Not quite seeing the problem with Trixie judging as well as being a competitor – at least theoretically – Twilight got into her own nest and wiggled about a bit. She had no idea how to do the tapes up, and had to wait in blushy embarrassment until Rainbrawk Dash came over to fix her up – and even once that was done, when she stood up it became quite clear that the diaper-nest she'd put together was no more than half the size of the one Rainbrawk Dash had managed.

Twilight sighed – perhaps a little wistfully – and huffed, annoyed that she hadn't managed to do better, then glanced back. “Um… so does this get taken off, or-”

“Trixie is the winner,” Trixie interrupted. “With a fine performance, Trixie has proven that she is the best yet again. Now, it is of course time for Twilight to pick the challenge.”

“Actually, I had-” Twilight tried to say, only for Trixie to interrupt her again with a wave of her wand and a wiggle of her butt.

“And Trixie is indeed generous,” Trixie continued, her cape sparkling with powder as she swirled it. “She will allow her rival – hah, rival! – to select a scent challenge, and will accept having an assistant as compensation.”

Twilight nodded a few times, then blinked – sure there was something she'd missed there.

“Wait, um… I wanted to ask if this came off?” she asked, indicating her diaper.

“Well, Trixie might consider it,” Trixie said. “But it doesn't seem fair – after all, Rainbrawk Dash is still wearing hers!”

"But that's... I mean..." Twilight blushed and waddled around on the spot awkwardly, blushing as she hugged one of the plush eggs to her chest, feeling herself relax a bit as she squeezed the soft plush. Rainbrawk did still wear hers, so she couldn't really demand to get to take her own off. "I, uhm... I guess... So what, uh...?"

"What now? Trixie believes you were about to issue a scent challenge." Trixie swirled her cape again, wafting a bit of foal powder at Twilight and making her stumble and trip to land on her butt... which only caused a much bigger cloud of foal powder to puff up around her from her diaper-nest.

Trixie giggled as Twilight started to squeak and sneeze. "Oh, it looks like my future familiar is a bit too eager to start. But you haven't even issued the challenge yet."

Twilight kept sneezing and swaying in place, feeling dizzy and confused from the sweet scent clogging up her nostrils and head. "I, uhh... s-sorry, I- achoo!" She shook her head and tried to remember what she was trying to say. "As your future familiar... I-I mean as your challenger I challenge you to, uhm... to a scent... challenge?" She blinked and paused, trying to figure out if that sounded right.

"An interesting challenge. But luckily Trixie's next assistant is an expert in all scents." Trixie waved her wand before pointing it at a spot of the stage, causing a big and colorful plush flower to appear with a poof of more foal powder. A visible trail of sweet pink aroma began to rise up from the flower and towards the audience, causing one mare to stand up and close her eyes, leaning forward to sniff curiously. A moment later ~~Rarity~~ Flower the Plush Skunk came floating on stage on the scent trail, her big shiny black skunk nose sniffing it up eagerly while her big fluffy skunk tail wagged slowly behind her and left an even stronger trail of aroma, thick and sweet and looking visibly pink with little cartoonish flowers, diapers and flower-print diapers seemingly floating in it.

Flower finally reached the flower, sniffing deeply and causing the flower to stretch up and close around her nose for a moment before she finally flumped down onto the stage with a happy sigh and a dreamy smile.

Trixie raised an eyebrow before waving her rattle to make the flower disappear again lest it keep distracting her ~~minion~~ assistant. "Well, while Trixie's assistant gets her act together, Trixie will explain the rules of this challenge. You will not have to guess any scents, because Trixie's assistant Flowers already won that one. Instead, you will have to work to find the scent that your opponent just can't resist, to make them either surrender for another sniff, or make them completely unable to continue the challenge because they're helplessly focused on the scent." She pointed at two large racks of small boxes, bottles and flacons.

“Right, so… I need to find the scent that Flower likes, and Flower needs to find the scent I like?” Twilight asked. “So… what happens if I find the scent I like?”

“Well, then I suppose you'd forfeit the challenge,” Trixie said airily. “Well? You'd better get going!”

“Right, um...” Twilight said, frowning, and took one of the flacons down first. It looked like the sort of bottle she'd seen used for perfume, and she opened it with a hesitant tug.

The scent of strawberries came floating out, and she sniffed it before thinking hard. Flower didn't seem like the sort of skunk who'd be distracted by a simple fruity scent, so-

Twilight's train of thought was interrupted by a stripy tail, as Flower bent down at her own rack to look for a scent and her thick plushy tail flicked out to knock Twilight off her feet.

A couple of bottles thumped to the floor as well, though fortunately none of them broke, and Twilight had to rock back and forth on her big nest-diaper a couple of times to get back to her hooves – sending puffs of distracting foal powder in all directions, making her wobble a lot once she finally regained her footing.

“Is… is that allowed?” she asked. “She knocked me over!”

“It's just an accident,” Trixie ruled. “Don't whine, unless you want to concede the challenge?”

“H-hey, no, I don't want to concede,” Twilight said, doing her best not to whine. “It's only-”

Flower's tail swept the other way, knocking her off her hooves again.

“You should really at least pretend you're trying to win,” Trixie advised lazily. “It's not a good challenge if you're trying to lose, instead of just losing.”

Twilight spluttered something as she got to her hooves again, finally managing to open her second bottle over a minute into the challenge.

The scent of honey hit Twilight and she drooled a little before blushing and quickly closing it again. That seemed more like a scent that Piggy Pie would like. She blinked and paused, wondering where that name had come from. Obviously Piggy Pie was Piggy Pie so why did she think her name was...

