Later on, Midnight was walking with Big Mac, who looked a little depressed.
“So, uh… Mac? Whattya think of Fluttershy’s new career?” Midnight asked, trying to break the ice.
“Honestly, haystack?” Big Mac sighed, “Ah don’ like it. Ah mean, seeing Fluttershy’s image like this ev’rywhere an’ all th’ time? It just…”
He sighed again, muttering, “It’s not the pony Ah’m fallin’ for…”
“Well, to tell you the truth, Mac,” Midnight brought up and explained everything Twilight told him, “…and Twilight can’t say anything `cause of Pinkie’s stupid pinkie promise! I swear that pony has such a black n’ white view regarding promises! In fact! I’m gonna have a word to her about it one of these days…”
“But if Fluttershy don’ like modelin’ she has every right t’ quit,” Big Mac protested, redirecting conversation to the real point.
“Didn’t you hear me? She’s doing it because she thinks quitting would disappoint Rarity,” Midnight reminded him. “Except Rarity would just love for Fluttershy’s modeling career to bite the dust but she feels guilty for thinking such a thing about her friend, it’s a messy situation."
Big Mac sighed, “If only tha’ fashion-hack Photo Finish would fine somepony else t' model an’ she’d leave Fluttershy alone.”
Midnight gasped, “That’s it! I gotta go see Twilight, see ya later!”
Big Mac stood there in bewilderment, watching Midnight gallop off.
“Wha’d Ah say?”
At Sugarcube Corner, Midnight met up with Twilight and explained his idea.
“See, Photo Finish is spiraling Fluttershy’s image into celebrity status, but if we can ruin that image Photo Finish will kick Fluttershy out of the modelling business faster than Big Mac can apple-buck all the apples out of a tree!”
“And Fluttershy will be free of all that drama, and Rarity won’t be jealous anymore!” Twilight gathered in turn. “It’s brilliant! Except… Fluttershy could never do something unattractive enough to get Photo finish to fire her or all the fans to lose the appeal they have for Fluttershy.”
“On her own…” Midnight amended with a sneaky look. “But if one of us helps Fluttershy out, with just the right unpleasant presentation at her next fashion show, no one will ever want her to model again!"
“Fluttershy won’t have to do a job she hates, Rarity won’t be jealous anymore, and I’ll no longer have to keep their secret!” Twilight was getting giddy as she clapped her hooves.
“It’s the perfect plan!”
“Order up!”
They saw Pinkie bring them some cupcakes and realized she must’ve heard everything, Twilight saying, “Pinkie, whatever you just heard, you can’t tell anyone about it.”
“Promise you won’t tell anyone about it!” Midnight growled.
Pinkie responded by zipping her lips and then going through a range of pantomime motions.
“So… you do promise you won’t tell or you don’t?” Twilight wanted to ascertain.
“Uh, yes!” Pinkie replied with a tone one would use for ‘duh’ as she explained and repeated the motions, “Obviously, that's why I zipped my mouth closed, then locked it with a key, then dug a hole, then buried the key, then built a house up top the hole where I buried the key, then moved into the house on top of the hole!”
“Obviously…” deadpanned Midnight in response to Pinkie’s smile.
“Now, I think I’d better be the one to help Fluttershy,” Twilight insisted, “I’m more experienced, and it’ll look less suspicious to have a mare backstage than a stallion.”
“Okay, good luck,” Midnight left to go tell Mac the news.
“Soon, big bro, Fluttershy will model no more,” Midnight assured the big red farmer as they made their way to the show. “With Twilight’s help, Fluttershy’s presentation will be so unattractive, nopony will ever wanna see her model again!”
“But… won’t Fluttershy be embarrassed t’ make such a display?” Big Mac brought up, Midnight stopping in his tracks.
“…Maybe I should’ve thought this through a little more,” he muttered hesitantly.
“Let’s get over there!” Big Mac urged and they hurried.
Getting past the ticket booth was no trouble, Midnight simply used a dizzy-spell to incapacitate the security guard. But as they made their way into the showroom, they were surprised to hear, “Bravo! I say bravo! Such attitude, such pizzazz! She’s invented an entirely new kind of modelling!”
