From Behind Crimson Curtains

Today! Yes, the party would be today. Why else wouldn't it be today? It'd be better for everypony to just get it all over with anyway, and Pinkie absolutely knew that all her friends wouldn't be doing anything else. Nevermind that it was an evening party, because those parties were the best! It meant she could bring out some alcohol!

Er, actually, scratch that. The last thing they needed right now was alcohol. Have to be nice, take things carefully unless things go bad again and nobody enjoys themselves at this party. Just some drinks and snacks, and... maybe a lot of gifts? What did Linen do for a living again? Oh, silly Pinkie, you can tell just from his name! Just buy him a whole bunch of cloth things! Maybe Rarity has a whole bunch she can give out. Well, she probably won't just hand them over, but she might be willing to talk about it.

All of this was going through Pinkie Pie's mind as she stood in her secret party vault, located somewhere within the confines of the space beneath Sugarcube Corner. The door was hidden, and specially activated using a particular party-code; one that only Pinkie knew, of course. She sat staring at the giant room full of party favors, and secret tunnels leading to places all over Ponyville. Another smaller vault guarded with a special party-activated lock held the secret locations of all her stashes in not only Ponyville... but throughout all of Equestria.

"Now... what do I need...?" she asked herself. She dug her hoof into the pile next to her, and pulled out a six-pack of disposable streamer cannons. Oh, those would do. "Heehee, this party's going to be good!"

Hmm, perhaps the party didn't need to be today. It could be later... but today was nice. Hmm, why was that word so interesting today? Oh, there she went, thinking it again. She moved to one of the large walls of the vault, lined from corner to corner with a massive line of file cabinets. Within contained almost every kind of party invitation card known to ponykind, and some only to squirrels, and only one known to Celestia, which was coincidentally the one about how Equestria was made.

"Hmm... nope!" she said, replacing a card into its small folder as she browsed through everything. This was going to be a special party invitation card, one that was made for a special occasion like this. Hmm, that sounded a bit callous, maybe something better. Why would she need a card, again? Silly her, forgetting that she invited them herself.

Sticking a hoof into a random folder, she dug out a stack of parchment and a ready quill, and jotted away the time and date of the party. Tomorrow! Not today, because 'today' was being strange. Yes... tomorrow night would be perfect! Giggling to herself, she sealed all of the scrolls before placing them all into bags, each of the five dedicated to one of her friends. This party was going to be perfect! She would make sure of that.

Linen looked a lot better than he did yesterday. In fact, he looked nothing at all like the mess that Applejack found him as. With a proper washup and rest, he actually looked like a normal stallion, if not still a bit shy, but that was to be expected from him.

He suddenly jumped from his bed, realizing it was not his own. Looking around the room, it was furnished with simple taste, with a small rose in a vase nearby and a neat dresser in the room. Aside from that, there was nothing. He carefully looked out the window, afraid that there might have been an angry mob waiting for him outside: he found nothing, save for t the early rising sun and a sea of apple trees beyond.

Wait a moment. Apples.

He nearly tripped over his own hooves in his excitement to get to the door, catching himself on the table next to it just as it opened. Supporting himself on the table, he looked up to meet Applejack face-to-face, and they both stared at each other for a moment. That was broken when Linen recomposed himself and nervously looked away.

"I... uh, good mornin'..." Applejack slowly said.

"Um... good... morning..." he said back to her.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, you could just cut the tension in here with a knife." A unicorn mare appeared from behind her, and Linen almost had his breath taken away by her beauty. That was, if he hadn't accidentally hit his head on the wall behind him. "Ah! Are you okay, darling?"

"I... I'm okay..."

"Really, when Applejack said she had a guest in her house, which also happened to be the only stallion in town, I simply could not resist investigating. Oh, where are my manners? I am Rarity, owner of the Carousel Boutique in Ponyville. You must be that Linen Spool which I've heard so much about."

"I... um... are you... okay?"

"Okay? What do you mean, darling? Of course I'm fine."

"I mean in... 'that' way..."

"Oh?" Rarity blinked for a moment. "Oh! Why, of course I am, Linen! I am a proper lady, and I shall not act unsophisticated in the audience of others! Do not fret, for I promise that I shall not lay a single hoof on you in an act of lust."

"She means she got all her kicks off all in one go, sugarcube," Applejack stated, much to Rarity's displeasure. "And so did I," she added, if not to lessen the blow.

