Dream Cycle - Pinkie Pie

Pinkie Pie

Pinkie Pie jumped up out of bed, checked the time, and cheered.

Today was the day she was going to become a Pinkiemon trainer!

She bounced up and down a few times in excitement, paused to pick a particularly good cap from her bedside table, and trotted downstairs – at which point she stopped.

“Heya Twilight!” she called, waving to the alicorn-with-a-lab-coat. “Oh, I guess you're the professor!”

“That's me – I'm technically Professor Golden Oaks, but nobody bothers to use the name of the position any more,” Twilight explained. “Welcome to the world of Pinkiemon!”

She glanced down at a clipboard, then examined Pinkie closely. “Are you a filly or a colt?”

“Filly, silly!” Pinkie answered, and Twilight noted it down on her clipboard.

“Thank you, I do have to ask. What's your name?”

Pinkie hummed. “Well… I could answer You, because that would make all the conversation options hilarious! But that might get confusing… perhaps if I called myself You Amazing Pony? Nah… I'll go with the simple Pinkie this time!”

“Pinkie,” Twilight agreed, turning a page. “Thank you.”

Suddenly Spike waddled in on his stubby legs, looking particularly smug as he stood beside Twilight.

“Hi Spike!” Pinkie called, waving to him. He gave a bit of a wave back, but was cut off by Twilight piping up again.

“Oh, right, this here’s my assistant, you’ve known him for a while! And if I remember right you have a bit a rivalry going. Er… what’s his name again?” Twilight asked, scratching her head with a pencil. Spike looked up at Twilight, looking rather offended and confused.

“Poofypants!” Pinkie shouted, letting out several giggle snorts at Spike’s incredulous reaction.

“Come on, Pinkie! You just said Spi-“

“Of course, how silly of me! Well, it’s good to see you again Poofypants!” Twilight interjected again, smiling down at Spike. The dragon crossed his arms, pouting and looking away as Twilight continued jotting down notes.

“Well, Pinkie, I hope you’re ready to set out on this grand adventure of Pinkiemon! Plenty of surprises lay in store!” Pinkie bounced excitedly over to the door, only to notice she wasn’t going anywhere. She glanced over her shoulder to see Twilight holding onto Pinkie’s tail with her magic, still looking down at her clipboard. “Just oooooone more thing we need to take care of! It’s dangerous to go alone, you know! You should take this.” Twilight’s horn flashed as a table appeared, three spherical objects sitting upon it.

“Are you sure that's the right reference?” Pinkie asked, then shrugged it off and looked at the pink-and-black balls on the table. “Ooh, shiny! I'll take three!”

“Each of these balls contains a Pinkiemon,” Twilight explained. “And no, you can't take three. One is for you, one is for Poofypants and I'm keeping the third.”

Spike groaned.

“Ooh, gotcha, so Poofypants is going to be annoying me the whole game – I mean, the whole adventure, and you're going to be a super secret bonus boss which probably gets dummied out,” Pinkie rattled off. “Hmm, I'd better make my choice carefully...”

She scooped up all three balls and threw them at once, and they all appeared in flashes of light.

The revealed Pinkiemon were different in shape but similar in other ways, all of them appearing to be made of something soft and thick and plushy. The one on the left was a tiny little ball of orange and red feathers, a phoenix chick, and bounced up and down on the floor several times before coming to a rest.

Next to it was a larger one, a plush owl, sort of like a stuffed toy come to life, which hooted once and shrugged.

But the third one was the one Pinkie immediately plumped for, a little stuffed toy alligator, and she picked him up to hug him tightly before placing him on her back.

“All right, I've made my choice!” she announced. “I will call him Gummy, and he will be my friend.”

“It looks like you two get on well together,” Twilight said, as the Gummy-plush stared vacantly into the middle distance and occasionally blinked.

Spike stepped up to the fluffy phoenix, who chirped and gazed up at the dragon with his large black eyes. It climbed up onto his shoulder, nuzzling him closely. “Well, it looks like Peewee took a liking to you.” Twilight said, as the remaining fluffy owl fluttered over to rest on her back, hooting once more.

“Alright, now it’s time for adventure!” Pinkie said, preparing to trot out the door. Rather than manage to leave her house again, however, Spike stepped in front of her.

“Hey, come on, Pinkie! We gotta try having a battle with these guys! I bet mine can wipe the floor with yours!” he said, standing proudly.

Pinkie gave another giggle, squeezing Gummy and setting him down on the ground. “Well, if you’re suuuure Poofypants!”

Spike grimaced once again at the name before taking a hold of his phoenix. “Alright, go, Peewee!” He shouted, gently tossing the phoenix to stand in front of Gummy.

The two plush critters stared at each other (or at least, Peewee stared at Gummy while Gummy seemed only to manage to stare in Peewee’s direction). Spike and Pinkie stood eagerly, waiting for their Pinkiemon to make the first move.

And they waited.

And they waited.

Gummy flopped onto his side.

“Uh... does that mean I win?” Spike asked, Peewee poking at Gummy’s plush belly.

Pinkie contemplated that, then decided that – yes, Gummy had won a moral victory, but not an actual one.

“Thanks for the practice, Poofypants!” she told Spike, before scooping up Gummy again and trotting out the door.

