Silly Horses Wearing Silly Dresses
Rainbow Dash thought herself a model of cool, the bravest pegasus of them all. So it was more than a bit galling when she couldn’t prevent her nervousness from making her hoof tremble as she knocked on the wooden door.
The jitters only got worse as she heard the sound of hooves coming closer and closer.
She wouldn’t go down without a fight, though. She steeled herself, puffed out her chest and spread her wings, trying to look as big as imposing as possible. She was Rainbow Dash, she was fearless, she was awesome, she was—
“Oh, Rainbow Dash, dear! I’m so glad you could make it!” Rarity said as soon as she opened the door.
She was easily rendered speechless as all of her fake bravado left her in an instant. The other mare’s wide smile only made it all the more humiliating.
“Y-yeah, you know me,” the pegasus said, looking away, subconsciously trying to determine all possible escape routes. “I’d never leave a friend hanging.”
“You have no idea how glad I am you agreed to indulge me, Rainbow,” Rarity said as she moved aside to let the pegasus in.
She was being as cordial as ever, but some part of Rainbow’s mind couldn’t help but project a sense of sadistic glee on Rarity’s words. The sing-song of her words, the way she narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, the curl of her lips… It was almost as though she knew.
But she couldn’t. She couldn’t have known. Rainbow had gone to some great lengths to appear as calm and collected every other time she’d—well, every time that they had—or rather, it was Rarity the one who—
“Are you alright?”
“Yes!” Rainbow replied far too quickly for it to carry any sincerity.
Rarity stared at her, wide eyed. “Well, don’t stay outside so long, it’s getting dark and the nights are getting colder.”
“Ugh… Yeah, sorry Rares, it’s just… I’ve been a bit stressed lately, is all,” Dash replied, lamely.
Rarity looked back at her and gave her another smile, it was a warm, sincere smile that almost made her feel better.
“Oh, I can make us some tea for that, after all…” the unicorn trailed off, and just as Rainbow Dash thought she could calm down a bit, she saw it. That unmistakable glint in Rarity’s eyes. That spark that was mischievous, ruthless, vicious… And incredibly intense. “I want you to be as relaxed as possible for this.”
Rainbow Dash heard the front door close. If she could’ve torn her gaze away from the unicorn, she would have looked for any open window.
“Now dear…” Rarity continued with a drawl Rainbow Dash was eighty percent sure was just in her head. “ Shall we get started?”
Hopefully the trembling of her head could be interpreted as a nod and not as the nervous spasms she was sure they were.
“Wonderful!” Rarity suddenly exclaimed, turning around just in time not to see her jump a little. “You get going, I’ll be upstairs in a moment with the tea.”
“Sure, uh… I’ll just, ah, I’ll get going.”
And without another word, Rainbow flew upstairs, taking perhaps an unnecessary detour close to the windows.
Throw her into a timberwolf’s den and she’ll fight her way out. Tell her to perform a Sonic Rainboom, and she’ll do it with a wing tied to her back. Ask her to put her life on the line for Equestria and she’ll do it before anypony can do it first.
But this… Why did she agree to this?
“I cannot stress enough how glad I am you agreed to this, dear,” Rarity said, getting closer and closer to her with each word.
“Don’t mention it,” was her quick reply. She actually wanted to say ‘Don’t say anything, please,’ but that would’ve been rude. Accurate to the way she felt at the moment, but rude nonetheless.
“Honestly, though, I never thought I’d get the chance to get my hooves on you.”
On second thought, perhaps being rude wasn’t as much of an issue as she thought. She was Rainbow Dash, who cared if she was a bit rude? She was known to be bold, brazen, unabashed, and all those other long words. What was wrong with a bit of rudeness between friends? Because that’s all they—
“Yes,” Rarity said, as she set her hooves on Rainbow Dash’s back. Normally, she would’ve reacted in some way, but... “I’ve been looking forward to this for so long…”
“D-don’t say that…” Dash replied, her trembling whispers hanging on the otherwise silent room like a thick cloud.
“Darling, please. Show more confidence, it’s so unbefitting of you to be like this,” Rarity said back, either not noticing or willfully ignoring the building panic inside of the pegasus, and continued to caress—stroke, wait—massage, no!—fondle, that’s worse—touch! Yeah, touch her. Simply touching her body, slowly, hooves going up, up, up, just as her whole body got closer and closer.
