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

"I made pancakes!"

Starlight didn't need Maple's announcement to tell. Beside the beaming mare stood a golden stack tall enough to feed four, wafting steam as it cooled.

Maple paused to pull two more from a griddle, then expertly popped the tray onto her back and walked over to the table, barely even paying attention as it swayed with her stride yet somehow didn't fall off. Starlight had always been curious and slightly envious of earth ponies' abilities to do that. It would make having a horn that was useless half the time much more bearable if she could carry things without her mouth or saddlebags. She would have asked, had she not been certain the answer was "magic."

"I made pancakes," Maple repeated, voice softer as she slid them onto the table. "Eat as many as you like. I'll have whatever you don't eat."

"Uhh... okay. Thanks," Starlight muttered, distractedly searching for condiments.

After a minute of munching, Maple caught Starlight's attention. The mare was still standing by the griddle, flipping several more when she looked over her shoulder and coughed. "Starlight?"

Starlight swallowed. "Huh?"

"I don't suppose..." Maple turned back to the griddle and sighed. "No, never mind."

"What?" Starlight leaned closer, taking another bite.

"Well..." Maple fidgeted, suddenly bashful. "What do you think of my friends?"

Chewing, Starlight lifted a single ear.

"Amber and Willow," Maple elaborated, turning back to the cooking pancakes. "Who found you with me."

"Oh." Starlight swallowed again, wondering how honest to be... and decided it wouldn't hurt. "Willow's nice. I like her. I couldn't tell much about the other."

"Hmmm..." Maple sighed wistfully as two more pancakes sizzled and browned in front of her. "And what do you think of me?"

Starlight's eyes widened slightly. She had no strong attachment to the mare either way and still preferred Willow, but somehow doubted saying that would go over well. "You're nice too," she offered.

"Am I...?" Maple trailed off, pulling out the pancakes and not putting more in. Slowly, she added them to her new stack and brought that over to the table too, sitting down next to Starlight. "You can tell she's much better at this than me, can't you?"

"Huh?" Starlight looked up, ears folding.

"At kids," Maple stated, a note of bitterness in her voice. "You've been out in the wilderness for who knows how long, probably surviving with whatever you can find. Now you survived, and are here. It sounds like Riverfall is a place you'll like, doesn't it? From what you've said? And all I want is to give you what you deserve for making such a long, hard journey... but you just shrug at all of it." Her ears folded, mirroring Starlight's. "I really want you to like me, Starlight. What else can I give you?"

Speechless, Starlight fought back a shrug. "No, you're nice. I just don't really want anything."

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because Maple drooped even more. "So there's nothing I can do, then?"

"Uhhhh..." Starlight hesitated, panic briefly flaring. Be nice to Maple. Don't make Maple sad. Right then, she was accidentally doing exactly the opposite of both. Quickly, she decided to try distracting her instead. "Why would she be better than you?"

"Because she already has foals," Maple said, shoulders sagging. "She's done this before. She knows what it's like. And I never have."

"Why not?" Starlight asked around a new bite of pancake. Sad or not, she was still hungry.

Maple didn't say anything.

"Uhh... okay..." Starlight looked around the room; that wasn't working either. Suddenly, she hit upon an idea. "Hey! It'd make me happy if you could feel better..."

When Maple looked aside at her, Starlight leaned her head against her, gently rubbing. The earth pony seemed to have a thing for physical affection, so maybe that would work?

Miraculously, somehow, it did. Maple's face lifted and she blinked away the beginnings of a tear. "So you do care about me. At least. Thanks." Snuffling briefly, she then devoured a pancake whole and licked her lips. "Mmm. These turned out good, didn't they?"

"Mhmm," Starlight replied absent-mindedly. Then, re-railing her train of thought, she added, "I like pancakes. They're nice."

"Oh?" Maple brightened. "I can make them every day, if you like."

Starlight shook her head, thinking for a tactful response. "Make other things too. Don't you have a bakery?" She licked her lips and added, "I want to try all kinds of stuff."

"Oh!" Maple began to grin; apparently that was also on the right track. "Now I'll have to plan something really good for dinner. Hmmm..." She brought a hoof to her rounded chin in thought.

Starlight's ears flicked. "What about lunch?"

"Oh, we might not be back here in time for that." Maple swallowed another pancake, eyeing the stack sideways as she counted how many were remaining. "Seeing Riverfall might take most of the day, and somepony will probably invite us to stay with them for lunch on the way."

"Oh." Starlight looked down at her own plate as Maple reloaded it. She was getting full, but if she enjoyed her eating her cooking...

"I have other friends besides Willow and Amber," Maple offered. "You might like them."

Starlight's mouth was full, so she didn't respond.

"You also might get along well with Willow's kids," Maple added, downing another pancake. "Her eldest is about the same age as you, I think." She blinked. "I never asked! How old are you?"

"I dunno," Starlight said, swallowing. "Filly."

Maple blinked harder. "You don't know? You don't know how old you are?"

Starlight blinked back. "Is that important?"

"Well, I..." Maple fidgeted. "I mean, you don't have to, but it's a useful thing to track, so..."

"Age doesn't really matter in Equestria," Starlight explained disinterestedly. "At least, not the part I'm from. Most ponies can figure theirs out if they want to, but the only age that most ponies care about is when you get your cutie mark."

"Oh." Maple immediately stilled. "Well, I guess our cultures have their own ways of measuring maturity, then. I wonder what other things could be completely different there that we think of as so normal, we wouldn't even question being changeable..."

Starlight ignored her and continued. "And even if I wanted to find how old I was, I was adopted when I was little, so my parents never got my birth certificate."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that." Ignoring the rest of her food, Maple leaned over and gave Starlight another hug. She flinched, and added, "That your real parents are gone, of course. There are adoptions here, but from the stories I've heard they can be anywhere from happily ever after to waking nightmares, or never even happen at all..."

"Don't be," Starlight sighed. "My real parents probably would have cared just as much as the ones who raised me about my cutie mark."

Maple sighed too. They were silent for a moment, before she said, "I'm twenty-five, if you were curious."

"Huh." Starlight poked at the remains of a pancake.

"Willow is twenty-nine," she added, staring off into space. "And Amber is twenty-three."

Starlight had no response, and Maple had nothing more to say. Some time passed, during which the pancakes continued to cool.

Eventually, Maple eyed the stack. "We should finish these and get on with the day, don't you think?"

"I'm full," Starlight burped. "But they were good, though. Thank you for making them."

"Hee... thanks." Maple nuzzled the top of her head, before going cross-eyed. "We really need to fix your poor mane. Go do anything else you need to get ready, and I'll finish these off."

Nodding her thanks, Starlight got up and paced away from the table, heading for the bedroom. Her saddlebags were still there, and as useless as the contents now were, she felt safer with them on. She looked over her shoulder, smiling at the sight of Maple framed by the door, tilting her head back and cramming the rest of the pancakes into her open mouth in an attempt to devour them as fast as possible. She was feeling it would be a good day.