Chapter 3: A Misstep
“Vaht? Who? Heh?” Photo Finish complained as somepony prodded her awake. She sat up to see a concerned looking Rarity standing over her. Apparently she had fallen asleep in Pinkie’s dirt patch. Wait. Rarity, town square, Ponyville. Rainbow Dash shook her head to clear it and snap into the right mind.
“Rainbow, darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked politely.
Yawning, Dash replied, “Yeah, I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Darling, you’re unconscious in a ditch on the side of the road. Let alone how much dirt you have on you...”
“Oh yeah, that.”
Rarity sighed dramatically, “Well, as long as you’re alright. Come on, let’s get you out of there and cleaned up.”
Rainbow nodded, “Yeah, shower might be good.” With one flap of her wings, she tossed herself in the air, flipping upright and landing gently beside Rarity, “Guess I’ll fly back home, then.”
“What?” Rarity inquired, blinking in confusion. “Oh, no no no, a simple shower won’t do. This calls for the spa.”
“The spa? Rarity, you know I don’t like going to the spa.”
“Oh come now, it’ll be good for you,” Rarity pleaded, “and besides, it’d be simply marvelous to talk to you while we’re there. I don’t get to chat with you nearly enough, Rainbow. You... always seem to be asleep. Come on, please?”
Rainbow began to formulate a proper counterpoint, but was cut off by a giant, pleading pair of puppy dog eyes pointed at her and a cute little pouty lip. Damn it, Rarity, how dare you pull that crap. If only it didn’t work so well, maybe she’d stop.
“Fine.”
Rarity’s demeanor immediately lightened, “And don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.”
“It’s just...” quick, Rainbow, come up with some bullshit, “I mean, I don’t want them making me look all fancy and froo-froo, I’ve got an image to maintain.” Eh, that’ll do.
Rarity chortled as she began to trot off in the spa’s direction, “Oh, I’ll be sure they know that before they start.”
Rainbow followed defeatedly. In fact, the problem wasn’t the pampering. She honestly thought she might love a good spa visit every once in a while. The problem was being surrounded by spa ponies. The type of ponies who read fashion magazines in their off time. The type who know what Photo Finish looks like. If they recognized her, that’d be the end of it. Life ruined. Never getting into the Wonderbolts ever. It was a risk she had always been afraid to take. Maybe, hopefully, the difference in mane color and personality was enough to make her unrecognizable. As they rapidly came upon the spa, Rainbow prayed that she was right.
Stepping into the waiting room felt like entering a heavily secured bank. Rainbow felt eyes on her everywhere. The mare behind the counter smiled at them. Wait, it was Aloe. The photo shoot from the previous day rushed back to Photo's mind immediately, and the glorious smile of Aloe at the end. The glow in Aloe's face was still there, and it filled Photo with an equal pleasure. Counterpoint, Aloe would know exactly what Photo looks like and had the best chance of outing Rainbow as Photo. She knew she'd have to play this carefully.
Aloe had apparently started talking to Rarity about something or other. Rainbow was honestly too distracted trying to seem as Rainbow-y as possible to really pay attention to what was going on, but she did catch the two of them apparently talking about first Rainbow, then Photo. Looking around the room, she spotted some couches with magazines near them. Attempting to be casual, she wandered over and sat down, listening to the conversation more closely. As best she could tell, it was just questioning Rainbow's presence and both being excited about having upcoming shoots with "Miss Finish." Settling down, Rainbow further tried to blend in by glancing at the titles of the magazines in front of her.
Photo Finish Secretly a Pegasus?
Nope.
NopeNopeNopeNope.
Rainbow quickly flipped the magazine face down before anypony could see it. Panicked and struggling to look casual, she picked up the first magazine that didn’t have her face on it and began pretending to read. Rarity and Aloe's conversation seemed to quickly be wrapping up, as it shifted to pure business. After a while, Rainbow noticed Rarity trotting over in her direction.
“Well, she said they’d be a while to prepare and...” Rarity stalled mid-sentence as she noticed Rainbow’s magazine, “Wow, I wouldn't have expected you to be caught dead reading that.”
