Chapters “Jeez, Scootaloo! This is the second morning you soaked my sheets!”
Scootaloo wanted to shrink to the size of a pinhead. Or die. Maybe both. If they had been on the ground, she would have added ‘be swallowed by the earth’ to that list. At that moment her idol, Rainbow Dash, was standing in front of her, pointing at the blue sheets which had a large wet spot on them from the previous night, her magenta eyes narrowed into an angry glare and her wings flared up, giving her a much bigger appearance.
“I… um…” It was a pathetic defense, and she knew it.
“Seriously? You couldn’t hold it for one lousy night?” asked Rainbow, her face contorted into a scowl.
“You don’t have to yell at me like that.” Scootaloo looked away, shame written all over her face. She wanted to keep her tearing left eye from Rainbow’s view, though there was little she could do to hide the sniffles.
“Look,” Rainbow finally went on, her tone growing less angry. Despite her frustration, it was hard to just yell at a sniffling filly. “You gotta stop this. I can’t keep washing your sheets like this whenever you come over.”
“But… But I don’t do it all the time!” said Scootaloo, glancing up at Rainbow Dash. She looked away again. “It sort of… comes and goes.”
The older pegasus gave her a skeptical look. “Like at the camping trip to Rainbow Falls? You didn’t even wet once. Heck, I didn’t even know you were a bedwetter!”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “I had a week of dry nights that time. Mom and dad both said I could go only if I was dry all week, and I was.”
“Well, why can’t you stay dry now? You could do it then!” Rainbow Dash pointed out, running a hoof through her mane wearily.
“I was nervous,” said Scootaloo with a huff. “This is the first time I’ve ever stayed with you.”
Rainbow looked away. “Then I guess you shouldn’t stay with me unless you can keep your bed dry, kiddo.”
Scootaloo whipped her head to face Rainbow, her jaw hanging slack. “You… you can’t…” Her eyes welled up with new tears. “Rainbow Dash, please! I’m not a foal! I can keep my bed dry!”
“Sorry, kid.” Rainbow sighed heavily, then picked up Scootaloo’s suitcase. “I better help you get your stuff together.”
Scootaloo moved like her hooves were made of lead. Her stomach may as well have been, too, considering how it felt. It took all her courage and strength not to burst into tears and run from the room. But all that wasn’t enough to keep a few stray drops from falling on her cheek as she gathered up her toys.
Watching from the sidelines, Rainbow Dash winced when she saw the tears. It was obvious Scootaloo was trying not to cry, and not entirely succeeding. As much as she told herself Scootaloo needed some tough love, it hurt to see the effect it was having.
“Scoots, I’m sorry,” she said, wishing she could think of something more. “But unless I find some kind of magical self-cleaning bedsheet, this is how it has to be.”
Scootaloo nodded and tried to smile weakly, but ended up dripping more tears into the compacted cloud floor. Dash watched them fall and absorb into the cloud.
Absorb…
I wonder if she’d go for that , she thought to herself as Scootaloo heaved her suitcase and started to march down the hall toward the staircase. Rainbow Dash nodded to herself as she turned the idea over in her head. It’s so crazy, it might just work!
“That’s crazy! It won’t work!” Twilight was shaking her head as she sat across from Rainbow Dash in the library, their rumps cushioned by a pair of fluffy pillows in the study room off to the side of the main library. Before them were two cups of tea, still steaming.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, egghead, of course it will. It’s a great plan!”
“Why would you think that is a good idea? Diapers?” The alicorn pressed a hoof against her forehead. “Why?”
The look Rainbow Dash gave her was all confidence. “Because I thought of it,” she said, as if that was that.
Twilight stared at her. “...that...that makes no…ugh.” She sighed in exasperation and took a sip of tea, hoping the soothing drink would calm her nerves and make Rainbow Dash’s idea sound a bit more sane. She hadn’t added any alcohol to her tea, so she didn’t think that was likely.
“And besides,” continued Dash, “this way the little squirt can stay over at my place and continue to worship my awesomeness without fading my sheets any more than they already are. Everypony wins!”
“Except Scootaloo, who will be stuck in diapers and horribly embarrassed if she has one little slip,” Twilight pointed out.
Rainbow Dash nodded. “That’s the point!”
“...what.”
“She’ll be embarrassed! And if she’s embarrassed, she’ll be motivated to fix the problem. I’m not gonna change my mind, so the only choice will be for her to learn to not wet the bed.” She grinned. “See how that works?”
“But it… Rainbow, it doesn’t work like that! ”
“Says you.” Rainbow’s eyes had a distinct look. Twilight recognized it as the same one that Applejack gave her when she insisted pegasi crop-dusting was completely safe and wouldn’t harm the apples. The I know I’m right and nothing you say or do will convince me otherwise -type look.
Before she replied, Twilight reached with her magic into the psychology shelf, pulling myriad books over to her. She still had to try, even if Rainbow Dash was entrenched in her position.
“It helped me, when I just a filly,” explained the pegasus. “I crashed all the time, all over the place-”
You still do, Twilight thought as she flipped through the books, but she kept it to herself.
“-and it was because of how embarrassing it was that I forced myself to train and become better at flying. Look at how awesome I am now! I wouldn’t have gotten this far if I didn’t know how embarrassing it was when a pony saw me crash, and how they sounded when they laughed.” Dash’s voice went odd as she remembered, growing haunted. “If I hadn’t imagined my dad seeing me crash when my Flight School evaluation happened. If I hadn’t imagined the embarrassment of finding out the Wonderbolts were in the crowd in disguise, looking for the best and the worst, seeing me crash and putting me on the ‘worst’ list, forever marked, unable to even try out, having them revoke my cutie mark-”
A cup of soothing tea was shoved in Rainbow Dash’s face. She took it, gulping it down until the teacup was empty.
“Wonderful,” Twilight’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “You’re planning to inflict emotional trauma on Scootaloo based on your own emotional trauma. Lovely. What could go wrong?”
As they discussed the issue, a certain farm pony walked through the library door. “Twi?” said Applejack. “Ya here? Ah need ta borrow a book on fertilizers ‘n…” She followed the sound of the two mares sitting in the study room discussing Scootaloo’s nighttime problem. “Oh, uh, is this a bad time?”
“No,” said Twilight, her friendly demeanor returning. She absently yanked the cup from Dash’s muzzle. “Is there something I can help you with, Applejack?”
“Well, Ah came ta borrow a book, but Ah couldn’t help but overhear what y’all were discussin’, and Ah think Ah might be able ta shed some light on the subject.”
“What would you know about it?” asked Dash, not even bothering to hide the indignant feeling she’d built up during the conversation with Twilight.
Applejack walked over and sat next to Twilight. “Apple Bloom had the same problem for a while there. Jes’ over a year ago, in fact. But she grew out of it. All little fillies do. Ya jes’ gotta give ‘em time.”
“I don’t have time!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “She needs to get over this now!”
“Ah seem to remember a certain pony wettin’ the bed not six months past,” Applejack shot at her with a narrow look, memories of a “Mare’s Night Out” from a few months ago suddenly surfacing.
“Hey, I was drunk, and that was a lot of cider!” Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves, scowling. “That doesn’t count.”
Applejack scoffed. “So ya say, but Ah was the one who had to clean the sheets.”
Twilight sighed, holding up her hooves. “Girls, let’s focus on Scootaloo.” She looked at Rainbow. “She needs to know that you still care about her, Rainbow Dash. I’m not sure forcing her to wear diapers is the best way to do this. But…” she sighed. “I guess one night couldn’t hurt.”
“One night?” repeated Dash. “I’m thinking a week in diapers would be more like it.”
“A week?!” Applejack and Twilight exploded in unison. “Doncha think that’s a tad harsh?” added Applejack.
“Harsh? She ruined my Wonderbolts sheets, and she’s, like, nine! She should be over this by now. I didn’t get better at flying because I got coddled about it and told it would come in time. I tried hard and got better because I wanted it. And if she wants to be out of diapers, she’ll keep them dry.”
Twilight’s view on the matter remained dim. “We’re not going to be able to talk you out of this, are we?” she said flatly.
“Why would you try and talk me out of the best idea I’ve ever had?” Rainbow Dash asked in confusion. “Besides, I need your help.”
“My help? You can’t traumatize Scootaloo on your own?” Twilight snarked, her attitude a bit harsher than usual.
Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration. “This won’t traumatize her, I promise! It’ll work, and she’ll be able to sleep without wetting the bed at my place. And at her place too, I guess.”
Levitating over her kettle and tea bags, Twilight began making herself and Applejack some tea. “So, why do you need my help for your oh-so perfect plan?”
The grin Dash gave her made it clear the pegasus was certain she had won. “Because I don’t want Scootaloo to hate me for coming up with the stuff that embarrasses her. You’re also super good at rules and stuff. I want you to come up with a whole set of rules, ones that will embarrass her into not wetting the bed.”
“What.”
“Wait, ya want rules specifically designed to embarrass her?” Applejack asked. “Ain’t that takin’ it a bit far?”
“For the thousandth time, she’s a tough kid! She can take it, and she needs to learn that she can’t just wet the bed and not expect there to be consequences! Besides, like I said, a little embarrassment will go a long way to curing her of this bedwetting problem.”
Applejack stared thoughtfully at Rainbow Dash, a serious look in her eyes. She blinked, an idea seeming to just appear before her. The gleam that came to her emerald eyes was as devious as they came, but she quickly hid it behind a sip of her tea.
“Maybe those rules ain’t so bad an idea,” she said, surprising the other two. Twilight cocked an eyebrow at her while Rainbow Dash grinned. “O’ course, the thing ‘bout rules is that its easier to make somepony else follow ‘em when you’re doin’ the same.”
“Huh?” Rainbow wasn’t sure where she was going with this. Then it hit her. “Wait, what?! You want me to wear diapers ‘n stuff?”
“Ah didn’t say that,” said Applejack. “Jes’ put it down on the rules that both o’ you have to wear diapers if they’ve wet the bed recently. You haven’t, right?”
Rainbow shook her head.
“Then you won’t have to. It’ll make things seem fair to Scootaloo and you’ll get to embarrass her like ya wanted.”
Dash put a hoof to her chin. “So, I wouldn’t actually have to follow the rules, as long as I haven’t wet the bed, huh?”
“That’d be the size of it.”
Rainbow smiled at her. “Perfect!”
Twilight looked up from boiling the kettle. “So how far are you going to go with this?”
“What do you mean?” asked Rainbow.
“Well…” Twilight levitated the pot and began pouring the contents into her teacup and a fresh one for Applejack. “I remember reading in a child health book about diapers and older children. It’s true that they usually wear them for bedwetting, but if you plan on keeping her in diapers long enough that she’d use more than one, it’s recommended for a child as young as Scootaloo that you help diaper her, at least until you’re sure she can do it herself reliably.”
