A week passed and after a half a dozen more exams the academic quarter was finally over. Classes were done, tests were finished, and it was high time everyone shelved all this school business and moved on to more important things. Like summer vacation.

There was now only one hurdle that stood between them and a fun and relaxing summer: final grades.

Grades were posted in the main hall on a large bulletin board that covered an entire portion of the wall. On most days the board served as a central hub for holiday announcements, club meeting schedules, and the occasional “Junk For Sale” flier. However today all attention was drawn to the rows of papers that were neatly and orderly tacked to the cork. Every class this quarter was listed with all students who attended those classes arranged in two neat and tidy columns underneath each one. Beside each name was their final grade for that class and it was that grade that could make or break any hopeful summer vacation.

Sandbar and Gallus gathered in the main hall with the rest of the student body to find out their seasonal fate. As they walked into the hall they were met by a cacophony of noise and activity. All around them there were whispers and chattering students buzzing with worry, relief, and excitement. It was a hive of movement as everyone rushed about looking at the grading sheets, checking their own marks, and trying to figure out what their final grade would be.

“Maybe summer classes won't be so bad...” Gallus mumbled to himself as the pair slowly moved forward through the sea of students.

“Oh come on, dude, you haven’t even looked at your grades yet!” Sandbar nudged his friend’s side, “we’ll pass! Trust me! We studied hard this quarter! I got a good feeling!”

“Oh. Good,” Gallus sighed as they continued moving forward. Leave it to Sandbar’s “feelings” to predict the future...

All around him he could hear a dozen vignettes being played as students figured out their final grades. Some students were shaking their heads in disbelief while others were crying tears of joy or of disappointment. If he had to draw his own consensus, then he’d probably guess Ms. Twilight Sparkle really held nothing back this quarter. It was like a passing grade in her class came to her students as a relief rather than a reward.

Before they knew it, the two friends found themselves at the front of the crowd. The bulletin board towered over them like an ominous obelisk. Gallus took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself for disappointment. “Here we go,” he said under his breath.

He scanned the rows of paper tacked neatly on the board. Jumping from class to class he hunted down his grades one by one. Hugs and Hoofshakes 101, Animal Husbandry and Agricultural Basics, Friendly Competition 204, Social Influence Application, and of course the one he was dreading the most: Advanced Applied Friendship Theory.

He collected the grades in his head, making careful calculations as he went along. If the answer was a passing grade point average then it called for celebration. Anything less...summer classes. Hugs and Hoofshakes was basically an excuse for students to gather around a plate of cookies and make small talk so that wasn’t going to be much of an issue. Friendly Competition, although physically exhausting, was never too hard either. But then there was Social Influence Application and Advanced Applied Friendship Theory. Those classes, with their long list of terms that needed to be memorized and heavy textbooks, would surely bring down his average.

Sandbar turned to his friend, “Well?”

“I passed!” the griffin exclaimed.

“You did?!” Sandbar gasped, eyes wide with surprise, “oh wow, that’s amazing!”

Gallus looked at the grades and then back at Sandbar. He had never seen the pony look so proud of him. The griffin’s chest swelled with pride and happiness. “Think this calls for a celebration!” he found himself saying.

✦✦✦ ✦✦✦ ✦✦✦ ✦✦✦

Back at the dorms, a party was being thrown by the students in the common room to mark the end of exam season. Taking up the better half of the room was a massive table that was laden with food and drink. Pies and cakes, cookies and ice cream, even a selection of soda, juice, and cider piled high across the table.

The whole place was alive with chatter and laughter. Students sat together in small groups around the large table, chatting and laughing and enjoying the company of friends. It was a fun, relaxed atmosphere and it seemed to be a place where the students could finally let loose and enjoy themselves without worrying about grades.

A strict “No Faculty Allowed*” rule was posted at the door. Although the sign was more of a formality since traditionally no one really upheld the rule. Teachers often celebrated in their own way, but Ms. Pinkie Pie especially always had a knack of finding her way into any party she pleased when she had a tray of her famous double frosted cupcakes.

“To summer!” Sandbar exclaimed, hoisting up his mug of cider.

