Fluttershy's Mixed-Up Pets

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

Chapter 1

“You know, I was skeptical when you first suggested this,” Discord announced, based on nothing in particular. “I was wondering how I could possibly enjoy tea, much less tea at the same time every week.”

He produced a little letter 'T' made of cake, nibbled on it, then smiled to himself. “But, would you believe it, but I found that a change was as good as a rest! Actually much better than a rest, because I rather like change.”

Fluttershy poured out the tea as Discord removed a half-dozen bits from his beard, then ate one of them like popcorn. “One sugar or two, today?”

“I think I'll make a difference and say three,” Discord nodded.

Taking a seat at the table, he waited a moment for Fluttershy to add the sugar cubes, then picked the cup up and took a sip. “Hmm...”

Picking up the knife laid out for adding jam to their scones, he scooped up some butter and dropped it into the tea. Thus fortified, he tried another sip and made a funny symbol with his clawed forehand. “Magnifique! I do say, excellent!”

“I've never seen butter added to tea before,” Fluttershy giggled. “Whatever made you decide to do that?”

“Oh, the Yaks do it all the time,” Discord told her. “Or, as they say, Yaks Crush Puny Pony Tea With Butter. It's an acquired taste, which means I'll probably get bored of it by next week and try something else.”

“Jam?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, wonderful idea, I'll try it next week,” Discord promised.

After another drink, he got up from his chair. “But – well, I can't simply have tea with you without bringing something myself! I'll have to hunt around for inspiration, it's so hard to think of something you like I haven't already got you!”

“You don't need to, Discord,” Fluttershy told him softly. “We're friends – that means I don't need a gift to think you're nice.”

Discord paused halfway to Fluttershy's cupboard.

“Well, nice,” he said, as if trying out the word. “Nice. Discord the nice… hmm, not sure it really works.”

“What about Discord the surprisingly nice?” Fluttershy suggested. “I was surprised how nice you were when I got to know you, after all...”

The chaotic draconequus threw up his mismatched hands, coincidentally knocking open Fluttershy's crockery cupboard. “What does a spirit of disorder have to do to keep a reputation around here?”

“Well, you could just have a biscuit,” Fluttershy pointed out.

“Tempting,” Discord admitted. “But… I still need to get you that gift.”

His pegasus friend began to protest, and Discord waved a claw in her face. “Ah-ta-ta! You may not want it, but I want to give it! It'll just be a few minutes ransacking your cupboards and I'll know just what to get!”

Fluttershy looked through her biscuit tin, and picked out a ginger one. “You could just ask?”

Discord actually considered it, for about a tenth of a second, then declared his opinion on the matter. “Nah.”

That said, he looked at the crockery. “Hmm, well, you've got some nice teacups, though no T-cups – I could fix that, but that doesn't have the right feel to it, and I already did that joke today.” The plates and saucers and bowls orbited his head as he spoke, along with a little ball with four antennae which made a beeping sound, until he caught it with a paw. “I could get you satellite?”

“What's a satellite?” Fluttershy asked, distracted, then pulled her biscuit out of the tea before it dissolved. “And I don't think I need more crockery, or cutlery, I've got enough.”

“I'm sure you think you've got enough, but that's the point!” Discord said. “Well, the points are on the end of the forks, but you get what I mean. There are two kinds of ponies in this world, Fluttershy.”

“I thought there were three kinds,” Fluttershy replied. “Or… is it four? Because of Twilight and the other Princesses – oh, and there are those nice bat ponies-”

“That's not what I mean, but I appreciate the thought.” Discord checked the cutlery drawer, finding it full enough to satisfy him in some unknown way, then shut it. “No, I mean there are two kinds of people! Pony, griffin, dragon, they all fall into two types!”

He scooted over to Fluttershy's side, put one paw on her shoulder and raised the other into the air. “One type, they're the type who know what they want. And the other type… they're the type who don't know what they want.”

After a long moment, Discord put his hand down. “And, of course, there are the ones who do know what they want but don't tell you. Those are the most fun of all, because they get ever so embarrassed when you work it out anyway!”

Picking up his teacup, he took a sip. Then he bounced off the wall, ceiling, floor and Angel Bunny, and off into Fluttershy's room.

“Discord?” Fluttershy asked, standing up. “Is something wrong?”

“Not at all,” Discord replied. “Oh – ah – now something's wrong, because your pet bunny is trying to stuff me into a hat. It's the other way around, you lugubrious lapine!”

The butterscotch pegasus raised her voice. “Angel Bunny, stop that! Mr. Discord is my friend!”

There were a few more whack noises, then Angel came hopping back out of Fluttershy's room.

When she got in her room, after telling Angel off and confiscating his carrot, Fluttershy found a straw boater hat lying on her bed.

She picked it up, and Discord sort of poured out before forming back into his normal shape.

“Are you all right?” Fluttershy asked, worried.

In reply, Discord tilted his head sideways and gave it a loud whack, and a few pieces of straw came out of his ear. “I'm fine, thank you, Andrea.”

“Andrea?” Fluttershy repeated, now completely lost.

“Sorry, need to retune myself to the right setting, or I'll be calling myself John next,” Discord told her. He gave himself another whack which twisted his head around three hundred and sixty degrees, then shook himself. “There we go.”

“Well… I'm glad you're all right now,” Fluttershy said, deciding to more or less disregard a lot of what Discord had said. “Should we go and-”

“Oh, no, no, no no no!” Discord answered. “Of course we shouldn't! I'm not going to stop investigating until I know what I can get you, Fluttershy! I hope it doesn't matter that it'll probably be home made – made in your home, of course – but that's supposed to be the best kind of gift anyway.”

He looked around for inspiration. “A bird feeder?”

“I… already have one of those, and it's very nice,” Fluttershy told him.

“What about a fondue set, then?” the chaotic being asked. “Everypony likes fondue.”

He stroked his chin, which purred. “Though, on second thought, I only asked two ponies. Cheese Sandwich and Chocolatl. So maybe that wasn't a very good comparison. Still, if that's what you're after?”

“No, I couldn't really enjoy a fondue set,” Fluttershy said. “I much prefer the kind of food Tree Hugger likes, all natural.”

“There's nothing unnatural about cheese,” Discord grumbled. “But I suppose melted cheese is quite deliciously random. Well, then, perhaps some clothes?”

He flicked her wardrobe open. “A dress?”

“Oh – no, I couldn't possibly – um – that's not very polite, Discord,” Fluttershy protested softly, blushing.

“You have plenty of dresses, of course, how foolish of me,” Discord agreed. “Then what about shoes? A fetching hat?”

He produced a hat from one ear and a ball from the other, and threw the ball. The hat jumped off his hand, flying with sweeps of its brim, and stooped down to pluck the ball from the air and bring it back to him.

“See?” Discord asked. “A fetching hat.”

He waved, and the hat dissipated into smoke. “Well, maybe not, you already have enough animal friends. But...”

After a moment's contemplation, Discord returned to rummaging through Fluttershy's wardrobe – pulling out several pairs of hoof gloves for if one of her animals needed medical attention.

Then he paused.

“Oh, my...” he said, sounding very interested all of a sudden. “What have we here?”

Fluttershy squeaked, flushing, as Discord pulled his discovery out of the bottom of her wardrobe.

A pack of a dozen diapers, unquestionably sized for grown-up ponies and other similar creatures.

“Dear, dear, Fluttershy!” Discord announced, turning the pack over to take in every detail. “I didn't have the slightest clue this sort of thing interested you!”

Fluttershy emitted a sound which was too high for pony hearing. A fox just outside yelped in response, and Angel Bunny plugged both his ears with two half-eaten carrots.

“But it looks like you haven't tried a single one!” Discord went on. “Unless you've already used a pack, of course… well, this is interesting!”

The pegasus tried to say something, but didn't manage to pronounce it successfully – just getting a few more squeaks.

“What's that?” her friend asked. “I think the little filly's going to need to speak up-”

“Notforme!” Fluttershy managed, her flush somehow managing to intensify. “Forotherponies! ButInever… um… managedtoask...”

Discord stuck a claw in his ear and twisted it back and forth, producing an eek-eek noise, then tilted it.

“Could you repeat that?” he asked.

“They're… they're not for me,” Fluttershy explained, somewhat slower now, her gaze not leaving the floor. “I… I like the idea of taking care of other ponies, or… or others, but… but I never got further than buying the pack...”

By the time she finished, her voice was almost too quiet to understand.

Discord contemplated the revelation for a long moment, then smiled.

It was a gentle smile, a caring smile, an understanding smile. But it was still a Discord smile.

“Well, now,” he said, smirking. “I think I know just what I can do for you, Fluttershy, my dear friend...”

“...w...what's that, then?” Fluttershy asked.

Discord made an expansive flourish with one clawed hand, while still holding the diapers in the other. “Why, simple! You want to do this, but you're too shy to ask any-pony you know to take part… but I'm not shy at all! So I'll sort it all out for you!”

Fluttershy looked a bit apprehensive about that, but Discord sat down and continued talking. “So… is it just diapers you think of? Or something else as well?”

“Well...” Fluttershy began, still not really believing she was having this conversation. “It's… really embarrassing, and you might not want to hear it...”

“I'm sure I will,” Discord said, relenting a little and giving her a hug. “You are my friend, Fluttershy, and that means I want to see you happy. This is a kind of situation – and a kind of happiness – you wouldn't have been comfortable getting into without my help, but if I can help you out – I actually do want to.”

The pegasus nodded a little, seeming slightly more okay with that, then paused. “But… um… okay. So… so I kind of like the idea of dressing up a pony – or someone else – like an animal, with diapers and a nice cozy suit, then just… spending time with them.”

Discord chuckled, but not in a mean way. “Ah, I see… hmm, I wonder if your friend Rarity would be able to make you-”

“Eep!” Fluttershy gasped. “I… n-no, I don't think she'd be… um…”

“Well, give it some thought,” Discord said. “I personally think she'd be delighted by the challenge. But it seems to me that the bigger problem is that you need somepony to do this with who I can assure you wouldn't mind in the slightest!”

He put his paws together, and cracked his knuckles one at a time. “And, fortunately for you, that's something I can do quite easily!”

“Are you sure we couldn't just go and have some tea?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not just yet!” Discord told her, sliding open a drawer and rummaging around in it up to his elbow. “Let's see… where did I leave it… aha!”

Fluttershy stepped back in surprise as Discord pulled an entire pony out of her tiny sock drawer.

“Ta-da!” Discord said, flourishing the pegasus he was holding by the scruff of the neck. “One guaranteed kinda-okay-with-this pony for you! I'd say it was time to get to know one another, but… well, I'm not sure how to handle that side of things, you're the friendship pegasus.”

“Uh… what's going on?” the stallion asked. “I was shopping...”

He wiggled a bit, until Discord dropped him onto a pillow. The pillow hadn't been there a moment before, so it was probably best to consider that Discord being polite.

“Who are you?” he added, looking back, then did a double-take. “Isn't that Discord? The spirit of chaos? The lord of disharmony?”

“Oh, you flatter me,” Discord said, producing a ladies' fan with a snap of his fingers and fluttering it in front of his face. “But I'm just the facilitator, I'm not the one you should be getting to know. That's Fluttershy, over there.”

As he turned his attention – somewhat apprehensively – to the mare whose cottage he was in, Fluttershy got a good look at him in turn.

She'd already seen that he was a cerulean-and-pinto pegasus, with a kind of paint-splatter look to the two-tone colouring of his coat, but now she could get a good look at his cutie mark as well – paint buckets, showing rainbow paint pouring out in crisscrossed streams.

Discord was consulting a clipboard. “Let's see here… yes… yes… Mix-up, Cloudsdale native, no particular job at the moment, also into diapers-”

Mix-up coughed, turning to the Spirit of Disharmony. “W-what? Where – where did that come from?”

“It's Discord,” Fluttershy said. “I… don't really ask questions like that, it's not polite and he never has a good explanation.”

“But I like giving bad explanations,” Discord whined, throwing the clipboard away. “Well, that's the ice broken, now you two can get on with it!”

“Get on with what?” Mix-up asked. “I…wait, did you pull me out of doing my grocery shopping because...”

He blushed, and Discord clapped him on the back just between the wings.

“Don't worry, I did the shopping for you!” he announced. “It's all there, at home, along with a complimentary TV!”

“A what?” Mix-up said, then shook his head. “That… that's not the important bit right now. I'm still annoyed about what you said – I just need to make it so my painted clouds take off-”

“Indeed it's not!” Discord said, putting his hand around Mix-up's shoulders. “You see, our friend Fluttershy there has certain interests, and I'm nothing if I'm not a good friend.”

He vanished with a fwoop.

Mix-up coughed, eying the package of diapers Discord had dropped on the bed, then looked away from it.

“...Discord?” Fluttershy said, after several seconds of awkward silence.

“Just my little joke,” Discord assured her, coming back in through the window before shutting it behind him. “But, as you can see, I'm not nothing, and therefore I'm a good friend! So I hunted up and down, left and right, back and forth for a pony who would be into the kind of play session she'd just told me she likes, and who did I find but you!”

He coughed. “Admittedly, I only checked about twenty ponies… so, what do you think?”

“I… umm...” the blue-white pegasus began. “...do I have to answer now?”

“That doesn't sound like a no to me,” Discord nodded smugly. “So let's move straight on to discussing what kind of animal you like!”

Mix-up blinked, and glanced around the room. “...why?”

“Well, Fluttershy could tell you about that, but I think she's still just a little bit embarrassed,” Discord hummed. “So why don't you answer the question, and I'll show you what I mean!”

“I, uh… I guess I like giraffes?” Mix-up suggested, totally lost now, and Discord pressed a paw to his mouth – kissing it – before blowing the kiss into the air.

“Magnifique!” he pronounced. “Such a wonderfully chaotic choice! Did you know they used to be known as camelopards?”

“I didn't know that,” Fluttershy said, glad to have a less embarrassing topic. “Why is that?”

“Well, they look like tall, spotty camels – to some, at least,” Discord shrugged, and reached back into Fluttershy's sock drawer. A set of four socks went flying out, then another set of four, and Discord withdrew his scaled hand with a flourish to wave his prize in the air.

It was a big yellow-and-brown thing, and both pegasi got just enough of a glimpse to see it was patterned like a giraffe before Discord stuffed it into the wardrobe.

“Ah ah ah!” he said, waving his finger at them. “Not until next time!”

“Next time what?” Mix-up asked. “You mean, um… this is going to happen more than once?”

“Not that kind of next time,” Discord answered, then smirked. “But you seemed ever so disappointed when I said that! You see, this is going to work out!”

Fluttershy squeaked.

“I… well, um...” Mix-up began, looking between the cupboard and the diapers. “I, um… I should really...”

“Hold on a moment, please, Fluttershy, dear,” Discord requested. “I've got a few words to say to our new friend here.”

He snagged the baffled stallion by a hoof, and pulled him into a conveniently placed china owl statue.

