The Immortal Dream

by Czar_Yoshi

Centaur Sweat

Corsica dragged me and Braen to the head of the bar, less because I was dragging my hooves and more so we didn't get split up in the overcrowded space. The bar stools came in just about every size except teenage mare, which turned out to be fortunate as the single one that was available could fit all three of us at once.

"One sec," the elongated cat tending the counter said, sliding over to us an actual second later. "Woah, new faces," he greeted with a flutter of his eyelashes, leaning in with his chin on a forepaw. "Fresh into town, by any chance?"

"Just rolled in," Corsica said, squished between me and Braen. "Lively place you've got here."

The cat pulled himself up and did an elaborate bow. "Well, in that case, your first drinks are on the house. What can I do you for?"

"Something non-intoxicating," Corsica said without hesitation. "Other than that, surprise me."

"I'll have what she's having," I added, a little overwhelmed by the intensity of the room.

"Braen is tragically unable to drink," Braen apologized, opening her mechanical mouth and showing off her lack of a throat.

The cat whistled, taking the presence of a mechanical pony entirely in stride. "What a pity. Gimme a few more seconds..."

As he glided off to the taps, I took quick stock of our neighbors. One was a spherical frog, about the height of a large stallion and sporting droopy, pleated ears that hung almost halfway down its body. It was watching us with unconcerned curiosity, holding almost perfectly still save for its tongue, which occasionally snaked out, wrapped around its tankard, and lifted it to take a drink.

The other was a bipedal bird-thing with wings for arms, fluffy enough that it was a little hard to wrap my mind around its anatomy. It had a peg-leg, and looked tipsy enough that it had probably been here for quite a while.

A clunk on the counter heralded our drinks as the bartender scooted back in front of us. "Enjoy," he said with a bow.

I took a sip. Whatever it was, it was warm and heavily spiced. Some kind of tea, though made with plants that probably didn't even have a category up north?

"Diverse clientele you've got, here," Corsica remarked, taking a bigger mouthful and barely avoiding choking from the intensity.

The cat nodded. "First time in an Abyssinian bar, I take it?"

"That happen a lot around here?" Corsica raised an eyebrow.

The cat whistled innocently. "More than anywhere else in Equestria, I'd say. Our kind don't exactly mingle with the genteel folk outside the dragonlands, and your pretty princesses don't facilitate much travel to our end of the map... Name's Roy, by the way. Fauntleroy, if you're feeling fancy."

"Well met, Roy," Corsica replied, proceeding to introduce us in turn.

"Impressive, impressive." Fauntleroy nodded along. "Never seen a mechanical pony before. Guessing you must hail from some interesting places yourselves."

I glanced at Corsica. If the dragons and the Equestrians really wanted a tight lid on information, how much should we say? Though, this cat's expectation that we were from far away suggested that distant travelers weren't nearly as rare around here as Seigetsu wanted us to think they were...

"You can say that again," Corsica chuckled. "Anyway, just trying to get a feel for how things are around here. What's the people's verdict on the local rulers? Are they good eggs?"

Fauntleroy swaggered. "Well, I'm about as biased as they come, but-"

He was interrupted by a loud crash. I winced, expecting a bar fight... but it was just the bird-thing to my left, having passed out and fallen off its stool.

"Whoopsie!" Fauntleroy leaned all the way over the counter, peering down at it and making a face. "Hate to cut you ladies off, but duty calls, and all that. If you want to mingle, though, try that table over there. All goodly folk, barkeep's honor..."

I followed his gesture to the far corner table, the big one with the walrus.

Fauntleroy himself ducked into an adjacent room and began filling a pail with water. Deciding I didn't want to get splashed by the inevitable dousing, I slipped from my stool, mug clutched close to my chest in a wing. Corsica and Braen followed suit.

Everyone sure was at ease here, I noted as we pushed through the crowd to the recommended table. Getting rowdy and letting loose, maybe, but that wasn't a thing that happened at a place where you could randomly get dragged into schemes and politics. This was... probably a good place. As overwhelming as it was, I made a decision that I liked it here.

