//------------------------------// // Home again: // Story: Afterlife // by Star Sparkle //------------------------------// When we arrived at home I took my saddlebag to my room and unpacked, even though I was going back to Ponyville tomorrow. After I had unpacked I took my quill with my mouth and walked down to the living room. As I walked into the living room Velvet saw me and asked ‘’Hi sweetie, you wanna practice magic?‘’ I nodded, spat the feather out and said ‘’Is it okay if I do?‘’ ‘’Of course you can sweetie. So what do you want to try?‘’ ‘’I want to learn how to write.‘’ I said before I realized I forgot some paper and said ‘’I’ll go get some paper.‘’ ‘’No need sweetie, we have some paper downhere.‘’ Velvet paused ‘’Umm? Were you planning on writing with your quill?‘’ ‘’Yeah, why not?‘’ ‘’It’s more difficult, but don’t let me stop you, here you go sweetie.‘’ Velvet said as she levitated a stack of papers and a black glass bottle over to me. I closed my eyes and focused on my quill and lifted as hard as I could, I felt if go up as Velvet encouraged ‘’You got it sweetie.‘’ I felt the quill in the air but I couldn’t feel the bottle of ink. I began to turn and spin the quill, but as I didn’t get anywhere, I opened my eyes and saw, the, quill… Everything became dark as I felt Velvet’s leg in front of my eyes and I lost the quill as well as my magic. I looked around for Velvet, I saw her with a small smile on, I looked at the paper, and the quill that laid on top, I failed again. I lay down, but as I did Velvet said ‘’Come on sweetie, you think Twilight got it in her first attempt?‘’ I looked at her as she stroke my mane and saw a pink crayon next to her, it was surrounded by a magenta aura and levitated over in front of me and Velvet said with a smile and a soft tone ‘’Let’s try again.‘’ I nodded and looked at the crayon. I closed my eyes and felt the crayon, it was a bit heavier, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I lifted it into the air, I spun it around and when I felt the tip to be downwards I tried to feel the papers, but I couldn’t, it was too much, I felt my magic go away from the crayon. I heard Velvet ‘’Feel for my aura. I have the papers.‘’ I nodded and focused, quickly I felt her magic and pointed my crayon towards it and I must have been right as Velvet whispered ‘’You got it, sweetie, almost there.‘’ I felt my magic stop as the crayon must have hit the paper and I moved the crayon to make a five pointed star, as it was complicated, but I at least remembered how to make a star. When I was done, I opened my eyes only to look at the pink crayon in my magic and the, aura, was… A leg came in front of my eyes and I lost my magic and the crayon fell, as the crayon hit the paper Velvet hugged me as she happily said ‘’Well done sweetie.‘’ ‘’Thanks… But I still hate that I get hypnotized by my aura.‘’ ‘’Don’t worry sweetie, it will stop one day.‘’ ‘’I hope so.‘’ I said, as I looked forward to that day. As Velvet hugged me I began to think that hugs in Equestria was really often, while still being really warm and soft which made it really addicted, I was sat down on the floor again, as I sat Velvet smiled and said ‘’I think that’s enough training for today.‘’ I nodded and said ‘’Okay then I’m just gonna put my quill back to my room.‘’ Velvet smiled and I looked at the quill next to the paper I drew on, as I saw my drawing, it looked like a 1 year old had drawn it, I didn’t even stay on the one paper, but lucky Velvet got some paper on the carpet, so I didn’t draw on the carpet. As I looked at the drawing Velvet said ‘’It’s beautiful sweetie, do you want it in your room?‘’ ‘’Sure, but it’s not beautiful.‘’ ‘’It is, remember, you made it with your eyes closed.‘’ ‘’Then I guess it’s okay.