The Travelling Argument

A crash echoes throughout the main room of the inn. A frightened pegasus came charging in through the doors.

"HELP! MAD GUARDS! MAD GUARDS!" cried Sky Runner.

"Sky! Where have you been?" asked Evening.

Sky skirted around Evening and hid behind her, her bags clanking like a tambourine. "Guards! Lots of guards! All of them racist against pegasi! I just wanted to say hi, and they got all mad and chased me!"

"How dare they... I thought this was a friendly city."

Sky frowned in fear. "I know right? How absolutely horrible! Now quick, I've got to hide! I won't last five minutes in the lockup!"

"Where are they?" asked Swift.

Sky jolted from her spot and stared at the assassin. "Oh Luna, the assassin's still here. Don't turn me into a pinata!"

"Of course I'm still here. Now, I'll ask again: Where are they?"

Knock knock knock.

"OH LUNA NO..."

"We have rooms, Sky. Last two doors on the right, quick! I'll talk to those horrible guards," said Evening.

"Thanks!" Sky bolted down the hallway when she ran head-first into Willow.

"Oh, for BUCKS sake," cried Swift. She opened the door and extended her blade into the first guard she laid eyes on, quickly jumping into the crowd and slicing at anything that moved. "If anyone wouldn't mind joining me, I'd be glad for the help!"

"With pleasure! Have at thee!" cried Evening, leaping into the fray and beating the guards up in hoof-to-hoof combat.

"SKY RUNNER!" yelled Willow furiously.

"I WAS FALSELY ACCUSED!" cried Sky. "I walk into one little building and they get all angry at me, like I'm not even a citizen!"

"Can you go one day without angering somepony? We just got here, and you already got the city guard after you? What were you thinking?!"

"Now is not the time, cleric!" called back Swift, only barely dodging a sword and returning with a stabbing retribution.

"Everypony..." Anger and fire built up in Willow's eyes. She stood up tall and looked as though she had grown twice as large. "STOP! BY THE TWO SISTERS, BE STILL!" She pounded her hooves on the ground, causing it to shake violently.

Swift looked back at the cleric as her blade buried into the neck of another guard. "I'm sorry, you said something?"

Willow stared coldly at Swift. "AND YOU, ASSASSIN... STAND DOWN. AM I THE ONLY SANE PONY HERE?"

Evening halted in her attacks and stared at her friend. "Willow... your voice... your eyes," she turned to Swift. "Do what she says!"

Swift rolled her eyes and let the last guard slide to the ground limply.

"These poor ponies," Willow pushed her way into the middle of all the dead guards. "May the Sisters see these brave souls to their reward. And may They forgive my companions for their sins," she turned to her companions with tears in her eyes. "Was it worth it?"

Swift shrugged. "I got some decent practice out of it, so I'd say yes. What about you, Evening?"

"I don't think I killed any of them! I'm learning!" said Evening.

"See? Everyone's happy."

"Happy?! Ponies are dead! Ponies with families! Ponies with..." Willow shrunk down and looked carefully over the guards. "Sky Runner.... We need her before one of these ponies wake up. These aren't real city guards."

Swift waved her off. "I grew out of that bit of morality a long time ago. I'll get the rogue and tell her the fighting's over." She walked back into the inn and down the hall to fetch Sky.

"Evening? Do you think you could keep an eye on the ones you took care of?" asked Willow.

"Okay!" said Evening with a bright smile.

"That... was awesome! Though I am really confused... still cool!" said the little dragon, who had watched the whole fiasco from the sidelines.

"Cool?" asked Willow. "What is wrong with everypony?"

