The twins were dressed and ready by the time Mr. Cake arrived to pick them up from Carousel Boutique. He had to admit, they looked ever so adorable in their new onesies, Pound especially. "You've really outdone yourself, Rarity." he said, as he buckled the twins into their stroller.
Rarity smiled. "Oh it was nothing, I'm just glad they like 'em. Plus, I like to think of it as a chance to branch out and try something different. I haven't really designed a lot of foal clothes before."
"Well, if anypony asks, I'll be sure to tell them where the twins got their onesies from," Mr. Cake replied. "And thanks again for keeping an eye on them. It's so much easier doing errands knowing that the twins are in good hooves. Pinkie loves them to pieces, but it's clear that even she can only take so much."
"She's still recovering from the whammy Starlight put on us?" Rarity asked, to which Mr. Cake nodded. "Well, the poor dear was clearly stressed out about burning the cakes, and she was working on her own for quite a while before Starlight came along and helped out. I suppose 'chillaxing' on the roof only did so much for her. I do hope she won't still be burned out by the time that boat trip comes around."
Mr. Cake nodded. "I'm sure she will be, she's been talking about it for some time now. Which does beg the question of who's going to be watching the twins that day. Fluttershy's been busy tending to her animals all week, Rainbow Dash has her Wonderbolt duties, and Twilight's got to sort out Starlight's arrangements in The Crystal Empire for her extended stay away. Which is kind of a bummer, the twins really enjoyed having her around."
"It is a bummer, but we all agreed it's for the best," Rarity replied seriously. "Friendship alone isn't going to fix Starlight, she needs time to clear her head, maybe even seek professional help. And it's not like she's gone forever, she'll come back when she's darn good and ready."
"I know, but she was kind of becoming our go to backup foalsitter for Pinkie Pie," Mr. Cake explained. "With her gone, we're going to have to make other arrangements."
"Well, Sweetie Belle tells me you've already had Scootaloo look after them," Rarity said with a smile. "Perhaps Scootaloo would be interested in doing it again?"
"Perhaps, but we'd have to talk things over with her parents first. And the last time we had her foalsit, Pound's diaper exploded, though not for the reasons you might think." Mr. Cake replied, remembering what Scootaloo had told him and his wife.
A slight frown formed on Rarity's face at that statement, but she tried not to let it show. "Ah yes, I can see how that might be cause for concern. Well, perhaps one of Scootaloo's friends would be up to the task?"
"Maybe, but I'll have to talk it over with Cup Cake before I make any final arrangements." Mr. Cake said to Rarity, then he and the twins set off for home.
Upon arriving home and setting the twins in the playpen, Mr. Cake was surprised to see Diamond Tiara hanging around. Ever since befriending The Crusaders, she'd never been seen without them or her gal pal Silver Spoon. Mr. Cake did recall Diamond mentioning something about her mother, but he'd only heard it in passing and had no idea of whether or not it was true (plus, Spoiled Rich was one of Sugarcube Corner's best customers. Albeit, reluctantly as there were no better sweet shops in town according to her).
"Can I help you?" Mr. Cake asked the pink coated filly, as he slowly approached her.
"What?! Oh no, no! Everything's fine, just fine!" Diamond nervously replied, nearly jumping into the air in surprise. "I'm definitely not here because I'm looking for something to do."
"Is that so?" Mr. Cake asked, eyeing Diamond skeptically.
Diamond gulped and swallowed hard, while at the same time trying to maintain a good poker face. "Y-yeah," she nervously stuttered. "I just... need a little extra spending money, that's all."
"And whatever for?" Mr. Cake asked the pink coated filly. "Don't you already have an allowance?"
"Yeah, but... well..." Diamond began, than she groaned in frustration. "Okay, the thing is, I want to actually EARN some money instead of having to beg for it. Mother's threatening to cut off my allowance, and Father almost always agrees with her in the end. So I figured I could either wait for that happen, or I could try and find some work and start earning money now to try and impress my parents. Maybe it'll get my mother off my case for a while."
"Well, that's very nice of you to offer, Diamond Tiara," Mrs. Cake spoke up, emerging from the kitchen. "But we're not looking to hire anypony here anytime soon. Between my husband, Pinkie, and I, we've had no trouble keeping up with customers even on the busiest of days."
Diamond's ears drooped a bit at that statement. "Oh, right," she said sadly, before her ears picked back up as she excitedly suggested. "But maybe I can do something else?"
"Now that you mention it, we could use a foalsitter on occasion for the near future," Mr. Cake said, looking across to his wife. "Isn't that right, sugar plum?"
Mrs. Cake looked at the twins, then at her husband. "Right, honey bun. With Pinkie going on that boat trip in the near future, and Starlight moving to The Crystal Empire to be with Sunburst, we could use somepony to keep an eye on the twins. Would you be interested in the job, Diamond Tiara?"
Practically imaging the bits falling into her piggy bank, and the chance to brag to her mother about something for a change, Diamond immediately replied with an eager "Yes!".
"Good, so when are you available to start?" Mrs. Cake asked the newly hired young foalsitter.
