Behind the Veil

by FeralFox

Chapter 6

”Behind the Veil”
Chapter 6
by FeralFox

Marckus, Spike, and the two ponies, Twilight and Fluttershy, had finished digesting their new favorite breakfast foods and had since been occupying their time with idle chatter. Marckus had mostly been listening intently at the stories the others were telling, even though they were quite trivial in their eyes. Twilight had spoken about her recent studies, after explaining her status as student under the tutelage of the ruler of this place: one known as Princess Celestia. Twilight had stressed several times that he meet with her in order to quell the situation and hopefully send him on his way back home, only to quickly decline her own offerings as she further explained that he was in no physical condition to make the trip all the way to a place called “Canterlot”. He had laughed at the similarity between his own world's Camelot, and how it seemed a portion of the name was replaced with a word used to describe the gait of a horse. Fluttershy had been recalling her experiences tending to most of the creatures that roamed the town and the nearby forests and such. She did not speak much, and what she did say was said in a hesitant, hushed tone. He was fascinated at how it was someone's job to feed and care to the animals, as opposed to letting natural instinct take course. Spike had been reveling in his attempts to gain the love of the last in their group of friends he was to meet: a unicorn by the name of Rarity. He recalled stories of manual labor and other such tasks that he performed only to be rewarded with a simple “thank you” and be sent on his way. Marckus had wondered how the scaly fellow hadn't noticed by now that she wasn't interested, but quickly put the thought out of his mind. As Spike had finished speaking, it seemed as though he had passed an invisible beacon into his lap, as the others, Spike included, shifted their collective attention to Marckus. He sat there quietly for a moment, still awaiting more from what he had been told was a baby dragon, he soon felt the eyes upon him. His mind drew a blank as he every conversation topic he thought of was quickly extinguished by him telling himself “they won't know what a quarter of what I say will mean.” He hastily attempted to change the situation.

“I...um...well the--<ahem>...uhh.” His expansive vocabulary obviously earning the questioning looks on the others' faces. “Well, speaking of, if I'm to meet this friend of yours, I should probably clean myself up. I hope to make a better first impression on her than on you, considering I have the ability to do so.” He scratched the back of his neck and chuckled while looking down at the “impression” that he left on his arm. “You wouldn't happen to have a shower, would you?” He hoped that they at least had developed running water.

“Oh, of course, what a good idea. Right this way.” Twilight said, leaving his side from the sofa and walking down the hall, only to stop and wait for him. He placed his hand on the back of the couch and lifted himself to his feet, or to his foot, rather. He retrieved his crutch from the wall beside him and regained his balance.

“I'm sorry, but if you'll excuse me.” He said as he hobbled backwards, still looking at the two left sitting. They both nodded and he turned around to follow the lavender mare down the hall. After a small bend in the low corridor, she stopped at a simple wooden door. She opened it to reveal an equally simple bathroom. Small, with an oval, podium sink and mirror to the left, a small toilet just passed it, flanked by a wall in addition to the sink. In the center wall sat a small window with stained-glass for privacy, a classy touch. On the right was, to his dismay, a very small tub. It was a beautiful, classic four leg ceramic tub with a faucet in the middle on the side nearest the wall, but was small nonetheless. She pointed out the towels on the bar which hung on the opposite side of the door, currently banished from his sight by the completely visible side which faced him. She stepped aside after also pointing out the shampoos and soaps on the shelf that hung just above the tub, allowing him entrance. He walked in and shut the door behind him and placed his crutch in the corner of the room, just beside the sink.

As he lifted the bottom of his sweater and shirt to loosen his belt, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

Hmm... he thought to himself. He scanned the room once again, trying to find anywhere someone could be spying on him through. He leaned over the sink and touched his index finger the the mirror. He saw that there was a space between his “two” fingers. Not touching, single-sided. He looked more closely at the window. Can't see squat through that window... He looked over the solid-wood walls for any knots that might be pulled out, only to find none at all. Upon the close of his inspection, he dismissed the thought as he being nervous in someone else's bathroom.

