The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Skies and Stories

"Well? How are you enjoying the ride, my friends?"

Starlight looked up, and Maple along with her, to see Wallace Whitewing strolling toward them from an oversized cabin door. Beyond the reinforced rope railing and wooden deck was a familiar drop-off, dozens of meters separating the airship from the green countryside below. A canvas dirigible blotted out the sky above, providing thankful protection from the midday sun and keeping the craft aloft, its length from prow to stern nearly twice that of the Immortal Dream.

"It's a very nice ship!" Maple called over the sound of giant propellers, ponytail blowing in the wind.

Wallace joined them in surveying the homesteads below, pristine grassy planes bunching up into rolling hills that never got quite too high or suffered from erosion. Several hours out from Stormhoof, the coastline had vanished on the horizon, and the center of population with it: there was no overcrowding here, dusty roads cutting aimless paths between lone houses placed wherever the view would be best. Low, easily-jumpable fences with leaning posts divided up the greens everywhere some owner had decided their turf was more special than everywhere else, and Starlight supposed that everyone with the ambition to do something with their land had gone out west to the sea. Ironic, how the coast town had been so cramped and here there was nothing but room.

A broken-down stone wall passed by, and they came into sight of a mountain of tumbled stones that were green with age, some still stacked into walls in the vague outline of some building or other. An abandoned castle, lost to time? Starlight watched it pass below, doing mental math to figure out how many generations of ponies would fit in a land with a history of one or two thousand years. Stormhoof thought his dynasty had lasted for far too long, but at a quick guess, she figured he would have had to be in power for nearly twenty generations to have a chance at being as old as that ruin. She lifted her filly-sized hoof, trying to guess what the difference between a hundred and a thousand years would be like to someone who could live that long. The only parts of her life that mattered had been within the last two months...

Beyond the castle's hilltop was a river, cutting its way out of the east. Wide, with reinforced banks and a gentle current, at least five ships were in her immediate vision, two cargo carriers and lots of smaller boats. That was the way Shinespark was going, sailing their own ship to Izvaldi so the rest of them could fly. The hills and plains continued beyond, with more homesteads and a distant hilltop manor.

"Intrigued by that ancient ruin, are you?" Wallace asked, gesturing to the crumbled castle they were flying over and following Maple's eyes. "It was constructed around twelve centuries ago, during a succession feud for the province! The reigning lord's sister, also a sphinx, was never betrothed, but remained in Stormhoof and had a son with her lover! That son was a sphinx as well, but when the lord passed away, the other houses ruled he had no claim to the throne because he wasn't directly descended from the previous lord! When the high prince attempted to take over, the son staged a coup, and the high prince retreated to this place, constructing a fortification and making it his new capitol when he slew his foe and won the war three years later! It stood as the province's center of governance for nearly three hundred years."

Maple's eyes were wide, and she shook her head. "That probably doesn't happen every day."

"You would be surprised!" Wallace crowed. "In a land with as long and varied a past as this one, almost every square inch has a history to it, some of which can only be unearthed through archive crawling and researching records of genealogies, and other stories which are as plain as day! A good story can be even greater a reward for adventuring than forgotten treasure."

"What's that mansion?" Starlight asked, pointing at the next upcoming structure and figuring Wallace would be happy to tell.

"A fine question!" Wallace nodded. "That was constructed around a hundred years ago, early into the Stormhoof line! The ruling lord's heir had grown up with a poor disposition, and he feared his family would be removed upon his death by way of a civilian uprising! Rather than tighten his hold on power for the rest of his reign, he began to plan the end of his legacy, working under the table with another province to construct this as a home for his non-royal descendants even as he plotted ways to posthumously remove his son from power! But during the work, he had an affair with the other province's lord's unwedded daughter, and found himself in possession of a new, secret heir! The saga ended when he had his older son assassinated, setting up a strong framework of generals and military council to ensure his new son grew up with proper guidance in the event of his own death, and that is how Stormhoof became the forefront of the Empire's military."

