• Published 18th Aug 2013
  • 6,954 Views, 201 Comments

A Game of Survival - Cabensis



Tired of the usual slumber party formula, Rainbow Dash asks Spike to keep her company to which he reluctantly agrees. Will they survive the night?

  • ...
14
 201
 6,954

Not worth it

Chapter 3

Not worth it

***

"NO!"

Of course Rainbow refused to let Rarity give her a makeover, no matter how much her friends approved of it. There was no way she was going to let anypony touch her mane for something so trivial as 'looking good,' no, not now, not ever.

"Darling, please! You must let me fix it!" Rarity pleaded.

Watching the ongoing scene, the other ponies sat stunned, no one daring to intercept. Spike on the other hand, sat comfortably in his chair grinning like a madpony.

"You will be absolutely gorgeous when I'm done! Wouldn't that be nice?" Rarity continued to pester, looking for a way to convince the grumpy pegasus.

"Ugh! I told you, I don't want to be 'gorgeous!' I'm fine the way I am!" Rainbow retorted, standing up as if to prove her point. Rarity was about to continue her assault but was cut of by a certain drake.

"Besides, it's not like she can do 'gorgeous' anyway." he interjected, looking nonchalantly at the back of his hand.

"Yeah! It's not like I can... do..." Rainbow began before realization struck her. Whipping her head around to face Spike, she said outraged, "Wait, what did you say?!"

An especially fun thing Spike had learned from hanging out with Rainbow was that she could be very hot-tempered, and therefore easy to tease. All that he needed to do now was to flick the first domino tile.

Standing up from his seat he faced the mare head on. "I said: You can not do 'gorgeous!'"

"Is that a challenge?" Rainbow worded slowly, squinting her eyes at the dragon. In response Spike rose an eyebrow, his smile still hiding his true intentions from her.

"What if it is?"

"Oh, you're on!" Rainbow stomped her hoof down. "Rarity!"

"Yes, dear?" Rarity answered expectantly.

"Give me..." she gulped, "...the makeover."

Rarity's face lit up. "Of course, Rainbow Dash! You won't regret this decision ever!" she said, barely containing her excitement.

"I have a feeling I will." Rainbow mumbled, letting out a sigh.

Almost prancing in place, Rarity twirled around and skipped over to her mountain of bags, picking out several makeup-cases and brushes. "Pinkie, Fluttershy? Could you help me over here please?"

Pinkie and Fluttershy shared an enthusiastic look, left their mattresses and walked over to Rarity. Well, Pinkie skipped of course.

The room then fell silent, with exception from the mumbling and giggling from the three mares over at the messy pile of bags. Applejack and Twilight each exchanged looks and chuckled lightly at the turn of events.

Spike observed the scene for awhile, but soon found it uninteresting and turned to see how Rainbow was faring. Her eyes were wide open, looking forward blankly, and her mouth hung open slightly. It was like she had a hard time believing that she really agreed to something like this.

His observations were cut short, since Rarity and the girls were done with preperations and were now making their way towards them.

"Okay, Rainbow Dash! Just sit down on your mattress, we'll take care of everything!" Rarity ordered. Rainbow did as she was told and soon enough the operation was in full swing.

***

"And then I said: Oatmeal, are you crazy?"

"Um, Pinkie? We've heard that story already."

Sitting huddled around Rainbow were Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy and Pinkie were on brushing duty, coat and mane respectively, while Rarity herself took the makeup part, her ability to use magic greatly increasing precision. The patient, Rainbow, was trying her best to not scream. Not that the makeover felt bad, just that there were so many knots in her mane that it hurt to brush it out. After a few minutes she felt her mane get straightened out, so she could finally relax a little.

"So, Rainbow Dash?" Rarity opened conversation.

"Hm?"

"I'm quite surprised you'd go through all this to impress Spike."

"WHAT?!" Rainbow blurted out, shocked.

Rarity didn't look the least fazed with her outburst. "Why, I've always tried to have you styled before, but you've always declined profusely. Then little Spikey-Wikey comes along and you do it in a heartbeat." she explained with a smile. "And please close your eyes dear. I can't curl your eyelashes if you stare at me like that."

Closing her eyes, Rainbow had now been rendered speechless. She had never thought that it could've been looked at that way. She, Rainbow Dash, doing this all to impress Spike? No way. Just... no way!

"But, didn't you hear what he said? He questioned my ability to be good-looking! My pride is on the line here!" she tried to explain.

"Oh, yes he did, but you've never cared about someone implying that before." Fluttershy countered. "Some stallions on the weather team have teased you about it, I've heard." Immediately realizing how forward she had been, she quickly hid behind her mane. "Um... I'm sorry, was that okay?"

