The Value of Foalhood [Semi-open/See OOC]

[Zeig]

 

In hindsight, the necessity of holding a town meeting in a daycare center, of all places, should have been a warning. 

 

It had, however, started off completely well-intentioned, as such things usually did.

 

Because considering the overall concern Ponyville citizens had raised against the budgeting of a new and highly expensive daycare center for the town, it had seemed most appropriate to address said concerns in the building itself, to show off all the fabulous features that the town's budget had gone into crafting it. Part town meeting, part walk-in tour, the daycare was currently open for ponies to take their first look inside before the meeting itself kicked off. And even the slightest glance over the interior of the building would have provided evidenced to exactly how much had gone into its planning and building...perhaps an overly extravagant amount, at that. 

 

 

The main foyer itself boasted an impressive set up. A large open space filled with shelves that sported toys, safe art supplies, and a small play area were all visible upon first walking in, more than ample room for a small legion of foals to run around and play in. One corner in particular held a large playhouse for foals to dart in and out of, while another, softer looking corner held a very large plush chair and a veritable army of stuffed animals, of all shapes and sizes. Two doors, with handles too high up for any flying foal to reach, branched off the main room on the left and right sides, while a third door led out to the fenced in back yard. 

 

 

The door leading to the left opened up to an arts and crafts room. A semi-circular table sat in the very middle, with one chair obviously meant for a foalsitter or daycare pony to lead the pack, with the others all placed around the half circle. The room was filled with all sorts of materials useful in arts and crafts, including paints, glues, glitter, construction paper, popsicle sticks, and any other sort imaginable. All available materials were housed safely out of the reach of any and all foals, along with the door handle that led to a very simplified kitchen that remained locked at all times. The modest refrigerator and pantry were kept stocked with all sorts of snacks and drinks for a hungry foal, to be brought out and shared at any time. 

 

 

The other door leading to the right of the main room showed the full extent of thoughtfulness that had gone into creating Lifetime Daycare Center. Inside, another large area held several soft surfaces for a weary foal to take a rest and sleep off an exciting afternoon - or the exercise a quick power nap. Whatever the case, the soft, plush couches and seats were large and roomy, allowing an entire host of foals to all snuggle up together if they so choose, or to cuddle against a caretaker. A few storybooks were scattered around the shelves, along with some more stuffed animals, but for the most part, the room was a quiet and peaceful place for a foal to simply sleep.

 

 

The locked door to the backyard opened up to one of the most extravagant playgrounds imaginable to a young foal's eyes. The gym itself was a sight to behold, a myriad of several different playground activities all merged together in one large, continuous loop. A small wading pool, currently empty, was also set off to the side for the hotter months, along with an impressive looking treehouse that extended just high enough for a foal to feel on top of the world. The main body of the treehouse was big enough to comfortably fix to six foals at once, though the various small balconies strewn along the structure more than made up for the lack of space. The entire backyard was surrounded by a wooden fence that held the latest acquisition from Neighponese magitech. When activated, a magical barrier could spring to life at a moment's notice around the entirety of the daycare, ensuring nothing untoward made its way inside. 

 

Magitech security, a plethora of activities, and a play area to make even the richest parents green with envy - such were the expenses that had gone into the making of the daycare center. Boasting town-wide support for any and all foals, it was clear that Lifetime Daycare Center payed for itself.

 

It's just that...some of the town's citizens needed some extra convincing. 

 

--------------------

 

Link to OOC

 

 

[Zeig]

 

He was not convinced. 

 

Because bucking seriously, the amount of bits that had to have gone into the place was...mind-blowing. 

 

He hadn't even realized there'd been this huge fuss in Ponyville, either - not until, like, yesterday, when he'd overheard some ponies ranting about excessive town spending. And sure, he liked town gossip as much as the next stallion, but the shenanigans of Ponyville had long since lost their flavor with him. Mayor decide to quit her job and take up tap dancing in Canterlot? Yeah sure. Entire town economy closing down for a day to help the Apple farmers bring in their harvest? Why not. He'd long since learned not to question the going-ons on the strange town.

 

...Didn't mean he wasn't still curious, though. 

 

"Mother of hay," Inkbrand whistled as he wandered in through the open doors of Lifetime Daycare Center, the sign just outside having invited all interested parties to come take a look. Apparently there was some sort of meeting happening in the center later in the day, in order to assuage concerns and try to validate the sheer amount of money that had gone into the place, but honestly, Inkbrand thought the town officials were in for a rough ride. The tattooed clad stallion didn't know much about foals, true, but...seriously. Foals were easy to keep happy, just feed 'em treats and pay attention to them every once in a while. Did they really need a bucking duplex to take care of Ponyville's foals?

 

Because Lifetime Daycare Center was more equipped than his Ponyville home, and that was a very sad thought. 

 

"Holy buck. Sign me up for never having any foals, yeesh," the gray Earth Pony muttered to himself as he ran an inquisitive hoof over one of the plush cushions in the main foyer. If it seriously cost this much to maintain foals, the no bucking way was he ever having any of his own. Because what the buck, who had this kind of bits laying around to splurge on their foals?

 

Not him, that was for bucking sure.

 

[Blueblood]

If there ever was a pony that did have the bits to splurge on foals like this, it was probably Prince Blueblood XIV of Canterlot.  Not that he had any of his own... yet, but looking at this elaborate construction reminded him, in some quaint and nostalgic fashion, of his old nursery in Blueblood Manor.

 

Not that he'd come here for the purpose of touring the manor.  He'd actually intended to pay a royal visit to the Crystal Castle of Frienship, check in to see how his fellow royalty in Twilight was doing, and maybe look into how his IMAGINE grant to the town of Ponyville was being spent.  Hence, why his interest had been piqued about the local budgetary dispute, and why he was here now on this tour.

 

While the whole thing would have been acceptable to even the most exacting tastes of the Canterlot noble parentage, there were little doubts in Blueblood's mind.  *I did not send 50,000 bits to the town mayor to build a daycare.  IMAGINE is meant to further the cause of world peace through peace and diplomacy.  So unless they are taking in the children of other nations, I don't see this as appropriate...*  Of course, for all he knew, that actually was the plan, having this ready for the children of diplomats so their entire family could come over.  So, for now, he was open to being convinced on that argument.

 

He could tell that another stallion with him was not.  He couldn't recall if Inkbrand was a citizen of Ponyville or not, or indeed how prominent he actually was.  He had seen him around the parties of Duchess Frostlace, but that didn't do much to indicate his status.  Still, he probably knew more about this than the Prince did, so... "They built this, and then they ask us if they should have?   Is this how democracy normally works?"

[Pretzelparty]

 

 

When she was young, Presteza did not have many friends to speak of. Being raised by a rich, noble family meant she was to be protected. Being from a family of mages meant plot-loads of studying. Memorizing, formulating, and coddling were all too common occurrences during her own foalhood. During the occasional excursion from the manor, the young filly would often stop by the schoolhouses in trottingham and watch the other ponies playing during recess... before she was inevitably shuffled off by a butler or maid that was sent to escort her. When she'd learned about this little project for the foals and fillies of ponyville, Presteza decided to offer up some money to the project with the permission of her family of course.

 

...

 

Seeing the results though, well: She couldn't say she didn't see care go in the design and crafting of this facility. She rather liked the arts and crafts room, but then again that was more or less her natural habitat. Just looking at this expensive place made her wonder, a single question poised high in her mind: Is this too much? Not just from a monetary standpoint, but in terms of space. Were there even enough foals in Ponyville to justify such a building? Ponyville was definitely a bustling place but for a project like this and with the money behind it she thought maybe Manehattan or Canterlot could possibly use something like this more with their impressive populations in comparison. The security systems were top notch too, while she could understand the desire to defend the young ones from harm... any threats that came to Ponyville were usually weekly or even monthly with the princess and her friends wrapping up the problem with no casualties in about thirty minutes or less. This seemed a bit much.

 

Still, even with these issues: The place was here. She had volunteered to come along with Blueblood for this inspection given her own involvement: She'd made her bed, now she must lay in it.

 

"Even a functionin' democracy can have... missteps. Sometimes a whole lot've expensive missteps." She said as she let her sight wander around the Foyer. A certain stallion caught her eyes that made her flinch. Inkbrand. She couldn't say she'd had a very good history with that stallion. Her coltfriend wasn't on good terms with him either... on some level though she would like to put the past behind them. "I gotta say I can agree with tha' sentiment... " The painter looked to a panel on the wall and her jaw dropped, "... A magitech laser tripwire system?! I can understand the 'hole 'the foals are our future' mindset, but...It's a daycare center. No' the Manehattan bank."

 

 

[tacobob]

 

 

Holy Smokes this place sure was fancy!

 

Was the first thing that popped into Fire Walker’s head as she made her way into the ‘Lifetime Daycare Center’. While the name was a bit of a mess, the actual daycare center was not. Was this the first of many changes the cute little farming community would go through as more ponies from the more metropolitan cities moved in? She could almost picture an older resident as they saw the center for the first time. They'd probably think it was 'as high-falutin' as Princess Celestia's fuh-anciest bedroom!'. There was bound to be a culture clash sooner or later as the more upscale ponies would prefer their beloved franchises over the local businesses. Still, somepony expected a large population boom and thus the center was created.

 

While the red coated officer knew that one of these days she would eventually have a foal with her beloved husband to be, Swift Squall, she was not visiting for her own future kid, this was for her brother Cordy Walker! After much discussion, he and Jammy (his wife) decided that they would move to Ponyville from Trottingham. Cordy and Fire's mother had been in a rather poor spirits as of lately and it was decided that one of the siblings would move next door to the Walker home. Spending time with the grandfoals was what the doctor recommended to chase away her blues!

