Monday
“Nopony is ever going to hear about this.”
Rarity sighed and pressed her face deeper into the pillow while Aloe, one of the two founders of the Ponyville Spa, expertly massaged her back. Lotus, the other founder and Aloe’s twin sister, was working on Rainbow Dash’s wings at the same pace.
“Yes, Rainbow Dash, you already said that.” The fashionista turned her head slightly so she could speak more clearly. “And I already promised, double promised, and pinkie promised not to tell anypony. And I’m not going through the motions of the last one while I am getting a massage.”
Rainbow Dash gave an indifferent grunt, laying limp on the bench next to Rarity. “Just saying. I have a reputation to uphold as the coolest pegasus in Ponyville.”
“We’re done now. You can go ahead to the bath.” Aloe and Lotus stepped away from the benches simultaneously. “Take it slow now, you’re probably still–“
Lotus was cut off by a jump-starting pegasus as Rainbow Dash leapt off the bench and sped down the hallway. A second later the three mares left in the room could here a panicked yelp and a splash.
“…limp from the massage.” Lotus began to neatly fold the towels and clean up the specks of oil left from the massage, not sparing the hallway another glance.
“I guess she found out by herself.” Aloe nodded and proceeded to clear her own half of the room in the same way.
Rarity sighed and began to trudge towards the bath. “I suppose I should check to make sure she didn’t hurt herself. At least it sounded like she landed in the pool.”
“They could’ve warned me,” Rainbow grumbled, submerged up to her jaw in the steaming water of the spa’s whirlpool.
“In their defense, they did try to.” Rarity carefully lowered herself into the water. “You were gone before they could, though.”
“I just wanted to get to the bath faster…” Rainbow looked up, narrowing her eyes at her friend. “Remember, nopony is ever–“
“…going to hear about this. Yes, Rainbow Dash, you already mentioned that.” Rarity gave the pegasus a polite smile. “If I may be so bold, why did you come to the spa with me if you are so concerned about anypony finding out about it?”
“Because if somepony flies as much as I do, they need to get all that tension out of their body at some point. And a massage is the easiest way to do that. And the spa has a lot of herbal stuff and conditioner and manecuts that make me more aerodynamic. Spitfire told me about all that stuff after the Best Young Fliers Competition. Also, I like the whirlpool. Do you have an idea how hard it is to get hot water like this on cloud level?”
Rarity nodded serenely, floating at the edge of the pool with her eyes closed. “I’ve heard about it, yes…”
Rainbow crossed her forelegs. “I just don’t want anypony to think I’ve grown soft. Least of all”
Rarity slowly opened her eyes and looked up, smiling friendly and waving at the orange filly riding down the alley past the window with her scooter. She waited a few seconds, quietly counting in her head before announcing, “She’s gone now.”
With a loud splash and a gasp Rainbow’s head shot out of the water. The pegasus shook her head a few times and lifted a hoof to push a strand of wet mane out of her eyes.
Rarity rolled her eyes and let the lower half of her head dip down into the water again.
~~~~~
Tuesday
“Nopony’s goin’ to hear about this, least of all Rainbow Dash, ya hear?”
Rarity stared at the back of her eyelids, or maybe the back of the cucumber slices over her eyelids. “I’m sorry, Applejack… What did you say?”
A quiet sigh and a bit of shuffling. “It’s nothin’. Ah just don’t want that multihued menace pesterin’ me about goin’ to the spa once in a while. And Ah don’t want Big Macintosh and Granny Smith thinkin’ Ah’d be lazin’ off here… or anypony else, for that matter.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anypony.” Rarity perked her ears, waiting for…
Crunch
Ah, yes.
“Ah don’t want y’all lyin’ to anypony, mind you. Just don’t bring it up if nopony asks.”
Crunch
“Don’t worry, darling. I have better things to gossip about than who I go to the spa with, not that you aren’t pleasant company.”
