“Alright, let’s get those bandages off of you,” Nurse Abernathy said as she held a pair of clippers in her hooves.
“Finally,” Rainbow Dash groaned in relief.
“You wouldn’t believe how much she’s complained about having those bandages on,” Barnaby said with a slight smirk on his face.
“Well health and recuperation comes first,” Abernathy frowned. “I hope you didn’t try removing them yourself at any point?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “No, mom, I didn’t. Come on, I’ve been in the hospital plenty of times before coming here. And they’re my wings. It may be annoying but I treat these babies with all the care they need… when I’m not totally pushing myself. But that’s not the point.”
“That’s good then,” Abernathy said, ignoring the mom comment. “With the medicine we used and the bandages keeping you from stressing them, I’m sure your wings have fully healed. Um, it’s still just an educated guess though. I still have to take a look to be sure. Even if they haven’t fully healed though I don’t think you’ll need the bandages anymore.”
“Good, whatever, anything that lets me actually move my wings around. I miss feeling them and my feathers are going to be a mess,” Rainbow flexed, her wings twitching inside the bandages.
“Then let’s not waste anymore time if you’re that antsy,” Abernathy smiled and brought the clippers towards the white bandages covering Rainbow Dash’s right wing.
The clippers glided right through the soft material like they were absolutely nothing and the bandages fell free from Rainbow’s body. As soon as they were off she spread and flexed her wing, sighing in relief at the wonderful feeling. Abernathy quickly brought the clippers around to the other wing and swiftly sliced through the bandages there. Rainbow’s left wing shot out and she gave them both a stretch and very lightly flapped them both to get the blood flowing. Nurse Abernathy walked in circles around Rainbow, inspecting the unfamiliar appendages and occasionally poking and rubbing them in places.
“Hey, that tickles,” Rainbow giggled.
“Sorry, just giving them a final check-up,” Abernathy said while her scrutinizing eyes never left the wings.
Rainbow again had to patiently stand there and not immediately start flying around the small hospital room until Abernathy was done with her last visual inspection. It was difficult.
Nurse Abernathy finished up walking around Rainbow and stopped in front of her with a smile on her face. “Okay! Everything looks great!”
“No more damage or anything?” Rainbow asked.
The nurse shook her head. “None whatsoever! Your wings look perfect, good as new even.”
“Yes!” Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof and flapped her wings to shoot up over the floor, careful enough to still mind the ceiling though. She buzzed around in circles over Abernathy and Barnaby’s heads before settling down and landing. When she tucked her wings in they just felt so much better than when they were covered and held down by bandages. “You have no idea how much better this is.”
“I imagine it’s similar to one of us getting a cast off after a broken leg, but I’m happy for you,” Barnaby said.
“I’m just glad I was actually able to treat your wings...” Nurse Abernathy said.
“You did a good job with em,” Rainbow winked at her.
“Well you’ve been a wonderful patient but I hope I don’t have to treat you again anytime soon,” Abernathy said with a wry grin.
“Me too,” Rainbow nodded.
“Me three,” Barnaby smirked.
Rainbow Dash snorted and turned to the Chief Constable. “So now what? I can do anything now with my wings back—I’m down for doing absolutely anything. So what did you have in mind?”
“Actually it’s something I’ve been thinking of ever since you told me more about Ponyville. Specifically a certain place of business you have there,” Barnaby said.
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “What?”
In the most high-class part of the Copper Section, Barnaby and Rainbow Dash stood outside a particular business. The building was made of pink marble, polished to perfection and standing two stories high with circular black windows and a very inviting facade. Pink steps went up to a set of glass doors flanked by numerous exotic looking (but fake) plants. Above the door was a sign with very stylish wording on it reading: The Copper Exclusives
“Uhhh, I’ve got two ideas on what this place might be and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t take me to one of them,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked at the building.
“It’s a spa.”
“That’s what I figured.”
“Not just any spa either, the best place for hospitality and relaxation you can find in Oreville. Not even just Copper Section, the whole dang city. The masseurs, hairdressers, stylists, they’re all top-notch. Normally I’d never be able to get in here but thanks to your Diplomat visa we’ll both get the VIP treatment,” Barnaby grinned.
