Unfamiliar Patterns

by TheVClaw

Sidetracks in Secrecy

Spike didn't say much as he walked down the familiar Ponyville streets. Although he made his usual greetings to ponies as he walked past them, he was more preoccupied than usual. Due to recent events, Spike was definitely thinking differently as he made his way to the Carousel Boutique.

Before, Spike would take every chance he could get to head there, just to catch a glimpse of the stunning unicorn inside; now, with the recent discovery of Rarity being with Zecora, Spike could only hope he wouldn't be unlucky enough to walk in on them like that again.

It had been just over a week since he’d found out about the two being a couple. Spike managed to handle it somewhat well. Even though he was still beyond weirded-out by the whole thing, he knew that there wasn't much he could do. If Rarity was showing interest in another female, Spike knew that going after her would be kinda pointless—unless she turned out to like both genders, but even then it would be a bit of a stretch.

Besides, if Rarity and Zecora were happy, then he knew he had no right to mess with it. Rarity was still his friend, and despite how he may have felt for her, he knew that she deserved to be happy, no matter what.

However, before he could get within twenty feet of the Boutique, Spike heard Rarity's voice from inside the Boutique as she cried out in a shrieking bellow:

"SWEETIEEEE!!!"

Spike immediately ran to the shop, knowing that whatever happened had to have been bad. And since he was the only one to know about Rarity and her new partner, the dragon was certainly fearful of what would happen if Sweetie Belle caught wind of what was going on.

He hated to admit it, but depending on the scenario that could've provoked that reaction from Rarity, Spike was hoping that it was just Opal getting glued to something again.

Spike ran inside and reached the bottom of the stairway just in time to see Sweetie Belle get tossed through Rarity's magic down the hallway. Landing on her flank at the top of the steps and making an audible squeak, Sweetie huffed a little as a pout came up on her lips.

"What's the big deal?!" Sweetie Belle cried as she yelled back to her sister, "I just wanted to ask about something!"

The sound of Rarity's voice could be heard from out of sight, along with a lot of things rustling. "Sweetie Belle, I told you not to come into my bedroom without knocking first!"

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes before getting back onto her hooves. "Ugh, fine. I'll just wait downstairs."

The little unicorn began to make her way down the stairs, smiling when she noticed Spike standing at the bottom.

"Oh hey, Spike!" Sweetie said in a cheerful tone. "What's going on?"

"Uhh…" Although he was afraid of whatever Rarity was doing upstairs to make her act like that, Spike managed to regain his composure enough to make a quick reply. "Oh! I… I was coming by to see if Rarity was done with her book. It's due back at the library today."

Spike pulled out the copy of the date tag for the book, showing that it was indeed due today. As the filly looked at the tag, Spike glanced up the stairs once more before deciding to ask about it. "So… what are you doing here?"

"Well…" Sweetie Belle shuffled her hooves a little before looking back up at the dragon. "I wanted to ask Rarity about borrowing some of her fabric for a new project, but…"

Sweetie looked back up the stairway again, noting that the sound of things rustling around could still be heard, as if somepony was cleaning up in a panic. Sweetie Belle looked back to Spike before continuing, "Hey, Spike, do zebras usually roll around with ponies like that?"

Hearing that, Spike's eyes shot wide-open and he tried not to openly cringe. Though he didn’t want to give away that something off-putting was going on, the deep blush coming across the dragon's face may have already done that. With the filly's confused stare on him, combined with the fact that Rarity and Zecora were doing gross stuff upstairs—Seriously? Spike thought to himself. It’s not even noon!—Spike was speechless for a moment. He tried frantically to think of anything to say.

However, before Sweetie Belle could say anything else, Spike blinked a few times before saying casually, "Ummm… Well… Zecora must be giving wrestling lessons."

Sweetie raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side. "Really?"

"Y-yeah!" Nodding to add to the validity of his statement, Spike mustered a sincere-looking smile as added, "I mean… Zebras are really good at… wrestling… I think there's a book or two in the library about it."

