Ancient Scroll made his way down one of the busier streets of Faranda Way Village.
He had left Sunset in charge before heading out and now he was here in town, on his way to meet an old friend. Sunset had asked him why he didn't stay in town and he had told her he liked his quiet life alone -- though that had changed somewhat with the arrival of the three fillies.
While it was true that he did indeed like his solitude, what he hadn't told the filly, was that he did used to live here in town, many years ago.
He had, in fact, been born here.
This was where he had spent the majority of his foalhood, and he still had a lot of old friends here -- friends that he had done a lot for in the past. There were a couple of such friends he was on his way to visit this very moment.
He passed by a few of the local grocers and a bakery before turning down another street. He continued into a different part of the village where a lot more of the diamond dog population lived. Many of the abodes were built partway beneath the ground -- some of the doorways being closer to a cellar door than anything else.
Ancient Scroll had always found the design of the neighborhood rather odd, but intriguing nonetheless. It also seemed to have grown along with the diamond dog population since the last time he had visited.
He shook himself out of his musings as he neared the one building he was looking for. It was one of the older buildings in the area and was one of the few places in the neighborhood that was completely above ground.
Stepping up to old brick house, he knocked on the dark wooden door and waited a few moments. He heard a loud snort and some unintelligible mumbling from somewhere inside that became louder as the occupant neared the door.
After another moment the door opened, revealing a very large and very old black and grey husky. The dog blinked a few times before looking around with a bemused frown.
"Come on, Yoji, I know you aren't completely blind," Ancient Scroll quipped, "look down you old lummox."
The husky's frown deepened as he lowered his head to face the old stallion. He blinked again and squinted at Ancient Scroll with one piercing blue eye -- the other milky white and unseeing.
A brief second passed before a wry smirk spread itself across the old dog's scarred face.
"Well would ya look at that," the husky said with a deep chuckle, "the Grim Reaper's finally come to collect my soul and drag me down to Tartarus."
"That's about the long and short of it, Yoji," Ancient Scroll retort with an amused snort, "you'd best be prepared to pay up."
The husky let out a wheezing laugh in response and waved the old stallion inside as he retreated back into the house. Ancient Scroll followed him in and shut the door behind him. The house itself was rather small and spartan, with only a few pieces of furniture.
This included a main room with a fireplace, an armchair, one dresser with a few odds and ends on top of it, and a small table with one wooden chair near the back. The kitchen was also fairly small and more or less the same as Ancient Scroll's in terms of design.
There was one back room that the old stallion assumed had all of the husky's personal belongings in it.
"So what brings you back to these parts after all this time, Scroll?" the husky asked -- his voice coming out in a low rumble, "I take you ain't just here to reminisce about the Journey are ya?"
"Nah," Ancient Scroll replied as he pulled out the wooden chair, "wish I could, Yoji, but life just got a bit more complicated for me."
"Oh, really?" the old dog replied, taking a seat in the armchair, "how complicated are we talkin'? You going back out there? At your age?"
"It's nothing like that," Ancient Scroll replied with a shake of his head. He paused and frowned thoughtfully, "well, actually, it might be a bit like that, but it isn't gonna be nearly as dangerous as it was back then."
"How do ya figure?" the husky asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I got little ones to take care of along the way," the old stallion answered with a shrug, "they aren't quite ready for that kind of adventure just yet."
The husky's eyes widening in surprised and he gave Ancient Scroll a teasing smirk. He opened his mouth to make witty remark, but Ancient Scroll spoke first.
"You know I'm not the romancing type, Yojimbo, never was," Ancient Scroll said flatly, "I don't got a mare waiting for me at home and the kids aren't mine by blood."
"Huh," Yojimbo said with a bemused frown, "I guess that sounds more like you. Always did well with the pups from what I can remember."
"Not always, old friend," the old stallion muttered as he stared at the unlit fireplace, "not always."
The old husky's ears perked up at Ancient Scroll's response and he frowned, but didn't comment.
"So how'd you meet em' then?" Yojimbo asked instead, "don't tell me they just fell into your lap?"
Ancient Scroll looked at his old friend and chuckled. His chuckle soon turned into full on laughter and the husky tilted his head in confusion.
"Actually," Ancient Scroll replied as his laughter died down, "that's exactly what happened, Yoji!"
