//------------------------------// // A Diamond in the Rough // Story: Fame or Friendship // by AleximusPrime //------------------------------// CHAPTER 1 - A Diamond in the Rough The next day was fairly easy as Twilight and the others had already set the stage up some time after Rarity fell asleep. Spike and Rarity rehearsed a bit in the morning and then around noon they started the fashion show. A fair multitude of mares came to see the show, most of them being Rarity’s best customers. All of Rarity’s friends also came to see the show and help her change into each dress backstage. Rarity was behind the curtains getting ready to walk out in her first dress and was talking with Twilight. “You ready to do this, Rarity?” Twilight asked her. “Well, I guess. I haven’t done this in quite a while Twilight, do you think I’m up for it?” Rarity replied anxiously. She had always been a good model, but she spent more time designing and making clothes, she was almost afraid she would forget what to do. “You’ll be fine, Rarity. Just remember, grace and balance!” said Twilight doing a little stance she had seen Rarity demonstrate in the past when giving the same advice. “You’re right, Darling, I should have nothing to worry about.” Rarity gave a sigh of relief knowing it would be alright. Twilight’s encouragement was enough to help her remember to keep her cool. Her ears then perked up as she heard Spike finishing his intro and then cuing her to come out. The unicorn DJ, Vinyl Scratch, started the record player at the DJ booth and the music began playing. “Oh, I’m up! Well, Rarity, let’s break a leg!” The curtains parted and Rarity stood straight and tall with her eyes closed and then opened them and proudly walked out. Cameras flashed and ponies gave their “Ooohs” and “Aaahs” as she walked by them. Once she got to the end of the stage, she struck a pose, paused for the audience and then twirled gracefully to the other side. “Wow, her dresses seem to be getting better!” said one pony in the audience. “I just might have to save up some money for that!” said another one checking her bits in a bag to see if she could afford it. “Breath-taking, isn’t it, folks?” Spike said to the audience “But that’s not all! Brace yourselves for the next dress…” Rarity then turned around and walked back to the curtains where the others were waiting with her second dress. Spike kept the audience waiting by describing the next dress for them. “Wow, Rarity, you did rather well out there!” Fluttershy congratulated her once the curtains closed. “Yeah, who knew ya had it in ya!” Applejack added while she was carrying out some clothes for Rarity on her back. “Here all this time, Ah thought ya only made the dresses! Never knew ya could model in em too!” “Well this is Rarity we’re talking about you know.” Rainbow Dash said after setting down some clothes she helped bring in with Applejack. “Even for somepony like me, I gotta admit, she sure knows a thing or two about this whole modeling nonsense!” “Not much of a fashion-lover, are you, Rainbow Dash?” asked Twilight. “Me?! Pfffffffft! Fashion and I get along like fire and ice! But still, if anypony can follow it well enough, it’s Rarity, and I’d say she makes it look good!” “Oh thank you, Darling!” Rarity said gratefully. “It’s good to hear it coming from you also. And all of you, thanks for your support!” They all finished putting the next dress on and then Rarity turned back to the curtains as they opened a second time. She walked out in a long black dress embroidered with a purple floral design on it and a hat of the same color with a purple feather. Once again, cameras flashed and more ponies complemented her fine dress. “Be reminded, folks, these dresses are all custom-made by Rarity herself and will be for sale at the Carousel Boutique after today’s show, so don’t forget to come by and take a gander at them!” Spike reminded the audience. Rarity smiled at him and mouthed “Thank you” to him for remembering to let the ponies know about how the dresses were on sale, that way the show wouldn’t be a waste of time. “I just know my daughter would love one of those dresses for the upcoming prom!” said one of the mother ponies in the crowd. “I wonder if Rarity has ever thought of modeling more broadly…” one of the ponies asked her friends quietly. “…she seems to be good at more than just dress-making you know.” Rarity heard what the pony said in the