Outside, she took in the sights – trotting around in a circle, getting a good look at the town she'd always lived in (at least as far as she was concerned for right now), then trotted off directly towards the long grass.

“Let's see if we can find a new friend, Gummy!” she said. “I picked up Twilight's Pinkiemon Trainer starter kit from the side! Either that or I took her spare Pinkieballs, but she won't miss them!”

Blissfully unconcerned with the matter, Pinkie made it to the edge of town and stepped out into the tall grass.

Almost immediately, there was a loud burst of alarmed trumpet sounds.

“Ooh, a battle!” Pinkie said. “Get ready, Gummy!”

A few seconds elapsed, then a pony came past blowing on his trumpet.

“Or not,” Pinkie added. “What does a pony have to do to get a random encounter around here?”

She paused, one hoof going to her chin. “Though a pony blowing a trumpet in the middle of the countryside is pretty random...”

Pinkie let out a small gasp of surprise. Of course! They must be out here looking for more plush Pinkiemon too! And if that’s the case, then they must be trainers as well! She stood tall, pointing towards the pony playing their trumpet in a grand display, causing them to look over. “Ah HA! We made eye contact, now we have to battle!” She declared. The other pony gave a look of determination as they reached for their own Pinkieball, tossing it out into the grass just as Pinkie did the same.

Gummy popped out, staring ahead as usual while a small plush parasprite puffed out of the opponent’s ball, hovering in the air in front of gummy. “Parasprite, use tackle!” he said, posing dramatically.

The parasprite buzzed forward, bouncing against Gummy’s plush hide, only to buzz about and continue attempting to hit him uselessly. Gummy blinked, staring ahead.

“Hmm, what kind of moves do you know?” Pinkie asked herself. If only there was a neat little list. She shrugged, thinking about what Gummy liked to do. “Ooh, trying licking him, Gummy!” She said.

Gummy’s mouth opened the slightest bit, and he licked his eye with a plush tongue, still staring off into the distance. As it just so happened, however, the parasprite had attempted to bounce into Gummy’s face and received a smack with his tongue, sending it flopping to the floor.

“Yaaay, I win!” Pinkie cheered, pulling Gummy into another tight squeeze. She wasn’t totally sure, but he seemed just a bit fluffier now too!

The other pony muttered something about potions and dropped thirty-four bits, which Pinkie happily collected. Then, with her slightly plumper Pinkiemon on her back, she set off for the next city over.

Three hours later, Pinkie was most of the way through the first Route on her journey. She'd spent most of the time Pinkiemon battling, though half of that had been when she'd mistaken a nearby boulder for a Pinkiemon and had Gummy try and battle it. Try as he might the little plush alligator had been quite unable to outstare a rock, and Pinkie had moved on with her good cheer undiminished after a trainer had come along and she'd won a battle against her too.

She'd also caught her second Pinkiemon, a quick but somewhat disagreeable griffin, and was wondering aloud where the Pinkiemon Centre was so she could heal up her Pinkiemon.

“Why do you keep saying that word?” Gilda demanded.

“It's 'cause that's what the word is!” Pinkie replied. “A Pinkiemon is a Pinkiemon! Why would you use the wrong word when the right one's right there?”

Gilda gave her a look, then rolled her eyes. “Whatever. When can I take off this silly plush suit? I'm a griffin already, why do I have to wear a griffin suit?”

Pinkie ignored the question totally. “Hey, look, there it is!”

A small cottage sat in town, the top half painted a bright red, and several ponies could be seen trotting in and out with their Pinkiemon. Pinkie Pie trotted inside, Gummy riding on her hat as Gilda followed grumpily. A yellow pegasus stood at the desk, greeting them with a smile as they stepped up. “Hello, I’m Nurse Shy! Do you need your Pinkiemon taken care of?” She asked warmly.

“Taken care of? I’m not a hatchling.” Gilda remarked, tugging at her plush tail.

“Hmmm… weeeell, my widdle birdie did get a little beat up in our fight. And Gummy’s low on plush points… and it’s free… oh, why not?” Pinkie said, handing over Gummy and Gilda’s Pinkieballs. Gummy slipped inside his with little fuss, but Gilda eyed the small thing warily.

“Heck no, I don’t even know how the heck I fit in that thing in the first place!” She said, back up. Nurse Shy simply pressed the ball, and Gilda felt herself being tugged towards it. With a squawk, she flew forwards as if pulled by several cords, stuffing herself into the impossibly tiny space.

Shy turned about and placed the balls something that looked suspiciously like a crib, rocking it back and forth a few times as she hummed a soft lullaby before pulling them back out and handing them over.

“There you are! I hope to see you again! Oh, not, that I meant, I hope for your dear plushies to get hurt again…. I just… oh, my…” Shy’s voice trailed off as she looked down sheepishly.

“Thanks, Fluttershy!” Pinkie said, beaming, and opened Gummy's Pinkieball to let him out again so he could go on her back.

The Pinkiemon came out all right, but there was an odd extra to his look which hadn't been there before. Pinkie looked closely, examining him from several angles, before deciding that the oddness must be… the diaper!

“Hey, that's new!” she said, poking it and producing a crinkle-crinkle sound from the soft material. “I wonder if Gilda has one too!”

