As Gilda tried to escape her puffy, pollen-laced predicament, the ponies of Ponyville continued to slumber. One by one, they were touched by the magic wending through the night.

Rarity's dream was of her shop – the place where she worked, rested, and created whenever inspiration took hold. After the experiences of the day, involving out-of-control magical constructs, the simple dream of a normal day made her smile faintly under the covers.

The sewing machine clattered as she worked on a rough demonstration piece, and then the shop bell jangled to interrupt her.

“Coming, darling~” Rarity called, turning off the machine with a flicker of telekinesis.

When she reached the door, she saw a pony wearing a long, woollen cloak – dyed a simple black, intended to conceal whoever was wearing it.

“Welcome to the Carousel Boutique!” Rarity said brightly, not at all fazed by the cloaked pony – after all, everything makes sense in a dream. “Your shop for all manner of creations of cloth and crease! How may I help you?”

The cloaked pony placed a small pile of index cards on the counter, each one covered with writing. “I would like to commission some pieces from you,” she explained, in a precise voice. “Cost is little object, but I would like to see the specifications followed exactly.”

Rarity picked up the cards, and examined the first one. It detailed a close-fitting outfit of thick plush that covered a pony from their hooves to their neck, with a zipper in the back which locked into place, and with little poppers around the rear to allow a hatch to be taken down. The measurements were sort of familiar, looking a lot like hers, except that it specified a far larger cut around the flanks and rear.

The second one was for a dress, full of frills and frou-frou finishings, and a pastel pink in colour. It included a number of locks or other places where the dress could be tightened up and secured on, and it also had measurements which looked sort of familiar to Rarity.

After paging through all of them, Rarity nodded. “I believe I can work with these,” she confirmed. “I will get to work as soon as possible – to see what inspiration strikes!”

The mysterious mare smiled and nodded, turning about to trot away as Rarity shut the door behind her. Turning back to her sewing supplies, Rarity pulled out the first of the cards she had been given, leaning it up against a stack of fabric as she began to levitate over the appropriate colored sheets of cloth. Snips of scissors and the slow clacking of Rarity's sewing machine began to fill the room as she proceeded to work on the first item. The suit was easy to make, buttons, zippers, and thick fabric was something she was, of course, very accustomed to working with. Cloth and thread flew around Rarity's head as she worked, her horn glowing softly as she threaded the poppers into place, making sure they secured nice and tightly. Feeling satisfied with the first piece, she carefully levitated it over to a mannequin, slipping it onto the figure in an attempt to see how it would fit with the other items on the mare's list.

Holding up another card detailing four small mitts that would cover each of the pony's hooves, Rarity thought for a brief moment that it seemed rather redundant. Considering how thick the fabric was for the first suit, anypony in it was already going to have a bit of trouble getting a grip on anything with their hooves. Still, she paid it no mind and began to continue. As her magic swirled about, fashioning the boots from the cloth, Rarity glanced over the next card.

The dress looked very extravagant, full of ruffles and frills. Were there always this many of them? She shrugged, opening a drawer in her desk to rummage around. Zippers and buttons were one thing, but locks were quite another. Where would she have left something like that? Did she even have some? As if on cue, Rarity opened another drawer to find it absolutely teeming with all manners of locks, large, small, shiny and specially decorated. The back of her mind wondered where she would have stashed the keys for these, but it hardly mattered now.

Taking a large collection of lace, along with the pastel fabric specified by the card and the locks, Rarity got to work on putting the dress together. It was a little tricky to design something which was intended for a pony without knowing who the pony was, but she used herself as a basis for her design on the grounds that it would be a good first approximation.

Humming to herself as she worked, Rarity made sure to put specially strengthened threads through all the important parts of the dress – the hem, the shoulders, the bodice – as well as attaching a half-dozen petticoats so that the skirt would be properly flared up when worn. The result took a little longer than she'd originally expected, but once it was done she had to smile with satisfaction – she'd met the requirements on that one exactly.

The next few cards were stranger still – a bonnet designed to be strapped in place, then what appeared to be some kind of circus harness in pink and blue, and something Rarity didn't recognize at all except that it was designed to hold something in place in a muzzle.

Then there was one which required a magic suppressor, and Rarity was sure she didn't have one of those. But, checking her drawers, there was one in an odds-and-ends drawer – just between a pacifier and a pair of plastic panties.

That was odd enough to make Rarity do a double-take, but then she shrugged and put together the commissioned piece – a little plushy tube, with the magic suppressor at the tip and with the whole thing sized to fit over a unicorn's horn.

She noticed that it was about her size, then put it out of her mind.

Work nearly done, she double-checked all the stitches to be sure all the locks were in place – each and every one open, but ready to be clicked shut at need – and that the rest of the outfits went with the measurements precisely.

