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Suited for Success – Part 2

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The next few days flew by as Rarity worked hard on the dresses for her friends. Alex was rather ignorant to it, however. He had simply gone along with his studies, hearing little bits from Twilight or Dash as they had their usual conversations.

At some point, they had decided to have a large fashion show to show off the dresses. And as they day quickly arrived, Alex was actually pretty excited to see how they had all come out. Just as long as he didn’t screw anything up, he would be taking one of those girls to the Gala. And it would be great to see her all made up, as she had been after they had reunited in Manehattan.

But, as time passed, Alex noticed Rarity become increasingly upset with the work she had been doing. Something that Alex found hard to believe, considering how much pleasure she took in dress making. However, Spike confirmed it himself. She had been upset with something regarding the upcoming show, but she hadn’t told him why.

So, they decided to meet up a few hours before the show, and go over a few things regarding Rarity.

“I just wish I could make her feel better…” Spike sighed.

“What could possibly be bugging her?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know!” Spike said desperately, “She’s so tight lipped about the whole thing…”

“Maybe she’s wants some attention on the show!” Alex suggested, “It seems like it’ll be a pretty quiet event.”

“Really?” Spike asked, “I think that gives me an idea!”

“What?” Alex asked.

“I remember Rarity mentioning some pony coming to town…” Spike said, scratching his head, “I think his name was… Hoity Toity?”

“Oh, I think I remember hearing that name, back in Manehattan!” Alex said, “He’s a big name in the fashion world!”

“Yeah!” Spike agreed, “Rarity said that she would have loved to show off some of her designs to him, but she didn’t dare approach him, and waste his time.”

“Do you think we could convince him?” Alex asked.

“We’re pretty persuasive ponies,” Spike said confidently, “I think that this’ll be a walk in the park!”

“For sure!” Alex said, genuinely believing that he was persuasive, “Remember the time we convinced that one pony to… Uh…”

Spike was silent for a minute, “I can’t think of any particular time myself that we persuaded anypony, but that’s probably because we do it so often.”

“That makes perfect sense,” Alex said, being a bit of a meat head, “I’m surprised we don’t have cutie marks in persuasion!”

“Me too!” Spike agreed.

“Well, we should get going!” Alex said, before realizing how little they actually knew about the pony, “Where are we going anyway…?”

“Oh! I know where he’s staying too!” Spike said excitedly.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Alex asked, “Let’s grab him before the show starts!”

“Right!” Spike said, running to the front door, “I hope we don’t miss the show!”

“Don’t worry, Spike,” Alex said, walking out and closing the door behind him. “We’ll make it, and we’ll make Rarity feel better. I’m sure.”

////

He two headed to the edge of town, to some kind of fancy hotel that Alex had only seen a few times. It made sense that a big name in fashion would be staying in a place like this. It wasn’t huge, but it had a few levels, and was able to hold a few hundred ponies.

They stood outside the building, and decided to work things over.

“So, what’s our plan of attack?” Alex asked.

“Well, we could bust in to his room, and DEMAND that he come with us!” Spike suggested.

“Nonono,” Alex said quickly, “We need to persuade him!”

“Oh yeah!” Spike remembered, “We should bust down his door, then ask nicely, right?”

Alex looked at Spike with narrowed eyes, his voice of reason being drowned out by his being male-brain.

“Exactly.”

////

Alex and Spike walked into the lobby of the hotel, and approached the receptionist.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Alex said to the older looking mare behind the desk.

“Yes?” She asked politely, “How may I help you?”

“Could you tell us which room Hoity Toity was staying in?” Alex asked.

“I’m very sorry,” She declined, “I’m not allowed to give out room information...”

Spike leaned in close to Alex and whispered confidently in his ear, “I’ve got this.”

Alex stepped back and watched Spike go to work.

“Now, I know that it may be bending a few rules,” Spike said wiggling his eyebrows, “But couldn’t a beautiful young mare like yourself, make an exception? It’s very important!”

Alex was shocked.

“Well… I guess if it’s important,” She giggled, blushing visibly “He’s up in 401, our royalty suite.”

“Thanks.” Spike said, winking. “Come on, Alex, let’s go.”

Once the two were out of earshot of the clerk, Alex just had to ask, “Dude! That was… Amazing!”

“Thanks,” Spike smiled, “Rarity has kinda taught me how to speak to her in public.”

