And Marshmallow Makes Three

Rarity was fuming! She was just so . . . so . . . Ooh, she was so mad that she could just strangle something. How dare she! How dare Fluttershy even think about missing one of their spa appointments! Thsi the third time--the third time, mind you--that Fluttershy had missed their spa appointment, and Rarity wasn't about to take that lightly! It was the thing that they did together, where they could bond and dish and just be themselves with no one else around. Fluttershy had always loved their spa dates, so why in Equestria would she choose to miss out on it three weeks in a row?

Rarity supposed that she should have been more understanding of Fluttershy. After all, the poor dear had a baby to take care now and that ate up a large chunk of her time to where she had no free time to speak of. But, honestly, surely she could have gotten somepony, anypony, to watch the kid while she went out for a while, at least for a couple of hours. There was little to no doubt in Rarity's mind that waiting on the kid hand and foot, day and night, was exhausting for her, so surely Fluttershy would like at least one day to relax and forget about her worries, about her baby. It just didn't make any sense to Rarity why Fluttershy would choose to exhaust herself caring for her baby than spend a couple of hours pampering herself.

She crossed the bridge that led to Fluttershy's cottage. She tried to relax herself, but that was hard to do when every muscle in her body was tense. Was she really that upset that it was having a negative effect on her body? Surely she couldn't have been that upset with Fluttershy! Then agian, she supposed that Fluttershy herself would have been disappointed if she, Rarity, had missed three of their spa dates. Regardless, Rarity was going to give that pegasus a piece of her mind!

She took a deep breath as she stood outside the door. She bowed her head and closed her eyes, thinking long and hard about her approach. She didn't want to come across as so mad as to never want to have anything to do with Fluttershy ever again. That certainly was not the case. But, she also wanted to make her point bold and clear to where Fluttershy got the message and understood why she was so upset. "Right then." She lifted a hoof and rapped on the door a couple of times.

"Just a minute," a timid voice came from inside the cottage.

Within only a couple of seconds, the front door was opened and Fluttershy found herself standing in front of Rarity, smiling, looked tired. The mare looked as if she hadn't been getting much sleep over the past couple of days, and why wouldn't she with a child that needed tending to? It was quite obvious to Rarity that she was doing her best to act as if she wasn't tired in the slightest, putting on a fake smile. "Oh, hello, Rarity."

"Hello, darling," Rarity greeted, trying to be as polite as possible. "May I come in?"

Fluttershy nodded and stepped aside, allowing her friend to enter the cottage. She shut the door and trotted until she was standing beside Rarity. "So what brings you here?"

"Fluttershy, do you happen to know what day it is?"

Fluttershy blinked for a moment before tapping her hoof to her forehead, thinking hard. She looked up at her friend shortly afterward. "M-Monday?"

"It's our spa day, dear," Rarity corrected.

Fluttershy's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, my gosh! I'm so sorry, Rarity! It's just that I've been so busy taking care of Marshmallow that I've lost track of time."

"Clearly." Rarity looked around. Seated in the kitchen, in her high chair, was Marshmallow. The baby skunk was wearing a dark blue t-shirt, a bib covering it. The child's mouth was a mess, baby food smeared all it and her face. Rarity couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. She turned back to her friend. "I see I've interrupted lunch."

Fluttershy walked back over to Marshmallow and sat down, taking the spoon in her hoof and scooping up some more baby food, proposing it to Marshmallow. "Open wide." She smiled warmly as Marshmallow leaned forward and accepted the food, chewing the mushy baby food slowly before finally swallowing. "Good girl."

Rarity's expression hardened. "Darling, do you realize that this is the third time you've missed one of our appointments?"

Fluttershy looked up at her, a worried expression on her face. "Is it?" Her friend nodded. "Oh, dear, now I see why you're so upset. I'm terribly sorry, Rarity. I was just so busy taking care of Marshmallow that I guess I wasn't paying attention to anything other than her needs."

"But what about your needs, Fluttershy? Wouldn't you like to take a break from all this . . . parenting that you're doing?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh, no. Taking care of others is my passion, you know. I couldn't just stop."

