Moondancer Reborn

by Foal Star

Chapter four: Friends and donuts

As the sun rose the next morning, Minuette heard the cries of Moondancer filling her ears. She watched the foal come up to her, whimpering as she felt her diaper squelch. Minuette just brushed the filly's mane and slowly took her into her magical embrace and placed her on a changing mat.

As she stripped Moondancer of her soggy diaper and wiped her down, another knock echoed through her house. Minuette finished powdering and taping up Moondancer as fast as she could. She then placed her on her back and walked down towards the door, opening it once she arrived.

Twilight stood outside with her mane all frazzled with a groggy smile. “Hey, Minuette. Is it okay if I come inside?”

Minuette quickly opened the door and smiled. “Yeah, of course, Twilight. Come on in.”

She walked into the living room and led her to the kitchen. After putting Moondancer in her high chair she let her coo and babble as the mare prepared breakfast.

“So, Twilight. Hungry for some pancakes?” Minuette asked.

The tired princess nodded and mumbled, “Can you also make some coffee? I was up all night studying again.”

Minuette started her coffee machine and poured two cups. As she made all of the preparations, Twilight began to play with Moondancer, putting her hooves over her face and cooing.

“Where's the baby?” Twilight asked, causing Moondancer to gasp and place her hooves in her mouth.

Then Twilight revealed herself and shouted, “There she is!”

Moondancer squealed and started giggling hysterically, clapping her tiny hooves.

Twilight laughed and nuzzled the foal, letting out a little chuckle of her own.

Minuette came over and placed a foal bottle in Moondancer’s tiny hooves and let her suckle it happily, being rewarded with warm milk for every gulp.

Twilight giggled and asked “so how are things?”

Minuette sighed as she trembled and began to whisper. “Good, but I really need to apologize for the way I acted last night. You saw I wanted to breastfeed Moondancer and my teats were bloated and I was really embarrassed. You wouldn’t want to see me like that.”

She started to tear up as Twilight held Minette's hoof and gave it a few tender rubs. “It's okay. You seemed really stressed out last night and I didn’t want to be any trouble.”

Minuette was still choking up as she let a small tear form in her eyes. “It's not that. I...I guess I'm.” In the end, she could only blush as she inhaled air. “I'm growing attached to Moondancer.”

Twilight blinked for a few seconds before holding her hoof out to Minuette. “Is that all?”

“Yeah, but is it that a bad thing?” Minuette asked

“Bad? I think it's wonderful!” Twilight smiled. “If anything you really care about Moondancer and I'm so happy you're enjoying being a mom.”

Minuette hugged Twilight as tightly as she could, while she returned the gesture. Both of the mares nuzzled each other and let out gentle grins.

“Thank you, Twilight.” Minuette sniffled and wiped the tears out of her eyes. “Now, I think I should get back to making breakfast.”

Twilight shook her head. “No, it's fine. In fact, I have a better idea.” She looked over towards the door. “How about we go out to get some donuts and see we can bring Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts along too.”

“Twilight, you know you don't have to do that.” Minuette tipped her hoof.

"I know, but I want to do it, because you’re my friend. And friends deserve to have a little fun time every once in awhile, right?” said Twilight.

Moondancer babbled something, as if she was answering the question for Minuette. She shook her little legs and felt herself get lifted into the air by Twilight, right onto her mother’s back.

“Alright, Twilight. Guess you’ve roped me in.” Minuette smield and walked up the stairs. “I'll go get some foal supplies and her buggy.”

“Wait!” Twilight exclaimed, stopping Minuette in her tracks. “I don't want everypony to know Moondancer is a foal.”

“Maybe we could just say she's a cousin or something?” Minuette turned and lifted one of her eyelids. “But what about her name?”

“I’ve been thinking of a number of foal names for Moondancer while I was studying the spell to change her back,” Twilight started, “and I was thinking that Sunrise would be a cute name.”

“Sunrise?” Minuette turned her neck around and saw Moondancer gently cuddling her neck, babbling as she looked around. She took notice of Moondancer’s mane and coat before nodding down at her. “I… guess it could work?”

“Yeah. I’m sure it’ll work. Little baby Sunrise.” Twilight came over to Moondancer’s side and gave her a kiss on the nose. “Who’s a good little Sunrise? You are. Yes you are.”

Moondancer laughed and grabbed onto Twilight’s muzzle as she began to rock back and forth on Minuette’s back. Then, she clutched on to Twilight’s neck and swung around on to her back.

