The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

All Your Old Friends

"I'm going to punch you again," Shinespark growled into Valey's chest, still holding her on the battered shipdeck.

"No you're not." Valey climbed to her hooves, strong enough to just lift Shinespark with her. "I can tell these things, remember?" She patted her cutie mark with her tail.

"...Maybe." Shinespark let her go, stepping back and looking over Valey all at once. "You really do look different," she eventually said. "Have you looked in a mirror recently?"

Valey scratched an ear. "Yep. Was just getting my mane done this morning and had to see how it looked. I think I might have wrecked that by flying fast, though..."

"And have you looked at me and everyone else on this ship?" Shinespark pressed, jabbing a hoof into her chest.

"Uhh..." Valey looked. Shinespark was gaunt, her ribs visible from weeks of food rationing and stress. Her mane was limp, like you could comb it to no effect at all, and her eyes held a spark of stubborn determination to keep on surviving.

"You know we got more food from those griffons, right?"

Shinespark nodded. "Food that we have to share with two dozen large, hungry stallions, and have to save in case anything goes wrong and we need to leave from Kinmari without restocking. And we have more than enough stress to make up for it. Now look at yourself!"

Valey glanced down at herself, but Shinespark wasn't satisfied. "Look!"

"Uhhhh..." Valey repeated, Shinespark jabbing her again. She didn't have a mirror, but at the very least her own ribs were far from visible.

"You look good!" Shinespark insisted. "You... You..."

"And I feel good too, and you're probably a little jealous but upset because you don't wanna be jealous of your friend, and you can totally hit me again if it makes you feel better." Valey spread her hooves, offering. "Listen, girl: we're like half an hour away. You can see the island. I know it's not fair that you had a few extra days staying behind, and that the climate around here makes you feel like trash, but get this: it's over. You all made it. I've been scouting this island out, and all the problems are small-time. Everyone likes us, and even if we get in a bad situation, we actually get the benefit of the doubt instead of the worst possible luck. The guards who came ahead with us are bros with me now, and I've got good word that they'll back us up if we get in a pickle. Everyone'll be fine here, so you don't have to take care of anything."

Shinespark sagged, looking like she hadn't slept in two days. "I know you want to talk, but if that's the truth, can we skip to resting?"

"Yep." Valey winked. "Tell you what: I'll even fly you back to get there a little faster. But can I see how everyone else is doing first?"

Shinespark nodded and looked to the door, not moving her hooves. "Go right ahead..."

"I'll be right back," Valey promised.

The inside of the Immortal Dream was lit only by windows and smelled like a locker room. Most of the smell wafted up from the dining hall, and when Valey looked down, she blanched: piles of armor were set aside in storage, and two dozen stallions sat around improvised tables or on the floor, playing cards or polishing spearheads to pass the time. Seeing Shinespark in a state of disarray was one thing, but none of these ponies had bathed in a week.

They quickly noticed her. "It's you!" one called, pointing a hoof.

"We're close," Valey said, nodding and turning to continue searching for her friends. "Close enough for me to see you on the horizon. Get ready to stretch your legs and hit the showers!"

That seemed to galvanize the guards. As the set about packing and getting to their hooves, Valey continued on down the hall, checking doors one by one.

"Hello?" Jamjars greeted, the very first face to meet her. She looked exactly the same as she always did... though on closer inspection, was using makeup to hide the bags under her eyes.

"Oh yeah. I booted you into this room..." Valey scratched her head. "Anyone else home?"

Slipstream and Harshwater were both in the room behind her. "Valey!" they greeted, Slipstream significantly more enthusiastic than the other. "We're here?"

"In just a few minutes." Valey strolled in past Jamjars and ruffled both of their manes, earning a surprised blink from Slipstream and an owlish one from Harshwater. "So how's my favorite griffon sidekick and grumpy doctor?"

"I'm not that grumpy," Harshwater protested, looking as if she had been eating just as little as Shinespark. "But I really wouldn't say no to a change of pace..."

