//------------------------------//
// Fluttershy And The Case of The Missing Potty 
// Story: Pound and Pumpkin Cake's Adventures (And Misadventures) In Potty Training 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
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Pinkie decided not to tell The Cakes about what Pound and Pumpkin had done while they were away, but she did agree with them on the fact that Pound might need more "individual encouragement" than his sister, considering what he had tried to do so far. That just left the question of what to do with Pumpkin, who didn't need any further encouragement to use her potty.

"Maybe one of my friends can look after her for the day, while we try to work on getting Pound to use his potty?" Pinkie suggested. "After all, in a couple of days Pound has to go in for a check-up anyway. And a change of scenery might do Pumpkin some good, it could be a reward for her using her potty so often."

"That sounds like a great idea, Pinkie," Mr. Cake replied, as the three grown-ups sat at a table at the now closed for the day Sugarcube Corner. "Twilight and Starlight have already gotten to interact with the twins during their training."

"And maybe your friends could also give us some suggestions on how to best go about potty training Pound?" Mrs. Cake added, sighing a bit. "I know he can't stay in diapers forever, I just wish I knew how to make him see that. If he goes into kindergarten and he's still in diapers, he's going to be teased and bullied non-stop. Heck, they might not even let him attend if he's not potty trained."

"I know how that would feel," Pinkie nodded in reply. Although she hadn't needed to worry about that, her older sister Maud had apparently struggled with potty training through kindergarten, and had it not been for Limestone it was possible Maud would've been bullied nonstop (Limestone was almost always angry, but she wasscary whenever she got really angry). "So, tomorrow, I think I'll take Pumpkin Cake to Fluttershy's. Fluttershy seems to be good with kids, so maybe she'll know how to help with Pound."

"Any ideas at all would be nice," Mr. Cake agreed. "I expected there to be a few bumps in the road with potty training, I just didn't expect all of them to happen to Pound. I really wish we knew what's going on in that little brain of his."

"Maybe we should talk to Princess Twilight about whether or not there's a spell that can turn us into foals?" Mrs. Cake pondered, putting a hoof to her chin in thought. "Perhaps the best way for Pound to learn, is for us to lead by example? It worked for me."

But Mr. Cake shook his head. "Goodness, no. My parents told me I was a lot of trouble as a foal, especially once I learned how to trot and talk. The last thing I want, is to go back to my trouble making days."

"Oh come now, honey bun," Mrs. Cake teased, lightly jabbing her husband with a hoof. "I was only joking. Besides, I doubt you were anymore troublesome than I was, or anypony else was when they were a foal. It's part of being a kid, and foals will be foals. That's why their parents have to teach them right from wrong."

"If you two ever did become foals, you'd have to tell me first," Pinkie spoke up. "I don't know if I could handle four foals at once, two is a hoofful as it is. Not that I think you two wouldn't be super adorable as little ponies!"

"I'm sure we would be, but we're not looking into regression as an option at the moment," Mr. Cake replied and hastily changed the subject. "So then, tomorrow you'll take Pumpkin to Fluttershy's cottage, and then help us try and train Pound?"

"Absolutely," Pinkie grinned. "Fluttershy should have no trouble keeping Pumpkin under control. And I'll make sure to leave Pumpkin's potty with her."





The next day, Pumpkin was more than thrilled to learn that she would be able to get out of the house and see one of her big sister's friends. Though she did find it odd that her brother wasn't going with her, the two of them had always gone everywhere together (even the sewers, a trip Pumpkin was thankful she didn't have to make again). "I wonder if Pound staying behind has anything to do with him not wanting to use his potty?" Pumpkin thought to herself, as she was set in the stroller by Pinkie. "And I wonder what my brother will try to do to avoid using his potty, now that he knows he can't make more diapers and he can't go in flower pots or teapots?"

"Okay, Pumpkin, are you ready to spend a day with your Auntie Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked her unofficial younger sister. Pumpkin eagerly clapped her hooves in response, and Pinkie took that as a very eager "YES!". After making sure that she had packed Pumpkin's potty into the stroller, Pinkie pushed it out of the front door of Sugarcube Corner, and out into the bright sunshine. The trip to Fluttershy's cottage wouldn't take long, but Pinkie knew very well that for foals, sometimes the journey could be just as fun as the destination.

