The next few days flew by like a montage, a mix-up of flowing fabrics and turning pages as Sweetie's field got almost as much of a work-out as Rarity's did. All week, Sweetie Spade was on the case, asking so many questions that even her sister realized she was trying to channel the detective. Rarity wasn’t surprised by that, not with all the reading she was doing: even when Sweetie wasn’t spending time in one of the new dresses, her nose was in a book, and when she wasn’t doing that, she was trying to learn more about the commission, instead.
Applebloom and Scoots had been disappointed to hear that Sweetie wasn't going to be around very much after school the next few days, but they agreed that a quadruple-take mystery and a new super-awesome spy novel were powerful incentives. They gave Sweetie their full support.
Over alfalfa sandwiches and turns on the swings during recess, the girls were enraptured by Sweetie's retelling of Shadow Spade's adventures. On Hornsday, since she hadn't been able to start Shadow Spade and the Moscolt Connection, their conversation instead turned to the other big mystery: who was this filly?
For Rarity, keeping another pony’s secrets was just as much a part of her job as the rest of it, which meant she was very close-lipped about the whole thing. This added up to a big bunch of question marks once the girls sat down and really talked about it.
"I feel like these are nicer dresses, too! Like, the one I wore yesterday looked like something a Princess could get away with wearing!" Sweetie blurted, holding her head in her hooves. "What is with this filly?"
"She's super-rich, of course!" Applebloom pointing out, prodding Sweetie in the shoulder. "There can't be that many super-rich ponies in Canterlot who have fillies, right? I bet if you had a list you could figure it out!"
"Wouldn't that be like an investigation?" Scootaloo's wings buzzed. "And then you could find her parents in Canterlot, and be all like, 'hi-yah! I caught you! Now you're under arrest!'" she punctuated the sentence with one of those Catrate chops she'd been doing all week (hearing that Sweetie was reading Shadow Spade, Rainbow Dash had let Scootaloo borrow her collection of 'Moose Lee' martial-arts comics).
"Uh? What would they be under arrest for?" Sweetie looked up at her pegasus pal, uncertain. "Being rich? Paying Rarity lots of bits for all that work she's doing?"
"Well... no. ...but it's still a really weird thing!" Scootaloo crossed her forelegs, cheeks flushing under that tangerine fur.
"Why not just ask your sister?" Applebloom pointed out. "AJ keeps telling me that ponies who keep secrets just need a hoof so they decide to tell the truth."
"Rarity's being all sneaky again! That's the worst part!" Sweetie huffed. "She's always kept all of these special orders private. I don't know what's so embarrassing about getting a dress for some ponies, but she says they, 'value her discretion'. Even though this is really special and different, she said the same rules apply and that I'll just have to wait to find out."
"Wait up. How would you find out if it's a secret?" Scootaloo asked, leaning in across the table.
"I... uhm?" Sweetie went silent for a moment. 'Bloom and Scoots, always there to help a friend, stayed quiet. Various fillies poked-tongue-into-corner-of-cheek, scratched mane, and crossed their eyes as Sweetie tried to recall last night's conversation more perfectly.
"...Rarity said that... er... oh, okay: so I was wearing this flowery dress -- its got a lot of scalloping and flaring bits, and the whole thing sort of looks like petals, all pink and gold - but there's this underlayer that they tumble off of sort of like-"
"Sweetieeee!" Scootaloo's forehead thunked against the table. "We've got like three minutes before Miss Cheerliee calls us back inside. C'mon!"
"Mh!" Sweetie stuck out her tongue. "It was just a really pretty dress, okay?! And when she had me taking it off, she looked really inspired and proud and stuff. And she said she was certain this dress would look especially good on 'her' at the next… something, and then she stopped herself, like she didn't want to spoil it."
"Didn't want to spoil what?" Applebloom shook her head. "Ah don't get it."
Sweetie shrugged. "I think she meant the event would be a hint? If it was a library opening, it'd be a dress for Twilight? If it was for a you'll-never-guess-how-many-surprise-parties-I've-surprised-people-at-so-this-party-is-celebrating-the-hundredth-time-someone-surprised-me-at-a-party-instead-party-"
"That would be for Pinkie Pie. We get it! And you're still wasting time." Scootaloo reminded Sweetie Belle, causing a brief raspberry-blowing war to commence between the two.
"So whatever she was saying the fancy, flowery dress would be perfect for would have been a hint... But that could be anything." Sweetie amended once she conceded, recess being the better part of valor.
"An' then what?"
