[IC] Equestrian Radio Show's Adventure Variety Hour: Explorers of STOMP

[CoffeeHorse]

Static - Misty

"I figured as much but I just wanted to be sure. Static and Misty, you wait here and I'll be back shortly." Brisk Iron then left the office.

Tour team

With a shimmering, iridescent glow from Symphony's horn, the foals reappeared for as well as she could tell. Seemingly unphased by the ordeal, most almost immediately resumed their digging. Several groups had been finding things with a few requesting help with their finds.

---

"..."

"So how's everything going over in Petrichor Falls?" Misty affably asks the group.

---

"It's been doing well. Bank security isn't where I want it to be but the outer structure has been repaired, at least," Grape Vine said.

---

Static let go of a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Yeah, I haven't heard anything since the last time we met. What's the news. I'm sorry now I didn't know you were coming. I've been working on getting something similar to that basil pasta you made for us using Caballuston ingredients. I think you'd be impressed."

---

Maple gulped in air, now that the children were back it was safe to start breathing again.

"Great job Symphony, we're really lucky we got to be in the group with you today." Maple's last few words came out as here airflow normalized.

"Now we can use these Balloons as Prizes and the sticky notes to write down everypony's names on what they found."

---

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Scarlet leaned in and whispered.

"Quick thinking Symphony, well done.

---

Maple's Face smirked almost to the point of no return -as Scarlet and Symphony continued to pretend like nobody noticed how cute they were.

<_< which was silly, because - DAWWWHHHH SOOO CUTE!

Shaking the floaty hearts and romantic music out of her head maple turned back to the foals. " Did anypony find anything super neat while I was away?"

---

Static - Misty

"That might be a possibility for next time. But this was a bit too urgent for that kind of planning."

Tour team

While several foals had small objects, several others pointed at the ground with many continuing to dig furiously...

---

Wanderlust suspected that someone was trying to sabotage the field trip, but there was only so much he could do to look while keeping pace with The Horde. So instead he looks over the foals to see what they've found.

Spoiler

---

While keeping a concerned eye on Latte and Cinnamon, Scarlet scanned around for anything that didn't fit.

Spoiler

---

Tour team

Rushing over to the foals, something in the soil gave way and Wanderlust fell into a sinkhole. Thankfully he was unhurt but it might take a bit for him to climb out. Meanwhile, Scarlet Spectrum walked over and from what he could tell, whatever it was happened to be wooden...and large.

---

 

[CoffeeHorse]

"ARE YOU OKAY?" Maple calls down into the hole.

---

"Oh, I get that," Static said with a nod. "I hope the two get along together. I wonder how long they've been separated."

---

"I wonder what's going to happen when they come together?" Misty wonders out loud.

---

Scarlet leaned in and whispered.

"Quick thinking Symphony, well done.

Symphony smiles softly. "Th-thanks. I'm just glad it worked..."

Tour team

Rushing over to the foals, something in the soil gave way and Wanderlust fell into a sinkhole. Thankfully he was unhurt but it might take a bit for him to climb out. Meanwhile, Scarlet Spectrum walked over and from what he could tell, whatever it was happened to be wooden...and large.

Symphony blinks as she sees Wander disappear into the sinkhole and quickly rushes over. "Oh dear, if it's not one thing it's another... Maybe this field trip is cursed..." She questions to herself as she looks into the hole. "Wander, are... are you okay?" She asks are her horn illuminates and she shoots a beam of light into the hole to try and see him.

Spoiler

---

"'Cept for my pride." Wanderlust grumbles, shaking some dirt out of his mane...and his withers...and his eyes...before starting to climb out of the hole. "What did they find?"

---

Scarlet had been on the verge of pulling out his lasso to try and help Wander, but relaxed upon seeing Symphonys light and the bedraggled Wander emerging from the sinkhole.

"While i'm not entirely sure what it is. I know it's big.

The Chief will definitely want to here about all this."

Heading over to the wooden thing for a closer look, Scarlet wondered what it could be. And how anypony could have snuck the nets, the invisibility spell and whatever this was, pasteveryone involved in setting all of this up!

