The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Behold, Your Benefactor

Felicity nodded, standing with Shinespark in the otherwise-empty colosseum corridor. "You're coming? Then there's no time to waste."

Swallowing, Shinespark followed her at a brisk pace through the facility, the batpony actually moving fast enough to tire herself out. Shinespark kept pace effortlessly, wondering if she was that much more in shape or if Felicity really wasn't lying about being unable to last in a fight. She watched her intently, trying to learn as much about her benefactor as possible... Good, dignified posture, even though she was legitimately winded. Swaying her considerable hips; she definitely wanted onlookers to watch. Valey probably would have gotten distracted... She tried to catch up so as to read Felicity's face, but each time the mare put on a burst of speed as if she really wanted to stay in the lead, so Shinespark settled for walking in the back.

"Who shall we... try first, tournament organizers or lords themselves?" Felicity panted, stopping at an intersection to lean against a wall. "The latter are more likely to cheat and get you in, and they're also more likely to want bigger things in return."

Shinespark glanced down the corridor. Chauncey was supposedly an organizer, but Jamjars had just said she couldn't find him... "We'll try our luck with the lords." She swallowed, running through all the ones she knew of. If Percival was there, he might, but could he? Lord Stormhoof would probably frown on cheating, but at least wasn't hostile to them. She didn't know much about the others, but if she was a unicorn helping a batpony to win against another batpony, maybe she could appeal to someone's prejudices there?

"As you wish, darling." Felicity swallowed and took a few more breaths, then turned left and started off at a slower pace. She actually let Shinespark match her now, and her slitted eyes were visibly dancing around, watching everything... yet with a calm, composed demeanor that suggested she wasn't nervous and it was merely her business seeing what was going on in every little corner.

Shinespark decided she should be watching their surroundings, too.

Three times over the next few minutes, Felicity latched to her side, put a wing over her back and pulled her down with barely a word of warning, sinking into the shadows while an important-looking pony or griffon walked past. The last time was premeditated, Felicity stopping for a full minute to regain her breath before ferrying Shinespark under a locked door with two fancifully-dressed guards on either side.

They didn't surface on the other side, Felicity swimming forward and waiting until she was under an ornamental table to lift her muzzle and catch her breath. As the batpony held her and continued forward, Shinespark furrowed her brow at the fact they were able to do this at all. Sure, the lights throughout Stormhoof were dim because power was expensive, but wasn't this a security risk? They were able to afford that massive hologram and loudspeaker setup over the arena ring, after all. What was stopping any old batpony with a grudge from coming in here and assassinating someone? She resolved to ask about this as soon as they weren't in an important hurry.

Felicity rose again in a supply closet for air, conveniently positioned right when she was about to run out. Shinespark felt like she remembered from Valey that if a batpony was sneaking with others, their breath effectively counted for everyone, lowering the time they could stay down, so she didn't complain as her host leaned on her, taking another good minute to recuperate.

"Are you alright?" she eventually mouthed.

"Very much so, yes," Felicity assured her. "Just a little consequence of my day job. Or night job, since sarosian. Really, any time but this one..." She shook her head. "Never mind that. I am fine. Let us continue."

They snuck forward into a plush ring-shaped corridor which Shinespark quickly realized ran around the central arena pit, the doors on the inside leading to the lords' private boxes and the doors on the outside leading to their traveling quarters should they be staying overnight. Lord Stormhoof had only a box, the corridor's entrance where his quarters would be, and Felicity made for that door first, surfacing in a carpeted room with an enchanted window showing a clear view of the ring.

"Well, Stormhoof is out," she whispered, surfacing again. "Anyone in particular you don't want us to try? Otherwise we'll just go around the ring, and... actually, if we find someone and you want me to surface, just kick me a little, preferably gently. And do remember, nicer means less likely to ask something of you, meaner means more likely to cheat."

"Okay," Shinespark replied, and they were off again.

The next room had nothing. The room after that, nothing. Same for the room after that.

"Goldfeather, Izvaldi, Wilderwind," Felicity whispered. "No need to panic, it's merely the middle of the night..."

Eventually, they reached Grandbell's room, and it too was empty, though with a level of decoration grandeur far posher than the other lord lounges. A filly-sized throne sat at the forefront, and Felicity surfaced with a sigh. "Well," she whispered, catching her breath, "that's seven out of twelve down and not a single sphinx in the house, alas. Shall we keep going?"

"Yes. How much time do we have left?" Shinespark frowned.

"At this rate..." Felicity floated halfway out of the shadows, somehow leaning on Shinespark again despite holding her in like they were in water. "We have maybe twenty minutes, which could be give or take a few depending how long the next fights last. In short, barely anything. I'm terribly sorry..."

