The joy of childhood is seeing everything as happy and positive regardless of what it may truly be. It is for this reason that raising griffon chicks was always viewed as such a chore. They cost money, took time away from what you wanted, and took forever to get the hint that life is miserable and that’s that.
Gilda, a fledgling just getting the hang of flying, was one of these chicks that drove the grumpy griffons crazy. Unlike most chicks, Gilda did not know how to take a hint and viewed all their attempts at putting her down as opportunities to play pranks.
Gruff, one of the eldest griffons in Griffonstone, was frequently one of Gilda’s targets for pranking. Though this was because he was the grumpiest of all griffons and was so funny to startle. The laughter of the other griffons to how he reacted to little Gilda’s pranks made her feel she was getting positive attention while keeping the other griffs from being a target of her mischief.
***
One day, Griffonstone was visited by representatives from Cloudsdale. Their mission was to establish friendly relations with the griffons through inviting any aspiring youngsters to participate in the Junior Speedsters program.
Nearly every griff of the target age had fallen into the grumpy and resentful state as their older counterparts. All but one.
“She’s the only one?” the Pegasus envoy considered as Gilda merrily flapped around in her soaked diaper. “Normally Junior Speedsters are potty trained.”
Gruff, who was a dark-grey colored griffon, stared down the cloud-white Pegasus.
“Your princess wants relations, right?” he remarked. “Then take her.”
The envoy thought about this while nervously wagging her baby-blue colored tail.
“And there’s no other young griffons who’d wish to participate in this program?” she nervously pursued.
Gruff narrowed his eyes.
“No!” he spat. “Take her, or get lost.”
The Pegasus could not believe how rude Gruff, along with the other griffons, were. However she and her team had come on a mission of friendship and she would see her duties through.
“Alright,” she stated more confidently. “All we would need is permission from her parents, or guardian.”
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
Gruff and the envoy both were startled as Gilda had found the pots and pans in Gruff’s house and started to cheerfully bang upon them. Their reactions made her laugh even more as she wet herself now to the point of her diaper coming totally off. This made her feel quite free as she started to flap about Gruff’s home.
“I’m her parent!” he cried while getting up and firmly holding Gilda in his arms. The young, brown griffon took this as a hug instead of being restrained.
“You are?” the Pegasus replied with disbelief.
“How soon can you take her?” Gruff demanded as he saw the oversaturated diaper making a piddle pool on his floor. “I’ll sign her over to you right now!”
The white-coated envoy was taken aback by Gruff’s treatment of his ‘daughter’. However not much was really known about griffons due to relations breaking down about one hundred years ago. So she just felt it best to get out one of the twelve forms her team brought for signing up young griffons for Junior Speedsters.
“Everything is laid out…,” she started to say.
“Signed!” announced Gruff while bringing Gilda towards the Pegasus and putting her on top of the envoy’s back. “All yours now.”
The envoy cringed a bit over how Gilda had not been properly attended to before being placed on her back.
“Don’t you want to know about the program?” she asked. “How we are hopeful this will improve relations between ponies and griffons?”
Gruff sneered.
“This is,” he replied.
There was a short pause.
“So why are you still here?” pursued Gruff. “Don’t want Gilda late for that Junior speeder thing.”
The Pegasus blushed.
“As her father,” she stated. “I kind of thought you may want to say goodbye and, well, get her into a clean diaper?”
Other griffons had started to gather around Gruff’s home as his tantrums always had a way of drawing a crowd.
“Gilda’s father?” one snickered.
“Hey,” another grinned. “If he is Gilda’s dad then he can just be the designated father for all the chicks in Griffonstone!”
A purple griffon giddily flapped her wings.
“That’ll show the old coot!” she stated. “Papa Gruff is going to love his new responsibility.”
“He’ll come after us for this,” a yellow griffon added. “He doesn’t mess around when it comes to getting even with any griff.”
The purple one smiled.
“He’ll be too busy being the town patron to ever truly get back at any of us,” she said. “Plus we’ll throw a few extra bits at him for his ‘service’.”
A red griffon shrugged and smiled.
“Works for me!” he proclaimed. “We’ll tell ol’ Papa Gruff of his new role in Griffonstone the moment those pesky ponies fly their flanks out of here.”
CA-CREEK
THUNK
“Bye-bye, dada!” chirped Gilda as the Pegasus exited the building. “Miss you!”
There was no response.
“Team!” called the Pegasus envoy. “We have one volunteer to participate in this friendship exercise! Let us take flight to Cloudsdale!”
Nearby Pegasi took to the air alongside their leader. And, as they left, the rest of the town made their way in to tell ‘Papa Gruff’ the good news.
***
Gilda was awestruck by Cloudsdale. It was bright and colorful in comparison to the barren and rundown appearance Griffonstone had.
“Pretty-pretty!” she cried excitedly as she started to wobble about on the envoy’s back.
The Pegasus envoy worried that the excitement may bring Gilda to have an accident. So she zoomed to the nearest cloud and plopped the fledgling griffon down.
“Wow-wow-wowie-wow!” delighted Gilda as she had never sat on a genuine cloud before. It was exciting and wonderful and everything Griffonstone was not.
The white-coated Pegasus sighed in relief as the area under Gilda went from white to grey.
“You like what you see, Gildy?” she cooed.
Gilda fluttered towards the Pegasus and gave her a big hug around the leg.
“Love, momma!” she chirped.
This statement caught the envoy by surprise. However she quickly reasoned that the young griffon likely never experienced the type of affection most ponies give to their foals.
