The Tower

Another round of stairs. Round and round.

Shining must’ve completed another lap around the tower by the time he reached the next floor. And he certainly took his time doing it too. But it wasn’t his fault that now every time he tried to waddle up a flight, clouds of foal powder squeezed out of his diaper, distracting him with such a foalish smell all the time. He had to stop and wrinkle his nose with each step for pony’s sake!

And every time his spread gait caused him to slip, he—

Shining shook his head. “Come on,” he grumbled, clearing the top step without slipping. “Don’t be a baby about it.”

He winced at his own choice of words. They’d just slipped out, but they really shouldn’t be his first choice given the situation he was in. Grunting, he stepped into the next room, swallowed by yet another black void.

Shining was reluctant to light up the area around him. He had a feeling his magic would be drained again if he used it, but he wasn’t eager to deal with a third loss today. Sure he’d rested for a bit, but it would take more than that to replace his energy.

But if he didn’t, he had a feeling he’d be standing in this dark room for a while. He wanted to step back out into the staircase, where light still leaked up from the second floor, but turning around only revealed what he feared. That doorway was gone, no doubt replaced with pearly white walls. Here he was, here he’d remain. The only way out was up and the only way up was solving this room’s limerick.

Which he couldn’t read until he could see.

“Urggh!” Shining groaned. “Fine!” He hated the way he was forced into this losing gambit. This tower was designed to take more out of every pony who tried to ascend it. A clever idea, that was horribly frustrating when you were experiencing it.

His horn lit up with magic.

And the magic slipped away.

He watched magenta lines swirl away from the top of his head, spreading along the room. They took their time, letting Shining get dizzy from the loss of magic.

Fsh.

Torches ignited. Light, at last. One look around and Shining wished he could go back into the dark.

Before him, a wide expanse of clothes. Hangers and racks, shelves and drawers, chests and mannequins. He hadn’t stepped into a room; he was in a giant walk-in closet.

It took him a moment to really focus, and not just because of the dizzy spell. So many colors suddenly vomiting onto his eyes. The familiar eggshell white of the tower was tucked away behind so much new stimuli. When he finally started processing it all, he groaned.

Part of him knew he should have expected this: Foal clothes.

Shining really couldn’t believe how bad his luck was. Mannequins dolled up in filly dresses, onesies clinging to hangers. He had no doubt there were foalish accessories waiting for him in those drawers too. And looking around, he didn’t even see something meant for colts.

There was another plaque in the middle of the room. Shining felt he knew what was coming already, but he walked up to it to read anyway. Who knew? Maybe he’d be surprised.

They say clothes make the mare, or in this case, filly

It’s time for you to wear something frilly!

Play dress up today

Then you’ll be on your way

Once you look oh so precious and silly.

“Oh I’ll look silly alright,” Shining grumbled. He couldn’t believe this. As if the diapers hadn’t been bad enough. This stupid tower really was intent on babying him completely. And why did it only have filly clothes?!

His eyes darted to the door at the other end of the room. Then back to the empty slab of wall that used to be an opening.

He whined in the back of his throat. He really didn’t want to do this. Even more than playing with foal toys. At least that could be easily pushed to the back of his mind. He highly doubted once he put these clothes on that they’d come off.

His diapers crinkled to confirm. While he hadn’t tried taking them off after leaving the floor below, he really didn’t want to try again. Another failure was not what he needed right now.

“Okay…” he breathed. His eyes scanned the room around him again, this time scrutinizing his options. He wanted the least foalish, least filly-ish options he could get away with.

Dresses where out. Off the table. Absolutely not.

There went about ninety percent of his options.

He fought down a grumble, eyes turning to a row of onesies beside him. They were about the only other choice he had. Not… great. But not… terrible? At least the flaps would cover the back of his diaper. It’d be a small mercy to not think about the SISSY plastered on his plot.

There isn’t anything else? A small part of him tried. Maybe a T-shirt with a childish logo on it, or something?

