“Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you. The roses have wilted, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl's empty, and so is your head. The roses stink, sorta like sheep but leave your name, number, and message after the beep. The roses are molding, the violets are rotten and I might call you back, if I haven't forgotten.”

“Luna damn it Wily!” Air Raid exclaimed angrily, stomping her right forehoof into her carpeted floor with enough force to make a loud ‘thudding’ noise. “Where in the hay are you!? Answer me damn you, it’s been two whole weeks now, come on, answer me you ignorant mare!” She let the answer phone beep and it automatically cut itself off, the phone returning to its standby screen. A selfie screenshot of her with Wildfire from the night of the fun fair when they had been cuddling on the Ferris wheel. Decidedly happier times, for the both of them.

“Still no luck, hun?” Darkstar asked sympathetically, her left forehoof draped comfortingly around her older friend’s shoulder.

“What in the name of Tartarus do you think, Darkie, really?” Air Raid shot back nastily, her lime green muzzle pulled back in a derisive sneer. A fraction of a second later and the pegasus saw the affronted look on her friend’s face, and her ire evaporated like air from a balloon. “Darkie…oh Darkie I’m sorry!”

“Raid…” Darkstar didn’t raise her voice as she removed her foreleg from around her friend’s shoulder. “I’m gonna let that slide on account of the fact you’re upset.” The pure white unicorn looked around her friend’s living room despondently. While Air Raid had never been the most ‘fastidious’ of home owners, her house was now in a state hitherto unseen by the teenage mare. Race suits, books, newspapers, food, cutlery and more worryingly, empty cider bottles, made up the detritus that littered the room. Not to mention the unspeakable stain that was on the next pad of the couch that she was desperately trying to avoid.

“I think,” she said as she delicately stood up from the couch, lighting her horn as she did so and levitating up the many cider bottles that littered the living room, “you need a very black coffee.”

“Whatever.” Came the simple one word reply.

“Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you. The roses have wilted, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl's empty, and so is your head. The roses stink, sorta like sheep but leave your name, number, and message after the beep. The roses are molding, the violets are rotten and I might call you back, if I haven't forgotten.”

“Buck you Wildfire! Buck you for leaving me you yellow furball!”

In the kitchen, Darkstar heard her friend’s violent exclamation, followed by a just as violent thud of a hood impacting a coffee table. Summoning every ounce of her self-control, the pure white unicorn floated the several empty bottles to the trash bins and landed them in the glass recycling bin. ‘Selfish bitch! This is bucking hard for me too Air Raid!’ She thought, biting back a nasty, savage retort that was on her lips and breathed evenly as she counted backwards from ten to zero.

Moments of silence passed in which the unicorn flipped on the kettle – and turned away in utter disgust at the state of the dishes that were left in the sink – on the dirty black marble work top. ‘Jeez Raid…you need a mighty kick up the flank, or a maid…Sweet Luna’s mane this house is a tip!’ Darkstar resolved to talk to her brother about this, or Slingshot. They couldn’t hire a maid, this amount of work would be unfair on the maid.

“D-Darkie?” Air Raid’s faltering voice came from the living room a few moments later just as the kettle boiled.

“What?” Darkie responded shortly, having selected three cups, one of which had left a nasty brown stain from the residue of some…‘thing’ on the pure white of her fur. ‘I’m so gonna be sick, I swear! Then again, i think some sick would improve the look of this kitchen,’ she thought wryly.

“Can you um, can you please cast that spell again, please?” Her voice was halting and tremulous when she spoke.

“Raid, no!” She replied quickly. They’d spoken about this. In great length over the past week, they’d spoken about this. “Raid…hun, I’m really not comfortable with this.”

“Please Darkie, I need it to comfort me, please.”

“Fine, Raid.” ‘I must really be a soft touch for this…’ Darkstar thought as she put the coffee granules in both mugs, the sugar in one and then finally the milk in the other. “I’ll cast it, but later you and I are having a conversation, alright?”

“Th-Thank you D-Darkie.” Air Raid sniffled pathetically into her lime green hooves. “Thank you.”

‘Whatever, Raid,’ Darkstar thought as she lit her horn and with a very bright yellow glow, cast the illusion that her friend had requested of her. The pure white unicorn mare didn’t need to see into the living room to know that her spell had worked. ‘We’re having that conversation later, you mark my words.’ Pouring out the hot water by hoof – the illusion she had just cast was so strong it prevented her from casting anything else, even a low level levitation spell – and she placed the mugs on the cleanest tray she could find, which admittedly wasn’t very clean, and carefully she carried it on her back into the bomb site of a living room.

What Darkstar saw when she walked into the living room made her heart break. Just like it had broken every other time she had cast the illusion this past week. On the couch, Air Raid was snuggling up to the perfect magical facsimile of Wildfire. Again, Darkstar had made it as perfectly as she could from memory, from the yellow of the coat to the straightness of the black mane. “Raid…listen, Raid,” the white mare started as she gently put the tray down on the coffee table.

“Hmm?” Air Raid wasn’t listening any more. She had her Wily, her own special Wily, and she delicately nuzzled the cheek of the illusionary construct. “You say something Darkie?”

“Raid…oh Tartarus, it doesn’t matter.” She turned away when her friend began to kiss her way up the illusion’s neck to her cheek.

Reaching the illusion’s lips, Air Raid placed a tender loving kiss upon them, draping her forelegs around its shoulders. “I love you, Wily…” she kissed its lips again, but no matter what she did or what she said, the faux Wildfire didn’t move or reply. It just sat there looking at her with its brown eyes.

“Darkie…”

“No.”

“Darkie please…”

“No.” Darkstar reached with her hoof and lifted up her milky coffee to her lips. “I said no. I will not make that kiss you, Raid. Seriously, this is a whole new level of what the buck!”

“Fine.” Air Raid contented herself with hugging and nuzzling the illusion on her couch.

“You’re gonna have to wrap it up soon anyhow,” Darkstar checked her watch. “We’re due over at Cyclone’s place in about half an hour.”

“Hmm.”

“Raid, I mean it!” Darkstar raised her voice slightly. Enough was very quickly becoming more than enough. “Cy is waiting for you! Y’know, your friend, Cyclone, who’s depending on you to be her nana for the day? Like you promised?”

“Hmm, yeah, Cy…I got it.” Air Raid murmured in a somewhat noncommittal fashion as she once more kissed the illusions unresponsive lips. “I gotta go, Wily.” She said with another kiss. “I’ll see you later though, okay sweetie?”

As always, the illusion said nothing. It just slowly faded away starting with the tail and finished with its smiling chestnut brown eyes. “Raid, I’m sorry hun but we need to go, Cy’s expecting us.”

“Yeah, okay Darkie.” Air Raid slid off of the couch and reached for her phone, her black coffee forgotten. “Just let me try her one more time.” She hit the worn down re-dial button with her hoof.

“Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you. The roses have wilted, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl's empty, and so is your head. The roses stink, sorta like sheep but leave your name, number, and message after the beep. The roses are molding, the violets are rotten and I might call you back, if I haven't forgotten.”

“AAAAH!” Air Raid screamed down the phone line, “Wily when you come back I’m gonna spank your ass red for this!” Angrily she cancelled the call and threw her phone into her saddlebag. “C’mon Darkie let’s go already.”

The walk from Air Raid’s house to Cyclone’s was short and thankfully uneventful, save for the two poor motorsport fans who stopped the lime green racer and whom received the angriest autographs of their lives from the disgruntled pegasus.

“You know…they were only being nice, Raid.” Darkstar spoke up after a few more minutes of angry silence.

“Whatever Darkie.” Air Raid muttered as they turned on to Cyclone’s street in the lower quarter of the Residential District. What the ponies in her neighbourhood would call ‘Commoner’s Row’. “Fans are stupid.”

‘Breathe Darkie, just breathe. She doesn’t mean it.’ Endeavouring to heed her own advice, the pure white mare breathed through her nose and counted backwards from ten to one. Mercifully, before anypony or anything else could annoy her older friend, they arrived at Cyclone’s front door. “Are you gonna knock, or has the door upset you too?”

“Stupid door.” Air Raid stomped up the little pathway and not so much knocked on the door as she did kick the front door with her left forehoof, making it rattle in its hinges.

“Hey guys!” Cyclone’s grinning face smiled at the lime green pegasus and the pure white unicorn standing on her doorstep in the mid-morning sun. “Won’t you come on…” the jet black pegasus stepped aside as Air Raid stomped on inside without waiting for the invitation to be completed or sparing the nappy wearing mare a second glance. “In.” Cyclone gave Darkstar a questioning look as she followed her friend inside the moderately sized two bedroom townhouse.

“Darkie,” Cyclone stopped the unicorn in her little entrance hallway. “Is she okay?”

“Well…” Darkstar mulled it over, deciding what and how much to tell her friend. “I’ll just say she’s been better, hun.”

“Are we doing this or what?” Air Raid’s voice carried from the living room.

“I uh, I see what you mean, Darkie.” Cyclone stepped aside to let the unicorn go ahead of her and she followed after, her candy pink nappy crinkling as she walked. When they entered the living room, she saw Air Raid sullenly flicking through a TV magazine. “Listen, Raid, we don’t have to go ahead with this, if you aren’t in the mood, babes.”

Air Raid was about to deliver a very spiteful retort to the jet black pegasus when she caught the look Darkstar was giving her. The lime green mare sighed. Darkie was right. Cyclone was her friend, she had trusted her with this very intimate thing, and the very least she could do was step up and do right by her friend. “Cy, I’m sorry sweetie. We’ll do it, I did promise you some nana time, so let’s do it. Are you ready?”

“Oh yups, I’m ready Raid.” Cyclone did a very happy hoof dance in her living room. “I’ve got a clean nappy on, everything’s ready in the nursery; the potions are ready, there’s foal food mashed up for you, there’s a few bottles of mare’s milk ready and I’ve got all the supplies you’ll need.”

“Alrighty then, Cy, let’s go through to the nursey and do it.” Air Raid couldn’t help but smile at her younger friend’s enthusiasm. “Lead us to the nursery sweetie.”

In the nursery, Air Raid’s spirits were lifted a little more. Cyclone had gone all out. The walls were decorated a vibrant bright pink, with murals of various animals all over. Pride of place was given to a very large play pen, easily big enough to accommodate up to three fully grown ponies and their toys – of which there were building blocks and many Power Pony plushes scattered around. Behind that was a crib, also decorated in Power Pony plushes, most notably her favourite, Radiance. Over on the left wall opposite a large bay window, was a changing station with all the necessary supplies, and a large adult sized high chair.

Cyclone’s belly rumbled as they walked into the nursery. “Hungry are we Cy?” Air Raid giggled.

“Well, yeah, I haven’t eaten yet,” Cyclone replied with a smile. “I was waiting for my nana to feed me in my high chair.”

“Darkie, if you wouldn’t mind putting our little filly in the high chair please.” The white unicorn smiled and lit her horn, levitating the jet black pegasus over to the waiting high chair while Air Raid trotted over to the supply station and came back with a colourful pink tray with the two potions on them and the mushed up summer vegetables in a bowl.

As she was set down in the big pink high chair, Cyclone obediently lifted her forelegs so Darkstar could lower the tray and secure her in her seat. Playfully, Cyclone wiggled in her high chair and began noisily banging her forehooves on the tray. “Feed me!” She giggled until Air Raid stopped in front of her and gave her a look, complete with a raised eyebrow.

“You aren’t a filly yet, Cy.” Air Raid tried to scold her but her giggle ruined the effect. “Now,” she said as she set the tray down, “potions first, then Nana Raid will give you your num-nums.”

Grinning an eager grin, Cyclone reached for the blue potion first, which in a few seconds would impair her co-ordination and bowel control. “Ugh…” She winced as the syrupy potion slid down her throat. She then picked up the red vial and quickly swallowed that in turn, this one would regress her mental faculties. Outwardly there was no sign of any change; Cyclone just sat there in her high chair. Inside was where the potions were taking their respective effects. Already the red potion was starting to block and inhibit the flow of the neurons in her brain, slowing her thought processes and dimming her understanding.

“Cy, you know that stuff is narcotic, right?” Darkstar said with a degree of concern for friend.

“Na…Nar…cot…ic?” Cyclone had tilted her head to one side, processing the long word syllable by syllable as if it was the first time she’d ever said it. Somewhere in the back of her brain she knew what it meant, but like a computer with a broken link, she couldn’t access it. “What’s that Nana?”

“It’s a long word that little fillies don’t need to worry about sweetie.” Air Raid smiled as she scooped up the glass vials before the newly fillyised mare could break them and hurt herself. Returning to the high chair, the lime green mare deftly tied a pink bib with the words "Nana’s Little Filly" on it in bright blue bubble lettering around Cyclone’s neck. She looked down at the bib, then back up to Air Raid with an adorable little frown on her face as she tried unsuccessfully to read the simple words upside down.

"Aw, don’t worry about it, sweetie," Air Raid said, tickling underneath her chin with a forehoof. "Now open wide! Here come the num-nums!” She held a spoon up to Cyclone’s mouth, and the filly obediently opened her mouth. Her obedience was rewarded with a tasty spoonful of mushed veggies. Cyclone gave her nana a happy little "mmm" as she chewed her veggie mush thoroughly. As soon as she finished it, another full spoon was held out for her, and she was more than happy to open up again. It wasn't long until she'd finished her entire bowl.

