The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi


Breakfast And Planning

Starlight sat at the edge of her bed, Maple behind her with her hooves wrapped around her, and Amber further back, snoring away. Her ears gently twitched with the harmonic hum of the ship, contentedly warm after being drenched by the rain.

Maple finished fixing her mane for the third time that morning and lay down, taking Starlight with her with a hum and a sigh. "Ohhh..."

"Are you alright?" Starlight murmured. "You're holding kind of tightly."

Maple folded her ears and loosened her grip. "Sorry. I will be. Just not my favorite night in the world."

"It's okay," Starlight insisted. "Me and Valey took care of everything. Crystal is gone, and Gazelle hopefully won't be bothering us again. And I think I made friends with his sister, and she wants to get us out of any trouble from all this."

"Oh, Starlight..." Maple nuzzled her. "You know that's not how it's supposed to work, right? Parents should take care of their children, not the other way around. And all I could do was curl into a ball all night long. I can tell you were using your horn."

"I'm fine! I just did what I could to contribute," Starlight protested, wriggling slightly. "I didn't hurt myself too bad. My horn will be fine in a few days."

Maple kept holding her, but went limper. "And either I didn't do what I could to contribute, or there was nothing I could do. I've watched you training with Valey, but I never thought you would actually go fight someone with her. It's..." She took a deep breath and sighed.

Starlight frowned. "If you're feeling worthless, stop. I love you and need you."

Maple got a shoulder beneath her, smiling regretfully. "No, not worthless. Just normal. And normal mares have houses and friends and settle down and work jobs doing what they love, and... don't fight princes or weigh in in the fate of continents. I remember when you would have sat down and not lifted a hoof against him because you didn't want to be special, and now I don't know how to keep up."

"Oh." Starlight folded her ears, sliding slightly more into Maple's embrace. "I want that too, though. But I had to help Valey. If I didn't, she would have gotten hurt worse, and if she didn't fight either, someone other than either of us would have had to stop Gazelle. Or maybe no one would have, and more ponies would have gotten hurt."

"I know. But I don't know how to get there." Maple sighed. "All I could do last night was hide under my pillow. I should be the one out there keeping you safe and trying to get us to a place where we want to live the rest of our lives, and... it was too much. Ponies were dying, fighting, making critical decisions, Crystal was in labor, and I just... It was more than I could take. I should have been helping so you didn't need to..."

"I didn't do anything during most of that either..." Starlight folded her ears. "I didn't help with Stormhoof, or with Crystal, or with everyone fighting. Maybe I could have frozen everyone, but it sounded like by the time everything started, it was already too late. The only thing I did was go stand watch with Valey and hear when we needed to go fight Gazelle."

"Still, everyone else-"

"Everyone who?" Starlight turned in Maple's grip to face her. "Valey went to Stormhoof because that's what she does. Harshwater and Amber helped Crystal because they've done that before. Everyone else sat around and did nothing too. You're good at other things, like cooking when we're doing the restaurant. You think me or Valey could do a good job with that?"

Maple smiled. "I guess you're right. Still, I wish you didn't need to be the one protecting me."

"That's the world's fault," Starlight firmly decided. "Not yours or mine."

Behind them, Amber loudly snuffled, rubbing her face. "I had better not hear anyone moping..."

Maple turned to check her. "You're awake?"

"Unnngh." Amber tried to remove her messy mane from her eyes. "Because if anyone has a right to complain, it's me. I think I just pulled an all-nighter attending to the world's neediest, grouchiest, most impatient mare for who knows how many hours without breaks. I hope no one would ever think of being jealous of my chance to contribute..."

Maple almost giggled. "You really wouldn't have wanted someone to even take shifts with?"

"Nope." Amber blearily punched her shoulder. "If I had tried to take a nap last night, I would have decided not to wake for anything. And we had it covered. Trust me, Maple. Playing midwife for Crystal was miserable. Glad to spare you of it."

"It was that bad?" Starlight tilted her head. "I heard yelling..."

Amber instantly shushed her. "Yeah, this isn't a talk for fillies. Ugh, thank everything last night is over. However late I slept isn't late enough..."

Maple took another breath and sighed. "It sounds like it is over. After you went to sleep, Gazelle did something and Starlight and Valey had to fight him. Starlight says they beat him badly, so hopefully this is the last we've seen of him."

"Mmph," Amber agreed. "So now what are we doing?"

