Holly Perez and Fords' Golden Tour MirrorG Chapter 18: The Golden Tour Goes the Distance Summary: In which tensions flare between guests. The second the trapdoor closed above Holly’s head, the cacophony of the Inventory’s many machines faded away into the ambiance of the complex. Fords trotted down the wooden stairs last and stepped around the three to lead the way once again. Holly looked ahead at the hallway she now stood in. Once again, a concrete floor and brick walls greeted them, though now their umber hues lay disguised beneath the colorful lamps Holly caught glimpses of from above. Doors painted with geometric designs dotted each wall, and directly over each sat one of the vivid lights in a different, bold color. Behind them, the wooden steps receded back towards the ceiling, and Holly turned around to find the hall stretching off in the other direction in exactly the same way. Fords took a moment to consider each way before nodding to herself and pressing on forwards. “This should do just fine,” she said, motioning to lead the group onwards. “We can start with a visit to our Perennial Wing, and then adjust further if we need any more time for the girls to collect a boat for us.” Again, Fords’ long gait set a quick pace for them to follow. This time, however, after just a moment of following, Holly watched Faye slowing down slightly, glancing at the others to signal them to let Fords’ lead stretch. Holly obliged, and both she and Bridgette joined Faye in creeping towards the edge of the old ewe’s hearing. Fords, her eyes locked forward, noticed none of this. With enough distance between them, the rabbit spoke to the pair in hushed tones. “So, is she just gonna, you know, ignore what happened back there?” Bridgette shrugged in response. “It probably wasn’t half as real as she played it up to be, that’s why.” Holly shifted uncomfortably at the improvised huddle. “But, if it wasn’t, then what was it that we actually saw back in there?” “If I knew, I’d tell you,” Bridgette sighed, “but I know I’m not jumping straight to it being some magic fruit gum like Fords kept saying. It’d do you good to not take everything someone like her says at face value, Perez.” The doe blinked. “‘Someone like her,’ meaning what, exactly?” “Didn’t we already go over this? She’s either been acting all day, or bought into her own hype too much to realize she’s still acting.” “Well, whatever you think it really is,” Faye added, “that whatever it was was almost as disgusting as how loud Azure was chewing before.” She grimaced, though Holly couldn’t remember any sounds coming from Azure aside from popping bubbles and bored remarks. Faye allowed no time for her to press the odd detail, though. Instead, she picked up her pace again, unceremoniously ending the trio’s little meeting to bound ahead to Fords’ side once more. As she did, the ewe finally stopped in front of one door in particular, this one possessing a lamp shining a bright, golden color, and turned around to watch the group rushing to catch up again. “Why, I hope you all aren’t becoming too tired from all the traveling we’ve been doing today,” Fords said as the guests finally caught up to her again. “Hopefully being off your feet for our upcoming cruise on the canal will help give you a moment to catch your breath.” “Hopefully,” Holly nodded, “though, what did you call this place before? The ‘Perennial Wing’? What do you all do in here?” Fords’ face lit up at the question. “I’m quite glad that you asked, Miss Perez! The Perennial Wing is the domain of any of the important treats which we don’t make year-round. Just now, we’re stopped before the door to the Seasonal Sweets rooms, where we prepare our selection of holiday-themed candies and anything else of the sort, all depending on the relevant time of the year it happens to be.” Demonstrating, Fords stepped over to the door and gave it a push open before stepping back to allow the trio to peer through. Again, the warm sun hit Holly’s cheeks, as well as a wave of humidity that poured into the hall as though the sheep had just opened up a sauna. Stretching beyond the doorway lay a scenic, tropical beachscape. Brown, sugary sand formed the ground and extended off over a few low dunes towards a shining, foamy ocean. Palm trees with red leaves dotted the modest landscape, and several of which provided shade to a small stand staffed by wolpertingers. Other wolps in different colors played around with each other in the heat of the sun, all of them dressed in modest swimsuits rather than the formal jackets and costumes of those before. Most of them formed into a crowd as they chased around a novelty extra-large beach ball. They batted it between each other energetically, but seemingly without any of the structure Holly saw in their previous game of ‘wolpball.’ “Since it’s currently springtime, what you’re seeing now is a preview of the summer line which we’ve been preparing ahead of time.” She pointed out the gaggle of playing wolps with her cane. “The girls over there are, in fact, mixing together some fruity flavors for an upcoming set of popsicles. This method of mixing provides the most summer-y twist to the flavor, I’ve found.” Holly felt a pit form in her stomach. Though not resembling wolpball, the sight of the wolps toying with a ball of that size drew up too vivid of a memory for the deer. That feeling only worsened as she watched a pair of other fairies roll a clear container filled with a rich blue juice towards the beach ball. The group paused their game as the pair arrived, and they quickly sprang into action to drain a portion of the tank’s contents into the ball and return to their play. With their stop complete, the two wolps waved the others off and carried on their way. “Say, uh,” the deer said as softly as she could manage, trying to get only Faye’s attention, “you don’t think any of that stuff in there came from, you know ,” she struggled to continue her thought, the words failing to form in her mouth despite how clearly the image sat in her head. Chapter 18, first illustration. Holly, worried, speaks to Faye, who is uninterested. Faye glanced up at her from her phone, scarcely paying attention to the sights. “Hm? I don’t think what?” She asked, but her eyes returned to her screen after a second to take some quick pictures of the wolps at play. “You know ,” she said, loud enough to pull the attention of the whole group, “if I only knew that we would be stopping here today, Fords, I would’ve brought my own bikini for the occasion!” “That would certainly have been a fun way to spend the afternoon, Miss Huffie, if only we had that much time, today,” Fords nodded. She then directed the group’s attention back towards the wolp rolling the juice tank. She pushed it up to one particular wolp who had been leaning casually against the stand, the only wolp in the room wearing sunglasses. She shot a silent finger gun at the tank, and immediately a layer of frost sprouted across the outside of it. “There we can see Dahlia helping to freeze over the juice for new popsicles,” Fords explained. Faye recorded the display. “What’s she actually doing to it, though?” Fords grinned. “Being cool, naturally! Despite the heat, she’s more than cool enough to freeze things around her by her sheer presence.” “‘Cool’ is a long way from ‘freezing,’ you know,” Bridgette rolled her eyes. “Indeed it is, Miss Grazeland. That is why only the absolute coolest wolp I know of could be up to the job of helping with popsicle production!” “ Right , sure,” Bridgette said, rolling her eyes. “So, are we doing another detour through this scene or something?” “You might think, given our route so far,” Fords nodded, “but I was actually intending to show you all a fascinating aspect of the Seasonal Sweets Room, beforehand.” Fords shut the door to the room, and the heat of the tropical beach quickly dissipated. She tapped the door with her cane, and immediately the light above changed from gold to stark white. When the ewe opened up the Seasonal Sweets room again, a rush of cold air poured out. A chill raced down Holly’s back, and she retreated a step back to keep away from the sudden cold. The door no longer opened up into a beach scene, but instead a quaint valley tucked away in a snowy mountainscape. A simple trail wound its way from the door down into the valley, stopping at a set of hot springs gently steaming into the frigid air. Like the canal before it, the springs sported a chocolatey brown hue. A number of wolpertingers reclined around or inside of the springs. Some sprawled out across towels, while others rested on graham cracker rafts which bobbed on the surface of the spring. All of their fur sported a white tone dotted with warm oranges and browns, and to Holly all appeared several degrees fluffier than the all of the earlier wolpertingers the group had encountered along the way. “Now, naturally,” Fords explained, “only us up north are preparing for summer at the moment. Down in the southern hemisphere we need to be ready to deliver our line of winter treats! As such, the girls have been preparing the hot cocoa springs for precisely that purpose.” Bridgette glanced down at the relaxing wolpertingers with a tired expression. Silently, she stuck her arm through the doorway and waved a paw around for a moment. She sighed at what she felt before returning her gaze to Fords. “Is getting a bunch of their fur in the chocolate really helping? Sounds to me like it’d only put it further away from being ready to ship, unless you’re telling me they’re made of marshmallows or something.” She chuckled to herself. “Clever of you to have noticed, Miss Grazeland,” Fords said genuinely, “in fact, from all of the research that’s been undergone over the years, it is believed that the closest current relative to the wolpertinger is the marshmallow. They’re quite similar in more ways than you’d expect!” The bear continued to laugh softly for another second until it became clear that no one was joining in. Growing silent, Bridgette cast a quick glance at the other three in turn, but Holly swore the bear’s amber eyes rested on her the longest. “Well,” Holly said, placing a hand on the open door frame, “you’d think, a door like this going straight to the other side of the world would have everything built the other way around, just to keep it from all being upside-down, right?” Gradually, her lips contorted into a slight grin, one that hoped that her own little joke could reveal something about how either Bridgette or Fords were acting. Instead, Fords continued to nod sagely at the new comment. “That was quite the puzzle for us to overcome back when the Seasonal Sweets Room was first conceived, Miss Perez. The trip through