One of the perks of being an author was that Twilight Velvet got to be a stay at home parent. While her husband would often leave for work first thing in the morning and usually not be back until sundown at the earliest, Velvet had the opportunity to work from the comfort and privacy of her own home.
As an added bonus, it gave her a chance to be closer to her only child, Shining Armor. Having caught what was known as “Mommy Fever” the mare was very reluctant to let others care for her foal. Even her husband would sometimes need permission to do things as simple as change Shining Armor’s diapers or feed him his bottles.
With the help of a foal swing that was a lovely shade of purple, Velvet could plop her son down in the same room as her writing studio, and usually not have to worry too much about him. Shining was a pretty vocal foal so he tended to let his parents know whenever he needed something.
But on some days, Twilight Velvet could become so engrossed in her work that her own son would take a back seat. Usually she wouldn’t snap back to her senses until her son wiggled his way out of his bouncer and tugged on her mane (which he loved to play with due to how smooth and silky it felt) to get her attention. Often in the most adorable of ways, including his patented diaper dance (named after a dance he’d once done when his mom put too much foal powder in his diaper, and he shook all about to try to get the excess foal powder out).
It wasn’t all bad, though. Caring for Shining had inspired Velvet to write an entire series about foals and the adventures they could get up to. Despite having to change names to protect her family from unwanted attention, the series was a huge success. Some were even calling it the next Daring Do, and had even won the mare the prestigious Daring Do Award for excellence in children’s literature. Parents would write to her from far off places like Ponyville, Manehattan, and even Las Pegasus about how her works had changed the way they viewed their own little ones.
Naturally, the strive to make each story better than the one before it caused Velvet to work harder and harder. Which could be a problem when the occasional writer’s block would hit her.
Today would be one of those days.
Shining Armor was almost three years old by now, still currently in diapers due to the uneven nature of his potty training experience. Sometimes his mom would train him if she found the time, other times it was his dad who would take up the responsibility. But there were times when the little colt wouldn’t have either parent to rely on, and since it would crush his spirits to have an accident in pull-ups he was confined to diapers.
The little colt was currently in his mom’s writing studio, bouncing up and down in his foal swing while his mom was hard at work on her latest novel. It seemed she was having a hard time if the many stacks of discarded paper were any indication. And he wished there was something he could do to help her. The one time he’d tried to write, he’d made a mess with the pen and papers and both his mom and his dad had scolded him severely.
Suddenly, while he was bouncing up and down, the foal felt a faint but familiar urge building up inside him. He wasn’t hungry, lunch time had been half an hour ago and his next bottle wasn’t due until at least one fifteen. So that could only mean one thing, he had to go potty!
“Mommy!” Shining called while bouncing up and down in his foal swing, trying to get his mom’s attention. “Mommy!”
“Not now, sweetie,” Velvet called in that sweet tone of hers. “Mommy is very busy, okay. Just keep playing, Mommy will check on you shortly.” She didn’t even turn her head, so engrossed was she in her writing.
Shining frowned as he ceased his bouncing. He knew that whenever his mom was this absorbed into his writing there was no talking her out of it. She was “in the zone” as his father would say.
But the little colt knew he had to go! And there was no way he was going to wait until either his mom could turn away from her writing, or until he had an accident. Since his mom was too busy and his dad wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon, there was only one thing a foal in his unique situation could do. He would take care of business by himself. He knew how to answer nature’s call.
It wasn’t difficult for Shining to slip out of his foal swing, he’d done so with practiced precision many times before and without either of his parents ever noticing (until he got their attention anyways). With a fair deal of wiggling, he was able to free himself from the swing and plopped onto his diapered rump as a small cloud of foal powder spilled out. “Mommy put too much foal powder on me again.” He mentally grumbled, but he could worry about that later. For right now he needed to get to the bathroom and to his potty as soon as possible.
Luckily he knew where it was, the same place it always was and always would be: The bathroom. At the thought of that place though, the little colt briefly paused and gulped. The bathroom could be quite a scary place, maybe not for his parents who were big enough to handle all the threats in there but certainly for him. There were a lot of big things in there, including those strange bottles under the sink he was told never to drink from.
But by far the biggest and most frightening of them, was the so called “king” (the grown-ups had mentioned a throne and how could there be a throne without a king?). A giant, white, bowl shaped object made of porcelain and boasted a silvery, handle device that produced a most frightening roar. Anything that entered into it never came back out or so it was said. And Shining knew that if he wasn’t careful, that could be him.
