New Equipment (Patreon)

 While Petina and Carousel ponder how Scratch's letter effect our future in my Equestria dreamscape. On the other side of the kingdom folks we're dealing with stuff that Scratch had mailed to them.

   
  Scarlet Tips shook her head as Keyboard fiddled with her boots for what seemed like the hundredth time in last hour. Finally the griffin spoke up.  

 
  "Keyboard, they're new boots you're going to have break them in before they feel right." Said the griffin.      

    Actually we've each got three pairs to break in. Thought the griffin. A practice pair, a pair for performances, and spare performance pair for any unexpected accidents.

  "I know." Said the pegasus mare. "I'm just not certain that they ordered the right size for me. I always have this problem. Even large sizes for mares are often too small for me."

   
  Scarlet stopped admiring the carefully fitted steel eyelets that permitted her talons to project from her front boots/gloves and grinned at the mare. 

  
  "Well I don't about you, but the cobbler who made mine appears to have followed Scratch's instructions to the letter." She made a fist and then relaxed it. "A bit stiff but they'll soften up with time." 

  
  Keyboard slowly rose into the air and proceeded to do several pirouetting moves around the interior of the what had been the main carriage house for the Silver Mirror mansion. Now it had been converted into a dance studio where Scratch's troupe was planning and developing all the various elements necessary for a successful tour.     

       Performing a loop so slowly it looked like the pegasus mare would fall out of the air any second  Keyboard gently settled back to the ground. As her back hoofs touched to the ground she went into down into the splits. With a critical eye she judged her position. 

  
  "I just want to make certain that these boots are the right size for me. I don't want them inhibiting any of my moves."

  Oh trust me your moves are just fine dear. Just fine. Thought the griffin as she laid draped across the top of a wooden shipping crate. In fact I am already thinking of several interesting ways we can start breaking these boots in! 

  
  "Keyboard they'll be just fine. Just remember to follow the instructions that came with your boots and remember to wear them everyday and oil them to. In a couple weeks they be much more comfortable. We see Scratch wearing these all the time."

   
  The mare got back on her hoofs and then strolled over and nuzzled the griffin. "I know you're probably right, but I am a bit of a perfectionist."

  "A bit. A bit. That's an understatement. I've watched you hold up an entire buffet line for a couple of minutes while you decided which chocolate chip cookie had the most aesthetically appeal pattern of chocolate chips in it! You my marefriend are obsessive." 

  
  Scarlet Tips knew she was being a bit hard on the mare but sometimes it was just too much fun to rib her about habit. The two of them had quickly become an item once they started working for Scratch, and in way they were perfect for each other since they were both oddballs.  

 
  As far as griffins went Scarlet was tiny, even for a female griffin. Heck Keyboard was almost bigger than her, and the griffin was just fine with that.  

 
  Keyboard was the very opposite, being a very rare zebra/pegasus mix she had the solid almost chunky build of her father. In fact the only pegasus mare bigger than her was Morning Lily, but Morning Lily was bigger than most of the stallions in Scratch's employment.

  The mare started preening and fussing over the griffin's brilliant red primaries for which she was named for. The griffin just laid there and let the mare go about her business. She'd learned that this was both one of her fussy obsessive habits and sign of deep affection from her.  

 
  Besides that mare's tongue gave the most amazing preening jobs.

   
  After a couple minutes the mare had worked it out of her system and she spoke up.

   
  "So, do you know anything about these three ponies that Scratch has hired from Ponyville. Apparently the mares are a couple revolutionary dance choreographers and their pegasus stallion is supposedly a natural in cloud sculpting and manipulating. I don't see why we need another expert for that."

  Scarlet could sense the mare tensing up; slowly she reached out and gently scritched the mare behind her right ear with a talon. Immediately she felt the mare begin to relax. 

  
  Along with being one of Scratch's dancers, Keyboard was the pegasus primarily in charge of all the steam and smoke effects in Scratch's performances. The mare was very competent at weather and cloud manipulation, but due to her heritage she sometimes had work twice as hard to prove it to other pegasi. This meant she was a bit touchy about the idea of some unknown pegasus showing up and questioning methods or competency. 

  
  "He's just a consultant that Scratch hired." Purred the griffin. "That's all."

  "I know." Said the mare. "But I don't want an outsider coming in and wrecking the system I've figured."

  She paused and looked at the boots. "Apparently the two mares from Ponyville are big fans of high boots to hear Scratch talk about them."

  "And chaps. Don't forget the chaps." Grinned the griffin. Then she looked toward the other end of the building where workers were erecting a slightly raised platform and installing a half dozen items. 

  
  "I just want to know what the brass poles are for, and why they'd need them?" Said the Scarlet.

 To be continued.