The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Maple's Pantry

"Hey," Valey said as the pantry door clicked closed, muting the voices of Maple, Amber and Willow above.

Starlight stepped forward into the spacious back room of Maple's house. It took up just over a quarter of the circular ground floor, and was lined with shelves, ceiling racks, and newly-added crates of fruit Valey had smuggled from who knew where. A single window let a dusty shaft of light in, looking like it needed to be three times bigger.

"What do you want?" Starlight asked, looking up at Valey, who was seated on a crate. "Something everyone else shouldn't be here for?"

"Just to make sure we're on the same page." Valey shrugged. "You think her reason for wanting to go back to Ironridge is terrible, too, right?"

Starlight blinked. "Maple's?"

"Yeah. Hers." Valey rolled over on the box, laying down and dangling her hind hooves off the side. "What do you think?"

Starlight thought. Her primary concern was keeping Maple happy... No, it was keeping her safe and then happy. Which meant not returning to Ironridge was the best choice, since the city had a bad track record for being safe...

"I meant it when I said all her previous calls were bad decisions," Valey said, interrupting her train of thought. "They did turn out for the best. I am grateful my rear got saved, and Ironridge probably would have been toast if the circumstances were even the tiniest bit different. But that's just it... you and Ironflanks got lucky. If you'd been smart and stayed safe, we can say with hindsight you'd probably be icebergs right now, but knowing what we did at the time, clued out about the windigoes? Not hunkering down with the Sosans was an unnecessary risk. And now, maybe I'm reading this wrong, but she's feeling guilty about putting you in danger, knows everyone survived by luck, and wants to go back. Feeling cheated out of a fight and wanting to win it the real way, I can understand, but this feels more like... she's trying to put herself in danger again, hoping she'll get lucky again. It's like she wants to convince herself there's something watching over her, or something, and not just luck at play. Something that rewards her for taking the nice, optimistic route? So she can stop feeling like her choices pointlessly endangered you?" She shrugged again. "I dunno. You following?"

"Say that again?" Starlight asked with a frown. Valey had completely thrown her for a loop.

"Right, let's see..." Valey tugged at the spokes of her wings. "So this is just me guessing, but I think Ironflanks feels bad that her decisions put you in danger, knows you survived by luck, and really doesn't want to admit it to herself and is in denial 'cuz that means being nice and optimistic like she likes isn't the right way to do things all the time. So she either already has or is trying to convince herself it's not luck and there's something else watching over her and keeping the two of you safe, so that you were never really in danger and her choices were the right ones and she didn't risk your lives and stuff. And she's doing that by making another dumb, optimistic decision, and waiting to see if it turns out all right... At least, that's my read on the situation. What do you think she's doing?"

Starlight was still trying to fully wrap her head around what Valey had said. "So you think we shouldn't go back? Why did you say you'd go, then?"

Valey's eyes traced along the ceiling. "Eh... I didn't say going back was a terrible idea. I said her reason for it is a terrible reason. If something was going to happen in Ironridge that was so bad, we'd all die or be emotionally scarred for life even worse than last time, I'm pretty sure my cutie mark would be tingling from here. It's not only for sensing ambushes, you know. For what it's worth, I can totally see us going back, hanging out in Skyfreeze, digging through whatever weird stuff that Kero guys keeps in his room... I'll do that, in case it's a bomb. Maybe go to the Stone District. Maybe get triggered by ponies being apathetic jerks who have no idea how close they came to death. And then we come back here. But I'm thinking... if we go along with this, and it turns into a fun vacation, which I'm worried it will, Ironflanks might try something even stupider next to test her luck. So what do we do?" Her eyes narrowed. "First off, do you think I'm on to something, or were you on board with her reasoning for going back?"

"...I guess?" Starlight kept frowning. "She really, really wants to believe in the best happening..."

"Yeah, well, things being able to go well is different from them always going well." Valey lay down completely on her side, swishing her tail once. "So then what I want to ask is what you think we should do."

Starlight sat down, staring into the shaft of light that came down through the high-up window. "What do you mean? Like going or not going?"

"That, or other things." Valey gave a sideways shrug. "We could stay here. That's smart, safe, and accomplishes nothing in any direction. It's also boring, and to be honest, thinking about spending an entire lifetime in this one town doing nothing sounds kinda boring. Might turn into a bad thing if we don't have a precedent for giving in to wanderlust, don't you think? I mean, I'm digging this place, but snooping around and going ogling is going to get old after a while."

