The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Roof Of The World

Princess Gwendolyn stared at Chrysalis with a puzzled expression. "I'm sorry?"

"No you're not." Chrysalis lazily waved a hoof, settling into one of the tower room's plush chairs. "Go on. Have your memory. Don't mind me."

Lyn turned to Starlight, eyes insistent. "Who is this? I requested an audience with you, Starlight. Explain to me what is going on. I wish to know how you know me as well as you do."

"Because..." Starlight's throat was dry, no answer forthcoming. "It doesn't matter. How long have you been waiting for me?"

Lyn blinked. "Some time. Does the precise amount matter?"

"No, just..." Starlight swallowed. "I'm sorry."

The other filly started to look concerned.

Starlight took a deep breath. "You're dead. This is your afterlife. You don't remember it, but you've probably talked to me thousands of times before and told me how you wished you could run away like I did and not have to be a sphinx or a princess anymore. You probably won't even remember this conversation. And... there's nothing I can do."

"What?" Lyn took a breath, looking like she had been swatted. "That is not the kind of thing you come out and say to a princess! What are you talking about!?"

Starlight fidgeted, looking helplessly at Chrysalis.

The older mare rolled her shoulders and offered no help whatsoever.

Lyn stared at both of them, stubbornly awaiting a better explanation.

"I-I'm sorry." Starlight lowered her head, got up and walked away. "I just don't know what to say."

She was halfway down the staircase when she slumped, leaning against the stone wall, and didn't get up. "Words fail you," Chrysalis drawled, following along behind. "At last, some peace and quiet."

"Shut up," Starlight grumbled. The only reason she wasn't crying was because that would accomplish nothing at all. "Senescey and Navarre were my enemies, and seeing them stuck here was bad enough. Lyn was my friend! I thought maybe she really would run away from the Empire with us, and be happier for it. I have nothing to work with. I don't know what to do besides keep hoping..."

"Does it hurt, being helpless?" Chrysalis licked a hoof and used it to wash her ears. "I'm sorry, I have no idea what that's like. Get used to it, princess. It's about time the world stopped rolling over and letting you have your way."

Starlight's hackles rose. "What's that supposed to mean!? Everything I've ever done, the world has been against me every step of the way!"

Chrysalis gave her a sultry look. "You could be happy, knowing your friend gets to spend the rest of eternity locked in a memory where she basks in your presence."

"Stop it." Starlight turned her back on her. "Now you're not even trying to make a point. You're just wanting to get under my coat, aren't you?"

Chrysalis shrugged. "What's left to do? We understand each other, as irrational as we are. I've said everything I have to say to you. All I've got left is spite."

Starlight continued ignoring her.

"If you want my coping mechanism," Chrysalis offered, "we are still in a tower. Climb on the roof and scream at everything. It's remarkably therapeutic."

Starlight looked up, staring at her for a moment. "...That actually sounds like good advice."

"I'll be right behind you..." Chrysalis smugly retreated out of sight.

On shaky legs, Starlight returned to the meeting room, where Lyn's memories had already reset. "Starlight," she greeted cordially and with a hint of anticipation Starlight only heard now that she was looking for it. "Thank you for joining me."

"I'm... happy to," Starlight replied, unable to meet Lyn's eyes. "You want to talk, right?"

"Mhm." The princess nodded. "Please, make yourself comfortable."

"Actually..." Starlight glanced up. "Could we go up to the roof to talk? Is there a way to get up there from here? The weather is good and the view might be pretty..."

Lyn nodded thoughtfully, completely failing to register the falling cloud of ash. "There is a door," she announced, nodding up at a small hatch in the ceiling that Starlight wasn't sure had been there a minute before. "Though it may be difficult to reach..."

Starlight shrugged, hovering up and forcing it open without too much difficulty. "We could fly?"

"Oh." Lyn blinked, scratching her head. "For some reason, I thought you couldn't... Well, then!"

Momentarily, she joined Starlight on the roof. It was flat and nondescript, with an inch of ash padding her hoofsteps and the world obscured in all directions. She knew which way was south, the Aldenfold somehow cutting through the ash in her vision, but the ground was lost beneath a curtain of falling flakes.

"Hmm," Lyn remarked as they settled in. "It is less windy here than usual. This was a good suggestion."

Starlight earnestly turned to her, the ash falling all around them. "Do you ever worry that whether you like it or not, you'll grow up to do something really bad?"

Lyn stared at her quizzically. "That is a remarkably forward question for how little we know each other."

