//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Fluttershy's Foal? // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 2 ___________________________________________________________ Lemon Dreams left the two as they entered a large dinning hall, with a long table that was at least half as big as the one in Canterlot Castle. Seated at he table were Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity. However, along with their friends, Celestia and Luna were seated too, along with Shining Armour and Cadance. "Good morning, Fluttershy," Luna smiled, then winked at Twilight. "And how is our newest little niece doing this morning?" Twilight looked away, embarrassed. She wished Luna hadn't said that. Her situation was bad enough already. Twilight's humiliation only continued as she was levitated by Luna into a high chair next to where Fluttershy took her seat. A bottle of milk and a jar of what looked like apple sauce foal food were on the tray in front of the little alicorn, whose stomach chose that moment to rumble, quite loudly. Blushing with even more embarrassment and, deciding she didn't really have any other choice right now and knowing she couldn't possibly get anymore embarrassed than she was already, Twilight took the bottle in her hooves, stuck the nibble in her mouth and began suckling. At once, she noticed it wasn't formula. She could still remember how that tasted from when she was a little filly and this wasn't formula. It tasted like milk. It was warm and sweet and, despite herself, she couldn't help but smile and purr a little as she enjoyed the taste. As Twilight drank her milk, Celestia looked to Fluttershy. "Is she sleeping well?" Fluttershy, unsure how that question should be answered, decided to lie, hoping AJ would forgive her later. "Oh, yes. She slept soundly. Thank you for asking, princess," she said, glancing at Applejack and inwardly frowning at how the farmer didn't seem to detect the lie. Celestia nodded, then looked apologetic. "I must apologize again, Fluttershy. I know it's been days now, but I still feel sorry we had to use your daughter to store our magic so Tirek couldn't take it from us... as failed a plan as that turned into, anyway." Twilight spat out her milk, getting Pinkie covered in it before she started coughing, a small amount having gone down her wind pipe. Did... did Celestia just say Fluttershy's daughter? But, she'd been the one they stored their magic in. She could still feel slight remnants of their magic inside of her. Small amounts that would always make her feel like they were really related to her, not simply referring to her as their relative just because she'd become an Alicorn. "I still do not understand how young Twilight fought him off as long as she did," Celestia shook her head. After patting Twilight s back to calm her breathing, Luna turned to her sister. "Remember, sister, along with having all our magic within her, she also had our wisdom. I can only assume that she accessed it and put it to good use." Twilight, now able to breathe normally again, just stared, wide-eyed. Were they saying Fluttershy was her mother? She thought back to the morning. The crib in Fluttershy's room, the changing table, the fact that nopony seemed the least bit concerned that she was a foal... It all added up. Somehow, though she couldn't figure out the how, she'd been turned into a foal and the reality around her and Fluttershy had changed, placing them in a reality where Flutterhy was her mother. Twilight suddenly looked at Shining Armour sitting next to his wife and her heart broke, tears welling in her eyes before she started wailing. If Twilight was Fluttershy's daughter, then that meant Twilight Velvet wasn't her mother, which meant Shining Armour was not her brother. She'd lost her BBBFF and he didn't even know it. The knowledge of that tore at her now little heart. Fluttershy, on an instinct she questioned a second after, grabbed Twilight out of her high chair and held the tiny princess close, trying to sooth and calm her. Taking both of them by surprise she did, a little. She still cried into Fluttershy, but her volume, which had been extremely loud because she'd gone into the Royal Canterlot Voice, had gone down to the volume of a regular foal's crying, which was still pretty loud, all things considered. Cadance looked at the foal, worry on her face. "What's wrong?" Her husband nodded. "Yeah. Why did Twily just started crying like that? Does she have a tummy ache or something?" Though she didn't go back into the Royal Canterlot Voice, Twilight started crying louder at the mention of the nickname her now former brother had given her when she was a filly. Celestia looked to Fluttershy, a smile on her face. "I think she needs some alone time with her mother. Maybe you should take her back to the nursery in your room, Fluttershy." Fluttershy nodded and, holding the crying Twilight in her forehooves, Fluttershy flew out the room, heading back the way she'd come with Lemon Dreams. ___________________________________________________________ Fluttershy held the wailing foal in her hooves as she sat on her bed, trying her best to hush Twilight. Like Cadance and Twilight's brother, she was curious as to why Twilight had suddenly started crying like foal she currently was. Though her main priority right now was to calm her down. However, something struck her as odd. She felt she needed to calm Twilight down, she didn't want her to cry, but it wasn't like the other times she comforted the alicorn when she was in distress, even back when she'd been a unicorn. It felt stronger than that. It almost felt... maternal. Her eyes widened as she realized that was the label for this feeling and remembered what Princess Celestia had been saying prior to Twilight's crying. She'd apologized to Fluttershy for putting her daughter in danger by putting all the alicorn magic in her. And Princess Luna, when her sister had said she didn't understand how Twilight had managed to fight of Tirek, implying she'd been a foal at the time, had said it as because Twilight had had their wisdom to guide her as well as their