Arx Equestris

Chapter 3

'Amicitia semper prodest '

I can't believe it – I'm actually going to leave the city! True – only for few days, but I  hope hope that they'll turn out to be interesting few days. After all, if you weren't a trader, you were very unlikely to lave the place you were born at. You'd live your entire life in the same city doing the same things for the rest of your life, just like everypony else did. And just like I were going to a mere day ago. Now here I am, approaching the guard station by the main gate to the city with Crystal and Tangerine – two ponies that, as members of the Traveller's Guild, are allowed to freely wander the tunnels, even though the official agreement between Guild and government only mentions main paths between major cities and villages. But nopony cares that my companions rarely stay on them for long, usually opting to walk the old abandoned tunnels that were theoretically off-limits. Luckily for us, the “off-limits” part only means that once you go in there you're on your own, nopony actually cares about that fact enough to do something to stop ponies like my new associates from doing what they do best – dropping by the areas abandoned during or after the war and snatching everything that's not nailed to the floor. For the latter they needed to bring their own crowbars..

The small stop before actually leaving the city was, as Crystal assured me, just a formality. They had to check in with the Guild and sign a contract that would keep all potential problems with the guards away – if you ran into a patrol along the way without any mercenaries from Traveller's Guild, you'd have no other choice but to accept the guards' 'polite offer' of being escorted to your destination. Protect and serve and all that. According to the story, I hired them to escort me to Arx so I can establish an exchange agreement with a client there. Payment was to be delivered when we reach Guild's outpost in the city. Too bad the contract would go missing before we'd make it, saving me quite a few bits. Oh well, what can you do!

After the official part of forming the agreement was done, the guild's official levitated out a thin sheet of metal from the stack on one of the shelves and placed it inside a metal press, preparing the machine with the wording of our contract. It's a very popular method of storing information, since paper is way too expensive to use it for such things. I doubt the Guild would ever be able to afford enough of it to cover its needs, since every day dozens of new contracts were signed. When the machine was done punching the text in, the unicorn running the small outpost levitated it to us to make sure everything is correct.

'GM: EP CRYSTAL | U TANGERINE

C: P WING FLAIR

CD:

E: SCSTL-ARX : 50B

PD: ARR ARX OPST'

Wow. They really like saving time and space, don't they? I couldn't understand most of it,  but  it must have been correct since my companions nodded their heads, apparently being able to read the extremely shortened contract. For a second I wondered if it was due to them being long time members of the Guild, or it's just me being a not very clever pony again. I pushed those thoughts away as Crystal put the metal card inside her saddlebag and Tangerine motioned for me to follow as he walked out of the room and headed for the main door.

As we left the outpost, he turned his head towards me and Crystal “Alright, last call. You're certain you have everything? Yes? Good, then let's finally be on our way, we've had enough delays” he didn't even give me chance to form a full response before he was already off again, trotting towards the city's gate, which was guarded by a couple ponies in city guard's armours, standing by it as if they were statues, not even turning their heads to look at us as we walked past them. Creepy if you ask me, good thing I don't have to deal with them on a daily basis.

I followed Tangerine, almost bouncing on my hooves in anticipation. The only time I have actually left the city was for the Wonderbolts recruitment camp, but that wasn't far away from Springcastle and I was just escorted alongside the rest of the recruits. Now I was leaving the urban centre behind again, this time not being watched by guards that would drag me back into the line, have I dared to stray from it. True, Tangerine would probably do the same now,  but still – I'm going on the adventure of my life!