He proceeded to remove the sling that held his arm aloft, keeping weight off of his shoulder, loosen his belt, and remove his shirts over his head. He had gotten his head and right arm out only to stop at what he thought to be the sound of scribbling on parchment. Again, he ignored it. Once his imprisoned arm was carefully extracted from its sleeve, he folded the three concentric shirts into a neat square and placed them on the sink. He carefully unwound the bandages that encased his abdomen and rolled them up for re-use, placing them on top of his shirts. He sat down on the edge of the tub and removed the custom-fit brace from his leg and set it on the sink as well, wincing at the pressure on his healing limb. He reached behind him and turned on the faucet, plugging the tub and monitoring the temperature of the water. He looked over the several bath soaps and salts, oils and bubble baths, and gave each an experimental sniff. Considering he hadn't taken a bath in a decade or so, he decided to give himself a treat. He selected a few mineral salts, and a bubble bath mixture that smelt of lavender and some tropical fruit, the name of which escaped his mind, and mixed them into the rising liquid. He bent over his lap and untied the laces on his boots and wiggled each off, letting it fall to the floor in a loud “thud”. It was a great relief to rid himself of the heavy things. Each weighed at least nine pounds, being made partially out of steel duo to his larger-than-average feet. He slipped off each of his socks and placed them into their corresponding boot, then sliding the boots to the base of the sink. Once the hot water had climbed to his liking, he shut off the faucet and stood. He undid the button and fly of his denim pants and gripped the waistline. Giving the room a last once-over, he dropped trou' and stepped out of the pant-legs, leaving his pants and boxers in a small lump on the floor. After bracing himself on the low tub he believed he heard a gasp from somewhere. He quickly stepped into the soothing mixture of minerals and bubbles and lowered himself in.

“Man, I really need this. I'm starting to get paranoid.” He thought to himself as he let a few groans of pleasure escape his lips. The tub only rose to meet his knees while he stood, forcing him to sink very low to submerge himself. The tub was also quite short leaving him in an awkward position. He managed to get most of his torso underwater, the water level now nearing the brim. He lay with his arms on each side of the tub, with his shoulders and above still dry. He intended to keep his cast-arm dry, but did want to wash his hair at some point, which now seemed to be more difficult than he believed. From the knees down, his legs jutted out of the water, forcing him to rest his feet on the far edge of the tub. He just relaxed and soaked in the warm substance, his mind drifting into a blissful haze. He had wanted to clean himself as quickly as possible, but now he questioned if he ever wanted to exit the increasingly comfortable fixture. He decided to do as he originally intended, but at a speed that would give praise to the word “snail”. With his more-or less undamaged arm, he draped water over his shoulders and scrubbed his chest and arms. He began washing his stomach, minding the bruises, but that quickly devolved into rubbing warm circles into his abdomen, causing him to slowly drift away into an ecstasy-induced half-sleep.

“Need any help?” The purple unicorn asked nonchalantly.

“Aah—mahrfbblrrllbbbbbrll!!!!” He jumped at the unexpected presence of anything else in the usually intimately private room. His feet slipped off the tub, causing the rest of his body to slide down, quickly bringing his head down under the bubbly surface. He flailed his arms about until he finally gripped the side with his good arm, bringing his soaking head back up to meet a less-than-should-be surprised Twilight. His face contorted in pain and shock, his eyes wide and his jaw nearly falling back into the water, while she wore a helpful smile. He breathed heavy as he tried desperately to cover himself up, in need of more arm to do so, he settled down lower into the water and spread a layer of foam over the entirety of the water. “Why are you in here?!” He practically shouted.

“I was just offering some help. I remembered that your arm was broken, so I thought I'd give you a hoof.” Considering the fact that they normally didn't wear cloths, at least not to his knowledge, he concluded that this was a standard occurance.

“Couldn't you have at least knocked?!” His voice still raised at the senseless intrusion on his pleasant bath time. He noticed his newly moistened hair and reached for a shampoo, pouring some directly onto his head, rubbing it into a lather, hoping to end this uncomfortable situation as soon as possible. Once it was thoroughly washed, he dunked his head back under the water and wiped the substance from his dark chestnut locks. As the water left his eyes, he saw lavender mare closing the already small gap between them with a brush telekinetically floating beside her. Just before she was about to lean over the edge of the tub he shoved an arm out defensively, trying to cover himself up more desperately than before. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! I-I've got it handled! No need to get closer or anything, in fact why don't you go talk with your guests?” He really wanted, no, needed her to leave the room. Not even in high school OR trade school did he shower with others, let alone female others. He never was a socialite, but he was even less-so around women. He tended to keep quiet to stop himself from inevitably making a fool of himself.

