Dream Cycle - Celly and Lulu

Lulu sneaked into the room, keeping low to the ground as she approached the bed. Slinking along, she slowly rose up the closer she got to the bed. Then, with a flash, she leaped onto the bed, jumping up and down on the pony still under the covers. “Getupgetupgetup! It's our first day of school!” Lulu cheered, her mane bouncing as she did as well. There was a groan from under the covers, Lulu's bouncing coming to a stop as an aura of golden magic surrounded her tail. She was levitated off and unceremoniously dumped onto the floor as the covers were pushed back.

Celly rubbed her eyes as she sat up, her mane fluffed out at awkward angles. “Lulu... it's too early for school...” She looked over to the clock, blinking several times before her bleary vision cleared enough for her to read the clock on the wall. 7:00. Maybe it wasn't too early. Groaning a bit, Celly slid out of bed and trotted over to the door, Lulu bouncing up and following her excitedly.

“Come on, you gotta be a little excited! We're gonna learn so much cool stuff!” Lulu exclaimed. The two made their way to the bathroom to prepare for the day, Celly brushing her mane into a more agreeable style.

“The tutors weren't very exciting last year, Lulu, trust me. Well, the music teacher was alright I suppose...” she said. Perhaps this year would at least be more interesting with Lulu with her.

“Well, maybe,” Lulu shrugged, not put off much.

The alicorn shook her own hair out, preferring the slightly more touseled look to how Celly liked to control it, and looked herself over in the mirror.

“Okay, I've got my uniform on… anything I missed?”

“Not really,” Celly replied.

“Hey, Celly…” Lulu added, frowning. “How come we're going to be in the same classes?”

Celly blinked, not quite sure.

“Well, it's because...” she began, searching for an explanation, then nodded as one came to her. “It's because the classes are on rotation. Everything's taught in cycles, so classes are always going on in sets rather than in a single go and so you and I will be in the same class.”

That made total sense to both of them, and they nodded.

“Well?” Lulu asked. “Come on, let's go! We'll be late otherwise!”

“We won't,” Celly countered, but hurried after her sister anyway.

“Wow...” Lulu said, staring up at the name of the school over the gates. “I'm so glad we're getting to go to the Royal Sisters' School for Deep Learning!”

“Really, Lulu, it's just school,” Celly told her, trotting past. “You'll get used to it soon enough.”

“But I haven't, yet!” Lulu countered. “It's going to be great!”

She reached into her saddlebag and retrieved a timetable. “So, let's see… it looks like our first class is… Induction? That's a funny word.”

“It just means they're introducing us to the school,” Celly said knowledgeably. “It's got a fancy name because they like that sort of thing.”

Lulu shrugged, figuring that sounded about right. All the ponies at their castle certainly liked using over fancy words whenever they could too. And if this was a school for princesses, it only made sense that everything would be fancy here. The pair walked through the gates and up to the front doors, Celly looking around. “Huh... I thought I remembered more ponies here last time.”

“But we're the only royal sisters! How would there be more?” Lulu responded, following the map towards the auditorium. Celly frowned, wondering why just two sisters needed such a big school to themselves when the tutors could just come to the castle. She shook her head, figuring it must just be another thing she'd understand when she was a proper princess. She followed Lulu through the hallways, figuring she might as well sit through the induction again this year if their classes weren't going to start until after anyway.

They were soon stepping up to the doors of the auditorium, Lulu rushing up to the front, Celly begrudgingly following as she had been hoping Lulu at least planned on sitting a few rows back. The two waited patiently, Lulu triple checking her saddlebags had everything she needed in them. Eventually the house lights dimmed, and those on the stage lit up to illuminate the pony trotting on stage.

“Oh, look!” Lulu said, pointing. “Isn't that Twilight Sparkle?”

“Lulu, ssh!” Celly hissed, then turned her own attention to the stage as well.

It did indeed look like it was Twilight Sparkle, trotting out onto the stage with her horn glowing slightly as she moved up to the lectern.

Something about Twilight seemed a little odd, though. In the first place, Celly was fairly sure there was something fundamentally off about her being a student at a school where Twilight Sparkle was a teacher… but whenever she tried to focus on what that problem was, it somehow just didn't seem important, like it was just an idle idea she'd had which went away before she properly focused on it.

