Little You switcharoo

by Yosh-E-O

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Twilight Sparkle, Random, Slice of Life
Length: 9189

Twilight and Spike are having a friendship problem requiring some special magic to resolve.

The day-to-day efforts made by Spike seem to go unnoticed by Twilight as she is too caught up in her advanced studies to always be praising her young charge for his efforts. This causes both to feel bothered by each other's inability to understand what is needed to be the perfect pair they were back in Canterlot.

The situation is nearing a boiling point when Twilight is sent a mysterious draconic artifact to study on behalf of Princess Celestia. Perhaps researching the strange stone will aid in rekindling their bond?

STORY BY:
ABDL Pony
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/90753/abdlpony

ARTISTIC INSPIRATION:
Cuddle Hooves
www.furaffinity.net/user/cuddlehooves

Published 2017-07-14 13:20:05 UTC
Last updated 2017-07-14 13:20:05 UTC

Chapter 1 - Tension and Experimentation

Spike clutched the edges of his latest Power Ponies comic and rolled his eyes. Yeah, I barely get any time to goof off, Twi, he thought bitterly. He flipped a few pages, but found that his eyes would skim the words without actually comprehending their meaning. He sighed and set it aside and began looking around his room. Its meager decorations consisted of a few framed photos depicting him hanging out with Twilight and her friends. There were also some decorative carvings strewn among the walls of multi-colored ponies and dragons of various types and colors. He had his very own bed, albeit a small basket to sleep in, and a small chest where he kept his things. “Huh, I really should talk to Twilight about my room,” he said, surveying the bare environment for the first time in ages. Feels… lonely, he thought.

He smiled just slightly, however, upon noticing the one framed trophy that hung just above his bed. Spike picked it up and smiled at the golden plaque with the tiny etched in text.

Number One Assistant to Twilight Sparkle

“I guess she really does count on me a lot, huh?” he said to himself while hanging it back up. He fell a spike of pride sweep through him as he completely forgot about his bare room. “Well, I’m gonna show her what a real assistant can do!” He exclaimed and darted away from his room as he swept his way downstairs.

He spotted the mare in question who appeared to be examining a large shiny rock of some kind. Every once ina while she would scribble down some notes with her levitated quill, but otherwise didn't look away to acknowledge the baby dragon.

“Hey Twilight!” Spike roared out, eager to rectify her lapse in perception.

Twilight yelped in surprise as her head was conked forward, knocking the strange rock off its case. Spike dived forward and caught the thing before it so much as touched a millimeter of wooden floor.

“I’m sorry, Twilight! I just got kind of excited and-”

“Spike! What have I told you about interrupting me when I’m working on my experiments? You could have damaged it!”

“I’m sorry, alright?” He placed it back on its case rather carefully and looked up to her with a hopeful; smile. “I just came running down because I wanted to help you with, uh, whatever this is.”

She scoffed with yet another roll of her eyes. “Oh really? Sure you don’t want to go read more comics?” She asked in a half-teasing tone.

He shook his head. “C’mon, Twi. Aren’t I your number one assistant? Let me help!” He held up his claws in a pleading gesture and Twilight silently giggled.

“...Maybe, Spike this is a very delicate artifact that Princess Celestia--”

“You ever wonder why she has so many weird or rare artifacts to send you?” Spike suddenly asked over her.

“Uh… I- I’m not sure how to answer that, Spike. She’s… very old and has acquired a large assortment of weird and strange items over the years. Anyway, this,” she said, still eyeing the black surface, “is the “’i]Dragon Vessel’. Celestia claims it could unify the friendship of dragon and ponykind through-”

“The magic of friendship?” Spike quipped.

She snorted. “No. Well… maybe, she only had a small number of notes on it. But Spike, this draconic artifact could finally prove that Dragons and Ponies lived together in harmony! This is so exciting!”

Spike idly poked the thing, watching it tip from side to side. “Uh, but it’s just a rock?” He then sniffed the air and shrugged. “Doesn’t even smell appetising.”

“It’s not a gem, Spike. It’s proof, proof of a time before our race’s separation and bitterness.”

“I’m not bitter…” he muttered and was immediately brought in for a hug while Twilight pushed him forward with just a hint of her magic.

“No, never you, Spike. But I can’t say the same for other dragons.”

Spike snorted. “Yeah,” he said, giggling a bit. “Just ask Rainbow Dash. Heh, teach her to kick a dragon in the snout.”

Twilight went to respond, but the words died in her throat. She paused to examine Spike and gently wiped her right front hoof along the back of his spines, smiling slightly. The drake took the message and smiled back.

“You know, Spike, maybe you can help me out,” she said rather slowly. The drake beamed and wriggled his way out of her hug and struck a pose with his claws pointed upwards and a powerful smirk on his face.

“Spike, Number One Assistant ready to help!”

She smirked. “Right, I’m not certain if this next experiment will actually yield any results, but I need a dragon for it.”

Spike puffed out his chest while still smiling and rubbed his claws along it. “Well, luckily you have this handsome gentledrake to work with,” he said.

“Yeah, so lucky,” she said in a deadpan tone. “Ahem, now, according to Princess Celestia’s notes on the matter, the vessel can be activated if an equine, such as myself, and a certain baby dragon both touch it in unison!”

“Uni what?” he asked, scratching his head.

She giggled. “It means at the same time.” He smacked his head and nodded. “Right, are you ready?” she asked and placed her front hoof on the top of the rock.

He saluted her comically and nodded. “Ready!” He then slowly reached out to place his right claw just below where Twilight had her hoof. His claws tingled with anticipation until he finally felt the cool feeling of the odd artifact. They waited and waited, until Twilight sighed.

“Nothing,” she said, shaking her head.

Spike shrugged. “Maybe you need to use magic on it- oh! Or maybe I need to, like, breath my magic dragon fire on the rock. Oh… that would burn your hoof, huh?” He asked, blushing at her deadpan glare.