Rarity nodded. "I understand that, darling, but you do need to take a break every now and then. Relax, unwind. That's the whole purpose behind our spa dates. You've not had a problem taking a day off from your work before."

"Babies are different from animals. They need constant care. Besides, I wouldn't be able to find a babysitter on such short notice. That's why she had to come shopping with us."

"Yes, I'm fully aware of that, darling, from having taken care of Sweete Belle for so long. I'm sure we can find a babysitter in advance if we tried hard enough."

Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement as she fed Marshmallow another spoonful of baby food. "I'm sure we could. Oh, but I just couldn't stand being away from her that long. You see, I've become quite attached to her over these past couple of weeks."

Rarity smiled. "Yes, I can see that."

"I suppose I could give a try," Fluttershy went on. "Of course, the babysitter would have to be notified two weeks in advance. Maybe when she gets older, she can join us."

"Perhaps."

"But for the time being she needs to get fed." Turning back to the baby she fed Marshmallow another spoonful of baby food. She looked over at Rarity. "Would you liket o stay and keep her company while I run out and run some errands?"

Rarity shook her head. "Sorry, but I can't. I have some deadlines to meet. I'd better get going."

"Oh, okay then. So I guess I'll be seeing you around."

Rarity smiled. "I'm sure you will. Ciao." With that, she trotted out the door.

Fluttershy turned back to Marshmallow just in time to see a glob of baby food headed for her. Unfortunately, she didn't have any time whatsoever to react, causing the baby food to land directly in her mane. "I take it you're no longer hungry." She set the jar and the plastic spoon aside and used one of the napkins lying on the dining table to wipe her mane clean. "Well, al that food surely made you thirsty. What say we get you a nice warm bottle of milk and put you down for an afternoon nap?" She didn't wait for any response from the baby as she got up and trotted over to the fridge.

***

Fluttershy smiled down at Marshmallow as the white skunk slept in her crib, the soft sounds of her sucking on her pacifier being the only sound in the room. She began pacing back and forth, her head down, her pink mane hiding the left side of her face as always. She closed her eyes and shook her head in frustration, gritting her teeth. Oh, what to do?! What to do?!

She had always wanted a daughter, a baby to call her own. She'd always been jealous of both Applejack and Swette Belle and the relationships that the two of them had with their sisters. They were all like mother and daughter rather than sisters, especially Applejack and Applebloom. In Rarity and Swette Belle's case, they fought more like sisters. With Applejack and Applebloom, they were more like mother and daughter due to the fact that their parents had died and Applejack, with Granny Smith and Big Macintosh's help, had raised Applebloom since she was a foal, just a little bitty filly.

She let out a heavy groan, falling flat onto her stomach on the floor, rubbing her head. She was so frustrated, so overwhelmed with indecision. Why was this so hard? It certainly shouldn't have been. All she had to do was find a babysitter for Marshmallow and then go with her friends to the picnic. How hard was that? It was considering the fact that many mares in Ponyville weren't mothers. The only other mother that she could think of besides her was Derpy.

Her eyes shot open and she sat up, a small smile coming to her face. That was it! That's what she'd do! She'd interview Derpy and ask her if she was interested in babysitting Marshmallow. Oh, but with how busy she was (hopping from job to job, a child to raise), did she really need another thing weighing her down? The last thing Fluttershy wanted to do was put more stress on the poor mare. She supposed she could always ask.

***

"So, it'd only be for a little while," Fluttershy said to Derpy. She took a sip of her tea. "It wouldn't be a problem, would it?"

Derpy shook her head. "No. I'd be happy to watch her."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to feel obligated. I know how much you have to do around here." She turned her head to see Dinky playing with a little red ball, and she smiled.

"Really, Fluttershy, it's no problem. What day do you need me to watch her?"

"Well, as long as you're sure. I'd need you to watch her on Sunday. That's the day we're going to the spa."

"This Sunday?"

Fluttershy frowned. "That's not a problem, is it?"

Derpy shook her head. "Not at all. Just making sure." She studied her friend closely. "Are you all right?"

"I'm not so sure if I even want to do this."

Derpy smiled, understanding where Fluttershy was coming from. "I know what you mean. When Dinky was just a foal, I never wanted to be away from her. If I was, I worried about her constantly, wondering if she would be all right."

