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// Daring Do 
// Story: Bathtime for Ponies Part 2 
// by Starry Eyed 
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	On average, the ponies that you bathe generally dislike the process at first; but every now and then, you come across a pony that simply HATES baths. This is one of those times. Daring Do had fought you viciously on the first bath, and had cried two-thirds of the way through the second, causing you to end the bath early. Forget the job, this time it’s personal. You made up your mind to make this the best bath ever, or at least good enough to make her like baths from now on.

You fill the tub with hot water and too many suds. You really hope that your master-plan will get her in the tub before all the suds pop in the lukewarm water.

Daring is flipping through the pages of her first picture book, cutely going, “Ooh” and “Aah” at every little thing. Much like Scootaloo, Daring couldn’t fly when she was young, and for that matter wasn’t very fit or athletic in any way. She spent her time reading grand adventures and wishing she could go on one.

She looks up and sees you wearing a safari costume, fully equipped with the hat, and a fake bush limb in each hand for ‘camouflage’. You fake looking surprised to see her, “Ah! Daring! Thank Celestia you’re here. I’m on a quest. A quest to recover the ancient lost Alicorn Grail. But I’ve lost the map. Where could it be?”

Daring blinks in surprise a few times, and turns her attention to map tacked to a big piece of cardboard in her reading room labeled, “Map to the Alicorn Grail.” She had wondered when it had been put there. She points a hoof at it, and you gasp in fake surprise. “This is wonderful Daring! Say, I hadn’t thought of it, but… would you like to come on the adventure?”

Daring jumps into her nearby toy-chest. You are afraid that she noticed the map leads to the bathtub, but she emerges momentarily wearing her own safari hat. You lead the way around the corner to the living room, er… to The Cave of Adventure. In reality you have draped all the blankets over the dinner table and made a foal sized tunnel under it. You look down and see that she is completely immersed in the game, taking all of this very seriously. “Well this is a problem Daring. The Cave of Adventure can only be traversed by one whose heart is as big as they are small. Where are we going to find somepony like that at this hour?”

Daring smiles ear to ear and tugs your pants leg to get your attention. “You? Why didn’t I think of that, it’s perfect. I’ll find some way around.” Daring trots into the ‘cave’ and her imagination fills it with everything a foal would expect to see in the Cave of Adventure. She feels bad for you though, and comes back to the entrance. Before you can ask what’s wrong, she takes the corners of the blanket and pulls them back so that you can get in. You aren’t looking forward to crawling under the pony sized table, but the offer is too sweet to avoid. You crawl on hands and knees while Daring rides on your back, both front hooves up on your head.

You both exit the ‘cave’ and arrive at the hall, otherwise known as the monster’s lair. As you both carefully peak around the corner, you see the monstrous, terrifying, viscous… stuffed bunny. Even as mesmerized as she is, Daring gives you a, “Really?” look. You pretend not to notice her as you continue to look afraid of the monster. She had some stuffed bears, but they were too cute, and her stuffed tiger was her favorite, she would just have run up and hugged it. That only left the bunny.

You are about to tell Daring the plan, but she is missing. Your foalsitter instincts kick in and you worry about where she went to. But a moment later, she returns from the kitchen with a box of carrots, which she puts in front of the bunny. You let out a Daww. Her plan was much cuter, and smarter, than your Holy Hoof Grenade.

At last you arrive at the bathroom, where low and behold, your sapphire rinsing dish from the Crystal Empire sits on the tubs rim. Daring’s jaw drops, she can’t believe it. There really is a real Alicorn Grail! She runs up to inspect it, and you hope desperately that this will work. You made some calls to the families you have worked for, and asked for one of those science fair volcanoes, complete with lava. You pour in the baking soda and the volcano erupts, right there on the bathroom sink. Daring can see that she has been too hasty. The floor is lava. “If only there was a river nearby to escap…” SPLASH!

