//------------------------------//
// Almost There 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

With a crunch of metal wheels striking a rock in the road, the cart jolted, shaking Valey out of her slumber. "Wha-!?" She looked in three directions at once, kicking to free herself from Starlight's blanket, and then froze, tension draining as she realized she wasn't in danger. Grumbling, she turned in a circle, laid back down and pretended she had never woken.

From the wagon's back by the window, Maple and Starlight both watched, and eventually Valey cracked an eyelid.

"This is a cool blanket," she mumbled, chin against the boards. "Beats me why you'd decide to give up something like this."

"You looked like you could use it," Maple replied. "And I'm perfectly warm."

The rain had washed much of the heat from the jungle air, though it was hardly chilly out. At least half of the shivers that tingled along Maple's spine were memories of dripping days spent in Riverfall, where even with a black rubber poncho more than an hour in the rain could leave one with a cough the following morning. And she had Starlight, who wasn't large but made up for it in warmth and willingness to sit at her side.

"Your loss." Valey shrugged and wrapped it tighter around herself.

Starlight frowned. "I thought you would be upset that she put that on you and treated you like a kid."

"Why?" Valey flicked her tail. "Free stuff is free stuff. And this is pretty cozy..."

"Well, you can't keep it!" Maple clarified, sensing a possible line of thought. "I just borrowed it from Starlight, and it's the only one we have."

"Meh. That's cool." Valey lay with closed eyes, rolled up tightly enough that she couldn't extend her wings without first standing up. "It would probably be awkward to carry this thing around later, anyway."

"Good," Maple sighed, turning to Starlight to make sure that was, in fact, something the filly cared about. Starlight nodded.

"How long was I out?" Valey asked. "I can't smell Grand Acorn yet, but it's kinda raining, so..."

"At least an hour," Maple answered. "I really don't know. It is starting to get noticeably darker out, though. The sun must be getting close to the mountains..."

"Ooh, really?" Valey cracked her neck. "We're probably almost there, then. These things are pretty slow, but it's not that long of a ride. You guys all rested up, too?" She raised an eyebrow. "Because I'm not trying to carry you. Maybe the kid, 'cuz she smells nice, but you're way too fat, Ironflanks. My wings could use an adjustment after that."

Maple pouted, tail lashing. "Do you have to keep calling me that? I hoped you would have forgotten after going back to the Stone District."

"Ironflanks, Ironflanks, Ironflanks," Valey happily sang. "Sure do. That's a great name. Super accurate, and just suggestive enough to get you flustered without sending any wrong messages." She nudged her nose in Starlight's direction, no hooves free to point with. "Now, her, I need a name for."

Starlight frowned. "Or you could just call me Starlight."

"Eh, that's boring." Valey shrugged, stretching at her self-imposed wrappings. "Starlight, Starlight... can't think of any good puns for that at all. Got any really embarrassing episodes in your past I could pull a nickname from?"

"No," Starlight huffed.

Valey grinned. "That's a shame. I guess I'll just have to imagine one, then, won't I? I bet... one day... you took a bath..."

"Oookay," Maple interrupted, holding out a forehoof. "Let's... not?"

"Not what?" Valey's face bore just the wrong amount of innocence. "That's all I was gonna say. Seriously, baths are embarrassing."

"Hey, I like baths." Maple frowned. "Although... how much do you know about our pasts? I'm curious, now that you brought it up."

"Huh?" Valey tilted her head to the side.

"You know..." Maple waved a hoof. "You figured out that we were from Riverfall, and you've been following us for most of the day. I'm curious how much you actually know about us."

Valey spent a second contemplating. "So basically you're inviting me to make all the assumptions I like about you, and then tell them straight to your faces."

"I was just trying to change the subject," Maple sighed. "If you're going to be like-"

"Nah, I'm cool with being asked to show off!" Valey interrupted before she could back down. "I mean, we'll probably be to Grand Acorn pretty soon, but if that's really what you want to spend our last however long of peace and quiet talking about..."

Maple looked up. "What else did you want to discuss?"

"Eh, this and that." Valey rocked back and forth. "We could tell horror stories. I know some pretty good ones, too. You ever hear the one about the 'paintings' where-"

Maple hurriedly cut her off. "I don't think I want to," she said with a wave of a hoof and a nervous smile. "Please. I've always been fonder of adventure stories."

"Yeah, you said that earlier..." Valey rolled her eyes. "So are you actually serious? I can guess whatever I want?"

"What you know about us." Maple nodded. "And please don't make me regret not choosing the horror story."

"Or call us rude names," Starlight added.

