It was mid-day in Ponyville and an eerie silence filled the streets. The once vibrant and lively town was now desolate of any life. As the day progressed, the town remained a shadow of its former self. The stores were closed, streets bare, and all noise muted. As the sun began to disappear and moon rose to take its place, a faint noise could be heard. The empty roads became littered with mobile shadows as the streetlights turned on, the once closed doors opened wide as strange creatures began to fill the streets.
Beings of legend, creatures of the shadows, demonic beasts normally restricted by the gates of Tartarus, heros, villians, animals, and even inanimate objects all passed through the shadows only to be illuminated for a brief moment by the streetlights as they dashed from house to house. In this scene, far too bizarre for anything Ponyville has ever seen before, there was nary a pony in sight. Of course, who would want to be a pony on Nightmare Night? The children and the adults, both young and old, dressed in costumes and traversed the town. Some for treats in the form of candy, others for tricks and mischief. Yet some just got stuck with the short end of a very long stick.
***
It was late at night and the roads were filled with excited ponies all celebrating the festivities. Far back from the large crowd was a young mare. She was a bat pony with a light taupe coat, purple mane, purple eyes, and was wearing a costume in the likeness of Princess Luna. Composed of greaves, necklace, and crown, all were made of cardboard and colored to match the princess’ personal attire. To complete the outfit she wore a cardboard horn she taped to her forehead. The only odd part about her costume was the diaper she was wearing, marked with Princess Luna’s own cutie mark on the back. She continued to skip down the road giving a toothy grin as she swung her candy filled bag from side to side.
Lagging behind her was a white earth stallion with a white mane streaked in light blue. Unlike his chipper companion up ahead, his demeanor was much grimmer. A look that, for the imposing stallion, would have normally struck others with worry, was now magnified the absurdity of his costume. Similar to the mare up ahead he had costumed as one of the princess, consisting of cardboard greaves, necklace, crown, and even a horn and wings. All were painted to match Princess Celestia’s attire. However, unlike the mare, his costume was far inferior in quality, riddled with crooked cuts and a malformed horn. Just like the mare on his rear was a diaper emblazoned with Princess Celestia’s cutie mark. No doubt this added to his foul mood.
“Hey Stalwart, hurry up!” The voice of the mare echoed. “If you don’t then you will miss out on all the candy!” She stood still waiting for Stalwart to slowly catch up to her.
Stalwart looked away, sighing, “Come on Midnight, we have orders! At least try to take this seriously.” Looking down at his junior he noticed her still smiling face, his words not seeming to pierce her excitement.
“But Stalwart, Princess Luna said we had to get into the festivities, along with keeping an eye on everypony. So can’t we have a bit of fun?” She looked back with pleading eyes.
Seeing the look in Midnight’s eyes, Stalwart sighed. As much as he tried to pretend he hated it, he was having fun. Being out here with Midnight and having fun; it took all of his might not to smile. Even with the diapers, it wasn’t like he particularly minded or anything. Since everypony was in costume no one seemed to notice or mind. However, the orders seemed very specific and that is what bothered him. “Are you certain these orders came from Princess Luna herself and not Celestia?”
Midnight closed her eyes and nodded happily. “Yup! She handed me the report two weeks ago.”
“T-Two weeks!? Then why did you tell me about this yesterday!?” Stalwart almost yelled in surprise.
“Well I kinda... sorta… forgot. Sorry!” She could see her apology didn’t do much to curb his anger and needed to change the subject quick. “Err… Well we, uh, better keep moving.” Noticing Stalwart still had something to say Midnight quickly turned away and began to hurry to the next house. “Besides ,by the looks of your bag, you’re way behind me.”
Stalwart’s annoyance was quick crushed as he recalled the bag filled with candy on his back. As he looked over he could see Midnight’s bag which outranked his on sheer girth. “Hmph, well maybe if I had more time to make a better costume...”
Midnight stopped a few feet ahead of him and called back to him. “Uh, Stalwart, did you say something?”
Stalwart let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m coming, I’m coming.” Stalwart slowly reached his diapered companion.
Midnight looked up at him. “Thanks Stal, and I am sorry.”
Stalwart chuckled in response. “It’s fine. Besides, the night’s still young. I am sure, before the night is over, I will win.”
“Oh, so it’s a game now?” A look of determination filled Midnight’s eyes. “Alright! The pony with the most candy wins!” The two of them reached their heads over to their bags and pulled them off their backs. Bags in mouth they continued onto the next house, their diapers crinkling along the way.
