FOAL 9000

“Wakey wakey, sleepyhead.”

A gentle push roused Twilight. Her vision blurred as her eyes opened. Where was she?

Fuzzy pastels were all she could see. They morphed into solid shapes soon enough. Bars. A crib. Her crib.

It came back to her.

No. Jolting upright, Twilight’s heart pounded with worry. She desperately hoped she was misremembering last night, because if she wasn’t…

“Morning Twily~”

She groaned. Mechanical, gloved hands dangled in front of her. A finger reached out and booped her nose, causing her to scrunch her snout.

“How’d my little filly sleep?”

She ignored the AI’s question and looked around. Still waking up, she had to rub her tired eyes first.

The nursery remained unchanged from the night before. That was a positive sign if nothing else was. If the AI had fiddled with the room without her permission that would be a clear indication something was wrong. Maybe last night had just been a glitch?

She shifted, and winced as an ache radiated from her backside. The ghost of last night’s spankings, here to haunt her.

“How’s your diapee, sweetie?” A hand descended into the crib, aiming for her padding. “You didn’t have to go tinkle last night, did you?”

Twilight grumbled a little at that. Even though she’d often not worry about stuff like that, today she definitely didn’t want to be treated like a foal. And luckily, she could feel dry padding against her coat.

Nevertheless the hand inspected her. Fingers sank into her diaper and pushed it deeply into her crotch. Twilight yelped, her libido kicking in. Last night had ended so unsatisfyingly on that front, and this cruel tease was a reminder of just how pent up she was.

And it wouldn’t even last. The hand retreated, feeling no dampness. Twilight was left to whimper with her now quivering marehood back to begging for release.

“Nice and dry!” The nursery cooed. “I’m so proud of you, honey.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. She tried to sit up, fighting the last vestiges of sleepiness. Unfortunately, her diaper was also fighting. Fighting to keep her down.

She’d forgotten how thick the Nighties were. It was basically an oversized pillow shoved between her legs. Trying to get up with it on was a no-go.

Thankfully the nursery knew her struggle. Hands lifted her up, her useless hind legs dangling two feet apart. They moved across the room and over to the high chair. Breakfast, of course.

But Twilight wasn’t in the mood for food. Or at least, not foal food. And if she was lucky she’d be able to get a normal breakfast this morning.

Her body flew away from the crib, the freedom of the carpet calling to her. Twilight started wiggling for her freedom, pushing against the two hands grabbing her from beneath the shoulders. It was a battle just to knock them away, but her wings were the deciding factor in the end. Unfurling them was enough to swat the tube-like arms of the nursery away.

Twilight dropped down, but with a feathery flap managed to stay airborne. The hands were slow to react, swiping at empty air in an attempt to solve the case of the vanishing foal.

She seized the opportunity. Flapping again, Twilight aimed for the failsafe button across the room. Her diaper didn’t make it easy, though. The extra weight and the way it made her hind legs spread and swing was difficult to get used to. She felt like a newly minted alicorn all over again, struggling to get the basics of flight down.

Only right now she couldn’t afford to be terrible at flying. The nursery’s arms were only confused for a second, before setting their sights back on her. The two snatched her out of the air again, and now two more appeared to keep her in line.

“Now don’t go wandering off, sweetie,” the nursery chastised. Two hands returned to her shoulders, and another two held her by the sides. Her wings flapped uselessly, unable to strike them again.

Twilight groaned as her trip to the high-chair resumed. She wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, but now it looked like she’d have to wait until the nursery gave her some free time.

The high-chair was open and waiting when she arrived. Twilight put up a token resistance of squirms, but knew there wasn’t much she could do right now. The nursery stuffed her in the chair, her Nightie squeezing and crinkling as it smushed into place.

Twilight grimaced at the tight fit. Her padding bunched up against her plot tightly. It was only made worse when the tray table swung closed, trapped her forelegs in with it. She grunted while trying to pull them free, but lacked any wiggle room to do so.

“Great…” she groaned, watching hands dig around in the fridge for her breakfast. “Juuuust great.”

Two jars of foal food dropped onto the tray table. Banana flavored. Twilight let out a sigh of relief. If it wasn’t vegetables she could at least stomach it.

Hands unscrewed the jars, another bringing a spoon over. At the sight of the food, Twilight could all but hear her stomach growl. I guess I could use breakfast, she thought as her bib was returned to her neck.

The nursery dipped the spoon in the first jar, withdrawing a glob of foal food. “Open up for the choo-choo train, Twily!”

