Rarity sighed with contentment as she flipped the sign on the door of Canterlot Boutique from open to closed. She stretched out her back and paced across the store floor, straightening out a dress here and picking up pieces of garbage there as she moved towards the sales counter. “Well, that was certainly a productive day.”
Sassy Saddles came out from the back room carrying a stack of parchments, with one opened in front of her face. “It most certainly was! I’m glad that you come in when we’re gearing up for launches. I’d worry that I’d drown if you didn’t.”
“Oh, nonsense,” Rarity said, waving Sassy off with a hoof. “This location runs like clockwork, certainly more so than Carousel runs in Ponyville.”
Sassy peeked out from behind the scroll and gave her a pleased smile, then set the stack of parchments down on the counter. “If nothing else, I insist that you take responsibility for us managing to stay on top of the paperwork. We might even be finished before sundown.” They shared a giggle and Sassy turned around to head back into the office.
Rarity opened the drawers and dove into the busywork of filing invoices and counting bits, while her eyes wandered over the showroom. Most of the displays had been aggressively picked clean, thanks to the generous closeout discount, and she could imagine the racks filled with her new line, the Wondrous Boltline. The ponnequin in the window would catch the sun perfectly, decked out in oranges and golds, showing off the Spitfirebrand Slip in the best spot to bring in ponies looking for a cocktail dress. Further in at the back of the shop, she could see the displays for both the Fleeting Frock and Soarinsuit in their muted pastels that would appeal to the less showy customers. And of course, she could hardly forget, taking up center-stage in the room, the form-fitting and sleek design of the Dashing Rainstorm in all its glory.
“It will be a lovely launch,” she mused to herself as she slipped the drawer shut and locked it.
“The magazines are already talking about it.” Sassy reentered the room with a bundle of envelopes, her face still hidden as she read through letters.
Rarity’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“The preview sketches you sent have been going over really well.” She floated over a hoofful of open envelopes, which Rarity snatched close in excitement. “Fashion Plate was especially taken with the notion that it’s all activewear.”
Rarity grinned as she read over the early drafts of reviews. “Believe me, he should be taken. It was a nightmare designing formalwear that a pony could actually move in, without resorting to activewear fabrics.” She shuddered and made a face. “Would you believe the initial inspiration struck during a game of buckball?”
Sassy’s eyes widened, and she stifled a smile with a hoof. “I suppose inspiration can strike when you least expect it.”
“Isn’t that the truth.” Rarity straightened the letters back inside their envelopes and stood up to walk past Sassy. “It was that, and a comment a dear friend of mine made about how impractical most dresses are for pegasi.” She slipped the letters onto her desk in the back room.
“Oh, goodness!” Sassy chimed. “Rarity, look at this!”
She turned back and trotted over. “What is it, Sassy, dear?”
“It’s from Photo Finish! Not only has she agreed to manage the ad campaign, she wants to know if you’re available to design it! She never makes offers like that!” She waggled the letter at Rarity and flashed a smile.
Rarity stopped short and raised her eyebrows. “Design? But she’s the photographer, I couldn’t imagine trying to fill her hooves.” She rubbed her shoulder nervously. “Surely she would be the best pony for the job …”
“She’s not talking about photos. Here, look.” Sassy floated the letter over to Rarity.
Rarity’s brows rose higher as she read. “An illustrated campaign?” A smile crossed her face. “In the style of antique Wonderbolts recruitment ads? My, but isn’t that a wonderful idea!” She dropped the letter, which Sassy caught in her magic just before it hit the floor, and rushed over to her easel in the office. She flipped to a clean sheet of paper, tossed down a sketch of a pony, and started working in the form of the Spitfirebrand Slip. “It can be bold and colorful, capturing the sense of adventure those old posters always had. And one mustn’t forget that propaganda for recruitment is just as persuasive for shopping!” She stepped back to admire the sketch, and her smile drifted down. “Hmm.”
Sassy came into the room behind her and looked over the drawing. “Oh, that style goes perfectly with the line.”
Rarity nodded absently. She was only working in the dark, crumbly black of charcoal for the moment, but she had recreated the dress in a simplified and exaggerated manner, then smudged in a soft gradient with the charcoal. Colored in with an abstract background, she could picture the text banner framing it in, proclaiming ‘We want you! in our Wondrous Boltline.’ She frowned. “It looks awfully flat.”
Sassy turned to her and raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”
Rarity flipped to the next page and picked up the stick of charcoal. “The pose, it’s too flat. Let me see …” She put lines down on the page with practiced grace and speed. She stepped back and looked again, this time at a three-quarters profile of a pony, facing forward and standing still with one hoof raised in the front. “Hmm … that’s still not right …” She frowned.
Sassy hummed in understanding and rubbed her cheek. “I see what you mean, it’s a line of activewear, the drawings should be full of action.”
“Precisely.” She drew a second pony on the page, this one rearing up to charge, then squinted her eyes and frowned in distaste. Her proportions were all off, leaving the poor pony with a monstrously long neck and spindly hooves of mismatching length. And despite the action of the pose, he still looked stiff and static. Flat. She sketched in a third, and then a fourth pose. She overcompensated for the neck and left the body far too long on one, turning the figure into more of a dachshund than a pony, and the less she thought about what was happening to the last one’s spine, the better.
She glared at the stump of charcoal. She’d drawn pony forms hundreds, if not thousands of times, and they always came out perfectly. Perfectly stiff, static, and flat. Ponnequins. She had lots, and lots, and lots of practice drawing ponnequins.
“What’s the matter, Rarity?”
“Oh, nothing,” she said with a sigh and dropped the charcoal back onto the ledge of the easel. “I’m just dreadfully out of practice.” She smiled weakly.
Sassy shifted her weight back and forth on her hooves. “What do you want to do? What should I tell Photo Finish?”
“Oh, that I accept, of course.” She tore the sheets of sketches off the easel pad and crumpled them into a wastebasket. “One doesn’t turn down an opportunity like this from Photo Finish, because there wouldn’t be a second opportunity.” She turned to her desk and started sorting the sheets of parchment into drawers.
Sassy frowned. “Okay, if you want me to.”
Rarity flashed her another, stronger smile. “If you’re worried about my lack of practice, don’t be, I can be worried enough about it for the both of us.”
A corner of Sassy’s mouth twitched up in a lopsided smile, but she looked unconvinced.
Rarity let out a long breath and finished filing away the paperwork for the night. “Photo Finish said she’d need the preliminary designs in a week, right? That’s plenty of time for me to get back into practice.” She left the office and returned to the main showroom floor. “I am certain that I simply need to knock the rust off, and then it will just be a matter of creating the designs. Fortunately, the style doesn’t call for oils. I might have actually needed the week.”
Sassy giggled and nodded. “Okay, Rarity, if you have it under control. I’ve never had a hoof for drawing, so I don’t really know what goes into these things.”
“It should be simple enough, I’ll just need a live model who can sit for me in some appropriately action-filled poses.” She smiled. “And I know just the mare for the job.” She stopped and turned back to Sassy. “Though I’m afraid that I’ll need to return to Ponyville right away if I have any hope of finishing by the deadline, which is a bit of a problem. I don’t want to ask that much of you.”