“Then one of the rules needs to be that anypony in diapers is not allowed to change themselves.” Rainbow Dash had a devious look in her eyes.
“This includes you, Rainbow,” said Applejack.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m not gonna be in diapers, remember?”
That’s what you think. Applejack nodded. “Jes’ thought Ah’d remind ya. Also, Ah figured the poor kid needs somethin’ ta ease her spirits a bit, so Ah’m gonna give her a barrel o’ cider. It ain’t exactly the season for it, but it’ll be here soon enough.”
“Cider?!” Rainbow stomped her hooves. “And what about me? Don’t I get any?”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “O’ course ya do, sugarcube. Ah jes’ felt like Scootaloo deserved some, too.”
Rainbow nodded. “Okay. Just as long as I get some, too!”
“Don’t worry, you will.” It was hard for the honest mare to keep a wicked gleam from her eyes.
“Great!” Satisfied for the moment, Rainbow turned to Twilight. “You’re going to write these soon, right?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Um, I guess I could put off reading Chain Rule’s Guide to Advanced Calculus. Why? Were you planning on having Scootaloo over?”
“Next week,” said Rainbow. “I just gotta ask and the kid will ─”
“Next week?” Twilight looked shocked. “But today’s Saturday!”
“I know. Better get crackin’. I’m gonna go get the supplies.” She got up to go out the door.
“Wait!” Rainbow looked at Applejack, who was holding up a hoof. “Ah’ll come with ya.”
Rainbow scoffed. “I think I can handle a shopping trip, Applejack.”
Applejack stood up. “You ever shop fer baby supplies b’fore? Do ya even know where the foal store is?”
The question caught Rainbow Dash off guard. “Um… well, no.”
“Then Ah’ll be joinin’ ya. Gotta make sure ya get the right stuff ‘n all.”
Nodding, Rainbow Dash then flew toward the door, ducking under it and swooping off into the clouds. When she noticed Applejack wasn’t following her, she shot back to the house. “Hey! Come on, we’re burning daylight!”
“Easy there, girl,” said Applejack as she waved off Rainbow Dash. “I’ll meet ya there. I jes’ gotta talk with Twilight a little before we go.”
“Whatever, just don’t take too long, okay?”
Applejack gave her a half smile. “Ah’ll be quick as a jackrabbit.”
As soon as Rainbow was out the door, Twilight scowled. “I can’t believe she thinks this behavior is acceptable! Embarrassing children is no way to get them to stop bedwetting! Heck, when I wet the bed my parents were nothing but supportive and ─”
“Twilight, it’s okay,” said Applejack. “Ah got a little surprise ta make sure Rainbow understands the magnitude of what she’s doin’ ta Scootaloo.”
Twilight stopped her ranting for a moment. The idea of teaching Rainbow a lesson on being kind to children had occurred to her, but up till now she had no idea how she’d do it. “What do you have in mind?”
“Trust me,” said Applejack with a devious glint in her eye, “when this little sleepover is over, Rainbow won’t ever want to embarrass another filly as long as she lives.”
“It took you long enough!” Rainbow Dash landed in front of Applejack, wings settling at her sides. “It’s been, like, nearly half an hour!”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “‘s been ten minutes, sugarcube, an’ unlike ya’ll Ah can’t fly from one end of town to the other in half a minute.”
“Yeah, I know, I’m awesome right? But that’s not what we’re here for!” Pointing at the foal store, Rainbow Dash felt her confidence falter slightly. “Ugh, it looks so….girly.”
Walking past her friend, Applejack blew out a weary sigh that screamed ‘grow up’. “Well, usually the only ponies who go in are mothers.” She held the door open and gestured for Rainbow Dash to come through. The pegasus followed her with a sour look, sticking her tongue out at Applejack as she passed her.
Applejack’s doubts about her plan faded away. Maybe this would teach Rainbow Dash more than just the folly of her idea. Embarrassment might not solve bedwetting, but it was certainly going to fix a few problems of Dash’s.
Ah just gotta be careful ‘bout this , she thought to herself, watching Rainbow Dash look cluelessly around the store. The clerk looked over at the two, trying to hide her curiosity at their presence given neither was clearly with foal, or had been in before.
“Want a hoof there, sugarcube?” Applejack asked her friend.
Dash shrugged, going for nonchalance. “I’m good, but you can help if you want.”
“Uh huh.” Applejack’s voice was flat. She raised an eyebrow. “Ah’m pretty sure ya mean ‘yes please’. Good thing ya ain’t tryin’ to teach Scootaloo manners, or it’d be a lost cause.”
Rainbow Dash replied as maturely as usual, by rolling her eyes and sticking her tongue out at Applejack.
The cow mare rubbed her forehead, groaning. She trotted past Rainbow Dash, curling her tail around a trolley and pulling it with her. After years of looking after Apple Bloom, she had no trouble finding what they’d need.
“That’s a lot of stuff,” Rainbow Dash finally said, interrupting Applejack’s browsing. “All I need is diapers and paper towels to clean up, right?”
Applejack gave her an unamused stare. “Ya need a whole lot more’n that, if yer serious about this. Changing mat, for one.” She pointed out the items in the trolley one by one. “Powder. Rash cream. Proper wipes.”
“Oh, come on,” said Rainbow.
“Hey, this was your idea, flygirl.” Applejack reminded her. “You’re also gonna need stuff for these rules. Foal toys, for one. Rattle, blocks, you know, embarrrasin’ stuff.” She shuddered a little bit as she said it.
Rainbow Dash finally arrived at the diaper aisle, and when she saw the sheer variety her irises shrunk to pinpricks. “Holy cow! There’s so many!”
“Toldya ya’d need my help,” said Applejack. “Jes’ look for one that’s large enough for a filly and pretty absorbent. And don’t forget to get pullups, too.”
“Pullups?”
“Yeah,” said Applejack raising an eyebrow. “You do know what those are, right?”
“Of course I do, but why do we need them?”
“Because she needs ta start out in those. They’re a mite less embarrassin’ than diapers, and this way you can build up to them.”
“Oh, right! Heh-heh, that’ll be even better!” Rainbow looked around for the characteristics that Applejack mentioned. Soon she came upon a diaper that looked perfect: it was thick, highly absorbent, and had adorable little animals and foal toys all over it. Then she picked up a similarly childish package of pullups. “Got ‘em! Let’s go!” she said as she swooped over to the trolley and dropped the packages into it.
“Hold on.” Applejack sternly glared at Rainbow. “Ya still need ta find ones fer yerself.”
Sighing, Rainbow floated quickly through the aisle and grabbed ones that were apparently for adults. Applejack marvelled at the cover, which had a full grown pony with one of the diapers on looking as happy as a junebug. What was even more interesting was that the diaper he was wearing looked just as foalish as the ones Rainbow had picked for Scootaloo, maybe even moreso. They certainly looked thicker, comparatively.
“There, you happy?” Rainbow Dash had barely glanced at them. As far as she was concerned, they were just props she didn’t need to bother with and would in all likelihood take back anyway. “Anything else?”
“Well…” Applejack pretended to be thoughtful. “Ya did say ya wanted this to be embarrassin’, didn’t ya? A play rug, an’ maybe a blankie or somethin’, with designs ya know Scootaloo’ll be embarrassed about.”
Grinning, secure in the belief that Applejack was helping her, Rainbow Dash cackled. “Yeah, good idea! Scoots’ is like me, she won’t be too thrilled with girly stuff,” she said, confidently.
Privately Applejack disagreed, remembering how Scootaloo had been as happy as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to be one of the flower fillies at the royal wedding. It was pretty obvious that even if Scootaloo wasn’t really into girly things, she didn’t vilify them the way Rainbow Dash did except when her idol was around to see.
“Sounds good,” she said instead. “Jes’ pick out ones that ya’ll would find embarrassin’ yerself then.”
Taking to this like it was a prank in the planning, Rainbow Dash zipped around the store. It didn’t take her long to come back with a play rug. The first, according to Applejack, was too small so Applejack herself got one, of the largest size, that was decorated with building blocks and cute baby animals. Rainbow Dash thought nothing of it as she fetched a ‘blankie’, the girlish, foalish blanket making her smirk.
The last item Applejack went after was the foal food. She was about to get some of the strained peas and carrots when Rainbow said, “Eh, I dunno about that stuff.”
“It’s perfectly safe,” said Applejack. “Heck, Ah’d taste it mahself when Ah was feedin’ Apple Bloom.”
“Well, it still looks nasty, and I don’t want Scoots pukin’ on my floor, too.”
Applejack sighed exasperatedly. “You can at least get the apples and pears. They’re jes’ like eatin’ applesauce.”
Rainbow considered it. “Hmm. Okay.”
The two mares took the supplies up to the register and started to put them in front of the clerk. She eyed them curiously. “These all for you?”
“What, for us?” Rainbow Dash looked at her incredulously. “Pfft, of course not!”
“Nah, don’t ya’ll worry.” Applejack gave the mare a smile. “Just helpin’ out a friend.”
“I...see. Well, alrighty then!” The mare began to ring up their purchases, but she couldn’t help but occasionally glance at the two mares in front of her with morbid curiosity. As Rainbow and Applejack departed, she rolled her eyes. “Well,” she said as she cracked a new roll of bits, “they didn’t have to be so secretive. It’s not like they’re the only mommy/filly couple that comes in here.”
Rainbow Dash laid on a cloud, lazily watching a pair of cumulous drift by. She thought about just blatantly asking Scootaloo if she’d like to stay with her, but it seemed kind of odd, especially after she’d lambasted her for bedwetting and told her she wasn’t welcome to stay the night anymore because of it. Besides, after the incident with the ice cream stand and Twilight’s subsequent lecture about thinking ahead before doing anything rash ─ really, how was she supposed to know that you can’t just scoop your own while the ice cream pony was away? ─ she decided to wait for some kind of opportunity.
“I just can’t believe that they would do that!” The voice she heard was familiar. Rainbow popped her head out from behind the cloud and looked at the stream of little ponies walking out of the schoolhouse. A trio of familiar fillies was walking in a triangle formation, with Scootaloo steaming angrily in the lead and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle taking up the rear. “They’re going to leave me! For a week!”
“Sounds like a blast,” Apple Bloom offered.
“Ah thought we gave up on explosives after the county fair incident.” Sweetie Belle cringed at the thought of her sister’s face when she received the bill for her share of the damages.
“Not that kind of blast, Sweetie Belle.”
