//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Little Sister, Big Problem // by Twinkletail //------------------------------// "Alright, Apple Bloom...don't panic." Never before had Bloom felt so incapable of performing a two-word command before. Well, maybe once before. "No cookies" was a hard one to adhere to. It was far more manageable than this, though. She could always eat something else to get around a cookie ban, such as cupcakes, brownies, or, in times of desperation, vegetables. As far as Bloom knew, eating something would not change her formerly-big sister back to normal. Unless it would. It was Discord that did this, after all. A solution as ridiculous as that wasn't really out of the question. However, it was unlikely enough that going down and trying everything in the kitchen wasn't a feasible plan of action. The filly stared at her newly-infantilized sister. Part of her was still in shock over the discovery. In fact, most of her was. The parts of her that weren't were no help at all, for they were too busy fawning over how adorable Applejack was like this. She remembered Granny Smith telling her around the time of the last Apple family reunion that AJ was a pudgy little foal, but seeing her fat little belly heave up and down as she dozed peacefully was enough to take her mind off of her troubles for the moment. She almost wanted to go over there and tickle that little belly, but she managed to come to her senses and resist. This wasn't a time for belly-tickling. This was a time for action. That would be exactly what her sister would say if she wasn't currently a hoof-sucking foal. This caused Bloom to chuckle a bit; she hadn't even noticed the hoof-sucking until now. "Discord?" Bloom whispered, hoping that he would be hanging out around the area. He didn't answer, of course. The big meanie probably wouldn't have answered even if he was here. He was probably sitting at home right now, laughing at how he'd pulled one over on one of the Elements of Harmony and her little--well, big for the time being--sister. Bloom decided right then and there that Discord was the jerkiest jerk that had ever jerked. Then she hung her head. None of this would have happened if she hadn't asked for it, even though this wasn't exactly what she'd asked for. Well, perhaps it was, but it wasn't what she'd meant to ask for. She'd hoped this was a dream to begin with, but if it had to be real, she'd wanted to wake up and be around Big Macintosh's age, so she could ignore AJ's orders and make some orders of her own. She supposed she could still throw out some orders in this situation, but it wouldn't be the same. Bloom's train of thought abruptly stopped as she noticed her tiny sister begin to stir. The filly froze, preparing herself for the burst of yelling and crying that baby Applejack would surely unleash as soon as she realized what had happened to her. The foal opened her little green eyes, rubbing them with the hoof that she'd been sucking on moments ago. She sat up, barely even seeming to notice that she did so with a level of difficulty that she wouldn't have the day prior. She gave a sleepy glance towards Bloom, a glance that soon turned to one of preposterously adorable anger. "Apple Bloom!" AJ exclaimed in a comically high version of her usual voice. "Who said ya could leave yer room?" Bloom covered her mouth with a hoof, trying desperately to hold back giggles. A look of confused consternation crossed AJ's face after hearing her voice, as she tried to register what had happened to her vocal register. "What the hay's wrong with mah voice?" AJ asked, smacking the bed with a hoof. This was too much for Bloom to take. She felt terrible about what she'd done to her sister and she very much wanted to fix it, but none of that could stop the peals of laughter that followed. This only served to incense Applejack further. She pointed a hoof at her sister. "What's so..." she began to shout, but her sentence was cut off as she stared at her foreleg. It was tiny. Very, very tiny. And something about her little hoof looked so enticing. She wanted to suck on it. In fact, she was hit with an overwhelming urge to do so. Her willpower was strong, though, and she managed to resist. She wasn't sure why she wanted to do that so badly. She hadn't sucked her hoof since she was a... She looked down at herself, and what she saw shocked her. Gone was her big, fit body, replaced with a tiny, chubby belly and short, stubby legs. She tried to wiggle her hind legs, and sure enough, the little orange hind legs in front of her wiggled in response. Something in her mind was again informing her of how nice and relaxing it would be to pick one of those hooves up and shove it in her mouth, but again she resisted the urge. She was far too angry and confused for such endeavors. "Why am Ah a foal?!" the miniature mare shrieked, beating away at the mattress with her hooves. Apple Bloom, whose laughter had finally subsided, pulled herself to her hooves. Now that the initial hilarity of AJ's voice had worn off, worry and anxiety were beginning to set in again. As entertaining a sight as this