She rolled over, facing away. "Then, we could go, and if we went, we'd have three options. One is to ignore me, not do anything, and really leave the trip up to luck. Treat it like a fun vacation. If it goes wrong, oh well. You and me can probably fight our ways out, especially if Birdo's dumb sword stays out of the mix. Option two: Ironflanks wants to think something's watching out for her, keeping her safe and rewarding her with good luck whenever she stays optimistic? We could be that. Whether I'm reading her right or not, we could sneak around ourselves, conspire, go out hunting for threats before they begin... basically do everything possible to make sure it is a fun vacation for those three. But that wouldn't be fun for us, and if Ironflanks gets it too far into her head that hoping for the best and throwing caution to the winds is the way to make decisions, she might actually get in real trouble again some day. Trouble like your last visit to Ironridge."

Starlight folded her ears. "What's the last option?"

Valey looked so far up, she was facing Starlight again, expression darkening. "If you think she's being dumb, and the world's going to teach her a lesson some day... we could beat it to it. Sabotage this trip ourselves. Do something to get it through her head that this maybe isn't the smartest way of making decisions, but also keep things under enough control that no one will ever be in danger, or look like they are. For what it's worth, I've got good experience being a villain."

"What!?" Starlight squeaked, quickly slapping a hoof over her mouth, hoping her voice hadn't carried. "I mean... no! I'm not going to lie to, trick and try to hurt Maple!"

"Thought you'd say that." Valey sat up and nodded. "Good. You've got morals. So we're not going to teach her a lesson, then. Do you want her to learn it the hard way, or do you not think there's a lesson that needs to be learned?"

Starlight wobbled, feeling vaguely woozy. "I think I'm going to talk to her instead of planning and being sneaky. If you're worried she's making a decision for the wrong reasons, shouldn't you just tell her?"

Valey blinked... and grinned. "You're smarter than I give you credit for. Or maybe just more civilized. You do that, I guess. Just remember, even though I'd be happy never seeing Ironridge again as long as I live, I don't think going back is a particularly bad idea. Unless you don't want to go, don't try to talk her out of it, try to talk her into..." She frowned. "Actually, nah, talk her into whatever you want. She's your mom, after all."

Sensing the conversation was done, Starlight nodded, lighting her horn to open the pantry door.

"Oh! One more thing," Valey interrupted. "Have you thought at all about what we want to do with this?"

She reached a wing into her destroyed mane beneath her hat, withdrawing a small chunk of technologically-altered crystal. Starlight stared for a second, recognizing it as the data chip Fire had given them upon leaving Ironridge. Supposedly, it contained an explanation for all of Yakyakistan's actions regarding Ironridge, the windigoes, and who knew what else.

"...Why?" Starlight asked, looking warily at the chip. "Because we might be going back to Ironridge?"

"Yeah, sorta." Valey shrugged, replacing it and climbing down from the box. "Just thinking. I've got some stuff in my life that feels like..." She touched the golden pendant around her chest. "Feels like I'm taking a break from everything right now, but I've got some keys to get back toward stuff I want. And then everything'll probably get hard and dramatic and nasty again, and right now I still think I'm seriously enjoying this break. But... at some point, I'll be tempted to give this a listen, see if it's got anything on it about a few topics I'm scared of but really want to know... Might also go check out out a certain suit of power armor. Just wondering if you're feeling curious yet, or want to enjoy life a little more before opening up a box that could contain a giant quest or who knows what else."

Truthfully, Starlight had forgotten the chip was even there. "Wait," she said without even needing to hesitate. "At least until we're either in Ironridge and nothing bad is happening, or we decide not to go. I really want to be happy with Riverfall, for Maple's sake." She hesitated, and added, "What do you think you'd find in there?"

"...Stuff about my past," Valey said uncertainly. "I, uh... opened up a little about it to someone recently. I figure sooner or later, it'll all be out of the box, and I really would like you guys to know and be okay with it at some point if you're going to be my friends. But, uhh... mind not asking for now and just letting me work it out at my own pace?"

Starlight shook her head. "Okay."

"Whew." Valey wiped her brow, stretched her face, and slapped a grin back on. "You have no idea how hard it is to be authentically nervous. Now come on. Let's go see if my toast is gone yet."

"Okay..." Starlight repeated, shivering slightly. She was still a little wet, and the bottom floor of the house was drafty thanks to the broken main door.

Valey saw it instantly. "Still cold?" Her grin intensified as she stepped out the door. "So hey, wanna take bets on which one of those three is going to hug you to warm you up first?"