Tarnished Teapot watched as other boats drifted by. There were the swan paddle boats that could be rented, but other ponies had rowboats, pontoon boats, and other watercraft. It was one of those sorts of days, one of those perfect days to be on the lake.
Something about the rocking of the boat was calming and put Tarnish into a contemplative mood. He was slumped over his seat, his chin resting upon the wooden swan wing that rose up from the side of the boat. The highest part of the wings formed a framework to hold the paddle wheel.
Without warning, without saying a word, Tarnish tossed himself overboard. He hit the water with a splash and could feel it soaking into him, waterlogging his pelt. It was delightful. The sun, now overhead, felt a little too hot for his liking. As he treaded water, he saw his mother looking down at him, her face just a little worried, but relaxing.
The boat was drifting and now so was Tarnished Teapot, bobbing in the water. He became aware of the fact that Maud was now watching him as well, her eyes wide open and not so sleepy looking. Was Maud worried?
“You look like you can swim well,” Maud said as she peered over the edge.
“I can swim well enough,” Tarnish replied.
“This is good.” Maud blinked and her eyes resumed their usual sleepy expression. “This puts my mind at ease.”
“We’ll be dealing with water when we go exploring?” Tarnish asked.
“You’ll see,” Maud replied.
“Oh fun.” Tarnish, still treading water, looked up at Maud and his mother. “You know, if you two jumped in, I think that we could catch the boat again if you wanted to swim.” Tarnished Teapot watched as another swan boat passed by a good distance away. It was powered by unicorn magic turning the wheel. Sitting in the boat were two familiar figures, a unicorn and an earth pony. Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon. Two ponies that Tarnish sort of knew, but was not familiar with.
He thought about earth ponies and unicorns. He thought about himself and Maud. Distracted, he hardly noticed the splash as a now naked Maud dove into the water, leaving her smock behind in the boat. A second later, his mother dove into the water.
“Thinking about something?” Maud asked, snapping Tarnish back to reality.
“Yeah. Bon Bon and Lyra.” Tarnish turned and looked at Maud. “They’re a unicorn and an earth pony. Like us.”
“And?” Maud asked.
“And what?” Tarnish replied. He shrugged in the water. “I don’t know where I am going with this, I just thought about them and it made me think about us.”
“I see,” Maud said as she bobbed beside Tarnish, floating, having to do nothing to keep her head up above water. Her curly mane was now plastered to her head and neck and her soaked ears drooped. Wet ponies looked so very different from dry ponies.
Tarnish watched as his mother’s head disappeared below the water, diving down. He had a vague recollection that his mother was a skilled swimmer. Overhead, a rainbow maned pegasus was performing aerobatic tricks and showing off. Tarnish grinned, enjoying the show.
After a few moments, Pinny Lane resurfaced, gasped, then wiped her mane out of her face with her forehooves, spluttering and spitting. She looked over and saw Maud floating on her back, then saw Tarnish looking up. Pinny Lane, wondering what was going on, looked up and saw Rainbow Dash overhead, showing off. A second later, there was a rainboom and Rainbow Dash went streaking off towards the horizon, a second purple streak trailing out just behind her.
Flopped out in the boat, Tarnish felt the sun drying his pelt. Maud had shaken herself to rid herself of as much water as she could and was now working the wheel trying to dry off a little more. Tarnish was worried about Maud getting sunburned. It was hard to hug a pony with sunburn. He had a passing thought and wondered if he could learn a spell that would dry a wet pony.
“I think I am going to have a bite to eat,” Pinny said. She looked at Tarnish and saw a glint of bright blue around his neck. She pulled open her saddlebags and pulled out a dark blue bottle of Luna~Cola. Pinny’s horn flashed for a moment and the bottle became frosted. “Want one?”
“Yes please,” Tarnish replied, taking the bottle of blueberry-grape soda from his mother with his telekinesis. He felt his mother’s magic intermingling with his own and then the cap popped off.
“You always had trouble removing the caps,” Pinny said, her words wistful.
The mare pulled out another bottle, made it cold, and then popped the cap. “Maud, when you decide to stop, there are cold drinks available. There’s water, because I know you don’t like sweets.”
“Thank you,” Maud called out.
Pinny Lane lifted up the bottle of sunny orange Celestia~Cola, a refreshing citrus and tamarind soda. She tilted it back and drank down a few swallows, enjoying the cold, refreshing, somewhat sour, somewhat bitter soda.
After taking a drink of his soda, Tarnish looked up at his mother. “What’s for lunch?”
“Sandwiches of different types and other snack type foods,” Pinny replied. The mare smiled. “I fixed egg salad.”
“You remembered,” Tarnished said, feeling tears coming to his eyes.
“I had trouble remembering.” Pinny’s eyes dropped and she stared down at her bottle of soda. “Tarnish, I am so sorry… this is really hard for me.”
“It’s okay.” Tarnish was glad that he was still wet from swimming as a tear slipped out. “You showed me how to boil eggs when I was little. Adding them to cold water, placing them on the stove, bringing them to a boil, turn off the burner, turn on a timer for thirteen minutes, leave the eggs, and then when the timer goes off, drop the eggs into a bowl of ice water.”