This part was actually true. Since he’d started helping out with arranging books in the library (and not just reading comic books behind Twilight's back), Spike was able to know quite a bit about the books they had in stock. And after the whole Zecora and Poison Joke incident, Spike managed to find a couple good books regarding zebra culture. While the wrestling part may be a bit of a fib, since that was mostly practiced among male zebras, Spike knew Sweetie Belle wasn't likely to check up on that.

"Ohhhhhh! That makes sense!" Sweetie Belle looked fairly convinced by Spike's answer, her eyebrows raised in understanding.

Happy to give a decent-sounding answer, Spike breathed out a little and tried not to obviously sigh in relief. Before he could try to add anything else (or wonder how he was able to lie so well on the spot like that), Rarity's hoof-steps could be heard as she finally made her way to the stairs.

"Seriously, Sweetie Belle!" The unicorn gave an especially strong glare at her younger sister as she came into view. "A proper lady always respects another lady's privacy! You don't see me barging into your room whenever I—oh, Spike!"

Noticing the baby dragon staring at her with Sweetie Belle next to him, Rarity paused her ranting for a moment to take a breath. Not wanting to look this irritated in front of him, she closed her eyes and sighed, hoping to relax herself enough before her tirade went too over-the-top.

"I…" Rarity breathed out deeply before reopening her eyes and giving a faint smile. "I didn’t expect to see you here, Spike. What seems to be the problem?"

"Well…" Spike pulled up the date tag for the sewing machine book Rarity checked out. "I came by to get the copy of Sewing Machine Repairs you checked out. It's due back today."

Rarity's eyebrows rose as she suddenly remembered still having that. "Oh! Of course! How could I have forgotten that?"

While Rarity trotted back to her sewing room to collect the book, Spike decided to speak up for her to hear. After the excuse he gave Sweetie Belle regarding what she may or may not have seen upstairs, the dragon wanted to make sure Rarity would be smart enough to play along.

"Also, Sweetie Belle was telling me about how you and Zecora were wrestling upstairs. Right?"

"What?! I…" Rarity's panicked voice cut off a little while she was out of sight.

After a brief moment of silence, the unicorn walked back to the stairs again with the book held in her aura and looked at Spike with a wide-eyed stare, as if he’d just said something unexpectedly brilliant.

Seeing Rarity's surprised reaction, Spike just gave a light smirk back, motioning for her to speak up. Rarity looked over to her slightly confused sister, then blinked a couple times before replying with a relieved smile on her muzzle.

"Yes! I… was getting wrestling lessons from Zecora! That… is exactly correct, Spike!"

Rarity gave a grateful smile back to the dragon, who blushed a little as he looked away. Even though he wasn't that happy to lie like that, he was still more than a bit elated to see how pleased Rarity looked at that moment. Rarity began to head down the steps toward Sweetie Belle, just as Zecora came into view from the hallway upstairs with a confused look on her face.

"You see, Sweetie Belle… Zecora is highly trained in many zebra fighting skills, and since a lady should always learn the basics of self-defense, I asked for her to teach me a few moves." Rarity then glanced back at the zebra, raising her eyebrows as she hoped to emphasize how important it was for her to agree. "Right, Zecora?"

The zebra stood silent for a couple seconds, trying to process what she was supposed to say. Quickly realizing what she needed to do, Zecora perked up and said to Sweetie Belle, "Why yes! That is indeed true. Hope I did not worry you."

"Oh, nah…" Sweetie Belle shrugged and looked away from her sister and Zecora. Slowly, the filly's eyes narrowed while she kept her head turned away, like she was lost in thought. Suddenly, her eyes shot open, almost like a light bulb had turned on above her head. "I got it!"

Before any of them could ask anything, the now-excited filly zoomed out of the shop with a big smile on her face. "Wait!" Spike exclaimed. "What about the fabric you said you wanted?"

"I changed my mind!" said Sweetie Belle in a chipper tone when she looked back to him. "I have an even better idea for getting my cutie mark!"

With a determined grin on her muzzle, the little unicorn looked ahead while she stood by the front door of Carousel Boutique.

"Cutie Mark Crusader Zebra Wrestlers!"

