Pumpkin didn't have to wait long to be changed, not long after she'd fallen asleep Pinkie came to check on the twins. She didn't think anything of it when she noticed Pumpkin had used her diaper, and she was able to change the sleeping unicorn toddler without waking her up. "What Pumpkin doesn't know won't hurt her," Pinkie thought to herself, as she put the dirty diaper in the diaper pale. "She's been such a good little filly, so she deserves to have her efforts rewarded."
Naturally, Pinkie decided to keep the knowledge of Pumpkin's nighttime accident a secret (just as she had with the twins flush spree and subsequent streaking, as well as them intentionally not using their potties). The Cakes didn't need any reason to start worrying after they'd finally gotten Pound to cooperate with the training (Mrs. Cake had been both relieved and a little concerned when the doctor told her Pound was perfectly healthy and should have no trouble controlling his bodily functions), especially given Mr. Cake's tendency to faint in stressful situations.
Next morning, Pumpkin awoke to find that her diaper was clean and stink free. "Kind of a bummer, I was hoping to show it to Pound to make him feel better," she thought. "Oh well, I probably won't do very often. And once Pound starts using his potty for good, I'm going to stop using my diapers at night."
Pound woke up soon afterward, his rump still smarting from the shot he'd gotten yesterday. "Morning, sis," he called. "Do you have to go potty?"
Pumpkin shook her head. "Why, do you?" she asked her brother.
"Unforwunately, yes," Pound groaned in reply, he was still not entirely thrilled with the idea that he had to use his potty. But he knew he had no alternatives, and it's what his parents and big sister wanted. "I'ww bet Mommy knew whatevew the doctor did to me with that shot wouwd affect how often I have to go. Guess this is my punishment fow not using my potty soonew."
While Pound called out for his mother to come and take him to the bathroom, Pumpkin talked with Smarty Pants about what her brother had just said. "You dun tink gwown-ups can make you get shots that make you have to go pee-pee and poo-poo aww the time, do you?" she asked Smarty Pants.
Smarty Pants didn't reply, she just looked at Pumpkin with her button eyes. She hadn't moved an inch from her spot in the crib since last night, and remained the only witnesses to Pumpkin's intentional accident.
"You wight, Smawty Pants," Pumpkin replied, laughing at the obvious answer. "Thewe's no such ting, Pound is just being siwwy wike he awways is and twying to scawe me befowe my next check-up." All the same, the toddler found great relief in the knowledge that her next check-up wasn't for weeks.
After breakfast, Pound stayed behind with Mrs. Cake and Pinkie, while Mr. Cake took Pumpkin to the store in a stroller. Pumpkin found this most odd, since her father and big sister Pinkie had just gone shopping for more flour the previous day. "Why we going to the stowe, Daddy?" Pumpkin asked her father, as he pushed her along in the stroller.
Mr. Cake smiled. "I'm glad you asked, Pumpkin," then he explained. "Your Mother and I, as well as Pinkie Pie, can't help but notice what a good girl you're being during all of this. You've been using your potty all the time, and without us having to encourage you to do so. So, now that Pound is starting to use his potty as well, we figured it was time to start graduating you from diapers to pull-ups."
"Puww-ups?" Pumpkin questioned, she'd never heard of such things before.
"They're like a transition," Mr. Cake told Pumpkin. "Sort of like diapers, but for big fillies. Most ponies wear them for a while after they start using the potty, and grow out of them within a year or two."
Pumpkin was still confused, her father's explanation didn't make any sense. Whatever these "pull-ups" were, she wasn't sure if she'd like wearing them (or using them if she had to).
Mr. Cake laughed at his daughter's confused look. "Don't worry, it'll all make sense sooner or later. Personally, I think it's still a bit early to move you to them, but your mother thinks you're ready and your mother is always right."
"I guess I'll have to wait until Daddy's actually bought them to see what those 'pull-ups' are like." Pumpkin thought to herself, and was silent for the rest of the stroller ride to the store.
Upon arriving at the store, it took Mr. Cake a while to find the isle that the pull-ups were in. But then again, it had been a while since he'd been in the foal care isles (the last time had been when he and his wife were picking out the potties for the twins to use, and that had been almost a year ago).
