All five of them blinked in confusion, until it registered to them that sitting on the floor was a well diapered, soggy looking Spike. The baby dragon drooled a bit and smiled up at all of them before speaking. “Baba!”
“Uh, um. I can explain!” Twilight said, no longer bothering to hide her voice.
Apple Bloom sniffed the air once again and nodded. “That’s who smells; it’s, uh, the real Spike?”
Spike grabbed his thumb and began suckling on it again. The three crusaders let out a collective d’awww, but were quick to glare at Twilight.
“Okay, what’s going on and why’s he acting all, uh, foalish?” Scootaloo asked.
“It’s a long story, and I’m Twilight, by the way. Here I am.”
“No way, this is some kind of prank right? Where’s Rainbow Dash at?” the filly questioned while she began to search the library. “Nice touch with the diaper… though it’s a bit much.”
“Uh Scoots,” Sweetie Belle said while poking the diapered drake. “I don’t think this is a prank; he just drooled down his chin.”
Twilight sighed and grabbed a clean rag to clean up Spike’s chin. “It’s not a joke, and if I don’t figure out how to change back and help Spike, I’ll be in big trouble. It’s bad enough that you three know now… uh, you’ll keep this secret, right?”
“Cutie mark crusaders, huddle!” Apple Bloom announced. Scootaloo lagged behind, but seemed to give up on the random notion that this was all some bizarre and elaborate prank. Twilight stood off to the side while nervously twiddling her claws; knowing full well that they currently held all of the cards.
“Okay, we keep her secret, but what about Spike?”
“What about him?”
“Duh,” Scootaloo said with a scoff, “we can use him for a cutie mark! Dragon bathers may be lame, but not dragon sitters! We can get a mark in sitting for dragons!”
“Ah dunno,” Apple Bloom muttered, “maybe Spike should go a hospital or somethin’.”
“That’s your solution for everything! Like when we were rock climbing and we scraped our knees. Or the one time when we wanted to go into the Everfree and encountered a hydra and--”
Sweetie Belle shoved her hoof into Scootaloo’s mouth and shot her an angry glare. “Never again, we pinkie promised not to mention that ever again.”
“Fine… ah gotta admit, a dragon sitter mark does sound kind a neat,” Apple Bloom admitted while taking a nervous glance back to the babified drake.
“Yeah! Uh, I’m not changing diapers though.”
“Me either,” Apple Bloom said and both went to stare at Sweetie Belle.
“What? Why you- ew… fine. I’ll do it. But you two owe me, big time!”
Scootaloo nodded and broke the circle. “Okay, Twi, we’ll keep your secret!”
“You will? Oh good, now I can get started on--”
“If you let us babysit Spike!”
“What?!”
“Gah bah!” Spike yelled while bouncing on his padded rump.
“See! He’s excited for the idea! What do you say?” she asked while all three crusaders gave Twilight pleading looks.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea… but I need time to research what’s going on,” she said, muttering to herself.
Sweetie Belle used a bit of her magic to raise a feather into the air and used it to tickle Spike just under his chin. He let out a quiet giggle to himself and tried to awkwardly grab it; his coordination not quite what it used to be. “See? We’ll take good care of him,” she said in a cooing tone to the smiling drake. “You’ve got nothing to worry about!”
“Yep!”
“Yer darn tootin’!”
Twilight started to idly tap her new claws against her chest nervously. Am I… growing used to this feeling? she asked herself while flexing her claws. She shook her. “Alright, you can babysit him-” she then paused to plug her ears from the cheers of the three crusaders. “But remember you three, this is still Spike. Don’t embarrass him when this is all over- it’s still Spike,” she said glancing at all three of them. They each nodded.
“We promise, Twilight. But he looks so cute right now!” Sweetie squeaked, and let out a quiet d’aww as Spike began to suckle on his claw again.
Twilight hesitated one last time as the three fillies gathered around and began cooing and babbling nonsense to the little drake. Sure hope they keep that promise because they weren’t treating me very well, she thought bitterly and bounded off to go work.
“Okay, so who’s gonna change his diaper?” Scootaloo asked, then she suddenly raised her hoof. “One, two, three, not it!”
“Na’ it!” Apple Bloom yelled, catching on suddenly. They both smiled at Sweetie Belle who rolled her eyes at them.
“You know you could just ask me politely; I get that changing a diaper with magic is less yucky than… well, the alternative,” she said slowly.
“Great! Uh, do we have any foal stuff?” Scootaloo asked, looking around.
“Girls! I just forgot- oomph,” Twilight exclaimed grunting her way downstairs. She had in her claws a large assortment of foal toys and supplies, all looking well used and quite out of order. She dumped them at Spike’s feet who squealed in pleasure and grabbed a random fuzzy item to cuddle. “These,” she said with another grunt. “Are Spike’s old baby supplies. Now I don’t know if encouraging this temporary state of his is any good for his mental well being, but for now I’d say it’s best to keep him busy while I work.”
“Can do, Twilight!” Apple Bloom exclaimed and dug into the pile while the other two examined everything.
Twilight nodded and hurried off before they could ask her anything else.
“Apple Bloom, you see any extra diapers in there?”
Scootaloo lifted up a white pair of cloth padding in her teeth. She examined it and let out a quiet snicker from the writing on the back. “Spikey’s Pants,” she said, snickering some more. “I found some training pants!”
Apple Bloom examined them with a raised brow. “Ah’ve never seen clothes like those before. You, Sweetie?”
The unicorn filly giggled and nodded. “Yeah, but I’ve never needed them or anything. You?” she asked, glancing toward the two.
Scootaloo, without thinking nodded. “Sure, I used to-- uh, nevermind,” she said, interrupting herself quickly and looking away. The two snickered at her, but said nothing else. “R-right, so,” she started while sniffing the air, “he really needs a change.”
“Okay, okay, uh, Scoots, you distract him. Apple Bloom, you be ready for him,” she said as her horn flared to life.
“Ready for wut?”
Her magic was gently guided over to Spike’s behind and she exerted just a bit of force to lay him down. The drake responded by kicking his feet around wildly and giggling like Pinkie Pie had told an amazing joke. Apple Bloom panicked and did her best to hold him still.
“Ready for that,” she said. “Babies never hold still for a change. Hold him still and Scoots?”
“Yeah?”
“Start making funny faces or he’s gonna get fussy real fast.”
“Roger, admiral Sweetie Belle!” she exclaimed and gave her a comical salute. She then leaned over to the struggling Spike and cracked a grin. The drake looked up confused, until Scootaloo stuck out her tongue and began to move it all around while making odd noises with every motion. Spike broke out into more squealing giggles while the farm filly tried to hold him still with her hooves pressed firmly into his claws.
“Easy, easy,” Sweetie Belle muttered, guiding her magic to remove the soggy padding. Spike’s legs were then gently lifted up by her magic and she made quick work of making the switch; the new and unused training pants being slipped on. “Got it!”
“Ah gah!” Spike cheered along with them, happy for the added attention. He drooled around his thumb and tried to reach out to the crusaders with his remaining claw.
“Awww, such a cutey! Yes you are!” Sweetie Belle said and nearly nuzzled the drake then and there, before reminding herself that it was still Spike. “Heh… I like babies,” she said with a blush.
Scootaloo giggled. “Who doesn’t? Oh! Crusaders! Inspect your flanks!”
“Way ahead of ya, Scoots,” Apple Bloom said with a loud sigh. “Nothin’.”
“Oh well, it’s still fun to babysit such a cutey,” Sweetie Belle cooed.
“Twilight!” they all heard coming from the door. “It’s Applejack, you seen lil’ Apple Bloom?”