Bagpiperix - horror story

Chapters

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Part 1

The day was bright and sunny, only a few clouds dotting the sky. The small group of ponies trotted into the quaint town, each carrying well stuffed saddlebags. Their hooves clacked on the cobblestone road running through the center of town, one of the ponies turning to another. “Well, we’ve made it to the town, you know where the inn is?” He asked.

The unicorn waved her hoof a little, rolling her eyes. “Of course, High Bar, I wouldn’t be the one leading us if I didn’t know where we were going.” She looked over to him, smiling a bit smugly. “Besides, considering how often you’ve been looking at my flanks I’d have thought you’d notice my cutie-mark by now.” She shook her hips a bit, showing off her compass marking. High Bar blushed, looking away from Compass.

“Why do we need an inn, anyway? I thought the whole point of a camping trip was to, y’know, camp.” An earth pony with a few flowers on her flanks asked, looking up at the sunny sky as they wandered through the town.

Compass shrugged, turning a corner, the other following. “I dunno, it was Myth’s idea. Something about town history. Besides, Cloud said there was supposed to be a storm scheduled this weekend too, so it’d be good to have a place to stop if it’s too bad to stay at the campsite.”

Myth looked up at the mention of his name, tearing his eyes away from a few scribbled notes. “What? The inn? Yeah, you can’t walk through an old pioneer town without seeing the sights! Besides, there’s supposed to be some neat history behind the Puffy Dragon too, it’ll be cool!”

Another stallion tried to stifle a chuckle, failing and receiving a small glare from Myth Maker. “The Puffy Dragon? That’s what it’s called? Sheesh, I know old ponies had weird ideas of what made good names, but…” He shook his head, still grinning.

“You know as well as I do, Clef, that three months ago you stayed in the Whinny Winks inn while at a symposium,” Myth replied severely. “In any case-”

“Inn, heh,” the flower-marked Earth Pony said. “I like it.”

“That wasn't intended to be a pun,” Myth Maker said. “But I'll take it. Anyway – you know as well as anypony else that if there's a good story behind this place, I'll find it.”

“Yeah, but that means hours of research, right?” asked Double Clef.

“Not if I can help it.”

They turned another corner, and saw the inn right before them.

“Ta-da,” Compass said, her horn-glow fading. “You have reached your destination.”

The party of holidaymakers looked at the inn.

“That's an odd-looking sign,” Violet said. “What even is it?”

“One presumes it's a puffy dragon,” Myth answered, examining it. “See, there's the neck, and the tail. No wings, which is interesting, but some very impressive ridges.”

“Who would have a dragon without wings?” Cloudy Skies asked. “Isn't part of the point of dragons that they can fly?”

Myth shrugged. “Ask me again at the end of the week.”

He trotted up to the front door, the others following, and knocked – which merely made the door open a little way, as it wasn't locked.

Myth pushed the door fully open, taking a step in and looking around. The room was just about what he had expected. A few puffy chairs sat in the cozy lobby, each sitting on opposite sides of a fireplace. Another table sat in the middle, a few books sitting on the table. On the other side of the room sat a small desk where another pony sat, smiling as she spotted the group walk in. “Oh, hello! I wasn’t expecting this big of a group. What can I do for you?” The pony asked.

“Well, we’re just staying around for a little while, wanted to check the place out,” Clef responded.

The pony nodded, pointing over to the chairs at the fireplace. “Well, make yourselves comfortable! We’ve got plenty of reading on town folklore if you’re interested.”

Myth perked up, immediately hurrying over to pick up one of the books on the table. Violet couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at Myth’s enthusiasm as he began to page through the information.

“Anything you can tell us about the town? We’re planning on camping up in the hills nearby.” High Bar asked. The clerk looked surprised, only to giggle and give a knowing wink.

“Oooh, up in the hills? Well, better keep an eye out for any mischievous drakes. They do tend to come out this time of year.” She joked. Clef raised an eyebrow, but the pony just tapped her muzzle, winking again.

“Would you mind if I borrowed this book? It’s got everything I need!” Myth said, grinning widely. The clerk nodded, motioning for him to come over and sign a small card as the others looked between each other. She wasn’t serious about dragons being a problem, was she?

Shrugging, Clef trotted over to one of the chairs and sat down – making the fabric let out a faint wheeze as air hissed out of it – then groaned.

“Oh, wow... I forgot how far we've walked today...”

“You could have flown,” Compass pointed out.

“Yeah, but that would have been worse,” the composer said. “Walking is fine, flying long distances is fine. Hovering overhead for hours on end? My wings would never forgive me.”

“Looks pretty cozy,” Violet said, and prodded the fabric. “And feels it.”

“Let's see...” Myth began, starting on the book. “Hey, Compass – how far is it to the campsite?”

Compass lit her horn. “Let's see... search for the best nearby campsite...”

Her magic flickered for a moment, then stabilized.

“About an hour's walk,” she said. “And quite a lot of that is uphill.”

“Really?” Violet asked. “Maybe we should eat here, then – it's not all that long until dinner.”

“I'd rather eat out in the field, otherwise it's not really a camping trip,” High Bar volunteered. “We've got everything we need.”

Clef just groaned again. “More walking?”

He shook his head. “You guys can go ahead. I think I'm going to have a nice bath to rest my hooves, and then come out to join you tomorrow.”

“Really?” Bar said. “Really? First night of the camping trip and you're going to stay at the inn?”

“Actually, a bath does sound good,” Cloudy said. “I know you other pony types are fine with just trotting everywhere, but we're really not used to that much walking.”

High Bar just rolled his eyes, waving his hoof dismissively. “Fine, wimps.” He said, smiling a bit afterwards. Cloud stuck her tongue out playfully trotting over to rest on the chair opposite Clef’s. “Alright, we’ll see you guys tomorrow then. Just don’t spend all day here, or we’re not going to have any time to actually go hiking and swimming and stuff!”

“We’ll be there first thing in the morning.” Cloud reassured High Bar. The others turned to head out the door, Myth scribbling down his name on the card for the clerk before hurrying after them. The clerk turned around, picking a key off a rack behind her.

“Here’s your room key, second floor. Sorry for the climb.” She said sweetly. Clef picked himself up out of the chair, which almost seemed to suck back a bit of air as he did. ‘Must be old fabric’, he thought, taking the key and leading Cloud up to their hotel room. The lock clicked satisfyingly as Clef pushed the key into the hole, opening the door to reveal a cozy little room. Two bed fit with plush comforters and pillows sat opposite a wardrobe and mirror, both ponies letting out a soft sigh at the sight of the comfy room. Trotting in, Clef flopped down on the bed, relaxing into the puffy mattress.

“Oh man, this is soooo good! I don’t think I’m going to move again!” He said. Cloud Chaser laughed, setting down her loaded saddlebags and walked over to a small chair in the corner, picking up a book resting on the wardrobe and beginning to read.

Meanwhile, the others were huffing a bit as they trotted up the hills, Compass’s horn glowing as she directed them towards the campsite. “Are we theeeere yet?” Violet complained, shaking her hooves a bit to try and relieve some of the ache in them.

“We’re only halfway there, it’s still going to be a while.” Compass responded. Everypony let out a groan, Myth Maker stumbling a bit over a rock as he was absorbed in his book. “At least it’s not that hard. Like, this barely even feels like an actual mountain, it’s pretty gradual.”

“I'm having second thoughts about the inn thing,” Bar muttered. “But we can't go back now, we'd look silly and stuff.”

“You and your big mouth,” Compass chided. “At least it's on top of a hill, so we'll still have good light.”

She paused, pushing a hoof experimentally into the ground. “Oh, that's nice – I've walked along paths like this before.”

“Like what?” Myth said, looking up from his book for a moment.

“Springy like this,” Compass explained. “There was one on the Isle of A-Ram, a year or two back. It's actually nicer on the hooves than just rigid ground, so count yourselves lucky.”

With that, she got going again, and the rest followed – trotting uphill, with the unicorn's light to guide them.

When they reached the campsite, it was a cause for weary celebration.

“That was never an hour,” Bar protested. “That has to have been more.”

“My spell is always accurate,” Compass replied. “It's just sometimes ponies which are wrong. Okay, who's got the cooking equipment?”

“That's me,” Violet replied, shrugging off her saddlebags. “If somepony can set up the tents, I'll start cooking us something with rice and carnations.”

Myth Maker looked up again. “Carnations? Any special significance of that?”

“Flower arranging,” Violet answered him. “My talent is arranging flowers, and cooking counts if there's flowers in it.”

“You'd think she hadn't told us six times this trip already,” Bar muttered to Compass.

Myth maker closed his book, picking out some of the posts for the tent from his saddlebags. Clicking them together, he pressed it down into the ground, finding it to be resisting a bit more than he had expected. He lost his grip on the poles, watching as it bounced back up, clattering to the ground. “Jeez, I thought you said this ground wasn’t tough.” Myth said. “I think I’m just going to have to secure them with a glue spell.” He picked the poles back up in his magic, his horn pulsing a bit as he glued them to the ground.

With the issue of stability fixed, it wasn’t too long before the tents were set up and the four ponies were gathered around the campfire, each munching away at the food Violet had cooked. “Mmmfff, ooh, that hits the spot.” High Bar said, leaning back on the log they had pulled over for a seat.

“See? I told you I could cook.” Violet said, taking another bite. The sky was beginning to grow dark, the sun peeking over the horizon above the town. The group sat in relative silence for a moment, finishing off their meals and setting aside their plates. “Well, what now? We’ve still got a couple hours before bedtime, and I’m not exactly ready to go hiking again.”

“What was in that book, Myth? You had your muzzle in it pretty much all day.” Compass asked, looking over to the unicorn. Myth pulled the book back out, flipping through the pages.

“Oh, just some general information about the town. I found a little story that’s supposed to explain the name of the Inn, let me see if I can find it again…” He flipped a few more pages, before stopping in the middle of the book. “Here we go. Alright, let’s see…”

“Long ago, when the town of Sorraria was just a few ponies in cabins, there was an old stallion, a grumpy stallion who hated just about everything to do with tunes and music. No matter what instrument, genre, or tempo, he hated every last bit…”

“Yeah, we get the idea,” Bar heckled.

“I'm trying to tell it the way it's in the book,” Myth reminded him. “Anyway... he was so angry about this, so annoyed, that he tried to completely stamp out music in the town. Any time somepony was playing an instrument, or even just whistling out a tune or tapping their hoof in time, he was there to tell them off. To glare, and leer, and cough, until the pony would stop just to make him go away.”

Myth turned the page. “And he spent three long years doing this, until not a peep or a parp was heard around the whole town. And everypony was sad, except the stallion, who was glad to have total quiet. Until...”

The others went a little quiet, drawn in a bit by Myth Maker's telling.

“Until he heard a faint tune one day, a cheerful and jaunty tune. He got up, out of his chair, and came down the steps from his cabin to see who was making the noise – but no matter who he looked in on, how many doors he knocked on or windows he listened at, he couldn't find the source of the sound he so despised.”

“All day he galloped back and forth, trying to find that last pony who was willing to play music in the town, but he couldn't find them – when he tried to see where the music was loudest, he found it just got louder every direction he went, and it didn't get quieter again no matter what he tried.”

“He ran all over town, grumbling and barking at everypony he met. Worst of all, it seemed like everypony else was acting like they didn’t hear the music! They were all trying to trick him into giving up his search. Then he realized that if it wasn’t somepony in town that was making the music, it had to be somepony out of town! But who?”

“The pony began to march out of town towards the hills, the music growing louder. He was sure that what was making this music was up in the mountains, it just had to be! He began to climb, and the sun began to sink. The sky grew dark, and the music grew louder, whistling through the trees…”

As if in response, wind whipped through the air, causing High Bar and Compass to jump a bit, scooting a bit closer to each other. Myth returned to the story, grinning a bit at the other’s response to his storytelling. “The music grew louder and louder, the pony growing more annoyed at the constant, jolly tune. But as he trotted up the hill, he started to feel… worried. Something felt wrong about what was going on. It was almost as if somepony was… whispering to him, through the song. As if it knew just what bothered him so much, and was trying to stop his music stomping rampage!”

