//------------------------------// // Food Fight and Bubble Bath // Story: The Foal Bet // by SuperPinkBrony12 //------------------------------// Scootaloo was as good as her word, as soon as she was done washing her hooves she scooped Diamond Tiara up and carried her to the kitchen to prepare the bottle. As luck would have it, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were already there with Silver Spoon. The two fillies having placed the foal in a highchair that had been provided for them. "She said she was gettin' hungry, so we decided now would be great for feedin' time." Apple Bloom explained. "Great," Scootaloo declared as she looked down at Diamond Tiara. "You still want just a bottle, or do you want something more? You might be hungry too." Diamond Tiara nodded her head. "Baba nice, but me couwd go fow someting gweatew!" Silver Spoon clapped her hooves, trying to bounce up and down in her highchair but to no avail! "Me wan cookies!" She licked her lips in anticipation. Diamond joined. "Yeah, cookies!" Sweetie Belle shook her head even though she found the display from her regressed friends to be oh so cute. "I'm sorry, you can't have cookies. You'll spoil your appetite." "Or you might get tummy aches, and that'd be really messy," Apple Bloom declared while waving a hoof across her nose to illustrate her point. "You two need proper meals." Silver just grumbled. "No faiw. Me wan cookies!" Sweetie just shook her head again. "Maybe sometime later, but for now what you two need are some num-nums for your tum-tums that won't make you sick." Spike was looking in the nearby cupboards as he commented. "Well, that might be a problem. We don't have any foal food. I'll have to tell Twilight to go shopping for some." Apple Bloom just smiled. "No problem, we don't need foal food. We can just feed 'em some applesauce. Never known a pony yet who doesn't like it," Then she looked at Spike. "You do have some applesauce, don't you?" "Should be some in the fridge." Spike replied as the dragon went to go check. However, Silver made a face and stuck out her tongue. "Appwesauce is yucky! Me wan someting bettew!" "I'm afraid the only other options are oatmeal or mashed up apples," Scootaloo declared. "There really isn't much foals can eat that are good for them since we don't have foal food." Sweetie Belle then got an idea. "Tell you what," She told both foals. "If you cooperate and eat all the applesauce and oatmeal we provide for you, then you can have a few cookies. 'A few' being the key word. Does that sound good?" Both Diamond and Silver clapped and giggled. "Yeah, tat sounds gweat!" "Good!" Scootaloo declared as she approached both foals. "But you're gonna have to wait a while for us to make the oatmeal. And if you cause any trouble, you're not getting any cookies. You'll just go straight to the time out corner with no dessert." "So no wanderin' off again," Apple Bloom scolded. "We can't risk another scare like the one you gave us earlier, y'all are lucky ya didn't get hurt." "Dun wowwy, we be good. We Pinkie Pwomise," Tiara insisted as she then led her fellow regressed filly in the chant. "Cwoss ouw heawts and hope to fwy, stick a cupcake in ouw eyes." Thankfully they avoided the mistake of poking themselves in the eye during the final part of the chant. Spike came by a moment later and lifted both foals from their highchairs, placing them in a playpen he had set up in the kitchen. It had a couple of toys, including alphabet blocks and stuffed animals. He also took the liberty of checking both foals' diapers. "Can't be too sure with foals, sometimes they can have accidents without knowing it." He told them. "But we cwean! In fact, me just got changed by Scootawoo! She make ta funniest faces when she do it!" Tiara puffed out her chest and then giggled at the image of Scootaloo's scrunched up face. The not so little dragon just shrugged his claws. "Well, if you need anything, just let me know. Otherwise, I need to let Twilight know to buy some foal food. And then I need to make sure the CMC don't burn down the castle." "My mom's the one who burns stuff, not me! Rarity gave me cooking lessons specifically so that wouldn't happen!" Sweetie Belle squeaked, which made her fellow Crusaders laugh. While the Cutie Mark Crusaders worked on preparing the oatmeal (and Apple Bloom brought out the jar of applesauce Spike had managed to find in the fridge), Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon occupied themselves in the playpen as best they could. They quickly engrossed themselves in building up and then knocking down several different structures made out of the alphabet blocks: Towers, houses, and even a half complete city (before they ran out of blocks to use). When that got boring they switched over to the various stuffed animals, making them fight each other (mostly with slaps). They were almost sad to see the fun end when they were picked up, Diamond Tiara by Apple Bloom and Silver Spoon