As Rarity reached for the cards again to see if there was one more, she frowned – realizing she'd been working for quite a long time, and that she hadn't visited the little mare's room all that time.

Rarity flipped through the cards, figuring that she could at least double check what she had finished and what she hadn't before heading off. At the very least she'd know what she wouldn't need to worry about, and nature wasn't calling quite that hard yet. Bonnet, check, dress, check, sleeper, check... Then Rarity came across one card that had been stuck to the back of another. She pulled the card off, revealing one last garment she had forgotten to create. A large round piece of cloth designed to go around somepony's flanks, complete with just as many frills as the dress and to be made of a deep purple color. Rarity shrugged. If this was all she had left to do, she could easily finish this for the night. Her horn flaring up once more, Rarity began to unfold fabric on her sewing table, snipping and clipping the sheets into the proper shape.

This last bit of clothing was far thicker than Rarity would have ever deemed reasonable, even with her love of extravagance. Fasteners were sewn into place as more and more layers of puffy absorbent (why she had this kind of fabric, Rarity would never have guessed) padding being added to the garment. Rarity shifted in place, her bladder starting to ache a bit more. She was nearly done, she could wait just a bit longer. Despite how quickly she had finished the article of clothing, Rarity was about ready to zip out of the room when what she had been making finally struck her.

Laying on her table was a thick, puffy, frilly cloth diaper. One that was far, far too big for any normal foal to wear. In fact, as Rarity examined it, she realized it was almost perfectly designed to be big enough for her. Rarity's brow furrowed as she wondered why in Equestria that mare would have ever needed this to be made, especially once she began to think about everything else that she had put together as well.

Rarity looked back at the various other bits of clothing she had prepared, mulling things over. She thought she heard the sound of a pillow falling behind her, but she pushed it out of her mind as she was reminded about what else she had needed to do. Biting her lip, Rarity was about to head upstairs when she suddenly felt something soft and warm wrap around her flanks.

“What on Equestria-” Rarity yelped, looking down and behind herself at the offending item on her flanks. She blushed deeply when she saw it was the diaper she'd just put together, but then realized something was wrong.

How had it gotten onto her in the first place?

Deciding to ignore that, she tried to pull the clothy object off of her. Her first attempt failed, as she discovered the diaper had not only wrapped itself onto her but also fastened itself, and before she could try again there was a sudden rush of movement from her pile of finished items.

Every single piece she'd just constructed was rushing towards her, a regular fashion insurrection, and the sight was so odd that she actually forgot to try to use her telekinesis for a moment. Then the first piece of fabric she'd put together arrived, zipped back open, and in a trice Rarity found herself forced into it with her hooves in the long, snug legs and the zipper doing itself up along her back.

“Stop it!” Rarity wailed. “I'm not supposed to – this isn't how – stooop!”

There was the unmistakeable click of one of the locks locking, and Rarity blushed as she realized that she was stuck unless she could find the key – the key for a lock she hadn't even really looked at in any great detail.

Then the dress swept down upon her, and Rarity caught sight of herself in the mirror as she was locked in the frilly, ruffly dress as well. It made her wince, as the thickly bulging diaper was being accentuated by the plushy underlayer – and the dress was just making it more obvious that that was what she was wearing.

Rarity kicked out, lamenting her state, and the booties attached themselves to her hooves – quickly chinching tight so there was no chance of easily rubbing them off, then securing another lock in each case. She tried to muster up the concentration to do something with her telekinesis, but as she was building up the energy that horn-sleeve slipped nearly into place and cut off her magic.

Then came the bonnet, and the muzzle straps, and both the pair of plastic panties and the pacifier from her drawer took their appropriate positions. Rarity was the picture of a blushing, overdressed filly, and yet she couldn't help but think she was forgetting something-

The harness swept up under her rump, lifting her into the air, and secured her to the roof of the Boutique. There was a little elastic give in the straps, and Rarity moaned around her pacifier as she realized that it was a foal's bouncer – one she was now stuck in, just as she was stuck in the frilly, ruffly outfit and the thick cushy diapers.

She tried to push her hind legs together, but the shock of the bouncing was too much. Whining in embarrassment, Rarity soaked her diaper in a rush.

Her padding swelled outwards, squishing down into the harness as she was pulled into the air by the elastic bands. Whimpering, Rarity tried to reach down to fumble at the bindings with her encased hooves, but all she managed to do was make her diaper squish about some more and rub herself gingerly as she bounced in her harness. Looking over her shoulder, Rarity felt the pressuring of the padding growing tighter on her rear. The padding swelled as she soaked it, pressing into the flap on her rump. Her diaper bulged out, the buttons straining to keep the padding inside as the petticoat framed it in a horribly adorable fashion.