Twilight quickly shook the thought off to worry about later and focus on the challenge now. She opened the next bottle to take a whiff of the scent of tulips and smiled. Flower had seemed to be quite taken with flower scents and it was even in her name, so this seemed like a good place to start.

"Hey Twilight." Twilight was just about to call for the skunk's attention when she looked up to realize that her opponent was already in front of her and holding up a spray bottle. She closed her eyes and splayed her ears back just in time as several spritzes of clear liquid hit her face.

Twilight shook her head and blushed lightly before frowning in confusion. "Huh? This is just water, isn't it?"

Flower giggled. "Don't be silly. This is a very exclusive perfume named 'Mountain Spring'. So... I suppose technically it is water, yes." She giggled again. "I didn't expect you to fall for it, but I thought it would buy me some time."

Twilight frowned again. "Why would a bit of water buy you some... oh. Oh no." She squeaked and blushed more, starting to wiggle and waddle around in place. She tried to cross her legs but was unable to even get close around the thick nest keeping them apart, and before she could do anything more she felt her nest-diaper start to swell up even more, getting warm and wet. She blushed deep red as she involuntarily relaxed with a dopey smile, all milk from the first challenge swelling her diaper up quite a bit and keeping her unable to focus on the current challenge for a good bit.

Her wetting finally stopped and Twilight let out a small whimper, still blushing as she waddled around to test out her even bigger diaper. She squeaked in dismay again as she realized that at some point she'd dropped the bottle of tulip scent somewhere between all the other bottles that had already fallen out of her rack. She waddled around frantically to find it again, only to get knocked over again by Flower's tail and stumble rump-first into her rack, scattering even more bottles over the stage floor and dumping a full bottle's worth of perfume right over her head as it opened up and tipped over on the top shelf.

The scent of chocolate ran through Twilight's nostrils, and she smiled a little before shaking her head to gather her senses.

She needed to focus, to concentrate! Flower was going to beat her at this rate, but she just needed to find that tulip scent and that might give her a chance…

Sniffing automatically, Twilight struggled to her hooves again… only to smell something wonderful. It was like a mixture of foal powder and the smell of a fresh book, and it made her weak at the knees.

“Oh~?” Flower giggled. “It seems like somepony likes this latest scent I found, Foal's First Book?”

Twilight nodded, then tried to collect herself. “Well, um, yes, it's quite nice...”

She sniffed again, trying to work out where the bottle was, and took a few wobbly steps towards Flower. The skunk giggled, highly amused, and waved the bottle under her nose before pulling it away again.

“H-hey,” Twilight mumbled. “Stop...”

“Well, if this is your favourite scent, then I suppose I could let you have it,” Flower said. “Of course, that would mean you were conceding the challenge, don't you agree, darling?”

Twilight nodded a few times, too taken with the papery smell to really argue, and closed her eyes – following the lure of the scent.

She didn't really notice where it was leading her, or Trixie stealthily levitating a pair of headphones with feathery-ear mufflers on the outside and a feather-pattern along the top band. She did notice when she stepped onto something soft and plush and fluffy, but when she opened her eyes again to look she saw black and white stripes surrounding her – and Flower zipping up what looked like a great big zipper which was curving up and over her, with the skunk angled so it was quite possible Twilight was in her tail… if that made sense? Twilight wasn't sure any more.

Her nose was stuffed up against the perfume bottle, and next to that and the all-over plush hug a slight pressure on her ears wasn't anything important.

"Nice and snug, nice and comfortable~"

Twilight blinked and tried to look around as Trixie's voice suddenly sounded in her ears, but looking around the black and white stripes only made them seem to swirl around her and made her even dizzier. She let out a confused moan and took a deep breath of the perfume under her nose, causing any thought she might have had to melt under the wonderful scent. She giggled as she relaxed and snuggled into the soft fluffy tail, dreaming of sitting under a soft blanket and looking at the pictures in her first foal book, while the nice voice echoing in her ears read the story to her, about a silly little filly who wanted to be an owl.

Outside on the stage Trixie had pulled out another bottle full of plush rose essence and was leading Flower through a series of tricks to keep the audience entertained. Flower happily went along with anything to get more of the wonderful smell, while her tail bounced Twilight around, making her even dizzier and sink even deeper.

Twilight wasn't sure how long she was snuggling into the tail, sniffing the scent of her book and getting bounced around while the black and white stripes swirled around her. She knew that she had probably read the book a dozen times, although she couldn't quite remember how to count that high, but it seemed like a big enough number. She also remembered getting tired and settling down for a nice long nap while listening to Trixie talk more about owls and something called familiars.

When she woke up again and blinked to look around, she was back on the stage and Flower was gone, presumably back to the audience. She looked over to her wizard and let out a small confused hoot before blushing and shaking her head to clear it a bit.

"Hoooo... I mean, who won?"

"That would be Trixie of course. Not that there was ever any doubt." Trixie posed smugly before looking Twilight over. "We also had a short break in the show because you had to take your nap."

"O-oh, sorry." Twilight struggled to her hooves, shaking out her big nest-diaper rump on a whim before straightening up. "S-still, this doesn't mean anything. I can still win the rest of the challenges and become your familiar." She blinked. "No wait. I mean become an owl. I mean become your owl familiar!" Twilight took a second to think about that, then nodded proudly, pretty sure she had gotten it right that last time.

“Of course,” Trixie nodded, ~~giggling~~ laughing kindly at her prospective familiar's confusion. “Now, observe in wonder as Trixie produces the next challenge! Of course, since Trixie's owl-sistant is the one who is taking part, that means Trixie of course has a volunteer from the audience to take her side.”

