Chapter 6.
“Mama?”
“Mmm?” I couldn’t think of the little foal’s name.
“Why are you and Grandma not talking anymore?”
“We do.”
The little foal looked at the ground. She was a dark grey color with a pink mane. Her little horn stuck out from the plume on her head. She looked like her other mother.
“No you don’t. You stopped talking after the stone. You should talk to her more. She’s sad. She misses you. I can see it. Please make up with her, Mama.”
I looked at that expressionless face that I had known all the little foal’s life. What was her name? I felt numb and guilty. I thought we had made up before the choosing stone. What had happened? Why couldn’t I remember?
“You should. That way Mommy and her can be friends, and you can see the farm more. I want to meet my cousins. I want to see my uncle and all my aunts. Mommy said they’re nice.”
This didn’t seem right. Why would I abandon my family? Why wouldn’t I have introduced my foal? What was her name?
“You will. Sometime soon. Go back to Grandma. Make sure she knows you’re sorry. Make sure she knows how you really feel. And tell her about me …”
I woke up with Starlight curled up in my forehooves. The cave was cold like my cave at home. It smelled like my old cave too. The musty smell brought me right back into Mud Briar’s hooves like a sweet hug goodbye.
I let myself momentarily go back. Back to that cave, to the time when Mud Briar stabilized my world. Things were so simple then. Starlight and I weren’t as simple but the complexity made the experience much more intense.
I was able to disentangle myself from my lover's embrace. It was difficult to pull myself from her. I wanted to stay in that embrace forever, but I couldn’t ignore what the rock told me. What my daughter told me.
I finally pulled myself away and stood at the entrance of the Cave of Couples. I had to find my mother somehow and to set things straight. I didn’t know what that entirely meant but I knew it had to be done.
The cold wind struck me as I stepped out of the cave. The full moon shone on the mountaintop, the rocks reflected the moonlight. I noticed my family was gone. The spot they were supposed to sleep on was vacant. Was this what the dream was about? Had Ma left and taken the rest of my family with her?
Then I saw her, her white mane glowing in the light. She stared out over the landscape. Immediately worried she was going to jump, I rushed over and stopped in front of her. I didn’t want to startle her and watch her fall.
“Good evening, Maud,” she said without turning. “Hast thou exhausted thyself in the Cave of Couples?”
“I would rather not talk about that.”
“Very well. ‘Tis natural after the Stone’s blessing, after all. But I noticed the sound was a lot more … impassioned than last time. You truly love this mare.” There was a sadness in that voice, the sound of defeat.
“Yes.”
My mother looked down at the blue-tinted blanket of trees below. I watched them bend to the will of the wind as it rose up the mountainside. It was like watching them bow in respect to an unseen deity.
“I did not know how wrong I was …” my mother whispered.
“I didn’t let you meet Starlight, so you really didn’t get to know her before this. It was my fault.” I wasn’t sure what she wanted to hear. Which truth would heal the fissure in our relationship?
“‘Tis not Starlight nor even your relationship I was wrong about. ‘T’was the way of the stone itself. I held onto it in a deathgrip, only for it to forsake my faith and disgrace me.”
“It didn’t leave you, Ma.”
“It did! I thought I knew the stone’s will but it turned upon me and played me for a fool.” My mother’s body was as rigid as stone. If I touched her too hard she might shatter. But I reached my hoof out towards her anyway.
“What art thou doing?!”
I was a reflection of her. Like two ponies looking into a pool. But her face and body wore all the ripples that time hadn’t touched on me yet. Still, my lack of comfort from touch was a reflection of hers. Now it was time to show her what a simple hug could do. Like the first one Starlight gave me, the hug of a friend.
I wrapped my strong hoof around the skeletally thin frame of my mother. She looked almost terrified. But I pushed past my ingrained fear of causing discomfort and hugged her. I hugged my mom.
I felt that thin body that I mistook for stone shaking as I held her. Giving hugs wasn’t something the Pies did often unless it was Pinkie. For the rest of us, it was uncomfortable and strained. It touched an emotional weak spot in us that was not like the rock or at least that’s what I was told. Crystals growing naturally were extremely hot.
“I, I ... I am not sure what thou hast done with my Maudelina, but this is, is ... much warmer than I did expect. Is this from Starlight’s influence?” The voice cracked like a geode.
“Yes.”
“I see. I thank thee. ‘Tis necessary to experience such warmth from one’s kin from time to time. ‘Tis possible I hath misjudged this union.” She pulled back to look at me through her thick glasses, a small smile on her face.
“Will you accept her?”
Ma sighed. The hard stance body I held in my hooves softened. “‘Tis the will of the stone. Perhaps I should listen closer to it.”
“Will you accept our daughter?” I bit my lip, the stone had told me she was coming.
The stiffness returned to her body. “Art thou telling me thou hast performed this spell in there?!”
“No. But I think Starlight and I might have foals, or at least one.” It was something I became more certain of the more I talked about it.
“Then I shall welcome her when she arrives. I thank thee, Maud. I have kept my heart too cold. The rock may also be warm in the light of others. I shall try to learn that anew. Now, it might be best if I should get some sleep. ‘T’will be a long journey tomorrow. Good night.”
Ma leaned on me a little longer, then turned to leave the rock top. “Wait,” I called. “Where are you going? And where is everypony else?”
“Oh. The family hath moved down the mountain a ways. Your mate might be destined and a very warm unicorn, but she sounds like a burrowing rock bear when she sleeps. The cave made it worse.”
I sighed and smiled. “That’s my Starlight ... soon to be my wife.”