It was late afternoon over the quiet town of Ponyville and the sun had just started to tease the sky with its orange and red glow. The weather was cool, quite unusually so considering how late in the spring it was supposed to be. For many students at the School of Friendship, today was a busy day of classes and homework, but for a select few it was a day of cutting classes and dodging academic responsibilities.
The southern tower was an offshoot from the rest of the school complex. During the school year it was often used for stargazing and astronomy lectures. After school, however, the area was the perfect place for fliers to lay about, secluded and out of the way enough to keep any nosey teacher from snooping around.
Smolder and Gallus often hung around the tower when it was just the two of them. Sometimes they’d spend all afternoon lounging around, idly talking about whatever crossed their minds. Occasionally this chatting would be broken up by quick tests of skill, in which the two competitively fought for victory. In most cases it was just fleeting bets like who could throw a rock the farthest or who could fly down the length of the tower the fastest. No matter the bet and no matter who won those bets, the two seemed to always be at equal odds with each other.
“We’d fly up old volcano vents all the time when we were little,” Smolder leaned back on a bed of dark blue shingles as she reminisced. Time away from the Dragon Lands had made her miss the old days and these gab sessions with Gallus always made her nostalgic. “Those tunnels must have been a mile long, most of it vertical!”
“Is that it?” Gallus scoffed, idly dangling his feet off the edge of the curved roof, “Griffinstone’s snowstorms would keep every dragon grounded. Try flying through that with your webbed gliders.”
“It’s all about power! We dragons have the strongest wings on earth,” Smolder boasted as she puffed out her chest and gave her webbed wings a powerful flap. “My uncle Magma could make tornadoes when he flapped his wings!”
“Psh, you kidding me? Griffin’s are built for speed!“ Gallus answered, posing in a proud stance as his feathered wings splayed themselves off his back. “Nature’s finely tuned my kind to be the fastest, most agile fliers up there!”
“Oh yeah?” Smolder crossed her arms, “ready to put your money where your mouth is?”
“I’m ready when you are!” Gallus exclaimed, “if you’re not scared that is.”
“Think I can’t do it?” Smolder replied with a cocky raise of her eyebrows, “alright, let’s make it a bet!”
“Hah! You’re on. Just name it!” Gallus barked back.
“Alright...Loser has to...” Smolder thought things over, “wear a diaper!”
“A baby bet, huh?” Gallus smugly took the bet in stride. Nothing unusual or too difficult for him to handle. It wasn’t the first time he took up a bet like that before. “Okay, hows ‘bout we make things interesting. Loser has to wear a diaper AND use it!”
“A-and use it?!” Smolder exclaimed, narrowly squeaking at the idea.
“That’s the bet,” the blue griffin firmly stated, “unless you’re scaaaared.”
“I ain’t scared! A hatchling could beat a griffin in a race! You’re on!” Smolder smirked and the two shook hands. The bet was on!
The two arranged the race through a rocky ridge not too far away from Ponyville’s outskirts. Nicknamed “the Featherbreaker” the sharp series of deep gorges and razor sharp mountain peaks got its name from the numerous stories of pegasi getting stuck in the maze like terrain, trapping themselves in inescapable pits after suffering terrible wing injuries. This series of craggy cliff faces surrounded by densely wooded forests and would serve as the perfect proving ground for the two competitors.
Three days after the bet was made, Gallus and Smolder met at the entrance to the gorge. A crude starting line was drawn into the ground using some brightly colored rocks all lined up in a row. Floating checkpoints were preemptively set up around the area to mark the race path.
Silverstream the hippogriff stood as the referee. An unbiased judge in case the race ended with a tie. And according to many of their friends, a tied race was almost a guarantee between the two experienced fliers.
“Racers ready!” Silverstream exclaimed, raising up her feathered wings that had been painted a black and white checkered pattern for just the occasion. The two racers lined up at the finish line, stretching their wings and readying themselves for the race ahead.
“Born ready!” Gallus barked with a cocky smirk, kicking up the dirt beneath him with a couple powerful flaps of his wings.
“Ready,” Smolder answered as well, her body tensing up as her own wings stretched out behind her.
The two racers took their marks, feet dug into the grassy dirt. Before them stretched a swooping race track that would run them through their paces. A carefully marked out path that would have them darting through densely wooded forests, congested craggy fissures, and touching the very tips of mountain peaks as sharp as spears.
“On your mark!” Silverstream called out, the two racers’ bodies tensing up as a determined expression fell on their faces. “Get set,” the hippogriff chirped, raising her wings to the peak of their arc until finally throwing them quickly to the ground with an excitable, “go go go!”
