//------------------------------//
// The Last Part 
// Story: All Creatures Great And Small (Can't Foalsit) 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

In spite of the recent development giving them room for concern, Sandbar's friends were still determined to take care of Coral for him. And when Coral herself came back, now in a plain, white pull-up (if not for the lack of tabs it probably could've been mistaken for a diaper), all were set and ready to go.

Well, except for one not so small detail: Who was going to stay at the hospital with Sandbar, in case anything came up?

Yona decided to volunteer. "Yona stay with Sandbar. Sandbar not hurt himself if not for Yona."

Gallus immediately offered. "Well, I think I'll stay too. You know, just to make sure Yona doesn't accidentally smash something important." That was what he was saying, but the way he carried himself made it clear that the real reason behind his decision was his uncertainty over caring for a little one of any kind.

"Whatever, we can take turns," Smolder snorted. "Probably every hour or so. Now come on, let's go."

"Wait a minute!" Ocellus protested in realization. "How are we gonna get Coral back home? We don't have Yona's thick, yak fur to keep Coral warm."

Smolder tried not to roll her eyes. "You're a changeling, remember? I'm sure you can easily turn into a yak or something else that has thick fur. If you can turn into a seapony, you can turn into anything."

Unable (or perhaps just unwilling) to argue with that, Ocellus concentrated and soon she had transformed herself in a yak similar in build to Yona: Except this yak's coat color was the same as Ocellus', and her eyes were the same as Ocellus' for that matter. Still, it was close enough to have Coral snuggle into it deeply, ensuring her security against the cold of winter.





The girls made their way back to Sandbar's house in silence. The fire was still crackling away in the fireplace as they came inside, lighting up the place and providing its immediate surroundings with an immediate warmth.

Smolder blushed a bit in realization. "I thought I was forgetting something. At least the house didn't burn down while we were gone."

Ocellus just groaned as she transformed back to her normal, changeling self. "You're lucky, Smolder," Then she sighed. "So I guess now we just keep Coral entertained until Sandbar gets out of the hospital or her parents come back."

"Or until it gets late and we have to put her to bed," Silverstream pointed out. "Ooh, and we can't forget about that 'potty training', whatever that is. Although, I feel like I've heard that phrase before somewhere."

Smolder shrugged her claws. "Heck if I know, they don't teach early pony development at the school."

"Not to worry," Ocellus commented. "It looks like there's some kind of note on the fridge. Sandbar's parents must've left it out for him," As she read over it the changeling told her friends. "In addition to the 'potty training' we have to play with Coral, feed her, and if it gets late give her a bath and put her to bed. Sounds simple enough. Kind of reminds me of the time I volunteered at our hive's nursery."

"Or when I helped Mom look after Terramar," Silverstream cooed. "Ooh! He was such an adorable little seapony! He's the cutest baby brother ever!"

Smolder simply rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I guess we just play with her for now. We can figure out what 'potty training' is later. It must have something to do with that... thing she wears on her rump."

Meanwhile, Coral had waddled over to Ocellus. Something about the changeling drew the little one's fascination. Perhaps it was because of that transformative prowess she had displayed earlier.

Ocellus looked down at Coral. "Oh, hi, Coral. What's up?"

"You transform?" Coral innocently asked.

The young changeling nodded. "Yeah. That's why I'm a changeling, because I can change shape. Get it?"

Coral just blinked. She didn't really understand the concept. All she knew was that Ocellus could magically turn into other creatures, seemingly at will. And there was something that the little one was most curious. "You turn into my brother?" She asked Ocellus.

"Huh? Oh, sure, sure. I mean, if you want me to," Ocellus replied and did just that. Pretty soon, she had transformed herself into an exact replica of Sandbar. Almost as if someone had cloned the colt. Even her voice when she spoke sounded exactly like him. "Hey there, Coral. It's your big brother, Sandbar. You like me, right?"

Coral giggled and clapped her hooves, nuzzling the replica. "Uh-huh, ya the bestest big brother ever!" She didn't seem to be bothered when the replica sneezed. Instead of Sandbar, there was now the yak that Ocellus had turned herself into earlier.

"Oops!" Ocellus commented with a slight sniffle in her tone of voice. "Hold on, let me try again." But her concentration was interrupted by another sneeze. This time she transformed herself into a griffon, a female one at that.