“S-sorry, I’m just—Ah!”
“Now, now.” Rarity’s voice came so close to her ears it felt as though she was speaking directly into her mind. Just when had she gotten so close?. “Be still and we can begin.”
No. She wouldn’t show weakness. She would put her hoof down and face the weather, or however that saying went. She wasn’t going to let this get to her. She was Rainbow Dash! She was—
“I’m almost there, dear.”
Not sure she could take more of this.
She felt Rarity’s hooves trace the sensitive spot where her wings met her body and almost jumped at the feeling, but managed to stay still. It took every last bit of her willforce to do so, specially when she felt Rarity’s arms wrap around her barrel.
“Juuust a bit more, and…”
Oh, Celestia. It was too much. This was so wrong, she shouldn’t have agreed to do this. Why had she even considered that —
The tightening fabric around her put a stop to that train of thought, as it did to her breathing for a good ten seconds.
“Perfect!” Rarity said as she stepped back and gave Rainbow Dash a lookover. “Oh, you’re going to dazzle by the time we’re done.”
Rainbow only managed to form a quivering smile that Rarity was quick to return.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, but do try to be still for a while, alright?” The fashionista turned around, humming some melody and started looking for her sewing utensils, and Rainbow Dash allowed herself to slump a bit as a shuddering breath escaped her.
She hoped she could go through with this.
She could still remember the first time she’d let Rarity rope her into modelling for her. It was just a favour for a friend, she’d done a lot of training that day and was going to be too tired anyway, so she didn’t mind posing for her.
If only she’d known…
Before she could get lost in those memories, Rarity came back with a measuring tape and a sketch pad floating in her magic. That smile was still plastered across her face, and Dash couldn’t help but wonder if it seemed just a little bit wider.
Without another word exchanged, Rarity started to work, slithering the measuring tape alongside the fabric draped over her body, stretching, wrapping, and tightening in unpredictable ways, and each movement, no matter how subtle, sent shivers down her spine.
It wasn’t as if this was an alien experience to her. Even if she ignored all the times Rarity had made dresses for her, she’d gotten her measures taken for her Wonderbolts uniform, and that had been much more intrusive. Rarity’s methods were far more chaste in comparison. And yet that made it all seem so much more… intimate.
Dash blinked a couple of times before shuddering.
“Now, now. I know you’re a bit antsy, but trust me”—Rarity suddenly got a lot closer to her—”it’s going to be worth it in the end.”
“Sure, Rares,” the words came out as a raspy whisper. When had her throat gotten so dry? She shouldn’t have downed that tea in a single gulp earlier, she could really use a drink right now. Hopefully there was some of AJ’s hard cider left in her pantry.
Rarity gave her a reassuring smile before walking around her, focusing on getting the fabric to sit right on her withers, and Rainbow did her best to calm herself down.
She wasn’t dumb, she knew why modelling for Rarity’s dresses made her so uncomfortable, but it was also the reason why she kept coming back. It had caught her off-guard the first time. And every time since then. And even sometimes when she was on her own and thought back to it. With tense and hectic motions, she turned her head to look at Rarity and she took a sharp intake of air.
There it was. The way her eyes were open wide, frantically moving back and forth across her body, and the sheer intensity of her stare.
She looked away almost immediately.
She recognised that look. She’d seen that look in Wonderbolt recruits and trainees. She’d seen that look in her flightmates. She knew for sure that was the same look she had when she was performing with the ‘Bolts. That was a look of unbridled intensity, of burning energy directed towards one’s passion, the look of an artist in the middle of their work.
And it was directed straight at her.
Rainbow Dash was no stranger to adoring looks. She was a Wonderbolt! And even before that, she’d always been an amazing pegasus. She knew those looks of admiration, and even craved them.
This was different, though. This wasn’t a dazzled filly rendered speechless by a cool trick, this wasn’t a fan looking at her in wonder. Hell, someone ogling her flank, she could’ve taken. Those flight suits didn’t leave much to the imagination.
No, this wasn’t like any of those. This was different. This was strong. This made her feel weird, it made her feel nervous, funny, but not in a haha way. Rarity didn’t just look at her, she looked through her, her stare penetrated her, piercing her body to the innermost corner of her mind, leaving Rainbow feeling naked despite wearing more clothes than she normally did.
And the worst was that she didn’t hate it.
