The trio went around town in a bit of a spiral. Their first stop was at City Hall, where Aurick introduced himself to the mayor. Twilight told the aging mare that he was an enchanter, a fact that brought a sparkle to her eyes. A short conversation later and the mayor had hired him to make a number of buildings more durable around town. She said something about things tending to get destroyed. Aurick chalked it up to the monster population in the Everfree. Why they made the town so close to it, he’ll never know.
After that, they began their tour. Twilight pointed out almost every business and informed him of what they were about and who owned them. She even pointed out a couple of her friends houses along the way. The first place they actually stopped at, though, was a building that was shaped like a carousel. Aurick could already tell what this place was. Twilight had mentioned one of her best friends was a tailor and owned a place called Carousel Boutique. It didn’t take a genius to match the name to the place.
He had mentioned wanting to stop by when he got some money, seeing as he only had one set of clothes at the moment. Evidently that trip was going to be a bit sooner than anticipated. At least he’d be able to see what kind of works this pony could make.
A bell above the door jingled as the three entered the building. A gentle humming could be heard coming from a separate room, cut off by a swift, “One moment, please.” Before continuing. As promised, it was only a moment or two before they could hear the telltale sound of hoofsteps approaching.
The mare that came was a pristine white colour, not unlike Celestia. Her hair wasn’t as flamboyant as the princess, but that didn’t stop her from trying as it seemed. The purple strands had been coiffed into an elegant swirl that caught the eye. On top of the make up, she looked like she could fit in with the rest of the nobles in Canterlot. Minus the clothes of course. That connection didn’t give her any points in Aurick’s book, but if she was one of Twilight’s friends, he’d give her a chance.
“Welcome to Carousel Boutique. Where everything is…” She paused as she realized who was awaiting her. “Oh, Twilight! Darling you’re back and…” She looked up at Aurick, a look of surprise crossing her face before being replaced by delight. “Oh my. You are certainly looking far better than the last time I saw you, dear. I assume this means you’ve made a full recovery?”
Aurick’s confusion must’ve been obvious, as Twilight was quick to answer the unasked question. “She was there when you arrived.” She told him, clearing up some of the confusion.
“Oh! Cool, thanks for helping, and yeah. I’m healthier than ever.” He replied, rolling his shoulder.
“You look it too, dear. I don’t think the clothing choice hurts, either. It’s a little dull for my tastes, but it seems to work quite well for you.” The mare smiled at him as she looked over his clothes. He gave a subtle smirk to the dragon that was still riding on Twilight’s back. He didn’t seem to notice however, as he was too busy staring at the mare with unmistakable lust in his eyes. It made Aurick raise a brow, but thought better of speaking of it. He didn’t really want to open that can of worms. “Oh, what am I doing? I have guests. Please, make yourselves comfortable in the living room, I’ll make us tea!”
The mare pointed towards a room to their left before leaving to get the promised tea. Spike quickly hopped off Twilight and followed the retreating mare. Shrugging, Aurick made his way over and sat down on a comfy red sofa, followed swiftly by Twilight.
“I’m surprised she likes your clothes. She prefers flashy ensembles with plenty of gems in them.” She told him as they reclined on the couch.
“Sounds garish if you ask me.” Aurick replied as he spread his arms over the back rest.
“If it was anyone else, I’d agree, but she has a knack for making it work.” Aurick merely hummed in response as the pair waited. It wasn’t long before the mare returned with a tea set floating in her magical grasp, Spike quickly following behind. She poured out the tea into cups and passed them around with practiced ease before sitting in an armchair. Spike decided not to impose on the unicorns personal space, and hopped up next to Twilight.
“Well, darling. I don’t believe we have introduced ourselves yet.” Aurick nodded at the mares words. “I’m Rarity.” She extended a hoof which Aurick shook.
“Aurick.”
“A pleasure.” She smiled warmly for a moment and relaxed into her chair. “Now, I must know everything!” Aurick could see Twilight roll her eyes at the white unicorn. Hypocrite.
