Photo Dash

by SS Nomad

Rating: teen
Tags: Photo Finish, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Romance, Spitfire, Slice of Life
Length: 57032

Ever notice you've never seen Photo Finish and Rainbow Dash in the same room?

Sometimes your passions are at odds with one another. In some cases, they're so at odds with one another that you need to hide behind a different name just to be yourself. Living two lives is hard, and in the case of Photo Finish and Rainbow Dash, it's about to get harder.

Rated Teen for mild cursing, alcohol, and mild adult themes.

Thanks to my good friend Falkon for edits, MelodicMarzipan for the awesome cover art, and everyone who has pestered me to work on this story since I had the idea back during Season 2

Hey look, someone reviewed my story!

Published 2016-06-10 01:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-11-19 01:57:16 UTC

Chapter 2: A Surprise Guest

Sunrise reached Ponyville, causing ponies and animals alike to stir in their sleep. The morning sun’s warm rays tickled the nose of a certain cyan pegasus. But it was not until her first well formed thought that the identity of this pegasus was truly decided.

“Ach, I haff to go back to Canterlot today, don’t I?” Photo Finish grumbled while rubbing her forehead and rolled over on her bed to face the window. No hard deadline, luckily. No shoots today, only going to check her mail. Hopefully there were no tragic situations to take care of on that end.

Photo sprang to life, hopping up off the bed and wiping the sleep from her eyes. Quickly gliding out of Rainbow’s room and into the hallway, Photo’s primary objective was to make herself coffee. As she passed her bathroom, she caught a glimpse of herself out of the corner of her eye. It was always jarring when Photo saw herself without her white mane, even after the six years of this being her daily life, but in those six years, she’d gotten very good at shrugging the feeling off. As she did just that, she stepped through the doorway into her kitchen.

Photo moved on autopilot. A few short and well practiced maneuvers later, the pot was on to brew and Photo turned to make some cereal. Bran flakes with milk and raisins. Her cooking expertise knew no bounds. Morning headache still hammering away, Photo shoved a spoon into her bowl of cereal and lifted it, letting the flakes and milk dribble back into the bowl. She allowed herself to be entranced and distracted by this for exactly eight minutes.

*Ping*

In one sudden motion, she swung around and snatched the coffee pot out of its stand, pouring herself a large glass and setting it down next to her food. Placebo effect already kicking in, Photo felt so much better about the state of the world as she took her first sip of the precious, bitter ambrosia. Now able to think straight, she quickly went to work on eating her food instead of just playing with it, internally grumbling at the flakes having gone soggy.

Photo was just past halfway done with her breakfast when she heard a noise coming from the ground below. It was... somepony barking? She slowly walked out of her kitchen and onto the balcony to look down. In the street, staring up at Rainbow’s house, sat a pile of pink playful pony.

“Woof!”

Photo quirked her eyebrow, staring down at Pinkie. Wait, shit. Pinkie. Rainbow shook her head as if to clear it and shouted down, “Vhat, uh... what’s going on?”

Pinkie scratched her ear with a rear hoof before replying, “Well, I was wondering if maybe you could possibly come down and play or something. You see, I’m pretty bored and I have the day off and I’m looking for friends to spend time with, so obviously I came to you first, you being my best friend and all.”

“Ohhh...” Dash replied slowly before gliding down to talk to Pinkie face to face. “Well... I had some things to do today, and I’m not sure if I’ll be free. It all depends on what I find out when I get there.”

Pinkie pouted playfully, “Well can you at least come out to play later?”

Dash took a moment to respond, trying to think up a good answer. With a confident smirk, she chimed back, “Yeah, for sure. Unless something completely unbelievable happens, I’ll be back before you even have time to start missing me.”

“Okay!” Pinkie bounced up from where she was sitting, “I’ll find somepony else to goof around with until then. You go do your busy thing.” Dash recoiled slightly as Pinkie bopped her on the head a few times.

Dash took a few steps back before continuing, “Yeah, just gonna head back up, finish breakfast and head out. See you whenever I get back?”

“Yuppers! Say, now that I think about it, where you going? Can I come with?”

“Uh... no. No you can’t.” Way to go Dash. Smooth as sandpaper right there.

Pinkie tilted her head to the side and seemed caught in thought for a second before smiling widely again, a knowing glint in her eye, “Okie dokie! I’ll just see you later, then.”

Dash’s heart was pounding in her chest as she watched Pinkie bounce her way in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage. She wasn’t entirely sure if she liked how Pinkie had responded to her amazing bluff, but it seemed to work for now, so she had no plans to question it. Kicking off the ground, Dash flapped her way up to her home and finished breakfast.

For what was not the first time, Dash was glad there was a nice hedge around much of Photo’s rooftop garden. It was always nice to not go careening off of a tall building. She spent a few moments to catch her breath before untangling herself from the plant and turning to shout in the general direction of the pigeon that had clipped her wing as she tried to land. After running out of curses, Dash simply groaned in a generic expression of complaint and headed into Photo’s penthouse.

Dash reflexively wandered through the living room toward the bedroom, quickly snatching her goggles on the way and setting them on top of her mane. She sat down at her vanity and looked in the mirror. Something about being in this apartment and not having her flat, white mane bothered her. She quickly put on her wig and pulled the goggles over it. Much better. Photo shot herself a smile in the mirror and her posture changed in an instant.

Remembering why she was here, Photo Dash stood and looked over at her doorway. She’d have to go down to the ground floor to check the mail. That meant getting fully dressed back up. With a groan, Dash looked over at where she had idly tossed her dress the night before. She’d honestly started to get sick of wearing that walking deathtrap, but until she found some better solution, she’d have to wear something to hide her real tail.

Wait, hold on. Photo turned to her armoire and opened it. Inside, she spotted a long silk bathrobe. Long enough that she could probably hide her tail under it. Perfect. Honestly, she’d be willing to put up with the possible paparazzi shot of her in a bathrobe if it meant not being forced to wear that damn dress to get the mail. Quickly pulling the robe over herself, Photo turned to head downstairs. It was nine fifty-five, the mail office would be open by the time she got there. All this effort just to check the mail. She sighed and opened her door.

A smoky pair of orange eyes were not five inches from her own. For just a moment, both ponies stood confused. Photo quickly stepped backwards to get a better look at who she had almost walked into. She had been standing there, as if waiting for the door to be opened, but now she shied away at the sudden closeness of her planned host. Soft yellow coat, fiery orange mess of a mane, sleek toned muscles, wings that looked like they could lift a small building. As all the pieces fell into place, Dash’s brain shut down, taking Photo with it. Spitfire was in her doorway. Captain of the Wonderbolts. She couldn’t even think straight enough to accidentally squeal in delight.

Spitfire was the first to speak up, “So, uh... you said to meet you at your place at ten, so here I am.”

Dash stared at Spitfire, mouth hanging slightly open and eyes the size of dinner plates behind her goggles. Spitfire looked over Photo Finish, clearly wondering at why she was wearing a bathrobe and what had caused her brain to go into a flat spin. Photo shook her head and closed her mouth, regaining her signature poise.

“Vhat? No, ve vere supposed to meet zis day next veek, I’m sure of it.”

“Oh...” Spitfire dug at the floor with a forehoof and looked away, “Wow, I feel dumb. Uh...” The faintest hint of an embarrassed blush was starting to fill her cheeks.

Damn that’s cute. Photo tried to clear her thoughts, “Vell, no harm done. I’m free today eef you vould like to meet now.”

“Heh, thanks. But really, if it’s inconvenient, I could come back some other time.” Spitfire looked back up at Photo finally, just in time to see her stepping back and opening the door wider. As Photo nodded subtly toward her couch, Spitfire smiled and whispered, “Thanks.”

Photo watched as Spitfire cautiously walked past her, moving like she was walking on eggshells and trying not to disturb her host with the noise. She’d have to convince Spitfire to relax somehow. Right as Photo turned to tell her something to that effect, a stray flick of Spitfire’s tail brought it into contact with Photo’s nose.

Dash’s wings flared out violently and she sneezed suddenly. Yes. The wings were clearly because of the sneeze. Nothing else at all. She quickly untangled her wings from the inside of the bathrobe and folded them back to her sides, trying to regain composure before looking back at Spitfire. All she received was a shocked stare.

“Ah.... It’s... ah... It’s because I shneezed,” Photo stammered.

Spitifire looked at her in confusion for a bit, “What? No I get that. But you have wings?”

Oh right, that part. Quick, Photo, think of something.

“Ja,” Photo said without any noticeable emotion.

Perfect. Second time being mythic levels of smooth in under two hours. Let’s keep this amazing roll going.

Apparently it worked though, since Spitfire turned and kept walking to the couches, “Huh. I had no idea. Always assumed you were an earth pony. I mean... do you usually keep your wings under clothes like that?”

“Ah...” Photo struggled for ideas, “I’m a little... shensitive about my body, so can ve not talk too much about eet?”

Spitfire’s expression locked, clearly struggling for how to respond. Failing to come up with a good answer, she turned and sat down on the couch, eyes lowered. She tried to pretend something had caught her attention. It took her a while to notice that she had just been staring at a blank portion of the coffee table. Photo could tell something was off, but just sighed and walked over, sitting down gently next to Spitfire.

“Maybe we should just talk business so I stop making an ass of myself,” Spitfire offered quietly.

Photo put a comforting hoof on Spitfire’s shoulder. Oh man, I’m touching Spitfire. Hold on, relax. Okay. Photo smiled comfortingly and her voice came out practically a purr, “Relax, dahling. It takes more zan zat to hurt my feelings.”

Spitfire turned to smile weakly at her, but Photo was already in the process of standing up again, “Do you vant coffee? I was goingk to make coffee.”

“Oh, uh... sure,” Spitfire stuttered, now thoroughly confused with the mare hosting her, “black, please.”

“Eet is possible to drink coffee ozher ways?” Photo deadpanned. There was a short, awkward silence before Photo returned to preparing the coffee as if nothing had happened.

Once the coffee was on the heat, Photo quietly walked back over and sat across from Spitfire. Spitfire was still a little slouched, as if trying to look as small as possible, and was spending a surprising amount of time scratching the back of her head. At least she could make eye contact now, though. Somehow that just made her more adorable. It was kind of surprising to see such a cute side to the normally tough and confident captain of the Wonderbolts. Still...

“Are you alright?” Photo asked bluntly.

“Whole truth?” Spitfire inquired, forcing herself to relax a bit, “I feel bad about showing up on the wrong day, I feel bad about... I don’t know, making you uncomfortable, I...” She let out a long sigh, “I don’t even know.”

Photo took a minute to process before remarking, “All of zhese things. Zhey do not matter. Come, we discuss ze photo shoot now, ja?”

Almost as if a weight had been lifted off her chest, Spitfire perked up and smiled, “Yeah, sure.”

About an hour and a pot of coffee later, Spitfire and Photo had planned out the whole shoot. It’d happen in a few weeks, so everypony involved had time to prepare. The whole time they had been discussing, Dash was sneaking glances at her idol. She was even more attractive with her confidence back. No, damn it. Stay focused. Photo shoot. Drinking her coffee served to keep Photo's mind on task, and they managed to get done in a timely manner. As they were wrapping things up, Spitfire decided to speak up again.

“Hey, Miss Finish?”

“Photo, dahling.”

She let out a chuckle but then got serious again, “Photo. You... you really shouldn’t be shy about your body. I mean... based on what I’ve seen you don’t have much to be ashamed of.”

Photo stared blankly at Spitfire for a short while. That dumb excuse was going to keep coming back to bite her, wasn't it? But it’s what she picked, so it’s what she had to roll with. “I... I’m not sure. Jou know how most ponies think pegasus are only good at veather and sports. Zat association would haff weighed me down.”

“I know better than you realize," Spitfire snorted, staring out the window with a hint of frustration. After a moment, she looked like she was hunting for words, “Me and a few other ponies are going to be hanging out this weekend. I guess you could call it party. There’s going to be a hot tub involved, so I’m not sure if you’d be interested.”

“Really? You are inviting me to a private party?” the gears weren’t quite catching for some reason. “Zis... seems out of ze blue.”

Spitfire sputtered slightly, “Well, I don’t know. Only if you’re interested. It’s just a thing I do every once in a while; I like to spend time with... interesting ponies. So... I thought maybe...”

Apparently I’m interesting. Spitfire. Thinks I’m interesting. Photo broke into a sudden, glowing smile, “Vhen and vhere?”

Dash flopped back on her bed, staring at her cloudy ceiling. So far, the day had been amazing. Rarity’s letter to Photo Finish was exactly as surprised and grateful as she had hoped, and Photo’s response was already in the mail. More importantly, though, Spitfire. In her house. Asking Dash to join her at a party. Well... asking Photo, but close enough, right? Like, oh my gosh, a party for cool ponies and Spitfire thinks to invite Photo? So awesome! This was going to be the best party ever. And yet something nagged at the back of Rainbow’s mind. Something important. She needed to be somewhere. Pinkie Pie.

“Oh horseapples,” Dash swore as she sat up, glancing over to the clock. Not too late, hopefully Pinkie wouldn’t be too mad. Or bored. Oh god, Pinkie might be bored. Dash bolted out of bed and went off in search of Pinkie Pie, hoping against hope that Ponyville was still standing when Dash found her.

Luckily, the town was perfectly safe, and Dash spotted Pinkie rolling around in a patch of dirt near the mayor’s office. Rainbow circled quizzically for a bit until Pinkie stared up at her and waved.

"So I guess something amazing happened?" Pinkie chimed up at Dash.

Spitfire's surprise visit rushing back to her mind, Dash tried to stifle a blush as she replied, "Actually, yeah. How'd you know?"

Pinkie giggled with a snort, "You said you wouldn't take long unless something amazing happened. Pretty easy to figure out from there."

"Well, anyway, sorry I’m late. Got a little distracted,” Dash explained, landing beside Pinkie.

“Oh, yeah, don’t worry. I get distracted all the time. It can be fun!” Pinkie shouted, rolling over in the dirt once more. She continued, “And you aren’t really late since you never said when you’d be back. I was just sort of guessing it’d be nowish, though, so I decided to wait around.”

“Yeah, uh... what are you even doing?” Dash inquired.

“I mean usually when you fly off to go do indeterminate stuff at an indeterminate location, you take a few hours, sometimes even all day, so I spent a few hours hanging out with Fluttershy and we had tea and scones. Have you ever had scones before? They’re pretty awesome.” Pinkie rambled, “Oh wow, you’re really sweaty, you must have flown quite a way! Were you distance flying or something?”

Rainbow’s mind was reeling by the time the question hit her, so she stumbled a bit looking for an answer, “Uh... yeah. I was, you know... practicing. Marathon flying. Good exercise, you know?”

“Actually, I don’t know, since I don’t have wings. But hey, marathons are like 26.2 miles, which is like 42.2 kilometers, so flying that far must be good exercise. Wow, that’s like all the way to Canterlot, I can’t even picture going that far every day, let alone multiple times. By the way, have some mud,” Pinkie rubbed Rainbow’s cheek with her hoof, wiping off some of the dirt that had been caking her coat.

Rainbow stumbled back in surprise, shouting, “Gah! What were you thinking, Pinkie?”

“Thinking?” Pinkie mused, tapping her hoof to her chin. “Nah, pretty sure I wasn’t doing that. But hey, now at least you’ve got some mud on you. It’s good for your coat, you know.”

“I... what? That doesn’t even make any sense,” Dash complained, rubbing the dirt off of her face.

Pinkie sighed and rolled her eyes before flopping down on the ground again, “So how was your secret date? Was he nice? Or she. I mean, not gonna judge.”

Again startled and taken aback by the abrupt line of questioning, Rainbow sputtered out, “What? No! That’s not even...”

“He/She wasn’t nice? That’s too bad. Better not go on a second date with them if that’s the case.”

“PINKIE!” Rainbow yelled.

“Yes, Dashie?” Pinkie cooed innocently as she sat up to look at Rainbow.

“There was no date. I was just...” Dash’s voice trailed off as she struggled for ideas.

“You’re blushing~”

“Shoosh,” Rainbow replied, her face going even further scarlet, “I just... well I ran into this one pony. I dunno, I’ve always sort of... admired her, I guess.”

“Ah HA! So it was a date!”

Rainbow sighed disappointedly, “No, it really wasn’t.”

Pinkie took a moment to size up the situation before grinning and declaring, “Well then next time you meet her, ask her out.”

As the suggestion settled in, Rainbow Dash found herself at a complete loss. The thought had never even crossed her mind. She could just... do that. Ask Spitfire on a date. Like... that was totally a thing she could try doing. Well, it would probably be Photo asking her out, but hey, same thing, right?

“Yeah. I... could totally do that. But wait, what if she says no?” Dash wondered.

“She won’t,” Pinkie smiled back, “I’m sure of it. You’re too cool, and you saved the world with us what, like, five times so far? That and you’re all confident and suave and sleek and muscular and... huh, have you ever reached that moment when you want to reassure somepony that you’re only complimenting them and not hitting on them?”

Dash laughed, “Relax, it’s fine. And thanks. I’ll see if I can’t take your advice.”

“It’d be better if you could take my advice, honestly. Then you’d be out on a date with your sweetie,” Pinkie giggled, “And besides, she has a crush on you, so it’ll totally work.”

“Wait, you really think... Wait, no. You don’t even know who we’re talking about,” Rainbow retorted.

Pinkie looked around suspiciously for a moment before locking eyes with Dash, “You’re right! I totally don’t! Ooooh, can we play a guessing game? Uh... let’s see. So they live in Canterlot and you’ve met them before...”

“Wait, I never said they live in Canterlot,” Dash complained.

“Psh,” Pinkie rejected, “She obviously lives in Canterlot. Also, she’s a she, that narrows it down a bit. Hmm.... Could be Fleur, but you know she’s taken. Celestia? No, that’s unlikely. I’d say Photo Finish, but that’s just silly. Hmm....”

Startled by hearing her name, Photo quickly shut Pinkie down, “I’m not playing this game anymore.”

“Awww, but it’s so fun!” Pinkie complained, “Ah well. At least make sure to tell Luna I said hi when you’re done asking her out.”

“Wait, what?”

Pinkie giggled, snorted, and bounced off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres singing to herself, leaving a stunned and confused Rainbow Dash sitting next to a pile of dirt. Rainbow watched as the bouncing pink dot vanished into the distance. Eventually, she decided it would be better to be confused and staring at the sky, so she laid down, landing in the dirty patch.

“Oh hey, this actually feels kinda nice.”

Chapter 3: A Misstep

“Vaht? Who? Heh?” Photo Finish complained as somepony prodded her awake. She sat up to see a concerned looking Rarity standing over her. Apparently she had fallen asleep in Pinkie’s dirt patch. Wait. Rarity, town square, Ponyville. Rainbow Dash shook her head to clear it and snap into the right mind.

“Rainbow, darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked politely.

Yawning, Dash replied, “Yeah, I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Darling, you’re unconscious in a ditch on the side of the road. Let alone how much dirt you have on you...”

“Oh yeah, that.”

Rarity sighed dramatically, “Well, as long as you’re alright. Come on, let’s get you out of there and cleaned up.”

Rainbow nodded, “Yeah, shower might be good.” With one flap of her wings, she tossed herself in the air, flipping upright and landing gently beside Rarity, “Guess I’ll fly back home, then.”

“What?” Rarity inquired, blinking in confusion. “Oh, no no no, a simple shower won’t do. This calls for the spa.”

“The spa? Rarity, you know I don’t like going to the spa.”

“Oh come now, it’ll be good for you,” Rarity pleaded, “and besides, it’d be simply marvelous to talk to you while we’re there. I don’t get to chat with you nearly enough, Rainbow. You... always seem to be asleep. Come on, please?”

Rainbow began to formulate a proper counterpoint, but was cut off by a giant, pleading pair of puppy dog eyes pointed at her and a cute little pouty lip. Damn it, Rarity, how dare you pull that crap. If only it didn’t work so well, maybe she’d stop.

“Fine.”

Rarity’s demeanor immediately lightened, “And don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.”

“It’s just...” quick, Rainbow, come up with some bullshit, “I mean, I don’t want them making me look all fancy and froo-froo, I’ve got an image to maintain.” Eh, that’ll do.

Rarity chortled as she began to trot off in the spa’s direction, “Oh, I’ll be sure they know that before they start.”

Rainbow followed defeatedly. In fact, the problem wasn’t the pampering. She honestly thought she might love a good spa visit every once in a while. The problem was being surrounded by spa ponies. The type of ponies who read fashion magazines in their off time. The type who know what Photo Finish looks like. If they recognized her, that’d be the end of it. Life ruined. Never getting into the Wonderbolts ever. It was a risk she had always been afraid to take. Maybe, hopefully, the difference in mane color and personality was enough to make her unrecognizable. As they rapidly came upon the spa, Rainbow prayed that she was right.

Stepping into the waiting room felt like entering a heavily secured bank. Rainbow felt eyes on her everywhere. The mare behind the counter smiled at them. Wait, it was Aloe. The photo shoot from the previous day rushed back to Photo's mind immediately, and the glorious smile of Aloe at the end. The glow in Aloe's face was still there, and it filled Photo with an equal pleasure. Counterpoint, Aloe would know exactly what Photo looks like and had the best chance of outing Rainbow as Photo. She knew she'd have to play this carefully.

Aloe had apparently started talking to Rarity about something or other. Rainbow was honestly too distracted trying to seem as Rainbow-y as possible to really pay attention to what was going on, but she did catch the two of them apparently talking about first Rainbow, then Photo. Looking around the room, she spotted some couches with magazines near them. Attempting to be casual, she wandered over and sat down, listening to the conversation more closely. As best she could tell, it was just questioning Rainbow's presence and both being excited about having upcoming shoots with "Miss Finish." Settling down, Rainbow further tried to blend in by glancing at the titles of the magazines in front of her.

Photo Finish Secretly a Pegasus?

Nope.

NopeNopeNopeNope.

Rainbow quickly flipped the magazine face down before anypony could see it. Panicked and struggling to look casual, she picked up the first magazine that didn’t have her face on it and began pretending to read. Rarity and Aloe's conversation seemed to quickly be wrapping up, as it shifted to pure business. After a while, Rainbow noticed Rarity trotting over in her direction.

“Well, she said they’d be a while to prepare and...” Rarity stalled mid-sentence as she noticed Rainbow’s magazine, “Wow, I wouldn't have expected you to be caught dead reading that.”

Dash blinked for a second before finally looking at what she had in her hooves. The color drained from her face as she looked at... a photograph she had taken. A spread from a few days ago, new aspiring model. Photo's mind wandered back to a few months ago, the way the young mare, practically still a filly, glowed as she was offered a contract, the youthful excitement of dreams being fulfilled. Rainbow quickly stifled her grin as she set the magazine down on the table.

Oh yeah, Rarity was still looking for an explanation, quick, come up with something, “I dunno, I’ve never actually looked at one before. Trying new things today, right?” Wow, that was a decent cover for once.

Apparently Rarity liked that explanation, because her response was a smile and the reply, “Well, looks like I might be able to get some culture into you yet.”

Rainbow glared at her jokingly before nodding at the magazine, “Honestly some of those pictures weren’t half bad. Not so sure on the clothing, but whatever floats your boat, I guess.”

Rarity opened the magazine back to the picture that Rainbow had been looking at, “Oh, this is that new model Photo Finish found. She looks simply marvelous in this shot, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, the shot’s composition does a good job of balancing the positive and negative space. Also, the color balance came out nicely and the use of depth of field really separates the subject from the background.”

For a moment, Rainbow and Rarity’s worlds stood still as they both sat in shock at what had just been said. Rainbow’s mind raced for some more bullshit to sling at the problem as Rarity slowly turned her head to stare confusedly at Dash. Why, oh why, did Photo have to come out to respond to the complement? Rarity’s look of complete dumbfoundedness was enough to express her question. Rainbow, how do you know all of those words?

“Uh...” Rainbow stammered, “I, uh…”

Rarity’s mind seemed to be stalled out enough that Dash had some time to think. Dash struggled for ideas when suddenly an idea formed in her head. Surprisingly, it was actually decent.

Dash barely had to force the blush to go along with her next statement, “Back when I was a foal… I sort of got into uh… amateur sports photography.”

Rarity snapped out of her daze, apparently interested in this revelation, but more intrigued by the embarrassment. With a wry smile forming across her face, Rarity prodded, “Please, go on. I’d love to hear about what and whom you took pictures of.”

Rainbow resisted a smile as the bait was taken, instead hiding behind her bangs and putting on her best Fluttershy impression, “i.. pictures.. derbolt..”

“I’m sorry dear?” Rarity teased, “I couldn’t quite hear that.”

One dramatic deep breath later, Dash sat up confidently, but the blush was still present. “I mean I took pictures of the Wonderbolts.”

Rarity chuckled, clearly enjoying teasing her friend, but deciding it was time to ease back, “Well that seems like a decent enough hobby for a young aspiring flier. Makes a good deal more sense than what I was thinking at first.”

Dash relaxed slowly, Photo smirking inwardly. The best cover stories were the ones that were partially the truth. Snapping photos of the Wonderbolts was, in fact, her first experience with a camera. But wait, that last part of Rarity’s response troubled her.

“What you were thinking at first?”

Rarity chuckled to herself, “It almost sounded like you knew a lot about fashion photography-”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rainbow quickly stammered.

The immediacy of the response caught Rarity off guard. It almost sounded to her like Rainbow had expected the response and had cut it off on purpose. Odd thoughts and odder doubts had slowly begun to form in Rarity’s mind when they were cut off by a pleasant, smooth voice.

“We’re ready for you now,” Aloe cooed from a doorway. Dash sighed, happy to have the conversation interrupted and to get away from those damned magazines, but horrified of what lay in store for her in the spa proper. As Dash stepped through the door, she braced herself for anything.

Dash was in heaven. This was bliss. She was used to massages being good, but... Aloe pressed a hoof firmly into a knot of muscle between Rainbow’s shoulder blades, the one that came from Photo hiding her wings under that damned dress, to which Dash responded by stifling a moan and arching her back.

Rarity looked on, eyes full of triumph, "You sure do seem to be enjoying yourself."

"Tell a soul and I shave your mane in your sleep," Dash lazily retorted. Rarity chuckled at the empty threat and settled back down onto her massage table.

In an attempt to defuse what she thought might have been a serious situation, Aloe tried striking up idle chat while continuing the massage, "Miss Dash, your coat is simply luxurious. Do you do anything special with it?"

In an endorphin induced haze, Dash replied, "Way too many ponies look for shortcuts, gotta do things the old fashioned way. Getting your coat looking camera worthy takes effort, daily brushing, and a good diet. Zat's ze advice I alvays give."

Aloe nodded seriously as if trying to commit the advice to memory. "Do ponies often ask you for advice on grooming?"

Photo laughed, "Are jou kidding, I-" She paused. A red lock of her mane drifted into her field of view. She realized her accent had slipped in public, but hey, at least nopony seemed to have notic- The fog in her mind finally cleared enough that it occurred to Photo what she’d just said out loud.

Dash very slowly turned to face a completely slack-jawed Rarity, staring at her from the next table over. The seconds dragged on, Rarity's confusion slowly turning to a unique mix of amazement and amusement, all the while Dash's face proceeded to grow tints of pale that onlookers didn’t think possible.

Eventually Rarity decided to break the silence, struggling to choke back laughter, “So how long have you been trying to be ‘camera worthy?’”

Dash didn't move, she didn't blink, she didn't breathe. This whole situation was a death trap and she should have never agreed to come here. Dash silently glanced around the room for something convenient to disembowel herself with. Finding nothing, she glanced back over at Rarity, who was still holding back her giggle fit. Disheartened, Dash turned to Aloe for support, before immediately remembering that Aloe barely knew Dash.

"Well you're not wrong," Aloe offered.

Great, thanks Aloe. Dash slowly turned back to face Rarity, still unable to find even one word. All she could find was frustration with Photo. It was all her fault that Dash was a pretty pony. Sharing a body with a fashionista sucked. With no fresh ideas for how to stop the onslaught of embarrassment, Dash resorted to the two true fallbacks.

"I bet my coat is like," Dash ejected awkwardly, but then paused to think before looking back at Rarity, "at least forty percent prettier than yours."

Rarity's face went from smug satisfaction back to utter confusion. Dash felt her confidence welling back up. Boasting and arbitrary percentages, works every time. Now Rarity had no words, and Dash got to be the smugly satisfied one. Almost made this whole travesty worth it. Dash triumphantly returned to the matter at hand, enjoying the best massage of her life. Unsure really how to proceed, Rarity simply laid back down on her massage table and slowly attempted to organize all of the things she had witnessed over the course of the day into one cohesive concept. It would take a while.

By the time Rarity had come up with what to say next, the spa session was nearly over. Rainbow was seated beside her in a hot tub, looking like she was in bliss. Well, at least that goal had been achieved.

"Sorry I haven't exactly been the most talkative today," Rarity struggled out, "I just… you’ve given me a lot to process.”

“Whatcha mean?” Dash asked.

“Well…” Rarity stopped to try to remember everything, “The way you looked when you were reading that magazine, the way you… fell out of character once you got into the spa, the fact that you apparently put more time and effort into your appearance than you let on. It’s all sort of pointing me towards one thing.”

"Fell out of char-" Dash started to ask. Then she remembered her accent slipping. Oh shit. This could be a problem.

"I mean I've always sort of wondered why you were always so distant when conversation wandered to fashion and parties and the like, but… well as amused as I want to be, I find it all quite hard to take in.”

Dash fumbled, "Look, uh... is there any way I can convince you to not tell anypony? I mean, my chances to join the Wonderbolts would just... I can't let this come out."

Rarity’s distant stare and look of confusion rapidly formed into a wry grin, “Embarrassed?”

Shit, here it comes. Rainbow steeled herself, but still couldn’t make eye contact, “Well… I just think it would be bad for my image as a stunt flier. You know-”

“It’s finally really sinking in that you called your coat ‘pretty,’” Rarity interrupted in a giggle.

“Oh, shut up.”

“Shall I make you a ‘pretty’ dress to go with your ‘pretty’ coat?” Rarity teased.

“My dress looks just fine on me, thank you,” Dash snapped back. Only after she’d replied did she notice that Rarity probably hadn’t meant it as an insult.

Luckily, Rarity seemed to be lost in the image of Dash wearing a fabulous dress and had missed the tone, “Oh, I would simply adore seeing you in your dress, Rainbow.”

Dash’s face flushed yet again, but she tried to regain composure, “Seriously, though. I need you to promise not to tell a soul.”

Rarity laughed at her, "Are you kidding? I'm going to tell everypony I see from here to Canterlot, it's just..." she broke into a fit of the giggles, unable to control herself any longer.

Dash slumped deeper into the hot tub, blowing bubbles as she and Photo planned damage control. Photo knew she could casually play this right so it didn't hurt her career, but Dash's days of being taken seriously as a stunt flyer were over. No, there might shtill be a vay out of zis, Dash. Jusht focus.

Rarity's laughter slowly subsided, and as she lifted her head to look at the brooding Dash, a wave of guilt washed over her, "I'm sorry, I'm being a bit terrible, aren't I? As much as I’d enjoy announcing to the world that you have a fancy side, I care about you as a friend more than that.”

Dash relaxed visibly as she sat up, mumbling her thanks, glad Rarity had agreed so easily. Still, she was surprised with Rarity’s response. She expected… something different, to say the least. Then again, Rainbow had time and again underestimated Rarity’s enjoyment of teasing ponies. Still, she expected Rarity to be more startled at the revelation that she’d been best friends with Photo Finish all along.

Rarity saw Dash coming around and continued, her voice sounding deeply apologetic, "Don't fret, darling, I swear I won't tell a soul. I completely understand being that concerned with your image, and I'm sorry I took the joke too far. I forget sometimes you can't tell when I'm kidding."

“Yeah well,” Dash rubbed at the back of her head, “I can be a little dense sometimes.”

Rarity suddenly got serious, “I do wholeheartedly intend to take advantage of our friendship now, though.”

Photo turned to her with an expression that simply read, ‘Oh, god damn it, Rarity.’

“Nothing too obtrusive, I assure you. I’d just appreciate you coming around sometimes to look at my wares. I’d love to hear your opinions.”

...acceptable. “Sure, why not. As long as nopony notices. Hell, maybe if I spend more time around you I’ll finally figure out your sense of humor,” Rainbow quipped.

Rarity chuckled for a short moment before what seemed to be a sad and serious thought crossed her mind. “You know, Rainbow, if you really think your two dreams are mutually exclusive...” She paused, trying to find the best way to put it, “Well, I just hope you won’t have to choose between them one day.”

Dash sighed loudly, the thought having occurred to her before. As usual, her coping mechanism was denial, “Eh, you know, I’ve been good at hiding it so far. As long as no schmuck with a camera is floating outside of my window at a bad moment, I should be fine.”

Rarity nodded, pondering something, “Honestly I’m not so sure that it would be such a career-ending revelation as you seem to think it would be. Who knows, maybe the Wonderbolts would just shrug it off and move on. You’re an excellent flier, why should they care how you spend the rest of your life? Besides... I have a feeling Spitfire wouldn’t mind, and she’s in charge after all.”

Dash jumped at the mention of Spitfire. Her mind raced. Did Rarity know something? Nopony should know that Spitfire was in her apartment… wow, was that only this morning? No way word got back here that fast, even rumors take a while to propagate. And she’d have heard the spa ponies chatting about it by now. So then… why was Rarity acting like she could predict Spitfire’s response with any accuracy?

Rarity watched as Rainbow’s expression rocketed from shock to panic, onto pondering something, then amused surprise. She was completely entranced by the wordless display of emotion as Rainbow continued onto a very serious thought, a casual glance around the room, and then straight to confusion. And all in under ten seconds. Rarity had never seen Rainbow clearly think of so many things so quickly, and she decided she simply had to find out what had just occurred in that mare’s head.

“You seem… scattered by something.”

Dash shook her head as Rarity’s voice interrupted her flurry of thoughts, jumping back into reality, she quickly bluffed, “Uh, yeah. Just like… worried about stuff. My future and all.”

Rarity could see straight through the lie, but decided not to push it. Rainbow was having a hard time of it, after all, her close friend finding out her deep secrets. The trick here was to come off as supportive, so she stopped to think up some way to go about doing that.

“You know, Rainbow,” Rarity offered, “if you ever do decide to get into modeling, I could probably put in a good word for you with Photo Finish.”

Vhat.