“Then, all of a sudden, he saw something through the trees,” Myth Maker went on, his voice growing hushed. “He didn't know what it was, not in the dim light of the evening, but he could see how it was moving – moving with the beat of the music, as it got louder and louder. And he knew he should turn back – but that would mean giving up.”

The unicorn lowered his voice still further, as Violet looked nervously into the trees around their campsite – looking for something moving like Myth Maker was describing.

“So he burst through the trees, and he began to tell whoever-it-was to stop their music – but before he could finish speaking, his knees began to knock and his voice began to break. Because standing there was a huge, fearsome dragon.”

Myth let the silence stretch, then finished. “And nopony saw that grumpy stallion ever again.”

Bar gasped, then blinked.

“Wait,” he said. “That's not a proper ending! The story's full of plot holes!”

He tried to stamp a hoof on the floor, but all that did was make his hoof bounce. “How did anypony tell this story? If somepony was following him out of town, maybe they could tell this, but then they'd have seen what happened to him!”

Compass tried not to laugh.

Myth Maker looked a bit pouty, snapping the book closed and stowing it back in his saddlebags. “Oh, party pooper. You’re not supposed to think that much about these kinds of stories. They’re just old fun. The stallion probably came running back into town yelling about a dragon and stopped pestering ponies after that, so everypony forgot about him.” Myth Maker bounced his hooves a bit on the ground, feeling its springiness. “That, and the natural softness of the ground, it probably wasn’t hard to make up a name like the Puffy Dragon Inn. Old folklore tends to change like that.”

Violet looked back up at the sky, noticing how it was already much darker out. “Well, whatever the reason, we should probably get ready for bed. We’ll want to get up early so we can see the sunrise at the hilltops.” She picked up a bucket of water, dousing the fire she had used to cook dinner. The others nodded, moving towards their tents. Violet and Compass climbed into their tent as High Bar and Myth Maker did the same. Violet unzipped her sleeping bag, slipping into it as Compass fluffed up her pillow. The ground was surprisingly soft. With their sleeping bags, it was almost like sleeping on a very comfy air mattress. Violet nuzzled her pillow, yawning as she began to doze off.

In the stallions’ tent, High Bar and Myth Maker were slipping into their own sleeping bags. “You really think that story’s fake?” High Bar asked, seeming a little less confident than he had around the fire. Myth shrugged, leaning back into his pillow.

“Probably, but there’s always a bit of truth to a story. It’s just some fun, and you said yourself that it sounded fake.” He teased, rolling over in his sleeping bag. High Bar nodded, laying down and closing his eyes. As he drifted off to sleep, he could almost swear he heard the wind whip around their tent, carrying something along in the air.

‘Puuuuuuuuuffff~’

The earth pony stallion drowsed, breathing in and out with deep and even breaths. He wasn't quite asleep and he wasn't quite awake, but somewhere in between.

'Puuuuuuuuuuuffffff...'

And with every breath he took in, and every breath he let out, he heard a soft hiss – almost like his own breath, but not quite.

'Puuuuuuuuuuuufffffff...'

It was so easy to just relax, and listen...

'Puuuuuuuuuuuuffffffff...'

“Puuffff...” he repeated, eyelids fluttering. “Puuuffff...”

It was the trembling of the ground that woke Myth.

“Huh?” he asked, muzzily – not yet fully awake. “Whassat?”

He looked to one side, and saw Bar's bed was empty. “What the-”

Paa~aarp! Came a sound from outside, in time with another one of the little tremors of the ground.

Myth Maker struggled out of his sleeping bag, hearing the mares in the other tent getting up as well, and hurried out of the door of his tent – blinking to try and see in the dim light, well after sundown.

What he saw made him stare – High Bar, bouncing up and down on the ground in a series of big, almost floating jumps, and producing an airy paaaarp sound every time he landed.

“What's going on?” Violet asked. “High Bar? Why are you doing that?”

High Bar didn’t answer at first, bouncing a few more times on the ground. He landed on his rear, sinking much further into the ground than anypony would have thought possible before being launched back up into the air. “Practicing!” He said eventually, jumping a few more times, each landing causing another strange parp-y sound.

“Practicing? For what? Now’s not the time for your gymnastic routine!” Myth Maker responded, trotting closer to High Bar. The stallion didn’t seem to notice, just continually bouncing about. Myth Maker almost heard what sounded like a soft whisper of ‘puuuuuff’ from High Bar. Myth’s horn flared up as he grabbed High Bar’s tail, causing him to snap back to the ground and land with another ‘parp’.

“Hey, I was having fun!” High Bar said, looking up Myth Maker, upset. Myth Maker was looking very confused, glancing over to Compass and Violet.

“Are you feeling alright, Bar?” Compass asked, trotting over to him. He nodded, grinning widely as he bounce in place on the ground.

“Hehehe, ooh, very much! I’ve just got this wonderful bouncy tune in my head, I couldn’t just sleep! I had to just, well, bounce!” He giggled, rocking back and forth on the ground again.

“Myth, I think we need to head home, I think something’s wrong with High Bar.” Compass said, her horn lighting up. Myth Maker nodded, helping High Bar up onto his hooves, though he couldn’t stop him from bouncing along as they tried to trot away from the site. Wind whipped around them faster, blowing their manes around as thunder rumbled above.

“I don't like this,” Compass muttered, as the ground trembled below them with the crash of the thunder. “There's something wrong here.”

“Yeah, High Bar,” Myth Maker said.

“No, more than that,” Compass replied.

High Bar bounced again, and a ripple spread out through the ground. Then there was a flash of lightning, and Violet gasped.

“Look!” she shouted, pointing into a nearby copse of trees.

There was another flash, and they saw a silhouette outlined in the darkness – a bipedal, reptilian shape, with the suggestion of claws.

“Run!” Violet called, turning on her heels and galloping away – remembering the story Myth had been telling just a couple of hours ago. The male unicorn followed her, a little slower, and Compass scowled.

“This way!” she called, trying to get their attention. “I'm the one who can use magic to tell where to – oh, come on!”

Turning to High Bar, she fixed him with a glare. “Wait. Here.”

Without waiting for him to confirm, she galloped off after the others.

High Bar watched her go, bouncing gently, and smiling at the 'puuuffffff...' sound which he could hear every time he hit the ground.

After a few bounces, he was unsure what he'd been told to do.

A few more, and he didn't especially care.

Then he turned, looked at the shape visible in the trees whenever there was a lightning flash, and decided to head over to meet them.

As he did, he bounced higher and higher – sure nothing could go badly when he felt like this!

Compass was just close enough to see Myth Maker duck into a cave, with no sign of Violet nearby. Sighing, she decided the Earth Pony was probably in the cave as well, and followed at a fast canter.

“Guys, what are you doing?” She shouted after them, hurrying into the cave. She gave a grunt of frustration, finding the two huddled together behind several stalagmites. “We’re going to get lost if you guys don’t follow me! Come on, we need to get back to High Bar before he gets lost too!” Compass turned around to lead the others out of the cave, only to stop as she noticed how soft the ground was. Even softer than outside, which made Compass very confused. Her horn faded for a moment as she shifted on the ground. She looked back around the cave, noticing just how even the stalagmites were spaced and their height. Compass’s heart began to beat a bit faster as she looked upwards, spotting matching stalactites upon the roof of the cave. “Oh my Celestia…” Compass’s voice died as the ground beneath her shifted. “Guys! Run!” She shouted, rushing for the exit.

As she tried to dart of the cave, the ground curled up, pulling up in front of her. Myth Maker and Violet turned around, watching as the... tongue... knocked Compass off of her hooves, flopping her to the floor. Suddenly air began to rush into the cave, what sounded like a note starting to play. Compass pawed at the tongue, trying to pick herself up as the air grew stronger and stronger. “Heeeeeeeeelp!” Compass shouted, flying backwards as the cave suddenly snapped shut, a contented gulp and laugh filling the air, along with a long paaaarpy puuuuuuuff.

Violet and Myth Maker let out a scream as they huddled together, the cave, or rather, the mouth curled up into a grin. The wind continued to rush around, sounding like a haunting, yet bouncy and energetic tune was whispering to them. Immediately, the two turned around and began to run away from the cave, their mind racing with images invoked by the story Myth had read from the book. They hurried down the hill, trying to make their way back towards the town, having completely forgotten about High Bar in their panic.

As they ran, they spotted a trail running through the trees and made a beeline towards it. They ran along the trail, but found themselves stumbling as they did. The tune around them was growing louder, and it was almost as if the trail was even puffier than the ground had been at the top of the hill. Suddenly they found themselves almost running headlong into a tree in the middle of the trail. The ponies skidded to a stop, staring at the tree in front of them. But as they stared, they noticed the tree was especially smooth, and almost shiny. The song was even louder, and suddenly the tree shifted, tilting to reveal a few holes on one side, the tune playing out of the enormous pipe.

Violet ‘eeep’ed, and began to sprint away, Myth attempting to keep his pace after her.

“What on Equestria is going on?” Myth panted. “I didn't think... we would actually meet the monster...”

“Shut up and run!” Violet yelped, running along the path as the only clear route through the trees – until they ran into another pipe-tree.

“What do we do?” she asked, looking around in panic.

“This way!” Myth replied, heading for the treeline, and Violet followed him – fast enough that she was soon the one in the lead, galloping through the close trees.

Then there was a paaaarp sound ahead of them.

“It's in front of us!” Myth cried, turning about a fifty-degree angle and heading off to the side. That only worked for a moment, however, as another paaaarp answered the first one – this one from in front of their new path.

The music was rising, incorporating the solo oom-pas and paarps and glissando melodies coming from whatever was in the woods.

“They're to our right, and in front of us,” Myth said, thinking. “And behind us. We'll have to go left.”

He and Violet ran to their left, their pace spurred by the sounds coming from behind them, and for a moment it seemed like they were getting away – the sounds falling away behind them, the music still getting louder but the individual sounds that made it up becoming further away.

Then a shape burst out from behind a fallen log, right in their path – and too close for Violet to avoid running practically into it.

The figure was rather soft, puffy in fact! Violet felt arms wrap around her and squeeze her into the puffy form of the figure, the individual parts of the music returning, louder than ever. “Myth, hel-fff!” Violet’s shout was muffled as her face was pushed into the form, which shifted beneath her. Despite the darkness, with her face pressed right up into the figure, Violet was able to make out some form of pattern to the figure. Something intricate and crisscrossed. Something brightly colored, and plaid.

Myth only barely avoided colliding with Violet, looking up as the figure squeezed her. Myth tried to grab Violet, but with another puff, the figure vanished along with the earth pony. Panicking, Myth looked around the woods, the song playing around him louder and louder. More figures suddenly puffed up in the distance, bouncing towards him as their parts of the song played. Turning tail, Myth sprinted away, and suddenly found himself back at the campsite. The music was all around, and he was trying to cover his ears to think straight. There had to be something he could do, something to save his friends! His eyes went wide as remembered the book he had, and dashed towards his tent. Rummaging around he quickly produced the text and began to flip hurriedly through it.

He found a passage, a strange circular design printed on it. ‘Someponies say this symbol can be used to ward off the dragon of the hills, but few have shown its effectiveness.’ Myth grabbed a stick, unable to think of any other options. He began to run through the campsite, drawing the design and trying to force the music from his mind.

His horn glowed as he wrote in the dirt, drawing trails of light which clung to the bouncy surface of the hill and formed a pattern – one large circle, then a series of lines crossing it. Thick lines making a grid, then thin lines both sides of each thick line.

Myth Maker completed the pattern as the bouncy critters got closer and closer, and then galloped to the centre and powered it up.

He had to concentrate, focus on the design and on what it did! He had to shut out the music, shut out the dragon – but every time his horn pulsed, the music got louder and more distracting and harder to ignore.

The unicorn poured his magic into the symbol, involuntarily pulsing it in time with the music as his ability to concentrate waxed and waned. The design glowed brighter and brighter as the music got louder and more persistent-

-then, suddenly, the design flashed once and began to peel up from the hillside.