After a short walk, they reached the next house of that night. The home was rather small and lacked any nearby ponies. As they glanced at the window they could see an elderly pony waiting to hand out her treats. As the two of them arrived at the door, Stalwart spoke, “Hey Midnight, don’t forget to keep an eye out for anything strange. We do have a job to do.”
Midnight sighed. “You know you don’t have to remind me. Don’t forget, I am a royal guard too, and if the rumors the princess received were true, this is going to be tricky.” Stalwart looked on impressed by Midnight's seriousness. After a few moments lost in thought, Midnight’s smile quickly returned. “For now, let’s have some fun.” Stalwart nodded and Midnight knocked on the door.
Slowly the door opened up and standing in the doorway was an elderly gray unicorn mare with a sapphire blue mane. Looking at the two dressed up guard ponies, she smiled. “Well hello there, you two must be here for some candy, am I right?” Midnight nodded in response, but Stalwart gazed away. As much as he liked being out here with her, there was still something embarrassing about being a grown pony celebrating Nightmare Night in a diaper, not that it seemed to faze Midnight that much. His gaze snapped back to the older mare as she continued. “What do you say?”
Midnight quickly chimed. “Nightmare Night what a fright, give us something sweet to bite!” It was something she had come to rehearse many times that night. Yet, during the whole ritual, Stalwart remained silent, his voice stolen from him by his own embarrassment.
The older mare looked directly at him, and he knew what she wanted. But try as he might he was unable to break the mare’s gaze. Through sheer force of will he broke free only to be entrapped by Midnight’s far more potent gaze.
“Come on Stalwart. If you don’t say it, how can you expect to win?” It was obvious she was having fun teasing him.
Stalwart let out a long sigh and began to mumble. “Nightmare Night what a fright, give us something sweet to bite.”
Midnight couldn’t help but giggle. Seeing him standing like that in his diaper and costume and saying something so silly! To make it even worse, he was so blatantly embarrassed. For her, this was really cute to see. “What was that Stal? I couldn’t hear you.”
Stalwart grew even more embarrassed but before he could do anything the older mare spoke up. “Now, now, no need to tease him so much. He was kind enough to take you out and even dressed up with you. Be nice to your Coltfriend.”
Midnight’s eyes grew wide and her face turned a bright crimson. “M-M-M-My c-c-c-coltfriend!?” She managed to squeak out. She looked around to see if anypony was nearby and swallowed hard, “D-D-D-Don’t be silly! He is just someone from work!”
The older mare looked confused. “Are you sure? You two seemed awfully close, and besides, you do like him, don’t you?”
Midnight was stuck. There was no way she could ever hope to counter the mare’s logic, the reason being she was completely correct. She herself knew it, and Stalwart knew it, but to hear it out loud was too much for her. She began to stutter incoherently.
Stalwart looked on at the disjointed bat pony that was once Midnight. He never expected her to react so violently. He looked over to the older mare, who in turn winked at him, almost as if congratulating him for being so lucky. All he could do was smile his thank you back to her. At this point Midnight had become silent and stared at the ground. Using her magic, the mare pulled out a bowl and candy and placed some into the bags of the two ponies. Wishing them well, that unicorn closed the door, leaving the two of them alone.
Midnight continued to stand there for a few moments, as she slowly lifted her head she looked at Stalwart. She began to speak with disappointment in her voice over how she reacted. “Hey Stalwart I am so-”
“Hey Night.” She was quickly cut off by Stalwart. “You know going door to door is going to take too long.” He smiled as he turned to her, “So how about we head into the town to the festival and do something more interesting?”
She smiled. He called her by her nickname and that was enough to break her sour mood and assure her he wasn’t upset. ‘Alright... Yeah! That sounds great!” The two picked up their bags and continued off to the town square.
As the two walked away, the mare looked on from her window at the two ponies as a hearty voice called out to her. “Ginger, what are you up to?”
The mare chucked. “Nothing, dear, just seeing off a young couple that was just here.”
“A young couple, you say?” The voice called back.
The mare smiled. “Yes dear, younger than we were when we first met.” She let out a laugh “In fact, they aren’t even out of diapers yet.”
The voice laughed at what it believed was the mare’s hyperbole. “Well is that so? You should let them have their fun.”
“You’re right, Top. Besides I am sure they will be fine.” The mare let go of her curtains, blocking the view of the outside before she began going towards her living room.
