Chapter One: The Gilded Mare
The night was young, the near-full moon only just beginning to rise over the crest of the horizon as the day’s light faded on the opposite end of the sky. A trio of ponies, vast smiles on their muzzles as they carried their day’s work of coin in their saddlebags and battle-worn equipment on their backs, worked their way down the road leading them from the local Adventurer’s Guild and towards the local tavern.
Leading the group was a solid white pony who wore heavy plate armor that was normally as white as the mare who wore it, but now both were marred by the stains of battle. Under the mare’s left wing, a section of armor was missing as the faceplate for her helmet could be heard clattering against her pointed horn with each step she took.
The mare looked back to her two travelling companions, a tangled lock of her pastel-rainbow colored mane falling before her features as the helmet clattered loudly at the motion. Behind her to her left was a Unicorn stallion with a near-black coat that was darker than the accompanying mare’s deep-ocean blue coat.
The sapphire blue mare had a mane only a shade or two brighter than her coat, which was only visible around her horn and through the severed sections of chainmail that covered the mare. Tired from the exertion of their hard day’s work, she stretched her wings as she walked, being mindful of the saddlebag and long-hafted spear she carried on her back.
Finally, the stallion of the group was clad in leather, blood staining the near-black armor, dyed to match his coat. Having removed his leather cowl, his two-tone dark red and lighter red mane flowed past his horn and over the black patch that covered his left eye. Like the others, he carried a pair of saddlebags, as well as a pair of swords on his back and daggers on each hoof.
The white mare sighed as she noted her two companions had large grins on their features, being far too tired to be excited. Turning her head up, she saw that the tavern, the Gilded Mare, was slowly coming into view. Grateful as she was their final stop was so near, her companions were far more so.
“Say Moonie, do you think all the mares are gilded, or just the owner’s wife?” the stallion called as he bounced ahead, the coin he carried in his bags jingling and tinkling as he turned on his hooves to face the pair with excessive grace, ever light on his hooves when he donned the light leather armor.
Moonlit Embrace, the sapphire blue mare, held a hoof to her chin as she feigned deeper thoughts. “Well, one would suppose the only way to find out would be to escort each of them to our bedchambers personally, Ace,” she mused, pronouncing the name as ‘Ah-chay’ in the proper dialect. “Mine honest concern is that the mead runs as golden as their name.”
Sol Light, the impromptu leader of the group, only sighed. “Well whilst the two of ye drink thine selves blind whilst making merry with Discord knows what sort of mares, I shalt take mine reprieve as we await our journey on the morrow. Do try to leave some coin for repairs this time? We need to live upon that very same coin ye both spend on wenches and ale.”
The two looked at each other, both raising an eyebrow in question of the leader’s statements, before shrugging with large smiles and speaking in unison. “Who needs armor? Live today and die tomorrow!” the pair exclaimed before continuing towards the tavern once more as Sol Light sighed with a shake of her head.
The outside of the tavern was well cared for, with the windows polished and the wood of the structure treated with varnish and never being painted, giving it a natural and homey feel. The sign that hung above the door bore the visage of a young mare with a golden glow about her.
Moonlit Embrace pushed her way through the doors as Ace took a closer look at the outside of the building as he made certain his weapons were secure, Sol Light coming behind her slowly. “We shalt partake of thine strongest ale!” Moonlit yelled as she entered, earning her the attention of everypony within.
Following not long after, Sol Light pushed through the doors as well, her weary head hanging in her tired mood. With a sigh, she turned her head to look at the barkeep behind the counter as she shook her head. “As well as your cheapest beds; two rooms, if you have them,” she asked before the stallion nodded, fetching the keys.
Ace, now certain his weapons would not easily fall as he made merry at the bar, came in with a boisterous call that matched Moonlit Embrace’s, “Don’t forget two of your finest mares to share them all with, as well!” Such a claim brought the attention of all the patrons again, and most specifically the mares at the bar.
Moonlit Embrace and Ace both started looking over the mares, almost as if they were judging the value and worth of a set of wares. Smiling to a few and shaking their heads at others, the pair had easily made either friends or enemies with at least half of the tavern already.
Sol Light took the keys from the barkeep before he started to prepare the drinks, placing one key in her saddlebag before giving the other to her sister so that she could do the same. “We need to depart early on the morrow,” she chided. “Do try to keep your belongings safe after your lustful encounters… We have not the coin to spare on thieves.”