If she was honest, there was a part of her that enjoyed that kind of attention. And while she did hate that part of her, it didn’t detract from the weird feelings she got when she modelled for Rarity. It just felt so… odd to have her friend stare her that way. She knew her friend didn’t mean anything by it, or at least she hoped she didn’t. Wait, did she? What was there even to—”Eep!”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, dear. The fabric was a bit loose around here, so I had to tighten it a bit,” Rarity said in an apologetic tone.
Rainbow only let out a few whimpers she hoped Rarity would interpret as a sign of her not minding, though she probably knew something was up with her. Celestia, even a foal could probably see how she—
Rarity’s eyes darted across her body, sweeping her back and forth as her lips gave small twitches, threatening to form into a full smile. The pencil levitating on her magic traced line after line on her notepad as she pulled and pushed the fabric on her, molding it to whatever shape the unicorn conjured in her mind.
Okay, maybe she didn’t notice.
She couldn’t help but sigh once more. This was dumb. Her reactions were dumb. She was dumb for letting this get to her so much. She should just try to relax and wait for this to all be over.
“So, tell me Rainbow Dash, how have you been today?”
“Yes!”
It took Rainbow a few seconds to register what she’d said, but when she did, there was no stopping the pained groan that escaped her lips.
“My goodness. You must be quite stressed, huh?” Rarity said, letting out a soft giggle afterwards. The smile on her face only served to further rub in Rainbow’s face how uncool she had just acted.
“Y-you could say that…” She replied, lamely. Like the lame, uncool pony she was. She should just change her name to Rainblow Bash, or something just as lame.
Rarity laid a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulders, and the pegasus at least had the self-control to not jump in the air… more than a few centimetres or so.
“Well, you don’t have to worry. I understand,” she said with a soft, soothing voice that reminded Dash of Fluttershy in a way. Perhaps she—Suddenly, Rarity leaned forwards and whispered in her ear once more, “Just relax and let me do all the work.”
Okay, no. Panic. Panic was a good alternative. She was going to panic and nopony would be able to judge her.
“Honestly, dear, I don’t know why you’re acting so bashful. You should take more pride in your beauty,” Rarity then turned her face ever so slightly towards her, and shot her a playful smirk. “You are rather dashing.”
She knew. She had to know.
Rainbow Dash wasn’t beautiful. Flanks-busting hot, wing-stiffening, she even heard someone call her speed-sensual. It was weird, but any of those felt more right than calling herself beautiful.
And there was Rarity, throwing those words around, making her feel even more uncomfortable. Did she just not notice how she—Oh, right.
The pencil flew across the paper. Left, right, then zigzagging its way up before coming down with one decisive stroke. The sharp movements were mirrored by the way her eyes danced around her body, following the push and pull of the fabric.
Rarity was once more in The Zone, as she called it.
For an instant, Rainbow wondered how it’d be to see herself the way Rarity was looking at her. Her friend found beauty in everything, that was kind of her thing. As dumb as the idea was, if somepony would find “beauty” in her, it’d have to be Rarity.
Lost in thought as she was, Rainbow didn’t notice when Rarity moved from her side until she spoke. Of course she was in just the right place for her voice to caress her ears and weave its way into her mind.
“We’re almost done, just gotta check the neck.”
Dash swallowed hard, trying to ease the knot in her throat. It did her little good since just immediately afterwards, Rarity took a loose piece of fabric and wrapped it tightly around her neck with her hooves.
She could use her magic, why didn’t she use her magic? That was the last thing she needed at the moment.
Rarity was so close Dash could see her reflection on her red rimmed glasses. It was a good thing she had a hard time breathing since she feared she would’ve fogged up her glasses otherwise.
“I can’t tell you how happy you made me when you offered to model for me again, dear,” Rarity said as she wrapped the piece of fabric around her neck, surely looking for a way to make it look like it did in her mind. Dash doubted anything could live up to the way Rarity saw the world. “Really, it’s so good to be able to work with you. It lets me try things that I’m not used to.”
“You can say that again…” Dash muttered. Rarity was probably just teasing her. Making fun of her. She had worked with professional models from Canterlot, for Celestia’s sake! Even Fluttershy was much better suited for this than her.
As if knowing what she was thinking, Rarity gave a playful nudge to her chest. “Oh, stop that. I won’t have you berating yourself. You’re a great flier and athletic girl, for sure, but you’re also a beautiful mare, and don’t you ever think otherwise.”
