Spike gets tired of being told he's too young to do things, so he and his friends Quinn and Zack decide to pull a little prank involving a brew borrowed from Zecora. Unfortunately, the effects were... undesirable, to say the least.
Spike wasn't too happy to be told yet again he was too young to partcipate by Twilight and her friends. He enlists the help of the two local humans, Quinn and Zack, to get a little vengeance on them. A 'borrowed 'potion from Zecora suceeds in making the group young again- even younger than the 'baby' dragon himself. Unfortunately, the potion they'd brought to undo the effects of the first does nothing to remedy the problem. And with Zecora out of town, they can't figure out how to fix it. Worse still, the potion's effects continue to de-age the afflicted ponies. Can Spike and his friends find a way to stop it before they 'foalify' to nothing? (Character list may be added to as story continues, but unlikely any removal.)
Spike closed the door to Twilight's room as quietly as he could. He didn't want to wake her up, especially considering what he planned on doing tonight. Explaining himself would ruin his whole plan. Right now he just needed to make it down to the guy's room, and get them on board.
"Hey," he whispered to the sleeping forms of the two adolescent boys. "Guys, wake up."
"Uhg," moaned the one on the left, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his green-blue eyes. This was Zack, the younger of the two, but not by much. His strawberry-blonde hair stuck up in odd places, and the white t-shirt he was wearing was pulled up around his neck, for some strange reason. "Is it even four in the morning?"
"No, it's a little after midnight," Spike replied, attempting to rouse the other boy. "I need your help with something."
"Ow! Stupid claws," said the older boy, Quinn. Donning his glasses so his mahogany eyes could see properly, he shifted his legs over the bedside and smoothed down his short black hair. He was only wearing a pair of black sweatpants, so his torso was fully exposed. "This better be important, Spike. It was hard enough to sleep with one loudmouth in the room."
"Hey!" Zack frowned.
"Sshh! I don't wanna wake up Twilight!" Spike hushed the two half-dressed humans. "I need your help to get back at Twilight and her friends."
"Wouldn't waking them up be punishment enough?" Grumbled Quinn. "What for? Is this about the cake?"
"No, it's not about the cake!" Spike shout-whispered.
"I wanted some of that," Zack murmered whistfully, then voicing aloud. "What is it about then?"
"I'm tired of Twilight and her friends telling me I'm not old enough to do things. They always get to see those movies, but I never get to. I just wanted to see The Power Ponies Movie, but Twilight said I'm not old enough to go!"
"Wasn't it rated PG-13...?" Quinn said.
"So are you gonna sneak out and see it?" Zack asked. "Or do you need money for tickets? 'Cause I don't really have any bits on me..."
"No, I've got a better idea," Spike said, rubbing his hands together in the stereotypical villian fashion.
---
"You want us to help you break into Zecora's hut and steal an age potion?!" Quinn surmised incredelously.
"Shh! Not steal it, we're gonna leave behind some bits as payment. Besides, we'll be the ones making it, just using some of her ingredients. She's visiting home, so she won't even be there. It's not even that deep in the forest. All I need is for one of you to cover for me while the other comes with me to make it. Easy stuff!" Spike elaborated.
"Why do you need someone to go with you?" Zack asked.
"I'm... I'm too short to reach all the shelves," Spike admitted sheepishly.
"I don't know," Quinn said, rubbing the back of his head. "This doesn't seem like a very good idea..."
"Aw c'mon, please?" Spike hugged his leg tightly.
"Well... on one condition; I'm the one going with you, alright?" Zack conceded. Quinn nodded in agreement.
"Yes! Absolutely!" Said the dragon.
"I'll tell her that you guys went out to for a morning walk or something." Said Quinn, settling back into bed.
Spike went up to his room to grab the bits he'd saved for just such an occasion, waiting for the now fully-clothed Zack to head out. They ran the majority of the distance, only stopping when Spike fell to the ground clutching his side, and was offered a ride by Zack the rest of the way. Spike directed his older friend to the hut of the absent alchemist, and the two slipped inside the unlocked abode to begin their task. Spike requested Zack to grab a certain book from one of Zecora's shelves, titled Supernaturals: Natural Remedies that are Simply Super!, which the dragon opened to a page labelled 'Youth elixers- Master's only'.
"You sure you still want to go through with this?" Zack said as he gathered the listed ingredients. "We could still put everything back and pretend none of this ever happened."
"You kidding? It took me months to find an opportinuty like this. I thought you'd be psyched about this." Spike said, swirling a rapidly color-changing potion with a smoldering wooden spoon..
Zack shook his head wildly, and grinned at his small friend. "You're right. Probably just Quinn getting in my head. Pass the whitecaps, please."
Hours later, the two completed their concotions. Spike's, a deep transparent violet, was intended to revert the subject's age to roughly the equivalent of his own, or that of a younger filly. Zack's, a milky white, was suppossed to negate the effects of the first. Cleaning up their mess and leaving their payment on the table with a note, the duo set on their path home just as the sun began to rise.
"Remind me again how you plan to make them drink it," Zack asked Spike, slowing down so his pace matched the young dragon.
"Twilight invited them over for a sleepover tonight, and put me in charge of the punch," Spike explaned, tightly clutching the mixture. "I'm going to put just a bit of this into each of their glasses, so when they drink it... poof! Younger than me. Let's see how They like having a seven o'clock bedtime!"
"Ooh, twisted. I like it," Zack replied as they slowed to a stop outside their destination. "When do we turn them back?"
