A splash. Deep. Dull. Dark. Delightfully direct.

They resurfaced from the water. Hera tugged Scootaloo out of the way, before the next pony came out of the slide. They laughed all the time.

“Now this was a good one,” she said, “I don’t think we ever went this fast.”

“And we’re faster when we grab each other,” Scootaloo panted, “Because together we have more weight, or something … we should try it again.”

They climbed out of the pool, but Hera held Scootaloo by the tail before she could run away.

“Now hold on there for a moment,” Hera said, “I believe swimming rules say you gotta take a break regularly, before you wear yourself out. Look, show me your hoof.”

Scootaloo held her hoof out. It was trembling.

“What does it mean?” Scootaloo said.

“It means you’ve used up more energy than your body can produce,” Hera said, “Something like that is easy to miss when you’re having fun, because you can’t always feel when it happens. But you still gotta pay attention.” She leaned in close, looked Scootaloo straight in the eyes. “And in case it does happen, you very urgently need a cure.” She stared with debilitating intensity.

“W-what’s the cure?” Scootaloo said.

Hera leaned closer, their noses almost touching. Then she broke out into a grin. “Sugar!” she said. “What you need is a nice, fat, sweet treat!”

“Yay!” Scootaloo cheered.

Leaving everypony’s fun and games behind, they went to a small, secluded area in the corner of the hall. A few potted plants created a thin but surprisingly efficient sound barrier for the little tucked away cafeteria. There were a bunch of small tables, though no chairs, and tons of ponies sat around, and took their swimming rules really seriously.

Scootaloo’s mouth watered as Hera ordered. They went to a table holding a steaming waffle, dripping with butter and loaded with chocolate and cream, as well as a big chilled glass of sweet lemonade.

Hera settled at the table. Scootaloo wanted to take her seat as well, but Hera pulled her close.

“Where do you think you’re going, silly?” she said, “come sit with me.”

Scootaloo was cradled against Hera’s chest and sat down in front of her. Hera reached around Scootaloo to rip off a piece of the chocolate covered waffle and proceeded to happily stuff it into Scootaloo’s mouth.

Scootaloo felt an instinct to resist the infantile treatment, but then she came to her senses, and gluttonously chewed down the piece, licking her lips. Why would she refuse such a fantastic treat? Besides, Hera seemed to enjoy so much taking care of a foal. Scootaloo was just doing her a favor, really.

“Mmhh … tastes … so good …” Scootaloo said, holding her mouth open for the next piece.

The waffle was actually pretty basic, but never had a luxurious helping of creamy sugary goo tasted this good. The sweetness hit the spot perfectly, Scootaloo’s tired limbs waking up with new vigour with each bite.

“Of course it does,” Hera said, “you gotta treat yourself every now and then.”

“There are an awful lot of ponies here,” Scootaloo said, “are they also taking breaks from swimming?”

“Yeah,” Hera said, “What I said before was no joke, the swimming rules are there for a reason. If you’re going to put a lot of time into something, you gotta make sure you regularly take care of your basic needs. Always take a break and unwind for a moment regularly when engaged in physically or mentally demanding activity. It’ll make all the difference for how long you can go.”

“Okay,” Scootaloo said, “makes sense.” And it was the perfect justification for this tiny excess.

They finished the waffle together. Now, Hera held the glass of lemonade to Scootaloo’s lips. The lemonade was very sweet, but the ice cubes made it chilling and refreshing. Scootaloo thought she had to drink excruciatingly slowly, although Hera would probably say her liquid intake would be the most optimal this way or something.

Either that, or she was just really enjoying feeding Scootaloo.

“And there, all done,” Hera said, “wasn’t too bad, was it?”

“It was really good,” Scootaloo said, “thank you.”

“Oh, you’re welcome, my little sugar plum,” Hera said, “here, let’s get you tidied up.”

She wiped Scootaloo’s mouth off with a hoof, and fluffed up her cheeks and her soaked mane a bit, for good measure. Then Hera stood Scootaloo up, reached down, and pulled up the waist of her plastic pants.

“Everything nice and snug down there?” she said, “How about your diapers, Scootaloo? They still dry in this thing?”

“Um,” Scootaloo said.