"B-but, those guys don't know me! I don't care about what they think!"

"But you do care about what Spikey thinks!" Pinkie said matter-of-factly, still brushing out the last strands of hair.

Groaning in frustration, Rainbow crossed her forehooves over her chest. "Ugh! Can you guys just drop it, and focus?! I'm getting a makeover for Pete's sake!"

"I'm sorry, dear. We won't tease you any more." Rarity said reluctantly, feeling the situation get out of hoof.

Rainbow accepted the apology with a grunt, still a little sour that she had gotten cornered about something like this. Especially since it wasn't true.

Meanwhile, Spike, Twilight and Applejack were doing nothing in particular. Twilight was checking 'Slumber 101' again to plan ahead, while Applejack and Spike were just sitting around.

"Hey, Applejack?" Spike said, peeking at the group of ponies over at Rainbow's mattress.

Said pony was lying on her back with her stetson down over her eyes. She didn't bother to look up and just answered, "Yeah, sugarcube?"

"Do you think I have a chance with Rarity?"

Sitting up and letting her hat fall off, she looked at Spike with a worried look. "Why do ya ask me that?"

"Because you're the most honest pony I know." Spike answered sincerely.

"Aww shucks, Spike. I'm flattered, but... Ah don't know a whole lot about love." Applejack admitted.

"I know," he began, not noticing the glare he got, "but I just need to get the viewpoint of somepony other than Twilight y'know?"

Applejack thought about it for a bit. She didn't know if this was going to hurt the little dragon, but she did know she couldn't lie. It would be a dead giveaway, considering her poor lying skills. So with that, she decided she would tell the truth, how she saw it at least.

"There's no way for me to know how Rarity feels about ya Spike, but if Ah have to guess... then Ah'm sorry but, Ah don't think so."

Spike took a moment to collect himself. "I... I probably knew that too. Besides these feelings, they've started to fade recently. I just wanted to know how it looked somewhat, before giving up."

"Y'know, you should probably tell her anyway." Applejack continued.

"No, I think she knows already. I feel like I can finally let this go now." Spike nodded, looking over to Rarity. "She probably spared my feelings this whole time. Truly the Element of Generosity."

Almost as if on que, Rarity exclaimed, "We're finished!" startling Spike a bit.

The group of ponies around Rainbow started to arrange their positions, making Pinkie and Fluttershy block out the view of Rainbow herself, while Rarity trotted off to the side, ready to present their work. Twilight put down 'Slumber 101' to join Applejack and Spike awaiting the revealing.

After everypony had settled down, Rarity spoke up. "Ahem! It was a hard operation, since we're not at a beauty saloon, but we're now proud to present:" Pinkie and Fluttershy moved away, revealing,

"The new Rainbow Dash!"

The sight they were presented with was almost blinding. The mare who trotted forward was, for the time it took to get ready, amazing. Not near perfect, but still, an incredible sight to behold. Her rainbow mane was flowing out to it's edges, slightly curled and perfectly gracing her cyan coat with it's many colours. Her eyes were more pronounced, their magenta hue completed with a lighter shade of eye shadow. Twilight and Applejack were stunned.

"You look amazing Rainbow!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Ah couldn't have pulled that off even if Ah had had all day. " Applejack nodded, nudging Spike.

Spike could do nothing but stare with his mouth wide open. His eyes were all over Rainbow, wondering how her new, refined style could complement her well-toned body and yet still manage to maintain the frisky look of an athletic mare. For a good minute he continued to ogle, making Rainbow start to shift uncomfortably.

"Uh... Spike?"

"W-who are you?!" Spike choked out.

All uneasiness gone, Rainbow smiled, mock-batting her eyelashes at the drake. "Not so cocky now are ya, dragon-boy?"

"I... I..." Spike stammered, clenching his fists and fighting a blush with sheer willpower. All that was left now was to admit defeat. He couldn't possibly deny it. Curses, this wasn't how this was supposed to go! I must save my dignity!

"Rainbow, you look..."

Rainbow's smile widened. The moment she had been waiting for was nigh. Another victory goes to Rainbow Dash, not only the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria, but also the most...!

"...ok."

The room fell silent once again. All eyes were directed at Spike, who somehow had managed to make a full recovery, from a stuttering mess, to a casual cool guy in the blink of an eye. Amongst the ponies responsible for the makeover, one could hear Fluttershy mumbling, "Oh, my..." and Pinkie quietly wondering why she hadn't felt that doozy. Rarity was also looking on, slightly offended that her work had just been labeled 'ok.' That couldn't compare to what Rainbow felt though.

