• Published 9th Dec 2018
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The Princess is a Filly - Art Inspired



Celestia has reached the eldest age for an alicorn, and in order to continue ruling Equestria, she must once again transform herself back into a filly.

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Chapter Four: Bath Time

Spike stood perfectly still, and at first, he didn't speak what so ever. She looked like the Princess, of course, but Twilight hadn't yet had the chance to tell him all about her. That much was apparent by the shocked expression on his face. He just blinked with curled eyebrows, and waited. "Don't you have a name?" Celestia asked.

Spike then asked abruptly while completely ignoring her question, "Is that so?"

"Huh?" Celestia asked with confusion in her voice.

"You're Celestia?" Spike asked.

"Oh," she sighed. "Of course I am. Twilight told you about me, right?" She glared at him with a hopeful smile, but Spike didn't let up.

"If you're Celestia, then... what're you doing here, and why're you a filly?"

Celestia looked down, her smile fading away. "Err, well... It's complicated."

Suddenly, Celestia realized that she still wasn't exactly sure how to explain her very own origins at all to anypony. Spike merely shook his head, and finally walked up to her from across the room. "I don't get it, but if you say you're Celestia, then..." He took a good look at her from a much better distance, and finished, "I'm Spike."

Celestia also looked at him with obvious interest, too, and said, "You're... that dragon Twilight mentioned last night. Wowie, Spike! I've never quite seen a real, live dragon before!"

As she continued to look at him, and chuckled merrily, he also took the chance to comment, "Those wings look pretty real alright... if only a bit small for a princess, but that horn... I mean, Celestia had a sharp one, but not that sharp! Geez..." He backed away from it slowly, and said, "That's probably the main reason why I'm beginning to believe what you're saying. You really do look like Celestia. That is, if she were turned into a filly."

Celestia giggled some more, and still sitting on her pillow, she stared at Spike with the friendliest of smirks. "If you must know, I seem to... remember a bathing house, and Luna... Oh, that's right."

"What?" Spike asked. "What is it?"

Celestia breathed, and in her own way, explained,, "I'm the new Celestia. The old one... She, err... How do I put this? She got a little too old, and that's why I'm here... pretty much."

Spike shook his head while groaning. "I can't help but feel as if there's a whole lot of details that you're forgetting about. Look, I suppose I'll just get the full story from Twilight later on. For now, it's very nice to meet you! Although..."

Spike brought a claw up to his bottom lip while glancing at where Celestia was nestled. "What is it?" Celestia asked kindly.

"Well, your Highness, it's just that... of all places, what're you doing sleeping inside of the throne room?"

"Oh," Celestia said while waving a hoof at the question. "The room Twilight had selected for me didn't have a window. Not only that, but I had already seen this room that we're in right now while passing through, and had already decided that this window right here would be the perfect place for me. Wouldn't you agree? I mean, isn't it lovely?"

Spike chuckled, and admitted rather openly, "You've got to admit, it's not exactly the most private place in the castle. Twilight told you about that, right?"

Celestia sharply closed her eyes, and said, "Won't matter to me, because most of the time, I'll probably be out playing."

Spike began to back away once again, and said, "You seem a little protective of that window... Well, alright, Celestia. If you insist." He then gasped, and out of nowhere, asked, "Say? Do you remember anything? Anything at all? You probably don't, huh, because you certainly didn't remember me one bit when I came through the door over there."

Celestia innocently shook her little head. "Nope! Not a thing. That is, it's not like I'm completely clueless. I know what everything is... somewhat."

Spike nodded, and said, "Yeah, you definitely know how to speak. Do you know what hide and seek is? Or tag?"

Celestia smiled at that question, and said, "Nope. Never heard of it."

Spike sighed, "Huh... Well, you know what hiding is, right?"

Celestia nodded. "Basically, it means to stay out of sight."

"Uh-huh," Spike continued. "And, what's seeking?"

Celestia had a bit more difficulty with this one, but eventually came up with, "It means the opposite of hiding. To... to look for somepony!" Spike didn't even need to give any more hints after that. To put it mildly, Celestia was dazzled by the activity Spike was suggesting they do together. "So, I go and hide, and then you come looking for me!"

"Yep," Spike said. "We can even take turns."

"Oh, wow, Spike. That sounds like an awesome game!"

Hopping down, she began walking on over to where the map of Equestria was. With it merely being a table for now, she was told to shield her eyes over it, and to count to twenty. She began, "One, two, three..."

Immediately, Spike was off to find himself a good place to hide. Meanwhile, Celestia kept counting, and once she was done, she'd pop her little head back up to have a look around, and to shout, "Ready or not, here I come!"