Of course there wasn’t. Shining was only trying to delay the inevitable at this point. He shuffled towards the onesie rack, crinkles chasing after him.

He tried lighting up his horn, but it sputtered and dimmed for a moment. Sure it snapped back to full light in a moment, but that initial fizzle shocked him. His horn felt so… hollow.

Shutting off his magic, Shining reduced himself to thumbing through the onesies by hoof. He had a feeling he should be saving his magic right now, especially since he didn’t know how many more floors planned to drain him.

I’ve got to be at the halfway point by now… right? He thought, bitter there was no way to know for sure. The reality was he could only be a third of the way through. Or less. But there also had to be an ending. Magical or no, this tower had a finite height. He’d reach the top sooner or later.

Lost in thought, he reached the end of the line of onesies, his subconscious disliking every option presented.

Shining sighed. Peach, pink, purple, seafoam green… all such girly colors. Not even a blue one in sight. Not even a baby blue one.

To make matters worse, none of them were just plain onesies either. Childish graphics on the front, words on the back, bubble sleeves and built in skirts… all of them were designed to be the filliest things imaginable. Naturally that was the tower’s plan, it had to be. The way this thing conspired to make him more and more foalish… it was uncanny.

The eternal question “why?” rang out in his mind. What possible use could King Sombra have for a place like this? Was it just to watch Shining suffer?

He shook his head. No, Sombra’s gone. Whatever this tower is doing here now, it can’t be because of him anymore. Right?

He ripped a onesie from its hanger, desperate to not think about that. When he looked down at his inadvertent selection, he groaned.

Buttercream colored, with swirly words across the chest that read “Daddy’s Little Princess”. Bubble sleeves made out of translucent yellow silk, and a matching tutu skirt sewn into the waist of the damn thing.

Shining poured over the other outfits on the rack one last time, before coming to the inevitable conclusion that this one was the least worst out of all of them. Somehow.

He reluctantly wrestled the thing over his head. His hooves battles the fabric, all but smothering himself. When did he get this clumsy?

Biting his lip, he sparked his horn to life just for a second. Long enough to angle the neck of the thing and poke his head out. But even that took something out of him. He was sluggish getting his hooves through the sleeves.

“Come on,” he grumbled, straightening out the fabric across his midsection. While patting it down, his hooves slipped and smoothed down his new skirt as well. He blushed. At least all the was left was the flaps hanging near his rear.

Sitting down, Shining sank into his diapers. They hissed and crinkled while he cringed. He struggled to find a decent way to sit that would allow him access to the onesie flaps. It didn’t help that he was battling the built in skirt for visibility. It was so short but still just long enough.

Finally, he grabbed the flaps, yanking them together so he could fiddle with the buttons. This proved to be the hardest thing he’d done all day.

It was a monumental feat to button the flap over the glorified pillows between his legs. He swore the fabric was about to tear more than once. But finally, the last button clipped into place.

And it was on him.

On. Him.

Shining shivered. He couldn’t believe he was actually wearing this. The way the soft fabric hugged his coat, the way it tightened his diapers… the way that forced his padding to squeeze him down there.

Shining shook his head. “Nope nope nope!” He was not going to think about how he was twitching, stiffening… NOPE!

He forced himself up, wobbling before he could finally put all four hooves on the ground again. His little skirt swished very distractingly as he did.

Finally up, he found he still wasn’t used to how wide his gait was now. The return to standing that way was just awkward. Not to mention he was consciously spreading his hind legs even further apart now. Anything to relieve the poofy pressure on his privates.

“Okay,” he breathed. At least now he could move on to the next room. He looked to the door, about to waddle forward.

But the door was closed.

His jaw almost dropped. “Are you kidding me?” Shining shouted. His still scratchy throat warned him that was a bad idea. Quieting down, he hissed. “This wasn’t good enough?”

He hadn’t even hesitated this time. He’d done exactly what the room had asked of him, hadn’t he?

