Sprout slowly came to in his crib as the sun began to come through his window. He sat up and stretched just in time for Izzy to open his bedroom door.

"Rise and shine, little Sprout!" She greeted, sauntering over to his crib and magically lowered the bars. "Have a good night?"

"Yup," the stallion answered, stepping out of the crib, smiling at her. "I'm glad mom let you come back. Guess this isn't much of a punishment anymore."

"Well, to be fair, you weren't acting very punished yesterday either. Taken a liking to it pretty quickly, huh?" The unicorn asked.

Sprout nodded as she helped him get out of his pajamas.

"Well, it isn't anypony's place to judge what makes you happy or not, especially if it's in the privacy of your own home," Izzy told him as she lifted him up onto the changing table and began untaping his moderately wet diaper.

"Speaking of privacy..." Izzy continued, as she opened Sprout's diaper and immediately began wiping him down with cold wet wipes, ignoring his morning wood. "I brought a friend over today. I hope you don't mind. I know they won't judge, just like I didn't, and your secret is as safe as it was with just me and your mom. But if you really don't want to have someone else here today, I can send them away,"

Sprout thought for a moment as the wet diaper was pulled out from under him, and he lifted his backside off of the table as she slid a fresh one underneath and quickly got it fastened around his tail.

"That's alright. I trust you. Whatever you've got planned for today, I'm sure it'll be better with three ponies."

Izzy let out a short giggle.

"I think it's cute how you think I planned anything yesterday. I just figured out what brought out your sparkle," Izzy told him as she gave his loins a quick dusting of powder before bringing the diaper up between his hind legs, and smoothed it against his stomach as she brought the back wings up and taped it up, and then pulled him up into a sitting position.

"So my sparkle is happiness? You can see emotion like that?" Sprout asked.

"Yeah. All unicorns can to a small extent, but mine has always been a lot stronger. So strong that it was a little off-putting to some of Bridlewood. Some ponies don't like it when I can tell if they're happy or unhappy. I lived on the edge of town." Izzy told him as she hung his pajamas back in the closet.

"I can't even begin to imagine the good you could do with a gift like that," Sprout said as he was helped down off the changing table.

"Well, right now I think I'll just start with you. Ready for breakfast?" She asked.

Sprout nodded as his stomach began to grumble. He followed the unicorn out into the hallway. They trotted down the stairs and came to the kitchen, and Sprout froze in his tracks upon hitting the tiled floor.

"Sunny?" He asked, beside himself, seeing his foalhood friend already sitting at the table. She looked at him and immediately smiled.

"Good morning, Sprout. Wow, you weren't kidding Izzy. He's adorable," Sunny greeted and commented.

Sprout's cheeks lit up as Izzy turned around and guided him over to his high chair, where he was magically lifted up and fastened in.

"I'm just teasing, Sprout. It's a compliment. I haven't told a soul, and I never will, you have my word," Sunny reassured him.

When the tray was put back in place, Izzy placed a coloring book in front of him with a small assortment of crayons.

"Don't want my big foal to get bored while breakfast is being made. I don't know about the two of you," Izzy began as she went over to the cooking area of the kitchen, firing up the stovetop. "But I'm feeling pancakes for breakfast."

Both ponies sitting at the table began to salivate. Pancakes did sound good, and Sunny had enjoyed Izzy's cooking as they had traveled to Zephyr Heights together.

"So how'd all this come about?" Sunny asked the stallion currently confined to his high chair.

"Well, it started a few days ago when I was put on leave from the Sheriff's Department, then came home to... This. I won't lie it was... A huge adjustment. But then over the next couple days I just started to... Slip into it more, and thanks to Izzy, I've started to enjoy it. So mom and I made a deal; I'd do several hours of community service a week, and she'd keep my room stocked, and keep letting me play like this when I'm at home. Speaking of which, Izzy, you don't need to come over tomorrow, I'm gonna help the construction crew move materials over to the lighthouse tomorrow."

For her part, Sunny decided to accept that answer as it was, and simply quietly observe. She had no doubt that Izzy would make this day as fun and interesting for her as she did for Sprout. He seemed in good spirits, and she was relieved at that; she was afraid that whatever had had been up to since the lighthouse collapse, he would have been miserable.

Leaving him to his coloring, Sunny got up and went over to the kitchen to help Izzy with the pancakes. For her part, she got plates, forks, and knives ready. Ten minutes later, Izzy and Sunny were sitting on either side of Sprout with two plates of pancakes, with Izzy's considerably higher than Sunny's.

"Hey, where's mine?" Sprout said, initially afraid that he was going to get relegated to just some mashed foal food.

"Relax, silly. I've got yours on my plate, it's just easier this way," Izzy told him as she began to cut into the stack of eight pancakes on her plate that were drenched in syrup. Sprout was mesmerized as the two sets of forks and knifes worked their way into the food and floated to both his mouth and Izzy's. The pancakes were warm and fluffy, and the syrup added the perfect touch.

"So what's the plan for today?" Sunny asked after swallowing her first bite.

"Have you ever played with PoneBloks?" Izzy asked.

"Yeah, what earth pony hasn't? Sprout and Hitch played with them all the time," Sunny replied.

"Well, mom got my old ones out of the attic. I guess we can continue where we left off yesterday?" Sprout said.

