//------------------------------// // Day two - Relaxing // Story: Happy birthday, Octi! // by Azure Ravenscroft //------------------------------// Stretching her hooves lazily, Octavia slowly woke up to her second morning in Ponyville. Her temporary room was silent, with just enough light seeping through the gap in the closed curtains for her to see that it was just ten to nine according to her bedside clock. She wasn’t used to this sort of freedom, normally she would have been up at seven o’clock sharp to start her cello practice before going to rehearsals for her quartet. But, she was on holiday, and tomorrow was her birthday, so she could afford a lie in. After about 5 minutes of lying in her bed admiring her sweet-themed decorations in what was usually Bon Bon’s room, she heard noise coming from the living room, letting her know her friends were up too. She jumped out of bed, feeling awake and full of energy, ready to start a relaxing day. Putting on her silken dressing gown, she went through to the living room where Lyra was preparing teas and coffees while Bon Bon sat on the large green sofa, flicking through this morning’s edition of Ponyville Daily, her paper of choice. It was more of a gossip paper than anything else, but the sweet maker had to check if her advert was put in there properly. Joining her friend on the sofa, Octavia called over to Lyra, “Do you have any green tea, dear?” “Yep, got some while I was out yesterday, “came Lyra’s reply, “I thought you’d like it.” “Oh,” Bon Bon perked up at hearing this, “you thought so, did you Lyra?” “Fine, you helped,” Lyra poked her tongue out at her marefriend from the kitchen. Bon Bon huffed then went back to checking the paper, giving an occasional muffled giggle at something in the presses. Lyra brought the three drinks over a few minutes later, the tray covered in a mint green hue, her horn coated in the same faint glow. She set the tray down on the coffee table in the middle of the various items of furniture, then floated each pony their respective drink, allowing them to take them into their hooves. In between taking delicate sips of her still-hot green tea, Octavia asked the others, “So what shall we do today, girls?” “You’re the guest, Octi,” Bon Bon replied without looking up from her paper, “what do you feel like doing?” “I don’t know,” Octavia looked into her tea in thought, seeing her bedraggled mane in the reflection, “is there a spa in Ponyville? My mane is a mess!” “I wasn’t going to say anything,” Lyra said quietly to herself, then giggled and continued a bit louder, “but yeah, there’s one about 20 minutes’ walk away, we can all go if you like, our treat for your birthday?” “Oh yes,” Bon Bon finally looking up, “I haven’t been to a spa for so long. What do you say, Octavia, our treat to you?” “Sounds like you are looking forward to it yourself, dear,” Octavia mused the thought, “but I wouldn’t turn down a free spa trip, let’s do it.” The three mares smiled and sighed to themselves, all looking forward to the day at hoof. Admittedly, Lyra had never been to a spa, or so she claimed, but she liked the idea of spending the day relaxing with her two favourite mares, even if she was paying for it. After breakfast and their teas, the three mares went to their rooms to put their warm clothes on for their little walk to the spa, nice boots and scarves were the order for the day. Leaving her bow tie on her desk for today, Octavia donned her royal blue scarf and matching boots and met the others by the door to the house. Lyra and Bon Bon were wearing matching, complimentary accessories, Lyra in cream and Bon Bon with mint green. Do they match everything to each other? wondered Octavia jovially. It was approaching ten o’clock now, and the trio of mares were almost at the spa. As it came into view, Lyra pointed to it with an outstretched hoof for Octavia. It was much bigger than Octavia had imagined, with the roof raised above all the other houses around it, as well as most of the trees. Through the layer of snow, Octavia could see that most of the building was a pale blue with the sign a pale pink, on which read “Blossoming Beauty Spa” in the same pale blue as the building. Getting closer to the spa, Octavia noticed the dot on the ‘i’ was a lotus blossom, a nice touch. Entering through the sliding doors, the mares shook their hooves to remove the snow stuck to their boots. The interior of the spa was as you would expect, the walls and floors were made of a soft-coloured wood, there was a reception desk made of the same wood, currently unoccupied, lots of doors leading out of the lobby and a waiting bench for ponies to rest on before being served. Then came the smell, a strong but not overpowering aroma of jasmine incense, intended to relax customers as they entered in