//------------------------------//
// Thinking Stylishly 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

"Starlight! There you are!"

Maple looked relieved to see her, and Starlight briefly felt guilty for slipping away and assuming she wouldn't be missed. "Sorry," she said, pacing quickly over. "I got distracted."

"Oh? By what?" Maple smiled, probably hoping to engage Starlight in conversation, but instead making her feel awkward. Telling her mother she had been discussing plotting behind her back wasn't something Starlight envied doing.

"I'll tell you later," she said, dodging the question and instead looking to Willow, who was fiddling with something by the stove. "I'm hungry. Are you making more food?"

Willow stepped back, fondly shaking her head. "I'm cleaning this ruined pan so Maple doesn't have to. Are you still hungry?"

Starlight sat up straight and looked down at her belly. "Yeah, a little."

"Let's see what we can get you, then..." Maple got up, humming, and walked back to the kitchen. "Something warm? Are you still cold?"

Nodding, yawning, Starlight sat down, and Amber leaned over and tousled her mane with a weak, floppy hoof.

"How does warm cinnamon applesauce sound?" Maple asked, already shifting around and banging something in a cupboard as she fetched the proper pot.

"I dig that," Amber announced, answering for her. "Mind heating some up for me, Grandma?"

Valey snickered in the corner, and Willow shook her head. "I'll get out of your way if you need the space here, Maple," she said, putting the pan down and taking several steps back.

"It'll only be a minute," Maple assured, and Starlight settled in to wait.

"...So. Ironridge." Amber tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling. "Now that we've decided, who's excited? I mean, we're going on a bit of a somber note, but I think it'll be fun. What do you girls wanna plan to do?"

"Aside from not dying?" Maple threw a wry smile over her shoulder. "I'd like to find our place to stay and then stay there for a day without endlessly planning and hurrying and running around. That's what it was like before everything went wrong, at least. I had to fight Gerardo to stop, slow down, or do something fun and leisurely. We should just go slowly, and if there's anything we decide we need to do, just put it on a list and don't leave until we've gotten around to it."

Amber shrugged, grinning. "Well, you're the expert."

Valey raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, but you might want to have some idea of where you're going, right? Like, okay, you want a place to stay." She tapped the side of her head. "I've got this recollection of you grabbing this hotel room and then getting massively lost trying to find it again. Now, odds are I can bail you out if you get yourselves into an ordinary, didn't-know-the-city level of trouble like that, but remember that Ironridge is like ten miles across and the only public transportation is the cheating kind where we stole a ride from Blueleaf to Grand Acorn. If you guys just wander and go anywhere without a plan, you might wind up tired or stuck along the way."

Maple bit her lip and looked between her friends.

"That's cool, though," Valey added. "Just keep in mind that you can't instantly teleport home."

Amber touched her chin in thought. "Well, we do have you and maybe Gerardo as fliers. If one of us did get too tired, maybe you could fly us back in an emergency?"

Valey winked. "Yep. Emergency. Let's keep that as a backup, though, because I can actually get tired too."

"Do you suppose Gerardo is coming with us?" Maple asked with a frown. "I know I'm being hard on myself about pushing us farther than we should have, but he started it. Gerardo not letting us rest and hurrying with his crates was what got me and Starlight into trouble in the first place."

"Where even is Gerardo?" Amber asked, frowning. "Me and Valey saw him still hanging out in the plaza, though his audience isn't quite as big as it used to be. I bet his novelty's wearing off, but I haven't seen him back here to hang out with us in a while. I kind of miss him."

Maple winced. "Well, I might have yelled at him when he broke my door..."

"Oh yeah, that." Amber drooped. "We should get that fixed some time, don't you think?"

"You think?" Maple growled.

"Ooh. Sensitive subject. Sorry." Amber wilted, her ears going back. "Look, I know Gerardo sounds like he wasn't the greatest traveling buddy, but... I liked him? He was fun. Silly and grand and not serious, like an adventure should be. All the mares at the plaza certainly think so."

Valey nodded, pacing closer to the center of the room. "Yeah, problem is, being silly and not taking things seriously when things are serious is a recipe for getting beaten up, or worse. That's fine for me, though. I just never counted on him in the first place." She glanced over her shoulder as if making sure she was in private, then added, "You think he's coming back with us? I mean... we don't have to invite him."

Amber vehemently shook her head. "He'll find out, feel bad, and I don't want to do that. I'll talk to him about it. And hopefully, this trip will be not serious and fun, so it won't be out of place."

"Eh." Valey shrugged. "Well, you said it. Here's hoping."

Willow spoke up, breaking her silence. "Maple, maybe me and Amber should talk to him without you around? I'm sure Gerardo feels that there's tension between you two, and that's why he's staying away right now. But we could talk to him and see if we can reach an understanding. You're our friend, but I wouldn't like to hurt his feelings if I can avoid it."

Maple grimaced. "If he helps fix my door, I'll consider it. For now... I don't know. Starlight, here's your applesauce. Who else wanted some? Amber?"

Valey patted her stomach and belched. "Ehh... I might've stuffed myself a bit too much earlier. But save some for second breakfast, okay?"

"Second breakfast." Amber rolled her eyes, accepting the bowl Maple gave her and carefully making sure it was on the table before lapping some up. "Sounds like an idea I could get behind. So where to after this? Did someone say something about Sycamore's?"

"The bathhouse?" Maple nodded and hummed. "I was thinking some of us could use it..."

"Some more than others," Amber chuckled, waggling her eyebrows at Valey.

"Hey..." Valey self-consciously touched her mane. "I take baths."

"She's talking about your mane," Starlight grunted, looking up from her nearly-drained applesauce bowl. "Half of it is missing, and there's a style pony there who can make it look better."

Valey frowned, pulling the surviving ends of her mane into view. "Uhh... yeah, I don't usually like ponies messing with my mane. Typically anyone who wants to just wants to dump a bucket of weird stuff on my head, and I once got a revenge scheme where someone thought it would be funny to make me go bald. Foiled it easily, but still. Also once got hit by a scheme I didn't foil where some smart guy thought it would be funny to put bows and ribbons in my mane. Didn't set off my cutie mark because they weren't technically trying to hurt me, and they somehow found where I was sleeping..."

"Bows and ribbons, huh?" Amber's grin intensified. "Well, we did say the point was to make you look better..."

"Oh, no." Valey's eyes widened. "No, don't you get any ideas. This is exactly why I don't like my mane messed with. If you try and give me some cutesy manecut..."

Amber chuckled evilly. "Girls? What do you think would look better on her? I think she has enough left to pull off a straight-combed bang in front, but if not, she definitely has enough to copy Shinespark's style. I actually want to try that myself. I bet it would look good on me. And if we go with bows, do you think front or back would be better? Or sides! Both sides! Oh! What if we made the back look like Shinespark's, and gave the front a straight bang with the sides just long enough to show it off, and then we put one bow in her tail and another in..."