She glanced over at Raven, trying to figure out if the conversation was making her uncomfortable. It occurred to her that she was really, really bad at reading emotions. She'd just have to wing it. On the one hoof, it was probably not an appropriate conversation to have at mealtime. On the other hoof, Raven didn't seem bothered, and Nightshade was curious. "What happened with you mother?"
Raven didn't seem to mind. She had heard the story a couple times. She just took a drink from her soda and listened casually. Maya started, "Did I ever tell you what I was born into, Shady? That part's kinda vital."
"I don't really know much anything about you, to be honest. I know that you're an alchemist, and that you're a lot older than you look."
"Well. Basically, I was born to a crazy rich mom with a trophy husband. And this crazy rich mom was kind of a word that starts with a C. Looked down on ponies with less money than her like they were trash, kept the dad on a leash, almost gave me away when she found out my bones were a little less hollow than they should be and I might not have been able to fly. So cool mare, right?" She winced. "Ouch, my pregnancy. Mind if I sit there before I keep going? I'm getting some pains."
Mat just sits there, looking up at the ceiling, before taking a look around. Van's still in the corner, he gives another loud snort, but still sleeps like a rock.
Nightshade moved over to give her room to sit down. "You gonna be okay?" (Am I the only one having trouble posting anything? It's taking me four or five tries to get anything to post.)
"Really good question," Raven added. "Yeah, I'll be fine." Maya sat down next to her with a small sigh. "Thanks, though. Anyway. Real problems started when I started to hang out with the poor kids, or the trash. I kinda got drawn in 'cause they never tried to shape me to be anything. Got to be best friends with a bat filly named Helena. She got me into dirty things like weed, alchemy, and twenty-four-seven autonomy. She was a pretty cool cat. But my mom didn't think so. Didnt like me hanging with that crowd. She'd give me a lot of year-long lectures, she'd lock me up in my room, she'd... she hit me a few dozen times..." "Mat." Dusty leaned forward. "Do you need anything else?"
Nightshade nodded. Silver had rarely ever struck her outside of training, and those few times had been to bring her to her senses when she lost control. "I take it you eventually had enough. What happened?"
"What would you like?" He asked. "Well, what pushed me over the edge was when she had Helena kidnapped to teach me a lesson or some crap. Two big earth ponies, paid ten K each. They weren't hard to find. I used some of the alchemy I learned to..." She cleared her throat. "...to burn them. Set Helena free and told her to get the hell into hiding. I confronted my mom about it. She hit me. I finally hit back. Solid bones here. I'm a lot stronger than she was by nature. She dropped, blood spattered everywhere like in that Mythic Kombat arcade game, and her eyes rolled back. I killed her. Not on purpose, but I did."
"You never forget your first," Nightshade said, almost too quietly to hear. "You defended yourself. What happened to Helena?" She shot a quick glance at Raven, wondering briefly if there was a connection.
Maya shrugged. "Never found out. I never saw her again. She's probably dead now, too. That, or she found the same age potion I did, and just hasn't found me yet."
Mat chuckled, "... Uh... Can I just get another cider, that's kind of... well, the only thing I can think of that you can give me that I need right now."
"Well, at least it wasn't at the hooves of those thugs. Hey, you wanna hear something really jarring?"
Nightshade raised an eyebrow. "Old Canterlot aristocrat. Can't say as though I've ever heard that accent out of a Pegasus."
"A strange mare I am, dear. See, this is how I was taught to speak in my youth. So proper. So lifeless. In addition, it reminded me of my family." She went lighter on the accent. "Over the years, though, I began working on eradicating it. Purging it." She went to her normal, modern accent. "Later, talking to a lot of ponies while I got old, I kinda just started adjusting with the times. Keeps me approachable. A little slang. Dude, babe, hot stuff, knock, toke, get some tail, what have you. Basically, I've been keeping myself at least semi-modern for, here I go again, a thousand years."