The rest of the group of friends raised a celebratory drink to that and cheered. A mix of glass bottles, metal mugs, and ceramic cups clattered above the center of the table before each one was retracted and everyone gulped down a celebratory gulp.

"So what's everyone doing for summer?!" Silverstream the hippogriff asked as she looked around the table with her trademark unbridled excitement. It was the kind of excitement that could be responded to with anything and she would eagerly listen to every detail.

Excitable and energetic, Silverstream never seemed short of enthusiasm and curiosity to learn about the world around her. Having spent most of her life isolated from the rest of the world, the hippogriff was always eager to experience new things, even if those things were experienced vicariously through others.

"Yona going home," Yona the yak barked in response, "pony summers too hot for yak. Go see family instead!"

The large and thick furred yak was a practical and prideful yak, filled with practical and prideful ideals. She was, as Ms. Applejack once put it, ‘rough ‘round the edges bu’ endearin’’. Coming from a home in the icy north, she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind and she often did this bluntly and with a minor bias towards her yak heritage.

"Not hot enough if you ask me," Smolder the dragon added, "give me a lava bath over all of this..." She gestured vaguely in the air around her, "temperate stuff."

Being a dragon, Smolder had a reputation of being crude and competitive. In most situations, she was a reliable source of sarcasm. Her fiery personality was not unlike the flaming hot springs of the eastern regions she hailed from.

"My family’s been bugging me about paying them a visit," Sandbar added, "I’ll probably do that one weekend or another."

"Oh that sounds like so much fun!" Silverstream fluttered. “How about you, Gallus?”

“Me? Eh, I really don’t have any plans,” the blue griffin shrugged, “we never really have warm summers up in Griffonstone so I’ll probably end up spending it here.”

"You could always hang out with me and Ocellus!" Silverstream exclaimed as Ocellus the changeling meekly nodded beside her. "We're going to be staying in Ponyville for the summer to enjoy everything about that valley life!"

"Gal pal around Ponyville all summer?" Gallus scoffed, almost gagging on the overpowering..."pinkness" of the idea. "I think I'll pass..."

"Well the offer’s always on the table," Silverstream replied.

"We'd love to have you," Ocellus added.

The academically inclined changeling had a knack for blending into the background and rarely spoke up unless spoken to first. This allowed her to remain relatively unnoticed by most ponies, however it seemed like she preferred it that way.

"Yeah well I'll think about it," Gallus answered in a noncommittal tone and the chattering naturally moved away from the subject.

The conversation did give Gallus something to think about. He really didn't have anything planned for the summer. He figured he would just...do things. After months of scheduled classes, he wasn't quite sure what to do with his time now. When nothing else came to mind he simply shrugged to himself. All else fails and he could always just slum it and throw glass bottles at a wall with Smolder. That always passed the time. Or he could go back to Griffinstone and...do things there.

In the end he simply gulped down another frothy mug of cider. He’d cross that bridge when he got to it.

The festivities around them continued to rumble on even as the sun started to set over the valley. Evening oranges in the sky gave way to purples and dark blues as the night sky started to twinkle through the common room windows. A cool breeze blew through the open windows, carrying the scent of the foothills and the chirping of crickets which had to compete with the shouts of students and the smells of dozens of sweets and treats.

As the evening wore on, activity around the common room started to wind down. Energetic games of tag and eating contests transitioned into slow dancing and group reading. Loud, rambunctious shouting turned into quiet and intimate conversation. Before too long the noise level began to drop as snacks and guests alike began to thin out.

Sandbar polished off his fourth mug of cider. Normally he wouldn’t be drinking so much, but today was certainly a call for celebration. Even underneath his laid back exterior, the pony had still fretted over this quarter of exams. If not for his own grades, then for all his friends to pass as well! He always had such a terrible habit of worrying about the problems of others and it was all starting to take its toll. At least now, at the end of it all, he could sit back, relax, and quaff as much cider as he wanted. He was looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow as well!

Speaking of which...

“Thinkin’ I might turn in for the night,” Sandbar announced after a drawn out yawn.

“Yeah...” Gallus added, joining in with a forced yawn for good measure, “me too...”

