Because my eyes were closed, I couldn't really tell what Rarity was doing. I could feel the slightly cold touch of shampoo as some of it was drizzled onto my chest, and the soothing circular motions of Rarity's hooves as she rubbed it on me. Her movements were always accompanied by a gentle tingle where ever she had been rubbing, which was soon dulled by the relentless onpour from the showerhead. I felt strangely relaxed for some reason, despite certain desires raging for my attention. I forced myself to remain calm as Rarity ran her hooves all over my chest. I could feel her tracing my scars, especially the giant 'X' the ursa had given me. She let out a small gasp each time she traced the length of it, as if always suprised with the size of it. I would have thought she had gotten all the peanut butter off of me rather quickly since I didn't have a coat, but she rubbed my chest for a really long time. Then, I felt her stand up on top of me and shift around. She sat back down quickly, but her tail smacked against my face.

"Huh? What're you doing Rarity?" I asked as I peeked out of my right eye. All I saw was Rarity's tail. She swished it around a bit, gently dragging it across my face a few times.

"Just removing this pesky armor to clean you more efficiently." I quickly sat up, toppling Rarity over. "Waah!"

"Sorry, not removing the armor. Aww dammit!" I protested quickly. Rarity threw me an annoyed look.

"Then how am I ever going to finish you off dear?"

"I'm clean anyway, the armor kept my lower body from getting dirty."

"... That's not what I meant..."

"Ehm, anyway, we're clean, time to get out." I quickly shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. Rarity hesitated slightly before following me out.

"Fine... by the way, Sharky, are you free tomorrow?"

"Uhh... not for lunch or dinner, but any other time sure."

"What? Why aren't you free for lunch or dinner?"

"Spending lunch with Esmerelda and dinner with Luna."

"Oh Hearts and Hooves Day?! Y-you aren't... dating either of them... are you?!"

"What? No! Geez, a guy can't have a meal with a good friend on Hearts and Hooves Day?"

"Oh... just a meal? Well... alright then. If you're not too terribly busy, would you mind coming to the boutique for tea after your lunch?"

"Of course I'll come!" I grabbed a towel from a rack on the wall and started drying myself off. Rarity levitated herself one as well and I opened the door to leave the bathroom. I revealed the other three girls, completely covered in peanut butter. RD stepped forward with a sly smile.

"Hey Sharky. Could I get a little help cleaning up too? Oh, and I heard about your tea thing with Rarity, would you mind if I joined?" She asked boldly. I didn't quite know how to react. So I groaned at the cleaning, then smiled to her for the tea.

"I suppose I can clean you too, and of course you can join us for tea. The more the merrier. Now come on in." I held the bathroom door wider for her and Rarity left as she walked in. Rarity appeared to be staring daggers at the other girls.

"Oh, and when you're done with Rainbow, could you help us too?" Twilight guestured to herself and Fluttershy.

"A-and can w-we come to tea t-too?" Fluttershy added timidly. I smiled at them.

"Yes to both questions, now let me wash Rainbow here and you'll be next Fluttershy." With that, I closed the door and turned to the tub. RD was already laying down in the tub, hooves splayed fearlessly. I flinched and partially shielded my eyes before I recovered and tried not to react again.

"What's wrong Sharky?" RD asked teasingly.

"Nothing, nothing. Let's just get to work."

"Oh, eager to get right to it huh?" She laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"It's just two friends cleaning each other in the shower, don't make it wierd dude."

"Oh, I don't plan on it..." She mumbled. I turned the shower water without getting in, drenching RD with freezing water. She didn't twitch.

"Whoa, you not cold?" I asked with mild suprise. RD just laughed.

"Nah, I spend a lot of time flying reaaaaally high, so I don't get cold easy."

"Ah, I guess that makes sense."

"Well, we don't have all day! Let's get to it!" RD yelled playfully. She wiggled slightly in the tub in a... cute way. I didn't often find myself thinking about the girls as cute, but she was pulling it off nicely. I brought my hands to her stomach and started rubbing a little. I was only trying to figure out how deep in her coat the peanut butter was before I started using shampoo. Whatever had gotten this stuff in her coat had been thorough. I would have to use a lot of shampoo and a lot of force to get it out. I sighed again as I sat down next to the tub and prepared for a long scrub.

"Ok RD, this stuff is really deep in your coat, so this might hurt a little..." I warned. RD opened her mouth to respond, but then I started pouring the shampoo on her stomach. She flinced a little in suprise, clamping her mouth shut in the process. I chuckled under my breath slightly before reaching down to scrub RD's stomach. I started off by rubbing all over her quickly to make sure the shampoo got all over her before it washed away. Once I had her belly all nice and sudsy, I started woking on cleaning her chest.

"Wow, Sharky... That feels.... nice..." RD mumbled. I gave her a small look of confusion. I hadn't even really done anything yet. Rarity's reaction had been understandable, I had rubbed her for awhile. If RD was already enjoying herself, this would be interesting. I tried not to think too much about what was going on. Of course the girls would enjoy this, it was a massage after all... kinda. From fingers. All they had ever felt were those big blocky hooves. I was sure there was no other reason they'd act like this. After a few minutes of scrubbing, I had finally cleaned her chest. Now I had to work lower down on her stomach.

