The Marble Fountain Hotel's lobby captured the high life in all of its essence. Glossy granite tiles reflected the light of the two columns of crystal chandeliers overhead, chandeliers whose glittering could almost be heard like the jingling of silver bells. Two stallions reclined on a pair of sofas in a posh lounge at the center, their soft murmurs made audible by the hard tile floor, which accentuated every hoofstep with a sharp, pealing clop that reverberated around the domed lobby like the start of a slow round of applause.

The echo wouldn't have been so pronounced, however, if the hotel's namesake, an immense, tri-leveled marble fountain, had even been running in the first place.

Rarity could not help but take notice of this fact. She frowned, jotting down a mental note as she walked up to the front counter with her bags in tow.

It was quite a trek to get there, considering the sheer size of the lobby and the expansiveness of the classical Roaman architecture. She figured half of Ponyville could have fit snugly inside. Not many ponies seemed to be here, however, rendering the whole place rather empty. And, as a consequence, a bit… excessive.

Oddly, when she did reach the counter, no one was there. She rang a heavy silver bell with a single tap of her hoof and sat back on the cool tile floor, drawing her rolling suitcases closer with the magic glowing from her horn. She looked left and right expectantly, ears pricked up as she listened for anypony moving around in the back.

While she waited, Rarity naturally took another good look at her pristine surroundings. She had heard plenty of stories about Manehattan's prime destination hotel (with many of those stories being from her good friend who had insisted she visit here this week), and had even seen glimpses of it in brochures she had perused before her arrival. But while the pictures had excited her, being here in the flesh was far better. Unwittingly, the corners of her rose-shaded lips perked up into a giddy grin as she beheld the hotel in all of its grandeur, now able to gaze upon it in the way it was meant to be seen...

Until, once again, her eyes fell upon the hotel's namesake. The fountain, towering over the heads of anypony that walked past, a three-tiered behemoth reminiscent of the classical era. Golden tiles lined the base of the largest pool, reflecting the light of the chandeliers overhead like a lustrous beacon. At its tip, five small urns were arranged in a star formation all the way around the edges, tipped halfway over to allow the water to spill into the pools beneath... that is, when there was any water to begin with. Instead, the bottomless urns lay empty, the pleasant babbling sound of water strangely absent.

Rarity pursed her lips and gave a small, sad shake of her head. What a shame she couldn't have seen it in operation during her stay. Perhaps tomorrow morning...

She turned her head around the other way, looking over to the lounge. The two stallions she had seen on the way in were still there, seated across from one another on a pair of velvet love seats. Neither of them looked at each other, and both had fallen silent. The one looking in her direction made brief eye contact, and trying to be genial, Rarity nodded her head hello. He did not nod back, and instead turned his head away.

Narrowing her brow for a brief moment, Rarity faced forward again. She ran her hoof absentmindedly over the top of her nearest suitcase as she waited. Her stoic frown deepened as the wait dragged on for another several seconds, and she began to wonder if there was anypony there at all. But fortunately, just as she was beginning to contemplate ringing the bell again, she heard hoofsteps approaching.

Dressed in the quintessential hotel uniform with a high white collar, a petite young mare trotted up to the counter. Wisps of her mane fell down in front of her face, but she quickly swept them away and beamed at Rarity with a hospitable smile.

"I am deeply sorry for keeping you waiting, ma'am," she rattled off in a breathless tone. "How may I help you this evening?"

Encountered with the young mare's enthusiasm, any annoyance Rarity had been feeling previously went away. She smiled back.

"That is quite alright, not to worry," she replied. "I am just here to check in."

The mare at the counter picked up a clipboard and withdrew a pen from her coat pocket. She obviously did not want to waste any more time. "What is the name on the reservation, ma'am?"

"Rarity Belle," she answered. The other mare scanned the sheet with pen in mouth, flipped to the next page, and marked the square beside her name. She set the pen back down on the counter.

"Thank you very much, Miss... Rarity? As in the famous fashion designer?" she suddenly blurted out. The pitch of her voice increased toward the end of the question. "That Rarity?"

The question was said quite loudly, its dull echo traveling a little ways around the room. Rarity's ears flattened onto the back of her head, and a tinge of red showed on her cheeks.

"Well... I don't know if 'famous' is quite accurate, but... I am a fashion designer, yes." She laughed. "I was not aware I had such notoriety. Not here, anyway."

She watched the hotel clerk's eyes brighten at the admission. She nodded emphatically. "You most certainly do, I assure you..."

And then, in an odd register, her voice seemed to trail off. A blush appeared on her cheeks as she forced a cough. Then, she reached below the counter and pulled out a neatly folded pamphlet, setting it onto the granite. Her perky demeanor returned, though the sudden switch made Rarity feel a tad bit uncomfortable... though she could not quite put her hoof on the reason why.

"This is simply a guide for your stay here at the Marble Fountain Hotel. All of our upcoming entertainment venues and descriptions of our many world-class restaurants and bars can be found inside, as well as a color-coded map showing where they are all located. Guest information, service numbers, and everything else can be found there as well. And this..."

She withdrew a shiny, ebony-black card and set it onto the countertop beside the pamphlets. "This is your roomkey card. Your room is the Ebony Suite, located on the thirtieth floor on the East Wing. Be sure to take a look at the map inside the brochure if you are ever lost, as well." She quickly swept the two pamphlets together and pushed them over to Rarity's side. "Are there any questions you would like to ask?"

