“Since I couldn’t find any records on when her worshipers would congregate, and Zelshirska isn’t being helpful with just saying ‘they congregated at random times’ we’re going to have to decide when weekly sermons are on our own,” said Daring to her new acolytes, it had been a day or so since everypony started moving in. What was most surprising to her were the number of takers on the offer. “But before that, we’re going to have to get you acclimated with the key components of the faith and get some practice in for the more routine parts of the congregations.”

“I get it,” said one of the pegasus mares that had volunteered, “most of the events is a show.”

Daring nodded, “A show to help exemplify the domains of the deity. Also, some of you might feel a little embarrassed by what I decided is the official attire the priestesses will where, of course, you have to be of legal age for sexual relations to wear them.”

“There are fillies here,” said a unicorn mare that volunteered, if Daring remembered right, the mare that said that was from Canterlot. “You can’t talk like that in the presence of such young ponies.”

“That,” said Daring, “is a taboo from Equestria that I have no intention of remaining here. Children are a lot smarter than most give them credit for,” she went over to two the fillies and patted them on their heads in a caring manner before continuing, “speaking the truth around them won’t ruin their development, it’ll just serve to make them more informed earlier than those that have such things withheld from them until much later.”

“I suppose that’s to be expected,” said an earth pony mare that had volunteered, “especially given what you said this religious grouping is supposed to be about.”

“That is exactly right,” said Daring, “and the sermons and training won’t really begin until you’ve been officially inducted into the faith. Foals have it easier; they haven’t built up preconceived notions the way older ponies have. Since most of this faith is basically unknown, we have a lot of wiggle room with what we can do. We’ll spend a few months properly inducting you into the faith and teaching you all what is expected of those who follow the faith. You can’t really be religious figures in a faith without knowing about nuances of the faith. And you can’t be nuns, priestesses or any other church official without being part of the faith.”

“So,” said one of the fillies, a powdery green earth filly that had yet to earn her mark, “we’ll be spending some time learning about all this before everypony else?”

“That’s right,” said Daring, “it might take just a few months or a few years. Once you’ve all be properly educated in the faith you can decide whether to continue your studies to become official members of the clergy or go to pursue some other life path. Once you’ve all been properly educated in matters regarding the religion and we have our stayers the weekly sermons will commence, I just chose to inform everyone here ahead of time so they could decide whether or not to attend.”

“Quite kind and generous of you,” said another pegasus mare, “and it’s courtesy of you to give us another out before full commitment, I think we might have jumped ahead without realizing the details of what this could entail.”

“I have to ask,” said the unicorn mare that spoke up before, “what sort of benefits can we expect from this sort of thing?”

“That depends on your commitment to the faith,” said Daring, “Zelshirska’s domains are Fertility, Knowledge, and Connections. Any member of the clergy could gain access to abilities connected to any one of the three, but the highest-ranking member of the order would have access to them all.”

“And how do we know this isn’t a scam, for all we know you were highly effective in convincing the princesses on this semi-isolated community.”

“Tell me,” said Daring, “which pony tribe do I belong to?”

“Pegasus,” said the mare with a scoff that should tell she was being obvious, “which means your natural magics allow you to fly, move about on clouds without a spell for it, and influence the weather.”

“Exactly,” said Daring, “under no circumstances should I have access to magics that fall inside the domain of what is possible for a unicorn, even if I am related to a few by blood.”

All the other ponies in the room nodded confirmation, Daring then smirked and tapped the two fillies on the head again, this time the eyes of all three glowed a soft bluish-pink for a few seconds. The fillies blinked a few times then giggled, the adult ponies just figured it was fillies being fillies. Daring then did the same action with the unicorn that brought this up and the earth pony mare, getting the same glow in their eyes for a few seconds. Both mares blinked a bit, and the earth mare looked like she wanted to deck the unicorn for a moment.

“That was...memory magic,” said the unicorn, “but you’re a pegasus, that shouldn’t be possible for you, especially with sharing copies of memories.”

“My agreement with Zelshirska gave me access to this power,” said Daring, “and I also used it on the fillies. Those of you I used it on have copies of each others' memories from the past three months, and since I was the conduit I have copies in my mind as well. But be warned, the agreement must be genuine or you will not gain any such experiences with divine energies. As I told everypony before, the statues of a female dragon around the town are representations, idols, of Zelshirska. Now, let’s get your lessons going.”

______________________________________

Spike wondered how he had ended up in the town’s boutique of all places, being entertained by a surprisingly eccentric mare. The modifications to her shop were just barely finished, and Daring had also performed a ceremony the night before to consecrate the grounds on which shop was upon. It was clear Stellar Weave wasn’t trying capitalize on the religious slant the town was built on, but she did want to embrace it to some extent.

“Alright, so what about the local style? What’s it supposed to be like? What’s the attire supposed to say?”

“Erotic,” said Spike with deadpan amusement, “the town’s aesthetic identity when it comes to the citizens is ‘whatever the wearing feels most free in’ and that’s it. I take it you already know the truth about my partner?”

“That she’s the genuine Daring Do, we were told by Princess Twilight shortly after being confirmed. Most of us didn’t buy it; she had always been A.K. Yearling to us up to that point.”

“Which is a pseudonym she used during her writing career, but I take it you suspected as much beforehand.”

“Mostly because everything about her never said what the initials were for. What was the significance of that pseudonym?”

“Something of an in-joke with her sister.”

“She has a sister?”

“Yeah, an older one. She’s a unicorn, and Daring has spent almost her entire professional career trying to find her.”

