Shining Armour, Cadence, and Flurry Heart leave, with Shining a bit confused as to why Flurry is wet but with neither him nor Cadence the wiser. Mrs. Cake expresses interest in she and Mr. Cake being turned into foals, but he says no because then there would be nobody to run Sugar Cube Corner and Pinkie Pie would find caring for four foals too much work. Mrs. Cake suggests turning Pinkie Pie into a foal, and Mr. Cake says that Pinkie and Twilight would have to okay it first.
Just then, in comes Starlight Glimmer, but something appears to be wrong with her: she has red eye bags, the fur on her face is paler than usual, she has a runny nose and a cough, and there are sparks coming out of her horn. The whole Cake family is concerned about this, especially that last one as a sparking horn is a sign of unstable magic.
Mrs. Cake, sympathetic but concerned about contagion, sits Starlight down and Mr. Cake asks what's wrong with her. It turns out that she's both sleep deprived from having stayed up late trying to find out how to turn Twilight back from a kangaroo into a pony and on top of that, has contracted a variation of "horn flu" that causes congestion and affects her magic, but not using magic causes it to "build up".
She reveals that she's crashing there because she was sent away to avoid infecting Flurry Heart. However, she then sneezes, setting out a surge of energy which turns the twins into fawns.
This chapter provides examples of
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Starlight, due to suffering from both sleep deprivation and a flu, has bags under her eyes.
- Fountain of Youth: Mrs. Cake still wants to turn into a foal, and when Mr. Cake says no to her and him being turned into foals, she suggests turning Pinkie Pie into a foal.
- Full-Name Basis: For some reason, Mrs. Cake refers to the twins with their first and last names when telling Starlight not to go near them.
- Like a Son to Me: Mrs. Cake says that Pinkie Pie is "like the daughter [she and Mr. Cake] never had" (even though they do have a daughter, just not an adult one— but she's bringing it up because she wants to turn Pinkie into a foal).
- Malfunction Malady: "Horn flu", which Starlight is afflicted with, affects unicorn magic.
- Sick Episode: Starlight is afflicted with a form of influenza that affects unicorn horns.
- Sickness Equals Redness: Starlight's eye bags are red because she has the flu.
- Sleep Deprivation: Starlight is sleepy, partly from her flu but also because she stayed up late doing research.
- Sneeze of Doom: The energy burst that caused the twins' transformation was activated via a sneeze.