Rarity kicked her legs, her horn flaring up as the tried to cast a spell, but the sleeve on her horn pulsed as she did, the bouncing lifting her higher, causing the harness to squeeze even tighter into her padding as she rocked around in it. Trying to stifle a moan, Rarity suckled on her pacifier, wrapping her hooves around the straps of the bouncer. She jiggled and wiggled in place, starting to bounce higher and higher. She panted behind her pacifier, finding the squeezing and squishing of the harness worringly enticing. Higher, and higher, and higher! She wiggled her hind hooves, feeling her diaper squish and squeeze, practically bursting from her sleeper as she bounced in the foalish trap.

Dash could hardly contain her glee. Here she stood, at the doors of the Wonderbolts Academy, the windows gleaming in the bright sunlight as she could hardly contain her excitement. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. Ok, ok, cool it, Dash. You don't want to look uncool to all the Wonderbolts, right? Still, she couldn't stop her heart hammering in her chest. She'd finally done it! Her, a Wonderbolt! She was going to be flying with the very best! The absolute pinnacle of daring feats and acts of death defying-entertainment! Her legs shook as she trotted along the cloud path up to the door, pushing it open to step into the Wonderbolt's academy.

The moment she crossed the threshold, there were a dozen Wonderbolts around her. She saw Echo, Soarin', Spitfire, but some of the others were a little indistinct – as if the uniform was important, but the rest of them was just a suggestion.

Dash wasn't one to dwell on that kind of thing. “So, I'm in!”

“You sure are!” Soarin' agreed. “Now, I think we all know what our new recruit's first assignment is?”

“Yeah!” Snowflake agreed.

“An assignment? Already?” Dash asked, a bit surprised. “Don't I need to settle in first? Get my official Wonderbolts uniform?”

“Nah, that can wait,” Soarin' told her. “This is a really important bit – it's the first step as soon as you join the Wonderbolts!

He pointed. “Firefly, get the outfit!”

Firefly darted off.

“An outfit?” Dash repeated. “What kind of outfit?”

“It's the outfit all the Wonderbolts beginners wear for their first assignment,” Soarin' told her earnestly. “It's a really important step – don't you want to take part?”

“Well- sure, I guess,” Dash agreed. “I didn't realize, uh...”

She shook her head. “Whatever! I'm ready for anything, boss!”

“That's the spirit!” Soarin' complimented her.

Dash's enthusiasm lasted until she saw the outfit Firefly had gone to get.

“...what?” she asked, giving it a look over. It was kind of like a cheerleader's costume – with a couple of pom-poms to go on the wings, and a short skirt, and a skimpy dress – except that it was thick, puffy, and covered most of the body.

And there seemed to be a worrying amount of padding around where her rump would go.

Dash looked at the outfit, her mouth agape for a moment. Suddenly something clicked in her mind and she smirked, looking back over to Soarin'. "Oookay, really funny, Soarin'. Where's my real uniform?" Soarin' raised an eyebrow, looking Dash over.

"This is it. That's it right there." He stated, matter-of-factly. Rainbow Dash's smirk faltered and her gaze returned to the costume. Her muzzle scrunched as she tried to not show her repulsion at the silliness of the outfit.

"Y-you're serious? That's my uniform?" She asked, praying for Soarin' to let out a hearty laugh and let her know it was all just some sort of prank. But Soarin' only gave her a nod, looking concerned.

"Dash, you said you were up to anything, and this is where every Wonderbolt starts. You get to be part of the show while you're still training for the big stuff, you know?"

Rainbow Dash grimaced. She could totally take on the big stuff at first, what was Soarin' talking about? But, still, she was worried that any unwillingness to comply would show she wasn't a team player, and that would lead to a quick expulsion from the Wonderbolts for sure. "Alright." She said, taking the costume from Firefly.

Slipping into the outfit, Dash's legs were spread a little by the padding around her rear, the skirt doing almost nothing to hide the generous amount that was there. She shook the poms about a bit, her face turning a bright red as she looked herself over in the mirror. "So, ready for cheerleading practice, rookie?" Soarin' asked, poking Dash's rear playfully. Dash gave a small 'eep', her face turning a deep crimson as she turned to see the Wonderbolts heading out to the practice field.

“Come on!” Soarin' called, seeing her lagging behind. “Cheerleaders need to be out there before the main show, not after it!”

Dash hurried to catch up, blushing all over again as the bulk of the padding made her waddle – rump swinging back and forth like a horizontal pendulum.

It made what should have been a simple jog into a lot of effort, and into a humiliating experience. She groaned a little, imagining what she must look like, then tried to straighten up as Soarin' gave her another look-over.

