Starlight nudged open Maple's swinging front door, her eyes quickly adjusting to the dim, empty storefront. Would Maple try to run her bakery today? She licked her lips, imagining the scents of baking cinnamon and other flavors, reminding herself that Maple wanted to get things back to normal. It should be a good idea, right?
Almost immediately, she ran into Willow coming down the stairs.
"Oh! Starlight!" Willow blinked in surprise, almost tripping over the filly. "I didn't see you..."
"Sorry." Starlight shrugged, stepping out of the way. "Are you getting up?"
"I am, yes." Willow stretched, rolling her shoulders. "As nice as it is to have all of us back together again, I think Amber will be in bed for days, and I can't wait that long to check on Faron and White Chocolate, or my foals. I see you're up and about, too."
Starlight nodded, seeing no reason to hide where she had been. "I took a walk. I was learning what the houses look like around here so I won't get lost."
"And did you succeed?" Willow asked with a smile.
Starlight glanced at the door. "I can find my way here from the river, and I can find the river by going east from anywhere in town."
Willow looked pleased. "That's a smart way of doing things. If you like, you can come with me and I'll show you how I remember where I'm going."
"What about Maple?" Starlight asked, putting a hoof on the staircase. "I should go tell her I'm leaving, if we do."
"I'll leave a note." Willow quickly lifted a pen between her teeth, scratching something out on a pad of paper by Maple's shop counter that looked like it was for taking custom orders. "There," she said, spitting it out. "I think she'll want to stay home today so she can look after Amber, but I'm sure she won't mind the two of us getting some fresh air."
Starlight hoped she didn't. The part of her that wanted things without providing reasons said Willow was what she had looked forward to most about returning to Riverfall, and going with her sounded like a perfect use of her day. Maybe it was because it was Willow she had woken up with first after being pulled from the river. Maybe it was because it had been Willow who was first to trust her with a request that had serious consequences if she failed: be nice to Maple, not that she needed a request to do that any more. It might just have been that Willow was calming, gave the impression that she could read her mind and always used that knowledge to avoid asking the wrong thing.
"So where are we going first?" Starlight asked, scurrying out the door after her.
"My house. But we're not in a hurry," Willow replied, smiling over her shoulder as she turned and walked northwest. "Is there anywhere you'd like to go? I could buy you a treat at the market."
"I do need breakfast," Starlight admitted. "Did you eat anything?"
"I was going to get something when I got home," Willow said. "I didn't want to make Maple feel like she needed to get up and cook for me. She says she's completely better, but I think she still enjoys having a reason to rest."
Starlight nodded absently, humming in agreement. She could understand Amber's curiosity on what being limp and immobilized would be like, but had had far too many situations in Ironridge where she couldn't move to even begin to entertain the idea.
"Thank you for taking care of her, by the way," Willow added, leading the way through the silent pre-noon streets. Starlight recalled there being more ponies who simply stood around and talked, but then, all the ponies with nothing better to do with their time were probably watching Gerardo.
"Maple?" Starlight folded her ears. "I tried, but she did still get hurt..."
"From what you said yesterday, you tried a lot more than anypony could have been expected to," Willow pointed out. "Does it still feel like it wasn't enough?"
Again, Starlight nodded.
"It's difficult," Willow agreed, glancing up at the hanging pennants strung between the houses and trees. "Seeing something that shouldn't be the way it is, but not being able to stop it. Would you believe me if I said I knew how you feel?" She gave a wry smile.
"Of course." Starlight shrugged. "Weren't you just saying yesterday how sad you were that all that stuff happened to Maple with her husband and her foal and you couldn't help her or even put yourself in her horseshoes?"
Willow actually stopped, blinking, giving Starlight the chance to catch all the way up. "I know you don't like hearing this," she eventually whispered, "but you're a special filly, Starlight. Not many ponies your age can see things with that much empathy."
Starlight hung her head. "I got used to it."
"Well, I'm proud of you," Willow whispered, resuming her gentle pace.
"How old do you even think I am?" Starlight asked, this time trying not to fall behind. "Really. Because I actually don't know."
Willow looked thoughtful. "I don't know either. You're more of an adult than my foals, for sure, but you haven't started your teenage growth spurt yet. What's the earliest thing you remember?"
Starlight paused, bit her lip, and shook her head. "Somewhere with high ceilings? I don't remember. But I don't know how long ago that was, either."
"Well..." Willow hummed, thinking. "Does your home have any holidays or traditions that are celebrated once every year? How about birthdays? How many birthdays can you clearly remember? My foals have birthday parties that I plan themes for, and I have to plan carefully to avoid reusing any. They can both remember back to their fourth, if I show them what I'm planning."
Starlight thought, but immediately lost count once memories of Sunburst jostled her concentration. She huffed. "It's fine. It's not important, anyway. I left Equestria, and I'm not going back, so what matters is what I've done here."
"Oh, I didn't say it was important." Willow turned another corner, weaving between houses and generally following a wider path. "But there's nothing wrong with finding things out because you're curious."
"Hmmph." Starlight huffed, not disagreeing but having nothing more to add.
Eventually, Willow changed the subject. "Do you see that string of flags that are pure red, Starlight?"
Starlight glanced up, and the pennants immediately caught her attention. They were bigger than the others, still ornamental but looking as if they were designed to stand out rather than blend in. Odd, since the town was already mostly painted in shades of red, orange and brown, but they somehow managed to do it anyway.
"There are six lines in Riverfall that are shaped that way and given a single color all the way through," Willow explained. "This one goes mostly north and south. The others go diagonally, and eventually the purple one goes east and west. All of them meet up at the plaza where Gerardo is talking, in the northeast, and try to go through other places that might be easy to remember. So whenever you want to find your way in Riverfall, you can use the lines to tell exactly where you are."
Starlight frowned. "Exactly? Wouldn't you just know you're on a line?"
Willow smiled. "Because they meet at a corner of the city, they spread out and get farther apart as they go. So if you find one, you can walk away from it, see how many towers you have to pass to find the next one, and that will tell you about how far from the corner you are as well as which direction you're going, since all of the lines are their own color. All I have to do to find my way anywhere I want is watch for the lines as I go and find my direction again if I don't see what I expected to see."
Huh. Starlight would have to ponder that; it sounded like an interesting system, though she couldn't wrap her head around it well enough to use it herself. But maybe paying more attention to the town's decorations would help some day...