"Oh... okay," Linen said. "Um... hello, Miss Rarity, I'm... Linen Spool..."

Rarity smiled at him. "It's an absolute pleasure to meet you. Linen. Might I say, your coat is absolutely pristine, much more so than any stallion I've seen in Ponyville. Where did you learn such proper habits?"

"I'm from Canterlot... uh, that isn't bad, is it?"

"Bad? Certainly not!" Rarity said. "Almost everypony in Canterlot knows the secret to keeping themselves well-groomed, and it seems that applies to you, as well. Come now, let us go downstairs! It would be unseemly to have a proper conversation in a bedroom, of all places."

Linen continued contemplating his fate: here he was, a newcomer in a town he'd only moved to just recently, and he went from virgin to bedding practically every mare in town. Celestia knew that if his parents found out, they would most likely keel over from the shameless abound. It gave him an uneasy feeling... but at the very least, he noticed that the aphrodisiac effects from yesterday had worn off.

"...and when Applejack told me about you yesterday, that's when I decided I had to talk to you," Rarity finished, bringing Linen back to reality. He found that he had mindlessly taken a seat down in Applejack's living room, as the two mares conversed with each other. "So, about your occupation, Linen..."

"Oh... Um, I'm supposed to work at Sofas and Quills. Mostly as a... um, mender. I fix upholstery, and things like that. I also make my own cloth and things in my spare time."

"So you can sew? What a marvelous skill to have, Linen!" Rarity said cheerfully. "Oh, what am I saying? I should have realized from your name! So, do you make your own clothing in your spare time? Oh, I'd love to compare our works sometime; you have no idea how refreshing it is to see another tailor in town! Say, what kind of fabrics do you make?"

"I make... um..." His mind raced, thinking over all the products he'd made and sold back in Canterlot. "Um... have you heard of the pristine velvet fabric?"

"Have I?" Rarity said, surprised. "It's only one of the rarest fabrics around! Less than fifty shipments were made, and they were of such high quality, I never had the chance to make a dress out of it myself! If it hadn't been sold anonymously, and only to select clientele, I would have dropped a small fortune just to have a roll of such amazing fabric!"

"I... um... I made that..."

Rarity sat in silence for a moment, her mouth agape. "I... surely, you're joking?"

"No... I... I really did make it. My parents didn't want me to pressured by the social aspects of it, and I wanted to make some money. So that's what I did, and they took the marketing part off of my hands. I... didn't really think it would turn out to be so popular..."

"Popular? Popular?!" Rarity shouted, nearly making Linen jump from his seat. "Linen, you... you can craft the fabric of the heavens themselves! Please!" In the blink of an eye, she was standing dangerously close to him, her eyes pleading. "Please tell me you can provide me with some! I'll... I'll do anything! Just tell me what you want!"

"I... don't want anything," Linen simply stated. "I... only sold them so I could make enough money to move out here on my own, and the leftovers from the sales help keep me afloat. I'm... uh, really sorry, Miss Rarity, but I'm not making it anymore..."

"Please...? I'll... do... anything...." she said, her face drifting slowly closer to his lower half.

"I... uh... please, Miss Rarity, I—"

"Now hold on there, Rarity," Applejack said, interrupting with a solid hoof and separating the two. "You ain't goin' to take advantage of him on my watch, you hear?"

"I... well, of course, Applejack. I just... really want that fabric," Rarity said. "You don't understand just how rare it is! A single sheet nowadays would sell for thousands of bits! Thousands! Dozens of ponies in the industry have all racked their minds trying to find the maker, and here he is, sitting right in front of me!"

"He said he ain't makin' anymore," Applejack said, looking at Linen. "Er... right?" Linen nodded. "Yeah, see?"

"Well, I hope that you would consider making more in the future, Linen. But... oh, what have I done? I will just... settle myself down now. Goodness, it seems that I can be much more frightful when I'm not in heat," Rarity said, taking her seat again. "But really, what caused you to move? Your parents certainly seem to have your well-being in mind."

"It's because of that..." Linen said. "I'm not dependent on them; I want to be myself, and live by myself, but it's just... I want to do it in a way where I'm not surrounded by other ponies all the time."

"I see... and so you came to quiet little Ponyville..." Rarity said, nodding. "Well, I... appreciate your straightforward honesty, Linen. Although I am a bit... unhappy that you've chosen to discontinue your production of pristine velvet, I can at least respect that decision."

