//------------------------------//
// Bath Time 
// Story: Beyond Me 
// by Boopy Doopy 
//------------------------------//

“Oh my gosh, it looks awful out there…” I commented as Scootaloo opened the front door. It was raining like she said it would, and heavily at that. There were a few rolls of thunder that could be heard, and they caused me to frown. I really didn’t want to go out in that mess.
"Do we have to go?" I asked. "I thought Sweetie Belle would be coming back here."
“Come on!” she pleaded. “If we sprint, we can get there in like two minutes! It’s not that bad!”
“Maybe we shouldn’t…” I tried to say. “I mean, I’m still sick and all, and that’s just gonna make me worse I'm pretty sure.”
“Come on, please? You can wear your jacket so you don’t get wet! Please?”
I had to admit, there was actually one other thing I was afraid of outside of heights, and that was lightning. Staring at it outside the window from inside was fine.Iin fact, I liked thunderstorms when I was inside. It was nice white noise, and helped me fall asleep at night. But going out in it made me nervous. It wasn’t as deathly terrifying as heights, but if I could avoid it, I would.
“You’re not afraid of thunderstorms are you?” she asked, and I found myself getting a bit defensive.
“No, I just don’t want to get wet or get hit by lightning.”
“Lightning doesn’t hit ponies, dear,” Lofty broke in from her place at the counter. “The weather team always makes sure it hits the ground. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“How? How do they always make sure? Do they control the weather?”
“Um, yes, they do,” she told me as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, raising an eyebrow curiously before putting it back down and sighing. “We’ll tell you more about that when you two get back. Also, when you get back tomorrow, Holiday and I want to speak to you, Asher.”
“If it’s about me not being from Equestria, can we talk about that right now?” I got out. The two of them cringed slightly at that, and I continued, “I already told Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, so they already know.”
“Yes, um, about that,” she started, “how, um… how old are you exactly?”
“I’m basically twenty-five, although apparently time where I’m from isn’t the same as time here since a year is a thousand days, so I guess I’m eight or nine years old here, probably a few days short of being nine.” I saw both of them smile at that, looking slightly relieved, and I continued, “But I am an adult, just so you know. I’m not a child.”
“Well, you are definitely very mature for your age, but a nine-year-old certainly isn’t an adult, young man, no matter where you come from.”
I was going to argue, but a smile instinctively went up at being called a young man, and it stopped me. Although I wasn’t really ‘young’ per se, it felt incredibly nice to hear anyway, and stopped any argument I had in my head dead in its tracks.
“...you cheated,” I responded after a long moment of silence, keeping the grin plastered on my face. It caused them to smirk back at me, and I couldn’t help but blush at the thought that they might have done that intentionally.
“Maybe we did,” Lofty said cheekily. “I promise though we’ll talk about it later. Why don’t you get your jacket now and head on out with Scootaloo?”
“Well… okay,” I gave in. “But I do want to talk about this. I don’t want this to just be ignored, please.”
“Lofty and I promise we won’t ignore you, sweetie,” Holiday responded. “Now get going. It’s going to get worse out there before it gets better. Oh, and there should be a tablet of medicine for you to take in the bathroom.”



It wasn’t too much long later that Scootaloo and I were walking through the rain, my inability to grasp the function of running in this body causing us to get soaked. I kept myself from getting too freaked out by the lighting by reminding myself that they said lighting doesn’t hit ponies, and remembering that even if it did, the chances were one in a million or less. It was a largely irrational fear, although I found myself wishing I could move faster because of the lightning.
And the rain, too. It was heavy and cold and basically cut straight through the hoodie I wore and into my coat. It made me shiver to walk through, and felt less like summer rain and more like the first rain of spring, the kind that was just a few degrees from turning into sleet and snow. It made my teeth chatter as I followed the filly in front of me to Sweetie Belle’s house.
After several minutes, we made it to the shop that the white unicorn, Rarity, worked at and quickly headed inside, the lady, mare, gasping at the sight of us soaking wet and dripping water onto her floor.
“Oh dear, you both look dreadful!” she exclaimed, putting a hoof up to her mouth as she stared at us. “You two really walked all the way here in the rain? And your jacket, darling! We need to get that in the dryer this instant! What gave you two fillies the idea to go walking out in the rain?”
“We’re having a sleepover with Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo explained. “We’re going to teach Asher how to be a pony since she didn’t use to be one!” Rarity didn’t listen as she lit up her horn and levitated a towel over to us and roughly rubbed us down, starting with Scootaloo, who tried to push her off and complained.
