Pinkie groaned as she and Spike made their way down the street, Spike was attempting to float above her with the help of Balloons but was low enough that his arms were dragging in the dirt behind him.
"How many more do we have scheduled?" Spike asked with a yawn, both he and Pinkie were a terrible sight to behold, Spike had a crack in his scales running down his back, and Pinkie was coated in dirt. In her hooves, Pinkie was crossing out the name Bulk Biceps off her List of Ponies to throw parties for.
"In retrospect, weighted volleyball was doomed to failure," Pinkie groaned as she shook her head, exhaustion etched all across her fail.
"At least Bulk seemed happy," Spike replied, he attempted to look up at the list but with a loud crack, he went back to limply floating. "Good thing it was just us three or we could have gotten sued or something,"
"Spike I can't believe I'm saying this but, that was the worst Party in the history of Parties, and we threw it, I think we're losing it,"
"Maybe we just need a vacation," Spike suggested "We haven't stopped partying since we moved here, 4 months is an impressive streak but I can't remember the last time I slept,"
"I think it's time we cash in our emergency ticket," Pinkie decided as she looked up at the sky "It's only 11 so we should have plenty of time, Spike let's go to that Spa and just try everything,"
"I'd pull the bits out of the air but my everything hurts after getting pegged with that 80-pound ball so you're gonna have to do it this time around Sista,"
"Come on Spike, Spa Day!" Pinkie grabbed Spike and tossed him over her back, his Balloons flying away once he was situated and she rushed for the Ponyville spa. Coming to a full stop and changing her pace to a slow trot once she arrived and opened the door. Pinkie had seen the two ponies who ran the spa around ponyville before and had even seen them attending some of her parties, but today would be the first time she actually met them personally. The Blue one was running the front desk when Pinkie walked in. She looked up at the door, back at the book before her, before looking back up with a bemused look.
"Oh, your Pinkie Pie," She realized "You that Party mare who hangs out with that Dragon,"
"That Dragon has a name," Spike declared as he made his presence known "And it's Spike," His name declared Spike went back to being a limp noodle on his sister's back.
"Oh, I'm sorry," She said "I am Lotus Bloom, how may I help you today?" Pinkie looked at her for a moment before looking at Spike.
"Do you have like a menu or something?" Pinkie asked nervously "This is our first time in a Spa and we don't really...know what you offer,"
"Oh of course," Lotus reached beneath the Spa's front desk and, after some rummaging around, pulled out a pamphlet and offered it to Pinkie, Spike got off her back so he could properly read it and heard a sound of concern from Lotus.
"Oh my," She said as she looked at the cracks running up and down his back "Are you alright?" Spike responded by trying to stand up, a loud and painful crack made Lotus wince and Spike's pain was evident on his face.
"Not even a little," He cried back as he crouched over and did his best to stand on all fours to avoid aggravating the crack on his back, giving him to look of an aggravated cat as he and Pinkie examined the Spa treatments available.
"Let's see 30 bits for a manicure, 40 for use of the steamer, oh a herbal bath for 10, maybe that'll help your back pains," as Pinkie and Spike tried to decide what to do first the 2nd of the two spa ponies made her way to the receptionist area, her face glowing red.
"Sister you left the steamer on full blast again," She said with a sigh before stopping in her tracks upon seeing Pinkie and Spike. "Sweet Celestia, it's Pinkie Pie and the Party Dragon,"
"My name is Spike," Spike called in response "How does no one know my name? I've lived here for 4 months and am very active around town,"
"Ponies know your name," Pinkie replied "Just not ponies you've never talked to,"
"They know who you are," Spike shot back, Pinkie just nodded.
"Yeah, that's just pony politics,"
"Pinkie I was raised by ponies, and that still makes no science to me," Pinkie just scratched his head.
"Your just mad about your back pains, you'll understand once we've soothed your pain," Aloe walked around to get a look at Spikes back and proceeded to silence the Pie twins with a single sentence.
"I can fix that for you," both Spike and Pinkie looked at her in a moment of disbelief.
