Chapter 3
Settling into new Roles
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Dear Princess Celestia,
This letter is to inform you of an event that happened earlier this evening, shortly after I visited Zecora in the Everfree Forest.
As I was leaving her house I heard the sound of a pony crying out for help. I hurried to their aid and was shocked by the pony in question.
It was Sunset Shimmer, but she is not the one who was your student. She is the one from the other world (though I did not learn this until later).
She had eaten a bunch of berries that glow blue and she was getting younger. Before I knew it, she was a foal.
I took her to Zecora’s and that’s where I learned from Sunset herself as to her identity. I also learned what the berries she’d eaten were.
They were Baby Berries. From what Zecora explained, they were forbidden before your sister became Nightmare Moon, so you probably know about them already.
This being said, what you would not know is that Sunset Shimmer is now stuck as a foal and will have to grow up like a normal foal.
Seeing as you told me shortly after my return from the other world that Sunset Shimmer was an orphan when you took her as your student, I know that she has no living relatives to who can care for her.
This being the case, I have taken it upon myself to care for her. However, I do request that you come to Ponyville as soon as possible. I feel I made need a little advice on a few matters.
Know, however, that she is doing fine for now and things are under control.
Your Faithful Student and fellow Princess,
Twilight Sparkle.
“That should do it,” Twilight said, finishing the letter, rolling up the scroll with her magic and levitating it over to Spike, who sent it away in a puff of green flame.
When Twilight had arrived home, Sunset Shimmer had already fallen asleep. She’d given her to Spike and hurried to the nearest baby store and thanked Celestia that it was still open.
Upon her return to the library, Spike told her he’d put one of the spare diapers left over from when Twilight had foalsat Pumpkin Cake several weeks ago on Sunset Shimmer in case she had an accident and that Spike had placed her on Twilight’s bed in her loft so as not to wake her.
“So, now what?” the baby dragon asked, glancing up the stairs.
“To be honest, Spike,” Twilight said, giving a yawn, “I have no idea. This kind of thing has never happened before. Not since Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon, anyway.”
“How exactly are you going to take care of her?” he asked, rummaging through one of the many bags Twilight had come back with, all filled with baby supplies. “I never really took you for the type to raise a foal.”
“And just what is that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked, her voice curving a little. “I’ve taken care of you since you hatched, haven’t I?”
“That’s not what I meant,” Spike said, slightly worried by the tone in the mare he thought so much of's voice. “I just mean that raising a foal is very different from raising a baby dragon. Plus, you were a filly when you started caring for me. I was almost like a little brother to you back then.”
“And what makes you think you’re not still like a little brother to me now?” Twilight asked slyly, nuzzling him.
“You know what I mean, Twi,” he said, trying to act bored, but unable to hide the laughter in his voice.
They spent the next few minutes going through all the things Twilight had bought in order to care for the foal Sunset Shimmer, which they checked off a list Spike had to assume Twilight had written on her way back to the library from the store.
Lots of diapers, check
Baby bottle, check
Baby formula, check
Crib, check
Baby powder, check
Baby clothes, check
Toys, check
When they’d finished checking the list, Spike glanced at Twilight. “Why did you need baby formula?” he asked, an eyebrow raised as he placed the list and the quill he’d been using to tick off everything they had onto a nearby desk. “Isn’t she old enough for solid foods?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, Spike. She’s only three months old.”
“Three months?!” Spike cried, then slammed his claws over his mouth and the two turned in the direction of Twilight’s room. No sound came from it and they both sighed with relief.
“Not so loud, Spike,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “We don’t want to wake her. She’s had a really big day. Or, years, I guess?”
Spike smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. “Sorry about that, Twilight,” he said, then frowned. “So, since she’s only three months old, Sunset Shimmer’s gonna have to drink baby formula?”
“I sure hope so,” Twilight thought out loud, blushing a little.
“What do you mean?” Spike asked, confused. “Are you saying she might not be able to drink formula? What would she drink then?”
“Well...” Twilight hid her beat-red face behind a wing. “If she can’t keep down the formula... I’ll have to... feed her myself.”
