The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

The Firefly Sisters

The principals' office had an entire antechamber, with a rug and table and chairs placed between doorways to other administrative areas. A plaque reading Principal sat between two symmetrical doors at the far end, one magenta and one lime green, their handles placed lower than usual to accommodate little hooves, and Percival wasted no time in knocking.

"Come in!" the more chipper of the voices from the intercom sang from beyond.

Percival cracked the door outward, entering first. Starlight had enough time to realize both doors led to the same room, and then the principals captured her attention.

"Lord Percival!" they exclaimed with practiced harmony, standing up from behind a double-sized desk and bowing so hard their manes flopped. Two unicorns, each the color of their respective doors, their manes were two-tone and tied into ribbons behind their heads, and they waited for Percival's permission to rise. Starlight eyed them curiously, fighting the vague suspicion she had seen them before... but was distracted before she could pinpoint where from by a building squealing noise.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Jamjars shrieked, dramatically falling over and rolling onto her back, pretending to faint.

Starlight walked over to her and raised an eyebrow, aware that everyone in the room was staring.

Jamjars cracked an eyelid. "You idiot," she breathed, trying to be heard only by Starlight. "They're the ones in my poster!"

Blinking, Starlight tried to recall the poster Jamjars had swiped from the Spirit headquarters, only to lose her train of thought once again at the realization, obvious now that they were looking her way with mouths hung open, that the unicorn principals also had slitted eyes and pointed teeth.

"Uhh... hi?" Valey asked, shrugging and starting to twitch.

"...Nice to meet ya!" The magenta principal grinned from ear to ear, squeezing her slanted eyes closed and hopping out from behind her desk before extending a hoof for anyone to shake. "Wow, that was awkward! Lord Percival, what can we help with?"

"Good morning," the calmer principal announced, nodding primly to the rest of the group as Slipstream partook in the hoofshake. "We're Melia and Sirena, the Firefly Sisters and principals here at this school, though it looks like you're already familiar with us?"

Maple shook her head, smiling sadly and clearly on edge from the sudden tension, but Gerardo beat everyone to speaking. "Pardon, but I can't help but notice your facial features are at odds with your horns and lack of wings. In all my travels, I can't say I've come across a sarosian who is also a unicorn before. Is there a special story at play behind this? This is quite a fascinating-"

The magenta principal made a face for several seconds, working her jaw before finally spitting something into her hoof. "They're cosmetics!" she chirped, holding out a set of fake teeth and flashing a perfectly flat-toothed smile, then lighting her horn and floating out a box from a desk drawer. "The eyes are enchanted contacts. Here! Have some on the house!"

Maple caught the box, and Starlight looked over to see it was a packaged product with a likeness of the two mares on the front. Before she could question why anyone would want a batpony costume in a country where being a batpony was liable to get you beaten up, the principal popped her fangs back in and winked. "Specifically, she's Melia and I'm Sirena. Lord Percival? You wanted to say something?"

Percival nodded and took a step back. "It looks like you're getting on well enough. Girls, these are the Ironridge travelers who have been causing a stir at Stormhoof over the past week. We've offered them a stay in Izvaldi, and they are in the process of a welcome tour."

"It's a pleasure to make all of your acquaintances," Melia said, bowing again. "I'm afraid our office is slightly cramped for this many people, so we could step outside if it would be of assistance."

Percival swiftly left the close confines, Jamjars needing no bidding to follow the duo and the others trickling back into the lobby as well. From the doorway to the stairwell area, Wallace coughed, his bulk too big to fit through. "Excuse me, griffons and gentlemares, but if we are further expanding this party, might I be given leave? My presence was not taken into account with modern architectural codes, and I feel the call of adventure on the morning breeze."

"Dismissed," Percival granted, raising a talon in permission.

Wallace immediately left, and the principals donned black, open-front jackets from a nearby coatrack as everyone settled into their chairs. "A tour, huh?" Sirena asked, fitting the gem-studded coat to her shoulders. "Hey, does that sound awesome, or what? Lord Percival, how can we help?"

"Have whatever discourse you desire," Percival said, glancing at the exit. "If my time runs out, they have permission to visit any reasonable area within my jurisdiction. I thought meeting you would be of interest. Pretend I'm not here."

Melia glanced at him in concern. "If it's a burden, one of us could take over showing them around? The school only needs us together for announcements and appearances."

