//------------------------------// // Your First Quest // Story: The Olden World // by Czar_Yoshi //------------------------------// "It feels so odd that a mugging would happen in a hospital. I wonder if that's normal around here," Maple murmured, standing with Starlight in the central plaza and watching as Gerardo and Valey stopped citizen after citizen to check out Jamjars' drawing. "Why wouldn't it be?" Jamjars shrugged. "Hospitals are for sick and injured ponies, right? It sounds to me like everyone there would be weakened, so they'd make easier targets." Maple looked vaguely upset. "You're missing the point! Hospitals are supposed to be safe! I can understand if someone was hungry and needed money to buy food, but preying on ponies like that is wrong." "And griffons," Slipstream added, rubbing her chin. "Hmmm... Whoever it was, I bet they weren't a first-time criminal. We had Chauncey and Melia with us, and they're probably important enough that everyone around here would know who they are. So the thief would have recognized important government ponies, and only someone with nothing to lose would try to rob them anyway." "I think they were following us for a while," Starlight muttered, thinking. "A few halls ago, I remember hearing a door open behind us, but didn't see anything when I turned around. It was..." She scrunched her eyes, trying to recall, but Melia's constant descriptions of identical doors formed a soup in her mind and she had to give up. "I don't remember." Jamjars sat down and huffed. "This is what happens the moment I actually go with you instead of sneaking around." Baring her teeth, she hissed, adding, "I was paying too much attention to Chauncey! Ugh. I don't like him." "Really?" Starlight glanced up, interested. "He seems kind of weird and slippery. You liked Howe, didn't you? I figured he'd be your type." "I don't think 'your type' means what you think it means," Jamjars sniffed. "And no. Howe had a very nice mane, but Chauncey's looked like someone dropped spaghetti in a mud puddle. You can tell a lot about a pony from how they wear their mane, and if I were him, I'd never take that hood off even for a shower. Of course, that's probably why he looks like that." Starlight frowned. "That's a weird way to judge a pony." "So what?" Jamjars shrugged. "You don't like him either, right? So we agree. And besides, he was gross and old, and most importantly the Firefly Sisters clearly don't like him and I'm their biggest fan, so I'm contractually not allowed to be nice to him." "Do you really think they don't like him?" Maple tilted her head. "They were definitely behaving weird, but they seemed really happy when he brought them food. I wonder what else is going on..." "Good questions," Slipstream hummed, hunched over in thought. "Do you really think we should be poking our noses into the government's business, though? I can see how you got into trouble in Ironridge... and we do have a thief to catch." Maple folded her ears, and Starlight looked up at the sound of Valey and Gerardo wandering back over. "Any luck?" Slipstream called. Valey grinned. "At finding the bad guy? Nah. But look what I can do again!" She hopped up, hovering, and did a lazy backflip. "Bet you can't do this." Narrowing her eyes, Jamjars squared her legs, and Starlight realized she was considering it a challenge just in time to back out of the way. "Yaaaugh- Ow!" Jamjars managed half a backflip, landing undignified on her back and quickly scrambling upright. "You have wings, so you cheated," she pouted. "That's not fair." "Eh, it was a good effort." If it had been anyone else, Starlight was sure Valey would have patted them on the head, but Jamjars got off with just a small shrug. "Sooo..." Valey landed and tapped a hoof, looking around. "The townspeople are amiable, but ultimately unable to help us," Gerardo finished, summarizing their efforts. "How about yourselves? We figured a bit of brainstorming might be in order before running back to try our luck again." "Not really," Maple apologized, shaking her head. "We just thought about how odd it was that there was a mugger in a hospital and figured they were bold or already a criminal to rob someone so important." Valey glanced at the massive wooden airship floating above the commerce building on the other side of the plaza. "You know, maybe we should ask Wallace? That dude might know a thing or two. I bet if there's a crook nest nearby where someone might hide out, he'd be familiar with it." Maple stared past the skybridges that linked the circle of buildings, hills, groves and farmland visible far beyond. "We might just be looking in the wrong place. This is the center of government, but there aren't any houses, see? The town has to go a lot further than this. We should be looking out where people actually live, since the few that are up here don't know anything." "Noted," Gerardo agreed. "As for contacting Wallace, it is certainly a possibility, and I'm quite sure he'd at least offer useful advice. However, now