//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: The Victims of the Staff 
// Story: A Threat As Old As Time 
// by Shadowmane PX-41 
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The girls all gathered together at the park again, as it was their usual spot for thinking of ideas when they weren't in school. Even though there were only five of them left, they were still optimistic that today, they would have a plan for stopping the man and the Staff of Time's power.

"So, what gives?" Rainbow Dash shrugged when the five of them grouped together. "Didn't that creep say that he'd take us away one by one? Is he having a day off or something?"

"No, I don't think it's entirely like that, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "Some items from Equestria are powerful, but even they have their limits. Even the Elements of Harmony weren't the true source of our power in the end, as the Tree of Harmony is proof positive. If that same rule applies to the Staff of Time, then it's perfectly reasonable that we're all still in our current ages..."

"But how would we even know when that man reaches his limit?" Fluttershy asked, brushing some of the hair out of her eyes as she did so. "He's been awfully crafty with his abductions. Stealing Applejack whilst she sleeps, tricking Pinkie Pie into seeing the future, there's just no telling when, where, and even how he's going to strike next...

"That's true as well, Fluttershy. But we still can't show fear or worry," Twilight said as she curled her fingers into a fist. "That fiend stole away two of our best friends, and I believe that the friendship problem I was sent here to solve involves me defeating the man and taking the Staff of Time away from him..."

"But how do you plan on doing that, Twilight?" Rarity asked, feeling uncertain about what Twilight had planned. "That ruffian is capable of manipulating time to his every whim. Using it, he could have absconded to the farthest future, or the most ancient of historical periods! Not only that, but he also has the power to stop and start time as if it were the play and pause buttons on a DVD player! And let's not forget the fact that he used it to turn our dear Pinkie Pie and Applejack into newborn infants..." her emotions suddenly shifted dramatically. "Oh... those poor, helpless, scared little friends of ours..."

"I know that it's hard to swallow, Rarity. But I know how I can erase all of this damage," Twilight began to reveal her plan. "We simply have to take the Staff of Time, and intercept all of the times that man turned his guests into babies. By travelling through time and doing it, we can fix the past, and restore the present to the way it was before."

"Why not just take that staff and turn all of his victims into their regular ages in the present again?" Rainbow Dash asked, thinking that it was a better idea to do it in the present rather than jumping through different moments in time. "And another thing, won't it just be easier to just fix Applejack and Pinkie, then rainbow-laser him to the ground like the last times?"

"Rainbow Dash, have you ever dealt with a situation like this before?" Sunset spoke in a rather bemused tone.

"No, but I'm just saying that—"

"And would you like having to explain to the workers at the orphanage on who Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and all of the other baby students of CHS originally were?" Sunset's scolding words were quite powerful, and would have made anyone else in the situation flinch. "Trust me, it's better to jump through time and do it. If we just took the staff out of nowhere and randomly fixed the students whilst they're in the orphanage – or even after someone adopted them – then it would cause a lot of confusion."

"But even so, how are we gonna know when that guy comes again?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Simple. All of the people that he turns into babies are donated to a local orphanage where they can be raised. I assume that he thinks it's to save him the trouble of raising them all over again," Twilight began to put together a mental list of actions that the she presumed the man did with his victims. "However, he travels through time with each of his youthened guests, and he donates them to the orphanage the night before. If we can just hide at the orphanage until he tries donating another one, we should be able to sneak up on him and take the Staff of Time from right under his nose!"

"But how do we do that, Twilight?" Sunset asked. "We can't just expect to sit outside all evening, waiting for him to just magically show up with a new victim... Can we?"

"We can't," Twilight said, seeing the heads of all of her friends drop with the accompaniment of their disappointed groans. "But, we can assess the damage he's already done, and spend some time with all of the students that went missing," she said, getting the girls to look up again. "I have a plan, but it's going to be pretty tedious for you, Rainbow Dash..."

"How long could it be?" Rainbow Dash's attitude returned.





"Staying at the orphanage until sundown? That was your plan?!" Rainbow Dash put her hands to her face and slowly pulled them down off of it. "Now we've gotta just take care of babies until that jerk comes and makes another donation..."

"Yeah, but think about this positively, Rainbow Dash," Sunset began to talk. "We're right on his doorstep now. And when he tries to make another donation, we'll move in and swipe the Staff of Time from him whilst he's explaining to the workers who his victim is, how he found them, and the room they'll be sleeping in..."

