OC-Palooza

by scribe-feather

Cobalt Arrow

OC-Palooza
Cobalt Arrow
By Scribe Feather

It was a part of town that most ponies never traveled down. A series of streets that were all but abandoned most days. Rumors suggested that the area had a massive night life, but nopony ever came forward to support this claim. Of course it wasn't a neglected part of town or a derelict area. The street's timber framed buildings blended well into the rest of Ponyville, hardly standing out amongst the other streets. However, ponies just never traveled down it's cobblestone roads or ventured into its buildings. For most, the area of town was just out of the way with little reason to go into. Very few ponies would be able to give you a reason to even make a trip out to the area.

The moccasin colored pegasus, Cobalt Arrow, would have very little reason to wander to this part of town himself, but today was different. A simple walk around town had led the stallion down the streets that were different from his usual route. What started as an adventurous break from the norm turned into a venture into the mysterious area that he couldn't recall ever going into before.

This quiet part of town had houses, but none of them looked lived in. Instead they looked brand new, freshly built without any of the personalized furnishings or added flowerbeds. All the shops were either empty or closed. Big windowed storefronts had large black tarps covering their glass or opened up to barren shops inside. All of the empty buildings, coupled with the empty streets only lead to a rather eerie atmosphere.

There was one store that seemed open and the fact that it actually had a little "Open" sign in the window perked Cobalt's attention even more. A modest toy shop stood among the empty stores like a diamond in the rough. The store was brightly colored, using a fun, eye catching color pallete that would nab the attention of any child walking by. It's window display showed off a fine selection of some of the more popular toys that were in stock from big plush lions to intricately built airship models. Enticed by this sight, Cobalt entered the store.

The store that opened up before the stallion could have been best described as warm and cozy. The shelves and counters were primarily made of wood, cloaked in a warm light from overhanging lamps. The many shelves housed a number of colorful toys ranging from big, bulky plastic foal toys to wooden tinkering toys for older kids. The toys were loosely separated by age group with the toys becoming more complicated and fragile towards the right of the store and became smoother and fluffier towards the left.

Everything seemed well stocked and ready for a busy and profitable day, but strangely enough, the store seemed completely empty. Not even a cashier stood at the ready as Cobalt ventured deeper into the building.

"Hello?" the stallion's voice echoed through the empty store as he looked around. No answer.

He began to journey deeper into the store, browsing the merchandise while casually looking around for some kind of store employee or owner. He took his time closely examining the toys for older kids, noting the pristine condition the various building and model kits were in. Hardly ever touched and barely a wrinkle in their plastic wrappers. The plastic blocks and other toddler toys seemed in great condition as well with barely a scratch or scuff on their faces. It hardly seemed they were ever played with, even by past customers who thought to test out the items before purchasing.

Finally Cobalt's browsing pulled him to the far left side of the store, the baby toy aisle. These toys were mostly soft and fluffy with big stuffed animals dominating the shelves in big piles. The plushies came in a wide variety of animals from brightly colored phoenixes and dragons to fluffy sheep and wolves. They all sat in random piles, most of which poured into the aisles. They came in a number of styles and sizes from a few inches tall to almost as big as Cobalt himself.

The friendly faces and bright colors of all the plushies were enough to grab the attention of the curious stallion and he found himself spending some time in that aisle to browse. Each one of the stuffed animals seemed so soft and Cobalt even gave one or two of them a quick touch to fully take in the fluffy materials that made up their fake, colorful fur.

Suddenly the floor under him seemed to fall away as the stallion fell into a chute that opened up out of nowhere. The stallion plunged into the dark hole, disappearing with hardly a surprised yelp. His fall only lasted for a few seconds, but in that short drop, he could feel something moving around him at almost instantaneous speeds to manipulate mysterious objects around him.

After only a few seconds, Cobalt landed with a padded flop a floor or two down, finding himself in a dimly lit room that hardly had any other light save for the open trap door above him. His light blue mane and perky ears were all tied into a bright blue baby bonnet as a bib now hung off his neck with a pacifier tied to a string. He was now dressed like an over-grown foal with a nice thick diaper to tie it all together.

Startled at first, the stallion went right to work at removing the infantile garb that surrounded him. He quickly resorted to tug at the baby bonnet, desperate to rid himself of the abruptly appearing outfit. He tugged at the bonnet only to feel it not budge an inch. he tugged at the diaper only to fail at loosening even a single tape. He even attempted to pull the pacifier off his neck, but something preventing him from pulling the object over his head. Every attempt he made toward escaping seemed to be dashed by an unseen force.

Any more attempts at escaping or taking off his outfit were suddenly derailed when his eyes caught sight of a floating baby rattle that glided into view. The pink and yellow baby rattle glowed a subtle pink as it floated over to the diapered stallion with a haunting bob in its step. It gave its head a couple shakes, grabbing even more of the stallion's attention as he stared at it blankly.

His eyes lazily watched the object sway in front of him as his mouth hung open. His forehooves, once trying to pull at the bib and bonnet tied around his neck, lost their energy and dropped to his side. His mind seemed to empty and grow lighter the more he stared at the floating rattle. And the lighter his mind became, the more he wanted to stare at the rattle.

Out of the empty air came a little giggle, an echoey laugh that sounded like it was coming from a child. Materializing before the stallion came a little plush pony toy that floated cloaked with the same pink aura as the other infantile objects. The toy was made of a soft blue minky with a gold mane. Its eyes were simply black beads, but had the ability to blink and show expressions much like its seemingly stitched on mouth.

"A new fwend!" the toy exclaimed, clapping its padded forehooves together, "I wuv new fwends!"

Cobalt didn't respond in the slightest. He couldn't. All the diapered stallion could do was stare lazily at the floating toy as a bead of drool dribbled down his front from his open mouth.

"No one evew comes here any more. So quiet now," the toy continued, floating through the air like a pixie, "but thas okay! Now that you hewe, we can pway!"

The pony plushie raised a hoof and the room around them lit up, revealing a fully equipped nursery. All around the padded playpen, Cobalt could see everything a foal could need. A changing table, fully stocked with a colorful variety of big, adult diapers, sat close by, eluding to what was to come. A big crib with star printed bedsheets could be seen as well, ready for any naps that a foal might have. Toys and plushies and big plastic blocks also littered the ground, all covered in a thin layer of dust from sitting around too long.

Cobalt would have been shocked, if he wasn't in a daze. Regardless of what his inner most thoughts were, the diapered stallion continued to stare blankly at the room around him.

The toy clapped a few more happy claps as it proudly exclaimed, "we awe gonna have wots and wots of fun togethew!"

Author's Note:

Cobalt Arrow belongs to Cuddle Hooves