Scootaloo scowled. “Focus, guys. I’ve got a real crisis here! My parents want to leave me at home while they go on a cruise for the stupid spring break. Do you realize how boring that’s gonna be? And they’re probably going to get some sucky chaperone to take care of me or something. I won’t even have you two to play with, since you’re both going away too!”
Perhaps Twilight was on to something, if this golden opportunity was typical of what happened when you waited. Rainbow Dash dismissed the idea. If there was one thing that she was, aside from awesome, it was lucky. She grinned to herself as she got up and swooped down in front of the trio, then doing a flip before coming into a hover in midair. “So,” she said, looking at Scootaloo. “I hear you need a foalsitter for a week.”
“Foalsitter?” repeated Scootaloo. “I’m not a foal!”
“Relax kid, it was just a joke!” Well, a half-joke.
Scootaloo gave her an angry look. “I thought you didn’t want me over after I messed up your sheets.”
“Yeah,” said Apple Bloom. “You made Scootaloo feel awful!”
“And… and… That’s just wrong!” finished Sweetie Belle.
Rainbow held up her hooves defensively. “Whoa, whoa, guys, I’m sorry! Look, I wanted to make it up to you, squirt.”
Scootaloo raised her eyebrow, but there was the tiniest bit of hope shining in her eyes.
“I acted really bad and shouldn’t have made fun of you for something like that,” continued Rainbow. “I heard you’re gonna be left behind when your parents leave town, and I figured you’d rather have a cool pony looking after you than some boring pony like…” She was about to say Applejack, but then thought better of it when she saw Apple Bloom was also looking right at her. “That guy,” she finally said, pointing at a skinny pony with a bow tie and thick glasses.
“Wow, that guy looks boring!” Scootaloo agreed, loudly.
“Hey!” Poindexter called out.
Ignoring him, Rainbow grinned at her favourite fan. “So whaddaya say, kid? Want the coolest foalsitter in Equestria to watch you this week?”
Scootaloo grinned slightly. “Um, sure.”
Mumbling to himself, Poindexter was ignored as he trotted away. His weekly game of O&O with 8 Bit was more important than dealing with Rainbow Dash.
“Perfect! Don’t worry, squirt,” said Rainbow as she took off. “This is sure to be a week you’ll never forget!”
“Now don’t forget! She must have a bath twice a day! And don’t let her play those awful video games!”
Rainbow would have been making blah-blah-blah motions with her mouth had Scootaloo’s mother not been clucking right in her face. The heavyset pony was standing in Rainbow’s living room and blasting her with so many rules on how to take care of her “little darling” that it would have made the Wonderbolt’s book of regulations look like a helpful pamphlet.
“Don’t worry,” said Rainbow, giving Scootaloo a little nuggie, “Scootaloo and I will have a great time!”
The larger pony gave her a look that suggested she’d rather leave her daughter in the hooves of a hobo, but she’d run out of options. The rest of her normal foalsitters having given up on trying to live up to her lofty expectations.
“Well, as long as you obey the rules,” she said, then she leaned in, her face suddenly shrouded in shadows. “And if anything happens to my little darling, I swear on the throne of Celestia herself, I will personally end you.”
Rainbow gulped.
Then the older mare’s face went back to it’s normal, rotund self. “Bye, sweetheart! Momma loves her little darling!”
Scootaloo forced a grin and waved, wishing she would just go and stop humiliating her in front of her idol.
“Come on, honey,” she said to the short, scrawny stallion at her side. “Let’s go.”
They both walked out, and before they got in their pegasus taxi Rainbow had shut the door. “Finally,” she said loudly. “Alright, you two. You can come out now.”
Scootaloo wondered momentarily who she was talking to, then Applejack and Twilight Sparkle walked out from the kitchen, where they had both apparently been waiting. They both walked into the living room, Twilight with a guilty look on her face, Applejack without expression.
“...are you giving me The Talk?” Scootaloo asked warily.
There was a moment of silence as they all looked at each other. Twilight looked like her face was about to burst into flame. Rainbow snickered, covering her mouth as she tried to keep herself from just exploding with laughter.
Applejack sighed. “No, Scootaloo. Nothin’ like that.”
“We’ve got… a few things to talk about, though,” added Twilight, a faint blush still present under her fur.
Scootaloo looked uneasy. Normally when a child is told that by a single adult, there was something pretty awful they were getting at. And there were three adults in front of her. “Um, what kind of things?”
“Remember a few days ago when you wet the bed?”
Rainbow’s pointed question sent a cold chill down Scootaloo’s spine. “Um, yeah.”
“Well, I told you that you couldn’t stay here unless you can keep your bed dry.”
“I can!” said Scootaloo. “I’ve been dry all week!”
“That’s good ‘n all, Scoots,” said Rainbow, “but I’m not taking any chances. I’ve taken some… precautions this time.”
“Pre-what, now?”
Rainbow nodded at Twilight, who produced a scroll from behind her back. Dash looked back at Scootaloo with a fairly neutral expression. “Twilight ‘n me made up some rules for you to obey while you’re here.”
Twilight pulled away the wax seal keeping the scroll rolled up, and it unfurled to the floor and rolled to a stop at Scootaloo’s hooves. “What’s all this for?” she asked as she nudged the roll experimentally.
Before Rainbow could answer, Applejack interjected. “Look, sugarcube, we know yer a big filly, but Rainbow here made up some rules regardin’ yer stay. We all love ya, Scootaloo, and we just want what’s best for ya.”
Scootaloo looked wary. “You sound like my mother. Anyway, what’s up with the rules? Do I gotta sleep with rubber sheets or something? Because I packed those.”
Rainbow leaped up and hovered in the air above Scootaloo. “It’s like this. I think you need to work on this whole bedwetting thing. And to do that, I’ve got some rules for you to follow.” She looked at Twilight. “You read ‘em. I’m gonna go grab a soda.” She then took off into the kitchen, leaving Twilight to read the rules.
“Ahem,” said Twilight as she cleared her throat. “Rule number one: all ponies must follow the rules to the letter. No exceptions.”
“With you so far.”
“Rule two: any pony who has wet the bed previously must wear a pullup to bed.
“Rule three: if the pony wets their pullup, they must wear a diaper the next night.
“Rule four: if the diaper is wet the next night, they have to wear diapers all day the next day─”
“Wait, what?” Scootaloo interrupted. Applejack gently shushed her, patting her shoulder reassuringly.
“Rule five: if they reach the point of wearing diapers all day, they must ask for bathroom uses. If they soil their diaper before they reach the bathroom, their bathroom privileges are restricted to a single use right before bedtime.
“Rule six: if the pony is restricted to one bathroom use per day, they are to be treated like a foal, and are expected to play with foal toys and be regularly checked for used diapers. Furthermore, they are unable to do anything which a filly or adult is allowed to do.
“Rule seven: if the pony which is restricted to one bathroom use per day messes their diaper before the bedtime bathroom break, then they will lose all bathroom privileges.
“Rule eight: the pony who is least progressed down the line of rules, that is to say the one who is most “potty-trained”, will be the pony in charge. Should both ponies be on the same level, then the pony who is older will be the one in charge.
“Rule nine: a pony may, at any time, earn the right to be “promoted” back to a previous level, so long as the pony in charge approves of said promotion.
“Rule ten: the pony in charge has absolute authority. No exceptions. This is in regard to any and all bathroom privileges, feeding times, play times, etc. They reserve the right to automatically demote the other pony to a less “potty-trained level” at their discretion. They may also ignore any rules as they see fit.
“Rule eleven: if the pony under the pony in charge misbehaves in any way, the pony in charge may mete out any punishment they see fit.
“Rule twelve: a pony in diapers is not allowed to change their own diaper. They must ask to be changed, and if they are allowed a bathroom time they must be supervised when using the bathroom in order that the pony in charge may put their diaper back on for them. Should the diaper tapes not attach to the diaper or the diaper be compromised in any way that disables it from being refastened, then the pony must be changed. Diaper changes must be done foal-style, with the changee laying on their back and the changer performing the diaper change. At no point is the changee allowed to fight the changer. Any attempt to do so will result in punishment. Note: this rule does not apply to pullups.”
Scootaloo listened to the long list of rules, as well as the small section of addendum and the glossary of terms at the end which Twilight insisted upon. Each rule further reinforced the notion that Rainbow saw her as a little baby, and by the time Twilight finished she was already crying.
“Hey,” said Applejack, “it’s okay, sugarcube!” She bent down and hugged the little filly.
Scootaloo sobbed in her chest. “It’s not fair!” she said. “I didn’t mean to wet the bed! Honest!”
Twilight gave her a sympathetic look as she patted her back. “We know, Scootaloo.”
“Don’t worry about it, sugarcube.” Applejack nuzzled her. “An’ Rainbow Dash knows it too, she’s just….a lil’ paranoid. But she ain’t heartless, Ah promise. Fact is, these rules are for her too.”
Scootaloo looked up at Applejack, her eyes red. “They are?”
“That’s right, and she’s agreed to follow them to the letter.” It wasn’t a total lie. Rainbow had agreed to follow the rules, but she was also under the impression that she’d never actually have to do any of it. “Besides, Ah have a special treat for ya. Twilight?”
Twilight nodded, smiling at how they were finally doing something she knew would make Scootaloo happy, then walked toward the kitchen. Upon entering, she saw Rainbow Dash drooling over the twin kegs of cider. “In just a few moments, you’ll be all m─”
“Rainbow?”
Dash almost crashed right through the ceiling at the velocity with which she took off. Extricating her head from the new hole she’d created, she looked at Twilight sheepishly.
“Heheh, sorry.”
Paying her antics no mind, Twilight gestured at the barrels of cider. “Would you mind helping me carry these to the living room?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Rainbow alighted next to one of the kegs, then hoisted it on her back. Twilight did the same with the other one, then they both walked into the living room.
Scootaloo gasped when she saw them. “But… that’s for me?”
“It’s for you to share,” said Applejack. “Rainbow Dash gets her own barrel while you get one for yourself.”
Scootaloo nodded, still in awe that she would be getting her own cider barrel. She noticed that Applejack had even gone to the trouble of burning her name in the side of hers, with the same being done for Rainbow Dash’s keg.
“Three cheers for AJ, am I right, squirt?” Rainbow Dash said, giving the filly a smile.
“Y-yeah.” Scootaloo tentatively returned the smile. “Thanks, Applejack.”
Applejack nodded down at the filly. “Ain’t nothing, sugarcube. A lil’ somethin’ to smooth things over. Nopony is doin’ this to be mean, an’ this little gift is to show ya that. All of us want to help- especially Rainbow Dash. Don’t ya?”
“Huh?” The pointed glare shot her way got Rainbow Dash to stop drooling over her barrel of cider. “Yeah, totally! I promise, this is going to help. If you-”
“-or you,” Applejack interrupted.
Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. If you or me-”
“-or I,” Twilight corrected.
The older pegasus looked confused. “Huh?”
Scootaloo cocked her head to the side. “Is Twilight staying over too?”
“What? No, I meant...oh, nevermind.” Twilight looked like she wished she had some hard cider right now.
Rainbow Dash liberated Scootaloo from Applejack, hugging her.little fan. “By the time this week is over, I promise, you’ll have had a great time and be totally over the whole bedwetting thing.”
“...you mean it? And you don’t think I’m a baby?” Scootaloo asked
“Of course I don’t!” said Rainbow Dash. “You’re one of the awesomest little fillies I know, and pretty mature for your age. And I guarantee this’ll cure your bedwetting.”
Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, maybe we shouldn’t put too much faith in this, Rainbow.”
Scootaloo however was beaming. “I’ll never bedwet again!”
Twilight looked at Scootaloo with concern. “Let’s not be too hasty here!”
Chuckling Applejack nudged Twilight. “Trust me, sugarcube, this is just what they both need.”
Twilight looked at her quizzically, wondering what she was talking about, but Applejack privately knew that the potion Zecora gave her would be guaranteed to work. She kept it to herself for now. Maybe later, after this was over, she could tell Twilight what part she had played in this.
“Well,” said Applejack as she headed toward the door, “we’d better let you two start your week of fun.”
Twilight nodded as she followed behind her. “Yes, and I have some things I need to attend to at the library.”
Dash escorted them to the door, then when they were safely in the balloon and on their way to the ground she shut it, then turned and looked at Scootaloo with an excited grin. “Ready for an awesome week together?”
“You bet!” Scootaloo bounded over to the big TV Dash had across from the couch. “Can we watch TV? Or play Ponybox?”
“How about we get those bags of yours put away first, huh?”
Scootaloo looked over at the small mountain of suitcases and duffles. “Oh. Right.” She sheepishly trotted over and grabbed as many as she could carry. Rainbow Dash handled the rest. They both made their way up the stairs to the guest room on the second floor. Scootaloo knew the way, of course, and her cheeks flushed as she remembered what had happened the last time she stayed in there.
The bed didn’t seem any worse for the wear, the sheets having been thoroughly washed and dry cleaned. Dropping her bags on the bed, Scootaloo realised a slight problem; she had more bags than usual.
“Uh, where do you want me to put these?” She trotted over to the wardrobe build into one wall. “In h─”
“Stop!”
Scootaloo’s hoof froze an inch from the handle. She peered back at Rainbow Dash, the older pegasus struggling to stay balanced with the bags full of parentally enforced ‘necessities’.
“O-okay…”
With a grunt Dash heaved her load onto the bed, panting and wiping her forehead. “Geez, what did your mom put in these things, bowling balls?”
“Only on─ I mean, why didn’t you want me to open the wardrobe?” Scootaloo’s eyes widened and she gasped excitedly. “Is there a monster in there? Do you have a wardrobe monster? Do you fight him every night to prove that nopony - or wardrobe monster - can defeat Rainbow Danger Dash?”
Rainbow Dash’s face lit up with a grin, chuckling at Scootaloo’s wild imagination. “Nah, nothing like that. That’s where I keep all the stuff Rarity gives me.”
“Stuff?” Scootaloo’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Like, birthday presents? Cupcakes?...homework?!”
“I...what? Squirt, I’m not a filly. Nopony gives me homework!” Rainbow Dash boasted, doing her best to forget the aerodynamics test Spitfire had made her take home the last time she had seen her, with a stern warning to show her work next time. “What sort of thing do you think Rarity of all ponies would give me?”
Scootaloo put some thought into that. “Armor?”
Now Rainbow Dash looked confused. “Armor?” she parroted.
The filly nodded. “You know, made out of gems and stuff, all different colours of the rainbow, for when you go out on adventures! You can fly super-fast, with a diamond bladed helmet and wooosh, cut monsters in half!”
“Pssh, no! Nothing silly like that.” Note to self; get Rarity to make gem armor for next birthday. Diamond bladed helmet a must. “This is Rarity we’re talking about. There’s just a bunch of frou-frou things in there. Dresses, skirts, saddles, all that kinda stuff.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened, her young mind flooded with understanding. “Oooooh.” She thought about that for a few moments. “That makes way more sense. Why don’t you throw it away?”
Rainbow Dash gave her a confused look. “Huh?”
“Throw it away. Or give it away. Since, you know, you don’t want it,” Scootaloo repeated, looking at her idol curiously.
“Because...well, Rarity gave it to me.” The older pegasus shrugged awkwardly. “I couldn’t do that to her. It might all be frou-frou, but she’s my friend.” Dash reached over to ruffle Scootaloo’s mane. “Don’t worry about it, kid. What say we leave the bags here, and grab ourselves a cup of cider?”
“Yeah!” said Scootaloo as she tossed her bags to the side and bounded down the stairs. Rainbow quickly followed her to make sure she didn’t get into her barrel of cider. She didn’t know if Applejack had given her the alcoholic variety she wanted, but even if she didn’t, it was hers.
She got down the stairs just in time to see Scootaloo come from the kitchen with a couple of big mugs. Smiling, Dash trotted over and took her mug, then she held it under the tap on the side of the barrel and filled it with what appeared to be flat cider. Frowning, she looked at the barrel, then noticed the note attached to it. Ripping it off, she read what was on it:
Sorry about the alcohol-free cider, but I didn’t want to risk Scootaloo accidentally drinking from yours. Plus I didn’t want you to get all drunk in front of Scootaloo.
-Applejack.
Dash rolled her eyes and sighed. It would still be awesome, even if it was alcohol-free. She looked over at Scootaloo, who was having trouble with the tap. “Here,” she said as she took the mug and held it under the spout.
Scootaloo looked up at her gratefully. “Thanks.”
Soon both of them had had their fill of cider, and after an evening playing video games and talking about whether Masked Matador or Zapp would win in a fight (Rainbow firmly supported Zapp), Scootaloo let out a big yawn.
“Ready for bed, Scoot?”
“No!” she said quickly. “We still need to talk about Daring Do versus Zapp!”
“Much as I would like to do that,” said Dash, wondering whether the kid even understood how ridiculous that fight would be since clearly Daring Do was awesomer, partly by virtue of being real, “it’s really late and I promised your mom I would have you in bed by nine.”
“But─”
“Uh-uh, Scootaloo. You need to be in bed before too long. I need my shuteye, and I can’t get it if you don’t get some sleep.”
Scootaloo wanted to protest, but she sighed and hung her head. “Okay, Rainbow Dash.”
“Hey,” said Rainbow gently, “it’s okay, Scootaloo. Soon it’ll be morning, and then we can have a whole day doing awesome things!”
This gave Scootaloo a smile.
“Come on, Squirt. Let’s go get you ready for bed.”
Rainbow Dash escorted the young filly into the guest room, whereupon Scootaloo trotted over to the bed and hopped in. Rainbow smirked. “Not yet, Scoots. You need to take care of something first.”
Frowning, Scootaloo hopped out of bed and followed Rainbow over to the closet. “What?”
Without saying a word, Rainbow Dash opened the closet and pulled out a plush package, followed by a small sack of supplies. Upon looking at the package, Scootaloo started to shake her head. She knew exactly what they were.
“I don’t wanna wear a diaper! The rules said I don’t have to wear one unless I’ve had an accident!”
“First,” said Rainbow as she opened the package, “these aren’t diapers. They’re pullups. Second, you did have an accident.”
“But that was last week!”
Rainbow sighed as she extricated one of the pullups from the bag with her teeth and dropped it on the floor. “You’re gonna wear this tonight, Scootaloo. I’m not takin’ any chances here, and besides, the rule still applies because you still wet my bed.”
Scootaloo wanted to fight Rainbow on this, but she knew she didn’t have a leg to stand on so long as the rule about who’s in charge still applied. Rainbow was older, and she and Scootaloo were both sans diaper or pullup, so she was the one in charge. Scootaloo slowly walked over to the pullup as though she were facing her execution, then looked down at it before picking it up.
“Wait a minute, Scootaloo,” said Rainbow as she got out the foal powder. “You need to get prepared before you put that thing on.”
Scootaloo looked at the white and blue bottle. “Do I really gotta have that stuff on?”
“Yeah,” said Rainbow as she twisted the top open. “Applejack said it’s important to put this stuff and rash cream on so you don’t have a diaper rash if you wet your diaper. Or pullup in this case.”
“How do I put it on?”
“Let me worry about that.” Rainbow tapped the floor with her hoof. “Lay down, Scootaloo.”
Sighing in defeat, Scootaloo knelt down, then rolled over on her back. She knew the rules said that she didn’t have to lay down for this since it wasn’t a diaper being put on her, but she also knew the rule said that Rainbow could ignore the rules if she was the pony in charge. When she was laying on the floor, Rainbow shook some of the powder on her bottom and nethers, and finally opened up the pullup and slipped it over Scootaloo’s legs, being mindful of threading the tail through the hole. Then she tugged the small garment up, making sure it was nice and snug. “Alright, done.”
Grateful that it didn’t take very long, Scootaloo stood up and looked back at the padded underwear covering her bottom and flanks. It actually wasn’t that bad, though she certainly wouldn’t go wearing it around town or anything.
“I sure hope I don’t have to use this,” she said, more to herself than to Rainbow Dash.
Dash nevertheless replied, “Well, if you do, you know what happens.” She pulled out the package of diapers, patting it a couple of times for emphasis.
Scootaloo nodded quickly, then walked over to the bed. The pullup crinkled with each step, reminding her that it was there, ready to catch any wetness that managed to slip out. In a way, it was oddly comforting to know that. She made a mental note to take the rest of them home with her to help keep her bed dry. She wasn’t about to take the diapers, though. No. Way.
Rainbow Dash followed her, pulling the sheets back for the filly. Once Scootaloo had climbed in, Rainbow Dash tucked her in with surprising gentleness. She gave her little fan a tight hug.
“This will help, I promise,” she said softly, nuzzling Scootaloo. “Tomorrow morning, you can wake up dry and everything will be fine. Trust me.”
“A-alright…” Scootaloo nuzzled her back. Despite being in pullups, she still had it in her to return Rainbow’s smile. “G’night, Rainbow Dash.”
Pausing, looking awkward, Rainbow Dash leaned in to place a peck on Scootaloo’s forehead. It was an unexpectedly mushy thing, the sort of gesture Rainbow could imagine Applejack or Rarity doing for their little sister. The widening smile on Scootaloo’s face made it all worth it, though. “Night, squirt.”
