Princess Celestia awoke once again to the call of the "motherly maid" she’d unintentionally transformed into an alicorn the previous. And as before, she was still regretting it.
"Good morning sweetheart, it's time to raise that sleepy head of yours."
It took a moment for the bed to even stir as the princess’s head peeked from under the sheets, still feeling groggy from the previous day. Slowly, she rose up, rubbing a paw over her head as she groaned.
“Strange, I’m never usually this tired in the morning.”
A fun little perk of being the Pony of the Sun, you’re always up and ready in the morning...or atleast that’s usually how it works. Celestia found herself pondering this change as she rubbed sand from her eyes while struggling to get out of bed, wanting nothing more than to just curl back up in the sheets.
“I’m beginning to wonder if this transformation is affecting more than just my magic.”
This only earned her a chuckle from the motherly alicorn as she proceeded to take the claw of the princess draconequus to the washroom.
Celestia could only yawn again as she was all but dragged from her bed before being seated as her overprotective maid assisted in combing her long, flowing mane and tail, cooing all the while, much to her chagrin.
"Oh, I know you don’t feel especially well right now, but I think after a little time up and about, you’ll feel right as rain.”
Without even stopping the brush she was currently levitating, Feather effortlessly brought Celestia’s daily schedule over, peering at it with one eye while keeping the other trained on Celestia.
“Now then, you have that inspection of the Royal Guard and a meeting with the nobles this morning."
Celestia only responded with a loud groan, followed by practically dragging her claw down her face.
"As if I wasn’t feeling bad enough as it is. True inspecting the Royal Guard typically isn’t too much trouble but I can barely stand meeting with nobles when I’m my usual self, much less as I am now. At this point, I’d rather fight Sombra again."
The motherly alicorn merely offered a comforting smile as she continued to brush. "Be that as it may, I think you're going to do just fine. After all, you’ve managed to lead this entire kingdom all but flawlessly for over 1000 years. I’m sure you can handle things.”
Finally putting the brush away, the new alicorn casually opened the nearby closet and started scanning the various outfits within. “So, now we just need to get you something appropriate to wear. Would you like me to pick it out for you?”
The draconequus shook her head and snapped, “No, that won’t be necessary. If I’m being honest, I’d rather keep things low key today. No need to dress up.”
Finally managing to shake off the last bits of grogginess, the princess quickly brushed her teeth, along with applying a minimal amount of makeup, she gave herself a once over in the mirror.
Overall, despite the lack of attention she’d opted to give herself, Celestia was quite stunned at how cute she looked.
However, her literal self-reflection was cut short by a shiver running down her spine, thinking about Discord looking her over. Without even snapping her fingers, her eyes shifted colors, now taking on a technicolor appearance as they scanned the entire room, even stretching out of her head and peering behind her, thankfully finding nothing.
“At least I can take solace in the fact Discord decided to keep his distance today. Draconequus or not, there’s only so much of his antics I’m able to tolerate.”
The princess gave a deep sigh and stared back into the mirror. "Just remember, no matter what happens, you're still the ruler of Equestria, and you have duties to perform."
She stepped out of the bathroom and turned her gaze towards her motherly alicorn.
"Once again, thank you for your assistance Feather Duster, I truly appreciate it. However, I need to go raise the sun now. Perhaps you could go and tend to Luna. She has developed a bit of a bad habit of not eating before she goes to sleep."
Duster offered her usual smile and bowed in response. “Of course, I wouldn’t want poor little Luna to feel left out. Though, would you like some breakfast before you raise the sun? It is the most important meal after all."
Celestia chuckled seeing how the alicorn she created out of a maid was staring down at her with those loving, caring eyes, just worrying about her. True, it was more than a little awkward how overly affectionate she could be and she definitely would have to turn her back soon. However, she was enjoying the attention for the moment, it was something she’d missed for...she didn't know how long honestly
"Certainly, some breakfast would be nice right about now."
