Bedtime stories-Poison joke

I was walking through Ponyville enjoying the sunshine before the scheduled rainstorm that night.  A blue pegasus stallion with a red and yellow mane and tail flew up by me.

"Wassup Shadow?"

"Just enjoying the sunshine while it lasts."

"I thought you lived in the Everfree..."

"Doesn't mean I don't come to Ponyville for most of the day."

"Whatever.... Fancy another race?" Lighting replied hopefully.

"Why not?" I replied then took off blowing a cloud of dust into his face.

"Hey!" He yelled then flew after me.

We tried just flat out speed for a while, him going ahead and me barely catching up. Then I flew towards the forest dodging trees.

"Lets see your evasiveness!" I called out while dodging the trees easily, he followed me with apparent ease and we grappled for first place once again.

"I still beat you!" He said

Just then a loud roar sounded behind us, Lightning looked behind us but then he crashed into a patch of familiar blue leaves. I landed beside him.

"You do know what that plant is don't you?"

"No... I don't." He said and then started shrinking.

"That plant is poison joke, when you touch it it plays jokes on you. Like you turning into a foal just now."

Lighting looked worried, "Is thewe a cuwe? Oh gweat now I can't even pronounce my awes!"

I started snickering because he was so cute standing there all ruffled and talking in that baby voice.

"It's not funny! I want to know if thewe's a cuwe!"

I completely lost it and just rolled on the ground laughing my head off. I calmed down after a couple minutes wiping tears from my face.

"Yes, there's a cure. Zecora knows it... I suppose I'll have to carry you won't I?"

"Yes.. You will..." Lighting pouted at this making himself even more cute before he climbed onto my back. I must have touched the poison joke when I was rolling on the ground laughing or when I took off because I heard Lightning giggle and then I saw that my black fur was a light green and my mane and tail were pink!

"At least I didn't turn into a foal! Uh-oh..." I felt myself shrinking and I barely landed before I was a foal just like Lightning.

"That's not faiw! I must have just bawely touched it..."

"Well now we just have to go together! Which way is Zecowa's?" He asked with a smirk on his face. I looked around and pointed ahead.

"I think it's that way. Let's go as soon as I'm back to being me again I'll be happy." I said as I started to run.

"I'll beat you!!!" Lightning said running past me. I sped up and we ran shoulder to shoulder all the way to Zecora's hut. When we finally got there I looked in the window but Zecora was nowhere to be seen.

"NOOO!!!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, evidently somepony heard me besides Lightning Dash. We heard a loud roar and smelled something awful. My eyes widened as I whispered, "Timberwolf! Run for your life!"

I started running away on the path but Lightning just stayed there and it looked like he was shrinking again.

"Lightning Dash! Come on befowe the Timbewolf gets here!" I yelled back to him but he looked like he was going to face him. I ran back to him as fast as I could and I grabbed him and started running with me.

"I'm shwinkin' again! NOO!!" He was shrinking into a baby foal I was trying to pick him up and run at the same time when a pony fast as lightning came flying and splintered the timberwolf into hundreds of pieces, he looked back and yelled,

"Get out of here little foals while you can, I'll hold this guy off!"

I didn't even try to explain that I wasn't actually a foal I just put Lightning Dash, the now baby foal, on my back and ran as fast as I could. He was holding onto my neck as hard as he could. I didn't stop running until I emerged out of the forest where I slowed to a trot.

"Dat was a close one." Lightning said his speech barely recognizable since he was so much younger.

I kept up my trot until we got into town where I had to slow down to a fast walk since it was market day and more ponies were out than most other days.

"You two are so cute!" One mare said.

"Aren't those two just adorable?" Another asked.

Lighting looked embarrassed and I tried to speed up. A couple more mares commented on our cuteness before we reached the spa, I tried to reach the handle but I was too short. Luckily Rarity came up behind us and thankfully she recognized out cutiemarks.

"Good heavens, what happened to you two?" Rarity asked opening the door for us.

"We were wacing through the Evewfwee fowest and then Lightning hewe crashed into a patch of poison joke."

Rarity shuddered thinking of the time that she had encountered poison joke. "But how did you get infected?"

"I'm not suwe but I must have touched it sometime... Can you owder the cuwe bath please?"

"Certainly, and don't even think about paying me back. I know how horrible being infected by poison joke feels." Rarity said and then ordered the poison joke cure for us. A few minutes later Aloe... Or was it Lotus? It was the one with a pink mane and a blue body. She came and told us that the bath was ready and led us to it.

"I can't wait to be an adult again!" Lightning squeaked.

"I totally agwee!" I said taking a running jump into the pool, Lightning fell off my back but as soon as we hit the water we started growing and we were all better in a matter of minutes.

"Yay I can say my R's! Rip, rabbit, ruin, Everfree!"

"I can talk! I'm not a little foal." Lightning hugged me for a second before realizing what he was doing. After that we got out and dried off.

*.~\*~.*

"But what about the pegasus that rescued you mommy?" Asks my firstborn twin, Forest.

"Yeah, he dived in and saved you and Lighting Dash from being eaten by a timberwolf!" Then he roars at his sister making her scream in mock terror.

"Calm down you two! Your father had a long night last night and you don't want to make him come in here and eat you do you?"

They shrink down in their blankets hiding from the daddy monster as they call him sometimes.

"We'll be quiet. Tell us the rest of the story... Please?"

"Alright but you have to go straight to sleep afterwards, ok?"

"ROOARR! I'm gonna eat you!" Moon Star, my husband, was sneaking towards their bed ever since Night Shade roared at his sister. Both my foals shrieked and hid under the covers. This provokes a hearty laugh from Moon so Forest and Night peek timidly out from behind the covers.

"You scared Forest daddy, but you didn't scare me!"

"You were just as scared as I was, Night Shade!"

Both me and Moon laugh at their antics.

"Well if you're just gonna argue about who was more scared then me and your dad are just gonna go, 'k?"

That sobered them down.

"No we want to hear about the pony who saved you! We really do!"

"Ok, then settle down."

*.~\*~.*

Lightning Dash and I exited the spa and I flew back to my house to get my cloak and knife so that I was better prepared for a trek in the Everfree. We went back to Zecora's hut she was there now and was sorry for not being there earlier but she hadn't seen anypony around since she got home. We asked around Ponyville giving a brief description of the pony but nopony had ever seen him. Some say that a pony spirit lives in the Everfree and protects travelers from harm but I think that the pony that rescued us was a real pony and not some spirit.

*.~\*~.*

"You mean that you never found the pony that rescued you?" Night asked wonderingly.

"No, and I haven't seen him since... Now it's time for you two to be asleep." I plant a kiss on each of their heads and cover them up.