> Something to Rave About > by Wandering Pigeon > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Next Gig > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Neon pink and green strobe lights blasted the dark room all around. In between the flashes of blinding colors, the outlines of ponies could be seen, jumping, spinning, and twisting wildly in a manner that could almost be called dancing. Sweat flung from their bodies and fell to the floor, only to be obscured from view by a thin layer of fog generated by a few machines scattered about the room. Inhaling brought with it scents of alcohol, perspiration, and borderline legal drugs, each of which littered the room in various amounts. The glow sticks adorning the necks and legs of nearly everypony there provided just enough light to know who was responsible for which, assuming they stopped dancing long enough to tell. This, was a rave. It was a kingdom where music reigned supreme. And Vinyl Scratch sat at the throne to this great kingdom: the turntables. Right in front of her, the table was adorned with dual record players. Each had a 78 on top of them, with Vinyl’s hooves further atop them to sandwich all the awesomeness in one place. Every so often they would need her guidance to take the sound quality up a notch. A nudge, a turn, and smooth scratches went a long way in enriching the music. To her sides, two massive subwoofers boomed her ear candy out to the entire club. Being right next to them would usually be cause for concern, seeing as how Vinyl typically liked to crank up the bass to deafening levels, but she was smarter than that. Wedged into her ears were specialized plugs designed to muffle all sound, no matter how much high she turned that volume dial. She could still hear her music, she needed to after all, but the worse effects were dampened. That was probably for the best, all things considered. Vinyl didn’t want to go deaf so early in her career. Being a DJ was just too much fun! Raves like this gave Vinyl life. When the pounding music could rattle bones, and ponies all around her were flinging themselves around spastically as the wubs all but forced them to dance, everything was perfect. Well, almost everything was perfect about it. Behind her turntables, hidden from view, Vinyl had crossed her hind legs. It was one of the hazards of DJ-ing. You had to stay out on the floor all night, keeping the flow of wubs coming and making sure the party never slowed. The trade off, you couldn’t take bathroom breaks. Vinyl’s bladder cried out in desperation, begging for her to sneak away and trade her turntable throne for the porcelain throne. Three empty beer bottles were each tipped over on the edge of the turntable, with a half-empty fourth standing by. Beer slid right through her, every time. And every time, Vinyl still drank more than she could handle. How could she not? It was booze after all; it was kind of hard to resist. Wait… does that make me an alcoholic? Vinyl pinched her lips, somehow able to ponder that idea amidst the pounding dubstep. As impressive as that concentration might’ve been, it was still broken when the ache in her bladder reared its ugly head. The high functioning alcoholic Vinyl Scratch doubled over, crossing her legs tight enough to feel the dangers of cut off circulation. Okay, enough’s enough. Vinyl bit her lip for all the good it did to hold back her urge to piss. Raising her head to be eye level with the spinning records, she quickly judged how much time this track had left. Six minutes? Maybe seven… She chewed her bit lip. That was an awfully long time to abdicate her throne for. The boss won’t be too happy about that. She guessed. While it would be interesting to see how big that vein on his forehead could get, Vinyl probably shouldn’t press her luck. This was her last night temping at Club Stampede, now was the time to be leave a good lasting impression to (hopefully) get more work here later on. Vinyl smirked, despite her ache. Ha, look at me, thinkin’ all responsibly and crap. Bet Tavi would get a kick out of this. Her bladder kicked her with another twang of acheness, forcing her to put aside thoughts of her roommate for now. Turning her focus back to the turntables, Vinyl judged she still had a good five minutes left before the song ended. Plenty of time to sneak away and take a whiz. The momentum of the rave would easily last that long. But she doubted she’d last long enough to change out the records or anything like that. Time to go. Vinyl bolted from her turntables, her bladder whining as she held it back with all her might. She raced along the edge of the dancefloor, ducking to avoid wayward hooves that flailed all around her. She pushed open the back door, causing her to spill out into the hallway behind the dance hall. Losing her bearings for a moment, Vinyl looked left and right to catch sight of the nearest bathroom. Finally she spotted it halfway down the hall, causing both her and her bladder to groan. Why do they have to put it so far away? Grumbling a few choice words under her breath, she trotted over to it, glad to finally experience relief. Just as she reached for the doorknob, it suddenly turned. Vinyl winced as she realized somepony was in there. She backed up, prepared to give it all of one second before she started banging on the door. Luckily, it never came to that, as she’d backed away just in time for the door to swing open to reveal the mare inside. The first thing that struck Vinyl was the mane. Two massive, pink twin tails dominated everything about her. A similarly pink coat and blue eyes almost made Vinyl think she had run into an old friend, further evidenced by the spark of recognition in the mare’s eyes. “Oh, you’re the DJ!” She exclaimed. Her voice immediately assured Vinyl that she had a case of mistaken identity here; it was bubbly and youthful, but not very high-pitched or energized. “That’s me,” she said to the stranger. A spike of pain blasted her bladder. She nudged her head to indicate to the mare she should move. “If you don’t mind I--” “I was hoping to talk to you!” The mare smiled, oblivious to the hint. “Great…” Vinyl groaned. “I heard from the manager you were temping, so I guess that means you aren’t a full time DJ yet?” Because I needed a reminder of that right now. Vinyl sighed, crossing her hind legs. “Yeah?” “Well my club’s been looking for a DJ, actually.” That sent Vinyl’s ears shooting up. “You know a club lookin’ to hire?” “Know it? Sister, I own it.” The mare puffed out her chest proudly, causing a necklace hanging from it to bounce forward and catch Vinyl's attention. She blinked in surprise upon seeing a pacifier dangling from the mare’s neck, among other club apparel. It wasn’t a totally unexpected sight--Vinyl had seen pony’s who wear these to raves when ponies were trying to make a fashion statement or whatever--but it did catch her by surprise. Especially since this one looked… used. “It’s called the Fountain of Youth,” the mare continued, unaware or unconcerned that Vinyl had spotted her pacifier. “Never heard of it,” Vinyl bluntly admitted, looking back up. Her bladder screamed and she winced. How long did she have before her track ended now? Four minutes? Geeze, was that enough time? “Oh, no worries. We’re a pretty underground club after all. We do kinda… weird stuff, but it would be cool of you to give us a chance.” Her bladder felt ready to burst. Vinyl had to end this conversation soon. “Whatever it is I’m down for it. A job’s a job, right Ms. … Uh...” “Pacific Glow.” “Vinyl,” Vinyl said. She shifted her weight from one hind leg to another, her bladder threatening to release. Pacific giggled a little, putting her hoof to her lips coyly. “You’ve got a cute potty dance, Vinyl.” Pinpricks of pink appeared on Vinyl’s cheeks. What, did this mare think she was a foal or something? “Y-Yeah, well…” Vinyl bit her lip as she struggled to think of a proper retort. What do you even say to that? “Speaking of, I gotta tell you about the club. You see it’s kind of--” Vinyl gritted her teeth. Already she could tell they’d left the important part of the conversation, and unfortunately that was a one way street. “Yeah, you don’t gotta worry about any of that,” she said, inching to move around Pacific Glow. She must’ve had around three minutes left and she hadn’t even gotten into the bathroom yet. While she didn’t want to be rude, she was quickly running out of alternatives. The mare just blinked, mouth creasing into a frown. “Uh, no I think I do. You see my club’s a--” Vinyl just waved her hoof dismissively. Right now, whatever Pacific had to say, it was not more important than getting into that restroom. For personal reasons, Vinyl really didn’t want to piss herself in front of her new boss. “Whatever it is, it’s cool. As long as you got a turntable and some amps then we're golden.” That sent Pacific’s eyelids fluttering in confusion. “Uh… I'm not so sure about that. I’ve had a lot of DJ’s quit on the first night because they didn’t know about--” A pressure surge in her bladder nearly sent Vinyl reeling. Wincing through it all, she offered a smile. “I’m telling you it’s fine. I’ve played at dozens of different places in this city; trust me when I say I’ve seen it all.” Pacific’s lips tightened. “Well, if you’re sure, then can you start tomorrow? At nine?” She couldn’t take it anymore. “I’ll see ya then!” Vinyl practically shouted, not-so-subtly brushing passed Pacific to rush into the restroom. The sight of a toilet had never been so heavenly. “Oh, wait!” Pacific called out before Vinyl could shut the door. “I still never told you about--” “Don’t worry, I can find the club on my own,” Vinyl called out as she shut the door. Pacific Glow opened her mouth to reply, only to get smacked in the face by the wind the door made. For a moment, she just stood there. She managed to close her mouth after a few seconds and could only shrug. “I guess it’ll be alright,” she convinced herself. Taking her pacifier in her hoof, Pacific popped it into her mouth and began suckling as she walked away. Vinyl sauntered up to the front door of her apartment, either drunk, hungover, or somehow both. But she still managed to find the right one, even with her triple vision making it difficult. She stumbled up to it, legs criss crossing, tripping over themselves, flailing… pretty much doing anything except walk normally. Luckily Vinyl managed to find her balance by face planting into the door. “Errgh,” she mumbled, peeling her face away. It didn’t really hurt--when she was near blackout drunk like this, it was hard to feel much of anything--but it was still pretty embarrassing. Going for the doorknob, Vinyl was pleased to find that it only took her three tries to twist and pop it open. As the door slid open, Vinyl was hit with a cool breeze of air conditioning, and the alluring scent of freshly brewed coffee. The sight of her living room, blurry and hazy though it was, gave her a sense of satisfaction that she’d stumbled into the right home after all. Her nose followed the coffee scent, turning her head to look deeper into the apartment. The kitchen came into focus, a dark pot of pure caffeine resting with it. Above it, a face as familiar as Vinyl’s home. “I see you didn’t forget how to open the door this time,” Octavia Melody, cellist and roommate extraordinaire. “One time!” Vinyl scoffed as she finished slinking in, letting the door slam shut behind her. “Cut me some slack once and awhile, will ya?” Octavia cocked her head, lips pursing as though she was actually musing over the idea. But even hungover, Vinyl knew better. “I don’t think so.” “You never let me live anything down.” Vinyl dragged her hooves to the nearest ploppable surface: the couch. As she plopped onto it, Octavia worked her way into the living room, coffee pot in hoof. “I’m guessing you need something to shake off your headache?” “Yeff peef,” Vinyl muffled, face buried in the couch. She heard a clink, most likely the coffee pot being set down on the aptly named coffee table. “Help yourself,” Octavia said. “I’ve got my cup already, and there’s no way I can finish all this before I need to leave.” Vinyl peeled her face from the couch, much to her pounding head’s discontent. “You’re such a good friend,” she murmured. Octavia smirked. “Already trying to weasel your way out of next month’s rent payment?” Ouch. Though Vinyl didn’t want to admit it…. Yeah, that was definitely something she’d do. Octavia knew today had been her last night at that club; no wonder she was waiting for it. “Can’t I just give my best friend a compliment every now and again?” Vinyl asked with a hint of indignancy. “You mean without an ulterior motive?” Octavia chuckled. “Gee, let me think…” Okay, time to wipe that smirk off her face. “Actually.” She attempted to roll over onto her back, but her aching head put a stop to that. She herself flop back, having barely extended any effort. “I don’t have ulterior motives this time.” Octavia just raised a dubious eyebrow. “Oh?” She grinned. “Guess who’s got another gig already lined up.” “That’s great, Vinyl.” No cheers, no applause, no fanfare. “You’re damn right it’s great!” Vinyl declared, one hundred percent more hyped than Octavia was. Maybe two hundred percent, actually. “They might want me to be a regular, Tavi. You know what that means?” “You won’t be falling behind on rent anymore?” Vinyl just attempted to shake her head, smacking the side of her snout into the couch in the process. “Tavi, Tavi, Tavi. So utterly blinded by your obsession with the rent--” “I have to pick up your half all the time!” Octavia interjected. “--that you can’t even see the big picture anymore.” Vinyl tossed her hooves into the air, trying to give her next lines some pizzaz, even as she deadpanned them through her hangover. “I’m gonna be famous!” Octavia paused for a moment, looking as though she couldn’t decide between shaking her head and rolling her eyes. She eventually settled on both. “Ah yes, your ‘ticket up’ as it were.” “Mmm mm,” Vinyl said, wincing as her head felt another pang of pain from the hangover. “Well then I’m sure this gig of yours will go quite well.” Octavia said as she disappeared into her room, returning with a cello bag wrapped around her back. “At the very least, you’ll make some money.” “Yep. So long as I find the place alright.” Octavia froze in mid step on her way to the door. “You… do know where this club is, right?” “Nope, but I’ll find it.” Vinyl waved her away. “I have until tonight.” “...Right.” Just that one word carried so much disbelief. “Oh don’t be like that!” Vinyl called as her roommate resumed her walk to the door. “Nothing’s gonna go wrong tonight! And when I get home tomorrow morning you’re gonna have to eat your words!” Octavia didn’t even look back, as she shut the door, only throwing out a hasty, “I'll look forward to it, then.” “Hmmph,” Vinyl grumbled at the naysayer. She nestled up into the couch, drawing the coffee pot towards her with a lazy burst of magic. “You’ll see,” she murmured in between sips of tongue-scalding goodness. "Tomorrow morning, you're gonna be real surprised." > Welcome to the Club > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vinyl arched her head back, eyes glazing over the scores of old red brick before finally reaching the top of the building. After doing the same to well over a dozen buildings before this one, Vinyl was tired. Surely her search could come to an end now, right? Bringing her eyes down, she saw a small sign just above the left-most door: The Fountain of Youth. “Finally.” It turns out, finding an underground club barely anypony’s ever heard of isn’t exactly easy, even with Vinyl’s street smarts. And the occasional weird looks she got just for asking about it hadn't helped. But she was here now, with just enough time before her gig to get ready. Probably. Adjusting her saddlebags, Vinyl gave the vinyls inside a loving pat. She figured it wouldn’t hurt to bring of a few of her favorite tracks; had to make a good first impression after all. She trotted over to the door of the club. It was early enough that no bouncers were out. Heck, no velvet ropes had even been set up yet. With a flick of magic, she tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. Creaking, the door opened, revealing a set of stairs that descended deep into the building. “Heh, underground in more ways than one,” Vinyl quipped, disappointed nopony was around to hear it. Good thing she hadn’t brought her own equipment. As Vinyl climbed down the steep steps, her back was grateful she didn’t have to carry spine-crushingly heavy amps down them. Even with magic, that was never a fun time. When she reached the bottom, she was greeted by a brick wall and a stylized sign that bore the name of the club once more. Its bubbly pink lettering blinking with the help of neon let her know she definitely hadn’t screwed up the address. Always good to know. To the left, Vinyl saw the brick carrying on a bit more, before turning a corner that undoubtedly led to the club floor. The soft blue and green lights that poked out of the darkness let her know that much at least. Looking to her right, Vinyl saw a door with the word ‘Staff’ scrawled on with hasty black letters. Bingo. She tapped it twice and heard movement on the other side before she’d even finished setting her hoof back down. The door opened, Pacific Glow’s cheerful face filling the doorway. She hadn’t changed much at all since Vinyl had last seen her. Same twintails, same grin, same... pacifier. Really? The party hasn’t even started yet, Vinyl thought as she eyed the foalish toy dangling from her neck. Before she could even decide if that was weird or over eager, she snapped her gaze back up to keep things from getting awkward. “Hi!” Pacific smiled at her. “You managed to make it after all, huh?” “Heh, yeah.” Vinyl rubbed the back of her neck. Was it really that late? “Sorry, I--” “Oh, no no,” Pacific held up a hoof to stop her. “It’s all my fault. I didn’t get a chance to tell you where this place was last night. I’m just glad you found it.” She backed up, holding the door open a little wider as she beckoned Vinyl foward. “Please, come in.” “Thanks.” Vinyl squeezed in, her saddlebags brushing the edges of the narrow door frame. Now inside the coveted ‘employees only’ part of the club, Vinyl got her first real look at the backstage part of The Fountain of Youth. Her eyes glazed over the second-hand (possibly third-hand) couch and accompanying mini-fridge in the center, passed the plastic changing table in the back corner, the unlit closet beside that and then finally came to rest on a stack of vinyl prints and a spare amp next to another door that no doubt led out onto the stage. All in all, a pretty standard-- Wait a second. Doing a double take, Vinyl shot a look to the back corner of the room, thinking her eyes must’ve been playing tricks on her. They weren’t. There really was a bright blue changing table just sitting in the room. The kind used when changing a foal’s diapers, but for some reason much bigger, as if it was meant for a grown adult. Taking a closer look at it, Vinyl’s eyes only widened further and they lowered and saw the drawers beneath. Most were shut, but the bottom one wasn’t. Instead it was wedged open, unable to close all the way as the