//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: Home, Part 2 - Bonding and Wondering 
// Story: PONYTALE 
// by Flutter-Spark 
//------------------------------//

Over the following weeks, Twilight and Celestia quickly fell into a routine. The young Unicorn would awaken at approximately eight in the morning the same as she had the first day, stretching herself out like a cat as she so deeply loved to do, and walk into the living room to find her mother already waiting for her with a freshly prepared breakfast. Most days it was some manner of pastry, whether it be another cinnamon-butterscotch pie, blueberry muffins, or a deliciously flaky strawberry strudel, although it was once a stack of syrupy cinnamon-blueberry pancakes, which Twilight devoured voraciously as she found the combination of flavors was a new favorite.
This would be followed by cleaning and putting away the dishes, which Celestia turned into an exercise in control for her daughter. As the Alicorn washed the dishes and set them on a towel placed over the countertop, Twilight would levitate them in front of herself where she would sit on a high stool and dry them with another towel, often with her tongue sticking out one side of her mouth as she split her focus between either levitating or holding the towel and ensuring the dish stayed stationary before her. Once dry, she would stack the plates and silverware accordingly, then wrap each stack in her magic's aura to carry it up into the cabinets or down into the drawers where they belonged. Every successful completion of this task would earn her a warm, motherly smile and a hug from Celestia's wings and forelegs, which she eagerly reciprocated.
After that, the two would adjourn back to the living room, where Celestia would perform a series of yoga stretches of both legs and wings to, as she said it the first day as Twilight watched in confusion, "Keep them ever ready for motion." The sight of Twilight imitating her that first day brought Celestia almost to tears as the child flopped over after losing her balance, and the rest of that morning had been devoted to ensuring the filly would be better able to maintain her balance. From their stretches, Celestia would walk her daughter out into the yard and sit with her to talk over the scientific and theoretical aspects of magic for an hour, then spend the next hour-and-a-half putting these facts and theories into practice. Celestia displayed and explained the spell or spells upon which they had focused most prominently during their talk, and Twilight would in turn attempt to mimic the same spell and effect, often with a rapidly growing understanding and competency that both amazed and mystified but also thoroughly invigorated the Alicorn. Successful mastery of any spell was met with another proud, motherly smile and hug, and once again Twilight was eager to return all the love that she felt being bestowed unto her.
After a light lunch at noon and a repeat of the morning's "dish exercise", Celestia would recline in her favorite rocking chair with a book and either shoo her daughter back to her room to rest if the morning lessons were particularly taxing, send her outside to play where the window of the living room allowed the Alicorn to watch, or, on rarer occasion, bestow upon her a small list of things to collect from elsewhere in the Ruins that would be needed for making meals over the next few days. Twilight, eager to explore, found she particularly enjoyed it when the last scenario was the case, and always took the list carefully into her magic before placing it in her saddlebags alongside her phone, map and gold before donning them and heading out. She usually ended up making it back between one and two hours later with everything on the list safely secured and good news to share about her continued befriending of the local Monsters.
At around three in the afternoon, the pair would once again exit out into the yard so that Twilight could again practice with her magic, this time focusing on the practical uses of the spells she learned in the morning. Through this, Celestia was able to gauge what areas needing further improvement, whether it be in the technique, the concentration behind, or the level of power invoked to execute the spell, and would be able to properly explain where Twilight needed to shift her focus to improve her skills. All of this, along with anything and everything else her mother had to say, Celestia was glad to find her daughter could soak up like a sponge, and often they spent two full hours discussing the spells being practiced once more as Twilight repeatedly went through each spell's motions until it was decided she had not only mastered the spell, but could properly identify any situation where it would be useful. Naturally, hugs were again exchanged, and Twilight once again beamed up happily into her mother's proudly smiling face.
As five o'clock brought evening to the Ruins, the two ponies headed into the kitchen as Celestia allowed magic to take a backseat in their bonding and instead focused her daughter on an altogether different art: cooking. At first, this was met with some uncertainty and nervousness on the filly's part, but through gentle reassurance and careful guidance, the elder mare was gratified to see a rapid understanding of cooking rise to meet her child's mastery of spellwork. Starting on perhaps the most favored recipe collection of all children–desserts–Celestia was able to teach Twilight the basics of how to prepare chocolate chip cookies–with and without the addition of cinnamon and butterscotch, to the delight of both–the Alicorn's own specialty pie, and even a few basic forms of cake–Celestia's one and only admitted culinary vice, as she could never resist the temptation of them. Of course, these cooking lessons were just as much a chance to learn as they were a chance to bond and playfully enjoy one another's company, as, more often than not, one or the other–though most commonly Twilight–would spill or drop something by accident, and the other would make light of the situation only for the once proper and organized cooking lesson to devolve into a flour, sugar and water tossing fight that left both covered in ingredients, the kitchen a mess, and the food left to sit for a moment as both struggled to control their laughter. Neither was especially good at this last step, and they usually rolled about on the floor in fits of giggles.
