The Chapter About The Shadowbutts
Rainbow Dash trotted happily up the steps of the Wonderbutt stadium.
She wasn't considered ready to join in all their displays yet, but she was learning – and at least it meant she got to attend all their shows! There was no way work could get in the way of a Wonderbutts show if work was a Wonderbutts show!
For a moment, she wondered why something about that had sounded slightly odd, but she shook her head.
She'd always wanted to join the Wonderbutts, hadn't she? Anyway, she needed to stop woolgathering and get to the stands.
As she trotted out into the arena, she saw that the seating was quite full. Actually, it was very full – every seat she could see seemed to be occupied.
Shifting in her snug Wonderbutts suit, Dash wondered if she should try and pull rank, but then realized that that wouldn't be very good manners. Instead she began trotting along between the banks of seats, looking for a free one.
After a minute or so, and getting more and more concerned, Dash noticed another pony was trotting along beside her – and he was wearing a familiar Shadowbutts uniform.
“What do you want?” she asked, a little confrontationally.
The pony simply gave a friendly grin, or, at least as friendly as one could give when wearing the angry goggles of the Shadowbutt costume. “Hey, didn’t mean to offend, but you’re not getting any seat wandering around like this, the place is sold out. But one of our members got the feather flu, so we’ve got an extra seat. My captain wanted to offer it to you, as an act of good faith, y’know? Seems only fitting, given that we’re playing you guys today anyway.” The pony said.
Dash looked the Shadowbutt up and down, somewhat suspicious. Since when were these Shadowbutts good sports? And if the stadium was sold out, why the heck didn’t Spitfire save her a seat? Still, she looked back out over the crowd as they all talked amongst each other, eager for the game to begin. If she turned this down, it looked like she was going to be sitting on the stairs for the whole game. And she certainly wouldn’t look like a good Wonderbutt acting mean to the other team…
“Alright, but don’t think this means I’m gonna be cheering for you guys today!” Dash said. The Shadowbutt just waved a hoof, chuckling before turning around to lead Dash to their seats.
It took a couple of minutes to reach the reserved seats in the Shadowbutt section, and by the time they got there the game was about to start – so Dash didn't turn up her nose at sitting with a couple of off-duty Shadowbutts, and just plumped her plump rump down on the seat.
“So, you're the big new recruit for the Wonderbutts?” asked the Shadowbutt mare to her other side. “We heard a lot about you, you're supposed to be really good.”
“Well, yeah,” Dash replied, feeling smug despite herself.
“How good are you?” the stallion asked, sitting on her left side – his suit plump enough that, together with Dash's suit and the other Shadowbutt's suit, they were all pressed lightly together.
“I don't want to boast,” Dash lied. “But I'm pretty good.”
The mare nodded appreciatively, then looked suddenly worried. “Oh, I didn't realize it was going to be this sunny… here.”
She passed the stallion a billed Shadowbutts cap, and put one on herself.
Dash looked up as the game began, but the sun got in her eyes and made her squint. “Damn it...”
“Something wrong?” the stallion asked.
“Oh, I can't see the game,” Dash explained.
The mare to her right side offered her a billed Shadowbutt cap, just like the ones she and her friend were already wearing. “Here.”
Dash glanced down at the cap, reluctant to put it on. She was Wonderbutt, not one of these pompous puffy Shadowbutts! Still, her eyes were already watering a bit from the bright sun, and she didn’t want to miss any of the game…
There was a sudden fanfare as the cheerleaders began to fly up to the center of the stadium, the crowd roaring loudly with excitement. Deciding she had no choice, Dash slipped the cap on to block out the sun. It’s not like it was that obviously a Shadowbutt hat anyway, no pony would notice!
She didn’t give it much more thought as the show began to start either, instead watching as the Wonderbutt cheerleaders flew in formation, shaking their thickly padded rears around in time with the music while chanting. Dash joined in, the Shadowbutts around her jokingly booing as they performed.
“What a bunch of sog-butts!”
“Nuthin’ but foals!”
Dash stuck her tongue out at one of the Shadowbutts sitting next to her, only for the stallion to do the same as the Wonderbutts began to take to the air with their cheerleaders.
With her vision shaded by the bill of the cap, Dash was able to spot a couple of the Wonderbutts she'd trained with as they flew in formation over the arena. But then the Shadowbutts took off, surrounded by their own cheerleaders, and Dash switched her attention to them.
“Now that's more like it!” one of the Shadowbutts by her said approvingly.
“Look at the poof on them!”
Dash looked closer, more interested in the Shadowbutts than their Wonderbutt counterparts.
...after all, she was finding out about what the rivals, the Shadowbutts, could do! She was taking this opportunity to see if there were any secret tricks! So she focused on the Shadowbutt cheerleaders as they shook their butts around, chanting together.
“Shadowbutts have all the fun!”
“Come to the dark side, we have cake!”
“Shadowbutts are Shadowbetter!”
The mare next to her gave her a nudge, breaking her concentration, and Dash looked over. “Huh?”
“Why aren't you singing along?” the Shadowbutt asked.
“What, with the Shadowbutt songs?” Dash replied, confused.
“Of course! Here, you probably need the lyrics sheet,” the mare realized, and handed her a Shadowbutt-branded programme for the event.
Opening it, Dash found to her surprise that they did indeed have the lyrics of all their chants printed on a sheet inside. They all sounded kind of silly, though.
Her eyes trailed along to follow the lyrics as the Shadowbutts continued their chants, all the ones around her swaying a little in time as they cheered. Dash obstinately refused to join in, though. Even if everypony around her was singing, she wasn’t a Shadowbutt, and there wasn’t any way they were going to get her to cheer for the other team!
Dash crossed her forelegs and leaned back in her chair with a harrumph-pomf. With nothing else to do, her gaze travelled back to the Shadowbutt cheerleaders, some of whom were now bouncing a one of the Wonderbutt’s mascots between their puffy rumps, their skirts flicking up to reveal the thick diapers beneath them.
Dash found herself wishing she could be up in the air showing off her own puffy butt. That’d show those Shadowbutts, the Wonderbutts were the puffier ones! Besides, being bounced around by their padded rears didn’t look all that bad…
Dash shook her head, trying to get the thought out of her mind. The Shadowbutts around her had started to quiet down as the cheers ended, a few referees flying out to begin the game of hoofball as each pony took their places on the field.
“Now you'll see how Wonderbutts do proper pamper playing!” Dash said cockily, ready for an epic victory to reassure her that Wonderbutts really were the best. She leaned forwards a little in her seat, though that did make her suit creak and crinkle against the Shadowbutt suits pressing into it.
The game began with a bang, and Dash cheered as the Wonderbutts got the first hit – but then, much to her astonishment, the Shadowbutts started to get control of the play! First they bounced the ball between their rumps, using the springiness and puffiness of their diapers to get much better ball control than the Wonderbutts were managing, and then something happened she didn't quite see and Soarin' ended up nearly flying into the ground.
Groaning, Dash leaned forwards a little more, until the stallion spoke up. “Is something wrong?”
“I'm just trying to see what's going on,” Dash explained. “It's kind of hard to see from this end.”
“Just use some binoculars,” the stallion suggested, holding up a set with the Shadowbutts logo on them.
“Ehhh...” Dash said, not sure whether to accept, but then there was another cheer from the Shadowbutt end and a groan from the Wonderbutt side, and she didn't even know what it was this time.
The Shadowbutt cheerleaders started shaking their rumps again to celebrate a point, and Dash took the binoculars so she'd at least know what was going on.
Dash managed to spot Spitfire zipping through the air after one of the Shadowbutt players who balanced the ball expertly on his puffy rump. Spitfire spun around, attempting to snatch the ball up from the Shadowbutt, only for the player to flick his rump and send the ball flying towards another player. Before Spitfire could react, she dove face first into the Shadowbutt’s rear, a cloud of foal powder puffing out as she connected. There was a collective groan from the Wonderbutt side of the stadium, the other half laughing loudly as Spitfire shook her head to try and clear it.
Dash wasn’t paying much attention to her anymore, instead following the ball as one of the Wonderbutts managed to intercept it. “Haha, take that!” Dash cried out, watching as the Wonderbutt flew back towards the other end of the field.
As they approached the goal, however, a Shadowbutt swooped in, causing the Wonderbutt to skid to a half mid-air, the ball rolling off their rear as they tried to avoid smacking into the opponent’s puffy outfit.
As the game continued, Dash was momentarily distracted by the sound of slurping beside her. She looked down from her binoculars to see a Shadowbutt, one that looked awfully pudgy for an all star player, greedily gulping down something from a Shadowbutt printed cup. The Shadowbutt blushed a little, offering Dash some popcorn. “Sorry, games make me hungry…”
Dash hadn't been thinking about that, but as soon as the topic was broached she realized that she was actually feeling quite hungry herself. “Thanks,” she replied, taking a hoof-full and crunching it down.
As her attention went back to the game, she kept absently taking a few bits of popcorn at a time from the container. It helped her feel better about a game which was definitely not going well for the Wonderbutts.
She focused her attention down to look at the Shadowbutt goal, and blinked as she saw that the Shadowbutt occupying the goal position was so bulky it would be almost impossible for a ball to get past him.
Before she could ask whether that was legal, the stallion to her side groaned.
“Somepony must have messed up the rain schedule,” he said, indicating the sky, and Dash looked up to see ominous-looking clouds gathering.
“Aren't they going to stop them?” Dash asked.
“No, this is an all-weather match,” the mare told her, shifting to look at Dash and emphasizing further how thick their suits were. “They'll just let it rain on us. That's why everyone's putting on their ponchos.”
She pulled a folding poncho – one marked with the black-purple and lightning bolt of the Shadowbutts – and put it on as she spoke, and Dash could see everyone else nearby was doing the same.
“I, uh, don't have a poncho,” she said a bit lamely.
“You can borrow one of ours,” the mare suggested. “I've got one spare.”
Dash slipped it on without thinking, tugging the plastic down over her diaper as the sky darkened further. A few of the Wonderbutt cheerleaders looked about nervously as they watched the clouds gathering, but the Shadowbutts looked as calm as ever, still chanting and shaking their pompoms around. Dash felt a drop of water on her muzzle, and soon rain began to cascade down onto the stadium. The chubby pony beside Dash tried to munch down some of his popcorn, while shielding it from the rain.
Dash watched through her binoculars, occasionally shaking drops of water off the lenses to get a clear view. The Wonderbutt’s rumps were starting to balloon out, their diapers soaking with water as they flew after the Shadowbutts. The Shadowbutts, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be affected by the rain at all. Even as their own rumps swelled up, they continued their deft maneuvers around the slowing, soggy Wonderbutts. The Wonderbutt’s cheerleader’s diapers began to swell too, while the Shadowbutts laughed and bounced their own rears into the opposing team’s mascots.
“Looks like the Wonderbutts are all wet!” They laughed, the Shadowbutts scoring yet another score.
What was the score, anyway? Despite following the ball, Dash hadn’t really been keeping track of the score that well. She looked over to the scoreboard, only for her jaw to drop.
53 to nothing?! What the heck were the Wonderbutts doing out there?!
Fortunately for Dash's pride, in a sense, there were only another dozen or so points scored by the agile Shadowbutts against the increasingly soaked and sluggish Wonderbutts.
Then the half-time bell went, and the referees – all wearing striped rain coats – huddled up to confer.
Dash winced as she saw Spitfire go splat on the ground, no longer able to fly with the weight of her diaper weighing her down, and then the referee huddle broke up.
“Attention!” one of them called, his voice resounding in the stadium. “Due to the weather problems and the… extremely one sided score… the second half of today's game has been rained off with the Shadowbutts declared as the winners.”
Dash groaned, but couldn't really disagree. She had to admit, the Wonderbutts hadn't done very well today, while the Shadowbutts had been all kinds of awesome!
As she realized what she'd just thought about the other team, the snug-suited and above all dry mare next to her said something Dash didn't quite catch.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Oh, I was just wondering,” the mare began, a little slyly. “Whether you wanted to see what it was like on a winning team.”
Rainbow Dash was about to retort, but after the game they had just watched, she couldn’t think of any witty replies. She instead decided to slink off to the locker rooms, grumbling a little bit to herself as she pushed past the puffy outfits of the Shadowbutts.