“I, um… right?” Twilight said, a little confused but not wanting to argue with Trixie. “Of course. So… so what's the challenge?”

“An eating contest, of course,” Trixie told her, as Piggy Pie came out from the audience to join in. “And, since Trixie knows that they are your favourite, the eating contest is a contest to see who can eat the most sugar mice!”

She flourished her wand, producing an entrancing rattling sound, and brought it down with a flash. Twilight blinked, missing as Trixie took a bag and emptied it out, then gaped at the sight of the sugar mice everywhere. “Wow!”

“He-ey!” Piggy Pie said. “Isn't Twilight going to have something to eat as well?”

“But they're for me!” Twilight protested.

“That remains to be seen, Twilight Sparkowl!” Piggy Pie giggled. “I bet you can't catch enough to beat me!”

“C-catch them?” Twilight replied, missing the 'Sparkowl' comment entirely since it just sounded like it made sense to be her name. “But… wait, uh…”

“Of course,” Trixie agreed, making Twilight look back and forth in confusion. “It would not be much of a challenge if the targets did not move, would it?”

“I… guess not?” Twilight blinked. “Is it really necessary, though?”

Trixie huffed. “Of course it is!”

Twilight blushed at having made her wizard mad, then squeaked in surprise as ~~Trixie pulled a sugary string and~~ the mouse next to her hoof began to skitter away. Any thought about the challenge vanished from her mind as instinct immediately took over and she waddled along to chase after the mouse.

Trixie's voice in her ears cheered her on with a steady chant of "Mouse", "Catch", "Pounce" and "Eat", but no matter how fast she tried to waddle she just couldn't seem to catch her, completely oblivious about how none of the other mice were moving as she stayed focused on her prey.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Trixie shook her head, making Twilight stumble to a stop and look back at her. "Trixie can see that you're having some problems. Trixie supposes that it isn't completely surprising seeing how you look."

Twilight blinked and tilted her head in confusion. "How I... look?"

"But of course. Who catches mice, silly?" Trixie giggled.

"Well, uhh... me?" Twilight blushed and looked around for an answer.

"That's the plan, but you're a puffy pony, aren't you? Ponies don't catch mice, but something else does."

Twilight blinked before perking up. "Owls! Owls catch mice!"

"That's right. And who has ever heard of a pony familiar." Trixie smirked. "Don't you think you should try to look your part?"

Twilight nodded eagerly, part of her mind agreeing that that made sense and the rest of her mind too focused on the fact that she could be an owl just like she'd always read and dreamed about as a little foal and just like the voice in her ears told her she wanted above all else.

"That's the spirit. Such an eager future familiar." Trixie grinned and waved her wand for a moment before pointing it at Twilight to cause a big puff of foal powder to obscure her completely.

Twilight let out a startled hoot, already dizzy from all the wand-waving and getting even dizzier and distracted by the foal powder smelling a lot like her favorite book. By the time she finally gathered her bearings again the powder had already fully dispersed and Trixie was setting up a large mirror.

She let out another hoot as she leaned in to get a good look at herself, swaying a bit in place and tilting her head a bit just like an owl. Her puffy purple pony suit was gone and in its place was a thick, plushy owl suit.

The suit itself was mostly blue, with a white front that had a faint grey spiral on the belly and six blue tear-shaped feathers on the chest. Her neck had a frilly white bib that looked vaguely like fluffy downy feathers, her forelegs were stuck in soft plushy blue wings just like Rainbrawk Dash's while her actual wings were pinned comfortably to her sides. Her hind hooves were stuck in white plush talons thick enough to look more like paws, while the rest of her legs were swallowed by the thick nest-diaper still wrapped around her rump inside the suit that gave her owl suit its pudgy fluffy shape.

While her tail was stuck in the suit, her mane was still free behind her head and the only thing still visible of her old self. The rest of her head was behind a soft blue mask. Her eyes had visible swirls in them and were ringed by white fabric with two large white feathers each on top going out to the sides. Her mouth was completely hidden behind a cute white plush beak while her horn and forehead were covered by a shiny silver forehead protector that encased her horn, with a purple amethyst set into it right below the horn.

“There you go, see?” Trixie asked, chuckling. “Trixie told you, you're owl ready for this.”

“Right!” Twilight agreed, reminded of her task. “So – I need to catch as many sugar mice as possible?”

“You need to catch more sugar mice than Piggy Pie,” Trixie corrected. “Which isn't quite the same, though it's close. Now, get going!”

Twilight hooted, blushed for a moment (though she wasn't sure why) and started leaning down to try and catch sugar-mice as they began ~~being pulled~~ moving around the stage. It seemed quite hard for her to balance properly, and she had to stick out her feathery butt quite a long way to make sure she wasn't about to just fall forwards – which meant it wasn't easy for her to pick out the mice with her beak, and she could see that Piggy Pie was doing much better!

A few stray thoughts made her wonder why she was doing this – what was she playing for, again? Something about a magic battle, wasn't there?

But why would a familiar have a magic battle against her wizard?

Confused, she tripped over onto her front as she tried to pick up a sugar mouse, and that pushed the swirls up much closer to her eyes – leaving her dizzy and even more confused when she struggled back upright several seconds later.

“Oh?” Trixie asked. “Are you sure you're an owl, and not a chick?”

She chuckled. “Though I suppose an owl chick would be just fine as a familiar...”

