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

[PyroBlaze]

Diamond sighed when he heard the earth colt's response about his attempt to speak. It wasn't his fault he learned Prench first and didn't start learning Equestrian until he got into school... Besides, Equestrian was hard, and he didn't expect to really need to use it...

 

The grifflet pouted a bit, sitting down so he could cross his talons across his chest. Thankfully though, the colt got distracted by an older earth pony, and he got his own distraction in the form of another colt speaking Prench, this one a unicorn. 

 

"Tu parles Prancais?" He asked, not sure he believed it at first. "Savez-vous où nous sommes?" After a few seconds of silence, Diamond remembered his manners and tried to smile a bit apologetically. "Je suis désolé. Je m'appelle Diamond Dust. Comment vous appelez-vous?"

 

Really, he was trying to ignore the others, a little too confused and shy to try and talk to them right now. Maybe that colt speaking... Spanish? He was pretty sure that was Spanish, anyways. Eh, he'd probably just stick with this fancy unicorn for now...

[SteelEagle]

 

Inkbrand responded well, being the playful little sort he as. That was good! At least he wasn't freaking out. She could handle just about any foal that wasn't gonna be freaking out her foal. Zap Apple was an excitable sort but strange magic was strange no matter how you fancied it up behind whys and hows, and any sorta pegasus or earth pony was gonna be put off by it. Especially a foal. So it was good Inkbrand played his new, arguably better, role well. “Well Mister Lion, that sounded like one fun trip! Ah ain't been to tha zoo since Ah was a filly. Do they still have them big animals with tha long, long necks? Oh, what's their name...?” She said, tapping her chin playfully and allowing Inkbrand to come up and finish that thought for her. It was going to be a nice, fun time with foals before the spell broke and they were allowed to go on with their day.

Not that everything would go as smoothly as she'd like. From behind came yells of foalnapping and a desire for help. Squall, ever a slight problem as an adult, was a real hoooffull it seemed as a little fella. That's what upper crust foals could be like if they weren't given a proper lesson in being humble by their parents. Of course she tried to not be too hard on him. The imaginations of a colt could run wild over any sense of calm or logic and throw oneself headlong into the chaos of a new world and new danger. They'd have to calm him down before they could do anything more. Luckily Fire had regained her much needed composure and went to task. Good. Let the, uhhh, husband and wife team work on that together. Hehehe, now that was at least a little funny.

A Spanish speaking foal- voice timber seemed to match the voice of a pony who had just yelled Fire's name, a stallion's, indicating he too was a victim of the spell- came in, sounding awfully worried. Fire seemed to know who he was and that was great because she wasn't much help in this instance. She had known two ponies as foals who spoke the language so she had learned enough then to try and converse, but she remembered so critically little that all she could do was try. “Howdy soy Applejack cómo san te calientan? El corazón queremos que la comida feliz?“ She asked with a wide smile. She had spoken well, yeah? She didn't know. That probably didn't sound right. She turned to Fire with a smile. “Well, Ah'm outta practice, hahaha!” She said with a nervous laugh punctuating the end.

It was 'round this time that Pressy came to her with an idea. Well, she thought she had Inkbrand all nice and covered but if she wanted to take over, she could. The groupings needed to change, though. Fire had just lumped Squall in with Blue, and she was probably best served watching them along with the new colt. Pressy could speak fancy, so that meant she should have the Grifflet and Inkbrand, whom she had already called out. Applejack would take Naj and Discord. “Well Sugarcube,” she said to Pressy, though she pulled Fire in, “here's how Ah see it. Fire, you should take Squall, the new Spanish-speaking colt, and Blueblood since yer a guard an' all. Pressy, y'all can speak fancy so you can take that sweet little Grifflet over thar and Inkbrand. Ah'll take Naj, Discord, and mah own. Sound like a plan?” She said, excited to give it a good go. With that, she went to work.

Naj was in full Changeling mode and about to cry. She must have been mighty confused. She was probably taught to think of ponies and changelings as predator and prey alike and one and the same. Poor thing. Applejack was ready to admit that she had more than one awful run-in with them and she wasn't going to admit it to anypony, but sometimes the nightmares came and tore her up from the inside. She tried her best to look past that and to a brighter future thanks to the way the changelings were turning out, but it would be impossible for anypony to simply get over it. Still, she looked at Naj as she would any little filly in need of help- tears were her most potent weakness. Luckily she had some friendship forming with Discord, if that now pint sized troublemaker would be so kind. His efforts were constantly commendable, the results sometimes exciting. The methods, always and without fail, were frustrating.

No matter, nor did she have the time to consider further. Zap Apple happily chewing on the doll he had been given, she trotted over to the pair. “Aww, makin' some fast friends there, Dissy?” She smiled and leaned down. “Howdy there, Naj. Ah'm Applejack and this here's mah foal, Zap Apple. Say hi, Zap Apple,” She said slowly, the words warm, soft, and inviting. Zap waved somewhat, still chewing on the doll. “Are you two wantin' ta play a game or get somethin' ta eat? This here daycare's got loads of tasty treats sure to satisfy yer appetite,” she said confidently despite there being a changeling in their midst. “Whatcha wanna do?”

[Blueblood]

One thing you could say about Blueblood, at least when he was a colt, was that when he was ill-mannered, it was because he forgot to be polite, rather than being deliberately rude, as certain later incarnations of him famously were.  As such, when talking to the little grifflet in his own tongue, the unicorn kept to the proper protocol.  "Je m'appelle Blueblood. Je thuith heureux de vousthrencontrer."  That was easy enough, though it was kind of a canned greeting.  And the fact that Blueblood was lisping probably didn't help comprehension all that much.  On top of that, Diamond's first question about where they were actually required that the Prince think; not an easy task.  "Cet endroit est ... étrange."

 

Etrange... to say the bucking least, as a certain red-coated mare might put it.  Or at least, might put it before she had been rebuked by what seemed to be Blueblood's appointed guardian.  There seemed to be some dispute over who was going to be watching whom, actually.  But, like most foals, the various fusses and disputes that happened over his age group meant less to him than the happenings of his peers.  And, for once, a familiar face showed upon the scene.  "Thwift!  Huh, did Auntie thay you had to mix with the commonerth too?"  He trotted over to his... well, they weren't exactly friends, but closer than strangers, and that was enough for Blueblood to orient himself.  "Thweet thord..."  He spoke admiringly of the green colt's wooden toy.  "I wathn't allowed to bring mine.  Do they let you play pirates at home?"  He confided in a whisper.

