Moondancer Reborn

Twilight sat with Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts at a table outside of the restaurant that they had dined at the night Moondancer became a foal.. She put down a cup of steaming tea and placed her elbows on the table.

“And that’s everything that’s happened up until now,” said Twilight. “Minuette’s busy caring for Moondancer and I’m supporting both of them in any way I can.”

Twinkleshine blinked twice.”But why didn’t you tell us about her earlier? We’d have swooped in to help right away!”

“I didn’t want everypony to know what happened there and then.” Twilight shook her head and tipped her hoof. “I put an invisibility spell on her that night just in case I could get her back to normal. But, as it turns out, reversing an age-regression spell is much harder than it looks. My horn’s practically been burnt out multiple times trying to get it right.” She looked up and gave it a gentle rub.

“It’s fine, Twilight. Don’t stress yourself too much.” Lemon Hearts walked over to Twilight and wrapped her hoof around her friend’s body. “Now how about we go help her? I’m sure Minuette never cared for a foal in her life.”

”Oh…” Twilight was about to say something else, but Lemon Hearts’ smile was all that she needed. “You just read my mind. Thank you.”

“It’s no problem, Twilight.” Lemon Hearts gave her a pat on the back and saw her stand up. “And besides, I think that now Moondancer is a foal we’ll spend so much more time with her.”

“Thank you again. I’ve still got a lot of research to do for the reverse spell, so any extra hooves helping Moondancer out are greatly appreciated.” Twilight walked away from the table, leading her friends towards Minuette’s house.

“You can count on us, Twilight.” Twinkleshine gave her a small salute. “Trust us; we’re not going to waste this opportunity.”

Minuette was trying to change Moondancer in her house, but she was now being bombarded with everything in the room. She saw the auras appear around certain toys and other foal clothes before they were launched straight towards her.

“Moondancer! C’mon! What did I ever do to you?” Minuette tried to pry an answer as she swerved out of the way of another projectile, but only watched Moondancer clap her hooves and giggle maniacally.

Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine opened the door and walked inside, barely getting out of the way of a thrown teddy bear once they were in the room. They looked over at Moondancer and her wet diaper sagging between her legs before the foal hurled a number of building blocks at the group.

“Twinkleshine! Lemon Hearts! Thank Celestia you’re here!” Twinkleshine used her magic to deflect another one of the toys. “Do you girls can find something to calm Moondancer down? She’s been acting like this for ten minutes!”

The girls nodded and looked around the room, ducking to avoid the next onslaught of baby toys and blankets. After they were out of Moondancer’s sight, they checked the floor for anything that would be able to calm down the foal

Eventually, Lemon Hearts found a pacifier and quickly slipped it into Moondancer’s mouth. She suckled it for a few moments with both mares looking at the foal with pleading eyes. To their relief, Moondancer began to close her eyes and suck slower and slower, falling into a more relaxed state.

“There we go.” Lemon Hearts picked the quiet Moondancer up and carried her off to the changing table. “Pacifiers work every time. Foals just can’t seem to stop sucking on them these days.”

“Thank you, Lemon.” Minuette brushed her hair back to the way she usually styled it and placed a hoof on Lemon Hearts’ chest. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you. It looks like caring for a kid’s harder than I thought…”

“It’s no big deal when you’ve got all of us helping you out.” Twinkleshine nodded and turned towards the foal. She gently pushed Moondancer’s back onto the table and took the urine-ridden diaper off. “Now, does any one of you know how to change a diaper?”

Twilight now stood before a plain wooden door with a single knocker on the front. The windows to each side of the window looked heavily moisturised and soggy, with a feint indistinguishable aroma wafting through the air. The grass around Twilight looked charred and burnt, as if someone had tried to use their magic to keep it fresh.

Twilight came up to the door and used the knocker on the door. She stepped backwards when she heard what sounded like a mare falling down the steps and muttering angrily to themselves. When the door opened, a unicorn mare stood before her with a murky white coat, a dark green mane drooping down her sides, and black-rimmed glasses covering her red eyes.

“What is it?” The mare asked, brushing off some of the dirt that lingered on her coat.

Twilight was almost taken aback at how drastically different the mare looked in comparison to her initial assumption. “You’re Moondancer’s mom, correct?”

“That’d be me. The name’s Riverdancer. Top ‘o’ the mornin’ to ye.” The mare lazily waved her hoof to Twilight. “So what’ll ya be havin’ from me, yer highness? Free food? A cold drink?”

Twilight blushed as she started to scrape the cobblestone below her hooves. “Well, you see, Riverdancer, I, uh…”

Riverdancer cocked her eyebrows and tilted her head. “It’s about me daughter, ain’t it? Did she do something wrong?”

