Flight took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. That pink mare had probably been a hallucination… though why she would have hallucinated something quite so pink, let alone using binoculars and wearing a camouflage hat, she had no clue.
She checked if the coast was clear once again. Left, right… left. All clear.
She checked back down the alley, just to be sure, before glancing up and down the street again and heading out, in the direction of the main road. The main thing she was watching for was any potentially hostile ponies- the ones that might want to attack or otherwise harm her.
The next thing she was looking for, is clues as to exactly what local age bracket she fit in.
Not that she expected to find any.
She followed the side street up to the main road through town, and looked both ways down the main road. There were a few ponies walking up and down it, but not too many.
She took a deep breath, emerged from hiding, and stepped out onto the main road, walking down it in the direction of the town square. Hopefully, somepony would willingly offer her a clue on what she should be looking for. Alternatively, if one of her crew happened to be in town, that would solve everything.
She reached the square without issue… or event. Several ponies passed her on the way, but not one stopped to say anything to her- suggesting one of two things.
One, that ponies her age were normally allowed to walk through town on their own.
Or two, that nopony cared.
She wasn’t sure which one it was. Everypony around here was bigger than her- that she’d seen, at least. All at a fully mature size… which was, back in Equineothame, normally reserved for those ponies with only a few years left to live. It was almost like they had… frozen their aging processes.
She paused at the edge of the town square, scanning the businesses around. There were no orphanages visible- and she was also unable to identify a hotel or job board.
Then, she spotted something. It was a large tree with a door in it, and a picture of an open book on the sign out front. She could just make out the words, above and below the book, identifying it as the Golden Oaks Public Library… and making her instantly thankful that for all that had changed in the thousands of years since Equestria was lost, the language did not diverge.
She took a deep breath, and headed for it. If nothing else, the librarian should know where to point her.
Inside, though, she didn’t find what she was looking for. There was a rather hastily-erected sign standing in the middle of the room, to instruct anypony seeking the librarian to go to the Carousel Boutique and ask for Spike. Fortunately, on the bottom of the sign, there were instructions for how to reach the boutique.
She heaved a sigh, turned around, and headed back out of the building.
The instructions turned out to be fairly easy to follow. The Carousel Boutique didn’t look much like a normal business to her- but it had the sign out front, and the door was unlocked, so she pushed it open and entered, looking around.
On the inside, the boutique looked exactly like she might expect any other boutique of its shape to look like, with various ponyquins bearing various garments, scattered across the room. In the back, she spotted a sewing machine, with a white unicorn mare working it with her light blue magic aura. Perhaps the largest difference she noticed, between this place and any comparable Equineothame boutique, was that all the ponyquins were the same size… and the dresses on them were fancier, with more care put into their creation.
… And more gemstones. Either this was a very expensive place to get clothes, or gemstones were relatively common.
The mare at the machine finished with her seam, unfolded the dress, put it on a ponyquin, and started talking before she turned to face her. “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where every garm-!” She cut off with the suddenness of an axe when she spotted her. “Oh my Celestia, what happened to you!?” As she spoke, she bolted forwards to look her over more closely.
“I, ahh, crash landed on a dusty road,” she invented nervously. “Multiple times. Um… I’m looking for Spike?”
The mare took a step back, staring alarmedly at her. “... Oh.” Then she turned her head. “Hey Spikey-wikey!”
A male voice trailed out from the backroom. “Coming!”
While she waited for him to show, she inconspicuously took a deep breath, and let it out. As near as she could tell, nopony had rushed off to tell the dark diarch about her; she prayed that nopony would.
The mare didn’t wait for Spike. “Did- Did you not think to clean yourself up?”
“Uh- I’m planning to. But first things are first.”
Right at that moment, a purple… something walked in from the backroom. It looked like a green-spined bipedal purple lizard of some sort. It opened its mouth… and spoke, in the same voice that had responded when the mare called for Spike- albeit sounding more than a little starstruck. “Yes, Rarity?” He even bowed to her, drawing a small snicker from Flight.
She noticed that it made the mare- Rarity?- smile as well.
“Is- Spike?” Flight asked. Unless she missed her guess, this unfamiliar purple creature was Spike… and, apparently, considered part of society- suggesting the thestrals probably wouldn’t be discriminated against here… if ponies knew what they were, at least.
