> [C] Mandatory Vacation > by scribe-feather > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Mandatory Vacation > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mandatory Vacation By Scribe Feather Today was spent like any other day in the life of the Princess of the Sun. The hard working Celestia could always be found busying herself with something. When it wasn’t preparing for a speech at a dinner party or reviewing political agreements, she would often be found in her reading room, sorting through stacks of paperwork that seemed to only grow in size as time went on. She had spent a good part of the day cooped up in her reading room, tacking the large piles of paper as best as she could. The only light in the room was a series of candles that flickered in the cool night air. The room was quiet, save for the scribbling of a quill and the rustling of paper being moved about. Celestia leaned back in her seat, rubbing a tired eye. She stifled a yawn as she stretched her neck back a tiny bit. Just as she was about to get back to the mountain of paperwork, there was a series of knocks on her door. The door opened and her sister Luna peeked into the room. “Is this a bad time?” the blue alicorn asked, looking around the dimly lit room and frowning at the giant piles of neatly stacked papers and scrolls. “No no, just the usual records to look over,” Celestia answered, dabbing her quill back into its inkwell for the hundredth time that evening. “I thought you’d like some tea,” Luna answered as she carried with her a polished tea set of silver. “Thank you, Luna,” Celestia yawned, “looking like another all nighter for me.” Luna floated the collection of silverware over to an empty table, promptly preparing Celestia’s cup with the usual dressings: two sugars and cream. “Have you ever thought to take a vacation from all this?” Luna asked, floating the prepared cup of warm tea over to her sister, “a little break?” Celestia gracefully accepted the silver cup and held it before her with her magic. “I feel I’m too busy for a vacation,” she answered before taking a dainty sip. “When was the last time you took a vacation day, Celestia?” “Oh I don’t know,” Celestia answered, tapping her chin in deep thought, “we were still in the old castle if I remember correctly.” “Old castle? Celestia that was over a thousand years ago!” Luna was shocked, “are you telling me you’ve never taken a single vacation day since then?” “I suppose I haven’t,” Celestia answered, “there’ just been a lot for me to do.” Again she took another sip of tea, “I’ve taken sick days though.” “Celestia, you work harder than any of us,” her sister was quick to point out, “you’re overdue for a vacation.” Celestia let out another yawn before rubbing her tired eyes. “I suppose you’re right, but I can’t now. I have a stack of trade agreements and export files that I need to look over before next week. I can’t afford a vacation right now.” She glanced over the various papers that covered her desk before looking back up at Luna who was visibly upset by all this, “but I’ll take one after all this. I promise.” Luna nodded and left her sister alone to work. She wasn’t at all convinced by Celestia’s promise. The hard working alicorn always made these empty promises about taking breaks when Luna knew she had too firm of a work ethic to bother with vacations. But she knew that was the best she could hope for. True to her prediction, Celestia never took that vacation that Luna knew she needed. Once one project was finished consuming her late nights with its work, a new one seemed to effortlessly take its place. Any opportunity for a pause and some time away was quickly overtaken by more paperwork and political meetings. A vacation for her hard working sister, Luna thought, was nigh impossible. Another week passed before Luna decided she’d take things into her own hooves. She concluded that Celestia would never take the vacation she knew she needed, not without a little bit of convincing at least. Luna toiled with planning the following couple of days. She brainstormed a whole slew of ideas, contemplating their results and level of safeness. She could always confront her sister directly about the issue, but past experience showed that that never worked. Celestia would always find a crafty excuse to avoid the issue or shrug it off as something she’d ‘get around to eventually’. Hiring assistance now would only lead to them being called off early by Celestia the moment she saw them working. And quite quickly Luna found herself running out of ideas, narrowing things down to more unorthodox methods. She eventually settled on magic, a spell of sorts that would very likely pull Celestia away from her work and force the alicorn to enjoy some much needed vacation. The workaholic princess certainly needed it, Luna thought. The recipe she needed was found tucked away in an old potions book, a dusty tome that had been long since forgotten by time in the far shelves of the royal library. Nothing permanent, but Luna hoped