The air was thick and humid, and the steam gave off the impression of a sauna. However, this was not technically a sauna, but the bath hall of the castle belonging to Princess Twilight Sparkle. Fortunately, these baths were in a large, open room, which prevented it from feeling stifling. Sunset was reminded of other bath halls she had seen in pictures from the previous world. To be honest she felt a little bit uncomfortable being in the bath with other people, except she was quickly reminded they were ponies, and that public bathing was a little different in a society where nudity was the norm.

“Everything okay Sunset,” asked a familiar princess.

“Oh huh?” She stammered out, broken from her trance.

“You certainly seem to daze off quite a bit,” said Trixie, the thick masses of pink frosting still caked in parts of her mane looked like the end result of a filly’s first mane dye job. Sunset could only laugh.

“And what’s so funny?” Trixie asked, annoyance being replaced by anger.

“Oh nothing, it’s just that you look so delectable, one could almost eat you,” Sunset responded with a playful, yet still condescending tone.

Both mares brought their faces in close together, both glaring at one another, neither willing to budge lest it be seen as a sign of weakness. This display was broken by cough that cut through the mists followed by a familiar voice, “Umm girls, where’d you go? It’s kind of hard to tell where you are.”

With both ponies brought back to reality, they each stammered out a response and groped through the haze until they found the princess standing next to the largest bathing pool in the entire hall. Sunset and Trixie’s jaws dropped at its splendor, its crystal clear waters shimmered from the light that shone in through all the windows, as wisps of steam rose from its surface. Sunset placed her hoof in and at first she worried she couldn’t feel anything, only to remember to stick her hoof in further. The water was, by some miracle, perfect.

Almost as if she could read minds, which Sunset was sure she could, Twilight responded, “Yeah magical temperature calibrations can be quite useful from time to time.”

Not wanting to look foolish, Sunset stammered out, “Oh, well of course, yeah temperature calibrations.”

Trixie let out a suppressed laugh, which earned her a glare of death from Sunset as Twilight was too busy checking the water and gathering bath supplies. As the alicorn entered the water, Trixie and Sunset made very little effort to hide their enthrallment with her. She took the water and once it was too deep for her hooves to reach the bottom she paddled. While Trixie continued to admire the princess, Sunset was stifling a laugh, which earned her yet another glare from the showmare.

“What’s so funny now?” She asked caustically.

This time Twilight decided to chime in, “Yes Sunset, I’m curious. Surely my swimming isn’t that bad.”

“Oh no….it’s just that you look like… well, you look like a duck with your bottom half under water,” the pony got out before another round of laughter.

Trixie, however, did not join in the laughter, and instead walked up to Sunset and asked, “And just who do you think you are?”

“Sunset Shimmer,” the mare replied without missing a beat.

“And you think you can just make jokes about royalty do you?” The showmare asked, pressing her forehead against Sunset’s, their horns connected like the blades of two duelists.

“Well, I was trained by one so I think I’m in a pretty elite club, one of the privileges being a right to poke some fun at royalty,” Sunset responded, with no attempt to hide the superior tone in her voice.

“You mean former student, who left before she even finished,” Trixie amended, which earned an unusually impassioned reaction from Sunset, and it was not a pleased one.

Just as the two unicorns were in each other’s faces again with no end to their bickering in sight, a large wave of water erupted from the pool. Both ponies were not expecting this as neither was able to escape it, leaving them both quite soaked. Sunset tried to get her mane out of her eyes, while Trixie simply used her magic to move it out of the way. The only sound that could be heard was the laughing coming from the pool, where Twilight was just standing there laughing at the two mares.

With her mane finally out of her eyes, Sunset looked over to Trixie, who simply replied with a small smile and a nodding of her head. Both mares then turned and simultaneously jumped into the pool, which created another great wave. Sunset looked so hopefully see a soaked to the bone Twilight Sparkle. However, no such sight was there.

“I’ll admit girls it’s nice to see you two showing you’re at least capable of working as a team,” Twilight told them both in a mockingly confident, but playful, manner.

