical schools and they were fascinating." She sniffed the bags of sugar a few times, before picking up a bag and lightly humming to it. Then shook her head, not satisfied until the third bag. "Would you say Makoto-san is more of a drummer or a guitarist?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There is, at least, a safe distance at which to watch Amy get swept up in the very musical life. Mamoru is standing at that distance and then some. "Gotta see that happen again, for science," Mamoru tells Amy when she rejoins them. "By the way, I keep forgetting to tell you, while you're here -- stick some things in your memory palace, maybe if you're walking around in there when you fall asleep, you can dream of this place on purpose. I mean, you don't have to, obviously."

He doesn't comment on double-banishments or, indeed, grief responses. It was clearly a throwaway cope comment; he lets it go, like a bad idea he's thought better of.

"Oh you got to pick what type of history? I just mean if you were raised in a castle, castle kids where I'm from tend to have really annoying diplomatic things to study. Like literally the lineage and familial connections of everyone in court, ugh. My guess is drummer, but then I thought twice, but then I thought nah I'll go with drummer."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy slowly walks back to the others. "Okay, that was... weird, but also really cool! I always kinda liked musicals, and I like singing... And dancing is... It could be fun, now, too." She smiles. "I did like physical activity and moving my body around when I was a foal, just..."

    The memory palace idea is a pleasant surprise, and she immediately stops and closes her eyes.

    Bah, she really should have properly prepared and designed a memory palace. There is the dimly-remembered one, a few rooms of an imaginary house that have lost their detail from trying this memory exercise once, long ago, and her vague idea of a more palatial space she'd like to intentionally design. (Her self-visualization, at this moment, is the pony she saw in the mirror standing like a human.) She places a model of the castle on an end table in the entryway/porch thing, and then puts a photo of her memory of the outside of the city stood up in a frame next to it; then puts the same model of the castle on the floor in the middle of the first room -- and again in the middle of the floor of the possible expanded memory palace. Hmm. She'll drop a copy of the photo there, too.

    Is this how any of this works? She supposes she'll find out!

    Amy opens her eyes. "Did you say magical schools, and history, and also was there something about raising the sun back there? Man, it'd be neat to learn more about an actual other world. Are there any history books we could bring back to read? Oh wait, I guess we couldn't read the language, huh..." She holds a hoof to her chin in thought.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara nodded. Memory palace, huh? Sounded like something about Emi... Of course, she cocked an eye when he mentioned history. "Ohhhh. You mean THAT kind of information? So, it wasn't a class thing, but I had to learn a lot of that stuff in my free time. Whenever I met with diplomats and the like. Used to hate it, though. 'Oh, Hinoiri, you're sooooo lucky we're willing to meet with you at all, considering you don't have any lineage. If you weren't Sora's protege, then we wouldn't even give you the time of day' kind of stupidness. Bah. I didn't have time for those losers, anyway. IT wouldn't have mattered if I HAD memorized all of them, which I did, they'd still always look down on me because I was abandoned."

Oh... there was a bit of fire forming on the tip of her horn again. Another sore spot, it seemed.

She was so infuriated by it, she missed Amy even saying when she was a foal! Ha! She wasn't the only one!

"And... yessss? Of course magical school. Where did you think I learned it from? And like... what magic school did you think I was top of the grade in, if not... a magic school?" she asked, blinking. "Sora... raises the sun.... Like.... every day. She's literally moving it right now." Had Amy missed so much?

"As for history book... I actually do have some I can lend you. For obvious reasons, THOSE I don't want to be spreading out. The language is actually oddly similiar. Might be cause magic, though," she said, before taking the ingredients to get them paid for and stored in the saddles! Soooooon... Hayburger.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's on board, staying one hundred percent on board even when Hinoiri starts to get mad. "Yeah--! We--" he starts when she finishes, but he sees the fire on her horn and says, "--and yeah changing the subject again. I want to rant with you someday though. You should come check out the rage room. I can rant with you about diplomacy studies *and* about being an orphan with no memory in a culture that heavily emphasizes family ties! It'll be great." And he does honestly sound enthusiastic.

