Daring Doesn't Do Curses

It was a close call, but Daring trusted her gut on this one.

It took all of her willpower, but with a quick, jerky motion, Daring tossed the pacifier as far away as she could. It bounced off the wall and landed on the floor next to what looked like a crib.

Daring winced, her headache seemed to increase twofold just from the action. She powered through it, though. She had too.

Ignoring how inviting the pacifier looked, even all the way across the room and sitting on the dusty floor, Daring turned back to Rainbow Dash. She shook the sleeping pony frantically, praying that she would be herself when she woke. "Come on Dash, get up!"

Rainbow's eyes slowly cracked open and she gave a cutesy yawn. Looking up she saw her and smiled. "Dawing?" Rainbow paused, and smacked her lips a few times. "Where my paci?"

"You mean my paci-- I mean..." Daring shook her head furiously. "It's not... you can't have that anymore Rainbow."

"But..." Tears actually welled up in Rainbow's eyes, followed closely by crying. Yes, Rainbow Dash was actually crying.

Daring winced, the shrill cries of her partner doing her headache no favors. Why was Rainbow acting like this?

From the corner of her eye, Daring caught sight of the pacifier and the puzzle pieces clicked together. The almost hypnotic way it had enticed her... it had to be cursed just like the rumors said. And if the way Dash was acting was any indication, the curse was clearly one of regression.

Daring must've been afflicted too, her diaper being the most obvious clue. She quickly ripped hers off chucked it aside, grateful to be free of the cushy prison.

Turning to the still sniveling Dash, Daring recoiled at the sight of her diaper. A large, brown stain covered most of it, the padding lumpy as it tried to contain the mess within. Daring shuddered at the smell too, which was just rancid.

She wanted to get that thing off of Rainbow as soon as possible, but hesitated. If Rainbow was still regressed, there's a chance she'd use her diaper again and Daring was not up for changing the mess.

Dash just continued to cry. "I wan' my paci. I wan' my paci..."

"Come here," Daring said, lifting the sniveling pegasus up in both forelegs. She had an odd desire to comfort the crying pony by cradling her, but chalked it up to the lingering curse. As she adjusted her hold, her foreleg became buried under the messy diaper and she shuddered all over again. "We're getting out of here, Dash."

"But my paci..."

Daring spread her wings and took off. It wasn't easy, carrying a squirming Dash while dealing with a worsening headache and stomach pains, but she made it out of the trap door room and back into the central chamber. She landed for a moment, set Dash down, and rubbed her temples. It seemed the further they got away from the pacifier, the worse this headache got.

"You okay, Rainbow?"

The pegasus sniffed. "No. I wan' my paci, and my tummy huwts and I hate you!"

Daring gritted her teeth. "Yeah, well stay strong. This regression'll wear off soon. I hope."

Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and pouted, squishing her diaper as she turned away from Daring. "You a meanie!"

Daring groaned. "Let's just get out of here." She took Rainbow by the hoof and forced her up. She lead her partner down the hallway and toward the temple exit, ignoring each pull of Rainbow's as she tried to escape back to her pacifier. Her headache only got worse the further she went, but when they finally crossed the exit and made it out of the temple, the pain softened and eventually faded.

Her stomachache didn't.

"Hgnnh!"

Daring turned around and was mortified to see Rainbow, tail hiked and face red as she pushed a new load into her diaper. The already messy padding swelled under the stress, but held, and Daring was just glad she'd left the diaper on.

Her own stomach gurgled with pain, and Daring figured she too could use a bathroom break, but that could wait.

"Come on." She took Rainbow's hoof again and the two headed off for the campsite. Rainbow's waddle back included a lot of nasty sounded squishes and squelches, and Daring did her best to ignore them.

"Can I haff my paci now?" Rainbow begged, still tear-eyed.

"No," Daring grumbled. Right now, they were just going to focus on getting the hell out of this Celestia-forsaken jungle, and then she was going to focus on getting Dash better. If she could get better; Daring still wasn't too certain about that.

What she was certain about was that she was never, ever writing about this adventure.