Before Rarity or Zecora could say anything to keep Sweetie Belle from doing what they knew she would do, the filly gave an enthusiastic "YAY!" to herself before running off.

Spike, who was left a bit dumbfounded at what he indirectly caused, looked back to Rarity and Zecora and tried to make himself look innocent. "Umm… heh heh…" Spike bit his lip a little and gave a light-hearted smile to the two. "Well… at least she believed it."

Rarity sighed and closed her eyes, rubbing her temple with a hoof and hoping that this wouldn’t end too badly. "I… suppose that's true."

Rarity reopened her eyes and looked at Spike, who was looking back at her and Zecora with a skewed eyebrow. Realizing how effectively the dragon helped them out like that, Rarity grew a grateful smile again, quickly hugging Spike. "Oh, Spikey! Thank you so much for doing that!"

"Errr… yeah." Although he was glad to help out his friend, Spike still wasn't a fan of all that was going on. Aside from the fact that he just lied to a kid, Spike was especially uncomfortable with the fact that he basically just covered for the two of them doing Celestia-knows what upstairs.

When Rarity let go of him, the dragon brushed his shoulders off a little before replying, "It's alright. She didn't seem to think anything else was happening. You two were just wrestling."

"Well, thank you very much." Keeping her relieved smile, Rarity looked back to Zecora as she continued in a flustered tone, "Honestly, I was worried about what she saw! I mean, the way we were positioned, I was—"

"Rare..." Spike put up a claw and spoke with a more stern tone of voice, an annoyed look on his face. "You two were wrestling. That was what was going on, and I really don’t want to hear anything different. Alright?"

Noting how firm the dragon was acting, Rarity dropped her smile and nodded. "Of course, Spike. That's exactly what happened." Noticing how Spike bit his lip in an unsettled manner when he looked away from her, Rarity's face scrunched slightly in from guilt. "I… I really hope you're not upset, darling."

"I'm fine," assured the dragon when he looked back at her. "Seriously, I don't mind. Just… I'd rather not think about what the two of you were doing before I came here, alright?"

Understanding Spike's concern, Zecora gave a warm smile as she replied, "Well, do not worry. We won’t cause you distress." Zecora then turned to Rarity, her eyes narrowing on her teasingly. "Although, your schedule may have caused this mess."

Rarity huffed a little and eyed the zebra down. "Oh, don’t you dare try to pin this on me! I'm not the one living in a place I can't come by at night, remember?"

Zecora rolled her eyes and looked away. Though Rarity made a fair point regarding her hut, the fact that most of their encounters were held at Rarity's home wasn’t helping them keep their relationship hidden from other ponies. And trying to sneak in a moment in the middle of the day certainly didn't improve their situation much either.

"But still," Zecora chided, "when you work all day and can’t come by at night, it just shows that there's something that is not working right."

Rarity pouted a little at hearing that. Although she hated to verify Zecora's claim, she knew that she had a valid point. Between her tight work schedule and the zebra's dangerous living conditions, there wasn't much time for Rarity to really do anything special with her.

However, as she remembered the excuse Spike gave her sister, Rarity grew a sly grin while she looked away in contemplation. Thinking of a convenient idea that could really help her and Zecora, the unicorn glanced back at Spike as she spoke with a light smirk.

"Spikey… how much work would you say you have at the library with Twilight?"

Spike shrugged and looked down to the ground half-heartedly. "Eh, not much. Honestly, I have like, half an hour's worth of actual work, but I usually act like I have a lot more so Twi wouldn't bother me about it."

"Hmmm…" Rarity looked rather pleased at that answer. Her grin became slightly wider. "So… how would you feel about having a part-time job here?"

Both Spike and Zecora looked at the unicorn with uncertainly. However, while Spike was just looking confused as to why Rarity would ask him that, Zecora looked more uneasy. Since she was able to tell why Rarity would want Spike nearby, she didn't like to think about the reason she was going to give him.

"A job?" asked Spike. "Like… working for you?"

"Why yes," said the unicorn in a confident manner as she walked over to some of her mannequins. "I've received quite the plethora of new clients recently, and having an extra pair of hooves—or, I guess in your case, claws—would be quite helpful."