tightly packed contents threatened to spill out. Forcing it in such a position was something white and poofy, visible just over the edges of the drawer. Is that… Nah, couldn't be. Assuming there must be a logical explanation for what she was seeing, Vinyl turned back to Pacific. “Hey, what’s with the--” she choked on the last words when she saw her boss. Pacific Glow was wearing a diaper. “Uh- ...Buh- ...Wha- ...Huh?” Vinyl sputtered noises she didn’t even know she was capable of making, so taken aback that she had to do a double, triple, and quadruple take. For a moment, Pacific Glow seemed confused, as though Vinyl’s confusion was somehow unwarranted. She even made it through two whole blinks of innocent confusion before the mass of poof swallowing her rear suddenly made understanding dawn on her face. “Oh, okay.” “Okay?” Vinyl was pretty sure her jaw cracked the floor when the two made contact. “That’s all you-- What?” Pacific offered an apologetic, if sheepish, smile. Turning all the way around, she let the door slowly creak shut behind them, punctuating the awkward moment with the sounds of rusty hinges. “I owe you an explanation,” she admitted. “Uh… yeah.” Vinyl tried really hard to keep eye contact with Pacific, but she couldn’t stop her gaze from darting back to the edges of the diaper still peeking over Pacific’s frame. Pacific chewed her llp, doing an equally poor job to look at Vinyl as her eyes seemed transfixed by the floor. “So…” Vinyl mustered up all the tact in her body. “The hell are you wearing a diaper for?” She winced. Maybe not the best way to have put that. Pacific winced. Definitely not the best way to have put that. They both reverted back to their darting-eyed antics from before, neither making a move Finally, Pacific managed to fidget her hooves enough to gain some confidence. “It’s uh… how should I put this…” As dense as she could be, Vinyl was acutely aware that the discomfortable levels in the room were reaching maximum. It was time to blurt out something that wasn’t totally stupid. Hopefully. “Look, if this is just, like, something you’re into, or whatever, then it’s… whatever.” Smooth. “I mean, like… I don’t care. Like what you like and all that. Just… maybe be a little bit more professional and stuff.” Oh, very smooth. “I’m not saying you aren’t! Just… like, wear diapers on your own time, or something?” Really frickin’ smooth, Vinyl. Celestia dammit. Pacific drew in a breath, her features contorting into a bright red scrunch of embarrassment, except with the look of a hesitant ‘but’ on her lips. “But… uh…” Pacific exhaled, deeply. “Vinyl, you still don’t understand.” Vinyl’s eyes rolled from Pacific’s face, to the pacifier around her neck, to the diaper slapped against her plot. There wasn’t exactly a lot of room for misinterpretation here. “Uh… what do you mean?” “Oh geeze, I knew I should’ve explained this to you last night.” She forced a smile so awkward that it single-handedly put the rest of their conversation so far to shame. “It’s not just me who’s wearing diapers tonight.” “...Come again?” “You see, this whole club was made for ponies who, well… enjoy this sort of thing.” She indicated her diapered flank, as though what she’d said need explanation. “Oh,” Vinyl said, before the information had even finished processing. When it did, her pupils shrank. “Ohhhh.” “Yeah, um…” Pacific attempted a casual shrug. “Everypony who comes here wears them. It’s really the only place in all of Manehattan where we can be public about liking diapers.” “O-kay…” Vinyl shifted, uncomfortable. Maybe it was rude of her to be completely weirded out by the concept alone, but she was. “...So The Fountain of Youth--” “--Is a pretty on the nose name, yeah.” Her next grin came with a blush, as if she was equal parts proud and embarrassed for having come up with it. “So when I go out to play tonight, everypony’s going to be wearing diapers and stuff?” She asked, not even sure she wanted to know what ‘and stuff’ really entailed. “Yeah, everypony.” Pacific bit her lip so hard Vinyl was surprised she didn’t draw blood. “Everypony,” she stressed, nervously eyeing her. Vinyl’s pupil’s shrank even further, nearly popping out of existence. “Oh no... You don’t mean--” “I do.” Pacific winched. Vinyl winced. “But it would just be for tonight. You won’t even notice it, I prom--” “Oh no!” Vinyl backpedaled, her rear end slamming into the sofa to stop her. “No no no! No!” Pacific chased after her, crinkles echoing from her padding. “Vinyl--” “I’m not wearing a diaper!” Vinyl shouted. “It’s really not as big a deal as you’re making it out to be,” Pacific promised. “You won’t even feel embarrassed; everypony will be wearing one!” “But it’s--” Vinyl caught herself before any words along the lines of ‘weird’, ‘disgusting’, or ‘creepy’ escaped her lips. She’d already been enough of a jerk to Pacific; heaping more onto the pile wouldn’t do any good. “I don’t want to!” she course corrected. “Vinyl…” Pacific frowned, stopping her approach just as Vinyl was ready to tip over the couch’s arm rest. “Look, I know, okay? Why do you think I’ve had to go through so many DJs? Nopony wants to do this. But…” She sighed. “Before, I’ve let them go onstage without one, and it just makes everypony feel really self-conscious when they notice.” I bet, Vinyl thought, thankfully keeping that quip to herself. “I’m not trying to guilt trip you or anything, I promise,” Pacific continued. “But… if you could, just for tonight… It would mean a lot.” She paused, mind seeming to race as she realized she’d need to sweeten the deal. “You’d be remembered as the best DJ we’ve ever had.” Vinyl chewed her cheek, averting her eyes. Even her ego wasn’t that easily stroked. “I--” “Wait, before you answer, let me just...” Pacific hastily added, eyes shooting to the closet. She was clearly grasping at straws, but wasn’t ready to give up.. “Here, look.” Pacific moved passed her, darting towards the closet at the back wall. Vinyl heard the flick of a light switch, followed by the rummaging of fabric, but she didn’t bother to look that way. Instead, her attention was on the door. Right now, Pacific was distracted. If there was ever a time to sneak away, this would be it… right? And why shouldn’t I? Vinyl thought indignantly. She lied to get me here! She wants me to wear a freaking diaper for Celestia’s sake! I’ve got no reason to humor this. Except… Thinking back on last night, fighting the blurry memories that so often accompanied her binge drinking, Vinyl couldn’t exactly think of a lie she’d been told. She’d been so distracted just trying to get to a bathroom, that she’d barely let Pacific talk. Okay, whatever. So what if she didn’t lie? Part of Vinyl was still insistent she weasel out. You can’t do this gig. Even without wearing a diaper, if word got out that you’d played at a place like this you’d be a freaking laughing stock. That much was true. Vinyl couldn’t think of any big time DJs that had played for a diaper club before. And that was because there weren’t any. Nopony made it to the top of the night club scene by doing something like that. Or… had they? It’s not like any big name DJs would go bragging about playing something like this. And nopony at the Fountain of Youth would go mouthing off about it either, lest they wanted everypony to know where they spent their Saturday nights. Could she get away with this gig and keep her rep at the same time? Doesn’t matter. That dissenting, but quiet voice, had returned. You still don’t have to do this. Pacific can’t do crap if you leave, and you’ll never have to think about tonight again. Just go home, split a bottle of wine with Tavi, and call it a night. Wait… Octavia. Vinyl had nearly forgotten, but she’d already mouthed off about her gig tonight to her roommate, hadn’t she? So if she bailed and went home now, then she was screwed. She’d never hear the end of it. That pretty much settled it; she wasn’t leaving now. Sure, it was... far from ideal, but it was a doable job at least. Vinyl would just play a little music, get paid, and go home. She didn’t have to accept Pacific’s offer as a fulltime DJ. In fact, she never had to come back to this club ever again. All she had to do was survive tonight. Now the only problem was the diaper… “Okay, what about this?” Pacific stepped back into the room, clutching something purple in her hooves. Ears flicking, Vinyl turned to get a better look at this possible solution being offered. Pacific unraveled it for her, giving Vinyl time to drink it all in. And it… was a onesie. A freaking onesie. Granted, one big enough for an adult to wear, but that hardly made it any better. The mere sight of the purple cotton that tapered off into a buttoned hatch at the flanks was enough to kill the idea that a full grown pony was supposed to wear this, size be damned. And all the additions to it didn’t help. Since a plain design would’ve obviously been too boring for Vinyl, Pacific had grabbed a onesie with a translucent silk skirt wrapped around the waist. It’s pale purple coloring helped it to stand out without clashing with the rest of the outfit, and it was just long enough to make the whole thing look like a tutu. The matching puffed sleeves near the top only added on to that feeling. “I know it isn’t perfect,” Pacific continued as Vinyl stared. “But it would at least cover the diaper.” “Uh… yeah…” Vinyl admitted. “But did you have to pick out something so--” “--Foalish?” Pacific filled in for a nod. “Yeah, I know. But trust me, this was the least foalish thing in there.” Vinyl sneaked a glance towards the closet. The dim light on inside illuminated a rainbow’s worth of frills, lace, and poof. She shivered at the thought of sifting through all of that. Best not to tempt fate on this one. But now that she’d decided to go through with the gig, what were her options? Not wear a diaper and basically ruin the night? Vinyl had never tainted a party before and she wasn’t about to let that record go. Even if it means I have to wear a diaper? She clenched her jaw. Yeah… I mean, I guess... But what about the onesie? Just looking at the foalish garment again, Vinyl could feel her face start to contort into a cringe. It was just so uncool; not befitting of a DJ of her status in the least. Then again, a diaper was probably less so… One look at Pacific Glow’s face sealed the deal. She wore a desperate, almost pathetic, smile that made it obvious how much she wanted this to work out, even as she knew Vinyl probably wanted the opposite. It was a hard smile to say no to. “Fine, I’ll take it,” she muttered, refusing to make eye contact with it, or her. Even so, she could practically feel Pacific light up. “Really, you will?” Her voice was so giddy it almost hurt to listen to. “You’ll be our DJ?” “I mean, I already accepted the gig, right? Vinyl forced some teeth into her smile. “Can’t back out of it now, now can I-- Oh!” She was cut off by a tight hug from Pacific. It was awkward, but she managed to put her fore legs around her and return it. “Uh…” “Thank you,” Pacific said. “Yeah… welcome,” Vinyl murmured. “Really,” Pacific let her go, taking a step back. “It means a lot.” Vinyl just laughed awkwardly. “Spare me the mushy stuff, already.” “Heh, you’re right.” Pacific eyed the changing table towards the back. “Besides. We need to get you ready.” Vinyl gulped. “Right…” Her eyes wandered over to the changing table, the mere thought of climbing onto it making her muscles tense in protest. Already second thoughts were creeping into her mind. Pacific was already walking towards it, however, like it was the easiest thing in the world for her. Given how effortless it was for her to waddle in her own padding, it probably was. She laid the onesie down across the couch as she passed, and motioned for Vinyl to follow her. “Uh, hey…” Vinyl said, chasing after her. Pacific turned around, stopping just as they reached the changing table. “I can put it on myself. You don’t need to do it for me.” “Oh.” Pacific frowned, but only for a half-second. It was almost as though she’d been looking forward to putting a diaper on Vinyl. “Yeah, I mean, of course you can. Here.” She popped open the bottom draw of the changing table and withdrew a fluffy, white square. She held it out for Vinyl to take. Chewing her cheek, Vinyl stared at it. A diaper. Not even wanting to touch it, she lit up her horn and wrapped it in a magical aura. It left Pacific’s hoof, unfolding in mid air before stopping to hover just in front of Vinyl. She eyed it anxiously, before looking to Pacific. “Oh, right.” Taking the hint, Pacific turned away to give Vinyl a little privacy. Now left with no more excuses, Vinyl sighed to herself. Sending the diaper back to her plot, she gritted her teeth and parted her legs. The padding slid onto her undercarriage, sending a shiver down her spine. Wincing, Vinyl willed the diaper to curl around her plot, threading her tail through the hole in the back and pulling it through. The diaper folded around her waist, tickling Vinyl in all the wrong ways as it tapped itself down. Trying hard not to bite her lip off, Vinyl turned to inspect the damage. The white mound of poof on her behind only looked extremely stupid, which was about as best she could’ve hoped for. She tried to reposition her legs back to normal, only to be met with a chorus of crinkles and a hefty amount of resistance from the glorified pillow on her butt. Feeling heat rise beneath her cheeks already, Vinyl came to terms with the fact that she’d be stuck with a spread gait for the duration of the night. She just took solace in the fact that she wouldn’t look like a complete foal as she turned to the onesie. It still filled her with reservation, but as the blush on her face made itself more and more known, it was looking like the best option. Hiding this diaper could be about the only thing that would keep her sane tonight. Picking up the onesie, Vinyl shrugged off her saddlebags and set them to the side. Fiddling with the purple clothes for a moment, she eventually gave up being tactful and simply forced it over her head. She’d never been good with clothes, even with magic at her disposal, and spent a good while forcing the garment onto herself. By the time she got her hooves through the puffy sleeves, she was plenty frustrated on top of her embarrassment. Finally adjusting the body of the onesie, Vinyl was dressed… for better or for worse. “Okay,” she muttered, face to the floor. “Done.” Pacific turned around, face lighting up when she saw the completed outfit. “Aww! You look so cute.” Vinyl’s entire coat turned red. “Y-Yeah? Well…” She couldn’t think of anything to say to that, and just sputtered into incoherence instead. Pacific just giggled at her embarrassment, which only served to make Vinyl even more embarrassed, threatening a feedback loop. She headed that off early by levitating her saddlebags back onto her back and turning, pointing herself at the only remaining door in the room, deducing that it must lead inward toward the club. “Okay, let’s do this,” she said, hoping there was enough false bravado to mask the cracking of her voice. “Oh, hang on.” Pacific suddenly said. “What?” Vinyl looked back to see her boss approaching her diapered plot. Her face flushed to a whole new shade of red. “H-Hey!” She started to move, only for Pacific to stop her with a firm hoof against her flank. “Don’t move,” she said. “I just gotta…” She trailed off, hooves fiddling with Vinyl’s onesie. The fabric tugged as Pacific worked, and soon Vinyl heard two short snaps. “There we go.” Pacific smiled. “Sorry, you just forgot to do the buttons.” “Oh…” Vinyl gave a wimpy smile. At least that was caught early. “Thanks.” Pacific moved ahead of her, deftly waddling around Vinyl. “Okay,” she said. “Now let me show you the club floor.” Finally, something normal. Vinyl was sure she could forget about this whole mess the second she was behind a good set of turntables. Or maybe that was just her demented hope. But even so, that wasn’t going to stop her from trying. She followed after Pacific, only to run into a problem. Each step brought with it a fresh awkwardness. With her legs as spread as they were, Vinyl was doomed to toddle around just like Pacific. Her diaper wasn’t going to let her forget about it so easily. Biting her lip, Vinyl figured she could put up with a foalish waddle and kept moving, only to be chased by the taunting sounds of plastic crinkles. She could only wince pathetically. Pacific Glow pushed open the door, and motioned for Vinyl to follow her. Forcing herself to live with it, Vinyl put up with the waddles and the crinkles as far as the doorway before she overheated her face from all the blushing and needed a moment to cool down. “And here’s the main club floor,” Pacific said, an outstretched hoof revealing Vinyl’s new kingdom to her. And just like that, her fleeting hopes for some semblance of normalcy disappeared. Vinyl’s ears folded down as she took in the sights before her. If she hadn’t explicitly been told this was the club proper, she would’ve sworn they’d just stepped into an oversized nursery. A pale pink carpet covered the floor, so fuzzy that one step onto it caused Vinyl’s hoof to sink in slightly. Stuffed animals of all sizes littered the floor, all of them seeming to stem from a massive pile towards the wall to her left. And speaking of the wall... Vinyl whirled her head up and around, taking in the pink and white striped wallpaper that covered the room. Red hearts dotted the pattern throughout as well, making sure no edge of the room wouldn’t feel as dainty and fillyish as possible. But that wasn’t even close to the end of it. Towards the back corner, Vinyl saw what could only be considered a changing station. A few brightly colored mats were laid down next to two silvery trash cans, their purpose unfortunately pretty clear, and a small wooden supply chest sat opposite of them. Further up along that side, Vinyl saw the club had its own bar. For a brief moment, this revelation was a breath of fresh air for her. After all, there was no way she was making it through this night without getting absolutely hammered. But that breath of fresh air was polluted the moment she really took in what really made up the bar. It had all the typical trappings of a bar, shelves lined with alcohol, taps, a long, wooden table with which to drink from, and it was even being cleaned that very moment by a whistling bartender. Yet, as familiar as it looked, there were a few, subtle hints that this was not your average club bar. For starters, the whole thing was surrounded by the walls of what appeared to be a playpen, with mesh netting reaching just up to the edge of the bar table. Instead of bar stools, five high chairs stood before it, each predictably big enough for a fully grown pony. But the worst part, was that Vinyl couldn’t see any glasses; just foal bottles. Of. Friggin’. Course. Tearing her eyes away from that travesty, Vinyl retreated the the back-center of the room, hoping to take solace in a--hopefully normal--set of turntables and subwoofers. And, to her surprise, they were actually normal. A sleek, modern pair of subwoofers flanked a dual track turntable so shiny that Vinyl was practically squinting to look at it. The whole setup was clean to the point of pristine-ness to boot; she was