"Probably when they go to sleep. The book said the second one can be applied to the coat, so it'll work out fine. Best part is, they won't even remember, so I won't get in trouble!" He whispered, opening the library door as quietly as the hinges would let him.
"Clever. But won't that defeat the purpose of making them feel like you-"
"Ssh, Twilight won't be up yet. Don't wake her up."
Quinn stood leaning against an unshelved portion fof the wall, sipping a cup of coffee, listening in on the end of their exchange. "Glad your back. It went well, I take it?"
Zack flashed the bottle of antidote to him "Yep. All set for tonight."
"Good. You might want to hide those; I just heard the water turn off upstairs." Quinn suggested before taking another sip.
Almost dropping the bottle in a panic, Spike ran to the boys room and shoved the potion under Zack's pillow. Quinn watched the frantically stumbling dragon run into their room to hide it. Zack slipped the vial into his back pocket. Twilight walked down the staircase, her tail dripping slightly and a towel wrapped in her hair.
"Did I miss anything?"
---
The girls let talked about this and that while the boys, in the kitchen, put their plan into action. Ladling out glassss of punch for everyone present, non-ponies included, Quinn held out six of them for Spike to add a spoon of his potion to. Being careful as to not confuse their own with the spiked punch, the glasses were distrubuted amongst the guests and residents of the library. Spike was litterally shaking, but whether it was from nerves or excitement, he couldn't tell. What did Pinkie call it? 'Nervoucited?'
The group had finished their beverages and were occupying themselves with a round of ghost stories. It was Quinn's turn, and he was doing a fair job of unnerving his friends with his.
"The mare turned-tail and ran all out from the faceless being. She didn't see where her friend went, but her panicked mind caused all other concerns to be blocked out. She didn't stop running until she was well out of the forest. terrified and exhausted, she collapsed on her living room floor before finally remembering her friend. Too rattled to search for him, she headed up to her bedroom, hoping she could forget the whole ordeal. Her door opened, and there stood the faceless one, in all his terrible glory. She did not have time to scream. Nopony ever saw her again. They say the creature with no face still roams the world, looking for victims to take to his purgatorial realm and torture forever. Perhaps he watches us even now, waiting for the right opportunity to STRIKE!"
A white faceless figure much taller than the ponies and Spike jumped out from behind Quinn, causing the seven to scream and duck for cover. The figure pulled off the white ski mask, revealing Zack, who was breathless with laughter.
"Man, you totally believed it!" Quinn said, cracking up along with him.
"Did not!" Rainbow and Spike protested simultaneously.
"Then are you hanging from a lamp, and you behind the door?" He asked.
"Okay... maybe a little." Rainbow admitted, getting off the light fixture. An inquiring look from AppleJack made her add "Okay, a lot."
The group broke out in laughter, and after coaxing FlutterShy out from beneath the table, Quinn pulled Spike aside into the boy's room.
"Hey. They drank the potion almost an hour ago. When's it going to start working?"
"I don't know! I thought it would've worked by now."
Zack entered, throwing the ski mask on his bed. "You might want to take a look at this," he said, grinning.
The boys looked out into the room, and their gazes were met with that of six foals, each about a year younger than Spike, excluding FlutterShy, who seemed roughly his equal. They were all only two-thirds his size, and not one of them seemed to understand what just happened. AppleJack wrestled off her hat with a cute little grunt. Pinkie Pie, who's hair now hung flat, watched as Rarity sat on her bottom and began to cry. FlutterShy curled up in one corner, while Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings in attempt to get airborne. Twilight, still on the chair she'd been sitting on earlier, tried to find away down, landing with a light thud after falling the two inches between her and the floor.
"It worked!" Spike exclaimed, picking up the small, somehow-still-an-alicorn Twilight, as if to reassure himself.
"What worked?" spoke the much higher-pitched voice of the much younger Twilight.
"Nothing," Quinn interjected, swooping in to comfort the crying unicorn. "Man, this is not something I'd thought I'd ever do..."
Zack fixed the table that had for some reason been flipped over during transition. "What, comfort a child?"
"Very funny, now help me out here," He said, picking up Pinkie in his other arm. "We can't have them wandering around the library."
Spike and Zack helped him gather the group of fillies in the main room, setting them down in front of the horse-head statue on the table.
"So... What now?" Zack said, legs swinging in open air as he sat on the staircase.
Spike smiled mock-villainously, tapping his claws together in a similar fashion. "Now, I get to have a little fun."
"First of all, you are to refer to the three of us as 'Big Brothers', and you have to do what we tell you, when we tell you, how we tell you to do it!" Spike said, pacing in front of the fillies, waving around a scroll like a king's cane. "You don't get to eat any sweets until after you finish your dinner. You do not get to stay up after seven. You do not take any books to read unless you ask one of us first. Questions?" he finished, turning to the very confused looking girls.
"I feel like we should be worried," Quinn whispered to Zack. "Little guy has issues."
"Hey, it's his night. Let him enjoy himself a bit. I'll step in if things take a bad turn." Zack reassured.
"Knowing you, it's after fatal injury," Quinn whispered to him, earning himself an angry glare from the other boy.
Twilight raised a small hoof. "What's 'refer' mean?"
Spike lowered the scroll to his side, the commanding fire dampened by the innocence of the question. "It means you call us that."
"Can I go to the bathroom?" Pinkie asked.
"I'll take her," Quinn volunteered, picking the mare up off the table and setting her down on the floor again.