“Alright, little one,” she warmly said while getting Gilda back up on her back. “Momma Sky Painter is going to make the most of our month together.”
***
Princess Celestia was very pleased with getting even just one griffon to participate in their effort to reestablish relations with Griffonstone. Everything was alright up until the Balrog swept in to steal their leader’s greatest treasure. Once gone, the griffons went into a frenzy to establish who would lead given the king’s loss of the most valuable artifact passed on to each leader of the griffons. Over time, the griffons went from seeking leadership and teamwork to looking out for themselves and apathy.
“It only takes one to make a difference,” encouraged Celestia as she welcomed Sky Painter back from her mission.
Gilda was flapping about in the throne room until she came to a sudden stop, lifted her hindquarters, and took care of some personal business on the tiled floor.
Sky Painter blushed.
“Please pardon Gilda,” she nervously stated. “The griffons seem to be very hands-off when it comes to raising their young.”
Celestia watched Gilda regain her excitement after relieving herself.
“Accidents happen, Sky Painter,” she said calmly while using her magic to acquire some tucked away cleaning supplies. “Though I may have just the pony to help you prepare Gilda for her time at Junior Speedsters.”
***
“Well aren’t you a bundle of fun?” inquired Princess Cadence as she finished bathing and diapering up the young griffon. “I doubted Celestia’s advice in being a foal sitter as I grew into my new wings. However, between you and Shining Armor’s little sister, I can see it is helping me to really see the power of love, care, and understanding.”
Shining Armor entered into the guest room at the palace that was to be Gilda’s home until her month at Junior speedsters came to an end. His purple-coated, baby sister, Twilight, riding upon his back all snuggled up with her eyes closed.
“I see you finally got Twily to take her nap?” asked Cadence.
“I did,” Shining Armor replied proudly. “I only had to walk around the castle four times for her to finally stop wanting to reach out to look at everything.”
Gilda waddled towards the new guest and the foal on his back.
“Baby?” she asked.
Cadence smiled.
“She’s about your age, Gildy,” Cadence cooed. “Maybe you both can become big girls together?”
“Gilly like that!” she chirped before falling on her padded bottom. “No like diapers!”
Gilda’s loud proclamations woke the resting Twilight Sparkle.
“Big bother,” mumbled the purple Unicorn. “Need potty.”
Shining Armor grimaced as Cadence smiled.
“Okay, Gildy,” she said. “It’s time for your first lesson.”
***
The guest room Gilda was to stay at was complete with its own private bathroom. There were a lot of very interesting things within it that drew her attention. However she was most drawn to the magical aura that Cadence used to help Twilight up on the modified ‘pot’.
FWIP
The young griffon watched as the foal’s diaper was pulled down. Shortly after the sound of water trickling came as twilight grew a big smile.
“I big girl!” cried Twilight. “I show Moon dancer who is best at potty for sure!”
Shining Armor laughed.
“Remember, twily,” he stated while using his magic to help her to wash her little hooves as he used a wipe to get those areas Twilight was just not ready to clean on her own. “It’s not a competition.”
Cadence used her magic to put Twilight back into her diaper.
“Keep this up, Twilight,” she cheered. “And you may get three golden suns on your chart in a row.”
Twilight cooed as she clapped her hooves together.
“Yay!” she squealed. “I potty before bother!”
Shining blushed.
“Mom and dad seem to think giving her the incentive of being fully out of diapers before I was is an incentive for her,” he sighed.
Cadence blushed as she just couldn’t help but feel a connection with Twilight’s older brother.
“Well,” she assured. “You did say it is not a contest and what harm is it to give little Twily more reason to get out of those diapers?”
Shining was about to say something when Gilda started to try and flutter up to the toilet.
“Gilly try!” she proclaimed. “Gilly be big like pony!”
Cadence giggled as she could tell Shining Armor was a bit frustrated over how he had lost Cadence’s full attention.
“Okay, Gildy,” encouraged Cadence while placing the young griffon on top of the modified toilet seat.
FWIP
Gilda shivered as the warmth her diaper had created against her feathers had gone away. However this also caused her to open the floodgates and make the exact same sounds she heard Twilight do that earned the foal such praise.
“Wow, Gildy!” Cadence clapped merrily. “You’re taking to this like a natural!”
The brown griffon beamed with pride.
“Gilly do good?” she asked.
Cadence took care of helping the griffon wash and get cleaned up.
“You sure did,” she added. “Now just let a big pony know when you feel like something wants to come out of you and we’ll have you out of those diapers super-duper quick!”
***
Gilda’s first week was split between Junior Speedsters and working with Princess Cadence on learning some friendship fundamentals while perfecting her ability to use the potty like a ‘big griff’. This made Gilda very excited but, at the same time, she felt very out of place amongst the other Junior Speedsters.
However this all changed when all she had been taught came to fruition upon meeting the cyan-colored Junior Speedsters’ star student, Rainbow Dash.
Eventually, Gilda had acquired her freedom in the skies along with from diapers both day and night. She was so proud and so happy and could hardly wait to return to Griffonstone to share all the wonderful things she had learned. Unfortunately a newly appointed ‘Papa Gruff’ was not at all pleased to see the griff who caused him to become the town patron. He forbid any other griffs from going to Junior Speedsters and assured Gilda that her namby-pamby pony teaching would get her nowhere.
And, just like that, so much progress was lost. Well, not all the progress as Gilda no longer needed a diaper. And, for her, that would be something not even grumpy Papa Gruff could take away from her.