As soon as she'd finished drinking her tea, Clover watched as Aria climbed to her feet and motioned for her to follow, "Come along. Let's get you settled for the day. It's still early, but we might as well get you situated before I leave you to your own devices for the day."
Aria walked out of the room with Clover following closely, letting her eyes wander the halls as they went. They came out into the grand hall and immediately turned, heading up to the stairs to the second floor and down the enormous hallway that cut down the center of the mansion. This hall was filled with doors. Each one labelled with a golden placard hung tastefully above the door. A few had curious names upon them like 'Berry' and 'Sunset'. The rest had normal names like 'Mistress Aria' on the HUGE set of doors halfway down the hall. Aria stopped in front of this door and turned on her heel to face Clover.
"These are my private quarters. You'd best hope to never see the inside of them, and I'd best not catch you in there either." She tossed out the comment off handedly and continued walkright right to the end of the hall which ended in a door with a golden placard reading 'Prospect' hanging above it. Again, Aria turned and tapped on the door gently, "This is the prospect room, and also your room for the evening. It doesn't get used very often as we don't often have trial ponies. Inside, you'll find your belongings set out, your own private bathroom which I heavily recommend using. That walk down the laneway did you NO favors in terms of how you smell." She chuckled.
"It also has a balcony that looks over the majority of our training facility. You'll be able to watch some of the other ponies working down below. But remember, I expect no words out of you. Whinny at them if you must respond to them looking up at you. But not a word." Aria smiled and leaned down, capturing the gaze of the green eyed blonde for a moment, "You're allowed to wander for the day. The kitchen is downstairs down the main hall beneath the stairs, I will make sure the cook knows to prep your dinner for you by the evening. No area of the house is off limits except doors with names above them. Those are private rooms. Is all that clear?"
Clover stared back at her, forcing herself to hold the gaze as long as she could before eventually folding and diverting her gaze to the widening grin of Aria as she asked if the instructions were clear. She lifted her foot and stomped it down gently.
Aria nodded, "Well then. I will leave you to your own devices for the day. I've got to finish up your paperwork and run a few errands. If you need anything, feel free to ask one of the maids. If you can convey the question without words..." She chuckled and tapped Clover on the nose, "Welcome to Tall Tails Clover. I hope you enjoy your time with us Pony." Aria offered her a reassuring smile and then turned on her heel, disappearing down the hall and into her own private quarters leaving Clover to stand there a little awkwardly.
It didn't take the blonde long to decide on her course of action. Turning and opening the door to her room. The oak door swung open with barely an effort, allowing her into the beautifully furnished room. For a second she felt a bit like a Princess. A large bed with a beautiful silk canopy over it was tucked against the wall on the left side of the room with a hand-carved vanity next to it bearing a few essentials most might enjoy. The wall to the left and right of the door held huge hand-painted canvased bearing artistic representations of Ponygirls in motion. They were quite beautiful and Clover was quick to note the name 'Aria' in the bottom corner of each. Clearly the Mistress of the house had more talent than she let on.
Clover took her time kind of exploring each inch of the room, resisting the urge to open up the beautiful glass balcony doors. The sea of green beyond them and the noises filtering in through the pop-out windows on either side of the balcony were hard to resist. But she didn't want to look.
Not yet.
Clover lowered her head a little and sniffed herself curiously. She wrinkled her nose. Aria hadn't been joking. Twelve hours on a plane, followed by several in a warm cab with no AC in the middle of summer plus a two kilometer walk down a sloped driveway while hefting an overstuffed dufflebag, had not done her ANY good. She sighed audibly and walked towards the only other door leading out of the room. It opened up into a bathroom more luxurious than she'd seen in her entire life. In one corner was what she could only describe as a glass cube with a sliding glass door and several different nozzles and buttons on one of the two tiled walls within. A shelf in the corner held an assortment of shampoo's, soap's and other items. Items she'd note shortly were all for horses. Mane N' Tail shampoo and Conditioner etc. Etc.
