Spread

Chapter 3: The Apology

Despite the magazine having just released, or perhaps because not enough ponies had seen it yet, Rarity had not received that much attention from the other ponies in Ponyville. Time Turner never came back to make any comments, so she assumed she was in the clear and that nopony else would bother her about the spread either. She was able to concentrate on tidying up the boutique, still anxious because the check had not come in the mail yet. Perhaps the postal service is just a little delayed, she thought. Still, she hadn’t wanted to put herself out there like that for nothing.

With her worrying about the check, she forgot who was coming to sleep over that night until she heard knocking on the front door. Rarity fluffed up her mane and put on a cheery smile before answering the door. At the doorstep stood her little sister carrying a saddle pack.

“Sweetie Belle, darling!” Rarity squealed, hugging her sister. “Oh, now I remember. You’re supposed to be staying here while our parents are away in Trottingham. Oh, I’m terribly sorry I forgot. Oh, come in, come in, what kind of a host am I?” Rarity stepped back to allow Sweetie Belle inside. The normally chipper filly was looking crestfallen for some reason. Being her big sister, Rarity instinctually addressed Sweetie Belle’s mood.

“What’s wrong, dear?” she asked. Sweetie Belle glared at her.

“You said you wouldn’t let Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sleep over with me.” She huffed and trotted throughout the boutique, looking at all of the nice dresses and tuxedos.

“Sweetie Belle, darling,” Rarity said, “I would love to have them over, but I’m terrible with foals and you three tend to make messes wherever you go. I can’t have my boutique looking like a tornado swept through it.”

“Whatever,” Sweetie Belle muttered. Rarity cringed as Sweetie Belle went towards the parlor, remembering what she left lying on the coffee table in there. No way am I letting her see that!

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity called. “Why don’t you go up to your room and unpack? Then we’ll go out for dinner. Does that sound good?”

“I guess,” Sweetie Belle said, and she made her way back towards the stairs leading up to her room. Rarity took the magazine and hid it under the couch. Now just pray to Celestia she doesn’t look under there for anything.

Rarity thought she would help Sweetie Belle unpack, so she went upstairs and found that the room was closed and locked. Rarity knew there was a spell that could open locks, but Twilight had shown it to her so long ago that she couldn’t remember it now. Besides, it would be more polite to knock on the door first, so Rarity did so.

“Go away,” Sweetie Belle called from inside the room.

“Look, dear, I know you’re upset, but there’s no good in shutting yourself in and not talking about it.”

“Okay, okay, fine,” Sweetie Belle said. The lock clicked and Rarity was able to open the door. It seemed as though Sweetie Belle was already unpacked, as she had learned not to travel so heavy (something Rarity had yet to master). Sweetie Belle looked up at Rarity sadly and started to speak frankly.

“It’s not really my friends I’m upset about,” she admitted.

“Oh? Then what’s bothering you?” Rarity asked delicately, placing a hoof on Sweetie’s shoulder. Sweetie Belle sighed and decided it was best to spit it out now.

“There’s strange stallions asking if I know you and...” Sweetie Belle looked too afraid to speak up. Rarity had a dread in the pit of her stomach that told her what this might be about.

“Are they asking to see me?” she asked. Sweetie Belle nodded. “Well, um...try not to read too much into it, darling. They might just want to talk to me.”

“They had this look in their eye...” Sweetie Belle said, staring at the ground. “Like when Scootaloo goes to Sugarcube Corner. That kind of look. Rarity, I don’t understand...”

Rarity pulled Sweetie Belle into an embrace. “I think I know what’s occurring here,” she said, “but it’s not something to be explaining to you. You’re too young to understand.”

“I hate it when you say that,” said Sweetie Belle, pouting.

“Yes, but it’s true,” Rarity said. “There are powers at work here that you can’t understand right now, but I will explain everything in due time. Right now, let’s just get something to eat. Is there anywhere you want to go?”

“Um...how about The Hay Bale? They have good hay fries!”

Rarity smiled. “Sounds wonderful, dear. Let’s go.”

***

Rarity and Sweetie Belle ran into a bit of trouble on their way to the restaurant. Sweetie Belle noticed some of the same stallions she had seen walking to the boutique this morning, and they were now speaking quite rudely to Rarity.

“Hello, beautiful,” a burly, gray stallion remarked with a saucy wink. Rarity ignored this joker.

“You lookin’ for a date?” asked a second, dirtier stallion.

“Excuse me, there are foals present!” Rarity objected, but the stallion just left and moved on.