"Hey there," Corsica said, poking her head up above the rim of the corner table. "Got room for a greenhorn adventurer or three?"

All eyes turned to her. In addition to the walrus, this table had more spherical frogs, more bird things, more four-legged fish, a pair of batponies who looked like twins, and a three-headed beast that looked like a lion, a goat and a snake all sharing the same torso, with the snake making up the tail. The polar bears in business suits, I noticed, were all seated at the next table over, deep in conversation with-

My breath caught in my throat. It was a relatively ordinary creature by the scale of everything else in this room, with the head and torso of a simian but the body and horns of a bull. Its face was old and wrinkly, and it wore a thespian smile, with closed, upturned eyes... save for the third eye in the middle of its forehead. Golden, burning, with a pupil so slitted it was shaped like a barbell. And staring straight at me.

It was exactly the same third eye I had seen on Nyala's forehead that day on the Verdandi, the one nobody else could see.

A deep, deep shiver slid down my spine, and I adjusted my seating so that Corsica was between me and that eye.

"Your table comes highly recommended," Braen announced, dragging my focus back to my more immediate surroundings. "I'm Braen! This is Corsica, and this is Halcyon."

Pretty much everyone was now staring at us. "Well, I'll be," the walrus said, peering at us with a round, grandfatherly face. "A mechanical life form? You sure do see new things every day."

"Indeed you do," said Fauntleroy, sliding up behind us with an expression that suggested he had just dumped a bucket of water all over an unconscious bird-thing. "Kiddos, meet the local court. Upstanding fellows and fellowesses one and all, responsible for keeping our corner of the town just a hair less grimy than its reputation would suggest. Court? Meet, uhh..." He scratched his head. "Eh, I already forget their names. But I like 'em. Oop, thirsty customer, toodles!"

He scooted away.

"The local court, eh?" I sized up the table once again, suddenly a little more wary. "So you're law enforcement?"

"Of what few laws there are to enforce that the dragons don't handle themselves," the walrus lamented. "It does make for a boring caseload, sometimes. The name's Jones. Judge Jones! And I'd be deeply obliged if you did any lawbreaking you're planning to do in an interesting and exciting manner."

I squinted. "Are you encouraging us to break the law?"

"Just stating the obvious," the goat head on the three-headed creature said, shrugging the shoulder on its side. "We're all sinners here anyway. Just trying to be thoughtful about it."

I squinted harder. "You're encouraging us to... thoughtfully break the law."

"You're pretty new around here, aren't you?" said the snake head.

"I won't deny it." Corsica rested a foreleg on the table. "What context are we missing?"

A frog's tongue flicked out. "Given that you aren't screaming and fleeing at the sight of us, either far too much, or far too little..."

"Should we be?" I backed away as much as my chair would allow. "Screaming and running away?"

At least half the table chuckled.

"No, no!" Jones the judge urged. "There's no need for any of that, now..."

"But some ponies would?" Corsica pressed, leaning forward. "Pretend I know nothing, because I probably do. What's up with that?"

"Well, we are Abyssinians," the goat head pointed out. "The Kingdom of Monsters? Not so known for fitting in with your pastel-colored Equestrian society."

"Life would lose its flavor without the rough edges," the lion head muttered. "But that's not an opinion everyone shares."

"And there are some - or even lots - who make 'rough edges' a bit too generous of a descriptor," the snake head sighed. "You're really adventurers, and haven't ever heard of a monster attack?"

"Maybe they come from a good part of town!" Jones insisted, his blubber shaking as he slapped a fin for emphasis.

Corsica cleared her throat. "Or from far, far away. Anyway, what do you think of the rulers around here? Terutomo and all that. Looking for some opinions from down on the ground."

"Ah, Terutomo," Jones sighed. "He has a good heart, for a dragon. Quite an exciting story, too!"

"He's fair enough," a bird-thing said. "Might even believe in all the rhetoric coming out of Cernial. Better him than most others."