The alicorn narrowed her gaze and snapped, "Then, I will go and prepare a healthy breakfast when you return. But you better not turn it into the cake and sweets, your pudgy enough as is."
Celestia’s smile immediately shattered like a rock as she had to bite back the yell forming in her mouth, made harder when Feather decided to poke her stomach just to emphasize her point.
“Must you constantly bring up my weight? I’ll have you know I’m in excellent shape and I’d appreciate it if you keep comments like that to yourself.”
The alicorn scoffed, "Don't you snap at me, young lady!"
Celestia prepared to shout back but managed to restrain herself, not wanting to potentially make a scene. “Forget it, it’s not worth the effort. You’re just fortunate I have more important things to worry about right now or I’d change you back to how you were. Goodness knows I could do without the constant hover parenting.”
Feather could only look on stunned at the blatant show of rebellion from the transformed ruler. "Such manners and from you of all ponies. You keep this up, you'll be grounded from going to the ball this weekend!"
Celestia only responded with a blank stare, before holding up her hand. “You know what, you’ve been working so hard these last few days, why don’t you have a nice, relaxing spa day ...in Ponyville.”
Before her overbearing, self-appointed parent could yell a retort, she was gone in a flash, allowing Celestia to finally relax if only for a moment.
“Ugh! What was I thinking turning one of my maids into an alicorn ...oh right I wasn’t, it was just a slip of the tongue."
Deciding to not dwell on that particular misstep too much she flew out of her room and into the hallway.
“Once she returns from her trip, I’ll make sure to change her back and finally put an end to this mishap. For now, I’ll just focus on my day. Here's hoping Luna is at least in a better mood than I am right now."
Everypony in Canterlot was nervous and curious, hearing the rumors about what happened yesterday when Celestia raised the sun, with some hoping for a repeat performance. The princess flew out in her draconequus form, shimmering and glowing above them, quickly taking notice of the noticeably larger than usual crowd of ponies.
The princess sighed, knowing for well why there was such a large crowd today. “Can’t exactly say I blame them, raising the sun the usual way has gotten a little stale these past few centuries, even I have to admit it’s a little dull.”
Almost immediately a lightbulb appeared beside her head as an idea formed, which she was quick to notice.
“Is that going to be a common occurrence ...no matter, just as long as I don’t go too overboard this shouldn’t be a problem.
Taking out a paw causing everypony's gaze followed it, she snapped, causing a giant frying pan to suddenly appear in the sky.
After enjoying the sound of a few surprised gasps from the crowd, she took out a few eggs, cracked them and held the pan above for everypony to see. The citizens watched with a mix of curiosity and anticipation as the princess flipped it up and down with the pan glowing red and the eggs were started sizzling before throwing the big egg into the sky.
Like a water balloon against a wall, the Egg splattered across the sky, with the egg continuing to cook until it fully formed into the sun.
The crowd below cheered and applauded the display, prompting Celestia to take a bow before flying back off into the palace with a big smile on her face she gave a deep sigh of relief.
”I needed that, and it was a lot easier than I originally thought. Pity that the rest of my schedule won’t exactly allow something so grand scale. Oh, well.”
Letting off another sigh, she flew over the castle and landed near the barracks, spotting the new Captain of the Guard waiting for her.
The pony in question he was a white-coated pegasus with a blue and gold striped mane with dark blue eyes, clad in the decorate purple armor of his position. He quickly offered a salute to the princess, which she was quick to respond with a bow.
"Good morning Princess Celestia, I trust you’re having a pleasant day.”
Celestia was mildly impressed that he wasn’t reacting with more shock at her appearance, but compared to Shining Armor, Bronze Helm if she remembered correctly, had a more professional air about him and rarely ever broke his composure.
“Indeed, it started a little rough, but I think everything should work out alright.”
“Glad to hear it, your highness. Now, shall we commence with the inspection?”
