The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

The Tower

The official entrance to Skyfreeze was in the Sky District, an elevated tube with a high-speed transport system connecting it to one of the skyport's mushroomlike hubs, but that wasn't the only way. There was also an outdoor ground-level entrance, used by absolutely no one due to the cold and the lack of roads in the Sky District, and an underground entrance, connected via elevator to the Defense Force base, Flame District, and several outlets throughout the Stone District. This was the one used by ponies who were late enough that they could afford a faster yet less-scenic commute, or those who had had enough of the Sky District and just didn't care. It was also the route through which Valey and Starlight were hurriedly sneaking.

Valey swam furiously up the walls of the elevator shaft, the carriage lacking power to move itself. She was beginning to properly ache, having no qualms about pushing herself, fixating on finding Shinespark or heading off the airship with her friends or really doing anything beyond double-checking her tenuous reasons. The last thing she wanted to do was stop. She had to get everyone back together, and then out, and then... something. Maybe food, definitely rest, and above all, safety.

She crested the lip of the shaft, throwing herself and Starlight through the glass doors and out into a gold-and-marble lobby. Skyfreeze's emergency lighting was in much better shape than the Defense Force's. Suddenly, she had to worry about being seen.

The lobby itself looked more like it belonged in a six-star hotel than a center of government, with a long, polished corridor and alcoves formed on the walls by sculpted plants. Doors and walled-off desks filled every convenient location, with checkered stone tiles covering the open floor. Despite the opulence, Valey hardly gave it a glance as she strolled straight down the middle: her focus was one hundred percent on her cute mark.

It tingled constantly, low and deep, like the rumble of a waterfall or far-off storm. And there certainly was a storm: the corridor ended in a panoramic window through the wall of the tower, revealing a blizzard raging into the night. The tower was supposed to be equipped with retractable insulation that would cover the windows in case of such a snowstorm, but the power had gone out before this one had started, and apparently sealing off the view wasn't a priority use of emergency power reserves. Still, the mighty glass held... but Valey could feel a chill in the air just from walking near it, and small tendrils of frost coated the ground just inside it. She avoided stepping on those.

Valey turned, walking up a broad, semi-circular staircase that hugged the inside of the tower wall, emergency lighting casting a wan glow that reflected off gold-painted metal and casting deep shadows from the vines that hung from wall sconces. The steps were shallow, designed for unathletic, aristocratic hooves, but somehow even they made her cold, worn-out body groan in protest. She didn't want to go on. She wanted to curl up and lick her wounds... but she didn't.

The next level was a hall filled with offices. Offices of offices, with doors on the wall bearing plaques like 'Department of Multinational Relations' or 'Office of Inter-District Affairs,' behind which rows and rows of gilded cubicles could be seen through glass windows. It maintained every bit of bureaucratic splendor as the floor below, with pools of water sitting under dead fountains along the walls. How long until they succumbed to the mounting chill in the air and turned to ice?

After three more levels of offices, the decor changed. Out was the gold, and in was the ice-blue, keeping with Skyfreeze's namesake. This was the residential level, small and exclusive and sporting expansive villas for those agency workers, councilmembers and foreign diplomats important enough to live in Skyfreeze and skip the commute and the rest of the city altogether. Often, during more carefree days, Valey spent her time wondering how much they actually knew of the city they rarely visited, and more than once arranged bureaucratic pranks exploiting or poking fun at specific ponies' lack of real-world experience.

'Hightower Manor,' one villa's address read. 'Crystalhorn Estate.' The residents certainly thought highly enough of their homes to name them. Valey climbed a level. There was 'Griffon Empire Ambassador's Residence.' Apparently the griffons were slightly more modest than Skyfreeze's usual crowd? Across from it, the Varsidel residence had a note stuck to the door informing the cleaning staff that the ambassador had recently passed away and not to disturb his quarters until official proceedings could be taken. The Yakyakistan villa, on the other hoof... Valey bit back a snicker. The nameplate simply read 'Kero's House.' Had Herman really used his private Skyfreeze residence as payment for his mercenary squad? It made sense, since he usually lived in the embassy down in the Stone District...

The residence floors continued for several more levels, sometimes four and sometimes eight villas per floor, all separated by stairs that wrapped around the tower wall and elevators that lacked the power to function. Finally, they broke off, leading to another office floor and then another lobby, this one on level with the transportation tunnel to the skyport.

Valey kept climbing, the tunnel entrance floor entirely wall-free and ringed by an unbroken window, a set of huge support columns the only thing preventing her from seeing all the way across. The next floor up was a food court, and it was there that the warmth still trapped in the tower grew concentrated enough to be noticeable.