“All right, rookie,” Soarin' began. “The first rule of being a Wonderbolts cheerleader is that you need to put your whole body into it! It's not good enough to just shake those pompoms up and down, you need to shake your body as well!”

Dash nodded, deeply embarrassed that this was what her first day as a Wonderbolt was turning into. She'd been hoping for triple backflips in the middle of a stall while a thunderstorm was going on overhead, something awesome! Not… this.

“Let's see you give it a go!” Soarin' told her.

Waving her wings up and down to make the pompoms shake, Dash did so – taking a deep breath, and then shaking her rump as well. The bulk made it stick out on each shake, giving it almost a life of its own, and she closed her eyes to try and concentrate.

Then she opened them again, and saw a crowded stadium full of ponies.

“What!?” she yelped. “But – I'm not – no!”

The reason for the sudden transition escaped her, seeming completely natural. But being in a silly, puffy, padded cheerleader costume still mortified her.

Dash's hooves immediately dropped down to tug on her skirt in an attempt to hide the fluffy rear of her suit, the crowd cheering loudly. Looking about, Dash tried to find the exit, she wasn't supposed to be performing, she didn't know the routine! But as she spotted the rest of the Wonderbolts, she noticed Spitfire looking up at her from the coach's box. "Dash, what're you doing? Get the show started already, we can't go on without an intro!"

Rainbow Dash's blush intensified as she looked around the stadium at all the ponies watching eagerly. She took a big gulp, posing as the crowd's cheers refilled the stands. Not having a single clue what 'show' she was supposed to start, Dash attempted to improvise. "A-alright, everypony! They're the fastest fliers around! The most daring and amazing performers you've ever seen!" Despite her initial horror at being stuck in the middle of the stands alone in such a humiliating costume, Dash was gaining a bit of confidence as she led the cheers, starting to shake her poms and rear more enthusiastically. "They're here to give you the show of a lifetime! They're the-" Dash took a deep breath, doing her best to start up the call.

W!

O!

N!

D!

E!

R!

B!

U!

T!

T!

S!

"The Wonderbutts!" The crowd cheered, apparently not noticing the glaring error in their cheer. Dash was equally oblivious, instead shaking her rear excitedly as a few of the members started to fly up from their stadium entrance. If Dash had paid attention, she might have noticed their suits were almost as puffy as hers, and, to make sure the cheerleader was the puffiest of them all, her skirt had grown a bit thicker as well. Dash tumbled in the air, Soarin' passing by as some of the Wonderbolts began to circle around her. "Alright, Rookie, you remember the routine, right?"

Dash froze a little, watching as the Wonderbolts flew around.

"Uuhh…"

“You don't?” Soarin' asked, teasingly. “Well, that's not very impressive for somepony wanting to be a big part of the Wonderbutts – we all need to know the whole routine, you know!”

He clapped his hooves together. “Well, I guess that means we'll just have to show you the ropes!”

“W-wait,” Dash said, blinking. “Did you say Wonderbolts, or-”

Spitfire bounced off the ground with help from the springiness of her suit, grabbing Dash's shoulders as she went past and lifting the rookie cheerleader into the air. “W!”

Then Echo did a ground-bounce as well, this time bouncing Dash further into the air with a butt-to-butt springy contact. “O!”

One by one the suited-up pegasi came darting down to the ground and bouncing off it, then bouncing Dash. What started as a bounce into the air quickly became bounces about in just about every direction, including left-right-up-down as if Dash was a pinball in a pinball machine.

After eleven bounces, and a complete call of WONDERBUTTS!, Soarin' went past in a quick loop. “That's the first one – now, you call with us! More bounce is better!”

Without anything else to go on, Dash did just as Soarin' suggested, not noticing the way that both suits puffed up whenever she and a Wonderbutt bounced off one another – and, as she was making nearly a dozen times as many contacts as anyone else, she was puffing up far faster.

Dash flipped through the air, trying to maintain some sense of where she was in space as she was bounced about. "D!" She called out, feeling her rear being smacked by Spitfire as she passed again, sending her flying towards the stands. Her wings flared up in an attempt to stop herself from careening into the ponies, but Soarin' smacked her downwards, 'tsk'ing a little as he did. "Come on, Dash, you gotta be better louder than that! Besides, everypony knows that bouncing's no fun when you've got wings to help you!"

Dash looked up to see Soarin' shaking his rear for the audience, the back of her mind registering how his suit's bottom was wide enough to use as a pillow. A thought that Dash immediately tried to ignore, not needing her mind clouded by the thought of curling up with the stallion, resting her head on his wide, puffy rear...

