Twilight's Dream Voyage

“Darling!” Rarity called. “What do we do?”

Applejack looked up with considerable surprise, and her lasso slipped a little – letting Big Mac go closer to the pitcher – before yanking hard and winning back most of the ground she'd lost. “Well, ah'm surprised y'all are here on a day like this!”

“We're here to help!” Spike volunteered, puffing his chest out a bit – and nearly falling over, as his diaper tried to pull him backwards. Blushing, he steadied himself. “Um... right! What kind of help do you need?”

“Help?” Applejack repeated. “Well, if you're askin', ah wouldn't say no t' some kinda decoys...”

“Decoys?” Rarity gasped. “Why would you need decoys!”

Applejack gave the lasso another tug, seeming to be winning the battle with the vines right now. “Ah need t' get the shears from the barn over there, but it's plumb covered in these darn plants!”

Rarity looked over at the barn, seeing all kinds of crinkly plants surrounding it – from pitchers to diaper-dews to what looked a lot like an oversized venus flytrap refitted with a diaper in place of spiked jaws.

“Well... if we must,” she sighed.

They began to hurry back over to the barn (Rarity wondered, hadn’t they just come from there?), Applejack continuing to fight against the vines as Big Mac squirmed against the crinkly vines. The barn was almost completely covered in the vines, the door blocked by a mass of tendrils as they hurried up to it. Spike looked up, trying to find some way into the barn. He spotted the window new the top, and waddled over to a puffy mushroom to try and climb up to the window. As he put his weight on the plush material, though, the mushroom suddenly swelled, taking in air before puffing out a large cloud of foal powder. Spike stumbled backwards, wobbling as his mind swam from the powder. It was easy for a vine to reach up and curl around him, squeezing him tightly and begin to drag him towards one of the fly traps.

Rarity glanced over, gasping as she spotted Spike being carried away once again. She tried to conjure up thread to pin down the vines, but something seemed to block her magic. Her eyes crossed as she looked up at her horn, a crinkly spore stuck to the end. It puffed up slowly, siphoning her magic as vines around began to grow thick and crinklier, threatening to swallow Rarity up as they surrounded her.

Meanwhile, Pinkie was still bouncing about with her tangle of vines, sliding down them as they all twisted themselves in knots in an attempt to capture her. As Pinkie jumped through a loop of vines, Rarity’s magic suddenly flowed along it, plumping them up to catch her mid-flight. “Uh oh, I think these crinkle-seeds mean business now!” She cried out, wiggling her padded rear as more vines began to surround her, twisting and tying themselves to bind Pinkie up.

All four of the dream-travellers were now in trouble, and struggling as best they could. Pinkie found herself bound up by the knees of all four legs, and a much thicker loop encircled her around her waist – the squishy spikes keeping it from getting closer than an inch from her body, but still able to hold her easily from the sheer bulk of her diaper.

“Curses!” Pinkie sighed dramatically, still wiggling. “My padded Pinkie plot is my weakness!”

“Pinkie, that's not helping!” Rarity called. “Can't you do something to – agh!”

She tried to flare her magic again, but all that did was make the spores around her horn get thicker and denser. They wrapped around her horn from all sides, smothering it in padded material, and already the vines were starting to do the same to her legs.

They squeezed in on her padding, the feelings that produced distracting Rarity and making it harder for her to concentrate on perhaps breaking free some other way. As she tried to perhaps scrape the puffy spore off her horn, she spotted Spike being pulled into the diaper-trap – which promptly clamped shut around his waist, but the diaper was so oversized it reached up nearly to his armpits.

“H-hey!” the dragon protested, starting to recover, but then got another dose of foal-powder from a nearby rose-like flower. The scent wormed into his nose, making it hard for him to concentrate on something that didn't involve warm snuggles and happy padding.

“Ah... guess that might count as a distraction?” Applejack allowed, watching as Rarity's magic continued to empower the crinklevines. “But it ain't good for no chances of handlin' this easy.”

Meanwhile, Twilight tried to think of some way to get out of their predicament.

She could hear most of what was going on, though it was hard to see anything but diaper all around her. Perhaps she needed to try a spell... a teleport?

Twilight’s horn began to light up, surrounding herself in magic as she prepared the spell. With a ping!, she vanished, and popped back near the others. Unfortunately, not only had she teleported, but so had several of the puffy, crinkly diaper dew blots. Twilight flopped down to the ground, struggling to right herself as the sticky padding clung to her coat. “Twilight! Hurry up and grab mah shears, they’re in the barn!” Applejack shouted, still tugging on the vines as she spoke. Unfortunately, as she shouted to Twilight, her grip had loosened enough that the rope quickly slipped from between her teeth. Big Mac let out a yelp of fright as he was suddenly flung forward, falling directly into one of the pitcher plants. The plush plant bulged outwards as the stallion struggled to free himself, the sounds of crinkles emanating from within the trap.

