A dusty door at the entrance to a single-story riverside home swung open, by all other means looking abandoned. Out stepped Maple, Starlight at her side.
"Well," she sighed happily, "fresh air does feel nice after those tunnels. Doesn't it, Starlight?"
"Yeah." Starlight walked out of her shadow, lilac legs scurrying to keep up with the older mare's stride. "So are we going home, now, or what?"
"I think so," Maple breathed, stopping and taking a moment to bask in the weather, which was still sunny and pleasant. "Like I said, I want to open my store for a while today. I hope you won't be bored?" She looked aside at the filly, slightly concerned.
"Nah." Starlight shook her head. "I'll find something to do. It's not like I can spend all my time riding around to visit friends. That alone would get boring too, after a while."
"Well..." Maple looked down the nearest road between two houses. "I'm glad you feel that way. That, um, visiting friends is fun." She was silent for a moment. "Thank you. For... saying you're staying."
"I don't know why you're surprised," Starlight mumbled. "Why would I run away and leave you just because some stallion told me I could? That would be stupid."
"I guess I don't know you as well as I'd like, then." Maple bit her lip. "Sorry. It just seemed like something you'd... I mean... you were trying, with the teleporter, weren't you?"
"Yeah. But I told you, I changed my mind." Starlight straightened herself up, perfecting her posture. "Besides, I can't complain about Sunburst's parents sending him away just because they can and then leave just because I can right after. If I left, I'd have a good reason for it. And I'd tell you."
"Well... thanks." Maple looked again down the street. "Let's get going."
As they walked, Starlight let herself get lost in her head, following Maple out of the corner of her eye as guidance so she didn't crash into anything. She recalled her initial mistrust of Arambai... mistrust that had mostly been shelved, but never really evaporated. Had he been trying to convince her to run away, or merely letting her know that she could if she needed to? But hadn't he stressed how dangerous Ironridge was? Why would he think she would be better off there, alone, instead of in Riverfall with Maple and the other mares? Was there something in Riverfall he knew about that he wasn't telling her? And if so, why not?
She shook her head. She couldn't chastise the others for reading into his words like they were some kind of mystery plot, then do so herself behind their backs. But what was she supposed to do, then? She had promised Maple she would find something to do, and everyone's fussing was stuck in her head and she couldn't get it out. What else could she do? Talking about something? She wasn't much for conversation, but she did need a distraction. But what to ask about?
"Maple?" she asked, seizing the first thing that came to mind. "Tell me about your cutie mark."
"Huh?" Maple looked back, bewildered. "Why do you want to know about that?"
"I'm curious," Starlight replied simply. "It doesn't seem like it has much to do with what you do."
Maple's eyes focused for a moment, until she apparently realized what Starlight was talking about. "Oh!" She shied back slightly. "Yeah, it doesn't, does it? It sure is useful, though. I just use it for ordinary things, and never really think about why it's there. Or, at least, I try not to..."
"What do you mean?" Starlight pressed, hoping this didn't have to do with Maple's past and that she wasn't being insensitive.
"When you think about it, it's like a dead dream," Maple answered. "Isn't that sad? I mean, I guess you wouldn't see it that way, but I sure do. I wonder if it's possible for a cutie mark to disappear..."
Starlight clammed up. The last thing she wanted was to make Maple moody, after accidentally scaring her that she would leave earlier. For the rest of the walk, she remained silent.
"All right," Maple chirped, "we're home." Starlight saw her pause to look in the mirror hanging next to the door as she entered, and took a second to study her own reflection as well. Her mane looked slightly frazzled, probably from when Gerardo had been talking about countries going to war over her, but her flanks were as blank as ever, just like they should be.
She stepped inside, her host already busying herself setting up a display case. Shrugging, Starlight looked around, considering offering to help. Her horn still felt pretty good. Levitating things would be easy, especially if they were lighter than Sosa's old supply crates up in the mountains. But she suddenly found herself feeling slightly lazy... and slightly rebellious. After all, she had both just asked calmly about a pony's cutie mark, and turned down an offer to ruin someone's life just because she could. At least one of those deserved a reward, though at the moment she wasn't sure which.