 

Fire had been tasked to check out the new place and write back to her brother. He was curious what sort of place this was. Would it be suitable for their little 'Ticker Tape'? He only expected the best for his kid. When they were younger, the siblings remembered seeing an extremely sketchy daycare center in Baltimare. Rumors were that it was actually an illegal sweatshop! This was never confirmed and was probably just gossip. Cordy did recall it having a barbed wire fence and the building was covered with crudely drawn knock-offs of popular children's characters.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Thankfully, this was no 'Puddin' Patch' and instead would not look out of place in the better parts of Canterlot. The officer would spend a few more moments checking the rest of the place out and then hopefully get to meet some of the staff.  The officer also had plans to meet up with her fiancé when her visit was finished. "Hmmmm."  She noticed that Prince Blueblood was here. He was probably going to make some sort of grand speech at the opening and maybe even cut a large ribbon to 'open' the center. And then there Inkbrand! What the heck was he doing here? Did he have any kids? Knowing him, he was probably dating one of the staff. Nearby was also a very familiar be-freckled unicorn. One of her bestest little pony pals..

 

"Hey Presteza!". She had not seen her old friend since her little 'girl's night' with Zelda. Her foalhood colleague was an incredibly gifted artist. Surely this whole center was designed by the very talented mare.

 

 

[PyroBlaze]

Diamond wasn't exactly a resident of Ponyville, but he had seen the impressive building while walking down the street. Well, that just invited a look around, even without the signs doing just that. The Prench griffon walked through the door, giving a whistle as he looked around the foyer. This kinda thing must've cost a king's ransom, he had to wonder why they needed all this for some foals. 

 

"Bonjour, mes amis. Do you know what all this is about?" He asked, looking at all the ponies around. 

[SteelEagle]

 

One mare who was more than pleased with everything that was going on was currently playing with her foal in the arts and crafts room.

 

"Aww, why look at that! That's an apple! Can you say apple?" Applejack asked sweetly of her little Zap Apple, who tried to eat the crayon he had been drawing with. Luckily the daycare had invested in digestible and safe crayons for just this sort of case, since if a little pony wanted to eat a whole box of crayons in one go, he or she was going to and there wasn't anything anypony could do about it. The fact that this was a non-concern was just one of the seemingly infinite measures that the town had taken when they were coming up with ideas for the daycare. All those bits had certainly produced results. Applejack would have been a bit upset if it hadn't, seeing all the effort paying off was worth it.

 

After all, she had been one of the primary donors to this! Well, donor was the wrong term. She owned the single largest, richest plot of land in the entire Heartland and paid such a tremendous amount in taxes that she paid a healthy portion of the town budget. And, well, she was an Element of Harmony. And the Apples were a Ponyville institution. So when she told the Mayor that she'd really appreciate if she could find it in the town budget to build a world-class daycare facility. After all, Ponyville was growing faster than it ever had- why, according to Twi, it was the fastest growing town in Equestria by leaps and bounds. That meant more foals and more parents for those foals that were gonna work and need a place for their little ones. Ponies might not see it now, but when nopony was left behind in the rush, they'd see it then.

 

They weren't seeing it now, just yet. Many were focused on what could be instead of what is or will, and that blinded them. Nothing was being taken away from other projects or departments that she knew of. She didn't see what the problem was. To assuage concerns that the bits hadn't been wasted, the daycare was being opened up for the public. She had come in...early. For testing purposes. She had helped make some of the tables and playground equipment, after all. Yeah, she had to test the table in the arts and craft table with her foal.

 

"...Awwwpuh!" Zap responded excitedly, which was mostly because through the open door he saw a few ponies pass in the main foyer.
She snuggled him. "Good job! Better all tha time! C'mon, let's go an' meet tha fancy folk an' whoever else is out thar," she said. She patted her hat, and Zap hovered on top of her head and giggled. The hat came down around her ears and she laughed- he liked sitting on her head for some reason, the little rascal. She loved it too.

 

She trotted on out (balancing her foal all the while) until she found others- a nice, fun collection of them too! Inkbrand, a Prince, Pressy, Fire- well, it was a good gathering. "Howdy y'all! Here ta check out tha best daycare y'all ever seen?" she said while Zap studied the crowd, deciding who needed to be hugged or inspected. Mostly inspected. He was a curious little guy.
 

[DerpRavener]

Naj hesitantly poked her head through the doors of the new daycare centre. Strictly speaking, she had no business being, or at least that's how she thought. She didn't have any offspring of her own, and likely wouldn't for the foreseeable future. She didn't even live in Ponyville anymore. She still visited every so often, as she was doing right now, for the friends she'd made there and the time she'd spent in the town. But it wasn't really her business ponies did to develop the town.

 

But darned if Naj didn't wonder when she saw the building recently built, and opening its doors. She had to know. And if they were making it open to the public, even or perhaps especially for just one day, she couldn't help but investigate.

 

Naj was in her natural form today. No disguise whatsoever, not even her 'not-disguise' of a changeling coloured pegasus. A part of her knew that she'd have to walk around in her natural form sooner or later if ponies were to get used to it. Another part of her knew that this was one of the only places she could bring herself to try it. She had just enough history her that she was fairly sure she'd be tolerated walking out in the open like this.

 

It was easy enough to distract herself from such thoughts after Naj stepped through the doors. It was an impressive space, filled almost to the brim with anything a foal could need or want, at least from Naj's limited experience. A part of her disapproved of it, thinking they could have still done pretty well with a much more modest budget, and then put the rest elsewhere. The rest of her recognized that foals were the future of the community, and felt that no expense should be spared to ensure that they are cared for. The fact that she'd never had anything remotely like this when she was growing up only made the prospect seem all the more appealing.

 

A few ponies had arrived before Naj, as evident by the snippets of conversation she heard as she stepped through the doors, but it took her a moment to notice them. There were a couple she recognized. Inkbrand for one, and Prince Blueblood she met as an acquaintance once or twice. But her eyes to one in particular, an orange earth pony.  One she had a history with, and in truth still didn't fully know where she stood with the mare Though curiously, Applejack was carrying a foal around herself. She was here for a more practical reason than simple curiosity, then?

 

Naj was tempted to join in the discussion, but she knew she hadn't heard enough of the conversation yet to actually make a meaningful conversation. So for the moment, she simply greeted the assembled ponies, before waiting for the . “H-hello,” she said, and waved.

[Ciraxis]

Alomst as soon as Naj muttered her hesitant greeting, she could feel a strong reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "Don't be so nervous Spring. No matter what, I got your back."  said a familiar voice. After turning around she could see a familiar visage of non other but her friend Swift Squall. The noblepony arrived to the scene almost like a ghost, not seen, nor heard by anypony until he spoke to his changeling friend.

The swordstallion was in his business attire today, his dark green duster sporting TEMPEST Corporation logo, with white buttoned shirt underneath, and hovering in the air next to unicorn was a briefcase.

That said his half-transparent and jaded lenses sunglasses, as well as his trusted weapon were still present. They managed to fit nicely regardless. It appears that Squall found a good stylist for himself.

 

"I hope that none of you got much of a hassle getting here today." Swift begun before looking around the room. Most of the faces present were more then familiar, filling the noblepony with warm feelings.

"If that made too big hole in your pocket Blue, I will be happy to patch it up." unicorn said with a smirk. Squall was one of the few ponies that had a bigger fortune then Prince Blueblood - and although he usually didn't boasted about his wealth, Swift couldn't pass that one out.

"Well I don't know about that Prestzy. Miss Applejack here surely can confirm that there is no biggest treasure then your child, isn't it?" Swift said before beaming a smile towards the farmer and her son. "Well, that and the fact this is Ponyville. Crazy things happen here every week. If I would live here, I would expect nothing less for my kid."

"Blue, Prestzy...." he addressed his fellow nobles with a smile still present on his face. "I was trying to get in touch with both of you, but my schedule was filled to the brim. Then again, you were busy as well, weren't you? Becoming the royal painter of the Empress, my my. I hope she doesn't demand too much of you, like putting fresco's on ceilings of the whole palace?" he asked. "And you too Blue, jumping around the world, working over this initiative of yours. That and..." swordpony lowered his voice, and Prince could perceive a spark in Squall's eye "...your Aunt sent you a very important invitation lately, didn't she?" he asked in a whisper.

"Oh and there is also something that I need to show to both of you in Germaney mountains. Forgive me for lack of details, but I am afraid you would not believe me if I simply told you." Squall said enigmatically.

 

"Mr. Inkbrand, it's been a while. You may not recognize me, but I recognize you, it's been a while since the World Expo isn't it? Although I have introduced myself using different name back then. I apologize for that, that wasn't really by my choice, but rather due to...circumstances. Are your businesses in Big Orange doing well?" he asked the tattooist.

 

Then Squall focused on Fire, his Fire. Swift manners suddenly seemed to evaporate, and he scratched his head in embarrassment looking like a dork as he walked towards her.

"S-Sorry I am late Love. The last meeting took longer then I thought it would. And there was this robbery I bumped into on the way to the airfield....and there were problems with engine during the takeoff..." noblepony started to pile up excuses. "......Please don't exile me to the couch." Swift finally pleaded miserably

"Oh..OH, that's right!" unicorn recalled that the salvation right here. Noblepony reached with his hoof and dragged unsuspected Naj next to himself.

"Moto, this is Spring. I mentioned her a lot, didn't I? I know that she may be not someone you were expecting, but I would trust her with Your life." noblepony said, his last statement sounding very serious. It also made clear how much faith he had in his changeling friend. His own life? Pfffft, details. But trusting the well being of love of his life to other pair of hooves? It was other thing entirely. Naj could clearly feel that, seeing that she could feed simply on the over-spilling love coming from the pair.

 

Leaving the two females to get aquatinted, swordpony turned around and begun talking immediately....