Dash was shaken free of her fantasies as she was bounced up again, forcing her to shout out "Uh- E!" "R!" She cheered, trying to keep up with the bounces as they grew faster and more elaborate. Her own hind legs were spread so far apart she could barely waggle them, her tail wrapped up in the plush rump of her suit as it continued to swell. As Dash was thrown around, she noticed a few of the Wonderbutts starting to climb on top of each other as they bounced her about, lifting her higher and higher into the air as they formed what seemed to be a pyramid of swollen suited pegasi.

Dash bounced back and forth between six ponies, then three, then Soarin' bounced her up in the air five times in a row - for a complete call of “B!U!T!T!S!” - and, finally, he took his own place on the pyramid.

Both unwilling and unable to use her wings, ensconced as they were in the puffy suit that surrounded her, Dash hung in the air for several seconds before landing on top of Soarin's puffy-suited butt.

“Now, a proper Wonderbutt rookie has to have great balance!” Soarin' told her, and Dash bounced once before coming down much more slowly. She twisted, trying to avoid falling off the pyramid, and wiggled her butt as best she could to control her movement before she came down for a landing.

She bounced, wobbled, bounced again, and finally settled down – mostly. The whole pile sproinged up and down constantly as the Wonderbutt rears expanded and contracted, moving like a three-dimensional Mehican Wave, and she had to use all her wiggling skill to avoid tumbling down the pyramid.

“Wonderbutts!” she called out, spontaneously, and the crowd roared. “We're the Wonderbutts!”

The pyramid trembled, and then the whole thing began to fall over at once – a clearly planned movement, as the larger rows of Wonderbutts at the base bounced in unison back into the air.

Dash was too busy controlling her own fall – as much as she could, which wasn't much – and when she bounced back into the air, several of the Wonderbutts came bouncing over to surround the point she'd landed.

They were carrying something, which they quickly spread out – all of them boinging in unison as they did so, using their springy rears much more than their wings by this point.

Dash tumbled about, waving her hooves as she shook her pom poms about, trying to see what the Wonderbutts below her had. Her bouncy rump did quite a good job blocking whatever it was they had. It wasn't until she began falling and she felt her rear slow as it was caught by something large, fluffy, and crinkly that she fully grasped what they were using. "Is this a diap-aaaah!" She failed to finish her sentence before the Wonderbutts pulled upon the edges of the diaper, flicking their hooves at the last moment to launch Dash back up into the air.

She flew up into the sky, her enormous padded butt being presented for the entire audience before her. Her face turned a bright red and she hovered in the air for a moment before falling back down. The diaper puffed as she fell into it, the Wonderbutts all bouncing and rocking on their own swollen rears as they flung her up into the air once more, chanting, "Dashie, Dashie, she's our foal! To swell to bursting is her goal!" The Wonderbutts waggled their rears as Dash fell down again, keeping her bounced higher and higher as they boinged all about on their puffy butts.

Dash flipped and twisted in the air, shaking her butt for the audience just as Soarin' had. Glancing down, she spread her legs out as wide as she could, embracing the padding as she fell back into it, bounced up once again. She began to chant along with the others, making sure she was the best cheerleader the Wonderbutts had ever seen. "Wonderbutts, have the best rumps, just right for bouncing and to pump!"

Each bounce sent the diaper's middle bumping into the ground, and it swelled up – puffing itself thicker and thicker, though Dash only got a hint of that as she went up and down in the air.

The chant got louder, her suit got puffier, the bouncing got higher and higher. Then, all at once, the Wonderbutts let go of the diaper as Dash went plummeting into it.

Almost immediately, Dash found herself nearly lost in it. There was so much of the poofy garment that it was like she'd vanished completely! But then, as her suit continued to swell, she began to emerge back into the open.

The diaper tightened, as her suit expanded, until the two fit together perfectly – her enormous, puffy suit filling out her enormous, crinkly diaper to precision, and to the point she was like the nub left after a party balloon was tied off, nearly lost at the top of the immense mass.

The whole of the Wonderbutts team came bouncing towards her, and then landed in a neat circle on the upper slopes of her immense costume – making it creak and shake, wobbling back and forth.

“Wonderbutts!” came the cheer, and confetti rained down in all directions.

“Good work,” Soarin' told her. “Now that's what I call a good performance, rookie! Keep this up and you might graduate to a proper Wonderbutt yet!”

From the outside, Dash's cloud house looked nearly normal. Only someone who'd been watching it all night would have noticed how the walls were creaking outwards slightly, a pressure forcing the soft cloud-stuff away from Dash's bed.

Just below Dash's house, at the edge of Everfree Forest sat a small tree cottage, another Pegasus soundly asleep inside. Fluttershy rolled over in bed, humming quietly to herself as she dreamed...

