Burgeon Anemone

Sunburst sat in a strangely lumpy chair in town. If he had thought for one second that Starlight would have been willing to chop off her glorious locks, he wouldn't have left the city without having it done professionally, but now that they were out in the sticks, he had no choice. Now he sat in the back of the only salon in town, which was more like a stallion's room at a truck stop than a beauty parlor, letting one of his insane friends cut her hair.

Actually, it was Moon Dancer's step-mother, Twilight Sparkle. She was only six years older than Sunburst. In many ways she was more Sunburst's contemporary than Moon Dancer who had just turned nineteen. Truth be told, Sunburst would have rather dated Twilight than Moon Dancer, but there weren't that many mares in town to choose from and Twilight was unfortunately and irrevocably taken.

She was the one who told Sunburst to go buy a mare. He hadn't known that Twilight was a purchased mare until one night when she was closing the café and he was staying late because he just couldn't bear to go home to…nothing.

"Listen, Sunburst," she said pushing her dark purple mane out of her eyes and speaking levelly. "Give up on Moon Dancer. She likes you to pieces, but if you make her go out there, she'll hate you forever. She's never lived anywhere but here and if she puts herself in your saddle bags without ever experiencing anything for herself – there's going to be a problem. And it will be your problem."

Sunburst twitched and refused to comment.

Then she wiped her soapy hooves off on a tea towel and sat down across from him in the booth. "Unless I'm reading you wrong, you don't even like Moon Dancer that much. It's just that she's the only one around."

Sunburst peered up at her. "There is someone around I like even better."

"It's no good, Sunburst," Twilight said. She smiled wanly and put her hoof in front of him on the table. "Do you see this?"

Sunburst saw the sparkling bracelet and asked, "You never take it off, what about it?"

She saw his eyes on her bracelet and shook her head. "This is stronger than any contract, than any ring he could have given me,” she said, flicking the bangle on her wrist. “Divorces are easy to get. Those kinds of contracts are easy to make and break. This isn’t.”

"What are you talking about?"

"Flash bought me."

"Really?" Sunburst exclaimed. He knew that purchased mares were common among celebrities and playboys, but here in his little town? No way!

But Twilight had reassured him that it was true.

"Does Moon Dancer know?"

"Of course not! Flash told her that I was a live-in nurse."

Sunburst remembered the story. It was easy to believe since Flash Sentry had been ill for so long. It seemed only natural when he brought someone to town to take care of him. Sunburst had tried to date her back then, but she had told him immediately that she and Flash planned to get married. That way she could help raise Moon Dancer and look after the diner.

Sunburst sighed in relief. He was strangely comforted when he found out that it was all a lie. So, nothing was wrong with him. Twilight didn't reject him because Flash was better for her. It was because she was a purchased mare and she did whatever she was told.

"Will you get anything from him when he dies?" Sunburst asked callously. He'd never liked Flash Sentry.

Twilight wiped her nose and said, "No, and they have to do a number of tests after he dies to make sure that I didn't hasten it along. Besides I have nothing to gain. He's already signed the papers. When he dies, I'll go back to Sable’s Garden Inc., I'll be sold again and the proceeds will go to Moon Dancer. That's what he decided."

"Bastard!" Sunburst swore crossly. "Couldn't he have given you your freedom?"

Twilight sighed. Her dark purple eyes always looked a little sorrowful and tired, but her eyes flicked up and her lips curved into a smile. "You shouldn't feel sorry for me. I got myself into this mess and you know what? Flash is a lot nicer than my last purchaser. Sure, he's crazy and sure, he works me hard, but he's never once hit me. I'm fine with him. I hope he lives forever."

Sunburst rubbed his eyes. Hearing all this was a little overwhelming for him. "All right, so you're fine. What should we do about my problem?"

"You need a mare to live out at your place?"

"Well, I'd rather have a mare than a stallion."

"Because you'd rather have someone to cook for you and clean for you and basically be your slave?" Twilight said casually.

"You make me sound like a pig, Twilight, but I'm really not. I'm just lonely."

She crossed her forelegs, taking the proof she was purchased with her. "Whatever you want her for, I think you should go to the city and buy a mare rather than mess around with Moon Dancer."

