//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Heart of the Ruins, Part 1 
// Story: PONYTALE 
// by Flutter-Spark 
//------------------------------//

As the pair passed through the exit into the next room, Twilight found Celestia looking at her with a quirked brow and a smile. "So, why exactly did you bother with the last lever?" the Alicorn asked. "I did tell you it was a trap."
"You also said it was just water, and you weren't wrong," Twilight pointed out. "I guess I just wanted to see how it worked. I've...always wondered how traps built long ago in old buildings keep working, and I thought it either wouldn't work or that I'd see it coming. Where did it even come at me from, anyway?"
Celestia blushed lightly, saying nothing, only to giggle as Twilight stared up at her with a quirked brow of her own. "My child, you might want to remember that I am the caretaker of the Ruins. If you would like to know how it worked, I could tell you that sometime during your magic lessons, as well as explain some of the other mechanisms hidden herein." She laughed as Twilight cheered, prancing gleefully, then added, "As for where the water came from, consider it was pooled only underneath you and that your mane was flattened against your scalp as it was."
Remembering the results of the trap made Twilight frown and mutter, "Right, obvious answer–above. Always water comes from above."
As Celestia giggled again at the filly's antics, Twilight simply flushed, albeit with a small smile once more on her muzzle. She barely registered the square room into which they'd walked as she looked up at the Alicorn's face, simply enjoying the sound of the elder's merriment, even if it was at her expense. But then she blinked, confused, as she noticed a strange ponnequin, a combat training dummy, standing against a wall close to the room's northern exit.
"What's that for?" she asked, pointing with a hoof.
Celestia, glancing at the dummy, blinked, looked from filly to dummy and back again, then nodded firmly to herself before marching to the northern doorway and stopping. She slowly turned and sat in the middle of the doorway itself, lighting up her horn to levitate the dummy closer to Twilight. At first the filly blinked in confusion, wondering what her guide was up too. But the confusion passed into intense curiosity as the Alicorn looked her straight in the face and began to speak in a very serious tone.
"My child, there is something you need to learn, and there is no other place in these Ruins more appropriate than here," she said. "In the chambers ahead, there are all manner of creatures, many of them with forms the likes of which you will find it hard to properly identify. The only term which properly fits them all–although it is one I personally refrain from using–is 'Monsters'."
Celestia shuddered, and Twilight blinked, feeling a shiver run up her spine, although she suspected the reasons for the Alicorn's reaction were different from her fear. She set those thoughts aside however as Celestia continued. "Many of these 'Monsters' will be able to sense the powerful magic inside you, resonating in your very soul, and may attack out of fear. And some, though I am ashamed to say it, will likely have altogether more cold-hearted intentions. Though I cannot say why the latter are that way, it all comes to the same result: you will often find yourself drawn into a situation where you are challenged to a FIGHT, and you must be careful.
"When you are brought into a FIGHT, the very Underground will recognize it, and ensure you are not caught completely unawares. Approach this dummy, and you will see what I mean."
Twilight nodded, nervously, and slowly stepped up to the dummy. As she drew close, she gasped, finding a series of glowing lines forming a box on the floor around her, a thin aura of light shining over them as if to form a thin barrier. The same lines formed around the dummy, and Twilight shivered as she saw her soul appear over her chest, the yellow bar once again forming beside it along with the numbers she'd figured out represented her health. The second bar appeared beside her health with almost the entirety of it turned red, only about a fifth restored to the lavender of her coat.
As Twilight swallowed back a lump rising in her throat, Celestia's voice came clearly to her ears despite the barrier formed by the glowing lines. "Don't worry, my child," she said. "This is the way of a normal FIGHT. The barriers are weak and easily broken if you have a strong enough will to escape and enough magic to force them to open." As Twilight still shivered in apprehensive fear, Celestia's voice came again. "Do you understand, my child?"
Twilight nodded and replied, "Yes, but..." She swallowed again and looked down, suppressing the urge to shudder. "When I met that flower, he... He made these same lines appear, only stronger, and my soul wasn't just on my chest. It... it was still inside of me..."
For a moment, the FIGHT lines vanished, and Twilight whimpered softly as Celestia's wing gently curled around her shoulders. "You poor child," she murmured. "That is a very special form of FIGHT that only happens when fighting against very powerful denizens of the Underground. The barriers are strengthened by the intent and will of the one who starts the FIGHT, and that intensity bonds to both the participants, making it so that your very body is a barrier in itself, ensuring you cannot escape by attempting to run, regardless of your power or will. Only when both participants feel themselves on equal footing, or when both have the utmost respect for each other, can one of them flee the FIGHT border in such a scenario."
Twilight blinked as she looked up at Celestia's face. "So, I wouldn't have been able to run even if I'd wanted or been able too?" 