Fluttershy blinked at it. “I… don't have one of those...”

“Okay, mister,” Discord said, hands on his hips. “What's the big problem?”

“Problem?” Mix-up repeated. “I – what? You ponynapped me!”

“Foalnapped,” Discord corrected. “But that's not important right now. What is important is that Fluttershy's my friend, and I want to see her happy. And right now what will make her happy is having a pony to share this with. You like it, she likes it, and I know she's shy but what's your problem?”

“Well, um… it's really… embarrassing,” Mix-up replied. “It's… not something I ever thought I'd have a chance to...”

“And here's your chance!” Discord pointed out. “This is an all-expenses-paid return trip to That Place You've Always Wanted, and if it doesn't work out you can just leave and nopony will know!”

Mix-up was about to protest that Fluttershy would know, then thought about that a bit more. Even in Cloudsdale he knew something about the Elements of Harmony, and he certainly knew that Fluttershy was unlikely to gossip. Especially about something like this, which embarrassed her so much.

“I, uh,” he began, blushing. “I… guess?”

“Excellent!” Discord announced, hugging him again. “Now, let's head back out of here and get started!”

Chapter 2

Despite Discord's bombastic statement, neither pegasus was willing to get started straight away. The idea of actually getting started might have been tempting in the abstract, but once it was actually there in front of them it was several minutes of awkward shuffles and nervous coughs before Discord elbowed his first friend in the side – gently, of course.

“Okay, um… so...” Fluttershy began, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Right...”

She frowned slightly. “Oh – oh no, I just realized, I didn't get any powder! We'd better wait until I can get some from the shops-”

Discord put some down next to her. “There you go!”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said, quietly, as her reason to delay another day vanished. “So… can you lay down, please?”

Mix-up did so, and Fluttershy removed one of the diapers from the pack. She laid it out, then paused. “Are you all right?”

The stallion blushed. “Um… w-well, it's just kind of embarrassing that this is going on at all, and extra embarrassing because Discord is watching...”

“Say no more!” Discord declared, snapping his claws, and vanished. His voice drifted in from the front room, where they could also hear the clatter of cups. “I must say, this is good tea… a little cold, perhaps, but it makes a fine teasicle!”

Mix-up looked though the door, then shook his head slightly and lay back as Fluttershy applied the powder and taped the diaper in place.

“There we go,” she said. “That's the… that's one part, at least… I think you can get up now, I'll go and get that costume Discord hid in the wardrobe...”

As she did, Mix-up got back to his hooves. The diaper felt odd – the simple feeling of actually wearing one was just so strange after so long thinking about it – but it felt comfortable as well, soft, and surprisingly well done.

At least, as far as he could tell.

When Fluttershy came back with the costume a minute or so later, Mix-up took a long moment to stare at it.

It was… right now, it looked like a deflated stuffed toy, but a giant one. He couldn't quite see how he was supposed to get into it, or to get out again, but that was probably just because he wasn't looking close enough – he could certainly see the two plush sleeves on the back for his wings, to hold them comfortably away from his body without their presence ruining the look.

It was definitely a giraffe, like he'd said, with a yellow coat covered with big brown blotches and a mane made of pieces of brown plush material – sort of like an oversized version of a soft toy using strands of wool for the mane. It also looked quite thick, maybe an inch or so, and he flushed slightly as he spotted that the area around the diaper was extra-big… either because of extra padding or because it needed to fit his padding into it.

Fluttershy pulled down the zipper with a soft zrrrrip, revealing that it opened at the front, and stepped back a little. “Ah – that is… do you need help?”

Mix-up glanced at her, and saw a shy half-smile on her face. It wasn't the look of somepony who was trying to convince herself everything was all right… it was more the look of somepony who wasn't quite certain that everything she was seeing was real in the first place. Who'd been waiting for something like this for a long time.

“I'll see if I can get in myself?” he suggested. “Um… do I need to lie on top of it, or something?”

“I think you sort of… wiggle into it?” Fluttershy suggested, then looked worried. “But… that might make it hard to get your wings in the right place...”

Deciding to do what he could, Mix-up picked up the costume in his front hooves and sat down on his rump. The diaper he was wearing crinkled, making him smile nervously and flatten his ears slightly, and he wriggled a little before slipping one hoof into the leg of the suit.

That got the suit's main body twisted up a little, and he had to get up again – with another embarrassed flush – before Fluttershy trotted closer and started helping him by pulling the rear part of the giraffe suit up his other leg and getting it around his hindquarters.

Either Discord had been hiding some kind of clothes-making special talent or he'd cheated, because the suit was snug all over. Just stretchy enough to get into and to provide a little pressure, but tight enough to fit closely with the additional bulk of the diaper.

“You should be able to sit down again, now,” Fluttershy said, and Mix-up did so – looking over his shoulder so he could fit his wings into their sleeves, then pulling the front half of the outfit on like a jacket. The head came last, and it didn't quite line up with his head – unlike the rest, it had to leave his muzzle uncovered so he could see and talk, but there was still a pair of glass eyes and a plush nose at the tip – but it was close enough, and he was about to pull up the zip before discovering he couldn't with both forehooves covered in almost an inch of soft plush.

“Um… can you help me with that?” he asked, and Fluttershy pulled the zip up again. “Thanks...”

Now fully suited up, Mix-up shifted to get back upright again… but as soon as he did, he slowed down, wanting to enjoy the feeling of the soft material moving over his coat.

“Is… is it alright?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, it feels nice,” the stallion agreed. “And pretty soft, yeah...”

He was a little wobbly, feeling like he was on little stilts with the layer of plush worked into the shoes of the costume, but ultimately it did just feel like he was wearing a nice soft costume all-over.

“So, um...” Fluttershy began, at a loss for what to say now. “Should we, ah...”

“I… don't know what to do next,” Mix-up admitted. “I… guess I should ask what you want to do?”

“Oh, um… well, there is one thing...” Fluttershy said, her hoof scraping the floor. “Are… are you thirsty? I have some bottles I use to feed my animals, I could put some milk in one...”

“So, how's it going?” Discord asked, licking at a popsicle he'd apparently made out of a cup of Fluttershy's tea. “I hope you appreciate my crafts-draconequus-ship.”

“It's, um...” Fluttershy began, turning pink. “I'm… going to get some warm milk...”

“That sounds delightful,” Discord told her. “I'm so glad you're able to express yourself with someone who accepts you for who you really are!”

With a flourish, he created a pink cotton candy cloud. “And, speaking of which, this is one of my specialities! I can certainly help you out with some nice warm milk.”

Discord reached through the door of Fluttershy's cupboard, taking out one of the largest bottles she had, and turned the top inside out to make it a funnel. He took the cotton-candy-cloud in both claws and heated it over the stove, humming to himself as it passed back and forth over the ring, then squeezed it like a flannel to get a bottle-full of chocolate milk.

Placing the cap on top, he handed it to his friend with a flourish. “There you go!”

“Oh – thank you, Discord,” Fluttershy said, still blushing a little, and took it by the side with her mouth. It felt warm – not hot, not exactly, but warm enough to certainly qualify as “warm milk”.

“Not at all!” Discord replied with a smile, waving her to go back though to the other room. “I'll be here if you need me… well, I'll probably be somewhere else as well, but you know how it is.”

Back in the other room, Mix-up was doing his best to keep himself busy. Lost for what to do, he'd decided to just do what he would have done in his own home – spruce up the room a little, as carefully as possible.

He'd found a duster, and was dusting along the shelves with little sweeps of the fluffy stick – having a bit of trouble making it go in the right places, the suit giving him much more difficulty with walking sideways than he was used to. His wings weren't available either to give him that bit of extra stability, and after a bit of trying he sat down to get at the lower shelves.

That pressed his diaper against the floor with an audible crinkle, and he blushed a bit and wiggled back and forth to feel it more.

“I… got some milk,” Fluttershy said, and Mix-up jumped to his hooves – fast enough that he overbalanced, stumbling back a few steps, and nearly fell over before Fluttershy got in his way to support him.

“I, uh...” he mumbled, then paused a bit and relaxed – reminding himself that he hadn't been caught indulging in something he loved that he had to keep secret from anypony else.

Fluttershy knew what was going on, after all. He was – odd as the thought seemed with Discord in literally the next room – safe here.

“What were you doing?” Fluttershy asked, as Mix-up sank to the floor again and put the feather duster down.

“I just thought I should help out,” he explained. “I didn't have anything to do, so I thought I should do something to help, and there was a feather duster...”

“Don't worry,” Fluttershy told him, trotting back towards the table she'd put the milk down on. “I don't need you to do any cleaning or anything, really…”

As she picked up the bottle, Mix-up flushed slightly and nodded – leaning back against a cushion. Fluttershy offered him the bottle, and he took it in his plush-clad hooves… only for it to slip out and bounce off his barrel, sliding down to rest against the raised material over his diaper.

“Whoops,” Fluttershy said, picking it back up and passing it to him again – keeping a hoof on it this time, to make sure it wouldn't get dropped. “Do you want to try that again?”

The stallion nodded again. “Yeah, um… sorry...”

“That's okay,” Fluttershy assured him. “I understand you're all clumsy. Just let me help.”

Her ears were flat with embarrassment, but despite that she seemed to be enjoying what was going on, and Mix-up started to drink from the bottle – his eyes widening as he tasted the chocolate milk, which had a slightly spicy tang to it and was warmed to perfection.

For the next minute or so, he just drank – he'd been thirsty anyway, and this was a way of getting a drink which made him smile and shift about a little in comfort – as the warm milk rolled over his tongue and down his throat. Fluttershy smiled as well, relaxing a bit from her earlier nerves as everything went well, and when Mix-up finally reached the bottom of the bottle it was a surprise to them both.

“Thanks,” the stallion said, flushing a little as he thought about what he'd been doing. “Uh… have you done this before? That went...”

“N-no, I haven't,” Fluttershy said, stuttering a little. “That was… you think it went well?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Mix-up replied, shifting a little and feeling that plushiness all around him again. “I… haven't done it before either, so I don't know how well it can go, but that felt good… uh… are you sure?”

He pointed at the bottle, which had gone on the floor. “Because that's definitely-”

“No, it's not for that!” Fluttershy told him quickly. “I have it because I have animal friends I take care of! And – and I sometimes think about doing things like this, but I've never actually done it before! And… and...”

She sighed. “I… this always happens, I get too flustered...”

“Well, uh...” Mix-up began. “I… guess I don't mind if we kind of talk about what would work? Is that okay?”

The mare nodded gratefully, and Mix-up thought for a long moment.

“Well… um… this is going to be really embarrassing,” he said, as a warning. “And I'm… not really sure I'm actually going to be okay with all of them? But they're the things I thought about… um...”

Slouching down a bit so he was almost lying on his back, the yellow-and-brown plush suit almost surrounding him, he began tapping his hoof against the floor. “I… kind of like the idea of actually using the diapers, and… and of hypnosis, too, though I've never done anything like it...”

Fluttershy squeaked.

“Sorry, I guess that one's too much?” Mix-up asked, looking at her.

“W-well, no,” Fluttershy replied, blushing a lot. “I… it's just that… Discord used to hypnotize us, back when he wasn't very nice, but – but I never thought about doing it and this at the same time...”

She swallowed. “And… it does sound nice? Really nice… both of those things sound nice, and I just… started imagining if you were dressed up as a cute bunny and started to think like you were a cute bunny...”

Mix-up's muzzle went pink, and he shifted again – partly because of the idea, partly to feel the soft hug of the suit around him.

“I… y-yeah, that does sound fun,” he said. “But… um… I kind of think I should think a bit more about it? Just… just to make sure I do like it, or to get used to it...”

Fluttershy nodded a little. “O-okay… I… I don't know if I hope you'll say yes or not...”

The stallion laughed slightly. “Yeah, uh… it's kind of embarrassing just to think about!”

He waved a hoof around the room. “It's only because you're also into this that I'm even able to, uh… w-wait-”

Still unused to the extra bulk around his rump, Mix-up overbalanced a little and fell over. The sheer thickness of the plushy suit he was wearing absorbed almost all the impact of the fall, but it was still a surprise, and Fluttershy came hurrying over.

“Oh dear,” she said, wincing. “Um… are you okay?”

“I think so, yeah,” Mix-up replied, getting ready to get up, and Fluttershy put a hoof on his side.

“No, um, wait,” she said, blushing a bit again. “You might be hurt, so, um… don't get up until I say so… if that's alright?”

Mix-up nodded a little, relaxing, and blushed a bit himself. “Okay, I guess it's good to be safe...”

“That's right!” Fluttershy agreed, with a bit more confidence now. “So… you've already had plenty of fluids, that's good… I'll just get a pillow...”

True to her word, she was back before long with a fluffy pillow from her room. Mix-up lifted his head at her instructions so she could put it down for him, then sank back onto it with a smile.

“Thanks, that's a lot more comfortable,” he said. “So… I just need to lie down here?”

“Mostly,” Fluttershy told him. “But I need to see if there's any pain… just relax a bit, and tell me if anything hurts?”

She lay down at an angle to him, letting her shift his legs about, and tested the movement of them one at a time with slow, gentle movements. Doing a task so similar to checking on one of her animals helped her relax more, and while the flush didn't quite go away she got more confident as time went on.

For his part, Mix-up was blushing all the more and trying not to squirm. Something about the situation, perhaps the way that he looked a bit like one of her animal friends, made it so she was able to just whisper a steady litany of soothing comments like she would with a bear or a manticore instead of getting nervous like with most ponies, and being talked down to in such a plushy situation made him feel all bubbly inside.

At the same time, he felt wonderfully warm and snug, and that helped him relax. So much so that he had to stifle a yawn, then he wasn't able to, and slowly began to drift off to sleep…

Discord opened the door, saw what was going on, and paused.

“Aww,” he said quietly, smirking. “That's really quite sweet...”

Not only was the perhaps over-tired Mix-up asleep, snug in his giraffe costume, but Fluttershy had managed to drop off as well. She was slightly snuggled around the other pegasus, treating him a bit like a big soft toy, and Discord nodded to himself.

“Hmmm...” the chaotic being added. “I wonder how long it is since he had that big drink of milk… well, I'm sure that will sort itself out...”

Chapter 3

“Thank you ever so much for helping me with Harvey,” Fluttershy said. “Like I said, he is just a big softy once you get to know him, but it's ever so much easier to get him to take his medicine if he's distracted.”

Mix-up nodded slightly, remembering how tricky that had been.

“So, um… is there anything else to do?” he asked.

“I'm… I'm afraid there is,” Fluttershy told him. “I know we were going to do something else fun today, but we do need to make sure everything's been done first.”

Mix-up tried not to be too disappointed. It had been a few weeks since he'd been somewhat unceremoniously moved from Cloudsdale to near Ponyville by Discord, and they'd managed to find time for a play session every two or three days… neither he nor Fluttershy could really put the right word on what was going on, but by mutual agreement they'd decided they were not going to try to be 'special someponies'.