Sunburst kicked the table. "Leave that alone. Moon Dancer already turned me down, and I already asked her more times than I wanted to, so it's not like I am going to haul her off by her hair."

"So, what about buying a mare? Haven't you got any money?"

"I never thought about it before. How much would I need?"

"I don't know. All I'm saying is that you should look into it."

Sunburst's curiosity was ignited. "So, how did Flash Sentry choose you?"

Twilight pulled her hair off her sticky forehead and leaned her back against the wall inside the booth. "He went in and asked them to sell him the cheapest one they had in the Domestic Goddess category. That was me."

Sunburst was astounded. Twilight was amazing. She was patient and beautiful and somewhat capable and basically as good as anything he could imagine. And she was the cheapest one they had!

It was then that he made up his mind to give it a try.

Now Sunburst sat in a lumpy chair in Twilight's makeshift hair salon that was actually an unusable extra bathroom, he realized that he recognized Starlight's brokenness much faster than he recognized Twilight's. He hadn't seen it before, but Twilight was messed up too. That was why she tolerated Flash, who was clearly a rotten husband to her and a pitiful father to Moon Dancer. And now as he watched Twilight's scissors snap shut in somewhat clumsy irregular motions, he came to understand something else. Twilight wasn't getting better.

Sunburst grimaced. Then he turned his head away.

He'd already thought about it a hundred times. He didn't have to buy Starlight. He could have just waited for Flash Sentry to kick the bucket, and then he could go to Sable’s Garden Inc. and buy her for himself.

It didn't work.

The plan was flawed. Who knew how long Flash would take to die. He wasn't drinking himself to death in a huge hurry and his disease didn't seem to be taking a turn for the worst. As a matter of fact, he was getting steadily better since Twilight came into his life. Moon Dancer told him that Twilight was slowly petering down the drunk's alcohol intake. Well, goody for her, the maniac would probably never die.

And as for regretting buying Starlight, Sunburst hadn't decided on that path yet. If he was desperate, he could always sell her again. That was what Sunburst thought before he bought her. Now he didn't think he would have the heart to do that. If he ever decided to let her go – he had to free her. He couldn't sell her. She might end up in the hooves of the sort of stallion who had beaten Twilight and Sunburst didn't want that.

Besides, something was wrong with her.

She sat in the broken hairdresser's chair and looked at herself in the faded mirror. She looked like a cancer victim. Twilight could give them a lot more money if she didn't spare Starlight and took off all her hair at the roots. But even though her appearance had been attacked heavily and she looked like a pony doll before the toy maker put the hair on – she didn't seem to feel anything. She didn't cry. She didn't wince with each snip the scissors made. She didn't seem to feel anything.

She got out of the chair and Sunburst awkwardly handed her one of the hats she had purchased earlier that day. "You can wear this," he said.

Starlight reached out to take it from him, but her hoof slipped and the hat fell on the floor.

Sunburst stooped to pick it up. Then he put it directly on her head. "I don't want you to be cold on the way back home." Then he turned to the hairdresser. "Thanks, Twilight."

She nodded and said, "I think I'll be able to get close to three thousand bits for it the next time I go to the city."

"When is that?"

"Sometime next week."

"Transfer me the money when you get it."

"Will do," she said. Then she turned away from them and started wrapping the hair.

Sunburst put his foreleg around Starlight's withers and led her out of Flash's back door. She shivered slightly as they came into the yard where tiny stars of snowflakes were coming down and settling on the heaps of abandoned appliances that Flash stacked out there. He suddenly took of his jacket and covered her with it.

"Where's your jacket?" he asked, making an effort to keep the temper out of his voice.

Starlight breathed hard in the cold air. "Sorry. I was dumb. I thought Spring was here."

"Well, the truck will warm up fast," he said, pushing the gate open for her and giving her shoulders an extra squeeze.

Back at Sunburst's place, Starlight stood outside. Sunburst had parked the truck in his hanger and Starlight had decided to get a better look at Sunburst's land. There was more there than just a house and she was curious to see what he had. When she told Sunburst what she wanted to do, he laughed at her and gave her his scarf to tie around her neck. Then he went into the house to let her wander.

So she wandered.