 

The last major event, as far as his peerage was concerned, was the sudden blasting in of the latest foal.  The Prince had jumped skittishly at the first sound of the crash, quick enough to catch the tail end of the transformation.  It... made his eyes hurt to look at, causing him to blink and rub his head.  It hurt his head to think about, as if it were meant to be beyond his comprehension, and the pain made him grunt out, "Hey!  Not fair, I don't know how to thpeak that!"

[DerpRavener]

Naj tried to get away when the...snake-dragon-goat-thing grabbed her, but couldn't quite make it. She squirmed in his grasp, at least until he placed her down again. The creature said something about a 'change program' between ponies and changelings and how they would 'learn what it was like to be a foal'. She might have believed it, if she could actually remember how she got here. It also would have helped if the creature who told her this didn't look like a drawing as he was talking to her, though that was a different issue.

 

This was too much. It was bad enough not knowing how she ended up in this strange place, surrounding by ponies who'd want to do who-knows-what to her. But now she was being taunted by some kind of...of monster! Naj's composure finally broke. She lay down on the ground, wrapped her forehooves around her face, let out muffled sobs.

 

Or at least, she did until something crashed into her, knocking her over. Snapped back to her current situation, Naj rolled back onto her hooves and whirled around, to find one of the small ponies staring right at her! “Eeep!” She recoiled, and took a few nervous steps backwards. She tried to hastily rub the tears out of her eyes, not wanting to show the pony obvious weakness. She was only partially successful.

 

The little pony did not react to finding Naj how she'd expect. Rather than trying to attack, or running away, or calling for help from the nearby large ponies, he asked things about her. He thought she was diseased! What? How could he not know? Naj wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. “I'm not sick!” Naj snapped back, before remembering where she was. Her voice trailed off as she got to the actual explanation. “I'm...I'm a changeling...”

 

And then one of the big ponies finally took notice, and an orange earth pony was headed right their way! Naj's first instinct was to hide. Unfortunately, there wasn't much cover right where she was, and she was forced to make do with what was right at hoof, which happened to be the colt she was talking to who seemed friendly enough. She crouched behind Inkbrand, shivering slightly, only poking her head round him once she found that the newcomer didn't seem angry.

 

On sticking her head out, Naj was momentarily distracted by seeing that the bigger pony was not alone, but was also carrying a little, teeny-tiny pony as well. Naj had never seen one of those! Sure, there were plenty of younger ponies in the room, but they were more like little changelings, like Naj was. Ones that only needed some growth now to reach their full size. This really-little pony though, Naj quickly realized was something else. “It's a pony grub!” She spoke excitedly and leaned outward from her improvised hiding space, to get a better look. She never thought she'd get to see one! “It doesn't look very grub-like...” she frowned in thought. “They aren't called grubs, are they?”

 

Naj ducked back with another “eep!” when the earth pony, known as Applejack if she'd given her real name, addressed the two little ones and revealed that she knew Naj's name. How did she know that? She also introduced the not-grub as Zap Apple, before asking if Naj or the colt to play or get some food. Naj wasn't really feeling hungry, but she couldn't understand why given how far she must have travelled. She didn't feel up to playing a game just yet. She mumbled a reply at Applejack. “...S-some food would be nice...”

 

Naj would have left it there, but another thought struck her, and one she just couldn't leave alone. Maybe there was a reason a pony would know her name, although she still didn't like that she couldn't remember anything about it. “Uhm...miss Applejack? I-is what the monster said true? Is there some kind of, of 'change program' for ponies and changelings to meet?”

[Zeig]

 

This daycare was crazy.

 

Which was why the big grey Pegasus colt wasn't getting a spanking right now, as far as Inkbrand could tell. If he'd busted down a door like that, he would've gotten his ears pinched and his flank tanned by Mom, because she had ears like a bat and knew everything that ever happened anywhere.

 

Everything.

 

But this daycare was crazy, so no spanking going on at the moment. Which meant he could do whatever he wanted and not get in trouble! Maybe. It also meant that all the big ponies were probably crazy too. Some of which were still talking about lions and giraffes and all, which were cool, but that was old stuff now, like them. Because there was way weirder stuff holding his attention right now, and he needed to know if this weird skin-eye-wing disease was conta...contig...

 

He didn't want to catch weird skin-eye-wing disease!

 

"Huh?" the small grey Earth Pony questioned intelligently, head flopping over to one side as his eyebrows furrowed down in confusion, "wassa changeling?" Still sounded like a weird skin-eye-wing disease...but, the strange foal said it wasn't. He - or she? Kinda sounded like a girl - was a really weird one, and Inkbrand fell backwards to sit on his rump as she suddenly leaped behind him, looking like she was hiding. From the orange adult, of all things. "What're 'ya scared for?" the colt asked incredulously, not even prideful over the fact that some baby foals were scared of something and he wasn't. Because it'd be one thing for a foal to be scared of, bugs, or going down really long slides, then he could gloat about not being scared of those things.

 

But this was just a big orange adult mare. What was so scary 'bout that?

 

Nothing, that was what, and Inkbrand was quickly becoming bored of simply sitting around. "We don't want food, we want to go play!" the colt protested vehemently over the weird black foal's quiet stutters, and without a second thought to her own wishes began pulling her over towards the back door. "We wanna go outside and play on the playground!" Inkbrand exclaimed, face coming perilously close to mashing against the windows again, because that playground looked wicked cool! 

 

...Not like all these weird foals speaking all these weird words, and Inkbrand wrinkled his snout a little as they continued talking around him. "See, they all said they wanna go out on the playground too!" the grey colt graciously translated for the benefit of the nearby adults. 

 

[RexDraco]

Fire seemed awful scatterbrained for a pony who was so keen on being a mum! The pint-sized perpetrator grinned. His little ears pricked forward as he folded his colored paper into a koi fish, only for it to suddenly swim about in the air. Stars forbid the spirit forfeit such a chance. He put his paw and claw on the ground so the pudgy pawpers sat between his haunches.