"I have to go too!" Rarity said, reaching up towards Quinn. He set her on the floor and showed the two to the bathroom.
"I wanna go outside!" Rainbow Dash announced, stamping a hoof to call attention to herself. "I wanna see the pegasuses fly around!"
"It's dark out," Spike pointed out. "You won't be able to see any-"
"Yes I will!" Rainbow dash said, hopping off the table, her wings fluttering, whether in effort to fly or soften the fall, only she knew. "Let's go outside!"
"I have a better idea," Zack said, leaning down to her. He gave a wink to Spike to let him know he'd handle it. "Let's build a fort with the couch cushions!"
"But-" Spike protested.
"Yeah! Let's do that!" AppleJack agreed, abandoning her hat and running with Rainbow Dash to the couch, closely followed by Zack.
Spike shook his head and let out an exasperated breath of air. Already Zack was ruining his master plan to make the girls taste their own medicine. It didn't seem like the girls were really understanding what he said to them, or weren't really listening. At least Quinn wasn't-
"Spike!" He heard him call from the bathroom. "We have an issue!"
Spike was beginning to have second thoughts about his plan. ---
"Alright girls, time for bed!" Spike announced, having finished cleaning the 'accident' and noting the time.
"Aww!" came the cries in the pillow fort. Spike could've sworn he'd heard Zack's, but the pillow's muffling made it difficult to tell.
"Can we stay up later?" AppleJack popped out from between to cushions.
"No, for two reasons," Spike said, dismantling the fort. "One, it's already after seven as it is, and two, you didn't say 'please.'"
He pulled up a pillow and uncovered FlutterShy, who looked up at him with shining, big eyes. "Please?"
Spike almost found himself saying 'yes', but managed to catch himself. "No. Come on now."
There was a collective groan of unhappiness, but gradually, one by one, the fillies revealed themselves and started to clamber up the stairs as directed by Quinn. Spike set about replacing the couch parts and moving them back into place, not an easy task at his size. Upstairs, Zack put each of the girls into Twilight's bed, three at either end.
"Right. Nobody need's water, or needs the toilet?" Zack checked. He received a unanimous shake of the head. "Alright. Do I need to leave the lights on?" All the ponies excluding Rainbow and AppleJack nodded, so he did. "Goodnight girls."
"Wait!" Twilight called to him before he closed the door. "You forgot the story!"
"Oh," Zack said, thinking for a moment. "I'll get Quinn to read for you."
"He's boring!" Pinkie protested.
"And scary," FlutterShy added quietly, pulling the blanket over her head.
Zack let out a short laugh, then said "He's a better storyteller than I am. I'll send him up."
A moment later, Quinn opened the door, and sat down on a stool by the bed. "Okay, do you have any story in mind?"
There was a chorus of story names he'd never even heard of, The Mare on the Moon and The Legend of the Mirror Hole among them. He was confused on what to do until Twilight pointed out a book on the shelve next to him.
"That one!" She said, pointing at the book with gemstones set in the binding. "Read that one."
Pulling it off the shelf, he saw it was the Equestrian version of Goodnight Moon. The rabbit was replaced with a little white filly, and the moon's shadow was in the shape of a unicorn's head. Setting it on his lap so the girls could see the pictures, he began to read in a soft voice rivaling that of FlutterShy, "Goodnight moon, goodnight stars..."
---
"Alright," Quinn said as he descended the stairs. "The girls are asleep. Spike, go administer the antidote. We don't want to spend tomorrow looking after them."
"Speak for yourself," muttered Zack.
"But... I still didn't get my payback! They had way more fun than I ever did as a kid." the dragon protested.
"Spike. You turned them. Into toddlers." Quinn said slowly. "That's ten times the vengeance I was ever able to exact back home."
"Besides, you really don't want anyone else to find out. The longer you keep this up, the more chance of word getting out." Zack added.
"Are you threatening me?"
"I think the term is blackmail," Quinn said, giving a nod of approval to the other human. "Now go."
"Should've given you two the stuff," grumbled Spike, snatching the vial of antidote from Zack's outstretched hand. "You're just as bad as they are."
Spike walked up to the bed were the fillies slept. He smeared some of the antidote on his palm, and gently rubbed a bit onto the girls' foreheads. There was a brief moment of panic when Twilight turned over in her sleep, but she did not wake fully. Spike backed over to his bed, picked it up, and brought it downstairs with him. Twilight once told him he snored at night, and he didn't want to wake up anypony. He set it down at the bottom of stairs, and put the vial on the table. Zack and Quinn had left the room, so he turned out the lights, and flopped down on the bed, exhausted from his efforts throughout the day.
---
Spike was roused from his slumber by a light tap of a hoof. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he faced the tear-streaked face of the young Twilight.
"What's the matter?" asked the dragon.
"I had a bad dream," said the frightened filly. "Can I sleep with you?"
There were a number of reasons to say no. Spite, having to explain to the re-aged Twilight, things along those lines. But it was hard to say that flat out to those huge, scared eyes. "Well-"
"You can scare away the monsters," Twilight added in a definite tone. "Please?"
"Oh... okay then," said Spike, moving over and lifting up the blanket. When he was little, he'd have nightmares. Twilight would let him sleep with her, so he'd feel safe. This was the same situation. Mostly. She scooted into the bed, curling up against him. Spike was careful to make sure he didn't poke her with his spines. Her small form seemed off, somehow wrong. Didn't she used to be a bigger? Spike dismissed the thought as a result of fatigue and the darkness. Soon he drifted back off to sleep, Twilight's adorable little sighs of breath in rhythm with his own.
