Big Brother, Little Problem
“Sorry, Twilee, but only big ponies get the top bunk.”
“But I am a big pony, Shiny!”
Shining Armor patted his sister on the head as if he was petting a particularly attention-deprived dog. “Listen, sis, even if you were, I’d still be the bigger one, so I get it.” He began to climb the steps up to the bed, only to feel a lead weight affix itself to his tail. “Twilight…”
“Sath ihth!” Twilight Sparkle mumbled through the hair.
Rolling his eyes, Shining said, “Okay, you win. Twilight, you’re a big pony.”
“Yay!” she exclaimed, only to fall down to the floor with a plop and the telltale crinkle of her diaper.
Grinning good-naturedly, Shining added, “A big pony that still wets the bed.” He climbed up onto his bed. “Goodnight, Twilee. Don’t let the bed parasprites bite.” With a brief flare of horn, he covered the firefly lamp hanging from a hook in the roof with a cloth and prepared himself for a good night’s sleep.
Unless, of course, his sister kept making bubbling noises. “Twilight, it’s time to go to sleep. Could you please stop that?” The cover came off of the lamp to reveal a distraught Twilight, her lip quavering and nose running.
“Wahhhhhhhh!” she wailed with the kind of wineglass-shattering pitch that most opera singers could only dream of.
Panicking, Shining Armor stumbled down the steps. “He-hey, Twilee, don’t be like that, I was only joking!”
“WAHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Before Shining could calm the filly, the door slammed open and their mom galloped into the room. “What’s wrong Twilight, are you okay?” she called out, although her words were largely swallowed by the din. She looked at Shining. “What’s wrong, did she hurt herself?”
He retreated, his mouth moving, but no words came out.
Twilight answered for him. “Sh-Sh-Shining wouldn’t let me have the top bunk and said I wasn’t a big pony and then he said I was but then he said I was a big pony that wet the bed!”
His mother's expression hardened. “Is this true, Shining?”
Unable to meet his mother’s stern gaze, he replied, “Yes…”
“And what do you have to say for yourself, young stallion?”
“But I was just fooling around! I didn’t mean to make her cry!” he protested.
She shook her head. “You know how sensitive Twilight is about her little accidents, or do I have to remind you about the time you teased her about wearing a diaper last month?”
He stared at the ground, his face hot. “No. I remember.”
“Good.” By now, Twilight had stopped crying, and was instead only sniffling into her mother’s mane. “Now, if I remember correctly, you had problems with accidents until you were about her age, too.”
“Mom…” he whispered, his blush doubling in intensity.
Twilight sent him a sideways glance. “He did?”
“Yes, your big brother also had some problems during the night, and I think he needs to be reminded about just how embarrassing it can be.”
Shining hissed, “What.”
“What?” Twilight asked, cocking her head.
His mother turned to leave. “Stay right there, Shining Armor.” He shrunk back, ears flattening against his head; Shining knew that when his mom used his full name, he was in deep trouble. Diamond Dog-mine deep.
She returned a few minutes later, horn glowing as it levitated a basket. “Lay down on your back, Shining Armor,” she said sternly.
The colt obliged, knowing that events were well and truly out of his own hooves now. He felt his rear being lifted by a levitation spell, then brought back down. He couldn’t help but notice how much softer and puffy the floor suddenly seemed. A few seconds of light rustling followed and Shining felt something wrap about his waist and up between his legs before being pulled snug.
“You may get up now, Shining Armor.” He followed the order; the words might have been a privilege, but the tone told him otherwise.
Twilight giggled.
Shining felt his heart drop into the deepest pit of his stomach, a sad plunk marking its swan dive into the stomach juices. A light-pink diaper, like Twilight’s, was snugly hugging his bottom and, if the color by itself wasn’t bad enough, it also had a yellow flower print on the outside.
“You will wear a diaper for the next week whenever you go to sleep, Shining Armor,” his mother explained before smirking and adding, “Whether you use it is entirely up to you.” She turned to Twilight. “Seeing as how Shining is no longer a ‘big’ pony, I think you can have the top bunk.”
The filly jumped in circles around her mom. “Yes yes yes yes!”
“But first you have to put on your pajamas.”
Twilight moaned. “Aww, but they’re itchy.”
“I know you don’t like them, dear, but if you don’t then you’ll get cold again, and what happens when you get cold?”
“I have an accident…”
Her mom nodded. “Yes, and you want to be a big pony. So, leg up.” Twilight did so, and in a few moments she was wearing a purple sleeper.
Her work done, their mother left the room, leaving Twilight to enjoy the victory and Shining to mull over how he was going last the next week.
Twilight snickered. “Bed time, little pony, don’t let the pawaspites bite!” Her rear swaying back and forth, she tried to clamber up the steps to the top bunk, only to fall onto her rump. Looking sheepish, she said, “Umm, big bwo, could you help me up?”
Shining half-smiled, his sister’s clumsy attempt at scaling Mount Bunk helping to take the edge off the night’s developments. “Sure, why not?” He knelt down. “Hop on, Twilee.” She latched her hooves around his neck, then the two ascended to the top bed. Twilight slid off and wrapped herself in the blankets. His job as big brother complete, Shining was about to climb back down when felt Twilight poke him. “What is it, Twilee?”
She tapped her hooves. “Well, uhh, I was thinking maybe you could, umm, sleep up here with me?” She blushed. “It’s a little scawy in the dark sometimes…” she said before puffing out her chest and adding, “But only just a little!”
Shining nuzzled her. “What kind of big brother would I be if I didn’t protect my sister from the big, bad monsters that hide in the dark?”
“Umm, a bad one, Shiny?”
He laughed. “It wasn’t the kind of question that’s supposed to be answered, but don’t you worry about that.” He laid down beside her. “Is it okay if I cover the lamp now?”
“Yep.”
The light went out and he closed his eyes, only to be stopped from sleeping again by a small hoof prodding him. “Yes, Twily?”
“Umm, you aren’t mad at me, are you, Shiny?”
“…No, I’m not, Twily. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have made fun of you.”
He felt a Twilight give him a dainty kiss in the snout. “Thanks, Shiny. I love you.”
He smiled and pulled her closer. “I love you too, but do you think we could go to sleep now?”
“Hehe, yes.”
A little later he could feel his sister’s breath on his chest, the steady rhythm that told him she was fast asleep. Scratching his covered bottom, he thought, Well, could be worse.