And with that the two racers were off with a flash, leaving a trail of dust behind them as they shot off into the skies. Silverstream cheered the entire time, hopping in place and flapping her checkered wings about in festive flare. The flyers were already small dots in the sky by the time the dust settled. The race was off to a great start.
The first leg of the race sent Smolder and Gallus up into the skies, testing their endurance and altitude tolerance. Gallus used his agile wings to weave through the fluffy clouds that dotted the area while Smolder just charged straight through the puff balls. They stayed neck and neck the whole time with neither of them showing signs of faltering.
The air thinned as the two climbed high at record speeds. The air was getting chilly at this altitude, but neither of the racers flinched at it. In the distance climbed a strip of pointed mountains that served as the next checkpoint. Beyond those pointed peaks were a dark complex of ravines and deep gullies, the next leg of their race.
Out of nowhere a powerful thermal swept the griffin off course, giving Smolder the edge she needed to steal the lead. As her opponent was pulled up into the air, Smolder pulled ahead, zooming straight for the floating ring that touched the very tips of the sharp peaked mountains.
Smolder zipped through the floating ring, darting straight downwards into the network of chasms that cracked the land below. She dove into the dark canyons without a second thought hardly flinching at the dim light as the sun disappeared behind the tall mountains above. Her knowledge of the caves along with her dragon sight that was well attuned to dimly lit caves gave her a healthy lead.
The gorge below was in itself a maze like series of paths that cut through the land every which way. Even with the power of flight, Smolder struggled to find her way through the area. Every rocky chasm looked identical to the last and without a good sense of direction, one could find themselves lost in a matter of minutes. Lucky for Smolder, all her time flying through the dark Dragon Land lava fields as a hatchling trained her for this. It was child’s play once she knew her way around the labyrinth and she navigated the area in record time.
For some reason though, Smolder considered losing the race all together. Call it curiosity, desire, or boredom, either way there was a small voice in her head that asked her to lose. It was a fleeting thought, but as she trekked through the race track, the voice popped in more and more to add its thoughts on the matter.
It's just a silly race, the tiny voice would remind her, it's hardly worth it anyway. All she’d have to do is wear a diaper. And it's just a stupid diaper. It’s not like it meant anything. This bet would likely run the same way it always did between her and Gallus. One of them would win, the loser would have to do something embarrassing and the two would honor each other’s friendship enough to not speak of it to anyone. So really, the voice reasoned, she could wear the diaper as much as she wanted without fear of Gallus blabbing about it all over the school.
And that was the thought that slowed Smolder down. Not that wearing a diaper in front of Gallus would have any lasting repercussions, but that she actually WANTED to wear the diaper. Even the word ‘diaper’ made her cheeks blush for reasons she couldn’t quite fathom. Thinking about wearing diapers was oddly alluring to the dragon, it made her breathing short and her heart all aflutter.
It was in those dimly lit canyons that Smolder decided to do the unthinkable. She would lose the race on purpose.
With a new goal in mind, Smolder continued her journey through the twisting and turning paths leading past the ravines. She flew a little bit slower in the dim light, hopefully giving Gallus more than enough time to jump into the lead. She even made sure to take a couple wrong turns to stall for time so that the griffin had enough space between them to guarantee a victory. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. Why was she throwing the race?
Eventually, breaking no personal records in speed, Smolder did fly out of the gorge and through the next floating ring. Next up was the mountain side forest. A deeply wooded area that contained gnarled roots and old trees grown so close together that it was nearly impossible to find a safe path through the it. Navigating the area tested a flyer’s maneuverability as well as their navigation skills.
Smolder expertly weaved through the trees as she dove deep into the forest’s depths. The close quarters were nothing compared to her raw dragon strength. If there was a cluster of branches blocking her way, she’d charge right through them without a single scratch to her tough dragonhide. Roots were trampled and young saplings were crushed. She certainly made short work of the intricate web of plant life that thickly grew inside the forest.
When she finally emerged from the woods, the next checkpoint was within sight, floating above the treeline just outside. From here she could see the finish line as small speck in the distance. She could also see that despite all her stalling, Gallus was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly she heard the rustling of leaves as some large mass moved fast through the leaved canopy above her. In a plume of leaves and twigs, Gallus came shooting out of the forest not too far behind her. The two races ended up reaching the floating checkpoint at the same instant and immediately shot off for the finish line.