Leaving the beaming filly to sleep, Rainbow Dash walked down the stairs into the darkened living room and paused in front of the TV. She could stay up a little longer on her own, but the noise might wake Scootaloo. Sighing, she left the living room. Again she paused, this time as she passed the entrance to the kitchen.
Just one more cup of cider couldn’t hurt, she told herself with a little grin. Trotting into the kitchen, she retrieved the dirty mug from the sink, a habit she would probably never break, then went over to the large barrel of cider, filled the mug to the brim and started drinking.
Three cups later, her belly told her she’d had enough and she trotted up the stairs with a satisfied grin. She walked past Scootaloo’s room and into her own bedroom, switching off the main lights, but leaving her table lamp on. She eyed the pile of Daring Do books she wanted to re-read, then she grabbed one of them at random and started to read it. Before she’d even gotten to the part where Daring had discovered her place had been ransacked by agents looking for the mysterious book mailed to her by her father, Rainbow was fast asleep.
Author's Note
Tyrant: Well, here it is, the very first chapter of a collaborative work. As the description says, both myself and Vector worked on this, but I actually have an account here and a few followers, so, you know, we decided to post it here rather than just on a new one. What we would have called it, I know not. Vector Hoof? Tyrant Scamp? Veof? Tyamp? You see!? This is why we went the simple method.
Vector Scamp: Hey there, ... FiMFiction-ers? Honored guests? Loyal readers? Eh, who cares. It’s nice to see all of you, and I’m glad Tyrant allowed me the honor of helping him write this fic. We’ve done some RPing and such before via Skype, and I was thrilled to be allowed to help him write this fic. It’s going to be a really fun ride, I’m sure. Plus, this is one of the first padded pony fics I’ve helped author, and I can’t wait to add more to it. In regard to Prissy Pony’s Padding, as Tyrant mentioned I’m helping author that one, and I can’t wait to show you what we’ve got so far. But that’s a subject for another Author’s Note. ;)
Thanks so much for reading our work, and I hope it can live up to your expectations.
Scootaloo woke to a wonderful feeling. It was the best in the world. Few feelings had ever equaled this one, this grand feeling. She wouldn’t trade this feeling of dry, unwet, undamp, inaquatic sheets for anything in the world! Not to mention dry pullups! She had a desert in her bed and everypony was invited!
Of course, the first pony she should tell, the pony she needed to tell, was obvious. Her mouth opened wide, a great gust of air being sucked in as she prepared to release a third of the distinctive yell she had refined while Crusading. Before the filly could bellow “RAINBOW DASH!” at the top of her lungs, however, she realised that perhaps screaming Rainbow Dash awake was a….bad idea.
I’ll just do it the boring way , Scootaloo thought, but she still giggled happily to herself. Kicking back her sheets, the excited filly jumped down, wings buzzing as she sped through the opulent cloud house to her idol’s room. She slid to a halt outside Dash’s door, a bright grin on her face. She’s going to be so proud of me!
Creeping up quietly, she made her way to her idol’s bed. Each step she took was gingerly placed on the compacted cloud floor, the only sound made being the quiet breathing coming from her muzzle and the soft crinkling of the thin padding on her rump. And, of course, the cacophony of snoring done by Rainbow Dash. Easing across the floor, she decided that, though a scream would be inappropriate, it couldn’t hurt to hop up into Dash’s bed, a decision motivated mostly by her filly-like excitement.
She eased into position, a wry grin on her small muzzle. Slowly, waiting for the right moment to pounce, she watched…
Then she leaped! A great, energetic leap into─
Squish .
“What?!” she said as she felt what was unmistakably a puddle underneath the blankets which were bunched up around Rainbow’s lower body. For a moment, Scootaloo felt the sharp sting of fear, wondering if, somehow, she had kept her bed dry only to somehow lose control just as she landed. Except….
Scootaloo stared down, her mouth hanging open, as she beheld the wetness centered on Rainbow Dash. She had woken to the same thing often enough, albeit from another perspective, too often to miss the obvious answer.
“Ngh.” A jumbled, sleepy grunt came from Rainbow Dash. She groaned, slowly opening one eye to stare blearily around. “S-squirt?” she mumbled, the word barely comprehensible. Before another thought on that train made its way through her brain, another one crashed its way onto the track: I’m… wet?
Scootaloo stared at Rainbow Dash, totally at loss for what to say. She closed her mouth, still staring. Rainbow Dash, suddenly very, very awake, stared back. Neither said a thing. Mare and filly stared at each other for a few seconds.
“Ha!” Rainbow Dash let out a nervous laugh. She sat up, shaking her head. “Good one, kid. Bit early for it, but funny.”
“...huh?” Scootaloo looked at her, confused. “Uhm, thanks, but...what?”
Giving her bedding an annoyed shove, Rainbow Dash grinned. “That was a good prank. Warm bowl of water, right? Or you just pour it right on?”
It clicked, suddenly, and Scootaloo looked away, embarrassed not for herself, but for Rainbow Dash. “It...it wasn’t me, Rainbow Dash.”
The icy sensation of panic was making its way from the pit of Rainbow’s stomach into her throat. She gulped to melt the icicle that was growing in her neck. “W-what do you mean it wasn’t you?!”
“It wasn’t me. I didn’t do anything,” Scootaloo replied with a worried look. She gave Rainbow Dash a shaky smile. “Wait, this is a prank, r-right? You’re just pretending you…wet the bed, aren’t you?”
Dash was fumbling. She… she hadn’t really wet the bed, had she? “Um… uh, yeah! Heheh, of course I am! I… I’d never…”
Scootaloo wasn’t buying it, and Dash knew it. “Are you lying to me, Rainbow Dash?” Her voice was more hurt than anything else.
“No!” Rainbow crossed her hooves indignantly. “Of course not! I’m way too awesome to wet the bed!”
The little pegasus sitting on her bed gave her an almost hurt look. “And I’m not?”
Dash immediately regretted her choice of words. “Look, I’m sorry, Scoot. I didn’t mean what I said.”
“Yeah, I bet.” There was no hiding the bitterness and hurt in Scootaloo’s voice.
Rainbow sighed, then she put on what she was almost sure was a reassuring smile and hopped off the bed, wincing as the cold air hit her damp fur. “Come on, let’s go get breakfast, okay? I’ll make whatever you want!”
Scootaloo didn’t acknowledge her idol’s promise. She just walked alongside her, the pair heading to the kitchen with a rather bleak mood in evidence between them. Dash kept shooting her young fan worried glances, a hint of guilt in her eyes before looking away again.
Breakfast came and went with few words being spoken. Rainbow Dash’s unease only grew as each moment passed without a word or expression from Scootaloo. It wasn’t long before her minor, niggling guilt was growing and she began to feel bad.
“I, uh…” Clearing her throat as she ruffled her feathers, Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. “I’ve got work, so, you know, gotta head off to Cloudsdale to check the schedule for the week. Anything you want for lunch? I can get something special to have later, if you want.”
Her peace offering didn’t get any more reaction from Scootaloo than the breakfast offer did. Sighing, she walked toward the door, looking forlornly at the small, angry filly standing in her living room. “I’ll have Fluttershy come by and watch you while I’m gone, okay?
Scootaloo shrugged, not even looking back at her.
“...okay.” Dash’s expression fell further. Once again, her big mouth had gotten her in trouble, but she figured Scootaloo would be happy again by bedtime.
Bedtime…
Suddenly the list of rules made their way to the front of Dash’s brain, specifically the rule about bedwetting without wearing a pullup. Would Scootaloo really make her do that? Dash shook her head as she flew off to the weather station. “Nah,” she said out loud. “The kid’ll forget by bedtime, and then I’ll be home free! I mean, what are the odds that I wet the bed twice in a row?”
Wiping her brow from her morning’s work out bucking apple trees, Applejack was struck by the urge to...laugh. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt immensely satisfied with herself.
The flight to Cloudsdale soothed Rainbow Dash, flying without much need to think. She had flown there so often, she let her thoughts drift off. The familiar sensation of soaring across the sky elevated her mood a bit, though the little nugget of guilt in her belly was still there. She put it out of her mind as she alighted on the landing platform just outside the Weather Patrol headquarters building. Passing beneath Ionic columns making up the walls of the building and wending her way around the pegasi going about their business, she walked through the main atrium of the building and headed into the door marked, “Weather Manager”.
“Well, look who turned up on time today!” Making a show of checking the clock, the manager of the weather patrol sat behind his desk, his grizzled, gray-furred face matching his barrel chest. Rainbow always thought he looked like he belonged in the Wonderbolts rather than behind the desk of a boring weather patrol, but she suspected asking the rather sarcastic, and oftentimes caustic, pony about it would lead to a lecture of some kind. And Rainbow hated lectures.
“I’m always on time!” she retorted. A raised eyebrow prompted a quick addendum of, “Most of the time.”
Her boss got up from behind the desk and circled it. “Be that as it may, your schedule is right there.” He pointed a hoof at the gridded paper on the wall with various names on it, along with duties. Rainbow noted that, as usual, she was one of the flight leaders, responsible for directing her teams on their tasks to clean up and maintain the skies around Ponyville. She noticed however that this particular week would be fairly busy.
“Um, sir?”
“What is it, Rainbow Dash?” he said as he walked to the file cabinet.
“This week is going to be pretty busy. Do you think I could maybe share my workload with another pony?”
He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “Feel like the hour-long break you get for naps isn’t good enough, Captain?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s just, I’ve got this little filly I’m looking at, and she’ll probably want to play with m─”
“What?” The manager turned and gave her a look of alarm. “And you just let this little filly stay at your house all day by herself?!”
It was Rainbow’s turn to look shocked. “Of course not! Um, sir! I am leaving her in very capable hooves, sir!”
Her boss walked over to her and put a hoof on her chest. “I will not have a pony on my crew dodging responsibilities like that, least of all for taking care of a filly! You will take off however many days you need to care for her, then return to your duty. Cloudchaser will handle your workload until you return.”
“But she’s not nearly as…” Rainbow cut herself off as his steely gaze bored into her.
“I was not asking you to evaluate Cloudchaser’s abilities as a weatherpony, Rainbow Dash. You are to take off from your work, as of right now, and deal with your responsibilities as a caregiver.” He pointed at the door without so much as a word.
Rainbow gave him a quick nod, then walked out the door. As she was about to close it, the manager said, “And next time, try to remember your duties to the weather team before you accept responsibilities like this again. Do you understand me?”
She gulped. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.” The door closed, thankfully ending the conversation there. Dash stood there for a moment, looking perplexed and confused.
“I…what just happened?” She asked herself. A moment later she realised she was speaking to herself in the middle of a hallway. Sighing in disgust, Dash shook her head and headed for the exit. Whatever. At least I have the week off now. Maybe Scoots will be in a better mood when I get back.
