Deluxe II

Agate woke up to the strange feeling of something missing. The hairy head and the smooth skin was very different. Opening her eyes just reassured what she thought was happening. Aloe was gone. Only her massive pillow was enjoying her loving embrace, but that was not all, for on the pillow, a piece of paper was lying. It must have been put there recently, otherwise it'd have fallen off by Agate's constant moving and rolling. Her magical aura lit up once again as she levitated the note up in the air for her to read. Before even getting to the first word, however, a door shut somewhere outside the room. She knew it, Aloe was still close. Getting up and dropping the note Agate ran after her love as messy as she became while sleeping. It was a real shock to her when she found said mare just in the next room, opposing to out on the street where she assumed to find her.

"Oh! Morning Aloe." she greeted her, backing off a step or two due to the surprise.

"Miss Agate!" she responded, grabbing to her chest as the door outright exploding into her focus scared the soul out of her.

"Thanks you're still here. Mind if I ask something? Just a little favor, that's all." she asked, playing with her hooves in the meanwhile.

"Of course. What is it?"

"Could you please not tell Lotus, or pretty much anypony else about last night?" she asked, trying to be as nice and polite as she possibly could.

"Sure, I didn't want to either way." Aloe replied in a  rather casual way. Of course, why would she brag anyone about such thing in the first place? Didn't make any sense.

"Wait, let me go home with you. I just brush my mane real quick." the smith interrupted, turning back storming into the the bathroom below.

Aloe waited for her upstairs, of course. It was best for both of them if they go together and thread the needle now. She could only hope that everything is going to turn out right. It took the smith just a minute to get ready. She returned with a set mane and eye shadows on, ready to go. She grabbed the keys and - after seeing her marefriend out first - left her home as well. Twisting, pulling out, then hiding the keys in her back mane, the two took the road back to the sisters' house.

"The house wasn't as scary in the end now, was it?" Agate asked with a sly and subtle grin on her face.

"Not at all." giggled back Aloe, gazing passionately at the unicorn "I'm so glad to have a special somepony like you Miss Agate."

"Then there's no need to call me 'Miss', right?" Agate laughed back, just embarrassing Aloe as the beautician realized the mistake. Such a terrible habit it was from her and she was so meek to not use it, even if it was a friend who she was talking to.

"Hey, you know what? I don't mind if you do, I just love the way you say it." the smith added in response to her lover's reaction. True, she didn't like that title at all in the past, but Aloe and Lotus gave it a new meaning, so to say.

Aloe nodded without a sound as the fields and woods of the outskirts were fading into the homes in town. The streets were busy as usual, and by now, Agate could recognize much faces that her eyes made contact with. Shoeshine, Roseluck, Lily, Berryshine, she recognized all of them, and they also recognized her.  Not because of hostility anymore, but because of friendship. They waved and smiled at her, and Agate responded the exact same way. It was simply wonderful, having made so many friends here in so little time.

Several minutes of strolling later did they arrive at the destination. It was a cottage just like any other, near the building of the spa itself. However, even from there did they see the many ponies coming in and out of the recreation complex. All of them was wearing a yellow safety helmet and an orange vest. Except for one, she was just watching from the side, clopping her hooves at the dirt in anxiety, Lotus.

"Morning, sis." Aloe greeted her from behind. Lotus gasped at the sound, turning around and charging at her as the two united in a sweet hug.

"Aloe! Where were you? I thought something bad have happened." Lotus responded, letting out a great exhale of relief as she tightened the grasp.

"She fell asleep during the massage and I didn't want to wake her up. So she slept over by accident, that's all." Agate lied "Speaking of that, Aloe told me about your, ugh, 'problems'." she added, whispering that last word menacingly.

