//------------------------------// // 5. Lots to Share // Story: Tales of Ponyville // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// “Mind the jangles, Carrot Top,” my grandmother used to say to me, “mind the jangles, and the bits will take care of themselves.” She was probably right. I don’t know: I’ve never been very good at minding the jangles no matter how much I try. On paper, I make plenty of money. Plenty comes in, more than enough to live off of. But then, when one takes into account all the work that has to be done around here – repairing the fence, buying a new plough, a new rake, buying fertilizer, paying for help during plowing or harvest, getting a new cart after my old one got trampled by an Ursa Minor…somepony in town once said that he couldn’t understand how small farms could ever turn a profit. I can understand where he’s coming from – it’s very close each year, ever since I took over the farm rather than letting it be sold off after Grandma died. I hope some day I’ll learn how Grandma and Grandpa managed it. Ooh, and the worst part is that I’m located right next to Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack’s life isn’t without problems, I know that very well these days, but still. Sweet Apple Acres isn’t a small farm at all, doesn’t have near the same kind of close margin of profit that Golden Harvest does. It supplies apples to most of the surrounding provinces! And not just apples – they’ve branched out, they grow a half-dozen other crops, too. And the Apple Clan is so large and my own farm is so tiny, and most days I can deal with that, but sometimes I just look over my fence and glare at an apple tree and wish it’d just burst into flames! Just the one! That never happens, of course. Probably for the best. It probably doesn’t help that my life seems to have become a good deal more complicated over the past few months. First there was the business with Corona, then the Ursa Minor, a thieving rabbit (though that one was resolved pretty fast, at least), that whole mess that I got into with Applejack, where I nearly lost the farm…and several times I’ve had to leave the farm for one thing or another, most recently when we all went to Canterlot to meet Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Not that I didn’t enjoy that! Taking time off from working is just as important as working hard, but the fact of the matter is that I have to count every hour I spend somewhere other than my farm and make up for it later. Oh, listen to me complain. I’m making my life sound so horrible, but it isn’t. It’s not like I’m on the verge of poverty, though admittedly I did have a close call at the start of the year. I have a few luxuries, like my monthly spa trip with Trixie, or making sure that my mane and tail stay shining and healthy – I think I can definitely say that I have the best mane out of any farmer in Ponyville! I have friends I can count on – Trixie, Berry Punch, Thunderlane, Cheerilee, Ditzy, and so many others – and I even have time for new friends, like Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. And with the Farmer’s Union, which I helped to make, up-and-coming, I’m even starting to get known, at least in Ponyville and the rest of the North Everfree province. My life can be hard, but it could be so much worse, and I’m grateful for what I have. Still…it’d be nice to have a little more sometimes… --- Carrot Top breathed out a heavy sigh of relief as she stopped pulling the plough and looked behind her. Golden Harvests wasn’t the largest farm in Ponyville by any means, even if one discounted the province-unto-itself that was Sweet Apple Acres (this may have been a slight exaggeration on Carrot Top’s part), but it was still a lot of land for a single pony to plough, and all she had been doing was the northwestern quarter, which thus far into the year she had been allowing to lie fallow to let the soil there to gather up nutrients and minerals from decaying weeds she’d pulled, then left to rot so that the earth could absorb them. However, with the middle of Spring having come and gone and summer looming, it was time for this field to once again get to work and pay its rent, as it were. Carrot Top had been up since just before dawn working on the field, stopping only for the traditional noontime break hiding from the Tyrant Sun (and grabbing lunch), and she had spent only half an hour on lunch for that, rather than the fully traditional hour (but then, most farmers she knew also tended to break for only half an hour – the Sun in its hubris would wait for no pony in its arc across the sky). Now that the field was done, Carrot Top thought happily to herself as she dragged the plough back to her shed, the most important part could begin: planting. For most of her fields and her harvests, Carrot Top would usually hire an able-bodied worker or two to plough and she’d follow behind their work with planting, but the northeastern field was her field this year, the one she’d tend all by herself, and it would produce her finest crops as a result. Earth pony magic was slow, and it was subtle, but Princess Luna herself had been known to say on many occasions that it could very well be greater than any pegasus squall or unicorn spell. Dragging the plow across the field hadn’t simply moved and tilled and readied the earth she’d walked upon, it had also served to move and till and ready herself. Some part of Carrot Top was now invested in that plot of land, a bond created by her moving back and forth across the earth, her hooves digging into the soil as she pulled the plough, a bond that would only be strengthened as she dug up the dirt and pressed seeds into it. It was hard work, though not quite as hard as pulling the plough all by herself, and it went considerably faster due to her having spent all morning loosening the soil. By the time she had finished, she had worked up a considerable sweat and the sky was getting notably darker, and not just because the sun was making steady progress towards the horizon, she saw when she finally decided to look up rather than down at her planting. Her farm was a fair distance from the Everfree Forest, but she could see dark clouds, thousands of feet tall, stretching up over it and heading towards Ponyville, the air