Sassy smiled and shook her head. “It wouldn’t be asking too much.” She gestured around at the sparse racks. “Today was the real challenge, but most of the stock is gone now. I’ll be able to keep on top of things here just fine.” As Rarity opened her mouth to protest, Sassy cut her off. “No buts, go home and design the campaign. I insist.”
Rarity felt a well of gratitude and grinned. “You are an absolute miracle-worker, Sassy.” She glanced at the clock and blinked in surprise. “Goodness, the train is leaving soon. I have to run, then.” She hurried back to the office and collected her saddlebag. “Thank you again.”
Sassy followed Rarity out through the front door and slipped the key into the lock. “If anypony is the miracle-worker here, it’s you. We really did finish before sundown.”
They shared a laugh, said their goodbyes, and Rarity headed down the street. As she made her way towards the train station, her smile turned to a frown and her mind raced through everything she’d need to do to finish on time, and with a final design she’d be proud to put her name behind. “I suppose I’ll just have to cross my hooves and hope that Rainbow Dash is actually available,” she muttered to herself as she skidded to a halt in front of the ticket booth. “This will be a lot more complicated if she isn’t.”
Rarity bustled around Carousel Boutique, trying to push away the antsy feeling that she was burning daylight in spite of how early it was. She lifted a pile of cushions and pillows onto the platform in front of the dressing room mirrors, then thought the better of it and dropped them into the middle of the floor. She pulled a chair for herself up close, brought over a side table, and loaded it with drawing pads, charcoal, and paints, then looked at the pillows, and moved them back onto the platform. A knock on the door sent a bolt of shock up her spine, and she forced out a breath.
She walked closer, grabbed the knob in her magic, and opened the door. “Hi, Rainbow, thank you again for coming.”
“You’re not gonna dress me up in a bunch of frilly stuff, are you?” Rainbow asked from the threshold, her snout curled up in distaste. “You’re always dressing me up in frilly stuff.”
Rarity sighed and shook her head. “No, dear, no frilly stuff, I promise. Come in, come in!” She turned and hurried back into the center of the room. “What would you like to drink?” She lifted the pile of pillows and dropped them back into the center of the floor.
“Drink?” Rainbow wandered into the room and turned a skeptical eye over the pillows and chair. “I thought I was gonna be posing, or something.”
Rarity smiled and rolled her eyes and she walked into the kitchen. “Yes, Rainbow, and it might take a while.”
“How long a while?”
“Long enough that you might like a drink. Live modeling can be very tiring, too.” She looked back over her shoulder and watched Rainbow sit down on the cushions.
“Tiring? Psh. Standing still’ll be a piece of cake.”
“Regardless, I’m opting for an iced tea. I have plenty of other drinks. If it makes you feel any better, if we finish and you haven’t needed yours, you are welcome to say I told you so.”
Rainbow chuckled and flopped over backward, tucking her forelegs under her head. “Fine, whatever, just water for me.”
Rarity put together a couple of drinks, laden with fresh ice, and brought them back out into the main room. She set Rainbow’s down next to the cushion pile, adjusted the angle of her seat, and sipped her tea through a straw as she looked around the room. “Mmm. I knew I was forgetting something.” She left her drink on the side table and dragged a spotlight over from the wall.
Rainbow flinched and shielded her eyes as the light flicked on. “Hey, no fair, you don’t get to sweat me out just to make me drink something.”
Rarity snickered and positioned the light to give her the best view of Rainbow, then took her seat. She snapped the foldaway easel together and put her sketch pad in place. “All right! We’re ready to get started.”
Rainbow rose up onto her haunches and popped a kink in her neck. “Started doing what?”
“I told you, Rainbow, dear, it’s been a long time since I’ve drawn ponies from life and I need the practice for a series of paintings I’m making.”
“Yeah, you told me that. but you said you needed me for it. And what sorta paintings are they?” She cocked her head to the side and scratched her neck. “Should I be doing The Thinking Pony? Or, like, Birth of Venus?” She grinned and stood up on her hind legs, covering herself up modestly with her front hooves. The image was ruined by her snickering.
Rarity gave her a flat look, then shook her head and chuckled. “The paintings are for the ad campaign of my new clothing line, which is inspired by the Wonderbolts. I assume you’re familiar with the old recruitment posters?”
Rainbow tottered and dropped back to sitting. “Oh yeah, I love those things, I’ve almost got all of ‘em!” Her smile fell away and she glared darkly at the floor. “All except the weird one where Celestia looks like a war tyrant, nopony ever sells that one …”
“Wait,” Rarity said, her jaw falling open, “you own originals? A nearly complete set? Rainbow, they must be worth a fortune!”
“Psh,” Rainbow waved her off with a hoof. “I like having awesome things. You wanna see them?”
“Yes, absolutely, I can’t imagine how helpful they could be. Though, um …” She cleared her throat and shook her head to clear it. “Another time. Anyway!” She smiled. “The ad campaign is going to be in the style of those posters, with the painted subjects showcasing the clothing line.”
Her chest swelled and her eyebrows shot up. “I’m gonna be in the posters? This is awesome!”
“Well, um …” She hesitated, thinking over the murky ideas for the different paintings in her head, and how the original posters always presented the Wonderbolts as generic everyponies. It might be a mistake to depict current, active Wonderbolts in the campaign, threatening to make them instantly dated in nature, in stark contrast to the timeless quality of the originals. Especially when it came to somepony as strikingly unique in appearance as Rainbow. On the other hoof, it was hard for her to not find Rainbow’s excitement infectious. “Who and what will be in the final designs remains to be seen, so I can’t say, really. What we’re doing right now is working on some more basic sketches.”
Rainbow nodded vaguely, still grinning and giving off an aura that she had neither listened to nor cared about anything Rarity had just said, then stood up. “So what pose am I doing? Something from the posters? What about the Screaming Sergeant?” Rainbow twisted sideways and leaned forward and upward, pointing her hoof up into the air. She glared her eyes, opened her mouth, and froze as if caught in the middle of barking orders.
“That—”
“Or what about Rosie?” She sat down and looked at Rarity over her shoulder, hefting her leg and flexing it into rippling muscles. “I know I can do it. Or how about—”
“Simply pick one, Rainbow.” Rarity smiled indulgently. “I just said I’m not quite sure what I’m going to use yet, but I do need the practice. Anything will do.”
“Anything?” A dangerous flash of mischief crossed Rainbow’s eyes, and she quickly hid a smile. “So like this?”
Rainbow dropped down onto the cushions, lying on her side. She propped herself up with one foreleg and beckoned at Rarity with her hoof, the other leg crossed over her stomach. She had a back leg raised up, pressing her hips forward. She flashed a small smile and half-lidded eyes in a coquettish look, beckoning Rarity as much with her expression as her hoof.
Rarity’s eyes widened and she felt heat rise to her face. The position was as unmistakably identical to an old poster as Rainbow’s previous flurry of poses had been, she’d just gone with one of the more risqué Beauty Page pinups instead.
“What are you waiting for, Rares? Draw me like one of your Prench girls.”
Rarity groaned and hid her face in her hooves.
Rainbow snorted and fell into laughter. “Oh, man, the look on your face!”
Clearing her throat and willing the blush out of her cheeks, Rarity fixed a glare on Rainbow, who had rolled over to kick the pillows with mirth. “I don’t know whether to tell you to take this seriously, or just be impressed by how well you did that.”