Slipstream nodded seriously. "There's nothing to do here besides wait to reach the island. Flying from Ironridge wasn't like this at all. It's partly because Gerardo is gone... but I have bad cabin fever, and all the strangers from the guard? They really aren't helping! It's been so tense the last few days, all we've been able to do is sit and wait and pray to Yakyakistan or Garsheeva or even Princess Celestia..."

"That's because you have bad tastes." Jamjars rolled her eyes, though Valey could tell she was on edge too. "My posters could give you hours of entertaining daydreams if you'd just listen to my advice for once." Her eyes snapped to Valey. "Do we have private rooms? I need a private room. I will give you anything and be your best friend and bribe anyone who gets in your way if you can get me a private room."

Valey chuckled and shook her head. "You are presently in minor trouble for getting Gazelle back in action, because he's been nothing but a creepy nuisance since he woke up. And I dunno what our rooming situation will be after we get back. But I'll put in a word."

Jamjars looked legitimately happy, curling her hooves in excitement. "Thank you, thank you...! That's twice more than I say thank you normally, by the way, so you're special. Thank you."

Valey stared at her as she pranced out, hugging a set of saddlebags very close. "Bananas, I think she actually got nicer."

Harshwater shrugged.

"She has something she keeps trying to read when she thinks no one is looking," Slipstream offered. "Beats me what it is, but she's been getting annoyed that she can't read it in peace."

"Eh. Probably something steamy she stole from a guard." Valey shrugged in return. "So how's everyone else? Who even is still here? We kicked out Pancake and Shades, I already saw Sparky... Right. There's Amber, Saffron and Nyala."

"And Meltdown," Harshwater added. "She hasn't been having a good time."

"Right..." Valey stepped for the hallway. "Get your things together. We're hitting the island, and the three orders of business for everyone here are a bath, a feast, and the best night's sleep you ever had."

Slipstream rolled her shoulders gratefully. "Oh, don't make the waiting any harder...!"

"Then get up on deck and fly for it yourselves!" Valey patted her on the back. "We're super close! You can do it!"

She didn't look back, turning to check the next room down. "Hellooo?"

"Valey? Is that you?"

It was Amber. She looked perhaps the most lively out of the crew so far, but it was all in her eyes: her coat, mane and body held all the wear and tear of the rest of her friends, and Valey could tell that she, too, was pushing herself to stay hopeful. Saffron sat across from her at a table playing a game Valey didn't recognize, still sporting several bandages, and she nodded in greeting.

"Sure is." Valey grinned, entering. "So, I got good news and good news. Which do you want to hear first?"

Amber laughed. "You're in a good mood. Are we close enough that you saw us and flew out?"

"Hah. You guessed both of them." Valey leaned on the back of Amber's chair. "Yes we are, and the island's a cool place. I think you in particular will really dig it. So pack up! We're gonna leave this busted-up boat behind for a bit."

Saffron took a deep breath, looking regretfully at the unfinished game. "Well, that's relieving news. I've been to Kinmari before, years and years ago, and remember it being a nice enough place. But this boat is a refugee ship by now, through and through. It's an experience I'll tell stories about for a long time, and never want to live through again... no offense to any of you or your friends."

"None taken." Amber shakily stood. "Whew... It's good to see you looking so great, Valey."

"What can I say?" Valey shrugged. "The food is good when the crowds of adoring students give you space to eat it. Heads up, we're hot-shots around here. You know where Nyala is, by the way?"

Saffron pointed a hoof. "Shinespark's old room. She's been taking care of poor Meltdown for a while now."

"Thanks. Now go get up on deck for the grand entrance! And remember, the more you look like a survivor, the more you'll please the crowd." Valey left them with a wave.

Shinespark's door slid open next before the pressure of her hoof, and Valey stepped in and looked around. The room had been redecorated a bit, and there was noticeably a large mirror that had been moved in, after the existing vanity was smashed by their sudden acceleration in Griffonstone. Two beds filled the space, one with a dazed, fearful Meltdown and the other with a familiar, pink-maned batpony. Valey waved gingerly. "Hey, Sis."

"You're back," Nyala replied, her response quieter than some of the others'. "You look well. Been having a good time out there?"

