Everyday Life With Guardsmares
Chapter 59
Previous Chapter Next ChapterArtemis Sparkshower
For some reason, Artemis was feeling very exposed. Which was weird, because although she wasn’t wearing any clothes, a plush white cotton towel was covering her plot. The pegasus was lying on a padded table, with her head in a soft pillow, her forelegs splayed slightly out ahead of her, hind legs similarly arranged behind, and her large wings folded neatly against her torso.
It was actually a very comfortable position, and none of her private parts were open to the air right then, so what was the problem? Probably the fact that in a few moments, somepony was going to open the door to that little room and give her the first massage she’d ever had.
"You nice and comfy over there, Sparks?"
Oh, yeah, and Lily was on the table next to her, too.
"I think so..."
The truth was, she wasn’t, but that was her own hesitation and insecurity, and it had nothing to do with the setup or the environment. It had become clear from the moment she’d stepped through the front door that 'Spa Dalecarlia' wasn't one of those shady Canterlot 'stroke-and-poke' parlors where the word 'massage' was placed firmly between sarcastic quotation marks.
From the outside, it was just another large, white-painted brick row house, its sign -- a pony silhouette, painted red and decorated with blue and white designs -- affixed to the wall beside an unassuming, black double door. But inside, Artemis was met with a surprising elegance. The smoky aroma of pine and incense overrode the smell of the street, and the burble of a small, artificial waterfall feature at the entrance drowned out the noise of passing carriages. Beyond that was the constant crackle of small, open-walled fireplaces, lined with blackened stones that were fed with aromatic woods. And everywhere, pine-wood floors, waxed and polished to a warm gloss, and so solidly set that she still hadn’t heard so much as a single board creak.
The price for a 'tandem massage, deluxe service' seemed perfectly reasonable, especially since it included a bottle of wine and also granted her access to the spa's pools, saunas, and baths afterwards as well. As a result, Artemis didn't feel too guilty for Lily treating her like this. She’d definitely have to repay the unicorn’s generosity with an excursion of her own, though.
Anyways, there she was, fifteen minutes or so after checking in, with a few relaxing sips of 'Blaxsta' sweet ice wine in her, and lying on a firm but cozy massage table, underneath a soft cotton towel.
Artemis still didn’t hear any of the boards creak, nor even a hollow boom from the subfloor, but she did hear the soft patter of slipper-covered hooves on wood.
Except... was one of those sets not the sound of hooves?
The door opened, admitting a streak of light from the bright corridor into the candle-lit massage-room, and Artemis glanced up from her pillow. A smiling, elegantly-coiffed unicorn mare in a pure-white nurse's robe quietly shuffled into the room.
"Good afternoon, gentlemares; my name is Gala, and this is my associate Nina."
She waved a hoof behind her, and a similarly-clad chestnut-brown griffon hen stepped in behind her.
"I'm Spa Dalecarlia's unicorn specialist and I'll be attending to Lily today, while Nina is our feather-treatment expert and will be attending to Artemis."
Nina the griffon gave a polite nod of acknowledgement after closing the door.
Gala looked Sparkshower and Glamerspear over. “Are there any questions before we begin?"
Artemis wiggled her head back and forth against the pillow. It was really soft, but it was still holding her head up nicely. It smells faintly of lilac, too. As she settled back into its sleep-inducing comfiness, Gala headed over to a shelf lined with jars and bottles on the far side of Lily's table, while Nina did likewise with the one near Artemis. Peeking out sideways, in the corner of her vision she could just barely watch as the hen rubbed lotion on her neatly-trimmed talons and selected a bottle of yellowish oil. Then she stepped back, still rubbing her claws to spread out the lotion, and leaned down to whisper behind her head.
"Nina tayk gud caer of you taday, mizz Sparkzhawer. You want Nina gif uzual treetment?"
Artemis blinked. The hen’s Griffonese accent was thick, and her voice was hoarse and smoky, but that's not why the pegasus was confused. "Uh... It's my first time having a massage, actually?"
The talon-rubbing stopped. "Oh! Forgive Nina! Nina hyeer Artemiz in gard, tought mast be Valkyri."
What was it with expatriate griffons thinking she was a Valkyrie? She didn't even walk in there with her armor on! It was still back in her room at the palace!
Stepping around in front where Artemis could see, Nina smiled and placed her talons together in supplication. "You kno Valkyriz, yes? Famouz pegazus soldyars?"
The specialist nodded.
"Nina iz favrit mazzeuz Valkriz. 'Spa Dalecyarlia' iz favrit zpa Valkyriz. Comm myany ovten."
Huh. Well, in that case, she supposed the misunderstanding was understandable. She wanted to say something in reply, but the pillow was just so comfortable right then. The lilac scent made her think of frolicking in a spring meadow… All Artemis could manage was the slightest of nods and a blink.
Thankfully, Nina understood, and her face brightened up as she squeezed another blob of cream out onto her talons. "You firzt tayme mazzaj? Masslez muzt be sorr! Stronk pegazus gard need myany mazzaj keep top shyape! Nina mend you good."
After completely covering her digits with the stuff, she winked at Artemis and stepped around beside her. “Ve start viz standart tryeatmyent, yes? You tell Nina iv hurtz."
‘If it hurts?’
‘This can hurt?!’
Suddenly, the pillow didn’t seem quite so soft anymore, and Artemis felt her muscles start to tense up. Just as they did, she felt a squirt of something cool and refreshing on her right shoulder.
"Oil iz for myake mazzaj smoov. Oil cyam out in shaver lyater, yes?"