The final home stretch of the race ended with one quick dash across an open, rocky field. It was a straight shot from here to the finish line where Silverstream stood ready to flap her wings at the first racer to cross the line.
Despite all the amateur mistakes Smolder made along the way, the two were still neck and neck by the time the finish line came into view. She wanted to lose, but she had to make it seem close so that no one knew she was purposely forfeiting the race.
Smolder and Gallus were mere inches apart. Neck and neck, shoulder to shoulder. Their wings flap harder than ever, kicking up small rocks off the ground as they zoomed past. Silverstream and the finish line quickly climbed over the horizon, growing bigger with each stroke of their wings. Gallus took advantage of his bird like neck to stretch out a few inches ahead of his competitor and Smolder tried to subtly scrunch her body back to allow a little more wiggle room between the two of them.
Finally in one swift flash, Smolder and Gallus dashed past the finish line, clipping Silverstream’s painted feathers as they flew by. The two slammed into the ground with near synchronization as their clawed feet dug deep into the rocky dirt. A plume of dust swept past them as their speed grinded to a halt.
“We have a winner!” Silverstream squealed, happily clapping her clawed feet.
Gallus took this victory as graceful as he took any victory. “Ha! You lose, scaleface!”
“Yeah yeah, alright,” Smolder growled, “you win.”
“So a bets a bet!” Silverstream exclaimed with a bounce. Traditionally the terms of the bet was kept between the two racers and few others knew what the bet was actually about. For this particular bet, Silverstream knew nothing apart from the race and she didn’t really care. She was just ecstatic to be the one who waves the checkered flag at the end.
“You raced well, dragon breath, but not well enough,” Gallus grinned with a cocky grin. “Tomorrow, lunch time,” he firmly ordered, “be in my dorm room and we’ll settle the bet.”
“Fine. I’ll be there,” Smolder growled in defeat. Just what did she get herself into?
Tomorrow couldn’t have arrived soon enough. Smolder wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, not even herself, but she was actually looking forward to lunchtime. Her morning was a blur, classes were a blur, everything was mentally skipped over until the afternoon rolled around and she made her way into the student dorm rooms.
Gallus’s room was easy enough to find. Among the long hallway of identical wooden doors, Gallus’s door was the one that was the most beat up from the countless times the brash griffin charged in and out of the room. It also had a nice wooden sign with his name next to it which was least dinged up thing there was. The door was left unlocked, although Smolder guessed the beat up locks wouldn’t even work anymore at this point.
The inside of Gallus’s room was rather sparse in its decor, but was primarily dotted with empty boxes and discarded piles of laundry. It was certainly not a pigsty, however it was obvious that Gallus wasn’t the neatest griffin around. He was rather lax in his cleaning habits which left his room in a perpetual disorganized mess.
Smolder couldn’t quite explain the excitement she was feeling. It was a swell of anticipation that made her nervous, embarrassed, and eager all at the same time. She felt like she should have been feeling shameful about what she had done, but that little voice that got her into this mess only continued to encourage her to push things further. She was going to wear a diaper and, whether she’d admit it or not, it was a liberating experience.
“Weeeeeeell, there’s the hatchling now!” Gallus exclaimed with a cocky grin, “right on time.” The blue griffin lazily lounged on a large, dark green bean bag chair that sat against the left wall of his room. Judging by the nearby coffee table and pile of empty soda cans, this was a spot he frequently laid about.
“I just wanted to get this over with,” Smolder snarled with her most convincing scowl. “Though I don’t even have one to wear,” she stalled, “we’re gonna have to go to the store or something if we’re really doing this.”
“Gotchya covered,” Gallus so brashly exclaimed, holding up a folded diaper, “couldn’t have ya weasel out of this one.”
Smolder scowled at her latest stall being tworted. Although the diaper did look soft, maybe even the fluffiest thing she’d ever wear! It was a plain white kind of design, sized perfectly to accommodate both her and Gallus’s body type. It looked like the griffin had come prepared for such a bet.
“Does baby want me to help her with her diapee?” Gallus said in a mocking coo, wagging the diaper in the dragon’s face.
Smolder just growled and snatched the diaper out of his hands. “Gimme that!” she snapped. She was certainly not in the mood to have her latest loss rubbed in her face. Or at least that’s how she pretended to act.
In reality, it was tough for her to keep cool with all the excitement bubbling inside of her. She finally got her hands on a diaper and a thick one too! And it was softer than she could have ever imagined. She was so close. All she had to do was put it on and she’d finally have a diaper! She didn’t even mind Gallus’s mocking and pestering. After all she had done for it, it was worth it.
