7. 泊地

7. Anchorage

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兩巒其中綠意涌來，

如幕垂下林地長青：

底有巖洞石座覆苔，

海仙安憩熱潮難進(jìn)。

——鳚吉爾，《埃涅阿斯紀(jì)》

華達(dá)呢臥室的墻上有相當(dāng)大的面積都被那扇格子玻璃窗所占據(jù)，因此，當(dāng)明亮的光芒破窗而入，灑落在他的床上時，即便在被子底下，他還是不得不用一條前腿遮住眼睛。與熱辣的陽光截然相反的是，涼風(fēng)從敞開的房門溜了進(jìn)來，還捎來了煎餅的誘馬香味。他倒的確想在床上賴到合適的時間——大概是中午吧——再起床，但這股香氣向他的決心發(fā)動了猛烈的進(jìn)攻。畢竟他現(xiàn)在可是一位男爵。他想睡到什么時候就能睡到什么時候。不過，他懷疑老管并不會把早餐帶到他的床邊?；蛟S折中妥協(xié)還是有必要的：說不定他能把床移到廚房里。

“早上好啊，華達(dá)呢男爵先生！”盡管華達(dá)呢用薄薄的被子捂住了腦袋，小海馬穿過甲板時所發(fā)出的獨(dú)特的哧溜和啪嗒聲還是傳進(jìn)了他的耳朵，“我在外面找到了你的郵件。你有兩個盒子，大的那個一搖晃就會當(dāng)啷當(dāng)啷地響。你準(zhǔn)備起床嗎，華達(dá)呢先生？”

唉，起床終究還是不可避免，注定要發(fā)生的。華達(dá)呢從被子底下探出了鼻子，注視著那匹同樣看著他的小海馬?！笆前　！睂τ谝粋€并不復(fù)雜的問題，這個回答似乎就已經(jīng)足夠了，但這又讓他想起了另一個不得不面對的麻煩。

當(dāng)華達(dá)呢看著漣漪的時候，他感到一陣寒戰(zhàn)一直沿著脊背傳到了他的尾巴尖，而他的心也怦怦跳了起來。他突然記起自己昨晚睡覺前不小心把那份滿是涂鴉的草稿寄給了塞拉斯蒂婭公主，而且上面還有這匹小海馬以及她母親的畫像。讓事態(tài)更加復(fù)雜的是他明明送出去了的那封信居然正擺在床頭柜上，就在它最后放在的那個位置，中間還纏著一條小小的紅綢帶。這絕對不是他做的。

這封不該存在的信的旁邊還有兩個有點(diǎn)濕的盒子。它們一大一小，但上面都有著代表兩位公主殿下的金日與銀月。在一小段時間的思索過后，他判斷單憑盯著它們流汗不止并不能讓他發(fā)現(xiàn)盒子里裝的東西是什么。于是乎，華達(dá)呢下了床，考慮著該先開哪個盒子。

在中心城過暖爐節(jié)(Hearth's Warming Eve)的時候，會當(dāng)啷響的盒子里面的禮物是最好的。

打開這個大盒子還是有點(diǎn)麻煩的，但他自己并沒有太注意到，尤其是因為漣漪明亮而專注的雙眼正緊緊盯著他的一舉一動。盒子里面放著一張嶄新挺括的紙，上面同樣標(biāo)著金銀的日月。他深吸了口氣，然后大聲讀了起來。

寄：塞拉斯蒂婭公主殿下與露娜公主殿下

收：剛剛獲得了可愛標(biāo)記的漣漪

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親愛的漣漪：

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請接受我們就你獲得可愛標(biāo)記一事對你表示的祝賀。這是你一生中最歡樂的時刻之一，而此等的歡樂應(yīng)當(dāng)與其他小馬共同分享。盡管我們不能親自到場，但請務(wù)必了解我們也為這美好之事而感到欣喜萬分。

