Luster Dawn had been a rather quiet child. At least as far as her parents: Moon Dusk and Fire Blaster were concerned. It was hard for them not to notice how almost from birth their daughter seemed to prefer playing with toys by herself rather than socialize with any other little ones. She rarely smiled, even for her baby pictures, as if it was hard for her to do that. And aside from a few occasions she never really cried or even babbled.
For a while, in fact, both unicorn parents were worried that their daughter might never speak at all and that something was wrong with her. It was really quite a relief when she ended up saying her first word: “Mommy”. And she eventually developed a small vocabulary such as: “Daddy”, “Diaper”, “Baba”, “Hungry”, “Stinky” and “Changie”, so her parents didn’t need to guess when something was wrong with her.
But Luster Dawn was still unusually quiet and withdrawn for her age. She largely kept to herself and always seemed to struggle to interact even just a little bit with strangers (which made finding a suitable foalsitter very difficult). But every doctor Moon and Fire took their daughter to said that there was nothing wrong with her, at least on a physical level. She was of a healthy height and weight, despite being a picky eater. They recommended a specialist, but the price tag for one was very expensive and Moon and Fire were weary of having their daughter be poked and prodded at. So they decided against it.
The parents managed with their rather quiet little filly for the first two years, slowly getting her to open up more and more and even eventually managing to get her to play with other little fillies and colts in her age group. Because of this, they had to start considering something that all parents inevitably have to face, something that they knew was going to be a hassle because of their socially distant daughter: Potty training. If they didn’t though, they knew their daughter was just going to be teased by her peers when she was the only one still in diapers. So Moon Dusk and Fire Blaster reluctantly started making plans to teach their daughter about the potty. They hoped that it would be easier than getting her to smile or say her first words.
On one particular day, Luster Dawn noticed when she woke up that both her mother and her father were home with her.
Usually, one parent would already be gone by the time she was awake. Often it was her father, Moon Dusk. She didn’t really know much about his work, she just knew that it seemed to keep him away from her for most of the day everyday. So it was always a special occasion whenever both of her parents were home.
“Good morning, my little Luster!” Fire Blaster lovingly cooed as she lifted her daughter out of her crib. “Your father and I have a wonderful surprise in store for you today!”
“That’s right,” Moon Dusk declared as he came trotting into the nursery, carrying some kind of package on his back. “Starting today, you’re no longer going to be wearing diapers. You get to graduate to big pony underwear, pull-ups!”
Luster blinked her eyes as she speculated that the new undergarments were housed inside her father’s package. Then she instinctively looked back to the diaper hugging her waist so tightly. “No more diapers?” She asked with a whimper.
Moon and Fire exchanged nods. “Correct!”
Luster whimpered more audibly. “But I no want to give up diapers, Don’t wanna wear pull-ups.” It was a pointless protest. She was soon floated over to the changing table in her nursery and her diaper was pulled down.
“All dry and clean again, just like it’s been for the past week,” Fire Blaster praised her daughter. “Doesn’t that make you feel like a big pony? To know that you can make it through the night without having an accident?”
Luster said nothing. She really didn’t know what to think of that, because she’d assumed that going during the night was natural and not going during the night was also natural. It just happened whenever it happened. It was still in a diaper which had to be changed, so what was different?
Moon Dusk used his magic to bail up the unused diaper and toss it into a nearby diaper pail. Then he carefully opened the package and took out one of the pull-ups. After unfolding it, he presented the new undergarment to his daughter. “See? Look how much better the pull-ups are. They have custom prints, and special figures that serve as wetness indicators in case you still have accidents.” The pull-up was varying shades of yellow and blue and depicted Equestria’s sovereign rulers: The royal sisters Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
Being a curious little one, Luster Dawn delicately reached out a hoof to touch the pull-up. It compressed like a diaper would, but only a little bit. The tabs also looked like they were easier to undo compared to her diapers, and it looked like they couldn’t hold as much. What exactly was it about them that made wearing them so great?
Taking the lack of a reaction from his daughter as a sign to proceed, Moon was able to strap up the new pull-up in mere seconds. Then he lifted his daughter from the changing table and smiled as he helped her to stand (she was not used to the weight of her pull-up and hadn’t yet realized it would grant her more freedom in her movements). He couldn’t help but give the new pull-up a pat as he did so. “See? Don’t you feel a lot better now that you don’t have those bulky diapers on you anymore?” He asked his daughter with a bright smile.
Luster wanted to say no. She wanted to say that she didn’t like the change she was being subjected to. But looking at her parents and how happy they seemed to be made her think otherwise. This was just like the times her parents had coaxed her out from behind their legs to say hello to a stranger, or told her to go and play with other baby ponies. They hadn’t been wrong then, even if she might have initially thought otherwise. So she forced herself to stay quiet.
Luster Dawn’s parents looked at each other briefly, and both seemed to be thinking the same thing. The next thing Luster knew, she was being taken by the hoof by her mother. The pull-ups weren’t the only change that was going to happen.