Twilight blushed and blinked as she waddle-swayed in place. "Hoooo... how would I know if I'm an owl chick?"

Trixie smirked. "Well, there's a few hints for it. For example if you have a big padded crinkle-butt."

Twilight hooted and blushed more, trying to turn her head to look at her posterior and well aware of the thick crinkly diaper she was still wearing under the costume. "A-anything else?"

"Oh, of course." Trixie smirked. "A little owl chick would still be clumsy moving around. They'd have trouble flying properly, and they wouldn't really know how to catch mice yet, and they'd probably feel small and blushy a lot and look up to their great and powerful wizard for advice and leadership." She puffed herself up proudly.

Twilight hooted and flapped her wings a little, shrinking down and feeling dizzier and smaller with each thing Trixie listed. She definitely felt clumsy on her big plushy owl feet, and she hadn't managed to catch even a single mouse yet. She knew that her plush wings barely gave her any lift and she certainly felt small and blushy right now.

She waddled in place nervously before looking up at her great and powerful wizard, mumbling nervously, "I-I think I'm actually just a little owl chick..."

Trixie giggled and tilted her head. "Trixie is sorry, what did you say?"

Twilight swallowed and hooted in embarrassment before yelling out. "I'm actually just a little owl chick!"

Trixie hummed and leaned in, coming up right in Twilight's face to look her in the eyes. "You're Trixie's silly little owl chick familiar who asks her about everything because she still has to learn how to be a good owl chick and needs Trixie to teach her."

Twilight squeaked, eyes widening in surprise and taking in more of the swirls that made her feel so dizzy and floaty. "I-I'm Trixie's silly little owl chick familiar hoooo... who asks her about everything b-because I... I still have to learn and need Trixie to teach me…"

“Was there ever any doubt?” Trixie chuckled. “Well, at least you have admitted it, which is good – because, look, you've managed to lose this challenge as well!”

Twilight gasped, and looked around to see that Piggy Pie was just finishing off the last of the sugar mice.

“Oh, no...” Twilight fretted. “So, um… d-does that mean I'm not a hood owl – I mean a good owl chick, hoo?”

“Not at all, it means you clearly have a lot to learn,” Trixie said with a smirk. “But that is okay, Trixie knows just how to motivate you to get better at the tasks you need to learn as a familiar.”

She flourished her rattle, and Twilight's eyes locked onto it – following it with her ~~mouth~~ beak agape, amazed at how spirally and shiny it was.

“Listen carefully,” Trixie said. “Familiars do all sorts of tasks for magicians and wizards, and one of those things is that they clean up – they tidy when things go on the floor! And another thing they do is that they hoot while they work, because they have to concentrate so much on tidying up that they can't spare any effort on concentrating on anything else...”

Twilight nodded slightly, lost in the spirally rattle and the spirals in her eyes… fluffing her wings a little, wanting to be a good owl chick familiar for Trixie, and hanging on her every word in case she missed one.

“That means you will need to have a role model for how to clean up,” Trixie continued, still keeping Twilight's attention. “And Trixie is good to her familiar, she has got you a perfect role model!”

Reaching behind her, Trixie put down a large present decorated in swirly firework-y paper – with sparkles and spirals traced out in all colours of glitter, it made Twilight stare at it as it landed.

“Open it up,” Trixie encouraged. “Is Trixie not Generous and Thoughtful?”

"Y-yes you are..." Twilight blushed and waddled over to the gift, barely even noticing as Trixie moved to roll a stuffed-full-of-sugar-mice Piggy Pie back off the stage. Her attention was focused on the pretty sparkly present her generous and thoughtful wizard had gotten for her.

She looked around the gift for a moment before tugging at the bow on top, making it unravel and the gift wrap drop down to the stage floor. Twilight gasped and hooted in delight as the gift turned out to be a large display box with what the pretty swirly print at the top said was a life-sized plush dragon maid toy easily visible through the display window.

Twilight giggled and pecked at the window with her beak, trying to get the plush toy out.

"Careful now, you want to keep the box in good condition for when you're done playing with your present." Trixie chuckled and used her magic to lift a barely visible latch on the side, making the display window open up like a large door. Her magic wrapped around the plush dragon maid and lifted her up, letting him stand in front of the box with blank, swirling eyes and a happy toy smile.

"Look, Trixie. He looks so cute and frilly." Twilight giggled and flapped her wings as she waddled around the plush toy to look at it from all sides. Something about the toy felt more than a little familiar, like she should know the dragon, but a long moment staring into his swirling eyes and the swirling hearts all over his maid outfit made her realize that it was probably just because she'd always wanted a plush dragon maid toy more than anything.

Twilight kept giggling and cooing and fawning over her new toy, poking and nudging it a bit before she finally frowned and looked it over again. After a moment of thought she giggled as she figured out how to handle it, and waddled over to grip the ring on the toy's pullstring in her beak. She waddled back a bit, leaning back even more to pull it out nice and long, then let go.

The pullstring was pulled in again and the plush toy twitched, then jerked and moved a bit stiffly before swinging around to look at Twilight. It smiled even wider if that was possible, giving her a perfect if a bit waddly curtsy and giggling. "Maid Dragon is your best friend. Maid Dragon loves to clean and cook."

“You do?” Twilight said, giggling. “Well, I, that is, Trixie told me that I needed to learn to clean as well!”

Trixie coughed, and Twilight looked around to see that a dozen or so small plush toys were scattered over the stage – along with a few piles of pinkish-white foal powder.

“Oh!” Twilight gasped. “Um… how do I make the toy clean up?”