“I don’t follow,” the baby dragon put his hands on his hips. “If she can’t drink formula, how would you feed her yourself?”
Twilight gulped. This really wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with Spike. Not, at least, until he was a bit older. But he’d trapped her. She had no choice but to answer his questions honestly. She just hoped she wouldn’t scar him for life.
“Spike?” she asked, her voice shaking. “Do you know how foals feed when they’re first born, before they can drink formula?”
Spike’s brow furrowed. “Well, yeah. They drink from their mothers. But, what’s that got to do with...?” he trailed off at the look on Twilight’s face and his mouth dropped open. “Really?”
She nodded, her face so deep a shade of red she was sure nothing in all Equestria compared. “If she can’t keep down formula... I’ll have to nurse her.”
“B-b-b-ut—” Spike said, his eyes so wide Twilight thought they’d pop out there sockets. “You’re not a mom! How can you feed her?”
“Zecora gave me a potion,” Twilight murmured, her voice almost a whisper. She levitated the bottle out of Sunset’s saddle bag, which was resting by the front door. “If I drink it... my body will start producing milk a foal Sunset’s age can drink.”
Spike looked from Twilight to the bottle and back to Twilight. “You’re not actually gonna drink it, are you?” he asked, looking very uncomfortable.
Twilight brought the bottle over to them and laid it on her work desk. “On the off-hoof chance Sunset can’t keep formula down, I have to, Spike,” she said, her face still so red she’d have made the most ripest of tomatoes jealous of her. Before Spike could say anything else, she held up a hoof. “Let’s just go to bed. We’ll find out what has to be done in the morning.”
Spike wanted to protest, but he could see how tired Twilight was and agreed.
She and Spike went up to her room and crept in quietly. Sunset Shimmer was sound asleep on Twilight’s bed, her right-hoof in her mouth as she sucked on it.
The sight made both the alicorn and the dragon “D'aww” before getting into their beds.
Spike easily curled up in his basket and went to sleep almost instantly.
Twilight, however, gently lowered herself onto the bed, so as not to wake the sleeping foal. As she lay down next to her, however, Sunset turned towards Twilight. Upon touching her, she snuggled closer into Twilight’s fur and gave a yawn.
This made Twilight’s heart flutter in a way she’d never felt before, though she didn't quite know why.
She smiled, wrapped her wings around the tiny foal and went to sleep.
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Sunset Shimmer shifted, not opening her eyes. She’d had the weirdest dream. She’d met another her who’d sent her into a world where she was a pony and then became a baby pony.
Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes and started to rub them, when she stopped. She was not rubbing her eyes with her hands. She was rubbing them with hooves. Tiny, yellow fur-covered hooves.
Okay, maybe that wasn’t a dream after all, she thought nervously, her heart starting to beat a little faster.
She looked around, trying to figure out where she was. Last thing she remembered she was riding on Princess Twilight’s back as they traveled through a large countryside.
Everything around her was lavender-purple feathers, to which she raised an eyebrow.
She noticed her bottom rubbing against something soft. She looked down to see a white diaper on her rump. This made her frown. She wasn’t really a baby. She didn’t need diapers.
She felt whatever the feathers encasing her were connected to stir and the feathers pulled away to reveal a loft that looked part bedroom, mostly bookshelves, with walls that looked like they were the inside of a tree.
She turned her head to see Princess Twilight smiling at her, her eyes half open from having just woken up. “Good morning, Sunny,” she said, giving a loud yawn. “Did you have a nice sleep?”
Sunset Shimmer looked down at her hooves. “Yes... your highness.”
“Hey, now,” Twilight said, sitting up completely and rubbing the sleep from her eyes with a hoof. “None of that, little filly. Just Twilight, okay?”
Sunset shifted a little. “Okay... Twilight.”
It was at this precise moment that Sunset’s stomach made a strange sound and she felt herself getting wet near her crotch. She looked down to see a big yellow stain appear and grow large and large.
“I’m peeing myself! I’m peeing myself!” she cried, waving her hooves in the air.
