Rainbow Dash sighed deeply. Working as the new recruit of the Wonderbolts was a shock to her normal lazy routine and her wing muscles ached almost all the time. She admitted it had been a good idea to visit the spa today and get a rejuvenating muscle massage from the talented Lotus Blossom. The spa specialist had certainly treated all the knots that had plagued her all week. Yup, she was good and Rainbow liked herself for going through with it.
Wrapped up in her post-pampering gown, Rainbow walked with Lotus Blossom to the reception for a wind-down with a good magazine. She sighed once more.
“Thanks for letting me know there was an opening! I don’t know if I could make it without my pampered muscle massage.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Lotus Blossom replied sweetly in her casual Russian accent. “Shall I put you down for another one tomorrow?”
Rainbow didn’t have to be asked twice. “Oh, absolutely! Sometimes a girl just has to pamper herself. Am I right?”
“You certainly are…!”
Rainbow Dash blinked at the familiar tone of voice that had caught her in the spa earlier today. She looked round to see Applejack and Rarity watching her with smug grins on their faces – clearly not finished for the day at the spa as she had hoped.
“Oh…uh…he-hey! I was just uh…uh…”
“Gettin’ a sports pamperin’?” joked Applejack, nudging Rainbow Dash on the shoulder.
Rainbow blushed and scratched the back of her head in defeat. Rarity started to giggle.
“Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash. We were just heading in for some pampering ourselves. You could always join us?”
Rainbow smiled.
“That is if you don’ mind suffering through one or two “froufrou” treatments,” added Applejack, maintaining her jovial tone.
“Oh…I suppose I can take it. Ya know, for YOU ponies.”
They all began to giggle. Rainbow Dash was quite content at the thought of another treatment.
“So what sort of pampering did you have in mind?”
“Well, ah dunno bout’ you two but ah gotta get me in that steam room something fierce.”
“I couldn’t agree more, darling. You deserve it after all.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity lounged around in the humid steam room; the heat radiating off the rocks in the central cistern and filling the room. They each wore a white robe covering their body and a cream towel on their head provided by the spa ponies; save for Rarity who as a regular customer always brought her custom garments with her.
Rainbow Dash sat with her eyes shut as the steam cleansed the pores and sores of her body. The atmosphere being so tranquilizing, Rainbow had almost forgot her two best friends were in the room with her.
“Hmmmm…ah needed this…” Rainbow Dash heard Applejack say out of the corners of the warm cloth draped over her head.
“No arguments here,” said Rainbow Dash contently. A simple satisfied hum was Rarity’s response.
“Huh…ah still can’ believe ah was makin’ all ma jobs seem harder than they actually were. It’s so satisfying that ah can finally have some time ta relax, like ya said, Rars.”
“Oh we all worked it out, dear. Don’t fret about that and just…relax…”
“Yup.” Rainbow Dash slid further back against the wooden rest, her hooves moving further across the stone floor below her.
In her mind, she was feeling a mix of joy and guilt. The fact that she was now enjoying the spa – something she said wasn’t suitable for a mare like her – with Applejack and Rarity – to whom she had said this to – almost made her blush. But nah, she was enjoying this too much to be embarrassed. It was so relaxing, she could really just doze right there.
“Ya know, perhaps there’s a better way ta get the most outta this steam bath…” Applejack started to say.
Rainbow opened her eyes reluctantly to look at Applejack, a tad annoyed of her constant yammering.
“Oh yeah?” she said with half interest. She yawned. “Don’t work yourself up over it. We’re supposed to be relaxing.” Rainbow resumed resting her eyes and put her hooves causally behind her head. Silence followed for a little while after to allow Rainbow to drift off.
Some time passed when Rainbow woke to a funny sensation. It coursed through her entirely and began to feel painful. Before long, she found out that she was being burned by the searing heat.
“OWWW!” she exclaimed, darting up fast that she hit her head on the steam room’s wooden roof.
“What is going on?” exclaimed Rarity who was still wearing her, surprised at both Rainbow’s cry and the sudden rise of warmth in the room.
Rainbow cooled down mid-air and stopped panting as heavily. She found it incredibly hard to stay flying. “What’s wrong with me? Oww, my head!”
“Whoa nelly! Perhaps ah did too much.”
“Whaddya mean, Applejack?! What did you do?”
