The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Matters Of Trust

The obsidian door to the chapel swung aside as Gerardo pushed at the handle, showing Starlight a room without altars or decorations of any kind. The pews and ponies were still there in the murals, and Valey was at the far end, pacing anxiously back and forth just as they had left her, sending a ribbon of relief through Starlight's tense heart.

"Guys?" Valey looked up, her face relaxing in relief as well before shifting to concern. "Back already? Where's Harshwater?"

Gerardo's crest drooped. "Valey! Good to see you. We came to another conundrum, you see..."

He started to explain, Maple shuffling nervously, but something stuck in Starlight's head and wouldn't let her focus. When she had been separated from the group, Gerardo doubted her. He questioned whether she was really herself, wondered if she had been replaced, tried to convince her friends to turn on her. Even with Valey and Maple both to vouch for her... And now here they were, in exactly the same situation, and he didn't even spare an instant to check whether Valey was the real Valey.

She was, of course. The last thing Starlight was going to do was doubt her friends, and besides, she could just tell. Then why did Gerardo trust Valey and not her?

"I mean," Valey said, rubbing a foreleg with a hoof and averting her eyes. "Not to be selfish, but it is pretty weird sitting here by myself. Can't stop feeling like I'm being watched. So if Maple did have to stay behind, I kind of wouldn't mind..."

Starlight's eyes deliberately wandered. She didn't want to hear about how Maple and Valey, the two friends who did trust her, were both going to stop and stay here. She blocked her ears; she didn't want to know whether they were being forced to stay behind by Gerardo or abandoning her of their own free will. Either one would sting. Either one would lead her to mistrust her bright, bright friends.

Her eyes fell on the mural. It was the same as last time, with a decorated chapel and pews and an altar... but was now more defined, less vague. She got the impression after a minute of staring that the figures worshipping the empty altar were her friends.

"How bad would it be if we trusted Harshwater to get out of this and go home on her own?" Maple asked hesitantly. "Without freeing or awakening anything? It would be the batponies' own fault if they locked him so weakly that he could be accidentally set free..."

"I mean..." Valey tapped a hind leg. "One of the benefits of leaving me here is we've got a guard on the exit. We would have seen her flying out if she left while we were searching for the cave, and I would have seen her go past if she tried to exit while we were in here. So we know she's still here, and hasn't gotten turned back by anything..."

Gerardo cleared his throat. "For what it's worth, at the rate we're being forced to split up, if Starlight and I are the only ones who can cross that bridge, and given Harshwater's absence indicates this place goes on a while further yet, I'm somewhat dubious we can make it to the end at all."

"No..." Maple got a faraway look in her eyes. "This might sound weird, but do you get the impression we're having to split up because we're different? Valey is a batpony, I'm unusually harmonic... Maybe Harshwater is fine because there's nothing special about her."

Starlight frowned. If that was true, she'd have to turn back next, wouldn't she? Maybe she should just stay behind while she had the chance... No. She shook her head at herself; she wasn't giving up. Even if it was just to track down the friend of a friend, this cave was dumb and she wasn't going to let it stop her from doing something to help her friends.

However much time she was stuck in her thoughts for, Maple and Valey jolted her out of it by standing side by side, their backs to the exit. Both nodded at Gerardo, Maple with a smile. "If you find something else you can't get past, come back rather than trying to force it, okay?"

"Yeah. Take care of yourselves, you two." Valey frowned. "I'm still not getting danger aside from the moon glass, but this place seriously gives me the creeps."

"I..." Starlight swallowed, suddenly regretful that she had tuned out the decision. Maybe there was some way she could have helped. Now both of the friends who trusted her were staying behind, and there was nothing she could do about it because she had to go on. "I will. Promise."

Gerardo led the way back to the ravine, Starlight following him at a distance. The winds in the cavern almost seemed to have calmed, though she didn't really care. A new possibility was worming into her mind, and she really wished it wouldn't: was there any way Gerardo was a phantom, illusion or shapeshifter, like batponies' true forms? First he didn't trust her, and now he had gotten her on her own... Her eyes flicked to the black sword hanging at his side.

"Hey Gerardo?" she asked, needing to do something to set herself at ease.

"Hmm?" He looked over his shoulder, approaching the sagging bridge in the ravine.

Starlight took a breath. "Could I carry your sword? You're stronger than I am, so if there's a fight, I'll be a liability without a way to defend myself..." She didn't mention that she had her shadow cloak, and could effectively vanish and run even from magical means.

