Cheating the Cycle of Life- A Padded Pony Collab

Twilight and Fluttershy stared out the windows of the rickety wooden carriage at a Canterlot so young it could fit entirely within what was now (or would be) Canterlot Castle. Most of the houses were single-story and made of wood, although a few were stone. The ponies all wore tunics or barding, clothes that Twilight had previously only seen in history books.

“We’ve really gone back in time,” she said in equal parts trepidation and wonder.

The third pony in the carriage with them was a middle-aged unicorn, graying purple hair spilling out of her brown cloak. “I apologize,” she said. “I had no idea the spell could even do that. The Seeker was only meant to-”

“Star Swirl the Bearded’s Seeker spell? I know this one!” Twilight spun away from the window and grinned. “The spell locates and summons the being or beings best suited to the task the caster specifies. Temporal anomalies have been reported using it, but never this large! What kind of task are my friend and I so uniquely suited for that the spell reached so far into the future to find us?”

The unicorn chuckled. “Star Swirl’s spell? You mean the old fogey takes credit for it?”

Twilight drew upon her encyclopedic knowledge of all things Star Swirl. “Well, there were rumors that the spell was actually invented by his protege, Clover the Clover…” she fell silent as she examined the strange mare more closely. “Oh my heavens, you’re her.”

Clover continued to laugh. “I’m sorry for uprooting your lives like this. But please understand. We are truly desperate.”

“We?” asked Fluttershy. Putting a name to the face had made her less frightening.

“The other founders, particularly Lady Platinum. We have run out of options and are at our wits end. This spell was our last resort to find ponies who could discipline our daughters.”

The carriage rolled to a stop outside a stone building at the top of the mountain. It was two-storied, larger than any other building they’d seen so far, but still on par with a normal house in Ponyville. If Twilight squinted, it kind of looked like a miniature castle.

Now Twilight was even more confused, and growing frustrated. “Are you saying that you couldn’t even find a single pony in your own time who could play babysitter? What kind of freaks are you dealing with here?”

Clover stood up and went face-to-face with Twilight. She waved one hand over Twilight’s horn, and the other followed the curve of her folded wings. “The same as you,” she said.

“What?”

The door to the castle-cottage opened, and two fillies ran out toward the carriage. Twilight could make out their excitable babble as they climbed in and ran to their mother, who embraced them.

The older of the two had a white coat and a voluminous pink mane that filtered the sunlight through it, casting dancing shadows on the wall. The younger pony was much darker, with a deep blue coat and a lighter shorter mane that showed up her nubby filly horn. Then Twilight spotted the wings nestled tightly against their backs, and she understood.

Clover hugged one with each arm and held them close. “These are my children. Tia? Luna? These are your new caretakers.”

Throughout dinner, Twilight kept looking up across the table at Celestia. She had trouble accepting that this was really the future Princess of the Sun. Sure, she was the spitting image, but her movements were so much less refined. Everything the Celestia Twilight knew did was purposeful, calm, rational. The filly here was impulsive and greedy, digging into her food like it was her last meal.

Celestia stood up from her chair. Still clutching her fork and knife in two balled fists, she pushed her fists against the table and leaned in, a tension in her body and a look of extreme focus on her face.

Twilight nudged Clover and pointed to Celestia.

“Don’t worry,” whispered Clover. “She’s probably just having a movement.”

“A what?” Twilight knew the word, but not what it meant in this context.

“You know, a bowel movement. She’s defecating. She hasn’t gone all day. We were hoping dinner would force it out of her.”

“She’s not toilet trained?” She looked back over at Celestia, who now had her cheeks puffed out and was grunting softly. She tried to figure out how old the filly was by her physical attributes. She seemed younger than the crusaders, but not by much. Even Twilight was toilet trained at that age (if only barely), and she was as late as they came.

“I know what you’re thinking,” said Clover. “You try telling a filly with more magic in one finger than I have in my entire body that she has to use a toilet, see how far it gets you. We are literally powerless to discipline them.”

And that’s where I come in, thought Twilight. But then why did the spell summon Fluttershy too?

Celestia sighed and relaxed. Her head peeked between her legs at the seat of her chair, and she frowned. She seemed to be weighing the pros and cons of sitting down in a messy diaper. Twilight was too stunned to do anything but watch.

But Fluttershy wasn’t. “Tia, please sit at the table,” she said,

"I don't want to," said Tia. She was smiling, like her simple statement was an indisputable trump card.

"Me too!" said Luna. She stood up and made the same pose her sister had, and then looked toward her for approval.

Fluttershy was unmoved. "We don't stand at the table," she said, just as calm as before.

"But I'm poopy!" whined the alicorn filly. She pounded the table with her fist, which spooked Twilight and Clover.

