//------------------------------//
// All Your Friends 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

"Well, that could have gone better," Shinespark sighed, standing and staring at an empty wall.

One day had passed since she talked to Grenada. One day, and when she woke up, Grenada's room was tidy and empty, the mare nowhere to be found.

"...Maybe she'll come back?" Valey shrugged, standing a few paces behind.

Shinespark shook her head. "She's not the only thing that's missing. That prototype Braen armor I used for the pirate ship is gone, too. I left it here because it was a little banged-up after the fight and needed a new helmet, but... no one would take a suit of used armor specially fitted for me for no reason."

Valey nodded. "Well, she... kinda did sound mad at you, yesterday. No offense, but-"

"I deserved it," Shinespark finished, cutting her off. "I know. It's a mess."

"Hey." Valey stepped up beside her and put a wing over her back. "Look, if she's willing to steal something that important to you just to spite you, or whatever..."

"Not to spite me," Shinespark corrected. "To use it. I'm absolutely certain. We have exactly the same body type, so it will fit her perfectly. And Braen is an ideal she cares about which I no longer embody." She was steady for a moment, then accepted the hug. "The same mane, too. If she dyed it and her coat, we could be indistinguishable except for eye color. She probably... wants to do something very lonely and stupid." She looked down. "Just like I did for seven years."

Valey closed her eyes. "That isn't very cool at all. For either of you. Really stinks."

"Feels like I'm losing connections to Ironridge one by one," Shinespark admitted. "And then gaining new ones just so I can lose them again. Soon all I'll have is this ship. I've gone from a traveling last hope to a survivor and refugee, if I hadn't long ago."

Valey rocked her to get her attention, giving her a look. "And me. The rest of our friends are from wherever, but I'm from Ironridge too."

Shinespark chuckled with the tiniest note of enthusiasm behind it. "Well, I'm glad to have you."

"Likewise." Valey stepped back, looking her in the eye. "But you do have the rest of our friends, remember. Not just me. And I've kinda been your go-to pony about this. If it's going to be hard for you, you want to talk to the others as well? Ironflanks probably knows a bit about sister-friendship dynamics. Bananas, Nyala would know all about having an out-of-nowhere sister who would totally do anything for her, but stuff gets awkward whenever they're together and they just don't click like they used to. She could be great for this. And who knows what Birdo's past is filled with?"

"Slipstream and Jamjars, too," Shinespark continued. "And Starlight."

Valey made a face. "Yeah, probably don't go to Jamjars. And I dunno... Starlight might not be thrilled to give advice for how to deal with getting ditched out of the blue by a friend." She shrugged. "Slipstream? Who knows? I could totally go dredge up Grapejuice if you wanted to hang with her, too, though batpony society is probably too weird and I get the feeling that wouldn't go anywhere. Actually, though, Grapejuice might be great at figuring out where she's gone..."

Shinespark trembled, then sighed. "That's... all very good advice. Thank you, Valey." She took two steps, ears drooped. "I think I'll head up to the bridge. I'll be able to talk with you later, right?"

"Fifty-fifty." Valey rolled her shoulders. "I'm gonna head down to the kitchen to pig out on second breakfast, and might be in too much of a food coma after that to do anything but lay around and feel awesome. Unless you wanna lay around too, which is cool. See ya?"

"Later, Valey." Shinespark nodded, trotting slowly off toward the bridge.





"Aha! Our captain pays us a visit!" Gerardo waved lazily, reclining in the pilot's chair with the Immortal Dream's control panel dim behind him. He frowned, seeing Shinespark's somber expression. "Not everything is well, hmm?"

Nyala stood in her usual spot, tethered with a data cable to the ship's terminal. The room's only other occupant was Slipstream, who had fastened a hammock between a bulkhead and the edge of the control panel and appeared to have taken up permanent residence there. The ship's full-time bridge crew, they looked perfectly at ease with each other, and all looked up as one as Shinespark entered.

"Just wandering around. Trying to clear my head." Shinespark sighed, avoiding the copilot's chair and instead sitting on a long, closed supply chest for navigator's tools that served as a good bench. "I messed up with some things, and might need opinions."

"Opinions?" Slipstream was much more at ease with her status as part of the crew after several months of being aboard, and didn't even hesitate to ask. "I don't know what I'd have experience with, but you're welcome to ask."

Shinespark hung her head. "I messed up. With Grenada. She isn't here, and we don't think she's intending to return."

Gerardo winced. "An unfortunate turn of events. I've only loosely been following the situation, but I take it things didn't work out. My condolences."

"Grenada..." Slipstream folded her ears. "She was your half-sister who was with the pirates, right? Who said she had a crush on you?"

"That I fed into by treating her with too much favoritism in Ironridge," Shinespark continued, voice dull. "And didn't tell her about our relation until she had nearly died and we miraculously reunited and she wasn't even sure if that changed how she felt, and then I left her without an answer for a whole month so I could pretend things were the same and I didn't have a question to think about. Her."

"Hmm." Gerardo gave an apologetic frown. "Not an envious situation."

"You think?" Shinespark slumped on the bench, letting her shoulders out from beneath her. "Valey's been trying to help, but I wanted to talk to all my friends. See if you had anything to say." She dryly licked the inside of her mouth. "Not let Valey do all the heavy lifting. I don't know where I'd be without her."

Gerardo shrugged. "Odds are, still with your head in the sand and Grenada waiting on an answer, from what it sounds like." He blinked. "I... erm... may have walked past her room when you were discussing it the other day. You weren't exactly the most subtle."

"So what would you like us to do?" Slipstream tilted her head. "It sounds like everything's already happened that's going to happen, so now you're trying to deal with it and not feel bad about things?"

"Mhm." Shinespark nodded into her forelegs.

Slipstream bit her lip. "I was always that mare in school who enjoyed relationship drama. I have a lot of experience consoling others, but not when it's serious. All that was just for fun. I wouldn't want to mess up..."

"Couldn't complain about one mess-up earning another," Shinespark sighed, sitting back upright. "You have anything worth trying anyway?"

Slipstream folded her ears and turned a little pink. "Mostly a lot of tear-fueled rebound relationships that don't actually work..."

"That doesn't sound like a very good idea," Nyala remarked from the corner.

"Thank you for that." Gerardo nodded at her. "There are truths that are so obvious they should never be said, and then there are ones even more obvious that must be said at every turn! Regardless, if everyone is dry on ideas, I may have a story that could prove relevant, if you'd care to listen?"

Shinespark nodded, settling into a more comfortable position. "That sounds like something I'd like to do."

"Brilliant." Gerardo looked pleased with himself, folding his hind legs. "This is a tale from my days in Varsidel, venturing alongside a rather true companion named Winsom. Winsom was a llama, and by that I mean he was actually a camel but I took a vow one day to eternally refer to him as a llama because it annoyed him. We traveled together, Winsom and I, and one day we received tale of a mysterious northern ruin beset by plundering bandits..."