The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Sosa's Hero

"...And that is the long and short of it," Gerardo finally finished, folding his talons. "My friends, at present, I believe to be safe. I can't judge Selma's intentions beyond the obvious fact that there is a complex situation in the Defense Force I know all too little of. And there are what he claimed to be bombs attached to the eastern dam."

"Your friends are safe," Shinespark said, her short red mane bouncing as she nodded. "I can confirm that. Now, as for these bombs-"

"You can?" Gerardo cocked his head. "Pardon the interruption, but may I ask how?"

"Because they were in Grand Acorn as of when I left for here." Shinespark folded her hooves, mirroring Gerardo's pose, and grinned slightly. "Something you summoned me away from, by the way. And don't worry about them; they're fine. They're being watched over by somepony I greatly dislike, but do trust, and nothing bad is going to happen to them overnight."

"That is... a significant relief," Gerardo admitted, wiping his brow. "At this point, all I want is to see them safe and sound and reunited here so that we might catch a ship back to Riverfall. Though... heh..." He laughed weakly. "I suppose that ship has sailed for tonight? Literally, as it were?"

Shinespark nodded. "It will have by the time you could get to its downstream dock. But don't be too hasty to plan on leaving. At least wait and talk it out with your friends."

Gerardo raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying you know something I don't?"

Wordlessly, Shinespark got up and paced to a long display case at the side of the room. Her horn shone briefly, and a darkened compartment at the bottom swung open. Enveloped in her aura, a long, dark sword floated out, a distinctive triangular hole in its hilt.

"You managed to recover my weapon?" Gerardo perked up.

"I did," Shinespark responded, laying it gently on the middle of the table. "I told you it was possible. What I haven't decided is what I want in exchange for giving it back. It's... a very interesting sword, after all, and if you don't want it, I wouldn't mind keeping it myself."

Gerardo's headcrest drooped. "Somehow, that sounds like more and yet more trouble..."

"It could be." Nodding, Shinespark walked back to her chair and seated herself formally, not lounging or slouching. "Or, it could be nothing at all. Look at it this way." She slid one hoof across the table, as if pushing pawns on a strategy map. "You want to get back to Riverfall. I know how to find that boat, and odds are you're going to have a pretty lousy time getting on yourself without my help. The next boat isn't until tomorrow night... so stick around for a day. You need my help, I might be able to use yours, you've got nothing better to do and I could use the time to think of something. Deal?"

"I... suppose that sounds workable," Gerardo admitted, not reaching to shake Shinespark's proffered hoof, eyes fixed on his sword. "Surely you don't need me to repeat why I am on edge, of course."

"No, I get it. I really do." Shinespark leaned back, putting her forehooves behind her head. "Ironridge doesn't work like anything you've ever seen, and no matter how much you try to plan or think you know, you're at the mercy of the few ponies who really understand what's going on, myself included. And even if one of us offers to 'tell you everything,' we're almost definitely lying. Being powerless feels nasty, doesn't it? It just hasn't had as long to break you as it has that finance inspector."

Gerardo blinked. He had omitted his entire conversation in the distant jail cell Selma had teleported him to from the tale he told, and was wondering more and more exactly how much of it had been calculated. "That is... certainly an accurate summation..."

"You know..." Shinespark began, staring off into space. "I once felt that way too, actually. It was around eight years ago, when they were building the skyport but not yet done, when Sosa was getting scared but hadn't quite lost its grip on power. A friend and I walked, on hoof, all the way up the mountain, snuck past the one guard we found, strolled into the construction's mobile command center, and demanded to know what was going on in the way only a naive, innocent pair of kids could. They didn't throw us out. They didn't yell at us, or tell us off... and they didn't give us an explanation, either. They just completely, utterly ignored us. I was pretty mad, to say the least."

She smiled fondly, as if the memory didn't bug her all that much. "The point is, that's when I started getting serious about figuring out how the new Ironridge would work. There were a lot of things I wanted, but being able to thrive there and guide my ponies in turn was one of them. I figured it out eventually, and... now look at me."

"And how does it work?" Gerardo probed, leaning in.

"Really?" Shinespark shrugged. "It's simple. Things work out in the favor of whoever has the most information. If you want to weaken a side, find out what they're hiding and threaten to exploit it. If you want to get stronger, find something yourself to hide... something useful. And then never tell anyone anything where you'd lose more from them knowing it than you would gain by knowing they know it."

Gerardo's eyes focused keenly. "I suppose that applies to this conversation as well, then? Namely, that last statement? That in telling me something like that, you've somehow come out ahead merely by the knowledge that I know it?"

Shinespark smirked. "You learn fast! And that's right. Here's an instance of how it could play out: you know the rules. Anyone who doesn't know you know them... say, the Defense Force... might try to cheat, or do something riskier than if they knew you were a level opponent..."

"I can see where this is going," Gerardo finished with a nod. Then, ruefully, he added, "...To a titanic migraine. Parsing all of this I-know-you-know-I-know business sounds like it could easily become unreasonably infeasible."