Twilight took the small foal in her hooves as tears started to form in her eyes and cooed, “It’s okay, Sunny. It’s okay. You’re a foal now and foals wet themselves. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“B-but I’wm a big giwl,” she sniffled, pressing her muzzle into Twilight’s shoulder. “I shouwn’t hawe asidewnts.”
Twilight hushed her, then, using her magic, she lowered Sunset onto the bed. She levitated a clean diaper, some baby powder and a wet wipe from somewhere in the room Sunset couldn’t see from her current position, undid her current diaper, wiped her lower area clean, then lifted Sunset’s rear, slid the diaper under her, lowered her again, shook some baby powder into the diaper and did up the pins and finished by making the dirty diaper disappear. Where to, Sunset didn’t have a clue.
“Is that better?” Twilgiht asked, smiling down at her.
Sunset sat up and shifted, feeling the soft cushion on her tiny tush. “It’s otay.” She winced at her words. Was she ever gonna get use to this?
Twilight’s smile seemed to brighten a little. She scooped Sunset into her arms and nuzzled her neck.
The sound of movement made the two ponies turn. Sunset raised an eyebrow. What looked like a small purple dragon was sleeping in a basket not too far from the bed she and Twilight were on.
The dragon stirred, opening its eyes, sat up and stretched, giving an over-the-top yawn. It looked at her and held up its tiny claws in a reassuring way.
“Don’t worry, Sunset Shimmer,” it said in a male voice that sounded like a little boy's. “I know I’m a dragon, but you don’t have to fear me. I’m Spike, Twilight’s friend.”
“I’wm not scawed,” Sunset said, shaking her head a little. “You’w not scawy at all.”
The dragon named Spike scowled, then looked away. “Talk about kicking a guy’s pride out the door.”
Sunset looked to Twilight. “Did I say somefing wong?”
Twilight only chuckled. “Would you happen to be hungry?”
As if to answer, Sunset’s pudgy belly decided at that moment to make a loud growling sound and Sunset blushed deeply.
“I’ll take that as a “yes”,” Twilight said, carefully placing Sunset on the bed, getting off it and heading for a door across the room. “Spike, watch her until I get back.”
“Can do,” the dragon replied, giving the mare a salute, making Sunset giggle.
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Twilight walked back up towards her room, a bottle full of baby formula suspended in her magic. She had already taken the potion Zecora had given her the previous night before she’d prepared the bottle.
I do hope Sunset will be able to keep her formula down, she thought, blushing as the thought entered her mind. The alternative might prove more difficult for her to accept. And for me.
At that moment she heard a loud scream come from her room. Twilight rushed up the remaining stairs, readying her magic for a fight— to see Spike blow raspberries into Sunset’s chubby belly.
“Spike!” the little foal cried, tears of laughter streaming down her cheeks as Spike got ready to blow again. “I sawd stowp! Wou’ll make me pee agaiwn!”
“Okay, Spike, that’s enough,” Twilight chuckled, walking over to the two. “It’s time to feed Sunset.”
Spike looked disappointed, but moved away and didn’t argue.
Twilight sat down on the bed and waited for Sunset to finish wiping the tears from her eyes and catch her breath again, before asking, “Hungry?”
Sunset looked from Twilight to the bottle and frowned, looking back up at Twilight. “A boddle? Weally?”
“Sunset, you’re a foal now. You have to eat what other foals eat,” Twilight said, moving closer, picking her up and holding her in her right foreleg. “Please drink this, for me?”
Sunset folded her arms and glared at her for a few seconds, then sighed and nodded.
Twilight’s smile brightened a little and she lowered the bottle to Sunset, who opened her mouth, then closed it around the nibble and started to drink.
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Sunset could feel the warm liquid going down her throat. She had to admit, it tasted better than she thought it would, for a few seconds, anyway.
Sunset felt the liquid come back up and spat it onto Twilight’s bed sheets.
“Uh oh,” Spike said, having stopped making his bed when Sunset spat-up.
“Wat’s “uh oh”?” Sunset asked, fear entering her mind. Why would her spitting up make Spike say “uh oh”?
“I’d hoped this wouldn’t happen,” Twilight sighed, the bottle floating away and landing down beside the bed.
