Author's Note

This is a Padded Pony Story, and this chapter will contain the following:

• Octavia
• Diapers
• Diaper usage (Wet, medium)
• Realistic depictions of Depression and Anxiety

If this bothers you, do not continue. If not, please enjoy and rate if you like it.

Regretful Decisions

It was a late starry evening as the final train from Canterlot was arriving in Ponyville Station. IT wouldn’t take long for the ponies that were traveling home to leave their cars. Actually, it was just a singular pony that got off the train as she was one of the only patrons on it. The grey earth pony with the pinstripe mane and tail sluggishly exited her car with her instrument case on her back. Octavia could see her reflection in the window pane in front of her and the long night of playing for Fancy Pants’ Canterlot Garden Party had been quite the event. It was quite enjoyable for her, but still tiring nonetheless. “Come on Octy… Home isn’t that far away,” she said to herself as she started the trot from the station.

After about twenty minutes of walking, Octavia had unlocked the door and started making her way inside. “Hello? Vinyl I’m home! You wouldn’t believe how exhilarating tonight’s pieces were. I got to play one of my favorite Beethooven Symphonies tonight!” she said with a tired excitement flipping the light on. She was a bit confused by the lack of acknowledgement. Surely Vinyl hadn’t gone to bed yet. It was only half past midnight and she knew Vinyl routinely stayed awake into the wee hours of the morning. Come to think about it, the lights were usually on too. She scanned the room before she noticed a note on the table.

“Hey Octy!

Sorry in advance but I won’t be home when you get back from the Canterlot Garden Party. I got a last minute gig in Fillydelphia and had to leave immediately in order to make it there in time to get everything set up. I hope you played well and I know you must have been super excited to play one of your favorite pieces(Yes, I did actually read the itinerary). I stocked up on fresh veggies and stock so you can make some of that favorite soup you like. Rest well and I’ll see you when I get home.

With Love,

Vinyl”

P.S.... Don’t forget about the package arriving in the morning. I know we’ll both be looking forward to a chance to relax with it when I get back.”

Octavia smiled as she sat the note back down on the table and then moved to set her cello over in the corner out of the way. She had to admit that she was looking forward to that. The life of a musician was never easy, and much less so when you’re one of the premier cellists in Equestria. She then stood on her hind legs and let out a stretching yawn as the night was finally starting to catch up with her fully. “Haaa, all of that can wait until the morning. I’m exhausted,” she said to herself before heading up to the bedroom flipping off the light as she did. She didn’t even bother flipping the light on as she entered the room and immediately slipped under the covers. It didn’t take long until she slipped into her slumber.

***

Octavia could hear the birds singing already this morning as she began to stretch out her hooves. After a long night of performing that good night’s sleep was exactly what she needed and she felt ready to tackle the day. She looked out the window to see Celestia’s sun high in the sky and she smiled until she saw the Ponyville clock tower. “Oh, it’s one o’clock already? I must have been more exhausted than I thought,” she sighed. She looked over next to her to the empty space on the bed next to her. This was starting to become more and more of a thing now. It wasn’t Vinyl’s fault, and nor was it her own. It just so happened that they’d been getting called to performances at exact opposite times from each other.

Octavia was ashamed to admit it, but she was starting to feel very lonely. She would still wear her smile in public and make things seem like they were fine. Most of the time they were after all. Every once in a while though she would have some of these darker feelings rising up in her and they’ve been doing so more and more recently. She clutched her sheets close to her before falling back onto her bed. She really wished her relaxing supplies would get here soon. She could really use some comfort and security right now. “Wait a second… The note last night said that they were being delivered this morning!” Octavia sat up with an excited expression. “That means they should be here by now!” she said, throwing the covers off of her and rushing down the steps and then opening the door. However, what she saw stopped her cold in her tracks.

“Oh nononon no…” she said looking at a box that was very clearly labeled in big bold pink and black letters. Silly Filly Adult Foal Diapers. “Oh Sweet Celestia… How long has this been here?! Did anypony else see? I knew I should have gone for the discreet shipping... “ she said looking at the label on it. The delivery slip on it was clearly marked as delivered at nine this morning… Without wasting any more time Octavia grabbed the box and darted inside. She could already feel the wave of different emotions welling up inside of her.

“Four hours?! I never even heard them knock… Why would they just leave it there and not leave me a note to pick it up at the post office!?” she said as she slumped next to the door. “I knew I should have been discreet…” she added as she started to sob. “This is all my fault… I should have just listened to Vinyl… but I didn’t think we could afford the extra cost… and now… now we’re going to be laughing stocks of Ponyville.. There’s no way that nopony else saw these…” she hiccuped. “I could just say they were mine… but then I’ll never get called to perform anywhere again… Vinyl will get pulled away because she won’t be able to be associated with me… and maintain her own image… and I would be alone… I could say that they were Vinyl’s… but… then I would ruin her career, and destroy everything that we have… and she would hate me for the rest of her life... then I would still be left with nothing…”

After what felt like an eternity, Octavia finally shook her head and started to calm down. “Come on Octy… get yourself together… You’re better than this… You’re one of the best cellists in Equestria and a high-demand performer… You can’t let your emotions get the best of you like this… For all you know, no pony was paying attention enough to realize what you ordered, except for maybe the mailmare. Everything will be fine… Just enjoy some relaxation time, and have some of your favorite soup. You’ll feel a whole lot better…” she said to herself as she lifted the box up onto her back. “Oof… I don’t remember these being this heavy before…” she said as she took them upstairs. She was going to have to put them in the dresser anyway.

