Stop Patronizing the Sun!

Chapters

Chapter one: The thousand year old filly
Chapter two: Celestia gets adopted!?
Chapter three: Celestia's Meet and Greet
Chapter Four: Joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders
Chapter five: Sweetie Belle's secret
Chapter six: An Alicorn meets a Zebra
Chapter seven: Upside-down...Cake
chapter eight: Desert of Memories
Chapter nine: two weeks later...
Chapter ten: The trial of Celestia part 1
chapter eleven: The trial of Celestia part 2
Chapter Twelve: The trial of Celestia part 3

Chapter one: The thousand year old filly

Celestia groaned as she slowly woke with her head pounding from what felt like being hit by a train. Her whole body was still shaking from the ordeal yesterday, and The other day Discord had almost destroyed Twilight and her friends, stolen the elements of harmony, and caused chaos to reign in Ponyville. The damage alone was something she was still dealing with, cornfields now ruined, many florae being destroyed by the chocolate rain, and that wasn't including the countless houses and roads completely destroyed. But then the lord of chaos regressed Celestia into a filly during the entire ordeal leaving her helpless to support Twilight and her friends. But the princess was able to send her the notes she wrote to her about friendship at her fainting cost. From then, she has been slipping in and out of consciousness, and it took her some time to grip the reality that she was now a young filly of the age of five. Unable to fall back to sleep, the filly slowly rubbed her eyes and looked around with a pout at what appeared to be a little filly's room. She now had a filly sized vanity table, a dollhouse, a pink plush carpet, a closet full of dresses hung up inside. Each dress, friller, and poofier than the last, even Philomina's perch, was now a bright pink. The princess hated this room and how it reflected what Discord did, transforming her into a filly and making her room look like this. The filly then turned her attention to see a beautiful unicorn maid slowly entering the room. The maid in question had a lovely prench maid outfit with a grey coat, a dark blue braided mane, and sea blue eyes. The mare had this lovely smile seeming trying too hard to make her feel better as she entered and curtseyed. “Good morning Celestia.”

“Morning, Mrs.Mop Bucket.” The princess sighed as she slowly picked up from her much smaller bed by the maid's magic. The princess then slowly trotted over to a mirror and got a look at her smaller stubby body, a short flowing pink mane, and tail. She could only look at her reflection in anger as it reminded her of what Discord did to her yesterday. “I can't believe he did this! I'm going to make him pay dearly when he gets out of his stone prison!"

“Aww, don’t worry; you're still the princess of the sun; now come on, let’s get you ready for the day. And remember, I told you that you could call me Moppy.” The maid cooed as she escorted the filly towards her private bathroom.

Even though Mop Bucket was trying to be kind, Celestia didn't like how her staff treated her like she was helpless. The filly furiously shouted at her caretaker. “I can take my own bath!” As she was carried off, kicking and whining. The maid scolded Celestia like any other filly.“You are a filly, and until you're an adult again, I'm your guardian, so please stop fighting.”

"Fine, but please stop treating me like a helpless child." Celestia snapped, but the maid didn't head the princess as they came to the bathroom and filled it with bubble bath soap. The little alicorn princess tried to squirm away, but she was magically plopped into the bathtub, and the maid went about scrubbing the filly’s body down and washing her mane as she cooed compliments.

Celestia scoffed at the comments and mumbled irritably under her breath but endured being washed. The maid wasn't paying attention to Celestia's insults as she was then brought out of the bath and covered up in a fluffy towel and dried her up, then went onto brushing her teeth and patting the princess's mane dry. Moppy then brought her to the closet and browsed through the many dresses Celestia had. “Hmmm, so what color of dress would you want to wear today…” She then picked out a frilly yellow dress with poofy sleeves and white frills outlining the outfit's seams. “This one just seems to brighten up the day; it's just perfect.”

"Ugh, why do I need to wear a dress!? I didn't wear them when I was a big pony, why would I wear one now!?" Celestia shouted as she stomped a hoof in protest.

Mop Bucket sighed, trying her best not to get too angry at the princess but understanding a bit she didn't like being babied so much. The maid then continued to explain. "It's just to make you look pretty. You don't have to wear one...I just thought you would look nice in one."

Celestia paused, seeing her caretaker getting all teary eyed. She didn't want her maid to feel bad as Mop Bucket was trying to care for her and relented, "fine, I'll wear one just this once."

The mare then slowly placed the dress over her body, adjusting it so fit snugly around Celestia's tiny body. The maid then placed a shiny tiara on her head while pulling frilly white and yellow striped socks over each of her hooves.

The maid then brushed her mane and stood back, admiring the dollified Celestia looking quite adorable in her new outfit and cooed, “now come on; let's get you breakfast.”

Celestia didn't feel like protesting as the mare led the little filly off; she looked so embarrassed as many of her staff dawwed at her, and some waved a hoof with smiles on their faces. The princess rolled her eyes feeling patronized and annoyed that ponies were treating her like she’s helpless.

The filly continued to trot through the halls until they came to the kitchen, where she was seated at the table while the maid went to make pancakes. Celestia sat there paitently but squeaked upon seeing her sister Luna slowly walk over with a smile. “Oh, there she is, my Precious little sister!”

“Eeep! Stop doing that, Luna!” Celestia whined as she stomped about, getting frustrated as Luna came over, hugged the filly and ruffled her mane.

“Now, are you ready to raise the sun?”

“Yes, of course, I am.” the princess of the sun grumbled, already getting annoyed by the fact she being patronized by her younger sister.

“And you know that if you need help, I’ll be there,” Luna replied as she placed a hoof over her chest.

Celestia turned around and snapped, “I don’t need help! I can do this on my own!”

Mrs. Mop Bucket then trotted over and placed a plate of pancakes over to Celestia, who drooled and was about to dig in. But the unicorn maid started cutting up her food, then gave her a rubber pink rubber fork and placed a pink sippy cup next to her. “There you go, sweetheart.”

"A sippy cup! A rubber fork!? Why can't I eat like a normal pony?" Celestia complained, wanting to throw another tantrum over wanting to use regular cups and silverware.

Mop Bucket feeling bad for the princess, explained in her patronizing tone. "Princess, you're a foal, and you might spill or shatter glass which could cut you. Please just use the sippy cup for now, ok?"

The princess took the pink plastic cup and suckled on it, drinking the orange juice but was still angry at all the constant babying.

The princess then started eating her breakfast silently, not wanting to draw any more attention to herself as Luna paused she now had to talk to her sister regarding some hard truths. “Now, as you know dear sister even though you're a filly, you don’t have to do your royal duties. I've been looking into somepony who will take your place until you're an adult again.”

“What!?” Celestia snapped, shoving a hoof on the table. “I am not going to be replaced! I am still your older sister; I am still over a thousand years old even if I look like a filly!”

She continued eating her food, grumbling irritably as Luna blushed and continued, “oh, you get so cute when you throw a tantrum...but ok, you can try doing your royal duties, but if you get overwhelmed, let us know.”

Celestia getting quite annoyed and had enough of her sister's patronizing, shouted, “fine! But, you need to trust me to do my duties, Luna, and stop patro-patro-patro whatever. You know what I mean.”

Luna became concerned and replied, “Sister, I noticed that when you’ve became a filly, your vocabulary has lessened, and your overall education level may have regressed as well.”

“I don’t need to go to school! I know my ABCs and 123s.”Celestia whined and squeaked, hearing how silly that sounded. She then quickly took out a piece of paper and a quill. “watch!" The princess shouted and quickly wrote down one plus one equals four and showed it to the mares, not realizing the answer was completely wrong. “See! I know my math!”

Both Luna and the maid gulped, and now we're even more concerned. Moppy sighed and shook her head; it seemed that Luna's fears maybe, in fact, true as she asked, “look, Celestia, let’s worry about this later; why don’t we go out into the garden and have you raise the sun?”

“Yeah, let's go! That'll cheer me up!" Celestia squealed excitedly and waddled off, getting excited as she was escorted into the garden.

As Celestia toddled through the garden being escorted by her maid, many of the ponies dawwed as she walked by with a blush on her face. The patronizing continued with the nobles whispering to each other as she shuffled by with her head bent down, feeling too embarrassed to look her subjects in the eye. They made it to the podium standing before the ponies below as Moppy came forward to a microphone and tapped it. “Hello, everypony I am Mrs.Mop Bucket and will be Celestia's caretaker for the time being. I know that yesterday was chaotic to say the least. But thanks to the heroic efforts of Twilight and her friends Discord has been turned into stone. But sadly there was a casualty Princess Celestia was regressed into a filly against her will. Even after she was regressed, the princess heroically sent Twilight’s assistant Spike all the friendship lessons that her prized student has learned since living in Ponyville, which lead to Twilight and her friends defeating Discord! So please give a round of applause to Celestia!”

Everypony clapped and cheered as Celestia stood on a stool to reach the microphone stumbling about abit. Soon the cheers turned to dawwws. The princess gulped feeling quite nervous as she started her speech. "Hello my subjects, today I came to tell you that I, princess Celestia have been turned into a five-year-old according to the doctors that checked up on me. They also gave me a lollipop and a stick-”

She paused and gulped, realizing her foalish nature took over for a bit. Many ponies dawwed again, and she gulped and grumbled at herself for being so foalish before she continued, “sorry, what I mean is that they said I was otay, and I fine. But, since Discord is trapped, there is no way right now that I can be turned back into a big pony. But I still know a lot and plan to continue being your princess, and today I gonna prove that.”

The princess raised her wings and soared into the air, flapping as hard as she could, lighting her horn everypony watched as the sun slowly came out from the sky. Celestia held her horn's power as the sun entered into the air and shining overhead sending its rays down to the ponies below. The princess looked up, smiling proudly, feeling so happy that she didn't lose the powers to raise the sun and squealed, “See, I told you I could do it!” The filly then suddenly felt weak and groaned as she rubbed her horn as she had a pounding headache and then without warning fainted on stage.

The filly slowly woke up again back in her bed, feeling groggy, and she had a horrible headache as she rubbed her horn and asked. “What is going on? What happened?"

She turned to see Moppy, a doctor, and Luna all standing over her, and they were talking in hushed whispers as Luna turned to face her sister and, with a worried tone, exclaimed, “Oh my Faust! she’s awake!”

Celestia blinked and asked, “what is going on? What happened?”

Luna sighed feeling relieved her sister was okay but her fears regarding her sister's magical abilities being reduced were of concern as she continued, “now, I know you might hate to hear this but raising the sun took a lot out of you. I...I will raise the sun for now on.”

“What!?” Celestia cried out with a look of horror now on her face.

The doctor came over looking stern as he explained, “you used way too much magic, which is what caused you to faint. Raising the sun is too much for a young filly to do. Having that much strain on your body could cause irreversible damage to your horn and overall magical ability if you continue.”

Celestia kicked about and shouted, “I am not weak and don’t need to be treated like a filly!”

Luna had enough of her sister's behavior and slammed a hoof on the ground and snapped, “young lady, that’s enough!”

The princess of the sun pouted but stopped as Luna turned to the doctor and replied. “Thank you for your help; we’ll take it from here.”

The stallion gave a nod and slowly left the room as Luna turned to her sister and continued. "Now, what happened this morning clearly shows that you're not ready to perform your royal duties. So I’m having your top assistant Quill Feather to run the kingdom during the day.”

Celestia kicked and whined, “this isn’t fair!”

Luna came over to her sister's bedside and nuzzled her as she continued. "I know, and I’m sorry this is happening to you. But you need to be patient while were figuring out how to get you back to your normal age, ok? I can't risk having you hurt yourself."

The little filly just slumped under the sheets, not liking the answer as Luna sighed, seeing there was nothing else she could say to make her sister feel better. The princess of the night then turned her attention to the maid and asked, “Mrs. Mop Bucket, please watch my sister and make sure she stays out of trouble?”

“Yes, princess Luna, I'll take good care of the princess.” the maid replied as she curtseyed. The princess of the night then yawned as her eyes drooped. "Ok, I’m going to get some sleep, good day, you two.”

The alicorn princess then slowly trotted off as Celestia stuck her tongue out, and Mrs.Mop Bucket came over and asked, “now, why don’t we go and take a walk around the palace? You could take a break from being cooped up in here all day.”

The princess went deeper under the covers and cried out, “I’m just going take a nap like a filly you all think I am!”

Mop Bucket sighed as she looked down, wishing she could do more to make Celestia feel better. But it was clear she wanted to be alone, so the maid got up and curtseyed. “If you wish to take a nap, that’s fine; I’ll be outside if you need anything.”

Mop Bucket then slowly walked out of the room and shut the door leaving Celestia to tear up and started crying. Tears started streaming down her face, feeling so weak and helpless, unable even to raise the sun or perform her duties; she didn’t know what else to do but cry.

Chapter two: Celestia gets adopted!?

Princess Celestia was in her throne room as a full-grown adult, walking back and forth with a nervous look on her face all the while Twilight and her friends were out there trying to defeat Discord. The princess knew that Discord’s magic was quite strong, but she was hoping that Twilight and her friends were strong enough to resist it as she whispered to herself. “I hope they're doing ok? I’m not sure they were ready for the lord of chaos.”

“Oh princess, they're doing just fine,” The lord of chaos exclaimed as he suddenly appeared before her with an evil smirk on his face.

The princess of the sun glared back at her rival of chaos and shouted, “You! What are you doing here!”

Discord crossed his claws with a triumphant smile. “Oh, I’m already finished dealing with your precious bearers of the elements of harmony. They're tearing each other apart now, and I've won.”

The princess' eyes went wide at this, she shouted, “no, you haven’t!” She flew through the palace towards her room as Discord suddenly poofed next to her and laughed. “Seriously, what can you do now? Without the elements of harmony, there is literally nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Friendship is what’s going to defeat you, Discord!” Princess Celestia snapped back at the lord of chaos with a glare in her eyes; she wasn't going to let him win and send Equestria into a chaotic hell.

Discord scoffed at Celestia’s defiance. “You think friendship is honestly going to defeat me, you must be such a foal to believe that.” With a snap of a claw causing the princess to slowly shrink in age while her body scrunched and bloated up as she felt herself shrink to the ground below her hooves, while her mane and tail shortened and fluffed up with a pink mane and tail. She cried out as her room changed into that for a little filly’s and turned to see the closet now filled with dresses; her vanity table was smaller and designed for a filly, there was now a fluffy pink carpet across the ground. Celestia stared back at the lord of chaos and shouted, “Discord turn me back to normal!”

“Nah, I think you're a perfect age for you understand the world. Now I'm going to have some more fun with your bearers of harmony, then I'm really going to get this eternal chaotic party started!” Discord laughed maniacally and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Celestia cried out with tears in her eyes, looked towards her new vanity table, opened a drawer, and sighed in relief, seeing dozens of scrolls fall out. She gulped as she realized these were all of Twilight’s friendship lessons and lit her horn. “Come on, Spike, I’m going to need your help here!”

She used whatever energy she had left in her tiny body and shot a beam of energy, sending the first scroll off; she continued to shoot beams of magic one after another. Her whole body was heaving as she continued to zap the scrolls one by one until every friendship lesson Twilight sent her was gone. Celestia was heaving from exhaustion and collapsed on the ground, her horn fizzling out. “Spike...please get them to Twilight...please…”

The princess’s eyes slowly closed as darkness overtook her, and everything went black.

Celestia woke up from her nap with a start; she was shivering and scared of the dream she had. No, it was a memory of the day before and how Discord regressed her. The whole thing was still fresh, and it made her quiver as she slowly got out of bed and came to the door and knocked. “um...Mrs. Mop Bucket?”

The maid came through the door, smiled down at the filly, and asked, “Hey Celestia, did you have a nice sleep?”

“Yeah, the nap helped...but...I...I want to go down to court.” The little alicorn filly asked, looking downward.

Mop Bucket replied, “um...ok… I guess you can. But you can just observe I don't want you having to actually do anything." The maid then led the alicorn filly through the streets of Canterlot and headed towards the throne room, where a brown coated unicorn mare with gold eyes and streaks of black mane and tail tied in conservative buns. She was on the throne and holding court with nobles coming forth and dealing with their issues.

Celestia became flustered, seeing some other pony doing her job waddling over. “Hey! Quill Feather!”

The mare was surprised to see the little alicorn filly coming over and exclaimed, “oh my, Princess, didn’t your sister tell you that I was holding court and performing your duties?”

“Yeah! But I wana at least be with you and make sure you're not messing things up!” Princess Celestia shouted, running over and throwing herself on the throne and staring down at the rest of her subjects.

The nobles nearby dawwed and whispered amongst each other. “I wana snuggle her,” “so tiny,” “she’s so cute” “aww, is the wittle one mad?”