我們附贈了幾件禮物，相信它們能對你的特殊才能有所助益。首先，你能在這個盒子里找到一整套工具箱——

“真酷！”漣漪跳上跳下，每當(dāng)她的鰭與地板接觸時都會發(fā)出啪嗒聲，“我能看看嗎？我能看看嗎？”

華達(dá)呢抬起一邊眉毛，繼續(xù)讀了下去。

——華達(dá)呢男爵將會在讀完這封信之后將它交給你。另外，我們還附贈了一些龍火羊皮紙卷軸供你使用。我的妹妹與我都非常喜愛閱讀華達(dá)呢男爵寄給我們的報告，如果你們兩個都能繼續(xù)為我們例行寫信，我們會深表感激。

最后但同樣重要的是，我們還在包裹中包括了一個鬃夾，我們兩個的標(biāo)志都銘刻于上。無論何時，你都能將它出示給任何一名衛(wèi)兵以與我們中的任何一馬會見，如果你愿意的話，共同會見我們二姐妹亦可。

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謹(jǐn)上，

塞拉斯蒂婭公主與露娜公主

“太酷了?！睗i漪輕聲說道。她接過那金銀相間的鬃夾，驕傲地把它舉了起來，讓它沐浴在射入臥室的陽光之中。塞拉斯蒂婭公主的可愛標(biāo)記上的耀斑緊貼著露娜公主的新月，它們吻合得天衣無縫，讓華達(dá)呢想起了兩塊同樣吻合的拼圖。漣漪用它夾住了經(jīng)?；涞剿矍暗哪且皇仙酌?。在她的頭上，鬃夾似乎更為美麗了。這簡直是天作之合，就好像它一直都應(yīng)當(dāng)屬于那里，只不過這個事實剛剛才為馬所知。

他咧嘴笑了起來，對著正在鏡子前端詳自己的漣漪不吝贊美。接下來，她拆開了小馬國皇家工程兵團(tuán)海軍工具箱（個馬版）[Royal Equestrian Engineering corps Naval Toolkit (Personal)]，把里面的東西攤在了房間里的每一個水平的平面上，而華達(dá)呢則把自己剛剛的行為重復(fù)了一遍。直到老管把鼻子探進(jìn)房間，聲明烤吐司機(jī)已經(jīng)停止運(yùn)行，并且表達(dá)了自己對會不會有哪匹小馬有空修它的疑問，漣漪才暫時放下對她奇妙工具箱的詳細(xì)檢查。一眨眼的工夫，工具就全都回到了箱子里，未來的工程師也帶著她現(xiàn)有的工具箱消失在了門外。某位老管家跟在后面，他沾沾自喜的表情看上去實在可疑。

剩下的那個小盒子還靜靜地待在桌子上，華達(dá)呢和漣漪之前都忽視了它，但現(xiàn)在他已經(jīng)沒有理由不去將它打開，看看里面是什么了。二十五只纖細(xì)的銀環(huán)躺在里面，它們上面都刻著一對交錯的齒輪：那是小馬國皇家工程兵團(tuán)的標(biāo)志。盒子里同樣還有一只小一點(diǎn)的銀環(huán)，掛在上頭的小標(biāo)簽表明它是留待日后經(jīng)家長允許方能使用。盒子里沒有說明，但華達(dá)呢認(rèn)出了銀環(huán)上附的魔法。它們都可以被佩戴在獨(dú)角獸的角上，他猜測給海馬用也沒有問題。在黑漆漆的夜里，抑或是在暴風(fēng)雨之中，它們可以被當(dāng)作歸航信號，也能讓附近的小馬國衛(wèi)兵辨認(rèn)佩戴者的身份。

他關(guān)上了盒子，思考著這些東西與它們未來的用途。即便是在逃離了海洋里的家園之后，這些害羞而又驚恐的海馬們還是在小馬國里找到了容身之處，找到了能讓她們從磨難中恢復(fù)的地方。她們需要這里來讓自己的生活重歸平靜，就好像河里的拖船也需要她們來保護(hù)自己不被危險難測的河水傷害一樣。她們?nèi)缤粔K舊拼圖里不再契合的拼圖塊，但卻在這里尋得了新的歸宿，而周圍所有的小馬們也都因此受益良多。

