//------------------------------// // Movie Night // Story: Rarity's Secret Shame // by Alabenson //------------------------------// “Well, I wasn’t able to find anything,” Twilight said glumly. It had been several days since she and her friends had decided to try and discover the truth behind whatever High Class Harlots actually was. Her friends had once again all gathered at her castle to discuss the results of their efforts, minus three. Rarity was absent, for obvious reasons, Spike had been sent to Canterlot on ‘Official Royal Business’ that would keep him out of Ponyville until the following morning, and Starlight had yet to return from a following a lead in Las Pegasus. “I must’ve gone back ten years before Rarity opened her boutique, and I couldn’t find single play by that name.” “So, do you think that that means…?” Rainbow Dash started to ask. “It’s a porn.” Everypony present turned to see a somewhat dejected Starlight Glimmer walk into the room, levitating a film canister in front of her, which she deposited onto the table the others were seated at. “I found a pony in Las Pegasus who was able to sell me a copy. So, now what do we do?” “Well, since we have the thing, maybe we should watch it,” Rainbow Dash suggested hesitantly. “Are y’all serious, RD? Y’all really want us to watch a movie that may well have one of our friends ruttin’ in it?” Applejack yelled. “Hey, we don’t know that for sure, and watching it’s the only way to find out the truth. I mean, wasn’t that the whole point of finding it in the first place?” Rainbow Dash said. Applejack spent several seconds glaring at Rainbow Dash in response until finally taking her hat off and throwing it down onto the table as she let out a growl of frustration. “Dagnabbit, Ah really to admit it, but y’all’ve got a point there. We’ve gone this far already, we may as well find out the whole truth.” “Do we really have to?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, however Rarity was actually involved in this she really didn’t seem like she wanted anypony to know about it. Maybe we should just get rid of this…thing and then try and forget all about this mess.” “Ah hear what yer sayin’, Fluttershy, and part of me agrees with y’all. It’s just, Ah don’t know if Ah can even look Rarity in the eye without knowin’ the truth of the matter, and this here’s the only way that’s ever gonna happen,” Applejack said. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy, but I think I’m going have to agree with Rainbow Dash and Applejack,” Twilight said. “And not just because I can’t stand to let a mystery like this go unsolved. Whatever went on between Rarity and this movie could be causing trouble for our friend, and if we want to be able to help her then we need to fully understand the situation.” “I understand,” Fluttershy said. “Pinkie, what do you –” Fluttershy stopped as she saw Pinkie Pie already in the middle of setting up the projector with six bowls of popcorn already prepared. “Nevermind.” “Alright, before we get this whole mess started, Ah think we should set down a couple of rules,” Applejack said. “First off, Ah think we should fast forward through the smutty bits as best as we can.” “Spoilsport,” Rainbow Dash said. “We ain’t watchin’ this to get off, Rainbow. We’re doin’ this to help understand how much trouble our friend may have gotten herself in. Speakin’ of, mah second rule is that if Rarity comes onscreen and it looks like she’s about to…get herself in a compromisin’ position, then we shut everythin’ off right then and there. We can put two and two together without needin’ to see our friend like that, that alright with everypony?” As a chorus of affirmations followed, Applejack nodded to Pinkie Pie to start the film. “Well, let’s get this over with.” The six friends spent the following hour or so watching ponies in elaborately gaudy period costumes make painfully forced attempts at reciting dialogue before eagerly mounting each other. “Yeesh, I realize what we’re watching, but this acting is terrible,” Starlight Glimmer said as Lord Fifth Leg awkwardly recited some innuendo-laden poetry to Lady Winkerton. “Y’all ain’t kiddin’. Ah’ve seen more convincin’ actin’ in Apple Bloom’s class plays. Ah mean, Ah get they saved all their real effort fer – and she’s got his face goin’ under her skirt. Alright Pinkie, start fast fowardin’,” Applejack said, any moral indignation at the display before her having given way to boredom. “Anypony else startin’ to feel like we might’ve been barkin’ up the wrong tree here? We must be getting’ near the end of this thing and Ah haven’t seen anypony that even might look like Rarity. Not that Ah’m complainin’ that mah friend ain’t in a porn or nothin’, just –” “We know what you mean,” Twilight assured her. “I’ve been wondering about that myself, actually. It’s possible we might have been wrong and this wasn’t what Rarity was referring to after all.” “Well then what the hay was it, then?