Upon looking at the griffon, and noticing the wings that were also on the other creatures currently with her, Coral started to feel something tug at her deep inside. A few tears came into her eyes as she started to whimper. "I no can fly! I wanna fly! I wanna fly!"

Ocellus turned herself back to normal, even as her normally small and unnoticeable wings buzzed outward. "No, no, no! Please, Coral, don't cry!" She pleaded with the little earth pony. "I didn't mean to make you upset."

Luckily, Silverstream seemed to intervene. "You wanna fly, Coral? Auntie Silverstream can help you with that," She flew over to the little filly and carefully scooped Coral into her arms. "You ready to fly?" She asked Coral, who nodded in response. "Okay then, we're clear for take off! Here we go!" The young hippogriff lifted Coral up and made whooshing noises, much to Coral's delight!

Meanwhile, Smolder commented. "You feeling okay, Ocellus?"

"I am now," Ocellus nodded. "I think it was just all that love I felt from Coral. The love she has for Sandbar. It was quite overwhelming. And to changelings, too much love can make us do crazy things. Thorax says he once went berserk when he was surrounded by love in the Crystal Empire."

"Yeah, Spike always like to talk about how he's a big hero there, and how he met Thorax," Smolder remarked. "I suppose that's interesting, if you like that sort of stuff. At least he seems to have no trouble fitting in with ponies," Then she added. "But I thought you changelings don't feed on love anymore?"

Ocellus shook her head. "We don't really. I mean, technically we could if we really want to. But Thorax says that's not how we do things anymore," With a blush she added. "Besides, all that love I was feeling would've probably made me fat."

"How can you get fat off of love?" Smolder questioned.

Ocellus' blush deepened. "It's a long story, I... really don't wanna talk about it."





After a little bit of further playtime (Ocellus learned to exercise more caution with her transformations, so as to avoid turning into anything that might make Coral upset), Coral was set back with a smile on her face.

But to the surprise of the three creatures Coral started to suddenly shift about uncomfortably. Though only Silverstream seemed to know what that face meant. "You gotta go potty, Coral?"

Coral's exact expression was unsure and difficult to read, but Silverstream took it as a yes. "Okay, let's go!" Silverstream chirped and led Coral away.

Silverstream wasn't exactly sure what a "potty" was, but she suspected that whatever Coral needed to do involved the bathroom. She had read up on pony plumbing recently (mostly just a few diagrams) and knew from school that the bathroom was were ponies tended to their bodily needs.

Just like at school, it seemed that the object known as a toilet wasn't much more than an elevated trench with flowing water beneath it, and a colored pedal off to one side and some kind of nozzle off to the other. But Coral didn't seem to go towards it, even though she probably could stand over such an object.

Instead, Coral pulled out some kind of plastic, bowl shaped object that was the same pink color as the pull-up she had worn earlier. Strangely enough, the object was vaguely familiar to Silverstream. "That looks like the pots we used to have back on Mount Aris." She remarked in amazement.

"You use potties?" Coral questioned.

The young hippogriff uncertainly replied. "Sort of. I don't think we had anything like this. Ours were more old, beat up pots of some kind. We got rid of them once Mount Aris had all of its plumbing restored," Looking at Coral she then commented. "I guess this... potty works the same way as those pots?"

Coral nodded. "Uh-huh, but I gots to take off my pull-up first. And I needs help."

"What do you need me to help you with?" Silverstream asked of Coral.

The little filly gestured to the sides of her pull-up, specifically to a small strap that seemed to hold the entire thing in place. Silverstream appeared to understand, though she had to be careful with her paws not to pull too hard. The pull-up was soon pulled down and right off of Coral, set aside.

Everything else about the entire potty training process came and went relatively easily, even the emptying out of the potty afterward. And when it was over, both Coral and Silverstream washed their hooves and paws respectively. Then they both exited the bathroom.





By the time Coral and Silverstream came back, Ocellus was nowhere to be seen and in her place was Yona. "Ocellus say she need to step out for a bit. Gallus want to stay with Sandbar," Yona explained. "Yona want to stay too, but Gallus say Yona too clumsy and Sandbar want Yona to be with Coral."

Coral didn't mind, she was happy to see Yona again. "You have nice fur." She told the yak.

