That's What Makes You Beautiful
“Grr!”
Twilight bore her eyes into the bathroom mirror, staring intently at the horrid, evil, and offensive villain that saw fit to wreck her evening.
“Stupid split ends!” She levitated her brush over and carefully ran it through the rebellious follicles several times. “Finally!”
She gazed intently at her now split-end free bangs, smiled and… four more popped up in its place.
“No!”
This had been her whole evening: running around the castle in a panic trying to make sure everything was great. No, not great. Great wasn’t good enough. Great was substandard. She was trying to make sure everything was perfect.
After all, that’s what Rarity deserved, right?
Her dress was fine: a simple and delicate article, navy blue in color with a soft black lace trimming around the edges. She’d even go as far as to say it looked beautiful. If only she herself could match up to it.
“Spike! I need your help! It’s an emergency!” Twilight stared pitifully at her reflection as she heard the echo of footsteps race toward her.
“Yeah, Twi? What’s up?” The dragon took a few steps into the bathroom, eyes wide with concern. “Are you alright?”
Twilight turned to him. “Yeah… Well, no, not really.”
“What’s the matter?” He questioned. “You didn’t get toothpaste on your dress, did you?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, not that. It’s my mane! No matter how much manespray I use or many times I brush it or comb it, parts of my bangs keep flying up into the air.”
“Let me take a look.” Spike wandered a bit closer to her and gently took her head in his claw so he could analyze her mane a bit closer. “You know, when I started getting my growth spurts the past couple years, I didn’t really think being a personal beautician would be one of the side-effects.”
Twilight let out a small chuckle, her first of the night, actually. “Well, I’m grateful for it, Spike.”
“Hmm…” After another second or two, Spike snapped his claws and let go of her. “Okay, keep your head still for a second. I got this.”
Twilight kept her head down low as per request and heard him shuffling around her. She could always count on him to help out when she needed, even with small or silly problems like this.
“Okay,” he said, returning to her. “Close your eyes for a second.”
Twilight did just that and felt a waft of cold mist spray over her, a few outlying droplets bouncing off her face. Immediately afterward, she felt Spike’s claws gently run through her mane, pushing it in various directions. She was almost nervous about what he might be doing and how it could undermine all the effort she put in already, but the dragon knew his stuff.
“So, here was the problem from what I could tell,” Spike said. “You used your manespray when your mane was a bit too dry. It’s a lot thinner around your bangs so it dries faster than the rest of your mane. So, I just sprayed some water in there to moisten it and I’m using some of Starlight’s ‘Spiffy Pomade’ she likes. The stuff is a beast when it comes to this stuff.”
Twilight smiled as he continued his work. “Since when did you become an expert about all this? I think you’ve learned even more since the last time I needed your help.”
“Heh,” Spike replied. “It was a tradeoff when me and Starlight started dating. She started taking an interest in comic books and concerts, and I learned about mane styling and deep tissue massages.”
“That’s sweet, Spike.”
Twilight loved how close Starlight and Spike had gotten the past few years and how well they’d been able to hit things off. In a way, it was always an inspiration for her to have a relationship like theirs at some point. With any luck, she’d have just that.
“Alright, we’re done!” Spike let go of her head. “Take a look and tell me what you think.”
Twilight flipped herself around toward the mirror again, butterflies in her stomach. “W-Wow! It looks great!”
As opposed to the frazzled mess she saw before, her bangs were now delicately brushed to the side and appeared to have even more volume and body than before. He even managed to position it to where the colors stood out more.
The dragon nodded and put on a confident smile. “What can I say? I’m a professional.”
Twilight took a few more moments to look herself over. Her mane was good, her dress was fine… but she still looked far from perfect.
She let out a deep sigh and drooped her eyes toward the ground.
“What’s wrong now?” Spike asked, cocking his head to the side.
“I don’t know…” Twilight brought her vision back up toward the mirror. “My mascara seems to be a bit off, and my fur is kinda matted on my left cheek and my eyes look too big and my—”
“Okay, stop, stop, stop.” Spike waved his claws back and forth. “I’m just gonna spare us both the ‘you look beautiful the way you are’ spiel for now and get right to the point: What’s going on? I’ve never seen you so preoccupied with how you look.”
Twilight turned toward him. “Spike, don’t you get it? Rarity, the subject matter expert when it comes to all things beautiful and fancy, is coming over for a dinner date tonight! In thirty minutes, actually! She’s so pretty and elegant and graceful and… and… I’m just me. And 'me' isn’t all that great.”
Spike deadpanned. “Twilight.”
She frowned. “She’s gonna come over tonight looking amazing as always and she’s going to see me and… I just can’t hold a candle to her.”
“Twilight.”
“I mean, have you seen her mane? It’s like she doesn’t even try—”
“Twilight!”
She snapped out of her tangent. “Huh?”
Spike looked her dead in the eyes. “Are we done with the pity party yet or do you need a few more minutes? I can wait.”
“We’re done.”
“Good!” Spike returned back to his usual smile. “Now, let me explain three things to you. I feel like we’ve had this conversation before, but we’re doing it again. Number one, you look beautiful. I’ve always thought so, Starlight thinks so and I know for a fact Rarity does. Number two, I’ve known Rarity for awhile. We’ve been friends for quite a few years at this point so I can confidently say what I’m about to say.” Spike cleared his throat. “Rarity does not care about every small detail of how you look. In fact, I’d say looks rank way toward the bottom of what she cares about. What matters to her, as cliche as it may be, is how they are on the inside, the effort they put into a relationship, and if they’re genuine about how they treat her. That’s it.”