"Well then I realized she wasn't going to give me a hint anymore, so I just asked her who they were all for again! Instead of answering she started taking the dress off me - and while it was still stuck around my head and I couldn't see, she said I would just have to be patient and see." the white filly blinked. "I thought she meant that I was just going to have to wait forever. Like how your sister said you'd have to wait and see when you asked her if you could save up enough money to buy that thingy you wanted last summer.
"A trebuchet!" Applebloom declared, eyes shining wistfully.
"Yeah. That. So I figured 'wait and see' meant 'not in a hundred years'." Sweetie shrugged and Applebloom pouted. "...but maybe she meant I would see. Like maybe the filly's going to come here to pick up the dresses!"
"Ooh! Then we could hide near the Boutique like real spies and see who it is!" Scootaloo exclaimed with an excited grin.
“Or maybe she’s super famous, so we’ll see a picture of her wearing one of Rarity’s dresses in the newspaper!” Suggested Applebloom.
That was when Cheerilee started ringing the bell to call everyone back into the schoolhouse. The three fillies rose from the table as one - except that now Sweetie was picturing Scootaloo dashing Rarity's dream (and a window, and maybe even the client) with a pair of nunchucks. "Or we could just ask her? Come over with me after school, and we'll see what she says!"
Disaster averted, Sweetie didn't even notice when her friends started passing notes during their math lesson. Not even the one with 'good cop/bad cop?' written on it, which Applebloom replied to with a big wink.
***
"Oh! Hello girls!" Rarity's horn darkened and the sewing machine at her hooves stilled. The glasses perched on her nose glimmered briefly before being left to hang down around her neck by their chain as she carefully turned and stood, trotting towards the three fillies entering the shop.
Just after school was one of the only times Rarity failed to welcome a potential customer with her usual 'Boutique, chic, magnifique' greeting. It was almost invariably Sweetie, and this time was no different - except that her crusader friends were with her! Rarity favored them all with a smile as her sister trotted up and shared a quick nuzzle.
"Hello!" Applebloom chirruped as she and Scootaloo diverged in the middle of the room, the latter's attention caught by Sweetie's first ensemble for the afternoon, a smart tartan skirt and vest which would be accented by the cutest little hat - but the young Apple's eyes remained focused entirely on herself, instead.
"How are you, Applebloom? I don't think I've seen you since last Sunsday when we visited."
"I'm good! We’ve gotten all that rain for the south orchard since last week, and we've been real busy with that," said the yellow filly. "How about you?"
The dressmaker made sure to keep eye-contact and to set a good example for all three of the girls as she answered. "Very busy as always, dear. You know how-"
"Yea, Sweetie told us you were really busy!" Scootaloo piped in from somewhere closer to Rarity's cutie mark than she was expecting the little pegasus to be by then, causing the mare to turn rather suddenly. "She said you've got a really big commission you're working on?"
"She mentioned that, did she?" Rarity peered over Scootaloo's violet mop at her sister, who seemed particularly interested in the thread-count of the vest she'd be wearing soon.
"Well she told us she's been helping you out a whole lot." Applebloom amended quickly, shuffling a few steps closer.
"She's been a great help." Rarity assured the filly, her proud expression faltering as she detected more than a hint of embarrassment on the part of her sister.
"But we were trying to figure out why you needed so much help all of a sudden." Scootaloo cut back in, doing a frighteningly good impression of Rainbow Dash trying to trick Twilight into taking extra flying lessons. "Is there something special happening soon?"
Two bright pairs of innocent filly eyes blinked up at Rarity. She felt her hackles rise with suspicion... and there. A third pair of anxious eyes joined them from the other corner of the room. Those sneaky little fillies! If the Crusaders wanted to turn up the heat, they'd better be ready to handle it.
"Oh, I don't think I could say, Scootaloo." Rarity's hoof struck like a snake, wrapping around the filly's neck and pulling her in a bit closer. She absentmindedly patted her on the mane in exactly the way that Opalescent hated, channeling every bit of 'confident big sister' she could into her words. "My business has its busy seasons, just like Sweet Apple Acres does. There's nothing too remarkable about me asking for a little help, is there?"
"No, but-!" Scootaloo was summarily ignored, as Rarity repeated the motion to pull Applebloom in on her other side.
"And since you two decided to come visit, I can only guess that you wanted to know more..." Rarity murmured slowly, almost drawling the world like a certain yellow-furred farmer filly.
"Y-yes!"
"...about how you could help?" Rarity continued, before smiling brightly. "Oh! You would? How splendid!" She gave Sweetie Belle a fierce grin as the trap was set, sprung, and struck all off the cuff. Rarity's horn ignited as the two fillies peered around her barrel to look at one another, extremely confused.
