The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Inspection Begins

With a flash, Selma and Gerardo appeared in a sparsely decorated, if slightly homely lobby surrounded by round wooden tables and a smattering of pegasi nursing thermoses of coffee. "Wait here," the unicorn instructed, stepping back. "This won't take long."

As quickly as they had arrived, Selma vanished, leaving Gerardo blinking and adjusting to the fresher air. He paced to a window, natural light streaming through, and inhaled deeply, stretching his wings while watching to ensure he didn't hit any ponies through his broad wingspan. Between his meetings with Herman and Selma, he had a lot to think about, and then was as good a time to wade through it as any.

Herman was helping, and for that he knew he should be grateful. The tools the yak had offered him would be useful under any circumstances, no matter the intent, and he had already seen them force Selma into a more desperate state. The help was real... and yet he couldn't shake the feeling that it had been too easy. Perhaps he was still unnerved from Herman's bizarre white office, or too much on the lookout for any possible source of things going wrong, but it was as if he had jumped to his aid without so much as questioning Gerardo's own credibility. Was it?

It was entirely possible that Herman was waiting for him to show up; that he knew already what had transpired at the gates of the Water District and had decided on his plan before they ever met. But if so, he would certainly know about the delivery, and not want to wait for a slow, lone griffon to stand a chance of reclaiming it.

Selma had said that Maple and Starlight were no longer in the fortress, after all, which unless he was lying lent credence to the theory that Herman had already acted. But then, assuming he had, and controlled the situation previously... why go to such lengths during their meeting? Surely, granting anyone diplomatic immunity was a colossal risk, as was unrestricted access to a military facility...

His train of thought was interrupted by another flash of magic, Selma depositing Sharpie. "Ah!" Gerardo broke into a polite smile. "It seems you're here."

"And now for your other," the unicorn droned coldly, blinking away once again.

"Before you apologize and explain for what took you so long," Sharpie rapidly said, putting a hoof to Gerardo's beak before he could continue, "listen. Howe is lying about something important and I don't have enough information yet to say for sure what it is but it probably involves the Defense Force and that's why I'm bringing him along and keeping him talking; so I can keep an eye on him. I'll tell you more once we have more time and they won't be back any second, so for now just do your thing and-"

Flash!

Selma reappeared, Howe at his side, and Sharpie stopped talking so fast she didn't even have time to inhale. Gerardo's eyes were wide as he watched the pegasus recover.

"Ho-hooo!" Howe scizzored his wingtips behind his back, stretching cracking his neck. "Teleportation sure is something, huh, brother bird?"

"Yes, it..." Gerardo blinked absentmindedly. "I suppose it is..."

His thoughts weren't on Howe's yammering. In fact, they weren't on Sharpie's explanation-warning either: they had slipped back to Riverfall, to a one-sided conversation he and Arambai had had concerning how to thrive in Ironridge. And one particular piece of advice from that night rose up, haunting his mind...

The next thing to remember is that basically everyone there has a side, and sticks to it like their life depends on it. It's a good idea to be nice to folks and avoid making enemies, but be careful about being too nice, as well. You don't want to get yourself roped into any obligations should things turn messy for whatever reason...

As Howe ran his mouth and Selma prompted him to begin his investigation, Gerardo suddenly realized just how many sides he had already managed to get tangled up in.

---

"I think," Gerardo began, choosing a door at random and pointing to it with a talon, "that this is as good a place to begin as any. Shall we?"

Selma took a single step away from him. "That is a bathroom."

"Oh! Err... well, then..." Glancing around the room, Gerardo sized up the other three exits, two in the back and one that clearly went outside. "Regrettably, I find myself with no idea where to begin."

"It would seem counter-intuitive to your goal to come to me for directions," Selma coolly said, eyes wandering. "Weren't you going to be nosy and look everywhere you weren't supposed to?"

"This is a lobby," Sharpie helpfully interrupted. "A break room, mostly. You'll want to go deeper into the fortress."

"If you're looking for an elevator, consider going right," Selma mentioned, observing Howe with faint curiosity as the pegasus sniffed the underside of a table. "It can take you to most anywhere in my fortress."

Chancing a grin, Gerardo stepped toward the corridor, hoping against the faint possibility that it was a trap. "Well, going most anywhere hardly can hurt, can it?"

Pacing through the corridors and directed by Selma at intersections, the residential aesthetic of the Defense Force base quickly faded, its look changing from that of an office or house to that of a basement and eventually a well-maintained mineshaft. A steady flow of air along the length of the hallway became noticeable, and at one point they passed under a large ceiling grate beyond which a fan with blades bigger than Gerardo himself thrummed ceaselessly.

"We should begin by going up, I feel," Gerardo announced as the elevator drew into sight. "The area where my friends were captured seems a prudent place to search first, and as it was at the top of the district going down seems a counter-intuitive way to reach there."

Selma nodded, touching the control panel with a brief flicker of magic and making no comment as the elevator thrummed to life.

Hissssss! The elevator doors slid seamlessly open with a rush of air, and the three ponies and griffon filed inside. Selma hesitated, making a second adjustment, and they began to rise as the doors slipped closed behind them.

The elevator was cylindrical and made fully of glass, allowing its riders to see the damp blue rock of the Water District whizzing by at impressive speeds. Gerardo's legs buckled from the combined pressure of gravity and acceleration, and it was only with a significant effort that he stopped himself from staggering... though one look to Sharpie and Howe told him they were hardly in a position to care.

"Let me guess," Selma droned as the elevator rose, leaning against its wall as if he were weightless. "Next, you want to find the room where I put them."

"That... was my plan, yes," Gerardo admitted, slightly embarrassed at being so transparent, even if his course of action was obvious for a reason. When conducting a search, it was best to start at the source, after all. All he had to do was find it.

"In that case..." Selma paused for a single second, and that was all it took for the elevator to slow to a jarring stop, granting its passengers the briefest instance of weightlessness before a final spike of pressure to the legs. "Right this way."

The elevator opened into a cavernous storage room, littered with crates stacked like partitions in a maze on a metal-tiled floor. Gerardo swallowed. He was just tall enough to see over all but the largest, and the endless sea that he saw was exactly the kind of place he would choose to hide two unmarked, stolen boxes were the roles reversed. If that was what Selma had done, he was screwed.

"Are you coming, or aren't you?" Sharpie's voice called from behind him, and with a whirl he realized Selma was leading the two pegasi off in a different direction.

"Takin' the old detours, eh, bird-bro?" Howe pumped a wing in support, calling back over his shoulder. "I dig it! Don't forget to write!"

Sputtering, Gerardo flapped his wings, propelling himself forward and instantly catching up.

Comments

[ciradrak]

hm… a chapter with no comments… well.

i don’t trust Selma because he is willing to be mean. i don’t really trust the ones keeping secrets, and that even includes Arambai & Gerardo a little bit. Gerardo seems to be loyal at least (i hope he stays that way.) Slipstream seemed kind and honest so far, Howe is just weird, & Valey… i want her to be good but i can’t tell yet. her professed untrustworthiness is unnerving me. Brightcoil & Sharpie are so involved in trying to do something (which is hopefully good) that they might be insensitive. i was shocked when Sharpie left Brightcoil behind. (i hope she did it to keep Brightcoil safe) But i don’t trust Herman at all… or that pony up in Skyfreeze… Herman & Selma have to be in cahoots. (i think Selma is lying)

[sploopy slooder]

so howe is now not only obnoxious as hell, but untrustworthy..........greaaaat