#l: mistfall lake

[sso-emotree]

Zeus had some mishaps at Mistfall Lake and Rebel had no shame in expressing her worry and general confusion. ( @sso-bluejay )

[ginnyzero]

Completely Harmless Ch. 27

Completely Harmless An SSO SilverGlade Re-imagining Story (Or Fix it Fan Salt fic) By Ginny O.

When Lily and her friends wanted to buy horses and were directed to the Silverglade Manor and its myriad of problems, they didn’t expect to start a revolution. They were just a bunch a stable girls. Completely harmless. Right?

A/N: Things are only canon if I say they’re canon. Pre-Saving the Moorland Stables compliant for the most part. Posted in its entirety on my website. Posted in 2000 to 4000 word bits here. Rated T for Swearing Word Count 177,577

WOW, somehow not in queue properly. Oops.

Chapter Twenty-Seven Planning Rainbow Week Pt. 2

“Okay, Ingrid,” Lily moved on hurriedly. “Plans for Firgrove.”

“Andy is opening up his petting zoo at the sandpit. We have the Red String Ride. So, we’ve decided to use the Friendship Knot as our charm. We have a big field area with a hill. Perhaps, Mr. Wetton could set up his talent scouting show there? We can put out extra balloons and create a backdrop if necessary.”

Lily nodded. “Okay, I think that’s the best. People are going to want to come and see the new talent and I don’t know, we can advertise it as a picnic thing? Maybe have the fireworks and those paper lanterns nearby?”

Everyone agreed that sounded like a good plan.

Violet picked off where Ingrid left off. “We’re also opening the flea market in the village. We’re going to show them how to make big friendship knots. Big enough for wall art out of silky ropes. And Ma Anna’s doing an Italian Rainbow cookie, it looks more like a layered cake with chocolate to me. Andy’s grandmother is doing a rainbow pancake cake. So, that should be delicious. Actually, she’s doing two, one with a heart in the middle and one plain rainbow.” Violet shrugged.

Pia looked panicked. “Are we doing treats? Our cafe relies on Harold for treats.”

“Oh, I’m sure we can have him do something with what he’s got going already,” Kate jumped in to reassure her.

“As long as it’s not cardamom,” Pia shuddered.

“Got it,” Kate said. “I mean, he’s doing these freeze and bake things. There has to be a different way to do it. I’ll get right on him.”

Pia relaxed. “All right. Sorry Lily, moving on.”

Pauline nudged Lily, “better plan something for Moorland too,” she muttered.

Lily glowered at her. Pauline made a note.

They turned to Melissa.

Melissa made a face. “One, our waterfall is still green.”

“It’s your club color, pretend it’s deliberate for now,” Lily said.

Melissa grimaced. “Can you get the Baroness to come out and look?”

“We need to find the Count or Countess,” Riley huffed. “You can’t have a county without them!”

There were some scoffs around the table.

“We can’t make them care,” Lily said.

“If we can get enough attention out here that’s positive, they’ll start paying attention and be horrified that their area isn’t in tip top shape,” Amelia said.

“Or not,” Ingrid grimaced. “If we can get attention without their help, why would they need to do anything?”

“Okay, what do you want to do?” Lily asked.

“We have a lot of roses, so we were going to make rose crowns for our craft. We’ve got yellow.”

“Oh good, because we don’t,” Lily mumbled.

Brooke spoke up. “It’s tied into our treat, our baker is going to do funfetti cupcakes and pipe rainbow roses on them, like individual petals. She’s nuts!” She lifted her hands up in the air.

“We’re using the crossed arrows and a star for a charm,” Melissa said. “And we thought about doing a special orienteering race or trail in the forest. We’re decorating the lake trail and are going to advertise it as a ‘love trail.’ It would be better in a boat, but we’ve got what we’ve got. We have beach picnic areas if that helps at all.”

“We had that thought too about orienteering,” Sonja said. “Granted, Mistfall is very little but riding trails being it’s a designated Jorvik National Park.”

“I think some folk music would go over nicely, if there is any to be found.” Melissa shrugged. “Druids.”

Lily twisted to look at Luciana, “Okay, Dundull, what are your plans?”

“We are so far out of the way,” Sonja murmured.

“Get a ferry going to Dundull,” Lily murmured and added it to the list. This list was getting strange and very political.

“And New Hillcrest,” Ginny added. “I think that is a big part of our problem, it’s difficult to get to us.”

“Kit has her Cuddle Cottage, where you can come and cuddle the animals. She keeps foxes.”

“Because fox babies are called kits,” Lily murmured.

“You are the weirdest trove of information,” Pauline wrinkled her nose.

“Okay, I like crime procedurals and cozy mystery novels, is that a crime?”

“Nooo,” Pauline leaned away from her.