"But he's still a dragon," a frog pointed out.

"Yep," the lion head groaned. "Still a dragon."

"Which matters because...?" I blinked. "Wait, the dragons' holy war-"

"Is against Abyssinia," the snake head finished for me. "We're the mean, nasty, impure enemy. Boo for us."

"But you all live here in Terutomo's town," Braen pointed out.

Jones looked awkward. "Well, you see, little mechanical pony... one of the things the dragons do is always leave a hand open to us. There are quite a lot of Abyssinians living in dragon territory."

"They're trying to claim the moral high ground," the snake head griped. "Showing that they're so good, they'll obey the laws of fair conflict, and treat us nice off the battlefield to prove a point. They even make it taboo to talk too much about the war, to avoid anyone hurting our feelings by making out like we're the enemy. As if this war is being fought over hurt feelings."

"Better than not being able to live here," the goat head pointed out. "You remember our days in Abyssinia. The cities there are a dump. The land is rotting, the laws of nature themselves are coming apart at the seams, and all anyone can do is talk about how to profit off the changes instead of how to fix them."

Jones slapped a fin again. "And Terutomo really does mean-"

"So what are you fighting over?" Corsica cut in. "If the dragons are really keeping their silence for your sake, surely you can tell us yourselves."

Jones shifted in his corner, the walls of the building groaning against his girth. "Have you heard the legend of Saint Tadashi?"

"Well, we've seen his statue in the plaza," I offered. "But no one would say who he was, or what he did."

"History grows murky with age," the lion head said, its voice quiet and subdued. "However, both Abyssinia and the dragons claim Tadashi as their own. They say that in ages immeasurably long gone by, the world was beset by unspeakable calamity that threatened the end of all races. The ponies devised a countermeasure by which they might be saved, but did not recognize our species as worthy of sharing in it. Tadashi was a hero who stole some of the ponies' power, and with it saw our ancestors through the calamity. His tomb lies in the lands now known as the Cernial Plateau, under the control of the Ice Dragons. And the war is now being fought over the belief that the power he stole was entombed along with him, and it will soon be needed again to save us from the second coming of the calamity."

My ears pressed back. "So you're fighting over who gets this power, because you think you're about to need it to survive."

The goat head's face fell. "We're not so unified as we were back in those days. The Ice Dragons have switched sides, and sing to the ponies' tune now. They probably think they don't need Tadashi's power, because if the calamity does return, they'll have access to the real thing instead of stolen dregs."

"But for some reason," a dour frog said, "they guard it anyway, and refuse to share."

"You have to look on the bright side," Jones insisted. "Maybe things will be different this time! They're letting us live on their lands, after all, and Terutomo for one seems to believe it is a genuine sign of unity! Maybe they mean to share the ponies' power with us as well!"

"That's an awful big maybe to stake the survival of your race on," the snake head quipped.

I leaned closer. "How sure are you this calamity is returning? You're talking like the end of the world is a near certainty!"

One of the batpony twins spoke up, reminding me there were in fact other ponies at the table. "If you went to Abyssinia, you'd feel it too. Ever since that crystal tower appeared twenty-five years ago-"

My blood ran cold. "Crystal tower?"

"Yeah." The batpony's voice was sticky, like she had just been eating too much peanut butter. "In the desert, near the shore of the channel between the mainland and the big island. It grew out of the ground all at once, and ever since then nothing has been right. Soil turns to sand and stone turns to mud. Metal rusts faster than ever, and when it comes to gravity, the water has a mind of its own. And before the war started, some scholar found writing in Tadashi's tomb talking about a tower as well, that probably dates to the last calamity. The end is certain, mark my words."

I felt the pink flame flicker dimly inside me.

"Twenty-five years, huh?" Corsica pressed. "You've checked this place out pretty thoroughly, then?"

"I was there when it first happened," the batpony insisted. "The place was hollow, with rooms and corridors and everything! Almost looked intelligently designed. It was so tall, though, that I had to turn back way before I reached the top. I never saw anything but crystals. Anyway, several years ago, a really powerful monster moved in and claimed it as their castle, so it's no longer open to the public."