She sighed. “She did warn that it would require quite a bit of tinkering to activate, but it should have done something. Hmm…” she hummed while narrowing her eyes at the baby drake.

“What?” Is there something on my face? he thought, feeling around.

“Spike, I think you may have been onto something,” she said, slowly removing her hoof and setting it down. “But first, have you been practicing your fire aiming?”

This again? “Yes, Twilight. I know how to use my fire, thank you,” he said, clicking his teeth in annoyance. “Us dragons are are exceptionally well tuned for handling our flames,” he stated with supreme confidence while puffing out his chest.

She blinked. “Uh, but what about the time when you were working with Rarity on that dress and--” Spike lurched forward, his eyes widening and he covered her muzzles, making a shushing noise. “She’ll hear you! She still thinks, that- that it was… Sweetie Belle,” he said in a hushed whisper. “You Pinkie Promised not to say!”

Calmly she removed his claws and nodded. “Okay, if you're sure you can aim. Just be careful; we live in a tree you know.”

“Right,” he said, nodding in agreement. Twilight knows how to put out fires, right? he thought, eyeing the mare nervously. He shrugged and, without thinking at all, aimed his flame directly to the rock. A strong orange jet of flames washed over the the black substance, turning it a dull glow.

“Okay, stop right there, Spike!” She said while holding up her hoof.

“Did it work?”

“I don’t know, hmm,” she hummed again, carefully examining the rock at merely a few inches away. Noticing a thin trail of dust along it, she blew forward harshly and coughed a few times. “This looks like a… hoof print? Why didn’t I notice this before?”

“Hey, Twi, there’s a space where my claw looks like it could go. See!” He exclaimed, while pressing his claw over the claw shaped insignia which was also dully glowing along the rock.

“Spike! That could be very hot, don’t touch that!”

Spike snorted. “Uh, dragon, remember? Plus it’s pretty cold. Go on, try yours!” He said, pointing to the odd hoof print which had mysteriously shown up on her side.

She eyed it wearily. “This is highly unusual, Spike. Perhaps I should check those notes and maybe send the princess a letter first…” she muttered while trailing off at the end.

Spike rolled his eyes. “What’s the harm in trying? I bet it’s what we’re supposed to do,” he argued.

“I guess,” she relented. “Okay, let’s try.” And she pressed her hoof onto the surface while Spike had his claw on the opposite side. Almost immediately the rock began to glow even brighter until it was practically blinding to the both of them; it also began to pulse quite loudly.

“What now?” Spike asked, yelling over the near deafening sound.

“What? I don’t-” Twilight began, but suddenly breathed in a large quantity of dust through her nostrils. “Oh no, not now.” Twilight tried to get away from the rock, but the insides of her nostrils had began to tickle and, without much warning at all, she sneezed. A sudden burst of energy flared out from her horn, striking the glowing artifact dead center and, in an instant, the light and horrible static sound had vanished. Twilight blinked in confusion, but then the rock exploded in a lavender colored light.

Spike’s body was thrown backwards from the shock and he felt the back of his head land hard on the wooden floor.

“Spike!” Twilight called out, but her voice was drowned away from the pulsing rock. She then felt her entire body lift off the ground and saw a dance of magic swirl around her, pulsing and growing brighter and brighter. “Spike!” she called out hopelessly through the chaotic magic, and then the light exploded again.

Spike, through his haze heard a loud thump. “Tw-Twilight?” He muttered, his brain feeling foggy and his eyes spinning. He glanced up and saw a blinding light quickly descending down upon him. He then felt a painful bang as the rock swiftly landed on his head with one final magical pulse. Spike felt himself black out before his head and even reached the ground.

Chapter 2 - Regression Transformation

Twilight stirred, feeling the world come back to her as she blinked a few times. She saw the strange vessel lay dormant next to her, but she gasped upon seeing the state Spike was in. The drake appeared to be laying on his back, but he was quite awake. What was very alarming, however, was he appeared to be drooling slightly while he suckled on one of his claws; not unlike an actual baby.

“Spike, what’s wrong with… you?” She said, trailing off while she went to get up. Her mind blanked as she noticed that, where her hooves should be, were now two lavender looking dragon claws. She flexed them slightly, each digit feeling completely alien to her mind. “Oh Celestia, what’s happened!”

Twilight’s eyes continued to widen in pure shock and horror. She moved the alien-feeling arm up and down as Spike tilted his head from side to side, following it. It feels so weird… what am I gonna do? she thought as the baby drake broke out into a fit of high squeaked giggles. “And what am I gonna do with you, Spike?”

“Ga ba good dee,” he replied while rubbing his lips up and down awkwardly.

She went to stand, but tripped over her new feet and fell right onto her back. “Uh, right. Learn to- to walk first and then help Spike,” she stated firmly after several very long deep breaths. “It’ll be okay- I’ll just get Spike to send a letter to the princess and then, uh…” She looked up again and saw the drake attempting to put his tail into his mouth. “Or not,” she said while sighing. Twilight then flopped her new webbed feet about and pushed her new body back onto them.

“Okay, it can’t be too hard to walk. Spike does it all the time! Just- just one hoof, erm, foot in front of the other,” she muttered while shakingly standing up. She felt something odd on her back and looked around, noticing that her new reptilian tail appeared to be pushing toward the ground. “I guess that’s for balance? Yeah, that- that makes sense.”

Twilight placed her arms outward as if the gesture would steady her already shaky balance. She closed her eyes and took in a few more deep breathes. “Right,” she said, stalling while she glanced back to the giggling Spike. “I can do this, just one step- woah!” She lurched forward as her left foot slipped and she fell face first into a pile of books. “- In front of the other,” she said in a daze, her head shaking.

“Ow… how do you walk like this?” she asked Spike. “Huh?” She scratched her head and watched the baby drake get onto all fours and begin to crawl around, naturally. He continued to launch as his ever curious eyes swiveled around, looking at everything in sight. “Well… at least it’s something I’m used to,” she said, copying his movements. Still doesn’t feel right, she thought as she pushed her body onto all fours. She slowly moved her front right arm and back leg upwards, just like she had when she was a pony, and then brought it forcefully down. Her body moved forward ever slightly and she smiled. “Heh, I’m a natural!”