"Is the little filly's tummy all full?" Air Raid asked, a wide smile on her muzzle. She had to admit to herself that this whole ‘nana’ thing was quite therapeutic. And right now she needed that.

Cyclone nodded in response, giving a little "mmm." She tried to pat her full belly, but the tray of the high chair was in her way. Air Raid let out a giggle at her filly as Darkstar obligingly floated the now empty bowl over to the supply station. The jet black mare saw her nana laughing at her, and in her filly-ish mind she wondered what she’d done wrong. She didn’t like being laughed at. She never had. Hot tears welled up in her blue eyes and she let out a pathetic sniffle.

In her high chair, Cyclone bit her lip in an attempt to not cry, but before she could sniffle again, Air Raid had her wrapped up in a warm hug. Helpfully, Darkstar further diffused the situation by levitating over a full bottle of milk. "Oh nooooo," Air Raid cooed, picking her filly up in her forelegs and holding her tight. “Is Nana’s filly okay?”

Cyclone nodded in response, a single sniffle escaping her along with a few tears. She nestled into the lime green fur. Her nana’s body heat calming her right down.

"All better?" Air Raid asked gently after a few moments.

Cyclone looked up at her nana, somehow, it seemed as if the thing that had caused her to cry and become upset had magically disappeared. She sniffled once more and gave Air Raid a smile. "Better."

"Nana's hugs always do the trick!" Air Raid said, holding onto the hug. "Now c'mon. I've got a nice, warm bottle waiting for a cute little filly. Does that sound good?"

"Mm-hmm!" Cyclone replied, her smile widening in her nana’s hug. Obligingly, Darkstar floated the bottle of milk from the high chair over to Air Raid’s waiting right forehoof.

"You get comfy, okay sweetie?” Air Raid smiled as she rested Cyclone’s upper body across her lap and supported her neck in her left foreleg. Cyclone allowed herself to be held, and the bottle was brought in front of her face by Air Raid’s right hoof, and she opened her mouth, ready to accept it. The amber nipple was placed in her mouth, and she pursed her lips around it. She gave it a little suckle, and was rewarded with a trickle of delicious milk. No more prompting was needed as Cyclone continued to suckle on the bottle, her suckling soon becoming autonomous. She felt Air Raid begin to stroke her mane with the primary feathers of her left wing as she drank, and she gazed up into Air Raid’s grey eyes as she suckled, feeling utterly content.

Getting well into her role, Air Raid looked back at her friend, giving her that warm smile that told her that everything was going to be alright. Cyclone never broke eye contact with Air Raid, that caring gaze serving to help her relax as she plowed through the contents of the bottle. "Mmm!" Air Raid said gently, pulling the bottle away and rubbing her right forehoof lightly over Cyclone’s nose once the bottle was empty. "Nummy?”

Cyclone responded by burping loudly in Air Raid’s face, causing her to burst out laughing. Cyclone’s lips were still pursed, and Darkstar swiftly intervened, levitating over a very pink butterfly shaped pacifier between them and as Cyclone immediately took to sucking on the pacifier the pure white unicorn floated the empty bottle over to the supply station and put it in the steriliser.

"Does ickle Cy like her pacifier?" Air Raid asked, giving her mane a playful ruffle with her wingtip. Cyclone just nodded, unwilling to answer verbally, lest she drop the comforting pacifier.

Darkstar giggled and she carefully lifted her friend in her glowing yellow magical aura. "You've got a little more time to play, but then it's time for an ickle filly’s nap, alright?" The white unicorn smiled as her friend nodded once more and, just as carefully as she lifted her up, Darkstar deposited the black pegasus in the oversized playpen.

In the playpen, Cyclone spent a good few minutes just bouncing up and down, the mare-turned-filly thoroughly enjoying the feel of the padded mat, and the feel of the nappy as it scrunched and crinkled into her bottom. Cyclone spent a good while just patting the soft mat with the toe of her hoof before the very colourful building blocks caught her attention. She saw the Power Pony plushes and a fun game presented itself to her.

As she clumsily grabbed one bright red block and set it on top of another, this one a blue, she began to make a little building block house while Air Raid, happy that her friend was safe in the playpen, got up and walked over to Darkstar. While she had been busy with Cyclone, the white unicorn had made them both a coffee each. This time Air Raid didn’t ignore it, and took a very grateful sip.

Air Raid took a second, deeper sip, and reached into her bag by the supply station and retrieved her cell phone. She was about to hit the re-dial button with her hoof when Darkstar levitated the phone out of her reach. “No Raid,” she said simply when the lime green pegasus gave her a puzzled questioning look. “Not here, not now. Do you think Cy needs you shouting in her current state?”

“Darkie…” Air Raid turned and watched her friend happily playing in the playpen. She had used all of the bright primary coloured blocks in her little house, and in her left hoof she held her Mane-iac plush while in the other she had her Radiance plush. The black mare currently had them both in a vicious battle over the block house, even supplying the sound effects as the Mane-iac knocked the house down. Radiance then delivered a devastating fluffy uppercut that knocked her opponent out of Cyclone’s hoof.

“No, you’re right.” Air Raid decided as her friend let loose a delighted squeal around the pacifier in her mouth and she started to rebuild the block house to play again. “This is Cy’s time. I get it.”

“Thank you Raid.” Darkstar returned her friend’s phone to her saddle bag and they drunk their coffees while they watched their friend completely at ease and playing in the pen.

The game with the building blocks and the Power Ponies managed to keep Cyclone’s interest for a good long while, Air Raid and Darkstar managed a second coffee each, until a new feeling distracted her. It was a tell-tale pressure in her lower belly. All the milk that she'd drank was finally making itself known, and without realising it she instinctively relaxed her bladder muscles and released her hot stream of pee into her pink nappy. As she proceeded to soak the nappy the pink front turned to a dull yellow colour. For a few moments, she just sat there, staring at the plushies she held in her hooves as she felt the flow continue, the thick padding thirstily absorbing it all and swelling between her hind legs.

At a loss as to what to do, Cyclone just sat there as her stream ended and the swollen sodden garment pressed warmly against her crotch. After a few moments more, she dropped her two plushies into the half assembled block house and she sniffled once, then immediately burst into floods of very genuine tears.

“Raid, you’re up.” Darkstar nudged her friend’s shoulder. “Looks like a nappy change.”

The lime green mare put her coffee down, and within moments, she was by Cyclone’s side. Wasting no time at all, Air Raid had her friend out of the playpen and, holding her in her forehooves, had her over to the changing mat on top of the supply station. "It's okay, ickle Cy," Air Raid cooed, “you're just wet. It's nothing to be worried about. Nana Raid will take care of it.” It took a lot of hugging and cooing, but Cyclone eventually managed to calm down.