But Fluttershy met Tia's petulant stare. "Would you like a change?" she asked.

Tia nodded vigorously.

"Then sit down and eat your vegetables. I'll change you as soon as you're done."

Tia's fist clenched more tightly around her fork, and she took several deep breaths as she tried to stare Fluttershy down, but when she looked into her eyes, she felt frozen, seized by some powerful fear. Then Fluttershy started to stand up, and Tia immediately sat back down, wincing as the mess in her diaper squished against her coat.

Next to her, Luna followed suit, looking confused.

Clover leaned in and whispered to Twilight, "Luna's not as bad, but she emulates her sister."

“Is it such a good idea to have her sit in that filthy thing?” asked Platinum. She kept looking back at Celestia, who was now eating quietly. “It seems cruel.”

“We said they could try whatever they thought was right,” Clover reminded her liege as she squeezed her hand under the table. “They seem like they know what they’re doing. Let them try.”

“Besides,” added Twilight, “what were you going to do? Change her right here on the table?” She was joking, but Platinum blushed and didn’t answer. “Wait, seriously? Ew.” She tried not to focus on that image while she finished her dinner.

As soon as Celestia finished eating, she hopped out of her seat and ran down to Fluttershy. From this distance, Twilight could smell the foul odor of a soiled diaper, a smell she’d thought she’d escaped when she’d toilet trained Spike. “Come on, change me!” she shouted at her.

“Ask me nicely first,” said Fluttershy. She began to collect the plates from the table.

“No! I want a clean diaper now! You said you would change me, so do it!” Celestia grabbed Fluttershy’s arm and yanked, causing the plates to tumble out of her grasp and shatter on the stone floor.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds as they all tried to process what had happened. Celestia took a shaky step back, then turned to run, but Fluttershy grabbed her arm.

“Let me go!” screamed Celestia. Her horn lit up, and a wreath of flames encircled her arm. Fluttershy cried out and let go, and Celestia took off running.

Twilight saw her moment and conjured a cage of magical force around the alicorn filly. She pushed up against the bars, then turned, stuck her tongue out, and vanished in a flash of golden light.

“She can teleport? How can she teleport at this age?” Twilight was beginning to understand why Clover needed another alicorn to discipline them. She teleported after her, trying to trace her magical trail.

Fluttershy took some well-needed breaths and inspected her arm. The damage wasn’t too bad, but the spell had still burnt her. These fillies needed to be taught to behave before they hurt someone else. She supposed that in her own timeline, they already had.

“Can I please have a diaper change?” asked a meek voice still sitting at the table. In all her dealing with Celestia, Fluttershy had nearly forgotten that Luna was there too.

“Of course,” she said, deciding to let Twilight handle Celestia for now. “Do you need a change?”

Luna put her hands between her legs, rubbing the seat of her diaper. “Uh-huh, I peed.”

Fluttershy smiled and took her by the hand. “Well we don’t want to keep you waiting, now do we?”

As Fluttershy was laying Luna down, Twilight returned with a struggling Celestia trapped in a magic bubble.

“You subdued her,” said Clover, shocked.

“For now,” said Twilight. “Her power is only going to grow stronger.” She shrank the bubble so that it was only covering Celestia’s horn, keeping her magic subdued, and then she laid Celestia on the floor next to Luna and magicked her dress away.

It turned out that alicorn poop wasn’t that different from normal pony poop. That still didn’t make Twilight happy to be dealing with it. But Fluttershy didn’t seem to mind at all. She hummed a soft tune as she pushed Luna’s dress up, pulled her wet diaper down, and gently cleaned her up, all the while Twilight was still staring at Celestia’s padded hindquarters, trying to accept that changing the soiled diapers of her future teacher was something she was actually doing now.

Fluttershy finished wrapping a new diaper up around Luna. “Do you want a hand?” she asked Twilight.

She shook her head. “I know how to change a diaper. I had to do Spike’s, once upon a time.” Knowing that Fluttershy would insist if she took any longer, she opened up Celestia’s diaper and pulled it out from under her, trying not to even think about the mess she was exposing. She made quick work of cleaning her up and putting on the new diaper that Platinum supplied.

As Princess Platinum led them to their bedchambers, Twilight tried to put the whole day together in her head. It just all seemed so nonsensical, but she understood that by helping to raise the alicorn princesses, their new task could end up being the most important thing they’d ever done.

“You handled that really well,” Twilight told Fluttershy once they were alone in the bedroom they were to share. “I didn’t know the princesses had so much power even as little fillies. I’m surprised you weren’t scared of them.”

“They’re still children,” Fluttershy answered. “I spent too much of my childhood being scared of kids like them. They just need to be shown a little kindness.”