Zecora's eyes narrowed on the unicorn, taken aback that Rarity just gave an excuse like that. Nonetheless, Spike was also able to read between the lines of what Rarity was really asking, which made his eyes widen before he shook his head.

"Ohhh... No, no, no, no! No way!" Spike threw his claws up in protest. "I know what you're wanting, and I'm not doing it! If you're just looking for a lookout so you can make out with Zecora some more, then count me out!"

"No, Spike! That isn’t the case!" Looking slightly offended by Spike's assumption, Rarity placed her library book by her desk before she picked up a large binder with her aura. With an upset look on her face, the unicorn opened up the binder before levitating it over to Spike.

"I have over a dozen different clients to attend to this month, as well as a dozen more next month! My schedule has been absolutely packed, so I've been considering employing some small-time help around here."

Spike looked through the pages and glanced through Rarity's schedule. Seeing all the names and design orders that had to be done each week, the dragon's eyes widened as he saw how much really had to be done. Even with Rarity's magic, he could tell that she had a lot on her plate at the moment indeed.

"And since you have experience with organization," continued Rarity in an insistent tone, "as well as an open schedule, I figured that hiring you would be a better choice than some random pony."

Thinking it over, Spike bit his lip in guilt when he looked back up at her. Realizing that Rarity really was asking for something important from him like this, the dragon began to feel bad about his assumption.

Zecora, on the other hoof, still looked a bit unconvinced and took the binder from Spike's claws. While the zebra looked through Rarity's schedule attentively, the dragon looked a bit more shameful and stared down at his feet.

"Ummm…" Spike avoided Rarity's stare as he kept his claws behind his back. "I… I didn’t mean to assume anything… I'm sorry."

Rarity sighed before replying, "It's alright, Spike. There's no need to apologize."

Spike glanced up at Rarity as she continued with a more optimistic look on her face, "But I really do need some help here at the Boutique. And the fact that you already know about Zecora and myself would help us to avoid any conflicts from other ponies. So… do you think you could help out?"

Spike looked a little uneasy as he looked away from Rarity. "Well… I have to talk about it with Twilight."

"Well, of course. Her approval is essential," Rarity said, putting up a hoof in understanding. "But if you were able to work here, would you?"

Spike pursed his lips a bit and thought it over. Despite knowing the unicorn had a valid excuse to need his assistance, he was still unsure of how much help he would really offer. Nevertheless, he also still knew that he shouldn't make any assumptions again, which made him look back to her and nod reluctantly.

"Ye… yeah. I… I guess so."

"Excellent!" Rarity grabbed her library book from the desk with her aura before levitating it to Spike. "Thank you very much, Spike! I mean it! You're really being a big help for me!"

"Yeah… I guess," said Spike with slight unease as he grabbed the book. Wanting to make sure he really wasn't going to just be some patsy to Rarity's relationship, Spike put up a claw and pointed at her authoritatively. "But you better not have me just be a lookout for you two! Seriously, that's not cool!"

"Oh, Spike!" Rarity groaned in annoyance and rolled her eyes. "Do you really think I would do that to you?"

"I just want to make sure!" Noticing Spike's insistent attitude, Rarity lit her horn as the dragon continued, "I don’t want to be just waiting around the front desk while you two are doing Celestia-knows-what somewhere else! If I'm going to be spending my time here—"

A large pouch of gems landed on top of the book in Spike's claws.

"I'll start Monday."

With that, Spike darted out of the Boutique with the book and his bounty, making Rarity quite pleased with herself.

"Well," Rarity began in a cheerful tone as she turned back to Zecora, "that worked out a lot better than I would've imagi—"

Rarity stopped her statement when she noticed Zecora's irritated stare on her. With the binder held beside one of her forelegs, the zebra's strong glare on Rarity was fairly apparent.

"I know that you feel keeping this secret is a must," began Zecora in a stern tone, "but you shouldn't take advantage of a dragon's trust."

