Peyton laid back in her bath. Bubbles foamed up around the side of the tub and she tried to relax.
She couldn't, though, because Cala was also in the bathroom with her. Cala was standing up on her legs, taking deep breaths. They still wobbled. She was standing tall enough that she could look over the side of the tub at Peyton soaking in the water.
She fell over. She gasped as her body hit the floor and her legs crumpled beneath her again.
“That was pretty good,” Peyton said. “I think you lasted a full minute that time.”
“No!” Cala said. “I did better than that. It had to have been a whole five minutes at least.” She sat up onto her haunches, tensed a moment, then lifted herself back up to her feet, standing again.
“You're actually pretty tall, Cala,” Peyton said, leaning over the side. “Not very big... your legs are like sticks — but you're much taller than I am.”
Cala blew a raspberry. “You're tiny. In fact, you... you're all small. You all got to turn into adorable ponies and I—”
“You're incredibly cute yourself,” Peyton said. A moment later she blushed, realizing what she said. “Look, you don't have to feel bad, it happened to everyone.”
“It did? But you guys are the only other ones I've come across.”
“Well, of the people who are still here. We thought we had found everyone in Seattle before we came across you. But... you do know that literally almost everyone just, up and disappeared, right?”
“Hey—woah!” Cala said, falling over again. She took a few breaths then sat back up, but didn't stand up fully yet. “Of course I knew that! Do I look stoopid to you?”
“No, actually, you're more like...” Peyton blanched. “Well, you act like a child. Like, a really bratty, know-it-all fucking kid.” A beat. “How old are you, anyways?”
“Older than you,” Cala said. “Who even cares?”
“Hm. Well, Renée and Willy both treat you like a child; they're in their early thirties or something, I think, and they kinda may have treated me like that, too, a while ago. I guess that's why they put me in charge of you while they went off and continued working on, eh... whatever it is they're doing today.
“And speaking of which, you still haven't changed your mind on the bath, right?”
Cala's visage immediately soured. “No! I'm not taking a bath with you!”
Peyton looked down at the dirty, soapy water she was in. “Well, okay, I'd guess this soap wouldn't be good for your scales anyway. How about this,” she said, and pulled the plug. The dirty water all drained out. “I'll fill it with fresh water, then we'll get you to at least try it, alright? It couldn't possibly hurt.”
Cala grunted.
Peyton filled the bath with fresh warm water, then turned the faucet off and gestured to Cala. “Okay, come on over here. You don't have to even touch the water yet, just come sit beside me.”
Cala sighed, looked around the room, then slowly made her way over to Peyton's side, next to the bathtub.
Peyton sighed, and looked at Cala with sad eyes. “Look, I... I've been kind of terrible to you since we met, haven't I?” Cala slowly nodded. “I'm going to come out and apologize for it. You know, just... I really wasn't in the best way this afternoon when we met. Ever since I met the others, well, it has been nice to get a roof over my head and have other, smarter people caring for me. But then they expected me to pull my own weight around here. It's not something I've ever really done, you know — I'm only seventeen, for fuck's sake! I've never had a job before! And now they're expecting me to do... gardening work, eugh.
“Well, we were running kinda low on food today,” Peyton continued, “and I skipped lunch even though I'd been working all morning. Then you showed up. I've just kind of been doing what makes sense. But that doesn't make any sense. I didn't realize you had already been through so much, and I figured a little pain wouldn't phase you.”
“That was horrible,” Cala said. “You... freaking tore out my eye with your own teeth. How could you do that?”
“I was panicked.” Peyton chuckled mirthlessly. “If you'd seen what I did, you would have done the same. Hell, you would've done a lot worse, considering you're like some kind of predator now.”
Cala laughed.
Peyton smiled... then said quietly: “Do you trust me?”
Cala looked at her with a tear in her eye, half-smiling.
Peyton reached out with her wet forelimb and touched Cala's shoulder.
