“This doesn’t even seem unusual anymore,” you drolly remark from ten feet in the air. Several nearby pegasus are alarmed at first but then recognize you and go about their business. They may have helped you, but you’ve always assured them you could handle this, and this has become common after all.
The young flyer heard it was bathtime and took to the air. You were once again able to catch her, only to be dragged off the ground by the young champion flyer. Because this has happened before with Rainbow Dash and Gilda, you are now able to hold on much better than in the past. When the boss told you foalsitting would be good exercise, this isn’t what you had envisioned.
This might have gone on much longer than it did, but Lightning Dust had already been exercising and was already tired when you caught her. She kept flying until she simply couldn’t fly anymore with both your weights, which luckily was also just as long as you could hold on.
Even after your feet were firmly on the clouds, Lightning continued flapping her wings. You realize that she is pushing her limits and won’t stop until she’s used up all her stamina. You watch for a few minutes until she really is completely exhausted. “You really shouldn’t overdo it like that you know. It’s not healthy.”
The last five minutes have made her smell like sweat, “Lightning Dust you REALLY need a bath.” Lightning smiles, more than happy for the bath that will follow. You realize that she flew away just because she wanted to test her strength while carrying you, not because she dislikes bathing. You sigh and make your way to the bathtub.
Once inside, you close the door and catch up with Lightning, who is already on the tub’s rim. You join her next to the tub as she tests the water with a hoof. The water is warm, but she likes a hot bath. Lightning looks at you with disappointment. You shrug because it can’t be helped, “Sorry Lightning, if you’d come when I called you for your bath, it would still be hot like you like it.”
She wants to object, but knows your right and mentally makes a note to just follow you next time. Lightning settles into the warm bathwater and splashes around a little as you prepare the shampoo. You begin scrubbing the shampoo through her golden mane. Like all the pegasus you’ve bathed, her mane is thick and warm to provide maximum insulation from atmospheric conditions. Despite this, it is soft and smooth to provide maximum aerodynamic. You continue scrubbing for half a minute.
Once her mane is fully lathered, you scoop up some of the water in your palms. You ladle the warm water over her mane four times until it is cleaned. It takes fewer rinses due to her pegasus hair allowing water to flow through (and out) of it more easily.
Your satisfaction at the completion of cleaning the mane instantly evaporates into dread as you prepare to wash the tail. Lightning Dust hates having her tail washed and you know this is going to turn into a fight. You sweetly ask her to lift her tail the same way you ask everypony. She responds only with a glare. “Lightning I have to wash your tail. It’ll be a lot better for both of us if you make this easy.” There is no change in her expression.
You give yourself another handful of shampoo and lift one of her back legs with the other hand so that you can begin stroking the shampoo through the golden tail. She squirms about the entire time, making what should have taken twenty seconds take a minute and since she is flapping her wings, bathwater is being splashed everywhere. By far though the worst part of the experience was the fact that she reflexively tried to kick you a few times. She didn’t mean to but it made the experience no less enjoyable for either of you.
With her tail fully lathered, you let her sit down and wash her own tail. This was done by means of an adorable little wiggle which made the whole experience seem a little better. Finally, all that remained were the wings. You put the shampoo away and ready the feather shampoo. Upon seeing this, Lightning’s mood goes from grumpy to ecstatic. She loves having her wings cleaned almost as much as she hates having her tail cleaned, almost.
Without being told, Lightning turns her back to you and spreads her little cerulean wings. You rub your hands together to lather the feather shampoo before massaging it into the wings. As you lather the wings, they turn from being hard and sleek to being as soft as down feathers, and you know how soft those are first hand because she is young enough to actually still have her down feathers on the underside of her wings. You are careful to preen the little wings as you go to make sure they are cleaned properly.
As far as you know, this is the most relaxing thing in the world for a pegasus like her and you’ve become something of an expert at doing it properly. It takes about two minutes per wing since you are being a perfectionist for this part, but finally the wings are cleaned.
You start to scoop up some water, but Lightning begins flapping her wings in the water to rinse them. You know that’s the most thorough way to rinse them, but you warn her, “Be careful, we don’t want a repeat of last time.” She is disappointed that you would even consider that it would happen again; she had more self-control than that. She gently flapped her wings back and forth until her wings were thoroughly rinsed. You congratulate her for not getting water on everything, and unfortunately she is so happy she beats her wings once as hard as she can in victorious cheer.
The resulting shockwave rockets all the bathwater out of the tub and in your direction. With the exception of the tub itself, everything in the bathroom is now covered in bathwater. As for you, you are not only dripping wet, but the suds all landed on you. You now have Einstein hair made of bubbles; the chances of the bubbles landing exactly where they needed to give you this look being so low only Pinkie Pie would consider it normal. Lighting Dust’s hooves cover her mouth; she really didn’t mean to.
You laugh it off. Being a foalsitter really develops an unnatural patience after all. You take her out of the tub and dry her off. This takes about half a minute. You notice that she feels bad about earlier, so you take the only dry towel you have left and tie it around her like a cape. “Now now, a super strong flyer like you shouldn’t feel so bad. You should feel super, especially now that you’re clean.” She laughs warmly before hugging you to tell you how grateful she is.
With that Lightning flies out the door. You smile after her before turning to check how much work it will be to dry the bathroom. The entire bath is completely emptied into the room. You consider for a while before shrugging, “Oh well, at least it’s better than last time.”