"Then let's talk about something you know about, instead." Taking another drink, Shinespark went back to lounging in her chair, exhaling heavily. "Something far away from Ironridge and its troubles. Let's talk about Riverfall. How's my dad doing?"

"Pardon?" Gerardo blinked.

"My dad? Arambai?" Shinespark shrugged. "I mean, technically, he isn't my biological father, or the one who gave me an old maintenance tunnel under his factory to turn into a base, or even the stallion I see and interact with on a daily basis, but he still raised me, and he and mom were... close. He writes me all the time, mostly to talk about science and his research, but he can't leave Riverfall and I can't leave Ironridge, so I haven't actually seen him in years, and..." She sighed bitterly. "Aside from Gunga, nopony ever leaves Riverfall, so you're the first I've talked to who's recently seen him in just as many years. Your friends don't count, since we never got around to it. So how is he?"

"He is..." Gerardo hesitated, brain clicking into place. "Charismatic. Imposing. Well-loved, slightly eccentric, and doing what he feels best for the ponies of Riverfall... his ponies, he says. He loves mystery and is dishonest by omission, but never did anything to make me suspect he wasn't trustworthy or fully on the side of good. I would not at all mind someday meeting him again..." He gulped. "Provided it isn't at the end of his sword, which he threatened to do should I allow my friends Maple and Starlight to come to harm."

"Heh... That sounds like him, all right." Shinespark smiled serenely, eyes closed. "Some ponies never change. Some day, I wish I could see the town he's devoted so much of his new life to. I guess that'll be my reward for when I finally save Ironridge and make everything right again." She glanced aside at Gerardo. "And don't worry about getting hunted down. He wouldn't return to Ironridge unless the stakes were a lot bigger than... well, unless they were big. Besides, he's got others looking out for them, too. Like me, for instance."

"Is that so?" Gerardo drummed his talons on the table, curious. "When we met you that first time, at night on the convoy..."

Shinespark raised a hoof, halting him. "If you're going to ask why I didn't tell you to come stay here where it was safe and not get in trouble in the Stone District, it's because the safest you can be in Ironridge is by not drawing attention to yourselves. I wanted to leave you hidden, to let them enjoy Ironridge... because really, the districts are just as pretty as they once were. As long as you can stay far above the politics and fighting and spider webs, you're fine. And once you got caught..." She hung her head. "Well, it isn't like Sosans can just march into the Defense Force headquarters and do something about it. Your friends came back on my map in Grand Acorn, and that's why I was there."

Gerardo opened and shut his beak several times, before chancing, "With all due respect, Braen marched into the Defense Force headquarters and reportedly caused quite a scene. With my very blade, nonetheless. I witnessed the aftermath myself. It... took some doing to reassure the afflicted that the sword's magic does, in fact, wear off."

"It wears off completely, then?" Shinespark tilted her head. "That's good to know. It's starting to do so on the Spirit ponies from two nights ago, but I wasn't sure if..."

"Hold on," Gerardo objected, lifting a talon. "You are in regular contact with the members of an organization that regularly rob and pillage the products of your workplace?"

Shinespark shot him a deadpan stare, and her hoof pointed to the sword on the table. "How do you think I got this?"

"Ah... Right, I suppose..." Gerardo wilted, talon curling back in on itself.

"There is more to it than that, though," Shinespark continued. "The Spirit ponies have lives beyond what they do at night. All of them are Sosans, plus some Earth Districters who got caught up in the cause. And when you have a higher-than-usual number of ponies all calling in sick to work at the exact same time and none of them will describe what's wrong, you investigate."

Gerardo squinted. "So you're fully aware that not only are your own employees working against you, but you know exactly which ones... yet won't lift a hoof to stop it?"

Shinespark hesitated, holding a breath that eventually came out long and hard. "There are a few things you need to understand, first about what the Spirit of Sosa is to the Steel District... and second, about what all the ponies of Ironridge, including the Spirit and its every last member, are to me."

She stared Gerardo deeply in the eye, sapphire gaze boreing into his. "What the Spirit wants is for things to go back to the way they used to be... where Sosa was on top, and the Stone District was just a nice place to live and the Sky District was a bunch of snowfields and some coolant systems for the mines. What I want is to bring Sosa back up on level with everyone else... to restore it to its former glory, without making losers of any other districts in the process, or any other ponies. I want it to not matter what district ponies are from so much as that they're from Ironridge, and that extends to everyone here. Even the Spirit. They're still Sosans, and I'll treat them with just as much dignity as the old codes say they deserve."

"That is perfectly noble." Gerardo bowed. "Go on."

"What the Spirit is to our factories is more complicated." Shinespark folded her hooves again, straightening slightly. "On the one hoof, nopony here wants to be making weapons. They'd rather make boats, like in the good old days. Or... at least not something used for dividing ponies. And when what they make gets stolen anyway, that really doesn't help them feel like there's any more point to their jobs. It's why what I do here is that much more important: they know their jobs don't matter, they know I could stop it... or at least see the deliveries ensured, and they don't even know if that would help."

