Cadance stood firmly upright before a door. Celestia brought over a marker to swipe just above Cadance's head. "Lovely little niece, you've gained a considerable bit since last we checked." She pointed the marker at the new mark, then the old one a few inches below it.
Cadance did a little proud dance. "I'm growing, Auntie." She grabbed Tempo with the same glowing energy. "Check her next!"
Tempo turned an ear back. As lovely as things had become... With a soft sigh, she went for the other side of the same door, where there was only one mark.
Celestia brought the marker over, but made no mark. Repainting the same line, again, felt silly. "Hm... Cadance, dear, why don't you run along?"
Cadance had heard that tone before. "No."
Celestia cocked an ear. "I want to talk with your sister, about personal things."
Cadance remained attached to Tempo. "We're twin sisters. We have no secrets."
Tempo nodded at that. "There is nothing you could tell me I wouldn't want her to know."
Cadance burst into giggles, snuggling the smaller Tempo gladly.
Tempo smiled softly at Cadance's infectious laughter, but uncertainty still stirred within as she met Celestia's luminous gaze. However close she and her sister had become, a divide still lingered between herself and Equestria's ruler.
"We don't have to talk about it now if you'd rather not," Tempo murmured, scuffing a hoof. She hoped Celestia's hesitance signaled simple distraction, not lasting doubt. But the way the tall alicorn watched her - had something changed?
Celestia inclined her head gently. "I merely wished to spare you both saddening facts. But as Cadance says, you two are twins in spirit now." She gestured them closer and they clustered near, eager and apprehensive all at once.
"Dearest Tempo..." Celestia began slowly. "I know you've wondered at times why your growth differs from other foals. The truth is, what magic shaped you did not design a changing form."
She met Tempo's widening eyes with compassion. "You shall always be as you are - a filly in shape if not in years. I did not wish to burden you so soon, but Cadance's joy shows your spirits remain bright."
Silence hung between them a moment. Then Cadance nudged against Tempo fiercely. "That doesn't matter one bit! You're my sister no matter what." She blinked back sudden tears. "Who cares if you stay little? More importantly, we'll always have each other!"
Tempo sat on her haunches to cross her arms with a frown. "No." She echoed her larger sister's word in timber perfectly. "I'm already... I shouldn't be this." She pointed at herself. "I was made to... hurt her." She noses against Cadance's cheek. "Instead I protect her. I already don't follow that stupid magic."
Celestia smiled faintly. "You are a rebellious one, Tempo... But..." She reached out and ran her hooves over Tempo slowly. "You are... You are my beloved niece... But you are also a doll, a golem. A doll does not grow. Only living things do that."
Cadance huffed at that, joining in Tempo's obstinance. "Than build her a bigger body." Her tone implied it was just obvious. "Auntie, you're being silly."
Celestia blinked at that suggestion. "From the mouth of babes... But I'm not sure if that would... work." Still, she dares a smile, sitting up over the foals. "But if we don't try, how will we find out?"
Tempo's eyes shone with fragile hope. A bigger body that could keep growing? She turned to Cadance, hardly daring to believe. Her sister met her gaze with defiant optimism.
"It has to work!" the little pink filly insisted. She puffed out her chest. "Auntie is the strongest magical pony ever. She can make a whole new form for you, I know it!"
And though anxiety lingered around Tempo's heart, she wanted so desperately to share Cadance's confidence. If Celestia herself believed in this mad hope... What other choice did they have but to try?
"But what if..." Tempo began nervously. "What if I lose myself? What if making a new body erases who I've become so far?" A dozen fervid worries cascaded through her mind for what seemed the hundredth time since waking into existence that strange day.
Yet Cadance simply rested their foreheads together tenderly. "You are Tempo," she whispered, strong with conviction. "Nothing any silly spell does will ever change your heart..."
The tiny filly's faith rang loud in Tempo's mind, overcoming fear with its innocent melody. She turned to meet Celestia's kind gaze. "I'm ready if you are, Auntie... Let's bring this Tempo into full bloom."
Celestia nodded and rose to her hooves, horn flaring. White wings encircled Tempo as the air thrummed with gathering magic. "Have courage," Celestia intoned softly. "Your song is just beginning..."
Suddenly, the glow flashed blindingly bright! Cadance gasped as incandescent streams of magic spiraled Tempo into the air...
When golden sparks faded at last, Tempo hovered there transfigured - now a grown filly, early in her teen years, just as Cadance had reached. She stared at her new limbs in awe, then laughter broke joyfully from her lips.
Cadance cheered, rushing to hug her restored sister. And Tempo swept the gleeful little pony up in turn, heart near to bursting.
Celestia let out a breath, sides moving as she recovered from the considerable spell. "Tempo, you... What makes you 'you' is resilient, more than even I would have guessed. I felt it, even as I reshaped your shell."
Cadance nudged against her sister, returned to twin status in appearance. "So we can keep doing that each time I get bigger?"
Tempo turned an ear aside. A growing body would have been best, but... Maybe what they had arrived at was a close second best? She could look Cadance in the eye again, and that was way more important. "Thank you, Auntie."