Celestia got all pouty as tears flooded her eyes as she stomped a hoof on the throne. “Stop it! I am the sun!”

Quill Feather couldn’t help but her hooves to her face and cooed, “oh so precious.”

Mop Bucket quickly came over and scolded the princess. “Princess Celestia! You can stay here but don’t interrupt Quill Feather.”

The princess plopped on her throne, grumbling under her breath as Quill Feather cleared her throat and continued the court session. Celestia did her best to pay attention to what was going on. Still, it seemed her mind constantly wandered off as she seemed unable to pay attention. She kept thinking about Discord and her friendship lessons Twilight sent her or wondering if she should’ve changed her dress. The princess must’ve fallen asleep because she was quite surprised to see Quill Feather standing over her as the unicorn asked, “um..princess? It’s um lunchtime.”

The princess alicorn blinked and asked, “huh? Is it really already noon?”

“It’s actually late in the afternoon; you were asleep for some time.” Quill Feather explained as she led Celestia away. Now the filly was feeling embarrassed, realizing she couldn’t even pay attention to the court sessions. She was placed on one of the chairs and was given a sippy cup full of juice and a daisy sandwich. The filly didn’t even complain about the sippy cup of how her sandwich was cut up in triangles seeing it was pointless to throw another tantrum. The princess simply chomped down on her food and munched through the sandwich, grumbling as she sipped her sippy cup as well. When the princess was finishing her food, she asked, “now, I know I couldn’t pay attention during court...bu...but…”

Celestia’s eyes welled up with tears and slammed her hooves on the table. “I have to be able to do something right!? Or what’s the point of me being here!”

Both Mop Bucket and Quill Feather looked at each other, not really knowing what they should do. When out of nowhere, Twilight came bursting through the front doors of the palace and rushed over. “I did it!”

Everypony there turned completely confused as Twilight looked over at them, looking quite exhausted with bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. But she gave them a smile and replied. “I spent the last two days Celestia, but I finally got the paperwork to temporarily adopt you!”

The princess of the sun was confused at her student's sudden appearance and asked, “What do you mean?”

Twilight took a few deep breaths as she continued to explain. “I'm sorry everypony, but...I...I saw what happened to Celestia yesterday and this morning. I knew the princess would be unable to perform her duties, and I can only imagine what she’s going through. Instead of having her suffer here being unable to do her duties? Why can’t she come with me to Ponyville? I can study the chaos magic used to regress her and have her enrolled in Cheerilee’s school. She can even enjoy herself among my friends.”

Celestia's eyes lit up as she thought back to her dream last night. “Yo...your right, Twilight? I...I actually wouldn’t mind that...b..but are you sure it’s ok? I mean, you're still doing your friendship studies and running a library? I don’t want to be a bur-”

Twilight rushed over and hugged the filly tightly. “It’s ok, you're not going to be a burden, ok? Please stop doing this to yourself. I can’t stand seeing you like this.”

Celestia was stunned by Twilight's embrace and nuzzled into her and whispered. “It’s ironic, you caring for me like this when I'm supposed to be your mentor.”

The other mares blushed not wanting to break up the adorable scene. Mop Bucket then came over and added, “Oh, stop it, Celestia we will do anything for you. Now, do you wish to have Twilight care for you?”

The little filly didn't even really need to think it over as she nodded yes. Quill Feather came over to the paperwork Twilight had and scrawled her name. “Ok! There you go!”

Twilight turned to Celestia as she presented her with the form. “Just need your signature too.”

Celestia blushed as she took up the quill and quivered, dropping blobs of ink on the paper and whispered, “I...I need help. I forgot how to write.”

Twilight came over and assisted in helping Celestia sign her name on the form. “They're all done, now let’s pack up some things, and we're good to go.”

The princess squealed and hugged Twilight. “Ok! Thank you, Twilight!” she then jumped off her chair and scamped to her room to pack. Mop Bucket blushed as she turned to the violet mare. “Thank you, Twilight, you're a lifesaver. I honestly was unsure of what we were going to do with Celestia moping around all the time.”

Twilight blushed, feeling a bit awkward as this whole idea kind of came out of nowhere as she replied, “It's no problem...though...I...I have no idea on how to be a parent? I just thought having Celestia be with me would help her be happier.”

Mop Bucket and Quill Feather both laughed, and the maid replied, “look, Quill Feather, and I are definitely not mother material either...honestly, I don’t have any advice for you. But good luck.”

The violet coated unicorn slammed a hoof to her face hoping she wasn’t making a big mistake.

It took almost all evening, but Celestia had all of the stuff she wanted to bring to Ponyville, all packed into dozens of suitcases. Now Celestia, Twilight, Mop Bucket, and Quill Feather had all of the princess of the sun's stuff loaded onto a trolly all ready to go. The princess herself had Philomena's cage with her, with the phoenix looking confused.

Twilight checked everything over and proclaimed. “Seems we have everything you and your phoenix need? I think we're all good to go!"

Celestia gulped as she paused she needed to do something first before she left and asked, “yeah, I believe so...but I wana wait for my sissy; she should be up soon, and I need to tell her what’s going on.”

“So Twilight got all the paperwork done? Honestly, I'm surprised she got it done so fast.” Luna yawned walking into the empty courtroom flapping out her wings clearly showing she was just getting up to perform her duties.

“You knew about this too!” Celestia cried out and ran over to her sister staring up right at her and snapped, “why did you keep this a secret from me!?”

Luna chuckled as she bent down to Celestia's level and nuzzled her sister. “I wanted to surprise you, I thought the paperwork would’ve taken a lot longer.”

Twilight couldn't see her mentor like this and was determined to help her in any way possible and scoffed, “I wasn’t going to leave Celestia like this for a week! But it was a lot of red tape to get princess Celestia to be adopted by me. But anyways, technically, I'm her guardian now!”

Princess Celestia tears welled up in her eyes seeing all of these ponies doing so much for her and burst out crying. “You guys! You all care so much for me! I don't deserve this!”

Luna rolled her eyes and replied sarcastically. “Oh, sister, you’re overdramatic.” She then brought out a small cake. Celestia's eyes lit up, seeing the small cake had little candied suns and her cutie mark in the middle with pasty white frosting with pink icing surrounding the outside of it.

“Wow, you baked this for me!” Celestia cheered, taking the cake with her mouth-watering, wanting to dig into it. Luna couldn’t help but laugh, “oh, of course!? It’ll be great to eat while on the train ride to Ponyville.”

The princess placed the cake on top of the rest of her luggage. Celestia then got a bit sad, seeing she won’t be around her sister as much, and quivered a bit as she stared back up at Luna and asked, “um, Luna, you will come to visit, right?”

“Of course, sister, I will come by every night to check on you, ok?” The princess of the night whispered as she nuzzled her sister’s mane once more than kissed her on the cheek.

Twilight slowly trotted over to Celestia’s side, seeing that she had said her goodbyes and the fact they had to make the last train to Ponyville she asked her mentor. “Alright, you ready to go?”

“Yeah, mo- I mean, Twilight!” The princess chirped out with sweat pouring down her face making Twilight also blushed, feeling awkward at Celestia’s response. Soon Twilight was leading the princess of the sun to the train station as Celestia thought to herself. “See, Discord, you're wrong; friendship is an amazing thing, and I can’t wait to see what adventures I'll have in Ponyville.

Chapter three: Celestia's Meet and Greet

Princess Celestia stirred as she found herself in what seemed to be a tree, with the room being circular and the entire room made of oak wood. The young princess slowly got up and sat on the side of a rather large bed compared to her now small frame and tried to gauge where she was. It took a few moments for her mind to focus when all of a sudden, the little alicorn's mind freaked out realizing she had to raise the sun as she jumped up from Twilight's bed, shouting, "oh dear Faust, I'm late!"

The little filly ran to the window sill, stood on her hind legs and starred outside and was quite surprised to see that the sun was starting to rise without her. Celestia just hopelessly watched the sun rising in the east as the realization slowly dawned on her that it was her sister raising the sun. This infuriated the little princess who jumped off the windowsill and ran down the stairs of Golden Oaks library. Her angry thoughts soon subsided as the smell of breakfast wafting through the halls of the library eased her mind. The little filly's mouth drooled as she looked over and spotted Twilight cooking pancakes and eggs, swishing her tail about humming a tune as the little filly cried out. "Hey, how did I end up in your bed!?"

"Oh!? You don't remember, I guess? You fell asleep on the train coming here." The violet unicorn explained as Princess Celestia scratched her head. She didn't remember falling asleep on the train but it was most probably accurate. The princess was still a bit agitated at herself for acting like a foal as she climbed onto a table and waited to be served. Spike walked over and climbed over to eat and waved a claw. "Oh, hey princess, how are you doing?"

The young alicorn was quite surprised to see that she was about the young dragon's size. She was a bit embarrassed at this realization and looked away before she mumbled, "I'm doing alright."

The young drake looking back at Celestia with wide eyes as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing and exclaimed, "Wow!? I can't believe you're a little foal!?"

"Hey! I'm still the princess of Equestria! So you better treat me as such!" The little alicorn shouted back, making the young dragon back up with his claws raised. "Ok, didn't mean to offend you, jeez!" He plopped down on his seat.

Twilight couldn't help but snicker at the banter as she served them breakfast. The two both got pancakes with Spike's food having gems baked in. Princess Celestia was even given a sippy cup full of orange juice and suckled its contents down her throat. The little filly was still unhappy, and being a bit tired, looked over at Twilight and asked, "Hey, can I have some coffee?"

The violet unicorn shook her head and exclaimed. "Nope! I know from what I've read little foals can't have coffee."

"Come on, Twilight!? I'm an alicorn princess, and I demand some coffee." Princess Celestia snapped back, determined to get a cup of joe.

Twilight laughed as she plopped next to the little princess. "Sorry, but I'm not letting up on this; no coffee for you. Besides, it'll stunt your growth."

The young princess crossed her hooves across her chest and plopped down on the chair, seeing no point in arguing with Twilight anymore; she decided to change the subject. "So...you said something about me going to school?"

The violet unicorn gave a nod as she responded, "yes, and I have a meeting with the school teacher here in Ponyville; her name is Cheerilee. She wants to see how much you have regressed to see where she can start you off. But, that won't be until later she still has her normal school day to go through."

"I guess that's fine, making friends with the Cutie Mark Crusaders would be interesting." The little princess pondered out loud as she heard much about the three little fillies and their adventures from Twilight's letters.

"Well, you'll meet them soon enough. And don't worry about having to use my bed the entire time your here. I just have all your stuff in storage right now until I find some room in my library." Twilight explained as she ruffled the little princess's mane.

Celestia grumbled as she continued eating her food with a pout; the violet mare just giggled at the little filly's antics and held out a hoof. "Alright, let's get you cleaned up before you go out...and maybe we can pick out something to wear?"

"No dresses!" Celestia snapped out loud defiantly, and she allowed Twilight to lead her upstairs to a bathtub. There the princess of the sun was plopped down into a tub filled with lukewarm water and was lathered with soaps and shampoo, her body scrubbed down with a scrub brush and was patted dry by the older mare. Twilight went about and had the little filly's mane combed and brushed slowly, trying to make sure it was curly and carefully preened the princess's tiny wings. Despite her situation's embarrassing nature, Celestia was starting to like being patronized, and the violet coated mare was enjoying herself as well, seeing the little princess wasn't struggling. Twilight then lifted the little alicorn princess, kicking about and squirming as her former student looked down at Celestia with a concerned look then asked, "so are you ready? You don't have to go out today if you don't want to?"

The princess of the sun turned with a smile at Twilight. "No, it's fine; it's not like I'll be back as an adult anytime soon." Celestia was then led back to the library's front and headed off with the violet mare shaking all over, being so nervous about how her subjects will perceive her looking like this. Twilight then took the little filly by her hoof and escorted the princess through the streets of Ponyville.

The sun's princess was quite embarrassed as ponies were walking by and waving a hoof at her. It seems the news of her turning into a foal has traveled across to Ponyville. But things weren't at least not as embarrassing at the palace. She went about shuffling through the streets heading towards the schoolhouse as they came to Cheerilee standing outside and waved a hoof. "Oh, hello, Princess Celestia! I wasn't expecting to see you so early!?"

The filly was quite unsure of what to do as she backed up behind Twilight, being quite nervous seeing how much bigger Cheerilee was. The violet mare cheeks flushed pink as she responded, "oh, she's just shy is all; I know Celestia was not going to school today; I just wanted to be sure she was registered."

"Oh yes, everything is in order; Celestia can start tomorrow. But if she's still nervous, I'm happy to wait." Cheerilee chirped promptly as Princess Celestia was starting to shake a little, feeling both excited and nervous about going to school with a bunch of foals.

Twilight seeing the princess being nervous, quickly escorted her mentor through Ponyville as she chirped, "now come on, I'm going to show you to the rest of my friends!"

Princess Celestia groaned as she toddled along with Twilight wondering what other embarrassments she'll have to endure before the day was over.

They headed towards Sweet Apple Acres, and upon coming to the Apple's house. The violet coated mare came up and knocked on the door, and Applejack opened up the door, the first of Twilight's friends to see the little princess as she looked down at the filly and dawwed. "Oh, wow, look at you, Sugarcube; you look a lot cuter than what I expected."

The little alicorn filly's cheeks flushed pink as she hid her face with her wings as Twilight whispered, "um... don't do that she's still getting used to being a filly."

Applejack gulped as her cheeks flushed pink. "Sorry, didn't mean to make ya feel so embarrassed, anyways nice ta see ya. Um...Granny Smith baked some apple fritters want some?"

The little princess's filly instincts kicked in as she gave a quick nod and quickly waddled inside the house. She ran straight over to the table and started to eat the apple fritters on the table. Princess Celestia went about gouging on the apple fritters as Applejack snickered, giving her a glass of milk. "Slow down, drink some milk before ya choke."

The filly blushed as she chugged milk down her throat and wiped her mouth. She then gave a cute burp before hopping off the chair Twilight couldn't help but chuckle at the little filly as she replied. "Alright, we should head out. I was hoping to have her meet all of our friends." The farm mare waved a hoof as Twilight led Celestia off down the road with the little filly hoping she could come by again soon.

They eventually made it to Rarity's boutique, and upon knocking on the front door. Twilight waited patiently for her friend to appear. The white-coated unicorn opened the door gasping upon seeing the little filly. The fashionista hugged the alicorn filly close to her chest and cried out, "oh, Princess Celestia, darling, I'm so glad to see you're doing ok."

The princess of the sun was getting used to staring up at ponies, but Rarity had this radiance around her, and their matching white coats made her feel almost as if she was related to the fashionista. Celestia bent her head down and whispered, "um, thanks, Rarity."

"Oh, darling, you're simply adorable!" Rarity exclaimed, nuzzling Celestia even more with the princess now squirming about being quite tired of being called "cute" and "adorable" all day. But she endured the embarrassment and was eventually placed on the ground. Twilight came forward and asked, "so you had that project you wanted to show Celestia?"

"Oh, yes! Come, it'll be quick!" Rarity got quite excited as she led the young filly back through the rows of dresses Celestia was thrust through the boutique waddling alongside the older mare. The little filly couldn't help but look around at the dresses towering over her and feeling even smaller than she already did.

Rarity took the hoof of Celestia's hoof and assisted her on a platform and went about dressing her in a lovely silky yellow dress with a buttery yellow silky skirt around her waist. It wasn't super girly or overly frilly like the joke dresses that Discord gave her. The filly twisted and turned, admiring the dress in the mirror before her with her cheeks flushed pink.

The fashionista came over next to Princess Celestia. It explained, "sorry, darling, I saw the picture of what you wore yesterday and simply had to get you somthing more fitting for a princess like yourself."

The little princess filly liked the dress, and it looked rather fashionable on her as she responded, "No, this is amazing! Thank you, Rarity."

The princess gave Rarity a hug making the older mare daww and hugging Celestia back. Twilight stood around, watching, and waited for the little filly, and she eventually took off the dress and skipped over to the violet mare. Twilight ruffled the alicorn princess's head before replying, "thank you, Rarity; it was a lovely gift."

The fashionista turned her attention to her friend. "It was no problem, darling, and as for you, Celestia, please come by anytime."

"Yeah...sure…" The princess whispered, still feeling nervous as she quickly bowed her head. Twilight then led Celestia off to her next friend, hoping that her mentor would start breaking out of her shell.

They continued their walk through Ponyville, and Celestia was getting more used to the ponies towering over her. When ponies waved at her or bowed, she waved back and toddled along. She and Twilight eventually came upon Fluttershy's quaint cottage then knocked on the door. It didn't take long for Fluttershy to answer as she slowly opened it with a pink diaper bag strapped around her midriff with a shy smile on her face as she whispered meekly. "Oh, hello Twilight, I got you some-”

She squeaked upon seeing Celestia and stammered, "oh I... I'm so..s...sorry...I thought you were a...a lot younger."