Lotus got the message of course, and nodded. They all knew it's best not discuss it here, and Lotus lead the way back to the building, her eyes soulless, watching the road ahead of her, and her face still. Agate shot a confident wink at Aloe, despite the pink sister looked rather anxious about the matter. Lotus opened the door and lead the way through the corridor to the living room. It had a wallpaper of a jungle and a waterfall, as well as a blue couch, a table of glass in the middle, and three little pillows around its other sides.

Lotus sat down on the couch, but Agate didn't let the mare rest too much as she gave her a warm hug soon she made her way to the couch as well. She snuggled her muzzle against the blue mane of Lotus, then as fast as she embraced her, she let go of her. Meanwhile, Aloe also sat down on a pillow opposing to them to keep a bit of distance.

"I suppose Aloe told you the whole story by now." Lotus turned her melancholic eyes towards the unicorn's.

"I know how hard this might be for you, but believe me, virginity is not something as simple as not having sex ever." Agate explained softly, her voice most warmhearted.

"What do you mean?" Lotus asked, as she raised an eyebrow over the confusing statement.

"Different ponies think differently about what virginity means, you know. Some think it's that thin piece of skin or something inside you that rips away once one enters you." Agate continued "I remember mine breaking in an accident, I freaked out a little bit because, well, I was bleeding."

Lotus just listened, her eyes wide and her ears perked up completely. She didn't know where Agate was going with that but she was eager to listen, she was curious.

"Then there are ponies who think it's when you have sex for the first time. When you're really klutzy and all that. Though, in my opinion, that sex is like an unicorn using her horn. Don't do it for a long time and you totally forget how it works." Agate explained, pointing at and rubbing her horn a little bit.

Lotus' pupils widened. She understood it now, and Agate was right. Just because she had an encounter with Rarity didn't mean she can't get back what she lost over time.

"See? Mud is just earth, sister, it dries with time and crumbles into dust, eventually falling off." Aloe added as a symbolic translation.

"Yes... yes, you are right." Lotus added, as her eyes started to fill up with water. She couldn't believe it, but they were right. She was so blind all along, blind due to the melancholy and depression. Her heart flooded with hope as she knew all she needs to do is wait. She was somewhat filthy still, but she knew well that in time she'll be blooming into a beautiful flower again.

"No matter what point you stand from, I doubt you lost anything. After all, you just used your hoof to please yourself." Agate pointed out. That was the last thing the beautician needed to hear. Lotus' eyes couldn't handle the tears, all the while her heart couldn't handle to joy and gratitude towards the smith.

"How could I have been such an idiot? Thank you, Miss Agate. Thank you so much!" she whimpered as the two united in a warm embrace. Aloe was on the verge of tearing up just from the sight of it. As the two let go of one another a couple moments later, Lotus wiped her tears with a relieved exhale. She still looked rather regretful, one could see it in her eyes. Something was still wrong.

"I hope Miss Rarity is not holding a grudge because of it." she said.

"I doubt it, she didn't even bring it up since it happened. I'm pretty sure she's over it now." Agate explained, scratching her chin as she tried to recall something about that Rarity might have told her.

"I still think it is best if I apologize." Lotus replied. Agate wasn't trying to stop her, of course. She knew it is always best to come clean out of these things than letting the guilt plague you later. This especially applied to Lotus who was so fragile in the inside.

"Well then, let's go to Rarity's!" Agate shouted in agreement. Things were to get back to normal soon now and she simply couldn't wait for it to happen. All she wanted was getting over this mess already. She didn't hesitate, but lead the way out in a hurry, the twins following her just behind.

Rarity laid down the crimson fabric in her table, smoothing out its creased surface with her hooves. Her orange rimmed glasses levitated up from the table, landing gently on her nose. She set the textile to its intended place then with a flick of her magic she turned on the sewing machine. It's ever repeating noise didn't break her focus, in fact, it helped her getting into a specific trance of focus. Yet just as said trance was to make its presence, the faint sound of knocking interrupted her. With the same quickness she turned it on, she put the machinery to halt. She stared at the door from the corner of her eyes, ears pricked up, waiting for another sign, but nothing happened. Might be just her imagination. After a small hum, she reached for the big knob on the side of the metal apparatus. Yet just as her hoof performed the twist, the sound returned, much louder this time.