 

“Oh come now what better way to see if the facility works than testing it?” He held up his paw and chuckled. “Sorry to say it's out of my paws for now. The spell is set to run it's course and if players don't abide by their roles and rules, if there even were hard set rules, there's to be consequences.” He smiled, not shying away from the fact that it was a game and more so disregarding the possibility of actual rules.

 

Squall’s entrance turned his expression flat. The pony always knew how to complain about somepony outdoing his entrance. In a way he was fond of the blowhard, but at the same time there was a sense of rivalry to be the flashiest. Now the spell was quite random. The adult to foal ratio was wholly undetermined and balances to mimic the caretakers. An adult to three foals, as it was. No more, no less. The scene would adjust for any empirical changes. So that meant Squall's entry has perverted the ratio and he was, indisputably destined to revert to foalhood. The raising panic in his privileged wails was soothing to the troublemaker.

 

 

It was possible that majority would likely remember the events when the game was over, why how else would they determine if the daycare was a suitable environment?

 

Blueblood’s Innocence was endearing, but goodness the spirit preferred his adult stage where he was a touch less arrogant and better versed in the situational prospects of life as it came and went. Inkbrand wasn't a pony he was familiar with but his spirit for play was inspiring. Whoops! It seems another pony would pervert the ratio so foolishly! With Applejack, Firewalker, and Pressy present there was two to three foals to each of them already! Squall and Dunder to Fire. Blueblood's and Diamond to Pressy while Applejack entertained Naj, Inkbrand, and Discord himself! One only needed to sort Bluemoon whom seemed intent on enjoying the playground which was yet open to use. If Twilight arrived it would only alter the phase shift and leave them in more of a mess.

 

The fiery pegasus could very well try...

 

Zap was well enough to remain with his mother during such a situation. Stars knew he needn't anymore of this nonsense before nap time. Of course the spirit grinned at Applejack’s responsible, motherly side. She always seemed good with the wee ones and it wasn't a surprise she was all gung-ho for the facility with a new shiny Apple in the family. The spirit rolled his eyes at the wails of horror from Squall.

 

“Oh please who would want you?” Discord guffed. “You don't have any bits.” Which made sense, quite logical to a foal. Why random a foal who hadn't bits? “Is it lunch time?” he couldn't understand a bit of the goobilty speak.

 

It was all pony to him. It wasn't as if he has a universal translator. Well he was a god and could easily provide himself with the knowledge if only to listen in on their woes. But, perchance, another time. The wails were enough for now without understanding them! He hadn't expected Naj to lose heart at his interaction. Who would have thunk Changelings were so sensitive in their larval stages? He much preferred the pupas. Or pupettes. However one said it. He used his chubby paw and claw to fold a new shape amidst his paper collection, this time a little cicada that, when set loose, ran a rather irritating sound through the daycare.

 

The suggestion for food seemed a bit early and the rowdier of the foals seemed to agree. He was sure Bluemoon and the others would enjoy it, despite their confused state of messy, foalish greetings and politically incorrect pointing out of racial differences. After all what was an exchange program if a foal didn't face accusation of his or her fur pattern or species? Foals could be cruel sometimes, but at least they were honest about their curiosities.The suggestion was raised they go outside before snack time. Well that would give the adults time to prepare lunch for the youngings and chime chime what was that?! It seemed all the fixings for lunch magically appeared in the kitchen and little sun hats would manifest for the foals to head out to play. Aftera ll couldn’t let the young ones out in the sun without protection. But who was going to stay and prepare lunch and who was going to have to corral a herd of foals?!

 

“Outside outside!” The noodle began the mutiny for outside time! There was everything a foal could ever dream of climbing on, through and under with plenty of sand, gravel and woodchips for scraping knees and scuffing rumps!

[DreamySunday]

Bluemoon stood there and watched as everypony just kind of stares at her. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, a stallion covered in with a bunch of cool lines and things said words. " Okay thanks see y'all later! ". 

 

 

However, before she could blast at top speed through all these ponies, running over however many of them in the process, the ceiling started leaking some sort of goop. Bluemoon's eyes opened as wide as they could "Woowzers!  First the jungle gym now this? This place just keeps on making itself more and more cool! ". The goop went and combined itself itself into a!.... Wait, what was that!? This horse, goat, lion, snake thing just showed up out of nowhere and started yelling about things and unfortunately Bluemoon she was to busy trying to figure out what the creature in front of her was to listen.

 

 

When the creature who's appearance defined wacky finally dropped the smoke, Bluemoon was snapped back into reality but it was to late. The smoke was already everywhere and she was starting to get sleepy.

 

 

Bluemoon awoke to greet the day like she did any other, with smiles and glee! She got up like she always did, stretching her little legs and shaking the sleepiness out of herself. With a final yawn the filly opened her eyes and... This place was not home... " This place is waaay better! Can you believe this momma!? " she looked over to her side but there was no momma. " Uh oh, momma doesn't like it when we split up." She looked around for a moment and noticed and was stunned at all the things she saw. " I-I'll find her later " Her eyes went a bajillion miles a minute looking at everything her tiny face could see and when it could see no new things, Bluemoon ran deeper into the new place. 

 

 

It was then that she saw it. The window. The window that led to paradise. Running right up to it, Bluemoon stared at the greatest work of art she had ever seen an began tearing up. " This is the greatest thing I have ever seen...." 

[Ciraxis]

Young Squall didn't even looked towards the younger mare at first.

"Canterlot Guard? Why would Ma and Pa have anything to do with...." colt said, apparently still sharp when it comes to details despite the young age.

And then his eyes fell upon Fire. Something stirred within the Lil' Squall. It seems no matter the spell, a link between noblepony and his Love was not the one that could be severed.

Unfortunately the same couldn't be said about noblepony future memories.

"Heeeeeey...." Swift drawled at Fire, as he gave her a half-lidded stare. Well aside awkward this had to be for Fire, at least Squall wasn't screaming anymore.

 

"She can't be you Mom you dolt!" unicorn colt scolded Dunder "She's way to young for that!" he pointed out, while his gaze were still glued to Fire.