Spike was awoken by a stream of sunlight beaming in his eyes, an alarm he was unaccustomed to. He tried to cover his face with the blanket, but found Twilight had somehow rolled herself into a ball with it in the night. She was still sleeping, the blanket like a mummy's wrappings on her small body-
Wait. Small body? Spike thought, panic quickly rising in his chest.
Taking care not to wake the filly, he crept into the boy's room. He found Zack in the middle of dressing, shirt only half on. Quinn was still sleeping soundly. Zack took notice of Spike's expression and abandoned his efforts to put on his shoes, following the short dragon out to the main room. Silently and solemnly, he pointed to the sleeping form of Twilight, who'd partially unraveled herself from the blanket.
Zack's eyes widened with surprise and concern. "Did you use the antidote?" he confirmed in a hushed tone.
Zack covered his mouth, but not before Spike's partial breakdown woke the small filly. "Is it morning?"
Suppressing the urge to forget about the situation and give into her adorable voice, Spike merely nodded again. Having taken a moment to collect himself, he realized that he may need to check on the others. The same situation could apply to them, making things even more complicated than necessary.
"Go wake up Quinn," he asked Zack. Spike then headed upstairs to check on the others.
As he opened the door, he was upset but unsurprised to see that none of the other ponies had aged either. AppleJack was only just rubbing the sleep from her eyes with her little hooves. The others were still sleeping, as it seemed.
"Are we having apple pancakes?" She asked hopefully.
"Uh, I'm not sure," Spike responded hesitantly. "Why don't you go check downstairs?"
AppleJack slipped off the bed with a thump, and ran down the stairs to see what her breakfast would be. The thump woke up Pinkie with a jolt, which bumped Rarity and knocked her out of the bed. She began to cry, waking the remaining girls. FlutterShy hopped down to comfort the crying filly. Pinkie apologized repeatedly, and her own eyes began to tear up when she didn't hear any acceptance. This all took place in a matter of seconds, which Spike rapidly caught up with. He knelt down and picked Rarity off the floor as Rainbow and FlutterShy looked on with concern.
"Shh, it's okay, it's okay. Let me see," He comforted.
The simpering filly lifted up a foreleg, which seemed unmarked. She recoiled when Spike made to touch it.
"Aw, don't worry, it's just a bump," he said to her. "It won't hurt for long."
"Kiss it?" She asked, the streams of tears stopping.
He hesitated. Long had he awaited this day, but this was not how he was expecting it to happen. He knelt down and kissed her foreleg. The filly giggled, threw her arms around him in a hug, and ran off with the others downstairs.
"Well, aren't we a charmer?" he heard Quinn's teasing tone.
Face reddening, he turned to the bespectacled boy. "Shut up. She just would've kept crying otherwise."
Quinn held up his arms in surrender. "Hey, I won't tell anyone." His face turned serious. "Were you sure the book said to apply externally? Did you make it correctly? Use a proper dosage?"
The dragon nodded furiously. "Yes, I'm sure."
Quinn scowled and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps we overdosed the original potion, or made it incorrectly, then. I'm going to need to attempt to remake the antidote. Zack wasn't very reassuring when I asked him whether he made it right or not. I'll also need to take one of the girls with me to test it, too."
"Hey!" Zack called from below. "Breakfast you guys!"
The two returned to the main room, where pancakes were being devoured by the fillies. Two plates stood separate for them, which they dug into with enthusiasm. Zack really had learned a quite a lot from his job at the bakery. Quinn wolfed his down quickly, keeping the urgency of his task in mind.
Quinn abandoned his plate and tugged on his boots, running around the library to gather the materials he'd need for remaking the antidote. He was unable, however, to find the age potion itself. That is, most of it.
"Spike," he said despairingly. "Please, for the love of god, tell me that bottle is not almost empty."
"You mean the syrup?" Pinkie Pie piped up. "It didn't taste very good anyway."
"Y-you used that-" Spike stammered. He'd eaten a full plate.
"Tasted like bad apple juice," AppleJack commented.
"At least there's a little left?" Zack added unhelpfully.
"No time to assign blame," Quinn said, holding his head. He turned to Rainbow Dash, or rather, looked down at her. "You get to come with me for a little walk, okay? We're going out to the woods."
"Can I watch the pegasuses?" The filly asked.
"On the way there, you can."
"Okay!" She agreed happily. Quinn opened the door and the two were off to try and remedy the situation.
Meanwhile, Spike was just coming to terms with what the empty bottle being referred to as syrup implied. The girls were already so young- this would make them even younger. As for him- what would happen to him? It was only supposed to effect ponies, but what would it do to a dragon? A human, like Quinn? Zack, thankfully, hadn't eaten any, but the results of this could be catastrophic. Things were only getting worse. How long had it taken for it to work on the girls? An hour? Two? He groaned aloud, slumping against a bookshelf.
Twilight walked up to him, her head tilted with concern. She offered an apple from the table to him.
Spike smiled, in spite of the situation. He had confidence this could be fixed. Quinn was smart. The dragon knew he could fix this.
"I can't fix this!" Quinn exclaimed in frustration, slamming the book shut. "It's been nearly an hour, and I am absolutely sure I made it correctly."
"Does this mean no more smelly goo?" Asked Rainbow Dash from his side.
