//------------------------------//
// BONUS: The First Night Together 
// Story: A colt and his favorite princess 
// by Bareback Writer 
//------------------------------//

	The night sky was beginning to show as the moon was rising. Most ponies by now were preparing for, if not in, bed. Pip was no exception. He was getting ready to take a bath in his new bath tub for the first time. It was both exciting and a chore; but more the former then the latter.
However, when he entered the bathroom, he was surprised to see Princess Luna, in here alter-ego form, already preparing the bath. Granted, to most ponies would feel flattered, Pip no exception. But he did feel a sense of personal violation of space.
"Um…Princess?" Pip asked, getting the attention of his caretaker. He and Luna agreed that he could refer to her as such only when they were alone, with nopony else around.
"Yes?"
"Are you going to take a bath first?"
"Of course not! This is for you of course."
Pip just sighed, "You know I can bath myself right?"
Luna put on a face of shock, as if he had just insulted her. "Pip! I chose to be your caretaker. This title requires me to care for you in whatever way I can. That includes such trivialities as this."
Pip look dumbfounded. Yes he was still a young foal, but he understood the concept of taking a bath. So much so, that the act of somepony, even the princess, doing bathing him was embarrassing. Unfortunately, this was one alicorn you couldn't argue with. Once she got her mind set on something, she usually got it, one way or another.
He rubbed his hoof to his forehead. "Princess, I know that you’re my caretaker, but is there any way I can bath myself? A compromise perhaps?"
Luna thought for a moment. "Well, I suppose me bathing you would insult your colt pride."
"Yes that's right," Pip fibbed, "All the other colts can bath themselves."
"Very well, I shall…'compromise' with you," Luna said.
"Thank goodness," Pip thought, a little too soon.
"So as compensation, when it is time for my bath YOU can bath US!" She stated casually.
Pip was awestruck. Of every possible compensation she could come up with, she choose one that was the most intimate. Worse, she said it so casually. "WHAT KIND OF CARETAKER DOSE SHE PLAN TO BE?!" he bellowed in his mind. Images of such an act crossed his mind, only to be followed by thoughts of jail, scandals, etc. For the life of him, Pip couldn't come up with an intelligent response to Luna's proposal, which to Luna, meant he agreed. It wasn't till he was in the tub that Pip snapped back to reality.
"Luna, Princess, I-I know you don't mean harm, but do know just how intimate a bath is?"
Luna responded with gusto, "Of Course. My sister and I had plenty of bathing servants. Many of them were male, so we felt no shame. And seeing as you are prepubescent, I highly doubt such an act would bother you."
"But-"
"If it is the worry that somepony would see us, I'll just wipe their memory. A harmless spell I assure you."
"But-"
"If it is that you don't know how to wash, I would not be surprised. But if it so, then I shall personally teach you how to clean the royal body in its entirety."
Pip was silent. He felt he should have been angry at unconscious insult he was given, but the latter of Luna's sentence was more problematic. He was lucky that he was 'prepubescent'. The thought of the princess teaching him such things would have sent both flag and pole up instantly. Pip wanted to protest, but Luna's smile simply melted his anger away.
He was her first friend after all. So how do you tell a friend, especially one as powerful as her, just how wrong such an act it was. Just how un-. Pip's eyes lit up with an idea that was foolproof.
"Princess, you care about me right?"
A look of shock was once again on her face. "Of course I do."
"So you wouldn't do anything that made me uncomfortable right?"
"Of course, why do you ask?"
"Well," Pip took a deep breath. "I may be a foal still, but you bathing me makes me uncomfortable."
Luna's eyes went down in dismay. "Oh. I-I see. Then I'll go."
Pip looked after her. It wasn't her fault, she was raised in a time where such acts as this were common place. He sighed. His plan worked, but it still hurt. "Darn my pride!" he scolded himself. "Wait."
Luna spun right around, attention at maximum. "What is it?"
"Well she's eager." Pip thought. "Princess, do you know how to wash yourself?"
Luna looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Well…Ya see, it's just that you said you had servants who washed you and I didn't know if you knew how to do it yourself."
Luna realized what he was getting at. With a blush she replied, "Of course I learned from the servants, but I never got the chance to do it myself. Why do you ask?"
"Well, seeing as that is the case, if you need help bathing yourself, by yourself really, I can still help you."
Luna blushed a little harder. "But wouldn't you be uncomfortable with that?"
Pip replied a little more confidently, " Well it's a good thing that I'm prepubescent right?" he smiled. "If I wasn't it would be uncomfortable for both of us, if you know what I mean?"
Luna understood. Granted she wasn't above sneaking a peek at stallions' "parts" she still had her innocence about her.
"V-Vary well, If you are okay with it, I suppose your help would be welcomed. But you should finish up your bath. Don't want to get waterlogged."
The nighttime routine passed without any more hitches. But then came bedtime. Seeing as the house had a main and a guest bedroom, it was obvious that Pip would have one and Luna the other. But Luna, being as traditional as ever, saw that as incorrect. "A caretaker must always be in easy reach of her responsibility." She argued.
"But I'm just down the hall."
"Too far."
Pip Yawned. "I'm too tired to argue princess. Please, can we talk about this tomorrow?"
Luna sighed, "Vary well Pip."
"Thank you." Pip walked to his room ready to sleep, when the sound of an explosion echoed from the guest bedroom. Quickly he ran to see if Luna was okay. "Luna? You alright I heard-" Pip stopped. Luna was alright, unscathed even. But unfortunately, her bed was not.
"I don't know what happened. One moment the bed is fine, the next it bursts into flame." Pip stared at the place where the bed was. All that was left was the image of a bed frame on the wall that was otherwise covered in black ash. Luna sighed. "I suppose we'll have to get a new bed." She said, a bit of glee in her voice.
"Y-Yeah, I guess. But how?"
"Don't worry, the royal funds will take care of everything. As long as I'm caretaker, all expenses will be taken care of. "
"I guess." Pip turned to go back to his room, only to look back and see Luna following him. "Um…Princess? What are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious? See as my bed is destroyed, we'll have to share one."
"Of course we do." Pip thought sarcastically. At the moment, it wasn't worth the argument. Tomorrow they would look for a bed and then this problem would be over…he hoped.
So now here he was, an 8 year old foal cradled in the hooves of a princess over 1000 years ago. "Yep, this is the life," Pip thought, too tired to add the sarcasm.