‘That's reasonable.’
Nina put her talons against the pegasus shoulder and right foreleg and began to gently smear the oil back and forth up her limb.
‘Well, this isn't so bad.’
Artemis closed her eyes and tried to relax. When that section of her coat was good and oily, she felt the hen let go, and then there was a sharp noise. Glancing up, the specialist saw Nina crack her knuckles, and the griffon winked at sprawled out pegasus again.
"... OK, now vork beginz."
She placed her talons back down, but this time the gentleness was gone. Nina pushed her digits hard against Artemis’ shoulder, and she felt herself partially forced into the table's bed-cushion. The pressure built up and up, and just when things were feeling on the edge of being painful, she relented a bit, only to slide down her foreleg, squeezing it tightly in much the same way. It was a forceful sensation, and Artemis opened her eyes and stared ahead, unable to enjoy the pillow. As Nina went down, pausing every few seconds to squeeze, Artemis' mind tried to comprehend the weird experience. She could almost feel it going through the list of tactile possibilities.
It wasn’t actually pain.
But it was too strong to be mere contact.
And it was certainly not a tickle or anything like that.
Nor was it particularly hot or cold, either...
Each of these sensations filled her head in turn, like a rotating pinwheel of options, her mind unable to settle on any single one.
Nina ended at her hoof, cradling her pastern as she firmly moved the joint through its full rotations.
‘Now that's a strange sensation.’
But again, not unpleasant.
The massage continued with a second pass at Artemis' right foreleg and shoulder, and she still felt unable to quite put together how she felt. Especially since she was having trouble even feeling that limb. By the time Nina finished a third paralyzing pass and moved over to the pegasus' left side, she was at least able to relax again. When Nina reached her hindquarters and pressed her cream-covered talons into Artemis’ towel-covered plot, she felt her eyes start to droop as the all-consuming soft lilac pillow sucked her into its tender world. And when the masseuse reached her final quarter, Artemis had made up her mind:
‘Massages are fantastic.’
With all four of Artemis' limbs in a numb kind of ecstasy, Nina the griffon masseuse reached down and swung out a pair of padded extensions from underneath the main table. Delicately, but confidently, she unfolded both of Artemis’ wings and stretched them out to a comfortable extent, laying them down on the table supplements. The pegasus started to wake up again, wondering if it was now time for her to be preened by somepony else. An almost horrifying proposition when Glamerspear first mentioned it, but Artemis was so mellowed-out from the rest of the massage that it was more of a curiosity than anything else.
But Nina didn’t attend to her wings; instead, she felt the hen dribble a healthy amount of oil on her back. As her taloned digits forcibly pressed and smoothed Artemis' upper side, from her withers to her croup, the experience was so indescribably fantastic that the pegasus couldn’t help but let out a soft moan.
"Mmmmnnnnnngg..."
Taking her audible tender emanation as a cue, Nina redoubled the force. As the pressure approached pain, Artemis felt a kind of bizarre, relaxing euphoria, and her next breath -- made under duress owing to the force from above -- was followed by a noise that was as much a grunt of distress as it was a sigh of pleasure.
"....Gnnnnnnffffmmmmmmmmmmmm..."
She closed her eyes, feeling her head sink further into the pillow, her limbs growing even more numb, as her torso was gripped by an agonizing ecstasy. Nina continued to work the Artemis’ back, and she continued to moan involuntarily, each of her vocal exhalations a tribute to the masseuse’s fantastic skill. By the time Nina was done, an all-too-brief eternity later, Artemis was in such a comatose state that she wouldn't care to move even if the building was on fire.
She was barely conscious of her griffon attendant stepping away to wash her hands in the basin at the back of the room, and was still just barely aware when Nina came back and sat down next to Artemis' outstretched right wing. It was an impossible struggle to open just one eye to watch, but when she felt something rustle her feathers, she managed to open one of her windows into the candle-lit room.
Artemis' vision was blurry and unfocused, but she could just barely make out Nina’s golden-yellow beak deep amongst her secondaries, nibbling and nipping. The hen’s eyes were open wide for this inspection, and she was holding the pegasus’ second digit against the table padding with one claw to keep her wing steady.
Artemis watched as she came across a loose, ragged feather, somehow forgotten at the base of her wing, and quickly yanked it out with a fast jerk of her head, dropping the worn item on the ground. This would normally be the most awkward and ticklish thing imaginable, save for the fact that the pegasus really couldn’t feel anything at all.
Just then, there was a moan from her left.
"Mmm... Ahh..."
Nina continued her work on Artemis’ right wing, and she endeavored to swap her right eye being open for her left. Another massive undertaking later, and Artemis saw the unicorn attendant, Gala, sitting in a small stool just in front of Lily's head.
Wearing a set of jeweller's magnifying glasses, the unicorn attendant had a tiny, wooden-handled brush suspended in her telekinetic field. Each time she briskly stroked it against the junction of one of Glamerspear's spiral horn-whorls, Artemis heard her comrade inhale sharply or emit a sound of pleasure. She even saw the unicorn's brow scrunch up and her hind leg twitch at the same time, too.
‘Wow.’
‘Massages really are fantastic.’
As Artemis felt Nina nibble on another one of her feathers, setting it straight, her eye drooped closed again. Just before she all but lost consciousness, there was just one thought going through her head:
‘Can I get a membership to this place?’
Because if so, it would be worth every silver bit…
Suggested interlude music: Jami Sieber - 'Maenam', as featured in 'Braid' [2004]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx0YwZWv84Q