"No, none of that." The distressed boy sighed, rubbing his temples. He mentally re-ran the experiment in his head, thinking to himself, I don't understand. It worked fine on the flower. Granted, a whole different species, but still, what am I missing?
No answer came to mind. Having no option but to report back to the others, he packed his things, grasping the new base youth potion in his hand. He left Zecora's hut as he'd found it, and proceeded back into town, Rainbow Dash directly in front of him. As he walked a buzzing built up in the back of his mind, and he began to stumble and trip over his own feet. It wasn't until he neared the town's fountain did he completely collapse from nausea. He stumbled over, allowing the age potion to roll out of his hand, onto fountain's side. Rainbow dash noticed this and doubled back for him, a concerned look on her face.
"Are you sick?" She inquired.
He groaned, shifting into a sitting position on the fountain's side. "I'm... I'm fine. Really, I just-"
Eyes suddenly widening, he turned away from the filly to relieve the contents of his stomach. His hand brushed against the bottle, knocking the vessel into the water, where the loose cork was freed, and the contents mixed with that of the water fixture's. Quinn shook his head violently, and wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand. He felt better, aside from the taste in his mouth.
Rainbow patted his side gently. "Better?" She asked, then "Ew."
"Yeah, mostly. Where's the..." He trailed off, seeing the cork of his bottle floating in the fountain. He then let loose a short stream of words, ones that should never be said in front of any decent company, especially a young filly. ---
Meanwhile, Zack did the same. Spike had just undergone a massive growth spurt, akin to that of the one on his birthday a few months ago. Spike was now just a head shorter than him, and not too pleased with the recent development.
"What do I do?" He said, failing at keeping the panic out of his tone. "Last time this happened I wrecked half the town!" Zack slapped him across the face. "Ow! What was that for?"
He shrugged. "Works in the movies. Seriously, just calm down. You're not feeling all greedy, right? You aren't taking anything that shines and hoarding it, like last time. You 're still acting normal. I'm pretty sure half of that ordeal was a mental thing. You're fine."
"Then why were you doing that thing you guys do when you get freaked out? What do you call it... swearing?"
"You just scared the bejesus out of me, that's why!"
"Oh. Right," Spike said, cheeks reddening a bit. "Think it'll scare the girls?"
"Doubt it. Still mostly you. Just don't run in screaming like you did to me, and I'm sure-"
"AAAHH!" came a shout from the doorway. A pink tail whipped around the frame as Pinkie ran, terrified of the dragon in the room. Spike glared at Zack, then slowly walked out of the room to calm the little filly down.
"Hey, hey," he said in what he thought was a soothing voice. It was a lot deeper, so he was unsure whether it came off as such. "Don't worry. It's me, Spike."
"No you're not! He's smaller!" Argued the filly from beneath the sofa.
"I, uh, got taller. That's all." he replied, looking down underneath.
"Liar!" Pinkie exclaimed, running out to the stairwell door. She brushed past AppleJack and Rarity on her way.
The two first looked after Pinkie, then at Spike. For a moment, nopony, or dragon, moved. Then AppleJack spoke up.
"Why're you so big?"
"I, uh," he struggled to find an explanation. "I ate my vegetables?"
The fillies made an 'o' with their mouths.
"Can..." Rarity asked timidly. "Can I see one of your scales?"
Spike was caught off guard by this question, but complied, pulling out a loose one from his elbow and handing it to her. The small unicorn took hold of it with a small amount of awe, marveling at the glimmering object in her hooves. "It's so pretty," she said, regarding it as if it were made of diamond. "Can I keep it?"
"I... sure. Just don't throw it or anything, okay?" It wasn't a sharp or jagged scale, and it wasn't as if she would try to eat it. "And could you do me a favor?"
The filly nodded furiously.
"Tell the other girls I'm not a monster."
"Why do they think you're a monster?" AppleJack asked the dragon.
"I just scared Pinkie Pie a bit, and I don't want her frightening the others. Please?"
"Okay!" Rarity said, bounding up the stairs, AppleJack right on her tail.
Zack stepped in, slowly clapping for his younger friend. "That was well handled."
"Do you ever stop and think, 'Hm, maybe I should help him out?'" Spike replied in an annoyed tone.
Before Zack could defend himself against the verbal dig, front door slammed open. Quinn, who was breathing heavily, let down Rainbow Dash from his back before noting Spike's appearance. "That... That's... hah... Not good..."
Rainbow Dash took one look at the dragon before running upstairs. Spike made to call after her, but was stopped by the recovering boy. "Bigger problems," he said between breaths. "Much bigger problems."
"He's kidding, right?" Spike moaned in denial. "Please tell me you're kidding."
Quinn gave a solemn shake of the head. "Afraid not."
"We have to warn the residents," Zack decided. "We do not want a baby-pocalypse on our hands. Er, claws. Or hooves."
"'Baby-pocalypse?'" Quinn gave his friend a questioning look, to which he received a shrug in reply.
"Which of us is going?" Spike interrupted their non-verbal conversation. "I think at least two of us need to stay here to look after the girls."
Zack pulled on his shoes, already at the door. "When I said that, I meant me. But you two are going out too. Take them with you, or hire a sitter or something. I can't cover the whole town on my own. I'm only going now because I'm faster than either of you."
"You sound like Rainbow Dash," Spike chided.
"Very funny. You two try to figure something out while I'm gone. See ya." Zack ran out, slamming the door behind him.
