//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: The Nursery // Story: [C] Dreams of White Padding // by scribe-feather //------------------------------// Dreams of White Padding Chapter Two: The Nursery By Scribe Feather ✶✶2✶✶ An undetermined amount of time passed before Luna awoke, this time in a location entirely different from where she started. Before she even opened her eyes her nose was assaulted by the strong scent of baby powder. The smell of powder mixed with subtle scents of lavender and clean linens with only a very minute smell of urine. Opening her eyes, Luna found herself sitting in the middle of a full-fledged nursery, all painted with a girly pallet of pinks and purples. The room was well lived in, having toys scattered across it’s plush carpeting and crayon drawings tacked on a nearby bulletin board. The nearby crib was recently slept in, it’s fluffy sheets left kicked to one side. Scanning the nursery floor, Luna eventually spotted a babbling foal who happily played in the corner. The white pony’s pink mane was tied up in two ponytails as a white diaper loudly crinkled under the filly’s rump. Upon closer examination, Luna recognized who the pony was. “Celestia?” She simply asked. The foal’s ears quickly perked up as she turned to face the source of the voice. The foal smiled and babbled something incoherent, visibly pleased to see her sister. There was no doubt that this was Celestia. Ponies often projected themselves differently in their dreams. They could completely transform themselves in the dreamscape, shaping their bodies to better fit the dream they were having. The transformation was often involuntary as the subconscious mind takes hold of a pony’s dreams, reflecting long forgotten desire or true self image. It was unclear to Luna why Celestia had taken this foalish form, nor did she know why Celestia hadn’t woken up this whole time. There were no visible threats forcing Celestia to stay asleep or any nightmarish Tantabuses terrorizing the dreamscape. “Sister, you need to focus. This is a dream and you need to wake up,” Luna started with what had woken so many of her subjects in the past. A simple comment like this could wake up many ponies from their dreams as holes in their fantasies were called out. The foalish Celestia only giggled at the comment, failing to understand a single word. Luna could only deduce the reason Celestia was still dreaming is that her dreaming self could no longer perceive reality from fantasy. Somehow she started to perceive this dreamscape as normal and it would almost be impossible to break her from the spell now. She scanned the nursery for some kind of clue to Celestia’s old conscious. The room was thoroughly detailed for a dream construct, closely resembling a typical room for a diaper wearing foal. There was a changing table, well stocked with various diapers and supplies as well as a rocking chair that hugged the left most wall. A window on the far wall allowed only light through, preventing any kind of view to be seen past it’s closed glass. Everything seemed rather ordinary for a foal until Luna’s eyes landed upon a powder blue training potty sitting as far away as possible from the toy chest that Celestia played around. The potty seemed neglected in the sense that it was in the least active part of the room, likely never used recently. Judging by the growing yellow spot on Celestia’s diaper, it was obvious to Luna why the potty wasn’t being used. “Celestia, you need to listen carefully,” Luna started, trying to explain it as best as she could to her foal sister. “You need to train yourself to use the toilet again. It seems to be what’s keeping you in this dream.” “Aba dah ga,” was all Celestia bothered to say, shaking her head and looking put off by the suggestion. She seemed rather stubborn and against the idea of using the training potty. It was then the doors to the nursery opened up, a single pony walking into the room with a warm smile. Luna quickly recognized the unicorn as Phosphor, the castle’s royal caretaker. She must have been some sort of memory of the real pony, twisted by Celestia’s deep dreaming. “Oh Luna, I didn’t think you’d be joining us today,” the pink unicorn said. The pink unicorn closely resembled Caretaker Phosphor, but like many dream echos of ponies in real life, she looked slightly off. Most predominantly, she wore an Edwardian nanny outfit that almost looked like a costume in it’s unusual design. The dark blue clothing made her out to be a firm and sturdy pony of authority. Her blue, white tipped mane appeared to be muted in this dream, tied up in a neat bun and hidden underneath a wide rimmed black hat. Phosphor looked to Luna with an understanding expression. “Are you feeling alright, poppet?” Luna did her best to explain, “this will likely not make sense to you, but Celestia needs to be potty trained as soon as possible.” “I completely understand,” Phosphor nodded. “You do?” “Why yes. I have been trying to get Tia out of diapers for weeks now. I’m sad to say nothing seems to work,” “but now that you’re here, we may be able to try something new.” “What do you mean?” “I’ve noticed Tia has taken a fancy to you. She may be more receptive to potty training if she had somepony like her going through the training with her,” Phosphor said, “all I ask is that you take two hours out of every morning to spend time in a pull-up as Tia’s playmate.” “With you going through the training with her, it may begin to stick.” Luna blinked for a moment, trying her best to process the information. Phosphor’s offer was rather unusual, but she reasoned anything made sense in this dream like fantasy. Perhaps Phosphor was Celestia’s voice of reason manifested into a form that matched the dream’s environment. “If it means she’ll potty train quicker, then I’ll do it.” Phosphor responded with a delighted smile. “Lovely.” she said, “then I hope to see you tomorrow morning and in a pull up with your sister. I’ll be around for regular potty breaks and expect you to hop on every opportunity to show her how it’s done.” “You can count on me,” Luna nodded affirmatively.