Spike then proceeded to speed up, crawling around the dragon-turned-mare in wide circles.

Twilight sighed. “Or- or not,” she muttered.

“Okay, I just need to get to my desk and write a letter. Then have Spike… hopefully send it,” she said with a shaky breath. Can he even breath fire in his state? she thought. “And- and then hopefully Princess Celestia can use the stone and-- The stone!” she practically screamed, noticing the scorched remains of what had been the Dragon Vessel.

Twilight panicked and shot to her feet, forgetting about her momentary balance issues while she ran over to the thing. “No, no, no!” she screamed again, holding the charred remains of the now crumpled up rock. Her face remained frozen in shock until she saw Spike crawl up to her and proceed to stick a piece of the vessel into his mouth as he suckled away.

“Ok- okay, uh. If Princess Celestia finds out about this, I’ll be sent to- to,” she muttered, but couldn’t finish the sentence. Magic Kindergarten- no… worse. “Magic daycare,” she uttered. Spike smiled up at her as he suckled and laid his head on her knee. “Spike will be locked away in some psychiatric ward and our lives will be ruined!”

The baby drake spit the rock out and then proceeded to suckel on one of Twilight’s new digits. She sighed again. “No, okay- okay, I can fix this, Spike. We just have to retrace our steps. Spike! Give me some paper and quill!” she announced with a calm smile.

“Gah boo?”

“Oh, r-right,” she said. “Okay, I’ll just go get some and… learn to write without my horn and perform complex spells too, yeah,” she said, again with a shaky breath. She then shook her head and looked back toward her desk confidently. “Right, I’m Twilight Sparkle, and I can solve anything! Right, Spike? Wait-” she paused to sniff the air. “Ew, what’s that- oh dear Celestia,” she uttered, as she watched the baby drake pee all over the floor while babbling to himself.

Twilight scrambled to her feet as the yellow puddle just barely missed her. “And- and, I’ll get you some protection. I took care of you when you were an actual baby, how hard can this be?”

Chapter 3 - Learning Curve

Feeling quite a bit more confident about walking around, Twilight grabbed some towels to soak up the mess and proceeded to clean up the soggy dragon. She then looked around as she wracked her brain for their entire inventory of toiletry items. “Right, we don’t have any real protection for you,” she stated while grunting as she dragged the baby drake upstairs, one by one. “But thankfully a certain Spikey Wikey still has bed wetting issues…”

“Gah bah,” Spike said intelligently.

“Yeah…” She sighed as she laid the drake down just at the top of the stairs. “You stay here,” she commanded. “Boy, I wonder how many unicorns have accidently turned themselves into a dragon before?” she asked while gulping. “Probably not a lot…”

She flipped Spike’s chest in his room and began to awkwardly rummage around; her new height making it difficult to even see. “Ah ha! Perfect,” she stated while holding up an odd pair of cloth padding. She puffed it out, noticing the third hole that would fit around Spike’s tail. “Bedwetting protection, okay now to just get him- where’d he go?!”

Her ears, which felt oddly fluffy, twitched slightly upon hearing some giggling off in the distance. Twilight craned her neck to try and spot him, but couldn’t see anything beyond the dreary looking room. “Boy, we need to redecorate in here… okay, no more stalling, Twilight. You walked earlier on- on two feet, you can do it again,” she said confidently. “I hope.”

She took a few tentative steps forward and sighed in relief when she realized how much easier it felt. It’s almost like it feels… natural now. I sure hope that’s a good sign, she thought worriedly while racking her brain for all book knowledge on accidental transformations. No, brain. Spike first, research after! she thought. But think of all you can learn; what pony can say they’ve transformed into a dragon before?!

“No! Spike first, brain!” She announced, darting out into the hallway, finding the giggling drake who continued to crawl around; poking his head in random places curiously

Overactive Research Brain 0, Twilight 1, she thought with a smirk.

“Hmm,” she muttered. “Oh Spike~, where’d you go? I’ve got some, erm, protection for you,” she said.

Spike continued to crawl around; the warm wooden floor and the light from the windows bathed in his scales. He felt a tickly sensation wash over him and he giggled again. Warm. he thought. Everything certainly felt warm. But what truly felt so silly was just how odd everything now seemed.

His curious eyes landed on a bookshelf, but all he could do was gape at it. What it? was what he thought. Hadn’t he known what it was before? He tried remembering, but everything seemed so cloudy and distant. Instead, all he did was giggle at the strange thing and move on; crawling about as Celestia intended!

Spike blinked upon turning around and staring at a massive book with an etched in image of a sun on it. What it? And that single thought had dominated the baby drake’s mind all morning, or so it seemed. He wanted to know what all of it did, what all of it was for, but Spike felt completely happy to just crawl about and gawk or giggle or coo.

He turned again and stopped in his tracks. Another dragon! And she looked just like him! She was bigger than him, or so it seemed from the other drake’s height. Spike looked down to his scales and back to the female’s, noticing the similar colors. After a few seconds of silent blinking, he broke out in a childish grin. “Mommy!” He announced, blurting it out as if it were the most natural thing to pronounce the new dragon as. She had to be mommy. Spike ran up to the confused dragon and rubbed his skin into hers as he sniffed the air around her. A familiar scent washed away his worries about the world around him; about its confusing objects and what to do with them. Mommy…

Twilight scratched her head while shaking it. “Maybe he thinks I’m his mom now? I… guess that makes sense,” she said and then held up the crinkling garment in her other claw. “Who am I kidding? None of this makes sense.”

“Mommy…”

“Heh, mommy needs to get you in these so she can think of a plan worry free,” she stated, holding up the training pants to him.

“Gah bah?”

She sighed. “Now just hold still, Spike,” she said in a sweet tone. “This won’t hurt one bit.” Twilight went to grab for Spike’s tail and lifted it up, but forgot to account for one thing. Spike yelped and darted from under her grasp, causing Twilight’s body to lurch forward as she landed face first into the wood paneling of the tree.