---

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Static - Misty

Just then, Brisk Iron and Steel Flint returned to the office with a metal box. It was opened to reveal the red beryl half of the Wand of Doubled Doubling. Grape Vine pulled the prasiolite half out of hair and very carefully placed the two together. A soft pulse was felt through the room and Grape Vine slightly staggered. "Are you alright?" "Yes, I just...feel like a weight has been lifted. At the moment the two are talking and I'm not sure what to do from here. Part of me feels like I should leave the wand here now that it's complete. The other part feels I should keep it in case it is needed in the Falls."

Tour team

Several groups of foals were converging on the same spots and their digging revealed the mysterious object to be a ship that had been broken to pieces.

---

Once Wander was safe, Symphony starts to examine the ship pieces wondering if she can tell anything about it.

Spoiler

---

Tour team

From what she could tell, the ship didn't look ancient. If anything, it looked somewhat new with cuts and dings to make it look older.

---

"Well, I hope I'm not speaking out of line or anything," Static began cautiously, "but the wand already knows who you are and you seem to already have a rapport with it. And I don't know that the Keep would be able to do much more with it than catalogue it and store it away. Of course it was Flairvoyent who rescued the other half. How about we ask the wand what it wants? It is sentient after all, isn't it?"

---

Static - Misty

There was a pause as Grape Vine's attention turned to the wand. After a moment she said, "The wand actually wants to stay with me." "I'm fine with this arrangement. The wand hasn't shown any open hostility and as Static stated, it already has rapport with you."

---

Static smiles. "That's good. Happy ending's are always nice." With such a happy moment, Static almost hugged Misty on impulse, seeing as how hugging Ms. Iron or Ms. Vine would be wholly inappropriate. But then he considered it might be just as inappropriate to hug Misty too and stopped himself.

[Since when have you been the hugging type.]

[I'm not.]

[Uh huh!]

[Blame Maple. I'm sure it must be her fault.]

---

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Maple looked completely flabbergasted... if she hadn't known she was being punished, she would have sworn her recent time off had just been so somepony could sneak this past her, still, a list was forming in her head of the ponies that could have helped with this... Unicorns, Earth ponies, Pegasuses... but that was beside the point now. This was for the kids.

"Okay everypony, we seem to have made a major discovery here today... and while we know part of this ship could hold the weight of a stallion, I just want to remind you all to be extra careful with your tools and hoofsteps. There's no telling how long this has been here..."

Spoiler

---

Tour team

Savant Sard chimed in, "Indeed, it could be from any time period. Maybe from ancient times. Maybe something tossed ashore during the town's founding. Those who keep up with their local history know that a hurricane wiped out most of the town except Warehouse Number Seven. Maybe it's even newer or perhaps much older. There's many things you discover on a dig that reveal mysteries of the past. Now, I know it is probably getting near time for you to go and this ship is too large to move. However, your teachers and the museum staff can help you jot down notes of the other things you found so you can go over them in your classes!"

Static - Misty

As Grape Vine hid the wand in her mane again, Brisk Iron said, "With that settled, I'm going to see how the field trip is going. You should come along to see if it would be something to perhaps try to schedule for the Petrichor Falls school. Our tour guides are excellent so I'm sure they've had no problems today."

---

Having hauled himself out of the sinkhole, Wanderlust approaches the...ship? He opens his mouth, pauses to consider current company, and settles for "Goodness."

Spoiler

---

Scarlet cocks his head as he tries to rattle his brains for any knowledge of a ship,like this.

Spoiler

---

Zamuel:
Static - Misty

As Grape Vine hid the wand in her mane again, Brisk Iron said, "With that settled, I'm going to see how the field trip is going. You should come along to see if it would be something to perhaps try to schedule for the Petrichor Falls school. Our tour guides are excellent so I'm sure they've had no problems today."

Static visibly cringes. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in hit team mates. On the contrary, it was supposed to be a simple field trip. Lots of foals, sure, but still just a simple field trip. He had every bit of faith in his friends that things would be okay, especially now that Maple was back in the tours department.

