//------------------------------// // Brand // Story: The Olden World // by Czar_Yoshi //------------------------------// It didn't take long to reach Willow's house from the Riverfall market. Both were fairly close together, slightly north of the center of town. A useful location, Starlight decided, if you had five whole mouths to feed in addition to ravenous friends. They arrived slightly before noon, at a time when the morning crowd of street-happy mares was on its way out and the afternoon just coming in. Ponies walked with purposeful gaits, some heading south to the market, others walking in all directions, laden with bulging saddlebags and contented smiles. With a start, Starlight suddenly realized that not only was she wearing none... neither was Maple. "Maple?" she asked worriedly, Willow's house in view at the end of the road. "What happened to the corn? Did you forget it when we were getting ice cream?" Maple continued her carefree stroll, hooves and mouth empty and nothing on her back. "Nope." Starlight's face scrunched. "Then did you ask somepony to take it back for you?" "No, it's right here." The dusty mare produced a pristine, green-wrapped ear of corn from somewhere, then just as easily put it back, no trace of it remaining. Starlight's eyes bulged. "Where... where..." she stammered, pointing. "How did you do that?" "My cutie mark," Maple said plainly. "It's like a big pocket for holding things. It's very useful. I haven't been using it much around you because I know how you feel about them, though." Starlight squinted. "They can do that? Really?" "Mine can." Maple shrugged and kept walking. "Other ponies' do different things. Didn't we tell you earlier? They give you magic to help follow your dreams. I wanted to be an adventurer, and got it while packing boxes and saddlebags. Now, I don't even need to!" "Huh..." Starlight stared at the ground, thoughts abruptly set on a completely different track than the way other ponies treated her. After all, everything really did come down to cutie marks. Were they really not just status symbols and prophecies by which one had to live their life, but also actually powerful? She couldn't remember seeing any ponies in Equestria doing tricks with theirs... though she had made a point of not looking. This was something she'd need to ask about later. Suddenly, another thought struck her like a sledgehammer: Maple had said she wanted to be an adventurer, and that was how she got her mark. Yet, ten years after the fact, she clearly wasn't, never had been, and had just received the best reason of her life to not get up and go become one. Societal mandate, divine providence and bad luck had all stayed perfectly out of her way and allowed her to go on living her normal life. Aside from a minor magical convenience that was probably less useful than a horn, she didn't have a single thing wrong with her life and out of control as a direct result of her mark. Pondering the implications of that would have to wait, however, because they had arrived. "Hello?" Maple asked, rapping politely on the door. A moment later, it swung open. "Oh, hello again!" Alder's striped face beamed up at them, causing Starlight to briefly shudder. "Mooooom!" he crowed, charging off to the house. "It's auntie Maple and the river filly!" It didn't take long for Willow to appear in the doorway. "Hello, you two," she greeted with an ever-so-slightly tired expression. "Out enjoying the weather? I wish I was." She sighed. "Apparently, Yew missed me more than usual while I was at the party last night. It took nearly until dawn to calm her down, and until now for me to... nngh... wake up..." Smiling through her yawn, she stepped aside, waving the pair in. "But don't let that make me a bad host. Just so long as you're not expecting anything... fancy for lunch..." She yawned again, strolling back into the house and seating herself. "Wow, that sounds fun," Maple said wryly, following her into the kitchen. "She's asleep now?" "Thankfully," Willow groaned, curling up on a bench cushion near her table, head propped just high enough to see over. "And before you say anything, you're not imposing and this isn't a bad time." "Whatever you say," Maple giggled, rolling her eyes. "In that case, want me to make lunch?" "Oh, yes, please..." Willow closed her eyes halfway and stretched out. "That would be helpful..." Starlight stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, Alder having vanished upstairs and for some reason not returned. Maple set to work cooking, and she was just about to join her and watch when she realized Willow was beckoning her from the bench. She trotted over, ears perked. "Hey, Starlight," Willow greeted with a subdued voice, reaching out to nuzzle her between the ears. "Sorry I said I'd come visit so we could talk, and then spent each trip doing other things. Is there anything you'd like to talk about now?" "I dunno," Starlight answered. In truth, she didn't remember why she had asked the mare to continue talking with her earlier, though it probably had to do with Sunburst. Still, she felt compelled to think of some question to ask. "Maple just told me what her cutie mark does." "Oh?" Willow's ears twitched. "And what did you think?" "I dunno," Starlight repeated, hanging her head. "Curious, I guess. I'm still not getting one." "Then you took it better than I did when she first got it," Willow said, smiling gently. Starlight tilted her head. "What do you mean by that?" "Didn't we tell you several nights ago?" Willow closed her eyes, settling into the cushion. "She got it after I knew we wouldn't be going to Ironridge, but before I had told either of them. I remember how excited she was, and I'm sure she remembers too. It made it so hard to tell them, knowing that it was my fault the plans were off. Maybe I shouldn't have dragged it out as long as I did..." "I told you," Maple said, overhearing and wandering over, "not to second-guess yourself. We're happy now, aren't we?" She offered a hopeful smile. "And if we went, we'd never have met Starlight." "I know," Willow hummed, blinking tiredly. "I was only answering Starlight's question." Maple was about to remark something else when a loud thud sounded from the upper floors, prompting all three to look up in concern. "What was that?" Maple asked. Willow's ears folded, and her teeth briefly showed. "It better not have woken Yew..." "I'll go see what it is," Maple offered, moving toward the staircase with curiosity. Starlight trotted swiftly behind her, while Willow stared regretfully at her cushion, looking as if she was having a fierce internal debate on whether or not to get up. They quickly reached the second story. There, a clear path through Faron's maze of bookshelves led to a nearby window... that was presently ajar, Amber standing in front of it and dusting herself off. "Oh, hey, girls!" she piped upon spotting Maple and Starlight. "Funny running into you here!" "Amber..." Maple put a hoof to her forehead, then pointed at the window. "Are you always going to enter that way from now on?" The yellow mare shrugged. "I'm actually really enjoying this whole fugitive thing. It's gotta be the most exciting thing that's happened here in seven years. So yeah, I probably am." "It certainly is enjoyable," Gerardo's beaked head announced, popping into view outside the window. "Almost interesting enough to make me forget how I'm stuck here. And I certainly don't mind lending my aid when the target of her antics happens to be the one equine in this town I count among my enemies." He proceeded to attempt to stuff his massive, feathery body through the open window. Maple groaned and shook her head, but could do nothing more than invite them in with a smile.