He stays still and helps get things in the saddle bags by... staying still, mostly, he's not about to try out telekinesis when there are raw eggs around. And he says, also, really softly, "Thanks for bringing me. A lot really."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy narrows her eyes when Hinoiri mentions state functionaries being snooty about lineage. "So ponies are as bad as humans in some ways. And here when I had to explain the patriarchy to Entrapta I thought maybe other worlds would be better..."

    "Oh I thought you meant like, like... schools of a specialty, or something, like transmutation, conjuration-summoning, divination, abjuration, evocation, enchantment, illusion, necromancy, or elemental schools... um... nevermind."

    She just starts staring at Hinoiri when she says Sora is holding the sun in the sky right now.

    "...Okay, yes, I'd love to read an alien book if it's not too dry, but also did you say she's moving the sun right now???"

    Beat. She looks at Mamoru, "If anyone asks, I'm writing a story about a human who finds himmmmmself turned into a pony and has to learn about society and stuff without letting too many people find out about the secret, and I'm... y'know... just imagining what sort of stuff might amaze them or that they wouldn't know."

    She taps her chin thoughtfully. "Huh. I guess that'd be xenofiction here? Wait, no, humans are too ponylike mentally, so it's more a stranger in a strange land dealie."

    She's proficient enough with telekinesis to help load ingredients, although she avoids anything that looks breakable like the eggs and suggests she and Mamoru not be the ones to carry those.

    "Oh! And thanks for bringing me, too, if I didn't say it yet. And again if I did." Amy smiles. "Seriously, this is cool as heck. It's not every day I get to go to another world and... and see what another cute body like this is like. It has really been a treat and I am happy to come again any time you need someone to help with something." She beams.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"You know, in most cases? I'd think you were messing with me. But I imagine you genuinely mean it. Yeah, let's do a cute grouch session, it'll be fun." And, admittedly, it likely wouldn't be very 'cute' either. It'd be a lot of complaining about, well... People who deserved to be complained about. "And it's fine. I'm... still getting used to this 'friendship' stuff but... It's... I'm seeing the appeal. It's... nice. Having people to share things with."

She then just... looked at Amy. "Yesssss? She moves it across the sky. Like, I don't think she's directly doing it, but it's her magic doing it."

She did, however, smile as they trotted out. It was nice to be appreciated. "It's cool. It's... kind of nice to show off my home, you know? This is kind of the place I grew up. The world I'm from. Like... your place is cool, really. But... it's not... home..." Then again, this wasn't really home, either. Not anymore.

"... It's just... nice... to share my life with other ponies. People."

The hayburger, at least, looked like any other fast food joint. Lines, simple menu... "Three large hayburger meals, three apple fritters and an order of cheesy oats," she ordered, giving the three of them a wink.

... And they were hay fries. Actual fries of hay. And oddly... sweeter than one would expect. And the hayburger was savory.... and very ketchupy... It looked and smelled good. Of course, first they'd have to go to her special spot...

Near the castle walls, the park. A small pond... With swans and everything...

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
A glance to Amy and Mamoru ducks his head, laughing easily, relaxed. "Right now I can't really pay attention to all the trains of thought you're introducing, even though I'm interested. The sun's warm and I have a new shape to experience and we're getting wedding cake ingredients, I don't really want to pick the world apart right now."

They head for the Hayburger and Mamoru lightly bumps Hinoiri's shoulder, grinning. "Yeah, friendship is scary when you come from a bad place, but... worth."

And then there are a couple of munched fries and thoughtful looks, and then they're headed for Hinoiri's special spot, and Mamoru looks delighted all over again, shaking his mane and very nearly kicking his hind legs.

Nearly. He doesn't quite lose his composure like that.

"Wh--at kind of cheese...?" it finally occurs to the prince to ask.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy smiles at Mamoru's earnestness, and beams when he cheerfully says 'I have a new shape to experience' (someone gets it!) She shakes her head a little, "It's fine. My brain's just like this, always... full and wanting to run off in a million directions, you know?"

    She also smiles at Hinoiri's earnestness about learning friendship.

    No one here is putting on a face, or having to pretend to be someone else to be normal to fit in. With eachother, anyway. Yes Hinoiri's like 'don't get caught' but she is not scandalized or cringing at them or urging them to hide themselves.

    The three of them... They just are.

    "And it's really cool to see! ...Although I guess maybe it's more fascinating and special to aliens than it is to other ponies, but..."