While the clerk's words had been rattled off at high speeds, she had spoken coherently enough for Rarity to follow along. She shook her head and gave a content smile, placing the brochures into a small saddlebag on her croup.

"No, that is all I believe I will need... actually," she said, quickly changing her mind, "I do have one request, if that is alright. Would you be able to check if another guest has already arrived?"

The young mare wasted no time. She took out the clipboard. "Of course, ma'am. What is the name?"

"Coco Pommel," said Rarity. "She will be staying in the same suite as I..."

Scanning over the paper, the clerk's eyes eventually came to rest on the name. Frowning slightly, she shook her head no.

"No, I am afraid not. I am sorry, ma'am..."

Rarity shrugged, waving off the apology lightly with her hoof. "No no, that's quite alright. But when she does arrive, could you please tell her that I will be waiting for her in the Blue Orchid? I'm reserving a table there for the two of us."

Her request was met with a happy nod. "Of course! But before you leave, could I have your bags taken up to your suite?"

She gestured to a burly brown stallion, dressed in a similar garb as herself, walking out from the back room from where she had first emerged. Rarity looked back at things which were a few feet away and standing all by themselves. She rolled her eyes and laughed. How could she have forgotten about her belongings?

"Why... yes, of course." She giggled again. The stallion grabbed gentle hold of her three bags and placed them upon a trolley, taking it over to one of the nearby staff elevators. "I suppose that would be important. Cannot believe I almost entirely forgot about something like that! I suppose I should get to bed early tonight..."

No sooner had she made the suggestion that Rarity then noticed something. Something... odd. The desk clerk's eyes shifted over to the stallion waiting by the elevator. He said nothing, facing away from them and waiting for the doors to open. His ear, however, was pricked up and turned toward their direction like a satellite dish. For a moment, her bottom lip curled down into a slight grimace, which had it not been for Rarity's keen attention to detail, she may have never seen. The other mare's eyes widened for a moment, and then, she turned to face her. Her smile remained intact, but the corners of her lips trembled with a visible effort.

"Try not to call it a night too early, though!" she said. "You wouldn't want to miss out on the nightlife scene here at the Marble Fountain, after all. Some of the best in all of Manehattan!"

The cheer in her tone of voice was tangible. Like a sticky, sweet syrup. Her eyes shifted momentarily over to bag carrier. Rarity watched the stallion's eyes flicker over to the clerk, and as soon as he did so, the clerk made it a point to focus only on Rarity. Then, the elevator bell dinged, and the circular doors peeled open to a glass interior. Shooting one last glance over at the two of them, he pushed the dolly inside and stepped through the doors.

The clerk exhaled deeply through her nose, and the door slid shut.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. And then, with her mouth slightly agape, she took a couple of steps back away from the counter. Realizing that the clerk was still looking at her, Rarity smiled politely. Though, as an odd tingly feeling crawled over her spine, she had to work hard to force it.

"I... then I suppose sleep will have to wait a little while longer, then. Hahaha," she chuckled. Then, she cleared her throat. "Anyway, I, um... thank you for your help, err..." She squinted, trying to read the tag from a distance, but was unable to discern the letters. "Er..."

"Amble," the younger mare answered. Rarity breathed an internal sigh of relief.

"Thank you very much, Amble. I-It was a pleasure talking with you." She turned part of the way around, towards the direction of the fountain. "Have a good evening!"

Amble waved back jovially. "Thanks, you too!"

Rarity matched the gesture and, with one last glance over her shoulder, she walked away. She swore that she could still feel Amble's emerald eyes boring into her from behind, but she didn't look back.

Save for two stallions she had seen in the lounge, the expansive entrance lobby felt quite devoid of anypony else, only the occasional guest passing her by on her way to one of the glass-lined escalators on the lobby's opposite side. Branching off to her right, there was a whole, separate area, a small lobby of sorts lined by several elevator doors. Cylindrical glass elevator shafts stretched all the way to the top floor... or at least, that was what Rarity assumed, since she could not actually see the top. In spite of knowing somewhere in the back of her mind that she was in a first-class hotel where such commodities were commonplace, she nonetheless thanked her lucky stars that they had elevators anyway. The thirtieth floor was far too high up for stairs.

And to her left, sitting solemnly still in the center of the chamber, was the fountain. Rarity noted, with a frown of pity, that the splendid hotel would have felt far less empty, if only it had been in working order. Water would have been broiling unceasingly, reflecting the chandeliers' light like a glass mirror, adding some much-needed ambience and atmosphere. Her own hoofsteps bounced noisily off of the domed ceiling and all around the room, and given the lobby's acoustics, she would have feared to speak lest an eavesdropper lurk nearby, able to hear everything she said...

She came to a sudden stop. Her head did a double take toward the fountain. From the front door, it would have escaped her observation entirely. But up close, it was impossible for her to miss.

The fountain was still dripping. Rarity's eyes fixed themselves onto a single water droplet, dangling like a stalactite over the lowest level, before finally plopping down onto the damp marble below. The impact sent ripples through a shallow puddle at the basin.

Frowning, Rarity continued on her way.

Author's Note:

Next chapter is coming very shortly, folks! Just needs some editing, and then it's set.

Hope you all like what you see so far!

~Arwhale