“That sounds… Uh… Good?” Alex said, unsure of what to say.

“I know how it sounds,” Spike laughed, “But it’s mostly just so she can show me off, we talk normally most of the time.”

Alex laughed, “That sounds like Rarity.”

They reached the stairwell, and headed upward until they reached the fourth floor. Then, after a short walk down the hall, they reached room 401, the Royalty Suite.

“Are you ready?” Alex asked, using a door unlocking spell, “On three, we’ll run in, and convince the crap out of him!”

“Yeah!” Spike said.

“Alright… One… Two… THREE!” And with that Alex opened the door, and rushed into the room with Spike.

Needless to say, what happened next, was not as graceful as either of them had intended. As soon as they saw the well-dressed silver maned pony, they both immediately started shouting and meshing non-coherent sentences over one another, sending unpleasant amounts of spit toward him, and giving him the craziest pair of ‘crazy eyes’ that anypony had EVER seen.

Finally, they both shouted, “COME WITH US!” In unison.

Their main goal had been to make him see that he needed to go with them. Unfortunately, all that they accomplished was making Hoity Toity think that he was being kidnapped.

“W-what do you want?” Hoity Toity asked, clearly shaking, “All my money is on the shelf behind you!”

Alex and Spike looked at each other, seeing that they had done this wrong.

Leaning over to Alex, Spike whispered in his ear again, “Let me handle this.”

Alex nodded, ready to see Spike work his magic again.

“Sorry if we startled you,” Spike started, speaking as smoothly as he could, “But, we just wanted to know if a handsome, young stallion such as yourself would like to accompany us to a show.”

Alex face-hooved.

“Are you two… Propositioning me…?” Hoity Toity asked, completely lost in the situation.

“Is that another word for convince?” Spike asked, scratching his head.

Alex sighed “I’ll take it from here, Spike.”

“Our friend, Rarity is having a fashion show, and it would mean the world to her if you came.” Alex said, knowing that their chances were probably blown.

“The dress show?” Hoity Toity asked, “I was just on my way to that now!”

“…You were already planning on going?” Alex asked.

“Yes!” He answered, “I’ve heard good things about this mare! I’ve decided to see her work for myself.”

“Oh…” Alex said, “Well that’s embarrassing.”

“Mhmm.” Hoity answered simply.

“Well, I guess we’d better get out of here then!” Alex laughed nervously, “Let’s go, Spike!”

“Hey, would it be okay if we bummed a ride?” Spike asked.

“He already thinks we were trying to bum something else,” Alex said, levitating Spike off the floor, “Let’s go. We can walk.”

“Aww...” Spike said, before turning to Hoity Toity and smiling, “We’ll see you there!”

“Great.” Hoity Toity answered.

////

“What do you mean, it only works on mares?” Spike asked, as they headed back toward the Carousel Boutique.

“You don’t call stallions handsome!” Alex scolded, “He thought you were hitting on him!”

“Hitting on him?” Spike asked, “But… Oh… I guess I can see how he MIGHT have thought that.”

Alex sighed.

“Well, so much for persuasion Cutie Marks,” Alex said, inspecting his rump, “We’ll have to report back to the girls on this one.”

“How far are we?” Spike asked, knowing that they had come a long way to get here.

“Pretty far… And Hoity Toity’s carriage went by a while ago.” Alex said.

“Look at the time!” Spike nearly shouted, pointing up to the clock tower.

“Oh crap!” Alex said, “Well… Do you want to try a teleportation spell?”

“What do you mean… ‘try?’” Spike asked.

“Well, I haven’t exactly mastered it yet, we might end up in a very different place.” Alex explained. “All I’ve mastered is teleporting to what I can SEE.”

“Can’t you fly us?” Spike asked.

“I can’t fly us… I can only glide…” Alex said, thinking to himself, “But that gives me an idea! Hop on my back!”

Nervously, Spike climbed onto Alex’s back, and rode him Human style.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Spike asked, seeing Alex start to concentrate.

“Yeah!” Alex answered, “Of course!”

Instantly, they were no longer on the ground, Alex had teleported them high into the sky.

“W-what are you doing?” Spike shouted over the air ripping past them as they plummeted.

Spreading his wings, Alex pulled them even, so that he could glide them. Unfortunately, it was too tough for him to do this with the extra weight, which gave him another idea.

