Tarnished Teapot followed Maud though the backdoor of the Pie family farmhouse and walked into the kitchen, where he saw his mother peeling potatoes.
“Welcome home,” Cloudy said as she kneaded dough on a flour covered counter.
“Did the two of you have a nice time alone together?” Pinny asked, a faint smile upon her lips as she looked at Tarnish and Maud.
“Yes,” Maud replied. “Yes we did. I took a lot of photos. When I develop them, I’ll show you everything so you can see just how happy your son is when he spends time with me. I took a lot of pictures of Tarnish’s cute little lizard.”
Pinny’s eyes went wide as Maud sauntered off, the earth pony departing down the hall to go to her room. Cloudy turned to look at her daughter as Maud was leaving, a shocked expression upon her face.
The shoe was now on the other hoof and Tarnish began to chortle as the two mares in the kitchen turned to look at him. He suffered a spectacular failure when trying to keep from grinning. “We like taking pictures of our time alone together. Gotta preserve those memories—”
“Get out of my kitchen you rotten little scoundrel!” Cloudy cried as she tossed a wad of dough at Tarnish. The dough missile trailed flour dust behind it as it arced through the air.
Tarnished Teapot went cross eyed when the dough hit him on the nose, bounced, and then he caught it with his telekinesis. He floated it back to the counter. Maud had a sense of humour that he saw more of each day, and the more he saw of it, the more he liked it. She had a dry sense of snark. Grinning, he went down the hall, following after Maud.
“Maud, do you think it is possible to be a different pony on the inside than you appear to be on the outside?” Tarnish asked as Maud unpacked her saddlebags.
“I have no idea what you mean,” Maud replied as she pulled out her camera and set it down upon a short, sturdy table covered with rocks.
“Could a unicorn associate more with earth ponies?” Tarnish turned around and looked at Maud. He saw Maud lift her head to look at him.
“I don’t know. You are a unicorn. You have magic. I think that you are just feeling a kinship with the first group of ponies that didn’t immediately reject you, shun you, or send you away.” Maud paused, blinked, and then turned to look at the rocks piled upon the table. “Ultimately, you decide what you are. Some things cannot be changed, you will always be unicorn, but culture and position within a tribe can be fluid I suppose. I never gave it much thought.”
Tarnish stared at Maud, unsure of how to respond.
“Your mother rejected you through no fault of her own. She is a unicorn. I cannot help but wonder if you associate her rejection of you with her tribe. You weren’t just rejected by your mother, you were rejected by a unicorn. This is bound to leave behind an association.” Maud blinked, her eyelids moving in a slow and sleepy fashion. “There is also the nature of your magic, which plagued you, causing you no end of guilt, anguish, and heartache. A unicorn is the representation of magic—by rejecting that, you distance yourself from everything that hurt you and left you feeling empty.”
Sitting down on the floor, Tarnish wondered and waited, curious as to what else Maud might say. Her words made sense and there was something comforting about them. He was curious about what other insights she might have.
“Ultimately, you are whatever you wish to be I suppose. You cannot change that you have a horn, you cannot change that you are a unicorn, no more than I could start flying if I suddenly decide that I want to be a pegasus, but you can live among earth ponies, be comfortable, and learn our ways, if that makes you happy,” Maud said to Tarnish.
His mind filled with thoughts that he could hardly comprehend, Tarnished Teapot watched as Maud turned around and continued pulling things out of her saddlebags. A pencil. A pen. Notebooks. A big book about rocks. The smaller notebook that Maud used to write poems about rocks. (And sometimes about ponies who ate bugs.)
Feeling that it was all too much to think about all at once, Tarnish cleared his mind by asking something silly. “Maud, why do you wear nightgowns? I mean, I know you have a thin pelt and you sunburn easily, but the nightgowns… why?”
Maud’s eyes opened wide for a moment and she turned around to look at Tarnish. She inhaled, her sides expanding, and Maud did not reply right away as she stood there staring at Tarnish.
“Well?” Tarnish’s eyebrow raised. He realised that he had caught Maud by surprise.
“Pinkie Pie keeps buying them for me and when I put them on I feel happy,” Maud replied. Her eyelids drooped and her usual sleepy expression returned. “I miss my sister.”
Getting up on all fours, Tarnish stretched for a moment, crossed the room, and kissed Maud on the cheek. He stood there, muzzle to muzzle with her, glad to have her so close. “I’m going to take a nap. Have fun developing those photos.”