Shopping
When Luna eventually landed - and Bon Bon finally opened her eyes - the earth pony was surprised to find that they’d ended up exactly where they started - the World Trade Center.
“Haven’t we been here already?” she asked Luna once she’d gotten all four hooves back on the ground where they belonged.
“Aye.” Replied the alicorn. “But there is business that we still must attend to. We have bought gifts for my sister, but not for Twilight or Cadence."
She turned and trotted back towards a different black building than the one they’d entered earlier. Bon Bon followed, and her eyes traced up the side of the building - a big red sign reading BORDERS in white letters indicated the primary tenant, although it gave precious little information as to what the store actually sold.
Following Luna through the doors, Bon Bon stopped dead in her tracks.
It was a bookstore. One bigger than any bookstore Bon Bon had ever seen. It seemed to stretch on endlessly, and easily took up the entire floor of the building it was in. Deeper into the building, moving staircases went both up and down, implying that this store was of a size to rival even the Royal Canterlot Library.
Bon Bon looked over at Luna. "Your Highness, she said slowly. "This wouldn't happen to be related to the massive list Twilight was making last week?"
"Twilight is very easy to buy for." The Princess said as she produced a scroll of paper. Unrolling it revealed a double-sided list that went almost to the floor.
Bon Bon looked at it. Then she looked at Luna.
"Your highness, please don't buy-" she started, but it was too late - Luna had already vanished into the stacks.
Later
Bon Bon had tried to keep up, she really had, but when the Princess started on one of these tasks, it was difficult for any mortal to keep pace.
Bon Bon had clung on for a while, but she'd eventually faltered in the History section on the store's third floor, and had been directed to the store's café by one of the many staff members who were following the whirling dervish that was an alicorn in a bookstore.
Several restorative mugs of coffee (and an absolutely atrocious banana nut muffin) later, and the secret agent felt positively equine again.
And not a moment too soon, as Luna descended from the store's third floor, a mass of books trailing along in her magic.
"Is there anything left in the store?" She asked as she fell into step behind Luna.
"We art not that bad." The Princess responded as she set the mass of books down next to the checkout counters.
Bon Bon eyed the other four equally-sized piles already there, but said nothing.
It took some time to ring up the purchases, and when they emerged from the store it was almost three in the afternoon. Luna had bought so many books that the clerks had offered her boxes instead of bags, and stacking them on the Plaza outside created a tower bigger than Bon Bon.
"Is there anything else you need?" the mare asked, slightly wary of carrying a tree's worth of paper goods around Manhattan. "A cart, perhaps?"
Luna snorted in response, and engulfed the entire pile in her magic. In a flash of dark blue light, the boxes of books disappeared.
Oh yeah. Bon Bon realized. Unicorns can do that. She hoped that nopony was on the receiving end of that teleport spell - that many books appearing at once could be frightening to the unprepared - like Lily, Daisy, and Roseluck, to name just a few.
Then she winced in sympathy - thinking of Ponyville had made her realize that Twilight would probably get so wrapped up in reading her new literature that Spike was probably going to be the one tasked with sorting, shelving, and organizing everything. Poor guy.
“Better him than me.” she muttered to herself as Luna set off once again.
“What was that?” the Princess called as she made a beeline for the street.
“Nothing!” Bon Bon said, galloping to keep up with the Princess’ longer strides.
She caught up with Luna at the side of the road - the Princess had a leg raised to hail a taxi, and one of the many yellow vehicles was already pulling up to meet her.
“Where are we going now?” she asked as they piled into the entirely-too-small back seat.
“We art not sure…” Luna said as she tried to keep her horn from poking through the roof of the vehicle. “Driver? Where is the best jeweler in the city?”
Later - Tiffany & Co. Fifth Avenue
Their arrival at the store had been heralded with Canterlot-level bowing, scraping, and scrambling as the staff of the apparently-prestigious store organized a private viewing room for Luna. It went so quickly that it felt as though magic was involved, and Bon Bon had a difficult time keeping her expression neutral as the humans practically fell over each other to serve Luna.
