The 'Glow' of Friendship

Twilight teleported back to the castle with Starlight, and followed Starlight to the nursery located at the castle’s rear. Just as she’d said the filly was resting in the crib that just barely fit her, a baby blue pacifier bobbing up and down in her mouth.

But Cozy was not asleep for long. As if she were mentally linked to Starlight’s presence she woke up, yawning as the pacifier popped out of her mouth. It was now possible to notice the diaper hugging her rear tightly. Which in normal circumstances might have seemed cute.

But these were not normal circumstances. Just by looking at her moderate scarlet eyes it was easy to tell that something was not right with Cozy. She sat there in the crib, glancing at Starlight and the pony she didn’t seem to recognize standing beside the unicorn. “Mommy?” She spoke briefly. “Who that?”

Starlight struggled to clear her throat. “Oh… this is…” It took her a moment to come up with a workable answer. “Your Auntie Twilight. She’s here to help me so that I can take better care of you. Okay?”

Twilight was shocked to suddenly be called an Aunt too Cozy Glow, although this situation was a little werid, she definitely didn't want too keep Cozy Glow like this even if she was working with Tirek, she wouldn't wish this punishment on anypony.

Cozy appeared to briefly ponder this new piece of information, before she clapped her hooves and readily accepted it. “Okay.” She proceeded to rock back and forth on her padding.

Twilight took that as a sign that the mentally regressed filly was pacified and would not try to fight her. So she slowly trotted up to Cozy, her horn glowing ever so faintly. “Hold still please, sweetie. This should take just a minute.” She spoke in the same tone of voice she was used to using whenever she was around her niece, Flurry Heart.

The little pegasus didn’t fight back at all. If her mommy trusted this “Twilight” then she did too. She held as still as possible (which was rather difficult given her little mind and limitless energy).

A minute was all that it took for Twilight to press her horn up to Cozy’s forehead and do a scan. When it was done she lifted her horn, ceased the glow, and turned to Starlight. The expression on her face was hard to judge. It didn’t look happy but it also didn’t appear to be saddened. It seemed to be one of those half way sort of things.

Cozy Glow dropped her pacifier and somehow was able to reach Twilight's hoof and started sucking on it like it was a cup.

Twilight reacted fast after a few suckles "Ew! No, Cozy Glow, bad girl! You do not suck on anyponies hooves!" She scolded then turned to Starlight.

“Well?” Starlight asked Twilight. “You can reverse it, right? Right?!”

Twilight spoke slowly, as if piecing together her conclusion at the present moment. “It’s hard to say for sure, Starlight. That spell you cast appears to have been quite powerful, it’s not something I can just undo.”

“You mean she’s gonna be stuck like that forever?! She’s gonna have to grow up all over again?!” Starlight gasped in horror! “I was only trying to help her relax! I didn’t mean to do that to her!”

Twilight shook her head and threw up a hoof. “Starlight, calm down. I’m not saying that. I’m pretty sure I can reverse it eventually. It seems that there’s a small trace of her old mentality buried deep in her subconscious, it’s how she recognized you as her mother after all. Kind of like how a newborn duckling gains an imprint of the first thing it sees when it opens its eyes,” She paused briefly. “However, getting that part of her to come out again will be difficult. It will probably take a few days at least to perfect the spell.”

“Really? Even you can’t just change her back?” Starlight pondered.

Twilight shook her head again. “I’m afraid not. And even if I could, I've got a lot on my plate to juggle between running the school and upgrading security around these parts. In the meantime,” She turned to Cozy. “It might be best if you took care of her. She trusts you and she’ll listen to you. She might not be as cooperative with others,” Twilight giggled and then said. "You might need to get used to changing diapers for awhile, Starlight"

As if on cue the two mares heard a loud rumbling, a rumbling that was coming from the little filly in their care. “Mommy, I hungry.” Cozy declared.

Starlight simply sighed, trotting over and picking Cozy up. “Alright then, it has been a while since you last ate. I think it’s time for dinner.”

For the rest of the day, Starlight (with Twilight’s help) took care of Cozy as best one could in this unexpected situation: Whether it was feeding (regular and bottle), taking Cozy to the bathroom the few times she remembered to ask a grown-up, or often just playing with the filly and her active imagination.

