Break Time at the Spa
Sweetie Belle and Rumble reached the door as more lightning flashed. They knocked on it furiously. A few seconds later, a blue-coated mare with a pink mane answered.
“Goodness, me!” she cried. “What are you foals doing out here in this storm?”
They were shivering. “We-we’re playng hide-n’-seek from m-my big b-b-brother and h-her big s-sis-ster,” Rumble said.
“And we n-need a place to hide,” Sweetie Belle said, scooting to lean against Rumble. He began blushing. “C-can we come inside?”
“Of course!” The mare widened the door and beckoned the two inside. Once inside, she went to the back. “Aloe!” she called. “Aloe, fetch me some towels!”
There was rustling in the back, and then a pink-coated mare with a blue mane came out, saw them, and began to wrap a towel around each of them.
“There we go,” the blue pony said upon return. “Now, you two come back here and get in the tub. We need to keep you warm.” The two foals, still side-by-side, obliged.
“But what if they find us?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Rumble nuzzled her on the cheek. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t think they saw us come in here.”
Sweetie Belle had to turn so he wouldn’t see her face turn pink. She looked up to see Aloe grinning at her. “He’s not my coltfriend!”
“Besides,” Rumble said, his ears falling slightly. “At least we’ll be warm.”
Sweetie Belle looked at the steaming tub in front of them. “Yeah, that’s true.”
They had sprinted most of the way there, but Thunderlane was beginning to fall behind. The rain was coming down hard, drenching the two ponies outside. Thunder rumbled continuously, and the wind was beginning to slow them down. Rarity continued to gallop, while Thunderlane began to limp.
“Darnit, my leg!” Thunderlane said as he almost fell on his underside. His foreleg continued to bleed, the blood flowing down his foreleg. “How much farther to the spa?”
They passed the library when Rarity answered. “It’s that building right there,” she said, motioning to the blue building in front of them.
“Good, ‘cause I don’t think I can—Gah!” His left foreleg gave out, sending him tumbling over.
Rarity stopped and looked back. “Thunderlane!” She cantered back to him, her lungs catching up to her. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. “It’s just my leg.” He lifted it up to find that the cut had gone deeper, and more blood poured out.
“Oh, dear,” she said, looking back at the spa. “They’ll have bandages in there,” she said. “Can you walk?”
He pushed himself up and steadied himself. “Yeah, I think so.” Without waiting for a reply, he began walking towards the spa. His leg almost gave out again, but Rarity trotted up to him and supported him with her body. Thunderlane soon found himself leaning on her. “You don’t have to do that—“
“Please,” Rarity said softly, walking in time with him. “We just need to get there.”
“I can get there all by myself.” He tried pushing himself off and began to walk, but his leg gave out again. “Darnit!”
Rarity lifted his body up with her magic, and stood next to him again. “Stop being so stubborn about this.” They began walking in tandem again. “We’re just going to go inside and get you bandaged up, get our younger siblings and then get out of this storm.”
Thunderlane sighed. “I’m sorry.”
Rarity stopped for a moment. “Whatever for?”
She barely heard him say, “For being a burden.”
Rarity was quiet for a moment, and then she shifted his body to where his neck was close to hers. “You hurt yourself. I’m helping you. That’s not being a burden. You have a good reason to get help.”
Thunderlane didn’t reply. Rarity looked at him, but he just kept his gaze at the ground. Not pressing further, she stopped and knocked on the door.
A moment later, Lotus opened the door. “Oh, you are looking for your brother and sister?”
“Yes,” Rarity answered quickly, walking inside. “But he’s hurt.” She lifted Thunderlane’s foreleg to show her. “Do you have any bandages?”
Lotus backed away from the bleeding leg, turning a shade paler before nodding. “Yes, I can bandage this up. You must follow me.” She opened the door to the main part of the spa, and guided them inside. The two ponies saw their siblings sitting the hot tub, but before either of them could speak, Lotus pushed them in a darker area surrounded by curtains. It had one bed.
“Lay him down here,” she said, attempting to lift his hindquarters onto the bed.
“I got it,” he said quickly, throwing himself onto it.
Lotus nodded. “Okay, now you wait here and hold this on the cut—“ she laid a towel over the cut and pressed down; Thunderlane gasped, and then used his other foreleg to hold it there. “—while I go and get some supplies from my room.” With that, she dashed out. They heard her say something, and then heard hoofsteps going up.
Rarity looked at Thunderlane, who watched the white towel become pink, and then red. They did not speak to each other, so Rarity looked out to check on the others. Sweetie Belle’s back was to her, but her head was leaning back; Rumble’s head was leaned back as well, but she could see he had cucumber slices over his eyes. She bit back a chuckle, remembering why they were here at all. When Lotus returned, Rarity went out of the curtain and walked over to the filly, who sighed.
“Isn’t this great, Rumble?” Sweetie Belle asked. “We get to sit in a hot tub while Rarity and your brother are looking for us.”
Rumble hesitated before speaking. “I hope they’re okay… and they’re not too mad at us.”