This was… something else, though 'friends' was a good way to describe it.

“So… what does need to be done?” he asked.

“Well… there's some cleaning to be done,” Fluttershy replied. “And… oh! I think Rarity said that that new costume should be done today!”

“Then I guess I'll be doing the cleaning,” Mix-up said, but Fluttershy shook her head. “Or… not?”

“I think you should pick up the costume,” Fluttershy told him. “It's for you anyway, and… well… you do live in Ponyville now as well.”

The stallion thought about that, then nodded. “I guess, yeah… okay, that makes sense.”

“Besides, I don't think Angel Bunny trusts you yet,” Fluttershy added. “He's ever such a silly bunny, but maybe he'll feel better about you in a few days.”

“That or he'll laugh at me,” Mix-up muttered. “All right, I'll do that… you already paid, right?”

“That's right, you should just need to show up and pick it up,” Fluttershy confirmed. “And, um… I hope it goes well!”

Once Mix-up was off out the door, flying to the Carousel Boutique – and probably going to get there faster than Fluttershy would have done – the Element of Kindness closed the door of her cottage, then let out a little sigh.

She had some cleaning to do, after all, and she got out the duster before fluttering around to clear off all the dust from her cabinets. It was relaxing work, but she'd been going for only a few minutes when there was a knocking at the door.

“Oh, I wonder who that might be...” she said, putting the duster down and going into her kitchen. “Angel, stop it! You're such a naughty bunny!”

Angel Bunny stuck his tongue out at her, and Fluttershy gave him a stern look. After a few seconds Angel huffed, and took the bucket of water down from where he'd been balancing it over the door.

“That's better,” Fluttershy told him, more approvingly now, and opened the door. “Hello, I – oh!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Gilda the Griffin said. “Can we just skip all that and get to why I'm here?”

“Well… that is… I don't know why you're here,” Fluttershy said. “And-”

She paused, then turned pale. “Oh, no...”

“What's wrong?” Gilda asked. “Look, if I'm not welcome-”

“No, it's not that,” Fluttershy replied. “I mean, that is… it's not you, but-”

“Then it should be fine,” Gilda said, moving forwards a little. “I've got something to say, but I'd rather not say it without having a drink, after flying so far...”

Fluttershy backed away a bit, reflexively, and looked over her shoulder. That let Gilda get further, and before long Fluttershy found herself standing in her kitchen with Gilda taking a seat across the table from her.

“Okay, so… look, this isn't exactly easy to say,” Gilda said, once she was in place. “You know about how Rainbow and Pinkie came to Griffinstone a while ago, right?”

Fluttershy nodded, a blush ever-so-slowly developing as she hoped that Gilda would say what she wanted to say, and then leave, without ever actually looking to her left.

“And… they helped me out,” Gilda explained. “And I chatted with them, and I got the idea that they'd forgiven me for all the… stuff,” she waved her talons about vaguely. “From last time I was in Ponyville. And that was nice to know, but I kind of realized that I hadn't said sorry to you.”

“I forgive you, don't worry,” Fluttershy said quickly.

“Yeah, but I still want to do this properly,” Gilda explained. “And it isn't easy, so… Fluttershy, I'm sorry for what I did. For scaring you, and… and...”

Her voice trailed off.

“Okay, what the buck is that!?”

Fluttershy squeaked and hid under the table.

Ignoring her, Gilda got up and tilted her head to look into the other room. “That looks like some kind of costume...”

“I-accept-your-apology-thank-you,” Fluttershy said, eyes closed, hoping that she could pretend this wasn't really happening if she paid it a small enough amount of attention.

Stalking closer, Gilda picked up the costume and moved it around. “So… this is definitely a costume, but it's big enough for a full-grown pony. And it's kind of a fox, and… wait, what the-”

Gilda started laughing. “Oh, wow! This has a diaper in it! Heh, I wouldn't have guessed you were into – wow, Dash is going to love hearing about this!”

“Au contraire,” Discord said, appearing out of Gilda's ear.

The griffin jumped. “W-whaa? Where did you – but – what?”

“Oh, it's been a while since I got that kind of reaction,” Discord announced smugly. “But, well, to get to the main issue here, Gilda… do you really want to go and tell Rainbow Dash about this?”

“W-well, um...” Gilda replied, sounding a lot less sure of herself.

“I thought you'd learned your lesson,” the chaotic entity said, lying down across the sofa with his hand flung in the air. “Friendship, harmony… not making fun of people you're trying to apologize to...”

“But… come on, you're supposed to be the god of chaos!” Gilda protested. “How come this isn't funny to you?”

“Oh, it is,” Discord replied. “But it's funny in a way which you don't seem to understand… it's funny because it's enjoyable, and sweet. And because it's such a rare ability to enjoy that sort of thing – and, by the way, Fluttershy isn't the one who wears it.”

“She's not?” Gilda blinked, then looked back at Fluttershy – blushing hard and still curled up under her table. “Yeah, I guess I can see that… it does look a bit small for her, now I really look at it.”

“It'd be perfectly sized for you, though,” Discord pointed out. “Well, you'd need a couple of gloves on so you don't rip it, but-”

“Excuse me?” Gilda countered, her wings flaring out and her talons flexing. “What makes you think I'd wear it?”

“Well, I don't think you'd be such a scaredy-griff as to dismiss something like this without even trying it,” Discord replied. “Or are you?”

“Don't be – of course I'm not scaredy!” Gilda replied. “But-”

“Then you will be wearing it? Splendid,” Discord smiled. “In fact, now I think of it, having an afternoon with her would be a perfect way to show Fluttershy how much you really are sorry for what happened before! Don't you think so?”

“Er...” Gilda said, now completely confused. “I, um… guess?”

Then she shook her head. “Wait, no, I...”

She paused, spotting Fluttershy again. The pegasus was still under the table, but now she looked… interested, even hopeful.

Gilda wavered.

“...look, can you guarantee nopony who isn't involved finds out about this?” she asked. “'cause this is going to be really embarrassing anyway, but I guess I deserve something...”

“I can do you one better than that, my fine hen,” Discord said, booping her on the beak. “Or will it be vixen? Either way, I can guarantee that you'll enjoy it… at least, while you're taking part.”

He shrugged. “But that's something to think about. For now, I think you have a costume to get ready for...”

The bell jangled in Carousel Boutique.

“Oh, welcome to Carousel Boutique!” Rarity said, beaming as she swept into the room. “Where everything is – oh, hello there!”

She gave Mix-up a knowing nod. “It's wonderful to see you again, darling! Though I notice Fluttershy isn't here?”

“No, she sent me to pick up the commission,” Mix-up explained, looking around him at the clothes on display – blushing ever so slightly at the sight of some of the frilliest ones, though Rarity didn't notice.

“She did, did she?” Rarity asked. “Well! I suppose that answers the question as to whether you're going to stick around. I know Pinkie Pie welcomed you to Ponyville last week, but she does that with everypony even if they're only in town for the afternoon.”

Mix-up nodded, remembering the party in question. It had been quite nice, though after a while he'd felt a bit overwhelmed with so many ponies around.

“So, you've sorted out your own house?” she asked, trotting into the back room to find the carefully packaged outfit. “Or are you staying somewhere?”

“Well, I'm just staying with Fluttershy,” the pegasus replied. “Why, is that a problem?”

“Oh, no, of course not, not a problem at all!” Rarity assured him. “It's good to see that Fluttershy has such a close friend who she can relax with – between you and me I was beginning to despair as to whether she'd ever find somepony.”

The white-coated unicorn sighed. “Though I suppose this does mean that she's actually the first of us to settle down...”

Not really following where Rarity was going with that, Mix-up waited until she brought out the new outfit before balancing it somewhat awkwardly – using the saddlebags as a basis for supporting it, though he couldn't fit it in either or both of them.

“Maybe I should have brought a cart,” he said, frowning a little.

“Perhaps,” Rarity agreed. “Hmm, I'll have to think about that in future – but do let me know if you have any future costume ideas, darling! Your hobby gives me so much to think about – and, of course, I'm completely discreet as well as chic and elite!”

“Is this stuff really necessary?” Gilda grumped. “I mean… really?”

“Oh, yes, I'm afraid so,” Fluttershy told her, checking the mittens were on right. “Normally they're, um, just if the pony likes it – but you have sharp claws, so I need to make sure the suit doesn't get damaged. Discord mentioned it, remember?”

“Yeah, of course I remember!” Gilda replied. “I just… this is really embarrassing...”

She looked back at the diaper she was wearing, already remembering how Fluttershy had earnestly explained that the suit was designed and made with diapers in mind so she'd need to wear one or it wouldn't fit.

“Kind of wish it wasn't even close to fitting,” she added in a mumble. “Then I could not do it.”

“You might enjoy it,” Fluttershy suggested softly. “Okay, that looks good...”

She trotted over to pick up the fox suit, and Discord caught Gilda's eye.

“Well?” he asked, turning his hand like a crank.

“Well what?” Gilda replied. “I don't think even you would laugh at me after basically strong-arming me into this.”

Discord kept turning his hand, and a bucket rose out of the floor. “Well,” he explained.

Lifting it to the table, he fished around inside for a moment before nodding to himself. “And that offer's still open, you know...”

Gilda's beak worked soundlessly for a moment, then she sighed. “All right, I guess I'm not going to get out of this easily…”

“Excellent!” Discord said, pulling a set of headphones from the bucket. “That's another one off your bucket list.”

“...I don't get that, but I know it was a pun and I don't like it,” Gilda informed him icily.

Discord shrugged, then put the headphones over Gilda's ears.

“How do they sound?” he asked.

“I… that's really odd, actually,” Gilda admitted, reaching up and feeling them as best she could with her mitten. “I can barely tell they're there, and I can hear the stuff you're saying, there's just this kind of hissing noise...”

Fluttershy brought the orange-and-white fox suit over, and began helping Gilda to get into it. Unlike the giraffe costume Discord had made for her weeks before, this one zipped up at the back, and it was much easier for Gilda to wear – she just had to step into each of the four snug legs, one at a time, and wait with a blush while Fluttershy tightened the cuffs slightly to hold her feet in place.

“Mm-hmm,” Fluttershy muttered to herself. “That's the feet… and the tail, um, hold still please...”

Getting Gilda's tail in her hooves, she threaded it into the big plushy fox tail – though the size difference made it pretty clear that it wasn't going to be doing much waving, unless Gilda was really trying or was bouncing around in some other way.

Putting Gilda's wings in the little sleeves for them took another minute or so – the suit had been made for Mix-up, but she was about the same size so it all fit nicely – and then there was just the head left to do.

“Um… ready?” Fluttershy checked.

Gilda nodded, seeming a lot more relaxed now. “Yep.”

“Oh, well, I'm glad you're a bit happier with this now,” Fluttershy murmured, and helped Gilda put the fox-head on. The griffin was still visible, sort of, but once Fluttershy had done the zip up the only real clue that showed up at first was the beak poking out through the fox muzzle – unlike the first suit, this one put the wearer's eyes where the eyes of the animal would be, and just about everything was fuzzy plushy orange or white paws and tail-tip instead of Gilda's natural colours.

“All right, so… I hope that's comfy,” Fluttershy said, checking everything over once again, then stepped back a little. “Oh, that looks so cute!”

Gilda tilted her head a little, looking back at herself as best she could do with the fox-head on, then reached up with a paw and patted the bits of herself she could reach. She huffed out a sigh, then wiggled herself back and forth a little before starting to really test out the full range of motion the suit was giving her.

The undoubted bulk at the back weighed her down a little, making it much easier to sit down than to get up again, and she crinkled a lot when she did sit down – then lay down, and rolled over. Fluttershy eeped as Gilda nearly knocked over a table, and flew over to get it out of the way as Gilda straightened up again and stretched.

“Are you sure it's okay?” Fluttershy asked. “You haven't said anything...”

“Yip!” Gilda replied, then her eyes widened. “I, uh… I meant yep, but… w-wow, that just slipped out...”

Her big plushy fox-tail twitched a little, left and then right. “I mean, I guess it's comfy, and… and, heh, easy to relax in...”

After a moment contemplating that, she tilted her head. “So, um… what kind of stuff do you normally do when – when whoever-it-is wears this?”

“Oh, just… relax, play a bit...” Fluttershy said, her eyes going down slightly as she fidgeted. “Maybe try a bottle… though I suppose with a fox we could try something like fetch? I know that's more dogs, but...”

“That sounds pretty fun,” Gilda replied. “Doing a fox thing, I mean… yip...”

She didn't seem to catch her involuntary yap that time, and Fluttershy decided to just get something to play with – rummaging around for a long moment in her supply cupboard, then bringing out a little cat-tail on a string.

The moment she saw it, Gilda's eyes lit up. She wiggled her rump a little, making her tail sway back and forth, then padded forwards and began pawing at it – acting perhaps a bit more like a cat than a fox, but Fluttershy giggled and pulled the toy up out of her reach before flicking it to the other side of the room.

In the kitchen, Discord took his binoculars away from the wall.

“Am I good or am I good?” he asked, rhetorically. “Well, I suppose they're different kinds of good, and I'm definitely the second.”

“Oh, hey!” Rainbow Dash said, dropping down to hover just in front of Mix-up. “You're that stallion who moved in with Fluttershy, right?”

“Yeah, that's me,” the pinto agreed, and halted in his flight as Dash began inspecting him – flying circles all around him, before poking at his saddlebags. The resultant squishy resistance seemed to confuse her, and she shrugged it off after a moment's thought – not catching Mix-up's quickly suppressed blush.

“Well, I guess you seem okay to me,” Rainbow judged. “But be warned, mister! We've had quite enough experience with secret villains who want to take over Ponyville, or Equestria, or the world! So the first time I catch you sneakily working your influence then I'll kick your flank hard enough they'll have to set up a trampoline next week to catch you when you land!”

Mix-up blinked.

“...okay?” he tried. “Sorry, I've got some shopping to get home...”

Dash stared him down for a long moment, then chuckled. “Okay, yeah, I get the idea. I don't want to have to learn another friendship lesson about not being a jerk.”

The stallion watched as she flew off.

“...that was unusual.”

“...how are you feeling?”

Gilda blinked a few times, tilting her head, then raised a paw to just over one eye. “I, huh… wow, whatever that Discord guy did is really kind of powerful...”

She sat down on her rump, wiggling a bit, and blushed at the sensations – not nearly as embarrassed as she'd been when she started. “It's kind of… well, when you're talking to me, I can concentrate just a bit and think about it pretty much normally. But when I'm not concentrating, it's just easier to… relax?”

She shrugged, which turned into a vulpine stretch – rising to all fours, then first stretching with her rump in the air before rising up on her forelegs and shaking her body out. “And, heh, kind of… think foxy? Or… hard to describe...”

Gilda frowned, thinking about how she should describe it, and the gentle nearly-inaudible hissing filled her ears. She raised a paw, batting at Fluttershy, and the pegasus giggled.