“That’s so sweet, what’s her name?”

“Star Log.”

“Cute. Alright, I really want to impress her with my first batch. What’s her preference?”

“Daring,” Spike said realizing the change of subject, “Nothing, chances are she’ll be going around town in the buff before the week is out. But if you want the attire to match the town, try modeling on what you’ve learned about its origins so far. Also, if you want some idea of what Zelshirska looks like there are statues of her all over town. And if you keep an idol of her nearby you might be lucky enough to personally talk with her. You can make your own; you just need to make it out materials you feel best exemplify her domains.”

“Oh, those dragoness statues were her, I went all over the town after beginning the setup. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what she looks like; I might make my own idol later.

_________________________________

Dinky was a little disappointed, she had wanted to do mail work but instead ended up as the manager for the main bathhouse. She didn’t mind too much; she didn’t think she would be getting the job she wanted. Besides, she was managing a facility that ponies in Equestria hadn’t really seen before. She almost destroyed herself with laughter when she saw the bathhouse rules, rules she was told were non-negotiable applied to residents and guests alike.

Now here she was, standing outside her new place of business staring at the rules that were literally on and around the door. She figured she should at least try the facility out herself, she was curious and she could use the excuse of doing quality control. She looked down at her attire for the day; it was a sky blue skirt and ocean green blouse. She was a bit conscious of non-family members seeing her without any clothing on.

She supposed if she saw a few other ponies confident enough to go about with little to nothing on she would feel a bit better about herself. But nopony else was even here, it was early morning and nopony had come to bathe just yet. She could head to the female only bathhouse but she felt it was necessary to get used to her new working environment.

*****************************************

After giving all the volunteers a brief lecture, it was almost two hours long and the fillies were actually more focused during the whole thing than the adults, Daring decided she had enough of the whole wearing clothes thing and headed to her living space with Spike to remove her attire and head out to the bathhouse. When she arrived Dinky was still outside, the unicorn mare gawked at the sight of a naked Daring just strolling about like it wasn’t a big deal.

“I’m probably going to feel silly about this, but I’m going to ask anyway,” said Dinky in as calm a manner as she could, “why are you parading around town naked?”

“The town was made clothing optional,” said Daring in a casual manner as she came up next to Dinky and stopped for a moment, “it’s policy I instituted. To be more accurate, you can wear whatever you want around town, no matter how scandalous or embarrassing it would be anywhere else. I feel more comfortable going about without clothing, it’s a bit of holdover from my prior occupation and I usually find most attire highly restrictive. Also, I have general aversion to dresses whenever I can get away with it.”

“Oh,” said Dinky, “that’s something we’re gonna have to get used to. But I’m still a little self-conscious about ponies that aren’t family seeing me without anything.”

“You’ll probably grow out of,” said Daring, “these first few weeks are a learning experience and about reorienting our comfort zones. I knew those assigned to the bathhouses would likely feel a bit uncomfortable regarding the rules, but I think they still will help in better building a sense of community.”

“Especially since you made the bathhouses the only places to actually bathe,” said Dinky, “in a sense you’re forcing interaction among residents here. I’m curious, where did the idea for this come from.”

“Records I was able to find from the pre-Equestria era made mention of communal bathing areas that were commonly given the same name as the facilities here, the ones we have are a bit more updated than the simplified bathing areas they had in those days.”

“So, the facilities need to be near the water?”

“Running water, and if you wanted the water to be warm you needed unicorns to heat it for you.”

“Oh, wow that’s really old-fashioned. But we’re using modern plumbing and heating technologies. Alright, I’ll try getting outside my comfort zone for a few minutes.”

***********************

Almost a half hour after Daring and Dinky had gotten in some of the other residents had gotten what they called desperate for a bath, of course Daring and Dinky had been out of the bath for ten minutes and wrapped in towels. The foals, fillies and colts alike, seemed to enjoy the bath wholeheartedly while most of the adults were a bit uncomfortable being naked in the presence of their new neighbors, many of the teenage ponies were somewhere between the unbridled joy of the foals and unsuredness of the more matured ponies.

Spike had come in a few minutes after Daring and Dinky to enjoy a soak in the tub, nearly startling himself and trying to hide his privates when he had seen Dinky was in there with Daring. Then after a few minutes, and some prodding from Daring, he decided to just let his twin rods fly free, especially when he realized somepony would end up seeing him naked aside from his family eventually in this sort of environment. He got out and toweled at almost the same time as them, then headed to the office area to see what that was going to look like.

Stellar Weave seemed to get a great deal of enjoyment from just watching the rest of the residents in the facility with her. After seeing Daring go about the facility with little to no concern, she started getting the idea of just going about a little more risque herself. She also made mental notes for her new projects as well. She got especially excited by the passionate kissing Spike Daring did in and out of the bath.

It looked like the town was starting to come together as a community, for the time being. Everyone was still getting used to the new societal rules and dynamics. Between her ‘reports’ Flurry was ogling a few stallions and mares that were about her same age, even going as far as to mentally plan some excuses to spend more time with them personally. She unconsciously licked her lips as she saw an earth pony stallion and pegasus mare float on by her.

Author's Notes:

Well this was interesting, the next few chapters focus on some new residents of the town, but it will only be two or three chapters that are like that.

Can you guess the sexual orientations I gave Flurry? I have dropped a few hints. I’m also working on her cutie mark, and will probably describe it in a later chapter. Please use the spoiler to hide things that could ruin the story for those who haven’t read this chapter yet.