Scootaloo buzzed along on her scooter down the dirt street as Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom followed alongside their friend. The orange glow of the setting sun gave the area a calm feeling as a few leads blew about. “Come on it’s just down the street,” Scootaloo chirped happily
“Why are we going there again?” Apple Bloom asked as their trek had led them to the edge of town with a faint breeze in the air causing a slight chill.
“Rainbow Dash dared me to stay in a supposed haunted house. She didn’t say anything about me not being allowed to make it into a crusader thing.” Scootaloo whispered meekly.
Sweetie Belle twitched some as she listened. “Haunted, like ghosts?” she meeped.
Scootaloo waved her hoof as they approached the old wooden house. “Pfft, Yeah why would it be haunted? Rainbow is probably just trying to pull my leg. Plus, I won’t let any monsters scare me.” She buzzed her tiny wings for emphasis.
The group watched as one of the shutters flapped in the wind clacking against the window repeatedly. Despite the house supposedly being abandoned, the front yard did look like it had been freshly raked recently. The girls adjust their sleeping rolls as they head up the path and onto the porch, the planks creeping ominously as they reach the door. “You’re not chicken are you?” Scootaloo teased poking Sweetie Belle’s side.
“What no, I’m just saying there’s been a lot of things we thought were just stories that came true,” Sweetie said shifting on her hooves.
“Well, I say we go in and see,” Apple Bloom added as she turned the door with a few creeks hard in response. A few spiders scampered away as light poured into the empty hall. The fillies all poked their heads inside seeing the old furniture and faded photos on the walls of the main foyer. One by one they file inside, their hoofsteps echoing around the empty halls.
“Alright, let’s look around,” Scootaloo replied, eager for adventure as she softly closed the front door. She turned and glanced up at the old chandelier that hung from the ceiling. There were also stairs leading up to the second floor. “Let's go there,” Scootaloo pointed to the hallway along the left side and began to move. The other two fillies put down their bedrolls before following after their friend. The young pegasus moved to the first doorway she came across which happened to be the kitchen. The dark oak cupboards that lined the walls had a few flakes of paint peeling off but otherwise seemed mostly intact
“Why did we come in here? Apple Bloom asked casually peering into the lower cupboards, most of them bare. “There’s nothing here.”
“You never know,” Scootaloo replied, opening one of the cupboards near the old stove. “Oh hey look pans!” Her eyes sparkled as she pulled out a few and placed them upside down.
“Scootaloo, what are you doing?” Sweetie Belle asked, shivering as she felt a cold freeze rush by her.
Scootaloo didn’t seem to listen as she adjusted the pots near her. I’m…uh just looking,” she muttered, finding a wooden spoon in the cupboard alongside the pans. The other two watched as Scootaloo began to tap on the pots going slow at first before speeding up and hammering the pots with the spoons at random. As she played, a burst of joyful laughter came out of her and she seemed unaware of what she was doing.
Eventually, Apple Bloom went up next to Scootaloo and shook her shoulder. “Scoots! Snap out of it.”
The action worked like a charm as Scootaloo shook her head, blinking a few times. “Huh, what?” she stared won at the spoon. “That was odd,” she stood up blushing a tad. “Well let’s keep looking around.”
Sweetie flinched as she heard some creaking in another room and let out a squeak. “Y-yeah sure let’s keep exploring.” She glanced to either side before they entered the hallway again and soon saw a few faded photos on the wall. “Hey look at those.” Upon the wall were images of a middle-aged green mare holding a foal in her hooves while smiling at the camera.
“Huh, why would somepony leave those behind?” Scootaloo asked, peering at the various ones they saw the mare in them looking like she was having the time of her life.in each.
“Is it me, or do they look like they’ve been dusted lately?” Sweetie asked, noticing how clean the glass was.
“Ya, now that you mention it,” Apple Bloom rubbed her chin as she took a glance. “Why do ya think that is?”
“T-think it was a ghost that did it?” Sweetie asked, staring around as she thought she saw something moving up the stairs in the corner of her eye.
Scootaloo shook her head .”No way, there are no ghosts, just I don’t know, maybe?”
Sweetie was about to comment again when she found something else odd. “Hey look, there are some claw prints in the dust.” She pointed her hoof to the path of prints that led toward the stairs.
Apple Bloom however got distracted and turned to see that there was a rag doll that looked oddly familiar. She picked it up with a snicker. “Oh, this must be that Smartypants doll that Twilight had cursed and made my brother go crazy.”
“What would that be doing here?” Scootaloo asked, confused as she watched Apple Bloom dancing the doll about in her hooves.