It really was like being back in Canterlot - sales-humans, every one dressed in severe clothing, brought forth a continuous rotation of breathtakingly expensive jewels for Luna to peruse, and then just as quickly took them away once she decided that it wasn’t something Princess Cadence would like. So far the only one she’d shown any interest in was a small pink diamond ring that she thought would accent Cadence’s coat, but that was it.
“What about this one?” Luna asked, pointing to an enormous yellow diamond that had been brought in on its own black velvet mat.
At some point, Bon Bon had been roped into the selection process - something she was wholly unsuited for, and wasn’t sure how she’d gotten involved. “It’s not very exotic, I think Rarity found a few rocks bigger than this a few months ago.”
The assembled salespeople had made a collective choking noise at that, but refused to elaborate as the stone was taken away.
Several more displays of jewelry were brought in and taken away, and Bon Bon was beginning to get the sense that the sales-humans were getting rather desperate. This was proven to be correct when the next tray of jewels still had price tags attached - the staff had clearly pulled them from the cases in the main showroom, as opposed to “the vault” where all the other jewels had been stored.
“Pray tell, what are these?” Luna asked as she scrutinized a blue stone set into a ring.
“What you’re looking at right now is Tanzanite.” The lead sales human said. “It was discovered in 1968 - Tiffany’s is the exclusive distributor outside of Tanzania.”
He picked up a green stone set into a brooch. “This is Tsavorite, which is found only in Kenya and Tanzania.”
“Fascinating. We would like to see more of this.” Luna said, much to the surprise of the sales staff, who ran off to find more gems.
They returned with almost a dozen trays, each laden with colored gemstones. This pleased Luna greatly, and in a short while a small number of rings, necklaces, and brooches had been placed alongside the small pink diamond ring from earlier.
Bon Bon was still helping Luna pick, and was regretting having learned the bit-to-dollar conversion rate - display jewels were typically less expensive than those kept in the back, but the price tags on these more modest-looking stones were still more than she made in three years.
It was a shame, too - these stones were beautiful.
Another tray was brought in, and Bon Bon’s breath caught in her throat for a moment. On one corner of the tray was a large piece of tsavorite, surrounded by tanzanite and set into a ring. It was a gorgeous piece, and in that moment, she could practically see it on Lyra’s horn.
“Doest thou see something impressive?” Luna had noticed Bon Bon’s momentary loss of composure.
“It’s nothing, really.” Bon Bon tried to deflect.
“It does not appear to be nothing.” Luna examined the ring. “Tis strange, green does not seem like your color.”
“It’s not mine, but my marefriend Lyra… it’s nothing.” Bon Bon was trying to deflect - that ring cost more than her annual salary - but it wasn’t really working.
“We see.” Luna’s magic picked up the ring and put it next to the others in the “buy” pile.
Bon Bon’s eyes almost popped out of her head. “Ma’am, I can’t ask you to - that’s - it’s - the treasury can’t fund my engagement ring!”
“Nonsense,” Luna said with a smile. “We art the treasury, so we can make those determinations. Consider it a gift from a friend.”
The Princess scanned the rest of the trays for a moment, but found nothing else to her liking. “We art done here. How shall we render payment?”
They left the store with multiple pale blue bags suspended in Luna’s aura. Bon Bon had to keep her gaze locked on the streets around her - if she looked up at the bags she’d start thinking about Lyra and get distracted.
Another taxi was summoned, and the two mares piled into it, Luna directing them back to the Equestrian delegation’s hotel.
“Ma’am, I can’t thank you enough for this.” Bon Bon said, not for the first time, as the cab rolled through Manhattan.
Luna smiled. “Thou may repay me by making sure that thine marefriend is happy.”
It was a nice moment between friends, but then the moment was lost when Luna’s stomach growled audibly.
“Mayhaps we should get dinner upon our return?” The Lunar Princess suggested sheepishly.
The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel - After Dinner
“You know,” said Bon Bon as she leaned against the wall of the elevator. “Of all the places we’ve been today, I didn’t expect dinner to be the time that you get in trouble.”
“He was an absolute cad.” Luna retorted.
“That’s what hotel security is for - by Celestia’s Beard, that’s what I’m for.”
“He would not have respected you - ‘tis like the fools in my sister’s court - they only respect power.”