Myth watched it as it peeled up around the edges, suddenly uncertain. Was it going to form a three-dimensional shield around him, to physically block out the dragon? Or was it going to-

-then it moved, with startling suddenness, collapsing in around him like a net of crosshatched lines, and focused on his rear.

The glow lit up the hillside, then faded – replaced by the light of the moon and the stars, with the storm having apparently vanished completely.

Myth looked back, and did a double-take. The design had turned into a puffy diaper around his rump, complete with... plaid... lines...

“That's what the grid was?” he asked, startled.

Myth Maker was stunned, staring at his diaper with his mouth agape. He was drawn back to reality as the music peaked again, sending a shiver down his spine and resting in his padding. Slowly, steadily, the diaper began to pulse along with the music, growing thicker and thicker. Myth yelped, tugging on the diaper in an attempt to remove it, but no matter how much he pulled and prodded, the plaid puffy padding refused to budge. The music was swelling along with his diaper, and Myth felt his mind growing hazy. He pulled his hooves away from the diaper, clamping them down on his ears as he flopped onto his padded rump. He looked around, heart pounding as the creatures surrounded him, playing to their heart’s content.

The padding grew bigger and bigger, spreading his hind legs apart as it grew, wrapping his tail up in fluff. He whined, his horn glowing to try and dampen the music around him. It worked, partially, but the muffled music only made him more aware of the squeezings and swellings of the diaper around him as it grew up past his waist and approaching his forelegs. He rocked back and forth, trying to think of anything except the tune wailing all around, the ground beneath him seeming to rise and fall in time with it.

His diaper was now swelling over his forelegs, starting to pull them away from his ears. Myth tried with all of his might to keep his hearing blocked, but it was only a matter of time before his hooves were forced away, and the music began to wash over him.

Myth Maker tried to waddle away, but the diaper was so big his legs could only wiggle – unable to touch the ground.

And, as the music swelled along with his diaper, he began to question to himself why he'd been bothering to try and resist in the first place. It seemed obvious that he was enjoying himself more now, as the sound told him to be a happy bouncy pony!

The ground rose under him with a sudden jolt, flinging him into the air, and then he came down and bounced – and bounced again, and again, every bounce making his diaper produce a pwoomph or a parp which sounded perfectly in time with the music.

Three of the creatures – like fat, wingless dragons, with spines and tails featuring familiar-looking pipes – bounced around him, playing notes on their pipes which filled his ears and lulled his mind, and he began to wish he could play back – then giggled suddenly as a ticklish sensation ran through him, and as a musical tail-pipe sprouted from his plaid diaper!

He was becoming a happy plaid puff-dragon just like them! It should have made him worry, but nothing of the sort happened – instead he just felt grateful, as the infectious excitement wiped away his concerns and replaced them with a simple need to BOUNCE!

Author's Note

Definitely a very silly little story, by concept.

Part 2

Back in the town, Cloudy shifted a little in her sleep.

She mumbled something like 'zrxwy' and rolled over, the impact of her head producing a faint pffffft from the pillow.

That sounded odd, to her, and she lifted herself a bit – then groped for the bedside lamp to see what was going on.

Cloudy’s hoof swiped through the air for a moment before she found the switch for the lamp. Twisting it, a flame appeared in the oil as the lamp lit up the room. Cloudy blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light. Rubbing her eyes, the mare pushed herself up in bed, the pillow making another soft ‘fweeeee’ as she shifter on top of it. In the bed beside her, Clef shifted in his sleep, grumbling a little as the light awoke him. “Mmmfff, wah? Whas gon on?” He mumbled, eyes watering a bit as he rubbed them. Cloudy sat up in bed, looking over the covers.

“Mmmff? Oh, s-sorry. Just thought I heard something.” She said. As she shifted again, her pillow made another soft ‘ppaaarp’, making her eyes grow a big wider. “What the?” She looked around, picking up one of the pillows. She squeezed it gently in her hooves, making it parp once again. “The heck is up with these pillows? And…” She looked down at her bed, suddenly noticing the colors of the blankets. “Wait… these blankets weren’t always plaid… were they?” She asked. Clef shifted about, not wanting to leave the warmth of his covers as he rested his head on his pillow. His let out puff of air similar to Cloudy’s, making him roll over onto his stomach and look at it.

“Huh… I don’t… think so? Maybe we just didn’t notice?” He wriggled under the blankets, sitting up in bed and resting on the headboard with the pillow supporting him. “I dunno, is this really that big of a deal? I’m tired, let’s just go back to bed.” He said. Cloudy was instead scanning the room, noticing that the coat rack looked a bit more like a pipe than she was sure it had when they entered. Clef shook his head, staring forward into the mirror opposite his bed. Maybe the blankets were a bit more plaid than he remembered. He wasn’t sure he minded though, it did look cute, and he was rather comfy. “Yeesh, does plaid always make ponies look fat?” He asked, noticing a bit of a bulge under the covers in his reflection.

“No, you're thinking of horizontal stripes,” Cloudy replied. “Look, I'm kind of confused...”

She looked over at Clef. “Are you sure-” she began, then saw Clef's expression and stopped.

“Clef?”

Clef looked from the mirror, to himself, then back to the mirror. His reflection was swelling up, getting visibly larger every second under the covers, until the blanket began to be lifted away from the sides of the bed.

Clef's wings spread and he jumped out of the bed as if it was full of snakes, landing on the plaid rug in the middle of the room. “Something's really weird here!”

“Yeah, I know,” Cloudy agreed, then paused. “What was in the mirror?”

“I saw myself... growing,” Clef replied. “But it definitely wasn't me doing it...”

He looked himself over, sighing in relief at his still being the same size as normal, then glanced nervously at the mirror. “I think we should go and ask why there's an enchanted mirror in the room, down at the front desk.”

“Are you sure it's okay to wake them up?” Cloudy said, getting out of bed herself. “...but you're right, this is definitely not okay. Let's go.”

“Did you see it?” Clef asked.

“No, but I want to ask about the bedclothes and stuff. I must have been really tired to not notice, but that pillow's hard to sleep with...”

Clef nodded, trotting towards their hotel door. They opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, closing it behind them. “Alright, this way to the lobby.” Clef said, turning and trotting down the passage. The ponies’ hooves clopped softly on the carpet, the ponies trotting further down. No matter how far they trotted, though, the hallway continued to stretch in front of them. “What the heck’s going on? This inn isn’t that big!” Cloudy said, becoming more confused by the minute. Clef stopped partway down, scratching his head.

“I have absolutely no idea… maybe we should just head back to our room? I… um… maybe it’s just a weird dream. I didn’t get a lot of sleep, maybe I’m seeing things?” He suggested. Cloudy didn’t like the idea of returning to their room, but she didn’t think that wandering aimlessly through the hallway was a good idea either.

“I suppose so. Do you remember which room we were?” She asked. Clef nodded, turning to look for the door numbers… only to realize that there weren’t any. His voice died in his throat as he was about to say something. Clef was starting to become more and more worried, something was clearly not right here. The two ponies began to trot back down the hallway, trying to guess where their room was in the mass of doors. “I… think this was it?” Cloudy said, stopping in front of one. She tried the handle, the door swinging open easily.

Instead of their room, however, the door opened to reveal a stairway heading down, very far down. “Uh… well, it’s not our room, but maybe this will take us back to the first floor lobby?” She said, looking back to Clef. He bit his lip, pointing a hoof forward.

“You first.”

“Okay,” Cloudy agreed, a little nervous, and began to trot down the stairs.

It was dark in the stairwell, dark enough that she could see only a couple of dozen steps, and she twitched her ears trying to hear anything. Other than the normal slight background sound any building had, however, the only sound was the soft thump of hooves on carpet.

The two pegasi descended, step by step, and Cloudy frowned. It seemed to be getting a bit darker ahead – and she was sure they'd gone past where the ground floor should be by now.

“How far does this go?” she asked over her shoulder, getting a shrug.

Then she stopped, and Clef ran into the back of her.

“Oof!”

“Ssh!” Cloudy insisted. “Back up – quietly.”

“What's wrong?” Clef asked, then looked over her shoulder – and saw it.

The stairs kept going, into the darkness... but there was an odd structure on the ceiling, a set of jagged points in a row. And the sides of the stairway narrowed in, and the carpet seemed to have a different texture.

The only word he could think, looking at it, was 'mouth'.

Turning, Clef began to trot up the stairs again, as quietly as he could. Cloudy followed, and a few seconds later – far too short a time for all the stairs they'd descended – they were right back in the corridor again.

“Not using those stairs,” Cloudy said firmly.

Cloudy shuddered, not wanting to imagine what might have been waiting on the other side of those jaws. The two ponies looked around, trying to find the door to their room. “Um… maybe, this one?” Clef said, trotting up to another. Just like the other, the knob on the door turned easily and the door swung open. Again, instead of their cozy hotel room, though, they were met by something completely unexpected. What looked like a jungle lay beyond the door, full of lush vegetation and a wave of muggy air flowing over them. Cloudy leaned in, looking around the room. It was as if the door to the hotel was sitting in the middle of nowhere, the canopy blocked any hint of the sky, though plenty of light was streaming down from above.

Clef dared to press a hoof into the ground, taking a step in to get another look. “Maybe we better just turn around,” Cloudy suggested. Clef nodded, not wanting to venture too far into the room. Suddenly a roar echoed through the jungle, causing both ponies to freeze in fear. The sound of something big jumping through the brush could be heard, and there was a large creature jumping out into the clearing the door sat in. It was big, ferocious, and, oddly, plaid. The creature that stood in front of them looked like a tiger, but rather than orange and black stripes, the tiger was striped two shades of red, with additional stripes criss-crossing here and there to create a plaid pattern. The tiger looked almost smug as it approached, letting out another growl. The growl reverberated around them, echoing around. “Clef, shut the door!” Cloudy shouted. Clef snapped back to his senses, jumping back and slamming the door shut as the tiger pounced. There was a puff paaarp sound as the tiger hit the door, the two ponies shaken by the encounter.

“Aaaahaahaha, where’s our rooooom?” Cloudy whined, looking around. She hurried over to a room, placing her hoof on the door. She twisted the knob slooooooowly, pushing the door open and jumping back. To her slight relief, however, it simply opened into what looked like a large shower room, red and purple tiles covering the floors and walls, several shower heads placed around and a large drain in the center.

“This is actually normal,” Cloudy said, taking an automatic step into the room. Then another, as she looked around at it all. “And that's making me kind of wary...”

“I know what you mean,” Clef noted, following her in. “But maybe it's just-”

The door shut behind them with a CLAK sound, and Clef whirled.

“Did the door just lock?” he groaned, trying it, and found no sign of the door being able to swing open at all.

Then the shower heads activated, all at once, producing a rush of water which splashed both of them as it drummed on the tiles.

“I take it back, this isn't normal at all,” Cloudy winced, looking around. “Is there... there!”

Her wings flared, and she flew across the room to grip the water control knob with her hooves. She wrenched it around, only for the amount of water flowing out of the shower heads to increase.

“Turn it back!” Clef called over the sound of the drumming water, and Cloudy did so – only for it to get even stronger, so strong the drain couldn't take it all and the water level began to rise. “Now what?”

“I don't know!” Cloudy replied. She tried flying up to block one of the pipes, but the water coming out was too strong for her to stop up – and already it was reaching the level of Clef's knees.

“How good are you at swimming?” she asked.

“I’m not exactly a duck!” He responded, sloshing through the water towards Cloudy. He tried to tug on the controls to one of the showerheads, but it did nothing to slow the rush of water. “What’re we going to do?!” He said in a panic, looking around for something, anything to help. His wings began to beat as he tried to fly up above the rising water, hovering over to Cloudy. As he took to the air, however, water began to drip from the ceiling above them, as if it was starting to rain in the room. The two pegasi wobbled in the rain, trying to keep their balance as the droplets pelted them. They were soon sent into the water below, forced to paddle weakly to stay afloat.

