Granny Smith woke up what had to be a few hours later as she realized she was next to the pond that turned her younger a few days ago. The field was as it was on that night, with the stars sparkling in the night sky and the field of grass stretched out over a few miles. The old mare wondered how she ended up here and what was happening. She then turned to see the actual pond with the enchanted water stretched out before her. That the surface of the pond started to bubble and froth. She stepped back as a strange-looking creature emerged from the pond, unlike anything Granny Smith had ever seen. The being was equestrian in nature, having a lanky body with multiple horse heads and two giant wings spread out from its back. The creature looked rather beautiful but was also somewhat disturbing, as a mass of spirits merged into one. The old mare has seen ghosts before, foolish ponies who fell due to their idiocy or who were foolish enough to do so, roam the Everfree Forest. But this was unlike anything she's ever seen before, and it gave her pause. The creature spoke with all the heads in unison, "Granny Smith, we have watched you, and we are glad that you have been keen on keeping the fountain of youth a secret. We believe it's time we reveal what's happened to you and our secret. The pool that you have been bathing in was cursed with the blood of alicorns thousands of years before the pony race existed. It was produced after a long and bloody war where our bodies were laid and buried, our blood mixed with an underground wellspring that produced the pond that you've seen. We, the spirits of the fallen, knew that this pool must never be found or used by mortals, so we did our best to scare others away from it. Those who drink from this pool or bathe in it will gain immortality and no longer age."
Granny Smith's eyes lit up as she exclaimed, "Wait...I realized I wasn't getting drunk when I was drinking all that whiskey! I ain't no lightweight, but I wasn't even tipsy. Was your magic water doing that?"
The spiritual being paused and seemed to be somewhat surprised by the random comment as the heads replied, "Yes, your body could not be intoxicated as your cells were rapidly healing from all the alcohol you drank for the past few days. However, we warn you and others that immortality is not a blessing for mortals but a curse. The pool shall take away your soul little by little until you end up in our collective."
Granny smith slammed a hoof on the ground and shouted, "Oh gosh dang it! Zecora was right that the pool was cursed!"
"Yes, she was, and we see your plan was well thought out in stopping the stallions known as Flim and Flam Designers from using the pool for their own devices. However, we fear their wanton greed will outweigh their conscience, and we have decided the only option is to remove the threat entirely."
Granny Smith gulped as she realized what this spirit creature wanted to do. She raised a hoof and asked, "Wait, you're not saying ya gonna off them, right!?"
The spirit's faces all blinked, trying to understand what Granny was saying, and responded, "That is true; we will "off them," as you put it. We cannot, in good faith, allow this knowledge to leave if they do so; they risk your entire race to extinction."
Granny smith growled, "Why don't ya try explaining to them what's going on then?"
"We have, and they just scoffed at us and told us they are not scared; the fools think we are just a trick. We waited patiently to see how your plan will progress and applauded your efforts. But sadly, we as a whole realized it will fail."
Granny Smith had to find a way to convince this spirit to leave those idiot brothers alone. "They may be scum, but nopony is being spirited away under my watch! "
The spirit, this time, paused and responded, "Then what do you propose?"
Granny Smith took a second to tap a hoof to her chin, then responded, "Alright, how about a deal? What if you give me tomorrow to convince them to leave the pool alone?"
"No deal shall be made; our decision is final." the spirit responded.
Granny Smith saw this conversation was going nowhere, and she would have to do something drastic. "Okay...this might sound crazy, but you gotta give me a chance! They're still foals, so they ain't leaving my house anytime soon, and on top of that, I'm not somepony who gives up so easily. I will get them two to change their mind; ya have my word."
The spirit's many heads muttered to each other. Then the tallest one bowed, "We voted and have decided you shall convince the two, but we need some insurance on your behalf."
Granny Smith gave a second to blink, wondering what they could mean by that, and asked, "What ya talking about?"