"A time that all of you are gonna have, too," Valey insisted, sensing that something was off. "This island is cool and tame. It's the perfect place to unwind, unload, and get back on our hooves after literally everything." She frowned. "If you're jealous that I packed myself into that tiny submarine to get there a few days earlier... I would be too, so lay it on me, okay? You look like you've got stuff to unload."

Nyala shook her head. "I'm glad we're there. But I'm not entirely sure you'd like what I'm thinking."

"If it needs to be said, I can handle it." Valey stared at her. "I know I kind of keep doing this thing to you where we just barely reunite and then I get distracted or killed or bananas whatever, and I bet it's about that, and how I just ditched you here again, exactly the opposite of the way you stuck by me time and time again in Icereach, and that's not fair and not cool and I get it. But I care and I still keep coming back to try again, so if I messed up worse than what you can forgive... let me know."

"It's nothing to do with that. It's a confession." Nyala looked at the window. "You look very, very well. You're glad to be alive."

Valey started to feel a tinge of apprehension. "I got soul-sucked by a crazy mare who turned into a monster and somehow came back to tell the tale. Yeah, I'm glad to be alive."

Nyala took a deep breath. "In order to bring you back, they needed to make modifications to that pendant you're wearing so that it's always on instead of requiring conscious thought to activate. Shinespark knew how, but didn't feel up to helping until the very last minute."

Valey frowned. "Do... I wanna know where you're going with this?"

"I just told you that you didn't." Nyala didn't stop, a too bad look on her face. "Jamjars tried to access the original blueprints stored on this ship's terminal, but they were wiped out. Likely due to interference from that intense harmonic storm we flew through coming here from the Empire."

"And...?" Valey shuffled on her hooves.

"...I have all my memories from my time as Braen," Nyala said. "All of them. Including machine data from being a machine. I have a copy of everything that was on that terminal right here, just as clear and permanent as if I was a machine." She tapped the side of her head.

Valey gaped. "So you...?"

"Are you really okay with that?" Nyala stared into her eyes. "That I knew exactly what Jamjars was trying to do and she didn't even know I had a piece that was missing and I didn't tell her? It wouldn't have brought you back any earlier, but I could have helped and I didn't."

"...Why?" Valey asked, still.

Nyala shook her head. "Three reasons. The first is because I didn't know if bringing you back to this would even be a kindness. I remember you from my time as a suit of armor, and the you I saw there clashes with my memories from Icereach. You grew up to be overwhelmed and unhappy with your existence and your purpose as a weapon and artificial life form. You were so troubled, you could barely fight in a tournament when I remember you destroying an armed laboratory when you were seconds old. If I could question whether you wanted to be alive at all, what right did I have contributing to a plan to bring you back to somewhere much worse? This ship is dying. I can smell it. Ever since that battle, everyone here has been wounded and emotionally bleeding out. It would be like putting a suffocating mare in a room where all the oxygen has been replaced by a sea of blood."

Valey paled. "That's... pretty dark. But honestly? I can see where you're coming from. It's a time I never wanna go back to, now that I've had a taste of the way I can live my life in spite of my past."

"The second reason," Nyala continued, "is that you aren't the only one, or the first one, to be torn from that body. You aren't the only one a technology like this could restore. But keeping it to myself and leaving your friends without hope is the only hope I'd have of getting back the other one."

Valey slowly sat down, letting her head thump against the wall. "Bananas... I..."

Nyala watched her.

"But the old Valey's moon glass is lost," Valey whispered. "You need all the parts to put someone back together, even if you had my body and this pendant. How would you...?"

"Don't make me answer that," Nyala said, her bangs shadowing her eyes. "Please."

Valey nodded and swallowed. "I forgive you. Then the third...?"

"The third reason I didn't help bring you back?" Nyala shook her head. "You're going to have to live without knowing. I might tell you later, but if you can honestly stand there and be happy after everything you've been through, it doesn't even matter. You've already made it. You've won. You're bigger than your past, than the hostile world around you... I should be looking up to you, rather than away at ponies who might have been. Can you live with all that? With a sister who betrayed you by doing nothing and admits to refusing to talk?"