“Oh, wow… someone's playful!” she said, then leaned down a bit. “Um… are you thirsty?”

The griffin under all the plushy fox-suit-ness could have answered with words, with a simple 'yes'. But it seemed like it would be boring to do it that way, so she wagged her butt back and forth to make her tail wag before loping a step closer and licking Fluttershy's cheek.

The butterscotch mare flailed, giggling again, and Gilda licked a second time before nodding her agreement. “Yip!”

“Wow, that really does work fast,” Fluttershy said, her cheeks pinking slightly. “Okay, um… I'll be a minute or so doing that, so… do you think you can sit?”

Sit? That sounded like a fox thing to Gilda, so she promptly sat down with her hindpaws just in front of her diaper – the two pressing together with a plushy softness – and her forepaws in front of those.

Fluttershy smiled again, and went to go and get a bottle of milk.

While she was gone, Gilda idled a little, and sank further into that easy, vaguely-fuzzy foxy mindset.

It was still kind of an embarrassing thing, being dressed like a silly plushy fox with such a big diaper, but it was much easier to just relax and kind of push that off to the side for a bit. It was more relaxing than she'd done in a long time, actually, without the pressures of Griffinstone to prey on her mind, and even the embarrassment kind of added a little thrill to it. Maybe she'd have been too mortified to enjoy it, without that comforting buzz in her ears, but with it there…

Well, with it there her main concentration slipped away from anything else and onto important things. Like whether she should keep sitting the whole time that Fluttershy was gone, or try something a bit more… cunning.

As soon as she thought that word, Gilda rose out of her sitting posture. Moving as smoothly as possible, trying not to crinkle, she prowled behind the sofa to a position that was out of sight from a pony coming in from the kitchen door.

Then she crouched, rump wiggling almost silently.

“I'm done,” Fluttershy announced, trotting back in with the bottle held sideways in her mouth. “I – Gilda?”

She looked one way, then the other, and when she was looking away Gilda pounced with a happy yip! She landed on top of Fluttershy with a cushioned flumph, the suit so thick it absorbed a lot of the impact, and Fluttershy squeaked as she got pounce-flattened until she ended up halfway underneath Gilda's foxy plushy bulk.

“H-hey!” Fluttershy said, after her initial panic reaction had calmed down. “T-that's a very naughty fox, bad Gilda!”

Gilda didn't feel too bad about it, Fluttershy's tone of voice was laughing rather than angry, and that was the important thing. She licked Fluttershy again, making her giggle all the more, and after a long moment the pegasus managed to gasp something out.

“You'd better be a good fox if you want your bottle!”

That was a threat Gilda understood, and she sat back to let Fluttershy get up. The bottle had actually bounced most of the way across the room, and she could have reached it before Fluttershy did, but that might be a bit too tricky and naughty.

This time, anyway.

Flaring his wings, Mix-up came down to a slightly unsteady landing outside Fluttershy's house.

It was definitely Fluttershy's house, not his, even though he was staying in the spare room for now – that was something he was sure about, and he'd been giving some thought to making himself a cloud mansion of his own.

It would even let him show off his skill at doing design with clouds, which would be nice – but he was daydreaming a bit, so he shook his head with a chuckle.

“Oh, Mix-up, my fine feathered fellow!” Discord waved, sticking his head out the chimney and his arm out the postbox.

“Hi,” the pegasus replied, a little bit apprehensive, and trotted up to open the door. When he did, Discord pulled his neck back in, and as Mix-up entered the kitchen he blinked.

“Um… where did you go?” he asked.

“Don't mind me,” Discord buzzed, next to his ear. “I'm just a fly on the wall.”

“Oh, hello,” Fluttershy said. “I… hope you don't mind, but a visitor arrived. Not Discord, someone else… and, well, I'm not quite sure why, but...”

Mix-up did a double-take at the sight of a griffin poking her head around the doorframe – firstly because she was wearing a costume he recognized, as he'd been the one to wear it first, and secondly because her eyes were kind of unfocused.

“I didn't realize you had any other friends who were into this,” he said. “And, um, what's up with her eyes?”

“That… that's because of something Discord did, to make her more comfortable with it,” Fluttershy supplied. “It's… some headphones, I think? And they make it so – hey, stop it!”

The griffin sniffed her side, and Fluttershy flapped a wing to make her move back a little. “They, um, they make it so it's easy for her to relax and kind of… think fox? I think that's what she said about it...”

Mix-up swallowed.

“That… sounds pretty good, actually,” he said. “So… so do you have any more of those? B-because I've got the new costume with me, and...”

Fluttershy looked at the saddlebags, then at the fox-suited griffin, who sat down on her rump with a crinkly noise.

“I… I think you'd have to ask Discord,” she said. “But that does sound cute...”

Chapter 4

"Fwoosh,” Discord said, making a cupping gesture with his hands and conjuring a pair of headphones out of thin air. “There you go, one pair of Discord-branded headpones.”

He paused, expectantly, then shrugged. “Well, it works better when it's written down. Anyway, here you go, don't put them on until you're nearly done getting suited up.”

Mix-up took them, and had a moment of trouble trying to juggle them and the suit at once before putting them both down on the floor.

“Um… isn't it going to be easy to mix them up?” Fluttershy asked. “When they're taken off again, I mean...”

“Oh, just label them or something,” Discord advised. “Or don't. Could be fun trying to work out which is which.”

“Right, so… can you give us a moment?” Fluttershy requested. “I'm afraid Gilda might get bored without someone to keep her occupied, and… and I need to get Mix-up all diapered up and in his costume...”

“You can count on me!” Discord assured her, putting his arm around her and flaunting his tail – which now had a set of numbers crudely painted on it, from one to eleven. “I'll keep her busy, don't you worry!”

“R-right,” Fluttershy smiled, a little shyly. “Thank you, Discord… I think we'd better go into the spare room...”

She picked up some of the supplies, still out from getting Gilda into her own costume, and herded Mix-up into the room in question. Discord waited until the door shut, then gave Gilda a poke on the nose.

“All right, time to be a big griffin for a bit,” he said, and Gilda blinked a few times – frowning, then shaking her head slightly as the haze faded away. “You've been doing that for about an hour now, so… what do you think?”

“I, huh… whoo, that's easy to just fall into,” Gilda said, flushing a bright red under her feathers – not that most of it could be seen, through the plushy fox muzzle, but Discord knew anyway. “And, well, uh… it's really embarrassing, but… I wouldn't mind if I kept going a bit longer...”

“You've had at least one whole bottle to drink,” Discord pointed out, a lazy smirk on his face. “If you keep it up all that much longer, then using those diapers is going to happen sooner or later. Are you sure you're ready for that?”

“W-wha?” Gilda replied, shaking her head emphatically. “No, I'm not – I didn't think about...”

She trailed off under Discord's gaze, and fidgeted slightly. “I… I'm not fooling you, am I?”

“Oh, no, you had me totally fooled,” Discord replied, with a wink. “But if you like not being in control, well…”

He smirked, enjoying Gilda's embarrassment, then tilted his head. “Anyway, that's quite enough talking for now. I think it's time for the vixen to take over again.”

“I, well...” Gilda began, blinking again, and wiggled her rump. She turned, looking at the white tip of her fox-suit's tail, and pulled it around to inspect it more closely – compressing the suit's plush in places as she bent her body, giving it a comical look.

“Is that interesting?” Discord asked her. “Does it seem like something it'd be fun to… I don't know, chase, perhaps?”

Gilda wasn't sure if tail-chasing was a fox thing, but it sounded like it would be fun – so she started doing just that, her big clumsy fox-paws squishing on the floor as she tried following her tail around in a circle.

“Okay, that's you diapered up,” Fluttershy said, patting the tape slightly, and Mix-up's muzzle went a little pink as he looked down at the thick diaper. “Now, let's see…”

She unfolded the white-and-cream bunny costume, with a contented smile – not very large, maybe not something she could even notice, but something that showed she was comfortable – and compared it to the saddlebags it had fit in.

“It's kind of impressive it even fit,” Mix-up said, noticing where she was looking. “It's… kind of big...”

“Yes, it is,” Fluttershy agreed. “I… I think it's something about the plush layers being springy, so Rarity could squash the air out of them.”

She reached into the tuft of plushy white fur at the back of the neck, and unzipped it to reveal the insides – lined with soft silky material over the plush, to make it as comfortable as possible to wear. It wasn't the first time Mix-up had worn one of the suits to Rarity's design, and he rolled upright as Fluttershy finished zipping it open – stepping into it with his forelegs first, then his hindlegs, and wiggling a little to feel the plushy softness as Fluttershy pulled it up over his diaper.

The rump of the bunny costume was even bigger than the fox one had been, to give the right shape, and it felt like it would be kind of hard to stand up on all fours for long – making it easier to sit down most of the time, which did sound a lot like the kind of thing a real bunny would do.

Mix-up's wings went in easily enough, and he was about to duck his head into the bunny-head of the costume when Fluttershy coughed slightly. She pointed at the headphones, currently waiting on a chair, and Mix-up blushed – realizing he was enjoying putting the suit on so much he'd forgotten about the thing Discord had given them in the first place.

Taking the headphones as Fluttershy suggested, Mix-up tried to put them on – but his big plushy bunny paw was far too clumsy, and he dropped them twice before Fluttershy took them and fitted them on with a gentle smile.

They just sounded kind of hissy, not like Mix-up really imagined hypnosis to be, but he still shifted a bit from one foot to another – looking down at the big long clumsy hind-paws he'd been given which just made it a bit harder to take care of himself in the suit – before Fluttershy helped him put the head on.

Like the fox-suit they'd got from Rarity before – which had also meant a very embarrassing measurement session, as he'd had to be measured with a diaper on – the new bunny suit covered him almost from muzzle to tail-tip while still letting him see and breathe. He could eat, as well, the bunny-mouth opening onto his own, and to his surprise the headphones actually made it easier to hear for… some reason related to Discord, probably.

“How does that feel?” Fluttershy asked, fussing a little with the ruff of faux-fur which covered the zip tab, and Mix-up sat down and raised a paw.

He nodded, the black-tipped bunny-ears of the suit bouncing, and Fluttershy stepped back with a smile.

“Awww, that's cute!” she said, giving him a quick hug, and he jumped slightly before relaxing into the hug. “I know you're going to be a bit nervous about playing with someone else, but you'll be fine. Okay?”

Mix-up nodded again, a little apprehensively, then watched as Fluttershy went over to the door. When she was close, he followed her – getting up on all fours and hopping forwards, then sinking back down on his haunches again to wait until the next movement.

It just felt so… natural… to move that way, and he had the feeling it looked cute too! That made it an easy choice, and he hopped again to follow Fluttershy as she let them back into the rest of her cottage.

“I – oh, dear...” Fluttershy sighed, seeing Gilda – and that Angel Bunny had tied her fox-tail to the door, somehow. “Angel, that's very naughty, she's a guest!”

Angel made a rude gesture with a carrot, and Fluttershy put her hoof over Mix-up's eyes.

“That's not how a nice bunny behaves at all!” she admonished him. “Now, go to your hutch and think about what you've done!”

Angel stomped off, and Gilda whined a little and wagged her rump to emphasize the tail. She put a paw up to beg, tilting her head at Fluttershy, who untied the knot for her.

The moment she was free, Gilda pounced on Fluttershy and gave her a lick – then turned her attention to Mix-up, her eyes lighting up at the sight.

Giggling a little at the plushy paw-bats, Fluttershy got up and hummed slightly. “Is anyone thirsty? I know Mix-up might be because he was out...”

Gilda nodded, and Mix-up made a slightly squeaky noise before nodding as well – vaguely nervous about the way Gilda was looking at him.

He knew bunnies had to be scared of foxes, and she was looking at him in a very vulpine way…

“Well, then, I'll warm up two bottles,” Fluttershy decided. “And I'll get out some carrot as well. You two just go and wait in the next room.”

When Mix-up and Gilda got into the living room, the plush-suited pegasus saw that there were piles of cushions and blankets strewn across the floor. Some of them looked familiar, from the spare room, but it looked like Fluttershy had just brought everything in to make it a nicer place to play.

“Heheh,” Gilda laughed, and Mix-up looked over – seeing the fox-suited griffin smirking at him. “That looks pretty, well… tasty?”

Mix-up blushed, and a moment later Gilda did as well. “I, I didn't mean that way, uh...”

She sat down with a crinkly thump, wiggling it back and forth a little. “Uh, well, I could try and blame the headphones, but… yeah, I just said something embarrassing, I guess.”

After a moment of tilting his head at her, Mix-up remembered he should be speaking if it was a conversation – something which he realized he'd forgotten. “Right, um… they are kind of powerful, I guess… I could understand that...”

The two of them stared awkwardly for a moment, then Gilda spoke up. “So, uh… when did, all this, start?”

She indicated the plushy suit she was wearing, then the one Mix-up was wearing, and the pegasus sat back as well – bringing one paw up to the side of his head, using it to focus on the conversation. “Well, I guess it was a few weeks ago,” he said. “Discord found out about how Fluttershy likes this sort of thing, and he basically pony-napped me from a shop… uh, how come you're wearing one, then?”

“I… made fun of it when I found this suit,” Gilda replied, looking down. “And, well, Discord pointed out how that was really impolite of me, and… it just sort of happened.”

She half-raised a paw, then lowered it. “So, I guess this one was made for you, then? As well? Does… does it get any easier to walk in it?”

“Not really, no,” Mix-up told her. “It's, um… really embarrassing, but you do sort of get used to it if that's what you mean.”

Gilda nodded, then put both forepaws over her cheeks – staying in place thanks to her sitting position and the bulk she was wearing. “I, uhhh… this is so embarrassing to talk about… it's okay when I'm not thinking, but...”

The idea of just going along with it without thinking much about it was tempting to Mix-up as well, and the steady hiss in his ears reminded him that it was an option… he squirmed back and forth a little, and swallowed. “So, uh… what kind of thing should we...”

“Rrrf if I know,” Gilda said, then blinked at the vulpine sound that she'd made without thinking. “I, um, I mean… well, d-do you have any ideas?”

She stuck her tongue out. “That's if you can think of anything that's not just eating carrots, of course!”

“Hey, carrots would be nice,” Mix-up replied, fidgeting, and twitching his head back and forth so his springy ears rocked. “But, I don't know, um… I guess maybe hide and seek?”

“Oh, yeah, that sounds good,” Gilda said, sounding very interested. “So I guess how that works is… I hide, you don't find me, then it's my turn to seek?”

“Hey, I could find you,” Mix-up protested. “And – and if you can hide easily, then couldn't I hide easily too?”

“This isn't about the suits, this is about skill,” Gilda told him, sticking her tongue out – bouncing on her paws, raising a continual little crinkly sound as she wagged back and forth. “I'm not going to go easy on you! Okay, go!”

“Wait, uh-” Mix-up began, as Gilda loped out of sight, then frowned. “Right, so… just need to look...”