 

Funnily enough even as the colt, Squall was probably the only one(aside from Discord) who could understand both Diamond and Blust speaking in their native languages.

"Je suis Swift Squall de la maison noble de Squallcoast. Vous êtes exactement là où vous voyez.." he said to a grifflet in a haughty tone. It was clear that Squall's ego was a lot bigger in his youth, not yet broken by military training and painful mistakes that came later.

 

However the question that Blueblood made in his lispy voice gave a young unicorn a pause.

"I...I-I not sure." he additament after a moment. "Ma and Pa never did thing before telling me first. I mean, Mom would tell me if a pretty Miss was to escort me right? But...." he shifted his eyes back to crimson mare. "...But!...But...if this is Miss Fire I don't mind." Swifty quickly added, with a deeper shad of orange creeping on his cheeks.

 

Any degree of shyness were quickly dismissed however when Blue expressed his wonderment towards Squall weapon. The orange colt put on airs and graces, leaned on his now drawn 'sword' and told Blueblood in pompous tone.... "Of course I don't! Pirates are stupid! They are just bandits on a boats that steal from others and make 'Arrr!' noises. And Dad said that half of them aren't even good at it. Doing 'Arrr' that is. And Dad surely knows what he's talking about! He hires ponies that goes around to find out about stuff like this and later come back to him so he would know!"  he lectured the golden maned colt. He probably shouldn't do this. Blue was only other kid he knew, but Swift couldn't help but to show Prince the error of his thinking. "I play knights! Knights are cool! They go around the land, fight monsters and other baddies, discover treasures and secrets and make oaths. They have big swords or lances or axes, a shiny armor and, and that really sweet capes!" Swift gushed. "And there are lot of different knights too! You have those that ride awesome beats! Or you have the a black knight! Wait, two kinds of black knights! One that doesn't wish to be known for some reason or whatever so he puts a black armor so other wouldn't recognize him or her...." Swift talked, and talked and taaaalked......

 

Of course all of his boasting and information dump turned out to be fruitless, when the attention of others was turned towards the playground outside. Squall of course knew of playgrounds, he had one outside his home in Big Orange, even better then that one....

But, but.....he was always only one there. And now there was a lot's of those other kids here. Should he....play with them? Squally bit his lip. On one hoof he really wanted to, but on the other, he never before did so. Waht if he do something silly and others would laugh at him? That would be the worst thing!

But he may not have other occasion before. This was the first time that both Pa and Ma were gone doing 'important adult business' - as Miss Fire put it - at the same time.

"I....I...." orange colt started, torn by his insecurity, wish to play 'cool' and desire to try a new things.

"I...guess outside would be nice...?" he half stated, half asked.

[Blueblood]

Squall had not given Blueblood the best of first impressions, particularly with his haughty interruption of the Prince's first attempt at international diplomacy.  Not that dear little Bluey had anything against haughtiness as such; never having really been encouraged in any egalitarian tendencies.  He simply disliked the concept of anyone thinking themselves justified in being haughty in his presence.  I'

 

Plus, he was acting weird.  That red pegasus was definitely old enough to be his mother!

 

But even after all that, Blue didn't mind.  He was still a colt, sufficiently socialized to desire play with his agemates.  He innocently suggested his favorite game, and what did he get?  Some regurgitated lecture from this prematurely aged foal who sought to prove that he knew better!  The scene triggered something deep inside the golden-maned unicorn's heart; that one rebellious spark that attracted him to fantasies of piracy in the first place.  Because you know what?  He was tired of these lectures he got from his parents and servants every day about proper behavior.  Sure, he was proud of himself for learning it, but come on!  His visits with Auntie were the only time where he could loosed up, and now he was here where his peers lectured him, never mind the adults!

 

His whole face pinched into what he must have thought was an intimidating expression of anger, but really looked like a peeved puppy.  "I'll... I'll... I'll make you walk the plank for that!  And then you'll think in your thtupid metal armor, hah!"  He bounded away from the green colt, towards where a crowd was gathering, calling for outside play.  Well, fine with him!  He didn't have his wooden sword, but maybe... taking a quick detour, he dove into a nearby toypile, rooting until he clambered up in triumph, wooden blade in mouth.  With visible effort, he held it aloft.  "Haha!  All who wish to join the crew of the Dread Pirate Blueblood are welcome to follow me!  Outside, me heartieth!  And to the locker with all the thcurvy knigthth!"

[Dunder]

Even though the little pony was sitting there in an attentive manner, Applejack's attempt to communicate with Dunder fell on deaf ears. With his eyes transfixed on the mare and his mouth stuck open in awe, he did not understand what she said. Not because she was butchering the language, he was dumbfounded by her porque ella fue una diosa. Her light drawl, her blonde mane, eyes green like a fresh pear. The foal felt overwhelmed with a desire to keep the mare happy and impress her! For what reason exactly Dunder could not say, but it was indeed a powerful emotion.

 

A powerful emotion, as powerful of an emotion as the annoyance Dunder felt when this pale, broccoli headed foal had the audacity to scream and insult a stranger. Dunder turned his head, eyebrows furrowed at Squall. "Oh! You are my mom? No?" Dunder stood up and turned, smacking his tail across Squall's nose, "Then I wasn't talking to you!" Dunder huffed, clearly not having any of Squall's attitude. He sat aside, while the two argued over pirates vs. knights. And as the group of foals as a whole argued to get time outside. Dunder himself was not hungry. In fact, he was full of energy just waiting to be burned off.

 

When the alabaster foal announced his call to arms, the pegasus trotted over next to the prince. Normally, he would have chose the knight faction, but he could dabble on the other side for fun. "Sorry, I try to speak Equestrian as much as possible around my... not.... family." Dunder said, tilting his head at Blueblood, "But when you speak questrian you have a lot of th's." Imitating the lisp that Blueblood peppered into his speak habitually. "Also, I'm gonna be your skipper! Because Pirates rule the seas!" He said as he flapped his wings to gain some altitude.

