Author's Note

Scootabom1 proposed the idea of Lightning Dust mentally regressing after accidentally breaking into the castle due to messing up a stunt. And Tiber Septim II proposed the idea of Twilight suffering a nightmare, alerting Celestia as a result. I did also throw in a slight reference to Lightning Dust's prompt in "Potty Training Tales".

If you're curious as to what that punishment for Lightning Dust is, check out Tale #2 in this fanfic.

Remember, characters previously voted on will get half a vote, and any characters not mentioned before will get a full vote. As always, feel free to suggest not only who you'd want to see as a playmate, but also what Twily could do with them.

Characters ineligable under any circumstances:
Starlight Glimmer
Discord
Trixie
Sunburst
Cutie Mark Crusaders
Flurry Heart
School aged or younger children (i.e. Cake Twins)
Characters introduced after Flurry Heart (Starswirl the Bearded, the Pillars, Star Tracker, Mudbriar, etc.)

Characters that can only be done in group pairings:
Mane six
Spike
Princess Cadence
Shining Armor
Princess Luna
Octavia and Vinyl Scratch
Twilight Velvet
Spitfire (with or without Wonderbolts)
Lightning Dust

Characters previously voted on:
Moondancer - One vote
Cheerilee - One vote
Maud Pie - One vote

Dusty (Lightning Dust)

"Do you really have to go away, Mommy?" Twilight asked as she looked up at Princess Celestia whilst the elder alicorn was tucking the younger one into bed, the crinkling of Twilight's diaper mixing with the light rustling of the sheets.

Celestia nodded, but gently and motherly reassured Twilight. "It'll only be for an hour or two at most, I promise. As much as I love spending time with you and taking care of you, I still have my responsibilities and royal duties. If I put them off for too long, ponies would start to become suspicious."

"Can't I go with you, Mommy?" Twilight asked as she shot a pair of pleading, puppy dog eyes at Celestia. "I'll behave, I promise."

The sun princess smiled even as she shook her head from side to side. "And let all those nobles and delegates see you in diapers? I think not. The bond we have with each other is special. But something tells me that some ponies might not see it that way. Besides," She added with a smirk. "You're not potty trained yet, and I don't think you will be any time soon."

The young, padded alicorn blushed as she realized the obvious. "Oh yeah."

Smarty Pants just giggled. "It's okay, Twily. Whether you stay in diapers or not, you'll always have me. Nopony can ever separate us again."

Twilight clutched the stuffed donkey tightly for comfort. "You're right, Smarty Pants. As long as we're together, we can do anything!"

Princess Celestia let out a faint aw in spite of herself. She truly found it adorable when Twilight was in her little mindset. If only she could find a way to convincingly transfer her duties to someone else, then she'd have all the time in the world to take care of little Twily. Alas, royal duties were royal duties, and they couldn't be put off any longer. "Don't worry, Twily," She reassured her fellow alicorn. "I've set up a baby monitor so that if you need anything, I'll know. I've enchanted it so that only I will hear your voice, everypony else will just think it's a random foal. Now be a good little pony and take a nap for me, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy." Twilight yawned and slowly but surely shut her eyes, still holding onto Smarty Pants in the process.

The sun princess waited until she was certain Twilight was fast asleep, then slowly and quietly left the suite Twilight was staying in and headed for the throne room. With any luck, time would fly by quickly and she would be able to return to caring for Twilight before the younger alicorn awakened.

Celestia did her best to keep her mind from wandering while she was holding court. But even as she tried her best to pay attention, her thoughts kept drifting back to little Twily. She still remembered Luna's warning about not getting too attached, how it might adversely impact Twilight's mental state if former teacher and student couldn't separate from their roles. Despite this, the sun princess found that she had gotten quite used to being a mother to her new little one. What was so wrong with that when Twilight clearly wanted to be treated like a foal, and enjoyed being cared for?