that this would help Celestia relax. She had to tap into every fragment of potion making she could remember from her school years, but the blue alicorn was eventually able to conjure up a liquid that matched the description in the book. Adding ingredients carefully and stirring the mixture for just the right amount of time produced a purple liquid that had the consistency of watered down syrup. After only about a half hour of trial and error in the castle kitchen, Luna had produced her brew ready to infuse it with a delicious tea cake. She floated the small glass vial of the potion over to a fresh cake that was baked specifically for this reason. Carefully she tipped the glass vial, allowing the thinly viscous liquid to slowly slither out. She steadied her grip on the container, focusing all her attention on the task at hand. Ever so slowly, a solitary drop dripped off the lip of the flask, falling to the cake, and splattering against it’s cakey top. The magic infused itself with the little chocolate cake instantly, making the cake glow a faint blue before fading back to its mundane looking state. Luna smiled as the smell of magic faded. Left was a single cake chunk that was decorated only with a light blue frosting. She handled the newly crafted sweet with the utmost care, floating it over to a tray of cakes for a later date. The cake seemed to blend in well with all the other tiny sweets that populated the tray. It’s design was simplistic compared to the elegant designs of most of the other ones, but she felt it’s humble appearance would help it blend in better. With the utmost care, Luna stashed the cakes away for tomorrow. Tomorrow was the day she’d put her whole plan into action. The next day was almost identical to the last few weeks for Celestia. Her day was chock full of chores and errands and paperwork, just like yesterday and the day before that. It was around midafternoon now and just in time for the sisters’ afternoon tea. This pause in their hectic scheduling was usually the only break Celestia allowed herself on most days. No matter how busy her afternoons got with her princess duties, she always made time for the single hour in the day to catch up with her younger sister. A tea table was set up in a round, white gazebo found in a scenic part of the royal gardens. Flower filled vines grew up the meshed walls of the structure, providing plenty of places for birds to perch and nest. Sitting on either side of the table were two luxurious seat cushions, both colored an elegant red with gold fringe. Luna was the first to arrive on the scene with a pot of tea and tray of cakes floating around her head. Usually a servant of some kind would come by the table and set things up for the two before they even arrived. However, today Luna insisted she’d handle tea time for today, ensuring the servant that she would provide the drink and food all her own. She set up everything so that they were perfect and didn’t raise any suspicions. A tea cup was placed in front of each seat cushion as the teapot of fine china sat in the center of the table. The tray of cakes were carefully placed down as well, sitting closer to Celestia’s side of the table with the enchanted cake strategically facing her cushion. She practically buzzed with anticipation as she double checked and triple checked that everything was set up just so. She tried her best to sit there casually, quickly trying to find a natural way of sitting on her cushion to hide the fact that she had been waiting there for Celestia. She didn’t want to raise suspicion. After about a half hour, Celestia entered the scene with a look of exhaustion in her eyes. The tired alicorn looked fatigued and exasperated from yet another early morning of hard work. And despite her overworked appearance, she still made the effort of putting on a friendly smile for her sister. “Good afternoon, Luna,” she said with a little bow, pulling herself over to her own cushion and plopping down on the comfortable padding. “A-afternoon, sister,” Luna quickly answered back, but didn’t want to answer back too quickly. “Another tough day?” “Yes, and I’m afraid it’s not over yet,” Celestia answered, pouring herself a cup of tea, “once I return I still need to schedule meetings for next week, organize today’s meeting notes, and the backlog of paperwork I still need to get through...” She took another deep breath of air, visibly exhausted by merely listing off her chores for the day. “You don’t need to do all this on your own, sister,” Luna frowned, “record keepers and scribes should be the ones doing all the time consuming paperwork. More hooves make light work.” “I know I know, but they wouldn’t be able to keep up with my system. I have those papers organized in such a special way,” Celestia answered before pausing to take a sip of her tea, “can we not talk about work right now? I find the topic rather exhausting.” “Of course,” Luna answered, preparing her own cup of tea to daintily sip on. Tiny birds tweeted around the two princesses