The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Bridging The Gap

Starlight sat for what felt like hours, head bowed and touching shoulders with Glimmer as rain hammered the roof and the party dwindled below. Her eyes dried of their own accord, her breathing stilled, her heart slowed, and after an age of tranquility, she finally felt calm.

"How do you know all this?" Starlight asked. "How can you be sure of the friends I'll make in the future?"

"Because friendship is an exception," Glimmer answered, taking time to think. "If you never made another friend, that would involve taking every single person you meet for the rest of your life and not befriending them. And probabilistically, when the world contains people who will even be friendly to... say, Crystal, there's nothing you could do to stop that short of not wanting friends in the first place. They may be different, and they may not fit the precise shape in your heart left by those you miss, but they will fill the hole of loneliness. You aren't as lonesome about Sunburst being gone now that you have your friends here, after all."

Starlight folded her ears, not having a response.

"And I know because it's held true for me, too," Glimmer added. "I've had friends who would give their lives for each other in a heartbeat. And I've lost friends for it. I've also made more, despite having made bigger mistakes than you can imagine. And having them makes life so much brighter for everyone involved."

"But..." Starlight bit her lip. "You're right about Sunburst. I do feel better than I did after he had left."

"You need to talk about that?" Glimmer asked. "Those months before you left, and your time in the mountains?"

Despite her lingering headache, Starlight lit her horn, opening a drawer and pulling out a long-disused package containing ash, a brush and a stencil. She lowered the relic into her hooves, staring at an echo of a time that deserved to be long passed.

"Your cutie mark kit," Glimmer said. "You used to draw an equals sign where your mark would go."

Starlight nodded faintly, eye lost in the little make-up box. "In Equestria, and in the mountains. It kept getting washed off by the rain, and I never put it back on once I reached Riverfall." She folded her ears. "You want me to use it again, don't you."

Glimmer frowned.

"I wore this because I didn't want a cutie mark," Starlight explained, feeling like Glimmer already knew but needing to give voice to the words. "Because cutie marks made you special, and being special separated us. But look at Valey. Cutie marks are just power, and if I'm stronger, I could do more to protect my friends. I would get a cutie mark if it let me save them. I wouldn't care. But you're telling me there need to be limits on what I'll do. So if I won't do something, why bother being able to do it in the first place? But I've tried my hardest to be powerless and not special before, and it was so bad I ran away."

"Hmm." Glimmer closed her eyes. "I wish you didn't have to think about these things. I don't want you to be powerless, Starlight, and you're right that there's no way you can be. Whether it's a privilege or a curse, you can do incredible things for the people you love. I'm not asking you to pretend your determination and ability can be disposed of. What I'm asking is what I said before: I need you to be able to let things go, when the alternative becomes worse than the pain of starting over."

"And when will that be?" Starlight quietly whispered. "You said when I stop protecting them because I care about them and start caring more about myself not being alone?" Her face creased. "What will happen if I don't? And why me? I can't be the only one who's afraid of losing their friends. Why do you care so much about me?"

Glimmer slowly exhaled, the tip of her tail shivering. "Yes. Once you lose your love for others, you will never find what you're looking for. If you never succeed and never give up, you'll keep getting stronger, more ambitious, looking higher and higher without limit. Without limit, Starlight. You'll need to use your imagination on what you would do, but what will happen is the world will become exactly what you make it in your search. Everyone has the potential to shape their lives and the lives of those around them, but you will keep using that and never, ever stop unless you can break the cycle and face your pain in the name of a happier tomorrow. And as for why I care... let's just say you remind me of someone I knew long ago."

"How do I do that, though?" Starlight protested. "Maybe you could give me answers if I was still sad over Sunburst, but I have my friends right now! I'm afraid of what still could happen..."

"Talk to your friends," Glimmer promised. "And make new ones. Your circumstances aren't fair and it isn't right for a filly to have to grapple with this, but they're what you have to work with, and if you could put as much energy into overcoming them and being happy in the present as you do fighting against the future, you could be happy. You know how long it's been since you smiled, let alone laughed."

Starlight looked down.

"Since Sunburst left," Glimmer answered for her, growing a smile of her own. "What was that about not still being sad over him?"

Starlight folded her ears. "I don't want to be. I have new friends now. This is what you said. I lose some, I make more. That's how it needs to work, isn't it?"

Glimmer's face fell. "Starlight... you can't sweep saying goodbye under the rug. You stopped thinking about him because Ironridge put too much on your mind, not because it had gotten better."

