Night Breeze, Moon Sight, Lantern Light and I had been sent on a night route for the Everfree Forest near Ponyville. It used to be my old station, and I had been told that even though the forest was known for its unpredictability, that our unit was the best choice to patrol the area.

There had been reports of Diamond Dogs in the area, attacking traveling ponies at night as well as being a source of thievery and deforestation. A team of weather Pegasai had spotted a clearing being cut near the center of the forest while they were setting up a shower for the following day.

Our mission was to travel far enough into the forest and mark where the Diamond Dog camp was, so that a team of Royal Guard could assault the Bandit's makeshift fort in the forest. We had been given a short briefing on some of the new species that had popped up in the area, like Manticores and Cockatrice.

What they failed to mention, however, was the plant life.

"Hey everypony, I don't feel right." I complained, my insides feeling like they were trying to perform ballet. I was holding my gut with both hooves as I plopped myself on the ground next to a large rock, leaning against it.

"It was just a light thicket, Novel. Don't be such a whiner." Lantern Light huffed, looking behind us to watch out for animal life or Diamond Dogs.

"Hey, it could be something serious. He got scratched by one of those plants so maybe he's been poisoned!" Night Breeze voiced with concern, hovering above us to get a better view of the area.

"Or he could just be tired. I don't think he gets much exercise with all the paperwork he goes through. When was the last time you had a field op?" Moon Sight asked, taking up the front because she was the most able to fend off attacks as well as the sturdiest of the group.

I doubled over in pain, as my internals fought desperately to become my externals, and cried out in pain.

"AAAAAAGGGGHHH!!!" I fell onto the forest floor, convulsing with my vision blotting out or swimming in bright color.

"Oh Celesta, he's freaking out!" Night Breeze announced, swooping down to my side with helplessness as she tried to hold me down and prevent me from hurting myself.

"What scratched him?" Lantern Light asked, backing up to move towards me while still keeping an eye out on the dark forest.

"I think it was some kind of blue plant thing. I saw it reach out for him and then it just gave him a tiny nick on his hind leg." Moon Sight stated calmly, also moving back towards me as my seizure stopped abruptly and I relaxed.

My entire body hurt, but I wasn’t freaking out anymore. I blinked the blurriness out of my sight to see Night Breeze's shocked expression, her jaw dropped and sides of her mouth twitching.

"What?" I asked, before I realized my voice was even higher in pitch than before. I put a hoof to my throat in confusion, before realizing it was smaller than I was used to. Holding out my forehooves, I saw that they were dainty compared to what I had before. I looked further down myself and noticed a distinct lake of male anatomy.

"Oh no!" I squeaked, my rediculously high pitched voice was even squeakier than my previously feminine stallion's voice. But to replace it with that of an actual mare's...

"Pffft! Bahahaa!" Night Breeze burst out laughing, holding her belly as she fell backwards and landed with a metallic thud from her armor protecting her head that had shot backward onto the ground.

"What? What’s goin... Haah! No way!" Lantern Light joined in after having looked sideways to see my new Mare-endowed self.

"Moon, Look at this!" Night Breeze managed to say in-between bouts of laughter.

I turned to see Moon Sight look at me, our eyes locking before she gave a fiendish smirk.

"Hey, now we got somepony to add to our threesome, and maybe Lantern Light will cuddle with Novvie now!" She teased, pointing a hoof and laughing at me before using said hoof to stomp on the ground in barely controlled merriment.

"Guys, it's not funny!" I whined, covering my face with my hooves in embarrassment.

"D'aaawww, Lookit how shy she is!" Night Breeze joked, holding the sides of my armored face and moving my head back and forth like a Grandmare messing with the face of her grand foal.

"Who's a widdle filly? Who's a widdle filly? You're a widdle filly! Yes you are!" She said in a baby voice to me, rocking my head around and causing my ill-fitting helmet to bounce on my head.

"We've got a mission to do!" I protested, trying to keep my helmet on as the rest of my armor clanked around loosely.

"Yes we do! The widdle filly and her fwends have a mission to complete!" She continued, before dropping her hooves from my face and setting the helmet that had fallen over my nose back to my head.

I stood up after the laughter had died down, and noticed I was at least a head shorter than everypony else.

"Oh no, don't tell me I’m not –actually- a filly!" I cried, my high pitched and squeaky voice turning what was supposed to be a dignified outburst into a whine.

They all looked at me, before Lantern Light put a hoof to his chin in thought.

