The Perfect Photo

by gapty

Rating: everyone
Tags: Equestria Girls, Crossover, Random, Photo Finish, Slice of Life, SCP Foundation, Other
Length: 3811

Photo Finish’s assistants find a new camera. However, instead of capturing a picture, it shows the desire of the shot person.

Pixel and Violet, Photo Finish's assistants, find an instant camera which shows the desire of the captured person. But what will happen if they capture a picture of Photo Finish?

This story is part of the A New Empathy-series, but can be read on its own.

SCP 978 is from the SCP Foundation and was written by "agatharights".

Huge thanks to RDT for proofreading this story!
It was written for the Bean's Writing Club prompt "An Artistic Touch".

Published 2022-07-20 13:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-07-20 13:00:01 UTC

Desire Camera

Cameras are magical.

They are able to capture one moment and show it for all eternity. In modern times with all the complex technology, they are taken for granted and stopped being appreciated for what a wonderful tool they are.

Photo Finish didn‘t, that‘s what Pixel Pizzaz admired about her. She was hunting for the perfect picture, shooting for a moment captured for all eternity. She knew the power of the cameras, the magic they can give. Also she paid well, but that‘s a secondary reason she and Violet worked for her.

The demands were high, they had to work very quickly, put makeup on the person and set up the lights and backgrounds. Also, they had to keep up with her when she ran away, searching for the next moment. But whenever Pixel saw the results, it was all worth it.

~~~

“What is this?” Violet asked.

“An instant camera,” Pixel answered.

“I see that too. Did you put it in there?”

“No.”

“Maybe Photo put it here.”

“I doubt it, she already has a better camera.”

“Then I‘ll bring it later to Principal Luna, we need to hurry!”

Just in time they got to Photo Finish, who already found a target.

“Hold it! Smile! No, not like that!”

Pixel and Violet quickly added a background, put on makeup on Micro Chips sitting at a computer and placed the lights.

“Perfect! Yes! Give me…”

She clicked on the camera, but no flash or sound came out from it.

“Battery low? Battery low?! What is this?!”

“Didn‘t you put it on the charger?” Pixel asked Violet.

“I thought it was your task!”

“What do we do now?

“Camera! Give me a camera now!” Photo Finish yelled in demand.

“The other one! I’ll give this one to her, you search for the reserve batteries!” Pixel ordered.

Violet took off. Pixel checked if the camera worked and then gave it to Photo Finish, who immediately took a picture with it.

“Perfect!”

She took the photograph and looked at it, only to stare at it silently. Pixel knew that something wasn‘t right. Was the camera that bad?

“What is this nonsense? It didn‘t capture the moment! Useless!”

She threw the camera away. Pixel caught in right before it hit the ground, then picked up the photo that it had taken. It still had the photo of the boy, but he was standing at a podium holding a Nobel Prize.

“Wait, how did she edit that photo that quickly?” he asked her.

“I have no idea…”

“Ehm, can I take the photo? I really like it.”

“Sure.”

This was strange. How did the camera do it? Was this some kind of magic the Rainbooms had to deal with?

“I‘ve got the batteries! Did it work?” Violet came back.

“Kinda… let me test something.”

Pixel took a picture of Violet, then looked at the photo the camera printed. On it was Violet, but on a beach lying on a beach chair.

“Oh, a beach, how I wish to be on one right now,” Violet said when she saw it too. “Wait, how did it do it?”

“I don‘t know, but apparently it shows the wish of the person it takes a photo of.”

“Should we report it?”

“I think… but let‘s keep it for now. I want to see what it‘ll do.”

~~~

It was probably a breach of privacy, but Pixel couldn‘t stop herself from taking a picture of people. And it didn‘t help that Violet was as curious as her about the results.

They quickly figured out that the camera was showing what the photographed person wanted to do at the moment, this could range from a deep desire to something simple like wanting to drink. With more than one person it merged the wishes together (at least that’s how they explained the repellent abomination of candies and pets), so they stuck to taking a photo of only one person.

Whatever device this was, it was magical in its own ways. Not as magical as capturing a scene for all eternity, but more in that it was unexplainable.

