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// Nyx (Co-op with Twilight) 
// Story: Bathtime for Original Characters, Extended. 
// by Starry Eyed 
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Nyx is the creation of Pen Stroke. The story of Nyx, "Past Sins" is linked here. Nyx used with permission of Pen Stroke. 


Twilight Sparkle very cautiously opens the door for you, “Oh! Sitter it’s you, come on in.” Twilight welcomes you into the library and gestures for you to have a seat anywhere you like. “Sorry for being so cautious sitter, but with all that’s happened recently, there are more than a few ponies that don’t wish Nyx as well as you do. I’m just tired out right now.”

You kneel down beside her and place a knowing hand on her shoulder, “Which is why you need all the help you can get right now. And no one’s better at foalsitting than me.”

Twilight makes you take a seat so you two can discuss this job, “So, to bring you up to speed; Nyx just gave power back to the Princesses a few days ago. Things are just beginning to get back to normal around here. How much do you know about the situation?”

Since you travel through time, you actually know the whole situation, including things that haven’t happened yet. “Everything.”

Twilight understands what you mean as she continues, “This job will be different from your normal ones sitter. Nyx isn’t a foal, per se; she’s already experienced so much. Even when I first found her she possessed more awareness of the world than the foals you usually take care of.”

You interrupt, “Relax Twilight. I know all that. I’m just here to help you both. Besides, it’s only the quality of Nyx’s experiences that make her seem mature. She doesn’t have any great quantity of them yet. She still needs somepony, or somebody, to help her with the little things.” Twilight relaxes herself for the first time in what you can tell has been too long.

Twilight realizes that you haven’t met Nyx yet, “Sitter, would you like me to introduce you to .…”

“YES!” you say cutting her off. You’ve always wanted to meet Nyx personally. Twilight calls for her daughter to come see you, and moments later a tired little black filly walks into the room. Experience has taught her to be afraid of large creatures that suddenly show up at the library, so she hides in the doorway for a moment before walking as quickly as possible to Twilight’s side.

Twilight smiles as she takes Nyx under her front left leg and gestures to you with the other, “Nyx, this is my old sitter. The sitter will be helping us for a day or so. Say Hi.”

Nyx looks up at you sheepishly and softly utters one word, “Hi.” Your heart skips a beat as you confirm the rumor personally, "She does have a voice like a glass harp" you say to yourself. It is at the same time the most beautiful and cute voice you’ve ever heard, and that says a lot coming from you.

You all talk for a while to get to know each other when a very loud series of knocks comes from the front door. They are much too loud and violent to be anypony friendly. Twilight readies a barrier spell for the library before speaking to Nyx in a reassuring tone, “Nyx, remember how I said that the sitter gives the best baths? Why don’t you try one? I’ll be up in a minute.”

You realize that Twilight wants you to stay with Nyx while she deals with this, even if Nyx could technically bathe herself if necessary. “Understood, I’ll be upstairs if you need me.” Being from the future gives you the benefit of not needing to worry about things you know ended well, so you take Nyx up for her bath as Twilight takes Spike and heads for the door.

Nyx’s young mind begins to make her worry even as you tell her about your own adventures. You decide to tell her about bathing Twilight, which finally gets her attention. As you talk, you fill the tub with warm water and the same bubble bath formula that Twilight made you long ago.

As you set her in the tub, you make sure she’s comfortable before getting out the shampoo. As you begin massaging it into her little purple mane, she likes the feeling of precise scrubbing that you can’t really achieve without fingers. It only takes half a minute to fully scrub her little mane, but you drag the process on for twice that long to buy Twilight some time. Your trick doesn’t work well though, as Nyx half cries in her little glass voice, “I wonder if Mom is alright.”

At just that moment a familiar purple glow telekinetically lifts some water washes through Nyx’s mane rinsing out all the suds gently, and the voice of the one it came from comes from the doorway, “Yes Nyx darling, I’m okay.” Nyx is just glad Twilight is fine, but you are worried about her. Twilight comes in and has a seat next to you as she tells her side of the story, “Just a trio of jerks that didn’t know what they were talking about. Nothing a barrier spell and some dragonfire couldn’t fix. I really didn’t mean to rope you into this sitter, I just ...”

You aren’t going to let her finish that thought, “That’s why I’m here Twilight; don’t worry about it. Would you like to wash her tail now?” Twilight smiles at the thought and nods in agreement. You pour some shampoo into your hand which Twilight immediately takes from you telekinetically and begins scrubbing into Nyx’s tail. You aren’t sure whether or not they appreciate this. Since Nyx isn’t Twilight’s biological daughter, Twilight missed out on the tedious yet precious activities that foalsitters are paid to do. You know this will be a cherished memory for both of them someday.

As Twilight magically rinses all the suds out of Nyx’s tail, she turns to you and gestures for you to unplug the tub. You remind her that she forgot something important, “What about her wings?”

Twilight realizes that she knows nothing about cleaning wings, “Well, um, well could you just shampoo them, I guess?”

You realize that you really need to be here, “Twilight, regular shampoo is bad for long term use on wings. It makes them overly oily and slowly breaks them down. You have to use feather shampoo and preen the wings with it or they won’t be as strong, healthy, or clean as they should be.”  Twilight and Nyx both look baffled, they didn’t know. You silently celebrate for knowing something Twilight didn’t, but to be fair she never had much reason to look into it before.

Since you are the expert, you take over the preening process. You show both Nyx and Twilight the proper way to clean wings, and also point out from experience that Nyx’s wings have bat-like leather underneath the feathers that will someday be visible, and teach them how to clean that too.

Once the lesson is over, you scoop up some water and pour it over the wings. It takes only three rinses per wing before they are clean. You explain that they rinse faster because pegasus are both aero and aqua dynamic.

With the bath over, Nyx heads downstairs to talk to Spike, leaving you with Twilight. “Thanks for the lesson sitter. Firsthoof, uh… firsthand experience in your case, is better than just reading a book.”

You look back to Twilight, “Most ponies find these tasks tedious; but Twilight, you should treasure this. The little things mean the most later on.”

Twilight smiles warmly, “I already know sitter. I already know.”