Upon her return home, however, it seemed Dash’s hopes had been in vain. Scootaloo was lying on the ‘deck’ of Dash’s house, a little cloud base that spread out from it, looking morose. Wincing, Rainbow Dash put on her biggest smile as she zoomed down.
“I’m back!” she announced, landing next to Scootaloo. “And guess what?”
“....what?” Scootaloo asked tonelessly.
Rainbow Dash’s smile withered slightly, but she forced it to stay put. “I got the week off! We can hang out heaps now, as much as you want.”
“...great.”
Dash’s smile died completely at the lackluster response. The attitude Scootaloo was displaying actually hurt Rainbow. She was hoping that she could get Scoots to smile with this news ─ after all, who wouldn’t want to spend a week with the awesomest pony in Ponyville? ─ but the frown on the orange filly’s face was exactly the opposite reaction she was looking for. Not exactly a great start to the “awesome” week we were going to have, thought Rainbow as she walked up to the little filly and laid next to her.
“Hey,” she said gently.
Scootaloo looked up at her, a sad frown dominating her features.
“I’m sorry, squirt. I didn’t mean to make you hate me. I was just shocked that something like that could happen to me, y’know?” She sighed. “I didn’t mean that you weren’t an awesome kid. In fact, you’re one of the awesomest kids I know.”
“....you mean it?” Scootaloo’s voice trembled slightly, looking up sadly at Rainbow Dash.
Giving the filly a comforting smile, Dash sat down next to her and gently nuzzled her fondly. “Of course I do. You’re really awesome.”
Scootaloo gave Dash a weak smile, then said, “Thanks, Rainbow Dash.”
“Anytime.” Suddenly her attitude perked up. “Hey! I’ve got an idea! How about we go out to the park and play for a bit? Stretch our wings and hooves?”
The way Scootaloo’s smile grew, and the eager nod she gave, made Rainbow Dash’s guilt lessen. She grinned back, reaching down to ruffle the filly’s mane.
“Let’s get going then!” She leaned down, offering her back to Scootaloo. “Hop on, squirt, and off we go!”
Eyes wide with glee at the chance to fly with her idol, or even on her, Scootaloo all but jumped on. “Yeah! Let’s go!” She squealed happily, scrambling to get into a good spot.
“Hold on, we don’t want you falling off,” Dash teased with a chuckle. In reply Scootaloo giggled and gave her back a poke.
“Mush, mush!”
“That’s for snow dogs.” Rainbow Dash took off, grinning widely, all too pleased with her work making Scootaloo happy again.
The trip to the park didn’t take long at all. Rainbow Dash soared over Ponyville, taking a slightly scenic route for the sake of one or two of her more tame tricks. Barrel rolls and loop-de-loops had Scootaloo squealing and shouting in excited glee as loudly as Rainbow Dash was sure the filly’s mother would be yelling at her.
Eh, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, Dash thought with a smirk.
With a final loop, Dash landed on the soft, inviting grass of the park just outside Ponyville where she usually took Tank out for the weekly Pony Pet Playdate, crouching a little so Scootaloo could dismount.
“How was the ride?” Dash asked.
Scootaloo gave the only answer she could. “Awesome!” she cheered.
“Heh, of course. I’m pretty awesome, right? Best you’ve seen?” As much as she loved being praised, Dash wasn’t just being egostical right now. She glanced at something, a sign with a poster behind Scootaloo.
“Yeah! You’re the best!” Scootaloo nodded eagerly.
Leaning down, Rainbow Dash’s grin got even wider. “How would you like to see fliers just as good as me? Better, even!”
Scootaloo gasped. “Better?! But….you’re the best,” she protested.
Rainbow Dash spun Scootaloo around, facing the filly towards the distinctive poster dominated by blue and yellow.
“Say that after you see them! ”
Scootaloo’s jaw dropped in amazement. “Wait… you’re taking me to… to see…”
“The Wonderbolts!” shouted Rainbow enthusiastically. “On one condition.”
“Name it!” said Scootaloo, her tail wagging and her eyes glued to the poster.
“Keep your bed dry until the show.”
Frowning, Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow. “But… but I…”
“Hey,” said Dash gently, “it’s okay. I know you can do it, squirt! I believe in you!”
A smile formed on Scootaloo’s muzzle. “O-okay.” Then she chuckled. “What about you? What if you don’t keep your bed dry?”
Dash wasn’t expecting the question, so she was caught off guard slightly. “I, er, um…” When her brain finally engaged, she said, “I guess I’ll just cross that bridge when I come to it.”
Scootaloo giggled, prompting a sheepish smile from Dash. The elder pegasus glanced around, just to be sure nopony was around to have heard the filly.
“So, this morning…” Dash began, hesitating. She wasn’t good at this mushy stuff.
“It’s fine,” Scootaloo said, calming down, only to snicker again. “Water under the bridge.”
Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash gave the filly a wing-hug. “Let’s not talk about water, okay? Wanna go, I dunno...” Her eyes widened. “Wait, I do! How would you like some grade-A prank training, from the master prankster herself?”
Scootaloo beamed in excitement. “Really?” She began to look around, confused. “Is Pinkie Pie here?”
“No, squirt, me. Geeze, somepony seems to have learned to be a little mouthy, huh?” Rainbow Dash gave the filly a playful nudge. She grinned in good humour.
“I learned from the best,” chirped Scootaloo.
Dash buffed a hoof against her chest. “Well, I guess it’s okay then. So, how about it? Wanna show this town what happens the two most awesome pegasus around get to pranking?”
Bouncing up and down, Scootaloo nodded eagerly. “Do I ever! Who are we going to prank first?”
Looking thoughtful, Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. “Well, Rarity is always good for a prank or three. In fact, I have an idea I think you’d be perfect to help me with….”
Rarity hummed to herself as she worked. Her muse was in full swing, and she barely needed to think about what she was doing. It was all simply done by pure inspired instinct, or so it felt to her.
A loud, jarring knock brought Rarity’s thoughts firmly back to the world. She scowled for a moment before taking a breath. Holding a comb in her magic as she trotted from her inspiration room, Rarity did a little bit of work on her mane. I shall simply send them away before my muse flees me, she consoled herself.
The door closed behind her, and her material strewn ‘inspiration room’ was silent as the clop of her hooves on the stairs died away. It was empty and motionless for a few seconds before the window slid open.
Good thing Sweetie Belle let us try getting our industrial espionage cutie marks here, Scootaloo thought as she climbed into the room. Dropping to the floor with an undignified squeak.
The filly began to search the room, immediately creeping with exaggerated caution to the drawing board. After a few fruitless attempts to get high enough, Scootaloo pulled over a stool. She winced at the sound it made as she dragged it, hoping Rarity couldn’t hear that.
Rainbow Dash will keep her distracted. She’s the best at pranks! I just have to do my part right, and she’ll be super proud of me!
Climbing onto the stool, Scootaloo did as Rainbow Dash had told her.
“Rarity has this big drawing book, full of designs. Make sure it’s the one with the blue spine, not the red one. The red one is commissions and stuff,” Rainbow Dash had explained a few minutes ago. She had been unusually serious about this part. “Do not touch the red one. I mean, pranks are fun, but I’m not going to ruin Rarity’s business or anything, got it squirt? The blue one is the ones she does to experiment, and try out new ideas, stuff like that.”
So, faithful to her idol’s instructions, Scootaloo made sure it was the blue spined book. Flipped a few pages back, Scootaloo found a pair of designs, perfect for the prank. Using Rarity’s own eraser, the filly carefully removed the numbers from the first dress. Into that she copied the measurements of the second design, giggling at the thought. Rarity was going to make these, and the sizes would be completely wrong!
With the first dress done, Scootaloo looked at the second, and suddenly realised she had a problem on her hooves.
What were the numbers from the first one? I can’t remember! Chewing her lip, Scootaloo gulped nervously. What am I gonna do? I can’t let Rainbow Dash down, she’s relying on me...ooooh! I know!
Scootaloo had sat through at least one or two lessons from Rarity, when the Crusaders had been so out of ideas they’d asked Rarity to help them get their cutie marks in making stuff. She blushed as she remembered looking through Rarity’s measurement records, and how happy she had been when she found Rainbow Dash’s.
Maybe I shouldn’t tell Rainbow Dash that I memorised her measurements…. she thought as she wrote Rainbow Dash’s sizes into the second dress. The prank completed, Scootaloo hurriedly put things back as best she could remember before heading for the window.
“-so I zoomed, ZOOMED, in, totally awesome, and I was like ‘Yo, you think you can steal my tortoise and drop him from the sky because you’re a hungry eagle in my neighborhood?’” Rainbow Dash had been going for several minutes now, not giving Rarity the chance to so much as get a single word in edgewise as she related a tall tale. After all, Rarity had too many manners to interrupt. She didn’t react to Scootaloo waving from the roof. “And….sorry, Rarity, you wanted to say something?”
Sighing in relief at finally getting Rainbow’s attention, Rarity gave her friend a tight smile of barely constrained frustration. “That was a very, very fascinating story, really, and I am sure I will regret never hearing the end, but I am rather busy right now. Thank you very much for coming to see me, but perhaps another time?”
Rainbow Dash put on an expression of disappointment. “Well, alright. I’ll tell you all about it next time. Good luck with the dresses.” With a twinkle in her eye, Rainbow waved goodbye.
Rarity sighed in relief. “Finally,” she said under her breath. “Now, back to work before I completely lose my inspiration.”
As she walked into the house Scootaloo was trotting up to Rainbow Dash. “I did it!”
Dash gestured at her to quiet down, glancing at Rarity’s home to make sure the unicorn hadn’t heard. Once she was sure, she looked back at Scootaloo with a grin. “Awesome! Come on, squirt, let’s get out of here before she finds it.”
“Right!” said the little filly as she ran down the street. Rainbow chuckled and rolled her eyes as she kept up with Scootaloo, thinking how cute she was when she was all excited. She trotted up next to her.
Scootaloo was smiling broadly as she clopped along the road. “So who are we going to prank next? We could change out the ink in Twilight’s inkwells. Ooo! Or we could take Pinkie Pie’s sugar bags and switch them with concrete!”
Rainbow winced at that one. “Um, that would be kind of… unhealthy, Scoot. And I think Twilight would notice. Her nerdy-sense would tingle and she’d know right away. Besides, I already did that one to her.”
Nodding, Scootaloo’s brow furrowed. “Well, maybe we’ll think of somepony to prank on the way to the park.”
“Why are we going to the park?” asked Rainbow. She was content to let Scootaloo lead them wherever it was she wanted to go.
“Iunno,” replied Scootaloo. “It’s a nice day out and I’d kind of like to play a bit.”
