//------------------------------//
// More Friendly Faces 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
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There was a brief flurry of commotion in the room above the trapdoor in the seconds after Valey knocked, before Kouskous's voice sounded from just above it. "Who goes there?" he demanded. "And what are you doing in the Stormhoof sewers?"

"Uhhh..." Valey blinked. She had completely forgotten to set up a speech, but fortunately, improvisation was what she was best at. "Just a random passer-by. I kinda have to snoop around here to get around town since they're not cool with batponies up top, and you guys were being noisy and I maybe sort of overheard some stuff about how nasty this place is and felt like commiserating?"

That did the trick. A hazel aura surrounded the door, casting light and sending Valey dropping back to the ground, and with a swish of moving carpet, it was cleared and lifted aside. The brownish-yellow face of a young stallion peered down at her with distrusting eyes, appraised her for several long seconds, and finally nodded and waved for her to come up.

Valey coiled her legs and sprung, making the jump without too much difficulty. The ponies in the room above were suspicious at worst, and she landed on a stone floor surrounded by brick walls and a stone ceiling that really didn't look that much different from the sewer, except that it was brightly lit from each corner by collections of glowing orbs held in glass vases. Small and square, the quarters held a bed with two bunks, a large wooden trunk for storage, and not much else. Rusty iron rings were bolted high up on one wall, anchors for missing shackles and suggesting the room had once been a dungeon.

"Hi," Valey said, glancing around, noting the stallion, Kouskous, and a silver pegasus on the bottom bunk with all four legs in freshly-applied casts, both wings bound carefully to her sides.

"Hello yourself," an elderly voice said, and she spun to see a dark stallion who had somehow escaped her notice rocking gently in a chair next to one of the lamps. "Everyone calls me Grandpapa, and you can, too," he welcomed, showing pointed fangs and red slitted eyes... Another batpony, Valey realized with a slight rush. "To what do we owe your presence, my dear?"

"And I'm Kouskous, and this is Dazzle," Kouskous added, looking slightly nervous about letting the older pony do the talking.

"Snazzy." Valey winked. "I'm Valey. First off, do you have anything to eat? And drink? I'm new in the area and have had just a little trouble finding dudes who will sell me stuff. I can pay." She tugged out her stolen pirate purse and popped forth a gold coin.

Kouskous's jaw dropped. "You offered to pay a whole entire bite for a meal? And you still couldn't find anyone who'd take you? I would've at least thought some ponies would set their prejudice aside for money..."

"Or maybe she simply had bad luck," Grandpapa countered, slowly rocking with his eyes closed, a thick folded blanket in his lap. "We have food. If you want to pay that much for it, I'm sure Kouskous would appreciate it, though you should know that coin is worth quite a bit more than what you're giving it for."

Valey shrugged. "I dunno how much it's worth; I just stole it from a pirate. If you want it, take it. Better than the rest of the bozos in this place deserve." She idly tossed them three coins and several more pieces of silver, wondering if she should have left Senescey with the same and slightly curious as to just how rich she actually was.

"Seriously?" Kouskous blinked, catching the coins in his aura and staring at them. "You're just giving us all this money? Practically for free?"

"Call it a token of friendship and say you guys are now on my side." Valey glanced between the three of them, but Dazzle seemed to have fallen back asleep.

Grandpapa chuckled. "That, my dear, depends on exactly what you want us to do. You're welcome to share our room and supplies, but if you've a cause to champion, I'm afraid our hooves are already bound. You certainly won't see any disgruntlement with such a generous gift, however."

"Yeah..." Kouskous pointed a hoof, slipping the coins to the bottom of the wooden trunk. "Who are you, anyway? Practically no one just walks around the sewers doing things like that. And you'd know, wouldn't you, Grandpapa?"

"I have a feeling the answer will be that she's hungry," Grandpapa wisely answered, nodding. "Get her something! And yes, the sewers have been home to all sorts of everything over the years, but it's rude to speak with your mouth full, and introductions run both ways." He raised an eyebrow at Valey, not nearly as bushy as she'd expect from someone his age. "If you're at a loss for how to take care of yourself in Stormhoof and don't know how much your money's worth, I'd wager you don't know who we are, either, do you?"

