Phoenix Flu

Princess Celestia went to the kitchens and then went to make breakfast for the foals, mixing up a hearty form of baby food with mashed banana and some baby oatmeal. It was rather tedious, but she enjoyed the time it took to cook the food, and the smells that wafted from it were amazing. The mare didn’t realize how long she had been cooking and getting into a rhythm. She heard cries and turned to see her sister coming over with a bunch of foals on her back she then let out an annoyed sigh, “Sister, I need assistance.”

“Right, I can see that they need to be fed.”

They then got out a bunch of high chairs that were stowed away for the off chance of ponies bringing foals along with them, and they set them down each of the squirming foals into one of the highchairs and went about spoon-feeding them, and then they worked together wiping mouths and making cooing noises. Princess Celestia was finding it rather tricky, with many not wanting to be treated like foals as they put up their hooves or pulled their heads away.

“Hey, come on, you need to eat your food!” Celestia snapped, getting rather annoyed with her guards. You have to eat something.”

Luna was also having difficulty feeding the foals and seething, “You are foals! Eat your food!”

They just started to bawl and cry, making them both plug their ears as Luna cried, “We need to do something!”

“I know! How do we get them to stop!” Celestia shouted back.

“Try using a spell or something!”

Princess Celestia then lit her horn, thinking of a time-freezing spell, but then stopped and instead started to sing a lullaby and cooing softly, and the foals all started to relax as they all turned towards her cooing softly. As the foals quieted down Princess Celestia then asked her sister, “So, how were things while I was making breakfast.”

“Oh, things were going fine; though the foals can be quite rambunctious.”

As soon as she said that, a piece of oatmeal slammed into Celestia’s face. She cried out in surprise, wiped the goop off her face, and said, “Well, they are foals, after all.”

“Yes, they clearly are,” Luna laughed and then cried as foal food was thrown at her face. Celestia helped clean up herself and her sister’s mouth, and they then went back to feeding them. This time, the foals were much easier to handle, as they were able to actually feed them now. The rest of the morning went along relatively smoothly as the foals greedily ate their food. After breakfast, the princesses took the foals to the playpen. As they set them down, many started playing with the various toys around them, waddling about in their diapers without a care in the world. Her sister placed a hoof over her chest and whispered, “My goodness, they are adorable.”

“Yes, it's a shame you’ll be asleep for most of the day.”

The princess of the night scoffed, “Oh, they’re cute, but I think it’s only fair that since your pet is the reason why our royal guards are babies, you get to perform diaper duty for the rest of the day, Princess Daycare.” She then levitated the diaper bag to her sister, the princess then placed the bag around her waist and scoffed, “oh how generous of you, dear sister.”

Princess Luna trotted over and whispered, “But do please tell me how things went when I get up?”

“Oh, I will be sure to,” Princess Celestia snickered as she settled down with the foals in the playpen and laid down with them. Despite how embarrassing things were with her former guards being foals, she had to admit watching them being foals gave her a feeling she longed for, that of being a mother. Maybe this day will be when she finally embrace these inner maternal feelings she’s felt for her soldiers for so long.

After breakfast, the foals were milling about, chewing on various baby toys, and stacking blocks together. The foals were still apprehensive, but most were trying to just kill time and entertain themselves. Shining Armor, however, was really pissed off and grumbled, “Why haven’t the princesses cured us yet!? Do they want us to stay like this!?”

Cannon Feather was unsure and said, “Well, maybe, but it could take time.”

“I don’t want it taking time! I dun wana be like this anymore!” Shining cried as he kicked and whined.

“No, that's just making things worse!” Cannon cried. He threw his hooves over his face, wondering how he would get his captain to stop his temper tantrum, and then asked, “Why don't we play a game to pass the time?”

His captain crossed his hooves over his chest and asked, “Like what?”

“We can play something like we can build towers, then we can try knocking them over, and whoever knocks the other tower wins.”

Shining Armor was looking more annoyed and snapped, “Tha-”

“That sounds like fun!” the other regressed soldiers cried together. They turned to the other foals, all gathering around them, eagerly awaiting for more details. Cannon Feather cleared his throat and said, “Yeah, so we split into two teams, and we each gotta build a tower. Then, when we are ready, we have to try knocking each other’s tower over.”

“Oh, that sounds like lots of fun!”

“Yeah, please, let’s play!”

“Alright, um, guess we gotta split into teams. Shining Armor will lead one, and the second highest in command is Bucket Bridle.”

