Sparkler had wanted to ditch the crown at the castle the moment she found out that it made her crystallize. She wasn’t dumb, she knew full well what that meant for her origins. And she had ENOUGH on her plate without this revelation.
Alas, Raven was rather insistent because otherwise nopony would believe she was named Acting Princess. So, Sparkler begrudgingly left the castle wearing the crown, and apparently stuck in Crystal form, with baby Twilight on her back, with Raven and Spike walking beside her, and guards behind her. Oh, the guards. Another thing Raven was insistent on. “Yeah. This reaffirms my stance that I will never be anything more than a princess consort.” She said. “This is legitimately every reason why I refused a crown. I constantly feel like all eyes are on me.”
Indeed, she had noticed EVERY SINGLE pony out in town staring at her. Mainly in shock because it was common knowledge that Sparkling Medley was and never would be a full Royal. Stopping at Princess Consort. So there was definitely a boatload of confusion today.
“Squawk! Well, we can look on the bright side. Squawk!” Flappy said, he was riding on Sparkler’s back with baby Twilight. “Squawk! Your Crystal form gives off a HUGE clue to your origins. Squawk!”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.” Sparkler replied. “If anything that makes it worse, because I can’t DO anything about it.” She added.
“Yeah. Between Celestia’s Luna’s and Twilight’s schedules, you kinda got a full week.” Raven responded.
“Gee, thanks for the reminder.” Sparkler deadpanned. “Spike Please tell me Twilight wrote down talking points for the meeting with Mayor Mare.” She said.
“She did.” Spike responded. “They’re mainly about the Summer Sun Celebration since she was spearheading preparations here.”
“Right.” Sparkler responded. “I hope the others are managing.”
Elsewhere in Ponyville, Mark was doing patrols alongside Investigators Nosey and River, and they were idly chatting along the way. “Has Lucky asked you and Amber if she could go to Camp Little Hooves?” River asked Mark.
“Yeah. Pearl’s been talking about it nonstop ever since we came home yesterday from the party.” Nosey added.
Mark chuckled. Yesterday, one of the Sextuplets’ gifts, that was extended also to the rest of the Medley kids, was an invitation to spend the summer at Camp Little Hooves, which their uncle Shining Armor was recently made Director of. After the party, Lucky and Pearl had immediately asked if they could go too.
“We told her this morning she could go. You?” Mark asked.
“Same.” River said.
“Gives her a chance to make new friends. And it gives us some quality time together.” Nosey said.
The three of them giggled at that. Until they noticed something approaching. They focused their eyes, and what they saw made their jaws drop.
“Come on Lulu! Let’s go stuff our faces at Sugar Cube Corner!” Celestia exclaimed as she pulled Luna along.
“Oh for Faust’s sake Tia, what’s the fixation on sweets?” Luna responded.
Behind them, Night Mare was running, and she looked out of breath. “Come on Celestia! Luna. At least slow down so I can catch up!” She complained as she ran after them.
The three galloped away and left Mark, Nosey, and River flabbergasted. Did they just see that? “Did anypony else see that? It looked like Princesses Celestia and Luna.”
“But they’re smaller…and are acting like teenagers? What?” Mark asked, confused. “The heck happened to them?”
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Rainbow flew all around the library laughing. While Sky and Trail chased her. “Rainbow! Please land.” Sky said.
“You could hurt yourself! And at your age that’s REALLY bad!” Trail added.
Rainbow laughed and continued flying. Meanwhile Lumber was keeping Fluttershy occupied with an animal book. Crystal and Lightning were keeping Rarity busy by doing a fashion photoshoot, Light and Dark were tickling Applejack to entertain her, and all the other kids except Flurry were trying to keep Pinkie Pie under control. She was trying to use her tail to fly.
Cadence, Shining, Fleur, and Fancypants meanwhile were combing the bookshelves, trying to find a particular book. “Where is it? Where is it?” Cadence asked.
