Cheating the Cycle of Life- A Padded Pony Collab

The dark gray pegasus stallion stood upon the sands of the dream beach, awaiting Rumble’s decision. He thought the choice would be obvious, but it wasn’t up to him to decide what Rumble wanted to do.

Rumble looked at his green pacifier, light blue pull-up, and stuffed dog. All he had to do was either accept the mystery stallion’s offer, and throw them out, or decline the offer and continue to live his life as usual.

Even though he knew it was a dream, and that he wouldn’t stay asleep forever, Rumble found it hard to make up his mind about what he wanted to do.

He loved his pacifier, pull-ups, and stuffed dog, they helped him unwind and were an effective coping mechanism for this difficult time in his life.

But what the pegasus stallion had promised him sounded so tempting, and so inviting. He would be free to make his own decisions, and his parents would no longer be able to tell him what to do.

At last, Rumble made up his mind. He reluctantly turned to the pegasus stallion and said “I’m going to give up my things, I’m ready to leave them behind for good.”

At that, the pegasus stallion smiled “Good,” he said, and brought forth a golden sack which he then held firmly in his hooves “Place all three of the objects into this sack, once you do, I shall tie it shut and throw it away. When you wake up, you will dispose of the items in the trash, and never return to using them ever again. Hurry, the glory of your new age awaits you!”

Rumble grabbed his pacifier and stuffed dog, and removed his pull-up. He then made his way to the stallion and the sack, and prepared to throw them away.

But just as he was about to toss the first item, the green pacifier, memories began to return to him.

He could see all the happy memories he’d had with his parents, and his brother, Thunderlane. He could remember his parents buying the stuffed dog for him for one of his birthdays, Thunderlane comforting him for his bed wetting problem, while changing him out of a soaked pull-up not unlike the one he was currently wearing, and both his parents and Thunderlane letting him suck on the pacifier from time to time to calm down.

And those were only a few of the happy memories that came flooding back to Rumble in the blink of an eye. He loved those memories, and now this stallion wanted to get rid of the very items responsible for said memories. Well, that wasn’t going to happen!

Rumble turned, and walked away from the stallion, he had made his choice. “I’m not giving up these things! They’ve brought me happiness on a level you could never understand!”

“You fool!” the pegasus stallion bellowed “You don’t know what you are doing! Turn around now, and get rid of those items, your glory is at stake!”

“Glory, as you define it! Not as I define it!” Rumble said rebellious, and continued to walk away.

The pegasus stallion just shook his head “Well, you made your decision and you can’t take it back! But you’ll live to regret it for the rest of your life!” And with that, he vanished, and the dreamscape faded.

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“Rumble. Rumble. Wake up, sleepy head.” a familiar voice called to Rumble.

Rumble yawned, and opened a sleepy eye, then he spit out his pacifier in shock. Standing at the foot of his bed in the bright morning glow, was his big brother, Thunderlane.

“Big brother? What are you doing here?” Rumble asked.

“You’ve been asleep for a long time, Mom and Dad didn’t want you to miss breakfast,” Thunderlane explained “From the looks of things, you slept like a baby, in more ways than one.”

Rumble, still feeling very groggy, sat up in his bed to retrieve his pacifier. As he did so, he felt a squishy sensation in his lower regions, and sniffing the air, he became aware of a strong scent of manure. Rumble blushed.

“Looks like you pooped yourself in your sleep,” Thunderlane said with a smile, as he pulled back the bed sheets to reveal Rumble’s heavily used pull-up. The sky blue color was disturbed by a noticeable brown lump near the front. “It’s okay, everypony has accidents. Let’s get you changed. You can have a bath after breakfast.” And with that, Thunderlane helped his little brother to stand, and led him to the bathroom to get cleaned up.