The Worst

When Adagio woke up, she was certain she had only two options: skip school and suffer the consequences, or go to school and suffer the humiliation. In the end, she chose the route that wouldn’t lead to jail.

Despite her diaper’s suffocating presence, she’d spent the whole morning trying to calm herself down. After all, just because Sunset knew didn’t mean she could do anything about it. Who was going to believe her without proof, right? That had been the argument that finally got Aria to stop screaming at her last night, at least. But there were holes in that plan. All it took was one person spurred to curiosity by the rumor to lift up their skirts and check. Or to follow them to the bathroom. Or just demand they prove they weren’t in diapers in front of a crowd.

Before, wearing diapers to school had been a balancing act. Now they were doing it on a piece of chicken wire over a canyon. The humiliation was assured.

Adagio grumbled ancient curses directed at Sunset all morning; through a way too hearty breakfast and during her attempts to piece their gem fragments back together. Even on the ride to school she muttered a few under her breath.

But to all of their surprise, school wound up being the usual balancing act. No one looked at them, save the occasional sour stare that was easily returned. No one snickered as they walked past. No one taunted. No one demanded proof they weren’t in diapers.

It should have been relieving. Instead it was maddening.

What the hell is going on? Sunset knew, right? She had to. Adagio couldn’t have been more blatant last night unless she lifted her skirt and soiling herself before the girl.

Maybe… she hasn’t told anyone yet. There was a chance not even the other Rainbooms knew. But if that were the case, Sunset was definitely just waiting for proof before cutting the Sword of Damocles free.

A knot of anxiety formed in Adagio’s stomach. As the day went on, the stress seemed to leave Aria’s shoulders. She wasn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth like her fellow Siren. Nobody knowing about the diapers yet was great news to her. And Sonata…

When it came to Sonata, Adagio genuinely didn’t know if the girl cared or not.

Same stupid grin on her face, even when changing a particularly bad load after math class. Same skip in her step, despite the many, many students around her that would love to see all three of them brought down. Same innocence in her eyes, despite knowing full well Sunset Shimmer knew their darkest secret.

Adagio had to restrain dirty looks the girl’s way all day. What is wrong with her?

Eventually, detention came and went. To Vice Principal Luna’s disappointment, none of them committed paddle-able offenses that day. Adagio had begun to suspect their supervisor was thinking of new ways to punish them. With her backside still flinching at the mere memory of being spanked, the leader of the Dazzlings found herself desperately wishing that wasn’t the case.

And then, finally, came the last part of the day: hitting the library to study with Sunset.

Adagio skipped it.

She’d been ducking the wanna-be human for the whole day. That was a streak she wasn’t ready to give up anytime soon. And they were well into the project anyway. The fear of failing a class wasn’t nearly as strong as it once had been.

“You sure it’s okay?” Sonata asked from the backseat. Adagio kept her eyes on the road, unwilling to dignify that with a response. “Won’t she be mad?”

“Let her be.” Adagio growled. That was actually a very dangerous prospect, but so was anything relating to Sunset right now.

“Have fun bombing the class then,” Aria taunted from shotgun.

Adagio raised an eyebrow at her. “Have you even looked at Rainbow Dash since you two got partnered up?”

Aria narrowed her eyes, before crossing her arms. “Better that than letting her know we can’t stop crapping our pants.” Her nose wrinkled suddenly, and she gagged.

Adagio almost did too. A powerful odor suddenly filled the car. She pinched her nose closed, coughing. “By the seas!”

Aria whipped her head around. “Sonata!”

From the rearview mirror, Adagio could see the Siren blushing happily. “Hehe… I might’ve made a bit of an oopsie.”

“You gotta be kidding me.” Aria rolled down her window. Adagio made sure the rest of them followed suit. And even then, the stench was inescapable.

Keeping her nose plugged Adagio grumbled nasally. “Don’t you have the most experience with food out of all of us? How are you still so bad at holding it?”

“I don’t know!” Came Sonata’s indignant reply. “But I’m not complaining. It feels nice!” She wiggled her hips, compressing her mess against the seat. “Hehe… squishy.”

Both girls up front shuddered.

They didn’t release the hold on her nostrils until they could finally escape the car. The poor thing would need to be aired out all night to save it. Unless they wanted to hold their breaths on the way to school from now on.

Adagio seriously considered not letting Sonata in the house when she practically kicked open the door. “Get changed,” she grumbled back at the diaper-sagger.

“In a minute,” Sonata insisted. “It’s still warm!”

