Blessing or Curse?

The six ponies went through the halls to the dining room. Princess Luna was already there, waiting for them as she sat on her 'chair', that looked more like a throne.

"It is nice to see you again, Princess Aurora." Luna greeted the Pegasus as she took place.

"Please, I'm Rainbow Dash.."

"We apologize." Luna said. She then noticed that Dash was wearing a new necklace. "We didn't know you had a thing for jewelry." The princess of the night said before her magical aura was around the necklace.

Dash started to panic. "No! Don't!" She shrieked and held the necklace with her hooves, practically holding it in place for dear life.

Princess Luna was the only one confused by this. Dash realized this. "It's.. um.. it means a lot to me, Twi gave it to me."

Luna was able to detect the spell that was casted on the necklace with her magic. She knew what Dash was hiding, but figured that she would just play along.

"We are really happy for you, Lilo." She said with a smile. Dash only groaned at the old nickname.

Her friends, however, were confused. "Lilo?" They asked.

"Urgh. It's just a nickname Lulu gave me when I was little. Li-Lo, Little Loyalty." Dash explained.

Though it cleared one thing up, they were confused again. "Lulu?"

Dash groaned and buried her head in her forelegs while Luna blushed.

"Never mind." Twilight said. "Let's just get to eating."

"Sounds good to me!" Pinkie said, digging in.

After dinner they all went back to their rooms. Almost all of them. Twilight was asked to go with Luna.

"I get why you would give Dash a nickname, but really, Lilo?"

"Compared to our nickname, that is nothing."

"Why? What does Lulu stand for?"

Luna blushed a little. "Well.. when Aurora was a filly, she was completely into flying. But her stunts mostly ended in crashes." Luna chuckled a bit at the memory. "I think there was not one day that she came to me with bruises or other wounds." Her smile faded. "But one injury almost made her quit flying altogether..."

"The one on her back?" Twilight asked, presuming what Luna was getting at.

"You know?"

"Dash told me. She's having one of those 'phases' again, that's why we are here." Twilight explained.

"I am truly sorry, but there is nothing that we can do. We have tried everything we could. Magic can not heal this."

"We didn't come here for healing. I want her to learn that she can trust the rest of our friends with this, the same way she did with me. It was hard to even get her outside.. it's like she just wants to skip on life until the phase is over!"

"We know that very well. The first time we did not know that it could end. Aurora was so embarrassed and ashamed, she wanted to stop flying. You have to understand, Pegasi tend to, ahem, 'lose their water' while flying when they have a weak bladder for example."

Twilight went pale. Imagining the fastest flier alive practically raining through a Sonic Rainboom.

"Exactly." Luna commented.

"But how long was she like that? How long do these phases last?"

"That is a good question. From a few weeks to mere months. That depends. But it always ends the same. And we think it would do her good if you help her."

"Huh? I don't understand. How does it end? How can I help her? You said that spells don't work!"

Luna shook her head. "Not with magic. Let us tell you a story. When Little Loyalty had the first phase, she was completely against any kind of protection. So we tried it with the next stage, potty training. Since Tia only took care of her training to control her magic, it was our responsibility to help her.

But we soon had to figure something out, after the first tries ended in having to clean up. It appears that she is too embarrassed for her own good. Rather wet herself than tell us.
So instead of saying that she needs to go, we came up with a simple code word. That is why we are called 'Lulu'."

"Yeah.. that sound like Dash. So in order to help her through it I have to take her to the bathroom in time?"

Luna nodded.

Dash was laying curled up under the covers on the bed. She just wanted to go home.

Finally the door opened and Twilight came in. "Hey lilo." The alicorn said and laughed.

Dash groaned under the covers. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up."

"Why so grumpy?" Twilight asked after jumping on the bed.

The Pegasus stuck her head out and glared at the alicorn. "You're enjoying this, aren't you."

"Come on, I was just teasing you."

"Whatever. I'm going to sleep." The Pegasus said and turned away from the alicorn.

"Are you wearing your protection?" Twilight asked sternly. Dash groaned in response.

"Dash, it's only for your own good. You're always so disappointed in yourself when-"

Dash stopped her from talking by putting her hoof over Twilight's mouth. "Don't. Say it." She glared.

Twilight rolled her eyes and pushed Dash's hoof away. "You're so immature sometimes."

That was it. Dash turned away, got up from the bed and walked out of the room. Twilight quickly went after her.

"Dash, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"I. Am not. A foal." Dash said as she glared at the alicorn with her wings flared in anger.

Twilight was confused for a moment. This was not the first time that Dash had reacted this way. And with this 'phase', it became clear to Twilight that the Pegasus felt insecure and every mentioning of her not being grown up was like a terrible insult.

"I'm sorry. Of course you are not a foal. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Dash seemingly relaxed at the words. She sighed and turned around, then they both went back to their room.

Twilight once again told Dash that wearing her 'protection' was not making her a foal. Only then the Pegasus let Twilight put her in it. After one stressful day, they finally drifted off to sleep.