She did not dare move as her underwear was adjusted, and just kind of stood still, enduring patiently, as the grown up lightly touched her on the flank, which was evident only by the rustling sound, because Scootaloo couldn’t feel a thing through the mounds of fluff and plastic. Still, though the sensation was foreign, it became clear that Hera had little idea what she was actually doing. While Fluttershy had handled Scootaloo’s diapers with poise and experience, Hera was now captivated by the haptic details, crinkling a bit of soft plastic under her hooftip, and marvelling at the sturdy elastic bands of Scootaloo’s baby panties.

“J-just a bit of water got through, I think,” Scootaloo said before it got too awkward.

Hera snickered. “Just water, eh? Well, that’s good to hear,” she said, “you’re just the most well-behaved little filly, aren’t you?”

Hera eventually sated on filly cuteness, and they were ready to depart. Scootaloo led the way back into the action. Somepony splashed into the water and engulfed Scootaloo with the blastwave. There was a group of fillies repeatedly going down the one slide that Scootaloo and Hera hadn’t tried yet. They joined with the fillies, climbing up the ride as a group.

The slide wasn’t really a slide in the traditional sense, but rather a pipe that fed into a large funnel. The ride required a number of ponies to go together, so the water level within the funnel would actually rise, but the real fun was twisting and sliding in the inward spiralling motion, and tumbling all over each other, which was better in a bigger group anyway. The squealing fillies, and the equally squealing Hera, eventually reached the center and were flushed down the exit pipe and dumped into the pool below.

The second run was even better than the first, because Hera and Scootaloo had figured out how to ball up in a way to harness the centrifugal force optimally. They managed to stay in orbit longer than anypony else. It took a few tries, but they improved their technique such that none could best it, and the other ponies waited for them at the exit, cheering for the big and the small filly as they bombed into the water, local celebrities for all of two glorious seconds.

Such perfection could hardly be contained to a single ride, though. Unfortunately, the first slide was a lost cause, the long helix didn’t allow for any significant gain in speed at all. The slide with the loop-de-loop, however, allowed for incremental improvement, and they went again and again until they managed to nearly double the airtime. Scootaloo hung at the apex of the twisting tube, clamping down on Hera’s cool swimsuit in order to stabilize their combined centre of weight, the world upside down, the audience anticipating their explosive emergence.

“Whoa, can you do that again?” somepony from the pool said.

“I think Scootaloo needs a bit of a break from all the excitement,” Hera said, Scootaloo trying to escape her grasp toward the slides again. “But I’m sure you all can beat the record. Try going as pairs, it helps a lot if you work together.”

“Great idea!” the pony said, grabbing her friend, “Come on, let’s go!”

Meanwhile, Hera and Scootaloo finally climbed out of the pool for good. They rested for just a moment.

“You’re really a hurricane in a bottle, you know that, Scootaloo?” Hera said, panting.

“But this is so fun!” Scootaloo beamed, “You’re the best slide partner ever!”

Hera smiled. “I’m very flattered,” she said, “You’re quite pro in the tube yourself. I imagine if we keep at it, I’ll even be able to match --”

Somepony was banging drums.

On the far side of the hall stretched the racing pool. There was nopony actually racing, but this side of the tracks was occupied by a crowd of ponies doing the most bizarre contortions, hooves sticking out of the water, backs arching, joints bent unnaturally far. What kind of profane ritual was this? Some of them were even dunking little foals into the water.

“Uh, what are they doing?” Scootaloo said.

But hera was grinning, to a worrying degree in fact. “Water gymnastics!” she exclaimed, “And look, they even have foal gymnastics mixed in. Come, it’ll be fun!”

“Water gymnastics?” Scootaloo said, “Do we have to? Isn’t that just for little babies?”

“Don’t be silly, Scootaloo, everypony can do water gymnastics,” Hera said, “and it’ll give you a good stretch so you won’t get sore. Now, come on.”

It wasn’t like Scootaloo could say no anyway, she was dragged along so much like a floating pool toy. They entered the racing pool, and joined the gymnastics group. The drummer knew perfectly well what she was doing, dragging out the rhythm as slowly as she could, so that everypony would keep stretching for as long as possible. But nopony seemed to mind, and happily proceeded to writhe in the water. Hera pulled her hind leg over her head and remained there, perfectly in tune with everypony else. She really knew what she was doing.

