I woke up to the sound of rain pounding against my bedroom window. It had been raining all night, and the ground was sodden. Dashie had been looking forward to playing outside today. She was going to be so disappointed. I got up and went to her bedroom to check she was okay. She was sat on the windowsill behind the curtain, looking out into the garden.

“It's raining Daddy.” She said solemnly. I went over to her and picked her up off the windowsill. She sighed as I did so, and looked up at me with disappointment in her eyes. We'd not been able to play outside for a week now, the rain just hadn't let up. Dashie was getting bored of being indoors all the time. I decided that the weather wasn't going to let up, so we may as well go out and play anyway. I took her into the kitchen and set her down on the floor.

“Tell you what Dashie. Let's have some breakfast, then we can go out and play in the rain. Does that sound like fun?” I hadn't even needed to ask her really, as soon as I finished the sentence, her face was beaming and she was jumping up and down, yelling.

“Yaaaay! We gonna go outside!” She began running around the floor, ineffectively flapping her wings in celebration. She loved to do so when excited.

I gave Dashie a bowl of oats for breakfast and had porridge myself, though Dashie was so excitable she barely ate her food. She just couldn't wait to get outside again. I finished up and then left the bowls on the table. Dashie had began to run about again, and was hopping up and down near the back door impatiently. I dressed for the rain, putting on my coat and hood. I debated making a raincoat for Dashie, but it would probably take too long, and I didn't want to upset her by making her wait any longer.

I packed several towels into my shoulder bag, so that when she got too wet or cold, I could dry her off and carry her home inside my jacket. I even filled a hot water bottle and placed it in the bottom of the bag, so when she got cold, she could easily warm herself up again.

When I came back into the living room, Dashie was sitting on the windowsill, looking out into the rain with her nose pressed tightly against the glass. As soon as she heard me, she leapt down and ran over to my feet.

“Going outside now?” She said, looking up at me in my rain coat.

“Yes, Dashie, we're gonna go outside now.” I said back, and at that she ran to the back door again and sat on the mat, looking up at the handle. “No Dashie, I thought we'd go out for a walk today, rather than playing in the garden. It might be a bit too muddy out there for you.” She looked up at me again, her eyes beaming with such excitement. She ran at me and jumped straight into my arms, and began nuzzling her face into my jacket. We rarely went anywhere except the garden, so I figured we would do today, since Dashie had been so patient waiting for the rain to stop.

I put Dashie inside my shoulder bag with all the towels, and she snuggled down comfortably among them, peeking her head out of the flap to see where we were going. I left the house and locked the door behind me, and began walking to an old country road where Dashie could play without being seen. It was raining so heavily, I didn't expect anyone to be out in it anyway, so we'd be safe. When we got there, Dashie stuck her head out of the bag again and looked around. A drop of rain fell off a tree branch onto her head, she shuddered and retreated back into her warm cocoon.

“Dashie, don't you want to play in the rain now?” I said, gently stroking her inside the bag. She timidly poked her head out again, this time looking around more. “Don't worry about getting wet Dashie, that's what the towels are for. I can dry you off if you get too wet. Just have fun.” She looked up at me and nodded her head.

“Okay Daddy.” She said. I lifted her out of the bag and gently placed her on the ground. She shuddered for a moment as she got used to the temperature change. She was looking reluctant, until she saw a bird fly down and start splashing in a puddle. Dashie loved chasing birds, and so was soon running after it, splashing through the puddle herself. She found this great fun, and began jumping in and out of several puddles on the ground.

“Whee!” She said, as she ran full speed to a puddle and leapt into it. She was enjoying herself so much, although she was soaking wet and covered in mud all the same. She loved kicking the water around and making the biggest splashes possible. She then saw a giant puddle, far larger than the rest, and began to run towards it even faster than before. She took a running leap into it, and as she hit the surface she disappeared.

I ran over to the puddle as quickly as possible and reached in, it was shoulder deep at least. I felt around and quickly felt Dashie, kicking and flapping her wings under the water, in a vain attempt to stop herself from sinking. I grabbed hold and pulled her out. She looked terrified, and I could hardly blame her after that. “Oh Dashie, I'm so sorry!” I said, holding her tight to my chest. She was shivering and shaking. I quickly grabbed a dry towel out the bag and dried her off. She didn't say anything, she looked completely shocked. I bundled her back into the bag and rushed home with her, gently petting her mane all the way.

Once we got back home, I sat Dashie down next to a radiator and gave her a juice box to try and comfort her. I filled the sink with water, so I could wash her and get her clean. “Dashie? Are you ready for a bath now?” I asked her. She looked up at me and nodded. I hoped she wasn't too upset, and maybe playing with her rubber ducky would cheer her up.

