The Tower

When he reached the top of the stairs he knew it wasn’t over yet. There was no light, there was no window. This was just another floor.

“Great.” He wanted to slump down on the ground and pass out. Instead, he reluctantly ignited his horn. At this point he just wanted to get this over with. Magic eked out of it. Shining fought to stay upright. At this point he could feel his limbs growing weaker the more he lost. Not the best feeling.

Fsh.

He blinked and squinted to take in his new surroundings. This room was different.

Instead of a floor, it had two walkways. They sliced the room into four equal parts. At their intersection stood the podium with a familiar looking plaque.

Shining looked down beneath the walkway. It wasn’t a far drop, maybe a foot or so. Waiting at the bottom was soil, and pink-petaled plants. A garden?

Huh. Shining was used to finding these rooms distasteful the second he could see them. This was a breath of fresh air. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad this time?

Then he took a closer look. The plants were an odd shape, but familiar. He’d seen something like them before. The shape of the petals, the spots… And then it clicked.

Poison Joke.

One of the few types of flora the guard manual warned about. The sticky residue it produced had it ill-fortuned effects on any pony foolish enough to touch it. It looked so similar to the photos he had seen. Why why weren’t they blue?

That was their color, right? He had never heard of any variations. But that had to be what these were. He didn’t have another explanation for what he was seeing.

His stomach felt like it was doing somersaults. If this was going where he thought it was…

Shining shook his head.

He stepped into the room, wobbling immediately on the thin walkway. Between his ennui and the booties, the platform was a tightrope. And this high wire act had a pretty scary net.

Shining shuffled along. He could keep his front hooves together, but the diapers made it impossible to do the same for his hind. They were balanced precariously over the edge on both sides. He had to waddle with extreme caution.

“Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Don’t fall,” he hissed to himself. It only serve to make his walk more nerve-racking.

But at last he made it to the plaque. The words that held he could have predicted easily.

Below you, a garden with one type of flower.

To ascend, sample its unique power.

You may think you know the joke

But of pink nopony spoke

Just one touch and you’ll know by the hour.

He spared another glance down to the flowers. The Poison Joke, as the plaque so helpfully confirmed. Just looking at them sent a shiver down his spine.

Shining knew what regular poison joke did to him. Hazing Week in the Canterlot barracks had taught him that much. But he doubted these flowers were going to make bubbles come out of his mouth.

He really didn’t have the luxury of worrying about its effect. He knew one more mistake would end his chance to escape. There was no way he was risking that. Like it or not, he’d accept whatever the Pink Poison Joke did to him.

The “know by the hour” part also had him worried. He’d wasted so much time already, he couldn’t afford to lose a whole hour just waiting for something to happen to him.

“‘Just one touch’,” he mused to himself. Could he speed this up by doing a bit more than that? The sheer danger of that idea should have put him off to it, but after everything Shining had been through already he wasn’t in the mood to contemplate it. Maybe it was the smell of baby powder filling his nostrils, the skirt of his dress swishing as he wobbled in place, or the bulk of his diapers squeezing him intimately. No matter what it was, he just wanted this next part over with.

He found himself leaning down to the flowers. Whatever he’d have to do to speed this along, it seemed he was ready to do it.

Shining plucked one with his bootie-d hoof. Nearly fumbling it away, he brought it up with a sigh of relief. Sticky residue from the petals was already seeping onto his bootie. His lips tightened.

Well… here goes nothing. He rubbed the Pink Poison Joke against his chin. A glob of nectar was left behind on his coat, drying off before he’d finished pulling the flower away. Shining let out a shaky breath. That hadn’t been too bad.

But of course, he was saying that knowing the side effect wasn’t kicking in yet.

“Come on,” he muttered, still determined to get this over with. The flower brushed against him again, and again. More and more residue built up on his coat, before his body absorbed it all. Was he any closer to figuring out the plant’s effect? The closed door across the room told him no.

“Hmmph.” He plopped down, kicking up a cloud of foal powder. His butt sank into the diapers, and he ignored the sensation. Unconsciously, he smoothed out his dress, but his only focus was on the Pink Poison Joke.

How can I speed this up? No answer came to mind. He’d barely paid attention whenever studying magical flora came up in classes past. And even if he had retained a thing or two about Poison Joke, who was to say this variant played by the same rules?

Shining’s stomach gurgled, pulling him away from the plant. He winced as a sharp pain took hold. Only for a second, but powerful regardless. It made sense, he hadn’t eaten anything for most of the day. In fact the last thing he’d gotten was that bottle of milk.

His eyes fell back to the flower, and a bad idea came to mind.

No! his mind jumped. As reckless as he was being right now, something about his idea just screamed ‘danger’. And yet, Shining found he couldn’t make himself care that much.