Rainbow stifled herself and caught the glare, returning a look twinkling with amusement. “I’m great at everything. Nah, but for real, how about this one?” She went back to the shouting sergeant pose and locked tight.
Rarity took a steadying breath and smiled. “Perfect, Rainbow.” She picked up a stick of charcoal in her magic and brought it to the pad, drawing a circle where Rainbow’s head would be. “We’ll start with a series of short studies, nothing too detailed. I imagine holding your leg up like that would be rather tiring to do for a longer piece.”
“I’m fine,” Rainbow said, breaking her scowl. “You do your thing, I’ll warn you if I need to move or something.” The sergeant face returned in full force.
“Great.” Rarity smiled and drew in the action line, a swooping curve that followed the point of Rainbow’s extended hoof down along her spine and out through her tail, representing the general shape and motion of the pose. She sketched in the shapes making up the rest of Rainbow’s body following the curve, forcing herself to use all of the construction lines she hadn’t used with any regularity since back when she first learned to draw. It only took her a minute or two to get down the basic shape, and she leaned back, scrutinizing her drawing, and then Rainbow Dash.
She’d not drawn the action line steep enough compared to how Rainbow actually looked, making the drawing end up straight and rigid. She’d also misjudged some of her proportions here and there, with too large a head and too small a barrel. She nodded to herself and started again below the first drawing.
The second try turned out better, with her proportions closer and the motion clearer, and the third was something she could be happy with, even if it wasn’t perfect. She smiled and let out a breath, then turned to the next page in her pad. “Okay, Rainbow, that’s enough for that pose.”
Rainbow lowered her hoof and looked over with an eyebrow raised. “Already? You draw fast.”
“These aren’t finished drawings, Rainbow, dear. They’re just sketches.” She flipped back to the previous page and floated the pad around to where Rainbow could see it. “See? I’m just working on getting the shapes down properly right now.”
Rainbow squinted, then nodded, a look of disappointment crossing her face. “Yeah, I gotcha.”
“What’s wrong?”
Rainbow started. “Oh, uh.” She gave Rarity a guilty grin. “Nothing, it’s stupid. This is your thing and I’m just helping.” She turned around to face the other way. “So what sorta thing next? Want me to do that pose again facing this way, or something else?”
“The same pose again would be fine, though perhaps this time not perfectly to one side.” She let Rainbow get into position at a three-quarters profile and started drawing, saying, “And if something’s the matter, please do tell me, I know I’m asking a lot out of you for this.”
“Psh, this is fine Rarity, I’m telling you, I could do this all day.” She flinched again and snapped back into the pose. “Sorry.”
Rarity giggled. “Fine or not, Rainbow, you can tell me.”
Grumbling under her breath, Rainbow let out a sigh and said, “I was just kinda hoping to see what I look like when you draw me.” A spot of color sprung up on the cheek that Rarity could see. “And unless I look like a bubbly stick-pony …”
“Hardly. And I’ll be happy to show you drawings if you want.” She finished a sketch and scrutinized her proportions before starting in on the next. “We’re doing these brief sketches right now with the hope of knocking some rust off, I’d like to do some longer ones with more detail, too. Perhaps one with some paints, if you’re willing. I don’t want to swallow up all of your day doing this.”
Rainbow jittered in her pose. “Well, like … I don’t have anything else that I’ve gotta do, so I guess so. And it would be pretty cool to see a painting of me. How long would that take, though?”
“Probably a while,” Rarity answered, her tone sympathetic. “I would understand if it’s too much. Even if we selected a pose that wouldn’t be too physically demanding to hold for a very long time, it would still be awfully dull.”
“Ehh … we’ll see how I’m feeling when we get to it, all right?”
“That sounds like an excellent plan.” She smiled at Rainbow as she finished filling the page and flipped to the next one. “I really do appreciate you being a good sport about this. Now then, how about for the next pose we do something you wouldn’t mind holding for a longer time, and I’ll draw a sketch with a bit more detail to share.”
“I’m telling you, I can do this sorta stuff all day.” She turned around and hunkered forward with her forelegs low to the ground and her back legs tensed and ready to spring, as if she was stalking something through tall grass, facing the front door with her back in partial profile towards Rarity.
Rarity roughed in the pose a couple of times in the margins of the page until she felt comfortable, then switched over to a pencil. She drew in the action line and blocked out the shapes, erasing here and there and making adjustments. Then she went back to the charcoal and with a single, bold line, drew in the contour of Rainbow’s back.
Charcoal had long been Rarity’s favorite medium for drawing; she loved how rich and black it could get, while at the same time lending so much delicacy to a piece. The stark line left on the page felt so weighty, as weighty as working in ink, but with a single twitch of pressure on the page using her magic, the line smeared downwards into a velvety gray. She pushed and pulled at the dust, looking back and forth between her work and Rainbow, and filled in the roundness of Rainbow’s barrel and the slope of her shoulders, then ran the tip of an eraser over the spine to pull up some of the charcoal and make a highlight. She might have been out of practice drawing poses, but she was not out of practice with the materials.
A smile crept onto her face as she gave depth to what she could see of Rainbow’s front half and started filling in more and more details, making herself look with more focus at different parts of Rainbow. She got down to Rainbow’s shoulders and started smudging and erasing to try and capture the strength and tension in the pose.
“It really is quite remarkable how well toned you are,” Rarity said as she worked. “I can clearly see your deltoids from here, and you’re not even flexing particularly.” Her mouth felt dry, and she took a sip of her tea.
Rainbow snorted. “You know what deltoids are?”
“Only athletes and artists, darling.” She wiped her forehead with the back of her hoof and took another sip of her tea. The stage light gave her a nice vantage point for lots of highlights and shadow, but it didn’t exactly keep the room cool. If nothing else, Rainbow would probably break down and take a drink soon herself, and Rarity wouldn’t have to hear any I told you sos.
Rarity continued her drawing, working back across Rainbow’s body and closer to her perspective, increasing the contrast in her linework, highlights, and shadows to heighten the depth in the drawing. She took the charcoal to as dark as she could on the underside of Rainbow’s stomach, marveling that she could see Rainbow’s obliques in enough detail to render them in the picture. She almost commented again but decided that she was drawing, not hosting a Rainbow Dash Ego Inflation event. She could keep the rest of her appreciation bottled up in her head. She filled in the body and flow of Rainbow’s tail with a few swipes using the side of the charcoal stick, then started in on Rainbow’s back legs.
If the muscles in Rainbow’s front half were impressive based on how hard they should have been for her to see, having a clear view of the back muscles made them all the more exquisite. She could be looking at an anatomical model for how clear she could make out the different muscle groups. And at no point did anything look overdone the way some body-building ponies got, nor did Rainbow look worn thin or dried out. She simply had a frame of solid muscle beneath her soft and sleek form, from her neck down to her rump. She imagined if she bit down on Rainbow’s cutie mark, there’d be a scarce quarter-inch of give before she hit—
Rarity coughed and spattered tea out of her mouth. She slapped at her chest and aimed away from her drawing as she tried to get back air into her lungs.
Flinching up, but then sinking back into the pose, Rainbow called out, “You okay?”
“Yes, yes,” Rarity choked out. “I’m—” She coughed again and tried to hide her face, feeling enough heat burning on her cheeks that she was sure Rainbow would notice it, were she to look over. “Let’s take a short break, I need to go powder my muzzle,” she sputtered, then turned and hurried into the bathroom.