Applejack hurried over to try and free her brother, but felt something tugging on her tail. Yet another vine was twisted around her, dragging her back towards yet another Venus fly trap diaper. The plant scooped her up, wrapping a thick, black diaper around her waist. Applejack tugged and yanked on the bindings to try and free herself, everypony well stuck in the crinkly vines.

Twilight winced as both the Apples got caught as well, and confirmed that she was the only one relatively free to act – then saw the vines coming for her as well, surging forwards and with one of them actually clutching one of those powder-sprinkling mushrooms.

Realizing it would be bad to be caught again, Twilight readied a second teleportation spell. Then the vines arrived just as she cast the spell, and some puffy spores scattered over her horn.

Twilight panicked at the sight, and poured far more magic into the teleport than she would normally consider to be safe – and it worked, enough power getting past the effects of the spores to allow her to translocate anyway.

The alicorn appeared inside the barn, at least four feet off the ground, and fell perhaps a foot before landing on something soft with a flumph.

Twilight tried to shake her head, to clear it, but found she couldn't – the puffy material of the spores had absorbed a huge amount of magic, and it had grown around her as a kind of crinkly, fleecy suit so thick it held her off the ground.

The Princess of Magic groaned under her breath, blushing profusely at the situation, then saw her way out – the shears Applejack had mentioned!

She could still move a bit, so perhaps that would let her get out of this?

Twilight tried to waddle forwards, but the suit was so thick and puffy she flopped down to the floor again and was forced to crawl. Inch by inch she moved, the shears sitting, just a few feet away. Twilight whiiiiined as she tried to reach them, her horn lighting up as she instinctively tried to pick up the shears. This only led to her suit rumbling, then puffing up with a floomp! Twilight continued to crawl forwards, just barely able to move. She reached up, trying to pull the shears closer. As she did, her suit poked into the edge, and there was a sudden rush of foal powder as the suit deflated. The barn began to fill with powder, Twilight closing her eyes as she swiped the shears and burst through the barn doors. She began to snip wildly, cutting the crinkly, plush vines in a frenzy to free the others.

She managed to snip the stalk of the fly trap holding Spike, causing him to tumble to the ground in his thick diaper, bouncing along and rolling to where Pinkie was wiggling about in her own bindings. “Twilight, be careful!” Rarity called out as she was being cut free, the magic fading slightly as the vines edged away from the unicorn. It wasn’t too long before Twilight had managed to free Pinkie and Applejack as well, leaving the five gathered in a circle as the vines crawled away from them.

“Alright, let’s get out of here!” Twilight said, preparing her spell to leave.

“What about Big Mac?” Applejack asked. The turned to see the pitcher plant Big Mac was stuck in, which now looked like it had swollen to twice its size. The seams strained to hold in the pony, and with the sound of tearing fabric, Big Mac flopped out, now wearing a bright blue diaper so large his hind legs couldn’t even reach the ground. Applejack tried not to notice, but the stallion had a bright blush, and seemed to be flicking his tail back and forth happily. “Uh… you gonna be alright?” She asked.

Big Mac nodded, glancing over to see several more vines approach, crinkling and puffing as they did. “Eeyup.” He nodded, blush brightening as he was suddenly tangled up in the vines once more, feeling them squeeze and rub his thick, squishy diaper.

“...ah, ah don't rightly know what t' say,” Applejack admitted.

“If it helps, this is actually a dream,” Twilight said, then shook her head. “Actually, no, now I come to think of it... that doesn't help...”

“Dream?” Applejack repeated, then blushed slightly. “All right, which one a' you came up with this idea for a dream?”

“We think it's something to do with Nightmare Moon,” Twilight said. “More than that, we're not sure.”

She lit her horn to cast the dreamwalk spell, and got no objections – partly because Applejack was glancing back at her brother again. Then there was a flash, and they dropped out of that dreamscape.

Reappearing in the confusing world between dreams, Twilight raised her voice. “Everypony still here?”

“Well, Mac ain't,” Applejack said, looking around. “What d' we do?”

“Think of... Dash, next,” Twilight decided. “Everyone concentrate on Rainbow Dash! We need to find which one her dream is, so we can rescue her from it!”

They began to walk through the nothingness of the astral plane, then suddenly lurched sideways towards another dream bubble. Most of them staggered, though Pinkie jumped into the air and did what would have been a perfect dive had she not insisted on going diaper-first.

She hit the dream with a flicker of light, and the others followed a moment later.