The next bongo bang had them arching their backs and stretching out, making the pool into a colorful field of tails. Then, everypony stretched their forelegs toward the sky as if Celestia herself was flying overhead. Now they all bent to the left and bent to the right alternatingly, creating funny little waves with the movement.

“Okay, and now our little fillies and little colts,” the instructor said, “it’s your time to shine! Let’s do the little birdie first!”

Everypony picked up their little foal. Before Scootaloo knew it, she was grabbed around the waist and held on the water’s surface.

“What does the birdie do, Scootaloo?” Hera said.

The other foals were beginning to flap their forelegs, sometimes even their wings, like a bird would do. Scootaloo stretched out her limbs and pumped them up and down, but her flailing around was so out of tune with everypony else, the waves of water caused by their movement hit her in the face, and she almost fell over. This wasn’t working at all.

“Try listening to the drum, Scootaloo,” Hear said, “Don’t think about it. Just feel. It’ll make it much easier. Feel the beat.”

Scootaloo listened to the beat and slowed down. She lifted her limbs at the same time and slapped the water just when the drummer hit her drums. Then she carefully waited until the next beat to do her next flap. Soon, Scootaloo could play the rhythm by herself, and she was moving along the waves wonderfully smoothly.

“There you go, Scootaloo!” Hera cheered, “You’re really good at this.”

“Now everypony, it’s time for the doggie!” the instructor said, “How does the little doggie make?”

Every foal began barking and giggling as they pedaled underwater.

“Wauf wauf!” Scootaloo barked as she kicked her legs and laughed along with Hera.

“Aren’t you just the cutest little doggie!” Hera cooed.

The exercises were working. Scootaloo could veritably feel the tension leaving her joints, and all the barking made her breathing deep and even.

“Now comes the turtle, come on everypony,” the instructor said.

Hera lifted Scootaloo out of the water so she could do the turtle. Scootaloo arched her back and pulled in her legs, wiggling them exactly like a turtle would do when swimming. This was awesome! Scootaloo was the best turtle ever!

“And now we’ll finish with the froggie,” the instructor said, “show us how froggies swim!”

“You’d better hold on to her,” the mare closest to them said, “or she’s gonna race off.”

“I’m, uh, I’m trying,” Hera said, struggling to contain frog-Scootaloo from escaping. “Scootaloo’s a bit of a whirlwind.”

The mare giggled. “Oh, aren’t they just the cutest when they learn how fast they can move,” she said, “little Scout here is just the same, but he’s too small to make any trouble yet. Hey, why don’t we let them swim together? They’ll surely get along.”

“Good idea, it’ll help me rein Scootaloo in,” Hera said, “Hey, Scootaloo, come back here and say hi to Scout.”

“Hi,” Scootaloo said.

Scout gurgled happily in response and proceeded to wiggle his little hooves. He wasn’t going to be a match for Scootaloo’s gymnastic prowess, but he was also just a little foal, so Scootaloo was obviously way more mature.

“I love how he’s dressed,” Hera gasped, “Look at those cute little swimming pants. Where did you get them?”

“Oh, I sewed them myself so we wouldn’t have to borrow some every time we came here,” the mare said, “but they’re not quite as watertight as those adorable little plastic panties of Scootaloo’s.”

Both mares giggled in a way that only the proud guardians of very little ponies could giggle. Very little ponies, of which Scootaloo, clearly, remained the more mature. To prove how mature she was, she tried following along with the grow-up exercises, but couldn’t quite muster the balance to keep upright because of her floaties, and it turned out more frustrating than fun.

The foal exercises were more up to Scootaloo’s speed, and doing them together with Scout made everything doubly exciting. The little colt was too young to rightly understand what they were doing, but he attentively observed Scootaloo in her top form, and he did his best to imitate her movements. Scootaloo slowed down and helped him get the hang of things, and soon the two foals were splashing about happily, in sync to the tune of the music.

By the end of the exercises, even the big ponies were exhausted, but it was a good kind of exhaustion, the kind that leaves muscles pleasantly abuzz with the joy of exertion, and the entire body relaxed. Scout was soon taken back to the baby pool, so Scootaloo and Hera ambled back to the deckchairs for a break.

