The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

A Brief Roommate Debriefing

Slipstream felt the tension slowly drain from her body as she spread out on the bed Grenada had salvaged and repaired, letting her wings loose and regretting the fact that her hooves would have to be used tomorrow. For now, at least, she could pretend that wasn't the case, her body ready to fall asleep but her mind too abuzz with the day's drama and events to even consider it.

"Oh...! Hello," Felicity said, appearing in the doorway with a surprised look on her face. "Darling, ah... I did ask Grenada to set that bed up specifically for me, but you also look like you need it, and I suppose I don't mind sharing..."

Slipstream blinked and rolled over. "Sharing the bed? Grenada said roommates..." She lifted her head, looking around, and quickly realized there was only one bed and this was what Grenada had meant. "Oh. Well, sure?"

"I hope that doesn't make you uncomfortable?" Felicity apologized, lifting a hesitant hoof. "I really don't mind, I just... am not in the greatest condition, and..."

"I suppose it'll be an experience," Slipstream decided, rolling further to the side. Felicity was bigger than she was, and even though the mare had traveled with them for some time in Mistvale, she hadn't been incredibly open or present. And of course, it had been impossible to miss Valey's talks and explanations about what Felicity had done at Stormhoof... This was a mare she wasn't as at ease around as the other crew members. But she was also helping everyone injured from the battle, and so she stayed and decided to give Felicity a chance.

Felicity collapsed onto the bed with a sigh, rolling onto her back and giving Slipstream her space as well. "Ohhh I've been on my hooves for hours, darling, but I think everyone's going to make it through the night. Maple and Meltdown are awake, I've jury-rigged a splint that will hopefully get Saffron's leg healing in the right direction, Gerardo's issues are apparently well-documented, and Gazelle is... not completely lucid. I have to say, I planned on approaching you all and helping out, but this isn't what I had in mind at all."

"Tired?" Slipstream asked. "I know how that feels."

Felicity appraised her without turning her head. "If I can be frank, you look absolutely beaten. Hard work around the ship?"

Slipstream shook her head, the day's excitement and terror far more pressing than her concerns about Felicity... who was presently being a pleasant conversationalist. "I took the fillies and went scouting. If we're stranded here, I figured it wouldn't hurt to know just what here is like."

"Oh?" Felicity slumped in the bed, sinking into it as hard as Slipstream felt like she was doing herself. "A useful endeavor. Find out anything worth finding?"

"Lots, actually." Slipstream rolled over again so she could face the mare. "We followed the coast for a while and found what looks like civilization, though it's at least two days' long march from here. Maybe longer, since I flew over some difficult terrain. Between rivers and hills with tall grasses, this area will be almost impossible to traverse by hoof."

Felicity sighed, giving her wings a flap. "Well, don't count on me for that, darling. You know how I am with endurance runs."

Slipstream didn't, but she didn't press. "There's a wrecked airship a ways east of here that could be interesting to explore, and I think I saw a forest beyond that if we need wood or certain plants. We never saw anyone flying, or even anyone at all, so we're going to have to just take what we can find and help ourselves."

"We are alone out here?" Grenada's voice cut in. She appeared in the doorway, several sturdy trays heaped with slightly-bruised fruit floating in her aura. "That is good to know, at least. Here. The stallions in the kitchen say this needs to be consumed first or it will go bad."

Slipstream's stomach growled audibly at the sight of food, and she found herself still possessing the strength after all to sit up, take a tray and dig in. Several pieces of fruit later, she prepared to dig into another, only to have Grenada climb into the bed with them.

"...Three of us?" She put down the fruit that was to be her next morsel. "This is getting kind of crowded."

"I would rather share than sleep on the floor," Grenada replied, as if it was an obvious logical deduction. "Is this a problem?"

Felicity daintily nibbled on a pear. "I'm not the one who would have issues. Though with us at this close of quarters, ah... how awkward would it make things if I accidentally cuddled in my sleep? I may not be very used to shared bunking that's both platonic and not with close family."

Grenada tensed slightly. "Are you asking to be in a relationship?"

Felicity waved a hoof. "Oh, hardly, darling. Just giving a sensible warning."

"Then I do not mind." Grenada settled down between them, making herself comfortable. "As long as there are no pretenses or false hopes."

Slipstream sucked on a pear of her own, taking care not to dribble pear juice on the bed. "What did we even just start talking about? False pretenses and platonic cuddling? I might have missed something."

Felicity blinked at her. "We're three mares sharing a bed, darling. And by circumstance and necessity rather than choice. At times like this, making sure everyone's on the same page and has had a chance to lay out their own ground rules really is a wise caution."

"Ground rules?" Slipstream furrowed her brow. "We're all mares. What does..." A memory of Riverfall she had tried to put behind her surfaced in her mind, and she reddened. "Oh."

Felicity put her head back down. "Ah. Well, I suppose that answers that."