Dash blinked for a second before finally looking at what she had in her hooves. The color drained from her face as she looked at... a photograph she had taken. A spread from a few days ago, new aspiring model. Photo's mind wandered back to a few months ago, the way the young mare, practically still a filly, glowed as she was offered a contract, the youthful excitement of dreams being fulfilled. Rainbow quickly stifled her grin as she set the magazine down on the table.
Oh yeah, Rarity was still looking for an explanation, quick, come up with something, “I dunno, I’ve never actually looked at one before. Trying new things today, right?” Wow, that was a decent cover for once.
Apparently Rarity liked that explanation, because her response was a smile and the reply, “Well, looks like I might be able to get some culture into you yet.”
Rainbow glared at her jokingly before nodding at the magazine, “Honestly some of those pictures weren’t half bad. Not so sure on the clothing, but whatever floats your boat, I guess.”
Rarity opened the magazine back to the picture that Rainbow had been looking at, “Oh, this is that new model Photo Finish found. She looks simply marvelous in this shot, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah, the shot’s composition does a good job of balancing the positive and negative space. Also, the color balance came out nicely and the use of depth of field really separates the subject from the background.”
For a moment, Rainbow and Rarity’s worlds stood still as they both sat in shock at what had just been said. Rainbow’s mind raced for some more bullshit to sling at the problem as Rarity slowly turned her head to stare confusedly at Dash. Why, oh why, did Photo have to come out to respond to the complement? Rarity’s look of complete dumbfoundedness was enough to express her question. Rainbow, how do you know all of those words?
“Uh...” Rainbow stammered, “I, uh…”
Rarity’s mind seemed to be stalled out enough that Dash had some time to think. Dash struggled for ideas when suddenly an idea formed in her head. Surprisingly, it was actually decent.
Dash barely had to force the blush to go along with her next statement, “Back when I was a foal… I sort of got into uh… amateur sports photography.”
Rarity snapped out of her daze, apparently interested in this revelation, but more intrigued by the embarrassment. With a wry smile forming across her face, Rarity prodded, “Please, go on. I’d love to hear about what and whom you took pictures of.”
Rainbow resisted a smile as the bait was taken, instead hiding behind her bangs and putting on her best Fluttershy impression, “i.. pictures.. derbolt..”
“I’m sorry dear?” Rarity teased, “I couldn’t quite hear that.”
One dramatic deep breath later, Dash sat up confidently, but the blush was still present. “I mean I took pictures of the Wonderbolts.”
Rarity chuckled, clearly enjoying teasing her friend, but deciding it was time to ease back, “Well that seems like a decent enough hobby for a young aspiring flier. Makes a good deal more sense than what I was thinking at first.”
Dash relaxed slowly, Photo smirking inwardly. The best cover stories were the ones that were partially the truth. Snapping photos of the Wonderbolts was, in fact, her first experience with a camera. But wait, that last part of Rarity’s response troubled her.
“What you were thinking at first?”
Rarity chuckled to herself, “It almost sounded like you knew a lot about fashion photography-”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rainbow quickly stammered.
The immediacy of the response caught Rarity off guard. It almost sounded to her like Rainbow had expected the response and had cut it off on purpose. Odd thoughts and odder doubts had slowly begun to form in Rarity’s mind when they were cut off by a pleasant, smooth voice.
“We’re ready for you now,” Aloe cooed from a doorway. Dash sighed, happy to have the conversation interrupted and to get away from those damned magazines, but horrified of what lay in store for her in the spa proper. As Dash stepped through the door, she braced herself for anything.
Dash was in heaven. This was bliss. She was used to massages being good, but... Aloe pressed a hoof firmly into a knot of muscle between Rainbow’s shoulder blades, the one that came from Photo hiding her wings under that damned dress, to which Dash responded by stifling a moan and arching her back.
Rarity looked on, eyes full of triumph, "You sure do seem to be enjoying yourself."