While the other two ponies could only roll their eyes, before Trixie added in an equally mocking tone, “Oh yes, your great and glorious highness.”

The joke however soon ended when the showmare was hoisted in a purple aura, and brought over to the alicorn princess. “Well before we go any further in your training, I think it’s time we finally gave you a proper bath,” Twilight told the mare.

Before any protest could be made, Trixie was playfully tossed back into the water, again getting her and Sunset Shimmer thoroughly soaked, as Twilight teleported back into the pool with them. “Now to do this I’m gonna need some help,” she said as she turned towards Sunset.

The mare only returned a small, cunning smile, and responded, “With pleasure... your highness.”

…

Far away from the adult shenanigans playing out in the baths, the castle’s chief mischief makers were uncharacteristically hard at work. Zephyr was pouring over her scrolls while Peridot was looking over a stack of flight pattern charts that Princess Twilight’s Wonderbolt friend had sent her. As the room was filled with the scratching noises of the two fillies jotting down notes, Peridot gave an exasperated sigh.

“What is it Peri?” Zephyr asked her sister.

“This is just so boring, all I seem to do is memorize these dumb formations and flight patterns. I want to get out there and really learn how to tear it up in the sky,” the filly responded, getting up from her desk to gaze out over the forest outside her window.

“But her highness got her own flying instructor to come and give you lessons, and if that involves learning charts and graphs then you should do them,” Zephyr said, her voice taking on a more lecturing tone.

Peridot’s response was merely slumped shoulders and a heavy sigh before returning to her desk. She picked up the charts again and started to pour over them, leaving Zephyr to return to her own studies. The twins carried on with their studies in silence, though it was only after a couple of minutes that this was broken as Peridot turned to her sister and asked nonchalantly, “So what do you think the princess is doing in the baths with those two?”

The silence was further broken by a loud crash as Zephyr fell from her chair, which were then followed by a mixture of Zephyr yelling and Peridot laughing. “How could you suggest something so lewd about the princess!?”

“Well it’s not really a suggestion. Princess Twilight did offer to let Trixie use her private baths, and Sunset offered to help clean her as well. Though it’s pretty obvious Sunset doesn’t trust Trixie being alone with Princess Twilight in the baths together because… well, you know,” replied Peridot, as she raised her eyebrow at her sister, who seemed to only get more flustered.

“They’re only there to get all the cake frosting off of Trixie!” Zephyr shouted, far louder than she had meant to, since she immediately closed the door of the room with her magic.

“Oh please, Twilight could easily clean all that frosting off with magic. Clearly, she was looking for some quality bonding time...in the bath...with two other ponies from her past.” Peridot then put on a devious smile before turning toward her sister and asking, “You know, we could check in on them, if you’re worried that is.”

Zephyr’s face went through about six different transitions, taking on several different contortions until it finally found that perfect look of confusion, embarrassment, anger, and hesitant interest. “Well… I suppose it would be best to make sure the princess is alright. I mean both of those ponies have tried to destroy in the past,” Zephyr replied, finally finding the justification she needed.

“Excellent!” Shouted an excited Peridot, as she trotted over to their joint closet, and started to dig through all the junk that had found its home at the bottom during their time at the castle. “Eureka!” exclaimed the filly as she tumbled out of the closet, holding a rolled up parchment in her wing.

“What it is Peri?” Her sister asked, as she put away her magic texts.

“Oh nothing much, just those copies of the castle’s blueprints we swiped a while ago,” the pegasus answered, her trademark smirk plastering her face.

Zephyr knew that face foretold an immediate future of pain, scolding, chores, and on occasion being covered in syrup. “Umm, Peri I’m not so sure we should still have those. Prim took them away from us remember?” The unicorn asked her sister, her voice slightly shaking.

