A part of Cadence felt bad about the little prank she'd just pulled on her husband, but her foalish instincts were in full control now and all they could think about was how much fun she was going to have. The little princess of love was going to experience her own little adventure throughout the Crystal Empire.
But the young alicorn hadn't been flying for long when she was made aware of a reality, her bare naked bottom. Despite the Crystal Heart keeping the Frozen North's ice and snow out, it couldn't completely contain the cold winds that blew from it. Every so often a cold gust of wind would slip in, and one such breeze assaulted Cadence's exposed and diaperless rear. It was a good thing she'd already gone potty, but even so the cold breeze made her blush right red with embarrassment.
Princess Cadence didn't want to let that stop her, but she also knew it was going to look mighty weird for a foal to ask for a diaper to put on. Most foals loved running around naked if they got a chance. And there was also the matter of there not being any other alicorn foals besides Flurry Heart. The princess of love knew she couldn't be mistaken for her daughter, ponies would be sure to think something was up if they saw her like this and they might stop her from having fun.
Well, those were worries for another time and place. "I'm sure Shining Armor will find me and take me back to the castle without anypony else being any the wiser," Princess Cadence thought to herself. "And he'll probably put me in timeout for being such a naughty foal."
So the little alicorn kept on flying until finally her tiny wings grew tired. Slowly, she lowered herself to the ground and started to trot. Without a diaper to weigh her down she had way more freedom in her movements, so that was a plus. Yet for some strange reason, the regressed princess of love was starting to feel just a tad bit tired. She tried to shake it off. "I not weawwy tiwed," She said to herself as she tried to fight back against her own body. "I pwobabwy just hungy 'cause I haven't had wunch yet."
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eyes, Cadence spotted somepony very familiar approaching her location. A crystal earth pony mare with a sandy yellow coat. She had big green eyes and a blonde, flowing mane and tail. Her cutie mark depicted the crystal berries that were a popular delicacy in the Crystal Empire. She was pushing a stroller that had a bright green crystal pony foal with a lock of light yellow for a mane, and the foal had beautiful blue eyes. It was Sunstone and her daughter Gemstone! Gemstone in particular was one of Flurry's foal friends.
Knowing that there was no way she could hope to outrun the approaching mother and daughter, and seeing that there was no place to hide, Cadence did the only thing she could think of to avoid being found out. She hastily lit up her horn as she tucked her wings into her side, hopefully she had enough magic left to make this work!
Sunstone arrived on the scene a moment later, and brought the stroller containing her daughter to a halt when she noticed a strange looking little filly standing by the side of the road. This foal had a purplish-pink coat, similarly colored eyes and a mane and tail consisting of candy pink and white locks in alternating stripes. Weirdest of all though, Sunstone noticed that the foal had wings and a horn. "Oh my goodness!" She exclaimed as she gazed upon the little one! "What are you doing out here all by yourself, little filly? Are you lost?"
Surprisingly enough, the alicorn foal replied. "Yeah, I am."
Sunstone quickly bent down, scooping the foal up. "Oh dear. I guess it's a good thing I found you, then," She eyed the alicorn foal with suspicion. "You look strangely familiar, do I know you from somewhere?"
The alicorn foal seemed to fight back a gulp as she answered. "Nu-uh. I.... Candy Heawt! I a cousin of Pwincess Cady and Fwuwwy Heawt." And she seemed to nod in confirmation.
The mare didn't seem to suspect anything. "Odd, I never knew Cadence and Flurry Heart had cousins. You must be a long lost relative or something," Then she asked. "Tell me, little one, where are your parents? You must have them."
Candy Heart whimpered in reply. "I dun know whewe tey awe! I been twying to find tem bu I keep getting wost."
Sunstone replied by patting Candy Heart lightly on the forehead. "Oh, there there, don't cry. I'm sure we'll find your mommy and daddy soon enough. They're probably out looking for you as we speak. And in the meantime, you can stay with me. I'm sure my daughter won't mind, she's friends with everypony." She proceeded to lower the foal into the stroller.