Hera was surprisingly muscular for a pegasus. Her light marigold coat was a bit longer and more fuzzy than Scootaloo’s as well, looking quite weighty as it dripped heavily with water. Regardless, Hera moved effortlessly across the tiled floor, and Scootaloo, usually so fast and nimble, couldn’t quite move as freely because of her floaties, so she had to pay attention and waddle quickly in order to keep up.

Scootaloo bumped into something soft.

“Uh,” she said, “a palm tree?”

It wasn’t the only palm tree, the entire area behind the deckchairs was decorated with exotic trees and bushes to make it look like a tropical paradise.

“Sorry to disappoint,” Hera said, “but they’re not real. They’ve been trying to decorate this place to make it look like a beach, though it seems a bit … plastic, for my taste. Anyway, what’s important is over there.”

“Whoa,” Scootaloo said. From high above, water came pouring down out of the clouds and broke up along funnels and artificial leaves, creating smooth, thin waterfalls that ended in the pool. “Waterfalls! And is that a rainbow?”

“Yeah,” Hera said, “it’s supposed to be the super healthy bath, which is why they sprinkle a bit of rainbow in there. But the waterfall is only there to keep the warm air in, it leads to the outside pool. Wanna go explore?”

“Outside pool? That sounds awesome!” Scootaloo said.

Hera led the way through the thicket, between fake leaves and branches, cutting short the marked pathways. Past a particularly colorful decoration lay a large and mysterious door. Hera pushed through the doorway, and Scootaloo found herself in a clean, white hall.

It was a restroom.

“Just give me a moment real quick,” Hera said, “I just need to visit the little filly’s room. I’ll be fast, I promise. Can you stay right here in the meantime?”

“Sure,” Scootaloo said, and Hera went inside.

Right. There was that, thing, that grown-ups needed to do. Scootaloo had kind of forgotten about that. But no reason to complain, it only meant a few more moments for her to chill out.

There was a tiny fountain on the wall, shooting a little jet of drinking water into a tiny basin. Scootaloo walked over and took a few refreshing sips, and then she plopped down onto her butt.

The waiting room was decorated quite tastefully, the white tiles on the walls interspersed with equally white sculptures of landscapes and clouds. There were several little fountains spread across the walls, and a section of the tiles was even running slick with water, some kind of modern decorative installation.

It was exceedingly obvious why the room was arranged this way. The constant glittering and splashing of little streams of water everywhere was stimulating, to say the least, and was supposed to encourage the ponies coming through here to be quick about their business. After all, they should finish up fast and go back to their swimming activities, and spend money at the bar.

The stimulation was working remarkably well. Scootaloo, sitting there and listening to the sounds, rapidly needed to pee.

Now, Scootaloo was perfectly aware of what transpired, she just quite simply didn’t feel like doing anything about it. Her tummy instinctively tightened and her body made to relieve itself, but Scootaloo just remained comfy and relaxed, and let it happen. Nopony expected any different from a little foal anyway, she didn’t know how to control it, or even understand it, so she did like she was supposed to, and didn’t pay any further attention as she felt herself become as relaxed on the inside as she was on the outside. The tiles were smooth under her legs, heated to a pleasant warmth, the sound of trickling water almost lulled her in, the muted noise of distant activity a reminder of all the adventures she’d had, but here was Scootaloo, unwinding alone in the clean white hallway, only briefly feeling funny as she began to go tinkle freely underneath herself, before easing into ultimate relaxation.

There were waiting benches on the walls, but Scootaloo didn’t need them, she sat quite well on the tiled floor thanks to the soft cushion that had been wrapped around her hindquarters. The little fountains, faux classical embellishments of polished metal shining brightly, continued to dispassionately expel their little splashing streams of water. Scootaloo watched the dribble of water dance in the magical light, and she shuddered in primal relief, holding still and fully enjoying the awesome sensation as her stomach became continuously more nice and empty, and the funny feeling as the warm puddle on the ground grew bigger and bigger.

Somepony came in through the door, in a hurry. Scootaloo pulled her tail aside so the other pony could pass. She received a thanks in return and the visitor hurried into one of the bathrooms.

