Foals

When Cadance opened her eyes she was sitting in an armchair by a roaring fireplace, sipping chamomile tea, a fuzzy pink blanket covering her lap.

Eventually Luna sat in the armchair opposite her. She didn’t teleport in, rather one moment she wasn’t there, and the next moment she had always been there. She looked younger, closer to Cadance’s age in the dream realm.

“I had a feeling you might show up here tonight,” Cadance said. “Did you find Tibbles?”

“He does not like the Northern cold, poor thing. One of our guards found him curled up in their kit bag.”

“Good to hear.” Cadance set her tea down. “So do you want to tell me what in Tartarus that was really all about tonight?”

“We are sure we don’t know what you mean,” Luna said, doing a poor job hiding the mischievous tone in her voice.

“Have you been spying on my dreams Auntie? I think you know the ones I’m talking about.”

Luna smiled unsettlingly, her bright white teeth glistening in the firelight. “That my dear filly is like asking a raindrop if it has ever seen the ocean. We do not spy on dreams, we are the dreams, and the dreams are a part of us.”

Cadance sighed. “Are you saying that you’re to blame then? For…this part of me?”

Luna shook her head, her mane floating around her, sparkling with the starlight of untold aeons. “No. We can intervene to shape ponies' dreams, as we are now in fact, but generally we provide the clay, and ponies' subconscious minds decide how to shape it, so to speak. Ponies often shape their dreams as an exaggerated or distorted reflection of their waking life it seems. We have not shaped those dreams for you child.”

“But you do watch and take notes sometimes?”

Luna shrugged. “Sometimes. The dreams of alicorns and other high-magic users are especially vivid in the dream-realm; asking us not to notice them is like leaving my sister alone in a room with a cake and expecting her not to eat it.” She smirked. “In any case, as you know, we were on… sabbatical when you were born, but Celestia has told me this is something you dreamed about often as a filly.”

Cadance nodded, looking down at her hooves.

“And we can see that you have been having these dreams often again of late.”

“Yes.” Cadance sighed.

“It’s hardly surprising, dear niece, given the responsibilities of your office. We can empathize.”

“It’s not normal though! I haven’t acted on it in years, not since I was a teenager. But I can’t seem to stop dreaming about it… about this!” Cadance said, hanging her head, tears welling up. She pushed the blanket off her lap, revealing the diaper she was wearing beneath. When she looked back up at her aunt she saw that they were now both inhabiting younger versions of themselves, appearing to each other as fillies. They were no longer sitting in armchairs but directly on the rug in front of the roaring fireplace.

“Why would you go and buy me all those diapers? It’s bad enough that I dream about them. Do you realize how hard I have worked to suppress that desire?”

Luna gave her a wistful smile. “Perhaps not. But we could tell that it has been causing you some distress. And only some of those diapers were intended for you, some of them really are for your foal.”

“If I ever have one!”

“You will.” Luna laid her hoof on Cadance’s withers. “Ponies are too impatient with such things; it comes with having mortal lifespans we suppose, though my sister should know better.”

“She has been trying to help,” Cadance said.

“Yes, in her own way; Twilight too we hear. How is that working out for you?”

Cadance glared at her.

“Pay no attention to your old aunt if you wish, but we have a feeling that you just need to let your mane down for a bit.”

Cadance rolled her eyes angrily. “Let my mane down? By wearing diapers?! To cement my subconscious desire for bearing foals?”

“To start to feel comfortable with yourself first. Maybe if you can achieve that you will feel comfortable having foals.”

Cadance laid down, avoiding her aunt’s gaze and staring at the roaring fire.

“As interests go, it is not harmful, nor is it as uncommon as you would think,” Luna said. Her voice was softer and more filly like, having lost all traces of Royal Canterlot Voice. “Trust us, we have seen a lot of ponies' dreams, and you aren’t the first lost little pony we have had this conversation with, or one like it.”

“Y…yes, I’m aware there are other ponies with the same interests. I’ve read a lot of the scientific literature on the topic,” Cadance admitted, “but it doesn’t make it normal!”

“Try not to think of it as normal or abnormal, it simply is what it is. We try to think about bedroom matters such as this like music. Some ponies enjoy formal classical compositions, while others enjoy more modern forms of expression, such as the wub stepping as we believe it is called. The point is, a degree of heterogeneity is healthy.”

“Do you make a habit of setting up nurseries for every pony you meet with this… interest?”