Gilda appeared from out of her own Pinkieball, and wobbled a bit before recovering.

Pinkie had a close look, and couldn't help but giggle just a little! Gilda was wearing a diaper as well, a pink and black one which was patterned just like her Pinkieball, and it was thick enough to make her have to spread her hind legs – giving her a bit of a waddle when she moved.

“Hey, how come you're wearing one of those?” she asked.

“Huh?” Gilda replied, sounding a bit dazed, then shook her head. “Oh, the diaper – h-hey, why am I wearing a diaper?”

She glared at Nurse Shy, but the pegasus didn’t seem to understand Gilda’s request, instead just admiring her cute visage. Pinkie looked over to the nurse, nowhere near as angry, but just as bit confused as her padded gryphon. “Say, that is a bit silly. She wasn’t wearing a diaper when we got here!” She asked.

Nurse Shy just gave a small chuckle, patting Gilda’s head as she admired her. “Oh, it’s just something we do here when we heal up your Pinkiemon. It helps keep them happy and cozy. Nopony likes a pouty Pinkiemon, after all!” She said, offering Gilda a small candy. Gilda just stuck out her tongue, turning about and trying to trot out with dignity, not that she could with her awkward crinkly waddle.

Pinkie scooped up Gummy, dropping him on her head as she bounced out after Gilda. “Aw, come on, Gilly! You look adorable in your new suit! And I bet it’d work great at smushing some other pony’s Pinkiemons!” She let out a giggle snort imagining Gilda flopping atop somepony. “Oooh, maybe we can find some thicker ones at the Pinkiemart to help you out!” She gasped, eyes glittering with excitement.

“Oh no…” Gilda muttered, watching as Pinkie bounced off in a new direction…

By the time Gilda caught up, complaining that the combination of her plush suit and her thick diaper made it way too hard to keep up with Pinkie, the Pink Pinkiemon-Possessing Pony had already gone through the Pinkiemart twice and picked out a collection of the best items.

“You're not getting me to use those!” Gilda protested. “No way!”

Pinkie just giggled. “But they're for Pinkiemon, you're a Pinkiemon, so they're for you! And other Pinkiemon too, of course,” she added. “I bet Gummy would like one of these pacifiers! They boost stats!”

She took the “+smart” pacifier and put it into the mouth of her Pinkiemon. It didn't lead to any noticeable change.

“Well, whatever,” Gilda muttered. “Look, is there something we have to get done before you'll help me take this suit off?”

“Don't be silly,” Pinkie told her. “We need to go and find more Pinkiemon partners before we go challenge the Pinkiemon Training Areas!”

Gilda was about to protest, but Pinkie placed another pacifier into her beak – this one labelled clearly as a “+cute” pacifier.

“Come on, we need to pick up more teammates!” she called, as Gilda sucked on the pacifier – blushing, because it probably looked kind of embarrassing, but also unable to work up the willpower to do anything about it.

It just seemed natural to relax and suck...

Pinkie eagerly trotted out of the small town towards the nearby woods, the light dimming as the trees blocked out the sunlight from above. She dug through the bushes, searching for more friends to bring to her party. Her gaze was kept low to the ground when she suddenly ran into something large and plush, bouncing off of it and landing on her rump. She looked up to see a large black and white striped bear, one with a rather formidable looking stinger and extra pair of paws. “Eeep! You look way too high level for this place! How’d you get here?” Pinkie asked, stumbling backwards.

The plush Bugbear roared, bending down on all fours. Pinkie reached behind her to Gilda who had only just caught up and threw her in front of the beast. “Gilly, I choose you!”

“What, wha-?”

Gilda received a poke from the Bugbear’s stinger, letting out an “oof” as she was pushed backwards to land on her padded rear. The thickness of her suit and the soft fabric didn’t do much to harm her, but Gilda felt an odd… something flowing through her. She placed a claw on her plush belly, which seemed to be a big bigger than it had been a moment before.

“Oh no, Gilly, you’ve been Poof-soned! Don’t worry! I’m sure I grabbed an anti-swelling-dote back at the shop!” Pinkie began to rummage through her bag, Gilda letting out a hiccup as her belly pushed itself outwards a bit further, everything feeling a bit lighter than it should have.

Objects went flying out of Pinkie's bag as she dug into it looking for the antidote – a billed cap with a symbol on it, two Pinkieballs, several large diapers, some bottles of milk-potion…

Her searching didn't bring up anything to help Gilda, who was still trying to fend off the plushy Bugbear as hiccup after hiccup bubbled up through her. Swallowing didn't help much, just making the hiccup bigger and more powerful, and the plush monster had enough arms to make her work overtime just keeping it from grabbing her wings.

That being said, her wings weren't how she was getting worryingly close to liftoff. Her belly was swelling up with each hiccup, making her lighter-than-air, and with her claws covered in plush paws she couldn't try to dig into the ground.

“Hurry up with that whatever-it-is!” Gilda called, as she began to rise towards the trees – though fortunately the interlocked branches overhead prevented her from going too high. “I don't know how much longer this is going to-”

“Oh, you should have said you were getting tired!” Pinkie said brightly. “Gummy, go! Sort out that silly monster!”

