The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Earth District

WHUDDD!

Three ponies impacted a broad dirt road with a meaty thump, Starlight tumbling like a bowling ball until her momentum finally met its end at the base of a tree. Upside-down, with her spine to the bark and her horn digging into the ground, she groaned and went limp. "Owww..."

Valey was already on her hooves, if shakily so. Wobbling, she picked up her hat with a delirious smile and said, "Hey, that was fun. Who's up for round two?"

"This is why I didn't want to try flying..." Maple whimpered. Growling, she hauled herself one hoof at a time out of the roadside ditch where she landed, wincing and glaring at Valey.

"Woah, hey!" Valey raised her forelegs in self-defense, staggering and catching herself as a result. "You were the one who eventually agreed to my bad idea!"

Maple harrumphed, tending to her ruined mane. "It was your bad idea in the first place."

"Hey, I know my limits," Valey said, shrugging and examining her wings. "I can carry a grown stallion and maintain altitude. A normal mare and a filly shouldn't be too much harder to do at once..." She licked a scrape and brushed some dirt from a fetlock. "Emphasis on normal. You should've warned me that shapely rump of yours weighs as much as a boulder."

Maple's ears folded, and Starlight could tell she didn't have a response. Sliding down the trunk, the filly rolled herself upright, ignored her own wrecked mane, and took advantage of the silence to survey just where they had landed.

In all directions, squat, gnarled trees rose up with thick, twisting trunks and broad canopies, shading out the sun and providing slight relief from the heat. The air felt like a blanket that had been worn slightly too long; having come from the mountains where the air was cool, its warmth was pleasant, but with no way to cast it off Starlight knew it would quickly become oppressive.

The roadway itself was gently sloped, still descending through the foothills, and made of packed dirt that rose nearly as high as her chin off the forest floor, evidently to provide drainage and prevent puddles from forming when it rained. The road twisted such that it wasn't possible to see more than a short distance in either direction, and its width rippled randomly in a series of passes and clearings.

"Welp!" Valey sang, completely recovered. "Welcome to the Earth District, kiddos." She blinked at Maple. "Even though you've been here before. And I'm pretty sure you're older than me. But who cares, let's go annoy some farmers!"

Maple grunted, massaging her sides. "As long as it doesn't involve running. Now I'm cramped, bruised and sore... Where exactly are we going?"

"Mmm..." Valey squinted at the sky. "Our big target is a place called Grand Acorn. It's kinda north-northeast. Not from here, in the Earth District in general. Straight north from here. That's where Dangerous Karma has his headquarters, which is where we need to be if we want to watch him get ticked off by us stealing stuff. But the closest town is Blueleaf, which is right nearby. It's... not exactly the least shady place ever, so hey, it'll probably be fun! Where were you two going, again?"

Maple hesitated. "I think it was called... Gnarlbough? Starlight, that sounds familiar, right?"

"Yup," Starlight answered, in truth having no idea and more focused on preventing her tattered ponytail from itching at her neck. It would have been easier if she used her horn, but that was still sore and resting from the previous evening, too.

"Yeah, that's not too far from Grand Acorn." Valey licked her lips and began trotting downhill. "A little further northwest. Still, that's a lot of walking and you two look kind of dead right now. Let's get to Blueleaf first, and you can snooze a bit while I trash some bozos. Sound good?"

"The further we get from the Stone District, the better," Starlight grunted, flicking her tail and falling into step. "We'll just have to walk this way eventually."

"Agreed!" Maple emphatically nodded, then winced and rubbed her neck. "Ow. I really could have done without that crash landing after overdoing it so badly last night..."

"Hey, no hard feelings." Valey's emerald eyes lit up from beneath her hat. "Although... I think I'm gonna call you Ironflanks from now on. You needed a good nickname, anyway!"

"Hey!"

---

Half an hour into their trek, the road wasn't nearly as peaceful as it had first appeared. They passed a fairly constant stream of outbound traffic, teams of two or sometimes three ponies of all races hauling sturdy wagons filled with crates, barrels, fruit, lumber and all manner of tradeable goods. There were slightly more mares than stallions, Starlight noted - interesting, after the Defense Force and its base being almost exclusively male pegasi.

The ponies they passed kept carefree, yet steadfast and determined expressions, hauling their loads without bothering to speak to or even acknowledge anyone else. Whether because they were too focused on escaping the heat after a long journey or recognized Valey and didn't want to draw her attention, they marched stoically, smelling of sweat under the midday sun.

Starlight was starting to roast. She relished every time the road narrowed, as it provided a broader canopy of shade that was almost enough to make things bearable. Pacing as close to the side of the road as she could already, she frequently drank from the water flasks in her saddlebags, always resisting the urge to lick at her dry lips. Her hooves weren't as sore as they could be, thanks to careful re-application of her horseshoes, but her legs weren't doing her any favors and the heat was only intensifying the residual headache from her overworked horn.

No fruit that she could see hung from the trees, though she wasn't particularly hungry. Mostly, it was nuts... and frequently, nothing at all. She imagined Valey trying to repel a convoy by instructing her guard to throw hard, pointy nuts instead of melons, and quickly wished she hadn't, wincing as if struck herself by a walnut to the ribs.

Eventually, the road straightened, then widened, and the horizon became obscured by a solid wall of brown lumber that might have passed for a building. Starlight stopped, blinking. It was built at such an angle that it looked to be perpetually sagging, was at least three stories high, and had a shadowed gap in the middle through which the road continued. "What is that?"

"It's Blueleaf!" Valey happily shrugged. "Just as lopsided as it was yesterday. Good to see it hasn't suddenly grown an architecture code. My advice? If you see an overhang, stay under it. Helps avoid nasty stuff ponies like to toss out their windows."

Undaunted by the town's appearance, she proceeded, Maple and Starlight warily following.

Comments

[bronyheat]

If a knightly squirrel riding a cat skeleton happens to reside in the Grand Acorn... Well, I guess they'd need a Fluttershy in the group to recruit them. Then again, knowing Valey she'd probably spec into Pet Pal just to extend her ability to annoy every creature.