Rarity shrieked when she removed her blindfold. “Uh…Rainbow…you might want to have a look in the mirror?”
Rainbow jumped back in shock. “I think that goes for you too!” Rarity’s face was all shrivelled up like wax and her horn looked on the verge of melting. The rest of her body had a similar appearance.
“Pruned twice within the same week! My complexion will suffer greatly! Applejack, what in Equestria did you do?”
An equally shrivelled up Applejack gestured to the rocks which were no longer in the cistern but shared between each of what had been their sitting positions.
“How long had we been sitting there?!” asked Rarity.
“Ah reckon around fifteen minutes? See how much more effective it was!”
Rarity sighed and brought a hoof to her pruned-up head. “You really didn’t need to simplify this. It was already simple!”
Applejack chuckled sheepishly. “Sorry, ah guess ah should stop thinking about it for now.”
“Well we can’t very well stay in here now! We must get out and…DE-prune.”
“But I was enjoying that snooze!”
“Oh come now, Dash you snooze all the time. Now let’s go. “
“And you won’t need to simplify that, Applejack.”
It took about a half hour for the ponies’ fur to return to normal and by then the spa was close to closing for the day. Applejack had her head hung low while she sat on the reception couch beside Rainbow Dash and Rarity.
“Rarity darling, we will be closing soon,” announced Lotus Blossom, walking up to them with a clipboard in her right hoof. “I don’t think we can fit a pampering massage before the spa closes. Would you like something else instead?”
“Well there isn’t really anything else we can do in the time we have left,” Rarity considered. “Is there?”
Rainbow Dash’s ears pricked up at the unicorn’s question. “I didn’t manage to get my hooficure earlier, why don’t we do that?”
“Oh yes, that wouldn’t take long at all,” confirmed Louts Blossom. “Shall I pencil you all down for one?”
“Hooficure? You, Rainbow Dash? Miss “I don’t like ponies touching my hooves!”?”
Rainbow chuckled nervously. “Hehe…it’s quite nice when you get down to it.”
If Rarity’s smirk was any broader, it may have broken her mouth.
“Count me in,” said Applejack, her sad trance seeming to have gone.
“Well then, I suppose we can fit that in.” Rarity nodded towards Lotus Blossom.
“Wonderful! If you would all step this way we can start right away,” Lotus said, indicating for the girls to follow her.
The three friends entered a large room with various tables used for different treatments. An atmosphere of serenity filled the air. After looking around a while, the ponies were addressed again by Lotus Blossom.
“Apologies for this but there is only me and Aloe available for you. I’m afraid one of you is going to have to wait a while.”
No silence was able to follow as Applejack quickly rebutted. “Ah’ll wait. Ah messed up the steam bath. Y’all can go first.”
“Thanks, AJ,” Rainbow said happily.
“That is very thoughtful of you, dear. I trust you won’t be waiting long?”
“No, it shouldn’t take long at all,” Lotus Blossom confirmed for Rarity. “Now if you ladies are ready, we can begin.”
Rainbow Dash and Rarity walked on over to the empty treatment beds gestured by Lotus’s associate, Aloe, who was standing beside the furthest bed. They both took lying positions on the adjacent beds; Rainbow resting her head on her hooves and Rarity laying them by her sides.
“I must say the colour of these sheets really go with my alabaster coat,” enthused Rarity.
Rainbow Dash lay comfortably on the bed; eager for her hooves to be worked.
“Okay darlings, we are going to start. Relax and let us know if you have problems,” stated Lotus Blossom, taking up her hoof file.
A few minutes passed and Rainbow was revelling in the soft touches being applied to her sensitive hooves. As a pegasus, her hooves barely touched the ground and so weren’t used to the pricks and grit of the dirt that would normally ensnare unicorns and earth ponies. For this reason, Rainbow often thought that pegasi got more out of a hooficure than any other race – that was after she had tried it. Whatever the reason, Rainbow Dash was simply in bliss.
“Right darlings, we are going to move onto some moisturising cream. We’ll just be a moment as we get it from the storeroom.”
Rainbow didn’t complain. She could actually go for another snooze; the bed was nice and warm. She gaped a yawn and shut her eyes. She might have slept if Lotus hadn’t come back so quickly.
Already Rainbow could feel her hooves being moistened by the cream; she could feel the dampness smothering her dry and newly branded Wonderbolt hooves. Rainbow found herself melting away; Lotus was doing a really good job. So good that the cyan pegasus couldn’t help feeling a little tingly down there.