as they sat quietly among the flora and fauna. Celestia watched the little creatures flutter about the gardens as she gracefully sipped her drink. The vibrant colors of the gardens always seemed their brightest around this time of day. “I must admit, Luna, these tea times mean a lot to me,” Celestia sighed, “after such a hectic day, it’s nice to take a pause and relax.” “I’m glad you feel that way,” Luna answered after a sip of her own tea. After her first cup of tea, Celestia used her magic to lift a cake from the tray. Much to Luna’s disappointment, her sister failed to grab the enchanted one. Instead her eye was caught by a mini cupcake with fluffy pink frosting on top. She found the sugary treat paired lovely with her smooth, bitter tea and happily grabbed another. After her fifth cake was finished, Celestia finally reached for Luna’s magical cake and floated it over to her mouth. She paused before eating it, making sure she had a fresh cup of warm tea nearby to chase the treat down once she finished eating it. Finally, nearly making Luna loudly celebrate, Celestia took a bite of the frosted cake. The effects were felt almost instantly as the magically infused cakes worked into Celestia’s system. Minutes after swallowing the first bite, she suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded. The world around her seemed to darken and colors started to blur and fade into tones of gray. Her entire body felt tingly as her head swam in a cloudy soup. Finally her vision faded into black as her body felt weightless for a couple seconds. When her vision returned to her a few seconds later, Celestia noticed the changes right away. Opening her eyes revealed a world of giants where everything she was just interacting with was now enlarged to ridiculous sizes. Even her sister Luna seemed to tower over her like a colossus. Startled, she looked at her hooves, only to find tiny little child hooves in their place. “What happened?!” she loudly exclaimed, visibly surprised by her high pitched, squeaky voice that resembled that of a child’s. “Why am I a foal?” “A bit of an extreme measure,” Luna commented as she looked down at the physically regressed pony before her. Her sister now resembled a unicorn filly with her wings magically spirited away as a result of some strange cloaking side effect of the magical pastry. Her flowing rainbow mane turned into a soft pink as the length shrunk with the rest of her body, “I suppose it might have worked a bit too well...” “What worked well?” Celestia asked, examining every inch of her foalish body. “Please understand, I wanted you to take a break from all your work,” Luna explained, “so I...enchanted a cake to turn you into a foal.” “The cake did this?!” Celestia looked at her hooves again, hoping that they might look differently this time. “H-how long is this suppose to last?!” “Only a week or two, sister,” Luna answered, “I didn’t want anything permanent. Just something to keep you from working so hard.” Celestia paused to again look at her tiny hooves. She knew she had a lot of work to get done, but she also knew that delicate diplomatic meetings would be made tense if she came into them as a foal. Part of her understood the need for a break, but a bigger part of her screamed that she had too much paperwork to quit now. Thousands of conflicting thoughts bombarded the foal’s mind, practically ripping her head in two with their contrasting goals. She gripped the sides of her head with her forehooves, struggling to cope. “B-but, I have work to do...” the foal could only think to say, her voice quivering a bit at the very thought of failure. Luna quickly rushed to her sister's side, consoling the small foal. “Sister, please, I urge you to take advantage of this situation,” she explained, “don’t worry about any of that paperwork, I’ll get a team of scribes to get started on it right away.” Celestia still seemed overwhelmed, “a-and the meetings?” “I’ll enlist a representative to represent you,” Luna replied, “in the meantime I will stand in on your absence.” “Then what am I supposed to do?” “Rest, sister,” Luna simply answered, “take this time to get some much needed sleep, catch up on some hobbies, stuff that relaxes you.” There was a long pause. The diligent pony took a few more moments to digest what had happened. Celestia’s mind teemed with the long list of chores she had later that day and couldn’t help but, feel a bit empty now that she suddenly didn’t have any of that to do. And of course now being a foal left her with very little choice in the matter. She reluctantly sighed and nodded, “I guess you’re right.” The foal pulled herself up off the cushion, almost falling back down as her tiny legs struggled to support her. Such a tiny, frail body would take some getting use to. “Just rest in your room, sister. I’ll be in later in the day,” Luna saw her sister off, quickly rushing to her side a couple times when Celestia’s legs seemed to fall out from under her. When her sister was safely away, Luna saw to picking