was, it was imperative that a solution be found. "Ah'm sorry Applejack!" Bloom whined. "Ah..." She hesitated. As unnatural a sight as an infantilized Applejack was, it momentarily took a backseat to the image that she saw in the painting on the wall behind her sister's bed. It was a painting she'd seen thousands of times before, so often that she had practically memorized the depiction of the orchard during a rainstorm down to the last raindrop. In as many times as she'd seen it, it had certainly never moved before. She watched in wonder as a little draconequus, illustrated in the same style as the painting, strolled out from behind one of the painted trees. "Remember, Apple Bloom," the painted Discord whispered, opening up an umbrella as if to shield himself from the non-moving raindrops. "You promised." He did a quick twirl and let go of the umbrella, which floated up into the sky and vanished off the top of the canvas. He then leapt behind a tree, vanishing from sight. The filly gulped. Even though Discord was a meanie who twisted her wish into this mess, she'd been taught ever since she was little that a promise was not to be broken. It was something that her sister was very insistent on, especially since she'd come back from running away to Dodge Junction for some reason. "Ya what?" the tiny Applejack demanded adorably. Bloom gulped. She didn't want to lie to her sister, who valued honesty so much, but a promise was a promise. "...A-Ah don't know what happened!" Bloom said. "Ah jus' came in ta see ya an' ya were like this!" She held still, looking at her perturbed little big sister. She took solace in the fact that what she said was only partially a lie; she DID come in to see her and found her like this. The other part was a different story altogether. The foal stared at her, tiny green eyes narrowed as if she was trying to read her. After a few moments of silent tension, Applejack let up on her accusatory gaze, much to Bloom's relief. "This is crazy!" Applejack whined. She didn't intend to whine, but found herself doing it anyway. She also felt a stinging in her eyes. A strong impulse in her was trying to have her react to this frustration by crying. One small whimper managed its way out of her, but she refused to let any more of that impulse take over. She was stuck in the body of a foal, but that didn't mean she was about to act like one. She beat a hoof against the pillow once more, turning her gaze back on her sister. "C'mon Bloom, yer takin' me ta Twilight's. if anypony can fix this, it's her!" Bloom stared incredulously at Applejack. This wasn't how she wanted her wish to go, but either way, it was she who was technically the older sister now, not Applejack. And here she was, still trying to boss her around! The nerve! She may have had to listen to Applejack before, but there was no way she was letting a little foal boss her around. She wanted to help Applejack, but this was a matter of principle, in a situation that she'd very likely never be in again. She let a little grin cross her face. "Beg yer pardon?" Bloom said, stepping closer. "Ah don't think Ah gotta do what a lil' foal tells me." "What?!" AJ exclaimed. "Apple Bloom! Ah'm yer big sister, an'-" "Ya don't -look- like a big sister ta me!" Bloom giggled. "Ya look more like a lil' sister!" "Dangit, Apple Bloom!" AJ yelled. Bloom climbed up onto the bed, taking a seat by AJ's hind hooves. "A teeny-tiny widdle baby sister!" Bloom taunted. AJ frowned, once again feeling unwanted tears threaten to spring forth. Bloom was being a meanie. "C-cut that out..." AJ said quietly, trying not to sound too upset. "Aww, don't be sad, widdle baby," Bloom cooed. "Yer too cute ta be sad!" She reached forward, taking one of AJ's hind hooves in hers. She tickled the bottom of the tiny hoof, taking some pleasure in messing around with her sister. AJ knew she was upset with her sister for treating her like this, but all of that was forgotten as the little foal giggled happily in response to the tickle torture. Bloom giggled as well; as much as she wanted to fix things, this was pretty adorable. She quickly pinned her sister's hind hooves down, then leaned forward and blew a raspberry on her belly, causing the foal to erupt into laughter. The former farmer wanted so badly to be angry, but she could barely remember why as she giggled and squealed. The two sisters were knocked out of their reverie by a sudden knock from downstairs. Bloom's face stopped just inches from her sister's belly as she looked towards the door. "Now who in Equestria could that be?" Bloom mused, picking herself back up to a sitting position. "Hopefully it's somepony who can help us fix this mess!" AJ said, shifting into a more dignified position. "You go down an' answer it. Ah don't wanna be seen like this!" Bloom frowned a bit as her sister once again made demands of her, but she granted her this one. She didn't feel like arguing at the moment, and it was rude to keep a pony waiting at the door. The knocking got louder and faster as Bloom headed down the stairs. She'd been heading at a leisurely pace, but the urgency in the knock was enough