The sound of thudding music suddenly met their ears, and the group found themselves materializing onto a multicolored floor. Smoke rolled in around them, the music banging away as they found themselves standing in the center of a nightclub dance floor. “Aaaalright! Dash definitely knows how to dream!” Pinkie cried, pumping her hoof into the air. She immediately started to dance and wiggle her rear to the beat of the tune, grinning widely as she took in the atmosphere. The others wandered towards the edge of the dance floor, noticing as a few other pony patrons all began to walk out onto the floor as well. As expected, they were all in puffy diapers, though ones not quite as thick as they would have assumed. Many wore pacifiers around their necks, glow bracelets and necklaces shining in the dim light of the club. A couple suckled on their pacifiers, bouncing their padded rears into each other as they danced about.

Sitting up on a stage at the other end of the dance floor was a pony in headphones and bright violet glasses, her hooves running along the musical controls in front of her to pump the music up further. “Great, how are we going to find Dash in here?” Twilight complained. The dim lighting and mess of colors made it almost impossible to pick out anypony among the crowd.

“What's the hurry?” Pinkie asked. “Come on, Twi! This is the first time we've been in one of these dreams where we can actually relax!”

“That's not really my idea of relaxing,” Twilight countered, wincing at the thudding bass beat which seemed designed to be heard from as far away as possible.

“Have you ever triiiied?” Pinkie said, tilting her head to one side. “Huh? I bet you've never had a crinkly rave before!”

“...you don't have to try everything to be sure you're not a fan,” Twilight said, looking out at the flashing lights and listening to the music.

She had to admit, it wasn't that bad. Not really – not as bad as she'd been thinking, at any rate.

The music pulsed in her ears, surrounding her. Oddly soothing.

“That's more like it!” Pinkie giggled.

Twilight realized she'd started to shake her tush to the beat, and blushed. “Uh... I didn't mean to...”

She stopped talking, wondering why she'd been objecting.

Bright lights flashed, and the music played.

A dance sounded nice... just for a minute...

Twilight wandered out onto the dance floor again, finding her rear bouncing in time with the music again. Pinkie laughed, playfully bouncing her own diaper up against Twilight’s, causing her to stumble a bit. But, not really a bad stumble, more like an unexpected dance move. Twilight couldn’t help but giggle in return, swishing her tail back and forth as she nodded her head to the music. She suppose this wasn’t really that bad, maybe she should listen to more of Dash’s music suggestions.

As Pinkie and Twilight danced, Rarity and Applejack looked over to each other, confused. Twilight was most definitely the exact opposite type of pony that would enjoy this kind of club. Yet there she was, dancing along to the music happily. As Applejack looked around, she noticed a bar a few feet away, ponies sitting atop the stools in thick padding. She suddenly realized she was feeling rather thirsty. Even if this was a dream, grabbing a drink or two probably wouldn’t hurt. She began to wander towards the bar, leaving Spike and Rarity alone.

“May I have this da-“

“No, Spike.”

Spike’s ears flopped down in dismay as he kicked at the ground a bit. Suddenly the music began to bang a little louder, the DJ shouting out above it to the crowd. “Alright everypony, who’s ready to pump this party up?” He shouted, cranking the volume up. There was cheer in response, everypony getting more into the groove. Even Twilight barely noticed that her padding seemed to be puffing and rumbling along with the music, and the dance floor seemed just the tiniest bit bouncier than it had been moments ago.

One of the other ponies dancing to the music bumped up against Twilight, his crinkly rear mashing into hers for a moment, but Twilight barely noticed – except as part of the normal dance, that is.

The padded-up stallion looped a pacifier around her neck, then vanished into the crowd, and Twilight inspected it with a confused look.

This seemed kind of odd...

The music got louder, thumping beats resonating in her head, and she stopped wondering about it in favour of nodding her head to the beat – dancing, and crinkling, just like she wanted to. It seemed so much simpler to just dance rather than worrying about silly things like that, especially because after a moment she started to give the pacifier a suckle – and she couldn't do that without her pacifier!

While Twilight was dancing, increasingly dazed as she did so, Applejack was ordering a drink.

It turned out that the drinks were on the house, which might have been suspicious but Applejack was too thirsty to care – and the choice was quite good! There was warm milk, chocolate milk, or apple juice, all of which sounded great to her, and the drinks even came in a 'party-safe cup” with a top that wouldn't spill it if she dropped it.

Applejack thought, nodding her head absently to the music, and decided to get a large apple-juice – mostly to see whether it was as good as hers.

The bartender reached under the bar and pulled up a cup of apple juice, handing it over to the orange mare. Applejack took the cup and tried to take a swig. Only a small amount of juice seemed to flow through, making her brow furrow. She gave an experimental suck, and was treated to a mouthful of sweet, tangy apple juice. Her eyes went wide as she drank the juice down. She couldn’t think if she had ever had juice this good! She had to see if the club was willing to share the recipe. Suckling on the cup, Applejack leaned back into her chair, her diaper crinkling as she did. Gulping the drink down, she hardly noticed that the cup never seemed to grow emptier, letting her continue to drink and drink and drink. Not that she minded, really, it was very good juice. She squirmed a bit in her seat, growing a bit of belly as she drank, a pressure starting to slowly build between her legs as she guzzled the drink up.

