With reinforcements in tow, Discord returned to his dimension fully prepared for the worst. “At least Fluttershy has less than twenty four hours left as a foal,” He thought to himself. “Once her time is up she can help us, and this whole ordeal can come to a close. No wonder parents always look so stressed.”
The spirit opened the door, and upon stepping inside he and his new helpers could hardly believe the sight that greeted their eyes!
The alternative Discord lie on the floor, all tangled up in strings, ribbons, and even some rope. All the while the seven foals were crawling all over him, tickling him, and bouncing on him. It didn’t matter that the spirit was waving a white flag, they just kept on tormenting him like there was no tomorrow.
“Whoa! You weren’t kidding about having your paws full, Discord!” Spike commented. “Flurry Heart’s nothing compared to these little trouble makers.”
“Speaking of Flurry, maybe I should bring her here too.” Discord joked.
“Not funny, Discord. We already have enough foals to take care of! We don't need anymore, thnak you very much.” Spike protested.
Trixie let out a gulp. “For the record, the Great and Powerful Trixie has never foalsat before. And she has no desire to be a jungle gym for little ones.”
“It’s okay, Trixie, you have me and the others,” Maud spoke up as she put a hoof around the magician. “We’ll get through this together. I’ve been through this before.”
Meanwhile the real Discord gave a whistle, drawing the foals’ attention. “Well well well, seems my little ponies have been quite the naughty foals while I was away.”
“But we just wanted to have fun, Discord.” Twilight pouted as she spoke up on behalf of the foals.
“It’s not like we made a mess either,” Starlight protested. “We were just playing horsey with your other self, and Applejack thought it’d be a good idea to tame him.”
The real Discord only shook his head and wagged a finger. “Well, you’ve all had your fun. But now you all need to start behaving,” And he added. “I’ve brought in a few extra foalsitters to help keep everypony in order. They’re all bigger than you, so you have to do what they say.”
The foals all collectively let out groans of protest.
Trixie (not wanting to be the bad guy) stepped forward with a huge smile on her face as she replied. “Oh come now, little ones. There’s no need to pout. For The Great and Powerful Trixie shall entertain you! Just as soon as she can get a stage set up that is.”
Starlight started to bounce up and down. “Ooh! A magic show! I love magic shows! Sunburst and I used to love putting them on, but he could never get the tricks right. One time he wanted to saw me in half, but our parents wouldn’t let him do it. They said it was too dangerous.”
Trixie beamed. “Well it’s your lucky day then. For you shall all be treated to magical feats the likes of which you’ve never seen before!”
“A magic show? What a splendid idea!” Discord encouraged. “We’ll have to work that in before nap time. But for right now, you must all be starving.”
A series of collective rumblings could be heard almost on cue. “I guess we kind of are,” Pinkie responded. “What’s for lunch, Daddy?”
The spirit patted the foals on their heads. “You’ll find out soon. But first, I believe diaper inspections are in order.” He proceeded to scoop up Fluttershy and check her.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders inspected each of their sisters: Apple Bloom checked Applejack, Scootaloo checked Rainbow Dash, and Sweetie Belle checked Rarity who noticeably blushed. “Sweetie Belle, not in front of other ponies!”
“Why not?” Sweetie teased with a giggle. “It’s not like they’re seeing anything they haven’t already seen,” She set her sister down a moment later. “You’re dry. Good job not using that diaper.”
Rarity proudly boasted. “Well of course. Foal or not I am still a lady, and a lady never does such uncouth things in public.”
Trixie checked Starlight (as the foal walked her through it), but Spike found Twilight to be uncooperative. She kicked about the whole time. “Come on, Twilight! Stop being so fussy!”
Twilight stuck out her tongue. “I know how to check myself, Spike. I used to do it all the time when you were a hatchling. I don’t need help.”
Spike set the regressed alicorn back down. “Fine, have it your way. Just hope you’re not going to fight me every time I try to do something for you. Even Flurry Heart has better manners than you.”
Maud took care of checking her sister, who squirmed in protest. “Maud, stop it! You don’t need to check, I’m dry as a rock! I swear!”