隨著一聲幾乎就要躍乎耳邊的“咔噠”，他自己的命運(yùn)也明朗了。他便是填補(bǔ)最后一片空白的那一小塊拼圖。他把盒子放到一邊，向城堡的廚房與那里的兩匹小馬走去。

那就是他歸屬的地方。

~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~

華達(dá)呢勛爵，現(xiàn)任濆恩男爵，正倚在他的船屋/城堡的欄桿上，注視著海馬們在染上余暉的湖水里嬉戲打鬧，她們歡笑與戲水的聲音傳進(jìn)了他的耳朵。每一匹海馬的角上都戴著一只嶄新的銀環(huán)。在這個距離，他幾乎完全看不見它們，只有在海馬們浮出水面，把鬃毛甩到腦后的時候，他才能看見那一縷微弱的閃光。

盡管她們經(jīng)歷了種種艱難困苦才來到這里，她們還是如此的天真可愛。即使在百般的磨難之后，她們依舊熱愛著存在本身，享受著生活本身，而這是宮廷里的貴族們永遠(yuǎn)都理解不了的。要是華達(dá)呢把他寫的信都寄出去了的話，他多年以來一直搖尾乞憐的那些對象就會蜂擁而來，單單就是為了利用這些他自己都才剛剛了解的海馬們。

中心城一直都是他的家，自從他的童年開始，他就一直在錯綜復(fù)雜而又苦澀難言的政治漩渦之中掙扎?，F(xiàn)在，是時候換一片比他的家要遠(yuǎn)為宜馬的水域暢游了?；蛟S，當(dāng)他偶爾回中心城去履行自己的新職責(zé)時，他也能為那座高山帶來幾分這樣的純真。

在這里，他能勉強(qiáng)看見中心城山頂上的云朵，它們明亮而潔白，在落日的余暉下如同信標(biāo)一般閃耀著。也許在某種意義上，那就是公主們一直在做，將來也會繼續(xù)去做的事情。她們的存在本身便能為小馬們與所有其他的生物提供一個效仿的榜樣，提供一個奮斗的目標(biāo)。這是個挺有深度的想法，他一邊思索著，一邊沐浴在夕陽的光芒里，聽著海馬們嬉戲的聲音，直到湖里濺起的水突然打斷了他的思路。

波頓克沮喪而又響亮地嘎嘎叫了一聲，從湖面上飛了起來，又伴著濕羽毛與甲板接觸的吧唧聲落在了華達(dá)呢的蹄邊。就在他身后，漣漪又濺起了一圈水花，她抬頭望著，高喊：“這不公平！玩抓鴨游戲的時候不能躲到?jīng)]水的地方！噢，你好啊，小華先生。你想和我們一起玩嗎？太陽馬上就要下山了?！?/p>

華達(dá)呢花了一點(diǎn)時間整理自己被打亂的思緒，然后點(diǎn)了點(diǎn)頭。“這個主意好極了，漣漪。給我一點(diǎn)時間，我去寫個我一直拖著沒寫的東西，寫完我就來?！?/p>

華達(dá)呢點(diǎn)亮了自己的角，而它底端的那個環(huán)也閃出了微弱的銀光。他在塞拉斯蒂婭給他的最后一塊附魔羊皮紙上匆匆書寫了一小會，然后便將它點(diǎn)燃，看著它化作一縷煙塵，飄向遠(yuǎn)方的中心城。這是最后一塊就位的拼圖，不過在未來還會有更多拼圖待他解決。海馬們?nèi)耘f在湖的另一端戲水嬉鬧，但他的目光卻停在了其中一匹上。他的嘴角翹了起來，形成了一個快樂的微笑。