“What?”

Rarity tapped a hoof to her chin thoughtfully, “Then again, this is assuming that my shoot with her goes well. But I expect it to. So yes, I should be able to work something out. If not her then any of my other connections should be able to help.”

Rainbow was confused.

Rarity smiled politely at her, “Oh, don’t act so shocked. You should have known I’d help you if you ever wanted to enter the industry. What are friends for, after all?”

What just happened?

She tried to play back the entire conversation in her head, hoping to figure out what just occurred. Had they really managed to be talking about two different things the entire time? Pretty clearly, at this point. Did she let anything slip? If so, Rarity hadn’t responded to it yet. What the hell was going on anymore?

Rainbow really had no idea how to proceed. Maybe the best option would be to just play along, let Rarity believe what she thought was going on. Sure, it’d make interacting with Rarity a bit of a mess for a while, but it might be better than the alternative. The other option would be just… admitting the truth. Dash spent a few seconds pondering before the fear took over. Sure, Rarity was accepting of Dash secretly wanting to be a fashion model or something, but to find out that Rainbow had been the one to snub her back during the whole fiasco? Dash wanted to keep that quiet a little bit longer.

Rainbow’s expression turned flat, “I’ll think about it.”

“Take your time,” Rarity chimed back, “it’s your life to live.”

Dash sat up, visibly relieved. She could work with this. Having to keep up yet another shitty explanation for her actions was going to start being a mess, but she could manage it. She smiled over at Rarity, speaking sincerely, “Thanks. And seriously, I’ll think about it.”

"Wonderful," Rarity chimed in, half chuckling, "Well either way, we should get out of this water before it ruins your 'pretty’ coat."

Dash groaned loudly. Rarity was never going to let her live that comment down, was she?

Chapter 4: A Stroke of Bad Luck

As Rarity and Aloe said their goodbyes and wished each other luck with their respective photo shoots, Rainbow just was relieved to be out of the spa with her identity intact. On reflex, she stretched her wings, and for once her shoulders didn't scream at her for it. Maybe getting a massage here every so often was worth the risk.

Apparently reading Dash's mind, Rarity chimed in, "If you ever plan to come by here again, call on me first, I'm sure we'll have much to talk about." Rarity ended the statement with a conspiratorial wink.

Dash pondered the idea. She never really got to spend much time with Rarity, and... that massage... "Sure, sounds like something to do."

Rarity seemed proud that she had accomplished what she assumed impossible, quickly replying, "Next time we'll discuss, oh what was it, 'sports photography?'"

Rainbow shot a playful glare as Rarity silently chortled at her own joke. Sighing defeatedly, Dash looked up to the sky, hoping to take off before anypony saw her here. Huh, what was Fluttershy doing flying all the way up there? And why did her mane look so spiky and orange?

...

No. That's not...

Dash panicked and dove headlong into a nearby shrub, using the tree next to it as additional cover. Rarity stared in shock and confusion until she heard somepony call her name from above. Apparently Spitfire had spotted her and was coming in for a landing.

"Good afternoon, Spitfire," Rarity chimed, "what's got you in Ponyville?"

"Just decided to throw a party this weekend," Spitfire announced confidently as she touched down, "You in?"

"Fancy or casual this time?" Rarity asked seriously.

This time? Did Spitfire invite Rarity to parties often? Dash was intrigued and wanted a better view, so she snuck her way up into the branches of the tree, unnoticed.

Spitfire pondered the thought until something occurred to her, "I promised somepony hot tub, so I guess more casual."

"Somepony?" Rarity smiled devilishly.

Poker face.

"Perhaps somepony you'd always wanted to show up to one of these?"

Poker face intensifies.

"So did she ask you about it or did you finally decide to invite her yourself?" Rarity asked in a gossipy tone.

The shot deflected and Spitfire started on a separate thought, "Think you can round up everypony in time for Saturday evening?"

"If I say you have a special guest you're pulling out all of the stops for? Casually," she replied with an air of confidence.

"Sorry for it being such short notice, it just sort of happened," Spitfire mumbled.

"Not at all, darling, I'll do everything in my power to make this night work for you," Rarity announced triumphantly.

Dash, hiding on her bough of choice, was confused. No, that was too light of a word. Rainbow was dumbfounded. Rarity and Spitfire were chatting like old friends, planning a party that Photo had assumed was already planned. Surely something existed that put the pieces together, but she simply couldn't place what it would be. One thing was clear, though. This party was only happening because Photo agreed to show up. So then the question would be why Spitfire wanted Photo Finish at a penthouse party.

Apparently something major had happened in the conversation while Rainbow was lost in thought, as Spitfire was shuffling like she'd just admitted something awkward. Apparently not surprised by whatever it was, Rarity giggled and announced, "Well I look forward to finally finding out who your special guest will be."

"Yeah, well," Spitfire grumbled, "just try not to make too big of a scene."

"Of course, it's your party after all," Rarity smiled innocently. "Anything else to say before you dash off mysteriously?"

"Dash..." something about the word struck Spitfire's attention. "Oh yeah, you have any idea where Rainbow Dash is? I'd been meaning to run into her."

Rarity's face turned to shock and terror. In the rush to plan the party, she'd forgotten Rainbow was still there. She turned quickly to face the hedges. Rainbow had just heard... oh dear. This wouldn't do at all.

Spitfire was confused. "You okay, Rare? You seem even paler than usual. Did..." a thought settled in Spitfire's head and her voice turned to a whisper, "did you hear somepony?"

Dash needed to think fast. Luckily, fast came to her naturally. She was about to get caught eavesdropping in a tree. If she wasn't eavesdropping, then why would she have been up here? She quickly laid down and did something she was very good at.

Rarity and Spitfire both jumped at the abrupt and resounding snore. Spitfire chuckled, "I doubt that one heard too much."

Rarity knew better and suddenly snagged the branches in her magic, pulling them aside to reveal... a blissfully unconscious Rainbow Dash, her chest lying along the branch, legs dangling from either side.

"Well that's... suspiciously convenient," Spitfire remarked.

Rarity knew 'suspicious' was the right word, but said nothing. Better if Spitfire thought her secrets were safe. Instead of acting just yet, she faked a smile and shouted up to dash.

"Rainbow, love, a Wonderbolt is here to see you."

Dash's eyes shot open and she tried to stand up, but successfully fell out of the tree and into the shrub. Spitfire chuckled at her, but Rarity's expression remained unchanged, a fake smile pasted on a blank stare. Dash stood, brushing some plant life out of her mane, but Spitfire was the first to speak.

"Morning."

Dash shrugged, "Naps are good for you."

There was a short pause and then, "ohmygodyou'respitfire."

Spitfire laughed heartily, tears still in her eyes as she started to speak, "So I happened to be in Ponyville and was wondering if you wanted to grab a drink later."

"Really?" This caught Dash off guard, "You're inviting me drinking? This... seems out of the blue."

Something about that phrasing surprised Spitfire, and she tried to place what felt so odd about it. Failing, she just continued, "Sure, I wanted to get some time to chat with you at the Gala, but that never really played out... Just thought I could try to make up for that."

Rainbow Dash, for a moment, began to believe that there was some cosmic balance in the world that was doing her a favor for having put up with Rarity's spa shenanigans. The moment passed slowly and she responded, "Yeah, sure. I'm free whenever you are."

Spitfire seemed almost as excited as Rainbow, "Tonight?"

Dash pretended to think it over before replying with force, "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Great, I'll be at that little bar on the path towards the big apple farm at some point tonight. Show up whenever," Spitfire shot back, taking to the sky. With a quick turn, she shouted down to Rainbow, "And get those twigs out of your mane."

Rainbow watched as Spitfire flew away with speed and grace, her heart slamming in her chest with the excitement of what just happened. Dash was dumbfounded and stupefied, as well as most other similar adjectives. That just happened. She stared off at the receding yellow dot in the sky. Tonight. Spitfire. Drinking. Woah.

"You know, now that I think about it, Spitfire probably makes more sense than Luna," interjected the shrubbery.

Rainbow and Rarity both jumped in terror at the voice, staring at the speaking plant. A bob of cotton candy mane popped out at an odd angle, "But I totally told you she had a crush on you."

Rarity carefully pushed branches aside with her magic, revealing the pinkest of pink ponies perched precariously, a cookie hanging out of her mouth. It looked like a snickerdoodle.

Dash relaxed and shook her head, relieved it was just Pinkie. In front of the spa. Oh for crying out loud... She needed to get away from the place quickly so ponies wouldn't keep noticing her here.

"Hey, uh, Pinks..." Dash stared, but was suddenly interrupted.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Pinkie announced with the appropriate gestures.

"...not mention you saw me here," Rainbow finished on reflex.

"Saw you here? I don't even remember how this conversation started," Pinkie seemed to brag.

Okay good, all things are wrapped up, time to lea... Dash was hit with a sudden pang of horror. Something incredibly wrong had just happened, and it was in the direction off town square. She slowly turned to look down the road.

In the distance, easily three blocks away, there was an orange speck. Dash's vision tunneled as she stared, more and more features visible as she looked more carefully. Blonde mane, cowboy hat, staring right at her, the huge, entertained smile of a pony who had just caught her tomboy friend standing in front of the girliest thing in Ponyville. This list of things was unacceptable. AJ winked. Dash charged.

Applejack had been standing at her vendor stand in the Ponyville market plaza, hawking apples as usual. It was an overall successful day, but not exactly the most exciting. This troubled the blonde mare. She knew Ponyville, had lived there for most of her life, in fact. Uneventful days simply didn’t happen here. She slowly scanned the plaza, trying to pick out what or whom would serve as today's source of comical hijinks.

Two mares were having milkshakes together. Cute, but not exactly what she was looking for. The Crusaders were sprinting around the plaza trying to do... something. She’d have to keep an eye on them. Pinkie was nowhere to be seen, but Applejack honestly wasn’t sure if that relieved or troubled her. Everything in the plaza seemed fairly normal and calm. Suspicious.

It was then that she heard a trio of familiar voices discussing something in the distance. She turned and squinted to try and make out any details. Rarity, Rainbow, and a talking shrub. Shrub likely Pinkie. Well that was one thing off her mind, at least. Only after confirming Pinkie’s location did it occur to AJ what building her three friends were standing in front of.

“The hell is Dash doing in front of the spa?”

Was she? No, she couldn’t be. She’d have snuck out more carefully. But… As the thought filled her mind, a grin slowly dragged its way onto the corner of her mouth. Then Rainbow made eye contact.

“Gotcha,” AJ winked.

Applejack had to admit, Dash could cover some ground when she wanted to. Rainbow had cleared half of the distance between them by the time AJ had noticed enough to respond. The rest of the time was more than enough, though. Dash was coming at her in a rage-filled flying tackle. Predictable, especially for one who purports to be a black belt in something or other. Applejack dropped to the ground, flipping over to lay on her back. Before Dash even knew what hit her, she found herself careening skyward and out of control.

Fluttershy sat calmly in her cottage, sipping at a glass of sweet iced tea. She was in a good mood, but something had been nagging at her, chewing on the back of her mind. She glanced over at her bookcase and saw her scrapbook there, waiting to be opened. She sighed and gave in, floating her way over to the shelf and lifting the book in her forehooves. She then settled back down on her couch, setting the book on coffee table.

It was a beaten up old book, nearly as old as Fluttershy. In fact, the first page has a newspaper clipping her parents saved because she happened to be in the photograph. The editor apparently decided a picture of a tiny pegasus foal on a carousel was the best image to show how fun the town fair had been. And so the book went on, photos of her, some candid, some clearly staged. She stopped on one in particular, a good memory. The first group photo of the Elements of Harmony. It always made her want to go see her friends. Yet she paused there for more than just nostalgia, because she also knew what started on the next page and she needed to prepare herself.

She turned the page, and then the next, and then the one after that. There were countless photographs of her, beautiful makeup, magnificent dresses, perfect mane, and, probably most importantly to her, she actually felt like they were good pictures. She felt a strange excitement looking at herself made up so beautifully. She had so much trouble seeing that beauty in herself, but one pony had pointed it out to her. And there she was, with a hoof over Fluttershy's shoulders.

It was probably her favorite photo of herself, despite it being a random shot from the crowd during a press conference, despite the fact that at the time she was trying to make herself as small and invisible as possible. There she was, meek and tiny beside the magnificent mare who offered to change her life. An offer she rejected out of fear. An offer she now nightly wished was still on the table. If only she could see the mare one more time.

There was a loud crash, pieces of birdhouses and shards of broken window scattering about the room as a body tumbled in and skidded to a stop in the middle of the floor. Fluttershy jumped to her hooves to see Rainbow Dash, sprawled on the floor of her cabin, clearly unconscious. In a flash Fluttershy was by her side, the din of panicked animal noises shoved to the background until she could confirm that Rainbow was okay.

“Ohmygosh, are you breathing? Yes. Good. Okay,” she declared to her unconscious patient. After a quick check-over for injuries, and only finding two slowly forming bruises in the shape of hoofprints on Rainbow’s midsection, Fluttershy started to calm down. Rainbow’s seemingly miraculous ability to crash at high speeds without injury was still active. After checking her pulse and breathing again, Fluttershy set her on the couch and went about tending to her animals.

Photo Finish opened her eyes slowly, her ribcage burning for some reason with every breath. The first thing she saw was a book on the table in front of her. It looked like a photo album, but she couldn’t make out the pictures from this angle. She quietly started to rise to get a better look at the book and her surroundings, not really remembering how she got here. Halfway up, she winced in pain and let out an audible yelp.

“Are you okay? Did you wake up?” came Fluttershy’s voice from the next room over.

Photo looked around and noticed she was in Fluttershy’s cottage, so Dash finished sitting up and propped herself up on her forelegs, grumbling a response. “Yeah, I’m alive. Barely.”

Fluttershy wheeled around a corner and into the room, a tea tray in her mouth. She set it down on the coffee table, “Well, I suppose that’s good. You could rest here until you recover enough to go home. I mean, if you like.”

Rainbow was about to reply when she heard a tiny “eep” and the loud shutting of a book. Fluttershy had lunged across the table and slammed her photo album shut with surprising haste, the panic still evident in her eyes. Rainbow wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“Shy?”

Fluttershy’s attempts to look innocent were hampered by the odd position she was left in after reaching all the way across the table. That and the world-ending panic in her stare.

“Yes, Rainbow?”

Rainbow looked at the cover of the book, which seemed to say “My Life,” but much of the title was blocked by a yellow hoof. She looked back up at Fluttershy, her expression an inquisitive one. Fluttershy’s mood sank even further and she slowly dragged the book back to her side of the table.

Rainbow was about to ask the obvious question when a candy-pink mane bobbed up from behind the window Rainbow had just demolished, “Is she dead? If she is, who gets her element? I vote Spike.”

The album was temporarily forgotten as Fluttershy and Rainbow both turned to face the pair of blue eyes staring at them through the window. Their responses were simultaneous.

“Pinkie! You can’t joke about things like that!”

“Pinkie! You’d replace me with Spike?”

Pinkie ducked below the window frame and reappeared behind the couch, “He did pretty good as you last time.”

Rainbow jumped at the sudden voice behind her, but that only served to aggravate her injury, and she dropped back to the couch in pain. Seriously, one day she’d figure out how Pinkie did that. The answer would probably drive her mad, though.

Pinkie examined Rainbow with a stethoscope, “I think I found your problem.”

“How do you even have that? I keep it upstairs,” Fluttershy complained.

Like all questions about her bending of reality to her whims, Pinkie simply ignored it and continued, “The problem here is you always need to keep character class and relative level in mind when choosing targets.”

“What?”

“If you don’t get it, I don’t have time to explain,” Pinkie replied sadly, “Easy mode explanation is you just tried to tackle a linemare as a running back. It was a doomed endeavor.”

Rainbow could never tell if Pinkie was being condescending when she used sports metaphors, but damned if they didn’t get the point across. Rainbow grumbled to herself as she quickly remembered what had just happened. Slowly coming to terms with the fact that Applejack would be teasing her for weeks, Rainbow let out a long sigh and sunk back into the couch.

Fluttershy tipped her head to the side inquisitively, “What, um… happened?”

Rainbow started to respond, but was interrupted by Pinkie, “Rainbow made poor life choices.”

She really, really wanted to object, but Pinkie was right on more counts than one, so…

“It’s no big deal, Shy. Just a misunderstanding.”

Fluttershy refused to let it go, “Misunderstandings don’t kick ponies in the chest.”

“Yeah, seriously. Hooves do,” Pinkie blurted out before ducking back behind the couch.

Rainbow looked over the back of the couch to try to shoot Pinkie a glare, but she was nowhere to be seen. Confused, she turned back to Fluttershy in an attempt to settle her down, “Me. AJ. Stuff. Don’t worry about it.”

Fluttershy sighed, “If it was you two, I probably don’t even want to know. You didn’t seem to break anything this time… well except my window.”

Dash looked over at the shattered window frame. Yeesh, she really did a number on that one. Casually, she replied, “I can pay for repairs, you know.”

Fluttershy smiled appreciatively, but with a little sadness in her eyes, “Thank you, but take care of yourself. Really.”

“Alright,” Rainbow sighed in response, “You know how much I hate to dump my troubles on your doorstep.”

"It was through her window this time," Pinkie chirped before hiding once more.

After a quick glare at the pink one, Rainbow turned to look out the shattered window, through which the sun was being gently lowered towards the horizon. Late afternoon sunlight was already filtering its way into the little shack, turning everything a delightful red-orange. Photo wanted to take a picture. Rainbow reminded her they didn’t have a camera. Photo acknowledged defeat. She turned and saw Fluttershy looking at her in concern. With this light. Her mane not quite arranged right. The sincerity of the pose. Damn. Utter defeat.

Fluttershy stood up, “Well, as long as you’re okay now, I should get back to the animals. Your crash spooked a few of them.”

Rainbow stood from the couch, the lingering pain in her ribs causing her to wince slightly, “Yeah, I’ve got places to be, too.”

“Like your date,” Pinkie exploded.

Fluttershy jumped, shocked by Pinkie’s sudden appearance from below the coffee table. Then she processed the statement, “Date?”

“It’s… not a date… I think?” Dash replied hesitantly.

Fluttershy looked at her inquisitively before announcing, probably mostly to herself, “Well, it’s not polite to pry. I’m sure you’ll tell me eventually. Have fun!”

Dash glared at Pinkie, “You seriously need to stop spreading rumors.”

“Oh, yeah. Especially ones from events I don’t even remember happening. Hmm…” Pinkie Pie paused to process.

Taking her cue, Rainbow Dash slinked out of the building, waving goodbye to Shy as she left. Best to escape Pinkie while she was wrapped up in thoughts, didn’t want her announcing half truths as fact to everypony with ears.

The walk back from Fluttershy’s shack brought Rainbow just past the front gate to Sweet Apple Acres. She glanced inside to look for activity, only noticing Big Macintosh splitting logs. Good, no Applej-

“Howdy there,” came a smug voice from directly in front of Dash.

Turning to look down the road, Rainbow saw Applejack pulling her cart back from town square. Well, crud. Looks like this was going to happen. She steeled herself before waving back in response.

“It’s dang good to see you’re okay, I was a little worried I put too much force into that buck,” AJ said, taking her hat off and bowing her head in apology.

Dash was a little surprised by the display, but quickly responded, “Eh, no hard feelings. I started it, I suppose. And besides, I heal quick.”

Seeing her friend in decent spirits, AJ walked up and offered a hug. Kind of out of character for Applejack to make up, but maybe she was more concerned than Dash had realized. After looking around to make sure nopony was watching, Rainbow accepted the sentiment. No hard feelings and all that. Everything seemed fine until Rainbow heard AJ take a big sniff of her mane.

“The hell are you doing?” Rainbow complained.

AJ put on a dastardly grin before replying, “You smell like fancy shampoo.”

Rainbow’s face went blank and she closed her eyes to recover her focus, taking a deep breath. Opening her eyes, her expression shifted to a half frown, the type that can only truly be understood by someone who’s been through the same. She only had to say one word,

“Rarity.”

Applejack paused and made a near identical, if color inverted, expression. She understood completely.

“Oh.”

After a moment of commiseration, Applejack spoke up again, “So, I gotta put this cart away, then I was thinking. You want me to buy you a drink? I mean, I banged you up pretty bad, I still feel like I owe you one.”

“A drink?” Rainbow pondered. But she was supposed to go for a drink with Spitfire later. Well, it would probably be at the same bar. And hey, One or two drinks before Spitfire showed up shouldn’t be a problem. What’s the worst that could happen?

Chapter 6: A Few Distractions

Exhausted from a hard day’s work followed by a long flight, Rainbow Dash alighted on her cloud home and tossed the bag that contained all of Photo’s trappings in a corner. She’d had the option to stop by the penthouse on the way to Ponyville, but opted against in order to avoid the public eye as much as possible. Stupid tabloids, making her life harder. Sun already well below the horizon, Rainbow laid down and stared at the ceiling of her bedroom. The pillow was calling her, but so was the pile of magazine layouts in her desk drawer.

With a disappointed sigh, she got back up and sat at her desk. Staring at the partially done work, her mind simply drew blank. The nearly empty pages stared at her in challenge, and she had nothing to fill them with. The day had been too much of a mess for her to really focus on what was in front of her properly. This should have been second nature to her, but here she was just… being stared down by her own unfinished work. She felt the slow buildup of stress in her system the longer she looked.

It abruptly occurred to her that she’d never opened her mail from that morning. Obviously not procrastinating, she reached for her bag and shuffled through the letters. Mostly generic correspondence, but she did manage to find the response letter from Rarity. A quick review and comparison with her schedule led Photo to the conclusion that tomorrow afternoon would be good. She’d have to wake up early and duck to Canterlot to chang- Her goggles stared up at her from inside her opened saddle bags, resting atop everything else she’d need in the morning. Photo regarded that lucky turn of events for just a moment before starting to draft a reply letter to Rarity. She could just float down and tuck the letter into her mailbox that night, as she was fairly certain Rarity would check the mail with enough time to get ready.

She looked at the folded letter and then at her layouts. As tempting as it was to go deliver the letter instead of doing real work, she set the envelope aside and started staring at the pages again. A few cursory lines, all immediately erased, a few more lines. This was getting nowhere. She was too unfocused to work on this, all of the day’s stressors racing around her thoughts. She just wanted to relax.

Hot tubs are relaxing. That stray thought sent her back into a panic spiral. In her spare time throughout the day, she’d been grappling with ideas for how to get away with being both Photo and Rainbow at the party, but nothing managed to stick. There had to be a way. Had to. She just couldn’t come up with one. But she had to. Wait, there was another problem. Photo couldn’t exactly wear her dress into the hot tub. No dress means nothing to cover her tail, and basically no disguise at all. She had to come up with an answer to that, also. Panic slowly building in her heart, Rainbow lost track of everything that was going on around her. In a brief moment of clarity, the first useful result of her assorted panics throughout the day finally arose.

“If I can’t figure it out myself,” she mumbled, “I'll have somepony else figure it out.”

Then again, that thought was a dead end. Asking somepony’s help to keep your secret identity intact doesn’t exactly work. After a brief moment of mental stillness, she laughed at herself. This is exactly the reason she chose to let Twilight in on everything. Going to talk her problems over with Twilight was such an obvious next step she felt like an idiot for not coming up with it already.

Standing from her desk, and with a fleeting glance at the nearly untouched layouts, she left the house. She just told herself that the layouts would be easier once she wasn’t so distracted, and that talking to Twilight was just another step in that plan. Yeah, that sounded like a real thing and not just putting off her work. Yeah. Stepping off her cloud, she cruised down to the library.

Deciding to use the door this time, Rainbow tried to calm down a bit and knocked. After some shuffling noises on the other side, a familiar purple glow pushed the curtains aside to reveal and even more familiar purple face.

Twilight smiled and opened the door, “Heya, Rainbow. I was just working on… uh… the thing.”

“The… oh, yeah,” Dash said, glancing over her shoulder to double check nopony was listening, “That’s great. Hey, can we talk?”

Twilight gestured for Rainbow to follow her in and they both sat down at the common table in the middle of the room, “What did you need to talk about?”

“Okay, so I ran into Spitfire…”

After the better part of an hour giving as much detail as possible, Twilight finally seemed to have a rough grasp of the situation. She sat and pondered for a good while, before finally announcing, “I’m not really sure I see a solution either.”

Rainbow’s heart sank, “But there has to be a way, right?”

Twilight’s expression was enough of an answer, eyes showing concern while everything else read of grudging disagreement, “There’s probably a way, but it’s also probably not worth the risk on your part.”

“But-”

Twilight interrupted, “You have two careers to worry about. You have much more to lose than to gain from trying some overblown solution.”

“I-”

“My honest advice here?” Twilight continued, “One of you has to say you can’t come.”

Rainbow felt like she’d just taken a blow to the chest. It was the thought that had been plaguing the back of her mind the entire time. Having placed all hope in Twilight coming up with some better answer than that, it hit like a ton of bricks. It couldn’t be done. She would have to choose.

“There has to be a way,” Rainbow mumbled to herself.

With a sigh, Twilight put a comforting hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. In a flash, Dash had jumped away from her, “No, damn it. I’m going to make this work. It has to work, I don’t care what you say.”

Twilight was shocked for a second before taking a moment to process the scene. With a comforting smile, she simply announced, “Stage two, anger.”

“The fuck are you talking about?” Rainbow demanded.

Twilight let out an exasperated sigh, “Rainbow, keep your voice down and stop swearing, Spike is trying to sleep.”

Rainbow’s next complaint caught in her throat and she sat down at the table once more, frustrated to no end. To Hell with Twilight, Rainbow was going to make this work somehow. Sure she was smart, but Twilight wasn’t always right about everything. Rainbow would find a way.

Trying to break the mood, Twilight spoke up again, “I’ve gotten a good way into figuring out the illusions you were asking about.”

Rainbow phased back into the real world, “What now?”

“So far the best I’ve found only works on the caster and takes a ton of energy to upkeep,” Twilight said, shuffling papers, “but I think I’m on track to getting you something you can use instead of your normal disguise. Hiding your wings will be a problem, though, since they take up space even when disguised.”

“The way things are going, I might not have long left to pretend I don’t have wings,” Rainbow grumbled, “Stupid tabloids.”

Twilight pondered neutrally, “On the bright side, that makes the spell easier.”

Rainbow just grumbled more, her mood holding quite sour. There was a long silence as Twilight examined Rainbow and Rainbow stared into space thinking and looking grumpy.

Eventually, Twilight’s expression flattened, “Look, do you need anything else from me or are you just going to sit there being mad about things?”

Rainbow shot upward, looking like she was about to argue, but sense got the better of her, “I… I’m sorry. Today’s been shi- stressful. I just… this matters to me. I don’t want to let Spitfire down, not as either one of, uh… me.”

“I get that,” Twilight admitted, “just don’t take it out on everypony around you, okay?”

With the long sigh of somepony trying to calm themself, Rainbow replied, “Okay.”

After a short but less awkward pause, Twilight announced, “I should probably get back to work on this. You’re welcome to stay and sit, but expect me to be distracted.”

Rainbow grudgingly stood up, “Nah, I also have things to do. And hey, thanks for doing all this for me. I’m sure it’s a hassle.”

Twilight smiled, levitating six books at once, “Are you kidding? This is the type of thing I do for fun.”

“Well then, sorry to drag you through my personal drama,” Rainbow offered, heading for the door.

Twilight pondered the thought before pointing out, “Actually, I’m pretty sure I can write a friendship lesson about this, so that’s actually one more thing off my plate.”

Rainbow laughed sarcastically as she stepped out the door, “That’s the most ‘Twilight’ thing you’ve said all night.”

“Hey, Rainbow,” Twilight called after, causing her to turn back, “Take care of yourself.”

With a quick salute to show she understood her order, Dash took to the sky.

Photo rolled her face all over the layouts. She was so, so bored, and her conversation with Twilight had done nothing to alleviate her worries. Sitting up and looking at the pages, she noted just two things. One, she had barely gotten any work done that night. Two, apparently she hadn’t removed all of her makeup, because flecks had been left on the page when she was collapsed on the desk. While she idly played connect the dots with the mascara spots, Photo spared a few glances around the room. It was late, idling toward midnight, and she still had so much work to do.

There was an envelope on her desk. Breaking from her idle doodles, she picked it up, remembering it was her response letter to Rarity. She needed to make sure to deliver that tonight. That sounded like a thing that needed her immediate attention. More than happy for another excuse to get away from her work, Photo stood and stretched. She honestly wasn't sure what was tiring her more, sitting hunched over her desk for hours on end or the fact that it was the middle of the night. Either way, she took the letter and took her time, gliding down to Rarity’s boutique.

Ponyville’s streets lit only by streetlights and the moon, Rainbow was happy to see nopony around. At least this way the letter couldn’t be traced to her. With no lights on in the boutique, Rainbow decided the coast was clear and slipped the letter into her mailbox, doing another quick double check to make sure nopony was watching.

Satisfied, Rainbow turned to fly away when the sound of a door latch turning made her jump like a startled cat. Turning toward the sound, Rainbow saw Rarity, standing in the doorway holding a candle in her magical grasp. Had she seen?

“Hello? Who’s out there?” Rarity called cautiously.

Bail or play it off? Rainbow contemplated quickly before calling out, “Oh hey, Rare. Didn’t know you’d be awake.”

Looking visibly relieved, Rarity stepped through the door and toward Rainbow, “Darling, you startled me out here. I saw an unmoving silhouette and simply the most dreadful thoughts filled my mind.”

Stepping into the glow of her friend’s candle, Dash smiled, “Yeah, sorry about that. You’re up really late, though. What’s up with that?”

Rarity paused, her expression turning to one Rainbow couldn’t read, “Honestly, I could ask the same, Darling. Well, since you’re here, do you mind coming inside?”

“Sure,” Rainbow shrugged, following Rarity back toward the door, “What’s up?”

Ushering Rainbow through the door ahead of herself, Rarity replied in an oddly practiced tone, “There’s something I’d been meaning to discuss with you.”

Rainbow could tell something was off and cautiously looked over her shoulder, watching Rarity slowly close the door. The resounding clunk of Rarity throwing the deadbolt gave Rainbow a surge of adrenaline, “Wh… What’s going on, Rarity?

“I just have one, simple question, darling,” Rarity explained, her expression still unreadable and her voice slowly waxing ominous, “How much of the conversation did you understand?”

Something in Rainbow told her that this was not somewhere she wanted to be. The main room of the boutique, lit only by Rarity’s magic and candle light, took on a foreboding air. Rarity’s stare bored through Dash in a way she really, really didn’t appreciate. All Rainbow could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat slamming away and the dull chirp of crickets outside.

“I…” Rainbow stammered, contemplating exit via a window, “What in Equestria are you talking about, Rare?”

Rarity’s eyes narrowed and she snapped, “Don’t play the fool with me, Rainbow. How much did you hear?”

Rainbow’s mind staggered around to figure out what she was talking about. Eventually it clicked.

“You mean you and Spitfire?”

Rarity gave her a look that read go on.

“Uh…” Rainbow struggled to remember details, “She’s throwing a party and asking you to invite ponies? She… wait, how do you two even know each other? She sounded like you were frie-”

“Anything else?” Rarity interrupted in a cold tone.

Rainbow was caught off guard. Rarity wasn’t often this confrontational and it was really disorienting. She struggled for more thoughts, “Well, you thought she was inviting somepony special. It was-” Wait, I shouldn’t know that, “um, you didn’t know who. No but seriously, how do you know Spi-”

“After that?” Rarity cut off once more, the light of her candle flickering and casting shadows across her face.

Dash fumbled, “I dunno, you talked about some more stuff and then she wanted to know where I was?”

“And that ‘stuff?’”

The pause was so pregnant it looked like it was about to bear quadruplets. Rainbow had no idea what had been said. Would Rarity believe her? Looking back, it was probably something really… awkward. She remembered Spitfire shuffling at the ground and Rarity looking amused. Was that what this was all about? What could have been said?

Not really knowing what to say, Rainbow decided to go with the truth, “Look, I was so distracted by you and Spitfire apparently being secret best buds that I have no damn clue what you were even talking about. No seriously, what’s up with that?”

Rarity took a cautious step backward, as if to judge her friend. She seemed satisfied, “So you really didn’t hear?”

Rainbow made blew a raspberry and shrugged.

Rarity’s mood lightened, but she still shot the occasional suspicious squint, “Well… okay then. Good. As to how I know her, I’m afraid I can’t tell you.” She paused for a short moment to consider, “Honestly, I’m not sure if she’d mind me telling you, given other things, but a promise is a promise.”

Dash paused to process, still wondering what the hell she had missed in that conversation. Rarity being secret friends with Spitfire was also weighing on her mind, but a complete background thought compared to what would drive Rarity to such lengths of confronting a close friend.

Rarity seemed to see the levels of deep thought through Rainbow’s eyes, because she declared, “Well, love, should you piece anything back together, I do hope you understand that telling anypony will have consequences.”

Rainbow snapped to attention, “What? No, of course. Like… a good friend and an idol of mine have a secret, I’m not so stupid as to run around announcing it.”

Finally, Rarity smiled, “Well, just so long as we have an understanding. I do apologise for the theatrics.”

The door unlatched with a thunk and Rarity’s posture slowly settled to her normal poise. Rainbow just stood there, stock still, mildly suspicious that it was a trap. Rainbow cautiously made for the door, eyes on Rarity the whole time. This entire event had left her jarred and she just wanted out.

As she reached the door, Rarity spoke up again, an apologetic tone to her voice, “I do hope you understand.”

“I don’t,” Rainbow stated plainly.

Rarity raised a hoof as if to start explaining, but just deflated again, “Yes, I was worried that would be the case.” After a sharp exhale, she continued, “Simply put, everything is fine so long as you just move on like you heard nothing at all and this never happened.”

Nodding suspiciously, Dash replied, “Sure. Yup. I’ll just go home then.”

Rarity silently opened the door and Rainbow stepped out in a pretend calm before jolting skyward. Landing on her balcony in a daze, Rainbow staggered toward her bed and collapsed. Just pretend it never happened. Yup. The lingering thoughts of work to do were overwhelmed by trying to process what had just happened. Rainbow stared at her ceiling. Just pretend it never happened.

But it happened.

As the sun slid up above the horizon, Photo Finish grudgingly opened her eyes. Somehow, the events of the last night had lingered through her dreams and were still flooding her mind. She just had to push it aside and get ready for her day. Sitting up in bed, she was still lost in thought. Rarity was so thrown by the possibility that she had overheard something important. Half of her wanted to find out what, but the other half never wanted to have another encounter like that.