Cala flinched, gasping, as she felt the wet forelimb touch her. But she found she didn't back away from it. It was warm, and it wasn't water; it was just Peyton's arm, and she found that she didn't mind that so much.
“You trust me right? Yeah... so I made some jabs at you. But I really do want what's best for you. Did I do a good job bandaging you up?”
Cala smiled. “You did. And I do.”
Peyton took Cala's arm in her own. “Let me help you then. I promise, nothing bad will happen to you; I'll make sure of it.” And then she pulled Cala's forelimb over the tub. Gently, but not too slow, she lowered it into the water.
Cala gasped. She quivered and her pupils shrunk as she watched her arm submerge in the water.
But nothing happened.
She didn't pull away, because Peyton's hoof was holding on to her own, and she found that she liked the way the water felt on her hoof. It had been a while already since she had last felt that; too long. Why had such a silly fear taken over her mind to begin with? It hadn't been worth it, Cala concluded.
A small whimper escaped Cala. Just barely audible. It grew, and started to break apart, like little whining sobs. But from the grin on her face and the tears running down her cheek, it was clearly not a sadness that powered them. Cala's broken laugh grew in intensity as relief washed over her. Nothing had ever felt so good.
A fear of water! How silly! What a silly thing for her to have. That fear of water! Oh, how silly that had been! Cala laughed and laughed, pouring her soul into her expression of immense relief. She reached up her other arm and dipped it into the water, too. Oh the silliness of it all! She had feared water, of all things! Fearing water! How could such a silly thing have happened?
Peyton saw how ecstatic Cala was and laughed herself. She grabbed Cala's fetlocks with her own. She leaned over the edge of the tub, wrapping her arms around the other mare, hugging her and feeling Cala hug her back. They both sat there, hugging each-other over the edge of the bathtub and sobbing sweet cries of joy.
After a minute had gone by, Peyton pulled back, and balanced leaning on Cala — who herself did the same by leaning on Peyton, their forelimbs propping themselves up. “Fuck! That worked, it worked! You put your hooves in the water!”
“It worked! It worked!” Cala chanted, giggling, her cheeks sore from smiling so hard.
“You're damn right it worked! You're awesome! No fear of water is going to hold you back!”
Cala just kept laughing.
“So what? Are you just going to sit there laughing? Or are we gonna go the rest of the way?” Peyton smirked and scooted over in the bath, making room for the other mare. “We could stop now, or... we could go the full distance. Come on. Let's kick this stupid damn fear and make you right again.”
Cala hesitated, though. She contemplated just jumping in next to her new friend, but she found her mind resisting that course of action, despite her knowing damn well that it was completely painless.
“Damn it — let's just get on, already!” Peyton said. She wrapped her limbs around Cala and heaved.
Cala shrieked as she was hauled into the tub with Peyton. She gasped, her eye opening wide as she saw the water coming closer by the millisecond.
Splash!
Peyton wrapped her arms and legs around the mare in her grasp, holding her and keeping her from thrashing in the water. She turned onto her back, holding Cala on top of her.
Cala gasped and gasped, shivering. She felt the liquid seep back into her scales for the first time in weeks. She could feel the strong limbs enveloping her, keeping her safe from the wrath of the water. And that was really all that mattered. She slowly settled herself, her mind finally accepting that maybe the water wasn't the worst thing in the world.
Peyton, below her, gasped as she felt Cala's fins rub at her belly. She blushed; she couldn't think of this mare that way... not after they had just got to know each other. She focused instead on comforting Cala, trying to get her to calm down. But then she felt something off.
She looked at the door to the bathroom, which was again in Cala's blind-side, and saw Willy standing in the doorway. He just smiled and shook his head, closing the door and leaving them.
Cala giggled again and turned over, face-to-face and lying on top of Peyton. “Yes! Yes! It worked! Thank you Peyton! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she grinned at her new best friend, lying on top of her in the water. ”I love you so much!”
Peyton blushed, but laughed it off. She was just glad that she could help one of her few remaining peers to overcome a crippling fear.
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