Corsica was giving me a look that said I don't even need to ask if you're thinking what I'm thinking.

I nodded. Yeah.

"A-anyway," I stammered, trying not to get flattened by the renewed gravity of my quest. "Bottom line, is Terutomo a good guy or not? Just wanna know whether we should trust him."

"He's always done right by us," Jones insisted. "Without trying to look too much like he's doing right. He walks a fine line with this war business, despite being so far removed from the front lines."

"How come?" I pressed.

The same batpony as before spoke up, sporting a conspiratorial tone. "Well... You know the Earth Dragons, right? Tiny tribe, takes our side in the war? They say Terutomo's dad had a dalliance with one back when he was a noble of some renown, and that Seigetsu is actually a half-breed with one leg on either side of the war. Now, anyone who knows her will tell you she resents any implication she's not a hundred and ten percent on the Ice Dragons' side, but what about the rest of her family? Her dad lost his noble status after his indiscretions came to light."

"And now here his children are, restored to minor yet still-noble posts," Jones proclaimed. "If you ask me, they must have done something noteworthy to get back up this high!"

"Oh yeah?" The batpony folded her forelegs, staring Jones down. "Well, if you ask me, the reason they're stuck in a posting so far from the glorious battlefield is because the higher-ups are worried Seigetsu's mixed blood will make Terutomo easy to manipulate. They probably don't want a backdoor into the system."

Jones' mustache drooped. "Well, yes, but-"

"Trust me, I'm a criminal," the batpony smugly insisted. "If I was trying to push that family around, I'd lobby Terutomo to give us stuff on the grounds that it could help his sister too, since she's one of us. You know, a little whisper here and there, get some cultural leniency going so we can get away with anything bad we want to do!" She leaned closer to me. "In fact, the reason why it's such a good plan is because that's basically what they're already doing. The Ice Dragons love giving us symbolic handouts to make us feel better about how many of us they're killing in the war. Sorry, did I say us? I mean to make themselves feel better. All you gotta do is debase yourself to the right dragon, and volia..."

Jones cleared his throat with gusto. "We are supposed to be the good guys, Yunie, thank you very much... I'm going to have to open a case against you if you carry on much further with that line of thought!"

Yunie shrugged and sat back. "Just telling it like it is, pops. Besides, she's a bat." She pointed at me. "If she's going to fall in with anyone, it'll probably be us."

"Pops?" I glanced between Yunie and Jones. "You can't actually be...?"

"Oh, it's a figure of speech," Jones chuckled.

I sat back, feeling silly for even asking.

Although, now that I thought about relationships, and the accompanying topic of how old people were... Yunie and her twin were pretty clearly twenty-somethings. And she said she had explored a crystal tower twenty-five years ago.

Apparently, I had found another changeling. Why was it that every changeling ever used their powers first and foremost to lie about their age?

Fauntleroy sidled back up to our table, his sharp eyes taking in the state of everyone's tankards. "Evening evening evening, any of you lads and lasses need a refill?"

Several mugs were scooted his way. He collected them, and the whole table watched him go.

"I don't think any are more likely to sing Terutomo's praises than he," the goat head remarked.

"Oh yeah?" Corsica tilted her head, curious.

"When Terutomo was first posted here," Jones started. "Must have been six, seven years ago, even. He strode into town, didn't even let a vehicle carry him. Swore that he would do right by his ideals and make this a city everyone could be proud of. And to prove his point, before he even set foot in the castle, he strolled the streets and decided to mentor the first scruffy urchin he stepped on. Found little Fauntleroy holed up in an alley, and now look at the cat today! A successful business owner! Oh, young Roy has a bright life ahead of him, even if it does mean he won't be bringing any more amusing defenses to my courtroom..."

"Sure," Yunie scoffed. "Keep saying how great he is. I'm telling you, a dude like that has 'manipulate me' scrawled all over his bum-bum. All. Over. It. I can prove it, if you want!"