“Ow… great, I forgot that little tidbit when dealing with Spike: dragons hate having their tails yanked like that… oh, he could be anywhere!”

“Um, Twilight, is that you?”

...Fluttershy. Dear Luna, no!

Chapter 4 - Scaled Down

“Uh, um,” Twilight cleared her throat. “Be down in a minute!” She said in a passable mimc to Spike’s voice.” She took one last look around upstairs and sighed. No sign of him, she noted.

“Oh, ur, hello Spike,” Fluttershy said in her usual timid composure.

Twilight walked to the top of the stairs but then froze in her tracks. Did I even look enough like him?! Stupid brain! Stupid! Sweating quite profoundly, Twilight gave the pegasus mare a shaky smile and a wave.

“How are you?”

“G- well, well. Um, what can I do for you?” Twilight asked in the same disguised voice.

“Is- is something wrong with your voice?”

Deeper, talk deeper, she thought. “N-no, nothing. What’s up?”

“Well, I was hoping to see Twilight over--”

Twilight shook her head and rudely forced her claw over the pony’s muzzle. “Can’t, she’s pretty busy,” she stated hastily.

“But--”

“Well it was nice seeing you, Fluttershy. But lots of work to do, dusting the shelves and all, so would you please--” Twilight tried to get out, while hastily shoving her friend out the door.

“Sp-Spike,” Fluttershy stuttered while grunting against the weight of the door; Twilight had been grunting herself while trying to shove it closed.

“Come back later! K, bye!” She exclaimed, finally slamming shot only to hear a loud eep on the other end. The obvious crack in her Spike impersonation didn’t go unnoticed by either party, but Twilight didn’t care. “Gotta find that dragon!”

Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long as Spike appeared to be hiding behind one of their couches; his tail poking up high into the air as an obvious giveaway. Twilight smiled slyly. “Oh Spike~,” she said in a slow, almost motherly tone. The drake giggled, fidgeting some. “Oh no, where did Spike go?” She asked loudly while tiptoeing toward the couch. From her position, she could see the baby drake biting his lip, eagerly anticipating the return of his new ‘mommy’. “Hmm, I wonder if he’s… here! Got ya,” she announced while quickly grabbing his shoulders.

“Gahh bee!” Spike babbled while squealing and kicking his feet. Twilight sighed and wasted no time in fitting the diaper around his waist while looping his tail through the back.

“Careful… “ Twilight muttered. She finished it up by closing the final tape just above his tail. “Right,” she said to the squirming dragon, “so that’s taken care of and…” she paused to sniff the air. “Did you…” Glancing down, she noticed the slight discoloration of his new protection and sighed again. “Yep, that’s pee… again.”

If Spike felt upset by his new accident, he didn’t show it as he continued to try and struggle out of her very weak grasp. “Spike, stop it.”

“Gah! Gah!” Spike yelled back while he kicked again, his diaper crinkling with every move. Finally, he stopped and instead decided to lay his head on Twilight’s knee.

“Uh…” Twilight muttered, scratching her head. Spike snuggled his head in deeper and seemed to breathe in her- Scents, he’s getting used to my scent again. I remember this when I was raising him as a filly. Is he actually regressing that far? she thought. Her answer was for the baby drake to smile up at her as he suckled on his claw.

“Oh Spike,” she said and began to awkwardly scratch him behind the ear. “What are we gonna do?” She felt around, noticing that his diaper hadn’t exactly been soaked to the brim. “Heh, that’s one good thing about dragon skin: it can’t get diaper rash.”

“Ah ba!” Spike exclaimed, as if agreeing.

“Hmm, yes, ah ba,” she muttered without thinking. Flexing her new claws experimentally, she began to idly scratch behind Spike’s ears. The little drake made a very quiet odd clicking noise, almost as if it was trying to purr like a cat. He continued to suckle on his thumb and lazily smiled up at her. “Oh Spike…” she muttered with a frown.

The two shared a tranquil moment together until the library front door was practically banged out of existence. They both jumped as the door was banged again and again. And then Twilight heard them, the three voices she really didn’t need to hear at a time like this.

“Howdy, Twilight!”

No… it’s Apple Bloom! Twilight thought, her eyes nervously glancing down to the drooling Spike.

“Twilight!” A petite sounding voice squeaked out, followed by more knocking.

And Sweetie Belle! A million horrible outcomes flashed through Twilight’s mind in that very instant. They find Spike and myself in our changed states, they’ll tell their guardians and then the princess will find out that I’ve ruined everything!

“Spike! We’ve got to hide you, now!”

“Aaa, boo?”

Twilight sighed and smacked her head. “C’mon, Spike, we gotta get you somewhere safe,” she muttered while grunting and dragging him on the floor. “Hurry, Spike, we’ve gotta hide you or--”

“Twilight! Hurry and open the door!” a third voice yelled in an almost scruffy sounding voice.

“Before Scootaloo and the others find you in this state and our lives are ruined!” She practically yelled and hastily shoved him into a broom closet of theirs, located in the kitchen. Spike tilted his head curiously while a thin line of drool leaked out, but Twilight shoved the door shut on him. “Okay, hopefully he’ll stay quiet in there… hopefully.”

“R-right, I’ll just see what they want and they’ll be on their way!” she announced and then slowly unlocked the door while gently opening it. “Hello, may I help you?” she asked in her normal voice, then quickly corrected herself. “Uh, I mean, what’s up?” That’s something Spike would say, right?

“Aw, it’s just Spike,” the three said in unison.

“Um, yeah it’s me,” she fibbed. “What did you three need?”

Scootaloo pushed her way in past Spike and looked around. “We need to see Twilight for something. Have you seen her?”

“Ye- uh, not lately. Maybe I can help though?” she asked in a hopeful tone and a smile.

Scootaloo shook her head. “I don’t think so, Spike. Remember the last time you tried to help us with our crusading?” she asked bluntly.

