The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

Good Luck

White Chocolate looked away. "No. I'm not even that..."

Starlight and Maple blinked together. "Huh?"

"Not even?" Starlight pressed. "We said you were better than a machine part! What do you mean?"

"No, it's... Let me..." Carefully, White Chocolate reached up, peeling off her eyepatch. Her hoof moved gently away, revealing a blinking, light-starved pupil that perfectly matched the other in color. Maple and Starlight's eyes widened in surprise.

"What...?" Maple bit her lip. "I thought you said it changed color? That looks identical to me."

White Chocolate motioned them nearer, lowering her neck to eye level. "Look closer."

"Err..." Starlight squinted, looking from close enough that she could smell White Chocolate's breath. It was vaguely minty. "I still can't see any difference."

"I can't either," White Chocolate sighed. "Not when I look in a mirror. Not anymore. Now, if you look over here..."

She reached backward, shrugging her bathrobe off all the way, and scooted her hindquarters to the front of the chair. "Can you see that?"

Starlight climbed onto Maple's back, craning her neck to get a look at the mare's flank. There, where a cutie mark belonged, a large white snowflake sat... only it was so faded, it appeared as nothing more than a subtle texturing on top of her shiny, well-groomed silver coat.

"...What happened?" Maple managed weakly. "It looks like it's... gone..."

"It started disappearing," White Chocolate said, reaching up to meet their eyes, "some time ago. I don't know exactly when. But it's been fading for a long time, and along with it, my eye has been going back to normal... I wear the patch now more to hide that it's normal than that it wasn't. And I can't understand why... Why me? Moon glass is something everyone says is cursed, that only the worst and most desperate ponies turn to for help... and it rejected me. It isn't staying. Whatever Faron saw that was so wrong with me, he left, this glass spirit sees, too. Everyone says this is a mark that the worst of us turn to and can never shake, but it rejected me..."

She shook, a repressed sob rippling all the way down her body. Maple reached out and touched her shoulder with a hoof in response. "If you let yourself cry about it, it will feel better. We'll listen..."

"Will you?" White Chocolate struggled to regain her composure. "Will you really? Because that's not what ponies do. I've talked before about Faron leaving. Every time, ponies say they want to help. They look hurt, like they didn't like knowing what kinds of things can happen in the world. They always do what they can... and then stop the moment they can put me out of mind, because they don't actually care about me. They just want to feel better about themselves, or their world... or maybe they do care, but not enough to make themselves uncomfortable by thinking about it. So I do what I can to put them out of their misery... and let them feel like they helped and forget about me. You yelled at me for doing that earlier. So do you really want to listen to a bitter, lonely mare like me? It won't feel nice, and you don't have to..."

Maple smiled softly. "Isn't that what we've been doing this whole evening? Of course I do."

White Chocolate stared at her. "Why?"

"What do you mean, why?" Starlight frowned. "You need it! Duh!"

"So?" White Chocolate sniffed. "I'm just a mare who... who isn't good enough for anyone, whether they want commitment or a fun night! I live in a hole beneath the ground, using money someone else gives me because the pony who earned it ran away! All I do is have dozens of children and try to raise them in hope that one or two of them... m-might turn into better ponies who can do something useful with their lives! But my house is a mess, and I know I can't handle it all by myself and am not fit to do this, yet I'm still having more because I couldn't just live with what I deserved and be alone and had to go out and get involved with another stallion and have even more kids! That's what I mean, why!"

"Because we can afford to care," Maple replied, still touching White Chocolate's shoulder. "I'm not you and don't know exactly how you feel, but I have a much closer idea than most ponies. I've survived a lot of hardship and come out stronger for it, and I'm here now because I wanted to make a positive difference in the world, so that something I did would matter. Do you want to matter? I do. We won't be able to stay here forever - me and Starlight were planning to leave Ironridge as soon as we had found this place, but we can stay a little longer. That's why I care... for me, for you, and for the world."

White Chocolate panted through gritted teeth, eyes squeezed shut.

"If you're about to say you don't deserve it," Maple said, "it doesn't matter. There's a lot of luck in the world... bad things happening to ponies who don't deserve them, and good things, too. But really, what kind of luck you get doesn't mean you're a good or bad pony. Just think of me as... good luck."

Starlight stood several paces back, watching as White Chocolate relented and the two mares embraced. Tentatively, she lifted a hoof to move forward, but put it back down. Was there anything she should, or could, do?

Maple cared, and could show it, and that was good enough. Starlight cared too, but hadn't yet had time to process White Chocolate's fake cutie mark, and either way she was unsure how best to show it. With Maple, it was always easy: the mare loved physical contact. But she had no clue about White Chocolate... so, with carpeted hoofsteps and backed by muffled sobs, she trotted her way to the chairside table and helped herself to a mug of cooling tea.

---

After a long while, the trembles running along White Chocolate stilled, and her breathing steadied. Starlight sat straight upright on the edge of her giant rocking chair, the last of the tea mugs held in her forehooves, eyes flicking between the fake cutie mark and the gentle rise and fall of White Chocolate's chest.

"...You're still here," White Chocolate whispered, opening her watery eyes.

"Yes." Maple squeezed her shoulder. "We are."

"Thank you."

They paused for a second more, Starlight taking a mouthful of lukewarm tea as she watched. "What are you going to do now?"

"Well, I'm..." White Chocolate stretched, and Starlight had to hop down to avoid being knocked off. "Going to get up, first, because the foal is restless and it's not very comfortable. Is there anything I can get you while I'm up? The tea wasn't a hit, but we have..."

She stopped, peering over the edges of the empty mugs on the table, and then at the one Starlight held. "Oh? Did you drink all that?"

Starlight shrugged. "I liked it."

"Well, maybe I can get some more!" White Chocolate beamed. "Or something else, if you like. Have you eaten dinner? There were some leftovers from tonight..."

"As long as it's not more fruit!" Maple nodded gratefully. "I think that's the only thing I've eaten since we made it to Ironridge."

"It's bean soup," White Chocolate said, gingerly climbing down from her rocking chair. "Oof. Thank you, though. I'll probably convince myself this was a dream in the morning... but I think I feel better, for right now." She smiled at Maple, eyes glistening.

Maple smiled back. "Then we'll just have to come back tomorrow, won't we?"

"...I hope you do." Picking up her eyepatch, White Chocolate stumped heavily out of the room, bathrobe laying on the empty rocker.

Comments

[Boopers]

Oh my gosh, she's turning into a monster!