magic. However, what had her mind locked was what these two things put together meant. If the princesses had put thir magic into her daughter (the idea she even had a daughter both stunned and overjoyed her), but Twilight was the one who'd been fighting Tirek with the magic... that meant Twilight... was her daughter. The shock of this alone would've been enough to make the petit Pegasus faint on the spot, but something kept her conscious. Something that was crying into her coat, wailing at the top of her lung, but not going into the Royal Canterlot Voice, and clutching onto her. Taking a breath, Fluttershy wrapped her wings around the crying alicorn and, in her most soothing voice said, "Shhh. It's okay, Twilight. Let it all out. It's okay." "Sh-Sh-Shiny's not my bwodew anymore!" the foal sobbed loudly, rubbing her head against the Pegasus' fur. Fluttershy blinked, confused. "What do you mean, Twilight? Oh, if you don't mind my asking, that is?" Twilight pulled her head away, looking up at Fluttershy with red, bloodshot eyes. "C-C-Cewestia said y-youw my mommy," she managed through her sobs. "D-dat means, my mommy,Twiwight Vewwet, iwn't my mommy no more. An iwf she not my mommy, Sh-Shiwning Awmouw iwn't my bwodew!" she finished in a wail, blurring her face back in her mother's coat. Fluttershy could do nothing more than hold her daughter and comfort her as best she could and let Twilight cry all her sorrows out into her fur. After about half an hour, Twilight's wails had turned to sniffles. She was only know, after having gotten all her pain out, realising just how warm and calming Futtershy's embrace was. Makes sense, I guess, she thought in a slightly miserable tone. She's my mother now. Even if I don't want to believe it, my foalish instincts think otherwise. Fluttershy nuzzled Twilight's small mane, which the alicorn found she rather enjoyed. It made her feel better and right now, she needed all the cheering up she could get. Now that she'd calmed down enough to think clearly again, however, she now started wondering how in Equestria this had happened. As she tried to think of what could have happened to do this, vague memories of, what seemed to her, last night, started coming back. She could vaguely remember talking with Fluttershy about how she would've made a great mother, which she could now confirm true, since Fluttershy had done so well in helping her deal with the pain that had overwhelmed her. She remembered saying if she were Fluttershy's foal, she'd have been happy being raised by her. There was something about Pumpkin Cake using a spell and Discord's talon glowing with the foal's magical aura— Her eyes widened. Discord! She should've figured he'd have had a part to the play in this. He'd told her that they truly were friends when he'd given her her key to open the chest, but he obviously wasn't going to stop with his mischief making ways. Twilight looked up at her mother, a firm look on her her face that just seemed to make Fluttershy have to withhold a giggle, no doubt because it looked cute. "Discowd did dis," she said, in a tone that said there was no doubt at all that it was the truth. Fluttershy looked shocked. "Twilight, you don't really think he'd have meant to make me your mother, do you?" "I most certainly did not." A popping sound later and the mismatched creature was standing in front of the bed, giving a very disapproving look to the young alicorn. "Your becoming Fluttershy's daughter by blood and everypony forgetting about who you used to be certainly was not what I had in mind." "You mean, you were responsible?" Fluttershy glared at Discord. She was happy to be able to call herself a mother, but what he’d done had upset Twilight, and nopony made her little filly cry Discord twiddled his paw and talon. "I might and I mean might have planned on turning Twilight into a foal. But, it would've only been for the night, I swear!" He'd started backing up, waving his paw and talon in front of him as Fluttershy's glare started turning into The Stare. The new mother raised an eyebrow. "Promise it was only meant to be one night and not permanent?" He nodded frantically. "Pinkie Promise?" it was such a silly sounding thing to ask, but Fluttershy's tone made it sound more like a death threat. Discord went through the motions, then sighed, scratching his head. "This is so beyond what I had in mind at all. Who'd have thought that little unicorn had it in her?" "Unicorn?" both females asked, before they remembered. "Pumpkin Cake!" The chaos master nodded. "At the same moment I was using my chaos magic to turn Twilight into a foal, she used a spell with the same intention. Her magic somehow mixed with my own and... well, the results are all around us." Fluttershy looked down at Twilight, who was crying again, silently this time, the Pegasus looked up at Discord. "Can't you just undo the spell?" To hers and Twilight's dismay, he shook his head. "This was raw magic mixed with chaos magic. Even I can't just fix it like that. Believe me, I've tried since I woke up, but nothing happens." He looked away, a sad and ashamed look on his face. "I haven't felt this useless since Tirek betrayed me and took my magic away." Both ponies winced; that memory would haunt them all for a long time. Fluttershy looked down at the foal in her forehooves, then up at Discord. "So, nopony aside from us remembers this isn't how things were? Nopony remembers who Twilight used to be?" Discord shook his had sadly. "No. Not one pony or living creature in is world aside from the three of us remembers that Twilight wasn't always your foal." He frowned. "Well, maybe Pinkie Pie does. I certainly wouldn't put it passed her. I swear, that pony's powers boggle even me and I'm the master of chaos." Twilight sniffled. Her whole life, everything she'd ever done, everything she’d ever accomplished, all the ponies she'd ever met, her parents, her brother, Cadance, even Celestia, none of it had ever happened now? Fluttershy seeing Twilight sadness, leaned down to nuzzle her when a loud voice made the three jump in fright."Hey, Twilight! Don't worry, Pinkie Pie will always be your best friend!"