Regrettably, she found herself reaching the top of the staircase, and then her room, with nothing to indulge in. Maple didn't have any confections ready yet for her to eat, and even if she did, something about eating to pass the time didn't seem like a good long-term strategy.
Her hooves led her to her worn-out saddlebags, still slightly stiff from being river-drenched, sand-crusted, and not properly washed or dried after. Idly, she poked at them. Her cutie mark makeup box rolled out, along with Sosa's journal, which prompted a sigh. She had read that boring thing so many times as a cure for boredom that it was worse than nothing, at that point. Although...
She turned to the other side of the bags, dumping out her blanket. She really needed to ask Maple to wash that. However, there was one more thing packed beneath it: the magic book lent to her by Arambai. She stared at the cover for a solid minute, not daring to open it. It was academic material, supposedly, which meant it both wasn't there for fun and paying attention could result in her gaining skills... which was dangerously close to a cutie mark. At least, it would have been, going by what she assumed them to be in Equestria. Were they really different here? What made them so much rarer? She shrugged; either way she wouldn't be at risk if she still stayed somewhat bored. She opened the book.
It was a table of contents. Starlight yawned and began skimming. The conservation of energy... Mana: the stable state of magical energy... Natural occurrences of mana... The properties of crystals... Harmony and thermodynamics... The elements of harmony... Concentrations of harmony in harmonic life forms... Brands of power... She blinked. Brands of power? As in cutie marks? Intrigued, she began searching for the listed page number.
She quickly found it, realizing with slight dismay that Arambai's writing was just as rambley as his normal speech. Tracing her hoof along the page, she read aloud by the light of her horn.
"After days of interviews and poring over all the data I can find on brands, it seems most useful to categorize them on a three-point system," she whispered, imagining her voice to have Arambai's growly tone. "There are normal brands, which don't have measurable magical effects. They do things like make a pony smart about something, most of the time. It's clear something's happening, but you can't scientifically measure or quantify it. Then, there's more powerful ones with measurable effects, like making a pony stronger or faster. Sometimes they can even do weird stuff, like create certain types of objects out of thin air. There's one mare I've seen who can store anything and recall it later."
Starlight stopped reading, eyes widening. Maple was in the book! She giggled slightly, then immediately stopped herself. It wouldn't do, taking pride that some ponies were being treated better than others, just because of a mark they couldn't control. Still, as little as she wanted to admit it, some part of her felt proud of the mare, and she couldn't tell why. She kept reading.
"The third kind are incredibly rare. I've only seen one of them, and it's going to remain anonymous in case this book falls into the wrong hooves. Their magic deals more directly with the harmonic energies that make up a brand, externalizing it in ways we've never seen before, ways that should be scientifically impossible... stuff like putting the wrong kind of species magic in a pony. To my knowledge, they've never been studied, and could lead to absolutely anything. Of course..."
Starlight squinted, then turned a page. Arambai's hornwriting had become crammed up against a margin, making it hard to read. "Anyway," she continued on the next page, "that's where the focus of my research goes... and what whoever reads this could one day help me on, assuming they paid attention to the basics. Speaking of which, if you saw the word 'power' and skipped right to the end, shame on you! Go back and..."
She set the book down, blushing at having been so thoroughly called out. Regardless, what she was reading seemed less like academic information or scientific methods and more like propaganda aimed at getting her to stay and help the stallion with his experiments. Had he really kept a book like that laying around, just in case? What was he even doing with something like that? Had he somehow known she would come? That was preposterous and silly, but she pondered it just the same.
Her pondering was interrupted when the door swung open, Maple's cheery face sticking in. "Starlight? You've been in here a while! The corn's almost done, if you're hungry..."
Starlight licked her lips. Corn sounded welcome indeed. Pushing off the bed, she trotted out of the room, ready to join Maple for a peaceful early dinner.