audience and thought to herself on that question. Why didn’t she model more broadly? It certainly wouldn’t hurt, and it was something she had loved doing. Being on stage this day showing off her dresses made her feel a need to get more into modeling so she could find a way to get word out of her dresses. But would modeling even be worth it for her? Could she find time around her busy schedule to do it? So many thoughts about this flowed through her head but she had to decide on that later. For now, the show was her first priority and she kept her balance and continued for the audience. Meanwhile, Ponyville’s most acclaimed photographer pony, Photo Finish was out for a stroll with two of her assistants, Hairspray and Roxie. She was very stressed out from her work and hadn’t been making much progress so she wasn’t in a good mood at all. Her assistants behind her were reluctantly listening to her complain. “I jest do not get eet!” Photo Finish said in her thick German accent. “Efer seence Flotershy has abandoned me, businees has been very bad!” The other two just stayed close behind and rolled their eyes a little not knowing how to respond to this. Photo Finish began to lose her patience from their silence. “Vhat are you two doing?! Do not juz stand zah, gif me some ideas!” They both just looked at each other not knowing what to say after being caught off guard. “Um…well, Photo Finish, have you even looked around Ponyville for a new model at all?” asked Hairspray. “Yeah, there’s plenty of ponies around here, you just haven’t really opened yourself up to them yet.” Roxie added. “Of course I haf, but nopony around here has ze same spirit zat Flotershy had! I look high and low and I vind nozing! Nopony out zhere, nopony at all, haz de magicks!” “Nopony except her!” Hairspray declared while pointing at a crowd of ponies near what appeared to be a fashion show going on. Photo Finish looked over to where her assistant was pointing and saw a model pony on the stage striking poses as the audience took pictures. Her first thought was how on Earth did she, the most popular photographer, not get wind of there being a fashion show in the middle of Ponyville? Besides, the model pony was actually very good. She had good looks and the proper apparel and knew how to move well. But Photo Finish didn’t recognize her. She took her glasses off slowly and had a look of satisfaction for once on this rather stressful day. “I do not believe eet! Who, who is zat pony, ladies?! I muzt know! “Isn’t that Rarity?” asked Roxie. “Who?” Photo Finish had forgotten all about Rarity already. “You know, the fashion designer that had Fluttershy model so you could come to shoot it that one time?” Roxie answered. “Yeah, she runs that boutique right around the corner.” Hairspray pointed out. “Oh yes, yes, her. But……how can zat be her?” Photo Finish asked confusedly. “All I saw her do vas vear a nice hat, I deedn’t know she had de magicks!” “Well she does, and it looks like the answer to your problems has been solved, Photo!” Hairspray said happily. “Look at her, she’s way better than Fluttershy was! She actually knows what she’s doing, she knows the way of the model!” “Steel, I am not sure, I haf not zeen enough yet… Oh how I vish I could stay at zeese fashion show to see ze rezt of ze dresses she has, but I must go back to ze studio or I vill be late for ze next shoot!” she then turned to her assistants and used her mouth to take out a little digital camera in the pocket of her coat and gave it to Roxie. “You two, stay here and do ze shooting vile I go back to business and report to me vhen you haf ze photos, I muzt see zhem vhen zhe are complete! And remember to zet ze shoter speed to 1/200, ve don’t vant her to look blurry ven she moves. And now……I GO!” “Don’t worry, Photo Finish, we’ll get as many shots as we can.” Roxie assured her. The ambitious photographer pony then trotted off to her job and left the other two to Rarity. A half hour had passed and the fashion show was over. Rarity went backstage to remove her dress and talk with her friends. “Rarity, you did great!” Twilight congratulated her. “I think the ponies are really anxious to come to the boutique!” “Thank you so much, Darling!” Rarity replied bashfully. “I really do hope this makes them want to come, things have been a bit lax at the boutique lately!” “Aw, I’m sure this’ll help out, Rarity!” said Pinkie patting her on the head. “I