The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi


A Promise Upheld

Valey stood in the showering storm rain, having moved to firmer ground at the top of the nearest hill. She was caked in mud, stained all the way through with red, and Starlight followed her with a bitten lip and concern in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Ow. Yeah." Valey gingerly lifted her wings, letting the rain clean her. "I'm roughed up, but nothing major. Thanks for the help, kiddo."

Starlight frowned back at the valley where Gazelle had been defeated. "You're welcome."

Valey stretched and winced. "That guy was tough. Pretty sure I could have won alone, but it would have taken a lot longer and hurt a lot more. You probably saved me another healing potion, at least."

"My brother is strong," Gwendolyn admitted, padding up behind in her rain-soaked dress.

"So what just happened back there?" Valey turned to look at her, the mud slowly washing away. "You know stuff about that dragon thing?"

Princess Lyn nodded. "Her name is Aegis. I don't know what she is or where she came from, but she's related to the Empire's divine seer. I asked her for help."

Starlight blinked. "A divine seer?"

Lyn's eyes widened slightly, and she quickly shook her head. "That's not for me to talk about."

"Yeah, fair enough." Valey started washing mud from her less-wounded areas, her mane visibly green again. "Look, what about you? Are you okay? Sorry for beating up your brother, but, like..."

"He deserved it?" Lyn looked sadly at the ground, mane dripping in the rain. "I officially pardon you from any charges he might press." She gritted her teeth.

Valey shifted around, holding her good side's wing over the princess's head, though it didn't save her dress from being soaked clean against her coat. "Not to be ungrateful, but you're clearly not thrilled."

"My apologies." Lyn straightened her shoulders. "I shouldn't be losing composure in front of guests or strangers. My brother will take responsibility for his actions. You needn't worry yourselves over my empire's affairs."

Valey curled her lip, wincing again as she tried to wash the claw marks on her shoulders, side and belly. "Ow. Cool. Not worried. Ow..."

Starlight tilted her head at the other filly. She was obviously upset. They had just beaten up Gazelle, and she was pointedly not upset at them, so that only left... "Gazelle hasn't always been doing things like this, has he?"

A tiny chip cracked off from Lyn's mask, and her ears creased uncomfortably, water trailing from her mane. "He slowly got worse over the last few years," she finally said. "After our parents died six years ago, all the province lords started fighting, taking sides and trying to go behind each other for influence. I was just old enough at the time to understand what had happened. With no one ruling the Empire at the top, there was a power vacuum, and no one to make them behave. Gazelle and I both hated it. We made a promise to each other that when we grew up and became rulers ourselves, we would fix that and put everything back the way it was."

Starlight's ears fell. "And he broke that promise?"

"No, he kept it." Lyn stared at the horizon, eyes wide. "For a while, we couldn't do anything. Everyone gave us lip service, but no power. Then, about a year after our parents died, Meltdown appeared. Her brand is incredibly strong, and she was somehow in charge of the Empire's power grid despite being young herself. She made friends with Gazelle, and we learned to abuse her station and privileges to gain influence. I enjoyed having some power over my empire, but it gave us... especially Gazelle the idea that we could take over the Griffon Empire the old-fashioned way. Instead of waiting for ceremonies and me to marry and become the empress, we could conquer the other provinces and force their lords to behave. It made so much sense at the time. They started fighting because our parents were no longer ruling them, right?"

"And then?" Valey gently prodded.

"My brother and Meltdown were good at it," Lyn continued. "I was okay. For a while, we dreamed and brainstormed, talking about what we would do when my brother got a house and which one it would probably be. Eventually, hope got old in favor of reality, which was that he was probably going to get Izvaldi instead of a powerful one like Stormhoof or Everlaste. And then reality got old when we remembered we were trying to change the way things were, and didn't have to live with that... My brother and Meltdown got more and more ambitious. He took our promise seriously, to unify the Griffon Empire by force and bring things back to the old days. But as the years passed and we got older and more ambitious, he got... meaner."

