"Pass the eggs, kindly." She reached out a hoof for barely a moment, the carton of eggs pressed against it. "Thank you." And she could continue her work. "What are the odds that two ponies would get ponid that love baking so much?"

Carrot Cake rubbed behind his head a moment before he wandered off to get another ingredient. "I worked at a bakery, in a supermarket. Pony life wasn't as... dramatic a change as I thought, you know, would have guessed?"

"I was a teacher," admitted Chiffon Swirl. "I only baked for myself, back then." She fell to all fours and grabbed the platter in her teeth, carrying it on towards the next step. "This isn't how I imagined things going, but here we are. Pow, I'm a chubby pony."

"Y-you look great!" His cheeks went red. "I, uh, didn't used to be so skinny."

"You're just fine," she returned the kindness, moving over to touch noses with the stallion. "You're slender, not skinny. I don't see your bones poking through."

"I never really considered that." He glanced at a mirror and back to her. "And you're moving and healthy, not some... you know, obese case example. You have heft, um, good heft."

Chiffon paused a moment before a smile quirked on her lips. "I know you're trying your best over there. More of me to love, is it?"

He nervously laughed, eyes darting. "That's not a bad way to put it. Look... I'm not trying to be odd, but I think you're just fine the way you are. You don't even eat that much." He inclined his head. "And I eat a regular amount, right?"

"So far I've seen?" She worked a whisk vigorously in the batter. "We've been eating together for a little while, so we're pretty even."

"And I'm still, uh, slender... And you're zaftig."

She quirked a brow up. "Zaftig. There's a word I don't hear often."

"It's a good one." He came up beside her, toughing just barely. "You're a treat, up here--" He pointed at his own head. "And the rest of you." He swayed the hoof in a broad circle over his form.

"Charmer." She planted a kiss on his snoot, and they got back to cooking. Things seemed to be working out.

"I'm glad you made it." Twilight turned to regard the largest of her students. "How have you been doing?" She paused. "Not in a generic sense, though I do hope you're doing alright?"

"I understand." Celestia was calm, as she tended to be. "Twilight, you have all done your best to be kind and welcoming to me, and I do appreciate that. I miss my little ponies, but this is important work, so I understand why I came here." She raised her hoof, not clad in metal as another princess in another world would have done. She set the naked hoof on Twilight's quivering nose. "I've just made new little ponies."

Twilight snorted and backed away with a grin. "Compared to you, we're all little ponies. Have you had any difficulties... being that large?"

"Should I have?" She settled down, horn glowing softly. "I have completed the drills you gave to me."

"Fantastic!" Twilight clopped her hooves together with a bright smile. "Would you care to give me a demonstration?" But Celestia just pointed. Twilight's eyes crossed to see the end of her nose had been colored a bright golden hue. "I see." She reached up to rub, but there was no paint there, done entirely by magic. "What I get for not paying attention to what spell you were working there. I know the method you used--"

"--Was not the same, at first. I've made the leap across that divide." She nodded once with confidence. "We were chasing the same thing, just at different angles. I like your musical magic."

"Yours is... pleasingly mathematic," admitted Twilight as if she regretted not being more involved in the other way of doing magic. "But both are effective, by all measures. Still, one standard is key to keeping us all on the same page, so I'm glad that change wasn't too harrowing."

"You will find no argument from me there." She inclined her head at Twilight. "One thing."

"Mm?" Twilight had started doodling on her board with a bit of chalk. "Are you ready for the next spell I have in mind?"

"I am, but this is not about that." She considered Twilight from behind as the unicorn wrote. "When you first saw me, you seemed to have a... reaction, as if you knew me, in person, which clearly had not been the case."

Twilight's chalk came to a stop, hovering there as she looked over her shoulder at the much larger pony. "You... It's difficult to explain, but you elicit a specific response." She raised a hoof to her own chest. "Instinctual? Are ponies hardwired to react in a given way around the ruling slash alpha class?" She inclined her head faintly. "I find myself entirely alright with the idea of being a part of your social group."

"I am pleased to be a part of yours," she said, a little laughter hiding in her words. "You don't need to speak so clinically, Twilight. They are feelings, we all have them."

"True." She turned away from the board entirely. "But these are feelings I am certain are not a product, entirely, of my own thoughts. As a rational pony, this is disquieting, yet, at the same time, your presence is calming. I feel. somehow, certain that any issue that would arise would be taken care of."

"I would do my best," assured Celestia, leaning in, nose close to Twilight's. "But I am just a pony, like you. Perhaps a little larger, but that doesn't give me any strange abilities outside of reaching the cookie jar more easily without the use of magic."

Twilight snorted at the idea, imagining Celestia craning her long swan-like neck towards a cookie jar that her parent, or possibly a lab technician, had told her to leave well enough alone. Eyes alit with desire, her teeth closed around the top of the jar, ready to secure her prize. "That is a small gift, but a gift it remains." Twilight nodded firmly, banishing such whimsies away. "Let's get back to magic!"

