Symbiosis

Twilight gave the two foals she had been shown a wave as she walked back into the building. The two pink and red foals were twins, a tad mischievous for Twilight’s taste, and the egg had no reaction to their presence. On top of it all Twilight just couldn't separate twins and she only intended to adopt one foal today.

“I don’t suppose the Raspberry twins are what you had in mind?” Emerald asked as the trotted back to his office.

“No… But I don’t want to just leave them here either.” Twilight sighed as she came to a conclusion, “I’ll see about encouraging more ponies to adopt first thing this afternoon.”

“That would be wonderful! The-”

Emerald was suddenly interrupted by the thump of hooves on wood as Rainbow landed in the hallway, Copper clutched in her arms. The filly was obviously still upset, a mixture of anger and sadness flooding her eyes with tears. “One filly safe… but not sound. We should get her ice cream or something.” Rainbow admitted scratching the back of her head with a wing, not wanting to let go of a young pony in distress.

“I have some in the kitchen,” Emerald informed as he trotted over to Copper and knelt down to get on her eye level, “Copper, why did you run away? It’s my job to care for you and it's very dangerous out there.”

Copper sniffled. “You said she was adventuring!” She accused.

Emerald’s ears drooped, “I’m sorry… I… I didn’t want to make you sad.”

Rainbow sighed, “I can see why. You know I found her half way to the castle like you said, only she was carrying a toy sword and intending to go rescue her sister from Nightmare Moon. Did you have a plan for that?” Rainbow asked turning to Copper and smiling in an attempt to distract her from her tears.

She nodded twice. Emerald stood up and trotted off, “I’ll get her some ice cream.”

Twilight stepped forwards, “Hey little one… So you were going to rescue your sister from Nightmare Moon. I would love to hear how you thought you could do it.”

Copper’s ears drooped, “W-well… I can’t read yet so I got Almond to read me all three books about Nightmare Moon in the library. Nopony had just tried hitting her with a sword.”

Rainbow barely held back a giggle, the sound instead coming out at a snort.

Copper gave Rainbow an indignant look, “Nothin said it wouldn't work!”

Rainbow grinned and gave Twilight her best puppydog eyes, “Can we keep her? Pleeeease?”

“Well…” Twilight began only to take a step back as Rainbow shot her a glare of death.

“I made her cry! And she’s awesome! She was going to hit an evil spirit with a wooden sword.” Rainbow held Copper up to Twilight’s face, “And she’s adorable!”

“I’m not a puppy!” Copper said squirming in Rainbows hooves until the pegasus set her down. “And it was only wooden cuz the stallion at the old stuff store wouldn't sell me the metal one.” She huffed.

Twilight smiled, levitating the egg from her bag, it’s gem-like shell sparkling in the light. “She seems like a hooffull, but nopony else has seemed right so far. Copper, would you please touch this for me?”

Copper looked at the blue faceted egg, the lights swirling around under it’s surface reflecting in her eyes, “I don’t know… It’s glowing, shiny, and there are lil lights moving in it.” She took a nervous step back.

“It’s perfectly safe.” Twilight informed.

“Well that’s boring.” Copper pouted adding.

“See? We need to adopt her, stupid magic test or not!” Rainbow held up a hoof for Copper to high five only to frown and lower it when the filly didn’t return the gesture but instead gave the egg a poke with her nose.

The egg instantly flared brightly at the filly’s touch. Copper’s eyes widened, her tears stopping somewhat, “Cool!” She tapped the egg with a hoof, watching it flash again.

Twilight’s ears perked up at the flash, then grinned as the second flash blazed confirming the first hadn't been coincidence. “Good! I’ll just take that back for now…” she picked the egg up in her magic and carefully placed it back into her saddlebag.

“Hey! I was scientisting that!” Copper protested stamping a hoof.

Twilight giggled and looked up at Rainbow, “You were right, she is adorable.”

Emerald trotted back into the room, a small bowl of icecream held in his blue magical aura which he quickly placed in front of the filly, “There you are. I know it won't undo the lie, but you know I only said it to spare your feelings right?”

Copper nodded and began to quietly eat the ice cream giving Twilight the occasional annoyed look.