Fluttershy was happily waiting outside her cottage, as Pinkie pushed the stroller with Pumpkin in it up the path to the cottage entrance. "Hello, Pumpkin Cake," Fluttershy cooed, once the unicorn toddler was in sight. "Oh my goodness, you're getting to be a big girl in more ways than one!"

"She sure is," Pinkie replied, stopping the stroller's forward journey and setting the brake on it to make sure it wouldn't roll back down the hill (as had happened the last time she'd forgotten about the parking brake on the stroller). Then she sighed, and a slight frown appeared on her face. "If only her brother could be as big a pony as she is."

"Oh, what's wrong with Pound Cake? He's not sick, is he?" Fluttershy anxiously asked.

"No, no, no, it's nothing like that," Pinkie quickly answered, and explained. "It's just that, for some reason, Pound doesn't seem to want to use his potty. I got him to use it once, but since then he's be doing his business in everything but it. Real diapers, a make-shift diaper, a teapot, you name it!"

"Well, maybe that's a sign that you're putting too much pressure on him and you need to let ease off," Fluttershy suggested. "Sometimes you have to step back and just let the foal enjoy their diapers for a little while longer. My parents did so with my brother and I, and yet we both graduated from diapers within a reasonable time frame."

"How reasonable?" Pinkie asked Fluttershy.

"Maybe a year later than most ponies, I think I was actually out of diapers before my brother," Fluttershy replied, and put a hoof to her chin. "Maybe that would explain why Zephyr turned out the way he did."

Pinkie's frown grew bigger. "I don't think that's the kind of solution The Cakes are looking for, we want Pound to be out of diapers by the time he starts kindergarten. But it seems like not even throwing out his diapers is enough to make him use his potty, we're running out of options," then she quickly morphed her face back into a smile. "Ah, but that's why we're gonna try to train him privately today."

"And that's why you brought Pumpkin Cake here?" Fluttershy concluded.

"Bingo! It's like you can read minds or something!" Pinkie nodded, and unbuckled Pumpkin from the stroller. "So, here's Pumpkin Cake, and here's her potty. It's pink, like me!" And after digging into the stroller, Pinkie hoofed the pink colored plastic bowl to Fluttershy, while also hoofing over Pumpkin. "Make sure she uses it whenever it looks like she has to go," then she whispered. "Because she recently pooped in a flower pot instead. Apparently she was trying to 'fertilize the soil'."

Fluttershy chuckled at Pinkie's statement. "The only ones who'll be fertilizing the soil around here are my animal friends," she said to Pinkie. "I'll make sure Pumpkin doesn't do the same. But I don't think we'll have any problems, we'll have a great time! Won't we, Pumpkin Cake?!" Pumpkin babbled and gurgled excitedly in reply.

"Alright then, guess I'll see you at sundown to pick up Pumpkin," Pinkie replied. "Hopefully, by that time, Mr. and Mrs. Cake and I will have made some positive progress with Pound." And after saying goodbye to Pumpkin, the energetic pink party pony happily bounced down the path and back into town.





Fluttershy set Pumpkin's potty down on the floor of her cottage's main room, while she continued to hold Pumpkin in one hoof. "You'll tell Auntie Fluttershy when you have to go pee pee or poo poo, won't you?" she asked her young charge.

"Yeah, wiww tell Auntie when gotta go pee or poopie!" Pumpkin answered, prompting Fluttershy to smile.

"Alright then, let me bring in the rest of your supplies, and then why don't I fix you a snack?" Fluttershy offered. "Does chopped up carrots sound good?"

"Yucky!" Pumpkin replied, sticking her face out in protest. She hated eating her veggies (what few she could eat right now).

"Not even if I offered you some pureed as a reward?" Fluttershy asked with a sneaky grin, all her years of raising baby animals had taught her a few tricks.

"Puweed, yum!" Pumpkin answered.

"But only if you eat your carrots," Fluttershy warned, as she exited her cottage and went to get the stroller. "Otherwise, no pureed for you!"

"Dumb grown-ups, they never play fair!" Pumpkin thought, folding her hooves across her chest in a pouting motion. She hated being outsmarted, but a deal was a deal.