    As they discuss this, Amy's thoughts have gone in a similar direction to Hinoiri's. Home and how no place feels like it. Amy's often felt -- especially in her past life -- like she was an alien from another planet trying to fit in, and missing the home where things are as they should be, only no such place exists.

    But moments like this... maybe this is 'home', more than any place.

    ...And then that train of thought is sideswiped by another, and Amy laughs. "Oh my gosh... I was just remembering, like... what with us having aliens -- I mean, the Devicers and Adora -- around, I wondered, way back when, if maybe you were from somewhere else too... But I could never have imagined this!"

    She looks around at the scenery as they walk by. "I'm glad to be someone you think is worth showing your home to. I know I'm like, so excited to see another world as a geek and a mmmmmare of science" (nice save, and she smiles at the cleverness of thinking of a correction mid-word) "and so excited to try another body as well, uh, me, but... Like I'm not saying it just because of that. It's..."

    She scrunches up her face a bit in thought. "...It'sssss... You're showing me this. Unafraid, I hope, or at least, open and trusting enough to be willing to try, and, and, and I can, we can say stuff like, that we're so enthusiastic about trying new bodies--" And she hops a couple of times as they walk -- "earnestly, without even thinking you'll think we're weird or something. It's... nice. It's almost as nice a treat as a once-in-a-lifetime alien world visit!"

    And there's a park. And hayfries! While they're headed to the picnic spot. "They're sweet?!" She is pleasantly surprised. "But good... maybe uh... whadyacallem... funnel cakes would be a better Earth comparison than french fries? Or sweet potato fries... but... so much better..." Amy comments cheerfully, munching on a couple of fries -- she reaches for the bag with a hoof, stumbles, and then remembers to use her telekinesis, walking a bit slower while she's focusing on that and then having to trot faster to catch up.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a light snicker as the two went at it. Oh, these two were going to be in for it soon. She took a small bite of the the cheesy oats and... "Mmmmm... I think a bit of cheddar, hint of mozzarella. Ours, mind." She took another bite of her hayburger. "So, I'll be right back, though. You two? Stay here, okay? Keep an eye on each other. Don't wander off."

She then paused. Blinked. "I've seen a lot of earth like, comedy things. I mean it. *Please* don't take this as a chance to wander off and get up to some kind of shenanigans, you two aren't from here, you could get hurt, in trouble, or get me in some deep bucking trouble, so please. Just enjoy the food, I'll be back in like, fifteen minutes. Tops."

She then galloped off with her burger, teleporting away...

Why?

Towards the pawn shop... To pick up a compass and a magic brush that her friends had been looking at earlier. You know. Just something nice for them to remember her home with.

Meanwhile, well. The little pond was nice, serene. There were some ponies out, just a few. Two older ponies, one younger pony with them in a large sunhat, feeding birdseed to the swans. Peaceful. Relaxed. A good chance for the two to just... relax. And just... be.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
'Don't get in trouble, don't wander off'--

Mamoru is in no mood to be a pain in Hinoiri's ass, it really is absolutely lovely here when they get to her spot and she tells them to be careful. Once he's got the saddlebags off he rolls over in the grass, getting grass in his mane and tail, and he laughs, shaking out leaf bits.

"I don't want you to miss this due to getting too into your head," he says, sprawling in the grass next to the water. "It's always neat having a different center of balance."

Then he glances to Amy again and smiles crookedly, his fluffy mane falling a little into his face, around the horn. "I'm not generally comfortable showing much of myself in public. But it feels different when absolutely no one knows you. One of the reasons I like my henshin's mask."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Stay here. Seriously. Amy nods. "We will not leave without gross outside interference, or if you're gone like... I dunno an hour? I'm not sure how well I can measure time without a watch, uh..." Amy is simply too honest to say she will not leave under any circumstances, especially given that crazy unlikely circumstances have a tendency to happen.

    "I wonder where she's going." Amy wonders after, as she kneels down to look in the bags of food but then gets distracted by seeing Mamorony rolling around in the grass and almost laughs. She opens her mouth to respond she won't get too much in her head, but then he says-- "When did you? Oh, right. Is it that different? It's been awhile, and I'm starting to forget..." more quietly, she mutters, "although maybe s'more of a difference for you..."

