The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Run Away

In her fifth or sixth flash of teleportation for the day, Starlight appeared at Hestia's side on a raised loading dock outside an Earth District warehouse. The sun lit her coat, but wasn't oppressive, and she saw quite a few ponies simply sitting around and taking in the weather. The loading doors were open for ventilation, unused carts littered a dusty courtyard, and inside, Starlight could see the shadows of refugees who had spread out in search of slightly more private spaces.

At least one of the on-duty ponies recognized them, standing up and trotting closer. "Miss Hestia," he said, nodding politely. "Here on Sosan business?"

Hestia gestured to Starlight. "This filly is looking for someone. If you can help her, it would be appreciated."

"Separated from her family?" The stallion gave a kindly smile. "We'll help with that. Who are you looking for, kiddo?"

Starlight swallowed, emboldened by the calm atmosphere. "A friend. She had a large family, more than ten foals-"

An earth pony in a reflective vest lounging atop a cart perked her ears. "Was her name White Chocolate?"

"She was." Starlight nodded, simultaneously anxious and hopeful. She still wasn't sure what to do when she found the mare, but Valey and Jamjars had been left behind in Karma Industries, and she felt slightly less like she had to get out or explode. "Do you know where she is?"

"I better," the mare chuckled. "Spent nearly an hour trying to find and clear an office so she could have a room for herself. With that many kids, I don't know why they didn't let her into the main headquarters. Come with me. We'll get you there plenty quick."

Gratefully, Starlight followed. The ponies' good moods piqued her curiosity, but she wasn't feeling talkative enough to ask about it. Maybe they were just glad to be alive.

They wandered through cavernous warehouse chambers lined with bricks and sheet metal and supported by H-shaped beams of steel, the ceilings dangling with unpowered lights. Illumination came from grimy, high-up windows, and once Starlight saw a pegasus with a rag hovering and polishing one. The refugees sitting in corners and laying along hallways sometimes used their horns for light, most sleeping or murmuring or keeping tabs on children of their own.

There weren't nearly as many foals as Starlight expected, though. While twenty-somethings were common and older stallions were everywhere, teenagers were rarer and foals were downright scarce. The few she saw belonged to single mothers sitting alone against the walls, or the occasional family unit that frequently had more than one. The more she looked, the more Starlight noticed other patterns in the demographics: most of the ponies were stallions, most of the stallions were unicorns, and almost none were pegasi. The mares followed the same split, though there were more pegasi among them than the stallions, and none of those were single.

It didn't take much thinking for Starlight to understand why. Ironridge had been cut off from Riverfall. According to Willow, Maple and Amber, the cities had been intertwined, where the stallions of Sosa sailed in on their boats, and the mares of Riverfall would return with them to start families. Ponies with their adventures behind them would retire to Riverfall for peace and quiet, and the colts born in Riverfall would grow up to become adventurers or Sosans themselves, sailing away to repeat the cycle. But after a decade of no contact, many Sosans were left with no way to start families, the large, mostly-male population relegated to mares born in the lower districts, or from above.

Her eyes widened at the implications, and she shook her head to clear it. Ironridge was facing heavy population growth, she had heard, from easy travel and the promise of a booming economy. But the way into the city was in the upper districts, and with the tension between them, ponies wouldn't have been moving freely from Stone down to Earth. If everything hadn't exploded and the city had continued as it had been for twenty or thirty more years... Sosa would have died out on its own. The lower districts' population would have collapsed. She couldn't guess how that would affect the economy, but it was clearly inevitable. No matter what, Ironridge on that trajectory would have been fated to change.

But what would it look like now? Ponies had been attracted by economic progress, but that was erased. The mines were ruined; she had seen it with her own eyes. Valey had demonstrated how the crops took the storm's cold, and the shipping industry and whatever Sosa made were both gone. No more ponies would come even if there had been a way left into the city, and the moment someone made one, many of the better-off ponies would flee. Sosa would still die off, and the Stone District would shrink too...

Starlight's eyes started to sting from the enormity of the realization: Ironridge was dying. It would get smaller, and the smaller it got, the less it would make, and the less it made, the less reason it would have for anyone to be there... and eventually, it could disappear, just like she had trying to save it.

For all her anger toward the city, that wasn't fair. She hoped she had made a mistake, that there had been something she overlooked that would change things. It held so many ponies, and there had to be many among them who just wanted a good, peaceful life. She hadn't just saved her friends from the windigoes, she had saved them all... and for that to vanish anyway just wasn't right. But she was too tired to think of a solution, and just wanted to bury her face in Maple's coat and rest.

"Hey...? Hey!" She blinked, realizing that the mare leading her was waving for her attention. "You lost in thought?" the mare asked, realizing she had her eye. She sighed. "I don't blame you. All the things that have happened must be pretty scary for a filly like yourself. We nearly had a war... and if you're being escorted by the Sosan leadership, you were probably closer to it than the rest of us. You said this was a friend... Did your parents...?" She swallowed. "No. I won't ask. We're here, though."

Starlight blinked. They were in a second-story hallway next to an unornamented iron door bearing a strip of tape reading Overseer's Office and equipped with a handle an earth pony could pull. Nodding in thanks, she reached out and pulled open the door.

---

"Who...? Starlight?"