"He assassinated his own son!?" Maple's jaw dropped, aghast. "He... but..." Slowly, she wilted, eyes taking on a faraway look until Starlight nudged her in concern.

Wallace bowed deeply. "I take it you find such an act uncomfortable and even appalling! Your heart is noble and true. But this is the Griffon Empire. The annals of its history are written in intrigue, trickery and blood, both spilled and inherited! It is the existence of such deeds that makes those willing to walk the path of a hero all the more great! Those who cheat and betray to ensure their legacy outlives their mortal selves are often met with frustration and find themselves at the mercy of the bards, but it is the truly noble who are remembered for generation after generation! Nothing is more inspiring than those who meet success for doing the right thing."

Grimly, Maple smiled. "How about a story like that, then? Who are you inspired by?"

"Me?" Wallace held a wing to his chest. "Though I venerate history, it is the deeds still unsung and even undone that move me to adventure. The legendary Lord Grandbell, for whom Garsheeva's province is named to this day, may have brought unity to the continent by challenging and slaying every last corrupt, feuding lord in duels, and the ancient pegasus Lightningwing may have saved two hundred innocent captives from pirates in the Misty Mountains, but my heart sings for the lowly barmaid, inspired by a minstrel's tune to see what lies beyond her front door."

Starlight frowned. "Why is there so much bad stuff for heroes to go and fix if Garsheeva is so strong? She should be the one stopping ponies who are doing bad things, not some lord fighting duels."

Wallace sighed. "There are many who think like you, particularly the disenfranchised such as the sarosians. Garsheeva has never been a solver of problems. She protects the Empire from external affairs, guarding it from supernatural weather beyond our control and military advances as other empires have risen and fallen throughout the ages. She intervenes when the fate of the Empire itself is at stake, and nothing less, leaving alone any internal affair less severe than a full-blown civil war. Provided we do not violate her basic heresies, Garsheeva leaves the Empire's business as our business, preferring to watch mortals solve their own problems. She maintains the canvas, we paint the picture."

"Hmmph," Starlight snorted. "So much for her virtue being pure, or whatever. If she can help, she should."

"A philosophical debate for the ages," Wallace finished, stepping back. "Garsheeva is willing to speak with philosophers, petitioners and others who seek to change her mind, and there are rare stories where her heart has been swayed to move. But the mind of an immortal is a difficult thing to contest, and ultimately, philosophy becomes the act of telling a goddess how to do her job. This is why I am driven to act! If it is up to us to better the world, Wallace Whitewing will do his part."

Maple tilted her head. "That reminds me... Wallace, we were wondering. You said you won the tournament before, right? What did you wish for? And what would you wish for if you won it again?"

"Ah. Still unsatisfied with Morena's story, I take it." He hung his snowy head, crinkly mustache bobbing in the wind. "I wished for a gamble, my little pony. Garsheeva claims heresy to be an irredeemable sin, worthy of death by her own fangs. I asked for a wager: that I could visit a lot of recently-captured pirates awaiting execution and judge them myself. I told her I wished to match wits, and that if I could convince her even one of them deserved to live and could be brought around to a better future, they would be spared. She accepted my wager."

"Oh," Maple whispered. "So Morena was telling the truth..."

"What did I tell you about the relation between facts and truth?" Wallace lectured. "I told you what mattered, speaking from the heart! What happened was that I failed. The crew that had been captured were seasoned criminals who had lost all understanding of righteousness and nobility. I tried for hours, and failed to inspire even a single spark in them beyond selfish pleas and empty promises. It was not even worth contesting their fate, because for all my efforts, I could find nothing within them! I failed, and it was the most serious blow to my conviction I had ever received."

"Oh..." Maple's eyes began to water.

