Ever since his little sister had been born, Long Play had quickly gotten used to the idea of caring for her. It was simple stuff for the most part: Feedings, playtime, setting her down for naps, all that good stuff. But every now and then the less desirable aspects of foal care would creep up, diaper changing chief among them. And while the red haired unicorn teenager with similarly red colored locks managed to build up a tolerance to it, he was never a fan of it. “I never wanna have foals! They’re way too smelly for my tastes!” He thought to himself.
Long Play never anticipated that he would play a role in helping his little sister get out of diapers. His own potty training had been largely unspectacular from what he could remember and he didn’t foresee having to “demonstrate” the process any time soon to Vinyl. Yet it would end up being him and not his parents would encourage the young one to graduate from the disposable undergarments. Quite unintentionally at first.
It started like so many other times the teenage colt was looking after his baby sister. Even back then, long before she would be known as the silent DJ-PON-3 who spoke very little (if at all), Vinyl was a rather quiet and withdrawn little foal. She didn’t usually say much or do much. She’d only speak up or draw attention to herself if she needed or wanted something, and her parents and her brother seemed to pick up on this non-verbal communication quite easily.
Some things were obvious giveaways with smells in particular being an unmistakable sign. Long Play found himself looking up from a particular engaging magazine when an all too familiar odor began to assault his nostrils. He had a pretty good idea where it was coming from, and a quick inspection of his sister confirmed that it was indeed originating from her. Using his horn to place a series of clothespins over his nostrils to block out the “sour note”, Long Play steadied himself. “Hey, sis,” He told Vinyl as he approached her. “It’s time for a change. You need one, badly.”
Vinyl didn’t argue, she knew that if her brother could smell it it had to be bad. That was a non-spoken rule she’d learned of long ago. And she admitted that eventually a diaper that was used was no longer fun to be in, a fresh one was much more preferable. So she allowed herself to be gently picked up by her big brother and carried to the place where most diaper changes were carried out: The bathroom (often because afterward she’d be forced to take a bath).
Long Play had made sure to come prepared with changing supplies and a new diaper. He wanted to make the changing process as smooth and as quick as possible. Placing his baby sister gently upon a changing pad, he made sure all the changing supplies were within ready access of his horn and the wastebasket was nearby for disposal. Then he steadied himself, took a deep breath and made the plunge.
Vinyl always found herself fascinated by the kind of magic her brother could do. He seemed to use his horn way more often than either of her parents (probably because he changed her more often than them, or so it seemed in her mind), especially for these diaper changes. Quick as a flash her old diaper was pulled out from under her and dropped into a wastebasket, while wet wipes cleaned her flanks and foal powder was poured over her entire rump until she sneezed. Then of course there was the new diaper, always taped up so nice and snuggly to let her know she was secure.
“Be right back, Vinyl! Gotta go run your old diaper out to the trash so it doesn’t stink up the place!” Long Play instructed as he quickly picked up the diaper with his magic, wrapping it in a trash bag and holding it a ways away from his nostril.
Never one to stay put for long, Vinyl decided to take advantage of her brother’s absence to do some exploring. And after rolling off her changing pad, she started waddling around the bathroom to take in all the strange sights and smells that had always fascinated her but she had never been able to investigate.
Until now, anyways.
There were lots of cabinets that were closed, with Vinyl remembering that her parents and brother had warned her never to go into them or touch anything within them, so she didn’t. She then strolled past the one thing she was familiar with, the bathtub, though she now noticed that it also had a curtain and some kind of strange object hanging above it. It was obviously not for bathing since it was too high up for her to reach.
Across from the bathtub was an object that truly stood out to the little unicorn, though she didn’t know what it was. Part of it was a bowl, part of it was a chair and part of it had a lid and some sort of top that looked like it could be removed. The lid was actually up though, which afforded the curious little one a chance to climb up on the seat and take a closer look.
Sparking her horn, the little foal managed to lift herself up just enough to grab the edge of the seat and then shimmy her way onto it. Immediately, Vinyl looked down into the bowl and saw that the waters were smooth and crystal clear. In fact, she could even see a reflection of herself just as if she was looking at a mirror. What was all that water for? It couldn’t be a tub or a sink since otherwise she was sure she would’ve been taught how to use it by now.