"'Figure something out...'" Spike mused aloud. They couldn't fix this. Zecora wouldn't be back for a day or so. The only other pony who he knew could fix this was...
"Celestia." Quinn suggested, as if reading the dragon's thoughts. "So much for keeping it secret, but it's the only way."
Spike sighed, slumping down onto the couch. His now-longer tail gored the cushion and pulling out stuffing. "You're probably right. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, though. We'll send a letter, then we'll catch up to Zack. You gather up the girls. I'll write to her. She'll take a while to get here, if-"
"Stop poking me!" An unhappy tone called from upstairs.
"You stop!" Came an indignant reply.
Quinn stood up and headed towards the stairs. "I'm on it. Be ready in ten."
Spike pulled out a quill and a roll of parchment from the desk on his left, and began his note to Celestia. He tried to make the situation sound as unimportant and trivial as possible, though it was pretty hard to do when the entire town risks age-alteration. Rolling up the letter into a scroll, he breathed out a blast of ethereal tongue of flames. As he did so, a clamor of giggles, hoofsteps and bells rang, alerting him to the presence of Quinn and the fillies.
"You put them on ropes?" Spike asked as if this were a joke.
"Child leashes," Quinn corrected, gesturing to the Velcro straps. "It seemed like a good option. Do you want to chase them around Ponyville?"
"This doesn't seem ethical." Spike pointed out.
"That a yes?"
Spike quickly shook his head. "Let's just go. I told the princess in the letter we'd be out anyway."
Spike and Quinn left the library, and busied themselves with warning the townsponies about the water contamination. ---
Celestia appeared in the library's main room in a glorious (and, were you to ask her sister, quite gaudy) burst of sunlight and winds. She'd acted upon the message she'd received almost immediately, and was ready to remedy the situation with her all powerful-
Splash.
Her overstated entrance had blown a bottle containing some odd purple substance off a shelf, and onto her head. The liquid dribbled down her face and into her mouth. She spat most of it out, but enough of it invaded her system to cause an unfortunate change. This was a sample of the age-potion laced water, and it came with much more immediate effects. It had been placed on the shelf to keep it out of the reach of the young ones, but ultimately this was a bad decision, as it turned out.
Celestia momentarily felt an odd sensation of cold, and found herself having to look up in order to see the horse-head statue on the table. She blinked. Where was she? ---
"Seriously, nobody was listening to me!" Zack complained to his friends as they neared the library.
"It probably didn't help that you were standing on a soapbox." Quinn pointed out in a frigid tone. "That stallion was not happy."
"If they won't listen to us, they're sure to listen to the princess," Spike said, holding on with both hands to the six child leashes straining to be freed from his clawed grip. Where did he even get these things?
"Right. I'm sure-" Zack began as he opened the door.
What he saw made him do a double take, Quinn facepalm, and Spike groan. A short, ivory colored alicorn with a pink mane was laying on the floor with a picture book, struggling with the words.
"Oh- hi!" She said, hopping to her hooves. "Who are you?"
Zack stepped forward to introduce himself, but was interrupted by Rainbow dash as she finally worked of the harness of the leash. "I'm Rainbow Dash, and I'm gonna be the fastest pegasusus ever!"
The others clamored to introduce themselves, and were met with kind smiles and short giggles from the filly. She looked up expectantly at the boys when they finished. "I'm Celestia, but you can call me Celly. You're names?"
Quinn took the lead this time. He pointed to each of them as he rolled off the names. "Do you know where you are, Celestia?"
"Not really," She replied, stepping out of the way of the girls as they ran around her to the couch. "But I do know there's a lot of books, so I can learn a lot here for when I'm princess!"
Zack and Spike looked at each other. No doubt at this point. Celestia was probably five years, maybe six years old now.
Quinn bit his lip to stem the oncoming flow of uncouth profanities that he so desperately wanted to release. Zack groaned inwardly, smiled outwardly, and continued to converse with the filly as the other girls were unleashed by Spike. Spike felt himself going numb. Now what? What could he possibly do now? Celestia herself was now a filly. He didn't know Luna's magical address. Maybe she'd come when she realized the sun had paused? It was a vain hope, but all he had.
"Spike," Quinn said suddenly. He was looking out the window, a worried expression plastered across his face. "You'd better take a look at this."
Spike's trepidation was difficult to overcome. When he looked out the window, he nearly fainted. He saw a near-fully grown Sweetie Belle, along with an equally-aged Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, none of which could he read the emotions. He composed himself as best he could, and opened the door a crack.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah, I think ya' can! Is Twilight here?" Apple Bloom requested.
"Yes." Spike said slowly.
"Can we talk to her?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Well... No."
"Why not?" Scootaloo Inquired.
"Because I think she's busy sucking her hoof." Zack said from behind Spike.
"What?!" The three exclaimed, pushing past the dragon.
She was indeed sucking her hoof. All six of them seemed to have further regressed. They were now small enough that Spike could hold one of them in each arm. They were no longer capable of climbing the stairs without having to reach up and pull themselves up, as noted with Pinkie Pie's attempt. It also seemed they were having difficulties with forming long sentences.
"I need da bafroom." Said AppleJack.
Well at least she didn't just dump on the floor, Zack thought absentmindedly. "I got it."
"How'd this happen?" Apple Bloom asked Spike.
"I... Uh..."
"Long story. The gist of it is that age potion has spread into the water systems, essentially reversing the ages of those who drink it, as is evident with yourselves, and your sisters." Quinn explained, taking down another picture book for Celestia. "Oh, and your primary ruler."