"Yup! Since the resistance has a new leader after their last one fell victim to the Horde!" Izzy exclaimed, looking at the saddlebags next to her chair and came out with the unicorn horn headband, which she promptly took and floated over to Sprout and planted it on his forehead, getting a chuckle out of him.

Breakfast was completed without incident, and as Sprout was let out of his high chair, Sunny couldn't help but take a peek at his diaper. She couldn't tell if it was wet or not, probably due to how thick it was, but answering nature's call was always the very first thing she had done when she got up. She wondered how he was going about getting used to going in them.

"You're not too wet yet, so let's go play!" Izzy told him after checking his diaper. Sunny followed them down the hall to the living room, where Sprout's PoneBlok toys had already been set out. She had played with these occasionally, just like Hitch and Sprout came over to play with her pony figures back when they were younger.

"Alright, Sunny, those are the resistance vehicles that have not been infected yet, so you take that and head down to the kitchen and make a base. The Horde has to probe the mind of it's newest host..." Izzy told her, pointing to a few all-terrain vehicles that had small figures in them.

Honestly, this felt fun, playing a game that started with mindless action instead of devolving into it thanks to Sprout's 'evil unicorn' antics that usually occurred a few minutes into it.

The scenario involved Sunny's forces slowly getting pushed out of the kitchen and down the hall, headed for the stairs, where the resistance survivors began to 'climb the mountain' up to the underground base that Sprout's bedroom was serving as. She had set up several of Sprout's already-built catapults and defensive emplacements at the door ready to hold off the approaching zombie unicorns. She was surprised when Izzy told her how she had immediately fell into the zombie role after Sprout had explained the background to these toys.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard hoofsteps on the stairs, and saw several figures and vehicles be placed on the carpet at the top.

"More brains!" She heard Sprout yell, but just as his head poked up above the top stairs, she saw his entire body glow and get lifted up by Izzy's magic who had come up behind him.

"I think my little zombie is stinky!" She said playfully, giving the back of his diaper a test poke, and it snapped Sprout out of his zombified facade as he took on a look of embarrassment.

"Yup! Let's get you changed and we can get lunch started."

Sunny moved out of the way, clearing the floor of the doorway as best she could as Izzy floated Sprout down the hall, into the room, and onto the changing table, and immediately started pulling the tapes off of the front, and the unmistakable stench of manure had reached Sunny's nostrils.

'So he does use them, for everything,' she thought to herself, and felt her cheeks warm a bit as she risked a glance or two at the diaper change taking place in front of her. Sprout was doing a perfect job of averting his gaze completely, not having had any kind of audience before, but it didn't get to the point of a verbal objection.

"Alright, and done!" Izzy declared as she finished taping the fresh diaper into place and set Sprout down on the ground. "Let's break for lunch, then we can finish our fun here and then do a movie!"

For lunch, Izzy and Sunny put together some salad greens and fresh fruit, while Sprout got mashed veggies in his bowl, which he grimaced at the taste of, but otherwise didn't complain, likely appreciating the authenticity of the meal. After eating, they returned upstairs where Sunny's resistance continued to hold off the zombies with some well placed shots from her defenses. It took longer than they thought, but Izzy, Sprout, and their horde finally broke through, and Sunny found another unicorn headband placed on her head, bringing the house's unicorn count to three.

As she sat next to Izzy on the couch watching the movie with Sprout down on the floor, she found herself staring more and more. She had prepared herself mentally as best she could when Izzy had told her who she was foalsitting last night, but seeing it today, and seeing how content her friends were in both their roles started to make her recognize the feeling she was beginning to experience inside.

Was it... Curiosity? Envy?

By the time the credits of the film were beginning to scroll, they heard the front door open, and the three pairs of eyes went to the clock above the television. It was a quarter after five already. The day had flown by, and sure enough, Phyllis Cloverleaf came walking into the living room.

"Hi mommy!" Sprout greeted, getting up and threw his front legs around his mother.

"Hi sweetheart, did you have a good day? Nice to see you again, Sunny. Thank you again, Izzy. Not too much of a hoofful, I take it?" She asked as she set her saddlebags down.

"Not at all, Ms. Cloverleaf."

"Excellent, and has he told you? No need for you tomorrow, he'll be helping the construction team at Sunny's lighthouse for his community service."

Izzy nodded understandingly.

"Yep. You know where to reach me. With this movie over, we'll get out of your hair," Izzy told her with a smile.

"Sweetheart, why don't you go play up in your room while I see Izzy and Sunny out, then I'll get dinner started," Phyllis told her son. He gave a nod, then trotted down the hall, diaper crinkling with every step.

"Thanks again, Izzy. I'm pretty sure to him it's some kind of therapy, and it makes him so happy to have you watch him like this," Phyllis told the unicorn, handing her a small bag of bits for another day's work.

"Happy to do it, Ms. Cloverleaf. And yes, I can tell you with absolute certainty that it makes him happy."

The three mares made their way to the front door, and Izzy was the first one out as Phyllis opened the door and bid them farewell.

"Ms. Cloverleaf?" Sunny asked as she turned right after walking through the doorway out onto the front walk.

"Yes, Sunny?"

"I hope this isn't too forward of me, but I was... I was wondering if you might tell me where you got Sprout his... Supplies..."

Author's Note

Sorry for almost two weeks since the last update. Other hobbies continue getting in the way.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and are excited as I am to see where it goes next. Feedback and suggestions are welcome, as always.

Thanks for reading!