She shut the door behind herself and cleared her throat. Once she was sure the tea had worked its way out of the wrong pipe, she took a few steadying breaths and turned to look dead on at herself in the mirror.
“What is the matter with you?” she admonished. “Biting her? What sort of way to judge density is that?” She glared at herself, and the raised pink splotches on her face. “Listen, I know Rainbow Dash is a gorgeous mare, all of Equestria knows that she’s a gorgeous mare, but this is neither the time nor the place to be expressing that sentiment! You are a professional, Rarity!”
She let her glare fall, and suddenly looked worn down and tired in her reflection. She sighed and rubbed her mouth with a hoof. Such appreciative thoughts that happened to be aimed at mares weren’t exactly a new thing for Rarity, but they weren’t incredibly common, either, and they usually picked more opportune moments. “It was that silly Beauty Page pose,” she muttered, “coupled with the stress of this week. It’s managed to scramble my thoughts and has me talking to myself.” She grumbled under her breath. The come-hither glance of the pinup pose that Rainbow had shot her way ran through her head, and a shiver raced up her spine. “What I could really go for is a cold shower right about now, but I don’t think that would go over well with Rainbow waiting for me.”
She opted to splash her face with cold water in the sink. She wiped herself dry, took a deep breath, and redid her eye makeup. The automatic nature of the act did more to bring her head back into focus than any telling off a mirror or cold water could do, and she smiled back at her reflection when she was done. “There! Now, I will go out there, and I will act like the professional that I am, and then I can revisit this train of thought at a later time. Preferably a time that has a nice, hot bath, a record player, and lots and lots of candles.” She gave herself a wink, grinned conspiratorially, and headed back out into the main room.
Rainbow hadn’t budged an inch, still holding the exact same pose, pressing her butt front and center for Rarity to see. She slapped the thought down hard and stamped it into the floor. “Rainbow, I said we can take a break.”
“I know, I’m not tired. What, did you finish right when you choked on your own spit? Did I look that good as a drawing?” She glanced over her shoulder and waggled her eyebrows.
Rarity huffed out through her snout and clenched her jaw. “No, I didn’t finish.” She looked at the easel and drooped her ears. “But I did spit all over the drawing.” She huffed again, louder, and shook her head. As she looked at the drawing and rued the bleeding droplets of wet charcoal, she took in the piece as a whole again, seeing the mistakes in her form. It looked mostly okay, especially the shading and texture of the charcoal, but the drawing was still stiff and cramped feeling, as if Rainbow Dash hadn’t crouched to spring, but rather had been shoved into a box. “Well … you can see it if you like and ignore the smudges, but honestly, it’s rather flawed.”
Rainbow shrugged. “I’m good, I can wait. Wanna do this one again, or should we change things up?”
Rarity sat down and flipped to a clean sheet of paper, looked back at Rainbow, and caught herself staring at Rainbow’s butt. “…Let’s go with a different pose for a while.” She tapped her chin with the stick of charcoal in thought, then blinked and wiped her face with the back of her hoof. A small streak of gray powder smeared her fetlock, and she rolled her eyes at herself. “I would enjoy showing you a finished drawing, but in truth, the short pose sketches are really what would be the most help for me right now.” She quickly threw down a sketch of Rainbow standing still and looking at her blankly. “It’s coming back to me, but I’m still not getting the proportions right on the first try.”
Rainbow shrugged and turned around to face Rarity directly. “Okay, sure. Here, since we’re going quick, I’ll give you some weirder ones.” She stood up on her hind legs and reached upwards with her wings spread.
Rarity raised her eyebrows, felt sympathy pains in her own legs, and set to work sketching Rainbow as quickly as she could. She put down the first line and realized she hadn’t even looked at Rainbow properly first, then scribbled it out. She glanced at Rainbow, failed to take anything in other than the way her sides rose and fell with as she breathed, and scratched out another line. Flaring her nostrils in annoyance, she clenched her teeth, narrowed her eyes, and tried to look at Rainbow in as abstract a manner as possible.
Half a minute later, she looked at the finished sketch of bubble shapes on an action line, then compared it to Rainbow. Not only could she tell she was off, but she noticed that Rainbow hadn’t moved and showed no signs of strain. She muttered, “I see that at least one of us here is acting like a true professional,” under her breath and started over, taking better care to look carefully at her subject, and then take the same care when copying it down onto the paper. Rainbow’s sides rose and fell with the same steady, unlabored rhythm. It truly was remarkable that a mare could be that thin, and yet she still couldn’t see any ribs, just muscle. She coughed. “Focus, Rarity …” She finished the drawing and felt happy with the result. “Okay, next one, Rainbow.”
She dropped down, swayed to one side, and lifted a hoof up and over her head in an exaggerated stretch. Rarity patted herself on the back for successfully ignoring the interesting things the pose was doing to Rainbow’s sides and ran the charcoal over the page. She finished a first, second, and third attempt on the pose, and by the end, she felt a glimmer of excitement. The first two had been acceptable enough in their shape, but the third one really felt like she’d caught the motion of the pose. She smiled to herself. “Okay, next one.”
They went through one stance after another in quick succession, and as Rarity threw herself into the work, she found her sketches came out more easily on the page. And despite the borderline lascivious displays of strength and flexibility, coupled with the gnawing certainty that Rainbow was turning her head and winking at her with every opportunity, Rarity’s gaze began to land more clinically on Rainbow’s body. There was a rhythm and flow to the work of life drawing, and she felt she’d tapped back into it again. Even when she noticed her proportions were off, the sketches felt livelier, more natural and flowing.
“Excellent, Rainbow, excellent. I think I’ve really gotten what I needed out of this,” she said, grinning at the swirl of lines on the page and how well they corresponded to the pretzel shape that Rainbow had folded herself into. She leaned back in the chair and took a sip of her lukewarm tea, then made a face. “I’m about ready for a break again. If you’d like, we can call it a day, I shall likely be able to manage the rest on my own.”
“Awesome.” Rainbow unfolded herself, which, after having worked out the drawing kinks, Rarity felt zero shame in watching with fascination. She’d have plenty to keep in mind for that hot bath later. “And I’m still good to go. Plus, you haven’t drawn me for real yet, huh?”
Rarity shook her head. “Not yet, no.” She got to her hooves and stretched out her back. There was a great injustice in the world that she felt stiff and sore from sitting in a chair, while Rainbow could bend herself into an origami swan and not show one sign of discomfort. “Care to join me for a cold drink? Not because you’re suffering or anything, just to have something to do, your future gloating can remain intact.”
Rainbow snickered and followed Rarity towards the kitchen. “Yeah, fine, I can see you need the break, this drawing stuff’s gotta be killing you.”
Rarity giggled as she dumped out her tepid tea and set about refilling the glass with ice. “Don’t underestimate me, I have years and years of practice sitting in one place and concentrating on a small project.” She filled her glass with tea and put together a second glass of water for Rainbow, bringing them both to the table. “And before you say it, I know it’s dreadful for me to do that to myself, but I try to balance it out.”
“Psh,” Rainbow waved her off. “I’m not gonna go around telling ponies how they should live. You want my advice, you gotta ask for it.” A corner of her mouth curled up and her eyes flashed with maliciousness. “And you wouldn’t want my advice.”