“Found it!” Fancypants called out and held out a book in her magic.
Cadence descended from the air to check the book, and she smiled. “Yes! I knew she’d still have it.” She said. “Twilight’s favorite book. Lords of the Horn.” She said.
“Lords of the Horn? That’s one of my favorite foalhood books.” Fleur responded. “But it was, and still is, a level four book. When did Twilight get this?”
“When a foal her age would normally be reading level one.” Cadence responded.
“She’s a smart cookie even back then.” Shining commented fondly.
Cadence nodded and cleared her throat as she approached the couch. “Alright kids! Story time!” She called out. “Who wants to read with me?” She asked.
The Medley kids all brought the foal Mane 6 around and Cadence started reading, with Shining, Fleur, and Fancy keeping an eye on the kids to make sure everypony stayed put.
Elsewhere in the castle, Starlight and Trixie entered the ball room the incident took place, and Trixie was laughing her flanks off. “Wait wait wait. So a baby Alicorn, managed to regress the Elements of Harmony to babies, the Crystal Empire’s monarchs to kids, and Princesses Celestia and Luna to teenagers?” She asked.
“Yes Trix.” Starlight responded as she lit her horn to cast a scan spell. “And because of that Sparkler was forced to take on the role of Acting Princess. Meaning we need to find a way to break through Flurry Heart’s OP magic, and fix this mess before Sparkler loses it.” She said. “She has three Alicorn’s worth of work she needs to do and I have no doubt she’s already wearing out.” She said.
“And you need the great and powerful Trrrrixie’s help. Alright. Trrrrixie shall help. But first, where is she?” Trixie asked.
“Where’s who?” Starlight asked.
“Twilight! Duh. Trrrrixie wants to see her in all her foalish glory.” Trixie responded.
Starlight deadpanned. She could tell exactly what Trixie was thinking. “She’s with Sparkler. Feel free to try and laugh at her to her face. Sparkler has the power now to throw you in the dungeon.” She told Trixie.
That shut Trixie up and she huffed. “Fine.” She said.
Starlight nodded. “Now let’s get to work.” She said.
“Ok. So there’ll be a town meeting later to get everypony up to speed on the plan for the Summer Sun Celebration and we’ll go from there.” Mayor Mare said.
“That sounds good.” Sparkler responded.
“Right. Alright. Now that that’s out—“ Mayor Mare was cut off when a crumpled up piece of parchment was thrown at her. Everypony turned to see Baby Twilight was crumbling up pieces of parchment from the trash bin and throwing them around. “Yeah. Maybe you could explain why it is that you’re wearing the crown and why Twilight is like this?” Mayor Mare asked. To say she was shocked when Sparkler came in saying she was Acting Princess was an understatement.
Sparkler sighed. “We’re not totally sure. But basically, Twilight, and all of the Elements of Harmony are foals, and Princesses Celestia and Luna are teenagers. Essentially, I’m only wearing this crown, enduring being stuck in Crystal form, and running the entire nation of Equestria, because everypony else who is both capable and trustworthy for the task is out of commission.” She explained. “We’re working to get them back to normal but it’s not gonna be a quick fix.” She said.
Mayor Mare nodded. “Ahem. Alright then. Well, I’m sure you’ll do fine Sparkler. The princesses wouldn’t have appointed you to this if they didn’t have faith in you.” She assured Sparkler.
“Wish I had that faith in me. I don’t even know the first thing about ruling a nation.” She said.
“Well I can see you won’t need to do it alone.” Mayor Mare responded. Gesturing to Raven and Spike.
Sparkler glanced at the two, and nodded after a second. “True.” She said.
“I think you’ll be fine.” Mayor Mare responded. “Just remember you aren’t alone.”
Sparkler nodded. “Right. Thanks Madame Mayor.”
“My pleasure Sparkler.” Mayor Mare responded.
To be continued…