III. Fully booked

'You've mentioned your mate, but where is she?' Rowan asked as they cleared the table.

'We've shared her apartment during the renovations here. She is there for the final inspection with the landlord, and to return our keys. She'll be here around lunchtime, I guess.'

'Does she know I'm here?'

'I texted her before I went downstairs this morning, so she won't be surprised when she finds you here today.'

'Wait, that sounds like you're leaving. Where are you going?'

'I have some other errands to run, and seeing as you're not clothed, I can't take you with me. The washing machine will take another hour and a half, and I can't spare that time.'

'Oh, okay. Perhaps this is a dumb question, but is there anything I can do for you?'

'Yup. Take some rest, and don't hurt yourself. If you want to pass some time, the stack of boxes closest to the couch contain mostly books. There's many kinds of books there, as Stella and I have a broad taste.'

She went into the hallway, but quickly returned, holding a crutch.

'The hospital gave you this to make it easier for you to walk around. You can use it to get to the toilet for when you, well... for when you don't want to use your diaper.'

Rowan looked confused for a moment, then scrunched up his face.

'Gross.'

'Glad we agree on that,' Celester laughed. 'Did I forget anything? Oh, of course, your painkillers. I left the package of pills from the hospital on the countertop. Take one every six hours.'

'What do I do if I need a clean diaper?'

'I've put two spares and a package of wipes on the coffee table. You probably won't need both, but there's no such thing as "too many diapers". One last question for you, and I want you to be completely honest with me. Would it make you feel safer if I locked the door when I leave, or does that make you feel trapped?'

'Actually, I'd prefer it if you did lock the door. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm not fully convinced Azalea is just going to let me go.'

'Our landline was installed last week, so you can use the phone in case of emergency. It has mine and Stella's number in its memory.'

'Thanks. Do you have any idea when you will be back?'

'Late afternoon, probably. Keep calm, and lie down when you feel like you need to. See you!'

'Bye,' Rowan said sheepishly.

He just stood there for a while, listening. The sound of the front door being closed and locked, a car door, the engine starting, Celester driving away. It took a few minutes before it dawned on Rowan he was alone, in a stranger's house, and he couldn't get out. In some way, it felt familiar, but he soon realized Celester had locked the door for his safety. She was Azalea's polar opposite in many aspects. The unicorn even had a motherly aura around her. Sweet and caring, even though she had no obligation to be so kind and generous to Rowan.

He looked around the living room again. There had to be something he could do to pass time. He couldn't move furniture on his own, even if he knew where it should go. At random, he opened one of the boxes near the couch. It contained books, like Celester said. The first one was a sturdy hardcover book with a spine on the cover. It looked very much like someone with a degree in a medical field would own. It read Manual Therapy for Equines and Bovines, and appeared to be part of a series.

As he carefully looked at the other books in the box, Rowan got an idea. He didn't feel like reading, but he could make himself useful by unpacking the books and organizing them. He began unpacking all the boxes of the stack Celester had pointed out, neatly sorting them by category. Apparently, the unicorn wasn't joking when she said they had a broad taste. He found more medical books, some about law, and quite a few "chick lit" romance novels.

The contents of the next box surprised him, however. It contained various picture books and other books aimed at children in primary school. Another box was filled with princess-themed stories. Rowan wondered why the mares owned these books, as he was sure they had no children. Pondering this question, he went back to the kitchen and made himself another mug of tea. It proved quite the challenge to move with a crutch while also trying not to spill a mug of blistering hot liquid, but he managed.

After all, Rowan had all the time in the world. As he waited for his tea to cool down sufficiently to be drinkable without vulcanizing his throat, he checked a few more boxes. Eventually, he came to a point where the amount of books was roughly proportional to the available space in the bookcase. He stared at the various stacks of books he had carefully piled up and wondered how much time had passed.

He wasn't in a hurry, but he wondered if he could finish before Stella came home. By now, his tea was drinkable. As he took the first sip, a familiar sensation hit him - he had to pee. Annoyed, he gently put down the mug and reached for the crutch, setting out for the toilet. He then realized there was no need for such a trip. Instead, he sat back down, drank some more tea, and tried to relax his sphincter.

It still took effort, albeit a little less than the previous time. With his eyes closed, Rowan cherished the growing warmth in the front of his diaper. The stream of pee made a faint hissing noise, pooling around his bits before finally being absorbed by the soft fluff. He finished his tea, as he waited to be sure his diaper was done absorbing everything.

The thought of just sitting there at the kitchen table and wetting his diaper without hesitation made him slightly hard again. Rowan idly rubbed the now squishy front of his diaper, feeling his erection growing as he did. Suddenly he stopped, realizing things would get pretty awkward if he actually masturbated to completion in his diaper. The padding could take a lot more, and he wasn't planning to explain to either of the mares why he changed out of a diaper he had wet only once.

He carefully got back on his paws - or rather, one paw and the crutch. Rowan felt the diaper had swollen up around his bits and between his legs. He enjoyed the feeling so much it made him forget about everything outside of the living room. In a slow but steady pace, he began organizing the bookshelf.