pressure from the storm pushing numerous smaller clouds in front of it. She was in the middle of wondering if this was going to have an effect on her plans for later in the day with two certain pegasi, when a polychromatic streak arched from the storm, did a loop directly over Carrot Top’s head, and then shot straight down before landing with a solid thud directly in front of Carrot Top. A small dust cloud was kicked up, but when it cleared, the streak revealed itself to by a cyan pegasus with a multicolored mane and tail – Rainbow Dash. “Aw yeah,” Rainbow Dash said with a smirk as she brushed off her forelegs, even as Carrot Top coughed a little, waving a hoof in front of her face to clear the dust cloud. “And my dad used to complain that I never think ahead. Well take a look at that!” She beat her wings a few times in order to set herself down right next to Carrot Top – Rainbow Dash never trotted when she could fly – and put one leg around Carrot Top’s withers, the other pointing at the Everfree storm. “That’s planning ahead, am I right?” Carrot Top stared at the storm, then back to Rainbow Dash. Ever since she had helped Fluttershy out with a problem a few months ago, she and Rainbow Dash had struck up bizarre friendship. “You made that?” she asked. Rainbow Dash laughed. “Jeeze, what do I look like? The Princess?” she asked. “I’m awesome but I’m not that awesome, nopony can create weather in the Everfree. But – check this – we’re not going to do anything about it.” She laughed again. Carrot Top blinked a few times, looking to Rainbow Dash in confusion as she considered that. “Um…isn’t this a bit early for the storm we asked for?” she asked, referring to the rain she had requisitioned on behalf of the Farmer’s Union to make up for what had been a surprisingly dry Spring. It had, in point of fact, been the first time that the Farmer’s Union had ever made an official request of the Ponyville municipal government – and it had been granted without any fuss at all! Carrot Top couldn’t help but feel a measure of pride in the organization that she had helped to create. It was still small, but it was growing notably. Still, this rain was coming early – not too early, Carrot Top didn’t think, not for her crop, anyway, but somepony else might have needed the extra few days to prepare… Rainbow Dash waved a hoof dismissively as she took to the air, though only so that she could hover just off of the ground rather than stand in place. “Yeah,” she said, “but this storm isn’t too big. No thunder, no lightning, just rain. Basically I figure that we’ll have this storm this week and a smaller one next week and then your Farmer’s Union will have plenty of water, and we won’t have to work so hard.” “And you won’t get in trouble for that?” The pegasus smirked. “With who?” she asked. “I’m weather captain.” She flipped around, still hovering in place but now reclining on the air as though she were in a beach chair, forelegs behind her head. “And if the higher-ups in Cloudsdale even notice, I’ll just say that it was Everfree weather and that they know how unpredictable it can be!” “What about your weather team?” Rainbow Dash grinned brightly. “Nopony wants to waste a day bucking away a storm like this. It’s boring. Pegasi have got to move! So I put it to a vote to all the on-duty pegasi but I knew I’d win! Raindrops even cast the deciding vote! Not that that’s surprising, it’d rain every day if she was in charge. Which would probably be a good thing for her, she’s way more mellow when it’s raining. Ever notice that?” Carrot Top had, and wasn’t very surprised to learn that Raindrops had voted for rain. She did, however, notice a slight flaw in Rainbow Dash’s plan. “The deciding vote?” she echoed. Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, it was me, Raindrops, Airheart, and Cloud Kicker against Sunlight, Blue Skies, and Thunderlane. Mares verses stallions! Mares won, of course.” “But that means it was close…what if somepony complains to the weather network in Cloudsdale?” Rainbow Dash let herself fall to the ground, flipping around and landing easily on her hooves as she did, and considering for a few moments before shrugging. “Eh, I’ll worry about that if it happens,” she said. “I’d just be chewed out. I’ve been chewed out before. And besides, you’re not seeing how awesome this is! It’s not just the Farmer’s Union. Think about Fluttershy!” Carrot Top slung her shovel over her back and closed the saddlebags full of carrot seeds that she had been carrying, then began trotting back towards her house, Rainbow Dash following in the air as the earth pony considered. “Alright, I give up,” she said after a few moments. “How does rain help Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash grinned brightly, clearly enjoying that she knew something that Carrot Top didn’t, though she didn’t hold it over from her as she began explaining. “An unscheduled rain storm,” she said, rubbing her hooves together. “Nopony wants to be outside in the rain if they can help it! It’s just a little water but everypony always treats it like it’s acid or fire or something! So they’ll all stay at home unless they have to go on errands. No foals playing in the streets, nopony trying to talk to Fluttershy ‘cause they think she’s new in town or ‘cause they want to talk to ‘the mysterious mare that lives in that old cottage,’ nothing! Just smooth sailing all the way from her house to the spa! No offence, C, but if this was just for the Union then I probably wouldn’t have let this happen. But for Fluttershy? Heck yeah!” Carrot Top blinked a few times as she thought about that. “Wow,” she said. “I know!” “All those ponies that might have wanted to do something else with their day, and you focused solely on what might help us get Fluttershy to the spa.” “I’m such an awesome friend, I know,” Rainbow Dash said, beaming, what Carrot Top was actually saying clearly sailing right over her head. Carrot Top resisted the urge to sigh. Rainbow Dash was quite possibly the most inconsiderate pony that Carrot Top had ever met, but there was no denying that she would do anything for Fluttershy. Even let a storm run wild and ruin an unknown number of pony’s days. Well, she was right about one thing, at least. This would help get Fluttershy from