Sweetie Belle smacked the doll from Apple Bloom’s hooves and snapped, “Seriously, stop that you and Scootaloo are freaking me out.”
“So...sorry I have no idea why I did that?” the farm filly mumbled rubbing her head.
Scootaloo's heart beat faster as she got a bit scared and started to stammer, “may-maybe we should...should go..this place is starting to freak me out.”
Sweetie Belle gave a nod. “Yeah, I think we should go…” she then turned her gaze to see a dollhouse down the hall. She couldn’t take it from her gaze, slowly walking over and seeing little plastic toy ponies. The filly without realizing it started to dress them up in frilly dresses and small diapers. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were both surprised and didn’t notice at the time but all three were slightly shorter. Scootaloo was whimpering, getting nervous as she tried to hurry back to the foyer.
Scootaloo ran to the front door tugging on it desperately, but no matter how she tried it stayed shut tight. “Hey! Open up!” She said panicked her limbs feeling weaker than they normally felt. She gazed back at the pots and pans still on the ground by the kitchen as she slowly headed back into the room. Her worries faded away, as she couldn’t hold back a giggle sitting down to resume banging the spoon on the pot a few times with the filly getting smaller as time progressed. It wasn’t long till she had to hold the spoon with both hooves to play her music. The pots appeared larger to her, failing to notice the pudge she had gained or that her teeth were receding. After a few minutes, she heard the soft voice of a mare approaching and looked up to see the ghostly shape of the same green mare from the photos.
“Aww, come here little one,” the mare cooed, scooping up the tiny infant Scootaloo. Any questions the filly may have tried to ask just came out as foalish babbling and spittle. The Ghost mare pulled out a pink diaper bag and started to tape up the foal “Don’t worry, you’re safe with me.”
While Scootaloo was having a diaper taped into place by the mysterious Ghost, Apple Bloom looked around and found the living room area. Her eyes were drawn to the small stack of blocks now sitting on an old rug, a few of them even had apples on them. The filly moved over to them and sat down. She had not yet noticed the size change as she picked up the first block and began making random towers with them. The filly found it harder to remember letters as time went on along with forgetting what numbers were on the blocks as she made her stacks. She knocked down them a few times before she looked up as the ghost nanny cooed down at her.
“Hello little one, are you lost?”
Apple Bloom tried to form words, but most seemed hard to recall how to say them. All she could get out was “Big?”
“Don’t you fret you’ll be with your friends again soon,” the mare mothered, as she slid out the supplies and laid the foal down to get her all diapered.
The small filly wormed about a bit scared by the sudden appearance. “No! No!” she whined, but her little hooves were too weak to resist it.
While Apple Bloom was being taken care of, Sweetie Belle was still invested in her “dollhouse” making up scenarios with the toys. She barely noticed the Ghostly Caretaker come by her and ask, “Hello little one, you need to go potty?”
The filly squeaked, seeming to have a sudden pang in her bladder. She crossed her hind legs whimpering. “Y-yes I gotta potty,” she whined.
The mare took Sweetie’s hoof leading her along towards a mirror “Bathroom is right this way just keep holding it,” the mare cooed. When they passed through the mirror and into a much more vibrant room than the one they had just been in, the foal gasped surprised. Not a speck of dust around and a friendly atmosphere all around. The nanny mare quickly sat the white filly upon a pink plastic training potty with a smile. “Go on. Show me how the potty works.” After only a second, the mare heard a tinkling as Sweetie sighed happily. “Good filly, doing such a good job,” she praised patting Sweetie’s head.
Sweetie glanced around and gave a cute pout. “Where are my friends?”
The mare took hold of Sweetie's hoof once more and cooed. “Don’t worry I’ll explain once we get you all together.” Crossing the hallway, the two step into a big nursery with various decorations up the walls like crayon drawings or hoof paints. In the center of the room were the other crusaders equally looking confused. Scootaloo made a few babblings pointing at the mare before noticing becoming fascinated with her hoof and popping it into her mouth to suckle.
“Hehe, I suppose you meant to ask how and why you are here?” The mare asked leaning down to look the three in the eyes. She peered at Scootaloo first. “Well your big sister Rainbow Dash signed you up to my little daycare,” she explained although the three still seemed puzzled. The mare gently scooped Scootaloo into her hooves cradling the youngest foal. “Hehe oh well I run a daycare where ponies can be regressed and treated like foals for a while,” she added as the orange filly giggled.
“Why?” Sweetie asked, peering up with an innocent smile.
“Well, isn’t it obvious? Ponies get so stressed sometimes and need breaks. So I provide the best way to wash away any of that adult stuff for a few hours.”
