Fortunately, if there was one thing Pinkie could be relied upon to do, it was to distract one from one's troubles.
Well, to be fair, there were many things Pinkie could be relied upon to do. Some of them were even things one might want her to do.
However, her ability to deflect and remove tension was among her greatest skills. So, when next Rarity saw her – at a party she was throwing to celebrate Owlowiscious's day-that's-probably-his-birthday-even-though-we-don't-know-for-sure-but-let's-say-it's-today – she didn't even allude to their previous conversation and Rarity dared to hope that she may have forgotten about it. She knew it wasn't likely, but the possibility, combined with the powerful effect of a Pinkie party, was enough to put her mind to rest for the moment.
And, fortunately, the next couple of weeks kept her more than busy enough for the conversation to slip into the back of her mind. Between Pinkie's sister's... enlightening visit and the business with Sapphire Shores and Sweetie Belle's play, the fact that Pinkie had expressed mild interest in something was simply subsumed by the daily reality of life in Ponyville.
However, while it had ceased to bother her conscious mind, it would be inaccurate to say that it was no longer being considered. This was proven when, one afternoon, Rarity heard a knock on her door.
Slowing her sewing machine to a stop, she trotted over to the door, quickly deducing which of her friends was calling on her. The fact that the Carousel Boutique was a shop as well as her home meant that most ponies would simply walk in during business hours, even if they weren't there to shop. Other than her friends, the only ponies who knocked were those delivering mail or packages. However, she wasn't expecting any deliveries and the sound of regular post being delivered was less of a knock and more of a crash, so she surmised it to be one of her friends. Furthermore, she tended to eliminate Pinkie and Rainbow, since they preferred to simply burst in through the door or sometimes, in the latter case, through the window. Meanwhile, Fluttershy's knock was generally quieter than what she'd heard and, for Applejack to be calling on her on a market day, something serious would have to have happened, so she'd be more likely to simply barge in, probably leaving a sizeable dent in the door.
That left Twilight or Spike and, while she couldn't be certain, the knock sounded more like a hoof than a fist.
Smiling at her conclusion, she opened the door.
“Good afternoon, Tttto you, Pinkie,” Rarity corrected herself mid-sentence as she saw who was in front of her door. Pinkie was standing there, smiling sweetly at her.
“Hiya, Rarity. Do you think we could go to the spa soon?”
At that moment, it became clear that their previous conversation hadn't vanished from Rarity's mind. Instead, it had remained tethered to it, as if by a piece of elastic. And as it moved further and further to the back of her mind, that elastic had been stretched and stretched until, at that moment, the whole thing snapped back into her head, the impact sending her thoughts tumbling.
“The... the spa, yes, of course, you said... I thought that... no, no, of course, of course you want to go to the spa, why wouldn't you? Why would anypony not want to go? Especially somepony like you? That would be quite ridiculous, Hahaha!” The laugh came out short, choppy and more than a little crazed.
Pinkie, however, responded with a more sincere laugh. “Heehee, I guess it would be. So, anyway, can we go? I mean, it doesn't have to be now, any time within the next couple of days would be fine.”
Rarity instinctively opened her mouth, the request to put things off for a couple of days or, if possible, a couple of millennia rising up from her throat unbidden. However, she clamped down on it, vocalizing nothing more than a couple of quiet throat moans.
If there was one thing she knew about Pinkie, it was that when she got an idea in her head, stopping her was more than a little problematic. It wasn't impossible, but not only was it immensely difficult, but the amount of effort required was generally far greater than anything that could happen if one let her have her way.
Plus, the small but insistent voice of pragmatism within her whispered, delaying things wouldn't make them any better. If this was going to happen, she might as well get it over with as soon as possible. That wouldn't make it any better, but would at least mean that she wouldn't spend days fretting about it. Mental exhaustion and worry lines were not her friend.
Rarity huffed internally. For a fashion-focused pony, having such a powerful practical streak was something of a mark of shame. However, she couldn't deny the logic of it.
She sighed and put on a smile for her well-meaning friend. “Well, as it happens, I was mostly done for the day anyway. If you’d like, we... we can go today,” She finished, bracing herself for the inevitable – the cheer, the hug, the confirmation of impending doom, all of that.