her front door to the spa. Provided, of course, that the two of them could coax Fluttershy to even go out her front door to begin with. --- By the time Carrot Top had put away her farming equipment, thrown on a rain cloak, and hurried over to Fluttershy’s cottage – Rainbow Dash following, or rather zipping ahead or back and just generally flying around, not saying but obviously implying that Carrot Top was far too slow for her tastes – the rain had begun, starting with slow pitter-patters but quickly building up into a full-on rainstorm, though Rainbow Dash had, at least, been right about the lack of thunder or lightning, or even heavy wind. The pegasus didn’t seem bothered by the wetness at all, while Carrot Top’s rain cloak had been bought in Fillydelphia, which had notoriously hard rain, and was more than up to the task of keeping her as dry. Rainbow Dash only settled down as Carrot Top arrived at Fluttershy’s front door. A notable change overcame the cyan pegasus’ features, Carrot Top noted. Normally, Rainbow Dash was in constant motion, eyes darting around and focusing on the slightest interesting thing, muscles always twitching and ready to go, tail swishing, wings beating, just constant motion. She wasn’t unfocused, per se, as she was typically still more than capable of holding a conversation, but she was simply incapable of standing or sitting still. She had to do something. Except around Fluttershy. When Rainbow Dash was with her oldest friend, she calmed notably, reigning in her hyperactivity, standing up a little straighter, and clearly taking her every movement slowly and carefully. Take, for example, an action as simple as knocking on the door. Anypony else’s door, and she’d probably use both her front hooves and tap out a complicated rhythm, hard. Here, she simply made three quick, soft knocks. It wasn’t a complete change, and her regular self often showed through, but it was clear she was making an effort to be calmer and more collected. The pony who answered the door was the precise opposite of Rainbow Dash, except insofar as both were mares and pegasi. Yellow-coated and pink-maned, Fluttershy opened her door only a crack at first, before her large eyes saw that it was only Rainbow Dash and Carrot Top, and she opened it fully. The sight that greeted Carrot Top was not – fully – what she expected. Fluttershy was wearing a thick coat, made from wool and with fake fur around the neck and sleeves. She was covered in bright red, perfectly circular spots. “Oh,” she said softly, “Hello – cough, cough – hello Rainbow Dash, hello – ah choo – Carrot Top. Cough.” Carrot Top and Rainbow Dash stared at Fluttershy, then to each other, then back at Fluttershy. “Is…something wrong?” Carrot Top asked. She was fairly certain that nopony actually said ‘cough’ when they coughed. “Oh,” Fluttershy said, looking to one hoof, which had a red circle on it as well. “I – cough – I seem to have come down with, um, the pony pox. So I – ah choo, ah choo – I can’t go to the spa like we said. Cough, ah choo. I’m sorry, I guess we’ll have to reschedule. Ah choo.” A pause, as Fluttershy wilted to the floor of her cottage. “Cough.” Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, then closed it, then looked to Carrot Top, jerking her head somewhat. She turned around, as did Carrot Top, as Fluttershy continued to say cough and ah choo every now and then. “I’m not buyin’ this, are you?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Not at all,” Carrot Top answered, then looked back to Fluttershy. “Um…Fluttershy, dear…I’m pretty sure you can’t get the pony pox on your hoof.” She waved her own hoof for emphasis. Fluttershy looked to the hoof that the ‘pox’ was located on. “Oh, um…” she said softly. “Well…um…th-that’s actually a common misconception, you see…” Carrot Top grimaced. “Well,” she said softly, “do you know what the cure to the pony pox is?” Fluttershy nodded, smiling brightly with her eyes closed. “Plenty of bed rest, lots of fluids – eek!” Fluttershy’s exclamation came as Carrot Top took her ‘poxed’ leg in her own hoof, and used her other to rub the ‘pox’ with her rain cloak. Unsurprisingly, the combination of wetness and friction caused the spot to disappear without much effort. “A good hoof-shine!” Carrot Top said happily. Fluttershy blinked a few times, then wilted, seeming to shrink within her coat and hide behind her large mane. “O-oh,” she said softly. “Um…r-right…w-well, Angel B-Bunny is a-also, um…f-f-feeling sick…” Rainbow Dash and Carrot Top both looked past Fluttershy and into her cottage. Neither were particularly surprised to see a small white rabbit reclining on Fluttershy’s sofa, an oversized book held in his hands and wearing a positively adorable fez tucked between his long ears. At Fluttershy’s words, the rabbit glanced up at the two visitors, rolled his eyes, and then returned to the book. “He seems fine to me,” Rainbow Dash noted. Fluttershy shrank more. “W…w-well…um…” Carrot Top let out a slight sigh. She’d met Fluttershy for the first time two months ago, when Angel Bunny had been stealing her carrots – in order to get Carrot Top’s attention, it turned out, as the rabbit had somehow known that Carrot Top could help Fluttershy with a bad case of poison joke that she had caught. Ever since then, Carrot Top had become one of only a very small number of ponies who ever interacted with Fluttershy, alongside Rainbow Dash, whom Carrot Top knew had known Fluttershy since their foalhoods; and Ditzy and Dinky Doo, the former delivering mail to Fluttershy and the latter helping Fluttershy around her cottage every weekend. If Fluttershy had only had Carrot Top and the other three as friends, that would have been one thing. But Fluttershy’s timidity went significantly beyond that: those four ponies were the only ponies who ever interacted with Fluttershy, apart letters she sent to and recieved from her family back in Cloudsdale. Other than those, Fluttershy spent the vast majority of her time alone, without any other form of contact with other ponies, or even leaving the same few acres of land. Carrot Top respected that Fluttershy wanted live a quiet life, but this was simply a step too far. She was hardly a psychologist, but she knew such isolation wasn’t healthy, let alone such a