After our little meal, Circe and I decided to walk around the streets. Along the way, we came across many shops and vendors; most of them were clothing and jewelry. I had no eye for fashion though and I didn't see the point in wearing clothes. I mean, most ponies did not wear clothing.
While walking, I noticed that Circe was no longer by my side. For the moment, I was actually worried and scared that somepony might have taken her. I was looking in all directions in hope that I would be able to spot her. Since she was nowhere to be seen, I began to retrace my steps.
Thankfully, I found her and was ready to scold her. I was walking towards her, but then I noticed she was acting odd. She was completely still, with her mouth open and staring into a glass window. Without saying a word, I stood beside her and looked through the same window. Through the window, there was a ponnequin displayed wearing a light blue colored dress with some gemstone decoration around the waistline. Working in Canterlot most of the time, there was nothing too special about it if you compared it with most of the ponies you saw here. However, I took one look at Circe and... it was like a filly looking at a special toy. I might not have seen anything special about that dress, but she did.
"Circe?" Once I called out her name, she snapped back into reality, "What? Sorry, did you say something?"
My mom always told me, that just about any mare would like to be treated like a princess.
"Come on."
"Huh?" Before she could protest, I grabbed her hoof and we walked into the shop.
***
As we walked in, there was a tall and slim pony there to greet us.
"Hello! I am Sassy Saddles! Welcome to Canterlot Carousel!" She said gleefully.
"Hello, I wanted to ask about that blue dress displayed in your window." I pointed out the dress to her.
"Ah, you mean Flowing River? That dress was released not that long ago. Designed by the owner herself, Rarity! She was inspired by our waterfalls that can be seen be the cliffside of Canterlot."
To be honest, I didn't care about the name of the dress or whoever made it.
"How much?"
"What?" Circe caught on what I planned to do.
"That dress is on sale. Usually it is 70 bits, but now it is for 50 bits!"
Ouch. Amazing how somepony is ready to pay for something UNTIL they hear the price. I wanted to get her that dress, but if I paid for it, I don't know what else we could do for the rest of the day. Before I could decide, I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I turned around to see Circe giving me a concerning look.
"Titanium, you don't have to get that dress for me. It's too expensive." She said this with a look of guilt. The funny thing is, that just made me want to get her the dress even more. While on patrol, I would see high class ponies splurging on their mares that would practically beg for anything. It was nice to see that she cared about my financial situation, even when she didn't know how much I had.
"Oh my, is this your marefriend?" Sassy Saddles asked. Seriously, that was going to be a regular thing wasn't it? I want to say that assumption didn't bother me anymore, but my heart would... skip a beat. Why would it skip a beat?
I glimpsed at Circe and saw that she was blushing. I might have been seeing things, but I could have sworn that I saw her smiled.
"Aww, how could I let this dress get in between you two?"
"Umm...it's not really-."
Before I could finish, she made an offer I could NOT refuse, "I'll tell you what, I will give you 50% off for the dress!"
35 bits!?! That was a steal! "Sold!"
"Well hold on sir, I would be more than happy to sell it, but don't you think she should try it on first?"
"Me? Try it on?" Circe questioned with a small smile.
"Well of course. You have to see that it would fit don't you?"
"Go ahead Circe. Where is your fitting room?"
"It is right this way. I will assist her on putting on the dress."
Circe gave me a worried look. I gave her a smile to encourage her to trust Sassy Saddles and try on the dress. She returned my smile with her own and went inside the fitting room.
I waited for about 15-20 min.
"I'm sorry for the wait sir! She just looked absolutely stunning in that dress and I could not help myself!"
"Huh? What do you me-?" I immediately cut myself off after seeing Circe. There she was, wearing that blue dress with her mane held up by a flower hair pin. It looks like Sassy Saddles also applied make up on Circe as well; Circe had light blue eyeshadows to match with the dress. The eyeliner she was wearing made her eyes look larger, but that was not a bad thing. Circe stood there rubbing her right foreleg against her left. I must have made her uncomfortable from staring, but I never really had a good look at her eyes until that point.
"Could you uh... not stare...?" asked Circe.
"I'm sorry. You just look... beautiful..." Practically hypnotized by her, I had no control of those words that left my mouth.
The words caused her to flinch, but at least she smiled, "Umm... thank you..."
"Oh you two are just adorable," Sassy said with a smile.
"Thank you Sassy Saddles. You have done a lot for us."
"Oh not at all. It was my pleasure and it does my heart good to see a mare happy with their dress."
I happily gave the bag of bits to Sassy Saddles.
"Now, shall I wrap that up for her?"
"Yeah, can you-"
"Umm...Titanium?"
"Hmm? Yes Circe?"
"Umm... can I... keep it on?"
I couldn't help but give a chuckle at the question.
"Sure. Actually, you might be needing it for our next stop."
***
Joe was clearing a table when he heard his door bell ring.
"I'll be with you in a minute," he said with a smile. That smile slowly faded after seeing that it was a group of five Royal Guards; one of the guards being Captain Bronze Plate.
"Sorry to disturb you sir. We had a tip that one of our fellow guards came in here. He might have been unrecognizable since he was not wearing his armor. You see, he left castle grounds when he wasn't suppose to. At this point, we consider him to be AWOL and need to bring him in." The captain presents Joe with a picture of Titanium.
"Hmm... a lot of ponies come in here, but I am afraid I don't recall him being in here today."
"Surely you remember him? I understand he used to be a regular in here."
"Yeah, 'used to be.' I haven't seen him in here for a while though. Being a Royal Guard and everything, he is probably too busy to be seen in a lousy donut shop."
Although Joe did not back down on his statements, the Captain did not seem to buy it. "You know, aiding a guard that has gone AWOL is considered a serious crime."
"Really? Then I suppose whoever you question better tell the truth."
"Well said. Sorry for disturbing you. Enjoy the rest of your night." The captain and the guards left Joe's establishment.
Although Joe tried to keep his composure, his blood ran cold and began to shiver. He sat down on the closest chair. "Titanium, what did you get yourself into?"