"Hey." Valey got up again and stepped forward. "I know how messed up everyone here is, and I know you're not above that. Shinespark did literally nothing to help anyone survive for all the weeks I was gone. Felicity flat-out baited me into an armed fortress back in the Empire by pretending to get her sister assassinated. And I was in the world's biggest funk for far too long. I know there's someone else you miss, and I know it's probably feeling a little now like it was me or them, but... hey. Remember who went back to that tower with you when we still lived in Icereach to try and find a way to get your old Valey back. Just because you got me doesn't have to mean giving up on your other loved ones... and I sure love you, whether you feel the same or not. So if you can forgive me for being a noncommittal, cowardly flake who couldn't stick by your side when you were a machine, then let's call it even and try for a future that's more worthwhile. Deal?" She offered a wing.

Slowly, Nyala got up and took it. "...Deal."

Valey blinked, following her gaze. Nyala wasn't looking at her eyes, but at her own reflection in the mirror over Valey's shoulder. "You alright?"

Nyala blinked and shook her head, then met Valey's eyes. "Yes. You said we're almost there? Help me carry Meltdown. She's weak."

"You gotcha." Valey took the small earth pony's other side, and together they got up and walked into the hallway.

---

"Need a hoof?" Amber asked, standing outside her room with Saffron nearby and saddlebags on her back.

"With Meltdown?" Valey glanced to Nyala. "Actually, if you could, there's something I wanna check real quick." She glanced to Maple's old room. "We didn't really pack, so I gotta get Ironflanks her stuff."

"You'll be able to head back here, I'm sure," Saffron offered, nodding at the exit. "Though I, for one, am looking forward to finally stretching my legs again."

"You do that," Amber said, taking Valey's place. "And I gotcha. Go get her whatever it is she forgot!"

Valey nodded, shadow sneaking and slipping under the door. It was locked, and she doubted anyone had the key. Maple's old room was largely untouched since she had last seen it, used as a repository for all the things they didn't want the guards stumbling across...

Two crates were shoved in the corner, their stash of moon glass they might never figure out what to do with. Valey gave them a wistful look and traced a hoof along the lids, remembering the brief flight of fancy where she had tried them all in her pendant, looking for an edge in the tournament and just to see who was inside. Would it be a kindness to swap herself completely out and let them have a turn at life for a while? She shook her head. Better to make more pendants and... well, she had no idea how to go about getting more empty bodies.

But the moon glass wasn't what Valey was here for. Carefully, she opened a drawer, then removed a fake bottom, following a faint stinging in her nose. There they were: five glass orbs, their cores empty and frosty blue, golden flecks reflecting their faint, icy glow. One that they had brought from the beginning, and four that Amber had carried in a suitcase, all the way from Ironridge.

Could these really be the source of their troubles? A silent poison that pervaded the air, sapping their spirits and bringing conflict? Valey stared at her distorted reflection in the balls, and took a deep breath. She ought to destroy them. It would remove any hope of the Dream ever flying again, but now, while her spirits were strong, she knew it was the best course of action.

But... was it really wise? What if they did need them again? What if all their troubles were natural, with no gentle enhancements or prodding whatsoever? The hearts' effects were all just rumors in the first place. And they could hold harmony. Couldn't the effects of a harmonic flame balance them out? Or even make them worth the price... And even if they couldn't, the Ironridge hearts had survived being at the center of a supercharged flame. How did one even destroy them?

Valey gritted her teeth, suddenly unable to tell if she was considering keeping them entirely of her own will. The one truth she had was that she didn't know how to break them, and that was it. Valey looked around and grabbed a duffel bag, cramming all five orbs inside and sealing it shut. If the hearts had an influence, it was subtle, and she was at the top of her game. She'd survive lugging them around for long enough to find a place to hide them or ask a professor how to seal them away. Sea Star knew some things about harmony, right? Maybe she'd know.

She shouldered the bag and shadow snuck through the window, fighting the temptation to throw it into the sea. With a single backflip, she reached the deck, where all her other friends and most of the guards were already aligned.

"You're late," Shinespark said, trotting up with a little more wind blowing through her mane. "We're too close for flying to be worth it."