Princess Celestia suddenly became quite infuriated and stomped a hoof on the ground before shouting, "I don't need diapers! And I'm not a helpless foal!"

Twilight cheeks were a bright pink whispered, "yeah, um...I thought I explained she was five."

Fluttershy's cheeks flushed red, feeling so embarrassed and continued to stammer, "oh dear, I'm so sorry, I must not have been paying attention when you mentioned her new age."

"Well, that's fine; we came to say hi...and I do appreciate the thought," Twilight whispered, and Fluttershy nodded before quickly closing the door. The princess was quite surprised and hoped she didn't hurt Fluttershy's feelings. The violet unicorn, however, reassured her by ruffling the little filly's mane. "Don't worry about it; she's always like this. Now come on, there are a lot more friends we need to see."

Celestia gave a small nod as she followed Twilight back into the streets of Ponyville, as she hoped that the yellow coated pegasus wouldn't have to babysit her any time soon.

Down the road, Rainbow Dash flew down to see Twilight and Celestia and couldn't help but burst into laughter at the regal princess having turned into a little filly. "I can't believe it!? You're actually a foal!?"

"Yeah, but I'm still the princess of Equestria!" Celestia shouted, pawing the ground with a hoof getting tired of telling ponies this.

The blue-coated pegasus slowly got up, still chuckling as she replied, "I'm sorry, but I just didn't expect you to look so small and cute."

The frustrated young filly pulled at her mane and cried out. "Ugh! Can ponies stop calling me that!"

Twilight rubbed a hoof over her face and gave a sigh, "alright, Rainbow, thanks for stopping by, we're actually on our way to Sugarcube Corner."

"Ok, well, you two have fun! I still have a lot of cloudbusting to do!"

The daredevil pegasus then turned to Princess Celestia and snickered, "can't believe the princess of the sun is a school filly." Rainbow Dash then flew off while Celestia looked down, still being quite flustered. She followed the violet coated unicorn to Sugarcube Corner and led the princess inside, where Pinkie Pie jumped right at them with an explosion of confetti and streamers with her hooves outstretched shouting, "Hello, Princess Celestia! Welcome to Ponyville!"

The surprised filly was then lifted upwards and into the air then was suddenly placed down on a stool where she was greeted by an ice cream float in a glass cup and some cake with pink frosting on it. Pinkie Pie ruffled the little filly's mane and chirped, "drink up and enjoy yourself! I was going to throw you a party but Twilight insisted not to do that yet. So I thought this little treat should do for now!"

"Thanks Pinkie." Celestia whispered as she then took her float and began to suckle her drink through a curly straw. Celestia went about eating her food with Pinkie Pie throwing confetti everywhere and chanting, "princess Celestia is a filly! Princess Celestia is a filly!"

Twilight saw how uncomfortable Pinkie Pie was making Celestia feel and came forward. "Hey, Pinkie Pie let her enjoy her sweets in peace; she had a long day."

"Alright! Sorry I couldn't hold in my excitement!" The princess chirped, still being quite giddy as she bounced off. Twilight came over and sat next to Celestia and whispered, "Hey, you doing ok?"

Celestia gave a deep breath hating getting asked that question when she's feeling horrible and grumbled, "yeah, it's fine, guess I gotta get used to this."

"If you're bothered, just tell the ponies to stop your princess after all," Twilight whispered back.

Celestia rolled her eyes; seeing that shouting, "I'm a princess!" isn't really helping her current predicament. The little filly simply finished her ice cream float sucking up the contents before replying. "It's fine; right now, I just want to eat my cake."

Celestia finished the cake munching on it before getting off the table. Feeling unsure of the evalustion Twilight mentioned earlier coming up she had to ask, "so, what about that test with Cheerilee? Are we still doing that?"

"Oh...that won't be for a while; how about after your snack you come take a nap. I'm sure you can use one." Twilight suggested.

Celestia's eyes were dropping, and she gave a nod and followed Twilight out from Sugarcube Corner and headed back to Golden Oaks Library. The little filly slowly shuffled up the steps and plopped onto The violet mare's bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

The little filly woke up a few hours later quite energized and waddled downstairs again; this time, Twilight had a peanut butter jelly sandwich with some milk on the table. "Good afternoon! I got you some lunch!"

Celestia couldn't help but jump onto the table and giggled, "you and your friends are going to make me fat!"

Twilight couldn't help but poke the filly's chubby belly and coo, "oh, your already chubby, and little foals need to eat, now go on and dig in."

The princess dug into her sandwich, munching down and gulping down her sippy cup full of milk. But her meal was interrupted when she suddenly heard a knock. Twilight opened the door and there stood the teacher Miss Cheerilee who exclaimed, "Hello! Class ended early today, so I thought we would get a headstart in Celestia's educational evaluation."

"Oh, that's a great idea! She just had a nap, so she should be ready!" Twilight exclaimed, being excited about this evaluation herself.

The princess gulped as the teacher walked over and started to quiver. The teacher did her best to calm the little princess and whispered, "oh, don't worry; we're just going to do some basic tests."

She took out some colored balls, one red, one green, and blue, "now tell me the colors of each ball."

Celestia scrunched her face looking at the balls, thinking as hard as she could. The princess stood there, realizing she forgot the names of the colors, and stammered, "um...I don't know…"

The teacher gulped as she decided to try shapes next, placing a sheet of paper with different shapes on the page and asked. "alright, identify these."

The princess started to tear up, looking down and realizing she couldn't identify them and cried, "I don't know!"

She placed her head in her hooves and started bawling. Cheerilee quickly came over and hugged the filly. "Hey, it's ok, it's alright, come here."

The teacher sighed, "it seems whatever Discord did regress her education down to less than that of a preschooler. So she'll attend classes, but I'll give her extra tutoring so nopony will know, ok?"

"Ok." Celestia whimpered as she sat back to finish her meal. Twilight stood about feeling so bad for the little princess as she escorted Cheerilee out the door. They continued to talk in hush voices as the princess stood there, still sniffling as she munched on her sandwich, thinking about everything and wondering how she'll continue to endure her new life.

Chapter Four: Joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders

Princess Celestia was feeling quite nervous as Twilight was leading her to the schoolhouse the next day. After failing her initial examination, she was unsure of being with other school foals and looking silly, not knowing basic questions that even toddlers could answer. The little filly toddled behind Twilight and was inconspicuous, not wanting to deal with more interactions with her subjects. The violet unicorn gave a sigh and asked, "Celestia, you don't have to go to school if you don't want to?"

"No, it's fine, I'll go...I'm just a little nervous." The princess stammered as she was feeling uneasy but wanted to attempt going to school nonetheless.

Twilight bent down to her level and brushed her mane as she asked, "Alright, come on, then we don't want to be late."

The little alicorn filly gave her student a smile loving how warm and maternal she was becoming and continued to follow Twilight down the street. They eventually made it to the schoolhouse, and that was where Cheerilee looked down at the alicorn princess for a second time that week with a smile. "So, are you ready for school today?"

"Y..y...yes…" Celestia stammered out shyly with her cheeks flushed pink growing on her face; she was then escorted into the schoolhouse and looked among the other foals before her. The princess was quite stunned to see the students not making her feel odd most with most of them engaging in their conversations and ignoring her. Cheerilee clapped her hooves, getting the class's attention. "Attention, everypony, I want to show that Princess Celestia will be joining us until she returns to her normal age. So I expect everypony to treat her with respect."

Everypony nodded silently with hushed whispers as the little alicorn stood in front of the class. "Um...hello...you um probably know me already... I'm Princess Celestia. For now i'm a school foal and will be attending class too. I don't expect you to treat me like a princess, so don't be so nervous around me."

The foals all clapped generously as the alicorn filly toddled down the rows and sat down in the back of the class. Cheerilee then started the lecture going over triangles as Sweetie Belle, who was sitting by the princess whispered, "Hey, Princess Celestia, I heard you wanted to join the cutie mark crusaders."

The princess was quite surprised by this and responded, "yeah, I do, how did you know?"

Sweetie Belle continued, "don’t worry about that, we have a meeting after school so just meet us outside at recess.”

“Ok.” Celestia squealed back, getting a bit giddy meeting the cutie mark crusaders like this was a fantasy of her’s ever since Twilight sent her letters about them.

The white coated unicorn then whispered, “and...um... it's nice to see another blank flank with us."

Celestia blinked as the words blank flank hit her like a bullet. She looked at her rump and saw that her cutie mark was gone with only her white coat crying out. "My cutie mark! Where is it!?"

Everypony turned to the little princess running around in circles shouting, "where's my cutie mark!"

Cheerilee was quite surprised as she came over and asked, "princess, please calm down. What’s wrong?"

However, the little princess wasn't listening as she ran off through the schoolhouse and off into the streets of Ponyville.

The alicorn princess was running down the street, flapping her wings, finding Twilight, who was quite surprised to see the little alicorn filly running down the road at her shouting, "Twilight, where's my cutie mark!"

"Huh!? What are you talking about? Since you regressed to a foal, your flank has been...um...blank." Twilight explained sheepishly.

"No, no, no." Celestia stomped on her hooves and cried, "it was here! It was!"

The violet unicorn shook her head. "No, as far I know, your cutie mark was gone.”

"Stop saying that! I know it was here!" the little alicorn filly screamed as she was now stomping wildly.

Twilight gulped, looking around, seeing ponies were eyeing them as she whispered, "Celestia, please stop your making a scene."

The little alicorn filly paused, looking around, seeing how everypony was reacting to her tantrum with many whispereing in hush voices while others snickered. She stopped and snapped, "Fine, I'll go back to school, but I know I had it."

"Are you sure? Maybe it's best you just try going back to school tomorrow?" Twilight suggested with a warm smile on her face.

"No, I want to go back...I...I guess I didn't have it. I know you wouldn't lie to me." Celestia sighed, looking down at the ground in disappointment not only at the revelation of her cutie mark was missing but also at how she just acted. The little filly quickly trotted off before Twilight could say anything, wondering if this little tantrum will be in tomorrow's paper.

The frustrated alicorn sat on her desk and went through the rest of the school day as Cheerilee continued the lesson on finding the angles on triangles. The princess tried to pay attention, but things were flying overhead, and by the end of the day, Celestia felt like she didn't learn anything at all. At recess, with the foals out playing, the alicorn princess was sitting by looking down, feeling angry. When Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came by with the spoiled pink coated filly bowed, "princess, it's so good to meet you; if you need any help finding your cutie mark, I can help as I recently got mine."

Celestia eyed the filly she knew well of the stories of the little bully and also had a feeling Diamond Tiara's mother was involved and responded, "it's nice to meet you too, but I'm fine I'll find my cutie mark again soon."

"No, I insist, I can help you find your cutie mark and be your friend." Diamond growled with irritation in her voice.

But she was interrupted when the cutie mark crusaders came by, and Sweetie Belle scoffed, "she doesn't need your help, Diamond. She's a princess afterall."

"Oh yeah, and how can a bunch of blank flanks help? Huh?" Diamond Tiara nagged back.

The princess of the Sun rose up and snapped, "Hey, I'm a blank flank too now and I decided to become a cutie mark crusader! So leave them alone!"

"What!? you want to hang out with these losers!" Diamond snapped back in disgust, Silver Spoon squeaked as she whispered something in Diamond's ear, who then scoffed, "fine then, but when these blank flanks fail to help you can come crawling back to me. But I'll expect a formal apology."

The spoiled little filly scoffed and grumbled under her breath as Silver Spoon followed behind her. Celestia turned the cutie mark crusaders and asked, "so...um...what are you three doing here.

Scootaloo flew over first with a smile. "We saw you were upset about not having a cutie mark and thought to come by and cheer you up."

Celestia bowed her head and mumbled, "I did have one, And now it's gone."

Sweetie Belle held a hoof up and replied. "Yeah, we're sorry about that; I can only imagine how you feel right now."

"Yeah, if that happened to me, I would be super mad, too." Apple Bloom acknowledged.

Scootlaoo gave a nod as she continued, "yeah, so, we talked and decided that we want to help you get your cutie mark."

Celestia looked up with a surprised look she didn’t want the Cutie Mark Crusaders to stop looking for their cutie marks for her sake and replied, "you all are looking for your cutie marks, so don't worry about me. I'll probably just get mine when I grow up again."

Sweetie Belle scoffed, "stop your princess of Equestria! You need to get your cutie mark, I don't think you want your sister doing your job forever! Do you?"

Celestia felt overwhelmed with these fillies being so nice to her as she stammered, "of course not, but I'm not even a cutie mark crusader!? I can't even do math!"

Scootaloo shrugged and replied, "who cares, I can't even do math."

Apple Bloom gave a small nod and continued, "and yeah, I think we all agreed you can be a Cutie Mark Crusader; you just need to go through our formal ceremony later."

The alicorn princess stood up with a smile on her face feeling a lot better as she shouted, "Alright! Well, why don't we make up some plans to find out how to get my cutie mark!"

Sweetie Belle scratched her mane and asked, "yeah, so...um...do you remember how you got your cutie mark?"

The princess blinked as she was never asked that question before and tapped a hoof to her chin, trying to remember. Still, it was such a long time ago, and memories of her foal hood was very foggy. After a few minutes trying to remember she whispered, "Hmmm, wow….I..um...kind of forgot...I might have a journal in the royal library, but I don't know…"

Scootaloo just shrugged and responded, "well, we know her special talent is raising the Sun? Why don't we just find ways for her to do things that deal with the Sun?"

Celestia gasped at this and responded, "yeah! I bet all I have to do is try something with the Sun!"

"Ok, let's go ask Cheerilee; she knows a lot!" Apple Bloom chirped out, and the little fillies ran inside the schoolhouse and found their teacher prepping the chalkboard for the next lesson about circles. Cheerilee turned to see the little fillies with a smile. "Oh, hello! How are you!?"

Princess Celestia gazed up at the teacher with a pleading look and quickly asked, "hey Cheerilee, can you tell us about the sun? it's important so I can get my cutie mark!"

Cheerilee tapped a hoof to her chin. "The Sun, huh? Well, that is an interesting topic: the Sun is the largest object within our solar system, comprising 99.8% of the system's mass. It's located at the center of our solar system, and it's ninety three million miles away from our planet. Though massive, the Sun still isn't as large as other types of stars. It's classified as a yellow dwarf, and it's magnetic field spreads throughout the solar system via the solar wind."

All the fillies groaned; seeing this information was beneficial. Still, Celestia simply felt embarrassed, realizing she didn't know this stuff about the sun even as an adult. She was supposed to be the Princess of the Sun.

Apple Bloom tubbed her forehead with a hoof and replied, "um, nevermind, that isn't very helpful."

"Oh well, sorry I couldn't be of use, but recess is over; please go take your seats." the teacher explained, and soon the other foals started flooding the schoolhouse. Celestia trotted back to her desk and sat down. Cheerilee continued her lecture while the young princess sat there thinking about how she would find her cutie mark.

Later that evening, after school, the four fillies headed to the treehouse. Celestia was in awe as she walked inside. The princess looked around at all the plans drawn up by the cutie mark crusaders plastered all over the walls and whispered to herself. "I can't believe that you actually came up with all these plans on your own."

"Yeah, we tried a lot of different things getting our cutie marks, but were still looking." Apple Bloom mumbled, seeming to be irritated that nothing has worked so far.

The three fillies then stood in front of the princess, and Celestia got a bit nervous as Sweetie Belle cleared her throat. "It's time to start your initiation."

The cutie mark crusaders stood before her as Scootaloo asked, "now do you swear to help find yours and our cutie marks and to never give up?"

"Yeah!" the princess exclaimed.

Sweetie Belle responded next quite sternly, "do you swear to not divulge our secrets to anypony, including Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon."

"Yeah, of course." Celestia scoffed, as she still can't believe how rude the little filly was.

Apple Bloom came up to her and asked, "do you swear to be our friend, even if you find your cutie mark before us?"

"Yes of course!" Celestia exclaimed Sweetie Belle then tied a red cape with the little sigil of a blue diamond with a pony prancing made of gold thread sewn in the middle around her neck as they all cheered, "Welcome to the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

The three fillies all hugged the princess at they same time which caused them to all topple onto each other. The four school foals then all couldn't help but laugh as they got up. Celestia was bouncing up and down now all giddy with excitement as she turned to her new friends and asked, “so where do we start?”

Apple Bloom shouted, “oh! I have a good idea where we can follow our rooster!? It crows when the sun comes maybe he can give us an idea on how to raise the sun!”

“I was thinking we watch ponies make breakfast? I mean breakfast has to do with raising the sun right?” Sweetie Belle responded.

