//------------------------------// // All Out Of Options // Story: The Olden World // by Czar_Yoshi //------------------------------// Jamjars stared at Shinespark as she left with a mixed look of confusion and frustration. "Hey! Get back here!" "Well, she's snapped," Harshwater sighed. "Not that it wasn't obvious already, but I know my broken ponies." "Strictly speaking, she did have a point," Gerardo admitted, getting to his feet. "As much as you've been able to do, even if all your assumptions work in our favor, we are still missing a great many pieces of the puzzle. For one, Starlight is indisposed rather than in a position to help us. Even if she does possess Valey's cutie mark, how exactly are we supposed to get it? I have a feeling placing that entire sword in the pendant wouldn't be optimal." Jamjars gave him a hard look. "If you have a better idea, you can speak up at any time." "Where's Saffron?" Amber asked, sitting with a leg around Valey's shoulders. "If we've got no way around being caught, she could be the best diplomat we'll have." "Sleeping off her injuries," Harshwater replied. " I can wake her..." "Do that," Gerardo commanded. "And check on Meltdown and Gazelle. If a meeting is to be inevitable, we need our best diplomats front and center, and those with less skill hopefully off the stage." Amber winced. "I hate to say this, but you know that means you, right? At times, you can be..." Gerardo's headcrest fell. "I regret it, but can't deny it. Such is the price I pay for mostly being an adventurer who lives on the edges of civilization. But now is hardly the time to debate my social skills." "Agreed," Felicity said, keeping her head up yet unable to hide the exhaustion in her eyes after two long flights and an evening of masquerading. "Personally, I think I'm at the point where I'd trust this princess over any griffons who warn us about her, but putting on a good face may well be the difference between life and death." Harshwater wandered up the stairs. "I'll get Saffron and see what she says..." "And this ship has Princess Celestia's attention?" Saffron wiped her unbrushed mane, blearily blinking sleep from her eyes. "Well, not much good in trying to hide from it. I'd greet her with your best face and see what she says." Felicity glanced at Harshwater. "See? That's what I said." "How likely is she to..." Amber tapped her hooves together. "Incinerate us?" Saffron tried to shrug. "That's real hard to say. On the one hoof, she's a fair and just ruler. Sometimes the nobles under her don't know what they're doing, but the land is mostly peaceful, and not because she rules with an iron hoof. On the other, the border region... Well, I don't know a whole lot about it. I just got my writ and crossed. Keeping out so many creatures so strictly doesn't quite line up with the public image of her, and it's not even public knowledge there's such a big world up there. So maybe she's got secret reasons for not wanting you here? At the very least, she'd probably be nice enough to take you back north peacefully... though Garsheeva falling to an evil monster is hardly an everyday occurrence up north. So maybe she'll have a change of heart if you ask for asylum?" Harshwater nodded. "The border is secured from the south, not from the north. It's the Equestrians keeping us out, and not the other way around." "Yep." Saffron nodded. "All the old lore I've heard says it was the Princess herself who raised the mountains, a thousand years ago. Whatever the case, it's her who wants you out in the first place. Who knows if she'll have a change of heart?" "But even if she wants us gone, she'll likely be kind?" Felicity turned to the others. Saffron glanced over to Meltdown and Gazelle. "She certainly won't incinerate the boat with Equestrian citizens or foreign royalty on board, if that's what you're worried about. Maybe give me a hoof up on deck, and carry them too?" "That sounds like a plan. Valey, help me out!" Amber gave Meltdown her shoulder, the gray mare getting to her hooves and following with a worried expression. Valey's shell looked blankly at Amber, then copied her motion next to Felicity, offering a shoulder. Felicity blushed, unsure how to respond. "Ah... no, darling," she said, patting the shell's chitinous head. "Help Saffron there, not me. I have no idea whether this is sweet or disturbing..." "She's still in there," Amber said with a shrug. "I keep saying it and no one believes me. It's not empty and it's not dead." From the hallway, Nyala watched with a sigh. "Sorry..." Amber apologized with folded ears as she passed by. "I know our Valey and your original Valey were different ponies, and it's hard for us to keep talking about bringing just the one back..." "You're fighting for who you believe in." Nyala shook her head, looking down. "She didn't believe in herself, though, remember? She worried so much that she shouldn't exist, or was a monster. Are you even sure she'd want you to bring her back, if she was here right now?" "This isn't the time for that conversation, I'm afraid." Felicity walked through herself, too shaky on her hooves to carry anyone. "Frankly, I don't blame anyone here for being in a terrible headspace, though you really will want to get that looked at. If someone didn't want to be brought back from a fate like Valey's, it would be on us to change their views rather than to respect them. And perhaps I say that with a little bit of bias, but when we're in as bad of a situation as we are, I think I'm at least entitled to my views." Meltdown sat on the deck next to Amber, who shared a shoulder with Valey and her with the cast-wearing Saffron. Felicity and Harshwater both sat alone, the latter still wary of batponies and the former happy to stand on her own. Jamjars lurked in the door to the bridge with a frustrated frown, and Grenada sat behind her, the lone representative of Ironridge while Shinespark was out. Maple was bedridden and Gerardo was below, Howe and Neon Nova having happily bowed out. The only pony left was Slipstream, sitting in the entrance to the stairwell and fighting off the fatigue of days of travel. Everyone stared at the mountains, watching the north. Eventually, a streak of light appeared on the horizon, aiming directly for them. A few tails flicked, accompanied by turning heads and twitching ears, and Jamjars fidgeted, both Writs of Harmonic Sanction tucked inside her mane. It traveled in seconds, resolving into a single pony that was big enough to see at a distance, accompanied by neither guard nor chariot. Princess Celestia flew with a wingspan more than twice that of any pegasus, her mane trailing pink and green and teal behind her in a pastel rainbow, and she glittered with armor of gold. She circled the ship once, the air shimmering as she swept her cone of heat over the hills and rivers that surrounded it. "Hello up there!" Amber called, waving, finally cracking from the tension. Princess Celestia stopped, spreading her wings and hovering closer over the deck. Slowly, she descended, until her hooves touched the wood with four metallic clinks. Her eyes surveyed them, wary. Her horn continued glowing. And eventually... "Saffron Sunflower. Meltdown." Her aura went out. "You are refugees, then, from the Griffon Empire." She moved her eyes to Saffron's cast, and looked at each pony in turn. "Exhausted and injured. As I feared." "Your Majesty." Saffron bowed low. "You know my name?" Celestia shook her head. "I make it my business to know all who are authorized to cross my borders. Yet so many of you here are unknown to me. Whether or not you hail from the north, do not be afraid. You do not look like allies of the children of the Forest King. You will be safe here."