However, it didn't come. Instead, Pinkie simply nodded, her smile widening. “Oh, okay. Thanks a whole heap of a load of a bunch, Rare. This is gonna be great.”
Rarity let out a sigh of relief and nodded. “Yes, I just need to finish a couple of things, put everything away and get ready to go. I should be done in an hour or so and then,” she swallowed, “we can go. Would you like to wait here?” She asked, hoping but not expecting for Pinkie to say yes. She knew she was unlikely to be able to dissuade or distract Pinkie from this course of action, but she could at least try.
Pinkie shook her head. “Nah, that's okay, I'll meet you there.” She turned and trotted off. “See you in an hour!”
Rarity looked after her. “Indeed I shall,” She said, far too quietly for even Pinkie to hear. Sighing, she closed the door and returned to her workshop, forcefully suppressing thoughts of how much a train ticket to Yakyakistan would cost. It didn't help that there was something distinctly off about that conversation, but she couldn't put her hoof on exactly what.
She sighed as she sat back down at her sewing machine. Worrying about it wouldn't help. That wasn't usually the case – if there was any way of avoiding something, then worrying was absolutely a worthwhile activity, provided it was constructive and focused towards finding said method of avoidance. However, in this case, it didn't seem like there was anything she could do beyond letting it happen and trying to keep the damage to a minimum.
Still, as she started the machine up, a dark but Pinkie-esque bit of humour bubbled up as she thanked the fates that she only had to finish assembling the piece she was working on. Had she still the embroidery to do while this was hanging over her head, she probably wouldn't have been able to stop herself putting a few skulls into the design, to reflect her vision of the immediate future. Thankfully, though, she felt no such desire – being fourteen once was quite enough for her, thank you very much.
Rarity walked through the spa's front door. She held her head held high, like a pony going to the guillotine determined to die with dignity. She didn't bother to sigh when she saw Pinkie sitting in the foyer, giving her a cheerful wave.
She smiled at Pinkie before trotting over to Aloe and Lotus, who were whispering to each other and occasionally glancing at Pinkie. However, when they saw Rarity, they straightened up and Lotus greeted her.
“Ah, good afternoon, Miss Rarity. It, um...” She lowered her voice and leaned a little closer to Rarity. “I do not believe zis to be ze case, but it is not your birthday today, is it?”
“Nah,” Pinkie called from across the room, despite the fact that she should not have heard that – when it came to parties, Pinkie's already sharp senses were near-preternatural, “her birthday isn't for another couple of months. And yours aren't for five months.”
“Ve are avare of zat, Miss Pie, but zank you!” Lotus called back before returning to her hushed conversation with Rarity. “Ve did not think there vas any party to be thrown here, but if Miss Pie is here..”
“Ah, yes, well, you see,” Rarity began before gathering the courage to admit what had happened, “she expressed some interest in coming here and... availing herself of your services. She asked me if she could come and, well...” She trailed off, hesitant to admit how she hadn't managed to talk Pinkie out of it.
The two nodded. “Ve understand, Miss Rarity.” Lotus said, a professional, if slightly strained, smile coming onto her face.
Rarity smiled back and waved Pinkie over, happy that the two understood her situation and that she was close enough to them that they could forgive her. Either that or their intense professionalism was the only thing maintaining their smiles and preventing them from throttling Rarity then and there – she'd take what she could get.
Once Pinkie had joined her, Rarity paid for the both of them, with a glance around the room to indicate to Aloe and Lotus that she'd also pay for any damage done. That done, the two were led into the spa.
“Now then, Miss Pie, ve generally start with a short mineral bath.”
“Huh,” Pinkie said, tilting her head slightly, “that's kinda weird. Why do we start with that?”
Rarity suppressed a sigh as she started seeing things going downhill already. Before either of the twins could answer, she asked, “Why is it weird, Darling? Surely it's as good a place to start as any.”
Pinkie giggled. “Well, not really, if you think about it. With all the other stuff in the spa – all the sweating and the mud and the massage oils and that kinda thing, shouldn't we have a bath after all that?”