Lurking past countertops and beneath the edges of tables, she let her nose guide her, stomach rumbling for food. That was one cost of using the pendant: it made her hungry, quickly. But the scents told her an exotic sandwich parlor had forgotten to lock down their supply room as tightly as was necessary to stop a bat, and soon she was under the door, feasting on lettuce and mass-produced buns. Exotic sauces and seasonings stayed on their shelves where they belonged; Valey knew what she liked: things she could grab as fast as possible. There was no time to be fancy when she wanted to stuff her face.

"Want one?" she mumbled around a mouthful to Starlight, putting together another sandwich.

"I'm full. I ate a lot of stew," Starlight declared. "Didn't you?"

"Yeah. But now I'm hungry again." Shrugging, Valey put the second sandwich in her mouth, not bothering with eating in bites. "Let's just... mmrmff... Mmm, this is good stuff. For not being sweet, at least. Needs more mangoes. I'm just gonna stuff a few more of these in your saddlebags though, just in case."

"Suit yourself," Starlight sighed, leaning against a rack of disposable cups.

Eventually, Valey slid back out through the crack beneath the door, still weary and still feeling a chill that refused to leave her limbs, but at least comfortably full. The wide-open food court beckoned with its darkness, and she set off toward the far staircase-

Pony! In a flash, Valey dove behind a counter, yanking Starlight with her. A janitor was sweeping halfway across the room, attention focused on his broom and the faint jingle of music coming from a device at his side. Heart pounding, Valey shuddered; she had almost been seen. If that happened...

She frowned. What would happen? He was a janitor, not a ninja! She could pound him any day of the week, and her cutie mark wasn't even registering him. Odds were, she could walk right past him and he'd do nothing more than nod his head, or give directions if she asked. Had she really fallen so far that she was afraid of janitors?

Yes, a part of her said... and she mentally glared at it, suddenly fighting back an unwelcome wall of worry. She was not a coward. Cowardice didn't suit her... yet, she had nearly lost her lunch at the prospect of using her pendant earlier. Even thinking about it made her woozy, and that wasn't a way she wanted to feel just after gorging herself on sandwiches. She had lost against the mercenaries, ergo she wasn't invincible, and that meant she might just be bad enough that that janitor could take her. She definitely didn't deserve the pendant... didn't deserve... Since when had she ever had a problem with taking things she didn't deserve?

Silently, every muscle in her body rigid, Valey listened to logic over feelings and dragged Starlight back into the sandwich shop storeroom. "Hey, Starlight?" she whispered, standing up in the darkness.

"Hmmmph," Starlight grunted.

"Well, I was gonna ask if you were feeling like yourself lately..." Valey sighed. "But I guess that answers that. Or doesn't. Whatever..."

A lot had happened to her, especially over the past several hours, but Valey was decidedly not feeling like herself, and the more she thought about it, the stranger that felt. Losing against a ton of really powerful, really well-prepared enemies, then almost dying in a fall? Well, fine. Completely losing her self-confidence and respect as a result? Suddenly being unworthy to use the pendant when she had used it just fine to escape from being tied up earlier, when she didn't know no one was watching? Valey frowned harder. Maybe some psychologist would tell her that was the result of trauma and having friends to care about and realizing that she didn't have to be alone, and tell her all sorts of sentimental things and prescribe therapy to fix it... but she didn't have any psychologists or therapists. What she did have were a lot of enemies, and a need to keep going. How possible was it that someone was using mental magic to mess with her emotions?

Instantly, something clicked. Her emotions were out of whack; something was clearly wrong. If there was an external cause, and something needed beating up? She was good at that. She was. It was how she had always worked, and that wasn't something that was supposed to change. If it was internal... then she could deal with it later so long as she kept going, and having that threat to push against, fake or real, was something she could use to keep herself going. She almost smirked.

She did smirk, standing slightly taller and prouder in the darkness, and almost immediately was hit with a wall of doubt. If she tried to push herself beyond what she was capable of with Starlight on the line and lost... She shivered, but her defiance survived.

That was it, then. Maybe it was her survival instinct talking, but a survival instinct that told her to hole up and cry in a hostile building when her friends needed her at her best wasn't one worth listening to. If she got overconfident and got herself in trouble? At least she could try to fight her way out. And in the event that it really was just her, Maple could talk her through it when they weren't in the middle of a war.

And like that, she was back. Valey licked her lips, doing a quick combat-readiness check on herself. Immediate disabilities? None. Weak points where she really didn't want to get hit? One partially-healed burnt forehoof and her wing, which was probably better but still ached. Her whole body ached, a lingering chill permeating her core she felt even open flame wouldn't be able to shake, but she successfully ignored her self-reprimands for not being stronger. She could read future attacks, punch like nobody's business, and thanks to her hat, look good while doing it. There was just one thing...