Gummy stared at the Bugbear, then jumped up to cling on to Gilda's soft-swaddled tail instead.

“That's not helping!” Gilda protested, though it actually was a bit – keeping her slightly lower to the ground, making her a bit more grounded.

The Bugbear took another stab at Gilda with its stinger, the ballooning gryphon wiggling her padded rear left and right. Surprisingly, rather than straining to contain her growing form, her diaper seemed to have grown puffier along with her, still easily keeping her rump wrapped in fluff. Gilda’s tail flicked back and forth, and she started to sway her butt in time with the flicks as Gummy held on tight. Another few hiccups and her claws were starting to become swallowed up by her swelling belly. She swayed and flicked more and more, Pinkie now digging through a mountain of items that she had somehow managed to stuff into her now empty backpack.

Gilda suckled on her pacifier, her rump swaying seeming to have a bit more… flourish to them than some other gryphon’s might have. With one final sway and flick, she managed to dislodge Gummy from her tail. The plush alligator went flying towards the Bugbear, smacking it in the face. It let out an annoyed growl, flopping to the ground. Pinkie looked up at the loud thud and picked up a Pinkieball, grinning widely. “Way to go, Gummy! I’ll get that beastie captured lickety split!” She tossed the ball towards the Bugbear, and watched as it suddenly swelled up to match the large creature’s size before enveloping it in soft plush fabric.

The ball clamped closed and rocked back and forth, still at full size, and Pinkie waited as patiently as she could as the Pinkieball wobbled back and forth… once… twice… and clicked.

“All right!” she said, picking up the ball with difficulty and holding it up. “I caught a Bugbear! I will call him Buggy!”

After a few seconds, she put the Pinkieball back down and returned it to normal size.

“That worked out great!” she said. “Good work, Gummy!”

“Hey!” Gilda called crossly. “Did you find the antidote?”

“Oh, right,” Pinkie remembered. “I found that ages ago.”

She held up a pin. “Here we go! Now just hold still...”

“H-hey, what are you-” Gilda began. “Are you going to poke me with that?”

“It's just what you need when you're suffering from poofson!” Pinkie replied. “And you want to come down from there, right?”

“Well, um...” Gilda began, and Pinkie poked her in the paw.

The little puncture didn't cause Gilda any pain, but the sudden rush of escaping air – which made very little sense – sent her flying up into the air, spinning wildly around and bouncing with an audible boing off the trees more than once.

“You suck,” Gilda said, after finally landing and shaking the dizziness away. “What were you looking for?”

“A flyswatter!” Pinkie explained. “But we don't need one now!”

Gilda muttered something unprintable.

“Come on, silly-Gilly!” Pinkie added. “We need more teammates! Ooh, I wonder if I'll find a named character again!”

Gilda waddled after Pinkie, who was bouncing along as excited as ever. They were nearing a large pond in the woods, and Pinkie spotted another pony sitting at the water’s edge with a fishing rod. “Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie, and you look like sompony fun to battle!” She said, grinning.

The teal unicorn looked over her shoulder, grinning confidently. “Oh, so you think you can beat me eh? Well, I’ve just caught a great Pinkiemon that’ll show you a thing or two!” The pony plonked down a comically oversized bucket as Pinkie tried to decide which one of her Pinkiemon to send out. As she contemplated, she was acutely unaware as the pony opposite her had pulled on something akin to a swimsuit, albeit much thicker and having one large tail in place of any sort of hind hoof holes. The pony jumped into the bucket, the water soaking into her suit to plump it up and squeeze her snugly as she leaned over the edge, grinning widely.

Pinkie Pie looked up from her bag, swearing she saw something like “Fish(ermare?) Lyra wants to battle!” pop into her view for a second before she blinked it away.

“Silly!” Pinkie said. “Diegetic text is much better! It should be on a sign or something!”

She put a hoof to her muzzle, frowning. “Hmm, so that's a fish-type… and what's good against fish? Birds and cats! That means-”

“Oh, great...” Gilda groaned.

“I choose Gilda!” Pinkie confirmed. “Go get her!”

Grumbling, Gilda waddled forwards to face the merpony. “Okay, so I basically just beat her up, right?”

Pinkie nodded. “Yep! But in a cute way!”

“I can't even fathom why you threw in that bit,” Gilda sighed, and squared off against Lyra. “So… how do I fight her? She's in a giant bucket!”

“Well, obviously you have to go into the bucket too!” Pinkie said. “That seems pretty obvious to me, why would you think otherwise?”

“I'm wearing this stupid plush suit,” Gilda explained. “If it gets wet it's going to soak through, that's pretty obvious to me – what did you expect would happen?”

Pinkie shrugged. “We-ll, it is her turn first!”

“Wait – what?” Gilda asked, before getting soaked by a wave of water washing over the edge of the bucket.

Her suit soaked up most of the water, puffing up a bit, and Gilda's eye twitched.

“I guess you don't have to worry about getting wet now!” Pinkie giggled. “Go get 'em, Gilda!”

Gilda let out a sigh, waddling up to the bucket. Even with the amount of water already soaking into her suit, she was less than enthusiastic about climbing in. Instead she tried to lean into the bucket and tip it over, but, surprisingly, no matter how much she shoved and pushed, the bucket refused to budge.