willing to bet not a single speck of dust was present. It was either brand new equipment, or well taken care of equipment, but either way it was begging for a real DJ to take it for a proper spin. And Vinyl was the realist DJ she knew... It was almost perfect. Almost, because as Vinyl’s tunnel vision faded she saw pink bars surrounding the setup on all sides, creating the imagery of a crib. Her heart sank, her last bastion for pretending this club was normal crushed right before her eyes. “Well,” Pacific prodded, drawing Vinyl’s attention. “What do you think?” “Uh…” Come on, say… something. “It’s definitely… a club?” She cringed inwardly, her own delivery nearly as bad as the club floor itself. “Heh, yeah, it is,” Pacific said, rolling with it. “But I mean… will you still be able to play like this?” The corner of her mouth tugged to the side. She shifted, feeling the poofy diaper stuck to her plot squeeze between her legs. Vinyl wanted so badly to sigh right then. “Well, I’m already wearing a diaper,” she said. “Like this would make me back out.” Pacific gave a more genuine giggle this time. “Glad to hear it.” “Don’t mention it.” Vinyl waddled over to the turntables, ears nearly flicking down when she heard the crinkles behind her. Surveying the psuedo-crib up close, she found the bars came up to her chest. Poking her head around the corners, she didn’t find a door or any sort of opening to get inside. She looked back, just as Pacific caught up to her. “Uh…” “You have to climb over the bars,” Pacific elaborated. The look on Vinyl’s face must’ve said it all, because she quickly added, “I know, not the best design but we’re kind of stuck with it.” “Well, okay I guess.” With her magic, Vinyl slipped off her saddles bags and set them inside the bars of the the makeshift crib, then grabbed the edge with her fore hooves. Pulling up, she swung one of her hind legs over, but failed to judge the bulk of her padding. The crotch of her diaper leapt into the crib’s edge, and Vinyl’s face went from light pink to fiery red in a heartbeat. So shocked by it all, her body just rolled and she flopped over the side, landing square on her padded plot. Her butt sank into the diaper, and it decompressed to a choir of crinkles. Vinyl’s face stayed red. “You okay?” Pacific asked, her shaky lips betraying her near-laugh. “F-Fine,” Vinyl mumbled, struggling to stand back up. Though a challenge with her legs as spread apart as they were, she eventually managed. She surveyed the equipment before her, now free to work within the confines of the crib bars. Finally she had reached a point where she might be able to pretend she wasn’t dressed like an overgrown foal inside of a giant nursery. And just the fact that that sentence applied to her life right now only made Vinyl blush all the more. “Okay,” Pacific clapped. “I’ve got to go and properly open the club, so I’ll leave you to your music thing.” “Sounds good.” Vinyl shifted her hind legs, her climb and fall having resulted in her diaper now riding up on her flanks, somehow making it even more uncomfortable to wear. “Oh, and if you want a drink, just flag down Berry and she’ll hook you up,” Pacific pointed over to the purple mare working the bar, who waved back. Looking gave Vinyl a chance to see the bartender was also wearing a diaper, which peeked out just over the edge of the table. As she waved to Berry, Vinyl tried not to stare at the padding. “Staff drinks are on the house,” Pacific mentioned as she began walking to the front. “Just be responsible.” “I’m responsible,” she absent-mindedly lied to her boss. Vinyl adjusted her onesie, trying to push her diaper back into place. It refused to sit properly on her rear now, getting its plushy softness everywhere it didn’t need to be. Already she could tell it was going to be a long night. Just then, the overhead lights dimmed, and softer spotlights poured some new colors into the overly pink club. Before Vinyl could even be grateful to the blues and reds now surrounding her, she heard new voices already coming from the front of the club floor. “And so it begins,” Vinyl whispered to herself, magic digging into her bag of records while she slid her sunglasses off to see better. As she set the fresh vinyl down and flipped the machines on, Vinyl flashed a partying grin for the oncoming patrons. She moved the needle to the already spinning record, sound explosion pending. She was more or less in DJ mode now, with alcohol being the optional--but not really optional--final component of her transformation. I just hope I can get some booze that isn’t in a foal bottle, tonight. > One of the Freaks > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Fountain of Youth had a much more intimate dance floor than most clubs. Maybe a little less than half the size of the smallest club Vinyl had played before tonight. But what they lacked in size, the club and its patrons made up for with sheer energy. Ponies were bouncing off the walls, the pegasi quite literally. There wasn’t a still corner of the dance floor, as everywhere held a jumping, spazzing pony, or a stuffed animal being flung around like a rag doll, or just pointing their padded flanks skyward and shaking it, which Vinyl could only guess was a normal thing to do at one of these types of raves. Even the ponies at the bar who had stopped themselves long enough to relax with a stiff drink were still bobbing their heads along to the music. If Vinyl had to guess the root cause for all of this, she’d probably point a hoof at the diapers. All the ponies before her were decked out in foal paraphernalia in some way from pacifiers, to onesies, to bonnets and bibs, but diapers were a commonality on all fronts. She guessed being free to indulge in something they liked must’ve set off a trigger in their minds that turned everypony here into seizing lunatics just because a Countess Coloratura song was playing. Vinyl was just glad the sickeningly poppy beats of ‘Razzle Dazzle’ was enough to drown out what was undoubtedly a cacophony of crinkling coming from the padding all around the room. Yet somehow in spite of everything, she still managed to catch the wrinkling sounds of plastic pampers whenever she moved her hind legs. It was actually kind of impressive, Vinyl had realized. The clean sound of the subwoofers was angled just a little off center to bounce off the walls rather than fly straight to the back of the room. With some clever acoustics worked into the room’s architecture, including some dampeners high up on the walls of the room to work to smother the reverb, Vinyl caught only a modest volume of feedback. Unless she stuck her head way out in front of her turntables, then she was fine to forgo her usual ear plugs for the night, even though the trade off was listening to her ever present diaper more than she’d care too. The stupid padding had only become more cumbersome as the minutes ticked by. It refused to sit as snuggly as it once had, sometimes too low, sometimes to high, and always uncomfortable. Vinyl had tried shoving it around, tugging it with her magic, and even once smacking it against the bars of the crib walls, but nothing made it any better. Her diaper’s padding seemed doomed to stay buried in her hindquarters as a permanent distraction. “That’s just great,” Vinyl muttered under her breath. She levitated a new record from her bag, some electronic indie hit she’d been fond of for a while, and slipped it free of its cover. ‘Razzle Dazzle’ still had a little less than a minute left to go, which gave her just enough time to set up the next song. As she leaned in to place the record, her diaper crinkled and scampered up her plot, as though it was trying to give her a wedgie. “Grr,” Vinyl grit her teeth, more than fed up as she began fading out ‘Razzle Dazzle’ and let the new song pick up in its place. The legion of diapered dancers who looked like they were at least trying to imitate the Countess’ moves before giving up when the next song came on. Now they’d decided flinging their bodies around at random was the best way to ‘dance’. Vinyl couldn’t help but think that maybe wearing extra thick padding was impeding their ability to dance. As if to answer, her own padding rode up on her plot even further, as if to say ‘yeah, probably, got a problem with that?’. And Vinyl did have a problem with that, as a matter of fact. Grumbling, she pushed her diaper back down with her hoof. At this rate, she’d be wrestling with her padding all night. Not exactly ideal. In fact, they were far, far, removed from Vinyl’s ideal, but that was besides the point. Looking up, Vinyl spotted the bar right across from her. Aside from two patrons already drinking their beer out of--ugh--foal bottles, the bartender wasn’t busy. “Okay,” she muttered to herself. “Time for a little distraction from this…” She wiggled her diapered rump, shivering as it once again began to climb her flanks. “...distraction.” She raised her hoof, the puffed out sleeve of her onesie brushing against her cheek and eliciting a short groan, and waved down the bartender. It took a few seconds to catch her eye, but once Berry saw her, she nodded. Vinyl lowered her hoof as Berry hopped over the edge of the bar. It was a pretty graceful leap, considering the two pillow’s worth of padding wrapped around her butt. Now that Berry was on the other side of the bar, Vinyl got her first good look at the padding her fellow employee wore. She’d been operating under the assumption that they’d be the same, but one look at Berry’s flank made Vinyl realize just how lucky she was. Her diaper was massive. It easily eclipsed Vinyl’s, probably reaching close to double the size of hers. As a result, Berry’s legs were spread to the point where they wouldn’t even have a chance to touch each other, even if she wanted them too. Her resulting waddle as she made her way over to the turntables was easily more infantile than Vinyl’s. By comparison, Vinyl made walking in a diaper look easy. But that wasn’t all that was different about hers. As Berry got even closer, Vinyl caught sight of a few lines of baby blue frills wrapping around the seat of her diaper. A rather foalish choice of design; Vinyl couldn’t believe this mare had let herself get put in that thing. “Whatcha need?” Berry asked, raising her voice only slightly to be heard above the music. She brought a foreleg up to rest it against the edge of Vinyl’s crib-cage.. “Something strong enough to make sure I don’t remember tonight,” Vinyl called back, attaching a joking, you-get-where-I’m-coming-from type of smile. Berry nodded, lips tightening. “Ah, I see. Another one-timer, huh?” “Uh, yeah.” Vinyl was a little taken aback by such a disappointed, but casual, response. “You… work here full time?” “Yep,” Berry said, to the tune of another nod. “I’m about the only bartender Pacific could find willing to.” “Heh, I bet. Must not be easy to find ponies who’ll put up with wearing diapers as big as yours.” “Uh huh.” Berry said, fore leg falling from the crib. “And even harder to find ones who like it.” Vinyl narrowed her eyes, taken aback. “Wait… you like wearing diapers too?” Berry gave her diaper a pat, her purple hoof sinking into the padding. “Sure do. Why? That a problem?” “Uh…” Vinyl fought down the heat rising beneath her cheeks. Somehow she had to make this less awkward. Assuming that was possible. “No! I mean, it’s fine to like wearing diapers. I don’t, but like--” “I can tell,” Berry smirked. “Given that you’re wearing an extra small, and all.” Vinyl’s jaw dropped, and spent a good few seconds just dangling in mid air. “T-This is an extra small?” She asked, incredulously pointing to the covered padding ballooning off her flanks. “This?” Berry chuckled. “Man, that never gets old.” Oh thank Celestia. Vinyl relaxed a little. “Okay, I get it. Haha, you got me and all that.” Berry snorted this time. “I just meant the reactions never get old. That really is an extra small.” “What?!” Vinyl’s voice cracked. She tried squeezing her hind legs together, her diaper resisting all the way, even after she just barely managed to touch her legs together. Extra small, my flank. “It gets better,” Berry insisted, tapping her padded rear again. “Mines only a medium.” “A med--” Vinyl actually felt a little dizzy. “No way.” “Yes way.” The look on Vinyl’s face must’ve been hilarious, because Berry couldn’t seem to stop laughing. She opened her mouth for a retort, but snapped it shut. Suddenly, Vinyl was pretty fearful to hear what the large size was like. Eventually, Berry managed to stop snickering long enough to speak again. “Well, anyway, what can I get you?” Oh right. Somehow, Vinyl had been so engrossed in their conversation about diapers, that she forgot she needed booze. That… was not a good sign. “What’s the strongest stuff you got?” She asked, needing a quick-fix for this whole situation. “Uh…” Berry furrowed her brow. “I dunno about that. You’ve got the whole night coming up; you sure you want something strong now?” “I can handle it,” Vinyl huffed. “What, you don’t trust me?” “I don’t know what you can handle,” Berry retorted. “And I’d prefer not to be responsible for a smashed DJ tonight.” Ugh. Vinyl flicked her tail in annoyance. Why did bartenders have to be so responsible? “Can I just have a beer, then?” “That’s doable,” Berry nodded. She shuffled to turn around. “Gimme just a sec.” Vinyl’s gaze shot to the bar and back. “Uh, real quick?” Berry stopped and looked back. “Yeah?” Vinyl fiddled her forehooves together. “Do you have any, uh… regular glasses?” A small smile creeped onto Berry’s face. “What’s the matter, can’t handle drinking out of a foal bottle?” Vinyl couldn’t stop the heat rising under her cheeks. Really? She was going to be teased about this? “L-Look, the diaper’s bad enough alright? I don’t want to have to drink out of a bottle too.” Berry mercifully dropped her smug look. “Nopony’s going to judge you, you know. I mean, just look.” She pointed a hoof back over to the bar. A stallion in a bright pink diaper had his lips wrapped around a bottle’s rubber nipple and was suckling away. He seemed not to have a care in the world, with a dopey grin plastered on his face to prove it. And he wasn’t the only one, either. But Vinyl just shivered, her diaper crinkling. Her self-respect hadn’t sunk that low; even if it was fine for everypony else, she didn’t want to have to. “C’mon, can’t I just have a regular glass, or something? You can’t have just--” “Just foal bottles,” Berry confirmed for her with a curt nod. Vinyl winced. Of course. Because why wouldn’t they? She was quiet for a moment, eyeing the carpet as the records on her turntable spun away. They’d reached the second chorus of the song already, meaning there wasn’t much time before she had to do another quick switch with the records. “Well?” Berry asked, head nudging toward the bar. “You still want something to drink, or…” Vinyl squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t make it through the night without some kind of buzz going, she knew that much. “Fine. Yes,” she grumbled. “Coming right up then.” Berry waddled back to the bar, the sounds of her diaper eventually getting drowned out by the rest of the club. Vinyl sighed once she was gone. “Great,” she mumbled to herself. “That’s juuuust great.” But it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. After all, she could probably just take off the rubber part and drink it from the bottle to reclaim some semblance of normalcy. Shifting back to face her set up, Vinyl felt her diaper pushing her hind legs apart. She frowned. Who am I kidding? Nothing about this night is normal. Running on instinct, Vinyl moved to switch the tracks with the time she had left. She didn’t spend much time hunting down a good song from her collection; she just wasn’t in the mood to. Instead, she just grabbed the nearest Sapphire Shores album and set it up. No matter what, that could please a crowd, at least. While it was nice to have internalized her DJ skills to the point where she didn’t even have to think before setting the new record spinning, tonight was probably the only night she wished that wasn’t the case. Without having her mind occupied by work, she was stuck thinking about other things. Or rather, stuck trying not to think about the fact that she was wearing a diaper, or performing in a club full of ponies wearing diapers, or any other diaper related thoughts. She shuddered as her padding once again climbed up her rear, as if determined to constantly remind her, just in case she somehow forgot she was wearing a diaper. If only, she thought, pulling the seat of her diaper with a telekinetic yank. She paid extra special care as she faded out the current song, accepting every meager distraction at her disposal. By the time she was finished, she caught sight of a purple mare toddling toward the crib walls out of the corner of her eye. “That was fast,” Vinyl said as Berry reached the edge of the pink bars. “I try,” Berry modestly admitted. She held a foal bottle up, tilting it over the edge of the bars and pointing the nipple at Vinyl. Forcing a shaky smile, she nodded her thanks. Vinyl grabbed the bottle with her magic, still hesitant to even touch it. As she brought it closer, the soft lighting of the club revealed to her the perfect shade of gold inside the bottle, filled with fresh bubbles darting up to the surface. She felt her mouth water at just the sight. “Whelp, go ahead. I can tell you need it,” Berry said, the look on Vinyl’s face possibly too blatant. Ignoring that, Vinyl targeted her magic toward the bottle’s rubbery top. Pinching the edge, she pulled to remove it. Berry’s eyes widened, seeing what she was doing. “Uh, wait a sec--” Freed from the confines of the bottle, beer suddenly spilled out, leaping into the open air. “Woah!” Vinyl switched her magic off, letting the rubber nipple to snap back into place. It stopped the worst from happening and managed to seal the rest of the golden drink inside. What had spilled out wasn’t much, thankfully. Some ran down the side of the plastic bottle, coating it in a thin layer of sticky booze. The rest splashed down onto the carpet, narrowly missing the subwoofer’s cables. It formed a dark stain in the floor, visible even in the soft lighting of the club. Confused, Vinyl’s gaze darted back to the bottle. She held it up to the lights above, illuminating the beer inside the bottle. Unsurprisingly, she saw her drink rose far above the brim of just the bottle, and well into the nipple. It’d probably been even more full before the spill, too. “Couldha used a warning,” Vinyl mumbled to Berry as she lowered her drink. “I was trying to,” Berry said. “Didn’t expect you to try and take the top off.” Vinyl flushed, caught red-hoofed. “Well what did you expect me to do? Suckle?” Berry chuckled to herself. “It’s what I’m used to seeing, yeah.” Vinyl flushed again, embarrassed just by the fact that trying not to be a foal was making her the weird one. “Sorry for filling it up so much. I’ll put a little less in your next one.” “You could just not put a nipple on the next one at all,” Vinyl huffed, setting the drink down on an empty spot on the turntables. “Then I’d spill it,” Berry retorted, pointing back to the bar then patting her padded rear. “It’s not easy climbing over that thing with this on.” Then take it off, Vinyl grumpily thought. “Fine.” Her smile dropped. “Will that be okay? It’ll be easy taking off the rubber bits with your magic and all, right?” “I said it’s fine,” Vinyl replied, trying hard to keep her voice as cool and smooth as it usually was. She nudged her shoulder toward the bottle before her. “I’ll just figure out something for this one.” Her coolness was betrayed by the warmth on her cheeks, however. Still sober, Vinyl couldn’t play that off as having one too many drinks, and Berry was all too aware. “You don’t have to be so self-conscious, you know.” Berry’s voice was more sympathetic now, which only served to annoy Vinyl further. She didn’t need anypony pitying her in her current state. “‘Cause everypony here is doing it?” Vinyl shot back. “Yeah, no thanks. I’m not a frea--” She caught herself, probably too late.  