“I’ll keep Moondancer busy. You go on and get the foal buggy ready.” Twilight pointed towards the top of the stairs.

Minuette smirked at Twilight as she watched Moondancer begin to rub her gums against Twilight’s neck cooing gently as she clapped her hooves together. Twilight picked Moondancer up and gave her a raspberry, making her squeal some more.

With a smile, Minuette went off towards her room to gather everything she needed for the day ahead of them.

---

Later that morning, Twilight and Minuette were pushing Moondancer through the busy streets of Canterlot. Ponies waved and dawwed at the foal who reveled in the attention, clapping her hooves and bouncing around, making her diaper crinkle all the while.

Twilight was still blushing over the whole situation, but her face turned back to normal when they came upon Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine. They were both coming down the road until they saw Twilight and Moondancer walking in their direction. Twinkleshine giggled and ran up to the two and gave them a big hug.

“Hey, you two!” She smiled, rubbing her face against Twilight and Minuette’s faces. “And how’s cute little Moondancer?”

Moondancer babbled and tried to touch her face as Twinkleshine bent over nuzzled the little foal, making her laugh and flail her flabby legs. She watched the mare look back up and ask, “So, what are you two doing out here?”

“Well, we thought we’d give Moondancer some fresh air. That, and we were actually coming to see if you two want some donuts,” said Twilight.

Lemon Hearts yipped, “Really? You mean Donut Joe’s, right?”

“Of course! He makes the best donuts in all of Equestria!” Twilight was salivating over the thought of trying one of Joe’s donuts. “Besides I haven't even been able to see him since I've been here.”

“Alright. Well, we better get going.” Minuette pointed down towards Moondancer. “Also, just to let you two know, we can’t call Moondancer by her name out here.”

“Why not?” They both asked.

“We didn’t want anyone to get suspicious. Moondancer’s been like this for a few days and we might raise suspicion if we called her that.” Twilight looked at the ponies around her. “We don’t mean to mislead the ponies, but we can’t let them know that Moondancer’s a baby again.

“We decided to call her Sunrise until we find a solution. And she's my cousin from Manehatten.” Minuette took a peek down at her daughter.

“Alright. We don't want everypony knowing Moondancer‘s a foal,” Lemon Hearts said. “You can count on us, Minuette.”

“I'm fine with that,” Twinkleshine said, “but Lemon Hearts and I have a question.”

Minuette eyed them and asked “What is it?”

Lemon Hearts grinded her hoof on the pavement as she looked up with some of her mane blowing into her face. “Twinkleshine and I would like to know if we can play with Moondancer every once in awhile.”

Twinkleshine nodded. “Yeah. Lemon Hearts and I would love to take her to the park. Or just take her out on a stroll through Canterlot.”

Minuette smiled widely. “Of course. I would love you two to hang out with Moondancer. It would be so much fun!”

Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts sighed in relief as Twilight laughed. “You two were nervous about that?” She flicked a small tear from her eye.

The yellow pony blushed as she gave a sheepish smile and explained. “Yeah. Sorry, it's just we were unsure of how you...”

“Unsure of me letting you two play with Moondancer?” She turned her head as Minuette gave Lemon Hearts an alien look.

"Of course you two can play with her.” Minuette picked Moondancer up and held her towards the two ponies. “I may be her caretaker, but that doesn’t mean I would bar you two from seeing her.”

They all smiled at Moondancer as she laughed and wiggled her limbs again, trying to reach out and grab the ponies’ noses. Once she was put back into her buggy, she calmed down as Twilight tucked her in.

“Alright! Now how about we all go out for donuts!” Twilight bounced on the spot.

The mares nodded and followed Twilight down the road. As they walked, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts constantly cooed and giggled at Moondancer, who was laughing and babbling at the mares.

Minuette turned to Twilight with a worried look and whispered, “uh, Twilight? Did you tell them about last night?”

Twilight shook her head. “Of course not. It's just, you’re giving off a bit of a vibe.”

Minuette eyed Twilight. “I give off a vibe?”

Twilight rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah, it's just that you look kinda like—”

“Like Riverdancer?” Minuette slumped her shoulders and sighed when she took one look at herself. “I suppose that me and her are a bit similar… But I still don’t think I really feel like her mom.”

Twilight snickered. “Well, you do look like one, what with your diaper saddle bag and how you tied up your mane like that.”