The three stood openmouthed, their jaws hanging like swings on a playground. Scootaloo was first to speak up. "How can we fix this?"
"Good question," Spike mumbled. "I mean, uh, the best we can think of is to wait for Princess Luna or Zecora. Hopefully one of them can figure out what to do. Until then, we just have to make sure everypony stays safe. Spread the word for us? Nopony believed Zack for some odd reason." He glared at the accused boy.
"I think it might serve us better if you two took your sisters as proof. No point in keeping that secret." Quinn added, accepting AppleJack into his arms from Zack, and beckoning Rarity over.
"O-okay," Stammered Sweetie Belle, still processing what had just been revealed. She lifted up Rarity onto her back. She was still holding onto the scale Spike had given her earlier with her tiny hooves. Apple Bloom did likewise with Apple Jack. Scootaloo Shuffled awkwardly aside. Zack winked at her, and motioned for Rainbow Dash to come over. The filly lifted her idol up onto her back with her wings, much to both of their enjoyment.
"Well? What are you waiting for, a parting gift? Go!" Quinn rushed them out, slamming the door behind them.
"That was a bit rude," Observed Zack.
"Oh, hush. I'm a little tense, given our situation. They're still getting younger, in case you haven't noticed!"
"They are?" Zack mocked surprise.
"Not now guys. We need to go out and warn people too. We can each take one of the girls with us." Spike said. "I'll take-"
"I've got Twi." Quinn said quickly.
"Pinkie's mine." Zack followed up.
"... I guess I get FlutterShy, then." Spike said, a bit weirded out by the sudden favoritism.
The totaling-six set off on divergent paths to warn the citizens, but in nearly every place, they were too late. The Cake Twins were now fully grown, and their parents were infants, as Zack found out (He also noted that the twins were smart as any of that age, and as mature too, oddly enough). AppleBloom found her brother in a field, crying, and no trace of Granny Smith anywhere. Scootaloo went on to warn the citizens Cloudsdale to avoid Ponyville for a few days. Sweetie found all her classmates were the same rough age as her. Quinn checked on the mayor and town's shops, finding all had been affected. Spike checked the residential area with similar results. Late that night (though the sun had not moved, the clocks had), the six returned to the treehouse, making sure every child and every infant was paired with a responsibly aged adult. They were exhausted, and collapsed in their various respective parts of the library, (the girls on the couches and chairs, Spike and the boys in their beds) after tucking in the young ones in Twilight's now-comparatively giant bed.
Ven rushed fast as his decimated legs would take him. The queen must learn of this news immediately. The entire town of Ponyville in disarray, and the Ivory Princess a child? The only defenses would be a few confused adolescents and their larvae. There would be no better opportunity for an invasion. He still remembered their loss at the capitol, and though he was afraid of a similar result, he was filled with comfort at the thought that this time there was no overarching, unnecessarily dangerous and poorly thought out plan. Speeding up, he rushed into the throne cavern, nearly breaking the door off it's hinges in his haste.
"What is the meaning of this interruption?" Demanded the queen's second hoof, Jidak, a very thin and angular Changeling. "The queen has no time for your begging and-"
"Silence, Jidak," Queen Chrysalis hushed. "My child, what is it you need?"
"Your Highness," Panted Ven. "I bear news from our spies in Ponyville. The town is crippled. The inhabitants have all been influence by some sort of age altering additive in the water supply. It hasn't seemed to affect our ranks as of yet. All the ponies are still readjusting to their new lifestyles, and the protectors seem to be incapacitated. The Ivory one herself is a child. There would be no better time to strike."
"Hmm," Mused the Queen. "Indeed, I couldn't agree more. We can most definitely rehabilitate the young to love us. A valuable resource, and then there's the matter of eliminating those pesky ponies and their princess, once and for all." A fanged smile slowly crept over her face, one that would likely make foals cry, and unnerve the elderly to some extent. "Assemble the troops. We strike at dawn. Tomorrow, Ponyville is ours!" She proceeded to laugh menacingly, Jidak soon joining in after.
Spike was first to awake. He heard somepony loudly pounding at the door. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looked out the window to check who it was. It was a cream colored stallion, along with a pumpkin-maned mare, neither of which had cutie marks. The mare had two foals in baby-carrying packs on either side of her, which Spike recognized as the very young cakes.
"Hi. Pumpkin and Pound Cake, right?" He slurred drowsily.
"Where's Zack?" Said Pound Cake, pushing past Spike with his sister. "There's serious trouble going on."
"Whoa, whoa, what's up?" Spike said, snapping to attention.
"Changelings," Said Pumpkin Cake, bounding gently to keep the foals happy. It would've been cute, if not for the circumstances. "There must be nearly a hundred on their way through town right now. Most ponies locked themselves and their parents, er, children up in their houses, so they should be safe. For now."
Spike made a short dash for the boy's room, but stopped short when Quinn burst out, followed by Zack, who was wearing hockey gear as armor, swinging his metal hockey stick like a bow-staff. Zack ran out the door, while Quinn set about scanning the biology section.
"What are you-" Pound Cake started.
"Looking for a textbook on Changeling anatomy. Spike, go wake the Girls. We're going to need all the hands, hooves, and claws we have to defend ourselves." Quinn commanded, Spike obeying.
There was a brief moment of silence as he scanned the shelves.
"Excuse me, but-" Pumpkin Cake began.
"Not now." Quinn pulled down a book and began flipping through it's pages.