Save for the picture books, the majority of the literature had been tidied up now, neatly categorized by subject or genre. In the meantime, Rowan had taken another tea break, during which he had managed to wet his diaper again.

Just as he had gotten up to sort through the picture books, he heard the sound of footsteps on the gravel driveway. He made his way to the kitchen window and saw a sand-colored pony with a white mane, dressed in dark jeans and a bright red coat. He listened carefully. A key in the lock, the front door being opened, the pony thoroughly wiping her hooves.

She gently opened the living room door. Being conscious of his own diaper, Rowan immediately noticed a tell-tale bulge in the pony's pants. It struck him as odd, since Celester had only said she wore diapers to bed.

'Hiya!' she greeted. 'You must be Rowan. Nice to meet you.'

'And I suppose you're Stella?'

'The one and only,' she replied cheerfully, striking a pose. 'I see you've been busy.'

'I didn't feel like reading, so... I do hope you girls were planning to keep that bookcase where it is, or I've done all this for nothing,' he laughed.

'Actually... no, just kidding. You did a great job so far.'

'It's ordered by subject and genre. I've managed to get everything in, except the picture books. I guess they'll fit on the bottom shelves, but I have no idea how to order them.'

'Like you did with the others,' Stella said matter-of-factly.

'Say what?'

'They might be targeted at children, but that doesn't matter. There's categories for those as well. There's fairy tales, educational picture books, silly stories without a moral, and bedtime stories, to name a few. The latter don't go in here, by the way.'

'Why not?'

'I keep those somewhere else.'

'Oh, okay. Can I ask you a blunt question?'

'Sure, fire at will.'

'You and Celester don't have foals, do you?'

'Nope.'

'Then what's with all these picture books?'

'I've collected those for years. It started with a series about a pony who wanted to be a unicorn princess. When I was a filly, I used to put on a pink frilly dress and imagine I was the pony in those stories. Little did I know I'd fall in love with my very own unicorn princess years later. My collection kept growing over the years, until Celester made me prune it before we moved.'

'There were even more?' Rowan blurted out.

'I used to own about three times as many as you see here. Most of it is in storage. I donated a lot of them to the hospital, where I read to children every few weeks.'

'That's a nice way of volunteering. I've had my fair share of hospitals for a while, though, if you don't mind.'

Stella giggled. 'Of course. How is your paw, by the way?'

'Still sore, but the brace and the painkiller help a lot. It's mainly annoying that I need to think about everywhere I want to go, and that I'm slower than a tortoise.'

'As a rabbit, are you usually a fast runner?'

'That depends on whether or not my ex is anywhere near,' he said sarcastically.

She suppressed a chuckle.

'On a completely different note, this diaper feels pretty full. I feel really embarrassed to ask, but I've never changed a diaper in my life, and I assume my ankle won't make it easier. Could you please help me?'

'Of course! I'll be right back.'

Stella hurried out of the living room and stomped up the stairs, before Rowan could remind her of the spare diapers on the coffee table. She returned carrying what looked like a large and thick quilted cloth sheet. It was covered with a print of butterflies in many vibrant colors.

'What's that?' Rowan inquired as Stella spread out the sheet on the floor.

'A changing mat. The floor is cold and hard, so this is mostly for comfort. It's also absorbent, which is super useful if you overestimate the capacity of your diaper. It happens to me every now and then.'

Rowan pointed towards the spare diapers on the coffee table. Stella took one and unfolded it. She fluffed it up a little, then put it down on the changing mat.

'Go lie down on the diaper for me please. Take your time.'

Rowan's ears flopped. He slowly sat down on the diaper, then laid back.

'Are you nervous?'

He nodded quickly.

'Can you tell me why?'

He shrugged.

'I know you asked me to change you, but are you okay with me seeing you naked?'

He nodded again. 'It's just... I suppose changing a diaper is routine for you, but this is the second one I wore since I was a child.'

'Can I touch your belly?'

He tilted his head.

'Um, yeah? Why?'

Stella remained silent. Instead, she let her hands do the talking. For a few minutes, she gently touched his belly, moving her hands to his hips and sides, and back to the front again. Slowly, Rowan's breathing slowed down and his muscles relaxed.

'There you go. That's better, isn't it?'

He nodded. The comfortable silence was broken by the sound of the velcro tabs being undone. A slightly cold draft his Rowan's bits as Stella folded the warm wet diaper away. She grabbed a wipe and began carefully cleaning his private area. It didn't take long before Rowan felt himself get hard. His ears flopped and he covered his eyes with his hands.

'What's up, Rowan? Did I do something wrong? Did I touch you somewhere I shouldn't have?'

He shook his head.

'Would you please tell me what's wrong?'

He remained silent for a while, picking his words.

'It's... I've worn a chastity cage for two years. The only time I was let out was twice a week, to shower. I had to stand with my hands behind my head while my ex used the shower head to clean me up. Quite roughly, I might add.'

'So this is the first time in two years someone not nasty is touching you there?'

He quickly nodded again.

'I'm so sorry for you, Rowan. That's awful. I'm done cleaning your front now, by the way. Could you lift up for me?'

