The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi


Bath Time

The sun was visible by the time Maple and Gerardo collapsed outside a building in the upper Stone District... though that was more a testament of the sheer amount of height they had gained. A look to the east saw the Water District dam towering in the distance, the bridge they had entered upon visible far below.

"If you're tired," Gerardo huffed, panting, "I think a break could be in order. What say you?"

"I'm not tired," Maple answered, nevertheless throwing down her crate and flopping against it, draining the last of a water canteen and pulling a fresh one to offer to Starlight. "I'm perfectly fine!"

"Well, I'm tired," Starlight muttered, taking the thing in her hooves and pulling the stopper out with her teeth. The sheer amount of walking had caused most of the mud clinging to her to crack and fall off, though there was still a copious amount of dust left in her coat that nearly made her sneeze when she brought her hooves to her face. "How much further is it?"

"I don't know, Starlight..." Maple shook her head, then looked up at the current row of buildings. "Look at the rest of the city. The Stone District doesn't go all the way up, so we can't be that far from the top. We should just have to find somewhere... right?" She looked to Gerardo for approval.

"Indeed." The griffon pulled out his own water and drank, though much more briefly than the two ponies. "In fact, while we rest our legs, I'm very inclined to do a quick bit of scouting. Nothing that would let you out of my sight, of course, just a quick bit of altitude gain..."

"Sure," Maple said with a nod, "go for it. We'll be right here..."

Gerardo took off, soaring straight upwards. Maple and Starlight craned their necks to follow him... until he darted forward and out of sight. Maple frowned. "Where is-?"

She was spared having to finish by the griffon's abrupt return, a pleased smile on his face. "Fortunately," Gerardo announced, "there seems to be a well-off establishment not two tiers from here. It doesn't look the cheapest, but amenities such as baths should be in plentiful supply. Shall we?"

"We shall!" Maple nodded firmly, heaved herself to her hooves, and beckoned for Starlight to follow suit. Grumbling, she did so, and together they stumped their way toward yet another switchback.


"Well, you certainly look fresh off the road," greeted a heavily-perfumed receptionist with a bouquet in her mane, working from an open-air window facing the street. "Dirty work in the Earth District? I can always appreciate a hard worker..."

"Something like that," Maple answered, grinning nervously from the mare's slightly suggestive demeanor. "We, um, need a room. With a bath. Do you have those?"

The receptionist shrugged, showing off her lipstick. "Every room has a private bath, hon. There's an on-site spa, but access to that is extra. You'll be wanting..." She carefully evaluated Starlight. "Two beds, am I right?"

Gerardo raised a talon. "If one is cheaper, I'm perfectly willing to sleep on the floor."

The receptionist grinned harder. "Economical, too! I like it... Just for that, you can have a two-bedder for the price of one. That'll be two gray fours. For extras, you pay when you get them."

"Oh! Umm..." Hesitating, Maple turned away, shading one hoof with the other and sifting through her gems. While she knew the basics of Ironridge currency, she was hardly practiced with it and didn't trust herself to make change. Fortunately, it didn't take long to find a pair of smoky, four-sided ones which were probably what the receptionist was looking for. "These?" She held them out hopefully.

"That'll do it," the mare sung back, turning towards the rear of her booth. While she made a show of shifting and shuffling about, tail bouncing as she looked for something, Maple sniffed.

"I wonder if she's paid to do that, or does it deliberately," she whispered aside to Gerardo.

"To flirt with customers?" Gerardo whispered back. "In my experience, it's usually both."

"All right, here's your room key!" Returning to the front, she tossed a small artifact towards them. Maple easily caught it. "Room two-oh-six. That's the third on your right on the second floor, not counting the lobby. Pleasure!"

She blew them a kiss for good measure, but the trio was already gone. Shouldering their boxes, they pushed through the door into the hotel lobby... and suddenly felt very out of place.

The room was broad and long, likely running the entire footprint of the building save for an indent that was the receptionist's booth. The low ceiling was supported with ornate stone columns that appeared older than it was, the room carved around them into the mountainside when it was first constructed. A shallow reflection pool took up the center of the floorspace; a hearth, the back. The pool's bottom was strewn with colorful rocks and tiles slightly evocative of Riverfall's glass roads, though they were hard to see above the omnipresent, reflected torchlight... magical torches that appeared to burn while lighting the room evenly and giving off no smoke. Doors lined the sides, and to the right was a staircase to the upper floors.