sedentary lifestyle for a pegasus. As a result, she’d floated the idea of having Fluttershy accompany her to the spa some time, and Rainbow Dash had been surprisingly supportive. Carrot Top tried to go at least once a month to just relax, which she knew she’d never do if she tried it on the farm: there was just too much to do and if she was nearby, she’d try and do it. But at the spa, she could simply unwind, something that she sorely suspected Fluttershy was in need of. Carrot Top gathered her resolve as she stretched out a hoof and gently laid it upon Fluttershy’s withers. Fluttershy twitched a little at the touch, but didn’t flee, which was a good sign. “Fluttershy,” she said softly, “if you don’t want to go to the spa, you don’t have to. But Rainbow Dash actually kicked up this rain for you.” Fluttershy glanced to her fellow pegasus from behind her mane. “Y-you did…?” she asked. Rainbow Dash scuffed a hoof on the ground. “Well, I let some rain from the Everfree through, anyway,” she said. “This way, there’s nopony who’ll bother us on the way to the spa!” “And Aloe and Lotus, the ponies who run the spa, are the best,” Carrot Top said firmly. “You won’t even know they’re there if you don’t want to. It’s just a chance to get out a little. You have to get a little stir-crazy from just seeing the same four walls all the time, don’t you?” Fluttershy was staring at the ground, lost in thought, at least until a small, white, fez-topped bunny appeared beside her. Angel Bunny had set down his book and hopped up behind Fluttershy, thumping one of her hips with his hind leg, then pointing firmly out the door. “O…okay,” Fluttershy said softly, eyes closed. “I’ll…I’ll do it.” “Alright!” Rainbow Dash cheered, pumping a hoof in the air. Fluttershy jumped slightly at her fellow pegasus’ action, though she calmed quickly. “Okay, Fluttershy, I’ll get your rain cloak, you just wash that paint or whatever it is off of you, and then we’re off!” --- Rainbow Dash’s storm had done its job. She, Carrot Top, and Fluttershy encountered nopony as they walked from Fluttershy’s cottage to the rain-covered streets of Ponyville, Carrot Top and Fluttershy protected by rain cloaks but Rainbow Dash simply flying alongside, not letting the rain bother her in the slightest. Fluttershy had been basically at-ease as the three walked from her cottage to Ponyville. Though she didn’t make the trip often – actually, ever, as far as Carrot Top was aware – they had only been walking by the vast farmland that surrounded Ponyville, with them unlikely to see anypony else even if it had been a cloudless day. When the thatched-roof buildings of Ponyville had come into view, however, Fluttershy had hesitated in her trot, staring at them like they were a horde of dragons waiting to pounce and eat her. It had taken several moments, but eventually Carrot Top and Rainbow Dash had convinced her to soldier on. Unsurprisingly, the streets of Ponyville were, in fact, empty of other ponies, which was probably for the best. Fluttershy kept her head bowed as the three trotted through Ponyville, leaning close to Rainbow Dash or Carrot Top. While the trot in had been full of light conversation, Fluttershy hadn’t said so much as a word since they’d entered the town proper. Carrot Top couldn’t help but shake her head at the sight. The poor dear was terrified over absolutely nothing. It was with a tremendous amount of relief when they finally reached large building that was the Aloe-Lotus Day Spa, wiped mud off of their hooves, and entered. The inside of the spa stood as a marked contrast to the gray, wet, and muddy outside world. Inside the spa, the walls were white or a soft sky-blue and covered with decorative floral paintings, and the lobby was dominated by a duo of wide, soft-looking couches with a table set in front of each. The air was thick with the smell of lilac, rose, and dozens of other flowery scents that wafted and floated through the air from deeper within the spa, out of sight. The only other pony immediately in sight was an earth pony with a light blue coat and pale rose mane – Lotus, one of the ponies that ran the spa. She smiled when she saw the three ponies. “Ah!” Lotus said brightly, as Carrot Top trotted up to the counter after having taken off her rain cloak and left it hanging on a nearby rack. “Miss Carrot Top! Miss Rainbow Dash! Velcome! Ve’ve had so many missed appointments today, I am glad to be seeing you here!” Carrot Top offered a smile of her own, as much at the soft, accented voice of Lotus as in friendly greeting – she didn’t think that anypony could be frightened of such a welcoming tone, which was good for Fluttershy. “No, we made it,” Carrot Top said happily, as she looked behind her. Rainbow Dash had a wing over Fluttershy’s withers. Fluttershy still hadn’t taken off her rain cloak, and was keeping her head bowed low, focusing intently on a hoof she kept scuffing on the floor. “Um…this is that special case I talked to you about last week…” “Ah yes, of course,” Lotus said with a smile, coming out from behind the counter, slowly approaching the two pegasi. “Flüttershy, is it?” Fluttershy didn’t answer, though she did stop scuffing the floor and there might have been a slight bobbing to her head that suggested she’d nodded in confirmation. “Vell, Flüttershy, my name is Lotus Blossom. I and my sister, Aloe, are completely dedicated to ensuring you have a pleasant experience here at our day spa. If there is anything you vant, just let us know, and ve vill accommodate it. Ve’ll do anything for a friend of our second-best customer, after all!” Carrot Top blinked a little at that. “I didn’t think that I came here often enough to be that…” she said softly, feeling a slight swelling of pride at being so valuable an asset to somepony. Lotus laughed lightly. “Not you!” She said, though without maliciousness in her voice. “Not that ve don’t value your business, Miss Carrot Top, but I vas actually referring to Miss Rainbow Dash.” The feeling of pride disappeared, but its loss was hardly noticed as insatiable curiosity rushed to fill the void, and Carrot Top looked to the weather captain. Even Fluttershy glanced up at that, affording Lotus her first look at her face. Rainbow Dash blinked a few times, then chuckled, rubbing a hoof