The 'Glow' of Friendship

“And so, here is my castle. Or the Castle of Friendship as everypony calls it,” Twilight gestured a hoof to the crystal tree that had been her home ever since her battle with Tirek. “I actually used to avoid it because it didn’t feel like a home to me.”

Flash Sentry (along with the royal guards accompanying him) was quite impressed by the magnificent crystal structure that he saw before his very eyes. “And I thought the Crystal Empire’s castle was big!”

“Trust me, it’s even bigger on the inside. Even I still occasionally get lost inside it.” Twilight nervously chuckled and massaged the back of her neck with a hoof.

“Hey, it’s okay. I still sometimes lose my way around the Crystal Empire,” Flash reassured the princess. “Uh… don’t tell Captain Armor I said that. He’ll stick me with foalsitting duty for a month. And that’s if I’m lucky.”

With a chuckle Twilight replied. “Relax, my lips are sealed,” And she changed the subject. “Well, I guess everything’s in order now. You’ve seen all that there is to see. All the places in Ponyville that are of the highest priority to defend.”

Flash bowed and gave a salute. “And it will be my honor to personally guard your castle until further notice.”

“That’s nice of you to offer, Flash. But my castle doesn’t need protecting. It’s only been broken into once.” Twilight declared.

“That’s one time too many! If it can be breached even once, it can be breached again!” Flash demanded. “Please, Princess Twilight. I’m not taking no for an answer.”

A reluctant sigh escaped the alicorn’s lips. “Oh, alright. But only until we’re certain Tirek isn’t a threat. Because once that happens there’s no need to keep the increased security.”

Flash saluted again as he rose. “No worries, princess. For however long it may be, I’ll be honored to serve and protect you.”

Twilight smiled even as she thought to herself. “Flash is certainly eager to please. Maybe a little too eager.”

When the tour ended and the guards were all assigned to their posts around Ponyville, Twilight returned to the school. Classes had already been dismissed for the day, which meant she would have all the time she needed to work on the counter spell to cure Cozy.

Starlight, meanwhile, had left Silverstream and her friends to rest and had taken Cozy Glow back to the nursery in the castle.

In that particular moment as the mare watched over the mentally regressed filly, nothing else mattered. She just watched over Cozy as the little one’s chest bobbed up and down, all the while she suckled happily away on a pacifier that had been inserted into her mouth.

Cozy would probably wake up before long, she was never a deep sleeper and Starlight knew this. Taking care of a foal was quite demanding, but for moments like these Starlight wouldn’t trade it for anything in the whole wide world.

“She really deserves a better childhood than the one she had with her parents,” Starlight thought to herself as she kept a silent vigil over the slumbering pegasus. “I took having a father who loved me for granted, even if sometimes he could overdo it. I bet he went through a lot of what I’m going through now.” And she made a mental note to write him a letter expressing her newfound gratitude for raising her when she found the time.

But to the surprise of Starlight, Cozy slept for longer than she had ever slept before. Starlight just smiled at this. “Aw, all worn out from a day of fun with your new friends?” She silently whispered to the filly. But of course there was no reply.

Starlight didn’t mind the silence though, it gave her a chance to think. Deep down there was a part of her that wished Cozy could stay like this. But the rational part of her mind knew that was selfish and undesirable. The mental regression had been accidental, it would be wrong to keep Cozy in such a state no matter how peaceful she seemed or how easily she had made friends.

Eventually, just as the unicorn was preparing to fall asleep herself, she saw Cozy begin to stir within her crib. The little pegasus yawned and opened her eyes as she spat out her pacifier.

“Hi, Cozy,” Starlight greeted in a motherly tone of voice. “Did you have a good sleep?”

Cozy nodded her head. “I slept good, Mama.” And she stretched out her hooves.

Starlight took that as a cue to use her magic to pick Cozy up quite gently. With practiced precision at this point she pulled back the seam of Cozy’s diaper to check it. “All nice and clean,” She cooed. “What a good girl.”

Cozy nodded again. “I good, Mama. I use potty like big filly.”

“Oh, you did?” Starlight commented and patted Cozy’s head. “Such a good filly you are. I think that deserves something extra special. Something I picked up from Sugarcube Corner,” She floated the filly over to her high chair and placed her in it. Then with her horn glowing she presented the filly with a small cake. “Here you go, enjoy!”

The pegasus immediately used her hooves to dig into the cake, getting traces of frosting all over her face and bib. Starlight just laughed as she floated over a wet rag afterward to clean the filly’s face.

A couple more days passed as Starlight spent them mostly with Cozy, all the while the inevitably of Twilight finding a cure hung in the air. Meanwhile, the increased security continued even while Tirek didn’t appear to leave Tartarus and gave no indication of what his “plan” was.