“I’ll put it on, but you gotta swear you won’t laugh,” Smolder made one last demand before she passed the point of no return.
“I can’t promise that at all,” Gallus answered as he was beginning to laugh already, “bet said nothing about me not laughing.”
Smolder scowled at the answer. Sadly it was the best she was gonna get. Still maintaining her grumpy and angry facade, Smolder slowly opened up the diaper. A waft of sweet vanilla could be smelt from the padded insides. Had she been alone, she might have taken this opportunity to feel up every inch of the diaper and slowly put it on to savor every little moment. However Gallus was here and she had to pretend she wasn’t enjoying it. So she put on the diaper as angry as she could.
Using jerky and brash movements, Smolder managed to wrap the soft diaper around her waist. At no point did she lose that angry front she so easily kept up. She wasn’t enjoying this one bit, she told herself, she hated losing and she hated the fact that she had to wear a diaper.
Eventually though, she had the diaper on and quite the snug and secure fit if she did say so herself. But she couldn’t admire her handiwork now. For now, she was at mercy of Gallus who didn’t hesitate to point and laugh.
“Haha! Look at you! You look ridiculous!” Gallus exclaimed.
“Okay okay, so you got to see me in one,” Smolder pouted, trying her hardest not to lose her cool and break out in a blush, “now if you excuse me, I’d like to use it so I can take it off already.”
“Nu-uh, this ain’t my first baby bet! You have to do it here,” Gallus interrupted the dragon’s exit, “can’t have you cheat and pour water into the diaper or something.”
“Pour water into it?” Smolder parroted. She couldn’t imagine stooping so low as to cheat like that. Although, now that she thought about it, water WOULD make the diaper swell more. And a more swollen diaper would probably be cuter to wear. Maybe even make it squishier.
But what was she saying? She was just wearing this stupid diaper for a bet!
“What’s the matter? Pee shy?” Gallus was fast on jumping on any opportunity to taunt the dragon. He wasn’t going to let her live this victory of his down.
Smolder quickly shook the haze out of her eyes. “Shy? In front of you, feather beak? Just give me a minute!”
The griffin simply scoffed smugly as he plopped back into his beanbag chair. He crossed his arms in a cocky way, ready to see if Smolder could even do it.
A natural silence fell over the room as Smolder tried to focus on peeing herself. It seemed silly enough that she was wearing a diaper, now she was purposely trying to wet herself. Why did she even think losing that race was a good idea? She started things carefully so to not upset some delicate process that her body needed to go through before peeing. She steadied her heart, calmed her shaky breaths, and spread her legs out ever so slightly. This was it.
Taking in deep breaths one after the other, she focused on relaxing her bladder which proved to be a rather challenging endeavor. She tried to imagine flowing water and rivers and gentle waterfalls that poured water down slick, shiny rocks. Above all else she tried to forget that Gallus was not five feet away from her waiting for her to use her diaper. She enjoyed the idea of being in one, but having the griffin there ready to laugh the moment she finished would have scared away any chance she had of letting go. Luckily, she was rather skillful in ignoring Gallus’s existence and suddenly peeing herself seemed easier.
It started as a small spot of yellow and for the longest time that’s all Smolder could muster. The tiny splotch of warmth felt alien to the dragon, preventing her from getting anything out from her well trained bladder. Despite her frustrated pushes bearing down on her own body, not another drop would escape into the diaper.
“That’s it?” Gallus scoffed, raising an eyebrow at the barely visible attempt, “you’re gonna have to try harder than that if you want to hold up your side of the bet!”
“I tried, alright?” Smolder barked back, “I don’t know, maybe I don’t even need to-”
Only her words were cut short by a sudden rush of warmth that spilled into her diaper. It had taken a few minutes, but her body seemed to chose now as the perfect time to fully relax. Putting the tiny spot to shame, her bladder emptied completely into the diaper, nearly filling it up completely all in one go.
Smolder stood there in disbelief, more surprised than anything. To no one’s surprise, Gallus was in hysterics before she was done. Before the diaper could even soak up the last of the dragon’s urine, the griffin was already on the floor, laughing his wings off.
“Holy cow, that’s rich!” Gallus exclaimed with a shout, “to think I was this close to losing and ending up in your position!”
“Y-yeah...i-if only...” Smolder tried her best to growl and pout. Although it seemed like having the diaper on made that rather difficult to pull off. “N-next time, right?” She still had to hold up that ‘sore loser’ attitude people expected from her.
