The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Always A Way

Shinespark's horn flickered, then sparked. On the third try, it burst to life just long enough for her to teleport out of her armor and land shakily a few paces away, letting off a wisp of steam.

"You alright, there?" Valey asked, standing in the entrance to the engine room.

"I might need to sleep that off..." Shinespark stared cross-eyed up at the horn for a second, stepping away from the armor and leaving it in a dark corner. "Sleep everything off, really. I did too much over the last few days. Do I look as bad as I feel?"

Valey looked. Shinespark managed a grin, her usually-messy mane an utter wreck. Below her neckline, her coat was sweaty and mussed from padding; above it, her fur was stained and darkened by the residue of battle, blood dried onto her cheek and several other places. Her horn still steamed a little.

"You need a bath," Valey decided. "I need a bath. I dunno. Maybe you'd look dashing heroic in the battle-scarred way, but I'm really not in a mood to appreciate it. Bananas."

Shinespark seated herself against the wall, leaning into the polished wood and resting her chin on a support beam. "Same to you, Valey."

Valey was quiet for a while, then joined her. "Hey," she said, settling down with a swish of her tail and sitting calmly just out of hoof's reach. "So. You, uh. Really wanted to stay, didn't you?"

"Yes." Shinespark hung her head. "And I might have, if not for the others. Grenada didn't have offense or defense. Melia... I don't know her experience with combat, but she wasn't helping. I was the only one who could carry them out, and I wasn't going to risk them in a place like that."

More explosions rumbled in the distance, still audible as Puddles and Meltdown continued to clash. Valey sighed. "Yeah. Sorry I kinda tried to run off. Wasn't very cool of me." She swallowed. "So this is it, huh?"

"It's just like Ironridge." Shinespark's voice was hollow. "There was a lot of chaos. It looked like everything was lost, only we had a way out. Even though we would lose everything, we had a way to keep going. Then a miracle happened, but I think we're beyond the point of that here, now that we chose to leave. There's just... no way we could command the fighting to stop, or end it by nonlethal force and not see it resume again the next day. And if we tried to stay, Meltdown will probably try to imprison Grenada for joining a pirate crew."

"Still gotta hear the story on her." Valey's ears flicked. "But I'm pretty sure Ironridge didn't actually happen that way. You got sat on by Herman and broke your leg and were out cold for the last stuff, remember? I was actually there." She turned to face Shinespark. "And we totally did not have a way out. We thought we were getting to your ship, and it ran out of power and just dropped us there. If it hadn't been for Starlight, died, then and there, just like that. Miracle or bust. Our way to run was an illusion, and Birdo's plan for getting the windigo heart setup fixed was too long of a shot to remotely stand a chance of working. Bananas, I could use another miracle like that right now. But that was all Starlight."

"What about me?" Starlight's voice asked, and both of them turned to see the filly standing in the doorway.

"Oh. Hey, kid." Valey nodded weakly. "Just talking. What are you up to?"

Starlight turned to show her back, where a dull windigo heart was balanced. "Maple saved this from the pirates," she explained. "We don't have anywhere better to keep it, so I was going to put it back here. Just helping to clean up the ship." She folded her ears, looking frustrated. "It's about all I can do when everyone else is off fighting to keep us safe. Thanks for coming back. After last night and how things were when you left, Maple would have been really upset if you hadn't made it home, Valey."

"Oh. Yeah. That's right. We had all that talking and stuff, didn't we?" Valey sighed. "I have no idea how to straighten my life out. I need a better foundation than whatever it is I've got."

"Can I see that?" Shinespark interrupted, beckoning Starlight over.

Starlight shrugged, still holding the windigo heart. "Sure."

Shinespark took the icy ball in her forehooves with a cold sigh, staring into its depths. It reflected in her eyes, and Starlight didn't leave. "Thinking about hard things?" the filly guessed.

"Something like that." Shinespark swallowed, throat sticky. "Just wondering how things could have gone differently. Wishing in vain for another Ironridge, how we somehow beat the windigoes and saved all the civilians and sent away Yakyakistan and had it end so much better than it could have. I keep thinking it should be a puzzle and the pieces could just fall into place, but what have I got? Valey and I are at our limits for fighting. We've got an empty heart and nothing to power the harmony extractor, and even if we did, I have no clue what we'd do with it. Maybe I could feed this to Puddles if we got back over there, but..." Another explosion echoed in the distance, and she fell silent.

Starlight frowned. "Wishing for another Ironridge? You know half your city got destroyed, right?"