Once back upstairs she looked back out the window, half expecting to see everypony watching her every move, but in reality, everypony was still doing their own thing without a care in the world for what she was doing. She let out a small sigh of relief. “Wow… I can’t believe I got that worked up over that. Thank Celestia Vinyl wasn’t here to see that melt down… I think that would have gotten me a bigger scolding than the last time,” she said to herself.

She opened the box and began to pull out the packages. She had ordered the Royal Darks this time around, and she was kind of surprised they used the pink lettering for the box considering these diapers were more of a deep lavender with some indigo trim. It could have been a logo thing. Octavia and Vinyl were just drawn to the moons and the planets that were on them and a moon on the landing zone that looked similar to Luna’s cutie mark. The two of them had always been more akin to the night because that was when a majority of their performances were so it just made sense. The Universals were a close second though. The little filly inside of her just loved the pinks and the blues on them and had already decided that those would be the next batch that they would order.

She opened the pack and she started to stack them nice and neatly in their supply drawer. She’d forgotten just how many diapers came in one of their full cases and by the time she got to the last pack she had two of the drawers full. “Got it… our dresser will only hold seventy diapers… still this should last us a few months at least before we have to resupply again… Now, time to relax,” she said as she opened the pack that she sat on top of the dresser. She figured she might as well use the pack that couldn’t fit first rather than trying to rearrange the ones in the drawer later.

She took one of the diapers out and made her way over to her bed before grabbing the powder as well and set it on the nightstand so she could reach it without risking it getting on the tapes. These diapers were expensive and she wasn’t about to let one go to waste because powder kept the tapes from sticking. She unfolded the garment and she started to slide it under her, trying to position her tail right for the tail flap. Once she was comfortable with it, she gave herself a small dash of powder and then brought the front of her diaper up and taped it shut. She then sat up and reached behind her to get the tail tape nice and snug and then she wiggled a bit on the bed sheets. The crinkles that were sounding from her had already made her forget about the traumatizing event earlier that day and she felt much safer now.

Now that she was all padded up, it was time for her to make her soup. With a bit more of a waddle to her step, she crinkled her way down the stairs and back into the kitchen. She opened up the refrigerator to look at all the ingredients that Vinyl had gotten. “Vegetable Stock, check. Corn, check, though I’ll have to cob it. That’s okay though… it’s fresher that way. Let’s see, Carrots, Peas, Tomato, and potato, yup it’s all here!” she said excitedly as she grabbed a pot and placed it on the stove. Once it was on the stove, she added the stock and set it to medium to let it simmer while she was working on the vegetables. She’d found that cooking the broth on high would actually cause it to lose some of its flavor from heating it up too quickly. Using a medium heat would also allow the flavors of each vegetable to at its uniqueness to the dish without overpowering others.

Octavia wasn’t sure what it was about this particular soup, but it always made her so happy to make it. Sure it was just a garden variety vegetable soup, but it always helped put her at peace. The earth pony began to hum and sway a bit to the beat of her own tune. It was soft and pure, and sounded like a combination of Chopone and Brahms, and the soft crinkles from her flank acted like a soft cymbal background to go with the chopping board snare drum while she was cutting her vegetables.

Once she finished preparing the vegetables she slid them off of the board and into the pot and then turned the pot down to low to really let the flavors meld together before adding a pinch of salt and pepper. “Alright… let that simmer for twenty minutes and just have some me time while I wait,” she said to herself again as she moved back to the living room and pulled her cello out of her case. She looked to be deep in thought for a few moments as she was plucking on different parts of strings until she found what she was looking for, and then started to recreate the melody that she was just humming.

At this point she was starting to cross her hooves a bit. She realized that everything she drank last night was starting to catch up with her, and with everything that had gone on this morning she hadn’t even thought about the bathroom yet. Now, her body was very much reminding her of her shortcomings but she paid no mind to it. In fact, she stopped crossing her hooves all together and let her hindlegs bow just a bit as she continued her melody, and she was rewarded with an all too familiar warm splashing sensation as she let the floodgates open. She didn’t know how long she had wet for, but she knew that she was happy. Everything that was bad in the day had gone away, and with a small sniff she knew that more was to come. “Smells like the soup is ready,” she said, propping the cello up in it’s stand.

With that taken care of she looked down to inspect the damage and just as she’d come to expect from these diapers in the past, despite what she would consider a sizable flood there was barely any indication that she was wet at all except for some very slight discoloration where the white padding was now slightly off white and some of the shapes were starting to fade. “Uh Oh, looks like you didn’t make it in time Octy… good thing there’s room for more… we’d hate to waste it,” she spoke to herself before heading back into the kitchen.

When she got back into the kitchen she went to grab onto the pot and almost immediately dropped it with a shriek of pain. “Yaaeeiik!” she said putting her hoof in her mouth. She hobbled over to the sink to turn the tap on and ran her hoof under some cold water for a few minutes. “Stupid! Stupid Stupid Stupid! You should have known that it was going to be hot! Why do I always have to mess up the simplest things… this is soup… I make this all the time… I should have known to grab the potholder first,” she said teary eyed. She looked back over to the pot. Thankfully none of the soup had spilled in her moment of stupidity. This time she remembered to turn the stove top off, and grab the pot holder and she took it off the heat. Perhaps now she could relax for the rest of the day without worrying if anything else was going to go wrong.