Rarity had been planning to save the worst for last, and to make Sweetie Belle struggle through these dresses on Hoofsday, before giving her Catbirday off - but now she wouldn't have to. Two ponyquins stampeded into the room while the careful application of a magic field to the tail-end of three fillies herded the girls up onto the large platform Rarity usually reserved for fitting ballroom gowns and similar, oversized pieces of couture.
"Now then!" she announced, smiling devilishly. "Let's get your friends set up first, Sweetie."
"We- huh?" Applebloom boggled, inadvertantly volunteering herself. Magic wrapped around the earth pony, forcing her to rear onto her hind legs ("Hooves up, dear!") as a corset slid around her barrel, and the rest followed. Done in the study of some old style, the layers of copper and red (which would have eaten Applebloom up if not for her mane) climbed up the wireframe, all but swallowing her tail as they shaped a massive bustle and splashed around her flanks like a waterfall, catching the light as the little Apple wiggled.
The filly's first instinct was to turn to the mirror - doubly-so because of the way Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle gasped when they saw their pal, bow and all, squeezed into such a big 'frou-frou' number - but Applebloom's hooves gleamed with the pearlescence of Rarity's field so that she couldn't lift them, and the dressmaker gave the girl an encouraging smile.
"Would you explain the rules to your friends, Sweetie?" she trilled, her magic hefting the second dress and a tiny pegasus even while it kept Applebloom rooted in place.
"Oh, right. Be careful, be honest, do only what Rarity tells you-"
"That's the one. And I'll give you both a moment to look in the mirror when I'm done, girls, but first I need you to be still. No wriggling, no chatting, and no turning your heads, okay?"
"Y-yes, ma'am!" Applebloom's hooves lost their binding glow as she answered. No surprise there, she had to be used to such instructions from her siblings at Sweet Apple Acres, after-all, didn’t she.
There was a muffled sound coming from beside her, and a little gasp for air as an orange head finally popped through the neck of her dress. "Uhm! Y-yeah, sure!" Scoots agreed, still squirming while Rarity tugged and set the gown around the athletic filly. It was a confection of quicksilver gauze and pearl beading, less a wedding dress, and more the silhouette of an impossible star that lived beneath the waves - sleek lines that crossed, built, and climbed into a dramatic arc behind the little pony, rather giving the illusion that their anchor was all that kept her earthbound. While it didn't look like it, this dress was in fact made to be flown in. The filly who wore it would give the impression that she had the wingpower of a Wonderbolt reservist if she was seen hovering in such a dress.
Rarity's eyes sparkled proudly as she looked upon the uncertain fillies. She was unable to take her gaze off of the dynamic figure Scootaloo cut in spite of her squirming, not even as she lifted the urban, tartan number and slipped it around Sweetie Belle in seconds.
"Alright girls, keep your hooves on the ground, and I'll warn you if I need to lift or tickle, but you must be patient with me, hmm?"
"Yes, Rarity." Sweetie chimed, a soft smile impressed on her muzzle: she was rather certain she looked quite handsome in this piece, and it didn’t hurt that her friends were going to be really warm and itchy after standing in those dresses for a while. It seemed to her like a fair payment for the 'interrogation' they tried to pull on her sister.
Sweetie stiffened slightly when she realized that she didn't have her book, but quickly relaxed. Maybe that was to 'get' her, too? She was with her friends, so that was alright.
Sweetie Spade looked on with dismay as her kidnapper pointed a lantern at the far corner of the room. The cage had been steeped in shadows, the night outside so dark that even the little barred window was invisible until illuminated. A fierce wharfside chill filled the damp cellar, and the occupied cell, too. Ambassador Appletini and Pegaprincess Scootalala, the two 'run-aways' she'd been hired to find, were already sitting in it. And she was to join them.
*
Rarity was good, but she wasn't a superhero. It took over an hour before the three fillies were allowed to defrock, and that was with Sweetie's entire fit taking about five minutes. It was pleasant, all in all, Rarity thanking all three of them profusely and interrupting herself only for a prim apology to Sweetie that she might be needed, however briefly, on Herdsday so Rarity could check her adjustments to the other dresses. Now the Crusaders found themselves sprawled out in the upstairs room, an emergency plate of chocolate chip cookies under steady assault from three pairs of hooves. The Monopony box sat on the floor next to them, taken from the little chest of things Rarity kept for Sweetie's visits, but they were all too tired to set it up. Opalescent had even been drafted as a stand-in Winona for Applebloom, (now hiding beneath Rarity's bed, glaring at the yellow filly with her usual contempt).
