The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

All Comes Together

"I am afraid I have some news," Gerardo announced, strolling into the Immortal Dream's library. "The good news is that we have now reached Izvaldi! The bad news is... well..." His headcrest drooped. "Even though this ship is completely unaffected by weather, my navigational senses are not, so instead of arriving during the evening as expected, it is now the middle of the night. As you're all no doubt aware."

Jamjars looked up from a chair where she was reading and raised an eyebrow, the room's sole occupant save for Gerardo. "Who are you talking to?"

Gerardo sighed at her. "When a griffon has an announcement to make, he makes an announcement. Even if there's but one soul to hear it. With that said, I've been flying for over a day straight, and believe I am going to bed. Have a pleasant night."

"Hold up!" Jamjars snapped, closing her book and catching his attention. "I mean... wait! Before you go, where's the will of Kero's you said was with that moon glass for Puddles? I want to read it."

Gerardo blinked, then shrugged. "I'm hardly sure what you'll do with it, but here. I was poring over it earlier during our flight. This is a copy of the original, but return it in one piece, would you?"

He withdrew a scroll from his uniform and passed it to her, and Jamjars took it in her telekinesis. "Thanks. I'll put it on the bridge when I'm done." She immediately buried her nose in it, biting the corner of her tongue and letting the griffon go about his way.

---

"Starlight." A little hoof insistently jabbed Starlight's sleeping shoulder, not giving her time to wake before poking again. "Starlight."

"Nngh." Starlight grunted and waved a leg at the annoyance, cuddled against Maple and not wanting to wake up.

"Get up!" Jamjars' voice hissed. "This is important."

Groaning, Starlight realized this was in fact Jamjars, and she was far too tenacious to take go back to bed for an answer. Quietly, she extracted herself from the bed, made for the hallway, and didn't say a word until the door was closed again behind her. "What?"

In the dim light reaching down the corridor from the library, Jamjars looked visibly upset, far closer to losing her cool than Starlight had seen her before. Jamjars beckoned her towards the light, moving quickly ahead, and Starlight followed.

"Have you seen this?" Jamjars quietly demanded, holding Gerardo's transcript of the will up to Starlight's face.

"I..." Starlight frowned, quickly reading it. "This sounds familiar. It's Kero's will. We found it and read it when we went back to Ironridge. I've seen it..." She wanted to ask why, but quickly realized she had a very good guess already.

"His mercenary," Jamjars said, slapping it against a small table with a hoof, "was going around getting paid to look for whatever dumb, sorry mares who couldn't care for themselves he could find and giving them more responsibilities they couldn't care for, and Kero paid them off with moon glass so they couldn't complain! Including my mother. Do you realize what this means?"

Starlight slumped her shoulders. "There's a lot of things it means. Which one are you talking about?"

Jamjars glared at the will. "Do you know how long I've been mad at my mother for her willful negligence in having so many more foals than she could care for? Look at the way I've grown up. Look how much work I've had to do to better myself on my own because my parents were too overwhelmed to do their jobs properly. And this will says Kero was specifically trying to make that happen to as many mares as possible? To put them in that situation whether they wanted to make bad choices or not?"

Starlight slowly nodded. "It does..."

"This is going on my list," Jamjars warned. "I'm taking this as a personal slight, and Kero is from Izvaldi. And do you know what else this will says?" She raises an eyebrow. "The most important job of Kero's career was to guard Puddles' moon glass. But if Puddles was in Izvaldi, as well as the pony who made her into a windigo, that means Izvaldi gave him the job to hide it. And this will doesn't say to take it back to Izvaldi. It says to take it to Gazelle. Who's friends with Meltdown, who hunts down ponies who do bad things, and Puddles thought there were bad things for us to find down in the tunnels. I bet Izvaldi was blackmailing him with something into something else, so if he died and someone got this will, they'd bring down the law on Izvaldi and get revenge. And you know what I bet they were blackmailing him into doing?"

Starlight blinked. "Wait, what? Slow down. You think Kero says in his will to take Puddles' moon glass to Gazelle because it would make him suspicious of Izvaldi?"

"Maybe he's in league with them. I don't know." Jamjars shrugged. "But I did pick up from the last time we were here that the school here is attached to an orphanage. Orphans... foals the mercenaries take in because their mothers can't care for them... Kero being from Izvaldi... You have to admit all this sounds like it's connected, right?"

"I'm not really following your logic," Starlight said. "You're talking too fast. Start at the point you're making and work backwards from there?"

Jamjars huffed. "Look. Kero, Izvaldi, Puddles and Gazelle are all related, and right now, I'm very mad about everything this will says about foals. So what if I made a few jumps in logic? My explanation fits everything we know, and it's that Izvaldi was blackmailing Kero into doing that stuff with the Ironridge mares and the moon glass, and Kero wrote this will because he wants us to get Gazelle to get Izvaldi in trouble with Meltdown."

