//------------------------------//
// Chapter five: Sweetie Belle's secret 
// Story: Stop Patronizing the Sun! 
// by Foal Star 
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It's been about two months since Celestia was turned into a school foal; the princess alicorn was in a deep sleep in a room that was built across from Twilight's; she had her own little, bed a closet full of dresses, mostly ones Rarity has made for her since moving to Ponyville, a toy chest, and Philomena was with her now standing on her perch nearby. Rainbow Dash slowly flew through the window, and finding the little princess; she nudged her. "Hey there, ready for another lesson in flying?"

Celestia woke up looking quite surprised, seeing the pegasus, getting rather excited as she flew up from her bed, ready to train. The daredevil mare laughed as she put out a hoof on the filly. "Easy there, don't want to hurt yourself."

The princess of the sun rolled her eyes, getting tired of the patronizing, but she fluttered back down. The blue-coated mare then took her by the hoof, and they flew out into the early morning for their "flying lessons." 

Outside, Rainbow Dash was slowly flapping her wings, getting her body off the ground." Alright, we covered liftoff and fluttering, but today we're going to actually fly; you ready?" 

Celestia threw her wings out from her body as she exclaimed, "I'm ready for anything!"

Rainbow laughed and ruffled Celestia's mane. "Alright, kiddo, let's do this!"

Celestia lifted her wings and soared in the air with Rainbow, who was still holding her hoof as they soared through the still darkened skies over Ponyville. They flew for a good few minutes, with little alicorn seeming to get a handle on flying. But the hoof holding felt weird, especially with Rainbow Dash of all ponies. But her stamina wasn't like it was, and she was feeling rather tired, and the daredevil noticed as she flew back down to the library. "That was pretty good; you're doing so well, kiddo."

"Thanks, I guess." The filly grumbled under her breath as she hated being called that but didn't shout back. 

Rainbow Dash then escorted Celestia by the hoof back to the library with the princess getting a bit annoyed as she turned around and snapped, "I don't mean to be rude, but I can go back to Golden Oaks Library on my own."

"Right, sorry...I...I don't know what came over me. I...um...yeah, have a good day at school." Rainbow Dash stammered as she spread her wings and flew up into the air. 

Celestia shook her head as she shuffled back to the library, climbed back upstairs, and headed to the bathroom. She went and took a shower using foal safe shampoo that made her smell like strawberries, brushed her teeth with foal safe bubble gum toothpaste, combed her short and curly mane with a little pink plastic comb. The princess then sloqly trotted back to her bedroom, a little peeved still from Rainbow's patronizing. The princess gave Philomena some birdseed before double-checking her saddlebag, making sure it had her homework in it. She then trotted downstairs to see Twilight already setting up breakfast. There she spotted her plate with pancakes and eggs cut up in bite sized pieces, and a sippy cup full of orange juice. Twilight looked over at Celestia with a smile. "Morning Celestia, looks like you had fun flying with Rainbow this morning?"

"Yeah, I'm getting better," Celestia replied with a smile; the princess continued to eat her meal and wasn't even phased that her pancakes were cut up and her orange juice was in a sippy cup, being quite used to the treatment by now. While finishing up her breakfast, Twilight looked over and asked, "want to do some magic training before you go to school?"

"Yeah!" the little princess alicorn exclaimed. She squinted her eyes and concentrated hard as she had her horn slowly lit up and teleported the sippy cup into her hooves and squealed in delight. "See! I did it!"

"Good for you! You're improving much better than where you were a few months ago." Twilight commented and ruffled her mane. 

The violet unicorn nuzzled her charge before she skipped off to school. She was rather exicted as her magic ability was slowly improving and she was going to a sleepover at Rarity's with her friends later today. The filly was so excited she almost ran into Cherrilee who looked down at the filly with a smile. "Hello, you're looking rather chipper this morning."

"Hey Cheerilee, yeah, I'm doing great! I got all my homework done and ready for the big test!" The princess exclaimed, flapping her wings excitedly. 

“Oh, that’s good to hear now. Do you need to go to the bathroom before the test?” The teacher asked.

“Nope, I’m good.” Celestia quickly replied, hoping nopony overheard that as she then briskly trotted to her desk and waited patiently for her friends to come by, and they all sat around her. Celestia then leaned over and whispered to the other crusaders. "Hey, are you three ready for the sleepover?" 