“Well, I suppose we could at least go looking for Rainbow Dash,” Spike suggested, figuring that spending time with Rarity at the club would be better than moping. As he looked back to spot her, though, he found Rarity’s gaze drawn towards a group of mares in flashy, glowing diapers. Their padding shone softly in the light, matching the glowsticks dangling from their necks and hooves, forming a swirl of colors as they shook and bounced their rumps together.

“Rarity?” Spike asked. “What do you think-”

“Just look at that, Spike,” Rarity interrupted. “Don't you think it's a wonderful display of colour and motion?”

Spike followed her gaze, seeing the mares and their prismatic padding – swirling and flickering as they danced and bounced.

It looked kind of odd, but a good odd – the kind of odd where he could probably spend a long time looking at it.

The music played in the background, and Spike blinked. It seemed like he'd been looking for a while, and he should probably stop – after all, he had something to do... right?

Because he was looking at the mares, however, he missed Rarity's reaction. If Spike had stared for a bit, Rarity was almost ogling, and her stare was a little glassy as she tried to follow all the colours at once as they went around and around – back, forth, up and down, moving with the motion of the dancers and keeping her trying to follow their movements.

She was starting to move with them, unconsciously imitating their flashy dance – moving with the music as they moved with it, not bothering to think about it so she could just keep watching...

Applejack put down her cup, and blushed as she felt a strong pressure in her bladder.

“Uh... where's the little fillies' room?” she asked. “I... kinda need t' go...”

The bartender's reply was one she couldn't quite remember, the pulsing beat of the music drowning out most of what he said even as he said it, but Applejack distinctly remembered it being a very good answer – she didn't need to leave to go, she could just go and stay here.

Something like that.

She leaned back into her chair, placing her hooves on the front of her diaper. The pressure was still building, and Applejack bit her lip as it grew and grew. Suddenly she felt the pressure release, and she let out a long sigh as her diaper grew warm and squishy. A light blush crossed her face as she felt her padding swell, lifting her up in the chair a bit higher. “Mmm, I really could go for more of that juice now…” She licked her lips, reaching forward to grab a now oversized baby bottle full of the drink.

Meanwhile Pinkie and Twilight were still dancing about on the floor, bouncing their rumps and having their rumps bumped by all the ponies swaying around them. The floor seemed to be growing wobblier and bouncier, but that only made Pinkie giggle as her dance moves became more haphazard and silly. She eventually tumbled onto her front, only to land with a surprising squeak into the floor. The panels of the ground shifted color as she bounced back up in the air, laughing wildly as she grabbed her hind hooves and began to bounce about on her padded rear. Twilight flopped onto her own rear at the sight, giggling as she proceeded to bounce about as well. The music echoed all around, the ponies bouncing in time with the beat as the squeaky floor seemed to propel them higher and higher in the air. The back of Twilight’s mind wondered if there was something she was supposed to be doing, but the music and the bouncing pushed that though quickly out, replacing it with the fun of dancing and leaping about with all the others.

It was hard to tell how long the dream-travellers danced, drank, partied and stared.

The beat of the music never seemed to change, keeping them in the moment as if it was all one long song. Everything was a riot of colour and sound, physical sensations and mental stimulation and dancing and crinkling and drinking and wetting...

Nothing else mattered but to enjoy, as the music smoothed away all thoughts to the contrary.

Eventually, there was a stir on the dance floor, and Twilight began to come back to herself a little – shaken out of the head-space by the difference and by the slight reduction in the volume of the music.

She squeezed back against the wall with the others, enjoying the squish-crinkle of her diaper as she did so, but at the same time she was aware something was... off...

Then she saw the newest pony to join the dance, strutting in with a cocky grin on her face as the DJ told everypony the guest of honour had arrived.

It was... a pony who looked familiar, Twilight knew, as she tried to work out where she knew them from. Then there was a sudden blare of the music again, and her frown relaxed as she realized who it was.

It was a Wonderbutt, of course! That blue-and-yellow suit, that huge padded diaperbutt... they all made it so obvious!

Pulsing beats resonated in her ears as the ravers – Twilight among them – came surging in to dance with the Wonderbutt. Her butt was so puffy, it was great fun to join in!