“Tarnish, I did that so you could feed yourself… to ease my guilty conscience… because I couldn’t bear to be around you…”
“Once the eggs were cooled off,” Tarnished continued, almost as if he hadn’t heard his mother. “Once the eggs were cooled, there was that little doohickey that looked like a harp that you could slice eggs up with. Eggs go into a bowl, add a little mayo, add a little mustard, add a little bit of relish. Spread on bread. Sandwich.”
“Tarnish… I… I…” Pinny shook her head.
“Mom, you know, it is still my favourite sort of sandwich and you showed me how to make it. Nothing can change that.” Tarnish sniffled and smiled at his mother. He took a sip of his soda, which had stained his lips blue.
“How old were you when I showed you? I can’t even remember Tarnish.” Pinny, her lips trembling, lifted up her bottle and held it close to her mouth, but did not drink.
“It was a year or two before I had my cutie mark. You said it was important to learn how to hard boil an egg and peel it because it would help my telekinesis—” Tarnish fell silent and shook his head. “The same telekinesis that was causing everything around me to go wrong. No wonder I had so many kitchen disasters.” Tarnish placed his bottle between his lips and took a long pull.
“It’s better now.” Pinny’s sad smile spread a little wider, revealing teeth. “You know, we could pick up where we left off. I’d like to show you how to cook… I could teach you things. Little helpful things that would help you look after your own family now. We unicorns… our magic makes certain tasks easier.”
“Mom, I’d like that,” Tarnish replied.
The boat came to a halt and the there was the heavy thump of solid hooves on wood as Maud climbed back into the sitting area, now almost all dry. She began slipping on her smock, her still somewhat damp curls bobbing around her head.
“I think I’m in the mood for a sandwich,” Maud said.
Overhead, pegasi were pushing clouds into place, preparing for an afternoon thunderstorm. Everything had been dry and hot for a little too long, and now, everything was a fire hazard. It was time for a drenching deluge.
Tarnished Teapot, sitting in the swan boat, watched all of this, feeling rather lazy and in the mood for a nap. He hadn’t done much sleeping the night before. He took a sip of his soda, an almost full bottle of Celestia~Cola. Some ponies tasted oranges, other ponies tasted lemons, Tarnish tasted pineapple.
“I don’t want this day to end,” Tarnish said as he watched the pegasi building a cloud bank that would soon deliver a torrential downpour.
“We should probably head back to the shore. We have a train to catch in just a few hours and I think it will rain sooner rather than later.” Pinny looked up at the clouds and then her gaze dropped down to look at Tarnish.
Saying nothing, Maud resumed her position in the paddle wheel and began walking, propelling the boat forward. Pinny took the rudder lever and began steering the boat back towards the dock.
“Maud, Tarnish, I’m coming with you tonight, if you don’t mind… if you don’t think it will be imposing. Maud, I’d like to meet your parents. And I just want to spend time with both of you. I’ll need to pack a few things,” Pinny said.
“I’m positive my parents won’t mind,” Maud replied as she powered the wheel.
“Well, while you two are off at the tent gathering up your possessions, I’ll be packing up a few things I’ll need… and maybe purchasing a camera… anyway, we have a few hours. Train leaves at six and it can’t be later than three or four right now.”
“You’ll need a train ticket.” Tarnish sat up and looked at his mother, feeling good about all of this. “Don’t forget about that.”
“Good catch, because I had actually forgotten about that. I was so focused on packing and the like that I planned to just show up with both of you at the station and go… I’m frazzled and still putting the pieces together.” Pinny closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to collect her thoughts. “You know, I need to see if I still have the photo album with Tarnished Teapot’s foal photos—”
“MOM!”
“What?” Pinny opened her eyes and looked at her son. “I’m showing Maud and there isn’t much you can do about it.”
“No… you can’t—”
“I can and I will. I regret that I never took more pictures.” Pinny heaved a heartbroken sigh and shook her head. “When you were born, your mane and tail were snow white. It only became cream coloured when you got older. The nurse said I could pass you off as one pretty little filly if I tied ribbons in your mane.”
“Mom…”
“I thought about it—”
“MOM!” Tarnish’s chocolate-brown pelt took on a purple hue all around his face and neck. “Mom, look, I know you wanted a filly… we talked about this… sort of…” Tarnish had eavesdropped on the conversation that his mother and Maud were having.
“Would you be upset if I tied a few ribbons in your mane now for old time's sake?”
“MOTHER, PLEASE!” Tarnish shook his head. “I swear, I will throw myself overboard!”
“Sorry, Tarnish, your mother has a sense of humour,” Pinny said, a smirking smile upon her muzzle.
“Pinny, my sister Marble already put his mane up in ribbons,” Maud called out from the water wheel. “He made for a very pretty chocolate filly with a creamy frosting mane.”
Pinny threw back her head and started laughing, her peals of laughter ringing out over the lake. Tarnish, his face burning, slumped down, heaved a sigh of exasperation, and rolled his eyes. Meanwhile, Maud kept the boat moving towards the docks.