Opposite the glass shower was a long marble countertop with a sink laid flush into it and a large mirror lining the wall. Like a hotel, an assortment of useful items had been laid out all in fresh packaging including a toothbrush, a hair brush, and somehow...her favorite brand of toothpaste. She wondered if that was a coincidence or they'd somehow known? She looks down at her basic black t-shirt, dark blue jeans and the worn out pair of running shoes on her feet and sighed.
She might as well shower. But what would she wear after? That's when she spotted her dufflebag sitting neatly atop a small fold-out bench next to the shower entrance. Did these people read minds?
She wandered over, a blush coming to her face when she saw the small silvery necklace laid atop her bag. It was on a thin silver chair which came together to two horseshoes holding the word 'Pony' between them. It was her own necklace of course, and clearly whomever had brought her bag up had been quite thorough when checking it for contraband. She blushed brightly and set the necklace to the side and opened up her bag, digging around for a few moments.
It would seem everything was here except her wallet and her candies. She pouted a little. She could use one of those candies to calm the butterflies flapping about her stomach right now. She huffed slightly and tugged out a pair of green plaid Pyjamas, a slightly worn out green night-shirt and was about to pull out a towel when she noticed the very fluffy white towel hanging on a wall-rack inside the shower. She shoved her towel back into her bag and turned to lock the bathroom door behind her.
She sat down on a small oak stool next to the sliding glass door, not taking very long to peel off her clothes, right down to nothing. She groaned loudly as she peeled the socks off her already very sore feet. She flexed her feet a little, rubbing her thumbs into the soles for a moment, not knowing how much sore her feet were going to be over the next few days.
Stretching a little bit, Clover climbed to her feet and slipped into the glass shower, closing the door behind her and walking to the wall full of various nozzles, buttons and taps. Thankfully they were all labeled and it only took one shot of water in the face for her to figure out which one turned the large square shower head above her on. The water heated up quite quickly and like her usual self she had it on almost full hot. She slipped into the water, standing fully under and just letting it wash over her in a warm, relaxing stream. She was surprised at how good it felt.
It was a more luxurious shower than she was used to. The only odd part being when she walked to the shelves and stared at the various for-horses products dotting the shelf. She blushed at this even though nobody was around. They really were quick to immerse you here. She didn't mind. She accepted this fact and washed herself down from tip to toe. It all smelt really nice actually and she couldn't complain about the silky feeling of her hair when she was finished. She turned the main nozzles off and cut off the stream of water.
Clover stood there, using one of the fluffy white towel to dry herself down and tousle her mid-back length blonde hair into a semblance of dryness. She took her time in the bathroom, brushing all the tangles out of her hair, brushing her teeth and moisturizing her body with the green apple lotion that had been provided. Green apple, really? She stifled a bit of a giggle. At least it smelt good. As she finished she stood up, looking at herself in the mirror for a long moment as her wind wandered.
She'd really come. She'd taken the plunge on dipping her toe into a ponygirl training facility. The realization was really staring her in the face as she clipped the 'pony' necklace around her neck and tugged on her pyjamas. She might as well be lazy with her clothes the rest of the day. She offered herself a smile in the mirror and turned, tossing her towel in the provided laundry hamper and opening the door back into her bedroom. She expected to simply step out and stretch but she stopped dead in her tracks the second she stepped into the bedroom.
In the corner of the room was a plush armchair coated in white leather, which to her surprise was currently occupied by a girl with vibrant red hair and a smile only visibly around the thick black bit wedged between her teeth. Purple eyes bored into Clover and hoof-boots equipped with shiny silver horseshoes were crossed neatly, tapping to a rhythm on the girl could hear apparently. She wore an intricate black leather harness trimmed in orange-red and was glistening with a slight sheen of sweat.
The girl let out a soft nicker in Clovers direction.
...There was a ponygirl sitting in her bedroom. Staring at her."