“Why?” Sunset squeaked, looking up at the older mare. “What’s gonna happen?”
Twilight gulped. “Sunset, do you know how foals— I mean, baby humans... do you know how they feed after they’re born?”
Sunset cocked an eyebrow. “Wew, duh. I may be a baby, but I’wm not swupid, Twiwight. Dey dwink fwom dere moders...” she trailed off as her eyes went wide. “No.”
Twilight nodded. “Yes. Since you can’t keep down the baby formula, you will have to drink...” she gulped. “You will have to drink... breast milk.”
Twilight then explained about the potion Zecroa had given her when the two of them had left her alone for a few minutes, back at Zecora’s hut, what it did and why she’d been given it.
On Sunset's request, Twilight tried to feed her the bottle of formula four more times, each ending with Sunset spitting up.
When Twilight finished cleaning up the fourth mess using her magic, Sunset turned away from her, her front hooves folded over her chest. “No.”
“But, Sunset—” Twilight began.
“NO!” Sunset shouted, wincing a little at how loud her own voice had been. “I won’t dwink bweast miwk! I won’t!”
“But, if you don’t, you’ll starve,” Twilight said, putting a hoof on Sunset’s shoulder.
“I’d waver stawve,” she muttered, not turning around.
Twilight’s hoof moved away from her shoulder, making her glance behind her. Twilight had a very firm look on her face.
“I’m sorry, Sunset Shimmer,” she said, sounding more stern than before. “You are in my care and I will not let you starve.”
Sunset’s body became shrouded in Twilight’s magic and she was forced to turn around. Twilight’s horn was glowing. She was laying on her side, her two teats exposed.
“You will drink my milk, even if I have to force you, Sunset Shimmer,” she said, looking straight into Sunset’s eyes.
Sunset floated against her will towards Twilight’s teats, with her unable to do anything to stop it.
“Twiwight!” she cried as her muzzle was inches from one of the teats. “Pwease, don’t!”
Twilight said nothing, but her magic shoved Sunset a little further, forcing the teat into her mouth, the pressure causing milk to squirt into her mouth and down her throat.
Sunset’s eyes widened. The milk... tasted nice. Really nice. She couldn't remember ever tasting anything so nice in her whole life. Without even meaning to, she started suckling.
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Twilight was taken aback when Sunset started suckling eagerly. She hadn’t expected her to accept this so quickly.
It was an odd sensation, nursing. Yet, Twilight felt like it was completely natural. As if she was meant to do this.
Well, mares do all have the means to feed foals, whether they’re mothers or not, she thought to herself as Sunset continued to suckle. So, I suppose it would make sense that this feels natural.
Fifteen minutes later Sunset moved away, a content look on her face.
“All full?” Twilight asked the tiny pony.
Sunset nodded. “All full.”
Twilight sat back up and looked at Sunset. “How was it?”
“It was—” Sunset stopped and looked away, her muzzle getting a light pink blush on it. “It was otay, I guwess.”
Suddenly her face became strained.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, putting a hoof on Sunset’s shoulder.
“My tomic,” Sunset said, wincing. “It huwts.”
Twilight smiled. She knew what was happening. She picked up the tiny foal, put her over her shoulder and patted her back.
“Wat’w you—?” Sunset began, then gave a small burp.
Twilight lowered her back onto the bed and smiled. “Better?”
Sunset’s face was bright red. “Beddew. But, tew me nex’ tiwme you’w gonna do dat.”
Twilight was about to say something when a knock came from downstairs.
“Oh, good,” she said, getting off the bed, picking up Sunset and gently flew down the stairs. “She was able to come.”
“Who?” Sunset asked from within her forehooves.
“Princess Celestia.”
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Sunset Shimmer watched from the highchair Twilight had put her in as she trotted over to the door of the library and opened it with her magic.
In walked another alicorn, much large than Twilight. She looked more like a horse than a pony. She had a long, billowing mane and tail of cyan-blue, light-green, very light lavender and pink, which moved as if in a wind despite there being none. Her fur was a pure-white. Her horn and wings were much large than Twilight’s and she was wearing a golden tiara on her head. on her flank was a sun, different from the one Sunset had seen on her own before she began a foal. Celestia's mark looked golden, while hers had looked more like it was setting.
