"Alright, bring her in!" you call out to the two Apple siblings.

Less than a moment later the bathroom door opens and in walks three ponies: a red stallion, a young orange mare, and in between them a yellow filly with an unamused look. You figure this look is due to the fact that she was being forcefully carried by her two elder siblings; her entire body was somehow being held in place above the ground by the bodies of Applejack and Big Macintosh, resulting in a two-way force to hold her up, like two fingers holding an object vertically.

Applebloom is released from her entrapment as soon as you successfully close the door with a *click*. Applejack wipes a sweat off her brow and sighs in victory. "Thought we'd never get her in here," she announces proudly while pushing back her almost-too-big stetson.

"Eeyup," agreed the red stallion beside her. Surprisingly, you look at him and notice he isn't wearing his signature yoke. When you point this out and question it, he explains, "Don't wanna get it wet. If it does, it stinks up."

"Ah," you comprehend while turning to the last sibling. Applebloom sits with her head angled down and a frown on her face, completely unwilling to participate. You shake your head and smile at her, and she lifts her head in confusion. "You're a stubborn little filly, aren't you?" you playfully say while looking her in the eye. She returns her gaze towards the ground, giving you a pout lip. You chuckle a bit and lift her up.

You place the yellow earth filly in the tub full of water and turn to your two helpers. "I hope she wasn't too much trouble," you say to them, receiving humbled looks from both.

"Not at all," assures Applejack. "You should see her during nap time!"

"Eeyup," Big Mac agrees again. You wait a second to see if the now-grown-up stallion will continue, but alas he does nothing but chew on his hay grain. You brush this off and return to Applebloom in the bath, who is still dull about the situation.

You begin by having Applejack kindly hand you the shampoo next to her. Thanking the almost-grown-up mare, you squirt a handful of apple-scented (big surprise) gel in your palm and lather it throughout Applebloom's strawberry mane. Applebloom decides not to resist (thankfully) and lets you get between the locks of hair. This takes around less than a minute, the entirety of which Applebloom remained unhappy, but slowly getting better.

Without any ado, you move on to rinsing. Cupping your hands, you submerge them and pour out the water in them over Applebloom's yellow head. Applejack notes this and explains how glad she is you're there to help (hooves were a darned thing to try and rinse with). You agree that hands do help, and continue your job. Seven rinses later, Applebloom's mane is finally clean.

Grabbing the shampoo bottle again, you squeeze a second handful out while having Big Mac get Applebloom's flank up out of the water. After thanking him (and receiving an, "Eeyup") you start to work the soap into the red tail before you. This task goes by with little interruption (you pulled her tail a bit and she jumped, making you apologize automatically) for about a minute before you turn to rinsing.

Or at least, you would have rinsed it if Applebloom didn't sit back down. You started to protest, but Big Mac placed a hoof over you to stop you, a look of "she-knows-what-she's-doing" eminent on his otherwise expressionless face. You look back at Applebloom and see her swooshing her tail back and forth, effectively rinsing out the suds in the hair. You shrug and figure that even though it wasn't what you were used to, it still worked.

Applebloom seems to have cheered up slightly, but in your opinion not enough. You press on for the two older siblings to play with her, to which Applejack agrees and Big Mac does without any hint of enjoyment or hatred. Big Mac goes first and picks up the yellow rubber duck next to him. He places it in the water and pushes it around a bit. Applebloom watches her brother's motions but remains indifferent to everything. Big Mac backs up and turns to his orange sister, saying, "Well, I got nothin'."

"Well, I do," replies Applejack while walking up to bat. She looks at Applebloom, who is in turn looking at her, and removes her hat. The cowmare then places the felt stetson on her filly sister's way-too-small head. The hat easily falls over Applebloom's face, which she fixes so that the front fell on her forehead and the back hung over her back, almost touching the bath water. Applebloom quickly cheers up at her sister's offering, bringing a smile to everyone's face. Applejack turns to you and explains, "It was our father's. She's always loved it. Heck, she'd live in it if she fit!" From the almost-microscopic tears you saw in the mare's eye as she turned away, you could tell that this wasn't really a topic to discuss.

Glad that the overall mood has improved greatly, you unplug the tub and pick up the yellow cowfilly, saying, "Alright little cowgirl! Your bath is over!" Applebloom brightens more at being called a cowgirl. You place her on the bathroom floor and have Big Mac take over. The red farmer grabs the towel behind him and begins to dry off his youngest sister. Applebloom takes off the hat for a second, revealing it to have gotten a bit damp, and allows her brother to dry off her mane, placing it back on when he was finished. After her mane, Big Mac continued to dry the rest of his sister's body, stopping at her rear. "Uh..." he begins awkwardly.

Applejack grabs the towel out of his hooves. "Coward," she jeers while finishing drying her sister's flank and behind.

"C'mon AJ, you know I don't like drying her there," Big Mac defends himself.

Applejack snickers but says nothing further.

Now that the bath was over, you dismiss the trio of siblings, opening the door for them. Applebloom skips out, the stetson bouncing on the brink of falling off while she jumps. Applejack and Big Mac laugh at their younger sister's silliness and follow her out the door, going to continue their daily chores.

A bit later, while cleaning everything up, you look out the bathroom window and see a small, yellow filly with red hair and a cowboy hat doing her best to buck an apple tree. She hits it weakly, and only manages to shake off a single apple. Ignoring her obvious failure, she jumps up in victory and runs over to the lone apple on the ground, eating her prize. You laugh at this, and wonder if she will one day work on the farm like her two older siblings.