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// Chapter 26: Influence 
// Story: Level Up! 
// by RisuUmbra 
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Chapter 26: Influence

“What do you mean Feldspar doesn’t exist!” Our collectively confused shouts shattered the once serene quiet of the bar and may have rendered the aged stallion deaf judging how he was rubbing his ears from our volume.

“Foals these days are getting louder and louder, if I'm gonna explain everything then we’ll need to go somewhere a bit more secure” The barkeep trotted around the counter much faster than someone his age should allow and made a b-line for the backroom which we quickly entered behind him. My mind was still buzzing with possible explanations, were we lied to? Was Feldspar just an excuse to get us into the city? Is the entire guard in on it?! Okay, I can tell when my mind is going too far with something and this is it. I cut down the rest of my over analyzations and just followed my friends to the back. The backroom wasn’t anything special, there were shelves of drinks and a few crates here and there but what we were focusing on was the trap door the barkeep had opened and was stepping down. 

I took a peek down the trapdoor and was (thankfully) surprised to see it was a well lit meeting room filled with chairs and a large drawing table. I was actually expecting some kind of deep, dark, and dank basement that you wouldn’t be surprised to see in a cartoon. The room was pretty clean albeit a little musty from disuse, the floors were actually wooden instead of the cobbled stone we were becoming intimately familiar with… (My hooves were thankful at least). The walls were smooth cut stone brick that had been painted a bland featureless grey, there were a few shelves and crates here and there but they’ve been pushed to the side and out of the way of the main fixture of the room… the massive mahogany meeting table. It was a nice table… I kind of want to get a home base at some point and have an awesome table like this in it. My thoughts on base decoration were cut short as the barkeep continued forward and opened one of the crates in the corner. The tree of us were extremely wary of the barkeep’s intentions so by the time he extracted what he was looking for from the crate the tree of us had just reached the long table. I let my eyes drift over the room once again searching for any kind of threat while keeping a mental eye on my [6th Sense] waiting for it to flare up.

“All right… That nosy old mare probably didn’t tell ya anything before sending ya here right?” The barkeep placed down the box of documents and what seems to be a map of the town as he spoke, he took a peek at our blank faces and continued on as if our silence was answer enough.

“Knew it, best start from the beginning. Around eighty years ago some kind of calamity popped up, now normally this wouldn’t really be an issue as usually some heroes pop up and solve the problem. That time though the calamity was some kind of living sickness and tended to not leave any survivors, no survivors means nopony knew what it was. So when the inevitable naïve plucky young hero popped up… the expected happened.” During the sad story the barkeep reached into the box and pulled out one of the scrolls, breaking the wax seal and unrolling it. While this is a pretty interesting story I'm not sure what this has to do with anything, I took a glance at David who was seated next to me and was surprised to see him enraptured in the story.

“After the calamity was allowed to run rampant it almost brought civilization to its knees, thankfully some poor soul was able to trap the source of the sickness and burn it out before succumbing. After all that death and destruction, ponies just wanted to forget it ever happened and just rebuild… except a few like minded survivors. This group of civilians knew they wouldn’t be able to fight something as big as a living sickness so they decided to help the best way they could… information.” I had been just as enthralled in the story as David before the odd answer reached my ears… what did he mean by information? The old barkeep became more and more animated as he told the story, I could see a twinkle of pure enjoyment as he regaled us in some history.  

“Officially we’re all known as the Merchants Guild, but to those in the know we are simply known as The Keepers. Any useful information a shop keep or inn keep heard would be passed along to whoever needs it, helping whatever hero so they don’t go in blind and we have a repeat of eighty years ago. The Keeper that gave you this document is one of our greatest informants, able to get info on anything as long as it’s for a good cause… she’s also supposed to be retired but old habits die hard and all that.” W-wait… is he saying… 

“Are you sayin-” “SO YOU’RE ALL SPIES?!” I was violently cut off by the ecstatic yell of (surprisingly) David who had jumped up to his hooves in excitement accidentally jostling the table and scaring the hell out of Morgana and I. I was currently preoccupied with trying to restart my heart to see what the Barkeep or I guess just Keeper’s reaction though I didn’t have to wonder for long as I heard the Keeper let out a loud raspy bark of laughter at my friend's exuberance. 

“So let me see if i’m getting this right, you are part of a group of spy merchants that spans all of Equestria and you help out intrepid adventures and give quests to save the world!” David had completely taken control of the conversation much to both the Keeper and my amusement. Usually David just tends to stay silent and let Morgana or me do all the talking. I like this side of him. I should encourage him to speak on his own more often. I let a fond smile grow on my face as David all but jumped onto the table in an effort to reach the documents. I made a mental note that David likes spies and all those associated with them… does that include pirates?

“That’s about the short of it kid, Feldspar is a key word we use if you need help or are there to help. I guess that old bat thought you could resolve our uh… issue here, this scroll here is her seal of approval so you can use our network when you need it or receive more ‘Quests’ as you put it so nicely” Suddenly gaining access to a sprawling spy network out of nowhere was extremely overwhelming… I'm not sure it’s really sunk in for me yet. This is all so… convenient, but at the same time it kind of made sense that at least one of these existed. With the lack of any real way to share information between towns beside the occasional traveler, it would make sense for a group to come together simply to make the flow of information easier.

“Does this mean you have a quest for us?” Morgana piped up for the first time with her tone being understandably skeptical, though it seems her skepticism flew over David’s head as he excitedly whipped his head towards Morgana then back to the Keeper waiting for his answer with bated breath. I swallowed my laugh at his childlike excitement though I did send Calcifer the psychic equivalent of a giggle fit which he happily mirrored. The previously enthused grin the Keeper was sporting dipped back down into a grim frown as he was reminded of what was going on in his home.

“Yes, as you can probably tell our city is in dire straits at the moment but not for the reasons you probably think. Recently a new lord had taken control of the city and has been an absolute tyrant, now this isn’t something that usually requires outside help. But only recently did the strife take a turn for the… darker. Until a month ago the worst thing he had done was make a toll for entering the city… now though it’s like he’s lost it. The tax has risen so high that most of the city went broke in only a few weeks and those that can’t pay are either drafted into the guard force or… worse.” The Keeper’s gaze trailed down to the table as he was lost in his memories, I was starting to get just how bad their situation is.

“You would think that most ponies would have nothing to fear from their neighbors turned guards but you’d be wrong… after a pony gets drafted they change. A drafted stallion would break down the doors to their own mother’s home without even batting an eye, the lord is doing something to these ponies… something unnatural. Whatever it is, I think your friend here is uniquely suited to find out what it is” The Keeper raised a previously idle hoof and pointed it in my direction, I felt myself stiffen as my mind immediately went to the worst case scenario. (How does he know I have Dark magic?!) I felt my fight or flight reflexes kicking in… until I realized he meant that I was a unicorn and promptly felt stupid for panicking.

“ So M- Arcane Hope has to sneak into the lord’s fortress and search for what’s turning the ponies into drones?! That sounds so cool, do we get cool jobs too?” David answering for me is starting to get kinda annoying, but I wanted to encourage this more outspoken David more than I wanted to speak for myself. 

“No need to get ahead of yourselves there youngin, I got just the jobs for both of ya… “