As they struggled, Clef spotted a couple inner-tubes floating towards them that had certainly not been there before. Just like the tiger and their bedsheets, the tubes sported a plaid pattern, and looked much puffier than any innertube would ever need to be. Clef looked back over to Cloudy, who gazed over at the tubes in confusion. “I don’t think we have much choice!” She cried, paddling over to one of the tubes. She lifted herself up through the center, relaxing on the puffy material as Clef did the same. The innertubes let out a soft hiss of air as they leaned into them, the water buffeting them this way and that.

“This isn’t going to work forever, what do we do?” Clef shouted, looking up at the ceiling as they approached it. Cloudy looked down as she kicked her legs to help herself stay afloat. As she looked down in the water, she spotted the drain, noticing a large plaid plug that was blocking it.

“Hold on, I think we can pull the plug!” She shouted, about to drop out of her innertube to swim down to the drain. Before she could, though, the innertubes suddenly puffed up, inflating big enough they become stuck on the ponies. Cloudy continued to struggle, her hind legs kicking wildly as she tried to swim down to the drain, her tube attempting to pull her back up to the surface.

Seeing what she was doing, Clef paddled over and kicked down at the innertube around Cloudy's waist. The blow produced an odd, water-filtered squeak sound, and pushed Cloudy just a bit deeper into the water.

Her hooves closed around the plug cord, and she let the inner-tube haul her back up to the surface – easily dislodging the big plaid plug itself.

Unfortunately, however, the plug was promptly sucked down the drain as water flooded out of the room. Cloudy had just enough time to see the plug vanish through a hole that had grown larger since just a moment ago, then the tug of the vortex whirled her right-side-up again and carried both her and Clef down through the overly large drain.

“Whaa-ooo-aaah!” Clef cried, as the drain's path twisted and turned – widening out again, so the water flowing down it didn't fill it up, and producing what was effectively a waterslide. “This doesn't – whaaagh!”

“This place is getting worse every minute!” Cloudy moaned, a little way ahead of Clef as they both slipped and slid down the tube. Every so often they went over a little jump, which made the inner-tube parp and puff up slightly as they bounced against the bottom of the waterslide tube, and once the water inexplicably rose back up to being too deep for them to feel the sides before becoming shallow again.

“I think I can see the bottom!” Clef called down. “Uh – the pipe's getting narrower!”

“Ah, grea-oof!” Cloudy said as she suddenly became stuck in the pipe. Her swollen innertube was too puffy to fit, squeezing in surprisingly comfortably. Despite the puffy embrace, Cloudy wriggled about as Clef suddenly smacked into her somewhat painfully, becoming stuck behind her. They both wriggled about as the pipe kept them held in place, water continuing to flow in around them. The water flowed in more, the pressure mounting as the two ponies continued to struggle. It was almost as if their innertubes continued to swell up and up and up, the pressure growing higher and higher. The sound of straining material met their ears, making them kick harder. Suddenly, with a bang!, the ponies shot out of the pipe like a gun, shooting out into another, larger pool as their innertubes burst. They swam up to the surface, using their wings to help push them to the edge of the pool and climb out.

Clef panted, shaking himself dry as he turned to Cloudy. “Holy Celestia, what’s going on here? Are you alright?” He asked. Cloudy wasn’t paying attention, instead looking down in the pool. Clef’s gaze followed hers, his eyes growing wide as he saw what she was looking at. A large, puffy, plaid creature was breaching the water. It blew out a burst of water, joined by an almost musical parp. The two stared, watching as what became clear to be a whale’s tail lifting up into the air. With another ppaaaarp!, the tail slapped down on the water, splashing the two ponies and washing them away with a wave. They flowed back out into the hallway through another door, only for it to close behind them, no closer to the lobby, but much wetter.

“This place is the stupidest,” Cloudy groaned. “At least we got those stupid inner-tubes off.”

“Yeah,” Clef agreed, trying to shake the water off him. “What now?”

“I guess... well, we should keep looking for some stairs,” Cloudy decided. “Or a towel... but mostly stairs. I know we went a long way down, but... the inn can't be underground, can it?”

They considered that for a long moment.

“I don't think the inn makes much sense at all,” Clef suggested. “But down can't be worse than any other option, so we should at least try down if we can find it.”

“Do we think we're going to get out at all?” Cloudy asked.

“Of course!” Clef replied quickly – a little too quickly. “We'll be fine...”

He tried one door, then shut it very quickly. “Not that one.”

“What was in it?” Cloudy asked.

“Not. That. One.”

Gulping, Cloudy tried another door – opening it just a crack, then pulling it open more. “This one does go down,” she reported. “And it's more brightly lit than the other stairs, at least...”

Clef took a few tentative steps down, remembering what had lay at the bottom of the last stairway they had tried. Cloudy followed after, just as warily as the stallion in front of her. The stairway seemed to go on and on, each step making the ponies more nervous. “We have to be half way to the other side of the world by now!” Cloudy cried out as they continued to descend. “Maybe we should head back.”

“Hold on… I think I see the bottom.” Clef said, peering down into the stairway below. As they had trotted down the steps, the air had grown steadily warmer, becoming rather stuffy as they trekked further onwards. Clef’s ear flicked, thinking he had heard something. He looked around to ask Cloudy if she had said anything, but the mare looked as if she had been about to ask him the same thing.

Gulping, they simply continued down, finally arriving at the bottom of the stairs. The room was very warm, both ponies a little thankful after the dampness of the previous room. It was also brightly lit, but what truly stood out in the room was sitting at the other end.

A large dragon sat in the middle, rocking back and forth upon his large rear. A round door on his belly allowed the ponies to see through his silvery hide, where a warm orange glow illuminated the room. The dragon squeezed at his belly, humming and singing a strange tune to himself as a few pipes lead out of his back and into the walls. Upon closer inspection, seams and rivets were embedded in the dragon, revealing the creature to be made of some sort of metal, and yet his claws sank into his gut as if it was cloth. The dragon leaned over to an open pipe dangling out of the ceiling, singing a short bit of a tune before rolling back onto his rump.

With a hum, the dragon used an iron shovel to scoop up some black rocks from what looked like a pile of coal, then ate them down in a single gulp. There was a hiss, and the orange flow got a little stronger.

“What the....” Clef whispered, as the dragon patted his belly – making it ripple, and showing off the cross-hatched embossed seams in the metal.

Almost a plaid pattern, in fact.

Tail twitching and pipes rattling with the faint hissing of steam, the dragon began to sing to himself again. It was an odd tune, one it was hard to hear the words to, but Clef frowned – sure it was one he'd heard before.

He was having trouble remembering when, though...

Then he suddenly realized – he'd been hearing it here, in the inn.

All the time – all since they'd woken up – there'd been a continual little refrain of music, resonating in the walls and making the pipes creak and sing.

“Do you hear it too?” Cloudy asked, and Clef nodded – slightly, trying not to draw attention.

But now that he'd heard the music, he couldn't seem to unhear it. It was everywhere, quiet but insistent, and he had a feeling it was going to be in his ears for a very long time...

“We should go,” he said, backing up a little. “Try not to make a noise. We'll have to try another route.”

Cloudy nodded worriedly, backing up slowly. As the two prepared to head back up the stairs, the dragon scooped up another gulp of coal, his belly bulging outwards as he swallowed them down. With another hiss and a creeeeaaaaak, the seams on the dragon strained to contain the fire within. He simply continued to hum, seemingly thrilled by his even bigger belly as he rubbed his claws over himself. Clef watched as the dragon’s gut swelled, blushing a little bit. He found himself finding the dragon’s expanded belly… cute. His stomach clenched as the dragon suddenly looked over to him, his grin widening before he gave a wink and pat his belly again.

He turned around, climbing up after Cloudy and trying to push the song out of his mind. While it did grow slightly quieter as the ponies climbed upstairs, the song didn’t quite leave either pony’s mind. Thankfully, the time it took to climb back up to the hallway was much shorter than it had taken to descend to the dragon, and the pair soon found themselves standing back in the hallway.

“Ok… one more door… I guess…” Cloudy said, starting to become fatigued as she flicked her ear in hopes it would somehow remove the song. They trotted up to another door, opening in slowly to see what lay inside.

Cloudy opened the door, then nearly pulled it closed again – stopping before making a loud bang from the door hitting the frame.

Clef was about to ask why, but he suddenly realized – he could hear the reason. There was music coming from the inside of the room, parpy oom-pa-pa music which sounded a lot like a louder, more involved version of the tune coming out of the walls.

They stood frozen, not knowing whether to run or not – and waiting to hear the music stop, and whatever was making it come up to the door and find out that they were there.

After several seconds, however, it seemed like they'd gotten away with it.

Nervously, Cloudy pushed the door open as slowly and carefully as she could, and saw what was inside.

There were at least four puffy creatures, like overweight dragons with plaid bodies, sitting in a semicircle and puffing into their own tails. Notes played from ridges of pipes along their backs – which, like the similar pipe at the tail, looked like wooden instruments with rows of holes along them to make tunes from the air coming out of them.

Then they all stopped at once, and Cloudy tensed – until a voice spoke, one she could see did not belong to any of the monsters in her view.

“Very good!” the voice said, a chuckle in the tone. “Now, let's try it again from the top – I need even the newest members of my band to be all puffy and tuneful!”

Cloudy peered into the room, Clef attempting to get a look around her. Clef’s jaw dropped when he saw the dragons. The quartet bounced happily on their rears, taking a hold of their puffy tails once again. There was a tap, counting off the song before the dragons took a collective huff before blowing into their tails. The steady oom-pa-pa music began once again, Cloudy wobbling a little on her hooves as the oddly enticing tune wriggled its way into her head. She leaned back, swishing her tail in time with the music absentmindedly. Clef tried to look around Cloudy, watching as the dragons continued to bounce and play their tune. One of them rolled backwards as they played, closing their eyes and blowing especially loud as their belly swelled outwards a bit. The voice returned, still chuckling a little.

“Compress Rose, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you can’t drown out the others!” The dragon blushed, opening their eyes and rolled back to an upright position, grinning a bit. “And, tempo! Soprano’s supposed to be light and bouncy, you know!” Another dragon nodded, bouncing a bit faster as their claws flew across their tail. The dragons swelled a bit as they played, the music growing louder and louder. Cloudy took a small step forward, trying to get a better look at the wonderfully bouncy dragons. One of them glanced over, stopping huffing as they spotted her. The other dragons stopped their playing, all looking back to the mare. “Ooh? Do we have a new member?” The voice said again.

With the music gone, Cloudy’s mind slowly drifted back to reality as she looked at the dragons once again. There was a thud as something large took a step, along with a paaarp of music. With a slight yelp, Cloudy leapt back, almost falling on top of Clef as she slammed the door shut again.

“Did that monster just say Compass Rose?” Clef asked.

“Uh... y-yeah!” Cloudy said, shaking her head and clearing most of the cobwebs. “Yeah, it did...”

She looked back and met Clef's eyes. “Do you think-”

There was a moment of silence, then Clef began to trot quickly along the corridor. “Come with me,” he said, and she rocked into a trot behind him – then they both accelerated to a canter.

“This is in case they're following, right?” Cloudy asked. “I wish I had a cloud here to ride or something...”

She shook her head again, as they skidded round a corner. “What do we do now?”

“Hide?” Clef suggested. “Find another door? I don't know.”

He slowed down, panting from the sudden sprint. “I know it feels like we're going around in circles, but there's no way I'm getting stuck like that if I have anything whatsoever to say about it. What about you?”

“Well, assuming we're right – yeah,” Cloudy agreed.

They slowed back down to a walk, and Cloudy gave Clef a confused look.

“Why are you dancing?” she asked.

Clef blinked, then concentrated on how he was moving – noticing his rump swaying from side to side, in time with the music.

He stopped with an effort of will, and shook his head. “Sorry,” he told her. “I... let's try this one.”

The door opened easily enough, but the first glimpse they got of the walls was a surprise – thickly quilted, on all four walls, as well as the floor and the ceiling.

They also spotted a pony by one corner, wearing an odd plaid outfit.

They took a few steps into the room, their hooves sinking into the quilted floor. “Uh… hello?” Clef asked, looking at the pony warily. The stallion looked over, a small smile on his face as he spotted the two approaching. As they moved in closer, they noticed the pony was wearing a straitjacket, his front hooves tied across his chest in a snug self-hug. Just like almost everything else they had seen, it was plaid, and looked just a bit puffier than it needed to be. "Are you… alright? Sorry, we haven’t seen anypony else in here, and this hotel has been… well, I think you can see.” He gestured to the pony’s predicament.

