Author's Note

Twinkie: Welp, here’s chapter 3 after aaaaaaaaaaaaaages. Sorry for the delay. I’m just incredibly lazy.

Vector: And I apparently need to dust off the old whip and chains.

Twinkie: Hopefully the next chapter doesn’t take quite so long. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Vector: Same here. And if it does begin to take long… well, Twinkie’s seen my whip. And he know’s I’ll use it. Don’t you, buddy?

Twinkie: Well, I think the paddle gave more motivation, but point made.

Day 2

The next morning came sooner than Rainbow had wanted. She had slept a little fitfully, not the least because she had a foreign object on an area that was normally uncovered 99% of the time. Her sleep was plagued by bad dreams, turning a soothing slumber into a night of...well, not quite ‘terrors’, but not her usual fantasies of flight and fun. Mostly of her being on a small island, enjoying the sun, when the ocean started to creep up on the beach. She’d frantically tried to find a dry spot, with her wings conveniently not working because of dream-logic, but she could never find a spot. The water slowly creeped up on her, as if the ocean was savouring the moment it would overtake her until, at last, it swelled high and struck her. As dream-water surrounded her and stole her air, the dream broke, evaporating around her like steam..

Then she felt a cold sensation around her pullup. “No…” She flung the covers off and sat up in bed, the cold now filling her entire diaper area. All along the surface of the pullup there had been small foalish prints in light blue ink. Rainbow hadn’t really thought much about them past thinking they were adorable and perfect for humiliating Scootaloo, which apparently Applejack had thought as well, since she got the same ones in Dash’s size. But when she glanced over the bare, white surface of her pullups, there were none to be seen, and she then realized exactly what they were: wetness indicators.

She groaned. Her body had failed her twice. It had failed her, and now she was wet…

Then panic set in. She knew the rules: if a pony wets her pullups, they are supposed to wear diapers the next night. And she had woken up with a pullup that was wet front-to-back. And to make matters even more incomprehensibly worse, the bed exhibited the telltale signs of a leak, with dark patches all around the slight dip in the mattress where Rainbow had been laying. Her eyes darted around the room. She had to hide it! She’d never live it down if Scootaloo saw her like this twice in a row! And what if she wet the bed a third time?

The last thought was enough to cause her to jump out of the bed as though she’d been stung by a hornet. She galloped around the room, looking around for the perfect hiding spot for the wet pullup and sheets. Just as she’d discovered a cardboard box that would have been perfect, she heard a knock on the door. She whipped around in time to see Scootaloo trotting in, annoyingly sans pullup.

“Morning, Rainbow Dash!” she said cheerfully. Too cheerfully in Rainbow’s opinion.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, then forced a smile. “Morning, squirt.”

“Time for diaper checks!” announced the filly. She advanced on Rainbow Dash, who was suddenly going into reverse, with an insufferable smirk.

“Whoa, hey now, diaper check? Come on, squirt, this is me we’re talking about. Why don’t you go grab yourself a cup of cider to go with breakfast, I’ll be down in a flash,” the elder pegasus said. She kept her voice steady and calm, but her eyes darted about as if looking for an exit.

Scootaloo wasn’t completely oblivious to her idol’s suspicious behavior. “Sure thing! As soon as you show me your dry pullup.”

She walked over to Rainbow and began to feel the padding of her pullup. She tsk’ed as the material squelched under her hoof. “Looks like somepony had an accident in their sleep last night.”

“Laying’ it on a little thick there, Scootaloo,” muttered Dash, her eyes rolling in response to the prodding. She jerked away from the smaller pony. “This wasn’t actually...I didn’t wet the bed! Nah, I woke a few minutes ago, had to pee, and decided I couldn’t be bothered getting up!”

Scootaloo stared at her for a moment, then slowly turned to look at the door leading to Rainbow Dash’s attached bathroom. They both considered the three feet between Dash’s bed and the door.

“...”

“I…” Rainbow Dash began. She fell silent before it came out, giving up on whatever it would have been.

“...”

“I got nothin’,” she admitted with a scowl that was closer to a pout.

“...I’ve come up with worse,” Scootaloo offered weakly. “I once told mom Discord just came in and threw a bucket of yellow water on my bed.” She frowned. “I mean, he did, but it was a week later, and Fluttershy made him admit it to mom.”

Rainbow groaned. “I wish that wasn’t so believable. You wouldn’t believe me if I said something like that now, would ya?”

The filly gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Rainbow Dash. Now, I think it’s time for me to get that wet pullup off you.” She moved in toward Rainbow Dash.

As Scootaloo approached the bed, Rainbow shot into the air. “No! I can do it myself!” True, she had been planning on doing that anyway in the unlikely event that she wet the bed for the second night in a row, but she wasn’t about to allow this kid to change her like a baby.

Scootaloo jumped up and tried to snag Rainbow’s legs. “No fair!” she screamed. “You know I can’t fly like you! And I have to change you! It’s in the rules!”

Dash darted about to avoid being caught be Scootaloo’s outstretched hooves, drops of urine from her leaky pullups flying around the room as she did. “But I can do it myself!”

“Rainbow! Get down here so I can change your diaper!”

“Pullup!” shouted Rainbow, a few seconds before she wondered to herself why she bothered to correct Scootaloo.

“Now!”

After a few moments, Rainbow sighed. She knew the rule; Rule twelve: a pony in diapers is not allowed to change their own diaper. “Okay,” she said meekly, then floated down to the ground. “Get it over with.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “You’re supposed to ask, remember?”

Rainbow whipped her head toward Scootaloo, an incredulous and indignant expression on her face. “I’m not going to ask! You already know I need it!” The hard stare from Scootaloo told her that she wouldn’t win this one. Reluctantly, she said, “Can you change me, Scoot?”