“I mean,” Luciana said. “We’re lots of pretty forest and a big lake.”

“No fishing. No swimming. No boats,” Sonja said.

“I don’t know what we can do,” Luciana bit her lip. “That’s not what everyone else is doing.”

Helen bounced in her seat. “You’re a National Park right? I mean, what do you do in National Parks?”

They all looked at her.

“You go camping. So, okay, you get one of the musicians that’s folk. You advertise that you’re doing a bonfire cook out. Do things on the hour. Have sausages on a stick and s’mores. You can decorate the forest on the way to and from the bonfire. Maybe do a night time ride around the lake when the lightning bugs are out. No one else is doing a night time thing other than fireworks.”

Lily’s phone buzzed. She picked it up. “Mr. Wetton. Really? I understand.” She reached over to Pauline’s notes and scratched out Raptor and DJ Wetfloor. “How does Firgrove for your talent show sound? They have a hill with a big field in front of it. That’s great. We need two,” she trailed off as Kelsey waved to get her attention and held up 3 fingers. “Three folk musicians.”

Kelsey wrote something down and held it up.

“If one is a Celtic group, that’d be great. The moors on South Hoof are big and can carry the sound beautifully. We also need someone for Valedale, and someone to serenade campers in Dundull at a sausage roast.”

Brooke leaned in. “There’s a broken down house in Valedale that if we clean it up, it’d be a great place for a musician.”

“A ruined house for a stage for Valedale, we can make it atmospheric,” Lily said. “You know just the people. A Harpist, really? You are amazing, Mr. Wetton.”

Riley spoke up. “We’ll take the Flaming Trio, since I’m sure New Hillcrest will want to host Syntax.”

Ginny relaxed. “Thanks, Riley.”

“Cape West will take the Flaming Trio. They’ll scout locations, though, I’m sure the Golden Hills Forest would be perfect. Syntax can appear in New Hillcrest, they’ve got the large market square after all. And then, Jarlaheim wants The Miscreants. There’s a theatre, one moment,” Lily put her hand over the phone. “Amelia, what in hell is Talia doing for Rainbow Week?”

“Hopefully not staging Romeo and Juliet,” Amelia flinched. “Her stage isn’t nearly big enough for the Miscreants. We have that town square and garden area. They can use that.”

“Point,” Lily said. “The Miscreants can perform in the Garden in Jarlaheim and DJ Kai can have the Fort Pinta Disco to herself. Do Lance and Lilith have a name? They can play in Silverglade where they’ll be centrally located. Lilith’s Lance? Really? Well, um, I didn’t know Lilith had a lance. Not relevant Mr. Wetton. That leaves us one short for the Stormgarden.”

Luciana waved her hand again. “Charity concert at the Dew’s Farm,” she said. “All proceeds going to help the Dew family. We’d be squatting.”

“And this is me not caring,” Lily said. “Have you heard about the plight of the Dew Family, Mr. Wetton? The G.E.D., you heard. You’re one of the corporate backers. We thought a charity concert. You think Raptor would get out for that. Well, that is the power of good publicity.”

Mr. Wetton was talking.

“An Asian girl group idol pop band? That sounds perfect for the Stormgarden. Oh, that’s why, well, definitely the best for last then. Thank you.” Lily blinked and hung up. “So, Ami, you have a pop group called Filly, he spelled it f-i-l dash l-e, so I’m assuming it’s not only a pun on filly but a pun on French for girl as well.”

Ami groaned.

“But they can play at the Stormgarden.”

“We have a maple grove, we can set them up in there,” Ami nodded.

“Okay, so, Dundull is having a camp out and doing a night time ride around the lake,” Lily said.

“We have a lot of birds, so we were going to use a dove for our charm,” Luciana said. “I don’t know about treats.”

“No one is doing iced biscuits so far,” Pauline said. “Sorry, cookies.”

“Biscuits, are you British all of a sudden?” One of the girls demanded.

“No.” Pauline rolled her eyes. “It slipped out. Iced cookies.”

“Anyone?” Luciana looked around.

They all shook their heads.

Luciana nodded. “Then we’ll talk to our baker about doing iced sugar cookies.”

Sonja twisted her hair around her finger. “Braided headbands, with feathers? Face painting?”

“Those are great ideas,” Lily encouraged her.

Sonja relaxed.

Lily bit her lip. “Okay, we’re hosting the Silversong String Quartet and having a grand opening of the restaurant, ice cream bar, and the gardens. Aaron has designed a special friendship rainbow sherbet Sunday with a sugar cookie that has a rainbow heart in the middle and a white chocolate rose decoration. We’re doing our rose garden trail ride and at the pavilion in the middle, we’re setting up to make old fashioned bead headbands. We’re using a rose for our charm. Riley!”