Scootaloo scoffed, “both of those ideas sound silly, I bet Celestia simply needs flying lessons from Rainbow Dash.”

Soon the three started arguing and the alicorn princess was getting irritated as she shouted, “hey crusaders stop!”

All three fillies turned to face Celestia who continued, “all of these ideas sound good, so why don’t we just do them all?”

“Yeah that sounds like a great idea!” All three school foals exclaimed and soon they got out a giant piece of construction paper as they began writing down idea after idea on how to find Celestia’s cutie mark.

Chapter five: Sweetie Belle's secret

It's been about two months since Celestia was turned into a school foal; the princess alicorn was in a deep sleep in a room that was built across from Twilight's; she had her own little, bed a closet full of dresses, mostly ones Rarity has made for her since moving to Ponyville, a toy chest, and Philomena was with her now standing on her perch nearby. Rainbow Dash slowly flew through the window, and finding the little princess; she nudged her. "Hey there, ready for another lesson in flying?"

Celestia woke up looking quite surprised, seeing the pegasus, getting rather excited as she flew up from her bed, ready to train. The daredevil mare laughed as she put out a hoof on the filly. "Easy there, don't want to hurt yourself."

The princess of the sun rolled her eyes, getting tired of the patronizing, but she fluttered back down. The blue-coated mare then took her by the hoof, and they flew out into the early morning for their "flying lessons."

Outside, Rainbow Dash was slowly flapping her wings, getting her body off the ground." Alright, we covered liftoff and fluttering, but today we're going to actually fly; you ready?"

Celestia threw her wings out from her body as she exclaimed, "I'm ready for anything!"

Rainbow laughed and ruffled Celestia's mane. "Alright, kiddo, let's do this!"

Celestia lifted her wings and soared in the air with Rainbow, who was still holding her hoof as they soared through the still darkened skies over Ponyville. They flew for a good few minutes, with little alicorn seeming to get a handle on flying. But the hoof holding felt weird, especially with Rainbow Dash of all ponies. But her stamina wasn't like it was, and she was feeling rather tired, and the daredevil noticed as she flew back down to the library. "That was pretty good; you're doing so well, kiddo."

"Thanks, I guess." The filly grumbled under her breath as she hated being called that but didn't shout back.

Rainbow Dash then escorted Celestia by the hoof back to the library with the princess getting a bit annoyed as she turned around and snapped, "I don't mean to be rude, but I can go back to Golden Oaks Library on my own."

"Right, sorry...I...I don't know what came over me. I...um...yeah, have a good day at school." Rainbow Dash stammered as she spread her wings and flew up into the air.

Celestia shook her head as she shuffled back to the library, climbed back upstairs, and headed to the bathroom. She went and took a shower using foal safe shampoo that made her smell like strawberries, brushed her teeth with foal safe bubble gum toothpaste, combed her short and curly mane with a little pink plastic comb. The princess then sloqly trotted back to her bedroom, a little peeved still from Rainbow's patronizing. The princess gave Philomena some birdseed before double-checking her saddlebag, making sure it had her homework in it. She then trotted downstairs to see Twilight already setting up breakfast. There she spotted her plate with pancakes and eggs cut up in bite sized pieces, and a sippy cup full of orange juice. Twilight looked over at Celestia with a smile. "Morning Celestia, looks like you had fun flying with Rainbow this morning?"

"Yeah, I'm getting better," Celestia replied with a smile; the princess continued to eat her meal and wasn't even phased that her pancakes were cut up and her orange juice was in a sippy cup, being quite used to the treatment by now. While finishing up her breakfast, Twilight looked over and asked, "want to do some magic training before you go to school?"

"Yeah!" the little princess alicorn exclaimed. She squinted her eyes and concentrated hard as she had her horn slowly lit up and teleported the sippy cup into her hooves and squealed in delight. "See! I did it!"

"Good for you! You're improving much better than where you were a few months ago." Twilight commented and ruffled her mane.

The violet unicorn nuzzled her charge before she skipped off to school. She was rather exicted as her magic ability was slowly improving and she was going to a sleepover at Rarity's with her friends later today. The filly was so excited she almost ran into Cherrilee who looked down at the filly with a smile. "Hello, you're looking rather chipper this morning."

"Hey Cheerilee, yeah, I'm doing great! I got all my homework done and ready for the big test!" The princess exclaimed, flapping her wings excitedly.

“Oh, that’s good to hear now. Do you need to go to the bathroom before the test?” The teacher asked.

“Nope, I’m good.” Celestia quickly replied, hoping nopony overheard that as she then briskly trotted to her desk and waited patiently for her friends to come by, and they all sat around her. Celestia then leaned over and whispered to the other crusaders. "Hey, are you three ready for the sleepover?"

"Heck yeah!" the three exclaimed excitedly. The princess smiled as she and her friends waited for Cheerilee to begin her math lesson.

After the lesson, Cheerilee then went and started hoofing out the big test to her students. All Celestia could do was sweat nervously as the pink coated mare came over to her and whispered, "Hey princess Celestia don't be so nervous you got this."

She slid the filly alicorn the test she was going to take, and the alicorn filly looked down, still somewhat nervous but gave a smile and a nod. "Right, thank you, Cheerilee."

She gave a nod and trotted off as Celestia bent over and started her math test; the filly did her best to answer the math questions. They were simple. If she were an adult, this test would've been super easy; however, the test was rather tricky with her knowledge regressed. She scribbled away, writing down her answers using her magic, and the next hour felt like a year as she finally wrote down her last answer. Cheerilee came over to her first, picking the test up and whispering, "good job Celestia; now go and have fun; you're excused for recess."

The princess filly gave another nod before running out of the schoolhouse and to the playground outside. She waited patiently for her friends to join her, seeing Scootaloo slowly trotted over and asked, "so Celestia, how do you think you did?"

The princess shrugged as she was unsure as she kicked the dirt. "Not sure...I guess I did, ok."

The orange coated filly shrugged and replied, "Hey, you probably did better than me; I think I barely passed that test."

"Yeah, that's because you don't study at all." Apple Bloom chirped as she skipped after the others.

Sweetie Belle was the last crusader to come out of the schoolhouse as she rolled her eyes and responded, "yeah, you always barely passed."

Celestia was quite nervous; she never told them how her regression caused her education to be that of a preschooler, but she was learning fast with Cheerilee and Twilight's help. "Yeah, I'm nervous too...but at least this is the last test before summer vacation."

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, "now we can focus more on finding your cutie mark!"

Celestia sighed as she rubbed a hoof over her face and grumbled, "ugh, we did everything!? We watched roosters crow, did yoga, watched the sunrise constantly, heck, I'm doing flying and magic lessons."

"Hey, don't give up; we'll find it soon." Sweetie Belle replied with a reassuring smile.

Apple Bloom looked down, not really knowing what to say and seeming to have the same feelings that Celestia regarding her cutie mark. Scootaloo also flew over and replied, "yeah, don't worry about that; that's why we're sleeping over at Rarity's today."

Celestia just shrugged as she responded, "right...though...I guess that makes sense…" She wasn't entirely sure of why they were sleeping over at Rarity's will help, but Sweetie Belle insisted on it.

"Well, she has a lot of things that can help you become a princess, dresses, tiaras, maybe you need to be more princess-like." Sweetie Belle explained.

Celestia gave a sigh; even Scootaloo made a bleh sound, and Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "Well, we already tried following my rooster around and even tried cawing like him."

Celestia giggled, seeing that it was quite a day. "Yeah, that was fun, though...not really helpful."

Scootaloo flapped her wings and replied, "ugh!? Why doesn't she try raising the sun? You got enough practice from Rainbow Dash and Twilight, right?"

The princess shook her head. "I've tried like every morning, and it's still a struggle…"

"Alright, well..at the very least, we're going to have fun; come on, cheer up?" Sweetie Belle chirped as Celestia shrugged, and eventually, the bell rang, and they all trotted into the schoolhouse. There Cheerilee handed out the tests, and Celestia was quite nervous to see her score. When she got her test back, she peeked down and saw a big red "A" stamped on her paper. The filly squealed in delight as she jumped up and cried out, "yes!"

The filly was now jumping up and down in excitement. "I got an A!"

Scootaloo looked over her own test and grumbled, "got a C, but at least I passed."

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle snickered, then as soon as the bell rang again, they ran off to Rarity's boutique. There the white-coated mare opened the door and squealed upon seeing the fillies. "Hello, darlings, and good afternoon Princess Celestia! I prepared for your visit."

The princess lowered her head as Rarity gave her extra attention. All of Twilight's friends treated her with royal etiquette. As they went past the shop, Celestia looked around, seeing that the rest of her living quarters had been cleaned and a big red carpet was laid out. The alicorn princess was now feeling squeamish but appreciated the extra effort she made to make sure the place was prepared for them. Then they went upstairs to Sweetie Belle's room. The little filly placed a hoof over her head and exclaimed, "Welcome to my room!"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and grumbled, "we've been here before Sweetie Belle?"

"Well this is Celestia's first visit to my room, duh!?" Sweetie Belle snapped back.

Princess Celestia just skipped over to Sweetie Belle' closet. There she saw all kinds of outfits and dresses she picked out a cute frilly blue dress and a sparkling tiara. After getting dressed in the adorable outfit, she twirled about and turned to her friends and asked, "what do you think? Am I a princess or what?"

They all burst into laughter at how cute and silly the princess alicorn was being. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo started to pull out dresses and began to dress themselves up.

Sweetie Belle suddenly had an idea as she exclaimed, "why don't we have our own Galloping Gala!?”

"Oh. that sounds like a good idea!" Apple Bloom chirped out loud.

Scootaloo was the only one reluctant about the idea as she made a "bleh" sound. "Ugh, the galloping gala, Rainbow Dash, told me that sucked."

"Yeah, it does every year, it's the most boring party ever...so why don't we try making it the best party ever?" Celestia asked with her cheeks turning a shade of pink.

Sweetie Belle scoffed, "at least my sister didn't marry that pompous Blueblood; he sounded like such a jerk!"

The alicorn filly rolled her eyes as she despised Blueblood and continued, "he's my nephew, but even I can agree to that; he's always been like that even when he was a colt."

"Well, we won't have to deal with him at this party, seeing he wasn't invited," Apple Bloom commented as she stepped forward with a forehoof outstretched. "May I take this dance?"

Celestia performed a small curtsey and chirped, "of course!" She and the farm mare started twirling about the room, and Sweetie Belle did the same with Scootaloo as they stumbled about the room. They continued to dance with all four fillies stumbling about being quite cumbersome. The fillies did their little Galloping Gala for some time. They didn't notice when Rarity popped in to check on them with a big smile on her face. "Oh my!? You three look like you're having fun."

Celestia squeaked, being surprised as she stumbled backward onto her rump and looking up at the fashionista who was already at her side, pulling the little filly back on her hooves with a worried look on her face. "Oh darling, are you ok? You didn't get any booboos, did you?"

The little filly bit her lip as her friends snickered around her. Celestia did her best trying to keep herself from lashing out like Rainbow Dash and grumbled, "no, I'm fine, thank you…"

She slowly got up, brushing a hoof over her dress as Rarity bent down and nuzzled her. "Alright darling, just be more careful now come on, it's time for dinner."

She strode off as the cutie mark crusaders followed her. Celestia looked down, feeling too embarrassed to say anything, as Sweetie Belle came over to her and whispered, "Hey, do you know why Rarity keeps babying you like that?"

"I don't know...seems a lot of adult ponies treat me like if I'm a helpless filly, I've tried to fight back, but it just makes things worse…" Princess Celestia grumbled under her breath, being fed up with this treatment.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "That's weird, but I guess they just want to be extra careful with you seeing you're a princess and all."

"Yeah, yeah…" Celestia spat back; she was tired of being told this and hurried over to the small dining table there a fruit salad was prepared along with tea and some cake with vanilla frosting for dinner. The fillies went and ate their food together, scarfing down the fruit salad and drinking their tea, chatting about "other ideas" to help get Celestia's cutie mark. All the little alicorn filly could really think about was her tea in a sippy cup and her food was cut up. While her friends had porcelain cups, and regular portioned food. It was quite embarrassing for the princess, but she didn't want to bring it up and spoil the moment.

After finishing her cake(which she had an extra few slices more than her friends), Celestia hopped down from her chair and gave Rarity a hug snuggling her. Again, she felt like the fashionista's warm embrace and felt a connection with her. The little filly then whispered, "thanks for everything; tonight was rather fun."

The older mare bent next to her ear and whispered back. "It’s my pleasure, darling, now before you go to bed...do you need any protection for tonight…"

Celestia's face turned a beat red even though she didn't have accidents. She did have some close calls, and she did drink a lot of tea, but she wouldn't dare wear a pull-up with her friends and stammered, "n..no...i'll be fine."

"Alright, just asking." Rarity cooed as she ruffled Celestia's mane, and the filly ran up the stairs and hurried over to Sweetie Belle's room. There four sleeping bags were laid out, and Sweetie Belle looked up and asked, "do you want to take my bed?"

Princess Celestia shook her head as she didn't want to get special treatment just because she was a princess alicorn and replied, "no, I would rather go in the sleeping bag."

The little filly snuggled under the sleeping bag with her other friends, and she gave a sigh looking up at the ceiling, hoping she didn't have an accident in front of her friends.

Later that evening, Celestia got up, feeling a pang in her bladder from drinking too much tea. She jumped out of her sleeping bag and hurried to the bathroom, and slammed the door behind her. After flushing, she came out of the bathroom with a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off her brow. "That was close."

The mare then heard whispers downstairs; curious, she slowly walked down, doing her best to stay quiet when she saw Rarity and her sister talking to each other.

"So...is she doing better?" Rarity asked in a hushed whisper.

"Yeah, but she's still hung up about her cutie mark. We're doing everything we can, but we don't know what to do." Sweetie Belle mumbled.

"It's fine, darling; you know how hard it is to find your cutie mark; she'll find it eventually. Just keep it up and make sure she's happy and safe." The fashionista continued.

Sweetie Belle shook her head and snapped back. "I don't like how you're treating Celestia like a helpless filly she can take care of herself!”

Rarity sighed, "it's not just me darling, Twilight kept hounding me about making sure Celestia had you as friends. I mean, we're all just doing our best to make sure she's safe and happy."

Sweetie Belle got a little mad. "We were going to be friends with her anyway; she's super nice and even stood up against Diamond Tiara! look, I get you and Twilight are trying to help Celestia, but she's fine; I don't want to talk behind her back like this anymore."

The fashionista whispered under her breath. "I know... I'm sorry... I'll tell Twilight she's ok and that there's no need for us to baby her like this anymore."

"You better, ugh what's gotten into you two!?" Sweetie Belle cried outloud.

Seeing the conversation was over, Celestia stepped back and ran off to her sleeping bag. It never occurred to her the cutie mark crusaders let her into their group because they thought others would take advantage of her. This all stemmed from Twilight! Why were she and the other ponies treating her like an actual foal, knowing she was regressed? Why are they overprotective of her? Something was not right, and she needed answers. Twilight and Rarity are clearly not going to help, but maybe somepony else in Ponyville can.

She heard Sweetie Belle come back into the room, and the little filly walked over and whispered, "you overheard, huh?"

Celestia didn't even respond, still being quite angry at Sweetie Belle for basically spying on her the entire time. Sweetie Belle slowly came over looking guilty as she continued to explain. "look, I didn't really spy on you; I just reassured Rarity and Twilight you were doing ok. I never agreed with this, and I didn't want to do this."

The princess filly turned to Sweetie belle and asked, "so why didn't you just say no? Did you just became my friend because you felt pity on me?"

Sweetie Belle waddled over and shook her head. "No, that was never the case; I decided to have you join the cutie mark crusaders because I thought you needed a friend. That's the truth."

Celestia got up and shuffled over and shoved a hoof into the filly's chest. "Alright, but no more lying to me! If Twilight or Rarity try having somepony else spy on me, you let me know."

"Alright, I will." Sweetie Belle whispered.

The alicorn filly then started to shuffle back and forth. "It seems like everypony in Ponyville is just going to treat me like a toddler, and I'm getting nowhere in finding my cutie mark or getting back to my normal age. There's got to be somepony who can actually help."

Sweetie Belle was unsure of how to answer, but then Apple Bloom got up from her sleeping bag and slammed a hoof to her face. "Of course! I think I know who can actually help!? Why didn't I think of her before!"

Celestia looked over, getting quite surprised as she asked, "who then?"

"Zecora! She lives outside of Ponyville in the Everfree Forest, and she knows a cure for just about everything. If anypony is gonna get your cutie mark or get you back to being an adult, it's her." Apple, Bloom replied.

