//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: Small Scale 
// by Twinkletail 
//------------------------------//

Small Scale was so happy.

Celia hadn't expected him to take to his new life this easily and this quickly after his brainwashing was removed. She'd been positive that there would be some bit of confusion at first, some period of having to gently work him through the fact that his entire life was spent living a lie. Sure, she'd been a very good mommy to him even when he was convinced he didn't want her as his mommy, but jumping straight to this happiness seemed out of place.

He complained when she tried to put him back in the stroller, which she had fully expected. However, she'd expected him to want to walk on his own. Instead, he'd begged to ride on his Mommy's back. Celia was more than happy to oblige, but it still seemed odd. The overwhelming joy at riding on her back felt off. But still she smiled through it. Having a whelp of her own, one who seemed to love her as much as she loved him, was invigorating. So his behavior was a little strange. That was just the wonderful uniqueness of her sweet little Small Scale.

But it wasn't the right uniqueness.

Celia didn't know quite how to explain that one. Uniqueness wasn't a quality that could be measured in degrees. Either one was unique or one was not, no quantifying involved. Small Scale was unique for sure.

And yet it wasn't the same uniqueness that he'd displayed for the past few days.

Removing the brainwashing from a whelp had to leave an odd effect on them. That had to be the reason for it. Surely he would be back to normal soon enough, back to the way he'd been acting before. Minus the fake love for ponies, of course.

"Here we are!" Celia said with a smile as they arrived back at her cave. "Home sweet home. My home, and now it's officially yours as well. Isn't that great?"

"It's great, Mommy!" Small Scale exclaimed, playfully drumming on Celia's back with both claws. "I wanna go play with my toys!"

Celia glanced back at him. He'd seemed rather reluctant to go and play before, and now he was all gung-ho about it? That was certainly peculiar. But maybe he just felt he'd had a long few days of rebelling against being her child, and wanted to take this time to just relax and accept his own role. That made sense, right?

"Okay, honey," Celia said. "We'll play for a little bit, and then we'll have some lunch. Doesn't that sound good?"

"Sounds good!" Small Scale said. "Let's go play, Mommy!"

Celia smiled back to him, but still couldn't shake the feeling that something felt off. She couldn't quite place her talon on it, but something just wasn't right. Although maybe it was all in her head. She and her son had a trying few days, after all. Yes, that was it. That had to be it.

The two arrived in the nursery, and Celia went to put Small Scale down, but brought him in for a kiss on the forehead as she tended to do. Small Scale giggled in delight at the kiss. Hearing his laughter was a relief to Celia, and she gave him another kiss for good measure. This was the happiest she'd seen him by far. That should have made her happy, and for the most part it did. It also troubled her slightly, but not as much as it troubled her to notice that Small Scale was drooling a bit.

Celia just stared at the sight for a few moments. To be fair, she hadn't known Small Scale terribly long. But in that time that she knew him, he had never once drooled, nor had he given her the impression that drooling was something he was wont to do.

"Are...you okay, Small Scale?" Celia asked.

"Uh-huh," Small Scale responded. "Why?"

Celia stared at him for a few more moments before she shook her head, wiped the drool away with her thumb, and placed him on the ground. Sometimes a dragon's lips ended up getting a little wet. It happened, she supposed. She'd get concerned if it happened again.

"Wanna play Spaceman Spines?" Small Scale asked, picking up the appropriate figure. "He's my favorite!"

Celia grinned at the eager whelp. She'd only just introduced him to Spaceman Spines the other night, and he was already his favorite. Part of her found that adorable, but a small part of her also found that a bit odd. He'd barely seemed to pay any attention when she was reading him that bedtime story on their first night together. She supposed it was entirely possible that he'd already chosen Spaceman Spines as his favorite naturally, but that feeling of something being off was impossible to shake. So she didn't shake it. She simply did her best to squirrel it away and focus on playing with her new son.

"Maybe we could get my friend over here later," Celia suggested as she held Meteor Mash, Spaceman Spines' arch-nemesis, up and shook him threateningly. "She's got a whelp just your age. I'm sure she'll be happy to have a new playmate!"

"She?" Small Scale asked, twisting his face in annoyance. "Girls are yucky."

Celia wasn't quite sure what to think of that statement. She'd never thought of asking him what gender he preferred, nor had she any reason to. It never came up organically, and she didn't want to think of her little boy dating yet anyway. He had mentioned a few things about some of the ponies who had held him captive, though. From the sound of those stories, it certainly sounded as though he liked girls a fair amount.

"Well, Mommy is a girl," Celia said, trying to focus. "Do you think Mommy is yucky?"

"No way!" Small Scale said. "You're really pretty and the best Mommy ever!"

Celia was caught between joy at hearing such sweet words from Small Scale and confusion at how weird it sounded coming from him. She was getting to the point where the bits of concern were adding up and becoming harder and harder to ignore. Maybe it was just because he'd been through a lot, but Small Scale certainly seemed to be acting different.