"Heck yeah!" the three exclaimed excitedly. The princess smiled as she and her friends waited for Cheerilee to begin her math lesson. 







After the lesson, Cheerilee then went and started hoofing out the big test to her students. All Celestia could do was sweat nervously as the pink coated mare came over to her and whispered, "Hey princess Celestia don't be so nervous you got this."

She slid the filly alicorn the test she was going to take, and the alicorn filly looked down, still somewhat nervous but gave a smile and a nod. "Right, thank you, Cheerilee."

She gave a nod and trotted off as Celestia bent over and started her math test; the filly did her best to answer the math questions. They were simple. If she were an adult, this test would've been super easy; however, the test was rather tricky with her knowledge regressed. She scribbled away, writing down her answers using her magic, and the next hour felt like a year as she finally wrote down her last answer. Cheerilee came over to her first, picking the test up and whispering, "good job Celestia; now go and have fun; you're excused for recess." 

The princess filly gave another nod before running out of the schoolhouse and to the playground outside. She waited patiently for her friends to join her, seeing Scootaloo slowly trotted over and asked, "so Celestia, how do you think you did?"

The princess shrugged as she was unsure as she kicked the dirt. "Not sure...I guess I did, ok."

The orange coated filly shrugged and replied, "Hey, you probably did better than me; I think I barely passed that test."

"Yeah, that's because you don't study at all." Apple Bloom chirped as she skipped after the others.

Sweetie Belle was the last crusader to come out of the schoolhouse as she rolled her eyes and responded, "yeah, you always barely passed."

Celestia was quite nervous; she never told them how her regression caused her education to be that of a preschooler, but she was learning fast with Cheerilee and Twilight's help. "Yeah, I'm nervous too...but at least this is the last test before summer vacation."

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, "now we can focus more on finding your cutie mark!"

Celestia sighed as she rubbed a hoof over her face and grumbled, "ugh, we did everything!? We watched roosters crow, did yoga, watched the sunrise constantly, heck, I'm doing flying and magic lessons."

"Hey, don't give up; we'll find it soon." Sweetie Belle replied with a  reassuring smile.

Apple Bloom looked down, not really knowing what to say and seeming to have the same feelings that Celestia regarding her cutie mark. Scootaloo also flew over and replied, "yeah, don't worry about that; that's why we're sleeping over at Rarity's today."

Celestia just shrugged as she responded, "right...though...I guess that makes sense…" She wasn't entirely sure of why they were sleeping over at Rarity's will help, but Sweetie Belle insisted on it. 

"Well, she has a lot of things that can help you become a princess, dresses, tiaras, maybe you need to be more princess-like." Sweetie Belle explained.

Celestia gave a sigh; even Scootaloo made a bleh sound, and Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "Well, we already tried following my rooster around and even tried cawing like him."

Celestia giggled, seeing that it was quite a day. "Yeah, that was fun, though...not really helpful."

Scootaloo flapped her wings and replied, "ugh!? Why doesn't she try raising the sun? You got enough practice from Rainbow Dash and Twilight, right?"

The princess shook her head. "I've tried like every morning, and it's still a struggle…"

"Alright, well..at the very least, we're going to have fun; come on, cheer up?" Sweetie Belle chirped as Celestia shrugged, and eventually, the bell rang, and they all trotted into the schoolhouse. There Cheerilee handed out the tests, and Celestia was quite nervous to see her score. When she got her test back, she peeked down and saw a big red "A" stamped on her paper. The filly squealed in delight as she jumped up and cried out, "yes!" 

The filly was now jumping up and down in excitement. "I got an A!"

Scootaloo looked over her own test and grumbled, "got a C, but at least I passed."

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle snickered, then as soon as the bell rang again, they ran off to Rarity's boutique. There the white-coated mare opened the door and squealed upon seeing the fillies. "Hello, darlings, and good afternoon Princess Celestia! I prepared for your visit."

The princess lowered her head as Rarity gave her extra attention. All of Twilight's friends treated her with royal etiquette. As they went past the shop, Celestia looked around, seeing that the rest of her living quarters had been cleaned and a big red carpet was laid out. The alicorn princess was now feeling squeamish but appreciated the extra effort she made to make sure the place was prepared for them. Then they went upstairs to Sweetie Belle's room. The little filly placed a hoof over her head and exclaimed, "Welcome to my room!"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and grumbled, "we've been here before Sweetie Belle?"