Celestia squealed, clapping her hooves and running over to Apple Bloom and giving her a big hug. "You're a genius! We should go see her tomorrow!"

"Yeah, that's a great idea! I bet she has some super magic potion that can finally get me back to normal!" Celestia exclaimed out loud.

Apple Bloom held a hoof and tried to calm Celestia down. "Hold your horses; she might be able to help. But it might take time to find the right potion for your condition."

"Right, I guess so…" The princess mumbled, but she still held out hope as Scootlaoo got up and grumbled, "alright, we have a plan, now can we please get some sleep!"

"Sorry, Scootaloo," The other fillies mumbled under their breath as they all started to snuggled under their sleeping bags.

Celestia was now looking up at the ceiling snuggling her phoenix plushie close to her chest hoping that by tomorrow she will be back to an adult.

Chapter six: An Alicorn meets a Zebra

The following day, Celestia wandered into the Everfree forest with her fellow crusaders, and they walked through the forest. It's been years since Celestia has been in the Everfree Forest and didn't realize how scary and disturbing the forest was. The princess of the sun slowly walked through the woods with cutie mark crusaders. The filly was shaking nervously. She looked above her at the scraggly trees and freaking out over the random noises coming from the woods. Apple Bloom noticed as she nudged her. "Hey, ya dun have to worry about anything scary Zecora doesn't live that deep in the forest."

"Ok, um...I heard of Zecora from Twilight's letters, but who is she? What is she like?" the filly asked as she was rather curious about the zebra and also wanted to take her mind off the creepy woods.

Apple Bloom continued to explain. "I don't know much about her. Our first meeting with her wasn't great...basically, my sister and her friends accused her of being a witch and wrecked her hut."

"Oh yes, Twilight explained everything…" Celestia whispered, feeling a bit perturbed on how the ponies of Ponyville treated Zecora.

"Well, after that fiasco, I learned how to help Zecora find a cure for Poison Joke and got interested in making potions and cures with her. She's like a friend now...though she still has issues with the Ponies of Ponyville." Apple Bloom mumbled under her breath.

Celestia nodded that she could imagine most ponies don't realize many more sentient species exist in the world and her subjects should be more educated on the subject. But the princess shook her head; that'll be an issue she tackled after she turned back into an adult. However, they eventually came to Zecora's hut, and Apple Bloom was the first to burst through the front door shouting, "hey Zercora!"

There they saw the zebra mare brewing a potion in the middle with a cauldron with sweat pouring from her brow. She looked across the hut at the fillies with a smile. "Ah, hello Apple Bloom, I thought it would be a while before we saw each other again, I assume."

The farm filly gave a sheepish smile at the zebra as she explained. "Sorry, I've been busy studyin' for a big math test and been trying to help Celestia find her cutie mark."

Zeecora bowed before the alicorn filly and proclaimed, "it's an honor to host you, princess sun butt; it's about time you came to visit my hut!"

"You were waiting for me?" Celestia responded, quite surprised, not even thinking about how Zecora called her princess Sun Butt.

"Of course! Ever since I heard about your regression, I have been busy making a remedy before it gets worse," Zecora explained as she continued to stir some herbs in her cauldron.

The filly alicorn was getting rather excited as she exclaimed, "thank you! Thank you! Thank you! How can I ever repay you!?"

Zecora paused as she stopped midway in her stirring and tapped a hoof to her chin. " princess Luna has already paid your fee; maybe instead you can revisit the zebras, it would fill them with glee."

Celestia paused as she gave a nod in agreement. "Yeah, it's been way too long since I visited Zebracornia."

Zecora then scooped some of the potion and poured it into a vial. She then gives it to the filly. "Now let me explain; I realized that everypony treats you like a foal, which must be quite a pain."

Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom rolled their eyes, thinking about how the adults were treating Celestia. The princess of the sun gave an annoyed sigh. "Yeah, you have no idea."

The filly paused before she continued, "why do you think that is? And you don't seem to be affected."

Zecora tapped a hoof to her chin once more, thinking the question over before answering. "Ah yes, Discord's curse seems to affect the mind; I am not a pony, so maybe I'm not confined."

"Oh!" all the foals exclaimed out loud.

Sweetie Belle tapped a hoof to her chin and replied, "so it only affects mature ponies because my friends and I don't think she's a little filly. We know she's really an adult just regressed in age."

The zebra ruffled Sweetie Belle's mane and applauded her. "That is true; it must mean the curse does not affect the minds of foals too."

She then turned her attention to Celestia and continued to explain, "as I was saying before, the curse has something to do with how you're perceived; this potion at night shall reveal how they're being deceived."

Celestia frowned at this seeing the potion won't age her back to an adult, and snapped, "I thought this was a cure for my regression!"

Zecora sighed, rubbing a hoof over her mane. "Chaos magic is beyond my knowledge to cure; however, this brew will make you be seen as more mature."

Celestia was still quite bitter about this realization, but Apple Bloom came over and tapped her friend on the shoulder. "Hey, it's not a cure, but if it stops ponies from treatin' ya like a baby, then it's better than nothin'."

"Alright, it's worth a shot." Celestia sighed, still being quite disappointed but seeing the discontented zebra, she didn't want her to feel bad for not finding an actual cure. The filly ran over and hugged Zecora close with her hooves and squealed, "but thank you for helping! I couldn't even imagine how much work you put into making a potion like this."

"It was not a big deal, I assure you; after you drink my brew, merely let me know if it helps you," Zecora replied; the princess looked upwards to see the zebra now smiling.

Zecora looked over the fillies and asked, "now, how about I escort you four back home? The Everfree Forest is quite dangerous for foals to roam."

The other three wanted to protest, but Celestia was feeling somewhat scared of walking through the Everfree Forest, stammered, "ye...y...yes...the...that sounds fine to me."

The other fillies looked over at their friend and decided not to say anything. Zecora then led the crusaders out of the forest and back to Ponyville. It was relatively quiet except for Zecora and Apple Bloom chatting. However, Celestia was deep in thought; she couldn't help but wonder about what's going to happen to her when she drinks this potion.

Author's Note

The next chapter is going to be super fun! I got the idea from Inside Out. :raritywink:

Chapter seven: Upside-down...Cake

Celestia was slowly getting ready for bed as Twilight had her teeth brushed, she had a bath, and as the filly sat at the foot of her bed and held the potion in her forehooves, debating in her mind if she should drink it. When she had gotten back from Zecora's hut, the zebra told her to keep the potion a secret. She must've gotten the hint that Twilight and Rarity would try stopping her. But this still didn't make her feel worried about what this potion will do to her after she drinks it. The filly uncorked the vial and slowly held it to her lips as she gulped it down. The concoction tasted rather soothing, and it made her feel at ease. She started to relax and felt her eyelids growing heavy. She slowly snuggled under the blankets hoping that whatever this potion did would help her at least find her cutie mark.

The princess of the sun slowly woke up, but everything seemed to be in a haze. The alicorn slowly looked around and realized that she was in her room. She got up and flew to a mirror to get a look at herself. The princess saw her long body, her long white feathery wings, and her plump thick rump. She was an adult again! Except she looked back at her backside and saw that her cutie mark was still missing, making her give a disappointed sigh.

"Seems even in the dream realm, my cutie mark is gone."

"Oh, that's all Zecora can do, please!? You should go back to that hut and demand she makes you an actual cure!"

Celestia was stunned at the shouting, wondering who said that, and slowly turned her head to see another version of herself. Still, her mane and tail were blazing flames with this deadly stare, her irises a glowing orange. This evil version of herself was chained to the floor, kicking and snarling like a beast. The true princess of the sun gulped as she stammered. "Who are you!?"

"I'm Dawnbreaker!" the fiery raging alicorn roared out loud.

Celestia stood there shaking like a leaf when she heard another pony reply, "Oh, please calm down, you're going to scare her." She then turned to see herself, but this version of her was wearing armor similar to Dawnbreaker, but her mane was cut short in a military-style, and her tail was braided. She had a long spear and a broad sword at her side and was looking rather smug.

"Who are you?" The scared princess asked.

"haha! I'm Dawnbringer! You don't really listen to me anymore! It's been way too long since we've been on an adventure!" The armored alicorn proclaimed proudly.

Celestia's cheeks flushed pink as she replied, "sorry, after I lost the ability to use the elements of harmony, I kind of hadn't the need of going on one."

"Oh, shut up about your adventures! At least she talks to you in her daydreams! she never listens to me!" Dawnbreaker snarled.

Dawnbringer rolled her eyes. "Oh please, Dawnbreaker, she listens to you all the time, especially in the morning before she has her cup of joe."

"Come on! making her a bit cranky is nothing; I want to rule and destroy all in my path!" Dawnbreaker roared once more, shooting flames from her mouth and mane.

"Oh deary, all you need is some cake." A rather plump version of herself waddled over. This alicorn had her same mane, coat, and eye color, but she sported a hefty pink apron around her waist. She went straight to Dawnbreaker and shoved a cake into the angry princess's mouth, making her cheeks bulge out all the while the true Celesta. "You stop being an angry sun butt and eat your cake like a good filly.

The alicorn spat the cake from her mouth and snapped, "I swear! If I get out, you'll be the first I'll burn!"

She then pinched on Dawnbreaker's cheek and cooed, "Oh, you look so cute when you get cranky."

"Stop that! Please! Dawnbringer, help!" The angry Celestia pleaded, looking rather pitiful.

Dawnbringer couldn't help but snicker behind a hoof. "Oh, how could I spoil Cake Butt's fun?"

"Come on! Just make her st-mmmph!" Dawnbreaker's cries for help were muffled as another piece of frosted vanilla cake was shoved in her mouth.

The princess of the sun couldn't help but snicker behind a hoof and asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Cake Butt at your service! I'm your maternal instincts, mixed with your obsession with cake." the chubby alicorn chirped out loud as she took the princess's hoof and shook it. At the same time, Celestia rolled her eyes at the name.

"Ha, maybe that should be your name too!" Celestia looked around and gasped as she saw a version of herself in a motley pink jester outfit with a cap full of jingling bells and her mane done up in a clown's afro prancing around. "It's about time you visited us! Is Royal Cake Butt too regal for us!?"

"What no!? I don't even know who you all are!?" the princess of the sun exclaimed.

Cake Butt snickered as she came forward and gave the jester Celestia pat on the back. "This prankster is Morning Bells. She gives you all those crazy ideas to prank Luna and your staff."

"Hey, don't steal my thunder!" Morning Bells shouted, shooting confetti at the plump Celestia.

"Sorry, deary." Cake Butt cooed as she continued to shove more cake into Dawnbreaker's mouth.

Dawnbreaker cried out as she slammed her hooves over her face. "Just kill me! Please!"

"Hey! No whining! You're making us look silly in front of our leader!" Morning Bells shouted and then bounced over to Celestia and popped a big red rubber nose on her muzzle and asked. "So? I had this awesome prank idea where you dress up like Rarity and trick Spikey into kissing you!?"

Celestia blinked as she had this idea come to her mind before but shook her head. "No, that's way to mean...maybe instead we can dye some of my mane purple then leave strands of it about and pretend she's at the library?"

Morning Bells clapped her hooves together and then got in close. Celestia just starred right into her personality's eyes and could see the insanity in them as she continued to ramble on. "Oh, that sounds like a great idea! I also have a few prank ideas like putting slime in Twilight's books, getting your class to ditch school and lie to Cheerilee that you're all sick, or even maybe putting rainbow dye in Rarity's shampoo!"

Celestia was somewhat surprised at the ideas Morning Bells threw out. Most would be a step too far and could even be considered exceptionally cruel. It seems like Discord might've rubbed some of himself on her.

"You call those pranks! You should burn Twilight's books, destroy Cheerilee's school! And burn Rarity's mane to ash! Those would be better pranks!" Dawnbreaker exclaimed, then she began laughing maniacally.

"Those aren't pranks! Ugh, you're always so edgy!" Morning Bells snapped back soon the two were in a heated argument over what a prank is while Cake Butt kept shoving cake into their mouths. Celestia was getting somewhat agitated, slamming a hoof down and shouting . "hey can everypony calm down! I came here because something is messing with my subconscious, and I need to fix it!"

Everypony was somewhat confused by what she was saying until Dawnbringer ran over and shouted, "Hold up! I believe she's here because the little filly of the sun has taken over and is here to defeat her!"

Dawnbreaker roared out loud, flapping her wings and shouting, "I would take her down if you hadn't chained me up! Release me, and I can defeat her!"

"More like you'll take over her body and make her go psycho." Dawnbringer scoffed out loud.

"Would not!" her counterpart cried out.

Soon the two started bickering while Morning Bells was still ranting about how Dawnbreaker doesn't know what a prank is. Celestia was wondering what was going on, but now she's starting to realize what was happening. She was deep in her subconscious, and these other versions of herself were what made up her personality. The princess's cheeks flushed pink, realizing how flawed she was, and of all of them, Dawnbreaker was the most worrying; she only imagined what havoc she would wreak if she let her lose. But she didn't have time to reflect on this. She turned her head and looked out the window and saw across a sunlit valley on top of a mountain was a white marble throne. On top of that throne, she saw a small filly version of herself sitting on top. Celestia gulped as she asked a rather obvious question. "Ok...so is that mountain what makes other ponies perceive who I am?"

The others nodded as Dawnbringer came forth as she explained. "Yes, that mountain is what we call the center of this land and controls the subconscious. The one who normally sits on the throne is the goddess of the sun herself. But one day, that filly took over and had been ruling over ever since. I would've stopped her myself, but we cannot leave this tower. It's not permitted."

Celestia turned her attention across the field and saw that this filly on top of the throne was not only, but an army of plush bunnies and teddy bears also guarded the throne. There were mountains of cake standing on top of the throne itself. She couldn't help but snicker, seeing that it was just a little filly standing in her way of getting back control, and replied, "that's it just a little filly? Stand back. I got this!"

The princess of the sun unfurled her wings and flew out the window towards the throne. Celestia flew across the valley, not really paying attention to anything around her except her target. It wasn't long until a storm came forth and cakes started raining down from the sky. The princess roared, and she charged up the mountain regardless of the cakes smashing into her, covering her in cake frosting.

"Ugh, after this, I never want to see a cake again!" She cried out while wiping frosting from her eyes.

She then saw that she was flying next to the giant plushies, who then tried to bat at her with their stubby paws, but she skillfully maneuvered around them and got face to face with the little filly. She looked like a stereotypical spoiled brat version of her filly self, wearing a frilly pink dress, pink bubblegum mane done up in curls, with this pouty look on her face.

However, she was somewhat disturbed seeing the filly kicking about laughing. "You actually did it!? You came here on your own!"

"What do you me-" before the princess could finish, she found her hooves stuck in what had to be cake frosting as it engulfed her entire body. The princess cried out in horror as the gloopy white strands of frosting engulfed her whole body and hardened itself.

"Hey, what is this!" She tried to light her horn and blast her way out, but it just shot out tiny sparks making the filly laugh. She then skipped over and got into her face as she explained, "Discord said you would probably come here to stop me from making other ponies, baby you. So we set up a little trap! Now you'll sit on this throne trapped and unable to do anything while I control your body!"

"No, stop! Don't you dare!" Celestia cried out, but the evil little filly just burst into laughter.

"Oh, it's too late! Discord was right; your way too predictable!" She laughed out loud and then spread her wings. "Now you sit on your golden throne while I will be a cute filly for real!" she flew off, leaving Celestia to kicking and squirming in her prison of frosting. "Ugh, it's like one step forward and two steps back!"'

"Need help?"

Celestia gasped upon hearing her sister and looked over to see princess Luna flying down. She lit her horn and helped her out of the mountain of cake frosting.

Celestia shook her body and got the excess frosting on her body, and replied. "we need to stop that filly; she's going to take over my body!"

"I know…" the princess of the night whispered. "Zecora told me you used the potion. I didn't think the filly version of you would have so much power."

Celestia squirmed and shouted, "if you knew about this, why didn't you stop her!"

Luna shook her head. "I couldn't; you had to do it on your own. The potion Zecora crafted would let your main personality enter the realm of your subconscious when you went to sleep. It was something she never brewed before, and we both were unsure if this would work. I was hoping to tell you of our plans before hoof, but I guess your chance meeting with Zecora spurred her to move forward with the plan."

The princess of the sun paused, seeing her assumptions were right as she continued. "So what you're saying is that this is my subconscious… I kind of figured that out...what about those other versions of me? Who are they?"

Luna snickered, "they're your personality types...not so flattering, huh? Most ponies don't realize that our personalities aren't always what you would imagine. That's why you're in charge of keeping them in line."

"Right if I let any of those Celestias take control of my body." She just shivered at the thought of Dawnbreaker taking over as Luna helped her sister back on her hooves and whispered, "that's why you have self-control."