“Ohhh, so it’s a gift for yourself too, huh?” Rainbow chuckled.
Barnaby coughed. “Perhaps...”
“Well whatever, I could use a nice spa visit anyways. Specially after having my wings stuck in those bandages for so long,” Rainbow said.
“That’s why I was waiting. I figured you’d want them to get a good massage and you can’t really take a dip in any of the hot tubs or mud baths with those bandages still on,” Barnaby said.
Rainbow Dash looked back at her wings and gently flapped them a couple of times. “Yeah they could definitely use a massage to get the kinks out. Let’s go inside!”
“Right this way,” Barnaby said and led Rainbow up the steps and to the glass doors. He grabbed a golden door handle and pulled it open for Rainbow Dash.
Immediately she was hit by a humid breath of hot air as she walked inside the establishment. Oreville was naturally a little on the cool side but The Copper Exclusives felt like a jungle on the inside. It almost looked like one too. The floor was carefully sculpted dark green tile while plastic palm trees and other bushes either decorated or crawled up the walls. Over her head, “vines” entwined with lights hung down and cast a twilight glow through the interior. A single gold and white quartz fountain sat in the middle of the lobby, with deep blue waters dancing and falling across it’s different levels and basins.
As soon as the door closed, a silk-clad mare with flowers in her hair glided up to Rainbow Dash and Barnaby. “Welcome~” Her singsong voice whistled out from her lips. The mare was obviously quite lithe under her silks, she had a narrow face and sharp emerald eyes that went well with her daisy-yellow coat.
“What’s up,” Rainbow Dash waved.
If the mare was put off by the not exactly formal greeting (and appearance) of the two guests she didn’t show it. Her eyes quickly scanned over Rainbow’s wings and she smiled. “The ambassador we’ve heard about, a pleasure that you would come here to The Copper Exclusives. What services would you like to receive from us? And of course, you needn’t worry about the expenses.”
“Give her the works,” Barnaby cut in. “The best treatment you’ve got, she deserves it. As for me I’ll take the Golden Stallion treatment.”
Rainbow just shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve been to some spas before—uh, n-not like I go to them all the time or anything—but I don’t really know what your specialties and whatever might be. So I’m all for just letting you decide what’s best.”
“I’ll be sure to have you worked on by our most delicate masseuse. For a pony with wings only the most expert of hooves will suffice~” the mare’s melodic voice said. She turned and began to walk towards the fountain, further back in the lobby, Rainbow saw a number of velvet curtained off hallways leading elsewhere in the spa.
“Please follow me~” the mare said to Rainbow before glancing at Barnaby. “As for you, sir, another will be out to help you shortly.”
“Have fun, Rainbow,” Barnaby said with a smile and waved to her.
“Shouldn’t be too hard,” she grinned and gave him a salute before following her guide through one of the velvet curtains and emerging into a hallway covered in fake vines and roses lit up by candlelight. Rainbow Dash thought it looked pretty snazzy, especially compared to what the rest of Oreville looked like. She then looked ahead at the silky mare walking in front of her. “So what’s your name? I’m Rainbow Dash.”
The mare giggled. “I know, it says so on your visa.”
Rainbow looked down at the visa dangling in front of her chest. “Oh yeah.”
“And I read about you in the newspapers already, The Copper Exclusives is truly honored to have you, as will the masseuse I select to perform your massage and guide you through the rest of your treatment,” the mare smiled. “And my name is Maria.”
“Nice to meet you,” Rainbow smiled.
Maria slightly nodded her head in acknowledgment and continued to guide Rainbow Dash down the hallway. Occasionally they walked past other doorways that were blocked off by the same velvet curtains, Maria taking no mind of them but Rainbow kept trying to peak inside. They also passed by a few more silk clad mares, and stallions too for that matter, who always politely greeted Rainbow Dash. It seemed they had been walking through the foresty interior for a while when Maria guided them down a corner and into a room with twelve different little rooms blocked by oaken doors. Maria took her to one on the right side of the room and opened it up for Rainbow Dash.