"Oh goodness, Harry, you didn't have to do all this for me!" Fluttershy said as the large bear pushed aside a branch to reveal a clearing where several of Fluttershy's animal friends sat around a picnic blanket. The blanket was covered in all sorts of different foods, the basket at the center practically bursting with sandwiches, berries, and sweets of all varieties. Fluttershy trotted towards the center of the clearing, taking her seat at the blanket between Angel Bunny and Corporal Hissy. A large blue jay hovered over with a pot of tea in its talons, carefully pouring it out into a cup before Fluttershy. "Oh, thank you very much!" Fluttershy said, picking up the cup as the others gathered around.

"You've all been too kind, really!" Fluttershy said to her animal friends, Angel already knee deep in carrot cake. "I just wonder what the occasion is." She took another sip of tea, watching as the others proceeded to dig into their meals. As she watched, she couldn't help but notice some of the animals were a bit... softer? Did Harry get his fur fluffed recently without telling him? She chuckled to herself. He always was trying to impress her, after all.

As the group ate, there was a small shuffle of leaves in the woods beyond the clearing, causing Fluttershy to look over her shoulder nervously. She couldn't spot anything, but as soon as she tried to return to her meal, a few more shuffles happened again, a twig snapping some distance away. Her hooves shaking slightly, Fluttershy set her cup of tea down, trying to relax. It was probably just some deer looking for something else to eat…

There was a cough from the direction of Harry.

Fluttershy looked up, and saw that Harry's fur had apparently become a lot fluffier while she'd been looking away.

“Harry?” she asked, a little confused.

Then there was another snap, and a crash as a chimera came trampling out of the Everfree.

Fluttershy jumped. “H-hey! Manners!”

The chimera's tail snapped at her, and Fluttershy fluttered back out of the way – then she blinked, seeing that the fangs of the snaky tail had just gone springy as the mouth closed.

“Um… are you okay?” she asked. “Is that why you came after me? I can help, if you're not well – or, I mean, I don't want to assume…”

She glanced back at Harry for reassurance, and saw the bear carrying something very odd – a big, puffy bear sleeper, with an especially large bulge around the rear.

Then the bear swiped at her with a soft-looking paw, trying to sweep her into the unzipped sleeper, and she just about managed to avoid being grabbed.

“Harry!” Fluttershy said, going for 'stern'. “That's very rude of you!”

Then a dozen of the birds came after her with a Cardinal sleeper, carrying it in their beaks, and Fluttershy decided it might be a better idea to try and work out what was going on… later.

Preferably somewhere else?

She ran past the chimera and towards the Everfree forest, and there was a flumph-flumph sound as what sounded like all her animal friends came storming after her – most of them carrying some kind of admittedly cute outfits!

Fluttershy dodged between the trees, trying to figure out what was going on with all of her friends. Did someone pack something that disagreed with them? Suddenly a few moles popped out of the ground in front of Fluttershy, attempting to scoop her up into a sleeper. Fluttershy tripped, her front hooves slipping into the legs of the mole's sleeper. As the moles attempted to fit her hind legs into the suit, however, they were pushed aside by Angel, who was carrying a bunny suit with a rear just as puffy as the large fluffy tail at its end. Fluttershy's hind hooves slipped easily into the suit, but the squabble between the two animals caused her to wriggle free, running away as they jabbered at each other angrily.

Fluttershy's run became more of a waddle as the wide rear of the bunny sleeper (which now, somehow, had merged seamlessly to the front end of the mole's sleeper) spread her hind legs. Fluttershy tried to hide behind a tree as flock of birds whizzed by. Letting out a small sigh of relief, Fluttershy was about to continued heading away when several squirrels dropped out of the tree she was hiding behind. The Pegasus fought against the added layer, which merged once again with the others to give her a very fluffy tail in place of the rabbit's cottonball one before she managed to scurry away, her waddle slowing her down as more of the animals closed in on their chase.

Fluttershy tried to use her knowledge of the Everfree to get away from her pursuers, clambering up a small log and then using it to run along and get over a river, but the animals followed her without any difficulty – and, worse, the log seemed to be a lot more unstable than she remembered. Her waddling run didn't help, either, and she nearly fell in the river herself before making it to the far side.

Taking off into the woods in a hurry, she winced as the fluffy tail and puffy rump of her newly merged sleeper threw off most of her skill as an athlete – then that turned into an audible squeak as she tried to stop, missed her grip because of the sleeper's hoof-coverings, and slithered into a cave.

Squeaks surrounded her, from hundreds of bats, and she saw them unfurling a huge, poofy bat-sleeper. Or was it a bat-pony sleeper? She wasn't sure, and tried to get away before they got her into the sleeper, but she was only partly successful – by the time she left the cave, her right wing was covered in thick, plushy material which made it useless.

If she'd been in less of a panic, the naturalist could have appreciated the wonderfully stitched alar phalanges on the wing – but she was, so she just tried to avoid the horde of animals chasing her.

