Joy awoke in a small, plain room. There wasn't much in there; only a bed, some books, a few pictures, and two small windows with curtains were inside. She was alone.
"Flickerfly! Robin!" Joy cried out as she remembered her children. Soon after, everything else quickly came back. That cold-hearted "husband" of hers had thrown them all out in the desert to rot. Got drunk again, probably. It didn't matter now, though. What was important was her children.
She struggled to stand, dehydrated and exhausted, despite her deep sleep. She paced to get her bearings and opened the door.
She was in a small village. Maybe about twelve or thirteen houses. Six lined up, all in a row, and directly across, another six. At the very end of the rows was a single house, like the others, but with two floors instead of one. The moment she stepped out of the house, everypony nearby turned their heads and stared. An awkward second passed, but they quickly gathered around to welcome her.
"Welcome!" One mare said.
"Welcome!" A stallion called.
"Welcome!" Many others said in unison.
"Hello? Excuse me, but does anypony know how I got here? Or where my children are?"
The question was followed by quiet at first, but a stallion stepped forward, a huge grin on his face. His coat was a minty green, and his mane was a dark berry-colored pink. His cutie mark was an equal sign.
All of the ponies' cutie marks were the same as his. But Joy had no time to wonder about that. Her foals were in danger.
"We're not sure where your kids are; we found you out alone in the desert. You were asleep, so we took you here to rest." Joy was a bit unsettled by his expression as he said this. Why would he have such a big smile while telling somepony that her children were missing?
"Thank you for taking me in for the night... But I really must find my foals! Would anypony in this village know where they might be?"
"If anypony knows, it's probably Starlight. She keeps everything organized and knows everything that happens in our little town." He grinned even wider than before, then added, "She is the founder of the village, after all. Follow me, and I can take you to her!" He spun around quickly and marched through the small crowd of ponies. Joy followed closely behind.
The stallion led her to the one house just outside the rest. He knocked twice on the door, then opened it.
"Starlight! Our guest is awake, and she is looking for her foals!" He said as he stepped aside. Once Joy was inside, he shut the door.
Joy heard hoofsteps above them, and the unicorn came down the stairs. Her coat was a pale pink, her mane was dark purple with an aqua blue-green highlight in it. Her cutie mark was the same equal sign as everypony else's.
"Good Afternoon!" Starlight said cheerfully.
"Thank you. My name is Joyful Heart, but you can call me Joy. I've lost my children, and I have no idea where they could have gone."
"Oh, my, that's terrible! They were with you before?"
"Yes, out in the desert, before I passed out. They won't last long out there, so please, you have to help me!"
"Of course! Berry Mint, can you please go gather a few ponies and start searching around where we found her?"
"No problem, Starlight!" Berry Mint hurried outside.
"Thank you so much! I should go join them and-"
"No, no, don't worry about it. We won't stop until we find them! You should try to rest; you must be exhausted!"
"A-are you sure? " Joy asked. She was tired and thirsty, but she needed to find them as soon as possible.
"Yes. You really need it. Let us take care of it, please."
"Okay..." She didn't want to rest. How could she when the most important things in her life were missing and possibly hurt?
"For now, you can stay in this cottage with me. Let me show you your room." She opened a door that led to a single bedroom. It was pretty plain, almost exactly like the room she woke up in, but the windows were a bit larger, and the bed a bit more comfortable. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. We'll be happy to help." She smiled, then closed the door and left.
Alone now, Joy felt her face get hot and tears threatened to fall. She buried her face in a pillow and screamed as quietly as she could, being so scared and worried. She wiped the tears from her face, trying to stop them. But she soon gave up, and cried herself to sleep.
Once again, she was too exhausted to dream, but when she woke up again, she was rested. On the end table next to her bed was a large bowl filled with water. A note was beside it, with her name on it.
Joy had no clue she was so thirsty until she began drinking. She drank the whole thing all at once and was barely satisfied with it. She unfolded the note as best she could, being an earth pony without magic to help, and began reading it.
Good Morning, Joy!
Just so you know, you've slept through the whole night. We've left a bowl of water for you in case you are thirsty. If you are hungry or still thirsty, there is a bakery that will serve you breakfast. It has a sign outside it in the shape of a muffin; you can't miss it!