The words just came so naturally to her, as if she had played this game before, but as far as where or with whom she had played it with would be forever a mystery to her. With haste, she checked underneath the table, and her window where she had slept the previous night. No such luck came from investigating these areas, so she was quickly onto the next room which just so happened to be the room that Twilight had picked out for her; the one that she refused to enter at first. These, however, were different circumstances.

He wasn't in that room, however, so Celestia kept looking. Eventually, she'd find herself staring down the hall with a few doors on the left, and a few doors on the right. One of those doors, though, was slightly opened. Celestia figured that this was where Spike would most likely be hiding. As she warily wandered into the room, she noticed that it definitely had much more furniture than the last, but even so, she quickly noticed Spike's tail clearly sticking out from behind the couch.

Celestia simply walked right on over to where he was located, but made sure to keep her own whereabouts a secret. Then, as gently as she could, Celestia voiced, "I probably would've just left the room... but I can see your tail."

In a panic, Spike made a shrill sound, but admitted defeat, and came rising up. "Eh, hehe," he laughed while scratching the back of his head. "You got me! That was quick, too, but I just so happen to know this castle like the back of my claw."

Celestia chuckled, and asked, "Does that mean you intend to find me right away? You won't even know which room I'll be in! Unlike you, I close doors behind myself."

Spike snickered at that, and confidently boasted, "Oh, don't worry. I'll still find you."

He then began wandering back to the throne room, and still smiling. That gave Celestia a bad feeling. "What? Is he that good at seeking or something? There's no way..."

She began running, knowing all too well that she hadn't much time. She picked out a pretty random enough room, but before entering, she looked to the left of it to see another door to another room directly next to it. "Hmm," Celestia hummed aloud. Then, strategically, she creaked the other door open ever so slightly enough that Spike was sure to notice it. That way, he'd go into the wrong room by mistake. Then, as quietly, and as quickly as possible, that scheming filly headed on into the actual room that she had intended on using.

She found some shimmering, white curtains next to a northeastern window, and proceeded to get behind them. Then, she waited as silently as ever. For a good ten seconds or so, she breathed nervously, but then managed to settle herself down. She soon heard the distinct steps that only a dragon could make. "By now," Celestia thought, "Spike's hopefully noticing the other door."

She stayed perfectly still, and even closed her eyes, waiting to hear just the creaking. However, that didn't sound. In fact, what she did hear was another door opening. It wasn't any of the other doors, such as the ones just across the hall, either. It was the door that was directly behind her. She could just tell by how it echoed within her eardrums. "Hehe," Spike laughed, which in turn caused Celestia's heart to skip a beat.

That's when she noticed that her tail was sticking out. It was just like when it was her turn to seek, so she knew the game was over. "Aww," She sighed in her defeat.

"What was that you said earlier when you found me? That I won't even know which room you'd be in?"

Celestia came out from her cover, a stunned look on her face, and asked, "How'd you manage to do that?!"

Just then, somepony timidly came wandering into the room. Who better to answer that question other than Twilight Sparkle? She held her nose with a hoof, and said, "I can answer that!"

"Huh?" Celestia asked, confused by the way Twilight was acting.

"Hate to break it to you, but you stink, Celestia!"

"Hey," Celestia complained. "I thought it was a pretty good hiding spot!"

Spike agreed with Twilight by saying, "Actually, that's not what she means. Also, she's right. That's how I found you." He looked to Twilight, and asked her, "When's the last time she was bathed?"

Just hearing that word was like lightning coursing through her whole body. Her eyes widened, and while the others continued their blabbering, Celestia began backing away.

Twilight turned her head towards the filly, and voiced, "Blabber... blabber gabble? Dabble bath time dabble! So get ready, okay?"

"NO!" Celestia suddenly shouted. "No, no, no! NO way, nuh-uh! There's no WAY that I'm tanking a b-buh... A b-bath!"

"But, Celestia," Twilight pleaded. "You don't want to be a stinky princess, right?"

That's when Celestia took a chance, and leaped into the air right in the nick of time. Spike tried to grab her, but somehow, she managed to slip right through those jagged claws of his. She ran down the hall, and passed the throne room again. At that point, however, Twilight and Spike had figured out a way to once again trap her.

Just as she went by her window located to the left of her, Twilight teleported to the door that would've brought Celestia to the next room. While Twilight did that, Spike blocked the other exit, and waited on Twilight to do her thing. "Now, Princess Celestia..." Twilight voiced slowly, and maturely. "Don't make me chase you all over town. Think of what Luna would say..."