"You can fix that?" Pinkie asked in shock "I've lived with him my entire life and we've never fixed the cracks, just wait for new scales to replace the broken ones,"
"I am a Spa pony," Aloe said simply "But I specialize in all creatures, unlike my sister who only does ponies I can also do scales and high maintenance feather groomings for Griffins,"
"That's for calling me out," Lotus noted from behind the front counter.
"I wanna hear the story behind that," Spike decided before making a wrong move punctuated by the painful crack.
"Oh that's really bad," Aloe noted "No time to waste, stay like that for too long and we'll have to remove the entire outer layer of scale around the problem area so it'll heal properly," Aloe walked up to Spike and offered him her back, Pinkie slung him over gently and watched as her brother was carried away.
"So," Pinkie said turning to Lotus "You have a steamer?"
"Why yes, but it's probably far too hot for use if I left it on...again, If you like I can offer you a hot rock massage for..." Pinkie instantly cut her off.
"I don't care about the price, take me to this rock massage," Lotus pulled out a sign notifying all of the staff was busy and had Pinkie follow her into the spa. Spike had been laid belly down on a fully reclined chair, his body laying flat Aloe pulled out a jar of cream.
"Close your eyes please," Spike did as he was asked and she dabbed it around his eyes before pulling some cucumbers out of a mini-fridge and placing them over his eyes. She quickly rinsed off her hooves before inspecting his back. His scales were all scuffed, some dented, several chipped, and she could see a spot where a broken plating had improperly set.
"When was the last time you used scale polish?" She demanded.
"I use shampoo and conditioner," Spike replied casually.
"You don't have fur or a mane," She replied as she took a step back "Honey your scales are in terrible shape, your lucky they didn't crack sooner," Aloe muttered something that went unheard when Spike heard a less than appealing sound.
"I'm not gonna like this am I," He asked with a groan.
"No, but in about a week, once the scales have regrown, you'll be thanking me,"
"How bad?" Was Spike's only response.
"You're about to get the dragon equivalent of waxing," Aloe replied simply "Only it's going to be a lot slower,"
"Bring it on," Spike decided as he braced himself for the pain.
Pinkie let sighed as Lotus placed hot rocks on her joints, as she let the rocks do their magic Lotus got to work heating up another few rocks so they weren't too hot or too cold.
"I can't believe I never thought of this before," Pinkie said as she looked at the rocks being heated next to her "So what else do you guys have here?"
"We have seaweed wraps, pedicures, a hot tub, a steam room, mane stylings, massages of all kinds, Aloe can do Acupuncture, we do waxings although it's not a very popular activity, we do herbal baths, face masks, and...." Lotus tapped her chin "That's everything I can name off the top of my head,"
"Oh, I wanna try a seaweed wrap after this,"
"Of course," Lotus replied simply "But we are going to have to charge you in advance," Pinkie Pulled a large bag out of seemingly nowhere and jangled it.
"Just name your price," She declared as she opened it up and showed it was full to the brim with bits. Lotus stared blankly at the large bag of bits before composing herself.
"Is....is there anything else you want after the seaweed wrap?"
"I still wanna use the streamer but I can go with a dip in the hot tub first, maybe a pedicure and a face mask, oh and a mane styling!"
"Absolutely Ms.Pie, I'll draw up your bill and we can get started,"
"Please, call me Pinkie, no one in my family likes being called Ms or Mr."
"Of course Pinkie," Lotus replied with a smile.
Aloe inspected Spike's back and nodded as she lightly touched the pink skin beneath his scales, after a moment of Spike showing no signs of discomfort she nodded.
"You should be good to stand up now Mr...oh I'm sorry I never got your last name,"
"It's Pie, Spike Pie, but please don't call me Mr.," Spike got to his feet stood up straight and his happy face was all Aloe needed to tell her she had done well. "Man it feels super weird," Spike said as he patted his exposed back "But I have a giant turtle shell from last Halloween, I'll just rock that until the scales grow back," Spike stretched, lumbering up after all the time he had spent unable to stand up properly. "Thank you so much Aloe,"
"No problem," Aloe said "Now if you'll follow me we can pay your dues, and-" Aloe was cut off when Lotus rushed in the door.
"Sister I need to speak with you now," She said with a serious tone, Aloe blinked and then pointed to Spike.