"No! Sorry. Just an awkward memory." Slipstream sank, embarrassed. "I've always been more of a stallion's mare, you know? Or griffons, which I can say now that we're out of the Empire..."

Felicity eyed her suspiciously, then gave a disarming smile. "An awkward memory? Sounds like an excellent icebreaker should you ever need one, darling, but fear not. I won't press. So, you were telling me about your scouting trip, no? Everything you found, and the difficulties of traveling?"

Grenada was still busy eating fruit. "I would like to hear this."

"Right." Slipstream saw the out and took it. "The important part is that the terrain is awful and we won't be able to make it through these hills on hoof. If we make it to the shore, there's a long road, but that's still a ways. So anywhere we go is going to need fliers or ponies who can be carried."

Felicity's ears fell. "Bad news on that front, I'm afraid. Gerardo is paralyzed, Gazelle is catatonic, Nyala needs rehabilitation and I can't guarantee Shinespark's horn will ever work again. That means you'll have to work with Harshwater and Howe, and as much as I have no standing to say this, the latter isn't trustworthy at all."

"And Harshwater's probably going to be busy." Slipstream showed off her aching wings, the appendages rebelling even at being lifted. "I guess that means it's going to fall to me... and I just got a bad reminder of how out of shape I am. I might not even be ready to fly again for two or three days."

Grenada kept munching as Felicity sighed apologetically. "Well, that's no fun. Fortunately, if we're going to be here a while, that means you'll have plenty of practice and get your endurance up. Ever done an exercise routine?"

Slipstream nostalgically rolled her eyes. "Only in school, when having the flattest belly and tightest flanks were how you got popular and scored dates. Funny how that transitions importantly into the real world, only for a completely different reason... and I just spent months laying around and not keeping up and let myself go to seed." She stared down at herself and huffed.

Felicity leaned over across Grenada, inspected her proportions, and frowned. "Darling, if that's what you call gone to seed, then pray tell what am I?"

Slipstream had walked into a loaded question and she knew it. "Naturally endowed. You make the... less-flatness look good."

"Then call yourself the same." Felicity booped her with a wingtip. "Take it from a seasoned professional, if you care about looking good, your body is fine. Body image and how it lets you carry yourself is what everyone is actually looking for, and the ones who aren't are good for a throwaway date and nothing more. Though I think trying to improve your flying stamina and recovery time for the good of everyone here is a far more attractive goal than anything else you've put on the table. Everyone likes a mare who's motivated to improve for the sake of others."

Slipstream blinked. "Thanks?"

Felicity drew back to her side of the bed with a saucy wink. "You do you, darling."

Grenada nudged Felicity with her telekinesis. "She said earlier she was not interested in other mares. There is no need to flirt."

"But darling, I've had a long and stressful day and this is how I relaaax...!"

"I think we all have," Slipstream replied. "And honestly, I don't mind. It almost reminds me of my schooldays with my old friends, teasing each other about what colts we liked. Except now I'm wondering if you like me... which is a little weird, but not weird enough to make this not feel like some badly-needed normal." She sighed, closed her eyes and smiled. "So now that I think about it, keep it up, girl."

Grenada shrugged, crawling out of the bed and pushing Felicity to the center before getting back in where the batpony used to be, no longer in a position where she had to be reached over.

Felicity laid on her side, propping her cheek on one forehoof and fluttering her eyelashes at Slipstream. "In that case, tell me more about my good-looking less-flatness you saw."

"U-Um..." Slipstream's ears fell. "On second thought, maybe I should mention that the time I got introduced to the idea of fillies being a little more interested in each other happened to be in a city where all the population, including my hosts, were susceptible to mob mentality and wound up vandalizing Maple's house, and I got beaten pretty badly trying to defend it for her."

Felicity blinked hard, then deflated, her saucy demeanor disappearing. "...Well. I can't say I saw that coming."

"Sorry," Slipstream insisted. "Like I said, it wasn't a memory I do a lot to focus on. And looking back, I stepped in and tried to make a difference, so even if I failed, I'm sort of proud of it, but it's still just a weird memory, and... sorry for making this awkward."

Felicity bit her lip. "Sorry, darling. I... Would a hug be the right or wrong thing to offer here?"

Slipstream blinked. "Ummm..."

"Felicity?" Grenada rolled over and lifted her head. "If there is something you want from us, you can just ask instead of trying to make us ask so it sounds like it is our idea."

"You're better at reading ponies than I give you credit for," Felicity sighed. "Or perhaps I'm just that obvious. If it wouldn't be awkward...?" She reached hesitantly for a hug.

Slipstream bit her lip. "Stressful day for you too, huh?"