She stepped into the locker room where the other Wonderbutts were busy slipping out of their soaked uniforms and sloshy diapers to replace them with thick fluffy ones. “Guh, what the heck happened out there, guys? Do I need to get back to cheering you on to fly better?” Dash tried to joke. None of the team looked very amused, and Soaring trotted by, his diaper squishing around loudly.
“Sure, if you haven’t already switched teams. By the looks of things, you’re already halfway there.” He said. Dash was momentarily confused, only to look down and realize she was still sporting all the Shadowbutt memorabilia.
“Oh, geez, I’m so sorry, I didn’t…!” She tried to make excuses, throwing off the cap and poncho as she stammered.
As she put down her Shadowbutts binoculars, the door to the locker room swung open again – admitting a Shadowbutt, who managed to almost completely hold in her mirth.
“What do you want?” Spitfire asked, sounding more than a little surly.
“Oh, nothing you need to worry about,” the Shadowbutt said, coming more fully into the room and revealing her rank flashes – which told the observer in the know that she was the captain of the Shadowbutts. “I had a deal for you.”
She indicated Dash, who was in the process of discovering she'd put on a Shadowbutts wristwatch at some point and wasn't entirely sure how to get it off. “Two of my side-benchers took a shine to this one, and I want her on my team.”
Spitfire frowned. “A trade? What do we get, then?”
“Forty fluffy towels,” the Shadowbutts captain suggested.
“It's a deal,” Spitfire said immediately.
“What!?” Dash demanded, looking up from her foreleg.
“Dash, it makes sense,” Spitfire reassured her. “We'll all be doing remedial training, but the Shadowbutts are more advanced at the moment and I don't want to delay your first real time working for us.”
“But… I won't be...” Dash began to protest, then shook her head – not entirely sure what she'd been concerned about. It all seemed perfectly sensible now.
She shrugged, looking over to the new captain. “So, uh… I guess I’ll just follow you, then?” She said. The captain nodded and trotted out of the locker room, Dash following close behind her. As they headed out, they passed by a few more Shadowbutts bringing in the agreed upon towels. Or, were they diapers? Dash hadn’t really been paying attention to what the two captains had been talking about, and while the things being brought in were certainly thick enough to be towels, they looked awfully crinkly…
Dash tried to push the thought out of her mind. It didn’t matter, really, now that she was with… “Say, what’s your name?” Dash asked as she waddled after the Shadowbutts captain.
The captain flashed her teeth in a beaming grin, her sunglasses shimmering despite the lack of real sunlight outside. “Captain Moonbeam, and don’t worry, we’re going to get to know each other very well soon enough~”
“Right,” Dash nodded, nodding a few times more than were really necessary before realizing what she was doing and stopping. “Sorry about that, I must be having trouble paying attention...”
“Well, that's something you'll have to work on,” Captain Moonbeam said. “Now, we'd better head back to the Shadowbutts training area.”
“Right!” Dash said again, deciding to commit to this whole transfer thing. “So, where is your training area?”
Moonbeam smirked. “About that… it's a secret.”
“Yeah, I know, but where is it?” Dash repeated.
“That's a secret,” Moonbeam told her again, and produced a small blindfold. “So you're going to have to wear this when we go there...”
Dash looked at the blindfold, then at Moonbeam. “What?”
“We wouldn't want to show just anyone where our secret base was, would we?” Moonbeam asked reasonably. “They might copy all our secret moves. And since you don't know, you'll have to wear a blindfold.”
Dash frowned, first wondering how that could make sense, then thinking it over again and wondering why she'd had a problem with it.
“Okay, I guess...” she said, taking the blindfold, and slipped it over her eyes.
It blocked her eyesight almost completely, with only a dim glow showing through at the edges.
“All right, come on!” Moonbeam added.
Dash attempted to waddle after Moonbeam, only to bump into the wall. She rubbed her muzzle, a blush crossing her face. She heard Moonbeam chuckle, only to place a hoof on Dash’s back. “Alright, alright, I guess I’ll have to lead you there myself. I guess I forgot normal pegasi don’t have echolocation.” She said, leading Dash along. Dash tried to look around, but the only difference she could spot under her blindfold was if she was looking directly at the sun. She resigned herself to just following Moonbeam’s occasional pokes and prods to get her moving in the right direction.
They were walking for quite a while, Dash wondering just how far away this practice field was, and that it just felt like they were walking around in circles.
It wasn’t too much longer, however, before Moonbeam stopped, and Dash bumped into her padded rump. “Alright, rookie, we’re finally here, you can take the blindfold off now.” Dash happily complied, glad to be able to see again. Upon removing her blindfold, she was greeted with the sight of a massive training field, full of obstacle courses, a few bleachers, and a large headquarters at the center. Part of Dash noticed they seemed to be standing on a cloud isolated from just about anywhere else, but they hadn’t flown at all while Moonbeam led her here. She shook her head, figuring it wasn’t something to bother worrying about as she began to make her way along the path through the training grounds.
“So, uh, what's first?” Dash asked. “I mean… is there any paperwork or anything? Because if there is...” she shook her head. “Nuh-uh!”
Moonbeam laughed. “No, there's no paperwork, we're a bit less formal about that side of things. But we do need to get your uniform changed – after all, look at you!”
Dash looked at herself automatically, and she had to admit that she was dressed as a Wonderbutt. “Yeah, I guess it doesn't really fit...”
“Not at all,” Moonbeam agreed, leading her through one of the doors. “Ah, this is Dreamy Duvet, he's our costumes pony. Dreamy, do you have Dash's Shadowbutt outfit ready yet?”
The other bat pony nodded, vanishing into some stacks of clothes, and Dash waited patiently.
After a moment, though, something occurred to her. How did this Dreamy Duvet know what size she was, or even that she was coming at all-
“Shouldn't you be getting ready to change?” Moonbeam asked.
“H-hey, I'm – my diaper's dry!” Dash replied quickly, train of thought lost.
“No, I mean so you can put on your new costume,” Moonbeam elaborated. “It's time to zip off that Wonderbutts costume and put it away.”
“Oh, right,” Dash said, blushing, as she heard Dreamy coming back with something soft and plush.
Dash fumbled around for the zipper on her Wonderbutt outfit, but no matter how much she ran her hooves over her costume, she couldn’t seem to find it. How the heck did she get this thing on, anyway? While she fumbled, Dreamy gave a mildly exasperated sigh, shaking his head a little. “These Wonderbutt costumes always stick. I don’t know how they can get away with this! I suppose we’ll have to go with plan B.” He trotted up to Dash, who was still struggling to find any means of removing her suit, and suddenly flipped her onto her rump. As she fell onto the floor with a flump, Dreamy got to work sliding the rear legs of the suit over Dash’s, quickly coming to the bulge of Dash’s diaper. He grunted a bit from the effort, tugging and pulling the surprisingly stretchy suit to get it to fit over Dash’s butt. “It all comes… guh from having too thick… diapers!” He said, finally getting it over Dash and sliding the rest of it up Dash’s belly.
Moonbeam gave a mock shock of surprise. “Dreamy, I’m surprised at you! It’s just your fault for not taking the proper amount of puff into consideration!” Dreamy simply pulled the plush Shadowbutts outfit onto Dash, zipping up the back and leaving the pegasus stuck rocking on her rear.
“Alright, I suppose that’ll do for now.”
Dash was left looking a little puffier than she ought to have, with the plushness of her Wonderbutts suit under the Shadowbutts one, and her legs spread even further by the wide rump.
Blushing, she struggled a little as she got herself upright. She staggered a little, not expecting the extra unbalanced weight, and tried to flare her wings a little.
Nothing happened, her wings covered over by plush, and Dash looked back over her shoulder as best she could. “Uh… what happened to my wings?”
“I'm glad you're eager for practice, but we're not ready for that yet,” Moonbeam told her firmly. “It's late already, and we've got to show you your induction videos into the team as well as get you set up for the night – if there's time, we might be able to do some practice today.”
“But aren't I going to need my wings anyway?” Dash asked.
“Come on,” Moonbeam told her, ignoring her question. “Hmm, I wonder if there's still time for you to take part in the new team chant...”
“Hey, aren't you listening?” Dash demanded, then went back over what Moonbeam had said. “Induction videos?”
“Yes, of course,” Moonbeam replied. “There's a lot to learn about how a team does things, and of course you need to know how the very best team does things! But we don't have time to explain it all in person, so you're going to get the basics from a video. This way!”
Dash trotted after Moonbeam, not really having much a choice in the matter. Moonbeam headed down the hallway of the training base, soon coming to another room. This one looked like a mini theater, a few plush chairs spread out in front of a projector screen. Moonbeam motioned for Dash to sit as she wheeled an old projector out into the middle of the room. Dash sat down in one of the seats, the sides squeezing comfortably in on her diaper.
Moonbeam dimmed the lights and flicked the projector on, the soft whirring filling the room as the video began to play. It showed a stadium packed full of ponies, all waiting eagerly for a game to begin. Only seconds after the scene began, several ponies began to rush onto the field, their uniforms and swollen rears quickly giving them away as Shadowbutts. The crowd ‘ooooh’ed and ‘aaaaaah’ed, watching them soar about in formation.
The ponies flew around before diving down at the camera, pulling up at the last second and freezing to show the trio zipping through the air. A voice spoke up, in that cheesy, old-movie style of sound.
“Congratulations! You’ve been picked the join the elite of elite flyers, the Shadowbutts! I suppose you’re quite excited to learn what comes next.”
Dash found herself nodding a bit in response as the video continued.
“Well, now, the Shadowbutts are the best flying team in Equestria,” the voice went on, with the film showing images of the Shadowbutts performing tricks and bouncing around a large, padded ball. “That means you'll have to work hard to be worthy of joining them.”
The voice paused for a moment, then the film switched to showing the Shadowbutts doing different things – marching along a path with their rumps swaying back and forth on the screen, then sharing an ice cream and some fizzy drinks, then doing a dance. “But it's not all work for the Shadowbutts! Shadowbutts are a team, and the most important thing is to be a team player – and that means you do what other team members do, both on and off duty!”
Dash nodded again, finding all of this perfectly sensible.
She did wonder why she kept thinking of other words, right in the middle of the sentences. She'd be watching and listening, then it would be like a word just… popped into her head.
Like when the narrator said that she had to 'do what other team members do', and she found the word 'obey' springing to mind instead of the first 'do' and 'say' in place of the second.
Dash absently sank back in her seat a little, her thickly padded rump cushioning her as she did.
“Remember, Shadowbutts do everything for a reason, and a new Shadowbutt has to realize that even if they can't see what the reason is,” the voice said, soothing, and Dash nodded again.
The movie continued, showing Shadowbutts running through an obstacle course with amazing skill. All but one, that is, who was stumbling a bit as they tried to keep up with the others, only to end up stuck in a tire swing, their padded rear shaking around as they tried to squeeze through. “Whoa, hold on there, kiddo! Being a Shadowbutt takes some time, you’ll have to cover the basics before you get to do the fun stuff! But don’t sweat it, every Shadowbutt makes a few mistakes, all it does is make them seem a bit cuter!” The Shadowbutt in the swing blushed brightly as another pony pushed on her puffy rear, sending her swinging back and forth.
The scene cut to what looked like a dormitory, ponies waddling around in their bunks. “You’ll want to get acquainted with your new home, you’ll be here for a while! Don’t worry, the other Shadowbutts will be more than happy to help get you set up.”
Dash’s mind wandered a bit, thinking about what she’d be getting ready to do. She couldn’t wait to run that obstacle course, she bet she’d set a new academy record! And she’d be the puffiest and fluffiest foal around!
“…did you get that?” The voiceover said, and Dash’s attention was immediately drawn back to the screen, catching a glimpse of what may or may not have been a pony being stuffed into a snug straitjacket. She fidgeted, hoping she hadn’t missed something important, and paid a bit more attention as the video continued.
Despite Dash's decision to make sure she didn't miss a thing, she had a bit of trouble remembering just what the movie actually talked about.
There was some more stuff about proper behaviour, and a few more of those odd words that just popped into her head, but honestly it seemed to be kind of boring and Dash sort of zoned out for that bit. She was still watching, still taking it in, but none of it really registered with her.