"Right now if you need me to!" Diamond replied, not knowing her 'wish' was about to come true.
"Well if you're sure, we most certainly could use your foalsitting services right away," Mrs. Cake said to Diamond. "I need to go in for a check-up, and I was going to leave my husband behind to watch the twins."
"But if you're willing to work right away, I think I'll accompany her," Mr. Cake added. "The twins are in potty training, so hopefully you won't have to worry too much about diaper duty. We'll gladly pay you when we get back." And he and his wife left almost before Diamond had a chance to realize what was going on.
"Curse my desire to have an excuse to stay out today and not go home to Mother." Diamond thought to herself.
Pound and Pumpkin were most surprised to see Diamond Tiara come trotting over to their playpen in the kitchen. They were not used to seeing her without either of her parents, and the last time she'd been alone with them she'd tried to scare them with a story about the pony eating toilet monster. It probably would've worked, if the twins had been old enough back then to have any idea of what she was talking about. But since they hadn't been anywhere close to starting potty training at the time, they'd brushed it off as utter nonsense.
"Hey you two, I'm in charge while your parents are at the doctors' office," Diamond declared, immediately asserting her newfound authority. Then in a more polite tone she asked. "So, what do you guys wanna do?"
"Pway with us!" The twins shouted in reply.
"Okay, how about a game of tickle monster for starters?" Diamond cooed, deciding to start with Pumpkin Cake first. She grabbed the unicorn toddler, lifted her out of the playpen, and placed her on the nearby counter. She then proceeded to tickle Pumpkin relentlessly, who giggled and kicked her tiny hooves in protest.
"Dun twickle my sistew!" Pound protested, jumping up and down in the playpen.
"And why not? Because you say so?" Diamond asked in an exaggerated tone of concern. She'd done this sort of routine all the time with her younger cousins when they came to visit, and they always loved it.
"Nuh, because she weawwy tickwish." Pound replied.
"You don't say?" Diamond commented, and then she began to tickle Pumpkin even more.
As Diamond tickled Pumpkin, she didn't seem to be aware of the faint spark that was seeping out of the young unicorn's little horn. Or that it was growing bigger and bigger with each passing second. But Pound did, and he tried to call this to Diamond's attention. "Diamond Tiawa!" he desperately called out, hoping to attract her attention.
But it was too late! As Diamond turned to acknowledge Pound, Pumpkin shot off a tremendous beam of magical energy and it struck unsuspecting Diamond Tiara by surprise!
When Diamond opened her eyes, she was shocked to see that the twins didn't seem to be any bigger than she was. In fact, everything around her seemed to be bigger for some reason. "Wha happened? Why evewyting so big?" she asked, before she gasped at the words coming out of her own mouth. "Wha happened to my voice?" she cried, noticing that it seemed to be higher pitched and that she spoke with a lisp of sorts.
"Oopsie." Pumpkin blushed, as she used her magic to place a small mirror in front of Diamond Tiara and let her see what she looked like.
Diamond almost gasped in surprise, staring back at her was a rather chubby pink coated foal with little cornflower blue eyes. "I a foaw?!" she remarked, sounding more surprised than upset.
"I tink my sistew's magic bwast had someting to do with it," Pound realized. "I twied to wawn you, when she's tickwed her hown sometimes develops a mind of is own!"
"Bu-bu-bu, bu I supposed to be foawsitting you two," Diamond protested. "How wiww The Cakes evew pay me if I stuck wike tis?"
"Dun wowwy, I tuwn Gummy into a newbown baby alligatow aww the time, it nevew wasts," Pumpkin promised. "You go back to being a big pony in a few houws, and you welcome to shawe a potty with me in the meantime."
"Speaking of which, we pwobably better get you diapeed," Pound replied, noticing that Diamond didn't have a diaper or pull-up on her rump. "Dun need you making a pee pee or poo poo on the gwound."
"Tat's alwight, I suppose if I gonna be a foaw again I got wook the pawt." Diamond lisped.
"You dun seem to be vewy upset about dis, Diamond," Pumpkin observed, as Pound began to prepare for a trip up the nursery with Diamond. "I thought you'd be cwying about being stuck as a baby, even if is just fow a while."
"Weww, anyting is bettew than putting up with Mommy's behavior," Diamond explained. "Even as a fowl she kept putting pweasure on me to gwow-up fast, and evew since I tuwned over a new weaf she's been a weal poopie head!" After giggling at her foalish remark (the word she wanted to use was too mean spirited for her toddler mind), she added. "So I tink of dis as a chance to have a pwoper foawhood fwee fwom hew infwuence. I can eat wha I want, dwink wha I want, pway with wha I want, and neither my mommy or my daddy can teww me no! In fact, do you two tink you couwd do tis mowe often? It wouwd be nice to have to not have to wowwy about Mommy fow a while."
Pumpkin shrugged, as Pound carried Diamond upstairs to get diapered. "I'ww twy. Can't guwantee wesults." she said, having never been asked to intentionally regress anypony.
"Just once in a whiwe would be nice, dun stwain youwself." Diamond replied, as she was carried upstairs.