"You've been doing that all week?" Scootaloo moaned at the ceiling. "You're nuts!"
"It wasn't that bad." Sweetie insisted, rolling back onto her stomach. "I've been doing two or three a day for her."
"What?" Scootaloo's eyes bugged out. "No offense, Sweetie, but you really are a crazy pony!"
"Well I'm betting they weren't all as fancy as the ones we got to wear, right, Sweetie Belle?" Applebloom suggested. She was still excited by the whole thing, and had strutted up the stairs once out of her dress, extremely proud that she'd been able to play at being a fashion model for a little while.
"And you're crazy too! Why do you look so happy after that?" Scootaloo asked, exasperated, twisting to look at the earth pony.
"Because Rarity's dresses are neat! And I think I looked good in it. I never get to wear stuff like that, and now I got to try it on even before some high-and-mighty Canterlot filly. Prob'ly look better than she will in it, too!" Applebloom winked at Sweetie and reached for another cookie.
"I still think that the one you had on is the best of the bunch, Scootaloo. Sorry you didn't like it." Sweetie's legs stiffened as she stretched each of them out as far as she was able.
Scootaloo looked over in surprise. "Huh? The dress was really cool, Sweetie, I just hated that I had to wear it. Like, standing there like a statue! That took all the fun out of it." Scootaloo, having rolled onto her belly, flicked her tail and buzzed her wings to emphasize. "I just don't get how you could stand there like that so much. It's like being in trouble and getting sent to your room, or something. Being -stuck- there."
The room fell into a companionable silence as the girls commiserated and munched. Applebloom and Sweetie had both relaxed once Scoots explained herself. Another cookie swayed in the air as Sweetie awkwardly floated it over, but it was easier to catch it between her hooves once it was close enough. The unicorn smiled a little, glad to just hang out with her friends again.
Sweetie Spade didn't have many places she could call 'safe', but The Room Upstairs was as close as it got. The place was quiet, the patrons kept to themselves, and the cookies were fresh. She didn't even bother to sweep the crumbs away before she reached for another, looking through the gloom of the room to see how her 'guests' were doing. As daring and dangerous as it had been, she could barely remember how she'd gotten the princess and the ambassador out of the dungeon - but after all that, they definitely deserved some sugar.
"We did it, girls." Sweetie murmured, pushing to her feet and licking some crumbs off her lip. That was a pretty good fade-to-black for a scene, but it wasn't the end of a Shadow Spade novel, not by a longshot.
"Did what, Sweetie?" Applebloom asked, flexing her knee as she sat up.
"We escaped from the clutches of that double-agent, of course! You two pushed too hard, and you got burned."
"Burned?"
"Yeah! Its what they say in spy stories. It means that the spy is abandoned by their organization - they don't have anyone they can trust, anymore. It happened to one of them at the beginning of The Moscolt Connection – I read it on the back."
"Ohhh." Both fillies' eyes widened as they realized what Sweetie was doing. The fluffy white filly started to pace back and forth, making a little path for herself between the Monopony box and the cookies. Scootaloo pushed herself to her hooves, grinning: when even Sweetie started getting into a game, it was going to be fun.
"So when we went to Double-Agent Rarity for some information, she betrayed us, right?" Sweetie asked, arching an eyebrow at the pegasus.
"Right! Even the kung fu of the great Scoo-tee wasn't strong enough to escape her clutches." Scootaloo admitted, striking an action pose.
"But Agent Rarity's hostage got us out of there!" Sweetie agreed, winking at Applebloom. "After all, you tricked her into thinking you were on her side - what with wearing that dress and putting on such a great performance." Sweetie's eyes widened. "Like Marety Hara!"
"Whossat?" Applebloom cocked an eyebrow as she was given a role she didn't know anything about.
"She was an actress who was so good that everyone fell in love with her, so no one suspected she was a spy, too." Sweetie explained, pointing at the little bookshelf that held all of Rarity's other Shadow Spade books. "She even fooled changelings!"
"Whoa..." Applebloom's eyes widened. That was one heck of a powerful character!
"So what's the plan now, girls?" Sweetie asked excitedly. "Even though we don't know who Double-Agent Rarity's target is, we know all about her plans, now, right?"
"Right!"
"Oh? Do you?"
Three fillies gasped as Rarity's bedroom door swung open, timed for maximum dramatic effect, thanks to a touch of magic. The pony strutted in with her most daring chapeau tilted rakishly upon her head, and tapped one manicured hoof against the wooden floor. Three heads had swiveled towards her, and braced themselves for a surprise entrant into their game, Sweetie in particular grinning with excitement. At the hoof-tap, Opalescence dashed out from beneath the bed and started to writhe and snuggle between her legs.