"But I-"
"I said not now!"
The foals awoke and began to cry. Pumpkin Cake began doing her best to comfort them. From behind Quinn, the Cutie Mark Crusaders descended, having been tending to the foals all night. Each carried two baby ponies, none of which seemed to be comprehending what was happening around them. They gave little indication of speech, other than meaningless giggles and coos. When set on the floor, Twilight plopped down on her bottom, which was now diapered, and looked about. The others began to crawl around and explore the new environment. AppleJack discovered her hat on the floor and covered herself in it. Rarity was chewing on Spike's scale like she was teething. Fluttershy and Pinkie both started gabbing and giggling as if they were talking. Rainbow Promptly began floating in the air with her tiny wings, and up onto the table,where she could look down on the others.
"I was going to say I'd like to help, but now that's out of the question!" Huffed Pumpkin Cake.
Quinn sighed. "My apologies. I just needed to concentrate on locating weak points in Changeling bodies. Zack is out scouting. I really do appreciate you coming all this way to warn us."
"Oh, I didn't come all this way just for that. We heard the princess was here, and it is our duty to defend her."
"Twilight's brother would like you." Zack Said, walking back in. "There was about seventy or so last I checked, but more might be in hiding. Wait, since when did the girls need diapers?"
"No time for that. We must reverse this immediately. Were's Celes-"
"I'm right here!" Said the princess cheerfully, exploding out from beneath the covers on the couch, much to the foal's enjoyment. "Whoa, when did they get so little?"
"Celestia, I need your help with a very important project. Follow me." Quinn headed back into his shared room, the little one following. "I'm going to make one last attempt at an antidote. Do not interrupt unless its an absolute emergency. Understood?"
There was a collective, unanimous nod from the adults.
"Good. Zack, Spike, keep things in order." Quinn closed the door.
"Now what?" Zack asked, to everyone's surprise.
Spike spoke up. "We defend the treehouse until Quinn can fix the Princess. She can banish the Changelings, and then we can fix everypony else. Pumpkin and Sweetie, watch the girls until we need you. Zack, you remember where Pinkie left her cannon at the sleepover? Grab it. Pound cake, Scootaloo, Run aerial reconnaissance to keep us updated on the Changeling's position and numbers. Use clouds to stay hidden. Apple Bloom, help me barricade the doors and windows." He looked around the room at the slack-jawed ponies and the slowly nodding Human. "Well? What are you waiting for? Go!"
Pinkie's party cannon blasted loudly as a shower of confetti and a rather absurdly large book erupted from the nozzle, impacting a changeling in the head. It fell over in silence, it's brethren stepping around the unconscious body.
"One zip!" Apple Bloom Shouted, loading another book. She was set up on the roof, stacks of books on either side of her.
"Nice shot. Keep it up." Spike encouraged. He looked down the stairs at the door, which was piled high with furniture. All the windows were boarded up with some conveniently placed boards from the remodeling of Twilight's basement. The cannon sounded again.
"Watch it!" Scootaloo yelled as the book soared by her. "Spike, Zack was pretty much right. I counted seventy eight, eighty tops. Pound Cake decided to join Zack in the fray-"
"Zack is down there?"
"With Pound Cake."
"Crap," Spike cursed, borrowing a word he overheard Quinn say once.
"Thing is... They're not doing too bad down there. Zack's swinging that stick like it's a weapon. I saw him take out like, three Changelings already." BANG "They aren't interested in him and Pound Cake, I guess, because they're not ganging up on-" BANG "them."
"Oh, thank Celestia." Spike said, relieved.
"Yeah?" Celestia asked.
Spike Escorted her back inside, as Scootaloo began helping Apple Bloom load books into the party cannon. Inside, Pumpkin Cake was tending to the foals, who were inside a large crib constructed from couch cushions. Rainbow Dash continually flew out, but was returned via magic by Sweetie Belle.
"Spike, we're running out of diapers," Pumpkin Cake said. "I only brought enough for Mom and Dad, not six other fillies."
"What could I possibly do about it?" Snapped the dragon.
"I'm just saying-"
"You realize we're at war here, right? I can't exactly go out and buy some."
"Don't you have any cloths or rags we could use?"
"Dishtowels under the kitchen sink." Spike said, stepping down the stairs rapidly. He opened the door to the boy's room, where Quinn stood hunched over his concoction. "Any progress?"
"I may have devised a way to return lower-dosage recipients to normal, but not the girls. Here, make Celestia drink this. It might taste like crap, but it should turn her at least old enough to be of use." Quinn shoved a vial of white-grey liquid into Spike's claws. "Now go, quickly."
The door was slammed shut in Spike's face. He stood there, stunned for a moment, then rushed upstairs to find Celestia. He found her playing peek-a-boo with the foals.
"A-boo!" She said, showing her face to the giggling foals.
"Celestia?" Spike said, kneeling down to the young royal. "I need you to drink this... medicine."
"But I'm not sick!" She whined.
"It makes sure you don't get sick."
"Oh... Alright." She said with reluctance.
Spike uncorked the bottle and gave it to the filly. She tilted her head straight back and drank the vial's contents.
"Blech!" She gagged. She spat out about half of the potion into Spike's face.
"Ug, gross!" He exclaimed. He wiped out his eyes and across his mouth, so as to not ingest the concoction.
That's not good. She only got about half of it. Will it even work?
Suddenly there was a great tremor. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo ran in off the balcony, locking the door behind them.