However, no “king” was going to keep Shining from doing what had to be done. His potty was in the bathroom, and he couldn’t depend on his parents to always be there for him to chase away the monsters. If he could stand up to the monsters under his bed and in his closet (they didn’t frighten him anymore, though it helped that he had a night light to sleep with and Brutus Force to snuggle for security), then the one lurking in the bathroom couldn’t be any tougher. Right?
Crawling as fast as his little hooves would let him (and trying his best to keep his urge to go under control), Shining carefully exited from his mom’s writing studio and made his way through the long and winding hallway, down to the bathroom where his potty awaited.
As luck would have it, the door to the bathroom was wide open, so the little colt waddled through without hesitation. Immediately he locked eyes with the fearsome monster that was the grown-up potty, the porcelain beast, and the king of the bathroom. Whatever you wanted to call it, it was the very thing that he feared the most. The very thing that unnerved him almost enough to have an accident. Almost.
Shining eyed the plastic, light blue bowl that rested nearby and had the words “My Little Potty” written on it in pink and purple lettering. It would be so easy to just waddle over to it, pull down his diaper, and then sit down to do his business.
But the foal was feeling rather bold today! The time had come for him to conquer his fear and vanquish his final foe! Besides, if his mommy and daddy could use this mighty creature and not get eaten, surely he could do the same.
“Ya going down, potty monster!” Shining taunted the king as he stuck out his tongue. His foe didn’t reply.
Well, before the little colt could even think of taking on this big potty, he had to take off his diaper. He tugged at the tapes with his hooves only to have them slip off time and time again. A raging blush formed on his cheeks as he realized what he would need to do if he wanted to get his diaper off in time. “Consider yaself wucky, fiend!” He told his opponent. “Ya get to see my famous diapee dance!”
Shining then started kicking and bouncing about, shaking his padding as it slowly but surely slid down his rump until at least it had dropped to his knees. A couple more clouds of foal powder had billowed out, but the little colt didn’t care that could be cleaned up later.
Now came the matter of actually getting up onto the seat. He lacked the magical power of his parents to teleport, and he didn’t think he could jump up nearly high enough to grab the edge. But did that stop the little colt? Not for a second. He simply turned his attention to his potty that rested nearby. It seemed it would have a use today after all, just not in the way one would expect.
With a great deal of straining, Shining was able to push the potty close enough to the grown-up potty so that he could stand up and jump. And with the elevated starting point provided by his potty, he was able to grasp the edge of the seat just barely.
Now Shining was staring down into the bowl, the belly of the beast. He could see his own reflection gazing back at him in the smooth, mirror like waters. He wasn’t frightened.
But as the foal moved to get into position and sit down, he felt his hooves start to slip! Frantically trying to keep from falling he reached his front hooves out and tried to grab hold of something, anything to keep him from ending up in the bowl! For once he fell in there was no chance he would get back out! And he hadn’t come all this way just be a snack for the monster.
Unfortunately the only thing that the little one could grab, was the handle that rested to one side of the big potty. His hooves wrapped around the handle, and due to his outstretched nature they forced it down!
A mighty roar rang out, the creature was angry and ready to eat! To make matters worse, Shining found himself losing his balance! His hooves slipped off the handle and he tumbled off the seat, plunging into the surging waters of the bowl!
The little colt felt himself start to spin round and round, faster and faster! He was unable to do much of anything as the grown-up potty continued to spin him about, disorienting him!
Then the water started to retreat, and Shining felt something start to tug on his tail! “Oh no!” He cried, fearing the worst!
But strangely, it seemed that despite how powerful the tugging sensation was on his tail, the foal didn’t seem to be descending. Being a curious little one he looked down at himself, and discovered to what he owed his miraculous escape from the jaws of the vicious potty monster.
His diaper had absorbed all the water, swelling up like a water balloon ready to pop. It definitely felt heavier now, but it was blocking the hole that the water had retreated down. It seemed that was what had saved Shining from becoming the potty monster’s next victim. “Tank you, diapee! Ya the best!” He declared.
Now that just left the matter of finding a way out. He could easily take off his diaper and let the water refill, potentially taking him with it if it started that swirling cycle again. But one close call was enough, Shining didn’t want to risk another.
The foal looked up, gazing up at the seat that he had slipped off. It actually didn’t seem to be that far down, probably because his diaper had stopped him from being pulled down any further. He rocked back and forth on his soggy padding for a little bit, deep in thought. Maybe if he just tried hard enough, he could grasp the side of the bowl and climb back out?
Well, it was worth a shot. It sure beat the alternatives of going down with the water, or waiting for somepony to come and fish him out. So the foal shifted his weight on his diaper a little, and tried to grab hold of the side of the bowl.