With a grin, Scootaloo nodded. “Yes I can. Lay down.”

“But you don’t need─”

“Now!”

A bit startled by the command barked at her, Rainbow laid down on the floor and rolled over on her back, wincing at the squish her pullups made when she did so. With a heavy sigh, she looked away, trying to focus on anything other than the sound of the sides of the pullups being torn away and the cold feeling of wet wipes on her fur. It seemed to be taking forever as Scootaloo tried to clean off every crevice. When the filly was finished, she stepped back and said, “Okay, I’m done. You can get up now.”

Quick as a wink, Rainbow was back up on her hooves. “Glad that’s over, and hopefully I won’t have to do it again. Hey, why don’t you go play a video game?” Dash grinned when she saw the excitement on her charge’s face. Forbidden fruit were really the best to dangle in front of a filly. “Go have fun, I’ll be down in a bit.”

Her eyes shooting open at the prospect of playing one of the gloriously violent video games that her mother expressly forbade and even lectured her against playing because they were too much for her “delicate filly nature”, Scootaloo gasped and shot out the bedroom door like a rocket. Shaking her head at how easy that had been, Rainbow Dash smirked to herself.

Her smirk quickly vanished when she relaxed, sitting back on her bed and putting her weight on her wet sheets. “So gross!” She sighed. There was no way she was going to be able to get Scootaloo to not make her wear a diaper to bed tonight. As she stood up, she chuckled once again at how eager the filly was to get to her video game. She’d run all the way down to the living room.

Hmmm… Rainbow thought as she walked toward the bathroom. Maybe there’s a way to keep her from diapering me after all…

Bang! Bam!

“Hit B, hit B!” Scootaloo screamed at herself, angling her hoof from the joystick to hit the large button marked B. The zombie pony in front of her blew apart in a shower of gore with a blare of sound. She let out a cheer, almost throwing the controller as triumphant music blared from the speakers. “Oh yeah!”

Chuckling as she trotted in, Rainbow Dash grinned with the sort of confidence available to mare when she wasn’t wearing a soaking pullup.

“Sounds like somepony is having fun.” Walking over, she glanced at the screen and her mouth dropped open at the words there.

New High Score!

“Rainbow Dash, look! I beat the high score!” Scootaloo beamed up at her proudly. Not noticing the annoyed look on her idle’s face, the filly happily put her name in and watched it appear above the previous list of scores. All were, of course, Rainbow Dash.

“Gr-great. Hey, squirt, how about breakfast?” Shaking off her annoyance, Rainbow Dash herded the filly away, leaving the room with just a glare back at the mocking screen. ‘It took me ages to get it that high! Did she find the cheat codes, too?’

“What are we having for breakfast? Pancakes?” asked the wide-eyed filly.

Rainbow put a hoof to her chin. “How about we have pancakes in the shape of the Wonderbolt logo?”

“You can do that?!” shouted Scootaloo.

“Squirt, I can do anything.” Smirking, Rainbow Dash trotted into the kitchen, with Scootaloo following behind her. She got out the skillet, then the pancake mix and something Scootaloo had never seen used while making pancakes.

“Why do you need a squirt bottle?”

Dash smirked as she mixed up the batter in a bowl. “Watch and learn.” She poured the batter in the bottle, then when the skillet was hot and buttered she took to the air, swooping through the kitchen and somehow avoiding coating every surface with the batter as she squirted out the Wonderbolts logo into the hot pan. When it was browned, she filled the rest of the design with batter, then flipped it and presented it to Scootaloo. “Ta-da!”

“Wow!” shouted Scootaloo. “I had no idea you could make pancakes like that!”

“No biggie,” boasted Rainbow Dash. She decided not to mention the hours she had spent, quite literally, practicing this one bored summer’s day. She threw the bottle up, catching it and spinning it around the tip of her nimble wing. “When you’re as awesome as me, this sorta thing just comes natural.”

She repeated the overly dramatic pancake a few times, though after the first she stopped flying about. The pancakes built up on the plates, and from the fridge she took whipped cream and the other necessities for premium pancake enjoyment. When she got everything ready, she carefully balanced it all on her wings and carried it to the table.

“Go on, squirt, eat up. We’ve got a big day ahead of us.” She pushed a plate towards Scootaloo, grinning with a devious look in her eyes. She stood next to Scootaloo, watching the filly dig in.

“Weawwy?” Her cheeks already bulging with pancake and cream, Scootaloo looked up at her curiously. “Wha’ awe we ‘doin’?”

Rainbow stood there, a flat expression covered by bits and pieces of half-chewed pancakes. “Well, I’m cleaning my face, then after breakfast I was thinking we could go out and do stuff. Some wing training, for starters.”

She ducked just in time, avoiding the explosion of half-eaten pancakes that erupted from Scootaloo. She looked back to follow it, grimacing at the mess.

“Ew.” Dash eyed it unhappily.

Little hooves pressed against her as Scootaloo leaped over the table to hug her. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I was so worried you wouldn’t want to do anything like that with me because of the whole diaper thing, but I was wrong! You’re too awesome to be mad!”

A guilty tremor hit Rainbow Dash. She was glad Scootaloo couldn’t see her face as she ruffled the filly’s mane. “Hehe, yeah. I’m not gonna be mad at you, Scoot.”

Rainbow sat down on the chair and almost immediately hopped up out of it. “Yeowch!”

Scootaloo looked up from her meal quizzically. “What? What happened?”