"Yak fur is best fur!" Yona declared as she stomped a hoof down. "Coral want to play in snow with Yona again? This time Yona make sure Coral dressed for it like ponies dress."

"Nu-uh." Coral protested with a whimper. The memory of her brother skidding across the ice and crashing into a tree was still fresh in her mind. It didn't quite occur to her that such an event probably wouldn't be repeated (especially with Sandbar still in the hospital). There had to be something else she could do. Something that wouldn't involve having to go outside.

Smolder seemed to interpret Coral's remark a little bit differently. "Yona, you need to do something Coral wants to do, not something you want to do. Besides, you already had your turn," Then the little dragon turned to Coral as she reluctantly asked. "So, little Coral, what do you wanna play?"

To the little one, the idea of being able to pick what she could do wasn't entirely a foreign concept. She was already used to having a little bit of freedom within the household, so long as she stayed with the boundaries her parents and her big brother set down.

But Smolder's proposal was most definitely a new one. Hardly ever did anyone ever ask Coral what she felt like playing. Under most circumstances she would probably settle for something simple: Like playing with blocks or even a game of hide and go seek. However, in light of the fact that Smolder was a dragon, and Coral remembered dragons mostly from the stories her parents read to her, a rather naughty idea came to her mind. "Gonna play dragon and knight. I be the knight!" She declared with a giggle.

"Uh, but who's going to be the princess?" Silverstream questioned. "Isn't there supposed to be a princess the knight rescues?"

"Maybe in the stories," Smolder retorted. "But if Coral wants to play without a princess that's fine by me, princesses are overrated."

Coral just giggled as she pointed at Smolder. "You be the dragon. I the knight who slay ya!"

At that the dragon blinked. "What? You're gonna slay me? I'm more than twice your size, kid."

The little filly shook her head. "Nu-uh. I a big, brave knight who saves the day. And you a big, mean dragon who gets slayed. I even gots a sword." She trotted off and soon came back with a paper sword and hat.

The dragon wasn't impressed. "That's your sword? I could burn that thing to a crisp in five seconds."

"Smolder, you're supposed to play along," Silverstream encouraged. "Like this!" She proceeded to put on a display with herself. "Grr! I'm a big, scary dragon and I'm gonna eat ya! Oh no, you've got a sword! Oh, have mercy on me!" The hippogriff promptly fell to the ground in exaggerated fashion, pretending to be slain. "Oh, you got me!" Then she stuck her tongue and made it hang off to the side. "Now I'm dead, bleh!"

Smolder snorted. "Really? I have to do all of that?"

Yona nodded her head. "Smolder want Coral to be happy, Smolder have to play the way Coral want Smolder to play."

"Play! Play!" Coral eagerly brandished her fake sword and swung it back and forth.

Reluctantly, the teenaged dragon obliged. "Oh, alright, just this once," Looking across to her friends she added. "Tell anyone, and you're dead. Got it?!" Both Yona and Silverstream nodded with goofy smiles on their faces.





The entire play session lasted less than Coral would've preferred but longer than poor Smolder would've liked. It all ended with the brave knight "slaying" the mighty dragon and living happily ever after.

Unfortunately there was one not so small problem that occurred when Smolder pretended to be "dead". She let out a small puff of smoke and flame from her nostrils, which wouldn't have been so bad if not some very flammable curtains that were nearby. The nostril flame wasn't very hot, but when it caught the edge of the curtains the results were still catastrophic!

Fortunately, Silverstream was able to improvise a quick solution! She hurriedly filled a bucket with water and then transformed into a seapony and dove into the bucket! She couldn't fit into it even if she tried, but that wasn't her intent. The water that splashed out of the bucket was able to hit the flaming curtains and put out the fire. The curtains were still noticeably singed though, now a dark, charcoal black in color whereas before they had been a lovely shade of red.

"Well this is just great," Smolder groaned. "How are we gonna explain that to Sandbar?"

But Silverstream had an idea! "Professor Rarity can help us! She can probably make curtains just like these," Pulling down the curtains she declared. "I'll take them to Professor Rarity's boutique and it'll be like it never happened!" Before anyone could say anything in protest, the young hippogriff had snatched up the curtains and departed for Carousel Boutique.

Gallus returned a moment later. "Hey, guys, just checking in to see how things are going. Everything good? Okay. I'm leaving."

