Daring Doesn't Do Curses

Daring rolled over in her sleeping bag, groaning softly. An hour of tossing and turning and still no sleep had come her way. She looked over to the right, the dying embers of the campfire letting her make out the bulging bag of Rainbow Dash. Her partner was already deep in sleep, evidenced by her loud, loud snoring.

But the snoring wasn't the reason Daring couldn't get forty winks. No, the real reason was small, pink, and sitting a few feet away.

Tucked away in her folded shirt, sitting right next to her hat and other supplies, was her pacifier.

Hers.

Daring was still getting used to that. Not even two hours and she was already possessive of the thing. She hadn't had a pacifier since she was a foal, and now she felt ownership for this one that they'd only just found earlier that day. It was weird, but not in a bad way. At least, she didn't think so.

After all, it was a very nice pacifier. A lovely shade of pink (just fillyish enough, especially with that heart on the guard) and it was practically begging to be put in her mouth too.

In her mouth...

Was that why she couldn't get to sleep?

Unzipping her bag, Daring got up and started pacing. She couldn't push the thought, the desire, to suckle on the pacifier out of her head. After all, she'd wanted to do it practically since she first laid eyes on the thing. But was it a good idea?

That desire was the very same thing that caused her to ignore years of experience and set off a trap. Maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea to act on it.

But then again, what could possibly be the harm, right? They were no longer in the temple, and it wasn't even like she could get embarrassed. The only pony around for miles was out like a light, and nopony else would just stumble upon her suckling on a pacifier. Besides, it wasn't likely she'd get to sleep anytime soon, and as long as she only did it to satisfy her morbid curiosity, nothing could go wrong. So... it was alright. Right?

Right.

Daring snapped out of her thoughts to see she was already holding the pacifier. She blinked, realizing that somehow during her pacing she must have gone over and picked it up without thinking about it.

"I must really want this," she whispered.

And that wasn't a bad thing. She was just curious, after all. Only curious. For sure.

Ignoring how defensive her thoughts felt, Daring raised the pacifier up. Licking her lips, she slowly slid the rubber bulb into her mouth.

When that was done, she just let it hang there in her mouth for a moment. Nothing seemed to have happened, at least, nothing significant. But her curiosity wasn't satisfied. Not unless she...

"Dawe I?" she lisped through the pacifier. Turning back, she looked to make sure Rainbow was still asleep. When the snoring lump greeted her eyes, she turned back around and took a deep breath. "O'tay."

She suckled.

It was quick. Brief. And it was only once.

But damn did it feel good.

Daring giggled, giddy at the thought of what she'd just done. It was so foalish, and yet it felt so good! She suckled again, this time not stopping. She just let the pacifier bob back and forth with her lips wrapped around it, enjoying the high it gave her.

She put a hoof to her mouth to muffle the giggles, but didn't slow down. She found a nice, steady rhythm to suckle to and sighed with euphoria.

It was just a feeling she could never have imagined! And how could she? Here she was, a grown pony suckling on a pacifier, and she was liking it for Celestia's sake! It was almost too ridiculous to be true.

Daring did a little trotting in place out of pure glee, but that was about all she could do before her exhaustion finally started to catch up to her.

As her eyes went half-lidded, Daring decided she did feel very tired. Maybe this was what she'd been missing whenever she tried to sleep: this wonderful suckling feeling.

Content to suckle on the pacifier until she fell asleep, Daring walked back over to her sleeping bag and huddled up inside it. She found herself curling to the fetal position, something she never used to do, but was still so entranced with her pacifier that she didn't mind.

Her eye's closing slowly, Daring Do found herself ready and willing to sleep now.

...

...

...

Why couldn't she sleep?

Daring rolled over in her sleeping bag, an involuntary whine escaping her throat. She was so tired, and yet still sleep eluded her. It wasn't fair! What was wrong?

Well, her sleeping bag, for one.

As Daring kept suckling, she nodded. Yes, it was definitely the sleeping bag. She didn't like being so... encased on all sides. It was suffocating. She wanted a nice, fluffy mattress to sleep on; this was basically just the ground.

It didn't really occur to Daring that she'd slept in a sleeping bag hundreds of times before without a problem. Even if it had, that wouldn't impact her thoughts all that much. As far as she was concerned right now, the sleeping bag was definitely the problem.

But it wouldn't just be solved with a mattress. There was something else missing. Daring rolled around a little, trying to figure out what it was. Then it hit her.

