Two for the Show [Closed]

[Zeig]

 

Continuation of Dart Struck

 

Well, he wasn't being carted off by one ear to spend the night in the slammer, soooo...

 

That was something.

 

It probably helped that he was still covered in bits of donut and frosting and nopony in their right mind would want to touch him right now - which would normally be too tragic a conundrum to deal with on the best of days, but Inkbrand was still riding high on the incredibility-turned-food fight to process anything properly. He pretty much only had the brain power to keep oxygen in his lungs as they ran away from the scene of the crime, a feat made all the more troublesome by the breathless laughter that kept escaping his mouth. 

"Holy buck, that was a riot," Inkbrand hooted as they finally slowed down, bent over as he attempted to finally catch his breath. Frosting slopped down from his mane to land in the dirt, however, reminding the grey stallion of what they had actually just escaped from, and sending him into another round of barking laughter. "Did you see their faces," he snickered gleefully, glancing over one shoulder as if the crowd and exploded donut cart were still visible, even though they had run too far away to even hear the commotion anymore. "Like Discord himself had shown up to dump frosting on everyone, bucking classic." 

 

Another piece of donut fell down to join its frosted comrade in the dirt, but what the hay, he didn't have any problem being dirty. And being covered in frosting was way better than any alternative, like mud or grime. A stallion could always get creative with frosting, heh. But only in adult-approved places - not in the middle of fair grounds where every step caused dirt and sand to kick up and get stuck on the sticky residue liberally coating his pony self. No bucking way was he going to sit and watch the fireworks covered in Equestria-knew what. There had to be someplace nearby they could get cleaned up...

 

[PyroBlaze]

Flora arrived a few seconds after Inkbrand, having hesitated at first. She was with him now though, and they both spent some time trying to regain their breath. 

 

"Umm... y-yes..." Flora responded, looking over at the stallion that was her friend. She frowned slightly at the mess covering both earth ponies, looking around for somewhere to clean it off. Really, she didn't mind getting dirty, she knew it was bound to happen. That didn't mean she liked to walk around with the mess on full display, and since that situation was behind them it was time to clean off. 

 

"Do you s-see anywhere to clean up? I can't seem to find anything..." She said, looking back over to Inkbrand and giving a soft giggle at all the donut remains covering him. 

[Zeig]

 

Flora didn't seem to appreciate the humor in the situation nearly as much as he did, but eh, that was fine. He was probably doing more than enough of a job of that on his own.

"Read my mind, babe," Inkbrand said, attempting to guide frosting down and out from his bangs. He had no problem opening up his home and shower to Flora in this frosting-laced time of need, but his house was all the way on the other side of Ponyville. So was Apple Acre Farms, a place that Inkbrand was seventy-sex percent sure Applejack wouldn't mind him dropping in announced to pathetically beg use of her facilities. And while he wouldn't have minded the necessity of walking to either place covered in bits of donut, the sticky sensation was really starting to get uncomfortable, and needed to go. Like, right now.

 

Which meant some sort of body of water they could access.

 

"...Oh!" the grey Earth pony suddenly exclaimed, ears perking upwards, "duh. C'mon 'Flo," Inkbrand instructed, tossing his head to indicate the direction they were headed. A shortcut through some bushes had them even dirtier than ever before, but that was a small price to pay as they found themselves in front of the lake that sat on the edge of Ponyville. A relatively small lake sure, but with more than ample space to suit their purposes. 

 

And Inkbrand wasted no more time in suiting his purpose.

 

"WA-HOOO!" the tattoo-clad stallion shouted as he galloped full speed towards the lake, leaping upwards to cannonball straight into the waters below. The cold water felt refreshing and crisp on his skin, and immediately began doing its work to wash away the grime from the day's events. Inkbrand broke the surface of the water with a gasp that did nothing to hide the satisfied smirk on his face, as the grey stallion began scrubbing down his body as if he were standing in his own shower, singing lightly under his breath the whole while. 

 

"You're a fine rockin' filly, aaa-eee-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo, and you drive me straight 'n silly, aaa-eee-ooo, ooo oooooh!"

 

[PyroBlaze]

Flora followed his lead again, trying to be careful not to hurt the bush as she went through it. Once on the other side, she smiled at the sight of the lake, taking a slower approach than Inkbrand's, though his did help her get wet. She walked into the water, starting to clean herself off as best she could and dunking her head underwater momentarily to clean off the stuff in her hair. 

 

Of course, that meant that Inkbrand got to see the typical motion of her hair flying back as she straightened up. Flora giggled slightly, not really minding him bathing with her, for all intents and purposes. She moved some of her mane out of her face with a hoof, still smiling as she looked away from him to continue her cleaning. 

[Zeig]

 

He may as well have been at home in his own shower, for all the care he was displaying.

 

The light singing had turned into a full-blown warble at some point, as Inkbrand ducked his head underwater and came up again, intent on getting every last stain of frosting out of his mane. It took time and effort to look as hot as he did, buck it, and shoddy mane work wasn't on the list. It was only too bad they didn't have soap or anything, but it wasn't like he made it a habit to carry around shower supplies wherever he bucking went.

