"What is this?" Tabitha peered at the crown, more of a tiara really, glittering bright on its red cloth square. "You don't owe me, and I'm not buying."
Sandra spread her hands at the gift. "This is a token, of my sincerity. Every ten levels, expect another one."
Smolder grinned from Sandra's side. "And don't even start thinking we won't go through with it."
Tabitha's brows fell, peering at the two of them. "It's alright, I guess, for twenty…"
Sandra grinned as she took the cue given to her. "Which is why you'll look forward to thirty, fourty, and onwards. We are going to the top. Look… I messed up, that was me. I'm not going back to that."
Smolder shrugged softly. "And she could say that all day long, so we'll go with proving it instead."
“Uhuh,” Tabitha said, sounding not very convinced. “And you’re going to give me one of these every ten floors?”
“That’s right.”
Tabitha looked back. Tomás was behind her, and motioned back to Sandra, mouthing something, and Tabitha looked back, frowning. “And what do you… expect from me?”
Sandra felt a little sinking feeling. She kinda hoped for a better response. “Nothing, not now. I’m going to show that I’m not going to give up.”
Tabitha continued to look unamused, crossing her arms. “Do what you want, then.”
Sandra turned around, trying to keep her face like stone, and walked away. Smolder waited until they were out of earshot, saying, “See, she kept the crown.”
“And was completely unmoved by it,” Sandra said, sighing.
“Sure, but we knew she wasn’t gonna come around immediately, it’s better than it was before.” Smolder got up conspiratorially close to Sandra. “It’s already working.”
“If you say so.”
"I know so." Smolder slapper her on the shoulder. "If this was a week ago, she would have laughed in your face and made fun of you."
Sandra colored, easily imagining that situation. "That does sound right…"
"This time she basically invited you to give it your all." Smolder shrugged. "She's off your case. You have a chance to show what you got."
“Yeah… yeah this is what I wanted,” she said, convincing herself as much as Smolder. “This is better, she’ll come around.”
“That’s exactly what I just said, Sandra,” Smolder teased. “We’ll get there. Same as the tower.” She looked up forward. “Speaking of which--” she smiled. “We have a party to attend.”
Garble picked at his outfit, which was not actually his armor but was a tight fitting shirt, buttoned up. “Why do I have to wear this again?”
Sandra looked back to him, wearing something closer to what she used to wear, street clothes, albeit nice ones, instead of an opulent adventuring robe. “Because we weren’t supposed to wear armor, so we gotta dress down.”
“Speak for yourself,” Spike said, adjusting his bowtie. “I never get a chance to be fancy anymore.”
Smolder, wearing her own shirt, shuffled a little uncomfortably. “Yeah… but why can’t we wear what we want to, which is nothing?”
“Nobody wears nothing,” Sandra said. “Even if that’s normal for you, it’s not normal for us, so let’s go.”
Spike shot double guns at his fellow dragons. "Hey, clothes can really accent what you're trying to say." He thought of the fair Rarity, a whimsical smile on his face. "The right color, the right cut, and they'll hear exactly what you're saying.
"Yeah yeah." Smolder moved for the door. "Let's get celebrated at! It's catered, right?"
"Food and drink," assured Sandra, moving to go with. "Not a soul leaves without a full stomach unless they want to. Expect a few speeches and some pomp, but mostly it's a bunch of happy people congratulating you and promising they'll be next or daring you to catch up with them."
The four of them headed out, heading through the city and its bright street lamps. It was already becoming dark, the party scheduled for the evening when everyone, or the most possible, people would be back from their work to attend.
A sign hung above the guild's door. "Twenty Bash and Recognition," it read with bold colors and spiky font, daring anyone to miss it, if they could.
Garble huffed, a little smile forming. "Yeah, they got us on their minds."
"You made it," came the enthusiastic call of Tomás as they opened the door. "They're here!" He wore a big grin and soon there were others crowding around them, urging them further inside.
A deep laughing preluded a huge slap to Garble's back. "I remember when I hit the big two zero," boomed a female voice, a big amazon of a warrior, the axe on her back gleaming and cruel in its jagged edges. "How long ago was that?"
A clear wizardly man raised a hand to run along his wispy bears. "We've been past twenty for ten years."
Spike's eyes grew wide. "Ten years?! And you haven't reached the top yet?" The others looked over, equally as curious to that answer.
The wizard held up a hand. "Though we do try, our efforts have largely gone to other things beyond the tower. We stopped at sixty."
The mood of the room shifted with the mentioning of the new number, somber.
"Cowards." Tabitha emerged from the crowd. "Just when things get tough, you shrank away?"
The large female warrior leveled a meaty things at Tabitha. "You're just getting there. You'll see. Don't go judging us until you've experienced it yourself."
Smolder lifted her shoulders. "Experienced what?" She snatched a tasty little morsel off a provided table. "What's so bad about sixty? Just more of the same, right?"
"Wrong," boomed the warrior, crossing her arms under her chest.
A sharp set of claps drew attention to the secretary at their desk. "Today is a day for celebration, not worrying about that."
That was enough to turn conversation back to more pleasant things. A group approached the celebrated ones. "We almost got there!" exclaimed a young male with potions adorning his body everywhere. "Almost! Next time!"
Sandra smiled gently. "Next time," she gently agreed. "Trust your friends, and work together. You all want to reach the top, right?"
"Yeah!" echoed all of them, minus one. A male, perhaps in his forties, that frowned.
"Once we get to fifty, I'm out," he clarified. "That's more than enough to qualify for most any position."