to make her speed up. They certainly weren't expecting company; Applejack was supposed to be going out on errands, and it was hours until Bloom was supposed to meet her friends for the crusade that she almost definitely wouldn't be able to attend, despite AJ being in no condition to uphold her punishment. The filly opened the door, uncertain of what to expect, and was nearly bowled over by a pink ball of energy. "Apple Bloom!" Pinkie Pie shouted, surveying the area. "Where is he? Or she? Or both! It wasn't really specific!" The typically-youngest Apple family member looked up at Pinkie, clearly baffled. "What in the hay are ya talkin' 'bout, Pinkie?" Bloom asked, readjusting her bow. "My nose was twitch-a-twitching!" Pinkie answered. "And that came right after a double-leg kick and a shoulder shake!" She reenacted each motion pointedly, as if that was all the explanation necessary. "Oh!" Bloom responded, before raising a single brow. "...An' what does all that mean?" She, like most Ponyville residents, was accustomed to the Pinkie Sense, but this was a series of events in the pink mare's body that she'd never heard of before. "It means there's a foal emergency!" Pinkie exclaimed. She bounced in place, causing the saddlebags she was carrying to bounce along with her. "And it led me right here! Now where's the cute little foal?" Bloom paled, remembering her sister's request. Before she could say a word, Pinkie was no longer standing in front of her, already en route to the stairs. Bloom scrambled to follow her. She stood no chance of stopping Pinkie in her tracks, but this way she'd at least ensure that she was there to give an explanation. Applejack had been waiting in her room for her sister to deflect whoever was at the door. Normally, waiting for this short period of time would have been nothing for her. She typically had an abundance of patience, plenty enough to handle the minute or so since Bloom had left the room. Right now, though, she felt a strange need for some form of stimulation. She glanced down at her right front hoof. The enticing sensation from earlier returned, and without Bloom in the room, she had one less reasons to feel uncomfortable about it. The little pony picked up her hoof and put it in her mouth, suckling intently on the tip. Something in her mind told her that this was a good thing, and that was enough to keep her sucking. For those few moments, her hoof was her entire world, a fuzzy feeling that lasted until Pinkie burst through her door. "Is the foal in Applejack's room?" Pinkie shouted, looking left and right. AJ snapped out of her stupor, her hoof falling out of her mouth. She was very much startled, and for some reason, her first instinct was to cry. She willed herself through that urge, but still found herself trembling slightly, partially from the now-waning shock but mostly thanks to the frustration at being found like this by one of her best friends. Bloom was supposed to send whoever was at the door away so this exact thing wouldn't happen. She saw Bloom run into the room shortly after Pinkie and was ready to give her a tongue-lashing, but there was no time for such things. "APPLEJACK?!" Pinkie yelped, recognizing the tiny foal instantly. AJ took a deep breath, preparing to respond to Pinkie. Before she could get a word out, she found herself scooped up into Pinkie's forelegs. "Omigosh you're adorable!!" Pinkie gushed, holding the helpless foal's face right up to her own. AJ squirmed uselessly, completely unable to escape the much larger pony's hold. "Pinkie..." AJ began, but her voice only caused Pinkie to giggle and squeal. "I could just eat you up!" the pink mare giggled, rubbing her nose against AJ's. AJ found herself placed back on the bed, but escape from Pinkie's affections proved impossible as she found herself being nuzzled, tickled, cooed at, and spoken to in foal-talk by her friend. Much like when Bloom was playing with her earlier, AJ found herself quickly not wanting to escape said affections anymore for a reason that she couldn't quite place. She giggled joyfully as Pinkie played with her, and found herself in a bit of a happy daze once Pinkie was finally able to tear herself away. Bloom, meanwhile, watched the whole scene, a look of bemusement plastered to her face. Despite her concern, something about watching AJ be treated like this was cathartic after how often her sister would talk down to her like she was younger than she actually was. "So!" Pinkie said, plunking herself down onto the bed and pulling AJ into her lap. "What happened? I mean its not like Applejack to just turn into a foal like this! I mean I guess it's not like anypony to suddenly turn into a foal, but I guess that's kind of unfair for me to say when I haven't met everypony in the world yet. I know it isn't like Applejack though!" AJ found herself being bounced on Pinkie's knee as she spoke, an activity which was enough to delight her and remove her from the conversation. "A-Ah don't know," Bloom lied, glancing up at the painting to see if Discord would make another appearance. He didn't, but she still wouldn't break her promise. "Ah