The princess of the night lit her horn to break through the prison of cake, and Celestia got up and sighed, "so...this filly version of myself it's not one of my personalities?"

Luna shook her head and continued to explain. "No, she was created by Discord when he regressed you as part of the curse. There is, however, a missing personality; it's your second in command only to yourself."

"You mean,...my cutie mark has a personality?" Celestia asked, being quite surprised she even said that.

"Yes, but yours have been taken and buried; however, she's not in a state that is reflective of your full potential. Like all foals, this personality is sort of in its dormant phase."

"Right...so even if we find her and she helps me take back my body, I won't have my cutie mark…" Celestia bowed her head; feeling disappointed, she figured that would be the case.

Luna took her by the hoof, and they flew off through the air across a grassy valley, looking how Equestria was before the ponies settled it. The sun was bright, and there was a field of sunflowers dotting the landscape. It was rather beautiful, but then they came to a desert. Its landscape was a sea of sand dunes stretching out for miles. It was all quite breathtaking to take in all at once as they reached the border between the valley and the desert; she peered across the dunes and whispered, "My cutie mark is buried here? It'll take forever to find!"

The princess of the night bowed her head and continued, "yes, and sadly my time here is coming to a close you need to find your cutie mark before that rouge personality takes over completely. Without somepony sitting on that throne, that filly version of you will have full control of your body."

"Don't worry, sister; I'll do it!! Just keep an eye on me in the real world," the princess of the sun shouted as she reared up and flew through the desert, hoping to find this missing personality of hers.

chapter eight: Desert of Memories

Princess Celestia was treading through what seemed to be a desert for what felt like days along her trek. She struggled through the hot, burning sand as memories from her long-forgotten past flew through her like gusts of wind; along with conserving her mental energy to not focus on the images around her, she also had to deal with the desert itself. The sands hitting her body felt real, along with the hot sat hitting her eyes and searing her body. Not only that, despite this not really being her body, the desert's heat felt real with it pressing down on her so oppressively. She hadn't endured such intense heat since she and her sister had to travel through the badlands. The mare was determined to get through this no matter what; she was focused entirely on finding this missing personality of hers. So, she continued her trek smashing her hooves against the burning sand and with sweat continuously blinding her vision. As she continued to trudge through the desert, various memories of hers flew in front of her. Old forgotten memories of when she learned how to fly, memories of her foalhood with Luna, even memories of Starswirl the Bearded being like a father to her. Some super embarrassing others were quite hilarious, especially ones of her playing pranks on Luna. They were all so lovely and warm it was rather saddening to see all the times they spent together were now lost to time…being over a thousand years old, memories like those become harder to recall. However, they still linger inside her, even if she couldn't entirely remember the details. However, she couldn't stop to reminisce; she couldn't tell how long it was since she started this journey, but every second she wastes is another moment her real body is controlled by some rouge personality.

Her journey through the sea of sand dunes eventually came to an end as she came upon a colossal pyramid. It was massive with the stones made of a marble white, and the top had a statue of herself made of gold. She was dressed in a toga standing above with her forehooves out and wearing a circlet over her head. The princess alicorn slowly trotted through the front doors, and standing before her was a stone sarcophagus. It was quite massive; taking the entire length of the pyramid's base, she slowly crept over to the odd structure. She poked it with a hoof and whispered to herself. "Huh? Is my missing personality in here?"

She gasped, then took the top of the sarcophagus and grunted as she heaved and pushed the stone slab to the side with a crunch! Celestia breathed heavily as she looked down a dark hole, but a flight of stone steps leads down into the darkness. The princess gulped as she slowed to walk down the steps with only the clop of her hooves echoing around her; she was somewhat nervous. But it wouldn't be the first time she explored a dark, mysterious pyramid…her cheeks became red as a few memories came to mind in how she and Luna would go off to see if they could find traces of any other alicorns. She never did…they only ever found was ruins. They have a rough idea something terrible happened way before they were born…but they never really figured out who their parents were or why Starswirl decided to raise them?

Those thoughts dissipated as her hooves hit soft grass; the mare found herself in a small peaceful-looking valley. It was a green field with crystal blue skies; a few trees and flower beds spotted around; there was a river rushing by, and sitting in the middle of this peaceful valley was a young filly. She looked exactly like her when she was a small foal wearing a little toga; the filly looked up to her with a smile. "Hello, you're the host personality, right?"

The princess alicorn smiled and replied, "yes, I am…so…um, you're my cutie mark?"

The filly snickered behind a hoof. "Well, that's the simplest way of explaining what I am."

She waved a hoof and patted a patch of grass nearby. "Come, sit down."

Celestia trotted over close to the other version of herself and sat down in the cool grass as asked, but she wanted to get her out of here and save her body. So she replied abruptly. "look, I don't mean to be rude, but my body is being taken over by a rogue personality. I need your help to take it back."

The filly gave a sigh, "I can help you, but first, you need to rediscover who you really are. Only then will we have the strength to reclaim this body of yours."

Celestia sighed, rubbing her forehead. "look, again, I can rediscover my cutie mark alter my body is being taken over as we speak."

The little filly rose up as she replied, "I know, and it's taking over because you lost focus of who you are. I think you need a reminder."

"Wh-"Celestia tried to ask what she meant by that by the sky above disappeared as an image of a filly version of herself. She was hiking through the Everfree forest in a rainstorm and taking a young Discord by the claw. The princess vaguely remembered these memories, but it was blurry, and it was rather hard to focus on.

"Now pay attention, because I'll show you this only once, then we'll go." The little filly snapped back. Celestia just gave a sigh as she stared up into the sky and watched.

Over a thousand years ago…

It was late at night with a mysterious storm brewing overhead rain was pouring down on the dark and mysterious Everfree Forest. Celestia took Discord by the claw and led him through the forest, huffing and heaving. The little filly's pristine white coat was covered in mud, her mane was full of sticks and brambles, and there were more than a few scratches and bruises covering her body. She led a younger version of Discord with his stubby claws and strange body; they were headed towards a looming castle down from a valley. The rain pounded overheard as it landed around the two younglings they were trailing through the woods. They walked through the mountain trail because it was late at night, and then they continue through the mountain pass, and they walked through late at night. They wanted to get back to the tower before he noticed they were gone. The princess of the sun was somewhat nervous as the filly seemed rather worried she and Discord were going to be in trouble. She looked back at the little draconequus as he looked down as the rain dripped from his face on the ground below. The filly looked back towards Discord with a smile on her face and cheered him on. "Hey, we're going to get there in no time."

"It doesn't matter if he hates me…" Discord just stood there heaving as he grumbled under his breath.

Celestia stared back at the draconequus with a worried look; she knew that Starswirl was rather harsh on the little lord of chaos, but she never knew that Discord took his scolding so personally and whispered, "no, he doesn't hate you; he just can be a jerk sometimes."

The young lord of chaos stomped a foot down and snapped. "Yeah, right, he hates me! All he does is yell at me! That's why I ran away; I didn't want you to come after me!"

Celestia eyed her friend as she replied, "you really thought I was going to let you wander off on your own?"

Discord crossed his claws in front of his chest and snapped, "I didn't ask for your help."

The alicorn filly trotted over and wiped some mud from Discord's face with a hoof. "I know Starswirl can be tough on you, but that's how he shows he cares for you. You want to be my prince when you grow upright?"

"But what if I never live up to his standards, so why should I continue?" The young lord of chaos asked, looking up with tears running down his face.

Celestia was a bit confused as she asked young draconequus. "What do you mean?"

Discord just plopped down in the muddy dirt and grumbled, "I'm thinking of just going out on my own... that's why I left? I want to be myself; I don't need parents or friends. I can figure out how to live on my own."

The young alicorn looked over with tears in her eyes as she responded, "but what about me? I thought we were best friends?"

Discord seemed to look a bit ashamed at what he said and responded, "I'm sorry…I left you a note and explained things."

Celestia stood there in the rain with it running down her face as she snapped, "you're my best friend, and you're the one thing that I care most about. If you're leaving, then I'll leave with you."

Discord looked up, somewhat surprised, as he quickly replied, "you're not serious, right?"

Celestia came close and pulled the little draquenous and held him close. "Hey, it's ok. I'll always be here for you."

They stood together, hugging in the rain as she took him by the claw. "Come on, we can get back in time! Before he even notices, come on!"

"Seriously, stop! I didn't even decide if I'm still leaving or not!" the lord of chaos cried out.

"Oh, shut it! If you want to leave after that's fine! But for right now, we still need to get out of this rain!" Celestia shouted as she ran through the woods. She was determined to get back to the tower before Starswirl noticed, and then they were trailing through the woods and were heading back as fast as they could. She wasn't going to give up on Discord; he may be a prankster and never pay attention in any of their classes, but he was her friend, and at the very least, she'll make sure he's ok. But they eventually made it deep in the woods as they came through the forest with the rain pounding down on them.

As they neared the castle, Discord tried to tug his claw out of her grasp and cried out, "no, stop! He'll catch us, and we'll both be in big trouble!"

The alicorn filly looked towards him and continued, "it's fine, I don't care if he catches us! As long as you're with me!"

The rain was now started to dissipate, now coming down as trickle as he asked, "why do you care so much?"

The princess paused as she stared at the young draconequus and wondered why he was so clueless; she liked him a lot. She wanted him to feel better about himself as she replied, "no, your good, and I won't let you just go! I will never give up on you or anypony everypony has a right to be happy no matter what! I'm going to make sure you can see that one day!" She held out a hoof, and he held it to Discord as the sun appeared in the back; he wiped the tears from his eyes, the alicorn smiled down him. As he had a small smile appear on his face, she didn't notice the cutie mark appear on her rump as they went to the castle together.

Celestia looked down at the young filly as the memory disappeared above; she had tears in her eyes as those memories were something she has almost completely forgotten about. She wiped her eyes and then turned to see that she was now standing in the original valley with the ivory tower on one end of the valley and the golden throne on the other side. The princess was somewhat confused about how she got here, and then she turned to see the goddess version sitting by her. "Well seems like you enjoyed the show."

Celestia snickered as she replied, "so my entire legacy…my destiny, was tied with Discord since the beginning… he's the key to me returning back to normal."

"That's half of what I was trying to show you; the other is that you inspire others to better than themselves. Discord would've turned out a lot worse if you weren't in his life." The goddess filly explained.

Celestia just sighed as she stood up on her hooves and stretched her body. "Well, then I have to inspire Discord to turn me back to normal?"

The filly gave her a wink. "you'll figure it out, now let's give this other version of me a piece of my mind." She held out a hoof, and they flew up to the top of the ivory tower. There they turned to the other personalities standing about, all whispering in a hushed voice. But upon seeing the goddess version of herself, they all bowed in unison before her. The filly held up a hoof. "rise, please, but I do appreciate you all…even you, Sunbraker."

"Haha, don't make me laugh." The firey alicorn snapped back. The goddess smirked as she lit her horn and pointed it at the mirror as she dragged the prissy alicorn filly screaming and shouting, "Hey, stop that! What do you think you're doing!"
There she scowled, seeing the goddess, she started to sweat and then the filly got angry and stomped a hoof on the ground. "Seriously! How did you get out!"

The goddess rolled her eyes, "please, the desert of memories? Yes, it's vast, but my pyramid is connected to the host personality; the more she traveled through the desert, the closer I got."

The filly pounded her hooves on the ground as she started to throw a tantrum, "ugh! darn it! I was having so much fun! why do you have to ruin everything!"

The little goddess rose in the air and unfurled her wings as her eyes glowed with power as she roared, "silence! you are a virus to this body and I have every right to purge you here and now!"

The little filly personality started shake all over in fear of this goddess as she turned to the host Celestia with tears in her eyes and pleaded, "d… don't let her destroy me…I... I'll be good I won't try to take over, I promise!"

The host Celestia looked down at the quivering filly she knew there would be no way to ever know if she would try to take her body over...but she was merciful and had pity for this personality that shouldn't have existed. "Alright, you can stay, but I need to ask you didn't do anything too embarrassing with my body? Right?"

The other personalities all got quiet and looked down while Dawnbreaker burst into fits of laughter; all Celestia could do was groan, knowing when she took over again, she was in for a surprise.

The little goddess however flew down and clopped over and explained in a concerned tone. "You are the host, so I won't harm this trespasser. However, I need you to focus whatever you see when you return is just that superficial; you need to focus on getting your cutie mark back and making amends with Discord. Those two goals should be your priority."

The primary personality didn't say anything back and slowly nodded. She turned to face the mirror before her; Celestia gulped and prepared herself as she stepped through to retake her body find her cutie mark and confront Discord.

Chapter nine: two weeks later...

Princess Celestia slowly woke up after what felt like to her, maybe a day or two. Still, Faust knows how long the filly version of herself had control before she finally got her body back. But what was somewhat surprising to her was waking up under fluffy pink sheets. The filly started to slowly realize that the false personality had taken over her body for a lot longer than she realized. As she slowly got up, the filly squeaked, seeing that her room was like how it was back in Canterlot after Discord transformed it, the carpet was a plush pink, there was a filly style tea set in the middle of the room along with a bunch of stuffed animals that littered the ground. The filly groaned, seeing the piles of plush animals surrounding her as well.

"What's with all the stuffed animals?" Celestia grumbled as she slowly got up and climbed out of bed. Twilight slowly entered her room with a motherly smile and asked, "morning, little Celestia, do you need to use the potty?"

Celestia's cheeks flushed pink did Twilight just ask if she needed to use the bathroom!? The alicorn quickly shouted back. "What, no!"

"Oh, stop, you love having me escorting you to the potty!" Twilight chirped as she led the little filly on like as if she'll get lost. Princess Celestia tried to pull away, kicking and shouting in frustration. Still, it was no use Twilight was either not listening or was intentionally paying attention to her pleas. So the little alicorn followed her caretaker with a pout on her face as they eventually made it to the bathroom, and there was a pink plastic potty.

"Oh no! I'm not sitting on that!" Celestia shouted there was no way in Tartarus she'll be using that training potty. Twilight looked a bit confused, "but you're the one who insisted for the past two weeks you needed help?"

"Ugh! Another personality took over my body and made me do all those crazy things!" Celestia shouted, getting somewhat flustered.

Twilight looked a bit confused as she blinked and then rubbed her eyes. "Right...no... your right...um...you can um use the bathroom, get yourself all cleaned up. I'll go make breakfast."

The violet unicorn left for Celestia to get herself ready for the day. After going to the bathroom on the actual toilet! Brushed her teeth, took a small bath, brushed her mane. She was all ready for whatever craziness was going to be in store.

She slowly climbed downstairs and came to the breakfast table for pancakes cut up into bite-sized pieces smothered in syrup and butter, some scrambled eggs, and a sippy cup filled with orange juice. The violet unicorn came over and replied, "so how about we talk over a few things."

"Yeah, I can explain why I was acting unusual for the past two weeks," Celestia explained.

She started off by explaining how Discord implanted another personality in her subconscious, and it eventually took over her body. She cut short her journey through her desert of memories, finding out how she earned her cutie mark and restoring her subconscious to how it should be. Twilight, however, wasn't the least surprised and wasn't asking many questions. She simply nodded throughout the conversation, and when Celestia finished, she replied, "Luna explained things to my friends and me about what was going on; we didn't know how long you would be so...um...filly like."

Celestia gave a laugh as she replied, "well, that's good! Now we should go and tell everypony else to stop treating me like a helpless filly."

Spike then came down with a bowl of gems, and as he came over munching on them, he eyed the filly. "So, why aren't you dressed up yet? The cutie mark crusaders are coming over for a tea party?"

"What!?" the alicorn filly cried out; that filly personality really screwed things up.

Twilight slammed a hoof into her face and cried out, "Oh my goodness! I forgot! I'm supposed to pick up an order of cupcakes for it!"

Celestia slammed her hooves on the table in turn and shouted, "seriously!? That's not the issue here!"

Spike grabbed the filly by the hoof and led her away as he exclaimed, "you get the cupcakes. I'll get Celestia ready!"

"Good Idea, Spike!" Twilight cried out as she ran off to go get the cupcakes.

The filly cried out, "wait! Why don't we just Just call it off!?"

"It's too late for that; they're probably already on their way; you just gotta do it this one last time, promise," Spike explained.

She tried to tug her hoof away, but it was no use; she was dragged upstairs to get changed into a dress.

Another hour later, Celestia was back in her room, sitting at the little tea party set. The filly was sporting a pink and white frilly dress with poofy sleeves and the other cutie mark crusaders wearing similar outfits. Sweetie Belle was wearing a violet silk dress that sparkled with little gems outlining the seams. Scootaloo was wearing a buttery yellow dress. Apple Bloom was also sporting a cute red velvet dress that matched with her bow. They were all looking rather adorable in the outfits. Still, Celestia couldn't help but wonder why her friends would humiliate themselves wearing such embarrassing outfits? She had to ask, "hey um, so why are you guys wearing dresses too?"

