Chapter 36 – The Perfect Image

Somehow, Twiggs and Applejack had stepped up their game, all to Rarity's chagrin. "It was hard to keep up with the two of them as it was, but now that they had their new yard, their third yard, it seemed as if the two of them had gone into overdrive. And with Pinkie making deals with more dealers, and sometimes with other garages, it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to keep up. The cleaning was the worst part for her. She appreciated it when Twilight came over to help but with the purple alicorn busy with research at the moment, it all fell on her to prepare the parts. "Blech!" she said as Applejack brought in a particularly greasy part, "How come these particular parts are always found like this?" she asked.

"Don't know." was all Applejack said as she placed it gently into a pile of other parts, "They've just always been like that, I guess. Maybe they need it to work right?"

"Still, why so grimy?" the white unicorn asked as she gently worked on another part.

"Want some help?" Applejack asked.

"I would love some help Applejack." she said and watched as the orange earth pony grabbed a particularly greasy part, and dunked the entire thing into the cleaning solution. Rarity nearly had a heart attack, and used her magic to pull the part and Applejack's hooves out of the cleaning solution, "Are you mad?" she asked.

"What? It's how Ah clean the dishes." Applejack said.

"These are NOT dishes, Applejack." Rarity scolded, "They are very delicate and complex mechanical parts, and that cleaning solution is going to ruin your hooves and fur."

"But look how fast it got cleaned?" Applejack said as she presented the part. Over eighty percent of the grease had fallen off and into the cleaning solution.

"Yes, but now there is solution INSIDE the part as well." the white mare informed her friend, "There's no telling what it's going to do to it."

Applejack thought a bit, trying to think of what it could do, and knew she might be wrong, "Keep it clean?"

Rarity gave a chuckle to the earth pony, one that spoke of sympathy, "No." she said, and used her magic to manipulate Applejack's hooves to teach the earth pony her way of cleaning the parts.

"What are you doin?" Applejack asked.

"Teaching you the proper way to clean parts." her friend responded. She got the earth pony to dip a cloth into the solution, and gently scrub the remainder of the grease from the part, a top shaped device that opened at the top and was capped by a plastic cap that bonded into the metal at equal intervals, "It was counterfeit anyways." Rarity said.

"How can you tell?" Applejack asked, and Rarity pointed a hoof to the bonds where the plastic met the metal.

"You see these bonds, the authentic part has these bonds at a much tighter interval, like stitching." she said.

"So, you taught me to clean dainty, just so we could throw it away?" the earth pony asked.

Rarity looked to her, and smiled, "Yes, this happens more often than you'd think."

Applejack narrowed her eyes, "It's like throwin away a perfectly good apple." she said.

Once again Rarity chuckled, "No Applejack, using a part like that in our racer would be like trying to use a sub-par apple in your family cider." she explained, "It might fit, but in the end, it would cause nothing but trouble."

Applejack shrugged, "If you say so." she said, and turned to throw it into a pile Rarity had made, one of junk.

"Plus, the top part was cracked." Rarity said as the earth pony grabbed another part from the grease pile.

"You coulda led with that." Applejack said, and the two mares began chuckling as Applejack began to 'properly' clean her part.

"We're almost in need of a fresh tub of solution." Rarity said.

"Was it because Ah cleaned my first part wrong?" Applejack asked.

"Not entirely, you see I've been using this tub of solution for almost two hours now, you'd be surprised how long you can use this cleaner." the unicorn said, and turned to the shelf, "Oh dear."

"What?" Applejack asked.

"I'm all out of cleaner." she said, "I suppose I'm going to have to take the shuttle back to the city to get more." As soon as she finished the part she was cleaning, a part identical to the part Applejack had just uncovered, Rarity gave it a once over, and tossed it into the junk pile. "Fake." she exclaimed, and stood up, "Once you're done with that part, I'd suggest you get your hooves washed."

"Why?" Applejack asked.

"Because that cleaner can be…how shall I put this…aggressive on fur and skin." she told Applejack, and watched the earth pony finish her part, "Ah, a perfect genuine article." she said and used her magic to dry the part with a towel before she placed the cleaned part on the shelf.

