The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Left Too Long

"So, hey." Valey stood in Shinespark's doorway, leaning against the frame. "It's been a day or two. I did my stuff, entered the tournament, won a battle. You wanna have that talk with Grenada?"

"Oh. Hey, Valey." Shinespark's ears folded. "I really do need to get around to that, don't I?"

Valey nodded. "Yup. I've talked it through and given you your hugs. Done some dumb stuff I told you I'd do. Now you gotta do your end. She's your sister. Go talk to her."

Shinespark briefly looked away.

"Or I'll carry you there, and if that doesn't work I'll tell her myself! Bananas, get moving!" Valey was suddenly behind her, pushing and shoving her side toward the door. "Come on! This is a great day for it. You've thought enough. Now scoot!"

Swallowing, Shinespark relented. "You know where she is?"

"No excuses, get moving." Valey pushed her through the door, entering the cabin corridor. "Probably in one of these things. Seriously, I am not cut out to be a therapist and made the effort anyway, so it's time for you to make a bit of effort too and check a few doors! Go on! Watch how easy it is!" She shoved open a door she knew was unoccupied, turning and grinning. "See? Boom."

"You sure are into this," Shinespark remarked, trying a door of her own. "Having a good day today? You... were a lot slower when we talked about this the other day."

Valey shrugged. "Too much? Be honest, here."

Shinespark bit her lip.

"Hey." Valey patted her on the back. "Yeah, I had a kinda exhilarating and overall not-so-bad day. Sorry if it's the wrong mood for the situation, but you look like you need a push."

"...No, you're right." Shinespark shook her head. "I do. Thanks, Valey. I'm..."

"Sweet." Valey stepped back after she trailed off, nodding three doorways down. "She's in that one. This is your show, but I'll be right here."

Shinespark swallowed again, taking a full minute to steel herself. "Thanks," she eventually managed, stepping forward as Valey sank watchfully into the shadows. "I can do this."

She knocked, and a voice replied, "Come in?"

"It's me." Shinespark slid the door open halfway, stepping through it and shutting it partially behind her.

Grenada sat in a chair at a tidy desk, her bed made and a map of Ironridge superimposed over the desk surface. It hadn't been altered for the damage from flooding. "Hello, Shinespark," she greeted, identical mane moving slightly as she turned her head, regarding Shinespark without an expression.

"Hello, Grenada," Shinespark sighed, looking for a place to sit. "Sorry. I've... left you without a good enough answer for over a month, now."

"The bed is fine." Grenada turned her chair so she could properly face her. "And it has been over a month, yes. Did you come to tell me you changed your mind?"

Now that she was in the room, Shinespark found talking easier. "No. Just that I made it up. I..."

"Didn't reciprocate my feelings," Grenada finished for her. "If you had then, you would have said so, and you don't grow to love someone by keeping them at length for a month. If you are here to tell me you'll try something on my behalf, I don't find that kind of capitulation attractive."

"I came to apologize, alright!?" Shinespark loudly cut her off, slamming the door the rest of the way closed with her horn. "For wasting time and avoiding you for a whole month after we came back from the dead for each other! I didn't... I..." She gritted her teeth. "I didn't think things through, buried too much from Ironridge, had no idea how to deal with it when it un-buried itself, and... I messed up. And I'm sorry."

Grenada folded her ears. "There is a lot more to you than the you I knew in Ironridge. I would have much rather spent that time getting to know you as friends and sisters than avoiding each other. You could have just told me how you felt instead of taking an entire month to show it."

Outside the door, Valey winced. Yep, Grenada was mad. She sat where she was, silently rooting for Shinespark.

"I could have, but I messed things up." Shinespark hung her head. "And like I said, I'm here to apologize. You're right that I don't reciprocate what you... felt for me, but if you want to know me, get used to seeing me like this. I'm not a knight in shining armor. I make giant mistakes, like this one, and like when I de-powered Braen and let you die in the first place."

For a moment, Grenada glowered at her, the expression eventually trailing off into uncertainty. "It's hard to be mad at you when you are doing all the work for me."

"Glad I could help." Shinespark kept staring at the ground. "I'm Shinespark. A kid who took on far more than she was capable of and made a lot of mistakes that hurt a lot of ponies, not Braen, the perfect leader and defender. You always used to call me that, whether I was in the armor or out of it. You didn't, just now."

Grenada kept watching.

"Braen is dead, by the way," Shinespark added. "As a persona and a concept. Even when I tried getting her back out to fight pirates, I messed it up and let a lot of Varsidelians and batponies get killed. If she's the one you were in love with... I'm the one you've got."

"Shinespark..." Grenada sighed. "I don't know what to say."

"Whether you're willing to be friends would be a place to start," Shinespark said. "What did you want me to do if I reciprocated? Just... be your knight? Or did you want to know me as more than a shining leader? Figure out what I was like under that?"

"Yes." Grenada swallowed. "The latter."

"Congratulations, then." Shinespark shrugged, no merriment in it. "I make mistakes. You now know that. One of them might have been hiding our real relationship from you for so long. Another was definitely this, and taking a month to get around to it."

Grenada frowned. "But you were the pony who stood for half of Ironridge, and if that was a lie, it was the best and most productive one I've ever seen! You made a difference for everyone. A big difference, Shinespark. And it is so frustrating, because I don't know how to see you. I'm not... I am not used to this."

"Well?" Shinespark looked up. "I'm sorry. Very sorry. And I have a lot of growth left to do and things left to learn about myself, but I do want you as a friend and a sister. Could we... keep trying? Can you forgive me?"

Grenada sighed. "It will take time. But I will try." She squeezed her eyes closed. "I need to think about things. We can see what happens."

Wordlessly, Shinespark nodded, shuffling to her hooves and closing the door again on her way out.