The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Basement Level

A throbbing hum built in Starlight's ears as she descended switchback after switchback of pitch-black metal stairs, chasing the light of Jamjars' horn into the basement of Karma Industries. It was like distant thunder, only much closer and without direction, the rumbling of something massive that was all around her and never stopped moving.

She tumbled to a stop at the bottom of a platform where Jamjars had chosen to pause, feeling her fur snagging on the sharp, high-traction metal grating. The orange light of Jamjars' horn flickered like a candle in the darkness, failing to illuminate the hugeness of the basement beyond simply showing how close the walls weren't. Starlight saw nothing in the distance, and wondered if the single cavernous room in fact spanned underneath the whole town.

They were at the edge of a massive lattice of support beams, collectively reinforcing six colossal columns that presumably formed the foundation for Karma Industries' tower. Each was bigger in diameter than Maple's house, made from concrete interlaced with steel, and she could make out the scaffolding for a cargo elevator in the distance. Out from the tower foundations, giant horizontal half-cylinders hung in midair, churning away and creating the thrum, air ducts big enough to pull a wagon through snaking in one end and out the other.

Starlight gaped, staring into the blackness. Experimentally, she held out a hoof, lighting her horn and creating a tiny shard of crystal, then dropped it into the depths.

It hit the bottom far faster than she was expecting.

She blinked, realizing the cylinder bank that appeared to be air-processing wasn't floating in midair; the ground was just inexplicably black. A continuation of the staircase next to her looked like it became lost in shadow two flights down, but did it just reach the floor instead? Experimentally, she reached for the first step downward.

"Hah!" Jamjars crowed, having stood in Starlight's peripheral vision while she was examining the room. "You want to keep going. I told you exploring would be fun."

Starlight's ears folded. "You were the one who came running down here. I'm just trying to make sure it's safe before you do something reckless again. Don't tell me you're not going to try it..."

"Sure thing, Miss Safety-Shoes," Jamjars gloated, falling into prancing step behind Starlight. "And I'll be right behind you!"

With an increasing feeling of unease, Starlight progressed... though it was far more from Jamjars' reckless attitude than their environment. Despite the darkness, she strongly suspected it wasn't as huge as it had first appeared, and furthermore was remarkably empty. What could possess someone to build a tower with such a colossal basement and then use it for so little, however, was beyond her.

She reached the last step, staring into the bottom, and tapped it experimentally. "...Huh."

"Hmm? What is it?" Jamjars bumped up against her backside, nearly sending her toppling forward.

"This ground is weird," Starlight said, tapping it again. "It's really, really rough, like a bunch of sharp, tiny pebbles... but they're all stuck together and don't move. And it's black, too."

Jamjars pushed past her, setting all four hooves on the substance with little regard for precautions. She licked her lips, then sniffed it. "It smells kind of gross. I don't want it in my mane."

Starlight scraped at it again, and it was so rough and sturdy that it could have scuffed the strongest horseshoe. It reminded her of the traction from Riverfall's enchanted glass, only sharper, and just as flat. Testing her weight on it, she decided that without horseshoes, it wouldn't hurt to walk on... but would certainly feel unusual. She echoed Jamjars' sentiment that it smelled gross.

"Well?" Jamjars asked, her horn revealing that the black ground spread out evenly in all directions. "Let's go see what else there is down here!"

Warily, Starlight followed her, though she couldn't make out much beyond the metal cylinders clustered together in one part of the floor, their ducts raising back to the ceiling... Probably the air conditioning, she guessed. They must have been what was responsible for keeping the interior of Karma Industries cool despite the ferocious jungle heat.

"Weird, isn't it?" Jamjars remarked. "That big tower is kind of ugly and looks unfinished, like they forgot that ponies would have to look at it some day. There's nothing pretty in it. It looks like it's under construction. But this part is huge and complex. I bet they were idiots and wasted all their money on this part, and then didn't have any to finish the rest of the tower."

Starlight frowned. The discrepancy between architectural standards for the powerfully-built support columns and the aesthetic sense of all but the uppermost floors certainly existed, but she was more interested in another part of the basement: namely, something that was missing from it. In Blueleaf, she had visited the bottom of a power reactor, where long rods of crystal were inserted deep beneath the earth to draw out mana, yet she saw nothing that looked remotely similar in the Karma Industries basement. Hadn't the sign by the entrance said this was a power plant, as well?