On the changing mat, Cyclone let out a few more sniffles which were quickly taken care off when Air Raid popped the pacifier back in her mouth. The sucking soothed her as Air Raid undid the tapes on the sides of her sodden nappy. Cyclone couldn’t help but shiver a bit as the warmth of the soaked padding left her, flopping onto the table with a sodden thump, but a little ruffling of her mane by a lime green primary feather soon served to calm her down again. Working quickly, Air Raid balled the wet nappy up and disposed of it before producing some foal wipes which she held in her hoof and very gently wipe her friend down.

Once that was done and Cyclone was wiped down, Air Raid presented a new, somewhat thicker, clean nappy to her. Cyclone stared at this new nappy. She didn’t notice it was thicker than the one before it, all she was bothered about were the Power Ponies on the front. "Up we go, Cy!" Air Raid sang, tapping her flank just near her cutie mark. Being a good filly, Cyclone did just that, eagerly she watched the thick diaper slide under her. As soon as she felt the thick clean warm padding under her rump, she lowered herself down and found herself entranced by just how thick this nappy diaper was. She laid there quite still as Air Raid proceeded to add a generous amount of foal powder around and between her hind legs. The lime green mare then folded the nappy up between Cyclone’s hind legs and secured the tape on both sides.

Cyclone sat up and patted her new padding with her forehoof, looking immensely pleased at the feeling. She looked up to Air Raid with a look of pure foalish approval as she patted away at it.

"Nana Raid knew you'd like it," Air Raid said with a smile, booping her black nose with a hoof. "Now come on. One more bottle and then it's off to nap time, okay Cy?" The little filly nodded obediently, and giggled and squirmed as she was lifted off of the table in Darkstar’s glowing yellow aura and deposited carefully into Air Raid’s waiting hooves. These hooves were quickly filled by a second full bottle that was again floated over to Air Raid’s right forehoof. Cyclone let out a very cute little pout as her pacifier was taken away, but it quickly faded and was forgotten about as the nipple of the bottle replaced it, and she curled up happily against her nana and began to drink her fill.

"I’m glad you don’t drink cider that quickly!" Air Raid laughed once the bottle was completely empty and playfully she patted Cyclone’s full tummy. This time she was ready for the burp, and ducked out of the way just in time. Both Air Raid and Cyclone giggled, and then the black mare let out a very big yawn.

"Uh-oh, looks like somepony's finally sleepy!" Darkstar said and, though Cyclone did her very best to shake her head and vehemently deny this claim, another yawn and a set of droopy eyelids solidly disproved the case she was trying to make.

"All good ickle fillies need their sleep," Air Raid told her gently but firmly. "And if you're a good little filly and let me put you to sleep, I'll let you wear this!"

Cyclone’s blue eyes went wide as saucers when she caught sight of the prize that Darkstar presented to her from her saddle bag. The surprise – which neither mare had told Cyclone about before hoof – was a mid-blue hoofed onesie that had been designed to look just her favourite Power Pony Radiance’s costume, complete with light blue diamonds in the right places and a yellow fabric necklace sewn into it. It even had a Radiance mask attached to the hood. Barely able to contain her excitement, Cyclone let out a loud delighted squeal.

"We kinda thought you'd like that!" Air Raid said with a grin to the filly and a wink to Darkstar. "But only sleepy fillies are allowed to wear it. So I'll ask again, are you a sleepy little filly?"

"I'm a sleepy filly!" Cyclone squeaked quickly, adding a huge yawn for emphasis.

"MmMmm," Air Raid said with a wink. "C'mon then, ickle filly." She took the garment from the white unicorn and held the Radiance onesie open for Cyclone, who waddled over as quickly as she could with the bulk of the nappy between her hind legs. It took a bit of effort, what Cyclone being as squirmy as she was, but in very short order she soon found herself nice and cosy in the soft fleecy onesie.

"My," Darkstar giggled, "who's the cutest little Power Pony in Maretropolis?”

Cyclone tilted her head, unsure. "... Radiance?" she asked.

"You!" Air Raid exclaimed, wrapping her filly in a tight hug. Cyclone squealed happily and hugged back as excitedly as her sleepy state would allow.

"Just you wait," Darkstar smiled, “when you’re all grown-up, you'll be the best Power Pony ever!”

Held in Air Raid’s forehooves, Cyclone just nodded in response. Then, she felt herself lifted once again in Darkstar’s yellow aura and very carefully indeed the sleepy filly was levitated across the nursery and over to the large pink crib. As she was lowered into the soft padded mattress she smiled up at Air Raid who had trotted over to be there with her. Her fatigue, combined with the comfort of her diaper and her fleecy onesie had her eyelids drooping straight away.

"You've been a good ickle filly, Cy," Air Raid whispered to her as she pulled up the thin little comforter up over her shoulders. “Sweet dreams Cy.” A few moments later, when her friend was sleeping peacefully, Air Raid got up from the crib and, making sure the foal monitor was turned on, she left the nursey with Darkstar flipping off the light switch as she followed close behind her.

“Alright,” Darkstar sighed as she flopped on Cyclone’s couch. “Now you can call Wily.” The pure white mare lit her horn and from the nursery she levitated her friend’s cell phone.

“Thanks Darkie.” Air Raid took her phone from her friend’s aura and flopped next to her on the couch. “That Radiance onesie was a touch of genius! Where’d you get it from?”

“Ebay is a wonderful thing.” Darkstar smiled a satisfied smile as she relaxed into the comfy couch. “You did very well with Cy, by the way.”

“Hmm…” Air Raid murmured as she hit the re-dial button on her phone.

“Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you. The roses have wilted, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl's empty, and so is your head. The roses stink, sorta like sheep but leave your name, number, and message after the beep. The roses are molding, the violets are rotten and I might call you back, if I haven't forgotten.”

“Luna damn it!” Losing her temper, Air Raid threw her phone across the living room, only for it to be caught in a yellow aura before it could hit anything and smash.

“That won’t solve anything, Raid, now will it?” Darkstar sighed as she placed the cell phone on the coffee table, safely out of her troubled friend’s reach. She gave Air Raid a sideways glance, and she saw that the lime green mare was on the verge of erupting. Something she didn’t want for a number of reasons. Chief among them being it wouldn’t be fair on Cyclone to wake her up with a shouting fit.

Darkstar knew she had to calm her friend down. She was going to cast the Wildfire illusion – as much as she didn’t want to – when another idea came to her. A week ago she had asked Air Raid if she had truly loved Wildfire. The distraught pegasus had affirmed that yes, she had. So, sat here on her friend’s couch, the white unicorn decided to put that claim to the test. Turning her head away, she surreptitiously lit her horn and cast her most powerful illusion.