“Pssht!” Sweetie Belle waved playfully at him. “They’re fine. I’m sure once we’re done here, we can either just wait here for them, or run off again. We can outrun them again.”
“Oh, can you now?”
Sweetie Belle squeaked and turned around, revealing that she, too, had cucumber slices. Rumble shot up and removed his slices, staring at her in shock. “Rarity?” Sweetie Belle gasped, shrinking back.
“That’s right, sister!” Before Sweetie Belle could speak, Rarity grabbed her with her magic and brought her snout-to-snout. “And once Thunderlane’s better, you and I, dear sister, are going to have a talk.”
Sweetie Belle gulped. “A-a talk?”
“Yes, a talk.” Rarity took a deep breath, and then her eyes narrowed. “Like how you could’ve died jumping out of a carriage in the middle of the sky into a lake! Care to explain that?”
“Wait a minute.” Rumble swam himself over to them; Aloe, meanwhile, watched from the stairs. “What do you mean, ‘once Thunderlane’s better?’ What happened to him?”
Rarity glared at him. “Your brother hurt himself while we were—“
“WHAT?” Rumble flew out of the tub and in front of Rarity. “Where is he? Is he alive?”
“Yes, he’s still alive,” Rarity said, motioning to the curtains. “He’s in th—“ Before she could finish, he flew past her, disappearing behind the curtains.
“Is he hurt badly?”
Rarity looked down at Sweetie Belle, who had genuine concern in her eyes. Rarity’s expression didn’t soften. “It’s just a cut on his foreleg. You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”
Sweetie Belle looked at the floor. “I’m sorry—“
“Oh, no, little sister,” Rarity said, startling the filly. “You’re not getting out of this that easy. We’ll discuss your punishment when we get home.” Rarity then turned her attention to Aloe. “Thank you for keeping an eye on them while we got here.”
Aloe merely nodded, scuffing a hoof on the floor.
“They didn’t give you any trouble, did they?” Rarity saw Sweetie Belle cringe. Aloe shook her head. “That’s good.” Rarity turned without looking at Sweetie Belle and went into the curtain.
She saw Thunderlane, bandage over his leg, hugging his sobbing brother. He patted him on the back a few times, but that did little to stop the crying.
“Come on, buddy,” Thunderlane said. “Stop that.”
“B-b-b-b-but I hurt yoooooooooou!” Rumble sobbed louder.
“Sure, I got hurt, but—“ He wrapped his leg around his little brother, holding him close. “I didn’t get hurt too badly.” That quieted the crying, but didn’t stop it. Thunderlane sighed and looked at Rarity. “Can you three give us some time alone?”
Rarity looked down to see Sweetie Belle at her side, staring with her ears drooping. She laid a hoof on her back, and signaled to follow her. They left the brothers to themselves.
Once outside, Sweetie Belle sighed. “I’m really, really sorry, Rarity.” She began to nuzzle her sister’s foreleg. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
Rarity moved her foreleg to bring Sweetie Belle closer. “I know, dear. Still, you two were reckless and, unfortunately, somepony did get hurt.”
“I just wanted to play!” she cried, burying her face in Rarity’s leg.
“I know, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity replied sternly. “Things just got out of control.” She looked up to see Lotus’s ears drooping as well. “I’m glad this is all over.”
Instead of agreeing with her, Lotus turned her head. “Aloe used to like playing in storms as well.” Across from them, Aloe silently wiped around the tub, drying the area. “But then something like this happened.” She sighed. “I miss those times.”
Rarity raised a brow. “Whyever would you?”
Lotus leaned in. “Because Aloe doesn’t like to play around much anymore.”
Rarity looked at Aloe, who showed no signs of taking notice of the conversation. “So she works a lot?”
“Not really.” Lotus moved to stand next to the sisters. “She keeps to herself a lot.”
Sweetie Belle looked up from crying. “Why?”
Lotus sighed again, and, in a voice akin to storytellers, she began,
“When we lived in our old village, far south of Ponyville, Aloe and I would run away from the village and go hiking—or Adventuring, as we called it. I, being the older sister, would lead, and Aloe would follow behind. I’d give the orders, and she’d follow along obediently, like a good little sister—even though she’s younger by only five minutes. But at times, she, much like Sweetie Belle, she would become excited and run off on her own. She was a bit reckless, and we had almost been hurt a few times.
“One evening, when it was raining, she was in her excited mood, and she ran off along the edge of a canyon. She was skipping merrily from rock to rock, and I tried to keep up. Then, as we were almost to the end, I slipped.”
Rarity looked up, and noticed that Aloe was no longer working.
“I had to grab onto a sharp rock to keep from plunging to my death. Thank Celestia Aloe noticed. She hopped right back and grabbed me just as I lost my grip. She was able to pull me back up, and we went back to the village after that.”
Lotus sighed. “She hasn’t played with me since.”
Rarity shook her head. “Wait, I’m sorry, I think I missed something. You miss those times?”
When Lotus looked back at her, she was smiling. “Yes, it was reckless, but I got over it. We make mistakes to learn how the world works. Ever since the accident, Aloe hasn’t gone hiking with me, nor has she tried playing anything else. She won’t socialize with anypony—and I don’t mean talk, because she has no voice—”
“She’s mute?” Rarity asked.