Twilight opened her mouth to inform Emerald of her decision only to be interrupted by Copper, “How come you get wings and a horn? That’s not fair.”

“Er- Because I’m a princess.” Twilight answered raising an eyebrow astonished that somepony didn’t know her on sight. It had been far too long since then.

“You’re a princess?” Copper asked, eating the ice cream as she spoke.

“Yes. I’m Princess Twilight, don’t you go to school?”

“Oh, you’re Book princess.” Copper said simply before returning to the bowl of ice cream.

“Book princess?” Twilight exclaimed in a confused and upset tone.

Emerald laughed, “Sorry your highness. It’s how she remembers you. Book princess, Sun princess, Moon princess, and the other princess. She can't pronounce Celestia yet so she just made up nicknames.”

Rainbow smirked, “Book princess! That so beats egghead!”

“Don’t make me regret agreeing to date you!” Twilight huffed before composing herself and asking Copper, “Copper, Rainbow and I are thinking of adopting a filly. Would you like to be our daughter?”

Copper blinked and looked up spoon still in her mouth, “What?”

Rainbow sat down in front of her, “She means that we want to be your new moms.”

Copper tilted her head confused, “You can get a new mommie?”

Emerald nodded, “Yes you can. When a pony’s old family isn’t there to take care of them that pony comes to live here.”

Copper nodded, “I know.”

“But you only live here until somepony wants you as a part of their family. Then you get a new family. In this case you would have two mommies to care for you.” Emerald finished giving Copper a grin.

Copper looked a little confused and looked at everypony else for some help. Rainbow tapped her hoof to her chin, “Ummm Twilight and I want you to be a part of our family, so you have one again.”

“I know!” Copper insisted, her ears drooping in embarrassment as she confessed, “But I don’t know what I would do with two mommies.”

Twilight tilted her head a bit, “What do you mean?”

“If I call for mommie who comes to get me? What if it’s the wrong one?” Copper asked scratching her head with a hoof in an expression of pure thought. Suddenly she grinned, “Oh! I know! I could call you mommy, and you mom!” She pointed first to Twilight then to Rainbow.

Emerald stood up as he asked, “So you want to go and live with the princess and her lover?”

Copper nodded. Then asked, “But what about my friends?”

Twilight trotted towards the office door prepared to go through all manner of paperwork, “You can visit them anytime you like. Nopony should be kept away from their friends.”

Emerald leaned over to Twilight and whispered, “Her friends are a little wooden pegasus carving and a stuffed changeling doll.”

“Oh.” Twilight mentally backpedaled, “i mean you can bring them with you! Sorry I’ve just had a really busy morning.”

Copper bounced from hoof to hoof, “Yay! I’ll go get them!”

She zipped up the stairs, Rainbow quickly following along, “I’ll help her pack her stuff.”

Twilight nodded and followed Emerald into the office. “So who gave her a plush changeling? Who even makes those?”

“I bought it for her.” Emerald sighed, “We were on a field trip downtown and somepony was selling them from a wagon… A lot of the younger ponies like the confounded things. Apparently emotional vampires are considered ‘hot’ these days.”

“Huh… Well I suppose there is no harm in that. It’s not like changelings eat ponies they mimic well… not usually… I suppose I should make sure everypony is ok on that front.” Twilight sighed, yet another royal duty to do. With any luck it wouldn't be Chrysalis’s Swarm ponies were getting involved with. At least then it would probably be peaceful contact.

“A wise precaution your highness.” Emerald nodded approvingly as he levitated the adoption forms to the top of his desk, “Now then let’s get these all filled out. This won’t be official until these are notarized but in light of well, you being who you are, I will let you take custody of Copper the moment you sign. Just remember, legally she won't be yours until this document is notarized. It should take two to three days at most… Humm I may have to send these to Canterlot. Typically someone in your staff would be the notary.”

“It’s no trouble. It would hardly be fair if I could simply notarize my own documents. However you can send it to the mayor’s office. the Mayor can perform the necessary legal steps in my stead.”

Emerald nodded, “Good idea. I didn’t know that the Ponyville town government was separate from your authority.”