When she felt the tingling magic all over her fur, Darkstar knew the spell had worked. Now all that remained was to test its results. She tenderly placed her white hoof on Air Raid’s foreleg. “Air Raid…”

“What the…” Air Raid looked up from the living room floor, and her jaw dropped. There was a yellow hoof resting on her foreleg. In place of the pure white unicorn, there was her marefriend sat nestling up to her on the couch. “W-Wily…you came back!” At first she was convinced this was just Darkstar’s illusion, until she leant in and nuzzled the diminutive pegasus’s cheek.

She smelled like Wildfire, she was Wildfire’s size. “It’s really you!” Air Raid really didn’t care how she had got here. She saw her facial scars and didn’t care. “Wily…your scars…you look so beautiful! Please, please forgive me, I love you so much!” Closing her grey eyes, Air Raid draped her forelegs around ‘Wildfire’s’ neck and lovingly kissed her scars where her eyes used to be.

‘Well…this is awkward.’ Darkstar thought as she was hugged and her eyelids were kissed affectionately. ‘At least now I know for sure. The ‘Desire’ spell never lies.’

~ ~ ~

“Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you. The roses have wilted, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl's empty, and so is your head. The roses stink, sorta like sheep but leave your name, number, and message after the beep. The roses are molding, the violets are rotten and I might call you back, if I haven't forgotten.”

"Oh for buck's sake, damnit!” Air Raid slammed her coffee mug down hard on the low coffee table in her living room, snapping off the handle and cracking it open, leaking the hot contents onto the wooden surface and dripping to her hardwood floor. “It’s been a month now Cy, why haven’t we found her?” The lime green mare fumed, punching the table with her other hoof and sending the tray of freshly baked chocolate and cinnamon haycakes to the floor as well. “OOW! What do you think?”

“Raid, what I think,” Cyclone smiled as she shifted her position on her seating pad opposite her friend and carefully set down her own mug, “Is that you need to calm down. Seriously babe that’s the third mug you’ve broken since I’ve been here; and I’ve only been here four hours.”

“Oh ha, ha Cy,” Air Raid reached for the roll of paper towels she kept suspiciously close to hoof. “You know full well what I meant.”

“Yes hun, I know what you meant.” Cyclone sighed and reached a foreleg down to scoop up the spilled haycakes, helping herself to one as she did so. “I think we can’t do much more than we are doing; we’ve contacted the mayor of Filly, we’ve phoned the police out there, we’ve got in touch with the royal guard barracks out there, Tartarus Raid we even got Hot Spot to talk with the fire teams in Filly. Brightstar’s skyped his aunt and uncle over there, so…what more can we do?”

“Ugh…I know Cy, I know.” Air Raid groaned as she got up and trotted with her broken mug to the trash can. “It just feels like we should be doing more, y’know?” She asked rhetorically, dumping the fragments of mug into the can. “I just can’t shake the feeling she’s in trouble Cy.”

“Now there,” Cyclone smiled thinly as she took two vials; one blue, one red, from her saddle bag. “I know exactly what you mean. I can’t shake that feeling either babe.”

Trotting back to the living room and her seating pad Air Raid eyed the two potions warily. “Do you have to drink those things Cy?”

Earnestly the black pegasus nodded. “Uh huh. I’ve got a double dose for this weekend.” Cyclone had a glint of excitement in her blue eyes that unnerved Air Raid no end.

“Um…why, exactly? Not that I don’t mind being your Nana, you know I’ll do it, but won’t a stronger dosage make you even younger or something?” She asked uncertainly.

“No you silly filly,” Cyclone giggled, “I’ve got the age set around three years old. The stronger dose just means they’ll last longer that’s all.” She smiled, uncorking the two vials and setting them in front of her.

“And, why would you want that hun?”

“Simple,” Cyclone explained. “You’re leaving for that big race season in Filly mid-week right? You’ll be gone for three months. I want to get my bits worth for this weekend, today and tomorrow, maybe even till Monday if they last that long, before you go. Is that cool?” She asked hopefully, bouncing a little on her seating pad. “C’mon Raid, please! Pretty please with a really big cherry on top, please!”

“Hehehehe,” Air Raid chuckled at her friend’s desperate begging. She did enjoy teasing the other pegasus. “Well, seeing as my little foal asked so nicely, I don’t see why not. I’ll take you to the park I think today, for a Saturday in November it’s pretty warm, so drink up it’s already mid-day.”

“Yay!” Cyclone shrugged off her saddle bag, she wouldn’t be needing that as Air Raid had her own already made up with the necessary supplies they’d need, plus as a foal she was unbalanced enough as it was without the added weight of her bag. As was now her custom she reached for the blue potion first, which in a few seconds would impair her co-ordination and bowel control. “Ugh…” She winced as the syrupy potion slid down her throat. “It looks like moonshine but it don’t taste like it.”

Air Raid took a breath and was about to comment when her friend cut across her. “Don’t start Raid, alright? I know what I’m doing. I trust this and I trust you.” Cyclone then swallowed the red liquid, grimacing even more than she had with the blue. Air Raid paid it no mind any more. This was the fifth time she’d witnessed it and bizarrely it was starting to get normal. Outwardly there was no sign of any change; there never was. Inside was where the potions were taking their respective effects. Already the red potion was starting to block and inhibit the flow of the neurons in her brain, slowing her thought processes and dimming her understanding.

“Cy, you know that stuff is narcotic, right?” The lime green mare picked up the now-empty vial that had held the red potion and gave it a sniff, crinkling her muzzle. She’d done a little digging into these potions, and didn’t like what she had discovered.

“Na…Nar…cot…ic?” Cyclone had tilted her head to one side, processing the long word syllable by syllable as if it was the first time she’d ever said it. Somewhere in the back of her brain she knew what it meant, but like a computer with a broken link, she couldn’t access it. “What’s that Nana?”

Air Raid sighed deeply and rubbed her temple with a hoof. It concerned her that the potions were already taking effect. Five weeks ago they’d had to wait a good fifteen minutes. Now it was practically instantaneous. “Cy…it means ‘addictive’,” the green mare let out a giggle at the blank look she received. “The more you have the more you want…oh, never mind.” She shook her head, realising she was getting nowhere fast. “C’mon little filly, let’s go to the park.”

"The park, the park!” Cyclone bounced happily on the pad she was sitting on, clapping her forehooves together excitedly like, well like a little filly, which at that point she was.

Air Raid smiled warmly as she wrapped the thick padded strap around her filly’s left forehoof, securing it with the velcro end. She attached a similar band to her own forehoof, this time her right one. Between them was an extendable plastic wire linking the two straps together. Air Raid had quickly learnt to her cost that this simple device was necessary when taking an actual foal for a walk, as she’d underestimated how fast her filly could run off on her own.

‘Oh damnit!’ She thought as she juggled her house keys in one hoof while Cyclone pulled eagerly on the other. Five weeks of doing this and she still didn’t know how real parents did it. ‘Real foals aren’t Cy’s size, that’s got something to do with it’, Air Raid sniggered to herself as she finally got her front door locked. Thankfully the park was only a few streets away from her place, with only one main road to cross. “Cy! Bad filly! Walk with Nana Raid or we go back.”