To emphasise her point, she fluffed the makeshift scarf around Dash’s neck. Dash, however, barely noticed this, focused as she was on the small smile tugging at Rarity’s lips.
“You know I’m glad we get to spend these moments together, we don’t usually, let’s say, hang out all that often.” Rarity tried to put on a playful tone, but as close as she was, Rainbow managed to notice a sad tint to her words. The little furrow of her brow. The way that smile wavered. The sudden sigh. They all showed some sort of gloom hiding beneath the surface.
She didn’t know what to do.
“Yeah… You’re right,” was the only thing Dash thought to say.
“Really, I do consider you one of my closest friends, and it’s a shame we don’t get to spend more time together.”
Rarity lifted her gaze, smiling once more, and sending Rainbow Dash’s mind in a spin. Was she happy because she was modelling for her? Because they were spending time together? Was she sad because these were the only times they spend around each other?
“I… I suppose we don’t have much common ground.” Almost immediately after saying this, Rainbow wanted to slap herself. She would’ve hit Rarity, though, so she didn’t.
“Says the pegasus who spends most of her time on the air.”
Dash snorted. She didn’t mean to, it just sorta escaped her, and by the time she realised what she’d done, it was too late to save face. What was wrong with her? As if she hadn’t been lame enough all afternoon, now she’d gone an—oh, Rarity was giggling.
Soon enough both friends were laughing freely, the other one’s glee further fueling their laughter.
Finally, after a moment that felt both eternal and far too short, they calmed down, and amidst their heavy breathing, Rainbow Dash looked straight at Rarity. The unicorn’s eyes shone with a light that made the earlier sadness feel like nothing but a bad memory.
Dash wondered if she looked just as happy to Rarity. She certainly felt happy, and that was better than how she’d felt all afternoon. It wasn’t as she’d had a bad time, it made her feel weird, but she enjoyed doing this with Rarity. It was more of her being… openly happy. Yeah, that’s how it felt.
She never would’ve suspected Rarity of all ponies would make her feel like that, and through something as un-Rainbow as modelling for a dress. Though Rarity could be just as passionate to her craft as Dash was to her own flying.
Maybe they did have some common ground after all.
“Eh, why not?” Dash said with a shrug.
Before Rarity could react to what she’d just said, she closed the distance between them and gave the unicorn a kiss.
Her lips were soft, and still held the faint traces of the tea they’d drunk earlier. She also felt warm, warmer than the room, warmer than the clothes she was wearing, but probably just as warm as Dash herself felt at that moment.
She tried to move, not sure where to take the kiss next, when she noticed Rarity had gone stiff. Her friend had gone stiff. The friend she had just kissed out of the blue.
Oh, that’s why, Rainbow Dash thought as she started to panic.
She wanted to break the kiss, back away and perhaps fly away until her wings gave out and then run the rest of the way to somewhere nopony could find her. However, just as she was about to turn around, she felt the scarf around her neck tightening and Rarity pushing into the kiss.
It was Dash’s turn to become paralysed as Rarity’s lips held onto her lower lip, giving it the softest of caresses as she opened and closed her mouth around it. Rainbow shook herself of her stupor and tried to imitate Rarity’s movements, sucking and pulling at her friend’s upper lip.
Their lips danced their silent dance, tugging, biting, sucking, and doing whatever came natural to them. Dash didn’t know how long had passed, but she didn't care. It obviously wasn’t enough.
Eventually, the need to breathe won over their desire to remain connected. Their lips parted, but only enough for each to get a shuddering breath of air in. Their muzzles were still touching, their upper lips were still touching each other, she could feel Rarity’s hooves still around her neck, keeping her close to her.
After a few seconds of silence, Dash finally opened her eyes, and if their shared kiss hadn’t been enough to send her heart into overdrive, the look that greeted her made her feel like she’d just performed three Sonic Rainbooms in a row.
Rarity’s half-lidded eyes, the intense blush spread all over her face, a few errant strands of hair falling over her muzzle. It almost made Dash want to dive for another kiss.
“My, oh my…” Rarity trailed off, her words tickling Dash’s lips in a maddening and enticing way. “That was… Rather daring.”
“I’m… I’m…” she had once more fallen into lame replies. Well, enough was enough. She was Rainbow Dash, she was awesome, she was beautiful, and she was going to kiss Rarity again.
