The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Small Wager

The lighting of Blueleaf's Level Three didn't change much as time progressed, even after nearly an hour of walking. Maple stumped along in the perpetual gray twilight, telling herself she wasn't that tired and trying not to think about how badly her legs would hurt the next day. The pony population around her served as impetus for her walk, some obviously displaced who clung to the shadows or sat in a daze, looking lost, and others level natives who moved in groups, watched each others' shoulders, and kept a constant air of tension and unease. If she was uncomfortable... what Redshift had described was worse.

"There's a staircase," Starlight observed from Valey's back, the batpony only marginally in the lead. "We can go up a floor."

"Nah." Valey shrugged as she walked. "I told you, I like it here."

Maple sucked in a humid breath. "I think we're more concerned about covering horizontal distance. Right?"

"Pretty much," Valey replied, looking straight ahead. "This city's kind of big. Not too big, but big enough that when you've got nothing but windey roads, it's hard to make progress. I wish you weren't so fat, so we could fly there. The generator's an obvious landmark and easy to see from the sky."

"So it's on the top level, then?" Maple asked.

"It's a tower." Valey kicked a discarded can off a bridge as they crossed, pausing to watch it fall. "All the way from the ground up, and below ground too. Something to do with the way mana stuff works. I know a bit of the basics, but I'm not an engineer. All I do is stay ahead of politicians and bureaucrats, and fight stuff for a living."

Starlight frowned. "So how do you know we're heading in the right direction?"

"Easy!" Valey straightened her hat and flashed a grin. "If we weren't, that kid who socked you in the bar would come out and be all 'Hah, you aren't going there after all, I told you so!'"

Maple's ears fell flat against her head. "She's still following us?" she murmured.

"And she's good at it, too." Valey eyed a passing crevice, far too dark to see inside. "We ditched her for a minute or so at the start, and she caught up. Makes me wonder if she's got a brand in tracking. Either that, or she knows this place so well she can automatically tell which way an outsider would go. Probably has a bunch of friends lurking around and being spies, too."

"How can you tell where she is, anyway?" Maple asked, taking a short stride so they were walking side-by-side. "That's the third time you've said that, I think."

"Eh. I told you, it's her smell." Valey licked her lips. "Well... not hers, but the one she has. Let's be generous and call it... intense dislike. So long as she's close enough and no other ponies smell that way, easy peasy."

Maple could have replied, but held her tongue, suddenly intensely focused on a twinge building up in her right foreleg. "I have to stop," she said instantly, pulling to a halt and holding the leg limply. "I think I'm about to cramp a whole lot worse..."

Valey sniffed, but didn't keep going. "Wow, you two are really out of shape," she eventually remarked as Maple sat, relaxed, waiting for her muscles not to feel on the verge of inventing a whole new class of knot to tie themselves into. "It's still like, uhh... six miles from here to Grand Acorn. I mean, I do stuff like this every day, but if you can't even manage this much you're toast."

"She was walking for ten hours yesterday," Starlight grumbled in Maple's defense. It was probably accurate, at that. "And carrying a heavy crate up a mountain for most of it. That's not being out of shape."

"Says the filly I've been carrying." Valey stuck her tongue out. "Nyaa. It's a shame, too. If her fat rear didn't weigh so much, I could fly us there in seconds."

"Valey!" Maple simultaneously blushed and frowned. "Would you stop? Really..."

"She's not fat," Starlight added. "Her cutie mark makes her weigh more."

"Is that a fact?" Valey asked, grin widening. "I guess Ironflanks is a better name than I thought!"

"Please don't..." Maple sighed. "Look, I know I'm not an athlete, and I know why it's important that we hurry. I just... nngh..." Growling, she looked at her hooves. "I guess this is what I wanted, isn't it? The chance to do something bigger than myself, or Riverfall? Something like helping this place. So I guess I really don't have a right to be tired or..." She narrowed her eyes at Valey's expression. "What?"

Valey whistled. "That place, huh?" she said quietly. "I knew there was a reason you looked so offended by that old stallion back at the bar."

"Ah!" Maple pulled back, stricken. Atop Valey's back, Starlight was gritting her teeth. "I-I didn't say..." she panted, chest beginning to heave.

"Can it, can it, can it." Valey put a gentle hoof to her muzzle. "I was pretty sure already, am not going to do anything about it, and we're in public so freaking out is a great way to draw attention to yourself and maybe let something slip to ponies who weren't listening then but definitely are now."

"I... I..." Maple's eyes slowly returned to normal, along with her breaths. "You're right..."

"Ponies like her." With a nod, Valey deposited Starlight and zipped upward, punching a shadowed overhang and causing it to rattle... and dislodge an angry, red filly.