Starlight coughed. "Flying to Grandbell, I think. We'll decide what to do once we get-"

A soft knock sounded on the door. "Hey, sounds like you guys are awake in there?" Valey's voice called.

"Barely!" Amber groaned in reply.

"Sweet!" Valey slid the door open. "Think this would be the world's most awful time for a meeting? We've got some stuff for everyone to think about."

"Maybe...?" Amber raised an eyebrow. "If it requires brain capacity above ten percent, I'm going to need a big snack and then another two or three hours of sleep at minimum."

Valey rolled her eyes, clad in bandages around her barrel and shoulders. "Yeah, figured that would be the case. Ironflanks, care to help me with room service? Harshwater probably wants the same thing..."

"Yes." Maple rolled herself upright, letting go of Starlight and rising to her hooves. "I would love to help. It's about time I got out of bed and did something for all of you..." She gave Valey a light hug as she passed, mindful of her injuries. "Starlight, are you coming too?"

Starlight blinked, not sure what she was doing as Amber curled back up in the bed. "I... might. I'll catch up?"

Maple nodded, spirits lifted, and trotted away with Valey down the corridor.

Starlight stretched once her mother was gone, following at a more leisurely pace. She felt like looking out a window, more than anything. Or finding a new book. Shinespark's library was heavy on technical treatises and nonfiction, and over the months they had spent voyaging, she had exhausted every single interesting story it had to offer, and too many uninteresting ones. She glanced at Sosa the Explorer's journal, knowing instinctively where it was kept, and stopped in the middle of the library. This was where everyone would have been when Lord Gyre showed up...

"Heavy thoughts?" Glimmer asked, stepping up behind her.

"Oh. Hi," Starlight greeted. "Were you listening?"

"To you talking with Maple? Sort of." Glimmer shrugged. "Just some food for thought I had. You have plentiful money after everything you've done with the restaurant. If you went to the countryside, away from any of the capitols of the Empire, bought a large house, parked this ship and all settled in to live there, how do you think it would go?"

Starlight bit her lip. "Probably about as well as everything else we've tried? If we settle down, the next bad thing is going to sneak up on us and we won't be prepared."

"Sneak up harder than Lord Gyre did?" Glimmer tilted her head. "Half of the Empire's population lives like this. But what would you do if you were living like that and heard your province's lord was doing something bad, and you could go to the capitol to try and make them stop?"

Starlight frowned. "Well, that's not even a what-if. It feels like all the lords are doing bad things all the time! So we'd have to stop them, or else we wouldn't be able to live in peace."

Glimmer nodded. "But do you think they've done anything so bad, the part of the Empire's population that lives like that doesn't exist? If you acted, it could improve your lives and those of many others. But if you didn't, you would likely keep on living where you were."

"So?" Starlight bit her lip. "Where are you going with this?"

"I just felt like pointing something out," Glimmer sighed. "When you said earlier it would be the world's fault if trouble came to you? What about when you come to trouble? There might be consequences either way, but it's still your choice."

Starlight narrowed her eyes. "This is you telling me I shouldn't try to make the world I live in be perfect again, isn't it?"

"When has my message ever been different?" Glimmer shrugged. "Nothing that exists is perfect. A sad truth, but we can learn from it and direct our energies where they will make the most difference. If your aim is to fix everything wrong with the world, you'll exhaust yourself and never find peace. But there is a certain beauty in some days being better than others. Learning to live in a world that is less than absolute is a goal that will bring you a lot more happiness in the end."

"I'm not trying to make a perfect world, though!" Starlight growled. "I don't need every little detail to be perfect! I just want us to stop getting attacked by lords and scientists and be able to be happy in peace!"

"Are you being attacked by them?" Glimmer tilted her head. "Or are you and your friends striking them first because what they're doing is wrong? Who made you leave this ship earlier when you heard Crystal and Gazelle in the storm?"

Starlight winced. "But something bad was obviously happening..."

"It was." Glimmer nodded. "And you intervened. The victim was likely quite grateful. It was still your choice. Not the world's. Not fate."

Starlight wilted.

"The same goes for Valey attacking Stormhoof Keep." Glimmer turned away, heading for the hallway again. "You have the power to make a tremendous difference in the world, and you've been using it for good. But the way you're doing it hasn't been making you happy, has it?"

"I..." Starlight looked down.

"...It's okay." Glimmer returned, walking back and gently hugging her. "Like I said. Just some food for thought."