"Wow, I can't believe there are this many brands of pull-ups! It'll be hard to find just one good pair!" Mr. Cake said to himself, once he found the appropriate isle. Dozens of brands of pull-ups were stored on the shelves, and stacked on top of each other. Some brands had colorful designs, others had various famous and fictional ponies printed on them (if the picture on the box they were in was to be believed) for some reason, others still looked like plain white diapers but without the sticky tapes, pins, or straps that all diapers had.
At last, Mr. Cake spotted a package of pull-ups at the far end of the isle that struck his fancy. He carefully pushed the stroller over to said package's location, and carefully pulled down a box from the shelf above him. He then proudly presented the box of undergarments to Pumpkin and asked her sweetly. "What do you think about these, Pumpkin? They're easy to slide on and off, which will make it easier to change them and take them off so you can use the potty. Just think, no more close calls due to fumbling with the tapes. Won't that be lovely?"
Pumpkin shrugged, she really didn't know what to think of the so called "pull-ups" and right now she didn't care. There was a more pressing matter that she was concerned about, and she quickly informed her father of what it was. "Daddy, gotta go potty!" she nearly shouted, trying to reach her hooves down to her diaper.
"Potty time huh?" Mr. Cake asked, to which his daughter nodded while trying to hold back the urge to release. Big ponies didn't have accidents, at least not in public. "Alright then, let's get you to the bathroom." Mr. Cake said to his daughter, and after placing the box of pull-ups in the back of the stroller, he wheeled it down the isle and towards the back of the store where the nearest bathroom was located!
Pumpkin was VERY relieved when her stroller was wheeled into the mare's bathroom, now she would have some privacy while she used her potty.
But Mr. Cake had a different idea in mind, he parked the stroller outside an unoccupied stall, unbuckled Pumpkin from the stroller, and carried her into the stall. Throughout the whole process, Mr. Cake hadn't grabbed Pumpkin's potty, which the toddler thought was very odd. And soon, Pumpkin found out why she'd been brought into the stall.
"I know it isn't a potty, but there wasn't room for your potty AND the pull-ups I would buy," Mr. Cake explained to Pumpkin. "It shouldn't be too different from using your potty at home."
However, Pumpkin gulped upon seeing the toilet in the stall. When she'd tried to use the one at home, she'd fallen in and almost been flushed, but for some reason Pinkie hadn't done so and instead fished her out. But Pumpkin was certain her father wasn't going to be the same way, he'd brought her so that she could fall in and he'd have an excuse to flush her away. "What did I do to deserve being flushed?" Pumpkin thought, as her father moved to pick her up. Then she gasped. "What if he knows about my accident last night, and he and Mommy decide to punish me by flushing me down the toilet?! But if that's true, why would he go through all this trouble of setting a false trip to the store to buy these 'pull-ups'?!" Pumpkin wasn't going to stick around to find out, she wasn't going to risk being flushed if she could help it!
"I no using the toilet! I won't be fwushed!" Pumpkin protested, bolting out of her father's grasp and running away! Alas, she didn't get far due to the locked stall door.
"Pumpkin, I'm not going to flush you! Why in Equestria would you think that?" Mr. Cake asked with the most puzzled look on his face, as he tried to grab his daughter.
"Bu anyting that fawws into the toilet has to be fwushed, and I gonna faww in if I sit on the toilet!" Pumpkin complained, still trying to run away. A task that was made difficult not just by the small space of the stall, but also her increasing urge to go.
Mr. Cake laughed. "Pumpkin, I won't let you fall in. Besides, the only things you're supposed to flush down the toilet, are your pee-pees, poo-poos, and toilet paper. Nothing else!"
"You pwomise not to wet me faww in, and not to fwush me if I do?" Pumpkin asked, although she weary of trusting a grown-up (even if said grown-up was her father).
"I promise," Mr. Cake assured his daughter in the sweetest tone possible. That seemed to do the trick, and he was finally able to scoop up Pumpkin Cake and remove her diaper. Carefully, he placed her on the toilet seat, and held onto her tightly. "Just let it all out, Daddy's got you." he told Pumpkin.
Reluctantly, Pumpkin did as her father instructed. She was relieved to not have to worry about holding it in, but suddenly as she was going, she felt her butt begin to slide off the seat! "Oh no!" she cried, certain she would fall into the bowl.
But Mr. Cake reacted quickly, and with some quick hoof work he was able to place his daughter back on the toilet seat. "It's okay, you're not going to fall in as long as Daddy's here." he told her, and after his quick thinking bout of heroism, Pumpkin believed him.