“Well, looks like it’s your lucky day.” Raising a hoof to shield her eyes from the sun, Dash smiled. “Because I think Apple Bloom had the same idea. Hey! AJ! Over here!”
“Huh?” Applejack turned her head at the call, just in time to receive a hoofball to the head. She stumbled for a moment, her hat knocked askew, as Apple Bloom called out apologies.”Dangnabit, Rainbow Dash! Just had to shout when ‘Bloom was throwin’ the ball to me, didn’t ya?”
Flying closer, with Scootaloo scurrying to keep up, Rainbow Dash scooped up the hoofball. “Nah, but it was pretty funny anyway. Whatcha up to?”
“Well, Ah was playin’ catch with my lil’ sister until a pesky pegasus got me bonked on the head,” Applejack said, but she smiled to show she wasn’t upset. “How about yerselves? Not gettin’ Scootaloo in any trouble, ah hope.”
“Me, get her in trouble?” Rainbow Dash landed in front of Applejack, bouncing the ball up. “Pfft, never.”
“Uh huh.” Giving her friend a flat look of disbelief, Applejack shook her head and looked to the filly. “An’ how’re ya’ll doin’ with Dash?”
“It’s been...uh, great! Dash is taking me to see the Wonderbolts!” Scootaloo frowned suddenly, despite her positive words, as Apple Bloom reached them. “I thought you were going away!” she whined.
“Ah’m goin’ tomorrow, Scootaloo, ah told ya!” Apple Bloom huffed, pouting. “Not my fault if ya can’t remember what day it is.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and mumbled something about how days of the week were stupid.
Ignoring the fillies, Rainbow looked at the ball, then said, “So, would you two like to play some hoofball?”
Applejack shrugged. “Well, Ah was gonna play with AB since she’s travellin’ ta Appleloosa ta stay with Braeburn for a few days.”
“Doncha mean, ‘AAAaaaaaapleloosa?” said Apple Bloom with a chuckle, rearing up playfully.
Glaring at her, Applejack said, “It’s rude ta make fun of older ponies, Apple Bloom.” Privately, she thought that Apple Bloom’s imitation of Brae’s rather boisterous way of saying the name of his hometown was pretty much spot-on and she would have had a laugh at Braeburn’s expense if he’d been in their company, but she was brought up not to make fun of ponies behind their back. Even if it was a pretty good imitation.
“Sounded right to me,” Dash snickered.
“Anyway ,” said Applejack as she tried to steer the conversation to something more productive and less rude, “Ah was gonna toss the old hoofball around with AB before her trip, but if’n ya’ll wanna join us Ah’m sure it’d be alright.”
“Yeah!” said Apple Bloom with a grin.
“Thanks,” said Rainbow. “Normally, I love a good prank.”
“Prank?”
“But I love spending time with this little squirt even more!” Upon hearing this Scootaloo beamed up at her.
“Ah bet,” said Applejack with a grin. “Now, how ‘bout we start our game?”
Rainbow grinned, then tossed the ball and caught it. “You bet!”
Applejack and Apple Bloom both took up positions opposite of Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, then the pegasi huddled up.
“Okay, so what’s the plan?” said Scootaloo in a conspiratorial whisper.
Drawing in the dirt, Rainbow started to make little X’s and O’s. “Okay, so it’s like this. I’ll be on your left and will be the Quarterback. You be my Right Tackle. I’ll say ‘Hut, hut!’ and then ─”
“Wait a minute, why can’t I be the Quarterback?” Scootaloo whined.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Because I’m older and I say so.”
“But─”
“Will y’all quite yer yappin’ and throw the dang ball?” shouted Applejack.
Looking up, Rainbow and Scootaloo both sighed. “Fine,” said Rainbow, then she tossed the ball to Applejack, who caught it in midair. She then tossed it to Apple Bloom, who threw it to Scootaloo, who then passed it to Rainbow. Huffing, she tossed it back to Applejack. “And I was gonna win, too.”
Applejack heard it and rolled her eyes at how childish Rainbow was being, then chuckled at how it perfectly fit what she’d had planned. Idly, she wondered if the cider had kicked in last night. Not that Dash would tell her if it had. Putting it out of her mind, she decided she could at least make Dash have a little fun with this game, even if there weren’t going to be any winners. She hoisted the ball up in one hoof. “RD! Up for a challenge?”
Grinning madly, Rainbow Dash laughed. “Who do you think you’re talking to? Give me everything you’ve got!”
“Go long!” Applejack shouted back at her, sending the pegasus higher into the air, further away, hooves out. Applejack didn’t simply throw it. She tossed it up, spun, and fired off a kick with one back hoof. The ball fired like a cannon ball, streaking straight towards Rainbow Dash.
Dash’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks as it came thundering towards her. “Oh, buck.”
She caught it….if you counted having to hit her in the chest and knock her from the air as ‘caught’. Dash yelped as she shot off at an angle.
She fell right into a big, pink foal carriage, emptied seconds ago by a pink earth pony mare with a platinum blond mane. Had Dash not been occupied by the whole ‘knocked out of the sky by a football’ thing, she might have recognised the mare whose foal she saved that one time. As it was, Rainbow just sent the carriage rolling backwards, and the pink mare merely looked on, the shock of what happened stunning her into silence. Her foal giggled, unconcerned by such things.
Applejack gasped as she saw the carriage bounce away with her friend inside. “Dagnabbit!” she shouted, taking off in pursuit. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo ran after her, but she was faster than the fillies and quickly left them in the dust.
The carriage and its captive bounced down the road, moving too fast for most ponies it passed to get a good look at it. One pony, whistling cheerfully as he pulled his cart of cabbages down the road, turned at the sound of something tearing down the road. His eyes widened when he saw the carriage, set for a direct collision with his cart.
“My cabbages!”
Hooves thundering, Applejack dived at the last moment, grabbing the handlebar and planting her hooves into the road. The dirt tore into her soles as she forced them to slow down until, at last, they ground to a halt inches from the carriage. She looked into the basket of the contraption to see Rainbow Dash wedged into it, her eyes rolling in her head. She could have sworn there were birds chirping.
Applejack sent a stern look at a bush. “Quiet! Ah need ta see if she’s hurt!”
The three songbirds fell silent, looking slightly offended, and took off to give Fluttershy an earful about rude earth ponies who didn’t appreciate narrative sound effects.
Applejack looked back at Rainbow, concern on her face. “Rainbow! Say somethin’!”
“Ah don’ wanna baba of joos. Wan’ soda!” the delirious pegasus whined.
Sighing in relief, Applejack gave her friend a shake. “C’mon, Rainbow. Start talkin’ normal!”
“Huh?” said Rainbow as she came to. She squirmed in her trapped state. “Whew… I almost bought it there. Thanks, Applejack.”
“Not a problem, sugarcube,” said Applejack as she pushed the carriage back up the street.
Rainbow looked at her with a frown. “...uh, wanna help me out of this thing?” Applejack ignored her as she pushed her friend up the street to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who were finally catching up.
“Ngh, Applejack, pull me out,” Dash complained as she tried to pull herself up, a look of dismay crossing her face as she realized her back was jammed tightly into the small carriage.
Applejack snickered. “In a minute,” she said with a grin.
“AJ…”
While Applejack pushed the carriage up the street, the pony who had just received her fresh cabbages snickered as she trotted back into her store. Shaking her head, she glanced out the window of the foal store to watch the pair from the other day going on their way back to the park. “I hope they get an adult-sized carriage. Those foal carriages can’t be good for her back.”
“Heave!”
“Ho!”
With a groan of effort, Rainbow Dash popped free of the carriage. Forelegs still held by Applejack, she yelped as she hit her friend and the pair fell down into a pony pile.
Wriggling out from under Applejack and Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo shook her head to clear away the stars. “In hindsight, it was probably a bad idea to stand behind your older sister while we were all pulling on Rainbow Dash.”
“Yeah,” replied Apple Bloom as she struggled to maintain her balance, her hoof going up to her head to make the world stop spinning.
Rainbow groaned and rubbed her back gingerly. “I think that’s enough hoofball playing for now,” she said wearily.
Scootaloo wanted to object, but the headache she felt told her not to argue.
“Well,” said Applejack, “Ah think AB an’ Ah will head home. Ah’m pretty sure Granny’ll want us ta tend to the chickens and the pigs.”
“See you around. Guess we’ll head home. Come on, squirt,” Dash said, gesturing at her back before hesitating. “Actually… let’s just walk, and then I’ll fly you up when we arrive.”
Nodding, Scootaloo said her goodbyes, making Apple Bloom promise to tell her all about Aaaaaappleloosa when she got back, and to bring her some cool souvenirs. The pair of pegasi headed off towards the edge of town, where Rainbow Dash’s home hovered.
“We can prank the others later,” Rainbow Dash said. “Tomorrow, we can get Pinkie or somepony real good. For now, let’s just play some games for a bit, okay?”
Considering Scootaloo’s mom never let Scootaloo get any sort of game - she’d had to borrow Button Mash’s with huge bribes of candy to even try any out, and he spent the whole time mumbling about getting cooties on his game - that was more than enough for her.
“That sounds great!”
“Just don’t tell your mom though,” Dash whispered conspiratorially. She swept Scootaloo into her hooves and took off, carrying the filly up to her home. Her back, fortunately, withstood the extra weight she was holding for the short trip. “Stupid carriage.”
Scootaloo giggled, thinking again of when Applejack had returned, pushing a carriage containing a trapped and embarrassed Rainbow Dash. The filly grinned innocently when Dash shot her a suspicious look, pretending as if she wasn’t finding the memory of her idol trapped plot-first in a foal carriage hilarious.
The trip back to Rainbow’s house was soon over, and as Rainbow alighted on the cloud walkway leading up to her house she noticed that the sun was rather low in the sky. “We probably won’t have much time to play many games, Scoots,” she said rather regretfully.
“Awwww,” the filly whined, pouting. “Can’t we stay up late?”
Rainbow shook her head. “‘Fraid not, Scootaloo. I might be letting you play my games, but your mom will know if she gets back and you have bags under your eyes. Do you really want her telling you you’re not allowed to hang out with me anymore?”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened in horror. “No way!” She shook her head frantically. “Nuh-uh! She wouldn’t do that again.”
“Good, so- wait, what? Again?” Rainbow Dash gave her a sharp look. “What do you mean, again? ”
Gulping, Scootaloo rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “Uh, mom may have...told me not to hang around you anymore, after you broke your wing. She didn’t want me to try and be a… ‘crazy daredevil pony’ like you.”
Scootaloo really didn’t like the look on Rainbow Dash’s face. The older pegasus was angry, and clearly upset.