How silly. In the time it took ponies just to walk in there, Scootaloo had already almost finished up, and even now, she folded her hooves behind her head, leaned back against the wall, and basked in that wholesome sense of relief, as the last bit dribbled out. And the other pony had seemed so stressed too! Meanwhile, Scootaloo did nothing but chill. It was clear as day. Not having to use the bathroom was awesome. She wouldn’t trade her place for anything.

And so, Scootaloo sat and relaxed until Hera returned. “You’re such a good filly for waiting here,” Hera said, “Such a good filly you are. Let’s go see what these waterfalls have in store for us, shall we?”

Scootaloo was being praised too. Just awesome.

The installation above the tropical forest was quite pretty, despite being fake. The water coming from the clouds broke up on the leaves and drizzled a fresh sprinkle onto Scootaloo’s face.

“The rainbow is so pretty,” Scootaloo said.

A manifest rainbow hung above the pool. It wasn’t strong enough to quite reach the water, but small rainbow droplets steadily pitter-pattered into the pool and infused it with their colorful essence.

“Yeah,” Hera said, “It’s quite an opportunity to have a rainbow bath. The magical properties of a rainbow are said to -- Scootaloo, wait!”

But it was too late. Scootaloo hadn’t been able to resist, she had stuck out her tongue and caught one of the appetizing drops. Her mouth immediately contracted from the intensely bitter sensation. The rainbow didn’t actually taste of anything, but it went past Scootaloo’s senses, and it was sharp, stinging, electrifying, all at the same time, and it made her entire body shiver.

“Sorry, Scootaloo,” Hera laughed, “but rainbows are not exactly known for their taste.”

“Ugh,” Scootaloo spat, “I noticed.”

“Here, why don’t we go outside to take a breather?” Hera said.

She waded through the water and into the waterfall. Scootaloo waded after her and stepped through the thin sheet of water. And suddenly, she found herself outside. The air was significantly colder, so Scootaloo and Hera both promptly dropped into the water, up to their noses. A slight current carried them out into the pool landscape, which consisted of a bunch of underwater seats and decorations, and some free space inbetween.

The pool had a nice view over the outskirts of the city. They were a bit elevated and could see the roads and streets snaking across the cloudscape, lined with all manner of progressively smaller houses, be they cloud homes, stone or brick houses, communal buildings or even extravagant mansions made of glass and steel.

Beyond and above lay a wonderful assortment of clouds, clearly not all of them natural, but even the domestic ones blended in beautifully with the cloud-patterned sky. While the streets were rather empty, there was quite a bit of traffic in the air, ponies traversing the city at high altitude, and oftentimes diving to the lower city or rising to the upper city, past the outskirts. So many ponies, and everypony had somewhere to go. Scootaloo hadn’t imagined there’d be so many things to even do.

Hera grabbed Scootaloo and let themselves be carried off by the current. The current went in a circle around the pool, past a bunch of ponies lying on bubbly massage beds, a few ponies showering under some clouds, the most resilient ponies lying outside on deck chairs, somepony rebelliously jumping into the water, and back to the entrance again. They didn’t even have to do anything, the current carried them around by itself, so they just had to take it for a few more spins.

“Whoa, what’s that?” Scootaloo said.

“That’s the weather factory,” Hera said.

“I didn’t know Skyview had a weather factory,” Scootaloo said, “there aren’t even any lands to till, are there?”

“Oh, it’s not that kind of weather factory,” Circuit said, “that’s the tail.”

“Hiya, Circuit,” Scootaloo said, “where did you come from? And what’s the tail?”

“I was right here,” Circuit said, “You floated past me three times. Anyway, the weather factory supplies Skyview with water and regulates its climate. That’s why you see those pipes coming down from it. They call it the tail because it tails behind the city like that. But don’t tell my dad what they call it, I think he’d get upset.”

The weather factory had the typical look, large tanks and machines attuned to weather magic to keep the gears going, a large intake rotating through the huge cloud stockpile as steam and rainbows came from pressurization valves. But, indeed, this weather factory wasn’t floating independently, but was tethered to Skyview by a set of massive chains and huge piping threads that vanished into the city, bridges and houses growing on top of the massive structures. In fact, the reason this whole bath house was elevated was one such lone pipe, too.