Rainbow looked back around to her rump. There was a tinge of red on her skin under her fur, and immediately she realized why. She had diaper rash. The idea that she had such a foalish conditionon her posterior was enough to make her wince. Immediately she regretted not reminding Scootaloo to put rash cream or powder on when she put the pullup on her. “Nothing,” she said, her face flush.

“Doesn’t look like ‘nothing’,” replied Scootaloo, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s nothing,” repeated Dash,” a little more forcefully. She sat back down, a look of pain crossing her face.

Scootaloo noticed. “Looks like somepony’s got a diaper rash.”

“Well it’s your fault,” barked Rainbow, expression turning grouchy. “You forgot to put rash cream or powder on me!”

“I’m sorry!” Scootaloo’s ears went flat and she looked down, guilty. “I’ll do it next time, I promise.”

Rainbow sighed. She didn’t want there to be a next time, but she remembered the rules. She had been so thrilled to make them up, and now they were coming back to bite her in the rump. “Let’s just focus on what we’ll be doing.”

Immediately Scootaloo beamed. “Yeah! What did you have planned?”

“Well,” said Rainbow, shifting to put a little less weight on her butt, “first is those flying and wings lessons you spat on me about.”

Scootaloo gave a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of her neck. She couldn’t keep an excited smile from her face. “Awesome! What next?”

“I figured we’d go to the park and hang out, maybe toss around my old hoofball,” said Rainbow. “And after that, I thought we could get a bite to eat for lunch, then go play at the roller rink.”

“Wow!” said Scootaloo. “All that today? Sounds like it’s gonna be awesome!”

Yeah, thought Rainbow. Awesome and tiring. After all, that was the point. Scootaloo would be exhausted, and if she went to bed before Rainbow Dash, well, she could hardly be blamed for forgetting about the diaper. It was the perfect plan. “So let’s get this food in us, then get outta here for some flight training!”

With that, both of them scarfed down their pancakes, then Scootaloo hopped onto Rainbow’s back and they took off toward Rainbow’s favorite training grounds.

The wind whipped through their manes as Scootaloo and Rainbow stood on one of the cumulous clouds hanging above the farmlands surrounding Sweet Apple Acres. Dash breathed in the sweet smell of apples, one of the many reasons she loved working out here. She held it, savored it, then let it out. “Awesome place to train, huh squirt?”

Scootaloo for her part tried to keep it together, but seeing the ground so far from her was downright terrifying. “Well, apart from the cloud being so... high.”

“C’mon,” said Rainbow, giving Scootaloo a little nuggie. “I know it’s high and you’re not used to it, but give it a bit. You’re gonna be so busy enjoying the air that you won’t have time to be afraid!”

The little orange filly nodded, but she still wished Rainbow had picked out a cloud that was closer to the ground. “Yeah,” she said, “I’ll be fine.” Her tone was less than convincing.

Shrugging, Rainbow began. “Now, the key here is to remember that while your wings can’t get you airborne, you can still control yourself while you fly by using your feathers to control the airflow over your wings, like this.” She leaped off the cloud and glided around. Scootaloo watched in awe as Rainbow did somersaults, flips, and dives, all without flapping her wings once. When she was done, Rainbow Dash finally flapped her wings and came up to the cloud, plopping her hooves into the soft, cottony surface.

Scootaloo’s jaw was dropped. “You mean I could do that, too?!”

“Sure you can! Just take off!” Rainbow pointed a hoof at the edge.

Looking at the ground a thousand feet below her, Scootaloo gulped. “But... what if I don’t get it?”

“Don’t worry, kid. I’ll be right there to catch you if you can’t control yourself up here. But don’t worry, you’re awesome at your scooter, and I bet you’ll be awesome at gliding, too.”

The warm words of encouragement gave Scootaloo a quick burst of bravado, and before she lost an ounce of it she leaped off the edge of the cloud and stretched out her wings.

The wind didn’t catch.

Flipping around and about, Scootaloo struggled to maintain her lift, but it wasn’t coming. “Help!” she shouted.

Instantly a blue blur came up from under her, holding her aloft. “It’s okay, I’ve got you,” said Rainbow. “Just straighten your wings out.”

Reluctantly, Scootaloo did as she was told. Her eyes were closed; she didn’t really want to see the ground at the moment. “C-can we go back to the cloud now?”

“Scootaloo! Open your eyes!”

The filly did as she was told, and to her surprise Rainbow Dash was flying right in front of her, a huge grin on her face. “Wha?!”

“You’re doing it!” shouted Rainbow. “Go on! Try a flip!”

Raising the trailing edges of her tiny wings just a bit, Scootaloo went into a climb, then continued down into a dive when she reached the apex. “Woo-hoo!”

“Yeah!” shouted Rainbow as she did a corkscrew around Scootaloo. The next two hours were filled with Scootaloo trying acrobatics in the air and Rainbow cheering her on and catching her when she faltered. The failures outweighed the successes, but Scootaloo didn’t care. She was flying! Really flying!

They both alighted on a cloud close to the ground, and Rainbow beamed down at her young pupil. “Scoots, you were awesome up there! Didn’t I tell you that you’d do great?”

Smiling back up at her teacher, Scootaloo had little to say other than, “Awesome!”

Rainbow chuckled. “You’re sure gettin’ a lot of use out of that word, squirt.”

“It’s the best word ever!” The filly gushed.

“Sure is!” said Rainbow as she flopped down on the cloud. “Nothing like laying down on a cloud in the middle of the morning, huh, kid?”

Laying down next to her idol, Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah. I don’t really get to do it that often, though.”

“Just wait, squirt. Hang with me and you’ll get all the cloud-napping you want. Uh, napping on clouds, I mean, not stealing them.”