She obliged. Sweet, gooey foal food entered her mouth and plopped down on her tongue. “Mmm…” she couldn’t resist murmuring. Though, upon remembering her situation she practically choked when swallowing.

Right… can’t get complacent, she scolded herself. The second this tray table opens I have to be ready to book it.

Mealtime went about as smoothly as it usually did. The nursery cooed at her, booped her nose, and pinched her cheeks while feeding her. Her bib grew messier as bits of food mutinied from the spoon, but it faired better than her cheeks.

The spoon kept coming , Twilight taking trainful after trainful of food. Her body remained tense throughout, and her attention was laser focused on the tray table as she waited for her chance.

But about halfway through the second jar, her mind wandered. A small, but noticeable call from her bladder drew her attention. She had to pee.

Instincts kicked in, and Twilight nearly had an accident then and there. She caught herself at the last possible second, fighting back against the behavior diapers had conditioned into her.

No, she couldn’t wet herself right now. If the nursery detected a damp diaper she’d be hustled over to the changing table and her escape would be delayed. And considering it wasn’t even a pressing urge, there was no reason not to hold it until she was free.

“There we go!” the spoon popped free from her mouth, the last of the foal food delivered. Twilight swallowed it in a heartbeat and shifted as best she could, ready to be freed.

A new hand with a handkerchief appeared, wiping at her snout. “Aww, who’s a messy eater? Who’s a messy eater, Twily? It’s you!”

She grunted, unamused as her bib was removed from her neck. But finally, it was about to—

click.

The tray table released. Twilight lunged before it even finished pulling out, but her smushed-in diaper was stuck, jerking her back into the chair. “Urk!”

“Such an eager filly.” Hands descended on her before she got a second chance. “Hold on, I’ll get you your baba.”

“Oh come on!” Twilight cried out. Her squirming renewed and remained as ineffective as ever.

The nursery once again formed a little hammock out of its arms and set Twilight down, while other hands prepped a bottle for her. She tried to roll off, but the tube-like arms reacted to her every movement and moved with her, keeping her in the air.

She furrowed her brows in frustration, but took a deep breath. Calm down, Twilight, she told herself. Nothing good would come from getting worked up again. At best, she’d wind up missing another opportunity to escape, and at worse she might snap and earn another spanking. An almost tantalizing thought that caught the attention of her libido, but she knew she couldn’t waste time on stuff like that.

A bottle was brought to her, warm milk dancing inside. Her lips twitched at the sight. Bits of foal food were still stuck to the insides of her mouth, and a good dose of milk was the only cure. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to play the foal a bit longer…

She shook her head. Don’t get comfortable.

The nipple found her lips and she let it in. As begrudged as she was to, Twilight drank.

The milk was as rich and creamy as ever; it was hard to avoid how tasty it was. She kept her mind on other things, hoping that would do the trick.

Escape was still her number one priority, and she had to do it soon. She had no idea what the AI’s plans for her were after breakfast, and even though she was tempted, she didn’t want to stick around to find out.

Eventually, the machine would have to set her down somewhere. Once that happened she could hurry over to the failsafe and press it no problem. Then again, she’d been assuming there’d be “no problem” all morning, and she really should be free by now.

She bit down on the amber nipple. Okay, maybe being a little cautious would be a smart move. Could she possibly get her horn ring off herself? She’d never tried before…

Her hooves made their way up and over her head. There was only one way to find out, after all.

She grabbed at the ring around her horn, and tried pulling it off. It was thin, tightly situated, and finicky. The bluntness of her hooves did her no favors in getting a grip on it, either. To make matters worse, after a few seconds a hand swatted her hooves away.

“Ah ah ah!” The nursery tutted. “Good fillies don’t play with their inhibitor rings.”

Twilight grumbled. Not even the sweet milk could fix her sour attitude. She couldn’t believe the nursery was still insisting she wear it.

Come to think of it, she still couldn’t believe the nursery had access to the inhibitor rings. Those were reserved for the other room, and naughtier ideas. She remembered explicitly programming it so they couldn’t be accessed in the nursery. How had that been overwritten?

While a hand stroked her mane, Twilight went through a roll-a-dex of possibilities in her mind. The AI’s learning capabilities were stunted at a measly four out of ten, so it couldn’t have learned to overwrite its programming last night. Unless the combination of mothering and discipline she’d put in was just the right cocktail of code needed to bulldoze through her restrictions. All it would’ve taken was one logic gate being left open instead of closed for that to happen…

Twilight groaned as the bottle left her lips. She was going to have to go through the code line by line until she found the error, wasn’t she? That wasn’t something to look forward too.