Valey watched eagerly as Kouskous rummaged around, humming nonchalantly. "Sounded like mercenaries, or something? Let's go with 'not really'."

"Ho ho." Grandpapa shook his head. "Not quite, though our job has many of the skillsets, benefits and drawbacks entailed." He folded his forehooves on his lap, flapping his wings once and refolding them. "We are fighters who enter the War of a Thousand, hired on behalf of the province of Gyre. We receive a sum up front, and a substantial windfall upon winning, though by contract we grant the true prize to our house's lord in exchange. Many fight for their wishes, or for glory, but we do it simply to make a living."

"Mrmmmmph?" Valey tipped her head, mouth full of something she couldn't identify that tasted decent and wasn't dangerous.

"The War of a Thousand?" Kouskous glanced back at her. "You don't know about that either? It goes by so many names, I'm not even sure ours is correct, but it's a massive fighting tournament that takes place in the Empire every year. There are four rounds and one champion, and the victor gets to have a wish granted by Garsheeva herself. You can't quite ask for anything, like the extermination of the entire continent, but she is a goddess, so there's still more than you can imagine she can get you."

Valey swallowed, clearing her mouth. "A fighting tournament? And you get whatever you want for winning? Seriously?" She blinked. "Don't suppose they give, uhhh..." Taking another nibble, she scratched her head. "What are those things that let you get into the Plains of Harmony?"

"A Writ of Harmonic Sanction?" Grandpapa asked with interest. "Oh, they definitely do. In fact, it's common enough for winners to choose that as their prize that the palace keeps one on hoof at all times, just in case it is chosen. The last one was given out not six years ago, I believe."

"You're not thinking of entering, are you?" Kouskous frowned at her, perfectly reading her eyes. "I know that look. Everyone gets it when they first hear the word 'anything'. But it's brutal out there. You don't just get to be the best warrior in the continent for nothing... Nay, the entire world. There are yaks that come to fight, and distinguished Varsidelian war heroes. The three of us are good enough that Gyre hired us because they thought we had a shot, and look what happened to Dazzle in her very first battle of the year over there." He shook his head at the unconscious pegasus on the bed. "Last year someone carded her first battle of the second round, and year before she barely missed the cut getting out of pools. Best I've ever done was reach the first fight of the third round, and I got hopelessly routed because I had a bad seed. Grandpapa has been to the fourth round multiple times, but he's been working this for decades."

"Eh..." Valey sized him up, deciding she was no longer in immediate danger of starvation. "I dunno, I'm pretty tough..."

It wasn't even particularly good bait, and a flicker in Kouskous's eyes betrayed what he was about to do half a second before her cutie mark even flared. But the stallion was standing right beside her, and when his leg came up in a trick shot intending to break her guard, Valey was already moving.

"Yaaaaaugh!" Slipping sideways, muscles cramping as she spun, she rotated around him, getting one hoof beneath his chest at just the right angle to lift his foreleg from below. Already mid-kick, Kouskous was hoisted, spun, and dropped upside-down before he could so much as blink.

"What the...?" He panted, flat on his back, eyes wide as he watched Valey staring down at him.

Whud! Suddenly, without even looking over her shoulder, Valey lifted a forehoof and angled herself slightly sideways. Grandpapa hit her with remarkable speed, jetting out of his chair with a limber hoofstrike far belying his old age, but Valey took the blow, rolled with it and held fast enough to grab and take him with her before he could get away. Now smug, she glanced over both stallions, prone and vulnerable on the floor.

"Truly remarkable," Grandpapa wheezed. "Your reflexes border nearly on prescience! For the first time, I'm at a loss as to how someone saw me coming..."

"Heh." Valey smirked. "So, not to get distracted with this tournament thing, because I seriously have other stuff to take care of and it's kind of a pipe dream, but still think I don't stand a chance?"