The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

A Shady Deal

Starlight and Maple stared at the delegation, Meltdown's armor steaming in the rain as Saffron bowed and Garsheeva loomed over everything, slowly regaining her size after the rocket strike in Izvaldi. Maple's lip trembled and she couldn't speak, but for Starlight, stubbornness quickly won out over fear. "What do you want?"

Meltdown locked eyes with her and pointed a metal-clad hoof at Starlight's nose. "She looks identical to you, but has a different demeanor. She's on this ship. We have come for her."

"Why?" Starlight asked.

Behind Meltdown, Garsheeva shifted, wings spread against the rain to add to her silhouette. "She's an acquaintance who's chosen a convenient time to be out of touch. We made a bargain, and she hasn't been here to uphold her end of the deal."

Starlight glanced at Maple. "She's in our room. Go get her?"

Maple bit her lip, nodded, and scurried away. The visitors waited patiently, Saffron standing in the background, while Meltdown looked casually at the framework for the harmony comet and Garsheeva's eyes followed Starlight relentlessly. Starlight felt a faint pressure on her heart, fully remembering what she had been shown in Mistvale: Princess Luna had given Garsheeva an Artifice brand. And while she had never told her friends, what she heard from them about the Night Mother's cutie mark later... It was a stare that would have frozen any normal pony, but Starlight was too used to getting knocked down for her own good.

"You keep looking at me like that," she said, staring back at Garsheeva. "Am I that interesting?"

"Yes," Garsheeva replied. "You are."

Now Meltdown and Saffron were both watching, and Starlight felt like she had somehow gotten into a staring contest with a goddess. Still, she wasn't about to back down, scrunching her cheeks and staring back.

Garsheeva kept it up for a minute, then chuckled. "You'll want to visit my temple sometime when I'm not preoccupied with this. There's something there that you want, isn't there?"

Saffron frowned in concern. "With all due respect, Your Majesty... You two know each other?"

"Oh, we've had a talk." Garsheeva flexed a claw against the deck, leaving no doubt in Starlight's mind that she was referring to Mistvale.

Before anything more could be said, hooves sounded against stairs and Glimmer appeared beside Starlight, clearing her throat. "Hello."

Garsheeva's tone instantly darkened. "Where. Have. You. Been?"

"Magical accident." Glimmer tapped her horn. "You could say I got too big for my abilities. From what I've heard, it was the same event that brought you down to size, actually." She stared up at the sphinx, not needing sight to find her. "Apologies for not being on the network. I haven't been able to access it, and Aegis has been too busy guarding the princess to search for me. I thought it would be prudent to fix myself before meeting you in this state, but apparently you have other ideas."

"Things have not been well in your absence," Meltdown warned. "Accompany us to the temple at once. You have a contract to uphold."

"I'm that sorely needed?" Glimmer frowned. "My mission necessitates that most of my attention is needed here, especially now that my perception is hindered."

Garsheeva waved a paw. "Don't know, don't care. I never gave you access to my resources so you could feign incompetence when I call a favor in return."

"This won't take long," Meltdown assured. "Please, come with us."

Glimmer glanced over at Starlight. "...I need to go. Take care of yourself. Remember what I said. Everything will be okay."

"Okay." Starlight nodded firmly, then squinted at Garsheeva and Meltdown. "I'll be fine. What do you need her for, anyway?"

Garsheeva instantly wrapped a claw around Glimmer, holding her close and blasting away into the sky with a faint trail of red light. Meltdown nodded to the guards, and they turned to take flight as well, before giving Starlight a last look. "Matters of state that shouldn't concern you. Farewell."

Within seconds, the engines on Meltdown's back revved up, and she jumped into the air, trails of flame bursting out behind her and propelling her in a swift arc after Garsheeva and the griffons. Rain fell, and the deck was empty.

"Whew," Saffron whispered when they were gone. "You don't just get house calls from a goddess every day."

"No," Starlight agreed, turning back toward the stairs to see Maple watching worriedly from the bottom. "...It's late, and there's nothing to say about that."

Saffron bit her lip. "I'm a little more hesitant to leave after that, but... sure thing, sugarcube. See the lot of you tomorrow."