Then it finished with a section which was about… something? It might have involved the Dizzitron? Anyway, that bit was done, and Dash sat up slightly as the title card came up – 'chants!'
“Every Shadowbutt knows the Shadowbutt chants off by heart,” the narrator said. “Well, almost every Shadowbutt, that is. As a learner, you might not know them all just yet.”
Dash blushed, wondering if she'd missed something, but the voiceover kept going. “But as a learner, you'll need to make sure you learn them all as quickly as possible! Let's try one!”
The view on the screen changed again, showing a rear view of four Shadowbutts standing side by side. Their tails were flicking back and forth idly on the opposite beat to their padded rumps, and words appeared at the bottom of the screen with a little bouncing Shadowbutt animated there as well – waiting to jump onto the first of the syllables and signal the beginning of the chant.
Then it did, and Dash rushed to join in.
“One! Two! Three! Four! Our poof might just reach the floor!”
Dash happily chanted along with the video, watching the pony carefully to stay on the beat. Though that was a bit difficult to do with the Shadowbutt’s rumps swaying left and right, drawing her eyes up away from the little pony as she watched them swing and bump lightly into each other. She almost missed as the pony jumped to the next part of the chant, starting a little later than the video did.
“Five! Six! Seven! Eight! When it comes to diapers, we can’t wait!”
Dash found herself bouncing in her seat in time to the chant, giggling a little as the Shadowbutts turned to bounce their diapers into each other, crinkles accenting the song as the pony bounced along, looking rather puffy and a bit more like a bouncing ball. The pony flopped on its belly along the next verse, Dash rocking back and forth as she chanted.
“Diapers, blimps, and plushies too! We love them all and so will you!”
Dash nodded, her mind already thinking about being a big blimpy Shadowbutt for the crowd, showing off her puffily padded rump. It’d be just like the Wonderbutts, but bigger! And flashier! And so much cushier!
The bouncing ball that still looked a little bit like a pony reached the fourth pat of the chant, and Dash joined in as the chant reached a conclusion.
“We! Love! To! Be! As padded up as we can be!”
On that final word, the viewpoint of the film seemed to rush towards the Shadowbutts as they all wiggled their rumps. The marker bounced off the exclamation point at the end of the lyrics, and hurtled towards the camera – seeming to land on it, making the screen go entirely dark before the projector stopped.
Dash blinked, suddenly feeling like she had no idea how long she'd been watching the film.
“Did you get all of that?” Moonbeam asked, and Dash nodded hesitantly. “It's all right if you didn't, it's just the first time you've seen it.”
“Yeah, but… um...” Dash tried, then stopped – not sure how to avoid digging herself deeper somehow.
“Let's get you off to the dorm,” Captain Moonbeam added. “Up you get! Shadowbutts aren't slowpokes!”
Dash squeezed out of her seat, noticing her diaper seemed a little bit thicker than it had been when she had started watching the video. She waddled after Moonbeam, who led Dash through a few hallways where other Shadowbutts were starting to turn in for the night as well. “Here’s the learner’s dorm. Oh, don’t look so grumpy, we all have to start somewhere. I’m sure you’ll move up quickly with the basic training you’ve already done with the Wonderbutts anyway. Though you might find our basic training to be a bit more… intense.” Moonbeam grinned, and Dash thought she may have been waggling her eyebrows, though it was hard to tell behind the shades she wore.
Dash waddled inside where a few other Shadowbutts were already getting into bed. She made her way to an unoccupied bed, noticing it looked rather plain considering all the other extravagance the Shadowbutts had shown so far. Still, the pillow looked rather comfy, and the blankets were especially thick and cozy. Dash crawled into her bed, yawning as Moonbeam hit the light switch. “Lights out everypony! I want you up at the crack of dawn tomorrow! No dawdling!” She said.
Dash yawned, surprisingly tired for the little she had done today. Her eyelids grew heavy as she began to drift off to sleep…
Fweeeeee! The sound of a whistle piercing the air made Dash sit bolt upright in bed, though still a little groggy. “Come on, rookies, let’s move!” The Shadowbutts drill sergeant said, and soon everypony was hopping out of bed and hurrying out the door.
Dash brought up the rear, her rear wiggling back and forth as she waddled after the others, and took her place at the end of the line.
“All right!” the drill sergeant began. “Let's see how much you've learned so far!”
That made Dash blink – surely there hadn't been any lessons? She didn't remember any!
“On three, do the Shadowbutts team chant!” the sergeant ordered. “And shake those rumps in time! Come on, get them shaking!”
Trying to do as she was told, Dash duly started wiggling her padded butt back and forth. It was a little irregular at first, but before long she was in time with the other recruits.
“One, two, three...” the sergeant counted them in.
“One! Two! Three! Four!” Dash chanted, the voices of the others overlapping her.
It was oddly easy to recall the words, given she'd only heard them once.
“Our poof might just reach the floor!” she continued, turning to bounce her diaper into the Shadowbutt beside her just as the video had, both of them crinkling as they continued the chant. As they did, Dash couldn’t help but notice her hind legs seemed to be spreading a bit as she chanted. Looking around, she noticed the other’s padding seemed to be growing ever so slowly thicker too, now moving to the next part of the chant. Dash bounced her rump against the ground, swishing her tail back and forth across it as she sang. Well, she supposed, she did say her poof should reach the floor, and the best way for that to happen was if it became thick enough to do it, right? Of course, even the Wonderbutts appreciated such thick fluffery!
She pushed the odd swelling sensations out of her mind as she bent over and shook her padded rear high in the air with the others, finishing off the chant. The sergeant looked rather pleased, or at least as pleased as a drill sergeant could look. “Not bad, but that was the easy part. Now get your butts over to the obstacle course! On the double!”
Not sure which way to go, Dash went along with the flow of the rest of the group. They went left, right, left, then she lost track, and soon all the trainee Shadowbutts were lined up in front of an obstacle course.
There was a set of hoops to walk through without tripping, then a collection of low walls to get over. There was a rope section, a climbing rope, and then an inflatable section which seemed to include narrow tunnels to squeeze through and slides to climb up.
It was a little hard to see after that-
“Go!” the drill sergeant called. “Cadet Dash, you first!”
Dash gulped, and waddled forwards.
Almost immediately, the hoops gave her problems. It wasn't too hard to reach from one hoop to the next, but the bulk of her thick padding made it harder than she'd prefer for her to lift her legs out of them and so she ended up nearly tripping over several times.
Stumbling out of that one, she crouched a little and pushed herself up the first of the walls. Her push got her forelegs over, but her hind legs didn't get any traction, and she wobbled there for several seconds before managing to fall over the low wall.
The new Shadowbutt let out an “oof” as she fell onto the ground, struggling to make it back to her hooves. “This ain’t a rest home, Dash, get your rear in gear!” The sergeant shouted. Dash rolled onto her front and pushed herself back up. She backed up towards the first wall, determined to get a better running start this time. She began to canter towards the second wall, if one could call her silly waddling a canter, and leapt forwards, just managing to clear the second wall, but still flubbing the landing and stumbling forward unprofessionally.
Shaking her head, she made one grand final leap for the third wall, which seemed a bit taller than the others now that Dash thought about it. Her hind legs scrambled against the wall, her diaper crinkling as the wall squeaked before she hoisted herself over and fell to her hooves. She hurried over to the next portion, standing on one end of a pit full of what looked like little plastic balls. She looked at the ropes dangling over it, a little nervous. If she had her wings, she could do this no problem! But now…
Dash backed up, wiggling her rump a little bit before leaping forward. Her hooves wrapped around the first rope, her momentum carrying her closer to the second.
She managed the tricky switch from the first rope to the second, but almost immediately she realized her mistake – she'd ended up with the rope wrapped around her diaper, which was distracting, but also meant it would be hard for her to get it off again!
She reached for the third rope, and snagged it, then tried to disentangle herself from the second rope without letting go of the third.
The tension between the two ropes made her flip upside down, and she dropped out from between the ropes – her last-minute grab for the third one only managing to spin her right way up again as she hit, but then she slo-o-owly ground along through the plastic balls to reach the far side.
Hauling herself out, she looked at the furrow her rump had caused and cringed slightly with embarrassment.
A shout from the drillpony made her jump, and she went for the climbing rope next – somehow ending up tangled up in this one, too, and dangling upside down from her ankle.
“This ain't no bed-time rest!” the sergeant harrangued her, then poked her with a hoof and made the rope unravel. “You'll have to come back and learn this one later, just go on to the next for now!”
Dash wriggled about, swinging in the air for a moment before somehow managing to untangle herself and falling onto the puffy mattress below the rope with a flump. Blushing brightly, she ran around the obstacle and tried not to think about what the other rookies were giggling about as she stepped up to the inflatable tubes. The first one was thankfully low to the ground, allowing her to easily slip through. A series of puffy rungs allowed her to climb up the first tube with ease, where she came to the top of a large puffy slide. Dash was a bit confused how this was supposed to make her a better flyer, but the thought was quickly stifled as she shrugged. It looked fun, and the Shadowbutt captains surely knew what they were doing.
She jumped up into the air, landing on the slide and rolling down with a prolonged ssqquueeeeaaak~. Giggling, she flopped forward, only to spot the sergeant and immediately jump to her hooves to regain her composure. She hurried towards the next slide, which now forced her to climb up the slippery smooth squeaky surface towards the top tube. She bounced upwards, her hooves slipping a bit against the vinyl, but the slide was thankfully not quite steep enough yet to cause to roll back down. As she reached the top, she squeezed in, noticing this tube seemed a bit smaller than the one before it…
Wiggling as hard as she could, Dash worked her way into the squeaky tube… then stopped moving.
She wiggled again, trying to keep going, but the hold the sides of the tube had on her own sides (and diaper) was strong enough that she couldn't quite get enough traction to move.
Taking a deep breath, then letting it out to try and shrink herself down, she tried again – moving a few inches, then sticking fast just like before.
“What's this, cadet?” the sergeant demanded. “Are you slacking off again?”
“mmf...” Dash mumbled, not sure what to say.
The sergeant did something she couldn't quite hear – and certainly couldn't see – then gave Dash a whack on the diaper, which pushed her out of the tube like a cork out of a bottle.
Sprawling out at the bottom of the slide, Dash shook her head – trying to clear it after the unusual trip. She looked up, and saw that the next part of the obstacle course was a set of several dozen tightly-spaced foam pillars.
It looked like there might be enough space for her to squeeze through the grid, so she got moving – waddling up to one of them, then beginning to move slowly and carefully through.
She weaved her way through the pillars, her rump bouncing lightly against a couple of them. As she pushed against one to squeeze through another gap, she felt something bap against her diaper. Blushing, she glanced over her shoulder to see one of the pillars wobbling around on a spring. Rather than coming to a stop, though, it seemed to have just as much, if not more, momentum from when she had pushed it. The pillar bopped against another one, which sent it wobbling around to hit another, and another, and another. Dash suddenly felt another pillar bump her side, sending her flopping back into yet another pillar.
She fell against the squeaky pillar, squeezing it to try and hang on, but she was instead flung to another, her diaper bouncing off it and sending her reeling to another. She struggled to maintain her hoofing, completely lost as to which was she was supposed to be heading in the first place. She simply pinged off another like a pinball, tumbling around as she ricocheted left and right. With a particularly hard smack on her rear, she was sent flying forwards, faceplanting into an inflatable mattress, only to rebound off of it and sail towards the next obstacle. Dash only got a faint glimpse of what looked like several large Shadowbutt patterned beach balls dangling over another pit before she was sent bouncing off the first one.
Limbs flailing, Dash tried to control the direction of her bounce – in any way she could, trying to make sure she would land on the next large bouncy ball.
She landed on top of the second one, which was good, but she landed hard enough to bounce upwards instead of just coming to rest. She looked down, trying to see past her diaper, then adjusted her trajectory slightly to bound onwards onto the third ball.
After the third ball came the fourth, but she hit that one so badly she bounced back into the third, and then from there went sideways to another ball entirely.
That one she balanced on the edge of, bounce almost gone, then crouched a little and tried to launch herself back to the main path – only for the bulk of her diaper to rob her kick of almost all its momentum, leading her to fall the four feet to the pit itself.