Clearing her throat, she looked away. “I’m not into this crap, alright?” She could hear a heavy sigh come from Berry. “Message received. Here, give me the bottle.” Vinyl turned, greeted by Berry’s outstretched hoof. Was she about to lose her alcohol life-line? Me and my big mouth. “I—” “Just give it here,” Berry cut her off. “I’ve got other patrons to get back to, you know.” Tightening her lips, Vinyl kicked her magic into gear. Scooping up the bottle, she hesitantly returned it to Berry. She just hoped the bartender would still be willing to serve her later. Once Vinyl’s aura left the bottle, she fully expected Berry to turn right around and disappear. Instead, Vinyl had to raise her eyebrows as Berry suddenly tipped her head back and pressed the rubber nipple to her lips. She suckled, her cheeks ballooning as they filled with beer. Struck with second-hoof embarrassment, no matter how unnecessary it was, Vinyl just stared. Berry eventually gulped, ripping her lips from the bottle to take a breath. She brought her head down, wiping her mouth with her foreleg. “There.” She tossed the bottle back, forcing Vinyl to catch it with her magic. As the beer inside settled, Vinyl saw that it didn’t even reach the brim anymore. Berry flashed her a sarcastic smile. “Rejoice, now you don’t have to be a freak.” “Uh--” Vinyl tried to think of something to say, but Berry cut her off. She turned, tail swishing across the seat of her padding, and awkwardly sauntered away before getting a response. Vinyl just stared, first at Berry, but then she switched to the bottle. A frown slumped onto her face. That had been nicer than she’d deserved, that was for sure. Would it have really been so bad if you had to drink from the bottle? Came a innocent-sounding thought. She grunted, dropping the bottle onto the table. Stupid. Like she was going to let some fleeting guilt convince her of anything. If she drank from that bottle would be the third lamest thing she’d have done all night, right behind wearing a diaper and being a general asshat. And yet… Even as Vinyl tampered with the volume dials, she couldn’t stop her eye from catching a glimpse at the bottle. Why had she just set it down like that? She should’ve slapped the top off and taken a chug already. She definitely wasn’t putting off drinking it until she’d decided what to do. Because there was nothing to decide, obviously. She was going to drink it normally, and just apologize to Berry next time around. So long as an apology was enough, that is. Vinyl shook her head, chasing that unpleasant thought from her mind. It wasn’t worth considering anyway, right? Berry seemed pretty cool, she probably didn’t hold grudges or anything like that. To take her mind off of it, Vinyl just focused on her work. Digging into her stash of records, she levitated out three that could follow the current song’s momentum. She stared them down, occasionally nudging one record above the others, only to squint, cock her head to the side and lower it again. Eventually, her internal debate threatened to run longer than the current song. Trusting her gut, Vinyl snatched the middle one from the air and let the other two sink to an open corner of the table, letting them remain on deck while her pick stepped up to bat. The familiar motions of switching records took over as she set it up. It wasn’t long before the sounds of a former top forty hit gave way to some classic dubstep, giving her a chance to step back and relax for a moment. But that proved to be a mistake. As cramped as Vinyl was between her turntable and the walls of the crib, she didn’t exactly have wiggle room. Stepping back sent the seat of her diaper right into the bars, compressing the padding and pushing a tidal wave of floof into her undercarriage. “Eep!” Came the most un-Vinyl-like sound from Vinyl’s mouth, as she leapt forward And she still hadn’t even touched her drink. Vinyl caught it out of the corner of her eye mid-switch, her jaw clenching. She couldn’t even look at it without flashes of that conversation returning. Sweet Celestia, again with this crap? So what if she’d (almost) called Berry a freak? She knew all of… this, wasn’t normal. Everypony at the club did. Vinyl shouldn’t have to feel guilt for almost putting words to the thought. The foal bottle just glared her down, tantalizing her with its contents. Vinyl caved. Fine! I feel guilty alright? She bit her lips, thoughts bleeding into her actions. It was a crappy thing to do, I admit it. That’s on me. Her eyes darted back to the bottle, hoping that admitting that to herself would be enough to let her drink without her feeling like she needed to-- Her frown tightened. No, no it was not. Even looking at the bottle now, she still couldn’t bring herself to remove the top and take a drink. She could see the last of the bubbles rising to the top of the beer too. Feeling her mouth water, Vinyl swallowed. Seriously, how much longer are you going to let this go on? A part of her asked. She groaned. She sighed. She shuffled her hooves and looked out into the throng of dancing ponies. When the sight of shaking diapered plots became too much for her to stare at, she turned her head to the bar, only to briefly lock eyes with Berry and jolt away. This is so stupid! Vinyl’s horn lit up, wrapping the foal bottle in her blue aura and drawing it up to eye level. It’s stupid. It’s so stupid. It’s just a bottle; everypony’s drinking out of one. But it’s so stupid! She could keep going in circles all night, but that wouldn’t get her drunk. Or make her forget about wearing a diaper. One more look down at the bottle finally forced her to admit defeat. Vinyl gave a heavy sigh. “I guess it’s not so bad,” she mumbled under her breath, tilting the bottle’s nipple towards her lips. If this could wash away her guilt, she guessed it’d be worth it in the end. She inched it closer, and closer, and closer. Puckering her lips, Vinyl tried to forced to open, but they didn’t seem to want to. In the end, she couldn’t blame them. The bottle made contact, the rubber tip hitting her tightened lips. They were pushed back, but didn’t part, the last bastion of her resistance to this stupid idea. With effort, Vinyl forced them to open. The tentative opening was quickly filled by the bottle, as Vinyl begrudgingly welcomed the nipple into her mouth. She could feel it was damp still, the warmth of Berry’s lips still present. Once it was in her whole body tensed, and froze up. She let it hang in her mouth, waiting for a wave of embarrassment to swallow her up. But nothing like that happened. Instead, she just felt like an idiot for sticking a foal bottle in her mouth and doing nothing. Unconsciously, her eyes scanned the room, looking for any smug looks being thrown her way. All she saw was the same spastic dancing as before. Nopony even spared a glance for the grown mare with a foal bottle in her mouth. Which only left her with one last hurdle to climb. Vinyl suckled, just once. It went by so quickly and was so weak a motion that it didn’t even mean anything. All of the beer stayed stuck in the bottle. She groaned, an annoyed blush sparking to light under her cheeks. No more messing around, then. This time, Vinyl put more force behind it. Her suckle brought only a few drops forth, the sting of the bitter drink hitting her tongue oh so satisfyingly. But she wasn’t about to let that be the end of it. She followed that suckle up with another. And another. Pretty soon, Vinyl had a good rhythm going, with a steady stream of beer to show for it. There was plenty of time left on the current song, Vinyl didn’t need to pay any attention to it for a while. She was able to completely dedicate herself to suckling on her bottle, letting the world around her fade away. Her eyelids drooped a little, the relaxing motions of her lips and cheeks lulling her into a calmer state. What had she even been so worried about before? She gulped down a mouthful of beer, feeling the sting in her throat. That one was quickly followed up with another. Vinyl kept chasing down each gulp with more and more of the golden drink, as if she’d been dying of thirst for the whole night. In a way, she definitely had been. Her head dipped to the right, her face flushing. Only, unlike the last eight billion times that had happened tonight, this time it was her cheeks warming up under the influence of alcohol. Already, Vinyl could feel the fuzziness that came from drinking, and her lips curled up. One look down at the nearly empty bottle sticking out of her mouth confirmed it: she was tipsy. Usually she had a higher tolerance than this. But then, usually bars served cheap swill that couldn’t be more watered down even if you emptied it into a river. The Fountain of Youth had some high quality booze tucked away; that was for sure. She suddenly found herself glad she hadn't been given the strongest stuff right off the bat. Vinyl’s head continued dipping to the right as she polished off her bottle. It was moving on its own, but Vinyl wasn’t about to start telling it what to do. Eventually, it had her staring down the bar, as though her body was trying to tell her something. After a few suckles of empty air, Vinyl was able to figure out just what that was: She needed more. Funny, because now Vinyl was staring at the one mare in a position to do so. And she was staring back. Dulled by the beer, it took Vinyl a moment to process that. But once she did, her face leapt from neutral to surprised and then to embarrassed. Finally, that feeling had caught up to her again. She whipped her head around to face forward, spitting out the bottle in the process. Too late; she’d definitely been seen. Berry’s raised eyebrow look was already burned onto her retinas. Dammit. After everything that had happened, to be caught red-hoofed like that was… well, it may not be the worst thing that could’ve happened, but as far as Vinyl was concerned it might as well be. What was she supposed to do now? Claim she was just messing around? That might work, especially if Berry had only seen her for a moment… But not if she’d seen the whole thing. Vinyl cringed, her ears folding down. It would be very hard to play off drinking all of her beer through the bottle as a joke. Maybe we can just not talk about it. At all. Ever. Now there was an idea Vinyl could get behind. Shutting up wasn’t her strong suit, but she’d make an exception in this case, so long as Berry would too… Oh, who am I kidding? After her little ‘freak’ comment, Berry was definitely going to go for some payback. Vinyl was looking at a whole night’s worth of teasing now. Even if she shut up, there’s no way Berry would. Vinyl leaned back, too deep in sluggish thought to care when her diaper pressed against the bars of the crib. Okay, what about-- “Hey.” Vinyl’s ears flicked. Slowly, her head creaked over to look at the source of the voice. Berry was at the edge of her crib, a knowingly smug smile barely contained on her face. “U-U-Uh…” Vinyl’s voice was shakier than her legs. She hadn’t expected to be ambushed like this. “Need another drink?” Berry suddenly held up a new bottle, one brimming with the same golden liquid. “I wasn’t-- I didn’t--!” Vinyl was at a severe loss for words, and she wasn’t drunk enough to use that as her excuse, either. Berry just chuckled as she tossed the new foal bottle over to Vinyl. Slow to react, Vinyl fumbled her horn alight and snagged her new drink before it hit the ground. As she looked up, Berry was already turning away. “Enjoy it, ‘freak’.” She winked playfully. Vinyl wasn’t sure her face could get any redder. She just gulped, turning back around to face her equipment. That could’ve been… a lot worse. She looked at her new bottle, immediately seeing that Berry had gone back on her word. This one was as full as the last one had been, with no way to safely remove the top without beer spilling everywhere. Vinyl should be mad at that, but… it really wasn’t that big of a deal. In fact, it might not even be much of a deal at all. She’d never say this out loud, but suckling on that last bottle had been… nice? To an extent at least. If she had to do that for the rest of the night, then she probably wouldn’t complain. And, if anything, she was already starting to forget about the glorified cloud resting between her legs, so that was a plus. Vinyl licked her lips, her tongue dry. The booming sounds of her music still reverberated through the club; she still had a chorus and some change before she needed to get back to work. “Well… bottom’s up,” Vinyl said, sliding the rubber nipple between her lips. > I Need A Little Change > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vinyl had to pee. It wasn’t her body giving her a gentle nudge toward the bathroom, this wasn’t an oh-I-should-probably-go-eventually type of urge. No, this was full blown, bladder-aching misery she was feeling. Four bottle’s worth of beer felt like it was ready to burst out of her bladder at any given moment, but considering her… situation, Vinyl was doing everything she could to hold it. Which unfortunately wasn’t much. The girth of her padding didn’t allow her to cross her hind legs. She could barely get her hooves to touch back there, for all the good that did. A new burst of pain radiated from her bladder as Vinyl doubled over. Her mouth devolved into a wriggling line as she held back a groan of pain. With her face closer to the floor, she could see the empty bottles littering the carpet around her, coyly reminding her of the situation she had put herself in. Vinyl sighed; she never did learn, did she? Struggling to stand upright, Vinyl let her eyes swoop around the club room, looking for the restroom sign. There had to be one, right? Among the still surging mass of ponies, none seemed to be in the same position as her. She didn’t even spot one waddling away to reveal a bathroom to her. Another stab of pain sent Vinyl’s head swiveling. Her gaze settled on the backstage door, and she racked her brain trying to remember if a bathroom was in there. A changing station was in there… Vinyl shook her head, chasing the thought from her head before it could even fully form. She was desperate, but— “Errgh!” Vinyl squeezed her legs together as tightly as she could, fighting her bladder no matter the cost. And that cost was high. Pressing her thighs together flooded her backside with padding. She nearly yelped as the poofy garment fondled her hindquarters, its crinkles sounding awfully similar to maniacal cackling. To distract herself, Vinyl chomped down on her bottom lip. It wasn’t quite enough to take her mind off the near-bursting dam that was her bladder, but it helped. She was running out of options. She knew there had to be a restroom nearby somewhere, but she didn’t have the time to go hunting for one. The records spinning away before her would need tending too eventually. ...How… how much time did she have left on these tracks? Vinyl had hardly been paying attention. Fighting back haziness, she forced herself to listen to the current song. Poppy beats, an auto-tuned voice, and familiar lyrics reached her sluggish mind. Wait a sec, is that… Razzle Dazzle? That had already been on early tonight, right? Why had she… Vinyl shook her head. She was imagining things, obviously. Just one look out into the club put her fears to bed; they were dancing as fervently as ever. No way this was a repeat if that was the case. Regardless, she could tell it was on its last chorus anyway. Looking over, Vinyl saw the second turntable barren. Good thing she’d checked in when she did, then. That could’ve gone poorly. Vinyl turned to her song stash, ready to find something new to put on. Her once orderly stack of album sleeves had morphed into a misshapen pile covering her saddlebags, a victim of her slipshod organizing skills, no doubt. But that was all good; it was nothing Vinyl hadn’t been responsible for countless nights before. She reached into the pile, shifting records and letting them slide around. Finally, she found a promising choice. She pulled up a dubstep record that she rarely played. It was a classic in the world of wubs, but one that rarely made it to the dancefloor, just by virtue of its whopping twelve minute runtime. It was unlike Vinyl, or any DJ, really, to play such a long song, but she could make an exception. Since she had to go toilet hunting, a long-runner like this was ideal. She tipped the sleeve, letting the vinyl inside slip out. Her magic flickered to life, awkwardly smothering the record in her aura. Even in her current state, Vinyl didn’t have much trouble doing her job. As it turns out, instinct—even drunken instinct— was pretty reliable. With the next song set to go as soon as Razzle Dazzle ended, Vinyl was once again free to worry about her predicament, which had only gotten worse since she’d last left it. Her bladder was threatening to burst. The acute pain had become much, much sharper. Vinyl worried it was no longer possible to just shove the need to the back of her head anymore. Pretty soon it would be the only thing she could think about, just from sheer force of her body screaming at her to use the bathroom. There really was no way around it now; Vinyl was going to have to ask the question she was afraid to hear the answer to. Head turning to the bar, Vinyl fought down pained cringes as she locked eyes with Berry. She waved the bartender over. Berry nodded to her, just in time for Vinyl to double over again from the pressure in her hip. She squeezed her eyes shut, snout nearly touching the carpet. Her rear stayed raised in the air, and she could feel her tail twitch with the temptation rise. Vinyl forced it to stay put, worried doing so would be crossing the point of no return. In sheer desperation, she leaned back, inviting the bars of her makeshift crib to help her out. As her diaper pressed into them, she felt familiar sensation of the padding caving in. At this point, Vinyl couldn’t muster up the energy to get annoyed as even more padding invaded her backside. If it could help plug up her bladder until she found a toilet, it would all be worth it in the end. “Geeze Berry, what’s taking you so long,” she muttered under her breath. Surely by now she should’ve— “I’m right here,” came a voice to her left. Vinyl peeked one eye open, turning to look up. Berry was just at the otherside of her crib, giving her a raised-eyebrow look of concern. “Uh… I can come back later if you’d prefer though…” Vinyl matched Berry with a raised brow of