It was the month before Hearth’s Warming or somewhere thereabout, and the Carousel Boutique had been busy, day in and day out. Rarity had taken a dozen dress orders or more, and it was just about time to flip the sign and lock the door. Just before she was ready to turn out the light, a pony burst in -- in a terrible sight.
“I do apologize, but we’re closed for the evening,” Rarity said, politely. “If you’d like, I can put you down for an appointment early tomorrow.”
“It’s okay, I don’t need a fitting,” the other pony said, out of breath. “Whew. Give me a moment. I ran all the way here and my muscle memory freaked out every time I hit ice because I had too many legs.”
“...I’m sorry?” Rarity asked, confused.
The visitor pulled back her hood. “You probably don’t know me, but I’m sure Twilight’s mentioned my name. I’m Sunset Shimmer.” She held out a hoof to shake. Slush and salt dripped onto the floor.
Rarity looked at her hoof and coughed.
Sunset sheepishly lowered her hoof. “Sorry. Anyway, I just need advice and I was really racking my brain and then Twilight gave me the best idea ever! Not your Twilight, though. The other one. I’m sure your Twilight would have had the same idea too if I asked her, though.”
“Darling, you lost me somewhere around me wishing you’d wiped your hooves at the door.”
“Okay.” Sunset Shimmer took a deep breath. “I need to ask you a question.”
“If this is about operating hours I think I’ve answered them already, but if you are Sunset Shimmer, I suppose I can stay open a little later for a friend of Twilight’s. Especially one as cute as you! Tea?”
“Tea? Oh! Um, sure. But this won’t take long. I just need you to tell me one little thing.”
Rarity made a sound of severe doubt and locked the door, turning off the lights in the front room and leading Sunset into the back. “Sugar or milk?”
“Milk, but, really, this is only going to take a second!”
Rarity sighed. “Darling, nothing worth doing only takes a second. If this is really important, enough that you’d have to cross between worlds just for an answer, I doubt it’s going to be an easy ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”
“I just need to know what you want for Hearth’s Warming!” Sunset blurted out.
Rarity paused, surprised. “Well. I didn’t know we were doing an interdimensional gift exchange this year. Is it something Pinkie Pie planned? I wouldn’t put it past her.”
“No, no,” Sunset sighed. Rarity guided her to a chair while the other unicorn tried to compose her thoughts. “I need to find the perfect gift for you. But the other version of you. Apparently, in Twilight’s family, they don't even celebrate with gifts. They do something involving an airing of grievances and tests of strength.”
“That might explain a few of the more eccentric things I've heard from her,” Rarity said, with a snort of laughter as she put the kettle on.
"She did have a good suggestion, though. She said I should just be efficient about it and ask Rarity directly so I wouldn't risk getting the wrong thing. But..."
“Allow me to fill in the next step, hm? You realized you could simply go through the mirror and ask me instead of her, and get the perfect gift without ruining the surprise.”
“Exactly!” Sunset said, sighing with relief and smiling.
Rarity shook her head. “Darling, that’s almost cheating! I’m not sure if I’d be flattered or disappointed if one of my friends tried that.”
“It seemed like a good idea,” Sunset said. “I mean…”
The kettle whistled, interrupting her trailing thought. Rarity poured a bit of hot water into two cups, rinsing and warming them before dumping that water out and adding tea leaves and hot water, leaving room for Sunset to add milk.
“We’re the same pony?” Rarity asked. “Or person, in her case. Except she’s still a teenager, darling. I’ve heard Twilight’s stories. I promise you I was a very different pony when I was a rebellious teen! I was making risque garments of all sorts! I had an entire closet full of different impractical coats strewn with useless buckles and belts. I once made an entire skirt out of black belts simply because I thought I was pushing the limits of design. I wore it exactly once, then when I took it off I couldn’t get it back together. I eventually just had to bury it because it looked like a sad octopus.”
“I know you’re not the same, but you probably have fairly similar tastes,” Sunset said, adding a little milk to her tea and stirring. “She works in a dress shop--”
“And here, Rarity is well-known as the owner of several exclusive boutiques, a famous designer, and savior of the free world,” Rarity said. “I’m more than happy to help, my dear, but we have to get into the proper mindset. Ponies change over time, and if you really want to find her the perfect gift you must assist me with understanding her, hm?”
Sunset nodded, taking a long sip.
“Excellent! So, I assume she’s madly in love with your world’s Rainbow Dash?”
Sunset spat out the tea.
“What?!” Sunset gasped, coughing and sputtering.
Rarity put the poor unicorn’s cup down and patted her back.
“Sounds like a sip went down the wrong pipe,” Rarity noted. “So should I take that to mean you’re not going to deny that you fancy her? Trust me, I won’t be offended. Any Rarity is a wonderful catch.”
Sunset coughed a few more times and nodded weakly. Rarity put the teacup back into her hooves.
