It was nighttime in the Crystal Empire. Everypony was laying in bed sleeping the night away. Up in the royal chambers of Princess Cadance and her husband Shining Armor, they were preparing to go to sleep themselves.
“Shiny?” Cadance asks, as she lays in bed. She looks towards the bathroom as Shining Armor is finishing up his nightly rituals before joining his wife to bed.
“Yes dear?” He asks, looking back at her, then looking back towards the bathroom mirror.
Cadance leans up from bed and looks at Shining, “I want to talk to you about something very important, and I want you to be straight with me.”
“What is it, dear?” He asks, turning the light to the bathroom out and trotting over to the bedside, as he gets into the bed with his wife.
She rubs her hooves nervously, “Well... we’ve been married for a while now, two years in fact, and I was wondering if we could start talking about...having a foal?” she smiles at him.
“Well of course I want to have a foal with you dear.” He says, rubbing his muzzle against hers, “But are you sure we are ready? We still have the Crystal Empire to take care of.”
Cadance smiles and nuzzles him back, “Don’t worry about it. The Empire is in good hooves.” she assures.
“But what would happen if you're in an important meeting, and our kid won't take anyone other than you? You can’t have a foal in those kinds of things.”
“Don’t worry Shining, we will figure something out, will work this out and get through anything that the world throws at us... As a family.” she kisses shinings cheek and pressed her head against his chest.
“Alright, lets get some rest, you have a meeting with Celestia and Luna in the morning. Good night, My Princess.” he says, turning the light off with his magic.
She smiles and lays down, “Goodnight, my knight in shining armor.”
He simply groans jokingly. “I still don’t know why my parents named me that.” He says, as he falls into the deep abyss of sleep.
Shining Armor wakes up, groggily. The light shining in his eye. "Cadance, can you please close the blinds?" he asks. After a moment of no answer, Shining moans. "Cadance?" He asks again. His eyes flutter open to find bright crystal bars raising all around him. "What the buck?!" He exclaims, as he moves to stand on his hind legs, and finds it difficult to stand up and that they feel like jelly as he slowly rose, he had to grab the rail just to hold himself up! He hears an odd crinkling noise. He looks around for the sound, but can't seem to find it.
"Shiny! Its time to wakey wakey!" A singsong voice calls from another room. The door to the room opens and Shining could hear hoof steps approaching his prison-like cage, then suddenly he sees large hooves descending down to him and grab him under his arms.
"I know that voice." Shining says to himself. He looks up to see a very familiar face. "Cadance? What... What’s going on?" Shining asks.
"Aww. Is my little foal grumpy? Does he need a diaper change?" She asks, as she picks him up.
"I’m not a foa..... Wait, did you say diaper?" He asks, as he looks down at his flank, to find it surrounded by a large puffy pink diaper. Upon further examination, he realizes it is full of pee. “Im..... I notta foal!" He cries out, not noticing his slip up.
"Oh Shiny. Let’s get your wet diaper changed... You have a long day ahead." Cadance coos, as she lifts Shining Armor out of what he now realized must have been a crib.
"Cadance... What is going on? What did you.... Why did you do this to me?" Shining begs. Cadance simply ignores him, continuing to change Shining's diaper.
"Cadance? Cadance!?" He calls out aggravatedly.
"Aww, is my wittle foal cranky? Maybe you're hungry. Is that it? Is my little foal hungry?" Cadance asks.
“I’m not cranky!” he yelled, not realizing how whiny he sounds.
"That must be it, come on dear, lets get you some nummy nums." She says, her horn lighting up as Shining Armor begins to levitate. Confused, he is set down on the bed, and is bounced a bit as Cadance lays next to him and he’s snuggled close to her belly. Confused at first, his eyes widen as Cadance lifts her back leg.
"No...nononononono." He complains as he tries moving back.
"What’s wrong dear? Eat up." She says, using her magic to push Shining onto her teat. As he is pushed, some milk squirts into his mouth and his eyes widen.