Princess Celestia was only snapped out of her pondering and contemplation by a very familiar sound. Amidst a sudden silence in the throne room, it was possible to hear the sound of crying on an old, worn out baby monitor. And she knew at once who the crying was coming from! "Twily!" She whispered and stood up, all eyes suddenly falling upon her.

"Is something the matter, princess?" A delegate asked.

The sun princess nodded. "Yes there is," She was quick to apologize. "There's a foal in the castle who I'm trying to find the parents of. But until I do, I'm caring for it myself. And it sounds like the little one needs me now. I have to make sure it's okay."

The delegates, suspecting nothing, all nodded and gave their approval. The delegate from before even said. "Perfectly understandable, princess. We will wait until you've calmed the little one down."

"Thank you, everypony." Celestia bowed, then lit up her horn and teleported away. She soon arrived back in the royal suite where Twilight was staying, and found the padded alicorn tossing and turning in bed.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Twilight whimpered with her eyes shut, her sobs reaching audible levels.

Princess Celestia immediately rushed to the bedside, placing a hoof on the padded alicorn. "Twily?! Twily! It's okay, Mommy's here for you," She spoke in that warm and gentle tone of hers. "You're just having a nightmare. It's not real."

Slowly but surely, Twilight seemed to calm down as she opened her eyes. But then she immediately buried her face in Princess Celestia's chest, and sobbed and sniffled. "Mommy, it was horrible! We were going to see my friends in Ponyville for a playdate. And then, we got separated, and I couldn't find you anywhere, and... and..." She trailed off, unable to bring herself to say anything more.

The sun princess merely draped a wing over her fellow alicorn, pulling her close for a big hug. "It's okay, Twily. It's okay. I'm right here. I won't leave you ever, I promise." She stood there at the side of the bed, waiting for Twilight's cries and sobs to slowly cease.

When the crying finally stopped, Twilight slowly lifted her head. Her eyes were stained red from the crying. "Mommy." She said slowly.

"Yes, Twily?" Princess Celestia asked.

Twilight slowly looked down at her diaper, whimpering slightly. "I think I had an accident. I didn't mean to."

Although inclined to take Twilight at her word, Celestia nevertheless opted to do a quick diaper check just to be sure. The diaper had indeed been used, though it was hard to tell just by looking at it. Touching it, however, gave off a slightly damp feeling. Celestia cooed. "Oh, you're just a little wet, Twily. That's all. I think we can wait a little while before changing you. Your diapers can hold a lot more, you know. I don't think you'll get a rash just yet."

"Are you sure, Mommy?" The padded alicorn asked.

Princess Celestia firmly nodded. "Of course I'm sure, Twily. Now, why don't we play a little bit together, and then I'll change your diaper before setting you down for another nap."

Just then, however, the two alicorns heard a thundering crash and a loud boom that shook the ground!

"What was that?!" Twilight gasped and shivered in fright.

Celestia stood up, immediately throwing her wings over Twilight as she declared. "I don't know, Twily. But I'm going to find out," She proceeded to instruct the padded alicorn. "Stay here. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Please be careful, Mommy." The padded alicorn pleaded with the sun princess as she watched Celestia depart.

After leaving the royal suite, Princess Celestia quickly rushed to where she was certain the disturbance had originated from. She didn't know who or what it might be, but with her horn charged she was ready to confront any potential threat. No one and nothing was going to get between her and Twily!

Rounding a corner, the sun princess suddenly came upon a scene that made her gasp!

Shards of broken glass lay by a stained window that had clearly been broken and shattered, displaying a silhouette of a full grown pegasus pony (thus leaving no doubt as to what had broken the window in the first place). The royal guards, meanwhile, were struggling to hold onto a pony that was fighting back against them!

Celestia approached the scuffle just as a guard finally succeeded in pinning down the assailant. "What is going on here?!" The sun princess sternly demanded as her eyes narrowed.

The guards stood up, firing off a quick salute before one stated. "Your majesty, we have just apprehended this would-be attacker that broke into the palace. From the looks of it, she was attempting a stunt of some kind that clearly backfired. She tried to run away from us, and then she tried to fight us. What shall we do with her?"