The creature raised its enormous wings as magic tendrils began to wrap around her; she could feel her body changing once more; she could feel her body shrinking, her muscles growing thicker once more. But unlike the first time, she turned younger and pudgier and could feel her face bloat out. She looked down into the pool, and her eyes widened, seeing she was indeed a school foal! "You have got to be kidding me!" Granny cried out loud.
The spirits looked down and declared, "This will be your form until you have done your duty!"
"You're gonna owe me big time, ya hear me!" The filly shouted as a mist covered the field, enveloping the little filly as everything went dark.
Granny Smith groaned as she slowly woke up. She was half expecting to find herself grappling with aching bones, but she felt rather well. She felt more sprung and energetic than she was before. That wasn't good; she was feeling somewhat nervous, getting a look over her body. Her frame was much smaller and stubbier; she took a hoof and held it out in front of her, and that was when she realized she was indeed not only in size but in age. Upon this realization, Granny Smith jumped and started to stomp around, cursing out loud, "Oh gosh dangit! Son of a biscuit! Mother bucking Celestia! That wasn't just some crazy fever dream!"
She groaned, hearing her high-pitched voice and realizing that her voice sounded much like her granddaughter Apple Bloom.
"Hey, is that you, Apple Bloom?" Granny heard Applejack shout from upstairs, and she threw herself over the couch and stayed quiet. She listened to the farm mare's hoof steps descending the stairs and waited for her to pass. She must be still hungover from all that drinking the previous night and is making herself some coffee. But she seemed to be still too drowsy and seemed to be tired to have noticed her, which was a good thing. She stood there trying to remain calm and rational, but she couldn't. Granny Smith got up, ran over to her granddaughter, and shouted, "Applejack!!!"
"Huh, Apple Bloom, what's up?" Applejack grumbled as she rubbed her eyes, looked down, and was somewhat stunned upon seeing the filly.
Granny Smith was irritated about being mistaken for Apple Bloom as she slammed a hoof to her chest. "I'm Granny Smith! I learned the dark secrets of that pool of youth, and it turned me into a little filly!"
"Um...just explain what happened," The farm mare asked, seeming to be still rather used to the magical shenanigans by now and was still quite tired and hungover as she sipped her coffee.
"Ugh!? Some spooky spirits seem to be trying to keep ponies from abusing their magic! And for a good reason! But I had to save the rumps of that good-for-nothing Flim and Flam bros!" Granny roared.
Applejack blinked as she sipped her coffee, looking somewhat confused, "Wait? Explain that again?"
Granny tore at her mane as this was a lot to take in, and seeing Applejack looking still dreary and hungover, she tried to explain the situation again, "Ok, the spirit threatened to hurt the Flim Flam foals, and I had to sacrifice most of my age to buy me time to reason with them! Now I have to convince them to leave that gosh darn pool alone!"
Applejack was still standing there, looking confused. This just made Granny Smith roar, "So ya gonna help me or just stand there!?"
Applejack shook her head and rubbed a hoof over her forehead. "Okay, so how do we go about convincing them to leave the pool alone exactly?"
Just then, the colts looked somewhat concerned as they came down the stairs seeming to have been awakened by Granny's cursing earlier. Seeing the young green filly, Flam rubbed his eyes and asked, "Hey, what's going on here?"
Flim shook his head and grumbled, "Yeah, how did ya turn into a foal!? You needed to turn us back to normal!"
Granny Smith got rather angry as she snapped, “What do you think happened!? That I did this to myself!?"
Flim and Flam both looked at each other with concerned looks on their faces. Then Flam replied, "Wait, if the effects made us foals the first time we went into the pool, how come it only made you into a foal a few days later?"
Granny Smith shrugged as she replied, "I have no idea! I'm not an expert on magic pools of water!"
Flim slammed a hoof to the ground and shouted, "There is something fishy going on here!"
The now much young filly pushed a hoof into her snout. "I'm telling the truth! I have no idea what's going on here!? But you two must stop being stubborn and let this magic pool stuff go!"