The milk rolls around in his mouth as he tastes the liquid. It tasted sweeter than anything he’s ever had before, and his little mouth wanted more, so he starts suckling on Cadance’s teat. Milk flows down his throat as his belly fills with rich creamy milk, till his tummy was completely full.
Cadance waited patiently for him to finish nursing, until Shining stops suckling and she pulls him off and hold him in her arms, smiling. “Are you full, little one?” she coos, patting his back.
Shining lets out a little cute belch and sighs. “Yes Cadance.”
"Good, because we have a long day ahead. I promised your sister we would take you to go see her."
Shining looked surprised. “Twilight’s coming?”
"You like your big sister don't you?" Cadance smiles at his reaction.
He still looks a bit confused but smiles all the same, the thought of his sister bringing a nice feeling in his heart, “Yes Caddy, I wanna see Twily!” he says happily.
Cadance smiles as she levitates Shining onto her back. “Alright, come on dear. Let’s get to the park.”
“She should be here soon. She hates being late.” Cadance says, sitting on a bench. Shining cuddled next to her, using her belly for warmth. He found it oddly comforting to just relax, snuggled next to his former wife.
As if on cue, a light trotting can be heard, as if somepony is running. Shining looks up from Cadance’s fur to see his LSB…. well now BSBFF trotting. “Sorry im late, Luna wanted me for something.” She said. She looked directly at Shining, and her face changed. “Aww! You’re so adorable, little brother! You’ve grown since I’ve seen you last.” She says, poking his belly with her hoof. Somehow, it made Shining giggle like a foal. Realizing what he was doing, he quickly stops himself.
“Aww. Is little Shiny too proud to giggle?” Twilight jokes, tickling Shining’s belly even more. “If you grow up big and strong, maybe you will be a Royal Guard someday!” She jokes, as Shining continues to giggle.
“It looks like he missed you, Twilight.” Cadance says.
“Well, I missed the both of you…. Sunshine Sunshine Ladybugs Awake…” She starts.
“Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” Cadance finishes as both girls giggle, then break out into laughter. Twilight hugs Cadance, being careful of Shining. “Here’s an idea, how about you take Shiny over to the playground. I know he will enjoy spending time with his older sister?” Cadance asks.
“Thats a GREAT idea Cadance!” Twilight exclaims, levitating Shining from his warm perch next to Cadance’s belly, onto her back as she trots towards the slide.
“I’m not going to enjoy it… I’m not a foal. I’m a full grown stallion.” Shining complains, as his sister trots closer and closer to the slides.
“Aww. You’re so talkative today. You’re so cute, Shiny.” Twilight says, unable to understand him, as they reach the slides
“But… but I *am* a big pony!” Shining says insistently.
Seeming to ignore him, Twilight says “C’mon, Shiny. Lets go play on the slide!” She goes over to the slide, and levitates him in front of her as she climbs up to the top.
At this point, Shining was not amused that nobody is listening to what he’s saying, so as he was being levitated upward, he had his hooves crossed and an annoyed look on his face.
As they reach the top, Twilight sits on the slide, getting situated for the way down. She then set Shining down in front of her, facing forwards. He then looks out over the slide and, due to his current size, notices just how high the slide really is. His expression changed, almost immediately, from one of annoyance to one of fear. He turns around and clutches on to Twilight tightly, burrowing his face into her chest. “Awww. Is little Shiny afraid?” She asks, holding on to him gently, as he nods his head slightly. He then thinks to himself ‘I’m afraid? ME?! I’m the prince of the Crystal Empire! And I’m afraid of heights?!’ He couldn’t explain these feelings, but one thing he knew for sure; He *was* afraid, and holding on to his sister made him feel less scared.
“Ok. Just hang on, Shiny.” She scoots forwards until they start moving down the slide. She uses her wings as an airbrake, to keep from going too fast, for his comfort. They get to the bottom, and Twilight says “We’re at the bottom, Shiny. You can look now.”
He un-buried his head from her chest as he looked around. “Whew.” Shining sighs.