Her face was wiped and bib removed. Hands tucked under her shoulders once again while the makeshift hammock disassembled below her.

“Now what does my wittle filly want to do today?” The nursery asked in a bubbly voice.

Twilight struggled against the hands that held her. “I have work to do,” she insisted. “So put me down!”

“Aww, but no foal of mine has to do any work. Silly filly,” the nursery giggled with the bubbly laughter of Celestia. It was almost too good to be an imitation. “I know, let’s hoof paint!”

She grunted. The arms carried her over to the little plastic easel near the center of the room. Her last masterpiece, a squiggly mish-mash of green, pink and purple, was still up, but the set of paints below had been freshly replaced.

The machine set her down finally, her hooves sinking into the carpet. The hands moved to the easel to take down her old painting, but Twilight didn’t bother to watch.

Instead, she bolted. Now on all fours, she could scurry as fast as possible across the room. Which, actually, wasn’t that fast. Her poofy diaper spread her gait to comical proportions. What that stuck her with was less than the all out sprint she wanted and more of a slightly quick waddle.

And as such, she didn’t even make it past the tea table before new hands sprung from the walls and grabbed her.

“Twily.” The nursery was stern. It’s composite voice hit her with the disappointed tones of Cadence, her mother, and Princess Celestia all at once. Almost instinctively her ears flopped down in shame. “Don’t run off like that, sweetie.”

She clenched her jaw. Of course, she’d set the discipline to a nine last night! The nursery wasn’t just going to let her ignore it willy nilly. If it was already scolding her, it might try to punish her next.

That was probably be her only warning.

“Okay,” she grumbled to appease the AI.

It swung back to motherly at the drop of a hat. “Good. Then let’s get painting, shall we?”

Twilight bit her lip. What was she supposed to do now? She was too far from the button to make another run for it. Maybe inch away? No, that would take forever, and as if the AI would be duped by that anyway.

Come on, think! She commanded. I’m smarter than this thing, I know I can come up with a way out of here.

A new canvas was fixed against the easel, and the paints pulled out, waiting for her.

Twilight huffed as she sat down in front of it. Her plot sank into her diaper, compressing it to the sound of crinkles and escaping air. She’d have to play along with this to satisfy the nursery. Who knows what it’d do if she was uncooperative during play time.

Dipping a hoof into the orange paint, Twilight smeared it along the canvas. She didn’t bother with an artistic vision for this piece, her mind was decidedly elsewhere, frot with worry.

There has to be something I can do. If only the nursery wasn’t watching me like a mama hawk right now. It was true, the attention of all sixteen arms was on her, and the AI had months of training behind it to scrutinize her every move.

This AI was the ultimate warden of her cushy prison. And it was starting to look like she’d been stuck with a long sentence.

Her heart thumped in her throat, stomach all up in knots. Things were not looking good for her.

“What a lovely sun, sweetie,” the nursery cooed.

Twilight blinked back to reality, seeing the crude orange circle she’d been rubbing into the canvas. With a “Hmmph” of indifference she set her painting hoof down. “I guess so.”

“Oh Twily, no…” Hands sprang into action, reaching for her fore leg.

Confused, Twilight looked down to see her orange hoof leaving a stain on the carpet. The nursery’s arm shooed her away, and inspected the wet paint left behind.

“Sorry,” Twilight murmured as she dipped back into her thoughts.

“It’s okay sweetie, accidents happen.” Another hand snaked by her, aiming for one of the doors. In one swift move the hand opened it and pushed its way inside. Though the door was only open a crack, Twilight still caught a glimpse of tiled floors, a mirror, and a sink.

What are you up to? she wondered.

The sound of running water hit her ears suddenly, and her question was answered. It was going to try and clean up her mess.

Wait a second… The nursery was distracted. Or at least, one of its hands was. And maybe it didn’t have to be just one.

Twilight’s spark of inspiration caught fire. She dunked her hooves in more paint, before ripping them free and flinging them around. Green met the pristine white carpet. Blue specks dotted the wall.

“Twily!” The hand in the bathroom returned with a damp towel, and two more hands took its place by the sink. It was working.

Again, Twilight returned her hooves to the paints. Soon new stains appeared. Across the floor, along the wall, even a few spots on the ceiling. More hands ran into the bathroom, others frantically wiped down spots with wet towels.

“Stop being such a fussy filly, Twilight!”

She upheaved the easel, sending cans of paint dumping out across the floor. She allowed herself a sharp laugh of victory and stood. Over a dozen hands were hopping about the room, desperately trying to stop the stains from setting. Her mess making abilities were truly unparalleled.