Moonlit Embrace absentmindedly nodded at her sister’s reprimanding lecture before turning and more closely examining a pair of mares sitting at a table Ace pointed to with his hoof. The black coated, silver maned mare noticed their attentions with a wave and smiled promisingly before giggling to her friend with the golden mane and silver coat. Moonlit and Ace shared a look with a smile as the drinks slid to their side on the counter.
The smile still on their muzzles, they took their drinks in hoof and proceeded to down them swiftly, wipe off their muzzles, then proceed to the table where they saw the pair as Sol Light shook her head with a sigh. Ace slid onto the bench, placing his bags beneath the table as he wrapped a hoof around the silver-maned Unicorn in a single, swift motion as Moonlit Embrace sat next to the golden mare, also putting her luggage in the floor.
“So, which of thou is the Gilded Mare?” Ace asked, making them giggle coquettishly with another look to each other. “Come now, there’s no need to be so modest! Mares as beautiful as the two of thou? ‘Twould come as no surprise if the whole town were named after thine radiant beauty! Surely thou must have names as beautiful as thine frame?”
The mare with the silver tresses wrapped her hoof around Ace as she leaned against him, her gaze locked on his eye-patch as she ran a hoof along his cheek below it. “My name’s Night Silver, but is it not customary for one to introduce themselves before asking somepony for their name?
The stallion lowered his muzzle to the young mare’s ear as he spoke in a whisper, “Ace Deus Fenrir is my name,” he said slowly, softly as he pronounced the proper ‘Ah-chay’ of his name, “and out of this world magical pleasure is my favorite game, if thou wouldst like to play with me.” A light blush ran over Silver’s face as she stifled a coquettish giggle with a hoof.
Moonlit rested a hoof on the other mare’s thigh, a small blush coming to the stranger’s cheeks as Moonlit leaned closer to her. “My name is Moonlit Embrace, and ‘tis my hope that the moonlight will find us both in an embrace tonight, if thou art interested?”
The silver-coated mare locked gazes with Moonlit as her blush widened along with her smile. “Thou may call me Refined Tastes, and I must say that thou seems to be just the mare to sate my palate,” she said before stroking her hoof along Moonlit’s wing, causing each of the properly preened feathers to make a crisp sound as she ruffled them. “That armor looks as though it would be quite the burden… Perhaps we should retire to thine room and get a bit more… comfortable.”
After her single drink that was more water than alcohol, which came complimentary with the rooms, Sol Light gathered her things and retired to the small room up the stairs. Just past the first room on the right, she found the door whose number matched that of her key as she wearily unlocked the room and allowed herself inside before locking the door with both key and magic before looking about the squalor of her temporary residence.
The room featured a pair of identical beds, each cloaked in a bedspread that had clearly been used for a number of activities other than sleeping under during its extended lifetime in the tavern. Between the beds was a single nightstand that held two oil lanterns and several drawers, though only one of them still had both of its handles.
Directly opposite the nightstand was a table, a wall-mounted mirror with a hoofheld counterpart, a pitcher of likely stagnant water, and both a chamber pot and a washbasin, though the latter two differed only in size and stood rather close to one another. Immediately to the right of the table was the only window, though two of the four panes had been replaced with wooden boards rather than glass.
Sol Light sighed deeply, the weariness of their long day of work for the Guild finally overtaking her as she found herself able to relax, if only for a short time. Before doing anything further, she shrugged off her saddlebags and kicked them under the bed, grateful that the clasp held the contents as she realized her laziness could well have brought more work upon herself.
She mentally chastised herself for her carelessness before standing upright in front of the mirror, her hooves working at the clasps of her armor that felt tighter than she had remembered against her undercarriage. As the clasps clicked away, the loud crashing and thumping sounds behind her noted that her armor was coming away.
As each of the pieces fell to the floor, her body felt lighter and lighter until the last piece clattered against the rest before she shook her body out, the sweat and other filth coming away only slightly, though the motion felt far better than it actually looked.
Her armor removed and her coat beginning to rise back up after being matted down, Sol Light brought the large washbasin closer before stepping into it on her hind hooves. Making sure to keep herself balanced, Sol Light held herself against the table for a time as her tired legs threatened to give out beneath her from the long travels in the heavy armor.
Once she was certain she could stand on her own just long enough for the task at hoof, Sol Light took the stale, freezing cold water and slowly poured it over herself. Biting her lip as the cold water cascaded down her body, the water raced from the top of her head on down to her hooves before she brought the pitcher over her chest to repeat the tortuous process.
Despite the cold, despite the questionable origin and age of the water, Sol Light was glad for the small luxury, which was still an improvement of washing herself in a stream every couple of days when they happened upon one.
