//------------------------------//
// Stay Safe 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Starlight, Maple, Gerardo and Howe stood at the door to an otherwise-nondescript house at the highest part of Copsewood, far enough above the jungle floor that the streets grew rocky, a mix of dust and cracked mountain surface. A light wind blew against their backs, not enough to ruffle their sweat-matted manes, but enough to turn Maple's gaze skyward, wishing she were in the upper districts, high above the heat. The dam stood along the mountain wall to their right, tall and monolithic like a smooth, white monument to the past, and the road by which they had first entered the Stone District sat in a cleft in the mountainside several dozen meters above.

"You're sure this is the right place?" Maple asked, inspecting the house's dark, boarded windows and the peeling, burgundy paint on the door. "It looks... just like everywhere else in this town."

"Comrades, there is no doubt that your filly has led us true," Howe proclaimed, swaggering around to one of the corners and lifting a hoof to the house wall. "Seeing this place has... jogged my memory! All the subtle differences and landmarks that would be imperceptible to those without such a trained eye are standing out to me, and calling my very name! 'Howe!' they say! 'At last, you have returned to-'"

"I believe we get the idea." Gerardo rested a talon on his shoulder, silencing him. "Now, if no one else cares to do the honors..." He stepped forward, grasped the unicorn-oriented door handle, and tugged. Nothing happened. "Hmm..." He frowned. "It appears to be locked. Inconvenient..."

"Okay..." Maple tongued her cheek. "But there's got to be a way around..."

"Ahem!" Howe imperiously cleared his throat, stepping forward and brandishing a wing. "Please. Allow me."

Carefully, he plucked a feather, spinning it around and taking it in his teeth before delicately inserting the quill point to the lock. "If muh hunch ith correc..." he lisped around it, wiggling it carefully in the keyhole. "Thith plathe... wath made before..."

Click! He pulled back, beaming, and spat away the feather. "Judging by the age of this thing some unfortunate soul called a door, it was of a very rudimentary lock design! Modern ponies are so much more innovative, but this was easier to crack than an expensive teaset! ...Not that I've ever done that, of course."

As he pushed the door into the darkened abode open, Maple nervously pocketed the fallen feather. That was the kind of evidence they could do without leaving behind.

"Or," Gerardo offered as the moved inside, "this is a city predominantly of unicorns, and their home security is based entirely on goodwill and a very zealous constabulary when a reasonable percentage of the population can likely teleport."

"Hey, don't you rain on my parade! I didn't see you picking it open, Brother Bird!"

Maple swung the door shut behind them once everyone was inside. The house was unventilated and unlit, pooling a stifling amount of heat inside a small, dark space. Quickly, Starlight lit her horn, solving the latter problem and revealing a small hoofful of age-old possessions, tools and construction supplies, as well as a staircase leading belowground. She marched toward it, head held confidently.

The others followed, treading two-file on the unusually wide steps. They quickly reached a basement, empty save for an ancient reading chair sitting underneath an unlit light that hung from a chain. A lone bookshelf sat against the wall, and a squat refreshment table sat next to the chair, devoid of content.

"Hah! Really?" Howe gloated, striding to the shelf and inspecting its assortment of books. "Such a grandfather of all puzzles as the secret bookcase passage chooses to grace the Howenator with its presence? I feel honored! Fear not, puzzle, for I shall solve you with the respect and reverence you-"

Starlight coughed. Her horn glowed slightly brighter, and something clicked inside the stout table, causing it to roll aside on an unseen track, revealing a steep, narrow set of stairs going further down.

"Oh. Err, well..." Howe flushed. "That works too, I suppose?"

Gerardo groaned. "Of course it would be the table..."

They descended again, this time in single file. Fortunately, the stairs were short and the passage instantly broadened after the initial descent... and after one nearby door, it was brightly lit. The walls morphed to a smooth, reddish-brown metal, slightly curved at the seams to avoid the hard, boxy aesthetic that was prevalent elsewhere in Ironridge. Maple squinted. The metal was brushed inconsistently, and if she stood back, the patterns it formed almost looked like ponies.