Giggling, Scootaloo sighed and sank into the soft, fluffy cloud. She hung her head over the edge, looking down at the ground. It wasn’t so bad with the cloud under her and supporting her, and even better with her idol laying next to her. As she looked down at the grounds of Sweet Apple Acres below, she saw Applejack and Big McIntosh working the field, with Apple Bloom trailing behind and trying to keep up with her older siblings. “Hey, look! There’s Apple Bloom!”

Rainbow rolled over and peered down from the edge of the cloud. “Yeah! And there’s Applejack and Big Mac!”

“Wanna go say hi? We could glide down and I could show Apple Bloom my new trick!”

A broad, devious grin spread across Rainbow’s face. “I have a better idea…” She stood up and walked toward the edge of the cloud. “Follow me down, squirt.”

Scootaloo stood up and looked at Rainbow in alarm. “But Rainbow, I don’t know how to land!”

“It’s easy!” said the older pegasus, a grin on her face as she lined herself up. “Trust me, and you’ll be fine. Since I trust you, and you trust me, you’re just trusting yourself.”

Blinking a few times as she tried to decipher that, Scootaloo lost a few precious seconds as her idol got ready, and when Dash gave her a poke, she nearly tripped getting into position. Mirroring Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo peered down. The height that had been really, really cool before was somehow now very intimidating. She gulped.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Scootaloo asked, unintentionally echoing Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom on countless occasions as she forged on ahead in pursuit of a cutie mark.

Winking, Dash tensed. “I told ya, squirt, trust me. Rainbow Danger Dash won’t let you down.”

Scootaloo couldn’t help glancing towards the blue mare’s backside for a moment. ‘More like Rainbow Diaper Rash,’ she thought, and was torn between giggling and feeling bad for thinking that about her.

“Go!” Rainbow Dash leapt from the cloud, wings catching the air. She didn’t glance back, trusting the filly to follow her. She angled her descent, fixing on the orange mare below like an arrow aimed straight for the bullseye. None of the Apples suspected a thing, and in her mind, she heard the theme music from that one movie with the awesome shark whose name she forgot.

‘Sky shark. I am totally a sky shark. I bet I can come up with an awesome flight move called that,’ Dash thought absently, in what little of her brain wasn’t focused on Applejack. She didn’t consciously track Scootaloo, the vague part of her attention that kept track of her periphery telling her the filly was fine.

Behind her, Scootaloo finally followed. Rainbow Dash’s instructions repeated in her head as she opened her wings and leapt in imitation of her idol. The feeling of wind under her wings nearly made her flinch, fright over failure rising up, but Scootaloo refused to let it win. Rainbow Dash trusted her to do this right, so that’s what she was going to do!

Down they went, Scootaloo feeling anxiety fade with each passing second. She...she could do this! She was! Following Rainbow as closely as she could, they fell towards the trio of farmers, one with considerable more grace than the other.

Applejack whistled to herself as she bucked, hooves slamming into the tree trunk. She could hear her family, whistling in time with her, and it put a smile on her face. There was nothing like a day of good, honest labor, certainly when she didn’t have to deal with troublesome pegasi-

Pausing, Applejack frowned. Her ears twitched. She could have sworn she heard something, a sound at the edge of her hearing. For a moment she wondered if Rainbow Dash was flying over the farm, before dismissing the idea. She knew the sound of flapping wings well enough that she wouldn’t have trouble placing it. Turning, she glanced up…

“Whoa nelly!” Applejack ducked, and suddenly her head felt lighter. Patting her head, she realized why. “Rainbow Dash! You gimme back mah hat this instant!”

Blowing a raspberry in return, Rainbow flew off between the trees in a zig-zag pattern. She didn’t need to look to know Applejack was following her; she could hear the farm-mare hollering for her to come back, threats and demands filling the orchard, the pounding of hooves as the furious farmgirl bounded after her.

And yet, she did look back. “Come and get me, App- Oof!”

As she crumpled into a heap at the hooves of Big McIntosh, she groaned and looked up as the hat gently glided down and landed atop the stallion’s head. Applejack soon showed up above her, taking a moment to glower before she snatched the hat off Big Mac’s head and slammed it back on her mane with a scowl. Moments later Scootaloo galloped up and looked down at her hero.

“Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?!” she asked, worry in her voice.

“I’ve been better, kid,” said Rainbow. She sat up, rubbing her head. “Geez, what do you eat, bricks?”

“Nope,” Mac replied. He looked down at her without a hint of the anger on his sister’s face. If anything, he seemed amused.

At the corner deli in Ponyville, Rainbow was sitting at one of the outdoor tables with Scootaloo and holding a glass full of ice water to her head. Scootaloo was looking away, trying not to laugh at the knot that had formed under her scalp. “Squirt…” said Rainbow. “I think we need to focus on less strenuous activities.” She groaned a bit as the cold, wet surface of the glass made the pain in her forehead turn from a load roar to a dull moan.

“Okay, like what?” said Scootaloo, her boundless energy making her voice perk up in excitement.

Oh please let her be too tired to remember by bedtime… “Uh, lemme think…” She held a hoof to her chin and squinted her eyes. Her lower lip stuck out just a tad, and Scootaloo looked up at her with a confused look on her face. Suddenly, she said, “I got it!”

“What?! What’re we gonna do?!”

“We’re gonna have some fun with pranks,” said Rainbow. “And I think I know just the pony we can prank!”

Scootaloo cocked her head. “Who?”

“C’mon, squirt,” she said, setting the glass down and tossing a hoofful of bits on the table. She stood up, wincing a little at the newfound pain in her temple, and then trotted down the street with Scootaloo in tow. This is gonna be sweet!