華達(dá)呢大步走向甲板的上半部分，朝著突出的船頭前進(jìn)。他小心地把領(lǐng)帶掛在了旁邊的一根桅桿上，停在了船頭尖端的邊緣。他點(diǎn)亮了自己的角，施放了一個水下呼吸咒，伏下了身子。遠(yuǎn)處，海馬們潑水的聲音逐漸消失了，她們緊盯著這位平日古板的男爵，觀察著他這不尋常的舉動。

他縱身一躍。

這遠(yuǎn)非是那種干凈利落的入水。其實，它可能連“跳水”兩個字都擔(dān)不起。比較合適的說法是：他非常尷尬地肚皮落水，濺起了驚馬的一大片水花，然后在水下毫無經(jīng)驗地?fù)潋v著。不過，周圍的海馬觀眾們還是向他致以歡呼，其中一位年輕的母親和她的小女兒表現(xiàn)得尤為熱情。他在她們面前探出了腦袋，甩了甩鬃毛上的水，而她們則報以歡快的笑聲。

“所以這是不是說你還要再等一段時間才回家了啊，小華？”珍珠問道，她用一只鰭朝他潑水，咧嘴笑了起來。

“你可以這么說?！比A達(dá)呢說，他的臉上也掛著相同的笑容。

濆恩男爵領(lǐng)

官方馬口普查（最終修訂版）

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永久居民

壹（一）位濆恩男爵領(lǐng)總管，赭土。

壹（一）位濆恩男爵，華達(dá)呢。

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暫住居民

肆（四）只鴨子（一只成年，三只未成年）。

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您忠實的仆從，

華達(dá)呢，濆恩男爵

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- - - - 分割線 - - - -

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塞拉斯蒂婭公主與露娜公主：

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為了你們?yōu)槲覀兯龅囊磺?，我?jǐn)代表我領(lǐng)地中的臣民與我自己向你們致以謝意。

我發(fā)自心底地感謝你們。

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小華

作者評論，閑扯，與酷炫的腳注[1]

Author Comments, Ramblings, and Footnotes of Awesomeness

[1] 此章與正文關(guān)系不大，且含有大量難以理解的外國梗與圈內(nèi)梗，甚至還有葷段子，經(jīng)過嘗試，我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己實在是無力翻譯，只能在此貼出原文，還望讀者諒解。

正如，黎民百姓暴動正酣，

聲音嘈雜行為狂亂；

石塊火把攢射怒喧，

烈焰高燃鑄犁為劍：

此時，德高望重尊長現(xiàn)身，

眾者諦聽肅立噤聲；

妙言慧語平息怨憤，

嗜血渴望漸而消遁：

——鳚吉爾，《埃涅阿斯紀(jì)》

First, I would like to thank the individual who gave me the idea for this story. I?think?it was GhostOfHeraclitus, but I can't find the actual email/messaging exchange, possibly because it happened before Google put archiving on Hangouts. As best my spotty memory can recall, the conversation (with whoever it was) went vaguely like this:

Me:?I need to do a story where there's a barony in a valley that winds up split in half along a river, where one son gets one half and the other son gets the other half, but the third son gets the river.

Ghost:?And it's full of seaponies?

Me:?(pause) Yeah.

Between my editors and myself, we had a few somewhat vigorous discussions and comment sessions that just?had?to be reproduced for the edification of the readers, or at least any of them named Ed. (That is what Edification means, right?) The quotes from The Aeneid come from the public domain translation, with just the smallest change to Virgil to make him more of a seapony. (Get it? Virgil? Virgill? … I'll see myself out.)

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Chap. 1

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(Where the Barony of Fenwick is mentioned)

GhostOfHeraclitus:?Their Pinot Grand Fenwick is, I am told, simply to die for.

:)

(I dare you to work in the phrase 'the pony who roared' into this) ;)

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?

