Chapter 23
Toddler Trouble
It was a calm, peaceful afternoon in Ponyville. There was not a single cloud in the sky as the sun continued to warm the town. However, calm and peaceful wouldn't describe Rarity right now as she was running as fast as possible through Ponyville.
"I'm late...I'm so late!" Rarity exclaimed, "I can't let Princess Celestia and Princess Luna down! Why did I let myself get so distracted by my work?!" It turns out, Flareon and Twilight were having their friends, including Celestia and Luna, over for a cook-out. As Rarity was nearing Golden Oak Library, she was suddenly stopped by a particular-looking dragon behind a stand. He had a large mustache, was wearing a patched-up suit, and sunglass. However, it was actually Discord in disguise, but Rarity didn't notice it was him as she walked up to his stand called 'Amazing Commodities'.
"You there! Miss!" Discord exclaimed, "Step right up! Step right up! Take a look at my goods! Does anything interest you?" As Rarity looked at the case in front of her, she spotted a purple amulet necklace. After Rarity pointed towards it, a smile appeared on Discord's face. "Ah...you have very good tastes. This is a one of a kind amulet necklace that was designed by the most prestige crafters in Equestria!"
"How much is it?" Rarity asked.
"I'll tell you what," Discord replied, "It's free of charge...if...you give me a kiss on my cheek." Discord then moved his head towards Rarity as he pointed to his right cheek. At first Rarity was completely taken aback, but considering how badly she wanted it, and how she was running late for the cook-out, Rarity was left with no other choice as she reluctantly leaned forward and kissed him on his cheek. Immediately, Discord began to blush as he waved his right claw at her.
"Oh Madame! I do declare!" Discord exclaimed. He then gave Rarity the necklace who immediately put it on.
"How do I look?" Rarity said as she flaunted her mane while showing of the amulet necklace around her neck.
"Absolutely beautiful!" Discord replied, "I guarantee you will be the envy of all your friends! You could say that amulet will put a spell on them!" At that moment, a mischievous smirk appeared on his face, but Rarity didn't seem to notice as she was busy admiring her neck necklace. Unfortunately, Rarity quickly remembered what she was doing a few minutes before.
"That's right! I'm late!" Rarity said as she took off towards Golden Oak Library again. However, since she was in such a rush, Rarity didn't notice that the amulet on her necklace began to glow an ominous bright purple for a second before it stopped. Meanwhile, both the stand and Discord had completely vanished. Eventually, Rarity made it to Golden Oak Library, and walked inside to see the party already in full-swing.
"Oh Rarity! You finally made it!" Twilight said as she and Rainbow Dash walked over to her, "Flareon and Luna are preparing the food. They'll be done soon. Spike and Solana went to Sugarcube Corner to get the cake. By the way, I love your new necklace!"
"What took you so long?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are here! How could you be late?!"
"Well...excuse me!" Rarity replied, "Unlike you, some of us actually have work we need to finish!" As Rarity and Rainbow Dash began to argue, Celestia walked over to them.
"It's quite alright Rainbow Dash," Celestia said as she smiled, "I'm just happy Rarity was able to make it." At moment, her eyes widened in shock as she spotted the amulet necklace Rarity was wearing. "Oh no! Rarity! That amulet! You need to get rid of it right away! Hurry!" Unfortunately, Celestia's plea was soon interrupted by the amulet, which suddenly glowed even brighter than before, and engulfed the entire room in purple light. Meanwhile in the kitchen, Flareon was helping Luna make the food for the cook-out. Luna was preparing the salad, while Flareon was making the sandwiches and drinks.
"Flareon, can you please go to the marketplace in town and get more tomatoes and dressing? We're all out," Luna said.
"Sure," Flareon replied as he walked out of the kitchen, "Ok everyone...I'm going out to get some tomatoes and salad dressing. I'll be back in a couple of minutes." Flareon then opened the door as he walked outside and closed it behind him. Five seconds later, Flareon slammed open the door and quickly looked around at the room at everyone. Flareon was so preoccupied that he didn't immediately noticed what had happened. Everyone had turned into babies, including Princess Celestia. "Uh...Luna?" Flareon said as he still couldn't believe his eyes, "I think we have problem here." As Luna walked into the room, she nearly jumped back in surprise.
"Sister!" Luna yelled as she ran up to Celestia who was crawling on the floor. She then looked around the room at all the babies. "Twilight? Everyone? Flareon what happened here?!" As they tried to figure out how this all happened, Flareon suddenly spotted baby Rarity, who was sucking on the amulet she was wearing. Flareon then took the suspicious necklace from her. Unfortunately, Rarity began to cry, so Flareon had to give her a diamond swan from a small table near the window. Immediately, Rarity stopped crying and began to suck on the swam as she smiled happily. As Flareon levitated the amulet necklace in front of him, he attempted to touch it, but his hoof was swatted away by Luna.
"Don't touch that!" Luna exclaimed as she used her magic to obtain a glass jar from the kitchen and put the amulet inside it. She quickly sealed the jar lid tightly at set it down on the coffee table. Luna then flew towards the bookshelf and began to frantically search it. A few seconds later, Luna found the book she was looking for called 'Cursed Artifacts'. After Luna flew back down, she set the book down on the table, near amulet in the jar, and quickly began to look thought the book, until she stopped on a page that was showing a particular-looking amulet. It looked exactly like the amulet in the jar. Right away, Luna began to read the description about the amulet aloud for Flareon, who was bombarding her with questions. "Amulet of Chaos: A purple amulet created by Discord to cause chaos and mischief. The amulet turns on once is it placed on the victim's neck and activates one minute later, however, the result from the spell may vary. The effect cannot be undone and lasts for 24 hours." After Luna was done reading, she slowly closed the book, and put it back on the bookshelf.