A chill ran over her back, not only from the cold water she poured upon it but more from the memory she brought upon herself of the time that she had claimed first to bathe after their day of hiking some weeks prior.
Sol Light, Moonlit Embrace, and Ace had set up their camp near to a pristinely clean looking, crystal clear pond, which was the first body of water they had found in a number of days. After all of the hiking, battling and just labor overall, Sol Light had felt filthy and had offered to both gather the firewood and cook dinner if the pair would allow her to bathe first.
The duo humbly agreed; welcome to shed some of their tasks for so simple a triviality. However, what the trio was unaware of was that the pond was home to a rare breed of slug; the ‘Lectochlorine Parakyl’ slug, as Ace called it.
When Sol Light had finally made her way into the pond to take her bath, she had found an unusually porous stone and had decided it would be perfect to work the larger clumps of dirt, sweat and other debris from her coat.
After she had already started to wash herself with the rock, the motion had very much disturbed the inhabitants of said stone and caused them to start crawling over her body. When she looked back and saw a large number of the slimy creatures crawling onto her coat, she let out a loud scream, which was cut off abruptly.
Moonlit and Ace came running to see what had happened, with the former staring in shock before running to her side out in the water while Ace laughed violently. Moonlit stared at him worriedly while Sol Light was immobilized, paralyzed helplessly as the slugs crawled aimlessly over her body.
“What doth thou find so humorous?!” Moonlit Embrace challenged when Ace finally managed to regain at least a portion of his composure and started to walk around the pond as though he had lost something. “Something is clearly wrong with sister and yet all you do is laugh!”
Ace just waved off her anger as he looked about the pond. “As you say, as you say. Nevertheless, perhaps you should cease with the talk and assist with the stalk,” he said before finally appearing to find what he was looking for. “Catch!” he called as he threw a stalk of reed to Moonlit.
Confused, Moonlit stared at the instrument, which was as long as her hoof and only a fraction as wide as Ace made his way towards Sol Light with a pair of them in hoof. As he grew nearer to her, however, he started to look about in the water as though he were worried he would step on something.
“Do be careful not to touch any of them,” he mentioned as he worked the reeds into each side of the rock Sol Light had used to clean herself with, the white Alicorn still unable to move herself as her eyes followed his motions, frozen in a look for shock and horror.
“Parakyl slugs art friendly enough,” Ace explained as he moved the stone to rest on a nearby rock just above the water, “though they are curious and forget that their slime is a powerful neurotoxin capable of paralyzing any creature it comes in contact with.”
Moonlit Embrace watched as Ace used the reeds to harmlessly coax the slugs from Sol Light onto the reed, and from there carefully carrying them back to the rock. After watching Ace for a few moments, Moonlight fetched another reed and started to help from the other side.
Once most of the slugs were gone from Sol Light’s body, Ace ran back towards the camp, calling “Move the last of the Parakyl into the nest, I shall return shortly!” leaving Moonlit to move the last of the slimy, disgusting creatures as Sol Light still stood motionless in her peril.
No sooner than the last of the slugs were returned to the rock, Ace came back to the pond carrying a few glass containers and a few of his knives. Sol Light, still unable to move despite the slugs being gone, could only watch as he came closer, fearful of what remedy he sought to enact.
Ace deftly drew one of the daggers from its scabbard as the other hoof picked up one of the reeds he used to move the slugs. The light of the setting sun glinted over the edge of the blade only inches from Sol Light’s muzzle as she watched in horror, unable to close her eyes or look away.
Ace cut a piece of the hollow reed, leaving it in the form of a scoop on one end before running the blade through the top of the reed, leaving a straight opening all the way through. Once he had done that, he replaced the weapon in its scabbard, bringing Sol Light at least a modicum of relief.
His tool now crafted, Ace took the open side of the reed and ran it all across Sol Light’s body, bringing a blush to Moonlit’s cheeks as she watched, and a deeper blush still to Sol Light’s. “Ace! What are you-“ Moonlight started before he opened one of the empty containers and started to drain the reed into it.
“Lectochlorine Parakyl slugs are hard to find,” he said as he started to run the reed over Sol Light’s body once more, “and the slime they leave behind makes a very powerful poison or paralysis toxin when distilled or purified.” Ace drained the reed into the jar again, making it half full as he sealed it and started a new bottle.
“Sol here will be fine once we get all of the neurotoxin off of her, dip her in the water, then dry her out next to the fire back in camp,” Ace explained as he worked towards filling another container.
As Ace explained, the effects of the Parakyl’s neurotoxin wore off after the trio returned to camp. After they next made it into town, Ace was able to sell one of the containers for enough money to have their equipment repaired.
