Surviving Sand Island

by The 24th Pegasus

Lead a Horse to Water

Rainbow Dash hated losing.

It was contrary to her very spirit. The essence of her soul was built on winning, on thrashing the competition, on doing things nopony else could even dream of doing. Even then, she picked her fights carefully, and would only hurl herself headlong into something she knew she was going to win.

Which is why she really hated Rarity right now.

As another ball rocketed out the back of Rainbow’s court, just inches away from her racquet, Rarity wiped her brow and sidled up to the net. “Have you given up yet?” she sang, smirking at Rainbow as she lay outstretched on the ground, legs splayed around her. “Or do we need to take it to another game? I can do a best of fifteen if you want.”

Rainbow’s ruby eyes flicked towards Rarity. The white unicorn was leaning on the net, hooves crossed under her chest, and panting lightly. Her mane had slowly worked itself out of its ponytail, and now loose violet strands hung in front of her muzzle, or were plastered to her white face with sweat. Her shoulders heaved with panting breath, and as Rainbow watched, a tiny bead of sweat traced its way down her horn, across her muzzle, down to her chin, and hung there, trembling for but a moment, before dropping to the court below.

Maybe lying prone on the court after an embarrassing failed save wasn’t so bad after all.

“Rainbow?” Rarity blinked, then leaned a bit further over the net. “Are you okay, darling?”

“Huh?” Rainbow flinched, then quickly scrambled to her hooves, despite how much her aching muscles protested. “Oh, uh, nothing. You’re h—I’m hot. Just hot, and tired, and sweaty.” She licked her lips, tasting salt, and vigorously shook her head from side to side, jarring loose the thoughts in her skull and flinging them aside like the sweat from her mane. “Yeah.”

Rarity’s eyes flicked over Rainbow’s figure, and she smirked. Shifting her weight from one hoof to the other, she cocked her head to the side. “Well? Care for game eight? Or shall we call seven-zip the final score?”

Even more than Rainbow hated losing, she hated admitting that she lost.

“This isn’t over,” she grumbled, shuffling across the court to grab her racquet and the tennis ball. “This is only the beginning of a terrible and bloody war.”

As the two friends left the courtyard, Rarity bumped shoulders with Rainbow. “Don’t feel so bad, Rainbow,” she said. “You didn’t know what you were getting into in the first place.”

“Meh.” Rainbow’s hooves angrily shuffled across the floor. “I didn’t know I’d be playing the god-queen of tennis.”

Rarity giggled. “Rainbow, darling, please, I’m not that good. It’s just a hobby, that’s all.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

The two approached the sliding glass doors on the Concordia’s top deck and entered the shade of the indoors as they automatically parted. Rarity’s strained magic touched the call button for the elevator, and the doors opened, allowing the two ponies to step inside. Rarity’s hoof slapped the “M” on the elevator, and the doors closed with a chime.

“I thought your room was on the second deck,” Rainbow remarked.

“It is,” Rarity said, grinning. “But we’re going to the spa instead.”

Rainbow coughed and all but hissed as she jumped back into the far corner of the elevator. “Hell no!”

“Aww, but Rainbow, we had a deal,” Rarity said, jutting out her lower lip in a pout. “If I throttled your flank, then you’d come to the spa with me.”

“Rarity, I will hit you,” Rainbow growled. Sighing, she slumped into the corner of the elevator. “I don’t want to go to the spa,” she whimpered. “They’ll touch my hooves and do silly things to my hair!”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Rainbow, they won’t do anything to your hair except for… you know… actually cleaning it up.” She smiled and touched the pegasus’ shoulder. “And you don’t have to get a hooficure if you don’t want to. Though I would encourage you to try, I won’t hold it against you if you don’t.”

Whatever Rainbow had been about to say was cut off by the elevator doors chiming as they opened, and Rarity trotting out onto the mezzanine. She immediately turned to her right and opened another set of glass doors, gesturing for Rainbow to enter as she peered around the edge of the elevator. With a huff, Rainbow trudged forward, her hooves moving like leaden weights as if she was marching to her doom.

