Bathtime for Ponies Part 2

by Starry Eyed


Shining Armor


You land on your back with a thud. This was going to be harder than you thought. Why do these ponies have so much power even when they’re foals? “Shining Armor you need a bath!” you repeat, as if to renew your own willpower. Shining Armor had wrapped himself in a much, much smaller version of the shield spell. It was big enough to hold him, and also just big enough to make the “ball” too big to fit through the bathroom door.

You get up and try to force the ball through the door again, but it’s slippery, sturdy, and unfortunately for you, bouncy. As you slam it into the doorframe, it bounces, sending all your momentum back at you and inevitably, putting you right back on your back again. Good thing there’s a soft throw rug. Despite REALLY not wanting to take a bath, Shining also doesn’t want to hurt you, and is feeling a little bad about you ending up on the floor. With his resolve wavering, the shield ball around him begins to shrink proportionally.

Seeing this, you remember what he said when he helped you wash Twilight long ago, “She's determined," he explained. "That's how magic works: pure unicorn determination." Now that you thought about it, it felt weird describing something that hadn’t happened yet as “having happened a long time ago.” You brush it off as the issues of time travel.

You then remember another feature of the shield spell. “Look Shining, I promise it won’t be as bad as you think. After it’s over, we can both have cookies or something and wait for Night Light and Velvet to get home.” Shining couldn’t say anything yet, but he was very smart already and looked agreeable. You reached out your hands slowly, managing to grab Shining through the shield spell.

You nearly “squee” in delight, glad that you remembered the shield spell lets you go through it if the caster doesn’t mind you entering. Overjoyed at your success, you pick Shining up and walk through into the bathroom. You would have closed the door, but Shining was a little heavier than you thought he’d be so you decided to get him in the tub first.

As you lower him into the tub, you notice that even though you are now permitted by the shield, the bathwater is not and begins parting as the shield is placed in it. You give Shining a stoic look, only to receive a “do I have to?” look in exchange. You nod and Shining’s shield spell pops like a soap bubble, even making a little bubble popping noise.

As soon as the bubble pops you notice that Shining smells like dirt and sweat, and now that there isn’t a pinkish tinted field around him, the patches of dirt really stand out against his naturally white coat, which is slightly grayed now from dirtiness. “I stand corrected. You really need a bath Shining. How did you get so dirty anyway?” Shining can’t convey the story with cute looks alone, so you realize you’re not going to find out.

You place Shining into the bath water and go to close the door. Once everything is ready you make your way over to the mat and begin by getting out the shampoo. You begin lathering it into his mane. Since it is only medium length, it only takes a minute to scrub. In your hurry you accidentally scrub too close to the horn, provoking a “don’t you dare” look. Apparently unicorns don’t like it when you touch their horn, or at the very least the Sparkle family doesn’t apparently.

You then cup your hands and begin the rinse cycle. Shining just sits there, basically just waiting for this part to be over. After only seven rinses, the mane is clean. You then ask him to stand up so you can wash the tail. Shining’s tail is also only medium length, so it shouldn’t take long. Unfortunately, you discover that Shining really doesn’t like it when you touch his tail. Though the task itself is no problem it takes twice as long as the mane because Shining fusses about it, and nearly bucks you to Luna a few times. You try telling him that it will be over faster if he’ll just stand still, but to no avail.

As you finish the lathering a VERY long half minute later, you decide it’s best if he rinses his own tail, which he has no problems with.

Normally you give Shining some toys at this point, but you can’t help but notice that since his coat is white, any little bit of dirt on him really stands out. You decide to get the brush out of your travel kit and give his coat a good scrub. Since you usually let the bath water itself do the cleaning for this part, and aren’t used to it, it takes several full minutes before Shining is shining.

You had never thought about it, but you guessed it would be much harder to stay looking clean if your coat was bleach white. On that thought, you gain a new insight and appreciation for Rarity, and decide to give Shining some toys to play with now.

You give him a little red toy boat, which he stares at. Shining plays with the little boat, but only for a little while. You try to assure him that it’s okay for him to play, but he just doesn’t see the appeal.

“Oh well”, you think to yourself, “I guess he always was the sort that played best with others rather than alone.” You reach over and unplug the tub, satisfied that the job is done. You then pick Shining up and place him on the mat, where you begin drying him off. You are immensely proud to see that Shining is now whiter than the towel you are drying him with.

Shining then looks up at you expectantly. “Oh right, I said there would be cookies didn’t I. Alright, a deal’s a deal.” Shining laughs happily, and you both begin walking to the kitchen. You can’t help but smile deviously to yourself.

“This will make a great embarrassing anecdote to tell Cadence and Twilight later.”