My Little Willow

Trying to be quiet around a sleeping filly is not easy.

Especially when said filly is sleeping in the middle of your floor.

It had been about an hour since both Willow and Gracie had curled up and fallen asleep together. I left the two alone and scattered around trying to do my own thing for a while. It was going great until about twenty minutes ago Gracie had woken up to me accidentally bumping one of her many rope toys against the wall. Just by looking at her I could tell that Gracie was more than ready to get up and run around after being enclosed in a tight area all night. However, every time Gracie would make the attempt to stand up, Willow would press herself tighter against her furry embrace, leaving Gracie trapped. Gracie would look at me with pleading eyes that just screamed 'please get this furry little rat off of me'. I finally decided to give in to Gracie's demands and proceeded to reach down and pick up the filly who was fast asleep. Gracie got up and licked me in the face about a dozen times before running away before her 'pest' woke up, but not before grabbing her favorite multicolored rope toy that laid near the wall. I chucked as I watched her run around with her toy, swaying it rapidly in her mouth.

I carried the sleeping Willow towards the leather couch and placed her tiny body atop the crimson, satin throw pillow. She didn't even flinch. She continued to snore as quiet as a mouse, a few subtle echos escaping her mouth from time-to-time. I sat beside her and caressed her cotton-like mane for a few minutes, before getting up and deciding to tidy up a bit.  I had only had Willow for a day and this place was a mess. Dried apple bites, along with a few pieces of shredded up paper she must have gotten into once I fell asleep last night, covered a sufficient amount of space in the living room. I didn't really know if ponies even chewed things. I just really hoped that it wouldn't be an issue with Willow. I had finally gotten Gracie out of the habit and I did not want to go through that again. I can't even explain how many shoes I had lost on that journey.

As I was meticulously washing the dishes in the kitchen, I heard the soft echoing mumbles coming from the living room. I finished drying the current plate in my hand, placing it in the plate cub bard before walking back towards the little bat filly. She sat on top of the pillow,tediously rubbing her eyes with her hooves, trying to recover from her unplanned nap. A grumpy look sprouted across her face. I slowly inched my way closer towards her, trying to be as quiet as possible. While in the middle of rubbing her eyes she suddenly stopped, her fuzzy tuffed ears moving up and down, detecting the suspicious sounds coming towards her.

"You finally up sleepy head?" I said in a playful tone.

She moved her hooves and instantly locked her rose eyes on me. Her unhappy frown quickly turning into a wide, ear-to-ear grin as she begun to echo loudly on repeat. I smiled back at her, laughing as I sat beside her, picking her up and moving her on to my lap. Willow continued her echo marathon as she rubbed her head along my stomach once more. I honestly could never understand why she enjoyed partaking in that activity so much. Wanting to try something new, I slowly dragged my hand along the couch in front of her, instantly grabbing the young filly's attention. She stopped rubbing her head and focused entirely on my hand, her eyes following every movement I made. I started to speed my hand motions up a tad, rubbing it along the couch in a circular motion. Willow kept staring at my hand, not taking her eyes off for a second. She laid down on my lap, crouching with her silver-webbed wings pointed towards the ceiling.  I slowed my hand movements, moving them closer towards Willow, only to quickly move them back as she began to get near it. Willow echoed in an annoyed tone as she watched my hand drag away from her. I chucked, bringing it back towards her. Until she finally pounced onto my hand, pressing her hooves firmly on it as sure as not to let it get away from her. Even while she was placing all her weight upon my hand, it obviously didn't matter considering she had to weigh no more than 5 or 10 pounds. I quickly dragged my hand away from her, rotating it in a circle once more. Willow chased after it, her stubby hooves preventing her from keeping up. She continued to echo aggravatingly, getting upset that she could not catch her prey. I slowed my dragging and started inching it towards her. Willow immediately jumped upon my hand, this time laying her body on top of it. She echoed excitedly as she turned to face me for my seal of approval. At this point I was already chuckling like a crazy person and I gave her a big smile, nodding my head. I decided to slowly move my hand from beneath her, dangling my hand above her head. Willow turned her eyes from me and watched as her prey somehow retreated from her and was now above her, almost mocking her since it escaped. She sat up and placed her right hoof in the air, punching my hand softly. I then started to mimic one of those cat spring toys, making my hand sway in the air slowly. Willow smiled, jumping and placing her fore hooves around my hand, bringing it back down on the couch. She giggled and echoed, pleased with herself for outsmarting her prey. She tried rolling my hand towards me using her head. To help her out I slowly rolled my hand along with the way she was attempting to move it to. She stopped when I placed it on my thigh, her looking back at me with a wide toothy grin. I laughed, placing the hand on her head and rubbed it playfully. She climbed back atop my lap, sitting down. I dangled my hand back in front of her, causing the little filly to fall on her back against my stomach. She smiled wildly as I placed my hand closer towards her and she begun to play friskily with it, punching her hooves in the air trying to take it back down. Willow reminded me of a kitten and how they constantly pounce on things and try to catch things with their paws. If ponies really acted like this then I understand all the fan art out there with them as cats. Both me and Willow sat there laughing as she tried dutifully to capture the hand. However, as she laid there playing, I begun to smell a pretty pungent fume circling around me. The smell of dirt, sweat and mud danced through my nostrils. I knew at that moment it had to be Willow. She had been stuck in that dirt hole for god knows how long and the stench was embedded through her fur. I was shocked I didn't smell it yesterday. I took a closer look and saw bits of apple in her mane along with the now dried Neosporin I placed on her scratches last night. It was evident that a certain bat pony desperately needed a bath..the sooner the stink was gone the better. I focused back down on Willow who had finally caught my hand and had it placed between her fore hooves, holding it against her as she echoed happily.