It took a while before the two of them made it to the crowded town square, filled with chatter, dancing, and food. For the two of them the world was just a distant memory, right now all they wanted to do was have fun together. The two of them dashed through the square partaking in the many food and activities special to this day of the year.
***
“...hungry she soars the sky, if she sees nopony, she passes by. So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe another year.” The crowd roared excitedly over the retelling of the old tale of Nightmare Moon. Some cheered on while others screamed in fright, all of them enjoying the festivities.
As the crowd’s excitement subsided the mayor spoke up. “Alright, everypony! Now let’s head over and offer up some of our candy to Nightmare Moon so that she may spare us all!” The crowd became inspired with life once more and followed the mare out of town. Soon the crowd dissipated and the once lively square was empty aside from Stalwart and Midnight.
Midnight looked at Stalwart excitedly. “Come on Stalwart, let’s go quick before Nightmare Moon comes after us!”
Stalwart didn’t seem very amused. “Come on Midnight, don’t you think we are a bit too old for this?”
Midnight smiled deviously at him. “So we are too old to have fun, but not too old to wear diapers.”
Stalwart froze for a moment. “You know as well as I do we are required to wear them.”
Midnight looked confused. “Are you sure? The report never told us to, and I thought it was because we li-” Midnight’s voice was swiftly cut off by Stalwart’s hoof pressing on her mouth. Seeing him get embarrassed Midnight began to laugh through his hoof. Raising her right hoof, Midnight pushed Stalwart’s hoof off her mouth. “Relax, we are the only ones here, it is not like anypony can hear us.” Stalwart remained silent as his eyes shifted between looking at her and to the right repeatedly. Seeing this, Midnight nodded. “Alright, but it is still pretty creepy being stuck here all alone.”
Stalwart walked up next to Midnight. “Don’t worry Midnight, there is really no point being afraid of nothing. Besides, if anything happens, we will be fine!”
At that moment a large dark shadow appeared behind the two of them, slowly beginning to wrap around the duo. In one quick motion, Stalwart raised his back hooves and slammed them into the dark figure, causing it stagger backwards. Disoriented, it began to shift away but managed to make it only a few feet before a series of small objects flew in front of it. It began to change direction, but before it could, a large sack crashed into it, forcing it to the ground. Before it could get up, Stalwart jumped on the figure and restrained it.
A moment later Midnight appeared, dropping a rock she had on the ground. She adjusted her crown that had become crooked during the struggle and began to speak. “You have been charged with the crimes of disturbing the peace, trespassing, conspiracy against the citizens of Equestria, violating parole, and causing general chaos. By order of the Princess, you are under arrest!” Ensuring her partner had an adequate grip Midnight smiled. “So Stalwart, how did I do? Not bad for my first time out on the field, right?”
The creature began to squirm, causing Stalwart to tighten his grip, forcing it to stop. “I’ll say. You did such a great job getting into it you had me fooled for a while.”
Midnight pouted, “Hmph! I told you I am a royal guard.” She let out a little laugh. “So trust me, alright?” Stalwart smiled back, looking on in admiration of his partner.
“Uh excuse me.” A devious voice called out from the restrained figure. “Sorry to ruin the moment, officers, but what exactly am I under arrest for?
Annoyed by their ruined moment, Midnight angrily shouted back. “You know what you did, Discord. There were a series of incidents followed by rumors of a serpent-like figure at each of the scene. Princess Luna assigned us to be on the lookout for you, and is well aware of the mischief you have been up to. You are in a lot of trouble.”
The figure laughed. “But my crinkly little miss, do you have any proof I did those things?” Discord spewed out his statement, each word more condescending than the last.
Hearing him call her that, her anger began to boil, but before she could say anything, Stalwart interjected. “You forget, Discord, you were barred from leaving Canterlot during the duration of Nightmare Night, which you are clear violation of.”
With a snaggletooth smile Discord spoke. “Ah, I’d recognize that voice anywhere. Little Stalwart, and I see the princess still has you in diapers since my last visit. So that would make this one your new partner. I remember the princess mentioning giving you a new playmate.” The Draconequus was doing an excellent job trying the guard’s patience, but no matter what he said he couldn’t get them to lose their cool and slip up.
Stalwart sighed. “Okay, this has gone on long enough. Midnight, do you mind grabbing his ‘friend’?”
Midnight exhaled sharply. “Gladly.” Opening her wings she flew up into the sky, “I will be quick, just try to hold on until I get back.” Midnight quickly glided towards the Everfree Forest, leaving her partner alone with Discord.
