Story of Maverick

Story of Maverick- Chapter 3: The Oil

Three weeks after the potato theft, Scarlet received a letter from her second eldest child, Silver Dust. In the letter, she stated that she was coming home from her magic apprenticeship.

“Silver’s coming home?”

Maverick beamed like the sun at the thought of his oldest sister coming home for the first time in two years. Out of his six siblings, Silver Dust was Maverick’s favorite. She was the only Unicorn in the family, so her magic set her far apart from her brothers and sisters. Marmalade was bouncing with excitement.

“Do you think she’ll stay this time?”

“Would be nice if she did,” said Failsafe, the eldest. “We could use another set of hooves, especially with winter creeping up.”

“Why should she stay,” snapped Maverick. “I say that she should go back so she can be the best, uh, magic Unicorn pony ever!” She can’t stay, he thought. She went away to learn magic so she could get out of this village! To do more than struggle in the dirt all her life!

Scarlet Plume forced a smile and said “What she does is up to her. We should just enjoy the time we’ll have with her until she goes back.”

Failsafe went through the food they had stored and furrowed his brow.

“We’ll have to eat light for this next month if we want to have enough food to last us most of the winter.”

Scarlet’s demeanor darkened with worry and fear.

“Mama, are you okay,” asked Marmalade. Scarlet immediately put a smile on her face and looked at the young filly.

“Yes, I’m okay. Everything’s going to be fine, sweetie.”

Maverick scoffed and walked towards the door.

“Maverick, stay inside. It’s too late for fillies and colts to be out by themselves.”

“Okay, ma.”

Scarlet paused, then said “Everypony be sure to take small bites when you eat. We’ll just be eating dinner for a while.”

Failsafe gave a frustrated sigh and his younger siblings mumbled “okay”.

“How come,” asked Maverick. He knew exactly why; he just wanted to hear his mother say it.

“Don’t ask questions, Maverick.”

“Well I want to know, Fail!”

“Don’t call your brother Fail, Maverick. We’re going to only eat dinner so we have more time to work and play.”

Maverick returned Serenity’s forced smile with a false smile of his own. As soon as she looked away, Maverick frowned. Why do adults always lie and not tell kids things when something’s wrong? We’re not stupid. Adults are always telling me and other foals to tell the truth, but they’ll lie to our faces all the time! It’s not fair!

Maverick looked up at the moon from the window and sighed. He could imagine flying over Farron and to the moon. Leaving behind all of the dirt, poverty and lifeless village ponies. If he could just leave like Silver Dust did, he could find something more. Maybe he could finally get his Cutie Mark; preferably for something not farming-related.

Anything but farming, anywhere but here¸ he thought as he let out a yawn. Maybe Silver would let me come with her. I don’t care where we go. I just want to get out of this place. Maverick drifted off to sleep with thoughts of the world outside of Farron.