Rarity surprised herself at managing to suppress a second sigh, helped by the fact that Pinkie didn't list things off at her normal gatling-horn pace, instead just meandering through it slowly. “Well, we do have a short shower after all that is done, but the purpose of this bath is not to clean us, but to relax us – a short soak in these mineral-rich waters is designed to loosen up our muscles so that we may enjoy the rest of our treatment to its fullest.”
Even as she spoke, Rarity braced herself for the inevitable: Pinkie deciding that it makes so much more sense to save all the bathing until last and declaring that she was already relaxed enough, perhaps even questioning what relaxation had to do with the spa. It wouldn't be much, but it would most likely be the snowball that grows into an avalanche. Any second now...
“Oh, that makes sense,” Pinkie chirped. “Thanks, I was just wondering.”
Rarity blinked. After a moment, she cleared her throat. “Oh, you're quite welcome, darling.” She shook her head a little and wondered if, perhaps, she was getting a little ahead of herself, maybe even a touch paranoid.
That doubt disappeared in an instant as she saw Pinkie crouch by the edge of the large tub, her flank wiggling – a distinctive “about to pounce” position if Rarity had ever seen one.
Abandoning all subterfuge, Rarity shut her eyes, turned her head away and covered it with her hoof, hoping to at least protect herself from the inevitable splash. She waited for it to happen.
A few seconds later, she was still waiting. She was just beginning to question herself when she heard Pinkie ask, “Why's everypony covering their eyes? Is Hide and Seek part of the spa experience as well? I didn't think it was, but I'll hide if you all want me to!”
“Er, no, Pinkie,” Rarity took her hoof away from her face and saw the twins doing the exact same thing, “I'm afraid that that's not... really a service the spa provides. I... do apologize, if you don't want to...”
“Nah, that's okay!” Pinkie replied. Now that Rarity was looking at her, she could see that she was still crouched down, with her left forehoof down in the water, presumably for the rest of her body to follow in a moment – stepping into it rather than diving in. However, when no one moved, she pulled her hoof out again, resting it on the edge so as not to drip on the floor. “So why were you covering your eyes?”
Rarity swallowed hard, her mind racing to think of a way to put things diplomatically. “Well, we just... We were expecting... well, we weren't sure what to expect.” She finished lamely.
Pinkie just giggled. “Well, of course you don't know what to expect,” she said in a steady, lilting tone, “that's what makes life so wonderful! It always finds a way to surprise you.”
A mildly sardonic eyebrow raise managed to penetrate Rarity's apprehension. “Well, I suppose one could say that, although I'm not sure Fluttershy would agree with you.”
Pinkie shrugged, though her face held an odd sort of smile, even for Pinkie. “Maybe, but you shouldn't say that for certain. Sometimes ponies can surprise you. Even when they're your bestest of best friends, sometimes they show other bits of themselves and do things and want things you'd never expect.”
Rarity blinked, a little confused at what Pinkie meant. She knew that Pinkie had been spending a lot of time with Fluttershy recently, but she had her doubts she knew her that much more than Rarity did. Even if she did, it seemed an odd thing to say. “I'm... not sure I follow you, darling. Are you meaning to... imply something?” She tried not to make the question sound too accusatory, though she wasn't sure she managed it.
Pinkie, however, just let out a small, happy sigh and closed her eyes, her smile becoming more natural. “Nah, not really. I guess I'm just being a thinky Pinkie. But hey,” She opened her eyes again, a slight twinkle showing in them, “we're having a bath first, so at least I won't be a stinky Pinkie.” And, with that, she lowered herself into the bath.
Rarity stood there for a second, a little shocked. However, after a moment, she let out a demure chuckle and started forward. She slowly stepped down into the bath as well, the tension in her body loosening slightly.
The two sat there, silent for a while, letting the warmth of the water penetrate through their fur and into their muscles and bones. Rarity's eyes lay closed, enjoying the tiny noises of the water moving, as if the sound was laid on top of the silence, adding to it without destroying it.
After a few minutes, she opened her eyes and looked at her companion. Pinkie was sitting across from her, the water vapour soaking into her mane making it droop slightly without losing its curly fluff. She was looking at Rarity, a gentle smile on her face as her body remained still, barely moving the water around it.
