Wanderlust: Equestrian Nights

"Sure, why not... this day has already been more stressful than it needed to be..." Wandering follows the twins, idly wondering where Bubbling Springs is and what he's up to...

Bubbling Spring

"I AM," the djinn replies. "AND I DEMAND TO KNOW YOUR NAME, AND YOUR BUSINESS HERE."

---

Wandering Eye and Steam Twins

Several blocks and a few confused turns later, Taffy leads you to a fairly large, two-story building declaring itself as The Blue Dragon Inn in big, round letters.

"The spa is their main deal," Taffy explains as your group approaches. "But they also have a motel service upstairs that I hear is pretty good. Which is great because the detective ponies told us to stay out of my house."

Beyond the door you find that the interior seems even bigger than the walls outside would suggest. A small pool dominates the center of the room, with a few other ponies relaxing contentedly in it. A row of massage benches lines the left wall, one which is occupied by an (ironically red) adolescent dragon. A row of doors along the back wall lead to various other places, judging by labels like "Sauna", "Changing Rooms", and "Employees Only", to name a few. Columns line the walls to add a blue accent to the sky colored walls, which sport some dragon motifs here and there. Finally, just in front of you is a small counter with a blue coated mare behind it.

"Welcome to the Blue Dragon Inn!" she greets you in a cheery, almost sing-song voice. "What can we do for... you... " She trails off as her eyes land on Wandering Eye. "SCHNEEEELLLL!"

And in the blink of an eye, Wandering Eye is whisked away...

"Sorry about that. He's in good hooves, I promise.  What can we do for you today?"

---

Wandering Eye (Cont.)

"SCHNEEEELLLL!"

If Wandering Eye had blinked he would have missed it. A brown coated earth pony had somehow scooped him up, rushed him across the room, through a door, and deposited him into a chair. In front of him is the brown earth pony in question, who is in the process of putting on a white smock.

"Gutentag!" he says to you in a thick Germane accent. "I am Herr Schnell Schere, und I shall be your barber today, ja? Vat shall ve do vit you today, hmm? Just ze neatening und ze trimming, or somezing flashier?" He pulls over a rolling table sporting some sharp looking razors, in various shapes. "Vat do you think?"

Well. He'd had maybe half a minute where the only threat to his life was hypothermia. At least this thing was refreshingly direct. Slowly, painstakingly, he dragged himself out of the water, and did his best to sit up straight on his ice chunk. "I am Bubbling Spring, child of the desert. My business here is not dying. I really wouldn't have bothered you at all if it the pegasus upstream hadn't thrown me down here." It finally occurs to him that Mint Jewel might not be following him down the river. He turns an ear to the mouth of the stream, listening to see if he can hear any signs that he's alone with the monster.

Spoiler:

The twins eep in shock when Wandering is taken out of the room, then look at each other. "Oh... uh..." "Well we were planning on, kinda..." "Doing spa stuff with him... but I guess just the... regular... stuff?" "Full treatment- manes, facials, baths, whatever you've got." "Is that alright with you?" Water asks Taffy, while Soft checks the prices.

Bubbling Spring

Bubbling Spring doesn't hear anything especially: the flow of the river, the gentle crunch of ice beneath his hooves, and a slight groaning as the djinn cross its arms, while your ice floe seems to settle down into stability.

"PERHAPS NOT, " the djinn replies. "BUT KNOW THAT NOTHING IS ACCIDENTAL, BUBBLING SPRING. WE WERE MEANT TO MEET. LET US TALK BUSINESS, THEN. YOU MAY CALL ME MADAME; NOW, TELL ME, WHAT IS THY DESIRE?"

---

Steam Twins

"Full treatment for three? Alright then, my name is Sky Lotus, and I'll be your hostess today! If you could come with me please?" Stepping from behind the counter (revealing Pegasus wings in the process) she leads you off...

Several minutes later, the three of you have been outfitted with soft, downy bathrobes (Which Sky Lotus insists are necessary) and relaxing in the sauna. The hot, steamy air soaks into your pores, building up a bit of sweat in the process - although, you can feel the day's stresses rolling off, and Taffy in particular seems visibly better, so it seems to be working. The one thing marring the experience is the adolescent dragon from earlier, having been moved in by his hostess and sitting grumpily in the corner, the broken chains on his claws clinking when he shifts around. ((This is you, Shadow.))