Luna smiled. “No, you’re family. In any case, the nursery really is intended for your foal you know; we just tweaked the design specifications a little. We thought it might help you to relax and relieve some of the exigencies of your office in the meantime, if you should choose to utilize it for your special interests.”

“That crib might be a bit big to use safely for actual foals.” Cadance pointed out, fighting back her blush.

“It is a trivial matter to adjust the sizes later with magic if needed. Or it would be if your husband wasn’t intent on doing all of the carpentry by hoof for you. That was very sweet of him by the way. Inefficient, but sweet nonetheless."

“You shouldn’t have brought Shining into this,” Cadance said. “He doesn’t know about this part of me.” She lay there fidgeting with her hooves. “You didn’t tell him did you? How did you convince him he needed to make all the nursery furniture oversized like that? Wasn’t he at all suspicious?”

Luna giggled. “He didn’t question the dimensions at all! And we don’t think he noticed the adult sized diapers until you pointed them out either.” She lowered her voice conspiratorially, giving Cadance a nudge in the ribcage with her elbow “Stallions! Are we correct?”

“Stallions.” Cadance rolled her eyes again. “So, you think he bought the part about practice diapering me?” she asked shyly, looking down at her hooves again, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

“It seemed so. Although having spent some time with him, he really could do with some practice. We think he was speaking in jest about poking the foal’s eyes out by accident, but he does appear to be quite ignorant about foal-care techniques.”

They sat for a while, staring at the fire, before her aunt spoke again.

“If that is something you think you might enjoy, you should talk to him about it. We think that he might be receptive to the idea. Judging by the dream he is having right now, it at least piqued his curiosity.”

Cadance shot her aunt a dirty look, but said nothing, continuing to stare at the flickering fire for a minute or two before she next spoke.

Eventually she looked up at Luna, her eyes wet. “Don’t you think that… giving in… doing things like this makes me a bad ruler? How can I be responsible for a whole empire when I feel like I’m just a filly at heart?”

Luna put her wing around her niece, no longer appearing before her as a filly, but as a comfortingly soft adult.

“On the contrary, we think it would make you a good princess and a good filly. And a great mother when the time comes. How can you look after your subjects, as the Princess of Love of all things, if you can’t love and tolerate such an important part of yourself?”

“It shouldn’t be important though, it’s just so silly! Why do I have to care so much about such a silly thing!?” Cadance bemoaned in her squeaky filly voice, stomping her hoof angrily on the rug.

“Well, we’re not a psychologist, but we think that the more important thing is to accept that it is important to you. Do you think you can do that?”

Cadance crossed her fore-hooves and lay her head on top of them, staring angrily at the flames. “I don’t know, Maybe. I guess I’ll sleep on it.”

Luna and her entourage had already left for Canterlot by the time Cadance woke. Shining was lying in bed beside her reading his novel. “There’s my princess!” he said as he saw her stretch and yawn. He leaned over to give her a kiss on her forehead.

“Wait wait…what time is it?” Cadance asked blearily, yawning and rubbing the sleep from her eyes with her fetlocks.

“Almost nine-thirty Hon. Princess Luna had to leave already but she left her regards. You looked like you were having a good sleep for once and I didn’t want to wake you."

She sat up in a panic, looking around in vain for her diary.

Shining took his hoof and gently pulled her back down beside him. “Don’t worry. I had Charteris clear your appointments.”

“You did what? Those might have been important!” she scolded him.

“Relax sweetheart, I’m sure the Crystal District Sorghum and Wheat Growers Association pre-AGM breakfast will be a lot less sparkling without your presence, but it’s not going to affect the harvest. Charteris is going to put in an appearance as your representative.”

“Oh Celestia, that does sound dry,” she laughed. “Remind me to apologize to Charteris when I see him.” She rolled over, lying with her head nestled in Shining’s chest fur, a hoof draped around his waist.

“Don’t worry about it, he already owed you a favor,” Shining smirked.

She lay there stroking his belly absent mindedly. “I should be apologizing to you as well. What you did with the nursery… that was really sweet. I’m sorry if I came across as ungrateful. I was just surprised and really exhausted.”

“Oh, I know.” Shining said, stroking her mane with a forehoof. “I told Princess Luna we should probably wait till morning to show you, but she couldn’t wait.”

Cadance sighed, draping a forehoof over her husband’s chest “I knew something was up as soon as I got off the train you dork, I would seen the new door in the bedroom and pressured it out of you last night anyway.”

