The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

At Last

The moon shone perfectly overhead, marking halfway through the night. Any ponies that stood beneath it would have cast no visible shadow, but the forest was empty, populated only by dark windows and the distant rush of an overfilled waterfall. Cylindrical tower-houses stood sporadically like massive stumps, lines of colored pendants strung between them that all looked blue in what light filtered down through the Riverfall canopy.

On the northern edge of town, the ornate concrete deck that formed the riverbank was dry, though still littered with refuse from the river's initial overflow. The water still ran dangerously high and fast, kept from flooding even harder by the town's waterfall acting as an outlet. Below that, the river properly burst its banks, submerging the remains of a destroyed boat crane and backing up into the north-flowing tributary in a small lake before continuing its rush eastward. But the waterfall basin itself was placid, and was then being used as the calmest spot in the township's waters as the mooring place of an under-repairs boat.

"Pteh!" Amber spat out a wrench, dangling by one hind leg from the side of the boat after tightening a rivet for a replaced hull panel that had been leaking. She pushed up her goggles with a hoof, flinging her sopping mane away from her eyes and swinging herself back onto the deck. The back half of her body was covered in grease, oil and polish stains, the front had all of the above and was drenched, and it was the middle of the night, but still, she grinned.

Rolling over, she glanced down an open hatch to the bilgewater, but the only fresh addition seemed to be runoff from her own fur. She primed her ears, but nothing reached them beyond the roar of the waterfall. The ship's cabin was completely gone; the roof had been destroyed and she opted to scrap it entirely and rebuild from scratch, but aside from the questionably-intact propulsion and power systems, it was at least river-worthy.

Caringly, she rubbed a dirty hoof along the freshly-cleaned metal, then got to her hooves with an overdramatic show of weariness. She fixed her mane, shook, fixed her mane again, and kicked all the hatches she had opened closed before leaping to the stairs to the top of the waterfall. The boat bobbed and rocked behind her, but it was well-anchored and she had taken measures to ensure Hemlock wouldn't mess it up. For a second, she admired it, gave a pleased snort, and then climbed to the top.

For a moment, Amber paused, staring up the distant length of the river running alongside town. It felt like mere hours ago she had walked a silent vigil through the rain to bid her best friend goodbye, even though plenty had actually happened. Arambai informing them that Ironridge was in trouble and leaving, most of all...

"Finally going to bed, Amber?"

Amber blinked, spinning about. A tall mare stood nearby, wearing a hooded purple full-body cloak that made her blend perfectly in with the night. "Matryona?"

"Me." Matryona looked out with orange eyes from beneath her hood, her thin, square muzzle frowning in concern. "It's halfway through the night. I was worried you would keep working until dawn."

"Oh, I'm not going to bed." Amber shook her head, accidentally slapping herself again with her mane. "I'd just sleep on the boat."

Matryona kept watching, standing perfectly still. "I know you're worried for your friends in Ironridge, but you should take care of yourself, too. I'm naturally up in the evenings, but the lines around your eyes say you're not."

"You can see those through how wet I am?" Amber grinned, shaking off more moisture. "I'm actually on it, though. I think she's ready to get us to Ironridge to bail out Maple and Arambai if they need it, but we'll have to portage her the hard way, and no one's going to be up at this hour to help. So I thought I'd stock her up with whatever we'll need, then wash up so Willow doesn't faint if I try to crash at her place, and then take a nap. See? I'm responsible."

"I can see why she would do that," Matryona remarked.

"Heh heh..." Amber glanced down, rubbing the side of a hoof against her grease-stained side and watching as it came up black. "If you don't think getting dirty is fun, you've never been covered head to tail in tree sap and watched someone else deal with getting it off. But all this should come off with water. I think."

Matryona turned away. "I hope you know what you are doing. Ironridge is a tense city. I was sent here specifically to stay safe. Going in alone when we've seen that there was a flood is asking for trouble."

"Is it?" Amber asked, walking west along the riverbank and periodically fussing with her mane. "It's been a day or two, and probably another by the time I get there. I'm just thinking if there was a flood, the ferry probably got destroyed. Maple and Starlight could be hiding somewhere stuck in the city with no way to get back. All I'm going to do is take this and see if I can use it to pick them up. Besides, I didn't fix this thing up this fast for nothing."

Matryona wasn't listening. Instead, her gaze was fixed on the far riverbend, where a dark outline was edging into view in the moonlight.

Amber saw it too, squinting and shading her eyes with a hoof. "Wait a second, is that...?"

---

"This is it," Maple breathed as Shinespark's ship floated around a corner. "I remember this. The water is higher, but this was where the dock we left on was. I remember looking back on it as we were leaving... One more turn and we'll be able to see the city."

"Nyeh..." Valey had extracted herself from the blanket, never properly melting into the cuddle. "That's cool. This boat have an anchor, or something?"

Starlight stood up too. "It's still midnight," she announced. "Won't everyone be in bed? This is a weird time to arrive."

The boat had touched down in the river shortly before, and the levitation engine was switched off. Aside from manual steering, all systems were offline, and Gerardo had returned to the bridge with Dior. White Chocolate was still asleep, Shinespark was still elsewhere, and Jamjars hadn't shown her face since Starlight left her snoring in the library. But Starlight, Maple and Valey were all wide awake, ready and watching as they rounded the last bend.

Gerardo suddenly flapped past, streaking for the cargo bay. "Anchor!" he announced as he flew.

Valey shrugged. "That answers that, I guess. So, like... are we just going to spend the rest of the night here and wait for the town to wake up, or what?"

"I don't know..." Maple shook her head. "I was hoping to visit my friend Willow's house. She'll probably get up for us, though maybe go back to sleep after she knows we're okay. I just..." She exhaled a lengthy breath. "I just want to see my friends, and maybe I'll try going to bed myself. We have to fix our sleep schedules somehow."

There was a rattle and deep clunk from somewhere below, and Starlight pitched forward as the ship suddenly fought against the swift current. Over several seconds, it dragged to a halt, eventually coming to a complete rest despite the force of the over-filled river.

Valey glanced over the edge, Maple and Starlight walking up together beside her. "That looks sort of like it's supposed to be a riverbank. I guess the flooding here isn't that bad?"

"Maple..." Starlight nudged the mare. "Are those ponies coming?" She lit her horn, shining it far brighter than she usually did in a teal floodlight.

All three of them looked. In the distance was a taller pony obscured by a cloak, but racing forward with a flapping mane and eager, hopeful grin on her face was a a mare Starlight had last seen forever ago.

"Amber!" Maple leaned so far over the railing to wave, Starlight had to stop her from falling off. The shout was returned, and Maple sighed fondly. "It feels like we're finally home again..."

Comments

[RoboRed]

Yay!

[alamais]

Amber spat out a wrench, dangling by one hind leg from the side of the boat

Amber still best gumby-ninja-horse.

[Hap]

This feels good

[Boopers]

Oh, what happened to the ferry? Did Matryona send it back? o_O Who's even navigating it, as she's still there? And why doesn't Matryona care about what happened to them when the flood hit?

[Davidp1522]

mfw amber can tighten a rivet with a wrench.
that's really impressive.

[Alchemik]

I guess Maple, Amber, and Willow were basically the Riverfall CMC, weren't they? Tree sap and all.