Flurry Heart brought herself and the twins back to the playpen just in time, and none of the grown-ups seemed to be any the wiser to what had transpired in the upstairs bathroom.
"Well, we best be going. Twily's probably waiting for us as we speak," Shining Armor said to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, as he trotted over to the playpen. "Come on, Flurry Heart. Come to Daddy." he sweetly cooed, picking her up with his magic.
"Wooks wike I gotta go," Flurry Heart called to the twins. "Was nice seeing you, bye-bye."
"Bye-bye Fwurry Heawt." Pound and Pumpkin called back.
"Hm, that's weird." Shining Armor observed, as he gave Flurry Heart to his wife.
"What is?" Cadence asked, as she allowed her infant daughter to nestle into her mane.
"Flurry Heart felt a little wet, and I'm not talking about her diaper." Shining Armor explained.
"That's odd," Cadence observed. "She probably splashed something on herself when we weren't looking. But it's alright, it was her bath night anyway." And with that, she, her husband, and her daughter all departed Sugarcube Corner.
"It sure was nice of them to visit us." Mr. Cake commented.
Mrs. Cake nodded. "And it looks like Pound and Pumpkin really enjoyed having a playmate in their own age group. I still have to wonder if there's any way for us to turn into foals, just for one day. It would be nice to get to see what my babies think of me, and experience Pinkie's foalsitting skills firsthoof."
"Please tell me you're joking," Mr. Cake replied. "If we turned into foals, even for just a day, who would run Sugarcube Corner? We certainly couldn't leave it up to Pinkie Pie. She'd be overwhelmed taking care of all four of us at once."
"It was just a suggestion, honey bun," Mrs. Cake nuzzled her husband. "Alternatively, maybe we could see about turning Pinkie into a foal for a day? in a way, she's like the daughter we never had."
Mr. Cake chuckled at his wife's suggestion. "Well we'll have to see what Pinkie thinks before we make any plans, sugar plum. And on top of that we'll have to make sure Princess Twilight is onboard with it. It's possible she may not know any spells that can regress ponies that isn't permanent."
Just then, who should come trotting into Sugarcube Corner but Starlight Glimmer, the personal protege of Princess Twilight? But upon closer inspection, Mr. and Mrs. Cake could see that something was wrong with Starlight. Her eyes had noticeable red bags underneath them, her face looked pale and almost void of color, and every step she took seemed to be punctured by a sniffle or a cough. To top it off, it seemed like there were a few loose sparks of magic seeping out of her horn on occasion.
Pound and Pumpkin noticed Starlight's unsightly appearance at the same time their parents did, and they were worried. "Someting must be wrong with Miss. Starwight," Pound said to Pumpkin. "I dun tink her horn is supposed to be spawking wike tat."
"Tat's not a good sign," Pumpkin nervously commented. "That means hew magic couwd be unstabbwe. Aww it wiww take is one bad sneeze fow someting to go wong."
"But you can stop it if comes fow us, wight?" Pound anxiously asked.
"I dun know, I've nevew tied to countew somepony ewse's magic befowe." Pumpkin replied.
Pound gulped, needless to say that statement did not sound reassuring. He just hoped his sister wouldn't have to find out whether or not she was capable of such a feat.
"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Cake," Starlight greeted, sniffling a bit. "Excuse my appearance, but I'm sure you can tell I'm a bit under the weather right now."
"Oh you poor dear, please have a seat," Mrs. Cake offered. "Oh, and do be careful not to go near Pound and Pumpkin Cake in your current condition. Don't need them getting sick too."
"Yeah, that would be bad." Starlight replied with a cough, as she sat down at an unoccupied table far away from the twins playpen.
"If you don't mind my asking, what exactly's gotten into you, Starlight?" Mr. Cake asked the unicorn. "Just a day or two ago you were as right as rain."
Starlight sighed. "It was so stupid of me. I stayed up late into the night helping Spike research a way to turn Twilight back to normal, so she wouldn't freak out Flurry Heart when she comes by for a visit. And then after turning her back to normal, I stayed up even later to try and do some more research about transformation spells. And when I woke up this morning, I was coughing and sniffling like crazy. And what's even worse is that my horn feels like it's on fire, but Twilight specifically told me not to use magic at all if possible."
"Why?" Mrs. Cake asked. "Asking you not to use magic, is like asking a fish not to swim."
"Because my magic is really unstable, that's why!" Starlight replied in a grumpy tone of voice. "Apparently, I've contracted a variation of horn flu. It not only makes me all clogged up and stuffy, it also affects my magic. Unfortunately, not using magic at all causes it to build up in my horn. And if I so much as sneeze, there's no telling what could happen. But I have to wait until the flu goes away before I can let out all my magic safely."
Mr. and Mrs. Cake looked at each other, both feeling sorry for Starlight. But as they were not unicorns themselves, there wasn't much they could do to help Starlight. "Well, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but why have you come here today?" Mr. Cake asked the sickly unicorn.
Starlight turned her head to cough, then answered. "Since Flurry Heart is coming over today, Twilight sent me away so I wouldn't make her sick. And I don't blame her, it would be terrible if a pony as magically capable as Flurry Heart contracted the horn flu! If one of her cries could shatter the crystal heart into a thousand tiny pieces, imagine what one of her sneezes could do if super charged by the horn flu!"
Mr. and Mrs. Cake shuddered at such a thought! Pinkie had told them about the incident at Flurry Heart's crystalling, and how if it hadn't been for Sunburst the Crystal Empire might have been forever lost to The Frozen North. And from what they'd learned from Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, Flurry Heart was still quite magically potent in spite of the Fledgling's Forbearance spell cast upon her.
"So yeah, I figured it was probably best if I stopped here, instead of wandering the streets all day long coughing and sniffling like no tomorrow. To say nothing of the possible sneeze," Starlight replied. "I don't know if you have any guest bedrooms or anything, but I'll probably just sleep upstairs in a sleeping bag. Aside from some medicine Twilight suggested I take, the only way to get over this stupid sickness is to get plenty of bed rest," However, as soon as Starlight had finished saying that sentence, her nose began to twitch. "Ah, ah, AH-" she began, trying her hardest to keep from sneezing!
Frightened by the sparks coming from Starlight's horn, Mr. and Mrs. Cake dove for cover behind the nearby counter!
"AHCHOO!" Starlight sneezed, a tremendous burst of magical energy shot out of her horn like a lightning bolt! it quickly began to bounce around, reflecting off the tables and even the counter with the cash register! Then it set its sights on The Cake Twins!
"Sis, quick, do someting!" Pound pleaded.
Pumpkin lit up her horn and squinted as she shut her eyes. She concentrated all of the power that she could into her horn, and fired off the most powerful magic blast she could muster up! Unfortunately, it wasn't even close to being a match for Starlight's supercharged beam, and the blast was quickly overwhelmed and defeated! Horrified, the twins tried to make a desperate run for it, but there was nowhere they could run! The bolt struck them head on, producing a poof of magic.
"Oh no!" Starlight exclaimed, horrified at what had just transpired. But she knew she couldn't do anything, she'd have to wait for the smoke to clear.
When the purple smoke faded after a few minutes, Mr. and Mrs. Cake finally poked their heads out from behind the counter. And they and Starlight both layed their eyes on the twins, shocked at what had happened to them.
Starlight's magical sneeze that turned Pound and Pumpkin Cake into baby deer!
"Oh great, how am I gonna explain this to Twilight?" Starlight thought to herself. "To say nothing of what Pinkie will do to me if she finds out abut this."