The princess looked out among her guards, her lack of enthusiasm barely masked. "Certainly, let’s get this taken care of."
She slowly walked among her guards and checked their armor, making sure each was in perfect condition, which thankfully they were, though that only made the task more uneventful. This was ironically one of those instances where you almost hoped something would be out of place just to mix things up a bit.
Thankfully, to Celestia’s surprise, and brief excitement, she saw one guard needed help with his armor straps. Without a word, she flew directly in front of him, and with a single quick snap, readjusted the belts leaving the stallion stammering at the direct attention.
"Oh,...uh thank you...your majesty."
The princess gave the usual smile she’d long practiced to the guard.
”It’s no problem, just make sure you get this fixed before the ball this weekend. We need to make sure all guards are properly equipped."
The stallion snapped to attention with a salute and shouted, "Yes, Princess Celestia!"
With a nod, Celestia continued on her way, eventually spotting one of the guards whose entire body was shaking, with tears about to leak from his eyes.
Her smile shifted from practiced to sympathetic as she approached him and asked, "My dear guardspony, is something troubling you?"
The stallion tried his best to maintain his rigid composure, desperately trying to get his tears to recede. “N-no...you’re highness ...everything....is fine.”
Celestia only frowned at the obvious lie and got closer to him. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s something I can help you with. After all, if I couldn’t help my own guards with their problems, I won’t be much of a ruler now would I?”
The stallion’s rigid posture went slack, leaving him to only cry and whimper as he spoke. "I'm so sorry princess! But...but...I broke up with my mare friend last night!"
The other stallions chuckled at the somewhat mundane concern, only to immediately shut up as Celestia’s head literally turned 180 degrees before snapping at them with a glare.
“That’ll be enough of that. Even if this is just an inspection I expect all of you to maintain your professional decorum! Is that understood?"
All the guards quickly returned to their original position, refusing to so much as blink, more than a little horrified by what they just saw.
Satisfied, Celestia turned her head back to the crying guard and quietly offered a comforting paw on his shoulder, causing him to look up and see her, in spite of his water-filled eyes.
“I understand this must be such a hard thing to bear right now. But I know, in time things will get better and you’ll move on. Even when we feel at our lowest, we must continue to push forever, lest we remain trapped in the past forever. Try to remember that.”
The guard, finally let his tears flow freely from his eyes as he nodded, the princess gave him a brief hug, which he graciously accepted.
Sadly, the moment of serenity didn’t last as magic tendrils erupted from Celestia’s back, and quickly wrapped around the guards, starting with the one she holding and eventually catching the rest, even Bronze Helm.
Celestia could only watch as her guards started to transform them one by one, their bodies shrinking in size before a single flash of light.
Now, where once there was a squad of Canterlot’s elite guard, stood a small herd of young colts, clad in plastic armor, carrying various foam toys.
Under any other circumstances, the sight would’ve been fairly adorable, but was immediately drained of any enjoyment as the colts all began to whimper, with some even outright crying.
Celestia remained stunned as the various guard colts fell into a mixture of panic and slight glee at their situation. A solid minute passed before Celestia’s mind finally processed what had happened and decided to respond accordingly.
"OH DEAR FAUST, NOT AGAIN!!”
Looking at her claws she felt the urge to rip her eyes out, growing stronger. “How could I let this happen again? The mishap with Feather Duster was bad enough, but now I’m managed to send most of my guards back to Magic Kindergarten.”
Taking a moment to calm herself, even using a breathing exercise Cadence had taught her, Celestia looked back at her claw.
“Okay, just calm down Celestia. It’s not like this is something you can’t handle. After all, you could do age spells without Chaos Magic, so it should be a breeze to reverse right.”
Turning back to the de-aged battalion of soldiers, Celestia raised her claw and prepared to snap ...only to stop herself before she finished it.
“Then again, doing something like an age spell was much easier when I had better control over my magic. If I’m not careful, I might turn them into infants or make them so old they won’t even be able to stand up, much less guard the castle.”