He began hopping around slowly, looking back and forth and feeling his springy costume-ears bouncing back and forth on his head.

After such a long conversation, though, the feeling of wanting to be bunny that had built up was all coming back at once… he was still trying to see if he could find where Gilda was, but that was changing from wanting to win to wanting to know where she might creep up on him from.

Peeking around the back of a chair, Mix-up saw no sign of Gilda – no orange plushy suit, or big silly paws…

Gilda rolled onto her back, crinkling a little, then continued the roll and went back upright again – nearly thumping into an end table, so she moved a little away from it to make sure she wouldn't again.

“Hee, looks like the bunny doesn't know where to find me!” she called, padding along the back of the sofa. Her ears were pricked up, keeping track of where the bunny was going, and as he got closer she just waddled away so they had something between them all the time.

It was really easy, and before long Gilda was being a bit more daring – moving carefully to avoid making any noise, poking her head over the back of the sofa to see how Mix-up was moving or following him closely enough to keep track of his big butt and the silly little white tuft of his tail.

Once he turned around, hearing something suspicious, but it took him so long that Gilda was able to hide out of sight – though it was quite hard for her to avoid giggling.

All the time, she was changing her mind a little – thinking about how foxes and bunnies should interact.

After all, it wasn't like a fox warned a bunny when she started hunting him…

Mix-up looked around nervously, and poked at the big pile of blankets in front of him. It moved a little, and he decided to look more closely – burrowing into the blankets with a wiggle, using his paws to push the soft cushions and blankets aside, to see if Gilda was hiding in there.

He paused for a long moment once he was in, thinking how nice it would be to just stay in his burrow, then dug his way out again.

A crinkling sound caught his attention.

Mix-up looked over, seeing Gilda crouching down a little and wiggling her butt in the air.

He froze for a moment, then tried to run away, and Gilda bowled him over with a pounce – pushing him into one of the piles of cushions, and rolling him over on his back.

Licking her lips theatrically, Gilda approached the helpless 'bunny' and nibbled on his paw... then withdrew a bit, letting him wiggle back and forth and finally roll back onto his feet.

No sooner was he upright than Gilda waddled off – quicker than Mix-up could follow, even if he wanted to – and hid behind the sofa, where Mix-up lost sight of her.

The pegasus frowned for a moment, wondering what he should do, and the hissing in his ears quietly soothed him into the right way of thinking – turning it from a question of what he should do to what a bunny would do.

And, to his fuzzy mind, that was – hop around a bit, looking around in case there was any risk of being pounced… so he took a hop forwards, then another.

There wasn't any sign of the fox, and he paused – tilting his head, the ears of the suit swaying back and forth a bit as he tried to listen instead.

There was a crinkly rustling sound, and Mix-up yelped – starting to hop away from the approaching vixen as she waddled after him with a determined gait, then tripping over and ending up in a heap.

Gilda put her paw on top of his tummy, then pushed down lightly. Mix-up squeaked in response, and Gilda looked suddenly very interested before pushing again and getting another squeak.

“Oh, um, I've got the milk,” Fluttershy said, coming in a minute or two later, and paused before smiling.

Gilda was using both her padded forepaws to squish down on Mix-up's tummy, and the bunny-fied pegasus was alternately squeaking and laughing – finding the whole thing enormously ticklish.

After one final push, which reduced Mix-up to giggling, Gilda relinquished her new toy and turned to waddle over to Fluttershy – sitting down and raising a paw to beg, then taking the bottle as Fluttershy gave it to her.

The butter-scotch pegasus patted her on the head. “There you go! Don't drink it too fast, you might get hiccups!”

Gilda nodded, and rolled over on her back. The movement made her lose her grip on the bottle, and Fluttershy put it back in her paws before moving on to Mix-up as he finally managed to stop giggling.

“And how are you feeling today?” she asked, taking the plate down from her back. Mix-up squeaked a little, then blinked, and was about to try to speak – but Fluttershy held up a nicely-cut carrot baton. “I've made you some batons, because I know little bunnies can't eat full-size carrots yet.”

Mix-up blushed, wiggling about a little, and Fluttershy paused to fasten a bib around the neck of his suit. It took a bit of work, because the suit's neck was so big and plushy, but the strings were very long so she got it done eventually.

That done, she fed him the baton. It was small enough that he could eat it in one go, and she gave him another one – then a third a moment later.

Every time Mix-up got one of the deliciously crisp carrot batons, he ate it straight away, but then was content to just wait for the next one. It was calming, relaxing, just lying there and not having to do anything else, and he yawned a little – lulled piece by piece into a placated state of mind.

Fluttershy had made a lot of the little nibbles, having cut up a large carrot for them, and they slipped into a kind of routine which lasted until Gilda started nosing Fluttershy in the side.

“Hey,” Fluttershy said, smiling. “What's up?”

Gilda sat down, raising a paw to beg.

“Oh, are you still hungry?” Fluttershy tried, and got a head-shake. “Okay, um… bored, maybe?”

That earned her an enthusiastic nod, and Gilda got back up on all fours and wiggled her diapered tush – cocking her head a little to emphasize the point.

“Oh, okay,” Fluttershy said, and turned her attention back to Mix-up. “Um, I'll be back in a moment...”

She stood, leaving the last few carrots on the plate behind, and trotted over to the nearest set of drawers. Opening the top one, she took out a ball and shook it – making it produce a little dingle noise from the bell inside.

“Here you are!” she said, rolling the ball along the floor, and Gilda chased after it eagerly – batting it about with her paws to make it dingle dingle dingle along the floor, and following it around or occasionally digging it out when it got stuck in a pile of cushions.

Smiling faintly, Fluttershy sat back down with Mix-up and helped him with the bottle of milk. “There you go, sweetie… those clumsy paws can't hold the milk by themselves, can they?”

Gilda batted the ball to her left, following it intently as it jingled and bounced off the wall, then hit it a second time to make it move a little faster. She crouched and pounced on it, almost managing to catch it but letting it slip out of her paws, and smirked before lolloping after it to catch it again.

She nearly bumped into Fluttershy as she went sliding around a corner, and yipped in triumph as she finally managed to put one paw on top of the jingly ball. It let out one last dingle, then went silent, and Gilda picked it up in her mouth and sat down proudly.

That drew her attention to something she'd been ignoring up to now, her bladder, and she grimaced suddenly – the pressure making her lose some of the fuzzy foxy headspace she'd been in, making her feel less comfortable despite the soothing hiss of the headphones.

“Oh, um, is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked.

Gilda was still a bit out of it, and she whined – blushing, and trying to squeeze her legs together in a way which made the big diaper hiding underneath crinkle.

“Aww, poor thing,” Fluttershy said, giving Gilda a gentle hug. “It's okay, sweetie… you don't need to feel bad about it, you can just relax. Don't think about it...”

Her continual soothing commentary helped lull Gilda, drawing her attention away from the things which made her uncomfortable, and she slowly started to relax the pressure she was keeping on her legs.

“Little vixens don't need to think about that sort of thing,” Fluttershy went on, speaking more for the tone of voice than the words – treating Gilda just like she would one of her animals who needed to be calmed down, and with as much success. “It's all right...”

Gilda's legs went a little wobbly all of a sudden, and she sat down abruptly on her rump. The movement made her whine in embarrassment, and she put her paws over her muzzle to hide herself as she wet her diaper.

“That feels better, doesn't it?” Fluttershy asked, still in the same tone. “It feels good to, um, let it out?”

The fox-suited griffin stayed in that posture for several more seconds, then slowly pulled her paws away from her eyes and looked up.

“I, uh… t-that was really embarrassing,” she said, her face burning.

“That's okay,” Fluttershy assured her. “If you want I can give you a change now, or you can wait until later, or if you'd prefer we can end here. Just tell me which you want.”

“W-well, uh...” Gilda began, not looking Fluttershy in the eye. “I, um… t-these won't leak or anything, will they?”

“No, they're very thick,” Fluttershy assured her.

“Then...” the griffin went on, slowly, like she was thinking very hard. “I, um… what would a vixen say about that question?”

Fluttershy booped Gilda on the nose – the nose of the suit, rather than her beak, but it had the right effect anyway. “A vixen wouldn't answer the question at all, because they'd be too busy playing around.”

Gilda considered that answer, nodding absently to herself. Her legs tensed a little, lifting her diapered butt and letting it down again – each movement making a little squish – then she blinked, and patted the nearby ball.

It jingled as it rolled off, and she began following it with a yip!

Fluttershy smiled, her cheeks pinking a little as she thought about what that had to mean for how Gilda was thinking, then went back over to see that Mix-up was doing okay.

Mix-up yawned, blinking a few times, and grabbed almost-uselessly at one of the blankets.

“Aww, are you all sleepy?” Fluttershy asked gently.

It had been at least an hour since they started, now, though Fluttershy wasn't sure of the exact time. Gilda had demanded attention a couple of times, wanting some new toy or way of playing, and at one point Fluttershy had suggested they all play hide-and-seek together – though Gilda had quickly become bored and started pouncing on Mix-up again, knocking him to the floor and tickling him to hear the breathless squeaks he made. Seeing it had made Fluttershy feel all happy and bubbly, and she'd let it go on for quite a long time before finally breaking them up.

It looked like the experience had tired Mix-up out, though, and Fluttershy pulled the blanket over him so he could get a proper sleep.

Thinking about how she'd probably need to change him when he woke up, Fluttershy was about to go and get something when Gilda waddled over to her – the squishing sound from her wet diapers very faint, but just about audible to a pony who was listening.

“Um… hello?” Fluttershy tried. “Do you want something?”

Gilda stretched, yawning, first pushing her front half up in the air and then her rear half after that. Fluttershy recognized it as the kind of stretch that a tired fox or wolf or dog would do, and smiled again – enough that she missed the sudden gleam in Gilda's eye.

Yawning again, Gilda waddled right up to Fluttershy and pushed her over onto the pile of pillows with a paw – then, before the pegasus could get up, lay down next to her and snuggled her tightly.

Fluttershy gasped with an eep as Gilda hugged her close, feeling the plushy soft fox-costume against her, and wiggled a little to see if she could get out – but Gilda was too strong for that, and Fluttershy felt like it wouldn't be polite to force it.

Gilda shuffled over, moving Fluttershy easily despite how clumsily she had to move like that, and put them where they were both using Mix-up's thick, padded bunny costume as a pillow. Then the griffin yawned again, closed her eyes, and started to breathe slowly and evenly.

“Oh, um… oh dear...” Fluttershy said softly.

It looked like she was going to be stuck here for a while whether she liked it or not...

“How are you doing?” Fluttershy asked, some time later.

The splashing sound from the cloud she'd brought down for them to wash up with faded away, and Gilda spoke through the bathroom door.

“I… yeah, I think I'm done,” she said. “The cloud seems pretty full, too… I'll come out now.”

Fluttershy stepped back, and Gilda came out with her fur and feathers still dripping wet. There was a smell of soap, but it looked like the griffin had washed all the suds off.

“Um… don't you want to dry off?” Fluttershy suggested, and Gilda shook her head.

“Nah, I'll dry off with a whirlwind outside,” Gilda said.

Mix-up took her place in the bathroom, not wearing the bunny suit any more but still taped into his diaper, and the door shut again. Gilda pinked a little, looking back into the bathroom, then scratched the back of her neck. “So… yeah...”

Fluttershy gave her a towel, and after a moment Gilda took it – drying off the worst of the water so she wasn't dripping on Fluttershy's floor.

“So, um… how was it?” Fluttershy asked, nervously, as the splashing resumed.

“How was it?” Gilda repeated. “It was… aargh, it's hard to come up with the words! It was humiliating, embarrassing, I spent hours stuck in that costume, and...”

She slumped slightly. “And I enjoyed it. Not… not completely, there were some bits which were too much for me, but… it just, I feel like I should have hated so much about it but I can't say I did. And I feel like I should be upset at myself for not hating it...”

“It's okay,” Fluttershy assured her. “I think a lot of people – ponies and griffins, and dragons, and everyone – like things that they think they shouldn't. I'm still really embarrassed by it as well, but, um…”

She gave Gilda a sudden hug, and the griffin jumped for a moment before relaxing and grumbling to herself.

“I'm glad you enjoyed it,” she said. “And, w-well… if you never want to do anything like it again, that's fine...”

“Yeah, probably,” Gilda muttered, and waited until Fluttershy let her go.

She turned to the door, then paused and looked back. “But, um… y-yeah. I wasn't expecting how that went, but… yeah.”

With that, she headed to the door – almost bolting for it – and took off with a whoosh of wings and a spatter of wet droplets.

Fluttershy hummed to herself, waving goodbye in case Gilda looked back.

She'd have to wash both costumes, and put everything back, but… it had been worth it.

Chapter 5

“Okay, I… think that's done,” Mix-up said, putting down his paint cans.

He took off, wings flapping too hard for a moment as he compensated for the weight he wasn't carrying any more, and surveyed the result.

Overall, it looked pretty good. It wasn't his most colourful design, maybe – that honour still went to the glow-in-the-dark clouds he'd proposed months ago, and which hadn't gone down well – but it fitted what he was after, and it meant he finally had a place to call his own again.

Adjusting his course, he flew once around the newly-painted cloud-house and alighted down near his neighbour.

“How does it look?” he asked, a little nervously. “I wanted to make sure it fitted in...”

“I think it looks good,” Fluttershy replied. “Um… the blue underneath is going to mean animals don't notice it as much, and the green top is nice too, it fits in with the trees… it is a bit higher than the trees are though.”

“Yeah, I was wondering about just leaving it white,” Mix-up admitted. “I've done some of the indoors in different colours, though… I might experiment with the top, as well, but I'll leave the bottom half sky-blue.”

Fluttershy nodded.

“Well, um… you'll always be welcome to visit,” she said, and the stallion smiled – looking at the distance from his new front door to hers, which might take perhaps twenty seconds to fly for a fairly slow pegasus.

“I'm sorry I won't be able to join you tonight,” Fluttershy added. “I'm afraid Twilight invited me to a sleepover with her old foalsitter…”

“Oh, huh, hope you enjoy it,” Mix-up said, then blinked. “Wait, I heard about this… isn't her old foalsitter Princess Cadence?”

Fluttershy nodded slightly, looking faintly embarrassed. “Yes, um… but I don't like to think of her as Princess. I like to think of her as a friend I met through another friend.”

Mix-up understood what she meant, and changed the subject slightly. “Well, I hope you enjoy it – I think what I'm going to be doing tonight is mostly making sure everything's in the right room...”

Fluttershy knocked on the door of Twilight's castle, and Spike answered the door.

“Oh, hey Fluttershy,” he said, smiling. “It's great to see you've arrived!”

Fluttershy smiled as well. “Well, um… it's nice to see you too?”

Spike nodded. “Yep, everyone's glad to see everyone else...” he paused. “Oh, yeah, and it means now I can head down into the basement with Shining and get that O&O session going.”