It’s time for you to wear something frilly!

He snapped his mouth shut, the line coming back to him without him really needing to concentrate. Frilly. Frilly… Frilly?

He observed his attire. The onesie, despite labeling him as a “princess”, swishing with it’s skirt, and sporting poofy bubble sleeves, was not, in fact, frilly in the slightest. Was the room going to be that much of a stickler for the rules?

“Come on,” he whined. Then he kicked himself. I’m acting just like a little filly. ...Err, colt. He shook his head. This was no time to let the tower get to him. He had to figure this out.

The onesie alone wasn’t good enough, he knew that much. So what else could he do? His eyes scanned the room looking for an answer. There were actually dozens of frilly things waiting for him. He had options. Lips tightening, he looked down at his onesie. The onesie.

Should he take it off?

Yes! The thought immediately leapt to his mind. No way he wanted to keep this junk on, especially if more was coming. But…

No… the rational side of him responded. If he did remove it, would it be another situation like the first floor? The tower might make him do extra work if he tried to take this off. Did he really want to risk that?

Not to mention, he was kind of afraid he wouldn’t even be able to take it off in the first place. Maybe it was better not to tempt fate…

He diverted his attention back to the outfits. He’d already taken the lesser of two evils, now it was time for the greater.

He pushed himself forward, the momentum almost to great for his spread gait. Narrowly avoiding a dive to the floor, Shining paused to reorient himself. Then proceeded to waddle forward.

Lowering his standards, still nothing on the shelves pleased him.

A row of maid outfits? Pass

Long, flowing princess dresses? No thank you.

A drawer filled with socks and booties? Hmmm.

It was better than everything else he’d seen so far. Shining pulled the drawer out from it’s dresser, letting it thud to the ground and spill it’s contents everywhere. He’d been hoping for something a little less… girly to land in front of him, but he really ought to know better by now.

Most were some variation of pink. All of them designed in some way shape or form. Delightful.

He picked through them, more than taking his time before settling. Pink and white stripes snaked up all four of his legs. The soft cotton hugged him tightly.

Booties came next. This time, as much as it pained him, he forced himself to pick something frilly. Pale purple, with a white frill trim. It wasn’t much, but it should do the trick for that stupid door.

Forcing them on, Shining found he had to contend with the cumbersome things more than he would’ve liked. Of course his magic would make it about a million times easier, but he still wasn’t about to risk it.

Finally they popped into place, his hooves squeezed by a comfy plush interior. Shining stood back up, feeling himself sink slightly into the plush. “There,” he grumbled. “Good enough?”

He looked up at the door. It looked back at him, closed.

“Oh come on!”

He was wearing something frilly, just like the stupid limerick had demanded. How was this not good enough?

Play dress up today

Then you’ll be on your way

Unbidden, he recalled the other lines. “Play dress up” stuck out specifically. “Then you’ll be on your way”. So he’d misinterpreted the thing? It wasn’t about wearing something frilly at all, but rather dressing up in a costume?

“Great,” Shining tossed his head back to the tune of a sigh. So he’d bootie-d himself up for nothing.

He tried to kick his legs free, but the foalish shoes hand been snapped on tight. And even trying to pry them off did no good. He couldn’t make his encumbered hooves do anything. Or was it just the bizarro magic of the tower preventing him from taking it off? He could always test it out with is magic, but could he afford to?

“Forget it.” He was stuck with the booties; his own fault. If the worst should happen and he ended up being seen like this, they were probably the least of his worries anyway. At least, that’s what he tried to convince himself of.

He still had to get out of this room before he could worry about being seen. What honestly came next? Dress up… play dress up… What, like a little filly at a slumber party? “This is so stupid!”

His groan carried him through another look around the room. Plenty of outfits to go around, none of them pleasant options. But he gritted his teeth and waddled up to a row of dresses anyway. He’d already made it this far. He couldn’t back out now.