up the slack left behind. She went right to work enlisting the help of royal record keeper, assistants, and other ponies who had every right to help the busy princesses during their busy days. Such resources were always available to Celestia, but the determined alicorn was persistent in her old ways, refusing outside help in her various tasks. By late afternoon, Luna had coordinated a workforce to tackle Celestia’s usual list of duties. Paperwork was handled at breakneck speeds when there were multiple ponies working at it. Subjects who sought an audience with the Princess of the Sun were simply told that Celestia was off taking a much needed vacation elsewhere. When evening rolled around, everything was set into place for Celestia to have her space and enjoy her vacation. But whether or not the foal princess would do so or not was unclear to Luna. With the work day drawing to a close, Luna went to check up on her sister who had holed herself up in her bedroom all day. Celestia was rather lost for her first day off work. The foal could hardly think of anything besides the work she needed to do. Today served as more of a transitional period for the hard working princess to changeover to a relaxed vacation goer. She couldn’t even dream up of things she could be doing with her spare time so she instead occupied her mind with whatever work related things she could. The foal princess was in her bed when Luna arrived. She had stacks of folded letters scattered around her from various ponies and pen pals. “How was your first day of vacation?” Luna asked as she trotted into the room. “Did you do anything exciting?” “I didn’t know what to do with my time so I just...read letters..” Celestia shrugged before her eye caught sight of an object that floated beside Luna. “What’s that?” “Oh I thought you’d be thirsty after being cooped up in here all day,” Luna answered as she floated a pink baby bottle down to Celestia, “so I got you some warm milk to drink before bed.” “It’s in a baby bottle...” “I...thought it appropriate.” Celestia didn’t say anything else and simply snatched the bottle out of the air. Regardless of the vessel, she was quite parched and quite frankly could forgive the inevitable embarrassment of drinking from a baby bottle. Luna smiled warmly at her little sister as the foal leaned back to drink down the warm milk. She used her magic to lift up the various piles of letters and quickly sorted them in the air before slipping them onto a nearby desk. Once Celestia was finished, Luna promptly levitated the bottle out of her mouth and floated it over to her headspace. “Perhaps we should get you a crib to sleep in,” Luna teased her foal sister. Celestia replied with a little pout, crossing her forehooves with a bulging lip. “I’m not THAT much of a baby, Luna,” she grumbled. “I’m just joking,” Luna continued to tease, “although drinking from a bottle makes it kind of hard to believe you.” Celestia didn’t respond and instead crossed her forehooves tighter and pouting some more. Luna just chuckled and started to turn towards the door. “Well then I’ll leave you alone. Best get some sleep,” she said as she started to walk out of the room. “L-Luna?” A tiny voice stopped the blue alicorn dead in her tracks, causing her to turn back around. “Yes, sister?” Celestia seemed to shrink a little, shyly looking away as she fiddled with her forehooves. “Could you...maybe stay here for a little bit?” She asked so meekly, embarrassed to even ask for such a thing. “J-just until I fall asleep?” Luna was certainly caught off guard by the request, but her shocked expression quickly turned into a warm smile. “Of course, Tia,” she replied before trotting back over to Celestia’s bed. The blue alicorn climbed into bed, snuggling up beside Celestia who then yawned. The small foal dug into the warm blankets, curling her hooves up close to her body as she emitted yet another yawn. The effects of the warm milk made themselves apparent quite quickly. After only a few more minutes of laying down, Celestia soon closed her eyes and fell asleep. Despite Celestia’s initial request, Luna didn’t have the heart to leave her once she finally drifted off to sleep. The foal slept so soundly that Luna could bring herself to pull away. Things were made even more difficult when Celestia started to cuddle Luna in her sleep, her small body acting on instinct now and hardly comprehending what was going on. So Luna made herself comfortable and after another ten minutes or so, she too slumbered away. The next day Luna was the first to wake up. Her initial morning stretch was met with some resistance on her side as she was reminded where she fell asleep that night. Celestia still slept soundly at her side, hugging one of her hooves like a plushie as a bead of drool dribbled onto Luna’s fur. The foal’s drooling over the course of the night had created a sizable wet spot on Luna’s arm, leaving it to cool in the crisp nightly air. However that cold spot didn’t quite bother Luna as much. Her attention