"Oh? Certainly." Blinking, Gerardo drew it and passed it to her. "Doesn't your horn not quite work in that state, though? I'm a little curious as to how you'll wield it..."

Shrugging, Starlight took the hilt in her mouth, which seemed to satisfy the griffon's curiosity. Carefully bending her neck, she stowed the sword beneath the strap of her saddlebags, its flat blade feeling like it belonged there, pressing coolly against her fur. He trusted her enough to offer a big advantage in a fight. That was good enough for her.

Now if only her other friends were here as well...

"I'm heavier, so I'll cross first," Gerardo declared upon reaching the bridge. "Should anything happen, turn back... Hmm?"

The path they had walked on along the edge of the ravine was cut into the wall, several support pillars holding up the roof between them and the drop-off. Starlight hadn't been focusing on the bridge when they arrived, but as the last pillar passed in front of it and her view became unobscured, she realized it was no longer sagging. Some force had repaired the bridge completely.

"Well, that's disconcerting," Gerardo murmured. "Sensible, though, if this is designed to be a reusable trap. Do you suppose we should return to get Maple?"

Starlight answered by putting a hoof out on it, tilting the edge so she could touch the glossy black mortar between the bricks. "It's still moon glass," she sighed. "The same thing would probably happen. I don't want her to fall..."

"Perhaps..." Gerardo tapped his chin. "Hmm. Well, let's at least have a look at what's in the next room before making any hasty commitments. Odds are otherwise we'll just have to cross right back over again."

Starlight pressed her belly to the bricks as she crossed, crawling to minimize her area. The winds thankfully left her alone, and soon both of them were on the other side. She was relieved to see that the stone door was real, not a painted illusion like the one in the mirror chapel, and it smoothly opened the moment Gerardo got close.

They stepped into a broad, circular room lit by ten magical torches. Though the floor and walls were brick and the ceiling should have rose quite high, it was missing, a chunk of natural rock so large and round protruding down in its place that it was like a boulder the size of a house had been chosen for the roof instead. At the very bottom of the hanging boulder, a thin metal rod reached down, ending in a disc. Light projected down from the disc in a cone, spreading across the center of the floor, illuminating in glowing runes a symbol Starlight had come to be very familiar with: The Emblem of the Nine Virtues. It looked an awful lot like a seal, and she was pleased to see it also looked completely intact.

This was the end; there were no further doors. And there was a pegasus, anxiously flitting around and searching the tower walls high and low. They were painted to look covered in stars, but nothing was there to be found.

"Harshwater!" Gerardo called, breaking into a beam. "We have arrived!"

"Eeep!" The pegasus gasped, instinctively hiding her face with her forelegs before dropping and landing in front of them. "Wait... Gerardo?" She gave him an uncertain look, pacing closer. "W-What are you doing here? Were you looking for me? How did you know I was here?"

Gerardo gave an amiable shrug. "Your letter left very little to the imagination. Once you mentioned a sea cave and Kero bidding you come here, the locals were kind enough to point us the right way."

"My letter?" Harshwater tilted her head and frowned. "Kero? I left, like, a tiny note with a friend telling you all not to leave without me while I was off getting a thank-you gift! Who ratted me out?" Her frown faded to confusion. "Who else even knew about this to tell on me?"

"...That's quite strange and concerning." Gerardo glanced quickly over his shoulder to the door. "Harshwater, this is no repository of pirate treasure; it's where bad things are kept and sealed. Valey and Maple were forced to stay behind earlier. We should return to them with all due haste, and can settle who wrote what once we're all outside and safe. Let us not spend any longer in here than necessary!"

Without waiting for a nod, he strode for the door, sending another spike of frustration into Starlight's heart. Really? After Valey had been on her own, at least Starlight trusted her too. But this was openly suspicious, something clearly didn't add up, and Gerardo took it in without batting an eye, yet still tried to interrogate her!? She gritted her teeth against the pain. Why her? This wasn't fair...

"That's very interesting," a calm male voice said behind them. "It seems the child is the least childish among you."

Starlight whirled to see Harshwater waiting... though her eyes had become slits, their blacks and whites inverted, and shadows were creeping their way up her body.

"Aa-aah!" Gerardo jumped in surprise, several bars sliding down across the stone exit and preventing it from opening. "What in-"

Harshwater threatened to burn with dark flame, wings fluttering. "Good night."

A ring of black burst from her, and Starlight felt her consciousness quickly slide away.

Comments

[Hap]

[Mira Starlight]

oh no, they got Harshwater