A Lonely Heart and Pampered Hooves

So, instead of being at the comic book store, I found myself walking through Ponyville towards the Day Spa with Rarity at my side. After a bit of a friendly argument backwards and forwards about missing my comic time and that she would be okay by herself, she finally agreed that it would be nice to go together. Of course she did. She always wanted to go to the spa, but her generous nature often meant she had trouble accepting generosity from others.

Rarity was, unusually, outside with her tail and mane down simply hanging plainly. I could tell she had been tempted to get herself styled before leaving, but even she saw it was a bit irrelevant to spend an hour getting ready when it’ll all be undone in the spa anyway. As we approached the spa, I felt a little nervous. Of course I had been to it before, but only with a large group of my friends...and always Twilight. Going in there with only one other pony sort of felt weird. But then, I wasn't doing this for myself...I was doing it for her.

Wait a minute. I was going to be spending Hearts and Hooves day (well, the morning at least) with Rarity. For two years that would have been a dream came true, but now, what did it mean?

I didn't have too much time to think about that as no sooner had we got to the spa, we were set upon by the two spa owners. Lotus Blossom and Aloe are lovely ponies, don’t get me wrong, but they can be a little...excitable...at times. It turned out that after a busy week getting ponies ready, the spa was particularly quiet today.

Before we even had time to think, we were being escorted into the spa for the full works. First stop was the changing rooms, where a small robe was brought to me. Putting it on I was told to go to the steam room where I found Rarity already inside, with her personalised monogrammed bathrobe on.

We sat there together, building up a sweat. I broke the silence that formed by asking Rarity about the week she had, allowing her to wax lyrical about all the dresses and so on she had made for today. Talking about the good she had done for other couples seemed to break the bit of the funk she had over her own cancelled plans.

After the steam, which I really enjoyed due to the heat involved, we moved into one of the treatment rooms. Rarity’s face was covered in a mud mask and cucumbers placed on her eyes. I declined the treatment as even the spa ponies admitted it wouldn't do anything for my scales or crystal-lensed eyes. After twenty minutes, this was washed off and Lotus started filing Rarity’s horn. Aloe approached me with a file in her mouth

“Would you like the claws sharpened or smoothed?”

“The idea of sharpened claws sounds awesome…” I replied “...but it’ll probably damage the books in the library. So smooth please.”

“But of course!” Aloe gushed back a little over-enthusiastically and started filling my claws. It was weird to have somepony else do it, given that I usually just bite them myself when they get too long.

I think Aloe must be a mind reader as she blurted out “These are very rough, like somepony has been biting them!”

I’m not sure if my blush was visible, but I half scowled at the spa pony. And then I heard Rarity ask in a soft tone “Spike, is that true?”

My blush continued to grow much to my embarrassment “Yeah. I don’t do enough…dragony...things usually to wear them down so I sort of have to get them down to size sometimes.”

“But Spike, biting them?” Rarity's tone was almost scolding and I hated Aloe for bringing it up “Next time you need a trim come over to the boutique and I’ll show you the proper way of doing it!”

Okay, maybe Aloe was onto something. “It’s not a problem. I can ask Twilight to help…”

“Nonscene Spike.” Rarity interrupted “I am more than capable of showing you the best way of keeping your talons in shape.”

When the filing was done we moved onto a massage (which was nice, I never knew they were that good!) before going onto a wrap and mudsoak. That didn't really appeal to me so I just sat around waiting whilst Rarity enjoyed the weird treatment. Having exhausted the conversation about her business, Rarity asked me about my comic hobby. I knew that she wasn't that interested in it, but she protested that having been Radiance herself, she was a little curious what usually happened in the comics.

The final step was a soak in the large hot tub. The word “Hot” always appealed to me, and I just stripped off my robe and jumped straight in. The warmth of the water was heavenly, not too hot for a pony and so a little cooler than I really would like, but still nice. As I sat against the edge of the tub, I looked over to Rarity who seemed to be frozen at the edge.

“Come on in Rarity, the water's lovely”

Rarity still seemed to be stuck, almost mentally paused for some reason which really piqued my interest. “Something wrong?”

My question seemed to snap Rarity out of her stupor, but she still didn't move “Erm, it’s just, it feels weird to disrobe in front of you!” she replied a little bashfully.

That really took me by surprise. I knew that ponies liked wearing clothing sometimes, but Rarity was usually nude around Ponyville, a fact that I pointed out to her.

Rarity blushed as she took off her robe and quickly got into the tub, but I could sense she was still uncomfortable “Well…” she coughed to give herself a moment to think “...it’s different to actually undress in front of somepony...or dragon.”

This didn't really help me understand what's going on and a part of me didn't want to press it as it was obviously something that made her a little self-conscious. Though I couldn't for the life of me work out why. Luckily the soothing warmth of the water seemed to put her at ease again, at least for a while.

When the time was up for us, I decided to do the most gentle drake thing I could. I motioned to Rarity to stay in the tub whilst I quickly hopped out of the tub and said I would meet her out front. I quickly left allowing Rarity to be able to get out and towel off in private. I may not understand Rarity's quirks, but I respect them.

I didn't have to wait too long in the entrance room with Rarity soon coming out from the female changing room. Her mane was simply styled up in a sort of bun, and I realised she did it quickly not to leave me waiting. Obviously she had learnt some lessons from her time with Sweetie Belle in putting other ponies before her own appearance, and it was nice to see her growing.

Aloe and Lotus stood at the reception desk and asked us if everything was satisfactory. Rarity went on for a full minute of compliments, leaving big smiles on the spa ponies faces. They then discretely pushed the bill forwards but before Rarity could speak and add it to her tab, I approached the counter.“Please, this is on me”.

I looked at the bill - I couldn't believe how much the spa cost, but if it made Rarity happy then it was money well spent. I fished in my bit purse, and removed most of the contents. There would be enough left for a few comics, but not the figurine of Saddle Ranger I had saved up to buy. As I was doing this Rarity had moved up next to me.

“Now Spike, we should at least split the bill…”

“It was my idea to come here, so it’s the least I can do.”

I could tell Rarity wanted to object, and I'm pretty sure Aloe and Lotus bit their tongue to suggest that it should be for the stallion to pay on Hearts and Hooves day. I’m glad they did as if it had been brought up I would have had to concede the point and let Rarity pay. Luckily for me, although unluckily for my bit balance, the argument stopped.

Stepping back outside, it was already early afternoon and neither of us had eaten. I suggested trying to grab a bite to eat but Rarity pointed out that most of the decent places to eat would be fully booked on a day like this. I knew this was going to be true, and besides this wasn't meant to be a date.

“Why don’t you head back home and I’ll grab a takeaway from Hay Burger. You know, a bit of a guilty treat.”

Rarity had a smile on her face, one of the “A greasy takeaway....what a wonderful idea! Oh, I do love their burgers...”

“I know!” I beamed back.

“...but it’s hard for a lady of my position to go to a fast food place. Oh, a takeaway would be heavenly!”

I confirmed what Rarity wanted (like I didn't already know everything she liked!) and headed off to the fast food place. As I queued up I saw a lot of young couples having little dates. It may not have had the charm of one of the posher places for a date, but for the young and poor it didn't matter. They were together and thats all the counted...as were me and Rarity. As I waited for the order to be bagged, I reflected that it didn't mean anything, but simply that I had made one of my friends happy. As soon as the order was ready, I ran as quick as I could back to the boutique in order to serve up the food whilst it was still hot.