Photo Finish didn‘t care for the camera, which was foreseeable. For her, a camera had only one job: to capture a moment. If it didn‘t, it was worthless.

Still, there was one person they had to take a photo of, and that was Photo Finish. Not like they didn‘t before, but the resulting picture had barely any changes to it, since Photo Finish was always taking pictures and thus in her element.

“Enough, it is done!”

They gave an exhausted sigh. Today was a busy day, as Photo Finish was basically on her feet the whole time even though it was only the morning. Pixel took the task to collect their equipment, while Violet picked up the photos Photo Finish had left fallen on the ground.

Pixel took the new-found camera with her when the three went together to the cafeteria to eat. Taking a picture now resulted in Photo Finish just eating a buffet.

Was this all what Photo Finish wanted? Living in the moment? It fit with her profession as a photographer, but she should have at least some deeper desires.

Luckily, once they were done eating, they saw a chance. Photo Finish lay down on a bench and looked into the sky, deep in her thoughts.

Snap.

Pixel took the picture and they both stared at it silently.

“It’s perfect,” Violet mumbled under her breath.

Pixel could only nod in agreement. It was a picture of them with Photo Finish and their camera equipment, but what struck them was the quality and the details their photographic knowledge and expertise noticed.

First, the smiles and emotions their faces expressed were just right. The smiles were not too wide but also not too serious, and their poses were natural but at the same time they were standing like models. The background harmonised with their clothes, the lights and shadows all at the right angles. Their camera equipment was held and placed in just the right places, making sure that they not only didn’t disturb the picture, but added their own touch to it. Each detail was by itself not too noticeable, but combined they made the photo what could only be described in one word: perfect. It was a joy looking at it.

“What are you looking at?” Photo Finish ripped the photo from them. “Who took it?”

“This camera.”

She was staring at it silently for a whole minute.

“It’s a masterpiece! The light, the costumes, the shadows, the proportions, the angles! I, Photo Finish, will never outdo it!”

She took off.

“It’s a cute picture,” Pixel said.

“Cute?”

“Well, her desire is being with us and her hobby.”

“No, it’s about taking a perfect photo.”

“Eh, we can ask her later. Where did she go anyway?”

“No idea, let’s search for her.”

~~~

They found Photo Finish in the Computer room scanning the photograph, which was one of their first guesses. It was expected, even if scanning the photos was usually their job.

“This photo is the perfection of perfection! It’ll go down in history as the new Mona Lisa! Every magazine will have it as their cover!..”

“Told you it’s about the perfect picture,” Violet said.

Pixel rolled her eyes and interrupted Photo Finish‘s monologue.

“We need to go, the lunch break is over.”

“One minute! I’m not done yet!”

~~~

“No, no, no, no!”

“Am I doing something wrong?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Everything is wrong, everything!”

“We set up everything like usual,” Pixel said.

“And the makeup is on,” Violet added.

“No! Nothing is right!” Photo Finish thought for a moment. “Pinkie, the expression, the expression!”

“But I’m already smiling!”

“Smile better!”

“I’m trying!”

Violet and Pixel looked cluelessly at each other. They just couldn’t see what Photo Finish was complaining about.

“I have an idea.”

Pixel took the magical instant camera and took a picture of Photo Finish. It printed a photo of Photo Finish taking a picture of Pinkie Pie.

“We messed up,” Violet said suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

“She now holds that one picture as a standard for her shots, but she can’t get the same quality.”

“Oh…”

“I give up! It‘s worthless to try anymore!” Photo Finish threw her camera away, which Violet tried to catch, but failed.