the hopes they would be more likely to buy something. These mares, however, didn’t need the incentive, they knew what they wanted. On the way, they had decided on back massages, a trip to the steam room and finishing off with a mud bath. It would be an expensive trip, but Lyra and Bon Bon had promised to pay for it all. However, that didn’t mean Octavia couldn’t give them a few bits without them noticing, so she had slipped some into Lyra’s saddle bag before they left. They weren’t left waiting long, as a couple of earth ponies stepped out from one of the doors on the right of the lobby. They looked like colour-swapped copies of each other; one had a pale blue coat and pink mane, whereas the other had a pink coat and pale blue mane. Both mares wore white headbands, designed to keep their manes pinned back and away from their very youthful faces, both of which radiated natural beauty. They also shared the same neck bands, white with a small round jewel in the middle. When the mares approached, the blue-coated one spoke first, “Hello,” her voice held a sweet tone and an adorable accent, one Octavia recognised as from Germaney, “my name is Lotus, and this is my twin sister, Aloe.” The other sister took her turn to speak now, “Welcome to the Blossoming Beauty Spa,” her voice also carried the sweetened Germane accent, “what can we do for you?” Looking up at the option board behind the desk, Lyra picked the one with the three sessions they wanted in it, “Uhh, three A-grade sessions, please.” “Certainly,” both spa ponies said together. They walked over to the desk and put their order into the till, Aloe vocalising the displayed price, “That will be 45 bits for the three of you.” Lyra walked over to the desk and opened her saddle bag, lifting out her bits with her magic, then counting off 45 of them, returning the rest to the pocket they came from. “Perfect, follow us please,” Aloe said, leading the trio to one of the doors, which lead to the changing rooms. Octavia, Bon Bon and Lyra all took their boots and scarves off, and Lyra removed her saddle bag, putting all of them in the baskets provided. After this, Lotus lead them through to the first room, the massage room. There were four tables in there, making Octavia assume there must be more staff for when the spa gets busier. Hopping onto the table closest to the door, Octavia took in her surroundings. The walls and floor were in the same style as the lobby and changing rooms, except for the tables adorning this floor, there were numerous jars and vials filled with all manner of oils and creams coating the shelves along all four walls, some of which smelt divine through the casings. There was also a lack of windows, apart from those on the doors, but even those were frosted for extra privacy. Before she knew it, a third spa pony had joined them, also looking like the other two, same headband, mane style and neck band. She did, however, show her difference through her voice, “Hello everypony,” her voice sounded like a cross of the local Ponyville accent and Manehatten mixed together, “my cousins said they needed a third pair of hooves.” Her coat was a creamy white and her hair was a light violet, making her look very exotic. “This is cousin Lily,” explained Lotus, “and she shall be servicing Miss Bon Bon, while I service Miss Lyra and Aloe services Miss Octavia.” The honorifics reminded Octavia of being back in Canterlot, with lower classes forced to use them around the nobles. Introductions over, the session officially began, all expectations met and then some. --- Day two started much later for Vinyl and Dash, sometime around Midday. Having both rolled off the sofa at some point in the night without noticing, Rainbow stirred to find herself wrapped in Vinyl’s hooves, which she certainly didn’t mind. Vinyl was still asleep, so Rainbow Dash looked slowly around at the large clock on the DJ’s wall, showing the time to be quarter past 12 in the afternoon. So much for double training this morning, thought Rainbow as Vinyl nuzzled deeper into her multi-coloured mane. This managed to wake the DJ up gently, and Dash didn’t even have to do anything. “Morning, Dashie,” came Vinyl’s yawning greeting, whispering through her hangover headache. “Afternoon sleepy head,” corrected Rainbow quietly, “we managed to sleep in pretty well, even if most of it was on the floor.” The two mares now untangled and stood up, stretching off their limbs slowly, Rainbow taking care with her wings while Vinyl checked her mane in the large mirror. “D’you want breakfast, or maybe lunch?” Vinyl still wasn’t fully awake as she asked her question, but she was awake enough to magically grab a brush from the dresser and brush her mane straight, an odd look for the normally spiked mane. “I think I’ll have some cereal, please,” Rainbow sat on the sofa, resting her heavy head on her hooves trying to remember what she did last night. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t remember doing anything with Vinyl, who was now making what sounded like loads of noise in the kitchen, but that was her hangover kicking in. Vinyl came back in a few minutes later with a couple of bowls of cereal and some glasses of water for the two of them. She set the cereal down on the table and floated a glass of water into Rainbow’s hooves, and both ponies started trying to hydrate themselves. Vinyl was the first to speak, a bit louder than earlier, “So, what do we need to do today?” “Nothing,” Rainbow replied after taking another sip of water, “Pinkie should have everything covered for tomorrow by now, so we can relax.” “Well I need to get my mix finished for tomorrow.” “Yeah, that was sick last night,” Dash began to think back, still trying to find a memory of her with Vinyl, “hey, did we do anything last night?” Vinyl had to think for a minute, until her mind reached a blank, “I don’t think so, why, you want a piece of this?” Vinyl flicked her mane seductively in Dash’s face. Rainbow blushed at this, “No,” she blurted out, “it’s just that I don’t remember, that’s all,” she was looking away now, her cheeks bright red. “Fair enough,” Vinyl shrugged, “I wouldn’t have minded either way.” “Y-you what?” Rainbow looked back quickly, still blushing. “Just saying, you’re not exactly bad lookin’, Dashie,” Vinyl sounding as nonchalant as ever, “just not my type really.” Dash’s expression sank a bit at this, “Y-yeah, same here,” she tried not to sound disappointed, “anyway, I got training to catch up on, see ya tomorrow, Vinyl,” Rainbow then went to leave, having left her cereal on the table. Vinyl jumped off of the sofa to see her guest out, “If you’re sure, Dashie,” Vinyl said comfortingly, “I didn’t mean to get you down there, y’know, I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.” “It’s fine, really,” Rainbow forged a smile before turning back to the door, “thanks for letting me stay last night.” “No problem, Dash, no hard feelings?” Vinyl offered her hoof for Rainbow to bump. “No hard feelings,” Rainbow gave the DJ a gentle hoof bump. “Cool, see you tomorrow, Dash,” Vinyl waved her friend off. And with that, Dash was gone, flying off back to her cloud house above Ponyville for her extra extended training session. --- At least Rainbow Dash was right about one thing, Pinkie was already sorted for the party. Yesterday, she had hopped from house to house, inviting the other Elements of Harmony to the party after seeing Bon Bon and Lyra milling about the market stalls and inviting them too, as well as some of their friends. Unfortunately, Applejack was busy. With zap-apple season starting soon, she and the other Apples would need to be on the farm 24/7. But, since she couldn’t be there, Applejack had promised that Big Mac would drop off plenty of cider before he was “farm-locked”, as she put it. This afternoon, however, Pinkie was setting up decorations for the special event. In the morning, she had got all the food ready and ordered from various places around Ponyville. She had got Donut Joe to do her an extra-large tray of his best doughnuts, Bon Bon had promised to bring a big bowl of sweets when she arrived with the others and, of course, there would be loads of cake already at Sugar Cube Corner itself. Big Mac had dropped the cider off early in the morning, so Pinkie had asked the Cakes to store it in the fridge out back. The twins were very eager to help with setting up the streamers and the balloons, with Pumpkin Cake either lifting Pinkie or the streamers up into place and Pound Cake flying the balloons into the overhanging net, which Pinkie would release when Octavia arrived. Within a few hours and the net only falling down a couple of times, the room was ready. Streamers of all colours were hanging from all walls, and the twins were fast asleep on a pile of unused ones, giving Pinkie a moment to admire her work, “I have to say,” Pinkie said quietly to herself, not wanting to disturb the foals by her feet, “we did quite a good job in here, Octavia should love it.” Despite the twins, she couldn’t help but giddily jump around the room and giggle to herself, “This just has to be enough for her, and we can be best friends and not get upset because I might have ruined her life for a bit after the Gala…” Pinkie’s bouncing slowed down, much like her trail of thought, as she came to a slow halt on the other side of the party-ready room from the Cake twins. But this is no time to get upset, Pinkie thought to herself assertively, this is a time to be happy and to make a very special pony even happier, “no matter what I did to her,” the party pony vocalising