Immediately Cyclone stopped pulling on the hoof strap and contained herself to a trot at her Nana’s right side. “Sowwy Nana, I be good!”

“Good filly,” Air Raid smiled and extended her right wing over her friend for comfort as they approached the four lane wide main road; she’d also learnt pretty quickly that loud noises scared filly-Cyclone.

Cyclone in turn huddled close to her Nana while she pressed the button with her left forehoof that activated the crossing point. “Cars scawy Nana…” the black mare whimpered into Air Raid’s flank.

“Hey…hey, it’s okay little filly,” Air Raid whispered into Cyclone’s ear as the cars stopped and she guided her to the central reservation. “Tell your Nana what you’re gonna do at the park.”

Distracted from the speeding vehicles in front of her Cyclone giggled and clapped her hooves together. “I’mma go on the slide and roundabout and the sand-box!” She babbled excitedly, making Air Raid chuckle at her.

“C’mon then little one,” still chuckling Air Raid steered her friend over to the other side of the street. “Isn’t the slide a little too high for my filly though?” She asked with a grin.

“Um…” Cyclone mumbled, her usual boundless confidence reined in by the inhibiting effects of the potions, “Maybe Nana. I play in the sand-box. That’s on the floor. Not up high.”

“Hmm…I think that’s a good idea Cy.” Air Raid agreed, removing her wing from her friend’s back and giving her a quick feathery scratch behind her ear. “Who’s a clever filly?”

Cyclone scrunched up her muzzle, looking thoroughly adorable as she mulled over the answer to the question. “Me!” She squealed, her eyes wide with barely contained excitement. “I’m a clever filly!”

“Yes, yes you are, my clever little filly.” Air Raid tousled her filly’s mane and removed the strap around her hoof as they passed through the open wrought-iron gates of the Residential District’s East side park. Thankfully, she noted with a cursory glance around, for a Saturday it wasn’t very busy. She assumed it was due to families starting their Hearths Warming shopping. “Go play Cy!”

“Yaaaaaay!” Freed from her restraint Cyclone shot off like a rocket towards the sand-box, making her caretaker giggle as she almost tripped over her hooves twice on the way.

Happy that Cyclone was headed for the sand-box Air Raid trotted over to one of the three nearby benches, the one only occupied by a lone middle aged unicorn stallion holding a newspaper in his pale blue magic. “Hey, sorry to bother you, is it cool if I sit with here?” She asked of the dark blue stallion sitting on the bench.

Looking up from his paper the stallion folded it away and smiled. “A good looking young mare asks is it cool if she can share my bench? Oooh I think I can stand that.” He gestured with a hoof as he magically floated away the newspaper into his bag. “I’m Diamond Mint, my lovely mare, pleased to meet you.”

"Air Raid and, while I might be lovely,” Air Raid smiled, taking a seat on the bench and making herself comfortable next to Diamond Mint, “I like mares. Sorry my handsome pony.”

“Alas! I’ve been shot down, oh woe is me!” Diamond drew his lower foreleg to his brow in a dramatic swoon. “How shall I ever recover from this heartbreak?” He asked with a wink to the pegasus sat next to him.

“Well, I’m not stopping you looking, if that’ll make you feel any better?” Air Raid returned the wink, swishing her tail suggestively.

“I say, that’s perfectly charitable of you Ma’am,” Diamond replied, affecting a perfect imitation of a stereotypical Canterlot accent only usually heard in comedy clubs - or the actual very upper classes. “But, as one’s dear Mama is wont to say,” the stallion carried on with a twinkle in his blue eye, “if you can’t play with the toy then don’t ogle the box it comes in.” He finished his quote, dropping the affected accent and laughing out loud which in turn made the pegasus next to him laugh as well.

“S-so…so y-you’re a d-dad?” She asked through fits of giggles.

“Why as it happens yes I am, is it that obvious?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Hmm…no, but you do have a bag of foal supplies next to you, you reek of foal powder and you keep looking at that little light blue filly in the sand-box.” Air Raid giggled, “So, it’s just a guess…”

Diamond Mint laughed. "A proper little detective pony aren't we?" He asked rhetorically through a wide smile. “Yes, that little unicorn filly is my youngest foal, Cinnabelle; she’ll be three a couple of days after Hearths Warming. So, which one’s yours…hey…what’s that mare think she’s playing at?”

Immediately Air Raid picked up on Diamond’s change of tone and looked to where he was looking: the sand-box, now occupied by Cyclone and the actual filly. Her gut fell through her ass when she saw them there together. “Oh…um…yeah, that uh…that would be my filly.” She uttered with no small hint of embarrassment present in her voice.

“Your filly?” He asked incredulously, any hint of humour long gone. “Care to explain, Air Raid?”

“Well uh…she’s my friend; her name’s Cyclone, she’s nineteen and she attends Canterlot University. I’ve known her for about four years and she has a…well, she has a…adult foal fetish…” Air Raid’s voice got quieter and quieter until she was silent and looking at her hooves.

“An adult foal…wait…I’ve heard of that.” Diamond Mint replied, his tone softening a little. “My sister’s friend is into all that weirdness.”

“I’ll admit I don’t see the appeal of it but I wouldn’t say it was weird, mate.” Air Raid smiled, encouraged slightly by the stallion’s softer tone. “We all like different things don’t we?” She asked nervously as she watched them both playing happily together in the sand-box. “They uh…seem to be getting on alright, don’t they?”

“That they do, Air Raid.” Diamond said warily, not taking his eyes off of his filly and Cyclone busying themselves making a sand castle, both clapping their hooves, justifiably proud of their achievement.

“Yay Belle!” Cyclone clapped her hooves in celebration of their little sand castle standing in the sand-box. “You did it!” She started to press the slightly wet sand together with her hooves, fashioning a rough tower.

“You did too Cy!” Cinnabelle squealed with delight as she watched her new friend create this, in her eyes at least, masterpiece.

"We did it both us!” Cyclone giggled as she fell backwards in the sand-box, knocking over her newly created tower.

“Aww Cy you tower!” Cinnabelle pouted at the loss of such a vital structure. What was going to keep the sand pony princess safe in her castle now?

“Nggh!” Cyclone grunted as she righted herself in the sand. “It ok, I build ‘gain.” She giggled and demonstrated her claim, pressing the crumbled sand back together.

“Ooh!” Cinnabelle gasped in wonderment and clapped her hooves together excitedly at the reconstructed tower. “You pretty clever Cy.”