The next thing she knew, she was already in her kitchen preparing the morning’s coffee. Rummaging about, she found a blueberry bagel to shove in her face while she waited for the coffee to finish and sat down to think about her next few days. Today wasn’t impossibly hard, it was just a matter of holding character and pretending that Rarity didn’t terrify her after the events of the night before. That was doable, so long as she could rationalize what had happened. The longer she thought on it, the harder that prospect seemed.

Photo was in the middle of staggering for ways to comprehend that situation when the coffee finished dripping and clicked off. Casually pouring herself a cup, Photo kept pondering. Spitfire had a secret. Well, two secrets. One secret that she was friends with Rarity and one that she could have heard if she had been paying attention. With a start, she noticed that she had filled her mug right to the brim, almost too full to pick up properly. Grumbling to herself, she set the pot back on her counter and stared at the near-overflowing mug.

Cautiously sipping from the mug as it rested on her table, she kept pondering. Why keep a friendship secret? Spitfire might have friends that didn’t like Rarity, but that seemed unlikely. The only reason to keep a secret is fear of repercussions. Why would you be afraid that ponies knew you were friends with a designer? Public appearance? Nah, Spitfire had that on lockdown. So then, why?

Finally having sipped enough coffee to safely lift the mug, she sat upright with a start and tried to clear her mind. She had business to attend to today, and the stupid layouts were still silently taunting her from the next room over. Honestly, if she wanted to know, she could just go find Spitfire and ask. Worst case, she was seeing her in two days. She swallowed hard at the idea of having to come up with a plan for attending the party in such a short span, but resolved that she’d come up with a way in the afternoon. Her schedule after the meeting with Rarity was totally clear. That would give her time to think. And do layouts. Mostly think.

She’d just spend the morn- Rainbow heard a cooing noise from the next room over. It wasn’t so out of place that it immediately caught her attention, but something about it made her slowly turn her head. She found herself in a staring contest with a pigeon on her window frame. It just sat there, staring.

Remembering the one watching her at the penthouse, Rainbow impulsively called to it, “Hey! What do you want?”

Not breaking eye contact, the pigeon hopped off the windowsill and flew off. Crossing the room in confusion, she watched the small bird cruising off toward the park in the center of town. It had to be the same one, that was the only thing that made any remote sense. Of course, that was not to say that being followed around by a grumpy pigeon made any sense. It just made more sense than the alternatives.

Walking back over to her coffee, Rainbow struggled to rerail her train of thought. Things to do this morning. She still needed to get her hooves on a copy of that tabloid, and this time she actually had bits with her. That was a thing to do. Also, she reminded herself, layouts. Might as well grab the magazine first, it would be quick and give her some time to think while flying. Chugging the last few ounces of her coffee in one go, Rainbow set off to the market square. As she passed overhead, she caught sight of a familiar Stetson and decided to say hi.

Spotting her friend approaching, Applejack tipped her hat, “Howdy there, Rainbow. How’s it going?”

“Eh, weird past few days,” Rainbow replied, kicking up a small cloud of dust as she landed, “You good?”

AJ shrugged and gestured at the cart of apples and apple products behind her, “Mac got sick and I’m stuck with another day of standing around in the square.”

There was a pause as they each tried to word what they wanted to ask, but AJ was the one to speak first, “So I managed to break Fluttershy’s window with you?”

Rainbow let out a single chuckle, “Yeah, well. Not the first time you’ve sent me rocketing out of town square. Remember the catapult?”

AJ stopped to grasp at that memory, “Barely, I was half asleep for that. Still don’t know why you thought that was a good idea.” She let out a sigh before continuing, “I do the work, you pay for the lumber?”

Rainbow’s expression shifted instantly from forced humor to a regretful grimace, “Yeah, I think that sounds fair.”

“Alright, I’ll probably do that tonight then,” AJ informed, her own expression one of self disappointment.

After a moment of shared silent acceptance, Rainbow tried to change the subject, “By the way, about two nights ago. Uh… what happened?”

“You mean before or after I whooped your sorry flank at pool for like two hours?”

Rainbow grumbled, “After.”

“Spitfire showed up and you started trying to match drinks with her after already being a few in,” Applejack explained, “I bailed when you started the shameless flirting.”

“I wasn’t-” Rainbow started to complain before realizing she honestly had no idea.

“Well. It looked like that to me,” AJ put forward, “I got the feeling Spitfire thought the same.”

Failing to form any counterarguments that didn’t just make AJ sound more right, Rainbow just rolled her eyes, “Eh, whatever. Have fun standing around all day, I’ve got things to do.”

With the sparkle of amusement in her eyes, Applejack waved to Rainbow as she left. Walking among the stands of the marketplace, Rainbow finally found the one that sold magazines. After a quick glance at the selection, she felt satisfied that the stakeout from the day before hadn’t spotted Rainbow on the way into the penthouse, or at least hadn’t had time to publish yet. The problem was, the particular magazine she was looking for was noticeably missing.

“What happened to that tabloid with the article on Photo Finish?” Rainbow asked the pony behind the counter.

“Sold out,” he stated regretfully. “You might be able to find somepony who already has one, though.”

Rainbow sighed. Nothing could be easy, could it? She thanked the merchant and left, heading back home to maybe finally get some useful work done. Dissatisfied with being unable to tie up what should have been the easiest loose end of her rapidly fraying disguise, Rainbow landed on her balcony. As much as she wanted to just spend the day making things work, Photo had a meeting with Rarity to prepare for.

Chapter 7: A Productive Day

Stepping out of the restroom of the Ponyville train station, Photo Finish surveyed the town through her pink lenses for the first time in a long while. As the train pulled away behind her, a few ponies seemed to notice her, stopping to gawk and chitter. Even without her entourage, Photo stood out in a crowd. Standing amongst all the ponies waiting for their friends and loved ones was a familiar white unicorn, waving a hoof to catch Photo’s attention.

As Photo moved to meet her, Rarity’s expression of barely contained excitement grew, and she spoke with a singsong tone, “Welcome back to Ponyville, Miss Finish. You know I didn’t actually see you get off the train.”

“Miss Rarity,” Photo deflected, surveying the area around the station, “Zis ist a very nice town.”

“Well I always thought so,” Rarity agreed, gesturing down the road, “My boutique is this way.”

As they both walked the short distance from the station to the boutique, Photo couldn’t help but notice the attention they were drawing. More than once, she heard the distant click of a camera shutter. Perfect, free publicity.

As they reached the boutique, Rarity opened the door with her magic, standing aside to let Photo pass, “After you. I suspect we have oh so much to discuss.”

As Photo stood before the doorway with Rarity, the events of the night before filled her mind. The panicky, animalistic side of her mind refused to step through what looked like the same trap just half a day ago, but Photo calmed herself and took a step forward, “Ja, zis shoot has ze potential to be qvite an event.”

As they both stepped in, the sound of Rarity closing the door behind her and locking the door sent a chill through Photo’s body. Spinning around, she saw Rarity innocuously turning the window sign from open to closed and looking at Photo expectantly.

“So where shall we start?” Rarity asked in a cheery tone, “would you like to see some of my older pieces or my current projects?”

Eyes darting around the room in a faint panic behind her goggles, Photo fought to calm her voice, “Is zhere any particular reason for locking the door?”

Rarity looked back at the door, innocent confusion in her voice, “Well I just figured we didn’t want anypony walking in on our conversation.”

“I vould rather not,” Photo responded abruptly, clearing her throat and trying the sentence again, “I mean, I vould rather ze door be unlocked.”

Looking worried she had offended Photo somehow, Rarity abruptly unlocked the door and stammered out, “Of course, that’s no problem. The sign saying ‘Closed’ should suffice.” She forced an awkward laugh.

Immediately much calmer, Photo turned to look at the rest of the room, “Ve should start vith jour most recent pieces.”

“Of course,” Rarity concurred, “this way.”

Taking a break from discussing dresses and scheduling, Rarity and Photo Finish had decided to take tea. As the day had worn on, the situation had grown more comfortable. Although Rarity was still simultaneously stressed and delighted to have such a famous pony looking through her wares, she quickly realized that Photo was treating her as a talented artist and not simply somepony to do business with. At the same time, Photo had managed to quickly push the events of the night before aside after seeing Rarity in her usual state.

As Photo sat and pondered what she’d seen so far, Rarity watched her eagerly, eventually speaking up, “So, I’d love to hear what you’re thinking so far.”

Photo looked over her and tried to put everything to words, “Ze pieces jou have shown me, zhey are magnificent. But…”

Rarity flinched, “‘But?’”

“Zhey are vonderful pieces, and I can tell zhey vill sell vell,” Photo explained, “I just feel zat to really show jour talent, jou need something… more jou.”

Rarity took a moment to internalize the words before accepting, responding in deflated tone, “I think I understand what you mean. It’s not often I get a proper custom order that I can put my all into. I find myself just in a holding pattern of making what will sell in order to get by. Most ponies in town know I’m talented, but they can’t really see my talent, you know?”

Photo watched her friend’s face as Rarity sank into sadness and regret. She felt a pang, her own regret welling up inside of her.

“I’m sorry,” Photo admitted, “I should have given jou the attention jou deserved.”

Rarity snapped her head to face Photo, letting out a confused, “What?”

Photo continued her confession, “I… vas so distracted by Flütershy zhat I lost focus. I should have given jou more of a chance.”

As Rarity caught the train of thought, she softly smiled and responded, “Water under the bridge. Besides, all of Equestria was distracted by Fluttershy from the moment you discovered her, I can’t exactly blame you for being among them.”

Rainbow took off her goggles to look Rarity in the eye, “Thank you.”

As the mood settled, Photo’s mind hung on the whole debacle with Rarity and Fluttershy. She still regretted it all, but forgiveness took a weight off her back. Hopefully one day she’d be able to move on from it all, but she would never forget how Fluttershy looked in that thin green dress. That dress.

Photo abruptly turned to Rarity, a serious look on her face, “Is zhere any chance jou have old copies of my magazine?”

“I’ve been subscribed for years,” Rarity admitted, a light blush filling her cheeks, “Why?”

“Vhere are zhey?”

“My study,” Rarity gestured.

In a sudden motion, Photo had her goggles back on and was out of the room. With Rarity in intrigued pursuit, Photo stepped into the study and did a quick scan of the room for the magazines. Her eyes locked on a magazine sitting on Rarity’s drawing table. Stepping over to look as Rarity entered the room, she saw the headline.

Photo Finish Secretly a Pegasus?

Her immediate thought was of how convenient it was to stumble across what she’d been looking for. As she heard Rarity gasp in panic behind her, another thought flooded her mind. Rarity had read it already.

With an awkward laugh that sounded incredibly forced and was far too loud, Rarity snagged the tabloid with her magic, “Oh dear, seems my sister left her magazines around again. Your magazines are right over there on the shelf. I’ll just go put that in the guest room with the rest of her-”

“Could I see that?” Photo asked abruptly, causing Rarity to flinch and lose her grasp on the issue.

Photo lifted the magazine from the floor and walked back over to the drawing table, setting it out to read. Turning to the right page, she wound up looking at the center spread. The first thing she saw was a terribly done edit of wings onto a picture of herself, but that was just there to catch the eye. Her eyes traced over to the pull quote on the facing page. Overheard shouting after a mid-air collision. Mid-air collision? It only took a moment for her to remember. Just a few days prior, when that bird hit her while landing. Damn pigeons. A second piece fell into place. The pigeon, the one stalking her. It had to be the same one.

Looking over the rest of the article, it was mostly filled with baseless assumptions, sensationalization, and whatever other dross they could throw in there. Clearly this article was slapdashed together. Thinking about it, the timing didn’t even make any sense. She’d first seen the magazine the same day as the crash. It took days for even the cheapest rag to write, lay out, and edit their articles, so how did they manage to pull this off? The only sense she could make was if the article was already mostly ready on that day, and that concept opened up its own can of worms.

Photo turned to Rarity, who looked like a filly who had been caught with the cookie jar, “Vhen did zis come out?”

“They delivered it yesterday,” Rarity answered meekly, “It was a little later than usual.”

After a pause, Photo closed the tabloid and held it up, “Do jou need zis?”

“N- no?” Rarity replied in confusion.

Photo set the magazine aside and nodded, “Back to business, zhen.”

Genuinely surprised Photo wasn’t annoyed with her, Rarity stepped over toward her bookshelf, “Well, um… Which month did you need?”

“Ze first copy with Flütershy,” Photo replied, “page… tvelve? Fourteen?”

Rarity plucked the correct edition from the shelf and walked over to the drawing table to look at it with Photo. Opening to the twelfth page, Photo grumbled slightly and turned to the page prior to find what she was looking for. It was the first professional image she’d taken of Fluttershy, wearing that green dress with flowers that Rarity had made.

“Like zis,” Photo said, pointing at the picture.

Rarity looked at the image and then to Photo, “What do you mean? You think I should use a similar style?”

“No, no, no,” Photo waved off, “Ze reason zis dress looks so magnificent is because it’s on Flütershy.”

“Well that’s…” Rarity hesitated, “I really doubt she’d be interested in modeling again.”

Photo locked up at the memories, but managed to shake it off, “Again, not vhat I mean. Did you design zis for her in particular?”

“Well, no,” Rarity explained, “but I can’t truly say it wasn’t inspired by her.”

Photo turned to Rarity with a confident smirk, “Ve’ve found it.”

“Found what?”

“Do jou have any other pieces inspired by ponies jou know?” Photo asked, glancing over at the binders full of filed sketches next to the drawing table.

Rarity, catching on, pulled out one of the binders, “This is where I keep the sketches I do when I’m not in the mood for anything serious.”

Photo paged through dozens of sketches, mostly of Rarity and her mutual friends and acquaintances in magnificent dresses. Each dress was unique, a work of art to fit the pony it was designed for. They were-

“Perfect,” Photo said aloud, looking up to Rarity, “Jou truly shine with your couture. I know few ponies who can make zheir dresses work so perfectly vith ze model’s form.”

Rarity began to beam at the compliment, “I… I just make what looks right. Something that fits who they are as a pony.”

“And zhat is exactly vhat ve need,” Photo announced, turning the pages to look at further sketches. Her breath caught as she looked at the most recent page. She was looking at a picture of herself, or at least of Rainbow, in an evening gown. Photo stared with only one thing on her mind. She would look so good in that dress.

Rarity noticed Photo’s distraction and took a chance. Pointing to the page, she explained, “Ah yes, she’s a good friend of mine. Actually, she recently mentioned to me that she’d be willing to model some time if I needed. Do you think I should get in touch with her?”

Shaking her head to snap out of her thoughts, Photo locked eyes with Rarity from behind her goggles. With a light chuckle at the bold move, Photo shook her head, “Perhaps, but not for zis shoot. Ze picture gave me an idea, though.”

“Oh?” Rarity questioned.

“I had three models come to mind after looking through zis,” Photo said as a smirk slowly formed on her face, “Two mares and a stallion.”

Rarity looked surprised, rubbing her neck as she contemplated, “Well, I suppose I could make a suit or something. Not exactly my forte, but I-”

“Oh no, jou vill be making dresses,” Photo elaborated, her grin getting ever wider.

Rarity lit up like she’d just heard about a scandal, “Even for the stallion?”

“Ze traditional types might take issue vith it,” Photo continued, “Just so long as jou’re not afraid of a little controversy-”

Rarity feigned confusion and interrupted, “I’m sorry, Miss Finish, I must have heard you wrong. I could have sworn you just asked if I was afraid of free publicity.”

Rarity and Photo both chuckled, sharing conspiratorial smiles.

“I vill put you in contact vith ze models I had in mind,” Photo confirmed, adjusting her mane, “I trust jou to have ze talent to make something magnificent for each of-”

She was interrupted by the chime hanging from the front door. Photo and Rarity both reflexively stepped to look into the main room and see who it was.

“Rarity? Are you in? I’m here to return the- Eep!” Fluttershy was standing in the doorway like a startled deer, eyes locked on Photo in panic.

A million thoughts flew through Photo’s mind as she stood there, hunting for anything to say. She could play it off, she could immediately apologise, she could… She realized there was a consistent first step of each possibility. Actually saying something and not just standing there like an idiot.

“Flü-” She started to say, but Fluttershy rocketed out the door at a speed Photo had never seen from the mare. Photo was left, hoof raised toward the fleeing pegasus, shocked and confused.

With Photo frozen in place, Rarity took the initiative to step up beside her and offer some comfort, “Miss Finish… Well, you know how Fluttershy can be. She’s just being skittish, don’t take it personally.”

Letting out a deep sigh of regret and losing all of her poise and confidence, Photo barely whispered the only thing she could manage, “I’ll need a moment.”

After another cup of tea and some time to think, Rarity decided to check on how Photo Finish was doing. Rarity eventually found her, sitting on a chair in the workshop, staring out the window into the distance. Rarity wasn't quite sure what she had just witnessed between her friend and her business associate, but she could see that Photo was devastated by it and she felt the need to help how she could.

Hesitantly, Rarity spoke up, “Are you alright, or will you need some more time?”

“I still can't believe she bolted like zhat,” Photo stated in monotone without looking over, "I wish I understood why."

Rarity let out a sigh and pulled a chair near Photo’s, “I’m not really sure. I can talk to her, if you’d like.”

Photo smiled weakly at Rarity, “I’d appreciate zhat.”

They sat there in silence for a while, both looking out the window. It was a nice, peaceful moment, and it helped Photo cope with what had just happened, but she had things to attend to. She couldn’t just waste her time on regret.

Photo stood and stomped the ground, snapping back to posture, “Well, ze time for sitting around is over. I’m sorry to have vasted your time.”

“No, no,” Rarity insisted, “It wasn’t a bother. I understand completely.”

“I vill be giving jour contact information to ze models,” Photo stated, “Zhey should each contact jou soon.”

“Miss Finish?” Rarity faltered for a moment, “Could I just ask one thing?”

Photo turned to her inquisitively.

“I know it’s none of my business,” Rarity prefaced, “and you have no particular reason to confide in me, but…”

“‘But?’”

“The article,” Rarity awkwardly ejected, “is it true?”

Glancing over in the direction of the study, Photo nodded and said nothing.

“But why?” Rarity pressed, “I haven’t been able to make sense of it.”

Photo put a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder, “Vell, jou vere raised believing jou could be vhatever jou vanted vhen you grew up. Jou had countless idols to look up to, and jou settled on fashion. Think of every famous pegasus jou know, other than Flütershy. Vhat do they do?”

Rarity’s expression slowly shifted from confusion to disappointment, “They’re all athletes. Every single one.” She paused in thought before rebutting, “But times are changing, it’s not like anypony would have tried to stop you from living your dreams because you were a pegasus.”

“I didn’t vant to be ‘zat pegasus who does photography,’” Photo explained, “I vanted to be judged by my skill alone.”

Rarity slowly and grudgingly accepted. Photo could see the same thoughts that she’d had long ago swirling through Rarity’s mind. She’d long since accepted the impossibility of it all.

“I should go,” Photo remarked, “I have things to prepare.” As she turned away to leave, she spoke without looking back, “Thank jou, I haven’t had a chance to get that off my chest recently.”

As she started to step away, Rarity stomped the ground, “I won’t allow it.” As Photo turned back in confusion, Rarity cut her off and continued, “You wanted to be recognized for your talent? Done. Look around yourself. You’re the most famous fashion photographer in Equestria. Now you have an opportunity. Sure, so you didn’t grow up with any pegasi to look up to in anything but sports. Right now, pegasus foals everywhere are probably thinking the same. Are you going to let them down?”

Photo was taken aback. Part of her wanted to argue, wanted to disagree, had gotten so used to the state of things that she had just accepted it. The rest of her… wasn’t really sure what to think.

“I…” Photo was totally lost, “Jou might be right, but I-”

Rarity shook her head, “No, there’s no room for ‘buts’ here.”

“No,” Photo agreed, “I suppose zhere’s not.”

Rainbow laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She had so much weighing on her mind that it wasn’t all forming into cohesive thoughts. She couldn’t slow down and process anything, her mind was racing. With a deep breath, Photo stopped to focus. One problem at a time.

Fluttershy. The look of fear in her friend’s eyes still shook Photo, but then again, this was Fluttershy. Literally scared of her own shadow, that one. She could try to start up a conversation as Rainbow some day and see where that took her. Okay, course of action, good first step.

Next, paparazzi. Now that she had her disguise out of the penthouse, she’d be able to move around more easily. Downside, if anypony saw inside the bag the game would be up. Worth the risk, temporarily. Also, what Rarity had said to her weighed on her mind. Could she really come out and admit she’d never been an earth pony? It would be a risky move, but there was something in the way Rarity simply accepted it… With the tabloids digging into her life, it was only a matter of time until she had to address the issue one way or another.

Maybe there was some more information to be gleaned from the magazine itself, now sitting on her desk. As she started to sit up to go look, sense got the better of her. She knew she’d have to stay focused on solving problems or she’d just procrastinate more, and there wasn’t any time left for that. The party was just barely more than two days away at that point.

The party. A shiver went down her spine. How would she attend as both Dash and Photo? She could try to swap back and forth over the course of the night, but she’d need to do it smart or she’d be noticed. Even then, she had no idea how many ponies would be there. For some reason she’d been picturing a big affair, but it suddenly occurred to her that it had been described as a small event with friends. Blending into and out of the scene might not be an option. Let alone the hot tub…

Would Twilight even have the magic disguise done in time? Would it work? There could be restrictions, it might only work for a short time. Rainbow had absolutely no idea what to expect of a magical… anything, really. Worst case, she could still use her old disguise and avoid the tub as Photo. That would be a disappointment, but it would work. Okay, yeah, that’s kinda resolved.

Eyes locked on some fixed point miles above her bed, Rainbow brooded. Everything was falling apart at once, and she had no idea why. She’d been so good at all this, why was everything falling apart? When did it start? Thinking it over, it had all started when she talked to Spitfire about the Wonderbolts shoot. On her way there, she hit the pigeon, and everything was going downhill since. Wait, no that’s not quite right. She had flown to Canterlot to check for Rarity’s letter.

She swore to herself. There was a reason she’d always tried to keep her two lives apart. The last time she’d come this close to being outed was the whole fiasco with Fluttershy and Rarity. She knew from that point to keep her two lives as far apart as possible, yet here she was, doing the exact same thing. Then again, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t do this for Rarity. It was her greatest shame as a friend. She needed to fix it. Afterwards, so long as everything worked, she’d be done. Go back to living two different lives with two different sets of ponies. It was easier that way.

Rolling over to bury her face in her pillow, Rainbow’s mind wandered back to the party. Her thoughts completely stalled out. She realized she still had no fresh ideas. All the could think was swap disguises a few times over the course of the party or… what Twilight had suggested. The longer she thought about the risks of switching back and forth, the more her hope failed. Somepony could get curious about where she kept going and follow her. She could get walked in on while changing. Changing in a hurry, she could get sloppy and be noticed when she got back. The more she thought, the deeper she sank into a sudden sadness. Tears welling in her eyes, she finally admitted it to herself.

It wasn’t going to work.

Rainbow had to cancel.

She had to disappoint Spitfire.

Author's Note

It's the Shameless Self Promotion Hour, with your host, SS Nomad!
I'm so happy to have literally hundreds of people reading my ridiculous story, thanks so much to all of you. I'm just here to point out that it's not my only active project. My second story, Twelve Years Ago in Canterlot, is another tale of love and secrets. Set in and around Canterlot Castle many years prior to the Return of Harmony, it follows the internal conflicts of power and the dangers of trying to toy with fate.
With that brought to everyone's attention, we will be returning to our regularly scheduled horse words.

Chapter 8: A Tolerable Outcome

Staring into her now-empty bowl of ice cream, Rainbow felt just the slightest bit better. It was almost sickeningly stereotypical, but it had always worked for her. Something about a few scoops of ice cream covered in chocolate sauce helped get her mind off of things. Dumping her bowl in the sink, Rainbow tried to decide her next course of action.

She knew that in that moment, she could use a good friend. Just the normalcy of it would help her. Thinking it over, it occurred to her that she could knock out two birds with one stone and go talk to Fluttershy. She still wanted to understand what had caused her friend to bolt off, and solving one of her many problems would feel like progress.

One quick cruise across town later, Rainbow set down outside Fluttershy’s tree home. The sound of hammering was coming from around the side of the building, so Rainbow peeked her head over in interest. Applejack was standing there, hammer in mouth, fixing a different window from the one Rainbow had broken. Before Rainbow could even ask, AJ had tossed an invoice to her.

“Once Ah looked it over, Ah realized if only one window looked new, it’d be weird,” AJ quickly explained.

Rainbow looked over the invoice, finding a penciled in note dividing the cost of everything to the cost of a single window. Looking up at AJ in exasperation, Rainbow grumbled, “Lemme guess, you’re gonna tell me I only have to pay for the one.”

A little confused, AJ replied, “Well, Ah mean, yeah. Ah can’t rightly charge you for work you didn’t agree to.”

“So you’re gonna do all the work and pay for almost everything?” Rainbow asked grumpily.

Applejack set down her hammer to look over at her friend, clearly confused, “What you gettin’ mad about?”

“I’m not letting you take all the blame for this,” Rainbow asserted, “We agreed you do the work and I pay the bill. I won’t feel right about things otherwise.”

As Rainbow folded up the invoice, Applejack replied with pleasant surprise, “Alright then, you won’t hear any complaints out of me.”

Rainbow turned back to the front door and reached for the handle. Something in her made her hesitate. She pulled her hoof back and looked at it for a moment. Maybe she was afraid of what she’d find out. Maybe she was worried Fluttershy was still in a panic. Probably both. She reached forward again and knocked on the door.

That little asshole rabbit poked his head up past the side window frame and glared at her for a second. Rainbow never really liked Angel. He always treated Fluttershy like trash and that really pissed her off. Dash glared through a fake smile at him as he bounded away. She was just happy to remember the little prick was rapidly closing in on the end of his natural life span.

Eventually, Fluttershy peeped through the door’s window, stress clearly in her eyes until she saw it was Dash. With a sigh that was nearly audible through the wall, Fluttershy opened the door with a smile, “Hello, Rainbow. Come on in.”

“Heya, Shy,” Dash said, following her friend inside, “Just came to check on how AJ was doing with the work.”

Fluttershy beamed as she sat back down, “You know you two didn’t have to go this far.”

Struggling to not take the credit, Rainbow replied, “Of course we did. I think AJ had a great idea.”

Fluttershy poked at where Rainbow had been injured, which earned her a confused stare, before nodding, “Looks like you’re fine already. I’m still amazed with how fast you heal.”

Rainbow shrugged, “Yeah, I’ve always been good at that.”

There was a pause in which the only noise was the sound of hammer on nail from the next room. Eventually, Rainbow found her words and broke the silence, “So, why were you so freaked out to open the door?”

Fluttershy blushed and hid behind her mane, “I just… I made a total foal of myself earlier today, I was worried it would be related.”

Well, you were right, then. Rainbow put on a teasing smile, “What’d you do this time?”

Fluttershy pouted at her old friend in a frustration that covered a hint of playfulness, “It’s not like I always make a mess of things like you do.”

Rainbow was taken aback, putting a hoof to her chest in pantomime of being stabbed in the heart. Breaking into silent chuckles, she stared at her friend in amazement, “Damn, Shy, I always forget you can be stone cold when you want to.”

Fluttershy flashed a smile before falling into a short panic, “Ohymygosh, you know it was a joke, right?”

Dash sat down on the couch next to her friend and patted her on the back in a reassuring manner. After a moment, Rainbow offered, “Hey, serious. You want to talk about whatever happened?”

Fluttershy weighed her options for a second before plainly stating, “No, not really.”

Rainbow looked in confusion at Fluttershy, but only got a noncommittal shrug in response. Looking for a way to get more out of her, Dash followed up, “Could you at least tell me who was involved so I could help you avoid them?”

The offer caught Fluttershy off guard, and she let a little information slip, “I mean… I don’t really want to avoid her. I’m just not ready for how awkward it’ll be to finally talk to her again.”

A wave of relief rolled over Rainbow. With a smile, she patted her friend on the back once more, “Well hey, if you don’t want to tell me anything, that’s fine. I just worry about you, is all.”

“Thanks for that,” Fluttershy replied with an awkward smile.

Standing, Rainbow stretched before gesturing up toward her home in the distance, “Well, I should probably go. Things to do. Just wanted to check in on stuff and see how you were doing.”

“Oh, that’s fine,” Fluttershy replied cheerfully, “Thanks for visiting.”

Making sure to not leave behind AJ’s invoice, Rainbow headed out the doorway in a much better mood than when she’d come in.

As the sun eventually set, Photo decided to take a break from layouts again. She’d been more productive than the night prior, but the weight of what she’d have to do was still heavy on her mind. Pouring herself another cup of tea, she stared out the window at the twilit sky to think. She still had some tiny, lingering hope that she would have been able to come up with a solution other than canceling, but at the same time she knew Twilight was right. It was more risk than it was worth.

It was a damn shame, but she knew the only option was to go as Photo and stick to it. The only reason the party was even happening was because Spitfire had invited her, Photo backing out would probably be devastating. Taking a long swig of her tea, Rainbow lamented that she was at a point in her life where she had to minimize ruining her long time idol’s weekend.

Sitting back down to work, Photo found her mind kept flitting back to the tabloid she’d borrowed from Rarity. Deciding to give it one more look over, she reached into her bag and pulled it out. Opening back up to the center spread, she looked the article over once more. Toward the end of it, there were the same sentiments that Rarity had put forward to her. Why would she be ashamed of being a pegasus? The thought hit her hard, but she pushed it out of her mind and got back to her task.

Glancing at the photo of herself, something felt off. Rummaging through her desk, she found a collapsable loupe and quickly opened it up. Looking through the small magnifying lens, she looked carefully at the color alignment of the tabloid pages. Comparing to the majority of the pages, she found the center sheet and cover were both notably less quality checked. Suspicious, she looked at what was on the opposite side of the center pages. In both cases, they were advertisements. She chuckled to herself as she caught on. They took their planned magazine and just crammed the article on her in the center last minute, replacing the cover as well.

Photo sat back, relieved. There had been no plan for this article, they just threw it in last second with their “big new scoop,” that’s why it was late to deliver. She had to admit, it was a clever move. Suddenly filled with the need to out-play them, Photo looked over at her layouts. What could she- Almost instantly she thought of something perfect. With a smirk, she got back to work.

After just a few hours of fervored inspiration, Photo was staring down at her layouts, finding herself mostly done. Quickly checking the time, it was rather late. Remembering her meeting the upcoming afternoon, she decided it was as good of a plan as any to fly back to the penthouse and spend the night in Canterlot.

Packing her things into a bag, Rainbow made sure everything in her house was in order before stepping outside to look off into the late night sky. A light, distant whistle caught her attention, and she turned to find the source. Pinkie Pie was standing on her own balcony, waving at Rainbow. Seeing no reason to not, Rainbow floated her way down to Sugarcube Corner, landing beside the pinkness.

“Hiii~ Rainbow,” Pinkie said in a tone that make Rainbow worry she was about to break into song.

“Heya, Pink. What’s got you up late?” Rainbow asked, hoping to cut off any potential musical number.

“Having trouble sleeping,” Pinkie explained, “I forgot hot chocolate had caffeine in it.”

Rainbow made a face in confusion, “But there’s like… barely any in it.”

Pinkie nodded vigorously, “Yeah, that’s why I forgot. The problem is it adds up.”

After a beat, Rainbow asked flatly, “How much hot chocolate did you drink?”

“What’s got you up so late?” Pinkie deflected, “And what’s in the bag?”

Caught off guard, Rainbow stumbled over her words, “Uh, nothing, no reason, why do you ask?”

Pinkie’s face filled with the smile of seeing something adorable, “Lemme guess, I like guessing games. Are you… off to spend the night in a certain Canterlot penthouse?”

Rainbow blanched instantly, “How…”

Pinkie broke into the giggles, “I was right, wasn’t I? Gosh, you two are so cute. I spotted you two nights ago flying off together.”

Rainbow held in her huge sigh of relief as she realized the misunderstanding, “Oh, quit it. It’s not as serious as you seem to think.”

Pinkie nudged Rainbow’s ribs with her elbow, winking, “Maybe not yet, amiright?”

Rainbow simply responded with a disapproving stare.

Pinkie giggled with a snort, “Sorry, Dashie, but you’re just so fun to tease. You take it so seriously.”

“I’m leaving, Pinkie,” Rainbow asserted with a groan.

“Oh, sure, go ahead,” Pinkie said with a grin, “Don’t let me hold you back, I’m sure you have someone better to be doing.”

Rainbow took off and got a few feet before Pinkie’s statement registered properly in her head, “HEY!”

Laughing, Pinkie dove back into her room and shut the door.

The morning light seeping through her curtains, Photo slowly shook herself awake. Something had woken her, and she wasn’t entirely sure what. Then she smelled smoke. Bolting out of her bed, she scanned her penthouse bedroom. Everything in order, she looked out into her living room. On the center of her glass coffee table was a single piece of paper, smoldering at the corners. Highly suspicious, she sidled over to the table, looking down cautiously at the note. Immediately relieved to see it in Twilight’s script, she read it over.

I’ll need a 2” x 2” photo of you as you want to look. If this teleported to the right place, you will know what I mean.

Amused with her friend’s excessive use of magic, Photo tried to think of a photo of herself that she happened to have in that size. Failing to think of any, she decided to just develop one before her meeting.

A thought hit her like a train. Rainbow still had to go cancel with Spitfire. With a defeated sigh, she realized that the best time to find her would be right that moment. She had to catch Spitfire before she left home, because otherwise she had no good idea of how to find her.

As she was about to step out into the garden balcony, Rainbow paused. She was probably still being watched. Peeking out the blinds, she couldn’t get a good line on where she’d last seen the cameras set up. Quickly tossing her wig and robe on, she stepped outside to scout the area. Surely enough, there they were. She even thought she heard the quiet click of a shutter as she stared at them over her hedge. Looks like flying out as Dash wasn’t an option. Reminding herself that they’d probably relocate after being spotted, she stepped back inside.

The remaining question was who to leave the building as. Realizing she’d never taken the time to make sure she could get back into the building as Rainbow, the question was quickly proved moot. She’d have to leave the building as Photo, change, and fly to Spitfire’s. Logistically, she didn’t particularly like that plan, but she couldn’t see a better approach. Also, that way she could get the right paperwork filed to be able to re-enter the building as Dash.