"Who wants to play an exciting game?" I said in my most playful voice as possible.

Willow perked up, letting go of my hand and rolled herself back on to her stomach, staring at me. She smiled and begun jumping on my lap, echoing delightfully. I wrapped my arms around her small body, standing up and walking towards the kitchen. I decided it would be best to wash her in the sink. I figured even if I didn't fill the tub with much water, the tall white walls would probably freak her out a bit, traumatizing her from ever wanting to take a bath again. I walked into the kitchen and placed her on the granite counter beside the sink. She looked around her surroundings before gazing right up at me, her rose eyes glazed with a look of confusion.

"Its okay Willow, I'm only going to give you a quick little bath. You'll be squeaky clean in no time. Don't worry, it'll be fun I promise."

The look of confusion didn't leave her eyes. It was like she never heard of the premise of getting clean before.

Did she not get baths in Equestria?

I rubbed my hand on her head, giving her a reassuring smile as I started to drain the dish water I had sitting in the sink. After telling her not to move a single hoof, I walked to the bathroom and picked up a bottle of my Suave Men's Ocean Charge shampoo. It wasn't an ideal choice, seeing as though she would smell like a guy afterwards, but it had to make due until I could go to the store and get her more 'feminine' ones. I walked back to the kitchen to see Willow, still perched up on the sink where I left her, looking down towards the sink. I stood next to her and begun stroking her mane, trying to comfort her as I started the water. I made sure to turn the cold two times more than the hot so that the water wouldn't be like a bubbling lava pool that would surly burn the poor filly. Willow's slitted pupils grew wide as she watched the water pour from the faucet. She slowly inched herself towards it, sticking her tongue through the miniature waterfall before her. She immediately begun to giggle, sticking her tongue in-and-out of her mouth, drinking the cool water. I smiled, this was just too precious. Once the water filled a little less than half of the not-so-deep sink, I turned the water off, leaving a disappointed Willow to stare at me with her big rose eyes. I chuckled and picked her up, slowly starting to lower her into the warm water below. As one hoof touched the water she begun to freak out. Her wings flapped vigorously as she screeched, looking at me with pain in her eyes. Startled, I pulled her away from the water and placed her back on the counter.  She stared at me with the look of both pain and confusion. I didn't understand why she was acting like this. It wasn't like I made the water too hot for her. Not to mention she had just licked the water as it poured from the faucet.

Maybe something bad happened to her involving baths while in Equestria?

I patted my hand against her head gently in an effort to help comfort the terrified filly. I then kneeled down to her height, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Sweetheart..its okay. Now, I don't know if something awful happened to you in the past.. but you don't need to worry around me. I'll protect you. Baths aren't scary. I promise." I cooed quietly, barely above a whisper.

Willow continued to stare up at me, the expression on her face not changing a bit.

"Come on Willow you can trust me..Could you please give it another chance..for me?"

Willow slowly dragged her eyes from me and instead focused them upon the sink. She gave a quiet sigh before turning back towards me and giving a reluctant nod. I smiled and picked her up once more, slowly lowering her into the sink once again. As she stood there, the water only went up halfway up her hooves. She continued to look a bit panicked and I knew she wanted desperately to get out of there. In order to help relieve the tension, I dangled my hand in front of her once more. Her terrified expression quickly turning into a wide, toothy smile. She inched her muzzle on to my hand and begun to slowly rub it up against it. She then started to gently lick my hand, thanking me for protecting her. I continued to smile as I steadily moved my hand from her and placed it in the sink, getting water on my hand and slowly starting to pour it on her. Once I felt she was wet enough, I grabbed the bottle of shampoo and squirted a small droplet onto my hand.