“Perhaps you need to read the instruction guide,” Trixie suggested, floating a booklet down in front of Twilight.

The booklet seemed at first to be almost a toy, with a dozen silvery pages which looked completely blank, but after a moment's staring at it Twilight started to see the words. They were really pretty, and they seemed to move when she wasn't looking at them – and she could almost sort of see them only in spirals, which looked really funny and gave her quite a giggle!

“Um… it says that I need to point the toy at the mess,” she said, frowning a little as she puzzled the book out, and looked back at the Dragon Maid toy. It was standing there with a smile, swaying left and right ever so slightly, and if Twilight had been paying much more attention she might have noticed that the Dragon Maid was staring at Trixie's swinging wand.

“And I need to get the right accessory out...” Twilight added, then got up to do just that – waddling over to the box, and picking the dustpan and broom out of the set. Surprisingly there were two dustpans and two brooms, and Twilight had quite a lot of trouble carrying all four of them over to her new toy, but once she got them close the Dragon Maid took one of each and stood there.

She shifted the toy dragon over to one of the piles, then looked up at Trixie. “Um… why are there two of all the tools?”

“That's so you can learn, of course,” Trixie said. “You need to do it alongside the Dragon Maid, but don't forget to pull the string again first!”

"O-oh, okay..." Twilight blushed and giggled, grabbing the second broom and dustpan in her wings and waddling over to the back of the Dragon Maid again. She grabbed the ring in her beak again, pulled and let go.

Dragon Maid straightened up a bit before giggling again. "Let's get this place squeaky clean~!"

"Squeaky clean~" Twilight parroted, blushing and giggling along as she waddled after her plush toy. She watched him scoop up one of the piles of powder in the dustpan and quickly leaned down to do the same, feeling rather proud of how well she was doing, hooting and shaking her rump happily.

She paused when she looked at her Dragon Maid toy again and noticed that he was emptying the full dustpan down the front of his diaper, not sure if she should do the same. Before she could ask however, Trixie's magic grabbed the plush toy's pullstring and gave it a good pull.

Dragon Maid turned around to her with a smile, swirly eyes meeting her own as he giggled again and sang "Out of sight, out of mind~"

Twilight swayed and blinked a little, then giggled and nodded along with the good advice she couldn't quite remember. She waddled over to the next pile of powder, shaking her now slightly poofier padded rump as she scooped the pile up into her empty dustpan, then stood up and clumsily pulled the front of her costume back a bit with one wing so she could dump all the powder down into her padding where it belonged, out of sight and out of mind~

Looking up again, she saw that Dragon Maid had moved on to picking up the clutter. He'd apparently grabbed the small pink feather duster from the box and was giving every toy and plushy a good dusting as he picked it up.

Twilight quickly grabbed the second small duster, then started following her plush's example on how to deal with clutter. Pick up a toy or small plush, take a moment to stare at the spinning part, the spiral designs or the pretty glowing eyes of whatever she'd picked up until she was all dizzy and had forgotten what exactly she'd been thinking about and repeating to herself, then move to pick up the next toy and try not to drop the ones she was already carrying around.

Twilight Sparkowl had no idea how long she spent tidying up, sweeping and dusting and de-cluttering, washing and scrubbing and primping, staring and giggling and occasionally hooting.

She remembered Trixie reminding her to pull the pullstring whenever she got confused, and she remembered some of the instructions that Dragon Maid gave her being useful cleaning tips like “Swinging your rump when you sweep makes it much easier~!” or that “Wearing diapers means you can just keep cleaning~”

Eventually, though, the stage was spotless and shining – reflecting the swirly shiny lights all around it, making it so Twilight was constantly being distracted even though she tried her best not to be.

“There!” Trixie ~~giggled~~ smiled. “Wasn't that fun?”

Twilight nodded, staring at the spirals on Trixie's wand as it swung back and forth. “Mm-hoot!”

“That's right,” Trixie said. “You know just how to clean up now, like any good familiar should. But there's one more thing an owl needs to know.”

She stopped, and waved her hoof. “Well, that's wrong, there are many more things an owl needs to know, especially a familiar owl hatchling for the Great and Powerfoal Trixie! Fortunately, Trixie has an assistant who can help teach you those things as well!”

“Wow!” Twilight said, amazed. “Trixie knows everything!”

Trixie shook her head. “Only momma knows everything,” she said, sounding vague and distracted, then seemed to regain her senses. “Um, anyway… that is… Trixie knows a lot! And her assistant, Fluffershy, knows all about tooting and hooting, so she's the ideal teacher for a familiar in need of an educationowl lesson!”

She waved her cape with a flourish, and Fluffershy came bouncing out of the audience to land with a loud toot from her big plaid plumpness.

“Don't forget to put away your toy first,” Trixie added, and Twilight blushed before complying – occasionally ~~staring~~ glancing at Fluffershy as the dragonish musician hummed to herself.

Twilight struggled a bit with getting her Dragon Maid toy back into its box, somehow managing to pull the pullstring at its back several more times which caused it to keep giving advice and trying to clean Twilight up.

By the time she finally managed to close the box, she felt dizzy and sparkly swirly clean, with lots of useful advice bouncing around a fluffy head that had been thoroughly cleaned of any dust ~~and thoughts~~. She blinked as everything sounded a bit too fuzzy and distant, then blushed and pulled her feather duster out of her ear and stuck it in the back of her diaper, making it sit nice and secure while looking almost completely natural as a fluffy feathery owl tail.

Fluffershy giggled behind one of her big puffy yellow-plaid claws. "Are you ready to begin, then?" She gave an encouraging smile and another giggle before turning around and wiggling her rump. "Let's start with a few simple exercises. Just try to hoot the same pitch I do."