Quickly rounding out her disguise, Photo made sure her mane was properly put on before getting ready to step out the door. She nearly stepped outside before remembering she’d need a bag to put the disguise in after changing. Solving that, she reached for the door. Startled it wouldn’t open, she remembered she’d locked it the last time she was here. Well, still being locked was a good sign, if anything.

Stepping out the door, she quickly double checked that creepy stalker pigeon wasn’t perched in the stairwell. Satisfied, she made her way down the stairs, part of her desperately begging to just drop the distance by wing instead of walking for what felt like forever. Eventually at the bottom, she stepped into the lobby to spot a familiar security guard.

“I hope my sister vasn’t too much of a bother,” Photo remarked in passing.

The guard turned around in surprise before smiling, “I’d have appreciated a heads up that somepony new would be coming, but it wasn’t a problem.”

“It vas a bit of an emergency. I hope jou understand,” Photo offered

After a quick discussion and filling out a short form, Photo had sorted the matter and was on her way. Quickly changing in a different business from the last time, Rainbow hesitated. She wasn’t ready for how awkward it would be to talk to Spitfire. With a quick look in the mirror, her expression immediately reminded her of how Fluttershy had looked, peering through the doorway in fear of spotting Photo. She quickly slapped her cheek to snap out of her thoughts. She had to do this.

Setting down on the edge of her idol’s garden, Rainbow called out, “Hey, Spitfire, you around?”

As silence greeted her, Rainbow’s expression grew sour. Maybe the kitchen? Stepping to the right section of the apartment, she poked her head through the doorway. The empty kitchen greeted her. Calling out Spitfire’s name once more in vain, Rainbow slowly accepted that they’d missed each other.

So… now what?

Rainbow still had to tell Spitfire she’d not be attending, but if not now then when? Could she come back that night? Would the next morning be too late? She stopped and thought it over. She had no idea what Spitfire’s schedule tended to be, so she might have to wait hours to try and catch her after work. The next day felt too close to the event to really get away with. Her options both looking poor, she casually glanced around the room for inspiration.

Her eyes locked on a notepad, likely for jotting down grocery lists. It was far from ideal, but maybe just leave a note? She immediately felt like the worst type of pony, giving bad news by letter instead of face to face, but her options were slim. Would being terrible like this be better than canceling short notice? Her mornings always managed to become absolute messes somehow, so she had no way to be certain she’d be able to catch her tomorrow if she’d failed today. Looking down at the notepad and pen, she thought carefully and started her letter

Heya Spitfire,

Sorry I missed you, I was hoping to catch you before work. Some things came up, and I won’t be able to make it to the party. I know you were really hoping I’d be there, but it’s just not possible. Prior obligations. I really wish I could have been there for you, but it’s just not an option. I promise I'll make it up to you somehow.

Sorry,

Rainbow Dash

Looking down at her words, Rainbow felt even worse. It felt like a breakup letter. Tearing off the sheet of paper, she set it on the center table under the mug she’d used two mornings prior. With a sigh of shame, she turned to leave the room. That’s when she heard a voice.

“Wait, what? What are you doing here?”

Dash spun around to see Spitfire, looking in from the doorway nearest her bedroom. In one swift motion, she slid the note out from under the mug like a magician pulling a tablecloth, ripped the note in half, and shoved it in her bag.

Panic still in her eyes, Rainbow responded awkwardly, “Hi. I… thought you weren’t here. How are you? Today?”

Spitfire blinked like she was trying to clear the sleep from her eyes, “I, uh… I just woke up. I thought I heard something out here, so I came out. What are you doing here?”

Rainbow’s look of panic turned to resignation as she stepped toward Spitfire, “I… Well… Honestly I’m glad I’ll get to tell you this face to face.”

Spitfire looked surprised and honestly eager to hear where this was going, “Tell me what?”

Scratching at the floor and staring down at her hooves, Rainbow answered, “I’m busy tomorrow night.”

Spitfire's air of excitement immediately deflated, “Oh…”

“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow continued dejectedly, still failing to make eye contact, “I was really looking forward to it, but... things came up.”

Confused, Spitfire pressed, "What happened?"

Struggling to come up with a quick excuse, Rainbow just dropped the first thing that came to mind, "I forgot I'd promised to help my friend with her work. She's got a deadline to meet, so it's not like we can reschedule. She asked me to like... a week ago, so it's not like I can ju-"

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Spitfire said as she dropped a comforting hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, a forced smile of acceptance on her face, “Like I said, it might have not been your scene anyway.”

Rainbow’s eyes finally flicked up to meet Spitfire’s. Something in that shared moment felt familiar, like this wasn’t their first emotional conversation. Staring into the eyes of the mare she’d looked up to for so long, Rainbow felt something. A bond. Spitfire’s expression betrayed a deep care for Rainbow, and something in that melted her worries away.

“Hey,” Rainbow offered with some level of confidence back, “Some other time, I promise.”

Spitfire’s smile began to feel more genuine, “Of course.”

As the moment broke, they both quickly recovered from their slumps. Things settling down, Spitfire turned toward the stove and gestured at the kettle. Nodding silently, Rainbow watched as Spitfire began to make them both coffee. Something in watching her move was fascinating. She was so used to seeing Spitfire be fast, strong, and commanding, it was strange to see her moving with grace and purpose like this.

As she waited for the water to come to heat, Spitfire sat down on a stool by the island in the center of the room, suddenly realizing, “Wait, so you flew all the way here just to tell me?”

Rainbow snapped back to attention and blushed slightly, “Well, I mean yeah. It’s not like I would just be a no show.”

Spitfire looked impressed, “Ponyville’s pretty far to fly for something like this.”

With a shrug, Rainbow answered, “Yeah, I guess for most ponies.”

“You never stop surprising me,” Spitfire chimed in as the kettle began to steam.

With a prideful smirk, Rainbow changed the subject, “So what’s the deal with you only just waking up?”

“Got the morning off,” Spitfire replied, standing from her stool to get ready for the water to be done, “decided to sleep in.”

Rainbow thought things over quickly, feeling a moment of trepidation, and suggested, “You wanna hang out? I don’t have anything to do until the afternoon.”

Spitfire turned to her in mild surprise, but quickly smiled, “Sure, sounds good. Anything in mind?”

Rainbow shrugged as the kettle finally started whistling, “Yeah, no idea, just felt like spending some time.”

After pouring the water over the coffee grounds, Spitfire replied happily, “Sure, let’s just see what happens.”

The morning that followed was amazing. A week prior, Rainbow could barely hope for a moment like this. Sitting there with Spitfire, chatting like friends, was amazing. Dash could barely process the scene. As best she could tell, she’d made a big impression on Spitfire that night at the bar, but she really didn’t want to admit she forgot why. She was more than happy with the results.

As the morning wore on, Spitfire finally wistfully admitted, “I really wish I could have introduced you to my other friends tomorrow. I dunno, I suppose I’m just hopeful you’ll get along.”

“I…” Dash paused with regret once more, “If I can find any way, I’ll show up. At least for a little while.”

A spark of hope lit up Spitfire’s eyes, “Thank you, but seriously. If you can’t, you can’t. I get that.”

"I mean, I can't guarantee anything," Rainbow continued, "but if I can find a way to make this work, I will."

“Seriously, don’t worry about it,” Spitfire commanded, “I owe you too much as is.”

Chapter 9: A Couple Loose Ends

Photo Finish sat exhausted at an outdoor café in Central Canterlot, one more day of meetings out of the way. Staring into her small, delicate coffee cup, Photo dropped back into her mental to-do list. Since the meetings went well, she was free from her magazine related duties for a short while. Raising her cup to her lips, it properly registered in her mind that her next obligation was the party. She had almost a day of nothing to do until then. Her face inadvertently twitched as the phrase “calm before the storm” floated through her mind.

Well, she did have one thing left to do. Twilight was still waiting for that picture of Photo. She’d found an old passport photo of herself that would probably do the job, she just had to fly back to Ponyville. Noticing her drink had run dry, Photo paid her bill and stood to leave.

The instant she stood up, something felt wrong. Always one to trust her instincts, Photo glanced over her shoulder. Nothing out of place except another customer paying and getting ready to leave. That little twinge of paranoia kicked in. He was slightly familiar, but she couldn’t really place it. He had the type of looks you’d forget completely if you had only crossed paths. Yet another white unicorn in Canterlot.

Her paranoia had gotten her this far in life, she wasn’t going to stop listening to it now. Photo quickly made her way down the street away from the café, occasionally looking into shops so she could try to catch sight of the stallion in the corner of her eye. Sure enough, he’d left the café and was walking the same direction. Forcing herself to remember there was a 50-50 chance of that, Photo stopped in front of a store, looking in the window intently. Sure enough, the stallion just kept walking, ignoring her completely.

Mildly embarrassed of her overreaction, Photo moved on, looking for somewhere to change out of her disguise. She wasn’t really in the right area of the city to find any public facilities to use, but surely she’d find somet- Her steps slowed as she noticed the stallion had stopped in front of her, looking in a store window. It was the same trick she had just used.

She wanted to take to the sky, but that wasn’t an option. He was probably with the tabloid and that’d be playing right into their hooves. She slowly kept walking, making like she was checking out the storefronts, until she was right behind him. As she glanced out the side of her goggles to watch his movements, her eyes locked with his reflection in the window, staring right back at her.

Struggling to not just fly off, Photo judged her options. She could run. Even without her wings, not many ponies could best her in a hoofrace. It would make a scene, though. Damn tabloids loved dramatic shit like that. Confronting him wasn’t a real option, either. As badly as she wanted to, she had nothing to confront him with. In the fraction of a second she had to think, she spotted a second doorway opposite the entrance to the store. Residential stair for the upper floors. Quickly moving the few feet past her pursuer, she reached for that handle, hoping beyond hope that the residents were as lazy about locking the door as she was.

The door opened. Quickly making her way up the stairs, she felt safe for just a moment. She knew he wouldn’t immediately follow her in, it would look too suspicious. Then again, he also probably knew his cover was already blown. Photo made it to a landing that opened out into a hallway, multiple apartments on either side. The end of the hall had a window, probably large enough to fit through. Quickly making her way down the hall, she peeked her head out the window, double checking that the stallion wasn’t able to see it.

She could make the jump, but it would probably trash her dress. That option was clearly out. She closed her eyes to think. There were hoofsteps on the floor above. Thinking about it, she didn’t hear any on the floor she was on. It would be a risky move, but it seriously sounded like nopony was coming. Changing in the hall like this was undignified, but she wasn’t seeing many other options. Photo quickly detached her fake tail, tucking it in her bag.

Halfway through getting the dress off, she heard a door. It was the entrance, at the bottom of the stairs. Throwing caution to the wind, she tossed her dress off and shoved it in her bag, diving out the window. One flap of her wings and she was silently on the ground, clutching her bag in her forehooves, heart pounding in her chest. She stared back up at the window she just dove out of, her white bangs blocking her view.

She couldn’t hear much over the sound of her heart, but she knew. Somepony was walking down the hall, and they’d be checking out that window any second. She had to leave.

“Come on,” Dash said, her body refusing to obey, “I gotta move.”

In a sudden burst of motion, she pulled the wig off her head and started walking toward the back of the building, hoping to cross an alley onto another main road. Her heart refused to slow down, adrenaline still coursing through her system. As she reached the road, she glanced back down the alley in suspicion. Despite all evidence, she couldn’t admit to herself that she’d shaken the tail.

She planned to move a few blocks on hoof in order to pull range before taking off. As she moved, she got more and more comfortable that the white stallion hadn’t managed to figure out what happened. She just had to keep on edge in case they started getting more persistent or organized. With a sigh of relief, Rainbow finally decided she was clear to take to the sky and head to Ponyville.

Rainbow landed outside the Ponyville library, exhausted. The late afternoon heat was weighing heavily on her as she reached forward and opened the door. Inside, Spike was sitting in a corner, reading comics. Looking around, Twilight wasn’t in the main room.

Before she could even ask, Spike noticed her and spoke up, “Oh, hey, Dash. If you’re looking for Twilight, she’s in the kitchen having breakfast.”

“Thanks, Spike,” Rainbow replied before the sentence fully processed, “Wait, breakfast?”

With a groan, Spike set his comic down and looked over at Rainbow with an expression more fitting of a disappointed father, “Yeah, when I woke up Twilight was just getting in bed. She’s been asleep all day. Said she got distracted with something she was working on last night and forgot to sleep.”

With a chuckle, Dash turned to make her way to the kitchen, “Yeah, sounds like her.”

“Tell me about it,” Spike snarked, returning to his comic.

The first thing she noticed upon reaching the kitchen was that Twilight hadn’t taken any time to get ready for the day after climbing out of bed. Twilight looked up at Rainbow with a disheveled mane and tired eyes. What took Rainbow a few more seconds to process was that Twilight was a pegasus.

“I... what?” Rainbow stammered out.

“Morning, Rainbow,” Twilight replied with a sleepy smile, “I did a magic again.”

Rainbow walked over, impressed. Poking a hoof forward, it drifted effortlessly through the false wings. With a chuckle, Rainbow accepted, “Alright, that’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, isn’t it though?” Twilight glowed with the praise, “I’m getting close to done with the thing for you, I just need that picture and some time. You got my letter, right?”

Rainbow laid the picture of Photo face down on the kitchen table, “Yup. So how long do you need? Any chance you’ll have it for tomorrow?”

Twilight nearly spat out her cup of tea, “Tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’ve got the party tomorrow night,” Rainbow explained.

Twilight’s face turned to a suspicious scowl, “And you’re taking my advice?”

With a sigh of defeat, Rainbow admitted, “Yeah, I am. You were right. Like usual.”

“Hold on,” Twilight paused, “I need to go write down the time and date. It’s not often you admit you were wrong, I want a detailed record.”

Dash groaned at the bad joke before continuing, “No, but really, can you pull it off by tomorrow?”

Twilight thought it over, “Well… I mean I will be up all night since I wrecked my sleep schedule. We’ll see.”

“Thank you, but seriously. If you can’t, you can’t. I get that,” Rainbow reassured, “It would be amazing if you pulled it off, though.”

Twilight slid a cup of tea over to Rainbow, “Stay a while?”

“Sure, no harm,” Rainbow replied as she sat down.

Sitting with her conspirator, able to discuss the stress she was under, was oddly calming. Between the party and the tabloids chasing her, she had plenty to bring up. Something about saying it all out loud helped her organize her thoughts, and that made everything just a little bit more manageable.

“I just can’t understand how the paparazzi manage to keep tabs on you,” Twilight said, “You’re literally all over the place and bouncing between disguises.”

“I know,” came Rainbow’s answer, “it’s been kinda worrying me.”

Twilight started to offer forward thoughts, “I mean, there are about four different schools of magic I could think of that might be ab-”

Rainbow cut her off with a raised hoof. She swore she’d heard it. After a pause, it came again. A gentle coo from outside. Turning to look out the window, it was there, just staring at her. The little grey flying rat. She glared back at it.

“You think they could use a bird?” Rainbow asked quietly.

Twilight thought for a moment, following Rainbow’s eyeline, “Plausible. There would be better ways, but plausible.”

“I’m gonna go use your roof for a bit,” Rainbow announced, leaving the room.

Slinking upstairs like a hunting animal, Rainbow slid out a window and up into the boughs of the tree. As best she could tell, the pigeon was still looking in through the windows of the bottom floor, trying to figure out where Dash went. Rainbow just laid in wait.

The sun was very nearly set when the pigeon apparently decided it was done and turned to fly toward the town park. Using the lighting to her advantage, Dash tailed it with catlike grace, ducking from cover to cover a ways behind the bird. As she followed it through the park, she was surprised to see it continue past the park and toward Sweet Apple Acres. Intrigued that the pigeon would be heading out of town, Rainbow kept up pursuit. When it finally landed, Rainbow immediately went pale.

As the trail ended, she found herself staring at Fluttershy’s cottage, the pigeon settling into a coop in the upper branches near Shy’s bedroom.

As Photo finally woke up in the morning, one question was still digging at her mind. How much did Fluttershy know? Angry stalker pigeons seemed so incredibly out of character for her, but it’s not like anything else even held a semblance of sense.

She struggled to reassure herself. After all, when Fluttershy panicked and fled from Photo, she was more than happy to be chatting with Rainbow after. She couldn’t have figured out everything yet. It’s not like Fluttershy could actually speak with her animals, she just read the body language and inferred from there. At least, Photo was pretty sure that was how it worked.

Photo tried to take a mental step back. One of her best friends sending animals around to stalk her? It had to just be her paranoia, the concept was absurd. It was the only conclusion she could reach, but it couldn’t be right. She was missing something.

Even if it were true, Fluttershy wouldn’t be selling her information to the tabloids, right? It felt too indirect, even for Fluttershy. As far as Photo could tell, Fluttershy held no animosity towards her, and it was hard to picture such a skittish mare working with the same ponies who she'd spent so much effort avoiding. That meant there was still another leak. Cursing her luck, Photo finally sat up and got out of bed.

Dragging her way through another routine morning, she thought things over. Maybe Twilight was on the right track with her idea, ponies from the tabloid could easily be using magic to follow her. The one following her was a unicorn, after all. If that was right, then that meant she could never fully shake them. Well, at least as far as Rainbow understood magic. With a groan, she flopped her head on the kitchen counter.

As far as Fluttershy, she wasn’t certain how to proceed. Thinking it over, she’d only ever seen the pigeon as Rainbow. She couldn’t come up with any good reason Fluttershy would be proxy-stalking her. Maybe it was worth talking with her. Fluttershy was the indirect type, but even this seemed odd. Weighing the risks, Rainbow resolved to try and get some information out of Fluttershy. Even if it wasn’t Fluttershy’s doing, she was dealing with a pigeon that lived at her house. Fluttershy could just ask it or something.

Finishing her breakfast, Rainbow descended upon Ponyville. Gliding her way back to the cottage, Rainbow reached up a hoof to knock, but hesitated. She had zero idea how Fluttershy would react to being confronted, but with a deep breath Dash shoved aside her worries and knocked. After a few seconds, Fluttershy opened the door, Angel standing at her hooves.

“Heya, Shy,” Rainbow said with a wave, “I’ve got animal questions.”

Surprised, Fluttershy led her in, “Okay, I’ll answer what I can.”

Sitting down on a chair facing Fluttershy’s couch, Rainbow wasted no time, “How much do you know about pigeons?”

Lighting up with excitement, Fluttershy bubbled, “Oh, pigeons are just so fascinating. Most of the ones you see around these days are homing pigeons, since the army used to use them for carrying messages. When they switched to using magic, they just let all the pigeons go. Of course, they all flew back to their roosts, since that’s what they do.”

Rainbow watched Fluttershy carefully as she rambled about birds. Knowing Fluttershy, if she had anything to do with the one following Dash, the very mention of pigeons would have made her a nervous wreck. Still, this was too much to be a coincidence.

One thing did catch Rainbow’s attention, so she spoke up, “Yeah, I’d heard that ponies used to send messages with them. How does that work, do you like… tell them to go somewhere?”

“Well, no,” Fluttershy explained, “They just know how to fly back to their home roost. You have to carry them to where you want to send the message from and let them fly back home with a little rolled up letter.”

Rainbow had a sudden thought, “You have pigeons, right? Have you ever used them for messages?’

Fluttershy started to blush and get evasive, “Well, um… sometimes.”

Rainbow wanted to press harder, to ask why her pigeon kept showing up in Canterlot, but she’d known Fluttershy for years. Pressure like that would just panic her, and once Fluttershy panicked, all bets were off.

Forcing herself to act natural, Rainbow just smiled, “Cool, I’ll remember that’s a thing you can do.”

“Why did you ask about pigeons, anyway?” Fluttershy asked abruptly.

“Uh, no real reason,” Rainbow fumbled out, “Just been seeing them around, got interested.”

Fluttershy could clearly tell Rainbow was avoiding answering, but she said nothing. Rainbow figured it was probably since she’d been hiding something in the conversation as well. She just hoped that Fluttershy would move on and forget about the exchange.

“Do you want to hear any other animal facts?” Fluttershy asked, breaking the silence.

Rainbow quickly thought up an exit to the conversation, “Nah, I should probably double check I have no weather patrol things to be doing.”

A little disappointed, Fluttershy mumbled, “Oh, uh, sure. Go ahead.”

Saying their goodbyes, Rainbow left Fluttershy’s cottage, sparing a glance up at the coop in the upper branches. It easily had space for a dozen pigeons, but it didn’t seem like all of the boxes were occupied. Trying to do a quick count of how many pigeons she could actually spot, Dash was interrupted by a knocking from inside the window. Angel was standing there, eyeing her suspiciously. Wishing she could have gotten more information, Rainbow turned to leave before the rabbit drew Fluttershy’s attention.

As Rainbow landed near the library, she could smell pancakes. Stepping over to the kitchen window, she looked inside to see an exhausted Twilight and a freshly awoken Spike finishing up dinner and breakfast respectively.

“Mornin’,” Rainbow called.

Spike absently waved, face filled with pancake. Twilight turned to see Dash and grinned sleepily, “Good morning, Rainbow.”

“How’d the night go?” Rainbow awkwardly asked through the window.

Twilight yawned, “Pretty well. I think I’ll finish up after a nap.”

“I assume you mean after sleeping the entire day away,” Spike teased.

Twilight shot Spike a playful glare, “You’re one to talk.”

As Twilight and Spike both chuckled to themselves, Rainbow’s mind raced, “You think you’ll finish, though?”

Twilight looked back over to Rainbow, catching the slight panic in her tone, “I… Probably?”

Forcing herself to keep calm, Dash faked a smile, “Cool. Okay. I’ll check back later.”

Walking away from the library window, Rainbow knew she needed something to distract her. She had hours still before she needed to be in Canterlot, and if she just spent the time sitting around worrying, she’d go crazy. Something, anything.

She took to the sky. She decided to go for a fly. Fly and think. Her past few days had been nothing but stumbling upon all kinds of secrets. She still couldn’t quite place what had started it all. She wanted to pin all of her problems on that damn pigeon, but some part of her knew that she was just using it as a scapegoat. She didn’t have all the pieces.

Rainbow struggled to get the thoughts out of her head and just fly. Spotting a few unscheduled stormclouds drifting off of the Everfree, she distracted herself with them for a moment. Focusing on mindless work always helped her when she was overthinking things.

As she shoved the last cloud back from whence it came, something occurred to her. Before contacting Rarity, before the bird, before any of this, there was one thing so dramatic for her that she’d still never fully spent the time to process it. The Wonderbolts shoot. It was real, it was happening, and it had always been her dream. She had been so distracted by everything around her that she’d nearly forgotten, but as she thought about it, she felt no more stress or excitement than any of the days prior. It had always been there, weighing on her. Even without actively thinking about how much time and effort she was going to have to put in, somewhere in the back of her mind she knew, and it had left her scattered. All that excitement and anxiety was there, whether or not she acknowledged it.

Rainbow laughed at herself. No wonder she could barely focus, her mind was spending so much energy on maintaining its weird state of denial and longing. Unconscious stress. Now that she’d realized, now that she knew, she could try to do something about it. That thought alone made her feel so much better. Hovering there, watching the dark clouds roll into the distance, Rainbow felt truly relieved for the first time in days. She had a next course of action, she finally knew what she needed to do. She had a photo shoot to plan.

Photo Finish squinted at her schedule, the orange light of sunset bleeding into her bedroom. Wait, what time was it? She’d gotten so wrapped up in planning and being productive that she’d completely lost track of the day. She checked the clock, eyes locking on the hands as her mind struggled to slide back out of an imagined photography session and into reality. The instant she finally processed the time, Dash rocketed out of her home.

Landing on Twilight’s balcony with force, she opened the door in a flurry of motion. Spike jumped up with a start from where he’d been napping on the stairs, “What? Who? What’s happening?”

Immediately at his side, Rainbow turned him to face her, “Spike, please tell me Twilight woke up.”

“Huh? What?” Spike stammered, wiping at his eyes, “Man, I dunno, I was asleep.”

“Is everything okay up there, Spike?” Twilight called from the basement, “What was that loud noise?”

Calming herself as much as possible, Rainbow descended into the basement. Twilight stood in her workshop, surrounded by countless books and apparatuses. The entire lab was aglow with various magics and what looked to be the light of a tiny forge.

Seeing Twilight sufficiently awake, Rainbow felt far more at ease, “Hey, yeah, that was me. Are you done?”

“Pretty close,” Twilight replied with a silent yawn, “I’d like to spend a few hours testing it to make sure there aren’t any anomalies in its effect, but-”

“So wait, it works?” Dash quickly replied.

Twilight lifted a small silver locket from her desk, “Well, initial results are promising. One way to find out, right?”

Twilight slowly floated the small pendant over to Rainbow, setting it in her hoof. It was a beautiful little thing, all silver with delicate engravings around the edges. Flicking the latch, the locket swung open effortlessly. Inside, facing one another, were two tiny pictures, one of Rainbow and one of Photo. She immediately recognized both shots, one a newspaper clipping from after they’d stopped Nightmare Moon and the other the passport photo she’d brought the day before.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Rainbow announced, sliding the chain of the locket over her head. She quickly looked around for a mirror, but what she saw was Twilight looking impressed with herself. That was enough for her.

“Miss Finish,” Twilight greeted.

Craning her neck to look herself over, Photo smiled back at Twilight, “Jou’ve outdone jourself, Tvilight.”

After a stifled giggle at the accent, Twilight replied, “You look perfect. Just gotta make sure nopony touches your wings.”

Confused, Rainbow glanced at her back, only to find her wings absent, “Oh, uh… Shit.”

“‘Shit?’” Twilight replied in confusion, “‘Shit’ what?”

Dash awkwardly turned to face Twilight, “Uh… I kinda needed those.”

“Wh-” Twilight sputtered before letting out an exasperated sigh, “Rainbow, you told me you needed to hide them.”

“I totally told you I changed my mind,” she replied, trying to deflect blame.

“You said you might change your mind,” Twilight corrected, “You never said you had.”

Rainbow wanted to argue, but she had nothing, so she just drooped her head and asked, “Well… can you fix it?”

Twilight plucked the necklace off with her magic and looked it over, “It’d be a makeshift change at best, and without proper testing I can’t guarantee much of anything.”

Rainbow looked at her friend with an apologetic grimace, “Can you try?”

With a drawn out noise halfway between groan and sigh, Twilight closed her eyes to focus, “I’ll need a bit.”

Rainbow stood and watched for a moment, but the longer she watched, the less she could tell what was going on. Eventually she decided the best course of action was to just go back upstairs. Sitting down in the main room, Rainbow tried to distract herself.

“So, how goes the scheming?” Spike called out, sitting up in one of the upper bookshelves.

Rainbow jumped at the noise, “What? Scheming? Who’s scheming?”

Spike let loose an amused laugh before looking up from his book, “Please, Rainbow. You’ve been stopping by and having serious conversations with no proper nouns. I can tell there’s something you don’t want me to overhear, I read spy novels.”

Right, Spike was raised smart. Rainbow dropped her chin on the table in front of her, “Could be going better. Also, I wouldn’t say it’s a scheme.”

“Plot? Conspiracy? Con? Ploy? Racket?” Spike started listing off, clearly amused with himself.

“What are you, a thesaurus?” Rainbow fired back.

Spike chuckled and returned to his book, “Well, good luck with it. And be sure to tell me when it’s over, I love cool stories like that.”

“Sure, why not,” Rainbow replied noncommittally.

After a few more tense minutes of watching the clock, Twilight called up from downstairs. Nervously, Rainbow descended to see Twilight holding out the locket once more. Dropping it over her neck, Rainbow looked herself over again.

“So without proper testing, I can’t guarantee the effect is stable,” Twilight explained, “Especially given the makeshift modifications I just did. If it starts failing, the pendant will start getting warm to the touch, so you should have time to get out of there. Then again, by my calculations it should just work no issue. Just stay away from any strong magic that might interfere and you should be good to go.”

Photo walked up and gave Twilight a quick hug, “I can’t even begin to tell jou how thankful I am.”

Twilight returned the hug, “Good luck tonight.”

Panting from flying harder than usual and then galloping from her penthouse, Photo Finish found herself at the top of an exterior stairwell at one of the tallest buildings in Canterlot. She carefully adjusted her dress and went to make sure her wig was on straight, forgetting in the moment that it was just her mane now. She stared at the doorway, only a few minutes late. The sounds of revelry came from inside, loud music and chatting. Here she was.

Photo stepped through the door.

Chapter 10: A Hangup

The first thing to wash over Photo’s senses was the noise. The chatter of ponies, the repetitive beat of the music, the gentle clink of glasses being set down, the occasional thumping of hooves on wood floor, and the low rumbling bubbles of the hot tub; it was loud, but not offensive, as all of the sounds added to one familiar chorus. The party was already in full swing.

As her eyes adjusted to the warm, artificial glow that filled Spitfire’s well maintained courtyard, Photo was immediately surprised to see how many ponies filled the space. The conversations slowed as ponies checked to see who had stepped through the door. Easily a dozen faces had turned to look at her, and to her surprise she recognized the majority of them.

She had barely had the time to identify more than a few when she was interrupted by an excited holler. Whipping her head around to see what was happening, she immediately recognized the source. Sapphire Shores, her longtime acquaintance and occasional business partner, had apparently abandoned her previous conversation on spotting Photo and was rushing over.

“Photo, sugar, how you been?” Sapphire asked with a quick hug, “I feel like I ain’t seen you in forever.”

Photo accepted the hug with a grin, “It’s only been a month, ve sat together at zhat runway show.”

“Exactly,” Sapphire explained, “it’s been an entire month since we’ve caught up. That’s just far too long.”

“Jou were on tour, ja?” Photo remembered, “Zhat vent vell?”

Sapphire Shores struck a pose and waved the question off, “You know it, sweetheart.”

As it finally struck her, Photo became intrigued, “Actually, I’m surprised to see jou here. Jou know Spitfire?”

“Oh yeah,” Sapphire quickly replied, “I met Spitfire through Rarity a while back. Oh, she’s just a treat. Always throws a good party.”

“Through Rarity, eh?” Photo repeated, interest more piqued than before, but instead she punctuated her sentence with an accepting, “Hmm.”

“Where is Spitfire, anyway?” Sapphire asked rhetorically, “I’m sure she’d want to know you’re here.”

Photo took the moment to scan the room again. The hot tub sat there, unoccupied and gurgling, currently more a centerpiece than anything else. Photo heard the sound of ice being shaken and turned to see a bar table on the edge of the courtyard, Rarity standing next to it waiting for her drink. Otherwise, the room was full of all the assorted ponies Photo had grown used to seeing at the less stuffy Canterlot events. The familiarity of it all was relaxing.

Suddenly, Spitfire came in for a landing at speed, descending from above the courtyard and touching down beside Rarity at the bar. Almost immediately, Rarity looked to be peppering Spitfire with questions about something, but Spitfire was trying to play it cool. Quickly excusing herself from her conversation, Photo moved to join them.

Before Photo could say anything, Spitfire had spotted her and turned to greet, “Hey, you made it. I’m guessing you showed up while I was off at the store?”

“Ja, not like I vould miss zis,” Photo replied.

“Wait, I didn’t inv-” Rarity started in confusion before something occurred to her. She gave Spitfire a knowing glance before turning back to Photo, “I mean, I didn’t know you were coming, Miss Finish. Always good to see you.”

“You need a drink?” Spitfire asked, something in her tone sounding like she wanted to change the subject.

“Jou have peach schnapps, ja?” Photo assumed, “I hate ze name of it, but I’ll take a fuzzy navel.”

The mare behind the bar nodded in acknowledgement as she set down Rarity’s martini.

“Well, I suppose I’ll leave you two be,” Rarity said with a cheeky smile, lifting her drink and walking off.

Spitfire groaned quietly at the implications before putting back on the face of a host, “You want to go sit somewhere? I’d like the chance to talk to you about something other than business.”

“Sure,” Photo replied with a smile, “Zhat vould be nice.”

The reality of the scene around them melted away as the moment hung in the air. Spitfire looked happy, yet tense, and Photo couldn’t help but feel the same. They just stood there, being next to each other, and waited for the drink to be made. Each clearly searching for words, Photo collected her drink and they made their way to a high table overlooking the courtyard.

“So,” Spitfire finally broke the silence, “I gotta say, you’ve always kinda fascinated me.”

Surprised, Photo turned to look at her, “Really?”

“I mean…” Spitfire stumbled for an explanation, “There’s something strong and commanding in your presence, and I kinda see the same in myself, but we’re so… well, different.”

Photo chuckled lightly into her drink, “Probably not so different as jou’d expect.”

Spitfire smiled, “Yeah, maybe not.”

After a pause to take a sip of her drink, Photo looked around the room and decided to just ask, “So how did jou meet all these ponies? I vas a bit surprised I know so many.”

Spitfire looked around and shrugged, “A bunch of them are Rarity’s acquaintances, so I met them through her. I guess since you two are in similar circles, it makes sense.”

“How did jou meet Rarity?” Photo pressed.

Spitfire’s ears flattened in embarrassment, but she faked a chuckle and answered, “Yeah, oof, that was quite a story. Maybe some other time.”

Shocked by the response, Photo quickly backed off, “Of course, no problem, I didn’t mean to pry.”

Rubbing the back of her head, Spitfire tried to move on, “How about my turn for a question?”

“Ja?”

“Why’d you decide to do the Wonderbolts shoot?” Spitfire asked plainly.

Oh, yeah, Photo was supposed to have come up with a reason for that. Damn. Quickly looking for an answer, Photo decided to just stick to something true, “Vell, it’s rather hard to grow up a pegasus foal and not be inspired by ze Vunderbolts.”

Quickly looking around to make sure they weren’t overheard, Spitfire put on a big smile, “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“My turn, again?” Photo joked.

“What, we making a game of this?” Spitfire quipped back.

“Vhy did jou come to me with ze offer in ze first place?” Photo asked, leaning against the table to look at the mare beside her.

Spitfire looked like she’d been caught stealing cookies, “Well, I mean, I honestly didn’t think you’d agree to it. I kinda just wanted a chance to meet you.”

Photo’s thoughts stalled out with the shock, “Really?”