"Ohh, yes Opal! That's mommy's good girl!" Rarity cooed happily, leaning down to nuzzle the fussy animal, giggling like a foal.
Three smiles faltered, just a little. Sweetie Belle raised a disapproving eyebrow. Scootaloo cleared her throat. Rarity glanced up - and pouted. "Right! That is- Hmm." She ran a hoof down Opalescent's side, and the creature plunked down on the floor and began to purr contentedly. It was a disarming sound, a masterful noise that no amount of Applebloom cuddles had been able to produce. A hooded expression and a sly smile were shared with the fillies as Rarity set the mood once more.
"You'll forgive my distraction, won't you, Sweetie Spade?" she asked, batting her eyes. "Since my ‘removal’ from the Canterlot Shadow Agency, there are so few pleasures in life that one must take them where she can." Rarity smirked and looked down her nose at the girls, her glasses still swaying softly around her neck. "Chief among those pleasures, of course, is explaining my plan to would-be heroes like yourself, by way of a wildly self-aggrandizing monologue!"
"Noooooo!" Sweetie wailed, shaking her hooves at the heavens. Or ceiling. Yup. That was a ceiling.
"Yes!" Rarity insisted with a little stomp and a soft muwah-ha-ha, neither of which Opalescent particularly liked (she hated to be upstaged). "So while you three may think you know my plans, I'm afraid you are sorely mistaken."
"Well whatever it is, you'll never get away with it, Double Agent Rarity!" Applebloom declared with a giggle.
"Yeah!" Scootaloo reared back, forehooves lashing in the air in a way that made her look a lot more like Pinkie Pie playing the tuba than Moose Lee.
"Foals, all of you!" Rarity snorted with a toss of her mane. "I already have!" Her horn ignited and the drawer of her vanity slid open, an envelope floating out and beginning to spin above the girls' heads. "Now that I've taken your measure, all of my preparations are made. I'm going to make my mark on Canterlot, and none of you can stop me!"
The girls’ expressions grew solemn as the tension in the room built. And built. And… built? They all looked at each other.
“So… do we fight, now?” Scootaloo asked, confused.
“What? You can’t fight her! She’s my sister!” Sweetie huffed.
“So what, then?” Scootaloo pouted. “Does she give up, and tell us?”
“I’m sorry dear, but I really can’t do that.” Rarity admitted with a shrug. “I normally pride myself on confidentiality, but here I don’t really have a choice. I was asked to keep this hush-hush.” The unicorn waggled the envelope to illustrate the point. “I thought I could give the three of you a fun way to put it to rest, at least. When I saw Sweetie’s expression downstairs, I knew she didn’t mean for you two to ask questions like that, so I had a little fun… but I know you’re all curious.” She gave a sympathetic smile. “When the mystery is over, I’m sure Sweetie will tell you all about it.”
“Aw. So now what do we do?” Scootaloo asked, scuffing the rug softly with one forehoof.
“I’ve got to head back home soon.” said Applebloom. “I’ve only got an hour until supper, and I think I have some chores to do.”
“Awh. Well, I can walk with you.” Scoots agreed, hip-bumping her pal as they all headed back downstairs.
“See you tomorrow, girls.” Sweetie said, as the quartet walked to the front door of the boutique, and two fillies headed out into the sunshine. She stepped back, and found herself bumping against her sister, who smiled down at her and gave her a soft nuzzle.
“Thanks for playing with us, Rarity. That was nice of you.” Said the filly, leaning lightly against her sister.
“You’re welcome, Sweetie. While you were all upstairs, I prepared a response to that letter I just showed you. I’m going to let them know that I’ll have the last dress prepared by tomorrow evening, and that they can come any time.”
Sweetie looked up, surprised. “Oh! So they’re coming here?”
“Yes. From Canterlot. And in the letter I asked if it would be alright if my assistant was present.” Rarity smiled. “You have been a big help, after all. I think that’s only fair.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely! After all, Sweetie Spade befriended the double agent and helped her put everything the way it should be, right?” Rarity nodded. “I’m very proud of you for all the help you’ve given me this week, and I’m happy that you’ve been so curious about this job, considering how important it is.”
Sweetie Belle launched herself into Rarity for a hug. It looked like her persistence had paid off. And at least now she had a huge bunch of books to read until the big day, and two less dresses Rarity needed help with. Soon, she’d have this case wrapped up!