Ancient Rivals

The mane six needed to find lodging for the night. “I say we don’t worry about it and sleep in a tree.” Rainbow Dash said, drifting by belly-side up and matching patterns in the clouds with her eyes. “Besides, I didn’t bring enough bits to pay for a good hotel.”

“Absolutely not!” Rarity interjected. “Why on earth would anypony want to sleep on some moldy old branch next to the cobwebs and bird droppings?”

“I agree with Rarity,” Twilight said. “Maybe Helios will let us stay in one of the castle’s guest rooms?”

Applejack shook her head. “If’n what Skyward’s sayin’ is true, he’d be the last person we’d want to let know we’re staying in Canterlot.”

Pinkie Pie bounced up. “Ooh! I know! We could stay in a cake shop! I heard cake shops have bedrooms upstairs!”

“Aren’t those for the owners?” Twilight asked. “What do you think, Fluttershy? You’ve been silent this entire time.”

“Oh, I don’t mind, really. But, how about there?” Fluttershy pointed at an inn. “It looks affordable enough for Rainbow Dash and very cozy.”

Rainbow Dash flew over and read the sign. “Six Whiskers Inn, Pets Welcome, Affordable Prices… Sounds like a good deal to me!” The others nodded in agreement and headed inside, just as the sun was setting. Twilight looked over at the familiar sunset and shuddered, thinking about how for the first time since Discord’s appearance, somepony other than Celestia was controlling the sun. Somepony she knew next to nothing about.”

The inside of the inn was bright and warm. It was a simple place, made of wood and stone with a red carpet on the floor. There was a cat resting by the cheery fire of the hearth. Rarity walked over to the front desk and rang a bell. “Just one moment!” a voice called from the back.

Moments later, a tan pony with a short red mane emerged. He looked young, and had a candle as his cutie mark. “Name’s Styles Wickers, but everypony around here calls me Styles. Welcome to the Six Whiskers Inn. So, what’ll it be, a room, a meal, or traveling supplies?”

“How large are your rooms?” Rarity inquired, sizing up the group. “And how many beds does your largest one have?”

Styles examined the group. “Well, this is a rather small inn and we only have three bedrooms open, but I’m certain you would all be comfortable in three of them. Or if you don’t mind sleeping on a soft rug instead of a bed, you could opt for two rooms.”

Rarity turned around. “Would anypony volunteer to sleep on the floor? Obviously it would be far too unladylike for me to do so, but we don’t know how long we’ll be here, and saving bits is always important.”

Nopony stepped forward for a good five seconds.“You wusses wouldn’t last one day camping in the woods,” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Sleeping on the floor is a piece of cake for a pony as tough as me.” She stepped forward.

“Anypony else?” Rarity asked, staring. Again, nopony stepped forward.

“Well, if nopony else wants to do it, I… guess I don’t mind.” Fluttershy said softly, looking at the ground and poking at it a little with her hoof. “I mean, if it’s a soft rug, and Angel’s there with me...”

Applejack interrupted, “Aw shucks, shame on yall, forcing sweet lil’ Fluttershy to sleep on the floor. I’ll do it.” She stepped forward.

Rarity nodded. “So it’s decided then. Spike, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie can be in the first room. Applejack, Fluttershy, Angel, and myself will sleep in the second.” She turned back to Styles. “Did you get all that?”

“Sure did, ma’am. The total will be ten bits. You’ll be staying in rooms three and four. Oh and for one more bit, I have an old cat basket for your dragon. It’s only ever been used by Whiskers the cat over there,” Styles took out a simple padded basket as the ponies counted out their money and pooled it on the table. Twilight paid for the extra basket and headed upstairs.

“What a friendly innkeeper. And such a reasonable price,” Rarity remarked, unlocking the door to room four. She nudged it open and lit the wall candle with a weak magic spell. They were in a smallish room with two beds and a clean-looking carpet.

“Best we all get to sleep before we get hungry,” Applejack said and settled in the carpet. “You know, this ain’t so bad.” She quickly fell asleep.

“I agree, it’s a good thing I brought my emergency sleepytime kit.” Rarity rummaged in her bag, taking out a medium-sized box. “Some herbal tea, a mud mask, hair curlers, some sliced cucumbers…” She started talking to herself.

Fluttershy was tending to Angel. “Sorry we couldn’t get back home, but I did bring you a spare carrot,” she smiled and rummaged through her bag, eventually bringing out a carrot stump. “Oh, it looks like you’ve already gotten to this one.” Angel folded his arms and stomped impatiently. “I’ll go and check if the innkeeper has some.” Fluttershy headed downstairs, unnoticed by the Applejack, who was asleep, and Rarity, who had just fitted in her luxury custom-fit earplugs.

Twilight opened the door to room three and illuminated the interior with her horn. “Well this certainly looks cozy enough.” She said, levitating Spike’s basket over to the foot of her bed. “Is this a good spot, Spike?”

Pinkie pie burst out from under the sheets, bouncing up and down. “This. Place. Is. Fun!” She said between bounces.

“Didn’t I just unlock the door? When did you- Oh nevermind,” Twilight smiled and submerged herself in the covers. They were certainly clean, though the fabric was a little rougher than she was used to. “Night then,” she yawned, powering down her horn.

“Aww, it’s dark now.” Pinkie stopped bouncing and settled down as Rainbow Dash curled up on the floor, falling quickly asleep. Twilight had positioned Spike’s basket right next to the snoring Rainbow Dash’s head.

“Well that’s just great.” Spike lifted the basket and set it down on the opposite side of the small room, curling up and attempting to fall asleep. Rainbow Dash’s tail whipped him in the nose as she rolled over. Spike moved the basket to the other side of Rainbow Dash. She rolled over again.

“Hey Twilight,” he poked the mass of bedsheets that Twilight had wormed her way into. There was a muffled response. “Is it okay if I sleep in the other room?” The bedsheets wiggled. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Spike opened the door, dragging his basket. “Wait. Which room were they staying in again?”  He went downstairs to check.

The fire had died down and presumably the innkeeper had gone to sleep. Spike used the moonlight from the open window to find the guest book. He dragged it out and opened it. There was a very short list. “Ah okay, room four.” He noticed something odd about the other room. “Holy cow! Twilight needs to see this!”  Spike picked up the guestbook, running upstairs. He was intercepted by the silhouette of a pony directly in his path, screaming at him.

The scream lasted a good ten seconds and resonated throughout the inn. The door to room four opened and a very annoyed Angel hopped out, holding a candle and revealing the source of the shrieking pony: a incredibly distraught Fluttershy. “Spike… You startled me. What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t sleep in the same room as Rainbow Dash,” Spike explained. “Then I forgot which room the others were staying in so I went downstairs to check in the guest book and…” He looked in his claw. The guest book was gone. “There was something in there that I had to show Twilight, but I was so tired that your screaming just made me forget it.”

Fluttershy fetched the single carrot she had purchased and split it in two, handing the larger part to Angel and the smaller one to spike. “There there, Spike, don’t worry your poor little head about it. I’m sure you’ll remember in the morning. Now’s not a very good time to go looking for a book.” She picked up Spike’s basket and walked towards room four. “Why don’t you sleep in our room?”

Spike scratched his head. There was no way after all of his experience in handling books for Twilight that he would just lose a book so easily. He stared into the shadowy corners of the inn, half expecting something to stare back. When a good five seconds had passed, he shrugged and headed over to room four, where Fluttershy had thoughtfully placed his basket in an area where Applejack wouldn’t reach if she rolled over. He curled up and went to sleep.