Maggie left to buy her books that she had been looking at earlier that day, and she offered to drop off Gusty’s mother’s ‘necklace’ at her apartment. Gusty herself stayed with Oasis for the remainder of the afternoon, worrying that Maggie might decide that she would rather swim in mud than be seen with a pegasus and bail out.
But just a few minutes before Oasis’ shift ended, Magige entered the shop, looking more sure of herself and her decision than she had earlier.
“I’m so excited,” Oasis babbled as she fastened a cloak around her shoulders. It was navy blue and matched her eyes, embroidered with golden suns around the hem, and was so large that it covered her wings, making her look like an earth pony.
“What do you need a cloak for?” Maggie asked, and, to her credit, there wasn’t a hint of judgment in her voice, just genuine curiosity.
Flush began to creep up Oasis’ neck. “It’s a bit chilly outside?” she tried. Gusty and Maggie exchanged a look. They both knew that it was the middle of summer, and therefore a bajillion degrees outside, but they decided to let it go.
“So, Oasis,” Gusty said cheerfully after Ruby had wished them farewell and the three ponies had left the shop, “where do you live?”
The pegasus brightened as the topic changed. “My mom owns a hayburger joint just down here,” she said, pointing down a street lined with shops. “My dad helps her out, and the three of us live above the shop.”
“No siblings?” Maggie asked.
She shook her head. “Just me.”
“You’re lucky,” Gusty said ruefully. “I have an older brother, and he’s a massive, ill-tempered jerk who abandoned me after he lied to me about just about everything.”
Oasis laughed. “I’ve always wanted somepony to hang out with,” she said. “It gets kind of lonely… Oh, here we are.”
Maggie’s mouth dropped open. “Burger Queen? Your mom owns Burger Queen?” she stuttered. “I’ve been here before. I didn’t know it was pegasus owned.”
“It’s not,” Oasis corrected, looking embarrassed. “It’s… you’ll see.”
She led the two unicorns inside the restaurant, which was empty. It was late in the evening, so Gusty assumed that everypony had left. Through the kitchens and up the stairs, Oasis opened the door to her home.
It looked nice enough. The entry hall branched off into the kitchen on one side and three doors on the other. Two ponies - earth ponies - were hard at work in the kitchen, looking exhausted yet cheerful. Already, a mouth-watering aroma was wafting over to the doorway.
Maggie looked from the two earth ponies to Oasis to her cloak, and her mouth dropped open in a perfectly shaped O. “Oh,” she whispered.
“Oasis!” the mare said cheerfully, looking up. She had a sunshine yellow coat like Oasis, along with her golden mane, streaked with orange and done up in a bun. Her bright eyes fell on the two unicorns, and her smile widened. “I see you’ve brought guests!”
“Wonderful news!” the stallion exclaimed, his sandy yellow coat and orange mane gleaming in the last rays of evening light. He came over and tousled Oasis’ braid, straightened her cloak, and rushed back to the kitchen to pull a tray of buns from the oven.
“Mom, Dad, this is…” Oasis trailed off, looking at Gusty curiously.
“Gusty,” she filled in. “My name’s Gusty, and this is Maggie.”
“Hello,” Maggie said politely, though she sounded like she was restraining from lighting up her horn and knocking these ponies’ lights out, which Gusty thought was kind of strange. They had shown them nothing but kindness. Or were pony parents supposed to be rude?
“My name is Sunshine, and this is my husband, Dune,” Oasis’ mother introduced, taking a break from preparing a salad to smile at the three ponies as they took seats at the table.
“I hope we’re not budging in,” Gusty began, but Dune interrupted her.
“Nonsense, my little pony! The pleasure is all ours.” He slid a plate of hayburgers on the table with a flourish. “It’s good to see Oasis making some friends.”
“Indeed,” his wife agreed, setting down a heaping bowl of salad on the table before taking a seat.
“Wait, there’s something I don’t understand,” Gusty said, looking between Oasis and her parents. “If you two’re earth ponies, how come your daughter’s a-”
Sunshine and Dune’s smiles became rather forced. Maggie shook her head, and Oasis ducked her face out of view.
“-earth pony,” Gusty finished lamely.