“Now you’ll have to redo your mane… we might as well get you three in the bath since you’re having a sleepover, get it out of the way for the night…”
“I’d rather- yipe!” was all I managed to squeak out as she rubbed down my rear and tail before levitating the hoodie off of me. Once it got off, I couldn’t resist the overwhelming urge to shake, my body moving automatically as the water was flung off of me. I felt a bit like a dog as I did so, and heard the mare complain once I was done.
“Asher! Please control yourself! You’re going to get the whole store wet that way!”
“I’m sorry,” I apologized, then sneezed loudly, feeling a little inkling of headache because of it. “I couldn’t help it,” I explained. “It’s cold out there. I thought it was supposed to be almost summer.”
“Well, it has been warmer than average,” she explained. “This is probably to help us meet the average before summer starts.”
I didn’t really pay attention to her, closing my eyes and sighing in contentment as she moved the towel up to my back to dry me off. It felt incredibly nice, although not as nice as when Holiday brushed me. Still, I found a part of me wishing she would continue once she was done.
“There. Now you won’t track water everywhere when you get into the bath.”
“I- I want to take a bath by myself please,” I got out. “Please, if that’s okay.”
“We’re not going to be wasting water to have each of you go into the bathroom alone, Asher,” she said, her horn glowing as she picked me up before I could argue, causing me to freeze in place. “Besides, your mane looks positively horrid from your being out in the rain, and I for one won’t stand for it. We simply must get that washed out with shampoo, and it looks like it could stand to be conditioned, too. Now, come on, Scootaloo,” she instructed the orange pegasus before calling up the stairs as she marched up. “Sweetie Belle! Get in here, please!”
Before I knew it and could say anything else, I was being placed in a large tub, enough for about five or six ponies it looked like, and Rarity was turning on the water. She grabbed a large scrub and placed it under the water to lather it up before beginning to work on my back.
I didn’t really have a great opportunity to protest because of how nice the brush felt. I arched my back as she scrubbed and closed my eyes once again, deciding that being a pony had one good thing at least. Getting brushed and scrubbed felt absolutely amazing, better than just about anything I’d felt before. It also made me tired, but it felt incredibly nice, and I almost completely forgot where I was for a good minute.
“You don’t… I’m just a random pony,” I said as she started to work my neck and behind my ears, craning my neck at the feeling as my eyes opened up again. I saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle standing in the bathroom with me, which made me uncomfortable, but I guessed it was better than being in the tub with me.
“Do they really have to be in here to… mmmmh, that’s nice…”
“I don’t see what the issue is, little filly. Everypony who has a slumber party with my little sister simply must take a bath.”
“Well, I’m not a filly…” I trailed off, my eyes feeling heavy, trying not to sigh as she scrubbed my neck and shoulders. “I’m an adult, and I’m a boy, so I don’t want to take a bath in front of them.”
“Calm down, dear, we’re almost done,” she said, basically ignoring me. I would have pressed further, but being scrubbed felt incredible. I didn’t know what it was like to be high, but if I had to guess, this was it. I made a mental note to talk to her about them being in here once she was done.
“Close your eyes,” she instructed as I felt something slippery falling onto my head a second later, shampoo I assumed.
“Don’t style my hair,” I told her as she lathered me. “I don’t want it to look any different.” I paused for a second, then continued, “Actually, if you want to, you could cut it shorter, like all the way off, just above a buzz cut.”
“Well, I certainly won’t be doing that, darling. It's too nice to just throw away like that. But there isn’t much I need to do to your mane. It naturally falls into place in a style that seems to suit you, and I wouldn’t want to mess that up.” She said that, but to me, it sounded like she didn’t want to do anything because of my outburst the other day, which, while a bit embarrassing, I decided to take as a good thing.
“Thank you for not messing with it then. I really do appreciate it.”
She used her hooves to scrub me for a few minutes before instructing me to dunk my head below the water to rinse off. Before I knew it, I was being lifted out of the tub, dripping water onto the floor once again. I shook myself once again before staring awkwardly at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, the nice feeling of being scrubbed wearing off and embarrassment returning.
“Why do they have to be in here?” I asked, my ears folding back against my head. “I told you, I’m a boy.”
“Well, you certainly don’t look like one to me, little filly,” she replied, “although I’m not sure what being a colt would have to do with anything if you were. I told you before, we don’t want to waste water. Now then, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, your turn.”