"Like he is now?" Valey stopped washing herself.

Lyn looked away. "First he thought the sarosian pirates were a danger, and something he wanted to get rid of in the empire we were building. Then he thought they were a tool, and we could get rid of them in ways that would help more, or that would hurt enemies we needed to weaken. Now he thinks killing them is a sport. First we daydreamed about what he could do with any house. Then we played strategy games about which house would be better. Now he's killing all of them to get the one that would be best... or trying to, at least. You see? His goals have never changed. But month by month, he gets more like the lords we were planning to contain. He's been worse than them for almost a year, in fact. And as of tonight, he doesn't even listen to me anymore."

"Wow." Valey's face fell. "That's... Bananas."

Starlight bit her lip. "So he doesn't even realize he's being what he was fighting against?"

Gwendolyn winced. "I don't know. I do know the old Gazelle would have wanted you to stop him tonight, too."

"That's why you came to Stormhoof." Valey nodded in understanding. "Holding up your end of that bargain?"

"Keeping our promise." Lyn's tail curled around her paws. "That's what I was doing."

"Bananas." Valey rubbed more mud from her tail, eventually dropping it with a sigh. "Makes me feel kinda sorry for the dude. And happier I punched him. Do you know why he, like... went insane?"

Lyn averted her eyes. "No. I have a lot of ideas. I don't like any of them. Maybe Meltdown had something to do with it. Maybe our parents were special and most sphinxes are the same, and he just grew up. It couldn't have been his strength of character. Even when he was falling, he kept his goals. Years ago, when our parents died, he was the kindest big brother I knew. Or maybe that day just broke him, and he's been falling apart ever since..."

"...Hey." Valey took a breath, glancing over her shoulder at the nearby compound. "You wanna lift back to Grandbell? Or at least to come hang out on our ship for a while? The cold's starting to get to me, and I'd rather rest up there than hang out with Crystal and Chauncey's former goons. They're having a really bad day up there."

Lyn nodded. "That would be acceptable. Thank you."

Valey straightened her back, leading the way across a hill to where the Immortal Dream lay. The moment they reached the deck, Shinespark poked her head out from the bridge. "I'm glad I checked to make sure everyone was aboard before leaving! Where were you!?"

"Taking care of business!" Valey called back, forced to yell to be heard above the rain. "I'll tell you about it once we're in the air, but right now we need some towels!"

Shinespark's eyes widened at the bloody gashes along Valey's side. "What happened...!?"

"We fought Gazelle," Starlight answered, horn sparking faintly. "He deserved it."

Shinespark watched them with an open jaw before whisking them down and into the ship. The three were soon standing in the library, stacks of towels floating and sitting nearby.

Valey thankfully grabbed one, using it to bind her barrel like a bandage before taking another to her face. "Any chance we can lift off, Sparky? I really don't wanna be around here any longer than we have to."

Shinespark frowned. "We're ready to go, but are going to have to make some decisions. Between our trip to Mistvale and back, the energy Maple spent on Starlight and that monk, and pushing the ship to get Crystal here quickly, we're... starting to run low on harmonic fire. We have enough to make it back to Ironridge for sure right now, but the longer we stay in the Empire the more likely we are to run out on the way back to refuel. I don't think it's urgent, and we have a few more flights before we have to make the decision for sure, but we should keep it in mind before doing anything frivolous."

"Noted. Ow." Valey nodded, blotting at her shoulders. "Set a course for Grandbell, then? At the very least, we owe it to the princess to give her a ride home. And after that, we'll figure out what we do next."

"Right." Shinespark straightened up. "Everyone else is asleep, so Valey, follow me to the bridge if you want me to dress your wounds while we fly. Will you girls be alright down here by yourselves?" She glanced at the dripping Starlight and Lyn in concern.

"We will," Starlight promised, nodding at the sphinx. "I'll get her anything she needs."

"Cool," Valey groaned, getting up to follow Shinespark back up to the bridge.