 

...Maybe he should start doing that. After all, Ponyville did have an affinity for throwing anything and everything at him...literally, throwing stuff at him.

 

Well, no use for it now. Inkbrand continued on with his cleaning ritual, meticulously washing himself raw. Because watching the fireworks and dripping water as the sun went down and potentially catching a massive cold that would knock him out for two weeks was still preferable to sitting in uncomfortable frosting and pieces of donuts.

 

Which...actually, reminded him of the ponies they had left behind, including the authorities that had been bearing down on them. Hah! They probably had to walk to the courthouse covered in the stuff while he and Flora got squeaky clean...or, well. There was Unicorn magic, too. Bucking Unicorn magic. Whatever the case though, Inkbrand was more than content to have to clean himself up the "hard" way rather than spending another second with stuck up That SODD and his patronizing MFT. What had started as a perfectly reasonable day of fun had ended up a nightmare. 

 

Funny, how that always seemed to happen when That SODD turned up in his face. Bucking arrogant git simply couldn't take a hint to just leave him the buck alone. 

 

[PyroBlaze]

Well, this was nice, she supposed, bathing in silence like this. She was faced away from him to give him some measure of privacy, not that he seemed to need it with all that singing going on. 

 

In any case, the mare cleaned herself off in the water before walking out of the water to start the drying process, which, in the absence of towels, meant letting the air dry her off. She loved nature, but it could be rather slow when it came to things like this. After looking around to make sure nopony could see her, she shook herself like a dog to speed the drying process along. 

 

"I'll j-just be waiting over here then." She called to Inkbrand, looking at the nearby plants to give her something to do besides watch him. Not that these plants were all that interesting, they were pretty common actually, but it was better than watching him and getting called out on it. 

[Zeig]

 

Well, he was no longer sticky and covered in bits of mashed donut, soooo.....

 

He called that an unqualified success.

 

Inkbrand waved a vague hoof over one shoulder to acknowledged Flora's intention of leaving the immediate area, which probably meant she'd finished up her impromptu bath. Yeesh, one would think that all that hair would take a long time to work through, but he wasn't complaining. Gave him more time to treat himself, and he grey stallion continued humming idly under his breath as he took care to ensure no stray bits of donut were hiding away in his bangs or tail.

 

Donuts were sneaky, like that. 

 

One last dunking proved to be enough, however, and Inkbrand soon emerged from the lake, giving his mane and tail a good shake to try and get rid of excess water. His bangs still fell in front of his eyes and clung to his neck and back, but in all honesty, Inkbrand didn't mind it. It was a fairly warm evening out, anyways, wasn't like they were about to keel over and freeze to death. Wouldn't be any worse than when they'd had that impromptu camping trip in the desert, where temperatures dropped ridiculously low during the night hours.

 

"Phew!" the tattoo-clad stallion exclaimed with a wealth of satisfaction as he trot over to the waiting mare, feeling as squeaky clean as if he'd just come waltzing out of the shower in his own apartment. "Much better. Nothing like a dip in a cold lake to refresh and revitalize, eh Flo'?" 

 

[PyroBlaze]

"Yes, a nice cold lake can be very nice." Flora smiled a bit, nodding at him as he walked over to her. Really, her mane wasn't in any better condition than his, with the overly long length weighing her head down and plastered to her face. Good thing she was an earth pony, cause her inherent strength made the water weight much less of a problem. Well, there was still nothing for it at the moment, but it did show her that she should probably get a trim sometime soon, it was getting longer than she thought. 

 

"W-what should we do now? Do you know where the fireworks are supposed to be or how to get there?" She asked, looking around at the area to try and find the way back to where they wanted to be. She liked being friends with him, but she was a little worried about what had happened back there and she just wanted to forget about it.

[Zeig]

 

No hypothermia, check. 

 

...Or was that no hyperthermia, check?

 

Bah, whatever, no freezing their flanks off, check!

 

Inkbrand gave his mane one last shake in an attempt to remove excess water, though his face turned contemplative at Flora's questioning. "Uh," he said intelligibly, standing with one hoof frozen mid-step, as if his body had been all prepared to start walking in a random direction, "think someone said something 'bout sundown? Soon as its dark enough to set 'em off." A quick glance at the sliver of orange light left in the night sky proved exactly how close that was, causing the grey stallion to curse under his breath as he cast his gaze this way and that. "We're not going out to the field though," he extrapolated, eyes scanning the horizon...before abruptly lighting onto his target, causing the tattoo-clad Earth pony to brighten up. "C'mon, this way!" 

 

A few ponies might have given them some strange looks at their sodden appearance, but Inkbrand paid them no mind as he trot unerringly towards his goal, golden eyes fixed on the crystal-tree-castle that was all but gleaming in the light of the setting sun. Even from this distance he could spot two guards stationed out front, but that wouldn't be a problem. They grey stallion glanced over one shoulder to check that Flora was still following him, shooting her a confident smile and wink, and continued onwards towards the castle, eyes flicking over towards the dying light.

 

Try to ruin his Hearts and Hooves Day, huh Celestia? Not on his watch!