//------------------------------//
// Pony Pile 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

"Maple?"

"Mmmgnnph..."

Starlight felt herself slip into wakefulness, but didn't open her eyes.

"Hey, Maple?" Amber's voice whispered again. "Did I do something silly last night? Because I can't move..."

"Mhmmm..." Maple groaned, sounding as if she very much wanted to go on sleeping.

"I was afraid of that." Amber gave the softest of snorts, and then was silent.

"Are you girls waking up already...?" Willow murmured, stretching slightly and shifting against Starlight's side.

"No," Maple answered. "Go back to sleep..."

"I think I stabbed myself with a cursed sword!" Amber loudly whispered. "Why didn't you girls slap me?"

"Rrrrrnnngh..."

Starlight flicked her ears, pressing against Maple and Willow in a show of solidarity. It wasn't like they had anywhere important to be, and if they did, it wasn't like she cared.

"Girls..." Amber begged.

"Go back to sleep," Maple instructed, waking up a little further. "You're cozy, and it was your own idea."

For a moment, there was silence. Then, Amber said, "Girls? I think I'm bored."

"Then think about how nice this is," Willow whispered back. "And how if you could move, you'd stay here anyway."

"It's like a vacation," Maple murmured in agreement.

"I keep trying to move my legs and it doesn't work!" Amber protested. "I can't even shift around to get comfy!"

Muttering indiscernibly, Maple huffed and stayed still.

"Here," Starlight grumbled, lighting her horn without opening her eyes. She let her field expand, using the trick she had once invented for searching the insides of crates and shifted it, instantly finding Amber. In a moment, Amber was seized, dragged bumpily off Willow's back to the side of the bed until she was laying on her own area, soft and cushioned but still pressed together. "Better?"

"I still can't move," Amber said.

"That was your idea," Maple grumbled. "I told you it didn't feel nice."

"Amber..." Willow squirmed in place. "You were warm up there..."

"I know," Amber complained. "How did you ever get comfortable when you couldn't move?"

Maple groaned. "By convincing yourself nothing else is better than where you are now, or something. Amber, I'm warm and no one is trying to hurt me. Go back to sleep."

"...Maple?"

"No."

"Remember how you left for Ironridge just a few hours after you could go, and it turned out to be all nasty?"

"Hmmph."

"Well, I think I just did something dumb a few minutes after getting the idea too."

Maple shifted, burying her face deeper under a forehoof and jostling Starlight's side.

"Can we agree to bonk each other from now on if one of us gets a really big idea and then tries to act on it without spending at least a day first thinking it over?"

"If you go back to sleep."

Amber sighed, her voice still a whisper. "I'll try..."





For a long while, the pony heap was silent save for breathing. Starlight felt a warmness slide across her face, and then vanish: the sun, rising above the horizon. But Maple, Willow and Amber were warm enough that she didn't miss it, since anything more would have been excessive.

Again, the idea that Ironridge might have been a dream slid across her mind. It was so unusual, so far out of the ordinary, the city with its own logic and history and politics that seemed to exist just for her to pass through, and now she was in a scene that seemed completely at odds with leaving: three foalhood friends, curled up and sleeping in, with almost no cares in the world. What had she gone to Ironridge to get, or find, or do? Every want and need she might have once had slipped away in light of what she had and how little she needed. She couldn't even remember why she had crossed the mountains from Equestria, or whether that had been a vision too. Right there, she had everything she needed.

Almost everything.

"Bathroom," Starlight muttered, surrendering to nature and crawling her way out of the bed. She tumbled ungracefully to the floor, landed upright, and pushed out the bedroom door, earning a huff from Amber and a sleepy mumble from Willow.

"Hey," Valey muttered the moment the door clicked closed, causing Starlight to jump with a high-pitched eep.

"What are you doing here?" Starlight asked the moment her heart rate started to calm.

"Meh." Valey shrugged, laying on Maple's dining table and looking bored. "Needed a place to crash for the night, so I just came back here once I got bored. So hey, did she go through with it?"

Starlight perked her ears, brows scrunching. "Amber? And the sword? I think so."

"Wow." Valey shook her head, glancing to the sword that was still propped against a wall. "You Riverfall ponies are bonkers. I know I'm sure not doing that. She regretting it yet?"

"Ask her yourself once she gets up," Starlight replied. "She was complaining about being bored and Maple told her to go back to sleep."

"Really? Huh." Valey rolled off the table, landing and trotting in a circle. "The way they went on about that thing the time I heard, it's like a weeklong temporary death sentence. Didn't think she'd be talking until tonight at least. I mean, remember back in Ironridge when Sparky bagged it and carved up a bunch of the Defense Force? Those guys had it bad." She sighed and looked away. "You know, I bet those guys being out of commission kept a ton of ponies out of the fighting, actually. Might've been why the Defense Force never had a proper party ready to go for the Blueleaf Border."

Starlight blinked at her. Maybe all that had happened, or maybe it hadn't... but she knew why she was out of bed, and exactly where she was going the moment she could. She paused, an idea crossing her mind.

"Maple probably wouldn't mind if you joined everyone, if you're cold," she invited, pointing to the door. "It's nice."

Valey chuckled, patting Starlight on the head. "Yeah, I think I'm in a bit too much of a 'wow, this place is a maretopia' mood to enjoy that the way they are, and would just weird everyone out. But maybe I'll catch those other two alone some time and see if they're cool with it. Now go, uhhh... wherever you were gonna go. And hey, do you think Maple would mind if I trashed her pantry in the name of breakfast?"

"I don't think she would have left anything that goes bad quickly like fruit around," Starlight apologized, trotting off. "Just don't make a mess."

"Oh yeah, no messes. Raiding silently and undetectably. Gotcha." Valey flashed a wink back at Starlight, then set about scavenging. With a yawn, Starlight continued on her way.