“It is, technically only the castle grounds are really mine. I handle most of Ponyville’s legal concerns as a favor.”

“Fascinating. Now then this section here explains what you have to provide to be considered a proper home for foal rearing.” Emerald began to explain the adoption process and outline the responsibilities Twilight and Dash would have. The period of time where social service agents would be checking up on Copper to make sure she was adjusting well was also explained. Many other minor bits of information like how Copper would be expected to receive a full education at home or in a public or private institution, and how many doctors appointments for standard check ups per year were legally required and how many were recommended over the required amount.

Twilight was very glad that Rainbow was helping Copper pack. It would be so much less difficult for her to explain their parental duties then for Rainbow to have to attempt to understand the slue of legal jargon Emerald was throwing her way.

~~

The adoption paperwork was a simple thing. The only thing needed was a 80 bit legal fee and a signature and initial apiece from Rainbow and Twilight. As far as the orphanage was concerned the three of them were a family. However none of the three felt like they were, something special had to be done to commemorate the moment.

Their dilemma was solved when Rainbow proposed they all go out to dinner, Twilight pointed out that it was in fact lunchtime, and then Copper suggested they go to a pizza place because “Pizza is an always food.”

The Pizzeria they chose was a smaller place named ‘Little Luna’s’ which claimed to be the only pizza place in Equestria princess Luna herself visited on a regular occasion because ‘nopony would expect to see her in this dive, but our pizza is fit for a princess.’ The second the large pie was set on the table and everypony had tried a slice the sign was proven completely correct. The pizza was in a phrase, beyond fantastic.

Midway through their lunch Twilight decided they should get to know one another. “So Copper… or do you prefer Autumn?”

“I hate autumn. It gets call cold then. And then it stays cold forever!” Copper answered.

Rainbow laughed, “She meant which part of your name you like to be called by silly!”

“Oh. Copper.”

Twilight grinned, “So then Copper, what do you like to do besides go off to battle Nightmare?”

Copper sighed and stared at her plate a moment. Twilight friend and was about to apologize when Copper perked up again, “I like o read… well I like ponies to read to me.”

Twilight smiled happily, “Well then I think you will like having the ‘Book princess’ for a mommie. What do you like to read? I don't have many foals story books but I can get my hooves on a few as soon as-”

“I like books which tell you things. Like stuff that happened along time ago. Oh! And lost things. And magic… cuz it would be cool to have magic.” Copper informed.

Twilight’s jaw dropped, “You like history? At your age?”

Copper nodded, “Uh huh. Where else am I gonna learn where the cool places to fight monsters are?”

Rainbow laughed almost falling out of their booth, “Oh man Copper, you are awesome! When you get older I am totally going to have to take you out camping. Hey Twilight, think we should read her Daring Do as a bedtime story?”

Twilight hummed for a moment, “Well those are written for more mature readers… Maybe some of the less violent ones.”

Copper smiled happily, “You have Daring Do books? My sister was gonna read me one! Could you read it to me please? Or you could show me how to read then I could do it all by my self!”

Twilight nodded and turned to Rainbow with a grin, “We picked the right one.”

“Yep!” Rainbow smiled back before gently picking Copper up and setting her on the seat between her and Twilight, “sit here with mom and mommie. You earned a um… sitting with... “ Rainbow hummed and did her best to think about how parents were supposed to reward their foals.

Their lunch time conversation tight Rainbow and Twilight a lot about their little filly. Copper was certainly an adventurous pony, though a tad reckless as she didn’t seem to be afraid of anything. As far as they could tell Copper simply couldn’t become afraid of something unless it was actually there in the real world with her. Her imagination simply had Copper beat up the monster, earthquake, or badponies and then trot away as a hero.

She had run off from the orphanage five separate times on such adventures, but had always come back on her own or been swiftly brought back. Copper reminded Rainbow a lot of the Cutiemark Crusaders and she was definitely glad that Copper hadn't been around when those three were fillies, the shenanigans would have been far, far worse. Fearing that Copper would get into far more trouble than Rainbow and Twilight liked the two mares managed to negotiate a deal, they would read her all of Daring Do, a chapter a night as a bedtime story and Copper would stick to exploring the castle and grounds.