The pegasus tried not to giggle. “Oh, um… so Shining is here as well?”

“That's right, I guess they left Flurry Heart in the care of Sunburst,” Spike shrugged. “I know Glimmer teleported over there as well, so I guess they'll be able to take care of her?”

Fluttershy thought about that. “So do I...”

Spike gave her a thumbs-up, then went off towards the steps leading down.

Fluttershy adjusted her saddlebags a little, making sure they had what she wanted, and trotted towards the upstairs bedroom Twilight had told her they'd be using. If Cadence was already here – and with Shining here, that seemed like a sensible guess – then they were only waiting for Fluttershy to get started.

It didn't seem polite to make them wait.

Climbing the stairs took just a few minutes, and Fluttershy knocked on the door with a smile.

When the door opened, though, both Twilight and Cadence took one look at her before both starting to laugh.

“Is… is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked nervously, noticing that her friends were already wearing fluffy pyjamas – Twilight wearing a pair with her starburst cutie mark all over them, while Cadence's pair had crystal hearts on them.

“Oh, sorry Fluttershy!” Twilight said, still smiling. “It's not you, it's just…”

“I turned up wearing my pyjamas already, and Shining was teasing me about it,” Cadence took up the explanation. “And then when I came in, Twilight was wearing her pyjamas already, and it turned out Spike had been teasing her about being ready well in advance!”

“So when you opened the door, we were half expecting you to be wearing your pyjamas as well,” Twilight finished. “I think we would have laughed no matter what you were wearing, though – it's just a funny coincidence.”

Fluttershy sighed in relief, glad she hadn't done something wrong. “I, um… I guess that is funny,” she allowed, smiling slightly. “I've got mine in my saddlebags...”

“Well, come in and you can get changed,” Twilight said, stepping back from the door a little – her horn glowing as she pulled it open. “I've got some snacks ready, too… I made sure to read several books this time so I had an unbiased opinion on what a sleepover should be like!”

“The important thing is just to have fun,” Cadence pointed out. “And I'm sure we'll be able to work out how to do that between us.”

Mix-up landed with a thump on his front 'lawn', a stretch of cloud he'd painted a bright fuzzy green to act as his landing area, and opened his door so he could take the last of his belongings into his new house.

It was kind of a funny thing to think about, really. He'd had an apartment in Cloudsdale, back before Discord had forcibly moved him to Ponyville by pulling him out of a cupboard, but he'd never actually had a house of his own – and the lease on his apartment hadn't let him do things like get paint all over it, which was really discrimination or something for an artist pony.

Fluttershy had let him do some painting in her spare room, but she'd been so nervous about getting anything spattered that Mix-up had taken the hint – though the fact that Angel had left Priscilla the Porcupine in his paints had helped a bit in making the decision.

“Hey!”

Broken out of his wondering by the sound of a familiar voice, Mix-up left the smocks in a pile in his art room and trotted over to the door.

“Rainbow Dash?” he asked. “I was just moving in. Thanks for your help with getting the clouds.”

“Oh, uh – you're welcome,” Dash replied, then crossed her hooves – hovering just off his lawn. “But I didn't come over here for that! I came here to deliver a message.”

She inspected him suspiciously, in case his cutie mark had changed spontaneously into something sneaky, then relented. “So, uh… you know how you showed me those coloured clouds and stuff? And how I said they looked kinda tacky but Fluttershy asked me to give them a chance?”

Rainbow scratched the back of her neck with a hoof for a moment. “So I told Spitfire about them, and I guess she was kind of interested? And she told me she should be able to talk some time tomorrow about it, between two and four, and I guess you should bring an example of what you can do so she can see what it's like.”

The rainbow-maned mare leaned in. “You think you can do that?”

Mix-up frowned, thinking about it. “Hmm… well, if it's going to be a Wonderbolt thing then maybe I should make a Wonderbolt cloud to show off… I think I've got the right yellow, and the blue is what I used anyway on the base of the house.”

Thinking it over, he nodded. “Yeah, I can do about two in the afternoon. I'll only do a small one, it'll take most of the morning, but it should be ready by then.”

“Right,” Dash replied. “Well, I'll let Captain Spitfire know you'll be there at two. And...”

She paused, then pointed at her own eyes and then at his. “I'm still watching you.”

Mix-up watched her fly off, then shrugged.

He'd get the base coat started on the cloud, at least.

Fluttershy sipped the milkshake Twilight had made for her, tasting the sweet flavour, and put it down again on a table – out of the way of anything it might fall onto, just in case.

“Those are nice pyjamas,” Cadence told her. “I like the bunny pattern. I was expecting butterflies, though now I think about it I'm not sure why.”

“Oh, I do have a butterfly pair,” Fluttershy replied. “It's just, um… I have quite a lot of clothes, because Rarity made them for me when I was a model, and she wanted them to all be a bit different.”

She looked down. “I… didn't really like being a model, though.”

“Oh, I thought you looked familiar!” Cadence realized. “I saw you in a few magazines, I think – I was a bit busy at the time, though.”

Fluttershy's reply was interrupted by a clatter as Twilight put a board game box down on the table. “Hey, girls, why don't we try playing this?”

The other two mares looked at the board game Twilight had selected.

“Um… this is about organizing library shelves?” Fluttershy said. “It… looks really complicated...”

“No, it's not that bad,” Twilight defended her choice. “You get books out of a book deck, and then you need to fit them in place while following a set of rules about alphabetic structure and Decimal Dewey's categorization system...”

“Fluttershy has a point,” Cadence agreed gently. “What about something where we all work together? Like that one?”

“That one?” Twilight repeated, looking where Cadence was pointing. “Oh, right… heh, I forgot I had that one.”

“What's it about?” Fluttershy asked, as Twilight levitated it down from her shelf. “I don't think I've seen that one before...”

“It's called Royal Rescue,” Cadence told her. “It's where each of the players is one of the Princesses of Equestria – including Twilight and myself – and they have to work together to get out of trouble. It's great fun, Shiny and I played it when they sent us a copy to get our approval.”

“I, er… didn't realize that's why they sent it,” Twilight admitted. “I didn't read the rules.”

“Then I'll teach you as we go along!” Cadence smiled. “It'll be like when I was foalsitting you and teaching you how to play Chess, except I won't keep losing.”

“That sounds nice,” Twilight agreed.

Half an hour later, the quest against the evil forces of Lord Dark the Dark was in full swing.

“Right!” Twilight said proudly. “My turn, so I'm going to use Ray of Light and dazzle that minion! It can't attack for the next three turns, so we can get past and make it to the airship!”

“Good work, Twilight,” Cadence smiled. “Though I still think it's quite funny you're playing as Princess Celestia.”

She turned to Fluttershy. “It's your turn next. What are you going to have Luna do?”

“Well, I...” Fluttershy began, drawing her next card. “I – oh, this is a good one, I think?”

She showed Cadence, who nodded. “That is good!”

“What does it do?” Twilight asked.

“It's a Personal Speech card,” Cadence told her, as Fluttershy turned the card so they could see. “You have to say something personal about yourself, but it'll give all of us an extra turn.”

“That's great!” Twilight smiled. “All right, let's use it!”

Fluttershy hesitated. “Um… it says I have to say something, not 'my Princess'. Is that right?”

“Yes,” Cadence confirmed. “It's one of the cards where you need to do something in real life.”

She looked at Fluttershy's reaction, leaning forwards a bit. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, um… I'm just trying to think of what to say,” Fluttershy said. “Does it have to be something important?”

“Well, I don't think so,” Cadence replied. “I guess it depends how you feel?”

“It's okay, Fluttershy,” Twilight smiled. “We're friends here.”

“Okay...” Fluttershy nodded a little.

She took a deep breath.

“Um… I'm okay with the fact you're both wearing diapers.”

Somewhere, Discord started laughing and he didn't know why.

“What!?” Twilight asked, her wings flaring out in shock. “What do you mean, diapers? I-”

“Fluttershy, where did that come from?” Cadence said, speaking over her. “Both?”

Fluttershy shrank back slightly. “Um, w-well… I did say I was okay with it? I don't mind...”

“You can't just say something like that!” Twilight said. “And, and… how, why...”

“It's the rustling,” Fluttershy explained. “It, um… I could hear it, and I didn't want to ask because it's not a problem, but…”

She waved a hoof at the game board. “I… wanted to do the speech thing, like the card said...”

“You could hear it?” Cadence asked. “I mean, um… oh, blast...”

The Princess of Love sank back onto her haunches, and groaned. “I really thought that enchantment would work...”

“An enchantment?” Twilight said, seizing on the new topic with relief. “Was it an adaptation of Bowler's Expanded Hat?”

“Yes, it was,” Cadence confirmed. “I cast it on the pyjamas and put them on before I left to come here, because-”

“-because you need to cast the spell before you put the clothing on, and that means otherwise you'd be putting on-” Twilight continued, then slowed. “...I mean, otherwise you'd be putting on diapers after you got here.”

She sighed. “That's exactly the plan I had.”

“Don't feel upset,” Fluttershy volunteered. “I said I was okay with it, so… it's not a problem, and if you're both wearing diapers, you know not to be upset about what the other one's doing?”

“That does make sense,” Twilight admitted. “I… it's just really something that makes me blush to think about, that anyone else might know. I think Spike does but he's never said anything, and that's… yeah…but...”

“Actually, I do have a question,” Cadence said. “Fluttershy, how do you know what a diaper sounds like?”

“Well, um… I don't wear them myself, but… but I like other ponies doing it,” Fluttershy said.

She took a breath, tensing, then let it out. “That's how I met my friend Mix-up. Discord found out that I was interested in that sort of thing, and… well… pulled him out of a closet?”

“So you've actually been doing that?” Twilight asked, the game forgotten. “Or, he's been doing that and you've been helping? What's it like?”

Her horn lit up, and some paper and a pencil floated over from the shelf. “What do you find works best? Do you do anything else with it? What's, um… what's it like to use-”

“Twilight,” Cadence cautioned. “I think Fluttershy is embarrassed enough about this already.”

Fluttershy squeaked a quick 'thank you' to Cadence.

“Oh, um… right,” Twilight realized. “Sorry, Fluttershy...”

She sat down herself. “But… what do you do, then?”

“Well… I don't just like the diapers thing,” Fluttershy elaborated, fidgeting. “But I do like it a lot… one of the other things is cute animal costumes on top of the diapers. Rarity has made me some, and… and they look really cute… and then Discord made some headphones which mean that if you're wearing a suit you feel all fuzzy and it's easy to just act in character...”

She trailed off, flushing furiously.

Neither Princess said anything for several long seconds, and Fluttershy wondered nervously if they were embarrassed with her. Then Twilight stood up.

“So,” she said. “Cadence, I don't know what you think about that, but… the main thing I'm wondering is if we bring some costumes here or go over to Fluttershy's house...”

“Well… it does sound nice,” Cadence admitted. “But… what is it like? About all we know right now is that Fluttershy's said she likes to see other ponies in diapers and some of the things she has… and I know that sometimes what a pony likes isn't what another pony likes even if it sounds the same.”

“That's a good point,” Twilight agreed. “If it's not too much trouble, Fluttershy, could you explain a bit more about what you've done?”

“Well… all right,” Fluttershy nodded. “I need to protect somepony's privacy, so I'll just call her something else?”

“What about Smarty Pants?” Cadence suggested, over Twilight's protest.

“All right,” Fluttershy repeated. “So… when Mix-up first appeared, Discord told each of us that the other liked diapers, and we started talking about it...”

Twenty minutes later, Fluttershy's soft voice reached the end of her story.

“And then, well… there are some things about us which make it hard for us to live in my cottage, which is why he's just moved to a new cloud house, but we're still close enough for that kind of thing. Which is good,” she said. “It helps me relax.”

She let out a long breath. “There. I… think that's everything.”

Looking up, Fluttershy saw that both Twilight and Cadence were blushing furiously.

“Well,” Twilight said, after a long moment. “I… t-that sounded… nice?”

She looked down at her notes, which were a bit scribbly. “I – well, when you said about what happened with Mix-up and Smarty Pants, it was just… wow. I r-really like that idea, the way you said it...”

Cadence looked a little stunned as well, but shook her head to recover a bit.

That done, she gave Twilight a warm smile. “What was it about that idea that you liked, Twily?”

Twilight hugged herself with her wings, smiling. “The idea of being all… able to stop thinking hard, and be cared for, really. Being all surrounded in softness, and… well… heh...”

She fidgeted back and forth. “It… it probably sounds silly...”

“It doesn't sound silly at all, Twilight,” Cadence told her, scooting a little closer and laying her wing across Twilight's back. “You're a very intelligent alicorn who works very hard – you've got at least two jobs most of the time as well as having to save Equestria on a regular basis, and you've been that hard working for years and years. And you're prone to feeling anxious as well.”

Twilight smiled, a little shyly. “I… yes, I suppose that's true...”

She looked up. “So… could we do that? Would that be okay?”

“I don't see why not, if we can sort it out,” Cadence replied. “Do you have the supplies, Fluttershy?”

“Well… yes, but… I'm not really sure it would work?” Fluttershy admitted. “When Mix-up and – and Smarty Pants were doing it, it was a bit hard to fit everything into the same room. It worked, but… um, you're a bit bigger…”

“Then we'll do it here!” Twilight declared. “I can teleport us to your house to pick up the supplies, and then we can do it in my rooms!”

Fluttershy thought about that.

It was true, Twilight's rooms were very big. The room they were in now wasn't the only one in Twilight's quarters, and it was bigger than the largest room in her cottage… in fact, adding it all up together, Twilight had a lot more space than Fluttershy's entire house.

There was even a kitchen, though it was mostly used by Spike when Twilight was busy doing research.

After that, it took her only a moment to make her decision. Her friends wanted to share something with her, and it was something that made her happy – and something that would make them happy too.

“Okay,” she said with a nod. “Then… let's go? If that's all right with you, I mean...”

The windows of Fluttershy's cottage lit up with a flash.

Inside, Fluttershy pointed. “Um… okay, so the changing supplies are in that cupboard…”

Twilight opened it and pulled out what she guessed was enough, which was two of everything and six of the thick diapers.

“Those are a lot bigger than the ones I've been using,” Cadence said, staring for a moment. “You really went all in on this, didn't you?”

“Well… it's something I enjoy a lot,” Fluttershy replied. “And… I have quite a lot of money from my modelling career, and I never seem to be able to find anything else to spend it on...”

“I'm not criticizing you, Fluttershy,” Cadence assured her. “I'm just… this is something I've wondered about for a while, and now suddenly this is everything that I thought it could be. It's quite unexpected.”

“Are these those headphones you mentioned?” Twilight asked, splitting her attention to raise up the two pairs on the side. “You said they made it easy to feel fuzzy and in character...”

“Oh, yes – they work for any suit,” Fluttershy told her. “So, um… if you both want to do it, those two pairs should be enough...”