"Well this is Celestia's first visit to my room, duh!?" Sweetie Belle snapped back.

Princess Celestia just skipped over to Sweetie Belle' closet. There she saw all kinds of outfits and dresses she picked out a cute frilly blue dress and a sparkling tiara. After getting dressed in the adorable outfit, she twirled about and turned to her friends and asked, "what do you think? Am I a princess or what?"

They all burst into laughter at how cute and silly the princess alicorn was being. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo started to pull out dresses and began to dress themselves up. 

Sweetie Belle suddenly had an idea as she exclaimed, "why don't we have our own Galloping Gala!?”

"Oh. that sounds like a good idea!" Apple Bloom chirped out loud. 

Scootaloo was the only one reluctant about the idea as she made a "bleh" sound. "Ugh, the galloping gala, Rainbow Dash, told me that sucked."

"Yeah, it does every year, it's the most boring party ever...so why don't we try making it the best party ever?" Celestia asked with her cheeks turning a shade of pink. 

Sweetie Belle scoffed, "at least my sister didn't marry that pompous Blueblood; he sounded like such a jerk!"

The alicorn filly rolled her eyes as she despised Blueblood and continued, "he's my nephew, but even I can agree to that; he's always been like that even when he was a colt."

"Well, we won't have to deal with him at this party, seeing he wasn't invited," Apple Bloom commented as she stepped forward with a forehoof outstretched. "May I take this dance?"

Celestia performed a small curtsey and chirped, "of course!" She and the farm mare started twirling about the room, and Sweetie Belle did the same with Scootaloo as they stumbled about the room. They continued to dance with all four fillies stumbling about being quite cumbersome. The fillies did their little Galloping Gala for some time. They didn't notice when Rarity popped in to check on them with a big smile on her face. "Oh my!? You three look like you're having fun."

Celestia squeaked, being surprised as she stumbled backward onto her rump and looking up at the fashionista who was already at her side, pulling the little filly back on her hooves with a worried look on her face. "Oh darling, are you ok? You didn't get any booboos, did you?"

The little filly bit her lip as her friends snickered around her. Celestia did her best trying to keep herself from lashing out like Rainbow Dash and grumbled, "no, I'm fine, thank you…"

She slowly got up, brushing a hoof over her dress as Rarity bent down and nuzzled her. "Alright darling, just be more careful now come on, it's time for dinner."

She strode off as the cutie mark crusaders followed her. Celestia looked down, feeling too embarrassed to say anything, as Sweetie Belle came over to her and whispered, "Hey, do you know why Rarity keeps babying you like that?"

"I don't know...seems a lot of adult ponies treat me like if I'm a helpless filly, I've tried to fight back, but it just makes things worse…" Princess Celestia grumbled under her breath, being fed up with this treatment.

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "That's weird, but I guess they just want to be extra careful with you seeing you're a princess and all."

"Yeah, yeah…" Celestia spat back; she was tired of being told this and hurried over to the small dining table there a fruit salad was prepared along with tea and some cake with vanilla frosting for dinner. The fillies went and ate their food together, scarfing down the fruit salad and drinking their tea, chatting about "other ideas" to help get Celestia's cutie mark. All the little alicorn filly could really think about was her tea in a sippy cup and her food was cut up. While her friends had porcelain cups, and regular portioned food. It was quite embarrassing for the princess, but she didn't want to bring it up and spoil the moment. 

After finishing her cake(which she had an extra few slices more than her friends), Celestia hopped down from her chair and gave Rarity a hug snuggling her. Again, she felt like the fashionista's warm embrace and felt a connection with her. The little filly then whispered, "thanks for everything; tonight was rather fun."

The older mare bent next to her ear and whispered back. "It’s my pleasure, darling, now before you go to bed...do you need any protection for tonight…"

Celestia's face turned a beat red even though she didn't have accidents. She did have some close calls, and she did drink a lot of tea, but she wouldn't dare wear a pull-up with her friends and stammered, "n..no...i'll be fine."

"Alright, just asking." Rarity cooed as she ruffled Celestia's mane, and the filly ran up the stairs and hurried over to Sweetie Belle's room. There four sleeping bags were laid out, and Sweetie Belle looked up and asked, "do you want to take my bed?"

Princess Celestia shook her head as she didn't want to get special treatment just because she was a princess alicorn and replied, "no, I would rather go in the sleeping bag."