Rarity rolled her eyes and took a sip of her tea. “I’m quite certain I wouldn’t want to keep up with whatever insane regimen you follow, either.” She rubbed her chin in thought and cast a side-glance at Rainbow. “I’d be tempted to make a similar comment about how little you would enjoy me teaching you to draw or sew due to how much concentration it takes, but today is making me reconsider. You’ve kept still for far longer than I was expecting you to.”
Rainbow chuckled and gulped down some of her water. “Hey, holding weird positions is part of my normal workout anyway. Plus you’re gonna paint me, that’s totally worth it.”
Rarity let out an amused sigh. “Yes, Rainbow, I’ve managed to decipher what it is about this whole process that truly interests you.”
Rainbow smiled, then took another drink and shrunk back in the chair with a look on uncertainty. “Nah, but for real, this is cool.” She paused, then drained the rest of her glass. “I can only draw stick ponies and doodles, you can draw good stuff. It’s cool to see. It’s cool to help.”
A comfortable silence settled for a moment, and Rarity felt a warm smile cross her face. “Thank you, Rainbow.” She took a long sip of tea. “You really have been a terrific help. I felt so out of practice yesterday I was scarcely sure I could see my own mistakes. I think I can do the ad campaign justice now.”
Grinning, Rainbow took the praise with only a tiny amount of silent gloating, then leaned forward. “So if things’re good now, what’s next for us to do?”
“Ah, well. While I could probably manage the poses I need for the posters on my own, it would be better to draw out some studies from a live model first, which I could work from later. It’s always easier to draw from what you see than from your imagination, at least when it comes to making something look real.”
Rainbow shrugged. “If you say so.”
“I do.” Rarity finished her tea and brought the glass over to the counter to refill it, then headed back out into the showroom. “The one main problem I foresee is that most of the poses I have in mind are ones that I’m having trouble picturing anypony being able to hold. I’m half tempted to see if I could borrow Twilight’s camera.”
Rainbow grunted. “Ah, c’mon, I can do it.”
With a severe look, Rarity sat down in the middle of the floor. “This isn’t a question of physique, it’s a question of physics. The primary piece of the campaign features a pegasus right in the middle of taking off.”
Rainbow frowned and knit her brow. “So…kinda like this one?” She climbed up to her hind legs and back into the pose she held with her legs up and her wings open.
“Yes, but with one leg off the ground already, and your flight direction angled to the side.” She sighed through her snout. “I’m not explaining this very well.”
Rainbow dropped back down to all fours, with her expression even further creased with thought. She rubbed her cheek and lowered down to the ground. “So like I was in the middle of taking off like this, right?” She sprung up into the air with her wings open, curving sharply to her right. She leveled out a scant few feet off the floor, swung around in a quick loop, and landed back in place.
Rarity blinked in surprise and smiled. “Yes, exactly like that.”
“Okay, yeah, that’s gonna be hard to hold.” She grinned, then glanced over at the pile of pillows. “If I’m standing.” She walked over to the pile and dropped into them, twisting to the side. She stretched out, showing Rarity her stomach, extended the back and front legs that were farthest from the ground outwards while tucking in the other two, and arched her body at the middle. She opened the wing that wasn’t pinned to the ground and spread her feathers out as if she was catching the air.
Rarity raised her brows and turned her head to the side. Rainbow had perfectly captured the pose in action, as if she was a statue of what Rarity wanted to draw that had been knocked over onto its side. “Rainbow, that’s perfect.” She hurried to her chair, flipped to a new page of her sketch pad, and turned the pad onto its side.
“I know, I’m the best,” Rainbow said, her voice rough and a little strained. “This one’s kinda tough, though, hurry up.”
Rarity grinned with satisfaction as she blocked out the pose in pencil. “Just let me know if you need a break, you are certainly allowed to take them.”
Rainbow grunted. “I don’t want to mess you up.”
“I have the utmost confidence you’d be able to resume the pose after a rest, you seem practically made for doing this sort of thing.” She looked back and forth from the easel to Rainbow, double checking her construction lines, then switched to the charcoal stick. “I will try to work quickly, though.”
The charcoal danced across the page, following the pencil lines as a guide to fill in the forms that she saw. Mindful of Rainbow’s physical limits, she kept the outline and contouring lines a bold and rich black, smudging in a gradient only to add depth and fill in Rainbow’s curves. Of course, it would be easier to work off of the real thing when it came time to paint the actual poster art, but that wouldn’t exactly be feasible. Having a drawing study that highlighted the shape of Rainbow’s figure would be much more useful than one showing off Rarity’s command of light and shadow.
Rarity finished rendering Rainbow’s body. She noticed a tremor of effort start to make Rainbow shake at her arched up middle, though she hadn’t been asked for a break yet, so Rarity kept going. She turned the charcoal sideways to use the length of the stick to scuff in the general shape of Rainbow’s mane and tail, then she turned the pad back upright and looked over the drawing. After drawing in the second wing, mirroring the one she had as an actual model, she made a couple of adjustments here and there where she could tell her drawing had been off but hadn’t noticed without the different angle, double checking where she could with the real thing, who was still holding strong despite the twitching. “Okay, Rainbow,” she said. “We’re done.”
Rainbow let out a groan and melted into the pillows. “Ow.” She dragged herself into sitting, bending in the opposite direction of how she’d been holding herself, and rolled her shoulders in little circles. “I think I get to skip ab day now.”
Smiling, Rarity leaned back and looked over the finished drawing. “I’d say you deserve it, you must have held that for twenty minutes.” She turned her head one way, then the other as she looked. “Well, this one turned out rather nicely, it’ll be perfect for painting the real thing. Come along and look, if you’d like. It isn’t anything particularly fancy, but for what it is, it’s finished.”
Rainbow stood up slowly and stretched out her spine and back legs in a way that made Rarity think of Opal, then walked over to the easel. “Oh, dang.” She went silent for a few moments, looking over the drawing. “You’re really good.”
A pleased smile crossed her mouth and she sunk back into her chair a little.
“I mean, heck, you can even tell you were drawing me on my side, just from looking at it.”
Rarity’s smile fell, and she knit her brow. “What do you mean? Did I miss something?”
“Huh?” Rainbow shot her a confused look. “I just mean, like, these muscles.” She pointed out the shoulder of the extended leg in the drawing. “If I was taking off, this one wouldn’t be flexed, this one would be, but since I was laying down it was the other way around.”
Rarity frowned and nodded. “Because you were fighting gravity from the side, not from underneath you.”
“Yeah. That’s really cool.”
“Hmm?”
“I mean, it’s a drawing. And you can tell what’s flexed in it. And it’s not like I was pulling a Rosie again, I was just holding a leg up. And it’s just a couple of little lines and smears.” She grinned with excitement at Rarity. “You’re really good.”
Rarity’s smile returned and she looked down from Rainbow’s face. She was used to praise and could normally take it very well. It was always pleasing to be recognized by others, but as her career had taken off, it became necessary for her to learn how to process accolades in a humble manner. It wouldn’t do to launch her heart over the moon with every favorable review in a magazine or nice comment from a customer if she wanted to cultivate an appropriately professional image.
Taking such honest praise from Rainbow Dash, a pony with so little interest in fashion she’d once asked Rarity if a tea cozy was clothes or not, caught her off guard and hit her a lot harder than she’d expected. It took her a few moments to remember how to speak. “Thank you, Rainbow.” She swallowed down the warm lump in her throat and tried to force the butterflies out of her stomach. “That means a lot to me.”
