The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Some Final Advice

Valey stepped through the tunnels connecting the administrative rooms near Grandbell's stadium, the area where the final tournament round would be held. According to Saffron, it was two days until the final event, and even though she had been a part of the planning discussions to make sure the final round still happened, she wasn't going to repeat her earlier mistake of walking in without reading the rules.

She nodded to a griffonness and a stallion who were chatting and rounded a corner. The big room where she had met her current tournament friends was well-occupied, and she stopped for a moment in the door, looking for where she was supposed to go.

"Young Valey!" Someone else spotted her first. With a booming voice, Wallace Whitewing pushed his way through the crowd, standing out like a juggernaut as he approached her. Valey ducked to avoid being pounded into the ground by a head pat from his massive wing, and he grinned. "Good to see you in high spirits, little hero. Feeling confident in your skills for the final round?"

"Uh, hey." Valey grinned back uncertainly. "Yeah, sorta. You?"

Wallace wrinkled his mustache. "A halfhearted response. Victory is within your grasp, is it not?"

Valey shrugged. "Honestly, I'm kinda... only doing it for fun at this point, I guess. I've thought a million times about it, and it's fifty percent just because I want to and the other half just because I can. If I win, I'll probably ask for the Empire's Writ of Harmonic Sanction from next year, if I really feel like being owed stuff." She looked over her shoulder. "My friends and I are probably making this our last stop in the Empire. Gonna go back to Ironridge and maybe Yakyakistan or something. Finishing the tournament just feels like a good way to close it out."

"As noncommittal as ever, I see." Wallace patted her anyway, pushing her further into the room. "Come. I've heard a little news about what you've been up to here in Grandbell. There's something I want to discuss."

Valey followed along, tilting her head as Wallace led her through the room and into the hallway at the far end. "Searching for somewhere a little more private," he muttered under his breath.

"For talking about the stuff that's, like... down there?" Valey pointed a wing in what she hoped was the direction of the central city pit.

"Indeed. Hardly a feat accomplished by just anyone." Wallace nodded, finding a staircase to the surface and taking it with a sigh. "Fly with me?" he asked, pointing up at the empty blue heavens, the cliff face of the Aldenfold like a horizon in the sky.

"Sure." Valey spread her wings, readying herself to fight the province's high winds. "No way to get a little peace and quiet like ensuring you can see everyone for miles around."

Wallace chuckled, denying her attempt and scooping her onto his back with a broad wing. "You would not fare so well in these skies, little sarosian. Allow me."

The big griffon's ascent was so swift that Valey had to fight to hang on, and in no time they were what felt like a mile in the air, the aqueduct walls forming a flat pattern in the ground far below. "Smooth ride," Valey remarked, Wallace finally leveling off and hovering.

"Your compliment is oddly stinging," Wallace replied. "So. You have found your way to the Night Mother."

"That's one way of putting it." Valey rolled her shoulders, still clinging on tightly against the sky's powerful gusts. "Honestly, we didn't really go looking for her. I didn't even know she was down there. It sort of just happened."

"As it always is," Wallace rumbled. "Those of us who maintain the legends tell of her as someone to be sought out, but in truth, she is impossible to find. You cannot reach her through skill. Only by being chosen."

"By Princess Lyn." Valey nodded. "Somehow, I get the feeling she didn't even know what she was choosing us for."

Wallace slowly panned back and forth in his hovering, surveying the entire landscape. "Also as it is. I was chosen by Gwendolyn's mother. Yourself, along with Meltdown years earlier, were the current Princess's doing." He paused. "So. I hear you are trying to get back someone you lost."

"Have I never told you about it?"

"Perhaps." Wallace hung his head. "I hear a lot of stories. But tell me. Have you deduced yet precisely what it was that I wished for?"

"You've told us, haven't you?" Valey shrugged. "You wanted the power to win the tournament that year, the year you met Morena. Isn't your wish why you're so strong?"

Wallace's brow creased. "Yes, but it is more specific than that. I wished for strength, and Garsheeva bestowed it. But her boons are balanced. You obtain what you desire, but they come with they come with consequences. It sounds as if you are not then aware of my weakness."

"Is this a thing I need to know?" Valey's ears fell.

"Do not mistake my concern for distress," Wallace warned. "I ask only because we will meet in the tournament soon. With Garsheeva's power, I am inequinely large, swift and strong, can numb myself to pain, throw off the effects of fatigue, resist all manners of damage and deliver crushing blows. I am nearly invincible. And though I have tried to teach you the way, you will not defeat me as I am now."

