Chapter 15: Some Days You Can't Get Rid of a Bomb
"Mares and Gentlecolts, that is a wrap!" The set erupted into applause and cheers. Soarin' who was in the air and carrying Twilight (in her Meekly costume) lowered her down, gently placing her on her four hooves. The crew began packing away everything. "Once you're done packing, go home and rest. I'm sick of looking at ya."
A make-up pony gave Twilight a wet towel to wipe the dust from her face. Soarin' started to remove his costume as he headed to the change room. "Pleasure working with you, Ms Sparkle."
Twilight smiled as she continued to clean herself. "Likewise. What are you going to do now?"
"Well, we've got some time until the premier and filming has taken up a lot of our free time. I suppose-"
"You want to catch up with Rainbow?" asked Twilight with a cheeky grin. Soarin' just blushed. "It's all right. If it makes us even, I haven't exactly had a lot of time to be with Cut."
"How much time?"
...
"None."
Soarin's eyes widened. "None? Really?"
Twilight looked back as Cut directed his crew as to where to take the equipment. "He's the director. I'm not even sure his body remembers that it needs sleep."
Soarin smiled. "Well, I'm certain that you two will have plenty of time now. See you at the premier, Ms Sparkle!" With a flap of his wings, Soarin' took to the air, heading straight for Cloudsdale. Twilight felt a nudge as Cut walked past her.
"Sparkle, you're with me."
"I know that part already." Twilight smiled with a little blush, on the other hoof, Cut just rolled his eyes.
"You make me sick, you know that?"
"Maybe," Twilight said, drawing out the 'e' as long as she could.
"You don't have to do that," said Cut with a straight face.
"I don't have to do it, that's why it's so fun." Even if it took her almost 3 months get it, Twilight was starting to learn how to dance with Cut, much to his dismay. "So what's up?"
Cut took her into the green room. "Remember that promise I made you in the hospital? Probably not because you were... dying or something."
Twilight scoffed. "Don't pretend you didn't care. You know you did."
"Oh, believe me, I did. Without you, we would have had to re-cast you."
The unicorn stepped closer to the director with a devilish grin. "Really?" drawing out the 'y' as long as she could.
"Yes," drawing out the 'e' as long as he could.
"Because, I seem to remember you crying like a foal when you came to visit me." Cut's face started to turn red. "There were tears everywhere. You were going crazy."
"You must have me mistaken for you assistant/blogger dragon... speaking of which, where has been? I keep expecting him to take a picture of a half-eaten sandwich and call it the 'surprise cameo' of the movie."
"I believe he's still atteneding to 'Ms Rarity's' needs," she said, rolling her eyes.
"I swear... she's lucky we got her scenes out of the way early."
"Anyway, I believe you had a promise for me?"
Cut walked over to a group of boxes that were stacked in the corner of the room. "Let's wait until we get back to your place. But I think you're gonna like what I've got here."
Twilight scoffed again, trying to keep her smile from showing. "Who do you think you are? Thinking you can just say you're going to walk into my house."
Cut returned her grin from earlier. "I don't know if you've noticed, Sparkle, but you kind of fell in love with a pimp."
With a blush, Twilight laughed. "I guess we'll just have to fix that."
"The buck you will!" said Cut with a forced laugh. The two left the green room, carrying the boxes with Cut's magic. "If you ever want to help, I won't say no."
"EYE LINER!" screamed Rarity. And like a flash, Spike was there, holding the biggest case of eye liner he had ever seen. The unicorn took the liner and applied it with haste. Usually it would take time and with a delicate stroke for a lady to properly apply it. However, Rarity hadn't been the most Lady-Like of conditions. Even after two weeks, the strap rashes where only just starting to fade away.
"Rarity, should you only put on a little?"
"Spike, the amount of powder I've put on requires as much mascara as I can manage." She examined herself in the mirror. "Now I need to even this out. BLUSH!" Spike ran as quick as he could to grab the blush. Before he could run all the way back, Rarity levitated Spike and the blush of the ground, dropping the dragon as she slapped it on. Once the blush colored cloud has settled, Rarity stared intently into the mirror. The final product was... less the desirable. The blush was spread too thick, the mascara was already running, and white powder was stuck in her mane. "This won't work," she said with a sigh.
Spike got back to his feet. "Does that mean-?"