Fluttershy grinned. "Sounds you'll fit the job perfectly."

"Well, I do have a lot of experience." She reached a hoof to take the cup that Fluttershy held out to her. Her hoof bumped against the tea kettle, spilling warm, sweet tea all over the table cloth.

"Oh, my goodness!" Fluttershy grabbed several napkins and began mopping up the mess along with Derpy.

Derpy grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. You didn't get any on you, did you?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, I'm fine." She trotted into the kitchen and dumped the wet napkins in the trash bin before walking back over to her seat. "What about Dinky? Do you think she'll be all right with having Marshmallow around?"

Derpy nodded. "Of course. She doesn't have many friends, you see. When Marshmallow gets older, they can regular play dates."

Fluttershy smiled. "You're such a good friend."

"It's no problem, Fluttershy." She pushed a plate of muffins towards her. "Would you care for a muffin? They're blueberry."

***

"Thank you for watching her, Pinkie," Fluttershy said as she entered her cottage. She blinked. "Why are you covered in flour?"

"It was the only way I could get her to stop crying," Pinkie said with a grin.

"Um . . . okay." She walked over to Marshmallow and nuzzled her. "She wasn't any trouble, was she?"

Pinkie shook her head. "Nope!"

"That's good."

"Maybe we can make this a regular thing, you know, while you go out and do whatever."

Fluttershy suddenly felt guilty for appointing Derpy as her primary babysitter, seeing as how Pinkie also had experience with watching after babies. She grinned, looking up. "Maybe." She nodded towards the door. 'Well, you should get going, I suppose."

Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement. "Yep! Those cupcakes aren't going to bake themselves!" She hopped out the door, gleefully laughing to herself.

Fluttershy closed the door and walked over to Marshmallow. "Well, Marshmallow, what say we fix some dinner, huh? You're probably hungry anyway."

***

Before Fluttershy knew it, Sunday had arrived. Reluctantly, she dropped Marshmallow off, second guessing her decision when she heard Marshmallow crying and reaching out for her as she flew away. She hoped that leaving Marshmallow with Derpy would give the skunk a better chance to get comfortable around other people.

Within a few minutes after, Fluttershy landed outside the spa. She smiled as she entered, seeing Rarity in the waiting room. She walked over and softly cleared her throat. She received no resposne, so she tried again, slightly louder. Rarity didn't look up. Sighing, she resorted to speaking. "I'm here."

Rarity looked up from the magazine she'd been reading and smiled. "Oh, there you are, Fluttershy. So glad you could make it. Well, let's not waste any time." She turned to Aloe. "The usual, please."

The steam room was where they went first, where Rarity began talking excitedly about a new design for a dress she'd been working on. Fluttershy listened intently, only giving her input every now and then. She was more a listener, not a talker, and Rarity was just fine with that. With Fluttershy, she could go on and on about whatever topic she wanted and Fluttershy wouldn't object to the topic that she wanted to discuss. However, Fluttershy found it odd that Rarity never asked about how Marshmallow was doing. Fluttershy, on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about how her baby was doing with Derpy.

***

Derpy was off for the day, thankfully. No mail to deliver today. All she had to do was watch over Marshmallow. She just hoped that she remembered how. She currently had Marshmallow lying on her bed, playing with her feet, her toes in particular, making the baby skunk cackle all the while. It had taken her a while to get Marshmallow to calm down and stop crying. All she had to do was cuddle with the child, thus soothing her.

At the moment, Dinky was in the kitchen preparing lunch. Ever since her mother had nearly caught the house on fire, she hadn't been trusted in the kitchen again. As fate would have it, Dinky seemed to be a better cook than her mother.

Derpy kept tickling Marshmallow, blowing raspberries on the skunk's belly, making her laugh. Their playtime was suddenly interrupted when Dinky called them to the kitchen for lunch. Marshmallow was scooped up and carried to the kitchen and set in Dinky's old high chair. She reached into Marshmallow's diaper bag and took out a jar of baby food.

***

"She wasn't much trouble, was she?" Fluttershy whispered quietly. She crept into the room with Derpy.

"No," Derpy replied.