“I hate you,” Aria brushed past her into the house, making a beeline for the stairs. Adagio was ready to join her. She’d do anything to get away from Sonata’s smell right now.

Adagio wanted to block the doorway, but if Sonata really started whining the neighbors might hear. What a joy that would be, needing to explain the stinky highschool student’s tantrum.

“Something’s not right with your head.” Adagio reluctantly got out of her way.

“I don’t know how you can’t be having fun with this,” Sonata fired back. She wiggled her skirt off, leaving her browned butt exposed while Adagio shut the door. “Diapers are the best!”

“They’re the worst.” Adagio looked away. Making eye contact with a full diaper was like staring into the sun. It burned. “And at least keep your clothes on!”

“No!” Sonata fished her new pacifier from her skirt’s pocket, before slinging the garment over her shoulder. She popped the infantile device and her mouth, suckling away as she waddled to the stairs. Crinkles and squishes chased after her, but the smell lingered.

Shivering, Adagio tried not to think about the display she’d just been witness to. This Sonata problem is getting out of hand. I don’t even think it’s the stupidity anymore. I think she’s just broken.

Refusing to stand in the stink any longer, she left for her room, ready for this rotten day to be over with.

Bent over her bed, Adagio was fiddling with the shattered pieces she’d recovered. It was a maddenly slow process, just trying to find which jagged, split edge matched up with the others. They all looked the exact same, and yet minute differences were everything. She couldn’t even keep the pieces together if she did find a match, forced to set them to the side for now, hoping she’d remember their patterns.

Worse yet, Adagio was beginning to doubt she had a complete gemstone here. She’d just scooped up a handful back then. It had been hard enough to sneak back into to grab them, and she’d been more worried about getting spotted than getting them all. She probably had fragments from all three gems, and no way to complete any of them.

Assuming it would even work if she pieced it back together in the first place.

Lips tightening, Adagio scooped everything together, pressing them close and hoping the core was preserved somehow. Her croaky singing voice was low, almost silent.

“Oh-whoa-oh, Oh-whoa-oh…”

Nothing. Not even a faint glow. With a sigh, she dropped the pieces back in her nightstand’s drawer, ready to call it a night.

Ding-dong.

Her jaw clenched at the sound. Great. The last thing she wanted right now was something coming between her and a well deserved rest.

She walked out her room, finding Sonata at the other end of the hall, barely outside her own.

“Who is it?”

Adagio was tempted to just let Sonata take this one, but she couldn’t. Eyes drifting down, she saw sagging, brown padding between Sonata’s spread thighs. Anger flared through her.

“By the seas, just get changed already!” She hissed, making her way to the stairs. The hallway already stunk from the girl’s waste.

She got a defiant pout thrown her way. A glare sent Sonata back into her room. Adagio could only groan. Crisis averted, at least.

She was still groaning to herself as she made her way down the stairs and to the front door.

Ding-dong.

“Coming,” she yelled through clenched teeth, hand on the door knob. Impatient much? Whoever was on the otherside of this door, Adagio was ready to murder.

But when it swung open, she was the one who died. Inside, and out.

Sunset Shimmer stared back at her, books in hand, annoyed glance on her face.

When Adagio’s heart started to beat again, the first thing she felt was the poofy padding still wrapped around her pelvis. The second thing she felt was fear.

“W-What are you doing here?” It started out scared and morphed angry halfway through. Neither tone deterred Sunset.

“You didn’t show up.” Sunset tapped her foot, eyebrow raising. What, did she want an explanation?

“And?” Adagio ignored how furiously her heart was beating. The jig was up but that did nothing to assuage it.

“And we still have work to do.” Sunset actually pushed past her, inviting herself inside.

“Excuse you?” Adagio growled.

“If you had just come to the library, we wouldn’t be doing this here,” Sunset fired back. “Now come on, we need to get this done. I’m not failing this assignment just because you don’t like work.”

“Uggh!” Adagio wanted to scream. She settled for slamming the door. She wanted to try forcing Sunset out, but the danger that entailed made her heart pound.

She convinced herself it was a good opportunity. She could find out what Sunset knew, or at least suspected. That was better than nothing.

“Fine,” Adagio grumbled. She showed Sunset toward the living room, letting the girl set up a workstation on their coffee table. The contents of her backpack spilled out between them. “But once we’re done here you’re getting the hell out of my house.”

“Fine by me. Like I said, this wasn’t my first choice.” Sunset plopped down on the sofa.