"But then!" Wallace straightened his back, proudly staring into the distance. "Rather than face the Empire's goddess, I spread my wings and flew. I picked a direction and went, stopping for nothing, not food nor rest nor my aching wounds from the tournament's final battles. For two straight days, I flew, and when I reached the sea, I sat down on a bench in a town and continued to think. And it was on that bench that I was so lost in thought, a pickpocket tried to swipe my coin bag. They pulled a knife, mistaking me for an easy target. And then... I told them they were holding the knife wrong."

He chuckled once. "That got a look. I set aside my gear and mimed a more effective mouth grip, knowing I was all or nothing! They asked who I thought I was, and I tossed them a single coin from my pouch, jingling it to show how much more I had! Somehow, we struck up a conversation, me with nothing to lose and them overcome by curiosity! I learned I had on my talons a teenage punk, dropped out of her final year in school with an upcoming foal she was too scared to tell her parents about and concerned with impressing a friend group who didn't deserve it. The kind of pony who has done bad things and could go on to do worse, but inside is nothing more than a lost, confused soul! And as we sat there, realizing who each other were, a nobody who wanted to be somebody and a somebody who wanted to do something, there was a spark, and a friendship was born."

Wallace was smiling now in fond remembrance. "That night, I got my wish, not from Garsheeva but from luck and guile and the willingness to take a chance! Before long, we were fighting, and I taught her a few of my moves! It was the kind of respect she was always looking for, and before the night was done, I made an offer. 'I have nothing better to do with my days, and you have only troubles here!' I said. 'How would you like to join forces and start an exploration team?'"

Finally sighing, he finished, "And that was how I met Morena, and went from being an idealistic lone warrior to an adventurer of legend."

"That was what really happened, wasn't it?" Maple gave him a serious look. "Without embellishing anything? Because..." She locked eyes perfectly with his. "I think it's more compelling than what Morena said a few days ago, at the tavern."

"That's because you've been paying attention," Wallace softly proclaimed. "You've listened and understood what I have to say. It is not the drama surrounding the choice for a better life that matters, because the choice is significant in itself! There are many who fail to understand that, who need the embellishment to really feel that the story matters."

"And you didn't make that much up," Starlight thought aloud. "You did say you wouldn't have met her if you hadn't wished that, and meeting her was like getting your wish, wasn't it?"

"Precisely." Wallace nodded in approval. "You are starting to understand the tenets of storytelling as well! Diego's story is similar, in that everything that supposedly happened is true to the spirit of things, even if there's a little reordering involved. And you should know that my version of the story is still slightly embellished... I skipped over the parts involving Morena's parents, as well as the tribulations of finding my traveling partner an uncouth teenager and later an infant foal! Our adventuring career may have taken a year or two to sort the rocks out..."

Maple grimaced. "That must not have gone well with her parents, running off with a stranger like that. While I'm remembering, though, what are you wishing for this year, if you win? Or can you tell me?"

Wallace gave his signature reassuring grin. "It went better than you would think! Apparently, running away is the typical way children leave home in that region! As for my own aims this year, I am conflicted. In recent years, Lord Percival has done me and my friends a great deal of truly important favors, and honor demands that I am in his debt. By rights, any wish I earned should be his, and it is plain to see what he would wish for: permission to remain in governance of Izvaldi through the end of his life, even after his grandfather passes away! It has been granted on many occasions before, and he is well-loved by the vast majority of his populace. Yet, I have a personal goal as well... a goal I'm sure you will discover soon enough once we reach Percival's manor! I won't tell you now, however. You will far better understand my desire by seeing this plight for yourself. If only it were possible to gain two wishes..."

"How far away is this place?" Starlight asked, the crumbled castle a gray dot on the horizon behind them.

"Be patient, young filly," Wallace intoned. "A long way yet."

Comments

[Hap]

I can't help but read Wallace's lines in the voice of Reinhardt (from Overwatch).

[Alchemik]

9232125
Well, now I'm not going to be able to not read his lines in that voice. Thanks! It actually works great.