To say that Timber didn’t like bath-time would be the understatement of the decade. He downright despised it. Everything about this experience felt wrong in every way possible. He was soaked from head to hoof in water and these weird, foamy things that popped whenever he touched them, and there was some sort of new, foreign smell permeating through his coat, mane and tail.
The savage colt squirmed uselessly under Rarity’s magic as she scrubbed away at his coat with a sponge and soap, squirting shampoo on him nonstop.
“BLARGH! BLAAAAAARGH!” Timber growled in frustration at his helplessness of the current situation.
“Oh hush now; this doesn’t hurt.” Rarity lightly scolded as she furiously scrubbed Timber’s coat while he squirmed in the bubble-engulfed washtub in the expedition camp.
The camp was about what you would expect for a group of hiking and researching ponies. A rather large fire pit in the center, several tables all over the site covered with incomplete maps of the area and books that held many of the known species of animals in Equestria, and three tents…
Two rather modest looking ones, and Rarity’s huge, lavish, and very expensive tent that looked more similar to a mansion or castle than a tent. It even had a balcony.
After about a good half hour of bathing, Rarity (now almost soaked completely due to Timber’s struggling and splashing about.) had managed to get that awful smell out of Timber’s mane, and it now smelled more similar to that of lemons. Timber hopped out of the washtub and grumbled something angrily in Timberwolf under his breath.
“There we go. Now doesn’t that feel so much better?” Rarity asked, pleased with her work.
Better? He felt just fine before this mare ambushed him with soap and shampoo. Although he had to admit to himself that he did feel a little sleeker, and his coat looked much shinier, there was one thing that was slightly bugging him.
His smell.
Whenever he faced an animal for a fight, the first thing they would notice and truly be terrified about him was how similar he smelled to Timberwolves, without a doubt some of the most feared creatures in nature. Just the smell of one could strike fear into the hearts of even some of the larger and more aggressive animals.
This new odor on the other hoof, didn’t come across as threatening or dominant in any way.
He didn’t like it.
Timber prepared himself to shake himself dry, but Rarity levitated a towel onto him and started to dry him off properly.
Timber groaned.
“Timber, please. This may be a little new to you, but must you be so difficult? I simply can’t let you go wandering around as dirty as you were. It’s simply unsanitary.” Rarity said, lifting the towel off of him, revealing a now very fluffy and grumpy ginger-maned colt. He gave Rarity an angry pout and a slight glare.
“Oh Timber, please don’t look at me like that. I’m only doing what’s best for you. Honestly, when was the last time you cleaned yourself?” Rarity asked.
As if on cue, a rustling came from behind the trees across the campsite, making Timber tense up a little. For all he knew, it could be more animals looking to harm the white one.
He let himself relax though when he saw it was only the male with the stupid eyebrows and the yellow, winged creature.
Professor Critter trotted into the campsite, took one look at Timber, and brought everything he had in him forward to try not to laugh at how fluffy and ridiculous the savage colt looked right now.
“Rarity, what the hay’d you do to the poor kid?” he laughed, trying not to let much escape from behind his hoof.
Rarity let out an angry huff.
“All I did was bathe him!”
“Are you sure that’s all you did? He looks like a freakin’ stuffed animal they way he is right now.” Critter chuckled.
“His fur’s slight…poofiness, is only temporary. It’ll go back to normal after enough time.”
Rarity was a little surprised that Fluttershy wasn’t jumping in to try and stop their bickering this time. Usually whenever a problem arose between them, Fluttershy was the one to step in and stop it. This time though, there was nothing. Rarity craned her neck to look behind the Professor, only to see a very sorrowful Fluttershy looking at the ground, slightly sniffling a few times.
Critter noticed how Rarity was looking at her and interjected.
“…She heard the last tape.” Critter said.
Rarity put a hoof to her mouth in shock and gasped.
“Oh my goodness Fluttershy I…” Rarity couldn’t even bring herself to finish, given the sad look on Fluttershy’s face when she looked up.
“…Does he know?” Fluttershy asked sadly.
Rarity shifted her eyes back to Timber, who was still sitting by the washtub with his tail in his face, grimacing at the new fragrance.
“Half the time Fluttershy, I almost have no clue what’s going on in that foal’s head. But…I very highly doubt it.” Rarity said with a grim look on her face.
Professor Critter sighed and shook his head.
“It’s a shame. No kid should have to live like this. Can’t even begin to imagine what he’s feeling right now.” Critter said.
“So…what do we do? We can’t just leave him here when we go back to Ponyville. He’s already imprinted on me, and the poor colt would be heartbroken if I just left him all by himself.” Rarity said.
Fluttershy looked up at the sky. What little light that was coming through the canopy was starting to disappear now, indicating that nighttime was drawing near.
“It’s getting dark. Maybe we should all sleep on it and decide what to do in the morning.” Fluttershy suggested.
Critter and Rarity nodded in unison.
“Yes, that sounds like a good idea…blech. Came into this place expecting to just find some rare animals. Didn’t expect to end up finding a missing heir to a multi-million bit fortune that turns out doesn’t understand us. Can this get any more complicated?” Critter asked.
“None of us could have predicted this darling. But, I agree with Fluttershy. We’ve all had a long day, and it is about time for us to retire for the night.” Rarity said. Critter and Fluttershy were departing for their tents, when Critter turned back to Rarity.
“Oh, and Ms. Rarity?”
“Hm?”
“…Timber gave ya quite a bit of trouble with bath-time didn’t he?” he asked, gesturing to her completely soaked mane and coat. Rarity looked at the state of her coat, blushed in embarrassment, and let out another huff.
“…Shut up.” She grumbled.
Critter snickered and mentally hoof-pumped before he disappeared into his tent.
Rarity tried to ignore the bubbling anger that was starting to boil, and dried herself off with a towel, trying to get as much water out of her mane as she possibly could. She could only seem to do so much though, as she was denied of her hairdryer out her due to the lack of power.
When Rarity got her mane into what she considered an acceptable state, she turned around to where Timber had been sitting on his haunches before, only to find that he wasn’t where she had left him.
“Timber? Timber where did you go?” Rarity asked, looking around the campsite. She received no answer, nor any sign of the colt’s presence.
“Timber, come on now, this isn’t funny!” Rarity yelled, almost in a bit of a panic. Where could he have gone? Considering how nimble he was in fighting that manticore, she feared he could be in any part of the jungle right now. Her eyes quickly darted around the campsite in search of the colt…
Only to have her ears pick up the quiet sounds of snoring coming from her tent.
Rarity trotted over to her tent and looked inside, lifting the flap aside to get a good look.
The sight inside nearly melted her heart.
Timber was laying sideways on one of the pillows inside the tent, still as fluffed-up as he was when he had been dried off, and in a very restful sleep, making cute snoring noises while he slept. If Rarity hadn’t witnessed this pony tackle a manticore earlier, she never would have believed this was the same colt with the look he had about him now.
Rarity trotted inside, looking down at Timber’s sleeping form and put a hoof to her chest.
“…Poor dear. He really does deserve a good rest after today.” Rarity whispered to herself. Feeling quite tired herself, Rarity laid down next to the little pony, letting him rest his head on her chest. While still in his sleep, Timber nuzzled Rarity’s chest fur with a slight smile on his face.
Rarity sighed as she started to stroke Timber’s ginger mane, careful not to wake him up.
‘I can’t just leave him here with nopony to relate to. But, if he’s lived here all his life…would he even be willing to leave?’ Rarity thought to herself.