It was a pleasant image, to be certain, but once she'd caught Pinkie's eye, Rarity found that the silence quickly transitioned to slightly uncomfortable as she tried and failed to come up with something to say.
Pinkie tilted her head, seeming to pick up on Rarity's discomfort. “Something wrong there, Rare?” She said, smiling but not laughing at the rhyme.
Rarity smiled a little too. “Nothing to worry about,” She replied, as if Pinkie ever truly did. “It's just... I'm a little unsure what to talk about.”
Pinkie thought for a moment. “Well, what do you normally talk about with Fluttershy?”
Rarity sighed. “Well, to be perfectly honest, I think it's more accurate to say that I talk at Fluttershy. And it's generally about the latest... goings on in the town,” She said, both verbally and mentally avoiding the word 'gossip'.
Pinkie leaned back against the edge of the tub. “Well, you can gossip at me too, if you wanna. Maybe it'll be better, since I know a lot about what's happening anyway.”
Rarity shook her head. “I'm afraid that's exactly the problem – whatever gos- information I share, you will almost certainly be fully aware of, perhaps even more so than me. It's just not the same if I'm telling you what you already know. Preaching to the choir, as it were.”
Pinkie's smile dimmed a little as her brow furrowed slightly in thought. “Well, I mean, I guess I could pretend not to know.”
Rarity shook her head, giving Pinkie a gentle smile in the hopes of bolstering hers. “I appreciate the thought, Pinkie, but I would still know. Besides,” her smile rose a little on one side, turning into a slight smirk, “I think I can go one day without gos- without sharing. Particularly since I still have my weekly meeting with Fluttershy.”
Pinkie nodded, sighing in contentment. “Ah, symbiosis.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Symbiosis?”
Pinkie nodded. “Uh huh. It's when two animals or ponies help each other out in different ways so they both end up happier because of it. Like when...”
“Er, yes, yes, I'm familiar with the concept,” Rarity cut her off gently. “I'm simply not sure how it applies here.”
“Well,” Pinkie began, in her own equivalent to Twilight's lecturing tone – clear and deliberate, but not monotonous, “you need an outlet for all that gossip. Otherwise it'd all build up and up and up inside that pretty little head of yours until it all exploded out in a massive blast of unsecretisation.” She seemed neither excited or bothered by this image. “So if you just tell what you know to Flutters, who you know will never tell anyone or use what she learns against other ponies, you can let it all out without hurting anyone.”
Rarity swallowed. What Pinkie was saying was something she did already know, even if she didn't really think about it much. However, what Pinkie had so far omitted had unknowingly brought to mind a slight fear Rarity had.
“Well, while I can't deny that that's the case, I must say that it doesn't sound much like symbiosis if dear Fluttershy doesn't get anything out of it.” She held a hoof up to forestall any interjection. “And yes, I know that she's simply happy that I'm happy – I know as well as you how empathetic she is. However, if you'll allow a brief confession, I do sometimes wonder if she only goes through it for my sake. And if it's simply me unloading my needs onto her, it's not really symbiosis. It would actually be closer to... parasitism.” She grimaced at the prospect.
Pinkie scooted along the tub's floor until she was right next to Rarity, putting a hoof on her shoulder gently.
“Rarity, I just wanna say that that's kind of a beautiful thing to say. Not that you could be a parasite, but that you're so worried about what Flutters is thinking and feeling, and that you wanna always make sure she's happy and having a good time.” She locked eyes with Rarity and smiled, as if to force Rarity's mouth to smile as well. If that was the case, she succeeded.
She then continued. “I also wanna say that what you said is completely wrong and kinda silly.”
Rarity blinked, confused at the change of subject, even though the tone remained constant. “It, um... It is?”
Pinkie nodded. “Yeah, totally. See, Fluttershy really does enjoy your gossip. Not just because it makes you happy, though that does help, but because she likes hearing about it.”
“Really? She never sa-” Rarity cut herself off, realizing the instant she started saying it how ridiculous it was – thinking Fluttershy didn't feel something simply because she didn't say so. “You're sure?”
“Yep, that's totally why she's happy. See, you know how Flutters is around other ponies,” Pinkie stated, as if anyone could be unaware. “When she's around a lot of ponies or ponies she doesn't know, she gets all scared and whimpery and anxiety-y.”
