With the problems in the dragon land having been taken care of, it was time for Spike, Smolder and Fluttershy to leave and head back to Ponyville. To their surprise however, Garble insisted on coming along with them even though he’d only just turned over a new leaf and had also found a new appreciation for his formerly secret style of poetry. But at Smolder’s insistence the group allowed Garble to join them.
“So, Smolder, what’s it like living with ponies?” Garble asked his sister as they traveled back to Ponyville with Spike and Fluttershy. “Never really cared much before but now I’m actually quite curious.”
Smolder shrugged her claws. “It’s alright, you get used to it. They’re strangely very accepting, most of the time. Seems like almost nothing you do phases them.”
“Guess I shouldn’t have been so quick to just dismiss them as a bunch of namby pambies all the time,” Garble replied while looking across to Spike and Fluttershy. “I just wanna say again that I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you both over the years. You hang around the wrong crowds long enough and you tend to forget who you used to be.”
Spike and Fluttershy didn’t speak a word, they knew all too well from personal experience what a bad influence could do to one’s way of life. They’d been led astray by others before and it had nearly cost them everything.
Fluttershy instead decided to change the subject and bring up something that Garble would need to be aware of now that he was traveling to Ponyville. “Um, Garble? There are some rules dragons have to abide by while in Equestria,” She told the red scaled dragon. “Let’s just say we’ve had some… issues.”
Spike seemed to be trying ever so hard to suppress giggles and a raging blush. And Smolder, well she looked like she wanted to say something but decided against it. Garble was quick to pick on those little details and couldn’t help but wonder to himself what Fluttershy could mean.
The red scaled dragon would find out soon enough.
Upon arriving back in Ponyville, Fluttershy cleared her throat and told Spike and Smolder. “You know, it was a long trip to get back here. Perhaps now would be as good a time as any for Garble to be aware of some of the…” She paused and coughed into a hoof. “Conditions he’ll have to abide by.”
“Great idea,” Spike spoke up as he took Garble’s claw. “Better he learns now rather than later. Can’t risk any more accidents.”
Before Garble had a chance to ask he was led away by Spike and Smolder, taken through the hallways of the School of Friendship and past several ponies who gave him only a quick glance before going back to whatever they’d previously been doing. He barely even noticed when he was led through some doors and brought into some kind of boxed in place. Inside of this box stood some kind of strange bowl object.
Garble eyed the bowl with suspicion, it smelled funny and it looked so foreign. Even the size gave him pause for concern since it seemed to be about the same size as him, maybe a little bit smaller. “What in the name of Torch is that… that… thing? He exclaimed, forcing back a gulp.
“It’s called a toilet, brother,” Smolder explained. “Not all pony toilets look like this, at least around here. Apparently this is a newer model that’s supposed to be more popular. But they all work the same, you’re supposed to use them for your...” She paused and coughed into a claw. “Er ‘personal business’ as they put it.”
The red scaled dragon blinked and flinched. “Wait, am I suppose to er… use that thing? Couldn’t I just go outside and do it that way? That’s how we dragons do it back home.”
Spike shook his head. “Sorry, but we ran into problems with dragons doing it here on visits. It took some modifications, but we were able to get most of the pony toilets to be compatible with dragons and other creatures.”
“It’s really easy once you get the hang of it, brother,” Smolder explained. “You just sit on the seat and do whatever you need to do. Just be careful not to accidentally dip your tail into the bowl, it’ll get stuck. That happened to me when I first used a toilet and it wasn’t a good feeling. And that’s a problem on a whole ‘nother level.”
“Then when you’re done, you just wipe up with toilet paper,” Spike added as he pulled some off a nearby rack and gave some to Garlbe to feel. “After you’ll all clean, you dump it in the toilet bowl.”
The red scaled dragon was a bit confused, but he still managed to let go of the toilet paper from his claw. As he saw it land inside the toilet, he notice that there was some kind of round hole at the very bottom of the bowl. Without a doubt, the ‘toilet paper’ was supposed to down through the hole. But why the bowl filled with water?
“And finally, you push down the handle over there to flush. Like this.” Smolder instrucked as she flew over to the silver handle and used a claw press it down.
The flush cycle began, but Garble had been standing a little too close to the bowl and as a result he was hit by a cold shower of toilet water. “Hey!” He shrieked and jumped back! “It just tried to attack me!”
“No it didn’t,” Spike protested with a shake of his head. “It’s not a sentient object, don’t be such a baby. Some of the toilets here are old and do things like that sometimes.”
Garble, however, was anything but convinced! “I’m not going anywhere near something that dangerous! I don’t trust it!” And he ran out of the stall as fast as he could!
“Well, that didn’t go too well.” Smolder sighed, clearly disappointment.
Now in one of the hallways, Garble kept on running until he bumped into Fluttershy. “What’s going on here?” She asked and spun around. “Is everything okay, Garble?”