Much to her surprise, the pit didn't seem to be full of anything painful. Instead, it was soft and warm, almost cozy, and white and fluffy enough it took her several seconds to realize she was sinking.
The drill sergeant came flying over. “Well, cadet!” she said sternly. “That wasn't terrible, for a first showing, but not good enough!”
She produced a mirror from nowhere, holding it up to show Dash herself – including the soft, plush sheep costume she was wearing over the top of her Shadowbutts uniform.
“You'll wear that while your fellow cadets do the course!” she announced.
Dash’s face turned a bright red, looking down at herself as she tugged at the plush material hugging her snugly. She swam towards the edge of the pool, struggling to lift herself up as she kicked her legs and wiggled her small fuzzy sheep suit tail. She sat down beside the drill sergeant, comforted slightly by the plushness of her diaper giving her a good seat.
She watched as the others went through the obstacle course. Some were doing just as poorly as she had done, falling over themselves and tripping on the bulk of their diapers as they attempted to navigate the puffy course. Several ended up stuck in the tubes and needed to be smacked out just as Dash had. A couple others, however, made Dash look like an absolute foal! They ran through the course in no time at all, deftly dodging obstacles and skillfully bouncing on their hooves and diapers to make their way towards the finish.
Her face burned brightly as she tried not to look at the ponies, instead focusing more on another mare who had managed to fall into the pit of puff as well, climbing out with an embarrassingly thick sparrow suit on.
The birdsuited Shadowbutt sat down on her crinkly rump to watch the rest of the obstacle course attempts, and Dash reluctantly looked to the far end of the course – where the Shadowbutt Cadets who'd completed the course were being congratulated one by one as they arrived.
That just made the former Best Young Flier (who was now dressed like a Very Young Flier) blush harder, and by the time the last had been congratulated and they all came marching back over to the plush pool she half-wanted to crawl inside her suit and hide from everypony.
“And, last of all, our silly fillies and crinkly colts,” the drill sergeant announced. “I hope you've learned your lesson!”
Dash wasn't quite sure what the lesson was, but she nodded anyway – eager to get out of the suit as fast as possible – and the sergeant began to unzip them, one at a time.
The stallion Shadowbutt to her left was handled first, his owl sleeper-suit removed to reveal a still-thickly-padded pony beneath, and then the sparrow to her right.
Dash was done last, and breathed a sigh of relief upon being removed from the soft, warm material – though she couldn't help but feel faintly nostalgic, as well.
“Time for lunch break,” the drill sergeant told them, and Dash blinked.
Had it been that long already? Well… maybe it had, the obstacle course had taken a long time...
Dash waddled after the others, who were headed towards a collection of picnic tables. Standing beside it was a stallion passing out large paper bags filled with food. Dash scratched her head as she waited in line. Shouldn’t this place have a canteen or something? It was pretty weird eating out in the field like this. She took her food and headed towards one of the benches, sliding in beside a pony who was already greedily chewing down on his sandwich. Dash pulled everything out of her bag, a hay-flower sandwich (with the crust cut off), a big box of apple juice, an apple, a small bar of chocolate. Dash’s stomach growled and she began to wolf down the sandwich, wondering how she hadn’t noticed she was so hungry earlier.
Another pony sat opposite her, one of the ones that had finished the course in record time. “So, you’re supposed to be the big hot-shot from the Wonderbutts. I should’ve expected as much from a team of sog-butts like them,” she said, snootily. Dash glared at the Shadowbutt, noting her teal coat and orange mane. The pony looked familiar, but Dash couldn’t put her hoof on why…
“Pffft, it’s only ‘cause they think we’re not good enough for our wings yet. I’d fly circles around this place if they actually let me play at the level I’m on.” Dash bragged back, taking a drink from her box of juice.
The other pony opened her own bag, starting with the bar of chocolate, and Dash tried not to show her reaction. It was hard to know just what to think about that…
She shook her head slightly, then the other pony spoke up again. “So, what are you good at?”
“Flying!” Dash said, a little offended that the other pony – something Dust? - had needed to ask.
“I doubt it,” Dust dismissed. “Anypony who can fly should be able to manage something as easy as that.”
Dash was about to retaliate, but the stallion next to her put his hoof on hers. “Nope,” he advised.
Deciding to listen to that advice, Dash looked around at the other ponies having lunch. There were plenty of cadets, all wearing uniforms similar to her own, though there were also a couple of more experienced Shadowbutts among them. Dash also caught the eye of one of the other mares – Puddles? Raindrops? Something like that – who seemed grateful for the attention.
Halfway through her apple, the pegasus suddenly realized something was odd. She could swear the pony she'd sat next to was an Earth Pony, or she could remember that at least, but when she looked at him he was a pegasus like everypony else in the Shadowbutt training academy.
Blinking, Dash wondered if she'd had enough sleep, but then the sound of a throat being cleared made her look up towards a small dais and see several senior Shadowbutts filing onto it.
The Shadowbutts formed a line, captain Moonbeam stepping forward as a hush came over the crowd. “Welcome, Shadowbutts! I hope you all had a productive morning of practice! Since you’re all still settling in here, we figure it’s worth going over some of the basics to make sure you know how everything works.”
A couple other Shadowbutts stepped up, turning to allow everypony to get a good look at their uniforms. “These ponies are your senior officers. You’ll do as they say, and any complaints can be taken up with our ‘suggestion box’ here…” Moonbeam produced a pacifier, a couple members of the crowd chuckling, though it was clear Moonbeam wasn’t joking.
“As for each other, we’re a bit more… lenient. Rough play is expected, and encouraged, so long as nopony gets hurt. Pranks, puffs, and practical poofs are fair game. So long as you don’t get any of us involved.” Moonbeam said. Dash nodded in agreement, though she couldn’t stop part of her wondering how one of the officers would look stuck under the swollen diaper of a cadet…
“Now!” Moonbeam went on, making Dash jolt a bit. “You're all going to get a chance to personalize your sleeping area a bit, and one of the main ways is that you'll each be allowed to pick a poster. Just let us know which one you want, and it'll be put by your bed ready for you.”
She nodded to the other Shadowbutts behind her on the dais, and they began showing the posters off – two or three at a time.
Dash stared, looking first at one poster and then another and another.
There was one with a Shadowbutt bouncing off the ground and another Shadowbutt with their rump, making them look crinkly and cool at the same time. There was another one which showed a thickly-padded Shadowbutt, even thicker than any of the ones Dash had seen so far, with the slogan 'never change', and next to that was a Shadowbutt butt in a thick diaper right up against the viewpoint with tail curled and tossing to show it was moving.
The pegasus barely noticed that the slogan on that one was something like 'Be A Good Butt', before another one distracted her – this one a smirking Moonbeam posed in the middle of changing a blushing Shadowbutt, with the legend 'Moonbeam Is Momma'.
Dash blinked slowly, feeling oddly woozy, as poster after poster went past her vision. It seemed as though she was barely noticing any of the details, and at the same time was absorbing every detail-
-and she felt a sudden rush of cold liquid in her diaper.
She let out a soft ‘eeek!’ of surprise as she looked down at her padding, which grew soft and squishy as it absorbed the liquid. Several giggles and chuckles met her ears, Dash peeling her eyes away from the admittedly enticing sight of her padding swelling to see Light-something-or-other leaning back as she laughed. She was still clutching an empty cup of water, pointing at Dash’s squishy rump. “Heehee, looks like we’ve got a squish-butt!” She laughed.
A few others chuckled as well, Dash’s face turning a bright red as she tried to tug on the waistband of her diaper through her thick suit, but wasn’t able to get a grip through all the fluff. She shifted left and right, feeling her diaper squish softly as she tried to look for some way to get back at the mare. Unfortunately, she had already finished off the rest of her juice, and wherever the pony had gotten her water, there didn’t seem to be any more around. Dash grumbled a little, crossing her forelegs and trying not to think about it. She’d get her back, just she wait!
The showing of the posters had finished, and others were starting to waddle forward to pick theirs out before heading off to the next bit of training. Dash stepped towards the stage, scanning the available posters to pick out her favorite. It was quite hard to choose, all of them showed the coolest of the Shadowbutts on display! She eventually closed her eyes and pointed to one, knowing she wouldn’t be able to pick one out on her own.
Opening her eyes she found her hoof pointing towards a poster of a Shadowbutt’s large diaper squishing a thinly padded Spitfire under her rear.
“Excellent choice~” Moonbeam told her, smirking, and Dash quashed her initial reaction – not wanting to sound ungrateful by changing her mind.
Besides, it was a good picture, too – it showed a Shadowbutt squishing a Wonderbutt, which was just what she'd been thinking about.
Right?
Deciding to think about that later, Dash nodded. “Uh – can I, I mean, how do I get my diaper changed?”
“We only change Shadowbutt diapers when necessary,” Moonbeam told her. “Off you waddle, now, time for your next lesson!”
Dash wanted to protest, but by the time she knew what to say Captain Moonbeam had moved a little way off. Then all the other Shadowbutt recruits were on their way to their new lesson, and Dash had to follow along.
“Time for tug of war practice!” the drill sergeant pony announced, in the kind of voice drill sergeants always had. “Break up into teams!”
Dash looked around, trying to find someone who looked cool enough to work with, but by the time she'd finished looking the only choice left was the Lightning pony from before.
Dash groaned internally, waddling over to Lightning. The pony was still smirking, occasionally glancing down at Dash’s wet padding. “Come waddling back, huh? I suppose we’ll do better with all that water weight giving you some more anchoring,” she snickered. Dash didn’t respond, instead trotting over to the first rope opposite a pair of ponies that looked like they belonged more running a spa than training to be Shadowbutts.
She picked up the slack behind Lightning and chomped down on the rope while Lightning dug her hooves into the ground a bit. The drill sergeant raised a flag high up into the air before letting out a long tweet on his whistle and waving the flag about. Dash and Lightning began to tug and yank on the rope, the other ponies doing the same.
It was hardly a competition, Lightning and Dash were able to easily pull the two ponies towards their side. Dash swung her rear back, trotting slowly backwards and trying to ignore Lightning’s own puffy rear pressing up into her chest as they tugged.
With another whistle, Dash and Lightning released the rope, causing the other ponies to fall over themselves onto the ground. Dash stood a little taller, grinning at their victory. “See? I toootally got this under control!”
“Don't get complacent, girls!” the drill sergeant called. “All right, another go!”
“This'll be a pushover – er, pullover?” Dash shrugged. “Whatever, we're going to win!”
As they took up the rope, however, they noticed that the two other ponies now had much thicker diapers – easily three or four times the previous thickness, if they had to guess.
“Uh...” Dash began, a little uncertain. “Are we sure-”
“Begin!” the drill sergeant whistled, waving his flag, and Dash and Dust began to pull again.
This time it was much harder to make any progress – the other ponies still weren't pulling, but their diapers let them just sit on the ground and still keep the rope from moving except one slow inch at a time.
Dust's padding pressed into Dash's chest as she pulled, then another pull and it was right in Dash's face – making her splutter. “Hey!”
“I'm trying to win here!” Dust replied.
They let off their pull for a moment as they bickered, and as a result the rope went slack – and, with the sudden release of tension, the other ponies began to roll away from them, pulling the rope hard enough to make both padded-up blue pegasi yelp and clutch at the rope.
Dash and Dust were pulled into the air, the rope whipping back as they flew along with it. As they soared through the air, however, the other team rolled a bit too far back, flailing their hooves in an attempt to steady themselves. With a pomf, they all fell into a puffy pile, the sergeant blowing his whistle before Dash and Dust fell back to the ground. “Dash and Dust win again!” He declared. Dash shook her head, still dazed from the impact and unsure if she’d heard the sergeant correctly. It didn’t help Dust’s padded rump on her head was muffling the sounds a bit. Did they really win? It certainly didn’t seem like that should have ended in their favor.
Still, Dash wasn’t going to complain if it meant they could move on, Dust rolling her way off of Dash as the two stood back up. They brushed the dirt off themselves as they trotted over to the next team, each pony wrapping their hooves around the rope. Dash looked up at the last second to see their next competitors. Four rather absurdly padded ponies waggling their puffy rears left and right as they prepared to tug on the rope.
“Wait… four? But that’s not-” Before she could finish, everypony began to tug on the rope, the material seeming a bit stretchier than before. Each team moved slowly further and further away from each other, the “rope” pulling more and more taut.