By six, however, both ponies would be seated properly with a finished dish to share as the evening's meal, and both delighted in chatting about whatever they could think of, whether it be once again discussing magic, figuring their way through what recipe they should tackle next, or walking each other through stories they had each heard. Twilight found she was most found of story time, as not only was Celestia a gifted and passionate story teller, she had a wide repertoire from which to draw another juicy morsel, and amidst the seriousness or humor of whatever the latest tale turned out to be, she somehow always managed to throw in a joke or two, whether they be well and truly funny, head-scratching, or simply such bad examples of puns that they were somehow good regardless. Either way, it was simply a pleasure to hear the white mare's voice as she regaled her child, her voice rising and lowering as the tension shifted from moment to moment in the story.
After dinner and a final session of dish cleaning, the pair would sit together from seven to eight and Celestia would do her best to teach Twilight yet another new skill, both to practice her magic and to bond: sewing. As with cooking, at first it was a struggle, but as time passed Twilight realized how well it helped her exercise control over her magic when done through levitation, and she delighted in small tidbits of information provided regarding how some objects could have runes stitched or etched into them to invoke unique and powerful magics.
Yet Twilight's favorite time of all came at eight o'clock sharp, for as soon as the clock had struck eight Celestia would gently scoop her up, levitating their sewing equipment back to where it was stored, and settle into her rocking chair with the little filly in her lap to read for her from a thick tome of old fairytales. Each story, as those shared over dinner, captivated Twilight from the very beginning, and she would struggle to remain awake through the entire thing as her mother's calm, gentle voice and soft embrace lulled her towards sleep. Only when the story was finished would Twilight finally let out a long yawn and allow herself to curl in tighter to her mother's chest, at which point Celestia always set aside her book and glasses, scooped up the child anew, and carried her to bed, tucking her in with a warm smile and a kiss goodnight.
All in all, Twilight had never felt happier, and she was always eager to earn another proud smile from her new mother. Sometimes it was by surprising her with proof of her ability to learn the recipes she was taught, slipping into the kitchen to bake a batch of cookies for the pair to share–this often being met with a motherly disapproving sniff at blatant disregard for baking safety before the expression melted into a warm and affectionate smile–or taking what she had learned and using it during time that was meant to be for relaxing to experiment. Though Celestia hid her concern at finding out her daughter was experimenting unsupervised, she was often surprised–more than she would admit–at the results.



"Mommy..."
Celestia blinked and straightened in her rocking chair. One of a few peculiarities she had quickly noted about Twilight since their time together had started was that she would use different terms for her depending on how she felt. If she was happy or the moment was calm, she would simply call her "Mama"; if she was unamused by something, or if there was something more serious happening, then it was "Mom". But whenever she said "Mommy", it was a sure sign that something was wrong.
Peeking over her book, Celestia immediately blanched, shutting the tome with a snap and moving it and her spectacles to the mantle so fast her golden magic's a aura actually crackled, almost causing her to wince. Yet she couldn't, for the sight before her was something she couldn't tear her gaze from even a little: a sniffling, teary-eyed lavender filly covered in soot with a burn on her left foreleg and her hair bearing a blown-back windswept look she knew all too well. It was an appearance she had seen before, and even experienced having on her own person, and it never came without pain.
"Twilight, what happened?!"
Fighting back a sob, Twilight hung her head as she stood there, favoring her burnt foreleg, and answered, "I-I was t-trying to... to do th-the fire spell you taught me, b-but... I lost control a-and..."
Gently wrapping a wing around her daughter, Celestia nuzzled her cheek and held her close, slipping off one of her horseshoes to raise the injured leg to where she could get a better look at it and winced at the sight. It looked to be a relatively minor burn considering the inherent dangers of magical fire, but she knew it would need immediate treatment to prevent it from causing an infection.
Seeing her mother's face, Twilight sobbed and bowed her head lower still, murmuring, "I'm sorry, M-Mommy..."
"Oh, Twilight, sweetheart," she whispered, gently rubbing the child's back as her other wing folded in around her, "it's alright. We just need to get you cleaned up and see what we can do about your leg. Can you walk?"