Levitating Spike off his back, Alex held him in front of him, as he glided himself quickly over the town below them.

Spike did not like this.

“You’dBetterNotDropMeAlex!” Spike screamed for his life.

“Just enjoy the night air!” Alex laughed, dipping slightly to increase his speed, making Spike start to flail.

“DON’T DROP LIKE THAT!” Spike shouted, waving his arms wildly.

“Stop fidgeting!” Alex shouted to him, “I can’t keep you steady!”

Spike either didn’t hear him, or didn’t listen, as he continued to freak out, which made Alex lose his hold on him.

Spike, much to his fears, started falling toward the ground.

Alex could see the stage for the show from here, so he knew he could teleport them there, if he could just get a hold of Spike.

Pointing himself toward Spike, Alex teleported himself to the free falling pony, and wrapped his hooves around him.

That didn’t stop Spike from flailing, however. He continued, as much as Alex told him to just calm down.

This also stopped Alex from making a proper teleportation. Still, he was going to try his best.

Had you been watching this happen from a distance, you would have seen Alex and Spike start frantically teleporting in every direction as he tried to steer them toward the show.

Finally, Alex got them on track, and was going to put them right on the ground with his teleport. Unfortunately, a stray hoof from Spike hit Alex in the face, which had them teleport a few feet short, from the stage.

So, instead of hitting the ground nicely, they went flying into the side of the stage, taking out the support beam on the left side, causing the other support beam to collapse sideways, and land on the runway, breaking the floor where it landed, sending splinters of wood flying everywhere.

Alex and Spike landed backstage in a heap in front of the six girls, who were all looking at them in shock.

Alex opened his mouth to say something, but the tent that housed the backstage collapsed on all of them.

“I think we’re in trouble…” Spike whispered to Alex.

“You’d better be able to sweet talk us out of this…” Alex said.

The tent was levitated off of them by Twilight, as rolled it into a large ball, and placed it on the ground a short distance away.

“You two.” Twilight said, “Inside. Now.”

Alex and Spike complied, walking silently past the harsh looks from their friends as they entered Carousel Boutique. The only pony who didn’t show them a hard look was Rarity, who was just stunned standing next to the entrance.

“Sorry,” Spike whispered, passing her.

The two sat down in the front of the shop, and waited for their punishment.

////

Of course, the girls had taken their sweet time outside. Making Alex and Spike feel every agonizing second of time pass. Finally, Twilight, followed by Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, And Rarity entered the Boutique.

“I’ve told everypony that the show has been postponed until tomorrow night…” Rarity said sadly, “This is still going to happen…”

The other five girls were all relieved that everypony was so understanding.

However, it didn’t take long before they all turned their rage back toward the boys.

“Just WHAT do you two think you were doing?” Twilight said angrily.

“Y’all almost RUINED Rarity’s work!” Applejack scolded.

“Not to mention my shining moment!” Dash added.

“You meanies!” Pinkie huffed.

“You could have hurt somepony!” Fluttershy shouted, scaring Alex and Spike worse than any of the other girls had.

Alex, Spike, and all the other girls looked to Rarity, expecting the worst to come from her. However, she was silent.

“Well, Rarity?” Twilight asked, “Don’t you have anything to say?”

Rarity remained silent.

“She’s Speechless!” Applejack shouted.

“I’m sorry I ruined your show Rarity,” Spike said earnestly, “I… was really trying my best to help!”

“Thank you…” She said quietly.

“Come again?” Dash said.

Running over to Spike, Rarity levitated him off the ground, and kissed him happily.

“Uh…” Alex said looking to the girls, noticing how funny they were dressed, “What?”

The girls had no answer for him.

Pulling away from him, Rarity smiled wholeheartedly, “My Stallion in Shining Armor.”

“You’re… Welcome?” Spike said, still expecting something bad to happen.

“Rarity… what are you doing?” Twilight asked, “They ruined everything!”

“I don’t think we did…” Alex spoke up, “What in Equestria are you girls wearing?”

“Our dresses!” Pinkie said, still angry.

“Yeah… Yeah I get it.” Alex said, piecing it together rather easily.

“Get what?” Dash asked.

“You guys…” Alex said, hoping that he didn’t insult Rarity, “Those dresses are BUTT ugly.”

“What?!” Fluttershy shouted, making Alex recoil, “Rarity worked hard on these!”