"You were planning on asking me, though," Starlight pointed out. "A... friend told me. Just... I do."

"I see." Lyn decided not to question it.

Starlight took a breath, the ash starting to press in on her like a suffocating blanket. "Sorry. Cover your ears," she warned. Then she reared up...

"Why won't you let me protect my friends without threatening me with those visions of the future!?" she screamed at the sky, standing on two legs. "Why do I have to be the one to protect them in the first place!? Why can't someone else do it!?"

A little hoof settled on her shoulder as she stood back down. "Sometimes," Lyn said, "I feel that the further you are above everything, the less anyone hears you. You can cry all you like, but it doesn't feel like it changes anything."

"Tell me about it," Starlight mumbled. "I just want to save everyone from this place. Including you. Why is that so much to ask for?"

"Any goal involving the words 'save everyone' is bound to be difficult," Lyn advised. "Save us from what, though? I still have many years before I... Never mind. Right now, I was mostly just hoping to see if we would get along!"

"We do," Starlight whispered. "And if I ever get you out of here, I'll be your best friend ever. But I just don't know how..."

Lyn pursed her lips. "Everything you say is full of superlatives. Best. Everyone. Starlight, believing in your dreams more fervently is not the best way to make them come true."

"Isn't it?" Starlight swallowed, glancing at her glowing flanks. "A long time ago, someone I care about told me that if you have a dream you believe in more than anything else, you'll get a mark here that gives you the power to do just that."

"Your brand?" Lyn tilted her head. "But you must know how rare it is for ponies to get them at all... What would you even like yours to do? It sounds like you want to be able to do everything for everyone, but for me, I wish I was less powerful and important. Then I would have less weight on my shoulders..."

Starlight squeezed her eyes shut. "But if I don't carry it, who will? What if everyone stays here forever? No one else is going to help them..."

"Everyone. Forever. No one." Lyn shook her head. "There you go again. Starlight, I... don't know why, but I remember you being different from this..."

Starlight wilted. "I know why you do. I feel like being here is breaking me. I just want to leave..."

"Leave where?" Lyn whispered.

"This place. Everywhere. This whole world. I..." Starlight swallowed. "If I tried to explain it, you wouldn't understand. I just need out."

Lyn gave her a contemplative look. "I do understand. This is the exit, you know. It's why I enjoy spending time here. I've always thought about just forgetting my responsibilities and running away..."

"The exit?" Starlight blinked hard. "To where?"

Lyn stared up at the sky and flared her wings. "The world. I will show you."

For a moment, Starlight watched her, certain she had to be conflating something. No one was aware of the nature of this moon glass world save her and Chrysalis... but suddenly, a shadow appeared in the sky. It drew lower, sliding along a cable so thin Starlight hadn't seen it in thin air. With a silent puff of ash, a gondola settled onto the roof.

"If you want to go..." Lyn beckoned with a hoof. "I won't keep you."

Starlight stared at the thing, feeling utterly surreal. Her mind traced the direction it had dropped from, and her gaze met the Aldenfold, looming to the south. "It's the way to the pass to Equestria," she whispered. "Really?"

"I don't know," Lyn replied with a shrug. "I have never been this way."

"You just know it's the way out." Starlight stared longer at the gondola, her wings twitching. "And you remember it. Maybe it goes somewhere else here? I've searched all over this place, but I've never tried going up before..."

"Good luck," Lyn whispered. "I wish I could come too."

"As if I'm leaving you behind." Starlight bodily grabbed her, eliciting a shriek of surprise from the princess. "You can forget about our conversations as many times as you like, but I'm done leaving my friends behind. Come on." She shoved both of them into the gondola, and it began to rise of its own volition, the tower roof falling away through the ash. "We're seeing what's at the top of those mountains."

Comments

[Phoenix Kitten]

you still haven't found Valey, Starlight.
What if she doesn't want to be found?

[KMCA]

9882563
Valey is likely to be fighting a never ending swarm of changelings and looking older for it.

We've seen the vision of that moment already.

[Oberth Effect]

9882834

Didn’t someone (I want to say Glimmer?) say that those visions were just possible futures? And that the guy articulations particular future shown by the vision was already averted?

Valey shouldn’t know the second half of Starlight’s name, either, so that exact vision should pop up (yet).

[sploopy slooder]

man i really wish lyn could be saved. valey and chrysalis too, but lyn especially. starlight needs a real friend that isnt a sarcastic fuck like jellyjugs.