//------------------------------//
// Sunset Shimmer 
// Story: Bathtime for Ponies Part 2 
// by Starry Eyed 
//------------------------------//

	“I don’t care what the rest of the fandom thinks, I loved Equestrian girls,” you say to no one in particular, though you may only have said it because you are now holding a bacon cheeseburger. One of the best things about your job is that you can literally go anywhere. And that means you can go to the next world over and get a cheeseburger, with actual meat, without being judged. You’ve tried to cut down on meat since taking the job, but bacon.

You set the food down on the table, and hand a salad to the person across the table. “What do I owe you?” she asks professionally. You laugh, “Now Sunset, you know I won’t charge you.”

Sunset Shimmer scowls, “I don’t need your charity sitter,” she assures you.

You shrug, “I’m not used to my clients paying me personally you know. Besides, we’ve got work later. The least I can do is feed you first.”

You chuckle once, “Not like it’s the first time.”

Sunset starts to object, but even she deflates. You took care of her as a foal. Compared to that, buying her one salad hardly seemed noteworthy.

You almost take a bite out of your cheeseburger, but wait, “You don’t mind, do you?”

Sunset rolls her eyes, “Even I’ve tried them, sitter. You’re not eating pony meat anyway. It’s what humans eat, so don’t worry.”

She looks up to see you, holding the remaining half of your cheeseburger, “Tfank ou!” 

You swallow and resume talking, “So, how have you been adjusting since the incident?”

Sunset slumps, clearly weary, “Twilight’s friends have taken good care of me. It’s amazing how forgiving they are. Still, adjusting is hard. Obviously not everyone forgives me, but they do”. Sunset lays her arms on the table and looks out the window, “And the more they forgive me, the more I love them, and the more I love, the guiltier I feel for being mean to them. And the guiltier I feel, the more I want to change into what I know Celestia always knew I could be.”

She sits up, embarrassed, “Sorry, I don’t know what I …. ”

You stop her, “It’s nice actually. I’ve been looking after you since you were little; obviously I want to know you grew up to be your best”.

She frowns, “Why do you care? How can you?”

You laugh, “I care about Discord, Sombra, Chrysalis, and Nightmare Moon, to name a few. Sorry if I can’t get upset by something like that.”

Sunset eats her salad, “You haven’t changed at all. Oh well… I guess I should eat before the show.”

You’ve finished your burger now, “Well, take your time, I’ve got a job to do before then.”

Sunset is mildly curious, “Oh? Whom are you washing at the moment?”

You summon and step into the time machine, “You.”

Sunset’s eyes grow wide as you disappear. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You return to your house, or more specifically one of the houses in Equestria where the boss lets you stay. It’s much nicer than your own house, but it’s also mostly for foal sitting more than anything. There you have a young Sunset Shimmer, playing happily in the living room. Despite the mistakes she made later in life, as a foal, she was the same as any foal. She sees that you are back and instantly drops the teddy ursa she was playing with and runs to you for snuggles, which you accommodate. 

You enjoy the little bonding moment for a minute, and the two of you laugh warmly, mostly just because the other is. When she is ready to stop, you set her down on a mat that she knows she’s stood on before. “Well, it’s time for your bath, Sunset.” Her eyes grow wide as she turns to run, but she gasps in shock as she sees that while snuggling her you made your way to the bathroom and already have everything ready. You outstretch a hand and close the door. Checkmate.

She gives you a look that says, “That’s cheating!” 

You sit next to her on the mat, “I’ll make it up to you, I’ll buy you a salad later to make up for tricking you.” She doesn’t see why that will make up for it, but submits. You pick her up and set her in the tub. You pour some shampoo into your hand and then lather it. You do this much slower and more carefully than you normally would because you want Sunset to watch you use your hands, so she won’t get a huge culture shock later.

You massage the white suds into her beautiful red and gold mane. She doesn’t know it, but getting used to you (a human) will make her future life much easier. It only takes a minute or two before her mane is white with suds. She isn’t really paying you any attention anymore, so you tickle her tummy a little to get her interested again. She initially squeals with laughter and squirms about, her full attention gained. You scoop up some water in your hands, showing her how it is done. You then pour it over her mane, repeating the process until her mane is washed and she is educated on the procedure.

Now washed, her mane really does shimmer red and gold like the sunset. She really is worthy of her namesake. You then ask her to lift her tail, which she refuses. 
She never was any good at taking orders or following instructions.

