"Sister, how terrible do I look?" Luna was staring out the window, expression unusually sour, but her magic was clutching at the fabric of her dark dress. Deep blue-black fabric swept down in a cascade against the floor where Luna wasn't hiking it up in bunches. Such was the fate of the brand-new item.
"Luna, you would look just fine if you didn't crease the fabric so. Let it go." Celestia's own light skirt flowed with her every step. Coral and pink waved with nearly half the grace of the Alicorn's movements. "You look great."
Celestia, the very mare who ordered both their dresses, offered Luna a diplomatic smile. "Come on, there's a whole charity gala to enjoy."
Luna didn't move. Even her mane was still for a few breaths. The eyes of the moon goddess still swept over the visible urban isle of Manehatten and her high-rises with the harsh, jarring disdain that Luna showed next to nothing else. This was the mare that fell in love with every wild place; now she was shooting a sulky stare through steel and distant street pavement.
Celestia held hers, uncertain. With Luna, she could only pretend to know what to say, most of the time. There were few things that bothered her more than that. "Everypony will love your dress," she offered again.
Luna gave a reluctant kick at the back, the skirt flaring, billowing behind her before settling again. "This is incredibly uncomfortable. It's..."
Luna's thoughts ran faster, and longer, than her mouth ever could.
With Luna trailing off again, losing herself to her musings and unfinished sentences, Celestia could only presume that the fault was in the skirt. The dress was a feminine, elegant waterfall of fabric. If Luna found it uncomfortable, it likely only needed to be reined in.
Without a second spared, Celestia gave a few matronly tuts and was at Luna's side. The glossy black belt at her lean waist was obviously too loose. Clearly, it was far more of a problem than the dark moon clasp that was supposed to aid in the way the fabric hung off Luna's body. The poor mare must feel like she was draped in the cloth of a whole castle's curtains. Next time, she would order something with a proper waistline for Luna, like the gift she had gotten her for Twilight's coronation.
Every dress Luna had was a gift, and every one was from Celestia. Because of Celestia, Luna had a whole wardrobe of gorgeous gowns for events like this one. Many were pretty, moon-and-star themed things too. Each and every one was accumulated since her return, along with many other gifts. Those never seemed to get as... complicated, confusing responses, though.
Golden magic clung to Celestia's horn, and with a single movement, she pulled the belt.
"TIA!" Luna yelped, her whole form flashing with alarm.
Celestia would have gasped if she hadn't been smacked right in the face when Luna's wings flared out. Instead, she tasted feathers while the sound of sharp, near-ragged breaths reached her ears.
Horn lit once more, Celestia suppressed the sounds of gags as she plucked tufts of feathers from her mouth, from her teeth, and even the few that managed to get in her mane. Blehph. Gfft. Heffk. Ech.
Luna's wings were clean and well-groomed, Celestia hadn't expected otherwise, but she also hadn't preened Luna's wings since they were both little Alicorn fillies. Surprise 'meals' of feathers weren't going to dampen the unpleasantness, either.
"Oh, Tia, I'm sorry-"
"Don't be. Please." There was more urgency in those words than she had counted on. No matter how Luna's lean form was covered or how her wings were still-half flared (and with clear discomfort, no less) Celestia could see that belt had been pulled far, far too tight. Luna couldn't breathe right, and her wide, surprised eyes...
...she was caught up in mistakes, apology... oh goodness, they were both out of it today, weren't they?
Before Luna had another 'sorry' grace her lips or could do anything else, Celestia managed a rare bit of speed and pulled her belt loose with her magic so that Luna wasn't forced to clench her stomach so.
Large, gasping breaths met Celestia's ears as she watched Luna suck in air without a bit of composure.
"Luna, I am so sorry. Please know I only intended-"
"Tia..." Luna gasped again, grounded in getting her breathing steady and strong again. "You musn't apologize over the silly belt. I... I just wanted a suit." There was something forlorn in the downcast look she gave the floor. "I've always wanted a suit." She pauses, adding, "Some suits."
Celestia really only wanted Luna to feel pretty. To do something sisterly, and what could be more sisterly than sharing pretty clothes, girl talk, trinkets, and the 'twinsies' that all the foals found hip? She was aiming for a connection to somepony she really hadn't always known, and often still did not. A mare, just like her. Her sister, who she wanted to feel beautiful and as lauded as Celestia knew she was. The dress could make the mare, be a gift, they were petals that Luna could bloom like an appealing rose in, smiling and...
Luna just shrunk like a violet in these. She stood by, neutral...
"A suit..." Celestia tried to shift her gaze so it wasn't direct and instead traveled down her own legs. Luna loved the jewelry Celestia got for her. She was looking so nice in the earrings and shoes that had been designed along with the swathes of indigo she apparently couldn't stand. Why didn't she at least like the dresses?
Luna nodded like a mare stranded in the desert would if asked about thirst. The ever-rare light in her eyes was dancing again. "A crisp, sort-of handsome mare's suit."
Celestia's throat was tight. Luna had always dressed so... plainly? Rather stallion-like? Oh, she wasn't sure what to call it, just that Luna had gone through cross-dressing phases and all sorts of things. But didn't she see that she had winning looks like this? The kind of things publicity swooned over, ponies complimented, and was just absolutely worth prancing in?
"We won't be able to do anything today..." Celestia began, her mind already aiming to tread carefully, to assemble all the right words.
"I know, Tia." Luna's eyes had a lingering joy to them, but Celestia saw how fast it was retreating. Their dressing room was already feeling loose and airy again. "Next time," Luna supplied, magic touching her tiara as carefully as she spoke. "There is always a next time." Something bright lurked in her words.
Celestia's smile felt weak, but it didn't show. "I think we can just put a pin in this as a whole, don't you?"
Luna's light was all gone. The abrupt wordlessness of things reined between them. Celestia could not even remember when Luna's eyes had found the city outside again and had begun to raise the silent moon above the ocean beyond the city, or how sunset bled to dusk because she had not even heard Luna's magic twinkle.