Cadence looked contemplative, then tapped a hoof on the floor – making a clak noise. “How many suits do you actually have, Fluttershy? You mentioned several of them, but I don't think we got a list.”

“I can make a list!” Twilight volunteered, and Cadence smiled warmly.

“Oh, well, they're in the wardrobe over here,” Fluttershy said, leading them into her room. “I moved it in here when Mix-up moved out earlier today, because that way I don't need to worry about someone staying in my spare room finding them...”

She pulled open the door, and Twilight took a step back.

“Who made this wardrobe?” she asked. “It's huge!”

There was a flash, and Twilight looked around to see Fluttershy lowering a camera.

“Sorry, Twilight,” she said. “But Discord made the wardrobe, and he said that I had to take photos of anypony I saw looking into it for the first time...”

“That's all right, Fluttershy,” Twilight decided. “I'll… I might ask you not to share that with him, if that's all right?”

“Well...” Fluttershy smiled. “He only asked me to take the photo, not to actually show him. So that would be all right.”

While they talked, Cadence had been inspecting the suits in the wardrobe.

“These are amazing,” she said softly, pressing on the side of the fox suit and feeling how soft and plush it was. “They're made by your friend Rarity?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy agreed. “Though… I think she sort of got carried away, she keeps giving me new ones...”

“Oh – Twilight, look at this!” Cadence called. “There's a baby dragon costume!”

She took it off the hanger, revealing a big plushy-pudgy dragon costume with a spade tail and a pair of puffed-out wings. It was sort of like a reversed-colour version of Spike, with a green body and purple spines and other highlights, and the limbs even had plushy claws on them.

“Doesn't that look nice?” she asked, lighting her horn so they could see it better. “I think this would be a lovely cute costume for you, Twilight!”

Twilight's jaw worked soundlessly for a moment, and she swallowed. “I… w-well, maybe?”

“That sounds like a yes to me!” Cadence smiled. “Hmm, but if I'm picking the one you wear, then you should be the one to pick what I wear. Fluttershy, can you help show Twilight around?”

Five minutes later, half-a-dozen suits were orbiting around Twilight as she tried to pick which one would fit best.

“The fox one might mean that we'd both be in a mindset where we'd get into an argument,” she said to herself, eyes going back and forth. “But I don't know if the squirrel one would really work, the tail looks like it might end up dragging on the ground… and squirrels hoard things as well, so maybe that's not a good idea-”

She shook her head, sighing. “Sorry, Cadence, I'm just going around in circles...”

“Well… what about this one?” Fluttershy suggested. “It's one of the more recent ones, so it's a bit more stretchy. Like the dragon one...”

“Stretchy?” Cadence asked. “Oh, right, because we're a bit larger than most ponies.”

Fluttershy nodded her agreement, and Twilight looked around to see what Fluttershy was getting out of the back of the wardrobe.

It was a much more stylized one than most of the ones they'd looked at, with a bright red pair of wings on the back decorated with a pattern of black spots, and the majority of the 'body' of the suit made out of thick black plush. There was a pair of antennae as well, which bounced a bit as Fluttershy moved it, and Twilight paused for a moment.

“I, umm...” she began. “It looks like it would work, but I'm not sure about ladybugs...”

“I'm sure dragons are fine with ladybugs,” Fluttershy said.

“Besides, remember our song?” Cadence asked. “Is it okay if I'm the ladybug? Or, heheh, Cadybug?”

Twilight smiled, and the rest of the suits went zipping past Fluttershy to file neatly back into the wardrobe. “I think I'll be okay with a Cadybug, after Starlight helped me with it.”

Then she hesitated. “Oh, but… how would that work with the headphones?”

“That's simple,” Cadence said. “I want to see what the care-taking side of things is as well, so I won't wear any and Fluttershy and I can take care of a little hatchling dragoness together.”

Twilight seemed to have lost the power of speech for a moment, her blush becoming furious.

Chapter 6

When they reappeared in Twilight's rooms in her castle, Twilight quickly checked that the door was still shut before unpacking the things they'd brought over.

“So, um… Fluttershy, you're the expert,” she said. “So what order do we do things in? Do we get Cadence dressed up first, or me? Would it make it harder for Cadence to help if she was wearing the costume?”

“Well...” Fluttershy began, thinking. “The suits aren't really built to stop unicorns – or alicorns – using magic, so… I guess it wouldn't matter. But the headphones can't go on after the suit does.”

“Are they built for ponies with horns at all?” Cadence asked. “I wouldn't want to damage them.”

“Oh – there is a hole for a horn,” Fluttershy assured her. “Rarity would never dream of making a mistake like that… if it was something about the design that just wouldn't work for the pony or non-pony she was designing it for, she might leave something out, but here...”

She checked on the Ladybug costume, moving it around to look at the head section, then nodded. “Yes, that one's got a little hole for the horn. I thought they did.”

Twilight was floating some paper next to her. “So we'll need to apply my – well, my diapers,” she said, doing her best not to stutter over the words. “And Cadence' ones as well. Then get into the suit – oh, but we still haven't decided whether I should put the suit on first or if you should!”

“Well, we will both need to get our pyjamas off, and change into these thicker diapers,” Cadence said, thinking about it. “Then… hmm. Do you think you'll be a good dragoness?”

Twilight squeaked slightly. “I… well, I don't really know, I've never done something like this before...”

“Then we'd better be safe rather than sorry,” Cadence judged. “I'll get myself suited up, and then we'll get you headphoned up and suited up.”

“If somepony is concentrating, they can think through the headphones,” Fluttershy contributed. “It just makes it easier to feel more like the suit...”

“That's a good point,” Twilight said, still fidgeting a little. “So, um… should we get started?”

“All right,” Fluttershy replied, unrolling the changing mat. “And… if you really just want to feel what it's like to wear the diapers, instead of use them, you should probably go to the bathroom too...”

After a bathroom trip for both Princesses – neither of them quite sure how far they wanted to go, and deciding to be safe rather than sorry – Fluttershy carefully diapered up Cadence, then moved on to Twilight.

“Do these diapers fit anypony?” Twilight asked.

“Not anypony, I think,” Cadence answered, using a little mirror to inspect herself. “This feels like it fits, but I'm not sure it would stay on all night if I was walking around without anything to keep it in place.”

She sighed. “And I'm only a little bigger than normal.”

“Well, um… I wasn't sure they had any bigger sizes,” Fluttershy said, blushing as she did her best to concentrate on taping Twilight's diaper on. “I never imagined, um… well, it was just an idea until Discord found out...”

She stepped back. “Okay, I… I think that's on.”

“I'm sure they must have some bigger sizes,” Cadence mused. “There are big stallions who might be interested, after all. I might need to look into that, if it's something we do more than once.”

Twilight stood up as Cadence wondered, and inspected her diaper a bit – pushing on it gently with her horn, checking it was properly seated.

“That seems quite snug,” she decided. “Thank you, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy nodded rather than speaking, and unzipped the ladybug suit.

Cadence stepped into it, wings flared out to stabilize her as she carefully put one hoof in at a time, and once she had all four in Fluttershy began helping her pull it up her legs. Getting the rump around the puffy diaper was a bit of a stretch, but once it was done Cadence sat down with a sigh and wiggled her rump slightly to feel it.

“That looks nice,” Twilight said, a touch wistfully.

“Don't worry, you'll be all set soon,” Cadence assured her.

“Hold on a moment,” Fluttershy asked. “I want to make sure I put your wings in the right places.”

Cadence held still, as requested, and Fluttershy carefully opened out the wing-cases to put Cadence's wings into them. The layer of soft plushy lining held the wing snugly and securely as Fluttershy zipped the suit up, letting them open and close freely without rubbing but without any give up and down, and Cadence shivered slightly at the tactile sensations.

“Okay, that should be good now,” Fluttershy said, adjusting the silk cover over Cadence's horn and stepping back a bit.

Cadence twitched her wings, and the ladybug wing-cases moved with them – making Twilight jump slightly, then blush at her own surprise.

“Does… does it feel comfortable?” the younger alicorn asked, to cover for her reaction.

“It does, yes,” Cadence agreed, nodding, and the antennae on the head piece of the suit bounced down in front of her. “Oh – heh, that caught me by surprise a little...”

She lifted a hoof, inspecting the little ball-shaped mitten at the end of it. “I… think this might make it hard for me to do anything with my hooves. At least I've got magic instead.”

“Can ladybugs use magic?” Twilight asked.

“Of course they can,” Cadence replied, with a wink.

She lifted the nearby mirror up in her magic, inspecting herself, and wiggled back and forth a little to see how the costume moved.

As she did, Fluttershy was opening out the dragon costume they'd picked out for Twilight. Now she was looking at it by the lights of her room, rather than her own horn-glow in Fluttershy's house, Twilight spotted something a little odd.

“Er… that tail's very big,” she said, lifting it with a hoof. “Is… is that a mistake? I can't possibly move that with my tail.”

“I think you might be able to move it a bit,” Cadence said, waddling over to inspect the suit. “Remember, Twily, alicorns have Earth Pony strength as well, and that includes the tail. But yes, you'll probably be pretty clumsy.”

“It's because that way you can stand on your hind legs,” Fluttershy explained. “It's like the squirrel costume… the tail's heavy enough to be a counterweight.”

“Ahh, I see,” Twilight agreed. “That's clever!”

She paused. “Um… though telling Rarity what I thought of it would kind of give away that I'd seen the costume...”

Shaking off the idea, Twilight stepped into the open back of the costume as Fluttershy held it out.

The ends of the legs felt strange, her hind legs engulfed in plushiness, and the forelegs going into the 'arms' of the suit. It was sort of like standing on top of a soft ball, making her wobble a little from side to side, and she blushed as Fluttershy helped pull the material up her side.

“Do I need to furl my wings so you can put them in the little dragon wing bits?” she asked.

“Actually, um… yes, but not right now,” Fluttershy explained.

Twilight looked around, trying not to let the fabric slide off, then stopped when she saw Fluttershy picking up the headphones.

“Right, I… I forgot about those,” the alicorn admitted.

She swallowed, and levitated them out of Fluttershy's hooves to put them on herself.

Somewhat to her surprise, there wasn't an immediate feeling of vertigo or a wash of mental influence or any of the other things she half-expected from the other times she'd been the subject of mind magic. There was just a faint, persistent hissing, like white noise, and she tilted her head to the side a little to try and hear any of the actual sounds in it.

As she did, Fluttershy did most of the work in putting on the dragon-head part of the dragon costume – much larger than Twilight's own head, it had enough space to fit her easily, and the headphones were just squished a little more onto Twilight's ears by the springy fabric.

It took a moment to line up Twilight's horn with the slot in the head for it, but once that was done Twilight was ensconced comfortably in the head of the costume and Fluttershy was sorting out her friend's wings. They went neatly into the sleeves, then Fluttershy zipped up the suit with the ease of experience, and stepped back.

“Um, there you go...” Fluttershy said. “How does that feel?”

“Mrrrawrr,” Twilight replied, wiggling, then blinked a few times and flushed under the costume. “I mean, uh… eep?”

“Aww,” Cadence smiled. “It sounds like a certain hatchling is happy?”

Twilight made an indistinct high-pitched noise, then looked back to see how the costume actually looked from the inside.

Having her in it definitely bulked it out, meaning that with the thick plush material she had the proportions of a baby dragon. Her tail was bigger, though, and she tried to give it a wag but could only make it sway from side to side a little.

“You know,” Cadence added. “When we saw one another earlier, we didn't do the dance...”

“Oh, r-right,” Twilight replied, remembering that they had indeed not done their sunshine-sunshine greeting. She'd been too grateful to wonder why before, given that it might have shown she was wearing a diaper, but now she thought about it Cadence would have been wearing a diaper as well…

“Sunshine, Sunshine,” Cadence began, her eyes twinkling, and Twilight joined in.

“Ladybugs awake, clap your hooves, and do a little shake!”

Their diapered rumps bumped together harder than expected after they both did a twirl, and Twilight fell forwards onto her front. It didn't actually hurt, just making her feel a little dizzy, and she shook her head before standing up again – wobbling a little as she did.

“Are you all right?” Fluttershy asked, nervously, as Cadence got up as well.

“I'm fine, thank you,” Cadence said, and looked over at Twilight. “Oh, well done, sweetie! You're learning to stand up!”

Twilight nodded proudly, then overbalanced despite the weight of her tail – thumping back down onto all fours again.

“Aww...” she pouted. “I wanted to be a big dragoness...”

“I'm sure you'll learn with more practice,” Cadence assured her.

“Hmm...” Mix-up mused, putting his paintbrush down with a clack.

Painting the cloud had gone faster than he'd thought – having everything in place in a room set-aside for it had gone pretty well, though the floor was now all multicoloured – but now he'd have to wait several hours for it to properly dry, before adding the final touches in the morning.

He cantered around the newly-painted cloud just to make sure, and nodded to himself.

It looked pre-tty good, if he said so himself!

Tail flicking from side to side, Mix-up was about to go and have a well-deserved rest… then paused, catching sight of himself in the mirror.

There was dried paint all over his coat, spots of it, and if he got into bed now he'd end up covering his sheets in broken-off blue and yellow paint. That probably wasn't the best way to start a meeting…

Shaking his head with a chuckle, he went to the shower – confident that the hot water enchantment he'd had installed two days ago would let him shower properly.

When he actually reached the shower room, however, he stopped.

There was something very important missing. His shampoo was nowhere to be seen, and a check of the cupboards showed it wasn't there either.

“Well… great,” Mix-up sighed, looking at himself in the bathroom mirror as he thought about what to do.

They'd cleaned though Fluttershy's house yesterday making sure they'd located the stuff that Mix-up had got since he'd moved in, so he could take it when he moved out again, but it seemed like they'd missed his shampoo. He could just borrow Fluttershy's, this once, but it didn't seem like a great idea to show up to a meeting with Spitfire herself smelling of butterflies and nectar.

Well, it wasn't that late yet. Hopefully he could go and ask Fluttershy if she knew where the shampoo was, and if that didn't work then maybe Princess Twilight's dragon friend had something he used. And he could do with stretching his wings after that long painting session…

Mind made up, Mix-up trotted to his porch and took off – winging his way towards Ponyville.

The dice clattered across the table, and Cadence held her breath – then smiled.

“Ooh!” Twilight said, wiggling back and forth a little. “That's a big number!”

“That's right!” Cadence agreed. “Can you tell me what it is, Twily!”

“I'm not stupid,” Twilight grumbled. “You got a five and a three! So you can… you can move that one to the house!”

Cadence lit her horn, and moved one of her pony-pieces five spaces along the board to reach the house.

“And that means I have three ponies in my house,” she declared, moving another of the pink pony pieces three spaces across the board. “So I'm winning.”

“Only by one,” Twilight protested.

Fluttershy picked up the dice, and rolled them. They bounced twice, and came to a halt – and Twilight giggled.

“Ooh, that means the dragon does something!” she said, pointing at the dragon-face on one of Fluttershy's dice. “I know it's your turn, but can I do it?”