Suddenly what little confidence Celestia had immediately burned away as her panic quickly set back in, made worse by the still crying colts and growing louder.
Feeling as though her mind was slowly losing its grip the princess let loose a loud, “QUIET,” amplified by the Royal Canterlot Voice.
Thankfully that managed to get the colts to stop crying and zero in the princess, having relaxed a little after her outburst.
“I apologize for that and for what’s happened to you, this transition has been more difficult than I’d originally thought. While I’d like nothing more than to change you back, I’m not confident in my skill with Chaos Magic to try at the moment. For now, I believe it would be best if you take the day off, while I do what I can to get a better handle on this and hopefully return you to normal.”
Some of the de-aged guards attempted to retort, though, possibly as a result of the sharp change in age, now seemed more interested in play fighting with their toy weapons. The sight honestly, would have been possibly the most adorable thing ever were circumstances different.
Still, that left Celestia with another problem. “Okay, now I just need to find someplace to leave all these colts until I figure something out.”
Thankfully, Celestia didn’t need to concern herself too much about what action to take as another one of the castle's staff with an auburn mane and a dark grey coat named Morning Breeze came over with a blush on her face.
"Hello, Princess Celestia. I hope you don’t mind but I was watching what happened and I think I can help if you would like.”
Princess Celestia’s smile got so wide that a literal beam of light shot out of it that blinded a nearby pegasus, sending him crashing into a nearby tower. “Oh I don't mind, it wouldn’t be too much trouble?”
”Of course not, some of the maids here have children and we wouldn't mind keeping an eye on them until you managed to figure out how to change them back safely."
Celestia’s elation only seemed to increase from the smile the maid offered her. “I don’t know who this pony is, but I’m going to make sure she gets a raise when this is all over.”
Offering another nod of thanks the princess turned back to the small band of colts. "Alright my little colts, I’m having you all stay in the main hall today while I finish my meeting. Once I’m done I'll find Discord and have him turn you back to normal. Till then, please stay safe.”l.
However, before she could leave another thought entered her mind as she watched the small band continued to grow rowdier. “It probably wouldn’t be a wise idea to just let them run around, even if they are supervised ...Oh I know, I just hope it works!”
A plan now ready, she made sure to form a clear picture in her mind of what she wanted to happen before snapping. Thankfully, this effort proved successful as in the middle of the grand hall, a giant play place appeared with a full jungle gym with swings, slides, and tubes in every direction appeared, now sitting on a green plush carpet with rocking horses and seesaws.
It looked so out of place compared to the rest of the polished marble and stone of the castle, almost like it literally sprung up out of the ground. Regardless, it did the trick as the colts immediately ran to it and began playing happily.
Her efforts successful, Celestia turned to speak to the maid. “Are you sure you’ll be able to handle this? I imagine they will be quite a handful, even with other maids on hand.”
Morning Breeze gave Celestia a bright smile and reassured her. "Don't worry your highness, we can handle this. I'll have some make peanut butter jelly sandwiches for the little ones and then we can set up a place for nap time. Trust me I have two youngsters at home, this isn’t anything I haven’t dealt with before."
Celestia's arms immediately stretched like rubber around the mare, pulling her into a tight hug. "Thank you so much! Believe me, you'll be well compensated for this."
With a final wave and a flick of a claw, Celestia disappeared.
Sadly, while Celestia was happy for the brief respite from her latest magic blunder, she was quickly reminded of something she’d forgotten...she HATED dealing with nobles.
It hadn’t been but ten minutes since she arrived and already she was bored again, taping a claw on the long conference table among the dozens of nobles, all talking about taxes and laws that they were looking to implement. Was it important, absolutely, did that make it interesting, no!
Celestia did what she could to at least pretend to look invested, but she could feel herself barely holding on, and it was about to get worse. For whatever reason and beyond her notice, her magic started to seep out again, and before she could even react, there was another flash of light, resulting in the conference room now being filed with fillies and colts, tangled up in expensive clothes that no longer fit.
