//------------------------------//
// Ascending 
// Story: I'm Not Proud Of My Special Talent 
// by ABagOVicodin 
//------------------------------//

Light blue hooves moved under the running water of the faucet, as Lotus started off the multitude of steps that she would need to accomplish, if she wanted to create the perfect massage experience. She looked down at me, and I smiled, almost shaking the with the anticipation that I would be able to learn about the art of stress relief. Of course there were other applications, but an innocent filly such as myself wouldn't learn such stories until later. Lotus finished washing her hands and the two of us walked out of the bathroom, which remained adjacent to the steam room. Lotus took two white towels, and handed them both to me while grabbing another two for herself. “Now, wrap your mane up into the first towel, and let the other one cover your flank.” She told me, and I nodded in response. I placed my front hooves against my mane, tilting my head back slightly while my hands worked. However before I could wrap the towel around in my mane, a sudden word jarred me. “Stop.”
My hooves moved back to my sides, and I exhaled once, terrified that a mistake was already being placed on my record. Lotus however smiled, and she kept her gaze with my own. “Take mind of every single detail when you are doing this, because it is those details, that are going to help you understand how to get rid of stress.”
I nodded my head, and my hooves slowly slid back up my face, sliding up white skin and finally resting atop a light blue mane. A soft surge of feelings moved from my face through my body,  as I closed my eyes so I could focus. How funny, that ponies usually did not think about the actions that one creates when they are not focused on them. But when the senses are cut to just these minor actions, how amplified they felt. The hair, which usually rested at my shoulders, was slowly pulled upwards into a bun, while a towel snaked around it. I could feel the pulling sensation, and the tingling feeling due to all of my hair being pulled at once and forced into the towel. A sigh of relief left my lips, and Lotus opened the door to the steam room.
It was certainly a sight to behold. I stepped inside and immediately heard the loud sounds of my hooves “clopping” on the floor. Lotus walked alongside me, and sat down on the wooden bench that took up a large portion of the room. The ceiling was decorated in a warm brown color, which complemented the wood. The room was well insulated, since there was a difference between the cool temperature of the hallway, and the warmer degrees in the steam room. I noticed a gap in the wooden bench, nearby the wall on the right side. The area was black, and right when I was about to guess the use of it, Lotus had reentered the room. Somewhere between my marveling of the room, she had collected a large amount of rocks and placed them in a bucket, which she held with her teeth. She walked over to the black spot, pulled the towel from her mane, and wrapped it around her hoof to avoid any burns. A sizzling sound came from the rocks as they were picked up, and individually placed into the black space. “Feel free to guess what I am doing.” Lotus added with a smile, her blue eyes shifting to gaze at me for a moment before moving back to her duty.
My eyes stared at the bench, and then the bucket when the last rock was placed in its position. All of this had to do with stress relief, which made sense since the steam room was mentioned in my previous massage. But the methods behind all of this had eluded me. A steam room was not in the books. Nervously, I smiled before taking a guess, “The rocks are going to be used for... pushing down on the body to massage the muscles?”
Lotus shook her head, “I wouldn't have heated them up this much if that was the case. That is a good guess though.” She said. I felt so stupid that my guess was that a large and burning hot rock would be used for a massage. But before I could internally beat myself any more, Lotus provided the correct answer. Not by telling me however, she lifted the bucket with her mouth and left the room for a few minutes. She came back with the bucket full of water, and she spilled a small amount onto the hot rocks. The rocks sizzled from the water, and a small amount of steam spread throughout the room. Now that there was water in the bucket, her previous answer made a lot more sense. Lotus smiled as she reached for the ladle that she placed in the bucket, and she dropped a hefty amount of water onto the hot rocks. The steam started to permeate the room, and she sat down on the wooden bench.
I sat down as well, as Lotus explained, “The steam room is the first thing that we place our clients in for the massage. The main purpose is to relax the muscles and the tension that builds in them, so that the massage we provide is easier on them, and on us. Less work needed on our part, and our clients will also be able to socialize if they want. When they order a massage, the steam room comes with the massage. It feels nice, doesn't it?”
My head nodded, and Lotus dropped another ladle full of water onto the rocks, sending more steam throughout the room. Beads of sweat were starting to form on my forehead from the heat of the room, and I closed my eyes in order to concentrate. My mind started to slow down, as the fear of my parents finding out and my school work slowly left my body, to be replaced with my wonder. How did all of this work? Which of my muscles were currently relaxing? All of them, it certainly felt like it. The room was silent, except for the sounds of my breathing. My head lightly tapped against the wall, a smile coming across my face. “I see why the steam room works. I feel relaxed too.” I said.
