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

When dinner finished, Starlight found her mood to be considerably more relaxed than earlier. She had managed to avoid talking about where she was from, in no small part thanks to Willow reading her mind again and hinting to the other mares to leave her alone. But Maple had been generous with her cooking, and the two bowlfuls of soup Starlight had downed now warmed her pleasantly, lulling her and making her eyelids droop.

Burping lightly, she turned away, standing next to a window as the other mares conversed and two of them prepared to leave. The breeze flowing against her was cool, but not cold. This was one of those times when the cold felt nice; when it could wash over her coat but fail to steal the warmth inside. It was the feel of facing a difficult challenge, but being more than prepared... of sitting indoors during a storm, of having danger nearby and knowing that she was perfectly safe.

But she didn't want to go to bed quite yet. Even though it was dark out, she had woken less than two hours ago. Her limbs ached with the restless tiredness that came with recuperation which could only be cured by sleeping and running at the same time. But she presently felt good. It was enough.

She turned, watching as Willow's tail vanished down the staircase. Listening intently, she heard the slam of a door below.

Maple heard it too, and finally looked up from the staircase her friends had vanished down, meeting Starlight's gaze from across the room. "I wish Amber would be gentler with my door," she mused. "Don't you think?"

Feeling as if she was supposed to say something and having nothing to say, Starlight muttered, "I guess?"

"So... you're living with me now." Maple smiled at her. "That's exciting, right?"

Starlight shuffled her hooves.

Maple saw it and frowned. She hesitated a second, and began crossing the room to join Starlight. Eventually, she reached the filly and sat beside her, lowering her head. "I really want to be nice to you, you know. Could you please tell me what you'd like? What I can do for you?"

"I..." Ordinarily, Starlight would have been silent, but Willow had asked her specifically to be nice to Maple and give her a chance. That warranted a response, at least. "I've been on my own for a while, so I'm not... really used to asking for things." She looked up, hoping her expression was apologetic.

"Oh." Maple's ears folded. "Well, if it helps you get used to asking again, you can ask me anything, okay? I won't mind at all."

"Okay." Starlight did her best to maintain eye contact, and succeeded.

Maple sat there, thinking. "Oh, I know!" She suddenly perked up, hopping to all fours. "Would you like me to show you around my house? It's yours now too, of course."

The grown mare stood there, eyelashes fluttering hopefully... so Starlight nodded. "Mhmm."

"Great!" Maple nearly jumped, turning toward the staircase. "You've seen the upstairs already, but follow me!"

Starlight got up to follow her, but hesitated, a memory turning into an idea inside her brain. "...Could you carry me?"





The sound of several hoofsteps preceded Maple's arrival at the base of the staircase. She practically bounced her way down, the filly on her back fighting not to be launched off.

"Here we are!" Maple cheerily flung a hoof, barely looking where she was pointing. Starlight quickly took in that the circular room was separated into two halves like the floor above, though rather than by a full wall it was by a low counter. Was this some sort of store?

"So for my job," Maple perkily confirmed, "I run a store. Right here in my house. It used to be a general store, but now it's more of a bakery. It doesn't really matter what I make, since it's mostly for my friends. But here..." She pointed at the counter, under which several boxes were stacked. "...is the counter, and across it is the customer area, and back here..." She turned around, to where a wall split the half of the room they stood on further into two. "...is the storage room!"

As Maple stood still, beaming, Starlight took her own time to inspect the place. It had the same round windows as the upper floor, along with the same omnipresent wood paneling and general aesthetic. Several paintings were hung on the walls, breaking up the theme, and three small, round tables rested on the other side of the counter. She wondered how full they would get during the day.

"This is your new home, Starlight Glimmer," Maple whispered in the silence. "I hope you like it."

"Mmmhm." Starlight kept her head up and neck straight, still looking around.

"Good."

They stood in relative darkness, golden-orange light from the brightly-lit kitchen above filtering down the staircase. The lower floor had the quiet stillness of a building normally welcoming and now firmly asleep, making Starlight feel as if she was in her own little bubble of warmth. The staircase beckoned to her.

"Starlight?" Maple asked. "Want to go back upstairs?"

"Okay."





Maple took Starlight back to the bedroom. While it was even darker than the ground floor, the darkness had a completely different feel: rather than being fast asleep or resentfully woken, it was drowsily awake, waiting for someone to arrive before it could turn in for the night. Laying on the bed across from Maple, light from the kitchen still shining through the door crack, Starlight felt her drowsiness returning.

"Well, then," Maple said with a smile. "We didn't do much today, did we?"

"Nope," Starlight said face-down into the bedding.

"Hee..." Maple murmured, carrying the conversation. "That's because you just got up! ...Still, it feels like so much happened... I mostly whiled the day away thinking about you, up here."

"Mmmmmhh..." Starlight yawned into her pillow. That soup really was making her drowsy.

"We're going to have fun tomorrow, though." Maple crept closer along the bed, and Starlight neither approached nor shied away. "I'll take you out to see the rest of the town. We'll get you cleaned up, too. I bet your mane looks pretty when it's clean."

"Mhmmmm..." Starlight was fond of her mane, if she was being honest. Striped manes weren't very common in her old home. It was probably hypocritical of her to be proud of that, but she had just climbed over a mountain range to prove a point. Besides, staying blank was about not changing who she was. Changing her mane would be silly.

"I don't know if you know, but this town is called Riverfall," Maple hummed, sliding closer. "Would you like to hear a little about its history?"

Soft snores greeted her in answer.

Maple chuckled, making out the rise and fall of Starlight's form before her. "I hope you like sleeping with the night light on," she murmured, "because I don't feel like getting up to shut that door."

Starlight continued to slumber, relaxing further as whatever dream she was having began.

"And also, I... enjoy it..." Maple yawned too, realizing she would swiftly follow the filly. "Good night, Starlight Glimmer. We'll have fun... tomorrow..."

Stretching, Maple finally made contact with Starlight. With a single hoof, she scooped the filly closer, nestled her chin against her, and weathered a restless kick. The night stretched on about them, and they were both too asleep to care.