behind her head as her coat started losing its blue coloration, replacing it with a bright, rosy pink. “H…ha! Yeah, Lotus, you’re such a kidder, I don’t come here that often – ” “Such modesty,” Lotus said with a bright smile, even as the door to the spa proper opened and her sister Aloe – identical in every way, except that her mane and coat colors were the reverse of Lotus’ – entered, offering a bright smile. “But you are definitely one of our very best! Right, Aloe?” “Oh, yes!” Aloe said. Her voice was even identical to her sister’s. “Vonce a veek, every veek since ve opened! I believe you said it vas part of your exercise regimen?” Rainbow Dash stared like she was bound and gagged on a railway and Carrot Top was an oncoming train that would blare humiliation throughout town, with Lotus and Aloe, the earth pony suspected, having grown a thin moustaches, black capes, and tall black hats in Rainbow Dash’s mind, each cackling gleefully. She didn’t know what role Fluttershy played in the fantasy. Rainbow Dash turned her gaze downwards after several moments, doing a surprisingly good Fluttershy impersonation. “Working out is important, but so is relaxing the muscles…” she said through gritted teeth. “Otherwise they might be strained…heard that the Wonderbolts do it…and for your information my wing power has gone up by, like, four since I started coming here!” Carrot Top stifled a giggle at that, and even Fluttershy had a thin, but honest, smile on her face. After a few moments, Carrot Top held up one hoof solemnly. “I promise, Rainbow Dash, your secret’s safe with me,” she said. “And vit us as well,” Lotus promised on behalf of herself and her sister, as well as the other ponies who worked at the spa. “I’m sorry, I vould have thought that Carrot Top and Flüttershy knew.” The spa pony looked once more to Fluttershy. “Now then, Miss Flüttershy. You are here for our full treatment, yes?” The ice having been broken, at least a little, Fluttershy nodded, taking off her rain cloak, though she still didn’t make eye contact. “Vell,” Aloe continued for her sister, “That begins vith a visit to our sauna. Then, a full facial, feather preening for you and Miss Rainbow Dash, and massage.” “Following,” Lotus picked back up, “is a luxurious seaweed and mud bath, then after you have been vashed off, a hooficure unbeaten anyvhere in all of Equestria.” “And a pleasant experience for you is our highest priority, Miss Flüttershy,” Aloe finished. “If there is anything you vant us to do, or don’t vant us to do, anything that is making you uncomfortable, tell us.” Fluttershy nodded again, and surprised Carrot Top by even gently saying “okay,” though in a voice so quiet that it could barely be heard over the pitter-patter of rain outside. Rainbow Dash and Carrot Top both smiled, as Fluttershy made her way forward, following Aloe and Lotus, timidly, but willingly. There we go! Carrot Top thought with a smile as she followed as well. This is good for Fluttershy, she’ll get to relax, and she seems to be comfortable around Aloe and Lotus, just like I knew she would! This is going great – The door opened, loudly. There was neither thunder nor lightning, but Carrot Top got the distinct sense that there should have been as Aloe, Lotus, Carrot Top, and rainbow Dash all turned to see who had entered, while Fluttershy, with surprising speed, had dived behind all of them in shock, wings spread wide and hiding behind both her mane and tail as she cowered on the floor. “I’m here…!” sang a high, confident voice. “Ah!” Aloe and Lotus exclaimed at the same time, both brightening as they trotted forward to take the white-coated, purpled-maned unicorns’ rain cloak, hat, and a saddle-mounted, ornate umbrella from her, setting them aside and out of the way as the newcomer shook her mane free with a bright dazzle. “Miss Rarity! So glad that our star customer could make it!” Carrot Top dashed over to Fluttershy’s side even as she wondered how she could have possibly scheduled Fluttershy’s day spa appointment on the same day that one of the most extroverted, invasive ponies in town had her own visit scheduled. There should have been warning signs up or something…she reached Fluttershy and put a re-assuring hoof on her withers even as Rainbow Dash leapt protectively to Fluttershy’s side, shooting a glare Rarity’s way while her oldest friend cowered. “What?” she demanded incredulously at the unicorn’s appearance. “But…the rain…why are you here?” The unicorn named Rarity – beautician, clothier, and fashionista extraordinaire – looked to Rainbow Dash in surprise. “Why, Miss Dash!” Rarity said, putting a hoof to her chest. “Neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night, nor glare of day could keep me from my bi-weekly spa appointment! Although I must say I’m rather surprised to be seeing you here. Aren’t you the weather captain? Shouldn’t you be doing something about…” Rarity trailed off on that as she looked to Carrot Top. “Ah! Miss Carrot Top, so good to see you again!” Carrot Top hid a grimace as Rarity took off her rain cloak, hat, and umbrella, passing them off to Aloe and Lotus. Rarity was, in a way, responsible for her friendship with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both, having helped instill in her the confidence to deal with the former in order to get to the latter during the poison joke ordeal a few months back. Of course, Rarity’s help, it turned out, had not been free, though the price was a minor one all things considered: Carrot Top had needed to model for the clothier, as apparently she had a ‘rustic, down-to-earth’ sense about her. It hadn’t worked out, and Carrot Top hadn’t seen much of Rarity since, though the two had remained friendly. Carrot Top, therefore, gave Rarity polite nod. “Hello,” she said. “Um…if you don’t mind, Miss Rarity, could you keep things down? Fluttershy, here, is a bit uncomfortable around new ponies…” Rarity opened her mouth – to say what, Carrot Top didn’t know, however, as she looked at Fluttershy for the first time, just as the pegasus pony glanced out from behind her mane. Rarity let out a drawn-out gasp. “Oh my!” she exclaimed, trotting forward. “You’re Fluttershy? The Fluttershy? The pony who lives all by herself on the edge of that dreadful forest?” Fluttershy’s