King Sombra decided that it was time for him to take a bath. He hadn’t had one in the last several days, and as such he was beginning to feel itchy all over.
“Hmm, I think it would be best if I had a bath this evening. A clean king is a happy one.”
The gray unicorn grinned as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. “My, you are one handsome stud!” he whispered to himself as he admired his own dark mane and deep red eyes. The king chuckled softly as he removed his armor and scarlet cape with his magic and placed his regalia on the bathroom floor. Then he trotted over to his luxurious king-sized bathtub and turned on the faucet.
The bathtub immediately began to fill with hot, steaming water. Sombra gave a sigh as he immediately felt soothed by the warmth of it. The dark stallion waited for a moment until the tub was sufficiently filled, and then he lowered his muscular body down into the tub. When he felt settled, he grabbed a bottle of bubble soap that he kept on the side of the tub and poured a generous amount of it into the water around him (he liked his baths to have a good supply of bubbles). Soon the water began foaming up, and the king found himself surrounded by a veritable cloud of bubbles covering all of him except for his eyes and snout. This was exactly how the king liked it.
“Ahhhh… finally some time to myself.” he purred.
He lay there in the tub for a few minutes, relishing the sensation of the hot water on his fur and the bubbles surrounding his entire face. He then decided it was time to actually get himself clean. As he lazily reached for the scrub brush that he used to wash his back with, a loud noise interrupted him.
All of a sudden, the bathroom door forcefully swung open, and Sombra was staring, face-to-face, with his mistress, Rushing Winds. The perky blue pegasus had casually decided to stroll into his bathroom for whatever reason, without even thinking of at least knocking first. But despite the awkwardness of the situation, however, only one of the two ponies seemed to show any sort of embarrassment.
Sombra stared at the mare for a moment, astonished. Then his shock gave way to fury.
“What!? How dare you enter the king’s private quarters? Get out of my sight at once!” he exclaimed, yet it was clear that his face had turned a deep shade of red.
Rush seemed genuinely surprised at her lover’s reaction to her presence.
“Oh! Sorry my king!! I… uh… was just… well, I wanted to take a bath tonight, but… I guess… you’re already in here and…” her voice trailed off as she awkwardly attempted to explain herself. “Um, I’ll get out of your mane now! I’m so sorry heehee!”
The little blue pegasus attempted to dash out the bathroom door, when a peculiar thought struck King Sombra. He was greatly enjoying his bath, and of course he did prefer to be alone during his most private moments, but all of a sudden he found himself wanting Rush to… stay with him. It was an odd way to feel, but it was quite lonely to just be sitting by himself.
And… there was plenty of room in the tub, after all.
After some hesitation, Sombra lifted his head out of the water and called to Rush:
“Wait! Do not leave yet.”
Rush turned around.
“Oh! Do you need anything?”
The gray stallion blinked, pondering what to say.
“I was just wondering if you would like to, um, join me. In the bath. Right now.”
For a moment he worried she would be perplexed or even offended by his offer, but to his relief Rush grinned with joy and her face was visibly flushed as she replied,
“Yay! We can be bath buddies!”
“Yes, uh, whatever you wish, miss. Just come in quickly now. You are letting the heat out of the room by leaving the door open.”
“Oh, right!”
Rushing Winds gleefully shut the door to the bathroom and walked over to the tub. As he eyed the quirky blue mare, the dark king couldn’t help but smile.
“Care to join me?” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“I most definitely would!” she exclaimed, as she climbed into the tub with a tremendous splash, sending soapy water flying off in every direction. Once she had situated herself, she looked at Sombra, her bright orange eyes shining with delight.
“What are we gonna do now, bath buddy?” she giggled.
“Hmm. Well, I was going to scrub my back. Would you mind grabbing that brush for me?”
“Of course!” Rush eagerly did what her colt friend asked.
“Much appreciated."
"No problem!" she giggled.
"Rushing Winds," the former king said hesitantly, "I... would enjoy it greatly if you scrubbed my back for me."
Rush's eager smile was the only response the two of them needed.
~~
"Wasn't that so much fun?" Rush said excitedly as she shook herself dry. "I love taking baths because I get to have fun and get nice and clean!"
Sombra glanced over at his companion as he towel-dried his thick black mane. "Well, I admit it was quite pleasant. Except for when you tried to splash me and got soap in my eyes." He gave her a playful scowl.
"Aww! It was an accident, remember! Besides, you liked getting to splash me!"
"I suppose so. But, I think another penalty is in order!" he gave a sly smile.
"And, what does His Majesty have in mind?"
Without another word, Sombra scooped Rush up and pulled her into a tight embrace before planting a passionate kiss on the little mare's muzzle.
"Mm, we are even now."
Rush hugged Sombra tight and pulled her body close against his. Sombra shivered slightly at the feeling of her cold, wet fur, but all he felt inside of him was pure, blissful warmth.
It turned out that being Rush's "bath buddy" wasn't such an embarrassing thing after all.