On the other hoof, even if going to a school run by Twilight Sparkle was normal, this Twilight Sparkle didn't seem… quite right, somehow. She seemed oddly large, fluffy… not fat, exactly, so much as oversized.

Celly thought about it, and shook her head. Why was it that she felt that a bigger alicorn should have a more slender build? Perhaps that was just the same kind of idle idea the other thing was.

But when she looked more closely, Twilight did still seem odd. Almost… plushy, in fact.

“Welcome to the Royal Sisters' School for Deep Learning!” Twilight said brightly, her horn flaring as a collection of slides slid into the projector. “I'm delighted to welcome both our new pupils and those coming back for another year.”

There was only one of each in the room, but Twilight continued uninterrupted. “I hope you'll do your very best to get as much out of your time at school as possible – listening to your teachers, doing your work, and remembering that you're here to learn.”

A slide clicked into place, and Twilight continued talking about the importance of education and the valuable experiences that a student could learn at the School.

Celly had heard it all before, she thought, and it made her yawn a bit… but Lulu yawned as well as Twilight's voice went on and on, so she didn't feel guilty.

“We've invited a host of new teachers to the school, so even those of you who think you've learned everything will have some new opportunities to experience as well.”

Twilight clicked to another slide, showing a couple nondescript ponies playing hoofball. “Of course, learning isn't just limited to books and paperwork. We'll teach you plenty about how to stay fit and healthy, and there's a lot to learn about being princesses too. Princesses need to know how to dress and act in front of their subjects, and about royal decrees.”

Twilight's next slide showed two ponies dressed up in regalia that looked just a little puffier than Lulu expected a royal dress to look, and then a pony signing a paper. Celly thought she saw the word 'diaper' in the fine print on the decree that was being signed, but it passed by too quickly for her to be sure. After all, why would there be a decree about diapers anyway? That's just silly.

While Celly was thinking to herself, she missed the next couple of slides as Twilight continued her speech, flipping through her notes to make sure she hit every important point. Celly had a hard time suppressing another yawn, only vaguely picking up on what Twilight was talking about. Something about the attendance policies, the conduct code, the dress code...

It was at that point that Twilight paused, looking out over the audience. “...and it seems we have a few members who have forgotten that part! Our new students may have an excuse, but those returning really ought to know better!” Celly and Lulu looked at each other, both feeling a bit guilty. What had they forgotten? Celly didn't remember a uniform last year.

Celly was too busy racking her memory for what the uniform was – sure that if there was a uniform she must have at least seen it last time – to focus entirely on the remainder of Twilight's presentation. She got a few snatches of it, but trying to focus more than enough for the odd image or sentence seemed quite beyond her at the moment.

There was something about the lunch canteen, which apparently had an excellent supply of bottles – something that seemed odd to focus on, but Celly didn't really have any solid objection to that. There was a bit about the importance of listening to teachers to provide a structured learning environment…

Finally, after what felt like hours, Twilight's induction speech came to an end. Celly and Lulu yawned a bit, blinking and stretching a little as they realized, and Lulu raised a hoof a bit uncertainly.

“Yes?” Twilight asked.

“Well, um…” Lulu began, blinking a few times as she looked at Twilight. The pair of slit turquoise eyes looking back at her glittered, and Lulu lowered her hoof slowly. “Um… sorry, I forgot...”

“That should be 'Sorry, Miss Twilight',” Twilight corrected. “But I'll let it slide because it's your first day. If you were wondering where to get your uniforms from, you can pick them up at the school shop before your first lesson.”

“Right! Thanks,” Lulu said, then backpedalled. “I mean, um, thanks, Miss Twilight.”

“That's better,” Twilight smiled. “Off you go – you don't want to be late to your lessons!”

Celly and Lulu got to their hooves, turning about to head out of the auditorium.

“Do you remember where the school shop is, Celly?” Lulu asked, trying to find it on the map.

“I... think it was back near the front,” Celly replied, realizing how silly that phrase sounded, even if it made sense. The pair trotted down the hallways again, trying to remember how the school fit together. It wasn't long before they found the shop, the school uniforms hanging in the window. They were simple vests and short skirts, about as standard as a uniform one could expect, which Lulu found oddly disappointing. Celly pushed open the door, a bell ringing as they entered before they heard a voice from the back.