“Yes, and I was able to… re-procure them,” Peridot replied, clearly ignoring the audible hesitance in her sister’s voice. Finally, she turned and spoke with heavy bravado, “Oh come on Zeph, you and I have been followers of Princess Twilight longer than anypony. Then all of a sudden these two random mares show up and think they can just steal her away from us? I don’t think so. There are two ponies most deserving of her time and attention, and do you know who those ponies are?”

Peridot looked her sister dead in the eyes awaiting her answer. “Umm… is it us?” the unicorn asked meekly, shrinking away from her sister who had now found a spot to stand on her desk, striking a dramatic pose reminiscent of the heroes from one of her Power Ponies books.

Peridot looked down at her sister, and once again that same smile found its way home, “Silly, of course it’s us.”

…

Things in the bath had taken a turn for the worst for Trixie. On the one hoof, Twilight had taken up the task of bathing Trixie, freeing from her frosting-encased prison. The princess’ hooves were soft and gentle, as they washed away the caked-on confectionary. Sadly, on the other hoof, Sunset Shimmer was also helping. The nosey unicorn was nowhere near as gentle as Twilight was, and several times she pulled Trixie’s mane too roughly. This led to the showmare making audible grunts in hopes of making her displeasure known, which unfortunately Sunset seemed to conveniently miss.

Sunset did however ask her fellow unicorn, “So what happened? Did Pinkie Pie try to bake you in a cake or something?” Twilight merely gave a small laugh as she finished up washing the last bits of batter from Trixie’s mane.

“Hmmph, foolish mare, a magician never reveals her secrets, but if you must know the Great and Powerful Trixie has enlisted the help of the local performer to create a feat of magical prowess the likes of which Equestria has never seen before!” Trixie replied, her signature bravado returning, undeterred by her being both soaked and still covered in a good amount of pink mush.

Sunset merely rolled her eyes at the unicorn while Twilight merely laughed a little more and then poured one final pitcher of water over the unicorn, cleaning away the last bits of cake. Trixie moved her mane from her eyes, and looked at her reflection in the bath. She looked like a drowned rat, and she hated the thought of being seen like by Twilight, and Sunset Shimmer, but mostly Twilight. The alicorn princess began attending to her own hygienic needs now that Trixie was suitably taken care of. As she began applying shampoo to her own mane, she asked continued the conversation, “Well Trixie I’m sure whatever you and Pinkie have planned will go over well with the crowd, and I’ll be proud either way.”

Trixie perked up at that, “Oh… well… th-thank you Twi- I mean your majesty.”

“Twilight,” the princess interjected.

“Yes, Twilight. Thank you for the vote of confidence,” Trixie added.

“Umm I hate to interrupt the romantic scene,” Sunset Shimmer said, breaking Trixie’s laser focus on Twilight.

“Oh, I’m sure,” Trixie interjected.

“But we have guests,” Sunset continued, ignoring the other unicorn as she pointed up.

Twilight and Trixie looked up, but Trixie saw nothing. The alicorn however knew exactly what Sunset was talking about. While no ponies were visible, there was a thin layer of magic, a basic invisibility spell, that the princess could see the magic residue. She gave off a simple disabling spell and the veil disappeared, revealing the perpetrators. Shocked to have their cover blown, Peridot dropped her sister, who fell into the pool, generating a far bigger splash than expected from the filly.

Twilight, Trixie, and Sunset all parted their manes from their eyes and looked at the filly. The princess was the first to address, “Zephyr, tomorrow I would like to have a conversation with you.” Almost immediately she added, “You AND your sister,” looking up at the pegasus filly as she tried to escape back through the open panel in the glass roof.

...

After the eventful end to their bath, all the ponies retired to their rooms for the evening. But for one pony, she could only lay in bed, unable to fall asleep. Sunset Shimmer knew that she could not delay any longer. Evenings like the one she just had with Twilight were nice, and she hoped more would be in her future. However, she knew she had business to take care of, and that business awaited her in Canterlot. She got out of bed and walked over to her window, which happened to face the city on the mountain, where her destined meeting with another princess, albeit a less cute one, awaited.