The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

A Pleasant Walk

Maple followed the three Starlights up the branching wharfs to the gates of Stormhoof, the evening sun lowering and allowing the docks to be cooled by a fresh ocean breeze. Jamjars eagerly took the lead, with the real Starlight in the middle and Glimmer perched blindly on Maple's back. "Thanks for the lift," she whispered halfway through. "Accidentally falling off a dock isn't an experience you can have too few times in your life."

"You're welcome," Maple murmured back. "I just... This is so unusual. It feels surreal after yesterday..."

Ahead, Jamjars was laughing, letting her mane bounce in the wind. "So," she narrated to Starlight as she walked, "Anyone who asks, we're identical triplets, but no one will ask because it's obvious. All we have to do is act like hooligans and everyone will feel so sorry for her they'll let us get away with anything, and boom. No trouble."

A passing stallion on the dock raised an eyebrow as he overheard, but firmly decided it was none of his business. "If you say so," Starlight muttered back, feeling like the weather was just a little bit too good and not foreboding. Garsheeva had just been blown up, along with the capitol of a small province. Even if she wasn't feeling up to shedding tears for Izvaldi, this had to put others in the Empire on edge. Others like...

Guards.

Starlight winced, folding her ears. She just had to think it... Before Jamjars could run ahead, she grabbed the filly's ear with her telekinesis. Ahead was the gate into Stormhoof, and on either side were two griffons, decked in dark green and purple uniforms that looked like they would be just as at home at a press conference as on a battlefield. The tailoring reminded her of Gerardo's suit, actually. The folds and seams were in all the same places... A pine tree insignia was inset into their chests and on their spear hilts, decidedly different from the whirlpool paw of Stormhoof.

None of the guards were stopping ponies, but their expressions even from a distance were stern, professional and wary, scanning the docks from their high entry and not slacking or making small talk. Maple soon drew up alongside Starlight and Jamjars with a sigh, looking unhappily back up at the guards. "I'm suddenly not so sure about this..."

"What?" Jamjars raised a Starlight-colored eyebrow. "Look, they're letting ponies through. Slipstream and the others were fine. What are you nervous about?"

"I just have a history with guards." Maple bit her lip. "This gate even looks sort of like that place in the Stone District..."

Starlight squinted, and almost agreed. The gate was set halfway up the island fortress's seawall, after all, connected to the docks by a wide string of staircases. Just like the Defense Force base entrance had been high up on the cliff wall... Before she could decide how much to make of it or whether to reassure Maple, though, one guard seemingly overheard them and took a step closer.

"Ma'am, we're here for your protection," she said, giving a slight bow. "I know these are difficult times, but don't be afraid."

Maple gaped at the griffon in confusion.

One of the guards' comrades tugged the one who had spoken on the shoulder. "Don't be overbearing. If they've just gotten off a ship, they might not have heard the news."

"No, we... I... Thank you." Maple hurriedly swallowed, bowing her head. "Come on, girls. Let's get in."

---

"What are so many of them even doing here?" Jamjars frowned at a passing platoon.

"The Everlaste guards?" Glimmer asked, apparently not needing to see to identify the colors on the troops that pervaded Stormhoof's streets. Most of them patrolled in neat, well-drilled squadrons or else stood guard at intersections, near storm drains and by the entrances to alleys, and none of them were ignored by the citizens, but their presence also didn't bother anyone enough to stop ponies from going about their usual business. None of the guards showed any interest in harassing, or doing anything aside from their professional duty.

"Them, whatever." Jamjars tossed her mane. "They're all over the place. Is someone paying them to walk around like that?"

Glimmer shrugged. "Stormhoof has been without a standing army for months now that its troops are all trapped in Ironridge. I've been hearing about a full-scale Everlaste garrison in this city being planned for a while now. I guess they decided it was time."

"I knew about that," Jamjars dismissed. "But what are so many doing clogging up the streets and being useless? Do they think they're getting invaded right now?"

Starlight shoved her. "Don't insult them while they can hear us! They're leaving us alone!"

Maple pointed her hoof at a familiar news stand, the same one they had stopped at on their very first day in the Empire months ago, where a crier was shouting and waving copies of a paper. "Going by what just happened in Izvaldi, maybe they do..."

Jamjars waddled smugly up to the news stand, Starlight and Maple following uncertainly. The crier stopped shouting for a moment, blinked at the three identical fillies... and sympathetically floated Maple a newspaper, asking nothing in return and returning to his cries.

"See?" Jamjars flipped her mane. "Works like a charm. Now what have they got to say about what happened? Ooh, is that the crater?" She poked at the front page.

"Hold on!" Maple yanked it away. "If we're going to sit down and read it, it's going to be somewhere with fewer guards. Maybe they're being friendly, but it's still making me nervous."

Unfortunately, finding a place with fewer guards proved to be a challenge. Everywhere visibility was good, griffons were stationed, and Starlight started to get the feeling ponies as a whole weren't as valued in Everlaste as their beaked relatives. Everywhere someone could easily hide, guards were also stationed, blocking narrow alleys and sitting at bridges and doorways. Starlight saw one pony slip past a guard by explaining they lived there, but by and large the Everlaste force seemed to mistrust the shadows, looking at anyone who drew close like they'd have to be crazy to actually want to slink around.

Eventually, though, they found a tiny park, just big enough to offer shade and a bench nobody was using. Only one guard was in sight, distant and with their back to them, so Maple finally took the chance to set Glimmer down, put up her legs and spread out the newspaper.

"Eyewitness Izvalden columnist Junior Waffle?" Jamjars stuck out her tongue at the page. "What kind of a name is that?" She started to scan. "Sensational, sensational, Garsheeva..."

"Oh my," Maple whispered, holding another section open as the fillies scanned the first. "Look at this. They have a picture of the rocket. The thing that struck the capitol."

Starlight was instantly looking over her shoulder. "Do they know what it is?"

"It says right here they don't," Maple whispered, lowering her voice as Jamjars and Glimmer also crowded around. "Look, there's speculation it was the Night Mother. I don't see any mention of Chauncey, either..."

Jamjars frowned. "I wonder how much they know that they're covering up."

"Rival provinces are always spying on each other, and allies share information," Glimmer murmured, unable to read the paper along with the others. "And that's not counting the dusk statues. Anyone higher up will know a lot about this."

"But how much?" Maple's eyes shadowed. "Do you think we need to tell them we've seen that rocket before?"

"No," Starlight instantly answered. "We don't need to get involved."

"Oh, we wouldn't be getting involved." Jamjars stood up. "We'd be getting all the credit for telling them something they didn't know?"

Glimmer cleared her throat. "Or, you could make the most of your evening before going home and laying low for a while. How smart is drawing attention to yourselves while three of the four strongest ponies on your team are injured?"

"Good point," Maple decided, pulling an executive decision. "We're supposed to be looking for a healing potion and getting fresh air, not seeing if we have useful information for... powerful ponies..." She trailed off.

Jamjars grinned. "If you want something valuable..."

Comments

[Mini-Joe]

time for greater enchanted healing potion

[Sharp Quill]

Jamjars grinned. "If you want something valuable..."

Oh Celestia help us.

[RoboRed]

Uh oh, it's Jamjars time...

[Hap]

9645800
This is the perfect quote.

[ciradrak]

actually… on the question of who Glimmer is? i had thought it was a future Starlight come back trying to fix something in the past. which seemed to be verified by the discussion with Twilight in the present, but the events around the rocket strike showed that Glimmer does not know what is going to happen next. so who is she? and why does she have the same limitations as Starlight? she does know more, but how much, and why? perhaps she is from an alternate future? a near by dimension?