"Let me go!" A high pitched but raspy voice cried out! "You big meanies! No play nice!" The voice's owner then revealed itself in the form of a pegasus mare who looked almost completely identical to Rainbow Dash giving the mane style. Unlike Rainbow Dash, though, this pegasus mare had a turquoise green coat, a brilliant amber mane and tail with gold stripes throughout, and eyes the same color of orange as the sky at sunset. Her cutie mark was a white lightning bolt with three stars (two orange and one yellow).

Princess Celestia recognized the pegasus pony at once. "So you're Lightning Dust!" She exclaimed. "I heard about you from Rainbow Dash and Spitfire. Apparently, you are quite a troublemaker. And quite reckless too."

Lightning Dust stuck out her tongue, blowing a raspberry at the princess. "Me no like you! You big meanie too!" She declared, not appearing to recognize who she was talking to.

A royal guard quickly explained. "It seems like she hit her head at some point. We're not sure if this'll wear off eventually or not," Then he blushed. "And... there is another problem." He pointed a hoof to a small, yellow colored puddle that was just now forming underneath the pegasus mare.

"Oopsie!" Lightning declared as she crossed her legs. "Me go potty."

Celestia had to resist the urge to snicker at Lightning Dust's juvenile and foalish behavior. Right now, the pegasus pony was acting a lot like Twilight. Except this was no act, it seemed that the blow to the head had somehow caused Lightning to revert back to the mentality of a little foal. And that gave her an idea. "Guards." She sharply declared.

The royal guards stood at attention. "Yes, your majesty?" They all asked in unison.

"Please inform the delegates that I will not be returning to court today. If they ask, inform them that I'm taking care of a troublemaker who broke into our castle by accident, and that I'm not to be disturbed while I carry out the punishment," The sun princess instructed to the guards. Then, in a slightly embarrassed tone she added. "And uh, get somepony to clean up Lightning Dust's... accident."

"Understood, your majesty." The guards all saluted, and then raced away to carry out her orders.

That left Princess Celestia alone with the mentally regressed Lightning Dust. That motherly smile of hers returned as she declared to her would-be attacker. "I think we need to get you some 'protection' in case you have any more accidents. And luckily for you, I know where we can find the sort of 'protection' you need." She then used her magic to pick up the pegasus pony and carry her away.

Twilight was most surprised when Princess Celestia returned to the royal suite with Lightning Dust in tow, the pegasus pony drooling and sucking on one of her hooves. "Mommy, who is that?" She asked the sun princess.

Princess Celestia carefully floated Lightning Dust through the air, all the while using her magic to pull out one of the diapers normally intended for Twilight. "This is your next playmate, Twily. Lightning Dust, or Dusty as I'm going to be calling her. Let's just say she's been a very naughty pony, and this is going to be her punishment."

"Are you going to spank her?" Twilight asked, shuddering at the memory of the one time Celestia had done that to her as a result of bad behavior.

"Not unless she gives me a very good reason to," The sun princess explained as she slipped the diaper onto Lightning's rump and taped it up. "For right now, I'm hoping that she won't be too naughty. Maybe you can help her in that regard."

Twilight's wings unfolded as she happily exclaimed! "Oh boy, I get to be the big sissy! Isn't that great, Smarty Pants?"

Smarty Pants happily replied. "I'm so proud of you, Twily. You're growing up so fast."

Celestia smiled as she floated the now padded pegasus pony down. "Well then, I'll let you and Dusty get to know each other. Then I'll change your diaper, Twily, so you don't get a rash."

The padded alicorn watched as Lightning Dust took a moment to get used to her new padding. Lightning Dust clumsily waddled along, only for one of her hooves to give away and cause her to fall. Lightning landed promptly on her padded posture, producing an audible crinkle and a thud. "Me go boom boom!" Lightning declared, not sounding the least bit embarrassed about what she'd just done.