was instead diverted to another cold spot, this one much lower down the mattress. She looked down to investigate, finding a dark spot in the bedsheets around where Celestia’s small legs would be. To further investigate, she gently lifted the bedsheets off with her magic, lifting with it a waft of stale urine into the air. “Tia...Tia, wake up,” she gently nudged her sister awake. The foal groggily responded with a lazy groan as she hardly budged from her spot. When her sister remained unresponsive, Luna let out a reluctant sigh, “Tia, you wet the bed,” That seemed to get through to Celestia real quick as the foal suddenly shot her eyes open and sprang to attention. “Wh-what?!” In a half awake jolt, the foal lepped out of bed, scrambling in place before her eyes locked onto the large wet spot in the bed. “Oh no no no! What are we gonna do?!” In stark contrast of her calm and experienced personality, Celestia seemed genuinely riled up by the discovery. Her foalish body seemed honestly upset by the fact that she wet the bed. “Well...perhaps we should consider wearing...protection...” “Protection? You mean-?” Celestia paused and then blushed deeply, “no no no, I couldn’t wear diapers! What if ponies saw?!” “They would see a foal, Celestia, nothing more,” Luna spoke with a soft, comforting tone, reminiscent of how Celestia spoke to her when she wet the bed as a foal. “It would save you from the embarrassment of this happening again.” The foal princess coiled back in thought, staring at the ground for a moment or two. Wearing diapers seemed ludicrous, but then again, so did regressing back to the physical age of a foal. There was not a doubt in Celestia’s mind that more foalish habits would reveal themselves as she rode out the rest of her mandatory vacation. And her sister brought up fair points. She resembled more of a foal than the Princess of the Sun and she knew the guards and royal servants who populated the castle would loyally keep the secret to themselves. She let out a tiny sigh. “Alright, Luna,” she said as she looked up, “I’ll wear one...” Her sister was surprisingly prepared for the answer as not seconds after agreeing to it, Celestia found herself promptly taped up into some soft fitting diapers. Her sister, of course, handled all the necessary steps of the diaper change from the powdering to the taping. Celestia’s fine motor skills weren’t the best in this form anyway. Arriving for breakfast was certainly different today for the foal princess. Her normal routine, the same one she had done for years, now felt completely alien to her. Everything seemed so big to the tiny princess. Hallways seemed unnecessarily wide, furnishings huge, and every door felt like it weighed a ton to her small body. The royal dining hall was no different. The long banquet table that could sit thirty seemed to stand miles above Celestia’s head as she stood next to it. Even the chairs were barely reachable by her tiny body. She was caught trying to clamber up one of the chairs when Luna arrived. “Uhm, sister...” Luna hesitantly stated as she watched the tiny foal attempt to climb up onto the chair. Celestia grunted, struggling to pull her own weight up onto the furnishing, her freshly diapered rump dangled under her with her legs as she tried ever so hard to succeed. “Y-yeah?” The guard standing beside Luna did his best to stifle a snicker.“I don’t believe that’ll work,” Luna said, “perhaps we could find something more...suitable for your size?” With a huff, Celestia finally let her body plop back down to the ground, her diaper providing some much needed cushion to her fall. “What do you recommend?” “I think I have an idea,” the guard pony answered. “One moment please.” With that the guard pony bowed his head and backed out of the room for a moment or two. He eventually returned with a pair of pony maids who carried with them an old highchair into the room. The highchair was a lovely shade of light blue with a dark blue crescent moon painted on it’s back face. Although made entirely out of wood, the chair was free of any scratches or nicks. The smooth finish on all its parts showed that it was well cared for in its long stay in storage. “I can’t believe we still have that thing,” Luna commented with astoundment. “We kept a lot of stuff from your foalhood, your highness. Princess Celestia’s orders.” “Well I think you should be able to fit in there, Tia,” Luna glanced over to the foal, “it’d help you reach the table at least.” With a glow of her horn, Luna carefully lifted her foal sister into the air. She gently deposited her into the high chair’s seat, eliciting a tiny series of crinkles from the diaper. The wooden tray slipped into place effortlessly, locking into place with a series of metal latches in the back. The addition of the highchair made even the most mundane task of eating pancakes seem childish to the foal princess. But considering that she was already in a diaper and resembled a foal, Celestia concluded that it wasn’t all that silly considering. Regardless