Even though Cozy was an older toddler than Flurry Heart, the experience still drove Starlight ragged and left her mane in a frazzled state. Caring for a little one on her own was an experience she would have to get used to.

As for Twilight, she tried to divide her time evenly between the two tasks she’d previously undertaken and the new one that now demanded her attention whenever possible. A problem when the royal guards that were supposed to be deployed around Ponyville had yet to arrive.

The very next day found Twilight in her office at the school, looking over what few scrolls she had been able to dig up on age spells. From them she was working on developing a counter spell to return Cozy to normal.

A task that was made difficult by a knock at the door. Still, Twilight did her best not to frown or yell. As headmare she had to remain calm. She trotted over to the door and opened it. To her surprise, a pegasus stallion and a unicorn mare of considerable height entered the room. Both of them easily towered over Twilight. Heck, she suspected they might be even bigger than Princess Celestia.

The pegasus stallion had a coat that was a very light grayish-white in color, a mane and tail that was a pale, light grayish arctic blue in color and done up in locks, moderate scarlet eyes, and a cutie mark depicting a king chess piece similar in color to the rook that was Cozy’s cutie mark. The unicorn mare had the same pinkish gray coat as Cozy, but her eyes were blood red, her mane and tail were curls of light arctic bluish gray, and her cutie depicted a queen chess piece the same color as the stallion’s.

“Can I help you?” Twilight innocently asked the tall ponies as she fought back a gulp.

The stallion spoke first. His deep, booming voice echoed everywhere and would’ve struck fear into even the bravest of hearts. “Where’s our daughter?!” He demanded of the princess.

“Your daughter?” Twilight questioned even though she had a pretty good idea as to whom the stallion was referring to. The sheer number of similarities seemed way too unlikely to be coincidence.

“Surely the name Cozy Glow rings a bell to you, princess!” The stallion growled as he shook and clenched his front left hoof. “She’s attending your school, isn’t she?!”

Twilight nodded even as she had to step back a bit in fright. “W-why yes, yes she is. She didn’t really mention either of you though.”

The mare raised her snout in the air and gave a haughty humph. “Small wonder. Our daughter ran away from home in rejection of the path we laid out for her. A path far more suitable than a school of friendship in some backwater town that nopony ever heard of until you settled there!” She proceeded to gesture a hoof. “I am Soft Glow, and this stallion you see is my loving and supportive husband Warm Glow.”

Warm Glow stomped a hoof down. “Enough with the pleasantries! We want our daughter back! She is going to be in so much trouble for this!”

But Twilight plucked up courage. “I’m afraid that’s impossible, Mr. and Mrs. Glow. Since Cozy came here and started attending my school, she became my responsibility.”

“I don’t think so!” Soft Glow coldly hissed. “We signed no such agreement. We would’ve been here much sooner had we known that this is where our daughter chose to run off to. What was wrong with the boarding school in Trottingham that we had picked out for her? It’s a fine place for shaping young minds.”

“Now where is our daughter?!” Warm Glow demanded anew. “She’s here when she should be with us! You can either tell us and help us, or we’ll find her on her own and take her back ourselves! And don’t think your fellow princesses will bail you out, the law is on our side.”

The young princess hesitated at the demand, her lips started to tremble. She didn’t like Cozy’s parents at all. But she couldn’t think of a way to lie to them and make them go away. “Starlight’s going to hate me for this,” She thought to herself. “But maybe once they see what’s become of Cozy they’ll change their mind.” “O-okay, okay. Just give me a second and I’ll take you to her,” Twilight told the parents. “I should warn you though, she’s not herself.”

“Whatever she is, we’ll straighten her out. You can be sure of that.” Warm Glow warned.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Twilight told the parents in response and then instructed. “Follow me, please.”

In the nursery in the castle, Starlight had just finished cleaning up after a breakfast for Cozy Glow that consisted of oatmeal with honey and strawberries. In her new mental state the filly had enjoyed flinging globs of oatmeal everywhere, much to Starlight’s annoyance. “How does Sunburst manage with Flurry Heart all the time? He makes it look so easy,” She thought to herself. “Heck, Pinkie Pie seems to have no trouble with the Cake Twins. Though they were already starting potty training by the time I came around.”