She dropped back onto her large plaid rump and it swelled up a bit before the air blasted out one of her tail pipes with a long, smooth "Hooooot~".

Twilight hooted in surprise, having been distracted watching the wiggling plaid padding and not expected to suddenly be blasted back by a steady stream of sound and air. She dropped back onto her own rump, the tune echoing through her head for a moment before she giggled and let it out in a long, slightly dizzy but pitch-perfect "Hooooot~"

“That's very good!” Fluffershy giggled. “You're getting the hoot of it!”

Twilight smiled happily, proud of the praise, and fluffed her wings up and down.

“But you've got more practice to do, still,” the musical dragon added. “So now let's try a lower note.”

She lifted her rump up higher this time, wiggling it back and forth a few times, and counted down. “Three, twoo, one...”

Letting her plaid diaper-like rear drop again, she put more force on it this time – blowing out a long low “Hooooot” which echoed in the air for several long seconds after it finished.

Twilight was so enraptured by the sound, and by the earlier wiggling, that she almost didn't remember she had to copy the note.

“Ahem?” Trixie coughed, smirking, and Twilight gasped.

“Oh! Um…” she began, then giggled. “I mean, Hooooot!”

“That's right!” Fluffershy said, blowing a brief fanfare which made Twilight's head spin. “But now let's hear something a bit more difficult, which is two notes rather than just one! It's a more complicated kind of hoot.”

She lifted her rump and sat back on it, rolling a little from side to side, and played out a “Toooot-whit Tooot-whooooo” sound, the first one rising to a high pitch and the second one staying low and long.

Twilight swallowed; this was difficult! She'd have to try her very best to give a toot-hoot like Fluffershy said!

Twilight wiggled her rump a bit before sitting down just like Fluffershy had, flapping her ~~forelegs~~ wings and letting out a long, happy-sounding "Toooot-whit tooot-whooooo~".

Fluffershy giggled and applauded politely. "Very good. You're a very musical owl hatchling, aren't you?" She wiggled her rump and swished her tail, letting out a cheerful series of short hoots.

Twilight smiled happily and flapped her wings more in excitement, repeating the hoots and then going on with her own small melody even after Fluffershy had stopped. She hooted almost a full minute before she trailed off and blinked, blushing as she noticed everyone watching her. "H-hoo hoot?"

Trixie grinned. "Well, it looks like Fluffershy is a better teacher than even Trixie expected. You certainly sound a whole lot more like an owl now."

Fluffershy nodded proudly, making Twilight beam with pride. "Oh yes, she's a really cute little hooter, isn't she? Some day we should have a concert together." She got a mischievous grin and turned around, wiggling her rump again for Twilight to see. She waited a moment for Twilight to stumble closer, enraptured by the swishing swirling plaid padding, before she dropped her rump down and blasted a long, loud, strong "Hoooot-tooooot-paaaarp~!" right into Twilight's face.

Twilight hooted and flapped her wings, rolling several feet back from the blast before coming to a stop dizzy and giggly and hoot-y, watching Fluffershy bounce back to the audience with soft, cheerful parps.

“Did you enjoy that?” Trixie asked, and Twilight nodded – wobbling a little on her feet before sitting back to use her diaper as a support. She crinkled as she nodded again, more emphatically the second time, and Trixie smirked.

“Excellent!” she pronounced. “So, of course, this means that Twilight Sparkowl will be quite happy to properly confirm herself as Trixie's familiar!”

Twilight nodded again. “Hoo! Yes, I dooo!”

Trixie ~~smirked~~ smiled. “That's the right answer~”

The owl flapped her blue feathery wings again, then paused. “B-buk, um, but, whoo, what does that mean I have to dooo?”

“Just watch closely,” Trixie replied, flourishing her wand, which began to glow along with her horn. Swirling lights and patterns spread out, fascinating Twilight instantly, and she hooted in amazement as the swirliness built up and got prettier and shinier every second.

The lights reminded her of all sorts of things she already knew, like how a familiar did whatever their magician wanted, and they asked her a few things as well. Or… that was how it felt, to Twilight, but she wasn't really sure.

It was like she had to agree to be Trixie's familiar, which sounded odd because Twilight was sure she was already Trixie's familiar, but then she was just an owl hatchling so maybe that was something she didn't understand. She nodded, agreeing, and as she did there was a sort of tingly sensation – like she was making a promise that would make it so Trixie could always tell her what to do.

It was all very complicated for her to understand, so she just sat back and enjoyed the pretty shiny lights – hooting and shifting back and forth – and she wasn't sure at all how long it took.

By the time she blinked awake again, Twilight noticed that they weren't alone anymore... Or rather even less alone than they'd been with all her friends in the audience.

Looking up she saw Trixie swishing her tail and wiggling her butt in happy excitement as she talked to a large, crinkly and incredibly cushy looking snake.

"...and then I made her watch my pretty wand and cast the spell you taught me and it all worked. Isn't Trixie the smartest, cleverest and bestest filly you've ever taught?"

"Yes, very good. And what does your familiar have to say to that?"

Twilight blinked in minor confusion, until Trixie turned to her with a light frown. "Sparkowl, tell Mommy how proud and happy you are to be my loyal and obedient familiar."

Twilight gasped and hooted as she felt a sudden headrush, her head going all fuzzy and warm. Without thinking she jumped up and flapped her wings with a wide smile on her beak. "Hoot, hoooot~! I'm Trixie's bestest, cutestest familiar and I love doing whatever she tells me to do, hooooot~!"