[tacobob]

 

Fire Walker’s ears perked up as the farmer spoke up, “I’m very familiar with the Spanish-speaking colt. His name is Mister Dunder Blust, born in Solstice Heights and resident of Cloudsdale.", she could not help but grin, "Next to my old trainer Sergeant Greasy Spoon and Mrs. Cake, he's possibly one of the best chef's I've ever known.", she glanced down at the adorable colt.  This was incredibly awkward! She was standing right by her future husband and her ex! Yikes! Still, she continued to love her little 'Dunder Bunny' even if it was now a very different kind of love. And there was still a shared bit of respect between the two stallions. At least she believed there was. They had not all been together like this in ages!

 

And there was the changeling. Swift had mentioned her in the past, or at least had using her other name, so she could not possibly be so bad. What did they call their foals? Maybe it was just for the best that she simply refer to her as a  'child' and sweet Celestia she looked so pitiful! The officer wanted to rush over and pick her up with her wings and give her the biggest of hugs and tell her that everything would be alright. But generally most tend to frown on those who randomly snatch up kids for hugs. Even if they sort of know each other. Discord tried to help her in her in his usual way, but this only seemed to traumatize the little shape-shifter. Thankfully brand new mom Applejack quickly came to the little gal's aid and she seemed to improve a good deal in mere moments.

 

She turned her attention to Discord. Being the type of pony she was, a few suggestions started to float about in her head on how to stop the self-proclaimed the spirit of disharmony. Would two of those magic dampeners work on him? Probably not. Maybe she could find a good, stout stick and smack him silly until he released the spell? But he claimed he could not. It needed to run its course. Fire worried just how long it would last. Ponies here had jobs to do. Loved ones to return home to. The officer pictured a very angry Star Crusader as she made Discord return her love to his proper age. Or were they still seeing each other? The last Grand Galloping Gala seemed so far away. And then theere were Discord's 'consequences'. That sounded like a threat! One that made her wonder if the Draconequus had really been redeemed.

 

The red coated could not help but smile as the cute little 'mini' version of her Swift gave her the 'eye'. And then it dawned on her. Could she have been old enough to be the unicorn's mom? After doing a little math and considering she came dangerously close to having a kid while in high school, that could happen, but yikes! She needed to think on how to take care of this little calamity! Images of a giant, sixteen ton weight as it dropped on Discord's dumb old head did make her smile a little, but where could see find such a weight? Maybe they had an 'sixteen ton' weight store next to the store that sells only sofas and quills? Or maybe the tea shop?

 

For now, it appeared the kids mostly wanted to go outside and play! This posed no problem to the mare, just as long as they stayed in the fenced yard. Thankfully there was more than enough distractions out there to keep them entertained for hours. "Come Master Squall, Blueblood and Dunder!", she promptly lead the threesome outside.....

 

 

 

 

 

[Pretzelparty]

 

 

 

"I can definitely take the little Grifflet, Diamond Was 'is name, right?" She looked over to the small griffin and smiled at him as he spoke to Blueblood. "I think that he'd like ta stick to the other prench speaker too... Inkbrand shouldn't be too much a hoof-full though. If I need any help I'll come callin' though." Presteza nodded quickly to Applejack before she set off to tend to her group. Before Fire could take off She would give her friend one last sidelong hug before setting her loose! The painter's eyes soon feel upon Bluemoon and Inkbrand as they mushed their faces up against the glass to look at the playground.

 

"Well since it seems everyone's minds are on the playground... I say we get going! Last one there's a rotten egg! let's follow that bright red pegasus!" Presteza chuckled heartily at Blueblood's rally cry for (pretend) piracy, "I'll be glad to make and give out eyepatches to every member of this dreaded captain's crew! Plunder and riches await!" She looked down to Blue moon," Would you like to join everypony for an adventure on the high seas? I'm sure the captain would welcome you!"  

 

 

 

 

 

[Zeig]

 

Alright! Riot!

 

Lots of colts and fillies were now calling to play outside, which was great! The adults had to listen to them if they screamed loud enough, that's how it usually worked. The weird Changeling foal probably agreed with him, probably, plus there was those ones that spoke in funny languages and lisps and woah, what the hay, he'd thought the Changeling looked weird, but she had nothing on that colt! Big paws, leather tail, clawed hooves and horns...that wasn't even a pony, was he, he was a...a...a monster!

 

Wicked cool.

 

Although, Inkbrand was momentarily distracted before he could walk over and demand what sort of weird monster disease this colt had, by a suddenly loud and annoying buzzing sound that him instinctively ducking away from whatever bug had wandered inside...until he found it. "Gotcha!" the grey colt exclaimed, bounding upwards to clap his hooves around the insect. Perfect, he could use this to scare some of the girls in the - "Huh?" Inkbrand questioned nobody in particular, feeling a bit betrayed as he studied the bug through a peephole in his hooves, before opening them fully, "it's just paper!" Paper or not, the bug didn't seem too happy to have been snatched out of the air, for it buzzed angrily for a bit before rising towards the ceiling again. 

 

Maybe it was one of those weird paper foldings like Mom did sometime. Ori...oragamo...ogigama something. 

 

But enough about strange paper folding bugs...there were pirates around! 

 

"Hey, where'd you get that!" the grey colt demanded of the colt with the golden mane, bounding up to his face in order to inspect the wooden sword. He wanted one if there were going to be pirates! And an eyepatch, all pirates needed an eyepatch! But even more than an eyepatch, any good pirate needed a ship...his very own territory! And as the backyard doors opened, Inkbrand immediately knew what ship they were going to claim.

 

"C'mon, c'mon!" Inkbrand cried out, barreling his way through the open door and making a full charge to the awesome looking playground. Right in the middle was the coolest collection of slides, swings, and tubes, all connected together...somehow. Inkbrand didn't stop to think anything of it as he pulled himself onto one of the landings, immediately turning around to face the rest of the foals making their way outside. "I claim this ship for the pirates!" the grey colt said, stamping one hoof down to emphasize their newfound ownership, "and hereby dub her...the Inknator!" 

 

That was a good name for a ship!

 

[SteelEagle]

 

 

Naj seemed to do as well as Applejack could have hoped for. Well, scratch that. She could have, and did, hope that the little changeling would not be quite so shy since it made it more difficult to coax her out of her shell, no pun intended. But she responded well enough. Heck, she decided to even blurt something out something about a pony grub? Did she mean Zap Apple? Well, she didn't know if it was a good comparison. Were grubs the Changeling equivalent of foals? She hoped that was the case and not...food. “Nah, they're not called grubs, sugarcube. They're called foals- little baby ponies. This here's mah foal,” she said, motioning back to Zap Apple. He was still chewing on the doll, now making frustrated foal noises when it didn't produce candy or somesuch. The dreams of a foal were filled with such wonders.