Cyclone was having so much fun she didn't hear the ‘clever’ bit. The black mare heard the ‘pr’ of ‘pretty’ and looked up, smiling at her little friend. “Pwetty…I pwetty?” She asked, her eyes wide and her filly’s brain trying to process what she'd heard. Cinnabelle had called her pretty. She knew she was her friend; only friends told each other things like that. Something fired from somewhere in the depths of her mind, somewhere that ordinarily would've been tightly locked away. A spark of an impulse that connected with neurons in her head. She'd called Air Raid ‘pretty’ and Air Raid had kissed her. You call ponies pretty they kiss you. Ponies call you pretty you kiss them. The logic seemed very simple to Cyclone.

Cinnabelle had called her pretty.

Cyclone knew what to do.

“Hey!” Diamond Mint’s angry yell almost made Air Raid drop her mobile phone. Distracted from her call to Slingshot finalising details of the race and trip to Fillydelphia, she looked up and her jaw fell open. “What the buck’s going on?”

Cyclone with her lips very clearly pressed to Cinnabelle’s blushing cheek was what was going on.

‘Oh no, Cyclone! What've you done!?’ She thought, full of shocked disbelief. “Hey…Hey! Diamond I'm sure it's not what it looks like…”

“Not what it looks like!?” Diamond Mint had had shot to his hooves and in the space of heartbeats had angrily covered the distance between the bench and the sand-box. “It looks like your friend is molesting my daughter, is what it looks like!”

"Wh-what? N-no, no you aren't are you Cy?” Air Raid asked desperately, momentarily forgetting under stress that her friend had taken the potions.

“Daddy my friend did kiss me!” Cinnabelle squeaked happily, entirely unaware of the situation.

Cyclone looked up in confusion, unsure why her Nana and this stallion were shouting at her all of a sudden. “Belle says I pwetty. So I kiss her.” She finished with pride that made Air Raid facehoof.

“Yes Cinnabelle I know sweetie, I saw her,” Diamond muttered through gritted teeth, picking the filly up in his pale blue magical aura.

Air Raid put herself between Cyclone and Diamond, in an attempt to diffuse the situation. “Diamond, mate, can't we work this out?”

“What's to work out? Your pervert of a friend kissed my filly and you’re trying to smooth it over! I don't think so!” Diamond started to stomp away, Cinnabelle starting to whimper as she floated along next to him and Cyclone on the verge of tears in the sand-box as well. “You’ll hear from the police about this, Celestia help me if you don't!”

For a brief moment there was silence, a stunned silence, except for the low whimpers from Cyclone. Air Raid had one hoof to her head and the other one her friend’s shoulder. The very last thing she needed was more trouble with the police, after all it was only a few months since she’d been arrested at the University for ‘exposing herself to minors’, now to be involved in this as well? And, what of Cy? As far as she knew her record was spotless but something like this, it would follow her around for the rest of her life. “Raid? Air Raid, you there?” Slingshot’s voice sounded from the speaker of her phone however she was still too stunned to answer.

“Na…Nana…has I done a bad?” Cyclone looked up at her Nana Raid with quivering lips, her blue eyes full of tears.

“I…uh…hey ’Shot, I’ll…call you back bro, this is a bad time right now…just, carry on in Filly as you see fit, you know what you’re doing.” She hung up and squeezed her friend’s shoulder again with a thin watery smile. “Yeah sweetie, you did a bad, real bad.”

“B…Bu…But…” Cyclone stammered, starting to cry as she gave way to the tears she had been barely holding back. “I…I don’t mean to!” She howled into her hooves.

“I know Cy, I know.” Air Raid, with some considerable effort on her part, lifted the bawling pony onto her back and started to slowly walk back to her home. “Let’s get you home.” At the very least she hoped the damned potions would wear off before the police came knocking.

~ ~ ~

It was six in the p.m., the late afternoon sun was streaming through Air Raid’s living room windows. On the street outside her palatial house in the Upper Noble quarter, a pale blue police car pulled up silently alongside her front door. It had been two hours since the incident with Cyclone and the filly Cinnabelle in the park, and an hour since the potions had worn off. Despite Cyclone’s claim that a higher dosage would last longer. They had however had an adverse unforeseen side effect.

As the two police ponies, a unicorn mare and a pegasus stallion, walked up to the house Cyclone was sat on Air Raid’s couch in floods of tears where she had been for the past hour. Darkstar, who had done an amazing effort to clear up the substantial mess that had occupied Air Raid’s home these past few weeks, just happened to glance out of her friend’s window at the right moment. “Uh…Raid?” She spoke up, attracting the older mare’s attention from her tight hug, “you’re about to have guests, hun.”

Concerned, Air Raid asked, “who is it, Darkie?”

“Well…I’m guessing by the squad car markings and the ponies’ uniforms, it’s Canterlot PD.” Darkstar replied without looking away from the window.

Cyclone didn’t look up, she had her head in her hooves. Her usually neat turquoise mane unkempt and straggly. “Oh…oh sw-sweet L-Luna!” She gasped in between her sobs.

“All right,” Air Raid cooed, her lime green hoof stroking her friend’s back. “Cy it’ll be all right. We knew this was coming. Everypony, calm down.” They may have been expecting it, but the knock at the door still made them all jump. Non more so than the two mares on the couch. Air Raid really didn’t want to be charged as an accessory. “Aaah, Darkie can you get that, please?”

“Sure thing, Raid.”

“Calm down!?” The black mare on the couch squeaked, looking up from her hooves to reveal a tear streaked face, her eyes all puffed up from her crying. “I’m gonna get sent down!”

Darkstar trotted over the living room and went into the small entrance hallway. Taking the doorknob in her glowing yellow aura she opened the door. “Officers,” she greeted them both with a polite bow, “good afternoon.”

The unicorn officer stepped forward and she held up her badge in her pale green magic. “I'm Officer Key.” The dark grey mare indicated her partner with a nod of her crimson maned head to the orange pegasus officer with an eggshell white mane next to her. "This is Officer Hoofbeat. Is Ms. Raid home?”

Darkstar studied the offered badges very carefully before nodding at them both. “Yes she is, please do come in.”

The two police ponies entered, following Darkstar’s invitation. Hoofbeat looked past the white unicorn and down the hallway to where Cyclone was sat with Air Raid on the couch. He followed motorsport, and knew Air Raid very well, if only by reputation. “Key, look, there she is.”

Key smiled a thin smile at Darkstar. “Thank you ma'am.” Then, a little louder she addressed the couch. “Ms. Raid, could you come here please?” Both officers were careful to stay inside the house just enough to allow the front door to close behind them.

“Um…” Darkstar flustered, not knowing really what to do. “Can I get you both a drink?” She offered eventually.

“No, thank you.” Officer Key replied tersely, and Darkstar took that as her cue to slink back down the short hallway to take over comforting Cyclone.

“Just stay calm, Cy okay?” Air Raid patted her distraught friend’s shoulder and sliding off of the couch, moved to where the two police ponies were waiting.

“Is that pony on your couch, Cyclone?” Officer Key asked without any preamble.

