Sleeping Belle

4
"Rarity's Inspiration"

Button Mash left that afternoon none the wiser as to what he'd seen the night before. It was just a dream to him, a strange dream he would likely have again because of how silly it looked. He couldn't make sense of the idea that Sweetie Belle - a filly his age - could wear a diaper (much less almost every single night). Only when he was a bit older and more experienced would that idea make any sense.

In the meantime Rarity kept track of her sister's nighttime problem. It wasn't anything she needed a chart for; Sweetie Belle simply told Rarity the nights she didn't wake up dry, and Rarity trusted she was always telling the truth. Three to four times a week was a lot, however, even for a filly. Rarity didn't tell her sister, but after a short talk with Applejack during a trip to the spa she found out that Sweetie Belle was having accidents a lot more often than Apple Bloom.

"Guess that's just how it goes, Rarity," Applejack said as she sat back and let Lotus Blossom apply a couple of medicated cucumbers to her eyelids. "Wish Ah could help. There's always medicine... Apple Bloom didn't have much luck with that, though."

As Aloe Blossom applied a thin green mask to her face, Rarity scowled... thinking.

"Rarity, you must relax, and let us work our magic," Aloe whispered, rubbing her shoulders. "You know you must trust us. We know what's best for you, ja?"

Hearing those words caused Rarity to loosen some, though not entirely. Gears still turned in her head, rapidly.

As Aloe finished applying her mask, Rarity glanced over at Applejack and considered what the farm pony had said. Being an artist, Rarity was accustomed to coming up with creative solutions for all sorts of problems. Medicine was a practical solution, but it would at best mask the problem, and Rarity was all too familiar with hiding imperfections. As a business pony she chose to avoid that, instead preferring to emphasize the strengths and style of her clients that were already there. Sweetie Belle needed to outgrow this problem naturally to feel good about it, but that could take months, or even years. However, she didn't have to wait that long to feel better. Rarity could at least take some small steps towards that.

"Good, good," Aloe said, her voice seemingly more distant. "Let go, dear, yes. We are here for you."

Rarity was, indeed, starting to relax. She had made up her mind as to what she was going to do.

After she got home Rarity set to work, ordering a couple sheets of high-end rubber from Canterlot with her usual supplies. It was the most expensive item in her books, but Rarity would spare no expense to see Sweetie Belle dry and comfortable. She kept thinking Imagine if you had to wear diapers to bed each night... only to get that far in her thoughts. "Oh, I don't think I could! They're so... infantile." This was a problem Rarity never had the misfortune of dealing with.

The mare soon began work on making her sister some All-in-One diapers. Though quite the task, she had her sister's measurements down and a mannequin her size... yet despite having the doll to experiment on, Rarity didn't feel right leaving it all out in her Inspiration Room for her friends to see. This was different than merely talking about disposable products. This project needed to be much more... discreet.

"It doesn't matter if they don't know what it's dressed up for, Opal," Rarity mused to her cat, using her magic to pull the small mannequin and rubber sheets into her bedroom. "Sweetie Belle needs her privacy and that is all there is to it!"

Despite being in her room, where Rarity could work in peace away from the prying eyes of others, the project ended up taking a lot of Rarity's free time. After all, she was used to making formal clothes, not diapers for eight year-old fillies. New orders still came, sometimes requiring her to put this project on hold for a few days. Each night the tiny mannequin stared at her from the side of her bed, reminding her of what she had to do. Though a few extra cups of Darjeeling at the end of each day helped with her progress, after a week it wasn't hard to see what the late nights were doing to the mare.

"Are you okay, Rarity?" Twilight asked, one afternoon while the two were having tea in the library. "You've been zoning out a lot today. Anything you want to talk about?"

"Oh, just thinking about projects, darling. This and that, the usual boring stuff I always do... nothing to worry about."

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Um... okay then. Let me know if there's anything I do can to help!"

Rarity smiled. "Will do, Twilight. You will be the first to know. Promise."

Had Twilight known what Rarity was up to, she probably would have recommended some books, but as it was the mare had all she needed at home. Not to mention there was something to be said for working alone on a project, especially one like this... It made it feel more personal, more inspiring.

Scissors snipped, the sewing machine buzzed and stitched a couple hours each night. It would take a few attempts for her to fully understand the techniques she'd need to use to make the leak guards effective enough, as well as some late night modeling from her sister over the weekends. Unlike the mannequin, Sweetie Belle's posture was not perfect and she was not in a permanent, fixed position. She was a filly after all... a hyperactive one, who tossed occasionally in her sleep.

