A Foalish Mistake

Chapters

Prologue: Desperate Measures
Chapter 1 - A Little Mistake
Chapter 2 - A Happy Accident
Chapter 3a - Foals' Wonderland
Chapter 3b - Maternal Instincts
Chapter 3c - Childhood Friends

Prologue: Desperate Measures

Imagine a home, far from its neighbours but light and airy, neither messy enough to inspire disgust nor neat enough that guests would feel awkward when it came to moving any item for comfort. The cottage was warm in the afternoon sun, moderated by a cooling breeze that also carried in the smell of fresh flowers from the garden, and from the nearby forest. Imagine the owner of this cosy cottage, humming quietly as she cleaned her home. She was a pegasus with a yellow-gold coat, and was feeling her usual contented calm returning now that her visitor of that morning had gone. She had initially felt terrible that she couldn’t help her friend to feel better, but as she worked she slowly realised that the best thing she could do was wait and hope.

For all she was trying to feel calm now, her pink mane streamed out behind her as she dashed around her house. Everything that could be cleaned was clean now, and she half hoped that some sick animal would come in needing help, or one of her friends would come round to ask for something, just so she could think about something other than a disappointed suitor. When she heard a voice, though, she jumped so abruptly that her head banged against the ceiling and she yelped in shock, only just regaining her composure in time to flutter her wings a little and slow her descent before she landed in a heap.

“Fluttershy!” the voice repeated as she looked around in confusion, “Is the spell working? I don’t know if you can hear me or not.”

Ah, it was magic. That was reassuring, she didn’t need to worry that it might be a mysterious voice out of the shadows. And once she had a few moments to think, she was sure she could recognise the pleading tone.

“Twilight?” she hazarded, “Is something wrong?”

“Umm,” it was only a tiny fragment of sound, but just from that Fluttershy could imagine her friend taking a step back and staring at her hooves as she spoke, face decorated with just the faintest trace of a pink-on-purple blush.

“You were researching some new spell, or some old spell, and something’s gone wrong?” she hazarded a guess. That could mean a whole lot of trouble, but after a morning of more intimate problems Fluttershy felt almost happy at the prospect of something straightforward like rogue magic or bad-mannered monsters to deal with.

“Yes! Something like that, I need help, and I don’t think I can hold it much longer!” Her voice rose in desperation, and that was enough to prove that this wasn’t some kind of joke. A friend needed her help, and that was all that Fluttershy needed to know. She quickly dropped everything and barreled out of the house, taking the road into Ponyville at a flat run.

“Can you still hear us?” the disembodied voice this time was Rarity’s, and Fluttershy was spared another startled encounter with the ceiling only because she was outdoors.

“Yes!” she squeaked, “What–”

“We’re in a rush, so it’s best to explain before you get here. Twilight has been experimenting with some dark magic, she thought she could just cast it on a rock or something to get rid of it, but it didn’t work. Now we’re stalling it, but sooner or later she'll have to cast the spell on somepony.”

“Me??” Fluttershy’s response was so quiet that the two unicorns might not have heard it without whatever communication magic they were using.

“I volunteered!” Rarity was getting increasingly frantic, “I hate seeing my friend in pain like this, I–”

“I don’t want to subject anypony to dark magic,” Twilight’s voice was firm, but it was clear she was making a real effort now to keep the half-formed spell under control. “But the book says… a griffon managed to resist this spell, using ‘a gaze stern enough to demand the obedience of any lesser beast’ … I think a powerful enough stare might reverse or negate the dark magic. Maybe we can try…?”

It wasn’t easy to tell if Twilight was hesitating because she didn’t want to ask something so difficult of a friend, or if holding on to the half-finished spell was really as painful as it sounded. But either way, Fluttershy realised that if they were right, she was the only pony who could help this situation end well. She never thought she’d voluntarily walk into a situation where she might end up with the effects of some unknown dark magic curse, but she could see that if she didn’t then one of her friends would certainly suffer that fate. If she had a chance to resist the spell, she had to at least try.

She was still walking slowly by the time she reached the library, though. It was terrifying to think of what might happen. Twilight Sparkle assured her that as soon as she wasn’t focusing on the spell, she would start looking for a counterspell in any case, and Fluttershy said she was willing to give it a try. Rarity’s horn glowed briefly, sparks flying between the two unicorns as she shared a little more power with her friend to ensure she could hold on to the spell a little longer, and then she walked around the outside of the room working with the most powerful protective magics she was capable of. At the centre of the circle, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle were both shaking with nerves, hoping they both had the determination or luck necessary to put this particular genie back in its bottle.

“Ready?” Twilight grunted as soon as Rarity had retreated outside. She was clearly in pain now, she tried to explain more about the spell, but was finding it difficult to even stand. Fluttershy nodded, and only then realised that she hadn’t asked what this spell might do to her if she failed. She opened her mouth to ask, but the normally cheery pink glow of magic around Twilight’s horn was shading to a disturbingly dark colour, swirls of crimson and violet sparks dancing all around her body. Fluttershy fixed her friend with the most assertive Stare she could muster, and hoped it would be good enough.

In the streets, a dozen ponies turned and stared as a thunderous boom resonated across the town, and a faint wisp of dark red smoke emerged from the library windows. Everypony panicked, and Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack all raced in as fast as their hooves could carry them, praying that Twilight’s desperate idea might have worked.

Chapter 1 - A Little Mistake

The sound of the explosion shattered the afternoon peace of Ponyville. All across the town, heads turned towards the library, though just as many couldn’t be quite sure where the noise had come from. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity ran to the scene so quickly that they got stuck trying to pass through the same door at the same time. They’d all been waiting outside, following the instructions their friend Twilight Sparkle had given them. Even after she realised the dark magic was out of control, her first thought had been to get her friends out of harm’s way in case she lost control.