“There’s not much to know.” He told her. “I’m here and I can’t go back home. So I’m gonna open shop here.” He took a cautious sip of the tea she had given him. He never really liked many teas he had tried, preferring to have a nice coffee. It was to his surprise and delight that this tea was actually pretty good.
“Can’t go home?” Rarity frowned and looked at him with sympathetic eyes. He simply waved her off.
“Magic stuff. Not worth getting into.” He could see Twilight looking at him out of the corner of his eye, but he decided to ignore it. “I can’t change it, so no point moping around.”
“Well. I guess that’s admirable.” She paused for a moment, seeming trying to find her next words. “Hmm. You said you were going to go into business here? What do you plan on doing?”
“I’m an enchanter.” The statement nearly made Rarity drop her cup.
“You what now?” She blinked at him.
“I know right?” Twilight piped up, grinning at the shocked mare.
“Darling… how much do you cost?” Rarity asked slowly, the gears in her head turning.
“Depends on the enchantment. Why?”
“Why? Why!? Just think about it! Dresses that could change colour. Or clothes that could blaze like a brilliant flame without actually being on fire! The possibilities are endless!” She exclaimed, throwing her hooves into the air. “With your help, I could make clothes that will go down in history!” She had a big, open mouthed smile on her face, and was staring off into space. She was probably thinking of all the different things she could make with the help of enchantments.
“They really that good?” Spike asked, a brow raised.
“Imagine if I could cast any of my spells without using any mana.” Twilight told him, making the dragon place a claw to his chin.
“I guess that’s pretty neat.”
“With an enchantment, even you could use magic.” That got his interest.
“Really?” His wide eyes were locked on Aurick.
“Yep.” He nodded with a smile. “Enchanted items can be used by anyone. It’s why they were so sought after back home. It’s even worse here.”
“How common is it in your world anyways?” Twilight asked, taking the chance to learn more of his world while he was on the topic.
“Not too common. Most magic users are capable of doing it, but it requires a lot of training. Not to mention a lot of them just want to throw fireballs and cast cool spells. They don’t think about enchantment as a way to do that.”
“That’s strange. Doesn’t enchanting allow you to do that?”
“It does, but there’s some drawbacks to learning how to enchant. The big one being that you don’t spend as much time learning to control stronger spells. I have a large variety of them, and can use them without spending mana in most cases, but I don’t have anything that is truly powerful. I couldn’t, say, summon a meteor to strike an opponent, but I could sprint about the battle field faster than anyone could run while simultaneously morphing the terrain around me.” He took a sip of his tea. “It’s a difference in ideas. One just happens to be more popular.”
“Interesting.” She thought about that for a moment before turning back to Rarity. She was still in her own head thinking about clothes. “Rarity!” She called, snapping the mare out of her thoughts.
“Oh, um, yes?” Red tinged her cheeks as she addressed her guest.
“I’m sure you can ask Aurick about work tomorrow. For now, we wanted to ask you about more clothes for him.” Her eyes widened and a grin spread across her features.
“Of course! That must be your only set! I think I know just what to do.” A sketch pad seemed to float out of nowhere and the mare began drawing on it with fervor. “I assume you want them similar to the ones you have now? Hmm, yes, I can tell. Flashy colours would not suit you. No. Perhaps some accented colour? That might work.” The mare muttered to herself as she drew, seemingly forgetting the three that sat on the couch.
“Welp, she’s gonna be at that for a while.” Spike said, looking at Twilight.
“Yeah. Let’s go finish that tour and then we’ll go get some food.” Aurick gave her a nod, and the trio left the mare to immerse herself in designs.
“You know I don’t have any money yet, right?” Aurick asked as they stepped back onto the street.
“It’s fine. I’ll cover for you.” Twilight responded, waving a hoof dismissively.
“Why?”
“Maybe I just want to be nice?” Even Spike gave her a suspicious look.
“Generosity is Rarity’s thing.” He stated and crossed his arms. “You want him to teach you how to enchant, don’t you?” Twilight’s only response was to look at Aurick with pleading eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He should have anticipated as much.
“Fine, but I make no promises about how good of a teacher I am.” Twilight seemed happy either way, and as they continued on, there was a noticeable skip in her step.