Rarity merely sighed before pulling her binder from Zecora's grasp with her magic. "Oh, Zecora," she said in a more casual tone, "it's just a little assistance. I think it would be great to have some helping hoo—I mean, claws around here."

"Oh really?" Zecora raised an eyebrow while keeping her eyes on the unicorn. "Forgive me if I am being unwise, but it seems like you're not needing extra hooves, but eyes."

"Ugh, you too?" Rarity glanced back at her partner as she placed the binder back at her desk. "You saw my schedule, so you should know that I really do need help around the shop."

"Your days are just as busy as three months past," said Zecora with a disapproving tone, "so do not believe that your excuse will last."

Rarity pursed her lips and looked back to her binder. Although Spike didn’t bother checking her previous months, Zecora did. In the past few months, Rarity really hadn't been any busier than she was this month. Because of this, Rarity knew that Zecora was going to be more difficult about why she enlisted Spike to help out around her place.

"I know that you can’t come to my hut at night, but using Spike like that is really not right!"

"I am not…" Rarity paused for a second to close her eyes and breathe. Hoping to convince her marefriend otherwise, Rarity exhaled slowly before looking at her and saying in a professional tone, "Zecora, I am not using Spike like that. He is my friend, and I would never take advantage of him in that way."

Zecora kept her unconvinced stare on her, prompting Rarity to continue to speak. "While my work quota isn’t that different from previous months, it's still a fairly busy one. And since it's apparent how difficult it is to keep up with work, AND continue our relationship without interruption…"

Zecora looked away from the unicorn after that last statement. While she could've made a fair retort, the fact that Sweetie Belle almost caught them in an… unusual position… was more than enough proof for the zebra to stay silent and let Rarity continue.

"… I feel that having Spike help with my dressmaking would be more than beneficial for the both of us."

Zecora took a moment to think it over, then sighed in slight understanding. However, she still kept a skewed eyebrow on Rarity.

Able to read facial cues fairly easily, the unicorn huffed a little before adding, "Oh, alright! I might admit that having someone keeping an eye out would be helpful as well. But!" Rarity raised a hoof up to Zecora before adding, "I do not plan to have him do anything like that! I want to keep my work life and my personal life separate, thank you very much!"

Hearing the sincerity in her voice, Zecora slowly nodded when she saw how much Rarity meant that. After just getting on good terms with Spike again, the zebra didn’t want anything to mess up what had been going on.

However, when she thought about how much stress had been building up for the both of them from sneaking around like this, Zecora looked away before thinking honestly. Given how difficult it was to maintain a secretive relationship, was it really that bad to just be honest to others about it?

Thinking it over, Zecora looked back to Rarity with hopeful eyes. "Rarity, do you… think that because of all we're going through… That it would really be that bad if ponies actually… knew?"

Rarity's head turned back to Zecora so quickly, it could've easily caused whiplash. "W-what?!"

"I'm just saying," began the zebra as she tried to speak through her fear of Rarity having a panic attack, "Spike doesn’t seem to be freaked-out. Do you think others would if they saw us about?"

"Yes! They would!" Looking at Zecora like she just suggested something as crazy as adding Discord to their relationship (something she didn’t even want to think about, on the off-chance that he could read minds), Rarity kept her dumbfounded stare on the zebra as she continued, "Seriously, Zecora! Could you imagine the looks we would get if ponies knew about this?! I mean, I don't even want to think about the uproar from my clients if they knew I was with a zebra!"

"And what is THAT supposed to mean?" asked Zecora in a condescending tone. "Little Miss, 'I'm So Squeaky Clean'?"

"I didn’t mean it like that!" Rarity assured. "I just meant that things would get rath..."

Rarity looked back to Zecora quizzically as she realized what she had just been called. "… ‘Squeaky Clean’?"

"What I mean is," said Zecora in a more honest tone, "your worries about this seem a bit too high. And it feels like you're the one more concerned about this than I."

"Well, of course I…" Again, Rarity clenched her eyes shut and took a deep breath. Not wanting to start an argument, she calmed herself down before reopening her eyes.