"I thank you, too, Miss Rarity. I'm really sorry, but there was just so much stress involved with making it that I'm... not really keen to continue."

She chuckled. "As a fellow tailor myself, I must agree. The stress can be... quite harrowing, at times, so it's understandable why you'd want to stop. In any case, I believe I've overstayed my welcome. I apologize for my behavior, Applejack," she said, sliding off her chair and making for the door... but not before stopping and walking over to Linen.

"Miss Rarity?" Linen barely asked before he received a quick peck on the cheek, making his face turn red on the spot before Rarity turned to leave.

"He certainly is a cute one, isn't he, Applejack?" Rarity teased. "Take good care of him." Rarity left as Applejack remained sitting, saying. nothing. She realized that she, too, was blushing, and as Linen muttered something about freshening up and heading back upstairs, she had to agree with Rarity. He looked a lot cuter when he wasn't a complete mess.

The knocking on the door came suddenly, rapping in quick succession as if there were some sort of disaster going on outside. Linen was quite sure there wasn't one, because as far as he could see, all of his facilities were intact, as was his home. The only disgruntling fact about the knocking was that it was in the middle of the night, and he found himself falling asleep at his workstation again.

But who could it be at this hour? He carefully walked out into the hallway, and could see a familiar mane shape's shadow projected in the middle of the hallway. With that mane style, it was none other than Pinkie Pie. Still, though, it was quite annoying that she chose now of all times to visit...

He gave a small yawn as he opened the door, finding himself too tired to respond in shock as Pinkie Pie stood waiting for him with the widest grin he'd ever seen on her face. "Umm... Miss Pinkie... did you need something?"

"Paaaaaaaaaaarrttyyyyyyy..." she said. "Tomorrow night! Here, at your house!"

"Here? But I don't have any—"

Pinkie cut him off. "Don't worry! I'll provide everything we need! It'll be just us seven, okay? Nopony else!" She looked around, now aware that there were other houses in the area, and she didn't want to wake anybody up. "That's okay, right?" she said normally.

Linen looked down and scraped the floor with his hoof. "I... um... I guess that's okay..."

"Great!" She covered her mouth, shushing herself mentally for being so inconsiderate. There were plenty of times to be loud, but not when ponies were sleeping! "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

Linen nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, Miss Pinkie... uh, you and your friends... uh, good night." He slowly closed the door, leaving Pinkie alone in the moonlight, and stood waiting until he heard her hoofsteps depart from his front door. Breathing a sigh of relief, but feeling strangely awake... well, at the very least, he could get to making something, perhaps even a certain gift for his guests tomorrow.

To be honest, he didn't really know what to get: words were nice when speaking of forgiveness, but he felt that a physical object would at least signify that it meant more to him than just a simple conversation within the confines of his own home. Then maybe... yes, that would do just fine. He returned to his workroom and quickly began digging through his storage for the materials needed for fabric making. He barely had any left, but he decided to keep some around... just in case.

At least they would come in handy now. Preparing his tools and cleaning up his station, he tried to remember the creation process for the cloth known as pristine velvet as best as he could...

"Whew, that was some hard work! You ain't half bad yourself, for a unicorn," Applejack said. It had been at least a week and a half since Linen had arrived in town, and from what he could tell according to Applejack's testaments, the heat period seemed to be subsiding now. In a few days, he would be cleared to go back to town, but until then, he found himself helping around at Sweet Apple Acres.

"Is it always this bad?" he said, giving a buck to a tree. He wasn't given to hard labor, but he didn't see any harm in participating, considering that he had nothing else to do. And it was certainly strenuous; to think that Applejack did this for a living gave him a better appreciation of those who provided. "Um, I mean with the trees..."

Applejack chuckled. "I know what you mean, sugarcube. Yeah, it does get kind of bad around this time of year, and when my brother comes back, we usually have to pull some overtime to get all this harvested in time for applebuckin' season."

They continued on in silence, the air occasionally peppered with the sound of their grunts as they worked their way through the orchard. After another dozen or so trees, Linen felt like he couldn't go on anymore and collapsed underneath the shade of the tree he had barely bucked. "This... is... hard... work..." he panted.

"I won't hold it against you if you want to stop here, Linen," she said. "For a stallion from Canterlot, you did pretty well for your first time. You can head back to the house if you want and get some rest, I'll finish up this part of the orchard for today."

