The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Prepare The Welcome Wagon

"Valey! Wait for us!"

"Buh?" Valey looked up, her mostly-straightened mane swaying with the motion. "Ironflanks?"

"And Starlight." Maple approached as fast as she dared, Starlight following close by. "We saw you in the distance and wanted to say hello!"

Felicity smirked. "Long time no see, darlings."

"...What happened to your manes?" Starlight asked, blinking.

Valey broadly shrugged, standing on a sloped, grassy path that wound its way up towards the hills at the north end of the island. "We had some fun. What are you guys doing out here?"

"Getting fresh air." Maple breathed deeply. "And watching the world go by. We've probably been out here for at least two hours. What about you? Are you getting hungry?"

Felicity shook her head, stifling an apologetic burp. "I think we are absolutely full of the least-nutritious meal of all time, not that I had much hope for my figure anyway."

Valey shot her an annoyed look. "Okay, you're getting past self-disparaging and into the realm of trying to bait me into complementing your figure."

"Guilty as charged!" Felicity turned up her nose with a satisfied little smile. "And you, darling?" she asked, turning back to Maple. "If you're looking for lunch, we'd be happy to tag along. We were just going to see if we could get a view of the Dream arriving that doesn't involve excessive flying to reach. But I doubt it's terribly pressing."

Maple's ears perked. "They're close?"

"You're the one with the sound stone." Valey shrugged, pointing at Starlight's saddlebags. "At least, I hope you are, since none of us are back in the dorms."

Starlight nodded, flicking one bag with her tail.

"Anyway..." Valey leaned back, pointing a hoof at a tall, spire-like building that looked like a lighthouse at the northeastern tip of the island. It sat at the top of a large outcropping that shielded the eastern cove from winds from the north, and was one of the best landmarks in view. "We were thinking of heading up there instead. I dunno if they take visitors, but they wouldn't refuse us, right?"

"What is that?" Maple followed her gaze. "It looks like Skyfreeze, or that other building in Ironridge that was on the mountain north of the dams."

"Lighthouse," Valey confirmed. "Mostly. Beats me what they would use one for, if they never get foggy weather here. I heard it also does stuff for the space department while I was flying around the other day and scouting the place out. But odds are, it's got a staircase and a big platform at the top that's great for looking around."

"Well, I'm not that hungry," Maple volunteered. "I'd be happy to go see if we can reach the top."

Starlight nodded as well. "I don't have anything important to do."

Valey glanced her way, then scrutinized her. "...You've been feeling not that great, right, kiddo?"

Starlight met her eyes, then looked away. "I've been worse."

Felicity bit her lip in concern. "Well, as long as you're feeling better from last night. I probably ought to have checked up on you before running off this morning."

"Don't worry," Maple assured, putting a hoof on Starlight's shoulder. "We had a good talk."

"You know what would make you feel fantastic?" Valey grinned, dodging back into Starlight's line of sight. "If you joined us in the new manestyle club. Come on, your head is a shaggy, uncut pile. It's the perfect length to hang in your eyes in just the most annoying way, looks pretty much the same from every direction... Ironflanks tries, but we gotta get you something really, really cute."

Starlight blinked, then uncertainly rubbed her mane. "Is it that big of a deal...? I kind of don't want to be noticed as much."

"Hate to break it to you, but you'd get looks even with the blandest, most cookie-cutter look in existence." Valey hovered along, folding her forehooves behind her head. "Nothing you can do about it. But I bet having a look that made ponies smile at you instead of go, 'Aww, poor scruffy urchin,' when they see you would actually feel real nice. Think about it sometime."

"I'm suddenly envisioning you in pigtails..." Felicity mused, thoughtful.

That left Starlight squinting at nothing. She didn't particularly want to care, but it sort of made sense...

"You are pretty just the way you are." Maple interrupted by nuzzling her ear, surprising her a little. "But if you wanted to get a manecut, I think it could be a fun idea."

"Anyway!" Valey flung a hoof forward. "Lighthouse! Last one there is a lopsided cantaloupe!"