response was barely loud enough to be called a squeak. Rainbow Dash and Carrot Top both tried to interpose themselves between Rarity and Fluttershy, but the unicorn was quicker than either of them, indeed didn’t even notice them as she leaned in close, as Fluttershy retreated back under her mane and whimpered. “B-but…you’re exquisite! Your mane, your tail, your coat, your proportions! How could a pony as beautiful as you hide herself away in that dreary little cottage surrounded by beasts?” Rainbow Dash took wing and hovered in front of Rarity and protectively over Fluttershy. “Hey!” She demanded “Back off! Can’t you see that Fluttershy needs her sp – hey!” “In a minute, dear,” Rarity said off-hoofedly, blue telekinesis dancing along her horn, grabbing Rainbow Dash, then pushing her off to one side, the unicorn having only barely glanced at Rainbow Dash. Her attention was almost instantly back on Fluttershy. “Darling, you simply must tell me what you do! I had imagined a pony covered in mud and sticks and with leaves in her hair and fire in her eyes, but you! You’re – you’re so timid! Demure! Bashful! Shy – ” “Miss Rarity!” Carrot Top interrupted. Rarity looked to Carrot Top, a polite smile on her face. “Yes, miss Carrot Top?” she asked. “If you don’t mind, I’m a bit busy with Fluttershy here.” “That’s just it,” Carrot Top said, holding up a hoof. “Please, Fluttershy is…delicate.” Rarity blinked a few times, then brightened once more. “Delicate!” she exclaimed. “Yes – delicate! That’s the perfect word to describe her! Why didn’t I think of tha…” she trailed off for a few moments, eyes darting back and forth as though reading. “Oh – oh! Yes! Idea…!” Quicker than Carrot Top could follow, Rarity turned around and dashed out of the spa. She almost immediately dashed back in with a shriek at the rain, apparently having forgotten about it in her rush. She retrieved her cloak, hat, and umbrella from Aloe and Lotus, who had just finished carefully and expertly folding the cloak with the same kind of reverence one normally reserved for the Equestrian flag. Throwing them on, she ran off. “…what was that about?” Carrot Top asked. Rainbow Dash, having been freed from Rarity’s telekinesis, had galloped over to Fluttershy, quickly laying a wing over her and talking to her softly. Aloe and Lotus seemed almost as confused. “I…I’m afraid I don’t know,” Aloe said, glancing out the door. “Miss Rarity has never missed an appointment…” “She seemed very excited, though,” Lotus added. “Yeah, and where were you during all that?” Rainbow Dash demanded, pointing a hoof accusingly at the sisters. “That mare practically assaulted poor Fluttershy and you two just stood there!” The two sisters looked between each other nervously. “Please, ve apologize,” Lotus said. “Miss Rarity is our very best customer. She has two scheduled appointments each veek, and often comes in completely unscheduled besides!” “But ve have never seen her so excited…” Aloe continued. “Not even vit Photo Finish in town. And ve did not realize just how delicate Miss Flüttershy was.” “Please, ve vill give you half off your visit today,” Lotus said, pressing her front hooves together. “And our VIP treatment besides. Vill this make up for things?” Carrot Top and Rainbow Dash both looked to Fluttershy, who, with Rarity now gone, was once again looking out from beneath her mane, at the other four ponies who were all looking at her expectantly. “U-um…” Fluttershy said. “I…I suppose, if it’s not too much trouble…” Aloe and Lotus both brightened, while Carrot Top let out a sigh of relief, gently patting Fluttershy on the back. The two spa ponies trotted forward to Fluttershy. “Alright, Miss Flüttershy,” Aloe said. “Right this vay…” --- The sauna had been a calming experience for all the ponies inside, most of all for poor Fluttershy. The facial had been slightly more of a trial, as it required Lotus to actually touch Fluttershy, something the pegasus was uncomfortable with, but it had been solved easily enough when Carrot Top had volunteered to apply the moisturizer herself. Fluttershy had also turned down the cucumbers over her eyes, but then again so did Carrot Top – she’d discovered that all having those over her eyes tended to do was make her hungry. The feather preening was something that Carrot Top simply couldn’t intervene in, however. Rainbow Dash had saved the day here, allowing Aloe and Lotus to tend to her own wings first and letting Fluttershy see everything they intended to do. Eventually, Fluttershy had acquiesced, and after only a few moments of tension had settled down rather comfortably on her table as the two spa pony sisters cleaned and trimmed her feathers, applying cleansing lotions and oils. During this, Fluttershy had opened up more fully to the two ponies when they asked her questions about her life, what she did, how she had met Rainbow Dash and Carrot Top. Fluttershy hadn’t answered every question, but neither Aloe nor Lotus had pushed for answers, either. By the time the three of them reached the massage – which called for a third set of hooves with one of the sisters’ assistants taking care of Rainbow Dash – Fluttershy didn’t even require any coaxing to let Aloe her hooves across her legs, neck, withers, and back, while Lotus saw to Carrot Top. “This is delightful,” Fluttershy said as she lay on the massage table, her voice as loud as Carrot Top had ever heard it – which still put it at a decibel or two below a ‘normal’ speaking voice, but for Fluttershy it was practically shouting in excitement. Aloe was massaging the base of her wings at the moment. “Ooh…I should come here more often! Um…if that’s okay, I mean…” Rainbow Dash’s and Carrot Top’s tables were next to each other; they shared a quick hoof-bump at Fluttershy’s words, though Carrot Top tempered her surprise quickly. “Fluttershy,” she said softly, “it won’t always be raining, you know…you’ll probably have to come here on a clear day if you want to do that.” Fluttershy was silent, and there was a palpable tension in the room as, though she didn’t know it, all eyes in the room were focused on her. Fluttershy, herself, had her eyes closed, as she carefully weighed her options. “I…I think I could manage…” she said, glancing sideways towards the other two ponies she’d come