might just have to come by and see whatcha got there!” “Yes Rarity, same for me, those were some nice dresses and I wouldn’t mind getting one myself” said Fluttershy. “Yeah, I wouldn’t actually mind buying that one sun hat you used back there Rarity.” said Rainbow Dash as everyone looked at her amazed. “Wow, Dash, YOU wanna go and buy some clothes?!” teased Applejack. “What? It looked pretty nice! Plus the sun gets a bit too bright sometimes!” “Well, Rarity, I guess you can add one more name to your list of customers!” said Twilight proudly as everyone else giggled at Rainbow Dash. Spike then came in behind Rarity to congratulate her along with the others. He couldn’t let a good opportunity pass to give her some encouragement. “Rarity, you did awesome out there!” he told her. “The crowd loved it; I’ll bet you’ll have the biggest crowd at the boutique this afternoon!” “Oh thank you, Spike!” she said giving him a pat on the head while he blushed. “I’m glad you enjoyed it and you have my thanks for being my host!” “Aw, any time!” Spike put his arms behind his back sheepishly and kicked his leg around on the floor. There was nothing he liked better than for Rarity to thank him. “Well ladies, I think Spike is right, there will be a rather large crowd at the boutique later today. I best get things around! Cheerio everypony!” she said rushing into the boutique to get things around before opening hours. “Take care, Rarity, and you let us know if you need some help!” Twilight called. Everyone else then parted to go back to their every-day activities. Twilight walked back to the library with Spike following close behind. “Rarity sure was spiffy today, huh Spike?” said Twilight obviously knowing how Spike would react. “Yeah, she really was…” he said dreamily. Twilight giggled at the sight of her number one assistant staring amorously into space nearly tripping over a few pebbles on the ground and trying to keep his balance. His reaction to Rarity was just too cute even if she was too old for him and wasn’t even a dragon. Although in the past she hadn’t been too supportive of his feelings for her, she decided to just play along and be respectful. “I can understand why you think so, Spike. Rarity sure does have a talent for modeling.” “Do you think she’ll do it some more?” “Well I don’t know, she kinda has a demanding job you know.” “Still, she should look into it; she’s got everything a model needs: beauty, charm, grace…” “Hehe, I know Spike, I know.” said Twilight smiling as she continued towards her library to start a long day’s work. Later, Hairspray and Roxie rushed over to a nearby print shop and had the photos of Rarity processed and placed inside a folder to show to Photo Finish. They finally got to the studio she worked at just as she was finishing her shoot. “Photo Finish, we got those pictures just as you asked.” Hairspray told her. “Ah, vunderbal, ladies!” Photo Finish said with a grin on her face. The stress from today’s work had left her in dire need of some good news. “Vhere are zey, I muzt see!” Roxie then opened her bag and took out the folder to show to her boss. “We got quite a few; about five for each dress and she put on about ten more after you left.” Photo Finish bit on the folder and then went over to a nearby desk and opened it up with her hooves and looked in to see the pictures. After seeing the first few, her jaw started to drop. It seemed to drop further each time she looked at a new picture. She slowly took her glasses off and practically threw them aside so she could get a clear view of these photos. “Zese……..zese are incredeeble, gerls, ABSOLUTELY INCREDEEBLE!” she exclaimed shuffling the pictures quickly barely knowing where to look for the best one. “Zis is vhat ve need! Zhe devinitely haz ze charm, ze beauty, ze grace, everytheeng!!” “Yeah, we told you she did! You should have taken her instead of Fluttershy!” said Roxie. “Indeed I should haf……but I, Photo Finish, resolve to not make zat same meestake!” she put her glasses back on and then put all the pictures back into the folder and gave them back to Roxie. “Come, gerls, I now know vhat ve muzt do. Ve muzt convinze Rarity to come here so ve can give her ze recognition zhe deservez! It is time to make……DE MAGICKS!!!” Ponyville’s finest photographer then rushed into her office with her two assistants to start her master plan to make Rarity the ultimate Equestrian star… TO BE CONTINUED…