“I’ll get you a dessert with that salad if you lift your tail,” you bribe her. She doesn’t care about the salad, but you haven’t met a foal yet that turned down desert. She complies and you again demonstrate how to wash and rinse with hands.

Normally you would stop now, but she’s going to be a human someday, and for a long time. She needs to know to wash the rest of her body. You get out a scrubbing brush and scrub her coat down. Since she’s a foal, you scrub as gently as possible, so as not to hurt her. This takes a long time (partly because she squirms), and partly because you want her to get used to it. “Look, I know you don’t like it, but humans have hands. We can just scrub better than you can with hooves.” She doesn’t see what that has to do with anything, but you want her to know.

Lastly you give her the toys and sit and play with her. You play until the water is cold, taking care to dote on her as much as possible. To be her friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunset Shimmer has long since finished her salad back in the present and is getting up to leave. As she stands up, you place a peanut butter and chocolate sundae before her. She looks up questioningly at you, objecting to your charity, “Can’t be helped Sunset, I promised you desert with your salad.”

Sunset raises an eyebrow, “No you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did. You probably don’t remember, it was a while ago.”

Sunset notices that you have a large box full of these sundaes, “They’re for the show. You ready?”

Sunset nods, “Alright sitter, let’s go.”

You invite her into the time machine and fire it up. On the way, Sunset awkwardly speaks up. You notice this because Sunset never has a problem speaking her mind, “Um, sitter… This show… it’s an excuse, isn’t it. You’re using it as an excuse to take me back to Equestria, so I can see my homeland again. I don’t consider it my home anymore, I have no family there, and I’m not exactly welcome. But it’s still my homeland and you’re letting me visit it. You’re doing all this for me even though it’s supposed to be part of my “parole” so um…”

“You’re welcome.”

The door of the time machine opens to reveal the great and powerful Trixie, getting ready for a show. Someone who didn’t know her personally wouldn’t be able to tell, but she was tired. Trixie glares daggers at you, but you can tell she’s glad to see you. “I’ve had to take care of those little… darlings, all day. You owe me one, sitter.”

It’s Sunset that speaks up, not you, “How does the sitter owe you? Sitter is doing this to give me a chance to visit Equestria, give you a chance to get your fame back, and pass it off as if we’re doing “community service” to make up for our past mistakes. We both owe the sitter, not the other way around.”

Trixie magically equips her signature hat and cape, “That may be true, but Trixie still doesn’t like having to foalsit those two, and Trixie is still mad at you for asking her to do it as her ‘parole’ sitter.”

“I got the sundaes with peanut butter in them, Trixie. I know it’s your favorite.”

Trixie does her best to not smile, but can’t help it, “I missed you sitter.”

You head to the stage to take a place in the audience, “Well you two do your best. You are the best unicorn magicians in Equestria after all.”

Sunset rolls her eyes, “Oh come on, we all know Twilight ….”

You interrupt her, “Twilight is an alicorn; I said you two are the best unicorn magicians.” 

You can’t see it, but two unicorns are beaming with happiness behind you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You sit in the audience, ready for the show. Celestia comes and sits next to you, “Well done, sitter. It was very clever of you to think of all this. I look forward to seeing Sunset Shimmer again, especially if she’s improved as much as you say.”

You offer Celestia a sundae, “She has. Incidentally princess, these four seats in the front are reserved.”

Luna takes a nearby seat. She is mostly there just because Celestia is. “So sitter, even we aren’t V.I.P. enough to have the best seats?”

You smile, “The best seats in the house belong to the two ponies that have done the most for those two and gotten the least credit.”

Snips and Snails arrive, twice. You’ve brought the versions of them from Canterlot High to watch too, and they all sit in the front seats that you’ve reserved for them. Twilight's friends sit with her of course, all of them. It's a bit of a culture shock at first, for the school-girls because they aren't used to being ponies, and the locals because they aren't used to seeing... themselves. You hand all of them their sundaes and ask them how they’ve been doing. You don’t have long to do this though before the curtain rises and the two most powerful unicorns in Equestria take the stage, bubbles rising up instead of fireworks, a tribute to you no doubt. 

Two giant bubbles pop, revealing the two unicorns. The crowd cheers wildly. Sunset's friends cheer her on, Trixie's public adores her, Snips and Snails and Snips and Snails all admire them. Despite all that's happened, this moment makes everything right. Then and there, the two unicorns held back tears. Each in their own way, they were home again.