“Useless! Useless! USELESS!”
Misty cowered before the enraged Opaline, a common occurrence as of late. Yet another attempt at capturing the baby dragon from the ponies of Maretime Bay had once more ended with Misty arriving at Opaline's tower empty hooved. “But... But I--”
“I don't want to hear anymore excuses! I want results!” Opaline bellowed, zapping what little fight Misty might of had left as she towered over the smaller unicorn with her usual hot-tempered scowl on her face. “It can't be this hard to capture just one baby dragon! No wonder you don't have a Cutie Mark by now if you can't manage even the most simplest of tasks!”
Misty winced, her lack of a Cutie Mark always being a sore spot that Opaline knew how to exploit. “I'll get him next time, Opaline! Really!”
Opaline laughed at this, less than convinced. “At this rate you might just end up getting your Cutie Mark afterall... at being a useless failure!” Sighing, Opaline turned her back on the still cowering Misty. “I grow tired of this, leave my presence at once. I don't want to see you again until I summon you once more. By then I'll have come up with a plan that even you won't be able to completely screw up!”
Without another word, Misty quietly sulked away to her chambers. She was a glad that she was no longer being subjected to Opaline's boundless fury once more, but that did little to ease the pain Opaline's harsh words had yet again inflicted upon her. It felt like an eternity before she finally managed to drag herself towards her chambers, Opaline's words continuing to echo in her head.
Useless! Useless! USELESS!
“I... I'm not useless...” Misty muttered half-heatedly to herself as she closed the door behind her and slumped against it. “I can do this... I can... I...” It was then that Misty proved unable to hold back her tears any longer, as she quickly slipped into a blubbering, teary eyed mess. She had no concept of time as tears continued to pour down her face. Minutes? Hours? Misty didn't care how long she sat there and cried like the pathetic unicorn that Opaline truly thought she was.
When she had finally run out of tears to shed, Misty rubbed at her tired eyes as she glanced across the room at her bed. She wanted nothing more than to just curl up into a ball stay there indefinitely, but a small part of her held her back. For on days like this, when Misty was feeling particularly low, she had a special way to unwind, one that she knew if Opaline ever discovered would cause the Alicorn to lose what very little respect she had for the unicorn and no doubt abandon her entirely out of sheer disgust.
So, with the intent of continuing to keep it a secret from Opaline, Misty made sure to lock the door to her chambers as she trotted over to her closet. Opening it up and pushing aside several hangers holding costumes and other such disguises, Misty's gaze eventually fell on a seemingly normal looking brown box stashed at the back of her closet. Acquiring the box and its contents under Opaline's nose had been an endeavour in and of itself, which is why she treasured what lay within.
Opening up the box, a small smile tugged at the edge of her lips as she gazed upon the item inside. A clear plastic rectangle sat within, a row of much smaller folded plastic rectangles held within. One the front was a label done up in pastel colours that read “Silly Filly Diapers”.
Diapers. Just thinking about them caused a surge of joy to shoot through Misty's tired body. With her magic, she carefully extracted one of the diapers from the opened pack and held it up in front of her face, giving it a nice sniff as the scent of foal powder filled her nose. The diaper was mostly white with designs of little blue butterflies fluttering along it, which Misty couldn't help but aww at every time at how adorable it made them look.
Unfolding the diaper completely, Misty set it down onto the floor and positioned herself carefully above it before gently sitting down. The feeling of her flanks sinking into the soft, plush padding caused her to let out a sigh of relief, a small puff of powder infused into the diaper puffing out as she made contact. This was always her favourite part, so Misty took her time as she leaned back and pulled up the front of the diaper up to her belly and aligned it with the back. Once she was sure the two were even, she reached for the tapes (one on each side for that extra bit of foalish flair!) and securely taped herself into her fresh diaper.
One tape aaannnddd... two tapes! All done!
A small giggle actually escaped her lips as she sat up and poked a hoof into the padding of her diaper, feeling her hoof sink into the soft padding now wrapped around her rear. Standing back up, she could already feel the bulk of the diapers pushing her back legs apart ever so and giving her a noticeable waddle as she walked back up to the closet and reached inside with her magic, soon pulling out a light blue pacifier that she wasted little time in popping into her mouth and sucking on, giggling and cooing as she did. She began to happily prance around her chambers, the crinkling sound of her diaper filled the room.
After a few minutes of this, Misty's stomach suddenly let out a grumbling sound that made her pause. It'd been a while since she'd eaten after all, so she turned and waddled over to a mini-fridge she had installed in her room in the event of the “Midnight Munchies” and opened it up. Immediately her eyes zoned in on a large baby bottle filled to the top with milk that Misty had prepared in advance for just such an occasion. Cold milk wouldn't do however, so a brief moment spent in the microwave solved that.
Once it had cooled to a temperature Misty was satisfied with, she happily carried it along in her magic as she trotted up to her bed and lay down. Once she was comfortably snuggled up under her blankets, she popped her pacifier out of her mouth for a moment as she soon replaced it with the nipple of the baby bottle, warm, delicious milk filling her mouth and belly with each suck.
In that moment, all the stresses of the day just washed away as Misty was temporarily transported to another time, a time when her lack of a Cutie Mark wasn't a constant shame hovering over her, but simply an expected things for a foal like her. A time when she didn't have to worry about capturing baby dragons, but could just be a baby herself. When she didn't have to try her hardest please the fiery tempered Opaline's wants an needs, a time when all her needs were taken care of instead by those who loved her.
As the last few drops of milk trickled onto her tongue, Misty let out a huge yawn as she dropped the empty bottle beside her and pressed a hoof against her belly, feeling it jiggle a little now that it was full of warm milk. Popping her pacifier back into her mouth, Misty went right back to sucking on it like before as she cuddled up to a plush bear and rested her head against her pillow. Within moments, Misty was fast asleep, her dreams filled with all the adventures she would go on and all the things she could experience once she finally got her Cutie Mark.
Tomorrow would probably mean yet another attempt to return Opaline to her rightful place of power, but tonight Misty was more than content to pretend she was little more than a cute and happy foal once more.