Flim and Flam both now looked concerned as Flam replied, "Wait, did you have a strange dream of a crazy-looking alicorn with a dozen heads and giant wings?"
"Yeah, and you two knuckleheads better knock it off! Now you two get your heads out of your rumps and leave us alone!" Granny Smith shouted at them in her squeaky voice.
Flim and Flam both stepped back and huddled together, talking things over. Granny stood there tapping a hoof on the ground waiting for them to respond. Flim turned around, first walking up to the little filly, and said, "it seems that you may have a point; this pool, even if it's real, is obviously, not worth the risk of using it for profit."
Granny sighed in relief, seeing that this was all going to be finally over; however, Flim held up a hoof and replied, "But ya saying you're in this form until we agree not to interfere with the pool, is that correct?"
Granny Smith eyed them, somewhat suspicious of this, "but," and cautiously explained, "Yes, and ya better not be trying anything stupid; I just saved your sorry rumps!"
Flam threw his hooves across his chest and scoffed, "But we ain't going out empty hoofed either; we still need to make a living...we want you to sell baked goods with us."
"What!?" The filly roared.
Flim came over the Granny Smith and held up a hoof. "This is a rare opportunity! We are three cute foals; in other towns, they have these things called scouts. We use our adorable features to sell some of your treats; in return, we split the earnings fifty/fifty, and then we will be on our way."
Granny grumbled irritably, but despite her misgivings, it wasn't a bad idea as she shook Flim's hoof and responded, "Fine, but we need to make it clear we're just some foals out of town or somethin'."
Applejack shook her head, coming over to the little filly and ruffling her mane. "Granny, you're more alike with these two than you realize, lying and all that. But seeing we at least came to a decision, I guess I'll bake the goods to sell."
The two colts slammed their hooves together as Applejack turned to face the colts and held up a hoof, and added, "Hold on, it seems not only are ya putting us in this predicament, but we're baking the goods. How about we split the bits thirty-seventy? Sounds fair?"
Granny groaned; she agreed fifty/fifty wasn't fair, considering they were putting more effort into this and are in this mess because of these two. But at the same time, they were almost out of the woods, and Applejack just had to smack a hornet nest on the way out.
Flam was going to protest, but Flim held a hoof up before responding, "Fine, thirty/seventy, but we ain't going any lower."
"Deal!" Applejack exclaimed as she shook hooves with the two. She then stretched her hooves, "Alright, I better get to making the goods. You three just stay put until I'm finished."
Applejack then left the three foals with Granny turning towards the two colts and added, "now listen here, we can't let ponies know we got turned into foals by some magic water. If any pony asks, we're just some foals from out of town, got it!"
"Yeah, yeah, it's not like we want ponies to know about us being colts either," Flim added as he waved a hoof.
Apple Bloom overheard them as she bounded over, "Hey, ya gonna be scouts, huh? Well, that means ya three need uniforms! While Applejack is baking them goodies, let's go to Rarity and have her craft some adorable uniforms!"
The two colts groaned, and Granny Smith burst into laughter, "Sure, why not!? Gotta dress the part, don't we?"
Flam wanted to protest again, but his older brother held a hoof and said, "I agree; we need to look the part to ensure our identities remain hidden."
"Great! Let's get going then!" Apple Bloom cheered as she led the rest of the foals out the door. Before leaving the house, however, Granny Smith sighed, being somewhat relieved that Flim took the spirit's message more seriously than his brother. But at the same time, this pool was disturbing to her with such a powerful being guarding it; she could only ponder how lucky it was that it hadn't been discovered by others and had its magic exploited. As she walked outside, she saw a small puddle and stared at her reflection, seeing her rather pudgy adorable frame again. The guilt, however, started to overwhelm her, seeing she now had to find another lie to tell ponies about their appearances, another sin added to the bucket load she carried around her. Granny Smith then trotted down the road, trying to catch up with her friends as the feelings of dread, guilt, and anger swelled up inside herself; she then grumbled, "I swear! If I make it through this without turning into a helpless baby, I'll never complain about being old again!"