Twilight giggled, proceeding to intentionally do what Lightning Dust had just done by accident. "Me go boom boom too, Dusty!" She then stuck out a hoof. "I Twily, by the way. Nice to meet ya."

"Nice to meet ya, Twily," Lightning replied as she freed one of her hooves from her mouth and offered it to Twilight, shaking it firmly. "I Lightning, but me get called Dusty by everypony. So now me am Dusty," Looking at the alicorn, she exclaimed. "Ya so big!"

The padded alicorn proudly proclaimed. "That 'cause I an alicorn: Me have pegasus wings and unicorn horn, just like Mommy." She pointed to Princess Celestia.

"The princess ya mommy?" Lightning blinked in surprise and apparent confusion.

Twilight Sparkle nodded. "Uh-uh, and now she your mommy too. We get to be sissies!" Then she held up Smarty Pants and said. "And this Smarty Pants. She my friend. Say hi to Dusty, Smarty Pants."

"Hello, Dusty," Smarty Pants greeted in an exaggerated tone of voice. "I see you got to meet Twily. She's super nice, and so's her mommy. She keeps bringing over ponies for Twily to play with, and sometimes she joins in the fun."

The padded pegasus replied by grabbing hold of Smarty Pants, trying to snatch it out of Twilight's hooves.

Twilight grabbed Smarty Pants from the other end, refusing to let go! "Mine! You can't have Smarty Pants!"

"Me wanna play with Smarty Pants!" Lightning Dust insisted with a growl!

"But she mine!" Twilight protested.

Princess Celestia immediately intervened to break up the fight before it could escalate. "That's enough, both of you!" She scolded. "If you can't behave, I'll put you both in time out and take Smarty Pants away," To Lightning Dust she then instructed. "Dusty, we say 'please' when we want to have something that belongs to somepony else."

Lightning proceeded to ask Twilight. "Can me please have Smarty Pants to play with? Me not gonna hurt her. Me promise."

Reluctantly, Twilight let go of the doll and let Lightning Dust take hold of her. "Please be careful with her." She pleaded.

"Don't worry, Twily," Smarty Pants sought to reassure the padded alicorn. "You know I put up with a lot under you, not to mention when I was Winona's favorite chew toy. I'll be okay, I promise."

Lightning Dust, meanwhile, lifted Smarty Pants into the air and made loud noises as she proclaimed. "Me gonna fly just like the Wonderbolts! Me wanna fly like Spitfire!" And she held the doll aloft, swinging it around in circles for a while.

Celestia decided to take advantage of the opportunity, taking Twilight by the hoof and leading her away to get changed. "Now's an excellent time to take care of your wet diaper, Twily. We certainly wouldn't want a rash to spoil your fun with Dusty."

As Twilight was having her old diaper be removed, and her rump wiped clean, she looked up at the sun princess and asked her. "Are you gonna make me use the potty, Mommy?"

"Not unless you want to, Twily," The sun princess cooed as she bailed up the old diaper and the wipes, and threw them away in the trash. "I don't want to force you to do something you'd rather not do. We both agreed that you only need to try to use it once a week at most."

"Okay, Mommy," The padded alicorn nodded. "I'll think about it. But you'll love me no matter what I do, right?" The last line sounded just the tiniest bit uncertain.

Princess Celestia was quick to reassure her fellow alicorn. "Of course I will, Twily. Don't ever doubt that. Mommy will always love you and always be there for you no matter what. I will never let anything bad happen to you."

Twilight slowly sat up after a new diaper was fastened to her rump, happily hugging Princess Celestia tightly. "Thank you, Mommy! You're the best mommy ever!"

Celestia smiled as she returned the hug full force. "No, thank you, Twily. Thank you for letting me be your mommy. You've always been family to me. And this lets me make it official."

A short time after returning from being changed, Twilight was most surprised (but also greatly relieved) to receive Smarty Pants back from Lightning. The padded pegasus told the padded alicorn. "Me all done playing with Smarty Pants. You can have her back. Smarty Pants lots of fun, but she no talk to me."