I lifted her up and lowered her into the water, but as I did so, she started screaming. “No, Daddy! I don't like the water!” She squealed. I placed her back on the counter, and looked into he eyes. Tears had begun to run down her cheeks.

“Dashie. I know that was scary today, and I'm sorry. But you're safe now, and I need to give you a bath so you can get clean. Look I've even got your ducky! You like him, don't you?” I mimicked a quacking noise to try and distract her, placing the duck on the counter, but she just kicked the duck onto the floor, and turned away from me. She definitely wasn't happy. After much deliberating, I washed Dashie on the counter using a damp cloth. She still squirmed uncomfortably, but I got most of the mud off. I didn't want to upset her any more that she already was.

I dried her off after this, and put her in bed for a nap. She looked tired, and I hoped she would cheer up a bit after a rest. I tucked her in and kissed her gently on the forehead. She smiled slightly as I did so, but then turned away so I wouldn't see. At least she still liked me a little bit, though I still felt bad for what had happened. I pulled the door to, and left her to nap. I resolved to sort her fear of water out as soon as possible, before it got out of hand. I wanted her to learn how to swim, so that if she was ever in danger and I wasn't around, she could fend for herself.

Once she woke up from her nap, she came out into the living room looking bleary eyed and tired. “Daddy?” She said. “Can I have a cuddle?” I was so glad to hear her say those words. I nodded and placed her on my lap. She shifted until she was comfortable, and then sat quietly while I stroked her mane. After an hour of this, she had fallen asleep again. I put her on the cushion next to me, and went to the bathroom. I began filling the bath tub up with water, no more than a few inches. I then went and roused Dashie, and brought her into the bathroom with me.

She had never seen the inside of the bath tub before, and I think it scared her a little bit. The sides were really tall for a small filly. I gently lowered her down and into the water, so it was only up past her hooves. She stood in the water and looked at me, confused. I smiled. “It's okay Dashie. We're just going to have some fun, alright?” I said.

“Okay Daddy.” She looked at the water around her ankles. “Can I have some bubbles, please?” She said, looking back up at me.

“I'm sorry Dashie, not right now. We're going to teach you how to swim, okay? It’ll be fun, trust me.” She looked back at the plain water, bored and disappointed. She started kicking at it with her hooves, which must have reminded her of the puddles, as she began to panic and kicked more vigorously, thrashing about in the water. Her wings flapping, trying to get out. I reached in and gently steadied her hooves so she couldn't kick. “It's okay Dashie. Trust me, you're safe here.”

I began to fill the bath up with more water, so it started to reach past Dashie's body. She squirmed, but I reassured her it was okay. I placed her rubber ducky in the water with her as a distraction, and she seemed to like seeing it bob up and down with the ripples of the water. I turned the tap off, and then reached in and placed my hand under Dashie's belly.

        “Now Dashie. I want you to start kicking your legs like you're trying to run, okay? Can you do that for me?” She nodded. I held onto her belly and lifted her up, so she couldn't touch the bottom of the bath. "Now Dashie!" She began kicking her legs, and as she did so, I moved her around the water, a smile appearing on her face, as she enjoyed the feeling of the water moving around her legs. While we were doing this, I subtly turned on the tap and filled the bath up with more water, until Dashie could no longer touch the bottom.

As she kept kicking, I slowly lowered my hand from under her belly, which made her sit lower in the water. She started kicking harder as this happened, which was what I had hoped for. “Hehehe” She giggled. She was enjoying herself again, and it made me so happy to see. I eventually moved my hand away so it wasn't touching her belly at all, and watched in awe as she swam around the bath on her own, chasing her ducky around the water.

I was so pleased, I gave her a round of applause. As I did this, she looked at me, realising I wasn't holding onto her, she stopped kicking and began to sink. She started flapping her wings in panic as the water rose above her back. I reached in and quickly lifted her up before she went under the surface. “It's okay Dashie, you were swimming on your own! You can do it, just try again!” I smiled at her, and she smiled back.

“Okay Daddy.” She said, and began kicking again. It didn't take long for her to master swimming without me holding onto her. She looked so happy as she chased the duck around the bath, paddling around. Once she tired of this, I drained the water out so she could sit on the bottom again. She looked at me, really pleased. “Thank you Daddy.”

“You're welcome Dashie. I love you.” I said. “now, how about those bubbles?” She beamed as I mentioned the bubbles. I poured the bubble mixture into the bath around Dashie, and lifted her up so she wasn't touching the bottom again. “Swim Dashie!” I said, and as she paddled, the bubbles frothed around her body, enveloping her. She began giggling as she made the bubbles herself.

   "Yay! Bubbles!" She cheered, A large smile spreading across her face.

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