jus' came inta her room this mornin' an' she was a foal!" "Well that's weird!" Pinkie answered. "I guess this really WAS a foal emergency! Well, let's at least get her situated for the moment!" "Situated?" Bloom asked, confused. Her answer came quickly as Pinkie laid AJ on the bed and pulled a diaper from her saddlebags. The sight of the diaper was enough to snap AJ out of her happy mindset. She began to protest, but it was too little, too late. Pinkie was practiced at this by this point, having spent a lot of time around the rambunctious Cake twins, and before AJ could stop her, Pinkie had expertly diapered her. The orange foal frowned, not at all pleased with the offending garment that now hugged her lower half snugly. "There we go!" Pinkie sang, poking Applejack's nose with a hoof. "Doesn't that feel all comfy-womfy on the widdle filly's bottom?" Even the coddling and foal-talk that had made her smile earlier was not enough to make her okay with her situation this time. "No!" she exclaimed, pouting adorably. "Ah don't wanna wear a dang diaper!" Bloom had to restrain herself from giggling at her sister's predicament. AJ was upset enough as it was; she didn't need Bloom laughing at her too. "Well I'm sorry, Applejack," Pinkie said in her best motherly tone, patting her on the head. "But as long as you're a cute little foal, you have to! You don't want to ruin your nice furniture or floors or anything, do you?" AJ's cheeks turned bright red, and she looked down, not wishing to acknowledge this line of conversation. Pinkie took this as a sign of compliance and smiled, kissing the foal on the forehead, eliciting another bout of blushing from AJ. "That's a good filly!" the pink mare said, beaming. Then she turned to Bloom. "I brought a bunch of foal supplies cause I knew there was a foal emergency, but if you want, I can take care of Applejack while you try and figure out how to change her back! I'm sure the Cake twins would love a playmate!" Bloom tapped her chin, considering this offer. With Applejack safely in Pinkie's care, she would have plenty of time to not only try to find out how to change her sister back, but also to go crusading with her friends like she was supposed to! The more she thought about it, though, the more guilty she felt about it. Applejack was in this mess because of her, and to pass off responsibility for her just didn't feel right. "That's alright, Pinkie," Bloom said. "She's mah sister, so Ah'll take care'a her. How 'bout you go ta Twilight an' see if she cain't figure out a way ta fix it?" If there was one pony who could fix a magical mishap like this (without getting the princesses involved), it was Twilight. "That's a great idea!" Pinkie bubbled. AJ, on the other hoof, didn't seem to agree. "Now see here!" Applejack shouted. "Ah don't want Twilight an' the others seein' me like this! It's bad enough that Pinkie has!" Bloom just rolled her eyes and sat down next to her sister. "Applejack," Bloom began. "Ya know Twilight's real smart an' real good with magic. Ah bet that even though none of us, me included, knows how this happened, she can find a way ta fix it." She noticed the pout forming on AJ's little face and hugged her. "Ah know it's embarrassin', but if Twilight don't help, ya could be stuck like this. Ya don't wanna be stuck like this, right?" "N-no..." AJ was forced to concede. "Then let Pinkie go tell her!" Bloom said. "An' don't worry. Ah'll take care'a ya till it's all sorted out!" Applejack didn't look so convinced about the last part, but finally nodded her consent. "Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said cheerfully, then tossed her saddlebags onto the bed. "Here's everything you'll need!" "What's all that?" Bloom asked, eyeing the saddlebags. "Foal supplies!" Pinkie replied, unloading things onto the bed. "Here's a whole bunch of spare diapers, a couple of pacifiers, some toys, a few bottles..." "Ain't no way Ah'm drinkin' milk out of a bottle!" AJ spoke up. "Hmm..." Pinkie responded. "Well I mean there's another way foals get milk, but I don't think any of the girls would..." "Ah'll take the bottles!" Applejack said hurriedly, before this conversation could go any further. Pinkie smiled and ruffled her little mane. Don't you worry, widdle Applejack!" the pink mare said in a soothing tone. "Auntie Pinkie Pie will make sure we get you back to your big, strong apple-bucking self! You just stay here and be the cutest widdle thing in the world!" She smooshed AJ's cheeks together with her hooves. AJ tried to resist it, but she couldn't help giggling lightly in response. Pinkie, encouraged by her happiness, started tickling her belly, causing AJ to begin flailing and giggling again. "Uh, this is cute an' all," Bloom spoke up, "But don'tcha think we should get Twilight?" "Oh! Right!" Pinkie laughed. "It's just so hard to pull myself away from the little cutie!" She gave Applejack's mane another ruffle. "Now you be good for your big sister, alright?" The orange foal blushed and nodded quietly. Bloom couldn't help but smile; this may not have been the way she wanted it, but for now, she really was the big sister.