As soon as they came inside, they found Fluttershy sitting on the floor, looking shocked. Twilight had been pretty sure that she would be able to resist the dark spell, her famous Stare halting a bolt of magical energy as easily as if it was some wild animal.

“Are you okay?” Applejack was the first to find her, and lowered herself to meet her friend’s eyes. She looked stunned, but wasn’t visibly harmed. She was sitting on the edge of the magic circle that Rarity had traced around the edge of the room, its glow just starting to fade.

“I… think so. It was so loud! I wasn’t expecting that. But I don’t think it did anything…”

Rarity was already moving around to tidy up the room, righting toppled furniture and placing books in neat piles ready for returning to their shelves. She was as concerned about Fluttershy as everyone else, but once it was clear that their friend was in good health, she just couldn’t ignore the state that the large room was in. Quite a lot of books had been strewn around the room in their earlier panicked search for a counterspell, and it seemed that the enslavement spell, although it hadn’t produced any curse-like effects, had still contained enough raw magical energy to shake up everything in the room.

Rainbow was also saying nothing to help, standing just inside the door and waiting for someone else to speak. She seemed irritated somehow, though it wasn’t clear what had drawn her anger today. Maybe she wished she could be the hero, and resented Fluttershy for getting a possibility of self-sacrifice. Maybe she was annoyed at Twilight for putting them in a position where this would be necessary. She wasn’t saying anything, though, so it would probably take one more imagined slight before she exploded into rage. Until then, all of the others could only guess what thoughts were racing around her head. Applejack glanced at the two silent mares, then gave a sigh and turned back to Fluttershy.

“You don’t feel like you got to do what anyone asks you to?” she asked, wanting more than a token declaration of health before they decided everything was solved. Then she thought for a second about who she was talking to, and added, “Any more than usual, I mean.”

“No, I just couldn’t think about anypony suffering if there’s a way I could stop… Wait, is that what this dark magic’s supposed to do?”

“Somethin’ like that, I think. Making slaves, they thought maybe that’s why you might be able to fight it, with the stare and all.”

“Well, I don’t know. I still want to help my friends, of course, but I’m sure that’s no curse. The magic…” Fluttershy’s voice trailed off into a few seconds of silence, and then she squeaked in realisation, jumped to her feet, and dashed off to the far corner of the large room: “Ohmygosh, where’s Twilight? Is she okay?”

A few minutes earlier, the doors had been sealed and the room protected by a surprisingly potent (and predictably neat) magical barrier. There was nobody there except Fluttershy and Twilight sparkle, both as nervous as could be expected. The pink glow around Twilight’s horn was turning a disturbingly deep red as she struggled to control the half-finished piece of dark magic she’d picked up. She could hold on to it for now by feeding it more magical energy, but that only made it more powerful. Sooneror later, she’d have to cast it on somepony, and she desperately didn’t want to do that.

“The books said that a griffon with a stare like yours managed to divert this spell away from him, which sounds plausible. There are other accounts we found, of a stare being able to reverse the spell.” Twilight clearly wanted to explain all the things they’d found in old books, but couldn’t speak at the length she wanted because of the pain she in. Magic had always been second nature to her, but when she was holding so much raw power it made everything a little different.

“Are you ready?” she finally asked. Fluttershy knew that against the buzz of all that magic, her normal voice wouldn’t even be heard. She just nodded, and then realised she hadn’t asked what this spell was going to do.

She focused her Stare on Twilight Sparkle, directing all her willpower through the cloud of magic that was forming between them. The stare was normally targeted at disobedient animals, and she didn’t have any illusions that it would be effective on a pony. But maybe it would be enough to scare the magic itself. She could only hope. The magic lept from Twilight’s horn, and flew across the space between them like a red, lightning-filled tornado. It moved like a bird, like a living thing somehow, and that gave her hope that it might be controlled. Fluttershy was afraid, but that didn’t stop her from trying. And then barely an inch from her nose, it stopped.

Then just as quickly, it leapt in the opposite direction, straight towards Twilight. The unicorn didn’t even have time to duck before the stream of power hit her, throwing her through the air like a child’s discarded doll. Fluttershy’s first instinct was to rush forward and help,to protect her friend. But then the excess magical energy in the spell, above and beyond what it needed in order to fulfill its function, was released in an uncontrolled wave. The boom shook the walls and brought books raining down across the entire room. Furniture was overturned, and Fluttershy was thrown back right to the edge of the protective magic circle. In the circumstances, it seemed a miracle that she was only dazed.

They found Twilight cowering in the basement, curling up in a vain attempt to make herself smaller, and tears flowing down her cheeks. Fluttershy ran forward without thinking and picked her up in a warm hug, while all their friends came down a minute later.

“Are you okay?” she whispered, “Were you worried about me? I’m fine, see?”

Twilight Sparkle shook her head uncertainly, “I… feels funny.” She was speaking much more slowly than usual, but raising her voice a little even though there was no hint of anger in her expression.

“What’s wrong? Don’t worry, you can tell me.”

“It’s weally… Really…” she paused again, making it obvious that even speaking clearly was posing as much of a challenge as channelling the dark magic had, “… hard to talk popper.” Fluttershy continued stroking Twilight’s mane, muttering soothing words that nopony could quite make out.

“Pwopperwy!” Twilight shouted out, spotting her own mistake a few seconds after her friends had ignored it. “I mean…” and for a moment it seemed like she was going to burst into tears all over again.

“I thought this was supposed to be a kind of controlling curse,” Applejack said, carefully keeping her voice low because it was clear Twilight was already worried enough, “Why’s it messin’ with her voice?”

