The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Leaving Blueleaf

With a gout of colorful flames, Elise, Maple, Starlight and Valey burst into existence under an overhang near the mouth of an alley, entering into a prominent main street. Thanks to the hammering rain and mostly-open sky, however, the place was largely deserted, and what few ponies there were had exactly the same idea and were already grouped in the mouths of alleys. One such group stumbled back, startled, at the sudden arrival.

Elise frowned apologetically, but the ponies had already retreated further into the city, too skittish to stick around. She sighed, and said nothing.

Valey, however, whistled. "You can teleport three passengers at once and aren't even winded? Maybe you weren't kidding about being strong! I kinda want to fight you now just to see what happens."

"Is that really a good idea?" Maple tapped a hoof against a wooden wall, which responded by threatening to fall off. "This isn't a very sturdy place to fight..."

"Nah, probably not." Jumping into a hover, Valey folded her forelegs and shrugged. "But when has that ever stopped me?"

"Let's not do that right now," Elise agreed. Craning her head out around the corner of the alley, she added, "However, we do have some time left before the carts arrive. Is there anything else you would like to know?"

Valey raised an eyebrow. "Like to know? What, like... about stuff?"

"Yes, about stuff," Elise confirmed. "And the history of Ironridge. Project Aslan, Sosa's decline, how my household was formed. About Mobius' many lovers. The things we talked about while they were waiting for you."

"What? You did?" Valey turned to Maple, ears folded. "And you didn't ask me first? I know everything, remember!" To Elise, she added, "And ooh, saucy. But isn't he basically senile these days?"

Maple and Elise looked at each other, and Elise yielded. Maple stuck out her tongue and said, "You didn't ask to tell us. Besides, you were busy and we had nothing better to do."

"Mrgrgh. Fine..." Valey pouted.

"What's the big deal?" Starlight asked from Maple's side. "Did you want to tell us yourself? I thought you didn't want us to trust anything you say, or something." She squinted and cocked her head. "Unless she said something you didn't want us to know?"

"Uhhh..." Valey went cross-eyed. "Know what? Never mind. Good on you for remembering that, by the way. Never trust a bat." Under her breath, she added, "It's like you can't be obstinate for the sake of being obstinate anymore..."

"So, what was that about Mobius being senile?" Maple cut in, hoping do head off any possible tension.

"Eh. He lost his touch." Valey shrugged. "Apparently the dude used to be super handsome and charming and stuff, but he's basically a graybeard now. Only without a beard to be gray. I don't hang around Sosa much, so I rarely see him, but it sounds like ponies say his mind's going, too. Can't be that bad if he's still got the job, though, you know?" She blinked. "Actually, scratch that, I'm about ninety percent sure Sparky is using him as a puppet so she can call the shots without having to publically lead a factory and get her hooves dirty, so maybe he's totally bonkers. But you never know! Maybe his head for numbers is fine and he's just a loon. Ponies go insane in strange ways..."

"That's mostly right," Elise said with a nod. "He is older, now, and his days of leaving family members in unexpected places are over. The reason ponies say he's losing his sharpness is because he obsessively dotes on Shinespark, and makes it his main priority instead of governing. It makes his ponies feel like he's forgotten about them, and when ponies feel forgotten..."

"...They need something to blame," Maple finished for her. "I get it. I hope she does take care of them, then."

"She does that and a lot more," Valey muttered, smirking. "If you knew everything she thinks she can do, you'd think she was the insane one, not her dad."

"Hmm?" Maple's ears perked, swiveling forward. "What's she doing?"

"Ohh ho ho nope!" Valey cackled, waggling a forelimb. "Just because I know everything doesn't mean I can tell you. And telling you that would be, uh, not a good idea."

Starlight looked sideways at her. "Earlier, you said things not being a good idea has never stopped you before."

