After Blaze got herself dressed to her liking and put her suitcase away, we made our way over to the supplemental attribute room, or however it was called. It looked exactly like the previous storage room, but the items were sorted by type; clothes in one corner, bags in another, and so on.
A few others were in this room with us, walking or flying about while sorting the shelf spaces or gathering items from them. Some were in pony guises, like us, while others were wandering about as their Changeling selves.
Oval immediately went over to the section with stallion clothes and rummaged through them in his search for a set of overalls. I stuck with Blaze and Breeze, and Blaze directed us to an area close to where Oval was, but which had obvious feminine clothing instead.
Blaze pulled a few outfits off the shelf spaces and held them up between us, but just as quickly put them away again.
"So, what do we call each other out there?" I asked.
"You're easy; we're just going to keep calling you Pearl for now," Breeze offered from my side.
"Just call me mom," Blaze told me, holding up another dress between us.
"Summer Breeze," Breeze offered.
"Just keep calling me Burst," Oval offered from the path over.
"You're Sturdy Hoof," Blaze called back.
"Damnit," Oval muttered loud enough for us to hear.
"I'll just call you dad," I offered up, staring at a very fancy dress Blaze was pulling out of the stack. "I'm not sure how I feel about wearing something like that, 'mom'."
Blaze shook her head at it as well. "No, I agree; we don't want to appear overly chique. From the outfits stored here, I worry that our family has been rising a bit too fast through pony society."
"You mares just have a rich taste," Oval suggested. "There's only a few such outfits in this aisle. Mostly from Canterlot or Manehattan from the looks of things. Wait, no, this is Baltimare style. I recognize it."
"That's a first," Blaze remarked, pulling a simple sky blue shirt out from a shelf and studying the stitching.
Oval came around the corner, still wearing his battered backpack, but with a blue dress shirt and pair of dark-blue pants under it. I thought it made him look a bit like a businesspony, save for the backpack.
"I can't very well call you mom," Oval suggested to Blaze, who gave a humourless shrug in his direction. "What's riding you?"
"Nothing," Blaze deflected. "Let's look at the next aisle to see if there's something for Pearl to wear."
I sat my rear end down, startling Breeze a bit.
"No," I declared. "I've been noticing it as well; you're moody."
"It's just a game between Oval and me," Blaze suggested, but Oval shook his head at that.
"Not like this. You're constantly griping at me as if I've done something wrong," Oval stated. "Is it the news you told me earlier?"
Blaze looked down a moment, her pony ears drooping. "I guess it has kept me busy."
"Blazey, you don't have to carry it all on your own back," Breeze suggested, walking over to the other and giving her a soft nuzzle at her chest.
"Maybe I'm obsessing a bit over clothes because of it," Blaze muttered weakly, lifting her right forehoof to stroke through Breeze's mane.
"There are plenty of ponies running around naked, mom," I pointed out. "I wouldn't be the first."
Oval smiled from under his moustache and gave a nod. "Right you are, 'daughter', and I think we should talk about the news when we get to the spa, Blaze."
"Spotlight," Blaze corrected him, "but, yes. We should talk about it somewhere that's not here."
"Spotlight," Oval mused. "Spotty, Spot..."
Blaze narrowed her eyes at him, and I decided to give Oval a punch in the shoulder so he did not have to get one from Blaze again.
"Let's get moving then, before I murder my stallion," Spotlight (Blaze) suggested, nudging Summer Breeze to walk with her.
Sturdy Hoof (Burst/Oval) and I fell in line behind them and I frowned up at him. "That was pushing it too far, dad," I suggested.
He smirked back in my direction. "I can't help but try to lighten the mood, Pearl."
"I think you have to change targets for your joke for a bit," I offered. "I might only know her for a few days, but it looks to me like mom's at her limit for how much she can take."
"Are you offering to be a lightningrod?" Oval wondered, grinning over.
"If I have to be to keep mom from going on a murder spree, yes," I agreed. "Besides, I want to know what this news is you both have been talking about. I don't suppose it's anything good?"
Dad's face darkened considerably, and he shook his head. "No. Our idea for a spa treatment came at the right time; the news is upsetting at best."
"I can't wait to hear," I responded with no small amount of sarcasm.
"Nor I; she was already halfway through her rant by the time we got to her," Oval mumbled. "Barely made sense; something about locked rooms."
I shook my head at it, not wanting to think of it yet. "Yeah, that spa is sounding more and more like the best idea right now."
Oval agreed, and we continued after Blaze and Breeze as they led us out of the room and through a tunnel which opened up to the outside of the hive outpost.
It was a short trek further down along the slope of the mountain to the nearby forest, and the darkness of the canopy made me step a little closer to Oval until I was practically hugging his side.
It was comforting to know that Oval, who had been the first of the sisters I met, was walking next to me as my supposed dad. It made me feel safe since she had practically taken me under her wing from the moment she had dropped her guise.
Blaze and Breeze were walking together in a similar fashion, with little Breeze nuzzled in against our fake mother's side as if she was even more concerned than I was.
It was a little silly, really; they were from this world. They knew what they could encounter. All I had to go by were stories from various Human media. There was no telling how much they got right or wrong about the region.