The hope in White Chocolate's voice made Starlight's chest hurt, and she averted her gaze as she slipped into the room alone. "It's me," she said, ears perked for whatever was said next.

"I-Is Maple with you?" White Chocolate sounded like she had been crying. "Or Jamjars? Where is my daughter? They said you and her were coming here two days ago, then the ponies in charge knew nothing! I was... I-I-I was..."

Starlight looked up. White Chocolate lay on her side on a pillow, still pregnant, mane unbrushed and eyes desperately searching for contact. The younger half of her brood were laying in a padded box near her, with Snow reading quietly in a corner and the others somewhere else, hopefully being useful.

"Maple isn't feeling well," Starlight said, stepping closer. "She's sleeping. I'm not either, but wanted to come see you for her. Jamjars is annoying ponies in Karma Industries. I didn't feel like catching her."

White Chocolate's eyes watered. Her lip wobbled, and it looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn't.

"...You don't look so good either," Starlight remarked, coming within a hooflength of the mare, trying frantically to figure out what Maple would do in this situation. Comfort her? But what would be the right thing to say? "Are you okay?"

"No!" White Chocolate's voice cracked. "No, I'm not! I've been so afraid, and a-alone, and I don't know what's going on! They said there was a flood, and Gnarlbough's a s-swamp now. Then there was a blizzard and it was s-so cold, even though they said there was a wind barrier that protects us from mountain weather! And n-now I've been in here for days, and everyone has c-conflicting news, and they're saying ponies were fighting and g-getting injured, and you and Jamjars never arrived and Maple never came back like she promised! I thought she had died, or forgotten about me..."

Starlight felt a harsh twang of pity, deciding not to mention that in Maple's current state, she probably had forgotten about White Chocolate. Still finding no ideas on what Maple would do, she took the final step forward, hoping the same trick that worked for her would work here, now.

"Everyone's alive still," she grunted, trying to make her voice soft and caring as she leaned in and nuzzled the side of White Chocolate's neck. "Sorry it took so long to find you. I didn't know where you were, and I was unconscious for a day. Maple is-!"

She was violently cut off as White Chocolate's forelimbs wrapped around her, squeezing her against the mare's chest with a grip of iron. White Chocolate curled up and sobbed, heaving, holding Starlight like she was a rag doll and her life depended on it as whatever dam was responsible for her tears failed yet again. Starlight limply took it, half out of sympathy and half in shock, not struggling as White Chocolate used her mane as a tear sponge.

"There's no more fighting," Starlight said the moment there was a break in White Chocolate's sniffs and wails, the bigger mare balled up tightly around her. "The Spirit-"

White Chocolate resumed again, and after that Starlight didn't even try to hurry. She sat there for what felt like hours, solaced by the knowledge that she seemed to be helping and harboring a secret hypothesis that all sad mares could be remedied by proper hugs. Though, White Chocolate had plenty of foals of her own, and Maple had other friends too. Why did it have to be her?

Eventually, White Chocolate fell silent and didn't continue. Starlight's head rested on her side, and she the rises and falls of the mare's breath, feeling the return of slow regularity as tension drained from her body. Patiently, Starlight waited, still held tight, until a kick from the unborn foal prompted White Chocolate to groan and let her move.

"Feeling better?" Starlight asked, standing up and realizing that her coat now smelled thoroughly of White Chocolate.

White Chocolate blew her nose, rubbing with a hoof where the foal had kicked. "You said everything is going to be all right?"

"I mean it," Starlight promised. "I'm alive. Maple is alive. Jamjars is being Jamjars. There's no more fighting, the storm is over, and we're not going to forget about you."

"But my house is unlivable now..." White Chocolate whispered, staring at Starlight with folded ears. Her eyepatch was gone, Starlight realized. If she hadn't known what to look for, she would have said the mare's eyes were exactly the same color, and couldn't see a trace of her moon glass cutie mark.

Starlight swallowed. "Sorry." That part had been her, at least.

"Where will we go?" White Chocolate asked, eyes dry and red. "Hayseed has been out listening for news for me, and she says they're starting to find places for some ponies, but it's all volunteers. No one is going to have room for a family like mine in their house. We might stay here..." She touched her belly again. "I'm going to have my foal here, I know it. It might wait a week or two, but not another month..."

"No. You won't," Starlight reassured, making as sure as she could that what she was about to promise was the right thing. "You can... come with us. Me and Maple are leaving, but we have an airship. It's big enough for you. It will be hard, and there might be some weird relationships to deal with, but we'll help you figure that out as soon as we're alright ourselves. Maple needs help too, right now."

White Chocolate's eyes widened, and she wiped them despite already being dry. "They said the skyport was broken and all the airships might be damaged..."

"We've got one that will work anyway," Starlight told her. Under her breath, she added, "I hope." Swallowing again, she took a step back toward the door. "I'm going to ask some ponies and make sure they know we're doing this, and then we'll teleport you to the ship. Where are the rest of your foals?"

"Not far," White Chocolate sniffed. "Except Hayseed, but she'll be back soon on her own. I... Are you sure...?"

"Sure what?" Starlight paused at the door. "That we're going to help you? Don't worry. I never give up."

Comments

[alamais]

I never give up.

Also Hestia too OP, pls nerf.

[Davidp1522]

In the first sentence, is telekinesis supposed to be teleportation?