"Psh, hardly even ten and you two are calling it quits," Smolder scoffed, "well then enjoy your early bedtime."

"Goodnight you two," Silverstream added.

"G'night!" Sandbar replied as the rest of the group said their farewells. After gulping down the last few drops of cider in his mug, Sandbar paired up with Gallus and the two of them made their way to the stairs.

When they reached their floor, Gallus followed Sandbar into his room almost by habit. It wasn’t unusual for the two to pull out a card game to play to wind down for the night or to lay about and chill to recover from an exhausting day. However, it’d be lying if he claimed instinct wasn’t the only thing driving him into Sandbar’s room.

“Be right back,” Sandbar said with a yawn as he trotted across the room.

“Going to the bathroom?” Gallus asked with almost a faint twinge of disappointment in his voice.

“Just real quick before bed,” Sandbar replied, turning his head towards his griffin friend. Gallus looked unusually awkward, standing in the middle of the room. "Is...something on your mind?"

“I-I was just thinking...about the other day,” Gallus replied so indirectly, “you didn’t seem to mind not using the bathroom that time.”

Sandbar’s cheeks flared up a bright red, “o-oh, that...”

"Had an awful lot to drink tonight too."

Sandbar quietly nodded at that. He knew he'd be up several times that night to pee. Of course the idea of wearing a diaper to bed did cross his mind once or twice that evening, but surely it’d be more trouble than it’d be worth, right? For starters he’d most likely leak in the middle of the night or come dangerously close to doing so. Plus the diapers were buried in his closet somewhere so he’d have to do some digging. And would he really wear a diaper in front of Gallus again?

“Alls I’m saying is that if you wanna...y’know, wear a...diaper again, then whatever,” Gallus paused, gulping a nervous gulp. He was having a tough time deciding whether he wanted to stare at the far wall or the floor.

Diaper. His beak tingled every time he said it. He could feel a hint of blush tickle his cheeks every time he said it, even if it was in just casual conversation. The fact that he avoided saying it nowadays wasn’t lost on him either. It had somehow magically become a forbidden word for him.

“A-and if you ever feel like the odd one out, ya know, I can...I mean I can wear one too if you want me to.” He crossed his arms across his chest, guarding that vulnerable spot that was growing on his chest.

Sandbar's ears perked up at this curiosity "You...want to wear a diaper too?”

“I mean only if it’d make you feel more comfortable wearing one yourself!” Gallus babbled on. “But just one night, alright?” he was quick to add, “I-I don’t wanna make ya think I’m some kinda...baby." The word kind of tickled a bit as he said it, forcing him to hold back a little smile that tried to crack his beak. A baby...A baby who needs to wear diapers. The smile tried to return with that added thought, but he managed to pull it back down to a serious scowl. “And you can’t tell a soul about it if I do!"

“I-I won’t I won’t!” Sandbar answered before recoiling with a blush, “so uhm...you want to now?”

“Okay fine I guess,” Gallus exclaimed with a roll of his eyes, “If it means you’ll stop begging and all...”

The closet door almost flung off its hinges as a blurred, pale green pony dove into the pile of boxes inside. Sandbar’s hooves jittered under his weight as he pulled out the familiar unmarked box and pushed it out into the middle of the room. Gallus shared in a bashful blush as their eyes locked onto the package of diapers that dwelled inside the cardboard box.

“H-here you go,” Sandbar stammered as he handed off a folded diaper, “you can duck down in the bathroom for privacy if you want or...”

Let me change you right here on the floor, he wanted to suggest. But he hardly had the chance to stammer any of that out before the diaper was awkwardly snatched out of his hooves. In a blink of an eye, a blurred, blue griffin rushed into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

Alone in the room now, Sandbar grabbed a diaper of his own. He smiled to himself as happy butterflies started to tickle his belly. It all felt like a dream. A fantasy made real. He just hoped that Gallus would be alright in the bathroom on his own.

Meanwhile Gallus stood in the bathroom, staring down at the folded diaper he held in his claws. Was he really going to do this? Put on some baby pony diaper? The very idea made his feathers all tingly. What if this was all a trick? What if he messed it up? What if Sandbar ratted him out and told everyone about it?