The sudden jolt snapped Celestia back to reality, part of her feeling like she was about to have a Twilight style freak out, while the other half found the mere sight of the high class, refined elite of Canterlot, reduce to a group of infants now more interested in spinning around in the chairs and the table snacks then taxes.
Celestia blinked seeing Fancy Pants was now a small toddler trying to read his notes stumbling on his words and doing a potty dance. It was a sight that while amusing, was quickly ruined when the former stallion raised his hoof and asked, "Uh, I'm done P...Princess Celestia! Can I go, potty please?"
The other foals giggled and snickered while the Princess, having already dealt with this situation early, just decided to roll with it and nodded,
"Certainly Fancy Pants. We’ll wait here for you. Just don't be gone too long."
The little colt quickly rushed off down the hall, leaving his wife, Fleur, to take and look over his notes, picking up where he left off.
"So, now that is settled, I'm gonna move onto the next item on the agenda. Do we want to give funding for ta library, museum and other areas of arts and literature."
Many of the foals whined, and some cried, "Nah! Libraries are boring! Why dun we put funding in a new Wondewbowt stadium!"
One filly, who was now clutching a doll, quickly snapped at the suggestion "I wanna stop taxes on dwessies! I want ta prettiest dresses eva for less money!"
One colt scoffed as he took a sippy cup and suckled on it with a smug grin and asked, "So what about suits? I think that it's not fair that dresses get a tax cut and not our fancy suits."
Fleur stomped a hoof and whined, "that's not what this meeting is about! We’re gonna discuss all that later! We need to decide on the i..imp...important stuff first!"
Fancy Pants finally returned, waddling over to his wife's side and shouted, "My wife is right! Ya all missing the point here!"
He slammed a poster of a terribly drawn graph with the arrow going down with silly drawings of faces, rainbows scribbled all over the chart.
"This is the trend on what we are spending right now! There's been wots of tax money being spent on stupid stuff we don't need, and it's making everything worse. Sowie but we gots to cut some stuff."
The filly with the doll squirmed in her seat and sighed, "Fine, we dun need mowe dwessies or silly stuff like tat."
The colt, who mentioned the suits nodded. "Yeah ya, wight! we dun need to put more tax breaks on fancy suits."
Fancy Pants nodded as he placed up against a pie chart which was sloppily circle made of marker and cover in hoof paint.
"Now ya see this! I divided what we spending the most on and what we can take out. Take a look at the chart and if ya wanna make a change let me know."
The foals all struggled to comprehend the chart, while Celestia surprisingly, was able to read it perfectly, even though the spelling was terrible and the hoof writing was nearly impossible to make out. It left her to pose a thought.
“Does being a Draconequss also allow me to understand bad grammar and handwriting because of how chaotic it is? Because if so, that...would make perfect sense now that I think about it. I should run that by Discord when I see him again.”
Turning back to the graph, focusing in on it, in spite of its obvious juvenile level of quality, she noticed something odd.
"So we get rid of some of the spending and stop giving companies tax breaks and things should look good. But, why am I seeing something is missing."
Fancy Pants plopped his hooves down onto the table, grabbing everypony's attention as he shouted, "That's right! I think somepony has been embezzling funds! Not only that they've been doing it for years!"
Fleur nodded, "Right! We dun think it's any of ya, but he or she has stolen thousands of bits from ta citizens of Equestria. We gots to find ta culprit and take ta money back!"
The nobles all nodded in agreement as Celestia's eyes went wide at this apparent revelation "Embezzling funds? How long has this been going on and why didn’t somepony tell me sooner?”
Fancy Pants, rather adorably, twirled in his chair to face to Princess. “But princess, I mentioned I was going to bring this up last week. Don’t you remember?”