“Um,” Twilight wracked her brain for any memory regarding Spike hanging out with the trio. “No? What do you mean?”

Sweetie Belle walked up to her while squinting her eyes. The other two rubbed the back of their necks awkwardly while avoiding eye contact with Twilight. Sweetie shook her head. “Spike, were you coloring?” she asked, while her two friends tried not to snicker.

“Huh?” What is she… she thought, trying to clear her thoughts.

“Well it’s just your spikes are all white now, and um, your face looks all--”

“Why’s your face all white and pink?!” the other crusaders screamed and then broke into a fit of giggles.

“What?” Twilight grabbed her new face and felt around for anything odd, and then it hit her. I need a mirror! She scrambled to her feet as quickly as possible and tried to dart away, until she felt herself being lifted from the ground. “Hey!” she said, her voice squeaking.

Sweetie Belle had taken this opportunity to practice a bit of magic as she swiftly lifted Twilight's body off the ground in her field of levitation. The filly grunted, but was able to hold the drake up high above them; she twisted Twilight around a few times as they scrutinized her.

Is this what Spike feels like when I do this? she thought while trying not to throw up.

“You can put me down now,” she said, irritably.

She got her wish when the filly’s magic was suddenly snuffed out of existence and she landed squarely on her butt with a yelp. She grunted and rubbed her tail in agony. “I miss my horn,” she muttered.

“What was that?”

“N-nothing,” she stuttered to Sweetie Belle. She then stood up and resisted the urge to glare at the three. “Look, Twilight’s not here right now. I’m sure I can help you find a book for your crusading though?”

The trio shook their heads. “Where’s Twilight, Spike?” Scootaloo asked with a sigh. “No offense, but, um, dragons don’t know much about cutie marks.” Then she laughed again. “And you're still covered in crayons…”

“I am not- !”

“Yeah, Spike, you should really wash yourself off,” Apple Bloom interrupted. She then sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose in mild disgust. “And maybe a bath wouldn’t hurt… hmm.”

The crusaders glanced at each other, a knowing smile shared among them. Twilight blinked in confusion while shaking her head. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Cutie mark crusaders dragon bathers!” They screamed, but then they all blinked in confusion while shaking their heads.

“Um, girls? I don’t think we can earn a cutie mark at bathing critters; that’s, uh, kind of a stretch,” Scootaloo said.

Sweetie Belle, who had inexplicably summoned up a large basin filled with soapy water, and a brush, shoved it aside with a frown. “Awww….”

“Well, something smells,” Sweetie Belle muttered, “Uh, but I don’t think it’s you, Spike.”

“Thanks I guess,” Twilight said sourly. “Now listen you three. I’m very busy, so if you wouldn’t mind, could you possibly take your crusading business elsewhere?”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I can see your real busy,” she said, indicating to her face. “Now where’s Twilight already? Don’t make us tickle you for the answer,” Scootaloo exclaimed and removed a feather of hers from her wing. “Cause I’ll do it!”

They sure treat m- Spike awfully rude, Twilight thought. But was forced to back away as Scootaloo and her little gang rounded on her. “Easy, Scootaloo,” she said with a gulp. I miss being taller than them. She started backing away quicker, her back now facing the broom closet from earlier. And my magic, she thought while thinking of what even Sweetie Belle could do to her now. She felt her head collide with the door handle and everything inside spilled out as the door was forcefully shoved open.

chapter 5 - CMC Dragonsitters! Yay!

chapter 5 - CMC Dragonsitters! Yay!

All five of them blinked in confusion, until it registered to them that sitting on the floor was a well diapered, soggy looking Spike. The baby dragon drooled a bit and smiled up at all of them before speaking. “Baba!”

“Uh, um. I can explain!” Twilight said, no longer bothering to hide her voice.

Apple Bloom sniffed the air once again and nodded. “That’s who smells; it’s, uh, the real Spike?”

Spike grabbed his thumb and began suckling on it again. The three crusaders let out a collective d’awww, but were quick to glare at Twilight.

“Okay, what’s going on and why’s he acting all, uh, foalish?” Scootaloo asked.

“It’s a long story, and I’m Twilight, by the way. Here I am.”

“No way, this is some kind of prank right? Where’s Rainbow Dash at?” the filly questioned while she began to search the library. “Nice touch with the diaper… though it’s a bit much.”

“Uh Scoots,” Sweetie Belle said while poking the diapered drake. “I don’t think this is a prank; he just drooled down his chin.”

Twilight sighed and grabbed a clean rag to clean up Spike’s chin. “It’s not a joke, and if I don’t figure out how to change back and help Spike, I’ll be in big trouble. It’s bad enough that you three know now… uh, you’ll keep this secret, right?”

“Cutie mark crusaders, huddle!” Apple Bloom announced. Scootaloo lagged behind, but seemed to give up on the random notion that this was all some bizarre and elaborate prank. Twilight stood off to the side while nervously twiddling her claws; knowing full well that they currently held all of the cards.

“Okay, we keep her secret, but what about Spike?”

“What about him?”

“Duh,” Scootaloo said with a scoff, “we can use him for a cutie mark! Dragon bathers may be lame, but not dragon sitters! We can get a mark in sitting for dragons!”

“Ah dunno,” Apple Bloom muttered, “maybe Spike should go a hospital or somethin’.”

“That’s your solution for everything! Like when we were rock climbing and we scraped our knees. Or the one time when we wanted to go into the Everfree and encountered a hydra and--”

Sweetie Belle shoved her hoof into Scootaloo’s mouth and shot her an angry glare. “Never again, we pinkie promised not to mention that ever again.”

“Fine… ah gotta admit, a dragon sitter mark does sound kind a neat,” Apple Bloom admitted while taking a nervous glance back to the babified drake.

“Yeah! Uh, I’m not changing diapers though.”

“Me either,” Apple Bloom said and both went to stare at Sweetie Belle.

“What? Why you- ew… fine. I’ll do it. But you two owe me, big time!”

