Riddle's Bazaar (Open! For Business!)

[Deleted]

As Cloud Drop held his science babble, eventually, he was shown the available ingredients, and promised they would only require one bit for each. that was surely a bargain! and perhaps less, if he bought enough... And then she brought up a trade. "Well... That's certainly a possibility, b-but i do work at an alchemist working in ponyville. I'd have to ask him for permissions and look at what potions exactly... however, i do personally own the secret recipe to my cloud potions... I suppose i could sell, barter or exchange with you!" He gleefully said, glad to be getting better deals for his own work. And spreading his word wouldn't be too bad either. "I.. um, well, i won't be able to give you most of my potions, as those could be dangerous, and not legally used by a general public... But i can definitely get you some basics!" he was overjoyed at the prospect of starting to make a little money with his potions. or at the very least, getting heard and getting the ingredients to make more for free!

"But i'm afraid i'll need to use the most of my bits right now to get ingredients. it's not that i don't have the bits to buy stuff, i just need to... manage them, y'know. Luckily, you have half the ingredients i need. The mints, the ginger, the coffee beans and the dried peppers will get me most of my way.. Uh... at about 1 bit each... Could i have 5 of each, if you have that much in your stock?" he asked, looking over the ingredients and grabbing a list with his wing, holding the list next to his head and looking at it. his expression was pensive, but his eyes were gleaming with undeniable joy.

[waxworks]

Riddle bowed to Cloud Drop politely, "but of course."

The twenty items spun together in a flash of the unicorn's basil-colored magic, as a small paper bag with a little hoof-drawn image of Riddle's Cutie Mark outlined with vines and ornate lines caught them up neatly.

"And sir need not worry, I would not dream of depriving one of their most cautiously and closely guarded secrets. I only seek to improve the selection of this humble bazaar somewhat, and of course sir would be compensated for any sales of his products that may occur."

Riddle said this warmly and softly, veiling her eyes slightly with the rim of her hat. She'd been working on various glances and peering techniques she'd seen in the movies Mezcal had shown her, although Mezcal had warned her that the wrong glance might attract ponies for entirely the wrong reasons. Thinking of this, Riddle quickly returned to a more modest and slightly indifferent look.

"Sir's price is 20 bits however... I'm willing to reduce it to 15 for a small sample of your cloud potion that I might use to entice other customers. After all, if I might stock your potions, it would do well to excite those interested ponies ahead of time. The very potions you've looked over are those which I sell for a pony named Bubbly Beaker, who has enjoyed a similar arrangement to the one I offer you. But of course sir need not decide right away."

Riddle gently sat the bag of ingredients next to Cloud with a smile, "the bazaar will still be here waiting should sir return for any reason."

[zap4th]

Tel walked into the bazaar, grabbing a few(5) jars of the peanut butter-honey, walked over to the magic section, grabbed 6 bottles of magic oil and 6 prism batteries. He then walked over to the chance section, looking at the Impossible Inventions from Imagination shelf and ogling at it. he then teleported in front of the pony with the green mane. "who makes those AWESOME inventions back there? those are amazing? I assume the wrench pours cider? I can tell from the wetness of it's tip but the lack of rust. also it has a sort of teleportation feel to it, with a bit of transfiguration, although I'm not as familiar with that." he said. he realized he was getting overexcited and said "sorry, allow me to introduce. my name is Trik Port, but my friends call me Tel. I am a bit of an inventor myself. Invented a gliding suit." he said proudly. his smile the diminished as he said "still haven't been able to make it fly though. so I assume you are the owner of this amazing shop?"

[waxworks]

Riddle nearly reared back as a unicorn suddenly appeared in front of her in a sparkling blast of teleportation magic. Had her bowler hat not been neatly affixed to her maneless head thanks to her horn, it would've likely popped off and rolled away into the bazaar. Her jaw swung for a moment without making any sound as though she were chewing on a particularly large, invisible, and stunning cinnamon bun.

"Ah, ah, a-apologies sir, your sudden appearance was... startling." The basil-colored pony took a moment to collect herself while assailed by the unicorn's verbal onslaught. "And yes, sir, I am indeed the proud proprietor of this bazaar."

With some slight discomfort she noticed that he had already helped himself to a number of objects. It wasn't a pony going through the shelves and taking things which had bothered Riddle Bits, but the fact that she hadn't noticed him doing it until this very moment struck her with the thought that she should work to be more vigilant.

"The inventions sir was looking at are a collection crafted by Streamlined Imagination. They are all available for purchase but I must urge sir to be cautious in their operations as their side-effects and actual-effects cannot be easily told apart in some cases. Still, you will find them to be of the finest quality despite their curious inconsistencies."