“I knew they were up to no good.” Sweetie Belle asked. “Why are ponies asking you out?”

“It’s not something I want to explain to you right now, dear,” Rarity said. “I’d prefer we just get a lovely meal and return home as soon as possible.”

Along the way a few other stallions catcalled her as they walked past, apparently completely ignoring Sweetie Belle’s presence. It wasn’t just the stallions, either. Mares were giving Rarity looks, too, except these were looks of contempt instead of looks of arousal. These were almost more uncomfortable; the stallions’ attention was at least, in its own disturbing way, flattering, while the mares’ contempt was definitely hostile in nature.

“Rarity, what are they doing?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Why’s everyone looking at you all funny?”

“Don’t worry about it, dear,” Rarity said, waving to a stallion who was grinning wickedly at her.

The two finally arrived at the Hay Bale. Rarity requested seats inside, even though it was a beautiful night, because she didn’t want passersby making rude comments and confusing Sweetie Belle even more. They still got a few second glances inside the restaurant, but nopony in here whistled or made a comment. That allowed Rarity and Sweetie Belle some time to relax.

In a short while, the waiter came up to take their order for drinks. He recognized Rarity and looked at her quizzically.

“Good evening, ladies,” he said, then he turned to Rarity. “Weren’t you the one in that—?”

“Yes, that was me,” Rarity interceded, “and I’d rather not talk about it in front of my little sister, if you please.”

“Oh, of course. My apologies, miss. Can I take your drink orders?”

“What were you in?” Sweetie Belle asked Rarity.

“Never mind, darling. She’ll have the grass juice and I’ll just take a water.” Unfortunately, Rarity thought, they don’t serve alcohol in this establishment.

“I’ll be right back,” the waiter said, leaving Rarity and Sweetie Belle with the menus. The two of them sat in awkward silence for a moment as they perused their options for food. Sweetie Belle apparently already knew what she wanted, because she closed her menu and stared directly at Rarity.

“What was the waiter talking about?” she asked.

Rarity sighed, exasperated. “Sweetie Belle, it really doesn’t concern you. I’m starting to regret even bringing you here.”

“Why?” she asked. “Just because you did something naughty doesn’t mean I should be punished.”

“Whatever makes you think it was something naughty?” Rarity asked, giving her a nervous smile.

“I’m not five. I know when stallions whistle at you it means they like you. I mean, I know you’re pretty and all, but I’ve never seen you get looks like that before. You must’ve done something naughty.”

“Well, even if I did, do you really think I would tell you about it?” Rarity returned to looking at her menu, analyzing the kinds of salads she could be getting.

“I’m gonna find out what you did,” Sweetie Belle said with a determined gaze, “whether you want me to or not.”

“Be careful with that, dear,” Rarity said, not even looking up from her menu. “You might regret it.”

“Yeah, right,” Sweetie Belle replied, sticking her tongue out. “You can’t hide it from me forever. I’ll get Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to do some detectiving with me.”

“Feel free to do whatever ‘detectiving’ you want, darling. It won’t get you anywhere.”

“You’ll see! We’re gonna figure it out!”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

Sweetie Belle slammed her hooves on the table. “You’re not even listening to me anymore!” A few of the nearby patrons glanced over at the noise.

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said, now paying more attention to her, “you really have to calm down. We’re at a restaurant.”

“Duh,” Sweetie Belle replied, rolling her eyes. “Okay, fine. Have it your way.”

The waiter came back with the drinks and was ready to take their order of food.

“Oat burger with hay fries, medium well, and make sure the fries are extra crispy,” Sweetie Belle said straight from memory.

“I think I’ll just have the garden salad,” Rarity said, glaring at Sweetie Belle for not trying something else.

“What kind of dressing on your salad?” the waiter asked.

“Oh. I suppose ranch will do.”

The waiter smirked. Rarity smiled nervously. She and Sweetie Belle handed over their menus.

“I’ll be right back with that,” the waiter said. Sweetie Belle glared at Rarity.

“Why was the waiter smiling like that?” she asked.

“Oh, for the love of Celestia, Sweetie Belle, you’re not going to get all the answers,” Rarity said. “It meant nothing.”

“Baloney!” Sweetie Belle said. “I missed something funny and I want to know what it is!”

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said in a harsh whisper, leaning towards her sister, “even if I wanted to tell you what was going on, I wouldn’t want to in a family restaurant.”

“So it was naughty!”

“Keep your voice down!” Rarity said harshly. “Don’t make me regret taking you out to eat.”