“Just a moment darlings!” There was a bit of shuffling before Rarity stepped out from the back room and up to the counter. She eyed the two small ponies, nodding slowly. “Ah, you need your uniforms, don't you? Step right over here and we'll get your measured in no time!” She led the two over to a rack of uniforms and a small podium, motioning for Celly to be the first up. Rarity's horn flashed as she conjured up a measuring tape that began to stretch and record Celly's measurements. While Rarity was working on her sister, Lulu was looking more closely at the seamstress. She, like Twilight, seemed oddly... puffy? Lulu couldn't figure why that was the first descriptor that came to her head, and yet it seemed perfectly accurate. Rarity just seemed like she was puffier than a normal pony. Something more akin to an oversized plush toy.

“Alright, I believe this should fit you nicely.” Rarity levitated over a top and a skirt to Celly, along with some kind of puffy pillow-like object. Celly looked it over, only to blush a second later as Lulu started her measurements.

“Is this... a diaper?”

“What's that, darling?” Rarity asked, still working on measuring Lulu. “Something wrong with your uniform? I know it's dreadfully plain to have everypony wear the same thing, but-”

“No, that's not what – that's not the problem!” Celly replied, holding up the offending item. “This is a diaper – why have you given me a diaper?”

“It's part of the uniform,” Rarity said, pausing in taking Lulu's measurements. “You know, of course, that all the pupils attending the school have to follow the dress code, and you've got just the uniform which fits the dress code.”

“It does?” Celly blinked. “I.. don't remember that in the dress code. In fact, I don't remember the dress code at all...”

“Oh, that explains it,” Rarity said, nodding. “But you have your uniform now – and well designed if I do say so myself! It should fit you just fine, snug without being tight and allowing you enough movement for normal school activity without losing that fetching waddle.”

“Fetching waddle?” Lulu asked. “That's… wait, is that really...”

“Now, now, dear,” Rarity said, smirking – her orange eyes shining, distracting both sisters. “Do you really want to argue fashion with your fashion teacher?”

“I… well...” Celly began, her gaze focused on Rarity's. “...no, sorry, Miss Rarity.”

“That's better,” the oddly-plushy white pony said. “Now, do put it on so I can be sure I got your measurements right.”

Rarity handed over Lulu's uniform as Celly wandered over to a small changing booth for a bit of privacy. She lay the vest and skirt on the counter, looking down at the cloth diaper. Even if Rarity said it wasn't very big, it certainly looked thick to her. She unfolded it, laying it on the floor as she position her rear over it. Her legs wobbled a bit as she sat down in the diaper with a 'poof', blushing brightly as it hugged her rump. She quickly folded it up, trying not to focus on how warm it was. With the buttons secured, Celly stood up, only to spot her reflection in the mirror. The diaper spread her legs a fair bit, her tail wrapped up in the fluff.

She tore her eyes away and hoped that the rest of the uniform would at least distract from the diaper around her rump. At least she wasn't the only one being stuffed into this ridiculous thing. She easily slid the vest over her chest, the skirt fitting snugly around her waist. Rarity had managed to get the measurements perfect, as much as Celly didn't really feel like admitting it considering the fluff around her butt which, upon seeing herself in the mirror again, was not hidden by the skirt in the slightest. In fact, it seems as if the diaper was accentuated by the skirt, as if the length was just short enough to make it seem all the thicker.

Celly waddled out of the changing room, Rarity gasping in delight upon seeing her. “Oh my dear, you look absolutely marvelous! I do hope it all fits comfortably!”

“Well… it fits, at least,” Celly grudgingly admitted. “And… it is comfortable, but the whole thing still makes me feel kind of awkward...”

“Yes, that is a problem with uniforms,” Rarity replied breezily. “Still, it looks good on you!”

She chuckled. “But, of course, in fashion class we'll have an opportunity to try something which fits better with your own personal colour scheme, and perhaps that'll suit you more closely?”

Celly wanted to ask whether that would involve diapers as well, but the question sort of slipped her mind as she caught Rarity's eye again.

Lulu came out of her changing room a few seconds later, some of her enthusiasm for the school day seemingly dulled down by the oddness of the uniform, and Rarity gave her a similar gasp and exclamation of delight.

“Well… I suppose if it's the uniform,” Lulu said, twisting back to look at herself. “I do think it's going to give me quite a waddle, though.”

“Oh, don't worry about that,” Rarity told her. “After all, everypony will be doing the same thing, it's the uniform – and I personally think a bit of a strut is just fine for a mare who's wearing clothes which look good on her!”