Tempo gazed at Cadance, her twin once more, and affection swelled powerfully inside. True, she may never grow like a real pony. But the chill of being trapped tiny had lifted thanks to Celestia's gift.
"I can't thank you enough." Tempo met Celestia's luminous eyes. The tall alicorn had poured so much magic into restoring her adolescent form just to ease their worries.
Cadance grinned, bouncing eagerly around them. "This is perfect! Now we get to be the same again." She popped up between Celestia and Tempo, gaze pleading. "Does this mean Tempo doesn't have to go to school anymore either?"
Tempo blinked in surprise - in the joyful rush she'd nearly forgotten how her lessons had continued setting her apart daily. A wistful smile found her lips. "I guess I am about the same level as you now, sis..."
Celestia snorted with a little smirk. "You stopped going to foal's school, Cadance. That does not mean you're done with school, young lady. You are both headed to the next level." She clapped her hooves together. "You'll be challenged, but it will be fun. You'll learn whole new things and meet new ponies."
Both fillies looked uncertain, but the nature of it varied, with Cadance wondering at the classes and what new friends she might make. Tempo was thinking of how to protect Cadance in a new place.
Celestia reached out to boop Tempo on her snout. "You. You have a choice."
Tempo blinked, eyes focused on the hoof on her face. "What's that?"
"You could not go." She drew the hoof away. "A choice, I admit, I doubt I see you taking. You don't need to go. Raven has assured me you are now educated. The valleys, if you remember them, have been filled in. On the other hoof--"
"No! No way!" Tempo crossed her arms before stomping her hooves. "I'm going with Cadance to her new school."
Cadance brushed against her sister. "You're the best! If you know this stuff, you'll help?"
"Yes, of course." Tempo smooched Cadance's cheek. She'd also protect Cadance from everything, but she didn't mention that part. "I am ready."
Excitement trembled in her voice. "Maybe out there I can finally uncover my full purpose!"
Cadance nodded vigorously beside her. "Ooh, won't it be fun figuring out our special talents together?" She mimed scanning a cutie mark onto her flank. "We'll have the most awesome class adventures, I just know it!"
What neither predicted was that a growing Cadance wanted to start being useful beyond being an adorable filly. She started foalsitting for a filly as small as she had been when she found Tempo.
"Sunshine, Sunshine,
Ladybugs awake.
Clap your hooves
And do a little shake!" sang out all three of them.
It had taken Tempo a few times hearing it before she got it down perfectly, but they ended with all three of them shaking their rumps at one another and laughing.
Twilight rushed off to read a book she was captivated by, leaving her foalsitters behind.
Cadance raised an ear at her sister. "You don't have to come with me to Twilight's. This is a one pony job, promise. I have this."
"I have you." Tempo gently embraced her sister. "I know you can do this. You're very talented, sister."
Cadance colored faintly. "Thank you, but..." She was growing enough... "Eventually, sis, we're going to do things the other can't be there for."
Tempo slowly inclined her head. "What would those be?" But Cadance had no answers, just blushes, leaving Tempo a bit confused. "I will protect you. I promised you."
Cadance nuzzled Tempo gently on the chest. "I love you so much, but if I... Twilight!" The conversation broke as the two scrambled to stop Twilight from doing something ill-advised.
Tempo helped Cadance wrangle the energetic little Twilight, but her sister's words lingered in her mind. Doing things apart...somehow the thought filled her with unease. Hadn't she vowed to always stand by Cadance's side?
Yet the subtle changes in Cadance as she grew didn't escape Tempo either. A gentle wisdom taking root, and slowly spreading wings longing to soar free.
Tempo blinked back an anxious prickle. Cadance deserved to find her own path, as much as Tempo still craved the purpose caring for her twin gave.
Perhaps the time was coming where she must test her wings beyond just being Cadance's sworn guardian. The idea terrified...yet didn't a seed of restless curiosity live inside her too? Wanting to discover who Tempo was in her own right?
She gazed at her cutie mark - the same heart emblem Cadance bore. Two twins reflecting one cutie mark between them... But that was how she was made.
For the first time, Tempo dared wonder what talent destiny might unveil if she stepped fully into her own...whatever that meant without Cadance to define her.
A tear dripped from her. Why did a doll cry? She'd shed tears a few times in her life, and they'd always confused her. If she was a doll, how did it even work? She wiped a leg over her stinging eyes. Such thoughts did little to make the tears stop. She felt bad, and she cried.
She forced a smile despite it. "I have so much more to learn." She trotted after Cadance to resume helping with Twilight. Abandoning her mid-foalsitting session? That was just a step too far.
Foalsitting brought smiles all around once more as they played and laughed together. But Tempo now saw the subtle ways Cadance guided young Twilight too - gentle encouragement here, a teaching moment there. Already she had the heart of a teacher and mentor.
Bittersweet pride swelled in Tempo's chest. However much she craved things to remain unchanged between them, Cadance clearly shone brighter leaning into her burgeoning talents.
So Tempo would adapt in turn - find some new harmony that still kept her twin close while giving space to fly free. She just needed to uncover her own latent gifts fate surely meant for her beyond playing guardian.
The answers eluded...but Tempo would seek them with renewed fervor. For both their sakes.