her own. What is she… Then it hit her. The raised rear, pressed padding look Vinyl was rocking right now could easily be mistaken for— “No no no!” Vinyl yelped, jutting up and just barely managing to avoid losing her fight with her bladder. “I wasn’t— I swear I wouldn’t—” “Relax,” Berry assured her. “I was just teasing you. Here.” She held up her hoof, offering to Vinyl—ugh—another bottle filled with beer. Clearly Vinyl’s pained expression was doing a bad job of communicating for her. “Berry, I…” Vinyl bit her lip. Even with her face well-warmed from drunkenness, she could feel her cheeks flush ever so slightly. “Wheresabaffroomat?” she mumbled. Lowering her offering, Berry tilted her head, aiming her ear at Vinyl. “What?” Vinyl bit her lip, unsure if she was still getting teased or not. Luckily ‘Razzle Dazzle’ was finally fading out, meaning there was little chance Berry would miss her saying “Where’s the bathroom?” It seemed to get through this time, as Berry turned her head forward again. Unfortunately, her brows also furrowed. “You gotta go?” “Real bad,” Vinyl nodded, bouncing all the balls of her hooves as she prepped to bolt in whatever direction she was pointed. “Oh Celestia, Pacific forgot to tell you this too?” Berry’s jaw clenched. “I swear, I’m going to take over finding DJs from now on if she can’t—” “What did she forget to tell me?” Vinyl pressed, urgently waddling to the edge of the crib. This sounded like she was about to get some really bad news. Berry could tell she already knew, but still put a voice to Vinyl’s biggest fear. “You’re wearing your bathroom, Vinyl.” Suddenly, deafening sounds of glass shattering drowned out the entire club. “C-Come on, Berry,” Vinyl nervously laughed. “Stop teasin’ me. This’serious.” Panicked, Vinyl wasn’t even focusing on not slurring her speech anymore. “I wouldn’t tease you on this, Scratch,” Berry insisted. Her face morphed into a regretful cringe. As if to appease Vinyl, she turned and tapped her padded rear. “If it helps, I’m already a little wet.” “It doesn’t,” Vinyl snapped. “Yer tellin’ me there’s no bathroom anywhere around here?” Berry just shook her head. “There isn’t a single toilet on our floor at all.” “Whadabout upstairs?” Vinyl was breaking out into a full on potty dance now. “Dey gotta—” Berry just shook her head. “They’re all locked up for the night. All you’ve got is your diap—” “Please don’ sayit,” Vinyl begged. It had sort of been in the back of her mind all night; the idea that she’d have to use this diaper she was wearing. Even as she’d warmed up to them—painful though it may be to admit—she was not going to go that far. At all. “Dere’s gottabe somthin’.” Through gritted teeth, Berry said, “I… guess I can go see if Pacific has a spare key for the building above us, but—” “Please!” Vinyl cried, wincing as she felt cracks in her defense form. A drop of pee escaped. Then two. “Hurry!” Berry nodded, eyes widening as she darted over to the mob of ponies on the dancefloor, disappearing into the colorful mess as she went in search of Pacific Glow. And Vinyl was left all alone. She clenched her jaw as the ache continued to burn. This was really, really bad. At this rate, Vinyl didn’t think she could last until Berry found Pacific, let alone making it all the way upstairs. But if that was the case... The bars of the crib suddenly felt very tall. And… were they closing in around her? She swallowed, her throat dry. Not good; she was completely trapped in here. And with the ticking time bomb that was her bladder, that only spelled disaster. Vinyl waited only a second longer, sparing a glance out into the crowd in the faint hope that Berry was returning with good news. When only the same bouncing heads and diapered butts she’d been seeing all night greeted her, Vinyl decided she was on her own. It wasn’t the smartest move, but Vinyl bolted for the crib wall, ready to solve the problem herself. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but she was ready to hunt down a bathroom before it was too late, all the while holding on to the belief that it wasn’t already too late. She threw herself over the wall of the crib. And that was the mistake that ended her. Her sloppy, drunk calculations and the ever-impeding diaper between her legs, insured her failure. Vinyl drove her stomach right into the edge of the crib, the shock causing her to lose her hold on her bladder. “Uurk!” Scrambling, she brought her forelegs down and latched onto the outside of the bars and pulling herself forward. She slumped over, diaper crinkling as it rolled over the top rung of the crib. Vinyl stuck the landing, splatting on her face as her forelegs splayed out across the carpet. Her belly came to rest against the bars of her now former crib, as did her diaper. As for her hind legs, they jutted upwards as though locked in place before coming to rest And in this position, Vinyl finally gave up. Her control had already been loosened by the impact, and she knew all that was left was the downward spiral of a losing battle. Even so, her body instinctively fought to the bitter end, unwilling to go without the familiarity of a toilet bowl and a modicum of privacy to boot. But even that proved to be a futile effort. With a pained whimper, Vinyl squeezed her eyes shut and peed herself. She felt it begin, much like before, with just a few drops escaping. The hesitant dribble soon ballooned into a full on waterfall, unleashing an unstoppable torrent on her diaper. Her padding soaked up the urine almost as fast as it came out, and Vinyl could feel a warm, damp spot form at her undercarriage. When her wetting showed no signs of slowing down, that spot expanded, encompassing more and more of her crotch. Eventually, it even flooded the dry padding near her rear as her diaper lost even more ground to her pee. It was humiliating. Even though nopony in the club could possibly be looking at her right now, Vinyl still felt like all eyes were on her. She didn’t like letting cracks in her persona of coolness show, but despite that she could feel tears of shame welling up behind her shut eyes. The worst part, though, was how good she felt. As the agony of her bladder’s ache melted away, Vinyl was only left with the pure bliss of relief. She couldn’t even suppress a satisfied moan from escaping her mouth. It burned a permanent blush onto her cheeks, but damn did it feel good to pee her diaper right now. As the rush of urine died down, it soon dropped to the intensity of a leaky faucet. Every few seconds a new brief burst would escape, constantly tricking Vinyl into thinking that was the last of it, to the point where she didn’t even believe it once she had, in fact, stopped pissing herself. The deed was done; her diaper had been thoroughly waterboarded. Vinyl could only wince at the feeling of four beer’s worth of pee clinging to her plot. She was still stuck in the same position as when she’d started, too embarrassed to even move. As the last of the warm pee settled into the folds of her padding, Vinyl’s legs twitched in disgust. The spasm sent her diaper sloshing, and Vinyl cringed as it groped her butt with it’s nasty, moist feeling. It wasn’t long before the scent of her pee filled the air around her, assaulting yet another one of Vinyl’s senses with her shameful deed. Opening her eyes, Vinyl saw the fuzzy, colored lights of the club once more, only this time her sight was watery with tears. Great. Vinyl’s biting sarcasm came out. I’m lying here in a wet diaper, crying. What am I, a foal? She might as well be. Could she even call herself a grown-up after what just happened. Was desperation ever going to be a satisfying enough answer for why she peed in her diaper? Vinyl felt compelled to move. She reached forward, dragging herself across the floor of The Fountain of Youth. It’s shaggy carpeting tickled her belly through the onesie, but Vinyl didn’t feel like laughing. Moving had caused her flanks to finally drop to the ground, slamming her sloshy diaper against the floor with a sickening squish. She pulled herself forward again, and her legs finally leapt from the bars and down onto the ground with her. Vinyl stopped moving their, letting her legs spread out across the carpet as her pelvis sank deeper into her drenched padding. She sniffled. “Vinyl!” She cringed at the sound of her name, and pink hooves invaded her line of sight. Looking up, Vinyl met the concerned eyes of Pacific Glow. “I-I…” Vinyl’s voice was more cracked than a dropped record. What was she even supposed to say now? “You okay?” Berry appeared next to Pacific. Vinyl felt her stomach tighten with anxiety. Folding her ears down, Vinyl just tightened her lips and avoided eye contact. Pacific Glow seemed to pick up on what had happened pretty quickly, and knelt down. She wrapped her hooves around Vinyl’s neck, giving her a hug. “Don’t worry, sweetie. It’s okay.” The motherly words of comfort only served to make Vinyl feel even more like a foal. She sniffled again, this time feeling a tear run down her cheek. “I...I had to go…” she finally admitted. Come on, you’re tougher than this! A voice in her head claimed. She didn’t feel very tough, though. If anything, Vinyl felt limp and marshmallow-y. “I know, I know.” Pacific patted her back in a way that Vinyl had to admit was oddly comforting. “I’m sorry Vinyl, this is all my fault.” She just sniffled again. Her diaper refused to be still, crinkly and squishing the more it was pressed into the floor. The constant reminder of what she’d done wasn’t going to let itself be forgotten so easily. “Come on.” Pacific stood, dragging Vinyl up with her via their hug. Her legs lazily scraped at the ground, before finding their footing and letting her stand. Pacific released her from their embrace, and took one of Vinyl’s forelegs in her own. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” “But what about…” Vinyl turned her head over to the turntables. Pacific barely spared them a glance, keeping her focus on Vinyl. “How much time do they have left before you need to work on them?” “Uh…” Vinyl flicked her ears as she listened in on the song. “Eight minutes?” she guesstimated. Pacific offered her a warm smile. “Oh, well that’s plenty of time to give you a changie—” Vinyl winced at the word “—so don’t you worry about it.” She led Vinyl forward, towards the direction of the backstage door. As much as she didn’t want to move, Vinyl took a hesitant step forward. As her hind legs maneuvered, she could only feel her soggy diaper push up against her. Shivering, Vinyl kept her head down and tried to ignore it. “Berry, could you…” Pacific nudged her head over to the bar, and the line that had formed. Regardless of how it felt, the night had not stopped just because Vinyl had wet her diaper. “Right.” Berry shot Vinyl one last apologetic glance. “Sorry, Vinyl.” Vinyl just tightened her lips as Berry darted off in the other direction. Pacific kept waddling forward, needing to pull Vinyl along all the way. Each step was a constant reminder of the squishy padding between her legs, causing Vinyl’s sniffles to grow more and more violent the more they walked. She’d at least managed to clamp down on letting out anymore tears, but that was a hollow victory at this point. Once the two made their way into the backstage area, Vinyl felt a little better. Even though she didn’t see any ponies staring at her back on the club floor, it still felt nice to be out of the the public’s eye. She even felt good enough to let her hoof slip free from Pacific’s grasp and walk on her own. Pacific smiled back at her when she did, and continued on to her destination: the changing table in the corner of the room. “Mmmm…” Vinyl felt her ears droop. Stopping, Pacific looked back at her. “Vinyl? Everything alright?” “Do…” Vinyl kicked at the floor. “Do we gotta use the changing table?” “It’s easiest for me when I’m changing diapers,” Pacific said, her tone gentle. “C-Can’t I just do it myself?” Vinyl sputtered. “I did before, ya know.” Pacific tilted her head back and forth, as though weighing the idea. She seemed almost reluctant to give up a chance to change her. “Can you manage? I get the feeling you’ve been drinking a lot.” “Eh— Have not!” Vinyl cried with indignance. Four beers? That was child’s play for her. Nevermind the room felt like it was swaying. “Really?” Pacific raised an incredulous eyebrow. “‘Cause I would’ve figured you’d need to be pretty tipsy to, uhm… make use of your diaper.” Vinyl’s face burned. “I didn’t wet myself on accident!” Regret immediately followed. In her attempt to sound less infantile, she’d just implied she’d peed her diaper on purpose. “I mean—” Pacific just held up her hoof. “Just show me. Can you even get your diaper off?” Vinyl managed a half smile, feeling like she’d won the argument. Take her own diaper off? Of course she could. Her horn buzzed to life, flickering as she struggled to concentrate on her magic. With a deep breath, she managed to steady the light. Reaching out with her telekinesis, she grabbed for her diaper. And accidentally pushed. “Yeep!” Vinyl jumped forward as her padding was smushed against her rear, her lukewarm and damp padding groping her backside. She blushed as Pacific raised her brow. “That proves nuthin’,” Vinyl insisted. Trying again, Vinyl paid extra special attention to the act of grabbing her padding this time. When she felt that actually work, she let out a sigh of relief. Next, she tugged. The diaper moved with a sickening squish, but stayed affixed to her rear. Vinyl looked back at her plot, brows furrowing. She tugged again, harder. Once again, it stayed stuck to her. She tugged again. And again. And yanked. And yanked again. “Hurrgh! Errah! Come on! Move already you stupid—” Pacific finally put a hoof on her shoulder, stopping her. “Vinyl,” she said, that one word communicating it all. Vinyl just groaned, cutting off her magic as she wiped her eyes. “Fine.” She waddled over to the changing table, chased the whole way by the squish squish squish of her diaper. Once she reached the table, she hesitated, but only for a moment. Vinyl climbed up, rolling onto her back as she scooted onto the table. She was careful not to set her rear down, hyper aware of the sensation that would cause. “Thaaank you!” Pacific chirped. Her hooves went to work, dancing onto Vinyl’s onesie’s hatch and popping off the buttons holding it in place. She folded it’s opening up and laid it across Vinyl’s chest, revealing her diaper. “Oh…” Vinyl realized, her struggle from earlier suddenly making sense. She buried her face in her hooves, humiliated. “Oooooh…” Pacific couldn’t hold back a giggle. “Don’t worry about it. Now let’s see here.” Pacific gingerly ran her hoof over the crotch of Vinyl’s diaper. “Hmm… still pretty dry on this end…” she murmured. Vinyl’s face crashed through her hooves. “Huh?” She’s soaked her diaper. Four whole bottles worth of beer went into that thing, and that wasn’t enough to get it damp on the outside? Geeze, these things are thicker than even I gave them credit for. “Now then.” Pacific reached for the tapes, peeling them off with practiced ease. She unfolded the diaper, mercilessly lifting the worst of the soggy padding from Vinyl. But she wasn’t about to celebrate. Opening the diaper unleashed the full force of its smell. The scent of her urine had, for the most part, been trapped under heavy layers of padding, but now it could waft through the air unabated. Vinyl’s nose wrinkled and she quickly covered her nostrils with a hoof. Pacific, disturbingly, was unfazed. Vinyl had a sinking feeling the mare had smelled worse during some changes. Pacific slid the rest of the diaper out from under Vinyl, freeing the mare from her padding after what felt like an eternity with it on. Vinyl shivered as the air around graced her privates with its presence. It was chilly, her damp coat down there not taking a liking to being bare. Her whole waist actually felt a little weird now. The fact that she could close her hind legs felt so unnatural, as if Vinyl had grown used to the diaper that had occupied that space in the past few hours. She shivered at the thought, and pushed it from her mind. That was uncomfortable territory she was not going to be diving into. Pacific balled up the diaper and tossed it into a nearby pail. It left Vinyl with one last deafening squish before the lid closed on it. With the hard part out of the way, Pacific dove into her draws, not returning to Vinyl’s eyesight until she’d dug out a little package of foal wipes. Vinyl’s face morphed into displeasure at the sight. “R-Really?” “Would you rather I leave your you-know-what on your coat?” Pacific asked. With averted eyes, Vinyl blushed. “No.” “Good choice.” Pacific tugged a wipe free from its packaging and moved it down low. “Now, you should know this is going to feel really—” The wipe made contact. “COLD!” Vinyl yelped, flinching. Pacific narrowly ducked a blow to the head from Vinyl’s hind legs. “Hold still, this’ll only take a second.” Pacific ignored Vinyl’s squeaks as she ran the wipe all along her nethers. Once finished, she whipped the wipe into the bin along with the diaper, leaving Vinyl feeling much fresher down there, if not a lot colder too. “Okay, now why don’t we get you a fresh diapee-wiapee?” Pacific cooed. Vinyl bit her lip as she saw the mare dive down into the table’s drawers yet again. “Uh… can I pass?” Pacific’s head bobbed back into view. “On the diaper?” “Yeah. I mean… I don’t think anypony will notice at this point if I don’t wear one, so…” Vinyl trailed off, hoping her argument was convincing enough. If needed, she’d even stay in the onesie for the rest of the night. She just would really rather avoid anymore padding. Pacific stood all the way back up, frowning. “And what if you have to use the bathroom again?” “Don’t you have a spare key for the floor upstairs?” Vinyl asked. “I can just use that, right?” “No,” Pacific said, tilting her head in confusion. “Where’d you hear that from?” Vinyl curled her hooves. “Berry said you might.” “Oh, I see.” Pacific shook her head. “The owners gave me a key when they went on vacation so I could take their mail in. I don’t have it anymore.” Vinyl’s heart sank. “Okay… well, I can hold it if I need to, then.” Pacific’s eyebrow rose once again. It was getting some good exercise in that night. “I think you’ve already proven that you can’t.” Pink ignited under Vinyl’s cheeks. “T-That was a fluke!” She insisted. Pacific leaned in, bringing up a hoof as she brushed away that last lingering tears on Vinyl’s face. “I know,” she said, her voice soothing. “But let’s make sure you’re protected in case it happens again.” There was no arguing with this mare, Vinyl understood that now. “Okay…” she finally relented. A smile lit up Pacific’s face. “Don’t worry,” she said. “At this point, you won’t even notice it anymore.” She reached her hoof down, rooting around in what Vinyl could only assume was the diaper drawer. “Trust… me…” Vinyl’s ears flicked. That didn’t sound good. She lifted her head off the table, trying to see. “What?” “Umm…” Pacific’s faked smile wouldn’t fool a foal, let alone Vinyl. “We might be… a little limited in terms of diaper options.” Vinyl narrowed her puffy eyes. “How limited?” Pacific winced, even as she added teeth to her smile. “We’re... out of extra smalls.” Her