As the doors opened, a small, pearly earth pony looked up from her podium. “Why hello!” she said, beaming, as Rarity trotted in, followed by Rainbow’s lethargic form. “Welcome to the Mile High Spa! How can I help you today?”

“Hello, darling,” Rarity greeted, strolling up to the podium. “We’d like two of your deluxe packages. The Cirrus package, more specifically.”

“Oh, excellent choice!” the receptionist said, flipping a few pages in the clipboard in front of her. “It doesn’t look like our masseuses are busy at the moment. We can easily get you set up with a sauna, then a mineral water bath.” Her sky blue eyes darted over the two ponies, and the corner of her lip pulled up a little higher. “You two look like you could use it.”

“Most certainly!” Rarity exclaimed, following the earth pony as she gestured, and in turn beckoning Rainbow onward. “We just had a few very rousing games of tennis, and now we need to clean the sweat out. Oh, do you happen to have any water? Iced, preferably.”

“Of course!” the mare exclaimed, and approaching a heavy wooden door, she wrapped her hoof around the handle. With a heave, she pulled it open, revealing an interior slick with moisture, humidity, and steam. “I’ll have it delivered to you before you get settled down. In the meanwhile, toss your dresses over there, and we can get them cleaned up for you.”

“You’re too kind,” Rarity said, smiling at her. She stepped into the dim room, closed her eyes, and shuddered. “Oh, this already feels wonderful.” Sapphire pools flicked open again, and she looked over her shoulder at Rainbow, who was still lingering outside of the door. “Coming, Rainbow? This will make you feel fantastic, I promise.”

“How’s sweating my feathers out gonna make me feel better?” Rainbow asked, following Rarity inside. She bit down on the hem of her dress and pulled it off in one smooth motion, then spat the sweaty article onto the floor. “I already feel icky and need a shower.”

Rarity rolled her eyes and pulled off her own dress, haphazardly folding it before putting it down by Rainbow’s. “And here I thought sweat was your natural element,” she teased, guiding Rainbow into the sauna with her tail. “The heat entices your pores to sweat, and the steam carries it all away, leaving you pure and raw. Then you get in the bath to wash the salt away. It’s something to die for.”

“Sorry if I’m not all that convinced,” Rainbow muttered, following Rarity into the room. She watched the unicorn lay a towel flat on the wooden bench before sitting on it, then patted the bench next to her. Sighing, Rainbow pulled a towel off of the wall and did the same, sitting with her wings bunched behind her back and her forelegs crossed. “Now what?”

“Well, first we take a much needed drink,” Rarity said. She gestured to the receptionist as she trotted in with a tray carrying glasses of water on her back, and took two in her magic. One she dropped at Rainbow’s hooves, and the other she raised directly to her muzzle and took a long, long draw from. Setting it aside, she nodded to the earth pony as she flipped their discarded dresses onto her back. “Thank you very much, darling.”

The receptionist nodded and backpedaled to the door. “Of course. We’ll have these cleaned and pressed by the time you’re done. In the meantime, please enjoy yourselves, and if there’s anything you need, we’re more than happy to help.”

“Can you get me out of here?” Rainbow pleaded, giving the earth pony her best puppy-dog eyes—which weren’t all that good.

Rarity waved a hoof in front of Rainbow’s face and smiled apologetically at the receptionist. “Don’t mind her, she just doesn’t know what’s good for her.” She leaned over and brushed shoulders with Rainbow, an action which the pegasus completely failed to acknowledge. “We’re more than fine at the moment, thank you.”

“If you insist,” the earth pony said, trotting out of the sauna and placing a hoof on the door. “Enjoy!”

Rainbow tried to stand up, but Rarity’s magic tugged her back down. “No, wait—!”

But the door had already shut behind the receptionist, leaving Rarity and Rainbow to broil in the humid heat.

Comments

[PonySage86]

The Twin

Huh... thought either Rainbow was gonna win or they'd tie, I wasn't expecting Rarity to win so easily... and you even made it believable that she did, good job.

[Snowdrifter]

Alas, poor Rainbow Dash. She was never seen again...

[Czar_Yoshi]

I'd feel sorry for Rainbow, but she needs this, deserves this, and secretly enjoys it to boot.