//------------------------------//
// Maple's Revenge 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

After three soft knocks and a period of waiting, White Chocolate's door slowly opened, the mare sticking her confused head out. Her eyes focused when she saw Starlight and Maple, smiling and apologetic on the doorstep. "Oh!" She blinked in recognition, offering an unsure smile. "You're back! You didn't forget anything, did you? Thank you for knocking softly and not waking the kids..."

"Not quite," Maple said, Starlight perched on her back. "We didn't wake you, did we? This isn't a bad time to be back?"

"Oh... no..." White Chocolate tugged on her bathrobe. "I was in bed, but wide awake. When the foal is feeling restless..."

"...Right." Maple blinked, trying not to stare. "Anyway, we had a favor we wanted to ask you, if you don't mind. Can you take care of this for us?"

Starlight held out the orb. "Keep it somewhere safe, like where you had your pendant thing."

Maple nodded. "It's... important to us. Think of it as proof that we'll be back later, like we promised. Do you mind?"

"What is it?" White Chocolate leaned forward, inspecting it curiously. "It's very pretty..."

"A family heirloom," Starlight said. Maple couldn't help but notice she omitted mention of which family it was an heirloom of.

White Chocolate touched it with a hoof. "So you're saying you'll come back later to collect it... and that's proof you'll be back?"

"Sure!" Maple grinned. "That and you gave us something special, so we thought... you know." Her ears folded. "Anyway, will you? We need to be going, too."

"Of course, Maple." White Chocolate smiled dearly, taking it and holding it to her chest with a hoof. "I'll see you... see you later..."

She bit back a yawn, then let it out regardless, turning from the door and giving them several seconds to indicate their business wasn't done. When no objection surfaced, the door clicked shut... and Maple turned to Starlight and grinned. "Well, that worked!"

"Mhm." Starlight nodded. "So what are we going to do now? I slept in, and am not really tired yet. Do you still want to find a hotel?"

"That's a good question," Maple murmured, pacing back out to the roadway. "Maybe I'm still getting a feel for what I should feel like, but I don't think I'm that tired, either. We could do something else tonight, still."

"Like what?" Starlight's ears folded. "We did what we wanted to. Now we just have to get out."

Kneading gravel beneath her hooves, Maple huffed. "I don't know. I'm just... ugh."

"You're still not feeling good?" Starlight leaned forward in concern.

"No, I feel fine..." Maple stalked back in the direction they had left Howe. "It's my thoughts that are having issues now! We just... we just met..." She exhaled sharply. "Starlight, throughout my life Willow has been there for me and the pony I've most admired. She stood so strong for me these past few years when I needed it most, even when in hindsight she should have had the worst case of survivor's guilt, but kept both thinking of me positively and thinking of herself positively so I could see how it was done, and seeing her like that just now..." She shook her head. "No. Seeing a pony that looked like her like that... I don't understand how I'm feeling, and I don't like it. I'm angry, because it's not right. I'm sad, because I don't see anything that can be done about it. But it feels like I should, because there's something poetic about it, like returning favors or paying them forward. I just..."

Starlight was silent, pressed against Maple's neck.

"It feels good having you back up there, at least." Smiling, Maple turned to wink at Starlight. "That's something that's right. But with her, I don't know what to say or think or do. She's like... Twelve children, Starlight. Twelve. And another on the way... or was this her twelfth? It doesn't matter. I don't... I just can't understand that. She didn't look that old, did she? Maybe... thirty-five? It's like she started and never stopped..."

Maple swallowed, feeling a lump forming in her throat. "Back when we were trying to go to Ironridge the first time, we were just kids... me and Amber especially. We wanted so much to do it, we got our cutie marks preparing. It was like the world told us that was what we were meant to do. And then we couldn't, and... didn't have anything left to do with ourselves. I told you all about that, right?"

"Tell it again, if you need to," Starlight offered.

"Right." Maple hesitated. "Well... we couldn't go because Willow was going to start a family, remember? And so she did. She had Alder, and then she had another... and then she dedicated herself to raising them and giving them a good life. But with White Chocolate, I see her and she never stopped, and it's like... What if she had something she wanted to do with herself, once upon a time? What if she failed? What if she didn't have friends like me and Amber to stay strong for, and instead of starting a new life, she just... got stuck, and kept doing the same thing over and over and having dozens of children?" She folded her ears. "She's where either of us could be without the other..."

"Mmmph." Starlight grumbled in agreement.

