A Bad Day at the Spa

"And I said "Oatmeal?! Are you crazy?!""

The girls all burst out laughing at Pinkie's spectacular mastery of the comedic arts. Even the hooficurist had to pull away from her task so as not to accidentally damage Fluttershy's hooves. Rainbow, of course, had skipped her hooficure.

"Oh, Pinkie," chuckled Twilight, "that cupboard door grows smaller with every retelling."

"And the rubber sword is new," noted Rainbow. "Wasn't it made of plastic last time?"

"Oh, come on, girls," giggled Pinkie. "Comedy is ever-changing."

"Statua variabilis," nodded Twilight.

"Statue of big dog with fleas," agreed Pinkie.

Twilight was about to raise an objection when their bath attendant returned. "We're ready for you, now."

Fluttershy looked down at the hooficurist, who was almost done. "You all go ahead, I'll be along shortly."

The other six moved into the room with the dreamer steamers. Applejack noted that there were clear marks on the floor running from the door to the tables, meaning that one of the reasons that it had taken a bit longer to set all of this up was because they had to move a bunch of these tables around. There was even a small one for Spike.

The engineer of the dreams was already there, holding a small stack of clipboards, with three assistants standing behind him. He stepped up to the first pair of tables. "Miss Pinkie Pie, you're here, Miss Rainbow Dash, over here."

As they moved over to the tables, he gave two clipboards to one of his assistants and moved to the next set of tables. "Miss Princess Twilight Sparkle, you're here, Mister Spike the Dragon, over here."

Spike had already figured out where he was supposed to be, but was glad to hear that he was sitting next to Twilight. Their clipboards were also given to an assistant.

"Miss Fluttershy, you'll be here, and Miss Rarity, this one's yours."

"Fluttershy isn't here yet," informed Rainbow. "She's finishing her hooficure; she'll be right behind us."

With a nod, the dream engineer helped Rarity up into her place before leaving two clipboards to the last assistant. "Finally, Miss Applejack. Good to see you again, ma'am. You're over here."

After lying everypony down, he double-checked the restraints, as well as what he thought were the safest parts of the dreams against the ponies they were matched to, to ensure that everything was properly lined up. When Fluttershy came in, he saw to her, as well, before going over the process.

Once the spell was cast, they all drifted off to sleep, and were swiftly brought to their requested dreams.

Rainbow Dash had a very familiar dream. She was dressed up in full Wonderbolt gear, acting as the final step of a five-stage relay race around the whole of Equestria. While the racers were mixed between changeling, dragons, gryphons, pegasi and all manner of other flying creatures, this was not a race between races. Rainbow Dash was taking a baton from a dragon, after all. The winners would be given the honor of flying a shipment of emergency supplies to Cloudsdale.

Granted, Rainbow could have easily just flown the supplies there herself before the race was even organized, but this was not a logic puzzle. She wanted to race, and she wanted to protect her hometown from disaster. She took great pride in both of those things, and was going to be paraded through the streets for her contributions. This did not have to make sense, it just had to feed her ego.

Pinkie Pie's dream was also pretty easy to guess. After skiing down a literal mountain of ice cream through a forest of cakes, she'd have a great big feast of jelly beans before relaxing in a hot fudge hot tub. Of course, all of Ponyville was there, always smiling, but genuinely.

Twilight had a nice dream, too. She was teaching a class on astrology, with her friends being her teaching aides. Spike was also taller, as well as more muscular and charming. Her reasoning for that last bit, while not written down, was based on her desire to see Spike grow into the very model of gentlemanliness, health and intelligence. If asked, she would liken it to the way a mother cares for their child and wants them to be successful, though she also saw him partially as a younger brother, and also as an assistant.

Complicated feelings aside, the crux of her dream was to discover a star in the night sky, which she would personally track, record, and be allowed to name. The name she chose for it, because it was not a single star, but a binary system, was "Unity."

Spike's dream was not exactly what he wanted. He wished to join Twilight in her dream, but as these were meant to be private matters, that request was rejected. Then he tried to join Rarity's dream, then Fluttershy's, and was rejected both times. It was policy, after all. Instead, his fourth choice was very simple and very vague. He just wanted a good birthday party. He'd had some good ones before, but he wanted a new one, with jewels baked into the cake and new presents. Of course, because it was a dream, his pony friends could eat the jewels, too, and thought his cake was the best ever.

Fluttershy had a very pleasant dream, too, as it was an event that she took part in regularly in the spring and summer. There were no complicated rules, things to learn, or difficult instructions. Her entire dream request was only two words long: "Critter picnic."

Rarity's dream had few alterations, and the biggest was to bring it back to the original request. The change that they would have anal sex was removed, but also, what they would eat at the restaurant was now curated to be something more fitting to Rarity's tastes. No more tortilla chips and salsa, now it was chou-fleur au poivre, and she'd be allowed to eat some of it before ducking under the table. Finally, Applejack's description of his personality turned out to be boring, so she had him be closer to the original with an interest in art, and especially music. He would also serenade her in the bedroom before they began making love.

Applejack had spent a lot of time thinking about what her dream would be between visits. She was not a very complicated mare, but being burned once before, she had very carefully put together a dream that would make her feel fantastic, and she was very proud of herself.