Twilight was delighted to learn that Copper truly did value learning. She had apparently gotten older ponies in the orphanage to read her pretty much anything they had in the orphanages meager library. Copper especially seemed to love ancient Equestrian history. Unfortunately her age was her biggest hurdle to truly learning, most of what she was told simply when over her head or she forgot quickly. Still enough knowledge stuck to her to make Twilight proud.

Interestingly enough the topic she knew the most about was changelings. She was able to name three of the five known hives, knew a good deal of the life cycle, and even though she didn’t know what it meant she knew that changelings had a hive mind. Rainbow asked her why she was so into the bug-ponies and both her and Twilight were astonished and amused to hear Copper’s answer of “They’re cute! And cool. And can change how they look, that’s just cool.”

Further questioning revealed that Copper had a deep rooted desire to explore and investigate strange things. Her fascination with changelings came from there, as did her enjoyment of history. Copper wanted to do little else but found out all of Equestria’s cool things. Something Rainbow and Twilight simply approved of.

They left the pizzeria and continued their first family outing by visiting a park, then a bookstore, and lastly an ice cream parlor to finish off their first day together before taking Copper to her new home. This did however lead to a brief discussion between Twilight and Rainbow.

“But she has to live in the castle, Copper can't reach your house it’s in the clouds.”

“I could carry her up.”

“But she can’t walk on clouds, she will fall off and get hurt.”

“Oh… Right.” Rainbow scratched the back of her head before giving a sly grin, “I know you aren't the type of pony who would make a filly live without her mom in the same house. So I guess I’ll just have to move in with you.”

Twilight paused for a moment then nodded, “Well… we are supposed to give her as normal of a home as possible.”

“And we are officially a couple Twi.” Rainbow reminded, “So how’s your mattress? I got a nice cumulus I smooshed into a bed size and shape. It’s super soft and so thick that even Copper could stand on it.”

“Just one minute! You said you would give me all the time I needed to get used to the idea of well.. you know.” Twilight blushed and cleared her throat in an attempt to hide it.

Rainbow giggled, “You are so cute when you blush. I didn’t mean that Book princess, I meant for snuggles. Besides that is a really expensive mattress and I’m not leaving it behind… Also I think I should be allowed to sleep with my marefriend.”

Copper felt the need to add to their argument, “Yeah! Spring would let me sleep with her when it was all stormy and stuff.”

Twilight giggled and gave Copper a gentle pat with her wing, “This is just a bit different sweetie.”

Rainbow blushed, “Actually it’s not… I seriously literally meant that as in sleep. You know snoozing.”

“Oh… Well I suppose that’s ok.” Twilight sighed, having a special somepony was going to be more different than she had first thought.

When they arrived at Twilight’s castle Twilight led Rainbow and copper to her personal chambers and showed them a spare room in them just a short way from Twilight’s bedroom which would be Coppers room. It used to be spikes before her grew too big to easily fit into the room, and was still set up as a bedroom. One promise that they would go tomorrow and get the room redecorated to Copper’s liking and Twilight headed off to the Captain of her Guard to inform him of the new additions to the household.

Rainbow helped Copper unpack her saddlebags in her new room. The filly didn’t have much to unpack. Her poorly made toy sword, a large fluffy quilt, a simple silver earcuff, her changeling plush, a tiny carving of a pegasus which had at one point been painted but was old enough to be so chipped and flaked that scarcely any paint remained.

As they put Copper’s things away Rainbow noticed that she filly still had the saucepan she had been using for a helmet. When Rainbow had tried to take it away to give back to the orphanage Copper threw a fit which entered a full on tantrum. It took her a full ten minutes to calm Copper back down, during which Twilight came back and did her best to help. Between the two mares efforts they learned that the pot in fact did not belong to the orphanage, but had in fact been Copper’s sister’s.

One sincere apology later Rainbow left to collect some of her things to stay the night. Twilight remained with Copper to get her tucked in for the night. She levitated her filly’s quilt over the large poster bed, and made sure to tuck her in gently. “Sooo… Are you ok? I mean you don't feel uncomfortable here?”

“The bed’s hard.” Copper wined.