"How aggressive?" Applejack asked.

"Aggressive enough to cause your fur to fall out and crack your skin if not treated." the unicorn said as she gathered a large brimmed white hat with a pink ribbon to take with her. Applejack looked to her hooves in shock and turned to run towards the medical room. With a smile, Rarity turned and made her way to the door of the garage, "I'll be going out now." she said to Spike as she passed him.

"Where are you going?" the little dragon asked.

"Oh, just to get some cleaning supplies among other things." she said.

"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked.

Rarity lifted her hoof to her chin in thought, "I would enjoy the company. Is Twilight aware of this?"

"I'll let her know right now!" the baby dragon said and turned to find the purple alicorn.

"I'll wait at the door." she called out to him.

The two of them ventured into the city, exiting from a half bubble-shaped vehicle that opened up on the side as it slid across the ground without even touching the ground. It was like the racer she helped build, it never actually needed to touch the ground unless it had to rest, a trick she sometimes wished she could perform. Spike looked up to the majesty of the city, the white buildings lined with silver glistening gently in the sun, it was bright but somehow it did not blind, "I never get tired of seeing this." he said.

"Oh, that's right." Rarity said as she turned to the baby dragon, "You and Twilight have ventured here several times."

"Yeah." Spike said with a bit of disdain, "Mostly so we could go to the library or the museum for research."

"You sound a bit disappointed." she said to him.

"Look at this place. I mean it's so big, I wouldn't mind getting to see more of it." he said and turned to her with an expecting smile.

Rarity giggled a bit, "We may do." she said.

The two of them had wandered around a bit, each seeing sights in the city that piqued their interests. Rarity had made the purchase she needed, several barrels of cleaning solution to be delivered to the new garage. Spike had seen several gems in windows, each getting him to drool in anticipation of whatever flavor they might possess. However, Rarity had to hold him back, reminding him that they had a budget to work with, and the gems on this planet were expensive and rare. He pouted a bit but understood where she was coming from. His diet would have cost them a fortune if he had not learned to survive on pony food. Rarity had held back as well, the patterns and designs she saw when she passed by the shops were hard for her to resist as well, but inspiring to say the least, "Spike?" she asked as they walked together, this got the little dragon's attention from the ice-cream she had bought him earlier, a dark grey cherry flavor with some kind of tan candy chunks. "Do you think our team needs an official uniform?"

Spike thought a minute as he licked his treat, "I've seen other teams with uniforms, but their pilots always were whatever." he said in thought, "I don't think it would hurt."

"Uniformity rarely does." a voice said in their heads. This voice sounded smooth, young, and cautious, yet it had an air of sophistication as well.

"Who…wa…" Rarity stuttered as she turned her head to find the owner of the voice. She found the owner, a young thin-faced and wide-eyed Meltackian who just hovered there next to them, "Oh, my apologies." she said, "We did not see you there."

"Interesting." the Meltackian said, "She speaks as if she is more than one. Is this a sophisticated way of speaking where you are from?"

Rarity waved the accusation off, "Oh no, I was referring to myself and Spike here." She explained as she pointed her hoof to each in turn. Spike waved to the alien, and took a lick from his ice-cream cone, "I am Rarity, and you are?" The Meltackian hesitated a bit, Rarity instantly knowing what he was trying to think about, "We have met Meltackians before, we already know you identify yourself as ideas or thoughts." This seemed to calm the young one down, and with a simple bit of concentration, he placed the thought into their minds.

It took a bit of interpretation from all of the paintings and dresses and other things that seemed beautiful, but Spike thought of a name in time, "Image." he said, "You like the image of beautiful things."

"Image?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah, I noticed that there weren't just pictures or dresses, I saw a family and the two of us getting ice-cream." he said happily. This got Rarity to blush a bit as he continued, "He likes the image of perfection."

"Then I agree, Image it is." Rarity said, and they could somehow see the smile on the face of the young Meltackian.