"Zecora," Rarity began, "I just don't want ponies to know about this yet. I'm not saying this should be a secret forever, but I do feel it should be kept to ourselves for the moment, in order to avoid any issues that could arise from other ponies."

Zecora sighed and looked away from Rarity with an upset look on her face.

"Listen," continued the unicorn in a more caring tone as she walked up to her, "I know this might be a tad difficult, but I think things are alright the way they are. I swear—this won't be a secret for too long, but I just don't want to deal with that sort of thing right now."

After a couple seconds, Zecora looked back to Rarity, who was staring at her with an adorable pair of puppy-dog eyes.

"Pleeeeeease?" asked Rarity with a light pout, which just made Zecora look away with a deep blush. While she wasn't too happy with Rarity's insistence, that face was just too Celestia-damn cute to ignore. And knowing her, the zebra seriously doubted she was the first one she used that face on.

"Alright, fine!" said Zecora with a light scowl. "I'll let things be, just… get that away from me!"

"Fabulous!" Rarity dropped her fake pout and put up a cheerful grin, before bending in to give Zecora a caring nuzzle. "I'm really glad we talked this over."

"Yeah," grumbled the zebra, "me too." Even though she wanted to stay upset at Rarity for this, the feel of her nuzzle was becoming too pleasing, which made her striped coat start to redden a little. Realizing that they were alone again, Zecora looked at the unicorn with more sensual eyes and motioned upstairs. "So… do you…"

Realizing what Zecora was implying, Rarity giggled a little before adding a rebuttal. "Actually… didn’t you say you just got a new bottle of conditioner made back at your place?"

Zecora blinked a couple times before slowly nodding in slight confusion.

"Well…" began the unicorn as she moved in closer to her, “how about we take a little trip back to your hut? And when we're out of the way from everypony, I'll do something especially nice for you. Like…"

Rarity then moved her muzzle up to Zecora's ear, whispering into it as she held her close. Zecora, whose was already blushing a bit before, was now beet-red as she stood there, wide-eyed, taking in every detail of the unicorn's plans.

"So…" Rarity pulled her head back and eyed her lustfully. "What do you say to that? If you head out first, I'll get myself ready, and I'll meet you at your place in ten—"

Zecora turned to a cloud of dust and shot out of the Boutique in a flash.

Standing slightly surprised at how quickly her partner would head back to her hut like that, Rarity just stood in silence for a moment before finishing her statement.

"… Minutes."

Comments

[Bad_Seed_72]

Dat last scene.

Hmm... I'm wondering what it'll take for Rarity and Zecora's relationship to finally be put out in the open. Maybe somepony else walks in on them or nearly does? Maybe a certain weather-stallion?

[OmniFox]

Rarity plays the dirty card.

[lol1759]

I feel like you really missed out playing the race/class dissociation card on Rarity. That was prime character development material that you just glossed over in favor of more of the same.

Really sad.

[DanvilleBengal]

You are never gonna write that off, because I have a feeling you are a classy pony and don't want to put that out there in public domain (the story with the gay stallion and griffon is a different animal). But I could definitely see that since Zecora and Rarity are in a relationship, and now had to let Spike know that Rarity basically rejected his feelings for another female (despite how apparenty nice she was trying, she still broke Spike's heart, and I'm being honest---it kinda pisses me off that people constantly make Spike a kid (i.e, too young) dragon and apparently naive that Rarity's having sex with another female is just an excuse to not ship him), there's gonna be more "interference" on Spike's part by Rarity so that they can fool around.

And knowing Zecora, I could just about suspect that there is a bit of implication that some of the potions she makes in her hut are of a carnal/sexual nature---like creating a potion that gives a mare (or zebra) a penis, or something that enhances or prolongs orgasms. Of course, these are excuses to have Rarity come to her hut and "experiment ". But I guess that stuff is implied---you can see places where they are gonna fool around....

[Aryame]

4177358

it kinda pisses me off that people constantly make Spike a kid

He IS a kid

Actually, he's constantly referred to as a baby, but a kid is more accurate based on his behavior.

[Dark_Knight]

4221961 I agree, since it seems that, in the show at least, dragons have a faster mental growth rate than ponies