Yosh E O'Ducky's Potty Training Tales

by Yosh-E-O

Sky Star - The Princess & The Plush

Queen Novo of the hippogriffs sat on her throne for yet another day of discussions regarding the actions of The Storm King. His presence as of late had become impossible to ignore. “Silver Wing should have been back by now,” She said grimly to herself. “I don’t think I can keep our nation together without him at my side.”

“Momma!” A merry young voice squeaked out before its source crashed into Queen Novo’s chest.

“Sky… Star…,” The hippogriff leader groaned. “Wide awake, I see.”

“Yes, momma!” The fledgling hippogriff cheered. “Let’s play!”

But Novo felt something damp against her feathers. “Ugh,” She tried to say with as little disgust as possible. “No playing until you get that diaper changed.”

Skystar switched from feeling very happy to being very sad. “No Momma?” She asked while already knowing the answer.
It hurt Novo to not be capable of giving her daughter the time and attention that she needed. She and her husband, Silver Wing, barely could raise their child together once word of the Storm King’s conquests had reached Mount Aris. However, with her husband missing for months now, Novo had to do all she could to ensure the safety of every griff under her care. This unfortunatel, meant sacrificing time with her precious little Skystar.

A female hippogriff entered into the throne room. As court was not yet open, Novo knew it to be the royal nanny, Teal Contrails.

“I thought I heard a little griff up and about,” Teal cheerfully said. “With your permission, your highness?”

Skystar looked desperately to her mother, not wanting to leave. “Stay, play with Momma?” She pouted.

But Queen Novo simply handed Skystar over to Ms. Contrails. “I’m sorry, sweetie,” She tried to apologize as sincerely as possible. “Mommy really needs to help every griff who is afraid of the big bad Storm King.”

Skystar lowered her head. This Storm King seemed to be demanding more and more of her mother’s attention lately, though why she didn’t know. “I hate big meanie Storm King,” She frowned. “He needs time out.”

Novo cracked a smile upon visualizing such an outcome for the scourge who had taken over many lands within a very short period of time. No creature ever saw him as a threat as he came off as such a dimwit. However that “dimwit” had quite an army behind him. An army that, despite being more dimwitted than he was, had enough muscle to forcefully smash through some of the best defenses of other nations. Nations they would promptly lay to waste, and plunder their magical artifacts to give the Storm King even more power, and thus the ability to take out even larger nations. It was feared it was only a matter of time before he’d set his sights on the hippogriff kingdom.

“Momma will play with you at lunch, sweetie,” The queen said as lovingly as she could. “Now go off with Ms. Connie. We don’t want you feeling all yucky and get that owie, hot-hot feeling between your legs.”

The young princess fell almost limp into Teal’s arms. “Yes, Momma…” She sadly replied.

“I love you!” Queen Novo called out as the nanny left with her daughter. “Momma promises to play more soon!”

Teal and Skystar enterred into the royal nursery. It had everything a little griff could ever want. However, it lacked what Sky Star really wanted. This, of course, being her mother. “Why Momma no play?” She pouted. “I want Momma to make Storm King go bye-bye and be Momma again.”

Teal sighed as she changed Skystar’s wet diaper, cleaned her up, and strapped a pull-on style diaper over her haunches. “I am sure it won’t be long before you see your mom more than you see me,” The nanny replied in a way that tried to convince even herself. “Once Seaquestria is all ready for us to play in, we’ll have no more mean, nasty Storm King to worry about.”

Skystar sat down and moped.

“Hey!” Teal cried as she pointed towards a chart behind the changing table. “See how you keep getting better and better with not going potty in your potty pants?”

Skystar turned to see how the month’s chart was progressively having more stars than clouds. Normally that would cheer up any little one. But for Skystar it wasn’t enough, it couldn’t bring her closer to the one she wanted to be with the most. “It not matter,” She sighed. “Momma never see me be big griff and not use potty pants.”