“Remember what I told ya, squirt.” Rainbow Dash gestured at the window, resisting the urge to glance around paranoidly. Right now, it was just her and her little friend chilling on a cloud. If she started looking like she was being sneaky, then somepony might notice and ruin the fun. “Glide down, find the book, and slip that next to it.”

Scootaloo nodded, a smile on her face, and can in her hoof. “Yep! Leave it to me, Rainbow Dash.”

“Awesome. I’d do it myself, but Twilight enchanted her windows with an ‘anti-Rainbow’ spell,” said the older pegasus, punctuating the sentence with a raspberry. “Something about cost of window repair or whatever, I stopped listening. Long story short, I need you for this.”

“I won’t let you down!” promised the filly, beaming in pride. Rainbow Dash was trusting her with this! Her wings fluttered excitedly and she threw a salute that made Dash chuckle before getting ready to glide down.

Rainbow Dash watched the filly jump from the cloud. She was ready in case Scootaloo had trouble, but to her relief she was a better teacher than she’d thought, and the filly made it down without a problem. Twilight thought some fancy-shmancy unicorn magic could stop her, did she? She smirked as she left the cloud, heading for the library’s front door for her part of the plan.

The window was already open, letting a cool breeze flow into Twilight’s home slash public library. The upper study was private, and even for a pony as fastidiously neat and tidy as Twilight, it showed. Scootaloo crept past piles of perfectly aligned stacks of notes and odd knick-knacks that looked even to her like they were magic Scootaloo paused, the temptation to reach out and poke one of them rising, before she shook her head and continued. She could do that later; right now, she was on a mission from Dash!

Books covered one of the walls, and Scootaloo hurried over as fast as she could without making any noise. She scanned the spines, eyes narrowed as she searched for her target.

“P...P...P! Okay, so...Paper Mareio...Poker For Beginners...Ponies & Pillars…” Scootaloo and her fourth-grade reading skills proved themselves, and her eyes lit up. “Found it!” She whispered in delight. “Pony Sutra!”

Scootaloo, as it happened, was having a much better time of it than Rainbow Dash was.

Five minutes in and Rainbow was already bored. She groaned, her short attention span straining, held in place only by the knowledge that Scootaloo was waiting for her and she couldn’t risk napping so close to the scene of the crime. What if Twilight came out and saw her?

Twilight popped out of the kitchen, her usual cheery attitude lighting up every word she said. “Did you want milk in your tea, Rainbow?”

“Who!? Huh?!” Oh Celestia, I hope she didn’t see me dozing…

“Something wrong, Rainbow?” said Twilight as she carried the tea tray into the main atrium of the library.

Rainbow sat ramrod straight, trying to look like the polar opposite of bored and tired. “Oh! Uh, heheh, no! Just, uh, so enamored with your lecture that you got me really thinking about it, hehe!”

Raising an eyebrow, Twilight sat the tray down on the table in the center of the room. “Oh… kay. Anyway, as I was saying, when the air flows over your wings, it hits the covert feathers first. As it glides over the upper curved surfaces, it travels faster than the air under--”

“Oh, geez!” said Rainbow suddenly as she saw an orange blur fly past the window behind Twilight. “I, uh, totally forgot why I was here!”

Twilight frowned. “I thought you wanted me to help you explain how your wings create lift so that you could maximize your aerial performance for the Wonderbolts?”

“Yeah, I totally wanted to do that,” said Rainbow. About as much as I want a hole in my head; this is first-grade stuff for pegasi! “But I just now remembered I wanted you to go get me a book.”

“You can find any book using the filing cards right over here,” said Twilight as she pointed at the small chest with drawers full of reference cards.

Rainbow chuckled nervously. “Yeah, but I, uh, wanted one of your… special books.”

“Huh?”

Dash walked up to Twilight and held up a hoof to her ear. She leaned in and whispered. As she did, Twilight’s eyes bugged out. “How did you know I had that?!”

“Easy, Rarity told me,” said Rainbow with a smirk.

The blush on Twilight’s face grew several shades darker as she made a mental note to lecture Rarity on the subject of her private book collection. “I’ll, uh, go get it.” She turned around and walked up the stairs to her bedroom.

As she did, Scootaloo walked into the library and joined Rainbow as she sat next to the table with a smug face. The mare was chuckling to herself as she imagined what would unfold.

“Did you do it?” Dash asked.

“Yeah,” said Scootaloo. “It’s all set. I still don’t know why you had me give her a perfectly good can of peanut brittle.”

“Because it’s Twilight’s favorite.” There was a note in Dash’s voice, a hint of smugness that strained to contain itself for risk of spoiling the surprise.

Scootaloo frowned. “But isn’t the point of a prank to scare a pony or make them jump in surprise or something?”

“Shh, just watch and listen.”

The frown didn’t leave Scootaloo’s face as she strained to hear what was going on upstairs. She leaned toward the staircase and put a hoof to her ear. They both heard the muffled sounds of Twilight looking through her books.

“No… No… Not that one…. Oh, gosh, I’ve been looking for that one! No… Ah-ha! Pony Sutra! Oooh! I didn’t know Spike had gotten me these! That was so sweet of hiiiiiAAIIIIIIEEEEE!”

A purple blur raced down the stairs and shot past Rainbow and Scootaloo, who were too busy rolling on the floor laughing to notice. “Snakes!” it shouted as it ran out the door and past several bewildered ponies. “Why’d it have to be snakes?! It couldn’t have been butterflies?!”

-*-*-

“Then she ran past, like, faster than I’ve ever seen her run, screaming ‘Why’d it have to be snakes’!”