She swallowed, continuing. "But on a practical level, the money involved... That inspector was one hundred percent right. We're being paid exorbitant amounts for what we do, and then we get paid again and again even when we don't do it. There's a lot of things we do with that money, like sending food to Riverfall... and creating a safety net that ensures every Sosan, even those who can't have jobs because there's nothing for them to do, don't have to live in poverty."

"I see," Gerardo interjected. "So when you say hope is the most valuable commodity in Sosa; that feeling as though one does not matter is the greatest problem... you say that from a perspective that none of the ponies here want for any physical need?"

"Precisely." Shinespark nodded. "They don't live in luxury, but they never have to worry about where their next anything will come from. We've found a system that ensures Sosa will survive... and I won't deny that myself and Chief Dorable are complicit in it. Again, that's part of why I take this so seriously: I'm part of the reason why their jobs are meaningless, and it's my duty to compensate for that. But we've secured survival. The next step is to allow Sosa to live."

"Ah, Dorable." Gerardo nodded too, sifting around in his memory. "He was the chieftain present along with you on the convoy, yes?"

The nodding continued. "Along with Nimwick, who is a candidate for filling Arambai's factory." Shinespark sighed loudly. "It's been seven years, nearly eight, and that post has never been filled. Multiple ponies have tried. None have lasted. They just can't do justice to his legacy. It's like the job knows he's still alive, and still fit for duty..."

Gerardo tipped his head. "Pardon my asking, but why don't you fill it? You seem capable enough."

"Several reasons," Shinespark answered. "First are the legal ones: Sosa is and always has been a society of stallions. It's how our culture works... a culture that grew up around Riverfall, a city of mares, though I'm sure you know about that already. Now that the cities are separate, it could be time for that to change. How much respect ponies have for me is certainly a sign of that. But still, I would have to become the first mare chief in the history of Ironridge, and that's not a useful place to focus my efforts."

"And second?" Gerardo asked, sitting back.

"Second, I don't have a brand, as you can clearly see." Shinespark stretched, showing off her bare, orange flank. "I don't know if you've put it all together, but Sosans change their names when they earn their brands. There's a difference in naming schemes... compare mine to Mobius and Arambai, for instance. After what happened eight years ago, it isn't as much of a deal, of course. There are quite a few grown stallions now who changed their names despite never getting branded, but I never did, and... that's just not something I want to possibly make ponies focus on, right?"

"Ah. Yes. Of course. That." Gerardo's face shadowed. "I was going to say, Ironridge seemed remarkably... Never mind. I believe I'm sensing a pattern in your priorities here, however?"

"Probably." Shinespark laid her chin on the chair's armrest, taking a second of silence. "The real reason I don't try to become a factory chief is because I don't need to. It wouldn't help what I'm trying to do, which is improve Ironridge for everyone. In the Stone District, they already talk about me as 'the good Sosan.' I don't want to establish myself as a leader of Sosa. I want to be a symbol to all of Ironridge."

Gerardo let the silence hang, then sighed, savoring it. "Well, for a pony who knows far more than is safe to tell, you've certainly been a much more pleasant conversationalist than Selma."

"Thank you." Shinespark bowed. "It's something I make an effort to do. Now, we should probably talk more about these bombs."

With a flap of his wings, Gerardo nodded emphatically. "I can confirm that would be prudent, yes..."

Comments

[Alchemik]

I'd love to trust Shinespark, but by now I've learned that you really can't trust anyone of power in Ironridge. I can only hope her goals align with those of our heroes.

[bronyheat]

I don't know if you've put it all together, but Sosans change their names when they earn their brands.

An interesting reversal of the cutie marks of Equestria; In the show it seemed a pony's name was almost prescient in what their cutie mark would be.

[Venlinelle]

11257251
Equestria has so much magic in every crevice and keyhole that the apples electrocute you and the animals are sapient. I wouldn’t be surprised if the names happening to match ponies’ “destinies” is another quirk like that.

Reread edit: So many things!

”They're being watched over by somepony I greatly dislike, but do trust, and nothing bad is going to happen to them overnight."

Ah yes, dislike. Is that what you call it, Sparky?

"You know..." Shinespark began, staring off into space. "I once felt that way too, actually. It was around eight years ago, when they were building the skyport but not yet done, when Sosa was getting scared but hadn't quite lost its grip on power. A friend and I walked, on hoof, all the way up the mountain, snuck past the one guard we found, strolled into the construction's mobile command center, and demanded to know what was going on in the way only a naive, innocent pair of kids could. They didn't throw us out. They didn't yell at us, or tell us off... and they didn't give us an explanation, either. They just completely, utterly ignored us. I was pretty mad, to say the least."

It’s so cool that we eventually get to see this. It’s one of my favorite flashbacks. Also, I love seeing Shinespark say she’s “connected” with the Spirit.

[sploopy slooder]

so they stole his weapon and are trying to extort favors out of him to get it back? thas scummy as fuck. doesnt matter if your on the "good" side, thats degenerate behavior.