Scootaloo nodded and broke the circle. “Okay, Twi, we’ll keep your secret!”

“You will? Oh good, now I can get started on--”

“If you let us babysit Spike!”

“What?!”

“Gah bah!” Spike yelled while bouncing on his padded rump.

“See! He’s excited for the idea! What do you say?” she asked while all three crusaders gave Twilight pleading looks.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea… but I need time to research what’s going on,” she said, muttering to herself.

Sweetie Belle used a bit of her magic to raise a feather into the air and used it to tickle Spike just under his chin. He let out a quiet giggle to himself and tried to awkwardly grab it; his coordination not quite what it used to be. “See? We’ll take good care of him,” she said in a cooing tone to the smiling drake. “You’ve got nothing to worry about!”

“Yep!”

“Yer darn tootin’!”

Twilight started to idly tap her new claws against her chest nervously. Am I… growing used to this feeling? she asked herself while flexing her claws. She shook her. “Alright, you can babysit him-” she then paused to plug her ears from the cheers of the three crusaders. “But remember you three, this is still Spike. Don’t embarrass him when this is all over- it’s still Spike,” she said glancing at all three of them. They each nodded.

“We promise, Twilight. But he looks so cute right now!” Sweetie squeaked, and let out a quiet d’aww as Spike began to suckle on his claw again.

Twilight hesitated one last time as the three fillies gathered around and began cooing and babbling nonsense to the little drake. Sure hope they keep that promise because they weren’t treating me very well, she thought bitterly and bounded off to go work.

“Okay, so who’s gonna change his diaper?” Scootaloo asked, then she suddenly raised her hoof. “One, two, three, not it!”

“Na’ it!” Apple Bloom yelled, catching on suddenly. They both smiled at Sweetie Belle who rolled her eyes at them.

“You know you could just ask me politely; I get that changing a diaper with magic is less yucky than… well, the alternative,” she said slowly.

“Great! Uh, do we have any foal stuff?” Scootaloo asked, looking around.

“Girls! I just forgot- oomph,” Twilight exclaimed grunting her way downstairs. She had in her claws a large assortment of foal toys and supplies, all looking well used and quite out of order. She dumped them at Spike’s feet who squealed in pleasure and grabbed a random fuzzy item to cuddle. “These,” she said with another grunt. “Are Spike’s old baby supplies. Now I don’t know if encouraging this temporary state of his is any good for his mental well being, but for now I’d say it’s best to keep him busy while I work.”

“Can do, Twilight!” Apple Bloom exclaimed and dug into the pile while the other two examined everything.

Twilight nodded and hurried off before they could ask her anything else.

“Apple Bloom, you see any extra diapers in there?”

Scootaloo lifted up a white pair of cloth padding in her teeth. She examined it and let out a quiet snicker from the writing on the back. “Spikey’s Pants,” she said, snickering some more. “I found some training pants!”

Apple Bloom examined them with a raised brow. “Ah’ve never seen clothes like those before. You, Sweetie?”

The unicorn filly giggled and nodded. “Yeah, but I’ve never needed them or anything. You?” she asked, glancing toward the two.

Scootaloo, without thinking nodded. “Sure, I used to-- uh, nevermind,” she said, interrupting herself quickly and looking away. The two snickered at her, but said nothing else. “R-right, so,” she started while sniffing the air, “he really needs a change.”

“Okay, okay, uh, Scoots, you distract him. Apple Bloom, you be ready for him,” she said as her horn flared to life.

“Ready for wut?”

Her magic was gently guided over to Spike’s behind and she exerted just a bit of force to lay him down. The drake responded by kicking his feet around wildly and giggling like Pinkie Pie had told an amazing joke. Apple Bloom panicked and did her best to hold him still.

“Ready for that,” she said. “Babies never hold still for a change. Hold him still and Scoots?”

“Yeah?”

“Start making funny faces or he’s gonna get fussy real fast.”

“Roger, admiral Sweetie Belle!” she exclaimed and gave her a comical salute. She then leaned over to the struggling Spike and cracked a grin. The drake looked up confused, until Scootaloo stuck out her tongue and began to move it all around while making odd noises with every motion. Spike broke out into more squealing giggles while the farm filly tried to hold him still with her hooves pressed firmly into his claws.

“Easy, easy,” Sweetie Belle muttered, guiding her magic to remove the soggy padding. Spike’s legs were then gently lifted up by her magic and she made quick work of making the switch; the new and unused training pants being slipped on. “Got it!”

“Ah gah!” Spike cheered along with them, happy for the added attention. He drooled around his thumb and tried to reach out to the crusaders with his remaining claw.

“Awww, such a cutey! Yes you are!” Sweetie Belle said and nearly nuzzled the drake then and there, before reminding herself that it was still Spike. “Heh… I like babies,” she said with a blush.

Scootaloo giggled. “Who doesn’t? Oh! Crusaders! Inspect your flanks!”

“Way ahead of ya, Scoots,” Apple Bloom said with a loud sigh. “Nothin’.”

“Oh well, it’s still fun to babysit such a cutey,” Sweetie Belle cooed.

“Twilight!” they all heard coming from the door. “It’s Applejack, you seen lil’ Apple Bloom?”

Chapter 6 - Honestly Confused

“It’s mah big sis! Quick, hide Spike!” They scrambled for a blanket and quickly covered the drooling drake. Apple Bloom went to answer the door, but then glanced back and relayed to the two crusaders to hide the baby stuff. “A’hm in here, big sis!”

The door swung open revealing the farm mare with her signature stetson hat. “Ah, there you three are. What you’ll buggin’ Twi for?”

“We’re not buggin’ anypony, uh, she’s not really here right now,” Scootaloo explained while nervously glancing around for her.

“Not here? She just left you three here alone? That doesn’t sound like her,” she muttered to herself while glancing around at the mess of foal supplies. “And what’s all this then?”

“Heh, well we’re working on, uh, school stuff. But she left us in charge of the library while she left to-”

“Go get some new books!” Sweetie improvised, watching Scootaloo struggle to think of something to say.