jaw instinctively clenched. That was not good, not at all. “Okay.” Vinyl tried her hardest to stay calm. “...okay…” “Sorry,” Pacific said. “I don’t usually stock up on them because… well, Berry and I don’t wear them.” “You’ve at least got a small, right?” Vinyl asked. It wasn’t ideal. In fact, it was far from it. The extra smalls were already something Vinyl would refer to as extra large. And now she had to go a size up? Vinyl looked to her boss for confirmation. Pacific’s face told her she’d have to go more than one size up. “You’re kidding,” Vinyl groaned. If there was one good thing about this, it was that she could leave behind her shame from earlier in exchange for frustration. Vinyl would take that over the feeling of having pissed herself any day of the week. “Sorry sorry sorry!” Pacific cried. “I really should’ve gone to the store earlier, but since you were coming we had to set up the turntables and that took longer than I expected and—” “I get it,” Vinyl cut her off. “Fine, alright? Whatever.” She was actually going to have to wear a bigger diaper; it was unbelievable. “If you tell me you’re outta mediums I swear to Celestia I’m buckin’ your head off.” “Thank goodness we have mediums then,” she chuckled. Vinyl didn’t laugh along, and Pacific soon clamped her mouth shut. “Here, let’s just get this on you.” She produced a poofy white slab from below the table. Vinyl’s muscles tensed at the reveal, and she could already feel the regret piling on. To make matters worse, she noticed something different about this diaper. One side had magenta lines running across horizontally, and they seemed to almost come off of the plastic. Squinting, Vinyl’s hazy vision cleared up just enough for her to realize what they were. Frills. Her new diaper had frills on the butt. She furrowed her brow as Pacific apologetically unwrapped the diaper. “I know,” she claimed, seeming to shrink under Vinyl’s accusatory gaze. “It’s the designs, or we move up to a large, Vinyl.” She made the choice in a heartbeat, her hind legs leaping into the air. Frills it is! Pacific unfolded the diaper and pushed it under Vinyl’s rear. Even with her legs held high, her hindquarters rested comfortably on top of the diaper. This thing was massive. “Okay, legs down,” Pacific said as she threaded Vinyl’s tail through the hole in the back of the diaper. Complying, Vinyl let her legs drop. Her butt sank into the diaper, compressing it to the sounds of a crinkly choir. Even after she reached the point where the padding supported her, Vinyl could still feel her butt was somewhat lifted in the air. It just stayed stuck, elevated compared to the rest of her body. But unless she forced them down, they weren’t going anywhere. Pacific seemed unbothered by this, as she wrapped up Vinyl’s waist with the rest of the poofy padding. It felt like pillows were being taped around her, but she put up with it while Pacific worked. It was fine. She was fine. This was fine. “Done.” Pacific smiled at her. “Not so bad, right?” Vinyl offered a pathetic excuse for a smile. She tried moving her legs, and found that they couldn’t even touch. She bit her lip. Sure, in her last diaper she couldn’t close her legs or anything like that, but she could still at least have her hind hooves connect if she wanted. Now, as Vinyl lay there, struggling to push her legs together, she realized just how big this diaper was. “Hmmm…” Pacific had grabbed the onesie’s flap now and was trying to pull it down to button it up. Only it was pretty obvious that she’d run into a… problem. The more she tried to pull, the more the padding resisted. And the more it was pushed into Vinyl’s nether region. “Will it not fit?” Vinyl asked, barely containing her squeaky voice. Pacific shook her head, letting go of the flap. “Sorry, but no. There’s just too much, uh… poof, in the way.” Vinyl sighed. The only reason she was in this stupid onesie to begin with was to hide the fact that she was in a diaper, and now it couldn’t even offer her that? Granted, with the size of her new padding it would be impossible to hide it, onesie or not. “I can take it off you, if you like,” Pacific offered. Vinyl just shook her head, having thoroughly given up at this point. She needed to the turntables now. She could still hear the music going from inside the room, but she doubted it would last for much longer. “I gotta get back,” she mumbled, trying to sit up. After a few seconds of struggling to even accomplish that, Pacific finally took her hoof and pulled. Vinyl’s back leapt off the changing table, and she found herself sitting upright. For all of two seconds. Her padding rolled forward, it’s ball-like shape guaranteeing her balance wouldn’t have lasted for long. Luckily Vinyl stuck that landing with spread hooves. She clamored to all fours, breathing a sigh of relief that she hadn’t ended up face first on the ground. Her new diaper was going to take some getting used too, that was for sure. “Vinyl,” Pacific said, drawing her attention. “One last thing, okay?” “What?” Vinyl looked up from her hooves, just in time to catch a pink hoof flying towards her face. Slow to process, Vinyl didn’t register something small and rubbery had been wedged between her lips until Pacific was already throwing a string over her head and around her neck. It was only then, that Vinyl understood Pacific had taken off her pacifier and shoved it in her mouth. “Wha da heck?” Vinyl cried. She was about to spit it out, but Pacific pressed her hoof to the guard, effectively locking it in place. “You’re going to hate me for this,” Pacific started. “But you can’t drink anymore tonight.” “Huh?” Vinyl bit down on her rubbery invader. “Why nawt? Was dat gotta do wiff dis pafifier?” Her face morphed into full on irritation now. “You’re drunk, Vinyl,” Pacific told her, as though a big secret had been revealed. “I can’t trust you to know your limits anymore. You still have a job to do, after all.” “I know,” Vinyl protested. “Bu’ why da—” “This is for Berry’s sake,” Pacific said. “We make sure all the rowdy drunks wear pacis once they reach their limit. This way she knows who to serve and who not to.” Vinyl just furrowed her brow. She highly doubted any of the patrons really complained about this policy if they got another excuse to act more like foals, but she wasn’t going to put up with this. “Yes you are!” Pacific suddenly snapped. Vinyl blinked. “I didn’—” “I know what you were about to say,” Pacific cut her off. “And Vinyl Scratch, I’ll have you know I’m doing this for your own good.” Vinyl’s ears folded down. Why did she feel like she was being scolded by her mother? Or Octavia, for that matter? “Fine,” she grumbled. They were coming up on her deadline; she couldn’t afford to sit around here and argue. Besides, she could just take it out when Pacific wasn’t looking, anyway. Pacific regained her smile. “Good.” Not wasting any time, she already started moving to the door to head back out onto the club floor. Vinyl joined her, now forced to match the awkward waddle that Pacific had been stuck in all night. But where as the manager of the club handled it with practiced grace, Vinyl wobbled to the point of nearly tipping, and she couldn’t even blame the alcohol for that. “You’ll get used to it,” Pacific called back with a smile. “I weally hope I don’,” Vinyl admitted, finally able to crack one of her own again. Something about being back in a clean diaper made her feel… better. Granted, she could still do without the pacifier. Pacific propped the door open, and held it for Vinyl, ushering her forward with a hoof. “DJs first.” “Tank woo.” Vinyl stumbled forward and made it out onto the club floor. She was really grateful for having picked such a long song, because waddling over to the turntables must’ve taken her a solid minute. She was not fast in her new getup, that’s for sure. It certainly didn’t help to have the onesie’s flap dragging on the floor, threatening to trip her up if it got the chance. As she performed her walk of shame, she looked ahead and saw Berry back behind the bar. They locked eyes for a moment, and Berry offered her an empathetic smile and a wave. Vinyl bit down on her pacifier, sure there was no way Berry had missed it. She really wasn’t going to be able to get her hooves on any more drinks tonight, was she? When she finally made it back to the bars of her crib, Pacific right behind her. At first, Vinyl didn’t know why the mare had bothered to follow her, but the reason soon became apparent. Vinyl put her forelegs on the top run, ready to climb over, only to be halted by the giant sack of poof that was her diaper. Pacific came to her rescue, pushing on her rear to give her a boost. Her cheeks flushed from scarlett to crimson as her padding rode up her butt, but Vinyl didn’t have time to focus on that. She flipped over the railing, and landed on the other side on her side. “Can you get up?” Pacific asked. A perfectly valid question that Vinyl honestly didn’t have an answer too. She tried, and managed to roll onto her stomach before getting her bearings. She pushed up with her forelegs, and somehow managed with her last two. The diaper did her no favors as she struggled, but she overcame it and made it to all fours. “Great!” Pacific said, her question answered. “Do you need anything else?” Vinyl shook her head. “Okay. In that case, just call if you need me again.” She toddled off with a wave, disappearing once again. Well that was… something. Vinyl thought, now that she had a chance to process everything that had just happened. Swirling emotions and fresh wounds were still stirring inside of her. Though she had been pushing it down, the idea that she’d actually wet herself was still fresh in her mind. As Vinyl took a step forward, her hoof hit something. She looked down to see a bottle shaking from the impact. Unlike the other four scattered around her crib, this one was actually full of something; a bubbling, golden liquid. Hazily blinking, it took Vinyl a second to realize Berry had probably dropped it there in her rush to find Pacific Glow. Vinyl almost couldn’t believe her luck. Her magic scooped up the bottle, and she spat out her pacifier. It dropped down to her chest before the necklace caught it. Lifting up the bottle, Vinyl grinned happily, perhaps for the first time that night. Even after everything, she still had some beer left with her. It was almost too perfect. Before, Vinyl had been drinking to distract herself, to take her mind off of the kind of club this was. But now? Now Vinyl had some memories she wanted evicted from her mind. She wanted to drink to forget. So she put the bottle to her lips and did just that. > A Night to Rave About > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of these days, Vinyl was going to learn her limits. The myth that she could drink “just one more” and be fine would be dispelled. It actually already had been, multiple times. Vinyl just never wound up remembering it, dooming herself to repeat the cycle. It was that very cycle that she found herself in the middle of right now. Her fifth, secret bottle of beer laid sideways on the edge of the turntables. It was knocked from its precarious perch by Vinyl herself, her clumsy hoof work not even guaranteeing the safety of her records as she swapped them out. The problem wasn’t even her hazy vision, though the beers certainly hadn’t helped that. Balance was what she really struggled with now. As she moved a record back into its sleeve, her body wobbled. She just barely managed to set it back into the pile before her hind legs gave out. Tumbling down, Vinyl landed on her backside. The girth of her padding assured that her flanks never touched the ground. They still tried, sinking into her plush diaper as deeply as they could. If Vinyl’s face wasn’t already flushed from drinking, it definitely would be following that. She leaned back, resting her spine in between the bars of the crib walls, and groaned. For a moment, she was content to lie there as the room spun around her. Her legs splayed out before her, forced that way by the poofy presence between them. Vinyl didn’t even bother trying to close them, practically afraid of the invasive feeling that would follow. She didn’t really pay attention to how long she stayed down. Time just kind of slipped by while she was sitting. Her head kept wanting to droop down; Vinyl had to catch herself several times just to keep it up right. The hypnotic pulses of the lights did her no favors in that regard. It was almost too much to combine with her own brand of fuzzy dizziness. “Lil’ much…” Vinyl mumbled to nopony in particular. “I hadda lil’ too much tonight.” Her ears flicked right then, almost unconsciously. Blinking through the haze, Vinyl found her herself paying more attention to the music. Her instincts still weren’t about to let her down; she could tell the current song was winding down. It was time to get back up. Putting her fore hooves to the ground, she pushed up. Her back lifted off the bars, but only briefly. With her diaper’s massive presence, it was only a matter of time until she dropped back down onto the floor, having barely gotten off the carpet to begin with. Brows furrowed, Vinyl kicked her hind legs a little, trying to find her footing. Her diaper kept getting in the way, it’s bulk refusing to let her get up. Seeing how she was getting nowhere fast, Vinyl figured she should roll over. If she was on her belly, things might go a little smoother. With a grunt she tried pushing herself to the side. Noisy crinkles followed as her diaper rolled with her body. Vinyl just squeezed her eyes shut, as though she was ripping off a band-aid. Thankfully, she managed to get to her stomach with minimal blushing. But now came the actual hard part. Hearing the song wind down, Vinyl knew she had to climb this hurdle now. Her hind legs kicked into gear, squirming to gain some traction. It wasn’t easy with both of them being pushed out at awkward angles, and Vinyl’s drunkenness surely didn’t help matters. She grumbled a few insults at her diaper regardless, refusing to accept anything else as the source of her problems. Finally, her hooves wound up flat against the floor. Vinyl allowed herself a slurred “Yesh!” of celebration as she lifted her rear end up and into the air. And then she felt her bowels push. As Vinyl’s face paled, she realized the stance she was in: head bowed, butt raised. It was as though she was about to go to the bathroom. As drunk as she was, she must not have realized there had been a building urge to use the bathroom over the last few hours. Now instinct was taking over, ready to go with or without her consent. Vinyl’s tail hiked up before she’d even finished processing everything. Her pupils shrunk as she felt her bowels push once again. The incoming mess was seconds away from decimating the seat of her diaper. “Nope!” Vinyl squeaked. She jolted her fore legs up, clenching her cheeks at the last possible moment, just barely preserving her plot’s pristine status. She could still feel the pressure mounting in her backside, and all of her muscles went rigid as she focused everything she had on holding it in. Not an easy feat when she couldn’t even make her thighs touch. The current song was nearly over with. Vinyl could hear the last of the notes playing as it faded out. She squeezed her eyes shut, gritting her teeth as her horn snapped to life. She grabbed at the closest record and threw it on, barely preserving the night’s momentum. As poppy, electronic beats started picking up, Vinyl breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure in her bowels was starting to fade, but lingered, making Vinyl terrified to unclench her cheeks. What the heck was that? She hadn’t needed to go before and then all of a sudden… that. Her head swayed, her fuzzy vision lulled by the dancing lights of the club. She shook her head to recover, fighting to stay awake. Even as her gaze cleared up a bit, the club dizzily swirled around her. Okay… maybe she’d been a little too drunk before to notice. But now there was no way it was going to fly under the radar again. Her near accident fresh in her mind, Vinyl’s attention was thoroughly locked on the hints of pressure in her bowels. Even though the immediate urgency of needing to go had faded, she still kept her hindquarters clenched in fear. She tried to bring her legs together again, only to be met with the predictable result of her diaper denying her attempt. Not even the threat of messing herself was enough to overpower the sheer amount of poof between her legs. Vinyl sighed. Even though she was grateful to have survived, now she’d have to be vigilant for the rest of the night. A burp brought with it the lingering taste of alcohol, and Vinyl’s mouth slumped into a half-frown. Maybe that extra bottle was pushing it. That rare moment of self-reflection was shaken off pretty quickly as Vinyl’s blurry vision sharpened into focus on the club. The dancing had slowed considerably, with most only swaying from side to side or hopping with every fifth beat of the music at best. This wasn’t entirely unexpected, however. As the night went on, the total energy of the room would drop as the total drunkenness rose. The peak of the party had long since passed at this rate. The ponies on the dance floor now could hardly be said to be the same ones from just a few hours prior. Aside from their lackluster dancing, there was plenty else to show they’d lost momentum. About half wore glow in the dark pacifiers in their mouths. Bright shades of neon greens, blues, and pinks signaled the drunkards of the bunch, if the fact that they could barely stand wasn’t enough of an indication. Massive diapers bulged at the seats, and coupled with a lingering scent of an used bathroom in the air. Fighting against the music was a low rumble of wet squishing sounds, erasing all doubt as to what the source of that smell could be. Just looking at it all made Vinyl angry. Of course! It wasn’t that extra bottle of beer that had caused her to nearly crap herself; it was this stupid place! The stupid lack of restrooms that basically forced everyone here to use their stupid diapers, her included! Vinyl tightened her jaw in frustration and looked away from the crowd, unable to bear the sight any longer. The sounds and the smell still remained, however, and that only added to her mounting anger. Screw this place. Vinyl had had enough. I’m not coming back here ever again, now. … Wait, what? What the heck did she mean by “now”? She… She hadn’t actually been considering returning before, right? As if. Vinyl hastily thought. No way. That was just a slip of the tongue… In my brain. She bit her lip with uncertainty. “Hey there, Vinyl.” Pacific’s sudden voice called to her. She almost leapt out of her onesie in shock. She thanked her lucky stars she hadn’t been desperately holding back her bowels right then. Turning, she saw Pacific’s warm smile meet her just outside the crib. But that wasn’t all Pacific had brought with her. The mare still had her signature twin tails, but had traded out her fluffy, yellow leg warmers and glow-necklaces for something entirely new: a dress. A seafoam green dress hugged her pink body. White frills lined the helm of the skirt, with matching white sleeves puffed out at the shoulders. Just from the length of the skirt, it was obvious that it didn’t even attempt to cover up the massive amount of padding on Pacific’s rear end. A white pinafore was draped over the whole ensemble, completely being tied around at her back in a large bow. The finishing touch being green striped socks on all four of her legs. Vinyl just stared, mouth agape. The diapers might now only be the second most shocking thing about the night. “Hey.” Pacific frowned, eyebrow’s furrowing. “You took your paci out!” “Uh…” Vinyl was still having a hard time processing what she was seeing. Pacific took advantage of her momentary confusion, reaching over the bars, plucking the pacifier dangling from Vinyl’s neck, and popping it between her open lips. Vinyl was still so surprised that she let her lips wrap around the rubber nipple before she snapped out of her trance. Her lips instinctively moved to push the pacifier out, but Pacific had the foresight to keep her hoof pushed against the guard, keeping it locked in place. Vinyl’s face morphed into a pout, but she knew there was no fighting this. Club rules demanded the heavy drinkers wear these foalish things, and she was in no place to deny that she had been drinking heavily tonight. To placate Pacific, Vinyl squirmed to give her pacifier a small suckle as proof that she wouldn’t spit it back out. Satisfied, Pacific retracted her hoof. “Thaaaank you!” she chirped. Vinyl reluctantly kept the pacifier in her mouth. There were more pressing matters to address anyway. “Uh… why are woo dwessed wike… dat?” She cringed at how infantile she sounded, but no matter what the pacifier was determined to screw up her words. Pacific looked down, as though she needed to confirm it was her outfit Vinyl was talking about. “Oh, this?” She giggled. “I’m just going to be going around and offering some changes.” She turned, indicating a stack of diapers sitting on her back that Vinyl had missed when her eyes had been popping out of her skull earlier. “Otay… But, why da dwess?” Stupid pacifier. Pacific giggled again, the lightest hint of dark pink surfacing on her cheeks. “Everypony really seems to like it when I wear it, and it’s kinda fun! I feel like I’m everypony’s Nanny or something when I’m giving them changies in this.” “Wight…” Maybe it was because her brain was all hazy, but Vinyl couldn’t see anything all that fun about that. Given the flushed cheeks and general giggliness of the mare before her, she was inclined to believe Pacific was almost as drunk as she was. “Anyway,” Pacific asked. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t need a fresh diapee first.” Vinyl blushed, her almost-accident from earlier flashed across her mind. “Fine!” She coughed into her hoof, clearing her throat and attempting a lot less cracking in her voice. “I’m jus’ fine.” Pacific narrowed her eyes, head tilting. “Really?” Vinyl bit her pacifier, realizing that her embarrassment could easily be read as trying to cover up an accident. “Weally.” The eyebrow climbing up Pacific’s forehead begged to differ. “Alright, but just in case let me check.” “Check?” What, did Pacific want her to open her diaper up right here or something? Pacific motioned with her hoof. “Turn around.” Oh… Vinyl was too drunk for critical thinking right now. But she obeyed, knowing Pacific wasn’t likely to drop the issue. Turning around, Vinyl displayed her padded butt to Pacific, hiking her tail up for her as well. She kept a firm clench on her buns, though, knowing nature could call again any minute now. “Pardon me,” Pacific said as she reached over the bars again. Vinyl squeezed her eyes shut as Pacific’s hoof made contact with the seat of her diaper. It really didn’t do much; the poofy thing was so thick that the disturbance only barely pushed a little bit of padding into her rear. That didn’t stop an explosion of red from covering Vinyl’s face. Even drunk, she could still feel shame. Pacific’s hoof wandered around her rear for a while, thoroughly exploring any place Vinyl could be hiding an accident. Once convinced, it moved down even lower, into the realm between her hind legs. Vinyl shuddered a little as her boss continued the diaper check for a few more agonizing seconds. “Well, alright then.” Pacific’s hoof mercifully withdrew. Vinyl dropped her tail, doing her best to tuck it between her legs. She looked back at Pacific, who was still able to keep an innocent smile, despite everything that had just gone down. Clearly, she had experience checking diapers. A lot of experience. “Looks like you’re all clean,” Pacific told her. “T-Tank woo,” Vinyl murmured. Her face was still too red to pretend like the check was no big deal. Maybe it was the beer, but having her diaper felt up by a mare dressed in a frilly filly outfit was a little… much. “Just let me know if that changes,” Pacific said as she trotted toward the crowd. “K-Kay,” Vinyl managed. She chewed her pacifier as Pacific waddled off. Even the tips of her ears were burning with embarrassment. Her only solace was the fact that nopony could have seen— “Dang, is it hot in here or is it just your face?” Vinyl jolted as she heard Berry’s voice. Her head swiveled over to the purple mare, who had appeared on the other end of the crib walls. Her face only burned further, probably hot enough to melt steel now. “It’s just your face then,” Berry smirked, reveling in the blushing mare’s misery. Vinyl’s ears flopped down as she realized Berry must’ve had a full view of that diaper check. As if by instinct, she suckled a little on her pacifier, but quickly caught herself and stopped, chalking it up to a drunken misstep. “S-Shuddup,” she stammered. Berry’s expression softened from coy to caring. “Hey, don’t worry about it, Scratch. I promise you Pacific didn’t mean anything by it.” “I-I know!” Vinyl’s voice cracked, sending her face through a few more shades of red. A smirk leapt onto Berry’s face, but she snuffed it out just as fast. “Relax, Vinyl. I mean, she’s already changed you. It’s not like getting a check is any worse.” “I guess,” she mumbled. To distract herself, she lit up her horn and went for her pile of records, sifting through them as she tried to pick the next song for the line up. Anything was better than thinking back to her time on the changing table with a sopping wet diaper stuck to her flanks. “I get it. It still weirds you out, right?” Berry asked. “Heh, I remember my first time. Pacific didn’t even ask, she just reached back and grabbed my plot like it was nothing.” Vinyl couldn’t help but chuckle. That was definitely something she could see Pacific doing. Spurred on, Berry kept it up. “You should’ve heard me too. I yelped so loud the whole place went silent.” Vinyl was laughing a little more now, just picturing all the dancing and music cutting out so ponies could stare at Berry getting her diaper groped. “Bet dat was pwetty bad,” she smirked. “Wanna hear the worst part?” Berry asked. “Wha’?” Berry leaned in, whispering. “I wasn’t even clean.” Vinyl snorted. Then doubled back, laughing. “No way!” “Yes way!” Berry retorted, smiling at the memory. “Sweet Celestia, it was my first night too. I was so mad I thought about quitting. I just about did too; I already wanted out because of the diapers.” Vinyl’s laughter died down, confusion taking its place. “Wait, wha’? I though’ woo wiked weawing diapees.” Berry nodded. “I do now, but I sure didn’t when I started. I’d only taken the job cause I was hurting for work and it paid well. I thought I could handle the diapers and all, but, uh… considering what happened, I was just about ready to walk out the door.” “Why didn’ woo?” Vinyl asked. “‘Cause I was wearing a dirty diaper, duh,” Berry grinned. “Once I got changed, I was planning on it. But then… I dunno. I guess Messing myself wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and figured if that was the worst it could get, then I’d survive.” “Weally?” Vinyl could only raise an eyebrow to that. “Yeah, well, I guess it was more like I was denying the parts of wearing diapers I liked. I kept finding more and more reasons to not quit until it became obvious I was enjoying myself. And the rest is history.” “I see,” Vinyl lied. Really? There was no way Berry could’ve liked diapers after all that happened to her. Vinyl was pretty sure her co-worker was just lying to make her feel better at this point. “I’m not saying it’ll happen to you,” Berry said as she took note of Vinyl’s tone. “That’s just how things played out for me is all.” “Wha’eva,” Vinyl said. At least her blush had more or less faded. Her cheeks were almost back to their normal temperature. She looked out into the crowd as Pacific led a small line of ponies over to a set of changing mats by the wall. There was no way she wasn’t miserable with having to attend to so many diapers, yet her stupid smile stayed put. Either she was a good actor, or it was possible to enjoy this kind of work. Vinyl liked to believe it was the former. “We’ll probably be winding down soon,” Berry said absently looking out into the crowd. Vinyl’s tongue played with the rubber nipple of her pacifier, knowing she couldn’t spit it out with Berry so close by. “Weally?” “Yeah. Most folks start to head out after their change.” “Even tho’ dey’d stiww havva diapee on?” Vinyl asked. Berry nodded a little. “Some will. There isn’t much traffic in this part of town at 5 a.m, so most are comfortable going home like that. Some go back bare-bottomed too.” “Hm.” It still just seemed to odd to Vinyl. Going out in public in a diaper? These ponies were crazy. And compared to some of the stuff she’d seen as a DJ, that was saying something. “Whelp, I’ll leave ya to your music thing,” Berry said. “Though, you’ll probably only have a few more songs left till it’s time to close up.” “Yeah.” Vinyl said. It actually felt kind of weird to hear that. After everything, the night was almost over. She’d be free of her diaper soon. Berry waddled off back to the bar. All of her patrons were long gone though. Anypony who’d be drinking tonight had gotten a pacifier ages ago. She would just need to clean up at this point. Vinyl went back to her records. Her fuzzy judgement thanks to the beer still couldn’t affect her taste in music. She picked a few good winding down songs and set her turntables up with some soothing EDM. Pacific busied herself with the changes. A solid third of the club ended up in that line, but she was efficient enough to keep up. Oddly enough, Vinyl noticed that none of the ponies who got changed actually left. Contradicting Berry, they hung out at the sides of the dance floor as though they were waiting for something. She didn’t pay them too much attention, focusing more on her records than anything else. As she did, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was forgetting something. Maybe I need to… hmmm. Nothing really came to mind. The closest Vinyl could come up with was that she needed to ask how much she was getting paid. Though of all the details Pacific had left out about tonight, that was easily the least worst. Even then, it still didn’t quite feel right. Vinyl suckled as she thought, only then realizing that she had kept the pacifier in her mouth despite being alone now. A bit surprising, but still not the thing that was bothering the back of her mind. She didn’t bother to spit it out now, either. The night was almost over; there was no need to risk getting scolded at now. And besides, the rhythm of her lips bobbing back and forth wasn’t bothering her. If she’d been just a little drunker, she might’ve even thought that it felt kind of nice. Seriously though, what am I forgetting? Searching for answers, her eyes glazed over her work station. Records were spinning, subwoofers were pulsing, empty bottles were lying around being empty. Nothing jumped out at her so much as it all just seemed to be fine. Finally, her eyes moved to the floor. A pile of records and album sleeves stared back up at her. The disjointed mess of her stuff sent a wave of disappointment through Vinyl directed at her past self. Sure, being careless with her records was basically the norm but it still didn’t make it okay. “Dere we go,” Vinyl said, feeling like she’d finally cracked the case. This must’ve been the thing nagging her mind lately. Had to be. After all, if her records being so unorganized wasn’t the problem, what was? She bent down to take care of her stuff, only to remember what the real problem had been all too late. Bending down saw her plot sticking back up into the air. Like before, instinct took over once again, and Vinyl wasn’t able to stop it in time. Her tail hiked up, her bowels pushed, the pressure that had been biding its time chose now to release its full fury. Vinyl realized what was happening and tried to clench her cheeks as she had before, but this time it was too late. She messed herself. Freezing in place, Vinyl could only wait as her body did whatever it wanted. The immense pressure only lasted a second, but it was followed by a veritable mudslide. A whimper escaped Vinyl’s lips as the dirty deed began. Mush practically exploded from her rear end and hit the confines of her padding. She could hear crinkles as the poofy interior was forced to expand to accommodate her accident. The mess was forced to move too, as more and more kept coming. Vinyl cringed as she felt it squelch and squish, pushing as it spread all over her thighs and hindquarters. Sweet Celestia, kill me now. Though it couldn’t have lasted much longer than a minute, to Vinyl it felt like she was pooping her diaper for an eternity. When it finally, mercifully ended, she stayed frozen in the exact same position as before. The warm mush all over her backside settled, leaving Vinyl terrified to move not wanting to feel it shift anymore. But she couldn’t stay put with her face down and butt skyward forever. Eventually, slowly, she lowered her tail back down. Then pushed with her fore legs, moving her head back up. Squish. Squish. Vinyl’s face tightened, jaw clenching hard enough to shatter her teeth. It felt so gross! Once she was standing normally, Vinyl stopped moving again. Her eyes drifted out the the club, but it hadn’t changed all that much since she’d last seen it. Aside from Pacific’s speedy changes shortening her line a little, nothing was new. Nopony was staring at her, or laughing, or anything. Craning her neck awkwardly, Vinyl looked over to the bar. Berry had her back turned to the club, and was hunched over the bar’s sink, scrubbing away at some foal bottles. Vinyl should’ve been relieved that nopony had seen her. Not everyone could crap a diaper in public and not be caught, after all. Even the smell of her mess was covert, mingling in with the lingering scents of the rest of the night’s used diapers. Looking back at her flank, there was another stroke of luck in her favor. The massive size of her diaper was suddenly a blessing, being so big and bulky that it didn’t even bulge out as a result of her mess. But in spite of all of that, Vinyl didn’t feel particularly lucky right then. Much like before when she had wet herself, she could feel water springing free from her eyes. She sniffled, and wiped at her eyes with her hoof. It did little good against the oncoming water works. It had actually happened; she’d pooped herself. The smelly, warm mush between her legs wasn’t some hallucination from all of the booze. She’d actually done that. Vinyl sniffled again, feeling tears run down her cheek. Against her better judgement, she started suckling her pacifier, and not slowly either. Vinyl was desperately seeking something to comfort her right now and didn’t go halfway with her suckling. She wiped her eyes again, fighting back the tears that threatened to well up once more. Her magic snapped to life, grabbing for her sunglasses resting at the edge of the turntables. Clumsily, they found their way on her face to hide her no doubt red eyes. Vinyl didn’t want anypony to know what had just happened; she couldn’t let anypony find out. So what if nopony here cared? If just one pony spilled the beans about the legendary DJ PON3 pooping her diaper like a foal, her career was dead. Even her previous accident was preferable to this. This was a rare chance too: nopony saw her, her diaper was hiding the aftermath, the smell was indistinguishable from all the others wafting through the air… The door to the backstage area was completely unguarded. If Vinyl was lucky, she could stumble in, change herself, and stumble back out before the current song ended. And even if she was late, dead space in the club was a small price to pay for a clean diaper. Okay… okay, here I go. Even after thinking that, Vinyl still needed a few seconds to build up her courage. The threat of being discovered with a full diaper soon spurred her to move, however. She moved forward, and winced at the feeling of her mess crawling along her backside. It didn’t help that her diaper bounced up and down with each waddle, jostling its contents for maximum terribleness. Gritting her teeth, Vinyl made it to the edge of the crib walls. Now came the unsavory part. She grabbed the railing with her forelegs, shuffling her flank over to be parallel with the wall. With a preemptive groan, she lifted her hind leg up and onto the rail as fast as she could. Her mess shifted in her diaper, sending a shiver down her spine. Hoping to ignore the feeling, she hoisted herself up and attempted to fling herself over the edge. Emphasis on “attempted”. Her gait was spread to wide thanks to her diaper. Her awkward effort sent the crotch of her padding right into the railing. “Mmmph!” Vinyl’s eyes went wide and she chomped down on her pacifier. As her diaper dug into the top rung of the crib, it sent a swath of padding straight into her nethers. Doubling over in surprise, Vinyl rolled right off the edge of the crib, landing on the other side on her back. Squish. Vinyl shivered, her messy diaper squashed between her rear and the floor, compressing the mushy, lumpy padding. “Mmmmrrr…” She groaned. Tears welled up in her eyes again with a vengeance, but she blinked them away. Now wasn’t the time. Rolling over, Vinyl made it to her stomach. She awkwardly pushed herself up, but her stunted coordination and bulky padding sent her swaying and stumbling over halfway through. Landing on her butt again, Vinyl could only shiver as the warm mess spread further, now encroaching on her inner thighs. Stupid diaper, she lamented, hooves finding the carpet again. Stupid club. Vinyl pushed, wobbling as she made her way back up. The room spun around her, but she could hardly tell with how dark her shades made everything look. Stupid me. As much as Vinyl wanted to pin the blame on something else… yeah. It was her fault she got stuck in this mess, literally. She finally made it to all fours again, unconsciously suckling on her pacifier. It made her feel… better. Before, just wetting herself had turned her into a sniveling wreck, but now it was almost like she could handle it a little better. Yeah right. Vinyl shook her head. As if her dumb pacifier was actually helpful. It’s just cause I’m too drunk to freak out. That had to be it. So before she sobered up, she needed to change herself. Vinyl looked around, trying to re-orient herself and find the door. “Hey, great timing!” Pacific’s cheery voice made Vinyl’s stomach