Sweetie Belle’s ears drooped and she wore a frown on her face. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just so confused about this whole thing.”

“I wish I could explain it to you,” Rarity said, “but it just wouldn’t be appropriate. Maybe when you’re older I’ll tell you what’s going on.”

“How much older?” Sweetie Belle asked, her ears perking up.

“Maybe a few years,” Rarity said. Sweetie Belle’s mouth dropped open.

“That’s not fair!” she said, leaning back in her seat and crossing her forehooves.

“Can we just forget about this and enjoy dinner?” Rarity asked.

Sweetie Belle took a moment to think about it. “I guess...”

“Thank you,” Rarity said, feeling relieved for the first time since they left the house.

After that, Sweetie Belle backed off and they were actually able to talk about more enjoyable subjects. Sweetie Belle recounted all of the crusading she had done with her friends, while Rarity told stories of the adventures she’d had with hers. There was a lot of laughter to accompany the good food, and the time just seemed to fly while the two of them were talking. Before long, the waiter came back with the bill.

Rarity was sure to hide the bill from Sweetie Belle, as the waiter had left his street address on the back of it. He didn’t get a very good tip.

There was less catcalling and whistling directed at Rarity on the way home, so she assumed the novelty must have died off. This made Rarity feel a lot better, and she was glad she and Sweetie Belle had finally had an enjoyable time. Sweetie Belle was quite tired now, though, and it was time for her to go to bed. Rarity brought her to the guest room and tucked her in before getting herself the glass of wine she had wanted all day.

What a stupid idea this was, she thought to herself as she sipped her wine delicately. The check hasn’t even arrived yet and I’m now apparently the hottest commodity in Ponyville. I wanted attention, but not this much.

There was nothing for it. She’d just have to wait for the attention to die down. Rarity finished her glass of wine and thought about pouring herself another one, but she knew getting drunk tonight was definitely a bad idea. Resolving to start fresh tomorrow, Rarity tucked in early, going up to her bedroom and starting to fall asleep...

A knock at the door disturbed her. A call from outside told her it was Twilight. Rarity grimaced. After the way her friends had reacted to the news of her photo shoot, she didn’t have a desire to see any of them. But Twilight sounded desperate to talk to her, so Rarity conceded to answer the door.

“Thank you, Rarity,” Twilight said as Rarity answered the door. “I hope it’s not too late to come over.”

“Not at all, darling. Come in. Do you want a drink?”

“No, I won’t be here long. I just came here to say that I acted like a complete idiot when you told me about your spread.”

“Twilight, no, really, it’s all right. I shouldn’t have expected you to react any different.”

“Well, I should have,” Twilight said, sitting down and burying her head in her hooves. “All those things I said about you being an embarrassment, I’m really sorry. I was shocked and angry and now I feel really confused about the whole thing...” Twilight started gasping for air, clearly in the bout of an anxiety attack. Rarity sat down next to her and rubbed her back.

“This must have really upset you,” Rarity said. “But I assure you I’ve gotten over the poor reactions of my friends.”

“Rarity, I talked to Dash and AJ and they wanted to come over to apologize, too, but Dash has late night weather patrol tonight and you know how AJ is about the farm. I told them I would relay their messages.”

“And what might those be?” Rarity asked, feeling elated that perhaps her friends were finally coming around.

“Well, Applejack said she realized she was incredibly judgmental and wanted me to tell you that whatever makes you happy is fine with her.”

“Well, I shall make sure to thank Applejack the next time I see her.”

“Okay. And Rainbow Dash promised not to run around showing your photo shoot off to everypony anymore.”

“Well, that doesn’t matter too much anymore,” Rarity conceded. “All of Ponyville must know about it by now, the kinds of looks I was getting today.”

“And I wanted to apologize, too,” Twilight said earnestly, gazing into Rarity’s eyes. “I shouldn’t have been so self-centered. This was your thing and I was taking it on as my own issue when I shouldn’t even be the one worrying about it. What you choose to do for fun is totally acceptable to me.”

“Well, I appreciate that, Twilight. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Twilight got up and was about to leave.

“Where are you going so suddenly?” Rarity asked.

Twilight felt like a bundle of nerves. In truth she’d had a whole other reason to stop by, but now it seemed too difficult to bear. She decided just to give her a smile and a wave.

“It’s getting late,” she said. “I really must be going.”

“Whatever you say, darling,” Rarity said, standing up and giving Twilight an embrace. Twilight’s cheeks flushed, but as she broke away from the hug, she turned away from Rarity so she wouldn’t notice.