"Tell a soul and I shave your mane in your sleep," Dash lazily retorted. Rarity chuckled at the empty threat and settled back down onto her massage table.
In an attempt to defuse what she thought might have been a serious situation, Aloe tried striking up idle chat while continuing the massage, "Miss Dash, your coat is simply luxurious. Do you do anything special with it?"
In an endorphin induced haze, Dash replied, "Way too many ponies look for shortcuts, gotta do things the old fashioned way. Getting your coat looking camera worthy takes effort, daily brushing, and a good diet. Zat's ze advice I alvays give."
Aloe nodded seriously as if trying to commit the advice to memory. "Do ponies often ask you for advice on grooming?"
Photo laughed, "Are jou kidding, I-" She paused. A red lock of her mane drifted into her field of view. She realized her accent had slipped in public, but hey, at least nopony seemed to have notic- The fog in her mind finally cleared enough that it occurred to Photo what she’d just said out loud.
Dash very slowly turned to face a completely slack-jawed Rarity, staring at her from the next table over. The seconds dragged on, Rarity's confusion slowly turning to a unique mix of amazement and amusement, all the while Dash's face proceeded to grow tints of pale that onlookers didn’t think possible.
Eventually Rarity decided to break the silence, struggling to choke back laughter, “So how long have you been trying to be ‘camera worthy?’”
Dash didn't move, she didn't blink, she didn't breathe. This whole situation was a death trap and she should have never agreed to come here. Dash silently glanced around the room for something convenient to disembowel herself with. Finding nothing, she glanced back over at Rarity, who was still holding back her giggle fit. Disheartened, Dash turned to Aloe for support, before immediately remembering that Aloe barely knew Dash.
"Well you're not wrong," Aloe offered.
Great, thanks Aloe. Dash slowly turned back to face Rarity, still unable to find even one word. All she could find was frustration with Photo. It was all her fault that Dash was a pretty pony. Sharing a body with a fashionista sucked. With no fresh ideas for how to stop the onslaught of embarrassment, Dash resorted to the two true fallbacks.
"I bet my coat is like," Dash ejected awkwardly, but then paused to think before looking back at Rarity, "at least forty percent prettier than yours."
Rarity's face went from smug satisfaction back to utter confusion. Dash felt her confidence welling back up. Boasting and arbitrary percentages, works every time. Now Rarity had no words, and Dash got to be the smugly satisfied one. Almost made this whole travesty worth it. Dash triumphantly returned to the matter at hand, enjoying the best massage of her life. Unsure really how to proceed, Rarity simply laid back down on her massage table and slowly attempted to organize all of the things she had witnessed over the course of the day into one cohesive concept. It would take a while.
By the time Rarity had come up with what to say next, the spa session was nearly over. Rainbow was seated beside her in a hot tub, looking like she was in bliss. Well, at least that goal had been achieved.
"Sorry I haven't exactly been the most talkative today," Rarity struggled out, "I just… you’ve given me a lot to process.”
“Whatcha mean?” Dash asked.
“Well…” Rarity stopped to try to remember everything, “The way you looked when you were reading that magazine, the way you… fell out of character once you got into the spa, the fact that you apparently put more time and effort into your appearance than you let on. It’s all sort of pointing me towards one thing.”
"Fell out of char-" Dash started to ask. Then she remembered her accent slipping. Oh shit. This could be a problem.
"I mean I've always sort of wondered why you were always so distant when conversation wandered to fashion and parties and the like, but… well as amused as I want to be, I find it all quite hard to take in.”
Dash fumbled, "Look, uh... is there any way I can convince you to not tell anypony? I mean, my chances to join the Wonderbolts would just... I can't let this come out."
Rarity’s distant stare and look of confusion rapidly formed into a wry grin, “Embarrassed?”
Shit, here it comes. Rainbow steeled herself, but still couldn’t make eye contact, “Well… I just think it would be bad for my image as a stunt flier. You know-”
“It’s finally really sinking in that you called your coat ‘pretty,’” Rarity interrupted in a giggle.