Rarity thought about it for a moment, her mind reviewing the few books that had offered any clue at all. She could easily recall images of slave-griffons and ponies dressed up in tight leather outfits with studs in the most unusual places, but it was a little harder to think of any way this might be connected to the current situation. “Well maybe–” she started, but didn’t get time to finish the thought.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash yelled, the secretive anger that everypony had seen building up over the past week finally reaching boiling point, “She’s practically sitting in your lap! This isn’t…” and then she turned and fled the confused stares, the rest of the tirade thankfully incomprehensible as the raging pegasus left the building.

“What’s eating her?” Applejack muttered in the direction of the closed door.

“Who knows?” Rarity answered, “Somepony should go talk to her. But she’s right about one thing, Fluttershy and Twilight are both acting a little strangely. Almost like a mother and her foal, if you think about it.”

On hearing that, Fluttershy realised that it had seemed almost too natural to hold Twilight on her lap, cooing to her like she would imagine doing for a young child. It certainly wasn’t the way she’d normally comfort a crying friend. The two backed away from each other a little, embarrassed by the way they’d both responded.

“We gotta try to act normal!” Twilight blurted out, though it was clear how hard she was finding it to even speak normally. And then with just a slight wobble she fell to the ground, legs spread wide like a purple starfish. “Mommy!” she screamed, and then descended to bawling like an infant, with no words at all.

“Maybe the curse is influenced by the thoughts on your mind?” Rarity speculated, trying to think about anything but the sight of Fluttershy trying to calm Twilight down.

“You mean, like Twilight secretly wants to be a foal again? That’s kinda weird if you ask me.”

“Some ponies have a lot of strange desires. As long as it’s not hurting anyone, I don’t think you should judge them.” Rarity’s voice was just about emotionless, hiding any trace of her own feelings about that interest. It would have been unfair to say what was on her mind right now. “But no, I was thinking maybe this is what she thinks of as control. The only situation where Twilight can imagine following another’s orders without thinking might be when she was too young to question them.”

“I guess, but then what do we do about all this? We need to find an answer, but do you think she can even read?”

Chapter 2 - A Happy Accident

As the sun set over Ponyville, four friends were trying to work out how best to deal with the aftermath of a truly confusing magical accident. So far, Rarity had been trying to relate everything she knew to Fluttershy and Applejack so that they could offer more constructive suggestions. This attempt was only slightly impeded by Twilight Sparkle’s nervous, wobbling exploration of her own bedroom. She looked the same as ever, her horn showing the faintest trace of a pink magical glow, but she seemed to have all the poise and balance of a foal only a few days old. To make things worse, she had all the curiosity of a child as well, and Fluttershy was darting off every few minutes to stop her friend from touching something fragile or dangerous.

“I have to wonder what Twilight was thinking,” she said, “This really is no place to raise a child, and the basement is even worse!”

“I don’t think she was expecting children,” Applejack put it as diplomatically as she could, “None of us were expecting it either, right?”

“I guess so. I just… I can’t stop thinking of her as my child, and I’m worrying so much that she might get hurt.”

“You’re taking it awful well, you know. Do you think that’s a part of the spell?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. It couldn’t be what I was thinking? I mean I want to start a family someday, it’s important to me. And someone said something that made me think about it, and if that was on my mind when Twilight cast that spell, could it have…” and her voice dropped so low there was no chance of anyone being able to hear more.

“I don’t think so,” Rarity had assumed herself the leader of this informal meeting, by virtue of being the first pony Twilight Sparkle had called on when everything started to go wrong. “It may well be that your deepest desires can affect the outcome of a dark enchantment, but I would expect it to be Twilight’s own feelings rather than yours that would be important in this case. And even if it is, do you think that’s a good thing? I don’t claim to speak for everyone, but I’d much rather be cursed to be a foal again than turned into a helpless slave, or the other changes we’ve read about in those books. Given the previous performances of this particular piece of magic, I would say that this… outcome is one of the more fortuitous.”

Fluttershy didn’t answer, but was looking more and more afraid as she turned the pages of the books that were on the table in front of her. The images in there were disturbing, if faded by age, and even more so if you’d just been the target of the same spell that had brought about such depraved scenes.

“So if it can do such horrible things,” Applejack couldn’t see the pictures, so wasn’t shocked by the sheer depth of the obscenity, but she could see enough to worry her, “Why were you even playing with that thing?”

“We weren’t,” Rarity sighed, “Look, I’ll tell you as much as you know. A long time ago, in a castle far away, a group of mad griffons planned to take over the world. They’d created these few spells that would let them control anyone who opposed them, force their subjects to love them as their empire of depravity spread further. Then, they all died.”

“Just like that? No big story?”

“Well, the books about them were in such a state, most of them in the mythology section or even in fiction, because nobody believed they were real. And after Twilight had been hunting through the books for a counterspell, they were all over the floor and I had to make sure everything was on the right shelves before I could start reading, so I haven’t read the details yet.”

“Sorry. So, these griffons were real?”

“Real, but a very long time ago. The Princess found their castle, and found out they–”

“Which Princess? I mean, I think that makes a big difference to how much we trust this story.”

“Ask her,” Rarity jerked an irritated hoof towards where Fluttershy was, once again, holding Twilight Sparkle on her lap like a foal, babbling nonsense to calm her down after some minor stumble, “I can only tell you when she told me. Can I continue?”

“Yeah, sorry,”

“These ancient griffons were amazingly talented at making machines that run on magic, as well as their notorious aptitude for dark mind-control spells. So the Princess collected up all the things that were left in the ruins, and divided them into dangerous dark magic, to be destroyed or locked away for eternity, and things that might actually have some use. And one of the things she thought might be useful was this. They called it a monitor, and used it for keeping track of slaves near the edge of their empire.” The monitor looked like some kind of long, curved horn, and until then Applejack hadn’t even realised it was magical. She picked it up tentatively, looking into the end of it, as Rarity continued her recap.