‘’ The papers and the quill levitated up to me in Velvet aura and I took both with my teeth and went for my room. Up in my room, I placed my quill on my desk and lay the drawing on my display table and as there were only books I could read in my room, I walked downstairs again. Down in the living room I saw the new vase, a plain white one, but in a more square shape. Next to the vase there were the Sparkle family picture, it was still too weird to just look at and I looked around the living room instead. As I looked around I saw that next to the fireplace was, what I suspected to be a calendar, as it said ‘July’ on the top ‘Strange,’ I thought. I walked over to it and took the calendar off the wall and scrolled through it, as I tried to scroll through the different pages I heard as Velvet asked ‘’What have you found sweetie?‘’ ‘’Just this calendar.‘’ ‘’Oh… Is it interesting?‘’ ‘’I guess, I had just never seen one before,‘’ I paused and as I looked at the calendar and this month’s name before I continued ‘’it’s weird.‘’ ‘’I’m sure I can answer your questions, if you want to.‘’ ‘’Sure.‘’ I said before I saw Velvet who smiled, levitated the calendar and walked over to the couch and I followed. On the couch I sat next to Velvet as she levitated the calendar over to us and asked ‘’So, what do you want to know?‘’ ‘’Umm…‘’ I said before I thought ‘I know what seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years are.’ So I asked ‘’How do you measure time?‘’ ‘’Time? Well, we use seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years.‘’ ‘’Oh, okay, how do you count seconds?‘’ ‘’One, two, three,‘’ As Velvet counted it sounded like seconds in my human world ‘’four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.‘’ ‘’So how many seconds are there in a minute?‘’ ‘’Sixty seconds.‘’ Velvet said. ‘Huh, so far so good.’ I thought but said ‘’And let me guess, there is sixty minutes in an hour?‘’ ‘’Yes, that’s correct.‘’ ‘’And twenty-four hours in a day?‘’ ‘’Correct.‘’ Velvet chered. I was on a roll and said ‘’And seven days a week.‘’ ‘’That’s, umm…‘’ Velvet looked at me and continued ‘’No, we only have six days a week.‘’ ‘’What?‘’ I asked ‘’Six days?‘’ ‘’Yes.‘’ ‘’Just curious, what are they called?‘’ ‘’That’s okay sweetie, it’s Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Moonday and Sunday.‘’ Velvet said, but I had difficult taking the names in, how could they be so identical, it only helped my theory that this was only a dream, but before I could think more about it, Velvet said ‘’And our months are thirty days.‘’ ‘’Wait, like on average?‘’ ‘’No, all twelve of them.‘’ ‘’Are you saying that every month have five weeks?‘’ ‘’Yes?‘’ Velvet said, but I could only stare out into the air, I didn’t know what to say ‘How could they be so similar, yet so different.’ Velvet broke my thoughts ‘’Are you okay sweetie?‘’ ‘’Huh, ye-yeah I’m fine, it’s just. I don’t know.‘’ ‘’Is it different from what you remember?‘’ Velvet asked with a smile. I looked at her ‘’Yeah, but so familiar.‘’ I answered. Velvet levitate the calendar down to me and turned to a snowy page that said ‘January’ as Velvet said ‘’It’s the first month of the year.‘’ ‘January? It made no sense, how?’ I thought before I noticed the year as it said ‘1107’ so I asked ‘’Is the year also 1107?‘’ ‘’Why yes of course, else we would have an old calendar.‘’ Velvet said with a giggle. ‘’Hehe, I guess so.‘’ I said, but it was just so weird that it wasn’t 2019. Velvet scrolled through the next two pictures that could be spring and was called ‘February’ & ‘March’ but then the picture with ‘April’ looked like summer instead of spring and asked ‘’Only two mouths of spring?‘’ ‘’Yes, spring, fall and winter are only two months each.‘’ ‘’And six months of summer?‘’ I asked, Velvet nodded and I looked back at the calendar and the rest of the months had the names from my world, in the same order. As I sat and looked at the calendar Velvet took her leg around me and hugged me. When Velvet realised me she levitated the calendar back on the wall and as she was about to stand up, she asked ‘’What are you plans until dinner?‘’ ‘’Umm, I don’t know?‘’ I said a bit of unsure. ‘’I noticed that when we were in Ponyville and dad mentioned Twilight as a filly, you giggled at that.‘’ ‘’Oh, yeah, I remember, Night Light said Twily used to splash water when you bathed her.