It had been several days since Apple Jewel had come to town, and on this particular day, she decided to get acquainted with some of her twin's friends. Currently she and Rarity were sitting in one of the hot tubs at the spa.

Nearby, she and Rarity had their drinks and some snacks for when they eventually removed the masques they had applied..

At the moment, the tub was at a steamy 102 degrees. Just perfect.

"Hahahahaha!" they laughed in tandem.

"So... so you have that many branches on the proverbial 'family tree', eh?" Rarity said, still chuckling.

"Yes!" Apple Jewel affirmed. "And that's just the ones we know of."

"To recap, how many families would that be?" Rarity queried, just to be sure.

Apple Jewel counted off, "Ten. The Apples, Oranges, Pears, Bananas, Mangoes, Cherries, Grapes, Plums, Dates and Figs. And like I said, that's only the ones we know of. For all we know there might be a Nut or... I don't know... Jackfruit family out there. Crazy, huh?"

"Indeed. That said, from what I hear about those, they'd need some major headgear if they were to harvest those safely, darling.(1)"

"No kidding." was the curt confirmation. "But enough about our family lines. We met for a different reason, right?"

"True." Rarity said. "You had a couple of dress ideas and wanted to... 'compare notes', as it were, yes?" Rarity summarized.

"Yes, that's right." Apple Jewel affirmed. "Applejack has told me of how swiftly you can make a dress out of basically anything at hoof, practically at a moment's notice. So I thought, 'who better to ask?'"

Rarity tittered at that. "I'm flattered."

Apple Jewel continued, "And I also thought that at the same time I coul;d get to know some of my sister's friends, too. It's feeding two birds with one scone! Doesn't hurt that I can get a beauty treatment while I'm at it; It's the next best thing to multitasking!"

Rarity grinned outright at that. "You're even more pragmatic than your sister, darling. I love it! Somehow, I get the feeling that we're going to get along famously."

Just then, Lotus Blossom came in. "Ees time for ze removing of ze masques first, Ja? 'Old still, please." she said, putting her words into action.

After that, Rarity said, "Ahh, having that done now ansd then does wonders for cleansing the pores."

Apple Jewel nodded, taking a sip of the cup of tea she had; part Spiced Apple, part Orange Pekoe. "True, but be careful not to cleanse them too often. It can also deprive said pores of their essential oils.(2)" she warned.

Rarity waved that off. "Of course, of course." She took a sip of her own tea -chammomile-. "Still, darling, even your sister can appreciate a treatment now and then." she added.

Though, to be fair, Lotus had added some special oils to their water. Effectively, not only would that mitigate the drying of their pores (in limited quantities), but it would make them smell goooood!

At any rate, the two of them discussed dress designs for a short time. As it happened, Raroty also had a few ideas for what the Apple twins might do with any excess apples. -Her mother made a mean Apple Crumble, apparently-. And if one of the trees had to be cut down, the campfire that came of that (among other things) would definitely be sweet.

Eventually the time came to proceed to the next part of the treatment. Rarity had signed up for a deep tissue massage, and judging by the alterating screams of pain and extacy, she was overall enjoying it, quite a bit.

Apple Jewel had requested a rather lower key standard massage; enough to work the knots out of her back, if naught else.

Sfter that came a dip in the mud tub. Rarity said that she always turned somewhat brownish for a day or so after this, but mare, it was worth it!

Then came a nice steam in the sauna, followed by a final rince before being done for that session.

"We simply must do this again sometime, dear!" Rarity said. "The only thing better than sharing time with friends and doing things that you enjoy is doing them in tandem."

"Oh, I plan on it!" Apple Jewel said, nodding. "Who knows? Maybe next time we can get Twilight or Fluttershy in on it." she added with a chuckle, eliciting one from Rarity as well.

"We'll see. Anyway, I have things to deal with and so, I guess, do you."

Apple jewel said, nodding, "Absolutely. Some of those suggestions you made simply NEED to be written down before I forget!"

The two laughed as they parted ways until next time. Their respective nights would absolutely be intersti.

Author's Note

1: No joke, some Jackfruit can weigh upward of 55 kilos! That's a serious headache at best, a crushed skull, much more likely!
2: Also no joke. It's suggested that you take a shower every two days to avoid that.