the last part of her motivational speech with renewed strength in her voice. A small, happy smile spread across her muzzle as she ran up to her room to get one final touch ready for tomorrow, a spring in each step. --- “Thank you for coming,” chimed the three spa ponies, “enjoy the rest of your day.” Leaving the spa, Octavia felt like a new mare. Her back had never felt this relaxed, her movements more fluid than usual, and her coat felt so much softer than it did this morning, with the steam room cleansing her pores before the extra minerals were added by the mud bath. With a skip in her set, she began the walk back to Bon Bon’s with her and Lyra, who also looked very relaxed, leaning on each other for support and comfort, revelling in each other’s luxurious coats. It was late in the afternoon, the mud bath lasting much longer than any of them thought it would. But they didn’t mind, today was for relaxing and relaxing they did. None of them spoke for a while, each enjoying the glow of their coats in the setting sun, until Bon Bon broke the silence, “What do you fancy for tea, Octi?” “Oh, you can’t treat me any more today, Bonnie,” Octavia protested, “you two have treated me enough already.” “We’re serious, Octavia,” Lyra interjected, “it is your birthday, after all.” “Ahh, fine, if you insist,” Octavia finally gave in, “any suggestions?” “It’s all up to you, whatever you want, you can have,” Bon Bon insisted. “Hmm, what about a pizza?” Octavia suggested. The other mares were taken aback by that, “Are you sure, Octi?” Bon Bon asked. “Oh yes,” Octavia nodded her head eagerly, “I am never allowed pizzas at home, mother would never allow it. She sees them as ‘far too common’,” Octavia putting on an impersonation of her old-fashioned mother, causing the three mares to burst into giggles. “Fine by me,” Lyra added after pulling herself from the infectious giggles, “we can get some on the way home if you’d like?” “Don’t be silly Lyra,” Bon Bon objected, “you can get some on the way home, Octavia and I will go home to relax,” Bon Bon took Octavia in her hoof and both of them started giggling. “Uhh fine,” Lyra moaned, “you two go be little fillies at home. What do like on your pizzas, Octi?” “I’m not sure, just get me a normal one, please.” “Same for me, Lyra.” “Okay, see you guys at home.” “Bye Lyra,” Octavia and Bon Bon said together, waving back at Lyra as they walked back to the house. “Bye you two,” Lyra called to them, and then she started walking right, heading towards Ponyville’s pizza house, checking her remaining bits in her saddle bag. After another 15 minutes of gentle walking, Bon Bon and Octavia were back at the house and taking their boots and scarves off, sitting down by the already warm radiators. The chairs were comfier, but the floor was where the mares wanted to be, at least until they warmed up. “Thank you for today, Bon Bon,” Octavia said nuzzling into her friend for a moment. “It’s my pleasure, Octi,” Bon Bon replied, returning the gentle show of friendship, “I enjoyed it myself, and even though she won’t admit it, I can assure you Lyra enjoyed herself.” “I know, I heard her sighs in the mud bath, she was so relaxed I think she went to sleep at one point.” Both the mares were giggling at the thought, neither before imagining Lyra to be just a filly at heart. They were soon warm, moving over to the furniture in the middle of the room to spend more time relaxing, not wanting the feelings of comfort to end. However, being the good host she is, Bon Bon went into the kitchen, where she promptly set about making both the present ponies a hot chocolate. Walking back over to Octavia with a tray of drinks in her mouth, she noticed her friend had fallen asleep on the big green sofa, her favourite spot it seemed. Putting the tray softly down onto the coffee table, Bon Bon trotted off into her bedroom, returning a few moments later with a blanket for the cosy mare, which she proceeded to cover with the big cotton blanket bearing both her and Lyra’s cutie marks. She then took her place on her smaller cream chair opposite from Octavia and drank her comforting drink, topped with marshmallows and cream, of course. About half an hour after Octavia fell asleep, Lyra burst through the door, waking Octavia with a sudden start, discovering a layer of warmth over her in the shape of a large blue blanket. Lyra had a bag floating in her mint-hued magic, containing the three pizzas and what looked like garlic bread. Walking over to the furniture, Lyra noticed Octavia sitting with her and Bon Bon’s snuggle blanket over her, suddenly realising she had been asleep. “Evening, Lyra,” Bon Bon glared at the unicorn, “Octavia was enjoying her nap there, though her hot chocolate has gone cold.” Lyra saw one empty mug and one fully loaded drink sat