by Sweetie Belle. Both were plopped into highchairs in the kitchen as bowls of applesauce and steaming hot oatmeal were presented to them. "Go ahead now, eat up," Apple Bloom encouraged the tiny duo. "There's no cookies unless ya do." "You should start with the applesauce, the oatmeal might need a little time to cool off." Scootaloo warned as she brought over some plastic spoons and bibs. Diamond wore a pink one, and Silver a blue one. Tiara tried to grab hold of the plastic spoon in front of her, a task that was harder than it should've been due to her clumsy, tiny hooves. Every time she seemed to grab it, the spoon would slip from her grasp and cause her to groan. "Why tis so hawd? Me can do tis!" She stubbornly complained. Silver had similar troubles. Though she could grasp the spoon with little difficulty, trying to move it towards either bowl would just result in her dropping it before she could get close. "Stupid spoon!" She growled and threw it down on the table. "Me just use hooves instead!" She tried to wiggle out of her high chair and crawl towards the food. But even when she was able to get out she was quickly enveloped in the soft glow of Sweetie's magic and plopped right back in. "You're foals now, you can't do all the things you used to do by yourself," Sweetie explained to them. "Besides, isn't the whole point of this supposed to be that we take care of you?" Diamond just grumbled. "Is so humiwiating to not be able to feed yasewf." "At weast ya dun have to awways get wectuwed on tawbe mannews," Silver snorted in response. "Mama awways make me take tem even aftwe me stop being a foaw. She wan me to be 'pwopew pony'." "Well you don't have to be a 'proper pony' now or a 'rich pony' for that matter. Now you can just be yourselves," Spike encouraged. "And that means you can count on others to help you eat." Reluctantly, the two regressed fillies surrendered their dignity. Their grumbling stomachs weren't going to argue with Spike's logic. Diamond Tiara had Apple Bloom and Scootaloo spoon feed her, Apple Bloom took care of the applesauce and Scootaloo handled the oatmeal. Diamond's eyes went wide when she got her first taste of such common food! Applesauce was rare at her house, and the only oatmeal she was allowed to taste was the kind that had added stuff to make it taste worthy of a rich pony. "Yummy! Me wove tis!" She happily declared as she accepted spoonful after spoonful, quickly getting traces of goop on her bib and her face. Silver Spoon cooperated when Spike fed her the applesauce, but the moment Sweetie Belle tried to levitate over a spoonful of oatmeal the former glasses wearing foal turned her head. "Come on, it's just oatmeal. Open up!" Sweetie pleaded with her regressed friend. Silver shook her head, the oatmeal didn't smell very appetizing to her. When one had a parent who worked in the restaurant business the way Silver's father did, you quickly learned how to tell when stuff was added to food to try to change its taste. And unfortunately, Silver was very particular about what she accepted and what she didn't. "Ya put cinnamon and honey in thewe, me no wike tat." Sweetie sighed. "But it's supposed to make it taste better. What kind of foal wouldn't want that?" The silver coated foal refused to turn her head back around. "Me!" Sweetie found herself quickly losing patience with her regressed friend. "But you promised to cooperate! If you don't eat this then you're not getting any cookies! And I thought you wanted cookies." That seemed to do the trick, Silver Spoon swung her head back around very suddenly and seemed to motion for her friend to levitate the spoon closer. Sweetie did so, but to her surprise Silver Spoon grabbed hold of it suddenly and flung it hard! The oatmeal flew off the spoon, promptly splattering onto the wall behind her! Seeing this, Diamond Tiara did the same with the next spoonful of oatmeal offered to her! Except instead of it hitting the wall it struck Spike square in the face. Fortunately, the dragon was able to use his tongue to clean himself up pretty quickly. "Hey, what gives?! I didn't do anything to you!" He complained with a snort, smoke billowing out of his nostrils as a result. But neither Diamond or Silver seemed to care, both foals just giggled as they quickly crawled out of their high chairs and to their respective bowls of oatmeal. They put their hooves into the food then brought them back up and started flinging it every which way! Sweetie Belle quickly used her magic to throw up a protective shield, while Scootaloo tried to block the bombardments with her wings after seeing Spike do the same! Apple Bloom, meanwhile, dodged around or ducked under the traces of oatmeal as they kept flying towards her. Pretty soon not just the walls but also the floors of the kitchen were getting covered in oatmeal! And Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon giggled with glee, clearly delighting in causing such a mess! The "fun" didn't