“No, it’s not okay!” Garble protested and whimpered ever so slightly. “How can you ponies feel so content doing your business in toilets? Those things are dangerous, and smelly, and really loud!”
Fluttershy just sighed. She knew that a lot of creatures were uncertain and often easily intimidated by pony toilets (or toilets in general) the first time they saw them. Considering Smolder had had trouble with them at first and the fact that it had taken a PSA to ensure most dragons got the right idea, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Garble would have similar issues.
“Garble,” The pegasus mare spoke up. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. You just had a bad experience because you’re not used to such things like toilets. But if you want to come here even just for visits, you have to abide by our rules and that means using toilets to do your business.”
“Isn’t there another way?” Garble questioned.
Fluttershy appeared to smirk ever so faintly. “There is one alternative, but I don’t think you’ll like it. It’s what babies wear until they’re able to successfully use a toilet.”
The red scaled dragon blinked in confusion. In the dragon lands, from birth dragons were bare and went pretty much anywhere they wanted (with a few exceptions). “What do you mean?”
“Perhaps it’s better to show you,” Fluttershy said with what appeared to be a grin, as she led Garble away from the school and out to her cottage. She soon retrieved a small white object that looked sort of like a pillow, except it was far more stretchy and shaped more a triangle than a square.
“What’s that?” Garble wondered.
“This is a diaper. Babies wear them because when they’re born they don’t know how to use a toilet properly. So they go to the bathroom in these and then somepony else changes them.”
“What? You want me to wear one of those things?” Garble snorted! “No way!”
“Well it’s either that or you use the toilets we have here,” Fluttershy gave the demand. “If you don’t use either of those things then you can’t stay here or come to visit here ever. I’m afraid those are the rules. Dragon Lord Ember agreed to them.”
Garble backed away slowly, not liking any of his options. “But… but…”
“If I were you I’d stop being such a baby and give pony toilets another try. You can’t give up just because you had one bad experience,” Fluttershy scolded as she turned to face Garble with a very harsh glare. “So, what’s it going to be, mister?”
The red scaled dragon took one look in the pegasus mare’s eyes, and suddenly he found himself losing his will to resist. In fact, he became so intimidated that he found himself losing control of his own body. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t do much of anything really.
Fluttershy just smiled as she took advantage of the opportunity to slip the diaper onto Garble. It took some tricky maneuvering and the diaper clearly didn’t fit him all that well, but it looked like it would hold for the time being. “There we go, all nice and snug. Don’t wanna risk you having an accident out here.” She cooed and led the dragon into her cottage.
Garble found himself unable to protest. He was completely helpless, almost like a newborn baby.
“I’m sorry, Garble,” Fluttershy apologized. “Some creatures react this way to my stare the first time they see it. It can be very intimidating. It should wear off eventually,” Then she added. “But on the bright side, it should be much easier for me to potty train you. Then you won’t need to wear this diaper.”
Garble wanted to ask what “Potty Training” was and if it was similar to “Cave Training” back in the dragon lands, but no words would come out of his mouth.
The pegasus mare just smiled, humming a tune to herself as she brought Garble into her bathroom upstairs. “Don’t worry, this won’t take long. And this way you won’t have to worry about Spike or your sister finding out and making fun of you.”
The red scaled dragon could do nothing in protest as he was brought before the toilet and the seat raised. He could feel the whole process unfold before him even though he couldn’t do anything to fight it. In a matter of seconds he was stripped of his diaper and being sat on the seat that felt cold to the touch.
“Now you just sit there for a little bit, or until you go,” Fluttershy instructed. “I’ll decide when you can get up.” And Garble obeyed without even asking a single question.
After a minute or two, Garble groaned as Fluttershy’s stare began to wear off. Looking at his surroundings, he realized that he wasn’t at the School of Friendship. He did notice Fluttershy, Smolder and Spike had their heads turned away from him for some reason. And judging by the position his was currently in, he knew that he was sitting down on something but he couldn’t tell what it was. Then just as he was about to ask where his is when he suddenly heard himself start to tinkle. When he was finished, he let out a huge sigh of relief.
Spike was the first hear everything. “Well, that didn’t take as long as we thought.” He commented while turning his head to face the red scaled dragon along with Smolder and Fluttershy.
“Um… where am I?” Garble asked.
“You’re in the bathroom of my cottage.” Fluttershy answered.
Garble gasped! “Then does this mean…?”
Smolder nodded her head. “Yes, Garble, you are on the toilet. In fact you just used it!”
“Wait, what?” The red scaled dragon cried and got up before turning himself around. When he looked down, his eyes widened in disbelief. His sister was right! Not only did he just sit down on a pony toilet, he'd also used it as well!
“See, Garble?” Fluttershy declared. “We told you there’s nothing to be scared of.”
“Listen, I know you used to make fun of me for acting more like a pony,” Spike added. “But you need to start getting used to there rules, no matter how much you don’t like it.”