As poor little Flurry Heart was crying her heart out over the toilet she had just unintentionally flushed her daddy down, she had no way to know where her daddy was or what he was going through because of the flush. All she knew was that he was gone, all because of her.
For Shining Armor, the whole thing felt surreal, almost as if he were having an out of body experience. But there was no mistaking it, this was indeed happening to him and it was all too real. After he’d slipped down the drain, he was powerless to fight against the current and swim back up to the toilet bowl. The waters pulled him along as he tumbled, banged and bumped his head, shoulders, rump and every other part of his body against the cold, metal pipes.
From the s-bend on down, Shining was dragged along on the bumpiest ride of his life. He really couldn’t see anything, the pipes had no lighting of their own. And he was far too disoriented to light up his horn to provide illumination of any sort. He kept fearing that the ride would stop, that he would end up stuck in one of the pipes in Celestia knows where. But somehow, perhaps because of the same magic that caused him to be flushed down the toilet, he kept on going as he passed through pipe after pipe.
At last, the whole thing ended. Light suddenly flooded Shining’s vision as the prince popped out of a pipe and plunged face first into the sewers, landing with an audible splash in the murky waters. He quickly stood up, gagging as he sniffed the air and got a whiff of what he surely smelt like. “EW!” He shouted at the top of his lungs despite knowing nopony could hear him! He would never complain about Flurry’s dirty diapers ever again. They were nothing compared to this horrible stench.
On the subject of Flurry, the stallion immediately knew he had to get back to her. No doubt she was scared and alone, terrified and horrified at the prospect of never seeing her daddy again (to say nothing of the fact that such an ordeal would make her almost certain to never want to potty train). But before he could do that, he had to find a way out of the sewers. Or rather, a way that didn’t involve getting any dirtier than he already was.
There was no way he’d be able to swim back up the pipes. It was clear that traveling through the pipes had been a one way trip. But there didn’t seem to be any openings anywhere in sight. So with a sigh, the prince reluctantly waded his way through the murky sewer waters until he reached a small walkway. He followed the worn brick path for block after block, until finally his eyes beheld the sight of his salvation: Light was streaming down ever so faintly from an opening above.
Quickly but carefully, Shining Armor made his way over to the opening and grabbed hold of the ladder leading to it. Step by step, he ascended until finally he forced aside the covering blocking his escape! Clambering up, the prince was relieved when daylight flooded his vision. He had escaped the sewers! However, his joyous celebration quickly turned to worry as he realized he was out in the middle of nowhere in the Frozen North.
Walking back to the Crystal Empire would take too long, and who knew what Flurry was getting up without anypony to supervise her? So it was that the prince steadied himself, taking a deep breath to focus his senses. He wasn’t as skilled at teleportation compared to Twilight, he’d seldom had a need for it until his daughter was born. But teleportation was the only option available to him now.
Shutting his eyes, Shining concentrated as he tried to picture his destination. He didn’t just want to go back to the Crystal Empire, he wanted to get back to the castle and to the bathroom that he hoped Flurry was still in. Then, lighting up his horn, he disappeared in the blink of an eye! You never would’ve guessed he’d ever been there in the first place, let alone that he’d just climbed out of the stinky, smelly sewers.
Flurry Heart had no way of knowing what her daddy had been through or where he’d been. For all she knew, he was gone forever. After all, everything else that ever went down the drain never came back.
As such, the toddler alicorn was still grieving over her careless mistake that had cost her her daddy. Her eyes were beginning to turn red from all the crying she’d done.
But then suddenly, Flurry’s ears picked up the sound of a loud pop. She turned around fast, and there, to her surprise and relief, was her daddy! He looked more than a bit shaken up, appeared to be quite wet and had a noticeable smell to him, but otherwise he seemed to be just fine! “Daddy!” She exclaimed as she fluttered over to him in spite of the stench! Never in all her life was she more relieved to see him!
“Yes, Flurry,” Shining Armor nodded as he let his daughter get close (but not too close, he didn’t want her to pick up his stench, or who knows what else?). “It’s me. Daddy’s back. He’s sorry if he made you worry.”
“But…” Flurry commented as she ceased her crying and stopped before reaching her father’s chest, repulsed by the stench. “Daddy go down the drain! Me send Daddy away!”
Shining nodded. “Yes. But Daddy isn’t supposed to go down the drain, so Daddy came back. Daddy isn’t pee-pee or poo-poo, Daddy doesn’t deserve to be flushed. But Daddy knows it was an accident. You didn’t mean to flush him away.”
Flurry nodded ever so slowly. “Me sorry, Daddy. Me not mean for you to go away.”
The stallion simply replied. “It’s okay, Flurry. I'm back, and everything's as it should be. Just don’t let this happen again.”
The toddler alicorn nodded back. “Uh-huh, me never flush Daddy again. Me no want Daddy to go away again.”
“That’s good,” The prince sighed with relief. “Now please get back on your potty, Flurry. Potty time isn’t over yet.”
“But what about big potty?” Flurry asked as she nervously eyed the toilet. After what she’d witnessed, it was understandable why she now had reason to be afraid of the almighty porcelain throne.
Shining looked at the toilet, himself a bit concerned about the fact that it apparently had the power to flush a full grown pony down it. “I’ll have Sunburst come take a look at it,” He told his daughter. “I’m sure there’s probably some kind of spell you or somepony else cast that made the toilet do what it did. Once I know what it is, I can have somepony cast a spell to undo it. Then the toilet won’t ever be able to flush you, me or anypony else ever again,” Then he instructed to her. “But for now, just focus on your potty. Daddy promises he won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
Flurry Heart sighed ever so slowly. “Okay, Daddy. Me trust you.” She fluttered down to the ground and waddled over to her potty chair, soon planting her bare bottom upon its seat.
Shining sighed in relief, before turning his attention to more pressing matters. Lighting up his horn, he turned on the faucet in the bathtub and watched as the tub began to fill with water. He was going to need a very thorough bath after all he’d been through. To say nothing of how he'd keep his daughter from telling Cadence about this, what should she say if she found out?