"I am helping a customer, can it wait,"
"Mr.P-" Lotus cleared her throat "Spike, your sister will be staying with us for a while," Lotus handed Spike their menu "Feel free to see if there's anything else you'd like to do while I talk to my sister," Lotus pulled Aloe out of the room and Spike looked at the menu.
"Mmm, oh they have a Seaweed wrap, I wonder if I can do that with my exposed back," After a few minutes Aloe rushed back into the room with the same look as her sister.
"Spike," She said casually "If you don't mind me asking, what is your budget for your outing today?" Spike spat out a torrent of fire and it swirled into a bag that dropped on the floor. chuckling at the look on Aloe's face.
"I should use my fire more often, The look on ponies face is always just the best," Spike opened the bag and revealed it to be full of bits. "I dunno, little over a thousand?" He pondered as he looked inside it "This is only my splurge money though if push comes to shove I could just take some out of my party budget," Spike looked over to Aloe, who looked like she was about to faint.
"You know, I am trained in Griffin care, but I know a few things about dragons, if you like I can file down your claws and order you a scale polish for body treatments,"
"Sounds great, quick question, is there anything I can't do with my back scales missing? Cause I really wanna try this seaweed wrap,"
"The Full body massage is definitely out since we don't wanna injure the area, but everything else will be fine so long as I take care to be gentle,"
"Hot dog, I'll have whatever Pinkie is having,"
Pinkie and Spike were laughing as they made their way to the front counter, Pinkie had an Afro, and since he didn't have a mane Spike had gotten blue nail polish added to his head fins just to see how it would look. Lotus and Aloe looked very pleased with their work as they added up a bill of almost 500bits, Spike and Pinkie split the bill between each other and thanked the Spa twins for their hard work.
"This was so much fun," Spike said with a smile.
"Well I can't wait for your next visit," Aloe said with a smile "Oh, and your scale polish should be coming in next Wednesday, would you like to deliver it to you?"
"Better Idea," Pinkie declared as she held up a sign up sheet "You don't have anyone scheduled for anything big on Wednesday,"
"Today is a bit slow," Lotus confirmed "Would you like to schedule a time on Wednesday,"
"We'll take...the entire day," Pinkie declared with a nod leaving the two twins staring at her blankly.
"Great idea," Spike agreed as he wrote his name down "This way we can try everything without worry," The Spa Twins looked at them like they were crazy.
"But...but doing everything once would cost nearly 4,000 bits, and there are two of you,"
"Eh," Pinkie and Spike said with a shrug.
"What do you mean, eh," Aloe demanded.
"We have a giant backup reserve for emergencies," Spike said simply "Cut into it, try everything once, then pick like 15 things each and just roll with that,"
"Yeah it might take most of our paychecks, but we make triple that in a week with all the parties we throw across Equestria,"
"See you Wednesday, and then probably every Wednesday after that," The two Spa Ponies stood in shock as the two Pie Siblings made their way out of the building.
"Hey Pinkie when we get home can you help me find my Turtle shell from last Halloween,"
Aloe and Lotus were both glowing with embarrassment after the story came to an end.
"I knew it was the money," Limestone chuckled "But I imagine their personalities ended up drawing you in," Before Aloe or Lotus could reply Spike and Pinkie spoke up.
"It's just our natural charm, making friends is a breeze," They both sounded proud as Marble chuckled and Maud shook her head.
"You two certainly do have a special kind of charm," Maud decided, "So who hasn't asked for a story yet?"
"Me, Spike, and Lotus," Pinkie declared as she slid under the table and poped out between Lotus's legs and put her arms around her neck. Lotus turned so read she was almost glowing. "Meaning it's your turn buddy oh mine,"
"Well," Lotus tapped her chin, trying to clear her mind of Pinkie "There was something I wanted to ask Limestone the first time I met her," Lotus whispered into Pinkie's ear as she frowned.
"Oh, I don't actually know this one," She then turned to Limestone. "You and Spike are gonna have to tell this one,"
"What?" Limestone asked as Pinkie flipped the page, Limestone scooted over and Pinkie took her place as Limestone and Spike looked at a page with a single picture.
"Oh," both Limestone and Spike said. "This one,"
"Alright, this is the story of..."