Rainbow shrugged and walked back to the pillows. “So what next?”
Taking a long and steadying breath, Rarity looked back over the drawing, made a mental note about which muscles she’d need to adjust on the eventual painting, and tore the page off from the drawing pad.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Rainbow said, a tremor of outrage in her voice. “That one’s really good, don’t trash it!”
Rarity blinked in surprise, then giggled. “Rainbow, I’m not trashing it, it’s drawn in charcoal. If I’d just turned the page, it would have turned into a mess, see?” She flipped back a few pages to one covered in quick sketches. After the charcoal surface had been covered up with another sheet of paper and pressed up against the easel, the crisp, black lines had turned into muddy gray smears and scratches. She showed the page to Rainbow. “I took it out of the book to save it.”
Rainbow’s grumpy expression evened out. “Oh. Weird. Why are you drawing with stuff that gets all smushed like that?”
Rolling her eyes in amusement, Rarity settled back on a new, clean page for the pad and floated the finished drawing over to the floor, off in the corner near her unused ponnequins where nopony might step on it. “Because it smushes around in a lovely way when you control the smushing. There are methods to make drawings less fragile after they’re finished, but I’ll worry about that later.”
Rainbow cast a doubtful, almost protective look at the drawing sitting on the floor, then shrugged. “If you say so. Anyway, what’s next?”
“Well.” She frowned. “That depends. I could do studies like that for the eight other posters I have planned, which would be helpful but not necessary. Each one would take about as long as that last drawing took, and I know you’re not made of time.” She looked to her side table and contemplated her other art supplies. “I could also work with my paints a little, it’s been a very long time since I’ve painted anything. Which also would take up a decent portion of the afternoon, probably several times longer than that last drawing took.” She turned back to Rainbow. “So it depends on what you’re available to do. We could be here for an awfully long time to get everything possible finished, or we could be done now. It’s up to you.”
“That sounds like quitter talk. And I know it’s not for me, because I’ve said I’m fine a million times now.” Rainbow flashed a grin. “So that must mean you’re not up for sitting on your rump and drawing all day.” She popped a kink in her neck loud enough for Rarity to hear and took a deep breath. “Let’s just find out how much we can get done before one of us throws in the towel. Deal?”
“Deal.” Rarity smiled.
Rarity squinted at the easel, then sat back in sudden realization. The big spotlight still shone brightly across Rainbow and the pillow pile, but the rest of the room had gotten dark. She used her magic to flip on the main lights.
She rubbed her eye and looked around the room. The floor was littered with finished drawings. After the first, carefully tucked away by a ponnequins in the corner, they spiraled outward across whatever space was available, leaving the floor a minefield to contend with if she wanted to walk anywhere. The principal studies were further out from her seat, while the closer ones were of different poses, ones she hadn’t considered but that Rainbow thought would be right at home on a Wonderbolts recruitment poster. Rarity would have no trouble admitting that Rainbow was right. Closer still were repeats of earlier poses, drawn at different angles and with a different intent and focus, some with special attention paid to texture, others to light. It was all, if anything, absolute overkill, but that just meant she could take on the actual task of painting the posters while armed to the teeth with aids.
Her gaze returned to Rainbow. Rainbow had suggested that it might be interesting to have a poster where the subject was daydreaming about being in the Wonderbolts. An obvious ploy to avoid throwing in the towel by letting herself take a break, but the idea remained intriguing. Rainbow’s plan had backfired, though.
Rainbow lay curled up on the pile of pillows, profoundly asleep. She’d dropped off shortly after Rarity had started the study and rolled part of the way over, leaving her half on her stomach with her legs tucked in close and her tail curled up around her. Rarity gave up on finishing that sketch, and almost woke Rainbow up to declare victory, but then she had a different idea.
She returned to the easel. With the room brighter, she noticed some mistakes in her lighting and swished her paintbrush in the water jar. She dabbed it in the pat of white gouache on her palette and stippled the paint against the thick cardstock paper.
A while later, the gentle, rumbling snores cut off with a snort. She glanced over at Rainbow, who had her head lifted and a groggy look on her face. Rarity smiled in triumph, then turned back to the easel.
“Mmfuh—whuzzuh?” Rainbow smacked her lips, then took in a sharp breath. “Ah, crud, did I screw up a pose? I can get back into it, what was I doing?”
Rarity giggled. “Relax, Rainbow, you’ve been out like a light for hours. I’m just finishing this up, you don’t need to hold anything.”
“Mmf.” Rainbow sat up slowly and rubbed her face. She smacked her lips again and Rarity saw her pick up the glass of water and chug it down. “And before you start, you don’t get to gloat. Me passing out doesn’t count as giving up.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow and her grin widened. “Well, now, it’s hardly important whether you meant to give up, but I do think that falling asleep would count.”
“It’s not my fault, you were the one who said I should lie down and pretend to sleep.”
“I seem to recall that happening differently.”
Rainbow grumbled, but a smile betrayed her as not being too sore of a loser, and she pulled herself to her hooves in a long stretch. “So d’ja get everything? ‘Cause if not, I could do more.”
Rarity giggled again and looked over the floor. “No, no, I think we got everything. More than everything, really. I even got to try my hoof and painting for a while.” She ran one last stroke of paint across Rainbow’s spine and sat back to take the painting in. “Yes, I’d say I’m just about finished now.”
Rainbow went to take a step forward, then paused and looked for a spot to put her hoof. Rarity chuckled under her breath and made a path, floating a few drawings out of the way and into the kitchen, then scrutinized the painting and stippled in another blob of white paint. Rainbow walked over and stood at the side of Rarity’s chair where she could see the painting. A beat of silence fell over the room.
“… Is that really what I look like when I’m asleep?”
Rarity smiled again. After all the practice, it had been very quick and easy to put down Rainbow’s pose in pencil, and she had dived into the paints right away. At first, she’d painted in the style she planned to use for the posters, with an exaggerated simplicity to shapes and deep contrasts and shadows, favoring a uniformity and cleanliness to the colors rather than aiming to express any sort of texture, but the painting had quickly taken on a life of its own.
Gouache was another of her favorite mediums to work with, as smooth, quick, and delicate as watercolor, but with so much more versatility. They let her capture the softness of Rainbow’s coat, the scratchiness of her mane, and the weight of her muscles, letting Rarity go as dark and bold as charcoal, but also just as soft and velvety. As the painting took matters into its own hooves and started making demands of Rarity, she’d leaned into the riot of textures and the cleanliness of the paints she could use, going for softness and bright pastel, into an almost impressionist style.
“Not always, but yes. I knew you wouldn’t like it if I made you look too cutesy, so I tried my best to just paint you exactly how you are.” The exact way Rainbow looked was peaceful. The heightened shadow from the spotlight gave the painting a real sense of solidity, while the color palette lent it a soft, ethereal glow. Rainbow slept on the stack of pillows with serenity, with an air of carelessness and confidence.
Rarity looked around the painting, searching out flaws to fix, then dipped a liner brush in black paint and signed her name in the bottom corner. “You really are quite beautiful, Rainbow, even if what you’re aiming for is to be cool.” Her smile widened. “You are cool, too, but that doesn’t stop you from looking beautiful.” She looked away from the painting. She wasn’t sure what expression she’d been expecting on Rainbow’s face, but it certainly wasn’t surprised awe. “Rainbow?”