"Let's do so." Her wings ruffled on her back. "I would like to learn a specific one. I saw it listed." They had a list of known spells. The spells themselves weren't included, out of safety concerns, but the list was freely available to view. "I would like to be able to calm the hurt of others."

"Ah, do you mean the anesthetic or the analgesic?" She peeked over her shoulder, starting to write again despite not looking at it. "They have very different use cases."

"You have me at a disadvantage. Twilight, dear, could you explain the difference?" She wobbled a hoof with uncertainty. "I just want to be able to make a pony that is hurting to stop hurting. That seems like a lovely spell to know."

"Anaglesic it is." She began drawing a nerve on her board. "Now, mind, for safety's sake, I do have to remind you that this could cause problems. A pony that is numbed entirely can't function. Making their legs go numb mid-gallop is a good way to send somepony crashing to the ground, possibly with fresh injuries that they won't feel right away, which isn't a plus..." She swiveled an ear as she doodled. "The spell we have is a complete numbing of whatever part, or pony, you encompass in your magic. A more targeted spell would be delightful, but it's the best we have."

"What is an anesthetic then--" She sat up tall, looking over Twilight at what was being drawn. "--for comparison?"

"That's when you render somepony unconscious entirely. This spell doesn't do that. They will be awake, but unable to feel, numb. May I demonstrate?" She extended a hoof towards Celestia. When Celestia nodded, Twilight's horn sparkled with magic.

"Did you do something?" She looked back over herself, but nothing had changed. She lifted her wi-- Oh. Only one wing unfurled, the other remaining exactly where it started. She gently poked and prodded, but the wing had no sensation in it. "Remarkable... I will be very careful how I use this, but yes, this. I would like to learn this spell. How long does it persist?"

"If you focus on it, as long as you keep doing that." Her horn wasn't glowing, implying she wasn't. "Once you stop, roughly a minute? It can pass faster or slower depending on the mindset and physiology of the target. You're larger, so I think you should regain feeling faster. Imagine the magic is... a drug, and there's more of you for it to get lost in and disperse through, so it will go away faster."

"I see." She was able to spread her wings in unison, giving a little flap before they folded in tightly, entirely restored to function. "Then I should be extra careful with little foals. Though that stands to reason at any time, but especially with this."

"Good point." She struck the board with her chalk before dragging it along, starting to draw the magical notes that formed the spell. "This is not a complex spell, which may explain why it's not any more specific than it is. All it deadens are pain receptors and voluntary muscle groups. You can't stop a pony's heart, thank Celestia."

"Thank me? I don't think I helped." Celestia inclined her head quizzically.

"N-no, I meant..." She came to a sputtering stop, realizing she wasn't really sure what she meant by that. "It just came out... like 'anypony'. I'm sorry! I didn't mean anything." She threw herself prostrate before the large pony.

Celestia's ears flattened. "Twilight! You've done nothing wrong, other than confusing me a little. It's quite alright."

"Are you sure?" When Celestia nodded, Twilight sat up, letting out a breath of relief. "Alrighty then. Where were we?" She turned back to the board and resumed drawing the spell to its conclusion. "And there you are. You know all of these notes. It's just the pattern you have to get down."

"Simple enough." Her long horn glowed with power and faint aborted notes, working through the song one beat at a time in preparation for actually trying it later. "Can you print that?"

"Only if you can promise that not a single pony, or person, or anything other than you or me, will see it." She waggled a hoof at Celestia, looking like a child berating an adult with their relative sizes. "We need to keep these secure to avoid a few tragic mistakes."

"I can only imagine." She shook her head free of dreadful images. "It will not leave my sight, or enter another's, this I swear."

"I feel confident." A soft glow as she pressed a few buttons across the room, getting a copy of the spell to print out onto a lone sheet of paper. "There you are. I look forward to seeing you master that. Don't rush it." She nervously laughed, hoof over her mouth. "I know you can get a little anxious, trying to get it right! But it'll come, so just... let it, and yourself."

Celestia had a feeling Twilight was speaking of a more personal experience. "I will take it one step at a time." She rose to her full height and went to retrieve the paper by mouth, snapping it up. "I look forward to being of some use, should... oh, does this work on humans too?"

"Equally as well," assured Twilight. "Every animal I've tried it on seems to react the same way. I feel certain there are exceptions, but I haven't found them."

"Then if anycreature should need help in an emergency, I can be of assistance." Celestia smiled with a radiant sort of joy, pleased that she could lessen the misery of the world.

Author's Note

Celestia is a good pony! The Cakes look like they'll get back together, yay! This is a chill kind of episode where we mostly just enjoy our cast being themselves. I liked it, you?

Join the special community of folks who like my stories and/or get your own here at atreon!

Don't want to do an ongoing thing? You could

Join my discord to chat!