“She changed her mind! She let me stay with you, didn’t she?” Scootaloo added quickly. She gave Dash a pleading look. “Please don’t be angry, she was just worried about me.”
Blowing out a heavy sigh, Rainbow Dash gave Scootaloo a small nod. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Don’t like it, but I get it. I guess its a mom’s job to be a crazy nag─ er, I mean over-protective of her kid.”
Scootaloo snickered a little at the comment.
“C’mon, squirt. I just got this great game called Napping Cats. I don’t know what it’s about, but Pinkie Pie said it was hilarious so I figure you’d like it.”
A bright grin popped up on Scootaloo’s mouth. “Awesome!” she said, then trotted past Dash into the house. Rainbow followed up behind her, shutting the door and heading for the PonyBox, ready for an awesome evening of game playing.
“Wow,” said Scootaloo as she shut off the console. “I didn’t think I would ever hear that word so many times in a row!”
Rainbow blushed and grimaced, wishing Pinkie would have mentioned that it was a game decidedly not meant for children. “I hope you don’t mention that to your mom. She already thinks I’m nuts. I wouldn’t want her to get the idea that I decided to teach you how to swear, too.”
“Would you?” asked Scootaloo with just a bit too much eagerness. The glare from Rainbow made her forget the idea.
As Dash put the disc back in the box, she heard the clock chime eleven times. “Aw, man. Guess we got a little too much into playing the game. C’mon, squirt. It’s time to go get in bed.”
Scootaloo nodded, then trotted up the stairs. But instead of stopping in her room she trotted past it to Rainbow’s room. Dash raised an eyebrow, then chuckled. “Probably wants to sleep with her favorite pony.”
But when Rainbow walked into the room and saw Scootaloo pulling out the package of pullups, she started to frown. Didn’t she wake up dry? Then suddenly she remembered. She gulped and then chuckled nervously. “Um, squirt? C-can we talk about this?” Slowly she started to back up out of the room.
“Nu-huh,” said Scootaloo as she noticed Rainbow moving away from her. She walked over to her, a fresh pullup under her tiny wing. “You know the rules, Rainbow. You gotta wear one of these if you wet the bed, and you were soaked last night.”
Rainbow started to hyperventilate, her irises shrinking to pinpricks. This couldn’t be happening! She was a world-class athlete, a future member of the Wonderbolts Reserves! No way was she going to wear─
A bump to her rear end told her Scootaloo was trying to push her toward the bed, though she was having little success in moving the older pegasus. “Come on!” she said, pushing with all her might against Rainbow, who was currently planting her hooves on the floor. “We gotta… get you… ready for… bed!”
“Aren’t you getting a bit too into this thing, squirt? I mean, come on, I’m not a filly or anything,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. She remained exactly where she was, despite the efforts of the filly.
Suddenly Scootaloo stopped and marched up to face Rainbow. She looked her square in the face. “Well, you’re acting like a big baby about this whole thing anyway!”
“No, I’m not!” said Rainbow, who pouted, crossed her forelegs, and then plopped on the floor. She blew a raspberry at Scootaloo and then looked away indignantly.
Scowling, Scootaloo held up the pullup. “You are going to wear this to bed, Rainbow. If I had to follow the rules and wear one of these things, you will, too. Twilight made it so you had to do it.”
“Pfft,” Rainbow Dash snorted, rolling her eyes. “Listen, kid-”
“You promised ,” Scootaloo reminded her, giving Dash a hurt look. “We both did! But if you’re not going to do it, I guess I’ll just tell Applejack.”
With that, Scootaloo started towards the door. Rainbow Dash’s wide, horrified eyes followed her for a moment before she shot over, blocking the door.
“Whoa whoa whoa! Let’s not be too hasty,” the pegasus said, the irony of her pleading for taking things slow passing over her head. “Applejack would just, you know, get all upset.”
“I’m upset,” Scootaloo whined. “You made me wear a diaper last night, and I didn’t want to do it, but I did it anyway because I knew I was supposed to. Why can’t you do the same thing?”
It was a legitimate question. Rainbow tried and tried hard to come up with an excuse not to go through with this. Unfortunately, the excuse-making part of her brain was geared to finding ways of getting out of one of two situations: school and work. Nothing her mind was coming up with would fit a “don’t want to wear a diaper to bed” kind of situation. At least, none that would get her out of it without breaking Scootaloo’s trust in her. Resigned to her fate, she sighed and said, “Let’s get this over with.”
Scootaloo’s frown turned upside down. She grinned at her idol’s change of mind, pulling out the pair of pullups. Spreading them open, she held them out eagerly. “Come on, Rainbow Dash, just step in.”
Gulping to swallow the ball of embarrassment that was pressing in her throat, Rainbow looked behind her and guided her rear hooves into the leg holes. The feel of the soft, cottony material sent waves of apprehension shooting up her spine. Rainbow thought for a second that Scootaloo should have put foal powder and cream on her rump, but she didn’t want this experience to last any longer than necessary. Besides, it’s not like she’d wet herself twice in a row. Scootaloo pulled it the rest of the way up her flanks, stopping to guide her tail through the hole in the back. When it was through, the filly tugged on the crinkly garment, making sure it was good and snug. “There we go,” she said, then gave the pullup a couple of pats.
Flicking her tail, Rainbow Dash gave the pullup an annoyed look. “Urgh, this thing is so…” she trailed off, hanging her head and grumbling. Her cheeks were blazing red under her fur. “Don’t get used to it, squirt.”
The warning didn’t seem to bother Scootaloo. She was grinning up at Rainbow Dash, or more exactly, at her pullup. The sight of Rainbow Dash, the Rainbow Dash, in a pair of fillyish pullups was enough to make any lingering resentment from this morning fade.
“Thanks, Rainbow Dash! I knew you were too cool to break your promise,” Scootaloo said, beaming happily.
Rainbow winced guiltily, because she knew if she could have avoided this without destroying the pedestal Scootaloo put her on, she would have done it in a second. The pullup just felt so weird, clinging to her butt alarmingly.
“Yeah, I guess…” Dash muttered, not looking all that pleased with herself.
Not noticing, Scootaloo trotted past her, out the door. A few seconds later her head reappeared, peering back at Dash.
“Aren’t you gonna tuck me in?” she asked innocently.
Sighing, Rainbow Dash nodded. Her first few steps with the pullup on were the weirdest, though they weren’t enough of an issue to make a big deal out of it. She walked behind Scootaloo, the crinkling her pullup was making sounding as loud as a tornado in her ear. She followed Scootaloo to her bed, then when she was in the bed Rainbow pulled the covers up and over the little filly’s body.
After saying their goodnights, Rainbow left the filly to sleep, every step reminding her of her predicament. She needed something, anything, to take the edge off. She’d never be able to sleep otherwise.
Walking quietly downstairs, she looked around for the Wyvern’s Reserve she kept in the cookie jar. When she opened it up, she found herself disappointed, as empty cookie jars often did. Turning to go, Dash paused, a grin slowly unfolding as she beheld the pair of barrels.
How could I have forgotten these? she wondered.
Trotting up to the barrel with a mug, the slightly padded pegasus filled it to the brim. It didn’t last long, chugged down her thirsty throat. Two mugs of cider later, she put the mug in the sink and then walked upstairs to her room. It was a long walk down the hallway, and each step was a loud reminder that she had wet the bed the night before. But she wasn’t worried. It was just a fluke, right? Yeah. A fluke.
She crawled into bed and nestled into it, then pulled the covers up and turned out the light. The sooner she got this night over, the better.
In her shop, Rarity was just putting away the latest dress she’d completed. She tucked the hem into the shipping box, making sure the ribbons and lace were arrayed just… so. She wanted to make a good impression, after all. She sighed with relief. It was the last of many commissions she’d received, but she had finally gotten them done. And now, time for fun!
She flipped open the blue book that had her sketches and personal designs and then started to look at the latest ones for something she could do. As her meticulous eye ran over each design, registered each number, she spied something. Something… off. Some of the measurements were erased and overwritten. It wasn’t like her to simply erase work. She wouldn’t have made the mistake in measurements to begin with in the first place. They were all taken and written down with the utmost care, then double checked for accuracy. Years of working as a dressmaker had taught her to do this.
She looked at the new measurements more closely. After a moment, something clicked in her head. She let out a startled gasp as she realized they were Rainbow Dash’s measurements.
“Why would I have written down Rainbow’s measurements for a foal’s dress?” she wondered aloud. Rarity frowned, staring down at it in confusion. Rainbow Dash? When I saw her, she was…
Her frown deepened sharply.
“Oh Celestia, that mare…” she sighed, rubbing her forehead wearily. “No wonder she sounded like she was making it up as she went along...why am I talking out loud?”
Shaking her head, Rarity went to turn the page. She would have to have some stern words with Rainbow Dash about sneaking into another pony’s home. The actual measurements weren’t a bother; she just used the measurements of her ponyquins in place of actual ponies for general ideas. But sneaking in like that! Although how she did it while distracting Rarity was quite remarkable, all on her own-
A soft ‘ah’ of understanding left the unicorn’s muzzle, nodding quietly to herself. Scootaloo! She could remember Sweetie Belle mentioning it, and she had been rather impressed that Rainbow Dash would take the burden of caring for a filly on herself, even if only for a week. She was rather less impressed now that she knew her friend was already making use of Scootaloo for pranks.
A naughty little idea slinked into the foreground. Her hoof, holding the page half turned, stopped as she looked over her design again. A smile spread over Rarity’s face. She giggled to herself, putting the page down unturned.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash, darling,” she said to herself with an oddly sinister look in her eyes. “Let’s see how you take a little of your own medicine…”
Late into the night, the pony next door woke up with a yelp. Caramel stared at his ceiling, wondering why there was a strange, villainous laugh coming from Rarity’s home.
Author's Note
Tyrant: Here’s chapter 2! Thank you all for the warm welcome given to chapter 1, and this story in general. From myself, and surely Vector, thank you and please, enjoy chapter 2 (or else). It took us a little time, but hey, this is updating faster than my other stuff, right? Note that is not an invitation to bombard with questions about when they’ll get updated. They’ll get updated when they get updated.
Vector: Thanks for your patience in waiting for this one. I had a great time writing it along with Tyrant Hoof, and the story is now starting to get to the “good stuff”, hehe. I hope you like it, and please let us know what you think of it so far! Also, feel free to bombard *me* with questions about when it’ll get done, etc. I won’t actually *answer* any of them, but please feel free. :)
Tyrant: Because asking futile questions to which you know you won’t get an answer is just so much fun.
Vector: Yes. I hear it’ll be a sport soon. Or at least a board game.
Tyrant: Bet I'd win.
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.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?