"Ok... uhh... This will be a bit awkward for me, so... Don't do anything to mess with me... Please?" RD smiled and nodded right as I set to work on her upper belly, right below her ribcage. After only a few seconds, I could see that RD was struggling with something. He eyes were shut tightly and her cheeks were puffed out slightly, as if she were suppressing some sort of scream. I raised an eyebrow in confusion, but continued scrubbing anyway. Soon, I had cleaned her upper belly, and regrettably had to go further down on her body. The peanut butter went really low on her. Thankfully it didn't cover anything that would send RD the wrong message if I touched it, but it was pretty dang close.

"Oh, wow..." RD mumbled again. Her left hindleg started kicking in the air excitedly as I reached a spot near the center of her belly. She reminded me of a small puppy with the way her tounge lolled out of her mouth and her leg kicked helplessly. I laughed a little as I started rubbing the spot with both hands. RD's leg started kicking even faster.

"Oh my god, this is freaking adorable..." I chuckled as I rubbed mercilessly at her tickle-spot. RD's gasps grew faster and faster as I rubbed, almost blurring together as her leg turned into a cartoonish blur. As if that weren't cute enough, her wings began to flutter against the tub helplessly. Then, I slowed my movements as I had a sudden realization. As RD lolled out her tounge and kicked excitedly, I was overtaken with disgust for myself. I had just been treating one of my friends, one of the mane six, like a pet dog! I quickly removed my hands and RD's happy expression contorted into one of annoyance.

"W-why the h-hell did you s-stop?!" She gasped unsteadily. I blinked in suprise at her anger. had expected her to be angry, but not at the fact that I had stopped treating her like a dog.

"I was... treating you wrong?" My answer came out as more of a question.

“W-whaddya mean ‘treating me wrong’? That was awesome!” RD was starting to get her breath back.

“Well uhh... you see, when you pet a dog in a spot that they enjoy, their legs twitch. I just made you do that kinda... and it was so damn cute I didn’t stop to realize I was treating you more like a pet than a friend...” RD frowned at me a little.

“So to be clear, you stopped rubbing me because I was enjoying it?”

“Well no...”

“Because you just said that dogs do that when they get rubbed in whatever spot.”

“Well yes, but you’re--”

“So you just don’t want me to enjoy this?”

“Now hold on there, I didn’t--”

“You just don’t wanna make me happy, do you?”

“Of course I do!” I protested quickly to keep RD from interrupting me again. She had rolled to her hooves and was standing in the tub. The torrent of water from the showerhead did nothing to hide the trace of anger on her face. At my shout however, she slumped down a little and looked more sad than angry.

“Coulda fooled me...” She muttered glumly. I frowned and reached out to rub her neck lightly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well... it’s just that... *sigh* Sharky, remember the day you took me to that Wonderbolts show?” I flinched slightly.

“I sure remember flying backward into that very solid brick wall.” RD chuckled quietly.

“I’m sure the wall was hurt way more. Anyway, that day... that was the best day of my life.” RD let out a shuddering sigh and looked me right in the eyes. “You gave me the best day of my life.”

“Uhh... N-no problem?” RD’s stare was making me a little nervous for some reason.

“But... ever since then it almost feels like you’ve been completely ignoring me! ... And... I really wish you would uhh... spend more... time with... me...” RD’s speech slowed down more and more as she talked.

“That’s fucking stupid. Oh... I’m sorry RD, I haven’t been ignoring you, honest! I have. I’d really like to spend more time with you...” RD sniffled just a little. it had obviously really hurt her pride to have to ask me to hang out with her.

“I... I’m sorry...” She mumbled, causing me to rock back just a little in surprise. “I know you aren’t ignoring me... you’re just... always so busy.” I thought for a moment before sighing heavily.

“Well, you’re right. I am too busy.” I started cleaning RD’s back and wings as I talked. “I honestly can’t remember a day I’ve relaxed since I got here. Excepting the days I was unconscious.” RD seemed to think about my words for a moment.

“Hmm, me either...” She admitted. Then I had a thought.

“You know what? Enough is enough. I’m sure Equestria won’t blow up if I take a day off. I’m busy tomorrow, but I’ll spend the whole day after that with you!” A look of pure happiness spread across her face.

“Really?! A whole day for just us?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ve been meaning to spend more time with my friends anyway.” RD pumped a hoof in the air victoriously.

“Yes!” She cheered, but her smile quickly turned into a small frown again. She turned and looked me in the eyes again. “Hold it. I’m gonna need you to Pinkie Promise me that day.”

“Why?”

“Well, no offense, but you run off a lot. I just wanna make sure you stick with me.”

“... Fair point. Fine. I promise I’ll spend the day after tomorrow with you. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

“Great!” RD’s smile returned just as quickly as it had vanished.

“Eeyup, now you’re all clean! I’ll get a towel for you real quick.” A small look of surprise appeared on RD’s face as she turned to see that she was now totally clean. Then she looked slightly disappointed. “Could you send Fluttershy in here next?” I asked as I took her out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. RD nodded quietly and left without another word. Immediately after the door closed whispers started in the other room. I was curious at first, but I decided to clean off the peanut butter on the bottom of the tub rather than snoop. Right as I finished, Fluttershy stepped lightly into the room. Her face was already bright red and she couldn’t seem to muster the strength to look at me.

“R-ready S-s-sharky...” Her words were so quiet I had to lean towards her to hear. She didn’t have near as much peanut butter on her as RD, but there would still be plenty of cleaning.

“Heh heh, no need to be so nervous Shy, just come and get in the shower.” Fluttershy nodded silently and slowly trotted over. She jumped in on her own, and I smiled at her as I went to work.