Teal knew the chick was right in how, especially since her husband had left to confront the Storm King, Queen Novo had not been spending much time at all with the princess. The nanny carefully plopped the sad Skystar onto the soft carpet of the nursery. “You know what, kiddo?” She thought while looking around the room. “Perhaps there may be something we can do about that.”

“Your majesty,” Teal nervously said as Queen Novo had come into the nursery just after her daughter had begun her nap. “May I ask you something?”

Novo turned to face Ms. Contrails. Her expression showing much sadness and heartache. “Is it about Skystar?” She inquired, though she needn’t have asked.

Teal nodded her head before picking up a plush hippogriff. “With your permission,” She anxiously began. “I think I read of a technique known as ‘Synthetic Happiness’ and ‘Play Therapy’.”

The queen seemed more confused and eager to hear the point of what had just been said.

“Skystar misses you very much,” Teal continued while holding up the plush. “If I made a soft plush of you…. Umm… would you sleep with it tonight?”

Novo gave an irritated look. “This better be going somewhere,” She grumbled with annoyance. “A queen sleeping with a stuffed animal is not one that others would look up to during this crisis.”

Teal stepped back. “I’d make one of Skystar too,” She added. “The idea is having your scent on the plush may help the princess feel connected with you, even though you’re not able to spend as much time with her as you’d like. It might also give her a little more encouragement with her potty training. If she can’t have you watch her be a big girl, having something that resembles you may be the next best thing.”

“I’m listening.” Novo replied with a more open mind.

The rest of the day went as most days had gone for Skystar since her dad, King Silver Wing had gone missing. However, there was one key difference. This being a promise from her mother that she’d get a big surprise in the morning. Skystar was giddy with excitement at what ‘surprise’ her mother had for her. She even managed to not wet herself over the night to show her mom how good a griff she was, and how she didn’t want to do anything to ruin getting the surprise.

Novo was at first grumpy at being woken up in the middle of the night by her daughter. But her mood improved considerably when instead being presented with a diaper to change or a puddle to clean up, her daughter instead had a full training potty in the bathroom to show off to her. “Oh, Skystar, that’s so impressive!” She beamed. “If only your father were here to see this.” A tear came into her eye.

Skystar immediately hugged her mom, not wanting her to be sad. “No cry, Momma. I sure Dada come back soon. Then I show him like I show you!”

Novo just smiled as she wiped the tear away, and then set to work on cleaning up her daughter and emptying the training potty. “Once we’re down in Seaquestria, we’re going to have to change our bathroom habits.” She thought to herself. But that was a discussion for another time and place as she pulled the chain and flushed the toilet, making everything in it disappear.

“See, Momma?” Skystar chirped! “I a big girl! I make you proud!”

Novo nodded as she then ushered her daughter back to bed (after both washed their paws). “Yes, Skystar. Now please go back to sleep. And in the morning, I’ll have Ms. Connie make you a special big girl breakfast as a reward.”

But for Skystar, the next morning’s highlight was seeing the surprise her mom had in store for her. Apparently it was a reward for her increasing success with potty training. “Love you, Momma!” The young princess chirped. “Where surprise?”

Teal came into the throne room carrying a stuffed animal. “Ooh!” Skystar cooed. “She look like me!”

“Even better, sweetheart,” Novo beamed as she pulled a slightly larger plush from beside the part of her hip that wasn’t taken up by her daughter. “Well, what do you think?”

Skystar’s face lit up with delight. “Momma!” She squealed upon taking the warm, Novo-scented toy into her arms. “It’s momma!”

Both Novo and Teal smiled.

“Now, my little Skystar,” Novo continued. “Ms. Contrails and I put some ‘magic’ into this plush. So if you miss me, give her a big squeeze. I’ll feel your hug and will make sure you feel my love for you despite how busy I may be.”

“Really?” Skystar grinned.