This only elicited several giggles from Lyra before she took a large gulp of water. She poked Gilda’s head, who had just enough time to look up before she received a face full of water as Lyra sprayed it directly into her. Sputtering, Gilda backed up, shaking her damp feathers as she glared up at the seapony, who just lazily spun around in the bucket to mock her. “Oh, that’s it!” Gilda said, leaping up and grabbing a hold of the side of the bucket. Her hind legs kicked and flailed as she hoisted herself up, Lyra letting out a squeak as the fluff of Gilda’s suited rump came crashing down on top of her.

The water in the bucket rushed into Gilda’s suit, causing it to swell and bloat up, growing heavy and damp as the gryphon bounced upon her rump. It didn’t take long before her padded rear pressed into the sides of the bucket, squishing down on Lyra as she tried to push the now wedged gryphon off her.

Gilda just snickered, flicking her tail left and right as she gleefully squashed the once confident seapony beneath her puffy rump. Lyra’s suit squeaked and creaked as the rubbery material pressed into the sides of the bucket, but she could do little more than flop around helplessly.

“Great!” Pinkie announced. “Use Squish!”

Gilda wondered briefly what you should call what she was doing now if that wasn't 'squish' enough, then wiggled about a bit to produce a squishing sound and decided that was probably good enough. Lyra tried harder to get away, producing squeaky-squeaky sounds, but it didn't seem to be enough and Gilda smirked as Lyra proved totally unable to un-pin herself.

“All right, you're doing great!” Pinkie called. “Now, I'm going to use a Pinkieball!”

She threw the pink sphere up over the lip of the bubble, where it hit Gilda and bounced off with a splat.

“Hey, watch it!” Gilda called.

“Whoopsie!” Pinkie giggled. “Think you can grab it and use it?”

Rolling her eyes, Gilda did her best – her swollen up suit-paws making her even more clumsy than the regular suit did at the best of times – and finally managed to shove the Pinkieball at Lyra. “Take that!”

The Pinkieball flashed bright pink, and light wrapped around Lyra – then it pulled back in, and she vanished into the Pinkieball so quickly that Gilda made a wave as she slid into the empty space.

“Let's see if she's going to stay in the Pinkieball!” Pinkie called, excited.

The Pinkieball shook in Gilda’s paws, and she tried her best to keep it clamped shut. It wobbled back and forth as Gilda clutched it to her chest. With a sudden fwoomp! the ball inflated, smothering Gilda into the bottom of the bucket, the plush material creaking and threatening to pop. “Nooo, it was so close!” Pinkie cried, jumping up on top of the Pinkieball to try and keep it down. The material creaked and squeaked as its seams strained, but a moment later the ball deflated back to normal, and Pinkie landed on top of Gilda with a wet squish.

Gilda grumbled as Pinkie jumped out of the bucket, shaking herself dry like a dog. “Woohoo! 4 already, I’m going to have a full team in no time!” she cheered. Gilda rolled out of the bucket, her waterlogged suit making any attempts to keep up with Pinkie rather fruitless. “Oops, almost forgot!” Pinkie bumped the hip her newest Pinkieball was hanging from against the bucket, which was promptly sucked into the plush ball.

“Please tell me we’re going to find someplace to dry off soon.” Gilda complained, shaking her feet to try and remove some of the water.

“Oh, don’t you worry, I’m sure there’s another Pinkie Center in the next town!” She said happily.

Gilda gulped. “…great…”

About half an hour later, Pinkie trotted happily out of the tall grass. “Look!” she called. “There's Pinkie Town!”

“Wasn't the place we were at earlier Pinkie Town?” Gilda asked, waddling out of the grass behind her.

Gilda had obviously not enjoyed the last part of the trip, even though Lyra had done some of the battling. Her costume was even puffier than before, still soggy with the water from Lyra's huge bucket, and there was a little plushy shark clinging onto her tail and making 'om nom nom' noises.

Pulling the shark off her tail and flicking it into the distance, Gilda waited a moment.

“...aren't you going to explain?” she asked eventually.

“Ooh, right!” Pinkie said. “We~ll, the answer's pretty simple! That was Pinkie City, this is Pinkie Town!”

Gilda groaned. “This is just dweebtacular, isn't it… where are we headed next, Pinkieville?”

“Don't be silly, that's where the third boss is!” Pinkie corrected. “The second boss is in Pinkiesburg. Come on, let's get you healed up with Nurse Shy and then we can go fight the first boss – I hope it's someone I know!”

Gilda waddled after Pinkie, diapered rump swaying from side to side, and tried to relax as much as she could.

Sucking on her pacifier helped, much as she was ashamed to admit it…

The doors of the Pinkie Center opened to allow the two to step inside, Pinkie bounding up to the desk again. “Hiya, Flutters! Nice to see you again! Or, are you a different Flutters?” She asked before giggling to herself.

Fluttershy just smiled politely, as if she heard that question quite a bit. “Hello there! I take it your Pinkiemon need some spiffing up?” She asked. Pinkie nodded, handing over the Pinkieballs and managing to scoop up Gilda and plop her down on the countertop.