"And nice to see you too....You...?" ...only to realize that this griffon was not  familiar at all. "I...I am sorry, I don't believe we met." Swift mused, attempting to salvage first impression after his erroneous blunder.

 

"And finally, Miss Applejack. The onlypony present who can be said to have privilege of commenting about this place actual usefulness and standards. For obvious reasons. Or rather one reason. Who's the brave boy? You are, yes you are!" buissnespony said while making happy faces towards the Zap.

 

"So....what do you all think? It may have been Ponyville Mayor idea, and funds came yet from the other source, but it was Squallcoast Constructions that designed and build this place. Not to shabby if I could say myself..." Squall mentioned, clearly pleased that he was able to present his employees work.

[DreamySunday]

Bluemoon had only recently arrived in Ponyville, a pleasant little village that had always offered a nice country experience. However, the village seemed to be much bigger then she remembered. Reaching into her saddle pack, Bluemoon pulled out a map and checked it. She was certain she was in the right place but it never hurt to make sure." Huh, guess it grew up. But hey! A bigger village, means more things to see! " She told herself.

 

As she continued wander the Pony village of Ponyville, Bluemoon eventually got face to face with what had to be the largest jungle gym she had ever seen in her whole pony life. She stared in awe of this magnificent structure. As she stared, visions of all the fun a single pony could have in such a place zoomed and flashed through her head. " This is the best possible thing that could've happened. " She said, trying desperately to hold back the tears of joy. " I have to get in there! " Bluemoon frantically looked around searching desperately for a way in. After mere seconds of investigation, she noticed a building was attached to this work of art. Bluemoon ran her way around the building desperately looking for a way into it. When she finally did find the door, she threw them open noticed a herd of other ponies and asked. " Is this the line for the jungle gym!? "

[RexDraco]

Oh Discord absolutely loved Mayor Mare. The town hall was always a wonderful place to take a break from the humdrum of Ponyville's weekdays. The pandemonium that came natural to a politician's office was on par with the raves, and much quieter, that Vinyl put on. He had to admit there was something relaxing about the wails of ponies trying to limbo beneath the very red tape he always tries to get Celestia to cut. It was an elegant ballet of chaos, really. He was there when the budget was passed by the citizens of Ponyville, many not realizing just what the Foal Utilization Nursery project was beyond it's amusing acronym and the fact it was meant to support families who had to work longer hours during the summer, especially those with farm and business families.

 

Nothing tickled him more when they had not double checked their project files as he added more entertaining playsets and removed the redundancies that Squall so eagerly placed with his own, unique brand of madness. His condolences to the contractors that had to deal with the redlines Mayor Mare couldn't change, thanks to the bureaucratic red tape he hated so much. Once they were approved there was no turning back lest deal with another year of approvals, rearrangements... He may as well use it to his advantage while it lay there, no? Discord did not directly influence the turn of events, but he sure had one jolly of a time encouraging them through well timed whispers and strangely placed advice by a local repairpony who offered to lend a hoof in the playset design for half the price. It would explain some of the nostalgic colors and wowing shapes found in the play gym’s construction. It also explained the unecessary size, indescribable sense of space that couldn’t possibly fit, and the regards to that it was much more pronounced in expenditure than what would normally be allowed for budgeting. After all even if it were a donation the bits were to be funneled to very specific areas thanks to passed budgeting. Sometimes a few whispers did make everything more F. U. N.

 

All that aside a certain narcissist chimeric Lord of confusion lounged across high above the convening ponies who had come to discuss business in the newly finished building. Well Manor if you were talking to the right pony and waste of space talking to yet another. As the ponies below spoke, and complained, and condescended his masterful plans to waste time, space and overall invest in what was perhaps the most contradicting, confusion, chaotic place that could exist in the world without Celestia or Twilight sending Fluttershy to scold him: a building that is to be filled with foals! Now he did not invest money like Applejack, or time like Mayor Mare, nor had he involved himself in the act of having a foal for the project. No instead he sat as insurance between. A buffer for the completion of a space that would be a crowning achievement in chaos. A space that he could play all day and haunt all night. It was a -- fun project that he was glad somepony suggested he vote for.

 

After all he too was a citizen of Ponyville at his leisure. Why shouldn't he partake in the political parades provided by the ponies? But this was far from the rabble of awe. Instead the majority of voices didn't condemn the hard work put into the building. Not only the work his friends did but they failed to praise the artistry of his masterful work! It was too much! He finally pushed to stand: now perfectly poised on the ceiling with his hoof and talon flat on the rafters. His paw clenched feeling vehement rage fume from his ears. Like the pipe of a steam engine the spirit blew his top! Steam and all!

 

The spirit was not to resist the condemning consequences caused by their belittling comments and discouraging doubt. After all foals were tiny balls of chaos and while he didn't necessarily enjoy them at first they came to be more malleable than adults when it came to games. His parts, piece by piece, collapsed onto the ground before slowly slithering about like tiny balls of modeling clay. Blobs of what were once arns, horns and legs collided and reformed to create the spirit's shape. Pulling to a float there he hovered in all his glory. A fiery, passionate look burned in his eyes as his forelimbs crossed over his chest. Crossing his hind legs so his left hoof knee crossed over his right he would observe local and visiting company.

 

“You know I invested quite a bit into this project. It seems many of you are decidedly ill observant towards its potential.” He cocked his head, arching a brow. “Since you need proof of the value this facility had, and are blatantly ignorant of the work I put into it, as well as forgetful of your place as adults…” he held out his forelimbs to shrug. “So let's play a game, what do you say? Oh and we'll make it exciting. Let's add a wager. If you can't  find anything redeeming about the place: I'll make it  all go away in a  snap.” He glanced to the Apple with a glimmer of mischief in his eye.

 

Not that look. That was the face of chaos. And while Discord was no longer, inherently, dangerous. There still sat the factor of his unpredictability when it came to his games. There were times where he didn't even know what would happen as he made these events completely autonomous from himself and his control. That way the outcome was completely fair and unable to be altered by even him. It presented an aspect of fairness that was absent from his pre-reformation games. And while not, wholly, comforting: it gave guarantee that there was an end to the game.

 

“I like how this one thinks, you'll need someone like her teaching you.” He regarded  Bluemoon before he raised his paw and pressed thumb and middle digit pad to pad. “Though I'll be fair about it… I'll give you a chance to properly think it over and consider the value of foalhood.”

 

S N A P !

Just like that the room was filled with a billowing cloud that lent a sense of confusion as the setting change took place. They would remain where they were, but said change would not be obvious until the plume of chaotic magic dissipated. Pity those poor, unfortunate souls that would enter the game zone after the spell took hold.

[Zeig]

 

A vaguely familiar voice followed by a vaguely familiar pony was quick to arrest Inkbrand's attention from the otherwise empty space, causing him to swivel slightly in the plush bean bag he had taken space on to view the front doors. The pristine white coat and golden mane tickled at something in the back of his mind, but refused to fully surface, as if he'd actually met the other stallion while he'd been half out of his mind or something. 

 

...Didn't explain his sudden urge to take a bath, either. 

 

Still, Inkbrand didn't let it bother him as he shrugged, a grin tugging at his lips at the other stallion's sarcastic question. "Think they're less asking permission," he answered, crossing his forelegs behind his head as he returned to reclining against the bean bag, "more shoving it in our faces to try and prove how amazing it all is." 

 

Which is when an all too familiar voice followed by an all too familiar pony stole Inkbrand's attention. Unfortunately. 

 

The tattoo-clad stallion immediately scowled at the sight of the cream colored Unicorn following in behind the white stallion. He supposed he shouldn't have been overly surprised - it was a town-wide meeting, after all. That didn't stop Inkbrand from raising his figurative hackles, however, as he prepared himself for MFT's lecture on how he wasn't "sitting in a bean bag" in a socially acceptable manner, or some other stupid rot. He needn't have bothered, though - another familiar mare came walking through the doors soon after, a red Pegasus named Fire Walker, who immediately engaged MFT in conversation.

 

Bucking fine by him. Less chance for him to punch condescending faces in.

 

A griffon was next to fall in line - though both his words and accent gave him pause. Probably wasn't a Ponyville resident then...or if he was, he was new to the neighborhood. "You're in the wrong place then, buddy," Inkbrand called out, but not unkindly, as he once against resumed his slouched position on the comfortable bean bag. Because if the signs all over town hadn't informed the griffon about the town meeting and public tour of the newly built daycare, then said griffon had probably just come wandering into the first set of open doors he'd come across. 

 

And...well hay. Whatever floated his boat. He wouldn't know, he didn't make it a habit of wandering into random open doors...well. Except that one time with Bright Spark, and that had ended up in a pretty favorable outcome, in his opinion. 

 

"To say the least." 

 

The self-satisfied smile lingered on his face for a moment more, but it didn't last as the gurgle of a baby cut through the blissful memory.

 

It actually took Inkbrand a short while to locate the noise, but once he had, the grey stallion was up on his hooves and swaggering over like he owned the entire place. "Can't really argue with that," Inkbrand conceded cheerfully, since it actually was the best daycare he'd ever laid eyes on - not that he'd ever toured the inside of daycares all that often. He really didn't have time to argue the cost and benefits of such an extravagant daycare, though, because there was a baby cooing at him, which took precedence over stupid arguments. "Whose-a booga wooga," the tattoo-clad stallion asked of the tiny foal, lips pursuing outwards and hooves flailing beside his face as more nonsense baby words passed from his mouth. Inkbrand leaned back and away from the infant with a chuckle, shooting a pleased glance at Applejack. "Heh. Cute kid." 

 

Because buck all those mares who automatically assumed he hated foals, or had no interest in foalhood. The same types that assumed he just went around purposefully stringing mares along so he could brag about all the broken hearts he left in his wake. 