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Spitfire started into what looked like an admission, “Yeah. There’s just something about you that I-”

A glass of whiskey, held aloft with a blue glow, floated behind Spitfire’s head. Seeing Photo abruptly turn to watch it, Spitfire reeled around to figure out what was going on behind her. As the glass settled down on the table, both of them noticed Rarity a few steps behind it.

“I saw you didn’t have a drink, so I brought you the usual,” Rarity said, taking a sip from what must have been a second martini before walking proudly up beside Spitfire. After a pause, she blanched, “Oh my goodness, I interrupted. I’ll, um… be on my way.”

Wiping her face, Spitfire looked Rarity square in the eye, “Don’t worry about it.”

Rarity looked deeply apologetic, but there was something more. She looked worried.

Spitfire put a hoof on Rarity’s back, causing her breath to catch, and spoke in a reassuring whisper, “I said don’t worry about it.”

Rarity finally exhaled and forced a smile, “Of course.”

As Rarity walked away, Photo struggled to process what she’d just witnessed. She had come to terms with the two being secretly friends or something, but that moment felt… different. As Spitfire let out a deep sigh and took a large swig of her drink, Photo wasn’t really sure where to proceed. She took a drink as well.

Clearly struggling with the scene that just played out, Spitfire changed the subject, “I’ve always liked big private parties like these. It’s good to be surrounded by ponies you know.”

“Ah… Ja,” Photo mumbled, her thoughts still bouncing between what she just witnessed and what Spitfire had been interrupted while saying.

Her first attempt to break the ice had failed, but Spitfire didn’t plan to stop trying, “You mentioned you already know a few of them, right?”

Photo slid her goggles up onto her forehead, looking around the now teal-tinted room more clearly, “Vell, I ran into Sapphire vhen I got here, and she and I go back. Also, I swear I saw Hoity Toity in ze crowd at one point.”

Spitfire sighed in relief, happy to get Photo talking again, “Yeah, I swear those two have never missed one of these.”

“Really? I’ve worked with Hoit before, zis…” Photo gestured in the air, “doesn’t seem like his scene.”

Spitfire’s bemused grin slowly grew, “Did you just call him ‘Hoit?’”

Photo stifled a laugh as she realized Spitfire was right, “Oh. Ja. He doesn’t like to be called zat, but his name has too many syllables.”

“Well I mean, you’re right,” Spitfire agreed, “I think I’ll start calling him that, too.”

As much as Photo wanted answers, she could tell Spitfire just wanted a stress free night. The past few moments had been a stark reminder that she wasn’t the only one with complicated circumstances. Better to just drop it and enjoy the night.

“You know, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen your eyes before,” Spitfire observed in a half mumble, “that’s a really pretty color.”

Photo tried to force back the heat from her cheeks, breaking eye contact in embarrassment, “I… thank you.”

Spitfire confidently looked out over the courtyard, “This should be a good night.”

Photo followed her gaze, eyes fixing on the still unoccupied hot tub, “I’m surprised nopony is in zhere yet.”

“Do you wan-” Spitfire started. Remembering, she subtly nodded to the inconspicuous bulge of Photo’s wings under her dress, “Uh… how are you feeling about… that?”

Photo looked across the crowd, trying get a feel for the situation. She had the option; she expected her disguise to hold in the water. So many ponies would see, though. Photo hadn’t anticipated this many ponies at the party, let alone ones she knew so well. It could become a bit of a scene. Well, at least in the time it took to get in the water. Once she was in, her wings would be below the foamy surface, and things would settle down. This could work.

With a look that betrayed her apprehension, Photo spoke, “Vell, I suppose I’ll need somewhere to put my dress.”

“Don’t feel obligated,” Spitfire comforted.

“I don’t,” Photo replied with more resolve.

Spitfire looked hesitantly hopeful, “Any way I could help?”

“Somewhere to change,” Photo reiterated.

Spitfire gestured towards the hallway casually, “You can change in my room if you want. I’ve got hangars and stuff. End of the hall.”

Photo thanked her and finished her drink before standing. Nodding to a few ponies in passing, she made her way down the hall and to the bedroom door. Her heart fluttered for a moment at the memory of what she saw the last time she opened this door, but she stepped in without hesitation. Shutting the door and the sounds of the party behind her, Photo stood alone in a well-appointed bedroom and took the moment to wind down.

Lost in the feeling of the room’s unfamiliarity, Photo looked around for something to anchor herself with, something to make the space feel less foreign. Failing that, she stepped toward the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror. Seeing her face in the reflection forced her to realize that this wasn’t all a dream, and that she was really alone in Spitfire’s bedroom.

Photo steadied her breathing as she came to accept the situation. It just felt weird to be invited into her room after they had been… Flirting? It was the first word that had jumped to mind, and Photo was startled by it. Had Spitfire seriously just been flirting with her? Seeing the blood rushing to her cheeks again, Photo covered her face with a hoof in a struggle to settle back down.

It honestly made sense, though. Everything she’d been saying right before Rarity- Photo’s train of thought derailed instantly. That scene with Rarity meant something, and it seemed important. She’d have to come up with some way to figure it out without seeming like she was prying, but it was pretty clear neither of them wanted to talk about it.

No. Drop it and enjoy the night. Photo had already promised herself that much, and breaking a promise you made to yourself is just dumb. Looking into her own determination filled eyes, Photo knew there was only one thing she cared about. She wanted to spend time with Spitfire.

First things first, Photo slid off her dress and tossed them out the door toward the bed. Seeing herself with wings, Photo felt so exposed. If she moved quickly and avoided attention, she could probably sneak into the hot tub without incident. Worst case, ponies would know she was a pegasus a few days early. A devilish grin creeped across her face as she realized the magazine cover was almost certainly being finalized as she thought about it.

Quickly double checking her disguise looked okay, Photo tried to remember what Twilight had warned her about. No strong magic around the disguise, and if it was starting to mess up it would overheat. Pressing the locket to her chest, she couldn’t feel any warmth, but she was a little worried she wouldn’t be able to feel it through her coat. Flipping the pendant up into her lips, she held it there for a second before deciding it was basically room temperature. Nervously adjusting her mane, Photo decided this would have to do.

Stepping across the bedroom to pluck her dress off of the bed, Photo made her way over to the closet to find the hangars that Spitfire mentioned. As she did, she heard the doorknob behind her rattle and she immediately whirled around to face the sound.

“Hey, everything alright? You’ve been in here a whi- Holy shit you look good,” Spitfire announced in surprise from the cracked doorway.

Photo unconsciously hid behind the dress held in her hooves, her face turning colors usually reserved for the fire brigade. Spitfire stood in the doorway, a hoof raised as if she had something else to say. Her expression jerked back and forth between looking like she had a good explanation and accepting that she honestly didn’t. In the end, Spitfire just shut her mouth and slowly closed the door. The only sign she was still out there was the muffled echo of her smacking her forehead against the wall repeatedly.

Quickly recovering her bearings, Photo forced a fake calm over herself and hung up her dress. She opened the door to leave just as Spitfire was about to headbutt the wall once more, but Photo managed to get a hoof in the way before impact.

Spitfire pulled back and looked down at her hooves, “I… can’t believe I said that out loud.”

Photo couldn’t help but laugh, “But you can believe you thought it?”

Spitfire’s mood immediately bounced back due to hearing Photo’s amusement, “Well, I mean, shouldn’t I?”

Photo blushed once more, but this time she was in better control of it. Yup, this was flirting.

Spitfire saw her opening to continue, “Like, I could tell you kept fit, but damn, you’re better built than most athletes I know. How could you possibly be embarrassed by how you look?”

Photo couldn’t help but bask in the compliments, but still felt the need to come up with an answer, “I just… it’s now how I vant the public to view me. I have zis whole image I try to keep, looking like a marathon flier kind of detracts from it.”

There was a flash of commiseration in Spitfire’s eyes as she nodded, “I get where you’re coming from. Having a public persona gets hard.”

Photo leaned around the corner to check her path to the hot tub. There was one bundle of ponies chatting about something, but they seemed distracted enough with their conversation. She felt comfortable that she’d get all the way without incident.

“You look like a little filly afraid to get on stage for the first time,” Spitfire teased.

“Oh, hush, jou,” Photo chided as she stepped back from the corner, “Shall we?”

Without any fanfare, Spitfire rounded the corner from the hallway to the courtyard, gesturing for Photo to follow, “No time like the present.”

As Photo stepped cautiously out from the hallway, she pressed her wings firmly to her sides, hoping they’d just blend in. As she slowly came to realize nopony but Spitfire was looking at her, she strode forward with purpose, trying to make it into the water before anyone tried to get her attent-

“Miss Finish,” came a weak voice from beside her.

Photo turned to see Rarity standing there with what she hoped was still her second drink, “Miss Rarity? Did jou need something?”

“I was…” Rarity looked deeply regretful, “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t think I interrupted on purpos- I’m sorry, wait, where’s your dress?”

Photo looked down at her forelegs and then back up to Rarity, “I took it off.”

“Ye- Obviously, but…” Rarity sputtered, looking Photo over once more, “wait, hold on, what?”

“Vhat, ‘Vhat?’’ Photo replied in equal confusion, “I think ze concept is rather straightforward.”

“N- Not that,” Rarity clarified, “It’s just that you have the exact same cutie mark as my friend.”

Photo stood stock still. She’d never checked her flanks. She had only thought to confirm that the disguise replaced her mane and tail. Nervously turning to look back at herself, Photo’s heart raced.

On her flank was a familiar shape, but honestly not the one she expected. She uttered a short, confused grunt as she saw a series of six pointed stars on her back side. She wasn’t entirely sure why she had Twilight’s cutie mark, but it was a massive relief to not see a lightning cloud. Still felt weird, though.

Looking back to Rarity, Photo just shrugged, “Zis… ist not unheard of.”

Spitfire trotted over to the conversation nervously, looking to serve as a distraction, “Hey, uh, hot tub.”

Both Photo and Rarity looked at her like she was from the moon, but Rarity was the one to vocalize it, “What?”

“Ach, scheiße,” Photo blurted as she understood, quickly making her way across the courtyard to hide in the tub’s waters. With an amused sigh, Spitfire sauntered over to join her.

Stepping over the low wall of the pool, Photo slipped into the warmth and current of the waters. Almost immediately she could feel her muscles slacken and ease, the heat flowing through her. On autopilot, she slowly sank into a corner, forehooves draped over the edges like a huge armchair. Worth it.

Spitfire dropped into the corner to Photo’s right, lounging sideways on the bench to face her, “Was everything okay over there?”

Photo looked up from the frothing water, dismissing the concern, “Ja, ja. It vas nothing.”

“Alright,” Spitfire accepted, “I still have no idea how I can help, but I’m willing.”

“Just sit here vith me,” Photo replied with a smile, “ze more you act like everything is fine, ze more it will be.”

Spitfire mirrored Photo’s smile, “Sure.”

Photo shuffled her back along the side of the hot tub until a water jet was pressed firmly against the constantly knotted muscles between her wings, “Zis is heaven.”

Spitfire settled back, just happy to see Photo relaxed, “Best investment I ever made.”

Photo closed her eyes and was finally able to clear her mind of all of her assorted stress, at least for the moment. Everything just felt so perfect for the first time in days. She wanted this to last forever. As she sat weightless in the water, a thought crossed her mind that both her inner optimist and pessimist could agree with.

The night was still young.

Chapter 11: A Panicked Decision

With her eyes shut and the warm embrace of the hot tub to distract her, the only evidence Photo had that she was still at Spitfire’s party was the sounds of chatter and music, just audible over the thrum of the tub itself. Despite that, she could still tell Spitfire was beside her, and it felt amazing. Sharing a quiet moment in the middle of a rather large party was nice.

The gentle clink of a martini glass on the outer wall of the hot tub heralded Rarity approaching the seat opposite Photo, “Do you mind if I join you two?”

Photo opened her eyes, catching Spitfire hastily turning to face Rarity, and offered, “I have no objections.”

With a shrug from Spitfire, Rarity slipped into the water with a stifled groan of satisfaction. Lifting the glass that held what little remained of her drink, Rarity took a sip before announcing, “I always forget just how nice this feels.”

“I take it you’ve been here before?” Photo asked absent mindedly.

“Um…” Rarity snuck a glance over to Spitfire, who seemed tense despite the warm water, “A few times, yes.”

Don’t think too hard about it, just enjoy the night. Photo rested her head on the back of her seat and muttered, “Lucky you.”

A silence that bordered on awkward lingered after the exchange, with Spitfire looking between Rarity and Photo a few times before finally asking, “Can I clear something up real quick?”

Rarity and Photo both snapped out of their thoughts to listen.

“Does she, uh…” Spitfire danced around the question directed at Photo, “You know, I honestly have no idea if it’s a secret or if you just don’t bother telling anypony.”

Eventually deducing the implied question, Photo explained, “Oh, ja, zat. It’s come up.”

“Oh, okay,” Spitfire replied, calming down, “That makes things easier.”

Rarity looked up from her freshly emptied martini, the gears of the conversation not quite catching in her mind, “Know what? What are we talking about?”

Spitfire sat more upright in her seat, stretching her hooves above her head and flaring out her wings, before settling back down again. With a short nod toward Photo, she just hoped Rarity could follow the message.

“Wings?” Rarity uttered like a fool before putting it together, “Ah. Yes. I still say that’s ridiculous.”

Spitfire couldn’t quite follow the seeming non sequitur, “What is?”

“Keeping it a secret,” Rarity continued, turning to Photo, “You should not.”

“Rarity, how many drinks have you had?” Spitfire deadpanned.

“Not nearly enough,” came Rarity’s reply, “and this one’s empty.”

Spitfire just pressed her hoof to her face, shaking her head.

“Jou’re right, jou know,” Photo asserted to Rarity.

Rarity looked at her empty glass like it was obvious before replying, “Oh, about the secret. Yes, I know, that’s why I said it.”

Spitfire looked surprised, “What made you change your mind? Just a few days ago you seemed so self conscious.”

Photo struggled to put it to words, “Jou know, I hadn’t thought about it in years. It vas just… Who I vas. How I led my life. Zhen you made me question it.”

Spitfire slowly filled with a certain satisfaction, clearly happy to have helped. Photo’s thankful smile was enough for her.

“Did my rousing speech help, too?” Rarity tipplishly interrupted, “I thought it was a good one.”

Photo couldn’t help but laugh at the way she put it, “Ja, it vas. And to be completely honest, ze damn tabloids probably affected me somevhat, but I don’t vant to give them any credit.”

“Don’t,” Rarity commanded, “they’re bottom feeders, they don’t deserve it.”

“Says the one who buys zhere vork,” Photo teased.

Rarity’s face turned flush, “Well, I don’t have to always read the best there is. There’s something to be said about trashy work.”

Spitfire, who had been struggling to follow the conversation, eventually gave up, “You know, I’m lost, I think I’m gonna go grab a drink.”

Rarity floated her empty glass over to Spitfire, looking her in the eye with a pleading pout.

Spitfire grudgingly took the glass before turning to Photo, “You need another?”

“Sure,” Photo replied with a shrug.

As Spitfire walked off, a silence hung over the pair that remained. A strange tension was in the air, and it seemed like neither of them could quite identify it. Photo quietly slipped down into the water, observing Rarity from the space between the surface and her bangs.

“Sorry I’m being so ridiculous tonight,” Rarity offered forward, “I know I’m not exactly leaving the best impression.”

Photo sat upright once more, “No, no. Zis is a night for relaxing. I needed ze time to unwind.”

Rarity appeared satisfied, “Well, this is a good place for it. I’m just falling into how I usually act here.”

After some hesitation, Photo steadily asked, “So how did jou meet Spitfire?”

“Well,” Rarity stalled, flustered by the suddenness of the question, “You see, it all started when I almost got us both killed.”

“...Vhat?” Photo ejected, “Take a few more steps back, please.”

Through the haze of Rarity’s inebriated explanation a story slowly emerged, and it started off with a familiar scene. It all started back at the Best Young Flyer competition, that whole mess of an affair that ended with Rarity plummeting from the sky and cleanly knocking out the three wonderbolts who dove to save her. Rainbow remembered the day for countless reasons, between managing to catch them all, winning the competition, and it being the first time she met Spitfire. Her thoughts always seized when confronted with what would have happened if she hadn’t caught them in time.

Rarity reached for her glass with her magic, but as it wasn’t there, she only formed a luminescent glow a few inches above the edge of the hot tub, “A while after that, Spitfire came to check on me, just to be sure I was okay. After spending much of an afternoon apologising to her for what happened, we finally settled in and started talking. One thing led to another and we-”

After a pause, Photo prodded, “And jou..?”

“I’m sorry, I just noticed I’d been reaching for my glass and it wasn’t there,” Rarity transparently lied, a rosy tinge filling her cheeks, “Also, it’s quite warm in here, I wonder if it’s getting to my head.”

Photo’s mind was awhirl with the implications of what Rarity had just let slip. The trouble was, it made sense to her. Spitfire and Rarity had been acting oddly with each other. Had it been affection? It fit. Even if it was just in her head, it would be a hard thought to shake.

The sudden heavy feeling of two hooves on her shoulders made Photo jump and spout a string of foreign profanities. Spinning around to see who was behind her, she was greeted by an amused Sapphire Shores.

Still chuckling to herself, Sapphire apologised, “Sorry, boo, couldn’t resist.”

“Do not call me ‘boo,’” Photo weakly objected as she calmed down, “I am not jour ‘boo.’”

Sapphire stepped over and dropped down into the corner of the hot tub to Photo’s left, “Aw, come on, you know I’m playin’.”

Grumbling, Photo sank back into the water up to the eyes, doing her best alligator impression.

“So, Sapphire, enjoying yourself?” Rarity asked casually.

“Sugar, you think I ever stop enjoying myself?” Sapphire joked back, “It’s always good to catch up and calm down after a long tour.”

“Well, you know you’re always welcome here,” Rarity said with a tone of authority.

Photo began to fit that piece of information into the puzzle, but was interrupted by the gentle clatter of a tray of drinks approaching. Spitfire had finally made it back, carrying three drinks on a platter in her mouth. Before she even had time to set it down, the martini drifted off towards Rarity.

“Thank you for the drink, darling,” Rarity thought to say only after she’d already snatched it up.

Setting the tray between herself and Photo, Spitfire slipped back into the hot tub with everypony, “Oh, heya, Sapphire. How’s things?”

Sapphire Shores simply shrugged and offered about the same answer, “Doing well, feels nice to relax.”

“Well hey, good to have you,” Spitfire offered before taking a sip of her drink and sliding down deeper into the water, still lounging with her body facing Photo.

There was a sudden shock through Photo’s body as something brushed her flank. Suddenly sitting upright, she snapped her head around to face Spitfire, who had also been startled by the contact and pulled her hooves back abruptly. Spitfire’s face was all wracked up in apologetic embarrassment, and Photo couldn’t help but be amused with it. They said nothing to each other, but could both clearly tell the accident was forgiven. Spitfire settled back down, this time facing her hooves away from Photo.

“Well, let’s try to make this night a calm one, then,” Rarity replied to Sapphire while taking a sip of her drink, apparently missing the entire exchange between the tub’s two other occupants, “I could use the time to relax as well, I… oh dear heavens, I can taste the vermouth.”

The conversation quickly drifted down a predictable path of catching up and frivolity, but Photo was far more interested in observing. It was easy enough to tell that these three had plenty of history, given how they acted. Whatever the weirdness was between Rarity and Spitfire, it wasn’t peeking its head when Sapphire was around to keep the conversation moving. With both the drinks and the conversation flowing, time rocketed by. It was an enjoyable time chatting, and immensely relaxing, but the heat seemed to be getting to them.

Rarity was the first to stand, “If you all would excuse me, I think I might have been in this for a bit long. I feel quite… light headed.”

“I’m sure the martinis have nothing to do with it,” Sapphire teased.

Rarity blew a short raspberry, “Nothing of the sort, it’s just the heat.”

Heat. That reminded Photo, so she immediately checked the locket. It was warm, but then again it had been submerged in warm water. She honestly couldn’t tell if it was warmer than the water or not, which quickly got her worried. She needed to know, and the only way would be to get out of the water and let it cool down.

With a deep, labored breath, Photo stood as well, “I suppose I must agree vith her. Ve shouldn’t stay in here for too long.”

Spitfire looked among those assembled like she needed a cue before settling on Sapphire with a stare that read of need for advice. Rarity had already begun to sway her way toward the bar again and Photo just stood there waiting to see what was going on here. Sapphire made an expression of confusion at Spitfire’s stare, clearly not understanding the implied question.

Spitfire groaned as she hauled herself from the water and turned toward Rarity, “I suppose I’ll go make sure she doesn’t get alcohol poisoning.”

Photo let out a light chuckle, “Ja, somepony has to.”

As suddenly as they had all assembled in the hot tub, they all scattered again. Photo quickly grabbed up one of the towels nearby and dried herself as best she could, shaking off what remained afterwards. She wasn’t really sure what to do now, but she was noticing that a few ponies were staring at her. Her wings. Grumbling to herself about forgetting again, she made her way toward the edge of the room, knowing full well that the rumors would be properly set in come morning. Then again, that was okay. Her magazine would come out before the tabloids had another chance. It was still her move.

“Greetings, Miss Finish,” called a voice from beside her.

Lost in her thoughts, Photo had somehow not noticed Hoity Toity walking up to her, “Ah, ja. Hello, Hoit.”

Hoity Toity let out a groan, “You’re not going to stop calling me that, are you?”

“Nein,” came her plain reply.

Rolling his eyes behind the sunglasses he was still wearing after sundown, Hoity Toity said what he’d been intending to, “Well, I was surprised to see you here. Knowing your history with Rarity, I didn’t think you’d be responding to her invitation.”

“Wh… Rarity’s invitation?” Photo struggled, “Spitfire invited me. Isn’t zis her party?”

Hoity Toity gestured aloofly, “Well, they usually sort of co-host the parties, given… whatever it is they have going between them, and Spitfire usually leaves the invitations to Rarity.”

There were some things in there she hadn’t wanted to hear, but she felt the need to know more, “Between them?”

Hoity Toity simply gestured over toward Spitfire at the bar with Rarity, holding her. No, trying to help her stand. Hopefully.

“So those two are…” Photo hesitantly led.

“I would say they’re together, but…” Hoity Toity paused, “at the same time I don’t think they are. They certainly aren’t obvious about it in public. I think there’s something, though.”

Photo watched as Spitfire guided Rarity to the couch that she’d slept on a few nights prior, relieved to see she was in fact just helping a drunk Rarity not injure herself. Still, something about Hoit seeing the same signs she had was both vindicating and troubling. At the same time, knowing that a pony who apparently attended these parties without fail still had no idea was its own confusing fact on the pile.

Faking disinterest, Photo looked back to Hoity Toity, “Ja, vell, I’ll be back to mingling then.”

“Also, yes, since when did you have wings?” Hoity Toity interjected.

“Since…” Photo hesitated, “Always?”

Hoity Toity just let out a light “huh” and went on his way. Photo had expected him to shrug it off, but not quite that easily. Hoit’s aloofness knew no bounds.

Sticking to the edge of the room to draw less attention to herself and her wings, Photo decided she’d waited long enough to check the locket again. Flipping the small piece of silver into her lips once more, she found it to be a good deal cooler than when she was in the hot tub, but warmer than the air around it. That was… probably fine? Twilight hadn’t really told her enough for her to judge if this was a bad sign or just normal function. She was pretty sure a lot of magic things were supposed to be a little warm, and Twilight only said hot was a problem. Still…

Photo snuck off to the bathroom to double check the mirror. Looking herself over, it still seemed everything was okay. Mane and tail were still their normal flat white, and she knew to check her cutie mark now, confirming it was still Twilight’s for whatever reason. She seemed fine. Things would be fine.

With some fraction of her confidence restored, Photo adjusted her mane and stepped out into the party once more. Quickly comparing how many drinks she’d had to how long she’d been here, she decided another would be okay and moved toward the bar. Waving the bartender over for another, she leaned on the bar itself for a moment, watching the drips fall from her still damp mane.

“Yup, Rarity’s cut off,” came Spitfire’s familiar voice from beside her.

Photo looked up just in time to catch the mare behind the bar nodding in acknowledgement, “Ah, Spitfire. How’s she looking?”

Spitfire shook her head in disappointment, “Based on what she was mumbling about, I think she’s stressed out that you’re here.”

Photo reared back in shock, “Vhat?”

“She wants to impress you,” Spitfire explained, “Makes her nervous, so she drinks. She drinks, she gets embarrassed about it, she gets more stressed.”

For just a flash, Rainbow smirked at how much that sounded like a Rarity thing to do.

“Do jou think there’s anything I could do to make it easier for her?” Photo asked.

Spitfire thought it over, “Eh, nothing I’d ask you to do. I mean, if I come up with something, I’ll say, but...”

There was a quiet pause, the air filled with only the background noise of the party, before Photo decided to just confront her problem head-on, “Jou really seem to care about her.”

“Yeah, she-” Spitifre started to reply in a soft tone before halting, her voice flaring into a barely hidden panic, “She’s a friend, she’s my guest, and she looks like she’s gonna hurt herself without somepony paying attention.”

Photo Finish knew stonewalling when she saw it. She could press for more information, but… She looked around at the crowds of ponies who might overhear whatever would be said. Whatever was going on, Spitfire was playing it so close to her chest that not even her friends seemed to know. She wasn’t going to let anything meaningful slip in a public scene like this.

“Vell, take care of her, then,” Photo forced herself to say, before admitting, “Jou’re not ze only one worried about her velfare.”

Clearly a little caught off guard by the second half of Photo’s reply, Spitfire just nodded, “I was about to go grab her something to light to eat, I think it’d help.”

Photo agreed, “That should work.”

Spitfire flashed a quick smile of thanks as she trotted off towards her kitchen, leaving Photo at the bar. She wanted, needed to know what was going on between Rarity and Spitfire, but at the same time one of her best friends was apparently stumbling drunk and in need of attention. There was a pang of guilt as Spitfire’s words from before hit home. Even though she knew it was Rarity’s dumb decision to drink so much, she felt bad that she’d been the cause. She turned to look over to the couch, maybe she should check-

“Hi,” Rarity said, inches from Photo’s face.

Sputtering to hold back another stream of curses, Photo took a few steps backwards, “Rar- Shouldn’t jou be sitting down?”

“I can tell-” Rarity announced.

“That jou should be sitting down,” Photo completed for her.

“N- don’t,” Rarity huffed, “Stop it.”

“When jou sit down,” Photo insisted.

Grumpily planting herself on a barstool, Rarity blurted out, “I can tell you’re flirting with Spitfire.”

Photo’s ears flattened against her head, immediately afraid of where this was going, “Vell…”

“And I just have to say,” Rarity continued, prodding a hoof into Photo’s chest before stopping to stare at roughly where she’d poked.

Photo looked down at the spot Rarity was staring at, her view mostly obscured by her own muzzle, “Vhat, ist something there?”

“That is a very pretty locket,” Rarity said, her horn lighting up as she grabbed it with her magic to get a closer look.

Photo froze, the locket’s chain digging into the back of her neck as the pendant was manhandled. Keep away from magic. She immediately flew into a panic, seeing Rarity’s magic sparking against the etching in the silver.

“Stop,” Rainbow said, unable to raise her voice from fear, “Drop it.”

“What?” Rarity mumbled through her inebriation, not loosening her grasp on the necklace.

As the slightest stream of smoke began to rise from the gap between the two halves of the locket, Rainbow knew she had no time left. She had to do something. Her mind raced for options. She didn’t have time to convince Rarity to let go, something told her the pictures inside the locket were starting to burn. She could try to wrestle it from Rarity’s grasp, but it was magic, she couldn’t pull it out of her reach. So…

Before Rainbow had fully registered her plan, the sound of the slap had caught the attention of everypony nearby. The shock of a hoof against her cheek shattered Rarity’s attention, her magic immediately dissipating and the locket falling from her grasp. The hot metal dropped down against Rainbow’s chest, singeing the fur and making her wince in pain. Rarity just sat there, completely stupefied.

Photo froze as well, her hoof still in the air from the follow-through. Everypony was looking at her. The locket smouldering slightly against her chest, she was more afraid than she’d ever been. She slowly turned her head to face the mirror behind the bar. Her reflection stared back at her.

It was fine. The illusion was holding. Her mane was still white. She felt an immense sense of relief.

Behind her, a plate shattered against the ground. Photo immediately twisted around to see what had happened. Standing there was Spitfire, shards of ceramic and scattered crackers at her hooves, with an expression on her face that was an impossible mix of fear, anger, sadness, and shock. Everypony present was so still that it seemed time itself had frozen, if not for the music in the distance continuing unabated.

Photo quivered as she barely managed to choke out three words.

“I can explain.”

Chapter 12: A Moment She'd Never Forget

“Oh, oh I’m sorry, you can explain,” Spitfire replied in a voice both sarcastic and angry, “Well, go ahead then.”

Photo’s perception of time slowed to a crawl in a way that only adrenaline can provide. Her body immediately began to process everything it could perceive. Her hoof still stung from the slap, and the spot on her chest where the hot locket had landed still ached from the singe. Spitfire was furious at her, her eyes welling with rage. The crowd was still watching, as they are wont to when a scene is made. Rarity was just sitting there, in shock, her drunken mind obviously struggling to deal with the situation as well. She felt a cold sweat starting to break over her body. Her ears were ringing. Spitfire was waiting.

“I…” Photo stumbled, covering the locket unconsciously, “She was…”

Spitfire tilted her head, eyes still locked in anger on Photo, “I don’t have all night.”

A murmur went through the crowd as those who saw what happened explained to those who had been farther away. A quick glare from Spitfire at the ponies assembled was enough to shut that down and begin dispersing them.

“She had grabbed my locket,” Photo stated with some struggle, “I… It looked like it vas going to break.”

Spitfire laughed incredulously, “So you hit her?”

“I… I didn’t know what to do,” Photo admitted, head hanging.

Spitfire’s expression turned to ice, “Photo. I heard that slap from the next room. How about you tell me what really happened?”

Photo’s body and mind locked up at once. What could she say? How much was she willing to admit? Her years of experience making things up was all rushing to her at once, but Rarity was right there, so she couldn’t just make shit up. She looked over her shoulder to Rarity, who had shifted from a look of shock to gently holding her cheek and thinking deeply. She still seemed out of it.

Photo looked down at her hooves, “It vas just that. I… This locket matters too much to me. I panicked.”

Spitfire stomped the ground in frustration, “That doesn’t give you the right to hit her.”

“But I…” Photo looked up into her eyes, surprised to see not just anger, but disappointment, “I didn’t have time. She was going to-”

“Just stop,” Spitfire interrupted, fire behind her voice, “You’ve got your circumstances, I get that. That doesn’t change the facts. I invited you here, and you turned around and smacked one of my best friends in the face. You can explain all you want, that’s not changing.”

Photo crumbled. There had to be something she could say. Something to cool Spitfire’s temper. Anything. The truth? Even that would do nothing here. Honestly it would probably just make things worse. Photo struggled, but no ideas came to mind.

Photo forced herself to hold eye contact with Spitfire and nearly whispered, “I’m just asking jou to trust me. It was ze only option.”

Spitfire staggered, caught completely off guard, “I… what?”

“There vas no time. I asked her to let go, but…” Photo clenched her jaw and looked away, “Zis locket matters more to me than I can explain, I just couldn’t risk it. I understand if jou don't believe me.”

Even through her anger, Spitfire could see Photo’s regret. She couldn’t decide how to respond. She was still furious, but a part of her was doubting herself. Her posture was still tense, but she was not bristling quite the same way as she had been seconds earlier. She silently walked around Photo to see to Rarity, putting a hoof under her chin to raise her head and look her in the eye. Rarity looked more lost in thought than anything.

“You alright?” Spitfire asked quietly.

“I…” Rarity mumbled, a look in her eyes like the slap had knocked the alcohol clean out of her, “I’m fine. It wasn’t… I’m fine.”

Spitfire was relieved, “What happened?”

“We…” Rarity started before shaking her head, “Nothing. Nothing happened, Spitfire. It’s fine.”

Spitfire took a confused step back, “Wh- Rarity, come on. What’s going on?”

Rarity sighed, gently rubbing at her cheek, “I was being a foal and she brought me to my senses. We honestly should be thanking her, not yelling at her.”

Spitfire looked at Rarity like that was the stupidest thing she’d heard in weeks before turning to Photo and explaining herself heatedly, “Look, I don’t care if she’s already forgiven you or whatever. I don’t care if you had a good reason. You hit her, and I’m mad. Even if I shouldn’t be, even if it doesn’t make sense, I’m fucking mad. I can’t change that just because you two want me to, and I’m not going to feel better about this until you get the fuck outta my sight. We-”

“No,” Rarity stated flatly.

Both Photo and Spitfire snapped to look at her, confused for their own reasons.

“No, she doesn’t need to leave, Spitfire,” Rarity continued, “You need to calm down. I think I understand something now.”

Spitfire looked for a few seconds like she was about to shout a response, but held herself back. Instead, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and faced Photo.

“We’ll need a moment.”

Photo just stood there in a mixture of shock and worry as Rarity and Spitfire walked off towards one of the hallways out of the courtyard. The ponies that had been watching previously were still there, if farther away and trying to hide their stares. Photo had nothing to say, and no idea how to proceed. She simply sat down at the bar and stared at her drink, the slowly melting ice.

A voice spoke from behind her, sounding like it was speaking as it passed by, “I do believe you’re about to owe me a favor.”

Turning quickly, Photo saw Hoity Toity heading off in the direction Rarity and Spitfire had vanished toward. She was confused at what he thought he could do, but watched intently. When all he did was stop in the hallway and lean against the wall, she was thoroughly stumped. After a few minutes passed, he simply walked away without having done anything.

Seconds after that, Spitfire and Rarity returned, and Photo finally got the picture. Glancing over to Hoity, he just looked at her sideways from behind his sunglasses and grinned. Despite everything, she couldn’t help but be amused with him.

Spitfire approached Photo and spoke like she was reading a script, “Look, I’m sorry. I should have gotten all the facts before flipping out like that.”

Rarity nodded approvingly behind her.

“It’s fine,” Photo mumbled, struggling to meet her eye, “I know how it looked.”

Spitfire chewed on the inside of her cheek before adding, “I should go check on the other guests, try to smooth things over with them.”

Photo thought for a moment before sadly offering, “I’m very sorry for making a scene, do jou think I should lea-”

“No,” Spitfire interrupted, her expression consoling, “just relax, try to get back into the swing of the party.”

