Having spent the day pretending to be grown-up mares just so they could enjoy some time at the Appleloosa County Fair without adult supervision, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were just about ready to change back into silly fillies.
Yes, you read that right. Rather than donning some elaborate disguise to fool the carnies, the CMC had gone one better by accidentally making a wish by an enchanted flower discovered by Starswirl The Bearded which gave them a huge boost in height, strength…
Not to mention voice pitch. Even to their own ears, they sounded weird.
In any case, the jig was now up, they were so busted and their little scheme was rumbled.
Or to be more specific, Twilight had turned up with Fluttershy in tow to reverse the spell. As usual, she had to be the one to ‘save the day’. It was getting to be a habit.
They’d arrived just in the nick of time to stop a cute but highly destructive Whirling Mungtooth called Floofy (species not known at the time) from devastating the fair, by helping its co-owner Spur calm it down.
Now Spur and her friend Biscuit stood amazed with them at the train station as the still fully-grown Crusaders admitted they were actually youngsters all along, and their ‘adult’ advice was just a cruel charade to cover up for their complete lack of experience.
I mean sure, they had managed to help out hundreds of colts and fillies with their destinies, but when it came to non-Cutie-Mark-related conundrums, they still had a long way to go.
Regardless, the time for re-transformation was upon the naughty fillies. Twilight had brought the magical plant all the way from Ponyville so they could make their final wish, which coincided with the singular amount of petals left.
In other words, there was just enough juice for another command, before the flower became as useless as a crushed daisy.
“I’m pretty sure the three of you know what to wish for…” Twilight smiled at the trio of regretful Crusaders. “...And I’m pretty sure Starswirl won’t mind.”
But as Twilight levitated the plant over to where the fillies stood ready to revoke their newfound adulthood, something quite unexpected happened.
You see, having been informed that the ‘older’ mares they’d hung out all afternoon with were mere children even younger than them, not to mention rumblings of a mystical flower that’d helped along with the process, Spur and Biscuit had a few questions of their own…
...And they weren’t about to wait for some spell to be cast before they got answers.
“What is going on around here?” Spur demanded, understandably confused at all the convoluted exposition they’d just heard.
“Yeah, I wish you’d just tell us already.” Biscuit agreed with his friend, just before the CMC were about to reverse the transformation on themselves.
This unintended command had the predictable effect of making the final petal on the flower wilt away, before the Crusaders (still in their adult bodies) found their lips moving of their own accord.
“We wanted to go to the fair, but nopony was around to chaperone us. We were so busy preparin’ everything else for the trip, we just plum forgot in the end.” Apple Bloom started off the shaggy dog story.
“We asked my sister Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, then Twilight and Fluttershy here, but they weren’t available. I suppose we could’ve tried Pinkie Pie, but we didn’t wanna take anypony who might’ve had more fun than us.” Sweetie Belle answered honestly, unable to do anything else in the circumstances.
“That was when we found this magical flower in Twilight’s castle, and then we got talking about how we wished we were grown-up so we could go to the fair unsupervised. Little did we know, we were about to have the strangest day…” Scootaloo continued, and they proceeded to take it in turns to tell the torrid tale.
……………………………
“...And that’s about it!” Apple Bloom sighed with relief after the final speaker had finished talking. “After gettin’ off at the wrong stop, and meetin’ that weird ticket-takin’ pony, we got lost in the swamp before findin’ Spur and Biscuit here on their way to the fair. The rest you know already.”
“Yeah, I mean we had a lot of fun today…” Sweetie Belle accepted the last few hours hadn’t been without merit. “But messing up the Animal Showcase was not part of our plan. And like we said already, we’re very sorry for any trouble we caused.”
“I just wanna return to being able to fit on my hoofboard again…” Scootaloo frowned at all the funny looks she’d received from riding it that day. “C’mon Twilight, make us young again so by the time I’m this age again, I’ll be the best daredevil Equestria’s ever seen!”
Having heard the Crusaders relay the extended account of how they’d gotten into this predicament with an open mouth, Twilight now stood with her head bowed as if not quite knowing what to say next.
“Well? We’ve learned our lesson!” Apple Bloom wondered what the reason for the hold-up was.
“No more wanting to be adults for us! Not for another hundred years or more!” Sweetie Belle was desperate to return to her precious fillyhood years.
“Twilight, please! We don’t mind if they watch!” Scootaloo gestured at the utterly nonplussed Spur and Biscuit nearby, as if the process of changing the Crusaders back was a private matter.
A suddenly pensive Twilight’s only reaction to hearing the eager fillies-turned-mares chirp their requests was to turn back to glance at an equally morose Fluttershy.
The yellow pegasus’s only contribution to the conversation was a sad shake of the head, and this seemed to confirm Twilight’s worst fears.
“Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo… I don’t know how to tell you this, but… your last wish has just been used up. Also, due to the nature of this legendary flower’s power and how incredibly rare it is, I don’t know another way to return you to your proper ages now. I’m so, so sorry but… I’m afraid you’re stuck as mares.”