Adagio took the chair opposite of her. Her heart thumped against her ribcage, fear making her ansty in her seat. But she forced herself still; any shifting would start a chain reaction of diaper crinkles that would never end. Not like it mattered. Sunset knew.

...Did Sunset know?

If she did, she certainly wasn’t acting like it. She didn’t flaunt her knowledge around, and she certainly wasn’t puffing herself up as though she had the upper hand.

But she definitely saw them last night. Maybe it was just a case of she didn’t know what she’d seen. It was a pretty out of context shopping trip all things considered. Without knowing anything of the Dazzling’s situation, it could’ve just looked like a random purchase.

Maybe she wants more info. Adagio figured. Hell, coming straight to the Dazzling’s home was the perfect opportunity for a scouting mission. And she’d just given Sunset the perfect excuse to come here. What the hell is wrong with me?

“What the hell is wrong with you!” Adagio straightened, and turned to Aria’s voice.

She’d only made it halfway down the stairs before she’d noticed Sunset. Already, the Siren was taking a defensive position, hand on the helm of her skirt to make sure no nonexistent breezes exposed her diaper. At least her rage seemed to be directed at their guest, and not Adagio. Though she knew that bit was coming.

“Get out of here!” Aria screamed.

Sunset crossed her arms and gave a confident, “erhem.”

Adagio ground her teeth, not needing to see the eyes drilling the back of her head right now. She groaned. “Sunset and I have to work on our project. So she’s staying.”

“Like hell she is!” Aria’s shout was tinged with fear, only enough that Adagio would really pick up on. It’s source was obvious. Neither of them wanted to reveal the full depth of their secret to the source of all their problems. And neither were going to as far as Adagio was concerned.

“I’m handling it.” Adagio kept her tone low and cold. I don’t want her here either. Just play nice until she leaves for sea’s sake!

Aria seemed to get the message. Or at least, part of it. “You better.” Aria stomped down the rest of the stairs to mask her diaper’s crinkling. “I don’t want that loser staying long, got it?”

“Nice to see you too, Aria.” A little passive-aggressive, but Sunset didn’t go further than that.

“Piss off!” Aria did.

She trudged her way into the kitchen and out of sight. Her plan had probably just been to grab a snack, but Adagio suspected she’d hole up in there now until the accursed one was gone. She wished she could follow suit.

“How’s the project with Rainbow going?” Sunset called after her as a final jab. Aria responded with a single finger. And not a very nice one at that.

“Home life seems fun,” Sunset remarked.

“Better than school,” Adagio grumbled. She picked up a book about King Grover’s descendants.

“Yeah, about that…” Sunset sighed. “Don’t let everyone get to you too much, okay? It was rough for me for a bit too.”

“Maybe we should save the world from a handful of super-powerful witches,” Adagio snapped. “You’re welcome for the popularity, by the way.”

“I wouldn’t say you guys were super-powerful.” Adagio’s hand jumped to her throat. It grabbed at nothing. Sunset picked up on it. “Sorry, I—”

“Don’t. Say. Anything.” Adagio forced her book open and looked down. Anything to not see Sunset’s stupid face. Her thoughts weren’t as lucky as her eyes.

Okay, if she’s playing four-dimensional chess right now, she is really good. Adagio couldn’t tell if Sunset knew or not. She was definitely still holding onto the pacifier question, but was that as far as it went?

The manageably-awkward silence between them kept up for a good while. A few notes even sprang from the pages to their paper. Before long, it actually felt like enough progress had been made that Adagio could kick their guest out. Naturally, Sunset felt compelled to ruin a good thing.

“Hey, uh...” Adagio looked up against her better judgement. Conversation re-engaged. “Pick up anything interesting lately?”

Oh sea’s take me now. Sunset was as good at subtly probing as Adagio was at using the bathroom. She looked back down and tried turning the page to avoid this. “No.”

“Really? No new clothes? Or like… I don’t know… a pacifier?”

Adagio ripped the page right out of the book.

“Okay, wow.” Sunset blinked. “Touched a nerve there. Also, that was a library book.”

Adagio crumpled up the page to show how much she cared. “Are you serious right now?”

“Yeah, I have to pay a fine if you—”

“Not that you idiot!” Adagio yelled. “Obviously! And I knew that was you last night.”

“Well can you blame me?” Sunset huffed. “You were making secret plans with Sonata behind the lockers. Of course I was worried enough to check it out.”

“They weren’t secret plans, that was personal business!”