Jamjars made her way to one of the cylinders, sniffing and poking around, and the frightening strength of the vibrations from within made Starlight certain she didn't want to be near it if it broke. She was more interested in how the thing was being powered... and eventually, she lucked out, spotting a twisting of smaller cables around a central big one that weaved their way out of it and into the air.

Ignoring the harshness of the strange ground, Starlight took several more steps, watching as the cable soared over her head, eventually intertwining with others and threading itself through support chains that dangled from the ceiling... and by the time she lost sight of it in shadow, she had a reasonably good idea of what direction it was going.

"Hey, Jamjars." She beckoned with her tail, trying to sound less disapproving than she felt now that she had something she was curious about as well. "Found anything interesting yet? Anything worth coming down here for?"

"Who cares?" Jamjars retorted, stretching upward to sniff at the air conditioner. "This thing's hot. Why would you use a hot machine to cool air? That's stupid."

Starlight was about to reply that, logically, if you were removing heat from the air, it would have to go somewhere... but thought better of it. "There's a power cable here. Want to see what a mana generator looks like?"

Apparently, her question was the right one, because Jamjars licked her lips and grinned. "Okay."

Together, they shuffled off in pursuit of the cable. Starlight tried to construct a map of the area in her head, deciding that if the long direction of the basement was beneath the bulk of Grand Acorn, then that would be south of the tower, which meant they were going east... but the churning throb of the basement's engines was permeating every last inch of her body, and made it impossible to make sure her thoughts were coherent. At least the ground wasn't sloped. That much she knew for sure.

Eventually, all the cables converged in a huge terminal, scaffolding on either side protecting raw manaconduits of unprecedented size, one of which split up to power the air conditioners before turning up into the tower. The other flowed straight back, into a hole in the wall.

Starlight and Jamjars approached the hole, set halfway up the wall and ringed in thick concrete. It was a pipe, sloping downwards and slightly curved, with a metal staircase built against the wall for easy access. They climbed it to see a walkway descending around the curve and out of sight, a thick bank of glowing mana to one side providing all the illumination the pipe could need.

"It's a maintenance tunnel," Starlight murmured. "An underground power cable in a pipe with enough room for ponies, so someone could go in and fix it without digging it up in case it breaks..." That would explain why there were no generators in the basement: Karma Industries was piping in its power from somewhere else. "I wonder where it goes."

"Let's find out!" Jamjars said haughtily, flicking her tail in Starlight's face as she strolled into the pipe's entrance.

"No." Unflinching, Starlight stood at the top of the stairs, daring Jamjars to follow the narrow walkway down the pipe.

"No!?" Jamjars scoffed, then swung a hoof at the tunnel. "What are you talking about? Have you ever seen anything like this?" Her face darkened. "You probably have, which means now I need to. Look at this thing! There's probably something really interesting at the end."

Starlight wanted to know what was at the end, too, but couldn't let it show. "No," she repeated. "We've already wandered far enough away without letting anyone know where we are. What if someone else comes and takes your room? What if Gerardo gets back and is looking for us? What if White Chocolate gets here and discovers you're missing? Besides, there's nothing close to Grand Acorn, so that pipe is probably really long, and I'm tired of walking."

"Oh yeah?" Jamjars countered. "Well, once my mom gets here, we're probably not going to have a chance to sneak back down here! And I can handle a little walk!"

She was betrayed by a growl from her stomach.

"Really." Starlight didn't even bother to lift an eyebrow.

"S-Shut up." Jamjars blushed and looked down. "Maybe you've already had your fill of this, and good for you if you have. There's no way I could be any prouder. But guess what? I haven't, and I am not ready to go home yet!" She tapped the walkway with a hoof. "Though if you have any food, I would like it..."

Starlight sighed, sizing up the stubborn filly and wondering how hard it would be to teleport another pony alongside herself. If size mattered, it might be slightly more possible... but she was starting to get hungry too, and was very definitely thirsty, and it was becoming abundantly clear that for all Jamjars' hype, there was nothing of interest in Karma Industries' basement. "No," she repeated. "Let's go home, Jamjars."

