The Student from Warpla

by SparkStone

Part 5 - Bath

On this day, all hath suffered the wrath that came thy morning. The heat only worsened the state of the living as they struggled to go on to their classes.

“We’re doing everything we can to get the water back up and running!” Twilight said to everyone in the school. The students were holding their breath as they were making sure there was enough space between each other to lessen the intensity of the smell.

“It’s a good thing I bought perfume~!” Silverstream sang as she sprayed the air with it.

“Yeah, you’re probably gonna need more than that.” Smolder retorted.

“It had to happen on a hot day and while Professor Rainbow and Professor Pinkie were performing a stink bomb prank.” Gallus groaned.

Rarity walked up to Twilight and began whispering something to her. “Darling, as much as I believe in the importance of attendance and the very goal of this school, I think we should cancel for the day.”

“What?! It can’t be that bad!” Twilight said, looking around at the dissatisfied and possibly nearly fainting students. “Hmm, well, it does smell pretty bad.”

Rarity is holding her breath with her hoof placed on her snout. “Twilight, darling, PLEASE.”

“Alright, alright!” Twilight groaned, rolling her eyes. She turned to everyone and said, “Due to the recent events, classes will be cancelled today. By then, the water should be running tomorrow and hopefully the smell will be gone too.”

Despite the class being cancelled, the students were left with the problem of the smell. Little choice had led them to consider going to the spa. Unfortunately, that plan wouldn’t be available to everyone.

“Great, so we’re stuck sweaty, smelly, and hot for the rest of the day.” Gallus complained.

“Well, I suppose there’s no point in being here,” Dragon said as he was about to leave.

Smolder sniffed the air and noticed something peculiar. “Hold on...” She said as she pulled Dragon’s arm. She sniffs some more and looks at him suspiciously. “You don’t smell bad.”

“... Thank you?”

Sandbar takes a quick sniff and widens his eyes. “Hey! You smell like soap!”

“Yes, of course,” Dragon stated.

“Wait, you were able to take a shower!?” Gallus yelled. “Where!?”

“My house?”

Everyone gasped at the revelation. “You have your own house!?”

“I was given a home before attending. My people arranged my living space before I arrived in Ponyville.”

Ocellus flew to Dragon’s face and pleaded. “You HAVE to let us go to your house! We REALLY need running water!”

“You gotta man, we’re dying here,” Gallus said as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

“Dying? Well then, I have no choice. If it’s to save your life, then it’s an extremely small price to pay later.” He said with a look of heroic determination. He turned around and began to lead them to his home. “This way.”

“He knows we’re not actually dying, right?” Sandbar wondered.

“Just roll with it,” Smolder told him. “I want to get in a warm bath.”

---

They arrived at Dragon Slayer’s house. Out of all of the buildings, this one was the most out of place. It had a sleek design with walls hosting murals of desert roses and a square-like look on the front and sides. He opened the sliding doors and welcomed them inside to see a living room with cushioned couches and a fireplace. A kitchen with a fridge and an oven, but more importantly, the special room. Opening the door to it, he reveals a bath as big as the spa in Ponyville. Nay, perhaps even bigger.

“An indoor pool!?” Silverstream shouted.

“It’s a hot spring,” Dragon corrected her. “I use this room to meditate and cleanse myself.”

“Aw, sweet!” Smolder said as she was about to jump in. She was held back by Dragon however as he pointed to the shower room.

“You should all rinse off the… scent before you go in. There’s a chance you may contaminate the spa and make it also a… source of the smell.”

---

After everyone washed off the smell, they looked at the pool of water before them. Yona and Smolder hop right in, splashing the hot steaming water onto Sandbar and Gallus. They shook off the water and stared at the two who were just swimming around the large spa.

Ocellus dipped her hoof into the pool to test the temperature, only to be shoved in as Silverstream ran into the water.

Gallus and Sandbar sat on the edge with towels over their head.

“Aah, this is life.” Sandbar hummed.

“Can’t believe you have all of this stuff and didn’t tell us, Dragon.” Gallus commented as he blissfully absorbs the soothing heat of the spa bath.

“Um… Where is Dragon?” Ocellus questioned as she looked around the room.

The others checked around and realized he wasn’t in the room with them. They all peek out into the living room and see him sitting on the couch doing homework.

“Dragon, what the hay are you doing?” Smolder questioned.

“I’m doing the assignment for next week.” Dragon told her. “Are you done with the hot spring?”

“Why is Dragon not in the spa bath?” Yona asked more clearly

“Oh, I already took a bath, so there’s no need for another one.” Dragon answered.

“Well, are you sure you don’t want to relax in the spa anymore?” Sandbar asked.

“It feels kind of wrong to use it without you,” Ocellus stated. “It’s your house after all.”

Dragon takes a moment to consider it and says, “Well, in case you didn’t know, we humans wear clothes most of the time. The few occasions we don’t are times like taking a bath.”

“We’ve never seen you without clothes,” Smolder states.

“And with good reason. We don’t… expose ourselves unless in more private quarters and situations. However, I can make it to where it is acceptable for me to enter the bath while all of you are here.”

“Then do it,” she shrugged.

