//------------------------------//
// Paying A Visit 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Valey belched contentedly, leaning back and patting her stomach with three empty plates stacked in front of her and licked clean. "Bananas," she sighed, putting her hind legs on the table, "they make these restaurant portions huge."

"You showoff." Maple shook her head with a smile, her own plate mostly empty but still with a few scraps on the edges. Starlight was still working on hers, eating slowly and thoughtfully and staring at the rest of the patronage.

"What?" Valey shrugged. "See how many calories you need when you try moving like I do."

"We'll see." Maple settled back into her seat, pushing her plate over to the edge of the table. "I tried learning to spar with you several times, remember? I just don't think I'm cut out for that, even if you want to talk me into it."

Valey stuck out her tongue, stretching. "Yeah... too bad, really. But you can still do some sneaky surprise stuff. Meh. I just wish I could talk Nyala into practicing more to defend herself. Girl's literally built for combat. It feels... Eh... I dunno."

Maple nodded. "It's still taking some getting used to that she's got better friends than you now that she's back, isn't it?"

"Meh." Valey sighed. "No, she practically lives on the bridge. It totally makes sense that she'd hang out a bunch with Birdo and Slipstream. Just... I dunno, is it on my end? Because I thought of her as dead for six years? Or am I just that different from how I was then that she doesn't have the same reason to care about me? It's not like we have a problem. We just... didn't click, I guess. And it's sort of awkward and goes nowhere whenever I try to hang out with her, now."

Starlight tuned out the conversation as she continued with her food, more interested in the other ponies in the restaurant than Valey's relationship with her sort-of sister. Were they even actually related? Nyala had had her body replaced, and Valey was a moon glass soul, and one of them didn't even remember the other... But that was their problem, and she didn't see a way of fixing it other than just making more friends. Or even that it was a problem. Was Nyala missing out if she couldn't have a friendship she didn't remember having? Was Valey missing out if Nyala was clearly a different mare than the one she had known? How much did memories and experiences contribute to who they were, anyway?

Her thoughts drifted to what Valey could have been before. She had no memories when she first woke up in Icereach, too, didn't she? Had she existed before that? Could she have walked a path completely different from the one she did now? Or could she still go on to...?

Unbidden, a memory of gray flickered through Starlight's mind, monochrome flakes falling all around her as an older Valey sat panting in a field of defeated, chitinous corpses. The vision had happened more than two months ago, nearly three now, when she had disappeared after fighting the windigoes. She had never quite understood the vision, whether it was a future premonition, a glimpse of death, or a random surge of ideas, but after her encounter with the Nightmare Module, she couldn't ever forget it for more than a week at a time. It was like the memory was tethered to her mind, drifting in sometimes when it was appropriate and other times when it had nothing to do with anything at all. 

Starlight shook her head, taking another bite and trying to shift her thoughts before they inevitably wandered onto herself. She knew how differently she could have turned out if things had been even slightly different. Dead, for one, on so many occasions. Aside from that, she could have never left Equestria...

Nope. That wasn't working. Starlight shoveled three bites in at once and immediately tried to distract herself on a patron. There was a batpony mare in a business suit... Huh. Apparently there were ways for batponies to become well-off in Stormhoof, as long as they were careful about it.

"Hi," a voice interrupted, and she was suddenly blinking at Senescey. "Can I get your dishes?"

"Oh, hey." Valey lazily waved. "Yeah, I'm done. Good stuff. Tell the chef they're a boss, and all that."

Senescey popped the plates and bowls into the air and onto her back, rolling one along her wing in a practiced show of dexterity that made Valey's eyebrows raise in interest. "Fifteen minutes!" she promised, also scooping up the small pile of gold that had been dropped to pay for the meal. "There's a staircase right there... see it?" She pointed behind the bar counter between two racks of barrels, the barkeep nodding at her. "It leads to a sort of secret alley. You can wait for me up there, if you're tired of sitting around. I have a place there, and could offer you tea or desert?"

"I'm full, but tea would be nice," Maple offered as Senescey nodded and carried the plates away. "Thank you!"

"Welp." Valey patted herself again and gave another burp. "Good stuff. There's absolutely no way we're not coming back here. Bananas, Grapejuice is good at scouting for these places. Glad she's sometimes sticking around."

"Do you want to go up there and wait for her?" Maple asked, getting easily to her hooves.

Valey flopped out of the booth, shaking her mane out and straightening her hat. "Yeah, let's do that. Nyaaaahh..."





The bartender gave them no trouble at all, letting them pass with a polite, no-questions nod as they climbed the staircase. It opened into a small, second-story hallway, and the door immediately to the side stood ajar, leading to Senescey's alley.

Clean and dim, the alley was narrow enough that sunlight only reached halfway down, lighting up the buildings partway up and providing a cool shade of contrast that was easy on the eyes. Despite everything its reputation as a secret could suggest, it was clean and well-taken-care of, a few flower planters hanging from windowsills and no trash tucked into the rain gutters at the edges of the road. Doors lined both sides, and it was clear that whoever lived here didn't let their out-of-the-way status make them treat themselves any less well.

"You're here!" Senescey greeted from behind shortly into the wait, stepping into the fresh air.

"Yep. Hey." Valey nodded again. "So, uhh... you're off the clock? Just wanna sit down and chat? Meet some of my friends? I'm down."

Maple offered a friendly smile, and Senescey did a quick curtsy, still in her waitress uniform. "I have a place right over here. Certainly!"

She led the way, and the three of them followed, moving pleasantly through the afternoon.