 

Inkbrand shook his head slightly, but the sudden dark thoughts dissipated just as swiftly as they had appeared, allowing the grey stallion blow a raspberry at the foal before turning his attention back towards the entranceway - and immediately choking mid-raspberry, ending up in a rather intense fight to get air back in his lungs. Because holy mother of buck all, despite everything he'd come to see and accept, it still was a shock to see a Changeling just...standing around in the open. Far better than running around all disguised, even if Inkbrand didn't mind just keeping his distance for a while.

 

...Except wait a second, he knew that Changeling. Right?

 

...Oh buck, he did.

 

And that, right there, made all the difference, and was more than enough incentive to stalk his way up to the front.

 

"Naj, baby," Inkbrand crowed, slinging a foreleg around the hard exoskeleton of her shoulders, "the buck are you doing here, huh?" A follow up question was right on the edge of his lips, though it was momentarily stalled as an unfamiliar walked past Naj, professing a meeting at the World Expo. Inkbrand frowned where he was standing, legitimately struggling to place a name to the face - but, seriously, he'd met a lot of different ponies at the Expo. "Well - yeah, sure. Can't keep the ponies away from my inks, now," Inkbrand finally settling on saying, half-bragging and half telling the truth of the business his tattoo shop had been getting lately. 

 

It wasn't until the stallion moved away...and then started blushing and stuttering and acting like a complete idiot in front of Fire Walker did Inkbrand remember the fish bowl exhibit. So that was the same stallion, huh? Mister smooth and suave and in complete control, until he was around the mare of his choice and suddenly turning into the stereotypical "I'm-so-in-love" type of guy. In all honesty, Inkbrand could not remember one time when he ever acted differently than normal in front of a mare - he didn't turn lovey-dovey at the blink of an eye while acting liking a confident, assertive stallion the rest of the time. Fake as.

 

It was enough to make Inkbrand roll his eyes, though he wasn't so full of himself as to try and "correct" behavior he personally didn't like...unlike some ponies. No, he was more than content to simply busy himself with others...including the Changeling who he'd kept wrapped under his foreleg this whole time and had sort of ignored in favor of trying to figure out who the orange Unicorn was.

 

Oops.

 

"Eh, sorry 'bout that," Inkbrand said, with a jerk of his head towards Squall as he starting making faces at Applejack's foal like he himself had done earlier, "guy I met a while ago, surprised he remembered me. But anyways, as much as I know everyone loves talking about me," he continued, affecting a tone of mock-aggregiousness as if it were a burden to be such a highly talked about pony, "what about you? Checking out the new daycare? Where's that guard dog slash coltfriend of - " 

 

...Oh buck. Please don't tell him she was checking out the daycare because she was looking to enroll a foal of her own. He...really, really, really, did not need to imagine the logistics of it. 

 

Luckily he didn't have to, as the front doors suddenly slammed open, nearly sending Inkbrand jolting a foot into the air before realizing it was a rather hyperactive blue Pegasus looking for the...jungle gym. Because, well...priorities, and all. Inkbrand couldn't really blame her - the jungle gym in the back did look pretty sick, with shapes and structures that didn't even seem possible in a physics sense. They must have hired legit engineers to figure out to put that all together. But, she seemed to have missed the entire reason for the collection of ponies all beginning to cram into the main room. "Uh - there's no line, help yourself," they grey stallion finally settled on saying, jerking a hoof over his shoulder towards the backyard. 

 

Hay. Who was he to judge? Mare wanted to play on the jungle gym, let her play on the jungle gym. In fact, he might join her after this whole meeting business was wrapped up.

 

Of course, that was before the ceiling decided to drip balls of clay down onto the floor below.

 

At least they looked like balls of clay, of all different colors...until they began sliding around all over the floor. Inkbrand took a step back, ears falling back on his head as he glared around for the Unicorn undoubtedly responsible, maybe trying to put together some weird, abstract figure for foals to play with or some rot like that. 

And, well...at least he got the abstract right.

 

Inkbrand didn't know much about Discord. In fact, all his knowledge came from hearsay. Some ponies said he was a being of pure evil, bent on simply causing chaos and destruction wherever he went. Others said he was a misunderstood spirit that had defied his very nature in order to save Equestria. Others still claimed Discord was no different than the average pony, and he just had a unique skill set that could produce unpredictable results. 

 

He really didn't know - and in all honesty, didn't care - which was true, if any, because Discord was a being out of legend and the newspapers. Like a celebrity or royalty that you would read about, but would they affect your life in any sort of personal way, ever? Chances are no, they wouldn't, and they'd always just be that far-flung topic to hear about every once in a while but nothing to ever interact with on a personal level.

 

Inkbrand had a feeling that he might start caring about who Discord was, now. 

 

"Bucking - " 

 

...

 

 

 

 

 

 

His head felt funny.

 

Not swirly funny, like the time he and Sharp Zing had sat on the merry-go-round and Dad had spun them around so quickly they'd gone flying off and couldn't stand up straight afterwards. No, his head felt...kinda stuffy. And gross. And weird. 

 

Although the feeling was starting to go away...which was great, because this was the best daycare center, ever!

 

Inkbrand couldn't even remember being dropped off by Mom that morning, but whatever, this was great! Way cooler and bigger than the other daycare he was usually dropped off at. The grey colt ran forward and immediately fell flat on his face - why did his legs feel kinda weak? - but determination had him up and running again like normal, face pressed up against the windows on the edge of the big room. Because that was the coolest playground he'd ever seen, ever! 

 

"Hey, this place is awesome!" the young colt loudly proclaimed, declaring it for fact as he began to run every which direction. Playhouse over in this corner, bleh - but a big plush chair over here! Inkbrand clambered on top of it as he grabbed a stuff lion from the pile, flailing it this way and that as he jumped up and down on the bouncy chair. "Way cooler than the other place! How come Mom never took me here before? Lions are the best!" 

 

 

[[ OOC:

 

Adults who've been turned into foals might feel a bit off-kilter at first, but the feeling should wear off quickly. 

 

Unicorn foals are past the age where they just randomly use magic, but before they've started to learn any real magic, including levitation.

 

Foals that can fly are at the age where they can briefly hover using their wings, but they can't sustain a hover or fly.

 

Basically, just think cutie mark crusader ages.

 

Lions are the best! ]]

[Blueblood]

Perhaps it was the incipient confusion of cross-purposes that should have been Blueblood's first warning that something deeper than budgetary disputes were brewing here.  But to be fair, the Prince was genuinely ignorant as far as the normal practices of democratic systems of decision-making, so was ready enough to write this all off as what happened when you had that sort of thing in your community.

 

He smirked and nodded as Presteza's assessment, though honestly did compel him to point out; "Well, don't forget, this town has been the epicenter for more than your average amount of trouble.  For Celestia's sake, I was here the last time the Changelings invaded!  Well, second-to-last, anyway.  This might make a fine citadel for a last stand, if you needed to fit the town all in..."  In fact, now that Blueblood was analyzing the space, it looked almost as if you could fit all of Ponyville inside.  Odd, it looked much smaller from the outside...

 

Speaking of the changeling invasion, one just walked through the door!  Blue initially shared the brief moment of traumatized panic that Inkbrand felt (to a considerably greater and less dignified manner than the earth pony, it had to be said).  Upon recognizing Naj, however, he settled back down with a few steady breaths.  "Oh, um, hullo."  He wasn't sure what else to say.  Was it mere curiosity that had brought her here, like the griffon who had apparently just wandered in?  Hard to say.

 

All that was driven from his mind once Applejack approached, accompanied by her little Zap Apple.  Blueblood couldn't help but be amused at the sudden change in Inkbrand's punkish attitude; what was it about foals that prompted such behavior?  He didn't recall his parents ever behaving like that...

 

Huh.  

 

He couldn't remember the last time he'd thought about his mother and father.  Surely it had to have been recently; wasn't Father's day just a few weeks ago?  It was hard to keep such holidays, when you hardly had as much as a gravestone to visit, let alone a living parent to write or visit.  These reflections put him in a rather somber mood, which made his replies to Swift Squall considerably more acidic than they might otherwise have been.

 

"Oh, yes; I suppose I'll have to defer to your judgment then, on how necessary luxury is for the finer development of foals."  He knew perfectly well the difference in net worth in their families, and also Swift's own opinion of the Equestrian aristocracy and its mores.  Politeness might have demanded a reduction in snark, but the stallion's timing had been poor.  And perhaps his own feelings on the matter had changed; after all, Fire Walker was technically part of one of the 'old families' of Canterlot, and Swift was obviously fond of her.

 

And then there was just the random mare which charged straight in for the jungle gym.  Blueblood didn't know her from Faust, and was simply left blinking at the blur she made.  'Young at heart' was probably the phrase for that.

 

But even she could not hold a candle to the one who would come next....

 

Discord, one who might be fairly called the eternal five-year-old.  Well, part of him was, anyway.  Which among those parts scattered around the floor currently that was, Blueblood declined to speculate.  In retrospect, he should have seen him coming, but he didn't, because Discord.  Just as he didn't expect the next move would be a whirling sensation of a clock sprung back in time and a blurring of all senses as the world seemed to grow that much larger...

 

But he really should have.  Because... Discord.

 

`~`

 

 

Blueblood blinked.  What happened?  He felt... fuzzy, in his head, like he'd just woken up.  Maybe he'd fallen asleep on his way here?  The last thing he remembered clearly were that Mother and Father were leaving for a trip, again.  They usually left him with Auntie Celestia, but this didn't look like her palace.  Unless... was all this for him?  There was a lot of empty space in the Castle, after all...

 

But no, it couldn't be.  First off, the view out the window wasn't right, second, the colt right next to him was a commoner.  Some kind of urban foal, from the sound of his accent, sent out to the country, perhaps?  But if so, how could his parents afford to send him out to such a luxurious place as this.  "Yeth!"  The young Prince exclaimed, revealing a highly aristocratic lisp.  "But what are you doing he-ah?"