Trying to find another way out of this Discord continued to converse with Stalwart. “Now, will that really be necessary?” Discord waited but Stalwart remained unwavering. Seeing as how he couldn’t elicit a response, he decided to go about this another way. “Oh, come on, Stalwart Stance, where is your Nightmare Night spirit?”
“Not interested, Discord.” Stalwart responded bitterly.
“Why the sour tone? Upset that I ruined your playdate? You should learn to relax. After all, there will always be more.”
“What do you mean by ‘there will always be more?’”
“Don’t be so dense, you must have realized it by now that you are nothing more than the princess’ plaything, both you and your little friend.” Stalwart remained silent, but Discord knew he was close. “You are just like them aren’t you? No matter how you act or what you do you can’t escape your true nature.” Now he just needed to wait, as he recalled his first meeting with Stalwart.
Back when he was the only private guard, and when he was still short tempered and easily bothered, Discord managed to get under his skin about his diapered state and used that opening to slip past him. He was the first and only intruder to make it past him and into the princess’ private room. Although there was no serious consequence for his failure, he soon found himself in the company his new partner. However, as far as Discord was certain, nothing else about him had changed since then. He could see Stalwart was ready to respond, now all Discord had to do was wait for him to slip up once again.
"You say that like it’s a bad thing." Hearing Stalwart’s clear and compose response Discord was set aback. “I am not running from anything. Actually, I have never been so happy in my entire life. I know I am just like them, but so is Midnight. Diapers, acting like a child, and fun. I have come to love them and her. Even if this is just a game for the princesses, I don’t mind playing it until the end of time, as long as I get to be with her through it all.”
Discord sighed, he never expected the same pony that grew embarrassed and fell into a stupor all that time ago would come to accept all this. Now he was all out of tricks and resigned himself to his fate. “I must say, Stalwart Stance, I never expected you to respond like that, it was rather… unexpected. Tell you what, here is some information in exchange for the fun. Luna and Celestia already had your little partner over there set up to join you. In fact, your negligence with me that day had no effect on you meeting that little mare.” In response Discord could feel Stalwart’s grip tighten. “Ugh! What was that for!?”
Stalwart smirked. “Well, I no longer feel like I owe you for anything, so I don’t feel as inclined to be gentle.” Discord was not as amused but remained silent until Midnight returned.
A few more minutes passed and in the distance they could see two ponies flying towards them. The first one to land was Midnight. She made it back to Stalwart, making sure he was okay. Seeing he was fine, they waited a little longer for the furious yellow mare following her to touch down.
“Discord! What have we talked about!?” As she approached Discord, her fury was quite evident.
The god of chaos, for the first time that night, had lost his cool composure. “Please, Fluttershy, you don’t understand.”
“These nice guards have been trying to keep Ponyville safe and you have been making trouble for them. What do you have to say for yourself!?”
“I, uh… sigh… sorry everypony.” Discord’s voice seemed genuinely disappointed.
“Good! Now let’s go home. We aren’t done yet.”
“Yes, Fluttershy.” Without Stalwart moving, Discord vanished from underneath him and appeared next to Fluttershy, causing Stalwart to fall a few inches to the ground. Discord began his labored walk back to Fluttershy’s cottage.
As he left, Fluttershy turned to the two guards and gave them a soft smile. ‘I am so sorry if he has been causing trouble. I will be giving him a stern talking too.” Fluttershy slowly flew up into the air. “Oh, sorry about earlier your costumes are actually really cute. Sorry for taking so long.” Stalwart and Midnight agreed that everything was fine and Fluttershy flew towards the Draconequus.
As they left, Stalwart stood up and a visibly confused Midnight turned towards Stalwart. “If he could escape at any time, why did he let you restrain him?”
Stalwart exhaled. “In all the time I have worked as a guard I will never understand him, or how his mind works. All I know is if that yellow pegasus is involved he becomes much more cooperative.”
“About her…” Midnight continued. “When I went to go get her she was too afraid to open the door. She said my costume scared her… But once I told her about Discord she seemed like she changed, and the way she acted here was nothing like when I first met her.”
Stalwart placed his chin on his hoof. “You know, I take it back, the two of them are both equally confusing, But then again, we aren’t ones to talk.”
Pressing her diapered rear Midnight giggled, “I guess you are right.” She paused for a moment, lost in thought.
Stalwart walked over to collect his sack of candy. “Hey, do you want to go offer our candy so Nightmare Moon won’t come after us?”