“Well… right,” Lulu blushed. “I… suppose...”

“So… what classes do we have first?” Celly asked. “Did we get our timetables?”

“I've got it!” Lulu pulled out her time table, Celly leaning over to see what their first class was. “Awww, math? That's not a good start to the day!” Lulu complained.

“It's not that bad darling, Twilight makes an excellent teacher, and counting is very important for a princess to know!” Rarity responded, waving farewell as the pair waddled out of the store.

Their rumps swayed back and forth slightly as they made their way down the halls, both of them blushing just a bit from the thought of how they must look. They quickly made their way to the room where Twilight was sitting behind her desk, looking up as they entered.

“Ah, perfect, you're just in time! Just pick out a seat and we'll get started,” she said cheerfully. Lulu and Celly looked over to see two desks in the front of the room, rest of the floor relatively barren. They sat down, Lulu dutifully pulling out her notebook and pencils as Celly did the same, flipping through a few old notes from the previous year to reach a blank page.

“Now, as we have a new student, we'll be spending a bit of time reviewing the previous material to make sure we're all in the same place before we move on to more complicated matters.

Twilight's horn glowed, shining a surprisingly dark blue color as she levitated some chalk over to the board. “We'll start off as simple as we can get.” She said, writing out “2+2 =” upon the board.

Celly stifled a grunt of annoyance. There's reviewing old material and then there's just insulting her. Her own horn glowed a bit as she doodled a little in her notebook, Twilight continuing to write down a few more equations. “Now, can anyone solve these for me? Lulu, how about you?

“Well… it's easy, isn't it?” Lulu said, sounding a bit uncertain. “It seems almost… too easy?”

Twilight smirked. “It's good to hear you're up to speed on the material. So?”

“...two plus two is four,” Lulu answered.

“That's very good,” Twilight praised. “And the next one?”

“Two times two is four as well,” Lulu said. “Can I have a harder question?”

“But of course,” Twilight replied, her eyes glittering.

She raised the chalk again, still wrapped in that oddly dark glow, and moved it over the other side of the board.

Lulu stared in disbelief as the new question took shape. It had derivatives, integrals, factorials and some symbols she didn't even pretend to recognize, and took up three rows on the board by the time Twilight finished putting it together.

“There you go,” Twilight said. “That's a bit more like the sort of level you should be at. So what's the answer?”

Lulu blinked, shook her head, and tried looking again to see if the mess of symbols had suddenly become comprehensible.

It hadn't.

“I… don't have a clue,” she admitted. “Celly? Do you have any idea?”

Celly looked up from her doodling, and did a double-take.

“Where did that come from?”

“Celly, if you could tell Lulu the answer to this one?” Twilight asked.

“But… um… n-no, I can't,” Celly admitted.

She looked down at her notebook, surprised to discover that she'd drawn a diaper, then looked back up as Twilight swept the equation off the board.

“Wait – what was the answer?” she asked. “Um… I mean, what was the answer, Miss Twilight?”

“Four,” Twilight replied, with a smirk. “Let's go back to some remedial maths.”

She swept the chalk around in a spiralling flourish, and began to write again – a little flick of the chalk after every number or symbol.

Celly looked a little ashamed that she didn't know the material, especially when the answer seemed so simple. Surely, she should have remembered that from last year, shouldn't she? She looked back up to the board as Twilight wrote out a few more equations. Her plush hooves let out soft 'pomfs' with each step that she took, which Lulu thought was a little odd, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on why.

“Here, this should be a bit easier.” Twilight punctuated the last equation with a poke of her chalk, turning back to face the class of two.

Lulu looked up at the equation, thinking that it definitely seemed easier than the one they had just been shown, but still a bit tricky. She scratched her head, trying to work it out. Celly was having equal difficulty, tilting her head slightly to one side as she stared up. “...is it... 18?” Celly finally spoke up.

“Indeed, 6 times 3 is 18!” Twilight responded, writing down another. As she did Celly found herself following the fancy flourishes and waves Twilight was slipping into her chalk-work, the numbers and symbols having a bit more flair than they did before.

“Now, 9 divided by 3?” Twilight asked.

