“Rare, we need to make an appointment to borrow your talent and your boutique,” Celestia said as she, Luna, and Twilight entered the Carousel Boutique rather casually.
“Any time, Lady Celestia,” Rare replied.
“Good, how about now?” Twilight said rather hurriedly.
“My suit can wait, Miss Rarity,” Dr. Whooves said after he made a quick bow before the princesses.
“Well, alright, Mr. Whooves, but if something were to happen between now and Matilda’s wedding, I may not be able to help,” Rare said as she gave Dr. Whooves his suit back.
“It’s ‘Dr. Whooves’, Miss Rarity,” he corrected before hurriedly exiting the boutique as not to hear a coming remark.
“Close enough!” Rare yelled at the door. “Sorry, what is it you need?”
“Come on out, Contact,” Celestia said before a the young foal Twilight ‘hatched’ came out from behind the princesses.
“An Alicorn foal!” Rare said in surprise before fainting.
“Um, should I douse her with my Drizzle spell to wake her?” Contact wondered aloud as he walked closer to the fainted mare.
“No, you powers are needed for later and you very well know what I mean,” Celestia said before summoning a small temporary rain cloud above Rare.
“Who.. was that?” Rare wondered before opening her eyes to see Contact looking at her. “Ah!”
“Rare, this is Contact, my technical child,” Twilight said as she grabbed Contact with her magic and moved him about ten hooves away from her friend.
“Your… child?!?” Rare said in shock. “But.... you’re not even married!”
“Rare, it’s not easy to explain,” Twilight said as she walked closer to her friend.
“It certainly doesn’t seem easy to explain!” Rare said almost in a yell.
“Calm down, Rare, all will be explained in time,”Luna said as she and Celestia walked over to her.
“Well, alright, what do you need?” Rare asked.
“Contact needs some casual day wear,” Celestia said while looking at a vest on a mannequin over by a water fountain backdrop.
Rare then looked in the direction Celestia was and picked up what she meant. “I suppose I can do that,” she said before teleporting to the back room and finding the appropriate materials.
“Oh, and Contact, if and when she puts on red glasses: don’t say a word and do exactly as she says,” Twilight said as she looked down at him.
Rare the teleported back into the main shop, closed all the curtains, and then locked the door. “Let’s get to work!” she said as she put on her red glasses.
After three hours of cutting, sewing, and repeating; she had arrived at a very stylish conclusion: A vest similar in design to that of the vests worn during winter wrap-up, only modified to were Contact could comfortably hide his wings beneath the fabric. there were also cosmetic differences such as: a bit of Gray here and there to counter Contact’s coat. Also, she added a sun emblem, at Celestia’s request, over each wing slot.
“I do believe this may be the greatest work I’ve done yet!” Rarity said as she took off her glasses and admired the new vest she had made.
“Contact, does it feel alright?” Celestia asked as she walked around Contact looking at him from as many angles as she could.
“Yes, Tia, it’s the most comfortable vest I’ve felt in… nevermind,” Contact remarked sparking curiosity in Rare’s mind.
“Just how long were you going to say?” Rare asked with deep wonder.
Contact looked at Celestia and she nod. “Millenia?” he replied causing Rare to just fell over fainted. “Oh no, I did it again!” he whinned.
“Don’t worry, she get used to your surprises… eventually,” Twilight said.
Celestia again summoned a small temporary rain cloud above Rare.
“He.. said... what?!?” Rare said as she quickly recovered from fainting.
“He said ‘millenia’, Rare,” Twilight said in a smart-aleck tone.
“But he’s just a foal!” Rare replied.
“Only physically, Miss Rarity. I’ve been around since magic was introduced to the world,” Contact said causing wonder to grip Rare’s face.
“Introduced? Magic has always existed,” Rare said before looking at Celestia. “Hasn’t it?” she asked.
“No, what he says is true. Magic has not always been around,” she replied.
“But… how?”
“Here we go again!” Twilight commented.
Several hours (and popcorn bags) later, Rare finally grasped Celestia’s explanation.
“So, the planet was once called Earth and our species was once known as humans and we were bipedal and-”
“Yes, Rare, now can we move on? We’re burning daylight!” Twilight said rather agitated.
“I just wanted to make sure I had everything correct!”
“Rare, we have ten minutes before you most likely faint again, I suggest you brace for mental shock rather than talk your head off,” Twilight said rather angered.
“Twilight, I- Wait, what?”
“Luna can you please raise the moon ten minutes early?” Twilight asked as she looked at the princess of the moon.
“No, not today,” Luna said.
“Fine,” Twilight said rather perturbed.
“What do you want her to raise the moon early for? I for one love the sight of the evening sky,” Rare said before looking around for something. “Speaking of which, has anypony seen my camera? I need an evening sky backdrop for my next line of pegasus apparel.”
“M.I.L.I.S., capture a picture from the west spire cam at eighty degrees vertical rotation and facing exactly two hundred and seventy degrees horizontal rotation,” Twilight said into her X-Com. before receiving a picture of the sky in full twilight colours. “There, you have a backdrop, next.”
“Well, now that you ask-”
“Not really taking requests here!” Twilight quickly said, cutting her friend off.