stop until an unaware Twilight came trotting into the kitchen, and without warning she got hit square in the muzzle with oatmeal from Silver Spoon's bowl. Lighting up her horn she was able to clear it away, and then she got a good look at the state of the kitchen. To say she was displeased would be an understatement, the pronounced frown upon her face made it apparent more than words that she was anything but happy. "Okay, this little food fight is over!" She shouted, before lighting up her horn again and surrounding both foals with her magic, thus preventing them from moving. "Sorry, Twilight," Spike sighed as he let his wings rest. "I guess I should've expected this. Flurry Heart loved doing this every time we tried to feed her. Especially if it was Mashed Peas." Twilight shook her head. "It really isn't your fault, Spike," She turned her attention to the two regressed fillies. "You two should know better than to cause food fights. Just look at the mess you've caused." The foals whimpered. "We sowwy, Pwincess Twiwight." The young alicorn just sighed anew. "Well, you had your fun. Now you're going to have to help clean up the kitchen. When you make a mess, you have to clean up after it. And when we're all done, the two of you are going to need a bath. Just look at yourselves." Both foals had traces of oatmeal all over their coats and even in their manes. Twilight soon levitated over some soap, buckets of water, and several rags. And she supervised not just the foals but also Spike and the Crusaders, pitching in a little bit herself as all worked to get the kitchen cleaned up and looking spotless again. With six ponies and a dragon working together, the cleaning took less than it probably would've taken had any one of them tried to do it on their own. But it still took a while since oatmeal had gotten everywhere: On the walls, on the floors, countless counter tops, you name it. At last, however, the cleaning was done. And that meant it was time for the foals' free bath that they had "earned" for their troubles. Before that could be tended to however, there came a knock at the front door of the castle. Spike instinctively flew away to answer it, soon calling back. "Twilight, you might wanna hold off on that bath. There's an important pony here to see you." Twilight teleported to Spike's location as the Crusaders rushed after her, nearly out of breath by the time they caught up with her. To their surprise they found Twilight nose to nose with a plump and smartly dressed earth pony mare of medium height. She sported a dazzling silver coat with golden locks in her mane and tail, and wore a red velvet dress with purple trim that matched her sparkling ruby eyes. Her cutie mark depicted something akin to a pony at a bank, the sort that would stand behind a counter and give money. The mare took one look at the foals that clunk to Twilight's mane and she immediately gasped! "Silver Spoon!" She exclaimed! "My little bit! Is that you?!" Silver Spoon reluctantly whimpered and nodded. "Yeah, Mama, is me. And tis is Titi." Mrs. Spoon snorted a bit. "As I figured. Now, would you mind telling me just why in the wide, wide world of Equestria you two are foals again? Did the princess do this to you? I've been looking everywhere for you two, never did I suspect I'd find you here and like this." Twilight simply explained. "Mrs. Spoon." "Silver Standard, thank you." Silver Standard firmly declared. "Silver Standard," Twilight corrected. "Despite what you might think I'm not the one who turned your daughter and her friend back into foals. That was the decision of three fillies I'm sure need no introduction by now." The Crusaders reluctantly stepped forward, eyeing Silver Spoon's mother as she seemed to glare at them. "Oh, so it was that farm filly who my daughter says has been fooling about with potions? And her friends too? I should've known they would do something like this." Apple Bloom gulped as she pleaded. "Silver Standard, we're sorry we regressed your daughter. But she and Diamond Tiara agreed to it. It was part of a bet we made, we even told 'em what the potion they ended up drinkin' was supposed to do." Silver Standard blinked in surprise, eyeing her regressed daughter. "Is that true, Silver Spoon?" When her daughter nodded she gasped and stumbled back in shock! "But why would you agree to such a thing?! Didn't you know that you and Diamond Tiara were spending the week with me?! You specifically pleaded with me to invite Diamond Tiara over when she told you her father would be out of town." Silver Spoon sheepishly explained. "Di was gonna go thwough with it so she couwd have a bettew foaw hood. Me wanted ta suppowt hew in it, so me agweed to do it too. Me no mean to make ya wowwy." "We're really sorry about this, we promise not to do it again!" Scootaloo pleaded. "But we kind of need to give them a bath, they started a food fight in the kitchen because of oatmeal. It's a long story." Silver Standard just