Celestia nodded, nuzzling the filly's head. "You would have only been able to flee if this... flower... had some form of true respect for you, and you for them."
Celestia slowly released Twilight and stepped back, causing the FIGHT lines to reappear. "Now, however," she said, "you have no need to fear. You can break this border without any strain, and I am right here. You are perfectly safe." She gestured with a hoof to first the dummy then to Twilight. "And your opponents in the Ruins will be nothing like the flower that attacked you, anymore than this dummy is like it. You don't need to fight them, only keep from being harmed by them in the event that they attack. Many of them you can even try to befriend, which will only benefit you later."
Twilight raised a brow and stared at Celestia in confusion. "Make friends with them? Why?"
Celestia smiled warmly and answered, "Friendship is a wonderful thing, my child. It can solve all manner of problems you would never have guessed. It is something which I, personally, value quite highly." Her eyes drifted off to the side a moment as she added softly, "It is something that I...learned the hard way to treasure more than anything. I had forgotten that, and it cost me dearly, for the strongest bonds start as those of friendship."
Twilight smiled a little and gestured towards the Alicorn. "Like you and me?"
Celestia blinked, seeming stunned, then slowly flushed, her head bowing as she shut her eyes a moment before meeting the filly's gaze with tender eyes. "Y-yes, my child. If you feel we are indeed friends, then it is the perfect example."
Twilight's smile only widened as an idea–a silly one, she knew, but one she had to admit sounded good–occurred to her. "Then I just have to hug whoever attacks me until they know I'm not a threat!"
Celestia laughed, hiccuping from the shock of this declaration, and shook her head so that her mane's ethereal breeze seemed to lose its rhythm. "Oh ho, my child, you are simply too precious!" She sighed as she mastered herself, still smiling. "Yes, that idea might work for some, but there are a great many creatures in the Ruins alone, and beyond for certain, for whom it will not work so readily. When faced with such creatures, you would be better off watching them first and trying to figure out some way to meet them, as the saying goes, on their terms. If you can figure out a way to calm them and show to them that you mean them well, then they will be more likely to accept you and see you as non-threatening or friendly."
Twilight grinned, taking this information in stride. "Okay! So first I befriend them, then I can hug them!"
As Celestia chuckled, Twilight giggled and turned to face the dummy. Schooling her features to be serious yet as calm as possible, she glanced over it a moment and thought. She knew she could keep being silly and hug it, but she wasn't sure the humor would last any further if she did. The only other thing she could think of demonstrating she would do in a proper FIGHT was wave. So, trying to smile and feeling a twinge of her nervousness returning, she waved.
And the dummy waved back.
Twilight instantly dashed to Celestia's side, ducking under her wing and staring out with wide eyes at the dummy's raised foreleg. Celestia, for her part, stared with equally wide eyes at the inanimate imitation of a pony for a moment before muttering, "We should move on," and gently pushing Twilight through the doorway. Before they were fully through, however, Twilight swore she saw the ponnequin's foreleg lowering... with a thin, leafy vine retracting from underneath it.



That's what you get, Flowey thought, snickering. Nopony makes a fool out of me without getting paid back. And just wait, cause this isn't even the best in my bag of tricks!
...wait, did I just use "nopony"? What the hay?



Celestia gently rubbed Twilight's back with her hoof, holding her gently with her wings as she attempted to calm the little filly's fears. "It's alright, child, it's alright," she softly cooed. "There's nothing to be afraid or ashamed of."
"I-I never thought it would wave b-back," Twilight said with a whimper.
"Nor I. It has never done that before. It may be a spirit had decided to inhabit it." Seeing Twilight look up at her curiously, she smiled and explained, "There are some wandering spirits in the Underground, mostly ones called 'Blooks', that seek vessels to take on as their own. They want nothing more than to be able to interact as we do with the world and others. One likely took control of the ponnequin and decided to wave back."
Twilight nodded, seeming to understand, but shivered a little. "You d-don't think they were trying to scare me...?"
Celestia shook her head. "No, my child. I am quite sure they're sorry for it, too."
As Twilight seemed to calm down, Celestia smiled a little wider, watching the filly as she released her and allowed her to look around the room. It was another of the longer chambers, this time split into two sections by a thin hallway halfway along. The first section was the plain portion, the only exceptional thing about it being the shade of purple that covered several sections of the floor, forming some manner of vague pattern. Yet, as they were about to move on into the second section of the room via the hallway...
Ribbit!
Twilight yelped and backpedaled as a large frog-like creature easily as big as the filly herself leapt in front of her, croaking. Celestia blinked, stunned at such behavior from what was usually a fairly calm example of Monster kind, yet stayed back, watching as Twilight righted herself, the FIGHT lines forming around both the filly and the Monster, a Froggit. Though the Alicorn worried for a moment her inaction might be a mistake that would put Twilight at risk, it was something she knew would be far more beneficial, particularly after how the dummy had scared her so badly. If Twilight was successful in peacefully ending the FIGHT on her own, it would be a for certain boost to her confidence as well as an easy way to determine how quickly Twilight could adapt to a puzzle that wouldn't simply wait on her to be ready.