She then asked if what Discord was saying was true. Well, that was a pickle. She didn't want to lie- lies rankled her fiercely even under the best of circumstances. But she didn't want her to be scared anymore So she settled on telling the truth and not answering the question that was being asked, something she had learned from Granny Smith not that long ago. “Well Sugarcube, plenty o'changelings and ponies are livin' together an' bein' friends, so its a good thing we get to learn more about one another, right?” she responded diplomatically. She didn't know if it took or not because Inkbrand started yelling for the playground and pushed Naj towards the exit. He wasn't the only one- some also wanted to join him. He decided to translate it as everypony wanting to go outside which was a fairly generous translation, but nopony seemed hungry so it was good enough for her. Especially when the Dunder Blust just stared up at her slack jawed. It was awkward, but not unusual.

She knew what crushes looked like, after all. Always very charming.

But with that out of the way, most of the foals wanted to go outside. Discord wanted to go outside, and Naj could do with some socializing with the other foals. Zap was good enough just chewing on things- he had by now transitioned to parts of her tail, which she whipped gently away from him- and was an easy fella to corral if it went south. It wasn't a bad idea to go outside now. They could work themselves up something nice and fierce for an appetite and then she could cook them something from the on-site kitchen. Talk about a heck of a nice deal for all involved! “Well then, sounds like we're headin' on outside!” she said, trotting on out. By then, Inkbrand had already claimed a landing as a pirate ship. She made sure to find her two charges and pull them aside before they did anything.

“Okay- Naj, if you need anything just come on back to me, okay? You don't have ta do anythin' you don't wanna do as long as you play nice, okay? Have fun,” she said, allowing her to run off, or shy off, anything of that nature. Once she was alone with Discord...”Okay Discord, just don't hurt anypony, okay?” she ruffled his mane. She was sure, being the chaotic bugger he was, he'd appreciate that.

[RexDraco]

Yes, while the foals went out to play the adults had to slave away! But wasn't that the life? Chewing, slobbering, shoving, screaming, and delighting in the blissful ignorance that was foalhood. Fire Walker could grouch all she'd like over his tomfoolery but this Cheshire Cat was difficult to stop once there was an idea in his head and since she was the only voice consistently protesting he would find no due cause to end his game early. Sometimes ponies had to learn their lessons the hard way, even if it left a few kicking, screaming and needing to relearn how to step out of diapers all over again! There would be little to no repercussion for a harmless pranks and since they would be up to their chins in rowdy foals, the majority being young colts, who had a notorious streak of crying for no reason and being generally high maintenance -- the mares presently in charge…

 

He grinned widely at Fire Walker when she seemed to glare with determined pressure as if, by looking hard enough he burst into flames like those monster ponies from the stories when they stepped into the sun. Oh he could see it… thinking of ways to keep him.from causing chaos. But that would be like denying the princess of Friendship and the Solar Maiden. It was their desire he get along with ponies and what better way than playing a game to help others? It would help then to understand his point of view with as little miscommunication as possible. It was always easier to show than tell.

 

“Waahh,” the Chibicord whined. “Fire’s face looks scary!” He whined before spitting his forked tongue out at her.

 

Oh now this was more like it! Internal strife amongst the young! Factions setting up to split and deviate from unity, because what fun was it that they all agreed? He scratched his beardless like, baby chin and snapped his claws. Various toy weapons and tiny tot armor and costumes appeared in a bin outside so they could suit up if they so choose. He pushed to stand and motioned to Naj.

 

“Awwuh dun cry. Applejack says you can stay. Let's go be knights too so Squirrel dun scream none more.” The spunky spirit hissed, messing up Squall's name on purpose. He would offer Naj a Knight's shield. And whether or not they accepted it he would bounce out. “Hurry up slow poke!” He jeered at Squall. “If you don't claim land you'll be a landless Lord!” He chirped and dashed outside.

But after they would be hungry hungry foals. With a full kitchen with lunch’s ingredients and a list of allergies, and what the foals could or could not eat was ready for the adults to prep! In Discord's case apparently if he had crusts on his sandwich, he would throw tantrums and manifest random objects which were possible and plausibly dangerous, and his cucumber juice must be made of zucchini or he would pickle it.

[DerpRavener]

“Ahhh!” Betrayal! The little pony Naj had been hiding behind suddenly stopped being so cooperative! Not only did he not think food was the better option right now, but he started pushing her toward door to outside! She couldn't go out there, who knew what manner of things lay in wait! Sure, the ponies inside the building seemed to be tolerant, and maybe even friendly, what would the ponies outside think? Wasn't the 'change program' supposed to happen inside the building? What if there were other ponies out there who...who...she didn't really want to think about what would happen if she ran into a pony who wasn't a part of whatever this was.

 

Fortunately, the grey colt soon found some other things to distract him, namely the rest of the foals. He seemed pretty easy to distract really, but this time it worked out in Naj's favour. It meant it took only a little flailing and clinging to the doorframe before he moved on, leaving Naj safely inside while the rest of the foals did something about...pirates? What were those? Whatever they were, the grey colt seemed to get really excited about them.

 

It also finally game Applejack some time to answer some of Naj's many questions. She correct Naj, in that the really, teeny-tiny pony was also called a foal. Naj scrunched up her face. That was weird, why would the really little ones, who couldn't move around very well, the same thing as the bigger ones that could? Ponies were weird.

 

The orange mare avoided the question of whether or not the monster had been telling the truth. Why did she do that? Did Naj say something wrong? Did the monster? Though, even if she didn't answer it outright, she did state that ponies and changelings were living together with no hesitation. So even if there was something going on, there probably was some truth to all this. There was still something strange about it, and Naj was tempted poke around a bit. But for the moment, the orange mare was encouraging her to go outside and play, adding that she could come back if she felt uncomfortable.