Dragon’s face flushes red for a bit. “I… will be there shortly. Please wait in the bath until then.”

He goes upstairs and into another room. The others exchanged bewildered looks before heading back and waiting for him. As they relaxed and waited for him to return, they began discussing Dragon's policies.

“Humans sure stick to the whole clothes thing, don’t they?” Smolder thought aloud.

“Maybe he’s hiding something, like a third arm!” Silverstream thought, imagining the strange possible anatomy of humans.

“I just think it’s kinda overboard with wearing something all the time,” Smolder stated.

“Hey, maybe he just likes it. Like how you like wearing a dress,” Gallus jokes, only to receive a wing slap on the head for it.

“What do you think he looks like without clothes?” Sandbar wondered.

“Yona thinks he hides super strength!” Yona said as she flexed her own strength to her friends.

The doors slowly open. The six of them turn to Dragon who was covering himself with a towel and swimming trunks. Everyone looked disappointed.

“You just switched your outfit with a towel and shorts,” Smolder stated, rolling her eyes.

“The towel is just to dry myself later.” Dragon responded with a slight snap to his tone. He dips his foot into the water and slowly removes the towel. The others then see the upper part of his body with well-toned muscles, but slim enough to not be unpleasant. The more noteworthy aspect however is his markings. Markings all over his back and shoulders depicting runes and strokes of lines written in black and red.

“What… The heck?” Gallus slowly spoke.

“Yona was right! Dragon has muscles!” she pointed out, smug about her correctness.

“What’s going on with those doodles on your back?” Silverstream questioned.

“Those are inscribed enchantments,” Dragon answered. “My people have used these on many things, like weapons and armor, or even walls to strengthen their durability or enhance their effectiveness.”

“What does yours do?” Sandbar wondered.

“More or less the same. I have been able to grant myself certain resistances while boosting my strength so that I could even wear that coat.”

“That sounds like cheating,” Smolder huffed, sore about the time she herself couldn’t carry it.

“You wouldn’t be wrong,” Dragon agreed. “In case you didn’t know, humans are actually extremely weak when compared to other creatures. A natural boon of strength, magic, and flight will always defeat humans in a normal battle set on attrition. The humans’ only ability is to perceive magic and translate them. Our greatest strength would come from being able to manipulate magic to our bidding written in our property, or in this case, our skin.”

“How are you able to change magic if you don’t have magic?” Ocellus questioned.

“Magic is everywhere. It’s in every living thing, every piece of nature, in the sea and in the air. The matter of manipulation however requires a special tool. One that taps into the magic itself. In proper hands, they can change things, like how strong or how fast someone or something is.”

“Do all humans have markings?” Yona questioned.

“No,” He replied. “When changing an object, you’re rewriting its biology in a way. Changing it to be stronger or more durable. By that logic, changing humans or living creatures for that matter would be like rearranging parts of their flesh and bone to be more effective or draw out more strength.”

“That sounds awful!” Ocellus was disgusted at the description of the process.

“Indeed. Only those who are strong enough to handle the process can be blessed with such strength. Failure to measure your ability to handle the procedure can have major repercussions on the mind and body.”

“... And you took it?” Smolder confirmed. “You got your markings from that… thing?”

“That’s right,” He replied.

The room was void of voices. Silence invades the room as the revelation of his markings came to light. ‘He’s still a kid’, they thought. He’s still a child, and yet he has been given such a position that risked his very being. Perhaps something may have been lost in the process?

It was awkward. They didn’t know what else to say after talking about what was practically surgery on someone who was still awake. Dragon paid no thought to it, since it had already been done. He looks up and recalls the process indeed being painful and incredibly frightening. His body was doing something he didn’t understand when the markings were placed. Yet, despite that…

“It wasn’t that bad, actually.” Dragon said out of nowhere. “The one who gave me the markings helped me through it all. She was patient with me and even promised not to tell anyone that I cried.”

Dragon chuckles a bit, not sure why he was recalling the time he received his markings. His friends did ease up when hearing that though.

“Other than right now, that was the only time I had to undress myself in front of someone.”

“Wait, like, no dressing at all?” Ocellus made sure.

The others became more interested in the marking afterwards. “What do your markings look like? Show us all of it!”

Dragon merely smiled as they began requesting to see the marking masterpiece he received so long ago. As they did, Dragon sighed and said…

“Please leave my house.”

Comments

[ZephyrStrife]

I find myself quite interested in this story. It flows very nicely and has quite the enjoyable pacing to it. I like how it goes from individual lesson to individual lesson in each chapter and really showcases how different the cultures really are. The way his culture is absolutely reminds me of Egypt or the Middle East during their equivalent of the Medieval period or sightly before. Kind of reminds me a little of Assassin's Creed 1

[Mr_Den1999]

It’s good that they didn’t see him completely naked, otherwise they learned the fullness of human biology.(Rus-Eng)

[Write Pillar]

I feel like the Student 6 need to be more understanding of his ways.

[Cheshirek4t]

“Maybe he’s hiding something, like a third arm!” Silverstream thought, imagining the strange possible anatomy of humans.

Heh hehe *starts giggling like a little child*