The pony glanced down at his plaid straitjacket, only to giggle and shake his head. “What, this? Oh, no, it’s very comfy, I don’t mind it at all! And the pattern is wonderfully cute, I’d say!” He wriggled a bit, settling himself into the corner of the room as the puffy walls squished under him. “And the room is so cozy too! Just puffy… bouncy… I don’t have to do a thing but relax and listen to that wonderful tune! I do wish I had a bit more company, though. It’s been a while since the dragon’s stopped by.”

“Dragon?” Cloudy asked, looking confused. She shook her head, moving in a bit closer. “Look, we can help you out of this, come with us. Maybe we’ll be able to find the exit together.” The pony just looked up at her, frowning a bit.

“No, really, it’s not that bad. You two ought to stay a little while, why not pull up some chairs?” He suggested. Cloudy and Clef looked to each other, thoroughly dumbfounded, but before they knew it two puffy, cushy chairs seemed to appear beneath them, leaving them stuck sitting on the creaky material. Cloudy shifted in her chair, noticing it seemed to be made of the same quilty fabric as the rest of the room, and gave a soft wheeze of air with each movement.

“What just...” Cloudy asked, leaning forwards and producing another wheeze of sound. “How did you do that?”

“Do it?” the other pony asked, bouncing a little in place. “Oh, the chairs!”

He giggled. “Well, it's a bit of a secret... but that's okay! It's part of the way they keep us here, you know~”

“Keep... us?” Clef said. “Who's us? Is there somepony else here with you?”

“Not just me,” the stallion corrected. “You as well! We're all in here with the dragon, and he's having fun with us – but you can have fun with him, too, and that's how he encourages you to stay~”

“Wait, wait, hold on,” Clef asked, one hoof tapping unconsciously on the floor in time with the beat of the music. “Are you saying there's some kind of... dragon monster running this whole building?”

Another giggle. “Give the stallion a prize!”

The unknown prisoner bounced on his rump. “It's all good, you see – I don't get to leave because I don't want to leave! And I bet you wouldn't want to leave either if you tried it – go on, give it a bounce!”

Cloudy stood up, then the floor rippled under her and knocked her back into the chair again – producing a wheezing wail from the cushion.

“Clef...” she said, warningly. “I think we need to get out of here...”

“Oh, you can check out any time you want,” the stallion giggled. “But you can never leave – not that you'd want to!”

He perked his ear, listening to the music, then gasped. “He's coming back!” he announced, sounding excited, and bounced up and down on the padded floor. “I bet he'll love to meet you!”

Neither Clef nor Cloudy were in any mood to meet this dragon, but every time they attempted to stand up out of their chairs, the floor would ripple and wobble and cause them to fall back into the puffy armchair and create more soft parpy sounds. The prisoner pony simply continued to giggle, bouncing on the floor himself. “See, isn’t it fun? You’re already making some music!” Clef attempted to stand up and jump over the back of his chair, but when he landed on the floor, the fabric simply distended beneath him before launching him back up and into the chair once again. He shook his head, looking around for any signs that this dragon was about to appear. He spotted the ceiling beginning to slowly distend, the middle sinking lower and lower as the song grew a bit louder.

The fabric began to collect near the center, forming a large droplet much like water dripping from a cloud. The drop wiggled about, two legs forming as a tail soon followed. The drop was clearly a plaid rump, which grew and grew as it sank lower. Suddenly, the drop fell, and with a loud paaarp!, the rest of the dragon formed as he fell onto the floor. The fabric rippled under him, sending a wave that buffeted the chairs and the ponies around. Just like the ones Cloudy and Clef had seen in the last room, the dragon had pipes protruding from his back and tail, and looked rather portly. The only difference was how this one was nearly tall enough for his ears to brush against the ceiling as he sat.

“Oh, hello again Bagpiperix! It’s so nice to see you again, and I have more visitors!” The pony said happily. The dragon beamed as he spotted the two ponies looking over the back of their chairs. He stood up, walking across the puffy floor, each step creating more paarps in time with the music.

“Hello there! As Silk has already introduced, I’m Bagpiperix! It’s lovely to meet you, would you mind telling me your names?” The dragon said, acting very politely.

Clef shook his head, trying to concentrate. “Don't tell him, Cloudy!” he said urgently, before realizing how silly that was to say.

Bagpiperix seemed to find it hilarious, laughing and making his belly bounce up and down as he did. “Whoops!” he said, the ripples of his laughter making a whole new symphony of notes play out of the pipes of his back and the tip of his tail. “That's a bit of a silly mistake!”

His chuckles subsided a little. “Well, it's nice to meet you Cloudy! And who's your friend there?”

“Run!” Cloudy said, and bolted for the door – wings flaring as she did, trying to avoid the bouncy chairs by the simple tactic of flying.

It worked up to a point, and the point was when a blanket of puffy plaid material like a duvet fell off the ceiling and landed on her. She was knocked to the ground with a whap, and struggled to get free.

“Cloudy and Run, oh?” Bagpiperix said, his musical notes filling the air. “I'm sure you'll be fine new backing bagpipes!”

He leaned in to Clef, and gave the musical pony a blast of music straight from his snout. The force of it knocked Clef backwards, but he managed to snag the blanket as he went – pulling it off Cloudy's recumbent form.

Cloudy launched into action, grabbing Clef by the tail and zooming for the door.

As they attempted to flee, they began to sink into the floor. Slowly, the puffy material rose up around them as they struggled towards their freedom. Bagpiperix simply watched, grinning as the ponies tried to swim through the material. They sank slowly deeper, the warm, puffy material squeezing in all around them as Bagpiperix happily tootled away on his pipes. Above the ponies another bubble appeared, swelling and contracting to the beat, Clef feeling the squeezings on his lower half. The two suddenly slipped beneath the surface as the bubble dropped down, both ponies stuck in the cushy ball of fluff. Bagpiperix waddled over to the bubble, picking it up and balancing it on his tail. “Oh my, I was hoping you would have been a bit more fun! Nopony like’s a spoil-song, you know!” He bounced the ball up and down, bapping it playfully. Bagpiperix shrugged, letting out one more puff of air. “Well, I suppose we can do things your way. But I think you’ll find a place in my band sooner or later.” He chuckled, squeezing the bubble before tossing it towards the door.

The bubble squeezed through the door and burst, leaving the two ponies laying in the middle of the hallway. Bagpiperix winked at them, flopping down in the cushy cell, not noticing he had squished the other pony under his plaid butt as the door shut behind them. The two ponies lay still for a moment, stunned by what had just happened. “Oooookay, ok, so there’s a giant, evil, puffy dragon controlling this place. We need to get out of here now.” Clef said, standing up. Cloudy got to her hooves as well, gulping as she looked around. They began to trot down the hallway once again, glancing over their backs every now and then, expecting the dragon to be right behind them. Cloudy stopped in her tracks a moment later as she spotted a door that was slightly ajar. Approaching it, she peered through the gap, only to let out a long sigh.

“Oh thank goodness, I think we found our room again!”

“Well, that's a mixed blessing,” Clef noted. “I mean, even if this is the same room, all that means is that things move around in here.”

He sighed. “Well, I guess we can spend some time in here trying to think about what to do – just, you know, don't get too near the bed?”

“Sounds good,” Cloudy agreed. “I – wagh!”

She jumped several feet in the air, looking wildly around the room.

“What?” Clef asked, following her gaze and seeing nothing. “What is it? Did you see something?”

Cloudy slowly dropped back to the floor, wings furling, and blushed. “I... thought I saw that monster,” she said. “The dragon – Bagpiperix.”

“Well, I don't see him,” Clef said, then looked under the bed – keeping a careful eye on the sheets as he did so. “Nope, no sign.”

He looked back at her, then paled and dove under the bed.

“...Clef?” Cloudy asked.

“I saw him!” Clef mumbled.

“Where?”

“On the ceiling!” Clef replied. “Did you not see him?”

“No...” Cloudy said, slowly. “Now – come out before the bed eats you or something.”

Clef crawled out from under the bed, and Cloudy checked the walls one by one.

Entry wall – nothing.

The other side of the room – no.

Opposite the door – nothing.

The mirror...

“Eeeek!” Cloudy jumped back and dove under the bed from which Clef had just left. “There he was again! He was on the bed!” She said.

“What? No one’s here, the beds are empty… wait…” Clef slowly turned around, looking at the mirror, only to jump in surprise as he spotted Bagpiperix leaning back into the pillows on the bed, his tail flicking left and right happily. He turned back around, gasping, only to see the empty beds waiting for him. “He’s in the mirror! I think… I think we’re ok, as long as we don’t, well, look in the mirror.” He bent down, helping Cloudy back onto her hooves.

“Well… I suppose we’ll be ok…” She said, her hooves shaking a bit. She looking backed to the mirror, only to squeak with fright as she spotted Bagpiperix standing behind them again. She looked back again, only to see nothing once more. She looked back at the mirror, slowly calming down as the two looked in their reflection. Bagpiperix grinned, his hands on his puffy hips as he looked down at the ponies. Cloudy lifted up a hoof, reaching back and waving it about in the air. She felt nothing, and her breathing slowed again. “Oh… ok, I guess we’re… ok…” She let out another sigh, watching as Bagpiperix giggled, waggling his eyebrows.

“What?” Clef asked, looking at the reflection as well. The dragon took a step forward, and the two ponies felt something puffy press into their rumps. They both let out a scream, and ran for the door.

Author's Note

This is designed to have the feel of a horror story, but to be very silly at the same time.
How's it doing at that?

Part 3

The door slammed behind them, and both ponies held it closed at the same time – panting, until the immediate fear went away.

“That was...” Clef began, then swallowed.

“I know,” Cloudy agreed. “I don't think I want to go back to our room any more.”

The two pegasi tried taking deep breaths, flaring their wings nervously, and then Clef began to pace back and forth.

“This seems almost random,” he said. “But we need to sort something out... to get out, I mean. It's not impossible we could random our way to an exit, but if we stick around here we'll never get out.”

“Right,” Cloudy nodded. “So we should keep going, but be ready to leave a room as soon as we see it doesn't offer a way out?”

“Exactly,” Clef said. He noticed his hoof was twitching in time with the music, and stopped it. “So...”

He glanced at the doors, then noticed one of the pictures on the wall between two of them. It showed Bagpiperix, wearing a fine suit from a century or two ago – complete with a top hat.

“That's kind of creepy,” he said. “Okay... this one?”

“Sounds good,” Cloudy agreed. “On three?”

Clef counted under his breath. “One, two, three!”

They turned the handle.

Almost immediately, the world turned on its side.

Completely astonished, the two ponies fell through what had suddenly become a trapdoor with a shared yelp, before hitting something oddly springy.

The ponies tried to stand back up, but found the springy material to also be rather sticky. Clef tried to raise his head to see what they were lying on, but was only able to turn his head a little bit to each side. That was enough to see that they were laying on a mish-mash of black bars. A few notes were dotted on the bars, making up some form of song. The musical bars shook as Cloudy struggled against the bars. “Ghhkk… ugh, I can’t move!” Cloudy said, attempting to flap her wings to free herself. Clef also struggled against the bars, wiggling them around and causing a few notes to fill the room.

As the two struggled, the bars seemed to wriggle more than they should have from their limited mobility. There was the hissing of air and paarps flowing around them as the bouncing of the musical score seemed more like steps. Cloudy stopped her wriggling, glancing around to spot the source of the steps. Her face turned white as she spotted, and let out a loud shriek. A large cartoony spider was crawling along the musical bar web, pipes blowing a tune out of its inflated abdomen as it approached Cloudy. She wriggled faster in a desperate attempt to free herself as the puffy spider approached. It looked down at her, grinning as it eyed the Pegasus. Two of its legs reached down to tug her free of the web, but rather than begin to spin more threads around Cloudy, the spider instead began to puff bigger as a plaid bubble ballooned out of one its pipes.

