The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

I Remember

The rain continued its steady gray rush against the roof of Redshift's house, providing a peaceful backdrop that served to remind Starlight how glad she was to be indoors and off her hooves. Thinking back to Riverfall, she wasn't sure if Maple had a particular aversion to rain, but the mere scent of it reminded her of when she had been caught out in the mountains; her subsequent scramble for cover and week spent recuperating from catching cold. It wasn't traumatic, at least... but it left her with a healthy respect for the elements and a shiver in her spine.

Fortunately, she had cover, and not just the meager roof of a drafty cave but a mansion in the sky, with a warm robe and Maple's warmer body at her side. The ponies around her weren't overtly hostile and seemed to be doing their best to be accommodating, and much as she agreed with Redshift about the unfairness of having so much when the city below went empty-hooved, she knew better than to complain. She knew her limits, and the rest was sorely appreciated.

So, laying on a couch under high vaulted ceilings trimmed in dull reds and golds, she made the most of their hospitality, keeping her legs off the ground and her ears tuned to the gentle sound of Elise's voice. "I was living in Blueleaf," the small mare narrated, "at fifteen, and supporting myself, my friend, and my newborn brother..."

---

"For months after he was born, we went on like that, me living in disguise and doing what I could to support my new family. It wasn't as hard as it would have been now, of course. Times were still plentiful. Food was cheap, there were no lighting crises, the streets weren't yet filled with ponies who had fallen from the Stone District. There were fewer desperate enough to turn to criminal acts to get by, and the ponies who stood on corners and preached doom had only politics to talk about, instead of where they would find light for the night. But it wasn't easy, either."

Elise sat still on her couch, mane flowing around her, filling the orange-lit room with presence despite her small size. "It lasted for half a year, or maybe more. Sosa was stalled during that time, unable to do anything important at all. Arambai kept his scientists working on theoretical improvements to Project Aslan, though they never built or tested anything. Mobius did what he could to block him, while defending himself from accusations that he had had something to do with the crash. He was a naysayer, after all, who had disappeared hours before it happened. I had given up on my ambitions of becoming chief, or uniting my siblings, or doing anything except surviving until my name passed out of legend. And then... I found another."

Starlight stared attentively as Elise continued talking. "She was another young mother with a newborn. She had just arrived in Ironridge, I learned, and knew nothing of our city's situation... but her foal was in the exact same place as I was, another of Mobius' abandoned children."

"Hold on," Maple interrupted, "aren't you going to tell us their names?"

Elise blinked, as if having been asked the most obvious question in the world. "Oh... of course. Fernand's mother is Pearl. This new pegasus was called Matryona." She cleared her throat and continued. "When I found out why she was here, I brought her home and told her everything, and how it would be both so easy and so hard to take Mobius' job from him. But first, I listened to everything she had to say..."

She paused, recollecting. "She told me she had been a dancer, once, in a traveling troupe of performers who had come to Ironridge for that fateful launch nearly a year ago. That very night, even, was when the two of them had their stand... That was where he was, even, when the crash occurred. Her troupe left on a boat the very next day, before she even got to see him again, because there was no longer anything to celebrate in Ironridge."

Sighing bitterly, Elise sipped from the tea set with a graceful swallow. "It wasn't until she was all the way back to civilization, at the northern ends of the world, that she learned he had left her a foal. That would cost her her job, and perhaps even more. She set her sights on returning to Ironridge at all costs, not because she wanted power or prestige but because she wanted someone to take care of her. That had always been her dream, she told me."

Another sip. "She didn't know about his reputation, of course; that he never wanted children or committed relationships. She couldn't have. And when I told her what had happened to me; what was in store for anyone hoping Mobius would recognize them... it broke her. She laid on my floor and cried for an entire day, to the point where Pearl had to take care of her foal. She had worked so hard to get here, and to find that..."

"How did she make it back?" Maple asked, sitting warmly in her robe.

"In those days, the world's more ambitious ponies were starting to realize that Ironridge wasn't going to put itself fully behind making airships a mass reality, and decided to create their own," Elise answered. "They were amateur, unsafe and understaffed, but they existed. Matryona..." She refilled her teacup as she talked, kettle held gently in her aura.

"She rode in on such a ship. The captain had landed in the wilderness and was digging a mana well to recharge his power core, when she found him. She had grown desperate enough to attempt to fly to Ironridge using nothing but her own wings..." Elise squeezed her eyes shut. "A journey the strongest endurance fliers undertake in teams to challenge themselves... and she was alone, without any sort of practice or training, and carrying a full-term foal. It was a miracle she encountered him, and that he took pity on her, because otherwise she would have likely died. Yet, still, she tried it. That's how badly she wanted to make it back." She paused briefly, and swallowed. "Her foal was born on the way, on board that ship."

Maple's eyes widened, harkening back to the description on a certain statue at the gates of the Sky District museum. "Wait... so her foal was Shinespark?"

"Correct!" Elise beamed, then turned somber once again. "Now, as I was saying... after everything Matryona had risked to get here... learning about Mobius and I ruined her. And seeing her like that, part of the family I had given up on looking for... it pushed me to get back on my hooves, start taking risks, and use what influence I had to do something, if not for Ironridge then for my family. So I comforted her as best as I was able, and the very next day, all five of us set out and went to Sosa. It was the first time I had been there in nearly a year..."

Around the room, the twins lounged boredly to either side of Elise. Redshift sat attentively beside her, and Fernand lurked dutifully in the background. The rain continued its hammering outside.