"Shower then we try again. SHOWER!"
...
Rarity turned to find Spike with a blank expression, pointing to the bathroom that was a few steps to Rarity's left. "Oh... yes." She ran in, slamming the door, leaving Spike by himself, hearing the water run.
"Mares..."
"Citizen Neigh?" Twilight was sifting through the boxes of Cut's movies, pulling them out, one by one. Cut was cooking in the kitchen.
"Yeah, that was the first movie I ever did. I couldn't afford a color camera, so I had to shoot it in black and white."
Twilight continued to rummage through the old film reels and DVD's. "War Pony... The Sisterhooves Social Network..."
"I won awards for those two!"
Twilight shot around with a huge smile. "Best picture?"
Cut poked his head out the kitchen entrance. "Umm, no. I won best screenplay. That translates to 'You should have won, but it was too edgy'. I'm still proud of it though."
Twilight's eyes widened at the site of one film towards the bottom. Ironically, it looked the newest out of all of them. "You... you directed 'John Trotter'?!"
Cut slowly slipped back into the kitchen. "Maybe..."
"I love Jon Trotter." Inside the kitchen, Cut had the biggest 'WTF' look on his face.
"Seriously?"
"Yes! That book series redefined the science fiction genre for all time. That series is even older than 'Super-Stallion'. " Twilight's excitement wasn't shared by Cut, who's nervous expression grew. "I had no idea they made a movie out of it," Twilight said as she ran into the kitchen with excitement. "Why didn't you tell me you made this?!"
Cut began to sweat. "Well, you didn't strike me as the 'action-adventure' type."
"We. Have. To. Watch. It. Now!" Twilight grabbed Cut, a big bowl of popcorn and sat them down on the couch. She threw the limited edition blu-ray into the player. As soon as the logo for the menu appeared, Twilight shot up and cheered. Almost bouncing of the couch. Cut was more then a little frightened.
"Bitch... chill. It's just the menu."
"First; I'm aloud to be as excited as I want to be. Second; if we're going to date, you're going to need to tone down your language, mister."
"Yes mother..." said Cut with a roll of his eyes. Twilight did not look amused.
"Press play..." The two leaned back as Cut hit play, the studio credits rolled and Twilight was already squeeing. "This is going to be awesome!" Cut looked away, still sweating and now with a look of dread.
"Yeah... awesome."
"That's awesome, Rarity," said Spike with a deadpan voice. He sat on the edge of Rarity's bed as he half-heartedly watched her apply make up to herself. She was wet from her shower and had two towels, one wrapped around her body, the other around her mane.
"Well, I don't know about 'awesome', but those new shapo's I was planning to have the girls wear to the premier are simply marvelous!" Normally, Spike being in Rarity's bedroom with her, alone, would have strongly resembled some dreams he's had. But he had been with her for almost two solid weeks. He liked her a lot, but every dragon has their limits. His face was was rested on his closed fist as he continued to 'watch' Rarity get ready. "Oh, Spike, would you be a dear and run down stairs? I'm feeling a tad peckish."
"That's awesome, Rarity," said Spike with a deadpan voice.
Rarity turned back to Spike, his face didn't change. She walked close to him and stopped her hoof on the ground as hard as she could, snapping him out of auto-pilot. "Would please be a gentlecolt, Spiky..." Despite Rarity's nice phrasing, Spike knew an order when he heard it.
"Yeah, sorry." Spike hopped off the bed and headed out the door.
"Now see, was that so hard?" Spike stopped for a brief moment before exiting her bedroom. She couldn't see it, but he wasn't amused.
"A little..."
"Here comes the ground pound!" With a loud 'thoom', John Trotter crushed the white martians beneath him, also shattering the ground beneath him. Twilight jumped off the couch, screeching like a teenage filly. "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, that was so cool!"
Cut was almost horrified by the way Twilight was acting. "You... you think it was cool?"
"Hay yes! I wish you had shown me this sooner!" She hopped back on the couch, snuggling up to Cut. "Are you OK, you look a little nervous? Never had a mare this close to you, before?" she cooed.
Cut tried not to make eye contact. "Hey, I've had plenty... and that sounded pretty bad, didn't it?"
