//------------------------------//
// Confusion 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

"You don't have a cutie mark."

It was the first full sentence Starlight had said in over a month, enunciated with a pointed hoof and too many different emotions to count. Even discounting her tired, conflicted state, she simply felt too much to begin putting into tone: surprise, confusion, hope. So, hoof hanging in the air, she closed her mouth and waited for the mares to explain.

Willow looked over her shoulder first. "A what?"

"A cutie mark," Starlight repeated, ears shifting. "On your flank." She indicated her own... or where one would be, if she had one.

"Oh!" Willow chuckled. "Well, that's a cute name. But I'm not that old."

As Amber elbowed her in the ribs and whispered something nefariously in her ear, confusion won out in Starlight's mind. "Huh?"

Willow raised an eyebrow. "Is that unusual?"

Starlight simply stared, hoof pointing again as her jaw hung loosely. "But... you're fully grown! You said you had kids!"

"I did." Willow took a step closer, tilting her head. "Given that you're a unicorn, I'd have expected you'd be more surprised that these two have them."

A quick scan told her that Maple and Amber were indeed marked: the first with an open-topped box, and the second with something that looked like honey on the end of a board. But Willow's words did nothing to quell Starlight's confusion, so she could do nothing but sit down and repeat herself. "Huh?"

The two looked at each other, Maple and Amber joining in, but none knew how to break the silence. Eventually, Willow said, "What part of me not having one is confusing you, little filly?"

"Her name is Starlight," Maple murmured.

"Starlight Glimmer," Starlight corrected. "And you-"

She stopped, seeing three pairs of widely-raised eyebrows. "What?"

"I've never heard of a Sosan with a name like that," Amber tensely whispered, excitement hiding behind her eyes. "Maybe that's why she calls them cutie marks! She must be from really far away!"

"But that's impossible!" Maple's face scrunched. "We found her floating down the river to the north, didn't we? There's nothing but wilderness for hundreds of miles to the east, so she had to have come from the west!"

Starlight had thought her confusion to be at maximum, only to have it double in a single word. "Sosan?" she mouthed, thoughts fixating on the journal in her saddlebags.

The three mares took turns staring at each other. Then, with one voice, they turned to Starlight and asked, "Where are you from?"

Bristling, Starlight hunched backwards, pulling her head towards her fuzzy shoulders. Some part of her noticed that her fur was no longer dried and spiky, but had, at least partially, been licked straight. But that was the last of her worries right then. "Ummm..." She probed the room nervously with her eyes. "First tell me why she doesn't have a cutie mark."

Willow sighed and took two more steps toward her, bending down until her head was on eye level with the defensive filly. "I can't tell you if I don't know what it is you don't know, Starlight." She bit her lip. "May I assume you don't know anything?"

Starlight was still.

"So." Willow knelt down until she was laying on all fours. "When a pony has a dream, and they want very badly for it to come true... so badly that they'd do anything, including dedicating their life to making it happen... sometimes, the world will bless them with powerful, unique magic that will help them make that dream come true. That magic takes the form of a symbol on the pony's flanks."

Starlight attempted to narrow her wide eyes and failed. "So why don't you have one?"

"You can't get one if the world doesn't think you need it." Willow shrugged, turning to the side. "I've never had any dream I wanted to chase badly enough. Maybe I would have, but..." She heaved a loud sigh. "Never mess with stallions if you don't want your life to get anchored in place, suddenly and abruptly. Anyway." She blinked, turning back to Starlight. "Ponies who get them mostly get them around my age or older. You have to know something about the world to care about it that much. Does that answer your question?"

From the sidelines, Amber grinned. "I don't think I've ever heard you talk quite so much at one time!"

"I'm sure you don't have anything to do with that," Maple added with a roll of her eyes. "Chatterbox."

Starlight, for her part, swallowed hard. "So you mean... ponies who never get cutie marks are... normal? That happens all the time here?"

"Worried you'll never get one?" Willow smiled softly. "Starlight, all sorts of ponies go through life contented with who they are and never have it matter."

Amber awkwardly piped in. "Sure, the magic is neat and all, but it's not like anyone would ever be mean or a big elitist about it! Not here, at least."

"Yes." Nodding, Maple stepped up. "If this is something that's worrying you..." Her lips stretched in a curved smile. "Don't be."

Starlight simply sat and gaped. She could practically feel her eyes lighting up as two thoughts warred in her head. One told her that what the mares said was too good to be true, while the other insisted that this was everything she had ever wanted... and if she passed it up because it seemed unreal, she would never, ever be able to live with the real thing.

There was also the issue that she longed to trust someone. After more than a month in the caves and mountains on her own, she had thought herself used to the solitude, but it was becoming more and more apparent that she couldn't keep going on the same way when other ponies were actually around. And so far, these mares had been perfectly welcoming... and would offer more. They already had. In a snap, her resistance crumbled and she rushed across the room.

Willow staggered backwards as Starlight wrapped herself around her forelegs, trying frantically not to sniffle. "Can I stay here? With you?"

Gently prodding the filly, Willow nudged her toward Maple. "I think you're asking the wrong pony," she whispered. "Trust me. She'd appreciate being asked."

Maple beamed down at them, as if she knew what the silvery mare was saying. Her forelegs waited, open and inviting. Starlight hesitated, honestly preferring Willow... but decided that if she was giving this whole thing a chance, she might as well go all in and be as nice as she could be. Besides, if anything turned out rotten, she could always run away again.

"Can I stay with you?" Starlight repeated, cautiously making eye contact with Maple.

"You can." Maple leaned down, and Starlight accepted the hug. "For as long as you like."

"Thank you." Nervously, Starlight stayed in the embrace. She was keenly aware that she hadn't yet told them where she was really from, and she remembered they hadn't even imagined it as a possibility earlier. Sosan unicorns had also been mentioned. She needed to ask about that.

Suddenly, Maple's ears twitched, and she looked toward a nearby pot. "Soup's ready!"

Breaking from the hug, Starlight watched as the other two mares shuffled and bounded toward a wooden table. Slowly, she got back to her hooves and took up her own seat, deciding to join them.