Riley laughed. “All right, we’re hosting the Flaming Trio now. The Smugglers are helping us set up a treasure hunt where the reward is a crystal sun catcher. We’re going to have others for sale too. But the one for the treasure hunt is special. We’re also going to have supplies to make earrings out of jewelry crystal versions. Going with the crystal theme, we’re doing a rainbow layer gelatin dessert cut into shapes. Captain Brus is refusing to let us near his ship but he has conceded to decorate it. He hates Rainbow Week so I think his sailors bullied him into it. And we’re saving the Light Ride for Happy Horse Week.”

“Fair,” Lily nodded.

Pauline grimaced. “More than fair.”

“We’ve set up the treasure hunt all in that area though,” Riley smirked. “It goes from the Labyrinth area, all the way up towards the King’s Road using the stables as the middle ground. It goes with our charm of a coin with a heart cut out of it.”

“Oh, wow, sneaky,” one of the girls breathed. No one was sure if she meant the treasure hunt or the charm. No one dared ask either.

“We had to nix using cookie crumbs though. Too easily eaten by birds,” Riley rolled her eyes. “Really, right now we’re in the same boat as Ginny is, I think. We don’t have a lot to draw people to Cape West. There are a bunch of shops but none of them ever seem busy.”

“Maybe it’s time for some consolidation,” Pia nodded.

“I think,” Riley leaned back and glanced at Ginny. “I don’t know if this is your problem, but, Cape West lacks a brand, a definitive identity.”

“So, if it was a jolly sailor town,” one of the girls trailed off.

“Right. I mean, the Stormgarden is doing an Asian themed Spa complete with oil pulling, hot stone massage, and chiming bowls or acupuncture and Chinese Fusion,” Riley waved her hands.

Ami grinned. “We are.”

“New Hillcrest is a ‘planned’ town,” Ginny rubbed her forehead. “Except no one seemed to include the stables in the plans. Again, like Cape West, we’re mostly fishermen. We’ve got the Mirror Marsh, a bunch of windswept islands, and the Cauldron. Both the observatory and Fort Maria are closed. Plus, Mrs. X has set up shop in the Observatory since it’s so close to G.E.D. and Old Hillcrest.”

“No news about Old Hillcrest then.”

“Whatever it is, it’s bad,” Ginny whispered. “We haven’t heard anything from them for weeks, and the G.E.D. keeps turning everyone away. There’s a haze around the area.”

Brooke fiddled with a pen. “The G.E.D. has been drilling, right? I mean, that’s what Dark Core and G.E.D. have in common. They’ve been drilling. What if they drilled too deep?”

“Like, the Mines of Moira,” one of the girls said.

“I got that reference,” Luciana brightened.

“Okay, Mr. Kemball never had the proper permits for anything.” Lily glanced over at Ingrid.

“We’re looking into it, ja. We think he’s squatting.” Ingrid smirked. “He’ll be gone before the festival.”

“Ms. Drake seems the type to cross her ts and dot her eyes,” Amelia said.

“Are you sure? Or does she come off that way so you don’t ask questions,” Lily lowered her voice. “You can’t have Herman dig into it. He’ll go off half-cocked. Syntax and this secret organization of his.”

“CHILL,” Susan said. “It’s called CHILL.” She rolled her eyes.

“Theirs,” Ginny corrected absently. “They’re non-binary.”

“Theirs,” Lily corrected herself. “Thank you, Ginny. They’re a hacker, right? Have them look into it? Or have them do it. Give them a challenge. Or say we’ll find someone else if they can’t be useful.”

“Ricky is still pretty hung up on getting enough money to save the stables from his boxing match.”

“I wouldn’t rely on it.”

Ginny licked her lips. “My family is moving to Beauvista soon. I’m leaving Susan in charge.”

“I’m sorry, Ginny. It must hurt to leave the club.”

Ginny shrugged. “I’ll be here past Happy Horse Week. I can help by befriending Mr. Kemball’s daughter too.”

“I’ll make sure the club stays together,” Susan said fervently.

“I believe you, Su,” Ginny smiled at her.

Susan nodded. “I think Riley’s right though. The stable doesn’t have its own identity. The town is so bland. It’s not like Crescent Moon Village or anything where we could at least take advantage of the imagery.”

“Hold up,” Josefina said, she was Amelia’s vice president. “Friesians are an identity. That’s what your main sell stable has, right? Those are exclusive horses. You have to have a license to even breed them. Like Frederick the Great has been dubbed the world’s handsomest horse. And like, if you have any chestnuts, those are super rare. They’re dressage horses.”

“We don’t have,” Ginny trailed off.

Josefina smirked. “You just thought of something.”

“Mr. Kemball wants to buy his daughter’s way into the club. He could build us an arena,” Ginny smirked back.