that I've met him in the flesh and had enough time to gather my thoughts again, I'd very much like to show him what we can do, and that means solving this case on our own. He certainly thinks us capable enough." "How capable would he think you if someone's locket was lost forever because you didn't ask for his help?" Slipstream quietly warned. "...A more than fair point," Gerardo sighed, crest flopping dramatically. "To the Sky Goat we go!" Entering the commerce building from the ground floor, it wasn't nearly as hard as Starlight had expected to spot the top-level lobby that was connected to the airship tower. Finding the staircase that would get there, though, was an entirely different matter. "That way goes down," Jamjars reported, pointing at a path she had just scouted that was filled with fruit vendors. "The staircase over there goes to that balcony, but I can't see past it..." Slipstream squinted, leaning to look. "Or we could just fly," Valey offered, hovering midair and shrugging noncommittally. "But I'm pretty sure it's just that staircase, then that bridge, then that... No, one sec..." "Hey!" a deep mare's voice interrupted, and everyone jumped to see Morena strolling in behind them, wearing nothing but a double-wrapped utility belt. "You lot look like you know your way around," she greeted, muddy circles staining the rims of her hooves. "Having fun?" Gerardo immediately beamed. "Ah, the mare of the hour! As a matter of fact, we were looking for someone like you in search of advice." "Really." Morena raised an eyebrow. "You know there's a particular thing most of my advice specializes in, right?" Valey hovered up, sticking the drawing in Morena's face. "This lemon bag mugged us in the hospital and stole Birdo's autograph, and we're trying to find them and bust them up. For the greater good, and all that." Pow! Morena clapped her forehooves together so hard the shockwave made Starlight stumble. "Now that's up my alley!" Morena cheered, smirking. "Follow me, you lot. I've got something you should see." One staircase later, Morena stopped them in front of two giant, free-standing bulletin boards nailed onto a trio of logs sticking up from the floor. "Take a look," she instructed, lifting a hoof at the myriad of notices neatly organized across the two. "This is the job request board. Wallace got them to put it in about fifteen years back. It works like this: any time you want to hire someone for something, you make a notice and pin it here. The left board is for stuff that's not risky and doesn't have any ethical issues, like running an errand for something really hard to obtain. The right board is for things you do at your own risk, like bodyguard work, ethically dubious things like helping dig up dirt or spying, and in your case, criminal wanted posters. It's not very regulated; there's someone who takes down ones that are over a week old and moves misplaced ones to the right, and that's about it. So if you're sure that drawing's good, stick it up on the right side and see what happens." Gerardo eyed her carefully. "Really." Morena nodded. "You'll also want to note your reward. Some people put up jobs for free, but you'll almost never get more than a concerned civilian trying to help and no one who wants to take a risk. Of course, make sure you can pay up what you offer, because anyone who comes here looking to make money will be strong enough to take it by force. You're only looking for information, right?" Quickly, she appraised them. "You look like you can handle yourselves in a fight, so you won't have to offer a very big bounty. How much do you have on you?" "Wait a minute!" Maple stopped her, rocking nervously on her hooves. "Slow down. What are you signing us up for? It sounds like you're hiring us mercenaries?" "It's a job board." Morena shrugged. "It's where people who need a hoof can post public notice, and people with a hoof to give, a need for some quick bits, or who do it for fun like me go for entertainment. I suppose you could see if someone's already-" "Bingo." Jamjars smirked, drawing down a sheet that had been pinned to the right-side board and comparing it with her own drawing. Quickly, she held them up together, and Starlight realized their target was apparently already wanted. Morena squinted at the new poster. "You sure those are the same?" she asked, tilting her head. "The one you just took down looks kind of like a dude..." "He was a dude," Jamjars deadpanned. "My drawing just looks like a girl. So what do we do with this?" Everyone crowded around to the point where Starlight couldn't see, but Gerardo narrated anyway. "Please retrieve my wedding ring: Help! I was walking in the lower riverside park when this pickpocket got away with it! I followed them to the pawn shop on the second story of the Cobbleheel boot store, but couldn't get inside. Reward: fifty bits." Morena licked her lips approvingly. "Well, that's not the richest reward, but if you were going after him anyway... looks like you've got your first job!"