 

Naj wasn't able to take two steps before she was ambushed! The thing looked suspiciously like the monster from before, only if that monster was a baby version. She recoiled at first, but this time it wasn't as scary. She still didn't get how all those different bits fit together, but at least this one was smaller. And wasn't grabbing her.

 

And for what it was worth, the monster from before didn't really do much after grabbing Naj, it just took her to some crayons and talked about how ponies and changelings could be getting along, which so far wasn't turning out to be a bad thing. So when the little creature offered her a shield, she accepted it after only a little bit of hesitation.

 

The little creature, which Naj just remembered was named Discord, then said something about...a squirrel? Who would be unhappy? She didn't see any squirrels, but she did see a colt the little creature then motioned towards. Initially he'd gotten very excited about knights, and very vocal about how they were better the 'pirates', whatever those were. But now he seemed uncertain. Like he too didn't really know what was going on. Naj wasn't sure that she really wanted to play with him, if she'd be the only one playing. At the same time, it didn't sit right that he'd be left out...

 

Naj awkwardly sidled up beside the colt, though couldn't bring herself to get too close. Even if she wanted to help, she didn't really know him, yet.  “I-it's okay. I don't really know how to play this game either...” She shuffled her hooves a bit. “We could...we could try to learn it together...”

She'd give him a few moments to reply, before walking hesitantly over to the other kids, whether or not Squall had decided to come along.

[Blueblood]

The game was afoot!  Already the excitement was bubbling up within the little Prince, rising to levels that threatened to overpower his inbuilt class training!  He was playing Pirate... with a real crew!  This could never happen back home; this was going to be awesome.  "Alright!  Thtick with me, thkipper!"  Blueblood cheered Dunder as they followed Fire Walker outside.  "Ath Captain, I'll lead you to the finetht booty in all Equethria!"  Boy was that phrase going to take on a different meaning when the two friends got older; ah, the innocence of youth...

 

He accepted the eyepatch from Pressy, letting out a truly piratical "Arrgh!" to show his appreciation.  Pointing his sword at the pile of toys that Discord had summoned up, Blueblood guided his newest recruit, Inkbrand, to the foal's version of treasure.  "There!  Didn't I thay that we would find great thtuff?  Get the betht thingth before thothe Knightth arrive!"  Suiting the action to the word, he dove in himself, coming out with a captain's hat with a skull and crossbones atop it.  Excitedly bounding off with his treasure, he scrambled towards the mountain of playground goodness claimed as their ship.  "Exthellent find, firttht mate Inkbrand!  The Jolly Roger flieth high on her matht!"

 

There were sounds of laughter and glee as the captain led his merry trio up the steps, into the tunnels, and out onto the balcony.  "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of ginger ale!"  The Prince cried from the rooftops.  "Now, my crew, what shall we do with thothe thcurvy knightth?  They number even with uth now, led by the thtiff funthucker Twift!"  His Royal Highness wasn't going to win any tongue-twisting contests anytime soon...

[PyroBlaze]

Diamond really didn't like this new unicorn... why was Squall being so rude? He asked a simple question and got back nothing but snark from him. And to make things worse, he seemed to hate pirates, which were clearly better than some stuffy knights!

 

"Les pirates sont tellement meilleurs que les chevaliers!" Diamond responded, sticking his tongue out at Squall before flying after Blueblood and landing on the ship they had claimed. He laughed a bit, sticking his tongue out at Squall's group again. 

 

"Yarr har har!" He called, standing next to Blueblood and the others. When he heard his name, he looked over at the unicorn mare and smiled back at her. At least she was nice. 

[Ciraxis]

Squall was almost literally frozen. How could Blueblood  be so stubborn in refusal of accepting knights superiority over pirates (seriously, stupid sea thieves!)?

Of course Swifty wasn't stunned for long, the other colt smacked him into face with his tail!

"Wha....Why You!" unicorn exclaimed, instantly peeved. However Swift wasn't roused for long. After seeing how many other kids chose the pirate side Squall became deflated as quickly as he became roused mere moments ago. Was it because something he said? Lil' Swift honestly had no idea. He didn't really interacted with those of his age since...well, ever. Perhaps the haughtiness and bravado were the attempts to cover his own insecurity. It was hard to tell. After all, children had yet to learn to be honest with themselves.

 

One brought young unicorn from his torpor was - Who else? -Discord. The new, miniature and adorable version of spirit of chaos wasted no time in using gibes to coax young noble into action.

"Wha...? But I....." Swift replied, hesitant. The others swift rejection in response to his earlier behavior wasn't doing any favors when it came to his confidence. or a next few moments Squall looked like he wanted to say something. It was only after the other...filly - Judging from her voice the changeling was a girl - spoke to him that Swift managed to form a response. Perhaps because she looked as insecure and nervous as he was right now.

"N...No that's not it. I-I-I mean I know how to play. I think...." he said. "It just...just that I....haven't played with anypony....before..." Swifty murmured his response. That said, Naj words made him feel somewhat better.

"So...umm...we should use these....?" unicorn colt said sheepishly when he approached the 'gear' that Discord had conjured. He still wasn't sure if he will be allowed to play but if so, he had to even the odds against already equipped 'pirates', even if he had his 'sword' already.

[Dunder]

Dunder gasped at the sight of the chest. Weapons and armor! Much more than he had at home! Dunder dove for the chest, digging through the wooden swords and plastic chestpeices and greaves, careful not to toss any out as to not make a mess that he'd have to clean up. After some serious digging, he emerged, eye patches over both eyes and a red do-rag over his scalp. Some chest peices under one foreleg, and some scimitars under the other. Only the most pirate of pirate swords! With care, he flew over to where he could could hear Blueblood and some other foal who declared that the ship would be called the "Inknator." Not what Dunder would have picked, but he also couldn't offer an alternative name.

 

After landing, Dunder saluted with a wing, nearly hitting Blueblood in the rump. "Call me Patches, skipper extraordinaire!" He demanded, "I will lead us to the finest booty in all of the world!" After that, he raised an eyebrow, and lifted an eyepatch up, "What does a skipper do exactly?"

 

With his eyepatch raised, he spotted the griffon hatchling approach, and say something unintelligible. What kind of wacky place did Dunder find himself, where a bunch of ponies couldn't speak equestrian properly. Still, Dunder was excited to meet new pirate recruits. He pat the grifflet on the back, and hoofed over a sword, "Woo! You're one of us now! And we hate those dumb knights!"

