The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Our Story Resumes

Two weeks passed, and the Immortal Dream flew south. After endless piloting shifts between Shinespark and Gerardo, using the ship's clock to mark the passage of time, the sky finally began to brighten, the end of Mistvale in sight.

Starlight had spent that time talking and thinking, confiding some things to her friends and holding close to her heart others. She had given up debating the origin of the black sword; all her friends agreed that if it really had been Gerardo's, all their memories seemed to say otherwise. Gerardo himself Starlight had spent more time with, and she started to feel the griffon himself was different, too. He was a far cry more respectful and better at knowing when to speak than the indolent griffon who had broken down Maple's door once upon a time in Riverfall and driven them into the Defense Force their first day in Ironridge; Maple remembered both incidents, but brushed them off as accidents. But Starlight recalled she had been deeply upset at the time...

Did the sword have some kind of butterfly effect? How far had things really changed? The more she thought about it, the simplest explanation felt like that without it, Gerardo seemed older.

In the cabins below, Harshwater was resting, having been treated in the grand temple but far from anyone's idea of good condition. Felicity had fared much better, walking around and looking for all the world like she was normal, though close observation showed she never used her wings and spent a lot more time sitting or laying down than others. Nyala was still a board with wings; without Shinespark having available time to work on her, she couldn't become anything else. But Gerardo had seen her relocated to the bridge, where someone was always on duty and Amber, Slipstream and Grenada were increasingly spending time.

Their stay in the temple had lasted a day longer their meeting with the Night Mother, and several had been tempted to stay longer. It seemed like a shame to go somewhere that peaceful, Maple had said, where the population regarded her with the same polite fascination a less-showy Gerardo would have seen in Riverfall, and leave after only a day. But the collective decision had been made to not push their timing with the tournament's third round, and Valey wanted a stop in Izvaldi to get Harshwater properly treated. The prospect of Izvaldi put Starlight slightly on edge, remembering Chauncey wanted the Nightmare Modules and knowing she had them now... but the fake Yanavan's story had been debunked, in all the information the Night Mother had given them, no one had remembered to ask for the real one. They would have to wait until Valey could access a Dusk Statue to know for sure.

Right before they set off, Jamjars had returned from wherever she'd been, and for almost everyone, everything was like it had been before... everyone except her, Valey and Felicity.

"I dunno how many more times I can say it," Valey sighed, laying on her back in a library chair, Starlight watching from a corner. "Turns out sometimes? When you're relying on a big cheese to give you a job you need, they can sometimes be the reason you need it in the first place. It's rude, but there's nothing you can do except play along or bail."

"I'm not sure saying it again will make a difference, darling," Felicity apologized, chin acting as a blanket for her hooves. "The Night Mother ordered Yanavan to do what he did, and he did so knowing what would happen. If I had grown up a cleric in the temple, all this... Gyre, Izvaldi, my body... never would have gone the way it did. Not ever."

"Yep. And it stinks." Valey rolled around a little. "So is this conversation gonna go any differently from last time? 'Cuz commiserating together doesn't usually make you feel better."

Felicity folded her ears. "Where else has it to go? No amount of words can change what's become of me. Either I walk away in indignation and resign myself and my sisters to our fate, or swallow my pride and do what it takes, even though I've lost faith in my side. Surely there's no third answer."

Valey shrugged. "Have you tried crying a ton and wallowing a little? Letting someone hug it off?"

"Darling!" Felicity's ears slicked back in shock. "Don't make fun, Miss Valey, I'm being serious!"

"Yep. I am too." Valey raised an eyebrow. "Look, I don't know how to feel about the Night Mother. She was actually pretty cool and helpful to me. But it's pretty clear you're ticked at her, right? Bananas, I was ticked at everything when I first switched sides. For a night or two, my life was chaos. You remember how I got through it?"

Felicity frowned. "I recall your story was distinctly short on stopping to wallow, darling. Wasted time benefits nopony."

