The 'Glow' of Friendship

With the matter of Cozy’s parents taken care of (for the time being), Twilight could now turn her attention to researching the cure for Cozy’s condition. She hadn’t informed her friends about what had happened to Cozy, mostly because they hadn’t yet approached her about Cozy’s absence. When they eventually did she would tell them, no sense in keeping something like this a secret forever.

However, the very day after Mr. and Mrs. Glow’s arrival and departure, Twilight was interrupted in her research by an urgent knock on the door. The pony on the other side didn’t even wait for permission, he came strolling in decked out from head to hooves in royal guard attire. His coat was an easily identifiable tannish orange, he sported vivid cornflower blue eyes that looked so gentle, and a mane and tail two tones of modest sapphire blue in color. His cutie mark depicted a lighting bolt in front of a two toned blue shield.

“Your…” The stallion coughed into a hoof, appearing to blush. “Highness, Princess Twilight.”

Twilight looked up. “Oh, you don’t need to call me that. Just Twilight will do,” And she smiled at her guest. “Nice to see you again, Flash Sentry. It’s been too long.”

Flash reluctantly nodded his head. “Y-yeah, it has. Though I could’ve sworn I saw you and a pony who looked strangely familiar,” He cleared his throat. “But that’s not important right now. I’m here to head up the security detail for Ponyville, per Captain Armor’s request.”

“Really? B.B.B.F.F sent you? I thought for sure he’d refuse.” Twilight commented in surprise.

“He’s my captain first and foremost, he knows me better than most ponies. If he had any doubts about my abilities he wouldn’t have sent me. Er, besides, our relationship with each other will be strictly professional, you have my guarantee,” Flash firmly insisted as he straightened out his mane. “Now, what do you wish of me? Where should I have the guards set up?”

Twilight replied by trotting over to Flash. “I think it might be better if you got a look at the town, especially my castle. There are a lot of places that could use more protection. Plus, if royal guards are going to be stationed here, Mayor Mare will want to know. She’ll go a long way towards ensuring ponies don’t start panicking. Trust me, it doesn’t take much to get the ponies here worked up.”

Flash simply bowed his head. “Whatever you wish of me, your highness. I am yours to command from this point onward.”

“Good, then let’s set off,” Twilight declared, before she realized. “Ooh, but first I need to pay Starlight a visit! She’s going to have to take over for me again.”

Meanwhile, Starlight had reluctantly brought Cozy Glow and her supplies to the guidance counselor’s office. She had tried to leave the regressed filly in the nursery, but it seemed that said filly had gotten quite attached to the unicorn mare and didn’t want to be without her.

As Starlight was putting the supplies away, the door to her office flung open unexpectedly! “Counselor Starlight, do you have a moment? Or maybe two? Or maybe a dozen or more?” The voice of Silverstream called as the hippogriff fluttered in. “Spring break is coming up and I was thinking…” But the rest of her sentence trailed off as she happened to take in the sight of Cozy Glow in a diaper, clinging to Starlight’s mane.

Starlight realized her mistake too late as she spun around in time to find herself snout to snout with the very energetic hippogriff! “Is that Cozy Glow?! Why is she wearing a diaper?”

Cozy buried herself deeper into Starlight’s mane, the presence of the strange half bird/half pony creature that Starlight was talking with frightened the filly.

The unicorn sighed. Of all the creatures to find out it had to be Silverstream, the one known to be quite a chatterbox. “You need to keep this a secret, Silverstream. Cozy Glow got regressed accidentally, and Twilight and I are trying to work on a way to change her back to normal.” She instructed.

Silverstream just smiled, eyeing Cozy Glow. “Oh, she’s so cute like this. Nothing like that sneaky, manipulative little filly that was telling us friendship wasn’t in our nature,” Then she cooed. “Hey, it’s okay, Cozy Glow. I don’t bite. I wanna be your friend.”

Cozy was slow to poke her way out of Starlight’s mane. The creature seemed to be less noisy now, which was a good thing. She slowly reached out a hoof to touch the creature, feeling how soft the mane was (and how it smelt ever so faintly of sea water for some reason).

Starlight watched the whole thing, feeling an enormous sense of relief when Cozy didn’t freak out and start crying.

Just then, Twilight happened to teleport into the office! “Starlight!” She shouted, before noticing Silverstream. “Oh, Silverstream, hello,” Then she remembered. “Wait, Silverstream!”