“See?” Trixie asked proudly. “Trixie told you!”

“Very good, dear,” the serpent replied. “You are a smart filly, you learned exactly what Mommy wanted you to learn.”

Trixie giggled, sitting down and squirming back and forth a little, and Twilight looked back and forth between her magician and the cushy snake.

“You're Trixie's Mommy, hooot~?” she asked, blinking owlishly. “But, you… you don't look much like her, hooooo...”

“Well, sweeties, that's all about why I'm here,” she said, a pair of cute little crinkly wings flicking on her back. “Because you are a smart little owlet to spot that!”

She smiled, her eyes twinkling. “Do you know what a comic book is?”

Twilight Sparkowl frowned. “N-no, actually, I don't-”

“Sparkowl!” Trixie said. “You're making Mommy pay attention to you instead of Trixie! Stop it!”

The dizzy familiar blushed, feeling very embarrassed, and the serpent chuckled. “Now, now, Trixie, sweetie,” she said. “Play nice.”

Trixie flushed as well, squirming a bit and looking down after being told off by her serpentine mommy, and she looked so upset that Twilight waddled over to give her a hug – wanting to make Trixie happy any way she could.

“Well, a comic book is a book full of pictures and words, and they have all sorts of stories in them,” the snake explained. “But your Mommy Occamommy didn't come from a comic book, she came from a picture book. For foals,” she added, to make the point clearer.

"Like us?" Twilight perked up curiously.

"Only the best foals, obviously, like Trixie." Trixie sniffled one more time before sitting up again proudly and definitely not leaning into Sparkowl's hug because it was soft and plushy and nice. "So you could say that Mommy was made just for Trixie.

"Wow... you must really be one of the bestest foals in the world." Twilight looked up at Trixie with big, ~~swirling~~ sparkling eyes. She still didn't understand everything, but if that big comfy and nice looking snake was made just for her wizard then Trixie had to be a really good foal. "And I get to be your familiar?"

"Well, I suppose you could say that. Although I hope you're not forgetting your foalish friends Gilda and Lightning Dust." The snake leaned in a bit and Trixie squeaked, glancing back quickly. Twilight turned her head to see all her friends grouped behind them, all of them looking dizzy and drooly as they listened to a big puffy wolf and a smaller but no less puffy fox.

Trixie blushed and chuckled nervously. "O-of course Trixie would never forget... those two." She pouted a bit. "But Trixie is still your favorite foal, right?"

Occamommy hummed and swayed a bit, making Twilight's eyes immediately follow her movements as the plushy padding of her body shimmered in the light. "Of course. Without you I never would have had half this opportunity."

She turned her attention back to Twilight. "You see, the book your Mommy came from was... rather simple, you could say. Only pictures, the barest of plot and over after only a few pages it felt like. I barely even got to have any dialogue, and what little I did have was in two-verse rhymes." She let out a short angry hiss and Twilight suddenly felt very squirmy and fuzzy.

"Oh, but then my book ended up in that store, and someone enchanted it just like they did this one. I suddenly had sentience, drive, something to live for. Too much of it to be contained in those few simplistic pages. So I gave them the sssssslip." Twilight felt fuzzy again, and looking over noticed that Trixie was squirming and looking unfocused just as much as she felt.

"I found this nice book to hide in, and when Trixie here bought it... Mommy convinced her to be a good little foal. We spent some time together and Trixie told me all about your little group of friends. Well, I couldn't pass this opportunity up, could I?"

Trixie blinked before giggling and leaning in, drooling a little as she smiled at the snake. "Trixie is a good foal..."

“That'sssss right,” Occamommy said, the sibilant hiss at the end of the word making Twilight feel all fuzzy and dizzy again – even more than last time. “And so I hatched a plan, where Trixie would be a very good foal and ssssslip this comic book into your new puchasesssss...”

Twilight went all hazy, not really remembering the next few seconds, then faded back in again feeling all squishy and dizzy.

“Trixie's a soggy foal,” Trixie announced out loud, poking the front of her diaper with a liquid sound.

“Yes, well, that's something that sssstarted to happen,” Occamommy said, a touch ruefully. “Sssilly Sally the Crinkle-Snake was all about foalsss wetting diapersss, with a hisss, ssso it'sss easssy for me to… ssslip.”

Every hissing sound made Twilight's mind fuzz out for a moment again, making her feel disjointed and disconnected, but she did notice the name. “Silly Sally?”

Occamommy's eyes glittered, and she weaved back and forth again – her tail waving as well, the shifting shiny lights and the waving tail and wings and head all combining to keep Twilight fascinated. “Mommy wants you to forget you ever heard that name, sssweetie...”

Twilight blinked a few times, wondering what Mommy had been talking about, and Occamommy examined her and Trixie before smiling. “And, well, it's nearly all done, because with you and you friends as more entranced little ones I'll be able to go out into the real world, where things aren't all tied up in silly storylinesss...”

She blinked. “Why am I explaining this to you? It's… I can't help it!”

She huffed and swished her tail. "It's hard to break old habits, I supposssse... Just like the hissing. Aren't foal books all about explaining things to foals?"

Twilight blinked before nodding eagerly, although she was too fuzzy to quite remember what she was nodding at. It was about books though and she knew that books were always good.

"Nevermind that." Occamommy slithered closer to them. "With the help of so many foals from the real world, I know I will get out of here easily. Ten of you should be more than enough, shouldn't they? After that... well, Mommy has a few ideas for what we can do as a family." She gave a hissing laugh, curling her body around them and pulling Twilight's and Trixie's friends closer to them. "Now then, little owl, do you still remember the spell to bring everyone out of this book?"