[Pretzelparty]

 

 

 

The lack of a response from Inkbrand had disheartened the painter somewhat. It wasn't surprising to see that he wasn't going to be willing to talk to her so easily, even she knew what it was like to hold a grudge. The likelihood of her getting him to even speak a word to her seemed dismal unless some freakish occurrence of godly magic interfered, and how likely was that to happen? Before Presteza could attempt to further interact with the stallion, her attention was grabbed by the appearance of a red pegasus: her old friend Fire walker! It'd been far too long since she'd seen her last! "Fire!... Erm Walker!" She added at the last moment, hoping not to alarm anyone who was stopping by. 

 

The cream colored unicorn would dash across the room to give her old friend a hug, "It's great to see you again! Wait a minute...you're not here to drop off a foal already are ya? It feels like you an' Swifty were only ready to tie the knot days ago!"

 

Seeing who had popped out of the Arts and crafts room, Presteza would kick herself if she could for not having snooped around there as soon as possible. Applejack was here! In the past, Presteza had more than a few meetings with the honesty based heroine. There was the time she'd volunteered on her farm, their kiss during that country kisses event, the running of the leaves where she came in second place... so many good times. When she heard the news her fellow hat-wearer was having a foal, well she was beating herself up for missing such an occasion. In fact, stopping by her orange friend's place was on her to do list after this place's inspection. Lucky for her though that she'd brought along little zap to inspect the place it seemed. Interestingly enough, Inkbrand had already come up to the foal to introduce himself... in the form of the gibberish and to be honest if she was in his position she probably would have done the same thing. 

 

"Even though you don't find the idea o' foals o' yer own flattering. I think you've got a knack for workin' with 'em, Inkbrand... that or ya at least like playin' with 'em. Can't blame ya if that's the case."

 

Once the Inkbrand finished up greeting to the newest member of the Apples, Presteza would wave to the little fellow and his mum. "Good ta see ya again, Applejack! ... and it's nice to meet -you- ,Zap!" The painter would step a bit closer and extend her hoof to have it met by the tiny hoof of the littlest apple, "And ya 'it the nail right on the head."

 

Presteza would nod silently at some of the words from both Blueblood and Squall, "I s'pose that makes a bi' o' sense... but there's still-- actually maybe we should tlak more of the costs and benefits or detriments when those who might be using it are around right at this moment." The freckled unicorn would subtly gesture towards Applejack, No need to bore 'em with it, right?" It'd been quite some time since she'd last gotten to speak to squall, from what she remembered he'd been a busy pony lately. Apparently he'd made friends with a strange aquellian inventor lately.

 

"S'good ta see ya again, Swift! Don't worry abou' me bein' overworked. I've got plenty o' energy for the empress' whole court!"

 

A loud slam would make Presteza almost jump out of her skin at the entrance of a very enthusiastic seeming mare. Apparently she was hear for the jungle gym, which did look pretty impressive. If She wasn't sure she'd look even sillier than normal she might have joined her. Inkbrand managed to point the pony in the right direction so all Presteza could hope was that the newcomer didn't go too crazy with that equipment. 

 

Just as she was looking back to the group she noticed something- or rather someone- on the ceiling. A being with a long almost serpentine body, with mismatched limbs, horns  and one large tooth... Oh dear.  Chaos incarnate had come to their little daycare and when he decided to make himself known well, Presteza would admit that the spirit of disharmony had quite a knack for making entrances. She watched as his pieces fell to the floor and all oozed together to form his anarchic whole. Once she poke about how he'd -invested- time into this venture her jaw dropped. She'd heard a few stories from her brother in the guard about what discord was like, and by the tone the spirit was using he clearly wasn't thrilled about the lack of an ecstatic reaction. 

 

Hoping to try and maybe talk him out of this she would attempt to raise her hoof and speak up about how this had technically been done once before, but any words she could say would be stifled by the resonant sound of a snap and a billowing cloud that would flood the room. 

 

...

 

A few coughs escaped the painter as she fanned away some fo the chaotic cloud away with her hoof. Once the mist had cleared she looked at the hoof and noticed it's length: She wasn't a foal again! She'd had enough that back during one of her previous Ponyville visits. She'd heard that she'd caused more than a few issues for some of the adults there when she went off chasing a frog for who-knows-why-- oh wait that's right! For Applejack! Well hopefully this time the farmer would be as lucky as Presteza was and was spared from being returned to foalhood. 

 

"So um... who here is old enough to reach the top of a cupboard?" She called out, "Anyone who recognizes my... voice?" The mare would blink a few times as she stared at the familiar sta--colt in front of her. Seems Inkbrand was one of the first to be affected by discord's mischief. His rest on big , soft chair and admiration of lions being agreed with by none other than blueblood! ADmittedly, the two ponies were rather cute in their contrasting demeanors. Blueblood even as a colt still had that aristocratic air about him, and that lisp was utterly adorable. From the two's actions it seemed that they didn't have the memories of before... hm, that would definitely make corralling two colts easier for her if one of them had forgotten any bad memories of her. 

"Um... Well, Master Blueblood." she began speaking in a tone not dissimilar to one of the staff she'd had when she was a foal, "You'd been dropped off here by your aunt so that you may get to know some foals from other statuses. Don't you remember? I'm supposed to watch you and your friends!" 

[tacobob]

 

 

 

Fire Walker’s ears perked up as the Prench griffon asked her question. Good gravy! Unless he had a kid, or was in the process of becoming a dad, and lived in Ponyville, it was very obvious this formerly sleepy little village needed one thing.  And that was a  real entertainment district! They already had a little movie theater, but there needed to be more! Unique shops! Different restaurants! Dance halls! It’s either that, or bored residents or visitors were just going to wander into anything that looked slightly interesting. Like an preview for a daycare center! Did they ever replace Lore Weaver’s bookstore? So many questions!

 

“You’re at the preview for an special new foal-care center.”, the red pegasus mare responded, “As Ponyville grows, a demand has been created for such a place so that professionals can watch over kids too young for school,. and considering both parents tend to work nowadays, it's really useful to have a place like this around." This place sure was awesome! So much stuff for a little filly or colt to do. She was curious who was running the place.

 

There was also a changeling! Apparently a large group of the shape-shifters had broken away from their Queen and had joined the 'good guys'. And while the dreaded Queen had escaped, Equestria welcomed the dissenters. Being the nice sort, Fire waved back at the girl and tried not to remember how they bred. Her train of thought was quickly put to an end as her old friend quickly caught up with her and gave her a hug.

 

"Ha! Not yet, I'm going to wait a good...long....erm. Oh." Sweet Apple Acres! Applejack's baby! The little guy was perfect! Her big red eyes seemed to grow a few extra sizes as she watched the little guy from afar. Hopefully the gift she sent the Apples was suitable. After getting word that the farmer finally gave birth. She dragged poor Swift back and forth through an Fillydelphia 'Foals'R'Us' trying to find the perfect gift. Unfortunately her busy schedule kept her from personally giving the gift. Still, he was just so dang precious in everyway! And imagine if she and Swift had a kid. What would he or she look like? Unicorn or Pegasus?

 

"No-no.", The mare was still watching Zap Apple when her soon-to-be-hubby grew near, "No. You won't be sleeping on the couch.", she almost sounded like a zombie. However, this was far worse! She had a bad case of 'foals in the brain!' "I have a few things I want to try out with you before we hit the...erm.", the changeling's return knocked her back into reality. "Oh, yes. Hello Miss Spring Naj..Hello Mister Brand", she smiled back at the changeling and the marked stallion. "This place is just so incredible.", she turned her attention back to the unicorn stallion. "I could see taking our future kid to a place like this." Once again, she was lost in a fantasy world of her own creation. This dream-world, quickly glossed over the whole horrors of pregnancy and birth, and went straight to the innocent and very perfect babe. Who was glowing for some reason. Would he look just like a tiny little Swift Squall

 

Just like the one currently in front of her. The heck?

 

Since she had been momentarily lost in her new little world, she did not even notice that Discord was about and had caused a bit of magical mischief. "Oh for Pony's sake!", she growled, "We already did this!" What is wrong with that purple girl? She needed a safe place to do all her crazy magic! Just far enough so it would not bounce around and hit an innocent bystander! Maybe this was something she needed to take up with Princess Celestia!

 

But it was not Princess Twilight this time, it was. "Discord!" It was that not so charming little whatzit who was nothing but a giant pain in the flank that did this, "Seriously! How many times will I have to punch you before you un-do all of this VERY UNORIGINAL silly magic?! Princess Twilight already turned a bunch of us into kids before! Except she did it (possibly) by accident! It's bad enough you have to be pain, you can't even be original at being a pain in the.", she mumbled a word that ryhmed with sass.

 

She was not a happy pony.

 

 

 

[PyroBlaze]

The griffon opened his beak as the others spoke, mostly ignoring him it seemed. Well, that was unusual, and the griffon just looked around for a moment before a couple stallions spoke to him. 

 

"Non, I don't think so either. Je m'appelle Diamond Dust." He bowed slightly to the unicorn stallion, smiling at him before a very exuberant guest burst through the door. Well, at least they were excited about it. 

 

And then the next guest emerged from the ceiling. Apparently it was Discord, but he didn't have much time to consider that fact before a loud snap filled the air and his world was washed away in smoke. 

 

-------

 

When did he get here, exactly? Where was he, even? Diamond the grifflet looked around in confusion, moving over to the window to try and figure out where he was. 

 

"Ce n'est pas ma maison..." He mumbled to himself, looking around outside. "Umm... dew yew know ware we awe?" He said quietly, looking at the foals. 

