Five – Twily’s Train Ride
When Twilight opened her eyes, she felt warm all over. Pleasantly warm, even. She yawned and stretched her hooves and wings out.
It took a moment for everything to click into place. Twilight sat up, only to be held back by the harness of Fluttershy’s foal carrier. Gently she swayed against the pegasus, as the train chugged along into the night. There was nopony else in the car except for the two of them.
“Oh, good! You’re awake!” Fluttershy gently stroked Twilight’s mane. “Feeling any better?”
“Mm, yes.” Twilight looked down, realizing that she was wearing clothes. A very small set of midnight blue pajamas, in fact. “Uh, where did I get these?”
“Rarity made them! I told her she didn’t have to bother, but she insisted on giving them to you before we left. Isn’t that sweet?”
“Yeah. Sweet…” Twilight stretched her hoof down to her waist and poked at the diaper underneath her pajama bottoms. “Oh, I think I’m wet—”
The door to the train car slid open as Pinkie Pie came bouncing in with a very large doughnut stuffed in her mouth. Spike and Time Turner were right behind her, pushing a silvery cart full of food and drink down the aisle.
“Great,” Twilight said under her breath, “now I’m wet and hungry…”
“I’ll change you in a little while,” Fluttershy whispered. “Time Turner wants to show you his new hourglass.”
“Oh, okay.”
Twilight waited as Fluttershy unbuckled the foal carrier and let her out. She felt even more unsteady on her hooves now that the train was constantly rocking everything in the car. But Twilight was a quick learner. Once she gauged the momentum of the train, she adjusted her steps and moved with the train’s speed instead of against it.
“Good evening, Twilight Sparkle!” Time Turner bowed his head. “Sleep well?”
“Yes, thank you. Fluttershy said you brought the circadian hourglass?”
The timekeeper pony grinned. “I certainly did. Now, step right this way—and watch your step! This ride can be a little bumpy.”
“I-I kn-know wh-what y-you m-mean!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing up and down with each syllable.
Meanwhile, Time Turner had brought out an hourglass from his saddlebag. It was smaller than the official clocks that Twilight had seen him use at formal events in Ponyville, small enough to fit in his hoof. On first glance, it looked like an ordinary hourglass, but when Twilight came up for a closer look, she saw that the sand was pouring through the glass at a snail’s pace. Just a few grains at a very regular pace.
The rhythm of the falling sand was familiar. If she closed her eyes and concentrated…
Just as she thought. The sand was perfectly timed with her body.
“Just a few minutes ago, while you were asleep,” Time Turner explained, “the sand was pouring a lot faster. Now that you’re awake, it’s slowed down a bit.” He turned the hourglass over, and to Twilight’s amazement, the sand continued to flow in the same direction. Against gravity’s pull. “Sands of time are hard to find, you know. Have to order it all the way from Saddle Arabia.”
“And this is normal for a foal’s body?” Twilight asked.
Time Turner nodded and held the hourglass closer to Fluttershy. Suddenly the sand was moving even slower. Still regular, but much more paced out than Twilight’s sand-flow had been.
“And it’s how much longer to Canterlot?”
The brown pony set down the hourglass and pulled out a pocket watch from his other saddlebag. “Two hours, fifteen minutes, and… oh, let’s say twenty-eight seconds?”
“Woo hoo!” Pinkie Pie cheered. She and Spike were munching on a foot-long sandwich from both ends, working their way into the middle. “Plenty of time for a quick royal train party!”
“Just a minute!” Time Turner said with a severe frown. He reached into his saddlebag and took out a bright red fez. Once he’d placed it on his head, he grinned like an idiot and bounced over to Pinkie’s side. “All right, now we can party!”
As he and Pinkie Pie fell to dancing about the train car, Fluttershy quietly picked up Twilight and carried her to the back of the car. She lowered Twilight for just a moment and donned a pair of her own saddlebags. From her spot on the floor, Twilight caught a quick whiff of baby powder and held the rustle of diapers inside the bags.
While she wasn’t enjoying her first wet diaper, Twilight did feel better about having somepony like Fluttershy to help her. Even as they made their way out of the car and down the vestibule, she made a mental note to visit her friend’s cottage more often. Nothing like a quiet evening with a gentle pony to take away all the stress of being a full-time Princess.
Fortunately, the vestibule was empty, allowing the two ponies to discreetly enter the nearest restroom. It was just large enough to accommodate them and even featured a fold-out changing table on the wall.