“But do you like it?” He asked hopefully, giving her horn a playful kiss. It was probably the arousal from the horn kiss that made her lose her composure.

“I actually LOVE it!” She gushed, to her own surprise, squeezing his hoof in hers. “It’s the kind of nursery I’ve dreamed about having since I was a filly!”

“Whoa there… I wasn’t expecting that level of enthusiasm.” He looked down at her with a quizzical expression, one eyebrow raised. “Luna said she had a feeling you would love it. Is this just one of those things all mares get excited over, or is there something you two aren’t telling me?”

Cadance blushed, averting her eyes. “You tell me Mr. Hoofystallion. You’re the one who was plotting this with her,” she said, trying to sound coy.

“Nope… sorry… not buying that,” he said before taking her ear in his muzzle and giving it a playful but gentle bite. The ear play instantly overwhelmed her senses and she could feel her filly headspace rushing in to take over.

“Ow… I’m innocent I swear… It was all Auntie Luna’s fault!” She lay back, looking up at him, bringing her fore-hooves up to her chest submissively.

“You know, I get the feeling I was just the dumb accomplice in all of this," Shining said, sounding more playful than cross.

Cadance giggled nervously, not saying anything.

"You and Luna are definitely up to something. The adult diapers, the weirdly large crib… she thought I didn’t notice, but I noticed! Well, actually Lock noticed, and told me it was odd, but I went along with it anyway… because, well who goes against Luna?”

He looked down at her, making eye contact and slowly running the tip of his hoof in circles around her belly fur. When he spoke again it was in a whisper, directly in her ear.

“So you want to tell me what’s going on? Why does Luna think you’re going to have a monster sized foal? Does she want us to adopt a whole orphanage or a litter of dragons? Are you pregnant with quadruplets?”

She started giggling uncontrollably, squirming. Despite herself she could feel her arousal, her pyjama bottoms looking worse for wear as they wicked away her excitement.

“You want to tell me what’s so funny?” He asked teasing, tickling her belly with his hoof mercilessly.

“Stop! Please! It’s.. It’s me… I’m the monster sized foal!” She gasped between giggles. Oh Celestia, what did I just say?

“Wait what?” Shining stopped the tickling, a confused look on his face.

She stopped giggling, her face flushed, gasping for air. “It’s a long story.”

He looked at her. “Well we have all day for once. You know you can tell me anything right?”

She blushed deeply. “Uh… yeah… maybe after breakfast. I’m starving.”

Unlike the palace in Canterlot which operated as the main seat of the diarchy and a diplomatic hub around the clock, the Crystal Castle - massive and imposing as it was - was more or less being run on a care and maintenance basis with minimal staff. Most of the castle was actually empty, or being used for archival storage. There was a cook who provided lunch and dinner on weekdays and a chef on retainer to cater for official engagements. The rest of the time it was left for the Castle’s occupants to feed themselves, though Shining had been known on occasion to sneak food from the officer’s mess of the household cavalry battalion stabled downstairs.

Today being Saturday, the cook had the day off, and Shining cooked pancakes for breakfast; a recently established tradition. Neither Cadance nor Shining were particularly adept cooks, and with the pressures of the job neither had a lot of energy to learn. This meant they had ended up eating a lot of toast and cereal for breakfast and often resorted to getting takeout food delivered on weekends, but Shining had actually gotten rather good at making pancakes.

After they had filled up on coffee and eaten entirely too many pancakes, they retired back to the bedroom to talk in private. Cadance could feel her heart in her mouth as she thought about telling Shining everything, and loading up on coffee and maple syrup probably hadn’t helped things.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Shining prompted when they were both settled, lying on the bed again.

“Can’t… too full.” She moaned.

“Sweetheart, I know you well enough to know when you’re trying to stall me,” Shining said, giving Cadance a playful nudge which elicited a moan from the overstuffed alicorn who rolled over on her side, facing away from him. “What exactly are you too full to tell me?”

Still facing away from Shining, she found herself hugging a spare pillow against her chest for comfort. “You might not love me anymore if I tell you,” she said, only half joking.

“Hey, love, please don’t say that.” Shining said, sounding a little hurt. He lay down beside her, draping a hoof over her barrel and holding her gently. He could feel her heart racing as they spooned. “You know that isn’t true. I said before you could tell me anything, and I meant it.” He said quietly, his voice softening.

“Promise?”