“Yeperooni! Especially Gilly here! She’s been all droopy after she wasn’t able to play with her favorite fish!” She said.

Gilda thought that didn’t sound quite right, but ignored it as Fluttershy looked her over. “Oh my, she’s certainly quite soggy! We’ll get her in the dryer right away!” She said.

“The what?” Gilda asked, but rather than receive an answer, she was lifted up by the surprisingly strong Fluttershy and carried over to what looked like a conventional clothes dryer. “Hey, hang on, I’m not going i-” She was cut off as she was shoved into the small door, her padded but getting stuck. Her tail flicked about as her hind legs tried to push herself free, but Fluttershy just gave her an extra shove, squishing her bloated bottom into the tight space.

“She’ll be toasty and warm in no time~” Fluttershy said happily, setting a timer on the dryer before turning about to get to work on Pinkie’s other friends.

Pinkie whistled to herself, then in harmony with herself – not particularly caring how little sense that made – as Nurse Shy put her Pinkiemon through the healing process.

Gummy and the Bugbear came back almost unaffected, except for seeming somewhat healthier, but when Pinkie let Lyra out for a quick check she found that the 'mer-pony' had a thick diaper wrapped around her fishy lower half… somehow... and a pacifier which was sort of like Gilda's but with a bit more of a scuba theme to it.

As she considered that, there was a polite ding from the dryer.

“Oh, it sounds like your other Pinkiemon is ready,” Nurse Shy said, and opened the door.

Gilda tumbled out, her suit no longer wet – but instead very fluffy and plump, much bigger than before, with a special focus on her paws. They were so big it was clear she'd have more than a little trouble just walking in a straight line, and the experience in the dryer seemed to have made her dizzy enough to make it all but impossible.

“Heya Gils!” Pinkie said brightly. “You look cute in that super-frilly diaper!”

“A what?” Gilda repeated, blinking a few times, then refocused enough to give Pinkie a look. “I mean, what? Frilly?”

She twisted to try and look at her diaper, and fell over.

Pinkie giggled. “No time for a nap yet, silly!”

Pinkie lifted Gilda to her feet, though even then she was a bit unsteady. “Thanks, Flutters! I’ll see you in the next town!” She called out as she trotted away, half leading, half dragging Gilda after her.

After a quick detour to get some ice cream she stood in the street, looking about the town. “Alright, now that we’re in tip-top shape, we should be ready to take on the boss here! I wonder who it’ll be…” She was grateful the town was at least small enough she could easily spot the town’s Playpen. She hurried over to it, checking the sign outside the front door. “Frilly and fancy is the way we do things at Rarity’s Boutique!”

She brightened. “Oh, so this is Rarity's boss place! I wonder what's going to be in here… what type is she going to be into?”

Pinkie thought for a moment, then giggled. “Maybe Fairy! But I don't think we have Types like that here… hmm, could be a tough one… hey, Gilda, how are you at handling being Frill-da?”

Gilda shook her head. “No. Not at all.”

“Hee, maybe that's something we should try out later… just to see how it works out?” Pinkie suggested, and got a glare from Gilda.

As she approached the door, however, it swung open without her. Spike came out, dressed in an adorable pink dress, and blushing to the depths of his scales.

“Oh, hey, Poofypants!” Pinkie said brightly. “How did your battle with Rarity go?”

“Well, um… she's a really good Pinkiemon trainer,” Spike said, fidgeting a bit. “I did get the symbol that shows I beat her, but, um…”

“Ooh, I know what happened!” Pinkie realized. “You lost the first time and had to dress up like that for a rematch!”

“...yeah, that's right,” Spike admitted. “And her Pinkiemon are good at putting on status costumes, too, so it wasn't easy to win the second time… you might have trouble too!”

“Pish tosh, Poofypants!” Pinkie declared, then giggled at what she'd just said.

“...I'm going to go and get dressed in something a bit better now,” Spike said, trying to retain a shred of dignity.

“At least ask her to tailor it for wings!” Pinkie called after him. “In case you evolve into Spike With Wings!”

Spike ignored Pinkie, who turned to hop inside the boutique. The interior was lavishly designed, full of frilly decorations, with chintz padded walls and a gleaming marble floor. Pinkie let out an “ooooooh” as she gazed around at everything. Gilda attempted to keep up, but her suit continually slipped and slid across the floor. She eventually flopped onto her belly, forced to push herself along after Pinkie.

Pinkie rounded a corner and came face to face with another pony dressed to resemble a maid. The pony puffed her chest out proudly, brandishing a duster. “Ah, so you’ve come to challenge the marvelous Rarity, have you? Well, first you’ll have to get through me!” She declared. She stood frozen for a moment, still posing dramatically before deflating slightly. “Or, well, you would had that dragon not recently come through here. Rarity hasn’t given us a break to get our Pinkiemon healed between challengers… again. Go on through.” The pony turned to start dusting a large trophy case, Pinkie obliging and continuing forwards.

Gilda grumbled, having only just gotten back to her feet before being forced to attempt to keep up with her trainer.

Pinkie wandered through the halls of the building, finding its elegance far too grand to simply pass up! The building certainly seemed much smaller from the outside, it was only polite to appreciate all that she could before meeting her host.