“That seems kind of silly, seeing as our boss used to be Nightmare Moon.” Midnight responded, as she went over to where she knocked out Discord and picked up her own sack. “It would also be a pretty big waste of candy. If it is alright with you, I’d like to go home now.”
As she spoke, Stalwart noticed a melancholy tone in her voice. He nodded and they began their way towards the train station. As they continued to walk, Stalwart could see Midnight’s enthusiasm had yet to return and became concerned. “Is something wrong, Night?”
Midnight looked at the ground. “I am just a little disappointed. This whole night you have been doing your job and I have been slacking off…”
Stalwart was left confused. “What are you talking about, you literally are the reason we were able to complete this job?”
Midnight sighed. “I know I was acting serious but the truth is you were right I am not serious. I was more interested in collecting candy and having fun with you. If you didn’t keep a look out we probably would have failed the princess. Maybe I should just quit, I am sure the princesses have someone better qualified.”
Stewart froze, hearing her say that filled him with a mixture of emotions. How she felt, how he felt, the night they spent together, and the time they have known each other, all of these thoughts began to burn inside him. Collecting his scattered feeling, he cleared his voice and called out. “Midnight.”
She slowly turned around not sure what to expect. In that moment he brought his face in close to her, and under to full moon the two became one. The two of them remained joined for a few moments. They soon opened their eyes and gazed at each other they slowly broke free. The two just stood there both embarrassed, their faces flushed, and their joy obvious.
In the end it was Midnight that first spoke. “W-why did you do that.” Still dazed with what they did.
Stalwart smiled. “Because you were saying something stupid. You may have been having fun tonight, but with you I am always having fun. That is why I need you to stay with me, as long as you’re there everything is so much better, and it is also because I-”
Before he could finish his sentence Midnight interrupted. “I love you.” The two of them looked back at each other. They were both well aware of how the other felt for a long time, but saying it out loud almost felt like it was a declaration of something greater. As if overcome by the relief of their statement, the two collapsed to the ground, only managing to land on their padded rears as they sat down. The two looked up to see the bright moon above them, lost in a warmth neither felt before.
The two of them remained there for a long time until Stalwart spoke up. “Hey Night.”
“Yes?” Midnight asked without breaking her view of the moon
“You know it is pretty late, so nopony would be out at this time.” Midnight nodded she knew what he meant. For the two of them there is always something they loved to do and they knew the other felt the same way.
Midnight slowly stuck out her hoof and Stalwart reached his over to grab hers. Still sitting on the cold ground the two of them closed their eyes. Soon a feeling of relief filled the two of them as they both wet their diapers. With each passing second their diapers grew warmer and heavier as they expanded. As they finished they turned to look at one another, happy. They remained like this for a long time, soaking in their warmth and love.
***
Almost an hour passed as the two stood up to collect their bags of candy. “Alright, Midnight, let’s hurry up and get to the station before the last train goes out.” Before he was able to pick his bag up, Midnight stopped him.
“Hold it! Stalwart, we still need to see who the winner is!” Midnight dropped her bag and opened it for him to see in comparison to his own pitiful amount of candy. “Yes, looks like I won!”
Stalwart knew she was just messing with him but he wanted to play along. “Hey, no fair, we were on work and I was severely handicapped this time!”
Midnight stuck her tongue out at him and grinned. “Looks like I get to choose your punishment!”
Stalwart didn’t expect to hear that. “My what?”
“Yup! As punishment, after the debriefing, you have to come to my house.” Midnight grabbed her bag and began to walk the rest of the way to the train station.
Stalwart wanted to say something, but stopped. As he looked at Midnight’s diaper he noticed the design of Luna’s cutie mark had partially faded. He quickly realized the designs on the diapers the princesses gave to them were wetness indicators, and would make it painfully obvious to anypony looking. Considering he had wet his just as much it wouldn’t be difficult for anypony watching to know what they both did. Even if this was all a costume, nopony would be okay with this. He was about to say something until Midnight turned around to look at him.
She was smiling at him, “Come on, Stalwart, I can’t eat this all by myself.”
Her infectious smile soon spread and took hold of him. His feelings of embarrassment soon faded. After all, as long as he was with her, he really didn’t mind. “I’ll be there!” He called out as he threw his bag onto his back and ran next to her. There was still something about them both walking back home in used diapers that he really didn’t want to ruin. Besides that, he didn’t want to miss the look on her face when she would figure it out later.