“Ooh, does that mean we’re in water fresh from the source?” Scootaloo said, making a splash.

“Yup,” Circuit said, “And the rainbow, too. Straight from the factory. You rarely get to see something like that unless you work in there.”

“Wow,” Hera said, “your little friend is quite knowledgeable, Scootaloo.”

“Uh,” Circuit said, scratching his head, “my dad kind of heads the weather department, so he took me all the time.”

“Really?” Hera said, “Doesn’t that mean he’ll be at the science fair tomorrow?”

“Sure will,” Circuit said.

“Science fair?” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah, they’ll have a science fair tomorrow in the upper city,” Circuit said, “I can’t be there since I have training, but you should go.”

“I’d venture to guess you’d rather enjoy it, Scootaloo,” Hera said, “from what I’ve seen so far at least. It’s a bit fluffed up for the tourists, but it’s interesting nonetheless.”

“Sure, that sounds fun,” Scootaloo said, “I’ll talk to Fl ... mommy about it.”

“Great,” Circuit said.

A scuffle broke out by a nearby doorway. The door was knocked open and two squealing ponies came racing out. It was Klieg and Fluttershy, their hot bodies steaming as they ran through the fresh wind. They spread their wings, and Klieg even made a little flip, as they threw themselves into a bunch of cloud, rolling around in the quickly forming frigid slush. Then, the two arrivals got up and scrambled over to the pool, and jumped in with a big splash.

“Celestia, that was just supremely invigorating,” Klieg panted.

“Oh yes, I feel rather refreshed,” Fluttershy said.

“My skin had not been graced with anything like this hibiscus-honey infusion, that one really had my blood pumping,” Klieg said. Without missing a beat, he twisted around, and pretend-accidentally put a hoof around Hera’s shoulders. “Oh, why hello there, young filly.”

“Klieg!” Hera giggled, swimming into his embrace, “Not in front of the little ones!”

“Um, I believe we’re done for the day anyway,” Fluttershy said, “so, we’ll just give you some space. Come.”

Scootaloo waved goodbye to the entangled ponies and followed Circuit and Fluttershy back into the building. Things were winding down, the slides starting to become empty and deckchairs being freed up. Fluttershy wrapped Scootaloo in a towel, and Circuit departed to get his things.

“So, have you been enjoying yourself?” Fluttershy said.

“It was the most awesome bath house visit I’ve ever had,” Scootaloo said, “Well, I didn’t even know they had bath houses this large.”

“I take it you got to try all the slides?” Fluttershy said.

“The slides were the best,” Scootaloo said excitedly, “Hera took me on all of them. First, we went on the twisty slide again, but we didn’t figure out how to go fast on that one until much later, when we started going at the same time. But that one made my head spin the most, the spiral just went forever. Then we also tried the one with the loop, that one was way faster. No wonder they had a warning sign in front.”

Fluttershy led her blabbering little filly back to the busy locker room. She took Scootaloo aside, unwrapped her from the towel, and, holding up Scootaloo’s hooves in turn, pulled the floaties off, and opened the valves to squeeze the air out. Then she gingerly reached around Scootaloo’s tail and unbuttoned the covered snaps. She hooked her hooves into Scootaloo’s plastic panties and pulled them down her legs.

Scootaloo was still relaying her encounter with the indoor rainbow, but the movement of all the ponies in the cramped space created a sense of urgency, and Fluttershy decided to free her hindquarters from the remarkably bloated diaper now rather than later. Most of it seemed to be just water, but the diaper had clearly served its intended purpose down the middle as well, which didn’t come as a surprise seeing how adorably excited Scootaloo was, chattering on incessantly, without even noticing as her sticky tapes were ripped open.

Fluttershy held the saggy bulk in place with one hoof and opened the tapes with the other. Scootaloo absent-mindedly wiggled her rear free of the sodden bulk, and the diaper fell away between her hind legs, sagging heavily within Fluttershy’s grasp. Fluttershy had navigated them skillfully close to the foal changing tables, and she easily dropped the soaked bundle into a disposal bin.