Fluttershy smiled in relief. "Good." She bent down and gingerly picked up Marshmallow by the scruff of her neck with her neck, turning her head and placing her on her back. She turned to Derpy. "Same time next week?"

Derpy nodded. "Certainly."

Fluttershy trotted over to the front door, but suddenly stopped as if she had forgotten something. She nuzzled into her saddlebag and pulled out a couple of bits. "Here. Thanks for helping me today. I really appreciate it."

Derpy seemed reluctant to take the money. She shook her head and eventually took the bits being presented to her. "Thanks, Fluttershy. Have you ever thought of how you're going to get money to pay for everything that you need? Clothes, diapers, food . . ."

Fluttershy looked worried. "Gosh, I never thought about that. Um . . ., what do you think I could do for money?"

"Well, you're very good with helping others. Maybe you could get a job at the local hospital."

Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh, no. My area of expertise is with animals, not with other ponies, and I wouldn't feel right charging my friends for money for the services I give."

Derpy smiled. "I understand. I could provide you with any supplies that you may need."

"Oh, no." Fluttershy shook her head quickly. "I couldn't ask you to do that."

"Really, Fluttershy, it's no problem."

"Well . . ., okay, as long as  you're sure." She finally left the house, gingerly flying until she reached the ground.

Maybe Derpy's right, she thought as she walked home. Maybe I could get a job at the hospital. It would give me something new and exciting to do.Oh, but what if I mess up and make somepony worse? I just couldn't live with that. I took an oath to help ponies, not make them worse! I suppose I could start asking for money for helping my friends, but again, I wouldn't feel right doing that. Oh, what can I do in order to earn some bits?

She stomped her hoof in frustration. Celestia above, give me a sign or . . . or something! She was suddenly knocked to the ground. Instinctively, she instantly looked over her shoulder to make sure that Marshmallow was all right. She let out a sigh when she discovered that Marshmallow, surprisingly, was still sleeping. She finally turned her head to discover a brown bag lying on its side, bits spilling out in front of it. How convenient, she thought, shaking her head. She looked around and noticed that no one seemed to be acting as if they'd lost something, thus giving her the advantage to take the money in run. But, she couldn't do that. It wouldn't be right. It would be very dishonest. Oh, she wished Applejack were here to give her an honest opinion on what she should do!

Then again, she did need the money and she didn't really have another way of getting money besides either applying for a job at the local hospital or charging her friends money, and either option was out of the question for her. She sighed, deciding that taking the money would be her best option. Finders keepers, losers weepers, she thought.

She stashed the money away under her pillow when she got home, then gently placed Marshmallow in her crib, gingerly tucking her in and placing her pacifier in her mouth. She ran a hoof down Marshmallow's face, smiling sweetly at her before turning and heading downstairs to prepare herself something to eat and also prepare Marshmallow's dinner.

***

Fluttershy stared down at the application form in front of her, a pen in her mouth. I suppose I could give it a try, she thought. Surely they have classes that I can take so I at least sort of know what I'm doing. She began filling out the form, but she was suddenly startled by a high-pitched, cheerful voice, losing the pen to the floor in the process. She looked up to see Pinkie Pie bouncing in front of her, her mane and tail going up and down in the complete opposite direction of her body. "Hi, Pinkie. What are you doing here?"

"I'm working here, silly," Pinkie replied.

Fluttershy blinked. "You're working here."

Pinkie nodded. "That's what I said."

"What do you do around here?"

"I keep the patients entertained and smiling."

Fluttershy smiled and shook her head. It was only natural that Pinkie Pie would be the one to be the entertainer at a hospital. She watched as Pinkie picked up the pen with her mouth and gently slid it into hers when she opened it. She mumbled, "Thanks," and went back to filling out the form. She looked up once again as a thought struck her, grateful to see that Pinkie hadn't gone anywhere. "Say, Pinkie, they offer classes here, don't they, so they know you know what you're doing."

Pinkie nodded. "Uh-huh! They offer night classes at the schoolhouse."

"Good." She went back to filling out the form.

"So if you're here, then who's watching Marshmallow?"

"Derpy. I dropped her off this morning before I came here." She looked around, noticing that there were several doctors and nursing talking and sipping coffee, whereas others were hurriedly running down corridors and zipping into rooms to care for the patients.