“People love seeing Friesians as a group in herds and the babies,” Josefina bit her lip. “Start a J-Tube channel, get on Friend-Fund, and offer early exclusive content for people who sign up.”

Riley sighed. “And we stick with our jolly sailor town?”

“That isn’t a half bad identity, you know,” Amelia raised her brow. “Though your colors are wrong.”

“You took the navy,” Riley retorted. “And do you know how fond they are of being ‘golden.’ There’s no way that we’re getting a cool color when that’s their take on it. And Kate has yellow! As does Pia!”

“Girls,” Lily broke in. They were getting a bit off track.

“Actually, a sailor town isn’t a bad idea. We can go with the pirate theme and,” Riley drummed her fingers on the table. “The issue being not appropriating other cultures.”

“Canterella then?” Luciana asked. “It’s old fashioned.”

“But at the same time, perfect?” Riley grinned. “I don’t know what Anastasia has in mind for our new outfits.”

“Well, a Canterella outfit would be a costume and extra, I think,” Lily said. “Is that the stuff at the Purple Pony?”

“Along with the Knights of Unistria and some Mermaid stuff.”

“Ohh, mermaids,” Riley said. “This, oh, idea,” she grinned and scribbled something down. “Okay, but yeah, we think the treasure hunt should take enough time that we don’t need much more than that for our area.”

Sonja muttered. “If we could get to Firfall they have a Medieval Faire with an archery competition.”

“The road’s blocked,” Luciana said.

“I’m thinking some moltov cocktails,” Sonja rubbed her hands.

Everyone glared at her.

“Oh fine,” Sonja slumped.

“Amelia, over to Jorvik Stables,” Lily said.

“Okay, so, um, no one is very worried about Evelyn, outside of Jill and us. Jack is useless. There are a ton of shops empty, but the shops there aren’t that amazing either and should be combined. Though the two hair salons can’t be. There’s two themes. Eventing style elegance, and the rock star stuff.” Amelia shrugged. “It’s a town so it’s big enough for both. For the event, we’re running a special group race. And in the arena we’re having a special show jumping race. Lowe Westburg runs both of them. She gives out prizes. Catherine is doing her special cake. And the Miscreants are playing in the garden.” She pronounced Lowe as Lou-ve.

“Have you talked to Herman about the Riding Arena yet?”

“He refuses to open it. Absolutely refuses,” Amelia rolled her eyes.

Josefina huffed. “We told him we’ll keep the doors open and not go in at night.”

“We’re using a pair of swans that make a heart for our charm,” Amelia shrugged.

“It seemed obvious,” Josefina smirked.

“Is that enough for that area, you think?”

“Two races, on top of everything else you can do during the week?” Lily widened her eyes.

“What about wrist cuffs?” Violet, Ingrid’s Vice President in Firgrove, asked.

“Wrist cuffs?”

“For a craft,” Violet defended. “Look, okay you say you’ve got two looks, elegant and rock. Elegant is pretty covered by the Winery, who should probably also be doing bead bracelets and stud and dangling earrings.”

“Noted,” Pauline said with a grin.

“Then, that leaves you with the rock stuff. Bandanas aren’t really a craft thing. So, that leaves leather wrist cuffs and chokers and headbands. Do a leather Siwa bow. Have some awesome looking heart and rose and the other symbols as metal studs and don’t they come in all colors now with electroplating? Then what you do is take your shops, get them down to four between the tack shops and the clothing shops. Then beg the Miscreants to set up a shop there for their swag, or do a combined band swag shop.”

The girls were all nodding.

“Don’t you have that donut shop too, with Lisbeth,” Ginny said, her eyes glazing over. “I love her donuts. She could do tons of rainbow ones.”

“Okay, I think that’s covered then,” Lily said. “Onward to you, Ami.”

“We’re like you, doing our grand opening.”

“Pretty hanfu inspired dresses and Chinese Fusion,” Lily said remembering Anastasia’s complaints.

There were giggles.

Ami tilted her head. “We’re using a frog for our symbol. It’s a Chinese animal for good fortune, and the kanji for friend. We though to do some origami for our crafts. Origami earrings and stuff you can add to headbands.”

“Right, and you have the pop group.”

“The bottom of the Cauldron can be pretty, so we thought we’d do a ride to the bottom, have something there and lead them back up. We aren’t sure on what yet.”

“Make it surprise.”

“Tea ceremony,” said someone else.

“Is that okay?” Ami looked over at Ginny.

“The best way down into the Cauldron is closer to you than it is to us. We’ve got a ride planned through the Mirror Marsh.”

“Bring lots of bug repellant.”

“And maybe Frida will show up with her frogs,” Ginny added.