"I'm pretty sure those are givens, but whatever. Ironflanks." Valey rolled her eyes. "You first, then, I guess. What you look like is pretty obvious. You've got a brand, call it a cutie mark, and it hides stuff for later. You're from Riverfall, and I'm about ninety-nine percent sure you're straight, 'cuz if you weren't you never would have left."

Maple's ears folded. "I'm more just not looking for a romantic relationship at the moment..."

"Uh huh. Sure you are." Valey bobbed her head. "But hey, that's okay! I didn't really have a thing for you anyway. As for your age..." She drummed the floor, a frown tugging on one corner of her mouth, then indicated Starlight with a nod. "I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and say you're probably too young to actually be her mom. If you are, though, that's okay too! I won't judge."

"Do you mind?" Maple cut in, defensive. "I just asked if you could not make me regret this! Don't you have more... normal things you can say?"

Valey winked. "Remember that drunk guy back in that bar in Blueleaf? Think his name was Randall, or something? Remember how ready to explode you looked when he started talking about what he thought of Riverfall?" She nodded sagely, face far more serene than her tone. "It's pretty obvious that you have some bad history with a stallion from Sosa."

Maple winced.

"You did invite me to say what I knew," Valey consoled without a hint of remorse. "Another thing I know is that you're far too cozy with me for your own good, so if you want to ignore my warnings? Look, I don't like being mean to you, but I really don't know how else to get this across! Seriously, this is me making you uncomfortable. You don't want to see what I could do if I actually meant it."

"Leave her alone," Starlight demanded from Maple's side. "She just feels bad for you and wants to help you, and you keep bringing this back up! Why do you have a problem with us treating you nicely?"

"Oh?" Valey fixed Starlight with a raised eyebrow. "Let's see about you, then... You smell. Really strongly. Good, too. Honestly, it's the main reason I started following you guys around in the first place. I dunno what it is, but there's just that something..."

"Wow, thanks," Starlight deadpanned. "I'm a pony just like anyone else, and you think all I come down to is stinking."

"I didn't say only!" Valey grinned. "You're also super touchy about a bunch of stuff. I wish you were funner to tease, though. I always feel bad about it, for some reason."

Starlight huffed, but didn't interject. If Valey wanted to annoy her instead of Maple, she could take it. It was more than enough to make her second-guess the assessment of the batpony they had done while she was sleeping, though.

"Aaaaand..." Valey broke eye contact, looking as far to the side as she could. "You've got some pretty cool magic, want to get a brand in not having a brand, and honestly? I have no idea how old you are. Could be anywhere from six to twelve and have me convinced."

"You can't tell either, huh?" Maple smiled softly, trying to put the previous conversation behind her.

Valey blinked. "You don't know?"

"I was adopted," Starlight said. "Then I ran away, and was adopted again. By Maple. I don't really know how old I am. I used to have a friend I played a lot with who would have been ten now, though."

"Hey, that's cool!" Valey looked away again, then came back with a mischievous smirk. "Wanna guess how old I am?"

Maple frowned, putting a hoof to her chin. "Maybe... twenty, give or take two years?"

"Nah." Valey winked. "I'm actually an eldritch horror from before the dawn of time, incalculable millions of years old."

"Really?" Maple gave her a skeptical stare.

Valey laughed. "What do you think?"

"I just told you what I thought," Maple huffed. "Somewhere between eighteen and twenty-two."

"Well, I don't know either, so you're not gonna find out." Unwrapping herself from Starlight's blanket, Valey stood up, holding the item out with a wing. "Here's this back, by the way. Hope I didn't shed in it too much."

Maple pocketed it, nodding in thanks. "I guess that means we're almost there?"

"Suuuure are." Valey swallowed, walking to the front of the cart and peering out, a large, black structure obscuring the horizon. "And for the record? Your guess is as good as anyone else's. All anyone knows for sure is that I was still a filly when I came to Ironridge seven years ago, so I can't be that old."

Nobody spoke as the cart rattled toward the wall of blackness, crunchy gravel spitting beneath its wheels. Suddenly, a quartet of orange floodlights flickered to life, illuminating the side of a massive, metal warehouse. A cart-sized door in the wall was retracting open, and their procession was headed straight for it.

"So this is probably the depot where they load and store the carts," Valey narrated as they moved toward the building, rain falling in sheets around them. "Which means it... might be a bit of a walk to Grand Acorn proper."

"How long is a bit?" Maple asked cautiously.

"Well..." Valey wavered. "Let's put it this way: there's no way we're going to Gnarlbough in this weather, so we have to wait somewhere until the rain lets up. And since I'm not that popular here, that'll be a choice between walking through the rain into the respectable part of town where nothing bad usually happens..." She grinned, devious. "Or playing hide-and-seek with a bunch of guards who are very well-acquainted with how much I love fruit."