“Okay, so why is your personal business buying pacifiers?” Point blank, there it was.

Adagio was partly overjoyed. Sunset didn’t know, their secret was still safe! But she was also partly about to throw up. Sunset practically knew, their secret was on a knife’s edge.

She had to say something. Anything. Slip up here and the cat would be out of the bag and shredding her face to ribbons with its claws.

“I— We—” Think! Think! What’s a lie Sunset would believe? What does she want to believe? “...We were going to humiliate you.”

Sunset straightened in her seat. “Excuse you?”

Adagio tried to act pissed; she had plenty of stored rage to spare. “Yeah, moron. We were going to… uh… cover it in superglue and stick it in your mouth during school. Just something to get back at you.” She crossed her arms to hide crossing her fingers. “But you found out, so…”

“Huh…” Sunset seemed to let that sit for a moment. “That’s... not even a very good idea for a prank, you know.” She just shook her head at it all. “I can’t believe I was worried about what you were planning.”

Adagio feigned defeat, and looked away. “You’re not even a very good idea for a prank.”

Sunset snorted. “And you suck at insults too. I guess you really aren’t that much a threat to the school anymore if bullying me was your master plan.”

Adagio expected Sunset to be a little more upset than this. Maybe her empathy was too indiscriminate for her own good. “Whatever. It was stupid, and whatever. So whatever.”

“Your vocabulary astounds me,” Sunset was finally moving the conversation forward. “Sure you’re not in danger of failing English on top of everything else?”

“You wish!” Adagio finally allowed herself a moment to relax. They’d done it. They’d avoided the worst thing that could’ve happened to them.

Then she heard someone coming down the stairs.

It wasn’t Aria, who had graced them with her presence earlier and refused to again. And the faint but odious smell sent fear shooting through Adagio’s nervous system all over again. She whirled around.

Oh no.

“Girls?” Sonata was plopping down the stairs one waddle-y step at a time. No doubt a huge diaper between her thighs that finally needed a change. Her feet were already visible from where the two of them were sitting. “I need a little help.”

Adagio bolted. Scrambling from her seat and up the steps, she cut Sonata off before the idiot could ruin everything.

Sonata’s surprise sent a gasp from her mouth. Adagio was just a blur until she was practically eye level with the girl, slamming a hand over her mouth before she could say she needed a diaper change loud and proud to the world.

“Ssshhhhhhut up!” Adagio hissed. She finally looked down, realizing her fellow Siren was still skirtless. The brown, sagging diaper around her hips was on full display. And the smell had magnified to nose-shriveling levels. “You idiot, what are you trying to do?”

“Mmm ammf phrr hrmm.” Sonata mumbled. Reluctantly, Adagio pulled down her hand. “You scared me there, Dagi. You’ve never come running to change my diaper bef—ffrm!”

“Be quiet!” Adagio whispered, slapping her hand back in place. Looking back, she saw Sunset hadn’t come to the foot of the stairs, yet. They might be safe. “Are you trying to ruin everything?”

“What’s going on?” Sonata asked, innocently enough. She couldn’t be expected to know Sunset was here right now, but Adagio was still pissed she didn’t.

“Everything okay?” The curiosity dam had broken. Adagio could hear Sunset getting up.

“Just peachy!” She launched back, but it wasn’t enough. Footsteps aimed for the foot of the stairs.

Sonata pried the orange hand from her face. “Is Sunset here?” The idiot asked, blissfully ignorant to her exposed diaper situation. Adagio pushed her hand back up, but too hard and too fast.

Sonata started to fall back. Adagio pulled her forward. Now they had the same problem, but in the other direction. And no time to correct it.

They fell backwards, and tumbled down the stairs. Adagio hit her back, her head, and her butt. At least one of those didn’t hurt.

When it finally ended she was flopping face up on the floor below. Not even a second’s reprieve before Sonata joined her on the ground. And, fitting for that idiot, in the worst way possible.

Sonata’s messy diaper landed right on top of Adagio’s face. The brown, musy seat dropped on her chin, her mouth, her nose. It only took a second to fully sink and squish down over them, but it felt like an eternity.

Warm goop that was almost cold could be felt through the layers of padding. It seemed to contort around Adagio’s features as she grunted from the impact, inhaling a face-full of Sonata’s decimated pampers. It made her eyes water.

But at least they hadn’t been covered by the contained mudslide. Adagio opened them as Sonata settled on top of her.

And found herself looking directly into the shocked expression on Sunset’s face.