The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Friends, Not Partners

"Why hadn't I heard about this before?" Maple whispered to herself, frozen still. "It makes so much sense, though... I noticed how few people there seemed to be in Izvaldi, and I knew Percival's father had a bad reputation, and I knew Percival took the population being healthy very seriously since he built the hospital, and I even knew there was something wrong with the infant mortality rate but I didn't want to dig any further... All the pieces were there, and I didn't even put them together..."

"Maple, that was a long time ago..." Starlight nudged her. "Maybe before you were born. You couldn't have done anything."

Valey shrugged. "To be fair, I mean, if you were a survivor of some epidemic or outbreak caused because your ruler was careless and it happened however many decades ago, you'd eventually lose your outrage and just stop talking about it too, wouldn't you? Like, that's how it was in Sosa. Nobody there talked about the good old days with anyone who hadn't lived them too, if at all. Even then, it was bitter. They just pretended like it hadn't happened." She glanced over at Felicity. "But, like, what about you guys, though? So you lived through that. That's Izvaldi's story and Mistvale's story, not yours. Were you, like... just giving us a history lesson, or something? Not that that isn't cool too."

Felicity smiled apologetically. "Oh, but that is our story. I'm sorry to say it, but we were a statistic, darling. It isn't pretty, but you wouldn't be hard-pressed at all to find someone with a similarly sorry fate. Suffice to say we survived the contamination and its dreadful epidemic and went on living our lives in Izvaldi for quite some time, until we moved here for certain... political reasons."

"I explained that to Valey when we met, I think," Senescey added. "I think? I think. Izvaldi is going to have a change of leadership soon, once their real lord passes away. Gazelle will inherit it, and he says he's a friend to sarosians but we wanted to ride out any unexpected changes until we see how he rules here instead."

"Isn't that a little odd?" Valey tilted her head. "Like, batponies get trashed in Stormhoof. Nasty looks everywhere you go, and never try actually dealing with anyone... You really think whatever could happen there is worse than spending a year or however long here?"

Starlight frowned at her. "It sounds reasonable to me. You told us Gazelle killed a lot of batponies on that pirate ship, remember? Some friend that sounds like."

"See?" Felicity beamed at Starlight. "It's... well... I want to say definitely a justifiable concern, but we are getting by here in Stormhoof, as you can tell. And it's not like we aren't used to managing a bit of adversity. This is hardly Everlaste, and sweet Night Mother we aren't going back to Gyre. Who cares if we get a few dirty looks and occasionally ran off by shopkeeps and guards?" She licked a wingtip and ran it over an ear.

"There are benefits, too," Larceny mumbled from her bean bag chair, half asleep. "Everyone keeps the lights out because power is too expensive, so we get to go anywhere we want at night."

"But that's a little secret," Felicity added, shushing her sister with a hoof to her lips and winking at Valey. "One you probably already know, of course."

Valey frowned. "Didn't you say you took an oath or something about your conduct and reflecting on batponies?"

"Yes, and one of its core tenets is not being a doormat, darling," Felicity insistently replied. "I didn't say we were nice to everyone all the time. But we do have standards. Besides, with all the pirate rabble out there and most sarosians' tendencies to turn to lawless, self-centered thuggery, we're practically saints." She sighed. "I can tell this thread of conversation is worrying to you, though. Perhaps a little remediation is in order. What would you like of us, Valey, to set yourself at ease?"

"No, no, I'm cool." Valey waved them off with a wing. "Just, like... we're trying to avoid trouble, here. You seem pretty friendly, so just do what you gotta do and don't invite us to come along."

"Don't invite you?" Felicity's face fell. "Seems like an awful shame with your apparent talents. There've been more and more stories on the street lately, ponies who say they used to live in Ironridge long before everything went dark. Oftentimes, you show up in them! But wishes are wishes, and it would ill behoof us not to respect yours." She paused and bit her lip, eventually suppressing a grin. "Are you sure you don't even want to hear what we're up to? It would be a shame to make a hasty judgement that you don't want anything to do with our proclivities..."

Senescey giggled. "You just want to impress her and show off."

Valey blinked at her. "Okay, I thought you just meant you were random thieves, but now I'm actually curious. What do you want me to ask about?"

Felicity giggled. "Oh, a little bit of this and that. If you must know..." She lowered her voice to a loud whisper. "The areas that are unlit? Extend all the way to Lordling Geribaldi's tower. Stormhoof's son and heir. Eeeheehee!"

"And...?" Valey held her breath.

"He's a coward." Felicity went back to playing with her hoof polish. "And an introvert. Frankly quite wimpy. Worried his dad doesn't think enough of him. You know... everything negative one could say about a scholarly type. Very desperate for validation." A grin split across her face. "Very easy to play off of. Would you believe me if I said I've been appearing like a phantasm in his chambers every third night for quite some time now, singing him the words he desperately wants to hear, and have the heir to the province wrapped around my hoof?"

"Uhhh..." Valey eyed her incredulously. "I mean... Actually, yeah, he kind of was. Bananas. Did you do that?"

Senescey spoke up. "It turns out that in this city, there's a lot of room for anyone who wants to make a difference to get up and do that. All you need is some self-confidence and the ability to shadow sneak. We're just three sisters, and it's not a lot, but we do what we can so that the Empire can be better for everyone in the days ahead."

"Everyone. Not just sarosians," Larceny clarified.

"Oh, indeed," Felicity agreed. "But regardless, that's what we do, and you're welcome to have as little a part of it as you desire."

"Huh." Valey blinked at them one last time. "Usually, I'd say that's really cool, and maybe the kind of thing I'd hop in on... but seriously, we're trying to stay out of trouble. Need, need, need to. We're on a streak and don't wanna break it now. So, like, normal, non-business-partner friends?"

"Friends," Felicity happily agreed. "You're always welcome to visit us later, and feel free to call on us if you ever need a favor in this city. We don't have much, but we're very good at using what we have."

Comments

[ZanyZapper]

9338298
Well, I tried searching for Senescey and honestly got nothing of much interest. A lot of hits about a historically significant woodcut print from the 16th century of a chateau in France, one obituary for a guy in Florida, and a suggestion of "did you mean senesce" which has to do with aging or deterioration due to age. That last one what you're going for? On Bing the first hit was the chateau again, but the second one was this story!

But I feel like I'm still missing something.

[Czar_Yoshi]

9340547
...I may have had too much fun with this, but no promises she was only named after one of those things. Or only two, either.

[Numinos]

it's frustrating that they still have two thingamagicks from the Ironridge and haven't used them. One was that soundstone with yaks' cutie-mark science related stuff, and another stone in a bag with freaking Puddles written on it.

Great story, partly sad that I wasn't there while it was going, but it's quite engaging to binge it when it's already done : )

[BurningSkies]

9340547
Florida Man...

[Venlinelle]

10837219
I completely forgot about that bag, thank you for the reminder…