Silverstream just smiled. “It’s okay, Headmare Twilight. I know about Cozy,” She scratched the filly’s chin lightly with a claw. “She’s really cute like this. She reminds me of Terramar when he was just a hatchling,” And she turned to Starlight. “Can I babysit her?! Please?! Can I?! Can I?”

Before Starlight could answer, Twilight decided for her. “As long as you promise to keep her where all her supplies are, Silverstream. It’s probably best if she remains here,” And she explained to Starlight. “Starlight, I need you to run the school again. I’m going to be busy showing the guards around Ponyville.”

“Are you sure it can’t wait until some other time? Preferably after classes are done for the day and I can just be with Cozy Glow?” Starlight questioned.

“I’m afraid not,” Twilight commented with a shake of her head. “Besides, you seem to be getting really attached to Cozy. You have to remember that she’s not actually three years old.”

“But it’s because of me that she thinks she is!” Starlight protested. “And you saw what her parents were like, they were horrible! Nopony should have to grow up with that kind of treatment!”

Twilight nodded her head. “I agree, but we can argue about what’s best for Cozy after she’s back to normal. For right now, I need to ensure the guards know their way around Ponyville, and you need to make sure the school keeps running smoothly,” She turned to Silverstream. “Plus, the whole purpose of this school is to help our students learn. There’s plenty of friendship lessons to be had in taking care of a little one.”

Silverstream then added. “What if I got my friends to help out? It could be like an extra credit assignment or something,” She suggested. “I promise they won’t tell, I’ll make sure of it. And if I’m being honest, some of them could use the experience.”

Starlight reluctantly relented, even though it pained her to do so. “This must’ve been what my dad went through every day when I was a foal,” She thought to herself. “No wonder he wanted to baby me so much.” And she told Silverstream. “Well, I guess you and your friends can do it. Just this once,” She was quick to point out. “She’s actually old enough for potty training. There’s an old training potty in that foal stuff somewhere. If it looks like she has to go, make sure she sits on it.”

Silverstream gave a salute. “Can do, Counselor Starlight!”

So it was that a short time later, Silverstream got all of her friends excused from classes and brought them all to the counselor’s office, telling them everything she knew about Cozy and what would be expected of them.

“You’re telling me that the same creepy, sneaky Cozy Glow who made us doubt ourselves is now stuck with the mentality of a toddler?” Smolder questioned. “If I didn’t know better I’d swear this was a really weird dream we’re all having. Also why don't we just keep her like this forever? At least now we don't have to worry about her doing anything crazy!" She added.

"But that would be mean, Smolder, besides if you got turned into a baby dragon I'm positive even Cozy Glow would help bring you back to normal!" Silverstream argued.

Smolder gaged at the thought of being a baby again. She sincerely hoped that would never happen to her.

Gallus sighed. “Whatever. If it gets me out of class and gives me some extra credit I really don’t care. Just don’t make me change diapers.” He made a gag face to emphasize his point.

Sandbar just grinned. “Aw come on, it’s not that bad. You get used to it,” And he added. “This’ll be just like taking care of my baby sister. I help Mom and Dad babysit her all the time, and she’s rarely trouble.”

Silverstream just cooed. “Well, Cozy’s right in here, guys. Come on, we’re gonna have so much fun with her today!”

Yona was the first to approach Cozy, quickly picking up the foal and hugging her tightly. “Yona can’t wait to play with Cozy, and make block tower with Cozy, and give Cozy bottles! Yona take good care of little Cozy!”

“Yona, you’re being too tight! You have to control your strength,” Ocellus scolded as she carefully pryed the filly from Yona’s arms (after Cozy started to cry due to the pressure). “Hey there, Cozy. You ready for some fun?”

Cozy nodded very slowly. “I like having fun. What we play?”

Gallus grinned. “I’ve got a good one,” He flew close and put a claw to Cozy’s nose, making a grabbing motion. “Got your nose!” He teased and held up his claw.

Cozy immediately pawed at her face with her hooves, acting as if Gallus had actually stolen her nose. “Give nose back!” She demanded.

But Gallus just held it aloft. “What’s the magic word, Cozy?”

Cozy didn’t play along, she just leaped up and fluttered her tiny wings. “Want nose back!” She demanded of Gallus, grabbing his claws!

