//------------------------------// // Highly Mobile // Story: The Olden World // by Czar_Yoshi //------------------------------// Starlight paced, half-listening as Gerardo continued to ramble. Eventually, Dior's words registered in her ears: "Gerardo, it looks like you're losing your audience." "Hmm?" Gerardo perked up, and Starlight did too, instantly noticing that Slipstream had curled up with a wing over her face. The griffon blanched. "What's this? I was just in the middle of an exciting tale of treason, woe and-" Slipstream rapidly blinked herself awake. "Oh, no, no, it was great." She shook her head, grinning and trying to look enthralled. "It's just... long past sundown, and stories about bloodlines are..." She yawned, folding her ears back and shivering. "What about stuff the normal citizens in the Griffon Empire do? All these fighting houses are going over my head." Starlight nodded in agreement. Once Gerardo had launched into the history of noble feuds in the empire, she had lost the ability to remember any of their names or even how many there were. All she knew was that if she ever traveled there, it would be bad news to get involved with any sphinxes. "Ah. Erm..." Gerardo drooped. "Well, I find that quite enamoring myself, but I suppose not all minds work alike. But yes, citizen life in the empire! The continent itself extends north from the mountainous wall separating these lands from the Plains of Harmony. There is a pass in those mountains located in the empire, and the grand capitol is positioned not far from it. As the capitol is the center of government and civilization, the population tends to grow sparser the further north one travels." He drummed his talons on the ship's control board, thinking. "Now, the weather is often moderate, which we largely attribute to the goddess Garsheeva's power. But from the mountains pour a vast number of waterfalls, and as such the land is absolutely inundated with rivers suitable for travel and irrigation. With the exception of the mountain base, and the uncivilized northern reaches of the continent, the land is very flat, well-suited for agriculture and even rerouting the rivers wherever is desired. In fact, through mighty feats of engineering from the distant past, the rivers of the empire are tamed and organized to the point where one can travel by boat almost anywhere in the country, going downstream much of the way! This fast, efficient, low-cost long-distance transportation is foundational in many things, and behind Garsheeva is likely the reason why the empire has managed to remain cohesive for thousands of years. It's also part of why the empire was slower than the landlocked nations to embrace airship technology, and relied on contracted Varsidelian ships for quite some time. But, most relevant to your question, the citizenry are able to travel the continent swiftly and for free, and as such society and all its nuances have grown up around the concept of being highly mobile." Slipstream yawned again. "Well, what do you want me to say?" Gerardo squawked, starting to grow flustered. "Nngh... I'm awake..." Slipstream fanned her mouth with a wing. Gerardo blinked owlishly at her, then launched back into narration. "Seeing as the population can travel swiftly and easily, and more than half of them possess wings, economic activities were able to become more centralized, with regions dedicating themselves wholesale to things like production or entertainment as opposed to producing everything at once needed for a functioning..." Slipstream had already fallen back asleep. The floating lights dimmed as the glow softened from Dior's horn. "Gerardo," the dark stallion said, "we've been at this all day. Don't you think it's time to retire?" Gerardo drooped. "I could... tell more tales of our escapades amid the desert sands of Varsidel, during the earlier days of the war..." "Go get some sleep," Dior admonished. "I'll keep the ship on course tonight; I'm used to sleeping unusual shifts. I'll have quite a few days ahead of me to listen to your stories later, and right now I'm the only one who's listening." "...Very well, then." Banishing his disappointment, Gerardo stood up, cracked his joints, and glanced at Slipstream. "I wonder if she would appreciate a better place to sleep than this..." "If she wants to move, she'll move." Dior shrugged. "Good night, Gerardo." There was a brief wind as the door to the deck rolled open, and then Gerardo was gone. "You're still here," Dior mused to Starlight as he took the main pilot's chair, slightly adjusting the ship's course. "I just woke up," Starlight answered. "Me and Maple are probably going to be nocturnal after this." Dior shrugged apologetically. "Well, I hope I didn't send him away when you were enjoying anything. I assumed by your looks you were bored, though." "I don't know what to