He thought for a moment: Miss Applejack had been generous with her hospitality, and he felt a little bad for wanting out so early. His father had taught him that good deeds should be rewarded, and so he simply thought up another solution. "I could ferry the baskets back to the barn if you want. I can just use my magic so I won't have to carry it."

"That sounds great, sugarcube!" She bucked another tree and Linen watched as all the apples fell into a number of scattered buckets around the base, not even missing a single apple. Impressive. "There ya go! You can handle that much, right?"

If Linen could be said to be good at anything other tailoring, it would be using magic. It was required, after all, with all his escape attempts from the public eye, and some shuffling work done when he was at work. Lifting things like buckets full of apples was well within his range of expertise. "I can handle it," he agreed, feeling good for making himself more useful. He ferried the filled baskets all the way back to the barn, finding a place for them next to a pair of wagons and more apple-filled barrels.

"Hey, there, hot stuff. So you're helping out Applejack now, huh?" Linen looked up to see Rainbow Dash sitting in the rafters, smiling down at him. "You know, technically, I'm still in 'that' period, so if you want to go for another run..."

Linen merely stood still, staring at her. She was back! And she wanted more! What could he do? Obviously not outrun her, that was for sure... talking would get him nowhere because... oh, no, he was panicking again! He felt himself hyperventilate as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Whoa there, buddy, are you alright?"

"I... uh... I'm just... fine?" he said, carefully stepping backwards. "Uh, listen, I don't want any trouble, I was just... in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Feels more like right place at the right time, if you ask me. Uh, listen, I still have a few of those cupcakes from Pinkie, so I really want to get in a few more times before everything goes back to normal. You understand, don't you?"

"...what's taking you so long, Linen? I thought you—" Applejack said, walking inside. "Hmm? What're you just standing around for and—Rainbow Dash!" Applejack said, looking up. She jumped defensively in front of Linen. "You're not going to take him!"

"Whoa, whoa, okay, I get it, Applejack... yeesh, if you wanted him all to yourself, you could have just told me. You've been here for a while now, so I can only guess how many times you two have done it already."

"I... don't..." she stuttered, turning red. "Dash, you're bein' rude here! I've never done it with Linen, and I ain't goin' to take advantage of him like that! Especially when I'm in heat... unlike a certain someone who did!"

"It was harmless! I had the muffins, and they worked perfectly! What's wrong with a little good harmless fun—"

"Fun for you, not him!" Applejack interrupted.

"Yeah, alright, I get it. So, do you need some help around here? I know how bad things get backed up when this season rolls around, and I'm not really doing anything at the moment. Weather team's still... uh, under the covers, so I'm game."

"Sure, Dash... but don't get any funny ideas, y'hear?"

Dash rolled her eyes. "Yeah, AJ..." she said, then turned to look at Linen. "But, seriously, do want to have another go?"

"Dash!"

"I'm joking!" She floated to the ground, landing in front of Linen and holding out a hoof. "Okay, so let's do this right. Hi, I'm Rainbow Dash. I'm one of Ponyville's weather pegasi." Linen looked at her eyes and found no trace of lying in her eyes, so he tentatively held out a hoof and slowly shook hers.

"I'm Linen Spool..." he said, not bothering to meet her eyes. "Uh, nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash."

"Aw, he's so shy," Dash said, giving a dry smile at Applejack. "Even shier than 'Shy, and that's saying a lot. So, you got all those trees to buck? Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like if the Apple family actually had some extra help around here... besides Caramel, anyway. Well, let's get to work! And don't worry, AJ, I won't try anything funny. I promise."

The sky had been dark for quite a while when the first knock arrived at Linen's door. He answered to find that all six of the mares stood at the doorstep, not dressed up for a high-end occasion, but at least looking much nicer than normal. "Oh, hello... um, please, come in," he said.

"Hiya, Linen!" Pinkie said. "Oh, let me get all the party stuff!"

"Party stuff? Where is it?" he asked.

"In your kitchen, of course, silly!" Pinkie stuck her hoof into the doorway leading to the kitchen and pulled out a party hat, and Linen was pretty sure he didn't keep any party hats in the kitchen. "Okay, everypony, gather around in the living room! I'll go get the food!"