“Y-yeah, well… I liked it… A-and I want to do it again!” Dash exclaimed, straightening her back and puffing out her chest.
“Is that so?” Rarity asked her. Even though they were still quite close to one another, Dash could see the corners of her mouth curling upwards forming a playful smile.
“Yeah,” she answered. Quick, short, and to the point.
They held their gazes in silence, neither trying to say anything or walk away from each other. After a few seconds, Rarity spoke once more. “And is ‘kissing’ the only thing on your mind?”
Her voice was devoid of any kind of playfulness. She was more serious than she’d been all afternoon, and her tone sent a small spike of dread through Rainbow Dash. She knew what Rarity wanted her to do: Talk about feelings.
Well, Dash wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. And to her credit, she had spent most of the evening thinking about that.
“Mostly, yeah. But that’s not all,” she started. Less than stellar beginning, but hey, honesty was good and all, if Applejack was to be believed. “The reason… the reason why I always agree to model with you is because… because…”
The words seem to die in her throat. In a fit of anger, she took Rarity’s hooves on her own, looked at her straight in the eyes and started talking in a louder voice than the distance between them required.
“You make me feel weird, okay? When you make me model for you, and you start doing your designs, you get this odd look that makes me feel all… strange inside, but not in a bad way, because it’s not bad, it’s…” she felt as if the wind had been taken from under her wings, but nevertheless, she pushed through. “It makes me feel good. Because I know you’re seeing beauty in me. I don’t care about that sort of thing all that much, but it’s nice to know somepony sees me that way.”
Rarity’s face had a crimson tint to it, then again, Rainbow Dash probably looked the same if not even more flustered.
“Also, you are already kind of, y’know, pretty and all, but I would like it if I could make you feel as beautiful as you make me feel.”
Dash couldn’t take much more sappiness. She simply looked away, but made no effort to move. The room fell into silence after that, a deafening silence that almost made her scream in protest.
She didn’t have to, though, because Rarity broke the silence with a meek voice. “Rainbow… Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Maybe?” Rainbow looked back at Rarity, at the pretty mare who looked even more beautiful with that blush, and suddenly she felt less nervous, if only slightly so. “I don’t know, I’m kinda acting on impulse here, but I wouldn’t have kissed you if I didn’t mean it.”
Rarity kissed her again. It happened too fast for Dash to notice anything else, which should bother her on some level, but she was too busy being kissed by Rarity.
This kiss was softer than the first one, first ones? Who cared, this one was different, but a good different. It was more… comfortable. Like, a nuzzle, but with just the lips.
She liked it.
“I meant every word I said, Dash,” Rarity whispered when her lips left Dash’s, though she remained at a tantalisingly close distance. “I only see you as beautiful because you are, and don’t think I mean just the way you look.”
Dash could feel herself quivering at Rarity’s words. She had to do something about it. Putting in as much bravado as she had left in her body in her words, she shot back, “I am pretty great, aren’t I?”
“That you are, dear…” the unicorn replied as she got even closer and started to rub her cheek against her own. “I suppose I should consider myself lucky to be able to bask in your greatness, don’t I?”
“Well, someone as awesome as me has got to be with someone at least as beautiful as you,” Dash said, feeling herself calm down. Her heart still felt like it should belong to a hummingbird, but it was a start.
“I wish we could talk more, we probably should, but Sweetie Belle is about to come home.” With that, Rarity stepped back, though the smile and blush were still clear as day on her face. “Would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow?”
“Sure,” Dash said, not even bothering to think about it. She was too busy being happy to do anything else. “Tomorrow. Lunch. Together. You decide where to go, I’ll come pick you up.”
“It sounds lovely,” Rarity said, and leaned forwards for another kiss.
Dash wasn’t too sure about what happened after that. She just remembered saying goodbye, more kisses, and the smirk on her face that accompanied her since she left Rarity’s home.
She could hardly wait for tomorrow to come.
Rarity leaned on her window with a smug expression. A deep laugh escaped her as she watched Rainbow Dash fly away, snaking her way through the air towards her home.
Once the pegasus had disappeared, she turned around, facing the discarded dress lying on the floor where they had been standing just a few moments ago.
“Well, it only took me eleven dresses before she finally caved in. I suppose I should finish them,” she said, and started to work.