“We’re also giving away rainbow themed fortune cookies,” Ami waved her hands. “Because, fortunes!”

The girls all laughed. Even Loretta cracked a smile.

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.

[ginnyzero]

Completely Harmless Ch. 27

Completely Harmless An SSO SilverGlade Re-imagining Story (Or Fix it Fan Salt fic) By Ginny O.

When Lily and her friends wanted to buy horses and were directed to the Silverglade Manor and its myriad of problems, they didn’t expect to start a revolution. They were just a bunch a stable girls. Completely harmless. Right?

A/N: Things are only canon if I say they’re canon. Pre-Saving the Moorland Stables compliant for the most part. Posted in its entirety on my website. Posted in 2000 to 4000 word bits here. Rated T for Swearing Word Count 177,577

Chapter Twenty-Seven Planning Rainbow Week Pt. 2

“Okay, Ingrid,” Lily moved on hurriedly. “Plans for Firgrove.”

“Andy is opening up his petting zoo at the sandpit. We have the Red String Ride. So, we’ve decided to use the Friendship Knot as our charm. We have a big field area with a hill. Perhaps, Mr. Wetton could set up his talent scouting show there? We can put out extra balloons and create a backdrop if necessary.”

Lily nodded. “Okay, I think that’s the best. People are going to want to come and see the new talent and I don’t know, we can advertise it as a picnic thing? Maybe have the fireworks and those paper lanterns nearby?”

Everyone agreed that sounded like a good plan.

Violet picked off where Ingrid left off. “We’re also opening the flea market in the village. We’re going to show them how to make big friendship knots. Big enough for wall art out of silky ropes. And Ma Anna’s doing an Italian Rainbow cookie, it looks more like a layered cake with chocolate to me. Andy’s grandmother is doing a rainbow pancake cake. So, that should be delicious. Actually, she’s doing two, one with a heart in the middle and one plain rainbow.” Violet shrugged.

Pia looked panicked. “Are we doing treats? Our cafe relies on Harold for treats.”

“Oh, I’m sure we can have him do something with what he’s got going already,” Kate jumped in to reassure her.

“As long as it’s not cardamom,” Pia shuddered.

“Got it,” Kate said. “I mean, he’s doing these freeze and bake things. There has to be a different way to do it. I’ll get right on him.”

Pia relaxed. “All right. Sorry Lily, moving on.”

Pauline nudged Lily, “better plan something for Moorland too,” she muttered.

Lily glowered at her. Pauline made a note.

They turned to Melissa.

Melissa made a face. “One, our waterfall is still green.”

“It’s your club color, pretend it’s deliberate for now,” Lily said.

Melissa grimaced. “Can you get the Baroness to come out and look?”

“We need to find the Count or Countess,” Riley huffed. “You can’t have a county without them!”

There were some scoffs around the table.

“We can’t make them care,” Lily said.

“If we can get enough attention out here that’s positive, they’ll start paying attention and be horrified that their area isn’t in tip top shape,” Amelia said.

“Or not,” Ingrid grimaced. “If we can get attention without their help, why would they need to do anything?”

“Okay, what do you want to do?” Lily asked.

“We have a lot of roses, so we were going to make rose crowns for our craft. We’ve got yellow.”

“Oh good, because we don’t,” Lily mumbled.

Brooke spoke up. “It’s tied into our treat, our baker is going to do funfetti cupcakes and pipe rainbow roses on them, like individual petals. She’s nuts!” She lifted her hands up in the air.

“We’re using the crossed arrows and a star for a charm,” Melissa said. “And we thought about doing a special orienteering race or trail in the forest. We’re decorating the lake trail and are going to advertise it as a ‘love trail.’ It would be better in a boat, but we’ve got what we’ve got. We have beach picnic areas if that helps at all.”

“We had that thought too about orienteering,” Sonja said. “Granted, Mistfall is very little but riding trails being it’s a designated Jorvik National Park.”

“I think some folk music would go over nicely, if there is any to be found.” Melissa shrugged. “Druids.”

Lily twisted to look at Luciana, “Okay, Dundull, what are your plans?”

“We are so far out of the way,” Sonja murmured.

“Get a ferry going to Dundull,” Lily murmured and added it to the list. This list was getting strange and very political.

“And New Hillcrest,” Ginny added. “I think that is a big part of our problem, it’s difficult to get to us.”

“Kit has her Cuddle Cottage, where you can come and cuddle the animals. She keeps foxes.”

“Because fox babies are called kits,” Lily murmured.

“You are the weirdest trove of information,” Pauline wrinkled her nose.

“Okay, I like crime procedurals and cozy mystery novels, is that a crime?”

“Nooo,” Pauline leaned away from her.

“I mean,” Luciana said. “We’re lots of pretty forest and a big lake.”