this door was ever so disorienting until we started building all of the southern ones upside-down to compensate.” Holly blinked in surprise at her comment not only being taken with complete seriousness, but also entirely confirmed by Fords with the same ease she took Bridgette’s joke as fact. She made eye contact with Bridgette again, who rolled her eyes at the whole exchange. Faye spoke up next. “ So , you’re about to tell us that we don’t have any time to hang out here either , huh?” “I’m afraid that would be the case, Miss Huffie,” Fords noted. “In fact, I believe that now we should have spent enough time here for the girls to have found another way for us to keep moving. I suppose it’d be best for us to check, now!” She shut the door, cutting off the cold air as she did, before trotting off down the hall. “Luckily, you’ll be able to have quite the similar experience with our transport.” Fords led the way to the far end of the hall, where another large, metal door awaited. She again pushed it open with an effortless tap with her cane, and a familiar sight greeted the group once more. They stood on a stone platform overlooking yet another long, brick-lined tunnel. Though almost identical to the tunnel they used to travel to the Menagerie Wing that morning, Holly quickly noticed the canal itself now sporting the pale tone of white chocolate rather than the dark hues from before. As well, where once the narrowboat had been moored now floated a modest gondola. At its rear, a wolpertinger wearing a straw hat and striped shirt waved them over to board. “Hold on,” Bridgette said, leaning to better look down the length of the tunnel each way before turning back towards Fords. “Are you telling me you have two separate canal systems tucked away in this place?” The ewe tilted her head inquisitively at the question. “I only have the one, as of the last time I checked. It wouldn’t be half as useful as it is now if you could only go to half of the complex using it.” She paused for a moment to think about what she said, then chuckled. “Or, I suppose that each section would be exactly half as useful as the whole thing, considering.” She tapped her cane against the ground to punctuate herself. “Now, if you’ll excuse me for just another moment, I’ll be plotting our next course with Dinghy, once again.” Faye stepped around the group to get a better view of the fairy. “Dinghy? Like, the same one as before? She did that whole costume change just for us? So cute!” “There’s nothing that the girls find more fun in than their costumes,” Fords nodded before stepping over to the canal’s edge and leaning down to speak with Dinghy. “It could be the same one,” Bridgette remarked with Fords out of earshot, “ or she can’t remember how to tell these things apart. Can’t write off either.” “You know ,” Faye remarked, dropping her voice and side eyeing Bridgette, “it’d probably help you a little to at least pretend to be on her good side. You’re not getting anywhere with the cold, logic-girl act, really .” “I am a little surprised that her energy today hasn’t at least been a little infectious,” Holly added. Bridgette scoffed. “I might start being genuinely interested today once Fords decides to show us how she genuinely makes anything in this place.” Fords returned to the group’s side a moment later. “I think it’s best if we have just a brief cruise down the canal, this time. We have quite the exciting sights to see just over in the next adjacent wing, so we shouldn’t waste time.” Dinghy pulled the gondola up to the canal wall, and Fords stepped onto it first. She and Dinghy stood near the back of the small boat while Holly and Faye took a row of seats across from them. Bridgette, then, sat by herself another row forward. As soon as they were all seated, the wolp pushed off from the dock with a long pole and sent the boat coasting down the canal. Like before, they passed many more tunnels branching off in all directions. Holly glanced down one, witnessing a pair of wolpertingers in hardhats walking directly up the wall of the tunnel and upside down onto its arched ceiling. One opened up a toolbox also resting on the ceiling, though nothing fell out from it into the white chocolate canal below. The boat continued onwards without anyone so much as noticing the gravity defying-sight, leaving the tunnel behind and leaving Holly with no opportunity to bring attention to it. Her opportunity lost, she instead glanced at Faye, using the cruise as another opportunity to record clips for her videos. The rabbit whipped her phone about, pointing it at herself, the tunnel, and even Dinghy at work. Once satisfied, she delivered a single, decisive tap to her screen to segment off the clip. Immediately afterwards, though, she turned the camera back on herself to address her apparent audience directly. “Could you all believe that this is the second canal cruise we’re going on today? We are out here getting absolutely spoiled by how generous-” she began, only to be cut short by the sound of Dinghy beginning to sing. Unlike the other songs the wolpertingers had performed that day, this one featured an aimless, wordless vocalizing from the wolp. Her melody harmonized with a gentle accordion tune echoed through the tunnel from nowhere in particular, and the canal pleasantly reverberated the sound of the casual song. “Say, Fords?” Faye