Hearing voices, Tarnished Teapot awoke, but did not open his eyes. One ear lifted, the other remained where it was, limp against the side of his face. He could hear birds chirping and from experience, knew it was dawn song. He had been up late, but because of his time on the rock farm, being an early riser was now something ingrained in him.
“The first time I held him, I realised that my life was complete… I wanted a foal so badly. And he was everything I ever wanted. He was so tiny and perfect. He had perfect little hooves… and his coat was the most perfect shade of chocolaty brown.”
Tarnish heard giggling. He knew it couldn’t be Maud, so it had to be his mother giggling. It was a happy, but sad sound. His single raised ear twitched as he continued to listen.
“I wanted a little filly, I’ll admit, I guess I wanted a little version of me, but I loved him so much that it didn’t matter.” There was a long pause. “Later, when the trouble started, one of the doctors suggested that was the source of my… issues. That I had trouble connecting because I was disappointed in Tarnish being a colt. But I loved him so much… the first time I held him it was so magical.”
Eyes squeezed shut, Tarnished Teapot tried not to cry. Maud was no doubt stony faced as usual, but he wondered if she was cracking on the inside, hurting with no source of comfort. The thought unhinged him. His mother would never know that Maud was sad or depressed or hurting.
“Thank you so much, Maud Pie.”
“Family is the most important thing we have. I had to do something to fix this.”
Tarnished Teapot allowed his rigid ear to fall. It fell limp against the side of his face and he drew in a deep breath. The cushion beneath him was warm from his own body heat and the blanket over him was soft. He didn’t remember falling asleep with a blanket—somepony must have covered him up while he slept.
“So my son has powerful magic?”
“I don’t know about that.” There was a long stony silence. “Your son has magic that is unique to his purpose. And I think we are about to see some recognition of that.”
That was interesting. Tarnished Teapot wondered what Maud meant by that. He could not help but be curious. Maud had been gone for a few days before sending word back home. He was now curious what she had been up to.
“Tarnish, how long are you going to play possum?”
Grinning, Tarnish opened one eyelid, revealing an eye that was as blue as poison joke. He then opened the other and lifted his head. “Um, how did you know?”
“Well, the first sign was your ear sticking up so you could listen.” Maud blinked in her usual sleepy looking way. “Plus, I just know you. You’re a rascal and you eat bugs.”
“I… hey… my mother didn’t need to know that,” Tarnish replied as he watched his mother stick her tongue out and cross her bloodshot eyes. He had forgotten how silly his mother could be.
“He eats bugs?” Pinny asked.
“Well, I tried to warn him, but he didn’t listen.” Maud turned her head and looked at the mare laying on the cushion beside her. “I told him to close his mouth or he might swallow a bug. I had to write a poem that wasn’t about rocks because I was so grossed out and I needed therapy to recover.”
Closing her eyes, Pinny Lane threw back her head and laughed.
The laughter was almost too much; Tarnished Teapot had not heard his mother laugh like this for a long time. How long? Tarnish didn’t know. It had been a long, long time. He felt a gnawing sense of guilt and wondered if his magic had taken his mother’s laughter away. The thought pained him and he shoved it out of his mind. It isn’t my fault, Tarnish thought to himself as tears began to sting his eyes.
“Now, every time we kiss, I think about him eating a bug. It’s awful, I tell you,” Maud said in a precise, flat deadpan. “I think I’m traumatised.”
“My little colt is kissing… I missed so much.” Pinny, her eyes tearing over, looked at Tarnish, her lower lip quivering. “I’m so sorry. Nuts… I don’t want to start crying again.”
“Pinkie Pie should be bringing us breakfast any time now,” Maud said, looking at the flap of the tent. “I think I am going to stretch my legs.”
“I think I’ll stretch my legs with you.” Pinny began to rise off of her cushion.
“I will too.” Tarnish looked over at Maud and his mother.
