Story by MillenniumF as well.
 
Part 1 (You are here)  
Part 2 >>940899  
Part 3 >>940901
 
Ambrosia ambled through her house, trying to keep her gaze from falling on the clock in the hall. It was almost time for work. And that meant going outside. Where ponies could see her.
 
Only a few weeks prior, she’d been perfectly content to go outdoors and work hard for the city of Ponyville as a construction mare. She loved being the foremare of the city’s one and only construction company, and just seemed to have a knack for knowing which pony to send off to do what task to get buildings finished on time and built better than the customers had desired (though her true talent lied in her amazing ability to make a mean Ambrosia Salad, true to her namesake). And now she was scared to even set hoof outside her own door for fear that ponies would see her.
 
Or more precisely, that they’d see the poofy garment strapped to her backside.
 
She walked down the long, dark hallway toward the mirror hanging on the wall and stared at the diapered mare on the other side. She wasn’t the kind of mare who would normally give in to crying. Her whole life she was more of a tomboy, having been raised with two older brothers who treated her like another colt. But she still felt a heaviness in her belly that no amount of coffee would wash away. And the worst part was that she was acutely aware that the same coffee she’d consumed to calm her nerves would soon be making the diaper on her butt sag and remind her of her current condition.
 
“You had to do it,” she said to herself. “You know that Locknut didn’t see the beam falling toward him. You know it would have done far worse if it had landed on his head.” She thought about the incident weeks ago when she’d heard the unmistakable creaking noise of an improperly fastened load. She’d whipped her head around and seen that the enormous joist that was being lifted into place was about to come crashing down onto one of the rookies, the same rookie who had been tasked with fastening it. Having only seconds to act, she raced to the young colt and dove into him, just as the ropes holding the load in place broke. She’d knocked him several feet away, but she didn’t move fast enough to avoid the half-ton wooden beam as it crashed into her lower spine.
 
The next few hours had been a blurred combination of blinding pain and confusion. She didn’t recall much, other than a doctor mentioning something about a “fracture” and “possible nerve damage”. And when she woke up from the surgery, she was lying in bed and wearing a thick disposable diaper.
 
“It was worth it,” she said, more to convince herself than from any true conviction. She glanced at the clock and saw that she had to get going or else she would be late. The mayor didn’t like it when projects weren’t completed on time.
 
Sighing, she turned and dragged her hooves to the entryway, stopping only to pick up her toolbelt where she’d dropped it last night. She grimaced as the nylon straps rested against the injury site and gave a grunt of pain as she tightened them to keep the tool harness from slipping off her diaper and onto the ground.
 
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and prepared to face the world, hoping that not too many ponies stared at her…