With a faint sparkle, her pendant activated, sending her body shimmering with a faint glow of green. This time, she expected the wave of disgust that came with it: before, she had used it to dig through Starlight's packs, but now she was using it for no reason at all? She kept her mouth closed and her head held high, though, ears folding as she weathered it... and eventually, her mind left her alone. Valey sighed, focusing on the fuzzy, bloated sensation that tingled through her limbs that came with the magic. It almost made her feel less tired and worn out, though she didn't very well trust her own judgement on how she felt at the moment. She looked at Starlight, still glowing, and swallowed. A cutie mark for music appreciation wasn't going to be much use in a fight, but if she was separated from any edge at all by some psychological barrier, that was a recipe for losing again. In the event her feelings were legitimate, she could atone for her desecration once she was safe.

Confidence restored enough to fight, desperately hoping she wasn't overselling herself and wouldn't run into avoidable trouble, Valey let the glow die, picked up Starlight and exited the closet.

---

A janitor hummed along with his music, following the trail of his wide broom as he pushed between two tables and around a support column. Power or not, he was still getting paid for his job, and the food court was usually dark at night so he didn't much mind.

Suddenly, there was a shuffle in front of him, and he looked up, blinking. A shadowy, leather-winged mare was strolling past like she owned the place, somehow navigating the tables with her eyes closed. She had an unhappy-looking filly on her back, and the filly was wearing saddlebags... because apparently, for this mare, wearing them herself was just out of the picture.

He almost snorted to himself in amusement, but recalled an old bar buddy's story about a mare like this just in time, catching his breath and keeping his silence. Didn't she work for the Defense Force? Had a vicious sense of humor, would leave a banana peel outside your door just because she knew you didn't look down when you exited? She was probably off to make some executive's life miserable over the power outage. Hopefully that would be cleaned up before morning, or the bureaucrats would wake up and start whining... He rolled his eyes, let her pass, and continued on his janitorial way.

---

Nerves completely shot and emotions utterly ignored, Valey nearly collapsed at the far staircase. Whatever was wrong with her did not want her having a good day. Still, her cutie mark hadn't betrayed her, and was still tuned enough to avoid walking into obstacles without her eyes. At least she could trust that... and she had made it.

The next floor was offices. No sane pony would be working at night during a power outage and a blizzard... or maybe they would be, if their job was to head off a district war. Technically, though, that was the Defense Force's job, and it was their job precisely because no one at Skyfreeze wanted to do it.

Valey pressed onwards, toggling her pendant several more times just to prove she could, despite it being both pointless and rationally stupid. Eventually, she stopped; even with the glow of the emergency lights there was a possibility of errant cameras catching her faint aura. Would they even be on with the power out? Who knew. She climbed another floor, legs pumping as she hurried towards Dior's quarters at the top, where she stood the best chance of finding Shinespark.

The floors switched back to residential, and she switched to flying, her legs starting to feel worse than her wings and her need to clear that mission and get back to her friends increasing. Then they were administrative, and quickly lost the floor structure altogether, switching to balconies and overhangs and lobbies structured around the large central council chamber. Above that, she knew, was the Chancellor's office and quarters.

Skipping the stairs, Valey swooped up a shaft overlooking a three-story window, an atrium at the bottom and ghostly white clouds billowing like passing trains outside. The chill radiating through the air was alarming, even with the highest concentration of heat in the tower funneling its way to the top, aggravating Valey's aches and weariness, and she activated the pendant again just because the fuzzy magic it filled her with seemed to repress or at least numb the tiredness and cold. Spreading her wings and pulling up, she landed on the final floor.

"Are we there yet...?" Starlight mumbled, shifting on her back.

"Yeah, actually, we are." Licking her lips, Valey walked past Dior's empty secretary desk, ignored the door to his personal meeting chamber, and paced with purpose down the hallway to his quarters.

The door to the towertop villa was half-open, as if it had been in the middle of closing when the power cut and the emergency systems hadn't seen fit to finish the job. Frowning, Valey stepped through into an orderly apartment. For all her years of sneaking about, this was the first time she had set hoof in the Chancellor's quarters.

A room for food... a room for entertainment... Really? A busy stallion like Dior had time for that? Another room held a majestic four-poster bed, with posters of the various districts placed on the walls around it. The Steel District seemed better-represented than the others.

Inside the bedroom were also doors to a bathroom, closet, and personal study. Valey poked her head through the last one, noting a tidy desk with a locked file cabinet and a single sheet of paper sitting under a portable lamp. She squinted, walking closer to read it.

I'm out of the office for tonight. If you want to find me, come to the skyport.

Valey frowned, then shook. Was he expecting his private study to be invaded by anyone on business? Wouldn't he leave a message like this at his front desk, and keep someone on-duty to staff it?

Those questions didn't even matter when she turned the note over. On the back, it was signed by Herman.

Comments

[RoboRed]

D:

[Davidp1522]

Fantastic, basicly. I bet Herman had set up a smol net to catch just him months ago.

[alamais]

[Hap]

Aw shit, son.