If you need anything else, don't hesitate to come find me! Have a wonderful stay here in the village!
Starlight
Joy stood and stretched out. As she did, though, she noticed a mirror on the wall. She was a mess. Her mane was full of dust and sand and was more messy than Flickerfly's after flying into a tree. Her coat was just as bad. She looked around for some way to tidy herself up, and found a hairbrush in the drawer of the end table.
She brushed her mane and coat, and tried her best to shake all the sand out. She took a good look at herself afterwards.
Her mane was a bit wavy, but far from curly. A streak in her mane and tail were a lighter tan than the rest of it. Her coat was also tan, but was lighter than both colors in her mane and tail. The necklace her children made for her birthday was still around her neck. She never took it off. Her eyes were a light pink. She kind of blended in to the colors of the sandy desert. She never really liked her colors much; they made her seem boring when she really wasn't.
Joy's cutie mark was a heart with two bandages overlapping it. It represented her talent for caring for others. Others were sure it meant that she would become a nurse, but she became a mother instead. It was a long road, and she had made many mistakes (mostly with the stallions she chose to marry), but she was positive that she was meant to be a mother.
And obviously, she was great at it. Her children were lost in a desert somewhere, and she was sitting here in a house staring at herself in the mirror. She left the house in search of Starlight, when she realized how hungry she was. She started looking for the muffin-shaped sign, and sure enough, it was right across the street.
She sat at the table outside and waited. Almost immediately, a very short and chubby unicorn mare opened the door and walked toward her. Her mane was pink and purple, and was tied up in a bun. She wore an apron that looked slightly uncomfortable. Her cutie mark was, unsurprisingly, also an equal sign. She wore she same grin as the others. It fell slightly, though, when she saw Joy at first.
She was quick to pick herself up, though, and she hurried to Joy's table.
"Hello and Welcome! You, uh, must be new here!" She glanced at Joy's cutie mark.
"Yes, my name is Joy. And you?"
"I'm Sugary Sweet! I own the bakery here, and I make all the food! I assume you'd like to order?"
"Yes, please! What's on the menu?"
"For breakfast we have muffins, and to drink we have water."
Joy was confused at the small size of the menu. Even the lemonade stand Robin set up for the neighborhood had a bigger selection to order! She didn't want to be rude, though, so she kept quiet about it and ordered instead.
"I'll, um, have a muffin and some water then, please."
"Alright! I'll be right back!" Sugar returned back into the bakery.
Joy sat back a bit and tried to relax. She watched ponies walk by, all with the same smile, and all with the same cutie mark. What was that all about, anyway? But what really interested her were a group of foals, following a mare, supposedly some kind of teacher. The foals didn't have the equal sign cutie mark; they didn't have a cutie mark at all! Still though, they smiled too widely and welcomed her in unison, just like the grown-ups did.
Something was wrong here. It didn't take 20/20 vision to see that.
"Here you are!" Sugar placed a tray in front of Joy. She hadn't seen Sugar walk up to her, because she was so distracted.
"Oh, thank you!" Joy responded, slightly startled by her sudden appearance. She looked at her muffin, and it seemed like a normal one. She took a huge bite and almost spit it up right away. It was disgusting! It tasted like it was made of burned cardboard! She swallowed quickly and began drinking her water to get the taste out of her mouth. Her water was gone, again. "Um... Can I please get some more water?"
"Yeah, no problem..." She sighed, "I know, my cooking isn't very good. It used to be... before I came here." She became serious for a moment, but perked up as quickly as she was bummed out. "I don't really miss that as much as you'd think, though. I'll get you a refill!" She hurried back into the bakery.
Joy tried to eat as much of the muffin as possible before she got back, but it was hard without the water. She kept choking and gagging at the taste. Once Sugar came back with her water, she gulped a lot of it down and finished the rest of her muffin.
She cleared her throat and apologized.
"I-I'm sorry... I don't know what came over me..."
"No, I understand. I don't even want to be good at baking anymore, so it's no trouble!"
"What do you mean? Are you saying that you used to be much better at it?"
"Yes. It used to be my special talent, before I got my cutie mark removed."
"Removed..?"