She turned big, pleading eyes on Fluttershy. “Please? It's a dragon thing!”

“Well, um… all right,” Fluttershy decided.

Twilight giggled, and carefully reached out a plush-encased hoof to the dragon statue in the middle of the board. She bumped it twice, and the magic in it activated – sending it running and flying all over the place, knocking all their coloured pony pieces to different parts of the board.

Two of them – a yellow one and a pink one – got knocked off the board completely, and Twilight gathered them up in her forelimbs.

“So… they have to go back to the opposite side of the board from our houses, I think,” Cadence said, as the dragon returned to its perch and the magic animating it wore off. “Can you put them there, Twily?”

Twilight looked down at the two playing pieces, then shook her head.

“Is something wrong?” Cadence asked.

“They're mine,” Twilight replied with a pout. “The dragon got them, and I'm a dragon too, so I got them.”

“That's not quite how it works, sweetie,” Cadence said, but there was a smile on her muzzle. “Are you being a naughty dragoness?”

“No...” Twilight replied, looking nervous, then wiggled her rump. “I'm being a proper dragoness, 'cause proper dragonesses want to hoard things!”

She grabbed one of the cushions as well, and snuggled into it proudly. “See! They're mine, rawr!”

Fluttershy smiled, seeing how much Twilight was enjoying herself – even if it was due to the altered state from the headphones – and Cadence giggled.

“Well, I suppose maybe we'd need to offer a dragoness a prize for her to take part in the game?” she suggested.

“A prize?” Twilight replied, sounding interested. “I want a prize!”

She sat down on her diapered rear with an audible crinkle, though she didn't relinquish the toy pieces.

“...yeah, take the turning just up there,” Spike said, pointing. “I'd come with you, but – you know, I've got some urgent dice rolls to make.”

“Urgent dice rolls?” Mix-up repeated. “Don't dice just stay there until you roll them?”

“Not if Discord joins the game unexpectedly,” Spike muttered. “Besides, it'd be rude to keep the others waiting. When you're done, just go down to the front door – it opens outwards – or, hay, fly out a window if you want.”

“Thanks,” Mix-up smiled. “You'd better go back to your game.”

Spike vanished off down the corridor, and Mix-up climbed the stairs at a fast canter. He followed the instructions the dragon had given him, making his way with only a little uncertainty through the complexities of the castle, and finally came to a halt at the door.

He knocked, three times, and stood back to await a reply.

Nothing happened at first, except he heard a strange noise from inside, and then what sounded like Fluttershy saying something – though quietly enough it probably wasn't for him.

“Is something wrong?” he asked. “I'm here to ask about-”

“Mix-up?” Fluttershy asked through the door, then there was a sound vaguely like a growl or a hiss and another short whispered conversation which he only caught the occasional word of.

“Is there anyone else with you?” asked somepony who Mix-up thought was probably that other pony who'd been invited to the sleepover.

“No, just me,” Mix-up answered. “Does it matter?”

There was a click, then the door opened, and Mix-up trotted inside before pausing and staring for a moment.

Princess Twilight Sparkle was looking at the floor, embarrassed, and completely ensconced inside a very familiar – and very crinkly – dragon costume. And… Princess Cadence, that was it… was wearing the ladybug costume Rarity had finished only a couple of days ago and that hadn't actually been worn yet. Until now, that was.

“Um...” he began, and Princess Cadence ushered him in and shut the door behind him.

Once the door was locked again, with quite a complicated spell shimmering on it, Mix-up decided to ask the obvious question. “So, uh… I didn't realize you were planning this?”

“We, um, weren't,” Fluttershy said softly. “It just sort of, happened… I noticed that both Twilight and Cadence were wearing diapers-”

“I, uh, y-you won't tell anypony about that?” Princess Twilight asked, frowning a little in concentration. “It'd be so embarrassing, and Princess Celestia would think I hadn't-”

“Ssh, calm down,” Princess Cadence interrupted her, padding over with a smile and nuzzling Princess Twilight. “It's all right, Mix-up here is a friend of Fluttershy, I'm sure he understands. You're wearing his costume, remember?”

“O-oh, right,” Princess Twilight said, blushing. “I, heh, I almost forgot...”

She sat down, and rubbed her head with a dragon-pawed forehoof. “I was kind of imagining that I was a dragon who got taught things by Princess Celestia, heh… it's so easy to just relax and… and forget...”

“That's all right, you need to relax a bit,” Princess Cadence assured her. “We won't mind, and you're clearly stressed enough that you need it. You're safe here, Twilight.”

“Yes, um… so I told them about the costumes, and about what happened with us,” Fluttershy resumed, as Cadence gave Twilight a caring, crinkly hug. “And one thing led to another, and… well, we went and got some costumes...”

She smiled. “But – oh, what was it? Did you need to ask something?”

“That's right,” Mix-up agreed. “I've kind of got dried paint all over my coat, and I couldn't find where the shampoo was. I thought I'd come and ask where it was, or pick some up in town instead.”

“Can he stay and play, Cady?” Princess Twilight asked brightly.

The short time to calm down seemed to have helped more than just letting the dragon-ified Princess get over her panic attack, leaving her much more comfortable, and she flapped her wings a little. “Oh, what about queen of the hoard?”

“Oh, that's a dragon game,” Fluttershy realized. “I think we might need to get Mix-up sorted out first?”

“No, I want to play now,” Princess Twilight said, standing up so her tail wiggled from side to side a bit. “Dragons want to play quickly, because they like instant gratification!”

Mix-up saw Fluttershy hide a little smile. “I'm sorry, Mix-up, but it looks like Twilight would like to play… I don't suppose you'd be able to take part?”

She glanced over at a pile of things in the corner. “We don't have another suit, but I wonder if Cadence would be able to help us pick one up from the cupboard? Or, um, maybe there's something here that would work...”

The stallion frowned, thinking about it and blushing slightly. “I, well… I don't really want to end up getting all lost in foalish thinking or anything, because I do have something to do tomorrow, but – well, I guess I could stay for a bit?”

“That would be lovely,” Princess Cadence smiled. “I'm sure Twily is glad to have you staying with us as well. Aren't you, dear?”

“Mm-hmm,” Princess Twilight nodded, doing her best to wag her big plush dragon-tail. “We can play!”

“Give Mix-up time to get diapered, first,” Princess Cadence advised.

“Aww...” Twilight sighed, sitting back down again. “Waiting sucks.”

Twilight knew that a baby dragoness sometimes growled, but she also knew it was very bad manners. So she did her best not to growl, or pout, and just wait patiently for Fluttershy to be finished so they could play.

The soft, all-but-inaudible hissing and whispering in her ears lulled her, making it so it was hard to concentrate on anything for long… not as a direct thing, but making her think like a young dragon, and she could remember how easily Spike had been distracted when he was a little baby dragon.

None of that reasoning was anything she was actually noticing, she just felt bored and twitchy and started to play with her tail for something to do. She put it in her mouth for a moment, nibbling on the fat plushy tail-spade, then got bored of that as well and turned to Cadence.

Cadence looked funny, with her big plushy love-bug-butt, and Twilight giggled before raising a paw. “Um… Cadence?”

“What is it, sweetie?” Cadence asked, giving her a hug, and Twilight relaxed into the hug with a sigh.

“I'm bored...” she whined. “How long is it going to be before we can play Queen of the Hoard?”

“Not long now,” Cadence told her. “It looks like Mix-up's just about ready.”

“Great!” Twilight perked up instantly, bouncing up and down on her haunches.

The pegasus stallion was indeed dressed up, wearing a thick diaper and a pair of purple pyjamas with a star-burst cutie mark sewn into them. Twilight wondered for a moment why they looked so familiar, not quite able to reconcile vague memories of wearing them herself with her current draconic identity, then ignored the problem and just smiled at how cute the result looked.

It was a good thing whoever the pyjamas were for was a little bigger than Mix-up to give space for the diapers, though it looked like they were straining a bit anyway.

Wiggling a little at the sight, Twilight stood up to waddle over to where the two pegasi were. Cadence helped her, supporting her with a little flash of magic, and Twilight made it five whole steps before wobbling and falling back onto her padded rump.

“Whoopsie!” Cadence smiled, and Twilight giggled before getting up on all fours instead and waddling the rest of the way to Mix-up.

“Come on!” she demanded. “You know how to play Queen of the Hoard, right?”

“Not really, actually,” Mix-up admitted.

Twilight huffed, then blushed a little. “Oh, uh… right! So there needs to be a pile of stuff, that's a hoard, and it's whoever can stay on top of it!”

“It's a good thing Twilight's rooms had so many spare pillows,” Cadence said, looking at the “hoard” that they'd set up – a rough mount of blankets, cushions and plenty of pillows, with more spread around the edge in case either pony fell off.

“I, um… think it's supposed to be for sleepovers, though maybe not quite like this...” Fluttershy suggested.

“Okay!” Twilight said loudly. “You know the rules, right?”

“Yeah, you told me earlier,” Mix-up replied.

“Right!” Twilight replied. “Then let's go!”

“By the way,” Cadence added, as Twilight clambered her way up the pillow-pile with difficulty – seeming to have trouble partly because of how her forehooves weren't actually clawed hands and didn't work that way. “Where did you find the outfit? I know you mentioned going back to your house, but we didn't actually do it – and that's definitely a Twilight-themed outfit, which is kind of cute.”

“Oh, well – that was sort of a guess,” Fluttershy admitted. “Rarity made me a set of pyjamas with my cutie mark on them, and I had a look to see if she'd made any for Twilight – and she had.”

She smiled slightly. “It's a good thing they're made of such high-quality material, though, because getting the diaper into them was quite hard. I think it helps that Rarity made use of a mildly elastic thread and a cross-weave, because it means the whole structure can expand quite a lot before it breaks.”

The pegasus mare noticed that Cadence was giving her a strange look, and blushed. “Or, um, that's what I think, anyway...”

“You're full of surprises, Fluttershy,” Cadence told her with a smile.

Twilight slid back down the pile of pillows, and pouted – growling a little, before shaking herself and looking back up at her opponent.

A part of her was feeling quite embarrassed by how much trouble she was having, but it was only a small part; the rest of her was enjoying the game while being frustrated about losing. Dragons were prideful, after all, and the subtle whispering in her ears was coaxing her to act just like how she felt dragons should be.

Putting her padded foreleg down with a faint poof, Twilight looked up at the slightly nervous pegasus atop the pile. Her rump wiggled back and forth as she considered what to do, then she grinned mischievously and started pulling pillows out of the hoard.

“Hey!” Mix-up complained, as Twilight took pillow after pillow away from what he was standing on. “Can you do that?”

“Dragons want to have hoards!” Twilight replied proudly. “And this is a hoard, so it's my hoard!”

She grabbed onto a mattress with both forelegs, wobbling as she pulled it out, and the pile Mix-up was standing on collapsed – sending him tumbling down towards Twilight, who yelped and got knocked over backwards onto her own pile.

It didn't really hurt, thanks to all the padding, but both of them ended up in a heap and buried in pillows.

Twilight felt like snarling, then suddenly had an idea! She grabbed onto Mix-up with both paws, catching him around the midriff, and held him tightly in place.

“I win!” she announced. “He's my plushy toy now, and that means there's only me, so I win automatically!”

Mix-up did his best to wiggle free, but he didn't have a chance against Twilight's-

-dragon strength, that was it. Twilight nearly giggled, realizing she'd almost thought of herself as having 'alicorn' strength, but that sounded silly! Dragons didn't have alicorn strength.

Cadence giggled. “Well, that's one way to do it… what do you think, Fluttershy? Is that allowed?”

“Of course it's allowed!” Twilight protested, still squeezing Mix-up against her plushy side. The pegasus tried to get away for a moment longer, then sighed and stopped. “I'm a dragon, and I did it, so it has to be allowed!”

“That's not quite how it works, Twily,” Cadence replied gently, and kept going as Twilight pouted. “But unless Fluttershy can see a problem with it..?”

“Um… not really, no,” Fluttershy replied. “I suppose if Mix-up really wanted to be let go then Twilight would have to, but if he doesn't mind I think it'd be very nice of him to stay…?”

Mix-up blushed, and didn't say anything.

“Well, he's part of my hoard now,” Twilight announced, then blinked a few times – yawning, stretching like a biped, and nearly falling over onto her back.

“It looks like you're all tuckered out,” Cadence smiled. “I was going to ask Fluttershy what else she could think of to keep you occupied, but if you're that sleepy then maybe it's time for bed?”

“I'm not sleepy,” Twilight protested. “Yawning isn't necessarily anything to do with feeling – tired~”

She yawned again, and did fall onto her back this time, though the thick layers of plush and poof kept her from getting hurt even before considering both her own alicorn toughness and the fact she'd fallen onto the pile of cushions, pillows and blankets she'd been fighting over.

“It does look like Twily is very tired,” Cadence said, loudly enough for Twilight to hear. “Fluttershy, what do you recommend for a baby dragoness who's all sleepy?”

“Well… perhaps some warm milk?” Fluttershy suggested. “But the best thing to do if you're all sleepy is to get some sleep.”

She thought about that for a moment, then smiled. “Oh, um, if you can give her a nice cuddle, I can get some milk, and then I'll read a story?”

“That sounds nice,” Twilight mumbled. “Is it a good story?”

Fluttershy glanced around, momentarily lost, and Cadence floated a book over from the bookshelf to her. Taking it in a hoof, Fluttershy read the title.

“The Brave Little Librarian?” she asked.

Twilight let out a cute rawr, smiling happily at the sound of it, and Fluttershy caught a wink from Cadence.

“It was her favourite,” the elder princess explained in a whisper, and Fluttershy smiled back. She put the book down on a convenient table, and trotted off to warm the milk.

As she did, Cadence moved over to where Twilight and Mix-up were – the former wiggling a little as she got herself comfortable on the piles of blankets, and the latter looking resigned but with a bit of a blush.

Picking up a few blankets and pillows with her magic, Cadence snuggled up to her friend on the other side from the pegasus she'd captured. The blankets went over them all, forming a cozy warm layer on top to keep them snug, and she adjusted it a little to make sure she was comfortable as well before relaxing with a sigh.

When Fluttershy brought out the milk a few minutes later, Twilight was already drowsing, and Cadence took it upon herself to hold the bottle in the right place so Twilight could drink it.

The dragoness-ified alicorn started to drink, and finished about half the bottle before gently drifting off to sleep.

“I've been wondering about how much rest she's been getting,” Cadence whispered. “You know what she's like for overwork.”

Fluttershy nodded.

Mix-up began to try and move out of his confinement, but Twilight mumbled something and pulled him a little closer.

“Sorry,” Fluttershy said softly, trying not to giggle. “I'll make sure to help get you out a little after dawn tomorrow...”

Mix-up sighed, resigning himself to a cozy evening.

Author's Note

And that's the end of that one.

If I do any more in this story thread I'll call it something slightly different and post it as a sequel.