“He made a pass at you and the Princess of Monaco, and then took a swing at you - I would not say that he respects anyone.”
“His punches were weak - we have faced worse from our sparring matches with the guards.”
“So hitting him with a cake was preferable?”
“Yes. He didn’t get hurt.”
“You knocked him out!”
“Not on purpose!”
“It doesn’t matter if it was on purpose! You and the Prince of Monaco knocked out Frank Sinatra with a red velvet cake!”
The hilarity of the situation finally dawned on both mares. By the time the elevator reached their floor, they were leaning against each other, laughing so hard they were crying.
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Interesting way to finish off dinner (and a trip) :)
A fantastic story, and a worthy successor to your last effort. I enjoyed myself thoroughly.
No, but Twilight is (in a bookstore) ...
Next time use a lighter cake ...
I assume that Bon Bon's reaction to a Butterfinger would have been the same as her reaction to the Twinkie.
The moment with the gift was sweet. A happy Lyra makes all of the work and stress worth it.
I hope that if Cadance ever finds herself in 1980s New York City, she doesn't visit Times Square.
...Do I see the twin towers in the cover art?
10841511
Yes. You'll also see them in the actual story as well.
Wait, so who actually dealt the knockout cake blow- Luna or Rainier?
10841524
It was a big cake - Luna grabbed one side of the tray, Rainier took the other. Put them together and that cake had a lot of velocity.
10841529
The only way that might've been even better was if Prince Albert had been opposite Luna on the tray, because he was pissed at "some old guy harassing his mom" and not even knowing it was Frank Sinatra. And then inviting Luna to try bobsledding.
Ok the funnies aside this gives a bit of context to the time period because Frank Sinatra is definitely not alive in the current century
10841792
The date is listed at the beginning of Chapter 1, but in case you missed it this is January of 1983.
... I kinda wanna see Celestia and Luna attending a movie screening of some good '80s cinema throw abouts. Like Ghostbusters or the horrific glory that is Alien.
10841837
Hmm, just looked it up, apparently (at least according to https://us.coca-cola.com/tab), there are three stores left which still sell TaB.
Now I can't help but contemplate having someone in one of those areas go in, buy up a pallet worth of it, and ship it to my location via freight (as one does with large, heavy things). I suppose I'd have to find someone local with a proper freight dock (or at least a decent forklift) that they'd let me use to unload...
Tiffany’s would be using Lunas visit for a massive PR and marketing coup for sure. But someone watching Equestrian purchasing habits would be mildly perplexed. Busted up trains and expensive jewellery.
People’s reactions seem a bit odd to me too. Not quite how I’d expect them to react to alien royalty.
10841972
Chrysalis would see Alien and get ideas.
10842534
Movie execs upon seeing Crysalis for the first time:
-sees the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on the cover art- -sighs sadly- I miss them so much though in New York City...... ;-;
10842553
“Wait, so I get paid for looking and acting like someone or something else and humans will lavish me with praise and adoration?”
‘Changelings take Hollywood by storm!’ - NY Times interview with the Queen of versatility, Chrysalis.
Small error. In January 1983, Prince Rainier III only recently became a widower. His wife, Grace Kelly, died September 14, 1982. Prince Rainier never remarried. He died in 2005.
10848509
I have no idea what you're talking about
Good job! Nobody but you noticed, so let's keep this between us, shall we?
I would think Ponies wouldn't like TaB. Aspartame might taste like sugar to most humans, but I think Equestrians would taste it as slightly metallic.
(I say most, because it tastes metallic to me. Like someone put aluminum foil on my tongue. Not tasty at all)
10848916
That's very interesting. I've never heard of anyone having that issue before.
10848956
It's probably genetic, like how basil can be tasty to most and to the other 30% of the human race, like me, it takes like dish washing soap.
Makes me wonder if the same situation with left and right handed people also crops up in unicorn magic; the magic being generated with a left or right "spin". Go back a few generations and educators would actively try to stomp out lefties because writing with your left hand was "wrong" (even deviant to some extremists).
The whole bit about trains being alive reminds me of the Japanese tsukumogami-tools that are old enough to achieve life and self-awareness. Although the trains didn't get angry and spontaneously form limbs to wreak havoc.