“Good. It would be unseemly to run through the barrier between worlds if you weren’t madly in love with me. Her. You know what I mean,” Rarity said. “Let me start with the most obvious advice, hm? She’ll love any gift you give her, as long as it has proper presentation. I would be offended by even a priceless gift if it was simply dropped in my lap in the store bag, unwrapped, with the receipt and tags still attached.”
“If it’s priceless why would it have tags?”
“Hush, darling. It’s a metaphor.” Rarity sipped her tea. “Whatever you give her, take as much care with the wrapping and box as you do with the gift. The joy of getting a present isn’t in having a thing, it’s in that moment where you realize somepony else cares about you enough to do something kind. If they spent hours getting the ribbon tied correctly and wrapping and re-wrapping the paper to make it just so, that shows you matter enough not to be left to the last minute. You understand?”
Sunset nodded.
“Splendid. Because that’s your gift’s first impression, and it should be a strong one! Next, tell me a bit more about this other Rarity. What made you fall for her?” Rarity laughed. “Of course, I can guess, but I do love getting compliments even if they are indirect!”
Sunset took a deep breath. “It’s a long story.”
“That’s an excuse,” Rarity scoffed. “You crossed between worlds for her! It’s not a long story, you’re simply embarrassed to tell me.”
“I’m not embarrassed!”
“I happen to know myself, so perhaps I can try telling your long story for you, hm?” Rarity said. She smiled and got up, circling around Sunset like a shark around particularly delicious and entertaining prey. “When you saw her, you almost immediately fell for her beauty, her sense of style that made her stand out from the masses. Of course, you didn’t admit it to yourself at first, because you saw her as a rival! A rival for the attention and affection you crave!”
“Um…” Sunset hesitated. “Not exactly.”
“I’m struggling to see how it could be wrong.”
“It took me a while to actually get used to how humans look. Like, if she’d looked like you?” Sunset shrugged. “To be honest humans were all sort of… samey-looking. I went entirely on hair and skin colors for like a year and I still got some of them confused.”
“Samey-looking?!” Rarity gasped like Sunset had struck her.
“I mean, now I can see the differences. It’s kind of like… do you like classical music?”
“I suppose,” Rarity shrugged. “I believe it’s important to have an appreciation for the fine arts.”
Sunset nodded. “When you first listen to symphonies, they sort of seem similar. But if you keep listening, and you pay attention, you start to understand why some are masterpieces and some aren’t, and you look back and see things with fresh eyes and wonder how you never noticed her…”
Rarity smiled. “I think your metaphor has rather gotten away from you.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, darling.”
Sunset was quiet for a moment. “I didn’t fall for her until I thought I lost her.”
Rarity stopped pacing. “Oh?”
“She went on a date with some jerk from Crystal Prep and she kept sending these Snapscrolls. They’re kind of like… ugh, your world doesn’t have the words for it. It’s this app that sends pictures…” Sunset facehoofed. “Let me start again. An app--”
“I get the idea, darling. You were getting pictures.”
“Right. Pictures of the date and Rarity and little snippets of text about how wonderful everything was. It drove me crazy but I couldn’t look away!”
Rarity nodded. “You wanted to be there.”
“No, I wanted to kick myself in the butt because I’d had about a thousand chances to ask her out and I hadn’t even realized I wanted to do it until someone else had taken her on the perfect date!”
“So you just watched it all night?”
“I felt awful about it. She was happy, I was the idiot, and I should have been happy for her, you know? But I was jealous and a little snippy and I went into school exhausted and you know what happened?”
Rarity smiled. “Go on.”
“She looked awful too! Well, no, she looked beautiful, but--”
“In a tragic, depressed, dare I say gothic sort of way?”
“...How did you know?”
“Darling, I’m Rarity. If the date had really been so perfect she wouldn’t have spent all that time trying to convince herself of it. A perfect date wouldn’t have her on her phone the whole time. They’d sweep her off her feet and engage her all night!”
“Huh. I didn’t think of it that way,” Sunset admitted. “She just said things hadn’t clicked. Anyway, I decided not to let the next chance slip by.”
“Ah, good,” Rarity smiled. “So you waited three days?”
“Uh…” Sunset hesitated.
“A week?”
“Well…”
“You haven’t asked her yet,” Rarity said, already knowing the answer.
“Not entirely. I’ve hinted, and, um, I’ve been waiting for the moment. And this is going to be the moment! That’s why I need a really good gift.”
Rarity sighed. “Oh dear, Sunset, waiting until the holidays… well, it cannot be helped at this point. The most obvious answer is that you should spend time with her,” Rarity said. “Perhaps you could take her on a lavish vacation! You could confess your love in an exotic locale!”
“I don’t think I can afford a lavish vacation,” Sunset said. “I don’t think I can afford a lavish anything.”
“A girl can dream,” Rarity sighed. “You’ll have to save it for the honeymoon, I suppose.”
“Honeymoon?!”