All of a sudden the nursery door swung open without warning! “Cozy Glow!” A loud, booming voice shouted! It was so loud that Starlight had to cover up her ears to keep them from ringing.

The voice, though only vaguely familiar to Cozy in her current state, caused her to whimper and shrink. She promptly hid behind Starlight for protection.

“Do not hide from us, young lady!” A stern, snooty female voice declared. And into the room trotted a pair of ponies Starlight had never seen before. A tall pegasus stallion and unicorn mare, both of whom bore striking resemblances to Cozy in many ways, and both of whom didn’t look happy at all with what they saw.

“Who are you?! How did you get in here?! And what do you want with Cozy Glow?!” Starlight demanded as she felt suddenly and strangely protective. “You’ve got five seconds to explain yourselves!”

Twilight quickly intervened to defuse the tensions. “Starlight, these are Cozy Glow’s parents: Warm Glow and Soft Glow. They’re here for their…” The next word left her mouth very reluctantly. “Daughter.”

At that Starlight nearly jumped! “They’re here for her now?!”

“And why not?” Soft Glow frowned as she noticed her daughter hiding behind Starlight. “It seems you’ve done enough damage to her as it is,” To Cozy she then declared. “Why are you wearing diapers?! You’re far too old for them!” Soft Glow glared at Starlight. "This has you written all over it, I bet you have been forcing her to wear those disgusting things! We should report this to Celestia!" She threatened.

Starlight was quick to answer. "Whoa, Whoa! No, that's not it at all… It's a long story"

Cozy Glow whimpered, still hiding behind Starlight. “No, I only three! Mommy says I still need diapers in case of accidents!”

“What are you talking about?! You don’t have accidents!” Warm Glow growled at his daughter. “And Miss. Glimmer isn’t your mother!”

“Nu-uh, Mommy is Mommy!” Cozy protested while whimpering more, tears starting to form in her eyes.

“Cozy, what is the meaning of this?! Why are you talking like a toddler?! And why do you say you’re three when you’re clearly not?!” Warm Glow sternly demanded. “Stop trying to pretend, missy! If you don't stop acting this way we will have no choice but to give you a BIG spanking on that bottom little missy. Whatever this school has done to you, it ends here and now!”

Soft Glow was quick to add. “You are coming back with us, missy! You’re going to that boarding school in Trottingham whether you like it or not!” And then she trotted forward, lighting up her horn. “Enough of this childish game, Cozy! You will respect your parents and do as you are told!”

“NO!” Starlight shouted at the top of her lungs and lit up her own horn, promptly getting into a magical tug of war with Soft Glow over Cozy!

This succeeded in reducing Cozy to tears, she wailed quite audibly. And to make matters worse, a hissing sound could be heard as her padding swelled up and took on a noticeable yellowish tint.

Upon seeing this display, Soft Glow released her grip on her daughter. “I don’t believe it! My own daughter has peed herself like a helpless little baby!” And she glared at Starlight. “What have you done to my child?!”

“Don’t you see?!” Starlight protested. “You caused this! Your daughter cut off ties with you because you wanted to control her life! Because of you she almost became a traitor to Equestria when she reached out to Tirek!”

“What?! Is this true?!” Warm Glow questioned Twilight.

Twilight confirmed with a nod. “I’m afraid it is. Thankfully, she came to us before Tirek’s plan could be complete. But she told us that she felt pressured to make friends, that she was having a hard time with it,” And she seemed to glare at the two tall ponies. “And now I think I can see how she might have had such problems. You tried to control her life so she would live the way you wanted her to. You never stopped to consider what she wanted,” She proceeded to add with a grin. “If you leave now though, I won’t tell the princesses or file a complaint with Equestria’s child care services.”

“Fine, be that way! You can have Cozy for all we care!” Warm Glow relented, not wanting to risk an argument or the possibility of a legal battle. “Tell her that we’re disowning her! If she wants to act like this and turn her back on all the possibilities we had laid out for her, she’s our daughter no longer!”

“Good, then you can leave now,” Starlight insisted. “And be sure to not let the door hit you on the way out.”