Braen cleared her throat. "What is meaning of 'bum-bum'?"

As they argued, I sat back and let myself think. This was exactly the sort of testimony I wanted: how the lower dregs of society judged their leader to be, not the politicians and business owners whom he was paying off and who probably had agendas for me as well. The more I heard, the more I wanted to trust Terutomo and earnestly petition for his help getting to Catantan. But, at the same time, I couldn't really feel like I was in a hurry to get out of here.

My cup was still warm. And, for once, I didn't feel threatened by the creatures around me, or like I had anything to prove. If I was only traveling for my own sake, I could stop here for a while, and maybe be quite happy.

...Except for the persistent mysteries still plaguing me, like the creepy eye on that one guy's forehead.

"Hey," I interrupted. "Not to change the subject, but who are those guys over there?"

"The syndicate?" The snake head gestured at the table I was staring at. "Cross between a weight-lifting club and a masquerade ball. Basically, a bunch of muscle maniacs who think being professional makes you cool. Gentler souls than the facade they put on, but not someone you'd want to get on the wrong end of in a dark alley." It squinted. "Never seen the centaur, though. His kind are pretty rare."

"Wasn't there a centaur in the news a year or so ago?" a frog asked. "Someone who went on a bigger-than-usual rampage in Central Equestria. What was his name...?"

"Tirek?" Yunie suggested.

"Yeah!" The frog blinked excitedly. "Tirek! I heard he almost toppled the monarchy! I wonder if this guy knows him?"

"Just because he's a centaur doesn't mean he knows every other centaur in existence," the lion head muttered.

The frog looked slightly embarrassed. "Well, there can't be that many centaurs out there..."

At the other table, the centaur with the third eye seemed to have heard us. "One moment, gentlemen," he said, creakily getting up and trotting over on cloven hooves before smiling at us with an expression that belonged in a creepy theater troupe. I knew he was only unsettling me because of the eye, and that I couldn't judge him fairly because of that. But that eye made me really, really not want to judge him fairly.

"Howdy," Jones greeted, not looking remotely disturbed. "I don't believe I've seen you around!"

"You probably haven't." The centaur amicably shrugged, his third eye fixed on me. "I do a lot of traveling. Duma, peddler of rare wares, at your service." He bowed. "It must be at least twenty years since I've been through this particular township. Usually, I roam out west, where war makes people desperate and more in need of supplies. Now, forgive me for eavesdropping, but I could swear I heard someone speak with great interest about the topic of centaurs?"

The frog glanced around the table, looking deeply uncomfortable. "Uhh... You know Yunie, heh heh, always interested in things that are none of her business!"

Yunie and her twin gave it deep, identical scowls that were so perfectly synced, they were probably professional mimes.

"Is that so?" Duma looked unflappably pleased. "Well, knowledge isn't my usual ware, but I can certainly peddle that as well. What would you like to know about centaurs?"

The snake-goat-lion thing made a covert gesture toward Jones, who helplessly shrugged.

"I've got one," Fauntleroy announced, sliding onto the scene like a hockey puck. "What kind of things do thirsty centaurs like to drink?" He brandished a clipboard and a pencil, full of fulfilled orders.

"Oh, nothing, I'm quite good," Duma cheerfully replied, holding up a hand. "I actually came here to make money, not to spend it!"

Fauntleroy pursed his lips. "Uh-oh. You know how much rent I pay to run my business here, right?"

Duma smiled at him. "...More than I can afford, no doubt. Charity for the itinerant poor?"

Fauntleroy gave him a warning look.

Behind his back, Duma pulled something out. It was a tiny, tiny glass vial containing a few drops of purest crimson liquid, held so that everyone except Fauntleroy could easily see it. To the barkeeper, he continued to smile.

"Well, I see we've failed to come to an agreement," Fauntleroy sighed. "Excuse me, noble gents?" He leaned over the table with the suit-wearing polar bears. "Got a non-customer making paying customers uncomfortable, here. Drinks on the house to the first one to escort him out?"