(Reflections on the name of Gaberdine)

Seether00:?Oh, it's a guy. I kept thinking that with a name like that it he was a she

Georg:?k, just for illustration's sake, I went through and green/yellowed each his/he in the previous several sentences. There's 11 of them. 12 if you count 'Lord'

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(On the discussion of the Equestrian budget being 137,000 bits per minute)

Georg:?72 billion bits a year. Seem high or low?

Peter:?No way to tell without some idea of the buying power of the bit. What is the usual wage per hour for instance is a good place to start.

Southpaw:?It's good as a high enough number to make the point. It doesn't have to equal the budget of a nation like the US - Equestria doesn't have aircraft carriers. ;)

BluePaladin:?I want to say the buying power of the bit is probably meant to be around the dollar mark, given how freely those little gold coins (plated, perhaps?) are thrown around.

Ghost:?Less gold content than seawater, your basic bit. That's not even gold. Rubs off too fast. Brass. Even that's too expensive, truth be told. Also it while it is true we don't have aircraft carriers, we do have airborne pegasi carriers and those cost a pretty penny. The protective spells alone cost over... anyway. I'd take aircraft carriers and half of Pentagon in trade for the Parasprite Preparedness Fund and half of the MONHUNGENCOM infrastructure. --D.H.L.

Personally, I assume a bit is exactly one dollar and work from there. It's a daft notion[1] but it helps keep some sort of perspective.

Taking that into consideration, 72e9 is too few bits. But I doubt anyone (anyone not virtually present, at any rate) is going to bother multiplying let alone figuring out the economics of it. It sounds like a reasonably vast sum.

[1] I can't even blame parochialism. I've only ever seen a dollar once.

Ferret:?Can we please keep these footnotes? Or can Ghost put them in the comments? It's such an amusing contrast in writing styles.

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("Yes, Your Highness. Or my second-eldest brother Plum, in the event Elderberry is unable to carry on the family name.")

Peter:?in other words if his plums don't work?

Georg:?Boo!

Seether:?Oh c'mon. Throw the guy a bone....er

Anon:?not his fault it might be difficult to raise the flagpole.

Georg:?Ahhh!!! You perverts... I love you all, you know that, right? :)

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(Discussions on paddlewheel vs. Sidewheel steamships)

Peter:?Ah, I see. Sternwheeler vs sidewheeler.

BluePaladin:?Sidewheel 4lyfe!

Seether00:?Oh dear. He is in deliverance country now.

Georg:?Oh, if only I had a good spot for Sen to whip out a banjo...

Ferret:?Just mention someone's playing a banjo out of sight n___n

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(On discussions of Gaberdine's new career)

As a noble, it would be his responsibility to fritter away a certain amount of bits on irresponsible hobbies that could be used as conversation starters at court.

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Ghost:?Ah. I see he has learned the art of being a noble from Canterlot ponies. Good. We needed more of those. --D.H.L.

(Yes, I am writing comments in character. No, I have no excuse)

BluePaladin:?Now now, Dotted. It keeps them busy, after all. Otherwise, they might actually start to consider what powers they do still posses. I do rather wish they would stop having croquet, or racquetball, or what-have-you tournaments in the middle of the streets though.

Ferret:?True, but is that better than them trying to actually exert their supposedly dictatorial powers? Or worse yet, try to influence court.

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(Then he could return to Canterlot as?Baron?Gaberdine of Fen, much as several of his peers were barons or viscounts of bits of land so small that a stone could be thrown completely across them from one border to the next.)

Southpaw:?Princess Celestia, giving the young nobility what they need instead of want: a healthy dose of humility for the future.

Georg:?Some misguided youth just need a little size 14W golden hoofed nudge to direct them in a more useful direction.

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(Reflections on IHTFP -- The crusty old pony gestured to an arch over the gangplank with IHTFP painted in large letters, and below in smaller golden script, the words S.S. Paradise IV.)

Georg:?This is an in-joke by the way, it can stand for I Have Truly Found Paradise, or I Hate This Fucking Place.

