Fluttershy pushed the stroller up to Twilight’s castle, praying that nopony would give her new ‘foals’ weird looks and recognize them as foal-sized Lyra and Bon Bon. She gently pushed it up the steps, using her wings to help keep the process smooth and steady as she made her way to the top. Taking a deep breath, and hoping that Twilight would want to help out, she knocked on the big door and let herself in.

“Twilight?” she called out, lifting a hoof to her lips. “You home?” She cocked her head to the side and flicked her ears about. “Yeah, come on up! I’m in my study!” she heard Twilight call back. Fluttershy grinned as she looked down at her two charges. They were fast asleep, all snuggled up to each other with soft smiles upon their faces. Moving behind the stroller, she pushed it forward, up the stairs, and into Twilight’s study. “So...” She kicked the rug with a hoof as she bit her lip. “Uh... I... need you to watch Lyra and Bon Bon for a while... They’ve been... turned into foals.”

Twilight paused, her quill held up by her magic falling to the desk, smearing ink all across her nearly-finished report to Celestia. “What?” she asked, looking over her shoulder. “What are... Huh?” She cocked her head to the side as she saw just how small Lyra and Bon Bon were. “Any idea what happened to them?” she asked, walking up to them with furrowed eyebrows.

“Not really. I found them out in the Everfree Forest. Apparently there’s some sort of magical beast out there that can turn ponies into foals.” Fluttershy nuzzled Lyra’s cheek and sat down with a soft blush. “Even though I think they’re adorable, I just can’t imagine going after a creature like that.”

“Yeah, I can see why... Better to leave it alone and hope that it goes away from Ponyville.” Twilight rubbed her chin. “So why do you need me to watch them?”

“Well... I don’t really have the space at my place. I was hoping that you’d be able to take them in and help them get back to normal.” She looked back down at the foals. “I think it’d be nice to be taken care of for a little bit, but I’m sure these two cuties just want to get back to their normal adult lives. Do you, um... have any idea how to reverse this process?” she asked softly, not wanting to wake up the foals.

“Um...” Twilight winced. “Natural magic like this usually tends to be very complex, and unraveling it can be very difficult. We’d be better off letting the magic’s effects wear off on its own.” Noticing the confused look on Fluttershy’s face, she continued, “Think of it like this... With the magic on them, trying to undo it would be like pulling on a single string in an entire mess of knots. Pulling on that string would tighten another knot, which would tighten another knot. We’d be much better off leaving them alone. Trying to undo magic could lead to some effects being permanent, and if I were in their place, I wouldn’t want to risk being stuck as a foal, or incontinent, or to depend on somepony else to take care of me for the rest of my life.”

“Oh... I see,” Fluttershy said. She unbuckled her saddlebag and let it fall to the ground, her supplies spilling out. “So can you take care of them? Knowing you, I figured you’d want to monitor their progress through science and, uh... stuff,” she finished with a sheepish smile.

Twilight smirked. “You know me too well, Fluttershy. I see that you’ve already brought over some supplies, but if I’m going to be taking care of these two, I’m gonna need some help. You mind coming over when you’re done with your chores? I’m sure these two are gonna be a bit of a hoofful, after all.” She poked through Fluttershy’s supplies. “You know, if I’m gonna be watching them, we’re gonna have to outfit one of the rooms here in my castle into a nursery, preferably one that’s close to my bedroom.”

“Yeah, that sounds fine to me. But where are we gonna get the money to turn one of your bedrooms into a nursery?”

“Just leave that to me!” Twilight stood up and trotted away, though before she left the room, she stopped and looked over her shoulder, and said, “Besides, I’m positively loaded. Can you keep an eye on them while I’m gone? I’m gonna run down to the foal store and get all of the stuff we need!” her voice filled with glee. With a noticeable pep in her step, she made her way down the stairs and out the front door.

“Yeesh, you weren’t kidding about being loaded, Twilight...” Fluttershy said in awe as she looked around the rather spacious bedroom. One large white crib sat next to the window, and the floor was covered in a very thick, white carpet, nearly as soft as her bed back in her cottage. One corner had a massive pile of stuffed animals of various sizes, all thrown on top of each other. Near the crib lay a changing table big enough for an adult, stocked full of foal diapers and powder, enough to last them for weeks. “You sure did buy a lot of diapers, didn’t you?” she asked, trying to count them all in her head.

“Yeah, I bought out most of their supply. They didn’t have that many, seeing that we don’t have that many foals that young around here. I also bought them some adult diapers as well, the thickest they carried, just in case that they still need them once they get back to normal.” Twilight motioned for her to come to the closet. She pulled it open, exposing a plethora of diapers. “Since they’re still foals, and probably will be for some time, I made sure to get all kinds of diapers for them. Let’s see... we got the regular, tape-on diapers, pull-ups, training pants, plastic pants, a few cloth diapers if they’re heavy wetters at night... literally every style they had at the store.”

“Oh, wow.” Fluttershy looked to the left, then the right. “What about clothes?”

Twilight smirked. “Come with me.” She walked over to the second closet on the other side of the room and threw the two doors wide open. Onesies and other foal clothes were held up by wooden hangers, all organized by color.

“Teehee, did Rainbow make you pick out these colors?” Fluttershy asked. “We’ve got all the colors of the rainbow, and then some.”

“Nope, she was busy. Applejack did help pick some clothes out, though. She even recommended a good diaper for night-time use. And don’t worry, I didn’t tell her that I was buying diapers for Bon Bon and Lyra.” She leaned in close, making sure that Lyra and Bon Bon couldn’t hear her. “By the way, Applejack told me that they worked great for Applebloom when she was still wetting the bed a while ago.”

“Oh, I see. Hm... what are you going to do if you end up only using a fraction of these diapers?” Fluttershy asked. “I can’t see Lyra and Bon Bon needing all of these foal-sized onesies when they get back to their normal lives, after all.”

“Exactly, so instead of returning all of this to the local business, I’m going to donate whatever’s left over to local charities. I’m pretty sure that hospitals could use all of this stuff, so I could just give it all to them, or maybe post a few ads in the newspaper here, or... we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, I suppose.” Fluttershy shrugged with a look of uncertainty.