Just the word was enough to bleed the tension from Photo’s shoulders. Seeing Spitfire walk off calmly left Photo immensely relieved. That could have gone far, far worse if Rarity hadn’t chimed in.

Photo turned to Rarity, who hadn’t walked off when Spitfire did, and flatly asks, “Vhy did jou cover for me?”

The clarity she had after being slapped had apparently started to wane, but Rarity still spoke with a level of seriousness, “Miss Finish. I know you’re the type of mare with her secrets and her reasons for keeping them such. As I’m much the same way… I just suppose I understood. Besides, no harm, no foul.”

Photo bowed her head slightly, “Thank you.”

Rarity’s smile turned conspiratorial, “And besides, I couldn’t let you fall out with Spitfire over me being an idiot. You two are far too adorable for me to let that happen.”

Photo went from grateful to horrifically embarrassed in a fraction of a second, flagrantly lying, “I haff no idea what jou’re talking about.”

Rarity simply patted her on the head and turned to leave, “I’m trying to help, I promise.”

“Wh.. Vhy?” Photo nearly slipped.

Rarity turned back to her, her voice teasing, “Now, now, I just helped you keep your secret. I think I’ll be keeping mine.”

As Rarity walked off, Photo felt her whole image of what was going on fall apart around her. She’d thought Rarity was trying to keep them apart, but… Photo just sat back down to think about all of the implications. All the pieces kind of still fit if Rarity had just been poorly, drunkenly wingmanning for Spitfire. Maybe she hadn’t been flustered and stressed over Photo just being there, but she’d been worried she was getting in the way. Then again, Photo still had no idea what was going on between the two of them.

Her mind traced back to Hoit. Maybe he’d overheard something useful. Quickly looking the crowd over for him, she managed to spot him subtly waving her over, standing in a less trafficked area of the room. Amused with him and his usual scandalmonger antics, she quickly moved to meet him.

Before she’d even fully gotten to him, Hoity Toity demanded, “I’m going to need your new model for one of my upcoming advertisements.”

Groaning slightly, Photo replied, “I’m not even sure I vant jour information. Jou know I don’t approve of how jou spy on ponies like this.”

“It’s particularly juicy though, darling,” he replied, sliding his sunglasses down his nose to look her square in the eye.

Photo stared right back, trying to get a read for him. A significant part of her wanted to clock him one for spying on her friend, but she’d gotten in enough trouble for that already tonight. There was still that nagging in the back of her head to figure out what was going on, but she wasn’t sure she could accept the means.

“Not interested,” Photo decided.

“They let something slip,” Hoity Toity replied, “I think I know what’s going on between them.”

Photo’s certainty wavered for a moment, but she stood firm, “No.”

Hoity just stared at her like she was being ridiculous.

She wanted to know, really she did. At the same time, this wasn’t cool. And with Rarity apparently trying to help…

“I honestly don’t think it matters to me, anymore,” Photo explained.

Hoity looked at her incredulously, “If you knew what I did, I’m pretty sure you’d disagree.”

“Then I’ll find it out ze right vay,” Photo retorted.

With a shrug, Hoity Toity slid his sunglasses back into place and wandered off, “Your loss.”

Somehow, everything settled down. Whatever damage control Spitfire had been running had apparently worked. She’d still been keeping her distance from Photo, but Photo didn’t let it bother her. After a scene like that, she knew she’d have needed a bit of time to calm down as well.

The hours passed, she spent her time chatting with the ponies she knew, and she took a few more dips into the hot tub, before Spitfire finally met her eye again. Spitfire just gave a subtle nod in the direction of the balcony door and started to walk off. Photo, intrigued, followed. The look had been a plain one, no hint of anger left, just a casual ‘let’s talk.’

Photo had nearly forgotten they were atop a tall tower as she stepped outside, the wind cutting by her as they looked out over the lights of Canterlot. Beside her, Spitfire, looking just the slightest hint embarrassed. Photo walked over to the railing and leaned her forehooves over it, looking out at the night. After a quiet moment, Spitfire joined her.

“Jou already said jou were sorry,” Photo mused, “Jou don’t need to repeat yourself.”

Spitfire looked surprised to be seen through like that, but retorted, “I do, though. I overreacted, I know that now.”

With a single awkward chuckle, Photo agreed, “Jou’re not the only one who did.”

Spitfire sighed and stared over the skyline for a long moment before speaking again, “Well, Rarity’s fine with everything, so I’ve got no decent reason to hold a grudge.”

“Jou care about her so much,” Photo mumbled hesitantly.

Spitfire stared off at the distant buildings, an indistinguishable look on her face, “I owe her a lot. I do what I can to make up for that.”

Tucking that odd little comment away for future thought, Photo decided to break the mood, putting on a joker’s air, “I thought she told me she almost killed jou once.”

Spitfire gave her a slightly shocked look before catching the tone of it, forcing a laugh, “Yeah… that happened. Long story, but it all worked out in the end. Glad we met then, though.”

“Strange thing to bond over,” Photo continued to tease.

With a light hearted shrug, Spitfire shot back, “Eh, I’ve seen weirder. You know, the only reason I opened up to this one mare is because I showed up on the wrong day for a meeting and she was real nice about it.”

Photo’s friendly grin spoke volumes before she even said, “That doesn’t sound very veird, more like good business.”

Spitfire smiled back, satisfied that they could both move on. For a moment, the two of them just stood there on the balcony, quiet, but together. It was that same feeling from before, both content to just be there near one another. The lingering awkwardness after what had happened was waning the longer they stood there, each of them coming to terms with the fact that it would be fine.

Spitfire was the one to finally break the silence, “You know, I’ve actually been following your work ever since you debuted.”

Photo took a moment to accept what she’d just heard before turning to Spitfire in confusion, “I… jou have?”

“Lemme guess, doesn’t fit your view of me?” Spitfire replied with a soft laugh, “Why would a Wonderbolt care about fashion, am I right?”

Intrigued, Photo pressed on, “I vill admit I’m surprised. Vhat got you interested?”

Spitfire lit up in a blush as she looked off into the city distance, “Well, I mean… I just saw something in the way you took pictures. I could recognize the passion and the craft of it all, even if it wasn’t my field. Then I started looking into who you were as a pony and… Well, you’re that strong, confident, dedicated mare I was still just pretending to be those days. I don’t know... “

Photo’s eyes went wide at the explanation as she slowly grew more amused, finally explaining with a smirk, “Spitfire… I meant fashion in general, not me in particular.”

“Oh,” Spitfire responded, ears pinned back against her head, but managing to barely hold an unphased expression otherwise, “Well… okay then.”

Photo couldn’t help but break into silent laughter, resting her forehead on the balustrade for balance and to not be so obvious. Despite her efforts, Spitfire definitely noticed, as her face turned the most wonderfully vibrant shade of red.

“Hey, quit it,” Spitfire complained through her embarrassment, “I was serious, you know.”

Photo looked up from her laughter, a few tears still in her eyes, “Ja… I could tell.”

“I dunno, I suppose…” Spitfire half mumbled, scuffing at the railing with her hoof, before forcing some confidence into herself, “I think I’d like to get to know you better.”

Photo’s heart immediately began to slam in her chest, “Jou mean…”

“You ever had Zebran food?” Spitfire blurted out awkwardly, “I know a good place.”

Photo’s mind ground to a halt, “A date.”

“...uh. Yes,” Spitfire replied with a sliver of hesitation in her certainty.

It seemed so straightforward, yet Photo’s mind couldn’t quite process it, “Even despite what happened toda-”

“Yeah,” Spitfire cut her off with a comforting smile.

After a moment of stunned silence, Photo asked, “Vhy? How can jou just move on so easily? We’ve only barely met.”

Spitfire looked like she was beginning to worry, “Is that a ‘no’?”

“N- I…” Photo cleared her throat awkwardly, “Of course it isn’t. But, vhy?”

Spitfire scratched at her neck, “Well, I was talking to a… a friend, I suppose. We were at a bar a few days ago, and I was still not really sure about things. In the middle of the rest of what she was saying, one thing jumped out at me. When you’re famous, you can just… do stuff. I’ve wanted to get to know you for years, so… here I am.”

Photo’s mind struggled with the familiarity of her friend’s comment for a second before it all snapped back to her at once. She was talking about Rainbow. That was the dumb thing she’d realized just days ago. Photo couldn’t help but shakily laugh at the absurdity of the circumstance.

“You alright?” Spitfire asked with a look of concern at the sudden bout of laughter.

“Ja. Ja, I am,” Photo sputtered out, “And yes. Zebran food is delicious.”

Spitfire lit up immediately at the response, unable to contain herself. They stood there, side by side, looking into each other’s eyes with shared happiness and excitement. Somehow, everything was just turning out right. They said nothing, because there was nothing to be said. They just stood there, together and hopeful for what was to come.

Staring into Spitfire’s eyes, Photo could barely think straight. Something in the way her excited golden eyes paired with the soft, confident smile she had on… She’d always felt Spitfire was beautiful, but it was so different from this close. Her heart fluttered. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She had dreamt of being this close to Spitfire before, but… this was real. They were standing there, mere inches apart, and it just felt right. She was close enough that she could-

“Oh my goodness, they’re about to kiss,” chimed Rarity’s poorly whispered voice.

Almost instantly, Photo and Spitfire could feel the heat radiating from each other’s faces as their cheeks went flush. Slowly turning to face the voice, they spotted Rarity peeking her head from around the balcony doorway, watching in hesitant excitement. A familiar grey hoof reached from behind her and pulled her out of the doorway by the face, leaving them alone once more.

“So,” Spitfire ejected awkwardly, “How long you think they’ve been listening?”

Photo thought for a second before replying, “I’m pretty sure that hoof was Hoit, so… most likely ze entire time.”

Spitfire sighed like she agreed, “Well, maybe we should get back to the party then. I’m sure ponies are starting to wonder what we’re up to out here.”

As much as Photo wanted to make Rarity right, she knew now wasn’t the time, “Of course.”

Photo passed the last few hours of the party in a haze of excitement. That or it could have been the alcohol. Or both. The important part was Spitfire seemed to have the same glow about her. The party drew along, ponies getting too tired or tipsy to continue and slowly filtering out. Eventually, it was rather clear things were finally wrapped up for the night. Taking her cue that it was time to get ready to leave, Photo sighed regretfully and stood from her seat. It was a good night, it was such a shame it had to end.

Before she could get far, Spitfire rushed over, “Hey, uh… what’s up? Leaving already?”

Photo could easily hear that Spitfire wanted her to stay, so simply reassured her, “I vas just about to get my dress. It’s gotten cold, ja?”

“Oh,” Spitfire said with a hint of embarrassment, “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Photo could tell Spitfire was asking funny, so she asked, “Is something wrong?”

With a bit of a blush, Spitfire admitted, “I was just hoping to get another good chance to talk to you.”

“Ve have time,” Photo reassured her as she started walking off towards the hallway, “Let’s talk.”

Spitfire followed her, looking like she’d forgotten that in order to talk, you need something to talk about. She just followed in near silence, clearly looking for anything remotely like casual conversation and finding nothing of use to her. As they both reached the door to the bedroom, the awkwardness hit a head. Both of them seemed immediately aware of how this would look, and slowly turned to face each other.

“I could uh… go get it for you, I guess,” Spitfire offered.

Photo shrugged, “It’s no problem, nopony here will care.”

Still, they hesitated to open the door. As they stood there staring, their contemplation was immediately interrupted by the echo of a resounding snore from within. After sharing a glance, Spitfire swung open the door.

Inside, Rarity had apparently snuck into the room and drunkenly collapsed, only the front half of her actually on the bed. The scene was amazing, Rarity just lying there, drooling on the sheets and snoring lightly. Photo shared a glance with Spitfire, each of them resisting laughing.

“She’s probably out cold,” Spitfire pointed out in a whisper, “she’s had a lot.”

Photo nodded, amused, and went into the closet for her dress. As she shuffled through the clothes, something slowly registered to her. Spitfire had way, way more fancy dresses than she’d have ever guessed. She found herself absently looking them over, rather amazed with the collection.

Spitfire lunged forward as she noticed Photo staring at her dresses, plucking Photo’s dress from the hangar and stammering as she offered it to her, “Oh, hey, yup, here it is.”

“These are beautiful,” Photo replied, picking one of the many dresses and raising it up to Spitfire, “Jou vould look amazing in this.”

For a second, Spitfire looked like she was about to be embarrassed, but rather suddenly shifted into a surprised, happy smile, “Wait, really? You think so? I mean… you think so?”

“Ja…” Photo mumbled with a hint of amazement, “I need to see you in this someday.”

Her smile growing ever wider, Spitfire replied, “You know, I think you might get a chance.”

Quickly shuffling her dress back on and straightening it as best she cared to, Photo could only think to respond with, “I’d like that.”

As Photo stretched and got ready to leave the room, Spitfire stopped her, “Hey… I do have one thing I was wanting to ask.”

“Ja?” Photo inquired as she halted before the door.

Clearly struggling to work up the nerve, Spitfire asked, “I know this is gonna sound weird, but could I come to one of your shoots?”

She wouldn’t have called it weird, but Photo was certainly surprised by the request, “I… Sure, if jou vant. They’re… not exactly interesting, but…”

Spitfire just shrugged as she trotted over to catch up, a little bit of uncertainty still in her eyes, “I’ve never got to see one, and I’m interested.”

“No problem,” Photo replied with a smile, “I can send jou my schedule, just tell me vhen you’d be interested.”

The excitement in Spitfire’s expression was almost too much for Photo to handle. She’d made countless mares’ dreams come true in her career, but this felt different. The usual detachment of ‘it’s my job’ wasn’t there to shield her from the feeling of joy pointed at her. She’d made Spitfire, somepony she’d spent so much of her life looking up to, so excited that she could barely function.

A loud snort from Rarity reminded them she was still over there, collapsed. Both snickering to themselves, Spitfire reached for the door, not able to think hard enough to say anything. They both stepped out, each glowing for her own reason.

“Tonight vas vonderful,” Photo whispered.

Spitfire smirked sideways at her, trying to act cool, “Glad you had a good time.”

Seeing the way smirk poofed out Spitfire’s cheek, Photo went for it. The sound of her heart thumping in her ears, Photo leaned over towards Spitfire. She was nervous, but she didn’t hesitate. Before she could give herself time to think, there was a feeling of cheek fur against her lips. It was a tiny peck, but in the moment, it felt like the most important thing in the world. She felt Spitfire freeze up in surprise, and even the warmth of a blush starting to form under her kiss. Everything just felt perfect.

In the distance, a pony loudly spat out their drink. In a flurry, Photo snapped her head around see who’d caught her. Hoity Toity stared back, his sunglasses half fallen off his face, looking like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The only valid response Photo could come up with was an obscene gesture. Hoity immediately raised his hooves and shook his head, the universal signal for ‘this is none of my business.’

With some worry, Photo slowly turned back to see Spitfire’s response. By the looks of it, she either hadn’t noticed Hoity, or simply couldn’t care. Spitfire was still locked up in amazement and excitement at what had just happened. All pressure gone, Photo just smiled back.

“So I’ll be seeing jou again in a few days?” Photo asked expectantly.

“Yeah,” Spitfire replied dreamily, “I’ll be seeing you soon.”

Photo yawned loudly, drawing a chuckle from Spitfire.

“Vhat,” Photo complained, “I’m tired.”

Spitfire shook her head, “No, no, it’s just… You even have your accent when you yawn.”

Photo scoffed at Spitfire before playfully pushing her away and making a frustrated pout, “That’s it, I’m leaving.”

Spitfire kept up her chuckle, replying, “Yeah, it’s late. You need a walk home?”

Surprised by the offer, Photo didn’t really have a response ready, “I… No. Jou still have guests. I wouldn’t draw jou from them.”

“How about I at least walk you to the door,” Spitfire offered warmly.

Photo didn’t respond, but she didn’t have to. They walked, the eyes of the few ponies remaining still clearly on them, but they had stopped caring. They both wanted this moment too much.

Spitfire opened the door, obvious in her posture that she didn’t want Photo to leave just yet. Photo regretfully stepped through the door, stopping on the other side to look back.

“Oh, calm down, jou’ll see me again,” Photo teased.

Spitfire forced a laugh, letting the joke hang as she stood there thinking, but eventually she just decided to say it, “Hey, Photo?”

A little surprised, Photo asked, “Ja?”

“You should let your wings out. You seem more relaxed when they’re not trapped under the dress,” Spitfire observed caringly.

Photo seemed shocked at the sudden declaration, but thought it over, “I… Jou might be right. Still, I-”

“You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about,” Spitfire interrupted, “You look great.”

The weight of the compliment hit Photo, and she struggled for a response, “T… Thank you. I’ll think about it.”

Spitfire grinned, “I’ll see you again, some time.”

In the time it took Photo to blink, Spitfire’s face was inches away. She flinched at the suddenness of it, but immediately drew calm at the feeling of a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Photo couldn’t help but smile as Spitfire drew back, “Ja. I’ll see jou again.”

Chapter 13: A Lingering Feeling

The entire world was a happy blur. The remainder of Rainbow’s weekend was spent doing… nothing. After waking up mid-day following the party, she simply had no energy left for anything, and much to her relief, also had no obligations. Everything that had happened, good and bad, all that weight and stress, had finally ended. Sure, not every loose end was tied, but as she puttered around the penthouse, she couldn’t quite focus on any of that. There was just one, amazing fact left in her mind.

She took the day to finally properly calm down. Sure, there was plenty to trouble herself over still, between the tabloids, that damn pigeon, and planning for her shoot with Rarity, but today was a Sunday, and she didn’t feel like doing anything useful. Instead, she decided to just head to Ponyville and goof around all day, save for the minor effort she would have to put into weather work. It wasn’t so much a case of denying her situation as it was needing a chance to unwind after such the last few days had been such a mess.

Rainbow did everything in her power to have a normal, meaningless day. Any time worries tried to fill her mind, she let the most important fact of the last few days rush back to her. There might be plenty to be concerned with coming up, but that was all outweighed by the next big thing she had to look forward to.

She had a date this week.

Photo Finish woke easily at sunrise, having actually gotten to bed at a decent hour the night before. Feeling far more refreshed than she was used to, she sat up and looked around her cloudy bedroom, scratching her chin as she tried to think about what to do with the day. At the very least, she wanted to check on the progress of getting the magazine printed.

With a single strong flap of her wings, Photo lifted out of bed and glided into her kitchen, putting the coffee on instinctively as she contemplated. Checking on printing meant flying back to Canterlot today. Also, probably worth checking on the mail delivery while she was there. Sitting down with far more control than she could usually manage in the morning, Photo stared out the window and thought about her plans for the week. She’d left her scheduler in the penthouse, so that’s another thing to do.

The sound of birds chirping out her window caught her attention, but just as she was about to shrug it off, thoughts of that pigeon pushed their way into her mind. If it roosted in Fluttershy’s cottage, then… What, Fluttershy was spying on her? She couldn’t match that idea to the mare who just a few days prior had been so startled to see Photo that she bolted. Photo just hoped that she’d be able to figure that out on her own terms, and not be cornered by the revelation somehow.

An English muffin and a few cups of coffee later, Rainbow shook out her mane and stretched for a quick morning flight. Not the busiest day ahead of her, but she was probably going to spend a lot of time sitting at desks, and giving her wings a nice stretch before that seemed like a good plan. Rainbow dropped through her kitchen floor, casting little puffs of cloud in all directions, and let herself freefall for a moment just to get that spike of adrenaline. Just shy of the ground, she finally spread her wings and pulled up, watching the world whiz by as she made her way around Ponyville.

Dozens of little ponies going about their morning business passed by below her as she flew and thought. Just a normal day like any other, Ponyville moving right along despite the chaos that had been her life for the past few days. Hopefully, the week to come would be a little less hectic.

Below, bouncing toward town square, Dash spotted a familiar pink form. With a smile, she killed her speed and came in for a landing, “Heya, Pink. What’s up?”

“You were,” Pinkie Pie joked back, “now, I’d say….”

Dash cut Pinkie off before she took too much time to stare at the sky, “Up to anything today?”

A noncommittal shrug was Pinkie’s primary response, “Taking care of Pumpkin and Pound Cake this afternoon. Nothing much until then, though. What’s up?”

“The sky,” Rainbow smirked.

Pinkie Pie froze in place, a look of disgust on her face. She just… walked into her own joke. Even as Pinkie slowly hung her head, Rainbow was quietly snickering to herself. It wasn’t often Pinkie slipped up like that, and damned if Dash didn’t plan to savor it.

Shaking her head and making a floof of her mane, Pinkie recovered, “Hey, how’d your midnight rendezvous go?”

“No,” Dash pointed at Pinkie, her humor gone in a flash, “Stop it.”

Pinkie’s grin recovered, “The more you don’t tell me, the more I’ll assume.”

Dash rolled her eyes and tried to come up with a quick response to blow Pinkie off with, but… What could she say? As much as she wanted to just share her excitement with Pinkie, she knew she couldn't just let loose like that. She knew full well that anything she might say would get back to Rarity in the end. She’d have to both avoid slipping up and satisfy Pinkie with her response. Turning to look into the amused blue eyes staring at her, Rainbow didn’t really have an answer.

“It’s…” Rainbow struggled, “complicated?”

Almost instantly she could tell that was the wrong answer to give, as Pinkie’s eyes went wide with intrigue, “Well then, that’s interesting. Good luck with it, I suppose.”

Rainbow wilted, “That only got you more nosey, didn’t it?”

“Pretty much,” Pinkie admitted with a grin.

Sighing, Rainbow grumbled, “I have some things to do today, I should get going.”

“Tell her I said ‘hi,’” Pinkie smiled as she turned to trot off.

“Will do,” Dash replied dejectedly.

After a few more laps around Ponyville and some time to think, Rainbow came to realize that she really, really needed to talk to somepony about everything that had happened. After nearly spilling the beans to Pinkie, she knew she couldn't just hold it in anymore, and she knew just the mare who would love to hear it all. With a slight shift of her wings, she changed course toward the library.

Immediately on landing and opening the front door, Rainbow was greeted by a yawn and a lazy wave from her lavender friend, “Good morning, Dash.”

“Heh, morning Twi,” she chuckled back, “Just waking up?”

“Hey, it’s not my fault my sleep schedule got messed up,” Twilight joked, trotting happily over to Rainbow.

Dash chuckled, “You could have gone to sleep at a decent hour and worked in the morning.”

Twilight blinked at Dash like the idea had never occurred to her, nodding sagely in her sleepy state and joking back, “You know, I’m not sure I ever tried that. Maybe next time. Anyway, how’d the party go? I was hoping to ask you yesterday, but I guess you were busy?”

“Well,” Rainbow grinned, slowly filling with a certain pride, “I suppose you could say things went good.”

“Went well,” Twilight corrected on reflex. After a brief pause, she started to catch onto the hint in Rainbow’s tone and sat down, resting her chin on her hoof gossipishly, “So what happened?”

With no onset but a quick glance to make sure they were alone, Rainbow set into telling Twilight everything that happened, her mind racing with the events once again. From the moment she walked into the party to the moment that she stepped out the door, Rainbow’s train of thought bounced around in no particular order, hitting all of the high points and glazing over all of the missteps and kept secrets. Despite everything, she could only look back on the party with joy and bubbly excitement.

As the story trailed off, Twilight sat back to try and process what she had just heard, her mind reeling from the information overload, yet able to smile and reply to the one, huge fact, “Rainbow, I’m so happy for you! To think that she was the one to ask you out, that’s… well, shocking, to be honest.”

“Ha, please,” Rainbow smugged back, “Of course she did. Who wouldn’t? I’m awesome.”

Twilight snorted out a laugh before settling into a happy smile and leaning over to offer a friendly hug to the mare beside her, “Well, good luck with the next step. What day’s the date?”

After a little squirming in complaint, Dash grudgingly accepted the hug, “Yeah, thanks, I- well, I shouldn’t need luck, but… let’s not jinx myself. But yeah, it’s this th- fri- wait…”

Rainbow went blank, staring into space. She couldn’t have. Yet, as she thought about it… She was in such a blur of excitement that they hadn’t actually chosen a night for the date. She sighed in self disappointment and flopped her chin onto Twilight’s shoulder.

Piecing things together, Twilight reassuringly offered, “Well, it’s a great excuse to see her again without looking needy.”

Sitting back upright with a grin, Rainbow pointed at her friend, “You know, this is why I keep you. You’re smart.”

“Obviously the only reason,” Twilight teased back.

After a drawn out pause to pretend to think, Rainbow corrected, “You also have good tea.”

Twilight shoved Dash away playfully before standing, “Well hey, you feel like sticking around? I was about to make t-”

Rainbow’s massive grin of triumph was enough to cut Twilight off and make her realize exactly what she’d just said. Twilight let out a long, breathy sigh as she stood, not wanting to acknowledge the situation. She just silently stepped off to put a kettle on before wandering back into the room.

“Hey, I did want to ask you about the locket a bit,” Rainbow remarked on her return, half out of vested interest and half to offer a change of subject.

Interest piqued, Twilight tilted her head, “Sure, what do you need to know?”

“So like,” Rainbow asked, “Why does it give me your cutie mark?”

Twilight pulled back in a moment of confusion before slapping her head to her hoof, “I… put it in as a placeholder. I was going to ask you what you wanted, but… Wow. I could fix it if you want.”

“Too late now,” Dash replied, “Rarity saw it.”

“That’s…” Twilight clicked her tongue, “less than optimal. Was it a problem?”

Rainbow shook her head, “Nah, not as much as my other question.”

Immediately concerned, Twilight asked, “Well, out with it then.”

Trying to form a cohesive sentence, Rainbow replied, “So like… how hot is bad? I mean, something happened and it got kinda…”

Twilight followed Rainbow’s gesture as she pointed to the slightly curled hairs of her coat, “Oh geez, the amulet did this? What did you do to it?”

Rainbow chuckled awkwardly and tried to deflect from telling the full story, “Well… it was an accident with somepony using magic.”

“To burn hair, it must have gotten up to… two hundred thirty degrees,” Twilight noted, her mind falling into trivia and math, “For it to have gotten that hot… oh wow, you’re lucky it didn’t fail on you. That’s well past what I’d have trusted it to absorb.”

Letting out a nervous chuckle at her luck, Rainbow mumbled, “Well… I suppose it was worth it, then.”

“Worth what?” Twilight asked innocently.

Dash blanched, maintaining a poor attempt at a straight face, “Nothing.”

“Rainbow,” Twilight’s eyes narrowed, “what happened?”

“Nothing too important,” Dash lied back.

“Rainbow.”

Dash tried to shrug it off, “It all worked out in the end.”

“What did you do, Rainbow?” Twilight’s tone came out in motherly disapproval.

“It’s fine,” she retorted.

Twilight just held her stare, years of scolding Spike in full evidence, “Rai- Photo. What did you do?”

Rainbow let out a deep sigh that noticeably shifted accent as it went on, culminating in Photo mumbling out, “Rarity grabbed ze amulet and I slapped her.”

Twilight blinked in surprise, but her cold condemnation didn’t waver, “Really, though? Like, do you seriously have something against her? First the whole Fluttershy fiasco and now th-”

“It’s not like I did it on purpose,” Photo blurted out, “I panicked.”

“You need to make it up to her,” Twilight plainly stated.

Photo exhaled deeply, “Ja, I know.”

The whistle of a tea kettle echoed from the kitchen, and Twilight offered one more point before stepping off, “I didn’t mean to get like that, but… come on. You can’t just… do things like that.”

“It… was ze only option,” Photo attempted as excuse, “I’m not happy with it, but…”

Twilight just shook her head and left to get the tea ready, leaving Photo to her thoughts. Making it up to Rarity would be awkward, but at least she’d have some opportunities coming up. She just hoped that the photo shoot would be able to go well enough despite the… circumstances. Twilight quickly wandered back in with the steeping teapot and sat down beside her, clearly reading the contemplative mood and just letting her be.

Eventually, as the tea flowed and time passed, the conversation shifted back to something more normal. As amazing and shocking as everything had been that night… well life had to move on as usual now. Work, chores, commute, it was still a daily life, just with the shining promise of yet another wonderful night to come.

As the tea ran out, Rainbow grumbled, “I still feel like such an idiot for not setting a date for the… well, the date.”

Twilight chuckled at that, “Well hey, between that and work I’m sure you have plenty on your plate, but you’re welcome to stick around for a bit if you like. I was about to reorganize the non-fiction stacks and I could us-”

“Work!” Rainbow abruptly blurted, springing to her hooves in a panic, “I need to check on… things! Meetings! Gotta dash!”

Before Twilight had a chance to reply, Rainbow was already out the door, leaving behind little but a contrail and a few blue feathers. As boring as the day’s work was about to be, it sure as hell would be better than that.

By the time Photo got back to her penthouse and clicked her door lock shut, the sun was already dipping low in the sky. The act of simply going to check on the progress of readying the magazine for print had become an hours long affair, with editors and journalists all seeking her advice and suggestions on little details of their work. As tiring and time consuming as it was, Photo took some level of comfort in being involved in the minutia of the magazine’s development. It was her name on the line, after all.

Dropping down on the couch and sliding off her goggles, Photo stared at the far wall. Something about collapsing in the air conditioning after a long, warm walk always felt fantastic, but she was still on edge. For easily the dozenth time that day, she nervously held her locket with the soft sole of her hoof, wanting to be certain it was still working okay. She honestly couldn’t tell if it was actually warmer than usual, if she was just imagining it, or if her hoof was just cold, so she let out a sigh and slumped farther against the couch.

Sparing a glance at the pile of mail she’d grabbed from downstairs, she reached out to flip through them quickly. Adverts, bills, and one personal letter written in a familiar, flowing script. Photo glanced around the room for something to open Rarity’s letter with, eventually locating a letter opener and slipping it between the layers of the envelope. It was at that moment that she froze, a wave of tension going through her before she managed to remind herself that Rarity had already clearly forgiven her for the events of two nights prior. Still, she hesitated.

The sound of the paper being sliced open was reminiscent of pulling a bandage all at once, and Photo slid out the page within. Sure enough, it was nothing to be afraid of, just a confirmation of dates she would be free to meet and plan. Nodding to herself, Photo stood to go find her scheduler and see what worked for her. With the last minute crunch to get the month’s magazine out, her upcoming schedule was pretty limited, but seemed almost entirely free right after. By the looks of it, the only day good for the both of them was the day the magazine finally released. With a disappointed grumble at not having a day to relax, she set quickly into drafting up a reply.

Quill out, paper on desk, Photo just stared blankly. It should be a simple letter. Just tell her when you’ll be free. No need to bring up anything unnecessary. Just short, to the point, and matter of fact. Photo looked over the letter from Rarity once more. With all of the flowery prose stripped away, it was a simple statement of schedule and a desire to work together. She just had to do the same. Just write a normal letter.

Photo shook her head, trying to clear the guilt lingering in the back of her mind and just be her normal self. She buzzed her lips in frustration, realizing quite how much Twilight’s reprimands had shaken her. Setting aside her stray thoughts, she just wrote the barest response and sealed it up.

She really needed to settle down, to let the stress melt off of her. Something about spending an entire day of doing nothing productive had left her more stressed than she’d started. She needed to do something, anything, to start working towards her goals and start feeling like anything was being achieved. She had ponies counting on her the world over to stay functional and not let herself fall into a cycle of distraction and guilt. Photo decided she needed some outdoor air, stepping out onto her patio and gently shutting the door behind her to keep the cool inside. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the setting sun, counting another day near done. At least she’d managed to get her work duties done, even if she’d seen no progress in the rest of her life. With a chuckle, she sat down on one of the patio cushions and stared skyward, watching the clouds and birds drift by. She just needed to get over the shock of a sudden relationship and get back in her groove.

All she had to do was figure out how to balance two social lives and two jobs. How hard could it be?

Photo groggily opened her eyes, apparently having fallen asleep on her patio. She knew something had woke her up, but couldn’t honestly remember what it was. Standing awkwardly from her nest on the patio cushion, she looked around blearily. It must have been rather late, given that the only light was a nearly full moon overhead and the dull glow of light pollution from the city below. She grumbled and dusted off her dress, trying to flatten the creases that had formed from laying so awkwardly for so long.

Something felt off. Photo slowly looked around the garden, the moon lighting the area in a platinum glow. A gentle breeze shook the plants around her, but nothing else moved. Far below, the sounds of late night revelers wandering between the businesses and pubs of Canterlot made up the remainder of the sound in the air. Yet despite everything obvious to her senses being normal, something still felt off.

Something woke her up. A sound? She looked back into her apartment suddenly. Unsurprisingly, there was nothing to be seen, no lights on, no activity. Stretching, she stepped through the open door and into the cool of her home, closing it reflexively behind her. Still a little nervous, though she couldn’t tell why, Photo found herself checking her rooms for anything strange. Once again, that paranoia of hers was screaming that something had gone horribly wrong, but she couldn’t tell what, and she couldn’t hear anything over the air conditioning whirring away.

She looked up at one of the vents, a little confused that it was making so much noise. Usually, it had no problem keeping the penthouse at temperature, since she was so good about keeping the doors cl-

Photo froze in place. Slowly, she turned to face the patio door, the door she had just came through, the door that she had now closed twice despite only opening once. The adrenaline hit her harder than she had felt in a long time. In a blur, she was gone, out the unlocked front door and barreling down the stairs away from her apartment.

Security was called, the rooms and closets searched, and the space was checked to see if anything was missing. Despite the two guards beside her, Photo was shaken. She didn’t feel safe in her own home anymore. They didn’t find anypony still there, but what they found missing left Photo shaken.

Somepony had taken her old disguise.

Chapter 14: A Reassuring Gesture

The all night doughnut shop is a curious Canterlot invention. At roughly four in the morning, they tend to be populated by two main types of pony, groups staggering in after a night of drinks and partying, and freshly awoken workers getting ready for a shift that starts before sunrise. That night at the shop in question was no different save for one occupant. In the corner, staring blankly at her cup of coffee, sat a rainbow maned pegasus, shaken and sleep deprived.

The security guards had told Photo to find a friend to stay with for the night, but she honestly couldn’t think of anypony off the top of her head that didn't require flying to Ponyville. Instead, she wandered to somewhere she knew she could sit all night and think. With what was at stake here, she had to be careful. She wanted to go to the city guard, to report things, but… should she? She honestly had no proof that her home had been broken into other than the missing wig and tail, and that’s not exactly something she could just go and report stolen.