Crystal giggled lightly at my foalish excitement and I felt my cheeks warming up from embarrassment as I composed myself and changed my happy leaps into a more even pace, trotting by her side as Tangerine continued marching without even showing whether he paid any attention to what was happening behind his back or not. Better for me I guess. I decided to vent my anticipation in a less visible manner by looking around a bit. Sadly, the part of tunnels right outside the city wasn't anything unusual – still the same, bricked road and walls with magical lamps mounted on them, with rare holes on either side - passages leading to certain facilities located outside the city walls or villages that lied even further away. Every now and then we'd pass a bulky metal construction sticking out of the wall, the metal it was made of starting to rust as a sign of its age. I'm not an egghead like my sister, but I recognized what it is – in the city air ducts were hidden from sight, but out in the tunnels there was nopony who could say that the way they look is crime against good taste and they need to be swept under the rug, so nopony cared to try and disguise them. They just stood idly by, mounted into the walls and doing their job of bringing in fresh air from the surface. It was magically warmed up before being pushed out into the tunnels, but still had a chilly feel to it, a pleasant refreshment in comparison to the usual heated up air in areas further away from these machines.

Time slowly passed as we made our way away from the city, the road was rather wide so we had no problems in passing by the occasional ponies or carts heading Springcastle on their business. Most of them were being escorted by guards, but Crystal greeted some of her acquaintances from the Guild a few times, even stopping once to try and chat with one of them for few seconds before Tangerine wrapped his magic around her and pulled her away. She frowned at him, pouting as he set her back down, her friend just chuckled as she turned and ran to catch up with rest of the caravan.

“You know, just because you're a loner doesn't mean I can't have a little chat with friends either.” She argued, levelling up with the unicorn and leaving me to follow the pair by myself.

He let out a short, annoyed sight as if it were something he had to deal with far more often than he'd like to. “I'm just doing us all a favour. She's on a job and I don't think you want to get her in trouble, and we can't fall even more behind either, you know I need to settle few matters in Arx when we get there, so I'd like us to be on time. Besides, technically we're on a contract too. You'll have plenty of time to chat with your acquaintances when we're done here.” He recited without even turning his head to face her which only raised a 'hmph' from Crystal as she slowed down a bit until she was walking next to me again.

Her expression softened a bit as she turned to me. “I hate it when he has a point. Still, not like a minute or two are going to decide about the fate of the world. So, how are you holding up there.”

Not sure what to say I ultimately settled for simple “Alright”. Oh, who am I kidding. “Not really. I think we've been walking for hours, hard to tell without a clock anywhere. How much further is it?”

She gave me a mildly amused look as she shook her head lightly. “You better not say that to Tang. And to answer your question, we should be nearing the main intersection between Springcastle and Arx. That's close to about halfway to our destination and last point where we'll be using the main roads, so we're going take a short breather there, then head out into the old tunnels for few more hours. Tang says there's a suitable spot close to the surface access point, so we'll make a camp there and head out early tomorrow. Don't ask me about the details though, he's the brain here.” I just nodded, trying not to wince at the thought of having to walk for so much longer. I guess I should have found out more about this expedition before jumping in eagerly. Go me and my inability to think ahead.

We chatted idly as Tangerine continued to lead, fixed on his destination and ignoring the now sparse side passages, most of which was unlit and simply had a sign saying 'off-limits' next to them. One or two even had a metal bars blocking the way, I assumed those were the most hostile parts of the underground, apparently dangerous enough to make the officials actually try and stop ponies from venturing forth. We rarely met other travellers now, having left Springcastle's reach of influence as the bricked road got replaced by a simple smooth stone surface, area only visited by those who had business in other major cities. We only walked it for a short time before a high-pitched screech brought Tangerine to a stop before turning the next corner, his ears perked up as he listened in on barely audible noises carried through the tunnel as I looked nervously at Crystal, not sure if we're in some danger or not. She noticed my nervousness and smiled lightly walking up to our unicorn guide.

“What is it Tang? Sounds like just a bunch of lurkers?”

“Lurkers?” I echoed uncertainly – sure, I have heard that word a couple of times before, but never got curious enough to actually find out what it referred to.

