Mother

by Foals Errand


Morning

Twilight groaned as she felt the warmth of the sun on the tips of her ears. She mumbled a bit before sleepily pulling the covers up over her head trying to pretend that it was still night. With a sigh, she started to sink back into slumber when she felt the blanket pulled off of her. “Spike! I not weady to get up! I had a bad nig…” Twilight trailed off as she saw Luna smiling down at her sadly.

“I’m sorry, Twilight. I wish I could allow you to return to your slumber, but we need to get going. We have a long day ahead of us.” Luna carefully folded the blanket up as she watched Twilight slowly wake up.

Twilight stared down at her hooves and shivered. That’s right… last night it really happened: I’m nothing but a foal now. “A busy day, Lu… Mother?” Oh Luna, Mother, I’m not angry with you. All of my depression is due to my size, not that I’m your child

Luna nodded reaching a hoof out to help Twilight climb out of bed, which she willingly accepted. “Well, yes. As of right now, your foster parents still have custody of you, and I was hoping to regain it by the end of the day, at least until such a point that you no longer want me here.”


“You seem to think I’m going to reject you.” Twilight frowned as she gazed up at where Luna had stopped moving as if she were frozen.

“I’m not, you know? This isn’t ideal for me, obviously, but having you in my life... That I do want. I want you here, Mother! I want to get to know you, to love you. I just…”

Twilight shivered as Luna pulled her into a close embrace. “I understand, Twilight. I do. I know you have been alive for over one thousand years. Growing and learning for the last fifteen, and now it is as if all of that is gone.”

“Yes… Yes, that is it exactly! I have gone from being a mare—a full grown adult—back into a helpless foal it-it’s too much, Mother! It’s too much all at once!” Twilight buried her head into Luna’s chest, breathing in the comforting scent of her mother’s fur.

“Then we will do this one step at a time, Twilight. You have a mare’s mind, but a foal’s body. I will try to focus on your mind as often as I can, but, my darling, you must understand—as much as I dispise admitting it Celestia is right—you will have foal attributes.” Luna lovingly stroked Twilight’s back as she spoke.

Twilight looked up. “What do you mean? How will this affect who I am?”

Luna hesitated before shaking her head. “Do not worry, Poppet. It won’t affect who you are. It will be small things such as having more energy, your preferences in taste—I do believe foals prefer sweet to bitter—you’ll need more sleep to keep your body comfortable, and—” Luna laughed shaking her head “—I believe, though I’m not entirely certain, that you will want to play.”

“Play?” Twilight asked, her right ear flicking a bit as if the concept made no sense.

“Yes, you know, run around, rough house with other foals? You will want to play.” Luna covered her muzzle with her hoof. Her daughter looked so very perplexed; it was quite adorable.

“I never played that much when I grew up under the glamor,” Twilight finally stated having crossed her forehooves. “Why do you think this time will be different?”

“Because, Poppet, this time you really are growing up. There is no magic spell to help you along. Now, do you want to get breakfast here in Ponyville or when we get to Canterlot?” Luna got to her hooves trotting out the door followed quickly by Twilight’s much smaller hooves.

“Don’t we have anything to eat here at the library?” Twilight asked, struggling to keep up with Luna’s far larger and faster steps.

“From what Spike and I found in the cupboards? No, it seems that grocery shopping was forgotten after you became a princess, though that isn’t unexpected.” Luna stopped at the bottom of the stairs to see Twilight still at the top frowning. “Do you need some help?”

“No, no. I can do this. They just look much bigger now than they did.” Twilight got down onto her belly to examine the stairs, her ears pinned back as she studied them. Spike came over to stand next to Luna and quickly covered his mouth with both claws to stay quiet while Luna did her best to bite her lip.

Oh, Twilight, you are just so adorable.

After a few minutes of study, Twilight poked her tongue out and put both of her forehooves onto the next step at once followed quickly by her back legs. She sat down on the step for a moment then repeated the motion moving slowly so not to slip. After three more steps of this she felt comfortable with her method and was able to increase the pace until the bottom step which she slipped on causing her to land on her belly at the bottom of the stairs. “Expiwimentation is still necessary it seems.”

Luna simply nodded, not trusting herself enough to speak. Finally, she smiled. “So which is it, Twilight? Breakfast at Sugar Cube Corner or in Canterlot?”

“I think I’ll be alright until Canterlot. I love Pinkie Pie, but she's… a bit foal crazy. I need a plan of how to tell everypony what happened and not have Pinkie Pie just bluwt evewyding out!” Twilight paused bringing her forehoof to her chest and taking a deep breath before bringing her foreleg back out again. “Well, that proves one hypothesis.”

Luna cocked her head as Twilight sighed taking another deep breath. “What hypothesis is that, Poppet?”

“Oh, well, even with Princess Celestia’s spell on my vocal cords so I don’t lisp like a toddler, if I get really upset, I seem to bypass it. Not an enjoyable thing, but I think I can live with it. So can we go to Donut Joe’s for breakfast, Mother?” Twilight asked, heading towards the front door.