Twilight nodded, still sniffling, and hobbled along at her mother's side as she was guided down the hall to the white mare's bedroom and through into the adjacent bathroom. Though of modest size for the Alicorn, to Twilight it was truly a very spacious bathroom, the bathtub by itself large enough for her to swim in it if she were so inclined, with steps and handlebars to allow creatures of many shapes to get in and out safely. Since her arrival, she had enjoyed a short bath in it every evening just before dinner as their meal was cooking, Celestia keeping an eye on the time and her magic ready to act so that nothing burned.
Yet now Twilight found it difficult to enjoy the experience as the tub was filled with water, carefully tested and measured by Celestia's bare hoof to be sure it wouldn't be too hot or too high, and the lavender filly was settled into it amidst a much thinner layer of bubbles than normal. She kept her left hoof resting on the edge of the tub so that her leg was well above the water, every touch to the burn bringing sheer, stinging agony, and simply sat in silence apart from an occasional sniffle as Celestia cleaned her up with sponge, soap and shampoo, only relaxing as her mane was briefly rinsed and combed back to keep it out of her face.
"I am not angry, my child," Celestia finally said, looking down with a patient smile at her daughter. "If anything, I see this as a learning experience. First, it has brought it to my attention that I may need to impose a few ground rules for your experimentation, making sure you know which spells and magic forms you can experiment with safely and which you should have me present to oversee."
As the filly looked up and nodded slowly, her head cocked to the side, the Alicorn continued, "Second, it shows that we will need to be more careful with such a wild elemental as fire, considering the power you possess. And, third, it has taught you–I have no doubt–to be more cautious. Am I correct?" Another nod met her question and her smile broadened a little. "You are a very clever and inquisitive filly, Twilight, and that is far from a bad thing. But you will need to be more careful from now on." Tipping her daughter's upper body back, she gently began to scrub at her chest and neck as she asked, "If I may, what happened exactly during your experiment?"
"W-well," Twilight said, stifling a giggle as her mother's hoof brushed over the top of her belly, "I tried to make a fireball, but it burst and the flames shot upward like, whoosh." Her uninjured hoof was raised quickly to emphasize, and she had to bring it down fast to block Celestia's hoof from tickling her in the crook under her shoulder. "And I was so scared that I'd jumped and lost my grip on the spell when some of the leaves that had caught on fire got on my leg and burned me."
Celestia nodded and wrung out the sponge she had been using before picking up a brush with her hoof, guiding her daughter so that she lay with her back against the edge of the tub, her head resting on a bath pillow secured opposite the spout, and began to brush her mane. With long, even strokes she gently slid the brush from the base of Twilight's mane to the end, starting with her bangs and slowly working her way back.
"How high did the flames reach, exactly?" she asked.
"Um, about as high as the tree." Twilight blinked, feeling the brush stop in her mane, and tilted her head back further to look up at her mother's shocked face. "Mama...?"
Slowly, Celestia shook her head and resumed brushing, a small smile on her muzzle as she said, "My child, remind me to read you The Art of Fire-Bending sometime."



"Mama! Mama, look at this!"
It was a few days after the fire incident, and Celestia found herself smiling warmly as she peeked over her book to find a little lavender filly with a bandaged left foreleg practically dancing on the spot before her in excitement. Struggling to hold back a giggle at the sight, she set aside her book and leaned forward.
"What do you have there, Twilight?" she asked, noticing how the filly's horn was lit and an aura of the same lavender glow was shining from behind her back.
Twilight immediately pulled her saddlebags from behind her back, setting them on the floor before saying proudly, "I made my saddlebags bigger!"
Celestia blinked, glancing from the bags to the filly, and murmured, "But they do not appear to be any larger..."
"Not on the outside, Mama," Twilight said, giggling. "I meant on the inside!"
Now Celestia's brow was furrowed, one eyebrow raised high in curiosity as she asked, "Can you explain?"
Nodding, Twilight opened the flap of the left saddlebag to reveal the space inside, which the Alicorn recognized instantly. It looked the same as she remembered, with a group of smaller pouches inside of it, eight in total, for carrying individual items. With her original design, they were enchanted to hold any one object of any size that could fit one end into the opening. However, when she looked closer, she found her jaw dropping as she realized that the runes she had originally stitched there to grant this enchantment had been changed.
"Twilight," she said, sliding from her chair, "what are these new runes for?"
Twilight sat back on her plot and gestured with a hoof at the saddlebags, saying, "Well, you see, I wanted to be able to carry more than just eight items, but I didn't want to mess up the saddlebags you'd made for me yourself, Mama. So I thought I could make them better by making each pouch hold more stuff. But to do that, I needed to change the spell."
Tapping her hoof at each rune on one of the pouches, Twilight continued, "You'd put in runes to make it hold anything that could fit just a little way into the hole. There's a rune there so it can store any one item. These other ones made that into an equa..." Twilight tapped her chin for a moment. "Equator? Equasen?"