“Why?” Sweetie asked again.
“Oh, adults have lots of things to get stressed about. But that’s not important for little ones.”
“Why?”
“Are you messing with me,” the mare asked with a smirk as she formed another phantom hoof and booped the filly’s nose?
Sweetie laughed holding her nose as she nodded. “Uh-huh, hehehe.” She kicked her legs happily.
Apple Bloom watched as the mare cradled Scootaloo for a bit before spotting a plush zebra by the stack of toys and waddled to it soon snuggling it close to her.
The mare sat down and patted Sweetie Belle’s head. “Do you want to be a big filly and help nanny?” she asked warmly.
In response, Sweetie clapped her hooves giddily, nodding with vigour. “Wanna help!”
“That’s a good filly,” the mare said. “All you gotta do is help nanny keep an eye on your other two friends.”
“Otay!” Sweetie said. Once Scootaloo was set down before her, she hugged her friend. She smiled more waiting for Scootaloo to look up before making funny faces at the young foal. After a few more giggles, Sweetie lifted her friend into the air and gently bounced her up and down.
“Oh, you’re a natural, little one,” The mare encouraged moving over to Apple Bloom. The small filly seemed content to just dance her plush around babbling random syllables. The nanny sat down next to the foal pulling out a Luna plushie and dancing it on the floor by Apple Bloom. “Hi there, wanna be friends,” she said in a pitched-up silly voice. The foal cheered and nodded, dancing her toy around with joy. “Oh you do, lovely,” the mare added as she helped dance the plushies together.
While the mare was busy, Sweetie slipped Scootaloo onto her back with a smile as he looked at the open door to the hallway. “Wet go explore,” she whispers, Scootaloo nodded and cooed as her little hooves hugged the bigger filly’s neck. Being as silent as she could she slowly snuck along towards the door hearing the happy laughter of Apple Bloom. Stopping at the door, she slowly reached out her hoof and extended it over the threshold to test for any kind of alarm or a trap. Finding none, she glanced back into the room making sure the mare was still occupied and snuck into the hallway looking at the bright coloured wallpaper and the pristine photos on the walls. On a second glance, she saw the images all had different foals, some of which Sweetie recognized. A few more doors lined the hallway than the real world one had and the curious mind of the youngster led her to move towards the first one she came across. She noticed a painted green flame on the door too. Thankfully for her, the door was slightly ajar allowing her to nose it open slowly and peer inside. To her surprise, the room was decorated like a large cave with shiny crystals on the ceiling for light. The floor was rock coloured but was soft foam. Her hooves sink into the floor faintly with each step as she walks further in passing by a pile of plastic gems and soon reaches the center seeing a soft plush nest. Tilting her head she lifted her head over the edge to peek in and giggled as she spotted who was inside.
Sitting happily in the middle of the plush nest was Spike softly suckling on a plush gemstone drool on his chin. His body was all small and chubby with a sizable diaper taped upon him. He looked up from his teething and blinked a few times, surprised to see Sweetie here. Setting his toy down, he crawled his way over to the edge and boops her nose. He’s clearly too young to speak but still smiled.
Sweetie smiled back. “Hi, Spike.” She cooed, before using a small pile of plush gems to get high enough to climb into the nest with the foal.
Scootalpo babbled at Spike. “How are you here?”
Of course with the drake also being so young, they could understand each other. “I, uh, booked an appointment.” He said his face flushed.”Why are you here?”
“Rainbow tricked us here,” Scootaloo said with a cute pout.
“What you saying,” Sweetie whined, unable to know what they were discussing.
Spike crawled up to Scootaloo and hugged her belly claws feeling her soft fluff. The cute scene lasted about a minute before the three heard the ghost mare float in with Apple Bloom. “Oh, there you two are,” She mothered approaching the nest. “You shouldn’t wander away from your nanny.” Settling Apple Bloom into the nest, the mare booped Spike’s nose causing the hatchling to bounce up and down with glee. “Aww, you found Spikey-Wikey too. He just loves his little cave.” Spike clapped his claws together grinning big with his baby teeth in response. She tapped her chin for a moment, suddenly having an idea. “You know what? Spike needs some playmates.” She sang, flying off to a closet in the corner.
The Crusaders didn't know what the mare meant until she returned holding up cute dragon-shaped hoodie pyjamas. Each consisted of the main body being the colour of their respective fur colours with the bellies and plush spines being their manes. The three laugh and worm as the nanny took each in her magic and slipped them into their costumes. Each of them had a foam tail that ended in a small rounded end that rattled when it was shaken. Their hooves were softly wrapped in booties shaped like three-tipped claws with even puffier pads on the bottoms.