“This will be expensive…” Pixel muttered.

~~~

“What do you mean you won‘t be taking any more photos?” Vice Principal Luna asked.

“Perfection has been achieved, I, Photo Finish, won‘t be able to outdo this!” She showed her the photo.

“What does this have to do—Okay, this is indeed a good photo.”

“Good is an insult! It‘s a masterpiece! It‘s a new world wonder! It‘s…”

“I got it. But even then, I asked you to take photos of each club, but you‘re not finished.”

“I never do it because I have to, I do it out of passion! Photo Finish‘s career is done!”

She stood up and left them alone. Luna sighed.

“Would you two please do the last pictures? At least until Photo Finish gets over her phase.”

“We could, but our main camera is broken, the reserve is for landscapes and this one…” Pixel took a picture of Luna, “shows the desires of the shot person.”

The picture showed Luna sleeping in her bed.

“I see. Ask Mr. Doodle to borrow his camera, his should be as good as yours. And this particular camera…”

“Is ours,” Violet said.

“Really?”

“Yes,” Pixel replied.

~~~

“Where is Photo Finish?” Sunset asked, wearing her fencing costume.

“She is… getting over a perfection,” Pixel answered.

“Pardon?”

“We took a perfectly shot photo and now she sees no worth in taking any more photos,” Violet explained.

“Come on, how can a photo make her think—oh, that‘s a really good photo.”

“See? Now pose, we have three more clubs to go.” Violet put her phone away and went behind the camera.

“But… aren‘t you worried about Photo Finish?” Sunset asked, but Pixel forced her into the asked pose.

“No talking when taking pictures!”

After a short session they finished and quickly disassembled their equipment.

“Now, about Photo Finish—”

“We need to go,” Pixel said.

“Despite that, it‘s her decision, not yours.”

“My decision? What? Violet, Pixel, you are friends with her! Aren‘t you bothered that a single photo made her stop her passion?”

“She‘ll get over it,” Pixel said.

“Yeah, she will. Now get out of the door, the sports club is already waiting!”

~~~

Several days later, Violet and Pixel had to get used to working without Photo Finish. They weren‘t as talented photographers as her, but they knew how to shoot good photos. The sudden change shook them up of course, but the business had to continue; plus, who were they to argue against Photo Finish?

One positive aspect was still the camera that showed the desires of the person. Whenever they forced someone to be photographed or disturbed them during anything, usually a picture of their wishes (taken during their hobbies) made them happy and gave the photographers a good shot–as long as none of the victim’s objects were broken during that. There were a few occasions where the wishes were weird or revealed secrets, but Violet and Pixel, as professionals, destroyed the photos and never spoke about them. They knew that blackmailing would quickly backfire, as many already knew about the camera, especially Luna.

When they saw Sunset deep in her thoughts, they quickly built everything around her, took several photos while she was still processing what was going on, shot one picture with the magical camera and pushed the printed photo into her hand, before heading off.

“Wait!”

“What?” Violet asked.

“I wanted to talk— Hold on, how did you get this picture?” Sunset stared at it.

“The camera shows your desires. Wanting to be a unicorn is not that uncommon, don‘t worry,” Pixel said.

“You know that I am actually a unicorn from a parallel world, right?”

“These rumors are true?” Violet asked.

“Where have you been the past year?” Sunset facepalmed. “Whatever, about Photo Finish—”

“Here we go again.” Violet groaned.

“Girls, you can‘t just ignore the problem.”

“Yes, we can,” Pixel said.

“You are friends with Photo Finish, and she stopped photographing with you. How can you be so calm about it?”

“By being busy,” Violet replied.

“Explains why you go around harassing all the students.”

“It‘s not harassing if they are satisfied with the result.”

“There are… several problems with that statement, but let‘s focus on Photo Finish. Do you even know where she is and what she does?”

“She‘s with Rarity now.”

Sunset looked blankly to the ground.

“That explains so much…”

“Anyway, the Crusaders are about to perform a stunt, we need to be there,” Pixel said.

“No, you‘re coming with me, now!”

“How will you force us?” Violet asked.

“First, you have a magical camera—”

“It‘s ours.”

“I doubt that. Second, this camera here is still Mr. Doodle's, you haven‘t returned it to him, so I‘d have every right to take it from you.”

Violet and Pixel looked at each other. She was kind of right, but they refused to take other cameras Photo Finish had used.

“Where do you go?” Pixel asked.

“To Photo Finish.”

“Did you seriously ask that question?” Violet said to Pixel.

~~~

“It needs more yellow!”