“Oh, this is terrible,” she said to herself quietly. “All these animals wanting to put me in their costumes… if they'd only asked, then maybe-”

A pair of eagles swept down on her as she came to a small cliff, and the unzipped back of an eagle sleeper loomed before her. She was too late to not jump, but managed to nearly miss – only one of her wings dipping into the sleeper, and when she landed there was a big, heavy-plush eagle wing across her left wing.

Now with a cushy rump, fluffy tail, two plushy wings and a puffy front, Fluttershy was finding it increasingly hard to move fast – but, for some reason, she was still able to move a little faster than the collection of animals. Some of them were moving faster than the others, but whenever she looked back they were just a little closer than the edge of her vision.

Then a big, glitter-sparkly Canis Minor loomed up in front of her.

Fluttershy squeaked with fright as she tried to skid to a halt. Her rear fell to the ground with a puff, her hooves scrambling to stop her sliding forward. The Canis Minor leaned down, his snout booping into Fluttershy's as she came to a stop. She gave a nervous grin up at the glittering celestial beast, patting its muzzle. "Uhm... nice, wolfy?" She tried. The wolf simply licked her, Fluttershy's mane folding up backwards from its tongue sliding along her. While she was dazed, the creature attempted to pull another sleeper over her head. It wasn't until the hood had come down and it was trying to force her legs into the appropriate sleeves that Fluttershy regained her senses. Standing up, she bolted, not noticing as the hood tore away from the sleeper to leave her with a sparkly hood, adorned with two fluffy ears to cover her own. Coming to a small cliff, Fluttershy tried to flap her suited wings, but it did nothing except cause several soft flumps of fabric against her side. She whimpered, looking over her shoulder to see the others gaining on her. In a desperate attempt to escape, Fluttershy reached up, hoisting herself up a few rocks away from the creatures. It wasn't too long before the sea of fluffy animals were below her, all clambering to try and suit her up as well. Fluttershy continued to climb higher, jumping off of the backs and heads of some of the animals as she did. "Oh, goodness, I'm sorry!" She cried with each jump, knocking a few of the smaller animals down onto the others. She reached the top of the cliff, and was just about to pull herself up onto it when a manticore leapt up, its suit fluttering in the breeze. It only just missed Fluttershy, one of the hind legs brushing up against her own. Despite her hoof never having entered the sleeper, the fabric melded together to give her a comically oversized lion paw and hind leg before the Manticore fell down, tumbling into the crowd of stuffed animals below. Fluttershy wriggled her wide rear as she scrambled to reach the top of the cliff, hoping she had finally managed to escape her pursuers.

Panting, the puffy-posterior pegasus rested on her rump for a few seconds, then got up and made her way away from the edge of the cliff. There was a cave in front of her, and that looked like it would help…

It was hard to stay silent, despite her best careful, meek tread as she waddled along. The slightest disturbance to the super-puffy rear of her suit made it make a crackly, crinkly sound, and to the jumpy Fluttershy it seemed as though the sound was loud enough to echo off the cave walls.

She glanced back to see if there were any animals following her with more costumes, but saw no sign of them – or, oddly enough, an exit.

“I must have gone around a corner...” she said to herself, feeling a little weak at the knees, and kept walking.

After a little longer, the cave began to slope steadily downwards. Fluttershy looked over her shoulder, looking past her puffy bat-wing to see if anything was following her.

When the floor of the tunnel abruptly turned smooth, her padded hoof in a plushy mole-paw came down on it as if it was normal stone – and promptly slipped, sending her tumbling over with a squeak and sliding down the long tunnel until she came to rest against a pile of small soft toys.

Barely had Fluttershy begun to stand up again when a large, soft-looking dragon advanced on her – carrying a large, soft-looking dragon sleeper with butterscotch fur and pink ridges.

It looked a lot like a dragon version of her, actually, and kind of cute – but after so long already, Fluttershy squeaked and tried to run for it. The dragon's tail came flicking out to pick her up, and Fluttershy wasn't able to move very fast – but the pegasus got turned around, and the dragon's grip on the sleeper slipped, so Fluttershy dropped on top of it as it landed on the other side of the cave.

This turned out to have another slide, and Fluttershy and the dragon sleeper slid deeper into the mountain as Fluttershy tried to pull her right front hoof out of the right front limb of the dragon costume.

Her efforts appeared fruitless, though, as despite all her tugging and yanking, all she succeeded in doing was pull the arm of the suit away from the rest of the dragon styled cloth. Her right hoof now bound in a thick, fluffy dragon claw, Fluttershy slid further down the smooth rock slide. Her rear bumped off a few rocks, bouncing the Pegasus up and down as she slid away. The rest of the dragon suit began snagged on the path, leaving Fluttershy slipping alone down the path.

