//------------------------------//
// Landing on One's Hooves 
// Story: Tree-Borne Creator Pony 
// by Crescent Pulsar 
//------------------------------//

Silence followed Spike's exclamation, with Ranma sitting on her haunches, her blank gaze fixated on her belly, and Luna and Celestia staring at their supposed mother with mixed emotions. Most of the others were overwhelmed by what they had learned thus far, while Twilight Sparkle was that and looking back on various recent events, where she began to spot the obvious details that she had failed to notice or scrutinize as part of constructed tests and challenges.

Eventually, Discord cleared his throat and weakly said, "Well, I think I've overstayed my welcome, so-oooo..."

With a snap of his talons, he was gone. Seeing this inspired Twilight Sparkle to seek some time alone, so she could think over everything and figure out how to feel about it all. Before she voiced her intentions, however, she noticed the state that Ranma was in and felt a pang of empathy, since she wasn't the only one who had been affected by someone else's machinations. And while she couldn't begin to understand how it would feel to have children without realizing it, she was willing to bet that Ranma would benefit from having a place where she could recover.

So thinking, she walked over to Ranma and announced, "I'll see you guys later," before teleporting them both to the living space of her home.

Ranma blinked her eyes and looked up, unconcerned but curious. "Where's this?"

"My home," Twilight Sparkle replied, as she stepped out of Ranma's personal space. "It must have been shocking to learn that you have children, and I thought you might like some time and space to yourself..."

Ranma stared for a moment in contemplation before nodding. "Thanks."

With that settled, Twilight Sparkle went downstairs and wrote a note for the front door, saying that she wanted to have some time for herself. Afterward, she sat at the table and sprawled her upper body over it with a sigh.

While she was a bit troubled by the thought of situations being designed with her in mind, what bothered her far more was how blind she had been to them. Only now did she notice how obvious things were, and how they worked out so well that they had to be more than coincidence. The timing and the placement of key items, like the books when Nightmare Moon was an issue, the friendship letters when Discord was making a mess of things, the very relevant potion that Zecora just happened to have, which had very specific requirements for its use that she just happened to meet, and revealed a scene where nopony else was present to witness it or be affected by it beyond the morning being interrupted by night for a few minutes, or Star Swirl the Bearded's supposed book, with the unfinished spell's effect and the result of the finished product. Of course, she couldn't forget the shield that had been used to protect the whole of Canterlot, which was a drastic measure for a seemingly-unknown threat. Even the timing of the Crystal Empire’s reappearance was too convenient to be a coincidence.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her stomach growling ferociously, reminding her that the situation she had woken up to had made her forget about breakfast. Getting up, she took a few steps toward the kitchen before pausing, remembering that she had a guest who might be hungry. Feeling that it would be polite to ask, she redirected herself to the stairs and went back up to her room.

Upon entering, she spared a few seconds to regard Ranma reading one of her books in front of a bookshelf before saying, "Ranma?" When said pony gave her attention, she asked, "Would you like something to eat?"

Ranma shook her head. "I don't need to eat, so you don't have to bother."

"Oh, okay..." Twilight Sparkle replied, finding herself eager to ask questions once again but not wanting to bother her right after offering a place where she wouldn't be bothered.

Seeing her standing there awkwardly, Ranma closed the book and returned it to the shelf. "Did you want to ask anything else? Honestly, I'd rather distract myself from thinking about... You know."

That made Twilight Sparkle curious about her aversion to the subject, but she was just happy to have the opportunity to ask questions of the pony who more-than-likely created ponykind. "Are you kidding? I haven't even scratched the surface of what I want to know!"

So they agreed to sit at the table downstairs, where Twilight Sparkle could eat and drink while she asked her questions, and seated themselves roughly ninety degrees apart from each other so the pony bust wouldn't come between them.

After taking a few bites out of her sandwich, then a sip of orange juice to wash it down, Twilight Sparkle started with, "Okay, so why three types of ponies instead of alicorns?"

"Well," Ranma began, her forelegs crossed on the tabletop, "I did it that way for a couple of reasons. One of them was based on what I knew, which was martial arts, and I came from a school that had two branches: one that specialized in ground-based combat, and another that specialized in mid-air combat. So, I started with the Earth and Pegasus ponies, who were specialized and more or less on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of what they could do. Then there was the Unicorn, which I envisioned being a jack-of-all-trades but master of none, who could use their imagination to be more flexible and excel in ways that the other two types couldn't."

"Another reason," she continued, "was because I wanted ponies to be interdependent, to discourage them from fighting each other, even though I designed their abilities so they would have effective defenses against each other. Unfortunately," she released a heavy-hearted sigh, "by the sound of it, at some point Earth and Pegasus ponies were no longer reaching the upper limits of their potential, and that was enough for Unicorns to capitalize on the power imbalance."