The two sat in silence, still working this out. Lulu thought she knew this, and yet the more she pondered, the more her mind seemed to trip over itself. After several minutes, Twilight shrugged, and connected the two dots above the division symbol to turn it into an addition symbol. “Well, that is a bit trickier, taking this away is hardly as fun as adding them on, after all. Who has fun with less candy or diapers?”

She chuckled, Lulu and Celly not quite catching what she had said as they had been too focused on the last equation.

“12!” Lulu shouted out as she easily understood the modified problem, however.

“Correct! But remember to raise your hoof, Lulu!”

Lulu mumbled an apology, and Twilight wrote out another question. This one had plenty of sixes and nines, which the teaching (and slightly plushy?) pony wrote out as though they were the first turn and a half of a spiral.

“I think you should do this one, Celly,” Twilight suggested, stepping back to reveal it.

Celly frowned, looking more closely at the board so she could see the question as clearly as possible.

“Six plus nine minus six, plus nine, minus six, minus nine, plus six, minus nine, plus six,” Celly said, her eyes following each of the looping numbers around for a moment as she read it – making her blink, feeling a little dizzy.

By the time she reached the end of the problem she'd forgotten where it started, so she went back to the beginning – trying to do each step one at a time, her tongue sticking out slightly as she concentrated as hard as possible.

Twilight was smiling by the side of the board, her eyes flashing, and every time Celly got more than halfway she lost her place… somehow not able to keep track of the numbers as they went up and down.

“Try thinking of it as diapers,” Twilight suggested. “You start with six diapers...”

Celly pouted slightly, but the advice did seem to help. Now she was thinking of them as something real – as diapers – she was able to follow what was going on, and a minute or so later she tentatively gave her answer.

“Er… s-six?”

“Very good, Celly.” Twilight congratulated her. Celly gave a small smile, sitting back in her chair. She seemed to notice her seat was just a bit more comfortable, but she couldn't quite seem to put her hoof on why. It hardly mattered anyway as Twilight began to write out another equation.

“Now, this is probably a bit advanced for you, but I bet if you think very hard you'll figure it out.” Twilight wrote out a simple equation, then a graph beside it. “Now, suppose the radius of a circle is inversely dependent on how much time has passed. With an equation like this, what kind of graph might we expect?” She asked, slowly swaying her rump left and right as she awaited an answer.

Lulu pondered the question, trying to make sense of the equation. If the radius got smaller as time passed, and you start at some point, then that point should curl inwards...

“Is it a spiral?” She finally asked, after raising her hoof, of course.

“It is!” Twilight said delighted as she began to draw a spiral on the graph lines. The chalk spun around and around and around and around...

Celly and Lulu started to get dizzy as they followed the spiral drawing. Twilight continued to explain, but neither were paying much attention to her, too lost in how surprisingly deep the spiral seemed to go into the board...

Celly was swaying back and forth in her seat a little by the time Twilight finished talking, her movements following those of the slightly soft-looking teacher, and next to her Lulu was doing much the same.

“...girls?” Twilight asked, and Celly jumped. “I hope you're paying attention!”

“I, um… I was trying?” Lulu said, weakly. “But… you were saying about a spiral, weren't you?”

“That was ten minutes ago,” Twilight said sternly, making Lulu blush. “I hope your sister was paying a bit more attention.”

Celly blushed as well. “Um… a bit? I think?”

“Then you shouldn't have trouble with answering my question,” Twilight replied, smirking. “But I'll repeat it. What number comes next? Thirteen, twelve, eleven...”

“...ten?” Celly said, a little uncertainly.

Twilight nodded encouragingly, waving her hoof a little, and Celly continued. “Nine?”

“Eight!” Lulu volunteered proudly. “Seven!”

“Six,” they both said together. “Five. Four… three...”

Even though the numbers were getting simpler, it seemed harder and harder to come up with the next answer.

“...two...” Celly mumbled. “One...”

Twilight brought her hoof down, producing a clop-

-and Celly nearly walked into Lulu.

“...huh?” she asked, blinking a few times, then shook her head to wake up a bit.

“Sis?” Lulu asked, looking around and trying to blink sleep out of her own eyes. “What happened?”

“I… don't know?” Celly replied. “I thought we were in Twilight's lesson...”

She frowned, noticing that Lulu was wearing a midnight-black diaper cover, then shook it off as unimportant and looked around. There was a sign on the wall for the gym-

The gym! That was right, they were nearly late for gym class!

Celly broke into a canter, not noticing her own midnight-black diaper cover.