Rarity nodded. “Indeed, poor dear. She does try, though.”
Pinkie nodded firmly. “Exactly, she doesn't not like other ponies. She really wants to get to know them and be friendly with them, she just can't handle being around them. She wants to connect with them, but she usually can't. And that's where your gossip comes in.”
“Oh?” Rarity was beginning to see where this was going, but she didn't want to interrupt or pre-empt Pinkie. If nothing else, she was looking forward to hearing it from her mouth.
“Yeah, when you meet up and tell her all about all the stuff-happenings in Ponyville, she feels connected to it. She can learn all about the town and all the ponies in it without having to go out and meet them and get all frightened. She gets to know ponies without ever talking to them. She really loves that.”
“I see.” Rarity breathed a sigh of relief, thankful to have that slight insecurity addressed. Although... “And she... well, if you have her confidence, you may feel free to refrain from answering, but did she tell you this herself?” It wasn't that Rarity doubted Pinkie's ability to read other ponies' feelings, but she did have a tendency to let her idealism best her realism.
Pinkie nodded firmly. “Yep. And now I know for certain why you enjoy doing it, she'd be happy for me to tell you.”
“I'm... not sure I follow.”
“Oh, the reason she told me is cause she was worried you were only sharing gossip cause she enjoyed it.”
Rarity gaped for a moment, blinking rapidly as her mind tried to process the irony. After a few seconds, a single chuckle burst out of her. “Well, I suppose that does explain things somewhat. As you say – symbiosis. I really must thank you for putting my mind at rest.”
Pinkie giggled. “Well, what else is the spa for, silly.”
Rarity nodded. “Speaking of which, I think that should be long enough in the bath.” She began to rise out of the bath, the twins instantly in attendance with towels and robes.
Pinkie hopped out of the bath, high but not long, few droplets flying off her despite Rarity's and the twins' flinching. “Okay, what's next?”
As Aloe rushed over to Pinkie with a towel, lest she decide to dry herself by shaking the water off, Rarity answered, “Well, generally we now go to the steam room.”
“Oh,” Pinkie sounded a little disappointed as she rubbed against the towels, “it's not a sauna?”
Rarity blinked, a hint of worry making itself known at Pinkie's tone. “Erm, no, I'm afraid the spa doesn't have a sauna. Were you... were you especially looking forward to a trip to a sauna?” Her mind started racing, trying to think of a way to either satisfy or dissuade Pinkie's sudden and specific desires.
“Oh no!” Pinkie chirped before Rarity's mind could go too far. “I don't wanna go into a sauna. I just like saying it. Sauna! Sau... na! Saaaauuunaaa! It's such a great word!”
Rarity chuckled in relief. “I suppose it is.” She closed her eyes briefly, not needing to open them to allow Aloe to slip on her monogrammed gown.
“Huh,” she heard Pinkie say. She opened her eyes to see her companion tilting her head at her own offered gown. “It doesn't have a P on it?”
“No, Miss,” Aloe assured her, “zis is the first time you have... graced us vith your presence, so ve have seen no need to monogram a gown for you.”
“Ooooh!” Pinkie nodded slowly. “Yeah, that makes sense. I thought you just had a whole bunch of them with all the letters on. Though I guess I'd need to wear two P-gowns, wouldn't I? Hey, Rarity, could you wear two gowns at the same time?”
Rarity thought for a moment, her relief that things had been going well so far allowing her to take the question somewhat seriously. “Well, I suppose you technically could, but I shouldn't think it would make much of a difference if we could only see one. Unless, of course, such an outfit was specifically designed to...” She trailed off as a few ideas flickered through her mind. Wearing two dresses at once, one outside and one inside. Layers of dresses – dress recursion! It could be a whole new...
She shook her head, filing the thought away for later. “A fascinating idea, but not for right now – relaxation now, inspiration later!”
Pinkie nodded as she slipped on her unlettered robe. “Yepperoonie! Let's not go to the sauna.”
“Woooooah!” Pinkie exclaimed as they entered the room and sat down. “Now, this is hot!”
“Indeed, that is rather the idea.” Rarity smiled. This was the part of their treatment that she had been most looking forward to – she doubted even Pinkie could be hyperactive in this environment.