As Linen led them all into his living room, the mares were all busy conversing with each other. Dash was regaling Fluttershy with yet another day on the job as a weather pegasi, Applejack and Rarity were discussing the classiness of his house, and Twilight merely walked around, looking at... well, just about everything.

"Sooooooooooo!" Pinkie appeared, placing snacks and drinks in front of everyone. "We're all here today to tell you just how sorry we are, Linen!"

Twilight took the lead from there. "Uh, yes, we're... really sorry about what we did to you, Linen... and I don't mean to offend you or anything, but at least I got a lot of material for my research..." she said, laughing nervously. "I hope to extend a sincere offer of friendship to you."

"Well, um... I accept," Linen said readily. "I know you all didn't mean to, but... it's okay, I forgive you all. I'm not really that good at remembering things anyway." Or so he thought, as his thoughts returned to the fact that he'd done it with several of these mares already, and it was honestly quite difficult to wash that picture from his mind.

"Yeah, well, I'll just lay it out so I can get it over with," Dash said. "I'm really sorry and I hope we can be friends. Besides, you're not half bad at applebucking, and having magic around on the farm really helps out a lot. We're cool."

"And I'm really sorry for what did to you," Fluttershy added. "I hope we didn't hurt you too much..."

"No, it was... uh... okay?" he said, giving an unsure smile. "I appreciate that you cared enough about me not getting hurt, Miss Fluttershy. Thank you for that."

Fluttershy giggled. "I guess Dash was right... he really is shier than I am."

"And he's a right fine pony by my eyes!" Applejack said. "Right, Rarity?"

"Oh, yes, of course. I must say, Linen," Rarity said. "Did you make every single piece of cloth in this house by yourself?"

"Actually, I did, Miss Rarity," he said, proud of the fact. "Sometimes I try to make my own clothes, but I find that they don't usually turn out that well..."

"Then perhaps we can collaborate sometimes, and see if we can't produce something amazing," Rarity offered. "Please, do consider the offer, because I'd love to have a pony as talented as yourself share some of your tailoring secrets."

"I'll keep it in mind," he said happily. "Oh, and I have something for all of you..."

"A gift? For all of us?" Pinkie said, gasping. "That's totally super-duper-awesome, but you didn't need to do that for us!"

"Well, consider it as something for friendship, if not for accepting your apologies," Linen said, opening the small box that had been sitting on the table and levitating its contents to each of the six mares: a single small sheet of deep, resplendent velvet, with a shine almost as if it were a gem.

"Oh, Celestia..." Rarity said, eyes widening as the cloth floated in front of her. "Is that...?"

Linen nodded. "I didn't have a lot, Miss Rarity, so I had to make do. It's only a small cut, but I hope you enjoy it."

"Enjoy it? Oh, Linen, this is absolutely fantastic!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek and returned to ogling the velvet as her eyes glowed. Twilight and Applejack were equally amazed by the bright quality of the cloth, while Fluttershy was busy talking to Dash about the quality of cloth types, of which the latter didn't really seemed to be impressed.

Then there was another knock on the door.

"Huh? I thought I already invited all the ponies that needed to be here!" Pinkie said. "I wonder who it is?"

Linen motioned for Pinkie to sit down, deciding to answer the door for himself. When he opened the door, he found a familiar sight, one that raised a great many issues that he hadn't actually bothered to think about. His sister, Silk Weave, stood before him, wearing her usual set of jewelry and fiddling with her earrings when she noticed him.

"Oh, hey, Linen!" she said. "Your birthday is coming up, so I thought I'd just drop by and say hi! I took a vacation, so I'll be staying in Ponyville for a week or so! It'll be fantastic!"

Linen began to panic. He knew he was going to have to explain it to her sooner or later, and if not, gossip would. Silk was always the nosy-but-caring type, and when things got bad for Linen, she saw to it that he was always taken care of. It was partly her idea why he moved here in the first place, though he wondered earlier if that wasn't just an excuse to visit a place where she wouldn't be recognized on the street.

But this was going to be a problem. His parents would find out what he did, then they'd disown him, his sister would hate him, and then he'd be ostracized by his own loved ones for the rest of his life and—

He fainted.

"Linen?! Linen!" Silk said, immediately rushing to his unconscious body. "What's wrong? Linen, what happened?!"

It was then that she looked up and saw several mares staring right back at her from down the hall, and Silk's face went from worried to outright hostile.

"Who are you all... and what have you done with Linen?"