She zoomed away, leaving Felicity and Maple staring at each other in her wake.

---

"Huh." Valey stood before the stone entrance to the tower, a doorless entry leading to a tunnel to a spiral staircase. It was wide enough that there were clearly rooms on each floor, but the large, gray stone bricks that made up the exterior were far more weather-worn than the rest of the university's architecture. This tower was both far more exposed to the elements, and far older.

"A rather striking contrast with its immediate neighbors." Felicity pointed a hoof down the hill to the west, where a sprawling building sat that probably contained more metal than all the rest of the island's exterior architecture put together.

"Yeah, I bet that's the space department's main campus." Valey shrugged. "Kinda reminds me of the skyport. What is it with metal aesthetics and futuristic stuff like sky travel? Ponies have been flying without machines for... like... ever."

Felicity shrugged back.

"Artists are weird, girl." Valey spun around, Maple and Starlight arriving as well. "Well, I don't see anything keeping us out. Wanna go check out the view?"

Starlight nodded, and the group started up the staircase. The spiral was fairly tight, winding Felicity before they were even a quarter of the way up, and by the halfway point they had to stop on a platform outside a door so she could breathe.

"Sorry I'm... so out of shape, darlings..." Felicity panted, holding her chest. "Must have been all that cake..."

While Felicity caught her breath, Starlight looked at the doors the landing had to offer. Both looked significantly newer than the structure itself... Offices of professors she didn't recognize. Shouldn't professor offices be in buildings where classes were held? It didn't make sense to put them far away, unless it was a prestige position and they weren't expecting many students anyway. It was a pretty cool tower, she supposed.

They continued, and this time Starlight kept an eye on the doors for names she knew. Professor Sea Star ran by a few floors from the top, and for a moment she almost thought Valey would knock to say hello.

The staircase opened out onto a broad, flat, exposed platform just as Valey had suspected. The tower's roof wasn't quite smooth, its floor pockmarked from age and bearing signs of occasional careful restoration, but in its center was a device that caught Starlight's complete attention.

It was a circular dais, and mounted atop it was a curved beam that formed a lower quarter of a semicircle. A slider was fitted to the curve, with hundreds of intricate notches along its track to measure position, and the entire thing was pristinely wrought from a sturdy, dull-orange metal, ornamental stars fashioned into the supports that held up the back of the curve along with a two-sided rendering of the sun and moon.

"Wow, this is cool." Valey tilted her head at it. "It's... definitely not a lighthouse, though. But the view is epic from up here... I bet this thing has something to do with looking at the night sky."

"It is a quadrant," a new voice said. "A device used for measuring the positions of the stars."

Everyone looked to see Professor Sea Star standing in the entrance, watching them with interest. "Hi, Doc," Valey greeted. "What's up?"

Sea Star stepped closer, taking the device with two hooves. It was far larger than her, yet the dais suddenly rotated, swinging the entire construction along with it. "You adjust the horizontal angle like so..." She reached up, sliding the slider smoothly along its curved track. "And then the vertical angle, and then you stare through this tube to align it with a star. In the old days, this place was used for making star charts and tracking their movements, but a better one was constructed underground after it was discovered that winds and weather caused the tower to shift enough to make the readings less accurate. Now, it is a monument to science, left for anyone curious enough to visit it."

Valey stared curiously at it. "Huh. Actually, we came up here to see if there was a nice view, but that's pretty cool."

"I hope it doesn't disappoint." Sea Star adjusted her lab coat. "It's also the most open area on the island. The transmitters for our long-range broadcasting equipment are here, along with space for distinguished academics." She glanced out at the waters, and fell silent.

"We're just looking for our friends," Maple added. "They should be coming soon, and we thought we could see them if we got a better view."

"The ones on your ship?" Sea Star nodded. "I wouldn't think it would be too much longer. Oh well. Enjoy your time here. It is open to the public day and night, but tends to be more crowded when the stars are out... If you have any questions at all, I'll be downstairs."

