The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Change By Force

"That is... quite the story," Felicity replied as everyone finished, ears folding and perking again as she thought. "Don't worry. Crystal's secret will be safe with me. In the meantime, I need a night to think this over, and you all..." She paced to the broad window, stars shining in the sky beyond. "You probably won't want to return to your ship through the city during night quarantine. Stay here instead? You won't get to officially testify until tomorrow, anyway, and it's no trouble getting more rooms like this one."

Gerardo nodded in interest. "Not every day one gets offered to be put up like royalty. What say the rest of you?"

"Sounds cozy to me," Valey replied, signaling she felt no traps. "And yeah, let's not put up with those Everlaste dudes if we can avoid it. Any objections?"

"As long as me and Starlight get a room together," Maple requested. Shinespark just shrugged.

"It's settled, then," Felicity proclaimed, nodding at Valey. "You stay here, darling, since this one's already ours. The rest of you with me, if you will?"

Maple, Starlight, Shinespark and Gerardo followed her out, leaving her with nothing to do save for staring out the window. The skies were empty, nobody risking flying during threat of lockdown. No clouds, either. Valey recalled the time in Izvaldi when a storm had blown in and Garsheeva flew out to disperse it... If the giant sphinx was gone, the weather here might grow more like Ironridge. She fully expected to awaken one morning to a rainstorm and have it last for days.

She sat, resting sideways against the glass, its faint chill feeling good to her burned, healing back. Looking at this angle, she could see more of the mainland, glowing with orange lights she more associated with lanterns than mana power. And... was that the Immortal Dream? Far off to the side, gently cruising, its harmonic comet shimmering, the ship seemed to be beating a lazy circle around the island with no destination in mind. Maybe her friends had decided to have a pleasure cruise in their absence. She certainly wouldn't blame them. It was a nice ship, and they had plenty of fuel thanks to Amber, so why not use it?

"Ahem." Felicity's voice cleared its throat at the door. "I've returned, darling."

Valey's ears perked. "Oh, you're back? Uh, come in!"

Felicity rose out of the shadows, not bothering to mess with the lock, and paced over to join her at the window, a box resting on her back that she quickly set aside. "So."

"What's that?" Valey nodded at the box.

"A gift from Gazelle," Felicity replied. "He called it advance payment. I have a feeling you could use what's inside."

"Bananas, he's fast," Valey mumbled, climbing to her hooves and trotting quickly to the table. "Mhmm... mhmm..." She pried the leaves off the box, revealing yet another dose of sparkling healing potion. "So how much of this do I need? Now that I know this stuff is rare..."

Felicity paced up beside her. "Honestly, darling, it's not the biggest jar, and your wounds are... Well, better being safe than sorry."

"Neat." Valey frowned at it for a moment, then lifted the jar and drank before settling in to wait. "...Feeling a little less like my skin is two sizes too small. How does it look?"

Felicity examined her back with a clinical stare. "Well, it helped. Significantly, I might add. You look less like you were caught in a death bomb, at least. Though your fur is still rather uneven and a little discolored... It'll take some serious cosmetics before you look like nothing happened."

Valey's ears fell in relief. "Nothing permanent, then?"

"I'd strongly advise not doing that again." Felicity tapped her wingtips down along Valey's spine, searching for sensitive spots. "And while these potions are designed to get soldiers back into the fray, I'd also advise not fighting for a while, if you can help it. Though the tournament..."

"I dunno about the tournament," Valey admitted. "I might be bowing out. Some of my friends are... not cool with me being there anymore, and there might not be a point. But, uh, I'm thinking about it."

"I see." Felicity folded her ears. "Understandable. You probably have your hooves very full, between Crystal and everything else..."

Valey nodded. "Yeah, Crystal's..." Her face grew serious. "We're really trusting you, you know? Since you work for the Night Mother, and all? The whole mixed-relationship thing was a heresy for her too, if I'm remembering, and Crystal is... really delicate. If she got whacked by a goddess for who she's been with, I for one would feel pretty awful, and I don't even like her."

"Of course." Felicity kept rubbing Valey's back. "I promise. That said, I would... dearly like to meet her. You probably don't know as much about taking care of someone like this as you ought to, and I could help."

"You think?" Valey raised an eyebrow. "She's kinda touchy, and I mean that in both senses of the word." Her wings twitched slightly. "What are you doing, by the way?"

Felicity dodged the question. "Well, fortunately I can be stubborn too. And yes, I know a thing or two about do-it-yourself medicine. Hard not to, when it's a matter of staying alive in a place like Gyre."

"Sweet. That makes you and Harshwater." Valey stared out the window. "You've got your work cut out for you, but if the two of you want to bully her into a checkup, maybe tomorrow after we do whatever with Stormhoof?" Her wings twitched harder, and she tried to turn her head. "Also just saying, but whatever you're doing to my back is kinda making me feel a certain way, here."