Twilight shook her head and tapped the ground with the tip of her hoof. “Well, not really. I’ll explain more if you let me inside.”

Riverdancer opened the door and stood aside. “Sure. If it’s about wee little Moondancer, I want to know as soon as I can.”

Riverdancer lead Twilight through the dust and dirt-ridden house filled with books piled on top of each other. No matter where they both went, there were books either on or around every piece of furniture. There were even books by the kitchen counter and around the stoves and ovens.

Twilight simply chuckled at the sight of all of the books. ”Whoa. That’s something you don’t see every day. And considering that I used to live in a library, it really shouldn’t be this big of a deal.”

Riverdancer glared at the books and crossed her arms. “Yes. I always offered for her to help with the farm out back, but she always had her head stuck in those blasted books. She even took some of my favorite ones when she moved out. Little blighter, I tell ya...”

Once they walked into the kitchen, they heard a whistling sound coming from a silver kettle nearby. Riverdancer took it from the heated plate and picked up two cups from the nearby rack. “Do you want some tea, love? Might as well, seeing as the kettle’s boiled.”

“Yes, thank you.” Twilight nodded and watched Riverdancer load a pair of tea bags into the cups and pour the scalding water into them. The water turned grey and let off a smell that wrapped around Twilight’s nose and travelled up her nostrils. “Mmm. This looks good.”

Riverdancer took the first cup of tea with her magic and took a small sip. “Now can you tell me about my daughter? It’s not good to keep an Irish mare like myself waiting, y’know.”

Twilight began slowly drinking her own cup of tea, looking at Riverdancer with uncertainty in her eyes. “Yes, well a few nights ago, Moondancer and I were… developing.”

Riverdancer almost spat out her tea and choked on it, eying up Twilight with daggers shooting from her eyes. “You better not have done something awful to me daughter. She’s the Dancer Family lineage an’ all. I’d send you straight to the gallows if you did!”

“No! No! It’s nothing like that.” Twilight waved her hooves in front of her face. “You see, we were developing a spell to make mares look younger and she wanted me to test it on her and—”

“And?” Riverdancer’s glare became even more malicious as her brows now twitched. “What did you do to her?!”

Twilight gulped and sweat trickled down from her brow as she took a deep breath. “I used the spell on her and it turned her into a foal.”

Riverdancer blinked repeatedly with her mouth agape. What had remained of her earlier hostility had now been entirely washed away with the news of her daughter. “So wee little Moondancer really is a wee little one again? Is that it?”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I know this may be shocking, but I believe that she will be back to normal within a month—provided that I find a reverse spell.”

Riverdancer simply gave Twilight a toothy grin and folded her arms again. She puffed out her chest and smirked devilishly. “Well it’s about time.”

“Wait, what?” This time, Twilight jumped up and banged her head against the ceiling. She rubbed it as she fluttered back down to the floor and opened her eyes wider. “What do you mean by that?”

Riverdancer laughed and already began walking towards the front door. “Oh, I have to see this.”

“So… you're not mad at me?” Twilight asked for clarification.

“What are you talking about? Why would I ever be mad at you for something as hilarious as this?” Riverdancer slapped her knees and almost fell over with laughter. “Come! Come! I wouldn’t miss this for the world! My egghead daughter, reduced to a crying and blubbering foal? That’s just too good to be true!”

Twilight groaned and followed the cackling mare out of the building. “I should’ve just gone to the library…”

Minuette woke from what seemed like hours of sleep and groggily looked up to see the sun setting through her window.Man, I can’t believe I got so much sleep without Moondancer crying ...”she smiled for a few moments until the realisation struck her. She had left her alone with Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts; two ponies who were just as irressponsible and unexperienced as she was. Oh no. The baby! I’ve gotta see her! And she dashed off down the stairs like a bullet from a gun.

She ran down the stairs to find Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Twilight, and Riverdancer all cooing and playing with Moondancer, who was reveling in the vast amounts of attention, babbling and squealing happily as she crawled from pony to pony.

Minuette sighed in relief and brushed her forehead. “Oh wow. Thank goodness. I almost had a heart attack.”

“Oh! Minuette! Good afternoon!” Twilight waved at Minuette and motioned for her to come closer. “I want to introduce Moondancer’s mom, Riverdancer.”

She turned to the older mare who bowed her head and tousled the mane of her infantile daughter. “It's lovely ta meet ye, Minuette. Thank you for taking care of me daughter.”

Minuette groggily smacked her lips as she rubbed her eyes and let off a tiny yawn. “Oh, it’s no problem, miss. I love peanut butter crackers as well...”

“I’m relieved to hear that me daughter is in good hands.” Riverdancer smiled and stroked Minuette’s back. “If what Twilight’s told me is true, then you’re doing a great job with her. I hope that you raise her well.”