“The Princess gave this to Twilight Sparkle to study, presumably thinking that her obsession with book research would be the perfect approach. If you put it to your ear and think of somepony, as long as you know where they are, you can hear them. Twilight used it to call me in here when she realised she needed some help.”

“You can talk through it too?”

“Seems to be the case. She spent all morning with Spike running around town, trying to see how far it could reach, and stuff like that. But there was a spell stuck in it, so she didn’t want to try speaking through it right away. You know how sometimes, with powerful magic, once you’ve started you can’t stop and it just hangs around until you’ve finished?”

“Umm, not really.”

“Well, it happens. We guessed that one of those ancient griffons was trying to channel his magic through the monitoring device, when he was distracted or something. Twilight had read some books about similar problems with lingering spells, and thought she could pull the dark spell out, cast it on a rock, and then it would just go away. Didn’t count on dark magic, or very old magic, having different rules.”

“She couldn’t get it to work on a rock?”

“No. Nor on the sky, a bug, a cloud, the wall, or one of my mannequins. We tried everything we could think of, until it became clear that a mind-altering spell would only allow itself to be directed at somepony with a mind.”

“And that’s where we came in, right?”

“She tried it on herself first, at least. If someone has to take this, she thinks it should be a great act of self-sacrifice. She tried it a dozen times, using mirrors and everything she could think of, before she’d risk hurting a friend.”

“An’ that’s why it took so long to call us? That’s crazy if you ask me, if she cast it on herself, we lost the best bookworm for finding a cure!”

“And she got it in the end, in any case. It appears that Fluttershy’s stare reflected the spell instead of reversing it.”

“Least they're both enjoying it, I guess. Fluttershy always wanted to be a mom, I think, so maybe this’ll be fun for her. Maybe we should ask?”

“Hey Fluttershy!” Applejack yelled without waiting for a reply, “Looks like Twily’s back to being a little foal somehow. You’re handling it well enough, so hows about you be like her mom until we find the counterspell?”

“It’s kind of come naturally,” Fluttershy admitted, hooves busy stroking Twilight’s mane to keep her calm, “But won’t she be embarrassed about it when she’s back to normal?”

“Who knows?” Rarity responded airily, “I hear that some folks who have a lot of stress in their lives, like to dress up and act like a little filly again to get away from their worries. ‘Adult foal’, they call it. Who knows, Twilight might decide she enjoys a break from responsibility and decide to keep trying it. Have you heard, they even have a special shop selling adult size cribs, and pacifiers, and all those kind of things?”

“You’re kidding!” Applejack tried to conceal her laughter, “In Ponyville? Surely we’d have seen it!”

“Umm…” Fluttershy returned to mumbling almost inaudibly, “Other things too? Do you know where it is? If we can’t find a cure today, there’s a few things we might need.” She was blushing hotly, the pink making a distinct contrast with her golden coat, but it took a moment for the others to realise what might be causing her embarrassment. Twilight had her forehooves wrapped around her face in shame, as if covering her eyes might somehow hide her from her friends’ stares.

“Did Twilight just pee on you?” Applejack gasped in surprise when the ball finally dropped, but then her smile made it clear that she was only just managing to keep a laugh from overtaking her feelings of concern.

“I dint,” Twilight blustered, having even less success at controlling her voice now, “I didn’t mean to it just happened I’m sorry Mommy I’m so so sorry!” and the tears came back in a flood.

“Calm down, baby,” Fluttershy stroked Twilight’s mane calmly, keeping her voice as soothing as she could, “It seems you’re turning back into a foal, and these things happen to little ones. It isn’t your fault. Just keep calm and we’ll have this all sorted out. I’m sure AJ and Rarity will be able to find that store and get everything we need, while I get you all cleaned up. How about a bath with lots of bubbles, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah!” Twilight’s eyes were open wide as the excitement of a new experience overwhelmed her previous shame. By the time the bath was run, it seemed she barely even remembered why she needed one. She batted at the floating soap bubbles with her hooves, and Fluttershy found she couldn’t help smiling at the sight. Caring for a foal – even if it was her full-grown foal – brought all the delight that she got from helping her animal friends a hundred times over.

“I know I said this was a weird idea,” she mused, not really caring how well her charge could understand her, “But everything came so naturally. Does that mean I’ll be a good mother?” Twilight’s answer was a splash of soapy water and a torrent of giggles, but she felt sure she could think of that as a ‘yes’. In a strange way this curse had dismissed one of Fluttershy’s biggest worries about her future, so it was a kind of happy accident after all.

Chapter 3a - Foals' Wonderland

“It’s a very strange situation, we shall just have to deal with it as best we can.” Rarity said, though Applejack could tell she was nervous about visiting the less reputable quarter of Ponyville. It wasn’t so much that she thought the situation was strange, or weird, or unusual. But more that she’d said the same thing in a dozen different ways in the time it took them to get to the adult foal store.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Applejack asked again. “What’s wrong? Twilight’s cursed to be a foal, so we need to find some adult sized foal stuff. There’s nothing weird about that, it’s not like there’s anything else we can do!”

“Yes, helping a friend is always a good cause, and of course we couldn’t be held accountable for the effects of a curse.”

“Then…” Applejack wanted to ask why it was taking so long to find the shop they were looking for, until she suddenly made the connection. “You heard about this place, but you think if somepony sees us looking they’ll reckon we’re the kind of freaks who choose to dress up like foals.” Rarity kept silent, but that was as good as an admission to Applejack, who continued: “You’d really put your reputation in front of helping out a friend? Then just tell me where this place is, you can go back to your fancy boutique and I’ll get the things we need.”