He tried to the best of his ability. Stella pulled the wet diaper away, then made quick work of cleaning the lower part of Rowan's butt. Even with his strong rabbit paws, it took quite the effort to keep his butt from the changing mat long enough. He let himself drop with a sigh when Stella announced she was "all done!".

'I'm not an expert on male anatomy, nor on rabbits for that matter, but your, um... pee pee should be pointed downwards when you're wearing a diaper, right?'

'It was, yeah.' Rowan said, still covering his eyes.

'Well that's a bit of a problem. How long does that usually take to, um... y'know, get back to its normal state?'

'You ask that like it was yesterday.'

'Oh, the cage. Right, sorry. Guess we'll have to wait and see, right?'

'This is so awkwardly embarrassing,' Rowan said mostly to himself.

'I have an idea!' Stella exclaimed. 'Shall I read you a story? It might take your mind off of, well, laying on the floor half naked.'

'You're going to read a picture book to me?'

'If it works for anxious children, it might help you. I'll pick one where the pictures aren't that important, so you can just keep your eyes covered.'

'Oh, okay.'

'I'm going to read one of my favorite stories to you. I sometimes read it when Celester is angry at me. It's called "The Grumpy Unicorn".'

Rowan chuckled at the bizarre form of passive aggression. Stella began reading the story, telling about an atypical unicorn that didn't like rainbows, singing, dancing, or speaking in rhyme. It felt weird to him at first, but after a couple of pages, Rowan even became engrossed in the story.

He didn't even notice Stella folding the front of the clean diaper over his privates, until the sound of the first tape being applied caught his sensitive ears. He assumed Stella knew the story by heart, as she continued on as if nothing happened.

'And so after a big journey and all this time, the grumpy unicorn finally learned to speak in rhyme,' she finished. 'All done, Rowan. Want me to help you up?'

'Do you know this story by heart?' he blurted out.

'Yup! I love weird stories that break down overused stereotypes.'

'To each their own, I guess.'

She shrugged and began folding up the changing mat.

'Have you had lunch yet? I bought us my favorite oatmeal rolls.'

'Any fresh rabbit-friendly food sounds good to me at this point,' Rowan laughed.

'Great. I suggest you make your way to the kitchen, and I'll dispose of this upstairs,' she replied, holding up the wet diaper. 'Be right back.'

Rowan's peaceful sleep was abruptly ended by the familiar sound of a front door being slammed shut. He felt his muscles tense up.

'She's home,' was all he could think.

His eyes shot open, ready for the next string of verbal abuse from Azalea, until he realized he wasn't in her apartment anymore. He then remembered he had taken another dose of painkillers after lunch and passed out on the couch. He let out a quiet sigh and turned around, subconsciously deciding to sleep some more, but the door to the hallway was left ajar. His sensitive ears caught a conversation.

'Hiya mommy, I've missed you!' Stella said.

_ "Mommy"? Did her mother come for a visit? To help with the furniture or something?_ Rowan thought.

'I've missed you too, pony. Have you been a good filly?'

Celester? Why would Stella call her "mommy"?

'Uh-huh.'

'How is our guest doing?'

'Fine, I guess,' her response sounded hurried. 'He's asleep on the couch.'

'I see. Are you doing the potty dance?'

'Yes, mommy. I need to go really bad.'

'What did I tell you about holding your pee?'

'That I don't hafta.'

'Then why are you doing the potty dance?'

'Cause my diaper is really full and I don't want it to leak. I want you to change me.'

'Alright then, go to our room. Be gentle on the stairs.'

The two girls went up the staircase and into their room, where Stella quickly shut the door and took her clothes off. She spread out the changing mat on the floor, as they hadn't installed their bed yet. Celester searched through a nearby box and dug up a package of wipes, talcum powder, an insert, and a thick diaper with purple sides and butterflies down the center.

'How long have you been holding it?' Celester asked as she undid the tapes of Stella's diaper.

'Two hours. Hurry, please. I'm practically bursting.'

Stella lifted up, so Celester could take the wet diaper away.

'Soaked from front to back. Good girl!'

She made quick work of the tapes on the fresh diaper, then sat down on one knee and rolled up the wet one. Stella got on her hooves and quickly felt around her diaper, checking the elastic leg gathers.

'All clean,' Celester said, still on one knee. 'Does Mommy get a hug?'

The pony tightly embraced her partner, holding the unicorn's head on her chest. Celester put one arm between her mate's shoulders and the other on the back of her diaper, between her legs.

'Good girl. Now show Mommy what little ponies do.'

A loud hissing was heard as Stella sighed and let her bladder loose. The insert took the first part of the beating, but Celester soon felt the warm wetness creep towards the middle part of the diaper. The mares nuzzled and kissed as Stella slowly finished her wetting.

'Done?'

Another deep sigh.

'Yes Mommy. Thankies.'

'Wow, look at the front! Even with the booster in there, you still managed to make a lot of butterflies disappear!'

Stella shyly giggled. 'I had to go really bad Mommy, but I saved it for you.'

'You're adorable. it's a shame to cover up your diaper, but modesty is probably the better choice now we have a guest. We should find you something equally as cute and comfortable to wear.'