Minuette patted her mane. “I did it so Moondancer wouldn't play with it while I changed her.” As she brushed her mane down with her hoof, she sighed and glanced at her feet. “You're right. I'm becoming more like a mom each day.”

”Yes, but you’re a good mother.“ Twilight patted Moondancer’s chest. “You’re kind, patient, caring, and not one to let the stresses of being a mother get you down. As long as you keep that up, you’re going to be the best mother ever.”

“Thanks, Twilight. I really appreciate that.” Moondancer patted Twilight’s shoulders and smiled. “Now, let’s enjoy ourselves, shall we?”

“Yes. Let’s.” Twilight and her friends approached the shop.

---

Twilight and her friends entered the looking donut shop with mostly empty tables and chairs. But as they came in, they were greeted by Donut Joe shouting from the counter. “Princess Twilight! Welcome back!”

Twilight gave the big stallion a smile as she said, “It's great to be back, Joe.”

He came up and shook all the mare’s hooves until he peered down at the foal and swooned. “Oh. And who's this little cutie.”

“She’s my cousin Sunrise from Manehatten.” Minuette held her up to him. “Her parents dropped her off while they go on vacation.”

Donut Joe chuckled and ruffled the foal’s mane. “Y’know, she looks a lot like Moondancer.”

Minuette stammered. “Y-Yeah. She gets that all the time. Heck, I joke about it with my friends sometimes.”

Lemon Hearts nodded and darted her eyes around the room. “Yep. Little Sunrise sure does look like Moondancer. But she's a cute little foal and Moondancer’s a grown mare. There's no way the two are the same.”

Twilight responded curtly. “Yeah. Quite a coincidence, huh?.”

Donut Joe smirked. “Well, I'll go get a highchair for her. Why don’t you three take a load off and relax?”

He walked off as Minuette went over to Moondancer and checked her diaper. The mare felt that was a little damp. Minuette kissed her and cooed. “Aww. Did someone wet themselves?”

Moondancer just smiled and kicked her back legs, feeling the wetness press against her tiny body. The girls all sat around a table until Donut Joe came and placed a high chair right next to Minuette. As Minuette snapped Moondancer in to the chair, she then put a bottle into her hooves.

“So, what’ll it be, girls?” Joe asked, holding a pencil and notebook.

Twilight smiled “How about a dozen of your Sprinkle Spectaculars please?”

“Nice choice, your majesty. It'll be right up.” Joe wrote it down and walked off towards the kitchen.

Twilight turned towards the other girls. “So while we wait, what do you two have planned for Moondancer?”

Lemon Hearts said, “I learned that there’s a adorable little bookstore not far from here for foals. I thought we could take her there sometime.”

Moondancer clapped her hooves and bounced in her highchair. She clearly liked the sound of the idea.

Twilight gasped. “You don't mean Little Bookworms, do you? My mom used to take me there all the time when I was a foal!”

Twinkleshine chimed in, “Sounds great! I also thought we take her to the Little Foals’ Garden Tour at the palace. I even heard the little ones get to meet Princess Celestia herself!”

Twilight brushed the tip of her foot against the ground. “I don't know about that. There’s probably going to be a lot of ponies there who might recognize her. I’d rather we avoid large crowds.”

Minuette replied, “Well, we do have a story for her and it even fooled Donut Joe. I think she'll be fine.”

Twilight sighed, seeing all the mares giving her pleading eyes as she conceded with a groan. “Fine, we’ll go. But we’ll have to make the trip quick.”

The mares all laughed as Twilight simply rolled her eyes. Then they turned to see Donut Joe coming out with a tray full of purple glazed donuts with multi colored sprinkles all over them.

As he placed the tray down and gave each mare a cup of coffee he asked, “Do you need anything else?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, no. This looks great. But I thought the Sprinkle Spectacular was a pink donut.”

Donut Joe put his hooves to his chest and let out a hearty laugh. “I changed the look thanks to you! I call them the Sparkle Spectacular now!”

All of the other ponies giggled at the new name—including Moondancer, even though she didn’t know what to make of anything around her—while Twilight sat there and gained pink cheeks. “Well, thank you, Joe. They do look delicious.”

“Well, girls, dig in! And let me know if you want another rounds at any time.” He strode away from the table as the mares began to eat.

Twinkleshine picked up one of the donuts. “So, Twilight. Does this make you the princess of pastries?”

Twilight rolled her eyes at the remark.