“Books huh? Hmm,” Applejack picked up a random toy from the pile and shook her head. “What sort of school project is this? Seems mighty odd to be about foal stuffs.”

“Ah bah,” Spike muttered from under the blanket. Applejack’s head whipped around and her eyes narrowed.

“What was that?”

“Uh, um,” Sweetie Belle muttered just under her breath. “It’s a project about foals! And… Scootaloo was just practicing, erm, well acting like a big baby in front of the class! It’s part of our presentation!”

“It is?- ooph,” Scootaloo said as Apple Bloom nudged her in the ribs painfully. “I mean, ah bah!” she said while blushing and giving Applejack a nervous smile. Applejack glanced around at the three crusaders, not looking the least bit convinced as she gave the three a deadpanned stare. She straightened out her hat and, without much warning at all, grabbed the end of a blanket with her teeth so she could tear it away from the floor.

The crusaders nearly gasped twice upon realizing they’d almost been found out and, as luck and horror would have it, Spike had gone missing. Applejack quirked a brow at the empty spot where the drooling drake had just been, then quickly shot her head back to the crusaders. The three straightened up and tried to seem as non panicked as possible

“Right, so where’s Spike then? Ah kind of doubt she’d leave the place in your care without him helpin’ out,” she noted.

Scootaloo squeaked out something which sounded suspiciously like “I dunno”, but was swiftly interrupted.

“I’m up here, Applejack,” Twilight said, hoping her impersonation was growing better. “Something wrong?”

Twilight smiled at Applejack while remaining perfectly still, facing her at an odd angle. She gulped and rubbed the back of her head nervously with her claws. Didn’t have enough makeup to fully color myself! Please don’t come upstairs, please don’t come upstairs! she thought.

“Um, you tell me,” she said sternly. “Ah know for a fact that my little sister wouldn’t do a project on babies, and why don't you come on down?”

“Well I’m kind of busy and--”

“Boo- ga bee,” Spike interrupted, his body still not showing up.

“With a research project on the- the strange, alien species of the magical Ga-Bees. Was there something you needed?”

“Magical…” Applejack trailed off and sighed. All four occupants stared at her, blinking nervously as they waited for her to respond. “First off, ignoring the fact that this is the first time I’ve heard about this big school project of theirs, and that it’s about, uh, babies… I can see your tail, Spike, and it doesn’t look green,” she noted out loud.

Twilight gasped quietly and subconsciously shoved her tail back from the railing. “Uh… heh heh. Um…”

“Second off, what you just said, Spike, sounds about as made up as they come. So out with it, who’s gonna tell me the truth on what’s goin’ on?” Applejack asked while impatiently tapping her hooves on the wooden floor. The four remained silent, but Applejack started to notice some other noise than her tapping. Everytime she would tapp, something off in the distance would tapp back. She glanced around then looked under their couch and squinted her eyes. “What in the…”

A loud raspberry echoed against the walls as Spike blew and blew at her while giggling. “Bah boo!”

Applejack nodded and looked up at the imposter Spike with a menacing glare. “You’d better start explainin’ and fast.”

Twilight sighed and began to rub the makeup off her scales. “I’m sorry, Applejack, a spell of mine backfired and, well, you’ve seen Spike,” she said in her natural voice. She nodded as the “baby” crawled about happily near her hooves. “And, um, I ended up as this,” she said as her cheeks flushed. “And I sort of had your sister and her friends watch over him while I try and fix this.”

Applejack nodded again while looking slightly less peeved than she had. “Okay, ‘least you still know how to tell the truth,” she chastised.

“S- sorry, Applejack. I’m just kind of stressed and I still don’t know how to fix this…”

“Ya try contacting the Princess?”

She shook her head frantically. “You can’t! She'll Find out I ruined that artifact and throw me in magical dragon daycare or something!”

Applejack chuckled and shook her head. “Uh huh, if’in you say so.” She then glanced at the three crusaders who had taken the moment to hang onto Spike and were attempting to distract him with mild play. “Well, you’all got your hooves full here. So I’ll just get back to the farm for now, but remember, Twi: the truth is always best. Always.”

Chapter 7 - Royal Guidance

They watched her leave with Twilight’s floppy ears sagging in disappointment. She glanced over to where the artifact had once stood and sighed. “Maybe she’s right,” she said quietly, but just loud enough for one of them to hear.

“You’re gonna let the princess know?”

Twilight hummed and her eyes fell onto a small painting showing off the re-crowned princess of the night; she smiled broadly. “Maybe, maybe Princess Celestia doesn’t have to know just yet,” she announced and turned around.

“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle called out, just as Spike began to pummel her head with a squeaky, rubber mallet. “Ow, ow, ow!”

“Just hang on, girls! I got a plan!” she exclaimed and quickly started to write a sloppily worded and constructed letter. “Stupid dragon claws,” she said.

“Hurry up, Twi!” Apple Bloom said. “I think Spike might be figuring out he can still breath fire!”

Twilight glanced down anxiously at Spike from the railing; indeed the drake had began to burp up a waft of dark colored smoke into the air. She gasped and grabbed her parchment then bounded down the stairs. “Wait, I can use this! Uh, sorry about this, Spike,” she said and quickly yanked on his tail as she held the letter just in front of his mouth. A green flame shot over the letter and, just before it vanished from the room, a tiny silver stamp showing off a certain moon shaped cutie mark shined into their faces. Then, it was whisked away through the window. Spike started sniffling and Twilight wasted no time in rubbing his tail and cooing back to him.

“Shh, it’s okay. I’m sorry, Spikey. Shh,” she said. The three fillies watched Twilight coo at him and cuddle into his soft skin as they all let out a sigh of adoration in a quiet ‘aww’. However the moment would not last as a loud series of knocks appeared on the door.

“Twilight Sparkle, please open up this instant.”

Twilight gulped and the three crusaders held onto Spike so she could answer. They gave the mare a nod of support and Twilight finally got up to face the music. “Oh Celestia… this is not going to end well,” she muttered before making the final plunge.

