//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: Chasing Twilight Stars // by RejectOwl //------------------------------// "Hey Cinnamon, you wanna go shopping with me for more foal supplies?" Twilight called, searching for the mare. "Oh, yeah! I'd love to help you." Cinnamon Flower said with a smile, exiting the kitchen with a rag. "I was just doing some cleaning, where's the laundry?" Twilight took the rag and poofed it into the dirty basket. "That's useful." Cinnamon responded with a laugh. "You haven't mastered the "poof and clean"? I have much to teach you young Cinnamon Flower." Twilight teased the mare who blushed. "Here's the foal carrier, get Star Chaser." Twilight instructed, strapping Cinnamon into the carrier. "I-I can carry him? Really?" She asked with wide eyes. "Really, you've been helping me all week, if you wanted to run off with him, you'd of already done it." Twilight smirked. "Thank you Pri-Twilight." Cinnamon nodded and went to find Star Chaser. "Our son is in the crib." Twilight laughed as she watched Cinnamon start to look for him. Cinnamon Flower blushed again, Our son? If only. No, bad Cinnamon Flower, you stop that. She didn't mean it like that and you know it. She's a Princess! She'd never date you anyway. She scolded herself as she headed for the crib. "Hello little Shining Star, would you like to go for a little shopping trip?" Cinnamon asked and the foal reached his forelegs up, the universal baby symbol for "up! up!" Cinnamon laughed and gently tucked Star Chaser into the carrier. "And awaaay we go!" Star Chaser giggled at Cinnamon's antics and flailed his hooves around in glee and began babbling. "Awww, Star Chaser, you love your mom?" Twilight asked. Cinnamon Flower stopped dead. "Yo... earth to Cinnamon." Twilight called waving her hoof in front of Cinnamon's face, Star Chaser attempting to catch it. "I'm okay, you-you called me his mom?" Cinnamon asked. "Well you are. And I can't exactly call you his mama, cuz he already uses that name for me, therefor, you get to be mom. Or mommy, but mom is easier on a foal." Twilight answered with a smile. "You're not joking, right?" Cinnamon asked. "Do you really think I'm that much of a bi-meanie?" Twilight cut off the curse before it left her muzzle. "Well no but, I... thought I'd just be allowed to spend time with him, not be a mother." She said gently. "Come on Cinnamom, let's go shopping." Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'm all rea-wait, what did you call me?" "Cin-na-mom. It's a pun on your name. Your name is Cinnamon Flower, you're also his mom, therefor, Cinnamom." Twilight giggled at her own joke. Cinnamon burst out laughing and Star Chaser babbled along with the two giggling mares, even if the joke went over his tiny head. "Shopping?" Cinnamon asked. "Right, shopping. Let's go." Twilight grinned. Cinnamon looked at all the supplies with wide eyes, the prices astounded her, and she knew she did the right thing having another mare take in Star Chaser. "Welcome Princess Twilight!" The shopkeep exclaimed. "I haven't seen you in so long!" "Uh, yeah, I've a- been having my assistant grab the formula and diapers." Twilight laughed. "And is this your marefriend?" The shopekeep asked. "Oh, I see why you didn't have the things ready! You meant to adopt and it must have went much faster than you thought." "Uh... yeah. Let's go with that." Twilight nodded. Cinnamon Flower did not correct the shopkeep, only ducked her head to hide the blush creeping across her face, and glanced around at all the supplies and foal contraptions. "Come on, the formula and diapers are this way, I have a bunch of cloth ones that while clean, should probably be replaced by now. If you find anything else interesting let me know." Twilight smiled. Cinnamon Flower looked carefully over things, not really having a clue what to buy a foal besides milk, and then she spotted something familiar and her mind went back several years, remembering when she was just a filly herself. A Hearth's Warming Day box, all pretty, signed "To My Little Cinny ~ Love, Mom" a tiny Cinnamon Flower, still a blank flank tore into the paper, and pulled out a pretty doll. A cute little round green creature with big adorable bug eyes, "All the cute! None of the destruction!" the tag read. A stuffed Parasprite. Cinnamon Flower had carried it everywhere, until that night... she hadn't wanted to see it when her mother was gone, and then her father threw it away in a fit of rage, wanting no memory of his wife in the house. A hoof prodded her suddenly. Cinnamon Flower leapt into the air with a start. "Oh, Princess, you scared me." She mumbled as her face flushed again in embarrassment. "Sorry, but what's up with the parasprite doll? You kinda totally zoned out staring at it." Twilight questioned. "It...well...nothing Twilight, I just spaced out." She sighed. "Nope, not buying it." Twilight shook her head. "It was, well, one like it, was the last gift I ever got from my mom." She teared up and tried to subtly wipe her eyes. "And, when she died, my dad... he didn't handle it well, and he threw out my stuffy. I was five years old, and had to go without my stuffy for the rest of the time I lived there. He never got over it, and I guess... took it out on me, blamed me." The stuffed Parasprite was brought down from the shelf in a magenta glow. "I'm buying it for you, is that okay?" Twilight asked. "No, Twilight, you don't have to do that." Cinnamon cried. "Is this a "No I feel like you're wasting bits on me" or a "no it's too painful to have a reminder of my mother in the house"?" Twilight asked still gripping the stuffy. Cinnamon Flower mumbled. "Didn't catch that." Twilight answered. "You shouldn't even be wasting time on me, let alone bits." She muttered. "Alright, into the basket it goes!" Twilight exclaimed and dropped the stuffed parasprite in. Cinnamon didn't hold back this time and pulled Twilight in for a large hug.