“No fishing. No swimming. No boats,” Sonja said.

“I don’t know what we can do,” Luciana bit her lip. “That’s not what everyone else is doing.”

Helen bounced in her seat. “You’re a National Park right? I mean, what do you do in National Parks?”

They all looked at her.

“You go camping. So, okay, you get one of the musicians that’s folk. You advertise that you’re doing a bonfire cook out. Do things on the hour. Have sausages on a stick and s’mores. You can decorate the forest on the way to and from the bonfire. Maybe do a night time ride around the lake when the lightning bugs are out. No one else is doing a night time thing other than fireworks.”

Lily’s phone buzzed. She picked it up. “Mr. Wetton. Really? I understand.” She reached over to Pauline’s notes and scratched out Raptor and DJ Wetfloor. “How does Firgrove for your talent show sound? They have a hill with a big field in front of it. That’s great. We need two,” she trailed off as Kelsey waved to get her attention and held up 3 fingers. “Three folk musicians.”

Kelsey wrote something down and held it up.

“If one is a Celtic group, that’d be great. The moors on South Hoof are big and can carry the sound beautifully. We also need someone for Valedale, and someone to serenade campers in Dundull at a sausage roast.”

Brooke leaned in. “There’s a broken down house in Valedale that if we clean it up, it’d be a great place for a musician.”

“A ruined house for a stage for Valedale, we can make it atmospheric,” Lily said. “You know just the people. A Harpist, really? You are amazing, Mr. Wetton.”

Riley spoke up. “We’ll take the Flaming Trio, since I’m sure New Hillcrest will want to host Syntax.”

Ginny relaxed. “Thanks, Riley.”

“Cape West will take the Flaming Trio. They’ll scout locations, though, I’m sure the Golden Hills Forest would be perfect. Syntax can appear in New Hillcrest, they’ve got the large market square after all. And then, Jarlaheim wants The Miscreants. There’s a theatre, one moment,” Lily put her hand over the phone. “Amelia, what in hell is Talia doing for Rainbow Week?”

“Hopefully not staging Romeo and Juliet,” Amelia flinched. “Her stage isn’t nearly big enough for the Miscreants. We have that town square and garden area. They can use that.”

“Point,” Lily said. “The Miscreants can perform in the Garden in Jarlaheim and DJ Kai can have the Fort Pinta Disco to herself. Do Lance and Lilith have a name? They can play in Silverglade where they’ll be centrally located. Lilith’s Lance? Really? Well, um, I didn’t know Lilith had a lance. Not relevant Mr. Wetton. That leaves us one short for the Stormgarden.”

Luciana waved her hand again. “Charity concert at the Dew’s Farm,” she said. “All proceeds going to help the Dew family. We’d be squatting.”

“And this is me not caring,” Lily said. “Have you heard about the plight of the Dew Family, Mr. Wetton? The G.E.D., you heard. You’re one of the corporate backers. We thought a charity concert. You think Raptor would get out for that. Well, that is the power of good publicity.”

Mr. Wetton was talking.

“An Asian girl group idol pop band? That sounds perfect for the Stormgarden. Oh, that’s why, well, definitely the best for last then. Thank you.” Lily blinked and hung up. “So, Ami, you have a pop group called Filly, he spelled it f-i-l dash l-e, so I’m assuming it’s not only a pun on filly but a pun on French for girl as well.”

Ami groaned.

“But they can play at the Stormgarden.”

“We have a maple grove, we can set them up in there,” Ami nodded.

“Okay, so, Dundull is having a camp out and doing a night time ride around the lake,” Lily said.

“We have a lot of birds, so we were going to use a dove for our charm,” Luciana said. “I don’t know about treats.”

“No one is doing iced biscuits so far,” Pauline said. “Sorry, cookies.”

“Biscuits, are you British all of a sudden?” One of the girls demanded.

“No.” Pauline rolled her eyes. “It slipped out. Iced cookies.”

“Anyone?” Luciana looked around.

They all shook their heads.

Luciana nodded. “Then we’ll talk to our baker about doing iced sugar cookies.”

Sonja twisted her hair around her finger. “Braided headbands, with feathers? Face painting?”

“Those are great ideas,” Lily encouraged her.

Sonja relaxed.

Lily bit her lip. “Okay, we’re hosting the Silversong String Quartet and having a grand opening of the restaurant, ice cream bar, and the gardens. Aaron has designed a special friendship rainbow sherbet Sunday with a sugar cookie that has a rainbow heart in the middle and a white chocolate rose decoration. We’re doing our rose garden trail ride and at the pavilion in the middle, we’re setting up to make old fashioned bead headbands. We’re using a rose for our charm. Riley!”