“Please, make yourself comfortable and your masseuse will be in shortly~” Maria told her and then bowed her head low and walked backwards out of the room.
“Alright, don’t keep me waiting for too long,” Rainbow teased and took a look around the room once the door closed.
It was small but cozy and warm, not humid like the rest of the building had been. The floor was white carpet and the walls were also painted white with a lamp hanging from the ceiling. In the corner there was a decorative vase with a few sticks lying next to it. Rainbow hated to admit that she recognized it as an incense burner. The middle of the small room was taken up by a comfortable looking massage table. Rainbow Dash shrugged once and hopped up on it. The only other thing in the room she noticed was a clothes bin that she obviously didn’t need. Rainbow stretched and found just the right spot on the table before lying down and relaxing her head.
“If all I did was take a nap in here it would be worth the trip...” Rainbow told herself as she closed her eyes.
But she had barely closed them for long before the door was opened and another mare walked in. This one was a very light orange with a wavy blue mane and tail. She was a bit older, with slight lines under her eyes, but her smile and the way she walked was still youthful.
“Hello, Rainbow Dash. I will be your masseuse for today, my name is Fleur,” she stepped over to the table and looked at Dash’s wings. “I was told to be extra delicate with your wings, would you tell me if there’s anywhere you’re sore and would like to receive special attention?”
Rainbow Dash just wryly grinned at her. “Everywhere.”
After a full hour of having her body worked over by who may well have been the best masseuse in the world—Rainbow Dash was in heaven. All the soreness, knots, and kinks in her muscles had been taken care of and she felt like jelly. It had been a long, long, time since she had felt this relaxed. Fleur was like a magician when it came to the art of massages, even though it was her very first time with wings it was like she had worked with them her whole life. She was going to have to thank Barnaby a lot for this and the spa trip wasn’t even close to being over yet.
Fleur brought her to the next part of the special spa treatment: the mud baths. Rainbow Dash didn’t really think it was her kind of thing but as soon as she dipped down into that warm mud and had the facial cleansing mask placed on, her thoughts evaporated into pure pleasure. The tingling sensation all over her body, revitalizing her coat and skin, felt just as good as Fleur’s amazing hooves.
Similar to when she was on the table, Rainbow Dash nearly fell asleep with everything below her neck submerged in that special mud. A light chime from a brass bell told her her time in the mud bath was over though and Fleur came to collect her and help Rainbow out.
“Did you enjoy your time in our mud bath?” Fleur asked her as Rainbow’s body was still dripping mud, practically covered with it like it was chocolate frosting.
“Yeah...” Rainbow’s voice was light and floaty.
Fleur giggled. “Please, let me take you to the shower and then you can go to the indoor hot spring. After that will come the mane and tail treatment and then you’ll be done.”
“R-Right on,” Rainbow’s legs shook like gooey jelly as she tried to walk.
Fleur just smiled and took her by the hoof to the shower in the mud baths room to clean off before the next part of the spa visit. After the powerful jets of water had rinsed away all the mud, Rainbow Dash was toweled off and taken to a new room. The doors to it were large and painted gold, Fleur pushed them both open together and a wall of steam came billowing out. Rainbow let the warmth wash over her as she stepped inside and took a look around at the true spa of The Copper Exclusives. It was a very large room, with a central spa in the middle that was more like a shallow pool than anything, the hot steamy water inside it being fed by a stream of water coming from the stone mouth of a lion at the far end of the pool. The floor was a sleek white while the edge of the spa had a golden shoulder going all around it and the walls of the room were actually huge mirrors—making the room seem even larger. Fake plants and rock formations to give the spa a more natural look decorated the entire room as well, some rocks even dotted the interior of the pool.
Rainbow wasn’t the only one in here either, other guests were relaxing in the water or lounging beside the pool on chairs, being tended to by others like Fleur.
“Nice place you’ve got here,” Rainbow couldn’t help being cheeky about the sheer extravagance before her.
“Please, take a rest in the waters and relax for as long as you feel the need to,” Fleur said and bowed her head, backing away from Rainbow.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Works for me.”