“Ow! O-okay, okay! You can have your nose back!” Gallus insisted, surprised at how strongly the grip was from Cozy. He lowered his claws to her face and touched her nose. “Here, it’s yours. You play too rough for me.”

Yona just grinned as she trotted over. “Yona’s turn! Yona teach Cozy how to play nice!” She pulled the filly close again. “Here, Cozy bounce on Yona’s lap. Yak best at being bouncy castle!” She proceeded to lay down, letting Cozy bounce on her knees.

Cozy giggled as she bounced from knee to knee, occasionally flapping her wings to gain more altitude. But all that bouncing soon caused a problem. Almost before she realized it, her bladder released and an audibly hiss filled the room. “Oopsie! I pee pee!” She blushed.

“Don’t worry, little one. I’ll get you changed,” Ocellus cooed as she trotted over. “I volunteered in the nursery back at the hive. I learned a couple of things.”

Sandbar trotted over. “Did they teach you how to change a diaper? It’s a pretty complicated process, even I still mess it up sometimes.”

Ocellus shook her head. “I think I got it. You just fetch the wipes, powder, and new diaper. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Sandbar obeyed, and Ocellus worked with a surprising level of precision. In record time she had stripped Cozy of the wet diaper, wiped her rump clean, powdered her all over, and put the new diaper on. All Sandbar had to do was toss the old diaper in the trash, and he promptly left to wash his hooves.

Smolder blinked in surprise. “Wow! I’ve never seen anyone change a diaper that fast before!” Then she massaged the back of her neck with a claw. “Then again, I didn’t even know what diapers were until I came here. We never had any use for them in the dragon lands, they wouldn’t survive the lava pits and sharp rocks.”

“I don’t think I ever wore them. Maybe the griffons did back in the old days,” Gallus commented. “Not that I really care, but Gabby kind of acts like one of those big chicks. Might to have ask her if she is.”

After the quick change, Silverstream, Sandbar, Ocellus, and even Yona all joined in on playing with Cozy. They took turns doing all sorts of fun activities with her: Hoof painting (they made use of some buckets to wash off after they were done), story time, and block tower building (and destroying).

As a result it was inevitable when the regressed pegasus’ stomach started to growl. And once Cozy was placed in her high chair and had a bib tied to her, it was time for feeding.

But Smolder (who decided to try her luck at taking care of Cozy) found the task of spoon feeding to be difficult. Mostly because Cozy was intent on flinging her food back at Smolder. All sorts of different colored goop was flung onto her face and cheeks, which Cozy laughed at but Smolder didn’t. “Are we sure she’s not doing this on purpose just to get back at me?” The dragon huffed.

“She has the mind of a three year old, how could she be trying to purposefully target you?” Sandbar questioned. “She probably doesn’t even remember how suspicious you used to be of her.”

Smolder snorted. “The whole cute, innocent thing was way too odd. It was like she was trying too hard to make others like her.”

Silverstream just ribbed Smolder. “Well she’s changed now, and you need to stop being so hard on her,” She picked up the plastic spoon from Smolder. “Here, I remember this working wonders when I was just a hatchling.”

“What are you-” The orange scaled dragon began but was quickly cut off as a spoonful of Pureed Banana was forced down her throat. She was forced to swallow quickly, overwhelmed by the strong taste!

“See, Cozy?” Silverstream spoke up as the hippogriff gestured to Smolder. “If Smolder eats it then it can’t be poison.”

“So go ahead and eat up. You wanna grow up big and strong, don’t you?” Sandbar encouraged.

Cozy nodded her head and from that point onward she obeyed when every spoonful was given to her. She also quite a kick out of seeing Smolder drink milk from a bottle.

Smolder blushed while doing so. “What? I needed a way to wash out the taste,” And she glared at Silverstream. “Warn me the next time you do that!”

The rest of the day passed in a blur for the students after that. As the day came to a close they were feeling quite tired, and all of them curled up beside Cozy when she was settled down for a nap.

Starlight happened upon this particular scene when she finally came back to the counselor’s office. And her heart melted. “Cozy was having so much trouble making friends. And yet here she is now, sleeping peacefully and surrounded by six of them,” She thought to herself. “This is definitely not the same troubled filly who came to my office just a few days ago.”

But she knew that Cozy couldn’t stay in this regressed mental state forever. Sooner or later she would have to go back to normal.