It was just that...

[Sweet Luna, Ms. Iron! Why would you say that????]

---

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Tour team

From the tomes they had read and the research they had made, neither Wanderlust nor Scarlet Spectrum found anything noteworthy about the ship.


Brisk Iron and the others walked outside, she looked to the foals and smiled. Then she looked over the lawn. Then she looked at the ship. She then waved her employees over. "For as happy as I am that the foals are enjoying themselves, why exactly is so much of the lawn dug up and what is that boat doing there?"

---

"Those are very good questions." Maple looks around as if for the first time noticing how vast the dig has become.

---

Tour team

From the tomes they had read and the research they had made, neither Wanderlust nor Scarlet Spectrum found anything noteworthy about the ship.


Brisk Iron and the others walked outside, she looked to the foals and smiled. Then she looked over the lawn. Then she looked at the ship. She then waved her employees over. "For as happy as I am that the foals are enjoying themselves, why exactly is so much of the lawn dug up and what is that boat doing there?"

Symphony blinks as she walks over. "Oh... um... you mean this wasn't all planned?" She asks the director. "Like, I noticed that that ship is... well it's kinda new but made to look old... so I... um... well I thought that you had it planted here for something for them to find..."

---

Wanderlust was looking a little worried. "Some of Savant Sard's stuff is in here, this has to be the official dig site, right? Maple, who was responsible for setting this up?"

---

Static's eyes went wide as he saw the dig site. He gave a whistle as he took in the enormity of it. "Wow! I was just expecting like a sandbox or something with a few trinkets buried. Like...a foot or two deep maybe. But this?!?"


[Today's foals have all the nice toys!]

"For as happy as I am that the foals are enjoying themselves, why exactly is so much of the lawn dug up and what is that boat doing there?"

[...]

[How do you have a ship this size buried in the back yard of your family business for so long and not know about it?]

"How do you have a ship this size buried in the back yard of your family business for so long and not know about it?" Static winced and peeked up at Brisk Iron, hoping she wasn't looking at him. "Please-tell-me-I didn't-say-that-out-loud-please-tell-me-I didn't-say-that-out-loud."

---

 

[CoffeeHorse]

More concerned than disappointed that the boat was not, in fact, any kind of old find, Scarlet could only nod in agreement with Symphonys words as the Chief looked on.

"When we arrived with the tour group, the lawn had been set up as this 'dig site'. We weren't expecting to find a boat in it. Although that isn't the oddest thing that's happened today."

Quickly, Scarlet recounted the tours events. The sudden nets, the back lawn dig site, the inexplicable magic that briefly turned half their foal charges invisible, until Symphony managed to negate whatever had caused it. Finally, he looked to the boat and shrugged.

"Something odd seems to be going on here. Who, how and why? I have no idea."

---

Maple looked at Wanderlust... "Was that not covered at the meeting... ? I um seem to have forgotten everything past the part about getting to go back to work." Maple's face looked almost as sheepish as it could without her actually turning into a sheep

---

Bottle Wary seemed confused and asked, "Wait, you didn't clear this, Ms. Iron?" Brisk Iron frowned but then Steel Flint said, "I authorized it. Sard wanted to do more than just the parts of her collection and thought something big would top off the dig. She asked some members of Grounds & Gardening and then they asked me. Since you gave me permission to handle museum affairs when needed, I cleared it. I knew you were busy so I didn't want to disturb you. Plus, time was critical. The ship was buried overnight." Savant Sard said, "I bought three just in case but only two boats were buried." Brisk Iron sighed. "While I commend initiative, still let me know next time, Steel. That way we can all be on the same page and not make negative assumptions. The nets sound like the new security system. I don't know if I should be glad nopony was seriously hurt, glad it seems to work, or disappointed that there still seems to be holes in it. Steel can look into that magical mishap. At least things..."

Brisk Iron paused, seeming to stop herself. Then said, "...went well enough. I'm glad that the Nightmare Heights class was able to join the Caballuston schools for this. And yes, I certainly did hear you Static. Just haven't decided how I want to respon..."