“No, darling, red is the right touch to the blue.”

“Red is too dark, you want to show the light!”

“That‘s not the tone I want to express!”

Sunset led Pixel and Violet into the Carousel Boutique, where Rarity and Photo Finish were arguing loudly about a dress.

“Since when did Photo Finish care about clothes?” Sunset asked.

“She takes photos of people. Do you really think clothes are that far fetched?” Violet said.

“I guess there is a connection.”

Finally the two designers noticed their guests.

“Sunset, my friend, tell me that red is the correct colour for this dress!”

“No, no, no! Red is wrong! Yellow is the colour of happiness, of optimism, of warmth!”

“Pardon me, but red is the colour of love, of adventure, of fire…”

“We‘re not here to take sides between you,” Sunset interrupted. “Violet, Pixel?”

Violet groaned and rolled her eyes. Talking about feelings wasn‘t comfortable for Pixel too, but Sunset forced them to.

“Photo Finish, seriously, you can‘t throw away your passion because of one perfect photo.”

“You don‘t understand!”

“Trust me,” Violet said, “if there is someone who understands you, it’s us. But leaving photography because you‘ll never be able to take something as perfect as this?”

“Yes!”

“We tried and told everything as you did, Sunset, can we go now?”

“Seriously? I thought you were way more determined,“ Sunset replied.

“We follow her commands, what did you expect?” Pixel said.

“If I may interrupt,” Rarity said, “but what perfect picture are you talking about?”

“The last one on their MyStable page.”

“Ohh... Yeah, this one is a masterpiece.”

“See?” the three photographers said in union.

“But you can‘t just resign and get distant from each other!”

“We can,” Violet said. “We‘re doing it right now.”

“Shooting photos can‘t be about who makes the best one!” Sunset said. “What mindset is even this? Did you three really shoot photos only to once take the perfect picture?”

“Do you know how bad the new photos feel to make?” Pixel asked. “You can‘t stop comparing them to it.”

“Exactly! No other photos, this one is enough for the world!“ Photo Finish added.

“Then why did you two keep taking photos?”

“What else should we do? It‘s not like we can do anything else,” Violet said.

“So even you two share the same opinion as her?”

They nodded.

“This is ridiculous…”

“Allow me to help, darling.”

Rarity searched through her files, before pulling out a picture of a dress.

“A few years ago, I once also made a perfect creation, a beautiful wedding dress for my aunt. You see, she was for so many years with that one guy together who I just can’t see what she sees in him; like, auntie, you deserve so much better than… alright, alright, I get back to the dress, Sunset. You see, it‘s my chef d'oeuvre, my magnum opus. Just look at it. Notice all the details? The colour combinations, the proportions, the chosen fabrics in the right places… Oh, I remember the moment when inspiration hit me…”

“Just get to the point!” Violet crossed her arms.

“Patience, darling, patience. Anyway, even during the making I quickly noticed that what I was doing was going to be a masterpiece; so to keep the flow going, I spent two days and nights without any sleep or breaks just to finish it, I even used up every reserve and the best fabrics I kept just for these occasions. Then, when all was done and I saw the dress in all its glory, I just stood there, watched it and cried. It was perfect. I didn‘t even want to give it to my aunt, I just wanted it always with me, in my sight; I wanted to wear it myself.”

“Ehm, Rarity…” Sunset spoke, but Rarity put a finger on her lips.

“Shh, I‘m not finished. I couldn‘t give it away, so I made a replica in record time. However, it turned out to be a disaster. Nothing sat right, I couldn‘t recreate it. I realised that I had to give the perfect dress away…” Tears formed in her eyes, “or run away with it.

“But I gave my word, so I spent the last whole night awake, watching and admiring the beauty, the perfection, my… *sob* masterpiece. I hugged it, I said goodbyes, the nearer the morning came, the more it hurt to know that I had to seperate myself from it.”

“Are you crying, Photo Finish?” Sunset asked.

“No! I‘m just sweating through my eyes!”

“Then she came and took it from me,” Rarity continued. “She ripped my creation *sob* from my hands and didn‘t care that I made it!”