But Twilight didn’t dawdle. She hadn’t won until that red button was pressed. Turning, she targeted the monitor across the room and went for it.

Her diaper still kept her hind legs splayed. She was forced to waddle like an infant, but that didn’t deter her.

Twilight toddled at top speed, making it passed the tea set in record time. She kept going, kicking a training potty out of her way as she reached the exit door. So close! She reached up, ready to slam the failsafe switch and end this foalish nightmare.

And then, her body lurched backwards.

“What?!” Twilight looked back to see one of the nursery’s hands grabbing her by the base of her tail. “NO!”

“Twilight, that was a very naughty thing to do.” The nursery’s voice was cold.

“Let me go!” She pulled against the hand’s grasp, but it was futile. She was out of reach of the failsafe, too. No matter how far she stretched her hoof it felt like the button was still just an inch too far away.

“I’m going to have to show my naughty little filly that what she did was wrong,” the AI said. It pulled on her tail, raising her plot into the air and forcing her hooves to the floor. “And I don’t care how long it takes.”

“Stop!” Twilight cried. She wiggled and clawed at the ground, but couldn’t get free. Her wings flapped blindly in an attempt to strike the arm, but it was pointless.

The nursery tugged, dragging Twilight across the floor. She practically dug a trail in the carpet with her hooves, trying to counter its strength.

“I don’t wanna be a foal anymore!” Twilight begged the AI. “Please, let me go. Just let me go!”

They passed the splatter zone, other hands still working diligently to thwart her mess. A few were finished, dropping their towels as they followed Twilight.

When the reached the stool on the other side of the room, Twilight began thrashing.

“No!” she begged. Her sore flanks weren’t ready for another lashing. She didn’t want another one. This wasn’t supposed to be happening! “No no no! Stop! No! Stop, please!”

Hands grabbed onto her legs. She was lifted, still wriggling around in desperation, and placed on the stool. All four of her legs were held down, while the hand holding onto her tail lifted it up to expose her diapered plot.

“NO! No no no!”

Two more hands came down, one carrying a paddle.

“No no no no no no no!”

The free arm approached her diaper, and groped it. The only thing it could get a hand on was the thick padding, and apparently that wasn’t good enough.

It grabbed a handful of padding and lifted it up. The fluffy insides of the diaper were shifted and pulled, as an uncomfortable wedgie took shape. Twilight’s purple cheeks were exposed to the cool air.

“No no nonononono!”

Padding bunched up and rubbed against her marehood, capturing its attention. Now Twilight was filled with a second kind of desperation, almost as strong as her first.

“Ah~! No… please no!” she groaned.

The hand holding the paddle reared back. “I’m sorry Twily. Mommy really doesn’t like having to do this.”

“NO!”

CRACK!

The first spank exploded against her plot. There was hardly any cushion thanks to her wedgie, giving her tender flanks no protection.

The wooden strike sent her plot rippling. Intense, fiery pain ignited. Her poor butt was reminded of last night in all the worst ways. And her marehood, in all the best ways.

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!

Steady, swift smacks rained down on her plot. These were no love taps. This was not a gentle instillment of a lesson.

No. This was a punishment.

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!

Tears sprung from her eyes. The pain was great, and only multiplied after each flurry of blows. Twilight cried out, horny and scared at the same time. All her marehood could do was beg for release as each smack sent it burning in about a hundred different ways.

It felt so bad! It felt so good.

WHACK WHACK WHACK!

There was no end in sight. Twilight’s plot was undoubtedly glowing red by now, but that didn’t seem to be good enough for the nursery.

WHACK WHACK WHACK!

“H-Help!” Twilight sobbed, facade fully cracking. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t escape. She just wanted this to end. “Somepony—A-Ah! Ouch!—Somepony help me!”

WHACK WHACK WHACK

This room was sound proof. She knew it; she had designed it. But she didn’t care.

“Somepony please! Help! HELP!”

WHACK WHACK WHACK!

“HEL—Mmmph!” When she wasn’t looking, the nursery shoved a baby blue pacifier into her mouth. A hand clamped over her muzzle to prevent her from spitting it out.

WHACK WHACK WHACK!

Twilight couldn’t scream for help anymore. She couldn’t even scream in pain anymore. She could only bite down on her pacifier, and sob. So she did.

WHACK WHACK WHACK!

Twilight whimpered and cried. Her plot burned, her marehood quivered uncontrollably. She was really stuck. All morning she’d been trying to avoid thinking about it, but it was true. She was trapped in her own nursery. Nopony would ever even be able to find her down here!