“I honestly do not know where to begin with this sort of matter, Twilight,” Luna stated in a stern, stoic expression before shaking her head. “I… do appreciate you having confidence in me to explain your position… but at the same time, I’m concerned you have not called upon the aid of my sister when Spike is clearly in trouble.”

Twilight sighed while her new ears seemed to lower, not unlike a disappointed pony. “I know and I’m sorry, but I can’t figure out how to help him and even if I knew how to change back without my horn, it wouldn’t fix him, too. Please, can you help fix Spike’s mind?”

“I can try, but when this is over with, you will need to discuss with Celestia what has transpired and how this happened. I will be by your side and help you explain, but you will need to tell her, alright?”

She nodded before looking back at the sleeping form of the now baby drake who decided he needed a nap. “Just please help him.”

“Very well,” she stated as her horn began to glow a brilliant hue of dark purple. “Let us begin.”
The Princess of the Night was deep in thought for well over twenty minutes before anything seemed to happen. The broken stone began to vibrate as her magic finally surrounded it and she spoke, “Yes, I see. I see, young one,” she muttered quite cryptically.

“What? What is it?!” Twilight yelled while resisting the powerful urge to shake the princess awake.

Soon the magic had faded and the princess opened her eyes. “Spike is still in his own mind and has been this entire time. He is afraid, however. And I believe you know and have even experienced this fear before.

She shook her head, not understanding in the slightest. “What do you mean?”

“The fear that you will not be respected, that your size and who who are will determine how others treat you. I believe you may have experienced this once or twice today, or am I wrong to guess?”

“I… yeah. Yeah I… but why is he hiding? We don’t treat him in that way!”

“Oh?”

Twilight had to think back and realized the fault in her logic: she had treated him that way several times in the last few days without a second’s thought. She could chalk it up to treating him like a child, but that was no excuse for being rude.

“I guess I have been pretty harsh on him…”

Luna smiled at what must have been very hard for her to admit, but paused upon hearing another voice.

“I wasn’t just hiding because of that,” they both heard a familiar voice say.

“Spike!”

The dragon sighed and hastily discarded the thankfully unused pair of training pants onto the floor. “Hi Twilight…” he said in a quiet tone. “Princess Luna found me in a dream… I was kind of hiding in there which I guess is something dragons can do?” he asked her and Luna nodded.

“A bit of a simplified explanation, but dragons are well versed in the fine act of meditation, sleep and of course, dreams.”

“Oh. Well I…”

“Spike,” Twilight said, interrupting him, “why would you ever want to hide from me? I love you, you know that!”

“Yeah I know that,” he said with a weak smile. “I guess I just needed some time to rest and to know that you really did… it was nice being your baby,” he said but blushed like a ripe tomato the second the words left his lips. “Er, minus that part,” he said while pointing at the discarded training pants, though she could tell, in some small silly way, he didn’t mind them all that much as they still looked rather comfortable. But that was besides the point. “I just… I just wanted you to know that sometimes others don’t treat me the the same way as they might them,” he said while pointing to the Crusaders who were snoozing away in their own little world; too exhausted from the day’s events. “Or, you know, how ponies get treated…”

“Oh Spike…” she said and ran up to him for a very tight, crushing hug., “I’m sorry. I promise to never do that again. I’ll treat you more like a mother would their own son, if you’ll let me.”

The drake smiled before chuckling a bit. “I’d love that… uh, but I think I’m taller than you now,” he said with a snort and a giggle. They leaned into each other for a nice cuddle as Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Har har,” she said. “But I am sorry. You’re my number one assistant and my son. You should be treated with the same dignity and respect as anypony else… well as any child might get… you’re still not staying up past nine!” she warned.

“Oh c’mon! Eight fifteen is too early!” he whined but she gave him a firm shake of her head and he sighed. “...Fine.”

“As touching as this is, I believe we need to send a letter to summon my sister. She would be the only one who can fix you to your true form, Twilight.”

“Oh, uh, right…”

“Hopefully she will feel lenient in your punishment and only send you back to Magic Daycare instead of a nursery,” Luna said in the most serious tone she could muster.

“What?!”

Then the Princess of the Night broke out into a fit of giggles. “Oh I hope I played that prank right. My sister has been teaching me all sorts of… Twilight?”

Twilight immediately fainted, passing out cold as Spike shook his head in response.

“Oh Twilight…” Spike said before taking out his favorite baby blanket and draping it over her form. “What are we gonna do with you?”

THE END

Prologue - Just Another Day

“Spike, did you dust the-” Twilight Sparkle tried to get out, but was swiftly interrupted.

“Yep! Taken care of!” Spike announced, waving his arms to show off the now pristine looking bookshelves. Twilight cantered over to it, her eyes meticulously scanning it all over. With a stoic expression, Twilight placed her hoof on the top part and wiped through it and then eyed her fur. Spike nervously twitched his claws, waiting for a response. The mare smirked and winked at him as Spike let all the tension from his body ease out.

“Check, good job. Okay, Did you reshelv-”

Spike went to speak over her again, but Twilight wasn’t having it as her hoof was pressed firmly onto his lips.

“No, I hate it when you do that, Spike. I was going to say, did you re-shelf shelves three and four like I had asked?” she asked in a level tone. He nodded and she smiled. “Good, good. Okay, how about Owlowiscious’ cage, did you clean that?”

Spike’s eye scale twitched slightly and she pushed her hoof away. “Yeah, just got done with that, Twi’. I also washed our sheets and scrubbed the floors and a few other things,” he pointed out in a casual tone. “Ain’t I great?”

She rolled her eyes while nodding. “Sure. Alright, you’re free for the day to…” she trailed off as Spike sprinted upstairs and slammed his door shut, a goofy smile on his face. Twilight sighed. “I was gonna say free to read a book, not goof off all day!” Sighing again, she shook her head and walked off to busy herself with a few chores of her own. “I swear, that drake.”