But Smolder grabbed Gallus by the ear and pulled him inside! "Hey, we all agreed to help foalsit Coral! You need to start doing your part!"

"But I don't know anything about babies, especially not baby ponies," Gallus protested. "And I certainly don't remember anything from when I was a little one."

"Well none of us really know about baby ponies, but we've all been trying our best anyway. So now it's your turn to start helping," Smolder demanded. "I'm not taking no for an answer. I'm serious, you try to run and I'll toast your backside!"

Gallus knew Smolder wasn't one to make idle threats, so the griffon realized that he had no choice but to try and help as best he could. However, there was one detail that he noticed right away. "So, where's Coral? Isn't she with you?"

"What do you mean? She's right-" Smolder began only for her sentence to be cut off as her eyes noticed a lack of a little filly near her legs.

Gallus groaned and put a claw to his face. "You don't know where she is, do you? You lost her."

"I didn't lose her!" Smolder protested with a snort. "I just... don't know where she is at the moment. But she couldn't have gotten far. She's gotta still be around this house somewhere."

At that moment there came a flushing sound from the bathroom, and a series of giggles. The two creatures made their way over to the bathroom in time to see Yona and Coral exiting. "Coral do good job making it to potty." Yona commented with praise that was hard to determine if it was sincere or not.

Coral just hugged Yona tightly. "Thank you for helping me, Yona. I see why big brother likes you so much."

Yona just replied. "And Yona like Sandbar, he good friend. All of Yona's friends good."

Just then, there came an audible rumble that originated from Coral. It didn't take a genius to figure out what that noise meant. It was feeding time.

Smolder scooped Coral into her arms and carried the little one to the kitchen. There was a high chair that had seen better days at one end of the kitchen table, and it looked like it barely fit its intended charge. Still, it was suitable enough for Smolder to plop Coral down into it.

Gallus, meanwhile, was looking through the fridge. "What kind of strange foods are these: Mashed Peas, Cream of Carrot, Sweet Potato Surprise? Isn't there anything normal in here?"

"What do you define as normal?" Smolder remarked. "Worms?"

"Sometimes, but I don't think ponies eat worms. Besides, worms are only if there's absolutely nothing else to eat," The griffon grumbled. Then something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. It was some kind of substance in a jar, it looked like the strangely labeled foods but it didn't quite have the weird names to them. He pulled it out. "Aha! Here we go!"

Yona blinked, not recognizing the jar or what was inside it. "Gallus feed Coral... that?"

Gallus nodded. "Apparently it's called 'Applesauce'. It looks kind of like how griffons sometimes mash apples into little bits to feed to their young. It's really good for them too."

But although Coral was hungry, she didn't seem to be particularly thrilled with the applesauce. Or maybe she was but she just didn't like being offered it on a spoon. In either case she kept her mouth shut as Gallus approached her.

"Okay, Coral, time to eat." Gallus encouraged in the sweetest tone he could manage, nudging the spoon closer to the little filly.

Coral appeared to cooperate as she opened up her mouth, swallowing the entire spoonful of applesauce. Then she gestured over to the jar.

"Oh, you want more?" Gallus questioned and received a reply in the form of a nod. "Okay."

But Coral spoke up. "I don't need spoon. I can eat with my hooves."

Yona smiled. "That the best way to eat. No pony utensils or silverware!"

"Yona, don't give Coral any ideas. She's not a yak." Smolder protested.

Gallus simply brought over another spoonful, and set the jar of applesauce down next to Coral on the table. He didn't seem to pay attention to her efforts to try and reach out towards the jar. In fact he seemed to be quite surprised when little Coral grabbed the spoon and tried to flick it! He held on tightly!

Coral wouldn't let go though, eventually she had her way as the spoon slipped out of her grasp and Gallus briefly shot backwards, tipping over the jar. Coral was then able to wiggle out of her highchair and towards the applesauce, happily devouring as much as she could get into her hooves each time.

Gallus just sighed as he looked at the unfolding scene. "I give up."





When feeding time was over, Smolder wiped Coral down with a rag while Gallus cleaned up the spilled applesauce. "And this is why I didn't want to come back. I told you I'm not good with foals." He complained to Smolder.

"Well you're not the only one who's had trouble," Smolder complained back. "Now come on, it's almost time for her bath. Let's just focus on that."