"Maybe we should have asked her..." Maple mused. "When we go back, we will. There must be something she wishes she had done differently, or some opportunity she missed or thing we could find to get her life back on track. I bet we can get Sosa to help raise her kids, right?"

"She definitely needs it," Starlight agreed. "They're really rude."

"I just wish she had had someone, for whatever it was..." Maple reached the spot where they had left Howe and stopped, still standing. "Like how we had each other in Riverfall. But listening to her now, it's like she barely knows her neighbors, and never goes out to see friends. Do you think she even has any? I bet she's had to face this all alone..."

Starlight shrugged. "Well, she had Faron, didn't she?"

"That's what's bugging me about this!" Maple suddenly snapped. "Faron! He... he... just left her for whatever reason, because he didn't recognize how important friends and family are and thought he just had to leave to Riverfall and nobody who mattered would care, but then he hooked up with Willow who looks just like his old wife and now they're having foals again, and..." Her eyes constricted. "What if he left because they had too many children here, and he got tired of the pressure? What if he and Willow keep...? And then... like how my husband didn't want..."

"Maple..." Starlight whined. "Don't worry about that! It would take years, and we're going back soon! And I'm sure Willow knows how to get what she wants. Maybe it's not like that here, but don't mares always get their way in Riverfall? And Amber's there too, and if anything bad ever happened she'd go to Arambai. Didn't she for you, too?"

"...Right," Maple panted, calming down. "You're right. We will be gong back soon. It's not... not the end of the world. But when we do..." Her eyes narrowed. "I'm going to give Faron a piece of my mind, and he's going to feel it."

"Okay." Starlight shrugged.

"I'm never going to get to sleep like this, though," Maple complained. "I'm just so... wound up! I want to get back there right now, and do something... something..." Her focus faded, and she trailed off, staring far away.

"Maple?" Starlight nudged her.

"I just remembered something," Maple whispered, breathing shortly, a grin forming on her face. "Something he asked us to do. He asked us to do two things, remember? Find White Chocolate and do something else?"

Starlight squinted. "...He did? Really?" She licked her lips. "What was it?"

"I don't remember exactly..." Maple stared up into the sky, thinking. "But it was something about a graveyard at night, and asking us not to go there. That's not the exact wording, but still..." Her eyes slid down to the treeline beyond the hilltops. "Howe said there's a place not far from here where all the old Sosan ships were abandoned and left to dry, that they call a graveyard. I bet that's what he was talking about."

"Maple..." Starlight warned. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

Maple deflated. "Hold on and hear me out. I know it's probably a place most Sosans consider sacred or important, and I'm not saying we should deface it or try to harm it in any way. What I do want to do is go there... just for the sake of going there, just because he said not to. If it's an important place, ponies are probably at least allowed to pay their respects, right? We'd leave at the first sign of a warning or anything saying we shouldn't be there and be extremely careful, Starlight. But I need something to do..."

"Not that." Starlight shook her head, pointing upward. "That."

"What...?" Maple followed her gaze. "Oh. It does look a little cloudy, still, doesn't it?"

"It looks like it might rain again," Starlight observed. "But all the other stuff you said is important too. I don't like what happened to White Chocolate either, but we should at least wait for Howe so if anything bad happens, we can blame it on him."

"What's that about my glorious presence?" Howe's voice sounded from above, before the pegasus dropped like a boulder, alighting forcefully in the gravel in front of Maple. "I swear I just heard someone say my name. Hmmm..."

"Howe..." Maple grinned slyly, testing the water. "I'm feeling a second wind, and we were thinking of visiting that graveyard you told us about earlier. How close is it, and would you like to come?"

Howe visibly shivered with anticipation. "Are you for real? Making a nightly raid on an eldritch location so steeped in lore it could contain anything from an ancient demon to the slumbering technological manuscripts of a lost civilization? So exciting! Of course, you may count me in on your epic endeavor. Oh, and it's very close. Ten minutes' walk from the edge of this town, tops. Do you wish to embark with all due speed?"

Maple blinked. "That's... a pretty enthusiastic yes. There's not a reason this is a bad idea, is there?"

"Well..." Howe dusted his shoulder. "The locals do speak of it as haunted, though I'm pretty sure I told you about that earlier. And for some, it's even a draw! I've never been to the place myself, though it's on my bucket list. Also, I found a hotel."

"We'll come back to it, then," Maple said, nodding and beginning down the road again.

"As you wiiiiish!" Howe sang, dancing ahead to take the lead.