Just then, Twilight notices that, in his moment of fear, Shining had wet his diaper again. “Aww. Did widdle Shiny have an accident?”
Shining’s ears drop, as he looks down to see his diaper now sagging from his flank. Tears begin to well up in his eyes, as he begins to cry quietly.
Twilight hugs Shining close, saying “Aww. Don’t cry, Shiny. It’s ok to have accidents at your age; that’s what diapers are for.”
“But… *hic* I’m not a foal, Twily. *hic* I’m the pwince of the *hic* Cwystal Empire.” Shining says, crying into Twilight’s chest.
“Let’s get you to the bathroom, then we can change your diaper.” Twilight smiles down at Armor. She levitates him onto her back and trots over to the bathrooms
Twilight walks into the bathroom, and notices that all of the stalls are in use. “Wow! Busy day at the park. I’ve never seen it so full in here. Oh well. I guess this means I’ll just have to take you back to Cadance so she can change you.”
Twilight trots back out of the bathroom and walks toward the bench that Cadance was waiting on and rested Shining on the bench, “Now lets get you changed, stinky.” she said as she begins changing Shining, untaping his diaper.
“Wait, you're gonna change me here?!” Shining screams as he squirms in his seat. He looks around worriedly for anypony watching as they sat in the open.
“Hold still, baby brother! Stop squirming.” Twilight orders as she wipes his bottom.
He continues to squirm, not wanting the entire park to see him naked. He blushes as a couple walks by and awws at how cute he is. As he flails, he feels some magic around him.
“Hold still, please?” Twilight asks, holding Shining down with her magic. Finally, she gets the diaper on Shining. “There. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Twilight asks. All shining can do in the predicament is blush.
Twilight sat down on the bench with Shining armor in her lap. As he sits there on his sisters lap, Shining wonders how his life has come to this turn of fate. He felt humiliated and he thought he would never be able to look at his wife again.
“How can this get any worse?” He whimpers leaning against Twilight’s chest.
Twilight pats Shining’s head, smiling down at her LBBFF, “Twilight!” Twilight suddenly hears somepony call her name and she looks around for the speaker. She looks to see Rainbow Dash land down in front of her and Cadance.
“Rainbow Dash, what are you doing here?” She asked, wondering why her friend would leave all the way from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire.
“I was looking for you.” Rainbow replied, pointing at Twilight.
“Me? What do you need from me that you couldn’t wait till I got home?”
“I need to know if you got the new issue of Daring Do!” she said grabbing Twilight’s shoulders and looking into her eyes, “It’s very important! The fate of Equestria depends on it!”
“What does Equestria have to do with this?” Twilight says with a sigh, as she waits for her friend to say whatever crazy reason she got to say for bothering her on her break with Cadance.
“I just finished last month’s issue of Daring Do and it ended on a cliffhanger! A cliffhanger, Twilight! I need to know what happens to Daring Do! If she escapes from the clutches of Ahuizotl or not!”
Twilight pushed Rainbows hooves away, giving her a look that said ‘I’m not in the mood for this.’ “Rainbow I don’t have time to deal with this right now I’m trying to spend some time with Cadance and Shining. Besides I’m sorry to tell you this but the next issue hasn’t even come out yet. It comes out in three weeks.”
Rainbow gasped and fell on her knees, “NOOOOOO!!” She falls on her face to the hard ground in despair, “I can’t wait three weeks!”
Shining watched the rainbow-maned mare wallow on the ground, Cadance and Twilight trying to convince Rainbow to calm down and stop being dramatic. Shining always appreciated Twilights friends, mostly because they gave Twilight more friends to hang out with than himself.
There have been times where he’s been worried Twilight wouldn’t make any friends because she always had her nose stuck in a book instead of trying to make them. But thanks to Celestia and the events after Luna’s return, Twilight has friends and he no longer had to worry about that possibility… Plus, her friends are so much fun to be with, that him and Cadance have both agreed to hang out more often.