“It’s not like I’m ashamed of… of what has happened to poor Twilight,” Rarity countered, “It was nopony’s fault. I’m sure that even if we were seen in this less than salubrious district, we wouldn’t be judged if we are only here to help a friend. But… now you mention the Boutique, I remembered that I have something there that might be useful in the situation. Why don’t I head back there, and you can proceed to the shop I had heard about. I’m sure you have more experience with foals than I do, in any case.”

Applejack wanted to argue, wanted to make Rarity admit that she was letting her discomfort about the unusual shop get in the way of helping their friend. But she held her tongue for now, contenting herself with the fact that the normally proud unicorn had acknowledged there might be something Applejack knew more about.

“Fine,” she said, “That way we’re both helping. Where is this place?”

“One of my customers mentioned it. They had heard that I might occasionally do custom garments to order, and wondered if I might be considering the place as a rival establishment, but I reassured them that there is unlikely to be much overlap between our relative specialities.” Rarity again took more words than necessary to explain her position, which Applejack mentally translated as _‘This adult foal shop also makes harness and restraints for ponies who are into bondage. They might be a rival in that field, but my stuff is prettier, and I’m not going to admit that I make those things even if everypony knows really.’_

“Right,” she said simply, hoping to avoid the arguments that seemed to crop up way too easily around Rarity, “Where is it then?”

“Somewhere on Honeytree Lane, I heard. There’s a sign in an upper window, a wooden apple and a soft toy that their customers know to look for. That’s all I know, you might have to ask the salespony at the shop downstairs, to make sure that it isn’t possible to just walk in without knowing it’s there.”

So while Rarity headed back to the comparative safety of her own boutique, Applejack walked down a narrow shopping street, with regular glances at the upper windows to see which store might conceal a second business in the back room. It turned out to be a rather shoddy looking seed merchant that had the sign above, and she dismissed the contents of the main store with a single glance.

“I saw the sign,” Applejack nodded in the direction of the shop’s upstairs window, “I gather there’s more to the store than this?”

“Did someone recommend us?” the mare behind the counter responded gruffly, not giving anything away.

“It’s not for me,” her mind raced as she tried to think of the best way to respond. Rarity hadn’t mentioned the name of the customer who’d told her about this place, who must have been known here even to be aware of it. “It’s for a friend. A foal, you know? She asked me to buy… some things.” How could she even ask, if she wasn’t entirely sure she had the right place? This must have been what had made Rarity so nervous.

“Certainly,” the mare’s tone was suddenly a lot warmer, “We get a lot of people shopping for their friends. Walk this way,” and she led the way towards a bead curtain at the back of the store. A glow like firelight from under her tousled red mane revealed that she was a unicorn as the curtain drew back. “Satin Shimmer will be waiting for you. I just take care of the store down here.”

At the top of the stairs was a store quite unlike the dusty and dingy one Applejack had just passed through. There was a blind in front of the window that did little to stop the afternoon light streaming in, and the whole place seemed to be decorated in white with a whole range of pastel highlights. There was no dust at all on rows of shelves filled with toys and other things that might be needed for raising a foal. The middle of the room displayed giant size cribs, a changing table, and even a couple of mannequins showing off an adult sized romper suit and an excessively frilly onesie.

Satin Shimmer was waiting at the top of the stairs, as promised. She turned out to be a pegasus with a mane as wildly bushy as the unicorn downstairs, though hers was a white so pure it almost seemed to glow. Her coat was a healthy green, so pale it would have seemed white if it wasn’t contrasted against the perfect tone of her hair.

“Good afternoon,” she said in a voice that almost seemed like she must have practised, every syllable slotted perfectly into place, “My name is Satin Shimmer, I’m very pleased to meet you. It’s always good to meet a new customer.”

“Yeah, I don’t reckon many ponies will find you, hidden away up here. I never even heard of this place, but my friend asked me to go get some things. I’m not too sure how much we’ll need, though.”

“Yes, I’m afraid some may get the wrong idea when it comes to the things we make available, so we are obliged to hide this little nook. My aunt runs a store in Manehattan, which is a lot more bustling. When we realised that the mail order side of the business had eleven regular customers in Ponyville, we thought it would be an excellent opportunity for me and Glimmer to move out here and try running our own branch. You’re only the second newcomer to find us so far, but even one new friend is enough to keep us satisfied with our jobs.”

Applejack walked up and down the shelves, looking at the merchandise on display as the eloquent pegasus rambled on about her family and the history of the store. She couldn’t help feeling a certain curiosity about the dozen other ponies who shopped here, but she knew that she had no business asking about anyone else’s secrets. She even wondered if any of her friends had come up the stairs into this white-and-pastel wonderland. It was surprisingly easy to imagine Pinkie Pie jumping around gleefully dressed up as a foal, but quite hard to believe she’d remember to keep toys like this somewhere private.

She quickly filled a basket with diapers, powder, and all the other paraphernalia that might be needed for taking care of Twilight if she continued to act like a foal. Unsure how much would be necessary, but not wanting to miss anything they needed, she also picked out a few toys, a crib that the white mare assured her was enchanted against teleportation, a large pacifier, and some oversize jars of foal food.

“It’s for my friend,” she said again as Shimmer tried to tally up the cost of all this, “Not out of choice, you know, she’s been cursed to act like a foal so we might need some things to look after her until we can find a counterspell.”

