The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi


The Museum

From Slipstream's description, Maple had expected the 'high-speed transit' between the Skyport's various branches to be something akin to the lift platforms that had carried them up from the Stone District. What she hadn't expected was a long, horizontal box outfitted with heavily cushioned seats and walls to lean on in periods of rapid acceleration... and she eventually found herself standing in such a box, hurtling over the surrounding snowscape through a larger tube at speeds faster than freefall.

When she finally disembarked, following an alerting siren and a perhaps-too-rapid deceleration, it was on shaky legs and with Starlight at her side. "T-That was..." she breathed, straightening her mane.

"Unanticipated?" Gerardo grinned. "Certainly an effective mode of travel, if nothing else."

"I was going to say 'exhilarating'," Maple answered, shaking herself. "Though a warning might have been nice. Is that what flying feels like?"

"Yes," Starlight muttered before the griffon could speak. "Falling, at least. But with more wind."

"When did...?" Maple's brow furrowed. "Oh. You told me, with the waterfall..."

Starlight nodded and climbed onto her back.

"I wouldn't be opposed to ferrying us somewhere myself," Gerardo offered, turning away from the boarding platform. "Provided, of course, you weren't too heavy. That said, I've been informed that the experience can be somewhat disorienting for those born without wings. I can't promise it would be anything more pleasant than a tactical maneuver in a time of need."

"That's okay," Maple assured as she followed him towards the nearest tunnel. "For now, let's just find that museum she told us about."


They emerged in an atrium similar enough to the previous terminal's that they could have shared blueprints. A quick glance around by Gerardo found a sign hanging with navigation instructions, which he quickly paraphrased, holding his chin in thought. "It seems our recommended target is this way," he said, pointing a talon.

One staircase and two glass bridges later, they found the entrance. A stallion who looked as if he was paid to smile sat outside at a booth, waving them in. Gerardo raised an eyebrow. "Are you here to collect admission, or...?"

The stallion shrugged. "Dude, the thing's free. It's here so ponies don't get bored while they wait for their flights. If you want a cash grab, just go look at all the hotels in the area."

Maple glanced uneasily at Gerardo at that, but he didn't return the stare. Instead, she walked through the museum gate... and immediately stopped, squinting at the statue immediately inside, clearly positioned to catch the attention of all who entered. "Is that...?" she murmured.

It was a pony, wrought in bronze and staring proudly down the hall. A unicorn, more specifically, and a mare at that... with a very distinctive, familiar manestyle.

"It looks like a much younger version of Shinespark," Gerardo observed, confirming her suspicions.

Strolling forward, Maple checked the plaque on the statue. "Shinespark of Sosa," she narrated. "In the year 965 A.B., became the first pony to be..." Her brow scrunched. "Born on an airship?"

Gerardo peered over her shoulder. "Now that's an interesting title. From what I've gathered of the Steel District, it doesn't seem like it would be an honor, however."

Maple rubbed her chin. "And didn't Ar... er, You-Know-Who say airships were only invented ten years ago? This is a lot older than that. I wonder, why wouldn't he have mentioned this...?"

"Wait," Starlight commanded. "What did you say? About the year? What year is it now?"

"Hmm?" Gerardo tipped his head. "That would have been twenty years ago. It's presently 985. Why do you ask, if I may?"

Starlight blinked. "Huh. You have the same date as where I'm from."

"Really?" Maple nearly sat down in surprise, before remembering to avoid dislodging Starlight from her back. "You do? That's an interesting thing to carry over..."

"Not really," Gerardo answered, checking furtively to ensure no other ponies were listening in. "After all, A.B. stands for After Breakup. The present calendar was started during the greatest period of global upheaval since the Plains of Harmony were established, in which they cut themselves off from the rest of the world. I don't doubt it would have been as big of an event there as it was here, if not bigger."

"They cut themselves off..." Maple mused. "How does that work, even, when they're protected by a giant mountain range? It's not like the mountains weren't there before, or that they made them..."

"There are ways," Gerardo said with a shrug. "Passes in the mountains which remain sealed through other means, even if the terrain is gentler. However, I believe we came here to be fascinated by air travel, as I can tell my own myths whenever I please." He pointed a wing. "Over there, I see what appears to be a timeline of aviation history. Might that be a good place to start?"

Maple paced toward it, curious. "957... This goes back almost as old as Willow is. This really is older than I thought..." Reading aloud, she skimmed the beginning of the timeline. "Two unicorn engineers, who dreamed of flying, figured out that you could fill a balloon with heated gas and attach a basket... They stored it on a boat and traveled the coast, powering it with their magic and selling brief flight trips, while trying to make their balloon better, and... eventually came to Ironridge..."

She stepped back, blinking. "We were right. Arambai was a Sosan factory chief. Look, he's right here!" Pointing a hoof, she indicated a portrait of the yellow unicorn, many years younger, standing next to two other middle-aged stallions they didn't recognize.

Starlight leaned down, reading their names for herself. "Mobius and... Arad?"

"This certainly predates our friends Dorable and Nimwick's time, then," Gerardo observed. "Interesting. This makes it sound as if Sosa embraced the new technology, and attempted to create air travel as a market themselves. Look at these diagrams..."

"Project Aslan," Maple narrated. "To create a ship that could sail both the skies and the seas... that's what they were doing. That's what Sosa wanted to be the ones to do."

Impatient, Starlight hopped off Maple's back and plodded further down the timeline. Technical graphs were all well and good, but she had no intention of building an airship any time soon. She was sure enough Maple knew how she felt on the issue that she didn't repeat it every chance she had, but that was the kind of pursuit one had to dedicate their life to, and that was far too close to the realm of earning cutie marks for her taste. Eventually, figuring she had wandered far enough, she turned to the nearest panel and began reading.

Summer, 964: the Spirit of Sosa was completed. Her maiden voyage was attended by important creatures from around the world.

Starlight's eyes skimmed across a panorama showing a number of ponies and other creatures gathered proudly in an assembly hall, and continued.

However, on the day of the launch, tragedy struck. The ship exploded and fell from an altitude of more than five hundred meters. All 35 crew members and passengers on board died in the crash, including Factory Chief Arad and the ambassador of Yakyakistan. In the following days of turmoil, Project Aslan was shuttered and the Sosan research was locked away. Ironridge promised never to repeat such a catastrophe. Water travel would remain the dominant and only method of world shipping. The cause of the crash remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in aviation.

"...Huh." Blinking, Starlight sat back on her haunches. The next picture could have been mistaken for a normal, sunny sky from far enough away... but a single look revealed the 'sun' to be a ball of fire engulfing all but the very ends of a ship in midair, debris launched in all directions by the blast. Some of that debris, if she squinted right, looked almost like falling ponies...

"Starlight?" Maple's voice called, accompanied by the sound of hoofsteps wandering nearer. "What did you...?" A small gasp, barely audible. "Oh."