Offended? Yes. Shocked? Yes. Mad about Spike obviously lying through his teeth? Oh, yes.

Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "Admit it."

"Admit what?"

"I didn't get a makeover to be called 'ok.' Admit I'm a total knock-out." she said forcefully.

Spike just shrugged, bracing himself for the incoming explosion. Oh, the explosion. How he had waited. Teasing Rainbow was so much fun.

The explosion he expected never came though. Looking up at Rainbow's face he could see that she, just like him, had turned completely calm.

"Huh. Okay, I see." she said.

This reaction was completely alien to Spike, and frankly, for the first time ever since they had started hanging out, he didn't know what to say.

"I guess I'll just... have another makeover." Dash continued casually, bending down to Spike's eye level.

"Really...?"

"No." she whispered. "You will."

Before Spike could react, Rainbow had grabbed him by his sides and floated up into the air. "Hey, Rares? Let's do Spike next!"

Rarity's eyes lit up for a second time that day. "Oh, yes, that's a wonderful idea!"

Spike's eyes however, were filled with horror. The whole reason he hadn't want to come here in the first place was because of this very thing. Bad memories resurfaced, remembering him of what had transpired all those months ago, and the shame it had brought.

"NO, WAIT!!" Pinkie interrupted, "We can't do that!"

"Why not?" Rarity responded, anxious to know why she couldn't unleash her creativity once again.

Pinkie fixed her with a glare. "Because we promised Spike we would never do that again! We Pinkie promised remember? He trusts us." she uttered slowly. "And losing a friend's trust is the fastest way..."

"...to lose a friend forever." Rarity finished with a sigh.

"FOREVER!!" Pinkie emphasized with a glare.

Wow, after all this time, Pinkie promises finally work in my favor. Spike thought as he hung limply in Rainbow's arms.

Rainbow started to regret not coming to that particular slumber party, a lot had seemed to have happened back then. The way it looked now though, she wouldn't get her sweet revenge on Spike, and she couldn't have that. Thinking about it for a while, she got another idea.

"That's okay, Pinkie," Dash said, looking away innocently. "I haven't promised Spike anything so I'll just do it myself then! "

Pinkie's glare lessened.

"No! Please don't let her do this to me Pinkie! I'm to young and handsome to d-mmff!" Spike yelled before Rainbow pulled him closer, burying his face in her fur coat. Under any other circumstance Spike would've probably enjoyed this hug-like position, but his steadily rising fears didn't allow him to.

"As I was saying, I understand you have your hooves tied, so I thought maybe I could give him the makeover." Rainbow explained. "You girls could just... y'know. Give me advice and stuff. That works right?"

Pinkie thought long and hard about Rainbow's words, stroking an imaginary goatee all the while.

Spike was struggling in Rainbow's arms, trying to break free. Dash just smiled at the squirming dragon. There was no way he was getting out of this one, not mentally, and definitely not physically. She chuckled at the thought.

Pinkie was still a little unenthusiastic. She knew how much Spike didn't want to it, but that fight was between him and Dash now. "Okie-dokie-lokie."

Spike, whose snout was still buried in Rainbow's chest, snapped his eyes open. Dash loosened her grip to hoof-pump the air.

"Aww, yeah! Awesome!!"

Spike looked up at Rainbow, the position he was in making it look like she was the highest authority in Equestria. "Wait, RD! I'm sorry! You look amazing, absolutely stunning! I was just teasing before, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he pleaded.

In response, Dash looked down at Spike. "Oh, now you say it? Sorry, pal. It doesn't work like that." Rainbow said with a sly grin, "Besides, you didn't think twice about selling me out when the girls wanted to give me a makeover before, soo..."

Rainbow flew over to hover above the very mattress she had sat on just a while ago. "...I think it's about time you learn what happens when you mess with Rainbow Dash!"

Spike's mind scrabbled for anything that he could defend himself with. Anything! Alas, he didn't find that special 'anything.'

Spike was out of usable arguments.

... ... ... ...

Spike blacked out!

Author's Note:

Have a chapter, all you SpikeDash fans! Oh, and all non-fans too.
Why not leave a comment below? I appreciate all the comments I get!
Just don't nitpick on my lack of knowledge in cosmetics. I'm a guy mind you!

Alright then. I bid you all good night! (Because Spike is not going to have one.)

EDIT: There has been complaints about Pinkie being OoC, which I have agreed on being true. Therefore I have modified the chapter a bit, to correct this atrocity. The comments below about this matter should be replied to with regards to this fact.