"Well, you still have your cutie mark from what I can see. I think you've just been knocked down a few pegs." He said, patting my head with an armored hoof, causing some light clanking from the armor disagreeing with its treatment. I held out my ill-fitting armored hoof, and noticed that it nearly fell off just raising it. None of my armor was fitting properly anymore, as it was all fitted to my taller stallion self.

"But... I'm at least a -mare-, right? I'm not a little filly?" I pouted, looking up at Lantern Light who was now over a foot and a half taller than I was.

"Well, you're little. But I don’t think whatever than plant was turned you into a kid. You're just a pipsqueak of a mare." Lantern Light observed.

"You're also adorable!" Night Breeze added, but I shook off one of my hoof guards and flung it past her head.

"Ooh! Mare-Novvie is feisty!" Moon Sight teased, giving me a playful shove but sending my body flying off into the brush nearby. My head was still spinning as they flew over, landing lightly despite their armor thanks to the intensive training we had been receiving on account of being inactive for a few months.

"I don't think this armor is going to do much good." I sighed, wiggling out of the loose fitting armor as it clanked down onto the ground. I spent a few moments to pack it away in my rations bag at the bottom with the food sitting on top so it wouldn't be crushed.

"Alright. We've still got a mission to do, and I bet that this will either wear off somehow, or there’s a cure for it. So let’s just find the Diamond Dogs and report back to the post in Ponyville." I said, taking up my mantle as the Officer for the mission, despite my absurdly ill equipped form for the task.

"You want me to carry that armor of yours?" Moon Sight offered.

"I should be able to carry it, but if I can't then I'll let you know." I replied. I might not be as built as I was before, but I would still try to carry my own weight if I could.

***

"Hey Movvie, try flying up near the treeline to get a better look at the layout." Lantern Light suggested, using my new nickname of Movvie (Mare-Novvie) to make a playful jab at me.

"Fine, Lantern." I huffed, jumping into a hover before I flew just over the treeline to see the lit camp of the Diamond Dogs.

There was a tall tree log wall around the perimeter of the camp. A few smaller tents surrounded one large circus tent in the center, with what looked like a butcher's area toward the eastern side of the camp. Diamond Dogs were carnivores, of course. I just hoped that none of that meat was pony. There was a single gate leading towards our observation spot on the ground, with two fairly large and intimidating guards on watch in the battlements behind the gate. They had makeshift iron armor with crude bladed weapons. They couldn't really be considered swords, as they looked more like slabs of jagged metal with handles bolted onto them. They were massive however, built for the frames that the Diamond Dogs could bring to bear and would cleave any one of us in half with a single strike.

Princess Celestia, in her 'infinite wisdom' had decided against using weapons after the Coup of Nightmare Moon, and had thus left us fairly defenseless against that kind of weaponry. Our armor was enchanted to protect against strikes, but if any of our fleshy bits were hit, we would be done.

I couldn't even wear my armor now, thanks to my new fail, skinny and short mare form. I was still a Bat pony with the same coloration and cutie mark, but as far as I could tell the only change had been turning me into a mare and making me shorter.
My rose tinted night vision spotted a far larger Diamond Dog coming out of the large center tent. He wore segmented steel armor that was colored red, with a plumed helmet on his head signifying his rank. Whatever rank that would be. I just assumed that meant he was a leader.

My ears twitched as I picked up his faint yelling.

"You, move boxes there! You, bring weapons here! You, bring me flying pony over there!" He yelled, finally pointing directly at me.

"Oh Horseapples!" I swore, diving back into the treeline and towards my allies to warn them.

I had overshot their position in my panic, and landed silently behind them.

"Hey! We have to get out of here!" I whisper shouted, causing them to nearly jump out of their armor at my sudden 'hey!’

"Spotted?" Night Breeze asked, and I nodded.

We took off in flight directly up and away from the Diamond Dog camp, a few nets being flung at us but mercifully missing by several feet. Their angry howls sent shivers down my body, but we had made it safely away from their encampment. Our mission was to scout anyway, so no combat was good with me.

***

"Where's Lieutenant Thought? Who's the mare?" The captain of the Ponyville guard asked, looking suspiciously at me before looking at Lantern Light.

"The mare -is- the Lieutenant, Captain." He explained, smirking for a moment before regaining his composure.

"He... 'She' is the Lieutenant?" He asked, perplexed.

"I was attacked by some blue plant life, and a scratch from it turned me into this." I chirped in my high pitched voice, feeling out of place speaking like this.

"Right... Well, whatever happened can be fixed by some magic from some unicorn, no doubt. Give me your report as soon as you've written it. Dismissed!" He ordered, as the others filed out I mouthed over a scroll that I had written on.