It had been a couple years since Rarity's first attempt at a similar project for a customer with a disabled colt. Her blueprints (even back then) were a bit rough, but she tried. After two weeks of work, she finally had something to give to her sister.

"I don't know how well this is going to work, Sweetie," Rarity said. She had back to Sweetie Belle as the young filly slipped into the white, prototype All-in-One the older mare had spent so much time perfecting," but we're going to have to try it. Consider it a practice design, okay?"

Sweetie Belle hesitantly eyeballed the rubber-covered terry against her rump, then looked at her sister. She smiled weakly, nodding.

"Okay, Rarity."

Rarity smiled back, feigning confidence... hoping it might help Sweetie Belle feel better about this first attempt. From the pout on the filly's face and the tone in her voice, however, Rarity could tell it didn't work. She watched as her sister left, waddling down the hall and off to bed.

Rarity clicked off the light in her hall and sighed. All either of them could do was hope. Neither was truly happy with this first try, but they had to start somewhere.

The first diaper Rarity constructed was bulky, awkward to walk in, and rustled loudly... not to mention impossible to hide under clothing. Worst of all they found in the morning it didn't work. It absorbed just fine, but all Sweetie Belle had to do was roll to her side in the middle of the night and the leak guard did not keep tight enough. The next time she wet it passed straight through to her mattress. Surprisingly, Sweetie slept okay, though being in icky, damp sheets all night on account of her older sister's experimenting didn't go over too well in Rarity's mind.. or their parents', for that matter.

The mare went back to the drawing board the next night. She wasn't ready to call it quits just yet, even though her first attempt completely negated her initial goal of making something stylish and compact (and didn't even work).

"Oh, what am I going to do?" Rarity asked herself, looking over at her model and letting out a sigh. One thing you can do, Rarity, is not give up. This is for Sweetie, after all. Sitting up straight her horn glowed again. "Very well! That was just a- ... a mulligan!"

A couple of weeks passed. A few more failures came and went (along with two new mattresses for Sweetie Belle). Each failed attempt, however, taught Rarity something more about the design. In doing so the strengths of her project became more prevalent, while the weaknesses less pronounced. The entire work was starting to feel less like unknown territory, the garment becoming more compact, more stylish... it was just a matter of making leak guards which could actually hold at this point. Rarity tried different strengths of elastic, different cloths... different ideas. Eventually something would work.

Wiping her brow, Rarity held up a new design for Sweetie Belle to try -- this one was rubber on the inside, cloth on the outside, with a double-stitched core of terry for good measure. With luck it would perform -almost- as well as a disposable. It only took just over a month, and the prototype was white, but it looked close enough to underwear to almost pass... not that fillies normally wore underwear (that was more of an adult interest).

That night Sweetie Belle slept straight through to the following morning. When she woke up the All-in-One was wet, but she was dry... as was the bed. Stepping out of the shower, she trotted down stairs and into the kitchen, where she told Rarity what had happened as the older unicorn was making breakfast. Before she knew it Sweetie Belle found herself held in a blue magic aura, moving fast around the kitchen like a merry-go-round.

"Success!" Rarity exclaimed, causing Opalescence fall off a kitchen chair with a bushy tail and claws extended. The filly and mare spun clockwise. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that, Sweetie! It puts my mind at ease!"

"Um..." Sweetie Belle shook her head, belching a bit. "That's... uh, great, Rarity."

"Oh!" The mare came to a stop, putting her sister down. Even though her design worked, she still had to compose herself. "Thank you very much for your patience, then, sister. I hope the reward has been worth it."

"It has," said Sweetie Belle, shaking her head again as she wobbled on her feet. "Really, Rarity! Thank you."

The mare smiled at her sister. Sweetie Belle smiled back... it would just take a few moments for everything to stop spinning and for Sweetie's appetite to return.

After the first success the design was easy to replicate and then improve. The first true batch came a week later, in a variety of colors -- green, purple, and pink -- coordinating with Sweetie Belle's natural highlights, not to mention almost invisible under her pajamas. This was Rarity's goal when she first set out.

Sweetie Belle was happy. Rarity was happy... it seemed as though things were finally returning to normal. The worst thing to come from all this was that each time Sweetie Belle went to a sleepover, or had ponies for the night, the party always had to be themed a pajama party. That was of little consequence to Rarity, however. Sweetie still had her dignity, and that's all that mattered.

The End