    But thoughts quickly move on and he's smiling at being himself and he looks a little silly with his mane in his face and he doesn't care and that joy is so wonderful and infectious. "I... I guess it's the same. I never could show much of myself in public..." She pouts a little as she takes a few steps towards him. "Always seemed like any was too much. And now I can't show all of myself, but it's... less uncomfortable."

    She paws (hooves? Hoofs?) at the grass thoughtfully. "You know, I don't really remember, before going outside, away from the computer, always sucked, but... I remember some moments. Trying to hop from rock to rock on a rocky beach or a line of rocks on a campground. Running around. There was a time before it was awful, when I had fun, and... like outside of going on patrols -- which is cool in its own way, like, we can leap from rooftop to rooftop!"

    She bounds across the field. "--I've been forgetting to really like. Enjoy it. Parks and nature and stuff. It's not that I hated them, just... At some point, they became unpleasant to be in."

    She smiles. "It also helps that this body is less tasty to mosquitoes. And not as allergic to things." She blinks. "I mean... not this body, you know what I mean, but-- Do they have mosquitoes here? Does magical pony land also have such things?"

    But she's already bounding around, and walking changing speed trying to notice when a gait-shift happens, and just smelling the way the park and the grass and the water smell and it's familiar outdoor smells but also different in a magical land through a different nose.

    "No one knows us, huh?" she echoes quietly, and smiles and waves to a distant pony who happens to glance their way.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara came trotting back up the path towards them not that long after. Currently, there didn't seem to be any mosquitos... unfortunately, if they stayed during some months.... they'd discover that, yes, there were... quite a few pests in this world. Some very, very nasty ones. They could be *vicious*, those pests.

As it was? the gifts weren't in sight, hidden in her saddlebags. She wanted to make sure they didn't like... explode, before she gave them to them, so they'd be staying with her tonight, but they'd both be getting them in a cute little package tomorrow morning.

As it was, though?

As she arrived, she stretched out a bit, giving a low grunt and murmur. "Mmmmmm. I hope you two had fun. Hope you two are ready, now we just gotta sneak back out. We wanna make our way quickly, and quietly, so we don't end up getting busted by the palace guards. Ponies bringing cake supplies into the palace at weird hours isn't THAT uncommon but banished ponies? That's a bit rarer," she said, giving a small smile.

She turned and started walking towards the castle, a small smile on her lips.

"And uhhhhh... yeah. It's... nice. It really is. Having... friends like you guys. People I can share these kinds of things with." She glanced towards the castle for a moment.

... Things really were a lot different now, weren't they? She wasn't that blind, obedient pony she was once... was she...

... Though she did cringe when she heard somepony talking about Sora's 'amazing apprentice'.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"No one knows us," repeats Mamoru, smiling, settling his head on the grass. "I'm a city boy, but I'm also Dirt Boy according to Usako, so I guess I'd better get used to digging. And there are probably mosquitos. But maybe not ticks?"

He's still lying splat like that on the ground when Hinoiri arrives, and he Overexaggeratedly Laboriously heaves himself up on his hooves one leg at a time, then works on getting the saddlebags back on. Carefully. The telekinesis isn't punching him in the face, so maybe he's doing it right.

"So much fun, Hinoiri-chan," he says, and his smile's warm. "And this'll make the wedding food that much more amazing. And..."

She's worried about being recognized. "How about a mask and a... uh, flank-mask. Blanket?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy-pony does roll in the grass too, and laugh, and run around, and at one point she sees some other ponies having a picnic and one has a salid with something grassy in it, and she looks at the grass, and she looks at Mamoru, and she looks at the grass, and

    She has to know.

    Surely she can't be the only pony who wondered what grass tastes like.




    --Hinoiri comes back to "Look, look, I can do it!" Amy calls out to her and runs across the grass, "Walk, trot, canter, gallop! And then bound, if I want, but I dunno if ponies do that. I think it might be more useful the closer to plantigrade your foot is, as long as your foot's relatively long compared to the leg. No good for pony or human, but okay for cat and great for bunny. Oh! And look: One-beat gait!"

    She sproings around like a pogo stick or a certain pink pony, until she loses her balance and tumbles across the grass and laughs.