The little filly snuggled under the sleeping bag with her other friends, and she gave a sigh looking up at the ceiling, hoping she didn't have an accident in front of her friends. 







Later that evening, Celestia got up, feeling a pang in her bladder from drinking too much tea. She jumped out of her sleeping bag and hurried to the bathroom, and slammed the door behind her. After flushing, she came out of the bathroom with a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off her brow. "That was close."

The mare then heard whispers downstairs; curious, she slowly walked down, doing her best to stay quiet when she saw Rarity and her sister talking to each other. 

"So...is she doing better?" Rarity asked in a hushed whisper.

"Yeah, but she's still hung up about her cutie mark. We're doing everything we can, but we don't know what to do." Sweetie Belle mumbled.

"It's fine, darling; you know how hard it is to find your cutie mark; she'll find it eventually. Just keep it up and make sure she's happy and safe." The fashionista continued.

Sweetie Belle shook her head and snapped back. "I don't like how you're treating Celestia like a helpless filly she can take care of herself!”

Rarity sighed, "it's not just me darling, Twilight kept hounding me about making sure Celestia had you as friends. I mean, we're all just doing our best to make sure she's safe and happy."

Sweetie Belle got a little mad. "We were going to be friends with her anyway; she's super nice and even stood up against Diamond Tiara! look, I get you and Twilight are trying to help Celestia, but she's fine; I don't want to talk behind her back like this anymore."

The fashionista whispered under her breath. "I know... I'm sorry... I'll tell Twilight she's ok and that there's no need for us to baby her like this anymore."

"You better, ugh what's gotten into you two!?" Sweetie Belle cried outloud. 

Seeing the conversation was over, Celestia stepped back and ran off to her sleeping bag. It never occurred to her the cutie mark crusaders let her into their group because they thought others would take advantage of her. This all stemmed from Twilight! Why were she and the other ponies treating her like an actual foal, knowing she was regressed? Why are they overprotective of her? Something was not right, and she needed answers. Twilight and Rarity are clearly not going to help, but maybe somepony else in Ponyville can.

She heard Sweetie Belle come back into the room, and the little filly walked over and whispered, "you overheard, huh?"

Celestia didn't even respond, still being quite angry at Sweetie Belle for basically spying on her the entire time.  Sweetie Belle slowly came over looking guilty as she continued to explain. "look, I didn't really spy on you; I just reassured Rarity and Twilight you were doing ok. I never agreed with this, and I didn't want to do this."

The princess filly turned to Sweetie belle and  asked, "so why didn't you just say no? Did you just became my friend because you felt pity on me?"

Sweetie Belle waddled over and shook her head. "No, that was never the case; I decided to have you join the cutie mark crusaders because I thought you needed a friend. That's the truth."

Celestia got up and shuffled over and shoved a hoof into the filly's chest. "Alright, but no more lying to me! If Twilight or Rarity try having somepony else spy on me, you let me know."

"Alright, I will." Sweetie Belle whispered.

The alicorn filly then started to shuffle back and forth. "It seems like everypony in Ponyville is just going to treat me like a toddler, and I'm getting nowhere in finding my cutie mark or getting back to my normal age. There's got to be somepony who can actually help."

Sweetie Belle was unsure of how to answer, but then Apple Bloom got up from her sleeping bag and slammed a hoof to her face. "Of course! I think I know who can actually help!? Why didn't I think of her before!"

Celestia looked over, getting quite surprised as she asked, "who then?"

"Zecora! She lives outside of Ponyville in the Everfree Forest, and she knows a cure for just about everything. If anypony is gonna get your cutie mark or get you back to being an adult, it's her." Apple, Bloom replied.

Celestia squealed, clapping her hooves and running over to Apple Bloom and giving her a big hug. "You're a genius! We should go see her tomorrow!"

"Yeah, that's a great idea! I bet she has some super magic potion that can finally get me back to normal!" Celestia exclaimed out loud.  

Apple Bloom held a hoof and tried to calm Celestia down. "Hold your horses; she might be able to help. But it might take time to find the right potion for your condition."

"Right, I guess so…" The princess mumbled, but she still held out hope as Scootlaoo got up and grumbled, "alright, we have a plan, now can we please get some sleep!"

"Sorry, Scootaloo," The other fillies mumbled under their breath as they all started to snuggled under their sleeping bags. 

Celestia was now looking up at the ceiling snuggling her phoenix plushie close to her chest hoping that by tomorrow she will be back to an adult.