Valey tongued her cheek. "So you wanna tell me how to beat you? I mean, I know you're in my corner, but really?"

"It is not a secret I guard carefully," Wallace replied. "Most creatures merely fail to take me literally enough. The price of my powers is that they will fail against any opponent who believes their cause more righteous than I find mine."

Valey blinked. "Buh?"

"Yes," Wallace continued. "Garsheeva knew what I desired when we met in her temple all those years ago. I was an idealistic young griffon who fervently believed in the good in all things. Garsheeva does not believe in this. I wanted the strength to become a true hero, because I believed it was heroic for the strong to fight for the weak. We discussed my tournament ambitions. That is where I came up with my tournament wish. A wager between us, that if I could convince even a single one of her condemned to renounce their life of villainy, they would be pardoned of their crimes. You remember how my story went. I won that tournament, yet failed to sway a single soul, and when I finally stopped flying after that day... I met Morena, and my life was changed."

Valey's face twisted in slow realization. "So... Garsheeva gave you a wish that you'd be as powerful as your belief in your cause when you met her as the Night Mother, then also made you a bet about how good your cause was, you used your tournament wish on that, and by not saving anyone there, she tried to make you lose faith in your cause, making your Night Mother wish less good? Bananas, that's kind of messed up."

Wallace shrugged. "Garsheeva never calls herself a good goddess. She has loyalties and an agenda, and they lie with Mistvale, not the Griffon Empire. I know only bits and pieces of this land's distant past, but I imagine she harbors resentment against the Empire for creating her in the first place. But yes. Garsheeva empowered me based on the strength of my convictions, and then tested them with a bet that I lost."

"So... what do you do now?" Valey frowned. "How come you haven't won another tournament yet if you were fighting for a wish for Puddles? I know she's technically Morena's daughter, but aren't you basically her dad?"

Wallace sighed. "Two reasons. The first was my conflicting desire for wishes. I wanted to save Puddles, but would it have been just to take my wish for myself when I owed Izvaldi for trying to help her? Yet how could I use my wish on duty when my closest and oldest friend's daughter was on the line?" His crest fell. "The second is that my love for Puddles and all of my friends is very much mortal. It is strong, a conviction that has reliably carried me to the fourth round each and every year. But there are things that are stronger than family. The tournament draws out the very best and the very worst from the world, and there will indubitably be fighters with causes better than mine... or, since it is a matter only of the strength of your beliefs, causes worse than mine they believe in much more firmly."

Valey squinted. "So... wait, it doesn't even care about whether they're actually a good guy? So you could get stomped by someone who just really, really wants to ruin the world?"

"It evaluates your belief in whether your cause is righteous," Wallace replied, shaking his head. "No. Someone who was knowingly and intentionally evil would fall, but that rarely encompasses most villains. Lord Everlaste believes firmly that oppressing sarosians is the right thing to do. As you may have guessed from your time around Garsheeva, she balks at establishing or believing in a moral absolute. Everything, including the righteousness of causes, is up to us to decide."

Valey took a long, deep breath. "So what you're telling me is that unless I'm seriously committed to whatever I want out of the tournament, it's physically impossible for me to beat you."

Wallace's grin returned. "That depends. What is it I'm fighting for now that you've given me back my Puddles and exposed Izvaldi for what they were doing?"

Valey's pupils shrank slightly in realization.

"Yes," Wallace chuckled. "If you want to beat me in the tournament, you must believe in yourself more than I believe in you. That's why I've tried so hard to get you to buck up and show some determination over these last months."

"...Well... bananas." Valey stared out into space. "Bathtub, can I be honest with you for a second?"

"You've already taken the liberty of giving me that nickname. Why stop there?"

Valey took a breath. "I'd honestly be cool with losing."

"Is that so?" Wallace lifted an eyebrow. "And do you consider that to be a good thing? It doesn't seem to bring you much distress."

"I dunno," Valey responded. "Here's the thing. I hate losing. At least, the old me did. Like, enough that it kind of messed me up when Kero's mercenaries beat me this one time and I had to get saved by my friends. But I've kind of had who I am shaken up a little... or maybe a lot recently. You know, how you dragged me off to that cave for a talk with Shinespark? So I feel like if I'm changing... I dunno, I'd like to be okay with it? If that makes sense?" Her ears fell. "Or maybe I'm just feeling adrift, or not wanting to do what I used to like, or... Bananas, I hate being wishy-washy. But do you know?"

