Arrival in the capital city

“May I see your traveling papers please?” the guard asked.
Yuuro handed him the papers they had been given after they had crossed the breach. Of course he had taken them out of his bag already, they had only been waiting for four hours before it was finally their turn. In contrary to the country borders, the city gate was well protected and nobody could enter the city whenever they pleased.

When they had arrived, a long line had been waiting in front of them to get permission to enter ZoroAster, the capital city of Asterian. Taira had learned quickly a summer fair was about to start, and all these ponies wanted to be inside the city walls when it started. Of course, this fair nicely covered their identity as traders. That wasn’t true of course, but it made their entry into the city easier and they would not raise suspicion.

“Enjoy your stay.” The guard said, while handing Yuuro back the papers. Taira smiled shortly at the guard and then trotted after Yuuro and the others through the city gates. Her mouth almost fell open when she realized how huge this city was. In front of her was a huge road, divided in two by a row of trees, which led up to what seemed like the outline of a castle on the top of the hill and in the centre of the city.

“That must be it… Shanjahen’s castle.” Hikary said.
While Taira had thought the new castle in the New Friendship Lands was large, it was probably dwarfed by this one. It was so far away they couldn’t see any details, but it was huge indeed. They were so impressed by the huge castle towering over them, that they did not notice the activity on the road; ponies were actively working to set up stalls for their wares for the annual summer fair.

“Maybe we should go find ourselves a place to sleep.” Hikary suggested. “It will be hard to find an inn that still has space left, and it will get harder the longer we wait.”
Taira glanced behind her, inspecting the gate, where hordes of ponies still entered the city, and she remembered the long line that had formed behind them.
“Yea, I guess we should.” She agreed with her sister.

As they started walking on the large road, Taira observed the ponies around her. The ones building up stalls were almost all exclusively males, and the females that she saw were following another man, while wearing richly decorated cloaks and hats. Like an item on display, Taira thought, shivering at the thought of ever having to follow someone like that, letting him decide where you go. What was wrong with these women? Why did they accept this?

On both sides of the road were large houses and warehouses, and also shops that sold a variety of products like fabric and jewelry. There were so many ponies Taira actually began to feel faint because of all the noise and activity around her. The large trees in the centre of the road shone so brightly with prana everything else seemed to be covered in a purple glow.

“Let’s take this road.” Yuuro suggested, pointing at a large street on their right. It wasn’t nearly as broad as this main road, but it was still large and looked more peaceful without ponies running around, yelling and building.
Everyone agreed, and they walked on the road. On each side there were large mansions, build with beautiful yellow stones and red roofs, just like the smaller houses in every village they had come across, only here the yellow stone seemed to fit perfectly. These mansions were huge, almost the same size as the original castle of the New Friendship Lands, and their gardens dwarfed those on the main street. Fields of grass, large trees, small ponds, all neatly displayed, not one leaf in the wrong place. The glows of prana were not only purple here, but sometimes pink, orange, and on one grass field it was even pure green. This was not random, either; the colors were in such positions that they matched each other and the surroundings perfectly. It was truly gorgeous.

Of course, there were still lots of ponies on the street here, but at least there were no workers and merchants, but only couples, and a family with children, or women talking in the gardens of their houses. Ponies one would expect in such a grand city like this. Taira was amazed at all the jewelry and clothes these ponies were wearing. Even the royalty in the west did not wear earrings or necklaces so casually, and the large hats and thin cloaks were without exception gorgeous, coming in all colors of the rainbow and decorated with gold or silver thread.

“You think we’ll find an inn here?” Hikary asked, staring at the mansions. Indeed, this place looked more like a rich neighborhood, not a place for inns.
“Maybe we should just ask.” Yuuro suggested, and he trotted off towards a family that was walking the street. The male was wearing a simple red cloak to cover his white back, but the lady and their daughter both wore soft white clocks with a swirling golden brim. The girl’s white hair was tied in a lovely braid with golden ribbons entwined with the braid. The woman was wearing a straw hat, with the same golden ribbon used to finish the edges. Taira stared at Stelline’s hat, which she was wearing to hide her horn, and it looked rather poor in comparison.

While Yuuro was talking with the man, Taira stared at the little girl. How would her daughter be doing? Little Frika… it had been months since they had left home. She had probably grown a lot… Taira suddenly wondered if she had still been there for Ruki, these months of her life. Or had she already been forced to leave? She couldn’t even recall it properly. Her two daughters… she had missed so many parts in both of their lives already.

She noticed Yuuro was thanking the man, and he trotted back towards them.
“And?” Hikary asked.
“He said most inns on the main road would already be full, and no, there are no inns in this street. But he said if we follow this road we should come upon a side road that has an inn, which would probably not be full yet. I’d say lets give it a shot.” Yuuro explained, and they continued to follow the road, past all the beautiful mansions.

