There comes a time in the life of every creature that lives outside the water, I suppose, when they must experience their first bath. And, in the case of Pinkie Pie, it was a day or two after she’d had her first cold.

I seriously doubt it was because of her cold, but she was starting to smell a bit ripe that particular day. So, I went to the store, leaving her with my parents, to get some pet care supplies; and I came back with a brush and some shampoo. I figured I could easily enough bathe the little, though growing, Pinkie Pie in the sink either in any of the bathrooms or in the kitchen. I decided on the sink in the master bath, which was the only bathroom attached to my bedroom.

I figured bathing a small foal like Pinkie Pie wouldn’t be too much different from bathing a puppy, except for the fact that Pinkie Pie would likely not be able to claw me. And, at least I was right about Pinkie not clawing me.

I guess I wasn’t quite prepared for Pinkie Pie splashing water all over the bathroom. I wear glasses, and water on glasses makes it difficult to see. But, it was either that, or take them off and be even less able to see what I was doing. So, in spite of Pinkie Pie preferring to have fun splashing around than allowing me to bathe her, I did the best I could to soak her first, then scrub in the shampoo, which was, according to the picture, meant for dogs and not horses, into the pink earth filly’s fur and hair, then rinse it out again.

But, Pinkie Pie drew the line when it came to me cleaning her behind and between her legs. She made it clear she knew what I was getting ready to do; and, instead of letting me scrub her in that area, took a wash cloth and did her own cleaning.

I had no problem with that. If she wanted to clean herself there, I figured, why not let her? And besides, since I’d started with her torso and, except for that part of her, worked my way from there to her head, limbs and tail, that was the last part of her that needed cleaning. I then gave her a good rinsing, and took her out of the sink and set her on the floor.

As it turns out, the bath ended all too soon for Pinkie Pie, who, when I took her out of the sink, cried for me to let her stay in the water for a little while longer.

Well, after allowing the water to drain out, what was I to do? And, letting her know that I'd drained the water already just upset her all the more.

I grabbed a towel I’d provided for her to dry her off and, again in spite of her complaining, dried her off the best I could. Then, when that was done, I kept the towel wrapped around her while I placed her on her side of my bed, then went back into the bathroom to clean up the mess that she’d made splashing around.

This, of course, would not be my only experience bathing Pinkie Pie, although there would come a time when she would choose to bathe herself, and in the shower instead of the sink. And, it was always Pinkamena who was in control during that time.

I also learned, from the My Little Dashie stories, that my experience with bathing an Equestrian pony wasn’t unique. Rainbow Dash also preferred to clean her behind and between her legs, while allowing her human to clean the rest of her. And, I couldn’t complain too much about that. If Pinkie Pie wanted to clean that part of her by herself, like I said, why not let her? She could probably do a better job of it than I could.

And, from the episodes I saw, particularly after that, the only time we’d get to see an Equestrian pony bathe or be bathed would be in episodes Feeling Pinkie Keen and Baby Cakes.

In a small town such as the one where I live, it wasn’t difficult to find a safe route to walk along so that Pinkie Pie could get her exercise. And, the route I chose was as helpful to me as it was to her in keeping in shape.

The route I chose lead from my house up to the grade school I used to attend, then to the high school, along a highway to another long street back into town, and eventually back to my house. And, one of the benefits to that route was the beautiful scenery we’d both see along the way.

There were a lot of open fields along that route, where there’d be horses and ponies every now and then.

And, that’s another thing.

The first time Pinkie Pie saw the kind of pony I’m used to seeing, she wasn’t sure what to make of it. That is, not until I identified it, for her. Then, before I could stop her, she galloped to the pony and, bouncing in front of her (I remember that first pony being a female), greeted her and started asking questions, carrying on a very rapid, one-sided conversation.

Not expecting a creature to approach her and behave with so much energy, or so I’m guessing, the other pony reared up on her hind legs and whinnied, then turned and galloped away from Pinkie Pie.

In the mean time, Pinkie, seeing the pony mare rear up on her hind legs, stopped talking and slowly backed away, evidently scared. Then, when the mare galloped off, Pinkie’s fear turned to sadness. Then, she turned and ambled back to me, and asked why that other pony had been so scared of her.

I answered that she was most likely not expecting to see a pony gallop up to her and start bouncing around. I then informed her that she needed to keep her energy and enthusiasm in check when approaching ponies native to my world.

It was a lesson she readily took to heart. The next time she approached a pony native to the world I call home, she calmly strolled up to him (I do remember that one being a stallion), and calmly said hello to him. I don’t know if she ever got used to ponies in my home town not speaking, just vocalizing in whinnies, snorts, and other equine vocalizations; but she did learn the correct way to approach ponies and other equines native to my home world. And, from what I could tell, she did learn to make friends among those equines as well as among humans.