“And that’s when we were done and everyone bunched up in the middle and got dropped into the water,” Scootaloo recounted, her eyes glowing with recollection, “so that’s when we decided to call it a day. It was really cool. Um. And how was your visit to the sauna?”

“Oh, it was delightful,” Fluttershy said, “they did have a bunch of rooms at different temperatures. We started out at the coolest and worked our way up to the hottest. Would you take the shampoo, please?”

Scootaloo grabbed the shampoo and they went into the showers.

“I never thought I’d be able to go into a sauna so hot,” Fluttershy continued, “but in the end, it always seemed like the next one wouldn’t be so bad after all. The temperatures really made us sweat, but after a while, all that was left was a wonderful sensation of calm and peace. The chambers were very nice and quiet, too. They had those lovely infusions for us to choose. First we put on some strawberry juice and pine needles, but we moved on to lemongrass ... in the end, we got a bit carried away with the hibiscus ... but my skin feels really clean now at least.”

There were other ponies in the showers, much smaller ponies, foals even, who proudly showered on their own, like so many big and mature ponies. But Scootaloo didn’t care. She sat on the little plastic stool, water drizzling down her head, as Fluttershy lathered her up, gracing her ears with that wonderful voice. Fluttershy’s hooves touched her so softly, yet were so thorough in their purpose, as she spread shampoo all over both of them.

Scootaloo couldn’t help herself. She threw her forehooves around Fluttershy, bubbles and all, and hugged her, soapy skin sliding against lathered fur.

“Thank you so much for taking me, mommy,” Scootaloo said, “I can’t remember the last time anypony was so nice to me as you are.”

“I’m just glad you’re enjoying yourself, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said, and hugged her back. She took the strategic opportunity to clean Scootaloo’s back, and under the pits of her wings.

“All of this, it’s amazing,” Scootaloo said, “I wish our trip would never end.”

“It’s not over yet, Scoots, we’ve still got some things to do,” Fluttershy said, “Remember the choir? And the upper city? There’s still plenty of fun to be had. Besides, I’ve the feeling we’re taking more with us than just good memories. I’ve been hearing good things about you recently.”

“Really?” Scootaloo said, “Huh, I didn’t think I’d ever hear those words.”

“Really,” Fluttershy said, “we’re having a good time, and that’s what matters. So don’t you worry your little head. Everything’s going to be fine.”

The embrace of warm water left them both squeaky clean. They exited the showers, and Scootaloo’s world became towel, as Fluttershy rubbed her off with a fresh fluffy cloth, leaving her fur soft and fuzzy to the touch. Her mane got all frazzled, but, looking at it more closely, it didn’t actually look much different from before, so whatever.

Fluttershy began toweling herself off. “Would you go and get a fresh diaper for you?” she said.

“Sure,” Scootaloo said and happily trotted across the locker room. There were many ponies abound, everypony getting themselves and each other dressed and pushing their way through, to and from the lockers. Scootaloo walked past stallions and mares and families, to the last row, and reached her stroller.

There were her diapers, neatly placed in the tray under the seat. She selected the one with the little lion on it, because she was feeling proud like a lion, and also fuzzy, so it seemed appropriate. And she had all reason to be proud, seeing how she could go and fetch her own diapers, all on her own, like a big pony. Oh, how jealous the other parents had to be of Fluttershy.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said. One of the changing tables was free, and Fluttershy picked up Scootaloo, and lay her down on top of it.

As relaxed as Scootaloo was feeling, the diaper change wasn’t going to be very peaceful. The foal right next to them just wouldn’t stop screaming her head off, despite the mother’s best efforts of pacification. Scootaloo tilted her head up just to see who could make so much noise, and found herself looking into a very familiar little face.

“Oh, hey there, Scout,” Scootaloo said, “it’s me! Scootaloo! Remember? We were swimming together earlier!”

Scout immediately stopped crying and looked back at the newcomer. Before long, a huge smile spread on his face and he began laughing, and Scootaloo didn’t have anything else to say and began laughing too.

“Oh, thank Celestia you’re here, Scootaloo,” Scout’s mom said.

“That’s what I always say,” Fluttershy said, “You know my little filly? I’m Fluttershy.”