Tangerine nodded his head slightly as he resumed walking at a slower pace. “Yep, lurkers. Annoying little creatures that like to attack ponies foalish enough to wander the far tunnels alone.” He moved past the corner with Crystal and I quickly followed him, now curious to see what was it. If they remain so calm, I guess I have nothing to fear either. As soon as I reached my companions my eyes fell on a pair of small creatures, being some kind of grotesque hybrid between reptile and mammal, standing next to an entrance to some abandoned passage a bit further down the tunnel. Their thin bodies, covered in a dark brown hide had disproportionally long limbs and tail, with small head nested on a short neck. One of them turned towards us, looking with its beady black eyes for few moments before letting out another screech, this time longer and lower pitched. I thought they don't look too threatening, but before I could voice my opinion four more emerged from the passage and joined the first pair. Okay, this is a bit more serious. I looked at Tangerine, hoping for him to tell me what to do, but he just started to calmly walk towards the half dozen skittering creatures.

“Those things always move around in packs and like to keep close to less busy tunnels, hoping for an easy prey. Luckily for us-” His horn glowed and one of the creatures screamed and kicked around as it got lifted into the air, its companions looking at it with what I supposed was fear or confusion on their small, ugly faces “-they're cowards, and unless they outnumber you five to one you have nothing to fear from them.” He smirked lightly as he threw the lurker back inside the passage it came from with a noticeable force, a small thud coming out of the darkness a moment later as the creature hit a wall. Rest of the pack looked uncertain for few seconds, but then they let out a collective screech and revealed rows of thin, spiky teeth as they started moving towards us.

Tangerine shook his head lightly before turning to face Crystal. “Stubborn pests. Well, this is your area of expertise.” She grinned reaching for her sword as she moved ahead of us, tapping the blade against the stone floor as she did, which caused the creatures to stop in their tracks as they now focused their eyes on the pony facing them, seeming uncertain once more. Both parties just stood staring each other down for few seconds before Crystal flicked her black tail and charged forward, which in turn sent the group skittering in other direction, accompanied by loud screeches as the terrified pack almost trampled each other trying to escape back into their tunnel, apparently having lost any will to ambush travellers today.

Having chased last of the creatures away the light blue mare sheathed her sword and turned back to face us, apparently very amused by the situation since she had a huge grin on her face. “Never gets old, I love those little guys.” I must say, watching her chase those small creatures around as they tried their best to keep away from the rampaging pony was a bit of a show.

Tangerine and I quickly joined her and the unicorn spoke up. “I must say, you are natural when it comes to handling those situations. You should have lurkers as your cutie mark, don't you think?” Crystal stuck out her tongue at him as she turned around and walked away as I turned my head to look at Tangerine, confused by what he said and almost felt my jaw dropping to the floor. The edge of his mouth was actually raised in a slight smile. This unfriendly, stern guy actually made a joke. I wondered if there's actually some truth behind Crystal's words of him being a good companion as I trotted up to join her and the unicorn in question as we resumed our travel.

***

I gave up on trying to estimate the time so I don't know how much longer it took, but we finally reached what Tangerine referred to as 'Fairsight's Folly' – a large cavern that served as an intersection between three major roads – two of them leading to Springcastle and Arx, the third reaching far towards Equesria's borders and into the Diamond Dogs territory. The cave was quite spacious, not as much as the huge complex in which Springcastle was built, but it was big enough to fit a two story building in it. The modest looking construction stood between the entrances to tunnels that lead to cities, its front facing the path away from kingdom's territory. There were two guards standing by its door, and as we made our way towards it I noticed a sign hanging over their heads.

“Drunken Dog? Is this... A tavern?” I asked, wondering who would build a tavern out here, name it like that and why was it guarded by soldiers. Did they expect Diamond Dogs to come by and level it to the ground, offended by its name? That actually seems plausible – from what I heard Dogs don't have a very good sense of humour.