Pinkie nodded slowly, adding evidence to that hypothesis. “Yeah, it's really cool. I mean, it's not cool, it's hot, but it's also cool! Really cool! And really hot! We cool?”
“Er, yes,” Rarity assured her, impressed at Pinkie's ability to ramble even when not talking quickly. “And you're quite right, it is, ahem 'cool'. Just the thing to clear out the pores.”
“Oh? It won't make my hair fall out, will it?”
Rarity raised an eyebrow, already too heat-lethargic to do more. “Certainly not. Why would you think that would happen?”
“Well, you said it'd clear out pores and that’s where all our hair comes from. Well, some of them – there's hair pores and sweat pores, but if you totally cleared them all out, we'd be all hairless. Our poor pores!” She giggled softly.
Rarity found herself smiling as well, despite the mildly disconcerting image. “Well, I can assure you that won't happen – I'm hardly likely to avail myself of such a service.”
“Yeah, you should never risk losing your super-nice mane. And I think...” Pinkie trailed off, looking up in thought before shaking her head. “Yeah, I wouldn't wanna lose my fur either. I mean, yeah, I'd probably look super silly without any hair and I might be kinda cute in an ugly sort of way, but it'd probably get super uncomfortable.”
“Quite so,” Rarity agreed, happily following on Pinkie's tangent for the moment. “A pony does have fur on their whole body for a reason, after all.”
“Except your horn,” Pinkie pointed out. “That's all hard and solid so that it doesn't let the magic leak out. Though it is keratin, so I guess you could say it's its own kinda hair.”
Rarity thought for a moment, impressed at how someone could be so factually wrong and then immediately be so factually right. “That's certainly one way of looking at it. Except the magical vein of course.”
Pinkie nodded. “Yep, that's there to give it that cool spiral look. Also maybe to let you use magic.”
Rarity smiled, happy at Pinkie showing correct priorities. “I suppose a pony without fur would be like a horn without a vein or wings without feathers.”
“I once met a Pegasus with no feathers on their wings,” Pinkie replied, her trademark topic shift less jarring than normal, but no less sudden.
Rarity furrowed her brow a little, trying to think if she'd ever heard of such a thing. “Really?”
“Uh huh! Plumal Alopecia, she said it was called. Her wings were these two long, bendy tentacle-kindsa-things coming out of her back.”
Rarity hummed uncomfortably at the image. “That must have looked... a touch disconcerting. Not that she should be ashamed!” She added quickly, not wanting to seem disparaging. “But she must get some odd looks. And on top of being unable to fly.”
Pinkie nodded. “Yeah, I thought she might be sad about it too.” She paused for a moment, letting the fact sink in before adding. “Then she beat me in a hoof wrestle with one of her wings. I didn't feel sorry for her after that.”
Rarity giggled. “Well, I suppose that's one way to avoid pity. Still, I'd love to make her some wing-covering clothing.”
“I thought you said she shouldn't be ashamed,” Pinkie pointed out. “Do you think she should cover up her condition?”
Rarity shook her head gently. “No, I don't think she should. I think she should have the option to, if she should desire. It's all about giving ponies choice in the matter.” She gave Pinkie a lethargic smirk. “Much as I adore my line of work, I would never dream of forcing somepony to wear a dress if they neither have to nor want to.”
Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out a thick ream of paper. “So you're saying my “Rarity: Sartorial Overlord” story isn't true to life?” She said with an exaggerated lip quiver.
Rarity wasn't sure what was most impressive: the possibility that Pinkie had written a novel-length story of that name, the possibility that she carried around a ream of paper covered in writing solely for a prop gag or the undeniable fact that she knew the word “sartorial”.
In the end, she just settled for a nod and a touch of affected contrition. “I'm afraid so. I do apologize, would that I could aspire to such a lofty position.”
“That's okay!” Pinkie chirped, “That just makes it an alternate universe story. Better put it away before it catches fire.” She said as she plunged the papers back into her mane.”
“Um, I suspect it would be more likely to get wet, what with all the steam – catching fire would be... difficult in here.”
Pinkie thought for a moment. “I dunno, Rares, I think it could do both – it is really hot in here,” She said, wiping some sweat from her brow as if to emphasize the point.