Garble turned to the big warrior. "Hey, lady." He hiked a thumb upwards. "You've been up there. Why'd you quit? What's the big deal?"
"They asked us to play nice," she replied in a far quieter tone. "Look, you hit sixty, things start to change. The tower judges you. No, that's not right… The tower has already judged you. You hit sixty's stairs and everything changes."
The wizard thrust forward a cup into Garble's hands. "A drink, for a victor," he declared loudly before his voice lowered. "We have to at least pretend to be celebrating. What happens at sixty is very personal to the group. Some simply find a dead end and nothing more. They were judged and found wanting. Others push past, but the rules are changed. The tower is no longer testing your perseverance and basic ability. It will kill you if you make a mistake."
Another lady, clad in glittering chain, nudged past the wizard. "These two are leaving out an important part. Sixty is where it starts, but not always sixty, that's just when it could happen. Any floor after that, the tower can declare the first test over, for good, or bad. You'll know when it happens, trust us, we did.
Garble waved a hand at the new lady. "Hey! She's wearing armor, and looking ready for a fight. Why couldn't I wear my armor? C'mon!"
Laughter erupted, garble's question doing a remarkable job of defusing the situation. The large warrior threw an arm over Garble's shoulder, leading him away. "So, they say you claim you're not a demi, but you look like a demi to me. What's the deal with that?"
"Not my fault you're blind," scoffed Garble, though he did go with her. "I am a dragon." He puffed a little bit of fire as they walked. "Scales, tail, fire, wings, what more do you want?"
Smolder slipped up behind him. "Don't forget the horns." She flicked one of the horns that jutted from his tail. "They count."
Garble snatched for Smolder, but she danced away with a laugh. "Ugh, sisters."
The large warrior gave a non-committal huh of a noise. "Aren't dragons usually… larger?" She brought her hands together just to spread them out. "And less open to sharing drinks."
Garble huffed, flame escaping. "I'm still growing. I'll be bigger than this building, eventually." He shrugged softly. "We dragons aren't rushed about that."
"Makes sense to me." She plucked a horn from her beltline. "Most demis don't reach twenty, let alone ask questions about sixty, so, yeah, sure, I'll drink to that!" She crashed her horn to Garble's cup and swigged whatever was inside her horn with a loud cheer.
Garble took his own swig, the fluid burning his throat, but clearly not in a hot way, but he let out a bit of fire as he exhaled out of it. It was a little spicy, a little bitter, he wasn’t sure how to describe the taste. “Woah, that was… somethin’ else.” His insides felt just a little warm, too, downing the last of whatever he had in the glass.
The warrior woman laughed. “Is this your first? You drink like an expert.”
“‘Course I do,” Garble said. “I’ve been drinking all my life.”
The woman just smirked. “Sure you have, kiddo.” Gesturing over to the side she pointed at someone helping organize. “Another one for the newbie!”
A cheer rippled over the crowd as the festivities got back into the proper swing with talk of the higher floors set aside. Speakers arrived to take their turn. "Not every adventurer reaches this far," explained the old matriarch that had overseen Sandra's fateful roll. "Some whispered that Sandra would be one of those, oh, but look how wrong they were proven."
Sandra's cheeks lit up a bright red as eyes homed in on her.
"When I helped her perform her summon, never did I imagine what the result would be. Three strange new recruits and a new group to reach twenty. Let that be a lesson! Anything is possible if you keep trying." She nodded once firmly as the group erupted into cheers.
Tabitha took the stage, scowling at someone behind the curtains before composing herself. "I was in Sandra's group… a few times… We never got past ten." Her teeth clenched powerfully. "She… Do I have to say this?!" She spun to face someone out of sight. "God! You owe me!" She turned back to the crowd. "She got over herself, okay!" She pointed directly at Sandra. "You better not be faking! That dragon of yours has the heart of a divine lord and if you hurt it, I will make you regret it!" She stormed off, not giving anyone a chance to reply as she vanished back behind the curtain.
"When first I had met," Garble's teacher hadn't been heard or seen until he was already there, speaking. "Waves crashing with hot fury. The tower should fear." He looked across the field of bodies. "I watch to see how high this wave will reach."
Polite applause rippled before the next person up poked her long-eared head out, jaw set and her nervousness obvious. "You sure this is alright?"
Smolder's voice rose above the others, "Hey!" She was waving wildly, rising above the crowd on her wings and darting closer. "I didn't know you'd be here."
"They said I had to be," admitted her rabbit tutor. "And what's a demi to do?"
Pella climbed onto the stage, turning around. “So, I met a girl looking for a class to specialize in. And I had suggested my class to her, and I hadn’t realized that, offering to let someone learn to cook under me would result in her passing twenty on the tower!” She looked down at Smolder. “I’m not sure I would believe it if I hadn’t lived through it.” She raised a cup. “It’s fantastic, Smolder. Great job.”
There was a bit more applause at that. Smolder elbowed Sandra who was mid-clap. "Where's your teacher? The crazy summoner dude?"
Sandra reached a hand up behind her head. "Did Tabitha count as my mentor, or Spike's? I'm honestly not sure."
"And finally, the truth is made clear." The teacher of the summoner class stepped up onto the stage with a smug look. "I had been scorned, but now, with one of mine reaching twenty, you know it is a true and proper class, worth adding alongside the others." He brought his hands together in a sharp clap. "Summoning will become the true star it was always meant to be. Why, my student may be the first to reach the top." He leveled a finger at Sandra. "Go forth, and let the spirits guide you!"