“Merry Winds, and I’m glad Scootaloo saved my ears,” she said, “Scout seems to beside himself ever since Scootaloo left. Good to see he enjoys the company.”

“I suppose it takes a foal to understand a foal,” Fluttershy said, “Speaking of which, think we could have some of your baby powder?”

“Sure,” Merry said.

Fluttershy had lifted Scootaloo’s hindquarters in the air and slipped the freshly fluffed out diaper underneath. Then she took the powder and gently sprinkled a generous helping onto Scootaloo’s butt. The fine powder was almost too soft to feel, and Fluttershy’s hoof glided very smoothly across Scootaloo’s skin, spreading the powder and working it into her fur.

Scootaloo relaxedly enjoyed the soft sensations. She was lowered back down onto the clean diaper, and Fluttershy parted Scootaloo’s legs so she could sprinkle more powder onto her lower stomach and the insides of her thighs.

But that was as far as Scootaloo’s confident pride went. In the most exposed possible moment, Circuit walked by, turned around and came straight to the changing tables. He stood up and joined their little round.

“Hey sis,” he said, “do you think we could -- oh, hey Scootaloo!”

“Wait, you’re his sister?” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah,” Merry said, “and I see you guys know each other too.”

“Oh,” Scootaloo said, “so you’re the one who was up there, laughing all the time. Up in that funny cloud, doing … uh … “

“That’s right,” Merry said, “you saw us? It’s where me and the others hold our regular foal meets, and take our little ones to splash in the water together. The meet was lots of fun, wasn’t it, Scout?”

She wiggled Scout’s hoof, and Scout gave a blubbering giggle.

“Right,” Scootaloo said, “A foal meet.” That was totally what she had been thinking. Seemed fun enough.

“So, Scootaloo, um,” Circuit said, “see ya soon, then?”

“You bet,” Scootaloo said.

“Great,” Circuit said, “and thanks. It’s been pretty cool hanging out with you.”

He went in for a hug. It was probably the most awkward hug of Scootaloo’s life, as he kind of embraced her while she was laying on her back on the changing table, in the middle of getting her diaper changed.

“Told you so,” Fluttershy mouthed silently. Mercifully, she took her time with the powder, thoroughly massaging it into Scootaloo’s fur, with a hoof perfectly in place for some decent covering-up, until the little gathering was over.

“Alright, catch you later then,” Circuit said and vanished into the crowd.

Scout was already finished, and he and his mother left, when Scootaloo got her diaper finally pulled up over her stomach. Fluttershy taped Scootaloo up snugly, and sat her up to finish off her tail tape, rubbing the crinkly spot flat with a hoof. Scootaloo was put down on the floor, and the changing tables were immediately taken up by the next ponies already waiting in line.

Scootaloo ambled in Fluttershy’s wake through the crowd. The fresh diaper felt wonderful under her tail, the powder making it really soft and dry, and giving it a very nice sweet smell. Other foals smelled quite similar, and they kind of looked similar to Scootaloo, too, with their stubby little hooves working against their thick bulks. In fact, nopony really batted an eyelash as Scootaloo crinkled past in nothing but her diaper, because she was just another cute little foal in their eyes. Even the filly with the swim goggles was there, and Scootaloo waved, and she waved back, and that was all there is to it.

In the time it took Scootaloo to pull her shirt over her head, Fluttershy was already fully dressed. She helped Scootaloo further things along, putting on the jacket and fastening the skirt around Scootaloo’s waist, but she cast the pantyhose aside.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself in your diaper,” Fluttershy giggled, “how about we leave your pants out today? It should be warm enough to be wearing just the skirt.”

Scootaloo stood up, her hind legs curiously airy wearing just her skirt and diaper. The soft padding was super fluffy, unconstricted by any clothing as it was. In fact, the skirt wasn’t even long enough to fully cover the diaper, a bit of clean white plastic peeked out from under the hem.

“It’s perfect,” Scootaloo said.

“That’s nice,” Fluttershy said, and helped Scootaloo put on her boots.

They packed their things into Scootaloo’s awesome stroller, the very awesome stroller Scootaloo loved so much getting strapped into. They left the bath house, and Scootaloo felt cleansed of her worries, and what remained was nothing but clean, unmarred joy.