Maud shook her head. “No Tarnish, you don’t understand. I don’t think you want to be with your mother and I when we go off into the woods to stretch our legs… because we’re going to be doing something else.”
“Oh… OH… yeah, well, nevermind. I think I’ll go stretch my legs in another direction…”
Looking through the trees, Tarnish could see Ponyville in the distance. Even from where he stood, he could see signs of construction taking place. Ponyville was always being repaired, rebuilt, and reconstructed. Tarnish took solace in the fact that he was only somewhat responsible for the devastation that Ponyville often suffered—random monsters and weird events also did their fair share of ruination. It was always something, a bugbear, vines that liked to grab ponies, Tarnish didn’t want to think about what happened after the vines grabbed a pony, Trixie Lulamoon, Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle’s friends, a cranky ursa minor, and even parasprites.
Tarnish figured that he was only responsible for maybe a third of Ponyville’s damage, or perhaps half at the very most. The last spot of trouble had been a doozer though. It had been bad enough that Twilight Sparkle had banished him.
Or had she? Tarnish was no longer certain. Twilight had been under the influence. She was no more to blame than he was. Things happened. Sometimes, bad things happened. Sometimes, a pony had little control over circumstance or situation, life happened, and all that one could do was hang on and try to endure as life did its worst. There were plenty of things that Tarnish could have done to help his situation, but he had done nothing, choosing instead to be the victim. There were lots of little things he could have done to help himself, he could see that now, he could have perhaps made things a little easier. Or could he? Tarnish thought about his recent maturity, something he had lacked. He felt a twinge of doubt, not knowing.
In the distance, he saw a familiar figure, a long, tall serpentine figure. He was running through the grass, chuckling, and behind him, a yellow pegasus was chasing him, her wings flapping as she shook her hoof at him, and he could hear the dulcet tones of Fluttershy’s voice from where he stood in the trees.
“YOU TURN ANGEL BACK INTO A BUNNY THIS INSTANT, DISCORD!”
Sighing, Tarnish was glad that some things never changed. He had a new appreciation for Discord. Maybe Discord could do little more to help himself, but Discord had his own troublesome nature to deal with. At least Discord was trying. Maybe Discord needed a good friend to help him. Or maybe…
Tarnish watched the pegasus chasing the draconequus and rubbed his chin as he became thoughtful. After giving some thought about the pair, he shrugged and hoped that Discord would be nice enough to turn Angel back into a bunny once more. Perhaps Discord’s chaotic nature prevented him from coming right out and saying, “Fluttershy, I am in need of attention and affection, please, come and play with me.” Perhaps the only way Discord could communicate such a complex need was to turn Angel into whatever and then take off running, so he could get what he needed from Fluttershy.
Maud also had trouble communicating her needs, other than just coming right out and saying it, which she didn’t always do. She had been burned a few times by careless ponies that had judged her on her actions, the way she spoke, the way she was. Maud had given up a bit, retreated from the world, and was now cautious about interaction. Tarnish thought back to how Maud had tested him, giving him the silent treatment.
“DISCORD! PLEASE, PLEASE TURN ANGEL BACK INTO A BUNNY!”
Maybe Discord just needed a hug. Or a compliment. Or something that affirmed him as a worthwhile creature. Maybe somepony needed to talk to Fluttershy about Discord having the same needs as anypony else, but then again, Tarnish realised that Fluttershy already knew that.
“Hiya!”
“Gah!” Tarnish was attacked by a pink blur that grabbed him, clung to him, and gave him a hoof noogie. He squirmed as he tried to get away from Pinkie Pie, who had somehow snuck up on him. “Pinkie Pie!”
“I brought breakfast! Come inside,” Pinkie Pie said as she pulled Tarnish into a hug after noogie-ing his scalp into numbness and messing up his mane. “Has anypony ever told you that you look like you are made out of chocolate? That is why you are one of my favourite ponies.”
Looking into Pinkie Pie’s smiling face, Tarnish felt a growing sense of affection.