“Yes, officer,” she mumbled under her breath, “somepony stole my secret disguise.”

The apparently drunk mare sitting two seats down from her turned to face the noise, staring with bleary eyes. Rainbow just shook her head and nursed her coffee, unaware. She just sat there, lost in thought, her mind locked on why somepony would want to steal her disguise. They hadn’t taken anything else, no planners, no rough drafts of her work, no photo negatives, so it was clearly not some attempt to go after her business that had stumbled on a big scoop. The only sense she could make of it was that somepony either wanted to out her or to have something to hold over her head. So who, then, would be after her reputation?

“You okay?” the mare a few seats down mumbled.

Rainbow snapped back to reality, turning to look at the unfamiliar unicorn, “Um… yeah, why?”

Sliding over to sit on the seat next to rainbow, the dark purple mare slurred, “‘s just you look like yer’in trouble.”

Rainbow winced at being so easy to read that this drunk had managed it, “I mean, I’ll figure it out.”

The mare looked her over slowly and swayingly, “Well, if you say so. Jus’... tryina help.”

Chuckling to herself, Rainbow asked, “Actually, what would you do if you had a big secret and somepony might be about to find out?”

“If?” the mare chuckled before thinking up a reply, “Usually I just distract ‘em with something sudden. Like kissin’ ‘em outta nowhere.”

Rainbow laughed loud enough that it drew attention, something in this ridiculous conversation snapping her out of her mental rut, “Wow, you’re drunk, go to bed.”

Snickering like an idiot, the mare replied, “Yeaaahhhhh, I probably should.”

It was at about that moment that her boyfriend wandered over, apologised for the bother, and took her back to their table. The sudden burst of levity did a great job to shatter the block of stress Rainbow was laboring under, and she took another sip of her coffee while chuckling. Honestly, a sudden distraction wasn’t a bad idea overall, but she couldn’t really do anything with it until she figured out who had broken in and why, so other than having a new tool in her belt, she was back to square one.

It had to be the tabloids, right? It was just the type of scoop they’d been looking for, something they could use as evidence to back up their claims. Still, blatant thievery felt out of character, even for those scumbags, and if they did come forward with that evidence, they’d be opening themselves up to litigation. All they cared about was money, and the legal fees wouldn’t be cheap. Also, if she never reported the theft, they’d have no way to tie the wig to her. It wasn’t quite adding up.

Her mind once again drifted to Fluttershy and the pigeon. Could it have been her? It seemed… implausible. Sure Shy could have flown up there and snuck past her, but it just didn’t make sense that she’d have been in Canterlot. Even if it was her, Dash couldn’t begin to guess at a reason for it. She knew she was still missing something, and the longer she sat there trying to figure out what it might be, the more she came to realize the only way to find out would be to confront Fluttershy. The image of Fluttershy standing in the doorway, shocked and panicked, jumped back into her mind. She clearly didn’t want anything to do with Photo. Yet… she had to do something. She just had to do it casually, probably on the day she was in town to talk with Rarity, and maybe it would all work out.

There was a little flash of hope in Rainbow’s eyes. Perhaps Fluttershy’s shock was just that. Shock. Maybe she’d only panicked because she hadn’t expected to see Photo and wasn’t prepared for it. Perhaps if she called ahead, send a letter that she’d be in Ponyville and wanted to talk. At least that way, she could let Fluttershy make up her mind on her own. Easier than guessing.

Her mind skipped back to her still unsent letter to Rarity, still likely sitting on her desk at the penthouse. A shiver went through her system as she realized that whoever broke in could have read it and known where she was going to be, let alone if they had looked at her planner. Something about having her apartment broken into just felt so… violating. Her home didn’t feel like her own anymore. As much as she wanted to just go curl up in her bed, she couldn’t convince herself to head back there to do more than just pass through.

Rainbow yawned loudly. Despite her nap and all of the caffeine in her system, she was still exhausted from not having a proper night’s rest. She really didn’t feel like flying to Ponyville in this state, but at the same time she wanted to get to a bed she could be comfortable in. She… hadn’t honestly made any friends in Canterlot that she felt she could trust with this. No matter who it was, they’d want to know why she was showing up in the middle of the night needing somewhere to sleep. She half entertained the thought of just bumming it at the castle as Rainbow, since she could probably get away with it, but that would open up all sort of other questions.

No, she was determined to stay awake. She just had to plan her morning. Head back home, grab the letter to send to Rarity and anything else she’d need, and head off to her office to write up a letter for Fluttershy as well. Nopony would question Photo showing up to the office early on the day before the month’s edition came out, and she was going to more or less be doing business work anyway. She could check on progress, and then… She still needed to talk to Spitfire.

She took a deep breath and thought hard, trying to scrape up drunken memories through the haze of sleep deprivation. A part of her remembered Spitfire saying something about being out of her apartment for Wonderbolts training in the upcoming days, but she couldn’t remember exactly when or even be sure she was remembering the night's conversations properly. She had more important things to remember from that night, after all. Shaking her head in attempt to clear it, Rainbow sipped the last of her now cool coffee. Even if she wasn’t there, it was worth the attempt to contact her. After the letters and a quick progress check, perhaps. She’d probably be wanting a mid-morning break after all of the nonsense that was destined to be happening at the office.

Rainbow smiled and paid for her drink, standing up and stretching with an athlete’s grunt. After all that thought, she’d wound up feeling far better about things, despite it all. She had a plan, even if it was just for the morning, and that felt… normal. Normal was nice. She needed some more normal right now.

Photo Finish couldn’t focus. She’d been trying for hours to stay on task, to help her staff put the last few coats of polish on their work and get the magazine ready for print, but she was just so worn out. The combined stress of work and the night before were more than she could really handle on such little sleep. She needed a break. Holding in her yawn until she was out of the room, she stepped over toward her desk. Resting atop it were the two letters, all sealed in their envelopes and ready to be posted. A walk sounded nice.

She quickly swiped the two envelopes from her desk and headed outside, giving a short explanation of needing a walk to think. As she stepped out into the midmorning sun, she felt the warmth of the day start to wash over her and finally allowed herself to relax for a moment. She decided to take the slightly longer walk and go all the way to the post office, make sure the letters got in the mail as soon as possible. A certain lightness back in her step, Photo took her time and walked down the street.

The post office was a simple affair, complete with somepony recognizing her and chattering excitedly about it with a friend, and her letters were off to hopefully get to Ponyville that night. She stepped back out onto the street with that pleasant feeling of accomplishing a simple task, and did her best to let that mood carry her. That was one more step of the day’s plan done. She turned and looked at a familiar tower in the distance, hesitating. She’d feel a bit of a fool for walking that far to find Spitfire not home, but… Reminding herself that it was the next step in the day’s plan, Photo started making her way there.

It was a longer walk than she’d have preferred, and she drew far more attention than she’d have liked, but in the end Photo was past the front desk and heading up the peculiar, exterior stairs to Spitfire’s penthouse. It was a strange architectural feature, to be sure, but she couldn't deny the effect it gave. As she reached the door, memory of three nights prior flashed into her mind. It was such a minor act, but she could still feel that little kiss on her forehead when she thought about it. Photo wiped her face to try and force her blush back into hiding. Standing there, full of nervous energy, she raised her hoof and knocked faux-confidently. Only silence replied. Photo stood there awkwardly, not really sure what to do next. She honestly wasn’t too surprised that Spitfire wasn’t home, but at the same time she didn’t plan for the circumstance.

Photo let out the breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. She’d have to catch up with Spitfire some other time. Disappointed, she turned on her hoof and started to head back downstairs, exhausted as the energy of her excitement from just moments before wore off. As she reached the stairs landing balcony and turned to go back inside, she sighed. As antsy as she had been about all this, she had really been looking forward to seeing Spitfire again. Looking back out over the city, she stepped up to the railing of the stairs and leaned her forehooves over the edge, just taking in the fresh air and the sights. Just a moment to relax and settle down before getting back to the madness that was the office today.

“...Photo?” came a familiar voice from behind her.

Nearly jumping out of her skin, Photo whirled around to face the pony behind her, “S-Spitfire. J-ja, hello.”

Looking an even mix of confused and exhausted, Spitfire tilted her head with a slight grin, “Hey, what’s up? A little early, don’t you think?”

Something about that smile melted Photo’s stress away, and she replied with her own, “Vell, I needed to talk to jou. Jou know, ve never picked a date.”

Spitfire pulled back in confusion for a moment before sputtering out a surprised, “W- Oh shit, really?”

Photo chuckled and nodded along with her reply, “Zat… is how I felt vhen I noticed.”

Spitfire’s hoof impacted her forehead with a resounding thump, followed by some profanities under her breath, before she looked back up at Photo, “Well… come on upstairs, we can talk it over.”

Beaming, Photo gestured ahead, “Of course. After jou.”

Shaking her head in self annoyance, Spitfire led Photo up the stairs and into her penthouse. Even days later, there were still the signs here and there that the party had happened, things slightly out of place, empty glasses resting on odd surfaces, and the like. Photo chuckled to herself as she walked in, blurry memories of that night making the space feel so much more homey.

“So,” Spitfire started, idly tidying up the things she noticed out of place, “I suppose the obvious question is when are you free?”

Photo snapped back to attention, her upcoming schedule still fresh in her mind, “Vell. Tomorrow I haff a planning meeting vith Rarity, and vill probably stay ze night in Ponyville. After zhat…”

Spitfire took Photo’s noncommittal hoof gesture to mean she had no plans, “So what, Friday sound good? I mean, that works for me, at least. Meet here around sunset?”

“Vunderbar,” Photo replied with a wide smile, “I’ll be zhere. Here.”

Spitfire adjusted her mane slightly as she looked around, “I mean, since you’re here… you wanna hang around for a bit?”

Knowing full well that she was probably needed for something at the office already, Photo smirked and replied, “Sure. Vhy not.”

With a short nod toward her couch, Spitfire headed over to her living room. As Photo looked at the couch, her mind snapped back to how perfectly it had served her as a bed the previous week, which instantly brought her exhaustion to the forefront of her thoughts. She looked away from Spitfire, hiding behind her mane, and let out a huge, silent yawn, before trotting to catch up.

With a loud flop, Spitfire landed on the couch, “So. You want to uh… just chat?”

Groggily, Photo nodded back, “Sounds good. Ve haven’t had a good chance to chat while sober, haff ve?”

Spitfire chuckled and rubbed the back of her head, “Yeah, well… we’ll probably get more of those coming up.”

Photo raised her eyebrows enough that they peeked past her goggles, a little surprised at Spitfire’s boldness. Sure, things were going well, but it was a bit of an assumption on her part that they’d keep going.

Apparently Spitfire caught the expression, because she just grinned back playfully, “I mean, we’ve still got to work out the details of your shoot with us, right? What did you think I meant?”

Chuckling to herself about falling into that setup, Photo walked over and gently sat down on the opposite end of the couch from Spitfire, not wanting to dignify the jab with an answer. Instead, she just slid her goggles off and set them on the table in front of her, rubbing her eyes gently as they got used to the world’s distinct lack of pink.

They both sat there for a moment, holding that awkward silence of two ponies that really want to talk, but are struggling for ideas of what to talk about. Spitfire was clearly judging the merits of different subjects in her head, and Photo couldn’t help but do the same.

In the end, Photo settled on a standard fallback, “So. How is work? Didn’t jou say jou had training this week?”

“I mean, no more than usual,” Spitfire replied, clearly happy to have the ice broken for her, “We don’t have any big shows coming up right now, and we’re kinda at the opposite end of the season for taking new recruits. It’s mostly been paperwork and just personal training for me recently. What about you? Busy couple days, right?”

Photo laughed at the understatement before slowly realizing, “Vait, how did jou know?”

“Tomorrow’s the second Wednesday of the month,” Spitfire replied plainly.

A sly grin crept across Photo’s face, “And… how exactly do jou know my publishing schedule?”

At first, Spitfire looked like she wanted to make an excuse, to rebut, but she quickly realized she honestly didn’t need to, instead settling for a grin, “I mean, does it really surprise you that I’m a subscriber? I mean, after all you saw on Saturday?”

Photo chuckled, “No, I suppose not. And ja, it’s been a lot of work, but everything seemed on schedule zis morning, so… It should be fine.”

“This morning?” Spitfire craned her neck to double check the time, “You’ve already been to work?”

Photo held her hoof over her mouth as she let out a silent yawn, “Ja, it’s… a long story.”

The gentle touch of a hoof to her chin made Photo freeze up in surprise, and she quickly found Spitfire guiding her head to look her in the eyes. It took a little effort to resist blushing at the sudden action, but where she expected to see a look of affection in Spitfire’s eyes, she just found the concern of a professional flier making sure somepony is safe to take off.

“You alright?” Spitfire asked plainly, “You… look exhausted. Not sleep well?”

Photo let out a small gasp as the facts of the night before hit her, and then sighed, reaching up to take the hoof from her chin and look away, “I… didn’t really sleep last night. I had a nap, but-”

“Woah, hold up,” Spitfire cut her off with a worried stare, “did something happen? You… don’t look so good.”

For a short moment, Photo wanted to pretend it was nothing, just work induced stress or insomnia, but… she couldn’t just lie like that, not with how concerned Spitfire seemed. She let out a shaky sigh and admitted, “I… vas up all night. I… just didn’t feel comfortable sleeping at home.”

“What happened?” Spitfire questioned, concern and shocked confusion in her voice.

Photo let out a deep breath before summoning the words she needed, “I vas… taking a nap after work, and… somepony broke into my apartment vhile I vas asleep.”

Spitfire cautiously reached out to take Photo’s hoof, “Are you… okay? I mean… did they do an-”

“They just stole something,” Photo cut her off, dismissing the gravity of the act with her tone, “I’m fine. It’s just… It’ll be good to stay in Ponyville for a vhile to calm down.”

“Look, I…” Spitfire struggled for words in a foreign conversation, “If there’s any way I can help out, I’m here. I don’t know really what I could do, but… I’d try.”

Photo chuckled, adjusting her hoof against Spitfire’s idly and cracking a smile, “Thanks. I… do appreciate zhat. Just ze offer makes me feel a bit better. I just… don’t know what to do now.”

Spitfire looked around, as if ideas would come to her from her surroundings, before suggesting, “Well… I’d say find a friend to stay with or have over for a while. Or, I mean, if you’re gonna be gone, maybe hire somepony to watch the place while you’re out, just in case they come back or something.”

“Zhat-” Photo started to refute, but stopped to think it over, “Zhat is probably a good idea.”

Feeling a hint of pride in having come up with the thought, Spitfire grinned confidently, “Hey, even I can have a good idea every so often.”

Photo snickered, taken by the humor for a moment, before saying, “Thank you. I’ve… been out of it all morning. It’s good to haff somepony who can think straight to help me out.”

“No problem,” Spitfire smiled back, “What good would I be if I wasn’t there for you right now, eh?”

Photo joined the smile, looking into Spitfire’s eyes contentedly. Just as she was about to reply, her voice was stifled by a long yawn, her hoof reaching up to cover her mouth. It took her a moment to recover from the act, blinking back to awareness to find Spitfire looking over her shoulder.

“You know, you could crash here for a few hours if you want,” Spitfire offered, “I mean, I’m sure your schedule is crazy, but… You and I both know you’ll be better off with a bit of rest in you.”

Photo followed Spitfire’s eyeline toward her bedroom, a blush lighting up her cheeks, “W- I mean, I c-”

Spitfire flailed to cut her off, “Nothing like that, no, no. Hell, you could lock the door if it makes you feel better. I just… I don’t know, you need the rest. I thought I’d offer.”

As Spitfire looked down and rubbed the back of her head, Photo slowly recovered from the sudden fluster, “I… couldn’t. I haff to get back to vork. They need me zhere.”

“You’re no good to anyone if you’re asleep on your desk,” Spitfire retorted, “Seriously, grab a nap. Just set the alarm for whenever you feel like you need to get back to work.”

Photo wanted to argue again, to say the gesture was welcome but unneeded, but sleep was calling to her. As much as she wanted to deny it, Spitfire was right, she was about to collapse from exhaustion at any moment. As… awkward as it was to be using Spitfire’s bed…

“Thank you,” Photo whispered, looking away in embarrassment at her own perceived weakness.

“No problem,” Spitfire reassured, squeezing her hoof before letting it go, “Really. Just take care of yourself.”

Photo stood awkwardly, adjusting her mane, and looked over toward the room. This whole situation was a little nerve wracking, but she struggled to remind herself that it was just an innocent offer of help. Sure, she was winding up in Spitfire’s bed, but it was nothing more than that. She turned to Spitfire, the hesitation clearly visible in her stare, only to find Spitfire smiling reassuringly. Photo leaned forward to hug Spitfire lightly before heading off silently to the bedroom.

As she shut the door behind her, the awkwardness of the situation shifted in tone. Sure, she was mostly to terms with the idea that this was just a friendly offer of assistance, but now she was once again in Spitfire’s most private space alone, and about to sleep under a nearly unfamiliar roof. Still, as she looked at the bed, laying there unmade, her mind blurred with the prospect of imminent sleep. Slowly sliding off her dress and putting it on the same hangar she had used prior, everything felt so odd. Something about already having a preferred hangar in the closet just struck her funny. She’d only been here once before, and it was only for a short time, yet she already had a routine to fall into. Everything just felt so sudden.

She climbed up onto the bed, staring at the sheets and the obvious spot within them that Spitfire had slept. The strange ghost of her presence was still there, leaving Photo with a strange excitement at sharing the space. She chuckled at herself, realizing how ridiculous the thought was, but still she felt content to be trusted like this. Laying herself beside Spitfire’s imprint on the bed, she closed her eyes and let herself become something she hadn’t been all day. Comfortable.

Chapter 15: A Familiar Stress

The entire world was noise. The frustratingly familiar sound of a small hammer rattling between two bells dragged Photo back to consciousness, her hoof darting out from under the sheets to punch the space she usually kept her alarm clock. As her hoof whiffed through open air, she grumbled in confusion and sat a bit upright, looking around. It took her a moment to recognize where she was in her sleep-induced haze, and she had already reached half way over to the clock to shut it off when everything pieced together.

Photo lifted the clock and stared at the time, gears in her brain finally getting up to speed, as she realized that yes, it was exactly the time she’d set the alarm for. Chuckling to herself, she set the clock back down and stretched loudly. That was… a well needed nap. With a light yawn, she hopped out of bed and ran her hoof through her mane. Messy as always.

Photo’s smile vaporized in an instant, brushing her mane over her shoulder so she could see it. Green, blue, and purple. Her hoof flew to her chest, only to find the distinct absence of anything metallic. In a flash, she was tossing sheets off the bed in a panic as she tried to find her locket.

A knock at the door caused her to freeze solid, followed by Spitfire’s muffled voice from the other side of the door, “Hey, the alarm actually wake you up, or…”

“Ja!” Photo nearly shouted, “I am avake, it is no problem.”

“Hey, you want some coffee or something?” Spitfire replied as the door jostled in its frame.

It took no time for Photo to remember the last time she’d been in this room, and Spitfire walking in on her without warning. She bolted for the door, calling out, “D-don’t come in.”

The door shook as Spitfire took her weight off of it, “W- No, I wasn’t-” Spitfire interrupted herself with the thump of smacking her forehead to the door, “Look, I’m sorry. It was stupid of me to have done that, but I learned my lesson, okay? I...”

As Spitfire’s words trailed off, Photo started to feel guilty, “No, it’s fine. I… just… I’m still half asleep. I didn’t mean to accuse you like that.”

“Yeah, alright,” Spitfire replied, “I know you’ve had a tough day, it’s fine. Just, um… actually, I need something in there, so… can I come in?”

“N-” Photo stopped, realizing how awkward it would be to deny her access to her own room after all that. Still, she looked like Rainbow right now. Luckily, her eyes settled on her excuse, “Give me a second, I’m going to step into ze bathroom to clean up.”

Taking a deep breath, Photo tried to walk calmly over to the bathroom door, stepping in and closing it behind her, stopping and staring at Rainbow’s reflection in the mirror. This… was working so far. Still, where the fuck had her necklace gone? A shiver went through her, the thought of another pony watching her in her sleep still lingering in her mind. It… couldn’t be. Spitfire would have noticed if somepony had broke into her house.

Spitfire had apparently decided that she’d waited long enough, because she opened the door to the bedroom slowly and eventually stepped in, “Woah-ho. What’d you do to my sheets?”

Photo was confused for a moment before remembering the state she’d left the bed in, “Ach, I vas just taking them off so I could make ze bed.”

“You didn’t need to make my bed,” Spitfire replied, a slight tone of embarrassment hiding behind a teasing chuckle, “I mean, I clearly don’t.”

Photo chuckled and looked back at her reflection, finding it incredibly disorienting to have her rainbow mane. She closed her eyes and ran some water, splashing her face. Hold character, damn it. You just have to stay in here until Spitfire is done, then figure out what happened with-

“Oh, shit,” Spitfire interjected dispassionately.

Photo’s eyes went wide, and she cracked the door to peer out, “V-vhat?”

There Spitfire stood, tossing some of her sheets back onto the bed, with Photo’s necklace in her hoof, “I just found your locket on the floor.”

Photo stared nervously out the crack in the door, trying to keep her tone steady, “I vas vondering vhere zat vent.”

Spitfire fiddled with it curiously, looking over the markings on the outside, “Looks like the chain broke. You know, this is a really nice looking locket. It… suits you.”

Photo shoved her hoof out the crack in the door, holding it out with her sole up, “Here.”

After a small grunt of confusion from Spitfire, Photo felt the cold metal dropped onto her hoof. She quickly withdrew her leg and closed the door gently, looking the locket over nervously. Well… she had it at least. She swore to herself, looking at the bent and snapped chain, likely broken by something so simple as rolling over in her sleep.

“You are alright in there, yeah?” Spitfire called over from amidst the sound of sheets being shaken out and tossed back on the bed.

“Vhat?” Photo snapped out of her thoughts, “J-ja, just…”

She lifted the locket to her chest and just held it there. With a gentle and familiar poof, the illusion wrapped around her, much to her relief. She adjusted her mane, slowly relaxing as she realized that the broken chain hadn’t destroyed the magic, and set the locket back on the sink as her disguise dissipated with a foop.

“Just sorting my mane out,” Photo replied with a chuckle, “I’d hate for jou to see how it is right now.”

Spitfire razzed her lips, “Please, like you could look bad. Well hey, don’t take too long. Oh, you never gave me an answer on the coffee, but… yeah, I’ll just go make some.”

Photo couldn’t help but smile, “Danke.”

As she listened to the retreating hoofsteps and the sound of the door being closed, Photo allowed herself to let down her guard for just a moment. Staring down at the broken chain of her locket, she sighed long and deep. She put it around her neck and tried closing the clasp around a random link in the chain, but it wouldn’t fit through the fine little hole of it. After a short struggle trying to link the two bent pieces back together, she realized that there was probably another link that had snapped entirely and fallen off. She thought for a moment that she’d just tuck it into her dress and let the dress hold it on, but quickly realized that would get nowhere since it slid around under her collar anyway. Photo shook her head. This was such a stupid problem to be having.

The panicky half of her brain kicked in, suddenly wondering if she had a good way to sneak out of the building if she couldn’t wear the disguise. Her mind was a blur of terrible ideas involving distractions and jumping off the balcony. She decided to go with another splash of water to her face to snap her out of it. The locket still worked, and she could use it… somehow.

Glancing down at the chain, she grudgingly decided to try to tie the broken ends together. She was no expert in knots, and knots in chain just seemed like a tragedy waiting to happen, but… what else was there? After a half second of contemplating an overcomplicated solution using dental floss, she just shook her head and tried to tie the tiny chain together.

It took some effort and guesswork, but she managed to get the chain together in such a way that it seemed like it would probably hold. Dropping the chain from her mouth, she ran it under the sink for a moment to clean it off before clasping the necklace on as normal and looking in the mirror. One gentle poof later and there she stood, good as new save for the obvious lingering signs of stress and sleep deprivation. She chuckled and shook her head, stealing Spitfire’s brush for a moment to straighten her flat white mane before heading out.

Dress donned and locket double checked for security, she stepped out into the delightfully coffee scented air of Spitfire’s apartment. As she rounded the corner into the kitchen, Spitfire quickly reached over to relight the stove and get the water up to heat again, tossing out the filter and grounds she’d used for her own cup and getting another ready for Photo’s.

There was a brief, awkward silence as neither knew what to say, but Photo was the one to break it, “Thank you. I… feel much better now. Ze nap.”

Spitfire calmed as the tone of the conversation landed somewhere nice, offering her trademark grin, “Yeah, like I said, no problem. If you ever need to crash here like that, I don’t mind sleeping on the couch.”

“No, I should have things vorked out on my end soon enough,” Photo mumbled in reply, staring into space, “and I spend a lot of time out of town.”

“Alright, well,” Spitfire stopped to focus on pouring the hot water through the grounds and into the mug waiting below, “Just an open offer is all.”

Photo watched intently before snatching the now full glass of coffee out from under the pourover, “Of course, thank you.”

The first sip of coffee was, of course, far too hot, but it still hit her with the first wave of placebo effect. Here she was again, sitting around having coffee with Spitfire. It just seemed so normal now, she wouldn’t have even questioned it except that the last time she’d done it was as Rainbow. Just remember that Photo hadn’t experienced this yet and everything should go smooth.

“I should probably head out,” Spitfire announced as she set down her drink, “Kinda skipping out on work right now.”

Photo turned to her in surprise, “V-vhat? Why would jou-”

“I just, I dunno…” Spitfire shrugged, scratching the back of her head and trying to stifle embarrassment, “I thought you could use somepony there for you when you woke up. After, you know…”

Caught off guard by the caring gesture, Photo found herself at a loss for words and just said the first things that came to mind, “Jou… didn’t have to. I mean...”

“I know I didn’t,” Spitfire smiled back, “But I knew you’d appreciate it.”

Photo’s cheeks grew flush, “Vell… Ja, but… Jou don’t have to skip vork to vorry about me.”

Spitfire laughed, “Yeah, well, the other option was paperwork, sooo…”

“Don’t downplay it,” Photo commanded, “It vas good of you. I… do appreciate it.”

Spitfire lifted her nearly empty cup of coffee and gestured it to Photo, “Any time. But yeah, really, I should get out of here.”

Looking down into her still rather hot mug, Photo tried to down a large gulp, much to her mouth’s disappointment. After some sputtering, she replied, “Almost done.”

Spitfire chuckled at the display, standing and looking around to make sure everything was basically in order, before noticing and picking up an old envelope, open and covered in stamps, “Oh, yeah, I should put this back in my room before I lose it.”

“Vas ist das?” Photo mumbled without thinking, “...that is a lot of stamps.”

Spitfire looked down at the envelope for a second before explaining, “Ah, yeah, letter from my grandma I keep around so I have her address. I mean, it hasn’t changed in my entire life, but I still like to be sure. And yeah, you know how old mares can be, she slapped a ton of thirty year old local stamps and a few one centers to get it here.”

“I take it she lives far,” Photo continued as she sipped her coffee, not really trying to pry but just keeping the conversation going.

“Uh… yeah,” Spitfire replied, dodging the heart of the question.

Photo noticed the hesitation and was left even more curious, but decided not to try her luck, instead just offering, “I know ze feeling. Alvays nice to keep in touch vith distant family.”

Spitfire nodded and drifted off to her room to put the envelope away, leaving Photo to her thoughts and her coffee. Embarrassed by where her grandma lives? Photo just shook her head, deciding there was probably no way to guess a reason without more information, and rushed to finish off the coffee before she had to leave.

In no time at all, Spitfire had returned and the two of them readied to leave. There was not much to it, the only particular sticking point being the two of them wandering around trying to remember that Photo’s goggles had been left on the table by the couch, which left them each amused at their own spotty memories. In the end, the two of them stood on the balcony outside Spitfire’s door, neither really wanting to move.

“You… want me to walk you downstairs, or…” Spitfire offered.

“Jou’re running late for vork,” Photo retorted, nodding off the balcony, “I know ze way out.”

“That wasn’t the question,” Spitfire grinned back.

“Jou’re sweet, but go. I’ve vasted enough of your time today,” Photo replied, leaning forward boldly and planting a kiss on Spitfire’s cheek, much to the mare’s pleasant surprise.

There was a dull, familiar click in the distance. Photo slowly turned to find herself looking at a distant cloud. It seemed perfectly normal save for one thing, the barely visible reflection of the sun off of a lens protruding from its surface.

“Ach verdammt.

Photo sat slumped in her desk chair, spinning idly in place. This was, by far, the most stressful step of the magazine making process for her. She had done all she could and just had to leave it to her staff and the printers. Despite years of making it work, the point at which everything was outside her control still left her with a nervous edge. She just needed to wait.

Stopping her chair mid-spin, Photo found herself staring at the shattered camera she’d set on her shelf. She chuckled, her mind jumping back to a few hours prior. The look on the cameramare’s face was absolute gold when she realized they’d spotted her, and watching a mildly out of shape paparazzi trying to outfly the captain of the Wonderbolts was a comedy show like no other. The mare eventually lost her grip on the camera from about ten stories up, sending it crashing to the ground abandoned as she fled.

Photo wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it, to be honest. There was a bit of a lingering question of legality of having it, but she’d wait to see if anypony tried to claim it. Standing up and walking over to look at it on her shelf, Photo surveyed the wreckage of the camera with a little curiosity. The shutter and film chamber still looked intact, so perhaps she could get the contents out and see if they were still usable. Very gently, in case the film inside was stuck, she tried the rewind dial. Sure enough, it slid rather freely. She set it back down, deciding to deal with the details of it later, but curiosity slowly taking her at what else might be on the roll.

The distraction of the camera slowly faded as the reality of the magazine being on the way to print settled in again. It was just so nerve wracking, having so many ponies out there, and so many she cared about, waiting to see her work once more. She knew full well that it would be up to her standards of quality, but… what if that wasn’t enough? The thought hit her like a ton of bricks, and she wasn’t entirely sure where it came from. She’d just been so distracted recently, and she hoped it wouldn't bleed through into her work. Her life had been so filled with drama and planning and- She cut off her own thoughts with a dumb grin, the realization that she’d be out on a date with Spitfire in a few days overwhelming her concerns. Just relax. Your work is done. The editors would handle the minutiae and yet another edition would be out as normal. She just needed to keep moving forward like always.

Photo chuckled to herself and grabbed the shattered camera, wrapping it up in a spare fabric sample she had laying around so that no shards of glass got loose, and set it in her bag. As much as she wanted to be there in case something went wrong, she knew that was ridiculous. Nothing was going to go wrong, and if it did her staff could handle it. She needed to get home and sleep.

She winced. Home was… No, she’d just collect her things and head to Ponyville. She needed to be there the next day anyway. Her cloud bed was far more comfortable, as well. Yes, these were the perfectly legitimate reasons she didn’t feel like staying in the penthouse tonight and she wouldn’t think about it any further. Photo packed up her things in a nervous silence and left the office.

Dash was rather disappointed with how long her flight to Ponyville took, but there was a degree to which she had to accept that a saddle bag full of clothes and notebooks was going to slow her down. Settling on the soft cumulus of her patio, she sighed in relief and exhaustion before turning to look out at the rising moon. Not the best of days, but it had its moments. At least it was over.

Cautiously stepping inside to find everything as she left it, Rainbow went straight to her bedroom. With her bags dropped on the floor, she kicked off the ground and gave a strong flap of her wings before landing face first in her bed with a loud puff. Yawning happily, she nestled in the bed and closed her eyes, just listening to the distant crickets and trying to get to sleep. All she needed to do was let the day end and the magazine come out in the morning.

…

Damn it. She wanted some reassurance that everything was going well with the editing and printing. She sat up in bed, blinking her eyes open, and stared in the direction of Canterlot. It was too far to do anything. She could sit up all night and worry or she could just go to sleep. It was simple, right? Just sleep. Lay down, stop thinking about work, and catch up on rest.

Sighing, she hopped out of bed and walked into her kitchen, opening the cabinet and looking for something to snack on to distract herself. When her eyes caught on a bottle of vodka, she chuckled and decided a drink would probably do her well. A quick splash over ice, a few drops of vanilla, and she was out the door and sitting on her patio, looking out at the dying lights of Ponyville. It was so quiet, so peaceful, just her and the crickets.

Surveying the land, she reflexively checked which of her friends’ lights were still on, but there were no surprises to be found there. Much to her amusement, all of the library’s lights were still on except the bedroom, likely with a sleeping Spike inside. Rainbow sighed as she sipped at her drink. Twilight would always be Twilight.

Her mind jumped back to the camera sitting in her bag. If anypony could help her get the contents out without breaking them, it’d be Twi. She looked back at the very obvious signs that the mare was still awake and decided to stop by and try to keep herself distracted. Besides, her curiosity was slowly getting the better of her in regards to the camera’s contents. She smiled and looked around the town, letting the tranquility of the small town night soak in and settle her mind.

As time passed and her glass went from full, to ice, to empty, Rainbow’s short moment of meditation came to an end and she decided she was still too awake and too distracted to get to bed. Grabbing the wrapped up camera, she noticed her locket resting in the bag atop her clothes. The awkward knot she’d tied in the chain was holding, but since she was going to see Twilight anyway she decided to scoop it up and take it with. She took a sharp dive off the edge of her balcony and was at the door to the library in an instant. Seeing the lights on inside, but the curtains all drawn shut, she decided knocking was probably in order.

After a short pause, Twilight’s voice called from inside, “Sorry, we’re closed.”

Rainbow chuckled and opened the door to peek in, “Yo.”

Twilight jumped in surprise, the shock still apparent in her voice as she spoke, “Oh, hi Rainbow, yeah come on in. How’s it going?”

“G-” Rainbow’s reply shook a bit as she remembered all of the nonsense she’d had to put up with over the past day, “Good. You know. Just another day.”

Tilting her head, Twilight led Rainbow inside, “Are you… sure? You seem a little more shaky than last time you were here.”

“I- well…” Rainbow set the camera on the table and unwrapped it, “Had a runin with a paparazzo earlier. I was hoping to get the film out without destroying it.”

Twilight looked at her suspiciously, “...Why?”

Rainbow raised a hoof to gesticulate, but no decent explanation reached her lips, “I just… wanted to see what they’d shot.”

Twilight scrunched up her muzzle, “That’s… probably not exactly legal.”

“Hey,” Dash retorted, “She dropped it and ran.”

“How do you even have this?” Twilight pressed.

