1227 6.61 KB 116
- 
                                            1.
                                            >Be Anon
 - 
                                            2.
                                            >You had to dirty your clothes and the stairs on the way up to the bathroom.
 - 
                                            3.
                                            >Thinking about the mess in the living room only zaps more energy out of you.
 - 
                                            4.
                                            >Energy needed to clean this alicorn.
 - 
                                            5.
                                            >Did he say his name was Celestia?
 - 
                                            6.
                                            >Celestia is sitting in the bathtub, waiting for you to take action.
 - 
                                            7.
                                            “Celestia”
 - 
                                            8.
                                            >He looks straight at you.
 - 
                                            9.
                                            “Have you been bathed before?”
 - 
                                            10.
                                            >He nods.
 - 
                                            11.
                                            >So he must be familiar with water, no need to introduce him to it.
 - 
                                            12.
                                            >But his next comment halts any further questions for some time.
 - 
                                            13.
                                            >”If it’s no trouble, I would rather be showered.”
 - 
                                            14.
                                            >You process his request then move your hand away from the tap.
 - 
                                            15.
                                            >It reaches for the shower-head and slowly pulls it from its rack.
 - 
                                            16.
                                            >How is he familiar with a bathroom?
 - 
                                            17.
                                            >And you’ve noticed that every time he talks, he reveals something strange about himself.
 - 
                                            18.
                                            >For example, why did he infer that every ‘pony’ had the same name?
 - 
                                            19.
                                            >It’s not solely what he says, but what he is:
 - 
                                            20.
                                            >a mythological creature you found in between two dumpsters.
 - 
                                            21.
                                            >You wish you could interrogate him now while he’s with you, but your brain is frazzled and you’re too tired to listen to anything.
 - 
                                            22.
                                            >Maybe in the morning - if he’s still around.
 - 
                                            23.
                                            