So he scoured the forest of dresses. Something, anything, in here must be tolerable. He waddled down the first row, turned, and waddled back, neck careening up to look at higher shelves. He toddled across the room, repeating himself along the next row. When he left unsatisfied, he came right back where he started and tried again. This time with lower standards.

Shining kept waddling back and forth, trying to find an acceptable dress to wear. Usually he groaned whenever Cadence did this in all the times he’d accompanied her to Canterlot shops. Now here he was, pulling the same thing as his wife. But for different reasons, of course.

“No,” he grumbled at the same dress he’d passed five times by now. “No. Nope. Uh-uh. No way.”

He was beginning to feel dizzy. How many times had he circled this room? Long enough to grow accustomed to the sway of his plot as he toddled.

...So too long then.

That’s it! He declared. All this wasting time… what if he guards were about to leave? He had to make a choice. He couldn’t stall any longer.

“You.” He pointed to a peach colored ballerina outfit. His hoof sank down. No way he wanted something that girly. And besides, would that even match his onesie?

Shining blinked, surprised at himself. Where’d that come from?

Biting his lip, he decided it must have just been logic trying to take over. Surely the room wouldn’t be pleased with a poor ensemble, right? Right. Naturally he’d have to be a little picky on that front, or else that door would never open.

Okay then… “You.” He came to a seafoam green dress. Sparkly fairy wings poked out from behind it though… and all those dark green bows… He shook his head. Gaudy. Just gaudy.

“Hmm…” His eyes fell on the row of maid outfits from before. Each were pretty unique from each other, between the designs of the pinafores, the amount of frills… Frills are still important. He decided. Because the limerick had said so, obviously.

“But I’m not going to wear that.” He shook his head. “I’m no servant, I’m a princess.” He flinched. “Prince!” he corrected, loudly, for nopony to hear. His mouth dried out, abandoning him for making it say something so ridiculous.

Just a slip of the tongue, he told himself. Man… this place really his getting to me.

He ran a bootie-d hoof through his mane, taking his mind off that mistake by turning to new dresses. He could always go with one of the princess-y looking dresses. What little filly wouldn't want to wear one of those? Only cause that’s who I’m trying to imitate! As if he needed the reminder.

Toddling over to the selection near the corner of the room, Shining tapped his chin as he observed. His eyes had just glazed over these every time he’d passed them earlier. Now he scrutinized them. Every stitch, seam, and pattern. He had to find the girliest of the bunch.

...So he could avoid it, of course.

Shining shook his head again, hoof to his temple. It sank into the bootie, reminding him of the soft crib from before. Maybe I could use another nap, he mused. At this point, he had no idea how long he’d been in the tower. How many hours had passed? Was it nightfall already?

That’s gotta be it! He decided. It’s bedtime and I’m still up. No wonder I’m acting weird. Nevermind the fact that he hadn’t had a bedtime in years.

Shining really hoped his guards were still searching for him if that was the case. He doubted they’d return without him. Cadence would not be happy if that were the case. He didn’t even want to think about how she’d feel if he was reported missing...

“Don’t worry, Cady,” he mumbled to himself. “I’m coming home.”

He grabbed a dress of the rack. It was time to get this over with.

It was pink, but so was half the stuff in this cursed room. As much as Shining wanted to cringe at that alone, there was more. Magenta frills complimented puffy bubble sleeves. A lacy front that allowed for the dress to be tightened light a corset. A magenta sash around the waist leading to a matching bow on the back. Scratch that, a mammoth sized bow on the back.

And the skirt. Sweet Celestia, the skirt. Poofy from so many built in petticoats. Short enough to leave Shining diapered rear nice and exposed. More matching magenta frills poking out of the helm. And the roses. The roses. Lining the helm of the skirt, fake, glitterly roses of purple, pink, red, and white. Encircling the whole dress just to spite him.