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean, we tried seeing if it was a play or something and that wasn’t it. Now it doesn’t look like this was it either, so I’m all out of ideas and we still can’t really ask Rarity about any of this.” “Ask me about what, darling?” Everypony present immediately turned their heads in panicked unison as Rarity stepped through the door. “Oh my, I was just looking for Twilight, I didn’t realize you all were here, what’s the occaAHHHHHHHHHHH!” Rarity froze completely in her tracks the moment her eyes landed on the projector screen before letting out a horrified scream. “Rarity, there’s a mostly reasonable explanation for this,” Starlight quickly said as Pinkie fumbled with the projector in an effort to turn it off. “Yeah, we, uh, have a porn night thing that we do when Spike’s out of town,” Rainbow Dash added. “We’d have invited you, but we were all pretty sure you wouldn’t be interested.” “There’s no use in trying to make something up, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said as she struggled to regain her composure. “I can plainly tell what’s going on. I don’t know how you all found out about my disgusting secret, but there’s clearly no point in hiding it any longer.” “Uh, Rarity, what are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean, yeah, we might’ve thought you were –” “Part of this horrid display? I can’t deny it. Just look,” Rarity said as she took control of the projector and stopped it on an image of a mare being spit roasted by a pair of stallions. “There I am right all over the screen!” Twilight and the others (sans Fluttershy, who was burying her face in her forelegs in embarrassment) looked at the image in utter confusion. “Rarity, that can’t possibly be you,” Twilight finally said. “It’s kind of you to say, but as awful as it is for me to admit, I’m afraid that it is,” Rarity said. “Rarity, have y’all spit yer bit or something? That there’s a pegasus,” Applejack said. “And I designed the dress she’s wearing!” Rarity wailed in despair. Several seconds ticked by as Rarity’s friends silently absorbed her sudden confession, until Rainbow Dash finally broke the silence. “Wait, that’s your big horrible secret? You made some costumes for a porn?” “Well, have you seen them?” Rarity countered. “I mean, just look at that thing, it’s nothing but a confused mishmash of design elements, a grotesque caricature of fashion! It’s not that I didn’t want to do something tasteful, mind you. I spend days researching the fashions of the time period for my first set of designs. But, the director, Eight Millimeter, had his own vision for what he wanted and I, barely even an up-and-coming designer at the time, had no choice but to degrade myself for the sake of my future business.” “So, let me make sure I have this straight,” Starlight said as she tried to wrap her head around the situation. “You designed a bunch of costumes for a porno when you were starting out to pay for your first store, and the reason you’re ashamed about it is that they weren’t your best work?” “Those abominations weren’t merely ‘not my best work’,” Rarity snapped. “I daresay the dresses I made for that production were the most detestable garments I ever created, including the Gala dresses you girls had me create.” “Wait, what Gala dresses?” Starlight asked. “Trust me, sugar cube, y’all are happier not knowin’,” Applejack said before turning back to Rarity. “Anyhow, Ah, can kind of see where y’all are comin’ from, ain’t much worse than work that y’all can’t be proud of. Ah guess we’re all just a little surprised that that’s the part yer ashamed of and not, well, the thing they were used in.” “Well, that bit wasn’t exactly something I could advertise, naturally, but it wasn’t as though I was, ahem, on camera,” Rarity said. “Actually, if I’m to be perfectly honest, if I had been able to use my original designs than the overall experience would have been quite enjoyable. Aside from the director everypony was quite pleasant to work with, and I even met a good friend of mine there named Hidden Desire. She runs an, how shall I put this, ‘adult boutique’ in Canterlot and had supplied the production with some of their more exotic props.” “I guess that just goes to show that friendships can be made even in the worst situations,” Twilight said. “Quite true,” Rarity agreed. “And thanks to her and a few other friends I made on set the next time I took commission work like it was a much more pleasant experience.” “You see, friendship can always – wait, WHAT?” Twilight said. “I far more comfortable with putting my hoof down when it came to presenting work I could be proud of the next time I was called upon to provide costume designs for an adult production,” Rarity said. “Of course, it also certainly helped I had most of the funding I needed to open Carousel Boutique at that point, though the extra income certainly helped.” “Just hold on one durn second here. Are y’all sayin’ that this wasn’t the only time y’all made dresses fer a porn?” Applejack asked incredulously. “Oh, I’ve done costumes for scads of them, darling. It’s been a rather surprisingly reliable source of extra income over the years, what with most of the costumes not surviving the production for…various reasons. I use a pseudonym for the credits, of course; Costumes by ‘Burning Passion’.” Rarity let out a small giggle. “Hidden Desire helped me pick that one out. I also use it for a line of intimate apparel that I sell through her boutique, mostly it’s an outlet for ideas I come up with when I’m feeling amorous.” “Hold on, if you’re fine with making costumes for pornos, then what was the big deal with the pony Applejack and Fluttershy heard you arguing with?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Oh, him,” Rarity said with a note of distaste. “He was looking to produce some gaudy assault on the notion of good taste. I adore rhinestones as much as anypony, but there are certain things which should not be adorned with them.” As the conversation regarding Rarity’s apparent alternate source of revenue continued, Twilight stood back and made a mental note; Spike was never to learn of any of this.