She was still finding herself slightly stunned by her new customer, but her merchant senses exerted themselves once again and she sniffed a possible sale.

"Ah, but sir is working on a gliding suit?" She swayed around Trik towards the ink and pen section of the bazaar, nodding her head towards a collection of quills, "then perhaps one might find some usage from a collection of feathers? I admit to not knowing much about flying, but the birds these feathers once belonged to knew something I do not."

[zap4th]

"no thankyou. it isn't the wing motion i`m having trouble with, but the magic that enables pegasi to stay aloft with minimal wing movement" Tel said, a hint of jealosy barely noticable. heshook his head, smiled, and said "anyway, i have pleanty of knowledge when it comes to magical tech. in fact, maybe you could sell some of my inventions. all i ask in return is 20% of the income from those i supply you with AND a 10% discount on items. what do ya say?" he extended his hoof for a hoof-shake.

[waxworks]

A soft wind blew through the marketplace and the bazaar. Riddle's ears swayed slightly in the breeze, but her gaze never wavered from Trik Port's face. Even when offered an eagerly extended hoof, she didn't even lower her eyes to look at it. He was certainly eager and ambitious, and someday she might find some use for that.

"Ah, I am sorry sir, but it is not my habit to enter into such negotiations without having seen something by which I can judge such things. Perhaps, should sir complete a device he is most proud of, he might return here, and we might attempt to enter into some form of contract."

She took this time to mentally tally everything up in her head, a skill which she'd not only cultivated, but refined with the assistance of a friend eagerly (perhaps too eagerly) hurling cataloged items past her eyes while she quoted off their prices.

"Sir's total comes to 63 bits, 69 bits should sir decide to also purchase the cider-dispensing wrench. However I would caution, given sir's plans for utilizing pegasus magic. Though I am not a pegasus nor entirely familiar with their magical abilities, sir should be aware that our magical batteries are designed specifically for storing unicorn magic. Sir is free to attempt to find alternate uses for them, but the bazaar will not be held responsible for any and all magical based catastrophes."

The little unicorn sat neatly in front of Tel, her long tail wrapping around her.

[zap4th]

tel put his hoof on the floor and chuckled a bit before saying "of course. i will bring back an item for judging purposes." He thought for a minute, thinking about a use he may have for the wrench, but he could not find one, saying "no to the wrench but i would like a few of those mints." he pointed at the food table,continuing with a smile "maybe a bag of 30? also, you don`t have to call me 'sir.' tel is fine" hearing the mare talk about putting pegasus magic in the batteries he thought for a minute, thinking about how it could be done. after realizing he was ignoring the nice mare, he said said "sorry, i just had never thought of that. Anyway I mainly use these to power my house with a constant cloud-walking spell as I live in a half cloud house and that poses some problems" he pointed to his horn and then to where wings would be if he were a pegasus.

[waxworks]

Riddle quickly tabulated up the new addition to the list, "93 bits, sir." She subtly stretched her shoulders slightly, as she realized she was being a little spiky towards a customer who was getting ready to hoof over a tremendous amount of bits, which she attributed towards some neck and shoulder kinks from being put into a half-nelson by a sleeping cow.

"I will apologize, Trik Port," Riddle had dropped the word 'sir' but her manner of saying the unicorn's name had the exact same measure and tone as it she'd been saying a version of sir with two syllables rather than one, "but it is inconsiderate for a merchant to assume familiarity with any customer should the customer themselves not desire it."

She took a moment to consider his problem, "sir, er, you live in a half-cloud house?" Riddle's eyes scanned upwards in the direction of the pegasus city, Cloudsdale, "then, you are a non-flying pony that lives with the other pegasus ponies in Cloudsdale?"

This wasn't a terribly uncommon occurrence, sometimes, given branching family histories, it was entirely possible for two pegasus ponies to have a unicorn pony, or even an earth pony as their offspring. At least a unicorn pony could make do with magic to maintain themselves in the clouds, but an earth pony would need some assistance or a clever assortment of balloons.

Riddle's mind drifted to this for a moment, selling clever assortments of balloons at reasonable prices for ponies who were planning a trip to Cloudsdale. She was aware that a certain overly excitable, bright pink pony would eagerly purchase balloons enough that she should keep large stock, but then again another merchant had already established a balloonery for this very purpose. Not a good idea to step on somepony else's hooves.