He shook his head. This was ridiculous! It was a diaper! Just a stupid diaper! Sandbar was the one who was nervous about this stuff, not him! So why was he being so hesitant? Why was he taking so long to put it on if it was ‘just a diaper’? He was starting to feel a lot like Sandbar right now.

Just put on the diaper, Gallus thought loudly, just put on the stupid diaper already!

Fine, I'll put in the stupid diaper, he then grumbled back to himself. But only because it would make Sandbar happy. And no other reason.

The crisp diaper crackled as it's rectangular mass was unfolded crease by crease. It’s soft, inviting interior beckoned Gallus forward. He was more than willing to answer the call, he just wished his claws would stop shivering.

Not seconds into it he discovered that putting on a diaper was easier said than done. He sort of wished someone was in here to help him change. Someone...like Sandbar. Either way, he managed. After some careful maneuvering, skillful use of leaning against the wall, and a couple readjustments, he managed to tape the diaper, albeit loosely, around his waist.

He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the bathroom mirror. A happy griffin with a giddy grin and a pillowy thick diaper blinked back at him. The diaper in the reflection looked absolutely adorable on his mirror copy. A soft, cushiony, crinkly thing that rustled when he moved his rump this way and that. He shook his head and returned his beak back to that stoic, un-smiling type of expression that was his natural look. He couldn't give off the impression that he was enjoying this stuff after all. It was for Sandbar. He was wearing this thing because of Sandbar.

At the same time, Sandbar was changing into his own diaper. The process for him was much less awkward and the motions came to him like it had a dozen times before in the past. The diaper was opened, threaded between his legs, the tail tape was wrapped around the base of his tail, and the whole thing was pulled tightly around his waist with four tapes securely fastening the whole thing in the front. He sort of wished he had some baby powder or moist wipes to add to the mix, but this would have to do.

When he was finished, he was left with a pillowy softness enveloping his lower half. His breath became all quivery again as a pink blush refreshed his embarrassed face. A soft smile grew on his face as he stared contently up at the ceiling.

An unknown amount of time passed before his ears perked up to the sound of the bathroom door being opened. He climbed up to his feet to see Gallus finally emerging. He had to stifle a gasp when his eyes landed on the griffin’s lower half. He was wearing a diaper!

“Th-there, you see?” Gallus said, his limbs hardly bending at the joint. “N-now you don’t have to feel awkward being the only one.”

Sandbar remained silent, brimming with so much happy excitement that he could only stand perfectly still with his eyes widening. He really did it. Gallus actually did it! He actually put on a diaper! And best of all, he looked adorable wearing one!

After a minute of silence passed, Gallus took stock of the pony's strange look. “...What?”

Without saying a word, Sandbar swooped in for a hug. “Oh thank you! Thank you!” he exclaimed, nuzzling into Gallus’s chest feathers, nearly shoving the griffin off his feet in the process. "Never in a thousand years did I think that-! I-I mean I-I always hoped! But to see you-!"

“Alright, Bar, alright!” Gallus answered with a blush as he tried his best to pry the excitable pony off him, “I get it! I get it!”

“Sorry, it’s just that...seeing you...like that makes me...less embarrassed I guess.”

"Heh, well that's good I guess," Gallus smirked. In a silly way, seeing Sandbar happy kind of made him happy. "I mean you wanted to relax right?"

"R-right!" Sandbar smiled, "a-and I-I promise, I won't tell ANYONE about this! I swear it!"

“Well good...cuz, well, I’d just tell everyone that YOU wear them too!” Gallus smirked back.

"Right!" Sandbar barked back.

And after that, the all too familiar embarrassed silence fell over the two. As excited as he was, Sandbar couldn't quite find the confidence to go about his business now that the pair of them were wearing diapers. It was hard to act casual after that.

After a few more minutes, he was the first to speak up, breaking the silence with a yawn. “Well uhm, I-I still am pretty tired,” he explained as he stretched his hooves this way and that, “I’m super stoked that you did this for me, but would you mind an early bedtime?”

"So soon?"

"Well yeah, long day and all," Sandbar shrugged, "what did you want to play cards or something?"

"No, it's just...you still haven't used the bathroom yet."