She could roll around! That just wasn't safe at all! She needed some sort of barrier to make sure that couldn't happen. If she could stay put, that would make things so much easier. All it would take would be a couple of bars around her and--

Daring shot up, shock sending her reeling. She just barely managed to keep suckling her pacifier. "I...I wanna cwib?" She lisped quietly.

That was... no... That was completely stupid. She was an adult. An adult suckling on a pacifier, sure, but an adult nonetheless. She didn't need, nor want, to sleep in a crib tonight.

She shook her head; she was just being silly.

"Siwwy fiwwy," Daring mumbled to herself as she laid back down.

...

...

...

Okay, she still couldn't go to sleep.

Groaning, Daring rolled around in frustration. She couldn't possibly want to sleep in a crib right? Right?

It was just... it was implausible, first off. She was in the middle of the Mexicolt wilds, near a temple that hadn't been inhabited or visited for at least a thousand years, if not longer. Where was she even going to find a crib?

"I not sewiouswy entert-- entertata-- endermaining... I don' wan' dis... wight?" Daring chewed her pacifier nervously. It was strange how out of nowhere this desire had appeared from, but at the same time she worried if she didn't act of it then she wouldn't get any sleep at all tonight.

She looked back over to Rainbow, and found the pegasus to still be sleeping restfully. Surely she wouldn't mind if Daring were to sneak off in search of a crib for the night...

Wow, she sounded so stupid. Where did she even expect to find a crib!?

Pausing for a moment, Daring glanced back over to the temple. It's outline was easy to see, given how close they had set up camp. Perhaps it may have a crib in it. After all, that's were her pacifier came from.

"Oh come on. Weawwy?" Daring asked as she stood up and unzipped her bag again. "As if I gonna go all da way back jus ta see if dere is a cwib for me ta sweep in."

Prepost-- er... Ridic-- urm... Silly! That's what it was. Just plain silly! There was no chance a crib would just be waiting for her at all and she was just being stupid for wanting there to be.

But... then why was she walking towards the temple?

Daring sleepily acknowledged the fact that she was stumbling towards the temple. It didn't really shock her too much; she'd been doing things without thinking it a lot lately. Besides, suckling on her pacifier kept her calm. Who knew, maybe she would find a crib after all.

Keeping her focus on her pacifier, Daring let her legs do all the word as they made their way back to the entrance to the temple. She grew nervous and chewed on the bulb as she entered the temple. For a moment, she was worried that all the traps she had spent so much time avoiding earlier in the day would spring, but no. She walked through the tunnel without a single issue.

"Huh..." Daring said, which was closely followed by a yawn.

During her walk, she had plenty of time to reflect on everything, even with her exhaustion and constant suckling. She could have thought about how weird this was. She could have thought about how scary it was that she was effectively losing control of what she wanted. She could have realized that all this only started when she first came in contact with the pacifier. And, if she had been really thinking, she may have even thought about the supposed curse and linked it back to the item she was currently suckling on so happily.

But Daring Do didn't think about any of that. Instead, her thoughts wandered to how comfortable it would be to sleep in a crib once she finally found one. In fact, she got very very excited about it. She wanted to curl up under a comfy blanket, nuzzle a pillow, and rest against the bars of a crib just right for her. Her suckling became faster the more she thought about it.

Finally, Daring reached the inner chamber she'd been at just hours earlier, and that was where her legs finally stopped moving on her own. She blinked and looked around, curious as to why she had stopped here. It was dark, and hard to make out anything, but she could at least tell that there was no crib here.

That's when her eye caught something. The trap door from earlier was still open, forming a wide ring around the podium that descended into the unknown. Upon seeing it, Daring's wings twitched.

It was hard to describe, but she felt something pulling at her, telling her to go down there. She extended her wings, heart beating faster at the prospect of a crib.

She flapped gently, beginning her descent. Oddly enough, she found it rather difficult to fly for some reason. Every so often her wings would go out of sync and she'd drop a few feet before she could rectify the problem. Sweat formed at her forehead and she chewed her pacifier in concentration, doing her best to hover downward gently.

Then it was almost like she forgot how to fly entirely. One moment she was doing well, the next her wings seemed to lose control. She flapped wildly, and would've screamed if it wouldn't cause her to lose her pacifier.

Daring squeezed her eyes shut as the wind whipped past her hair, worried that this was it.