“I’ll see you later, Rarity,” Twilight said.

“Goodnight, Twilight,” Rarity said, leading her to the door and shutting it behind her. Rarity sighed, feeling much better than she had before, even though she didn’t notice feeling anything really wrong before. She knew she would sleep more peacefully tonight, knowing that her friends were now behind her, as they should have been from the start.

***

Spike was cleaning the shelves in Twilight’s room while she was downstairs reorganizing the shelves down there. He accidentally knocked a book over, and he was surprised to find a magazine slip out of it. He put the book back on the shelf and took a peek at the magazine.

I thought Twilight hated magazines—HELLO! he thought after seeing Rarity on the cover dressed in a very scanty purple dress with jewels embedded in it. What’s Rarity doing on the cover of...Playcolt? What’s Twilight doing with a copy of Playcolt? Oh, wait, she probably got it because Rarity’s on it. But when did Rarity...?

Spike opened the magazine and started leafing through the pages. He had no care for any of the articles in the magazine. He was just looking to see if he could find more pictures. He came to the middle of the magazine, where there were pages of Rarity wearing barely anything and striking poses that got him inexplicably excited. He was about to see the centerfold when he heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs. Spike panicked and tucked the magazine under his bed. He went back to dusting just as Twilight opened the door.

“How’s it going up here, Spike?” she asked.

“Everything’s fine!” Spike said a little too loudly. His hand was shaking as he swept dust haphazardly off the shelf.

“Is...everything okay?” Twilight asked.

“Never better,” Spike said nervously. “What makes you think everything’s not on the up-and-up?”

The up-and-up...? Twilight wondered. “Um...it’s nothing. Never mind. Keep up the good work.” Twilight smiled and let Spike continue his cleaning.

As soon as she was back downstairs, Spike dove under the bed and pulled out the magazine again. He had to find Rarity’s pictures again, but when he did he stared at each one for a long while, taking in every curve and every pose. When he finally reached the centerfold, he was totally confused. What’s Rarity doing with her hoof? And why is she...? For no reason Spike could readily explain, he felt his member start to swell up. Ah! What’s going on? The feeling was foreign to him, but as the shock wore down, he realized it was a good feeling and that he liked it.

He wished he could stare at the magazine longer, but if he didn’t finish dusting the shelves, Twilight would know something was up. He vowed to turn back to it the moment he got some time alone. He tucked the magazine back under his bed, folded so that he could open directly to the centerfold, and continued his dusting.

***

Rarity was up early enough to hear the mail come in. Deciding it was best to let Sweetie Belle sleep in, she gathered up the mail and sorted through it. The first meaningful piece of mail was her check, which she’d have to deposit in private so as not to confuse Sweetie Belle even more.

There was also some mail addressed to her from Canterlot from an address she didn’t recognize. Normally she’d throw it out, but this didn’t seem like junk mail to her. Curious, she opened up the letter and began to read it. The writing was sloppy, as if whoever wrote it didn’t have a good grasp on his quill.

Dear Rarity,

You probably don’t know me, but I know you from that wildly successful photo shoot you did for Playcolt. I was told by them that they’ve had their best sales on a new issue in a long time and that they were very grateful that you came in. Being an Element and all, I wasn’t surprised, but they sure seemed to be.

I just want to tell you that doing that kind of work can be a leg up to bigger and better things. The next step for most Playcolt models is to dip their hooves into the film industry. Imagine you becoming a movie star! Then the cash will really start rollin’ in.

Well, I just so happen to be one of the more successful directors in Canterlot, and I would love it if you could come up for a month to star in a project of mine. I promise you the initial pay is competitive, and you’ll get a portion of the video sales as well. It’s good money, baby! Don’t let this opportunity slip by!

Anyway, you don’t have to respond right away. I’m actually in the middle of another project, so we wouldn’t be able to start immediately. Just let me know in the next few months whether you’re interested and we’ll see where this thing takes us.

Until then, stay pretty, baby!

HC

It took Rarity a minute to figure out what this “HC” was talking about, but she quickly understood what he was getting at. The idea completely revolted her, so she tore up the letter and threw it in the trash. She opened up the letter with the check in it, and found that the check would hold her for a few months. That’s surely enough time for my business to pick back up, yes? I think so. No need to participate in any more smut.

To avoid confusing her sister, Rarity went out to the bank to cash her check now, so Sweetie Belle wouldn’t be asking questions about it later.