After all, she thought, I cannot be with her all the time. Just as I couldn't with–
Once again clearing her head with a firm shake, she refocused upon the FIGHT before her and watched, curious, as Twilight slowly tried to stand on her hindlegs. For a moment, the white mare was confused, until Twilight said one word:
"Hug?"
The Froggit, which had been nervously twitching, seemed to freeze, curiously cocking its head to the side with a quiet croak. But this first croak was drowned in a second, much louder and surprised one as Twilight, unused to standing as bipeds are wont, fell flat on her plot. Between this, the Froggit's face quickly bloating from its croak, and the croaking laugh the Froggit released as Twilight got to her hooves and giggled in embarrassment, Celestia couldn't fight back a laugh of her own. The sight of Twilight and the Froggit sharing the offered hug afterwards was simply the icing on the cake which made her let loose a playful, "D'awww!"
The Froggit, blushing as much as Twilight from Celestia's reaction, smiled and nodded once to the Alicorn before hopping off, waving goodbye to Twilight as he went and leaving behind a pair of shiny gold coins.
"Oh, wait, Mr. Froggit!" Twilight called out once she spotted the gold. "You forgot your bits!"
Celestia smiled and picked up the coins in her levitation, saying, "Actually, my child, it is not uncommon for Monsters here in the Underground to leave behind money for each other as signs of friendship after peacefully resolving FIGHTs."
Twilight, eyes wide, glanced from the gold towards the direction the Froggit had vanished and back before looking up at Celestia in wonder. "R-really...? You mean those bits are for me...?"
Celestia nodded, still smiling, and slipped the gold into one of the pockets in her robes before gently urging the filly onward. They passed quickly through the hallway and into another wide section filled with water, an island in the center covered with spikes. Though two bridges spanned the gaps from one side of the room to the island and from the island to the exit, there was no way to cross the island itself without touching the spikes, and no way to avoid the island without knowing how to swim.
"Um, how do I get past this one?" Twilight asked. "I don't know how to swim yet, and I'd rather solve the puzzle anyway instead of just going around it."
Celestia looked down at the little filly for a moment, then smiled and gently held out a wing to her. "I will guide you through, my child. Try to memorize the pattern."
Twilight looked at the offered wing for a moment, then nodded, grasping one of the larger primaries with her hoof and letting the Alicorn gently pull her along across the bridge. Celestia was unsurprised to see shock flicker over the filly's little face when, as they approached several of the spikes, the apparent obstacles sank into the floor, forming a maze as they walked with each square of spikes shooting back up into place once the pair had gone by. When that same face became full of dawning understanding, recognition and excitement, she had to fight a powerful urge to giggle.
"It's the same as the first part of the room," Twilight said once they were on the second bridge, prancing in place from her excitement. "The lighter areas on the ground match the path you take to get through the spikes!"
Celestia nodded, a hoof to her lips to stifle her giggle, and replied, "Yes, that is exactly the way, my child. Very clever to figure that out so quickly."
"Thank you, Mama!"
Both ponies froze at that, Celestia staring down at the filly as Twilight stared up with a look of dread. "Did you just call me... Mama?" Celestia asked, feeling something in her chest begin to race.
Twilight cowered, stuttering, "I-I'm so sorry, i-it j-just slipped out! It's j-just that you've b-been so night to me, p-promised to t-teach me and h-healed me when I was h-hurt and scared and... and... P-please don't hate me, please!"
Celestia stood there for a moment, completely still, as she watched the lavender filly in front of her quivering and fighting back tears. It was so tempting–so very, very tempting–to reach out and scoop her up, cradle and nuzzle her and pledge herself to the task of being the filly's mother. It was something that would be easy for her, as she had honestly already come to see something utterly precious in the little thing. She was clever, eager to learn, and so adorable and sweet that it had taken every fiber in her being not to coddle her already.
But Celestia knew she couldn't do it; not again. So she schooled her features as best as she could, calling upon her innermost strengths to calm her mind and center her emotions before smiling patiently at the little filly and stroking her head, and said, "I do not hate you, Twilight. Truly, you are a very kind filly, to so readily address me with such an affectionate title. However, it is a tittle better suited for your true mother. They are the one whom you should call 'Mama' or 'Mommy'."
Celestia watched Twilight slowly calm her shaking and turned to lead the way onward. But she froze, as did her mind and heart, when she heard the filly just behind her sniffle and fight back a sob. It wasn't the sniffle itself or the sob that made her stop, however. It was the words within the sob.
"...I don't have a Mommy..."