Doing up the final zipper, the mare set them down next to Spike and let out an aww. “There we go, four little dragons all snug as a bug.” She gave each of their tummies a boop and smiled more. “I think it’s time for you four to have a meal.” Instead of taking them to the kitchen, the mare floated out of the room and returned moments later with four bottles topped with blue nipples. “Milkies for the hatchlings.”
Sweetie stuck her tongue out. “Nu big pony, no bottle.”
“Come on Sweetie, you wouldn’t want to set a bad example would you?” The mare mothered as she held the bottles up to Spike and Scotoaloo’s mouths for them. “Do you want to help and feed Apple Bloom first?”
“Okay,” Sweetie said, nodding as she adjusted Apple Bloom in her forehooves. Once the foal got comfy, Sweetie set the nipple into her friend's mouth soon hearing the light suckling as the infant drank. “Aww, cute.”
Scootaloo hesitated for only a moment until her tummy rumbled again. The padded nest soon was full of the sounds of drinking foals as the nanny kept on smiling. She held Spike and Scootaloo close to her sides, humming softly once Apple Bloom had a nice rhythm going, the mare floated the last bottle up to Sweetie's lips. “Open wide!’” She sang.
“B-but,” Sweetie hesitated, her cheeks flushed. However, after watching the other three enjoying their bottles, she opened up and started to drink her bottle. The creamy milk caused a soothing feeling as she slumped, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the taste.
They all sighed once they were done with their meals lying down on the soft next. The nanny’s smile grew. “Who’s ready to play?” As all four cheered, she floated them out of the nest moving them onto a large flowing red floor resembling a lava pool. Once set down on the glowing mat, the four babies giggled bouncing happily upon it. The red and yellow lines shifted beneath them as they did. Scootaloo kept hugging the floor to feel its warmth on her body. Spike and Apple Bloom jump together with laughter filling the room when they bump into each other or try to land on Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie, in return, grinned wide as she tried to catch the foals when they bounced up high enough to do so. “Hehe you’re flying,” she cheered as she tossed Scootaloo into the air and caught her on the way down. Repeating the process a few times, the filly enjoys herself too. Eventually, the fun did come to an end as the foals and dragon tired themselves out. One by one the foals started to yawn.
“Oh, it's nap time for you four,” The mare sang as she brought over some large blankets with an egg-like pattern. Taking the smallest foal first, she laid Scootaloo down on the blanket and started to wrap her up, getting the head all snug in the hood as she folded it into a swaddle. The filly wiggled lightly but soon settled staring up at the mare as a pacifier was set into her mouth. The nanny smiled as she started swaddling the other babies leaving Sweetie to get comfy next to her bundled-up friends on the soft nest. The mare sat next to them before starting to sing a slow lullaby, her voice calming as a lake. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before the little ones all dozed off peacefully.
Scootaloo was the first to stir slowly, opening her eyes to the soft lighting of the cave room and wiggling in her bundle of blankets. Before she was fully awake, a familiar blue muzzle filled her vision. She let out a gasp upon realization.
“Hey there, little Squirt,” Rainbow cooed, nuzzling the small foal. As Rainbow listened to the babbling, she unwrapped Scootaloo and lifted her up by the forelegs. “Hhehe, I bet you had lots of fun with the nanny,” she sang nuzzling nose to nose.
As the other babies awake, Sweetie looked over, rubbing her eyes. “Dashie?”
“Hey Sweetie, did you enjoy yourself?” Rainbow asked, holding Scootaloo with one foreleg letting the infant hug her neck.
Sweetie blushed faintly but nodded “Uh-huh,” She looked over at the other as they woke up, Apple Bloom letting out a wide yawn as she awoke. “Why are you here?”
Rainbow smiled wide. “Oh, I'm here to pick you three up. Don’t worry you’ll be back to normal by sunset.” She said as the ghost nanny came over as well. “Hope you’re not upset about the little trick?”
The Crusaders all shake their heads now smiling up at Rainbow Dash. The two join Scootaloo as they waddle up to the mare and hug her, feeling the soft fur. In return, Rainbow pulled her wings around them for a big group hug that lasted a few minutes with the mare humming gently. After the snuggling, Rainbow set the two foals on her back while Sweetie followed her through the mirror. At the front door was a double-seated stroller which Rainbow used to buckle the two in comfortably “Alright, let’s go have some fun,”
With that, Rainbow waves the nanny goodbye as Sweetie follows closely as they exit into the morning sunlight. Overall, the crusaders would all admit later that they all had tons of fun and might do it again later and the nanny would be waiting eagerly for more as well.