Two days later, the bell above the front door of Carousel Boutique tinkled as the coil spring to which it held threw it about wildly, as it did every time the door was opened. Rarity was waiting, and before launching into her well-rehearsed patter, turned to see whether it was her anticipated guest.
The unmistakeable midnight blue form of the Princess of the Night entered gracefully, an expensive looking bouquet of flowers held in her light blue aura.
“Princess Luna, how lovely to see you again!”
“Mistress Rarity, please accept this humble token of my …” Luna paused, and felt a slight rush of blood to her cheeks, “… appreciation.”
“Oh my, how wonderful!” Rarity trilled, “You didn’t need to, but thank you anyway!”
“We have something else too” Luna continued, producing a small packet, “Coffee. Perhaps we may share a cup later?”
“Ah … my tea not to your taste then?” said Rarity, the incident during Luna’s last visit now starting to make sense.
“We merely suggest …” Luna began before Rarity interrupted, “I am so sorry, I should have asked first … but as I don’t generally keep coffee in, then this would be perfect – thank you.”
Rarity laid the bouquet down carefully on an empty table and led her guest through into her workshop where a single ponykin stood in pride of place.
Luna raised a forehoof to cover her gasp; it was beautiful. The outer layer was a deep plum satin base emblazoned with white stars, developing into clouds of all shades of blue and purple to a gold trim, whilst a second, under layer of the same deep plum satin provided added depth, again stitched with a gold accented trim.
Rarity giggled to see the spellbound look across Luna’s face and clapped her forehooves together gently in excitement.
“We can truly see how thee came to earn thy reputation for excellence” said Luna, when finally able to speak, “This is a most wonderous creation!”
“That’s not all” added Rarity cheekily, “Remember – accessories.”
Luna took her eyes away from admiring the dress to see a gold livery collar in place of her distinctive black one, and above it, a new gold crown with a crescent moon on it.
“What do you think?” Rarity squeed in excitement, “I had to draw in a few favours to get the accessories made, but …”
“We could not have imagined such delicate craftsmanship” gasped Luna.
“I realise, of course, that your livery collar and crown probably have their own magic, but I’m hoping you might be able to transfer enough of it over to make the new ones work too …”
“Yes, yes that should be possible” agreed Luna, “We should be able to make them work at least enough for ceremonial occasions.”
“Now, come, come …” Rarity cajoled, “You simply must try it all on right now.”
Luna offered no resistance; in fact, she was trembling with excitement to try on the whole ensemble and see how it looked on her.
Rarity helped her client get dressed, but was wary lest she transcend the fine line of personal space that she had accidentally crossed when using the tape measure during their first meeting, so only intervened when the bottom satin layer got caught and didn’t hang properly.
In no time at all, everything was in place, Rarity fussing until the last moment to ensure that the new crown rested properly on Luna’s mane. Once finally satisfied, she wheeled over the full-length mirror and Luna took her first look at the new outfit. She stared at her reflection, making turns to the left and right, then looking over her shoulder, with every new perspective, her smile growing wider.
“Oh, you look fabulous, darling!” cooed Rarity, delighted that everything fitted on the Princess as well as it had on the ponykin.
That word ‘darling’ had slipped out as a term of speech commonly used by the fashionista, but it was not a word that Luna had had directed towards her since last actively being courted over a thousand years ago. Had she heard Rarity correctly?
Was she being propositioned?
This was all a little sudden and unexpected.
Certainly, the unicorn was beautiful, talented, cultured, generous, and she was also surprisingly forward, but this; this was all so sudden.
“We do not know what to say” said Luna, caught completely off guard.
“I know” Rarity continued bubbling excitedly about the dress, “Isn’t it simply divine. Of course, it owes most of its effect to your beautiful figure; I mean you could model anything and make it look good, but this ensemble adds just the right emphasis to complement your look. My finest work, if I do say so.”
“Pray, what price for this masterpiece of thy craft?” asked Luna.
“Oh, come now Princess, consider it a welcome back to Equestria present.”
This put Luna in a difficult position, for not only did she now beleieve that Rarity was hitting on her, but also tempting her with dazzling gifts. She racked her brains for something she could do in return so as not to be beholden, then came up with an idea, “Rarity, if thou willst not accept payment, then please allow us to share with you something that we suspect may appeal to thy sense of refinement.”
Rarity was intrigued and furrowed her brow. “When, exactly?” she asked.
“Now?” came the hesitant reply, “If thou hast nothing else of higher priority …”
Rarity couldn’t believe her ears; what could be a higher priority than a request from Royalty after all?
Luna took a last lingering look at her new dress in the mirror then carefully disrobed, taking great care to hang the fabulous new outfit back onto the ponykin from which it had first been presented to her.
Once secure in the knowledge that the dress was safe, Rarity began to turn her attention to the intriguing offer that her guest had made, not knowing what to expect.
In order to dispel the unspoken question hanging in the air, Luna turned to her hostess and asked, “Shall we outside?”
Rarity motioned towards the front door and led the way, turning the ‘open’ sign to ‘closed’ as she got there, then opened it to the cheerful tinkling of the bell, once more bouncing around to the delight of the spring onto which it was fixed.
Luna passed through the door, sharing an enigmatic glance with Rarity and waited outside for her to secure the shop.
“We will lower down to permit thee to mount” she said, “We are about to embark upon a flight.”
Rarity was momentarily shocked given the Princess’ former concerns about physical contact, that she was now offering something so intimate. She had ridden on pegasi before of course and cherished the experience, even holding a deep desire to have wings of her own, although she knew that having been born a unicorn, that would never be.
Carefully minding every hoofstep, she got up onto the alicorn’s back and made herself secure.
“Art thou ready?” asked Luna.
“Yes” Rarity giggled, “All aboard!”