Gemstone greeted the new foal warmly. "Hi ya, Candy Heawt. I Gemstone, nice to meet ya."
Candy Heart nervously answered. "Nice to meet ya too, Gemstone. Fwuwwy Heawt says ya a weawwy good fwiend."
At that Gemstone became suspicious. "How do ya know tat? Tat a secwet Fwuwwy Heawt onwy teww me and Mw. Sunbuwst when he get tuwned into a foaw accidentawwy."
The alicorn foal gulped. She seemed to struggle to come up with an answer, before suddenly something seemed to come to her. "Oh, tat 'cause Fwuwwy Heawt wite wettews to me. I guess hew mommy and daddy hewp hew with tem."
The little earth pony seemed to buy the explanation, though not without shooting her new stroller mate a look that seemed to imply she wasn't entirely convinced by Candy Heart's answers.
Sunstone took no notice, she just laughed it off. "Oh, that's so cute that you and Flurry Heart keep in touch in your own way," She began to push the stroller down the road again. "I was just on my way to drop my little Gemstone off at the Crystal Playplace, actually. I think you'll be better off there, and your mommy and daddy may already be there, looking for you," Then she noticed something. "Say, where's your diaper, Candy Heart?"
"Dun need one! I in potty twaining!" Candy Heart boasted!
The mare cooed at the declaration. "Well, potty training or not, you can't go around without protection. If you had an accident there'd be nothing to contain it," Then she smiled. "Lucky for you, I always pack spare diapers for my little Gemstone. I'm sure one of them could fit you well enough."
Candy Heart whimpered in protest as she was picked up and her rump was powdered anew, before she was gently lowered into a plain, white diaper that was taped up around her.
Sunstone smiled as she then resumed the journey, pushing the stroller along while whistling a merry tune to herself. All the while her big green eyes glowed at the prospect of her daughter having another friend to play with.
Upon entering the Crystal Playplace a short time later, Sunstone and the foals were greeted by a sparkling snow white coated crystal unicorn with blue eyes that sparkled like diamonds and a lovely lavender mane and tail. Said mare had a cutie mark depicting a smiling sun. She was the head caretaker at the daycare center. "Oh, hello again, Mrs. Sunstone," She cheerfully greeted her guest. "You here to drop off little Gemstone for another day of fun?"
Sunstone nodded her head. "Indeed I am, Snow Heart, though I also brought along a visitor," She picked up the pinkish-purple colored alicorn foal and presented her to Snow Heart. "This is Candy Heart, Flurry Heart's cousin. Apparently, she lost her mommy and daddy and doesn't know where to find them."
Snow Heart let out a gasp as she inspected the new foal! "Oh dear, that's horrible! Well, she's welcome to stay here until they can be found. Flurry Heart visits here all the time. And I'm sure Candy Heart here will make plenty of friends."
Sunstone seemed to agree. "If you can look after her and Gemstone for me, I'd really appreciate it. It's not good for a little one to be lost in the Crystal Empire."
The caretaker sighed, seeing that this might be another regressed adult. Still, she decided to keep that information to herself as she was advised. "But I'd keep my eye on Candy Heart if I were you. I don't know what it is, but I get the feeling she's going to be a little trouble maker."
Snow Heart just giggled as she picked up Candy Heart. "Nonsense. I'm sure she'll be just as well behaved as her cousin. Isn't that right, Candy Heart?"
Candy Heart seemed to gulp and nod. "Uh... wight. But uh... I in potty twaining just so ya know. So I dun need a diapee."
"Sorry, but all little ones have to wear diapers around here. We're fresh out of pull-ups at the moment," Snow Heart apologized. "Besides, you have to earn your big pony privileges before you can wear pull-ups. That's the rules around here."
Candy Heart just pouted.