Brisk Iron jumped back as something crashed in front of her. Seeing it was a stallion, she said, "What is with pegasi crashing in front of me today?" He wore a mail carrier's uniform but it wasn't one for the local area. In fact, it was adorned with gilded armor...

---

"Are you okay?" Maple askes the Pegasus... taking her pack off in case they need medical care.

---

"I authorized it. Sard wanted to do more than just the parts of her collection and thought something big would top off the dig. She asked some members of Grounds & Gardening and then they asked me. Since you gave me permission to handle museum affairs when needed, I cleared it. I knew you were busy so I didn't want to disturb you. Plus, time was critical. The ship was bur!ed overnight."

"This was done overnight?" Static's jaw hit the floor. He wanted to do a slow clap of admiration, and was about to do just that when...

"And yes, I certainly did hear you Static. Just haven't decided how I want to respon..."

*whimper*

Static seems to shrink several inches.

[Some place to hide. I don't care if it's somewhere a foal has stuck their used chewing gum or not. I need a place to hide...now!]

Brisk Iron jumped back as something crashed in front of her. Seeing it was a stallion, she said, "What is with pegasi crashing in front of me today?" He wore a mail carrier's uniform but it wasn't one for the local area. In fact, it was adorned with gilded armor...

A shocked Static takes a giant leap back.

[What is it with pegasi forgetting how to land all of a sudden?]

---

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Symphony can't help but giggle at the mention of the net-based security system having a few holes in it... Though gasps and blinks as it starts raining pegasai... okay well just a single one... but she moves a bit closer. "A-Are you alright?" She asks softly.

---

Misty takes a moment to check that her wings still work correctly, or if this was something contagious.

---

"That's a much better idea Mr. Night Cap, you see if he's okay and I can hold up the camera for you until you're done." Maple doesn't offer to keep filming of course, the Time she spent with Static up in the booth was much more about the theoretical then it was the practical.

---

Spoiler

Scarlet was on the verge if laughing, as it was discovered that all their apparent 'mishaps' had not had an underhanded motive.

Then the pagasus crashed and Scarlet almost swallowed his tongue. Staggering back a bit, Scarlet wheezed.

---

]The foals are gone now, right?

Wanderlust lets out a syllable that sounds more like gnashing teeth than equine speech, in a language he's never learned, and zips to the pegasi's side. "First things first: are you conscious?" He asks, gently prodding the pegasus to test for injuries.

Spoiler

---

 

[CoffeeHorse]

The stallion struggled to his feet and muttered, "Why was there a shovel in one of the clouds?" Brisk Iron very briefly glanced over at the tour team until he continued. "Anyway...I have an express delivery for a Brisk Iron from the royal guard." "That would be me." He gave her a letter and a film reel shaped package. He was about to take off again but she said, "Wait. Let them look you over before you go." "I was hoping to get going before I got caught in the rain." "Rain? Oh no, what time is i..."

A heavy downpour began as the weather team was right on time. Sort of.

"It might be best if you go inside, Brisk, so your packages don't get damaged. I think I can handle it from here. Maple, if you and the rest could help the teachers herd the little ones inside, that would be much appreciated."

---

"yes ma'ams." Maple turned and trotted a few paces back to the group... her mane and tail doing their best to shield her from the rain... but all to soon she'd look like a wet mop.

"Okay little ponies, time to head back inside... just go ahead and drop everything, we'll get it all picked up later on... follow me and we'll see if the snack stands have any fresh donuts teheh, and then maybe when we've dried off a little, we can go see what type of neat treasures the giftshop has!"

---

The foals dropped their shovels, buckets, and brushes but not a single one dropped the things they had found while digging as they fell in line and followed their teachers.

---

Relieved for the reprieve from whatever Brisk Iron's response was going to be for his comment, Static goes to help round up the foals.

[Since when have you ever been comfortable around foals?]

[Have to learn sometime. Hope to have my own sooner rather than later.]

[Again...since when?]

[You know very well since when.]

---

"Wow! This is a fantastic downpour! The team really outdid themselves today," Misty comments as the rain comes down.

---