“Yeah, tha—” Minuette’s eyes shot open when she had let Riverdancer’s words sink in ”—wait, what?! You’re Moondancer’s mom?!”

Riverdancer picked up Moondancer and gave her a little tickle on her belly, watching her giggle and squirm around. “Yes I am. Moony’s going to have a lot of fun with ye. I can tell.”

Minuette blushed and rubbed the back of her mane, squinting her eyes at Riverdancer. “So... you’re okay with her being a foal?”

Riverdancer turned to Minuette. “Of course I am. In fact, I'm over the moon to see that she and Twilight came up with such an advanced and quite frankly adorable spell.”

“The spell wasn't supposed to turn her into a foal though.” Twilight coughed under her breath.

Riverdancer heard Twilight and shook her head at her. “No. Not at all, m’dear. ‘Tis a wonderful spell ya got here. One that I hope gets published some day so that more ponies can relive their childhoods. You only get one, y’know.”

Riverdancer hugged Moondancer and cooed gently into her ear. ”I always knew you would find amazing spells. Yes you would. Coochie-coo!” She heard Moondancer chuckle some more as she slowly began to rock her.

Twilight walked up to Riverdancer and whispered softly. “So… How does turning ponies back to foals help any pony?”

Riverdancer shrugged. “Who knows? Mayhaps Celestia and Luna could use to shave of some of their hundreds of years. Old as hags, I tell ya.”

Minuette went and sat down with the rest of the mares, who had now formed a perfect pentagon. She saw Moondancer turn towards her and begin to cry, waving her miniature hooves and spluttering incoherent foal gibberish as she reached out for her. “Aww, Moony. C’mere.” She extended her own legs in turn.

Riverdancer placed Moondancer back on the ground and let her crawl along slowly, waddling back and forth as her diaper crinkled with every inch. Minuette still marveled at how young and cute she thought her friend was. It was like she had become an entirely different pony. She picked her up and kissed her on the forehead holding her delicately in her hooves. She watched Moondancer gurgle and blow bubbles through her mouth as she stretched her left hoof out and lightly bop her on the nose with it.

Riverdancer smiled at the sight and smiled at Minuette and Moondancer. “Well. Guess that’s that. You two go together like arrows and an archery target.”

Minuette looked up from Moondancer’s harmless face and locked gazes with Riverdancer. “Oh! No, no, It’s not like that.”

Riverdancer laughed once again and stroked Moondancer. “It’s fine, Minuette. I wasn’t really that good of a mother anyway. Hopefully Moony’s better off in your hands.”

Twilight stood back up and approached the front door. “Well, it’s been nice to be with you all today, but now I really must get back to researching a cure. In the meantime, I hope that you’re all fine with Minuette taking care of Moondancer.” She turned towards Riverdancer. “Last chance. Is it really alright if she looks after her?”

“Yes, is it, Twilight.” Riverdancer nodded and unintentionally let out a small burp. She waved the lingering stench away from her as she wiped her mouth. “Sorry about that. I’ve been knocking back a few pints at the tavern today and the smell isn't gonna go ‘til tomorrow.” She stood up along with the rest of the mares as they all came up to Twilight. “That, and I’ve recently been approved to teach at the university, so I couldn’t look after her even if I tried.”

Moondancer simply babbled incoherently but Minuette felt like she agreed and accepted the situation just as much as her former mother did. She then turned back to Minuette and snuggled into her chest.

“Alright then. Take care, everyone.” Riverdancer opened the door and strolled out. “i’ll come by tomorrow after work to see how she’s getting on.”

Minuette bowed her head as Riverdancer left the house, followed by Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts. They all gave one more smile back to her as Twilight walked out with them.

”Minuette, do you really want to still care for her?” Twilight repeated the question once more. “Being a mother’s a tough job.”

“Twilight, it’s Moondancer. She’s been my bestest friend for, like, EVER!” Minuette exclaimed. “Look. I know that this is hard but I want to keep her safe. It’s not right for anypony to be like this, even if half of the time, their face is plowed into books all day..”

“Well, alright Minuette.” Twilight nodded and walked out of the house. “I’ll be at the Canterlot Main Library if you need anything.”

“I’ll be sure to come and find you if I need anything.” Minuette waved the group off and watched them all walk down the streets. Once they were far enough, she closed the door and sighed.

Almost immediately after everyone had left and Minuette was once again in solitude, a repugnant stench filled the air as Moondancer’s diaper got warm and squelchy. She took a small sniff and stuck her tongue out as she began to walk back upstairs.

“Looks like someone’s in need of a diapee change, aren’t they?” Minuette blew a raspberry into Moondancer’s stomach and heard her squeal and chuckle some more as the two of them embarked up the stairs towards Minuette’s room.