She turned another corner and found herself standing at the base of a short staircase. At the top sat Rarity, lounging on an overly poofy couch and sipping champagne. “Hiya, Rares! You sure look relaxed for somepony that was just beaten by Poofypants!” she giggled.

“Oh?” Rarity replied, leaning up a little from her couch. “Well, it would be dreadfully undignified for a lady and a fashion artiste to be anything but completely composed!”

She took another sip of champagne. “I suppose you're here to challenge me for the Generosity Element.”

“Hey, wait, the things I need to pick up are Elements?” Pinkie asked. “But I met Twilight and Fluttershy already, and I'm supposed to have an Element too!”

“Dear me, darling, don't jump to conclusions,” Rarity admonished her. “Now, if you are here to challenge me, then we should do it in the proper surroundings.”

As Gilda came waddling slowly up, Rarity's horn glowed. There was a whoosh as several wardrobes came sliding in, and the area between Pinkie and the foot of the stairs expanded enough to form a proper fighting area.

“All right,” Gilda grinned. “Finally, a chance to beat something up!”

“Pick your Pinkiemon,” Rarity instructed.

“I choose… Lyra!” Pinkie said.

Gilda's jaw dropped. “What.”

Lyra's giant bucket of water appeared along with the mer-mare, and Rarity swooned. “Oh, no, this simply won't do! I won't allow you to get so much water on the floor!”

One of the maids came in, and lowered the section of floor Lyra's bucket was on so the rim was much closer to the floor. Another put down some towels, and Rarity relaxed slowly as she did so.

“That's better,” the unicorn mare said. “Now, you'll need to face… Opalescent!”

With a second flash of light, a giant plush cat appeared. The cat's tail lashed back and forth, and the mouth was open enough to see that there was actually a pony inside what turned out to be a great big plushy costume.

“Hey, I recognize her!” Pinkie pointed. “Isn't that Suri Polomare?”

“It's Opalescent, darling,” Rarity corrected her.

Opales-Suri prowled back and forth, moving surprisingly deftly for somepony in such a thick costume. Pinkie let out a bit of a gulp as she eyed the stuffed feline. “Maaaaybe Lyra wasn’t the best choice.” The seapony splashed about in her bucket, taking a large gulp of water and trying to spray it towards Opal. She jumped out of the way, a maid quickly zipping in to mop up the water before dashing back to the sidelines.

Opal bent over, wiggling her butt in the air as she eyed Lyra. She pounced, Lyra giving a squeak of surprise and trying to dive into her bucket, only for Suri to catch Lyra’s rubbery tail in her mouth. She tugged her out of the bucket, Lyra flopping about pitifully as Opal leaned onto her back. She began to bat the seapony around in the air, her tail flicking back and forth happily as squeaks and creaks from the helpless fish filled the room.

“Uh… ok, Gilda, I suppose it’s your turn!” Pinkie said, nudging her forward. Gilda looked smug, ready to leap upon the poofy cat when Rarity suddenly spoke up.

“Ah ah ah, Opal’s already far too occupied. You’ll have to fight Aloeanlotus!” she said.

With another flash of light, two puffy colorful birds popped into existence. They strutted about, occasionally squawking to reveal the faces of ponyville’s resident spa ponies. “What? Two? How in Equestria is that fair?” Gilda complained.

“Two?” Rarity repeated, sounding terribly confused. “What are you talking about? There's only one Pinkiemon there, Aloeanlotus.”

“That's got to be way unfair,” Gilda said. “Pinkie, isn't that way past unfair?”

She turned, to see that Pinkie was reading through a thick book clearly labelled as 'Official Pinkiemon Rulebook (4th edition)'.

“Seems legit,” Pinkie pronounced, stuffing the book back into her hair. “Go get 'em, Gilda!”

Gilda muttered something unprintable, then picked one of the Spa-ponies-of-paradise and launched herself at it.

The bird-suited pony twirled away with a flap of its wings before Gilda arrived, and the other one swept in closer – their wings a riot of colour which almost concealed what was going on… until Gilda suddenly realized that the blue pony had brought along something pink and white and frilly, which she drew Gilda's trajectory towards so the griffin found herself diving right into it before she could correct herself.

When she picked herself up again, Gilda found she was wearing a pair of frilly pillowy pantaloons over the top of her suit and her diaper, the frills so thickly packed that it made it harder for her to move.

Making a noise somewhere between a groan and a snarl, Gilda turned on the blue pony to try and get her own back, only for the pink pony to sweep in and put her in a fluffy blue dress that trapped her wings and made her look even sillier.

“Oh, how fetching!” Rarity said brightly. “That's a Dress of Good Looks on top of the Pantaloons of Lower Speed! If this keeps up your Pinkiemon will end up looking adorable!”

“I don’t wanna be adorable!” Gilda whined, tugging uselessly at her dress. She continued to try and roll back to a standing position, but the furthest she was ever able to manage was sitting upright on her overly puffy pantaloons, only to be bopped backwards by one of the birds.

The two made swift work of Gilda, tying bows and ribbons around her legs and tail, replacing her pacifier for an embarrassingly bright pink one.