Twilight giggled as she turned back to the screen. "Well, you are the director of this masterpiece, so I think I can let it go." The sense of awe never left the purple unicorn as she continued to watch John Trotter preform amazing feats. Cut wasn't looking fearful anymore, now he appeared to disappointed then anything.
"It's a masterpiece, alright..."
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE!" Rarity's screams at her rashes proved fruitless as they stayed as bright as they were ten seconds ago. Spike stepped back in fear. "Oh, sorry dear, I'm just getting frustrated. It's been two weeks and still nothing."
"Well... you did have that thing on for... how long?" asked Spike with a condescending tone. Rarity turned and glared.
"Excuse me, mister?" She slowly advanced towards him. Spike stood his ground. "I'll have you know a gentlecolt does not speak in that tone to a lady. He is respectful, attentive and he listens. Something you have done very little of. Maybe you could redeam yourself by running down to the chemist and purchasing a case of heavy duty lotion for me."
...
"No."
...
"Excuse me?"
"I said no." Rarity's eyes widened with disbelief.
"Spike! A good friend would-"
"Boss them around for two weeks straight without a break. Make them listen to every word you say... or shout, fetch every thing you want, cook anything you want cooked and make them clean up after you without so much as a thank you?" Spike started to shed tears. "I may do those things for Twilight, but she's nice! She raised me, she takes care of me, she respects me. You needed somebody to hang out with you because you've got a couple of rashes. You've turned into some prissy, demanding Canterlot mare and I don't like it. I know you that you know I like you, but I guess that why you think I'll stay. I've attended to every need you've had with you just getting more demanding without a single bit of gratitude. Is that something a friend would do?"
...
"I'm out of here! I'm sick of you! BUCK YOU!"
...
"Rarity... please stop crying."
"That's it?" asked Twilight as the closing credits started to roll.
Cut took a deep breath. "Yep..." Twilight slowly turned to him with a blank look on her face.
"That... was... AMAZING!" She pulled Cut of the couch, hugging him way tighter then she should have. With him in her forelegs, she twirled around the room. "I never thought I'd see the things in that book on the screen done so perfectly. I loved it, Cut." She loosened her grip and gave him a kiss. "You should feel proud."
Cut didn't seem to proud of himself at that moment. "You don't watch a lot of movies, do you?"
"Well, no. Why?"
Cut broke free of her grip. "John Trotter made me the laughing stock of all of Canterlot. It's not that I didn't want you to see it, it's that I didn't want to remember that I made it."
"Why?" asked a heartbroken Twilight.
"Do you have any clue how old this series is? In case you don't; it's old! Over the years, ponies beat other film makers to the punch when it came to adapting elements from that Jon Trotter series to the screen."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that nopony actually needed to see the real John Trotter. It tanked. It tanked hard." Cut sat back on the couch, hanging his head.
"How hard?" asked a cautious Twilight.
"It cost six hundred million bits."
"I'm not sure how mu-"
"It made back two hundred million bits." Twilight's eyes widened in shock. "I poured my heart and soul into that project, everypony did. Nobody saw it and the studio blamed me. I was turned into the the butt of every joke for at least a good year. I couldn't get another project with 'Deez Nut's' attached to it. I was jobless for so long. I failed."
"The movie I saw was great. I'm sure it did well with the critics." Twilight tried to sound sincere, but she had a feeling about what was going to happen next. Cut used his magic to pull over a laptop.
"According to Rotten Apples, it has a 42% It was a total failure." He started scrolling through the 'top critics' posts. "Equestria Daily said 'With all the pointless effects, it looks like someone dropped a camera into a toilet and flushed it'. Manehatten Weekly referred to it as 'a castrated version of Ponytar'. Shall I go on?" Twilight shook her head.
"What happened after it tanked?"
"Well, I was jobless for a year, I lost my house, I lost all the ponies that I thought were my friends... I had nothing." Cut inhaled and exhaled with shakiness. "And then I got a letter from Princess Celestia, requesting that I do Equestria the honor of rebooting the Stallion of Steel! Because I'm such a fantastic story teller!"
Twilight laid a reassuring hoof on Cut. "It all worked out, didn't it?"
"Do you have any idea how similar John Trotter and Super-Stallion are? They're both dudes from other planets that gain powers when they arrive on the new world... It's like fate is playing Whack-a-Cut."