"Oh, good! You wouldn't want her getting hurt or anything!"

"Oh, I couldn't stand the thought!"

"So, whatcha doing getting a job here?!"

"I need the money. I can't raise a baby without supplies."

"Well, why didn't you just say so, you silly filly? I could give you some money."

"No, I couldn't ask you to do that. You earned that money. You deserve it."

"But you need it more than I do."

"Well, true, but . . ."

"So, it's agreed then! We'll split whatever money we make from now on!"

"But, uh . . ."

"Deal?" She held out a hoof.

Fluttershy sighed. "Deal." She gently smacked Pinkie's hoof with her own, making Pinkie all the more giddy!

"Yay!" Pinkie hopped off, leaving Fluttershy to her work.

***

A few months had passed and Fluttershy was actually exceeding very well at her job. Alongside the other doctors and nurses, she was learning so much about anatomy and biology and the right tools to use to get the job done and various other things that helped her in her nursing.

At the same time, she was striving to be the best mother that she could be. She still had a lot to learn about parenting if she was going to be the best mother that she could be. While she could have seeked Derpy's advice, she decided against it and instead went to the library to see if Twilight had a book on parenting. Oddly enough, Twilight did have one such book: Parenting 101: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Parenting but Were Too Afraid to Ask. The book was over three hundred pages long, detailing everyhing from babies to teenagers. The first two sections detailing babies and toddlers went on for over one hundred twenty pages, amazingly. Twilight assured Fluttershy that she could keep the book since she didn't need it and it really had no business being in her library to begin with.

Whenever she got the chance, Fluttershy read the book, making notes of her own so she wouldn't have to constantly reference the book just in case she forgot something. From her constant reading, she learned that she didn't need to fret if Marshmallow was a little chubby. Unless her weight gain was having an overall negative effect on her health. Because of this, she kept feeding Marshmallow every two hours until she was certain that Marshmallow was able to move onto solid foods.

Fluttershy wasn't too surprised by Marshmallow's aversion to solid foods, given that the baby got a majority of her nutrition from her baby bottle. Marshmallow simply couldn't get enough of the mik that Fluttershy fed her. Oftentimes she would get a bottle of milk at bedtime to help her fall asleep. Other times she would wake up in the middle of the night just because she wanted to be fed. After some patience, Marshmallow eventually moved on to solid foods. She seemed grateful that she no longer had to eat any mushy baby food and could actually eat real food for once, though she still loved a bottle of milk a majority of the time.

As agreed, she and Pinkie Pie split their money amongst each other, Fluttershy's half going towards Pinkie Pie to pay her back for giving her money to pay for Marshmallow's supplies. She made sure to keep the cabinets well stocked with baby food and the nursery well stocked with diapers, wipes, and clothes. The clothes didn't really need to be bought from a store, however, as Rarity had taken it upon herself to proclaim herself to be Marshmallow's clothes provider.

Marshmallow was needed for Rarity to take proper measurements. She needed to do this anytime that she wanted to make a new article of clothing for Marshmallow due to the fact that Marshmallow was growing constantly due to her seemingly insatiable appetite for milk.

Due to the fact that Fluttershy fed her every two hours or so, Marshmallow had gotten extremely chubby. In Fluttershy's eyes, this only made Marshmallow cuter, but the downside to her weight gain was the fact that she needed bigger diapers and her constant feeding meant more diaper changes, not that Fluttershy minded. Oddly enough, over the past few months, she'd come to really like the smell of a dirty diaper in the mornings, and it seemed that Marshmallow really loved the smell of a fresh, clean diaper, as Fluttershy had discovered when she'd walked in the nursery and discovered Marshmallow rolling around in a pile of diapers, hugging them and sniffing them like crazy. A little odd for Fluttershy's taste, but cute nonetheless, and Fluttershy couldn't really deny the fact that she liked the smell of a fresh, clean diaper as well.

During the past couple of months, Marshmallow had slowly but surely been growing in her mobility. Fluttershy was utterly delighted when her baby had learned to crawl, so excited that she had invited her friends over to watch as Marshmallow crawled around. Rainbow Dash was the only one less interested. She kept her distance from Marshmallow while the others congratulated Marshmallow on her learning a new skill and wished Fluttershy the best of luck in her parenting.