She paused for a second before admitting, "Lastly, I was worried that I could be overwhelmed if there were enough alicorns banding together. That's not to say that I thought I was perfect and knew how things should be, or that I was the ultimate authority figure, but I wanted the ability to intervene if circumstances clearly got bad enough to require it."

Twilight Sparkle had her head propped up on her hooves while she used a quill to jot down what she was learning onto a scroll nearby, already so absorbed by what she was learning that she had forgotten her meal. "I think I understand." Once she was finished writing, she asked a follow-up question. "So, how did cutie marks factor into that framework?"

"Cutie mark?" Ranma questioned, confused.

"You know," Twilight Sparkle said, sharing in the confusion as she gestured toward her flank, "this?"

Ranma cocked her head and furrowed her brow. "Talent symbols are called cutie marks now?"

"...I guess?" Came Twilight Sparkle's uncertain response. "I mean, you're responsible for them, right?"

"Yeah," Ranma confirmed. "Humans didn't have those. The idea behind it was to have skills available to everyone, so there wouldn't be people unemployed because they weren't qualified for the jobs that are available. All someone has to do is consciously want it, and they'll have access to the skills from the cloud — not the kind you're likely thinking of, based on the look you're giving me — that I put together with magic. The symbol shows which one is being accessed, and what they look like is unique to complement the user."

Intrigued, Twilight Sparkle leaned forward while her quill moved at a noisy pace. "Really? There's no record of cutie marks ever working like that." She blinked her eyes as a stray thought came to mind, because of a recent incident, and she stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Although... That might explain the affect of cutie pox. Nopony could figure out how it could endow ponies with skills they never had."

"Huh," was all that Ranma voiced to express how she felt about the matter. "I guess John felt the need to change it for some reason."

"Cutie marks represent our uniqueness and what we love to do most," Twilight Sparkle informed her, "and it's strongly associated with coming into our own as adults."

Ranma nodded her head thoughtfully. "Makes enough sense, and should work with a small enough population."

"Now," Twilight Sparkle went on, a glint in her eyes, "what was that 'cloud' that you mentioned? It sounds like some kind of repository."

"I suppose that's what it is," Ranma agreed, before leaning back and resting her crossed forelegs over her breast. "More specifically... Well, I don't know if there's enough context for me to explain it with your current level of technology, because the cloud was new to me at the time and I had no idea of how it worked. I just used magic to copy what it did, more or less."

Disappointed, Twilight Sparkle said, "I guess you can try to explain it at another time." Quickly rebounding and perking up, she asked, "So, given that cutie marks worked differently originally, why did you choose that one?"

Ranma glanced down at her flank for a second, which bore the image of a quill and inkwell, then looked Twilight Sparkle square in the eyes. "This one I made manifest independent from the cloud, and offers no special power or skill. It assumed its own shape to reflect a promise I made to myself... and to serve as a reminder."

Unsure if she should pry into that, Twilight Sparkle looked down at her own cutie mark, wondering what it would be like to have a cutie mark that served the same, weighty purpose as Ranma's. Then, between the subject of cutie marks and reminders, she was reminded of something important, which the events and discoveries in the past few hours had pushed to a far corner of her mind. Dropping her quill and scroll, she shot up in her chair, with her forehooves slamming down on the tabletop, causing her plate to bounce and drink rattle, as she shouted, "Oh no! I still have to learn how to fly better, for my performance at the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow!"

Tilting her head at the sudden outburst, Ranma calmly asked, "Are there aerial maneuvers you're having trouble with?"

"Ah, no," Twilight Sparkle replied as she clamped down on her panic, calming down and feeling sheepish. "I just don't have much flying experience." She looked to either side of herself and gave one of her wings a flap in turn. "On account of not having these several days ago."

Nodding her head, Ranma offered, "I can help with that. Before now I would have simply suggested changing your talent, but I know another way of teaching someone how to use their wings."

"If it's not too much trouble," Twilight Sparkle accepted, who wanted the entirety of the performance to be a success, not wanting to let anyone down.

After stepping away from the table, Ranma lit up her wings with magic and connected them to Twilight Sparkle's, making them glow in kind, so she could control them as if they were her own wings. Through this method Twilight Sparkle spent a few hours feeling how her wings moved to perform basic tasks, thus learning how to fly competently through experiencing the right way of doing things.

When Ranma judged her good enough to no longer require practice, Twilight Sparkle landed without issue before hugging her and cheering, "Thank you so much! That was amazing!"

Ranma weathered the friendly contact until Twilight Sparkle's stomach complained quite loudly about being fed so little, which made her embarrassed and pull away with a sheepish smile. "...I better take care of that."