Shining might have accidentally just picked the girliest, filliest thing in the whole room. He wanted to put it back… but he had to commit to a decision at some point. If he weaseled out of this one, would he ever bring himself to pick another dress.

“At least you match my socks,” he grumbled. What a consolation. Hopefully it would be enough for the door.

Up and over his head, Shining wrestled with the thing as he tried to get it all the way on. The petticoats tried to smother him. The lace threatened to entangle him. His blush threatened to burst his face. But in the end, he wore it.

His body was tense as the fabric settled on top of him. He didn’t relax until he took a long breath.

He felt like a doll. The dress, onesie, socks and booties… diapers… it was all too much. Could he even call himself a stallion at this rate? He couldn’t seem himself right now, but he doubted he resembled one.

Shining looked up and saw the final nail in his coffin. A plastic tiara, complete with fake gems and a thin veil behind it, resting on the shelf by the dresses. No doubt meant to be worn in tandem with those clothes as part of the princess get-up. Shining’s stomach turned, fearing his dress up wouldn’t be complete if it wasn’t on him.

He sighed out his defeat, grabbed the headpiece awkwardly in his hooves and dumped it on his head.

There, it was complete. He looked like a princess.

His diapers crinkled, but he wasn’t even moving. Then he realized it was his stallionhood, pushing against the padding. Growing… excited…

“Eep!” Shining spread his legs, not letting his stiffness get any worse. If his stallionhood could touch anything then it wouldn’t be… stimulated.

I gotta take my mind off this, he thought when he finally started to “calm down”. He looked around, hoping for something else to focus on.

Without even thinking about it he smoothed the wrinkles from his clothes. As he did, he noticed something dangling from his chest.

“Oh come on!”

He hadn’t noticed it before, with how distracting every other part of the dress was. But now it was plain as day. There was a pacifier clipped to his dress.

“You’re kidding me,” he moaned. “You have to be kidding me!”

He’d been able to avoid it in the last room, but now there was no running from it.

As grumbly as its presence made him, his mood perked up seconds later. He saw the door open wide and revealing new stairs just for him. He’d done it!

“Thank Celestia,” he breathed. He wouldn’t have to put on anymore crap now. And hopefully this time he could take it all off when he left.

He scrambled to the opening. Even the crinkling of his diapers couldn’t put a damper on his new mood. His hefty skirt swished as his plot swayed sighed to side. Not a problem, he could see the exit. But then he caught a glimpse of that pacifier bouncing off his chest. that soured him more than he expected.

“Yeah… no.” Thinking it harmless enough he reached up and yanked the pacifier off his body. The strap snapped.

He smiled and looked back up towards his freedom. His snout hit the door.

“Ah!” Shining fell back on his rump, nose stinging. His diapers hissed and compressed before he realized what was wrong. “No…”

He bumbled to his hooves in front of the sealed door. “No no no!” he cried.

He tried to reconnect the pacifier, but the break was decisive. Frantic, his eyes jumped from the door to the pacifier. “No no no no!”

He shoved it in his mouth. “Dere, shee?” He begged. “Wook, I wike it. It stiww hewe!”

His face fell, the door not budging. Shining pulled the pacifier from his lips before he felt any more stupid than he already did. Even if it would appease the room, he tucked the thing between the laces of his dress to hold it.

Gulping, he turned back to the plaque at the center of the room. He knew what came next.

He waddled in shame to read his new torment, in no way eager. It still stung. He hadn’t even tried to take off the dress! Just the stupid pacifier. How was that even considered a part of the princess outfit?

It wasn’t fair. He plopped down in front of the new plaque, fore legs crossed.

This naughty filly has stopped making sense

So now she’ll have to make-up the difference.

Bad girls don’t get to meet the King

So fail one more thing

And he may just start to take offense

The pouty stallion felt his blood run cold. Meet the King? Was that supposed to be his reward for clearing all the rooms? And disobeying once more sounded like he’d lose. A three strikes system…

Shining wasn’t sure he wanted to reach the top anymore. But Sombra had been defeated; there was no King for him to meet up there. Maybe he’d just… be allowed to leave?