cooed, speaking up to be heard over the sound of the music. “Could you get her to hold off on that for just a second? It won’t take long to make this, really!” She asked politely, but Fords simply sat in place, far too engrossed by the music to pay Faye any mind. Her request ignored, the rabbit leaned back into her seat and pouted. Holly sat and listened to the music for a moment for a moment before leaning over to speak with Faye directly. “Is it that important that you get that done right now?” A look of genuine surprise washed over Faye’s face as she paused to register Holly talking to her. Realizing the question came from the doe, she locked eyes with Holly and shrugged casually in response. “Oh, well, I’m sure that you’re not used to it or anything,” she said in her saccharine tone, “so you wouldn’t get it, I totally get that. But it really is important that I get all of this for my lovelies! Even if I can’t send it for them to see as it happens,” she glared briefly at the icon on her phone showing no signal, “I can share everything together at the end, you know? I can’t just leave them out of all this.” “Honestly, you should count yourself as lucky just to have what you got, already,” Bridgette remarked. “With how exclusive Fords made this little event of hers? I’m shocked that she isn’t demanding we all keep everything we see here a secret or something.” Holly hadn’t thought of it before, but now that the discrepancy had been brought up she couldn’t help but consider just how odd it was. From all that Holly had researched about Fords’ reclusive nature, she had concluded that the sheep must be particularly shy when it came to sharing her methods or interacting with the outside world. Now, though, she had acted so outgoing and energetically over the course of the entire day so far. She struggled to square away the two images of Fords into the same person, and Faye took the opportunity to talk instead. “Of course, I’m sure you’d look at it that way,” the rabbit said, glancing in the bear’s direction before returning to her phone, a smirk growing on her face, “but we work in different leagues of videos, you know? I’ve got a whole different situation, here, and people recognize that.” Bridgette scoffed at Faye’s insinuations, but the gondola bumped against another dock and cut off any response she may have been thinking up. The jolt coursed through the boat and paused Dinghy’s song, allowing Fords to be pulled back into the moment. She blinked rapidly for a moment, taking stock of her surroundings before nodding. Wordlessly, Dinghy hopped off of the small boat to moore it again. “Ah, it seems we’ve already arrived! It’s a wonder how a bit of music can help to pass the time, isn’t it?” Dinghy waved the group off as they disembarked once more, taking a sharp step upwards to reach solid ground. The dock connected several doorways along the tunnel wall, but Fords led the way directly to the closest. To its side, a large, green sign akin to something Holly expected to see on the highway designated the door as belonging to the ‘Distance Wing’. Without a word of explanation, Fords ushered the group inside. There, they stood in a sort of garage, well lit despite how few lightbulbs dangled on wires from the ceiling. Cluttered workbenches lined the walls, and despite the numerous, unidentifiable parts scattered around in crates or leaned against benches, Holly failed to find any evidence of an actual car in sight. Aside from the sound of humming electricity, she heard only a distant rumbling coming from somewhere else. “Right through here,” Fords said, leading the group in a winding path around some stray crates, “is a particularly popular room for the girls to visit, and I believe that it’s not hard to see why.” She strolled over to the far end of the garage, where a shuttered door stretched across almost the entirety of the opposite wall. The sheep tugged at a nearby cord, and the door lifted open to let in a flood of bright light once again. Holly’s eyes adjusted, finding a full, dirt race track presented before them in a wooded area. Stacks of tires separated them from the track, which wound over itself a few times before disappearing around a bend in the distance. On either side of the garage, rows of metal bleachers sat unoccupied, with yet more densely packed evergreens forming a wall behind them. All up and down the track, packs of wolpertingers raced by on go karts, each unique in design and paint work. The racers jockeyed for position with each other, handling the technical course with impossible speed. “Welcome to the Travel Room!” Fords cupped a hand around her mouth to speak up over the whir of a dozen small engines and whining tires, “where a practical line of testing is conducted in order to ensure that all ‘travel-sized’ portions of our products are truly travel-friendly!” Stepping closer to the track, Holly only barely made out the vague image of wolpertingers holding fun-sized candy bars and compact tubes of sweets as they drove by. Bridgette leaned against a stack of tires before looking back at Fords. “I’m not really sure I’d call anything here ‘practical,’” she said. “I mean, those travel sized things are supposed to be made for car trips or airplane flights or whatever, not race tracks, right? You’re ‘testing’ them for all the wrong trips.” “As we might use them, that’s quite