Gilda flailed about, letting out several whines as they worked on her. To top everything off, while the two were busy pampering Gilda, a butler with a rather puffy rump bulge beneath his suit had pushed over a plush nest, which Gilda was now being hoisted into. She continued to grumble and complain through her pacifier, but her mutterings were quickly cut short when she was dropped into the nest. She had just enough time to see the plush bird rumps flop down on top of her as Aloeanlotus squeezed into the nest, nuzzling each other playfully.

“And that’s the match! Really, Pinkie, I expected a better display from you!” Rarity said as several butlers and maids trotted over with a rack of frilly, floofy outfits.

“Hang on, don’t I still have 2 left?” Pinkie responded, pulling out her bugbear’s ball and indicating Gummy perched atop her hat. She paid no mind to the maids taking her measurements, sifting through the outfits for a suitable dress.

Rarity looked a little confused. “Oh, you do? Poofypants only had two…” She thought. “Um… perhaps I’ll have something figured out by the time you’re in your new outfit?”

“Sure!” Pinkie agreed readily, as the maids kept taking measurements and checking appearances – including holding up a selection of diapers to see what colour would go best with Pinkie's coat.

Gilda's muffled protests continued to come from underneath Aloeandlotus, but everypony present ignored them. The only one to really react was Gummy, whose gumming on a tuft of Pinkie's hair got a little more insistent.

The dress which was ultimately produced for Pinkie to wear was a pink, purple and white one, with sparkly patterns on the pink-and-purple striping on the skirt. The maids efficiently put her in a diaper, which was then covered up by a pair of pink-and-yellow pantaloons, and the two-layered skirt flared out around the diaper with the white layer underneath the sparkly pink-and-purple one. Further up towards her head there were bow designs built into the patterning, made so the white was the continuous 'baseline' but the pink bits looked like cutouts to show the Pinkie underneath, and the maids were just about to add the high-heeled shoes when Rarity turned to look.

“I know!” she declared. “I have had the most marvellous inspiration! Since there are no Pinkiemon left, I shall battle you myself!”

“Ooh!” Pinkie said, interested. “Does this mean you're going to put on a costume too? Or are you just going to be you?”

“Oh, come now, Pinkie. We both know there’s hardly anything more elegant than myself!” She declared, fluffing her mane. “Though I suppose a more appropriate dress would be in order.” She levitated over a curtain to block her from view as the sounds of ruffling fabric could be heard. A few seconds later the curtain dropped to reveal Rarity standing in an overly poofy maid outfit. Her rump crinkled as she waddled forward, a diaper not even close to being concealed puffing out the skirt. “One must be ready to clean after making such a mess,” she said, indicating Pinkie’s two Pinkiemon, still being toyed with by Rarity’s.

“Cool! I choose you, Pinkieball!” Pinkie shouted.

“Wait, wha-?” Rarity was hit in the head by the Pinkieball, which fell to the ground beside her before opening up. Rarity let out a cry of fright as she was sucked in, the plush interior squeezing her snugly as the ball shook left and right a few times before pinging. Opal and Aloeandlotus looked over, confused as to what to do upon seeing Rarity’s capture.

Pinkie picked up the ball, dropping it proudly in her bag. “I shall call you Rares! Ooh, I wonder when we get the contests; I bet you would do wonderfully in the Beauty ones!”

Some minutes later, after some discussions and a bit of mopping, Pinkie handed her Pinkieballs over to Nurse Shy.

“Thanks, Shy!” she said brightly. “He-ey, how do you get around to all these other towns so quickly?”

“Um… I don't really know what you mean...” Nurse Shy said, rubbing her hooves together.

“Oh, I get it, it's a secret!” Pinkie said knowingly, as the helpful Pinkiemon nurse brought her Pinkiemon back over from the counter. “Don't worry, it'll be totally safe with me! I won't say a word about it!”

Fluttershy handed back her Pinkieballs, and Pinkie put Gummy back on her hat where he belonged (albeit as a hat ornament) and then sent out Gilda and Rarity – leaving Lyra in her Pinkieball to rest for now.

“Heya Rares!” she said brightly. “How are you doing?”

“That was dreadfully uncouth, Pinkie,” Rarity said, looking displeased. “And my name is Rares, not Rares.”

She paused, blinking. “My name is Rares? What's going on?”

“That's how Nicknaming works!” Pinkie told her brightly. “It's like how everypony calls me Pinkie! It's because it's my name now, like how your name is Rares now!”

She nudged Gilda, who was looking a bit dizzy after another dose of the Pinkiemon Centre treatment. “Come on, let's go to Cloudsdale! I bet that's where we're going to meet Dashie, she's our next badge challenge!”

“Huh, uh, what?” Gilda shook her head. “Wait, Dash? No way are we going there! I’m not letting her see me like this!” Gilda protested, tugging on the bow around her tail that Nurse Shy couldn’t seem to get off.

“Aw, but you look adorable! Besides, I bet Dashie is flaunting something cushy and crinkly too!” She said.

Gilda crossed her arms, pouting as she shook her head. “Nuh uh. I don’t care if she looks silly too.” She received a boop to her beak by her Pinkieball, looking down before being pulled into the plush confines.

“Sorry Gilda, but that’s the next town! I’m sure you’ll feel better once we get to see her. Come on, Rares!” Pinkie said, turning about to bounce out of the Pinkie center.