“Mommy?” Cozy Glow repeated, reminding Starlight of what she had done and thus denying her any chance to hope that this was all just a bad dream.

Starlight had to take several deep breaths to steady herself, especially because of the dirty diaper Cozy was still in. Before she could even hope to turn Cozy back to normal she had to get the filly into a clean diaper. Good thing she had her magic to keep the stinky filly afloat and a good distance away from her. “Come on, Cozy. Let’s get you changed. And then Mommy Starlight’s gonna find a way to change you back.”

Cozy obeyed, giggling at being held aloft by Starlight’s magic. “Mommy, I flying!” She happily declared as she extended her hooves.

“Yes, Cozy, I know you are,” Starlight replied. “But you’re going to have to come in for a landing soon.”

The unicorn soon reached the bathroom, continuing to hold Cozy in mid air with the soft glow of her horn. Good thing she had planned ahead and brought the changing supplies with her. Now comes the hard part, the part any parent or caretaker dreaded. “Well, Starlight, let’s get this over with.” She thought, giving herself a mental pep talk as she took a deep breath and held it.

With Cozy still floating in Starlight’s magic, the unicorn concentrated another tendril around the diaper’s tabs. She turned her head, not wanting to look as the tabs were undone and the diaper opened. Quick as a flash Starlight dropped it into a waiting waste basket nearby! From there, another tendril pulled several wet wipes from the pack. Their refreshing lavender scent was so much more pleasing than the sour note coming from the waste basket. Starlight worked quickly to wipe Cozy’s flanks clean and discarded the used wipes into the wastebasket too. After that she took out a diaper, sprinkled in a good helping of foal powder, and slid it underneath the pegasus. One last flick of her horn was all it took to strap the new diaper into place.

The diapering job completed, Starlight allowed herself a moment to relax. “I’ve still got it.” She told herself, wiping the sweat from her brows. But there was still the matter of the old diaper and wipes to take care of. She couldn’t just leave them in the wastebasket for Twilight or Spike to find.

Setting Cozy down on the bathroom floor, Starlight instructed the pegasus filly. “You stay right here, okay? Mommy will be right back.”

“Okay, Mommy. I be good.” Cozy gave something of a salute. At least she could still talk, so that was a hopeful sign that she wasn’t too far gone.

Starlight then reluctantly surrounded the waste basket with her magic. The diaper and wipes were floated out of it and into a bag, which was then sealed up and tied up within another bag just to be safe. She teleported away with the bag in tow, depositing it out front with the rest of the trash that was to be picked up. She made sure to hide it among the other bags so that no one would be able to notice there was one extra that shouldn’t have been there. Then the mare teleported back into the bathroom. “Alright, Cozy, now let’s…”

But Starlight’s sentence trailed off as she saw that Cozy had somehow managed to work her way over to the toilet nearby in the brief amount of time she’d been left alone. She was now perched on the seat, pushing the handle and giggling as the toilet flushed. “Heh heh! Flush the potty!” She appeared to be quite fascinated by it. However, in the midst of her spree as the toilet began to flush again, the pegasus lost her balance and tumbled off the seat. She landed in the bowl with a splash.

Starlight immediately rushed over and fished the filly out. She knew Cozy was too big to fit down the drain, but she still didn’t want to leave her in the toilet bowl. “Cozy, why did you do that? Now you’re all wet,” She frowned. “And I just changed you too! Now I’ll have to get another diaper!”

Cozy seemed to shrink and whimper as she was placed on a towel to drip and dry. “I sorry, Mommy. Flushing fun, I not mean to fall in.”

The unicorn sighed. “I know you didn’t. But the toilet is not a toy, you could’ve drowned. From now on, please don’t go anywhere near it without a grown-up. And only if you have to go potty, because that’s what the toilet is meant for.”

“Okay, I tell Mommy next time I gotta go potty. Mommy help me use big potty.” Cozy replied with a nod.

After Cozy had dried off enough, Starlight removed the filly’s sagging diaper that was filled with toilet water. Then she diapered the pegasus again, and this time she made sure to take Cozy with her when she left to dispose of the old diaper.

After washing her hooves (and helping Cozy do the same), Starlight left the bathroom and brought the regressed filly back to the nursery. She quickly proceeded to place the filly in the cirb. “Why you don’t take a nap for Mommy while Mommy tends to some grown-up things?” Starlight instructed. She knew that setting Cozy down for a nap would give her time to try and find a cure.