The Wonderbutt shook her thickly padded rear, each swish and sway causing her padding to crinkle cutely. Twilight tried to get closer to the Wonderbutt. She just had to see her, she’d never been up close and personal with a celebrity like one before! Of course, this was a bit harder to do than she had hoped, as every other pony around was trying to do the same, each dancing about as they piled around the suited up mare. Pinkie was still bouncing about on her own rump, her tail flicking back and forth as she jumped up and began to bounce along the padded rumps of all the other ponies. She giggled, quickly making her way towards the Wonderbutt where she landed on top of her diaper. “Say, that’s quite the padding you’ve got there, Wonderbutty!” She said, wiggling her rear. The Wonderbutt just laughed confidently, tossing Pinkie up in the air as she had to her teammates so many times before. Giggles and snorts emanated from the pink pony as she was tossed up in the air, the Wonderbutt keeping her tumbling about with expert skill. As the celebrity tossed her rear upwards, Twilight noticed the brightly colored tail flicking up as well. Even in the colorful haze of the rave, it was easy to see the pony’s rainbow patterned hair. Rainbow… why was that important? Twilight wondered. She was sure she knew somepony that had rainbow something or other, right? And she was fan of the Wonderbutts?

Suddenly something clicked in Twilight’s mind, and despite the thudding of the music, the cheers of all the ponies around, and the flashing lights, her thoughts were crystal clear. “Rainbow Dash! We’ve got to get you out of here!”

“Huh?” Dash asked, confused, and bounced Pinkie off her rump – making the padded party pony hit the wall and carom off to crinkle-crowdsurf across the room. “What's that?”

She kept moving to the beat, seemingly without any conscious intent behind it – just because the music was there, so she was going to dance to it.

Twilight found her eyes drawn to Dash's swaying diaperbutt, then shook her head – closing her eyes for a moment, trying to drive out the insidious influence of the club. “Dash! This isn't right – the club is trying to hypnotize us! To control us!”

She took one determined step towards Dash, and then the DJ tweaked the music again.

A new beat pulsed out, and the ponies on the dancefloor started to move like a wave – waggling their diapered rumps up and down in sequences which rippled out from Dash, creating a kind of current which pulled Twilight along and began to force her away from her friend.

Applejack looked up at the sound of Twilight's voice, feeling drowsy after so much sweet juice, and spotted the two ponies at the middle of the commotion on the dance floor.

“Huh,” she said, head nodding in time with the thumping music. “That's one padded pony, hoo-wee...”

Of course, Applejack hadn’t taken notice of just how padded she had become either. Sitting atop her swollen diaper, she sat a couple feet above the bar as she balanced precariously on the barstool. Her padding sloshed as she rocked back and forth, watching as Twilight struggled against the current of fluff, trying desperately to reach Dash in the middle of the floor. Pinkie surfed by, bopping Twilight playfully on her diaper, causing the alicorn to blush. Absent mindedly suckling on her baby bottle of juice, Applejack rolled off her seat, taking wide steps towards Twilight as her bloated diaper forced her to waddle. “Need some help, Twi?” Applejack asked, her own rear swaying up and down in time with the others as Twilight was pushed out of the crowd and onto her back. Twilight stared up at Applejack, watching her guzzle the juice, her padding swelling steadily outwards as she wet it once again.

“If you could get me through the others, that would help. You probably shouldn’t be drinking that, though.” Twilight pointed out.

“How come?” Applejack asked as Twilight got to her hooves.

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but for some reason, she couldn’t think of a good reason why Applejack shouldn’t be drinking the juice. If she liked it, there’s no harm in it, right? “Where’s Rarity?” She eventually managed out. Applejack shrugged, still bobbing her rear up and down, causing her padding to cartoonishly slosh some more.

She looked up to spot Rarity standing amongst a gaggle of ponies, each of them in thick, glowing diapers. “Ah, there she is!” Applejack began to waddle through the crowd towards her. Twilight tried to follow after, but the other ponies’ shifting rears only buffeted her around. In a desperate attempt to stick to Applejack, Twilight wrapped her hooves around the farm pony’s tail, squishing into her thick diaper as she led Twilight through the crowd.

Rarity was having the time of her life!

The ponies all around her had such daring, open fashion statements in their diapers – and in their pacifiers – and everywhere she looked she saw more colours flashing and more neon glows!

It was all so delightfully retro, and her eyes danced with the colours that flashed all around her even as her own diaper crinkled with the effects of her magic.

With every beat of the music, she modified the pattern she was drawing on her own diaper in the same neon lights – but she wasn't going to settle for just one colour, she wanted them all for a truly prismatic effect!

The effect it had on Spike was huge, with the diapered dragon staring at Rarity's rainbow-spiral rear as it shifted like a kaleidoscope. The sparkling colours chased any thoughts away from his mind, letting the music in to fill it up.

Fortunately for Twilight, she hadn't looked at Rarity's area of the room for long, and the colours shimmering in her eyes faded after a moment. She clung on to Applejack as the more-padded earth pony forged ahead through the crowd, until finally they were close enough for Twilight to jump on top of Rainbow's Wonderbutts suit.

“Rainbow, listen!” she said. “We need to get you out of here – this isn't real, it's a nightmare, and it's trying to trap us in it!”

“A nightmare?” Rainbow repeated. “If it's a nightmare, how come I'm one of the Wonderbutts? Huh?”