Moon Dusk and Fire Blaster led their daughter from the peace and comfort of her nursery, to a room that she knew only to be cold, smelly and often noisy (and dark): The bathroom. Light immediately flooded the room with the flip of a switch, and Luster’s eyes struggled to adjust. When they did, she found herself standing before a funny looking object. “Now, Luster Dawn,” Her mother began to instruct. “With your big pony underwear or pull-ups comes big pony responsibilities. From now on, you’re to do all your pee pees and poo poos in this!”
Luster looked at the strange object suspiciously. She knew that it was tall, but upon looking at it more carefully, she saw that the bottom part of it resembled some kind of bowl and appeared to be anchored to the floor for some reason. Just above it was some kind of lip or seat that looked like a curved horseshoe with some sort of lid that was already raised. And attached to the back of the bowl was a tank which featured a silver, ramp-like object. “What’s that?” The curious filly asked.
“This, is a toilet!” Her father answered.
“Toi...wet?” Luster Dawn questioned, sounding out the new word.
“Yup,” Moon Dusk nodded and smiled. “It’s really easy. You just need to get either your mother or I to help you since you’re kind of small. What you do is simple: Pull down your pull-up, get onto the seat and make sure you’re all nice and comfortable, then just sit down, relax and do whatever you need to do. How about we practice that so you’ll know for next time?”
“Nu-uh, don’t wanna!” The little filly protested. “Not sitting on toiwet!” It was way too much of an effort for something that she was pretty sure was way too big for her. It could probably eat her if she wasn’t careful.
Moon Dusk merely groaned in annoyance at his daughter’s defiance, as he used his magic to pull her close before she could escape. “Come on, there’s nothing to be afraid of. I promise you, it can’t harm you. And your mother and I both agree that you need to start using it.” He lifted her gently into the air and undid the tabs, letting her pull-up slide down to her hooves. Then he placed her delicately on the toilet seat.
“Oh, you look just like a princess on her royal throne!” Fire Blaster said.
“She sure does.” Moon Dusk agreed. “I’ll bet she’ll grow up to be a princess herself someday!”
To Luster Dawn, the toilet seat was unpleasantly cold and felt very slippery. She didn’t like being on it for even one second.
“Wanna get down!” She complained, hoping to be heard.
Fire Blaster seemed to oblige. “It’s okay, Luster,” She declared. “This was just a test. When you actually have to go, you’ll sit on it for much longer. And when you’re done,” She told her daughter before pulling some kind of paper substance off a nearby rack. “We’ll clean you up with this: It’s called toilet paper.”
“Then we just put it in the toilet,” Moon Dusk explained. “And then we flush it all away, just like this.” He used his magic to surround the ramp like object, and pressed it down.
Suddenly the toilet roared quite loudly! Too loudly for little Luster Dawn, who whimpered and covered her ears! It was the most frightening sound she’d ever heard! “MAMA! DADA!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, and began whimpering and crying while hiding behind them for safety! To make matters worse, Luster was so frightened that she lost control of her bodily functions, the hissing sound could be heard emanating from her. By the time the toilet had finished flushing, Luster’s new pull-up was anything but pristine: The princesses printed on it had faded, and it looked almost ready to fall apart.
Fire Blaster unhappily sighed as she was forced to change her daughter’s soggy pull-up, and strap a new one up. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” She suggested to her husband. “Maybe we should’ve waited until Luster was a little older.”
But Moon Dusk would hear nothing of it. “We can’t give up just because we had one little setback. Hardly anypony masters potty training on their first attempt. I’m sure that if we keep exposing her to the toilet and keep enforcing mandatory potty times, she’ll be accident free in no time!”
Unfortunately, Moon’s boast couldn’t have been further from the truth. Days and then weeks passed by, and Luster Dawn came no closer to succeeding with the toilet. She would often never even make it to the bathroom before suffering an accident. But on the few times she did, she was too terrified to go anywhere near the toilet. Simply looking at it would make her freeze on the spot, and she would start to cry and scream. It seemed like the flush was just too much for her little ears to take. She always was more sensitive to bright lights and loud noises, a fact that her parents could no longer deny.
So it was that Moon and Fire had to adjust their plans a little. About a month after the training had begun, Moon Dusk came home with another unusual package. This open was a box, and inside the box was some sort of plastic bowl that looked like it was made to resemble Celestia’s throne. “This is a training toilet,” Moon told his daughter. “It doesn’t make that scary sound, and it’s not as cold or uncomfortable to sit on. It’s just the right size for you.”
Luster had to agree on that, not that it made her feel any bit more inclined to do what her parents expected of her.
“Come on, Luster,” Fire Blaster tried to encourage her daughter. “We’re doing this for your sake. All big ponies go through this eventually. And if we don’t do this, you’re going to grow up bullied, teased and isolated because you’re the only one who still wears diapers. You don’t want that, do you?”
“No.” Luster weakly replied. She already found it hard to fit in and make friends as it was, she didn’t want to risk anything that might take them away from her. If it meant going through potty training, she would reluctantly force herself to do it.