Fluttershy quickly began wishing that Marshmallow hadn't learned how to crawl due to the fact that Marshmallow kept getting into things. She mostly got into the cabinets and began digging around, messing with the spices and herbs that Fluttershy used in her cooking and other items. Because of this, Fluttershy often found herself keeping Marshmallow in her playpen. She kept the playpen in the kitchen whenever she was cooking so Marshmallow wouldn't be lonely, but kept the playpen a good distance away so that she was out of the way. Luckily, Marshmallow busied herself with playing with her toys, taking a nap, or cuddling with one of her stuffed animals, giving Fluttershy the time to work on whatever she needed to or to tend to one of her animal friends.

Fluttershy was overjoyed by how well Marshmallow had gotten along with her forest animals. They seemed to like her and she seemed to enjoy playing with them, although Fluttershy had had to stop letting her do so due to the fact that Marshmallow either kept yanking on their tails or outright stuffing them in her mouth. Fluttershy knew that Marshmallow meant no harm, but for the animals' own safety she put Marshmallow in her playpen whenever she was tending to them to keep such incidents from happening ever again.

On one such day, Fluttershy was busy was trying to cook herself something to eat for lunch when she heard a creak. She let out a groan of annoyance and rolled her eyes. Turning around, her suspicions were proven correct as Marshmallow was trying to, once again, get into the cabinets. Marshmallow had just gotten her black nose inside when she was suddenly snatched up and placed in her playpen. "No, no, Marshmallow. Bad girl." Fluttershy handed her a toy car. "Here. Play with this." Her face suddenly grimaced upon smelling something foul. "Mommy will change you as soon as I'm done cooking her lunch, okay?" She nuzzled her baby with her nose and went back to the stove. She cringed when she heard Marshmallow whining. Turning back to her, she said, "Mommy can't play right now, Marshmallow. Mommy has things to do." When she saw that Marshmallow stuck the toy car in her mouth and began drooling on it, she smiled and added, "You're hungry, aren't you? Mommy will feed you in a minute, okay?"

Unfortunately, Marshmallow didn't seem to very much care for this response because she fell onto her soggy, messy diapered bottom and began bawling. Fluttershy gave her a bottle of milk to calm her down. She fell on her back, happily sucking on the bottle, holding it in her paws while she wrapped her legs around it. Satisfied that she was content for the time being, Fluttershy went back to cooking her lunch.

Fluttershy jumped while Marshmallow squealed in happiness as Rarity entered the cottage. Fluttershy turned while Marshmallow held out her paws, wanting to be picked up. Unfortunately, Marshmallow was ignored while Fluttershy and

Rarity began making conversation.

"So, tell me, darling, how has work been going?" Rarity inquired.

"Oh, it's been going wonderfully," Fluttershy said happily. "I've been able to pay for everything that Marshmallow needs and enough left over to buy myself something."

Rarity smiled. 'Oh, I'm so glad everything has worked out in your favor. Considering all you do, you deserve to splurge on yourself every now and again."

"No. Whatever money I have left is spent on food and any other necessities I need, like bird seed, food for Angel, things like that."

"You should buy yourself something nice every now and then. Be good to yourself. Buying myself something always makes me feel better."

Fluttershy shook her head. "No. I don't live for myself. I live to serve others."

"A very nice philosophy to live by, dear, but, really, you need to learn to treat yourself good every now and then. It's not like it's morally wrong or anything."

Marshmallow backed up until her diapered bottom hit the wall behind her. She wiggled her diapered rump before taking off, heading head-first towards the wall of the playpen in front of her. The force of the blow wasn't very strong, but strong enough to make the playpen sway back and forth. As it swayed forward, she pressed her diapered bottom against it, tipping it until she stumbled forward onto her back. She let out a happy sigh and rolled over onto her stomach, pushing herself up onto her feet.

"I'm just saying, dear," Rarity stated, "that-" She stopped upon seeing Fluttershy's shocked expression. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's . . . Marshmallow," Fluttershy breathed.

