Growing Pains

Twilight Velvet was slowly getting up early one morning as she stretched her hooves and climbed out of bed. On another glorious day in retirement, she slowly got up, seeing that her husband was still fast asleep. As much as she enjoyed another lazy day just lounging around the house, she might as well try to occupy her time. The mare then went up to make herself breakfast, frying some eggs and garnishing them with green onions and a couple dashes of hot sauce. The old mare then started to brew herself a cup of tea, and as she did, she wondered what to do? She wanted to jump off into a barrel into Nieghagra Falls or swim across Luna Bay. She was just so bored that it took a minute to realize how lonely and quiet things were without her kids running around the house. The older mare continued to reminisce about the past until she heard a knock at the door. Curious, she started to go over towards it and then opened it to reveal Princess Celestia. She was rather surprised just standing there, her jaw dropping wide as the princess stood there standing over her with a sheepish grin on her face. “Morning, Twilight Velvet.”

“Mo…morning, princess!” Twilight Velvet stammered as she rubbed her eyes and blinked a bit before readjusting her gaze at the tall, powerful alicorn standing there with a blush growing on her cheeks. “Good morning, Twilight Velvet.”

“G…Good Morning, Princess Celestia!” The mare cried out in response and still couldn't believe what she was seeing and realizing they just said good morning twice. The princess alicorn looked around seeming rather worried somepony would see her and asked. “May I come in?”

Twilight Velvet was a bit stunned by what she heard and replied, “Of course! Please come inside!” She then led the princess through her humble little living room feeling rather subconscious about it and noticed the princess carrying a wicker basket with something stirring under the sheets.

Princess Celestia then settled down on one of her and sat there rather awkward, and almost ashamed of something, which made Twilight Velvet grow concerned. Is something going on? Did her daughter do something again? She remembered the “Want it to need it” spell incident and asked, “Um, princess, I don’t mean to be so bold, but why are you here?”

The alicorn princess flapped her wings nervously and said, “Well, I must admit, I um have come by as this concerns your daughter.”

“Ah yes, did she go over her head again!? Try performing a spell she wasn’t ready for? Got too lost in her books!?”

Princess Celestia's cheeks grew a deep red as she admitted, “Well, um, so I had Twilight perform a test, and it involved a rather complicated spell, and, first off, let me just say your daughter did a marvelous job. In fact, she even was able to become an alicorn.”

Twilight Velvet’s eyes went wide and exclaimed, “An alicorn!? You mean my daughter is a princess!?”

The princess alicorn slowly nodded and continued, “Yes, and you should be proud of her. Twilight has made a lot of progress in Ponyville, made some wonderful friends, and has learned so much. However, there was a slight problem.”

“What do you mean?”

Princess Celestia gulped as then gently lifted the blanket, revealing a chubby violet alicorn. Despite the baby having wings, Twilight Velvet immediately recognized her daughter, getting up in surprise and shouting, “My daughter was turned into a foal!?"

The sudden shouting made the baby kick and cry as Twilight Velvet gently lifted her and took her into her embrace, shushing her and giving the foal a few pats to calm her down. The realization of her daughter being this small chubby baby was still growing on her as she whispered, “This is surreal. Is this really my daughter?”

“Sadly, yes, I believe when she was turned into an alicorn, her body could not handle the amount of raw magic flowing through her, and her body regressed into that of a foal. I believe her mind as well, thus the um…”

Twilight Velvet noticed the cute fluffy white diaper around her daughter’s waist. “I see; how long will she be like this?”

“Well, I believe a few days at best. I’m sure this is a temporary age regression, and she will revert to being an adult once her body adjusts. In the meantime, I thought it best to have you care for her, seeing you’re her family. I also lied to her friends, saying Twilight was on a trip to learn about being an alicorn and save her from any embarrassment.”

“I see that was smart.”

“Twilight can, of course, tell them the truth if she wishes to, but I didn’t want them to know without her permission.”

“What about Spike?”

Princess Celestia let out a sigh wiping some sweat on her brow and replied, “Spike knows and is covering for her and he's been such a big help. He'll continue running Golden Oaks."

Twilight Velvet slowly nodded and said, “Well, thank you for giving her to us. My husband and I will take such good care of her.”

Just then, a middle-aged dark blue stallion trotted into the room yawning as he asked, “Honey, who was at the do-“ Before the stallion in question could finish what he was trying to say, he looked up to see the tall, majestic alicorn standing over them and his jaw dropped. “Princess Celestia!?”

The princess flashed him a smile and gave a gentle nod, “I apologize for the intrusion."

"There's no need for that pr...princess," Night Light stammered as he then turned to see the foal squirming in his wife’s hooves, and as Night Light leaned in, she quickly recognized her as his daughter and cried, “Is that Twilight!?”

Princess Celestia gulped as she rubbed a hoof over her mane, “Yes, um…well…”

Twilight Velvet turned towards the princess and said, “It’s alright princess Celestia, I’ll explain everything to my husband what you just told me. We'll take such good care of our daughter.”

The princess alicorn and rose up and then said, “I do apologize; I am responsible for Twilight’s current condition. So, if you need anything, and I mean anything, please let me know.”

“Of course, princess,” Twilight’s mom replied, still rather stunned by the situation.

The princess then gave another quick bow before leaving home, leaving the two older ponies to stare at their infant alicorn daughter, still seeming to not believe their eyes.

Throughout the rest of the day, Twilight Velvet was working on making her home “foal friendly.” Seeing her baby now has wings, she placed foam material on the edge of the walls, took down any vases, and set up a playpen in the living room with a ton of toys and plush animals for her daughter. Night Light then went out to purchase foal supplies; luckily, Princess Celestia supplied them with a hefty number of bits, so they didn’t have to pay for them out of pocket. She then spent good chunk of the rest of the day setting up Twilight’s old bedroom into an improvised nursery with a crib, a changing table, and a playmat with some of her old baby toys she kept up in the attic.

Once all that work was finished Twilight Velvet finally was settled in the living room, she sat down on the couch watching as her husband was busy engaging with Twilight, playing with her levitating a plush bear and making cooing noises and nuzzling his daughter. She couldn't help but let them play for a bit before whispering, “So, um, Night Light.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“What do you think about this? Can you believe this is real?”

The stallion was a bit surprised, still looking downward at the squirming little foal and said, “That our daughter is a baby again? Yeah, I still can’t believe my eyes.”

The mare then came down by her husband and nuzzled him and said, “She’s so cute! Come here!”

Twilight giggled as she crawled over, and her mother held the foal close, feeling her small warm body pressed against her chest. She gently rocked her daughter back and forth in the cradle of her forehooves as she whispered, “Aww, I wonder if she will remember any of this?”

Night Light's cheeks turned red at the thought, and replied, “Hopefully not. This is probably super embarrassing for her.”

The mare couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of her daughter having to remember being babied and replied, “Yeah, can’t imagine how she would react realizing she was a foal. Regardless, you have to admit this is giving us something to keep us busy, ya know?”

Night Light couldn’t help but chuckle, “Hopefully, we can handle being full-time parents again.”

“Yeah, hopefully.” Twilight Velvet whispered. Looking back at her foal, despite the fact Twilight was a baby again she couldn’t help but feel a bit elated that her little girl was back, even for a short while.