Vinyl wanted to explore further, and her attention was drawn to that long, silver colored device hanging off to her left. It seemed like it was supposed to be pressed on just like a door handle, perhaps triggering something. And the filly was going to find out what that something was.
Vinyl tried to scoot across the cold seat to grab the handle, but her little hooves found the seat’s surface to be slippery and it was hard to keep her balance! She feared she might slip off or tumble into the bowl, so she stretched her hooves out to grab hold of whatever would keep her from falling. By some miracle, she had scooted close enough to reach the handle and because of how stretched out her body became she was able to push it down.
A loud roar reached the young one’s ears. She didn’t know what exactly the roar meant but whatever it was Vinyl didn’t like it! She held onto the handle for dear life, especially since she could see the waters below her surging and swirling ominously, shedding their smooth, mirror like appearance from before!
As luck would have it, Long Play had come back into the bathroom by this point and when he heard the noise he was quick to come to his sister’s rescue, pulling her safely off the toilet and setting her down upon the floor. “Vinyl! Thank goodness you’re okay,” He sighed in relief. “The toilet is not something to play around with.”
“Toilet?” Vinyl asked while looking up at the object she’d been balancing precariously on just seconds ago. It didn’t take much for Long Play to put two and two together and realize what his sister was referring to.
“Oh, you want to know what it is?” He asked and received a confirming nod. “Well that’s great, it actually means we can start potty training you! You won’t have to wear diapers anymore and I won’t have to change you.”
But Vinyl wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea, especially since she quite liked her new diaper after she had just been changed.
“Hey, don’t give me that look, sis,” Long Play protested. “Potty training is something everypony goes through eventually. It’s actually a lot of fun, and not having diapers to slow you down is the greatest thing ever! Heck, it’s actually really easy to use the toilet,” And he explained. “All you have to do is wait until you think you need to go. Then you come and get me or a grown-up and have them help you sit down on the seat. And then you just do what you need to do, drop some beats if you have to. After that, clean yourself up, and then use the handle to send your latest mix to the studio. Every one you send is a big success, easily gold standard! And you can mark that progress with stars on a chart.”
All of that sounded quite elaborate and confusing to the little one, despite how much her brother seemed to be trying to make it sound fun. Still, she couldn’t deny that she was curious about the toilet and how to use it. It couldn’t hurt to try, could it?
Vinyl started to jump up again, trying to climb back onto the seat to make an attempt at “making her own mix”.
But her brother stopped her. “Whoa there, little DJ! Club rules state that you have to take off your diaper before they let you reach your turntable as it were. Besides, that seat is a little too slippery for you.” He then opened one of the cabinets and pulled something out with his magic before closing it again.
“However, you can use this!” Long Play declared as she presented the object to Vinyl. “This is a special seat that the club reserves for little DJs like you, that way you won’t accidentally be dropped in with the mix too. The studio only wants your mixes, it doesn’t need you. After all, where would they find another DJ on such short notice? You’re welcome to try, but once you’re in the club you gotta stay at your turntable until they say it’s okay for you to take a break. Do you still wanna try? I won’t make you do it if you’re not ready.”
But his little sister didn’t nod or shake her head for her answer. Instead, he saw her place a hoof on her diaper before pointing towards her changing pad. “Oh!” He gasped, suddenly realizing what the filly was trying to tell him.
Vinyl knew what her brother meant by all of that “club talk”. If she decided to try her luck now, she was gonna be sitting on that seat for ages. Even for her that was just too much time that could be spent doing more productive things that would drive her brother nuts. She also wondered if that “special seat” was what her brother and her parents used whenever they were on the toilet. It would certainly explain how they could have no trouble with the slippery seat while they were making their own mixes.
Long Play just instructed. “Well don't worry, you’ll know when it’s time, little DJ. Your body always gives off signals, and sometimes you’ll even do a little dance. So just relax, and be ready for when the time comes. Pretty soon you’ll be pottying like a pro, ready to get rid of those drab diapers forever.”