Maud didn’t buy it for a second, she’d learned over the years when her sister was trying to keep the truth hidden. She just inspected the diaper with a hoof, feeling it squish. “You sure don’t feel dry. You’re a little soggy,” She adopted a faint smile. “Guess you had too much fun to notice when you had to go. Better get you changed.” And the sister did so with the greatest of ease, memories of helping her mom change diapers came flooding back to her in an instant. Then she set her sister down on the training potty.
“Don’t tell me I have to sit on this thing!” Pinkie protested. “It’s so boring!”
“Sometimes it is, but it’s better than making a poopy in your new diaper,” Maud explained. “Just sit there for a little bit and don’t move. Otherwise you won’t get any dessert after lunch.”
The regressed pink party pony pouted and crossed her hooves. “I owe Pound and Pumpkin an apology for all the times I made them sit on their potties. They’ve must found it just as boring.” She complained to herself but still obliged, not wanting to disappoint her sister.
Pinkie sat on the potty until Maud finally told her she could get up. She didn’t go at all but the party pony didn’t mind. Lunch and dessert would more than make up for it.
Six of the seven foals were placed into high chairs in the kitchen soon afterward. But since Discord hadn’t planned for a seventh foal, he took Fluttershy into his arms and held her.
“Hey, that’s not fair! Why does Fluttershy get to be held?!” Rainbow Dash protested!
“Yeah! Why can’t I be held?! I was the one who wasn’t supposed to be a foal!” Starlight added.
Apple Bloom (who was busy tying a bib around her sister) scolded the foals. “Probably ‘cause you’ve been trouble makers ever since you got here. Fluttershy’s been the most well behaved.”
“That’s a laugh,” Applejack snorted in protest. “Ever since I got her, Fluttershy’s been in on every little thing we’ve done. Meanwhile the worst I ever did was try to lasso a lounge chair,” And then she started to kick. “Not so tight, Apple Bloom!”
Apple Bloom couldn’t resist teasing Applejack. “Sorry, Applejack, but I don’t want you makin’ a mess.”
“I ain’t a messy eater!” Applejack protested.
Apple Bloom giggled. “Don’t lie, Applejack. We both know you’re the messiest of messy eaters. Especially when it comes to apple fritters and apple pies.”
“Can’t help myself, they’re delicious!” Applejack replied with a frown. “You’re enjoyin’ this, aren’t you?”
The farm filly grinned. “You bet I am. It ain’t every day you get to be the big sister.”
Meanwhile, Trixie was spoon feeding Starlight to the best of her ability. “Open for the aeroplane.” The magician tried to coo in her best motherly tone possible.
Starlight turned her head. “I’m not eating that, it looks disgusting!”
“It’s not disgusting!” Trixie protested. “Don’t you wanna grow up to be great and powerful like me?”
“Not with that slop,” Starlight frowned. “Until you eat it, I’m not swallowing a single spoonful.”
The magician firmly replied. “Fine! I’ll eat some of it and prove it’s not poison! Then you have to eat it, and I don’t wanna hear any arguing or complaining!” Using her magic, she lifted up the spoon and deposited its contents onto her tongue. She tried her best not to gag at the incredibly strong taste of Pumpkin Surprise. “See?” She forced out. “Yummy yummy.”
Starlight giggled, kicking her legs in delight. “Oh wow! I can’t believe you fell for that! I used to do that to my dad all the time whenever he tried to feed me! You wouldn’t believe the kind of faces he’d make! Served him right for feeding me stuff like Mashed Peas, that oughta be classified as ‘Cruel and Unusual Punishment’.”
“The things I do for the sake of our friendship.” Trixie thought to herself.
After lunch, the foals played around for a while as Trixie got a makeshift stage set up in the nursery.
Everything went smoothly more or less with the foals, except for when Scootaloo tried to put a Wonderbolts themed onesie on Rainbow Dash. The brash speedster absolutely refused to wear it.
“Please?” Scootaloo pleaded. “Just this once. I promise I won’t take any pictures or anything.”
Rainbow just folded her hooves across her shoulders. “No.”
“Come on. I just wanna see how cute you’ll look in it,” Scootaloo insisted. “It’s better than a sailor suit, right?”
“Don’t care, not wearing it.” Rainbow again protested.