"So...Discord must have somehow tricked Rarity into getting it," Flareon said, "You're kidding me right? 24 hours? How are we supposed to care take of seven babies?!" Unfortunately, Luna didn't have time to respond as all the babies had gone completely out of control. Flareon and Luna then rushed to calm everyone down. At that moment, the front door opened and Solana and Spike appeared. They were carrying the cake between them.
"We got the cake!" Spike exclaimed. However, instead of a warm welcome, they were met by the total chaos that had ensued inside the house as Flareon and Luna were frantically flying around the room, trying to corral all the babies. Suddenly, Flareon spotted a flabbergasted Solana and Spike.
"Oh thank goodness you guys are here!" Flareon exclaimed as he was holding Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy in his hooves. They were all crying. "Me and Luna could really use your help with this!" Soon after, Solana and Spike walked backwards outside, and closed the door. Flareon then quickly flew to the door and stuck his head outside. "They're gone! I can't believe it! Those bastards!" Flareon yelled as he furiously slammed the door shut. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to worry about Solana and Spike's betrayal as he returned to helping Luna. Eventually, they were able to gather all seven babies and put them inside a playpen Flareon had got from the basement. As Flareon and Luna let of a sigh of relief, they quickly covered their noses with their hooves due to a very strong smell protruding from the pen. It was coming from the babies' diapers. Right away, Flareon knew what this meant and desperately tried to get out of it.
"Well...would you look at the time!" Flareon said as he walked awkwardly towards the door, "Um...how about you take care of this while I go find Solana and Spike?" Sadly for him, Luna used her magic to bring Flareon away from the door, back to where she was standing.
"Oh no you don't!" Luna exclaimed, "We're in this together. It's our job to take care of everyone until they turn back to normal. If you don't help me, I'll haunt your dreams until you breathe your last breath!" Soon after, Flareon reluctantly helped Luna change everyone's diapers. He took Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, and she took Celestia, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. You couldn't imagine how awkward it was for them to change their wife's and older sister's diapers. It was all the more reason for them to hate Discord even more than they already did.
I swear...if I ever see Discord, I will put him through the worst hell possible for what he did to my sister!" Luna exclaimed as she finished changing Celestia's diaper.
"You and me both," Flareon said as he put Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack back inside the playpen with the others. Throughout the rest of the day, Flareon and Luna fed everyone, gave them baths, changed their diapers again, and played with them. The two hardest babies to take care of was Twilight and Celestia since they tried to use magic which forced Flareon and Luna to constantly fix their mistakes. Rainbow Dash and Applejack kept fighting with each other, just like their older selves did. Flareon lost track of how many times they had to separate them. Rarity simply refused to let them take away the diamond swan from her because when they did, she would start crying, but would stop when they gave it back. Later on at night, Flareon gathered some wood and built seven cribs, while Luna gathered some pillows and blankets. Soon after, they set everyone inside the cribs, and put the covers over them. It didn't take long before the babies to fall asleep. Right away, Flareon and Luna fell onto the couch as they were completely exhausted from taking care of seven babies. Solana and Spike still hadn't returned yet. A few seconds later, Flareon and Luna feel asleep on the couch. The next day, the sun shinned through the windows signaling the start of a brand new morning. The spell finally worn off as everyone had finally returned to normal. As Rainbow Dash woke up, she was trying to figure out why she was inside a crib.
"What the heck happened yesterday?" Rainbow Dash muttered as she rubbed his eyes. Soon after, everyone also began to wake up and was thinking the same thing. As they got out of their cribs, Twilight walked over to where Flareon and Luna were sleeping, and woke them up. Immediately, Flareon and Luna hugged Twilight and Celestia.
"Oh thank god you're back to normal!" Flareon exclaimed as he continued to hug a baffled Twilight.
"Sister!" Luna yelled as she put her hooves around Celestia, who had the same confused look on her face as Twilight did. A few seconds later, Flareon and Luna began explain to everyone what had happened. After they were done, Rarity suddenly spit on the floor. She then stuck out her tongue and began to furiously rub it.
"Ugh...I kissed him. I can't believe I kissed him!" Rarity exclaimed as she ran into the bathroom and frantically began to wash out her mouth. Everyone quickly began to laugh in response to Rarity's hilarious reaction. At that moment, the front door opened as Solana and Spike finally appeared, along with the cake, after they had been gone for the last 24 hours. They tried their best to avoid looking at the angry faces of Flareon and Luna. It turns out Solana and Spike had been hiding at Sugarcube Corner.
"Sorry about yesterday, but hey, we still got the cake!" Spike said as he and Solana held up the cake. At that moment, Flareon and Luna looked at each other and nodded their heads slowly in agreement to something. Immediately, they both used their magic to lift up the cake and dropped it down on the heads of Solana and Spike. As they rubbed the cake off their eyes, Flareon and Luna walked over to them and they both each wiped off a piece of the cake from Solana and Spike. Flareon and Luna quickly smiled in response as they licked the cake off their hooves. Soon after, Twilight and Celestia decided to continue the party from where they left off yesterday. This time however, the party wasn't interrupted by a spell from a cursed amulet. Luckily for everyone, the second attempt was a complete success as the party continued on without a hitch. Later on, as everyone began to leave, Flareon gave Princess Celestia the jar containing the Amulet of Chaos. As she put the jar in her bag, Celestia told Flareon and Twilight she was going to study it in an effort to learn more about Discord's magic. Celestia began to laugh after Flareon and Princess Luna told her they didn't want anything more to do with that amulet as they had already experienced its' effects themselves.