"Alright, girls. Let's move in," Twilight said as she began to lead the group towards the orphanage's doors. The structure itself was quite huge, likely because of all of the donations that had been coming in recently. "And remember, to make sure that the staff don't see us as random people who want to just stare and play with children without adopting them, just make sure to tell each of them that the five of us are doing voluntary work. And if they say why, then just respond by saying that it's for a CHS project..."

The girls all walked into the orphanage's front doors and walked through. Once they were inside, they saw that the reception area was quite expansive, and had little keys that hung on the wall behind of the receptionist. Each key had a name engraved on it, so that it was easy to tell which key opened which door. Not only that, but the reception desk itself was in the middle of a U-shaped room with doors that led to stairs on the corridors behind the desk. There was someone sitting at the desk who was reading a newspaper, and closed it to address the group. Her hair was cream-coloured, and her skin was the colour of marshmallows.

"Hello," her words were spoken in a neutral-friendly tone as Twilight, Sunset, and their friends walked up to the desk. "My name is Guiding Light, and I'm the main supervisor here at the Canterlot Orphanage. Are you willing to make an adoption?"

"Hi. My name's Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Sunset Shimmer," Twilight said to Guiding Light. "We're here to do some voluntary work. You see, we're going through a certain project at Canterlot High School. And the teachers said that we could do some work with the kids at your orphanage to earn extra credit."

"We'll just be spending time with each of them. Speaking with them, trying to show them some chance that they'll be adopted by loving parents, give them some playtime, all of the usual things." Sunset explained.

"Well, that's good to hear, girls," Guiding Light said as she began to take down some of the keys from the wall behind her and place them on a large keyring. "Ever since that anonymous donor came to the city, we've been getting new kids almost every day. It's starting to take its' toll on some of the other staff here, even me."

"I don't suppose that the root cause of all your extra work came from the fact that all of the donations were infants, right?" Rarity asked as she watched more and more keys being added to the keyring. She was beginning to have second thoughts about Twilight's plan with all of the keys that were on that one ring, but she still kept her composure. "The newspapers just went wild for a story like that. A mysterious man, donating dozens of babies which he found, hanging on the brink of despair with no-one to love them? If he keeps this up, he could find himself on the city council for childcare..."

"Maybe he'd ask for some laws to make it illegal for parents to abandon their kids at such a young age..." Guiding Light said as she had stripped the top row of the keys, all of which were now on the keyring. "There are so many babies in this orphanage with tragic stories. Like Photo Finish, Pixel Pizazz, and Violet Blurr. The three of them were seen alone in the junkyard, left by some heartless parents who no longer loved them. Or the tale of Pinkie Pie, who was the only one who escaped from a chaotic fire with the help of that mysterious man..." suddenly, some tears began to fall from her eyes. "Who would do such horrible things to such sweet little kids like that?!"

"We're right there with ya, sister." Rainbow Dash said as she, Twilight, and Sunset put their hands on Guiding Light's shoulders to help her ease the pain. Although they didn't buy the stories that she had told them, they knew exactly the same pain that she had been told of.

"But that's enough of the sad stories for today," Guiding said as she picked off more of the keys and slipped them onto the keyring. "I suppose you'll be wanting to get on with your work now, won't you?"

"Yes please. The sooner we can get on with our project, the better," Twilight said as she watched Guiding Light give her the keyring at last. There were at least thirty keys on it when she held it in her hands, and it felt rather heavy. "Where should we start?"

"The children's bedrooms are from the third floor to the tenth floor," Guiding explained to the group. "The first floor is two large care rooms, designed to care for the children in every one of their needs. The two rooms are one in front of the other, and they separate the children by age. There's a room for the babies and toddlers, and one for the older kids. You'll be able to figure it out."

"And what's the second floor for?" Fluttershy raised a finger.

"That floor's the adoption review floor. That's where we take the kids when a couple comes by and wants to adopt them," Guiding Light furthered her explanation. "That floor is just a bunch of small rooms, able to house a member of staff, the kid up for adoption, and the potential mother and father who want to see them."

"Alright then, thanks for the directions." Sunset said as the group started to walk towards one of the doors.

"Have a good time up there, girls!" Guiding Light waved them off.