Then, suddenly, with the sound like bouncing off a satin trampoline, Fluttershy fell into a dark cavern. She rebounded a few times, her rear crinkling as she did before coming to a rest on the peak of a very soft mound. Looking around, Fluttershy's hooves pressed into the ground as she tried to make out what it was she was standing on. Her hooves pressed into the soft material, which shifted a little and began to glow. The glow grew brighter and brighter, and it was quickly revealed Fluttershy was standing atop of the rear of a sleeping Ursa Minor. Seams ran along its belly and rear, each shift sounding like a pillow being fluffed. The large starry bear gumbled, its snores echoing around the room as it blinked, slowly waking up.

Fluttershy tried to remain still, but every little move of the Ursa below caused her to shift to keep her balance, only poking it more. The beast roared crankily, lifting its head up to look at the small thing standing on its rear. Fluttershy's legs shook as she stared down the monster, lowering herself to try to appear less threatening. Not that she really did in the first place, with her oversized rear and hodge-podge of fluffy animal parts making up her suit. The Ursa licked its lips, staring at Fluttershy as it grinned a bit, plush toothy grin. Fluttershy was about to jump off of its rear and try to run for an exit when a claw suddenly reached down and plucked her up by her tail. Wiggling about in the air, Fluttershy whimpered as the bear brought her closer and closer to its open mouth.

Dangling her over its plush maw, the bear released its grip and Fluttershy fell down into the plush interior of its belly. Starry walls squeezed in all around, massaging and pressing in on Fluttershy, silencing her squeaks of fright as she slipped down, down, down, into its seemingly bottomless fluffy belly. The Ursa yawned, curling back up as it prepared to fall back asleep after its midnight snack.

Back in her cottage, Fluttershy snuggled into her covers – her costume, a collection of animal parts so eclectic that it made her look like Discord's long-lost fluffy plushy cousin, making it so the blanket was barely big enough to cover her.

She shifted a little in her sleep, rolling over, and sighed without waking up.

Some miles away, Trixie Lulamoon – the Magus of Mirth, the Spellcaster of Spectacle, and a Performer who did Parties – trotted her way along a street on the outskirts of Poningham.

“Well, Trixie must admit – even to herself – that that was a good performance,” she said, a spring in her step. She was finally getting back into her groove – especially since, after some experiments, she'd discovered that she didn't even have to fictionalize her accounts of dealing with Twilight Sparkle to have a fine story!

Well, maybe she did tweak it. A little. It was still about the Alicorn Amulet, and the one who used it was still defeated – it was just not quite so clear who had used it.

Trixie's happy thoughts were interrupted by a strange, clothy sound.

“What was that?” she demanded, slowing to a halt. “Who disturbs Trixie?”

There was no reply, but the clothy sound came again. Trixie's horn flickered, and she sent a light spell out into the distance.

For a long moment, nothing moved. Then there was a sudden shake of a bush.

“Aha!” Trixie announced. “You cannot hide from the Cunning and Observant Trixie! Reveal yourself!”

Another shake of a bush. Then a head poked out – one about the same size as her entire body, and pointed, with a triangular muzzle and a pair of pointed ears all covered in dark fur.

Trixie spotted that the fur was interrupted by little glittering lights, and realization struck her – this was a star beast. Not one of the big ones – the Zodiacs – but still large enough to worry her.

Then it fixed its gaze on her, and came moving out of the bush with a sudden, flowing speed.

Trixie realized belatedly that there was just a long, hard brick wall on the other side of her – there was no easy escape, as the fox-like form of a Vulpecula came bounding up to her.

And yet, somehow, she noticed that it seemed to have seams.

Unfortunately, these realizations didn't help Trixie as her horn flared up in an attempt to push the Vulpecula away. Before her spell had managed to take full form, the star-fox leapt upon Trixie, opening its jaws wide. Trixie's startled yelps were quickly muffled by the clothy maw of the animal as it pounced onto her. It easily scooped Trixie up into its mouth, its cheeks bulging out comically as the fox gnawed upon the pony inside. Trixie would have found the feeling rather tickling had she not been worried about the passage at the back of the Fox's throat down to its plush stomach. One that she was being pushed to worringly quickly now that she noticed. With a large gulp, the Vulpecula swallowed Trixie down, a bulge sliding down its throat before landing softly in its gut, causing his belly to balloon outwards somewhat. Trixie wiggled around inside the fox's belly as it pat its gut. Then, with belch, Trixie's hat popped out of its jaws, landing on the ground in front of it. Curious, the Vulpecula sniffed at the hat before picking it up and placing it atop its own stuffed head and turning about, waddling back into the bushes as its meal squirmed about in his comfy gut.

Author's Note

That's the thing about dreams, they're just odd sometimes.