In addition to the money they made doing odd-jobs for the Adventurer’s Guild, they were able to stay in town for a whole three days, with Moonlit and Ace squandering their hard-earned cash on honeyed ale and sullied mares.
Sol Light laid her head to the cleanest looking of the four pillows in her room, and started to drift to sleep as her body still shivered lightly from the chill of the water from her bath.
No sooner than her mane had fanned out beneath her, however, the noise in the room directly behind her head escalated into a series of grunts, moans, squeals and the sound of the beds’ foundation being tested.
Taking the other, lower quality pillow from her bed, she covered her ears in an attempt to drown out the sounds of her companions and their mares of the evening. It scarcely helped.
Ace and Moonlit Embrace awoke from their slumber to a knocking at the door, the light of the sun forbidding any attempt to return to their dreams as they each groaned and turned the opposite direction.
No matter how much they wished for the intrusive knocking to go about its merry way, it refused to heed their wishes as the noise persisted, raising in volume to combat their groans before they looked to each other. “Live today,” Ace started when his gaze locked with hers.
Moonlit nodded with a sigh as she finished the phrase with “Die tomorrow…” The pair threw the blankets aside as they both leapt to their hooves in unison, making their way to the washbasin that rested between the beds. “Well, ‘tis tomorrow. Doth thou feel like dying?”
Ace grabbed the pitcher of water and poured a portion of its contents over her, the cold of the water sending a chill down her body as swiftly as the water managed to cascade over her form. “Not yet; and thou?” he asked as he handed her the water.
With a shake of her head, she managed to say, “Afraid not. Were this bathwater any colder, however, one may be persuaded to change one’s mind…” Moonlit poured another portion of the water over herself, this time from her mane and down her back, eliciting another cold chill.
Ace took the pitcher and set it on the table as the knocking grew all the louder. “Cold water would serve best to cool the coming fury thine sister shall direct upon us shortly…” Ace observed as he started to look about the room, his gaze lingering over the corner the pair had thrown their armor and weapons for the night. “Have you seen our saddlebags?”
Moonlit’s hooves paused as she worked to clean herself, her gaze now falling over their gear as well before her shoulders slumped further. “I am afraid I have not…” With a sigh, she stepped out of the basin and grabbed one of the blankets from the beds to towel herself off as Ace took her place.
“Light is not going to be happy with us…” Ace voiced dejectedly, Moonlit nodding with a sigh as she started to repay the earlier favor in kind, the cold water running down the front of Ace’s body. “We’re probably going to have to chase down those mares from last night again…”
Moonlit nodded again, her gaze wandering to the corner once again as she handed the pitcher to Ace. “At least they were kind enough to leave us our armor and weapons this time…” Ace nodded with an attempt to chuckle with laughter, though the clattering of his teeth drowned out the sound. “Do you remember the mares from last night?” she asked as she made her way to the door.
Ace tossed the pitcher to the table, bouncing it from the wall and nearly bringing it to stand perfectly, though it instead wobbled and fell to its side and rolled to the floor instead. “Not the slightest bit, I’m afraid. They were a tad… average, I fear.”
Moonlit opened the door with a solemn nod as she opened the door, revealing Sol Light waiting impatiently on the opposite side, her hoof tapping the ground in a precise beat. “Nor do I, for I must agree,” she mentioned as Sol Light made her way into the room, though she blushed and averted her gaze when she saw Ace bathing.
“Always glad to see the two of you are as close as ever,” Sol Light said in a tone that had meant to sound level and unperturbed, though Ace and Moonlit both could tell it bothered her deeply. Sol Light’s gaze wandered to their equipment and she immediately knew what was missing.
With a groan of frustration, Sol Light left the room once more with a final note of “Surely thou must realize that these romps of thine give us a bad name… Do be sure to bring back all of the coin this time.”
Ace grabbed the remaining blanket and started to dry himself off as he got out of the washbasin. “Perhaps our luck will call out to us this day and those mares will have a whole trove of coin that has lost its owners? Why, surely it must fall to us to give such abandoned gold a home, lest it starve to death in some chest; cold, forgotten and alone!”
Sol Light turned a steely gaze to him over her saddlebag. “Just get it done. Find me at the smithy near the edge of town in five hours; with, or without thine spoils.” Her point made, Light pulled the door closed behind her and left the tavern to go about her business.
Ace and Moonlit shared a moment of exasperation before donning their damaged equipment in preparation for the hunt that laid before them. Their first step would be to ask the barkeep in the tavern if he knew anything about the pair of mares they had spent the evening with.