Cozy nodded. “Okay, I take nap for Mommy. Night night, Mommy.” And she lay her head upon the pillow, falling asleep almost before Starlight could wrap her up in the provided blanket.

Starlight waited, keeping a careful watch until she was certain the filly was indeed asleep and not pretending to be. Then she floated in a large device that was a gleaming white and had a large antenna on one side. She carefully turned it on, placing it on a desk near the crib. Now she’d be aware if her young charge needed something.

Then the unicorn mare carefully crept to the nursery door, taking care to close it gently behind her so not as to wake Cozy up again. But once she was safely out in the hall she made a mad dash to the library, panting heavily! Not since returning to her old village for the Summer Sunset Festival had she felt this unsure of herself!

Frantically, Starlight began pulling every book she could find off the shelves! One of them had to hold the cure to whatever she had accidentally cast on Cozy to leave her stuck with the mentality of a three year old (perhaps slightly older than that)!

Book after book was skimmed through rapidly, and book after book was tossed aside and into a pile that grew bigger with each passing second! “Urgh!” Starlight groaned quite audibly. “Come on! How hard is it to find a cure for a mental regression spell?! They have books on every other kind of mind spell in here!” She paused only briefly to glance at the foal monitor she’d set up in the library, then resumed her frantic search when she was certain Cozy didn’t need anything.

When every book in the castle library had been exhausted and Starlight hadn’t found the answers she was looking for, she teleported herself and the monitor to the school library. To her great relief it was currently empty.

“The school’s got to have something I can use!” The mare thought to herself. “Because if not I don’t know where else to look! And I don’t know how I’m going to juggle caring for a regressed filly on top of my guidance counselor duties!”

But unfortunately for Starlight the results were the same. Nothing seemed remotely close to what she was hoping for. Frustration began to give way to panic! “Come on! Come on!” She said to herself, only barely able to keep her voice to a whisper. “I can’t be the first pony who’s ever messed up and mentally regressed somepony!”

Just as the mare was about to resign herself to the possibility that she would never find a cure for Cozy’s condition, she happened to catch a glimpse of Twilight trotting past on her way to the headmare’s office. If anypony could find an answer that the books couldn’t, it would be Twilight. Starlight couldn’t remember the last time Twilight had been stumped by a spell.

So it was that Starlight made her way to Twilight in the headmare’s office, taking care to avoid being spotted.

Twilight was more than a little surprised to see Starlight, but kept her calm as she suspected nothing. “Starlight? Is something wrong?”

Starlight immediately locked the doors to the headmare’s office and threw herself in front of Twilight in dramatic fashion! “Twilight, I did a terrible thing!”

“Starlight, calm down. I’m sure that whatever it is you can solve it,” Twilight reassured her former student. “What did you do?”

The unicorn immediately blurted out. “I accidentally cast a spell on Cozy Glow that mentally regressed her!”

Twilight took the news surprisingly well. “You did what?!”

“I swear, it was an accident! I was just trying to help her relax and it was just supposed to be a simple relaxation spell,” Starlight insisted while inhaling deeply. “Please, you’ve gotta help me! I can’t find a single book that tells me how to change her back!”

“Well, where is Cozy Glow? You didn’t leave her in your office, did you?” Twilight questioned.

Starlight shook her head. “No, she’s back at the castle, sleeping in the nursery. She’s currently at the level of a three year old,” And she proceeded to plead. “You’ve got to help me change her back! Please!”

“Well, I’ll need to get a look at her first. If there’s no books to go on I can’t make any guesses,” Twilight told Starlight, before she sighed. “Unfortunately, I’ve also been tasked with setting up more security around here. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna suspect Tirek might be plotting to break out of Tartarus again. And if he finds out Cozy Glow went back on his word, there’s no telling what he might do.”

“You think he’d hurt an innocent filly that he took advantage of?” Starlight pondered with great (almost motherly you might say) concern.

Twilight nodded her head. “With Triek all bets are off. If he could manipulate Discord into siding with him, anything seems possible,” Then she added. “But we can worry about that later. For now, let’s see what you did to Cozy and if I can change her back.”

Author's Note

I know I'm not uploading things fast enough, as it turns out I get a little busy and ended up getting stressed out last week.