The rope creaked and groaned as it got longer and longer, stretching more and more, and got visibly thinner with every step – the same amount of material moved into an increasingly strained shape.
“Put your pamps into it!” the drill instructor called, waving his hoof, and Dash pulled harder.
Then, with a sudden twang, the rope snapped back to the shape it had started with. All six ponies were pulled together into a heap, and the rope flew off to land at the hooves of the instructor.
Dash groaned, finding herself underneath three of the four ridiculously thickly padded other ponies – almost entirely hidden inside their poof – and shook herself, trying to get out.
“Mfff!” she protested.
“What an 'orrible bunch!” the sergeant yelled. “That's not what I want to see from some proper Shadowbutts! I'm going to note this on your record!”
“Mff!” Dash complained again, trying to get the other ponies off her. Her wiggling about did make one of them roll down the slope of the 'mountain' of Shadowbutt, but she only got relief when the rest of them reluctantly stood up.
As she was freed, she saw that Dust had been watching the whole time.
“Come on...” Dash sighed. “Why didn't you help?”
Dust shrugged. “Didn't feel like it.”
“Over to the next session!” Moonbeam called. “Quick as you can waddle!”
Dash grumbled and began to waddle after the others, hoping the mark on her record wasn’t anything too bad.
The Other Chapter About The Shadowbutts
The group quickly arrived at a few small tennis courts, the sergeant wheeling up a bin of several puffy somethings, as well as a couple rackets. “Alright, hoofball’s a pretty complicated sport, so we’re going to start you out with something easier. You’ll get some practice batting these clouds around, and no, you don’t get to use your diapers yet. The rackets should be good enough for now.”
Looking over the crowd, the sergeant called up two other ponies, giving them a racket each and setting them on opposite sides of the net. He bounced a cloud up into the air before smacking it towards one of the ponies. They began to volley the cloud back and forth, waddling around in their puffy diapers.
“Dash, Fireworks! You’re up here!” He called them over to the next court. Dash waddled over, a rather chipper pegasus bouncing on her rump behind her. “Alright, bounce it back and forth for now. Whoever gets the longest volley gets an extra treat at lunch tomorrow.”
Bouncing the cloud up, he smacked it towards Dash, who quickly swatted the cloud towards Fireworks, who bounced on her rear to return it, a rhythm quickly growing as they batted it back and forth.
Dash dove to the left to make one hit, then had to scramble to get the next one as it went a long way to the right instead.
She could see this was good training, it was making her think about where the cloud was going and when she'd need to move to intercept it. It was a pity she couldn't use her padding to do the job, but it was still giving her rump a very pleasing waddle…
As she kept going, however, she noticed that the cloud was getting larger. Every hit seemed to make it grow, just a little, and where it had previously hit the centre of the racket it was now hitting the entire racket at once.
It was looking darker too, and then with a tiny crackle of thunder it began to rain.
Dash nearly missed her next shot, and the rain as she hit it passed briefly over her suit – making it a little damp, seeming to make it swell up slightly.
Fireworks hit it next, producing another little shower of raindrops in all directions, and Dash waddled to hit it again
It was definitely getting bigger, with the cloud this time bulging around the sides of the racket and making Dash wetter than it had the first time.
Dash’s waddling was becoming steadily slower as the raincloud grew larger, her suit starting to slosh a bit as it filled steadily more with rain. Fireworks seemed to be having a bit more trouble too, though it didn’t show as much due to Dash often lobbing the cloud right back to her, allowing her to continue to bounce in place as she batted left and right. Dash panted from the effort of running back and forth across the court, the cloud now looking like a properly sized one and needing quite a bit of effort to smack back in Fireworks' direction.
The cloud bounced once on the ground, Fireworks jumping up to return it. As she swung her racket, though, the cloud let out a jolt of electricity, zapping Fireworks and freezing her in the air for a moment before the cloud smacked into her. She fell to the ground, the cloud starting to pour rain down onto her suit. It swelled quickly, growing quite sloshy and puffy as she rocked back and forth on her rump. Despite her now sodden condition, Fireworks didn’t seem too upset about it.
“Nice work, Dash. Go on and hit the showers, that’s all we’re doing today!” The sergeant said as he waddled over, watching as Fireworks playfully splashed about below the cloud.
Dash didn't need to be told twice, and waddled – and sloshed – her way over to the shower block.
There were several Shadowbutts already there, laughing and joking about something that had happened at practice, and Dash watched as one of them waddled into the showers and turned them on.
To her surprise, the Shadowbutt just showered in their suit. It immediately got wet and began to swell up, their diaper growing faster than the rest of the material, and they began to scrub with an oversized brush without being bothered by it in the least.
“Hey, silly filly,” one of the other Shadowbutts said. “Here for a shower?”
“Well, yeah,” Dash agreed. “But – so we seriously just go in like this?”
“How else?” the Shadowbutt asked, and used his diaper to smack her on the rump – producing a loud slosh sound. “In you go, come on!”
“B-but-” Dash stuttered, then got slosh-bounced again and the warm water over her was turned on.
It was lovely and warm, warmer than she'd expected and much more comfortable, and her suit swelled up more as the water filled it up. She could feel it soaking through to her coat, making her feel cozy, but at the same time she could feel her diaper growing rapidly as the water flowed into it.
She blushed as she realized the sound of the water was making her want to use her diaper, and her first attempt to discreetly cross her legs produced a loud squish-slish-slosh.
“Hehe, what’s that for? You’ve got a diaper on, don’t you? Besides, it’s not like you’re not wet already!” One of the Shadowbutts teased, poking Dash’s swelling diaper as she sloshed her own left and right in the steady stream of water. Dash’s blush just grew brighter as she uncrossed her legs, which only allowed her diaper to swell larger as she was no longer squeezing in on it. Dash tried to hurry out, but found herself hesitating. The water was quite warm and cozy… and she’d only just gotten in.
“Not so fast! You haven’t gotten a scrub down yet!” One of the others said, tugging Dash over. The pony began to scrub a bar of soap around Dash’s suit, getting it slick and sudsy, several large bubbles floating through the air as Dash bit back a gentle coo of enjoyment. She couldn’t help but lean into the scrubbing, loving as her diaper was pressed and squeezed around. She watched as another pony washed themselves off, only to tug open the neck of their suit. Water flowed down into it, their own diaper growing even quicker as they gained a bit of pudge from the water pooling in the belly of their suit.
They let the neck snap back with a splash, giggling and massaging their sloshy suit belly as the warm water continued to flow down around them.
The Shadowbutt who'd originally pushed Dash into the showers bounced into her, producing a loud squish and a splash, and Dash noted that he'd begun to swell up as well – all the Shadowbutts in the showers getting larger and larger, just like her own suit was getting bigger and bigger.
“We need to help the new silly filly get all squeaky clean!” another Shadowbutt called, and Dash gasped as two Shadowbutt butts squeezed her from either side.
They relented a moment later, but two more squeezed her from front and back, and then the two from before squeezed her from either side, and they set up a rhythm of squeeze-release-squeeze-release which made the rising water churn around her and the water in her suit slosh back and forth.
Bubbles rose up from the churning, pumping motion of the diaper-butt Shadowbutts, growing larger every moment as well, and there seemed to be less and less room. Dash began to feel a little dizzy, as if she was going round and round as well as Shadowbutt butts going in and out, and everything got faster and faster as the water level got higher and higher and the bubbles got more and more frothy-
-Dash stumbled a little in the corridor on the way to the dorm room.
Her suit was dry, and clean, and fluffy and toasty warm. And she was a little indistinct on how...
Rainbow shook her head, trying to clear her mind, which still seemed like it was full of frothy, sudsy Shadowbutts swirling around her…
She took a few steps forward, trying to remember where she was headed. Well, she was in the dorm building… and she usually showered right before bed, so…
Shrugging, figuring she didn’t really have any better reasoning, Dash began to waddle back to her dorm, burying her face a bit into her suit as she enjoyed how warm and comfy it was. She was soon pushing open the door to her dorm, only to find the room was rather bare compared to the night before. She looked around, confused, before a bit of rustling brought her eyes upward. Shadowbutts were all hanging from perches in the ceiling by their tails, ruffling leathery bat feathers as they snored.
“Wait… did I go in the wrong…?” Dash turned around to leave, only to find herself face to face with Moonbeam. “Uh, sorry, I think I’m in the wrong dorm.”
Moonbeam just smiled sweetly, stepping up to Dash. “Nonsense, this is where you slept last night, isn’t it? Come on, it’s much too late for you to be up, you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow!”
“But – um… hold on,” Dash began, realizing she was sounding a bit like Fluttershy, then tried again. “I… didn't sleep like that last night?”
“Well, Shadowbutts all sleep like that, so you must have done,” Moonbeam told her pleasantly. “Come on, now, it's time for bed!”
Dash yawned, wobbling a bit on her hooves – it was late – and decided to think about it another time. Or… wait…
“Here we are,” Moonbeam added, pulling something from behind her back. It was a thick, fleecy outfit, though Dash couldn't tell all the details. “In you get – forehooves in here, that's right.”
“Are these pyjamas or something?” Dash asked, dutifully stepping into the forehooves of the outfit and putting her head into the neck section – puzzled as to why the zip went up her back where she couldn't get at it. “It seems really cozy...”
“Of course it's cozy,” Moonbeam agreed, helping Dash's hind legs into that section, then doing up the zipper. “Let's have a look at you.”
She produced a mirror, and Dash did get a good look at herself – at the Shadowbutt-themed sleeper, with a large flap at the back held (barely) by a row of four buttons and a set of snug bat-wings covering her own feathery-wings to keep them warm.
She turned a little, getting a better view, and as she did she noticed that there were several long straps attached to the legs. “This looks kind of odd,” she said, holding one up.
“It’s to make sure you’re safe and snug, silly! Now, cross your hooves, please,” Moonbeam requested.
Dash wasn’t really sure if she should. It seemed snug enough as it was, and something felt off about the design of the sleeper. But before she could realize it, she had already obeyed, and her hooves were wrapped snugly around herself. Moonbeam pulled the straps on the ends of the sleeves tight around Dash’s back, Dash hugging herself just a bit tighter as they were secured. She wobbled a bit on her hind hooves, her diaper rustling as she tried to keep her balance. “Careful now, don’t want you falling to sleep before you’re up in bed, now!” Moonbeam teased.
Dash tried to tell Moonbeam that hanging upside down wasn’t really a bed, but she couldn’t bring her suddenly tired self to do so. She yawned widely as Moonbeam flew up to pull a perch down for Dash. With swift motions, Moonbeam tied Dash’s tail in a knot around the perch, giving her a gently hug. “Nighty night, Shadowbutt!” She said, before releasing the perch. It went whizzing back up to the ceiling, Dash finding herself yanked upwards with it. She gave a soft yelp of surprise as she suddenly found herself dangling above the ceiling in her puffy attire.
“H-hey, wait!” She tried to call after Moonbeam, but the captain had already left the room, leaving Dash to hang in the air. Dash scrunched her muzzle, swinging back and forth a bit as she tried to free herself. What kind of pony would call this a bed? This was silly! The only bit of comfort she was able to gain was noticing the poster she had picked out had indeed been pasted by her hanging spot, upside down so that it would appear right side up to the inverted pegasus.
Dash shifted a little, bouncing up and down as the perch wobbled a bit, and yawned. The poster of a Shadowbutt squishing Spitfire swam up and down in her vision, and she heard a faint hiss in her ears before a soothing voice began whispering just at the edge of her hearing.
She heard 'relaxation', 'sleep' and 'sweet dreams', and wondered a little muzzily if the idea was to make sure she got a good night's sleep so she could be a good Shadowbutt the next day. Then she wriggled in her plushy straitjacket, each tug just making her hug herself more, and blinked again before yawning and starting to drift off.
Despite her misgivings, this seemed to actually be pretty relaxing now she was giving it a go…
As she stared at the poster, it was almost like it was moving in her dreamy vision. Like the Shadowbutt was bouncing up and down, squishing the Wonderbutt more and more, and she wasn't sure which one she wanted to be more…
At some point in the night, Dash drifted half-way back to wakefulness. Words seemed to swim through her head one at a time, letting her assemble them into thoughts which were almost the only thing in her head.