The spider reached up and removed the bubble, pulling it over to Cloudy. She watched as the bubble wrapped around her rear, spreading her legs wide before the spider dropped her down onto the web again. She rolled on her rump, looking down at what was unmistakably a plaid diaper wrapped around her flanks.

“Wh-what!?” she asked, blushing furiously. “What the heck is this for? Is this place just going to keep getting sillier?”

“Don't ask me!” Clef replied, squirming as he tried to get off the web – making more notes resound from the strings of the web, and causing the spider to step a little more deliberately. That didn't make it have much trouble, though, and it advanced on him with all eight legs taking turns to blow out music and to step forwards. “Help!”

“I can't!” Cloudy said. “I'm still stuck here!”

She tried to get free anyway, making an attempt to build up a bounce to let her get unstuck, but the web moved in perfect time with her – making her diaper puff in and out a little with the rhythm of her struggle, and producing a sequence of pffts and parps which made the pegasus pony feel a little light-headed.

As she made the web wobble, the spider reached Clef. It stopped, blowing a second bubble of plaid, and this one seemed to be a little bigger – and to have a different pattern, still plaid but with the odd musical note sprinkled in a few of the intersections of the lines.

Clef pulled his legs in and held them together, trying to deny the spider any chance to fasten the diaper on, but the puffy monster just blew a long string of notes in his face – then, when he was distracted, levered his hind legs apart and slipped the diaper on in a single smooth motion.

The stallion blushed at the sensation, whining a little, and squirmed to no avail.

The two ponies wriggled about in their padding, continuing to struggle against the web. Each time they bounced in place, however, their diapers just squeezed in on them and let out a paarp, making Clef blush as he tried to push the padding off his flanks. The spider just grinned, bouncing on the web in time with its playing and their struggles. The web shook harder and harder, the ponies suddenly bouncing up and down in the air. Then, with an especially loud paaarp, the spider flopped into the web, causing it to break and the three to fall through the air. Cloudy attempted to flare her wings to catch herself, but found some of the web still stuck to them.

Before the two knew it, though, a light below them appeared, and a moment later they found themselves falling through the ceiling of the hallway. Their diapers paarped and squeaked from the impact as they fell, but surprisingly absorbed any pain they might have received from the hard fall. Clef panted as he rolled back onto his hooves, looking down at the plaid diaper. Grumbling, he pushed his hooves into it in an attempt to remove it, but it did nothing but cause it to squeeze in on him, making him blush brightly.

Shaking his head, Clef wandered over to help Cloudy up onto her hooves. “Well… now what?” He asked, trying not to stare at her own padded rear.

“Now... ergh,” she blushed, noticing his occasional glances but not really able to bring herself to criticize him for it. “Now, I think... well, we kind of have to keep going. Apart from anything else, these things do kind of point out that we can't just stand around forever in this place.”

“Do you think it might go back to normal if we went to sleep or something?” Clef asked, grasping for another solution.

“It might, I don't know,” Cloudy admitted. “But I think it's more likely that if we did go to sleep we'd be... whatever happened to the others.”

Clef winced.

“You're right,” he said. “So... another door?”

“Yeah,” Cloudy decided after a moment. “But... not the next one, just in case.”

“Right,” Clef agreed, closed his eyes, and pointed. “That one.”

“That's a wall,” Cloudy chuckled.

Clef blushed, then pointed again. This one was a fairly long way down the corridor, and they got moving – diapered rears swaying from side to side at a walk, but producing musical parps and squeaks at a trot which got louder and louder the faster they cantered.

“Slow down,” Clef said, and they dropped back down to a walk. “I'd rather take longer than deal with that...”

After a couple of minutes, they reached the door.

Cloudy tapped on it with her hoof, gauging the sound, and glanced at her friend. “Can't hear anything,” she said. “Hopefully there's nothing dangerous on the other side.”

She turned the handle and pushed the door, which moved only an inch before getting stuck. Frowning, she pushed on it again, then harder – until she was leaning against the door, which abruptly gave way and made her fall into the room.

And through where the floor should be, as the door turned out to be several feet up on a wall.

Clef gaped for a moment, and the door slammed shut in his face.

Cloudy tumbled down, flailing her hooves as she instinctively flared her wings again. To her slight surprise, the webbing had vanished and she was able to open her wings to slow her descent. She landed softly on a cloud, noticing she was standing on a large cloud bank above a sea of storm clouds below her. There was the occasional flash of lightning and rumble of thunder as Cloudy looked over the side. Even in her current predicament, she didn’t dare drop into the middle of a raging storm like that. She was forced to waddle forward, her tail swishing across her diaper as she wandered up to a building of clouds in front of her. She wandered up to the door, pausing for a moment before she gave a soft knock.

There was no answer, but the door swung open to reveal a compact weather factory, tanks of water and rainbows in one corner, cloud making machines in the other, and in the middle sat a rather fat looking plaid dragon. “Ah, it’s nice of you to join me! Are you here to help out with the storm symphony?” He asked, beaming. Cloudy just jumped back, only to stumble and almost fall off of the cloudy walkway into the storm below.

“What’ve you done with my friends? And what’s with the… diapers?” She had to force the word out of her mouth. Even though it was obvious what she was wearing, it felt worse needing to acknowledge the puffy garments presence. Bagpiperix simply chuckled waving a claw dismissively.

“Oh, they’re fine, in fact, they’re going to be helping me out with this song too! But we really could use another alto. Why not help us out?” He leaned forward, plucking her up and carrying her inside.

“Hey, let me go!” Cloudy protested, wiggling, and producing a few peeping sounds as she did so. “I didn't agree!”

Bagpiperix just laughed. “Of course you did! After all, you're already wearing your uniform!”

Cloudy gave him a baffled look, then turned her attention to herself – blinking in surprise at the sight of a puffy jacket made of plaid-patterned material with a few high-visibility stripes stuck on top. “Huh?”

“It's important for health and safety,” he told her. “At least, when you're not properly puffy enough yet – when you are, why, it'll be impossible to suffer an accident!”

He shook his head, puffing his cheeks, and a descending scale of oom-pa sounds came from his spine pipes. “But we should definitely get started! Let's begin with a bit of cloud acclimatization!”

Before Cloudy could protest that she already knew how to do that, Bagpiperix picked up a large, fluffy cloud from the outlet of the cloud-making machine. He stuffed her into it, making her head pop out one side and leaving her diaper exposed from the other side, and gave her three pats on the rump which produced a three-note harmony.

Now free of his grip, Cloudy tried to spread her wings and fly – but the puffy cloud seemed to have different properties to normal, and her wings didn't get any traction on the thick material.

Cloudy wriggled her legs to try and push the cloud off of her, but no matter how much she tried to break free, the cloud held her snugly. “Now, to really understand clouds, it’d best to learn what it’s like to be a cloud! And it should give some experience for becoming puffy too.” Bagpiperix chuckled, booping Cloudy’s muzzle and causing her to drift backwards through the air. Cloudy tried to look around the puffy cloud at where she was drifting. She gulped as she saw the intake port for one of the machines meant to fill clouds up for rain. She doubled her efforts to free herself, but it was only a matter of time before the machine suddenly sprang to life, it’s whirrs and beeps playing in time with the song and she was sucked inside.

Bagpiperix bounced on his rump as he watched the machine work. Cloudy was pushed up into a glass container by a jet of air leaving her floating about. A few pads appeared, patting and squeezing her cloud to properly fluffy it up. Occasionally she received a light smack in the face by the soft pad or several pats on her rear, only adding to the music as she struggled. The bouncing tune made her mind a bit fuzzy, and she had a hard time remembering how she had been taught to remove herself from a cloud if she were to get stuck. Not that it would have helped in her situation, when she was pulled into several tubes, squeezed tightly as the fluffy cloud and diaper squeezed in on her tightly. Cloudy blushed, the rumbling of her diaper reverberating through the cloud as she slid slowly through the large pipes connecting the different parts of the machine.

After several moments she was pushed into another container, floating above several bright lamps. They began to glow, the container growing warmer and warmer as they did. Bagpiperix grinned as Cloudy wriggled about, her cloud and diaper starting to slowly expand from the heat. Her legs were further consumed by the fluff, preventing more movement as she glared at the large dragon.

“Stop it!” Cloudy protested, making the cloud wobble as she tried to make either herself or it move to get out of the embarrassing situation, then gasped lightly as the expansion of the cloud pressed more strongly on her diaper and it began to emit a squeaky whistling sound.

At the same time, despite the noise of escaping air, her diaper was still growing – so when the lamps shut off and a jet of air pushed her towards the exit of the chamber, she got stuck in the tube.

Blushing, knowing she was not only quite exposed but looked very silly, Cloudy wiggled about and began to move slooowly down the pipe towards the next chamber. She spotted Bagpiperix blowing on his tail, playing a tune which rose in speed and intensity as the air pressure built up behind her, then he took a deep breath and blew into a tube on the outside of the cloud machine.

That pushed her out of where she'd been stuck, with a long and tuneful sound like a slide whistle, and she came bursting out into a third chamber with big spikes tipped with round metal balls in each corner. They began to hum, then a series of little lightning bolts fizzed out towards her cloud.

Cloudy winced, expecting something painful – then gasped, starting to laugh as the electrical bolts turned out instead to be tickling her and teasing her with every little charge. The cloud began to puff up further, and her squeaks of surprised laughter also sounded like they were timed to fit in with the all-pervasive music.

It was getting harder for Cloudy to remember to be indignant as her treatment continued, the music keeping her distracted and the teasing making her actually like her predicament a bit.

Cloudy gasped and squeezed herself, trying to catch her breath as she was tickled mercilessly by the lightning bolts. Eventually the fizzling of the machine died down, leaving Cloudy still giggling a little and gasping for breath as she rolled around in the air. Even though the spikes were no longer shocking her, her cloud, and especially her diaper, were left with a faint pleasant tingling sensation. She giggled, feeling faintly happy as she drifted once again towards the outflow pipe. Squished and squeezed into the pipe, she blushed as her diaper was pushed once again into her rump, but the tingling now combined with the swelling and deflating of the tune, only making things more enjoyable. Bagpiperix continued to play, swaying his own rear left and right as he spotted her fall into the final container directly in front of him. She bounced on her rump, staring the dragon in the eyes as she sat in her diaper.

Bagpiperix took a deeeeep breath before blowing into his tail once again, claws flying across the holes. There was a rushing sound and water began to flow in from a few smaller pipes near the bottom of the container. The container began to slowly fill, seeping up as the water flowed up to Cloudy’s diaper. She blushed as she felt the warm liquid soak into her padding, causing it to swell up yet again. She wriggled and bounced in place, feeling like a warm wet blanket was being wrapped around her waist. Her wings flapped a bit as she weakly tried to lift herself out of the water, but her diaper continued to swell, weighing her down and causing her to flop against the back of the container. She watched as her cloud and diaper swelled, leaving her in a warm bath.

Her eyes lazily glanced back up at Bagpiperix as he serenaded her. It was so… cozy… and comfy… and the tune was very enjoyable. Why had she been so angry at him earlier? He was just trying to give her a good time. Mmmm, and it was a very comfy time she was having. Her hooves drifted down to squeeze and squish at her cloud and diaper, feeling them continue to balloon up from the warm liquid.

After more than three minutes of water flowing in and soaking in, the cloud – and diaper – were finally full of as much water as they could take. The inflow stopped, and then the base of the container opened out and dropped Cloudy out onto the floor with a wet splat and a long, high-pitched paaaarp.

“There we go!” Bagpiperix said, clapping. “Now you're properly acclimatized to being a puffy cloud! Or should I say, a puffy Cloudy!”

He reached down and unzipped the cloud – despite the lack of logic involved in a zip-up cloud – and Cloudy tumbled out, doing a somersault before landing sitting on her waterlogged diaper. She sighed wistfully, wanting to spend some more time in the cloud, then turned her attention to the water-filled diaper she was still wearing and poked it with her hoof.

Some water ran out around her hoof, and she frowned – thinking something had to be up. This wasn't...

“Now, let's get you into your proper outfit!” Bagpiperix said expansively.