That was a demented hope. He wasn’t even sure how he was supposed to get to the top anymore. The limerick hadn’t given him any new instructions. How was he supposed to “make up the difference”?

Then he saw it.

To his right a section of the shelves had changed. There was a new opening, one that had definitely not been there before. At least, he liked to think he would have noticed something so obvious after all his time circling the room.

A vanity.

Complete with a chair, all new drawers, and a mirror. Strewn about or brushes, tubes, and compacts.

Shining groaned. Now he got it. “Make-up” the difference.

He hated this place.

At least now he could see himself, so that was hardly a consolation. Even from far away he could tell he looked ridiculous. The dress, his bulging padding… it all clashed with the rugged face of a stallion that he still bore. Naturally the tower wanted to take even that away from him.

It’s just make-up, he told himself. You can always wash it off. Whether or not he’d get a chance before finding his guards was another matter.

He had no choice. He really didn’t want to know what would happen if he failed the room again. Head down, he toddled and took a seat in front of the vanity.

His diapers crinkled. He winced. The way they rubbed against him… squeezed up against his stallionhood… it was hard to ignore. Reluctantly he turned his attention to the make-up.

He’d seen Cadence do this before. Dozens of times actually. Maybe even hundreds. It was not a point of pride for the stallion to admit he had a working knowledge of this stuff.

Looking over his options, he felt his tail curl. As always, nothing this tower gave him was pleasant. But the blush was the least unpleasant option. As red as his cheeks were, it probably wouldn’t even register.

His hooves fumbled for it. He swore as the booties made it way more difficult than it needed to be. He ended up knocking the blush off the vanity’s countertop.

“Come on!“ he huffed. He wouldn’t be able to do anything like this. Unless he wanted to end up looking like a clown. But he was terrified to take the booties off now.

I don’t have a choice. It made him uneasy, but he ignited his horn. He felt lightheaded just doing that much. Picking up the blush didn’t help.

He dabbed it across his cheeks reddening them further. Hoping that would be enough, he turned to the door. Closed.

Next he forced himself to pick up the eyeliner. He uncapped the brush sluggishly. It took a lot of attempts and a lot of concentration to pull off this next part. I never realized how difficult putting on make-up could be. His eyelid wouldn’t stop twitching whenever the thin point came near. It took a long time just to get some black lines under his eyes, which was just the opposite of what his horn needed right now.

The door didn’t open when he finished. Neither did it open after the mascara. Nor the sparkly pink eye shadow.

“You really like seeing me suffer, huh?” Shining asked the tower. He picked up a tube of scarlett lipstick.

His magical hold was growing shaky. Shining struggled to keep his eyes open long enough to finish applying it. When he finished, he popped his lips, checking the color in his reflection. Then blushed.

“W-well?” He demanded of the room, not even acknowledging what he'd just done. “Good enough?”

Apparently yes. Mercifully, the door had opened. Shining was finally free of this room!

He jumped off the chair, only to be hit with a dizzy spell. Hoof to his head, he needed a moment to stop wobbling. When he finally felt like himself again, he shuffled to the door. Slowly, between the waddle and trying to keep a hoof pressed against his pacifier. He was not going to let that damn thing fall off and cost him his escape again. Shining refused to relax until he took he climbed the first step.

“Phew.” He’d made it. It’d cost him more of his dignity than he’d like to admit. He was pretty sure he hadn’t needed to wear half the clothes he’d put on in the end. But now he was decked out from head to hooves and there was no going back. Consider it a lesson learned.

Now I just need to reach the top. Shining thought with uncertainty. Should that even still be his goal given what he’d learned? It wasn’t like he had options…

He took another step up. No, this had to be the way. He’d reach that window and call for help. This this whole experience could be forgotten, like a bad dream.

After all, he had to be almost finished, right?