“Of course,” the other pony just smiled, not looking away from her abacus, “I hear that kind of thing happens quite a lot.” Applejack was disappointed at not being believed, but it was just about bearable given that Shimmer clearly wasn’t judging the ‘friend’ for what she saw as preferences. While she waited, she found herself looking at the clothes on display. The onesie had a small note pinned to it, which immediately caught her eye:

~ If you would like a more bespoke creation, we would recommend a visit to the Carousel Boutique, whose owner promises to create any garment to the highest standards, and never to judge customers regardless of her personal tastes. ~

It was a philosophy she had often heard before, and probably explained why a customer would have told Rarity about this place. Still, it was a little surprising to see such a glowing endorsement. Applejack found herself wondering how many of the customers had already visited the boutique, and if Rarity had half-finished adult foal dresses hiding in the private areas of her shop. If she’d done a lot of work for these ponies, then it would be a lot easier for someone seeing her here to assume she had an interest in this herself, and that was perhaps too much for her pride to take. On the other hand, maybe she’d been reminded that she had some cute outfit that could easily be modified to fit Twilight Sparkle, and had wanted an excuse to show off these designs to her friends. It was hard to tell with that mare sometimes.

Eventually, the best part of a month’s earnings handed over, Applejack left the store with bulging saddlebags, and headed back towards the library.

Chapter 3b - Maternal Instincts

By the time Applejack and Rarity got back from their shopping expedition, the library was filled with the sound of giggling. It wasn’t the first sound anypony would associate with the place, but it seemed fitting now. Fluttershy was quite content to watch her little one having fun, as long as she didn’t damage anything. But she couldn’t help wondering whether these feelings were her own, or were coming from the curse. Not that it mattered, as the other two ponies chased each other around the room she found the urge to smile and watch was too strong to fight in any case.

Shortly after the others had headed off on their shopping expedition, she’d started wondering if she was doing the right thing. Nothing seemed strange to her, and that was precisely what made her uneasy, because she knew that the situation was probably one of the weirdest things she’d seen happen to her friends. It might even be on the same level of bizarreness as getting turned into a tree by Discord, but on that occasion at least she’d known that something had changed.

Here, it just felt so natural to follow Twilight Sparkle around, to do everything she could think of to keep her entertained, and to treat her as if she was her own little foal. And, some rational part of her mind objected, that meant that if something went even stranger, she might not act responsibly because she didn’t even notice how much she was playing along with this game.

She couldn’t help wondering if this was in some way her fault, as well. Maybe dark magic was influenced by the mind of the unicorn who cast it, but when she’d reversed the spell back at Twilight, could it have picked up some influence from her own desires? She’d only recently explained to Rainbow Dash that the thought of being a mother some day was a big part of who she was, something she couldn’t easily give up on. If those thoughts had still been in her mind, then maybe the spell had made Twilight try to fulfil her wish, rather than just the obedience that the old books mentioned.

Well, whatever had happened, Twilight was behaving like a real foal now. And Fluttershy found that it felt so good to treat her like one, and the difference in size really didn’t matter. Maybe she shouldn’t have been so hung up on the idea of having a real foal; if she hadn’t been so critical she could have played like this without having to worry so much. All of Fluttershy’s concerns slipped to the back of her mind as she bathed Twilight, giving her a crown of bubbles and doing her best to wash herself off as well. It was all too easy to not notice that the little one was as big as her for a moment.

After the bath she tried talking to the little foal, to see how well she understood what was happening. Twilight was happy to talk, but very easily distracted. She also found quite quickly that she couldn’t remember all the words she needed to express her thoughts, and quickly grew frustrated as she couldn’t stop mumbling enough to be intelligible for more than a minute at a time.

“Well then,” Fluttershy said brightly, “We don’t want you to be a little miss cranky-pants, so why don’t we just play for a bit?”

“‘Es,” Twilight muttered quietly, and then just nodded. She was struggling to restrain the well of emotions that seemed to overwhelm her at the slightest provocation, but she was still smart enough to realise that she’d feel less frustrated if she stopped trying to think and just played like her mommy wanted. They played peekaboo and hide and seek, dashing around the library in a carefree way that would probably have driven Twilight to distraction at any other time.

The games stopped when Twilight almost stepped on a book that she’d carelessly left on the floor. She stopped, and looked at the manacled mare in the illustration with every sign of confusion rather than the shame she’d displayed on finding the same book earlier. Her horn glowed a faint pink, but flickering slightly as she turned the page. She did her best to be careful, proving that her love of books was entrenched too deep in her psyche for a mere dark spell to change it. In this state, though, turning a page without damaging it took all her concentration. She didn’t even notice her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated, though Fluttershy found it adorable.

“Oh, you’re reading a book? You are a clever filly!” the praise came naturally, shortly followed by the realisation that she’d thought of Twilight as a bookworm for all the time they’d known each other, and that could have sounded awfully condescending. Then she noticed a tear slowly forming in the corner of the foal’s eye as she stared down at the page.

“What’s wrong, dear?” she asked, moving closer and reaching over Twilight’s shoulders to pull her into a hug.

“Can’t read,” the response was so quiet that it surprised even Fluttershy. “Pwetty pictures but… I can’t weed the words.”

“Well then, shall I read to you?” Fluttershy asked, carefully reaching for the book with both hooves, “What kind of stories would you like today?” It was good that Twilight was nodding so vigorously, because it meant she didn’t quite catch the expression of distaste that crossed Fluttershy’s face when she noticed some of the words in the text. This was certainly not the kind of book that she would consider sharing with a foal. Almost every paragraph included mention of ‘dominance’ or ‘obedience’, and there was a whole section headed ‘On the matter of forced breeding’.

“I think this might be a bit too hard for me,” she said, still not quite sure how much Twilight’s mind might have changed. “How about you pick an easier book? Would you like to hear about Fairy Glen? Or the Story of the Two Sisters?”

“Wanna read Star Swirl!” Twilight pouted. There was a faint shimmer of magic around her, and then she looked down at her hooves, blushing, and added: “Pwease mommy?”