“Oh, shut up.”
“Shall I make you a ‘pretty’ dress to go with your ‘pretty’ coat?” Rarity teased.
“My dress looks just fine on me, thank you,” Dash snapped back. Only after she’d replied did she notice that Rarity probably hadn’t meant it as an insult.
Luckily, Rarity seemed to be lost in the image of Dash wearing a fabulous dress and had missed the tone, “Oh, I would simply adore seeing you in your dress, Rainbow.”
Dash’s face flushed yet again, but she tried to regain composure, “Seriously, though. I need you to promise not to tell a soul.”
Rarity laughed at her, "Are you kidding? I'm going to tell everypony I see from here to Canterlot, it's just..." she broke into a fit of the giggles, unable to control herself any longer.
Dash slumped deeper into the hot tub, blowing bubbles as she and Photo planned damage control. Photo knew she could casually play this right so it didn't hurt her career, but Dash's days of being taken seriously as a stunt flyer were over. No, there might shtill be a vay out of zis, Dash. Jusht focus.
Rarity's laughter slowly subsided, and as she lifted her head to look at the brooding Dash, a wave of guilt washed over her, "I'm sorry, I'm being a bit terrible, aren't I? As much as I’d enjoy announcing to the world that you have a fancy side, I care about you as a friend more than that.”
Dash relaxed visibly as she sat up, mumbling her thanks, glad Rarity had agreed so easily. Still, she was surprised with Rarity’s response. She expected… something different, to say the least. Then again, Rainbow had time and again underestimated Rarity’s enjoyment of teasing ponies. Still, she expected Rarity to be more startled at the revelation that she’d been best friends with Photo Finish all along.
Rarity saw Dash coming around and continued, her voice sounding deeply apologetic, "Don't fret, darling, I swear I won't tell a soul. I completely understand being that concerned with your image, and I'm sorry I took the joke too far. I forget sometimes you can't tell when I'm kidding."
“Yeah well,” Dash rubbed at the back of her head, “I can be a little dense sometimes.”
Rarity suddenly got serious, “I do wholeheartedly intend to take advantage of our friendship now, though.”
Photo turned to her with an expression that simply read, ‘Oh, god damn it, Rarity.’
“Nothing too obtrusive, I assure you. I’d just appreciate you coming around sometimes to look at my wares. I’d love to hear your opinions.”
...acceptable. “Sure, why not. As long as nopony notices. Hell, maybe if I spend more time around you I’ll finally figure out your sense of humor,” Rainbow quipped.
Rarity chuckled for a short moment before what seemed to be a sad and serious thought crossed her mind. “You know, Rainbow, if you really think your two dreams are mutually exclusive...” She paused, trying to find the best way to put it, “Well, I just hope you won’t have to choose between them one day.”
Dash sighed loudly, the thought having occurred to her before. As usual, her coping mechanism was denial, “Eh, you know, I’ve been good at hiding it so far. As long as no schmuck with a camera is floating outside of my window at a bad moment, I should be fine.”
Rarity nodded, pondering something, “Honestly I’m not so sure that it would be such a career-ending revelation as you seem to think it would be. Who knows, maybe the Wonderbolts would just shrug it off and move on. You’re an excellent flier, why should they care how you spend the rest of your life? Besides... I have a feeling Spitfire wouldn’t mind, and she’s in charge after all.”
Dash jumped at the mention of Spitfire. Her mind raced. Did Rarity know something? Nopony should know that Spitfire was in her apartment… wow, was that only this morning? No way word got back here that fast, even rumors take a while to propagate. And she’d have heard the spa ponies chatting about it by now. So then… why was Rarity acting like she could predict Spitfire’s response with any accuracy?
Rarity watched as Rainbow’s expression rocketed from shock to panic, onto pondering something, then amused surprise. She was completely entranced by the wordless display of emotion as Rainbow continued onto a very serious thought, a casual glance around the room, and then straight to confusion. And all in under ten seconds. Rarity had never seen Rainbow clearly think of so many things so quickly, and she decided she simply had to find out what had just occurred in that mare’s head.