Rainbow’s gaze remained fixed on the painting for several moments while Rarity sat in silence, fidgeting in her chair. The silence stretched out to a maddening length before Rainbow spoke.
“Wow, Rarity. You didn’t have to do all this.”
Rarity knit her brow in confusion. “What?”
“I mean, you could have just bought me dinner.” She scuffed her hooves on the floor. “Not that I’m complaining. This is, like, the coolest way anypony’s ever asked me before.” She smiled at Rarity, not the normal sort of smile full of humor that Rarity was used to from her, something small and shy, and before she had time to think, Rainbow leaned forward.
Their lips met. Rarity, who was not at all expecting a kiss, let alone prepared for one, felt Rainbow press up against her closed mouth gently, but firmly. Rainbow felt warm and soft, softer than the sorts of kisses she’d received from stallions, but with more confidence than she would have guessed a kiss from a mare would have. Not that she could have known, she’d never been kissed by a mare before. She’d need to throw out those preconceptions. A tiny sigh escaped through her snout and her eyes fluttered closed. Rainbow smelled nice.
Before she could lean into the kiss, Rainbow pulled back, and she opened her eyes again. The shy smile was gone, replaced with a look of caution and guilt. “Or, uh … you just said that stuff and did this because you meant it like a friend?” She coughed and cleared her throat. “I’m an idiot. Sorry.”
She turned abruptly and scanned the floor for free space to walk on, her wings twitching at her sides.
Rarity shot out a hoof and touched Rainbow’s shoulder. “Wait, Rainbow, hold on.”
Rainbow flinched, then looked at her with a grimace. She slid her hoof up Rainbow’s shoulder, to the back of her neck and the bottom of her mane in a gesture of comfort and compassion, and Rainbow’s expression faltered, turning reserved and expectant.
Rarity cleared her throat. “I … this was all meant as a friend, but …” She smiled. “If I were to say I never thought of you that way, I’d be lying. You are quite beautiful. And you’ve given me an awful lot to look at today.”
Rainbow returned the smile and a spark of confidence came back in her eyes. “Okay, good, I wasn’t imagining things,” she muttered, half to herself. “Uh. Sorry. Shouldn’t have kissed you without making sure first.”
Rarity grinned and lowered her head. “I promise to not hold it against you.” She pulled her hoof back and hugged herself across the middle, rubbing her shoulder. “I must admit that what’s caught me most off guard is that the feeling is apparently mutual.”
Rainbow shrugged. “What, you need me to tell you you’re beautiful, too?” She smiled playfully. “Do you need me to tell you the sky’s blue and ducks quack while I’m at it?” She shuffled her hooves and looked down. “Because you are.”
Rarity chuckled to cover up the flush of heat rushing to her cheeks. She definitely didn’t know how to take a compliment gracefully from Rainbow. “I didn’t know that I was particularly your type.”
“Well, I mean …” Her eyes drifted back to the painting and she smiled again. “Even if it wasn’t your plan to seduce me by making something that’s super nice, you still did that.” She shrugged. “And I didn’t know I was your type, either, but then we spent the day with you checking me out.”
Rarity laughed again. “Honestly, dear, could you or anypony with eyes blame me?” She ran a hoof through her mane. “I did try to be professional, but I see that I didn’t quite manage it. You were awfully distracting.”
“Hey, while you were checking me out, I was checking you out, so it’s fair.”
Grinning, Rarity playfully shoved Rainbow’s shoulder. “Oh, stop, I spent the whole time sitting on my rump, hunched over an easel. I probably have paint in my mane. There’s nothing provocative about that.”
“You spent the whole day sitting on your rump, working hard, doing something you’re really good at,” Rainbow said, in a flat, matter-of-fact tone. “That’s really hot.”
Rarity flushed again, and she didn’t bother to hide it. “If you insist as much, I won’t argue with you.” She looked back at the painting until the heat left her face, then fidgeted in her seat. “I suppose the next question is, what do we do now?”
“I could kiss you again.”
Rarity snorted and flashed Rainbow a smile. “Now that I’m expecting it, that sounds rather nice, but I meant more in general, Rainbow.”
“So then … dinner? I’m starved.” She grinned. “But seeing as how that painting thing’s still really working on me, I’m buying.”
Rarity giggled. “Still not exactly what I mean, but I suppose it answers the question anyway. Dinner would be a good start. Well, no, you were right the first time, a kiss would be a good start, then we can go to dinner.”
The grin turned back into the small, shy smile, and Rarity felt much more prepared as Rainbow leaned in again. She closed her eyes and wrapped her hooves around Rainbow’s neck as their lips met. Soft, warm, and gentle. She could feel the muscles in Rainbow’s shoulders, could feel their power and firmness. All the eyefuls or Rainbow’s figure she’d stored for that bath didn’t do the real thing justice. Her lips opened and Rainbow pressed in closer. Confident, bold, inviting. Comforting. Hungry. Rainbow smelled good. Rainbow smelled very good.
Rainbow pulled back, and they were both out of breath. Rarity was reluctant to let go. It wasn’t just that she’d never been kissed by a mare before, she realized. She’d never been kissed for real before. “Goodness.”
Rainbow pressed their foreheads together. “Where do you wanna go for dinner?”
“So long as you kiss me again, we can go wherever you’d like.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “In that case, we could skip dinner, and I could take you back to my place and show you my Wonderbolts posters.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d take that as a euphemism for something rather lewd.”
Rainbow chuckled, and stepped back from the embrace, nearly treading on a drawing. “Jeeze, Rares, what sorta girl do you take me for?” She waggled her eyebrows and winked.
“I’d be tempted to say yes if I wasn’t so hungry.” She smiled impishly. “And I’m probably referring to going to your place solely to look at your posters, but that really depends on how dinner goes.”
Rainbow’s cheeks turned pink and her grin widened. “Guess I gotta pick somewhere really good to take you.”
“Hey now, you haven’t earned the right to pick the place just yet.” She leaned forward across the arm of the chair, wrapping her hooves around Rainbow’s neck and bringing their muzzles close together. “You still have to kiss me again.”
Rainbow didn’t argue.
Rainbow heard a knock at her door and nearly fell out of bed. She grumbled and straightened herself out, squinting at the sun, which had only crept halfway past the horizon. “Morning ponies,” she muttered before stumbling out of her room. Another series of knocks thumped out, and she called, “I’m coming, I’m coming!” She yawned and rubbed her eye as she glided down to the lower floor.
She opened the door. A mailpony stood out on the ring of cloud surrounding her doorstep, holding the twine around a package in his teeth. A very large, rectangular package. “Derlerverer fer Rernber Dersh,” he forced out.
The sleep disappeared from her mind and she fought to keep the smile off her face. “That’s me, I think.” She held out her hooves. He dropped the package into her grip and her back legs sunk three inches into the cloud. “Dang, this is heavy.”
“I know,” he said, spitting a few threads of twine out of his mouth. “I need you to sign for it.”
Rainbow turned and set the box down on the floor in her house, holding her breath. It didn’t fall through the reinforced cloud, and she sighed in relief. She turned around, grabbed the quill, and scribbled something that might have been her name on the mailpony’s sheet of paper. He nodded and took off.