Sunset frowned, thinking about the similarity between the mark she'd had and her name? Did ponies always get a name in relation to their mark or was it the other way around?
Sunset wouldn’t be lying if she said she was scared of Princess Celestia. She’d been the other hers teacher. She was worried what Celestia might do to her.
Princess Celestia walked inside, saw Sunset and quickened her pace until she was right in front.
Sunset wasn’t sure if she was happy or worried that Twilight had put her in this highchair. It made Princess Celestia seem a little less tall, but it also meant she couldn’t get away.
For a moment, Celestia just stared at her, then, her muzzled turned into a small smile. “It is very nice to meet you, Sunset Shimmer.”
Sunset gasped. Princess Celestia sounded just like the principal of Canterlot High when she’d spoken to her over the phone a few days before this all started.
“Uh-um...” Sunset stuttered, looking down. “It’s... niwce to meet you to, pwincess.”
“Oh, you are just so adorable!” Celestia suddenly cried, making Sunset wince in fear.
“Easy, princess,” Twilight said, coming back over, the door closed by her magic. “Keep in mind, you’re the third pony she’s seen since she arrived. Well, aside from her own reflection, I suppose.”
Celestia seemed to realize what she’d just done. She cleared her throat and seemed to regain her composure. “Yes. Of, course, Twilight. Now, would you mind explaining in full the events that happened last night involving miss Shimmer?”
“Of course,” Twilight said, nodding towards what Sunset saw was a small dining room. “I have prepared some tea.”
The next few minutes were of Twilight explaining to Celestia everything that had happened to Sunset and about how she was going to take care of her.
Sunset was thankful she’d left out the part about Twilight nursing her. She blushed just thinking about it. Luckily, Twilight had been talking about Sunset peeing in her diaper, so she knew Celestia would think that was why she was blushing, which made her feel a bit better.
Once Twilight was done, Celestia was silent for a few moments. She had not said anything through Twilight’s revelations of the events of last night, occasionally sipping from her tea whenever Twilight paused.
When she did speak, it was to Sunset directly. “Do you wish to stay with Twilight, Sunset?” she asked, her voice gentle and even.
Sunset looked from Celestia, to Twilight, then back again.
Twilight was the only pony she knew in this world aside from Zecora and Celestia. She hadn’t spoken much to Zecora, since she’d been too similar to her friend back in the human world and while Celestia was nice and Sunset could sense a motherly bond between Celestia and Twilight, she didn’t feel as close to Celestia as she did to Twilight.
“I’w stay wif Twiwight,” she said, her firm tone over shadowed by her baby talk.
Twilight turned to her, a loving smile on her face. “You really want to stay with me?” Her eyes were shining as she looked at Sunset.
She nodded. “Yeah.”
Twilight scooped Sunset from her highchair and hugged her tightly. “I promise, you won’t regret it!” she squealed, a few tears sliding down her face, surprising her.
Sunset returned the embrace. Twilight’s hug was so warm. Even more so than her mother’s.
Celestia watched the two for a minute before she finished her tea and stood up. “Well, things seem settled here. I must return to Canterlot ,now. I have several meetings I moved so that I could visit today.”
“We understand, Celestia,” Twilight said, turning to her mentor. “Thank you for taking the time to come.”
Celestia nodded and walked towards the door. It opened with her magic, which Sunset noted was golden, unlike Twilight’s purple.
When the door closed behind the princess, Twilight looked down at the foal in her hooves. “Want to meet my friends?”
Sunset looked up at her. She thought about it and decided, if they were Twilgiht’s friends, she’d like to meet them.
She nodded and Twilight flew into the main room again, carrying Sunset in her forehooves.
Sunset was looking forward to this outing into where Twilight lived. She’d told her it was Ponyville and she wanted to see how ponies could live in a very human-like society... until she saw the cyan baby carrier sitting near the front door, Spike standing next to it.