"What's this?" He asked, taking the scroll in his hooves.

"It's the report. I wrote it while we had time flying back here." I replied with a smile.

The Captain blinked a few times in disbelief, before shrugging it off and dismissing me.

***

I found our impromptu barracks was actually a treehouse library. The lavender unicorn that was its Librarian had allowed us to spend the night, and her peculiar pet dragon had insisted on making us tea.

"So, are you enjoying your stay in Ponyville?" The unicorn asked, using her telekinesis to pour out some of the tea into cups while looking nervously excited at us.

"Yeah, this place hasn't changed much but it’s still a nice place." Moon Sight replied, sipping her tea cup grasped in her hooves without noise.

The unicorn finished pouring our tea, before setting down the teapot. "Oh, I just remembered! I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and Spike is my assistant here in the Library." She said warmly. "What' your names?"

"My name is Moon Sight, The stallion is Lantern Light, the mare next to him is Night Breeze, and our C.O. is Novel Thought." Moon Sight said, introducing all of us.

"Novel Thought? Does that mean you write books by chance?" She asked, looking at me hopefully.

"Well, I would if I had the time. It’s just handy for paperwork really..." I squeaked, before cringing at my voice.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, worried.

"Well, he... er- she, ran into some weird blue plant that nicked her in the Everfree forest. Turned into a mare on the spot shortly after. Still getting used to the voice I suppose." Lantern Light replied.

"Wait, was it an all blue flower with thorns on the stem, and did it reach out to grab you?" she asked, looking at her baby dragon assistant who soon ran off in search of something.

"Um... Yeah?" I said confused.

"Got it!" I heard Spike call out, bringing a large book labeled "Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-Alls That Are Simply Super" and setting it down on our table with a thud.

I shared a look of skepticism with my fellow bat ponies, before Twilight declared

"Aha!", finding the plant in her book.

"I remember encountering this plant before. It's called 'Poison Joke' and needs a special bath to get rid of the effects." she stated happily, before her expression dropped.

"Oh, I just remembered that Zecora is on Vacation to see her family back in Zebreca... I'm sure it will be fine, though! I'll be sure to let her know when she gets back, and we can get the bath mix all ready for you when she can get the ingredients. I couldn't ask you to go back out there into the Everfree with all those Diamond Dogs wandering around, and so late at night on top of it!" she closed the book before floating it over to Spike, who dutifully returned it.

"Now, I have a space prepared upstairs where I keep my telescope. You're free to stay there as long as you need to for your mission, but please don't touch the telescope. I'm working on a special project for Princess Celestia and I need it for my research." she explained, taking off her thick black and square glasses she had worn to read a few pages of the book before.

"Thank you for the hospitality, Miss Sparkle." Moon Sight said, finishing her tea and nudging Night Breeze.

"Oh yeah, Thank you!" Night Breeze blurted, getting the hint.

Twilight raised a hoof to stop the calls of thank you's before Lantern and myself could chime in.

"Don't worry about it. You're all my guests and you don't have to thank me for letting you spend a few nights." Twilight said, lowering her hoof.

"I need to get some sleep, it's been a long day and I have a lot of studying to do in the morning. Feel free to drop by after you're done with your assignment, by the way. The library is usually open." She said with a yawn, before waving goodbye and climbing up the stairs to her bed next to a window.

"Well, I think we should all get some sleep too. All in favor of a group cuddle, for old time's sake?" Night Breeze whispered loud enough for all of us to hear.

"Novvie should cuddle with Lantern Light! Being a cute mare and all, there’s no way he could object!" Moon Sight teased, while I blushed and Lantern Light crossed his hooves against his chest.

"Nope. I got Charmed now, so I ain’t cuddlin' with anypony else." He stated firmly.

"Awww. It’s okay, Novvie. You can still sleep with us!" Night Breeze cheered quietly, picking me up and flying us up the stairs.

"Hey, you got really light weight being a filly." She commented, tossing me upwards into the air slightly before catching me easily.

I grumbled, but with my voice it turned out to be more of a squeaky whimpering.

Well. Being a filly isn't too bad. I just hope it isn't forever.

No, I’m not tempting fate again!

I won't be a filly forever!

Wait...

Author's Note

This chapter took a bit longer to get out than it should've, thanks to a chance encounter with Vanilla Icecream. Apparently it makes my creativity turn off so i just couldnt think of what to write at all until today.

Hope you're all enjoying the story, and all comments are greatly appreciated!