"What's wrong? Is she all right?" Rarity looked behind her to check on how Marshmallow was doing and adopted the same expression as Fluttershy. "Oh, my . . ."

Fluttershy let out a gasp, followed by a happy squeal as she began bouncing up and down wildly, doing a grand impression of Pinkie Pie. "Oh, my gosh, Rarity! Look at her! She's walking! She's walking! She's-" She heard a thump and looked down to see that Marshmallow had fallen on her hiney. "Oh, poor dear." She picked up Marshmallow and held her out to Rarity, Marshmallow dangling from her mouth. "Would you mind changing her, please? I have to check on lunch?"

Rarity cringed at the very thought. She gave Fluttershy a nervous smile and said, "Sure . . ." She gingerly took Marshmallow in her mouth and carried her upstairs to the nursery.

"You do know how to change a diaper, right?" Fluttershy called.

"Of course, dear," Rarity replied. "It's not like I haven't cared for a baby before. But, really, why can't you do this? I could check on your lunch for you." She set Marshmallow down on the changing table.

"I know I'm asking a lot, Rarity, but I don't suppose you've had much experience in the kitchen, have you?"

Rarity cautiously removed one of the tapes of Marshmallow's diaper. "Well . . ., um . . ., no, dear. Good point." She kept her eyes on Marshmallow, slowly removing the second tape until the front of the diaper was loose. Biting her lower lip, she pulled back the front of the diaper, cringing.

Fluttershy hummed to herself as she stirred the pot of soup. She was beyond ecstatic that Marshmallow was slowly learning to walk, even if it meant that she would get into more mischief. But, Fluttershy couldn't wait to document the event in Marshmallow's baby book, where she documented everything, from Marshmallow's first burp to her first stage of mobility. She couldn't wait until Marshmallow actually started talking so the two of them could have conversations. Oh, what wonderful, intellectual conversations they would have! She couldn't wait!

She heard Rarity curse loudly and she cringed, hoping that Marshmallow was okay. She turned to look upstairs and called,

"Rarity, is everything okay up there?"

"Yes, perfectly fine, dear," Rarity replied. "She just won't sit still."

"Oh. Well, try puttig her pacifier in her mouth or try giving her the bottle in her crib."

Rarity nodded and placed one hoof on Marshmallow's chest, holding her still if only for a moment, and grabbed her pacifier and popped it in her mouth. Unfortunately, Marshmallow spat it back out, hitting Rarity between the eyes. Rarity let out a groan of annoyance. I never had this much trouble with Swette Belle, she thought. She sure is a feisty one, I'll give her that!

After disposing of the diaper in the diaper pail and cleaning off Marshmallow, albeit agonizingly slowly due to Rarity being uncomfortable about the whole ordeal, Rarity finally succeeded in getting a fresh, clean diaper on Marshmallow, although there was now baby powder everywhere. Rarity did take notice of the fact that Marshmallow took a big whiff of the diaper and the baby powder as she went about the activities and Marshmallow let out a soft, contented sigh as Rarity taped up the diaper, and Rarity herself couldn't help but smile at how content, how happy Marshmallow looked.

"Now then," Rarity said, setting Marshmallow on the floor, "go on and play, darling." She delivered a soft, swift smack to Marshmallow's diapered rump and Marshmallow giggled at this, then wiggled her diapered butt at Rarity, taking the latter by surprise. It was clear to Rarity that Marshmallow had enjoyed the action and honestly didn't mind doing it again. After gently smacking her diapered bottom, Rarity gently eased Marshmallow forward by way of pressing a hoof against her rear, causing Marshmallow to fall forward as the seat of her diaper was pressed against her butt, and Rarity was surprised to hear Marshmallow let out a happy sigh at this. Sighing, Rarity picked Marshmallow up and carried her downstairs. "This kid is odd, let me tell you," she mumbled. She set Marshmallow down on the floor and pushed her forward with her head, sighing happily as Marshmallow crawled away.

"She has been displaying some odd behavior, I admit," Fluttershy stated. She turned to Rarity after turning off the burner.

"How did everything go? Did the diaper change go okay?"

"I had a little bumps along the way," Rarity admitted, "but I got through it."

Fluttershy smiled. "Wonderful. After lunch, we can try getting her to walk some more. Would you care to join me?"