Twilight and Sunset opened the door, seeing a rather wide staircase on the other side. The hand supports were made of wood, and each stair was covered by a red carpet. Truly, it was made to feel welcoming to all, be it children or grown-up. The girls all walked towards the steps and began to walk upwards.

The first turn had taken them to a single set of double doors with a lock. There was a set of small windows for Twilight and the girls to see into the room, and the sound of children playing on the other side. Each of the girls' look through the window confirmed the noises that they had heard.

Twilight unlocked the doors and allowed each of the girls to walk inside. Once they were all in, they quickly shut the door and locked it tight so that the kids didn't get out of the room and cause chaos. Once the keys were put into Sunset Shimmer's jacket for safekeeping, the girls all got a look at the sight of the playful children.

Each of the kids in the were between the ages of eight and eleven, and they were quite wrapped up in their playtime. There were kids who were playing Tag, Hide-and-Seek, some ball games with their feet, and even a few games of leapfrog. There were large soft shapes in one corner of the room, and the kids were often able to pick them up and use them as larger playthings.

"You know, a lot of these kids look feisty," Rainbow Dash smiled as she watched some of the hyperactive kids running around without a care in the world. "They kinda remind me of that one kid back at school. Scootaloo, was it?"

Twilight and Sunset then noticed another set of doors on the other side of the room. They were much like the doors from earlier, but they had a rainbow frame, and had a number of childish stickers on the front of the door. Such childish designs could only lead to the fact that those doors led towards a similar version of the current room, but more geared towards the younger children, probably ages of months old to four years.

"Girls, I think that this room's the best place to start," Twilight said, walking towards the door at the end of the room, making sure not to get in the way of the children. "Guiding Light said that this room was for older children, and that this was a room in front of another room. If my memory serves me right  – and it usually does – then this door leads to the room for babies and toddlers. And I'm going to hedge a guess that Applejack and Pinkie Pie are on the other side of it..."

"That's nice and all, Twilight, but I think that some of these kids here want to play with us," Fluttershy said as she was quickly greeted by a bunch of younger girls. "I don't want to say no to them, especially not since they're orphans..."

"You might be wanting that, Fluttershy, but I think it's better to see what that man did to our friends first." Rainbow Dash was about to head towards the door and open it herself, but she was stopped by one of Sunset's hands.

"Rainbow Dash. We have all of the time in the world," Sunset said, making Rainbow Dash relax her muscles and turn back towards the kids. A large group of kids was looking at her with eyes that wanted to play with her, and didn't want to let her leave just yet. "And besides, the man usually makes a donation at night, so we can afford to kill some time by playing with the older kids first..."

Rainbow Dash reluctantly sighed. "Okay, then. I suppose it couldn't hurt to put some smiles on the faces of these kids..."

Without warning, she was tackled to the ground by a group of cheering kids. The children didn't physically harm her, but they did hug her and tickle her in certain areas of her body. In the middle of it all, Rainbow Dash was lightly thrashing about, laughing as the children began to tickle some of the areas where she was the most ticklish.

"Well, looks like she's having fun," Sunset said as she looked at the fun that the kids were having with her friend. Little did she know that one of the other kids was lightly pulling on her legs. "Oh. Hello there, kid. What's your name?"

"My name's Shepherd's Delight," she let go of Sunset's legs and put her hands together. "Are you going to adopt us?"

"Well, I'm actually here for some volunteer work. My job here is to play with you all and get to know you all better," Sunset began to tell her the reason that she was with them. "I'm up for talking about anything. And if you want to play with me, just talk to me at any time. After a while, I'll be heading into the room with the babies and toddlers so that I can do the same thing with them."

"You mean that room at the other end of the room that the staff can only enter?" another kid asked as she walked up to Sunset. She had fuchsia skin, and poofy purple hair with beads in it. "I've only seen into that room for short amounts of time every day. And all I can see are brighter colours and toys that I'm sure we all grew out of..."

"Yes. That's exactly the one," Sunset said as she put her hand on the new kid's shoulder. "But before I go into that room, me and my friends thought that it would be nice to spend some time with you and the older kids first. And speaking of which, what's your name, sweetheart?"

"I'm Sugar Belle. I like to play with my hair, and I want to work in a cake shop when I grow up," she introduced herself whilst combing her hair with her fingers. "Hopefully I'll be adopted some day by a wonderful couple who love me more than my real parents."

