"Sugar Hoof, it's getting late." Gilded Spear called over to me from the bubble I had kept him in all day.
"At this rate, I should be halfway done by sunrise." I called back, I had finished the outer layer a few hours ago, and was now slowly winding my way inside.
"You plan on staying out in the everfree forest all night?" He asked, a hint of fear in his eyes.
"I told her I'd fix the forest, and that's what I'll do." Another tree done.
"The princesses expect you back in a few minutes, a chariot will be here soon." He explained.
"Oh, alright, I'm sure the forest will still be here tomorrow."
As I stepped away, Gilded Spear and I saw the chariot leaving Canterlot. "You hungry or thirsty? The princesses had lunch prepared for us." He said, looking over to me.
"I've been eating my own life magic to stay alive, but thanks anyway." His eyes widened at the concept.
Silence overtook us, and thankfully, the two pegasi guards only had snickers to let out. As we boarded the chariot, I thought about giving the two guards an illness, but thought better of it.
We returned to the castle, and Celestia seemed pleased with our progress with the forest. She gave an order both of us groaned at though, Gilded Spear was to give me a bath, Despite my ability to both bathe myself and use my magic for these hygiene needs.
We were sent to a room about as big as my 'cell' with a large pool of water in the middle. Some cupboards were nearby for storing cleaning supplies, but Princess Celestia had given Gilded Spear all the supplies he'd need.
He stuck his hoof into the water, one of the castle staff must've drawn the bath before we even got here. "At least it's warm." He said, setting his bags on the side of the pool before stepping in.
While he got in, I began snooping through the bag Celestia had given him. Soaps, rags, and towels filled it to the brim.
"Come on, Sugar." He called to me, "The sooner we get you clean, the sooner we can hit the hay."
"If we're going to do this, we're going to do this properly." My horn glowed a bright green, with a beautiful rainbow surrounding it, and in a single blast, the bath water was engulfed in the magic.
The crystal blue water turned into a flowery scented clear green, small pink and yellow flowers rose from the water and up to the ceiling before exploding pitifully, filling the room with a flowery scent. Over top of the now green water, a rainbow grew at the edges, which quickly filled the pool and engulfed Gilded Spear instantly. The rainbows surrounded him and squeezed into his very being. From his mane to his hooves, nothing was left uncovered.
"Gilded Spear, are you alright in there?" I called over the hum of harmony magic that filled the room.
In an instant though, the rainbow retreated to the edge of the pool where it had first moved out of before fading from sight entirely. Gilded Spear stood in the pool, his neck low, eyes half closed and his wings half open. The smile on his face only made me more curious.
"Whatever you just did, you should do it more often." He said, as he sluggishly moved his front right hoof through the water. "This is nice ... the room smells good, the water smells good ... it's warm and peaceful." He began floating on his back.
I scrambled to pull out one of the towels so I could begin taking notes on my findings. "Could you describe how you feel right now, Gilded Spear?"
He looked over to me with that dreamy expression on his face. "Nice... I feel nice." He said unhelpfully.
I stepped closer to the water and sampled it. Swishing the life-magic-infused water in my mouth, It did taste a bit... nice.
The marble floor was soft underneath me as I laid down on my stomach, taking in the scene before me. Pretty flowers danced across the room and filled it with their pleasant aromas. My good friend Gilded Spear was relaxing in the water, floating peacefully as we both enjoyed the quiet night. The warm room, the good company, the peaceful quietness, and the pleasant flowery scent, I'm not sure which I liked more.
A few minutes of peaceful bliss later, I remembered what we were doing here and began laughing.
"Gilded Spear," I said in between laughs.
He grunted happily to reply.
"I completely forgot that I'm supposed to be giving you a bath." His eyes shot open as we both descended into laughter.
I grabbed the soaps I would need to carry out the princess's orders and started by rubbing the soap all across Gilded Spear's fur with my magic. His body convulses with my magic, being pushed and pulled as the soap was forced between every single hair on his body. He looked more like a monster made of bubbles than a stallion.
His mane and tail were next. A fancy bottle of shampoo and conditioner was opened and it's entire contents were pushed around in my magic. His scalp received a thorough massage via magic and his tail was cleaned from base to tip.
Levitating a mirror from the wall over to him, I said, "Now what's a bubble elemental doing here?"
He looked into the mirror for a moment to process what he was looking at, before the laughter began anew. As we laughed, I used my magic to create a loop in the water and begin sending jets of water onto the soapy stallion.
Suds upon suds filled both the pool of water and the floor as I splashed water all around in order to get my friend clean. The room was trashed, water and soap littered the floor and began pooling out of the room and into the hallway. I felt like I should be avoiding the water at all cost, but with every drop of water that hit me, I just felt happier and more at peace.
"Now let's get you dry." I said, ruffling his fur with the towel I was already holding, it had some green letters written onto it that I thought might have been important, but I didn't care too much at the moment. After a few minutes, I had a fresh, clean, and ruffled up stallion sitting in front of another mirror on the wall.
"Hey, do you remember why I was supposed to give you a bath?" I asked.
"Uh... I don't remember exactly why... but Princess Celestia seemed to think it was important." He said, his face deep in thought.
"Well, I'd better go the extra mile then, huh? Wouldn't want the Princess to think we're slacking." I said as I levitated multiple brushes up and began brushing his mane, fur, and tail.
He looked like a proper young gentleman when I was done, he smelled of flowers, was freshly washed and brushed, and had a peaceful and happy smile on his face.
"Thanks for doing this, Sugar Hoof." He said as he examined himself in the mirror.
"Hey, what are friends for?" I said, as he stood up and walked over to the door, but before he could open it, he remembered something.
"Wait, I'm supposed to tell the Princess what I learned about you today." He said frantically.
"What do you mean, I cleaned up some overrunning life magic, I gave you a bathe, what's there to tell?"
"No, I'm supposed to tell her everything you tell me about yourself and your magic."
"Hmm... Alright, let's go then. We can report back to her, show her how clean you are now, and you can give her that report at the same time." We both left the room and made our way to the Throne Room.