“Don't worry, Fluttershy just loves talking to Spike. She's been wanting to know everything about him since his birth but hasn't gotten a chance to talk, so this is a perfect opportunity. Besides, don't you need help with getting your harder to reach areas? Speaking of, where are those? How flexible are your limbs? Can you reach your back?” He felt the situation diffuse some as he was bombarded with questions of how limber he was. Leaning towards scientific inquiry, he felt more comfortable, some how. Like getting a physical from a female doctor, even though they handle your.....certain areas, it's much different than if you had your significant other putting you through such...procedures. He resumed washing himself as Twilight sat a safe distance away, firing off questions involving range of movement, ligaments, tendons, muscles and other technical aspects of organic locomotion. She once again retrieved her quill and parchment, excited to add a new chapter in the “human” section of her massive library. He had asked her to look over her extensive notes as an excuse for averting her gleaming eyes. As quickly as he possibly could with one arm, he washed “himself” and the inside of his thighs. As soon as she turned back from re-reading, he had finished and proceeded to wash his legs and achy feet. Once he finished washing his feet, the curious pony asked to examine them, wanting to know the inner workings of the strange platforms. After another session of question asking and note taking, she had been intellectually satisfied.

“Thanks for talking! I really appreciate it!” She said with a contented smile.

“Thanks for listening!” He truly enjoyed having intellectual conversations with her, even if they were almost completely one-sided. “And with your last question, my relaxing bath has sadly concluded.” He said as he lifted himself into an upright position.

“What good timing!” The unicorn said with a smile. Her horn began to glow with the faint blue aura as it usually does, except he didn't see what she was levitating. Suddenly the water level in the tub began to decline very quickly. She had unstopped the drain! Finding his cover slipping away faster than he'd like, Twilight had turned back to give him a towel from the bar. He leaned out as far as he could and grabbed it, to keep the distance between her and an uncomfortably exposed him at a maximum. Unfortunately, she continued to approach him, so he pushed his legs together, ignoring the searing hot pain that shot through his left thigh to avoid embarrassment, and shrouded his waist and groin with the linen. She stood there smiling, waiting for him to get out, blissfully unaware of the harsh scarlet that blossomed from his burning cheeks. “Well, come on, we don't have all day!” She beckoned, not moving otherwise.

“Uh...ya see...I can't really do that with you in here. Being bipedal, if I were to stand up, my <ahem>....anatomy...would be exposed. That's kinda why I always wear pants...” He quickly became more interested in a particular pattern of grain in the hard wood floor than anything else in the room. The sudden realization struck Twilight as she simply nodded and walked out, shutting the door. He didn't here her walk away, so he assumed she was waiting for him, but giving him a little much needed privacy. He dried himself off and donned his former attire, and left the room to see that Twilight had indeed been waiting for him, her collective notes floating lazily beside her. He reached back to close the door and took a moment to appreciate the brushed copper door knob. A simple lever parallel to the ground, to be pushed down and counter-clockwise. The small old-fashioned skeleton key hole.

Wait a minute. He bent down and peered through the key hole to reveal the entire bathroom playing out before his eyes. He turned back, eyes wide, mouth agape, to see a one Twilight Sparkle happily trotting down the hallway, back to the living area. Had he been crouched down any more, his mouth would have hit the floor.

To be continued...

Comments

[FeralFox]

Here you go readers! Its not much plot-wise, sorry about that. Its pretty much just a bit of comedic relief and a filler as I finalize some of the bits that go into the chapter when Marckus meets Rarity. Hope you enjoy it. As always, stay smart and Happy Reading!
-FeralFox

Twilight+Human=pervert

[Eultima]

lol Twilights a pervvvvvvvv

[Jigoku Luna]

Twilight, you should know better! lol

I look forward to him explaining unicorns and all that. More scenes like these would be funny to see.

[Meta Knight]

fantastic

[FeralFox]

Hello, once again readers! It seems that I am in a bit of a bind here and am requesting your assistance. I have been surfing the rather disturbing net in search of a pic to be used for "Behind the Veil", but nothing fits. I am here, humbly asking for your assistance in any way. If you can find a picture, or even draw one (not gonna hold my breath for that one), I would be most obliged! Please, if you do take on this quest, send your search's results in a Private Message. Because of your (Voskhod's) choice, I have much more time to write and searching for a pic won't delay any updates, but still, if you were to at least try, I would be eternally grateful. Thank you so much for your support! Stay smart and Happy Reading!
-FeralFox

[Happy Thoughts]

Nice chapter. I can't wait to read more!!!

Markus turned his swag on.

[seeker of truth n]

Twilight you perv he will be traumatized for life!