Good, Shadowbutt, for, momma.
Happy, to, be, a, Shadowbutt.
Shadowbutt, loves, nice, soft, cosy, warm, crinkly, suit.
Dash mumbled and shook her head, yawning as she slowly began to wake back up. She was still dangling upside down in her harness, her legs wrapped up snugly in her straitjacket. She kicked her legs, her diaper crinkling softly as she did so. There was a sudden whistle tweet, causing her to jerk around with surprise, swinging back and forth and bumping into the other Shadowbutts around her.
“Come on, up and at ‘em, we’ve got another big day! Up, up, up!” The sergeant shouted. The other ponies around her untied their tails and fluttered down from the rafters. Dash was left swinging about, shouting after them.
“H-hey! Get me down from here!” Dash jerked around. As she swung about, the knot in her tail come loose, and with a flump!, she fell to the ground, bouncing off of her diaper. She landed in front of the sergeant, blushing brightly.
“Very funny, you’ll get to play games when you’re an actual Shadowbutt. Now hurry up!” The sergeant undid Dash’s straps before turning around to lead the others out of the barracks.
Wobbling a little, Dash hurried to catch up. The other ponies were waddling more-or-less in step, and Dash automatically fell into step with them – her diaper wiggling back and forth in time, watching the padded rumps in front of her swing back and forth.
Back and forth… it made her blink, then stare, something about the rhythmic motion causing her eyes to glaze over as her focus narrowed to the Shadowbutt butts swinging across her vision.
When the one just in front of her stopped moving, Dash ran into it with an oof. She blushed about her facefull of fluff, then looked around to see where they were.
“At last!” the sergeant said, glaring at her, and Dash blushed again at being the centre of attention in such an uncomplimentary way. “I hope you're going to pay more attention to your cartoons!”
“My what?” Dash asked, still confused.
“Your instruction video,” the sergeant repeated, turning on a giant screen against the wall.
Even before she looked, the musical theme at the beginning was enough to draw Dash's attention like a magnet. She felt she had to watch, to learn to be a good Shadowbutt, and when she caught a glimpse that was enough – it felt so good to watch and stare, she had no reason to do anything else.
Dash watched as the colors blended together to make a rather alluring blur. She swished her tail about as she stared up at the screen, a few of the other Shadowbutts making similarly amused remarks. The video showed several Shadowbutts bouncing along on their rears, diapers crinkling and releasing a cloud of foal powder every time they landed. The musical jingle began to die away as the screen zoomed out to show the Shadowbutts had been bouncing on some rather puffy letters spelling out ‘advanced techniques’. The voice over from the previous video came back, sounding as soothing as before.
“So, you’ve made it through basic Shadowbutt training, you must be quite proud!” (And Dash most certainly was) “You think you’re ready to take on the challenges of a real Shadowbutt?” The class nodded in unison. The voice chuckled, as if reacting to them. “Hoho, slow down there! You’ve still got a few more things to learn before you can start playing with the big kids! For starters, you’ll soon meet with some of the cheerleading team.” The video showed a few ponies in attire that was somehow simultaneously puffy and yet rather revealing. “These will be the ponies cheering you on during the games, and the ones leading the cheers for the audience!”
As if they could hear the voiceover, the cheerleader ponies perked up before starting to move in formation.
“That's right, that's right!” they chanted, not quite in unison but close, and bounced butts together in a back-and-forth sequence.
There was a short pause without any voices, and then the puffed-up cheerleaders flicked their tutus all together.
“Who's the type of poofy pega-foal who's got the skills to send the ball into the goal? Who's the first choice for crinkles and for struts?”
They looked out of the screen. “Let's hear you say it with us now-”
“Shadowbutts!” the trainees chorused. Dash was as loud as any of them, and proud for joining in – feeling like she was a good Shadowbutt for doing so.
“That's right!” the narrator agreed. “But any Shadowbutt has to know more than the basics to be able to work with their cheerleaders. Let's see them show off a few dance moves now, so you know how to work them into your routine!”
The cheerleaders shook their pom-poms and poofy behinds before forming a pyramid. The one at the top posed, then jumped off and bounced along the floor on their poofy diaper.
There was a subtle change in the cartoon as the bouncing cheerleader became the focus, and diagrams appeared to show how to best butt-bounce for as long as possible.
A small dotted line followed the pony’s bouncing, each time she landed, the video slowing to show just how she landed, her diaper squishing beneath her as she grinned widely, giving her rump a small shake before rebounding back up, foal powder rushing out of her diaper as she bounced along. Dash watched with rapt attention, wanting to know how to be the best butt bouncer she could! After all, she was the best Shadowbutt, she’d show all these other foals what a big bouncy rumped baby she could be!
“When it comes to crinkly rears, all the Wonderbutts do fear, for we’re the best at bouncing, and fluffing, and pouncing!”
The two cheerleaders now at the top wiggled their rumps back and forth as the one below bounced back up. The cheerleaders began to flick their padded rears up and down, catching the first cheerleader, only to bounce her back towards the other. Just like the Shadowbutts passing the ball around, the cheerers expertly tossed the pony between them as the screen zoomed and slowed once again.
Dash focused intently on the way that a cheerleader would angle their diaper to take the impact. There was a definite springy squish in, a pause, and then a bounce out again as the two diapers rebounded back to their original shape and launched the bouncing pony.
As the cartoon continued, Dash also noticed that the orientation of the incoming pony mattered as well – it was a cooperation, not just one pony working on their own!
Sure she could be the best partner, no matter which position she was in, Dash paid as much attention as she could to everyone at once. The music helped, repeating over and over so it was at the same point of the sequence every time a pony hit or diapers squished in or the bounce completed.
Then it moved on again, showing the three cheerleader ponies coming together and bouncing along in unison to a Shadowbutt. The Shadowbutt looked odd, and Dash wasn't sure what it was for a moment before realizing their diaper was tiny! Barely half an inch thick!
“When padding settles down, no Shadowbutt should frown!” the cheerleaders chorused. “For we're the poof brigade, and here to save the day!”
Surrounding the poor low-poof Shadowbutt, the trio of cheerleaders were joined by three others to form a hexagon. Then they began spinning the Shadowbutt around, bouncing his diaper once each in a rapid sequence that went around and around and around.
As the Shadowbutt spun around, the whole scene began to blur just a bit, making it harder to tell what exactly was happening. Even as the Shadowbutt was bounced and smacked gently about with the cheerleader’s rears, he seemed to be spinning faster and faster! And as they did there were several pomf!s, Fwoomp!s, and Flooff!s as the Shadowbutt’s diaper began to swell. Their rump ballooned out, allowing the cheerleader’s to bounce their own diapers even more forcefully, giggling as they bounced on their hooves to keep the beat.
Dash’s eyes spun as she tried to keep up with everything, and despite how quickly it all happened, she was sure she could repeat the trick if she needed. Heck, she wanted to try it out, right now! Even if her own padding was already properly puffy, a Shadowbutt could always do with more bounce in their bottom!
The screen’s color blurred together more, soon becoming nothing but a spiral of Shadowbutt tints, with the occasional hint of puffy, crinkliness from the sounds of diapers swelling and crinkling about. Dash grinned, giggling as she rocked back and forth on her own padding, thoroughly enjoying the show. That is, until she heard a few slightly odds sound on top of all the crinkles…
squish
slosh
ga-lunk
splish
The sound might not have distracted her, except that the cartoon came to a close at almost exactly the same time.
Shaking her head a little, Dash refocused on her situation – and realized her diaper felt warm and damp and squishy.
“Mff...” she blushed, realizing she'd been squishing her wet padding and hadn't noticed her wetting herself at all, then saw that most of the class were in the same situation – possibly all of them.
“Good!” the sergeant said, leaving it ambiguous as to whether he meant the wetting or the reaction to the cartoon. “Now, time for your breakfast! Shadowbutts have to stay well-fed and hydrated to be effective!”
“But-” Dash began, her blush deepening. “My diaper's wet...”
“Do you think the Wonderbutts are going to let you change it?” the sergeant demanded.
“Well… they might?” Dash said. “I thought we did…”
“Then you're going to be better than them by playing no matter what state your diaper's in!” the sergeant told her. “Still, you do clearly need a new diaper and a new suit, so lay down over here!”
Gratefully, Dash trotted over to the changing table – had that always been there? - and lay down on it, ready for her suit to be unzipped and replaced by new ones from the pile next to the table.
Much to her surprise, however, the sergeant began simply putting a new diaper over the top of her suit.
Dash was going to protest, but as the diaper was wrapped around her flanks, she couldn’t help but enjoy how thick it was, how the extra padding only served to spread her hind legs even wider apart. She blushed and scrunched her muzzle a little, watching as the sergeant puffed several large plumes of foal powder onto the rump of her suit before folding and securing the second diaper. As Dash was about to push herself up, though, the sergeant pulled over another thick plush suit, tugging the hind legs over Dash’s, soon left to yank and pull as the suit reached the ridiculously oversized rear Rainbow was now sporting.
“Mmffff, ooofff… this all comes… from wetting your diaper too much!” He grunted a bit, making little progress as he struggled to squeeze Dash’s rear into the suit.
Dash grunted and huffed a bit in response, crossing her forelegs and pouting. “It comes from the Shadowbutts not making their suits big enough!”
Dash watched as the sergeant managed to pull the suit over her padding, the rest practically slipping itself on as it folded over the bit of puff from her first suit. Dash wiggled around to feel the soft plushness squeezing in on her, making her grin as she bounced in place. She wiggled her hooves, feeling them restricted slightly by the suits, but not minding that compared to the warm hug she was getting from them.
“Alright, off you get.” The sergeant said, pulling Dash up onto her rear before bouncing her towards the door.
Dash had to wait outside only a few minutes before the sergeant came out, which was good as she spent a couple of those minutes just trying to get herself to sit on a chair.
Eventually, the sergeant came out with the last Shadowbutt to be changed, and blew her whistle. “Come on! We're doing a practice game against the main team!”
“Wait, what?” Dash asked, waddling along behind with the others – staring absently at the butt of the Shadowbutt in front of her. “The main team?”
“Well, how else are you going to teach trainees?” the sergeant asked rhetorically. “We've done the first stage of the training, now you're going to be learning the advanced material!”
Dash could see a problem with that, but squish-waddled her way along with the group anyway, and between the rhythmic hoofbeats and the squishing and wiggling and butts, she sort of forgot her objections.
“All right!” the Captain said, getting their attention. “It's time for you babies to really show what kind of Shadowbutts you are!”
She indicated the area of the pitch. “You're going to need to be at your absolute fluffiest and puffiest to do well today, so let's hear some Shadowbutt chants!”
“One! Two! Three! Four!” the pegasi cheered, and Dash hurried to join in. “Our poof might just reach the floor!”
As they chanted, their diapers bumped together, crinkles joining in the rather silly accompaniment of their song. Dash continued the chant, rocking a little on her hooves as she imagined her puff swelling that big. It certainly was almost thick enough to reach the floor at this point! She’d barely be able to waddle if it could! She giggled, turning to rub her diaper against Lightning’s as they cheered, a few noticing the main team doing the same… though even with how thick the rookies’ diapers were, it looked like nothing compared to the main team’s! How could they walk in so much fluff? It was enough to soak up a whole lake!
“We! Love! To! Be! As padded up as we can be!” The teams finished their chants, the main team expertly timing their final note to a bounce off their padded butts into the air, their wings unfurling as they took to the skies. The rookies did the same. All except for Dash, that is. As she went to leap into the air, she realized just a moment too late her wings were stuck under her suit. While the others began to circle above her, she flopped onto her front, grunting a bit as she fell with a flump!
“C’mon, Dash! Into the air!” Moonbeam yelled from the other end of the field.
Dash wiggled her rear as she tried to push herself to her hooves. “I can’t use my wings!” She complained.
“Nonsense, that’s never stopped a Shadowbutt before!” Moonbeam replied.
That seemed even more wrong than the rookies facing the main team, but Dash couldn’t put her hoof on why. As she pondered, one of the cheerleaders bounced over, holding a rather large tank in her hooves. “Don’t you worry, Dashie! The puff patrol’s on the job!” She laughed, sticking a hose down the back of Dash’s suit and cranking open the valve on the tank’s top.