“Oh, I think that it's cute.” Lemon Hearts smiled. “I would love to have a pastry named after me.” Then she took a bite out of the donut. “And one that tastes great too.”

“Yeah. Your name would be perfect for lemon cakes.” Minuette nodded. “I can already see ‘em. Lemon’s Hearty Cakes! Selling all all the best bakeries!”

Moondancer babbled something, blowing out some saliva bubbles, making all the mares swoon over her.

Minuette wiped her mouth and cooed. “What do you think Lemon Hearts’ food would be? “A new flavor of foal food?”

Moondancer nodded her head, making all of the mares giggle. Twilight smirked as she drank her coffee and chewed on a donut.

Twinkleshine turned and asked, “So, Twilight? You made any progress Moondancer?”

Twilight shook her head and moaned, “Sadly, no. But I want to keep researching until I do find a cure.”

Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts quickly ate more donuts to hide their expressions.

Minuette sighed and turned towards Twilight. “Hey, I know you want to find a cure. But… I'm okay with caring for her for a month. You're exhausted and you’ve done so much for me. The least I can do is care for a foal.”

Twilight smiled at Minuette. “I know. You’re looking out for my well being too, but this is my fault. I can’t just give up on you now.”

“How about instead, you come over and help take care of Moondancer?” Minuette looked over at the foal, who was starting to fidget in the high chair. “If anything, that would be more helpful.”

“Alright. If you want.” Twilight took a deep breath and blew air out of her nose. “But I need to get my stuff from Moondancer’s house.”

“So you are crashing with Moondancer!” Donut Joe exclaimed, causing the entire group to jump out of their seats. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Twilight turned to Donut joe with a sheepish smile, stammered, “Oh, no. I’m fine, Joe. Moondancer and I are studying together.”

Donut Joe chuckled and ruffled the princess’s mane. “Oh, of course I should've known. You and Moondancer were such bookworms back when you were kids. I guess some things don’t change.”

Twilight couldn’t help but blush for the third time that day at how Donut Joe made her feel like a child again. He turned to the mares all chowing down and asked, “If you girls are heading out, why not take a few donuts to go?”

Lemon Hearts shouted with smile, “That’s a wonderful idea!”

Minuette, who was busy cleaning up Moondancer’s muzzle mumbled, “Y-Yeah. That’s no problem. We're probably going to be out for the rest of the day.”

Donut Joe nodded and said, “Right. Well, I’ll go throw some in a bag.” And with that, he went off to pack the extra donuts. “Oh, and don’t worry about paying for anything. They’re on the house.”

Twilight shook her head and handed Donut Joe a bag of bits as he hesitantly took them.

“I might be a princess, but even I’m not above the law.” Twilight smiled and slipped them back into Donut Joe’s uniform. “I would feel terrible having you make all of these without getting something in return.”

“Well, if you say so.” Joe shrugged and took the bag with him.

The big stallion walked off as Minuette came over with Moondancer on her back. “Well, Moondancer soaked her diaper. I’m going to go get her changed.”

Twilight nodded and watched as she led her little foal-ified friend to the bathroom in the back. She then sat down and started to finish her donut and drink her coffee with the other mares.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Twilight's right, Colgate is a good mother.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

I don't know why they would need to come up with a cover name for Moondancer, especially if they're not gonna change her appearance. They could always have Princess Celestia issue a gag order for ponies not to repeat the knowledge.

[Autum Breeze]

another knock echoed through her house

This may be a dumb question but... where was the previous knock required for there to be another?

[Autum Breeze]

She then placed her on her back and walked down towards the door, opening it once she arrived.

Minuette quickly opened the door

Another dumb question. How and why would the door need to be opened after it's already been opened?

[Autum Breeze]

She smiled, rubbing her face against Twilight and Minuette’s faces

Why didn't you just say nuzzled? I know how you wrote it is what they would do when nuzzling anyway but saying it that like makes it sound weird. Uncomfortable weird.

[Yosh-E-O]

Yay! I'm glad I checked to see if this had another chapter to it. :)

This story shines in how, to me, it is like a follow-up to "Amending Fences". It's a fun way to illustrate the dynamic between Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkle Shine, Twilight, and Moon Dancer. Moon Dancer may not have a whole lot of input but getting to know the others along with how they are seeming to feel their inner mother coming out is really cute.

I do hope the show brings back everyone again. I think there is a lot to still learn and enjoy with Twi's old pals. Your story certainly does great in illustrating this point. :)