"Oh, is it, now?" Felicity lidded her eyes, then stepped back and resumed a neutral expression. "This is reminding me of a conversation or three we agreed to postpone in Mistvale."

Valey blinked, memories returning of some very tense conversations while flying, followed by a moment when Felicity traced words on her sides to communicate while shadow sneaking and she couldn't keep her wings down... and her eyes slowly traced the room's opulence, its lush bed and pristine skyline. "Yeeeah, something's telling me you're not remembering just this instant."

Felicity gave a guilty smile. "You've got me there, darling. Think you've got a moment to indulge this old mare, though? Nothing too far; I... just want to talk."

"You know what?" Valey shrugged. "Bananas. Sure. You've been cool enough to me. Let's chat."

"I-I..." Felicity fidgeted. "Oh my. This is awkward now that I have to say it. I fear I'm going to blush. But I noticed, at the time, you... had some issues involving physical contact."

"Yep." Valey leaned back. "I'm horny and you're hot. Congratulations, my reputation from Ironridge has gone back from being an open secret to being part of my name..."

Felicity's smile returned. "Hello there, issues, I'm Felicity. You talk about this like it's a problem."

"You want to tell me it isn't?" Valey gave her a serious look. "Look, in Ironridge alienating everyone I could was the name of the game. Someone dislikes me enough to either avoid me or come get me, that makes it easy to push them around. But I have friends now. I can't just go around being a cocky flirt. That's what you're getting at, right?"

Felicity bit her lip. "Mmm... Darling, I just thought you were fun to tease. But if me saying that earns a conflicted rant instead of a blush, perhaps this is something you need to talk about. Keep talking, please?"

Valey flopped backwards, landing on the floor of the suite. "Argh. Look, yeah, sure, have fun. It's what I did all the time, so I can't complain if I have it coming. Just..." She folded her ears. "Are you or aren't you going to try to talk me into... you know...?"

"And now we're beating around the bush." Felicity sighed. "Consider me impartial and without agenda. Do you or don't you enjoy... ah... teasing others and being teased?"

Valey squeezed her eyes shut. "Look. I used to be a big militia boss who annoyed my minions endlessly by threatening to flirt with their marefriends and wives, and thought it was hilarious to go through with it. The other captain dude fired every mare in the Defense Force just to annoy me. Go ahead and tell me that's a cool way to treat my real friends now that I have them."

"That sounds entirely up to your friends," Felicity remarked. "You've told me they took a day or three to win you over. Were you ever like this to them while they were still trying?"

"I mean..." Valey rolled her shoulders in thought. "Ironflanks, no. She's kinda just not my type. I bothered her with this nickname, though. Bananas, it used to tick her off. And I'm pretty sure I've made Shinespark really red before..."

"Mhmm, excellent," Felicity agreed, bobbing her head. "And how do they feel about that behavior now? You still call her Ironflanks, no?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Valey winced. "I mean, I guess she got used to it? Pretty sure I haven't annoyed Sparky since Riverfall."

Felicity exhaled. "From my preliminary understanding of things, it sounds as though your friends became your friends in light of your habits and indulgences. And that didn't stop them."

"I still feel like you're asking me to do something," Valey warned. "And bananas, no. Look, do you have any idea how many mares on that ship like me?" She waved a wing at the passing Dream. "Sparky outright said she has a crush on me. Harshwater has kissed me... twice? I forget. Amber and I hung out and got all snuggly in Riverfall. And don't tell me you're not interested, too."

"Sounds like a situation many would find themselves envious of," Felicity remarked. "And yes, I find you very cute and think you have a fascinating mind and personality. You could say I enjoyed making you red in that Mistvale valley a little too much. So what's stopping you from making the most of a good situation?"

"...It's complicated." Valey looked away. "The Empire's heresy laws, for one."

Felicity smirked. "Now that's an excuse, darling. You're already harboring one mare with an unholy child in her womb. You've met the Night Mother as well, and she has a vested interest in you. If you made eyes at a mare from time to time, I think you could slip it past her gaze."

"Neat." Valey kept her gaze averted, the window suddenly very interesting.

Felicity slowly curled her lip in concern. "Valey, what's wrong?"

Valey's tail lashed. "Look, I'm just not interested! If you're trying... like... Bananas." She dropped her head. "You wanna know what's wrong? I'm wrong. And I know what I've gotta do to be better, and I'm doing it, okay? Changing myself by stubbornness and force. For the better, because I'm not cool with who I was. If it's that obvious this is unnatural for me, well, I guess that just means I've got my work cut out for me yet."

Felicity sighed a long, low sigh. "You and I are definitely not done with this conversation yet."

Comments

[sploopy slooder]

im getting tired of valey inventing a new thing to complain about every few chapters. The worst part is noone even told her to change, she just keeps deciding random parts of her are fucked up and need to be fixed.