Twilight giggled as she took hold of the doll once again. "That's because I usually do the talking for her."

"What are you talking about, Twily?" Smarty Pants retorted. "You know I can talk by myself if I want to. And I can do other things too: Like sing. Remember, you used to be unable to tinkle a drop unless I was singing to you while you were on the potty."

The padded alicorn's blush deepened. "Smarty Pants, you don't have to keep bringing that up all the time. Besides, you know I don't need that anymore. You've seen me go potty without you singing at all: I've pee-peed and poo-pooed in it without any singing at all."

But Lightning Dust, instead of laughing, seemed to whimper and shrink back. "No like the potty. Potty almost eat me. It not nice at all."

"Well, I don't really care for the potty either to be honest," Twilight declared. "I only really use it because my mommy wants me to use it sometimes. But she already says she'll love me no matter what. So I don't really try to use the potty unless I really have to. I like diapers better."

Lightning nodded. "Uh-huh, diapers safer. Diapers more comfy." She patted her padded rump to prove the point.

Twilight giggled, mimicking Lightning's gesture. "That's right. And Mommy always gets the biggest, poofiest diapers. That's why she's the best mommy ever! She even lets me drink her milkies, they taste yummy!"

"And you know what else tastes yummy, my little ponies?" The sun princess asked as she got both padded ponies to turn and face her. When they did so, they saw her carrying out a tray full of fresh cut veggies. "Snacks. I made sure to get the best snacks possible."

"Cookies?!" Lightning exclaimed as she waddled over.

Celestia shook her head. "No cookies. At least, not unless you eat your veggies, Dusty. And the same goes for you, Twily. Too many cookies and nothing else are not good for you. And you want to grow up big and strong, right?"

Twilight nodded back, puffing out her chest. "Uh-huh. Wanna grow up to be like you, Mommy." She then waddled over slowly but surely.

Satisfied with the response from one of her charges, the sun princess carefully set the tray of veggies down on the floor. "Go ahead, eat up." She encouraged.

Lightning Dust sniffed the vegetables and stuck out her tongue. "Yucky! No wanna!"

"But Dusty," Twilight protested as she sat down near the tray. "You gotta eat your veggies if you want cookies. Veggies make you big and strong, like Mommy." She proceeded to grab some baby carrots, and happily chomped down on them.

Smarty Pants encouraged. "Even though I don't really eat, I can see how happy Twily is when she eats her veggies for her mommy. You should eat them too, Dusty. Veggies are good for you. They're not yucky at all."

Lightning was still very hesitant about approaching the tray, and even more hesitant to touch, let alone eat any of the cut up vegetables. She very nearly looked like she was going to gag when she helped herself to some celery. But she managed to force it down, and soon she was grabbing as many veggies as she could get her hooves on. In the process, crumbs flew everywhere!

That was in stark contrast to Twilight, who ate her snack slowly and carefully. At least, until a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies were presented to the two padded ponies. The sweet scent of the cookies overrode any instinct both padded mares might have had to do anything other than shove the cookies into their mouths as fast as they could!

"My goodness!" Princess Celestia playfully exclaimed afterward as she very carefully used a rag to wipe the mouths of both her charges. "What messy foals I have," Then, she exposed her teats to them. "Well, you'll both want milk to wash down those cookies. Don't worry, there's plenty of milk for you both. Just try not to drink too fast."

Twilight happily latched onto one of Celestia's teats and began to suckle, soon being rewarded for her efforts as rich, creamy milk slowly trickled down her throat.

Lightning Dust somewhat clumsily latched onto the other exposed teat, and then tried to emulate Twilight's actions as best she could. "Mmm." She dreamily declared, shutting her eyes and concentrating on nothing but suckling.

After what felt like several minutes worth of breastfeeding, the sun princess carefully brushed both padded ponies away from her teats and concealed them again. "That's enough for now," She told them. "Now, you two wait here while I go and get some supplies. I know of a fun activity you can do together."