“Ugh, where’s a towel so I can dry off and leave? I don't want to be in here while they bathe.”



“Why don’t you want to take a bath with us, Asher?” Sweetie Belle asked me innocently after we were done. "Do you really not like us?"
“I told you before,” I explained, a bit frustrated. “I’m a boy.”
“So?”
“So… I don’t want to take baths with girls. I don’t know about here, but we don’t do that on Earth. Plus, I’m an adult, and it makes me… very uncomfortable.” I blushed again and quietly said, “I don’t like it. I’m sorry. I don’t even like you being in the same room as me when I’m bathing.”
Their faces went downcast at that before Scootaloo’s eyes lit up once again at an idea.
“That’s what we can teach you about being a pony!” she told me. “The first thing is that ponies like to snuggle and be together, and they like to be petted, too.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t think I’m going to be snuggling anyone anytime soon,” I responded. “And ponies also don’t care about personal space clearly. That was about the fifth or sixth time someone just dragged me off somewhere or lifted me with their... levitation powers... or touched my nose.” I reflexively scrunched up my nose at the thought of Rainbow Dash or Pinkie touching it. “I don’t like it.”
“You don’t like it?” Sweetie Belle asked. “But being petted and snuggled feels soooooo good!”
“I mean, it does I guess, being petted at least…” I answered truthfully. “But I still don’t like it…”
“You liked it!” the girl said, pointing a hoof at me. “I saw you purring when Rarity washed you! Don’t lie!”
“I mean, it felt good, but I don’t like… having my personal space invaded… wait a minute, what day is it tomorrow?”
“Uh, Sunday. Two more days of school, then summer!”
Sunday. Normally I’d head to church Sunday morning, but I was a pony, and I didn’t need to think hard to know there wasn’t going to be a church in Ponyland. It made me feel bad that I wouldn’t be able to go, that I’d be alone on Sunday, without any material to read or study, but I guessed that I could pray to myself and sing alone. It wouldn’t be as nice as being in church, but it would have to do.
“Is there anything to do on Sunday? Also, how long is summer? Two hundred and fifty days I assume?”
“Nuh uh. We’re just going to go cutie mark hunting! Or maybe read. Sometimes Aunt Holiday makes us do that on Sunday. Also, we have to teach you how to be a pony! So we can do that tomorrow, too.”
“And summer has four hundred days, Asher!” Sweetie Belle broke in. “Spring has three hundred days, fall is two hundred, and winter is one hundred.”
“Wait, you’re saying you have four hundred days of school off? Plus, you said you only go to school two days a week in the spring, so that means… uhhhhh… you have… seven hundred days off of school for every year that passes here?”
“I guess…”
“That’s… a lot. Like, an unbelievable amount. You go to school only 300 days out of the year.”
“I mean, I think it’s a lot. We have to go every day all fall and winter!”
“How much school do you do, Asher?”
“In the same period? I do about 500 days of school per thousand days, not counting essays and business modeling and working on my master’s thesis. That would bring it up to about 600 days of school. Each class isn’t that many hours, but I still have to drive in and show up and stuff. Not to mention going into work five days a week.”
“That’s… a lot. I would hate that.”
“You don’t even get all of summer! That sounds terrible!”
“Yeah, it’s what comes with being an adult, and being a human, too, I guess. Go to school every day, graduate and go to college, hope you’re lucky enough to get a scholarship, if not, take out loans to go to class, pay bills, and go to work everyday after that until you retire or die. It’s not very fun.”
“I’m glad I’m not there,” Scootaloo responded. “It sounds horrible.”
“But at least you’re here,” Sweetie Belle added. “Now you don’t have to do all that stuff!” I sighed at that, realizing that they were kids and wouldn’t really get it.
“I guess, but I- I worked hard to get where I was. It wasn’t fun, but I liked where I was headed. I wanted to open a restaurant of my own, or at least buy a franchise from someone and be a business owner. Plus I don’t know anyone here. All my family and friends are there, and I’m never going to see them again, and I miss them… and I don’t even need to mention the fact that I’m a girl now.”
The two of them frowned at that, going silent for a moment before Sweetie Belle told me, “Well, you know us, and we’re your friends. I mean, I hope we’re your friends, otherwise it’d be pretty weird having you sleep over at my sister’s house.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that, replying, “Yes, I can say you two are my friends. Thanks for trying to cheer me up.”
“Yay! Group hug!” the white filly suddenly called out, she and Scootaloo both pouncing on me and causing me to laugh.