"I'm sorry, Dashie, but I have to go meet Rarity. It's Friday, after all."
Rainbow Dash sighed lightly, crossing her forelegs as she stared Fluttershy down. Fluttershy's weekly trips to the spa with Rarity weren't anything new. They had been doing this for a good long time, and it never used to bother Rainbow before. Ever since she and Fluttershy started dating, though, something about these trips just seemed off. There was nothing wrong with the two of them spending time with their other friends, but something about the nature of these spa trips just didn't sit right with her. Rarity always seemed to be very close to Fluttershy, and the two of them always went by themselves, not even bothering to invite anypony else. Not that she wanted to go; spas were boring, and ponies always wanted to touch her hooves there. Still, the lack of an invite only helped to fuel her suspicion.
"Yeah yeah...go have fun at the spa," Rainbow responded, trying to be as nonchalant as possible.
"I'm sorry, Dashie," Fluttershy said, seeing right through the facade. "I promise we can spend some quality time together as soon as we're done at the spa, okay?" She leaned in and planted a sweet little kiss on Rainbow's cheek. "I love you."
"Love you too, Flutters," Rainbow responded, looking away. Fluttershy gave her a wave, then headed off. Rainbow watched her leave, unconsciously shaking her head. There was definitely something off about all of this. She wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but with all the time that Fluttershy spent alone with Rarity, it had to be something. Rainbow decided at that moment that she would find out what was going on between the two.
Rainbow picked herself up into the air, flying silently from cloud to cloud. She watched Fluttershy as she made her way to the spa, keeping a close eye on her while remaining hidden. Part of her felt a little guilty for spying on her marefriend, but with how much she'd worked herself up over her secret trips to the spa with Rarity, she couldn't just ignore it. The two eventually reached the spa, and Rainbow narrowed her eyes as she saw Rarity waiting outside. Rarity was a great friend to her, but at the moment, she was potentially the enemy. She watched the two greet each other cordially, although her distance stopped her from hearing exactly what was being said. Rainbow fluttered her wings gently, changing the Floyd's trajectory and causing it to slowly drift downwards. Hopefully, neither of the two would find a gradually-approaching cloud to be suspicious. As it turned out, the two ended up entering the spa without noticing the cloud. Rainbow was not spotted, but this carried the side effect of her not being able to overhear anything. The frustrated pegasus flew out of the cloud and bucked it into oblivion. She stared at the spa doors; entering such a building would instantly up her frou-frou level to unacceptable levels, but she had come too far to back out now.
Rainbow stepped one hoof into the spa. She looked around at all the fancy-schmancy decor; she'd been in here once before, but somehow it seemed to be even more frou-frou than she'd remembered. The sight of pink and purple tails disappearing into one of the rooms realigned her with her goal, and she approached the front desk. She remembered seeing Aloe, the mare at the desk, around town, and smiled lightly when she looked up.
"Uh...hey there," Rainbow said.
"Hello, Miss Dash!" Aloe replied, giving a sweet little smile. "I must admit, I did not take you for a spa patron! No offense, of course."
"None taken!" Rainbow replied, glad that she was still giving off her usual aura of awesomeness. "I just figured I'd...uh...give the whole spa thing a try! You know, cause even really cool ponies like me need to feel pretty sometimes!" She said this line with such a thin veneer of conviction that it shocked her when Aloe did not question it.
"You are always pretty, Miss Dash," Aloe told her, sweetness and excellent customer service dripping from her voice. "Come, I shall lead you to a room."
"Uh, can I take that room?" Rainbow asked quickly, pointing to the room next to the one that Fluttershy and Rarity had entered.
"Certainly!" Aloe said.
"And could you give me like ten minutes before you come start the whatever-goes-on-in-there?" Rainbow asked. Aloe raised a brow, but seemed otherwise unbothered by the odd request.
"Of course," the spa pony said. "Go on, I shall join you in ten minutes."
Rainbow waited for Aloe to turn away, then snuck past the room she was to enter. She dared not poke her head into Fluttershy and Rarity's room; without a nice bit of cloud cover, she would be discovered immediately. She quickly found out that seeing them would not be necessary, as she heard Rarity speak.
"So tell me your troubles, darling," Rarity said calmly. Rainbow blinked; what problems could Fluttershy possibly have? And why was she going to Rarity with them instead of her?
"Well...it's about Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy responded quietly. Rainbow's heart sank for a moment. That didn't sound good at all. She thought everything was going well between them.
"What has she done now?" Rarity asked. That made Rainbow's anger flare up. What kind of question was that? She always treated Fluttershy well! Then a thought sprang into her head:
What if Rarity was trying to break them up so she could be with Fluttershy?
It all made sense. Rarity was keeping up these spa trips to stay close to Fluttershy and try to win her over. Rainbow couldn't believe the nerve. It took a lot of willpower to not burst into the room and tell Rarity off. She loved Fluttershy, and was not willing to let anypony take her away. Only the sound of Fluttershy's voice stopped her from stepping in.
"Well...sometimes I get the feeling she doesn't trust me," Fluttershy said softly. "She gets a little clingy when I'm around other ponies. Sometimes I think that she expects me to go off with another pony. I'd never do that to her...I don't know why she'd think like that, but it's hard to deal with..."
Rainbow frowned. Of course she was protective of Fluttershy. Fluttershy was the kindest, prettiest, sweetest pony in all of Equestria. Everypony had to be envious of Rainbow for being with her, and she had to watch to make sure that nopony would take her away.
Rainbow then thought back over that train of thought. She sat there, her jaw dropped. It was all true, what Fluttershy was saying. She hadn't even thought of it in that way; it was other ponies that she didn't trust, but it could easily have looked like she didn't trust Fluttershy. She didn't need something else to hammer the point home, but it came anyway.
"Oh?" Rarity asked. "So you think she watches your interactions with other ponies? That she's spying on you when you're around others or something to that effect?"
"S-spying?" Fluttershy asked. "O-oh, no...I don't think she'd do something like that..."
Rainbow's ears and wings drooped, as she realized that she was doing the exact thing that Rarity suggested, and that Shy had denied any chance of her doing. She turned away, feeling lower than the mud that her marefriend and their friend were likely bathing in, and headed towards the exit.
"Miss Dash!" Aloe called as she watched her pass. "Do you not want me to make you prettier?" Rainbow gave a little shake of her head, not bothering to look up from the ground.
"I don't feel very pretty right now," Rainbow said, before heading off towards home.