with. “If I could come in with one of you two? Once a month?” Carrot Top and Rainbow Dash shared another hoof-bump at that. Even if Fluttershy did nothing but go from her home straight to the spa, even if she flew the whole way to cut down on how many ponies she’d have to interact with, that still was a vast improvement over her current lifestyle, and still added Aloe, Lotus, and the rest of the spa staff to the small pool of ponies that Fluttershy interacted with. “No problem, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I’m here every week! Normally Sundays, today was special, but you could come with me!” “And I can see if I can change my monthly appointment to Sundays,” Carrot Top said, even as she made sure to avoid the T-word around Fluttershy. For whatever reason, Fluttershy was convinced Trixie was out to get her, even though, to Carrot Top’s knowledge, Trixie was barely aware of Fluttershy’s existence. Normally Carrot Top went to the spa with Trixie every month, and she did enjoy the time they spent together – maybe she could have Fluttershy and Trixie meet ‘on neutral ground,’ as the spa essentially was, and help Fluttershy put her fear behind her. The massages ended, and the three moved on to the seaweed-wrap and mud bath. Fluttershy had taken to this easily enough without raising any objections – Carrot Top supposed that, working with animals as she did, she was in no way afraid of a little mud. Fluttershy, by now, had calmed down completely from her ordeal with Rarity. Thus it was that Rarity arrived. “Ah ha!” The unicorn exclaimed as the door to the mud bath room flew open. Carrot Top and Fluttershy both eeped in surprise, while Rainbow Dash tried to take flight, apparently forgetting about both the seaweed wrapped around her body and the mud that she was almost completely surrounded by. She succeeded only in rising a few inches out of the mud before falling face-first into it and sinking, prompting Carrot Top to wade over to her and pull her back out, sputtering and gasping. Rarity noticed none of it as she trotted up to the lip of the mud bath. She had an easel with her loaded with drawings of a certain butterscotch pegasus, each time dressed in different clothing. “Miss Fluttershy, may I present to you – you!” She flourished the first of the drawings. “Aloe!” Carrot Top shouted as she struggled out of the mud bath. “Lotus!” “Oh, I put a sound-dampening spell over the door, darling,” Rarity said. “Very simple cantrip, learned it after my sister was born, I love her but by the stars can she be loud when she sings. No, peace and quiet while we work, that’s what’s needed. Now, Flutter – where did she go?” Carrot Top and Rainbow Dash both looked to the mud bath, eyes wide, just as something pony-shaped beneath a thick layer of mud rose from it, gasped for breath, and then tried to hide back underneath her cover. Rainbow Dash stopped her, however, even as she glared out at Rarity. “Go away!” “Can’t you see how much you’re scaring her?” Carrot Top added. “She’s supposed to be relaxing!” Rarity blinked a few times at that, then looked to Fluttershy – actually looked at her, for the first time, finally noticing that Fluttershy was all but hyperventilating as she quivered in Rainbow Dash’s hooves, staring at Rarity less like one pony looking at another and more like a mouse staring at a particularly hungry cat. “Oh…oh dear,” she noted. “I am so sor – ” “'Oh dear?'” Rainbow Dash demanded. “That’s all you can say? You assaulted her in the lobby and you’re – ” Rarity’s nose wrinkled slightly. “I don’t have to take that tone of voice from you, Rainbow Dash! You’re the one lazing about in here while a storm rages outside – ” “I’m not lazing – and that word has to be made up – but I’m not doing it, I’m helping my friend while you just keep showing up and – ” “Well please forgive me if I see such an exquisite example of beauty as Fluttershy and my muse begins howling at me, it’s not something I expect you’ll ever understand – ” “Your muse?” Rainbow Dash demanded, climbing from the mud bath and stomping towards Rairty. “So you’ve got a little voice inside your head that makes you ruin ponies days? I guess that makes it okay, then – ” “Why you rude – ” “Stuck up – ” “Lazy – ” “Crazy – ” Carrot Top glanced between the two mares shouting at each other, then glanced behind Rainbow Dash, at Fluttershy. The pegasus had her hooves to her ears and her eyes closed tightly as she trembled in the mud bath. At the sight, Carrot Top steeled herself, then stepped between the two quarreling mares, holding her hooves up. “Alright,” she said, then louder, “alright! Both of you! Quiet!” Rarity and Rainbow Dash both blinked at Carrot Top, stopping their mud-slinging – nearly literal mud-slinging from the looks of Rainbow Dash’s raised front hoof – and looking to the earth pony. Carrot Top looked between the two of them, settling on Rainbow Dash first. “Shouting at Rarity isn’t helping Fluttershy,” she said, pointing a hoof at the trembling pegasus. She turned around before Rainbow Dash could respond, looking to Rarity. “Fluttershy needs space and needs time to get used to new ponies. You haven’t given her either of those.” Rarity blinked a few times, glancing between Rainbow Dash and Carrot Top a few times before turning to look at Fluttershy, scuffing a hoof on the floor in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, Miss Fluttershy,” she said. “I’m afraid I may have gotten caught up in how beautiful you are. You would make the perfect model for this new clothes line I wanted to try my hoof at bringing to Cloudsdale…but I shall leave you in peace. Good day.” Rarity grasped her easel telekinetically, looking it over for a few moments before turning and heading towards the spa door, when something completely unexpected happened. “Wait!” Fluttershy exclaimed. It was more of a normal talking voice, but for her, she may as well have screamed at the top of her lungs. Carrot Top and Rainbow Dash both blinked in shock as they looked to Fluttershy, while Rarity, not as familiar with how quiet Fluttershy could normally be, simply turned around. Fluttershy, herself, glanced away from Rarity’s scrutiny almost immediately, though after a moment she slowly looked back, though she used her mane as a shield