“Who’s cheering?” Midnight looked around for the source when Big Mac spotted the cheerer.
“Miss Rarity?”
Midnight noticed her then too. Rarity was clapping her hooves, wearing a gorgeous cape and headdress.
“Wait one apple-pickin’ minute,” Midnight could not believe it. “I thought Rarity wanted Fluttershy to topple!”
Before Big Mac could say anything, the audience started following Rarity’s example, and soon enough they all were applauding and cheering for Fluttershy. But one would have to be blind in both eyes to see the woeful sigh she made.
Once it all calmed down, Midnight and Big Mac went to see Rarity.
“Rarity, I… didn’t expect you to be here!” Midnight wanted to keep Fluttershy’s confidence even though he hadn’t given his word to her.
“Well… If Fluttershy is destined for stardom, it is wrong of me to try and ruin it,” Rarity sighed as they made their way backstage. “However jealous I might be, my friendship with Fluttershy is more important, which is why I must be certain she isn’t upset after that modelling upset.”
She hurried to the room Fluttershy was in, apparently accompanied by Twilight.
“Fluttershy, are you alright?”
Fluttershy hesitated while putting on a smile, “I’m… great! I’m a super famous fashion model, why wouldn’t I be great?”
“Because you-!”
The boys noticed Twilight had her hoof in her mouth and Midnight knew she was trying to stop herself from breaking her promise to Fluttershy.
“Out there on the runway,” Rarity brought up, “everyone turning on you, and- It’s so awful, Fluttershy I- …I wanted them to.”
“You did?!” Fluttershy gasped and Midnight couldn’t take it anymore.
“Argh! This has gone far enough!” he snapped and spewed, “Rarity! Fluttershy doesn’t like being a model, in fact she hates it! Twilight was helping her look unattractive tonight so everypony wouldn’t want her to model anymore! And Fluttershy! Rarity’s been jealous of you ever since Photo Finish passed her over for you! She’s the one who wants all the attention you’re getting!”
Everypony gasped and for a few moments, silence.
“But… Rarity?” Fluttershy broke the ice. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were jealous?”
Rarity sighed, “It’s true, I was jealous Photo Finish chose you and not me, that you were getting all the attention! I even hoped you would blunder and your modelling would be over but… I thought you loved modelling! Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Love? Oh Rarity, I hate being a model! All this attention, having my image everywhere, mobbed by fans!” she sighed, “I was afraid to quit that I’d disappoint you for not… ‘shining all over Equestria’.”
“And I thought if I admitted how jealous I was of your success you'd think I was a terrible friend,” Rarity added.
“Well, Ah think we all learned sumthin’ here,” Big Mac spoke up. “Like we Apples say, honesty is always th’ best policy.”
“He’s right, girls,” Midnight added, “If you two had just come clean about how you felt with the situation, all this fuss and drama could’ve been avoided.”
Twilight sighed, “And I would’ve told you this myself but you each made me promise not to say anything to the other!”
The girls sighed, Rarity saying, “I promise, Fluttershy, to never keep my feelings secret again.”
“Me too!”
Then they both pinkie-promised, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
As they all laughed, Photo Finish showed up, ruining the moment, “You were brilliant, brilliant! I’ve already got six photo shoots lined up for tomorrow alone!”
“I’m sorry, Photo Finish, but I won’t be making any of them,” Fluttershy declined.
“Whaaat?!”
“We go!” everypony stated with a hoof-bump as they walked past the hack, whose jaw had dropped.
“Vat… has just happened?”
Fluttershy sighed in content in the Jacuzzi, all of them having retired to the spa, Rarity in a seaweed wrap, Midnight and Big Mac getting their backs massaged, Twilight getting a bubble-bath.
“This… is living,” Midnight sighed
“Eeyup...” agreed a blissful Big Mac.
“What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon,” Fluttershy commented.
“Isn’t it though?” Rarity added.
“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight quoted, “Being a good friend means being able to keep a secret. But you should never be afraid to share your true feelings with a good friend… Didja get all that, Spike?”
“I’ll get to it!” Spike promised as he waved a palm leaf fan at Rarity, swooning, “But I’m… a little busy at the moment.
Everypony just laughed and sighed as they let themselves be spoiled.