“Rarity, I think…”

“She saw me crying, she praised my dress, but she didn’t care that she did not deserve to be wearing that dress, not for that guy! Boo-hoo, and gone were the days I would ever see my dress again! The tragedy, the tragedy!”

Rarity let herself fall on a couch. Photo Finish sat next to her and comforted her.

“How does that help them in any way?” Sunset groaned.

“My beautiful— *sob* beautiful, perfect dress… How much I miss you…”

Snap.

Sunset looked over at Pixel, who was looking at the photo her camera just printed. Her mouth was wide open. When Violet took a glance, she gasped.

“What is there?”

Turning the picture, Sunset saw a photo of Rarity, but being on a catwalk wearing the dress, while being admired by people around her. In the corner was Photo Finish‘s logo, as if it was her photo.

“It‘s perfect,” Pixel muttered.

“Not again…” Sunset groaned.

“What do you mean it‘s perfect? No photo will be better than—” Photo Finish said, then looked at it too. “Wow.”

“Is that me wearing my dress? I look absolutely stunning!”

The four were gathering around the picture, marvelling at it in amazement. Sunset had to admit that it was really a good picture, and with that dress Rarity had the most beautiful outfit she had worn before. As a secret street artist she could partly tell why the photo was so good: Rarity stood right at the focal point of the golden ratio, the colours were in the right shades and combinations to the dress and her expression and poses were all natural but still good. However, the biggest factor was still the dress, of which its magnificence was only increased through the lights and its surroundings. Rarity wasn‘t lying when she said it was her magnum opus.

“It‘s perfect!” Photo Finish said.

“My dream came true,” Rarity cried. “I have never felt happier.”

“Great, now you made a bigger mess,” Sunset said to Pixel.

“No, I get it!” Photo Finish said. “You can only outdo perfection if you combine it with another perfection!”

“That‘s not the lesson I—”

“I go!”

She took off, Pixel and Violet following her immediately.

“Wait, my photo, my dress! Don‘t take it from— Oh, they‘ll send it to me.” Rarity read the message she got on her phone. “Do you see how I helped?”

“You didn’t. Ugh, just go back to your dresses. At least Photo Finish is back shooting photos.”

~~~

“Give me the passion! The fire in your eyes! You want it!”

Pixel couldn‘t be happier. Photo Finish was back in the business. Yes, who knew how much the “lesson” she learned about combining perfection was right, but she only cared for the result anyway. The magical camera was a great tool to find the right wish their forced model wanted and made them able to catch the passion in the moment.

The photos Photo Finish took turned out even greater than before, even if not as perfect as the two photos.

“Enough! I go!”

They went to their next target, Derpy. Setting everything up, putting on her make-ups, a quick photo to see what her desire was, all done in less than ten seconds. However, once Violet looked at the picture, she scratched her head.

“Yeah, no idea how we will set this up.”

“What do you mean?” Pixel took a glance.

There was Derpy laughing and hugging an orange creature, which had the form of a slime. And muffins. A huge and a very concerning amount of muffins.

“Oh, the Tickling Monster! Wait… You took it!”

~~~

“Where are we?” Pixel asked and put a hand on her forehead. Where did the headache come from?

“I don’t know. Ugh, the pain…” Violet moaned. “Seems like we’re still in school. Photo Finish?”

The addressed person woke up and was as confused as them.

“Where is the magical camera?” Pixel searched through the items.

“I don’t have it either,” Violet said.

“How will we now know what desires the others have?”

“I have an idea!” Photo Finish jumped up and ran away.

Pixel and Violet sighed, but followed her.

They found her approaching Rainbow Dash, who was putting her school books in her locker.

“Rainbow!”

“What’s up?”

“Photo Finish needs to take a photo of you. What do you want to do for that?”

“Me? Hm… I always wanted a photo of me shooting a goal, not like the ones you always did, but from the goals angle.”

Photo Finish snapped her finger, and in sync Violet and Pixel took Rainbow Dash–who was screaming to let her go–and carried her to the soccer field.

To think that just asking was the solution. Quite simple, but effective.