Fluttershy returned shortly with the foal care supplies, and once she had set them down she was quick to scoop up the unicorn toddler and carry her to the kitchen. Fortunately, Fluttershy still had an old high chair from when she'd helped take care of some baby bears (one of them had grown up to become Harry, her personal bodyguard. All he asked for in return, was for the occasional back massage Fluttershy style).

Unknown to either Fluttershy or Pumpkin Cake, as they entered the kitchen, something else grabbed hold of Pumpkin's potty and dragged it away. "What is this strange object, and what is it doing here?" the creature though, and decided it would ask its friends. Perhaps one of them would know what such an odd object was doing at Fluttershy's cottage?





Angel was seething ever so slightly with jealousy, as he watched Pumpkin Cake be fed by Fluttershy. He could remember how much love and affection he'd gotten from her when he was a baby bunny, and had been quite unhappy once he stopped being fed like a baby and treated like the grown-up bunny he was.

Angel's thoughts were interrupted, when he spotted a plastic bowl shaped object colored pink being dragged out of the cottage. Instantly attracted to the oddly colored thing, the bunny hopped after it. But it wasn't until he reached the backyard, that he was able to catch up to the one who was dragging it along. The object was currently in the claws of Harry The Bear, who nudged it forward and then whistled. That was the signal for all of Fluttershy's animal friends to come running.

"Do look at this strange object I found on the floor of the cottage," Harry declared, as the animals surrounded the plastic bowl colored a light pink. "What do you think it is?"

"It looks like a well to me, only without any water in it," Mr. Beaverton Beverteeth observed. "Not sure why we would need another one though, the old well works just fine."

"Maybe it's supposed to be used to store food?" Hummingway suggested. "It's got to be one of those new feeding devices Fluttershy mentioned. Personally, I prefer the hanging bird feeders and the occasional worm hunt."

"I think it's a special kind of nest, for a special bunny like me!" Angel boasted, hopping forward. "It looks just big enough for me to crawl inside it, the only thing is I'd need some stuff to cover it up."

"Perhaps it's a garbage can for Fluttershy to store her trash in?" One of the raccoons commented. "It looks like it could hold a lot of trash, and it kind of smells like it came from a dumpster."

"Nah, I'll bet it's a bucket you can use to catch fish in!" An otter replied. "It seems like it was made to be carried about and emptied, and it looks like the bowl was designed to keep whatever's inside from getting out."

"It is probably a hat of some sort!" Harry told the animals, as he picked up the object and placed it over his head. The other animals laughed at how silly he looked, it was obvious the object wasn't a hat. But as Harry set it back down, they still didn't know what it was. Or that the one who actually needed it, was currently looking for it.





"I know I left your potty right here, Pumpkin Cake," Fluttershy told the toddler, as she searched by the foal supplies for the umpteenth time in the hopes that she had missed a spot in her search. "It's not like it could just grow legs and walk away. Unless you cast a spell on it that could do just that."

Pumpkin was too busy concentrating on trying to hold back her urge to go potty, which thankfully wasn't too strong at the moment. "Fwuttewshy, need potty!" she said frantically.

"I don't know where it is, Pumpkin," Fluttershy confessed. "Somehow, it's gone. But don't you worry, Auntie Fluttershy will find it if it's the last thing she does!"

But Pumpkin decide she couldn't wait for Fluttershy to find her potty. Right then and there, the toddler with a blue bow in her hair made up her mind. "I'll find my potty and give whoever took it a piece of my mind! That potty snatcher has snatched his last potty!" and with Fluttershy busy looking under every floorboard and piece of furniture, she didn't notice Pumpkin trot off to search the cottage on her own. She had no leads, and no idea of where to start, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. One way or another, she'd find her potty!

"How can a potty just disappear into thin air?" Fluttershy thought to herself, as she continued her search for the missing potty. "And who would want to take a potty in the first place? Potties aren't valueable, are they?"





Neither Pumpkin Cake or Fluttershy had any idea that the animals had the potty, or that they were still trying to figure out what it was.

"Maybe it's a milk bowl?" a flamingo suggested.

"No, it's the perfect place for us to store our acorns for winter!" a squirrel protested. "There's no way we'll forget them if we store in that brightly colored bowl!"

"Maybe it's what makes that loud noise that comes from Fluttershy's bathroom?" a skunk pondered. "For whatever reason, whenever that noise is made it's only after Fluttershy's made it stink worse than me."