[zap4th]

trik reached out with his teleportation magic, his horn glowing purple, and teleported a bag of bits from his house to them, took out the 93 bits and holding them with his magic, and teleported it back in a puff of purple. "this should be enough." when he saw the unicorn stretch to unwind. "of course, it is only natural to be formal with everyone until they wish to not be." after hearing the name of his old home he grimaced, closing his eyes and remembering the many times the bullies in cloudsdale had taunted him, holding him over the edge of clouds, sometimes dropping him and then catching him after a few moments. "not anymore" he said through his clenched teeth. he shook his head and put a smile back on his face. "now i live here! I work with the weather ponies, believe it or not. that is, when i'm not inventing or seeing," Tel sighed contently at the thought, "the wonderbolts. they inspire me so much, especially since a local rainbow maned mare joined their ranks." he said that last part with a smile, thinking about himself flying with them once his suit was fully functional, showing of some flight tricks mixed with teleportation to spice things up.

[waxworks]

Riddle neatly bowed and swept the bits out of sight into a small coffer, quite pleased with this large a sale this early in the day. "Thank you for doing business with me."

"Ah, si-you work with weather ponies!" She ran her mind back over various customers she'd seen and recalled a particularly noteworthy weather pony, "I have no doubt you enjoy seeing the Wonderbolts in flight, they are an awe-inspiring site, sir."

This last one slipped out, Riddle decided to let it go. She wasn't going to kick herself over every little mistake, but she did make note of it for later practice. "When my family traveled through Camelu we saw similar groups. Not flying, per se, but ponies who would sail behind stampeding yaks, pulled by cords and held aloft by great kites. They would form teams of two, a yak practicing its speed around the course, the pony designing and managing the kite, and during the races they would try to cut the ropes of other gliding ponies. It was very impressive to behold."

Riddle paused, recalling a pony magnificently smashing into the stands near her family when it flew off course. "And slightly dangerous..."

The little unicorn pursed her lips in thought, finally remembering the weather pony she'd been trying to recall, "I have seen a particularly large pegasus who works with the weather ponies making storms, on occasion she passes through this marketplace, perhaps you are familiar with her? Ah la la, but look at me making far too many presumptions, I thank you very much for your business, sir."

[Parchment]

Izzy's hooves hit the cobbled stone of the marketplace at a lazy pace, quite different than her normal late scurrying she tended to do. Without work to worry about today, and Maggie, her little bird, taken care of by her family (whom she was returning from a visit in the Whitetail Wood), she trotted absentmindedly through the market. Voices surrounded her on every side, laughter and chatter ringing in her ears.

A quite marvelous expanse caught her eyes as she moved past it; a collection of tents and shelves and carts, all filled with shiny things and things in jars and appetizing things. Her hooves carried her there apart from her mind, her eyes drawn to rows and rows of glittering and shining potions. The chemist in her heart leapt, her heart beating faster. Oh, the experiments she could perform, the tests she could do; Izzy, with her lack of a horn or even wings, for that matter, always strived to understand magic, and harness it in the only way she could - through science.

She didn't have that many bits on her, but she thought that maybe some of the vials and corked flasks in her bag may be worth something - then again, she wasn't sure if she was quite ready to give those up yet. She had just acquired them from home moments ago. Izzy instead decided on asking the brightly colored unicorn in front of her, "How much are the potions going for? It occurred to her after the thought that her mouth may be moving faster than her head, and almost as an afterthought, she said, "Sorry, excuse me, hello there, I'm Izzy. I'm always in the mood for purchasing some new potions or solutions.

[waxworks]

Riddle had spent her morning eagerly reading through a number of letters, each one from a different sibling. She and her siblings had all kept in regular contact with one another, and the little basil-colored unicorn always mused that she had somewhat of an advantage, due to knowing how to make her own ink with which to write her letters. She quickly and neatly shuffled away the letters as another customer wandered into her bazaar, drawn in by her carefully calculated display of delights for purchase.

She bobbled her head politely as the earth pony trotted in, watching her discretely as she perused the goods, and noting carefully which areas she looked at specifically. The potions, yes, those were always attractive. The gentle glow they gave off drew the eye like a lighthouse on a stormy night. She went over the inventory of potions in her head again as the pony turned towards her inquiring about prices.

Riddle bowed humbly to Izzy after her jump-started introduction, "Hello ma'am, there is no need for excuses when it comes to eager ambition. If it's potions you wish, then you'll find no finer collection of potions, from those which can alter one's own attributes to those which enhance the growth of fruits and vegetables with no unpleasant side-effects, each labeled with its own capability. You may find some potions available in different sizes on my shelves, for eight, ten, and twelve bits dependent on their size. But some of the smaller, more expensive potions are also more powerful. Might I suggest the Stargazer potion, which enables a pony to see the celestial stars of night even during the brightest daylight?"

Riddle bobbled and smiled warmly at Izzy. She still had a few small cloud manipulating potions in her tent from a recent business deal, but until she'd tested them herself they'd not be put out for consumers.