Sprout's Second Chance

Phyllis Cloverleaf was just beginning to wind down after a very interesting couple of days. First, repairs and reconstruction of Sunny Starscout's home came to a surprising and rather instant conclusion, and thus the considerable amount of funding she had set aside for the project could now be put to use elsewhere. When they inspected the magical structure, they found that for the most part, it was unfurnished, and so she wrote a check for the remaining amount to Sunny, who had just been given the five-digit deposit to begin decorating her new home.

Her phone vibrated with a text alert, and she saw it was from the earth mare in question.

Sunny
Hey Phyllis, can I correctly assume that CanterLogic made the crib in Sprout's room?

Phyllis smiled gently at her phone, and began to put in a reply.

Phyllis
You would be right. I'm guessing you want one for the lighthouse?

She hadn't even set her phone back down on the counter before a pending reply started to come through.

Sunny
Three, actually. Also a changing table and some playpen gating. If that's alright, I'll send you details.

Of course that would be alright. She wasn't sure what the fledgling ageplayer needed with three adult-sized cribs, but even with the respectable discount she would be giving the mare, that would still be a decent amount of the leftover construction fund coming right back into CanterLogic.

There was a knock on the door, and Phyllis set her phone down to go answer it. Opening the front door, she was greeted by the smiling faces of her son and Maretime Bay's sheriff.

"Here he is, Phyllis, fresh from a few days in Bridlewood," Hitch told her as Sprout came in to hug his mom.

"Head on upstairs and I'll be up to get you situated and hear all about your trip," his mom told him. Sprout trotted up the stairs as Phyllis turned her attention back to Hitch.

"Have I heard right? You're foalsitting him tomorrow?" Phyllis asked, and Hitch immediately nodded.

"Yup. Don't tell him though, it's a bit of a surprise. What time should I be here tomorrow?" Hitch asked.

"Actually, it's looking to be quite a busy weekend at the factory with the order Sunny just put in. Could I drop him off at your place in the morning? I'll bring you all the supplies you'll need for a few days."

"Hm. Yeah, I suppose I could keep an eye on him for the weekend over there. I won't have the time to put together a crib or anything like that," Hitch replied.

"That's alright, I can't expect everywhere he goes to be foalish for him. But I just got a text from Sunny, and it's sounding like she's set on getting some of this ageplay furniture for herself, and even for the completely normal items, well, CanterLogic helps make half of the furniture in town, so my weekend is going to be absolutely packed, so I'll need help with keeping an eye on him if he wants to keep this treatment up," Phyllis told the sheriff.

"I'll be up by seven, drop him off anytime," Hitch answered, and departed with a wave before Phyllis closed the door, and headed upstairs to her son's room.

"Alright, sugar cube, let's get you all set for the evening," she said as he eagerly stepped up onto the changing table and laid down.

"Before and after dinner, there's something I'd like you to do," Phyllis told Sprout as she got a fresh diaper unfolded. "Get a bag of toys packed, and a diaper bag packed. Mommy's going to have quite the weekend ahead of her at work, and you'll need to be looked after. I'm hoping to recoup as much of that construction fund as I can, so if Sunny places any rush orders, I want to be ready for her."

Sprout nodded in understanding.

""They're not coming here?" He asked.

"Not this time. Izzy may be busy helping Sunny get things set up at the lighthouse, so we'll just have to play it by ear, hun."

Sunny and Pipp walked through the front door of My Inner Foal, and Pipp looked worried; she had never set foot in a store like this, having placed all of her orders online.

"Don't worry, Pipp. It'll be alright, I promise."

"Hello, and welcome to My Inner Foal," the olive green earth mare greeted from behind the counter. "Ah, welcome back Sunny. Oh, and Miss Pipp Petals, welcome!"

Knowing that the store's proprietor had immediately recognized her was making the livestreamer sweat bullets, and Mayflower recognized this immediately.

"Now now, no need to be nervous, Miss Pipp. I take the privacy of my customers very, very seriously. Your bits are as good as anypony else's, and as far as I'm concerned, you were never here," Mayflower reassured her.

Hearing these words seemed to calm Pipp down a bit.

"Now, what can I do for the two of you?"

"Well, we're hoping you've got plenty of boxes, because we're going to be placing quite a big order. The lighthouse got finished a bit early, and we've decided to turn a basement into a nursery and play space," Sunny told the owner.

Mayflower's expression was a mix of touched, and seeing bits in her eyes.

"Well, please let me know whatever I can get for you!" She gleefully announced. She went over to the front door and switched the sign from 'Open' to 'Closed', to give the two mares some privacy, and further set Pipp's mind at ease. "If you don't mind me saying, I've been hearing some talk among manufacturers that there might be some designs coming out based on the cutie marks and coats of the reunifiers of Equestria."

Sunny gave a smile, but Pipp's blood pressure spiked again.

"Pipp, easy. I doubt you'll ever see something like that out in public," Sunny said, chuckling softly as they approached the diaper aisle.

"Ooh, I just want to try them all!" Pipp said excitedly.

"Well, why not? We're gonna have quite a bit of room on the changing table. So... Wipes, powder, oil, and small size for you, and mediums for me," Sunny said, as she began pulling supplies off of the shelves into a basket, and saw that it was very quickly filling up beyond capacity.

"Sorry that I don't have a cart or anything, I don't think I've ever had a shopping spree like this before," Mayflower apologized, immediately offering to take the pair's full basket, deposit the items over by the register before returning it to them for more as they continued looking over diaper designs, getting a pack of small and medium of each. After that, Pipp picked out a pacifier, and Sunny picked out matching pairs of hoofie pajamas for both of them, before going over and grabbing a stack of interlocking foam squares for the floor of the playpen. All in all, the stack of merchandise at the counter contained twelve packs of diapers, two pairs of pajamas, changing supplies, playpen flooring and easily totaled more than four hundred bits, which was an incredibly easy pill for Sunny to swallow, considering the five digits that was now in her account, not to mention what she was spending on furniture from CanterLogic.

"Well well, I certainly hope you girls have a wagon out front," Mayflower commented as she started ringing stuff up.

"That we do," Sunny answered.

"Not to worry, everything here fits in discreet boxes for you to get back home," the owner said as she started ringing up their items, the total tallying up on the display above the register. Once everything was scanned and paid for, she started assembling boxes behind her, and placing the diapers in the biggest one, followed by the foam squares and changing supplies. The PJ's and the pacifier were last, and went in the smallest box. Once everything had been sealed, Mayflower followed Sunny and Pipp out the front door, helping them load the boxes into their small wagon, before heading back inside and flipping the sign back to 'Open'.

"Have a great evening, you two!"

After placing his dinner dishes in the dishwasher and starting the quick cycle, Hitch did a quick trot around his house, making sure that everything was clean, organized, and ready for a weekend of foalsitting someone that was his size. Doing the clean check was pretty unnecessary; he always kept his place pretty tidy. What he was really trying to do was to mentally prepare for not just seeing another friend in diapers, but also watching and taking care of him for the next few days. Remembering how unnerved he had been when he had seen Sunny ageplaying a few days ago, he also kept in mind that this 'punishment' for Sprout had been planted by him, so it wouldn't exactly be fair if he hadn't gotten involved somehow at some point, even though this was no longer a punishment. Sprout had made amends, made new friends, the lighthouse repairs had been magically finished overnight, and he had embraced this new side of him that he had been discovering, even coming to thank him for the suggestion before he had departed for Bridlewood.

So all in all, Hitch was hoping that he was up for this, and for whatever Izzy's tea did to him as well...

Tomorrow was a new day.