They found the side road soon enough. The houses here were different; nicely lined up in a row, with only small front gardens, but still gorgeously designed and large. They found the sign of the inn soon enough and after recovering from the shock of the price, they booked a room for a week. Luckily, they managed to get a private room with four beds, so they did not have to share with others.

After refreshing themselves for a bit and unpacking their luggage, they went outside again, to discover the city a bit more. It was only early in the afternoon, after all, so sitting inside would be a waste. They took the same road back to the main road, and decided they would go look at the castle up closer. It was, however, further away than they thought and the main road was even more crowded, so soon enough they found themselves in yet another side road, this one consisting of almost only stores and work places of tailors, wood workers and jewel crafters.

“They only make and sell luxury products here, huh.” Hikary commented after they passed the fifth tailor in a row.
“It seems that way.” Taira commented.
She was not really focused any more on her surroundings. The glamour of the city was dazzling, but her mind slowly returned to the task they had to complete here.

“So… any of you have an idea how we are going to arrange an audience with the High King?” she asked, suddenly aware that this, which was only the beginning, already seemed difficult enough. Somehow, she did not think the High King was the kind of person that randomly granted audiences to strangers from the east, simply because they had requested it.

“I’d say, we take the next few days to get a better understanding of this city, and we should try to rest a bit, too. The journey has made all of us tired, and I think there is still much to learn before we start dealing with the government here. Meanwhile we will try to gather information on how to get in contact with Shanjahen, so that once we are ready to face him, we will not have to start from scratch.”

Once again, Hikary had proposed something very sensible, and Taira couldn’t help but agree with her sister. Thankfully, the others felt the same way, and they quickly proceeded through the streets and alleys, gasping at all the beautiful buildings, at all the colors of prana, realizing they rather liked the jewelry sold by some stores, and finally realizing they were hopelessly lost in this beautiful maze called ZoroAster.

They arrived at a rather beautiful place, even for the standards of the city. Ahead of them was what seemed like a small park, which was surrounded on both sides by a curved street, giving the park an oval shape. They decided to walk through the park a bit, and even in the prettiest of gardens they had not seen such beautiful plants and flowers. The small paths destined for walking were covered with purple and yellow stones, and led them to the centre of the park which turned out to be a pond with a large statue of a pony. A male, of course, facing them with a stern look in his eyes, convincing them he was not someone to be messed with. The detail of the statue made it look so real Taira forgot it was made of grey stone for a few moments.

“High King Araen, founder of ZoroAster. He build this city here after his father passed away. His father was the one locating this place as the place where prana grows strongest of all.” Yuuro said, and Taira noticed the sign from which Yuuro had gathered all of his information.
“It’s a statue to honor the founder of this beautiful city.” Hikary whispered, while staring at the statue. “It reminds me… we should try to locate the chapel where Vitalia gets worshipped. To see if it’s still here. I’m really curious.” Hikary added.

After they had left the park, they found a little café where they sat down in the sun, ordering iced tea for all of them. The café, so far away from the main road, was rather peaceful, and only locals seemed to occupy the other tables. Soon enough their iced tea arrived, and together they enjoyed the coming twilight, wondering how they should make their way to their inn as they were rather lost.

From another table, Yuuro had picked up a sheet, and he was reading it while the girls discussed the jewels they had seen earlier that day, something he did not seem to be particularly interested in.
“Hey, it’s a schedule of the summer fair. It lists all the interesting events.” He interrupted them.
“Oh? Anything of interest to us?” Hikary asked while sipping on her cold drink.

“Hmmm… let’s see… Apparently the summer fair starts in two days, and the entire main street will be filled with stalls for three days. There will be concerts in the opera building, but those are not open to everyone. There will be free tours in the museums of art and history, so that might be interesting enough. There will be special attractions for children, yadda yadda… Oh, but this is interesting. Interesting indeed.”

“What? What is it?” Hikary asked, and Taira was curious too because Yuuro’s tone of voice had changed. “Apparently on the evening of the first day, Shanjahen himself will visit the fair, and give a speech. It says here it’s his traditional summer speech, so I’m guessing it’s an annual thing…” Yuuro explained.
“We should attend it.” Taira said immediately. “Even if it is an annual thing, even if he does not say anything interesting, it will still be good to see what kind of person he is in real life. It’s an opportunity we should not miss.”

“I agree. And we should go visit those museums. While we might not learn much about Shanjahen, we might learn more about the history of the west, the culture, and who knows, maybe we find something on one of the stones we’re still missing. Remember, we’re not here to chat with the High King… we’re here to find information on the stones and save this beautiful world.” Hikary said.

Yes… This world truly is beautiful, Taira pondered while looking out over the small street that would lead them back to the park. The only thing that had ever amazed her as much as this city had done was her first visit to Batafurai. The power of prana so effortlessly combined with the will of the ponies to create this grand city… it could only make her wonder how the old Friendship Lands once were. Surely, once, they had been even more beautiful than this…