The activity was hoof-painting. Princess Celestia used her magic to carry over two art easels, several blank sheets of paper, smocks, and of course colorful paints. She also set several wads of old newspaper down around the easels, so as to make sure any traces of paint wouldn't end up on the floors. No need to make the hired hooves work even harder, especially not after some of them had undoubtedly been pressed into service cleaning up Lightning's earlier accident.

"Why don't you both paint me some pretty pictures?" Celestia encouraged both Twilight Sparkle and Lightning Dust. "Maybe if it's good enough, I'll even hang it up on a fridge." Then she stepped back, hoping that doing so would give the two the freedom they needed to come up with inspiration.

Twilight carefully set Smarty Pants down a ways away from the paints and the easels. "I don't want to risk getting paint on you, Smarty Pants. That would take forever to wash off. And I don't know what I'd do without you."

"That's okay, Twily," Smarty Pants replied. "I'm not much of an artist anyway. But I know whatever you paint is sure to be spectacular. I still remember your old hoof paintings for your other mommy. She never took them down from the fridge, not even after you left to study with our current mommy."

The padded alicorn giggled. "Oh, I know. She still kept B.B.B.F.F.'s hoof paintings up too. She kept almost everything from when we were foals, even our old potty chair." Then, she stared at her easel as she tried to think about what to paint and what colors to use.

Lightning Dust didn't bother to think about what she'd paint or what colors she'd use to do so. She just dipped her hooves into the various paints and splattered them all over the easel without rhyme or reason. "Pretty colors!" She giggled, all the while drips of paint began to fall off the easel and onto the newspaper below. She was quickly getting paint all over her fur, not that she cared.

Twilight, by contrast, tried to be careful. She tried not to let her colors run or mix, and she tried to make sure only her hooves were covered in paint. She didn't want to make a mess for her mommy. She'd been pretty well behaved all day so far, and she didn't want to ruin that streak now. It was the least she could do to thank her mommy for not forcing her to potty train, even though the padded alicorn knew it would make the sun princess really happy.

At last, both padded ponies completed their paintings. And Princess Celestia came trotting over to inspect them.

Twilight happily and proudly showed off her painting first. It was rather crude, all things considered, but that just added to the charm of it. "It's a picture of me and you, Mommy," She told the older alicorn, pointing to the purple and yellow sketches of ponies standing next to each other. "I made you yellow, just like the sun," She pointed a hoof to a small yellow circle above. "See? There's the sun you raise. And that you and me, we're holding hooves. We're outside, on the grass, enjoying the day," She pointed to lines of green underneath the ponies. "Do you like it?" She hopefully asked.

The alicorn with a majestic white coat nodded quite slowly, holding up the painting with her magic and admiring it. "Oh Twily, it's beautiful!" It was all she took to keep from tearing up. "I can't wait to put this on my fridge," Then she trotted over to Lightning Dust, asking the padded pegasus. "And what did you paint for me, Dusty?"

"Me just painted pretty colors," Lightning Dust replied, then blushing a bit. "But me made a mess. Painting fun, though."

Celestia smiled and suppressed a giggle. "Well, it's a nice painting, even if it's just a bunch of swirls and lines. I guess it can be hard to come up with inspiration sometimes," Her smile slowly faded as she observed just how much paint Lightning had managed to smear all over herself. "But just look at you! Now you're all messy, Dusty. You're going to need a bath."

"Nu-uh, no bath!" Lightning protested and unfolded her wings, looking ready to fly off at a moment's notice. However, instead of doing that, she spread her legs and shut her eyes as she grunted. Soon, her tail started to hike upward.

"Is she actually-" Princess Celestia began to think. But her question was soon answered as she could see Lightning Dust's diaper starting to bulge in back, all the while the familiar stench of methane began to permeate the entire room.