Snow Heart giggled anew. "Oh my, someone sure is a fussy foal. I'll bet you're just cranky because you haven't had your nap yet. Nopony likes a cranky foal. Lucky for you, I know just how to fix that." And she carried her newest charge away, smiling and flashing a knowing wink.
Candy Heart knew what that meant.
While Sunstone was delivering Candy Heart and Gemstone to the Crystal Playplace, Shining Armor was trotting through the streets of the Crystal Empire with Flurry Heart in tow. He occasionally glanced down at her in the foal buggy, making sure his daughter was still there and hadn't escaped. "You holding up okay, sweetie?" He asked after stopping for a little bit (pushing the buggy through the streets was exhausting work, even with his magic).
Flurry Heart just suckled on a pacifier as she was looking around for mommy. She didn't want to cause her father anymore troubles right now. "Uh-huh, I good," Then she whimpered a bit. "But I wowwied about Mommy. Is she in twoubwe?"
"Only a little," Shining reassured his worried daughter. "I know she didn't mean to cause a commotion, she thought it would be funny. But it's just like when Sunburst and I were foals and we wandered away, you remember how worried all the grown-ups were then, right?"
Flurry nodded again. "Uh-huh, tey got supew scawed."
The stallion then replied. "That's because they feared something bad might have happened. And that's what worries me the most right now," But he was quick to add. "I doubt your mommy could've gotten into too much trouble, up until her escape she was really well behaved. But we need to track her down just to be sure she's okay."
The little alicorn seemed to be relieved by that, as she slowly sank back into her buggy and rested her head.
"I know, you're probably very tired," Shining commented as he looked down at his daughter. "Once we find Cadence and get her back to the castle, you're both going to take naps so you can be nice and refreshed." In the back of his mind he thought. "I could probably use one too. We really need to get Flurry a bigger buggy, she's getting too big for this one." And then he resumed pushing the buggy as the stallion went back to his search.
Eventually, as luck would have it, the prince happened upon a very familiar face. He soon recognized the sandy yellow coated crystal pony mare before him, it was none other than Sunstone.
Sunstone quickly took notice of the prince's troubled face and asked. "What's the matter, Prince Shining Armor?"
Shining had to pause for a moment to catch his breath and speak clearly. "It's Cadence, she's missing."
"What do you mean?" Sunstone asked with concern. "Did the changelings kidnap her or something?!"
The stallion shook his head. "No, she kind of ran off on her own. You're not gonna believe this, but she turned herself into a foal. And I guess her foalish instincts took over, because she played a rather nasty trick on me and fled through a window."
Sunstone took the news surprisingly well. "Sounds a lot like when Sunburst got turned into a foal accidentally. Or when you got turned into a foal. I guess it was only a matter of time before it would happen to Cadence."
Shining blushed despite his better instincts. The memories were still fresh in his mind even though he'd tried his best to forget. "Yeah, I guess I really should've seen it coming, especially after how much of a trouble maker I was during my second foalhood," He did his best to regain his composure by coughing into a hoof. "Well, I've already searched almost half of the empire, but I haven't found her yet."
But just then, something came to the mare. "You know, now that I think about it, there was something really off about Candy Heart. Something I couldn't put my hoof on..."
Shining's ears perked up as he locked eyes with Sunstone. "Candy Heart? Who is that?"
"She was an alicorn foal who said she was a cousin of Flurry Heart," Sunstone explained. "She didn't look quite like Princess Cadence, but now that I think about it again she looked really similar."
"That must've been Cadence!" Shining realized as a wide smile formed on his face! "Quick, where is she?! Where can I find her?!"
"I dropped Candy Heart off at the Crystal Playplace with my little Gemstone," Sunstone explained. "You don't think..."
"-Only one way to find out. We'd better get over there on the double!" Shining declared as a renewed sense of urgency came to him! And with a strength he hadn't known for a while he began to push Flurry's foal buggy again, bound for the Crystal Playplace with Sunstone not far behind.