The sound of something breaking like glass could immediately be heard as the Rule of Equestria expression shifted to embarrassment, making it apparent to even the still young ponies that she’d forgotten. “Well, regardless of that, I trust this is a matter we can resolve quickly.”
Fancy Pants shook his head and sighed, "Nope. It’s gonna take wots of work and research. Not to mention, my bedtime is at seven, and I need a nap at twelve."
“I don’t suppose it would be possible to work around that? If somepony truly is embezzling Canterlot’s funds, I’d prefer to nip it in the bud as soon as possible.”
Fancy Pants took a quick sip from his cup as he ran through the information in his head. “Well, if we take out my twelve o’clock nap, we might at least be able to get the bulk of the research done. Is everypony okay with that?”
The rest of the assembled group all gave nods before one colt raised a hoof,
"Um, can we have a potty break!"
Celestia, satisfied that things had atleast been handled for the moment, thought up her next course of action.
“Actually, I have a better idea. There is currently a wonderful little play place set up in the castle. Why don’t you all go and relax for a little while before we tackle this. Wouldn’t want you to fall asleep before bedtime after all.”
The foals squealed in delight as they ran off down the hall, leaving Celestia to literally melt into her seat, her head being the only somewhat solid thing there, her eyes barely able to take a look at a nearby clock.
“Dear Faust, the day isn’t even half over and I’ve already had to correct two disasters of my own making. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.”
"Oh, don’t be so melodramatic! Frankly, I think you’re doing far better than I originally believed.”
Celestia needed to only look up to find Discord, currently seated in a recliner with a bucket of popcorn at his side, looking as smug as always. “If I’m being completely honest I didn’t think you’d make it through the day without turning all of Canterlot into a madhouse. So congrats for that.”
Another snap and a colorful banner reading ‘Good Job Celestia’ appeared above him.
Celestia upon seeing Discord rolled her eyes, though was content to stay rooted to her chair.
"Discord, I’d figured you’d been watching me this entire time."
The Lord of Chaos shrugged could only chuckle as he tossed some popcorn down his throat. "I mean, can you blame me? Your antics these last couple of days have been so hysterical, I couldn’t help myself."
The princess gave an irritated sigh before responding, "I’m glad I’ve kept you so amused. However, if I ‘ve learned anything today it’s that controlling Chaos Magic is more challenging than I believed. Which is why I’m asking for your help?"
Despite maintaining her normal confident tone, Discord could tell she was all but begging for him to step in, which only brought a smile to his.
"Oh, you mean with your little foal sitting problem? Not as confident in your ability with ages as you thought I see...Oh, I suppose I could lend you a hand this once, could be good for a laugh...but.”
Immediately Discord suddenly changed into a referee, completely with a whistle around his neck, which he was quick to blow, before pulling out a yellow card. “However, you are going to be penalized for needing my help. Though don’t worry too much, I promise it will be just so much fun.”."
Celestia gulped feeling that Discord had planned this from the start. But she didn't have a choice she couldn't risk her Chaos Magic causing any more problems...especially since if things kept up, she’d need to turn all of Canterlot Castle into a daycare.
“Very well, I accept these terms as part of the original wager. Though, I do hope we’ll keep things relatively low key. I will not allow any of my little ponies to be tormented or embarrassed for your amusement.”."
Discord crossed his heart with a claw with a loud huff. "No need to get all defensive, I swear it'll be harmless fun. Trust me you'll love what I have planned."
Reaching down his throat, he pulled out a set of tickets and gave them to Celestia. She looked down at them with a suspicious look reading Sun Butt's Daytime Daycare for ages 1-6.
"These are enchanted with a spell that'll revert the foals to their normal ages once they’re picked up."
Celestia's eye started to twitch. "Picked up? You mean we’re turning the castle into an actual daycare!"
Discord crossed his claws and chortled, "Of course. You think I wasn't going to take advantage of the situation and have some more fun! Oh, you naive little pony!"