Pinkie burst into giggles, joined by the pair of pegasus. “Oh gosh!” said Pinkie as she rolled on the ground. “I bet that was hilarious! Oh, oh, next time, you should go ask her for a book, but don’t do anything.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, still chortling. “Eh?”

“Take the book, then say ‘Huh. Guess I pranked the wrong one….’” Pinkie trailed off, giggling. “She’ll spend the whole day ducking every time she takes a book off the shelf! Thinking behind each one, a sneaky little surprise is waiting.”

“Heh, I like it. Next time we’re pranking, Pinkie, we’ll try that,” the pegasus agreed. She leaned back, relaxing in her seat. Sugarcube Corner was quiet right now, and relatively peaceful. She waved back when Mrs Cake waved from the counter. There was nowhere quite so perfect for taking a snack break as Sugarcube Corner.

Something bright and fizzy slid across the table, stopping in front of her. Dash glanced at it, the tall glass of faintly fizzing, bubbling liquid standing before her as ice cubes clinked against each other, then looked at Pinkie.

“This is my new drink! I call it the Super Fizzy Orange Mouth Explosion!” said the party pony. “Or the S.F.O.M.E. The Sfome! Wanna try it?”

A Pinkie Experimental was always a dangerous prospect, but it did look delicious. She took the glass and once again regarded the fizzy, orange-colored concoction, then after a shrug she started to drink it. All at once it was as though someone had put a flavor grenade into her mouth and pulled the pin. It was orange first, then it burst into a shower of watermelon over her tongue before fading into a cherry sensation. Then suddenly it swelled into a cacophony of strawberry, banana, pineapple, and a host of other fruits before it finally faded out down her throat.

“Oh my gosh!” shouted Rainbow. “This drink is so rad, Pinkie Pie!” She started to gulp down the rest of it just as fast as she could drink it.

As Rainbow chugged her drink, Pinkie Pie set a banana split in front of Scootaloo. “There we go! One banana split! Hope you like!”

Rainbow had something far more more important than the enormous pile of sugar that Pinkie Pie had set down in front of the filly. She was too busy finishing her drink to notice it, and moments later she was only concerned with the now empty state of her glass. She slammed it to the table, orange froth clinging to her lips. “More!”

“Coming right up, Rainbow Dash!” As she sang a merry tune, Pinkie hopped into the kitchen and set about mixing up another drink for her friend. She got out several bottles of ingredients, then she stopped and tapped her chin. “Now where did I put that bottle that Twilight gave me...?”

-*-*-

Scootaloo trotted along at Rainbow Dash’s side, glancing around curiously. “Why are we walking to Fluttershy’s?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Hey, we gotta get there somehow,” Dash remarked, shrugging.

“I mean, why are we walking?” the filly clarified. “You never walk!”

Dash could only shrug. She didn’t want to admit that she was mostly doing it to help tire out Scootaloo. Flying everywhere was how she normally traveled, but that would mean carrying her charge. Carrying Scootaloo was hardly conducive to tiring her out.

“We’re nearly there,” she said instead, pointing to the cottage. “Come on, race ya there!”

“Su- hey! I wasn’t ready!” Scootaloo bound in chase, little hooves pounding as she pursued the laughing blue pegasus who was already galloping ahead. “No fair, Rainbow Dash! Your legs are longer than mine!”

“Sorry, squirt. I can never resist a challenge!””

Scootaloo stamped a hoof. “But you’re the one who challenged me!”

Rather than reply, Rainbow merely rolled her eyes and hit the doorbell. In the back of the house, they heard, “Coming!” In moments, the top half of Fluttershy’s door opened and she beamed at them. “Oh, Rainbow Dash! Scootaloo! How nice to see you!”

“Great to see you too, Fluttershy,” said Rainbow Dash. She endured the hug from her friend with as much grace as she could while doing her best to convey, in body language, that she was far too cool for hugs. “Can we come in?”

“Certainly!” said Fluttershy. She opened up the bottom half of the door and then stepped back as Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash walked into the house. “What brings you two here?”

“Who’s there?” came a voice from the couch. Twilight popped her head up and said, “Oh… Rainbow.”

Rainbow and Scootaloo both stopped in their tracks. “Twilight!” said Rainbow, her irises shrinking to pinpricks. “Uh, nice to see you!”

Twilight stood up and said, “That wasn’t very nice! I almost ran right into a moving cart!”

“You came out alright in the end, though. Right?” said Rainbow with a sheepish shrug.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight plopped back down in her chair and crossed her forelegs as she levitated a teacup and sipped at it curtly. Fluttershy chuckled nervously. “Um, why don’t you go sit down? There’s plenty of tea for both of you!”

“I’m good,” said Scootaloo as she walked toward the couch.

“Why don’t you go play with the animals, Scoots?” said Rainbow. “Me and the grownups need to talk.”

“Some of us being more grownup than others,” muttered Twilight, sipping her tea with a baleful look at her friend.

Scootaloo felt, for a moment, the very slightest urge to loudly point out she wasn’t the one who wet the bed last night. It passed quickly, and she shrugged. “Sure.” She grinned suddenly. “I wonder if the chickens want to play tag!”

“Uh, can you-” began Fluttershy. The door was swinging shut behind Scootaloo before she finished. “-not? …oh my. I hope I locked the chicken coop...”

“Ah, they’ll be fine.” Rainbow Dash sat down. “The kid needs to burn off some energy anyway. Dunno why, but I’ve been trying to tire her out all day and she’s still going!”

“Tire her out? Why are you trying to do that?” asked Fluttershy, a delicate frown on her face as she placed a teacup in front of the other pegasus.