"Except that how would Gazelle know what that piece of moon glass was or how it relates to Puddles?" Starlight raised an eyebrow. "And why would they have Kero protect it if he might betray them?"

Jamjars sighed. "Look, I'm good at hunches. I don't feel like sitting around, and what I do feel like doing right now is messing with Izvaldi. There's obviously a conspiracy here and I don't care if any of the parties involved get hurt except us, so this is all the more reason to go and get something to hold over them in case we need an escape card. So are you coming or what?"

Starlight blinked. "Coming?" She stepped backwards, shying towards a chair. "Wait, now?"

Jamjars grinned, rolling up the will and stuffing it in her mane. "To go see what Percival's up to? Duh. We just arrived and it's the middle of the night, so even if someone thought we'd try something, they might not know yet. And even better, it's the middle of a rainstorm. Not only will that make us harder to see and fewer guards want to be outside, but rain on the roof is romantic, so Percival will almost definitely be up to something. You in?"

Starlight sighed, rotating her ears upward and listening to the lack of rain on the roof. There was the energy comet, doing its job... "A rainstorm also means we'll get wet," she pointed out. "You realize that, right?"

"It's the price of victory." Jamjars smugly flicked her with her tail as she walked by, a stiffness still in her step. "Look, I'm mad, and I'm not taking it out on you, so we're going to find someone who deserves it for me to take it out on. How's that?"

"I don't know..." Starlight followed along behind reluctantly, but still following. At the very least, she wasn't letting Jamjars sneak off alone.

---

"Hey there, chum!" High Prince Gazelle dropped out of a window, landing near Wallace Whitewing and streaming water from his fur in a higher corridor in Stormhoof Keep. "That's quite the purposeful face you have there. What's the mission, Wallace old friend?"

"Prince." Wallace's grin was hard and set, more of a spark beneath it than usual. "I've had an abrupt change in fortunes my delegation must be made aware of. But Izvaldi's wing in the colosseum is empty and I know for a fact Lord Percival is at home, so I was seeking someone to inform here instead."

"What, like Chauncey?" Gazelle rolled his slitted eyes. "Come now, he's boring. Any chance you could tell little old me instead? I love gossip, you know."

Wallace let out a single chuckle. "I'm more than twice your age, little prince! I must inform Izvaldi that the terms of our tournament sponsorship are changing. Thought I'd see if I couldn't entice them here for a summit."

"All the bigwigs at once?" Gazelle made a huge show of counting on his feathers. "That's... all two of them. Right. Izvaldi is such a tiny place, sometimes..." He hugged himself and shuddered. "Long live Lord Percival, and all that. Wouldn't exactly be my favorite province to inherit if their real lord kicked the bucket before Percival gets his lordship officially recognized." He lifted an eyebrow at Wallace. "You are still playing at that, right? Wishing for his legitimacy if you win?"

Wallace grinned. "Fear not, little prince. I'm here to reassure them that's precisely the plan! A word of encouragement, as it will be. Might I ask you to keep quiet so I may tell them myself, though?"

Gazelle winked. "My lips are sealed! What's the cause for panic, though?" He nudged Wallace conspiratorially with a soggy shoulder. "Tell meee..."

Wallace's voice quieted. "Morena's daughter has returned to us," he murmured. "For real. I'm still not sure how you managed to lose her after the events in Goldoa, but she has not only been brought back but fully restored to her true self."

"She has!?" Gazelle's eyes sparkled. "Wonderful news! But fear not, fear not, I'll keep it on the down-low. And do let me know what happened to her sometime, if you know that much. Meltdown's been going crazy trying to figure out how she disappeared..." He huffed, shrugged and grinned. "A pleasure catching up with you. If I see Chauncey, I'll let him know you're in the market for an audience."

Wallace bowed and continued his journey, leaving Gazelle behind, leaning casually against a wall.

When Wallace was fully out of sight, Gazelle waited a little longer, seeing to it that no one was watching. "Someone figured out the secret to getting Puddles back to normal, did they?" He flexed his claws, shivering in anticipation, and smiled a terrible, wonderful, awful smile. "Uh oh..."

Comments

[Sharp Quill]

Sounds like Jamjar’s’ deductions concerning Kero’s will, Puddles’ moonglass, Gazelle and Izvaldi might be a tad off.

[Zapdroid]

Damn cat-bird-pony. Just what is it you’re hiding?

[Hap]

Goddammit Gazelle what are you playing at?

[Alchemik]

Mr. Devil-may-care's machinations become increasingly concerning. He's spinning a lot of plates here.

[sploopy slooder]

why i everyone ignoring how obviously bad Chauncey is? liki guess noone told wallace(?) but seriously the dude is creepy as fuck bad news.