"I'm sure you will, Sugar Belle. You just need to keep thinking positive, and keep up a happy-go-lucky attitude here at Canterlot Orphanage, and you should be adopted in no time." Sunset smiled as she knelt down to look Sugar Belle directly in the eyes. The peacefulness in her eyes was a sign that she didn't mean any harm to her, and that she wished her the best in the future.

"Thank you," Shepherd's Delight said as she held onto one of Sunset's hands whilst Sugar Belle held the other. "Do you think you could play with us now?"

"Of course, girls. Just name the game, and we'll do it together," Sunset was walked over to the nearby scattering of large soft shapes. With every step she took, she remembered the time when she was a child herself. "My name's Sunset Shimmer, by the way. It's nice to see you both."

Twilight watched as Sunset walked away from the group, then turned to see that Rainbow Dash had finally been given the freedom to sit down regularly. She then saw that Fluttershy and Rarity walked off to find some kids to play with, leaving her to herself so that she could pursue her own goal. Twilight walked closer to the door, but she was suddenly stopped by a pair of kids who had their hands covered in pencil colours.

"Hello," Twilight said as she sat down on the floor and put her back against the wall. It wasn't long before she was joined by four other children. "My name's Twilight Sparkle, and I'm going to be playing with you and the kids through that door over there for the day. So, what should we do first?"

One of the kids – who looked quite pale and shy from the looks of it – handed Twilight a book. She quickly took the book into her hands, seeing that it was the story of a boy who fell into a pond and went to an entirely new world.

"You want me to read to you?" Twilight finally figured out what the children wanted from her. Opening the book, Twilight smiled; she could never resist a good reading, especially not when she had a group of carefree kids as her audience. "Well, why not?" Twilight put the book to the first page. "I was a librarian before all of this happened, so I'm partial to any kind of book." looking back up at the kids, she said, "Alright then. Sit down, and let me tell you the tale of the World in the Water."

Twilight instantly saw the children all sit down and cross their legs in anticipation. She couldn't help but smile again. The way they all say down, so intent on listening to her read the story to them made her think of all of the times her parents would read to her. The way that the kids remained quiet, but keep their big, goofy smiles made Twilight think that the kids were exactly like her, and that she was the parent in the situation.

"OK, everyone. Open your ears," Twilight said, seeing the children pull their ears in a silly way. "Once upon a time, there was a young boy who loved his parents very much..."





After an hour had passed, each of the girls were quite well acquainted with all of the children in the room. They had spent time playing with them, learning their likes and dislikes in the process. Not only that, but the girls themselves felt like they had mentally become a few years younger. 

Fluttershy had become well acquainted with most of the girls of the girls in the group, and had spent much more time playing games than talking. While she was more geared towards talking, the items in the room still had some appeal to her, even when she was approaching complete maturity. She was unaware about why she would find interest in children's toys and playthings, but she came to the assumption that it had something to do with the partial work experience that she and the girls were continuing to lie about.

Rainbow Dash had attracted quite a legion of followers with her talk of guitar-playing skills and daredevil dreams. However, she too was starting to show her soft side with certain things that the kids came up to her with. The children had told that there was no embarrassment from playing with toys even at an old age, and she had passed it off for most of the time. But it was only when she was able to see it through their eyes that she saw how right they were.

Rarity stayed out of most of the games, but she did enjoy talking to the kids and making them feel like she was a friend to them. Most of her talks were about what dreams the kids had when they would eventually leave the orphanage, and where they would live, but Rarity did drift off into a child-like state of mind during some parts of her conversations.

Twilight and Sunset had been with the majority of the children during their time in the older kids' room. They had done some wonderful things like reading, games which allowed the kids to use their imaginations, games that made almost no sense whatsoever, and group talks in which the children could freely express their thoughts and desires.

"Well, it's been wonderful to be with you all today, but we've just got to do something quickly," Twilight said as she began to address the kids that she and Sunset had gathered with their time-wasting. "We're here to work with all of the kids, not just you in particular."

"You mean you're going through the sealed door?" Sugar Belle asked as she pointed at the door which led to the room with the younger kids. She felt worried when she got a long glance at the door. "The children in there are much younger than all of us, and they're usually much harder to handle..."

