//------------------------------// // day ten // Story: Her Mother's Diary // by Church //------------------------------// ...Day ten... I performed the most revolting task I’d ever taken on today. She was smiling at me the whole time. She just lay there and smiled, as if mocking me, knowing that I hadn’t a clue what I was doing, and was enjoying my struggles in my feeble attempt at this. She was giggling and sighing, staring at me through those wide eyes, those eager, laughing eyes. My Rainbow Dash knew her mother was having a rough time... and she was ridiculing me in her own little adorable way. She really was my foal... Mothers, let me tell you something here. The first time that you decide to change your foal’s diaper, perhaps get a grip on just what it is you are doing. Seriously... you don’t want a riled up foal smiling and laughing at you while you decide just what to do with her ‘special delivery’. It could end very poorly, and today I learned first hoof just how ‘poorly’ it could go. So here she was, laying on her backside. I had set her down on the table, the stench overpowering, the smell wafting from her diaper and filling the air around us. She wasn’t making a fuss about it. That surprised me, as I had heard that most foals normally made a rough go of things, what with their parents handling them in such a way. I plugged my nose, and I made my first journey into the unknown, unwrapping the diaper from around her frame and letting it fall from around her hind legs. Dear Celestia... how horrid. Needless to say I was unprepared for this. I let a reluctant smile form on my lips, and I looked down and just shook my head in the sudden realization that this might be more difficult than it appeared. Now, I’m not so sure about this one, but I swear Rainbow cocked an eyebrow as I hesitated to start. It was as if she knew my own uncertainty regarding the situation, and she was waiting to see just where I was going with it. Where was I going with it? What was I doing? And oh my, what I did next was something I wish I hadn’t. Rainbow was chuckling to herself as I reached in. I almost closed my eyes, wanting my hooves to fumble around in the right spot to get the job done. I had the powder, I had the fresh diaper, I had the waste basket next to me for proper disposal, I had my nerves and a voice inside my head telling me I was about to screw up. Everything was there for me but my common sense and my wit. Cleaning her was fine, just powdered the general area (perhaps excessively) and put it back down. Then I grabbed the dirty diaper out from under her. At that point, I panicked. I acted as if a spider had come along and nestled itself into my mane, as if I had a dirty diaper in my mouth. Oh. Wait. I did. While muttering something under my breath, I gasped as the filthy diaper wiggled its way out of my jaws and dropped to the floor... dirty side down. Dash giggled and thrashed about happily on the tabletop. I stood idle with my mouth agape, kicking myself for being so careless. It was literally a hoof’s length away from the trash, I could have easily dropped it in with so much as a simple swing to the left. Unicorns have it so easy. If I had a horn, the whole predicament could have been avoided with simple telekinesis and a safe distance kept from the table. Alas, these wings did little to remedy the situation. They were adapted to flight... not changing my foal’s vile diaper. My eyes found the ceiling, and I huffed a breath of frustration. Rainbow was sucking on her hoof, drooling messily all over herself. She must have found it funny that her poor mother had screwed up. In a sense, I couldn’t blame her, as I would have found it funny as well. The thought of Rainbow behaving like me tickled my insides. How does the saying go? The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree? I live in Cloudsdale and the thought of that common earth pony quote scares me. I didn’t dare touch the putrid sack . Instead, I turned my intent back to the table, where I took the clean diaper and readied it to change her. Rainbow had a grin on her face, one of smugness and mockery, yet I couldn’t help but smile back at her as I put her diaper back on... inside out. I sighed, and even managed to get a healthy chortle out of my own inability to help myself. I rearranged her diaper, putting it on the correct way, folding the flaps so that it held snug onto her body. She had been a fantastically upbeat foal the whole way through. She never struggled, or tried to yank my mane off as we went. She never cried, or tried to squirm away. She must have been content to watch me mess up without her help. I picked her up afterward and told her she was cute. I then nuzzled her nose, and she laughed foalishly, grinning from ear to ear in excitement. An exuberant one, she was. I hadn’t heard a complaint in the night from her yet. She was so beautiful; she was brimming with a bright disposition and a ton of energy. She was healthy and strong. She was always happy to see me. I had succeeded in being a mother so far. When I look into her eyes, everything is just so perfect. She is so perfect. When she smiles up at me, I smile back with tears welling in my eyes, for I have never seen something more delicate and wonderful. I run a hoof through her mane, and I tell her one thing... “Mom loves you, Rainbow.” At that moment in the day, I swept her up into my hooves and did the same thing. I told her I loved her. She giggled some more and reached out for me, extending her tiny hooves to my face. I pulled her in and hugged her tightly, just wishing that I could do so for the remainder of my days, just wishing the moment would last forever. In that instant, however, a certain smell filled my nostrils. I groaned. I told her that mommy loves her, but now mommy had to clean up the mess caused by her own clumsy mouth. I set Rainbow down in her crib; which is in my room so that we would never be too far apart. When I went back out into the kitchen, I glared at the mess I had caused. I’ll save myself from writing the details. It was repulsive, and that is all...