"Tell me about it." Felicity looked down. "I haven't exactly told anyone, but my sisters and I... had a falling out over how to handle you all in the aftermath of our choices with Stormhoof. Larceny regretted our choice, wished we had chosen differently, gave you her apology and wanted to wash her hooves of the whole affair and start anew elsewhere. Senescey and I felt poorly about how we had treated you, but agreed that if we had to do it all over again, we'd make the same choice that final night. That you could only be our first priority after our ambitions in the Empire were taken off the list. Long story short, we had a talk that turned into an argument and then a fight, and I changed my mind and was won over by Larceny while Senescey... didn't."

"Sibling disagreements are difficult, aren't they," Grenada mused quietly. "As is finding yourselves ideologically opposed."

Felicity thumped her head back against a pillow. "But then Larceny wanted to go off and start anew, and I wanted to come back and actually try to properly apologize and see if I couldn't maybe work my way into a second or third or whatever it is chance, because maybe it would be possible and she had just made me want it, and I never apologized properly the last time... and maybe possibly I had a tiny crush on Valey as well. Had. Unfortunately."

Slipstream winced. "And now she's... whatever happened to her, and your sisters likely are too?"

"...Yes." Felicity sighed. "And instead of trying to help out around your ship a little as a peace offering, I wound up getting carried along on a dizzying airship ride and suddenly having the full extent of my skills needed to keep half of your friends from dying, some of whom likely trust me little enough to refuse service if they were conscious. Bad on top of worse on top of terrible... and to cap it all off with a problem that probably sounds terribly silly, the way I relax and unwind is with physical closeness. And now we're stuck with just the few of us in the middle of nowhere with no other ponies around, and by the time we're able to get back to civilization, even without Garsheeva's heresies to skirt around... I have three and a half months of foal that are about to start showing and likely make me that much less alluring. Lumping an issue like that in with my sisters likely being dead... It just makes me feel fabulous."

"So..." Slipstream hesitated. "You really would like a hug."

"Yes. I think I'd appreciate that a lot..."

Comments

[Phoenix Kitten]

I.. kind of figured what fate befell Senescey and Larceny... but was hoping nonetheless.

[ponepony]

Felicity's ears fell. "Bad news on that front, I'm afraid. Gerardo is paralyzed, Gazelle is catatonic, Nyala needs rehabilitation and I can't guarantee Shinespark's horn will ever work again

Wait, did Lyn die? I thought it was only her cutie mark stolen + knocked out?

Also, are the batpony-changelings brainwashed with none of their previous live's memories?

[Czar_Yoshi]

9811382

A black-green beam of energy sprang into existence, seeming to take no time to travel at all, lancing from outside her vision and connecting squarely with Gwendolyn's tiny chest. There was barely time for a spasm before the filly crumbled to dust, her floating cutie mark and a stately little dress with a hole burned in the chest the only things where she had once been.

Lyn is dead. Garsheeva was the one who had her mark stolen and got knocked out, but she woke up again and stayed in the Empire.

The precedent for batponies being drained with moon glass is that the changeling bodies don't react or do much while they're empty, and that memories work on a per-body basis. Get transferred to a new body? Start with no memories, even if that body was someone else's first. Get drained, but then get your old body back like Nyala? Start right back where you left off, with all your memories made in that body. Nobody knows yet if changelings drained by Chryssi work the same way, but her aura was similar enough to moon glass to allow Starlight to use the Nightmare Modules, so it isn't out of the question.

[Boopers]

Where is Cute Puddles when you need her?

[KMCA]

9811451
Cuddles is dead, Puddles is still back with her family being 10 years too young for her body.

[Boopers]

9811501
You sure? I thought she left her body and returned to her windogo form. If she was dead they would certainly have collected her heart.

[ZanyZapper]

Slipstream seemed a little vague in her description. No mention of the train tracks, tho I suppose that may be due to trains being unfamiliar in the north. Was that what she actually meant when she said there was a road? Sounds like it may still be a while before they're able to head out.

Unless someone or something finds them first. If anyone saw them go down they may be on their way. Maybe even Cabelleron. That earlier chapter with him - at first I thought that was describing the ship crashing rather than the moonstone. Him finding them would be an interesting little bookend to him finding Glimmy earlier.

[KMCA]

9811697
If Cuddles has survived I have to wonder if she was the windigo we heard back in S2 at the Hearths Warming performance when the mane 6 were arguing... Although my money on that is still Celestia being sneaky.

[Phoenix Kitten]

9811697
Cuddles just sort of faded, I can only imagine they were pulled into the windigo heart they ate earlier. So it's possible they could resurface if they're around enough hatred and disharmony to feed on.

[Person of Stone]

9811697
Hey that's what I thought too! Thought I'd missed something when I looked at the comments and everybody was talking about her dying

I was totally counting on Valey winning the tournament and wishing for Puddles to come back, but that didn't really work out...

As for there not being a windigo heart, I think Puddles was the only ever windigo to be inside of a pony? Do you even get a windigo heart if the windigo inside of a pony dies?