She left, leaving Valey staring at nothing. "You know, I don't think I ever checked if the Equestrian sky is different from the one up north. What if it is?"

"I don't think so," Starlight answered, stepping closer. "Why?"

Valey's gaze drifted south, down to the crowds lounging in the distance on the beach. "Just imagining how it's gonna look at night. Maybe I should clear out whoever else comes up here tonight and treat Sparky to the view."

Maple frowned. "I wouldn't push them out... It sounds romantic, and I bet there are students who like to have special nights up here too. Although I wouldn't mind seeing it for myself, I guess."

"You wanna look at the stars in an old star-gazing tower?" Valey raised an eyebrow. "Huh. Didn't realize that was your thing. I've never actually seen you come stargazing with me."

"You do that too, darling?" Felicity looked curiously at her.

"Well, yeah." Valey shrugged. "I mean, I used to. Back in Icereach and Ironridge, especially. Sometimes, sitting and staring at the moon and the stars on a cloudless night when you're all alone makes being alone feel... really cool. Like you're on the edge of something massive and you alone are there and that as huge as the world is, the sky is even huger, and... I dunno, I'm probably rambling. Been too busy with whatever to do it recently anyway."

Maple shook her head. "I never spent that much time looking at the sky. In Riverfall, the trees were too tall, so the most you could ever see was a thin line where the river ran, if you went down to the docks late at night. And since we've been traveling, most of our time has either been spent flying around at night, where the harmony comet is too bright to see anything, or with me inside for some reason or another. Though there are a few times of looking at it that stand out..."

Starlight was watching Valey. "I know what you mean," she eventually said. "I felt like that when I was in the mountains. You couldn't see anything in the caves, and when I finally made it out of them, it feels like the only company you have. And you're the only ones who have seen that place for eight hundred years."

"Heh," Valey laughed. "Look at us being a bunch of poets. So, any of you see Sparky yet?"

Starlight stepped to the edge of the platform, hanging onto the solid stone railing and staring northeast, her mane blowing in the sea wind. There were several ships closer on the horizon, sailing yachts or smaller mana boats that looked like they were out for pleasure cruises, and as she circled along to the south, she spotted a distant wooden frigate coming from one of the archipelago's far islands. "No, but maybe that's Gerardo?"

"Yeah, well he's a griffon." Valey leaned on the wall next to her, leaving Starlight unsure how to respond. "Hey, there's that clown's ship still in the harbor. What was he called, Gunther? Kinda surprised he hasn't bailed by now."

"That's Gunther's ship?" Felicity joined them and shivered. "I suddenly fear for this island's finances."

Valey rolled her shoulders. "Eh, they'll get their money's worth. Maybe."

"It's funny how we get to see sights like this day after day, from an airship deck," Maple mused, staring back at the rest of the island. "But it still doesn't lose its interest. In fact, I don't think I've actually looked at the view like this for a while."

"Well, yeah, we've been grounded for at least a month." Valey leaned against the railing. "But honestly, though? Even despite the weird stuff Starlight has to deal with, I feel like this place is good for us. Everyone just seems happier than before. Like there's something in the air. So you keep enjoying that, you hear? You deserve it."

Or like something wasn't in the air, Starlight sighed to herself. Like windigo hearts. Still, maybe Valey was right. Even with magic that was definitively draining her and messing with her head, she had felt a little better, just by going outside and watching the world. Hadn't she? If there was any place or time to deal with her problems, these were them.

"I say, is that a ship?" Felicity suddenly rotated, leaning hard to the northeast. "I think I see a speck...!"

"Bananas, is it!?" Valey rushed back to her side, staring and squinting with everything she had. "Nnnnngh..."

"Well, you could always go find out," Maple advised. "Fly out, come back and tell us?"

Valey was gone in a trail of green.

---

Was it a speck on the horizon? It was a speck.