Riley laughed. “All right, we’re hosting the Flaming Trio now. The Smugglers are helping us set up a treasure hunt where the reward is a crystal sun catcher. We’re going to have others for sale too. But the one for the treasure hunt is special. We’re also going to have supplies to make earrings out of jewelry crystal versions. Going with the crystal theme, we’re doing a rainbow layer gelatin dessert cut into shapes. Captain Brus is refusing to let us near his ship but he has conceded to decorate it. He hates Rainbow Week so I think his sailors bullied him into it. And we’re saving the Light Ride for Happy Horse Week.”

“Fair,” Lily nodded.

Pauline grimaced. “More than fair.”

“We’ve set up the treasure hunt all in that area though,” Riley smirked. “It goes from the Labyrinth area, all the way up towards the King’s Road using the stables as the middle ground. It goes with our charm of a coin with a heart cut out of it.”

“Oh, wow, sneaky,” one of the girls breathed. No one was sure if she meant the treasure hunt or the charm. No one dared ask either.

“We had to nix using cookie crumbs though. Too easily eaten by birds,” Riley rolled her eyes. “Really, right now we’re in the same boat as Ginny is, I think. We don’t have a lot to draw people to Cape West. There are a bunch of shops but none of them ever seem busy.”

“Maybe it’s time for some consolidation,” Pia nodded.

“I think,” Riley leaned back and glanced at Ginny. “I don’t know if this is your problem, but, Cape West lacks a brand, a definitive identity.”

“So, if it was a jolly sailor town,” one of the girls trailed off.

“Right. I mean, the Stormgarden is doing an Asian themed Spa complete with oil pulling, hot stone massage, and chiming bowls or acupuncture and Chinese Fusion,” Riley waved her hands.

Ami grinned. “We are.”

“New Hillcrest is a ‘planned’ town,” Ginny rubbed her forehead. “Except no one seemed to include the stables in the plans. Again, like Cape West, we’re mostly fishermen. We’ve got the Mirror Marsh, a bunch of windswept islands, and the Cauldron. Both the observatory and Fort Maria are closed. Plus, Mrs. X has set up shop in the Observatory since it’s so close to G.E.D. and Old Hillcrest.”

“No news about Old Hillcrest then.”

“Whatever it is, it’s bad,” Ginny whispered. “We haven’t heard anything from them for weeks, and the G.E.D. keeps turning everyone away. There’s a haze around the area.”

Brooke fiddled with a pen. “The G.E.D. has been drilling, right? I mean, that’s what Dark Core and G.E.D. have in common. They’ve been drilling. What if they drilled too deep?”

“Like, the Mines of Moira,” one of the girls said.

“I got that reference,” Luciana brightened.

“Okay, Mr. Kemball never had the proper permits for anything.” Lily glanced over at Ingrid.

“We’re looking into it, ja. We think he’s squatting.” Ingrid smirked. “He’ll be gone before the festival.”

“Ms. Drake seems the type to cross her ts and dot her eyes,” Amelia said.

“Are you sure? Or does she come off that way so you don’t ask questions,” Lily lowered her voice. “You can’t have Herman dig into it. He’ll go off half-cocked. Syntax and this secret organization of his.”

“CHILL,” Susan said. “It’s called CHILL.” She rolled her eyes.

“Theirs,” Ginny corrected absently. “They’re non-binary.”

“Theirs,” Lily corrected herself. “Thank you, Ginny. They’re a hacker, right? Have them look into it? Or have them do it. Give them a challenge. Or say we’ll find someone else if they can’t be useful.”

“Ricky is still pretty hung up on getting enough money to save the stables from his boxing match.”

“I wouldn’t rely on it.”

Ginny licked her lips. “My family is moving to Beauvista soon. I’m leaving Susan in charge.”

“I’m sorry, Ginny. It must hurt to leave the club.”

Ginny shrugged. “I’ll be here past Happy Horse Week. I can help by befriending Mr. Kemball’s daughter too.”

“I’ll make sure the club stays together,” Susan said fervently.

“I believe you, Su,” Ginny smiled at her.

Susan nodded. “I think Riley’s right though. The stable doesn’t have its own identity. The town is so bland. It’s not like Crescent Moon Village or anything where we could at least take advantage of the imagery.”

“Hold up,” Josefina said, she was Amelia’s vice president. “Friesians are an identity. That’s what your main sell stable has, right? Those are exclusive horses. You have to have a license to even breed them. Like Frederick the Great has been dubbed the world’s handsomest horse. And like, if you have any chestnuts, those are super rare. They’re dressage horses.”

“We don’t have,” Ginny trailed off.

Josefina smirked. “You just thought of something.”

“Mr. Kemball wants to buy his daughter’s way into the club. He could build us an arena,” Ginny smirked back.