Gears were turning in Bubbling Spring's head; This whole scene was suddenly familiar to him, but he wasn't sure how. "Desires are dangerous, madame. I try my hardest to desire nothing."

Bubbling Spring

"NOTHING?" the djinn replies, arching an eyebrow. "YES, YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING SOON ENOUGH. YOU ARE, AFTER ALL, QUITE COLD AND WET AS PONIES GO," Madame continues, brushing a cold claw down your whithers. "AN HOUR PERHAPS, PAINFUL AND LONELY. A BRIEF SHUDDER AS YOUR LIFE LEAVES YOU. AND THEN... NOTHING, AS ASKED. IN EXCHANGE FOR NOTHING, I WILL HAVE YOUR LIFE. I WOULD PREFER ANOTHER WAY, BUT IF THAT IS TRULY YOUR DESIRE..."

The twins settle into the sauna, but take notice of the dragon in the corner. While they both have their eyes closed, drifting into cat naps, Water cocks an eye open every time the chains clink, and after a few times she leans over and whispers into Soft's ear. Soft then glances at the dragon again, then shrugs and shakes her head, and then they both close their eyes again.

Once the chains clink again, Water looks over at the dragon. "Is there something wrong?"

Bubbling Spring snorts. "Well, when you put it that way..." He looks up at the ceiling, taking a moment to think. He was getting a better handle on why this was familiar. It was like stepping into an old parable of his caravan. Of course, he'd never been worried by those, because in the stories the pony always faced death by dehydration in the desert (not exactly a problem for him). "I wish to live. To leave this thrice-buried river and go find my companions. Given that we're bargaining with my life, that seems like rather wishful thinking on my part." He says with a rueful smile. "However, I may have something else to offer. As I can't stop mentioning, I was brought here by an interesting pegasus. She's interesting because she's linked, mentally and emotionally, to a whole collection of other ponies. Now, I don't know what you care to do with my life, whether you feed on memories or emotions or what have you, but I'd wager that her life is worth at least as much as mine, with the added potential to link you into hundreds of other ponies. Wouldn't that be a feast for someone like you?"

Spoiler:

The dragon gives a look back. "Yeah, there's something wrong. You'd think a place called 'Blue Dragon' would be bigger, right?" he replies as he stretches his arms around in an attempt to find a comfy enough position...

"Well... it is a spa for ponies, isn't it?" "So you work here, right? What's with, uh... you know, the chains?" The twins gaze at him uncertainly.

Scorch just gives a glance of deep confusion, complete with raised eyebrow, to the second question. "Do I work here?" he barks back lightly, "Yeah, I get paid to sit in the sauna all day and complain. Best job in the world." He rolls his eyes and returns to trying to make himself comfortable, somewhat rotating himself to see if that works. "Besides, if it's a spa for ponies, they should have called it the Blue Pony Inn then." He exhales deeply to calm himself down somewhat...

Bubbling Spring

Madame rubs her chin thoughtfully. "A FAIR PROPOSAL. I CAN SENSE THIS PEGASUS OF YOURS. SHE APPEARS TO BE UNCONSCIOUS," she explains. "CAN YOU LIVE WITH THIS? CAN YOU CONDEMN ANOTHER, AND PERHAPS HUNDREDS OF OTHERS, TO WHAT YOU ASSUME TO BE A GRIM FATE? NO MATTER. I WILL ACCEPT THIS PROPOSAL - YOUR SAFE DELIVERY FOR THE PEGASUS MARE," Madame decides. "I HAVE A SECOND PROPOSAL. I AM LONELY, AT TIMES, AND YOU HAVE INTRIGUED MY INTEREST. WHAT WOULD YOU ACCEPT TO STAY AND CONVERSE FOR A TIME?"