"I am just happy to see that I made the right decision coming to you. Though... now I feel bad."

~~~

Sky ran into the room Valhalla was treating Maboo and ducked under the bed.

Valhalla was putting a special ointment on Maboo's head as Sky came in and hid. "You seem to be in quite the flight. What's the cause of fright?"

"Well, heheh, funny thing. Would you believe that every guard here is racist against pegasi?" asked Sky.

"Half of the Royal Guard are pegasi, so I do have some trouble believing such a thing," answered Valhalla.

"Well... maybe they just hate cripples! You know how angry everypony can get when I can't fly, right?"

Swift walked in and looked down at Sky's tail protruding from under the bed. "Hey, rogue, Willow needs you. The guards are gone."

"Really? Well okay then."

Swift led Sky and Valhalla back to the front of the inn, revealing a mess of dead or injured guards outside the doors.

"Oh... my. What in the name of Tartarus has gone on in here?" asked Valhalla.

"They just had a really cool fight with the guards! I probably shouldn't be so excited," answered the dragon.

Sky looked out at all the guards. "Hey Evening, these guys look way more... alive than normal."

Evening held a wide grin. "Isn't it great? I tried to hold back the entire time! It was a lot harder than my usual style, but it definitely payed off!"

"I'm so proud of you! Maybe we can get something out of these guards. They sure seemed in a hurry to hurt a poor crippled pegasus like me."

The dragon looked over at Sky confusedly. "Who are you?"

"Oh, right. Sky Runner, this is... uh... What is your name, little dragon?" asked Willow.

"I'm uh... heheh... Tex. Tex Ruthor," introduced the dragon.

"Tex Ruthor? You wouldn't happen to be the son of Rex Ruthor would you? I believe I may have heard of your family during my travels," said Valhalla.

Tex sighed. "Yes. Ruthless Rex is my father. Like I said earlier, my sister and I ran away from home so we wouldn't have to be around them anymore."

"Ah, I remember him," said Swift. "He was a good client, paid well, easy tar-" She noticed that everypony had begun staring at her disapprovingly. "-What?"

"Miss, you've got problems," said Sky. She turned back to the dragon. "So Tex, what's your dad's deal anyway?"

Tex looked around the group nervously. "Oh yeah, you weren't here when I said it before. Well... you see, my dad is Rex Ruthor, the Gem Lord. But... not the kind of gems you would want. Anyway, uh... he's a dragon... and my sister and I ran away from him. Now the stupid 'Diamond Dogs' got my sister. And I think that's everything... for now. Oh, and... assassin? Be glad you never met him in person. He probably would have eaten you."

"Diamond Dogs? You've said that twice now, what are you talking about?" asked Willow.

"They're big two-legged dogs that like to attack from below. They also work as a pack. But as long as we work together, then we should be fine," answered Evening. "Just remember your training."

"And they are also fools," said Valhalla. "The Diamond Dogs probably captured Tex's sister as a ransom for Gems from Rex, but it's doubtful he will even acknowledge something like that. But what do we do with all these guards? It's not like we can just leave them here. Maboo should also be waking up any moment now."

"These guys should be able to walk away. If those three help them. And I'm sure Swift has a plan for the rest since she made them," said Evening.

Back in the bedroom where Maboo was resting.

"Ugh... what happened?" asked Maboo. "Everything is spinning. Please stop," Maboo sat up from bed and promptly fell over the side and to the floor. "Urgh, I feel like I could eat a house. Good thing this floor is made of lollipops," Maboo slowly stuck out her tongue and licked the wood flooring. "Blagh... that's not lollipop. Wait a second... I was in Fillydelphia and then... Valhalla! Oh he's gonna get it this time!" Maboo tried standing up, but quickly lost strength and crippled over again. "He'll get it... as soon as I get something to eat!"

Back in the front of the inn.

"Did you hear something?" asked Willow.

"Yes, I believe that was Maboo. She will be hungry. Very hungry. And a bit dizzy with some hallucinations. Courtesy of that sticker. We should go help her, and see what all the fuss was about earlier."

"I'll get her some food. If this is anything like what the order used on me a few times, she'll be trying to eat her bed," said Evening. She walked down some hallways and into a basement to look for food.

"Uh... I'll go help her!" said Tex, quickly trailing after Evening.

"Oh! Then we don't need to leave her behind! And you can tell me more about those stickers before we head out. Why will she be so hungry? What causes that side effect?" asked Willow excitedly.

"One of the ingredients for the stickers is a leaf from an Ever-Tree. The leaf soothes the mind and helps you fall asleep, but can leave you with quite the appetite. The leaf is commonly used in medical centers. A bit of thundercloud keeps the creature unconscious, but can give them some mild hallucinations and dizziness. The last ingredient is apple-tree-sap, which let's the ingredients be combined and lathered onto the stickers for appropriate use," explained Valhalla.

"That's wonderful! How did you think of that combination?"

"It's a special recipe I picked up from another traveler. The only extra ingredient I added was the thundercloud, adds a shocking enough boost to the mix for a very effective sedation."

Willow stepped closer to Valhalla, almost as if begging. "Once this is all over, please! Teach me! Everything."

Valhalla raised an eyebrow, but smiled. "It will take some time, but I should be able to show you a few things your order might not have known."

"Thanks. The Order of the Two Sisters is lacking in many areas with healing. We have unicorn healers, and earth pony first aid, and we can all do minor healing, but they never learned zebra techniques."

Evening and Tex came back holding at least five different trays of food. "Don't worry, we got it. And don't worry Maboo, food is on the way!" said Evening.

The two of them walked back to their rooms and opened the door, finding Maboo face down into the floor.

"Food has arrived!" said Tex.

Maboo looked up at them immediately. "Finally! I'm starving!" She grabbed all five trays and quickly started mowing down every morsel and crumb of food left on them. "Dish... ish very... delicioush. Where did you get it? And where's Vally?"

Evening looked at the quickly emptied trays in horror. "She ate it all... all of it... wait... there's one piece left!"

Before Evening could grab the last piece of food, a cross eyed pegasus flew into the room. "Muffin? Muffin!" The pegasus snatched the muffin right off the tray and quickly disappeared from the inn, leaving Evening with completely empty trays.

"Who was that!?" asked Tex.

"Beats me! But I've got a zebra to beat up," said Maboo excitedly. She rushed out the door, bouncing each step, eyes ablaze and searching for Valhalla.