    And then Hinoiri says it's time to go, and there is a slight pang of disappointment, but she doesn't protest -- this little adventure did have an end time on it from the start, after all.

    She collects up her saddlebags, and levitates the food bag in front of her. She kind of got so distracted being a pony she forgot to eat, but she can eat on the walk back.

    Sharing the experience... Amy smiles earnestly. "That's why I like this too. It's a wild experience but I get to have it with ponies who've had it too -- or the reverse, and that... I guess it's kinda... like, we all do this and we all get it, you know? Like, we'll all know what it's like, and we'll all know we all know what it's like and, and, like... it's a wild experience but with someone else who gets it... it feels like I'm at home in a way no place ever has, you know?"

    She grins. "And it's shared with friends not only experiencing this, but finding fun and a good time in..." her face falters a little, "...in what a lot of ponies would say is weird." Twice. KiraKiraFantastica is getting to her, or maybe she's just echolalia-ting Hinoiri.

    And then she beams again. "That's why I'm looking forward to magical karaoke, too!"

    She is a bit too wrapped up in her own excitement to notice the hesitance as they get close to the castle. "Mmmmh. Are these... cheesy oats? So much better than it sounds..."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara shook her head. "It's only a problem if we get caught. And we're not going to get caught if we're careful," she said. "Besides, we're breaking in, anyway."

... Also, she couldn't lie. Seeing Amy bounce around brought a smile to her face. It was silly nonsense... and it was enjoyable silly nonsense. Like watching a filly or colt when they first get off a train on a long trip...

Alas, poor Amy would have learned... the grass was not very good at the park, there. Too much preparation. Blegh. Not like the wild, untamed grasses.

"Go wild, I got the cheesy oats for you two to share Just don't make a mess."

Making their way through the grounds, at least, was easy enough... she knew how to go through the patrols, all the secret passageways... and they didn't know she was still around.

And once they were over... it was mostly just a chance to double check everything had gone over correctly. And that there weren't any lingering after effects, or damage. "Got everything?" she asked.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's eyes: WIDE. Amy's gonna eat the grass--?? Hesitantly, he starts to lower his head to try it too, but Hinoiri.

WHEW.

The prince pony tosses his mane again, like flicking a cape almost, and follows quietly along behind her. What he says to Amy is, gently, "Just judge them back harder. That's what I do." Then he grins and adds, "We'll do magical karaoke as soon as we're safe from the Black Moon Clan, okay?"

He definitely munches cheesy oats with Amy on their way sneaking through the castle, and it's great because telekinesis catches cheese grease drips. They do not make a mess. They do not leave a trail. Mamoru is fascinated by the secret passages, and is really careful not to touch the walls, because he doesn't need the distraction of Kirakirafantastica history reels unspooling behind his eyes. Even though he wants it.

Once they're there, Mamoru checks around himself, checks twice. "I think that's it?" he says uncertainly.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    (Amy's face lets Mamoru know it was probably for the best that he didn't try that grass.)

    She grins at his comment. Once they're safe from the Black Moon Clan! Hopefully soon.

    Amy's mood is too positive to be soured by the risk of getting caught! She's on top of the world enjoying a magical transformative adventure with her friends!

    Once they're through, and Hinoiri asks if they've 'got everything', she looks at her hands and wiggles her fingers. "One two three four five six seven eight nine ten check! All accounted for! Soul: Check!"

    She also pulls off her shoe and wiggles her toes in her socks, satisfied there are no lingering changes.

    ...Pretty satisfied. She supposes she should seriously check, lest she be caught in embarassing magical shenanigans later, and her fingers do go to check that human ears are present and pony absent, and that her tail is gone, and to feel there's a nose and not a muzzle, and no horn, and pats she down her general shape quickly to confirm:

    "Nothing's here that shouldn't be, and everything's here that should!" She reports with a grin, seeming to find something inherently amusing about the statement.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara gave a nod. "Good, let's go drop all this stuff off and we can get all of this where it needs to go." Likely the shed. The LAST thing they need is another Norie situation. Some poor sap trying something that utterly changes their world and life and just... please no.

"To be fair, though, I did actually meant the supplies... but good to know everything is still attached," she said in a teasing tone."

Mission, successful. Now just one more group to go.

And the next morning, they'd have two little gift wrapped boxes outside their doors waiting for them....