"Come in!" she shouted, laying back her limbs on the fabric to keep it under control while working on it.

"Told you she won't hear it if you don't bang on it." a voice mumbled from her right, one she recognized well, especially after that loud "Hi Rares!" afterwards. It was Agate again, and by the sound of it, she brought friends.

"Good morning Miss Rarity." two other voices greeted her. She recognized those as well. Out of courtesy, she turned off the sewing machine to talk to them face-to-face for at least a little bit. Though she was busy, she always could sacrifice a couple minutes from her work to her friends.

"Aloe, Lotus, Agate, what a pleasant surprise." she responded, though her style made it hard to tell if she was being sarcastic, or she was legitimately surprised.

"Lotus wants to tell you something." Aloe said out of the blue. Too soon.

"Though if you're busy, we don't want to bother you with it." Lotus added, trembling from the fright and nervousity. She hoped they could at least chat a bit beforehand not jump straight into it. Her legs were shivering, her body was sweating, and her pupils were shrunk just enough to make her fear notable.

"Not at all, really, I'm just sewing a bit. Go on, I'm listening." she replied, turning back to her table and continuing her work, her ears all set on the talk while her eyes glued to the fabric.

Lotus was shaking to the bone and marrow, but she just had to get this off her chest.

"I, uh, about the little... 'midnight session' in the spa last week, I am so sorry, I just couldn't handle myself, I didn't know what happened to me." she confessed with a bad stuttering. She didn't dare to look, she was way too scared of how the seamstress is going to react. In that lightning strike of a time, endless thoughts swarmed her mind about the possibilities. They were almost endless, most ranging from terrible to catastrophic.

"Oh, darling, it's absolutely- WHAT?!" Rarity screamed up, turning back her head towards the beautician. It took her a second to comprehend it but it just made the impact even larger. Chaos engulfed her head as she found herself losing control over both the fabric and her body. Her horn charged up as quick as lightning, turning the whole thing off to put an end to this madness. With that over though, another kind of madness could take place.

"How do you know about this?!" she roared, strolling towards the beautician. Her steps were no different from the usual, yet each of them felt like an earthquake that was blasting through the room. It was a nightmare becoming reality.

"Because she was there with us?" the smith questioned with a strange expression.

Rarity was freaking out. Her mind already wrote the whole thing down as just a dream, she couldn't believe them, she simply was unable to. "No, no, no, that couldn't have been real, it was just a dream." she shouted, shaking her head. However, as she saw the others looking at each other with an awkward grin, she had to cope with the facts. It was not a dream.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no." repeated Rarity, pacing around the room in the circles. Neither Aloe, Lotus, nor even Agate didn't know what to do now. They could do nothing but watch Rarity doing circles over and over, staring at the floor as she kept biting her lip from time to time.

Something needed to be done, though, and Agate was bold enough to take the risk of a reassuring sentence "Don't worry, nopony else knows about this just us.".

"What do you mean, 'don't worry'?" Rarity shouted up. She broke the circle, heading straight towards Agate and putting her muzzle up to the unicorn's. The despair was so intense in her blue rims Agate was frightened, yet she wondering when will her friend drag in the couch again.

"You know what happens with my reputation if they find out I'm a fillyfooler? Don't you know how much Ponyville loves rumors like this?" she kept bombarding her friend with questions. It was Lotus who interrupted her before she could eat her friend alive like a shark.

"We are going to tell nopony, I promise." she swore, an emergency plan she her mind came up with in that very second.

"You're telling nopony?"

"Nopony."

"You promise me you bring this up to nothing sentient in Equestria?"