like she normally did. “Um…” she said, churning the mud with one hoof delicately. “Did…did you say…that…that you makes clothes…?” Rarity looked surprised and almost insulted for a moment, before the look passed and she smiled surprisingly gently. “Oh, yes. You wouldn’t know, I suppose, living out in that cottage…I am the proprietor of Carousel Boutique. Where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique!” There was several long moments of silence, as Fluttershy seemed to be considering saying something, almost did, then decided against it, only to open her mouth again a moment later. “Could…” she said at great length, “could I see…?” “What?” Rainbow Dash demanded, as Rarity trotted over to Fluttershy. “But…but Fluttershy, she – ” The pegasus stopped when Carrot Top raised a hoof, placing it on Rainbow Dash’s withers as she leaned in close. “Fluttershy just reached out to somepony,” she reminded Rainbow Dash softly. “Of her own free will. No goading, no us trying to put her around friendly ponies, nothing.” Rainbow Dash blinked at that. “Yeah, but did she have to reach out to this stuck-up, frou-frou, crazy – ” “Oh, that?” Rarity said to a question of Fluttershy’s about one of her sketches. “Well, about a three months ago the Wonderbolts decided they wanted to update their dress uniforms, and so there’s an open contest for clothiers right now. This is going to be my submission.” Rainbow Dash was back in the mud bath and next to Fluttershy in the time it took for Carrot Top to blink, looking at the sketch with wide eyes. Carrot Top suppressed the urge to chuckle as she returned to the mud herself. --- “So…what did you think of your first spa trip?” Carrot Top asked Fluttershy as the two and Rainbow Dash left the building, having finished their mud bath, been cleaned, and then proceeded to the hooficure. Aloe and Lotus had been surprised to find Rarity with them, even more so when they realized that Fluttershy had been actually talking with Rarity – not merely listening or making a comment every now and then, as she had with the spa ponies, but actually holding a conversation, about, of all things, fashion, a conversation that had continued through the hooficure and the end of their trip and the three of them leaving, while Rarity stayed behind due to now being in desperate need of a spa trip after the excitement of the past hour or two. Fluttershy had displayed a frankly freaky knowledge of sewing techniques throughout. Rainbow Dash hadn’t had much to say to Rarity after they’d moved on from the Wonderbolts uniform idea, other than suggesting that as good as it was, its ‘coolness’ had to be increased by at least a fifth. Whatever that meant. Fluttershy considered Carrot Top’s question. “It was…” she said, “…good. And Rarity seemed nice once she calmed down…I guess she just got excited. Rainbow Dash gets excited like that sometimes, too.” “What?” Rainbow Dash demanded, taking to the sky in surprise. She still didn’t have a rain-cloak, but didn’t seem to mind how much it was undoing her spa trip at all, while Fluttershy and Carrot Top were both being careful to avoid the worst of the mud puddles and keep their manes and tails covered by their cloaks. “I’m nothing like her!” she paused, thinking. “Am I?” Fluttershy and Carrot Top looked to each other, smiling and not saying anything. “Well,” Carrot Top said, stopping. “I’m going to go see another friend…she’s the one I go to the spa with every month, I’ll see if she’s okay with going on Sundays instead of our normal days.” Once again, Carrot Top carefully avoided mentioning that the friend was Trixie. “This was a great day for you, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy smiled brightly at that. “Thank-you, Carrot Top. I’ll see you soon.” “See you,” Carrot Top said, waving goodbye to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. The latter still seemed concerned with trying to figure out how she was similar to Rarity. It probably wouldn’t occur to her for some time, if ever, that letting a rainstorm loose on Ponyville was at least as selfishly careless as Rarity’s actions towards Fluttershy, but Carrot Top had learned some time ago that she should focus on helping one pony at a time, lest she end up nearly losing her farm. Again. Her trot to Trixie’s home was largely uneventful, at least until she reached the front door and found herself face-to-face with a gray-coated, yellow-maned pegasus pony, bedecked in the official uniform and rain cloak of a postmare of Equestria. “Ditzy!” Carrot Top said happily. “How are you?” Ditzy Doo, Element of Kindness, offered a smile as she opened the front gate to the Residency of the Representative of the Night Court of Luna (attempts getting ponies to abbreviate it to ‘the RRNCL’ had yet to work), Trixie’s home, being said Representative. “Oh, you know,” the wall-eyed pegasus said. “I’ve been spreading good news and good advice all around Ponyville today. You?” “Spa trip with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy,” Carrot Top said. “It turned out pretty well, actually…Fluttershy is going to try and make it a monthly thing, in fact!” Ditzy beamed. “Great!” she exclaimed, as the two reached the door and opened it. “I’ve been trying for years to help that mare…so she’s happy?” “Fluttershy is happy,” Carrot Top confirmed as the two entered the Residency, drying their hooves on the mat before glancing into Trixie’s office, where there was a fifty-fifty chance of finding the blue unicorn. Instead, what the two found was not just Trixie, but Raindrops, Cheerilee, and Lyra as well, all of them surrounding a pile of candy and looking like they’d just diffused an incredibly awkward situation. “Oh…is everypony really here?” “Saves me a few trips,” Ditzy said happily. “Huh…what’d we miss?” --- Let me make something clear, though, now that I think about it. Yes, I’d like to make more money. Yes, I’d like to have a bigger house, or better equipment for my farm. I want more material things. Who doesn’t? Even the Princess probably wishes she could have more of something sometimes. But what I want more than anything else is something that I have plenty of already: friends. I don’t need more than what I have in that regard. Also, at the moment, I wouldn’t mind some of that candy…