“So, Gusty,” Sunshine interrupted after an uncomfortable silence. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here. Where are you from?”
“Um…” Out of the corner of her eye, Gusty spotted Dune giving his daughter a look. Oasis nodded and quietly got up and slipped out of the room, her head hanging low.
Maggie pushed back her untouched plate. “I just realized… there’s somewhere I need to be. Thank you for dinner. If you’ll excuse me.” With a quick nod to both earth ponies, Maggie galloped out of the room.
Gusty wished she had followed.
“You still haven’t answered my question,” Sunshine reminded her politely.
“I, um… I’m new here, and… Do you have a restroom?” Gusty peeped. Dune nodded, his mouth full of hayburger, and pointed across the hall. Gusty thanked him and walked in, shutting the door behind her. Once she did, she lit up her horn and teleported downstairs. She heard loud voices coming from the kitchen and went to investigate.
Maggie and Oasis were arguing. Oasis was sitting on the floor with a cloth, scrubbing at the wood planks. She had finally removed her cloak, and her wings, pale and sweaty, flopped defeatedly on either side of her.
“What’s going on?” Gusty demanded, stepping next to Oasis.
“Her parents are miniature Grogars,” Maggie growled, glaring at the staircase.
“They are not!” Oasis protested, pausing in her scrubbing. “Sure, they can be a little… oppressive, but they’re not as bad as Grogar!”
“Why on earth would you say such a thing?” Gusty demanded.
The other unicorn pointed at Oasis cloak, hanging on a hook on the wall. “Her parents are earth ponies,” she said, her voice seething with anger. “She’s a pegasus.”
“They’re just trying to protect me,” Oasis whispered, trying to convince herself as much as the two unicorns.
The puzzle pieces finally clicked for Gusty. “You mean… they make you wear that cloak to hide the fact that you’re a pegasus? They’re ashamed of you?”
Oasis literally wilted, and Maggie snarled, “Something like that. Argh, I swear, I would go up there and give them a piece of my mind if it weren’t for the fact that this would probably attract some unwanted attention. But nopony treats my friends that way-” She broke off as she realized the weight of what she’d just said.
The ceiling rumbled all of a sudden, dust raining down. Oasis groaned as it sprinkled on the clean floor and threw her rag down, standing up as the room shook again.
“What’s going on?” Gusty demanded, her fear seeping into her voice.
“Monster attack,” Maggie said calmly, like how one pony would say, “Nice weather.” “They happen at least once a day. Grogar allows his beasts to roam free about the land, taking everything they want and destroying the rest.”
“How can you not know this?” Oasis questioned, swinging her cloak over her shoulders reluctantly.
“Um…”
“Let’s go see if anypony needs help,” Maggie said hastily to break the silence. She gestured to Gusty, and turned to Oasis. “Do you want to come with us? I can at least promise we’ll be better than them.” She jerked her head towards the staircase.
Gusty could tell Oasis was tempted, but she sighed and said, “I wish, but no. They’re still my parents, and I have to believe that they still care about me and love me as I am.”
Maggie shrugged like it didn’t matter to her, but Gusty could tell that it was breaking her heart to leave her new friend in such an awful place. “Suit yourself. But… if you ever do want to take me up on that offer…” She shook herself and left. Gusty wrapped the pegasus in a hug before she followed in suit.
“She seems nice,” Gusty said as they left Burger Queen behind them. “Her parents are nightmares, though,” she added hastily as Maggie’s eyes narrowed into green slits. “But… why do you care? Why’d you come, anyway?”
A full block passed under their hooves before Maggie spoke. “I was only going because I thought about what you’d said earlier, about other ponies being different and me giving them a chance… and I just figured you were right. But it just made me so angry to see something like that being done to another pony, pegasus or no. And I just… I figure, she’s different, at least. And maybe… maybe everypony’s different. We just never allow ourselves to see it.” She sighed and looked back towards Oasis’ house, though it was no longer visible. “We’re afraid of what we might find. But maybe there’s no reason to be afraid.” She angrily kicked a small stone across the street. It knocked down a glass bottle, which cracked. “I just wish everypony would be able to see that.”