Sweetie Belle seemed to be somewhat surprised as she replied, "oh um...you insisted that we wear dresses when we first started doing these, so I had my sister make some?"

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both grumbled, seeing they were more likely forced into wearing them by Rarity and Twilight. Celestia started to feel terrible. She must've been quite the brat, and she wanted to make up for her unruly behavior as she replied, "well, this is the last time you have to wear them. I promise you guys that."

The other fillies gave sighs of relief as Sweetie Belle sipped her tea and laughed, "right, well, it seems like you're back to normal."

Celestia cheeks flushed pink as she chomped down on one of her cupcakes and asked, "can you…um…explain what I did for the past two weeks."

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle groaned as Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and responded, "oh, you acted like an actual filly, super tantrums, having Twilight buy you tons of plushies," She then held up her cup of tea and chirped, "and you started having tea parties."

Celestia groaned, rubbing a hoof down her face feeling more embarrassed and being quite angry with herself as she apologized. "I am just so sorry I didn't mean to any of that it was another personality that took control of my body."

"Yeah, we had a feeling something weird was going on after you drank that potion," Scootaloo replied with a smirk.

Apple Bloom gave a nod of agreement as she replied, "yeah, Zecora explained basically everything to us already, so we took our time dealing with you being crazy."

"Yeah, we even got pictures!" Scootaloo squealed as she took out a photo album. Celestia's face was now a deep shade of pink as she cried out. "Oh, Faust! You foals took pictures!"

Sweetie Belle scoffed, "those pictures are the least of your problems! You kept talking to the press about crazy stuff. You should've seen what the Newspapers wrote about you."

The alicorn filly rubbed her face, groaning, not wanting to know what the press was printing out for the past few weeks. It'll take a lot of explaining that any abnormal behavior was a cause of a rogue personality. Celestia shook her head; those were problems she'll deal with when she returns to her adult form. She ate another cupcake to calm herself down as she turned to her friends with a smirk. Despite all the embarrassing lousy news, she had some good news to tell her fellow crusaders as she explained, "well, at the very least, I learned how I got my cutie mark the first time."

"Really! Please tell us!" All the cutie mark crusaders instantly cried out together.

Celestia gave a sigh as she replied, "well, basically a long time ago, my sister and I were being cared for by Starswirl the Bearded...also Discord was there ...he was an orphan when we found him, and I assume Starswirl took him in. My memories are still foggy. It was such a long time ago, but that's the most I can remember. From there, Discord was never bad... he's just misunderstood. He wants to do good, but he doesn't know how, so he became so cynical…"

The fillies blinked, being somewhat confused, and Celestia squeaked; realizing she was rambling about Discord, she cleared her throat. "Anyways, I found Discord trying to leave on his own, thinking everyone hated him. I somehow changed his mind and led him back to the tower...I didn't even know that I got my cutie mark that day, but I saw it appear in my subconscious."

The fillies were all somewhat surprised and in awe by the story as Celestia looked up with a smile. "Yeah, I know it's not as interesting as you probably imagined, right? I got my cutie mark helping an old friend from running away."

Sweetie Belle cried out, "what are you talking about? That was beautiful!"

"Yeah, that's actually a really touching story." Apple Bloom replied back as she wiped a tear from her eye.

Scootaloo just shrugged, "eh, not as cool as Rainbow Dash's."

"Hey!" the other crusaders cried out as Celestia just laughed, "oh, it's alright, I thought that was funny."

The other fillies snickered as they continued to drink their tea and finish the last of the cupcakes. Celestia, during the silence, the little alicorn thought things over as she had a plan cooking up in her head on how she was going to get her cutie mark and return back to normal. But it was going to require convincing Twilight and her friends to do something they probably weren't ready for as she replied, "look, I gotta ask you guys a favor... I'm going to try asking Twilight, but I need you three to convince her friends about something."

The fellow crusaders were now all ears as the little alicorn filly shook all over; she was both nervous..and she needed to pee...but mostly anxious as she explained, "ok, here it goes...I want you to help me convince Twilight and her friends to release Discord from his stone prison."

Chapter ten: The trial of Celestia part 1

Over the next week, Celestia and the cutie mark crusaders spent their time trying to convince Twilight and her friends that they had to free Discord. Of course, she was against the idea, but luckily, some of her friends were more willing to try it out. They eventually all decided they would have a vote at Twilight's library regarding the situation. The other ponies and the cutie mark crusaders were all there and ready to give their voice to Celestia's crazy plan. Spike was on a podium with a gavel and small powdered wig; the ponies there were whispering and talking to each other until he slammed the gavel down on the table and shouted, "order! Order! Now the meeting of if we're going to let Discord free is in order!"

Twilight stood up and strolled into the middle of the room as she explained, "Look, as Celestia's caretaker and guardian until she returns to an adult, I'm allowing her to speak her mind on the subject at hand in regards to how she feels. However, you're all here because we need to come to a unanimous decision in letting Discord free. Before we vote, Celestia should explain her plan."

Celestia rose up feeling a bit embarrassed and a bit unsure of this, but she started. "Hello um...you all know me, anyways now my proposal to get my cutie mark and to turn me back to normal is to release Discord from his stone prison."

The other mane six spoke amongst each other, and Celestia waited for them to quiet down. "Now, I know this plan might sound crazy, but I'm going to need you to release Discord using the elements of harmony. We’ll talk to him and try to make him understand he has to restore me back to normal and not only that, try to show that he can be friends with us."

Everypony grumbled, and even Fluttershy was looking rather squeamish. Celestia took a long look around the room before she continued, "I know this plan could end up blowing up in our faces, but you have the elements of harmony and can stop Discord if he tries to go crazy. So even if the plan fails, we don't have a lot to lose."

"Yeah, we do! You even remember what he did last time!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

Rarity shook her head and replied, "this plan is crazy darling, I'm not sure I can agree with it."

Pinkie Pie bounced over and cried out, "hold on!? We didn't hear everything yet! We didn't know about one factor, and that was that Celestia and Discord have a past. They were friends once, and she helped him before she got her cutie mark!"

"Yeah!" The cutie mark crusaders all shouted out together.

Fluttershy rose up and spoke up next. "I think we should consider this...Discord caused a lot of harm and caused a lot of problems we're still fixing, but Pinkie Pie has a point if he was friends with her before they could be again."

Twilight groaned, rubbing a hoof down her face. "Well, if we brought back Luna from being Nightmare Moon, we can maybe change Discord too…"

Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and scoffed, "I'm not changing my mind! That jerk made me think a cloud was Cloudsdale! No way am I letting that jerk free!"

Applejack nodded in agreement. "I agree with Rainbow Dash; a cow don't change its spots. Luna wasn't really bad; but unlike her, Discord seems to be rotten at the apple core; I don't think he can be trusted."

Rarity shook her head. "I'm sorry, darling, I would love to reunite two old friends...and do want to believe that Discord could change...but I'm still unsure of this plan."

Sweetie Belle ran to her sister and pleaded. "Look, sis, I know of all ponies you give ponies second chances, and you can see the good in them even when they don't."

"Wow, that was really wise of you to say…" Rarity whispered. She gave a sigh before relenting. "Fine, I'll go with releasing Discord."

"Well, Applejack and I say no, so no way! We're not releasing Discord!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed loudly.

Applejack got up and grumbled, "yeah, Rainbow Dash is right; we can't trust him; if he manipulates us again, we could be dooming Equestria to his reign."

The others all were looking at each other with concerned expressions on their faces. Celestia sighed, wondering how she was going to convince the two most stubborn of the mane six as Scootaloo got up and shouted, "wait! You're getting all the wrong idea! We're not trying to reform Discord, it's just about getting Celestia her cutie mark and getting her back to an adult!"

"Yeah! This isn't about Discord!" Sweetie Belle snapped. "Celestia had her body stolen by a crazy personality and has been dealing with all of you treating her like a helpless filly! We owe her to at least try this out so she can get back to normal!"

Apple Bloom turned to face her sister, "my friends are right, Applejack; besides, you've been wrong before; remember how ya thought Zecora was a witch?"

Applejack lowered her head and grumbled, "alright...maybe she has a point…"

Rainbow dash groaned as she turned to Celestia. "Yeah...Celestia's been like this for months, and all we've been doing is codling her. Yeah, fine, let's try it for her sake."

Twilight gave a reluctant nod, "alright, I think we're all in agreement of releasing Discord to get Celestia back to normal…but for him to remain unfrozen that’ll be up to how things go after Celestia is back to normal.”

Everypony nodded in agreement as the violet unicorn turned to her assistant and asked, “ok, Spike call the verdict...Spike?"

Spike seemed to not be paying attention chewing on gems, then he looked up at Twilight's angry look and squeaked as he slammed a gavel on the desk. "That concludes the trial, the verdict to free Discord is unanimous!"

However, everypony didn't bother cheering, including Celestia; they all just looked at each other nervously, unsure if their ready for what's to come.

The group decided they would take the train later that day. Celestia was somewhat nervous as she was sitting with Twilight. It was bad enough with paparazzi trying to snap pictures of her while heading to the station then having ponies in the other seats gossiping amongst each other.

The princess was looking down at her hooves, trying to ignore them as she whispered to herself, "I'm not sure if I'm ready to turn back to normal? From what the cutie mark crusaders told me, the paparazzi have so much on me...I don't know if I can take all the humiliation."

"You can, I'm sure you will," Twilight explained as she hugged Celestia close. The little filly always felt so happy and secure with Twilight hugging her. They held the embrace for a good while as Twilight whispered, "To be honest, I loved being your caretaker, and I hope you enjoyed being my foal."

Celestia nuzzled into the violet unicorn's lap, Twilight’s body heat just felt so warm and she was still rather tired from the long day. As the little filly closed her eyes she whispered back. "Yeah, thank you for doing so much for me."

"It's no problem , no go on and get some sleep," Twilight whispered under her breath as she brushed the little alicorn's mane.

The little filly slowly fell into a deep sleep and took a long nap in Twilight's lap. An hour or so went by, but eventually, the train pulled into Canterlot station, and the mane six got out with the filly sized Celestia into a crowd of ponies with cameras and reporters. The alicorn princess hid behind Twilight, scared of so many ponies taking pictures and asking her questions. Luckily some royal guards came by with a chariot while a group of guards came through the crowd shouting at them to back off. Twilight ran threw the crow and placed Celestia inside. She then climbed in too then the guards toon off. Celestia gave a sigh of relief as they soared then squealed as they flew higher in the air. "I knew you guys would come to the rescue!"

"You're the princess of the sun! We're here to rescue you from the paparazzi anytime!" One of the guards shouted as they flew straight to the palace.

They landed in the courtyard where the young princess was escorted inside; there, they found Quill Feather on the throne doing her job writing something down on a long scroll; at least from what she could tell, she's been doing really well in her place. Quill Feather hearing the giant doors open looked down the hall and gasped, "is that Celestia!"

"Yeah! It is!" Celestia squealed back, the little filly couldn't contain her excitement as she ran down the hall. When the filly got to her old throne, she jumped right into her assistant's hooves; the brown coated unicorn held the filly close and nuzzled her. "Oh, it's good to see you doing well."

"Yeah, you too, you've been doing such a good job while I was gone," Celestia whispered as she nuzzled into her assistant. Quill Feather let the little alicorn sit in her lap as she turned her attention to Twilight.

"Thank you so much for caring for the young princess," Quill responded.

"No problem, it's been my absolute pleasure!" Twilight proclaimed quite proudly.

Quill let Celestia down as the rest of her friends burst through the door; they all bowed and Quill just rolled her eyes and waved a hoof. "There's no need to bow to me, I'm just an assistant."

All the rest of Twilight's friends gave a sigh of relief, but Quill Feather was now looking somewhat confused and turned to Celestia and asked, "um...Celestia? What are you all doing here?"

Twilight and her friends started to mumble and stare at their hooves. Pinkie Pie was the first to try saying something but Celestia held up a hoof then turned to her assistant. "So, um, I didn't come here just to say hi? We came to release Discord."

Quill blinked with a look of utter confusion, then shouted, "Are you crazy! Didn't you all just place him in a statue!?"

Celestia quickly shouted back, "yes, but we need to do it so I can turn back to normal; you have to trust me!"

Quill turned to the mane six and asked. "And you agree with this?"

Twilight begrudgingly nodded as the rest of her friends (Rainbow Dash and Applejack muttered “not really” under their breaths) Quill shook her head and turned her attention back to Celestia as she rose up. "Well, I'm only here to be a replacement for you princess. If you think this will help you, go ahead. But before you do anything, let me clear the palace first."

"Of course!" Celestia chirped in excitement as she jumped off her throne and sped off towards Twilight.

The violet unicorn ruffled her charge's mane then looked up back at Quill and replied, "Well, that makes sense; besides, I think we all need some time to stretch our legs after that long train ride."

"Right! Come on! I'll give you two a tour of the place!" Celestia squealed, taking Twilight by the hoof and dragged her up the stairs. The rest of her friends followed with Rainbow Dash and Applejack trailing behind as the farm mare commented. "Celestia knows we've been here a few times now, right?"

"She's in a filly mode right now; let's just go have some fun before we unleash the lord of chaos." Rainbow scoffed as she dragged Applejack upstairs.

chapter eleven: The trial of Celestia part 2

Princess Celestia led Twilight through the palace showing her other rooms and secret areas that she’s discovered over the years. The two seemed to have lost the rest of her friends along the way as they went off on their own; Rarity wanted to check out the royal dressing room, while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie set off to go prank some royal guards, Fluttershy and Applejack set off to the royal garden. Twilight continued to follow Celestia to her room; there, the little alicorn princess was relieved too that her servants had restored it to how it was before Discord transformed it, no foalish clothes, no plush carpet, no dolls, or silly canopy bed everything seemed to be as it should be. She laid on her giant normal adult sized bed which was giving her even more motivation that she'll be back to normal soon.

Twilight smiled down at the little filly and asked, "guess you can't wait to turn back to normal?"

"Seriously! I just want to lay in my own bed again and then wake up tomorrow and think of all this as nothing more than a bad dream!" Celestia exclaimed loudly, being quite ready to end this humiliating nightmare.

Twilight sat beside her Celestia snickered as she laid her head on Twilight's lap as the violet unicorn cooed softly, "I'm sure that you will be, and I'll be here when you're an adult; again."

"Right…I said this before while on the train here…I will miss you." The princess of the sun whispered meekly, hugging Twilight as she nuzzled the little filly and whispered back. "I'll miss you too."

The two then jumped up off the bed, and Celestia was the first to notice the rest of Twilight's friends were gone and asked, "where did your friends go?"

"Oh, I don't know, probably trying to hide or got distracted; I'll go round them up." Twilight growled as she looked around the room, then threw a hoof and replied, "come on, let's go find them, and then we'll see if Quill Feather is ready for us.

"Yeah, we should rip the band-aid off as they say," Celestia grumbled, trotting out of her room and following Twilight in search of her friends. Once they rounded the rest of the group up, they all slowly came upon the statue of Discord. They all looked at each other nervously as they were still unsure of her plan.

But Twilight turned to face them to give a speech, "alright! There is no backing out now! We release Discord and standby; if he tries to harm Celestia or do anything that we deem as a threat, we'll freeze him back into stone on the spot."

Her friends all reluctantly nodded keeping their objections to themselves the violet unicorn then turned to Celestia and asked, "Are you ready for this?"

The white-coated alicorn bent her head down as she readied herself; she knew that this all could end in disaster not just for her but for all of Equestria. But she had to at least try to turn back to normal, and she couldn't let fear control her. The little filly stomped a hoof on the ground and replied with confidence. "Yeah, I am."

Twilight then took out her element, as did her friends the following suit; they then all closed their eyes, and the mares started to levitate. Suddenly, a burst of light hit the statue containing Discord and began to crack, and pieces started falling off. Celestia stood there with her heart pounding in her chest, watching as the statue eventually shattered into a million pieces and sending a cloud of dust everywhere. As the dust settled, Celestia looked up to see Discord rear his head as he was laughing; the lord of chaos looked down at the ponies that freed him and exclaimed, "You actually did it, you idiots actually freed me!?"

"Back off!" Twilight shouted in a threatening tone; she glared at Discord as she continued with her threat. "If you so much as lift a finger, we're going to turn you back to stone!"

Celestia stood firm as well as she braced herself for whatever tricks Discord had up his sleeve. In response, the draquenous threw his arms across his chest and scoffed. "Wow, you all must be desperate if you freed me to turn little Celestia back to normal! Maybe I should make her younger instead?"