“Lulu, two minutes,” Contact said as he tried to remove the vest he was wearing, soon gaining aid from Celestia.
“Why was he trying to remove his vest without his magic?” Rare asked.
“He cannot perform magic like us,” Celestia said as she finished removing Contact’s vest.
“Well, what magic can he wield? Certainly he has to have some way of protecting himself,” Rare said.
“His magic comes from many places, all of which are jewelry he can wear,” Celestia said as she nuzzled Contact.
“Lulu, ten,” Contact said warning her of how little time there was until the moon was to be raised.
“On it,” she replied before her horn started glowing.
Soon, Contact began glowing. When the light cloaking him died down, there was an Alicorn filly standing where he once was.
The filly had a Grey coat, Cobalt and White mane and tail, her left eye was faded Pale and her right eye was faded Cobalt, her Primary Coverts had White tips, and her Lesser Coverts were Cobalt. She was a complete virtual colour negative of Contact.
“Oh… My…!” Rare stammered.
“Please, don’t faint again,” the filly said.
“Are… you…?”
“Yes, I’m Contact,” the filly said as she rubbed her right forehoof with her left forehoof.
“Somepony get me a fainting couch,” Rare said rather melodramatically.
“Rare, get used to it already,” Twilight said still agitated.
“Twi, just why are you-”
“I’m not in the mood to talk about why I’m mad,” Twilight said as she looked in Rare’s direction. “Any further questions on the issue can be answered by the filly,”
Rare then looked at Contact. “Do you remember when you and your friends put the stump to the Golden Oaks Library in the castle?” she asked.
“Yes, why?”
“Well, the real reason she didn’t want to be in the castle was to get away from me,” Contact concluded.
“But I thought-”
“No, she was actually thrilled to have a castle of her own, but she didn’t expect to have a foal that technically came with it.”
“But I didn’t see you there!”
“Miss Pinkie actually found me and Flash Sentry hiding in the lab and we had her Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony that we were in there.”
“Well that explains why she went missing while we were trying to decorate.”
“Yeah, okay now we’re caught up on my life, how about we get to work on Contact’s night outfit?” Twilight asked yet again angered.
“Oh! Yes, we can,”Rare said. “Let’s see…” she commented before teleporting to the back room, gathering more materials, and teleporting back. “Back to work,” she stated before putting her red glasses back on and beginning to work on Contact’s night outfit.
After three more hours, she arrived at yet another ‘best work ever’ nomination vest. This one was like the other in design with only cosmetic differences. The base colour was Cobalt, adorned with a few sequins, with bits of Creame here and there to counter Contact’s new coat colour, and a moon emblem, added upon Luna’s request, over each wing slot.
“Again it seems I’ve bested my best,” Rare commented as she again removed her red glasses. “I dare say, you are the most patient customer I’ve ever had. I for one think you deserve a reward.” she said taking note of how still Contact was during the making of both vests.
“I assure you, I have no need for any rewards that are of physical value,” Contact said rather calmly.
“Really? I was going to go get you a small piece of cake out of the fridge,” Rare said with wonder.
“Rare, she doesn’t eat physical food, she absorbs magic energy from her surroundings,” Celestia said as she put her hoof on Contact’s shoulder.
“Oh? Well, I guess that’s a plus in some respects,” Rare commented gaining a sneer from Twilight.
“Yeah, until she starts feeling weak and you have to give her some of your magic energy,” Twilight stated angrily.
“Twilight, it can’t be that bad,” Rare stated unaware of what she just started.
“Rare, do you have any idea how much giving part of your magic away is? Oh yeah, that’s right, Tirek once stole every ounce of magic you had. So, in that case, have you forgotten how much it hurts?” Twilight asked in an angered frenzy like fashion.
“No I have not! I’ll never forget that day… my mane and tail lost most of their shine.”
“Your mane and tail! All you can remember that day is how much your mane and tail lost their shine!”
“Girls, this is hardly the time to be arguing. Be thnkful your still around to argue,” Celestia said as she stepped between the two mares.
“Your right… it’s not worth my time,” Twilight said as she turned around and walked over to the door. “Come, Contact, time to go,” she said before opening the door and exiting with Contact and the two vests.
“How much will it cost to replace the materials used to make the vests?” Luna asked as she looked at Rare.
“For both? Ten bits. You two have a Royalty discount.”
“And what percentage is that discount worth?” Celestia asked.
“You want honesty? Ninety percent.”
“Then here,” Luna said as she handed a bag marked ‘Ten Bits’ to Rare.
“Thank you, Princess Luna,” Rare said before she levitated it over to a table and then walked away.
When Rare was out of earshot Luna made the remark: “When she finds out we gave her one thousand bits she’s going to go crazy.”
“How do you know?” Celestia asked.
“You remember my summer job before I entered my fourth year of Highschool eons ago?”
“Not really, why?”
“My job was a cashier for a boutique in Crystal City. One day, a nice gentleman entered, bought a new suit and tie, handed me what I thought was four one hundred dollar bills, said: 'Danke Fräulein, and how you say… keep change., and walked out’.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Turns out they were worth thousands of our continent’s smallest bill currency.”