Cloudy blinked, then remembered what had happened to her friends.

“W-wait!” she said, shaking her head, then tried to take off. Her wings flared, but the sheer weight of the waterlogged diaper meant she didn't budge more than an inch.

“There’s no time to wait, we can’t leave the song hanging!” Bagpiperix said, leaning down to scoop Cloudy up in his claws. Cloudy blushed as her padding was squeezed and she was forced to lean against Bagpiperix’s puffy body. The music wriggled its way into her mind, and she couldn’t help but find the steady swelling and falling of Bagpiperix’s gut to be oddly pleasant. Bagpiperix waddled over to the opposite end of the room, shaking his rear in time with the music from the pipes on his back. Stepping up to a vat of rainbow, he held Cloudy above it, allowing her to look down. At least, Cloudy had thought it was a vat of liquid rainbow. On second glance, it looked much more like plaid. She wiggled a bit, some water dripping from her diaper into the plaid as she squeezed her legs together.

“One…” Bagpiperix sang, tossing Cloudy up in the air.

“Two…” He threw her a bit higher, Cloudy glancing nervously down at the liquid.

“Three!~” He chuckled, letting Cloudy fall down into the vat of liquid plaid.

Cloudy tried to swim up to the surface, holding her breath and clamping her eyes shut as she fell into the odd material. Her diaper began to soak up more of the liquid, swelling bigger and bigger. But, despite already being so soaked with water, it began to swell even larger! Cloudy struggled to reach the surface, the plaid coating her as her diaper grew and grew. She thought she felt something else starting to coat her tail as she reached the edge of the vat, trying to hoist her now plaid self out of the liquid.

“Don't be silly!” Bagpiperix chuckled, seeing her trying to pull herself up onto the rim of the vat. “You're not nearly finished with plaid-day!”

He blew into his tail, making his belly swell up alarmingly, then pointed the tube at Cloudy and gave it a tap. All the air he'd put into his tail immediately blasted out again, forcing the pegasus to lose her grip and go right back into the vat.

Cloudy bobbed back to the surface a moment later, her diaper oddly enough acting like a float. This way up, it revealed her tail was no longer visible – subsumed within a large, plaid-patterned fabric tail like that of a dragon, or more precisely like that of one particular dragon.

Bagpiperix continued to bounce up and down on the balls of his feet, occasionally blowing on his tail, and the music resonated through the room – and the vat, making it churn and bubble in a way which somehow kept the plaid pattern intact.

Cloudy rolled over onto her back as another of the pulses of happy, cheerful music echoed in her ears, and that angle revealed that the diaper's swelling up wasn't just making it bigger – it was expanding up her body as well, covering her up to her foreleg shoulders.

Her hind legs, like her tail, had vanished beneath layers of plaid and of oddly draconic construction.

“You're coming along nicely!” the dragon tootled, pleased. “Before long you'll be a proper, puffy piper of a performer!”

Cloudy didn’t respond, too busy trying to keep her head on straight as the song flowed through it, causing her eyes to swirl a bit. As Bagpiperix continued to play, though, it became steadily more difficult to focus on whatever it was that she was trying not to do. She rolled over, her padding keeping her rear floating at the surface of the liquid as it quivered and ballooned in time with the song. Bagpiperix poked at her rump, giggling as it swelled in response, only for Cloudy to roll back over again. Now everything except her head was coated in plaid, and her claws rested gently on her belly. She looked up at Bagpiperix, a soft grin crossing her face as her eyes swam a bit. Pipes on her back wailed along with Bagpiperix, helping to keep the silly pony in a state of cozy bliss. A bubble in the plaid inflated up behind Cloudy, lifting her up into a sitting position before rolling her forward and causing her to flop into the plaid once again.

Cloudy’s tail flicked happily as she played along, another bubble appearing to lift her front half up out of the liquid. In place of a dazed pony now lay a giddy fat bagpipe dragon, leaning into the bubble as it swelled, lifting her up out of the liquid.

“Oooh, you look absolutely marvelous, Cloudy! And you sound even better, you’ll make an excellent addition to the band!” Bagpiperix cheered, popping the bubble and letting Cloudy fall to the floor. Her body shook and paaaarped, deflating slightly before Cloudy huffed herself up bigger, playing enthusiastically. There was nothing that could please her more than hearing what a wonderful player she was going to be. “But don’t get too excited, now. We still have one more member to get, and I think you’d do well to help introduce him to the band!”

Perking up, Cloudy giggled. “Of course!”

She took a step, then bounced outside – landing on her rump with a squeak with each impact, letting her move much faster than walking would do, and having a lot more fun as well.

A moment later, she looked up at the door, then took a deep breath and blew into her own tail the same way Bagpiperix had done. Notes whistled from the pipe-spines on her back, and she swelled up – getting bigger and bigger until she floated into the air and towards the door.

Clef stared at the door, which had just slammed shut and cut off the sight of his friend.

“Cloudy!” he called, grabbing the handle and twisting it. Depending on how far she had to fall, he might be able to catch her if he acted within a few seconds-

The door swung open easily, and he stared at the sight on the other side. An odd, plaid-patterned... something... in the shape of a dragon, which looked a lot like the plump monster that they'd met before but was much smaller.

“Hiya!” the dragon said, waving at him as it floated in mid-air – apparently held up by a puffed-up rear end. “This is great fun, Cleffy! You should try it!”

Clef's jaw dropped as he recognized Cloudy's voice, then he turned and bolted down the hallway.

Clef’s hooves thudded against the carpet of the hallway, his heart racing as he sprinted away from Cloudy. His rear swayed left and aright as he hurried away, the diaper spreading his hind legs far too wide to allow him to move normally. The padding squeaked and hissed notes out with his running, Clef trying to push the song out of his head. In a panic, he rushed up to another door, yanking it open as he dared a glance over his shoulder to see if the dragon was giving chase. As he went to rush through the door, however, he ran into something large and puffy. Rebounding off the balloon, Clef tumbled onto his padded rump and looked up at what he had hit.

Another puffy plaid bubble was swelling out of one of the doors, playing a song as another draconic face appeared, popping out of the room. The dragon grinned widely as he placed his claws on either side of the door frame, pushing himself into the hallway as he inflated. “Hey, Clef! Where’s your puffy belly! No pony likes a flat dragon!” The dragon winked. Clef let out a small squeak of fright upon realizing Violet was stuck in the door in front of him. At least, a puffy plaid dragon of Violet.

Clef scrambled to get back to his hooves, running down the hallway again as Violet and Cloudy followed him down the hall, a bouncy yet ominous tune slowly starting to play.

Puffy plaid musical dragons abound

Filling and swelling their bellies so round

They play their tune out that is so very grand

And would love a new pony to join in on their band!

Groaning, Clef did his best not to listen to the music – even though that went against all his training as a composer, not to mention the difficulty anypony would have in ignoring such a catchy tune.

He glanced behind him for just a moment, seeing the dragons bouncing after him – one of them using her belly, the other bouncing along on her diaper, and both of them producing the underlying beat of the music.

Looking back ahead, Clef's heart sank as he saw there was a dead end in front of him – with only doors to choose from, he had to pick one of them fast, and he skidded to a halt in front of one.

Or tried to skid to a halt. Instead the puffy diaper messed with his coordination, and he wobbled and nearly fell before coming to a halt facing the door one down from the one he'd picked.

The bouncing dragons – getting closer every second – made him too afraid to go back to the one he'd originally been aiming for, and he opened the door in haste before darting through. The moment he did, he bounced upwards as the springy floor rebounded, and he found himself sailing through the air towards something that looked suspiciously large and plaid.

Clef gulped as he fell through the air, his hooves flailing about as he tried to open his wings to fly. Instead, as his hooves waved wildly, his forelegs found a bar and wrapped around it instinctively. Clef found himself swinging around the bar, the world spinning around him. Clef tried to reorient himself, but the blur of colors combined with the song made it almost impossible. Closing his eyes, Clef let out a whimper before letting go of the bar. He spun about in the air, somersaulting several times before he landed with a paaaaaarp on the plaid object. There was a rush of notes, as well as a laugh as Clef bounced up and down on the material. Opening his eyes, he spotted yet another dragon, this one’s plaid pattern resembling High Bar’s coat and mane laughing and bouncing on his tail to keep Clef off balance.

Cloudy and Violet dropped down next to High Bar, both bouncing off the floor with a parp and a boing!, laughing along with the others as the song continued.

A world full of plaid, fat, draconic beasts

Who puff to the tune, and swell to the beat

But there’s just so much more than what you will first see

Before you are swept into our world full of glee!

Clef pushed himself off High Bar, running from the dragons who promptly began to chase after him as he sprinted towards yet another door. As he ran, Cloudy bounced a bit higher, floating up into the air. She aimed herself towards Clef, wiggling her rear before pouncing towards him as she tootled a quick, happy trill.

Trying to get something useful from the music, Clef listened for a moment before dodging to one side. It worked, just, and he avoided being caught by the bouncy dragon that had been his friend.

She batted her forepaw at him, and his desperate jump meant she didn't catch him – instead, the paw-buffet knocked him forwards with a squeak and a parp, letting him just about reach the door.

Slamming it closed behind him, Clef looked around for a moment – and saw two dragons coming at him, both of them looking familiar from the room he'd just left. Baffled for a moment, he shook his head on seeing them still approaching – then darted through the nearest other door.

Much to his surprise, this door led directly out into another corridor – one with a dragon right up close to him on his left, though the one on his right was a lot further away. Running to the right, he picked another door and went through it – finding another corridor, this time the reverse of the one he'd been in before.

The music picked up a new, faster tempo, and he could swear he heard a saxophone under the parps and toots of the dragons and the occasional hiss and squeak of his own diaper.

Back and forth, Clef dashed about, trying to find a door that wouldn’t lead him into yet another corridor. He ran through another, spotting two dragons charging down him on either side. Zipping to another, he ran through, only to bounce off the butt of a plaid dragon stuck in another door. A big bass drum bwoom accompanied his smack, along with a few rhythmic squeaks of his diaper as he bounced backwards on it as well. The dragon’s tail wriggled about, blowing a puff of air into Clef’s face, making his vision go a bit blurry. He rolled onto his back, eyes swirling as he tried to recover. Despite the song filling his head, Clef let out another yelp of surprise as he spotted Violet chasing him down. He jumped back to his hooves, sprinting down the hallway once again as the dragon tried to squeeze past the puffy rear after him.

He reached another door and threw himself into it, flying through. He suddenly found himself hovering above another dragon leaning into a puffy plaid chair, several stacks of books surrounding him. The dragon, sporting Myth Maker’s colors, hummed and glanced up to see Clef floating above him as he sang along to the song.

Your diaper will stretch and swallow your rear

And the loud bouncy song will fill up your ears

As Myth maker spun his musical tale, Clef felt his diaper begin to swell, and the music grew slowly louder and louder as well. He covered his ears, trying to block it out as his padding stretched bigger, spreading his legs wider as it did.

There’s no escaping from your puffy cell

In this dream-world of plaid you will forever dwell!

“Stop it!” Clef yelped. “Myth – snap out of it!”

The dragon kept singing along to himself, ignoring Clef's pleas, and the music pulsed through Clef's bones (and diaper) to make it so he could still hear it even with his ears blocked.

Trying everything he could think of, Clef wiggled his wings – managing to move a little despite the effect which was keeping him stuck in place.

Then Myth Maker opened a book, and Clef did a double-take as he saw what the book contained within it. Not words, like most of Myth's old books, but a complicated maze.

A moment later, Clef dropped into the book as if gravity had somehow been switched on again, and landed on his diaper with a resonant squeak which made the pegasus if anything more dizzy than the tumble had left him.

Looking around, and testing to discover if he could still walk – discovering he could, though it was definitely more of a waddle than anything else – he saw thick walls in all directions, forming a kind of grid. Some of them were solid, but others had cut-outs in them, and it looked like he was indeed inside a maze of some sort – with a red floor made of an odd kind of fabric, and a grid of sets of three parallel walls every ten yards or so.

Without any options, he began to waddle along to try and find a way out.