As Lotus went from hoof to hoof, Rainbow’s pleasure only rose. She could feel herself getting a little wet which made her blush furiously while still keeping her eyes closed. The amount of effort and moisture going into the working of Rainbow’s bases; no part of her sensitive plushy hoof being neglected. It was too good; she had to commend Lotus for this after she was done.
“Uhhh…excuse me darling uh…Applejack, what are you doing?”
Still enjoying the continuous treatment of her hind hooves, Rainbow paid Lotus’s question no heed. She heard a soft moan escape somepony’s lips as the cream was worked more diligently. A huge gasp from beside her followed soon after.
“Applejack, what is it that you are doing?!”
The question came from Rarity this time. She lazily opened her right eye to see what the commotion was about. It caught a flabbergasted Rarity staring at something behind Rainbow. Opening the other eye, she creaked her head round to look. She was utterly speechless.
Lotus hadn’t even been near her the whole time – she was standing at the entryway with Aloe looking as equally shocked as Rarity. In front of her vision, the orange earth pony had her whole mouth on Rainbow’s right hoof, eyes shut and emitting soft groans. Rainbow cleared her throat but had to retract her hoof fully just to get Applejack to open her eyes.
Applejack quickly retreated. “Oh….uh…ah uh…”
Rainbow was quite unsure what to make of it. All of what she thought Lotus was applying to her was simply Applejack tickling the pegasus’s hooves with her tongue. Rainbow said nothing and continued to give the farmer a stunned expression.
“Gosh ah’m sorry Rainbow. Ah wanted ta make it up ta ya after causing that ruckus with the steam bath.”
“Ah also thought this might be a simpler way of doing a hooficure. Ya know, instead of using any tools?”
Rainbow still said nothing but an irritated grunt came out of Rarity.
“Oh Celestia, Applejack! You really do go overboard with everything don’t you?” Rarity inquired, evidently annoyed by the earth pony’s second interference. She got up off the bed and put a hoof around Applejack’s shoulder. Her tone was much gentler this time.
“Darling, not everything has to be simplified. Some things benefit from being a little more refined. Take my dresses for example; do you think I’d have a boutique in Canterlot and Manehattan if I kept things simple all the time?”
Applejack hung her head. “No ah guess not.”
Rainbow finally managed to move her lips. “It seemed like you were enjoying it though?”
“Ah kinda liked it more than ah thought. Ah’d never tasted a pony’s hooves before; why would ah? Anyway, ah’m awful sorry.”
Rainbow paused for a moment and then smiled. “Heh…it’s totally fine, Applejack.” She turned back to Rarity. “Can we get back to the hooficure already?”
“Yes we shall. Are you ready to continue, ladies?”
“But of course. Just lie back on the bed and let us take care of the rest,” answered Lotus Blossom.
“Goodbye! Please come again!”
“Oh Lotus, you can guarantee that I’ll be back for my usual soon,” beamed Rarity. She placed a kiss on both of Lotus’s cheeks. “Oh and by the way…”
Amidst the conversation, Rainbow was standing near the spa entrance with Applejack. She had a sly grin on her face.
“Sooooooooo, how much did you enjoy simplifying that hooficure?”
Applejack blushed. “Ah have ta be honest, it was mighty tasty. But…” She took her hat off. “Ah can understand if ya want me ta back off for a time.”
Rainbow blinked and moved closer to Applejack. “Are you kidding? That was the best simplified hooficure I’ve ever had. Even if it’s the only one I’ve had, hehe.”
“I’d love to receive one some other time. After all, Wonderbolt practice leaves them pretty sweaty…”
Applejack tensed up but immediately settled down and chuckled. Rarity came by just in time.
“Oh…uh hey Rarity, wanna get goin’?”
“Yes, I’d like to get home to Sweetie Belle before it gets too dark. But we had a fun time at the spa, didn’t we? All things considered of course.”
“We did,” confirmed Rainbow. She muttered under her breath, “I may not need my hooficures anymore though.”
Author's Note
I apologise if this story seems confusing or just bland; it was a spark of inspiration for me. I actually wanted to write something to do with Rainbow Dash and her hooves for a while and saw this as a window of opportunity.
I welcome any criticism you have.