He’d been forced to diaper and doll himself up. He’d slept in a crib, drank from a bottle, played with foal toys. What could this place throw at him that could possibly be worse?

He wanted out of his diapers, dress, and make-up. He wanted to never think about that crib, or his Sombra plush, or his baba ever again! And he couldn’t until he was out of here. Until this stupid flower worked its magic on him.

Shining bit down on the plant. Petals, bulb, stem and all. He barely chewed. He ate it. And when he finally swallowed, he felt it slither down his throat. A shiver gripped him.

Ugh. He scraped his tongue along the roof of his mouth. A bad aftertaste lingered, bittersweet. It was so unpleasant that it left Shining wondering what the point of that was. He didn’t feel any different still. Was he going to have to wait an hour regardless?”

“That’s just… g-great…?” He froze. Hoof leaping to his throat he squeaked out, “my voice!”

It was… higher. Lighter. Girlier. “No…”

Was this the side effect of the Pink Poison Joke? It had to be. He whipped his head accusingly at the plants. And his mane whipped around, slapping the other side of his face.

“Hey!” He spat strands of hair from his mouth. What was that all about. Sure his mane was long, but never that long.

He ran a bootie through his hair, letting its new size drop his jaw when he discovered it. It must have doubled on length on him! But how…?

The flower! But two side effects? That was unheard of for poison joke. Unless…

Shining only just now noticed his dress fit a little better. Now just snug where it had once been tight. But his barrel chest shouldn’t allow him to fit in mare’s clothing so easily. Except… looking down, he decidedly couldn’t say his curvy figure represent any kind of barrel.

He now had wide hips, which only benefited his diapers. His once muscular legs were slender and delicate. And his snout…

His hooves jumped to his face, feeling the shape through his puffy booties.

He… He was a mare!

“No!” He shrieked, hooves leaping down in desperation. His last bastion of stallionhood…

He breathed a sigh of relief. He hooves sinking into the crotch of his diaper. Still there, and growing stiffer by the second as of to prove it. He wasn’t completely a mare.

“Thank Celestia,” he breathed, flinching at his feminine voice. And then flinching for a different reason. Had he noticed his stallionhood growing… stiffer?

“No… Please no,” he whimpered. He pulled his hooves away, but the diaper decompressed and only rubbed up against him more.

Shining let loose an unbelievably girly squeak, and tried to use his skirt to cover the bulge forming in his padding. The shame only seemed to fuel it.

Why was this happening to him? Why did dressing this way… looking this way cause this? He didn’t like it in the least, and yet— this.

“Stop, stop, stop!” He whimpered. It twitched into the padding. His doll-like voice wasn’t helping.

He sat there, trying to calm himself down to no avail. Any movement agitated the padding, so he had to keep still. Eventually his lip started quivering, his own lack of control damning.

Finally, after waiting who knows how long, Shining realized his boner wasn’t going away anytime soon. And since he had no intention of “taking care of it” that meant he was going to be stuck with that bulge in his padding until he could escape this tower.

He knew there were ways to undo the effects of Poison Joke. He hoped that the pink variety was no different. Though he really did not look forward to being seen like this.

Would they even recognize me? Shining shivered. Maybe he could pretend to be a princess locked in the tower. Could save his dignity at least if he could convince the guards.

He shook his head. That thought felt foriegn. Why would he ever have an idea like that? Maybe he was just losing his mind, or the pressure in his hips was too distracting.

Shining had been avoiding it, but suddenly he really had to go.

It must have been that bottle he had from earlier, but the urge was so sudden that he suspected foul play. Did his bladder shrink from the Joke?

Shining finally stood up. The realization that he had to go led to an inevitable conclusion: there was only one place to go. So long as he couldn’t take off his diaper that is.

If he could just escape from here he should be able to get out of his padding. He could still feign being an adult then. After a day like this, he’d take it.

Perhaps he should have been more aware of the possibility—probability—of needing to use his diaper before now. But because he couldn’t bring himself to imagine such a horrible outcome before, now he was completely caught off guard. And worried.

“C-Come on then.” He twitched as padding shifted into dangerous places. Shining forced his mouth closed. No more talking to himself as long as he had a feminine voice. He just couldn’t take it.

He braced for the worst when he turned to the exit. Thankfully he found the door open and waiting for him. Eating the Poison Joke had been worth it after all to avoid waiting for a full hour. Small mercies.

Shining spread his gait as far as he dared. Anything to alleviate the padded pressure on his stallionhood. Left with the widest waddle of his life, Shining pressed on to the new flight of steps ahead.

Please please please be the end. This would be the end. What more could the tower take at this point?

This time there had to be a little light at the end of the staircase. Her sanity depended on it.