of how she felt about the circumstances, she was rather hungry. Levitation magic was out of the question and her motor skills weren’t the most refined. She spent the better part of the meal fumbling with a fork, struggling to keep a hold on the utensil. Luna quietly watched from a distance, effortlessly eating her own plate of food with the blue glow of her magic. She politely stifled a chuckle whenever her foal sister came oh so close to feeding herself, only to drop the fork back on the plate with a tiny splatter of syrup hitting her muzzle. “Here,” Luna finally said, moving her spot at the table to beside her sister’s high chair. Her magic took hold of Celestia’s sticky fork, expertly scooping up a small mouthful of pancake. “Let me help you,” She gently floated the bite up to Celestia’s mouth. Celestia blushed a tiny bit, but accepted the bit of pancake nonetheless. Once she swallowed that first bite, Luna was there with another bite and then another. It was a strange experience to be fed from a highchair. No longer did she have to worry about feeding herself, all of that was taken care of by her ever watchful sister. “By the way Celestia,” Luna started to say, scooping up the last few bits of pancake from the puddles of syrup. “The Spring Ball is coming up and I wasn’t sure if you’d be attending this year.” “A royal ball?” Celestia raised her head at the suggestion, “I’d love to, but I don’t have anything to wear.” She then looked down at her tiny body, “nothing that’d fit me at least...” “We could go shopping for something nice later today,” Luna suggested. “Shopping? But wouldn’t somepony see me?” “They wouldn't recognize you, sister,” Luna assured, “besides, everypony’s been told that you left for vacation. They wouldn’t expect to see you shopping for foal clothes in town.” “You think so?” Celestia asked before leaning back in her seat in deep contemplation. “Yeah, shopping sounds lovely.” Canterlot’s shopping scene was bustling with variety as many vendors and shops grabbed their patrons’ attention with eye catching window displays. Stores of similar wares tended to gravitate around one another. Kiosks and stalls lined wide streets as brightly lit shops and stores advertised their weres in window displays. There was hardly a day where the many Canterlot streets weren’t filled with shoppers walking from store to store with shopping bags in tow. For anypony who wanted to fulfill any of their clothing needs, shoppers ventured to a section of town collectively known as ‘Fashion Square’. Surrounding a lovely small park with a fountain in the center were a collection of stores that took advantage of the scenic location. The park in the middle was frequently home to various photo ops and fashion shows and it wasn’t unusual to see a pony or two walking around in an eye catching and chic outfit. Luna and Celestia avoided the large big-box stores that dominated the center of Fashion Square. Most of the them sold highly priced, highly sought after gowns and dresses to ponies who needed to be on the cutting edge of fashion anyway. Instead Luna guided her foal sister to a smaller shop that sold foal clothes and fashionable children outfits. ‘Argyle and Suede’s’ was a small enough location that the two sisters wouldn’t have to worry about attracting flocks of ponies when they arrived. Even with the shop being rather quiet this time of day, Luna’s arrival was enough to get the owners up in a frenzy. Argyle, a magenta colored stallion with a teal colored mane quickly darted from his spot behind the counter to greet their newest patrons. Suede, a jet black mare with a coffee colored mane, was soon to follow, eager to please their royal guests. “Princess Luna! It is an honor!” Argyle quickly said, taking a deep bow to the ground. Luna responded with a royal boy, “yes, we’ve simply come here to acquire some new clothes for...our royal niece.” “We would be honored to help,” Suede hastily chimed in. “Come in! Come in! We’ll get you a fitting room right away!” With the biggest smiles, the pony pair guided the royal sisters into the back where a series of doors could be found. Clearly marked with gold plaques listed off a number of fitting rooms down the hall. Being royalty, it was only appropriate for Argyle and Suede to set the royal sisters up with Fitting Room A. The room was equipped with everything a tailor would need when tending to a client. A small drawing table with a empty, white sketch pad sat against the left wall, ready to be quickly doodled in to brainstorm ideas. Against the back wall sat a white and lavender pedestal, surrounded by full body mirrors to provide various angles to examine newly made clothing. On the right side of the room waited a few racks of dresses, suits, and other outfits sized to fit children. For more picky shoppers, a collection of sewing supplies and rolls of fabric sat close by. “Just hop up onto the stand and we’ll have you taken care of in no time!” Suede said to Celestia. She then paused, opening her mouth for a moment before turning to Luna. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I ever caught your niece’s name.” “R-Ruby!” Luna hastily stammered out with a nervous smile, “h-her name is...Lady Ruby.” Celestia joined in on the nervous smiling, subtly tensing up. There was a pause as Suede blinked. However after only a brief pause, her salespony smile returned. “We’ll have you taken care of in no time, Lady Ruby!” Argyle zipped about the background as Suede tended to their customer. The stallion could be seen setting things up around the clothing racks and sewing machines. “Now what did we have in mind?” Suede asked Luna, looking over Celestia’s foal body with a tape measure. “Something light,” Luna promptly answered, “We want her dressed up for the Spring Ball and we wouldn’t want our niece to exhaust herself under too many layers.” Suede tapped her hoof as the princess spoke, sorting through a mental list of what they had to offer. “I think I got JUST the thing!” she chirped before dashing off to the clothing racks. The unicorn couple chattered quietly amongst themselves as Luna gave Celestia a knowing smile. In an indirect kind of way, Celestia kind of enjoyed not having to make all the decisions. It was a sort of mental vacation to go along her official one. Even after her initial fuss at the beginning, she was growing to enjoy herself. “Here we go!” Suede appeared after a few minutes with a dress floating beside her cloaked in a snowy white aura. The outfit was a light sundress made primarily of a yellow fabric with ever so faint floral designs printed across its shape. A thin, wispy fabric layered over the main material, adding a faint shimmer to the dress around the lower hemlines and sleeves. True to Canterlot tradition, the dress was inherently simple, but elegantly designed with a high eye for detail. The dress was so expertly pulled over Celestia’s body, hardly requiring the foal to raise a hoof in helping. Suede took the liberty of handling everything, occasionally using her magic to guide Celestia’s limbs through the light layers of fabric. Celestia caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, seeing a prim and proper pony staring back at her. The unicorn foal in the mirror looked ready for a royal ball and one could hardly notice her diaper underneath the dress. At the very least, she could find some solace in that. Suede examined the dress at all angles, floating a pin cushion around her. “Now normally I would likely have to make some alterations for a proper fit, but given your niece’s...extra padding, it’ll fit just right.” Celestia’s cheeks flared up hearing this, but Luna did her best to shrug it off. “That’s good to hear,” the blue alicorn chimed back. By the end of all that dress fitting and tailoring, Celestia found herself thoroughly exposed, moved about, and sized up by the two store ponies. Such a long wait led to a wet diaper that Luna was quick to change without any comment. Celestia must have began wetting it shortly after the tailoring began, but she could hardly remember any of that. Argyle and Suede kept quiet about her diaper’s state during the whole thing. With minimal embarrassment, Celestia obtain a beautiful dress that would be perfect for the Spring Ball. Oddly enough, she found herself growing excited for such an occasion. Like the giddy, childlike excitement one would expect from a foal her age. When the night of the dance rolled around Celestia was all dolled up for the occasion. Her pink mane was styled up to fit the lovely dress she’d be wearing for the evening. Her coat brushed and smoothed out as bows were tied up in her tail to add to the regal cute aesthetic. The royal ball was nothing short of spectacular with the castle’s large great hall lavishly dressed up for the occasion. Bright, pastel spring colors were the theme of this ball with yellow and green streamers decorating the large marble columns that lined the hall’s outer edges. Large, beautiful flowers made of fabric were hung off the ceiling to give the open air some elegant atmosphere. Every table had a potted flower as a centerpiece, freshly picked from the royal gardens. Hundreds of prim and proper ponies filled the floor, all dressed in elegant dresses and freshly pressed suits. The season promoted brighter colors to be used in outfits with eye catching designs being the life of the party. The royal ball was in full swing when the royal sisters came down to join. The two stood for a moment on the top of the main stairs, gazing down at the buzzing activity below. Seeing all the attending ponies made Celestia suddenly grow self conscious about her thick diaper. She nervously tugged at her dress’s hemline, making absolutely sure that it was covering up her bulbous diaper. When she was sure that her diaper wasn’t visible, she double checked and triple checked in hopes that her nervous mind would finally settle. Luna was quick to shoo her hooves away from the dress. “Quit fidgeting with your dress, Tia,” the blue alicorn whispered, “you’ll