You never got to finish the plan. Daring was already in the tub, having been smart enough to escape the ‘lava’ by jumping into the water. You sit down next to her really glad the plan is working. Daring is having a great time, not opposed to being in the bath at all. You get out a bottle of shampoo that you have taped the label, “Crocodile repellant” over. Upon seeing it Daring gasps. You are afraid that she will resist the bath now, but instead she points at the bottle urgently. Well after all who would want to be in a jungle river without their crocodile repellant?

You quickly scrub the crocodile repellant into her mane. Time is of the essence, but you can’t afford to do a bad job with something as important as applying crocodile repellant.  Half a minute later you get the rinsing di… The Alicorn Grail, and rinse the crocodile replant out of her mane. You lean in and whisper, “Ok, half done. You stand watch for crocodiles, while I scrub this on your tail.” She salutes you, and turns to watch the rest of the bath. You follow the same procedure as with the mane. You didn’t even know you could perfectly scrub a tail in less than twenty seconds, but all your experience combined with the situation proves you can.

You put the rubber duck and merpony in the tub while she isn’t looking, and rinse her with the rinsing di… The Alicorn Grail. “Well Daring, I don’t think any crocodile would dare get close now; nothing but birds of paradise and merponies in this river.”  You gesture to the toys as you say that, pretending that it’s a real river and that those ‘animals’ just swam there on their own.

Daring loves the toys, and plays with them. Not the way a foal plays with toys, more the way a foal would greet a real duck and merpony. “Now it’s time to wash your wings.” Daring doesn’t like that you said the word ‘wash’ and starts to pout. “But Daring, you want your wings to get stronger, don’t you?” Daring considers it. She really, REALLY does want her wings to get stronger. She turns to let you wash her wings. You slow down for this part. Wings are more delicate after all. After a minute per wing Daring puts her little wings in the tub and practices flapping them until the suds are all gone.     

You unplug the tub as quickly as you can, “Oh no! Whirlpool! Quick, out of the river!” Daring literally grabs the tub’s rim and tosses herself out, lunging as hard as she can. You are prepared for this move, and are holding a towel against your chest so that when she crashes into you, you can begin drying her. This plan results in the both of you giggling on the floor while you dry her. She even ‘saved’ the merpony and ducky from the whirlpool before jumping.

You dry her wings last, causing her to look temporarily sad at not being able to use them, but then looks back at you, glad to have had such a good day. You smile, “Well Daring, we have the Grail.  Now we have to get back to the reading room. Let’s fly.” She looks at you; you know she can’t fly. You scoop her up and carry her, letting her flap her wings and ‘fly’ back.

Daring’s parents return home minutes later, unsure what to make of their house being such a mess, but immediately overlook it when they see how happy their daughter is. You realize that you have some explaining to do, and tell them everything. They are laughing along with you by the end of the story, and the mother finally speaks, “That’s brilliant! You set all that up by yourself? You really are the best foalsitter we could ask for.” She regards the set-up, “And apparently, you know how a foal thinks.”

You shrug, “We don’t stop playing because we get old. We get old because we stop playing.”
You turn your attention back to Daring, “So Daring, I trust you like baths now?” She can’t speak, but responds with an enthusiastic nod. She won’t mind getting a bath tomorrow, but is a little sad that it won’t be an adventure again. You notice this, but your previous quote has already given you another idea.

You get out the pirate costume from the time you bathed Pipsqueak, “Yee be lookin’ like the adventure’s over matey. Tell me, yee ever heard of the fountain of youth? I heard frum an ole buccaneer it be sudsy dis time of year, and full of merponies, duckies, and the occasional toy boat or two.”

You are disappointed to see that she has already gone off to do something else. “Oh well” you think to yourself, and the parents just shrug in response. Daring’s dad then notices her returning from her room, and you all turn to see.

She is wearing her own pirate outfit, eye patch and all. She roars the least intimidating, “Argh” anypony has ever heard, and the whole room bursts into laughter once more.