Ghost:?:D

Ferret:?As it should be n_n

Editors note:?It's also a very long in-joke at MIT.

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(For a long moment, Gaberdine considered just climbing back into the carriage and flying home. This was obviously one of Princess Celestia’s epic pranks, and he was the punch line.)

Ghost:?Random aside:

It is said that Princess Celestia likes to play pranks on senior members of the civil service just to see what they'll do. Dotted Line endeavors to avoid the prank by simply not being where the Princess expects him to be and not doing what she expects him to do. Spinning Top responds by erasing all evidence that the prank ever took place.

Leafy Salad, on the other hoof, responded by alphabetizing celestia's rooms. Including the furniture. And everything in the furniture.

BluePaladin:?I am imagining Luna trying to Prank Dotted, and spending a week desperately trying to out think him long enough to actually put a pie in his face. On Wednesday, Celestia told Luna if she actually manages, she will buy her that expensive telescope she has been eyeing lately.

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(It only took a light magical touch on the dragonfire-imbued scroll for it to burst into green fire and flow out of the room in a trail of smoke, vanishing off to the north on its rendezvous with Princess Celestia, who would get it almost at the exact moment she was lowering the sun for the day.)

Peter:?I have this sudden vision of Spike earning spending money by contributing a supply of dragon fire to the paper manufacturer.

Georg:?So Twilight, why do you have me scheduled in at Minutette's to have my teeth cleaned every month of this year, and does it have anything to do with the new jewelry she's been buying?

Ferret:?giggles helplessly

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?

(The old baron must have been a fairly competent unicorn, from the number of waterproofing spells around his small but tidy bedroom and extensive library. )

BluePaladin:?In fairness, it's unlikely any suites would be below the waterline. Unless I miss my guess, this boat is meant to be evocative of the famous American Riverboats (Especially casino boats) with the crown topped smoke stacks and great paddlewheels. Those things possessed an absurdly shallow draft and a nearly flat bottom. They were also quite tall. Tall enough that if they sunk, the top few decks would sit safely above the water line once the bottom hit the riverbed.

...

Seether00:?You know what I'm going to say here:

Everyone said it was daft to build a castle in the swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em.

It sank to the swamp. So I built a second one. It sank into the swamp. I built a third one. It burned down, fell over than sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up!

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("I don’t see what relevance this has to a third barony," said Gaberdine. "If one son took everything west of the river, and the other son took everything east of it……" The riverboat they were on took that moment to lurch slightly at its moorings and Gaberdine paused to consider just exactly how convoluted Princess Celestia could be when provoked.)

Ghost:?That's nothing! During the highly annoying breakup of house Canter, she awarded one particularly annoying noble a third of all land (the middle third), excepting the third of that land (the middle third) and of those parts that were left, the Crown took a third (a middle third, as it happens) and of parts thus remaining the Crown took exactly a third (the middle third) and...

Six cartographers were driven insane, and an entire branch of mathematics had to be invented because of that little fracas. And then there was the business with House Sierpinski over in Stalliongrad. Yeesh. We still haven't gotten to the bottom of that one. --D.H.L.

Yes, it's a math joke. No, I don't have any shame.

Ferret:?No shame for such math jokes is truly a good thing.

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(After waiting a sufficient amount of time to put a dent in the glass of admittedly fine whiskey/cleaning solution and to see if the old pony was about to admit the joke, Gaberdine continued, "How many 'seaponies' are there in the river?")

Ghost:?One of my favorite jokes so far on account of being quiet.

Georg:?Credit goes to Tek on this one. I think. Or Peter. One of them suggested it. They've both been a godsend.

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(There was a sudden silence, followed by a piercing scream. "I got my cutie mark! Look! Look!")

Ferret:?What does a cutie mark for saving nobles from steam look like?

BluePaladin:?A disappointed Dotted Line.

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Well, that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed the trip down the river, and I hope to see you all soon as I continue writing.

Keep your boiler hot

--Georg (and the rest of the crew)