//------------------------------// // Catch-up // Story: Aca-decade // by Daxn //------------------------------// Sunset quietly sucked on her thumb as she snuggled up in the pram that Cadence had bought before the Friendship Games. Ever since that day, she had opened up to the former dean of Crystal Prep and now treated her as her full-time mother. Together, Cadence and Sunset were taking a walk through the local park, with the Twilight from Equestria right by their side. Twilight was still twiddling her fingers to find a solution to the situation while Cadence made sure that nothing would hurt Sunset, and to tend to her needs if she wanted anything. “So, that blast…” Twilight felt unable to speak for a few seconds after bringing it up. “Why didn’t it turn you into a baby?” “I’m not sure, Twilight,” said Cadence. “Maybe because me, Celestia, Luna, and Cinch were a lot older than the students? I don’t really know. This magic stuff is really confusing to me…” “I have to agree with you on that, Cadence.” Twilight gently placed her hand on the pink teen’s shoulder. “Not even I know how magic works in this world; let alone Sunset before these so-called Friendship Games even happened…” “And despite it saved CHS before, why did it this time decide to turn against you and turn everyone into babies, toddlers, or just old enough to re-attend kindergarten or grade school?” Cadence raised an eyebrow. “Magic has a number of different variables on Equestria, and when certain emotions are poured into it, the magic can become much more stronger and unpredictable,” said Twilight. “Some unicorns I’ve seen back in Equestria can cast much stronger spells when they’re angry, or driven by greed or some other form of negative emotion.” “I guess that explains why Cinch was being chased and attacked at Crystal Prep the other day…” Cadence placed her fingers under her chin and lightly scratched it. “Wait. She was attacked?” Twilight froze up entirely. She had heard bad things about the Human World Cinch, and despite it wasn’t even worth comparing to the atrocities the pony counterpart of her had done, she was still taken aback with the fact. “But why? Isn’t making her a teenager bad enough?” “Some of the students cried out for blood, saying that her drive to win the Games is what caused the explosion in the first place, with some of them saying that they were nothing more than collateral damage to her.” Cadence herself stopped so that she wouldn’t lose Twilight. “She also had a bit of a black eye and a bleeding nose the last time I saw her…” “Yikes.” Twilight winced. “Now I feel sorry that she didn’t turn into a baby like the students.” “And speaking of babies, I think I can see our world’s Twilight over there with her family.” Cadence pointed out towards a red checkered blanket where Night Light and Twilight Velvet were sitting, while the infant Twilight tried her best to stand up and chase after a butterfly, only to fall on her diapered rump and let out a little giggle. “Do you think we should go and see how she’s doing?” Equestria Twilight asked. “Well, first, we should see if cute little Sunset wants to see her.” Cadence leaned into the pram and gently helped her sit up. Sunset poked her head out and looked over at infant Twilight playing. Something flashed in her mind and a smile was forged onto her face. Beaming, she pointed towards the baby girl and clapped eagerly. “Looks like she wants to.” Equestria Twilight chuckled briefly as she, aided by Dean Cadence’s strength, started to push the pram into Twilight Velvet’s direction. “Let’s go then.” Soon enough, the two arrived at Twilight’s parents, just as Night Light was leading Twilight back at the blanket on the grass and Twilight Velvet pulled a dark blue bag closer. “How’s her diaper, honey?” Twilight Velvet asked, unzipping one of the pockets to reveal a small selection of diapers still folded up. “It’s still clean, but I think she’d like something to drink and a nap now,” he said as he made Twilight sit down onto the blanket and then bring the bag close to him, unbuttoning the central part of the bag and pulling a baby bottled out of it. Twilight immediately protruded her hand towards the bottle, babbling something as she did so. It was at this point that Equestria Twilight decided to chime in. “Good day ma’am and sir,” she said, forcing herself to remind to herself that they weren’t her actual parents. “Um… hello there?” Night Light said, setting the bottle in her daughter’s mouth. “What are you—” Twilight Velvet’s face took a slight tinge of red, as she crawled up to her husband and whispered something in his ear. “Oh, I see. Sorry, it’s just that…” he started to stutter. “I didn’t know you were one of Dean Cadence’s relatives.” Twilight grinned uncomfortably and nodded. “Um, yes, I am…” she said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. “Oh, yeah, she is my niece.” Dean Cadence said steadfastly. “She came to visit me just before that event at the Friendship Games happened and, well…” “You wanted to see us?” “Actually, no, my niece wanted to see your daughter,” Cadence said, gesturing casually in order to cement her façade. “She’s going to get a degree in Pediatrics and, well, the event’s results sounded a perfect opportunity for her to learn something new.” “Oh, thanks for the compliment, Dean Cadence, but Twily’s just a baby now.” Night Light said -- missing part of the phrase -- gently caressed his daughter whilst she was still drinking. “She won’t need a degree in anything until she’s all grown up again.” As the conversation between Cadence, Twilight Velvet, and Night Light went on, Equestria Twilight looked at Sunset, who was reaching out of the pram to try and get close to the baby Twilight. She whined with each failed attempt to touch her, and eventually turned to face the older Twilight to babble for help. “Aww. Don’t worry, Sunset. I’m here…” Twilight reached in and picked Sunset out of the pram, hearing her laughter as she was carried. “Now, let’s