She took a deep breath. She was overthinking things too much. Now that Small Scale was free of his brainwashing, he must have just been happy to have a mother. And his odd behavior must have just been an aftereffect of a big mental change thanks to the potion. That had to be it. At least he wasn't displaying any major mental problems. He was just being surprisingly affectionate and more immature than before. Easily symptoms of...wooziness? Adjusting?

"Th...thank you, sweetie," Celia said, her tone uncertain. Then she smirked a bit, remembering some of the stories about his pony captors that she'd politely sat through. "Sorry, I'll try to avoid using that name."

"Why?" Small Scale asked.

Celia stopped in her tracks, dropping the Meteor Mash figure she'd been holding. That was not the kind of response she'd been expecting. Small Scale had been sharing rather pleasant memories about his friend Sweetie Belle, so much so that had she not known he was brainwashed, she would have believed them completely. Maybe he just hadn't heard her properly.

"I called you sweetie," Celia said. "I won't do it again."

"You don't think I'm a sweetie?" Small Scale asked, pouting a bit.

"What? No..." Celia answered quickly. The pout only became poutier. "I mean yes! Yes, I do think you're a sweetie. But I know that you knew a pony named Sweetie, and I don't want to remind you of her or the other ponies."

"Bluh," Small Scale said, sticking his tongue out. "Ponies are mean. If I knew a pony named Sweetie, I bet she wouldn't be a sweetie at all."

Celia couldn't even find words for what she was feeling right now. She was almost entirely positive she'd remembered the name correctly. "Sweetie Belle" was not a name that was easily forgotten. But there was always a chance that she'd mixed up the name...maybe she'd try another one.

"What about a pony named Apple Bloom?" Celia asked. "You were talking about how you helped her do her homework and she thanked you with a kiss, remember?"

"Ewwwww," Small Scale cringed. "I'd never kiss a pony!"

Celia took a breath. She knew for a fact that she'd remembered that name and story correctly. Small Scale had blushed quite a bit when he accidentally revealed that, and even though she'd felt a bit bothered by the fact that one of his captors had allegedly gone and kissed him, she still found it quite cute how embarrassed he'd been about it. Either Small Scale was doing a very good job of denying the story, or something was seriously wrong here.

But maybe he was just strongly denying having told her that story about the kiss. Clearly it was an embarrassing story for him, and denial was a real possibility. Or he'd forgotten that he told her, maybe? Either way, she decided to go a different route.

"Of course not," Celia said, eyeing Small Scale carefully. "That would be terrible, wouldn't it?"

"Really gross!" Small Scale exclaimed, making a face. "Why would you say I did that, Mommy?"

"J-just playing with you, honey," Celia lied. She took a breath. "Do you, by chance, remember Rarity?" He had to remember Rarity. Every other story he told her about his captors involved a pony named Rarity.

"Is Rarity a dragon?" Small Scale asked. "That name sounds pretty."

Celia's jaw dropped. She stared worriedly at the confused baby dragon in front of her.

"Why do you look so upset, Mommy?" Small Scale asked.

"I..." Celia stammered, looking like she'd seen a ghost. "I...was just thinking of something that...Twilight Sparkle said."

"Who's that?" Small Scale asked.

Celia felt ill. Terribly, mind-numbingly ill. There was absolutely no room left for denial. Something was clearly wrong here.

"Aren't you gonna play Spaceman Spines, Mommy?" Small Scale asked, waving his figure in the air. "Spaceman Spines has to go to space and fight Meteor Mash and his army of meteor monsters!"

"We...we'll play later, honey," Celia said. She stood up, the head rush nearly causing her to fall right back over.

"But I wanna play now!" Small Scale moaned. "You said..."

"Mommy knows what she said, dear," Celia said, scooping Small Scale up into her arms. "But we have to go see the shaman right now."

"But..." Small Scale began. 

"Right now," Celia repeated. She was beginning to sweat as she made her way out of the nursery, clutching Small Scale close to her. She heard him begin to sniffle, and that only made things worse. The winding corridors of her home, corridors which she knew like the back of her claw, felt constrictive and labyrinthian as she made her way towards its exit.

"Mommy, your heart's beating real fast," Small Scale noted quietly.

"Don't worry, darling," Celia said, failing to take her own advice. "We just have to get you to the shaman and everything will be just-"

"STOP!"

Celia stopped in her tracks as she heard an amplified voice bellow from in front of her. She looked around in confusion, wondering if she was hallucinating. Her gaze finally fell to the ground, where a group of six ponies stood in front of her. None of them looked very pleased to see her, but the anger on the face of the purple one in front was so undeniably intense that it still managed to intimidate her despite the vast difference in size. The white and orange ponies flanked her on either side, while the blue one flew just above her. Celia clutched Small Scale closer to her chest as she stared at the group, utterly speechless.

"My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria," the purple pony said, shockingly fearless in her approach. "And I want my Spike back."