‘’ As I said it, I thought about it and a few giggles came out before I covered my mouth. Velvet laughed a bit and levitated a book over to us as she called ‘’Honey!‘’ ‘’Yeah!‘’ Night Light called back. ‘’You wanna be here when I show Star old pictures of Twilight and Spike?‘’ ‘’It’s okay, I’m working on the grill, but you two fillies have fun.‘’ Night Light called back and Velvet opened the book and there were a few pictures off Twily and Spike, but they were way younger, Spike looked like a baby dragon and Twilight looked to me my size and Velvet began to talk about the pictures and what happened. An hour or so later, I leaned on Velvet’s stomach as she finished a story ‘’… so everytime Twily had a quesadilla, haha, we always had to make sure she didn’t clop the toilet.‘’ Velvet laughed and I laughed with her, I would so much tease Twily about this. As Velvet and I laughed, Night Light came into the living room and announced that dinner was ready and we went to the dinner table and Velvet cut my hay beef into smaller pieces and I ate. When I was done with my dinner, Velvet cleaned my muzzle and I got permission to go to my room until it was time for my bath and I left for my room. When I came into my room, I walked over to my bookshelves and saw a book that I saw in Ponyville, the book called ’What is 1+1?’ I opened it and looked at the first few pages and saw that all the calculations were way too easy for me, they looked like something I had learned in middle school, I truly hoped Twilight would not try to send me to school, I chuckled at the book before I closed it and placed it back on the shelf and took my Daring Do book and continued to read. About four pages after I heard a few knocks and Velvet asked ‘’Are you ready for your bath sweetie?‘’ ‘’Ye- yeah, I’m coming.‘’ I answered, walked to the opened door and followed Velvet to the bathroom, where she placed me into the bathtub and filled it with the temperature that I wanted. Once the tub was filled, Velvet cleaned me as I realized, she was the third pony to bathe me and I had never bathed myself and that a sponge was ticklish on certain parts of my body, including my stomach. As Velvet came to my stomach, she was more gentle than Twilight and Fluttershy, but it only resulted in that it tickled me so much that I jumped a little bit to try and get the sponge away from my stomach, Velvet giggled a little bit before she removed the sponge and asked ‘’Are you ticklish?‘’ I slowly nodded before she took the sponge to her hoof, place me closed to her with her other hoof and used the sponge on my stomach, as she scrubbed my stomach it tickled so much, I could do anything, only laugh ‘’Ha ha ha ha ha ha…‘’ ‘’The tickled monster has you now, he he.‘’ Velvet continued to tickle me. I couldn’t take it anymore and in the middle of my laughter I uttered ‘’Ha ha ha ha! Mommy, ha ha! Stop it, haha!‘’ Velvet stopped before I finished my sentence and washed my mane and tail, my mind only focused on what I had just said ‘Did I just call her mommy?’ As Velvet was soon done washing me, Velvet still hadn’t talked since I called her mommy, she had only hummed a melody that sounded familiar, but asked ‘’Umm…?‘’ ‘Is something wrong sweetie?‘’ ‘’No, yes, I mean, about earlier?‘’ I asked. ‘’What about it?‘’ ‘’How do you, you know?‘’ ‘’Sweetie, I heard you called me mommy.‘’ My heart froze in the varme water, but Velvet continued ‘’You just said it on instinct, but just because you call me mommy, mom or Velvet, it doesn’t matter to me. I know neither Night Light nor I would ever be able to replace your real parents, but we’ll still take care of you as long as you’re here in Equestria.‘’ ‘’Thanks… But why didn’t you say anything, after I said it?‘’ ‘’It’s healthy to be honest with your feelings, but if I knew you needed to talk about it, then I would have said something.