"I can hold down the school! You can count on me!" Sirena agreed, nodding.

Percival barely had time to acknowledge before the sisters were at his sides, smiling and bobbing their heads helpfully. He rose before they could help him up, striding to the door to get ahead of them and turning to back through. "Is that suitable?"

"Of course it is!" Sirena cheered. "We're popular; don't worry about us."

"Don't overextend yourself, Lord Percival. You can rely on us," Melia urged, coming as close as she could to closing the door in his face while still sounding helpful and caring.

It clicked shut, and both sisters waited with their ears to the floor, hooves to their lips in a request for silence. When they were finally satisfied he was gone, their demeanors broke and they jumped to their hooves, smiles far more authentic than they had been a moment ago.

Melia wiped a hoof across her lime-green brow. "Whew... This should be a dream job, but it's far too stressful sometimes."

Sirena grinned in agreement. "Yeah, but now that stuffy griffon is gone, so we can kick things up a notch and properly party! Hey, you!" She swept a hoof at everyone else, from Starlight and the still-awestruck Jamjars all the way to Valey, Slipstream and Gerardo. "Don't be shy! The floor is ours now, and there are no laws against having a good time. Firefly Sisters in the house!"

Clearing her throat, Valey stood up, balance slightly off-center. "Isn't that your province boss dude, or something?" She raised an eyebrow. "You just basically threw him out."

Gerardo raised an important talon. "In fairness, is this not their school?"

"It is, and he is," Melia sighed. "But we don't want to get off on the wrong hoof before we've even been introduced. You are?" She waved a hoof, openly passing the conversation to someone else.

"Gerardo Guillaume, griffon adventurer extraordinaire," Gerardo assured, bowing himself. "As for my companions, we have Maple and Starlight of Riverfall, Slipstream of Ironridge, and Valey of Ironridge as well. Unless you were originally from elsewhere?"

Valey sighed too, ignoring the question. "Yo," she greeted. "You seem cool, and I'd normally hang out with you like crazy, but right now I'm just the tiniest bit uncomfortable and that's really killing my mood, so no offense in advance."

Both sisters' slitted eyes widened in concern. "Oh," Melia breathed, putting a hoof to her mouth. "Is anything wrong with our school?"

Maple shook her head, capturing their attention. "We don't know for sure, but Wallace and his friends think she got in a fight with a Mistvale Monk and hasn't been able to move properly since."

"Gramps!" Sirena made a snapping sound in the air with a spark of magic, instantly brightening. "Go ask old Chauncey. He knows a sarosian physician near town who he always says is the best there is. The one keeping Lord Goraldi, Percy's grandfather, alive. He always fixes up Wallace's gang when they get roughed up on adventures, too. That'll get you feeling better!"

"That's what Wallace said," Slipstream added.

"You had already heard of us, though?" Melia asked, turning to Jamjars, who looked halfway between a nervous breakdown and an eruption of excitement. "Where from? We aren't very big outside Izvaldi."

Jamjars looked giddy at merely being spoken to, so Starlight answered. "She has an old poster of you she stole from somewhere. I thought you were performers, or something."

"Oh, but we are," Melia whispered, suddenly reminding Starlight more of a sphinx than a batpony. The lights in the room slowly darkened, the sisters backing together until with a spark, their hips touched. "We're... the Firefly Sisters!" they sang as one, horns lighting up with auras matching each other's usual colors, projecting disco lighting onto the walls and ceiling. "A sister-and-sister music duo! Working as principals is a side job we picked up when times were harder six years ago."

Sirena ran a hoof through her bow-tied mane as the lights returned to normal. "Yeah, though it's a lot more serious than side jobs are usually supposed to be..."

"Our problems," Melia apologized. "You must've heard the bulletin on your way in, but we're having a concert tonight if you'd like to listen? It's an exciting event, and this is one we're especially looking forward to."

"Definitely," Sirena agreed. "It's way too rare we get to work on songs together any more. Say you'll be there?"

Maple smiled. "I think this is the third time we've heard about it, so I suppose we'll have to check it out?"

Jamjars squealed again, and both sisters looked grateful. "Well?" Sirena flipped her mane. "We could talk about Izvaldi, or you could talk about Ironridge, or one of us could show you the rest of the town? What do you wanna talk about?"