Cadence fluttered her eyes open very slowly, relieved that her "Candy Heart" disguise had worked and had not worn off yet. It had taken quite a lot of magic for her to pull it off, and she didn't think she had any left in her at the moment. Sure enough, when she tried to light up her horn all she could do was produce a few faint sparks of light blue colored magic. "Well, at least I still have my wings." She thought to herself, hoping to use them for a possible escape if necessary.
But before the disguised princess could think of doing anything else, she was lifted from the crib she'd been placed in and held within the soft pink glow of Snow Heart's magic. "Hello, Candy Heart," She greeted in a warm, almost maternal tone of voice. "Or I guess I should say Princess Cadence."
Cadence's heart skipped a beat. "Ya knew?"
Snow Heart nodded. "Your husband arrived just a short time ago and explained everything to me. It's time for you to go back to the palace."
The regressed princess of love couldn't argue with that, and strangely enough, because of that little nap she'd taken she felt rather refreshed. She also felt uncomfortably cold though, and damp to boot. Looking down at herself, she soon realized why, just as she was being placed on a changing table. "I pee-peed mysewf again, bu how?"
Snow Heart giggled as she brought up some wet wipes. "Probably that bottle. A foal's bladder can be very unpredictable sometimes. It's okay, I'll get you cleaned up. Hold still please."
Princess Cadence cooperated to the best of her ability, resisting the urge to wiggle when the wet wipes made contact with her flank after her very soggy diaper was pulled down and tossed into a trash can. Still, she knew it could've been worse. She was glad she hadn't messed herself, yet.
Snow Heart, for her part, was quick as a flash and got the diaper change done in what had to be record time! Afterward, she washed her hooves and then set the regressed princess of love down on the floor. "Come on, let's get you back to your husband. I know he'll be happy to see you again."
And indeed, Shining Armor was. "Oh, thank Celestia you're okay, hon!" He exclaimed as he brought his regressed wife in for a hug and nuzzled her.
Cadence hung her head as she apologized. "I sowwy. I just wanted to have a adventuwe."
The prince just cooed as he floated his wife over to the foal buggy, strapping her in next to Flurry Heart. "Well I'd say you did. Tracking you down was an adventure and a half on top of everything else you've already done."
"Ya not mad at me?" Cadence nervously asked as she looked up at her husband.
"Oh, I am a little bit, but I can't stay mad at somepony as cute as you," Shining replied while making goo goo eyes. "There'll be plenty of time for your punishment when we get back to the castle. But for right now, I think you have something you wanna say to Miss Snow Heart here?"
The regressed alicorn looked up at the unicorn caretaker and without hesitation she said to the mare. "Tank ya fow taking cawe of me."
Snow Heart just waved a hoof. "Think nothing of it. You should be thanking Mrs. Sunstone. She was the one who found you and brought you here," And she added. "And I do hope you bring Flurry Heart here again soon. It feels like your daughter hasn't graced this place with her presence in ages."
"We'll have to schedule an appointment sometime, maybe for the next royal summit." Shining suggested, before he pushed the buggy with both foals inside out of the playplace's double doors and back out onto the streets of the Crystal Empire.
Once the trio returned to the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor took Cadence out of the foal buggy, and brought her and Flurry Heart back to the nursery before he laid out the terms of his wife's punishment. "Well, Cadence, I can't think of a better time to have you fulfill a certain agreement we had earlier."
Cadence gulped as she saw her husband not so subtly levitating over a bottle of foal powder. "Ya dun mean-"
Shining grinned. "-Oh I do. So go ahead, dear. Let's see how well you can pull off my diaper dance. Maybe if you do good enough, I won't punish you any further." He then proceeded to pour the entire bottle's worth into the back of Cadence's diaper.
The regressed princess of love started jumping and bouncing all about, trying to shake out the excess foal powder as it spilled out from the leg holes and onto the floor! All the while Flurry Heart and Shining Armor both watched and giggled at the hilariously adorable display being performed.