When she first dipped her hoof in, the water was just barely below the point where the initial dip was painful. Rainbow smiled to herself and walked down the steps at the only spot the gold didn’t cover until she was submerged in to her neck. It was so much better than just taking an ordinary warm bath or shower. There must’ve been some kind of special treatment or thing added to the water, that was the only explanation Rainbow had for why the water of the spa just felt so darn good. Her hooves hit the stone floor of the spa and left her head above water—right until Rainbow Dash gently dunked it in as well to get her mane nice and soaked too.
As she waded out into the waters her tail fanned out behind her like a large rainbow fan. She looked around at some of the other mares enjoying the spa and realized that thanks to the customs of Oreville this was the first time she was seeing ponies from here not wearing clothes. It didn’t bother her at all but it did feel kind of weird.
Rainbow gently traversed the entire hot spa, going from one end to the other and even swimming around the spout that was ceaselessly pouring fresh water into the pool. She unfurled her wings and used them to move her body through the water for a while instead of her hooves. It was a nice way to give them an easy workout while relaxing the rest of her body. Rainbow could pretty much fly while asleep so this was much easier.
Soon even that stopped and Rainbow Dash just allowed herself to lazily float on by until she came to rest by a rock, leaning against it and just letting the water do its wonders.
She wondered if she really could just stay in here for as long as she wanted? She was getting some kind of special treatment after all, right? And Barnaby probably wouldn’t care even if he had to wait around for her. Right now she really didn’t feel like ever getting out of this spa. So Rainbow Dash tilted her head back against the surprisingly smooth rock and allowed herself to drift away. Her thoughts were as light and fluffy as her body felt.
When her eyes closed it was impossible to tell how long they had been shut before Rainbow Dash opened them again.
But she did feel perfectly relaxed and rested. Rainbow pushed away from the rock and allowed herself to swim back towards the steps leading out of the pool. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Fleur was already there waiting for her with a towel.
“Did you enjoy it?” She asked as Rainbow stepped out of the pool with warm water dripping from her body.
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow grinned and grabbed the towel.
Three different ponies worked on her mane and tail at the same time, taking numerous different types of shampoos, conditioners and oils through the prismatic colors. Combs brushed through it, hair-ties were used as needed, and any attempts by the ponies to cut or style her hair in a different way were refused. Rainbow liked how her mane naturally looked.
At the end of it though they were both still a glossy and silky pair of masterpieces. Even Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but check out how stunning her mane and tail looked in the mirror. Rarity would be jealous of how good they looked right now.
“Wow, you guys are good,” Rainbow said as she turned around in a circle to see herself from every angle.
“We’re glad you enjoyed our services. Your mane and tail were a wonder to work with,” one of the silk-clad manedressers said.
“That concludes your treatment as explained to us by Maria,” another said. “Please allow me to escort you back to the front.”
Rainbow Dash took the short walk with her from the mane salon to the front lobby of The Copper Exclusives that she and Barnaby had first entered hours ago. The pleasant temperature and humidity of the building just added to the experience and kept Rainbow Dash relaxed even as she was finished with getting massages and other treatments.
Once she passed the velvety curtain she saw Barnaby and Maria waiting for her by the fountain. He looked far more chipper and cleaner than normal as well. Seems they both got something they really needed.
“Welcome back, I take it from the time you’ve been away that you enjoyed your visit to the spa?” Barnaby said with a smile.
“Yes,” Rainbow instantly replied.
“Your approval of our enterprise honors us greatly~” Maria said. “And hopefully you’ll come again.”
“We’ll see how long I’m here,” Rainbow smiled at her.
“I think regardless of everything else this would be a perfect place for you to revisit right before you leave Oreville. You’ll be perfectly rejuvenated for travel,” Barnaby said.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Maybe, thanks for this though.” She looked at Maria. “You too.”
Maria bowed and stepped away from the two of them while Barnaby motioned her to come with him. “Come on, we should get something to eat after all this, and there’s still plenty else for you to see in Oreville.”
“Problem is I think it’s going to have a hard time measuring up to this place. Maybe you brought me here too soon,” she grinned at Barnaby.
He laughed and pushed open the doors to take them outside. “So be it then.”