//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: A New Foal Pandemic // Story: Twilight Sparkle Lost in Time // by Foal Star //------------------------------// Twilight groaned as she rose up on all fours. The mare had a pounding headache and rubbed her head as she tried to gauge where she was. Fortunately, she no longer seemed to be a foal, but there was no sign of Starlight Glimmer anywhere. Twilight was thus now looking around at what had to be a giant-sized office with many cubicles lining the horizon. She first got up to have a look over herself with various versions of Dr. Whooves' sitting down and working diligently, pounding away at keys on typewriters. None seemed to have noticed her yet. Twilight tried to get their attention, waving a hoof. "Hey! Can somepony help me?! Where the heck am I?!" But none of the Dr. Whooves' seemed to notice her as they continued on with their work. Twilight shrugged as she walked down the aisles, finding it rather liberating to move on her own power. It didn’t seem like the various Dr. Whooves’ were intentionally ignoring her. They were transfixed on their work so much it was like they were in a trance of some sort. Being alone and having not much else to do, Twilight looked behind her to make sure that a diaper wasn't around her rump for some reason. And she was, in fact, an adult again. The mare gave a sigh of relief before she slowly walked down the hall, gulping as she turned to see Time Flies running towards her and giving her a hug. The two mares embraced, and when they broke it off Twilight gave a long sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness you're ok." "Yeah, I'm glad to see you doing good too!" Time Flies cheerfully exclaimed. “And look at you, all grown up again. I know they say foals grow up fast, but I don’t think they meant this fast.” She joked. Twilight briefly laughed, before she looked around with a confused look on her face and asked. "So where are we? Is this the bureau you mentioned?" Time Flies gave a nod as she explained. "Yeah, it is. I was planning to bring you here once the whole Starlight matter was settled, but luckily my various other selves from across the different timelines helped get us here when Starlight Glimmer sent us into the infinite void." "What about your husband?!" Twilight asked, being somewhat worried, hoping he and her own Dr. Whooves had made out as well. Time Flies threw up a hoof as she explained. "Oh he's fine. I sent him home when we arrived here while you were still unconscious. I think he had enough of all this time travel business." "And my Dr. Whooves?" Twilight questioned. "He's undercover right now still in his foal form,” Time Flies explained and giggled. “We gave his wife a notice and told her he'll be back soon." Twilight gave another sigh of relief. But then she began to feel rather angry as she looked around with a glare. "So, where’s Starlight Glimmer?! Did she get caught?!" The pegasus looked down and replied in an affronted tone. "Sadly no...in fact, it's better to explain what's going on. Follow me." She waved a hoof, and the unicorn followed her down the giant office. The scenery didn't change much as the two mares continued down the hall. But they seemed to have moved quite a lot because they were now in front of two glass doors. Inside there was a giant desk and a few filing cabinets surrounding it. But what was more interesting was the name tag that was placed on top of it that read: Twilight Sparkle "I had to make a lot of moves while we waited for you to be transported here, such as promoting you to an official agent of the time bureau." Time Flies explained. "What?! B..But why?!" Twilight asked, looking somewhat surprised at the decision. “I don’t see why I have to join the bureau now.” Time Flies gave her fellow mare a smile. "I wouldn't have done this if it weren't absolutely necessary. But it turns out that when Starlight Glimmer inputted all those random buttons, she threw herself into the timestream. Before we could find her though, she was already back in the original timeline." "Oh no…" Twilight whispered…" So that means she turned all my friends and I into foals?" And she groaned. “Just when I thought we were all done with this age regression stuff too.” The pegasus shook her head and explained. "Not exactly. Starlight only had access to a time before we came to get you when this whole thing started, thankfully." "Right...so the future…" Twilight realized. “And I guess that could mess with things too?” Time Flies sighed. "Yes. But sadly, there's a stringent policy in regards to traveling in the future and what I can divulge. All I can give you are these," She gave Twilight pins with an hourglass symbol on them. "These are trackers. You should put them on your friends and know their whereabouts at all times. If anything strange happens, we need you to get to them ASAP!" Twilight groaned beneath her breath, with Starlight messing with the future who knew what lay in store for Equestria. "I'm betting my friends and I aren't the only targets. If Starlight’s gone into the future she could go after almost anypony." "Quite so,” Time Flies declared. “I'm afraid there could be another foal pandemic like before. I suggest being ready for anything and everything." Twilight nodded as she replied. “Right, so I'll have to be on guard and reverse the age regressions, again." "Right. But for now I suggest you go back to when Dr. Whooves took you back through time. It’ll be like you never left, only he and you will know what really happened." Time Flies explained. She then led Twilight back through the office to the time travel machines. There she set Twilight inside one that was really just a glorified outhouse that had been hastily reconverted. "Now, when you get back to your own timeline, everything should be relatively back to normal. But from that day forward the future is up to you. You're a part of the time travel bureau, so I'll offer you assistance from time to time if I can." "Right. Thank you, Time Flies,” Twilight smiled. “You really did a lot, you know that?" "Yeah,” Time Flies nodded. “But we're not out of the woods yet. In fact, things in your world are probably going to get a lot crazier than they already were." Twilight sighed, she’d been hoping to finally get a break from crazy things like age regressions. But it seemed that Starlight was still going to try to turn her and her friends into foals. She'd just have to be vigilant, be ready, and study up on age spells. She turned to the dashboard and selected the date back to when she left Equestria, and the modified outhouse swirled with bright lights before she disappeared. One thing was sure, Twilight was never going to take her potty training for granted ever again.