“Dash, since when have you ever wanted to be a Wonderbutt?” Twilight shouted over the music. Rainbow Dash stood still, staring at Twilight in confusion for a moment. Her eyes slowly drifted down to Twilight’s rear, noticing the thick padding wrapped around it. She was about to say something when another pony swung their rear into Dash’s, making her own diaper crinkle. Rainbow’s face turned a bright red as she glanced over her shoulder to see her swollen, puffy padding under her suit.

“Gaaah! What in Celestia am I doing in a diaper?” She cried. Her hooves scrambled to find the zipper to the flight suit she was wearing, only to realize there was none. Bouncing nervously on her hooves, Dash glanced back and forth, whining at all the ponies around. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, everypony’s gonna see me like this! What if Spitfire’s here?!” She said, glancing around in a panic.

“Welcome back to reality, Dash. Er, well, as real as things can be… you know what, it’s not important.” Twilight shook her head, wrapping a hoof around Dash’s neck to help drag her towards the others. Her horn lit up as magic surrounded Pinkie’s tail, pulling the party pony along with them.

“Awww, you’re no fun…” Pinkie whined as they met up with Rarity, Applejack, and Spike.

“Oh, darling, I’m so glad you’ve made it here, these ponies have given me the most excellent idea for a new line of diapers, they’ll be all the rage among the hip crowd!” Rarity began to spout off. Twilight shook her head, trying to keep it as clear as she could. Come on, Twilight, focus… Her horn began to alight as she prepared to cast them out of the dream.

The spell built up, then faded as Twilight's eyes were drawn magnetically to Rarity's rainbow-rear.

It was like the swirling pattern broke through all her defences as it spun and shimmered, and the beat of the music rushed back all over again – filling her head and making her wonder why she'd ever wanted to leave – why she'd ever thought of leaving-

Then a big blue rump placed itself in between her and Rarity, and Twilight blinked as the swirling pattern faded from her eyes.

“Come on, Twi!” Dash called, sitting herself firmly in the way. “Whatever that spell was, do it!”

“Right!” Twilight agreed, and the spell built up again.

The DJ played something new, and ponies came rushing in towards them – then Twilight's dreamwalking spell took effect, and the club faded away.

Dash sighed in relief as the Wonderbutts suit disappeared, then groaned as her diaper refused to follow. “Oh, come on!”

“I think we're pretty much stuck in diapers,” Twilight said, flushing a little over the subject. “But we just need to find Fluttershy – concentrate on Fluttershy!”

“I'm... oh... dreadfully sorry, dears,” Rarity told them, taking a step. Then there was a THUMP as her movement took away Spike's support, and he fell forwards onto the astral floor.

“It’s alright, Rarity. At least we’ll have everypony back together soon. Then we can start looking for Nightmare Moon and put a stop to all this… stuff.” Twilight responded, lacking a satisfying way to describe the oddities the group had experienced. The entourage began to walk once again through the dreamscape, Spike quickly picking himself up to waddle after the others. The world began to shift and change around them as they focused on Fluttershy, searching through the dreams to find her. With a flash, the group found themselves standing in what appeared to be some kind of visitor center. Pinkie immediately zipped away to look at a couple keychains hanging on a display stand, each one of some different kind of animal.

“Uh… are you sure this is Fluttershy’s dream? I dunno, I just thought it’d be a bit more… nature-y.” Rainbow Dash said, wandering over to a stand of mugs. Twilight looked equally confused, wondering if they had somehow gotten the wrong dream. There was the sound of beads clattering and a green earth pony wandered out from a back room to stand at the counter of the center.

“Oh, groovy, we’ve finally got some new guests. You’re all here to take the safari, right?” She asked, eyes half-shut. Everypony looked over to the mare, unsure of what to say. Pinkie quickly broke the awkward silence.

“Yeperooni! Six tickets to the best safari you’ve got!” She exclaimed.

The other pony chuckled, starting to lead them out of the center. “We’ve only got one, but whatever you say, party girl.”

“Why did you do that, Pinkie?” Twilight asked.

“Isn't it obvious?” Pinkie replied, giggling. “It's the plot of the dream, silly! We turn up in the dream, the dream offers us a safari, so that's where the plot of the dream is!”

She leaned in and spoke in a stage whisper. “Besides, Treehugger's totally the kind of pony Fluttershy would get along with! It's all in the script!”

“...sure, Pinkie,” Twilight said, deciding to let Pinkie Pie be Pinkie Pie. “So... uh, what kind of safari is this going to be?”

A moment later, they turned the corner – revealing their safari vehicle.

Dash's wings drooped. “What.”

“That's... certainly a bold vision,” Rarity said, trying to find something positive to say about it.

In front of them was a vehicle, like an enclosed cart – but the design of it made it look a little like a stroller, with a shelf at about head height for them to sit on and a rim of material around the shelf. It was a little harder to tell from their angle, but it looked like there was a sun-shield as well going around the top.