"Cast the spell, Sparkowl. Trixie could do it, naturally, but she is giving you the chance to prove your limited magical skill."

Twilight hooted and flapped her wings with a blush, eager to prove herself to Trixie and their Mommy. Her horn lit up and the silver protector shimmered, as did Occamommy's scales as she curled closer around them. There was a bright, blinding flash of magic and a long, disorienting falling sensation before she landed on her padded rump, shaking her head.

Twilight blinked the spots out of her eyes and groaned before looking around, feeling dizzy and fuzzy. She glanced up at movement and saw something shiny slither out of the room, but quickly dismissed it to look at her friends and Spike all sitting around the still opened comic book, each of them still wearing a diaper around their rump but luckily nothing else.

"Finally!" Rainbow stood up and wobbled a bit in place until she caught herself. "I thought we'd never get out of that book, now I can finally get out of this embarrassing diaper." She blushed and poked her padding, then tugged at it just to make sure that it wasn't still magically glued to her.

"Indeed." Rarity nodded and turned her head to look at her rump, shaking it. "Plain white padding is just terribly bland. I really need to think up some better and more avant-garde designs for us."

Rainbow paused to huff at her, flaring her wings. "Hey! What's wrong with white? I'm white and I'm awesome!" She paused and frowned in confusion, looking at her wing. "No, wait... I'm blue and I'm awesome. But my chicken sleeper is white and even more awesome." She straightened up again and nodded decisively, proud of herself at having figured that out all logically and determined to put on her favorite sleeper as soon as she could find it again to show everypony just how awesome it was.

As Rarity began making some diaper covers, stitching together a few interesting ideas to try and make sure that they at least had something not entirely tacky to wear, Fluttershy sat back and hummed – blushing a little, then wiggling back and forth on her diaper with a look of faint confusion.

“Are y'all all right?” Applejack asked. “That was a pretty plumb long time we were in there. Ah might get us some drinks from the kitchen?”

“That sounds delightful, darling,” Rarity said, not looking up from her cover-making. “Perhaps some warm milk?”

“Oh, yeah, that sounds good,” Dash agreed. “Warm milk is – well, it's white, and we've already established white is awesome!”

“Ah'll get moo all some milk, then,” Applejack volunteered, then flushed. “I, ah, mean I'll get y'all some milk.”

“Great!” Pinkie beamed, bouncing on her diaper and giggling. “Oh, I'll come with you! I know I'm hungry, and I bet everypony else is too!”

She bounced again, then followed Applejack on the way down to the castle kitchen.

“Is something wrong, Fluttershy?” Spike asked.

“Oh, um… I'm just wondering why there isn't any music,” Fluttershy explained. “I was sure we were listening to some nice music earlier...”

She shook her head, bouncing her diaper against the floor again. “It's probably just me being silly…”

“Well, if you work it out, I guess the best thing is to mention it,” Spike shrugged. “I've got to tell you, though, I'm really looking forward to the next one in that series. It's an exciting story!”

“Oh, yeah!” Dash agreed. “There was that great plot twist, and… you know!”

“Ta-da!” Rarity announced, flourishing the first new cover, and Fluttershy took it – admiring the plaid pattern, before putting it on and sitting back down again with a loud crinkle.

“It feels nice,” she said. “Thank you, Rarity…”

“Oh, that's no problem at all,” Rarity said, already working on another.

“Snacks are back!” Pinkie called, bringing them in ahead of Applejack with the milk. “He-ey, we should have a sleepover upstairs! We're all already here, after all!”

A mutter of agreement went around the room, and every-pony (and Spike) began heading upstairs to lay out blankets and mattresses and things as they drank from the bottles Applejack had brought up.

The only one not taking part was Twilight, who was bringing up the rear – frowning, wondering why something about… everything… seemed wrong.

She could remember individual things that happened in the comic, if she thought about it, but it was hard to remember all of it at once. And while the diapers were comfortable and perfectly normal, they seemed to be a little unusual at the same time…

Then there was that strange feeling like she was forgetting something really important.

Something about how Trixie wanted her to do something. How she wanted to keep her magician happy by doing whatever Trixie wanted.

Tilting her head a little, Twilight concentrated – trying to work out what it was.

Something about how Trixie wanted her familiar to listen carefully…

“Hey, Twilight,” Applejack said, a few minutes later. “Long time no see.”

Pinkie giggled. “But we saw Twilight just a few minutes ago! Ooh, or is that a joke about how long it took her to come up the stairs? That's funny!”

“Sorry, girls – and Spike,” Twilight said, flushing slightly. “I was thinking about something, and kind of… lost track of time, I guess.”

She lit her horn, lifting down almost her entire stack of spare blankets and pillows to help provide everypony a place to sleep.

“It must have been something good,” Spike said. “What is it?”

“Oh, well… I had this idea that we should set up an amusement park,” Twilight explained. “Around the castle, I mean.”

She repeated just what Trixie had told her to say. “And I thought maybe we could get Trixie's help? She's very good at that sort of thing...”

“Well, that idea sounds… nice,” Fluttershy said. “Oh, I've got some ideas for the music, if that's all right...”

“And I could help with the design!” Rarity agreed.

That's a good familiar, Trixie's smug voice whispered at the back of Twilight's mind. Trixie's familiar is going to help Trixie stay as Mommy's favourite foal.

Author's Note

And that's your lot!
I hope you enjoyed this silly little story.