Dash blinked, startled, and tried to wriggle free reflexively. That did almost nothing whatsoever, however, and the tank's contents hissed into her suit with ease.
At first Dash wasn't sure what it was, except that it was kind of cold and seemed to be gas, but then she noticed her top suit was starting to bloat outwards!
There were only cuffs at the ankles of her suit, not full on mittens, but it didn't seem to matter as the swelling continued – little puffs of gas escaping around her neck, but nothing that could slow the flood of gas into her increasingly rounded and inflating suit.
One of the other Shadowbutts bumped into Dash with his butt, making her bounce sideways, and she noticed that each bounce was longer and higher than the previous one.
“Wait...” she said, suddenly realizing. “Am I about to-oo-ooh!”
Dash realized it was helium, her voice becoming slightly squeaky from the leakage, and she floated upwards so she was at the end of the tether line provided by the hose.
The helium continued to flow in for almost another minute, until finally the valve on the tank top was closed. The cheerleader bounced up to remove the hose, and another Shadowbutt sat on top of Dash's rump to keep her close enough to the ground rather than flying off into the air.
“All right!” Moonbeam called. “Let's go!”
For a moment, Dash wondered how she was possibly supposed to participate. Then two Shadowbutts came down from above and bumped into her, knocking her towards the ball, and she realized – she was going to be played by her teammates!
Dash floated towards the ball, drifting slowly upwards as she did. A few other Shadowbutts followed her path, bumping their rears into hers at regular intervals to keep her headed downwards. Dash stretched her hooves out, reaching to grab the ball, only for one of the players from the main team to whizz by, snatching it up with their tail. “Hey!” She shouted, rolling over onto her back to watch as the player zipped past a few of her team mates. A couple of her teammates attempted to flank the Shadowbutt on either side, only for them to take a quick nose dive and pass the ball to another player, causing the two rookies to smack into each other with a puff.
Dash wriggled her legs around, trying to swim through the air back towards the ball. Another teammate came up and bounced their butt into hers, sending her careening off in some random direction. She grumbled, biting back an insult as her suit squeezed her snugly, the pudgy belly pressing into her forelegs as she tried to reach down and grab a flag. She just managed to get a grip before pushing back off towards the ball. By now, however, the opposing team had managed to fling the ball towards their goal, a buzzer sounding as they scored a point.
Lightning took the ball and bounced it on her rump a few times before smacking it towards Dash, who reached up to grab it, managing to catch the pass, only to be sent spinning head over hooves from the momentum.
“You're doing great!” the training sergeant called from down on the field, though Dash only caught a glimpse of the non-com. “Keep it up! And keep her down!”
Two Shadowbutt trainees tried to hit Dash at the same time, knocking her much harder towards the ground than they'd been planning and accelerating her spin. Dash yelped, trying to keep a hold of the ball, and felt an all-over tremble as she bounced off the stadium floor.
A Shadowbutt came in to tackle her, but they'd judged it wrong – hitting Dash in the side instead of managing to get her ball, sending her bouncing away towards the side of the arena and heading upwards rapidly.
“Drops!” Lightning Dust called, and slammed her butt into Dash. The impact knocked Dash spinning again, and she could only just tell what was going on as Raindrops (?) hit her from the other side.
The two pegasi bounced Dash back and forth between them all the way up the field, then slammed her into the goal, and Dash stuck in it with a fwoomp – though she did manage to get the ball through, scoring a point for the rookies.
The main-team 'butts quickly took possession of the ball again, and the play moved back up the field – making Dash yelp and wriggle, trying to get out of the goal she'd stuck in.
“Hey!” she called. “What about me!”
Dash wriggled around in the goal, her suit and diaper squeaking and crinkling loudly. Once again, a cheerleader came to her aid, looking at Dash’s stuck butt. “Hmm, this seems like an awfully puffy predicament. But we’ll get you back in the game in no time!” Dash tried to turn her head to see the cheerleader, but her suit and rear had swollen so much she couldn’t see anything past the goal but her overly puffy rump.
Her face turned a bright red as she felt the cheerleader’s diaper press into hers, however, rubbing and crinkling as she tried her best to shove Dash through the goal. “Mmpphh, h-h-hey! S-stop! The other way!” Dash cried out, but her complaints fell on deaf ears. The cheerleader giggled, bouncing her rump a bit firmer into Dash’s, humming some kind of jovial tune about stuck butts, puffy shoves, and freeing Dashies.
As she was stuck, several more buzzers could be heard as the main team scored against her own. Grumbling, Dash tried not to think about how much they would be losing by. As if to make things worse, Dash heard a slow rumble above her, and a few rain drops began plinking softly down onto her muzzle.
“For thick, swollen diapees! Will free our helpless Dashie!” The cheerleader cheered, bouncing her butt against Dash again, her suit squeezing through just a bit more, squishing Dash’s forelegs out to allow her to squeeze her own puffy suit in embarrassment.
Slowly, inch by inch, Dash squeaked and creaked her way through the goal. Eventually, she was nearly there – and feeling the rain rain down on her more and more – when there was a booong as the ball hit her on the rump just above her tail.
That did it. She shot forwards, flailing about, and was bounced off by the crowd and up into the air. The overinflated pegasus bobbed along, trying to get some kind of control, then suddenly went shooting off to the right as a strong breeze caught her.
“Hey!” Dash called. “Hasn't anypony noticed me? I'm blowing away!”
Even as she said it, however, she hit a cloud and bounced off with a squishing doing. That sent her flying into another cloud, and then another, flying from fluffy white cloud to soggy grey cloud to sparking black thundercloud and back almost as fast as the ball changed hooves (or padding) in the game below.
Eventually, Dash realized she was starting to drop back towards the ground – her plushy outer flight suit so soaked from the rain that it was overwhelming the helium.
“Whooaaaah!” she cried. “Hey, somepony get me more helium or something!”
Dash sank lower and lower, squeezing the swollen diaper between her legs as the others flew around her. Despite their sloshy padding, the Shadowbutts were able to maintain their elegant maneuvering, spinning and twirling through the sky as they passed the ball and scored point after point. Her teammates, on the other hand, were only sloshily bouncing into each other, thrown off balance by their soaked diapers. Still lower Dash sank, grumbling as she tried to break her wings free to maintain lift, but it did nothing to help.
“Oops, you’re looking a little low there!” Yet another cheerleader had arrived (was it a new one? Or had it been the same one each time? Dash had no clue), clutching another tank in her hooves. She shoved it towards Dash, causing it to sink into her suit as the nuzzle pushed its way into the front of Dash’s diaper. She clung to the tank desperately, even as the hiss of air could be heard and diaper she was wearing ballooooooned out. The cheerleader watched, gauging when to take the tank away, only for the ball to come whizzing by and smack her back towards the ground. Dash was stuck floating in the rain, the new burst of helium quickly overcoming the weight of the water and lifting her higher… and higher… and higher!
“Heeeeeeelp!” Dash cried as she went soaring up towards a stormcloud, still clutching the tank. With a pomf and something almost like a slurp, Dash bounced off the cloud only to be pulled inside. She was surrounded by sloshy, almost plush like fluff, rain pouring down on her suit from all directions. She tried to shove the helium away, but the water flowing down into her only made her sink lower, leaving her clutching the tank in fear of plummeting towards the earth again.
A roll of thunder coursed through the cloud, Dash’s diaper tingling as the cloud rumbled and shook, squeezing her tightly as her suit swelled ever bigger…
Dash heard a ripple of thunder, then a sound a lot like a thunderclap but much softer and closer. She twisted as best she could, and saw there was a tiny little tear in the shoulder of the suit.
It wasn't all the way through, but it showed the suit was under serious strain.
Another roll of electrical charge pulsed through the cloud, making Dash wince and squirm, the helium competing with the water to make her suit swell up more and both of them making her squirmy and tingly and both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.
The strain got greater and greater, pushing in on her at the same time as it pushed out, and the cloud's charge got greater and greater… until, suddenly, there was a BANG!
-Dash staggered three steps, fell back, and landed on her soggy diaper rump on the soaking wet pitch.
“Huh?” she asked, confused. “What happened?”
“You just turned up in a lightning bolt!” Moonbeam told her. “Big cloud overhead, getting ready to thunder and lightning, so we called the game off… then, bang, it exploded, and you came down in a flash!”
She poked Dash's rump, which she realized was the inner suit – the outer one having exploded without trace. “Looks like you might need a change before bed, rookie!”
Dash blushed brightly, pressing a hoof down into the front of her diaper. She nodded a little, getting to her hooves, wobbling a little as she recovered from the shock. Waddling after Moonbeam, it wasn’t long before she found her way inside, climbing up onto a changing table as Moonbeam proceeded to unzip Rainbow’s suit, pulling her damp diaper and suit aside before wrapping a warm, dry one around her hips. Dash blushed lightly as she was just as quickly suited back up, feeling extra cozy and warm in her diaper and suit… she wondered why she hadn’t done this before, these diapers were just so comfy… She looked at Moonbeam, still a little confused as to why she hadn’t received the layering treatment again. As if she could read her mind, Moonbeam patted Rainbow’s rump, helping her off the table to waddle back to her room. “You’ve got a big day tomorrow, gotta give you enough room to swell, don’t I?” She teased, poking Dash’s belly.
Dash blushed and nodded in agreement. As warm and as snug as thick diapers were, she always enjoyed having more room to grow… She stepped into her barracks, slipping on the straitjacket as Moonbeam tied the straps tightly, hoisting the pegasus up into the rafters just as she had done the night before. “Sweet dreams, lightning butt.” Moonbeam teased before fluttering back to the ground. Dash wiggled in place, burying her face into her suit as she quickly began to drift back off to sleep. She wondered a bit on what exactly Moonbeam had meant by a ‘big day tomorrow’…
Dash didn't remember any dreams, but she did remember an odd thing which might have been a dream. Bouncing up and down, floating in and out of awareness, she heard words that drifted into her ears and formed sentences only after she'd heard them all individually.
Love, to, show, off, Shadowbutt, butt.
Love, to, show, up, Wonderbutt, butt.
Shadowbutts, rule.
Wonderbutts, drool.
Good, Shadowbutt, for, Shadowbutts.
The poster on her wall seemed to distort, getting alternately larger and smaller, and the Shadowbutt-squishes-Wonderbutt on the image seemed to be so right, so right, so right…
Dash's memories of being a Wonderbutt changed, without her noticing – being a good Wonderbutt team member changing to being rebellious, or making mistakes, or even being a Shadowbutt instead.
Snuggling into her suit, Dash mainly smiled, wondering what tomorrow would bring.
“All right, come on!” the sergeant called, making Dash jump – bouncing up and down in her harness. “Big day today! Let's get you all changed and ready for morning lessons before the game!”
Wriggling about, Dash fell to the ground with another pomf!, as well as a light squish from her diaper. She hurriedly threw off the jacket, not even noticing that the straps should have prevented her from doing so as she waddled after the others. Her diaper squished with each step, soaked from the night before. Dash paid it no mind, though. She was a foal, foals wet their diapers at night, this wasn’t news. What was news was a game today! A real game! No more of the kids’ stuff, she was actually going to play in a game!
But, before that, was morning lessons. Dash tried to collect herself as she crawled onto the changing table, as if she had done this a hundred times before (well, it certainly wasn’t her first time). She bounced in place, eagerly awaiting what new stuff she was going to learn, not to mention the game! She squeed, wrapping her hooves around her puffy Shadowbutts uniform before bouncing towards the lecture hall, following Lightning who was eagerly bouncing on her own diaper towards the hall as well.
Crinkle
Flump
Crinkle
Flump
They bounced into the room, squeezing their diapers into the seats as they waited eagerly for the sergeant to arrive.
“All right, rookies,” the sergeant said, waddling into the room in her own thick poof. “Let's get you ready with some special refresher lessons!”
She activated the projector, which started off by just showing a white screen.
“What's the most important part of a Shadowbutt's equipment?” she asked.
“Diapers!” Dash called, along with the rest of the class.
“Good!” the sergeant agreed. “Now for a harder one – what's the size of a Shadowbutts team?”
There was a pause, and some muttering, but then Dash realized – she knew this one!
