The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Fuzzy Warmth

Starlight came to surrounded by warmth and fuzz, and didn't bother to open her eyes.

These mornings were perfect. Once again, she had gone to bed at sundown, along with Maple, Willow and Amber. Once again, she could wake up in a familiar situation, surrounded by friends, with nothing the matter and everything right with the world. She had promised herself that no matter what, for Maple's sake, she would make living in Riverfall work, and be happy. Sometimes, it was difficult, like the previous day at Dior's breakfast. But waking slowly in a pile with everyone who cared about her in the world was rapidly becoming a ritual, and when Riverfall had times like this to offer, she wanted to make it work for her sake, too.

Cold rain hissed on the roof above her, her ears flicking to its tune through her scruffy, tousled mane. Somewhere, a sliver of chill air made it through the house's insulation and pierced her coat, providing contrast to the warmth of her friends' bodies and making her shiver, snuggling in harder. Something warm rose and fell beneath her, gently moving her with it; at a guess, she was laying atop Willow. Someone else had a forehoof draped across her back.

She cracked an eye to check, confirming her suspicions. Willow lay on her back with all four legs in the air, holding Maple and Amber against her with Maple's head on her chest. Starlight was curled on Willow's soft, silvery belly with one ear trapped beneath her head and not a single errant rib poking into her. She burrowed harder, Willow's fur brushing against her cheek as she slipped a foreleg free and hugged the mare closer.

Willow's stomach growled, reminding her that even if she wanted it to, the morning wouldn't last forever. Closing her eyes again and taking in her friends' scents, Starlight listened to the rain, pretending that wouldn't be a concern for a few more minutes.

It was raining. That meant that even if she got up, she couldn't go exploring, since Maple didn't have any ponchos sized for a filly and even if she did, the unfinished roads around her house would be muddy and annoying. She didn't want to track mud back to Maple's house. Although Maple had been saying they needed a bath...

Maybe she could stand out in the rain for a few minutes and call it good. Come back, towel off, get back in bed before any of her friends woke up or noticed she was missing... Starlight hummed at the idea, intentionally trying to sound like Maple or Willow. It was probably implausible. They would wake up, if not on their own when a cold, semi-wet filly crawled into the bed... or maybe they'd take pity on her and stay a while so she could warm up, and warming up was the one thing better than already being warm. She could get some food while she was up, too. The idea was almost as warming as her friends themselves, and before she knew it she had slipped off Willow's belly, rolled out of Maple's pillowlike bed and was carried by her hooves to the door.

"Hey," Valey said as she closed the door behind her, completing the familiar morning ritual. "Sleep snuggly? I took some peeks and gahhh I am jealous of you and those mares. Maybe I should just take pride in being shameless and slip in there too. Dunno why I don't already; I loved disrespecting boundaries in Ironridge..."

She kept her voice low for the sleeping mares, almost but not quite a whisper. Starlight rubbed her eyes with a hoof, clearing away the crust from the edges, and realized Valey was at the stove, fiddling around with something with her wings. "You're cooking?" Starlight asked, slightly surprised at the sound of sizzling.

"Maaaybe?" Valey glanced over her shoulder, grinning nervously. "I mean, I made toast. Sort of. A lot of it burned, but I got a few good pieces, and I think I'm getting the hang of it. I also tried cutting up some bananas and cooking them in a pan to see what happened. I had fried banana once and it was good... I think. But I probably missed something, 'cuz this looks a little weird. Don't worry, though, I stocked us up yesterday when no one was looking. About half of Ironflanks' pantry is bananas, now, so we won't run out."

Starlight raised an eyebrow, deciding what she smelled fit the bill for burning bananas. "You really like those, don't you?"

"What, bananas? They're good!" Valey frowned in self-defense. "Actually, I like pretty much anything sweet. Fruit in general is good. So I also loaded up on mangoes, pears, three melons and a pineapple. Here, want some toast?"

She offered a vaguely brown slice of bread covered in yellow paste that smelled like smashed banana. Shrugging, Starlight took it in her aura, realizing Valey wasn't kidding when she said she eventually got some good pieces. "Did you flatten a banana on this, too?" she asked, trying to recall why pineapple rang a bell in her head.

"Yeah. I'm creative, I know. But it works, doesn't it?" Valey stopped talking to grab a spatula in her teeth and started to scrape at the pan. Eventually, she spat it out and sat down. "Okay, maybe I need to turn the heat down on this. Whatever. Worst that can happen is I'll ruin the pan. You know anything about frying stuff?"

Starlight didn't, and shook her head.

"Whatever. So I was thinking..." Valey shut off the stove with a flick of her emerald tail, sticking a piece of toast in her mouth and beginning to pace as she munched. "You know how you can crystal stuff with your horn, whenever you want?"

"Yeah...?" Starlight nodded, wondering where Valey was going with this.

"Cool." The batpony nodded. "So I was thinking, like... how much control do you have over where it goes? Like, you freeze a pony, they can't move, right? But say you only get their leg, or their head or something. They can still move everything else?"

"Well, yeah." Starlight shrugged. "Why?"