“People love seeing Friesians as a group in herds and the babies,” Josefina bit her lip. “Start a J-Tube channel, get on Friend-Fund, and offer early exclusive content for people who sign up.”

Riley sighed. “And we stick with our jolly sailor town?”

“That isn’t a half bad identity, you know,” Amelia raised her brow. “Though your colors are wrong.”

“You took the navy,” Riley retorted. “And do you know how fond they are of being ‘golden.’ There’s no way that we’re getting a cool color when that’s their take on it. And Kate has yellow! As does Pia!”

“Girls,” Lily broke in. They were getting a bit off track.

“Actually, a sailor town isn’t a bad idea. We can go with the pirate theme and,” Riley drummed her fingers on the table. “The issue being not appropriating other cultures.”

“Canterella then?” Luciana asked. “It’s old fashioned.”

“But at the same time, perfect?” Riley grinned. “I don’t know what Anastasia has in mind for our new outfits.”

“Well, a Canterella outfit would be a costume and extra, I think,” Lily said. “Is that the stuff at the Purple Pony?”

“Along with the Knights of Unistria and some Mermaid stuff.”

“Ohh, mermaids,” Riley said. “This, oh, idea,” she grinned and scribbled something down. “Okay, but yeah, we think the treasure hunt should take enough time that we don’t need much more than that for our area.”

Sonja muttered. “If we could get to Firfall they have a Medieval Faire with an archery competition.”

“The road’s blocked,” Luciana said.

“I’m thinking some moltov cocktails,” Sonja rubbed her hands.

Everyone glared at her.

“Oh fine,” Sonja slumped.

“Amelia, over to Jorvik Stables,” Lily said.

“Okay, so, um, no one is very worried about Elaine, outside of Jill and us. Jack is useless. There are a ton of shops empty, but the shops there aren’t that amazing either and should be combined. Though the two hair salons can’t be. There’s two themes. Eventing style elegance, and the rock star stuff.” Amelia shrugged. “It’s a town so it’s big enough for both. For the event, we’re running a special group race. And in the arena we’re having a special show jumping race. Lowe Westburg runs both of them. She gives out prizes. Catherine is doing her special cake. And the Miscreants are playing in the garden.” She pronounced Lowe as Lou-ve.

“Have you talked to Herman about the Riding Arena yet?”

“He refuses to open it. Absolutely refuses,” Amelia rolled her eyes.

Josefina huffed. “We told him we’ll keep the doors open and not go in at night.”

“We’re using a pair of swans that make a heart for our charm,” Amelia shrugged.

“It seemed obvious,” Josefina smirked.

“Is that enough for that area, you think?”

“Two races, on top of everything else you can do during the week?” Lily widened her eyes.

“What about wrist cuffs?” Violet, Ingrid’s Vice President in Firgrove, asked.

“Wrist cuffs?”

“For a craft,” Violet defended. “Look, okay you say you’ve got two looks, elegant and rock. Elegant is pretty covered by the Winery, who should probably also be doing bead bracelets and stud and dangling earrings.”

“Noted,” Pauline said with a grin.

“Then, that leaves you with the rock stuff. Bandanas aren’t really a craft thing. So, that leaves leather wrist cuffs and chokers and headbands. Do a leather Siwa bow. Have some awesome looking heart and rose and the other symbols as metal studs and don’t they come in all colors now with electroplating? Then what you do is take your shops, get them down to four between the tack shops and the clothing shops. Then beg the Miscreants to set up a shop there for their swag, or do a combined band swag shop.”

The girls were all nodding.

“Don’t you have that donut shop too, with Lisbeth,” Ginny said, her eyes glazing over. “I love her donuts. She could do tons of rainbow ones.”

“Okay, I think that’s covered then,” Lily said. “Onward to you, Ami.”

“We’re like you, doing our grand opening.”

“Pretty hanfu inspired dresses and Chinese Fusion,” Lily said remembering Anastasia’s complaints.

There were giggles.

Ami tilted her head. “We’re using a frog for our symbol. It’s a Chinese animal for good fortune, and the kanji for friend. We though to do some origami for our crafts. Origami earrings and stuff you can add to headbands.”

“Right, and you have the pop group.”

“The bottom of the Cauldron can be pretty, so we thought we’d do a ride to the bottom, have something there and lead them back up. We aren’t sure on what yet.”

“Make it surprise.”

“Tea ceremony,” said someone else.

“Is that okay?” Ami looked over at Ginny.

“The best way down into the Cauldron is closer to you than it is to us. We’ve got a ride planned through the Mirror Marsh.”

“Bring lots of bug repellant.”

“And maybe Frida will show up with her frogs,” Ginny added.

“We’re also giving away rainbow themed fortune cookies,” Ami waved her hands. “Because, fortunes!”

The girls all laughed. Even Loretta cracked a smile.

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.