"It's got to be a flower pot!" a wasp concluded. "The bowl is where you put the soil in, and it looks like it can hold a lot of flowers!"

"I bet it's like that strange black pot I heard that zebra uses in her hut." a deer declared.

The various animals big and small alike continued to debate about what the mysterious object before them was for, creating quite the commotion that nopony seemed to be aware of.

At last, it was Angel who interrupted the commotion! He'd had a funny feeling about that object from the moment he'd laid eyes on it, and there was only one way to confirm his suspicions. "I think I know what it might be for." he told the other animals.

"What is it?" the animals all asked at once.

Angel didn't answer right away, he hopped close to the bowl and inspected it carefully (he even sniffed it a little). Then, he sat down in it, and started to grunt. Pretty soon, a familiar smell filled the air, and that was when Angel rose up from the object. "Whatever this thing is, you're supposed to poop in it instead of the ground."

"That is disgusting! Why would anyone want such a thing?!" Harry exclaimed, and the other animals all nodded in agreement. They had liked the object better when they thought it could be anything else. And one by one, all of the animals dispersed to do something else. Angel was the last one to leave. "I hope whoever that thing belonged to won't mind the fact that I used it." he thought, hoping that its owner wasn't Fluttershy.





Pumpkin had searched high and low, but her potty was nowhere to be found, and her urge to go was getting stronger and stronger, to the point where the toddler wasn't sure if she could hold it in any longer!

But all of a sudden, before her very eyes, there was her potty! It seemed to be as clean as ever (in fact it seemed like it had just recently been cleaned), though there was no explanation as to how it gotten to its current location. Pumpkin wasn't going to dwell on that thought though, her potty was back and that was all that mattered to her! She happily trotted over to the plastic bowl and slid her diaper down with her magic! "Yay, potty!" she cheered.

Fluttershy came rushing up the stairs as soon as she heard Pumpkin's cheers of delight, and was most surprised to see Pumpkin sitting on her potty as if nothing had happened. "Well, it looks you found your potty after all!" Fluttershy said happily. "And you're using it too, oh you're such a good girl, Pumpkin Cake! Just let Auntie Fluttershy know when you're done!" But in the back of her mind, there was a lingering question. "How did Pumpkin's potty end up on the top floor of my cottage? I know I didn't put it there."

Deciding to give Pumpkin some privacy, Fluttershy trotted back downstairs where she was surprised to see Discord waiting for her. "Oh, there you are, Fluttershy. You didn't tell me you'd be having guests over." the spirit commented, as he observed the diapers and foal supplies.

"Discord! How... unexpected," Fluttershy replied, his visits always seemed to come on short notice. "Why have you come here? Is it time for our Tuesday Teas already, I thought today was Wednesday?"

"Oh it is, I checked the calendar already," Discord said to his friend, as he pulled a calendar out of nowhere and pointed towards the current date. He made it disappear with a snap of his talons. "I just thought I'd stop by for a quick chat, life's been so boring lately. Although, a funny thing happened on my way to visit you. And not the 'ha ha' sort of funny either, it was more like the 'now that's unusual' sort of funny."

"Whatever do you mean?" Fluttershy pondered, stroking her chin.

"I couldn't help but notice your animal friends were apparently all fixated on this mysterious plastic bowl object that was a light pink in color," Discord explained. "For whatever reason, Angel decided to do his business in it and the other animals didn't like that."

"Ah, so that's where Pumpkin's potty went!" Fluttershy realized. "Thanks for finding it and cleaning it out for Pumpkin Cake, Discord! I'll make sure she thanks you for your generous act."

"Oh it's no problem, just your friendly neighborhood Discord doing what any reformed spirit would do," Discord said, dramatically striking a pose while wearing a super-hero outfit. "But what's a potty?"

"It's that plastic bowl thing you described," Fluttershy explained to Discord. "Ponies use it to start training their young to eventually pee and poop in the toilet and not their diapers."

Discord's mouth dropped open in shock, his eyes popped out of their sockets and rolled onto the ground! "Ew, that's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard!" he commented. 

Fluttershy couldn't help but chuckle at Discord's reaction, as she observed the spirit don a haz-mat suit. "I guess potties weren't invented until after Discord's reign." she thought to herself.