Rainbow sighed, “Look, how’s this, do you think you could fix the camera? I have a feeling they’re going to try to get in contact with me and being able to return it in one piece could score me some points. What I do once it’s fixed is not your problem, right?”

Twilight stared disapprovingly, but thought it over for a moment, “I’m not sure if I could really get the lenses back to how they were, but fixing the body should be easy enough.”

“Great,” Rainbow nodded.

Twilight’s expression hardened, “First you’ve got to tell me why you’re so insistent on this. This is more than just curiosity.”

Dash froze, not wanting to admit it to herself, let alone Twilight, but the words slipped out of her lips in a whisper, “My… penthouse got broken into. I want to see if it was her.”

“What?” Twilight yelped in shock, “That… are you serious? Rainbow, are you okay?”

“I’m f-” the word caught in her throat again, so instead she sighed, “I’ve been better. I just…”

“I think fixing her camera is the least you could do if it’s your fault it’s broken,” Twilight stated very plainly, like she was pretending she had no idea what was going on, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

Rainbow smiled gratefully, “Thanks, Twi. I know I ask you for help like this all the time, I really feel bad about you never letting me pay you fo-”

“Stop it,” Twilight interrupted, “You don’t owe me anything for this. Really. And hey, if you want to stick around, the guest bed is always open.”

Appreciative of the offer, Rainbow nodded, “Some other time, maybe. I’ve got all my things at home and need to wake up early.”

“Oh, that’s a shame,” Twilight sighed, “I was hoping you’d stick around to chat.”

“I could for a bit,” Rainbow offered back, “I took a nap in the middle of the day and I’m not really tired yet.”

Twilight smiled, “I’ll make something without caffeine.”

Over the course of the next hour or so, Rainbow relaxed in the wonderful feeling of normalcy that came with sitting in the library and sipping tea. Twilight did a wonderful job just keeping the conversation light and helping remind her that life moves on past things like this. The night dragged on, between chat and Twilight insisting on doing repairs and tests of the locket, and in the end Rainbow was fully and properly exhausted. In the end, she decided the guest room sounded wonderfully inviting and headed off to collapse.

As she laid in bed, the day’s concerns overshadowed by the fun she’d been having, she begrudgingly accepted that everypony’s advice after the break-in was correct. She should have known that all she needed to help her calm down was a friend.

Chapter 1: A Day in the Life

“Enough!”

Photo Finish stomped the ground, causing her camera to jump into the air and close itself. One of her assistants quickly caught it and zipped away. The pony who had been modeling stood in confusion and looked around the studio. It was a very modern and chic looking room, with simplistic furniture in striking primary colors. She herself stood on a large blue platform, the countless lights aimed at her making it hard to tell what exactly was going on.

“Did... did I do something wrong?” the model stammered.

In a flash, Photo Finish was standing beside her, clearly inspecting the model through her thick, rose tinted lenses. The pink earth pony was classically attractive, and her blue mane and eyes complemented her coat well, but Photo Finish was looking for more than that. The model struggled to not make eye contact, scratching at the platform under her with her hoof. Photo Finish pulled back, returning to her usual poised stature before turning to head out the door.

As she was about to exit the room, Photo spoke without turning her head. “Vun of my assistants vill be shpeaking to you about a contract, Miss Aloe.”

The smile that came across the model’s face was nearly audible, and Photo Finish allowed herself to mirror it slightly. These were the moments she loved the most in her work. That wondrous feeling as you make another pony’s dreams come true. It made the long photo shoots worthwhile. Deciding that her work was done for the day, she whipped her tail with an audible crack and exited the room.

Photo Finish shut the door to her Canterlot penthouse gently and slid the many locks into place. No ponies around to watch her, she finally dropped her serious and critical demeanor with a sigh. This place was her sanctuary, the only place she had where she could relax and be herself. The apartment was as modern and classy as everything else in Photo’s life. She reflexively glanced out the huge, floor to ceiling windows, watching as the towers of Canterlot’s upscale district melted into the mountains as the sun set. One of the walls had a large sliding door that led out to her private garden, a serene little plot of flowers and plants she had designed personally. One of her favorite things to do in her free time was relax on one of the countless cushions in her garden reading, planning shoots, or just otherwise slowing down from her hectic life.

Sadly, the summer evening was still a bit too hot to be lazing around outside when the indoors were nice and conditioned. Tired and needing to collapse, Photo flopped down on one of her couches, happy to finally be off her hooves. The photo shoot had gone late, and she wanted to change out of her usual clothes, but no harm in laying down a bit first.

Glancing over at the clock, she saw it was nearly eight, and she had promised to meet a friend for tea and a chat around nine. That meant she could afford to lay around for maybe another fifteen minutes. But there was one thing she could do without much effort. She reached for her face and pulled her goggles off, setting them down on her coffee table. The whole world was so... teal. The effect was so familiar, but still managed to seem surreal every day. Photo laid back, letting her rose colored eyes adjust to seeing an unfiltered version of the world. She stretched, trying to let some of the tenseness out of her muscles, particularly her shoulders.

After a few more minutes of laying in a dazed half stupor, Photo Finish decided that getting out of her dress was worth the effort of standing back up and walking the ten feet it’d take to reach her room. She did so slowly, slightly wishing she could just ditch her friend and go to sleep here and now. But no, she was too loyal a friend for that. And besides, she was going for tea. That’d help her stay awake.

She stepped into her room and plopped down at the stool in front of her mirror. She sat there, staring at herself for a while. Damn she was good at this. When she first had the idea, she expected she’d be found out in a matter of weeks. Now, six years later, she had never even heard of a pony so much as suspecting her. But still, there was room for improvement. She scowled slightly as she noticed a few orange hairs under her bangs that had probably been sticking out for much of the day.

Photo pulled out a drawer which contained only a bust of the same size as her own head. With one quick motion Photo pulled off her mane and set it in its place on her surrogate, closing the drawer. In its place, a tousled rainbow colored mess finally flopped down from where it had been trapped under the wig. She messed with her mane a bit, getting it back how she liked it, before turning back and tugging off her fake tail.

Quickly pulling off her dress and tossing it on her bed, Rainbow Dash unfurled her wings for the first time since she woke up. As she finally got to relax her nearly locked up muscles, she let out a sigh of relief. Her dress’ belt no longer holding her real tail out of sight, she waved it around, letting it feel the breeze.

Dash leapt skyward from her stool, half to stretch her whole body and half out of sheer joy at being free of her luxurious disguise. Today had been a long shoot. Far too long. It was tiring enough being Photo Finish for a few hours at a time, whole days were downright exhausting. And this was coming from the mare about to do what she had planned next.

Rainbow Dash fluttered gently out the door and to her gardens. Suddenly kicking off the ground and ripping skywards, she slammed into a cloud, popping out the top and resting on it. A quick scan of her surroundings and she pounded off the cloud, scattering it into vapor. Her destination: Ponyville.

Not fifteen minutes after departing Canterlot, Rainbow Dash was over Ponyville, and after a quick cool down lap around town, she set down on the landing of her cloud home. This flight had become the norm for her, usually making it once or twice a day. Say what you will about convenience, doing a marathon to get to work was good exercise.

She still had over half an hour to head down to the library, so Dash decided a quick shower might be nice. She snagged a passing cloud and pulled it over herself before bucking it hard. The cloud poured its contents out over Dash, rinsing off the day’s sweat and grime. Always one of the nicer moments in her day, Rainbow took the time to slow down and savor the cold water. Sadly, like any time she tried to take a moment to relax, she realized that Photo still had a pile of work to do, in this case layouts for the next issue of her magazine. Once the tiny storm decided it was done, she pushed it on its way and shook herself off briskly. She had time still to get to the library, so she decided to do a little work before she left. Purposely leaving the document nondescript for risk of being spotted with it, Photo started sketching out rough plans by memory of what shots she wanted to include. Not perfect, but it'd save her time later.

As if in response to her thought, the Ponyville clock tower chimed in the distance. After a short pause to regard it, the blood ran out of Dash's face. She was late. Shoving the layouts into her desk drawer, she bolted out the door and took to the air. In a flash, she had reached the library and landed on Twilight's balcony. A glance over to the clock tower confirmed that only about two minutes had passed since it had chimed. Passable. Noticing the door to the balcony open, and already plainly invited, she stepped in the door.

“Yo Twi, you in h...” Dash started to shout. She took pause as she heard what sounded like two ponies talking downstairs. Shrugging, Dash walked over to the door and cracked it slightly to listen.

“That sounds wonderful, Rarity, I’m so happy for you!” Twilight’s unmistakable voice replied to some unknown statement.

“Oh, isn’t it, though? I can’t believe she’s giving me a second chance like this! I just hope I don’t make a foal of myself like I did last time,” Rarity continued.

Rainbow Dash took this as her cue, “Making a foal of yourself? Can I help?”

Rarity shot Dash a stern glare for a few moments before her face twisted to one of confusion, “Wait, Dash, when did you get here?”

“What? oh,” Dash soared down the stairs and set down between her friends, “Just landed a few seconds ago.”

Rarity looked over at the front door for a second before turning back to Dash in confusion. Dash sighed, flared out her wings, and looked back at Rarity. It still took Rarity a few seconds to catch what was going on, but as soon as she did, her smile turned wry.

“Breaking and entering again, are we darling?”

Dash quickly got defensive, pointing a hoof at Rarity, “Hey, I didn’t break nothing!”

Twilight quickly put a hoof in front of each of their faces, “Shoosh.”

Rarity settled down, looking apologetically at Twilight, “Oh, darling, we were only teasing one another.”

“Uh, yeah. I knew that,” Dash quickly replied, lowering her accusatory hoof.

Shaking her head, Twilight spoke up, “I left the balcony door open since I figured Rainbow would probably be flying in.”

“Oh, you were expecting her?” Rarity sat back slightly, looking worried she had committed a faux pas, “Shall I head off then? I mean, if you two were planning something.”

Twilight stood confused for a second, “What? No, you’re perfectly welcome to stay, Rarity. We totally weren’t having like... a secret meeting or anything.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Dash said reassuringly, “What were you talking about when I showed up?”

The glow returned to Rarity’s face as she remembered her reason for excitement, “Well, you simply won’t believe this, but I just managed to get back in contact with none other than Photo Finish!”

“Woah, really? That’s pretty cool. I think...” Dash glanced over at Twilight, who was hiding a knowing smile behind her tea cup.

“Oh, it’s more than ‘cool,’ darling. It means I have another chance! With the way she simply ignored me before, I thought she’d never have interest again, but here I am months later and I get a letter.” Rarity quickly pulled a small envelope out of her saddlebag and floated it over to Dash.

Dash pretended to read the letter, already knowing what it said. She wrote it recently while feeling particularly regretful for that incident many months ago. It was certainly not one of Dash’s better moments. She wrote this letter in hope she could make amends on behalf of her other self. It sure seemed to be working.

“Oh, I’ve been so excited! I simply had to tell somepony, and Twilight here lives closest, after all. So, here I am,” Rarity was simply beaming with joy at the letter she so happily held in her magical grasp. Photo Finish quickly looked Rarity over, as always enjoying the looks of excitement she could bring to ponies, before Rainbow Dash managed to pop back to reality.

“Well, I’m happy for you, I guess. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this excited, actually,” Dash chuckled.

“Yeah,” Twilight responded flatly, “You almost look like how Rainbow gets when she sees a Wonderbolt.”

“Hey!”

The three mares all broke into a fit of the giggles. Despite how much these two hated doing anything really active, they were a fun pair to hang around sometimes. Dash slouched back onto a cushion and took a sip of her tea. Chamomile. No caffeine. Her brain cried foul at being stiffed the promised stimulants. Dash rubbed her temple.

“Oh, but how the time gets away from me,” Rarity spoke up, “I have to go pick up my sister from Sweet Apple Acres. See you two tomorrow, perhaps?”

“Sure, I’ll be here all day,” Twilight responded with a smile.

Dash simply shrugged, “I’ll probably be asleep until like… noon.”

“Dash,” Rarity complained as she stood, “All you ever do is sleep.”

“I do a lot more than you’d think,” a disgruntled Dash replied, “I barely get any sleep at all.”

Not wanting to drag it into an argument, Rarity simply changed the subject, “Well, regardless, I hope to see you two around. Oh, I just can’t wait to get home and draft a letter in response! I’m practically bubbling, look at me. Well, ta-ta!”

As Rarity left, Twilight struggled to keep her composure, "Dash, I'm so glad you let me in on this."

Rainbow sat back, holding back her own laughter, and took another sip of the tea. She was glad, too. Having a co-conspirator after so long was refreshing. She wanted to tell a close friend and Twilight was just the natural choice. Applejack would have teased her until the end of time. As for Fluttershy and Rarity, well that still felt like hot territory given what had happened. Pinkie? No, just no. On the other hoof, there was Twilight, who when she found out was honestly more fascinated than shocked. A welcome response, in Dash's opinion.

Breaking from her moment of thought, Rainbow turned to Twilight and posed, “So whattya think she’d do if she found out it was me? uh... I was her. She was... you know, forget it.”

Still clearly amused, Twilight shook her head, “No idea. I think she’d be too shocked to really respond.”

Dash took another sip of her tea and looked in the direction of the door Rarity just left through. She’d probably write a letter back tonight, so Dash’d have to stop by Photo’s penthouse tomorrow to pick up the letter and see exactly how much of Rarity’s excitement came through on paper.

There was a quiet moment, and this caught Dash’s attention. Twilight was looking at her quizzically. “Why did you choose to send her that mail? Because you felt bad about what happened before? But then, why did you do that back then? You should have known it...”

Twilight’s speech was cut off by Dash’s hoof in her mouth, “One question at a time.”

“Ah, right,” Twilight recovered, “So basically, what was the deal with getting Rarity’s hopes up before and then dragging off Fluttershy?”

Dash stopped for a moment, trying to think of the best way to paint her actions. They weren’t exactly the most noble, so it was taking some effort. “Basically… well… it felt right at the time.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow in suspicion, “Dash, you’re being evasive.”

Dash broke eye contact and nearly whispered, “It was sort of payback.”

“Payback?” Twilight inquired, “What did Rarity ever do to you?”

“She inshulted my taste in fashion,” Photo replied, “I thought it vas fitting to do the same in return.”

Twilight looked at her annoyedly.

“Ja, I know it vas a shtupid decision,” Photo continued, “I didn’t realize how much it vould hurt her at the time.”

Twilight’s stony expression broke for half an instant as she stifled a laugh, which only made Dash look at her confusedly. With a smile, Twilight simply said, “Acshent.”

Dash blushed vividly and cleared her throat loudly before continuing, “Well, so yeah. I messed up. Bad. And now I’m trying to make up for it so I don’t have to keep feeling bad for having done it.”

Twilight took a large bite out of a small cookie, “Well, just don’t do something dumb like that again.”

Dash simply nodded and took another sip of tea. She regretted having treated Rarity so poorly. Well, Dash did. Photo still felt no qualms about the matter. Not that she still held a grudge, she just considered the response a fair one. Still, it bugged Rainbow, but now she had a chance again. Hopefully she wouldn’t get touchy over something and overreact again. She lazily watched her tea swirl around in the cup for a few moments before chiming back into conversation.

“So I finally managed to do it.”

Twilight perked back up, “Do what?”

“Book a shoot with the Wonderbolts.”

Dash sat there with a blank, emotionless expression, but the glow in her eyes gave away the sheer, unadulterated joy. Soon, the corners of her mouth joined in to form the rest of the smile and her hooves made it to her cheeks shortly thereafter. She tried with all her might to hold in the fangirl squeal. She failed.

Twilight couldn’t help but take joy in her friend's success, “That’s so wonderful! I’m really happy for you. I know how hard you’ve been trying to do this. How’d you get them to agree to it?”

Dash snapped out of her ecstatic stupor in order to respond, “They wanted to hire somepony to do shots of them for a magazine article. I don’t think I need to tell you how fast I jumped at that.”

Pouring Dash another cup of tea, Twilight continued to question Dash. “So when do you meet with them? And also... how do you plan on covering for Photo being interested in doing this?”

“I’m talking to Spitfire next week about when to do the shoot,” Dash replied quickly, her grin returning. When the second question settled in properly, her expression drooped again, “Oh, uh... cra- crud. why would I be doing this?” She sipped her tea as she began to worry, “I... I’ll think of something. Probably.”

“Well...” Twilight struggled to come up with reassurance, “at least you have the whole week.”

Dash looked back up at her and smiled weakly, “yeah, I’ll come up with something.”

Sensing that the subject was running out of things to discuss, Twilight awkwardly changed the topic for what would not be the last time that night. Countless things were discussed that night, ranging from idle chat about daily goings on to Dash teasing Twilight over some silly crush. Overall, Dash was just happy to have somepony she didn’t have to hide herself around. Somepony she could talk to about both of the lives she led. Three hours and seven pots of proper, caffeinated tea later, Dash decided she’d been up way too many hours and needed to rest. There was one thing left to ask, though.

“Say Twilight, you’re real good at magic.”

“Yeah, I heard something about that too,” Twilight teased.

“I... What?” Dash stumbled over her thoughts in confusion before catching the sarcasm, “Ha ha, very funny. But seriously, I have a question for you.”

“Rainbow with a magic question? It must be serious,” she continued to joke.

Ignoring that, Dash went on, “Can you change how things... look?”

“What, you mean illusions? Sure, I know tons of varieties,” Twilight replied, suddenly much more serious, “Are we talking about just optical, or also auditory and olfactory? Also, do you mean one that’s free standing or bound to a pony? Are you...”

Dash interrupted her with a hoof to the mouth again., “Basically, I’m tired of having to wear a wig and tail.”

Twilight nodded, gently pushing Dash’s hoof to the side, “That’s quite easy, really. Simple, low power spell. Now if you wanted something that let you switch between the two looks easily, that might be more of a thing. I could look into it for you, if you like?”

“Would you do that for me?” Dash pleaded. “I’m so tired of how itchy my scalp gets. It’s horrible. You don’t even know,” she scratched her mane for emphasis before continuing, “Also, this one’s probably harder, but is there anything you can do about hiding my wings?”

Twilight shook her head reflexively, “That’s certainly a harder one to pull off, if it’s possible at all. I‘d have to do some research into pegasus and unicorn magic entanglement... But hey, I’ll see if I can find anything.”

Twilight squeaked as she received a sudden hug from Dash, a rather uncommon expression of affection coming from that particular mare. Dash broke the hug as abruptly as she started it and sat back down in embarrassment, “Yeah uh… it’s just… sort of hard to explain, but I’ll owe you big time for this. Not really sure if I’ll ever be able to repay you properly.”

“No need, it’s not like it’ll take too much effort. And come on, you’re one of my best friends. I’d do this even if it wasn’t easy,” Twilight smiled.

Grin on her face, Dash thanked Twilight a few more times before saying good night and heading up to her cloud. More than happy to head off to sleep, she remembered the magazine layout, hastily shoved in a desk drawer. Deciding to take it out and do a little more work, Photo sketched away for some time. Eventually, truly and properly tired, she checked a clock. Well past midnight. Whoops, that's enough of that. Within seconds of her head hitting her pillow, Dash was sound asleep.

Chapter 5: A Series of Headaches

Photo’s head hurt. It was a stabbing pain, coming from slightly above and to the right of her right eye. In the instant she woke up, that was the only thing she could really process. She was groggy and felt like she was upside down. As her senses slowly came online, she felt what seemed like hardwood floor pressed against her face, with her back legs still up on something soft, like a couch or bed.

“Vere ze Hell am I?”

Slowly collecting herself and sitting up, she found herself in an unfamiliar room. It had the look of a living room, but one wall was simply missing and extended out onto a sort of patio or garden. Standing from the couch that she had apparently slept on and past the opened wall, Photo stepped out into the garden.

Squinting from the daylight that assaulted her eyes, she took a quick look around the area. There were four main structures with covered walkways connecting them and a central garden plaza. It was large, but honestly barely larger than her own penthouse. The whole thing had a sort of classical air to it, almost like an old keep. It was far from her normal style, but something about the design spoke to Photo. Stepping over to one of the covered walkways, she looked out a window to see where she was.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but seeing a multiple hundred foot drop right outside the window was not it. Looking out over the familiar skyline of Canterlot, there was something odd about seeing it from a different point in the city. After some searching, she even managed to spot her tower in the distance.

Stepping back into the garden area and around what looked to be a large pool or tub, she decided to go hunting for a restroom. Headache medicine was the order of the morning. That and maybe going back to sleep. As she struggled to find her way around and tried to remember her day’s schedule, something abruptly occurred to her.

She was in Canterlot. Yes, okay, she’d already noticed that. The thing was, she hadn’t been in Canterlot the night before. She redoubled her efforts to recall the previous night. What had even happened?

Finding a closed door, she gently tried the knob and found it unlocked. Peeking inside to see if it happened to be a bathroom, she got her next surprise for the morning. It was a bedroom. In the center of the room, on a massive four post bed, was a sprawled out sleeping form. Sure she was in far from an elegant pose and she was drooling on her pillow, but Photo was blind to those faults, frozen solid by the beauty before her and the shock of seeing someone usually so strong completely defenceless. There, on her bed and clearly trying to sleep off the night before, was Spitfire.

Photo calmly closed the door and stood stock still, staring at the door knob. Images of the night before slowly rushed back to her. She had gone to the bar with AJ first. AJ being AJ and Dash being Dash, they both had a bunch to drink and started competing at pool. By the time Spitfire got there, the details were already a haze, but one thing hung in her memory and wouldn’t let go. Spitfire laughing cheerfully. She had a great time. Towards the end of the night, she couldn’t even remember AJ being there anymore, just Dash and Spitfire sitting at the bar chatting about Celestia knows what. They had a wonderful night.

Resisting the urge to peek in again and realizing the adrenaline spike had cleared the worst of her hangover, Photo stepped backwards into the hall. She had spotted a kitchen on her way in and decided to go do the only rational next step of her life. Make coffee.

After just a short bit of rummaging around, she found a kettle and pour over coffee maker. Setting the pot on to boil, she sat down to wait and think. They must have flown back to Canterlot together, maybe spent some more time hanging out. Looking up to a clock on the wall, it was a bit after ten in the morning. Photo never slept this late unless she was up until well after midnight. Thinking about the time reminded her that she might have something scheduled for the day. As she started to panic about possible forgotten deadlines, the kettle finally began to whistle.

Shocked out of her short fit, Photo turned to start pouring the hot water through the coffee. The strong aroma filled the air and helped Photo calm back down a little. It’s already late, deal with it when you deal with it. Coffee now. She saw something abruptly out of the corner of her eye. Spitfire’s head was poking around the corner of the doorway suspiciously. Surprised, Photo jumped and just barely managed to avoid swearing.

Spitfire jumped as well before laughing at herself, “Oh wow, I totally forgot you were here. I heard the whistle and-”

Photo let out a single noise halfway between a laugh and a sharp exhale, “Ja, ja.”

“Thanks for making the coffee, Rainbow.”

Rainbow cleared her throat to try and shake the accent and slid a mug of coffee across the counter to Spitfire, “Yeah, no worries. Took me a bit to find everything, but here you go. Just how you like it.”

Spitfire glanced down at the mug of black coffee and took it without hesitation. After a healthy sip, she pondered, “How’d you know how I like my coffee?”

Damn it, Dash, stop slipping for just one second and focus here. Just because you’ve seen her sleeping face- I said focus. “Eh, it was mostly a joke, but I kinda pegged you for the type to not do cream and sugar when I didn’t, you know, find any.”

Spitfire nodded as if that rambling sentence was sage wisdom, before glancing up at the clock and grumbling, “Looks like I don’t have much time to hang around, sadly. Gotta get a stack of paperwork pushed. Love that desk work.” Turning back to see Dash slowly deflating, she paused before continuing, “I could probably put that off for a bit though.”

“Well, I don’t want to make you late or anything, but it’d be cool to hang out some more,” Rainbow offered.

“Yeah,” Spitfire returned, “You’re good company. Last night made me really regret not spending more time at the Gala with you. Would have been way better than standing for photos all night.”

Dash smiled widely, “Yeah, the bits I remember from last night were good.”

Spitfire laughed, “You were pretty smashed by the end of it. I was amazed you could fly so well.”

“What was I even drinking? I remember them being delicious and purple and that’s it.”

“I think your friend called it ‘Any Port in a Storm.’ She also mentioned that every ingredient was alcohol,” Spitfire explained.

“Well that explains a lot,” Dash mumbled, sipping at her coffee and feeling a pang of headache.

The room was quiet as they both sipped their coffees and nursed their respective headaches. It was a pleasant quiet, the type when nothing needs to be said. Something about being around Spitfire was just comfortable. She couldn’t really explain it, but she liked it.

Dash was the first to break the silence, “You know, I gotta say, this is a really nice place.”

Spitfire smiled wistfully, “Yeah, it used to be my dad’s. I’ve always loved it here. Lots of memories.”

Dash was kind of blindsided by the sentiment and didn’t really know how to respond. Spitfire seemed to catch that, because she continued, “I’ve slowly made it my own over the past few years. Some things it just feels wrong to replace, but most of the rest is rather new. Like the garden.”

“You do that yourself?” Dash interjected.

“Yeah,” Spitfire calmly replied, “I’ve always liked taking care of plants.” After a pause she turned to Rainbow and defensively announced, “Hey, not every hobby I have has to be macho.”

Dash laughed, “Don’t worry about it, our secret.”

Idle chat continued for as long as their coffee did, but eventually Spitfire stood up and sighed, “Yeah, I should get to work.”

Dash grudgingly accepted, “I probably have things to do today, also.”

As Spitfire stepped out to the garden and prepared to take off, she paused and turned back to Dash, “Hey, uh… What about Saturday? You busy then?”

“Probably not, why?” Dash replied without thinking.

Spitfire shuffled a bit, “I’m throwing a bit of a get together, just a kind of casual thing with some ponies I know and a hot tub. Probably not exactly your crowd, but hey, thought I’d make the offer. At the very least, I’ll be here. And hey, Rarity too. You know her, right?”

FFFFFFFFFFFFF-

“Alright, uh…” Rainbow stumbled over her thoughts, “I mean I can check my schedule and stuff. If I can make it, I’ll be sure to.”

“Great,” Spitfire beamed, “it’d be good to have you there. You seem like you’d liven things up.”

With a quick salute goodbye, Spitfire took to the sky, leaving Dash stumbling over her thoughts. She just stood there, watching the retreating form of her Idol. She knew she could have been happy about this. It should have been some of the best news of her life.

All she felt was dread.

As Rainbow finally reached the tower that her penthouse was in, she got a strange feeling. Something was off. Trusting her instincts, she quietly glided into a passing cloud and started to survey her surroundings. Her rooftop garden looked normal, the blinds were down, and the doors were closed, just as she’d left it. If it wasn’t her apartment itself-

That’s when she spotted them. Two ponies with cameras aimed up at the building from either side. Photo knew immediately what she was dealing with.

“Paparazzi…”

She stopped to think. Why would they be watching the roof from ground level? Shouldn’t they be watching the main door to the building? If they were trying to spot her, they had no reason to think she’d be visible from the ground. Maybe they’d gotten the tip-off that Spitfire had stopped by the day before and were hoping it was something to put in their rag.

Photo Finish Secretly a Pegasus?

Oh.

Looks like flying in wasn’t an option. How much did they already know? She needed to get her hooves on that magazine again. It was a decently popular tabloid, so it had to be somewhere. She could just buy one. She absentmindedly reached for her saddle bag, realizing half way through that she wasn’t wearing it. Thinking back, it was probably still in Ponyville with all of her money. Okay, new plan.

Descending from the clouds, Rainbow landed at the front door of her building. A suspicious pony was standing by the door, likely also with the paparazzi looking to get a shot of Photo. She smugly walked by him, not even a twitch of recognition on his face that his target was within reach. Stepping into the lobby, the desk guard looked her over with suspicion.

Reading that she wouldn’t be able to just breeze through, Rainbow stepped up to the mare at the desk, “Hi, uh… not really sure how things work here, but I’m trying to get up to the penthouse.”

The guard snorted in a mixture of derision and amusement, “So is everypony today, it seems. Look, we take the privacy of our tenants very seriously here, we can’t just let anypony waltz in because they want to.”

Good, so nopony was waiting for her inside with a camera. With a quick glance over her shoulder to notice that the loitering pony had vanished, Rainbow offered up something that might work, “Well, you see, Photo told me to go pick up some outlines she’d left on her desk after her meeting up there yesterday. She’d said I could just fly in, but I spotted the paparazzi and decided to avoid them.”

The guard looked at her incredulously, “I’m fairly certain Miss Finish would have sent one of her usual assistants to collect her things for her. Perhaps it’s time for you to be on your way.”

Whelp. A risky idea flitted to mind, but she’d rather avoid it if she could. She had meetings to get to and her schedule was up in her penthouse. Flying back to ponyville to grab her bag was an option, but going both ways would be exhausting and she wasn’t sure she’d have the energy needed for the day ahead by the time she got back. Photo needed to get into her penthouse. She had things to do. She wouldn’t let something like this get in the way of her career. Risk or no risk, this was the only option she had.

With a mildly dismissive laugh, Rainbow leaned in and spoke softly, “I’m her sister.”

“Excuse me?” the guard said looking her over.

Rainbow stood with poise and fell into the accent, “Jou heard me. Look at my face, my coat, my eyes. Listen to vhat I sound like when I shpeak like normal. Ve are sisters.”

“But you’re a pega-” the guard trailed off as she turned to look out the window in the general direction of the two ponies with cameras, “Wait, so they’re right? But wh- Nevermind that’s not my business.”

“I take it jou-” Rainbow cleared her throat loudly, “you understand the circumstances.”

The guard flopped back in her seat, “I’m still not sure if I should let you in or not.”

“The longer I stand here, the more likely zat pony comes back with a camera and starts snapping pictures through the window while you’re on duty,” Photo rebutted, struggling to not let the accent slip.

The guard perked up at that comment, glancing again out the windows, “Yeah, alright. But if I find out this was all some ploy, I’m making it personal.”

Dash laughed as she stepped through the door to the stairwell, “Fair enough.”

With yet another excuse she’d have to remember having dropped, Dash approached the large spiral stair, looking up the open air shaft in the center, and kicked hard off the ground to rocket skyward. Bleeding speed in order to not slam through the huge skylight that lit the entire vertical room, she landed on the top floor and turned to her doorway.

As she reached for the door, a chill shot down her spine. She was being watched. Looking around, she saw nopony. No cracked doors with cameras, nopony using the stairs down below, nothing. Then she spotted it. A single pigeon. Sitting up in the cornice work of the stair shaft, just below an open panel in the skylight. Staring. Confused, dash took a closer look at it. It just looked like any other pigeon, really. Nothing particularly distinguishing about it. Still suspicious, she slowly opened her door and stepped in.

As Photo closed the door behind her, much of the stress melted away. Here in her sanctum, with all the blinds closed, she felt safe. After grabbing her planner off of her desk, Photo walked over to and collapsed in her bed. Looking over her schedule, she’d planned to spend most of the morning on layouts, so that was good. She could just do that some other time, stay up late that night. The deadline for handing it off to the publisher was still days away, so she wasn’t stressed yet. She had shoots and meetings for most of the afternoon, but those were routine and would honestly be a welcome distraction from everything else going on with her life.

It occurred to her that the most recent response letter from Rarity was likely downstairs, and that they’d likely have to meet to plan the shoot for her new line in the next few days. That… would surely prove interesting. Holding character would be trying, but she expected to be able to make it work.

Glancing at the rest of her obligations, for the week to find a good time, her eyes flitted three days ahead. Saturday. Huge, bold, excited letters. The party that both Photo and Rainbow were invited to. Bile welled up in her throat at the thought. What was she going to do? Her mind raced, failing to gain traction anywhere.

Struggling to force the thought from her mind, Photo announced to the air, “Ve vill deal vis zat later.”

Simply covering Saturday with a hoof, Photo went back to planning the next two days. Other than today’s shoots and finalizing her layout work, the upcoming few days were a welcome reprieve from the normal fast pace of her job. Just a meeting with the editors of her magazine on Friday afternoon and not much else. She could slot Rarity in tomorrow and still have plenty of time to panic about what in Equestria she was supposed to do about the party. At least it was just her social life falling apart and not her work.

Rainbow slapped her cheeks to snap out of the mental death spiral she was in. She just had to make it work. She was good at that. Despite her constant mistakes for the past few days, she always managed to cover for herself. She just had to take everything she’d learned and just… do it. She could sit here panicking about every little thing or she could just keep moving. This was her life and she’d been living it for so long, she knew how to make things work. She’d think of a way.

From the living room, she heard a clock chime. Standing and leaning around the doorway, she saw that her first meeting was in half an hour. She’d just have to dress and leave. Or… no. That wouldn’t work. Rainbow had to be the one to walk out the front door, otherwise the story for the guard would fall apart. Okay, new plan.

Carefully putting everything she needed to look like Photo in a non-descript saddle bag, Rainbow dabbed on some light makeup and headed for the door. She’d find somewhere out of the way to change. Like a superhero. The thought took hold and she couldn’t help but bust out laughing. Don’t worry, citizens! Photo Finish is here to save the day! Rainbow had to support herself against the wall, waiting for the stupid thought to pass.

Eventually her laughter reduced to just a light chortle and she stepped out the door. As she closed the door behind her, she stared at the door lock. It wasn’t exactly in her nature to lock up. She’d never had any issues in the past, as the front desk was good at their job and crime in Canterlot was basically not a thing. Staring at the lock, and growing slowly paranoid, she reached into her bag for the key and locked up. With the paparazzi circling, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Just as she thought that, she heard a coo from behind her. The pigeon. It was still there. Staring. Rainbow stared right back, blurting, “What, you got a problem?”

It… did it just glare at her? The pigeon flew up and out the opened skylight, taking to the skies. Rainbow had no idea what to think, but just hoped it was nothing as she descended through the open stairwell and back to ground level. After quickly grabbing all of her mail, Rainbow re-entered the lobby just as the guard was finishing up shooing away the pony that kept loitering by the door. Breezing by, Rainbow was out the door and on her way to work. Another long day ahead, but at least it’d give her some moments to think.

After making sure she wasn’t being tailed, Rainbow ducked into the restroom of a quiet cafe to get changed. Not the most elegant of places, but it did the job. Double checking her mane in the mirror, Photo Finish slipped out of the restroom and then the back door, disappearing into the streets beyond.