Princess Cadence continued to try to shake out the foal powder, feeling completely helpless the whole time and just knowing that Shining probably wished he had a camera with which to take pictures. She was relieved when at last, it seemed she got all the foal powder out and could finally stop with the dancing. But as she did so, she became aware of another problem as she felt something move inside of her, and the next thing she knew her tail was hiking upwards. She eeped in embarrassment!
"Oopsie!" Shining couldn't help but giggle. "I guess you danced a little too well, hon. We'd better get you cleaned up again."
Flurry poked her padded rump meanwhile, and teased. "Ha ha, Mommy messy!"
The prince quickly (yet lightly) scolded his daughter. "Uh-uh-uh, Flurry Heart. You remember what we talked about earlier. We don't make fun of other ponies for their accidents. So unless you wanna do the diaper dance too, don't be making fun of your mommy for what she did in her diaper."
Cadence added despite her embarrassment. "Yeah, is not nice to make fun of other ponies when tey potty in their diapees." Then she felt herself be picked up by her husband's magic and floated over to the changing table.
The smell hardly seemed to bother Shining as he quickly had the old diaper removed and balled up in the trash, and just as quickly had his wife's rump wiped clean until it was spotless. Then after sprinkling in considerably less foal powder this time, he taped her up in a brand new diaper and gave it a pat. "There we are, good as new. And just in time for your nap too."
"Do I have to?" Cadence pouted. She'd already had a nap and didn't see the point of another one.
"Well it's either that or you go in the timeout corner until Flurry gets done with her nap," The prince pointed out. "I figured you would prefer the lesser of the two evils. Don't worry, you'll still have plenty of time to enjoy the rest of your day as a foal."
Reluctantly, the regressed princess of love agreed. "Fine, I take anothew nap even though I dun wanna."
The rest of the day was considerably less "exciting" though by no means boring. Princess Cadence made the most out of the time she had and really seemed to get into being a foal, which only made her all the more saddened at the prospect that she would have to leave it all behind tomorrow.
In fact, Cadence almost didn't want the day to end and secretly wished the day could last forever (or at least be extended). Alas, she was powerless to stop the passage of time when she was bathed and put to bed that night.
And it wasn't long after the next morning dawned that the spell wore off, Cadence returning to normal as the diaper she'd been wearing ripped off and was reduced to little shreds of white fabric.
"Welcome back to the world of grown-ups, Cadence," Shining greeted his wife once she'd regained her senses. "How do you feel?"
The princess of love was slow to respond as she had to shake off the mental cobwebs. "...Normal, I guess. At least I can talk without that lisp," She then blushed bright red. "I'm really sorry I was so much of a hoofful yesterday. Like I told Flurry, I didn't exactly get a proper or even really a normal foalhood when I was an actual foal. So I guess part of me wanted to experience what I never got to experience as an actual foal."
Shining simply nuzzled his wife. "Hey, all things considered you weren't any worse than I was or Sunburst was during our regressions. And I think Flurry really enjoyed having you for a playmate, as well as teaching her how to use the potty."
"I definitely have more of an understanding of what you and Sunburst went through during your experiences," The alicorn with a lovely pink coat commented. "But I guess now that means the cycle's complete, I can't be a foal again."
"Not unless you can find somepony else to be your caretaker and keep an eye on you," Shining pointed out. "Besides, now you know how our daughter sees the world and should know how to connect with her on her level," Then he giggled. "And you did a really good job with my diaper dance."
Cadence couldn't help but giggle. "Well, I had an excellent teacher. Seeing you do it and then pass it on to Flurry Heart definitely helped."
The prince nodded. "Indeed it did," Then he declared. "Now come on. Why don't you go see what Flurry Heart remembers? Another day off from holding court won't hurt, it doesn't seem like anypony really needed to meet with you." And with that he nudged his wife towards their daughter's nursery, hopeful that the experience of being a foal again would prove insightful.