"Then we keep going," Shinespark decided, trying to nudge her back toward the door.

Felicity swam again. Shinespark couldn't make out anything below the surface, her eyes confounded by dimensionally-altered geometry they hadn't been made to parse, but she felt Felicity tense and speed up in excitement next to her, and dared to perk up herself. The world grew slightly brighter around her, enough that it was lit but not enough to eject them, and she suddenly felt the edge of Felicity's hoof on her side, tracing strange patterns and swirls into her fur that she eventually realized were letters.

G... Y... R... E...

Shinespark swallowed and felt herself chill. She had just seen Lord Gyre watching when they were in their own box, hadn't she? She knew he was here. Was he one of the more unscrupulous lords who would be more likely to help? According to Felicity, yes. He was also the lord of the province where Valey was currently looking for Starlight. Suddenly, whether Felicity was in on it or not, she realized this was almost definitely a trap.

But... she wasn't about to back down from doing her part to help Valey, and she had resigned herself in advance to putting herself in a bad position for this. Was it a bad idea? Yes. Would she be able to live with herself if she backed out?

Felicity didn't have a lot of air. Did she even have time to decide?

Quickly making up her mind and taking a cue, she put her own hoof against Felicity's barrel, drawing yes on her chest. Felicity got the message and surfaced.

Gondolus Gyre's viewing box was decorated in metal and right angles, wicker braziers burning with dim teal flame in the corners of the room. A throne that looked bolted to the ground with pipes sat mere hoofsteps from the window, broad enough for two ponies to comfortably lean together side by side yet failing to hide its lord's broad, fur-caped shoulders. A black and white robe covered the huge sphinx's backside, not as large as Wallace but still one of the biggest and best-built ponies Shinespark had ever seen.

"Ahem." Felicity daintily cleared her throat, putting her breathlessness on hold in the name of decorum. "Lord Gyre."

With a click of a button, the throne rotated, Gondolus Gyre making a show of laziness as his room did the work for him. Hind legs crossed, he reclined on his backside, massive chin on a massive paw, and gave a full-toothed grin. "Oh? What have we here, hmm?"

His eyes surveyed the two mares, then widened, and he shot upright, pointing a claw at Shinespark. "It's you! Celebrity alert! What have I done to deserve this honor, Ironridge mare?"

Shinespark blinked, caught heavily off-guard, but Felicity wasn't fazed. "Lord Gyre, a close friend of hers is in the tournament and currently needed to run because another friend's filly was foalnapped and in need of rescue, yet has a match in perhaps fifteen minutes. She wants to sub in."

Gondolus winced. "And you come to a poor, backwater autocrat like me to get it done?"

"I'm kind of low on options." Shinespark grimaced. "My friend has been sabotaged, I want to fight in her place to keep her streak alive, and I'm willing to bargain for it."

"Bargaining? Fighting for your friends?" The sphinx was on his paws with so much grace, the room didn't even shake despite his size. "Sounds like you hardly have time for bargaining! Let's get you out there and jaw about who owes who what later, hmm?"

Shinespark folded her ears, but this was what she wanted... "Yes. That sounds perfect. Any idea what I should expect to owe you?"

Lord Gyre suddenly looked terribly awkward. "Oh, well... you have some very positive PR in the higher circles after shutting down that dreadful invasion from Yakyakistan that had the Council of Lords collectively losing their heads in Grandbell a few months ago, and here I am with one of the worst reputations in the Empire and a province that's the butt of everyone's jokes. You look good, I look bad. I'm sure we can work something out."

"Sounds like an endorsement deal, darling." Felicity nudged Shinespark along. "But he's going with it, so hurry! You do have a battle to catch, after all."

The sphinx cleared his huge throat. "Yes, get on to the staging area. There's a corridor, it's not hard to find... I'll take care of things up top, and then we can all hang out and make friends afterward. Good luck out there?"

Shinespark steeled herself and nodded. "And if I wanted to bring something with me? A sword, or armor?" She realized even if she found a spare suit of armor somewhere, it probably would take more than fifteen minutes to properly don, unless it was made for teleporting into... but there was nothing she could do about that.

"No problem!" Gondolus Gyre winked, flinging his door open. "Usually just a bribe for someone to turn a blind eye. Leave everything to me!"

He dashed off and was gone, leaving Shinespark and Felicity with an empty room and a swinging door. "Well, that went swimmingly," Felicity remarked. "Let's get you to the arena?"

Comments

[Mini-Joe]

im not sure how to feel about gyre, considering what his province is like

[Thunder twister]

Pretty sure this is 600 chapters now, congrats Yoshi!

[Hap]

BOY THAT WENT SUSPICIOUSLY WELL

[RoboRed]

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