[SteelEagle]

 

Applejack was a little surprised by the sheer eclecticness of the group that came to view the daycare. She knew some better than others but all it did in the end was let her known just how important this was to so many, even if they disagreed with it and were here to find problems. It was important that no matter their opinion on the matter that they got involved. Then they could see the benefit of this facility or, at the very least, understand why it wasn't a waste. It certainly wasn't to her. One of the new ponies- Bluemoon, if she remembered right- was already in the spirit of things, running for the jungle gym. Naj was here. Applejack had come to accept and appreciate Naj, though her past experiences with Changelings would always hang over her like a stormy cloud. She didn't have to hate or push, she would come to accept and love those who deserved it, but it would never be easy.

 

Inkbrand was here. She didn't know why he was here, but he was, and he took to Zap Apple quickly. All ponies did, as Zap Apple was actually the greatest foal of all time bar none and everypony needed to love him. Zap Apple laughed and giggled at the stallion as he said goofy things, Zap responded with a face of his own. "Aww, look at you two gettin' along. That there's Inkbrand, Zappy. He's a fine stallion! Well, Ah mean, maybe not a perfect role model or nothin' buuut...a good'n!" she trailed off. only due to more ponies coming by. Squall was next. His corporation helped build it, so it made sense he was here. "This fella here is Zap Apple, tha best foal this side a'Flurry Heart," she said proudly. Maybe from a pure magical point of view she was wrong but she challenged anypony to spend five minutes with Flurry and five minutes with Zap and tell her she was wrong.

 

A lot of ponies. A lot of excited discussion, happy or not, and Applejack was pleased. Everything was going fine. They would either understand why this place was great or they would understand why ponies like her was so devoted to the idea. A good adult conversation was going to happen and- well, nope. Discord was here. She liked Discord just fine she reckoned, but he didn't seem all that excited about the pessimism on display from several of the notable guests of the day. Discord had a notabe love of foals and the foal-minded which explained...so much of his character and so much about the why and how of things that it shocked her ponies didn't know it before. What wasn't shocking, even if it was very vexing, was what happened next. She saw that smile on his face, could feel the chaotic chill of the air.

 

"Dis-"

It happened.

"-Cord!"

 

Again with the foals. It was always foals. Zap Apple looked at the assembled younger ponies with confusion. They were all just big ponies and now they were small ponies and it happened so fast. He started tearing up; Applejack's mother sense was tingling. She quickly pulled the little guy off of her back and gave him a reassuring pat on the back and a motherly cuddle, kissing him on the cheek, even as he started to cry. "There there, Sugarcube. It's all right. Just silly mister Discord doin' somethin'...Discorded," she said, hoping her reassurances would forestall a massive crying fit. It may have worked, but Fire sure was worked up and made quite the racket, and Zap Apple cried heavy and hard. Applejack sighed. She had been really looking forward to the daycare today, helping break it in. And that was still going to happen, just not the way she wanted. She put Zap back up in his secured back seat and made a healthy, happy trot, maing noises with each hop. He liked those. It calmed him down to sniffles.

 

"Fire-" she said gently but sternly, a hoof on the shoulder, "-we can spend our time yellin' at Discord, but if Ah know him any, that won't help. We gotta bunch of youngin's runnin' about an' nopony ta supervise 'em. Don't want one of 'em ta hurt themselves, right?" Applejack asked, playing on hr Guard instinct. And unknowingly, on her burgeoning desire for a foal and the motherhood that came with it. Pressy had Blueblood- that was good. Fire and Applejack and there were...two foals she could see. Well, she did owe Inkbrand...

"Aww, lions? Well, Ah reckon Lions are pretty cool. They've got mighty big claws! I dressed up as one last Nightmare Night. Rawwr!" Applejack said playfully as she trotted towards Foalbrand. When she was near she got Zap Apple off of her back. Zap was confused at this smaller Inkbrand. "When'd you first see a lion, little fella?"
 

[DerpRavener]

Nopony panicked. This came as something of a surprise. Granted, it was obvious a few of the ponies in the daycare were surprised and a little disturbed when they first saw Naj, but none took any overt action, and things generally even seemed to calm down once they recognized that it was Naj walking through the door rather than some random changeling. As always there was a ways to go, but it was a very promising sign. Naj smiled slightly. Her serene expression was momentarily disrupted by Swift Squall, having arrived just after her, saying she need not be so concerned before moving on to the other ponies in the room.

 

“Inkbrand,” Naj replied somewhat taken aback, when the tattooed stallion greeted and wrapped a leg around her, after recovering from his shock. It was almost impressive how quickly he shifted from shocked to vaguely flirtatious. She wouldn't have expected Inkbrand to react in such a physical way, even if it was just to keep up some sort of appearance. Maybe this was just how he was friendly? Thinking of surprises, Naj replied to his question. “I could ask you the same thing.” Anything she might have said next was interrupted by Inkbrand's sudden distraction with a few other ponies, which gave Naj a chance to awkwardly return Blueblood's greeting.

 

Inkbrand's attention returned to Naj after a moment, and after a brief explanation he finally finished his earlier line of inquiry. He wanted to know what she was doing there, which was understandable. But he also wanted to know where Red was. Naj's face fell. “It's...complicated,” she replied quietly, after a moment. “We're still friends, good friends. But we've grown apart a bit.”

 

Through a force of will, she perked up. “And nah, I was just curious. I could have sworn there was nothing here the last time I was in town, and then I happen to here an all of a sudden there's a whole building! I couldn't help but take a look. It's quite a place, isn't it? Nothing like what I remember when growing up.”

 

Squall returned moments later, and with Inkbrand still hanging a limb around her Naj was introduced to a red pegasus, who was apparently Squall's romantic partner Fire Walker. Naj was given what she could only describe as a glowing recommendation, although Fire Walker seemed to have confused her two names. Naj smiled apologetically. “It's just Naj actually. Or I guess 'Spring Breeze', if you want a more Equestrian name. Anyways it's nice to meet you, and I only hope I could live up to an introduction like that.”

 

Any more conversation was forestalled by the arrival of something Naj had only heard about in stories or reports. A misshapen creature seemingly materialized out of nowwhere, appearing to be several animals mashed together. Naj wasn't really paying attention to what Discord was saying. His sudden appearance, combined with the stories she'd heard of him, made her ready for combat. She likely wouldn't be able to do much, but she would go down fighting.

 

Of course, Naj didn't even notice the smoke, not until it was too late. When her attention shifted, even for that brief moment, she started to feel lightheaded...it was...getting hard to...think...

 

Naj stumbled, her sense of confusion growing. Where was she? What was she doing here? How far away from home was she? Why was there all this smoke?

 

As the smoke cleared, Naj's surroundings became clear, but the answers to the questions did not. This didn't look like anywhere in the hive. It was too angular, and colourful. She looked around, blinking in confusion. She did like to wander, but never in her sleep! She would have remembered if she came all this way by herself...right? It was a concerning thought.

 

Naj's concern was soon overridden by interest, when she realized: this was a pony building! She'd never seen a pony building before, except for some drawings shown as examples, and now she was inside one! She wouldn't have thought they'd be so angular, given that ponies seemed to be more round. The colours were very impressive though! Naj had never seen so much variety in one place!

 

As Naj worked her way down, having started looking at the ceiling, she was overcome with a terrible realization: if this was a pony building, it was probably full of ponies. That would be all well and good for a pony, but Naj wasn't one. She was a changeling, a pony's natural adversary. And she wasn't even in disguise!

 

Naj finally looked around herself, now on alert, and to her dread she found there were ponies everywhere, wandering about whatever this place was! Most of them were small, wandering around exploring whatever it was they were all in. That might be an advantage right now, the little ponies probably wouldn't give chase, but it might make the bigger ones chase her all the more for having snuck up on their young!

 

Naj had to get away. Fortunately, she had an opportunity right at the moment. Of the three adults she could see, two were distracted by some of the little ones, and the last was yelling at 'Discord', whatever that was. She had a chance! Naj stood up, her legs wobbly at first, but she forced herself forward and soon was galloping across the floor. There was a door ahead of her! She recognized those from her studies, and she made a beeline right toward it-

 

Thud

 

Unfortunately, her studies had failed to explain that doors opened by manipulation of their nobs, rather than the usual changeling method. Naj rubbed her head with a hoof for a moment, before standing back up. Had she time and presence of mind to assess she likely could have figured it out, but she didn't believe she had the former, and she certainly didn't have the latter. She had no idea why ponies would go with such inefficient doors, but for the moment it seemed surprisingly dangerous: they had her cornered!

 

Naj looked around frantically, head darting this way and that, as she desperately looked for a way out. She started breathing heavily. Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to leak out. She didn't know how she was here, and she just wanted to go home...

[RexDraco]

The spirit train had no breaks. When he had an idea he pulled through unless the draconequus was pulled to a full stop. And given the allegations of the fine facility it was like insulting the work of an artist. Constructive criticism was always the way to go. Regarding, too, the snap of his claws was much faster than the word 'no’: Applejack would find herself out of luck in the situation. Callous as it might seem to unexpectedly turn a pawful of ponies, and one Changeling, into foals it was an action steepled on the idea that the spell would serve a greater purpose in the end. He lowered down to the ground and settled on his haunches. He turned his head to the local Apple matron and pulled his lips back as his name finished on her lips.

 

But twasn’t but soon after that young Firewalker had blown her top and nary all but chewed him out! She was always a difficult one when it came to such things. After all her participation in the meddling Squall's sleepover, which was by far a most ironic title for the spirit who had first nosed in on the fun most unexpectedly, when she seemed remiss to fall into the shenanigans! Disorder folded his ears back and frowned. The warrior's stiff upper lip didn't seem to grasp the fine art of what was a prank. The spirit gave a snort having appeared, with his usual suddenness,behind Applejack and the threat of punches on his little frame would not be take half-heartedly when concerning the pegasus. Too stalwart that one.