on the coffee table, then decided she should apologise, “Sorry about that, Octi,” Lyra rubbed a hoof through her mane nervously, “didn’t know you were that relaxed.” “It’s perfectly fine, dear,” Octavia waved off the faux pas, “if you didn’t wake me up, I would be missing my latest treat,” a broad smile crossing her face as she looked up at Lyra. “Cool, I’ll get the plates.” Lyra trotted off to the kitchen with the bag in her magic, bringing the mugs with her. Walking back over to the others, now with four plates in her magic, each topped with a pizza or garlic bread, Lyra joined the others on the large sofa, all snuggling under the blanket. Lyra sat on the left, with Bon Bon in the middle and Octavia on the right. Placing Octavia’s four cheese pizza in front of her, Lyra noticed Octavia’s puzzled expression, before came the question of “How do I eat it?” “You’re kidding, you’ve never had one before?” Lyra asked, as she and Bon Bon both looked at the refined mare questioningly. “No, never in my life,” came the level toned reply, “like I said, mother never allowed it.” “Well, you just dig in,” Bon Bon said with a strange tinge to her voice. “Yeah, like this,” Lyra said before brutally demonstrating on her spicy vegetable pizza, before realising what a bad idea that was as her mouth erupted with spice. Rushing over to the kitchen, Lyra grabbed a glass and filled it with cool milk from the fridge, downing it with feverish need. With a loud gasp for clean air, the foolish unicorn slowly made her way back to the sofa, bringing fresh drinks for the three of them. “Okay, now a civilised pony will demonstrate,” Bon Bon mocked, before gently tucking in to her cheesy pizza, picking up one of the pre-sliced pieces in her mouth and steadying it with her hoof, before eating it slowly, savouring each gooey mouthful. Octavia nodded, getting the idea pretty quickly and joining Bon Bon in enjoying her first taste of her own ‘forbidden food’. A full plate of heavenly food later, Octavia had finished, and she began to rub her slightly bloated belly in small circles, watching Lyra panting from her apparently too spicy pizza and Bon Bon finish her last slice like a true mare. She had never expected such a vulgar food to taste so great, though it had its side effects. Octavia was feeling bloated, so she rolled onto her back to let her belly show from under the blanket. Bon Bon giggled at this, giving the small orb a poke, hearing a small whimper and watching as the grey mare squirmed under the blue cover from the sensation. “That tickles, y’know,” Octavia whined, her head hanging off the edge of the sofa, eyes lightly sealed from fatigue. “I’m sorry, it was just too tempting,” apologised Bon Bon. Lyra moaned behind her, catching her marefriend’s attention, causing her to turn her head to see what was wrong. “It would seem that was too much for you, huh Ly Ly,” teased Bon Bon. “Shut it, Bonnie, nothing’s too much for me,” Lyra objected, her voice a cross between a moan and a triumphant claim. But mostly a moan. She had adopted a similar pose to Octavia, though her forehooves were also dangling over the edge of the sofa, either side of her head. Bon Bon sighed, climbing out from under the blanket to clear the plates and empty glasses from the table. Both mares at the sofa called to the kitchen, “Thanks Bonnie!” --- Back in her cloud house, Rainbow was finishing her nightly exercises, the sun having set almost an hour ago. Looking over the dark shapes of Ponyville, she released a long, hard sigh she didn’t even know she was holding. She could see her breath in front of her face, watching as the air slowly spread away from her, seeing all of her thoughts in that small space of time lay out before her. She saw Vinyl, the perfect mare in Dash’s eyes. Then she saw the party, everypony happy, especially Pinkie and Octavia. Rainbow knew how much Pinkie hated to make ponies feel bad, and how desperate she could get when trying to make it up to ponies. If she could do it, Pinkie would be happier, making everypony around her happier, which would then make Pinkie Pie even happier. Finally, before her breath fully disappeared, Rainbow saw Twilight. At this, the pegasus turned quickly and moved towards her house, trying desperately to force herself to forget how much she had enjoyed the time at Twilight’s birthday party. Maybe I can talk to Twi at the party, Rainbow though to herself, get all this stuff off my chest. Who knows, the newly crowned Princess might want to talk to her about the same thing. Rainbow could only hope. Stepping into her room, her big fluffy bed spread before her, Rainbow Dash suddenly felt too tired to stand for another second, practically flopping onto the bed. She would need her sleep if this Pinkie-style party was anything like the last.