“This looks like something for a foal!” Dash burst out.

“Hey, mare, it's all practical, dig?” Treehugger said. “The shelf's so you get a better view, and it's got to be enclosed so the animals don't, you know, get too close and personal?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I suppose we should have expected something like this... well, we'd better get onboard.”

The ponies all waddled forward, their thick padding spreading their legs apart. Pinkie was the first to hoist herself up into the stroller-like vehicle, sitting down on the shelf. She leaned over the side to watch Rarity and Applejack attempt to lift themselves up into the seats as Twilight and Rainbow Dash simply hovered up into their respective seats. Treehugger was able to lift herself up to the front of the vehicle with surprising ease, sitting down to face the others as Rarity flopped into the stroller. “Alright, everypony’s in? Strap in, it’s gonna be a bit bumpy.” Treehugger recommended. Before the others could react, several seatbelts appeared from back of their seats, wrapping themselves around the ponies to squeeze them in.

Twilight wriggled about as her padding was squished by the straps, a light blush crossing her face as the vehicle began to slowly roll forwards. “So, how many of you have been on this safari with us before?” Treehugger asked, her voice making it unclear if she was genuinely interested or speaking from a script. Even if somepony had wanted to, they were unable to raise a hoof due to them being bound by the straps on their seats. “Oooh, a whole tour of newcomers, you’re in for a treat, then!” Treehugger turned about as the stroller continued to roll forwards, entering a field where several animals were mingling about. Only, they weren’t quite animals…

“Are those...” Dash began, staring.

“If y'all were about t' say diaper animals, then yep,” Applejack drawled, shifting in her cushy seat.

“I... don't know why I expected anything else,” Twilight admitted, staring at the crowd of cushy creatures.

She could see some big-bodied rhinos, two of them bumping their horns together and squishing the soft material with a chorus of crinkling. Next to them was a band of gazelles, bouncing through the brush in an up-and-down way.

It looked like there was a river off in the distance, but Twilight couldn't see anything in that direction yet – but she did have a very good view when a diapercritter cheetah suddenly dashed across the path, pursuing one of the gazelles.

“Are those cheetahs dangerous?” Twilight asked, looking over at Treehugger. “I know you said something about the animals getting frisky...”

“You don't need to worry about the cheetahs, dig?” Treehugger said, shrugging. “It's the monkeys and lions you've got to watch out for. And a few others, too.”

“This is awful!” Rarity burst out.

“What's that, now?” Treehugger asked. “It's just nature.”

“Not that!” Rarity clarified. “It's their texturing! It's dreadful! The material spoils their patterns, and it's not properly quilted to avoid that either!”

The stroller went over a bump in the ground as Rarity was getting ready to continue, bouncing them all out of their seats and then making them land again.

“Woo!” Pinkie giggled. “That's more like a ride! Again!”

The stroller went over another bump, making Pinkie giggle as everypony’s padding let out a puff of foal powder from the impact on their rears. They continued to roll across the field, drawing slowly closer to the river. A rickety bridge crossed a rather turbulent portion, Twilight trying to not look over the edge into the water below. “Oh, here’s a rare sight! There’s a few gazelles trying to cross the river!” Treehugger pointed out. The group turned their heads to see several gazelles gathered at the banks of the river, their crinkly hooves pattering nervously about. A few began to trot forwards. The water rushed along, splashing into them. As the crinkly creatures began to cross, their hides slowly swelled and bloated outwards, soaking up more and more water. They were forced to paddle slowly along, swelling ever larger as their crinkly bodies became squishy and sloshy.

Suddenly large splashes appeared and what looked to be two fat, swollen crocodiles jumped out of the water, gripping one of the squishy gazelles in their puffy teeth. The trio floated down the river, still growing as the crocodiles tried to keep a grip on the gazelle. They suddenly came to a stop, however, as their swollen behinds became lodged between large rocks, the gazelle being swept away as the crocodile’s rumps squished and squashed into each other, dripping with water. The gazelles that had made it across were now galloping away as fast as they could, their bellies and rears bloated and sloshy, leaving a trail of water behind them.

“Wait… why do we need to worry about the lions?” Rainbow Dash asked as her attention was drawn away from the fleeing animals.

“Well, it's nature,” Treehugger explained, trotting to one side of the stroller to point out into the brush – not that some of them could see, strapped into their seats as they were. “Most predators aren't strong enough to do this kind of thing – but lions, now, lions hunt in prides. You know?”

“Hunt?” Dash repeated. “You didn't tell us we might be hunted?”

She squirmed a little, blushing. “Not that I'm scared or anything!”

“I have to agree,” Twilight said. “This seems a little dangerous.”

“It's all about getting close to nature,” Treehugger shrugged, as they moved into the long grass. “See, lions lounge about most of the day, but what lions are really about is the hunting.”