With a snap of a claw Celestia had a pink apron wrapped around her midriff with a big smiling sun on it.
Celestia wanted to argue but begrudgingly kept quiet, considering she did ask for this to happen. "So I'm assuming that you gave the families and friends of those regressed a ticket to have them picked up?"
The Lord Of Chaos smirked. "Indeed I did. They’ll be here at seven, which means you still have a few hours to entertain those little disasters!"
Before Celestia could manage out another word Discord snapped himself out of existence...save for his mouth for a brief moment.
“Good Luck.”
After being left by Discord to effectively manage the remaining fall out from her earlier actions, Celestia spent the next few hours watching and entertaining the man foals she helped create. Thankfully, true to his word around seven o’clock, the many spouses and family members of the regressed guards and nobles appeared in the grand hall of the palace with their eyes open wide, and their mouths dropped.
The grand hall was now a giant play-place with a gargantuan pink and white-colored jungle gym, complete with slides, ball pits and tunnels filled with dozens of foals running around, screaming and laughing. Celestia had also placed a giant pink fence around the entire room with many maids standing by to assist the children in finding bathrooms, giving out food and generally just keeping an eye on the kids. The princess was sitting ata desk, struggling to maintain a fake smile as she waved a claw.
"Hello! Welcome to Sun Butt's Daytime Daycare! I see you all came by to pick up your little rascals!"
The faces of the family members were a mixture of s slack-jawed shock, along with outright confusion, which lasted for several seconds before one purple coated unicorn mare who couldn’t stop herself from stomping forward and looking at the princess with a surprisingly harsh glare.
"What is the meaning of this Princess Celestia. Why exactly is my husband a toddler now!"
Celestia shrunk back at the harsh tone, not being used to being called out by somepony, but quickly shifted back to some level of composure.
“I’m afraid that was my fault. I didn’t have as firm a grasp on my Chaos Magic as I thought. But, the tickets I gave you to claim your kids have an enchantment on them. Once you claim your foal or foals they'll turn back to normal."
The mare didn’t seem wholly satisfied with the answer but opted to simply seek out her husband and spotted him quickly.
" Bronze Helm, get back here this instant and give me back my foam sword!"
The colt squealed upon seeing his angry wife's glare and squealed, "Uh... L...Lo...Lovely Heart!?"
The mare stomped over with her cold gaze stared down her husband. "Indeed, now you’re coming home with me this instant and we’re putting this entire affair behind us."
She lifted the colt and began to carry him away, much to the amusement of the other ponies present
Bronze Helm could only respond by whining and crying the entire time. "Stop it Lovely! You're embarrassing me in front of my fellow guards!"
The other colts came over near the fence and poked their hooves at the captain, quickly laughing loudly at his display.
Lovely Heart turned around at the colts and shouted, "Hey! The next colt to laugh at my husband will be in timeout! I’ve had a stressful day and am not in the mood for this. Don't test me!"
The colts all shut up immediately as they stood there, quivering and whimpering in fear."O...o..okay."
Her husband now in hoof, Lovely Hearts quickly made her way out of the makeshift daycare. "Now then, come we're going to go get some dinner, and then it's straight to bed with you. Hopefully, everything will be back to normal by tomorrow."
Bronze Helm could only continue to squirm as he held out a hoof in desperation."Save me!"
The other colts just continued to snicker as one by one were picked up and thankfully transformed back into full-grown stallions in a puff of smoke. The process continued for some time until every foal was finally converted back to their original age, save for two.
As if on time a unicorn butler slowly walked up to Celestia and asked, "I came here to pick up Ms. Fleur and Mr. Fancy Pants."
The draconequss gave a nod as she turned around to see the two toddlers and chirped, "Alright you two, it’s time to go home now!"
The two groaned seeing as they’d been playing a fun game of tag but waddled over as Celestia helped them over the fence. "There you go one Fleur and one Fancy Pants."