"Starlight?" Maple approached her, joining her in the doorway as Saffron disappeared down the gangplank and into the night. "What just happened?"

Starlight shook her head. "Nothing. We got boarded by some ponies looking for someone, and they left without trouble. It wasn't Gazelle, it wasn't Lord Gyre. We're fine."

Maple closed her eyes and nodded. "Then that's something to be thankful for. Would you like to go to bed? Get some sleep, and see what the morning brings?"

"Definitely," Starlight agreed, leaning against her side before getting up to return to their room.

---

"Newspaper clippings are a magnificent force of nature," Gazelle declared, surrounded by binders of carefully-preserved pieces that had been yellowed by age, investigative tabloids and other pieces all relating to the shenanigans of misbehaving royalty in their teenage years. "I love newspaper clippings. When Lyn is empress, I'm going to ask her to make a holiday completely dedicated to newspaper clippings!"

"If you're bored, you asked to see this," Geribaldi deadpanned, pressing open another collection. "Don't read them all. These are primary sources, not the long-term trends and observations compiled from them."

Gazelle put on his sad-kitten look. "But I said I love them," he protested. "I really do! Look at this! Did you know Princess Germaine was found ramming fishing boats in a demolition derby three hundred years ago? I wish I had thought of that back in my pirate-hunting days..."

Geribaldi snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yes, it starts silly. Turn the page a little later in her section..." He flipped through half of Germaine's articles with a delicate wingtip. "She used tying captives to bowsprits as an execution technique. Surprise: they were ramming vessels. And turn earlier, and she's praised as a filly for her budding seaponyship skills. In every single case, the trend is undeniable. Whatever they love manifests over and over as a backdrop to growing barbarism. Prince Graille cared deeply about reforesting Gyre as a foal. Guess where that lead him?"

Gazelle bit his lip. "Some sportingly unsporting crusade against anyone who dared use wood in construction?"

"No, but you understand the picture." Geribaldi closed Germaine's book and set it aside. "Sphinxes who love their provinces tend to be isolationist and crueler against others. Sphinxes who love mortal relations are known for being vindictive and having legendary scorn. Lovers of justice rule with iron paws."

Gazelle's ears fell. "Ones who would do anything to build their sister a perfect world will, in fact, do anything."

"History's most successful rulers have been the ones with vices that don't impact their leadership abilities," Geribaldi continued, pulling out another volume. "Lord Greatrock had a horrible personal life, but left Everlaste in such a strong state it went on to grow into the powerhouse it is today. But this is all evidence of a foregone conclusion. Where things get interesting is when you graph the ages and levels of madness for each sphinx, plot that on a family tree, and plot that against time..." He swiveled his chair to a different desk. "Family and time period make a bigger difference than anything else. Is it upbringing? Genetics? Political climate in the world? Something else? That's where my research has been focused. Especially on sphinxes who have found and tried to fight this before."

Gazelle was picking at his claws, half-listening. "So what do you suppose Garsheeva loves? And what is her vice for it?"

Geribaldi frowned. "Garsheeva has ruled for thousands of years. If she was afflicted from this proclivity for madness as we are, she would have fallen to it already."

"That, or she's very good at hiding it." Gazelle waggled a talon. "Think, tomcat! This is interesting!"

Geribaldi snorted. "More likely, she has none, and engineered this flaw into our race to bring us down if anyone ever tried challenging her for godhood. No one knows how to make a sphinx giant and immortal, but as long as there are ponies like Chauncey, someone's going to figure it out."

Gazelle stuck his tongue out. "Chauncey? Yech. What are you looking into him for?"

Geribaldi blinked. "Well, when a known eugenics scientist has off-the-record dealings with the reigning emperor and empress, one has to be a little-"

"Lyn's parents?" Gazelle's eyes lit dangerously, and he leaned closer. "Tell me more..."

Comments

[Oberth Effect]

I think at this point it’d be a better question to ask what Chauncey *wasn’t* involved with

[sploopy slooder]

"She's in our room. Go get her?" ....what the fuck starlight. just instantly sold her out without hesitation. it obviously doesnt matter but its just strange how she didnt even care.