“I suppose we can, yes. Maybe we could even ask Tia to eat with us before heading over to your foster parent’s home?” Luna paused in front of the door. “Hmm…”

Twilight stopped suddenly, causing her to slip and land on her bottom. She winced. “I think I understand why toddlers take so long to potty train now, the extra cushion from the diaper helps when they fall.”

Luna blinked. “Yes, well, unless you feel you need one?” Twilight shook her head emphatically, and Luna smiled. “Then I don’t think we need to worry about why toddlers spend so long to potty train? Anyway, I had a thought, since you don’t want all of Ponyville to see you like this yet I think that I may need to cast a temporary illusion on you.”

“A temporary illusion, Mother? What do you mean?” Twilight looked up as Luna wrapped a cloak around herself.

“Simply put, I’ll disguise you similar to the glamour Tia placed upon you.” Luna hesitated before smiling gently. “There will be differences, and it will only last a very short amount of time. An hour is the high limit, I believe.”

Twilight lifted her hoof and glanced down at it “... If you do that, will it cause you any problems? I don’t want you hurt, Mother.”

Luna smiled and lowered her head nuzzling her cheek to Twilight’s. “Oh, Twilight, you have no need to fear my health. This is a very simple illusion charm. You’ll still be your normal size. You’ll only look like a mare to others.” Luna hesitated. “Just make certain nopony touches you as it will disrupt the illusion.”

Twilight cocked her head. “An illusion... Yes, that would work well enough, and it’s early enough that only Applejack should be awake. She's unlikely to touch anypony without permission anyway.” She brought her hoof to her chin, her left ear flicking. “Actually, I think it’s early enough that there really shouldn’t be that many ponies even in the city square.”

“Yes, but, just in case, I think I’ll still cast this temporary illusion. After all, we do not want a reprehensible rumor to grow were somepony to see you before the announcement is made.” Luna smiled and aimed her horn at Twilight, who was soon surrounded her in light blue magic. When the sheen of light blue cleared, Twilight appeared just as she did before falling asleep at her desk four hours prior.

Spike whistled. “Wow! Twilight looks just like she did yesterday!” He reaches to touch her barrel and shivered as his claw passed right through her. “Okay, that is beyond bizarre!”  

Luna laughed as she opened the door. “As I said, young Spike, it’s only a very temporary illusion. Now the train we need to be on is due at six-thirty, so we should hurry if we mean to make it.” She turned back to the door after they had all walked out to lock it with a small click.

Twilight waited for Luna to finish locking up and gazed around. The world looked far different from her new size—more magical in a way than anything else. She sighed, taking a deep breath and breathing in the clean air when another scent tickled at her nostrils. She wrinkled her muzzle and sniffed again. Something sweet is nearby… chocolate? Twilight turned in a circle a few times until she spotted it. On the porch just out of sight was a large chocolate cupcake with strawberry icing and a single candle poking out of it. Her eyes widened, and she looked around but there was no sight of her pink friend.

“Twilight Sparkle, is something the matter?” Luna walked over to see what was keeping her foal. She smiled as she saw Twilight staring at the cupcake. “Ah, I see a quandary well. For now, let me place it in a perishable spell, and we’ll take it with us to Canterlot what do you think?”

Twilight nodded and followed after Luna once the cupcake had been placed somewhere safe. Walking behind her was Spike ready to distract anypony for being that got to close to touching Twilight. She smiled fondly at her little brother as he did his best to protect her before frowning. Is Spike my big brother now? And what about Shiny? I’m almost certain he has no idea of who I really am. I hope Lu— Mother will take me to the Crystal Empire, so I can tell him. Twilight paused and shook her head. I never thought I’d have to ask to be taken somewhere again. This is all so…

“Twilight?”

Twilight looked up to see that Luna had stopped walking and was gazing down at her with her ears pinned back. “Twilight, what is it?”

“What do you mean? I just…” Twilight stopped as she realized her eyes were clouded. She blinked once, allowing the twin tears to run down her cheeks. “I didn’t…” She swallowed hard before shaking her head viciously. I didn’t even realize I was crying... “I’m fine, just a bit overwhelmed, sorry. Let's hurry to the train station; we have a lot to do today, right?” Twilight ran ahead, who was followed quickly by Spike.

Luna shook her head “Oh, Twilight… this is only the first of many busy days for us, I fear.” With that, she followed after her daughter to the station. It appeared they were the only ones up so early. Even the ticket taker was blinking sleepy eyes and yawning.

“Excuse me, kind sir. I need three tickets to Canterlot charged to the Royal Account.” Luna smiled down at the surprised earth pony stallion.

The ticket taker nodded, attempting to bow and produce the three tickets at the very same time. “O-of course, Princess Luna—Your Highness—here you are! The train should be arriving in the next few minutes enjoy your trip! Er, I mean…”

Luna smiled. “I will, yes. Thank you. Have a wonderful day as well, gentle stallion!” She took the tickets with her magic and walked over to where Twilight and Spike are waiting just as the train pulled up. The door opened, and Luna nosed Twilight’s “apparent” cheek.

“Well, let’s go, Princess.” Before I lose my nerve and run back home and hide. Twilight took a deep breath and stepped onto the train, her head held high.