"Our lips are sealed and zipped, Rares." Agate vowed as a final word. It seemed to tame the ivory beast, as she took a couple steps back to get herself some room, much to the relief of the others.

Rarity was still nervous, she still had a hard time to come in terms with the facts. Regardless, she knew she could trust their friends and that was all that mattered right now. Only now did the realization that she slept with a mare hit her, but she tried to take it in a way others won't notice. After all, she hardly remembered what exactly happened by now, just fragments about Lotus and her, and some candy game in the pool. All she needed was just some more time and she'll surely forget about the whole thing.

"If it helps, I can give back Miss Rarity's virginity too, hypothetically of course." Lotus said, trying to calm her some more and break the almost tangible tension that was still in the air.

"I'd be most grateful, dear." the seamstress chuckled, letting out a satisfied sigh.

"It's not like a first time with a stallion is similar to a first time with a mare, trust me." Agate added, trying to sound smart and professional about the matter "Speaking from experience here."

...

It took her a full second to get what she just said, and text thing Agate noticed was everypony's disturbed face around looking at her. Rarity's left eyebrow raised up, Aloe's mouth covered by her hooves in shock, and Lotus' jaw left open as the three of them stared at her, frozen solid.

"This might have been a bit too much information." Rarity commented, the beauticians humming along in approval.

"Anyway, we're done I guess, everything is cleared up." the smith cheered up with much relief and a pinch of awkwardness. The problem has been resolved, at last.

"We are getting back home then, I want to see how Miss Quickfix and her crew is doing." explained Aloe in an attempt to get away from the topic as fast as she could.

"Alright then, have a nice day, girls." Rarity bid farewell.

"Goodbye Miss Rarity, goodbye Miss Agate."

Lotus and Aloe waved for a couple moments, then turned around and left the room. As the two closed the door behind themselves, only the smith's strange hum coming from behind that sly grin was heard. Her eyes were closed as if she was looking at the sun, and she couldn't resist but shiver and wiggle her tail. Rarity could tell she was to burst out in joy in any given second. She could see why, though, those last words of the twins were making a perfect melody. Agate surely liked them a lot, and she couldn't blame her.

However, there was one more thing she needed to make clear now after hearing her friend's little slip-up. She had an eye for tiny details like this, and the memory to recall them even if they were from weeks ago. She could put the picture together with ease now, all she needed to do was make sure she got the right one. She waited for the tiny bells of the front door to ring up in a distance, and only then did she pop the question.

"You know if either Twilight or Cadence finds this out, you're dead, right?" she whispered towards the mare who was just staring at the door in front of them.

"Mmm-hmm." Agate replied, her hums being long and filled with satisfaction, as if she wasn't even paying attention. Then, as she snapped back into reality, a question appeared in her mind she always wanted to ask. A question about something she was longing to try ever since she saw them.

"Hey can I try on your sexy glasses?" she gasped, turning towards her ivory friend.

"They're not- ugh." Rarity attempted to scold her, but she gave up knowing it's no use. She planted her head into one of her hoof as she sighed. Then, as they were nearby, she took off the orange rimmed accessory and handed over it to her friend. What was it with Agate and these glasses she had not the faintest clue, but she surely couldn't see what were so 'sexy' about them that she had to add this adjective all the time.

Agate didn't hesitate to put them up. The morphed and blurry view was all but usual for her, but she clearly enjoyed this new experience very much.

"How do I look?" she asked in excitement.

"Atrocious." Rarity replied with a cunning smile.

"Oh come on! I feel so hot in these. How about now?" she asked, lowering her glasses down on her nose and giving Rarity the most seductive look she could. It was all for nothing though, Rarity just rolled her eyes accompanied with a gentle shake of her head. Her horn engulfed itself in its signature blue aura as she took back what was hers and put it on herself. Returning to the sewing machine to continue her work at once, Rarity was glad everything has been resolved.

Agate on the other hand just sighed, and strolled after her.