The mud mask had been Applejack’s idea. Of course, being an earth pony by almost every definition of the word, the farmer mare had decided that a simple facial mask was a waste of time and mud, which led to both ponies having their bodies completely covered in a layer of fresh mud.
Crunch crunch
Every part except for one hoof, that was.
Rarity counted silently. A few more and…
Crunch crunch tap
Tap tap
Rarity gave herself a small nod and relaxed again, listening to the quiet steps of Aloe as she refilled the bowl with cucumber slices.
Crunch
~~~~~
Wednesday
“Nopony must ever know about this.”
“Now, Twilight, don’t you think that you’re overreacting just a little bit?” Rarity spread all four legs out to her sides, getting comfortable on the bed of heated sand as the twin sisters outside the room made the last adjustments to the solar lamps.
“I’m not overreacting. I am supposed to be Celestia’s prime student. What if she finds out that I’ve been… lazy!?” Twilight fidgeted a bit, torn between jumping up to run back to her studies and jumping up to teleport back to her studies. And lying back down, she supposed.
“Isn’t that exactly what Celestia told you, though? To take some time off and relax once in a while?” Rarity heard a switch being pulled and the soft hum of magic as the solar lamps started up.
“But what if it’s a test? She might have ooooooh…” Twilight slumped down, unable to hold in a contented hum as the lamps bathed her in the artificial light of a midsummer sun, giving her a nice and toasty fur.
Rarity smiled to herself, basking in the feeling of the sunrays. No matter what the problem was, this part of the spa always seemed to calm her friend right down again. She silently counted the seconds.
A soft gasp from Twilight caused her ears to perk up again. “That’s it! That way the communication spell could work! Spike, take a no– …oh dear.” She looked around. “If I had a working communication spell I could just send him the note he’s supposed to take, but to finish the spell I’ll need my notes and I don’t have any notes because every time I get an idea Spike isn’t…”
Rarity turned her head a little, glancing over to the door to see Aloe begrudgingly hoof a Bit over to her sister. Once they were back outside Rarity would have to give Lotus another Bit for her own stake in the bet.
~~~~~
Thursday
“…so please don’t tell anypony about this, okay?”
“Mmm-hmm…” Rarity stared off into the distance as she let the dye in her mane set. Just a few highlights to spice things up once in a while. In two days the dye would most likely be washed out again.
“Oh wow, finally. I must’ve been rambling on like this for ten minutes, and that’s nowhere as easy as I make it sound. Talking nonsensically and at this speed and still trying to make at least some of it have some sort of logic behind it, that’s really hard and I should know because I’ve made it an art. But this is the best way I know to talk to ponies about things you don’t want them to hear, and I really wanted to talk to somepony about this. Don’t get me wrong, I trust my friends and I always say that everypony is my friend, except maybe really big meanies like Nightmare Moon or that Blueblood guy you always talk about, but that’s the problem because if I told any of my friends I just know they would treat me differently and I don’t want any of my friends to treat me differently, you know what I mean?”
“Hmm?” Rarity blinked. “Oh… Oh, yes, do go on.” She let out a small sigh and watched a bluejay peck around between some leaves outside the window.
“Anyway, I guess all I wanted to say is that I’m really glad to have you all as my friends, even if I act really random at times, but my grand-aunt Surprise always said that surprises are the best thing to cheer anypony up and that I have a gift, so I’m doing what I can to never ever ever become predictable and I guess that just includes you girls. But I never really had best friends like you because if everypony is your friend I guess you just have to make some compromises but I could never do that with you girls and I’d really like to have just a normal discussion sometimes with somepony else than Gummy, so I figure maybe you girls won’t mind after all and won’t treat me any differently and maybe I should just be a bit more open and less random sometimes, what do you think?”
Rarity nodded slowly for another moment before she realized that her friend had stopped talking. “I, uhm… I’m sorry, Pinkie, what was that last part?”
“I was just wondering if maybe I should be a little less random.” Pinkie smiled innocently.
