Puny Purple Pony: From Padded to Proud

by Autum Breeze

Chapter 2 - Confusion and Comunication

Twilight shook her head as Big Mare and Big Stallion headed downstairs (keeping her eyes closed so she didn’t feel like she did when they’d gone up the other night, only in reverse).

As she shook her head, a part of her reasoned that, maybe the nursery had always been there. For all she knew, Big Mare and Big Stallion could have been planning on having a foal of their own shortly before she arrived and, due to her being so tired, hadn’t noticed the nursery door on the first night.

She blinked. Something about what she’d just thought didn’t quite add up.

She focused. Why was she feeling so... off? She’d just gotten a rough night’s sleep, she reasoned. It being her first night having to deal with being treated like a foal, she supposed that made sense...

Her musings were cut short as the Big Ponies took her to the living room and Big Mare sat down on the coach, holding Twilight in her forelegs.

The purple mare decided to put her own thoughts aside and focused on her temporary “mom and dad”. They both were talking with worried tones, if the same kind of tones was the same as in Twilight’s own world.

Big Stallion shook his head several times, frowned, whacked himself with a forehoof, then shook his head again.

Big Mare seemed anxious, her grip on Twilight tightening ever so slightly.

Twilight couldn’t help wondering why they were so worried. Had something about the nursery not been as they’d left it? Or were they worrying about her again?

She couldn’t help smirking sadly at that. If they were thinking of trying to find her mother, they’d never be able to do so. She was in another world...

Wait a minute. Since this was an alternate world, maybe there was an alternate Twilight? She’d never come across the alternate her back when she’d first traveled through dimensions, but since there’d been human versions of her friends there, there could’ve easily been a human version of herself.

That being the case, could there be an alternate her here, in this world?

She hoped not. That would make things way to confusing for everypony. Sure, her mother, Twilight Velvet might be in this world, but what if this world’s Twilight hadn’t been born yet? Or what if she had? That would just confuse everypony, especially if this world’s Twilight already had her Cutie Mark. Two ponies with the same Cutie Mark? That just spelled trouble.

Fresh sat down, taking the little foal in her forelegs. “Pitch, what jus’ happened?” she asked her husband as she looked up to him, her expression worried. “Why were we shocked to find the nursery?”

The stallion shook his head. “Ah don’ know. We built it months afore the foal arrived, yet the moment Ah set hoof in there, it felt odd. Like it hadn’t been there last night.”

Fresh sighed, glancing down at the foal. She was frowning, as if deep in thought. Fresh would’ve played that off as just silly foal antics, but after what the foal had done that morning...

“Why did we leave her home alone?” she looked back to her husband, worry in her eyes. “How could we do that?”

Pitch just shook his head again. “Ah honestly don’ know, sweetie. Ah know we’d never have willin’ly left a helpless child on her own.” He whacked himself on the forehead. “Ah wish Ah knew what happened.”

Fresh looked longingly down at the foal. “Pitch... can we keep her, please?”

Pitch sighed, then shook his head. “We first need ta know if’n her family’s in town somewhere. Maybe we can find her mama.”

“But she was left on our doorstep, Pitch,” Fresh said firmly. “You know a mother who wants their child wouldn’t just leave them on some random ponies’ doorstep, ragged and in a puddle of their own pee.”

Pitch paused at that, then sighed, scratching his neck. “Alright, honey. We’ll keep her. But I’m filing a report anyway, just in case.”

“You can’t mention that she’s an Alicorn!” Fresh said, tightened her grip slightly on the foal, causing her to look up at her husband. “If the Queen—”

“Ah know, Ah know,” the stallion cut her off. “Don’t worry. Ah’m jus’ gonna say her coat, mane and tail colours.”

Fresh relaxed, her grip not slacking, but becoming gentler with the foal.

Pitch turned and headed for the door. “Ah’ll go an’ make the report now, plus Ah’ll get some more foal supplies. Fer some reason Ah couldn’t find the bag we used yesterday. Though,” he said, glancing back and seeing his wife’s saddening face, “like ya said: she was left on our doorstep. Chances are we won’t find her family.”

Pitch had to hold back a smirk and the confusing combination of emotions on her wife’s face at those words. He could see she was happy at the idea of the keep the foal, but saddened by the idea that the foal might not have a family somewhere. It was rathe amusing.
Shaking his head, Pitch left, closing the door behind him.

Twilight watched the exchange between the two Big Ponies, then as Big Stallion headed for the door and went out, briefly glancing back and she could swear she could tell he was hiding a smirk about something, before the door closed behind him.

She cocked her head. “What was that all about?”

She heard Big Mare say something and looked up to see the large mare smiling down at her.

Twilight would’ve said something then, but her stomach suddenly gave a growl, causing her to blush and Big Mare to chuckle.

I have a feeling I know where this is going.

Big Mare lowered Twilight down onto the floor, said something Twilight guessed was “Wait here a moment,” the headed off in the direction Big Stallion had the previous night.

