I woke up and stretched around on my bed a bit, working out a series of kinks and pops across my body. “Ah, that’s nice.” I spared a glance to the Gamer Driver and small assortment of gashats nearby. The recent thrill of Iron Ring was still fresh on my mind, especially the fanfare that came from beating Jupiter, even a couple days after the fact.

After getting out of bed, I went over to the window, opened it, and took a deep inhale of the fresh air. That, combined with the warmth of the air, felt really nice, though the lack of sunlight put a damper on that. “Hmm, maybe I could get a mirror on the shed roof to send some rays this way? Why did I even put my room on this side anyways?”

After I finished contemplating, I closed the window and started getting ready for the day. “A lap around Ponyville sounds good. Shower first.” Plan in place, I gathered up the necessary clothes and went to the bathroom.

“Howdy, Yang!” Applejack called out with a wave as I was running on the farm.

“Hi, Applejack.” I slowed my run down to a jog and went over to the farm mare. “Anything new going on?”

“Nothin’ much. There was a small tremor from the Everfree yesterday, but that’s it.”

I curiously raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t feel anything.”

“Ah only noticed it thanks to mah magic. It didn’t even shake a single apple enough to knock it free.”

“That’s really weak.” I looked at a nearby tree for a moment before turning back to Applejack. “Well, I’m going to go back to my run now. See you around.” I quickly turned back to my route and resumed my run, glad for the brief talk with the orange mare.

“See ya!”

“Hey, Yang?”

“Yes, Gilda?”

“I’ve got a weird drink order here.” She handed me a ticket through the window.

I looked at the drink choice, then out to the dining area, full of ponies, a few griffons, and a draconequus. “Did Discord order this?”

“Got it in one. How are we going to do that?”

I looked back at the order, and something clicked. I turned back to the chefs, quickly finding the one I was looking for. “Hey, Gavan! I’ve got a thing for you!”

Gavan, curious, came up and looked at the ticket. “Huh. Well, isn’t this just the coincidence? I’ll be right back.” The head chef grabbed a glass and went out to the smoker. Moments later, he came back with the requested drink. “There we go.”

Gilda scrutinized the smokey contents of the glass. “Dare I ask why we have this?”

I shrugged. “Gavan was curious, I was intrigued by the idea, and I let him do it.”

“. . . Whatever.” Gilda took the glass and brought it out to Discord, who looked like he had changed seats at his table, and he blinked at it rather owlishly, as if he wasn’t expecting us to actually be able to serve the drink.

Meanwhile, I turned to Gavan. “So, did it work?”

“Yep,” Gavan confirmed. “You really can smoke ice in the smoker. I tried a piece. It wasn’t that good.”

“It didn’t sound good in the first place. At least we know it can be done.”

Sylvia poked her head into the kitchen. “Yang, there’s somepony out here who wants to see you.”

“It’ll be a few minutes. Big rush.”

“I’ll let him know. Colorful gray unicorn.”

After finishing up the order I was working on, I washed my hands and went out to the foyer area. My curiosity, already wondering who would want to see me, was piqued even more when I saw what looked like a covered painting on an easel. The unicorn next to the object had a gray coat covered in colorful splotches of what looked like paint, and his mane and tail were similarly colored. “I heard you wanted to see me?”

“Ah, yes” the stallion responded, a bit nervous. “I’m Palette Splotch, and I’ve come from Canterlot to give you a painting based on recent events.” Without waiting for me to say anything, he levitated the cover off the framed painting. “I call it ‘The Mighty Storm’s Fall’.”

The painting depicted myself fighting Jupiter in Iron Ring, fire effects coming off of me with great intensity as I was delivering a helmet shattering uppercut to Jupiter’s muzzle. The fire wings were a clean combination of avian and draconian styles and were each about twice as large as I was. My hair, also appearing to be made of fire, looked like it was getting blown back by the explosion from the uppercut. After looking away from the main scene, I noticed that the ring itself, particularly the ropes and the floor behind me, looked like they were starting to melt.

Despite the inaccuracy of the scene, it was still quite a cool picture. “I like it. I’m guessing you were there?”

“Of course. I wasn’t far from your corner either. It was an amazing fight, to say the least.”

I nodded in appreciation. “Thanks. I really appreciate the effort. You must have worked on it nonstop to have it done this quickly.”

“24 hours straight” Palette said with pride. “As soon as the fight was over, I was hit with inspiration and just let my talent guide me. Once I was done, I just knew I had to give it to you.”

“Thanks. I’ll find a place to hang it tonight.” I gently took the painting off the easel with a smile and took it into the office, already thinking about where to hang it. “I could put it over the chair, but that would be a bit intimidating. In fact, the office is right out.” When I went back out, I saw Sylvia guiding Palette to a table. As soon as I could, I pulled her into the office.

“Need something, Yang?” Sylvia asked before her eyes were drawn to the painting.

“Yeah. I want to give that unicorn a 25% discount on his meal today for the painting. I feel kind of. . .” I started waving my hand about as I tried to think of the right word.

Sylvia thought for a bit before suggesting “Obligated?”

“Sort of? He just up and made it after the Jupiter fight, and it’s really good, so I want to give him something in exchange.”

“I can do that.”

“Thanks.” As soon as Sylvia was gone, I looked back at the painting. “Where am I going to put you?”

The painting did not respond.

After closing for the night, I went up to my room and was quickly pounced upon by Asada, who was eagerly licking my face. “Woah there, easy girl,” I got out between giggles.

After she stopped licking me, I sat down by her on the floor. With a sigh, I said, “You know, I don’t really spend that much time with you.” She gave a neutral sounding growl in response. “You really have grown quite a bit though.” I did nothing when she put her head on my lap. “And you’re really smart too. A smart, friendly, and eventually, strong black bear.” I scratched behind her ears, a classic soft spot. “And the foals love you too.” Asada lazily nodded in response. “Can’t say the same about some of their parents though.”

For a few minutes, I just sat there with Asada, the two of us just being there with each other. Eventually, I had to get up. “I’ll be back in a bit, Asada.”

After taking care of business in the bathroom, I paused on the way back to my room as I remembered the painting. It was still sitting in the office, and still needed a place to go. “Maybe. . .” I picked up the painting and took it upstairs to my room. “Hey Asada, do you have any ideas on where I could hang this?”

Asada looked over the painting a bit, put a claw to her tilted head in thought, and soon walked past me. She didn’t go far, pawing at the wall right across from the bathroom door. “Right here?” I held the painting up in place on the wall and saw Asada nodding. “Right. I guess I’d better get something to hang it with sometime.” Asada pawed at the collapsed Ember Celica on my wrist. “Yeah, I do have those nail shells, but they drive the nail in all the way. I need something a bit finer than that. I’ll get something later this week. I’ll keep this in the guest room for now.”

After putting the painting down in the guest room, I let out a yawn. “I guess it’s time to sleep.” I quickly put action to my words, changing into my robe and going to bed.

Author's Notes:

Just a little cooldown chapter before something big happens.