[tacobob]

 

 

"I swear Pressy.", Fire Walker whispered as her old friend gave the officer a quick hug, "Why is it every time we get to hang out, something silly like this happens?" With a full schedule, the red mare had very little time to spend with friends. If it wasn't work or family matters, It was this wedding! Where would they have it at? Would it be a simple, private wedding, or would it be massive like her brother Speed's wedding? The more they planned, the more complex things became. And how about children? How long would they wait? The longer she stood along with the assortment of children, the sooner she wanted one. And if she had a kid, would she go and adopt another? That Grifflet was beyond adorable. If they don't have twins, maybe she could see about getting a little baby brother or sister? Griffon? Hippogriff?  Or was it an Hippogryph? Being part of a large family, the mare could never figure out how her beloved Swift did so well as an only child.

 

With those thoughts floating around, she followed the boys out in the playground area. As she entered the very well maintained outdoor playing area, the mare could not help but be impressed. Back in 'her days' most playgrounds were basically death-traps. Swing-sets with worn-out rope attached to rusty bars. Those spinning metal discs of death that colts and fillies were expected to stand on and spin around until they either hurled out their lunch or themselves onto the cement floor that surrounded the devices. Everything here was perfectly designed to stimulate a child's sense of creativity and adventure. Something little Inkbrand needed, because 'Inknator' was not a good name for a ship! She was pretty sure that there was an old maritime law that forbid captains from naming their ships after words that resembled or rhymed with 'sink' or 'sunk'.

 

This was not the first time Discord had reverted back into whatever the heck his kind would call a kid. 'Dinkycord' was what her sister called him. Was it right to feel sorry for the powerful creature? Was he ever a child? Maybe this was a good thing. She could see children actually use the assortment of toys and activities Ticker Tape would soon be a part of. There. She took away the negative and replaced with positivity. Miss Ilinalta would approve. The mare was one cool cucumber. The mare's sense of annoyance had just about fled her body. Then the pesky beast did something horrible. He messed up Swift's coiffure. Fire let out an astounded gasp.

 

"Now now.", she snatched up the colt and quickly restored her fun-sized hubby-to-be's mane, "If my good prince is to play an brave hunter of pirates, his hair must be perfect. Only scurvy-ridden sea-dogs are supposed to look scruffy. The heroes are always handsome. Always perfect.", she turned her attention to the others for a moment, "Remember kids, we need a few more pirate-hunters. We can't have those mangy villains hog the seas and ru..er ginger ale to themselves.", she tried to talk in an extra 'old-timey' accent, but it was Moon Walker that was the actor. Not her. Of course, the bad guys are always more fun to play.

 

"Well.", she turned her attention back to her beloved, "You put this on like so.", she helped the colt with his armor, "A true hero wears armor that shines as true as his deeds and heroics.", once he was properly dressed, the mare scooped up a sword with her wing, which she offers up, "A hero also wields a sword that strikes quick and true. And even if he's out-matched, he always wins because he is actually fighting for something more than himself."

 

 

[Zeig]

 

A true hero is handsome and perfect, huh? That sounded cool.

 

No wait, the other thing.

 

"Bor-ing," the small grey colt jeered as the fiery-colored adult brushed and pampered the one orange colt like he was a baby, "that sounds dumb." Being perfect was boring as, because then you had to do everything everyone else told you to do because they decided you needed to do it! Boo! Where was the fun in that?! Give him the pirate's life any day, where he decided what to do and what sort of pony he could be! 

 

And he decided that all he needed was a sword, pilfered from the buried-but-not-really treasure trove of private treasure, to be the greatest pirate in the entirety of the daycare!

 

"Captain!" Inkbrand growled out, extended far over the side of the balcony as he hung onto the railing with one hoof, the other raised to shield his eyes from an imaginary glare of sunlight. "That adult is attempting to increase the forces of Knights! We need to recruit as many sea-going salty dogs of sea-doggedness as soon as possible!" The grey colt knew that when claiming territory on a playground slash ship, the might of the crew was key. The more ponies they had, the better control they could keep! And one colt in particular stood out amongst the ones still lingering around the adults. "We should get the monster looking colt!" Inkbrand demanded, reaching out to tug Blueblood closer so he could point out exactly which colt he was talking about. 

 

As if there could be any other, the monster colt stuck out like a sore hoof! Even more than the colt/filly with the weird skin-wing-eye disease. They could split 'em! One side gets the monster colt, the other gets the weird skin-wing-eye disease filly, and the two could battle it out for extra territory!

 

What was it Mom always said?...oh yeah! His plan was foalproof! 

 

[Blueblood]

Blueblood laughed in delight as his scurvy crew of the cutest pirates to ride the seven seas grew even more.  "Yaharr!  Nouth feronth rouiller leur armure!"  The little grifflet was really doing his Fancy-talk practice good, though his lisp probably undid about half the good work his poor tutor had put in over long hours forcing a half-interested student to pore over the books.  Well, that venerable unicorn would find a much more eager student tomorrow, though considerably more rambunctious!  At least, so the carefree Prince thought, quite unaware that by now, that aged teacher had long since been driven into retirement...

 

"Oy!"  The little unicorn didn't quite dodge in time from Dunder's wings, receiving quite the smack from them.  "Thkipper Patcheth!  You will theathe from thmacking the captain with your wing immediately!"  He gestured somewhat pointedly with his wooden sword right up in the pegasus' face.  "You will carry out my orderth without inthubordination!"  Right, good, that was sorted out!  Now to figure out just what those orders were actually going to be...

 

Just then, the last member of the merry crew of the Inknator piped up.  Blueblood replied with a raised-eyebrow expression that was an almost-perfect miniature of his adult self's own expression of slight incredulity.  Just who was supposed to be in charge here?  Well, if you had to ask...

"Aha!  I have a brilliant idea!"  He raised his sword in the air, attracting the attention of all upon the playground equipment!  "We'll get the weird one!  He'll join uth, or walk the plank!  Chaarrge!"  And with an excited cry, he bounded off to the slide, wooden sword clenched in his teeth in proper swashbuckling style!