Rarity let out a small giggle. “I can imagine it would be for one who eats as much sugar as you do.”
Pinkie flinched back a little. “Are you calling me fat?”
Rarity started at the accusation. “No! Not at all, I'm just pointing out that you do eat a lot of sugar. Which you then use up in the form of your boundless energy and very little of which forms fat on you. I assure you, darling, you are not fat.”
“Boundless. Hm,” Pinkie muttered, closing her eyes for a second before looking up at Rarity. “You're sure I'm not fat?”
“Positive.”
“Oh. Oh well, I guess that's okay, too,” Pinkie replied, a tiny touch of melancholy in her voice.
Rarity blinked in surprise. “You mean... do you want to be fat?”
Pinkie shrugged. “Eh, I don't really wanna be, it's not a big ambition or anything, but I sure wouldn't mind.”
“Hm, well, that's... I will be honest, I wouldn't have thought that an aspiration – a downside of dealing with so many models, I suppose – but I don't see an issue with it.”
“Oh, being slim's good too!” Pinkie gave Rarity a small nudge. “You being slim is perfect for being pretty in the way you are. But, the way I see it, the more of me there is, the more there is to hug ponies.”
Rarity nodded. “I suppose I can see the logic there.”
Pinkie beamed at Rarity's understanding. “Like I said, I wouldn't try to make myself fat, but I wouldn't mind being a plump little Pinkie.”
Rarity looked over her friend – Pinkie's body wasn't flabby by any stretch, but she did have a healthy layer of fat. And, it must be said, she did give exceedingly good hugs.
“Well, I think you have just the right amount of... you,” Rarity assured her, slipping in the slight Pinkieism at the end. “Even if does mean you get a touch too hot.”
“Thanks, Rare,” Pinkie said, the simple assurance seeming to truly buoy her up. “But don't worry too much. I don't mind the heat – you get used to it during a rock farm summer.”
“I can well imagine,” Rarity replied, the image coming to her instantly. “Hard work, long hours and no shade – you must have gotten quite the workout. And tan.” She gave a slight shudder at the thought of all that dirt and manual labour.
“Yeah, we all got pretty sweaty. Still, it could have been worse – Maud once told me that the temperature inside a volcano can be over a thousand degrees.”
A small voice in Rarity's head – one that sounded distinctly like Twilight, as it happened – thought about asking what kind of degrees Pinkie meant – Coltsius, Marenheit or Geldvin. However, she quickly concluded that, at that level of heat, it really didn't matter. Besides, another question popped into her mind first.
“And she just... brought that up out of nowhere?” After Rarity's first time meeting Maud, she could well believe that.
“Kinda,” Pinkie replied. “She was reading up about igneous rock and lava and I read over her shoulder a little and thought it might be nice to go inside a volcano one day.”
“You... wanted to throw a party inside a volcano?” Rarity asked, making the obvious leap for anyone who knew Pinkie.
“Kinda Sorta. I thought it'd be great place to hold a barbecue, which I think is a kind of party.”
“You had barbecues on the rock farm?” Rarity asked. “Forgive me, but, from your stories, it didn't seem like that sort of place.”
Pinkie gave her a small smirk. “That sounds like the talk of someone who's never tried Maple-Glazed Gypsum.”
Well, ask a foolish question... Rarity thought to herself.
“So, anyway...” Pinkie began before giving a small yawn. Rarity recognised that yawn – it was the signal for when conversation in the steam room would come to an end and its occupants would enter that wonderful state of almost-but-not-quite-sleep for a while.
“Anyway,” Pinkie continued, shuffling herself into a comfortable drowsing position, “Maud told me that if I went down into a volcano, my fur would all burn off, my insides would boil and I'd be reduced to a crackly, crumbly hunk of ash and then dust. She said I'd need a special heat-protecting suit and a gas mask to even get close to the heat of a volcano.”
“Oh,” Rarity said languidly, too relaxed to even be disturbed at the image Pinkie painted. She closed her eyes as she felt herself start to enter that delightful torpor. “That must have been disappointing.”
“Not really,” Pinkie replied as she too started to doze, “lots of parties have a dress code.”