"Mint Jewel," Bubbling Spring says, his voice tinged with displeasure and anger, "Brought me down here with the express intent of killing me. Before I met you, my plan was to freeze her wings and encase her in ice, then send her bobbing down the river. So no, I feel no qualms about dooming her. And she promised not to be the last of her kind. Anyone else you happen to be able to track down because of her would eventually become another of my attempted murderers." Also most of them aren't actually alive anymore, he decides not to add. He focuses his magic and spreads his ice chunk towards the wall. Once he can anchor it there, he stands up and begins making labored pace towards the edge of the water, freezing a path upriver as he went. "If we head back towards her, there's an island I can rest on. As long as I'm not going to freeze to death, I'd be happy to stay and chat, provided you still won't want to kill me."

Bubbling Spring

As your ice bridge starts to form, Madame curls her hand up in a peculiar gesture, pulling the form into a sort of boat - with you in the middle. With a slight lurch, you begin floating back upstream, presumably under the power of the djinn. "FRET NOT. IF I WISHED YOU DEAD I WOULD HAVE SIMPLY WAITED." As she explains, you can feel some warmth returning to you, and the ice floor shifts into a sort of snowy carpet that proves quite comfortable on your hooves. "NOW. LET US BEGIN WITH... YES. WHY, MAY I ASK, DID THIS... MINT JEWEL WISH YOUR DEATH?"

Grateful for further opportunities to rest, Snowy sits down on the snow. "I mentioned that she is connected to a number of other ponies. Well, I happened to be in a town that was being attacked by a small army of those other ponies, and I was pressed into fighting them. I nearly captured two of them while they were on an important mission, and according to Mint Jewel they took this as a sort of declaration of war. She happened to be the one that was chosen to come after me."

The twins just shrug at each other, then go back to enjoying the sauna. After a moment, "You never said what was up with the chains."

Bubbling Spring

"HMM... TYPICAL, I SUPPOSE. CONNECTIONS ARE NOT UNUSUAL. YOU SEEM TO HAVE A FEW OF YOUR OWN."

Bubbling Spring looks thoughtfully at the snow in front of him. "I have...relations, to be sure. Compatriots, relatives (I hope that's still plural)...a partner. Of sorts. But I'm not connected in the same way Mint Jewel was. I hope I never am."

Bubbling Spring

"AHH YES..." Madame sighs. "THE LOVE BETWEEN TWO PONIES IS A CURIOUS THING, IS IT NOT? WHO IS THIS PARTNER OF YOURS?"

Telebiscuit Jen wrote:The twins just shrug at each other, then go back to enjoying the sauna. After a moment, "You never said what was up with the chains."

"These?" The dragon holds one of his arms up, letting the chain dangle, and uses the other hand to grab the chains around his neck brace. He grins. "They help with the look."

Bubbling Spring flicks an ear as Madame zeroed in on that. It was, he supposed, the absolute hardest topic of conversation to come across, but you'd think that when you were trapped down a well with no one at all to talk to for who knows how long, they would all sort of equalize. "I don't know her too well." He admits. "We both tend to act without a great deal of forethought. She's very pretty, and when fully made up she's downright gorgeous. She rhymes everything, which is lovely to hear. She's also pushy and likes to keep secrets. Her taste in surprises is...dangerous. She's very hard to scare, which is a bit of a necessity..." It occurs to Bubbling Spring that a) He does know a great deal about Zecora, and b)he is rambling hard. At that, he awkwardly lapses into quiet again.

Bubbling Spring

"I WOULD SAY YOU KNOW HER BETTER THAN YOU THINK," Madame responds. "YOU SEEM TO CARE A GREAT DEAL FOR HER."

"So I'm noticing." Bubbling Spring say with a snort. "The thing is, she likes to keep a few secrets, and seem just a little bit mysterious, but she does that because she's vulnerable. Just a tiny bit vulnerable. And I, well, I protect things. It's what I've always done; it's hard-coded into me now." He abruptly looks up at Madame. "You're not Discord, lord of chaos, pretending to be a djinn to get me to talk about my problems, are you?"

Bubbling Spring

"DO NOT COMPARE ME TO THAT THRICE BEDAMNED TRICKSTER!" Madame roars at the mention of Discord. "HE WAS A BLIGHT ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, AND THE WORLD IS WELL RID OF HIM NOW."