“If you really want to,” Fluttershy answered, hoping that the magical effect had just been in her imagination. If Twilight really had to do what she said, then that might be another hurdle to getting this spell lifted. And as much as she was enjoying the feelings of motherhood, she didn’t want to see her friend cursed for any longer than was necessary. But whether the curse enforced obedience, that would surely be an important detail. Something that they would need to know if they were looking for a counterspell. In that case, it might be worth testing it out.

“Okay Twily,” she said uncertainly, “I’ll try reading one of Star Swirl’s books for you later. But first I want you to pick something that’s more fun for a little foal, and we can read it together, and I want you to enjoy it as if you never heard the story before!” She was going to ask if she understood, but she knew she didn’t have to when she saw that telltale shimmer again. It was only the slightest suggestion, but she knew without a doubt that Twilight would happily do exactly what she’d said. And it felt good, in fact it felt incredible to know that she was the one with both control and responsibility. Fluttershy felt a flush of excitement, and knew that now she’d felt it she would often be tempted to take charge of the situation.

Her thoughts completely changed direction and her heart nearly stopped when she saw purple flanks running excitedly (but unsteadily) in the direction of wherever the picture books were shelved. Twilight was still an adult pony, the same size and build she’d always been. It was only her behaviour that was foalish, and Fluttershy finding herself thinking of her friend as a foal unless she tried to stop herself. They had all been sure that the curse hadn’t caused any physical change, and that made Fluttershy worry more than anything. She didn’t know if they’d just failed to notice, or if that was why her first direct ‘command’ to Twilight had been accompanied by the pale lavender flicker of magic in the air.

Twilight Sparkle had no cutie mark.

Chapter 3c - Childhood Friends

Twilight Sparkle paced around the library, trying to find books to remove the curse that she’d accidentally saddled herself with. Finding the books was the easy part of the process; at least, finding books that she knew contained tables and charts that would point her in the direction of books that might contain some mistranslated ancient text about the obscure fields of magic she would need to become an expert in before she could create a cure.

Finding the books was the easy part. She knew her library so well, and she knew straight away which were the first few books she would need to consult. She could go straight to them, and tell Mom which books she needed. Because that was the first hurdle, she couldn’t lift the books off the shelf. She could reach out with her hoof, but it just wouldn’t go where she wanted it to. It took her more than one attempt to even get her hoof on the right book, but gathering enough coordination to grasp the book was out of the question.

Normally this wouldn’t bother her. She was a unicorn, so normally she would just use her magic to pull books towards her without even needing to look at them. But for the last ten minutes, every time she tried to use her magic, her horn glowed in a pale lavender colour that matched her coat more closely than the pink of her eyes, and nothing else happened. She was sure that hadn’t been the case when the curse first took hold, because she could remember using her telekinetic powers to splash around in the bath, dumping a bundle of soap suds on Mom’s head and then laughing so hard. But then she’d tried to read a book, and found that the words all turned into a shifting, confusing mess of blurred letters that she couldn’t quite make out.

Mom was wonderful about it, as helpful as a filly could hope for. She’d offered to read to Twilight, but she wanted to read an easier book first. They’d started with what was clearly a book for children, with brightly coloured pictures of the princess and the three knights on every page. But the story had been surprisingly good, and Twilight wondered if she’d missed out by skipping a few grades when she was first in school. She couldn’t believe just how rich and vibrant the stories were, especially the impossibly over-the-top posh voice that Mom put on to whisper the third knight’s lines. It was hilarious, and it took Twilight a few minutes to stop laughing every single time she did it.

Then she’d gone looking for books that might be less entertaining, but she knew would be a whole lot more useful. She hadn’t been able to move them at all. She couldn’t even read the heavy golden lettering on the spines, and only knew the books she wanted because she’d referenced them more than enough times to recognise the size and colour of every one, as well as being intimately familiar with their location in the library.

Eventually, Mom caught up with her and smiled endearingly.

“Did you find a book you want to read? Which one is it?”

“An Essay On Methods for the Analysis and Theurtography of an Unknown Enchantment, by Star Swirl the Bearded,” she said, pointing to a thick text in a burgundy-grey cover. At least, that’s what she tried to say. By the time it emerged from her cursed and clumsy lips, it was completely unintelligible. Talking was even harder than walking right now, and after three attempts she ended up settling for repeating “Star Swir” and “The wed one!” while pointing at her desired tome.

It really was in a high place, and even Mom had some trouble stretching up that far, and the closeness of the ceiling meant that her pretty wings were little help. For reaching the top shelf, it turned out, unicorn magic was better than hooves in ways that Twilight had never even stopped to consider.

“Is this the right one?” Mom eventually asked, the weighty volume held out in front of her. Twilight nodded, but had no idea how she was going to explain which sections she needed to look in. She was aware that she was finding it harder to think as well, which frustrated her more than she could express. She had to do her best not to think about it, because under the effect of this curse every emotion was magnified to be so intense that she couldn’t think clearly. She didn’t want to find herself bawling again, worrying Mom.

Fluttershy.

The pegasus mare with the golden-yellow coat and adorable cutie-pink mane was her friend Fluttershy. It was a real effort to remember that, when every instinct wanted to think of her as ‘Mom’. She assumed that was a part of the spell too, though it was hard to figure why. It seemed to go in waves, able to think for a few minutes and then all attempts at cognition washed away by a sudden wave of interest in something totally inane like a cute image in a picture book, or something brightly coloured. Maybe that’s what it was: a curse of constant distraction. Even something as simple as hunger; she hadn’t eaten all afternoon, and she couldn’t even complete a simple thought without her mind drifting back to her tummy. She’d have to ask Mom for food, and see if that made her any more rational.

“Awawe bama Mama behama?” she mentally cursed as the babble came out of her mouth. She couldn’t even express a simple request, and with just the slightest feeling of disappointment she felt tears start to form in her eyes.