Twilight did as instructed, but looked around, frowning. “Why are things not where they were this morning?” She waddled over to a pile of newspapers she hadn’t seen before and scanned the date, before frowning again.

The date said it was several months since the Spring Festival, which she remembered had Trender Hoof causing Rarity to not be herself in an attempt to woe him.

Twilight remembered this clearly and yet... staring at the date, she felt that, seeing it in this world was off. She couldn’t figure out why though and it urked her to no end.

A chuckle from behind made Twilight turned around. Big Mare had returned, carrying with her a bottle of milk.

Twilight sighed. She would have much rather a solid meal, but she guessed; until she could find a way to really communicate properly, she’d have to settle for milk for at least one more meal.

While not as comforting as last night’s milk had been, since she wasn’t exhausted from working tirelessly on a dimension travel spell and starving after weeks of barely anything to eat, Twilight still felt those memories she’d had tickle her mind the previous night do so again.

Once she’d finished her milk, Big Mare took Twilight upstairs, causing Twilight to do as she had the night before and whine, as going up those stairs still felt like leaping to the top of Canterlot Castle in bounds.

When they reached the top and Twilight dared to open her eyes again, she saw them heading back towards the nursery.

Twilight couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Big Mare must still think I’m a foal, I’ll grant it a strangely intelligent one, but a foal, none the less. If only there was a way to communicate with her.

Big Mare brought Twilight over to the changing table and fitted Twilight back into her snuggy pajamas.

Twilight was shocked to find that, the moment she was in the pajamas, she felt a little tired. “I’m really getting too much into this.”

Once the purple mare was in her PJs, Big Mare took Twilight over to the crib and laid her down. She gently patted Twilight’s head, then leaned down and kissed her just below her horn.

Twilight would have protested, but a thought occurred to her, so she closed her eyes, pretending to fall asleep, while trying to keep herself from actually doing so, which wasn’t easy, wearing the snuggy. It really made her want to fall asleep.

She heard Big Mare murmur something, then carefully trot out the room, before the door closed behind her.

After a few moments, once Twilight was certain she wouldn’t be disturbed, she opened her eyes and stood, walked over to the bars of the crib and propped herself up, looking around at the nursery, lighting her horn to see a bit better.

In the dim light of her horn, the room almost looked a little bit creepy, but she put that aside and scanned her surroundings. If Pitch and Fresh made this nursery for a foal they planned on having, then they likely would’ve put them... there!

She grinned. Off to the right was a small bookshelf and, though Twilight couldn’t make out the titles, knew they were books for helping foals to learn.

Casting her magic out, Twilight struggled for a moment to unlatch the lock on the crib, before she got out, clumsily gliding and hoping the bigger mare didn’t hear the sound of her thumbing on the floor.

Free of her foalish confined, Twilight walked over to the wall, scanning for the light switch. Finding it, she used her magic to turn the lights on, panting a little at the strain.

She really needed to get used to this world’s magic if she had any chance of returning home before the portal closed.

After she’d gotten her breath back, Twilight moved over to the bookshelf and focused on the books, though one in particular. Even if she couldn’t read this world’s language aside from the few words she’d learned from the story about the “shrk” the Big Ponies had read to her last night and the other few words she knew (though she didn’t know how she knew those), she could tell one of the books was one for teach foals the letters of the alphabet. Why else would there be three huge brightly coloured things that looked like letters on the cover.

Twilight lit her horn, straining as she levitated the book off the shelf, trying to lower it down. Once that was done, she moved over to what was clearly a place meant for a foal to draw pictures, with paper and coloured pencils.

Had Twilight actually been a foal, she wouldn’t have been able to get them down, but, since she wasn’t, it was easy.

With everything she’d need collected, Twilight moved back to the book and opened it. Like she’d expected, it showed what were clearly the letters of this world’s alphabet and a picture of something starting with that letter underneath it. Though the letters were different from the ones in Equestria, Twilight knew, if she studied them hard enough, she could learn them.

Fresh walked into the nursery an hour later, fully intending to wake up the little foal. Her steps, however, stopped and her eyes widened at the sight before her.

The little foal was sitting at the writing desk, not laying in the crib, which was unlocked.

Now, this alone would’ve shocked Fresh, but the little foal was moving a pencil across some paper, glancing back at forth from something. As Fresh slowly drew nearer, she saw it was a book about the alphabet.

She blinked. What? How could...? Why would...?

She remembered how the foal had done something that resembled mathematics that morning. It hadn’t quite matched, but it still was similar enough to notice.

She gasped, causing the foal to look up in surprise.

For a moment they just stared, before the foal smiled and, using her magic, levitated one of the sheets of paper to hover in front of the bigger mare.

Fresh took it with a forehoof out of reflex, her eyes fixed on the lavender pony, who only pointed to the paper before saying, “Read.”