They then split into two teams, with Bucket Bridle leading one team and Shining Armor the other as they split off onto either side of the playpen. Then they started to build their towers out of the small building blocks, and once completed, they took sides on the playpen, and then it began. Without warning, the foals all started to gather the toys around them and started to whack each other or try to hit one of their towers. The foals tumbled about, but nopony was getting hurt. Cannon scurried across the playpen excitedly as he slammed his hooves onto the tower and knocked some of them over, and then Shining shouted, “Stop him! He’s taking some of our blocks.”

A couple of foals noticed him, and he instantly took out a little foam sword whacking at them, but the others whacked back; one pegasus could start tickling him with the tips of his wings, making him giggle and squirm uncontrollably. But as the soldiers were busy dealing with him, they didn’t notice a couple of his soldiers rushing into the tower, knocking it over, and Shining cried, “No! Cannon Feather distracted us!”

The little colt laughed, “Yeah! Let’s play again!”

“Yeah!” the foals cried. Regardless of who won or lost, they were having fun, and even Shining Armor was letting go and just enjoying a foal. “Ok! Let’s give Shining Armor’s team time to build their tower.”

“Ok!”

Bucket Bridle waddled over and nudged him, “Crazy, all these soldiers are taking orders from a private.”

“Yeah, guess I'm more like a foal than most of them.”

“Hey, maybe what’s what we need right now? I also never seen the Captain so happy before.”

Cannon smiled, seeing his fellow soldiers just enjoying being foals. Realizing that most of them probably hadn’t taken time off for themselves in a while, he had to admit that, despite the embarrassing nature of their predicament, this clearly was a blessing in disguise, even if most here wouldn’t admit it.

Princess Celestia was surprised to see the little battle break out, and she just watched them fighting each other with foam weapons and little stuffed animals; she stood by and couldn’t help but laugh and enjoy the adorable scene playing out. “Oh my goodness!”

She then got up and continued to watch them play together; however, some of the more annoying instincts were kicking in, and she started to pick some of the foals who were getting fussy and crying, shhhing them and changing diapers on the spot when needed. With the babies getting more rambunctious, it was more difficult to keep an eye on them, and time passed rather quickly. She looked out one of the windows, seeing the sun had climbed quite high, and she recognized it was about noon. The mare was already feeling exhausted, and it wasn’t even lunchtime, but looking around, most of the foals had tuckered themselves out from all the running around they were doing.

The princess decided it was the perfect opportunity to get them fed and put them to bed. So, one by one, she levitated the foals back into the royal dining room and strapped them back into their highchairs. She then went into the kitchen, quickly mashed up some yams and carrots, and stirred them together.

Then, she went to work feeding them their food, gently spoon-feeding them baby food into their mouths. This time, it was much easier than trying to feed them breakfast earlier this morning, but as the princess was wrapping up lunch, she felt her teats started to ache. “No, not now,” she muttered to herself.

Princess Celestia did her best to ignore her bloated teats and continued to pull the squirming foals out of their highchairs and plopped them back down into the playpen. Once she had her squadron of foals all in the playpen, the princess lifted a leg and looked downwards to see they were now somewhat bloated with milk.

Princess Celestia was trying to forget about the “cure” to the Phoenix flu all morning, but it was clear what she would have to do. She scoured the dining room, found a container of baby bottles, and started to fill them with her milk. It took quite abit of time, but eventually, she had a bottle full of her milk for each foal, and she then laid them down around her as she plucked each hungry mouth with a bottle. It wasn’t long until the sound of suckling reverberated across the marble halls.

Despite the embarrassing nature of the situation, she had to admit there was a comfort in seeing the foals enjoying her milk and how happy and satisfied they were gulping down their bottles without a care in the world. She wiped their mouths and nuzzled them as the foals gently closed their eyes and started to fall asleep.

It wasn’t long until the room was now silent, minus the ruffle of a diaper or an adorable yawn. The princess then gathered the empty bottles and replaced each one with a pacifier. She then took the empty bottles into the kitchen to be cleaned and reused for later. She wondered how long it would take for the foals to turn back to adults? The book didn’t say specifically how long it would take.

She then resumed her position, lying down in the middle of the playpen, monitoring the foals as they slept peacefully and watching over them. Seeing the foals sleeping soundly, she couldn’t help but blush, thinking about the nickname her sister gave her, and whispered, “I'm not a bad foal sitter; maybe I should have an alter ego, Princess Daycare.”