Twilight’s wings fluttered weakly as Fluttershy carried her onto the table. She wished she could just fly herself, but like her magic, flight was something else she going to have to relearn.
Please, she prayed fervently, I don’t wanna keep sliding backwards. I wanna be big again!
Squeezing her eyes shut, Twilight knew she was in trouble. That tone was far too childish. Her mind was slowly starting to regress. Maybe not as fast as her body, but it was happening all the same.
As Fluttershy removed her pajama bottoms and began to change her diaper, Twilight consoled herself as best she could. Even if the worst did happen, she wasn’t alone. She had Fluttershy and Spike, Pinkie Pie and Time Turner.
All she could do—all she could ever do—was trust her friends.
“You know,” Fluttershy was saying as she put a clean diaper on Twilight, “I think you should give Pinkie Pie a chance. She really wants to play with you.”
Twilight’s ears dropped. “I know she does. I mean, it’s sweet… and a little weird.”
“Maybe it won’t be so bad. You like the parties and games she puts on, though.”
“Well, yeah…”
“She just wants you to be happy, Twilight.” Then, blushing, she added, “We all do.”
Her words brought a warm glow to Twilight’s heart. She nodded and pulled up her pajama bottoms. At least she could do that much on her own.
By the time they reentered the train car, the party had quieted down. Time Turner and Spike were leaning against each other on one of the benches, both covered with crumbs and half-asleep.
“Twilight, guess what? Guess what?” Pinkie Pie came bouncing into view from behind the dinner cart. “While you were out, I wrote a song to cheer you up!”
Twilight almost rolled her eyes, but she felt Fluttershy’s hoof on her shoulder and thought better of it. She supposed it couldn’t hurt to give her friend a chance. What else was the Element of Laughter supposed to do if not entertain?
“Okay, Pinkie,” she squealed, “let’s hear it!”
The pink pony jumped up onto her hind legs and took in a deep breath:
Hey Twilight! Now that you’re a filly,
Let’s take a chance and get a little silly!
Hey Twilight! Now that you’re small,
Let’s play around with some blocks and dolls!
While she sang, a trio of red balls magically appeared in her hooves. Pinkie juggled them while doing a happy little jig around Twilight and Fluttershy.
You only get to be young once—or twice!
Isn’t being a kid again so nice?
So play away the blues and give us all a smile,
’Cause you’re a filly again for just a short while!
And with a dramatic flourish, she tossed the balls into the air and landed on her knees. One of the balls ended up bonking Time Turner right in the forehead. The impact jerked him out of his nap and he looked around anxiously.
“Derpy Hooves, get your saddlebags!” When he noticed the red ball sitting in his lap, the timekeeper laughed and rubbed his head. “Seems like I’m always having a ball when Pinkie Pie’s around.”
Twilight found herself giggling, too. “Thanks, Pinkie. That means a lot.”
“You betcha, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down anxiously. “So you do wanna play now? Huh? Do ya?”
“But, Pinkie,” said Fluttershy, “she hasn’t even had dinner yet—”
“Then we’ll make dinner into a game!” Reaching onto the cart, Pinkie Pie fished out a cucumber sandwich and a bag of pretzels. While she balanced the sandwich on top of her head, she ripped open the bag and began to toss pretzels into the air. “Better hurry before they’re gone!”
Twilight ran around with her mouth open, trying to catch and eat the pretzels before they landed. It was hard to beat Pinkie Pie, who could move at a blinding speed—even faster than Rainbow Dash on her best day—but she gave it her all. At least the running was building up her appetite.
“And… sandwich!” Pinkie flipped through the air, sending the cucumber sandwich hurtling toward Twilight. The filly backed up quickly, but the sandwich was flying too fast and bound to land on the floor behind her.
Fluttershy quickly grabbed Twilight from behind and held her up. She smiled as she caught the sandwich in her hooves and munched on it.
“Mmm, good thinking, Pinkie,” she said with a full mouth. “This was fun.”
“And that’s what being a foal is all about!” Pinkie Pie concluded. She reached out and hugged Twilight, now halfway through her sandwich. “So, what kind of fun, fun things are we gonna do in Canterlot?”
Thinking about the royal archives and the Princess’s scholars made Twilight grin. “Only the best kind of fun a student of magic could have—research!”
Pinkie’s ears flopped dismally. “That doesn’t sound fun.”
“Oh.” Twilight looked over at Fluttershy, then back at Pinkie. “Um… how about a research party?”
The pink pony instead cheered up. “That’s the spirit! Canterlot, here we come!”