The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Griffons With Agendas

Starlight sat in her familiar spot in the observation room, limbs folded under her body. This time, her book sat idly at her side; the terrain ahead was changing and she actually had something to look at.

The Yule had broadened so much from hundreds of miles of tributaries that it more resembled a slow-moving lake than a river, broad and flat and still enough she wouldn't have been surprised if she could see the ship's reflection. Yet, rather than widening out into some sort of delta, it was actually thinning, mid-river islands growing less common as the land around it began to rise. They were at the foothills of a mountain range that stretched to the north, with spikes of rock that looked absolutely puny next to the great cliff wall yet she would hate to walk up, and somehow the river had decided to find a way through rather than giving up and emptying into an inland sea. Patchy jungle gave way to steep black rock, and in a matter of minutes, the ground beneath them had changed completely, and they were over the mountains once again.

The mountains cast shadows on each other, framed from behind by the setting sun, and Starlight watched as some slopes were bathed in gold and others cut by jagged lines of shadow, lit peaks growing rarer and rarer as they progressed. Directly below, the Yule zigzagged, sharply rounding whatever corners it took to find a way through the maze of stone... and then she felt a hoof on her shoulder and breath against her ears. "Starlight, look forward," Maple quietly urged.

Starlight did, and her eyes widened. Apparently this mountain range had no depth to it at all - a few more peaks, and it ended. And when it did, there was nothing beyond.

Or... there was, she realized as they drew closer to the edge. The mountains were proceeded by a flat, featureless, gray-blue plain that looked like the sky and had nothing interesting to it whatsoever aside from a shimmery texture on the surface... the sea. Starlight swallowed. She had seen large bodies of water before, but always, as a rule, there had been something on the other side. This ocean was walled off to the south by the never-ending Equestrian mountain wall, waterfall outlets pouring directly into the sea, and her vision directly to the east was ended by the rain shadow of a wall of storm clouds, but to the north and northeast her vision simply faded into the distance, and the ocean and sky met in a hazy, indistinct line.

"I always imagined what it would look like," Maple murmured from Starlight's side. "I saw pictures, but seeing it in person... Is this as impressive to you as it is to me?"

The last few mountain peaks fell away, and the river met the ocean at a southward angle, the mouth partially protected by a rocky spur that would make it very hard to notice sailing in from the north. A giant green flag had been erected on a sturdy base near the intersection, advertising its presence to any who still sailed that waterway, as it had likely been doing for countless years. Where the two waters mixed, Starlight realized the river water was a slightly different color than the sea; they blended in a plume that swirled thickly all around the sheer, wave-buffeted shoreline.

"Look! Look backwards," Maple suddenly said, craning her neck far around to try to see what was under and behind them. "There are two giant ponies carved into the mountains on either side of the river!"

Starlight barely caught a glance before they were gone. "Huh," she said, feeling like Maple wanted a conversation but without anything that needed to be said.

Maple didn't seem to mind, settling in beside her to drink in her fill of the sight of endless water.

---

"Yo." Valey shuffled into the bridge, doing her level best to look lazy, drowsy and bored... which wasn't hard at all when naps were her sole entertainment method and sleeping too much eventually sapped one's energy instead of adding to it. "Someone said something about hauling my cute butt up here tonight?"

"That would be me!" the sound stone chirped, Shinespark, Slipstream and Gerardo all standing by for the evening changing of shifts. "Valeyyyyy! Someone said you needed to hear my voice!"

"Amber?" Valey blinked. "Hey, uhhh... how's it going?"

Gerardo cleared his throat, preparing for an epic bout of narration. "When she called this morning, Miss Amber was quite concerned by reports of us going to a locale where your species is reportedly undervalued. She believed you might be taking it poorly, and wished to give what she described as a 'pep talk'. Personally, I find it quite a generous offer, though would advise you to get a room if it becomes at all necessary."

Valey blinked. "Yeah, we might have to do that. And I'm dealing with it. Like... sorry, I just woke up. Not thinking of anything witty to say, right now."

"That's okay," Amber consoled. "I did some pestering, and got some input from someone who knows way more about this than me. And also wanted to talk to you in the first place. Glisette?"

There was a thunk and a tapping, and then another voice came in. "Nice. So, you all are my elusive new neighbors, or so I've heard?"

"My apologies about that," Gerardo quickly assured. "It was never our intent to project that we were meaning to stay in Ironridge long-term."