Valey grinned, showing her fangs. "So I was thinking... how awesome would it be if you crystalled yourself, but only along where your bones are, and left all your leg joints free and stuff? It would be like a magic suit of armor! You'd be safe, but could still move around and stuff! Wouldn't that be neat?"

Starlight blinked, trying and failing to count the number of major joints in her body. "Don't suits of armor have hundreds of plates?" she asked worriedly. "That's a lot of crystals to hold out at once. And my horn takes energy every time the crystals get hit, so even if I could get one out and was willing to hurt my magic, it could only take a few hits before breaking. Besides, it sounds complicated. I don't know if I could make something like that in the first place."

Valey raised a serious eyebrow. "You could also cast it on yourself or your friends. What if blocking one hit was all it took to keep Ironflanks alive?"

Starlight's pupils constricted, and her mind rushed back to the battle on the dam bridge. Could her crystals even block Gerardo's sword? Could she have done something? What if-

"Hey. I know that look." Valey poked her sharply in the shoulder, jumping her out of the flashback. "If you're thinking about the dam, remember that your horn was toast already then, and we all got out alive. And if you had exploded it trying to guard her, assuming you'd been able to react in time, she would've splatted on the rocks because you wouldn't be able to put up a shield as we fell. Didn't mean to guilt trip you, here."

"...Right," Starlight said, her chest slowly loosening. But Valey had known exactly what image to plant in her mind, consciously or unconsciously, and now whether a spell like that was possible or not, she still wanted to try.

"Honestly? Magic armor would be pretty useless here, anyway," Valey remarked, scooping up another piece of toast and continuing her munching. "Doesn't seem like a very violent town. I just thought it would look cool, and maybe keep you safe from the rain." She nodded out the window. "Like, okay, maybe armor's ridiculous. What if you just crystalled your hooves, to act like boots in the mud? And made a mushroom or something on your back to be like an umbrella. That's five pieces. Might actually make your life a whole lot better, if you could do a spell like that."

That was actually a good point. Starlight stared at a forehoof, wondering... and experimentally lit her horn and encased it in crystal. The spell overshot, freezing up through her hoof joint, and the resulting chunk was round and geometric and would be like walking with balls taped to the undersides of her hooves. She frowned and let it fade. If she could pull it off, it would take a lot of practice.

In the meantime, though, she had a task to get back to. Hopefully the scent of food wouldn't wake her friends up too early... Starlight headed for the stairs, waving goodbye to Valey as she descended.

"Where you going?" Valey's head poked after her, a slice of toast held in her mouth.

"To stand in the rain," Starlight replied. "Maple said I needed a bath."

Valey shrugged. "Well, okay." And she went back to her cooking, leaving Starlight to her own devices.

The towel rack by the door had been repopulated. That was good; she'd need those. Swinging the door aside, Starlight stepped out into the gray morning light, Maple's unroofed porch draining water through the cracks in the boards.

"Brrbrrbrrr..." Starlight hugged herself and shivered, feeling as the water soaked into her coat and wormed its way steadily to her core. Images of herself hiding in a barely-adequate shelter between two rocks in the mountains flickered through her mind. Was this a day for traumatic flashbacks, or something? Starlight glared at the sky, getting an eyeful of water for her trouble, but didn't back down. If the world wanted her to get a phobia of rain, it would have to try a good deal harder than that.

Then, with a wave of icy tingles, the rain reached her skin beneath her coat, and Starlight knew she was done. Suddenly stiff-legged and barely able to walk thanks to her trembles, she pushed on the door to open it and go back inside.

It snapped free from its hinges, and she barely caught it with telekinesis before it hit the floor.

Right... After Gerardo broke it, it had only been given a temporary fix, since anything fuller would require replacing the gouged-out doorframe. Sighing through her shivers, Starlight replaced it as best she could, repressing the urge to shake herself off and instead summoning a storm of towels and telekinesis to tend to her sopping mane, tail and coat.

She was cold, all right. Maybe too cold. If her friends got up and didn't want to stay in bed... She didn't even feel like she had washed that hard, either, so she probably still needed a bath. Why couldn't the rain be just a little warmer?

Finally, Starlight lifted the towel from her face, her magic starting to grow tired from rubbing, and was pleased to see she was no longer dripping and only smelled vaguely of wet pony. She brushed her coat down; it was still wet, but hopefully not enough that anyone would mind. For good measure, she took a dry towel and rubbed herself off one more time. That would do it.

Eagerly, still shivering, Starlight trotted up the staircase, beelining back to bed.

Comments

[Boopers]

How the hay did she think this would be a good idea :P I guess the next chapter starts with a loud scream of appreciation.

[RoboRed]

pony pile hnggg

[Phoenix Kitten]

I could have sworn that during her little mountain excursion, she used a conjured crystal as a makeshift umbrella...
Did she forget she could do that?

[Streit]

Let best bat join the cuddle pile already.

[Venlinelle]

All these descriptions of cozy mornings are making me jealous. Valey, you’d better hurry up and join the cuddle pile already, because some of us don’t have the privilege of sleeping with a bunch of ponies and you’re wasting your opportunities.