“After twenty minutes, we usually take the client out of the steam room, and whoever is not working at the time will clean up the rocks and prepare the steam room, unless there is another client immediately afterward.” Lotus responded. Since the two of us did not want to sit here for twenty minutes, we both left the bucket and rocks in their places. Lotus took the towel that was previously used for handling the rocks, and she placed it in a large cloth bag, which was inhabited by previous towels used that day. “The massage follows the steam room.” She told me. Once again, the two of us were inside of that beautiful massage parlor, my eyes holding in the sight of brilliant decorum, that I would have never been able to mimic.
My hooves pulled me up onto the massage bed, but I was stopped by Lotus. “Would you like to try and switch today? I would like to see what you know.” She said.
“Y-yes of course.” I responded, feeling the pressure mount on me for suddenly having to massage someone that was probably more adept then I ever could be. There was no reason to argue, I moved off of the bed, and walked over to the towel table, grabbing one and placing it on Lotus' back when the beautiful mare had laid down. My hooves, running along the soft fur of my teacher, was almost enough to space me out, but I had to stay focused. This was my special talent, I wanted to learn more about it. Through practice, I would be able to turn into the best masseuse in Ponyville. Lotus laid completely still, her head relaxed on her hooves while I moved back and forth between the massage oils and the bed, trying to figure out where to start. Working from back to front, or vice versa would be a good idea, so maybe starting there would be good.
My hooves slowly ran down Lotus' mane, her soft follicles sending tingles down my spine, even though I should be the one doing that to her. I pressed my hooves a little harder on Lotus' back as I moved my way down, and a small knot of the masseuse's muscle could be felt between the indentation in my hoof and the “shoe”. I stopped, and pressed lightly down, which caused Lotus to gasp, as if she wasn't aware of such a knot, and breathe so that she could move back to relaxation. The tip of my hoof slowly traced down Lotus' flank, until I reached the tip of her back hooves, and a smile formed on my face as I pressed down on Lotus' hoof, reminding her of the nirvana that she put me through when I had my short massage. I wanted to replicate that on her, both for the sake of my feelings, and the sake of my learning.
I worked my hooves around her milky blue legs, my horn glowing a small amount as my hooves worked. This magic, it felt different then the aura that came out of me. I wanted to stop, out of fear that this magic would create something that I didn't want. However at the same time, I had never felt so many tense spots in a pony before. Lotus was covered in my magical energy, and she opened her eyes in surprise. “What are you...” She paused as a particular muscle in her leg was slowly being worked down to a relaxed bunch of fibers. “Doing?”
“Massaging you.” I responded, although the exact spell that I exhibited was not anything that either of us knew. My eyes remained closed, and I kept complete concentration, more out of curiosity then anything else. Where exactly was this spell going to lead? Lotus' leg was lightly lowered down onto the bed, and my horn glowed a little brighter. All of a sudden, as if a map was opened in front of me, my hoof hovered an inch away from a particularly tense muscle. As if I was testing my sight, I pressed my hoof down on Lotus' thigh in my vision, and the muscle pushed right back at me. This was too cool. I moved over to the massage oils, and brought one of the bottles over to the bed, while my horn continued to glow. I could feel a small headache starting to form, but my desire to please Lotus was far too large for me to stop now.
I squirted a nice bit sized amount of oil onto my right hoof, and I rubbed the oils together before placing one of my hooves on the previously tense muscle, and the other hoof on Lotus' back. I started to imitate the methods that were performed on my previous massage. To my surprise, either I was able to adeptly massage away muscle tension in seconds, or I was pushing Lotus' muscle back into her body. Judging by how I could see a small strand of drool leaking out of her mouth and onto the pillow below her, I was sure that the latter wasn't the case. My eyes were able to stare through Lotus with my “X Ray” spell, and pinpoint every amount of tension in her body. When I was finished, she did not want to get up, and instead decided to speak to me while her head was planted on the pillow, effectively muffling her voice, “That was the best massage I have ever had... I don't know how, but you were capable of beating my sister in massage quality.” She said, “The moment you become a mare, I want to hire you as a masseuse.”
I bit my lower lip, excitement exploding through my body like the feelings back on my bed, “I turn eighteen in a few months.” I replied, smiling brightly as I washed my hands to get rid of the oils.
“Next week, we will continue... I just might have to pay you for a massage.” Lotus said, a small laugh coming from her as she finally lifted herself onto her hooves, grabbing the pillow so that she could wash it.
“Thank you Lotus. See you next week.”