do," Starlight sighed, hopping up into the vacated copilot's chair and looking out the front windshield. There were trees reaching up to the ship's height now, and they could hit one if they weren't careful. Dior noticed, angling them slightly back upwards. "I'm having a hard time getting used to the idea of nothing that needs to be done, myself. You're the filly Arambai wrote about in his letters, right?" Starlight swallowed. "What did he say about me?" "That you'd had a hard past, and to go out of our ways to be nice to you and Maple beyond anything that was needed to get your help. I saw what you did in the skyport with Herman, though, and something tells me no amount of friendly smiles would convince most ponies to stick their necks out that far for us." He tilted his head. "I'd like to say you remind me of myself and Shinespark as foals, though I'd have to get to know you better for that to be a safe assumption. But you seem... driven." "Yeah." Starlight nodded. "I guess." "Anything I can help with?" Dior asked, glancing aside at her. "After all you've gone through on behalf of us..." Starlight shrugged, rubbing her back against the chair and still holding the book to her chest. "No. I just want to get home to Riverfall." She stared out the windshield at the river below. "How come we're dropping so much? Are you trying to land in the river?" "Eventually, yes," Dior replied. "Arambai brought the ship's levitation mechanism back online, but without any controls or auxiliary propulsion. He installed a propeller in the cargo bay, which can move us forward, but aside from that, we have no control over the ship. If we approach at a high altitude, we won't be able to get down without cutting the power completely and simply falling. So our goal is to stay close to the river, scout it once we arrive, and make our landing there. We could land now, as well, but the current is probably swift from draining the floodwaters and I don't want to risk scratching her hull so soon." "Huh." That made sense. "Her? Does this ship have a name?" "Not yet." Sighing, Dior looked at the dim, unmoving panel of instruments and the dead terminal screen to the side. "We were planning to name her on the maiden voyage, but that came and went without any of us present. And I couldn't do it by myself with Shinespark so close by, but not here for it. I also have no idea what she'll be called. We were thinking the Spirit of Sosa, but after the events in the skyport, that won't have the positive connotation it once did..." Starlight sat, thinking. What would she call an airship? Something noble or inspiring... but she had no idea what that would be. And since she flooded Sosa and broke the ship with her magic surge, it didn't feel like her place to name it. The door rolled open again. "Starlight?" Her ears flicked at the sound of Maple's voice, and she whirled in her chair. The earth pony was there, leaning on Gerardo with a tired glaze in her pink eyes. "Maple!" Gerardo swept his headcrest back. "I ran into her on the stairs to the deck, looking for you. It's fascinating, actually. Most take a week to recover from a bodily slash from my blade, yet somehow, she was walking on her own after a mere two days!" "Barely," Maple panted, looking slightly wary at the proximity of Gerardo's sheathed sword. Starlight was already trotting over to her side. "Were you done with White Chocolate?" "I think she went to bed," Maple replied, leaning down and giving Starlight a nuzzle. "Seems like everyone's doing that," Starlight muttered, letting Maple lean on her instead. "Are you tired, too? Because I just got up, but it's nice just lying there too." "I'm very tired," Maple sighed, suddenly weakening and draping most of her weight on Starlight's back. "But not sleepy. How long until we reach Riverfall?" Gerardo reclaimed the copilot's chair Starlight had abandoned, staring out through the windshield. "Truthfully, I'm not sure. Morning, perhaps? I'd give it several more hours, at least. We could expedite things in an emergency by landing in the river, though that could make for a rough ride." "I got a book from the library," Starlight offered. "We could read it together, if we can find somewhere where no one's sleeping." Maple hummed. "That sounds nice..." Nodding farewell to Gerardo and Dior, Starlight carried Maple out onto the deck, telekinetically rolling the door closed behind her. "We could do it out here," she suggested, glancing over the cabin at the rising moon. The winds weren't too bad, and she could always run down and get her blanket from her saddlebags, which had proven itself against the mountain chill. "That sounds nice too," Maple repeated, murmuring softly. "It might be a little cold, though..." "That's okay." Starlight set her down, pressing the book into her forelimbs. "I'll go get something warm. I'll be right back!"