But was it a ship? ...Valey couldn't tell. She blazed forward, pumping her wings with a pent-up energy that came from going too long without taking any names, quietly resolving to hop into more of the island's sports friendlies just in the name of fun. Slowly, though, the speck grew, and Valey gained height, preparing to rush it with the ultimate power glide.

Wind tore at her ears as she whistled forward, shredding her lips and streaming her eyes, but she held her wings rigid, speed building up as it became definitely a ship, and that ship took on the proportions of one she knew well. It was two ships, actually, one pulling the other, but her sights were set on only one.

With a scream of green, Valey bisected the sky above the Immortal Dream, announcing her presence with as little subtlety as possible. She dove over the deck, pulled up into a mighty loop, clasped her wings to her sides and ascended purely on her own momentum, before flipping over and catching the wind in a giant leap that would perfectly nail the center of the deck, snapping her wings out to break her fall just in time to avoid losing her legs from the impact.

She straightened up, still shaken from the force of her strike, and adjusted her beret. The deck was empty.

"Bananas, was no one watching...!?" Valey stomped to the door and booted it open, only to find herself face to face with Shinespark on the stairs.

Shinespark blinked. "Did you just make that noise on the deck?"

Valey slicked back her mane, the force of the wind having utterly reset her careful styling job to its old messy self. "Hi, Sparky. Long time no see."

"You look..." Shinespark stared at her, Valey's lively green eyes reflected in her own dull sapphire ones, a flicker of their former intensity still keeping her in charge and on her hooves. "Very good."

"Aww, do I?" Valey grinned. "Glad to see you're still alive too, Sparky."

"I'm at the end of my rope trying to hold everyone together and get us there in one piece," Shinespark whispered, expression riddled with disbelief. "Is the island really that much better? Because I don't know how much left I have to offer..."

Valey put a wing around her back, squeezing her into a hug. "Yeah, well I'm raring to go. You want me to tell you how great this island is? Huh? You want me to?"

She walked Shinespark closer to the center of the deck. "You can do anything," Shinespark offered. "I just need to take a shower and lay down without a crew's spirits depending on me for a day."

"Well." Valey licked her lips, preparing to take full advantage of the invitation. "First off, it's full of students. College age, like you or a year or two older. Every last one of them is crazy toned and athletic, and sunbathing is a national sport, so they're all showing off how hot they are and you can get the world's biggest eyeful. And they all love adventurers, so it's basically flirty mare paradise. But don't worry. I know we technically have a thing going on, so the only bed I shared every night in a row was Felicity's."

For a moment, Shinespark gaped at her... and then she spun hard and punched Valey in the face, sending her sprawling across the deck.

"I totally deserved-"

"Why are you making jokes about this!?" Shinespark screamed in her face, standing over her. "I've been barely keeping myself together, and only for everyone else's sake! Barely! There are guards everywhere, we're beyond nervous, we've gotten several calls from Maple saying everything is good and just to hold on but everyone here has cabin fever and everyone knows we're just going to get somewhere only to be punted off to the next forsaken hole like the fields outside of Griffonstone or the crater where Sosa used to be and you're making jokes about cheating!? You never would joke about that! You never..." She trailed off, her breaths growing shallow. "You were terrified of this."

"Yep," Valey groaned, certain she had a black eye. "I sure was. A huge mess. You told me all about it in that cave by Stormhoof. And you did just ask how great this island is. Turns out it's good for broken spirits, too..."

Shinespark kept staring, a final wave of comprehension washing across her face... and then she buried her face in Valey's chest and cried. "I missed you!"

"Missed you too, Sparky."

Comments

[Phoenix Kitten]

Well.. one way or another, she relit Shinespark's fire it seems.

[KMCA]

This started while Valey and Shinespark had their little reunion. It felt fitting

[Boopers]

Yay, the ship ist back!

[Oberth Effect]

The transmitters for our long-range broadcasting equipment are here

Wonder if they would know more about the sound stones and how they work.

Here's hoping that everyone on the Dream actually gets some R&R time on the island. It'd be pretty awful to hear all about how the island is great for mental/emotional recovery only for things to go south.