Wallace's face straightened. "Mmm. You sound tired. You would likely benefit from less on your shoulders. But, for some, the world leaves no other recourse than to search your heart and find new wellsprings of strength instead."

"Eh. Maybe I am tired." Valey laid flat against Wallace's meaty neck as a particularly strong gust of wind blasted past. "Honestly, having gone to Mistvale, having gone down to see Garsheeva, having heard all about this and that and everything..." She paused, trailing off. "I have no idea where I'm going with this."

"If you had no friends, no duties and no restraints," Wallace intoned, "what would your heart be calling you to do?"

"Uhhh..." Valey took a deep breath. "I have no idea."

Wallace shook his head. "Seems you aren't as better after that last talk as I had hoped. Where are your goals, young Valey? What became of your passion?"

"Oh, those?" Valey shrugged. "Yeah, the last time I threw myself all-in at something that really, really mattered, it turned out to be saving a 'friend' who was trapped in Stormhoof and actually using themselves as bait to get me to take out an army. Look, dude... I'm not actually feeling terrible right now. I know, there's been that whole talk about being honest with myself about how I'm doing, and the honest truth is Garsheeva wants to put my sister back together again and... Look, I'll take it. I think Starlight's doing good, I finally got Ironflanks to agree to a little self-defense training... It feels like things could actually take a pretty decent turn for me if I just sat down and went with how they are. We even have a plan for making it to Equestria someday."

"I see," Wallace rumbled. "Few deserve a break more than you. If those are your true feelings, perhaps you should indulge yourself and make the best of the peace while it lasts. Yet I would caution you as well. Every time you explain yourself to me, your rationale for why you feel the way you do changes. It is never consistent. It speaks to me of someone who is struggling to understand themselves, always grasping at a truth they cannot reach. Take care, young Valey."

Valey blinked. "I'm still fighting in the tournament, though. Maybe you'll be invincible, or maybe you'll lose to some other dude before I even meet you. And you're not the only one powered up by weird magic. If you know about me meeting Garsheeva, how much else do you know about what I can do?"

"Do tell," Wallace replied.

"The way she grants a lot of wishes? With her cutie mark, messing with the cutie marks of others?" Valey shrugged. "Her mark is apparently one of a set of three, and I've got another one."

Wallace raised an eyebrow.

"So if you're empowered by her, am I on the same level as her?" Valey gazed up at the sky. "I have no clue. I'm not a sphinx. But, just so you know, since you told me all that, you get to know, too. I'm not just some mare who's good at fighting."

"Interesting," Wallace replied. "You do not owe me an edge, though, remember."

"Yeah, I just feel like saying it." Valey blinked, more from the wind than anything else. "...Anyway. The reason I came over here in the first place was to make sure I actually read the rules for once. I'm pretty sure I remember what we discussed back the other day? All the battles are held on the same day, magic heals in between, getting rid of the Regent requirements since they'd make things messier, and a hoofful of free-for-alls between three fighters just to fit everyone into the old timeslots?"

Wallace nodded. "You have the gist of it. Tactics advice aside, be prepared and do your best. May your belief in yourself favor you and not falter when you need it."

"Hey. Thanks." Valey did her best to bump his shoulder with a hoof. "And I should be good. Remember, I did just take a two-versus-one and win without a scratch. You can stomp me, sure, but I still might be able to win this just by winning. I guess I'm curious."

"Curious to see what would happen," Wallace chuckled. "A novel dream to be pursuing this late into the tournament. I wish you well, young Valey. Care for a ride back to your ship?"

Valey shrugged, then grinned. "It's that or skydiving. Thanks for the talk, Bathtub. I really do feel pretty alright. Just..." She rubbed her cutie mark. "Just gotta go get my sister back tomorrow, and then kick some rear, and then take a cruise to Ironridge and have a good time."

Comments

[KMCA]

I swear everytime Valey has this crisis she seems to be just that much happier with her life... It's almost like watching a drug addict put their life back together. Sure there's relapses but she's on the road to happiness!

[alamais]

...hmmmmmmm, are we gonna get Valey vs. Yulio? Is Valey gonna mess up and get Sworded?

[Sharp Quill]

9785428
Considering what getting "sworded" does to bat ponies, I'm guessing no.

[alamais]

9785731
It's only dusts them if they get a really bad whack, though. I could see her getting a light smack that leaves her all zombie'd and that being a motivation for...whatever leads to Glimglam's tragic futurebackstory.

[Oberth Effect]

but they come with they come with consequences.

Accidental repetition?

[Pluie]

Hmm, so Valey never had to use her Regent in round 3?