The padded pegasus grunted and kept pushing, her legs spreading apart further as the bulge in her diaper grew bigger and bigger by the second. At last, with an audible "Fwop", the tapes of her diaper were ripped off and it fell to the ground with a thud. She smiled, apparently quite pleased with her dirty deed as she declared. "Diaper off. All in, all out. Now you change me."

The sun princess sighed, then exclaimed in only slightly exaggerated fashion. "My goodness! Did my milk do that to you, Dusty?! Now you really do need a bath and another diaper," To Twilight she then added. "Now Twily, why don't you..."

But before anything else could be said, Twilight started pushing. And soon, her diaper had filled up as well. "I messy too, Mommy," She declared. "Me have to take a bath too now, right?"

Celestia nodded, she couldn't bring herself to be mad with Twilight. Yet in the back of her mind, she was thinking. "Twilight did that on purpose, I'm sure of it. She really is getting attached to me. But is that such a bad thing? It's all just part of the act, right?"

Well, those were thoughts for another time and place. For right now, the alicorn with a majestic white coat had two very stinky padded ponies in desperate need of changing and bathing. So she used her magic to pick both her charges up (as well as Lightning Dust's very dirty diaper) and carried them into the bathroom. After discarding Lightning Dust's decimated diaper in the trash, she turned on the tap and let the tub slowly fill up with warm water.

Lightning Dust woke up several hours later with her mind still in a bit of a daze. "Where am I?" She muttered to herself. The last thing she could remember, she had been working on a stunt intended to surpass even the fabled Sonic Rainboom, convinced that such a move would be just the thing to impress the Wonderbolts. She still heavily resented having been kicked out of them just because of one incident that hadn't even really been her fault.

But the stunt had gone horribly wrong. While trying to build up enough speed to shatter the sound barrier, Lightning Dust had lost control and had crashed head on through one of the stained glass windows in the castle. Everything after that until now was a blur, almost like she'd been having an out of body experience. The pegasus pony vaguely recalled being "punished" by Princess Celestia, and having momentarily lost control of her bodily functions. But aside from that, she couldn't remember a thing.

Then, suddenly, Lightning's eyes noticed something on a nearby table. Being quite curious, she naturally picked it up and examined it carefully.

What Lightning Dust read made her eyes widen in disbelief, and what she saw attached to the note she was now reading only made her boil over with rage. There were several pictures of her clearly wearing diapers, playing with none other than Princess Twilight, who was also padded for some reason.

The note read as follows:

Dear Lightning Dust,

I'm sure you must be wondering by now where you are and what happened to you. Well, you ended up quite literally crashing into my castle. And in the process, it seems that you temporarily reverted back to the mentality of a foal.

Don't worry, the only other pony besides myself who saw you in such an infantile state was Twily. And she's already been sworn to secrecy. She won't tell a soul. And I trust you to do the same.

If you agree to keep Twily's secret a secret from everypony, then these pictures of you being treated as a foal won't end in every paper and magazine across all of Equestria. I might even be willing to talk to the new captain of the Wonderbolts, and see about letting you have a second chance with the team. Of course, if that happens, you'll have to start over from the very bottom of the totem pole.

But should you blab to anypony at all, your name and face will be all over Equestria. And it won't be in the way you intended.

Choose wisely,

Princess Celestia

Lightning let out a guttural roar as she threw down the note and the pictures. "I can't believe she did this to me!" She growled. "And I can't believe she's actually going to blackmail me! Me!"

But then the pegasus pony sighed, realizing the dilemma she was in. She couldn't tell anypony, not unless she wanted to have those pictures of her in diapers be circulated throughout all of Equestria.

Besides, the extreme daredevil really wanted that second chance with the Wonderbolts. She would do anything to convince them to let her back into their ranks, or even just back into their tryouts at the academy. Hopefully, this new captain (whoever she was) would be forgiving and generous, not like Spitfire. Lightning Dust could still remember how Spitfire (along with Soarin) had punished Lightning for her apparent "recklessness": Quite literally sending her down the drain.