"If you go through that door, you're just asking to pull your hair out with the stress," said a blue girl with white spiky hair. "In fact, the only time that one staff member goes in there is to put everything away once the kids have all been taken to their rooms for the night. And even then, it's a long job..."

"I know, Night Glider. But we're going in as a group," Sunset said as she watched Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash regroup with her. "You see, me, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash are the best of friends. We tackle everything as a team, and we usually make tasks much easier with our teamwork..."

"She's right, kids," Rainbow Dash said with a confident smile. "Alone, we're just regular girls. But together, we're an awesome group of best friends who call each other The Rainbooms!"

"Even so, we're not allowed in the room anymore," Night Glider said. "That room's only for the really little kids. We can walk you over to the door, but we can't go in there ourselves."

"Alright then, lead the way." Rarity said as Night Glider held Sugar Belle's hand and began to walk towards the door at the end of the room. The Rainbooms couldn't see their faces, but they could tell that the two kids were worried about their safety.

At last, the group arrived at the door. To Sugar Belle and Night Glider, it was a large gateway that led them to what seemed like another world of sorts. However, The Rainbooms saw it as a set of double doors that would reunite them with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and the rest of the students that the Staff of Time had youthened.

"This is as far as we can go," Sugar Belle said as the two of them stood aside to let Twilight and Sunset reach the handles so that they could pull the door open. They then watched as Sunset pulled the keyring out of her coat pocket, unlocked the door, and put the keys back. "Oh, and before we go, I just want to say that lunch is in fifteen minutes, so it's easier if you work fast in there."

"Have fun in there, girls," Night Glider said as she and Sugar Belle walked past the five of them. You're gonna need it when you're dealing with all of those kids...

Once the two girls were gone, Twilight, Sunset, and their friends walked into the new room and shut the doors behind them. From there, they locked it up so that the little kids wouldn't get out and intervene in the affairs of the other children. Once they had made sure that the door was locked, they turned around and saw a sight like no other.

The new room was different from the other one on a number of levels. The floors were all padded, making it partially difficult to walk on. The walls were also devoid of any and all electrical sockets, and there were no windows on all four of the walls. What could be seen on the walls was a number of cartoon-style wallpapers that were geared towards infants and smaller children. While they did mildly off-put The Rainbooms, they accepted that these wallpapers were actually fitting for a room such as this. But even with that fact, they were seeing what could have been their new accommodation, since this was the room that they would be playing in if the man and his Staff of Time went to work on their bodies.

The next sight that could be seen was the layout of the room. Every different area was geared towards different things that appealed to babies and toddlers. There were toys and blocks as far as the eye could see, accompanied with a number of ragdolls and stuffed animals. There was also a certain corner with piles of pillows and soft blankets. That was the area where the kids would have their mandated naptimes whenever the staff came in to take care of them.

As for the children themselves, they were mostly scattered across the room doing almost everything. And true to what Twilight and Sunset had said, students from CHS – their old friends – were seen playing in this room without a care in the world. Whenever they spoke it was mostly baby talk or little kid voices. The only time that they said something that made sense was when they were tended to by the staff in the room. The last thing to take note of was the ratio of staff working to babies and toddlers playing. There were at least four times the children in this room than there were staff, and it was usually something that would have caused a massive amount of stress for any individual, but the workers managed to get along with their jobs just fine.

After their lengthy analysis of the room, its' details, and the children playing it, Twilight and Sunset felt something small grabbing onto their legs. When they looked down, they saw two girls that they both knew all too well.

"Applejack... Pinkie Pie..." Twilight said as she picked up Pinkie Pie whilst Sunset lifted Applejack. The two of them could hear their friends laugh as they ascended up to their chest areas; yet despite their merriment, the girls could all see that their friends had been afflicted with the curse of forced youth. "I can't believe that he could have done this to you..."

"Girls," Sunset and Twilight turned around, letting each of the girls see what their friends had become. "Say hello to Applejack and Pinkie Pie. They were seventeen and fifteen years old, but now, they are reborn..."

As Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash looked at the two babies that were once their friends, a wave of dread washed over them. Whilst they did look quite tranquil in their infant state, the girls couldn't help but get the feeling of an impending doom from it. If they were unable to defeat the mysterious man, they would wind up just like their friends; carefree babies who could only play without minds whilst the man was able to do what he pleased with the world around him...


To Be Continued...