 - 
                                            24.
                                            >”Is there something wrong?”
 - 
                                            25.
                                            >Your eyes switch back on.
 - 
                                            26.
                                            “Sorry, just tired.”
 - 
                                            27.
                                            >He stares at his hooves again.
 - 
                                            28.
                                            >You twist the shower-knob and wet him before lathering his dirty mane with shampoo.
 - 
                                            29.
                                            >You don’t know how careful you should be, but he is handling the water really well.
 - 
                                            30.
                                            >Even when you got soap in his eyes, he didn't thresh around.
 - 
                                            31.
                                            >The colour of the water satisfies you: a disgusting, putrid shade of grey.
 - 
                                            32.
                                            >The mane is left vibrant, so you apply the same treatment to his tail.
 - 
                                            33.
                                            >Once finished, you face his coat; you don’t know whether to use body wash or more shampoo.
 - 
                                            34.
                                            >He turns to look at you with concern because it seems you’re taking too long to decide.
 - 
                                            35.
                                            >You end up switching to body wash because there is more of it in the bottle.
 - 
                                            36.
                                            >Now you need to decide whether to use your hands or the luffa.
 - 
                                            37.
                                            >You point to it.
 - 
                                            38.
                                            “Do you know what this is?”
 - 
                                            39.
                                            >He nods.
 - 
                                            40.
                                            >”Yes. It’s like a rough sponge.”
 - 
                                            41.
                                            >You chuckle while adding soap to the rough sponge, and with a little water, it became a sudsy overflow.
 - 
                                            42.
                                            >You emulsify his back, which required a lot of elbow grease.
 - 
                                            43.
                                            >That is nothing compared to the grime concealed by his wings.
 - 
                                            44.
                                            >You tell him to hold them up.
 - 
                                            45.
                                            >And he does.
 - 
                                            46.
                                            >And he does so elegantly and sensitively to try not to get water out of the tub; you appreciate his awareness.
 - 
                                            47.
                                            >Now to tackle that sprawling grime on the haunch.
 - 
                                            48.
                                            >But upon scrubbing, you realise it gets more radiant and defined.
 - 
                                            49.
                                            >Until a symbol of the sun is uncovered - and admired.
 - 
                                            50.
                                            >You remember seeing the same thing on the other side, so you work to dig that out too.
 - 
                                            51.
                                            >And sure enough, on this alicorn’s body are two identical suns, each on either side of the flank.
 - 
                                            52.
                                            >He peeps out from his mane.
 - 
                                            53.
                                            >”Do you like it?”
 - 
                                            54.
                                            >He watches your eyes.
 - 
                                            55.
                                            >”It’s my cutie mark, I was one of the first to get it amongst my friends.” He says, with glee.
 - 
                                            56.
                                            “So you weren’t born with it?”
 - 
                                            57.
                                            >”Not at all. You have to discover what is unique about you, like a talent.”
 - 
                                            58.
                                            “And what makes you unique?”
 - 
                                            59.
                                            >”Well…”
 - 
                                            60.
                                            >He hesitates a little bit.
 - 
                                            61.
                                            >”I can raise the sun, but so could everypony, so it isn’t all that unique.”
 - 
                                            62.
                                            >?
 - 
                                            63.
                                            >You’re almost in shock, but he continues.
 - 
                                            64.
                                            >”…But they told us we all shared the one special talent.”
 - 
                                            65.
                                            >There is some silence: not exactly awkward, but something along the lines of it.
 - 
                                            66.
                                            “Can you raise the sun now?”
 - 
                                            67.
                                            >You ask it without thinking. Daytime now would be catastrophic, but you only want to validate at least one of his claims.
 - 
                                            68.
                                            >He tenses his shoulders and looks for the feeling that will aid his uneasiness.
 - 
                                            69.
                                            >”I guess I could try.”
 - 
                                            70.
                                            >He stood up in the tub, wet, and shut his eyes. All focus was on the horn.
 - 
                                            71.
                                            >It charged up again, but with a softer glow and a low whirr.
 - 
                                            72.
                                            >And then it lit up like a bright torch-light.
 - 
                                            73.
                                            >He opened his eyes and was ecstatic to see that his effort paid off.
 - 
                                            74.
                                            >”Can you check outside? I think it's day!”
 - 
                                            75.
                                            >So you shake your hands dry and peer out of the bathroom door to look through bedroom window.
 - 
                                            76.
                                            >It was still night.
 - 
                                            77.
                                            ”It’s still night.”
 - 
                                            78.
                                            >He peeled his eyes off the horn.
 - 
                                            79.
                                            >”Oh.”
 - 
                                            80.
                                            >After some reflection, he reattached them.
 - 
                                            81.
                                            >”Let me try once more.”
 - 
                                            82.
                                            >So he tightly shuts his eyes and even grunts. Nothing changes but the radius of the light.
 - 
                                            83.
                                            >Until it suddenly stopped and he broke into a pant.
 - 
                                            84.
                                            >In between two gasps, he asks:
 - 
                                            85.
                                            >”No sun?”
 - 
                                            86.
                                            >You shake your head.
 - 
                                            87.
                                            >He looks reasonably disappointed in himself.
 - 
                                            88.
                                            >Your sympathy lies not with his disappointment, but with his naivety that either came from pure stupidity or, more probably, gullibility from inexperience.
 - 
                                            89.
                                            >He sits back down, staring at his hooves with an odd expression, but without a hint of betrayal.
 - 
                                            90.
                                            ”Hey, it’s okay, we can try again tomorrow night. Maybe your horn is just busted from earlier.”
 - 
                                            91.
                                            >He looks back at you.
 - 
                                            92.
                                            >“You’re right!”
 - 
                                            93.
                                            >Maybe you should’ve been more blunt about the possibilities, but you are not prepared to bear the burden of sympathy at this time.
 - 
                                            94.
                                            >You go ahead and wash off remaining soap on your hands and his body before drying him off with a towel.
 - 
                                            95.
                                            >You were about to carry him out of the tub when you remembered that your shirt was very dirty and pants dusty.
 - 
                                            96.
                                            >You wrap him up tight so that only his head and horn and a strand of hair peep out.
 - 
                                            97.
                                            >”Wait here.”
 - 
                                            98.
                                            >You get out while hiding a smirk.
 - 
                                            99.
                                            >It stays with you as you change, and you can hear him trying to loosen up his cocoon.
 - 
                                            100.
                                            >It continues as you put fresh pants on.
 - 
                                            101.
                                            >The thought of him wriggling pushes your cheeks back, until you hear a thud.
 - 
                                            102.
                                            >You rush over with a shirt swinging around your neck to find that he’s laying on the bathroom floor, with both the towel and a sheepish grin on him.
 - 
                                            103.
                                            >You get your arms through the holes before letting gravity pull the shirt down, all while you move in to take a closer look.
 - 
                                            104.
                                            >”Sorry, it was constricting.”
 - 
                                            105.
                                            >You kneel to pick him up. He’s wet, but at least all clean.
 - 
                                            106.
                                            >You bring him to the foot of the bed to not get pillows damp, then he shuffles into comfort.
 - 
                                            107.
                                            >You go to retrieve the towel.
 - 
                                            108.
                                            >And as you come back, you blink.
 - 
                                            109.
                                            >And the pony almost goes away.
 - 
                                            110.
                                            >Maybe when you wake up.
 - 
                                            111.
                                            >You hang it on the door.
 - 
                                            112.
                                            
 - 
                                            113.
                                            >You kick your laundry into a pile and dive into the bed.
 - 
                                            114.
                                            >You swim to the back of your mind and sleep almost immediately.
 - 
                                            115.
                                            >But somewhere in the limbo between sentience and space, you sense a mass closing into proximity.
 - 
                                            116.
                                            >With the energy you have, there is no choice but to accept it into your arms.
 
                         by Fish
                         by Fish
                         by Fish
                         by Fish