Lotus nodded. “Yeah, she is. But anyway, she won’t even indulge anypony in conversation. You know how I’m usually the pony that works down here? That’s because she’s always working somewhere else, either repairing something or cleaning, or just staying in her room doing the finances again.” She looked down to see Sweetie Belle staring at Aloe. “Dear, if you take anything from this, learn that some things are reckless, and you’d probably be better off avoiding them. But don’t let that separate you from your sister.” Lotus turned, trotted to Aloe, and pulled her into an embrace. Aloe gripped her.
Sweetie Belle looked up at Rarity, another tear in her eye. “We’re not gonna stop playing, are we?” She hugged Rarity. “This doesn’t mean I can’t see you, right?”
Rarity pulled her in. “Of course not! We’re sisters, and we’re always be sisters.” She nuzzled her sister’s nape. “Always.”
Suddenly, the curtain moved, and they saw Rumble come out. His eyes were red, but his crying had stopped.
“Thunderlane wants to talk to you,” he said to Rarity.
Rarity nodded, hugged her sister again, and went inside. Thunderlane perked up.
“So how’d it go?”
Thunderlane arched his back. “We’re cool.” He stood up and arched his back. “It takes a lot to get Rumble to calm down, but it takes even more to make him stop crying.”
Rarity sighed with a smile. “It’s quite the opposite with Sweetie Belle.” She leaned in as Thunderlane stepped down, and seeing that he was fine reclined. “So why don’t we end this and go home?”
Thunderlane nodded. “Yeah, that’d probably be best.” He used his wing to open the curtain and beckoned for her to go first.
“What a gentlecolt.” She stepped outside, with Thunderlane right behind her. “Sweetie Belle? It’s time to go home.”
They were nowhere in sight.
“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity looked around.
“Rumble?” Thunderlane looked in the hot tub and found nothing.
“Lotus, dear?” Rarity asked. Lotus turned to her. “Have you seen the kids?”
Lotus shook her head and returned to comforting Aloe.
“Where could they’ve gone?” Rarity asked aloud. She stepped around before noticing a piece of paper on the front desk. Picking it up, she read:
Dear Miss Rarity,
I have foalnapped Sweetie Belle. I am taking her to somewhere you won’t look. She’s mine, and I intend to marry her and have many foals with her and have a really big family and stuff! I dare you to find us!
Love,
Rumble
The note was set down ver y slowly. It quivered as it made contact with the desk. It sat there for a moment.
And then it burst into flames.
And then Rarity’s mane turned into fire.
“OOH, WHEN I FIND YOU, RUMBLE, YOU ARE GOING TO FEEL MY WRATH!”
“What, what’s going o—“ But before he could finish, Rarity sped out of the spa. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, and then looked at the sisters. He winked, and Lotus winked back. With a neigh, Thunderlane galloped after Rarity, following the cloud of steam left in her wake.
“I don’t even know how the paper caught on fire,” Lotus said, giggling as she swept the ashes off the desk. She looked at Aloe, who offered a half-smile in return. Aloe averted her gaze to the ground, and began walking away.
Lotus nickered. Aloe turned around and found herself in a hug. She waited for her to say something but she just took a seat and pulled her in. She also took a seat and leaned inward, hugging her sister.
They stayed that way for a whole minute.
And then there was a knock at the door.
“I got it.” Lotus kissed Aloe on the cheek and sent her away. “I’ll be up to read you a story, okay?” Aloe nodded and skipped upstairs. Lotus got up and walked to the door. Upon opening it, she saw a light-grey pegasus with a basket.
“Hi there,” she said. “Is Rarity here?”
“No, you just missed her.”
“Oh.” She didn’t react for a moment, staring at the cloud of steam that went into the distance. Then she spat the basket out and left it in front of Lotus. “Well, if you see her, tell her she left this there.”
“I will.”
“Flitter!”
“Coming!” Flitter walked away to another light-grey pegasus, and they both began to pull a mangled carriage away. Lotus looked at the basket, and thought about opening it. In the end, she took it in her mouth and closed the door.
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Oh good, an update. To be honest, I think I liked this one better than the others. Maybe we can have a little more of this kind of stuff after their little game is over, and proceed to have a sequel or two. Great work, buddy!
2425585iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/224467__safe_animated_sweetie-belle_spoiler-s03e11_51047c0c7f123b11530008a8.gif.gif
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2425939 Well, you'll get another chapter then! Some time either this week or next. I'll be working on it.
Thank ye for the comment, and I'm glad you found that note enjoyable.
2425948
i really love your writing 
It will be like waiting for the new episode of mlp 
You say this chapter was difficult, eh?
Well, I can see why. It was a break in the general tone of the fic, and you had to make the shift fit.
And boy, did it work.
This chapter is fantastic!
Keep 'em coming!
Okay, I'm going to be honest like Applejack, at first I wasn't going to favorite this story after I was done reading, but after seeing that letter made by Rumble and/or Sweetie Belle
I'm going to favorite this 