Said pegasus coughed awkwardly. “Er, just, y’know, because...fillies are like that.” She pressed on and quickly took a sip of tea before either could question her non-answer. “Anything up with you Fluttershy?”

“Well,” said Fluttershy as she walked over to the couch and sat next to Twilight, “I was just having tea with Twilight to help her calm her nerves a bit.”

Twilight glared at Rainbow. “Yeah. Seems like someone thought it would be a good idea to stick a can of snakes in my room.” She took another sip of her tea, her eyes staying glued to Rainbow Dash.

Sweating nervously, Rainbow chuckled. “Uh, yeah. Someone sure did that alright. So, what was it you two were talking about anyway?”

Fluttershy cleared her throat. “We were just talking about the rules you set up for Scootaloo to follow. And… well, I, um… I’m not sure they’re very… fair.”

Rainbow privately agreed, but she said, “Look, the kid wet my bed and then she tried to make it out to be like she can’t really control it.”

“But what if she can’t?” said Fluttershy.

“It’s probably just like when I was a filly,” said Rainbow Dash. “Sometimes in the morning I would just pee in my bed because I was too lazy to get up. My dad put a stop to it by punishing me whenever he caught me doing it. And if I do this then maybe Scootaloo won’t pee in my bed anymore.”

“Rainbow Dash, that’s cruel!” said Fluttershy.

“Yeah,” said Twilight. “I still stand by what I said a few days ago. You don’t know if you’re going to ruin Scootaloo’s confidence with all this punishment business! What if she really can’t control it and you’re just being needlessly cruel?”

Rainbow crossed her legs and shook her head. “Nope. Uh-uh, I’m not going to fall for this sympathy business. She’s just a kid, and if she’s doing it on purpose then this will stop it. Besides, it’s not like she’s wet the bed since she got to my house anyway.”

She was about to continue when Scootaloo walked in through the door. “Yeah,” she chimed in. “I mean, it’s great! But Rainbow Dash has--”

“Got to go, hehe!” finished Rainbow. She was out of her chair and pushing Scootaloo back out the door before you could blink. “To, uh, get Scootaloo a new… toy!”

Scootaloo’s eyes lit up. “Really?! Rainbow, you’re so awesome!” She craned her neck to call over Dash, “Oh, yeah! Fluttershy, there was a lock on the chickens for some reason!”

Twilight and Fluttershy watched Rainbow Dash hurry Scootaloo out, neither given time to even say goodbye. At the very least, Fluttershy felt some relief at hearing the lock was turning out to be filly-proof.

“Well, that was…” She sought for the right words. “...interesting?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, it was. Do you think….it's working? Rainbow Dash was really desperate to interrupt Scootaloo, and we were talking about bedwetting.”

“It certainly seems to,” said Fluttershy as she took a sip of tea. “And that potion you gave Pinkie Pie will probably help Applejack’s special cider work even better.”

“I admit, using two potions at once might be overkill,” said Twilight as her lips curled up into the barest hint of a smile before she took a sip of her tea. She was perhaps enjoying the thought more than she had before today. “But this will be a week she’ll never forget.”

Twilight really didn’t like snakes. Even fake ones.

Rainbow Dash lay back, a day of filly-care tiring even her out. She rested contently on her couch, watching television with Scootaloo, her filling supper weighing her stomach down and somehow making her more tired than she, by all rights, should have felt. Maybe it was the day she’d spend playing with Scootaloo, but she felt like she’d been hit by a truck. Then she remembered smacking right into Big McIntosh’s side. She felt a dull ache from the impact spot, and winced at the memory.
Rainbow looked down at Scootaloo, who was holding the Spitfire plushie that she’d bought for her that afternoon. She smiled, glad that Scootaloo was finally happy. Then she thought about her obligation. This is it… just a few more minutes, and I’ll be home free! She normally hated cheating. One of the reasons she was so insulted back when Applejack accused her of cheating back during the Iron Pony competition was that she found cheating detestable. She hated trying to get out of something dishonestly, but she didn’t see how else she could escape this other than by letting it slip by and hope that Scootaloo didn’t notice.

The ending theme began to play, and Dash let out a relieved sigh as she reached over to the remote and turned off the TV.

“Well, that was a good one. Come on, let’s do something else,” she said.

Scootaloo turned and looked at her with her jaw dropped. “But… but that was a cliffhanger! You said you recorded them, right? Let’s watch the end now!”

Dash held up a hoof. “Kid, you’re lucky I’m letting you watch it at all, and I’m trusting you not to tell your mom. We’ll watch it later.”

“But… but the stallion in the red shirt just knocked on the door, held the gun in that pony’s face and then… he just… shot him! I gotta know what happens next!”

“Sorry, kiddo,” said Rainbow as she got up from the couch. “It’s late and we probably should be in bed now.” She started to walk toward the stairs.

Scootaloo jumped off the couch and followed her up. “Alright. Promise me we’ll watch the rest tomorrow night!”

A chuckle escaped Rainbow’s lips. “I promise, squirt.” Ohpleaseforget, ohpleaseforget, ohpleaseforget… Rainbow was privately panicking, hoping that the kid had forgotten about the rules. But as she walked into her bedroom, all hope was lost as Scootaloo entered right behind her. I knew I should have kept doing stuff to make her tired!

“Okay, Rainbow Dash,” said Scootaloo as she walked toward the closet. “Time to put your diaper on!”

“Oh come on, kid!” said Rainbow as the filly dug around in her closet for the changing supplies. “You know I won’t do it again!”

Scootaloo laid out the supplies on the bed. “No, I don’t. After all, you’ve wet the bed twice in a row now.” She couldn’t help smiling; that was exactly what her mom said when she said she wouldn’t wet the bed. “And besides, you have to follow the rules just like I do!”