Tangerine instantly answered my question, pulling the hood of his cloak off his head as we neared the guards who, as it appears to be  in their custom, seemed to ignore us. “Mostly. It's actually older than you may think – it was built by a couple of Diamond Dogs back when they and ponies got along well enough.”

“That was, well, long ago. How come it's still standing? And why the guards, is it a dangerous place?”

To my surprise, instead of annoyance that I expected to hear in the unicorn's voice from having to explain something to me again, he spoke in a tone that strangely reminded me of school teacher explaining a subject to their students. “There are three important things that you have to keep in mind when starting a business: location, location and location. Initially it was a watering hole for a small community that occupied nearby caves. It was destroyed during the wars, but when the construction of two major cities began, somepony noticed that this place stands exactly in the middle between them. And what do all travellers bring with them on a journey? Money. So they jumped on the opportunity and soon this place became one of the most prosperous piece of business outside  cities.” He finished his speech walking past the guards and inside the building. Crystal and I quickly followed him.

The inside wasn't that different from the outside – rather modest and not too big, but it was spacious enough for 5 tables to be spread about in comfortable intervals, most of which were occupied by the patrons and one even had four more guards sitting by it, apparently off-duty as there were mugs of presumably alcoholic beverage on the table they occupied. Further in the back there was a long counter with a barpony behind it who was busy talking with a customer. There was also a set of narrow stairs on either side of the counter, probably leading to the rooms one could rent to get some rest on their travel. Crystal looked around the room and smiled, waving to a group sitting by one of the tables who apparently were her friends and quickly made her way towards them, leaving me with Tangerine.

“Guess it was too much to ask for to have her focused here. I wanted to talk with you anyways. Take a table and I'll be right back.” He pointed at the last empty table with a hoof and left for the counter. Great, am I in trouble again? I sat down, trying to figure out what did I do to already get on his bad side. At least Crystal seems to be having a good time, assuming from the outbursts of laughter continuously taking place at her table. Tangerine came back faster than I'd like, levitating two mugs by his side. He sat down and pushed one towards me; I looked inside it, inhaling the sweet smell of an apple cider. “I hope you weren't expecting alcohol. We're on a job.” Oh, right. Not sure what to say I decided to just take a sip from my mug. “So, how are you holding up, getting tired yet?”

Oh-hoh. Crystal warned me about this. I placed the mug back down and put up what I hoped to be a tough guy face. “Nah, it takes a bit more than that to wear me down, am okay.” It seems to have worked as a hint of curiosity appeared on my companion's face as he nodded, apparently pleased with the response he received.

“I should  think so. You never said you were in Wonderbolts. That's something you should have said the moment we met.” He inquired levitating his own mug and taking a sip from it.

“Well, I wasn't really. I  mean, I was a recruit, but I got expelled after a year, so I don't think it's something to be proud of...”

“Well, certainly would be better if you lasted longer, but you still got some training, right?” I nodded, relaxed a bit since it seems I am not in trouble. “So you're a much more valuable asset than I thought. Got any experience or something else I should know about?”

“Before I could open my mouth to respond, Crystal came back, appearing out of thin air as she threw her hoof around Tangeirne's neck sitting down next to him. “Aww, you're drilling the new guy again, Tang? Come on, don't be sour, we should have a bit of fun before tomorrow, not hold interrogations!” She exclaimed in her usual cheerful tone as the unicorn put a hoof over his face.

“Thank you for continuously undermining my authority, Crystal.”

Unfazed by his response, the blue mare continued her embrace as she winked at me. “Authority? Oh, come on, we're not some organized unit, lighten up.”

Tangerine sighed, freeing himself from her as he got up. “I'll just go report the lurkers to the captain, the sooner that passage is sealed the better for everpony.” He turned and headed for the table occupied by the guards as Crystal just chuckled and claimed his mug for herself. Taking another sip myself I wondered just what else will I find out about these two before this all is over.

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'Amicitia semper prodest - 'Friendship (is) always beneficial'