“Hah! Yeah, next time!” Gallus smirked, hopping up to his feet, “gonna have to up the ante for next time though.” He was riding high on this victory, feeling pretty good about himself for winning a race against a dragon. “Anyway, Imma grab something to eat. Bathroom’s free to clean up in. I’ll see ya in the lunchroom!”
“Fine,” Smolder growled, “the sooner I get out of this thing the better.”
And with that Gallus left, leaving Smolder alone. She stood there absolutely still, daring not to move a muscle until she was absolutely sure the coast was clear. She listened as Gallus walked away and then gave it a minute in case he came back for something. Then she gave it five minutes to make extra sure he wasn’t coming back.
Finally she let out a big hefty sigh as her tense shoulders finally dropped. She could relax now. Her frustrated scowl now melted into a smile as she gave the diaper a little squeeze between her thighs. It crinkled and squished happily in response.
“Gosh, I can’t believe I’m finally wearing one,” she muttered to herself, giving the diaper a couple pokes with her finger, “i-it’s so...heavy...and soft...” She placed a gentle hand onto the swollen front of the diaper and then pressed into it ever so slightly. The sensation made her giggle a tiny bit.
She couldn’t quite explain the swell of emotions she was feeling well up inside her. It was relief, but also giddy excitement and something happy that made her squirm in place. She let out a silly little squeak as the energy from these feelings made her body buzz. She did it! She was wearing a diaper! But now she wanted to get a good look of it.
Off in Gallus’s bedroom waited a large mirror propped against the nearby wall. It was a full body mirror. A trifold full body mirror even. Smolder assumed Gallus spent many a mornings posing and flexing in front of these mirrors, basking in every angle he could see of himself. For her however, the multiple angles only emphasized her diaper’s sag, which she could now see had swollen several inches around her waist. Its plain white design had turned almost completely yellow by now and Smolder guessed it wouldn't absorb another drop if she tried.
It was still warm though, which she was surprised she even noticed. She sort of wished the diaper wasn’t just boring white though. Maybe she could find a diaper with some sort of cute design. Maybe even thicker. Did they make thicker ones? Were they as cute as the ones they make for babies? She couldn’t believe she was even dwelling on such a thought, but she loved it all the same.
She must have spent a solid ten minutes just standing there, modeling in front of the mirror in various poses and noting how the diaper moved and morphed around her body with a weighted crinkle. She checked to see how the diaper looked from the back, she checked to see how it looked from the side, she even bent down to see how it looked from between her legs.
Part of her didn’t want to give this up, but with a reluctant sigh, Smolder had to face facts. Despite how much she wanted to, she couldn't sit here all day in a wet diaper. Eventually she had to meet Gallus for lunch and eventually she had to take the diaper off. She had little choice in the matter. And so, with a heavy heart, she pulled at the diaper’s tapes, allowing the whole thing to plop to the floor with a weighted thud. Already she felt cold and, oddly enough, naked. She felt exposed and vulnerable without her diaper, but had to remind herself, this was the way things had to be.
She hopped into the shower and turned the water up as hot as it could. Which thanks to Pony indoor plumbing, was never hot enough. After a few minutes of trying to turn the knob past its farthest setting, she gave up and settled for sort of hot, lukewarm water.
As she cleaned up her mind wandered off to how good she felt in the diaper. How soft and fluffy it was and how warm it was when she wet it. She also felt so relaxed wearing it. It was like she was free to indulge in silly thing she wanted. It was comforting, secure, and she wanted more.
Already her mind schemed ways to convince Gallus to do another baby bet. Maybe he’d would be up for the same bet tomorrow. Would that be too suspicious for her to challenge him so soon? Was she really willing to lose to a griffin again so that she could wear...diapers? Just what did he mean by ‘upping the ante’? She really really wanted to find out.
When she was good and clean, she cut off the water and let out a lofty sigh. The diaper was outside the shower waiting for her when she grabbed a towel to dry off. It still laid spread out on the ground, wide open as if to remind the dragon of her silly little indulgence.
She wet a diaper in front of her friend. She lost a race to do that. And what was more surprising to her was that she’d do it again.
Author's Note
Artistic inspiration is a fickle muse and I tend to keep multiple projects open so that I can switch between them depending on what kind of inspiration is striking me. It's tough to predict, but sometimes the planets align and I just feel like adding more to a certain half done story despite me really wanting to finish another. This is one of those stories that has been on the back burner for awhile. What started as footnotes and fragmented thoughts has evolved into the story you see before you. This story was less about me trying to portray a difficult feeling and more cleaning off my writing desk a little bit.