‘’ Velvet smiled and I smiled at her before she finished. A bit after Velvet had left for a clean warm towel, I began to think on how my body would interact with water, I didn’t even know if I could swim or even stay a float, but as I thought I raised my front leg and dropped it into the water it felt so weird, it didn’t hurt, it felt like I dropped my arm into water, the feeling was weird but I liked it and did it again and again. After a few times it became a bit boring and so I slammed both my front legs into the water, it felt so funny and tickled a little bit, so I giggled and slammed both my front legs into the water. My laughing only increased as I, again and again slammed my hooves into the water. At some point, I began to feel it on my front legs and I didn’t want to do it anymore and instead I took my muzzle under the water and walked around the tub. As the water hit my body, it felt like when I sat on Rainbow’s back when she flew fast, if only a bit thicker and I wanted to fly faster and ran as fast as I could. As I ran around the tub I saw the door opened and Velvet dropped the towels and looked around the room with widened eyes, I wondered what she was so surprised by, but as I looked around, there were many poodles of water scattered around the bathroom floor and some water fell down from the bathroom table. I looked at Velvet who had grabbed the towles again and called ‘’Honey! I’ll need a bit of help here!‘’ Before she walked over to me, I couldn’t believe what had happened here and as Velvet took me up and placed me on the soggy floor, she then wrapped a towel around my mane and tail, before she lifted me with her magic and walked out of the bathroom and she dried my fur. Out in the hallway I asked ‘’Ar-are you mad?‘’ ‘’What? Of course not sweetie. Why would you think that?‘’ ‘’I flooded the bathroom and you’re not saying anything.‘’ ‘’Well, you had a good time while you bathed and nothing was damage, only a bit wet.‘’ ‘’But I-‘’ ‘’No buts sweetie. It’s not the first time it happened, it’s closer to the 100th time and we’re prepared.‘’ Velvet said. Night Light came upstairs and clearly gasped but the state of the bathroom, but it only lasted a few seconds before he broke into laughter and what Velvet said made sense with his reaction, he looked at me with a warm smile and said ‘’But I still think that this little filly needs a punishment, don’t you agree, dear?‘’ ‘’What do you have in mind?‘’ Velvet asked, even though she told me she wasn’t mad. I looked up at them as Night Light said with a smile before he nuzzled me ‘’No more unsupervised baths for the time being.‘’ ‘’I agree.‘’ Velvet said as she made me feel a bit more at ease and Night Light went into the bathroom and properly began to clean the bathroom of my mess, while Velvet took me on her back and went for my room and asked ‘’Do you wanna stay in here or do you want me to comb your mane and tail?‘’ ‘’Will you? Please?‘’ I asked as I liked when my mane and tail looked pretty, Velvet levitated Flurry over to me and I hugged and nuzzled her, she was still so soft. Down in the living room I walked over to the couch as Velvet walked to the kitchen, as I waited on the couch, Velvet came with a cookie, took her placed on the couch and as Velvet brushed my mane, I hugged Flurry and ate my really tasty cookie, after I had eaten the cookie, I relaxed until I fell asleep. I was woken up by Velvet as she sang ‘’Wakey wakey sweetie, it’s time to brush your teeth.‘’ ‘’Huh…?‘’ I said still with the bunny ear in my mouth and I hugged Flurry as mom took me upstairs to the bathroom. Up in the bathroom mom took Flurry’s ear out of my mouth, I tried to reach for the ear, but mom took the toothbrush into my mouth and brushed as she said ‘’When I’m done then you can have Flurry back.‘’ After a bit, she was done and I weakly spat in the sink, got Flurry back and as soon Flurry ear was in my embrace the ear came back into my mouth and mom walked for a bit. Shortly after, I was laid down on my bed and I felt a pair of lips kissed my forehead as dad whispered ‘’Night night sweetie.‘’ Before mom tucked me in and said ‘’Sweet dream sweetie.‘’ I yawned took the ear out and said ‘’Night mom, night dad.‘’ Took the ear back in and fell asleep.