Twilight blinked a few times before looking at herself in the mirror once more. “But Spike… what if she thinks I’m not putting enough effort into our date tonight? What if—”
“Don’t even start with the ‘what ifs’,” Spike said. “You’ll drive yourself crazy with that. And trust me, you’ve put in effort tonight and it shows. She’ll see it, too.”
Twilight cracked a small smile. “You think so?”
“Oh yeah, totally,” Spike said. “But honestly, it doesn’t really matter what I think. You’ll see it for yourself when she gets here in a few minutes.”
“Thank you, Spike.” Twilight reached out and pulled him into a brief but tight hug. “You’re the best.”
“I know, I know. What can I say? It’s a full-time job being this awesome.”
Twilight smirked and rolled her eyes. “Oh, I’m sure. Now, what was that third thing you mentioned?”
“Third?” He scratched his head for a second before raising a claw. “Oh yeah! The stir-fry Starlight made for you guys. She put in a bit too much red pepper, so you know, be emotionally prepared for that.”
Twilight gulped. “Oh, that sounds lovely.”
“Nah, it’ll be fine,” Spike said with a wave of his claw. “Just make sure to prepare some excuses in advance to duck into the bathroom. Starlight and I ate spicy tacos for our first date and yeah… it wasn’t pleasant.”
“Oh boy…”
“Anywho!” Spike said, taking Twilight’s hoof and leading her out of the bathroom. “Let’s get downstairs, shall we?”
Twilight nodded and followed him. “Alright. Let’s do this.”
Twilight paced nervously back and forth in the living area. It was getting closer.
It was kind of a strange feeling. She’d known Rarity for a long time, but now all of a sudden… things were different. They were frightening. Some of it she could chalk up to first date jitters, but she couldn’t help but feel strange about the whole ordeal. Not even a year ago, she could visit Rarity and not think twice about how she looked. Now, how she looked or what she said was everything.
Life is strange.
“Alright, Twilight,” Starlight said, trotting into the living room with Spike at her side. “Dinner is ready and in the pan on the kitchen counter. It’ll keep warm for another thirty minutes or so.”
Twilight nodded. “Thank you, Starlight.”
“Of course!” she replied with a smirk. “You didn’t honestly think I’d let you try and make a first date dinner, did you?”
“Yeah, probably for the best,” Twilight said.
“On that note,” Spike chimed in. “Me and Star are going to Manehattan for the night. Wings of Plague are hitting up the Foo Bar for their comeback tour and there’s no way we’re missing that.”
“Most definitely,” Starlight replied, giving Spike a quick hoof-to-claw bump. “On that note, we’re also grabbing a motel room for the night, so you know, if things get a little frisky…”
Twilight blushed. “Guys, thanks again.”
“It’s what we do,” Spike said. “Anyway, let’s head out, Starlight.”
He took her hoof in his claw and she used her magic to open the door.
“Have a great date, Twilight!” Starlight called out before shutting the door behind them.
And now she was on her own.
The next few minutes primarily consisted of inconsistently pacing from the kitchen to the living room, ill-fated attempts at anxiety control and trying to ignore the desire to teleport herself under her covers so she could just scream her worries away into a pillow.
However, that was all cut short when a few knocks rapped on the door, breaking Twilight’s concentration on her own thoughts.
She darted her eyes toward the castle entrance and took a deep breath. Her heart rate was picking up, sweat droplets forming on her forehead, her legs beginning to shake as she slowly strode over to the doors. She couldn’t remember the last time she was this nervous.
Supervillains couldn’t come close to first date jitters.
“Alright, Twilight… this is it.”
She finally reached the doors. After taking one more deep breath to steel herself, she opened them and put on her most confident smile.
“Good evening, Rar—” The sight before her eyes was not what she expected. “...Rarity.”
The usually gorgeous and pristine Rarity was far from it. Her mane was disheveled and tossed about. Her mascara, which was obviously from earlier in the day, had run a bit creating black streaks on the corner of her eyes. Her normally picture perfect coat was matted and uneven.
And Rarity herself looked upset beyond all reason.
“A-Are you alright, Rarity?” Twilight asked.
The unicorn pouted. “Oh, just say it, Twilight. I look simply terrible!”
Twilight gently stepped to the side, allowing Rarity entrance. The white mare kept her head down as she slowly stepped in. Before Twilight could get a word in, however, Rarity continued.
“I’m so sorry I had to come to our date in such disarray, but there was nothing I could do!” Rarity shook her head. “Right before the shop closed, Mrs. Cake came in with an emergency order for five embroidered tablecloths and of course I can’t simply turn down a pony in need! But by the time I was done, it was already time to come and I would never dream of being late to our first date but here I am and—”
“Rarity,” Twilight said, gently putting a hoof over her mouth. “Thank you so much for coming. You look wonderful.”
Rarity frowned. “Please, Twilight, you don’t need to spare my feelings. It’s you who looks amazing. Meanwhile, you probably think I didn’t even try at all.”
Twilight shook her head. “No, Rarity, the fact that you came anyway instead of canceling means more than anything to me.”
“Cancel?” Rarity gasped. “I would never do such a thing! What kind of mare would I be if I didn’t honor our date? It simply wasn’t an option.”
Twilight chuckled. “And that’s why you’re beautiful.”
Rarity’s lip quivered ever so slightly. “You really think so?”
“Mhm, I know so.” Twilight gently planted a kiss on her cheek and took her hoof. “Now, let's forget all the craziness and eat, okay? You’re probably hungry.”
Rarity put on a small grin and nodded. “Yes, I suppose I am.”
Twilight led Rarity to the dining area so their first date could officially start and she already knew it was going to be great.
Author's Note
This was another experiment in my personal challenge to write ships I'm not a fan of. I'm hoping to stretch my abilities and character writing by taking on stories I'm not really comfortable with.
I hope you all liked it!