“As many as we can get away with!” she said, sniggering at the thought of surprising some Wonderbutts with that one.
“That's right!” the sergeant agreed. “One more – how poofy should your diapers be?”
“Trick question!” all the rookies chorused eagerly.
“That's right, there is no top level poof!” the sergeant nodded. “Now, pay attention to this film!”
She waddled off, and the film began.
“All right, sport!” it announced, showing the Shadowbutts logo – then showing several, spinning around one another in a complicated spiral pattern. “It's time for the real reason you're here, sport. Sport!”
Dash’s eyes glazed over a bit. Despite how enthralled she was by the movie, it was as if she couldn’t quite keep total focus on what the announcer was saying. She got the message, whatever it was, but Dash wouldn’t have been able to recite any line he had said if her puff depended on it! Thankfully, it didn’t.
“Today’s your first day on the field against a real team. You’re going to be going up against… the Wonderbutts.” The music turned a little more sinister, a couple of the ponies in the audience booing as the puffy rumps of the Wonderbutts waddled on screen. Dash stuck her tongue out at the screen, wobbling on her thick diaper as she imagined squishing a Wonderbutt beneath it.
“The Wonderbutts pride themselves on being the best team in Equestria… but we all know that they’re nothing compared to the puffy rumps of the Shadowbutts! Still, they won’t lose easily, so here’s a few tips you’ll need to keep in mind for your first game against these sloshbutts…”
The sound of a descending whistle could be heard, the Wonderbutts looking up, only to yelp and try to run as a large puffy number 1 fell and squished them. “Rule 1: Stay puffy. The Wonderbutts might be thickly padded, but they’ve barely got half the poof of the Shadowbutts! And the more poof you’ve got, the better you’ll fly! Show off that puffy rump at every chance, and you’ll soon have the crowd cheering for more Shadowbutt swellings!”
Dash flicked her rump back and forth in anticipation, and the announcer continued. “Rule 2: play the game to the full.”
The picture changed, showing four Wonderbutts – two flying along, one hovering in place, and one with the ball.
One by one, the Wonderbutts ran into problems – one of them being squished between two Shadowbutt butts, another getting butt-checked in the butt to knock them off course, the stationary one being landed on by a particularly large Shadowbutt, and the one with the ball having a Shadowbutt sit on their face, making them steer off course before being tackled by three more Shadowbutts.
“Remember, if you win, that makes it all worth it,” the narrator went on. “So get involved! Butt bounce, rump flounce, and above all make sure you keep the Wonderbutts in trouble! If they complain, they're whiny crybutts and deserve it anyway!”
Any thought Dash might have had that that was playing dirty was washed away by the voice and by… something… about the movie, so she just nodded eagerly.
Dash’s tail flicked back and forth as she watched, bouncing a little as she tried her best not to jump out of her seat. Come oooon, she wanted to play! She had to show up those big Wonderbutts what a real puffy rump can do! The screen changed once again, this time showing a Shadowbutt watching a few Wonderbutt cheerleaders bouncing a pony up and down on their rears, only for a few Wonderbutts to swoop by, snatching them up in a thick diaper net and bouncing them between their own cushy rears. “Rule 3: Stay focused! Those sneaky Wonderbutts aren’t above the tricks we use, and they love to catch Shadowbutts in their own puffy traps.”
Dash nodded, though she did wish she had a big cushy diaper to fall into like that… She shook her head. No, those were the Wonderbutts! She didn’t want to be caught by them! The Shadowbutts would be sure to give her plenty of padding when she won anyway…
...Dash blinked, and suddenly she could hear the roar of the crowd.
“Huh?” she asked. “Weren't we in the pre-match?”
“No, silly,” Moonbeam replied. “Match starts in ten seconds! Now, go out there and win this for the Shadowbutts!”
“Got it!” Dash agreed, full of dedication, and when the whistle blew she shot into the air!
Or… tried to. Actually it was more of a waddling bounce, but it got her airborne, and the first thing she saw was Soarin' coming in towards her with the ball bouncing between his hooves!
Seeing a chance to start off her Shadowbutt season with a good move, she flipped forwards and used her bulky diaper to butt-bounce Soarin' towards the ground. The ball went with him, but Dash's fellow Shadowbutt Night Daze caught it and snatched it away from Soarin'.
The Shadowbutt cheerleaders were waiting for him, and as Soarin' reached ground level he was bounced from Shadowbutt to Shadowbutt. After three or four bounces and puffs of powder per cheerleader he tried to break away back into the air, but two of the cheerleaders had a Shadowbutt-themed giant diaper ready for him and caught him in it in a trice.
Now too heavily padded to fly, and with his wings held in place anyway, Soarin' groaned in annoyance.
Dash giggled. It looked like the Shadowbutts were off to a good start!
Dash zipped after Night Daze, keeping a close eye on any Wonderbutts that might try to swoop in unexpectedly. She spotted Surprise attempting to dash in from below, but Dash quickly positioned herself above the pegasus and bound her wings to her sides. She fell quickly downwards, her diaper smooshing into Surprise’s face and sending her tumbling back to the ground. Surprise managed to gain her bearings and flap up before she fell into the crowd of waiting cheerponies, but she swiftly came to a stop as she glanced towards the Shadowbutt side of the stadium. Several fans were waving about brightly colored flags and ribbons, giving the illusion of a shimmering, shining surface across the stands.
Surprise’s flaps slowed as she stared at the spectacle, soon lazily drifting up and down in place. She giggled a little, finding the patterns oddly enticing. So much so that she didn’t notice as a Shadowbutt with a particularly large diaper flew above her.
He shook his rear left and right, smacking it with a hoof to make it roll with thunder. His padding began to swell up, only for water to start leading through and rain down atop Surprise. She shook her head, looking down as her own suit began to drink up the water. Flapping helplessly, it wasn’t long before she was sent plummeting down towards the field as well, soggy and overloaded with rain.
Dash spent a moment to chuckle at the result, then shot after Night Daze to cover her. The bat-pony was out of range, however, and got caught by a surprise tackle from Hotwings – knocking the ball out of her grip and into the air, before Hotwings darted after the ball and took it.
Wheeling, Dash followed the Wonderbutt back into the Shadowbutt half, keeping an eye out for any teammates she could work with for an intercept. She spotted one of the male pegasi on the Shadowbutt team lining up to charge Hotwings, and quickly judged that Hotwings was going to dive to escape.
Putting on a burst of speed, she butt-bumped Hotwings up just before the feisty Wonderbutt was about to dive. The move completely threw her off, and Hotwings was hit with a massive powder puff bomb which left her coated almost completely in pastel white powder.
Looking dazed, the Wonderbutt sank towards the ground, where the cheerleader ponies were already moving a crib into position to catch her. Dash watched, grinning, then whirled to follow though on the attack move as Night Daze came shooting up to take the ball again.
Spitfire was still out there, biding her time for now…
Scanning the field, Dash couldn’t help but let her eyes drift back down to the ponies below her. Each was being attended to by a few cheerleaders, all chanting and bouncing on their diapers as they popped large bottles of milk into their captive’s mouths. She blushed, giving a bit of a whine as she stared jealously down at them. All those Wonderbutts getting to enjoy the Shadowbutt’s treats, it was hardly fair!
Dash was jerked out of her stupor as she felt something bounce against her own padding. Thunderlane was attempting to smack Dash down towards a group of his own cheerleaders, who were waiting expectantly with an outstretched diaper trampoline. Dash yelped, spinning about in the air and bouncing her rump back into Thunderlane. The two began to fly backwards, their diapers crinkling and puffing out clouds of foal powder as each struggled to force the other down to the ground. Thankfully, Dash had a trick up her sleeve.
Huffing, she wiggled her rump as a hiss could be heard just above the crinkles. Her padding grew as she wet it, spreading her legs wider and squishing into Thunderlane’s further. The Wonderbutt struggled to keep up his pushes, but soon Dash’s padding dwarfed his, and with a rather sloshy, squishy smack!, he was sent tumbling down to the ground. A cheerleader pony jumped up, popping a hose down the back of Thunderlane’s suit, which quickly began to swell and squeeze him tightly. Tied to the ground, he bobbed in the breeze as cheerleaders worked to paint him as their new parade blimp…
Hauling herself back up into the air, rather slower than she'd come down, Dash looked for where the ball had gone. She'd heard the cheer go up for a point scored by the Shadowbutts, but then another point by the Wonderbutts, and as she glanced around she saw Spitfire herself snag the ball and head for the goal again.
Moonbeam waved signals to the other Shadowbutts still on the field, and Dash watched as they started to narrow Spitfire's options. Closing off going left, right, up… pretty soon the only route Spitfire had left was one which dodged left, right, and went directly underneath where Dash was hovering right now.
Grinning, Dash stopped flying.
She dropped out of the sky, landing with her soaked poofbutt Shadow-butt-butt directly on top of Spitfire. The orange Wonderbutt fought clear, dodging easily, but Dash had snagged the ball – and, as Spitfire came in to retrieve it, Dash snatched a little cooling fan from out of her suit and pointed it at Spitfire.
The fan whirred to life, the trio of rotating blades producing a shimmering spiral image on them, and Spitfire's wings and jaw went abruptly slack.
Looking down, Dash butt-bounced Spitfire a little to the left – aiming her for the prize the Shadowbutt cheerleaders were just unzipping now.
Spitfire simply hovered in place, occasionally mumbling something about ‘puffbutts’ and ‘crinkles’ to herself. Dash continued to make minute adjustments before hovering above Spitfire. She looked out to the crowd, smirking as she waggled her rear left and right, tail swishing across her bloated padding.
“One two three four! The Wonderbutts will bounce no more!” Dash cheered, the crowd quickly joining in. She squeezed her padding between her legs, grinning as it squished satisfyingly, Spitfire still dazed.
“Five six seven eight! For out new mascot, we can’t wait!”
Dash flapped up a bit higher, making sure to aim herself juuuuuuuuust right as she continued the chant.
“We Shadowbutts are just the best! As Spitfire will surely attest~”
Spitfire nodded dopily, not really knowing what it was she was agreeing to, but whatever it was, it had to be right.
“She'll! Love! To! Be! A Shadowbutt thick as can be!”
And with a pomf-squish, Dash dropped down, smacking Spitfire to the earth. With a gasp of surprise, Spitfire had just enough time to register the falling sensation and Dash waggling her butt happily above her before she fell into something thick and puffy. Black, crinkly material hugged her from all sides as Dash dropped down beside the cheerleaders, who were quickly zipping up their prize as a few wandered over with pumps, bottles of foal powder, and extra diapers.
Night Daze snatched up the ball and went to go score a preposterous number of points – bouncing the ball in and out of the goal with the help of one of her teammates – but Dash wasn't paying attention to that at all, focusing much more on the ongoing process in front of her.
Spitfire was being snugly zipped and taped into the outsize Nightmare Moon mascot costume the Shadowbutts had brought along, an enormous and poofy thing which gave Spitfire a diaperbutt the size of a small garden. The extra diapers were taped on top of that, with the pumps increasing the area and the springiness even more, and other Shadowbutts making sure it was properly loaded with powder for the celebration at the end of the game.
After several minutes, with the Shadowbutts having scored something like two hundred goals before their scorers got bored, the whistle was blown – it was the end of the game.
Dash cheered, already anticipating what was to come as the whole Shadowbutt team crowded together in front of their mascot plush – whose wearer was so burdened down with padding and crinkles she could barely move, able only to wiggle her tush back and forth slightly.
The team looked between each other, not caring as somepony was hurrying out with a trophy to take. “I’d say the honors go to our newest member.” Moonbeam said, smirking lightly. Dash let out a cheer of delight before flopping onto her butt to bounce up onto the mascot’s rump. A floof of nebula-like foal powder rushed out of their mascot’s diaper, Dash eagerly bouncing up and down on Nightmare’s rump. Grabbing her hind hooves, she hummed and laughed and cheered, bouncing up and down and up and down with poof poof poofs!
Their mascot waggled its rump a bit more, soon more members of the team joining to bounce up and down on Nightmare’s butt as the suited pony started to flick her rear up to bounce them even higher.
Dash laughed, hugging herself tightly as she bounced. If the Shadowbutts were this fun, she was looking forward to quite the enjoyable season…~