“You seem… scattered by something.”
Dash shook her head as Rarity’s voice interrupted her flurry of thoughts, jumping back into reality, she quickly bluffed, “Uh, yeah. Just like… worried about stuff. My future and all.”
Rarity could see straight through the lie, but decided not to push it. Rainbow was having a hard time of it, after all, her close friend finding out her deep secrets. The trick here was to come off as supportive, so she stopped to think up some way to go about doing that.
“You know, Rainbow,” Rarity offered, “if you ever do decide to get into modeling, I could probably put in a good word for you with Photo Finish.”
Vhat.
“What?”
Rarity tapped a hoof to her chin thoughtfully, “Then again, this is assuming that my shoot with her goes well. But I expect it to. So yes, I should be able to work something out. If not her then any of my other connections should be able to help.”
Rainbow was confused.
Rarity smiled politely at her, “Oh, don’t act so shocked. You should have known I’d help you if you ever wanted to enter the industry. What are friends for, after all?”
What just happened?
She tried to play back the entire conversation in her head, hoping to figure out what just occurred. Had they really managed to be talking about two different things the entire time? Pretty clearly, at this point. Did she let anything slip? If so, Rarity hadn’t responded to it yet. What the hell was going on anymore?
Rainbow really had no idea how to proceed. Maybe the best option would be to just play along, let Rarity believe what she thought was going on. Sure, it’d make interacting with Rarity a bit of a mess for a while, but it might be better than the alternative. The other option would be just… admitting the truth. Dash spent a few seconds pondering before the fear took over. Sure, Rarity was accepting of Dash secretly wanting to be a fashion model or something, but to find out that Rainbow had been the one to snub her back during the whole fiasco? Dash wanted to keep that quiet a little bit longer.
Rainbow’s expression turned flat, “I’ll think about it.”
“Take your time,” Rarity chimed back, “it’s your life to live.”
Dash sat up, visibly relieved. She could work with this. Having to keep up yet another shitty explanation for her actions was going to start being a mess, but she could manage it. She smiled over at Rarity, speaking sincerely, “Thanks. And seriously, I’ll think about it.”
"Wonderful," Rarity chimed in, half chuckling, "Well either way, we should get out of this water before it ruins your 'pretty’ coat."
Dash groaned loudly. Rarity was never going to let her live that comment down, was she?
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I do love a good "nope."
And a good "what."
Rarity knows more than she let on.
For sure.
~Skeeter The Lurker
A misstep indeed.
This story is pretty much nothing but overdone secret identity hijinks.
And yet somehow I really, really like it.
Er, Rarity and Fluttershy both know what Photo looks like as well, and they know Rainbow personally.
7295178 But that is the issue. Aloe doesn't know Rainbow Dash as well as the others, and therefore would have an easier time connecting Photo and Dash from only visual clues because she doesn't have the mental barrier of the differences in personality that Rainbow's friends do. Where she might notice how similar they look and connect it, her friends would notice, and just leave it at that. In their minds, there is no way that Photo, the fashion diva and expert photographer, and Rainbow Dash, the brash, fashion blind, stunt flier are the same ponies. People see what they expect, after all.
I see what you did there...
Nice work.
Honestly, the way the author is wording this makes it sound like Rainbow has Dule Personality Dissoder.
7448893
Not really, i see just one personality here, but her mind has been maintaining two separate personas so long, that she actually thinks in terms of how her two separate characters would perceive and respond to situations; and because she's allowed herself to get trapped in a situation where those two separate identities both have something too say on the matter, she's having trouble keeping things separated, leading to slip ups and mistakes, as the two separate fictions stumble over each other in her mind.
That sums up my thoughts pretty well
This is pretty fantastic drama so far. Really like going deep in her head, reminds me of the few fics that really nailed Pinkie/Pinkamena not as, really out there psyches but just as different moods and how Pinkie worries about not being happy and cheery enough around her friends all the time while still having to be Pinkamena at times because its just as much a part of her as Pinkie is.