"Alright Willow, its very important you close your eyes until I tell you to open them. We wouldn't want this to get inside you eyes, it would hurt. Do you understand?"

Willow looked at me, a smile crept on to her face and a quiet echo through her lips as she closed her eyes tightly. I lathered the shampoo in my hands before gently rubbing it throughout her body, making sure to get the dried dirt that engraved her mane and hooves. As I massaged the shampoo through her mane, Willow giggled, making sure not to open her eyes. Once I was finished getting all the dirt and mud off of her, I reached for the hose beside the faucet and set it to the low setting and started spraying the little filly with it, making sure to get all the shampoo off her body. This only erupted more giggles out of the filly as she begun to splash her hooves along the bottom of the sink. Once I was finished, I placed the hose back on its hook, staring and smiling as Willow splashed her hooves around the water, laughing louder and keeping her eyes tightly shut.

"Alright Willow, you can open your eyes now." I said through laughter.

She opened her eyes and echoed cheerfully at me. I let her splash through the little puddle of water she was in for a few more minutes, before picking her back up and placing her on the counter. I reached across the sink to receive the towel I had placed there to dry her off with. However, Willow had other plans to dry herself off,  she begun to shook viciously, sending water all over the counter and myself.

"Hey. Hey Willow stop it. That's what the towel is for silly." I laughed, trying to doge the water.

I held up the towel and she stopped, staring at me covered in water. Instantly she started to laugh, flapping her tiny wings rapidly. I smiled as I placed the towel on top of her, rubbing it against her. Once I got her dry as good as I could, I stared at her an she was quite the sight. Her snowy grey mane, which once looked as if it was about the same mane style as Rainbow Dash was now flat and pressed against her, still pretty soaked. Her fur was puffed out a bit, making her look more like a fuzzball than usual. She was adorable. Not to mention she finally smelled good. She smelt like a man, but at least that's better than smelling like dirt and mud.

"See Willow, that wasn't so bad was it?"

She smiled ear-to-ear, revealing her fangs. Once again I was proud of her. She had conquered another fear of hers. I was glad I was there to help her..

I picked her up and carried her into the living room. For the rest of the day we played 'the hand game' and I introduced her to a few of Gracie's old toys. I found out that balls are her favorite. Most of the day was spent with me throwing them and her bringing them back, only to hoard them and chew on each one individually. She also played tug-of-war with Gracie. Gracie of course won every time, many times picking up the rope and having a dangling Willow on the other end, holding on as tightly as she could. Then for dinner I served her more apple bites and afterwards we played more of 'the hand game'. Around 9:45 I could tell Willow was growing tired. It was nice having her be a filly and be on the same sleep scheduled as me, I really have no idea what I'll do when she gets older. I carried her to my room and opened up a spare drawer of mine. I would have her just sleep on the bed with me, but I was worried I might accidentally squish her in the middle of the night. I tend to roll around a lot. I placed two sheets inside the drawer before grabbing Willow and placing her inside. She sat and looked up at me in confusment.

"Its alright honey, just lay down."

She laid down and I placed a baby blanket that once belonged to Gracie on top of her.  She continued to stare at me as I reached down and gently rubbed her mane, smiling down at her.

"Goodnight sweetheart." I cooed.

I walked back to bed, pulling back the covers before laying down between them. I reached over to turn off the light when I heard the sound of whimpering and confused echoing. I pulled back the covers, walking back towards Willow, who had squirmed out of the blanket and was now sitting up, dumbfounded.

"You don't want to sleep in here..do you?"

She looked at me and smiled widely, echoing awfully chipper for someone who was just yawning and about to pass out a minute ago. The adorable card was definitely working.

"Alright.." I said, defeated. Her cuteness was too powerful.

I picked her up along with the blanket and carried her to my bed. I laid the blanket down and placed her on top of it. Then I got situated under the covers and finally turned the light off. As I closed my eyes I heard tiny hoof prints slowly making their way along the mattress. A second later I felt a tiny mass of fur pressed up against my side. A quiet yawn and loving echo passing through its lips. I opened my eyes and looked down. She was cuddled up tightly against my side, eyes closed and smile perched along her face. I smiled down at her, knowing that there was absolutely know way I would win this fight. I placed my hand on top of her, petting her little body slowly and gently as I closed my eyes.

This was going to be quite the journey..but I'm going to love every minute of it.