"I-I haven't-? Oh..." Realization dawned on Sandbar, his cheeks flaring up a bright red. His excitable nerves were starting to give way to something more basic. Something more pressing. He really REALLY needed to pee. And unlike Gallus, he wasn’t keeping up with his bathroom breaks during the party. His thighs instinctively squeezed together, causing his diaper to crinkle.

He needed to go so badly, in fact, that his body hardly put up any resistance when he mercifully decided to simply let it all go right where he stood. Like many times before, it started with a breathy sigh. Only unlike those many times before, that sigh turned into a squeak. A loud one. The kind of squeak that only comes from someone who has been holding it in for a while. He chewed on his lower lip in an attempt to stifle these involuntary noises as his eyelids fluttered.

Simultaneously, his diaper began to swell. Not the subtle kind of swelling that came from a tiny accident leaking into it, but a droopy, over-saturated swell that came from a full strength stream of urine. The urine made an audible gurgle as it sprayed and splashed against the fluffy insides of the thirsty padding. A lot of it wasn’t fully absorbed by the diaper’s many layers at first and instead pooled around the front until the diaper had time to wick it away to the dry parts in the back.

Gallus watched wide eyed through the whole thing. This time he DID stare. He watched with great interest as Sandbar’s diaper morphed from a crisp and clean number into an enlarged, bloated thing that sagged a dingy yellow. The whole spectacle reminded him of his own diaper and how the silly little ‘accident’ Sandbar was having could easily be him in the near future. He gulped and blushed at this thought.

Finally, as all good things, Sandbar’s unbridled diaper soak came to an end. He was left with the aching relief of an empty bladder and the soothing warmth of a freshly used diaper. A smile grew on the pony’s face as he stared off into nothing.

"A-are you all done...?" Gallus asked in a small voice.

Sandbar peered out of the corner of his eye, down between his legs where a swollen mass of yellow now drooped lowly under his crotch. His gaze turned back to Gallus who, despite having witnessed the embarrassing sight of his best friend peeing himself a second time, waited on him with bated breath. He simply nodded. It was all he could think to do in such a soft moment.

“Y’know I-I can...change ya if you’d like!” Gallus then stammered, only this sounded more like a request than an offer.

“You...you would?!”

“O-only if you wouldn’t mind! I-I wouldn’t want to...offend you or whatever...”

It was tough to tell which one of them blushed the most at this idea. However, even to an outside observer, Sandbar was all for the idea. The stallion practically buzzed with excitable anticipation.

“O-okay!”

“Okay?” Gallus parroted, expecting something else like a ‘oh I wouldn’t want to impose’ or a polite ‘hey, yeah, that would be nice and I appreciate the offer, but I’m just going to change myself’. So it surprised even Gallus when Sandbar agreed. “O-okay!” he replied, “so uhm...go ahead and lay on the bed and I’ll change ya!”

Sandbar waddled off to bed as Gallus grabbed a fresh diaper from the box. He slowed a step or two to give his diaper more time to soak up the small puddles of urine that still sloshed inside the diaper. There were no complaints from Gallus seeing this, however, as the griffin basked in the sight. A goofy grin cracked on his beak as he watched the pony’s butt - thoroughly inflated by the pee soaked diaper - waddle towards the bed. It made him want to...well it was tough to say what it made him want to do. Touch it, he ventured, he wanted to touch the diaper... a lot?

Standing before his friend as Sandbar rolled onto his back, Gallus gripped the new diaper tightly between his claws. He stared at the pony’s crotch which had inflated the pony’s endowment into a thick bulge of absorbent gels.

A nervous thrill shivered down his spine as he thought about what was to come. First, he needed to undo the tapes. Easy. However as he reached for the diaper’s near bursting tapes, his talons hovered there. They then floated downwards towards the diaper’s middle where they explored the wet diaper where it was it’s thickest. He brushed a claw across the yellow surface.

He could feel the heat radiating from the pony’s crotch and felt himself becoming aroused. This would have been a pleasant side effect if the confines of the diaper wouldn’t give something as simple as getting an erection a bit of resistance. When he felt himself grow hard, the plush insides of his diaper brushed against him, reminding him that he was, in fact, in a diaper. As if he could forget.