At last, after a week had passed since the accidental mental regression, Twilight had big news for Starlight. In the throne room of the castle she held a scroll in the violet red glow of her magic. “I think I’ve finally discovered the cure to return Cozy to normal.” She informed her former student.

“That’s… great,” Starlight reluctantly commented. She had known this was likely to happen sooner or later, but she had grown quite attached to Cozy over the week. Eyeing the scroll she questioned. “You’re sure this will work, Twilight?”

“I’m ninety nine point nine percent positive.” Twilight nodded.

“And… what about that other point one percent?” Starlight reluctantly asked.

Twilight fought back a gulp. “In that case the regression would be permanent. Cozy would have to grow up all over again, mentally anyway. But with age spells there are few guarantees,” She continued to hold up the scroll. “Now, where is Cozy?”

“She should be in the nursery, she’s been pretty good at not wandering off,” Starlight commented. “You want me to go get her?”

Twilight shook her head. “We’ll come to her, Starlight. It’ll probably be better that way.” And the two teleported to the nursery.

Cozy paused in her playing with blocks to look up at the two grown-ups in her midst. “Hi Mommy, hi Auntie Twily.” She greeted with a wave.

Starlight did her best to keep a straight face. Why was she getting even more attached to Cozy now all of a sudden? “Cozy, Mommy needs you to do her a favor. Auntie Twily’s going to put her horn to your head, and you need to hold still. It may feel funny, but afterward you should feel just fine.”
"Why can't she stay this way forever? If she had the mind of a goal forever she'd have a better life!" Starlight thought even though she had to let Twilight do it. Part of her wondered if perhaps Cozy would ever feel comfortable being treated like a foal sometimes?

The pegasus obliged as Twilight did just as Starlight had said. The moment the horn made contact with Cozy’s forehead there was a brief but brilliant flash of light! Both mares shut their eyes!

When the flash faded and both mares opened their eyes, Cozy stood before them looking the same as she had before. Her moderate scarlet eyes just blinked but she spoke not a word.

“So, Cozy,” Starlight reluctantly broke the silence. “How do you… feel?”

Cozy looked down at herself, taking notice of the diaper wrapped around her waist. Then she looked back up. “Golly. What am I doing here, Counselor Starlight?”

“You… don’t remember?” Starlight questioned the filly.

The filly shook her head. “Not really. It all felt like a dream or something, like I was watching somepony else pretend to be me. But it all felt so real. What I do remember is being in a messy diaper and feeling bad about it, you putting your horn to my head, and then suddenly I woke up here.”

Twilight gulped as she informed the filly. “Well, I’m afraid Starlight accidentally mentally regressed you. You had the mentality of a three year old for an entire week.”

Cozy eeped at the idea. “Oh no! I wasn’t too much trouble, was I?! My parents say I was a nasty, terrible pony as a toddler!”

“Cozy, you weren’t bad at all. Sure, you were a little bit mischievous and demanding, but that’s to be expected from a three year old,” Starlight told the filly. “And having met your parents personally, I can say that they are not the kind of ponies who should ever be parents.”

The pegasus gasped! “My parents! They know I’m here?!”

“Don’t worry, we made sure they couldn’t take you away,” Twilight informed Cozy. “When they saw you like this and saw how close you were to Starlight, they decided they didn’t want to try and raise you again. Though I’m sorry to say that they more or less gave up custody of you.”

Cozy hung her head. “My parents were so harsh, it’s almost like they didn’t want me at all.”

Starlight just put a hoof around the filly. “Well that’s okay, you don’t have to worry about them anymore. And you don’t have to worry about Tirek or making friends either. We’ve got increased security around here.”

“And Starlight tells me you made friends pretty easily in your regressed state.” Twilight reassured Cozy.

“Yeah? Well for now I think I’d like to get out of this diaper,” Cozy commented as she looked down at herself. “Uh, do I still have to wear them at night?”

“Only until we’re sure you’re not going to have accidents. Because otherwise it’s going to be rubber sheets from now on.” Twilight informed the filly.

Cozy sighed, but accepted the terms. “Okay. I guess a few more nights in diapers won’t hurt anything.”

“And you can always come to either Twilight or I if you’re having trouble,” Starlight informed Cozy as she undid the tabs on the diaper. “That’s what we’re here for.”

So Cozy left the nursery, deep in thought. She actually kind of liked the idea of being treated like a foal, a chance to experience the kind of foalhood her birth parents had denied her. Maybe someday when she worked up the courage, she would ask Starlight to be her mommy again, albeit without being mentally regressed. Being in diapers and being babied actually didn’t sound that bad, as long as it was done in secret anyway.