“That sounds like us being hunted is a plan!” Spike complained. “If that's going to happen, at least let us out of these seats!”

He wriggled, trying to get clear, but nothing doing – the straps were locked tight, and all he did eas produce a storm of crinkling from his diaper.

The nearby underbrush rustled.

“I wouldn’t worry that much, though. They only go hunting around mid-day, and it’s only 11:30.” Treehugger said.

“You really think lions adhere that strict of a schedule?” Twilight asked, looking nervously around as she heard the rustle in the brush.

“Yeah, they aren’t Twilight.” Dash joked, trying to stay calm as well. The rustling grew louder, and Rarity peered nervously over the side, gulping as she imagined a lion ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

“There’s one right now!” Treehugger pointed out. Off in the distance, a fat lion was sitting atop a rock, his crinkly mane shifting about as he stretched and yawned. His tail flicked back and forth before he looked over, focusing on the stroller. Spike let out a yelp as the lion jumped off of its rock, dropping low into the grass.

The rustling only grew louder and louder, everypony looking about nervously except for Treehugger, who just leaned forward, trying to point out the lions. Then, in an instant, a lioness leapt out of the brush, tackling Treehugger. The pony squeaked as she was yanked down to the ground, the lioness licking and gnawing on the pony as she began to quickly work on gobbling the mare down into her plump, crinkly gut.

“What the – we've got to help her!” Twilight said, startled, and her horn lit up.

Nothing much happened, prompting Twilight to look up and spot that her horn had a little safety cap on it.

“Oh, this is just-” she began, then switched focus. “Treehugger! Are you okay?”

“What kind of question is that, Twi?” Dash asked. “Does she look okay?”

“Is it me...” Spike began, “...or... is the stroller still moving?”

“Darn straight it is,” Applejack confirmed.

“That means we're leaving Treehugger behind!” Spike said. “She's going to be stuck!”

“Maybe she should join the club!” Rarity countered tartly. “Her seatbelts are what's stopping us from helping her!”

Treehugger finally vanished into the plushy lioness, which licked its lips and bounced up and down once or twice. Then it passed out of their line of sight, mostly because of the stroller's continued movement.

“...well, I guess we're stuck here,” Twilight said. “I hope the seatbelts come off at the end of the safari.”

The ponies continued to roll along, moving towards a thicket of trees. The light dimmed as they entered the small grove. Each pony was looking about nervously, worried the lions were close on their tails. Instead, though, the forest was eerily quiet, aside from the squeaking of the wheels. Then, a loud yell broke the silence, rustling coming from the treetops. The ponies’ gazes all turned upwards as Treehugger’s other warning reentered their minds. Unseen figures swung through the trees, but it was obvious just what they were as the stroller continued along. Pinkie leaned about, trying to catch a glimpse of the monkeys swinging about. With a swift motion, one suddenly dropped down, landing beside the pink pony. “Oooh, hello!” She said, giggling as the monkey’s crinkly belly pressed into her own.

Suddenly several more dropped down onto the others, all gathering around as they tugged and pulled at the bands. Twilight tried to cast a spell to blast some of them off instinctively, but nothing was conjured up. Tugging and yanking on their bindings, the monkeys tried to pull the ponies free to tug them back up into the canopy. “Heeeeelp!” Rarity shouted as a monkey squeezed a puffy paw into her padding.

“How did this safari ever get customers?” Dash asked, kicking away at one of the monkeys and making it produce a series of squeaky, crinkly noises.

“Dream, remember?” Twilight replied, squirming as three of the monkeys tried to pull her out of her own seat. “He-eey!”

The seatbelts themselves weren't giving way, no matter what the simians did, but there was an ominous creak from the structure of the stroller which suggested maybe there was a way around that.

“He-ey, that's no fun!” Pinkie complained. “You're not even trying to see if I'm ticklish! Two out of ten!”

“Really?” Dash asked, distracted from her crinkle-producing slap-fight. “You're complaining?”

“Bad ratings are how other customers know not to come!” Pinkie explained.

“I'm sorry, darlings, but I think you didn't hear me,” Rarity apologized. “I said HELP!”

Almost as soon as she shouted, however, there was a roar from nearby.

Strangely, it sounded like someone actually saying the word “roar” - just much louder. But that didn't make it less scary, at least to the monkeys – which stopped trying to pry up the seats and fled into the canopy, using convenient crinkle-vines as they went.

“Thank you,” Rarity said. “Who did that?”

“Not me,” Applejack told her.

“Nope!” Pinkie announced proudly.

“I wouldn't know where to start,” Twilight said. “Not without my magic.”

“Well, don't look at me,” Dash shrugged.

They all looked at Spike, and blinked – the dragon had a pacifier stuffed into his mouth to prevent him breathing fire, presumably something the monkeys did.

Then there was another roar, this one quieter – and almost apologetic.