"Equation?" Celestia offered, her lips curling into a smile as she began to suspect what her daughter had done.
"Yes! Equation!" Twilight nodded firmly. "I made it into an equation equal to infinity!"
Each pony stared at the other for a moment. Twilight slowly lowered her head, worried, as her mother continued to simply sit and stare at her with an expression that, while on one hoof was honestly humorous, was a touch unsettling. "M-Mama...? D-did I do something wrong...?"
Celestia snapped her jaw shut and blinked. "You made your saddlebags able to hold an infinite number of any eight items?" Her voice was calm and quiet, but her wide eyes still radiated her shock clearly.
Twilight slowly nodded. "A-and added runes to two pouches so that they'd keep hot things hot or cold things cold. Was that... oka-eep!"
Suddenly wrapped in a cocoon of white feathers and fur, Twilight stared up in shock at her mother's face, only to relax as she saw the glow of motherly pride in them. "You certainly are a clever little filly, my child," Celestia said, almost cooing into her daughter's ear as she nuzzled her lovingly. "I just might need to stop being surprised by the things you do."
"But I like surprising you, Mama!"
Twilight would have huffed at the Alicorn's laughter, but she was simply too happy to resist giggling right along with her.



Twilight sighed happily as she sat in her Mama's lap. It had been a few more days since she had experimented with runes on her saddlebags, and now she and her mother were enjoying a moment of peace together before bed. This time there was no story to tell–not because they had run out of stories, but because the day had been a long and tiring one despite the pleasure it had brought–and both ponies were simply happy to soak in each other's ambient love, neither saying anything as Celestia gently ran a bare hoof through her child's mane.
Twilight let out a sound somewhere between a whinny and a purr as a particularly long stroke of a soft white hoof slid beyond her mane down her back, and sighed contentedly as her mind began to ease towards the comfort of sleep. She yawned softly, struggling to hold it back, and thought that perhaps it was about time she succumbed and let her mother carry her off to her room. Yet, as she turned her head to look up sideways at her mother, she blinked, her eyes having chanced upon something she hadn't noticed before.
Resting on one of the higher bookshelves, almost hidden behind a book describing the many uses of snails–a book, she and Celestia had both agreed, neither wanted to look at again after the Alicorn had finally decided to open it after having never done so before–was a single, solitary picture frame. Old and slightly weathered, the wooden frame seemed unremarkable, but even at this distance the filly could see it held the image of her mother, standing beside another, darker-furred pony, with two other, smaller ponies sitting before them. She couldn't quite make out their faces clearly, but there was no mistaking the aurora of Celestia's ethereal mane.
"Mama," she murmured sleepily, stifling a yawn as she struggled to keep her focus on the picture, "who's that up there?"
"Up where, dear?" Celestia asked, smiling as she continued her gentle stroking.
"Up there in that picture."
Celestia blinked and followed the direction of Twilight's vaguely pointing hoof... and paled visibly, her body tensing all over and her hoof going still. All at once Twilight forgot her tiredness as her mother's amethyst eyes and bottom lip both quivered, the former slowly growing dewey at the bottom. A glimmer of longing, a shimmer of sorrow, began to show themselves there before she blinked hard and shook her head, her features schooling into a look of impassiveness.
"It is no one dear. Not anyone you need to worry about."
If the expression had not done it, the tone of Celestia's voice was enough to make Twilight blink in shock. She had never seen or heard her mother act quite like this before since her arrival, not even when she had spoken of her parents' deaths. And yet, somehow, she could recognize the hurt in the eyes which she had come to love having look upon her with love and pride. It was the same look she had seen in her own reflection every time she thought about her birth mother and father before she had met Celestia.
"Mama..." She kept her voice soft, barely above a whisper, and looked up with dew in her own eyes as she nuzzled into her Mama's chest.
Celestia sighed and slowly slipped out of the rocking chair, holding her daughter to her bosom as she stood up, and said quietly, "Come, my child. Let us retire for the night. Little fillies need their sleep," she added, her voice as loving as ever, though with a twinge of sorrow still present in her eyes, "and we will need all we can get of rest for tomorrow's lesson. I seem to recall someone wanting to learn about transfiguration."
Twilight smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes, she knew. As she lay in her bed minutes later, listening for any sound of her mother next door that she could perceive, she let her mind wander and race. Who were the ponies with her Mama in the picture? Why did the sight of that picture and those ponies make her mama so sad? And was there anything she could do to make that hurting stop, or ease off at least? Celestia had done so much for her to help her heal, there just had to be a way to return the favor.
With these thoughts in mind, Twilight found it hard to fall asleep as her soul filled with love and DETERMINATION to find the answers.