His talons snapped back before he stammered out a hasty, “j-just checking for leaks!”

Sandbar just nodded meekly and laid his head back. He wasn’t concerned with the griffin’s methodology anyway. He was just thrilled he was getting his diaper changed by someone else. This would be the first time he’d ever had the pleasure and so far...it had been wonderful.

Gallus tried the tapes again, only this time his claws didn’t hesitate. One by one the tapes ripped off the plastic, causing the diaper to sag more and more. Once loose, the whole diaper peeled off the pony’s front to reveal it’s warm, yellow insides. A waft of heated urine floated into the room as the two friends tried their best to pretend it wasn’t there.

Seeing his friend naked wasn’t exactly new, but Gallus figured, even by pony standards, seeing his friend splayed out on the bed with a wet diaper was a call for an embarrassing aversion of the eyes. He still however managed to grab a glance at Sandbar’s cock, which was surprisingly still flaccid during the whole thing.

In all honesty, Sandbar might have very easily popped a boner during all this, but he felt much too soft for that to even be considered. He was just content with being able to wet a diaper through and through and just lay there as someone else changed him. That was certainly a rare and treasured privilege.

A roll of paper towels they had laying around, although a ridiculous and sad replacement, was sufficient enough to dab away the moisture. After that there was nothing else, but to slip the new diaper underneath, pull it between the pony’s legs, and tape it around his waist, completing the diaper change.

"Th-there," Gallus said at the end as he stepped away from the bed. "H-how does that feel? Snug enough?"

“Feels good,” Sandbar smiled with a sigh.

“Not too tight anywhere? It’s not like I do this a lot.”

"I-it's perfect," Sandbar blushed, as he lifted his head to examine the fresh diaper, "th-thanks."

The pony then leaned back and let out another content sigh. He floated there for a moment or two as he listlessly stared up at the ceiling. His heart just wouldn’t stop fluttering.

"So uhm...bed right?" Gallus chimed in, almost feeling bad for interrupting his friend’s...moment thing.

"Yeah," the thought magically made Sandbar more tired and he emitted a deep yawn, "bed should be big enough for both of us."

With a blushing nod, Gallus crawled into bed and slipped next to Sandbar who scootched to one side. Their diapers joined together in a crinkle filled chorus as the two friends shimmied next to each other, settling in for the night.

"Oh shoot! I almost forgot!" Sandbar exclaimed. He hopped out of bed and made a beeline for the nearby wall. A little nightlight with a seashell shaped cover was plugged in. "I never got around to swapping out the bulb.

“A nightlight...really?” Gallus raised an eyebrow.

Sandbar blushed, “it...helps me sleep. It won’t keep you awake, will it?”

“That little thing? Nah."

With the room properly illuminated by the very faint yellow light, Sandbar climbed back into bed, slipping stiffly beside Gallus. He had to break the silence by saying...something. Anything! “You uhm...comfy?”

“Psh yeah, unless you wanna cuddle,” Gallus sarcastically asked in an instinctively reactive kind of way.

“Alright alright, goodnight, man,” Sandbar answered as the lamp clicked off again before slipping the rest of the way into the blanket and curled up for the night.

The room darkened, save for the night light's glow and the even fainter glow of moonlight. More plastic rustling could be heard as Sandbar rolled under the covers.

“Yeah,” Gallus answered, hugging his chest with a claw, “night...”

Smooth, Gallus. Real smooth.

Author's Note

MAN, it feels good to finally have that chapter done. I’ve had that exchange at the end written out for MONTHS! It just felt so natural for Gallus to want to open himself up to those soft things like cuddling and acting like a baby, but he struck me as the kind of griffin who would get in his own way.

Maybe I’m just projecting my own habits on him though...

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve gotten in my own way when it comes to experiencing the soft stuff of the ABDL kink. Normally when I'm diapered over a friend's house I joke my way away from any situations where I would be so vulnerable. ABDL stuff is weird. I’ve had my diaper changed in a room of strangers by someone I just met, but I can’t work up the courage to ask for a bedtime story.

Well, it is what it is. Hope you’re enjoying the story so far!