The butler gave a nod and bowed before he took the hooves of the two foals. "Now, come on! We have to get you two back to normal."
He gave Celestia his tickets and in a single flash, both Fleur and Fancy Pants were instantly transformed into adults. Both, taking a moment to process all that had happened, were more than a little embarrassed over the whole ordeal, though any Pants was able to pose a question to Celestia,
"So...I trust we can continue the discussion about the embezzler later?"
Princess Celestia, starting to feel the exhaustion of the day catch up with her, managed to a simple nod "Of course, but you two should go home for now. I’m so sorry about all the trouble my magic caused today."
Fancy Pants, ever the gentlecolt, merely waved the apology off. "Oh, it wasn’t too dreadful an experience. Honestly, I rather enjoyed reliving my colt years for a few hours. Still, it is good to be back to normal."
Celestia sighed, seeing every foal she regressed, she snapped a claw, causing the entire playground in a puff of smoke., "At last it’s finally over. I think I might just turn in for the night after all that happened now."
Sadly, Celestia would have to halt her plans as a very livid Luna stomped over with a glare.
"Good evening sister. I hope it was pleasant, I had a rather interesting start to my day Why there I was just enjoying some breakfast when I’d heard about how the nobles and your guards had suddenly become foals and the royal palace was suddenly transformed into a child’s playpen. Is that a correct summation of what’s been happening so?”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it in exactly those words….”
The Princess of the Night quickly cut her sister off, her anger on full display for all to see. “What were you thinking Celestia? Do you have any idea the potential havoc you could have wrought? Clearly, something must be done as it’s apparent you have no control over your magic.”
Celestia, while agreeing with her sister, still felt the need to offer a retort. “Forgive me for being blunt dear sister, but do you think it wise for you of all ponies to lecture me on losing control?”
Now it was Luna’s turn to be offended, stomping her hoof loud on the ground, barely keeping herself from reverting to the Royal Canterlot Voice. "Oh, so you think that me becoming Nightmare Moon is the same as you being a draconequus on purpose?”
Celestia paused and realized her lapse in how she phrased her retort. "I'm so sorry Luna, I didn't mean it that way."
The Princess of the Night’s hostility slowly dropped as she let out a tired sigh. "Sister, you need to end silly contest now, before things get out of hoof!"
Celestia however, didn’t seem convinced. “Oh come now, Luna. Isn’t that a bit much? I admit there have been a few accidents as of late but…”
Luna immediately broke out into the Royal Canterlot Voice.
"ACCIDENTS?! Sister, need I remind you of the alicorn maid who currently thinks she's our mother! How exactly does that qualify as an accident?"
Celestia’s eyes began to narrow as she stared down her sister. “That’s hardly a world-ending concern, and I was planning to change her back tomorrow anyway.”
“Why are you being so stubborn about this Celestia. Is your pride that important to you? Honestly, when did you start acting like such a child?”
That proved to be the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back, as Celestia was now positively livid. “A child? If anypony has cause to be called a child, it’s you...in fact.”
Before Luna had a chance to say another word, Celestia raised her claw and snapped, shrinking the nightly alicorn till she was reduced to the age of an infant.
The tiny blue eyes of the little alicorn widened in shock as she cried out in embarrassment, both at her new size and the fact Celestia had seen fit to place a diaper on her bottom, complete with her cutie mark printed on. She tried to shout at her sister, but only incoherent gibberish poured out of her mouth.
Celestia just gave her sister a smirk and picked her up within a bubble of magic. "There, now you can relax for a little while I raise the moon."
Luna still angry, cried and shouted, kicking about in the magic sphere to little success. Celestia simply drifted the trapped filly to her room and stuck the baby alicorn in a crib too large for her to climb out of.
"There now, you stay put and be a good little filly while I go raise the moon."
The little dark blue alicorn stuck her tongue out and shook her head with a loud humpf Celestia just snickered as she walked off with a strut in her step.