"...You're pullin' my chain, right?" the old dog replied incredulously, "don't you live out in the middle of nowhere these days?" he shook his as he stared at the unicorn, "how did a couple of pups just fall into your lap? That don't make a lick o' sense, Scroll."
"Believe me, Yoji," Ancient Scroll said with a wry chuckle, "I'm still just as surprised as you are," he turned and stared out a nearby window as he sifted through his memories, "three little fillies showed up at my doorstep -- all of them within about a year of each other."
His wistful smile fell slightly as he continued.
"They've all been through a lot, Yoji," he said quietly, "when they first showed up, none of them were in good shape."
Yojimbo said nothing, for a moment before rising from his chair and walking into the kitchen.
"Sounds to me like you dug yourself into a deep hole and found some interesting little gems, Scroll," the husky finally replied.
"Don't I know it," the old stallion replied with a snort, "they're certainly something special alright."
Ancient Scroll heard Yojimbo let out a small bark of laughter before he stepped out of the kitchen with two mugs of alcoholic cider.
"Guessing you're still not a fan of the hard stuff?" the old husky asked with a smirk.
Ancient Scroll shook his head with a smirk of his own before taking the offered mug in his magic. He took a small sip before turning to Yojimbo.
"I'll be honest with you, Yojimbo," Ancient Scroll said with a solemn frown, "I actually did need a favor from you -- a financial one."
Yojimbo downed his hard cider and licked his chops before fixing the unicorn stallion with a level stare.
"How much we talkin', Scroll?"
"Thirteen thousand bits."
Yojimbo leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment. He hummed to himself contemplatively before opening his eyes and frowning at Ancient Scroll.
"Quite a hefty amount o' biscuits, old pal," the husky replied evenly, "I can think of very few things you'd need that many bits for in town -- you are spending it in town aren'tcha?"
"Was planning on it, yeah," Ancient Scroll replied with a nod, "I've actually got another favor to call in and the bits are a bit of a failsafe."
At that, the old husky gave a hearty laugh.
"Now I get it!" he said, still chuckling, "whatever you're plannin' to do, it's gotta be big if you're askin' him for help!"
"That obvious, huh?" Ancient Scroll said with a wry smirk, "well you're right about that one, old friend."
His smirk fell away and was replaced with a grimace.
"I've got a filly who's going through something bad, Yoji," he continued, "and I'm trying to get her the help she needs."
Yojimbo eyed the stallion with an unreadable expression. Neither of them spoke for a moment as Ancient Scroll sipped more of his cider. After another minute the husky suddenly nodded and stood up from his chair once more. He walked over to the door in the back, opened it, and stepped inside.
Ancient Scroll finished off his cider as he waited for the husky to return. Yojimbo eventually did return with a small pouch that he tossed to the stallion who caught it in his magic.
"Consider this a favor for a favor, Scroll old pal," the husky said with a toothy grin.
Ancient Scroll gave Yojimbo a bemused frown.
"And what's this favor you're asking for?"
"If you're gonna see old Den with that kinda cash, then there's only one thing I can think of that you'd need from the guy."
He walked back over to the chair and planted himself back down in the seat. He leaned forward and his toothy grin grew a little wider.
"You can say what you want, Scroll," the husky said with a hint of mirth in his gravelly baritone voice, "but you won't fool me. Dangerous or no, you're headin' out on another Journey."
He leaned back and crossed his large arms as he smirked at the stallion.
"I want in."
Ancient Scroll frowned.
"Look, Yoji," the unicorn stallion said with a sigh, "it's really not what you think--"
"Don't care, old timer," Yojimbo interjected, "I still want in. Besides, I wanna see these pups for myself -- see what makes em' so special," he slowly shook his head, not breaking eye contact with Ancient Scroll, "you get the bits, I get to go. That's the way it's gonna work, got it?"
Ancient Scroll worked his jaw silently as he contemplated the large old husky sitting across from him. Eventually he let out a sigh of resignation before shaking his head.
"Never change, do you, Yoji?" he muttered with a chuckle, "alright, you got yourself a deal you big lout."
Yojimbo grinned victoriously before standing up and heading towards the front door.
"Well, what are you waiting for, partner? We got us a hot date with a cold griffon and I don't wanna be late!"