Teal handed the Skystar plush to Queen Novo who promptly used it to boop her daughter on the beak.

“Really,” Novo replied. “You’re always with me and I’m always with you, sweetie. Where you go, I go.”

“Oh, Momma,” Skystar happily sobbed. “I love you!”

“Love you too, sweetie,” Queen Novo replied while gently rubbing her daughter’s head. “Now go with Ms. Connie and know that from now on, you and I are always together, playing and having a wonderful time.”

The princess didn’t hesitate to get down and walk alongside the nanny. “Look!” She cheered while hopping about. “It’s a special mommy lovey!”

“Have you smelled it?” The nanny asked as they neared the exit of the throne room.

From a distance, Queen Novo heard her daughter squeak out in a high pitch, “It smell like Momma! It is Momma! Momma is with me! Momma help me be big griff!...”. It went on and on until her energetic daughter’s continuous show of joy could still be heard, but not quite made out as the pair headed for the nursery.

“It’s good to see her so happy,” Novo sighed while making sure to tuck the Skystar plush behind a spot on her throne that no other griff could see. “The things you do for your kids. But if it means no more diapers to change, it’s an embarrassment I’m willing to risk.” And she began to wonder if maybe her sister’s recently born daughter might benefit from a similar thing, considering her brother-in-law Sky Beak was always away. Silverstream in a lot of ways reminded Novo of her own daughter.

Ms. Contrails was so happy to see how well Skystar brought her mother to life through the stuffed toy. The way she would talk to it and how ‘her mom’ talked back was priceless. It also started an unending streak of not the young princess having any accidents in her pull-on padding: Either wet or messy.

In fact, the plush gave Skystar the courage she had previously never had to try her luck with the “Mommy and Daddy potty” as her mom had put it. And with ‘her mom’ by her side she was able to master using it faster than anygriff would’ve thought possible. Even Novo seemed impressed when her daughter demonstrated this to her one evening.

Novo felt something tug at her heartstrings upon seeing such a display. Even though her daughter was willing to show off what she was learning, it wasn’t the same as being there to witness the milestone for herself. “They really do grow up so fast,” She thought to herself. “Oh Silver Wing, if only you were here to see this. Our little chick is turning into a fine young griff.”

Months soon went by. King Silver Wing never returned and Queen Novo unfortunately continued to lack the time necessary to spend ample time with her daughter, much as it pained her. The priority now was expediting the development of Seaquestria for when the Storm King’s army would arrive, and preparing her subjects for the difficult transition that was to follow.

This did not bother Skystar as much as it used to. After all, her mother had her beside her on the throne while she had her mother playing with a group of other stuffed friends Ms. Contrails had sewed together.

“Good girl, Skystar!” The unpadded princess would say while moving about her stuffy of her mother, often while she was on the potty, proving why she was a big girl. “You make me proud!”

“Oh,” The princess would blush out of pretend modesty. “Thanks, Momma! You are always with me and making sure I stay happy, and lovable, and adorable, and playful, and…,”

Ms. Contrails watched as Skystar quickly took to creating ‘synthetic happiness’ through the use of her imagination and ‘play therapy’. The nanny had wished that dolls would not be needed to substitute for genuine parent and child relations.

However, with an attack by the Storm King becoming more-and-more likely, she was glad to do what she could to free the princess from the heavy burden her mother shouldered each and every day.

When Skystar was able to start preschool, Novo found it hard to not sleep with the plush version of herself. She knew it gave her daughter security. But at the same time, she didn’t want her daughter to become reliant on a stuffed toy to feel happy. “And…,” She bashfully said, blowing out her bedside lamp while snuggling both the plush of herself and of her daughter. “I never want my Skystar to ever feel like she is alone. Perhaps she’ll make some friends in preschool to help her feel better? Until then, I’m always going to be there for you, my dearest Skystar.” And it was a promise she was going to keep, at least until the Storm King invaded Mount Aris.