That seemed to get her attention somewhat, but still, she tried to run in which ever way she could. Although, that failed to bear any fruit, as all she could do was run laps around the thrones surrounding the equestrian map. Eventually, she gave up, and stopped her resisting completely while at the same time panting for a minute before finally being able to say anything at all.

With a slight rasp in the way she sounded, Celestia said, "I... just... really, really don't want to take a bath."

"But," Twilight said, regardless of how much begging the filly did. She paused for a moment before continuing, "Now you're all sweaty, which makes you even more dirty. Look, you've gone at least a whole day without one. Plus... you might end up liking it."

Celestia folded her hooves, but soon enough, she was gestured by Twilight to follow along. She also followed up with, "Don't make me have to carry you by my magic."

At last, those words seemed to have made Celestia abandon her tendencies of reluctancy for the time being. She was promptly brought directly to one of the bathrooms within very little time, which to her great dismay, the tub had already been prepared for her. It was filled practically to the brim with warm, steamy water. Foaming at the top, and some of it dripping onto the floor below, the white, soapy bubbles were pretty much the only inviting part of this whole fiasco.

"I... still don't want to do it, Twilight," Celestia pleaded.

Twilight looked at Celestia, annoyed, but then, she simply smiled. "Celestia?"

"Yes?" The foolish filly questioned.

"Have you actually smelled yourself lately?"

Celestia was naturally way too young to have thought to do this already, so her answer was, "Umm... N-no? Not really..." She then took one last look at the tub, and then down at her torso. Moving her muzzle closer to her shoulder, she continued to sniff here and there, until finally, she realized what they were talking about. She pulled her head away sharply, and tightly curled her eyes closed. Then, she blurted out, "Whew!"

She waved a few times above where she had detected the odor, and Twilight asked, "Now do you understand?"

"Whoa, hold on. Is that seriously... me!?" Celestia asked, and then, she came closer to the tub. "Alright! Fine," she pouted. "I'll take the stupid bath..."

Up one of her front hooves went, and then the other, until finally, she had at least three of her appendages touching the water. She hopped a few times, but just couldn't seem to get herself in there. That's when Spike suddenly secured the single hoof of hers that was still on the ground, and assisted her Highness up, and into the sudsy abyss.

All in all, it didn't turn out all that dreadful for Celestia in the end, like she had anticipated it to be. The waters were nice, warm and calming, and the bubbles only added to her amusement. She played around with the bubbles some, and began to realize why Twilight was so keen on her doing this. The stench that had once been looming around Celestia was gone in no time, mainly because Spike and Twilight had insisted on helping her scrub.

Once it was all over with, and Celestia was out of the tub, she'd say while still drying herself off, "That... wasn't all that terrible, actually!"

Twilight seemed gleeful, and asked in a hopeful tone, "Does that mean I won't have to fight you whenever it's time for your bath, like this morning?"

Celestia walked on by, and laughed before questioning Twilight quite clearly, "What's the fun in that?"

Twilight stumbled for a bit, and with confusion, asked, "E-excuse me?"

Celestia continued to use her magic on the towel while chortling, and dried off her back side, right below where her wings were. In a sassy manner, she asked Spike with a smile, "I didn't stutter?"

Twilight had expected Spike to be on her side, but instead, she saw him walking along with Celestia. Out the doorway they went, and he replied to her, "I don't think she got the message, actually." He chuckled before continuing, "Whenever she wanted me to take a bath, I always used to give her a hard enough time back when I was real little, too!"

They scampered off together, leaving Twilight behind while she shouted to them, "Hey! What's the big idea, Spike?! Don't encourage her!"


The day went on merrily afterwards, and Spike taught Celestia many more games that the two of them could enjoy together. Twilight prepared the two of them meals throughout their play sessions, and while they both had their fun, Twilight made sure to teach Celestia a thing or two as their time with one another progressed such as which utensils were used for which dish.

Also, she showed Celestia how to hold a spoon, and a fork properly especially whenever she was choosing to use her magic instead of her hooves. Spike made sure to be present in order to help Twilight despite seemingly against her at random times. A fair example would be of Celestia's attention getting diverted periodically, and whenever she wasn't necessarily focused on what Twilight intended on teaching her, Spike was there to correct such incidents.

One or two snaps of his claws, directly in front of Celestia wandering face, and she'd be brought right back on over to what Twilight had to say. Although, Twilight respectively tried not to overwhelm Celestia, too. After all, she was still getting settled in. Twilight had planned to put off her more rigorous tutoring courses for next week, but at the rate Celestia was excelling at, she would have to reconsider possibly starting tomorrow.

This would be put into irreversible motion by Luna's fast approaching letter. It was to inform Twilight of just how much potential Celestia might actually have considering it had to be her who rose the sun that fateful day.