“It’s best to start planning these things early,” Rarity said. “If you can’t manage a trip somewhere warm and sandy, I suppose the next best thing would be a spa day. Of course, if you wanted it to be really special, you could take lessons yourself.”
Sunset’s cheeks turned the same shade as Big Mac. “It might be a little awkward telling her I want to go on a date while giving her a massage.”
“I suppose it is more second date material,” Rarity admitted. “Still, doing something yourself truly shows effort.”
“Like what? Make her a dress?”
Rarity sucked in a breath. “Darling, no offense, but perhaps not something so, um…”
“But it’s good to show an interest in what she likes, right?”
“Yes. And… also… perhaps it would be best to stick with something you’ve already got experience with, yes?” Rarity said, already imagining being imprisoned in someone’s freshman effort with dressmaking and being too polite to tell them what she really thought. It would be a fate worse than death.
“Something I’ve got experience with…” Sunset thought. “Magic! It’s something no one else could get her, and I could make a simple enchantment that would be perfectly safe!”
“Like a crystal ball to see the future?”
“I was thinking more like a wand that shoots fireballs.”
Rarity paused. “Why would she need to shoot fireballs?”
“Come on, Rarity,” Sunset scoffed. “You’re a unicorn! You and I both know that when push comes to shove, you just throw a fireball at your problem and it goes away!”
“Ah…”
Sunset laughed a few times, then slowly trailed off into awkward silence. “It’s not a good idea, is it?”
Rarity shook her head. “Might I suggest something unlikely to cause disaster in the wrong hands?”
“I guess I could just give her something ornamental,” Sunset said. “I happen to be an expert in mirror magic. If I used an illusion spell, it could--”
“Oh, don’t tell me, darling! It’ll ruin the surprise! It would be something safe, though, yes? Safe enough that if someone like, oh, her little sister was playing with it, it wouldn’t cause a disaster?”
“Perfectly safe,” Sunset promised. “But how would it ruin the surprise? I mean, it’s not like I’d be giving it to you.”
“I’ll explain later,” Rarity said, with no intention of doing so.
“Are there any good antique stores in town? If I can get something vintage, it’ll look better than a mirror from Barnyard Bargains.”
“Why don’t you ask Princess Twilight to help you pick one out?” Rarity suggested. “She’d know better than I would about what would be suitable for your plans. And she can make sure you don’t do anything… unwise.”
“Is that a subtle dig that you think I might accidentally make a cursed item?”
“It’s a subtle reminder that most of the magic you’ve run into in the human world has been, despite the best intentions of whomever made the items in question, dangerous.”
“And you really think she’ll say yes if I ask her out? I don’t want her to think the gift is a bribe or… or conditional or something. I just...”
“Of course she will,” Rarity said. She put a hoof on Sunset’s shoulder. “Just be confident. You can face down all sorts of monsters and magical threats without breaking a sweat, so asking a beautiful lady to dinner shouldn’t be too much trouble, hm?”
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right! Thanks for your help! I’ll see if Twilight is up for some antiquing.”
“If you’d really like to repay me, when you do go on a date with her, spoil her like the lady she is, hm?”
Sunset nodded and trotted quickly for the door, already coming up with a plan on how to make things perfect.
Rarity waved as Sunset left, locking the door behind the unicorn-turned-girl-turned-unicorn.
“Who was that?” asked a sleepy voice from the stairs. “It’s a bit late for any appointments, isn’t it?”
“Just a friend,” Rarity said, turning to face… Rarity.
“Oh really?” the Rarity on the stairs, a little older and a little wiser, asked. She smiled. “Just a friend? That’s quite a blush for a friend.”
“A good friend,” the younger Rarity clarified. “She thought I was you.”
“Ah,” older Rarity nodded. “I can understand the mistake.”
“It is nice knowing that I’ll age gracefully,” younger Rarity agreed. “You really take care of yourself wonderfully.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Rarity giggled. “And thank you again for taking care of the shop so I could get caught up on a few projects and a bit of rest. Some customers just won’t leave until they get the full Rarity experience.”
“And giving them the Rarity experience also gives this Rarity experience of her own,” the younger unicorn said. “In my world, I work retail instead of being my own boss, and it’s utterly dreadful this time of year.”
“I can imagine,” the older Rarity said. “Could you get me a cup of tea, darling? I need something warm to wake up a bit before I do any detailed needlework.”
“Luckily I already had the kettle on. I’ll get you a cup if you’ll return the favor with some advice,” the younger replied.
Older Rarity tittered. “I love giving advice! You know that.”
“I was hoping for advice on a gift,” Rarity said. “Something uniquely Equestrian for a homesick friend.”
“A good friend?” the elder Rarity asked.
“A very good friend,” Rarity confirmed. “I’m told by a reliable source that she’s smitten with me. Heaven knows it took her long enough to realize her feelings. I was worried I was going to have to ask her out myself.”