At that moment, the mane six all were about to use their elements again, but Celestia held a hoof up and shouted, "stop! He's not going to do anything!"

Twilight then held a hoof up, and her friends stood down. The little alicorn filly turned back to face her former friend as thoughts swirled in her mind. She was still angry at the lord of chaos. Still, she had to keep her emotions in check, and she needed to be level-headed and replied, "no, you're not Discord; I realized you may have tried to humiliate me in your own way. But I know you too well…after seeing some old memories, I realized you're just lonely, and you need a friend. I can be that friend, but it's up to you to take my hoof."

Discord laughed maniacally, then looked down at the young filly and roared, "this is your plan! You thought that dredging up the past was going to work!"

Twilight and her friends started to tense up, and the princess knew that at any moment, they were going to turn Discord back to stone, and her only chance to turn back to normal would be gone. She looked up at her former friend and continued, "Yeah, I do...right now, we can turn you back to stone at any time; the only reason Twilight and her friends haven't is because of me. I'm going to give you a chance to fix what you did because I believe that deep down, you're good. If you do this, not only will you be free, I want to try to rekindle the friendship we had so long ago."

Discord didn't laugh or mock her this time; he instead just scoffed, "did you think I cursed you the way I did just so I can turn you back the second you asked?"

Celestia looked right into Discord's eyes; she had to reveal what she saw and try to make him remember the past like she did and continued, "I think you changed me into a filly because you wondered if I would remember that we were friends once. I went into my subconscious and saw it for myself… I've been so busy performing my royal duties that I forgot what friendship meant for myself and forgot what we had all that time ago."

Discord looked down at her, and he was just stunned. He even maybe looked a little guilty as he whispered, "wow... you've never really changed?"

"Nope, and I promise that I'll never give up on you again! The princess proclaimed, raising a hoof at the draquenous.
Discord tapped a claw to his chin as he pondered out loud, "Hmmm, depends...are you going to turn me to stone right after?"

Twilight gritted her teeth and growled, "if you-

"No!" Celestia shouted, turning back to her student than turning to face Discord. "That's the deal; you turn me back into an adult, you're free to go."

Discord eyed her and then turned to Twilight's friends." I'm not sure if I can trust them; they all look like they're going to kill me at the first chance they get."

"They won't do anything if you don't try to make Equestria into your playground. As long as you behave yourself there not going to do anything." Celestia responded adamantly.

Discord looked down at the little alicorn and snickered, "so is this where you plead for me to turn you back then? Or are you going to throw a tantrum first?"

The alicorn princess rolled her eyes; of course, Discord would make a joke at a time like this and shook her head as she replied, "seriously, Discord? No, I'm not going to throw a tantrum."

"Oh, come on, give me a cute "pretty please" first?" The lord of chaos cooed jokingly.

The little filly smirked, giving in this time as she put on a cute pout and looked up and replied in a whiny tone, "please turn me back to a big pony Discord!?

Celestia stood there, cheek burning as the draquenous burst into laughter as the mane six behind her snickered. As Discord got control of himself, he looked over at the little filly with a smile. Celestia knew that she finally hit something in him, rekindling that lost friendship they had so long ago. She could only hoped that this wasn't a bluff as he raised a claw, then snapped.

Tendrils of magic suddenly began to wrap around Celestia, making her ever grow slowly, turning back into an adult. She groaned as the mare could feel her body lengthen, she could feel her mane and tail grow out, her bones and muscles rearranging themselves. Not long after the tendrils disappeared, she was now standing in the middle of her garden as everypony around her was cheering. However, the cheering turned to loud gasps! This princess was now worried as she exclaimed. "What...what did Discord do!?"

She looked over her body, trying to see what was wrong with it; she was tall again, she could see her long wispy mane and tail, she felt her face with a hoof and felt her long muzzle thick cheekbones. Everything seemed to be fine, but then the princess took a long look around her rump and then gasped and saw that her cutie mark was still missing! She was a blank flank! The princess cried out, "what the buck! Why didn't my cutie mark come back!?"

Everypony was stunned in silence as she then turned a stone gaze right back to Discord, who squeaked as he held up his claws and exclaimed, "I didn't do it! I swear!"

"Like I'm going to believe that!? Seriously give me my cutie mark back!" Celestia roared.

Discord was sweating bullets as he held his claws and snapped them again. She turned back to see a silly cartoonish smiling sun appeared on her rump, then it slowly faded. He tried again, this time her actual cutie mark appeared, but that just slowly disappeared as well. Celestia saw it was no use; no spell can just make a cutie mark appear. She just shook her head and grumbled, "No, that won't work...I...I somehow lost my sense of purpose…"

Celestia looked downward, confused and unsure of how this happened? Did something change inside her when she was a foal? Did she do something wrong? All these doubts and troubled thoughts swirled inside the princess. It wasn't until she noticed the long awkward silence did she look up and saw that Twilight and her friends were looking defeated...even Discord was twiddling his thumbs and looking bummed out! Now she just felt terrible; she didn't want Twilight and her friends to think they failed. She at least was back to her proper age, and on top of that, she made progress in reforming Discord and said, "Girls, it's alright; I'll find my cutie mark again, I'm sure of it. I'm at least an adult again, and that's what's important. I can perform my royal duties, cutie mark or no cutie mark."

The mane six perked up at Celestia's words. She turned her attention once again to Discord with a glare. Despite the fact it wasn't his fault her cutie mark was gone, there was one other thing she wanted back to. "You did return my intelligence to that of an adult, right?"

"Yes, yes, any alterations to your body have been turned back to how they were before I cursed you." Discord scoffed then asked, "now am I free to go?"

The princess of the sun eyed her friend and responded, "yes, you're free to leave, however you know Twilight and her friends will be keeping an eye on you."

"Fine then, come along then new friends. We need to decide who I'm going to bunk with!" The lord of chaos chirped as he gathered the mane six into his claws and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Celestia shook her head, guess even Discord read her mind and recognized that she needed some time to herself. She slowly trotted off, heading towards her room, wondering what she should do next? And how she was going to explain to her subjects that she just let the lord of chaos loose?

Chapter Twelve: The trial of Celestia part 3

Later that evening, Celestia was preparing to hold a press conference at the palace. She was walking back and forth in the hall; she felt extremely nervous as she could hear the chatting of hundreds of ponies outside. The princess of the sun was shaking all over, being utterly worried about what was going to happen next. Her sister Luna slowly walked around with her cheeks flushed red as she slowly came over and, on her face, and asked, "hey are you doing ok?"

"No, not really…" The princess of the sun whispered meekly; she was far from ok with her mind still focused on her lost cutie mark. As she looked over at her sister and continued, "I don't know what I'm supposed to do?"

"You should just tell them the truth about everything; there's no reason to lie or cover up what's happened," Luna suggested.

Celestia gave a nod as she did agree with her. "You're right, there's no reason for me to cover up the truth, but…what how can I explain that I'm not sure of who I am anymore? Or why my cutie mark is gone?"

The princess of the night placed a hoof on her sister's shoulder and encouraged her. "You're going to be fine; you can still raise the sun and be their princess even without a cutie mark. I'm sure we'll rediscover who you are again."

"I'm still so confused? Why didn't my cutie mark come back when I turned back to normal?" Princess Celestia groaned, rubbing a hoof down her face; this was still going to be so embarrassing.

Luna shrugged as she explained, "you know as well as I do that cutie marks are a mystery to even Starswirl. It's a magic that goes back longer than us; you're just going to have to find it again like every other pony."

Princess Celestia rolled her eyes, having known most of this herself as she shouted, "I know that! But the thing is, I already had mine! Cutie marks don't just disappear with an age spell; you know that! Something else is going on here."

"Ok, ok, easy now," Luna responded quickly as she held her hooves up. "Don't bite my head off."

Celestia looked down again, feeling a bit disappointed in herself for shouting at her sister as she apologized, "sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."

She slowly walked over and hugged Luna wrapping her wings around Celestia, and they held each other in a tight hug for what felt like an hour. The princess of the sun didn't want to let go; she just wanted to just stay hugging her sister and never leave. But it didn't take long for one of her butlers to walk over and pointing a hoof at his watch. The princess of the sun grumbled under her breath. "I kept them waiting long enough."

Luna nuzzled her cheek against her older sister's face and then looked right into Celestia's eyes. "Alright, but if things get too hot, I'm going to come to get you."

"Alright," Celestia whispered before heading to the two wooden doors; she paused, taking one last breath as she pushed the doors open and stepped right out onto the balcony.

Princess Celestia walked out onto the balcony overlooking the crowds of ponies below and stared down at them; many ponies gasped, and others started to whisper amongst each other. Princess Celestia held firm as she looked over her subjects. "My fellow ponies, I am happy to say that I have been restored to my proper age. However, I wish to summarize what happened since Discord regressed my age to that of a child. I was, of course, cared for by my student Twilight Sparkle. She, of course, was my guardian and did an amazing job of keeping me out of trouble and harm's way. However, I learned that Discord didn't just turn me younger; he also implanted a rouge personality in me."

The princess of the sun took a pause to gauge the crowd below everypony seemed to be paying attention to her, and they were at the very least now silent. She then continued her speech. "When I learned this, the zebra named Zecora created a potion that helped me find this rouge personality within my mind. However, she took over my body, and for the past two weeks, she did whatever she wanted. However, I was able to eventually retake my body, and now I come to the part you all have been waiting for; how did I return back to normal?"

Everypony was still silent as the princess alicorn took another pause then continued, "Well, it wasn't an easy decision, but we had no choice but to release Discord and have him reverse his curse."

Many ponies gasped and cried out as more cameras flashed and reporters started to ask questions. Celestia held a hoof as she continued, "yes, I know, he's done terrible harm to Ponyville that they were still dealing with, but I had no choice. Twilight and her friends were there to turn him back to stone if he tried anything. Luckily, everything went well, and we were able to compromise; he turned me back to an adult, and I let him free. He left for Ponyville where Twilight and her friends will be keeping an eye on him for the time being."

The ponies still grumbled to themselves about the situation, others shaking their heads; one reporter shouted, "was Discord the one who stole your cutie mark!?"

"Is he going to go on another reign of terror!?" Another reporter shouted.

Celestia held up a hoof and waited for the crowd to be silent as she looked down and replied, "no, he didn't take my cutie mark. I don't know how it did not reappear or why it's gone, but I assure you that I will find it again. Also, as for Discord again, he's under the watchful eye of my student Twilight and her friends; they will ensure he doesn't cause any chaos. Now please excuse me as I had a long day; if there are any further questions, you can ask me them tomorrow."

She bowed her head and walked back through the doors. But the reporters below continued shouting more questions and tried to rush through the front doors. But the royal guard came out to keep the crowd from entering the palace.

As Celestia returned to her room, she collapsed on her bed, feeling just exhausted. Maybe it was the transformation; perhaps she was depressed? She had no idea why she was feeling so awful and tired. Luna came into her room and shook her head. "You handled that well, I spent the last hour trying to keep a crowd of ponies from barging in."

The princess of the sun-brushed a hoof over her face and groaned, "I'm so sorry, I'm just exhausted. I probably should've just done this tomorrow."

Luna walked over and gave a kiss on her cheek and suggested, "sister, you need time to get back into the swing of things; let Quill Feather take over your duties until you're ready."

Celestia thought about Luna's suggestion for some time; she wanted to just sleep all day tomorrow, but no, she had to reassure the public they can rely on her. She turned to face her sister with a smile and replied, "thanks for the suggestion; no, I need to show my subjects I can still be their princess."

"Ok, but not today; for now, you need sleep," Luna whispered as she pulled the covers over her sister. Princess Celestia wanted to scold her sister for patronizing her. Still, she was too tired to say anything, as the princess closed her eyes it didn't take long for sleep to slowly envelop her.

Princess Celestia woke up in her subconscious landscape again. She looked over and saw the filly version of herself wearing that cute little toga sitting across from her in a tower. Celestia looked outside to see the giant Cake towering outside and the lush valley below she then looked around the room to see they were alone. Only Daybreaker was still chained up in the back, snarling and shouting how she should've destroyed those reporters and set them ablaze.

The little goddess of the sun sipped her tea and whispered, "I sent the other personalities away for the time being so we can speak alone. Sadly, Daybreaker is stuck here with us."

"Of course, I'm here! I'm always here!" Daybreaker roared.

The princess of the sun just snickered as she then took a sip of her fake tea. This was all somewhat surreal and hilarious at the same time, but there was a reason she was then asked, "so, do you know why my cutie mark didn't return?"

"Yes…" The filly whispered she starred at the tea for what felt like an eternity; the little goddess then looked up. "It's because your relationship with Discord is still fragmented, and most of all, you now doubt whether or not you wish to stay a princess."

"What!?" Celestia cried out in surprise.

The filly held a hoof up, "it doesn't mean you don't want to be a ruler, but you experienced an actual foalhood for the past few months. Yes, your foalhood with Starswirl wasn't horrible. Still, it wasn't easy as you were groomed for the role to eventually aid the ponies of Equestria. Now that role is no longer needed as much as it was a thousand years ago. Basically, you have a chance to rediscover what you want for yourself."

Celestia was somewhat surprised at the response realizing how simple it was and how she should've realized it sooner as she pondered out loud. "Wow…when you put it like that, this is starting to make more sense."

"Yes, sadly, there's not much advice I can give you; what you do from here is all up to how you wish to live the rest of your life." The little filly responded as she placed her teacup down.

Celestia couldn't help but tear up a little, realizing that she might have a chance to rediscover herself something that probably wasn't possible until now. But then she saw the world change around her; she was now in an auditorium; the room was dark, there were red seats all over, and she found herself sitting in one as well with a giant white screen at the front of the room.

Suddenly, the lord of chaos appeared out of nowhere, sitting next to her with a giant tub of popcorn right beside her.

"What are you doing here!?" Princess Celestia shouted in a mixture of surprise and anger.

"Oh, I went to sleep early too! Breaking out of a statue was exhausting! And to make up for the past thousand years, your sister set this up for us to catch up." Discord explained with a smile on his face.

The princess got a little peeved first of all having Luna set this up without her knowing and being forced to be with Discord since it was his fault; she doesn't have a cutie mark right now and snapped, "this isn't a date!"

"Of course not!? But you want us to be friends, right!" He lent her a giant tub of popcorn, and Celestia took some and tossed a few kernels in her mouth. "Oh, yum, fake popcorn."

"Come now, if you want, we can go to the movies anytime you like in the real world." The lord of chaos chortled out loud.

Princess Celestia just rolled her eyes if the press saw her with Discord at an actual movie theatre she would never hear the end of it as she grumbled, "seriously I'm already dealing with at least three scandals on my plate. I rather not add one more to the list."

Discord shook his head and scoffed, "you know I can literally make a movie theatre appear out of thin air? Or I can turn those pesky reporters into actual buzzards."

The princess of the sun couldn't help but snicker at the thought. "Oh that would be delightful idea, if I was as devious as you."

"Oh and you think your not?" The lord of chaos asked with that devilish smile. Celestia settled her head on his shoulder and wrapped her wings around him. She was starting to feel that old spark returning but she was still a bit unsure of how he was feeling or if she could completely trust him. The princess of the sun looked up at her former friend then asked, "how are you doing? Who are you staying with?"

"Oh I'm doing fine had a tea party with Fluttershy and her friends and the cute little pegasus allowed me to stay with her at her lovely little cottage. I have to admit she and I have started to bond rather well! As for the others…well, they all still hate me." The lord of chaos scoffed as she threw a claw. "The nerve, after deciding not to turn you into a five month foal or turn them all into foals!?"

The princess of the sun rolled her eyes at the draquenous's response; clearly they had a lot of work to do before she could say he was completely reformed. "I hope you're not just exploiting Fluttershy and pretending your changing."

"Oh, please!? You suspect me of still being the old me! I've changed, honest!" He took out a cartoonish red heart from his chest and crossed it with a claw.

Celestia snickered at the joke and realized that despite Discord's cocky attitude, he seemed to be trying to cheer her up. She wondered if he actually felt bad for having her lose her cutie mark. At the very least, this whole gesture of their subconscious selves having this fake date in the dreamscape seemed to show he's attempting to be friendly. For now she'll pretend he's reformed and forget about her troubles for a bit. She nuzzled him and looked at the screen, wondering what was going to appear as the mare asked, "so what are we going to be watching?"

"Oh, nothing really just the last two weeks you were a crazy little filly." Discord snickered behind a claw, and Celestia's cheeks flushed red as a countdown started from ten. As the timer ticked down, she just watched with anticipation; she wasn't sure she was ready to see this, but the princess of the sun was also curious as the timer hit one then the screen lit up.