As one, the polar bears rose to their feet. "Sorry about this, buddy," the middle one said. "Still friends, right? Just can't say no to free ale."

Duma chuckled cheerfully, putting away the vial he had been showing off. "What a pity. Oh well! I suppose I'll just peddle my knowledge from that conveniently dark alley just across the way. If anyone wants to buy, or perhaps purchase any material goods, you'll all know where to find me!"

I watched, unnerved, as he was escorted out. What a relief to see someone else getting busted for a change...

"What was that red stuff?" whispered the frog who had accidentally lured Duma over. "Some kinda drug?"

"Probably," the goat head said. "Nothing any of us need, that's for certain."

The lion head and snake head bobbed in agreement.

Jones narrowed his eyes. "I'm of half a mind to investigate this. My courtroom could use some activity!"

"Selling drugs isn't exactly illegal around these parts..." a bird-thing pointed out.

"I'm not sure that was a drug," Yunie whispered. "You didn't hear this from me, but I hear the bigwigs at Cernial have a special red substance that has something to do with... you know... them."

"Who?" Corsica asked.

"You know!" Yunie waved her wings. "You're not supposed to make me say it. The ones we don't talk about!"

"Oh, the ones we're supposed to pretend don't exist, except when we need them?" the frog asked.

Yunie nodded furtively.

Jones' eyebrows rose in realization. "Oh, you mean the memory erasers!"

Yunie frantically shushed him. "Shut up, pops, you want them to come for you!?"

"Oops!" Jones slapped a fin over his mouth, glancing around and lowering it a good moment later. "Although, I actually wouldn't complain if my courtroom got a case involving illegal memory mod-"

This time, it was Yunie's hoof that silenced the walrus.

"How bad of an idea would it be for me to go out and ask him myself?" I asked, straightening up.

Everyone looked at me. "You want to stick your nose in trouble?" Corsica asked, incredulous.

I shrugged. "He's looking to make money, and I'm flat broke. And you guys can watch out the window, or something, and back me up if anything bad happens, right?" Besides, I needed to know what was up with that eye... and Corsica had a point. Maybe I was just incapable of not asking for trouble.

"Hoho, you're nuts, kid," Yunie hissed. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll back you up." She hugged her twin, who still hadn't said a word this entire time. "Hey, pops, we're going out to get a case for your courtroom. Tell Roy to have a keg waiting for me when we get back, yeah?"

"Have fun," Corsica told me. "But don't kid yourself that I think this is a good idea."

"Good luck!" Braen added, earnestly waving her hoof.

---

I stepped out into the night, vaguely aware of the two batponies shadowing me. "We'll cover you," Yunie whispered, sinking into the shadows. "Now go get 'em!"

I stared at the entrance to the alley where Duma was visibly waiting, his third eye glowing in the darkness. What was I doing?

Bad idea. Bad idea. Bad bad bad-

"Hey," I said, walking closer.

"Well, hello there!" he greeted, stepping out into the light of the moon. "Here to buy, or just window shopping?"

I wasn't about to waste any time. "What's with the... you know...?" I tapped my forehead.

"How do you mean?" It was impossible to read his expression when he never stopped smiling and never opened his eyes. His normal eyes, at least.

"Ugh, never mind." I shook my head. "That red stuff. You were obviously trying to sell it, back there. What is it?"

"You mean this?" He pulled out the vial, which almost looked faintly luminescent. "Why, I'm almost surprised you haven't seen it before. Unless you're just playing coy to try to drive the price down, which I'm sorry to say won't work on me. You did arrive in town from the north tonight in the company of the one and only Seigetsu, did you not?"

"Maybe," I told him. "What's that got to do with anything?"

He smiled at me. "You really aren't what you seem. How delightful."

"You've got two minutes to explain yourself before I get tired and go back inside," I warned him.

"Fine, fine, I can tell when a product isn't appreciated," Duma sighed, not sounding in the least disappointed. "How about a fresh new set of robes, then? Your current clothes are looking quite a bit old."