The passage sloped downwards without bending or twisting, eventually coming out near the ceiling of the tunnel room Starlight had entered in earlier. She led the way, marching to the upper platform's far railing and pointing down. "There's a sign that says 'Breaker Room,'" she announced, pointing downward with a hoof. "I think that's where it is."

Howe was too busy gaping at the architecture to respond. Eventually, Maple jabbed him to get his attention. "Hello? Ironridge to Howe?" She waved a hoof. "We need to know what to do..."

"Uhh..." Howe shrugged. "Truth be told, I just knew this place existed. And what to do when we find the switch. So... onward?"

Beyond the breaker room door, the spiral staircase wrapped downwards three and a half times... Maple thought. Her head was spinning by the bottom, a combination of turning around and the strange discomfort of walking that close to the edge of a cylindrical shaft, making it hard to count. Either way, their destination sat directly underneath the pipe room, the ceiling deeply covered in bright blue manaconduits attached to a grate, beyond which was visible the room above. The floor was littered in terminals and monitoring equipment, and dead center was a pedestal with a large lever on the side. A tube of glass connected it to a similar, hanging pillar on the ceiling, and an unceasing arc of plasmatic lightning crackled between the top and bottom terminals.

"There it is..." Howe rubbed his forehooves. "The master breaker switch! All we have to do is turn it off... and then turn it right back on again!"

Maple stared at the switch in trepidation. "Why do I have a feeling it isn't that easy?"

Howe shrugged. "Beats me. I could do this in my sleep!"

"Well," Gerardo offered, "perhaps because this is the point of no return? Thus far, we've more or less been observers in the grand scheme of things in Ironridge, making predictable moves that affect things on only the smallest of scales. Right now, the three sides appear to be locked in the highest-stakes game of gambling and manipulation I have seen in a very long time, and if we do this... if we let Valey free... it would not only mean us entering their game and making a move of our own, but it would be very possible that none of the sides intend for us to play. In short, we could go back to our refuge and allow Ironridge to make its own course, for better or for worse, or we could take this shot at changing things... also for better or for worse."

Maple's brow furrowed. "You heard Shinespark back there. She's afraid. She doesn't know everything that's going on... and neither do we. But she knows someone's planned for everything."

"Indeed. But they may not have planned for us." Gerardo stroked his chin. "For that matter, I'll remind you we're playing behind Shinespark's back here, as well. The odds are... unfortunately high that if we do nothing, she will lose and something terrible will happen. But if we do act, knowing not the outcome, you do realize this will make us solely responsible for the fate of Ironridge? If the game is otherwise decided, and we are the last unplayed piece?"

Maple swallowed. "But if we do nothing and Herman blows up the dam, that would be our fault too, right? Because we could have tried to help and didn't?"

"Well..." Gerardo began to pace. "It's debatable exactly what our help here will accomplish. As intended, we'd merely be assisting your friend and freeing her from an unfortunate fate. However, seeing as one of the sides put her there for a reason, doing so would throw a spanner in the works to their plans... and it is easy to see how such a chaotic creature as Valey could prove disruptive to plans. That may be why she has been captured, in the first place. So, likely what would be accomplished by throwing that switch is that the certain unfavorable outcome would be thrown back into the realm of uncertain... and after that, who can say? Where would we limit our involvement? We're presently out of the game, but how long would it take for our stakes to become intrinsically intertwined with Ironridge's? Need I remind you that we could wait this entire thing out, or even make for the Sky District and attempt to leave the city before everything explodes?"

"I am not walking away," Maple snorted, stomping. "At least not while there's anything we can do. Howe? Let Valey out."

Howe winked. "As you wish! Although... since she'll only have a second or two before the backup systems kick in, perhaps we should call her up right now, just to give her forewarning?"

"Right." Maple paced to a glowing terminal, taking the sound stone in a hoof, and holding it next to the power conduit. In a matter of seconds, it was glowing brightly, the magical flux inside spinning and fully charged.

Scrrrrrkkkkkkk!

"...Maple? Is that..."

Maple held the stone close to her muzzle, speaking as clearly as she could. "The power is about to go out. You'll have maybe two seconds. Be ready to get out."

"...Seconds?"