Rarity blinked. Then she blinked again. “Oh dear… I think that should be something for you to decide. Just… do what your heart tells you to do, I suppose?”
“Hmm… That sounds like a good advice.” Pinkie looked thoughtful for a moment, then went back to smiling. “Well, right now my heart is telling me to listen to my stomach, and my stomach tells me that it’s time for dinner. You should come by Sugarcube Corner when you’re done here, I’ll have some cupcakes ready for you to pick up.”
Rarity nodded, staring after her friend as the pink pony turned around and bounced off towards the bakery. “Being less random… Well, good luck with that, Pinkie Pie.”
~~~~~
Friday
“Oh dear, please try to be a little quieter.”
“Fluttershy, dear, don’t worry so much. Aloe and Lotus already told you that they don’t mind you bringing some of your animal friends along for our weekly spa trips. Besides, that’s part of the reason we are having them in the first place, isn’t it?”
Fluttershy nodded meekly, watching the small family of mice play in the pool, splashing little droplets of water everywhere. “Oh, well, when you put it that way… They only came along because Angel didn’t feel like going to the spa today.”
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Darling, that bunny never ‘feels like going to the spa’. Last week you brought a few squirrels, the week before that it was a ferret… which I might add, both Aloe and Lotus found adorable.”
“I guess you’re right. I just don’t want to be a bother to anypony…” Fluttershy looked over at one of the mice, who was drifting across the pool on a tiny air mattress.
“Fluttershy, I don’t think anypony could ever think of you as a bother…” Rarity winced slightly as one of the mice began to climb her mane again. “Now if you really want to do something for me, maybe you could remind your little friends that I am not a diving board.”
~~~~~
Saturday
“So you’re not going to tell them?”
“Of course not, Spike. If you want to keep this to yourself for now, who am I to ignore a wish like that.” Rarity watched the little dragon, who seemed utterly oblivious to the heat in the room.
“Thank you, Rarity… That really means a lot to me. I hope you’re not mad?” Spike looked up nervously, trying to gauge the unicorn’s reaction.
“Oh no, Spikey, not at all. In fact, it is actually something of a relief… One less thing I have to worry about, even if it might take some getting used to.” Rarity stood up to shake some feeling back into her legs before lying down again. “And stop saying that you want to pay for this trip. I can guess how much pocket money you get from Twilight, and you have better things to spend it on. Bless that mare, but compared to what you do as her personal assistant alone she just can’t pay you enough.”
Spike chuckled, relaxing a bit in the steamy heat. “I guess you have a point. Yeesh, you really are the Element of Generosity, aren’t you?”
The fashionista stifled a giggle, looking over at the stove and the large bowl of water over in the corner of the sauna room. “Indeed. Now, if you really want to do something for me, how about a breath of dragon fire to get some more steam going.”
~~~~~
Sunday
“Hey Rarity, I’m going out to meet up with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle poked her head through the door, finding her sister on the couch with her reading glasses and one of her romance novels. “Did you hear me?”
Rarity chuckled. “Yes, Sweetie Belle, I heard you loud and clear. Have fun, and try to not get covered in tree sap for once.”
The little filly rolled her eyes, letting out an annoyed huff. “We wouldn’t, if we actually knew why it happens all the time.” She tilted her head and gave her sister a closer look. “So, why aren’t you at the spa today? Isn’t Sunday your free day? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you go there on a Sunday.”
Rarity gave a wry smile. “That’s hard to explain. Let me say that I’m going to the spa often enough and Sunday is the day I take a break from everything… Including the spa.”
Sweetie Belle thought over the words for a moment, then shrugged and turned around to start her way towards Sweet Apple Acres. “Okay. Have fun then. I’ll be back in time for dinner!”
Rarity chuckled at her sister, then snuggled a little deeper into the couch and levitated her cup of tea over from the table.
~~~~~
Monday
“Nopony is ever going to hear about this.”
Rarity sighed and pressed her face deeper into the pillow.