Sunburst's house was an L shape with abnormally large awnings. The long part of the L was the front of the house and the short part of the L was the back. The long part comprised the kitchen, dining room, great room, main bathroom, and a tiny wing off one side that had once been a conservatory which made up one of the sets of serifs. The back of the house was Sunburst's bedroom and then his room that had nothing in it. Then he had a bathroom that for some strange reason had huge windows in it that matched the ones in the conservatory at the other end of the house. Starlight stared at it. Non-hazy windows in the bathroom? That seemed like a serious breech in protocol. Anyone at all could see inside, but then again – this was the middle of nowhere. There was no one to see anything.

Starlight's tower came up in the corner of the L. The staircase to it was right beside the door that led into what Sunburst called the courtyard. Starlight supposed that it had been a beautiful and well cared for garden, but now it was in shambles. Well, at least it didn't have old washers and dryers in it.

Starlight sighed. She was starting to be impressed by the strangest things.

Starlight walked up to the gazebo that stood by itself in the corner opposite her tower. It was in pitiful disrepair as well, but it was pretty. That could be a good project for her, she thought as she circled it. She could fix it. But how? She was pretty sure the only reason she got assigned the category of Domestic Goddess was … Starlight's mind hit a blank.

Why was she in the Domestic Goddess category?

She scraped the sides of her head and put her hoof up her winter hat in a vain effort to remember. Her mind was a blank. She didn't remember signing the papers at Sable’s Garden Inc.

Giving up remembering, she decided to think about it in a more deductive way. She wasn't a chef, so Enchantress was out. She wasn't a gardener so the Queen Rose category was out. She wasn't a fashion expert so Diva was out. She guessed that Domestic Goddess was their catch-all for girls with no skills.

Well, even if she had no skills, there was nothing she had not been willing to do for that pony back then. It was a shock for her that she had decided not to keep the memory. Didn't she love him more than anything?

Starlight felt her scalp again.

He liked long hair. She'd obviously grown it out for him. But for her, the length had seemed strange when she woke up. It made her feel like she was borrowing someone else's skin, borrowing someone else's hair, borrowing someone else's life. Granted, her hair was longer now than five years ago, but chopping it all off made the slate feel clean. New clothes and a new haircut – things were starting to come together.

And Sunburst wasn't such a bad guy. She could see him now holding a mug and standing in the front room watching her. He was probably still laughing at her. Well, what she was doing wasn't funny.

She turned her back on him and came face to face with a gigantic deer. Her eyes went wide. It was humongous. Starlight had never seen such a big animal that wasn't caged before. Its eyes were huge and so close she could see the veins in them. What should she do? If she ran away, wouldn't it chase her? Starlight stood perfectly still, watching it's antlers with apprehension. That was what you were supposed to do when a wild animal came up to you, right? She didn't move a muscle, but flaming hot panic that began in her neck was racing through her whole body.

The deer took a step towards her.

She was paralyzed. Biting her lip, she tried not to scream. The deer wasn't moving. It was just standing there watching her.

Minutes passed.

It seemed to be sizing her up, but what for? Deer’s were herbivores. Well, maybe it thought her yellow coat looked appetizing. Starlight reached down and pulled up a pathetic little clump of dead grass. The stalks weren't very long and Starlight had to reach far to get it close to the animal's mouth. Starlight's heart pounded. Then the deer chomped down the grass and almost chomped down Starlight's hoof with it. She pulled her hoof away, taking a puddle of deer slobber with it.

Then Sunburst came striding up with a smug little grin. Then he jumped and the deer seemed so deathly afraid of him that it took off at a dead run.

Starlight's shoulders fell.

Sunburst chuckled deeply. "You…" he sputtered.

"Me? Why was it scared of you and not me?" Starlight demanded.

Sunburst caught his breath, but he was still unmistakably merry. "You stood still. All you needed to do was jump once on the spot and it probably would have taken off."

"How was I supposed to know that?"

"You were so cute trying to feed it." Sunburst wiped away an imaginary tear. Then he pulled himself together and suddenly brought the indigent Starlight into a hug. "You know what I've decided? This place is going to be good for you. You'll see."

Starlight put her hooves around him too. He wasn't the one she had always wanted, but under the circumstances, he would do just fine.

"Let's go in the house. I'm going to tell you what I bought you for."

"Huh?"