sighed. "Well, if it were just my little bit I would demand the return of her to my care at once. I still have many of her old foal supplies on hoof. But my house is not equipped to handle two foals, and I doubt Spoiled Rich would be willing to share what foal supplies she didn't part with after her daughter outgrew them. And Celestia knows all the butlers and maids work hard enough as it is keeping my house spic and span. I don't wish to add onto their workload and give myself more headaches." "So me can stawy hewe with Titi" Silver Spoon hopefully asked. Silver Standard nodded very slowly. "I expect you to be on your best behavior, though. No more food fights, no more being a picky eater, and certainly no wandering off and making a mess of places: Figuratively or literally. And the same should go for your friend," She then cautioned. "But the Riches are going to hear about this. When Filthy Rich comes back or if Spoiled Rich comes over to my place and doesn't see her daughter there, I'll be sure to tell her what you've told me." Diamond gulped. "Mama gonna be so mad, and Dada too! Me hope tey dun baw me fwom hanging out with ta Cwusadews." "I'm afraid that'll be up to them to decide and not me," Silver Standard cautioned. "I'm not going to lie for your other friends. If they chose to do this they'd better be prepared to face the consequences. And the moment you're both back to normal, I expect you two to come to me. Is that clear?" Both foals nodded. "Good," The plump mare nodded. "Now I must be going. And Silver Spoon, you do your best to uphold the family reputation. I'm giving your friends full authority to punish you as I would if you act up." And with that she departed. The arrival of Silver Standard did not alter the plans originally in place for the little ones. They were soon brought into one of the castle's bathrooms and placed on the tiled floor as Twilight prepared a bath for them. Sweetie Belle quickly got an idea, pulling out a bubble bath solution. "Bubble baths are more fun than regular baths," She declared. "What do you think?" She asked her regressed friends, who nodded in response. Thus the solution was added to the bath water. After testing the water to make sure it wasn't too hot or too cold, Twilight used her magic to lower both foals into the tub. The Crusaders came over with cups and towels, as well as a few bath toys that they placed in the tub for their young charges. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon quickly engrossed themselves in playing with a toy boat and a rubber ducky, imagining themselves on an epic adventure: Captain Diamond Tiara stood on the bridge of her ship amidst a billowing sea with waves whiped to new heights by a mighty tempest! Winds rocked the boat back and forth, threatening to capsize it. And the rain fell so hard and fast it was almost impossible to see anything. First Mate Silver Spoon could see through the stormy darkness with ease, though. She and her captain were on the lookout for a mighty creature that was said to be incredibly rare. A creature that some even thought did not exist. Suddenly, a loud splash drew the attention of First Mate Silver Spoon! Peering through her trusty telescope she quickly caught sight of something. It was a giant duck that was a golden yellow in color, and its cry was a high pitched squeaking sound. "Thar she blows, Captain Diamond!" She shouted up to the bridge. "A mighty creature she is, is she not?!" "The mightiest in all the land, First Mate Silver. But she be no match for this vessel and her crew," Captain Diamond gave the command. "All hooves on deck, we be chasing after that beast!" The ship soon steered itself to where the duck had last appeared. But as it drew closer it looked something else was approaching, a curtain of water! The ship's crew tried to steer to the right, hoping to avoid the fast approaching shower. But alas their decision was too late to prevent the inevitable. A splash of water snapped both foals back to reality as their manes became soaked! They had momentarily forgotten their whereabouts, so engrossed were they in their fantasy. "Sorry," Sweetie Belle apologized to them. "But we needed to rinse you off so the shampoo doesn't stay in your manes and tails. You two cooperated so well during the bath." "But it's time to get out, now," Apple Bloom declared as she eyed the drain plug. "Can't have ya stay in that tub forever." But Diamond pouted, she was enjoying herself enormously and didn't want the fun to end. "Can't me and Siwvy pway fow a few mowe minutes? Pwease?" Try as they might, the Crusaders couldn't resist the pleading puppy dog eyes looks they got from the regressed fillies. Apple Bloom reluctantly relented. "Oh, alright. Just a couple more minutes, but that's it." "Yay!" The foals cheered, and went back to playing pretend as they picked up from where their earlier adventure had abruptly ended. This time they would successfully hunt down that majestic golden duck.