“Aww, is something wrong Twily?” Mom immediately picked her up, and the warmth of her hugs was enough to dispel a moment’s worry, “Do you need something?”

Twily rubbed her tummy, giving up on speech for now. She found herself babbling a little more, but thinking aloud was no embarrassment when the words weren’t even comprehensible. She didn’t mind making stupid noises involuntarily, it was only when she couldn’t communicate that the frustration pushed her over the edge into tearful despair.

“You’re hungry?” Mom asked, ruffling Twilight’s mane, “Well, that’s not a problem. Let’s fill up your tummy and then we can keep on reading.” She made it seem so easy. The little problems that drove Twilight to the edge of panic in her current state were no challenge to Mommy, who could change plans and make everything right again just as soon as she knew what was wrong. A snack took quite some time, with Twilight’s coordination slowing her down at it would with everything else, but eventually she was sitting on the library floor again, looking up at Mom as she spread the book out in front of her.

“There are many situations in which it may be necessary to discern …” she started reading from the book Twilight had chosen, stumbling a little over archaic words that it took her a moment to work out the modern pronunciation of. She was surprised how many words had once been spelled differently, and reading without pauses was more difficult than she’d expected. She was more familiar with an abridged version of this book, translated to be easier for modern students of magic, but from the fact that it had been open on the table earlier, Fluttershy could assume that the unicorns had already checked the shorter version to see if it contained anything relevant to this curse. “… can be deduced by systematic principles, using both crystalline, dynamic, and conventional theurtography to extract different traits.”

As she spoke the words Fluttershy didn’t really understand what they were about, but she was content to keep on reading as long as her foal was happy. It was calming in a strange way, knowing that she could do something useful without needing to think about it too much. But after just a few minutes, she started to wish again that one of her friends was here to help. She didn’t want to leave Twilight alone, even for a minute so she could use the bathroom.

The sound of the door opening made her look up suddenly, and she completely lost her place in the text. She wondered if it might be Rarity and Applejack, back already from their shopping trip, but a momentary glimpse of pink told her otherwise.

“Oh my god, Twilight, you’re so cuuuuuuute!” Pinkie Pie squealed as she barrelled into the library, dropping the bags she’d been carrying and rolling with the adult-sized foal into a chaotic pink-and-purple cuddle pile. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here this morning, I came straight away when you called but my eye started twitching just as I got to the door and reminded me I’d forgotten some important things, and I didn’t want to forget anything again so as soon as I was home I went round the whole house making sure I’ve got everything we need!” She wasn’t even short of breath at the end of that sentence, itself an amazing achievement in Fluttershy’s eyes.

“Be careful with Twilight! She’s only…” Fluttershy realised that the instincts of an overprotective mother had led her to raise her voice, and she forced herself to return to her normal quiet tone. She knew that Twilight was still a fully grown pony, she could see the evidence right before her eyes, but those treacherous instincts still wanted to believe she was looking after a fragile child. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean… Anyway, it’s good you’re here now. A dark magic spell went out of control, and Twilight seems to be acting like a foal in some ways. I keep thinking she is, it’s so hard to see what’s really there!”

“Well don’t worry yourself any more, because I’m here to help out! I love looking after little foals, it’s so much fun to play!”

“No foal!” Twilight protested. She needed to get them to understand that she was still a grown mare, while she had the coordination to at least speak a few words. Then Pinkie Pie tickled her under the chin, and any chance of thinking evaporated. In seconds she was flat on her back, writhing in a desperate attempt to back away as the pink mare tickled anywhere she left exposed. She didn’t even notice straight away when Mom joined in too, tempted by how much fun they were obviously having. Twilight couldn’t help herself, every touch filled her world and for a moment she couldn’t think of anything except trying to shield herself from the giddy, amazing torment.

Eventually Pinkie Pie took her hooves away and stepped back, one eye twitching nervously.

“We should stop–” she said, but her words were lost under Twilight’s carillion of laughter. Fluttershy redoubled her efforts, finding that if she was careful she could use her wingtips as an extra pair of hooves. They were perfect for tickling, it turned out. She wanted to have fun with the little one as well as being the responsible adult. Twilight was asking her to stop, she knew, but the foal’s pleas weren’t too clear and the huge smile and laughter made it clear enough that she really wanted to continue.

She did stop soon enough, though. Twilight was going wild, every part of her body twitching like some kind of terrible, enjoyable dance. She couldn’t stop it, a feeling of helplessness stronger than any tickling she’d had in the past. And then when she was least expecting it, one of Mom’s wings glanced her side, feathers eliciting another involuntary twitch that made her even more acutely aware of how full her bladder had been. She tried to hold it but she just couldn’t stop, even after Mom realised and stepped quickly away.

“Oh, I’m sorry Twily!” Fluttershy gasped in shock, “I didn’t know you…”

“I told you it was time to stop!” Pinkie didn’t seem to be even slightly embarrassed, but then it was hard to recognise a blush against her pink coat at the best of times, “Don’t worry, you need to get yourself cleaned up and I’ll take care of Twilight, I think she’d better wear a diaper as long as this curse lasts. Is that okay Twilight? We know it’s not your fault, don’t worry about it. I brought foal powder and everything too, because I noticed a while ago you haven’t got any here. So just calm down and let Auntie Pinkie take care of everything. Okay?”

Fluttershy knew there was no point asking how much the hyperactive pink pony knew about the current situation, and Twilight didn’t even think to. But she seemed confident, and that was all it took for them to follow her instructions without question, for now at least.

By the time Fluttershy had finished in the bathroom – again – Twilight and Pinkie were tossing a balloon back and forth in the middle of the room like perfectly normal children. Fluttershy smiled as she watched them, and didn’t interrupt until there was another knock at the door. She still knew this was a curse, but she was starting to realise that it wouldn’t be all bad if the situation could continue.