The tomboyish filly began to lose patience! “Urgh! Why can’t you just play the part and cooperate?! Even I wear dresses sometimes, and you do too.”
“Oh really?” The speedster questioned as she got an idea. “Well I’ll tell you what, Scoot. If I agree to put on that silly onesie, you have to put on something equally fru-fru. That way we’re even.”
“Can’t be worse than that stuffy dress I once wore for Diamond Tiara’s birthday party,” Scootaloo replied. “I swear, it’s like Spoiled Rich made up that rule just to humiliate me. How could anypony wear something so itchy?” She decided to leave out the fact that the dress had proven so hard to take off and put back on, that her Auntie Lofty had added a little something “extra” to protect the fabric. Not really a diaper, more of a pull-up. But it still had been embarrassing to wear one in public even though nopony had noticed (or if they had they had wisely said nothing).
Rainbow slipped into the onesie with ease, and she got a chuckle out of seeing Scootaloo dress up in a frilly pink tutu. “Fits you like a glove.” She teased.
“Too well. Reminds me of those ballet lessons Mom signed me up for once,” Scootaloo thought. “Can’t believe Apple Bloom still takes dance classes with the same instructor.”
After Trixie’s magic show, it was time for the foals to take their naps. As there were only six cribs, Discord had Twilight and Starlight share a crib.
But although Starlight soon fell asleep, Twilight couldn’t do the same. She tossed and turned, but her tiny body just didn’t seem to feel tired.
Spike quickly deduced the problem. “Hey, Twilight. Look what I have!” He cooed as he held out a familiar, beat up looking doll.
“Smarty Pants!” Twilight cheered as she was given her old doll! “How did you know? I could never sleep a wink without her.”
“Just a little something I deduced from seeing Flurry Heart with Whammy, and Shining Armor with Brutus Force,” Spike explained. “Seems like it’s a Sparkle family thing to have a precious stuffed animal to snuggle with.”
The regressed alicorn fluttered out of her crib and hugged Spike as best she could. “Oh Spike, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I owe you big time for this!”
“Hey, it’s all part of being family,” The little dragon replied. “Now get some rest, little Twily.”
“Spike!” Twilight whined. “Only my mom, my brother, and Cadence can call me that!”
“And would you rather any of them had found out about this?” Spike teased. “I imagine Shining and Cadence would go overboard with it. Though Flurry Heart would probably love having her aunt as a playmate.”
Twilight blushed. “I suppose that’s true,” And then she whispered to Spike. “You’re not gonna tell them about this, are you?”
“Nah, of course not. And neither is anyone else,” Spike instructed. “We may tease you some, but we know that you still have your grown-up minds. Just think of this as a vacation from your grown-up responsibilities for a while.”
The little alicorn yawned. “Never thought of it like that.” And then she lay her head back on the pillow and fell fast asleep.
With the help of Spike, Maud, Trixie, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Discord was able to handle the foals over the course of the next almost forty eight hours. One by one, each of his friends returned to normal, starting with Fluttershy who had been regressed first.
Each time one pony turned back to normal, they became another caretaker to help manage the others. When at last Twilight and Starlight returned to normal, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But Twilight was quick to warn the spirit. “From now on, Discord, don’t be fiddling around with age spells like that. It was fortunate that it only lasted forty eight hours and slightly altered our minds.”
“And for the record, if you want foals you’re always welcome to borrow some. All you have to do is ask,” Pinkie instructed. “I’m sure I could convince Mr. and Mrs. Cake to let you watch the twins. Fair warning, they’re quite a hoofful until you get used to them.”
Fluttershy then finished. “And if you want some parenting experience, Discord. You’re welcome to tag along with me next weekend.”
“Why is that?” Discord asked out of curiosity.
The pegasus replied. “Because I’ll be supervising the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ filly guide field trip. This time though, I don’t want any time travel escapades.”
“Sounds interesting,” The spirit pondered. “Are you sure their folks won’t mind?”
“I’ll make sure to propose it to them.” Fluttershy reassured him.
“Well, not that this hasn’t been ‘entertaining’,” Trixie spoke up. “But I think we’d all very much like to go back to our own dimension and our own time and place.”
“Then I’d better show you the way,” Discord instructed. “It’s easy to get lost out here.”