“Oh! Sorry, I’ll have that fixed tomorrow ok? My friend Spike use to sleep here. Dragons tend to like a nice firm mattress.”

“Is that why they like treasure?”

“It’s one reason.” Twilight took the egg from her saddlebag. She was unsure how it was meant to hatch, but keeping it close to the pony it had chosen seemed like a logical step. “Here, you can have this. I know you liked playing with it earlier so I’ll just put it on the nightstand.”

Twilight lowered the egg into place gently and then took a copy of Daring Do and the Swamp of Traps from her personal library, sitting beside Copper’s bed. She kept reading until she noticed the filly had dropped off midway through the first chapter. As Twilight levitated a bookmark into place Rainbow whispered from the doorway, “Is she asleep.”

Twilight nodded and quietly left the room. “She fell asleep midway through the first chapter of The Swamp of Traps.”

Rainbow shook her head, “Well duh. That part is so boring! It’s just the archaeology lecture Daring always gives her students.”

Twilight and Rainbow began to walk towards Twilight’s bedroom as Twilight replied, “But that’s an important part of the story! It sets up the entire culture of the Imperium's bat-ponies. Without it we wouldn’t know that there would be an escape tunnel from the temple’s vault, and then well how else could we assume Calderon survived being locked inside?”

“Easy! He had some of those exploding jars on him. He could have blown the lock up.” Rainbow rebutted.

“But he didn't have a match or a lighter.” Twilight said smugly.

“He had a lit lantern.”

Twilight blinked, “He did?”

“Yeah. Remember how Daring mentioned he was carrying the lantern to light the ritual chamber? Well it’s never said he put it down, and since the temple was dark he would have carried it into the vault when Daring tricked him inside. So the lecture scene is pointless… except for setting up the culture I guess.”

Twilight hummed, “Well it was her first book. Everypony makes mistakes.”

“Speaking of mistakes… Am I allowed to ask your guards to do things? Because I had them carry my mattress in here.” Rainbow asked a bit sheepishly.

“Dash… I… Actually you know what you can.” Twilight conceded as she opened the door to her bedroom for her marefriend. “I told the staff we were together so I assume that means you can ask them for things. We aren't legally anything though so you should avoid making any proclamations.”

“Oh yeah because I just want to sit around making laws all day.” Rainbow pulled the blankets on the bed back showing off the soft fluffy cloud mattress beneath and gestured with one hoof towards the bed, “Try awesome softness m’lady.”

Twilight rolled her eyes at Rainbow’s attempt to be swav as she stepped onto the mattress. Instantly her eyes widened, “Why didn’t you tell me these were this comfortable?” She squirmed under the blankets, blushing as Rainbow lovingly tucked her in before jumping up to glide over her and land on the mattress next to Twilight.

“Because I never thought I would get to mention you and my mattress in the same sentence.”

“But…” Twilight sighed and wiggled nervously, unsure of how sleeping with somepony else would be. What if I’m terrible at snuggling? Is there any techniques I should know? I haven't read anything on the subject! Twilight’s face scrunched up as she attempted to prevent a mini panic attack only to sit up, “I-need-to-read-up-on-snuggling-I’ll-be-right-back!”

Rainbow quickly grabbed Twilight around the shoulders with a hoof, “Oh for the love of Celestia…” Rainbow began to gently push Twilight into position as she directed her in how to snuggle. “Snuggling one-oh-one: Spooning. You will be the little spoon. Lay on your side, tuck your wings in close, let me slip my leg under your neck and between the pillow. Now I slip my other leg over your barrel and shoulder like this, and then take my top wing and cover us with it it like this. Now we do nothing and just enjoy it.”

Twilight blushed, “Oh… Are there advanced-”

“Shh! Snuggles.” Rainbow gently hushed adding, “tomorrow you will learn how to be the big spoon. Then we have hot cocoa.”

Twilight giggled, “Do you have a schedule for our relationship?”

“Yes. I figured it would help you be more comfortable if there was a solid plan… I’ve spent years on it.”

The two snuggled quietly until they drifted off to sleep. The bed was comfortable, the other mare was nice and warm, the blankets were cozy, and the night was wonderful.