Fresh gaped. The idea that the foal could talk wasn’t what shocked her. She’d been trying during the story she and her husband had read to her the previous night. No, what shocked her was the continuity between the foal given her a sheet of paper and saying the word “read”. It implied a clear understanding of the actions and what the word’s meaning was.

Her hooves shaking a little, Fresh looked down, before her eyes widened. There was writing on the paper. Clear, understandable, no way of mistaking it writing.

She stood there for a moment, shocked, before the foal calling out, “Read!” again, a little impatiently this time, snapped her out of it and she began to read.

Greetings. My name is Twilight Sparkle, or Princess Twilight Sparkle, since I’m an Alicorn.

I realize this may be hard for you to understand, but I am not a foal. I am a full grown pony, but from another world, where it would seem ponies in my world, when full grown, are only the size of foals in yours.

Let me first say I never meant to deceive you into thinking I was a foal. My special talent is magic and, as such, I can perform incredibly large feats of magic most ponies would not be able to do. I was trying to use my talent to perfect a dimensional walking spell so that I could visit other worlds and learn from them.

However, after working tirelessly as I did, when I jumped headfirst into your world, I was too exhausted to stop you or your husband from mistaking me for and treating me like a foal.

You do have my thanks, though. While it wasn’t something I wanted to have happen to me, it wasn’t totally unpleasant either and, thanks to you, I might be able to get home again, once I find the portal I came in from.

So, could you please stop treating me like a foal and more an adult, since we are both full grown mares here and it would be a lot easier on all of us if we could be grownups?

As you can see, I have learned your world’s alphabet, so we can communicate via writing. I can’t clearly “speak” your world’s langague though; only a few words and phrases, so writing is our best choice for communication.

So, now that you know my name, what’s your name? And your husband’s name, for that matter? I would like to be able to think of and call you both something other than Big Mare and Big Stallion.

Fresh stared down at the note, her eyes so wide you could swear they’d pop out of her head.

The letter was so detailed, so clean... it couldn’t have been written by a foal. There was just no way.

She glanced at the foal the note called Twilight Sparkle, who was looking up at her eagerly.

“Well?” she asked.

Fresh looked at the note, rereading it several times, just to make sure she wasn’t simply imagining this.

Once she was certain, she gently lowered the paper down, the moved to take one of the other pages, before blinking. Many of them had the same things she’d just read, but with mistakes that were crossed out.

This really was happening.

She took one of the few bear sheets and laid it down on the table, before taking a pencil in her mouth and writing down her answer.

Hello, Princess Twilight Sparkle.
My name is Fresh Veggies and my husband’s name is Pitchfork.

She gave the note to Twilight, who nodded, then wrote something else down using her magic, before handing it back for Fresh to read.

It is very nice to meet you, Fresh Veggies. Thank you for helping me last night. Shall we discuss what happens next now, or wait until your husband returns?

Pitchfork returned a short while later, soaking wet since a rainbow storm had started. It was from the Everfree and the pegasi had decided to let it move over Ponyville instead of try and stop it, since it wasn’t going to be as bad as most Everfree Storms and it would save them from having to schedule a few later on.

It would however be lasting for a few days and Pitch had been advised by a Pegaus in town that he and Fresh should remain inside until it blew over.

After he arrived home, he was confused to find his wife and the foal passing papers between each other. What was more; the foal wasn’t wearing a diaper anymore.

When Pitch questioned his wife about this, she told him something ridiculous. She said the foal had written a letter telling her the she wasn’t a foal at all, but a full grown pony from another world where, apparently, and adult there was only the size of a foal here.
He dismissed the idea right away, even after his wife should him the note she claimed the foal, who called herself Twilight Sparkle, had written.

He’d laughed at the idea. The note was too well written to be done by a foal.

However, his laughter died when he noticed “Twilight” using her magic to write something else, taking a while to do so, too, which she then levitated over to him.

He grinned, taking the supposed note and read it.

Pitchfork Apple, the idea that you are so unwilling to listen to what you wife has told you is understandable, both in the sense that it sounds crazy, and that you are an Apple, so you are stubborn. I should know, one of my best friends in my world in an Apple.

However, I am very certain that, as you’re reading this, you are starting to understand that, if I really were a foal, this letter would not be written so well, or with such fluency.

I am a full grown pony, and, while my size might make that hard to believe, my skills in writing should prove it to you. You saw me writing this, with no help from your wife whatsoever.

Do you really think a foal couldn’t written all this?

Pitch just stared, his mouth agape as he glanced from the note to Twilight, to the note, then back to Twilight, then to his wife.

He looked down. “Sorry, Fresh.”

The mare smiled, then nuzzled him. “It’s okay, Pitch. Now we jus’ gotta figure out where to go from here, right, Princess?”

Twilight grinned, nodding.

However, her smile faded as Pitch told his wife about the storm and how long it would last. The portal would close before the storm ended, so how was she going to get home?