Rainbow looks up and finally notices the young Prince sitting in Twilight’s lap and she bounces up and smiles at him, seeming to forget all about her previous problem.
“D’aww! Hey there, little guy.” Rainbow coos, tickling Shining under his chin.
Shining had to fight against giggling once more, but Rainbow brushes against a ticklish spot and he lets out a few giggles.
“D’aww! Hey Twilight? Is it okay if I play with Shining?” She asked.
“Why would you want to do that?”
Rainbow smirks, “Call it showing off, it’s not often you get to put on the show for Royalty, Princess.” she bows to Cadance, then looked back at Shining. “Besides look at the adorable guy I bet he would like to go on a ride with the best flyer in Equestria wouldn’t you!” she pats the foals head.
“Hmm... I don’t see why not. Seems okay to me, as long as Cadance agrees.” Twilight said, looking over at Cadance.
Cadance nods, “Go ahead, Mrs. Dash. But please be careful, nothing to over the top. Shining is just a foal after all.”
“Alright! Come on, little Shining!” she grabs Shining and puts him on her back and spreads her wings out.
Shining watched as Rainbow flaps her wings and started getting higher as they reach for the sky and he looks down to see Twilight and Cadance begin to get smaller as they went farther away.
“Be careful, Rainbow!” Twilight calls up.
“Don’t worry! I got this!” Rainbow Dash calls back down, then looked over at Shining on her back, “Are you ready Shining?”
He looks at her and giggles, “Yeah! This is kinda fun!” he said excitedly. He’d been flying a few times in the royal carriage, and always had a great time. But he’d never flown like this; This was a blast!
“Great! Lets go!” she said and starts flying around the place.
Shining squeals as Rainbow flies left and right sure not to do anything fancy to make sure the passenger on her back was safe. Suddenly Shining could have sworn he heard something like a yell, “YEAH!!” and off in the distance, he could see a frisbee come at them from another direction.
But Rainbow never saw it coming as the frisbee hits her hard on the side of her head. She quickly loses balance and starts spiraling out of control, falling toward earth, Shining on her back struggling to hold on.
Twilight and Cadance both gasped as they saw this, and tried flying upward to catch them, but Rainbow was falling too fast in the other direction and they wouldn’t make it.
Rainbow starts getting her focus back and groans opening her eyes, she gasped as she saw they were quickly approaching the ground, and what’s worse, she saw that they were heading right for a tree with no time for her to pull up before they would crash. Moving fast, Rainbow grabs Shining and presses him against her chest just before they crash into the tree and she crashes down to the ground with a loud thud onto her back.
Cadance and Twilight was quickly flying back down to the ground running toward them. Shining started sitting up seeming to be unharmed from the fall thanks to Rainbow, he looks around and he could see Cadance and his sister running toward him.
Just then, a cracking can be heard, followed by the sound the wind make as it blows through leaves in a tree, only louder. “LOOK OUT!” Somepony shouts in the distance. Shining looks up to see a tree branch falling above him and Rainbow. As he sees it approaching quickly, he feels that sense of fear return to him, as tears fill his eyes. He then looks towards Twilight and Cadance, who are running toward him. Cadance shouts “Oh no! SHINING!!!” Shining reaches his hooves towards her, crying. Shining then blinks, but realizes everything he sees is black. He can hear Cadance and Twilight screaming and crying in the background, before fading to complete and utter silence. All is dark.
Shining Armor shoots up from bed, sweat trickling down his side, soaking his bed. He looks around. ‘This isn't the park…. This isn’t a crib… So... was it all just a dream then?’ He thinks to himself. He moves around so he can see his mirror. He was his old self again. He smiles, and all but leaps out of bed. Just then, there was a knocking at the door. “Come in!” Shining says, with a hop in his voice.”
His once again little sister Twilight trots in. She stops just after entering the door. She looks curiously at Shining, then back to the bed. “Wow. That’s a really wet bed… Do you need a new diaper, little brother?” She simply smiles, watching as Shining’s face turns beet red.