Instead of agreeing, Jamjars' horn flickered... and she became the same shade of mottled gray as the catwalk and the pipe beneath it. "Fine, then!" She blew an invisible raspberry. "Catch me if you can, Starlight!"

"Hey!" Starlight growled as if struck in the face and lit her horn, listening to the pattering of little invisible hooves drawing rapidly down the tunnel... and blinked. She could still hear the filly. And she had crossed mountains, and hiked all over Ironridge, while Jamjars had self-professed to sitting at home for her entire life. She didn't need magic for this.

Starlight took off at a furious gallop, her muscles aching in protest... but definitely not as much as Jamjars'. She took care to land lightly so she could still hear the other filly, and felt an immeasurable burst of pleasure at just how quickly she was catching up. She saw Jamjars' ruby eyes blink back at her in shock, heard the filly gasp... and lunged forward in a tackle.

"Gotcha!" She collided with something soft and fuzzy, grappling and trying to cling on like a monkey with all four limbs. Jamjars bucked and flailed in protest, kicking the walkway railing and altering the trajectory of their tumble.

With a painful thud, Starlight felt a second of weightlessness and then an impact against her back. They had fallen off the walkway... but kept rolling. She shut her eyes against the dizzying spinning, still glomped on to a struggling Jamjars, and weathered another bump as they hit the lip of something, or an edge lain out along the ground... and then they tumbled one short second of weightlessness more and came to rest, moaning.

Starlight ran a quick mental check of herself before attempting to move. Teeth? Nothing loose. Legs? Not broken. Back? In an awkward position, but same. Head? Bruised but fine. Herself in general? Weighing down on something warm: Jamjars had broken her fall, and they were locked together, tangled against a metal floor. That meant the other filly might be worse off than she was. Carefully, Starlight began the process of untangling herself from Jamjars' mane, recognizing that if she was unconscious, it would be up to her to carry Jamjars all the way back to her room. At that point, it might have just been better to ask for help from a guard.

Her eyes opened halfway through climbing to her hooves, and she froze at what she saw.

A steel ceiling filled with rivets surrounded her, merging seamlessly into the walls with rounded edges and corners. It was lit by a dull reddish light, made from huge pieces of prefabricated metal that had been bolted together with industrial precision. Beyond a portcullis that they had tumbled in through, she could see the maintenance walkway and the pipe in the distance... There had been a hole in the wall; a side door, and they had rolled through it.

The floor they were on was metal as well, though covered in some sort of rubbery mat that felt like it was to absorb drips or spills. Several round tables sat against the walls, some containing empty bottles or abandoned decks of playing cards, next to worn posters that depicted mares doing questionable things. At the back of the room was the source of the light; an unattended bar made from reforged metal that contained three stools and an impressive array of drinks.

As Starlight glanced around and took in the reality of the room, her legs gave out from trembles, and she slumped back against the unmoving filly beneath her. "I-I have no idea where we are," she gulped. "But I don't think we're supposed to be here..."

From an adjacent passage, loud against the metal and silence, came the sound of approaching hoofsteps.

---

S-Swooooosh!

With a synchronized flapping of wings, Gerardo and Howe pulled to a landing atop a protrusion halfway up Karma Industries, clearly marked to be for that exact purpose. The heat was slightly lessened by the altitude, but Gerardo still beamed gratefully at the sight of a sliding double-door that was his ticket to air-conditioned bliss.

"Whooo..." Howe wiped his brow with a wing. "Lucky thing we met up when we did, huh, Bird-bro? I just pulled a cart through this weather! Flying in circles trying to find you after that would have been nastier than a yak's armpit."

"Indeed," Gerardo agreed. "Also, I have a vague recollection of asking you not to call me that."

"My bad, Brother Bird," Howe gasped, beelining for the doorway. Gerardo facepalmed.

A mare with a company uniform in front of the door raised a hoof, the other clutching a sizable jug of water as if her life depended on it. "Hold up," she announced, blocking the way. "Karma Industries is closed for regular business right now. Are you boys aware of the situation?"

"Indeed we are," Gerardo replied, nodding politely. "We've... found a more ideal lodging for some of our friends who are already inside, and intended to ferry them there by air so as to leave you more room to process arrivals of greater need."

