//------------------------------//
// A Small Request 
// Story: The Faces We See, the Masks We Wear 
// by The Iguana Man 
//------------------------------//

The night of the ball had arrived and, as was to be expected, it was a massive success. As Celestia stood at her station and observed the ponies around her, she knew that, even without everything unexpected that had happened, she had made the right choice for its organizer.

However, the request that was to be given by said organizer hadn't left her mind, so she was relieved when the unicorn in question approached her.

“Princess Celestia. I trust everything is to your liking this evening?”

Celestia nodded gently. “It is indeed. Is there something I can help you with, my little pony?” She asked, not wanting to make a show of granting a boon until she was sure Rarity was happy to ask it.

“Indeed, I do have one request, if you would be so gracious as to grant it,” Rarity replied.

“And what would you ask?” Celestia braced herself internally to finally learn what Rarity wanted from her.

In response, however, Rarity merely held out her hoof. “A dance.”

Small gasps rose up from the guests around them, but Celestia barely heard them, instead merely staring, stupefied, at the offered hoof. After a few seconds, she spoke. “A... a dance?” She took a sharp breath in and straightened herself, doing her best to regain her mental stability without letting anything show on her face. “May I ask why?”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Tell me, Your Highness, how long has it been since you last danced at a party?”

Celestia's mind raced back, scanning first over years, then decades searching for a recent instance. “It has been... some considerable time. And, while I am... not unopposed to doing so, I'm not quite clear what you will get out of it. I fear I may be, as you would say, rather rusty.”

Rarity waved the concern off as she approached closer. “Oh, you need not worry about that, Your Majesty,” she assured her before leaning in close and lowering her voice, making sure the following conversation was solely between them. “In fact, that is precisely the point – it's something you are a bit out of practice with.”

Celestia let out a hum, uncomfortable with where this conversation was going.

Rarity just let out a gentle chuckle, though. “Oh, don't worry, I've no doubt you are still most competent at it. In fact, I daresay you will even be able to do so with your mask remaining intact.”

“Mask?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow. She suspected she knew what Rarity meant, even if Celestia didn't generally think of it in those terms, but she didn't want to pre-empt things.

Rarity nodded. “Yes. The mask you wear for the ponies around you. Like the one we all wear to a degree. We all have a way we want to come across, but you, I suspect, more than most. And, even as out of practice as you are, I think you will be able to keep your mask up to everypony... except your dance partner.”

Celestia's eyes widened a little, though not so much as to give away just how much surprise she felt. Which, now that she thought of it, sort of proved Rarity's point.

“That is what I would request,” Rarity finished. “A peek beneath the mask.”

Celestia regarded her carefully. “I... suppose I understand. But how much do you think you will be able to get from a single dance?”

Rarity shrugged. “Oh, very little, I suspect. A mere, fleeting, cryptic glimpse. However,” she stepped away, resuming her normal volume and offering her hoof once more, “I think it will most definitely suffice.”

A remarkable mare indeed, Celestia thought as she considered the request. She could, it had been established, freely refuse and doing so would definitely be the safer option. There were very few ponies around whom she let her composure slip even a little. She couldn't afford to show weakness or fallibility if she could help it.

And it had been so very long since last she'd danced.

After a moment of consideration, Celestia let a smile crack onto her face and took the hoof before her. “In that case, I think I would like nothing more.”