The lizard looked at her almost reluctantly. “Hmm…? Wait.” He looked at her more fully, actually distracted from the mare. “Why do you look like a young Lyra… with wings?”
She blinked. “Like who?”
He shook his head. “Nevermind. So what brings you to…” His eyes widened visibly. “What happened to you?”
“You only just noticed?” Rarity asked him incredulously.
“I, ahh, crash-landed on a dusty road,” she repeated, before he could respond. “Multiple times. Um…” She glanced in the direction of the library. “You’re the librarian, right?”
Spike scratched the back of his head with one claw. “Ahh, well, no, actually, Twilight’s… away. But I am the librarian’s assistant. What did you need?”
She nodded slowly. “... Ahh. I’m…” She took a deep breath. “I’m actually looking for food, water, and shelter, for while I wait for my crew to come find me. I can work for… all of the above.”
“Uh-!” Spike began, before Rarity cut him off.
“You mean you got lost and crashed on that dusty road?” she almost screamed.
“Yeah… Good thing we agreed ahead of time to meet in this town if we got separated.”
The mare promptly wrapped her in a hug, drawing a startled squeak from her. “Oh, you poor thing! Tell you what, why don’t you stay here, in my spare bedroom, while you wait? And we can get started by getting you all cleaned up, can’t we?”
“Uh,” she mumbled. “Maybe? I mean…” She looked towards Spike.
Spike scratched the back of his head again. “Aside from that, there is an orphanage in town, but they’ve already got too many foals and not enough staff as it is.”
She scowled, and looked up at Rarity. Apparently, she did fall into the younger bracket. “You do know I don’t have anything to offer in return, other than work, right?”
Rarity gasped theatrically. “In return? Why would I ask for payment? No, no! I insist you don’t pay for it!”
She blinked. “... Okay, I suppose that works, if…” She took a deep breath. “Any rules I should be aware of?”
“Just one: Do not, under any circumstances, allow Sweetie Belle- my younger sister, who also lives with me- to cook or help you in the kitchen.”
Flight blinked. “... Okay, I can live with that.”
“Alright then, to the spa!” Rarity announced.
“Uh, please don’t make a special trip for me,” she asked. “I’ll be fine with just a bath.”
Rarity smiled. “Oh, nonsense! I was going to go to the spa already!”
“... If you say so.” She shrugged her wings, and stepped out from in front of the door. “Lead the way.”
The journey to the spa was, thankfully in Flight’s opinion, uneventful. Rarity kept mumbling to herself, but nopony stopped to stare, nopony ran away, nopony stopped to ask about her. A few ponies waved to Rarity as she passed, but they didn’t involve themselves. She thought she saw at least three of them doing double-takes.
Finally, they reached the spa. Flight hoped they had something for her bruises- either to remove them completely, or to mask them. She didn’t particularly want to look like somepony had used her for a hoofball for the rest of her stay in this town.
The spa seemed to be staffed by two mares- two mares that, in fact, looked like pallet swapped versions of each other. “Ahh, Rarity,” one of them greeted. “The usual?”
“Yes, please,” Rarity answered. “Plus one- this little lady had a… rather unfortunate crash earlier.” She gestured towards Flight- then looked down at her. “And so you know, these are Aloe and Lotus.” She gestured towards them in turn. “They always do a really good job- you can count on them.”
The one she’d called Aloe smiled lightly, though she couldn’t hide the wince when she looked at her properly. She must have looked really bad. “And that goes double for a Princess,” she stated.
Flight rolled her eyes, and waved a hoof. “Don’t worry about that, please.” She did wonder how the mare knew she was a princess- but that was a question for another time.
“Prin-cess?” Rarity gasped, looking down at her. “Oh- Oh My!”
Lotus stepped forwards, and gestured down the hallway. “This way please, Princess- we’ll get you cleaned right up.” She glanced up at Rarity, who was busy swooning. “Don’t mind Rarity- she must’ve been distracted by the bruises.”
“I don’t mind it,” she answered. “Honestly, I prefer it when ponies don’t go out of their way to show deference.” She shrugged her wings. “I mean, I’m a pony too, right?”
Lotus nodded softly. “We show everyone a good amount of deference here; ponies like to feel important. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure what we’d do if you’d asked for more.” She chuckled. “Anyways, we’d best get started by washing off all the dirt and grime. Do you have a preference for baths or showers?”
She shook her head. “I’m used to showers, but I’ll take whatever.”