I blinked. "You've got a set of robes just randomly for sale?"

He smiled. "I'm very resourceful! And always prepared."

I glanced at my old, worn-out clothes.

"Well?" Duma asked. "You strike me as a fine young mare who would never want to be seen in public without them, for intimately personal reasons."

I shuddered. "What do you know?"

"Lots of things! But I'm very good at guessing, too." Duma shrugged. "For example, I'm guessing none of your dragon hosts have ever seen you with your clothes off, have they?"

I took a step back. "Well, no..."

"And you wouldn't want to change that," Duma preached. "Well, then it would be simply terrible if anything were to happen to them and you didn't have a backup. Going once, going twice..."

"Are you threatening to ruin my clothes?" I hissed, my hackles rising.

"No, never!" Duma beatifically smiled. "And I'm not trying to establish business rapport so I can sell you some of this, either!" He pulled back out the red liquid.

"And what's that supposed to be?" I asked warily.

"Formula L," Duma said, waggling the vial. "The real thing, not a fake. If you really don't know what this is, then I'd advise you run away very fast. But if you do, you'll find very few others who are willing to part with it for cash alone, no strings attached."

I took another step back. "And what's 'Formula L'?"

"Centaur sweat," Duma said, his voice perfectly serious. "People pay good money for this. I mean it!"

"That's gross," I said, turning away. "I think I'll pass."

"It has magical properties!" Duma urged as I walked away.

"Pass!" I insisted, heading back toward the bar.

Duma sighed airily, retreating back into his alley. "Tip from a merchant," he called after me. "If anyone else tries to sell you this, pretend you already have some, not that you don't know what it is. And never take off your clothes!"

I bristled, ignoring him. I had learned nothing at all, and gotten weirded out for my troubles. But at least nothing bad had happened.

"Dude," Yunie whispered, surfacing beside me when we were almost back to the door, her doppelganger in tow. "That was more sinister than the gates of Tartarus! He's part of a cabal or something for sure!"

"And you're not?" I raised an eyebrow. "Him more than others, but you seem to be enjoying conspiracies a little much yourself..."

"Sue me. They're interesting!" Yunie shrugged. "So what did he mean by never take off your clothes?"

I flinched. "No idea. I-"

Yunie lifted my coat, sneaking a peek at my barrel.

"Hey!" I slapped her away. "Knock it off! Ever heard of a lady's privacy?"

"Why?" Yunie shrugged. "Didn't see anything in there worth hiding. Besides, I'm showing you everything, aren't I?"

"That's not how it works," I groaned. "Also, you're at least twice my age."

"Okay, okay," Yunie pouted. "Everyone likes to look their own way. Point taken. I just wanna know what he thinks you're hiding! It's not the usual thing..."

"Beats me-" I said, freezing halfway through opening the bar door. "Wait, what 'usual thing'?"

Yunie whistled innocently. "Whoops! Forget I said anything. I'd get in super trouble if I told you. Hey, look at the time, it's almost time for my, uh, thing, haha, gotta run!"

She slipped into the shadows, mute clone following suit, and was suddenly gone.

Comments

[Boopers]

Am I the only one who expects creatures in there to start playing Cantina Band at any moment?

[Numinos]

What a delightful bunch of weirdos : )

And an extra spicy political controversies all around. Interesting, interesting...

[PropsValroa]

Very good chapter. Looking forward to getting to know the bunch more.

[Alchemik]

Well, look at that. I got an explanation! Equestria is very big and the outside bits don't get paid much attention to. After all, if Tirek was a distant legend out here, we're a good ways off the map.

In other news, the world is dying. Fun.

[RoboRed]

Oh boy another crystal tower. That's....probably not a good sign.

[Venlinelle]

A good old character overload chapter! Been a second, what with the smaller cast.

[sploopy slooder]

i just want them to get to fluttershy or starlight and not get bogged down with a tide of side characters or infodumps, or even worse a sidequest. The characters we already have dont get enough screentime, do we really need a dozen more to try to remember out of nowhere?