Rainbow shut the door behind her and looked down at the package. It was big enough she could lay on it and not hang off the side, and close to a foot tall. On the top side, just under the twine, was a letter taped into place. Her name took up the entire front of the envelope in flowing cursive, with the I dotted in a heart. Below her name, written in tiny block letters, it said, ‘Open me first.’ She smiled and pulled the letter free.
Dearest Rainbow,
It has been absolute torture not getting to see you after sharing such a wonderful evening, and I’ve spent the better part of the last few weeks either covered from mane to hoof in paint or running back and forth between Canterlot and Manehattan, but the ad campaign is finally ready, and I couldn’t have done a thing without your help. Words could not possibly express my gratitude, so I opted for something a bit more substantial. Open the box now and take a look at what’s on top.
There was a break in the letter, and Rainbow rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Always gotta be all dramatic, huh?” She snapped off the twine with her teeth and tore back the tape. She popped open the flaps of the box and peeled back a sheet of bubble wrap.
Inside a simple, black frame behind a sheet of glass, Celestia glared at her. The princess had been painted in dark and dirty pastels in heavy shadow, casting her expression out from the center of the frame with a hoof raised high. The silhouettes of three Wonderbolts arced into the air behind her, trailing clouds of smoke. Stamped in big, bold letters above and below the painting, Rainbow read, ‘Celestia wants YOU in the Wonderbolts. Join now.’
Rainbow’s jaw dropped open. She’d only ever seen the poster in blurry photographs, in books, or on the back of trading cards, she’d never seen one in real life before. The descriptions hadn’t done it justice. With the grungy colors and deep shadows, Princess Celestia looked menacing, powerful, maybe even downright evil, which stood in such a stark contrast of the real pony Rainbow knew that it was instantly funny. Her cheeks hurt from her smile, and she struggled to tear her eyes away from it and go back to the letter.
It’s an example that’s not in the best condition, I’m afraid. They’re awfully rare, as I’m sure you know, but it was remarkably free of sun damage, and most of the creases were ironed out perfectly, if not all of them. I thought it was a worthy addition to your splendid collection as is, though perhaps one day you might stumble upon one in better condition. And before you say anything, I forbid you to ask me a word about the cost. It is a gift and it is uncouth to ask about the price of gifts. Simply keep it and enjoy it.
Rainbow’s gaze went back to the poster with a more critical eye. She noticed a few faint lines running through the poster where folds had been repaired as best they could, but where the ink had been damaged. There were a few nicks and tears along the edges, and the bottom right corner had been torn completely away, but honestly, Rarity was too modest. It was in better shape than some of the current posters in her collection. She shook her head and grinned at it, running her hoof along the frame lovingly. “Dang, Rarity,” she muttered to herself, “you sure know how to treat a girl.”
Rainbow idly popped one of the bubbles in the wrap with a satisfying snap and considered taking the poster out to go hang it up in her room. She had the perfect spot right above her bed she’d been holding off on filling for when she finally found a Tyrant Celestia for her collection. The box, however, was far thicker than what the single framed poster needed, and while it was tempting to ransack the rest of it, she pictured Rarity glaring in disapproval over her not playing along with the letter. She picked it up again.
Below that, if you didn’t peek and ruin the surprise, is quite a bit more to add to your collection, though I wouldn’t call them originals per se. Your help in making this ad campaign a reality was truly unmeasurable, and it seemed only right that you have a full set of the first printing. I’m not certain any of them are in your particular style to where you’d wish to display them, so I promise to not be offended if you keep them in the box. Who knows, depending on how this campaign goes, my little posters might be worth something one day.
Rarity had drawn in a wink at the end of the line, and Rainbow returned her attention to the box. She carefully slipped the Tyrant Celestia poster out of the box, still mostly wrapped in its protective casing of bubbles, and unwrapped the next poster. She snickered and shook her head.
While not a direct copy of Tyrant Celestia, the first poster took clear inspirations from it, with a mare front and center, raising her hoof and doing a serviceable impression of her impression of the Screaming Sergeant. Three ponies arced above her in the background, though much closer than the ones in the original recruitment poster. Rather than just being silhouettes, she could make out a stallion and two mares. The Screaming Sergeant mare wore the same formal commander regalia that Spitfire normally wore, but the three others were dressed to the nines as if they were attending a dinner party. Clothing like that would not possibly be comfortable to fly in, unless Rarity really could work miracles. The text proclaimed ‘I want YOU in our Wondrous Boltline! Available at Canterlot Boutique.’ The flying pony in the middle, who was the clearest aside from the commander and wearing an orange and gold dress, was arched in the air as if she’d just taken off at an angle. Exactly the same as the first long pose she’d held for Rarity. As she looked closer, she nodded in approval. The painted pony’s shoulder muscles were flexed correctly.
She removed the frame from the box and looked at the next poster. She grinned again. She saw herself, whispering something slyly to Fleetfoot in the middle of a night club. It wasn’t really her, the pony was peach pink and had the wrong mane style, but Rarity had caught her build and expression perfectly. The not-quite-Fleetfoot listened with a look of interest, wearing a soft, pastel blue dress and a matching trilby hat. She held herself closed off and paranoid as if she was a spy in a noir novel. The Rainbow in the picture played the femme fatale role and wore a fiery red and purple dress that clung to her body, with accents of other colors along hems and the belt making up a rainbow. The nightclub around them bled away to midnight blue, with large, yellow text above and below the two of them insisting ‘Loose lips sink airships.’
“Psh, not my style, these are exactly my style.” She looked through the next few ads, recognizing the recruitment posters that inspired them and the current members of the Wonderbolts who inspired the dresses themselves. All of the figures had a level of something larger than life to them, with smooth and confident lines where she’d expect there’d actually be folds and creases, and everything had a very rounded, smooth quality to it. But Rainbow couldn’t deny how much life and character brimmed in the ponies. They all looked like they’d been caught in the middle of movement, with real strength and weight behind their actions. She didn’t know how much help she’d really given to Rarity and how much of it was an over-the-top thank you, but damned if the final result didn’t look great.
Rainbow looked at the mounting pile of posters and bubble wrap cluttering up her floor and picked up the letter before she made a bigger mess.
I’ll be coming back to Ponyville in a few days, hopefully next Saturday afternoon. If you’re available, I’d love to meet for dinner. It’s my treat this time, though if you play your cards right, I might even let you pick the place again.
The letter was signed with a ruddy red lipstick kiss.
Rainbow grinned and rubbed the back of her neck. She had no idea what she had planned for her Saturday night previously, but whatever she had going on was getting scribbled out and replaced with ‘hot date.’ She folded the letter up and noticed a post-script written on the back. It said, ‘The last one is an extra surprise.’
Dropping the letter, Rainbow went back to emptying the package, admiring Rarity’s awesome paintings along the way, until she got to the bottom. She pulled the last frame free. It held the portrait that Rarity had painted that night while she was sleeping.
Rainbow spent the rest of the morning flying around her house, deciding where to hang all of the new posters she wanted to display. The most important one took its spot above her bed.
She hung the Tyrant Celestia one in her living room.
Author's Note
Heyooooo~!
It's been far too long since I last put up a brand new story, long enough I had to refresh my memory on how to do it. This one was a lot of fun to write, and I'm rather happy with how it turned out. Hope y'all enjoyed it, too. Thanks for taking the time to check it out. 