That didn’t work. But then, something else happened. It felt like some kind of pressure was building up underneath Shining’s diaper and it was growing by the second. Without warning, a loud “Sploosh!” could be heard as the water shot up like a fountain and propelled Shining upward like a rocket!
The foal was launched out of the bowl, landing on the floor in front of the big potty as his soggy padding squished. The water in the bowl subsequently retreated and refilled, and Shining breathed a sigh of relief to know that he had escaped the potty monster’s clutches. He definitely wasn’t going to try and take it on again, next time he might not be so lucky.
So the little colt just shook about until his padding drooped down and fell off his bottom completely. A cold breeze blew past the foal’s bare bottom as he blushed, relieved nopony was around to see him like this. He quickly rushed over to his potty and sat down. He didn’t even need to push, after all the time he’d spent holding in his need to go relaxing caused his body to operate almost on instinct. A few plops could be heard as a familiar smell reached Shining’s nostrils.
Feeling quite proud of his accomplishment, Shining stood up when he was certain he was done and proudly declared! “I went potty!”. It didn’t feel quite the same when there wasn’t somepony there to praise him for his efforts, and his thoughts turned to his mommy, still hard at work in her office. She had to see what her son had managed to do all by himself.
Twilight Velvet was indeed still absorbed in her writing, she had not heard a thing. She didn’t turn her attention away from her desk until she felt a familiar tugging on her mane. “What is it, honey?” She asked her son without turning around.
“Mommy, I went potty!” Shining proudly declared as he raised his hooves over his head.
“I’ll change your diaper in a minute, Shining. Mommy’s almost done with her writing, just need to think of how to end this chapter.” Velvet commented, while moving a hoof to pat her son on the forehead.
But Shining kept hopping up and down. “No, Mommy! I didn’t go in my diapee! I went potty, all by myself!”
“Oh, that’s very nice, dear,” Twilight Velvet commented, before she blinked and spun around to face her son! “Wait, you actually used your potty all by yourself?!”
The little colt nodded and beamed with pride! “Uh-huh! Mommy, come see!” He darted out of the room as fast as he could.
Velvet rose from her desk and followed her son to the bathroom. He gestured a hoof to his potty, and sure enough Velvet could see that he had indeed used it. Now it was her turn to be filled with pride. “Oh, Shining, Mommy is so proud of you!” She happily declared. “Such a big colt for doing it all on your own! Do you need help wiping?”
At that, Shining blushed bright red. “Yeah, me do.”
“Alright, son, Mommy will get you all nice and clean,” Velvet declared as she used her magic to pull out some wet wipes. Then she noticed something else. “Shiny, where’s your diaper? Did you lose it?”
“Nu-uh, it got fuww of watew fwom big potty,” The foal explained as he was wiped clean. “It aww wet and heavy, me no wanna wear it. So me threw it away.”
At that, the mare became more than a little concerned. “Shining Armor, you know you’re not ready for the big potty yet. Why didn’t you come and get me?”
“Ya too busy, Mommy. Me wanted to prove I couwd handwe potty monstew by mysewf!” Shining declared as he puffed out his chest. “Me awmost did, but ten me messed up.”
Velvet knew she should’ve been upset with her son for doing something so dangerous, but the way he phrased it she couldn’t help but snicker. “My my, such an active imagination you have, Shining. You know the big potty is not a monster.”
“Ten what makes tat awfuw noise?” Shining pondered as his mother tossed away the wet wipes after the wiping job was done.
“It’s called a flush,” Velvet explained as she picked up the potty and emptied its contents into the toilet. Then she turned to her son, picking him up with her magic. “Go on, why don’t you try it? I promise, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“You pwomise it not twy to eat me?” Shining asked his mom.
The mare nodded her head. “I promise,” She levitated him close to the handle. “Now go on, just pull the handle.”
Reluctantly, the little colt did so. Pushing it down with all his might as the loud roar from before was heard once again! This time though he watched the whole thing unfold from the safety of his mom’s magical embrace, observing how his waste was swept up and sucked down the drain. “Poo poo go bye bye!” He waved a hoof.
Velvet floated him back down to the ground a few seconds later. “See, Shining, that wasn’t so bad. But I want you to stick to your potty, and do not try to use the big potty without me, your daddy, or a grown-up around to watch you.” She instructed.
“Okay, Mommy, me do tat.” Shining nodded and gave a little salute.
“Good. Now, I believe my little colt is finally ready for his big pony pull-ups!” Velvet proudly declared as she scooped him up and carried him out of the bathroom. All the while, she was thinking in her mind. “Shining Armor’s little bathroom adventure has just given me the perfect idea for a new story in my series! I think I’ll call it ‘Captain Padding v.s. The Potty Monster’.”