"I just mean a miracle," Shinespark groaned. "Starlight, there's a giant pirate ship out there with a whole lot of captive Varsidelian soldiers. The soldiers who apparently got kicked off the merchant airships they were guarding when the Empire confiscated them to send them to Ironridge because of the drop in contact from the things we watched occur. Now they're fighting for their way out, but they're hopelessly outmatched, and we are too! But I still feel responsible because it's technically my fault they're there, and because I hate seeing that happen to innocent ponies... I don't want to abandon them! And then there's Puddles, who turned out to be helping us all along, and we're leaving her to a fate I don't even know once Gazelle and Meltdown win against her... They're the ones who are making all that noise."

"Uhhh... Sparky?" Valey tapped her shoulder, then pointed at Starlight's wide eyes. "Foal? Right there? These are kinda grown-up problems. Just a little."

At that, Starlight frowned harder. "And either of you are that much older than me? I thought Shinespark wasn't even twenty."

"She has a point." Shinespark gritted her teeth. "I'm really not old enough for this either. I learned that painfully with how Herman exploited what I'd do, and when my feelings caused me to break from the plan and cut off Braen..."

"Yeah? Well..." Valey sighed. "Bananas. I guess there's not a lot you can do, is there? What do you think, Starlight?"

"I don't know." Starlight shrugged. "I don't care about what happens to a bunch of pirates. They attacked us, didn't they?" She tilted her head. "If you were Maple, I'd give you a hug because that's what makes her feel better. Everyone liked that in Ironridge, actually. I'll do that, if you want. But I'm not attaching myself to your machine again just for this, if that's what you're planning."

Shinespark feebly shook her head, then bowed it, sitting slumped with her back against the wall and her forelegs spread in a decrepit invitation.

"Here." Starlight wandered closer and buried her face in Shinespark's chest, wrapping her forelegs around her barrel. "You need a bath."

"Heh," Shinespark chuckled. "Yeah, Valey said that too."

"Speaking of Valey..." Valey got up and nudged her way closer, coming around behind Starlight and joining the hug so that the filly was sandwiched in the middle. "I think I could use some of that, too."

"T-Thanks." Shinespark shuddered in their embrace.

"Really stinks, doesn't it," Valey agreed, realizing she was doing nothing to make them cleaner but hugging anyway. "Bananas. I hope Birdo gets us heading away from those explosions soon. Cutie Mark says they're not a threat, but... every time another goes off, I feel like I should push myself too far again and go back. I wish there was something I could do."

Shinespark shifted in her grasp. "I wish there was something anyone could do," she sniffed. "Even if it's not us. I hate that this has to happen. W-We killed so many and are letting so many more die, and all that will happen in the end is that Puddles will be captured and the pirates who live will go on to pirate more... unless Puddles wins, and I don't even know what she'd do to Meltdown and Gazelle then. I wish we didn't have to give up on the Griffon Empire because of this."

"I wish it too," Valey echoed, Starlight feeling unusually warm against her chest. Too much ocean air... She pressed closer, careful not to crush the filly. "I wish it could end any way better than this."

Starlight grunted in agreement. For a moment, things were silent.

"...See? I told you-" Sirena's voice drew into range of the door, then stopped as she drew into sight. "Oh. Whoops! Are you busy? Maybe we shouldn't bother you."

"Buh?" Valey looked up, noticing her and Melia in the doorway. "Oh. It's you. Meh, we're just... Meh. Glad to see you're hanging out, at least."

"Is there something you need in here?" Shinespark frowned, lifting her head. "It's the engine room, but kind of without power at the moment. Unless you happen to have found a crystal palace deep underground and happen to have some of its fire on you..." She sighed, slumping again.

Sirena shrugged. "Nah, I'm just giving a tour of the ship. Wanted to show off all the cool stuff in here. Get a load of that, right?" She pointed upward, toward the rail mesh that formed the core of the harmony extractor. "Apparently that's also Ironridge tech. Small world, huh?"

Shinespark's eyes suddenly narrowed. "What do you mean, also?"

"You're right," Melia mused, rubbing her chin. "It looks exactly like the amplifier Chauncey has behind the stage for our concerts."

Shinespark blinked, hard. "What? This is experimental and was developed in strict secrecy entirely in the last ten years! It's one of only two in existence, and the other is in Riverfall. What are you talking about?"

Valey sat bolt upright, between the sisters, Shinespark, the twin extraction helmets connected to the machine, and finally Starlight. "I have no idea how that happened," she whispered, "or even if what's happening is what I think is what's happening, but say that again. Say that again! Because bananas, your concert felt exactly the same as a dusk statue when I heard it, and those pirates are the most gullible things ever."

Comments

[Mini-Joe]

infinite power through SONG! typical for MLP, i love it.

[sploopy slooder]

stop saying bananas every second sentence for fucks sake. it just looks like a shitty speech impediment now.