Grinning, Valey shook her head. "No, I asked when it had ever stopped me before. It's your fault if you thought that was a rhetorical question! I avoid doing dumb stuff all the time. And in this case having mud on all the powerhouses down in Sosa... or, at least, stuff that they don't want getting out is an important part of keeping all fighting in the city friendly, consensual, or involving me. If others knew the stuff I know about them and they ever found out, they'd have nothing left to lose." With a wink, she added, "In case you're wondering, I've also got dirt on Braen. It's how I make her do stuff like stopping attacking the Defense Force fort when she's already trashed all the mooks."

Elise coughed loudly, interrupting Valey's speech. "Excuse me, but the carts are arriving..."

---

A slow caravan trundled its way through the Blueleaf main street, five wagons with protective coverings and no reins. They moved in a straight line, their bodies and construction wooden but with metal spoked wheels and support frames, the mud underneath them shimmering with reflected manalight. Instead of the rickety cobbling click-clack of hooves against earth and squeaky axles Starlight usually associated with pull carts, they emitted a soft, constant hum that was barely audible over the rain's violent hiss, and in less than a minute had reached the alley where the four ponies waited.

Elise lit her horn, its residual darkening effects making little difference against the storm-blackened world, pulling light from glowing doorways and street lamps and manifesting an aura of colorful flame around Maple. Nodding at Valey, she asked, "You carry Starlight and I'll lift Maple?"

Starlight frowned, but at the rate the carts were moving, they barely had time for goodbyes, let alone arguing over how they would board the passing carts. So, she squared her shoulders and stood still, letting Valey grab her with a careful foreleg.

A single second of flight later, and she was in the wagon, Valey setting her down and straightening the fur on her leg. She shook loose the droplets of water that had already managed to accumulate in her mane, exhaled, and moved to the back, where Maple was floating in, surrounded by flame. On the road behind them, Elise was standing, waving... and then another cart moved between them, blocking the unicorn from view.

"Whew..." Maple shivered heavily, having taken much more water than Starlight did. "Well, we're moving again."

"Yep." Valey nodded, staring up at the curved white canvas roof overhead. "At this rate, though, we're gonna have a looong lot of down time."

A silence passed, and Maple joined Starlight in looking out the back. "You know," she said, "I've only been levitated by unicorn magic twice in my life, and both times have been over the last two days. And it feels weird."

Valey shuddered. "Yeah, getting caught in auras is nasty. If they know what they're doing, they'll try to stop you from flying out, and things can get bad fast when you're immobilized. That's why you always want to carry something to throw in a fight."

Maple shook her head. "Well, I'm talking about just for normal things. And you're used to flying! For me, it's... having the ground that far away, and moving without me being able to do anything about it..."

"I fell a lot, once," Starlight added.

"It felt different when she lifted me and when Selma lifted me, too," Maple mused. "Selma's aura reminded me of swimming, like it was a very thick liquid that was all around me. Hers felt more like multiple big points... I wonder if she was doing something differently, or if her magic works different in addition to the way it looks?"

Starlight was silent, so Maple continued to muse. "Her magic sure was pretty, at least. And she was nice to us, too. She didn't even press when I said we didn't want to talk about what we had been doing in the Stone District. I hope we find more ponies like her."

"Yeah, she was great." Valey nodded sagely. "Small, too. I know I'd be down for running into her again!"

"Small?" Maple blinked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Valey grinned, completely unapologetic. "Well, that's my kink!"

Comments

[ZanyZapper]

I keep wondering if we're going to find out more about the book Starlight found way back in the beginning. Sosa's journal I think it was. I thought she might try to get some info on him from Elise, in an offhand way. Like "how did Sosa get its name?" I'm guessing he was the district's founder our a descendant. She's read it multiple times as I recall but has kept it secret so I've wondered if there's something in it that she thinks would be bad to get out or if it's just that she didn't want anyone asking where she got it. Hope it comes up again sometime.

[crunchybigfist]

Please tell me how you pronounce 'Valey'. The name has been annoying me. The text to speech function pronounces it as 'volley'.

[bronyheat]

"I fell a lot, once," Starlight added.

That's a bit of an understatement!
Next when asked how it felt to be stabbed, Starlight described it as, "somewhat unpleasant".