Despite her offer having been a clear attempt to spend more time with Fluttershy, it wasn’t unbeknownst to Twilight that feeding 183 different animals was actual work, particularly if you counted the cleaning up afterwards. Fluttershy had trained all of them to just come into her cottage, which was probably the only way to accomplish this daily task in a reasonable amount of time, but it didn’t come without cost.
At least, not without cost for Twilight, who like normal ponies was bothered by the constant smell that hovered above the place. Not a strong smell (at least not usually), but an extraordinarily persistent smell. Someday, perhaps, Twilight would learn what Fluttershy had mastered: to not be bothered (in fact, a part of Twilight was wondering if Fluttershy actually liked it). But whether or not that would happen eventually, it certainly wouldn’t happen today.
“This is uncanny,” Twilight complained, releasing her magic with a frustrated groan. “I cleaned everything!”
“Uhm.”
“I researched for several days just to figure out how to use magic to best clean a place! With extra emphasis on being thorough rather than quick! By the way, the lack of prior work on this topic is disturbing. It’s as if I’m the first magician in history with a marefriend whose home needs dire cleaning!”
Fluttershy giggled.
“Or forget marefriend! For all those ponies liking colts out there, you should need cleaning spells even more!” She sighed. “Why is the smell still here? That’s so unfair.”
“The smell never goes away, Twilight.”
Twilight sighed, for a moment feeling very, very tired.
“Do you, uhm. Want to take a bath?”
Twilight stood still. “A bath?” Then, “You don’t get dirty if you use magic!”
“Oh. Yes. Ahem.”
“Unless,” Twilight said, “unless you want us to take one... together?”
“Oh. Yes, that’s-”
But Twilight was already gone, laughing as she dashed into Fluttershy’s bathroom. Fluttershy stifled a giggle, throwing another look at the extraordinarily clean (if not odourless) entrance hall, before she followed.
Splash!
“Hehe... don’t do that!”
“But I like doing it!”
“Ohh, why?”
“I like how you smell!”
“Hehehe...”
Splash!
“Hey, Fluttershy?”
“Mh?”
“Speaking of smells, don’t you realize something?”
“You mean-”
“The stench is gone!”
“D-don’t call it a stench, please. And I’m pretty sure it’s because of all this stuff that you put-”
“Yeah, if I can’t get rid if it I just have to cover it up.”
Splash!
“Hehehe...”
BUMP. BUMP.
...
“What was that?”
“I think it came from the door.”
“Twilight?” Rainbow’s voice came from outside. “Twi, are you in here? Fluttershy? Something weird’s going on!”
A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a large crystal sphere. There is a rift on the surface of the sphere. Its edges are illuminated in a pale red glow.