Starlight frowned. "So do you want me to fight for my friends for their sake and not mine, or do you want me to do things for my sake because it really hurts when I lose them!?"

"Once again, I wish you didn't need to worry about these things," Glimmer sighed. "It's a balancing act, caring for yourself without being selfish while also caring for your friends. If all was well, every one of those would be the same. But they're not, and you don't have the life experiences to make decisions that are fair to yourself. Do you know what I want you to do?"

Starlight bit her lip. "What?"

"If you trust me enough to do whatever I say." Glimmer looked levelly at her with sightless eyes. "Tonight, I want you to make a friend. One of the visitors who isn't going to stay and you know will be left behind when this ship moves on. If I were you, I would get Maple, talk with Saffron Sunflower, and share stories about Equestria. You and Saffron, with Maple for emotional support. Don't worry about anything. And in the morning, we're going into the city, finding something relaxing and fun to do that feels like a reward, and you are going to tell yourself the entire time through that you deserve it."

Starlight narrowed her eyes, thinking.

Glimmer patiently waited where she sat. "You wanted so badly to be a normal filly in Equestria, but I'm worried you've lost all sight of what normal looks like. But I can help you. Let me help you. Let's go talk to Saffron. You deserve a chance to talk about your home side of the mountains."

"Um..." Starlight took a breath. "I trust you. Okay."

---

A gilded door sat fast on its hinges deep within the labyrinthine corridors of Grandbell's palace, barring the way to a set of accommodations fit for a king. A three-room underground suite held a plush four-poster, windows with artificial daylight, a powered hot tub and dozens of pillows, books and amenities, and right then, a king wasn't far from what it was being used for. Prince Geribaldi Stormhoof sat on a stiff study chair, tail flicking like a metronome, several treatises open on a desk before him as he manipulated a quill made from his own feather to take notes.

"Is this a bad time?"

Geribaldi sat bolt-upright as his door swung open, a wheelchair-bound Prince Gazelle admitting himself without knocking. "I locked that," he said, passive-aggressively refusing to answer.

"Yes, so you did. And claws make excellent lockpicks." Gazelle smiled innocently, covered in slings and bandages. "Excuse me if I didn't feel like waiting for..." He cleared his throat. "Ahem. I mean, apologies for the intrusion. May I come in?"

"What do you want, Gazelle?" Geribaldi grunted. "Everyone knows you had something to do with the Stormhoof attack. Make my father try to assassinate me, hire your own assassins to kill me, put me up in your own castle now that Stormhoof is a security risk so I'll be 'safer', I'm not playing your games. If you're not going to get on with it, then leave me to study in peace."

"Ah ah ah." Gazelle waggled a talon. "That's Lord Izvaldi to you. The remnants of the council just met, and it was unanimously decided that since someone's been covering up a dead sphinx for years there, little old me gets to rule the middle of nowhere."

"I can't tell whether you're bragging or complaining, and I frankly don't care," Geribaldi said, already back to his books. "Congratulations."

Gazelle suddenly deflated. "Oh, I asked for it too."

Geribaldi raised an eyebrow, not looking up.

"Seems like I could do a little less harm out there with nothing but a destroyed capitol and some farmland to my name," Gazelle sighed, a flair of drama in his resignation he seemed to be trying to banish. "Lead by example, start small, show my stuff, blah blah blah. My empire-conquering days are over, and for good reason. Secondly, I'm here to apologize for making a mess of your own land."

"Meaningless sentiment." Geribaldi dismissed him with a wave of a wing. "Forgive me if I missed the first reason you were here."

"Oh, that little old thing." Gazelle chuckled knowingly, rolling himself closer to the desk. "It's just... you tried to make me see reason back in the good old days, and I was stuck up and having none of it. But now I've had just a little change of heart, and am suddenly very curious." He leaned in, the tip of his nose brushing the spine of a laid-out tome, and gave a sharp-toothed grin. "Tell me everything you know about that old theory that sphinxes are chaotic or cursed of yours."

Comments

[MazingerZ]

What's Gazelle up to now?

[Venlinelle]

"Tell me everything you know about that old theory that sphinxes are chaotic or cursed of yours."

Did you say “chaotic?”

These. Character. Interactions. Are. So. Good.
Nevermind the story and big plots and reveals, these sincere and honest conversations between the characters are everything.

Having Glimmer is also nice, because my emotional investment in here is hopefully going to slightly offset whatever awful things happen to everypony else.

[sploopy slooder]

so with all the emotional support glimmer is trying to give, how does she fuck up starlight so bad that we get our favorite dictator gremlin? whats the missing link?