say hi to your new playmate.” As soon as Sunset’s feet were on the ground, she started to immediately lightly kick in order to be put down, to which Twilight complied. Once she was, she slowly started to crawl towards the baby Twilight. The little Twilight had just finished her milk and was burped by Twilight Velvet. Once that was done, she noticed Sunset approaching her, and she started to coo as she raised her tiny eyebrow. Once Sunset had arrived, Twilight spoke in gibberish, as if she was asking who she was. Sunset understood what baby Twilight was saying perfectly, despite the inability to speak or hear the words properly. It wasn’t long before she was wrapped up in a conversation with the former Crystal Prep girl. The topic changed rapidly every minute, due to their infantile mindscapes, until she found a butterfly and giggled at it, getting Twilight to do the same. “Sounds like our kids are getting along just fine,” Cadence said as she watched Twilight and Sunset continue to talk and play together. “Yeah, it seems so,” Twilight Velvet said, looking at them chasing the butterfly. “Sometimes I’d wish to know what’s going on in my daughter’s little head of hers…” “Me too.” Equestria Twilight sat down on the blanket with her legs crossed. “Me too…” Twilight sighed and looked up at the sky, trying to remind herself about mind-reading spells that could serve her right now, and not remembering one that could be done with a low amount of power at hoof. Her research for a solution had been unfruitful so far… she had to go down another track. “I’ve heard that your daughter used to own a peculiar trinket, before she was turned back into a baby,” Twilight said. “Do you happen to still have it?” “Trinket? What are you talking about?” Night Light asked. “Twily never had anything like that before the Friendship Games, and even then, her only prized possession was her oldest doll, Smarty Pants.” “In fact, I happen to have it right here.” Twilight Velvet reached into her bag and pulled out the doll. It resembled a goat with raggedy hair and polka-dot pants. “Every time she sees this old thing, she would always swoon over it.” Twilight eyed it, squaring it with her eyes. As much as she could have loved her doll, it was unlikely that it was the object used as catalyst of the magical blast. “Oh? Because I heard that there was some kind of round artifact spotted at the Friendship Games, like a CD player shape,” Equestria Twilight said. “She went with her old Compact Disc player to the Games?” Twilight Velvet said, somewhat surprised. “Well, that would explain why it went missing. But if that were so, I don’t know where it went. Maybe it got lost on the bus.” “Well, whatever she had at the games, I’m not sure that anyone has it, let alone knows where it is.” Cadence put her hand on Equestria Twilight’s shoulder again. “If we could find it, though, then maybe we’d get a better idea of what’s going on here…” Twilight nodded slowly. With the artifact nowhere to be found, she had little choice left to her. She had to figure how much magic was contained in Twilight, and that meant one thing only. Reclining herself against Cadence’s shoulder, she started to whisper inside her ear. “Look, I didn’t want to get this point and all, but, with how things are turning out, I think I have little choice in the matter.” she said. “If my knowledge how to determine which kind of spell is affecting an individual is still valid, getting a blood sample of Sunset, Twilight and the others would help me greatly in understanding how to reverse this.” “A blood sample at her age? That sounds extreme…” Twilight Velvet looked over at her baby, and grimaced at the thought of baby Twilight’s deafening screams, especially with a needle extracting her blood. “Wouldn’t a strand a hair do? Or maybe some of her drool or pee?” “Magic runs in everybody’s blood, literally,” Twilight said with a gesture. “While possible to detect traces in drool or urine, it wouldn’t be as strong.” “Either way, this doesn’t seem moral, especially if you’re supposedly a pony from another world.” Twilight Velvet’s voice began to change from peaceful to apprehensive. “And what happens if this test of yours fails? You’ll have to live with the guilt of making all those babies feel pain.” “Why can’t you extract some of your own blood and run it against that so-called magic that struck at the Friendship Games?” Night Light suggested. “That would be… pointless,” Twilight said, lifting her right finger up. “I know what kind of magic I have in my bloodstream and very well at that, and I am pretty sure I have never experienced youthening. And, even if I did, I would still need to compare it to somebody else who had been struck by it.” “Even so, you don’t have permission to take little Twily’s blood sample, or the blood of anyone else who was affected at the Games, teenager or otherwise.” Twilight Velvet crossed her arms. “I don’t care if there’s a cure or not. The only thing that I do care about is that all of these babies and children grow up again safely, and even if there’s a far-fetched cure, I certainly won’t be having my daughter be subjected to your mad experiments.” Her voice got louder and louder, and she was close to shouting. “Alright, alright. I can see that this is going nowhere.” Cadence gently massaged the shoulders of Twilight Velvet, quelling her almost instantly. “Let’s change the subject.” “Good idea, Cadence.” Velvet’s smile returned as she pulled out a folder and flipped through the pages, revealing pictures of baby Twilight doing things, before and after the Games. “These pictures that I took were so cute, and I’d like to show them with you, if you’d like.” Equestria Twilight nodded, preparing herself to pretend that the latter photos were from the same time period of the former. Twilight Velvet pulled out her wallet and, unfolding it, she revealed an extremely long string of photos, attached together thanks to a bandolier-like system to store photos.