"Not at all, dear. What are we having, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Soup, if that's okay with you."

"Well, certainly." She looked down at Marshmallow, who was currently cuddling with Angel, much to the rabbit's annoyance.

"What about Marshmallow?"

"She should be able to eat this without much problem. Would you mind getting her ready while I fix bowls and drinks?"

Rarity nodded and scooped up Marshmallow in her mouth, carrying her over to her high chiar and strapping her in. "Where's her bib?"

"Oh, it's in the drawer where I keep the dish rags, third drawer."

Once everyone was seated at the table, they began lunch, Rarity and Fluttershy taking turns at feeding Marshmallow. Of course Marshmallow's meal wouldn't be complete without a warm bottle of milk.

"So, have you thought about when you're going to start potty training her?" Rarity asked.

Fluttershy shook her head. "I don't know. She seems to really like her diapers and she does look really cute in them."

Rarity smiled and gave a nod of agreement. "Yes, she does look cute in them, but you can't keep her in them forever."

"Why not? I'd be the only one changing her."

"What about when she starts school? What if she comes home from school one day crying because the other kids are making fun of her because she still wears diapers?"

"If that does become a problem, I could always homeschool her."

"No, that'd be too much work for you, between taking care of her and working at the hospital and working here taking care of all your little animal friends."

Fluttershy nodded. "You do have a point." She bent down and lapped up some of her soup. "So, what would you suggest?"

"Well, you could always say it's a medical condition, that she suffers from incontinence or something. It wouldn't be too hard to believe."

"You know how Applejack feels about liars."

"What in Equestria does Applejack have to do with any of this?"

"I just wouldn't feel right lying just to protect my daughter from school bullies like Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon. I could always transfer her to another class of Cheerilee's if they pick on her."

"Darling, bullies come in all shapes and sizes. Chances are there'd be a bully picking on her no matter what class you put her in."

"I suppose that's true."

Rarity shook her head. "Why are we thinking about this now? She's only a baby, not even one year old yet. You still have plenty of time to think about what you're going to do when she starts school."

"Yeah, you're rght. Don't worry about it until it happens."

***

"Okay, Marshmallow, come to Mommy," Fluttershy said.

Marshmallow sat in front of Rarity, happily sucking on her thumb. A few feet in front of her sat her mommy, Fluttershy. She was nudged forward by Rarity and she suddenly got the message. She fell onto all fours, giving Rarity a nice view of her diapered hindquarters, and slowly got to her feet.

Fluttershy gasped. "That's it! Now, come to Mommy!"

Marshmallow only got a couple of feet in before falling onto her bottom. She needed comfort in having failed and encouragement to keep trying. Once she had been calmed down by her caregivers, she got up and attempted to walk again. It took a while, but she eventually reached Fluttershy and the two embraced one another, Marshmallow burying her face in her mother's chest and hugging her tight.

Fluttershy laughed joyously. "Good girl, Marshmallow. I'm so proud of you!"

"Yes, well done, Marshmallow, dear," Rarity agreed as she joined them. "Good job." She lifted a hoof and playfully scratched Marshmallow underneath her chin.

"Oh, this is so exciting! Where's the baby book?" She hurried off to the next room, leaving Marshmallow alone with Rarity.

Rarity pulled Marshmallow close and snuggled with her as she began crying, feeling abandoned by her mommy. Rarity shushed her gently, rubbing her back and lovingly nuzzling her. "Look, your mommy's back."

Fluttershy walked back in the room a book and a pen in her mouth. She dropped the items on the floor and flipped to a blank page and began writing, starting with the date. After writing the event done, she tossed the pen and book aside and beamed at Rarity. "This is so wonderful!" She clapped her hooves together in glee. "Oh, I can't wait until she starts talking!" She bounced up and down.

Rarity smiled. "Yes, won't that be grand! But, I'm afraid I can't stick around any longer, dear. I must be going. I have a lot of dresses to make, you know." She pushed Marshmallow towards Fluttershy. "Goodbye to you both. Try to keep Marshmallow from getting into too much trouble."

Fluttershy chuckled and cuddled Marshmallow. "Yeah, that's going to be hard."