 

“You needn't act so offended Fire.” He put his paw to his chest and  huffed. “Honestly Twilight would, I'm sure, have clumsily bumbled through this spell. But our spells are very different.” He pulled his stuffed unicorn from his feathers. It almost looked as if the ragdoll would wiggle to life in his paw, but there it laid. “Mine had a very unique side effect!” He passed the doll to Zap Apple in hopes the foal wouldn't wail and become disconcerted amongst his new playmates. “Because with this spell they have no knowledge they are foals. Well they know they are foals, but to them it is just another day in the life of a foal.” But he would fail to mention once the spell was over they would remember everything of their treatment. A little bonus for him.

 

He cleared his throat and glanced away, laughing dryly. Sure Discord had very powerful magic, sometimes it stood to question just how powerful and why he couldn't use it for more progressive things like… building a dam. No it seemed he always fell back to these bizarre sets of punishments and resolutions. The spirit moved to walk out from behind Applejack, but would seem to enter some invisible door as he vanished behind her. After a moment a drawing on the wall which appeared to be a foalish doodle of him, began to move. He waved and would pull from the bit of art, now hovering near and by Naj, the little Changeling looked about to wet her diapers! He slowly moved down to attempt and grab her.

 

“Oh don’t you worry wee one, remember you were dropped off to have a bit of fun with these youngsters,a uhh new program that will help Changelings and Ponies get along.” He would soothe little Naj and give her a box of crayons and a bit of paper. “You’ll all learn not only to get along -- but what it means to be able to be a foal.” He wasn’t so unaware that Changelings in a hive -- so many of them it was a competition and never being able to meet others? Not much for chaos or change!

[Zeig]

 

Huh? Whassat white colt talking 'bout?

 

"Whaddya mean?" Inkbrand questioned with foalish confusion, his bounces stalling somewhat as he took in the other colt. He looked like a little momma's boy, he was wearing a nerdy little bowtie and everything! "I'm here 'cause this is where foals go when their moms and dads are busy, duh!" Least, he was pretty sure that's what had happened this morning. He couldn't really remember being dropped off...but, well, whatever, wasn't important. He'd only have the rest of the day to play around this awesome daycare, he was going to make the most of it!

 

Not like this white colt with his fancy little bowtie, and Inkbrand made a face as a cream colored adult spoke to him like a servant or maid. He was one of the hoity-toity colts that had ponies carry him around all day, or spoon feed him like a little baby, wasn't he? He was way in the wrong daycare, then - weren't they suppose to have nannies and butlers and stuff to take care of them? Those types of foals weren't suppose to be in public daycares! 

 

Same with the little griffon foal bird guy, and Inkbrand's face scrunched up even further at the funny words coming from his beak. He talked like he was missing a tooth...and he would know! "Whatcha sayin'?" the grey foal griped, knocking his stuffed lion against the chair in an agitated fashion, "you gotta speak better!" Hoity-toity foal, a griffon that couldn't talk so well, and grown-ups...this daycare wasn't going to be any fun if he had no one to play Diamond Dog and Treasures with!

 

...But at least one of the grown-ups seemed okay, causing the grey foal to perk up as a very orange one approached. She even mimicked the sound of a lion, and Inkbrand did it right back at her. "Rawr!" he growled, hooves swiping through the air like claws. See! Even adults knew that lions were the best! "At the Manehatten zoo!" Inkbrand proclaimed loudly, scrambling down his chair as the memory of that awesome day drove him to action. "They were all on these big rocks like pillars, and they would jump down and run around all over the place, like this! Rawr!" Inkbrand quoted, making sloppy hopping motions that were suppose to be imitating the pounce of a lion, but really only propelling him around the room in a vague circle. "RAWR - oof!" 

 

The mighty lion, down! 'Cause he'd tripped on something hard and stupid. Mom always said he was thick-skulled though, and the grey colt merely bounced off the floor, immediately hopping upwards to see what he'd fallen over. Turned out to be a -

 

A...

 

Foal?...

 

"...Hey!" the young colt exclaimed, staring shamelessly at the black...foal?...that was sitting in front of some paper and crayons. He didn't look like any colt he'd ever seen before, though. He looked...weird. "What's the matter with your skin," he demanded, "and wings? And eyes? Are 'ya sick or something?" Did he have some hard-skin-glowy-eyes-bug-wings pony disease or something? He hoped not! 

 

Though if he did have some sickness, he could take the weird looking foal out to the merry-go-round and swing him 'round real fast 'til he barfed. Didn't even need to be sick for that to happen!

 

[Blueblood]

The clarion call of a familiar accent attracted Blueblood’s little eyes and ears to Presteza.  For some reason, the voice sounded… familiar?  As if he’d heard it before, in a different tone.  Of course, the Canterlot accent was so homogenized it could easily be a mistaken identity.  At any rate, he’d certainly not seen this adult before.

 

“Ith that tho?”  The little colt raise a rather supercilious eyebrow at his purported caretaker, understandable enough given that he didn’t remember any of what she said actually occurring, but the expression was one only a grown-up could find cute.  Any foal with a bit of sense in their head would have immediately targeted him for pranks, cuffs, and general mockery.

 

Interestingly enough, Inkbrand didn’t seem to be the sort of colt that would start immediately on with that sort of thing, despite the image his grown-up self liked to project.  The little Prince looked non-plussed at the answer, apparently this was the first time he was ever in a day-care that wasn’t crafted personally for him.  He was reserved, cautious, not quite sure what he should say or-

 

"Seriously! How many times will I have to punch you before you un-do all of this VERY UNORIGINAL silly magic?! Princess Twilight already turned a bunch of us into kids before! Except she did it (possibly) by accident! It's bad enough you have to be pain, you can't even be original at being a pain in the.", she mumbled a word that ryhmed with sass.

 

“Ooohhh…”  Blueblood stared at Fire Walker, his eyes starting to cross.  “I think she jutht thaid a bad word!”  He confided sotto voce to Pressy.  His sky-blue eyes were wide, as he was starting to realize just what sort of place this might be.  Maybe… they would let him play pirate here?

 

Wait, hold that thought, he heard a voice talking Fancy!  Having only just passed the first few months of his lessons, he was actually quite eager to take his skills for a test run.  “Oh, oh!  Don’t mind him, J’ parlour Prancais!”  The unicorn skittered and bounced over to the griflet, skidding to a halt just as the noodly god of chaos was picking up Naj.

It was a little surprising just how long it had taken Blueblood the colt to detect the presence of such a strange being, though once he did it was understandable that he momentarily forgot to notice anything else, including the little changeling in Discord claws.  “Whoa… tho, wait, are the thame… thing that hath a thtatue in the Palathe Garden?”

[Ciraxis]

Squall's attention shifted to Blueblood. He was in quite foul mood, was he? Regardless of the reason for such sour response, noblepony refused to get provoked.

"Life isn't only about necessities Blue, you know that." Swift said,much softer. Perhaps, unconsciously he realized that his previous comment stung a wrong note. "If it was, we still wold live in mud huts." Swift paused for a second, before continuing. "I guess it's about making an impact. A glimpse of quality of life the children could strive for in the future, even if subconsciously. That and...most of us work hard in hopes that our children wouldn't have to themselves, don't we?" he mused before turning his attention to Inkbrand.

 

It seemed that Earth Pony stallion was....well pretty much the same as he was back in their first meeting.

"Is that so? Good, good. I look forward to seeing your businesses expanding. Maybe taking a student for your craft or two." noblepony mused, giving Inky something to mull over.

 

"Well that's good thing to hear." Swift said after hearing Prestzy reply. "But plenty doesn't mean inexcusable, you should...." unicorn stopped himself. Presteza was a grown up mare, she didn't need to be told how to pace herself. "Just...just promise me you will take of yourself okay? Besides, I have a feeling we will see each other back there. It's been years since I was in Neighpon, and so far I didn't had a chance to visit Long Guo. I planning on remedying both soon. So I guess I will drop to say 'Hi'." he assured the his artist friend.

 

"Oh thank gosh! I was....Dear?" Swift expression of relief quickly turned into confusion as his Love spaced out. "Uhhhh...Moto?" ha asked. It was only when she expressed her amazement that he understood. "Oh you were thinking....?" he said ".....You know I....I guess you right. I wouldn't want our daughter to go the same education path as me, home tutored and all."

 

The griffon that Squall spoke to earlier luckily didn't seemed to be annoyed with noblepony blundered 'greeting'. Good, at least one less thing to be worried about.

"Well then Mister Dust, I look forward to your rétrocontrôle about this place. It would be a measuring stick when it comes to opening other such outpost's across Equestria you see."

 

However when one issue was dealt with, the other popped up in it's place. Swift's keep ears caught Naj's soulful reply to Inkbrand's question.

"Spring....." Swift said quietly. Due to how he was so busy lately, he only got vague news about well being of his Stalliongrad friend. His wishful thinking made him brush this just as temporary rift but apparently...it wasn't.

Squall took a deep breath. He really needed to devote more time to his friends. If not for them and Fire he would be now a bitter recluse inside his manor, wallowing in self-loathing and guilt.

 

Of course any further pondering was grind to halt because the DISCORD just had to show up!

"And now this a-!.....Hello Gramps...." unicorn cut himself short before 'greeting' the spirit in a very un-enthusiastic way. Squall may have limited himself to snide remarks towards draconequus but Discord just had to boast about his involvement in the daycare construction.

 

"What. Did.You. Do?!" nobelpony demanded in a threatening growl. Of course Discord wasn't finished yet and just had to lecture them about..maturity? Immaturity? It was hard to say with this chaotic creature.

"Oh you one to talk! You are eons old, think about yourself as a young hot-shot and act like you not even ten!" swordpony snapped.

All his protests where futile however. Discord acted just as expected of him and proceeded to do his thin regardless of anypony protests.