Redshift tumbled to the ground and landed on her hooves, bristling like a cat. "Hey!"

Valey shrugged. "What? You were stalking us; it's your fault if you get caught."

"You're still following us?" Maple asked, eyes going back to wide. "After all that? Really?"

As she spoke, Valey made a show of sinking into the shadows, saluting as her head passed through the floor. Starlight stared dubiously at her. Redshift glared, then smirked. "I don't want anything to do with you. I'm just here to watch the Spirit beat you up."

Valey's eyes and nose remained at the surface. "That's cute," she mumbled around the floor. "They're really gonna do that? I wouldn't want to get my hopes up for nothing..."

"Yes." Redshift stepped forward victoriously, her short mane waving slightly as she shook her head. "I waited to talk to Neon after the message, so I could tell him a yak commander was here for them to take down, but he already knew! I heard him talking to someone with magic. He said he'd been watching for you, and that Braen was coming to back him up, so there!"

Effortlessly outdoing the filly's confidence, Valey swam forward, causing her to waver. "You must have a pretty high opinion of these loons to think they'll be a-okay with you spoiling their trap like that," she said with a shark-like grin, extending a hoof and booping the petrified Redshift's nose.

All of two seconds passed, and Redshift spat out a laugh. "You could set a trap for them and they'd still win! Braen is invincible, and you're just a dirty bat!"

"So that's why you're following us, then?" Valey quickly asked, adopting a perfect poker face. "To watch us fight?"

Redshift didn't suspect a thing. "Yes. And don't you try and stop me!"

Maple watched warily as Valey continued, Starlight by her side. "In that case..." Valey's mouth was stable, but her emerald eyes were gleaming. "Care to make a wager on the outcome?"

"A bet?" Redshift stood a little taller. "Anything."

"Fine!" Valey broke into a smirk. "Name your terms."

Redshift's eyes hardened. "If you lose, you have to stop working for the Defense Force, punch Herman and Dior and the whole Sky District council in the faces, and then leave Ironridge forever and never come back. Ever."

Teasingly, Valey hovered with her face so close to the filly that Redshift couldn't even see her grin. "If I lose as hard as you think I will, I'll hardly be able to do all that, now, will I?" she breathed predatorially. "Let's change this around a bit. I win if I wipe the walls with Braen and everything your team has to throw at me. You win if I lay a hoof on them doing it. Better?"

"Valey..." Maple held out a hesitant hoof. "Are you sure that's a good idea? What if-"

"Deal," Redshift interrupted. "Now what do you want if you win?"

Valey hesitated. Her eyes flickered to where Maple and Starlight were standing... and her face lit up. "If I win, you have to kiss Starlight."

"Hey!" Maple ferociously stepped between Starlight and Valey, watching the batpony's mischievous expression. She registered that Valey had used Starlight's real name, but couldn't point it out without distracting from the main issue... which was something Valey had probably calculated. Devious. "You will not," she insisted. "That's hardly a fair thing to gamble with!"

"Meh." Valey shrugged. "You think this bet is serious? She's got no way of making me hold up my end if I accidentally land a few headbutts, and when I win, the look on her face will be reward enough."

Maple opened her mouth to admonish her further... but Redshift beat her to it. "Still deal," she insisted, holding out a hoof.

Valey bumped it. "There we go," she belched. "Fun times ahead."

With a sigh, Maple relented. "Well, I guess that's that..."

Behind her, Starlight was silent.

"...So," Valey eventually said. "Since apparently they're coming to me... they are, right? I guess I'll just keep doing what I was doing until they get here! You're good to go, right, Ironflanks?"

"I guess," Maple admitted. "Let's take it slow, please?"

"Right." Valey nodded at Redshift. "As I've told you a billion times, I'm going to take a look at your generator, which is apparently what you've been wanting all this time? Dunno why you're even at my throat over this. Seriously. Anyway, tag along or whatever, and try not to have any panic attacks because it'll be really awkward for you to root for someone to get beaten up while you're riding their back. Cool with you?"

"Fine," Redshift snorted.

With several sighs and no further objections, the four ponies trotted further into Blueleaf, afternoon shadows shifting around them.

Comments

[Hap]

[bronyheat]

Valey's got wallhacks enabled, but the stolen sword might be shadow magic too now that I think about it... Well I guess if she loses this bet that's one way to get her to join the party and leave town.

[Venlinelle]

Valey hesitated. Her eyes flickered to where Maple and Starlight were standing... and her face lit up. "If I win, you have to kiss Starlight."

Sometimes it becomes incredibly and hilariously obvious that Valey is arguably eight years old.