It was harsh, but totally true. Each girl wore an overelaborate dress that simply looked hideous. Rainbow Dash looked like a gladiator, Fluttershy was wearing a birds nest on her head, Applejack was wearing big yellow boots, and a big red hat to match, Pinkie was covered in candy and balloons, and Twilight was covered in accurate star constellations... It was a train wreck.

“I don’t get that part…” Alex said, “Why did you make them like this? I KNOW you do better work than this.”

Rarity looked nervously from one friend to the next, “I’m sorry everypony… But I’m deeply ashamed of those dresses.”

“You are?!” They all asked.

“Yes…” Rarity said, “You all kept asking me to change them again and again… until, well, they turned into… those.”

The girls looked between each other at what they were wearing, and were finally starting to get it themselves.

“I think the big red hat is overkill…” Alex said to Applejack, who blushed, and quickly removed it.

“I…Guess we can see how you may have been afraid to show these off.” Twilight said nervously.

“I’m terribly sorry girls… those ARE the dresses you wanted, and I’m so upset about them.” Rarity said sadly.

“No, Rarity,” Twilight spoke up, “You were doing us a favor, and we took advantage of you by demanding so many changes…”

“Sorry, Sugarcube…” Applejack said sadly.

“I didn’t know I was making you frown!” Pinkie said desperately, “I’m supposed to make you smile!”

“I should have trusted your stitching…” Fluttershy said, confusing everypony.

“There is such a thing as TOO much awesome.” Dash admitted.

“Thank you for understanding,” Rarity said happily, smiling for what felt like the first time in weeks.

“Do you still have the first dresses you made us?” Twilight asked hopefully.

Rarity smiled, “Of course I do.”

“What about your dress?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh yeah!” Dash almost shouted, “You don’t have one, do you?”

“Well, I…” Rarity began.

“Do you want some help?” Twilight asked.

“Help with what, dear?” Rarity asked.

“Makin’ the dress!” Applejack said,

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Rarity said, “Besides, it’s only half done, and the show is tomorrow.”

“We’d better get to work then!” Pinkie said, badly wanting to make things up to her.

Seeing that her friends weren’t going to back down, she smiled, and caved in.

“Alright… If you all insist!” Rarity said happily.

Alex and Spike looked at each other, convinced that they were in the clear.

‘We’re good!’ Alex mouthed to Spike, happy to be out of trouble.

Spike nodded, then spoke up, “I think the heroes deserve a meal in celebration!”

Alex face-hooved again.

“Don’t think this means that you’re out of trouble!” Twilight said, suddenly angry again, “You could have hurt somepony!”

“Whoops,” Spike said. “Sorry, Alex.”

Alex leaned the back of his head against a counter and closed his eyes. Everypony was saying something to him about safety… And he loved it. Having so many ponies care about him enough to get mad at him for doing dumb stuff was amazing. He had lost one family and gotten another in return. If his parents were up somewhere looking down on him, he was sure that they were happy with his situation, as completely messed up as it was.

Opening his eyes, Alex started apologizing for everything he had done wrong. He promised not to do it again as much as he knew that it would probably happen anyway. Finally, when everypony was done apologizing, scolding, and whatever else, they finally headed home, wanting to get plenty of sleep for the fashion show tomorrow.

And of course, the next day, the fashion show was a huge success. Rarity had shown off the original dresses she had designed, along with a dazzling magic performance from her, illustrating a magical background for each dress, until finally, Rarity walked out on stage in her dress. The one that everypony had pitched in to help her make as an apology for being so rude to her. This earned her a massive amount of cheering from the audience. And, to put a cheery on top of the whole situation, Hoity Toity came up to her after the show, and told her to expect work from him in the future.

As he walked away from her, Alex and Spike smiled, seeing how happy Rarity had become. Even though it was completely unintentional, they had made Rarity feel better.

Giving each other a bro-hoof, Alex and Spike smiled to one another. However, their victory was interrupted by Hoity Toity approaching them, and smiling.

“If either—or both of you wanted to go to a show, next time I’m in town, feel free to stop by the hotel.” Hoity Toity said winking.

Alex and Spike both frowned.

Spike leaned to Alex’s ear.

“Teleport us…” Spike said desperately, “Do it now.”

And with that, the two disappeared in a flash of light, escaping from the awkward situation. It was after they teleported to safety, that they vowed to never speak of it again.

They would take it to their graves.

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