"Don't sweat it. I've got other social circles. Though I am ticked at you. When your neighbors are all either dead or insane, is it really wrong to want a little more? But like I said, whatever. So apparently you're having sarosian woes about the Empire and don't know exactly what to expect?"

Valey glanced at herself, checking both wings. "Batponies? That's me. Something something heresy and don't like your goddess?"

"Something like that. If you're trying to stay safe and out of the spotlight..." Glisette hesitated. "Here's the situation as best as I know it. You guys look weird, act weird, stick to yourselves and refuse to worship our goddess, so a lot of devout griffons and ponies feel offended by you. Garsheeva doesn't, either because she has a thick skin, knows better than to go looking for trouble, or both, but no one knows for sure. What she specifically says you can't do is try to steal the sarosians' land, or try to stop them from setting up their weird statues wherever they feel like. In general, though, she lets her subjects make their own laws and only weighs in as a judge in extreme cases. That's bad news for you because the noble houses all do what they want, and everyone in power in their lands who doesn't expressly want to challenge them is going to be sucking up to them hard, since they have no backbones and just want to get ahead. Cowards, if you ask me."

Valey glanced away. "So how bad are we talking? Goons jumping me in the streets, and stuff?"

Glisette dodged her question, continuing. "The best news I can give you is that both High Prince Gazelle and Crown Princess Gwendolyn like sarosians and have committed themselves to your cause, and all that. That doesn't actually mean much, because the last empress is dead and Lyn isn't old enough to formally take the throne, and Gazelle hasn't started his own house yet so both of their powers are completely symbolic. But Lyn eventually will grow up, and Gazelle is already known as a skilled and charismatic leader, so some of the lords will be trying to stay on their good side already to be in favor when she does take the throne. Of course, others want to do that to push their agendas... Politics. You know. Lyn will some day take a husband, and it will be up to the two of them to see if they can bring unity to the houses after these last few years of leaderless doing whatever. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Anyway, I don't know every house's opinions or positions on this, but there are bound to be at least some who wholeheartedly support the prince and princess, either for their own reasons or because they think that's the winning team to back. Your absolute best-case scenario is if Gazelle leaves the imperial family and starts his own house, but aside from that you'll want to look around, figure out who's saying what, and then try to stick to the territories of lords who are favorable to you. I don't know whether their opinions will trickle down to street level, but as long as you stick to respectable company in those places, you should be pretty much fine."

"...Huh." Valey nodded, Gazelle's name ringing in her ear as the recipient of Kero's mysterious package. Her brain quickly started turning; Gazelle was a supporter of batponies, but Kero had taken a job to capture her or wipe her out, meaning it was slightly more likely they were enemies and the package was meant to damage the prince, so they shouldn't deliver it if they wanted his help... "Good to know. Anything else? Like, stuff I should do as opposed to just where I should stay?"

"No advice anyone else couldn't give you. Make friends and be nice to others, since a lot of times a good example or real relationship can help overcome prejudice. It'll help if ponies and griffons see you respecting Garsheeva, too. Might as well try to get in good with other sarosians, too. I'm the ambassador to Ironridge, not the Misty Mountains, so I don't know what their culture is like, but maybe they'd like you if you went up there? This is the first time I've even talked to a sarosian, let alone given advice in way longer than I care to remember, here."

"Thanks anyway, Glisette," Amber broke in.

Gerardo raised a talon. "Indeed. We appreciate your expertise, and while it sounds as though we'll need to watch our backs slightly more than I had hoped, we do at least have a strategy! Find those in power who we could get in good with, then spend our days in their lands, and keep our profiles low any time we are elsewhere! Quite a superior plan to walking in blind and hoping for the best."

"Hey, did you say anything about Kero?" Valey interrupted. "Real quick?"

"What, that narcissist?" Glisette's voice returned. "I don't have much to say about him, no. You saw how he decorated his place. Invited me in once and I took one look at all the self-portraits and got out as fast as I could. Connoisseur of fine wine, classical music, and himself, himself, himself. From what I gathered. He wasn't very interesting."

"Hrrrmm..." Gerardo scratched his chin.

"Either way, I have to go. Hurry up and get to the Empire so you can tell them to send in ships with fresh equipment to get these stuck ships out of here so my job can be relaxing for once," Glisette urged. "And good luck. And come back and be actual neighbors some day. Here's Amber back. Go and get a room, or whatever you were talking about."

Before anyone else in the room could reply, Valey snapped up the sound stone with her tail and slipped it under her hat, right between her ears. "I think I'll do just that, thank you very much," she happily announced, strolling out of the room.