Clef waddled forward, gulping as he looked around nervously. His hooves sank into the puffy floor, each step making a soft wheeze and paarp fill the air. Clef wobbled a bit as his hind leg lifted high in the air from his diaper waddle. He looked around, trying to make sense of the array of colors surrounding him. He felt as if he was wandering in circles, and the repetition of the bouncy song was doing nothing to help.

A dragon who’s puffy, rotund and quite fat

Who loves swelling up, getting lots of rump pats

They’ll never be lost, always know where to go

For they’ll always be headed to another big show!

“Having a bit of trouble?” A voice echoed around Clef. It was Compass’s, and seemed to be coming from all directions. Clef spun in place, his hooves squeaking on the floor as he tried to spot the source. Clef hurried down one corridor of the maze, though with the wobbling of the floor and the size of his diaper, he couldn’t move very fast at all. The ground swelled a little in time with a blast of music, sending Clef flopping onto his belly, bouncing him through the maze as he became more and more lost. Flaring his wings, Clef tried to fly up to the top of the walls to climb up and see where he was, but the music grew louder, the hiss of air surrounding him as he felt something large, and somehow puffy and plaid looming over him…

In the distance, he could see the ground moving – rising up, the walls seeming to shrink as the perspective changed. Before long he was looking directly down on the walls in that part of the area, and they had a familiar – plaid – pattern to them, as the ground became a mighty hill with a tower on the end like a giant pipe.

The ground shifted again, making Clef look around to see what was going on – wings straining to hold up his giant inflated diaper – and another hill emerged in the other direction, with a strange structure on the peak.

Almost like-

-suddenly, the perspective snapped into place for Clef. That was no hill, and this was no maze.

This was Compass. All around him – the walls were the lines of the pattern on her plaid belly, the hills were her head and her new dragon tail, and the ground was the fabric material that made up her body.

Then she snorted hard, and the wash of air blew him off her belly entirely.

He went soaring through the air, disoriented and spun around as his diaper acted like a sail and caught the wind, then landed on another clothlike surface. This one didn't have walls to form a maze, but it still had the plaid patterns – instead, they seemed to writhe around his limbs like puffy prison bars, holding him in place.

Clef struggled against the patterns tugging on him, trying desperately to free himself. The patterns only held him tighter, pulling him into the puffy material. His hooves sank deeper as he fought against them, pulling him into the puffy cloth like quicksand. His diaper pressed worryingly comfortably into the ground, making Clef blush before it slipped down with him, the bars criss-crossing around him. Suddenly Clef found himself trapped behind pattern, as if he was stuck in a cushy, puffy, plaid prison cell. Everything swelled and stretched around him as he pushed his hooves into the bars to try and shake them. Another parp of tune played, and there was a satisfied laugh from all around him, the material growing bigger and tighter. Looking up, Clef tried to see who was laughing, though by the voice he was sure he knew.

Suddenly a draconic head looked down at him from above, lips curling into a smug smile as the tune echoed all around. “My my my, it looks like we have a naughty little band member here!” Bagpiperix laughed, his claws appearing and squeezing in on Clef’s cell. Clef whined as he felt the cushiness warp around him, squeezing him in all manner of ways as the dragon took another deeeeeeep breath. His belly began to expand, and Clef felt the material stretch around him as well. The more Bagpiperix inhaled, the more things squeezed around. “But we can’t keep you on my belly forever, now can we?” He laughed, inhaling again.

The perspective suddenly clicked in Clef’s mind, and he let out a surprised gasp as he flopped onto his rear. Rather than being trapped in a jail cell as he had predicted, he was now trapped on Bagpiperix’s belly. A living pattern, Clef was held securely behind Bagpiperix’s plaid pattern like prison bars. He pressed up against the pattern, whimpering as Bagpiperix squeezed his belly again, squishing the material around Clef to squeeze him again, his diaper being teased especially as Bagpiperix pressed around his new pattern’s rump.

“But I don't believe in life sentences,” Bagpiperix went on, poking and prodding his own belly – paying special attention to Clef's diaper, making the pegasus squirm from the stimulation as it made him feel oddly happy. “Not one bit! I think the only way to properly treat a band member who strays is reform!”

He inhaled, the bars pinning Clef tighter still to the big puffy belly, and the tunes hissing around them both grew louder and harder to ignore – with Clef no longer able to cover his ears, and with that horribly catchy tune just resonating louder and louder as it took over more and more of his concentration.

“No,” Bagpiperix went on. “But what could a novice like you bring to the band? You're not nearly creaky or squeaky enough, and you're terribly underweight~”

Clef wanted to protest, feeling oddly insulted by being told he wasn't sufficiently creaky to join in, but knowing he shouldn't be wanting to be complimented on his puffiness. Caught in a dilemma, he whined as the surface under him swelled yet again – one of the pipes pressing on his overinflated diaper, building up more and more pressure.

Then Bagpiperix gave him one last poke, and Clef went shooting across Bagpiperix' belly like he'd been shot from a cannon.

He bounced from some of the plaid lines and passed clean over others, going around in a random path accompanied by silly parps and twangs and squeaks, until he saw he was headed for one of the pipes making up Bagpiperix' spine.

Clef yelped, trying to cover his eyes as he flew towards the pipe. Everything squeezed around him especially tightly, Bagpiperix playing to his heart’s content. Clef suddenly shot out of Bagpiperix’s pipe, pausing only a moment as his thick diaper ballooned out of the end before the rest of him followed suit. Clef soared through the air, a part of him slightly disappointed he no longer was squeezed so snugly by Bagpiperix’s belly. It didn’t last long, however, as he found himself bouncing off of a large swollen sphere. A parp emanated from the sphere and his diaper, and he found himself falling towards another as well. Lines drew themselves through the sky next to him, revealing the spheres to be crinkly inflated notes that puffed up as Clef rebounded off them.

As Clef bounced along to the tune, the notes began to morph and swell, turning plaid, just as everything else had, though now becoming a variety of colors. They began to swell larger too, the song almost deafening as it played and swirled through the air around the musical Pegasus. Despite everything, Clef was finding himself… enjoying this! He couldn’t help but giggle as his rear bounced off another note, sending a shiver of pleasure up his spine, the music filling him up with a warm, fuzzy feeling. He bounced again, noticing the notes seemed a bit bigger, not to mention their sticks looked almost tail-like…

Clef continued to bounce, Bagpiperix following after him on the notes as they grew larger and larger, the myriad of plaid bubbles all playing along to the song.

Clef's head swam as he fell through the musical sky, note after note resounding louder than the general tuneful surroundings of Bagpiperix' song.

Unbidden, his talent started to work on the music, and he began to see the patterns – the way each note came from the last, and each bar from the one before, the whole structure of the music creeping into his mind as he listened and bounced and creaked and parped.

Then, all of a sudden, he was falling through the ceiling of a concert hall – landing on his rump with a paaaarp as the diaper let out a burst of music. He looked down and spotted that there were some pipes on the diaper, before the sound of a trill of musical scales made him look up again.

There were dozens – hundreds – of puffy plaid dragons, in rows in the stands or in the concert pit. Some were holding instruments – drums made of plaid bagpipes, stringed instruments with plaid bagpipes built into them – but most seemed to be ready to just play themselves.

And standing on the conductor's podium, which was gigantic, he saw Bagpiperix himself.

“And now,” the dragon announced, raising his own tail-pipe to act as a conductor's baton, “we're going to have a performance composed by our very own Double Clef!”

“But...” Clef began, then stopped.

The moment Bagpiperix had mentioned it, music had started to fill his head again. Taking the patterns he'd heard before and extrapolating them, writing entirely new pieces on the same theme, and he just had to get them on paper...

Clef tried to roll forward and waddle towards the conductor’s stand for some paper, but Bagpiperix simply tutted playfully, blowing a bit of air from his tail to push Clef back onto his padded rear. “Oh, you don’t need to write it down! Just play for us, and we’ll join in~” The dragon teased, winking to the stallion. Clef looked down at his thick diaper, which, he now realized, was so large his legs would never have reached the floor had he rolled forward. Tentatively, he placed his hooves onto the front of the diaper and pressed down. A soft wail sounded from the pipes on his diaper, making him blush and flick his tail a bit as the tune in his mind became a bit stronger.

He pressed down again, shifting a little left and right to alter the notes and rhythms of his song. A smile began to spread across his face as he pushed on his diaper, his eyes swirling as he began to pick up the pace, bouncing on his diaper enthusiastically. Clef laughed, pushing and massaging his padded behind as he played, Bagpiperix beginning to wave his own tail around as others began to join in. It was wonderful, absolutely marvelous! The best piece Clef had ever written! He bounced and rocked around, not noticing his diaper swelling larger as material began to creep up his belly and over his tail, the pipes continuing to paarp and squeak as he played.

Clef looked up at Bagpiperix, smiling widely as the fat, puffy conductor grinned back, squeezing his own gut to join in on the song. Clef could practically burst with glee! Seeing Bagpiperix loving his music so much only made him happier! And bigger! He had to keep playing, it was just too much fun! Bouncing and puffing and swelling and huffing, showing off what a wonderful new composer he would make!

Every note that sounded out into the room was just as he'd wanted it to be, with the dragons taking his melodic line and filling in all the other features to make it a perfect piece of puffy prelude before a truly squeaky serpentine symphony!

And the physical feelings of playing notes were just getting better and better as well, with each push making him feel wonderful and with a continual snug hug from his diaper even between the notes. It was as if all the air he was forcing out to play a note was coming back twofold, and he loved everything about it!

But the most happy thing of all was how proud he was of all the other diaper-dragons performing his music! It was such an honour to be the composer, performing his work in front of them all!

There was a pop! As his tail inflated up and began to play notes as well, and Clef noticed it mainly because it gave him more options for notes to play. There was a foop! As the diaper spread up past his belly, but the only thing that mattered was how it increased his capacity for long notes.

There was a boin-oing! As both hind legs became inflated plaid dragon feet, but that just gave him a way of performing more notes at the same time, as the music swelled and so did he.

Bigger and bigger, fatter and fatter, bouncier and creakier and ever-more inflated! Clef rolled backwards and stood on his tail, letting out a long wail of notes before dropping down onto his rear again to punctuate his song with a loud boom! He laughed as he played, a couple floomps leaving his hooves now cartoony dragon claws, allowing even more precise control over the squishings and squeezings of his belly. Everything was just as he wanted it to be, the concert hall filled to the brim with his music, flowing around him like a wonderful breeze, tickling his belly as he swelled up again, feeling the notes bounce around inside him.

The music continued to build, growing louder, faster, more complex as he played to a fantastic musical climax! He squeeed, squishing on his belly and squeezing his rump between his legs as a final bawoomph! left him completely as a large, puffy, plaid bagpipe dragon. The tune slowly faded away, but not completely. Just hidden enough that he could still enjoy it, dancing around in the back of his mind as he looked up to Bagpiperix. The conductor lowered his baton, grinning widely as he waddle up to Clef. Scooping the dragon up, Bagiperix gave a chuckle and huffed a bit of air into his tail to swell his new composer up as he bounced in place excitedly. With even more grand tunes to play, it wouldn’t be long before he had an even bigger band to share with the world!

“...and they were never seen again!” Pinkie finished.

She looked around at the others. “Spoo~ooky, huh?”

Twilight frowned. “I'd... hesitate to say that.”

“Why?” Pinkie asked. “Oh, I know! It's because you were trembling with fear over it!”

“...sure,” Twilight allowed. “Let's go with that.”

“What the heck was up with the dragon being the bad guy?” Spike complained. “That's... dragonist, I guess.”

“It's in the story!” Pinkie countered. “That's why!”

“Yeah, so, I don't think Pinkie should do any more scary stories,” Dash spoke up. “They go kinda weird places.”

She snorted. “Besides, they're totally not scary-”

There was the sudden wail of a bagpipe, and Dash jumped into Spike's arms. Surprised, the purple dragon wobbled before sitting down hard.

“Pinkie!” the blue pegasus protested.

Pinkie hid a pair of bagpipes in her mane.

Author's Note

And here we see what was going on all along.

There's other stories in the same basic format I have to upload in the future. Hopefully people are interested in seeing them!