Twilight scooched closer. "Cut, are you worried about Super-Stallion?"
Cut's eyes started to water. "Sparkle... I'm scared. It's one thing for ponies not to agree with the movie you made, that's life. But when the whole world lifts you up, throws you down and humiliates you when you only tried to make them happy, do a great character justice... it's too much. If it happens again-"
"I saw you at Comic Con. You made something great. You said it yourself," said Twilight doing her best to comfort him.
"I was happy, but seeing John Trotter again just reminded me of the truth; it doesn't matter what you do, because it's in the hooves of everypony else. If it bombs... I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!" Spike's voice could barely be heard over Rarity's open weeping on her fainting couch. He winced as he watch the tears flow like a river, staining the couch. "I... I'll go." Spike hung his head as he pulled the door open, only for it to be slammed shut by Rarity's magic. He rotated his head, prepared to see his last sight before he died. But he wasn't faced with anger or rage. Rarity hugged him gently, pulling back enough for him to see her mascara stained face.
"I'm so sorry Spiky Wikey." She wiped a few tears away. "When I saw the rashes, the first thing that I thought was 'what will I look like on the carpet?' and 'what will other ponies think?' The whole reason I joined this was so I could be a part of the film world, only to be terrified what it would think of me. And I took it out on you," she said as pulled the dragon close. "I'm so sorry my little Spiky. I was always afraid that I wouldn't act like a lady and I forgot to act like a friend." She stepped back so he could see her clearly. "Can you ever forgive-?"
Rarity didn't even have to finish her sentence for Spike to hug her as tight as he could. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. It's not something a friend would do."
"It's what a friend would do to another when they're acting like... less then they can be."
"Sure. Let's say that," said Spike with a chuckle. Rarity's face went to a more serious state as he sat him down on the couch.
"Now, I think it's time we talked about... well, us."
"Oh crud."
Rarity couldn't help but laugh. "Spiky, you're a handsome, brave and wonderful little dragon. But that's the key word; little. I'm not sure how the whole 'dragon' thing would work, but ignoring that, I'm simply too old for you darling."
Spike stood up on the couch. "I know that, but I can get bigger. I can be an adult for you!" With a gentle hoof, she brought him back down to his seat.
"Spiky, you are an adult. It's not your age that makes you a grown up, it's the way you act. And very few stallions can say that they are as wonderful as you. But it simply can't work between us, sweet heart. I'm so sorry."
Spike was visibly upset, but not that upset. He kept a brave smile as he look into her eyes. "I guess I knew you would say that. Thank you for being honest with me."
Rarity kissed Spike's cheek, leaving a stain on it. "You're going to make some dragon... or pony very happy one day Spike, but I think they need to be in your age bracket first."
DING! Sweetie Bell cautiously entered the boutique. "Is the war over?"
"Sweetie Bell, come here, darling!" Rarity waved her little sister over and the two embraced. "Spike here taught me a valuable lesson about treating your friends. I think we owe him some dinner."
Sweetie shot up. "Right! Come on Spike, we can make some late night s'mores!" The little unicorn ran into the kitchen. Spike hopped off the couch to follow her, but was pulled back by Rarity, who whispered in his ear...
"If you even think about it, I'll send you to the moon myself."
"After putting you and Rainbow through everything and nearly ruining Ponyville, I couldn't bare the idea of this movie failing." Cut had several tears on his face now. "I can't lose everything again. I'm not strong enough. I couldn't take t- mmph!"
Twilight leaned in and kissed Cut, holding it as long as she could before pulling back. "Cut, you will never lose us. I know the Canterlot crowd has proven to be worse then can look like on TV, but you told me months ago that you made real friends in Ponyville. You know we'ed never abandon you just because you made a movie ponies were too dumb to see. You will always have a place with us... and I have no plans on going anywhere."
...
"Buck you," said Cut with a smile. "You really are too good for me, you know that, right?"
"Yeah, you're right. I should probably give Soarin' a call."
Cut started to laugh. "Oh, you want to go for a round two with Dash?"
"Yeah! I can take her."
"Pfft! You couldn't even handle me!"
Twilight grew a cocky grin, one that Rainbow would normally have. "Prove it!" Cut tackled her to the floor where they play wrestled. Laughing as the music of the John Trotter main menu played.
Next: A Real Red Carpet Affair!