FWOOMP! crinkle crinkle crinkle

Daring opened her eyes, realizing that she was safe. She'd landed in a large pile of... something soft. Clearly whoever made the trap door above had left these for whatever wanderer triggered the trap. But what were they? Pillows?

She fumbled around, finding it difficult to sit up in the moving, crinkling mass of plush. With some effort she was able to grab one of the many indistinguishable, life saving cushions and examine it.

The lighting in whatever room she'd ended up in was low. Only a little glow from the torches in the chamber above leaked through. Using this light Daring squinted and flipped the object over. The action caused it to unfold, and it formed a shape that was oddly familiar to her.

"A diapee?" She murmured. Glancing around, she saw that the whole pile was made of them. Individual diapers, big enough for an adult to wear, with enough poof in one to cushion any fall.

The puzzle pieces clicked in Daring's mind. The pacifier trap led to the diapers. Clearly, whoever left these here intended for her to wear them.

"No way!" she defiantly threw the diaper to the side, squirming in the pile as the rest shifted around her. "I a big fiwwy. I no need a diapee!"

As she struggled, Daring did realize something though. The diapers... they were soft. Like, really soft. Cloud levels of soft, even.

Interesting...

She finally rolled off the pile and dusted herself off. Soft or no, she didn't need diapers. She came down here for a crib after all, and she wasn't going to get distracted from that goal.

Pushing herself up, Daring gathered herself, suckled softly on her pacifier, and looked around the room. She had to resort to squinting again, but was able to make out some rough outlines of things. There was definitely furniture in the room she'd landed in. She could see the outlines of counters, a table... what might have been a chair. It didn't seem like there were any other ways out besides the way she came in though.

Before she could realize that meant she was trapped until she could figure out what was wrong with her wings, Daring's eyes widened as they were greeted by a wonderful sight.

A crib! An honest to Celestia crib!

The rough shape in low light might have made someponies think it was just an ordinary bed, but Daring could tell there were bars lining all four sides. She clapped with joy and giggled, her heart pounding with excitement. She didn't bother questioning it, either, though between this, the pacifier, and the pile of diapers, she really should have.

But who cared? She was actually going to get to sleep in a crib! It was a dream come true!

Scampering over, Daring craned her neck to see the top of the bars. She jumped, limbs flailing to catch the edge, but she missed and fell flat on her butt.

"Owie." Daring stood back up and rubbed her hindquarters. When they started to sting a little less, she tried jumping again, only to get the same result. On the third try her hooves grazed the edge, but the end result was still the same.

Her rump sufficiently stinging, Daring sniffled. She really wanted to sleep in the crib, but at this rate she wouldn't be able to without turning her bottom redder than a tomato.

Then, she remembered something! Turning back around, Daring saw the pile of diapers again, and an idea bloomed in her mind. Of course! She could wear one, and then falling wouldn't be a problem! As long as she was just wearing a diaper for that, she didn't see anything wrong with it.

Quickly, Daring darted over to the pile and rummaged through it. After a few seconds of searching, she picked out the biggest, poofiest diaper she could find.

Flopping down on the ground, Daring raised her rear end and scooted the diaper underneath. In near darkness with just her hooves to go by, it was tough work, but Daring made it happen. A few rough folds and she was wearing the loosest diaper in the world. Her sloppy work aside though, she had no complaints. Patting down the tapes, Daring sighed.

For a moment she just sat their, soaking in the fluffiness of the diaper. She hadn't imagined it would feel so good! It was almost like suckling her pacifier for the first time all over again. The giddy feeling of doing something a big filly like her shouldn't be doing... it was wonderful! She played with the poofy padding for a moment, but remembered her mission. She quickly stood up and wobbled; the diaper spread her legs out really far apart! Waddling over, she tried again to get into the crib.

With a shielded butt, it didn't matter how many times she fell, and fell she did. Daring lost count of how many times she jumped up at the side of the crib, only to fall and hear a crinkle as her butt squished her diaper. She was pretty sure it was more than four times, though. Four was a number, right?

Regardless, on her last attempt, she latched onto the edge of the crib and pulled herself over. She bounced onto the mattress a second later, sighing with relief. She'd made it.

She wrestled the crib's blanket out and let it fall over her as she curled up. Her bulging diaper made it hard to press her legs together, so she didn't try all that hard. She was too sleepy anyway.

So sleepy...

Daring's eye's closed and she drifted off into slumber, happily suckling her pacifier all the while.