rip it.” “Sorry, I guess I’m just a bit nervous,” the foal quietly answered. “There’s nothing to be nervous about, Tia,” Luna assured, “you’ve attended many of these balls before.” Her words seemed to help the foal calm a little bit. “I’ll be right here beside you.” Celestia nodded. Surprisingly her sister’s assurance actually felt comforting. With her sister there for emotional support, the foal princess walked down the carpeted steps and joined the fray. Everypony was eager to talk to Princess Luna and they were especially eager to meet the ‘distant niece’ of the princess who was visiting town for a short while. Ponies would greet Luna with a polite bow and would open things up with the normal pleasantries. The guests hardly troubled Celestia with questions about the weather or complimented her dress and the foal was kind of relieved she didn’t have to respond to such things. Most of the focus was on Princess Luna and she handled the role of royalty with well practiced poise The party was quite the different experience as a foal. Celestia’s tiny self was usually missed by ponies as they walked about. Usually she’d stop crowds dead in their tracks as large groups of ponies flocked to catch even a glimpse of the royal sisters. But with only Luna there, the crowds seemed calmer. All that polite smiling and so many ponies grabbing for her attention quickly tired out the foal princess. She wasn’t sure if it was because of how long it’s been since she attended one of these royal balls or if her new body just didn’t have as much stamina as her old one. Around midnight she found herself yawning, sluggishly trailing behind Luna as they made their rounds. Luna, being the ever attentive sister she was, quickly picked up on the drowsiness in the foal’s gait. Luna turned her attention back to the group of ponies she was talking to, some rich and social elite unicorns dressed in the fanciest of clothes. “We are so overjoyed that you came,” Luna smiled, “if you would please excuse us.” The rich unicorns bowed their heads and broke away from the two princesses, walking back into the party proper. Luna, on the other hand, guided Celestia down the main hall and exited through the main double doors. Like a caring, older sister, Luna tucked Celestia in after the foal shed her formal wear, leaving her in only a diaper. She found some comfort in relying on her sister for these sorts of things, willingly giving up a tiny bit of independance in her foal form. “Have a good night, Tia,” Luna said as she tucked her foal sister into bed so delicately. “Goodnight, Lulu,” Celestia let out a big yawn and instinctively curled underneath the blankets. Her exhausted mind hardly had time to notice the ‘Lulu’ slip up or even wonder if Luna noticed herself. By the time she was tucked in and her bedroom lights were turned off, the foal princess swiftly drifted off to sleep, slumbering soundly with a little smile on her face. Such a restful sleep felt instantaneous to Celestia as morning rolled around seemingly minutes later. She awoke with a restful warmth in her heart, unimpeded by her usual duties as a princess. The sun shined through the window as if to greet her on this lovely warm evening. Celestia yawned, stretched her limbs up into the air, and smiled at the charming morning. Rubbing her eyes a tiny bit, she then looked up at her room to regain her bearings. “Good morning Princess Celestia!” An eager Twilight Sparkle suddenly appeared, standing over the foal princess with an excited and caring smile. The foal’s eyes grew wide. Her half awake mind, still struggling a bit to catch up was suddenly thrusted into a panic. “Twilight! Y-you know?” “Luna told me all about it,” Twilight answered but added to it when she realized that answer didn’t seem to sedate Celestia’s worried expression. “She...told me to keep it secret.” “Oh good,” Celestia exhaled. “So...what brings you here?” “Luna asked me to babysit you. Said she’d be too busy today to watch you herself...” “Babysit?” “You don’t need to worry about a thing, Celestia. You’ll find I’m quite qualified as a babysitter!” Twilight bowed her head proudly before her horn began to magically lift Celestia’s bedsheets. “I think we can try a nice walk through the royal gardens before breakfast. At least after a quick diaper check.” “I appreciate the gesture, Twilight,” Celestia started as the blankets floated upwards, “but I don’t think that’ll be necess-” “Looks like you had quite the wet night!” Twilight interrupted, eyeing Celestia’s lower half. “Wh-what?” Celestia was shocked to find her nighttime diaper almost completely soaked through. “Not to worry, Celestia,” Twilight commented as a fresh diaper magically floated over by her head, “I’ve changed plenty of Flurry’s diapers.” Celestia blushed heavily, but there was a warmth in her heart knowing that she had somepony to look after her. Having her diapers checked would just had some getting use to. At the very least, she could finally take that vacation Luna always wanted her to take.