"Two seconds," Maple repeated. "Be ready."

There was a burst of static that she took for agreement, and she nodded at Howe. "Ready."

The pegasus grasped the lever, straining... and flung it off. Immediately, the pillar of lightning linking the breaker terminal to the contact above died, and the room was plunged into blackness. Maple held her breath, counting her heartbeat... and after eight pulses, a soft amber glow spread throughout the room as the backup power systems came on. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey, we're out!" Valey's voice chirped through the sound stone, crystal clear and no longer distorted by static. "Thanks, Ironflanks. I have no clue what you did, but as long as it makes Herman blow a gasket, I really don't care. Anyway, I need to use the filly's room super bad, and then go stuff my face with fruit, because I skipped dinner and breakfast and now am basically dead. Where can I meet you after that?"

"We're in Copsewood," Maple replied, relief washing over her face as Howe turned the switch back on and the room spun itself to life. "Though we'd rather not stay here for too long."

"Yeah, yeah, I feel that. Copsewood is sort of a depressing dump. Too many angsty unicorns. Did I mention I prefer it in the Stone District? Anyway, I'll come meet you there. Give me, like... ten minutes. There's this house up on the east side of town I totally didn't steal the deed to that may or may not be just as much of a dump as the rest of the place, but nobody should be living there so you can just wait there for me. If there are any squatters, that's illegal, so you can bust them up and not feel bad about it. Or save them for me. Whatever. Anyway, need directions? Here goes..."





"So, Valey has a house in Copsewood?" Maple squinted, standing outside at a street intersection. "And this is it?"

"It certainly appears to be that way," Gerardo remarked. "At least, I'm quite sure we properly followed her directions. Although I wasn't expecting something this, well... ordinary."

"Yeah," Howe agreed, staring at the same squat, brick building that made up the rest of the dusty town. The only difference between it and any other was the presence of a sizable amount of graffiti on one wall, done in green and black spraypaint. "I wonder if the decor is because she owns it, or how she got it in the first place..."

It looked just as lived-in as the rest of the town... which, admittedly, was not at all. Maple ventured carefully closer, Starlight close at her side. "She said the door is barricaded, but there's a way in on the roof..."

Gerardo swooped up. "That she did, and that there is! How fortuitous."

Howe ruffled his wings. "Well? Shall we stand around here, or shall we enter the lair of the fruit-thrower? Personally, all this sun can't be good for my mane..."

Some assistance from Gerardo and Howe later, and all four of them were standing on the roof. A triangular cover sat atop an entrance, presumably to stop the house from getting rained in. Gerardo cleanly lifted it aside, and hopped down through the opening. "Hmm!" His voice rang back out. "This is considerably cleaner than I expected."

Maple and Starlight followed, carefully being lifted down, and Howe replaced the cover after them. The house was indeed austere, with a single light illuminating the lack of furniture save for a desk that was wedged against the door and a small box in the corner. Curiously, Maple paced toward the box.

A note was set on top. "For Ironflanks," she read wryly. "Thanks, Valey. I'll be back soon."

Howe lunged, swiping it from her. "Aha! She's probably seen fit to return my brother's stolen sound stone! May I do the honors?"

At Maple's lack of protest, he flung the top off and away... accompanied by a light snapping sound and a click. A metal orb rolled out onto his wing, and he stared at it in confusion. "Hmm? Whatever have we here? Do any of you recognize-"

BANG!





Starlight's head reeled from the concussive air wave as the thing went off. Howe staggered back, and Maple gasped. "What!?"

Just as blackness began to edge at her vision, Starlight's gaze fell on the remains of the thing, and recognition clicked in her head. It was one of the experimental stun grenades Grenada had been carrying in the tunnels. She involuntarily took a breath, and felt her dizziness redouble as Maple hit the floor beside her. The room had been filled with sedative gas!

Frantically, her brain spun as she felt herself hit the floor too. Gas... breathing... she knew how to deal with that. Her horn lit, struggling to summon a crystal around her mouth and nose. It was unpleasant, but when she was like that, she didn't have to breathe. She heard her aura spark to life... and blacked out, unable to complete the spell.