"Oh for the love of...." Swift managed to mutter in half-annoyed, half-resigned tone as the magical fog enveloped him.....

 

 

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

"....No Dad! I don't want to!....Huh?!" Squall said in confusion. He was vehemently protesting against his father vision about Squally future when out of sudden, Dad was gone!

"Dad...Dad where are you?" colt asked.

Lil Squall was...well Squall. The long, almost floor dragging mane was still there, although the bangs covered one of his eyes giving him a very shy look. Familiar duster was switched with jeans jacket and the previously a very sharp, very real sword was turned into wooden imitation. Curiously, his Cutie Mark was still present. Seems that Squall earned it in quite young age.

Rich colt blinked a few times. What was this place? This surely didn't looked like his mansion at all, and it certainly wasn't dad's newspaper office. And what with those unfamiliar faces?!

 

Cue the freak out.

"Gah! Where am I? Who are you?! Where's my family ?!" Swift asked in frantically. His voice had very noticeable Manehattan accent. Seems like Adult Squall lost it, either during his numerous travels or in his stay in the army.

"What do you mean 'go'? What do you mean busy? Mom's never busy!" Squally cried in protest in answer to gray colt words. Just then a one familiar face entered his vision.

"Blue? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you.....?" colt asked before it dawned to him. Swift was always surrounded with newspaper due to his father profession. And right now his situation oddly fit with one of the articles that he read.

"I knew it! Foalnappers! You got me and Blue for raisin! I mean random! I-I mean ransom! Well you won't get any of it! HELP!"

[Dunder]

Ponyville. Not long ago it was but another tiny hamlet like so many others that dotted Equestria. If the opportunity arose, he would put bits down on the once sleepy town becoming the next sprawling center of culture and diplomacy, surely to rival Canterlot. With the appearance of a new castle, which some ponies claimed sprouted right out of the ground, staffed by Equestria's newest princess and her 5 fellow saviors of Equestria the hamlet became sort of a symbolic core of Equestria. Even the Changelings knew this, and their latest attack on Equestria had Ponyville as their target after their attack on Canterlot failed so miserably. Not only just that, but the fate of Equestria as a whole teetered on the brink here more times than Dunder cared to remember past the third. Especially since the stallion himself found his life making twists and turns, breaks and mends here he tried to avoid letting the mind wander to this place.

As if regaining conciousness, the brown pegasus found himself outside, in the streets of this curious town. And before he could remember exactly why he was there, his ears locked onto something too familiar. The yelling of a mare! Not just any mare, either.

Fire.

His brain need not more promoting to put wings into action. Anyway, the origin of Fire's cries seemed to be in the building ahead! How convenient!

"FIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRREEEE!"

 

Like a warcry, a stallion's voice could be heard from outside the daycare getting closer as his wings propelled him through the air. Despite the stallion learning his lesson about property damage while entering buildings, he collided with the door with sufficient force to bust the locking mechanism right through the wood.

However, the stallion's chance of helping any dwindled in an instant. As he flew right through a residual cloud of Discord's magic, his body and mind regressing on its flight path rapid enough so that his body once massive enough to break down a door, slid across the floor easily missed until stopping right in front of the the red pegasus.

Dazed and queasy for multiple reasons, the tiny pony sat there, eyes hazy and drifting up to look at the face of the pony in front of him. "Ma...má?" He called Fire. The circumstances of using this term drastically different than the others, not that the foal would remember or even comprehend such terrible things!

The mare in front of him was another stranger, the next pony another stranger. Even the fellow tiny ponies were all strangers. "Mamá?! Donde estás?! Tengo miedo!" The foal pitifully called out, turning to his side to see the door busted wide opened, wood split open, "Whoah. I feel sorry for whatever idiot did that."

[Pretzelparty]

Presteza would tap fire's shoulder and glare for a few seconds, "Fer now can ya watch the language in front o' the little ones? We don't know what the full effects are yet. Fer all we know he just yanked all o' them out of the past or somethin' and any word we say will wind up affectin' them in the present or somethin'!" Her tone was quick, yet hushed: clearly trying not to provoke a panic among the assembled youngsters. "B'sides! If they start runnin' from us who knows wot could happen to 'em!"

 

The freckled heiress would look back to Blueblood again and put on a smile, "Um, yes. You'll have to forgive my friend, Her mouth gets away from her sometimes is all!" Fire would feel a gently nudge at her side, "Right, Fire?"

 

All of these young faces filling the room were becoming a pain in the plot to keep track of. Cute as they may be, the few remaining adults only had two eyes each and around this time Presteza could only wish she had a pair like chameleons. One of the newest faces to join the youthful hoard was.... definitely not someone that this artist had met before. There was a grifflet-- that was the word right? Was there even a single term for a young griffin? Presteza had come across pictures of newly born griffins but they all lacked feathers and looked like they were made of pink wrinkles. This one was old enough to have his plumage and he had a positively adorable speech impediment, almost on par with Blueblood's lisp.

 

It had been so long since she'd last brushed up on her prench so it took Presteza a moment before she could figure out what he'd said. Blueblood had managed to beat her to the punch though and made attempts to straighten things out with the confused little griffin. While Blueblood worked his diplomatic magic... diplomagic? -- on Diamond, Presteza would gesture Appleack to come over. 

 

"Maybe we should split up the foalified into groups each o us can watch? I think I can handle... Inkbrand, Blueblood, and one more I think."

 

After Applejack responded, Presteza would try and get Inkbrand's attention. She had to pause to chortle at the sight of the energetic young colt roaring and pouncing in his best lion impression. Honestly it was hard not to watch the little display, even if it ended with him making a few remarks to a changeling... in the past she probably would have admonished him or gotten all snooty about it. Now, with the benefit of perspective she realized his response was more or less naturally for a foal his age. Thoughts drifted back to getting his attention, "Oi! You with the blue mane!" She waved to the colt, "I hear the best lion's roar can be heard fer miles! Can ya show me yer loudest roar?"

 

Blueblood's question made the painter freeze for a moment. She wasn't sure how much Blueblood knew about discord so she had to come up with something very quick, "Um... Yes and no! This is actually Discord's long lost, good, but equally as chaotic brother from the future." ... That was a terrible explanation and the moment she finished speaking she wanted to kick herself for even opening her mouth. With Squall apparently freaking out at his situation as his younger self, Presteza would have to hope she could give him a hug and a thank youf or that concern he'd showed earlier, now though her hooves were rapidly approaching their maximum capacity. A look was given Fire's way, the painter's eyes practically pleading for her old friend to help out with her now suddenly youthful coltfriend... and the pegasus who just busted through the door too.

 

 

 

 

[tacobob]

 

The normally calm and collective pony was still not very happy. “We could yell at Discord, and also punch him at the same time. These things can be done at the same time. They’re not mutually exclusive.", as she planned brutal violence against the pesky draconequus, her eyes fell upon  Zap Apple, "Oh, he's such a handsome little thing. Perfect in everyway.", Foals normally had a calming effect on the mare and in a few moments she was back to her 'pre-Discord-mucking-everything-up-phase.' "I am sorry Lady Applejack..Pressy.....", she smiled at her old friend. She too had been turned into a filly by miscast magic in the past. So did the farmer.  However, ponies like Inkbrand and Swift appeared to have been transformed into even younger children than she had been that fateful day. She could not help but notice how adorable Inkbrand was before he started to pierce and tattoo every other part of his body.

 

One thing that the now very young prince said struck her curiosity. He mentioned the statue of Discord. Instead of simply being magic'ed to an younger age, his memories beyond his new age had also been removed. For all intents and purposes, Prince Blueblood could have simply been yanked out of the past and dumped off here. How odd. Then her husband to be spoke up rather loudly. AJ and Presteza were correct. They needed to help the temporary-foals. She would need to calm her stallion down.

 

"Master Squall.", she glanced down at the colt with an look of utter seriousness on her face. "I am First Lieutenant Fire Walker of the Canterlot Guard. Sir News and Lady Grace had requested that I look after you for a moment as they attend to very important adult business." her tone was friendly but direct. Something she had picked up from the unicorn's butler. "We took a train to Ponyville, but you had dozed off during the trip. This is a place for only very important ponies, as you can see young Prince Blueblood is here as well. Your father believed you should interact with upstanding young folk as he."

 

That was easy. The foals could play together and the adults could figure out a way to restore them back to their proper ages. She tried to remember some of the better ways one could disrupt a spell. This was all from her lessons back at the R.E.A officer school. She always enjoyed her 'Defense Against The Magical Arts' lessons. There was a disruption band one could place on an unicorn's horn. And also the simple act of slapping the horn could work as well. But what sort of spell was this? If she caused a sudden stop, would the spell end? Or would the children be stuck in these ages and need to grow up naturally again? While she hated to bother Princess Twilight, beyond Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, there probably was no powerful of a spell-caster in all of Equestria than she. The sight of the very pitiful looking Naj did sink her heart. She wanted to rush over and give the little gal the biggest hug. However, that would have to wait. Thankfully Inkbrand took to distracting her. Hopefully that would help..for now.

 

"Would anypony be able to collect Princess Twilight? It's very obvious that she knows this spell, and could probably disrupt it with ease.", she turned her eyes back to Discord as she spoke the last word, "Or could you put an end to your magic? Some of us need to return to our mundane tasks of checking out an youth center. I was sent her to make sure this place was just right for my brother and sister in law's kid. As for Changeling's and ponies. That is something that will take time. And....ermm." Somepony was calling her name, or maybe there was an actual fire outside. The voice sounded very familiar.

Before she could even blink, she now found herself starring at the now foal-form of her ex. "Por el amor de Celestia..."

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

OOC: Fire Walker took a couple of classes of Spanish before taking up Prench. She also caught a few expressions from Dunder during their little adventures together..