Another tugboat had joined the first, and together they were carefully maneuvering the Dream, guiding it into a cozy little spot in a marina that was far too small to see real traffic. A huge portion of the beachgoers had migrated to the nearby shoreline or hillside, crowding around the docks and watching the boat arrive.

The docks themselves were mostly clear, university security officials setting out tape and keeping ponies a short ways back. But Maple, Felicity and Starlight were watching and waiting... and so was Gerardo, the blue griffon looking perky after his weekend away. Valey stared around, recognizing Ebb and Flow in the front line.

"So who wants to make a speech?" Valey nudged Shinespark as they pulled to a stop alongside a dock. "They'll really, really love you..."

"I will do it," Grenada replied, trotting out from the bridge and extending the gangplank with her telekinesis. "Hello, by the way. Long time no see."

Valey blinked, then groaned. "Aww, bananas. I knew I forgot someone. How ya doing, girl?"

Grenada looked only marginally healthier than Shinespark, though having an intact horn helped a lot. "I will be perfectly fine once I get food, a bath and proper exercise, which goes for most everyone here." She slammed the plank down and stepped down it first, to eager gasps and premature applause.

"Speech!?" an eager voice called from the crowd.

"We are new here!" Grenada called back, addressing them all. "Please show us where we can get washed, a meal, and find accommodations. Thank you."

The crowd cheered and whistled. "Some speech, huh?" Valey nudged Shinespark again and rolled her eyes. "Come on. The future's waiting. Let's go get it."

Comments

[Phoenix Kitten]

Well.. it won't win any awards, but it's genuine.
Survivors ain't gonna care about making grandiose speeches, just about where they can get clean, noms, and sleep.

[KMCA]

9973288
preferably for a week.

[Oberth Effect]

That was quite a bombshell Nyala dropped. Is that the first we've heard of her wanting the real Valey back? I just remember Valey saying that Nyala treated our Valey very well, but I don't remember hearing much about the old one. I'm somewhat apprehensive about that third reason, as well as what Nyala knows about the original Valey's moon glass. Perhaps she read through the notes Navarre left, if he ended up doing so? Or perhaps it turns out she planned out Valey's creation with Navarre, whether partially or in full, although I don't think that's very likely. And I hope that bit about the ship dying wasn't literal...

It's interesting that Nyala kept her memories from her time as Braen, too. Maybe I'm just not remembering something about how bodies/souls/cutie marks work here, but I had the impression that transfer to another body doesn't include memories (although to be fair, the only example I can think of off the top of my head is Navarre, and he had his cutie mark to at least retain his research notes).

Edit: Looking back, it was clear at the time that Nyala retained her memories from being a machine, so I'm not sure why I remembered otherwise...

[Czar_Yoshi]

9973647
The only reason Nyala has memories from both of her bodies is because Garsheeva cheated and used the daydream network and her sphinx goddess powers to copy them over. In any other situation, memories are unique to a specific body/soul combination. So her memories aren't there naturally, her time as Braen has been forcibly stuffed back into her head by goddess magic.

As far as what's been heard before, Nyala is in the unfortunate position of having Valey run off or become indisposed every time she gets back or has an opportunity to reconnect, so she hasn't had time to say a whole lot. And particularly, she didn't even remember the old Valey until a chapter or three before this Valey got eaten by Chrysalis, so she hasn't been aware of what she was missing in all their previous interactions. If you were to go over the Griffonstone chapters with a fine-toothed comb, you might even notice her being a little apprehensive or reserved whenever Jamjars is talking about bringing Valey back.

[Oberth Effect]

9973740

Ah, glad to hear I wasn't totally off the mark, although it seems I forgot about Garsheeva explicitly transferring memories too.

Seems there's a lot of catching up (and lots of character exploration) to do between Valey and Nyala.

[sploopy slooder]

so the interludes showed that celestia didnt know starlight glimmer, so my assumption is that they dont meet here. but since celestia is supposed to be coming back to see them, i keep expecting something to happen to starlight at the very least to make that meeting not happen. plus whatever choice/event causes her to leave the group.