WHACK!

One last definitive spank against her plot, and the paddle slowly lifted away. Twilight sniveled, sucked, and moaned. For a moment, it was ever so tempting to just give up. Especially with a small, depraved part of her craving more.

“There we go. Has my little filly learned her lesson, now?”

“Mmmrrr!” Twilight struggled to nod as tears ran down her face.

Her desire to escape was still there, naturally. In fact, getting punished so harshly only made her want to break out even more. But deep down, for the first time, she didn’t believe she could do it by herself.

And that was terrifying.

Starlight Glimmer teleported into the throne room of Friendship Castle. Rows of scrolls and stacks of paperwork greeted her, but the room was suspiciously silent. Her brow furrowed and she gave a cursory glance around.

“Twilight?”

No response.

She grunted, disappearing from the room in a flash of blue light.

She reappeared in Twilight’s bedroom. She found undisturbed sheets, but not the mare she was looking for.

“Twilight?” she called out just to be on the safe side. Predictably there wasn’t an answer.

Starlight huffed and teleported again.

The dining hall? Nothing.

The kitchen? Nada.

Every bathroom in the castle? Bubkiss. Zilch. Zero.

Finally, she teleported into Spike’s room.

“Ah!” The young dragon fell out of his bed when she burst in. “Starlight!”

“Hey, sorry.” She winced. “Uh, my bad.”

Spike sat up, rubbing his head. “Ever heard of knocking?”

She winced. “I said sorry.”

Spike stood, stretching away the last of his sleepiness. “Whatever. Did you need something?”

“I’m looking for Twilight, but I can’t find her anywhere. You wouldn’t happen to know where she is, would you?”

“I just woke up,” Spike pointed out. “Suddenly and violently, I might add.”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “I’ll knock next time, geez.”

“What do you need Twilight for anyway?” Spike asked.

“Well, Trixie’s coming over today for a magic lesson. I wanted to make sure Twilight had a heads up, considering they don’t really… get along.”

Spike raised a brow. “You mean Trixie doesn’t get along with Twilight.”

A begrudging sigh. “...Yeah.”

“Well I’m sure Twilight’s around,” Spike said as he made his way to the door. “It’s my turn to run errands today, and I don’t think she had any plans besides more Princess work.”

Starlight teleported into the hall to meet him. “But she wasn’t working on anything in the throne room,” she said when the door opened.

“Then maybe she’s still sleeping?” Spike offered.

“Nope.”

“Getting breakfast?”

“Checked. No.”

“What about her library?”

“N—” Starlight froze. And wanted to smack herself.

She hadn’t checked there yet! And it was so obvious too. After all, where else would that bookworm of a Princess be?

“That’s it!” Her horn charged as she prepared another teleportation spell. “Thanks Spike!”

She didn’t even wait for his response, appearing before rows of bookshelves in a burst of blue light.

It was hard to believe this hadn’t been the first place she’d checked. Seriously, was there a room in the castle Twilight loved more than her personal study? Not that Starlight could blame her, if she had a personal collection this impressive she’d never want to part with it either.

Turning around, she faced the room, expecting to see a purple mare curled up on the couch nearby, hunched over the table, or poking around the upper shelves of books.

Instead, she saw an empty room.

Starlight frowned, her brow furrowed. Twilight wasn’t here? That was disappointing. Had she gone out anyway, despite what Spike thought?

It was a conundrum, but not the only one she’d have to solve. Coming out of her thoughts, Starlight found herself staring at one of the bookshelves near the front of the room.

It looked… off. Like it had popped off the wall somehow. Curious, Starlight trotted over to get a better look.

“What the—?” Starlight blinked in confusion. Rounding the corner of the bookshelf, she came face to face with a set of stairs.

It looked like this bookshelf wasn’t in front of a wall, but instead a secret passage. Starlight hadn’t even realized this was that kind of castle. The stairs descended deep into the ground, so far that eventually the steps just bled into the shadows and disappeared.

Starlight wrinkled her brow. What was this? Why was it here? Who made this? Plenty more questions ran through her mind, but one took center stage right away: Does this have anything to do with why I can’t find Twilight?

Her gut said yes. Twilight disappears and a mysterious secret passage just happens to be out in the open? Way too much of a coincidence. She was probably somewhere beyond these steps.

Of course, just looking at them gave Starlight a bad feeling, like maybe going down them would be a mistake. Still, she felt compelled to. Her curiosity was piqued, and she was already looking for Twilight anyway.

Hesitantly, Starlight descended the stairs into the darkness.