"I believe," Gerardo murmured, staring at the back of a hat worn by a patron on a sofa in front of the fire, "that we are badly outclassed, at least until such time as we clean ourselves up."

"Well, let's get on that, then!" Maple shrugged, already heading for the staircase.


When they reached their rented room, they found it far less ornate than the lobby, lacking carvings, water art, or even a window, but it still had everything needed to be serviceable. No angry staff had approached on their way there to demand they take their muddy boxes off the premise, and the boxes were thus stacked in a corner, waiting as Gerardo took first shift with the bath.

"I'm not sure why he needs to go first... I paid for this, after all," Maple grumbled, sitting on the floor so as not to dirty the beds. They were circular, more resembling nests than anything else, with just enough room that two large ponies could cuddle and not feel they were too small. Since she was average-sized and Starlight was a filly, it didn't seem that would be a problem.

Fortunately, the griffon didn't take long, and soon emerged with his uniform wet and folded and the mud carefully scrubbed from his feathers. "Much better," he hummed. "Help yourselves."

It didn't take long for Maple to fill the tub. Beckoning to Starlight to follow her, she left the drain unplugged as she climbed in, the tap still running. "So the water doesn't stay muddy," she explained.

Starlight paused at the edge of the tub, examining the miniature sluice gate through which it filled. "Come on," Maple offered. "In. You're dirty too."

"Huh? Oh..." Starlight blinked, and followed, but remained quiet after settling in.

Several moments of silence passed, during which Maple was content to soak and cleanse her legs. Eventually, she asked, "Starlight? What are you thinking about?"

"Shinespark," Starlight answered simply.

"Her, yes..." Maple took stock of a giant sponge affixed to the wall, in a perfect position for washing the back and ears and other numerous spots pony limbs had trouble reaching on their own. "I think I liked her the most of those three. How about you?"

Starlight scowled. "I don't trust her. What she said didn't make sense. I think she was lying."

"Well..." Maple reached harder, scrubbing the back of her head against the sponge. "Let me know if you can't reach this, by the way. But all the Sosans were kind of funny. Why did you think Shinespark in particular was bad?"

"I didn't say bad," Starlight grumbled. "But you wanted me to trust Arambai, and she said and did some stuff that Arambai said doesn't work that way."

"Oh?" Maple's ears perked, swiveling backwards towards Starlight as she rubbed at her shoulder.

"Yeah," the filly grunted, rubbing at her own muddy legs. "I've been trying to remember. It was that first time I went to his house. I don't think you were there. He was telling me about Sosa."

"Oh?" Maple repeated, still digging at her ears with a hoof. "What did he say that contradicts her?"

"For one," Starlight answered, "she said Ironridge had six districts, and he said it had seven."

"Hmmm..." Maple tilted her head. "Well, he was last here years ago. Maybe one just doesn't exist anymore?"

"No..." Starlight hummed in thought. "He hears from all the Sosans who show up, remember? Like Faron! Didn't you say Faron only came to Riverfall a year or two ago?"

"It would be... let me think..." Maple bit her lip. "I lived in that house for... umm... Yew was..." She closed her eyes. "It was between a year and a half, and two years ago. So much has happened since then, though, it feels like forever. Like I was a completely different pony back then..."

"Yeah!" Starlight nodded. "So he should know. And you wanted me to trust him. But that's not the only thing." At a prompt from Maple to continue, she said, "He also said Sosa is an all-stallion society, like Riverfall and mares. That all the ponies live with their families in the Earth District. But she was there, and she acted important. Almost like she was more important than those other two."

"Now that you mention it," Maple hummed, "when they were introducing themselves, Dorable and Nimwick had big titles for themselves, but she didn't. But you're right... She didn't sound like she was their subordinate, did she? I wonder what her story is... Now hold still and let me get your ears. Maybe she was Dorable's daughter. She definitely looked young enough."

Starlight sighed. "And now we're probably going to run into her again because Gerardo wants to go back to get his sword. Mmmmrmph..."

"Hey!" Maple nudged her. "Maybe she'll turn out to be nice and helpful though, like Arambai?"

"Yeah... I guess..." Sighing again, Starlight waited as Maple finished with her ears. "I'm cold. This bath is cold. Can we go dry off now, and then lay down?"

"Depends on whether we're going anywhere else," Maple murmured, shutting off the water flow. "But we'll rest a bit, and hopefully we can leave those crates here, so you can ride on me again if you want. I know I don't want to carry one just after getting clean..."

Climbing out of the bath, Maple shook, spraying the stony architecture with droplets, then paced off in search of a towel.