But Yona whimpered a bit. "Yak not like water. Yona not gonna get wet!" She still hadn't fully gotten over that experience she'd had on that field trip. And swimming lessons in the spring were not something she was looking forward to. In a rather unusual display, the yak waddled away rather quickly.

Fortunately, just as Yona left Silverstream came back, and so did Ocellus. "The good news is, Professor Rarity is going to have new curtains ready very soon. The bad news is, Sandbar's going to be on his way home soon. The doctors said he'll be fine." Ocellus informed them (Silverstream had told Ocellus what had happened while she was away).

Smolder puffed out her chest. "Just leave him to me, I'll slow him down! I'm good at creating distractions. You guys just make sure Coral takes her bath and the curtains are ready." And she left to intercept Sandbar on the path from the hospital.

Silverstream, meanwhile, smiled brightly. "I can help with bath time! I know how to make it fun! I can make anything fun! Come on, little Coral, it's time for your bath! You wanna get all nice and squeaky clean, right?" Coral happily nodded, she loved taking baths.

Gallus got the bath water flowing and made sure it was just the right temperature, while Ocellus kept watch from a window for any signs of Sandbar, Smolder, or Rarity.

Soon, the bath was ready. Gallus carefully lowered Coral into the tub (after Silverstream had again removed Coral's pull-up). Then, Silverstream clutched her necklace and transformed into her seapony form. She landed in the tub across from Coral with a splash. Fortunately, several towels had already been placed down to catch any overflowing water.

"I love doing that!" Silverstream chirped at Coral. "Now, do you have any toys you like to play with?"

Coral nodded, gesturing to a small rubber ducky that bobbed up and down in the tub. She nudged it towards Silverstream, seemingly unaware of Gallus holding a bottle of mane shampoo in his claws.

"Ooh, what's this? A new friend of yours?" Silverstream playfully replied as she nudged the rubber ducky back towards Coral.

Coral nodded again. "I never take bath without rubber ducky. It take me on all kinds of adventures."

The seapony smiled. "Ooh! That reminds me of the adventures I'd go on all the time in my coral reef. Let me tell you about them."





The stories did their part of keeping Coral entertained. She hardly noticed as she went through all the usual bathing rituals (much to her dismay). And while she did get to stay and play in the tub with Silverstream a bit longer, Coral was eventually lifted out and dried off.

The new curtains arrived a moment later and with Rarity's help they were installed so that it looked like they had always been there. One would've never guessed the old ones had been burned.

But several more minutes passed after that, and yet there was no sign of Sandbar. Coral began to worry all over again. "Something happened to big brother." She remarked with concern.

"Sandbar tough, Sandbar fine," Yona insisted to Coral. "Maybe Sandbar stay overnight so he not have to walk home in cold?"

"Maybe Smolder got them lost? This town can get kind of confusing. Even I still get lost sometimes." Ocellus admitted.

But just then Silverstream chirped. "Ooh, I see them! They're coming right up to the front door!"

Sure enough, Sandbar was leading Smolder back to his house even as the dragon seemed to be trying to get ahead of him. The door knob turned and Sandbar trotted inside. "Coral, I'm back," He called. "How was everything?"

Coral immediately crawled over to her older brother and let him scoop her into his hooves. "Big brother! I miss you!"

Sandbar smiled, nuzzling Coral's mane. "I missed you too, Coral. Did you have a good time with my friends?"

Coral nodded. "They great fun, and they all have funny stories to share. And they help me use potty. I make it twice!"

Sandbar's smile grew wider. "Aw, such a good girl. You're growing up to be a big filly, you know that?"

The little filly shrunk a bit. "But, I had accident."

"So? One accident versus two successful trips to the potty. I'd say that's a winning record for today," Sandbar told his little sister. "Definitely worth a gold star on your potty chart. Wouldn't you agree?" Coral nodded. "Well, we'll put on it, then you need to go to bed. It's getting late."

"Okay." Coral yawned.

Meanwhile, Sandbar turned to look at all his friends (including an exhausted Smolder). "Thanks for taking care of Coral for me. I knew I could count on you guys. Was she any trouble?"

"Uh..." The other creatures all began, not sure of whether or not to tell Sandbar the truth. They especially weren't sure if they should mention the curtains.