Rainbow fumbled for a protest, but somehow her brain decided to mutiny on her and refused to think up anything that might convince Scootaloo not to go through with this. With an air of resignation, she walked to the bed and gazed down sadly at the adorable diaper laid on it. It was so… cute. There were little puppies and kittens on it, with blue borders around the leg cuffs and on the topside. “Want me to lay down now, Scoot?”

Nodding, Scootaloo pointed at the edge of the bed, just below the changing supplies. “Just lay down right there, Dashie.”

“Don’t call me that, Squirt.”

“If you can call me ‘Squirt,’ then I can call you ‘Dashie’,” said Scootaloo with excessive smugness. She was, as far as Dash was concerned, enjoying this far too much.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Fine. Whatever.” She crawled up into bed and laid down on the edge, close enough that Scootaloo could reach her. She resisted the temptation to lay further from it, just to make things harder. It would also make it take longer, which was hardly a bonus.

As soon as she was settled down, Scootaloo took the diaper and unfolded it. She carefully smoothed it out, then maneuvered the diaper around Rainbow so it was in front of her back legs. “Okay, now lift up your butt.”

Cringing at being ordered around like a filly, Rainbow slowly lifted her hindquarters up off the blanket, allowing Scootaloo to slide the diaper under her behind. Then the filly maneuvered her tail deftly through the hole in the back of the diaper, making sure it was taut.

As soon as she was finished adjusting Rainbow’s tail, Scootaloo said, “Alright, now you can lay back down.”

Rainbow nodded, noting that she still felt a twinge of pain from her backside from the… ugh… diaper rash. The fact that the diaper was soft and comfortable only served to make Rainbow resent it more. Why can’t this thing be stiff and uncomfortable so I at least have an excuse to hate it more? She sighed. The padding was, indeed, comfortable. And she cringed as she realized that she actually didn’t mind how it felt.

Suddenly the miniscule pleasure she felt at the softness of the diaper was replaced by shock as she felt something cold being spread on her backside. “Yeow!” she shouted in an altogether too girly scream.

“Sorry!” said Scootaloo as she applied the diaper rash cream. “You told me you didn’t want me to forget this time!”

“I said not to forget the powder, not this gross, creamy stuff!” Rainbow huffed. “My butt feels like an ice cube!”

Scootaloo just shook her head as she finished spreading the diaper rash cream. She took one of the wet wipes and wiped the excess off her hoof, then set the tube of rash cream aside and went for the foal powder. After opening the lid, she shook the contents all over Rainbow’s diaper area, turning any remaining blue portions a soft, white color. Rainbow tried to ignore the sweet-smelling powder, but she couldn’t help but smile a little when she smelled the alluring odor. It tickled vague, unformed foalhood memories.

After thoroughly powdering Rainbow, Scootaloo set the bottle of foal powder aside and then pulled the front of the diaper up. She held it place with her elbow and used her hooves to pull the sides up and fasten them one at a time, trying to get them as tight as possible. When she finally got the last tape on, she stood back. “Alright, all done!”

Wincing at the crinkling sounds her butt made as she rolled out of bed, Rainbow looked back. She would hate to admit it to anypony, especially Scootaloo, but the diaper on her rump was extremely comfy. She felt like there was a pillow between her legs, and the inside felt like Angel Bunny’s soft rabbit fur. The corners of her mouth turned up a few degrees, but then quickly went back to a frown to keep Scootaloo from getting any ideas. She turned her head back to Scootaloo. “Alright, now that that’s over with, let’s go get you in bed.”

“Okay!” said Scootaloo. After they both put away the changing supplies, Rainbow escorted Scootaloo to bed. She cringed with each step, the crinkly noise even worse than the pullups had been. And this time the noise was accompanied by the sensation of something thick adorning her backside and pushing her back legs apart. She hoped she wasn’t waddling. When she got to the spare bedroom, she set eyes on the bed. The same bed that Scootaloo had kept dry for two nights now. And here Rainbow was, having to wear a diaper because she couldn’t keep her own gosh-darned bed dry.

She pulled the covers back, then Scootaloo hopped into the warm bed and pulled up the covers. Rainbow walked up and gave Scootaloo a nuzzle. “G’night, squirt. See you in the morning.”

Scootaloo yawned. “G’night, Rainbow Dash.”

After going down the stairs, Rainbow headed to the kitchen to pour another cup of cider. Each step she took was even louder than before, thanks to the rest of the house being so quiet. And each step seemed to make the cringe on her mouth grow wider and wider. She sighed as the cup was filled to the brim, then sat down on the tile floor, a crinkle-plop sounding as she did. She chugged the entire cup, then looked at the barrel. “Buck it.” She poured herself another cup, sipping this one more slowly. As she drank her cider, she looked down at the diaper on her hindquarters. It seemed to mock her, with those cute, happy little puppies and kittens staring back at her. She desperately wanted to just take it off, wake up before Scootaloo, then put it back on without her knowing. But she didn’t want to get diaper rash cream and powder all over her sheets.

Yeah… that’s the real reason… not… The truth was, she was scared that she was starting to need a diaper at night. She hadn’t wet the bed unintentionally since she was a filly. And here she was, starting to pee in her bed like a foal and having to get diapered for bedtime. By a filly, no less. It was humiliating.

“Karma’s a witch,” she said as she took the cup to the sink. This had to be some sort of cosmic payback for the rules she set in place for Scootaloo. She sighed and then shook her head. No need to worry about it. She was a grown mare. This was obviously a fluke. It couldn’t happen three times in a row.

Could it?