The uniformed mare glanced off the edge of the platform at the colorful sea of stalled equines trying to enter the tower below, and nodded. "That would be very welcome. I'll call for an escort. Do you know where you're looking for?"

Gerardo beamed. "As a matter of fact, my memory is good enough at these kinds of things that we could make do without. Unless it's a security issue, of course? We'd prefer to be in and out as fast as possible."

"...Sure." The mare gazed at them, sizing them up... and hit a button that caused the double-doors to roll open. "Be swift, and absolutely no loitering. We're trying to keep the halls as open as possible. Good luck with your friends."

"Good luck with whatever luck can help you with!" Gerardo bowed, strolling through the doors.

"Heh..." The mare smirked, taking a drink from her water jug. "I live in Copsewood. My husband's a Sosan. We'll probably need it."

The doors slid closed behind them, and Howe immediately threw himself to his knees, whooping in exaltation at the cold. "Ha-ha! Finally, my strength has returned to me, as a lost child returns to its mother! Take that, sun! Even your best efforts were not enough to thwart the Howenator!"

"Um... quite." Gerardo blinked, for once at a loss for words. "The nature of today's weather aside, shall we press on? I'm rather sure miss Jamjars is dying to be reunited with her family almost as much as Maple wants to see Starlight."

"Ah yes, Jamjars..." Howe smugly shrugged. "Now there's a filly who knows how to appreciate a manestyle."

---

Eagerly, Howe's hoof rapped on a door. After a moment's hesitation, it swung open. He squinted. "Uh, Gerardo? Are you sure this is the place we're looking for?"

Inside the door, a spring-green mare lay on her side on a thin cushion, three foals held to her chest and a stallion at her side holding two more. They stared at Howe in confusion.

"Quite sure," Gerardo replied, tapping a spot on a windowsill. "I distinctly recall this bit of damage to the woodwork, and selecting it as an indicator so I could choose the right door when I returned. Is there...?" He gazed over Howe's shoulder at the young, evidently-growing family within.

"...Can we help you?" the mare nervously asked, hugging her foals closer to herself.

"You aren't newsponies, are you?" the stallion asked from against the back wall, taking a step forward. "I mean... either kind of news? Delivering it or interviewing... You know?"

Gerardo frowned. "We're looking for someone, but it appears we were mistaken about where. I'm deeply sorry if we disturbed you, of course."

"Do you have any news?" the stallion pressed, far more talkative than his other. "Everyone's been gossiping, but there are no straight facts! You have wings; have you seen what's going on? They said the Defense Force was going to flood Sosa!"

"That is, regrettably, the state of things," Gerardo informed him. "Though nothing irreversible has happened yet, and I assure you everyone is working as hard as they can to diffuse tensions. Hopefully, you and your beloved should be able to return home as swiftly as possible."

The stallion frowned, and tilted his head. "Sister," he corrected. "I'm just here to help her with her foals."

"Ah, yes, well, erm..." Gerardo looked away, the sudden awkwardness in the room causing his feathers to curl. "Might I ask how long you've been here, in this room?"

"We arrived about ten minutes ago," the mare replied, giving one of her foals a lick between the ears. "They said it had just been freed up, and that we were very lucky. Maybe whoever you're looking for already left?"

Gerardo looked to Howe, and nodded. "That makes sense, does it not?"

Howe grinned. "I suppose the services of Karma Industries are even faster than we are! They must already have Starlight and Jamjars in transit to the warehouse!"

"Warehouse?" The mare frowned. "I don't..."

"That's quite alright," Gerardo assured. "Rest assured, you've helped us find what we need. I bid you good luck with your stay!"

"Thanks..."

He closed the door behind him, and grinned. "Well, it seems out expedition was unnecessary after all! Shall we return to Maple and White Chocolate and see if we can outrace their fillies?"

Howe raised a wing in a salute. "You said it, Brother Bird."

Comments

[Sypher]

I'm guessing that Karma Industries is powered using moon glass (or something involving cutie marks, at any rate) in a similar vein to Shinespark and Arambai's work.

[Quinch]

Is it just me, or does the floor sound like your run-of-the-mill unsmoothed asphalt?

Minor note about the chapter, lots of experimentallyness happening.