"We didn't go to Mobius," Elise continued. "Instead, we went to Arambai. I knew that almost whatever we did, we would need his support, because without some kind of leverage we couldn't do anything. All I had was a claim, and if ponies backed me not because of who I was, but who I wasn't... that would only lead to disaster. The next few days..."

She smiled softly. "It's far easier to tell how it ended than everything that happened, but it made me wish I had asked that stallion for help long ago. He found a way to use Matryona and my stories to save my father from the accusations that he had been responsible for the crash, then publicly changed his stance on the airship program to agree with him. It left a lot of ponies worried and scared, feeling their champion had abandoned them, but also brought Sosa back together enough to function again. It was the most self-sacrificing attempt to unify so many ponies I've ever seen."

Her face clouded with guilt. "As for whether it was the right decision... Ironridge now has no airships, is all but ruled by Yakyakistan, suffers from worse division than ever before, and Arambai vanished nearly a decade ago. But I know beyond a shadow of a doubt it was made with the interests of every pony in this city at heart. And he helped me, too."

The table glowed again as her horn came back to life, the rest of the room darkening in contrast. She chose three pieces of teaware for props once again, and began. "Pearl and Fernand had never put themselves in the spotlight like I had," she explained, maneuvering a plate and small saucer to one corner. "All they needed was money to live off of, and a way to stay off the stage. I left them all of my money. I wanted to see to their safety myself."

Another set of moved to the center. "Matryona and Shinespark, he promised to personally take care of as long as he was able. And myself...?"

The last, lone teacup flew off the table and vanished into a shadowed corner of the room. Elise watched it go, eyes growing slightly wet. "The best gift he could give me, he told me, was to leave. A ride on a boat out of Ironridge, a one-way ticket to a world where I didn't have to bear any of the burdens of such a fracturing city and could live out the rest of my childhood in peace."

Her head turned down. "When the world is a mess, and those of us who are adults fail to leave it intact for the next generation... it falls to the young to grow up fast and fix it for themselves, or fight for what they believe in. I almost did. I started to, but escaped instead. But there are influential ponies in Ironridge now who did start their careers that young, or younger... Chancellor Dior. Shinespark herself. A Defense Force commander in the Stone District called Valey. I don't envy any of them. Times are tragic when ponies need to take up a cause that early and defend it with their lives..."

Again, the table returned to normal, and she gave a deep sigh. "I left, and I didn't look back. For a long decade, I made a way for myself in the outside world, became well off, and watched as technology was pushed along by individual ponies working together because Ironridge wouldn't. I saw other governments with their own petty squabbles, and never got involved because I once again had nothing to fight for. Eventually, I found love, and my husband, and had Redshift. And one day..."

She sagged slightly, leaning forward with her shoulders pushing up against her back. "I learned that Ironridge was building a skyport. I wondered if my hometown had finally decided to lead the world like it should have been capable of... so I took my family and boarded a ship home to find out."

Wryly, she continued, "I didn't find anything of the sort. Arambai had recently vanished. Sosa's government had all but dissolved. Mobius was still there, but his sway had never fully recovered after the crash. There was a new chief, Dorable, who I knew nothing about. Instead, there was something called an economic council, made up of representatives from companies from other nations."

"They shifted power from Sosa to the Sky District," Maple breathed. "Yeah. We heard."

"Then you probably know how the story ends," Elise answered. "I went back to Mobius once more. He didn't even recognize me. I talked to the ponies once again, and my legend was dead on their lips. They were too jaded to believe in a pony who hadn't been heard of in over ten years, by then. The only upside was that I was free... so I returned to Blueleaf and once again began trying to rebuild my family."

She raised a hoof, gesturing to each of the ponies in the room with her. "These are them. Fernand and Pearl were still here, having stayed in the same place for twelve, thirteen years. I found the twins, too. There were others, but far enough away or well enough off that they didn't need or want to come live with me. Now, we're public servants, doing what we can where we can..." Her eyes closed in a final sigh. "But mostly, I sit here and remember this city's history. I watched it fall from unity and greatness. I know things about it known to almost no other ponies, not because they're forbidden but because no one will listen. I was the chosen one, once, and could do nothing but watch and hide. It's still all I do. Watch and wait as this city falls further and further into chaos, and wish someone could come to save us all."

After a long silence, she opened her eyes, and once again smiled warmly. "Thank you both for humoring me. I know it was a long story, somewhat disorderly and not all that happy or important, but I have this silly idea that somehow, all the things I've remembered will help someone else bring harmony back to Ironridge. It's my own comfort, knowing that I once could have fought and didn't, because I was afraid to choose a side. The two of you are welcome to stay here as long as you need, and if you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer."

Maple shook her head, smiling back and wrapping a hoof around Starlight. "No, I didn't mind! I like stories. They're certainly better than getting chased around tunnels and mountains and walking for dozens of miles."

Elise hummed, and for a moment, the room was at peace.

Comments

[Venlinelle]

After a long silence, she opened her eyes, and once again smiled warmly. "Thank you both for humoring me. I know it was a long story, somewhat disorderly and not all that happy or important..."

Don’t worry, that’s nothing on what Twilight Sparkle is currently going through.

It’s interesting that you can recharge mana with wells, indicating that it’s deep in the earth. I wonder if this region of the world is like Equestria, but with far less ambient magic? It would possibly explain the fewer cutie marks, and the seemingly reduced effects of racial magic (we haven’t heard much about Pegasi being able to control the weather, for example).