Hours later, the rain still refused to let up, but Starlight's friends had determined that a trip back into the city to have dinner as a crew was the only thing to do. Navarre had been taken away by Meltdown's subordinates after leaving a massive stack of documents with Valey, and Valey herself was presently missing, seeking out their friends from the tournament to invite them as well.
The evening sun failed to pierce the clouds as Starlight rode with her umbrella crystal on Maple's back, though it did lend the sky a redder tone that hopefully meant the storm was ready to break. Maple leaned back as she walked, rubbing Starlight with her neck. "How are you doing, hmm?"
"I'm okay," Starlight replied. It wasn't untrue. Her horn felt great, and she had made it through everything that could have happened in the crystal palace with no injuries, no lost friends and a satchel of charged windigo hearts to show for it. But... "Do you need me?"
Maple blinked. "Need you? Well, what do you mean?"
"I know you care about me," Starlight continued. "I know you'd be sad if I left, or if anything happened to me. But would it just be really bad, or do you actually need me?"
Maple's ears folded. "Where is this coming from? You're not planning on anything happening, are you?"
"No, but..." Starlight winced inside. This wasn't the message she had intended to send at all. In fact, she didn't want to send any message: she was curious and wanted to better understand what the flame had told her about their relationship.
"But?" Maple asked. "You have something on your mind, don't you?"
"No, I was... just wondering." Starlight looked away. "I've been thinking about my life before I came to Riverfall. Maybe... wondering what it would have been like if things were different."
"Oh." Maple went back to watching where she was going, though her ears stayed pointed back towards Starlight. "Have you been missing it again?"
Starlight blinked. "Again?"
"When we first found you, you were a very different filly," Maple murmured. "You hardly ever spoke, and we never left you on your own. You were nervous, and it felt like anything that reminded you of home just hurt you. Willow told me about that time at her house you ran out into the rain and she had to follow you and sit with you to calm you down. Now, you... still don't talk a lot, but you seem a lot more confident. It's hard to imagine you breaking down now like all the times ponies paid you too much attention."
Starlight bit her lip. "You think I've changed that much?"
Maple nodded. "Absolutely. I don't know if you're still worried about changing who you are, but I think you've grown."
"Oh." Starlight swallowed. "I... probably am not." She looked off to the side. "I was just wondering how sad you would feel if we had never met, I guess."
Maple slowly hummed. "Well... things would be a lot different. I wasn't in a very good place when we met, but had been getting better slowly for months. I probably would have continued, and... never would have gone to Ironridge, of course. And I have no idea what would have happened after the windigoes came. But maybe they never would have, because that only happened because Gerardo arrived with his windigo hearts, and if you hadn't been here, his ship would have sank with them on it when Hemlock's crane broke."
Starlight blinked hard. Hemlock's crane... That had been so long ago, it had completely slipped her mind. If she hadn't caught Gerardo's boat when it fell, he might have lost his cargo and never been able to take it to Ironridge. If the windigo hearts hadn't reached the city, Yakyakistan would never have been notified it was time to send the windigoes. If Herman hadn't been awaiting the guard he thought was coming with the windigoes, he wouldn't have acted and blown up the dam. She had previously thought that without her, Ironridge would be a frozen wasteland. But the truth was, if it wasn't for her, Shinespark's home would... still exist.
Maple didn't seem to pick up on the extent of her revelation. "So if I had really never known what this would be like? Maybe I... I don't know. But knowing you now, I wouldn't trade being someone you can trust for anything."
"Really?" Starlight asked, too busy re-evaluating her view on everything to process Maple's words.
"Well, I haven't thought about it that much," Maple replied. "I don't think about things that could have been a lot, Starlight. It used to be a hole I was never able to get myself out of. You wonder about ways your life could have been better, and eventually you get so lost in that wondering that you'd rather lie in bed and keep living in your head than get up and live in the real world. It took a lot of effort to get out of, and I don't like the thought of going back."
Starlight's ears flicked. The windigoes in Ironridge had been the thing she pointed to every time Glimmer told her she needed to slow down and learn to live with things instead of trying to force her perfect world. If she had given anything less than all she had, the city would have been destroyed... and that wasn't the case anymore. For all she had done, it wouldn't have been necessary if she had stayed home in the first place.
"Starlight?" Maple glanced over her shoulders.
"Oh... What?" Starlight shook her head to clear it. "Sorry..."
"I just said I had to learn not to think about what could have been to be happy with the way things are," Maple hummed. "That doesn't mean it always works, of course. I really don't like... a lot of the things we've been through." She sighed. "Especially watching Izvaldi explode. And there's a lot else that unnerves me. The point is, I'm happy we're together and I hope you are too."
Starlight had completely lost the train of thought that led to whatever Maple was responding to. "Sorry," she repeated. "I have a lot on my mind..."
"Does it relate to your wish?"
Starlight closed her eyes. "It does. I just... I don't know."
"You sound conflicted," Maple murmured. "You can tell me anything, you know."
"Even if it was something you didn't want to hear?" Starlight asked.
Maple smiled reassuringly, though Starlight spotted a tiny spark of uncertainty in her eyes. "I am your mother now, aren't I? You have enough to worry about on your own without trying to look after what I need to hear. I've got Amber here, and plenty of new friends for dealing with my own problems."
"...Thanks," Starlight mumbled, hiding her face in Maple's neck so Maple wouldn't have to see her reaction. This wasn't what she had been told to expect at all. Wasn't that exactly what the flame said she did need? She certainly wanted someone to lean on. But at the same time, the very first thing Willow had ever asked of her was to take care of Maple. She told her she needed it. Maple said Starlight had grown. Maybe Maple had done some growing of her own...