"Actually?" Valey wrinkled her nose in a cheeky grin. "I handled it by stabbing my old boss with an icicle and punching him in the face. And bananas was it cathartic. I really needed that." She straightened up. "Point is, you're ticked too 'cuz you feel like you just wasted a million years of your life and if you'd known what you do now, you might've done things differently. Right?"

Felicity gave her a look. "But I still have no choice but to work for her if we ever want to be truly healed."

"And that's frustrating!" Valey pointed at the ceiling, leaning back again. "You gotta take that out on something! Hit a pillow, or a friend who can take it. Yell a bunch, have a tantrum. Right?"

Felicity curled her lip. "That sounds morbidly undignified."

Valey winked. "Hey, no one ever said being completely shameless has no benefits. Look, I'm just bringing it up because two of our crew come from this neat touchy-feely city of mares where sleeping in platonic cuddle piles is basically the norm. You say you need a shoulder, Maple and Amber are gonna be like, 'Oh, that's normal!' Trust me on this. It's like a sappy, sentimental pillow for the heart."

Felicity narrowed her eyes. "Are you being entirely up front with me? I feel like I'm getting played."

"I mean..." Valey rolled her shoulders. "Okay, so maybe it is a little embarrassing. I'm not the huggiest type anymore either. Reminds me a little too much of when I used to do it to make ponies uncomfortable. But it could seriously help!" Her legs went slack. "You are frustrated, so do find some way to let loose a little."

"Darling?" Felicity's eyes turned innocent, then hard again. "I'm a lot further gone than mere frustration."

Valey yawned. "Standing by what I said. And once you've done that, know what you should do next? Ditch the Night Mother, ditch us, ditch your sisters for one night alone, and do something, like, ridiculously fun. Something that leaves you panting and super satisfied with yourself."

Felicity glanced questioningly at her. "Either we have very different ideas of what fun is, or far too similar."

"Nope!" Valey held up a wing. "I'm talking, like, go climb a hill in the middle of the night and laugh like a lunatic at the sky. Or go swimming, just float around a little so it's not too hard, then dry yourself off with a fire and something warm to drink. Punching out the Night Mother is too much to ask for, but seriously, you need this."

"Valey..." Felicity looked like she was going to respond, but the words died in her throat. "Why are you being like this?"

"Buh?" Valey blinked.

"So focused on me and my silly problems." Felicity looked away. "It's not hard to figure out what you're lifting yourself, these days. The Night Mother plainly said you were created as a product of some uncaring goddess's ego and need for flashy artifacts. You're not trying to distract yourself on me, are you?"

Valey shifted her eyes. "Uhhh... do you want the nice answer, or the kind of rude one?"

"Give me the truth, darling," Felicity sighed. "Remember, I've taken care of myself through much greater adversities for years. And if you tell me you're white knighting because you think I'm attractive, you'll be starting a war of cheek redness you can't hope to win."

"Uhh... maybe?" Valey sucked on her cheeks. "Look, I do wanna help you. You remind me of me. Granted, a lot of ponies do, but still. But also, uhh... yeah, I'm a little beat up in the brainspace too. So if you did wander up and knock on Ironflanks' door and say you needed an hour or a night or two, and I totally didn't inconspicuously come along as a good friend, not because I'm embarrassed or don't trust myself asking for-"

Felicity winked, getting to her hooves at once. "Say no more, darling, say no more."

Comments

[Alchemik]

Did the sword have some kind of butterfly effect? How far had things really changed? The more she thought about it, the simplest explanation felt like that without it, Gerardo seemed older.

So this is a Gerardo who never had that easy fallback in his adventures. They were probably harder and he would have had to struggle where he would otherwise have breezed through. It stands to reason he would have grown up more.

Also, Cute Valey is cute. It is known.

[Venlinelle]

Valey winked. "Hey, no one ever said being completely shameless has no benefits. Look, I'm just bringing it up because two of our crew come from this neat touchy-feely city of mares where sleeping in platonic cuddle piles is basically the norm. You say you need a shoulder, Maple and Amber are gonna be like, 'Oh, that's normal!' Trust me on this. It's like a sappy, sentimental pillow for the heart."

Can I please move to Riverfall?