right,” Fords nodded, “but the girls found that trying to test out their more conventional applications grew far too dull far too quickly for their tastes. As such, they’ve put together this as an alternative testing method. After all, if they’re able to enjoy our products in an environment like this, then they’re certainly fine for mundane situations as well.” Bridgette looked out over the course again before pausing as she came to a realization. “Hey, wait a minute,” she said, pushing off of the tire fence and pointing towards the track. “They’re racing out there, right? After that whole song and dance about how much they hate competitions? They’re competing against each other right now, what gives?” “It may seem that way to the untrained eye,” Fords explained, “but the wolps have never kept track of who finishes first or second when they race about like this. In fact, they don’t even have discrete ‘races’! This given circuit has been ongoing since the creation of the Distance wing, with the girls simply dropping in and out of the running as they desire. You see, they’re much more concerned with the joy of pushing the limits of their chosen karts and enjoying their snacks without compromising their speed. Though with how engaged they get, I can certainly understand why it may look like they’re trying to outdo one another.” “ Gosh ,” Faye said, leaning against the ramshackle fencing herself, “I’m sure they’d love getting a chance to drive around one of the cars I have back at my place. I bet they could get it running faster than all of these little karts of theirs put together!” “Yeah, sure,” Bridgette chuckled, “and, uh, how many of those have you actually driven yourself to know that?” Faye huffed indignantly. “Well, if you have to know-” she began to raise her voice. The sudden roaring of an engine drowned out the rest of her sentence completely, however. All four turned to look at its source, finding a giant kart rocketing down the course. Easily three times as large as the petite go karts the other wolps drove and sporting a checkered paint job and an imposing engine sticking out of its back, it barreled around the bends in the course at speed. A number of smaller karts surrounded it, only increasing the chaotic sound as it raced past the group. Faye yelped at the intense sound and backed away from the railing to assume her familiar place behind Bridgette once again. The bear glared down at her impatiently. “Ah, I was wondering if we might get the chance to see Delia at work while we were here. She’s certainly one of the most passionate wolpertingers I know of, when it comes to the Distance Wing,” Fords explained as the roar of the engines finally faded around the distant bend in the track. Neither Faye nor Bridgette paid Fords any mind, however, instead still leering at each other aggressively. With a quick shove, the bear sent the rabbit stumbling away. Faye took several steps back as if trying to keep herself from falling over, and Bridgette scoffed at the dramatic display. “Aren’t you tired of that ‘little meek girl’ act already, Huffie? I told you, stop using me as a shield!” Chapter 18, second illustration. Bridgette, irate, shoves Faye, who is surprised. Behind them, Fords approaches, appearing worried. Faye stomped her foot on the ground in indignant retaliation. “Yeah? Well, how come you aren’t tired of keeping this attitude of yours going all day, Bridgette? Or are you just that unlikeable all the time!?” Before Bridgette fired back again, Fords nearly lunged towards the pair to thrust her cane between them. Their attention shot towards the ewe, who pleaded with the two. “ Please , dears! There’s no need to get heated on a day like this.” She stepped between the pair, waving her hooves gently to encourage them to put more distance between each other. The fight defused, Fords sighed to herself before turning to face Faye in particular. “Now, Miss Huffie, I’m aware that some of these recent stops have been… let us say, unkind to your demeanor. So, how about we go visit the stop I promised would be to your liking, earlier this morning? In fact, that particular wing should even allow your phone reception to return in full quality!” The sheep spoke with confidence, but Holly’s eyes drifted to the subtle sight of the ewe’s brow furrowing again. Faye let out an exaggeratedly exasperated breath before nodding in agreement. “You know ,” she said, effortlessly returning to her sweet, sing-song tone, “I’ve been thinking about what you meant by that all day. You have no idea how sweet you’re being, listening to me like that!” The ewe grinned at the positive change in tone from the rabbit’s response. She tapped at the asphalt beneath their feet with her cane. “Lovely! Then, everybody, come right this way. The next room just so happens to be right next door!” Fords turned around to lead the way back into the garage. Faye began skipping after her enthusiastically, but paused to glance back at Bridgette with a snide look. Bridgette, visibly still frustrated, crossed her arms and glanced down at Holly, still at her side. “Can you believe her?” She asked in a low, grumbling tone. Holly failed to find any words to respond to the explosive situation she had just witnessed, let alone any that Bridgette might accept, and the bear scoffed at her silence before following the rest of the group.