curdle. Snapping her head around, she saw the pink mare trotting to her. Dammit, she knows! Vinyl thought. Her face burned prematurely at just the thought of lying down on that changing table again. When Pacific reached her, she took Vinyl’s hoof and pulled her forward. Her green skirt swished as the two trotted into the middle of the dance floor. Vinyl gulped. “I—” “Everypony, let’s hear it for the night’s DJ, Vinyl!” Pacific whipped Vinyl’s hoof into the air. Looking forward, Vinyl could make out the outline of the crowd. A split second later, her eardrums were shattered by an uproar of cheers. Vinyl’s bones shook as the club hooted and hollered, the crowd making enough noise to deafen the pro DJ. Had nopony left after Pacific had changed them? Or, more likely, had Pacific asked them to stick around just for this? Whether the cheers were premeditated or not, it still made Vinyl smile behind the guard of her pacifier. Of all the places she’d worked at before, she’d never got a standing ovation. The cheers slowly faded, as a few ponies began chanting her name. More and more traded out screaming for repeating her name over and over again. The volume only rose after that, the chanting picking up steam as the room itself shook from the force of her name. “VINYL! VINYL! VINYL! VINYL!” Suddenly, a pair of forelegs wrapped around her. Vinyl didn’t have time to blink before she was pulled into the purple fluff of Berry’s chest, nearly losing her shades in the process. The mare raised her head high into the air, drunk off the atmosphere of the room. “Whoooo! Whooo Whoo Whooo!” Berry shouted. Pacific struck from the otherside with a second hug, nuzzling her face into Vinyl’s cheek. “Bestest DJ EVER!” For the umpteenth time that night, Vinyl’s face flushed red. But this time it wasn’t from her get-up. In fact, for a brief moment, she forgot she was wearing a poopy diaper. “Thank you, everypony!” Pacific called out to the crowd. “Hope to see you all tomorrow night!” The crowd barely processed her words at first. Some in the front row caught it, and took the hint. As they began pushing their way back and to the doors, the rest of the diapered ponies slowly got the message. The chanting of Vinyl’s name died down slowly, as more and more filtered out, heading for the door. Vinyl could barely keep still, even with Berry and Pacific holding her down. She was just… filled with so much energy. It was hard to believe she’d been on the verge of tears a few moments ago. “Well then,” Pacific said as she and Berry disentangled themselves from Vinyl. “Let’s get you paid, huh?” Vinyl just nodded, still clinging to her pacifier. In the heat of the moment, she hadn’t realized it, but now it was painfully obvious: her plans for a covert change were dashed. “Come on,” Pacific nudged her head toward the backstage door, already making her move. Her awkward waddle was only made more goofy by her giant dress, that swished and swayed back and forth with each step. Berry started walking that way too, giving Vinyl a playful punch to the shoulder. “Not bad for a club full of freaks, eh?” “Y-Yeah,” Vinyl managed. She realized she needed to move too, already staring at two diapered butts ahead of her. Cringing at the squelching of her mess, she toddled after them as best she could. The promise of getting paid was great, but Vinyl was in a real dilemma now. What should she do? Tell them about her accident? It was her second of the night; what if they suspected she actually liked this crap? Would they try to invite her back? Would they persist? What if they told somepony? Vinyl just gulped as she walked through the door and into the employee’s only room. The first thing her eyes met was the changing table in the corner, and she quickly turned away. “What a night,” Berry huffed as she flopped onto the couch. Her hoof snaked down to the fridge beside it and popped the door open. After a second of digging around inside, Berry withdrew a baby bottle, but unlike all the other’s Vinyl had seen that night, this one was full of a pure white mixture. Milk. “Want one?” Berry asked, placing her lips around the rubber nipple. “U-Uh…” Vinyl blinked. “N—” “I’m good,” Pacific called out from the other end of the room. Vinyl face flushed as she realized that question hadn’t even been directed at her. It wasn’t like she wanted it to be, either. She rocked on the tips of her hooves as she tried to avoid looking at both the changing table and now the suckling Berry. Her gaze inevitably fell to Pacific, who was walking back to her with a small sack in her mouth. The clinking of metal coming from within betrayed its contents. Pacific nudged her snout out to her, bag dangling. Vinyl’s horn lit up and happily took her pay from Pacific. Out of curiosity, she untied the sack and opened it up to check her haul. And nearly dropped her jaw. Maybe it was just double vision from all the beer, but Vinyl’s pay was a lot. fifty, sixty, seventy... there must’ve been nearly one hundred bits in there. This was just for one night? “Hope you don’t mind if I give you our usual rate,” Pacific said. “I know it’s not much considering all you did…” “Izfine,” Vinyl slurred, retying the bag. Sweet Celestia, Octavia’s gonna be surprised when she sees this. “Good.” Pacific mustered up a smile, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m really sorry about… well, being an airhead. You should’ve known what you were getting into from the start.” If only you knew, Vinyl thought, the sticky sensation against her plot squishing in agreement. But there was no way Vinyl was going to tell her about that part. “Don’ worwwy ‘bout it,” she said. Pacific suddenly leaned forward, wrapping her hooves around Vinyl again. “I meant it too. When I said you were out best DJ ever.” “...” Vinyl just stiffly brought her forelegs up to return her embrace. Sniff. Sniff. Pacific suddenly pulled away, nose up in the air as she sniffed. Vinyl’s heart nearly stopped. Pacific sniffed at the air until her head finally swiveled over to Berry. “Do you need a change?” The rubber nipple slipped out of Berry’s mouth. She looked away, shyly, and slightly kicked her hind legs. “I… I was going to wait until after Vinyl left to say something…” Pacific sighed. “Alright, get on over to the changing table, you.” She looked back to Vinyl. “Sorry, this is going to be a sec. And you probably want to get going anyway, I bet.” Vinyl couldn’t believe it. Was she… actually in the clear? “U-Uh, yeah. I gotta go, an’ stuff.” Pacific nodded in understanding. “Figured. Did you need help with the… you know.” The what? Vinyl tilted her head slightly, only to have the light bulb go off a second later. Her records! Of course, she still had to take care of them. But… drunk as she was, Vinyl could easily see herself messing them up. She already had her bits to carry home; making space for the records was going to be tough. And if she dropped them, even if it was just a foot or so off the ground, then they were as good as gone. “Can I jus’ weave mah wecords hewe?” She asked. “I can pick ‘em up tomowwow night or somethin’.” “You mean… you’re coming back?” Pacific’s eyes fluttered, as though she thought she’d misheard. “As in, coming back for another gig?” A bright smile erupted across her face. She leapt forward, taking Vinyl’s hooves in her own and hopped up and down with joy. “Really?” “Uhh…” Vinyl gulped. Crap. “Wait, are you for real?” Berry asked as she got up from the couch. Double crap. Vinyl forced a smile behind her pacifier. The mess in her diaper squished again, reminding her why she needed to leave as soon as possible. The longer she spent here, the more likely it was Pacific would realize Berry wasn’t the only pony with a full diaper. Escape was all Vinyl could consider right now, the fear of her accident being discovered taking priority. But did that mean she’d have to go along with this misunderstanding just to leave right away? Her brow furrowed. Right now, her mind was dulled with the fuzzy embrace of booze. No matter how hard she tried to think about it, the idea to just say “yes” and run was the best she could come up with. But… I don’t wanna wear these stupid diapers again! They’re so lame! I mean, yeah the pay is great, but it’s not worth another night of this. And sure, I don’t have any other jobs lined up right now, but still… Well… as long as I don’t drink, it’s not like I’ll need to use the bathroom or anything. And I really don’t mind the extra smalls, I guess. It’s not like anyone can see me wearing them behind the turntables. And Berry’s pretty cool. And Pacific. “I… guess I’ww come back tomowwow night,” Vinyl relented. Pacific stopped bouncing, only to wrap her in another hug. “Awesome! Yes yes yes! Thank you, Vinyl!” Vinyl winced as her body was pulled into the hug, jostling her dirty diaper. She needed to go. Now. “Weww, I gotta go. Woommate waitin’ an’ aww dat,” she mumbled, backing out of Pacific’s hooves and over to the door. “Ok, sure. Yeah.” Pacific’s grin was ear-splitting. “See you tomorrow night, then!” “See ya!” Berry waved, with a grin to match Pacific’s. Vinyl bit her pacifier as she opened the door, and pulled her bag of bits with her. “See woo tomowwow.” Pacific blinked, facing morphing from joy to concern. “Oh wait, did you need me to—” “Bye!” Vinyl slammed the door, breathing a sigh of relief that she’d managed to get away. As far as she was concerned, she was in the clear. Though something kind of nagged at the back of her mind. Like she was forgetting something kind of important. Oh yeah! She levitated the bits over and onto her back, feeling the coins settle against her spine. Vinyl was too afraid with the booze hitting her as hard as it was that her magic would drop them on the way back. She waddled forward, stumbling, but not falling. It was definitely time she headed home. If she was late, she’d miss saying hi to Octavia before her roommate had to go to work. Pacific pursed her lips at the closed door. Looking back, she saw Berry already hoisting herself up onto the changing table. “Uh… Vinyl know’s she still wearing her onesie and diaper, right?” “Course she does,” Berry waved dismissively. “Knowing her, she was probably just trying to be polite and wait till we were out of sight before she ripped it all off.” “I guess so,” Pacific replied. Still, it was weird. Vinyl hadn’t even spat out her pacifier that whole time. Almost like she hadn’t even noticed it was still in. She might’ve just gotten used to it already. Pacific knew there’d been tons of days she’d suckled away for hours never realizing there was a pacifier in her mouth. Berry laid back against the changing table. “I hope she becomes a regular; she’s pretty fun.” “Yeah,” Pacific smiled. “I mean, she might. We’ve never had somepony come back for a second night before. That’s something.” “Sure is,” Berry kicked her legs absently. “So, you gonna change me, or what?” “Oh, right.” Pacific waddled over. Somehow it had almost slipped her mind that Berry needed a change in the first place. Must be the smell, she thought. For some reason, the scent of dirty diapers had become a lot less intense all of a sudden. > Epilogue: Stumbling Home > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For some reason, it was taking Vinyl forever to get home. It wasn’t like she was all that far from her apartment or anything. In fact, it was only a couple of blocks away now that she was cutting out all of the aimless wandering from earlier. Yet still, it felt like she was going a lot slower than she should be. Must be the beer, Vinyl decided. Her double vision forced her to take it slow, lest she run into a light post or store corner like the drunkard she was. But even worse than that was how badly she was stumbling around. It was like she’d forgotten how to walk or something! Granted, beer had that effect on her every now and then, but as Vinyl waddled forward, nearly tripping over her own hooves, she started to wonder if tonight was worse than usual. It didn’t help that her whole backside felt cold and sticky. Each step reminded her of the unpleasant sensation, sending a shudder down her spine. Sweet Celestia, what did I sit in? Vinyl thought bitterly. Maybe somepony had just spilled beer all over the carpet and she’d sat it in once she got her diaper off? Vinyl tried to think back. It must’ve been a pretty narrow window if that where the case. Suckling in thought, she attempted to retrace her steps after she’d gotten her diaper off. That had been right after… or maybe right before… or possibly… Actually, now that Vinyl thought about it she couldn’t think about! It was like she’d already forgotten about it. Damn, that beer was some powerful stuff. Normally she’d have to sleep off a hangover before she forgot anything from the night before. To her dismay, however, she found that she could still recall getting into the diaper, waddling around the club floor, drinking out of foal bottles, and even her two “accidents”. But she shrugged it all off, certain those unsightly moments would slip away soon. Her suckling slowed and grew deeper as she tried to reset her train of thought. But, try as she might, she’d already forgotten what she was trying to remember. Aw well, probably didn’t matter. She continued forward, only a few turns left before she reached her apartment. Her ears flicked at a subtle “squish squish squish” sound that seemed to follow her every step. Looking down, Vinyl checked her fore hooves to make sure there was no gum stuck to them. There wasn’t Next, her gaze whent to the concrete, praying that she hadn’t accidentally wandered into a construction site and gotten trapped in freshly laid cement. Again. “Phew.” Vinyl exhaled at the site of normal sidewalk below her. She suckled away, calming down a little bit. Even though the mysterious squishing noise hadn’t been found, she was just relieved enough to stop caring about it. Besides, whatever it was, it didn’t affect her anyway. Continuing her toddle home, Vinyl’s thoughts drifted to what she was going to do tomorrow. She remembered her promise to Pacific and frowned. Even if she soon forgot about it, it would come back quickly to her once she realized her records were missing. She’d have to go back and get them, that was for sure. And when she did, she was undoubtedly going to be expected to play another night. Really shouldn’t have said yes… Vinyl thought. It was a little late for what ifs, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t stop herself from feeling that way. Mulling it over did her no good either. She still came back to the same conclusion she had reached when leaving the club: the money was good and the diapers (if clean) could be tolerated. It was a really shame that the place had to be into that kind of stuff. If not for the diapers, Vinyl really would consider being a regular there. The ponies were nice, the drinks were good, and the pay… Vinyl reached back and tapped the sack of bits on her back. The money clinked a wonderful tune back, and she smiled. Yeah, really is a shame about those diapers. I don’t know how they can stand wearing them. I wouldn’t want to be caught dead in them if I had the choice. She rounded the corner, almost bumping into a stallion coming the opposite way. “Oh, sowwy,” Vinyl slurred. “No it’s my…” The stallion looked her up and down, eyebrows rising and nose wrinkling. “...bad.” He trotted around her and aimed for the other side of the road, giving her a confused, if not disgusted, backwards glance as he did. Vinyl just huffed. “Wude.” What was his deal? Vinyl toddled onward, paying him no mind. She was almost home anyway, seeing the familiar splotches of green from Central Pasture’s trees that stood adjacent to her building. Finally. Ready to just leap onto her couch and crash, Vinyl picked up her pace. Her ears flicked at the sound of the ever-present squishing noises do the same, and the sensation on her backside only grew more gross. But that wasn’t enough to stop her, because she had finally made it home! Vinyl burst into the apartment complex, as she all but skipped down the halls, and was practically floating by the time she found her apartment door. Finally finally finally! She never thought it would feel so good just coming home. Now she could rub her paycheck in her roommate’s face, pass out, and forget all the awful things that had happened that night. Vinyl went straight for the doorknob, finding that it turned quite easily for her. She grinned, knowing that meant Octavia hadn’t left yet. The door flew open, Vinyl proudly strutting inside like she owned the place. To be fair, she partially did. The familiar scent of coffee wafted through the air, stinging Vinyl’s nose before she even inhaled. Yet, it smelled different as Vinyl took a long, slow breath. Like it was mingling with the smell of a dumpster or something. The living room and kitchen soon came into focus, Vinyl’s eyes still not working as well as her nose. First the couch unfuzzied itself, then the coffee table, then the coffee maker back in the kitchen, and finally, the mare using it. Octavia’s back was turned as she put most of her focus into taking out the coffee pot and pouring herself a generous helping. “Yo!” Vinyl called out to her, brightening at the sight of her roommate. She could hardly wait to show off her haul. At least with Octavia, Vinyl could recount the night as a more awesome experience than it had actually been. Couldn’t let her know anything that had actually gone down, of course. “Good morning, Vinyl,” came Octavia’s sleepy response. She turned around to greet the triumphant DJ, cup in hoof. “How did it… go…” Her eyes widened and she nearly lost her grip on her coffee mug. “We-heh-ell, wait tiww I teww woo, Tavi,” Vinyl said as leaned over, letting the sack of bits fall to the floor and spill open. She grinned, taking Octavia’s bug-eyed look of shock as a good thing. “Betcha didn’ tink I—” “What in Equestria are you wearing?” Octavia cut her off. Vinyl’s brow rose, not expecting that much of a shocked response. Octavia didn’t seem concerned at all by the fact that Vinyl could pay her rent for the next month. And I’m not even wearing anything to boot. Vinyl thought as she suckled her pacifier. Wait… Pacifier? Vinyl’s eyes slowly glanced down, catching the pink guard of the pacifier still stuck in her mouth. Her heart stopped. Oh no. She looked down further, only to be greeted by the purple onesie clinging to her chest. No no no! Vinyl’s head creaked to turn around, looking past the puffy sleeves of her foalish clothes. She caught sight of her onesie’s hatch, still forced open. NO! Oh Celestia no! And her diaper. Her massive, poofy, messy diaper, still clinging her her plot. Vinyl’s face went full on pink. Now she knew why she couldn’t remember ever taking her diaper off… In fact, a lot of stuff about her walk home made a lot more sense now, come to think of it. She sniffed the air, the overwhelming stench of her dirty diaper overpowering the coffee by now. There was little doubt in her mind that Octavia had already noticed it. She whirled around, biting down on her pacifier out of sheer nervousness. Her pink face must’ve gone through twenty new shades by the time she made eye contact with Octavia, and it still had another twenty to go before she finally blurted out, “Tavi, wait! I can espwain!”