“Yes,” Air Raid nodded. “Yes she is.”

“Hmm…” Key noted the pink nappy that the jet black mare was wearing and nodded to her partner. “Is she in need of medical attention?”

“Well,” Air Raid replied somewhat uncomfortably, “she did have a bad experience with a potion, and I called my friend here to help me make sure she was okay.”

Hoofbeat quickly withdrew his notebook from his pale blue shirt pocket. “What kind of potion, Ms. Raid?” He asked, his pencil poised to take down notes.

Air Raid sighed. “Age regression.”

From her position perched on her friend’s couch, Cyclone could of course hear everything, even the scribbling of the pencil upon paper. She decided co-operation was the best angle. “It…it was a dual potion, officer.” She spoke up as Darkstar used her magic to dry her eyes and make her face at least a little presentable. “One regressed my mind, the other inhibited my bodily functions.”

Ignoring the jet black mare for the moment, while Hoofbeat continued to make his notes, Officer Key asked Air Raid, “is she a danger to herself or to others?”

“No.” Air Raid shook her head emphatically. “She is a very nice mare.”

When Hoofbeat had finished his note taking, the grey unicorn nodded to the orange pegasus and the younger officer walked through the hallway into the living room, doing his very absolute best not to fancolt out that he was at last in Air Raid’s house. Shame it was for this purpose. Cyclone heard the clop of the stallion’s hooves on the hardwood floor and looked up from her hooves. “Officer,” she mumbled in greeting.

“Ms. Cyclone?” The orange pegasus enquired politely. When she nodded a very miserable nod, the officer continued; “I'm placing you under arrest for endangerment to a minor and sexual misconduct with a minor. You have the right to free legal advice. If you require medical attention you have the right to that. You will be required to come with us to the precinct station where you will be formally charged and subject to questioning. You can notify somepony as to where you are being taken. Do you wish to notify anypony?”

“Is there a need for that? Really?” Darkstar objected loudly, not taking her white hoof from her stricken friend’s shoulder. “She didn’t know what she was doing!”

“Darkie…” Cyclone patted her friend’s thigh, “it’s fine hun, really.” Again, she glanced at the police pony in front of her. “There’s my dad, Tropical Storm.”

In the hallway, Key turned to Air Raid. “Is there a reason she hasn't notified her dad yet, Ms. Raid?” The pale grey unicorn asked.

“It just hasn't come up,” Air Raid replied honestly. “We were still trying to calm her down after the potion wore off.”

Hoofbeat spoke up. “You may contact your father now.” He said, not entirely unkindly. “You will be taken to the South Central Precinct.”

“Um…thanks.” The pink nappy that Cyclone was wearing crinkled and scrunched as she reached into her saddle bag and retrieved her cell phone in a trembling hoof. Thankfully Darkstar was there to hold her steady, and she dialled her dad’s number.

Mercifully, her dad answered the call on the second ring. “Cy,” Tropical Storm’s voice came from the speaker. “So nice of you to call. I'm sort of at work, what do you need?”

“D-Dad…” Cyclone had started crying again, in earnest at the sound of her dad’s voice. “I-I’ve been arrested. T-There w-was an incident earlier in the park.”

Tropical Storm’s easy good natured voice turned serious. “Okay, where are they taking you, Cy?”

“T-To the uh…the um…South Central Precinct.” Cyclone became unintelligible as she cried ever harder. “D-Dad it was th-those potions…I’m scared, dad.”

“Just co-operate and I'll be there with my lawyer.” Tropical Storm pressed a button to summon his second photographer to carry on the model’s shoot. “It will take about thirty minutes. Stay strong, okay?”

“I um…I got it dad, and thanks.”

“I’ll see you soon, Little Crow.”

At the mention of Cyclone’s family pet name, Darkstar couldn’t help but snicker. Her dad was the only one she ever allowed to call her that. If it had been possible, the black mare’s blush would’ve shown through her fur. “Dad…please don’t call me that…”

“Be there as soon as I can, Cy.” With that, Tropical Storm hung up, and for a few minutes after Cyclone held the phone and listened to the monotonous dial tone before she too put away her phone in her bag.

“Okay, officers, I’m all yours.”

“Will you come along peaceably?” Officer Hoofbeat asked. He had an idea of what the answer would be. In his few years in the service he had seen his share of criminals, and this obviously broken mare didn’t seem the violent type. “If you say, 'yes' I will not have to hobble you to include your wings.”

Cyclone answered miserably, “Yes, of course I will.”

“Ms. Raid,” Officer Key said to the lime green mare, “there are no charges against you at this time, but you are a material witness. I request that you keep the South Central Precinct informed of your location and point of contact should you leave Canterlot.”

“Fine,” Air Raid replied with a nod of her head. “How long will you keep her?”

“That will depend on her father's lawyer.” The pale grey unicorn responded quickly. “She could be held until there is a trial date or bail, if set, is met.”

Hoofbeat gently nudged Cyclone’s shoulder. “Please follow me to the car, Ms. Cyclone.”

“Don’t worry about it, Raid. I’ll be alright.” Cyclone got up from the couch where she had been sat weeping for the past hour. “Um…officer, can I please bring some supplies?”

“Anything you take will be confiscated at the station.” Hoofbeat informed her. “If it is deemed needed it will be given to you under supervision.”

“I um…” Cyclone almost broke down in tears again. “I need nappies and changing things, see um…I’m uh…I’m incontinent.” The admission damn near killed her to admit out loud. The three friend had discovered this about the jet black mare when the potions had worn off. In the past hour she had wet two nappies without realising it.

“Understood,” Hoofbeat said sympathetically as he made the notes in his pad. “But what I said stands.”

“I understand.” Cyclone nodded.

“Just take the bag, Cy.” Air Raid trotted over and gave her friend the changing bag she had taken with her on the trip to the park earlier. Taking the bag in her hooves, Cyclone slung it over her shoulder and nodded her readiness to both police ponies. With no further fuss, the group of three quietly left the house and Cyclone was gently put in the back of the pale blue squad car.

Air Raid and Darkstar watched the vanishing police car drive off until they couldn’t see it any more. “Raid…Raid, are you okay?” The white unicorn put her hoof comfortingly on her friend’s shoulder.

“No,” Air Raid replied sadly and walked past her friend to her open front door without giving her a second glance. “No…no Darkie, I've lost another friend.”

“Hey!” Darkstar hurried after her despondent friend. “Hey Raid, I’m still here aren’t I?”

Air Raid simply flopped on the couch. “Yeah, you are. For how much longer till you leave me too?” Dissolving into floods of tears, the distraught lime green pegasus buried her head in her couch seat and cried like a little filly.

Not sure what to do for the best, Darkstar lit her horn and she cast her illusion spell that created the ‘Wildfire’ and sent it over to hug her crying friend.