February 24th, 993 Domina Solaria

Rarity stares at the weather schedule she has posted on her wall at Carousel Boutique, a slight frown crossing her muzzle. The last two days have been clear and sunny, with very little going on, and it echoes what has been going on in her Boutique and around Ponyville. She doesn’t like it when that happens. At least when the stars are dancing it is because Princess Celestia commands them to do so, and there must be some reason even if she herself is not privy to it. But when the weather, the schedule of which is posted a month in advance, seems to line up with the goings-on of their fair town? She worries.

Because there is a storm scheduled for tonight.

She glances to the opened letter on the table, resting on top of one of her perpetual works-in-progress. Derpy delivered it an hour ago. It simply says, ‘I will bring dinner.’

She had been surprised at the brevity, not just in the length of the letter but how little time it took Shining Armor to respond. It wasn’t unpleasant, per se - that would be how her parents are forcing her hoof - but the abrupt nature means she has very little idea of what to expect. Should she wear something? Prepare a dessert, or wine? Yet she can’t possibly match what she doesn’t know, and doesn’t have either the cellar or the funds to stock every possible selection. And with the storm set to start very soon, it would be difficult to improvise should the need arise.

She sighs as she sets down her latest creation. Unique, certainly. Chic? Perhaps. Magnifique? She frowns. Perhaps not. A knock at the front door breaks the flimsy hold on how she might improve the dress, and it’s probably for the best. She strides to the door, sideways glances at her various accessories on display. She scowls; a guard, especially an officer, must know how tres gauche it is to wear something off the rack.

Her light blue aura opens the door, and she nearly stumbles back in surprise. Standing in her doorway is the stark outline of a powerfully built unicorn she’s doodled far too many times to not recognize on sight.

Prince Blueblood?! What is he doing here?

Except as the light gleams off his pure white coat it reveals a slightly different manecut: shorter, and not the golden amber many a mare dreamed might someday spill over them. Instead three tones of blue, the brightest teal in the middle prominently standing out among the sapphire and cobalt hues. Not quite cropped to regulation, but who’s measuring? She demurely strokes a foreleg against the other; she certainly isn’t.

“May I come in?” asks the stallion genially, a friendly smile gracing his muzzle. Shining Armor - for who else could it be? - casts an almost worried glance at the dark clouds above threatening to loose their payload at any second. “I’m not asking for me, but for my friends.” He flicks his mane - Rarity finds her heart lurching at the sight - at the steel gray and light green pegasus mares standing at attention a good ten strides behind him. He chuckles, his smile curling wryly. “I’m afraid they’re not to let me out of their sight until I’m safely delivered into your tender hooves.”

“If that is the case, then by all means, please.” Rarity graciously steps to the side, a friendly smile at the two mares. They curtly nod back before trotting in lockstep with each other. Rarity shuts the door as she turns a knowing smirk to the stallion currently pulling a brown paper wrapped package from his purple shield-marked saddlebags. “Your friends?” she asks pointedly.

“More like spies sent by my dam, but she means well. Don’t say a word around them you don’t want getting back to her.” Shining Armor winks at Rarity, and she can’t tell if he’s joking. Actually, she could see her dam doing that sort of thing, too. He continues, “Though, as Lunaris might say, I saw an opportunity to combine business with pleasure.” He looks around the Boutique, finding a suitable table under a slew of holes in the wall. His pink aura flattens to serve as a tray as the package disgorges a slew of meticulously wrapped sandwiches and appetizers.

“Lunaris?” Rarity pauses, even as she spots a cucumber and mayonnaise sandwich among the many varieties. “The Lunaris? As in, Prince Blueblood?”

“The same,” Shining Armor confirms as he levitates the cucumber sandwich. A mewling cry escapes Rarity’s throat as he unwraps it, her pleading eyes staring at him as she restlessly shifts. He notices, a hint of a frown as he glances between the sandwich and the mare. “Let me guess.”

“Cucumber is your favorite as well?” Rarity gives her best disarming smile, fluttering her eyelashes as she sidles next to Shining Armor. “A true gentlecolt would offer his mare what she desires, were it in his power to grant.”

Shining Armor is obviously used to disarming techniques as he smoothly ripostes, “Ah, but I have heard that a true gentlemare is willing to shoulder any burden for her stallion.” He winks at Rarity’s slight pout. “But, since I am neither your stallion, nor you my mare, let me propose a compromise.” A thin slice of pink slips into the sandwich like a lover entering their beloved, neatly splitting her in half and not spilling a drop of white. He slightly bends one knee as he levitates half to her. “M’lady. I shall endeavour to be better prepared should we meet again.”

“I… must confess that I look forward to that,” Rarity says honestly, though not without trepidation. “You are quite the charming gentlecolt; I find myself surprised you have had such difficulty in locating a suitable mare.”

“Oh, I find myself tongue tied in the presence of those I love. Quite the buffoon, even.” Shining Armor smiles to himself, though his eyes immediately widen. He quickly stammers out, “I am sorry, I did not mean any insult; I am certain you will find somepony as well.”

Rarity, who had indeed found the remark to be slightly off-putting, smiles good-naturedly. “Think nothing of it.” She takes a dainty bite, the sandwich deserving of its spot as her favorite. “So, you know the Prince?”

“Better than most, I dare say, even of those in the castle where we both trained.” His eyes find the holes in the wall again. “You climb?”

“I…” Rarity stalls, taking another bite to hide her surprise. “I have been getting more regular practice at it.” She shakes her flanks seductively as she bobs her mane towards the diamonds. “Going spelunking in hard to reach places. Is that something you do as well?”

“Me? Hah! There’s only one hard to reach place I’m trying to reach, but I’m afraid no amount of digging will get me there.” Shining Armor sighs wistfully, his jovial smile fading. “Lunaris had the same problem, I’m afraid. But now he is Chief Cartographer of Equestria. I rarely see him; now that I think about it, it has been several years.”

“You must miss him very much,” Rarity says quietly, taking the few steps forward to run a comforting hoof along Shining Armor’s thick barrel. She’s surprised by the muscles underneath what she thought was a stocky build; he’s nearly as built as her sire, and at a decade his junior? Armor would likely easily surpass him.

Shining Armor nods glumly. “It’s been hard finding somepony like him in the guard. Most of the mares are too, well, interested. But I’ve got to keep up appearances, even if it nevers happens. That’s what dam says, even if she doesn’t actually say it.” He sighs, offering her a contrite look. “I hope you don’t mind, but this ‘date’ isn’t going to go anywhere. I’m sorry if that dampens your night, but I should be up front about this.”

“No, um, actually, I was unsure how I would broach the subject.” Rarity scratches the back of her mane awkwardly. “You see, my dam pressured me into this ‘date’ as well. But I suppose it wouldn’t do for them to know it as a farce, yes?”

“So, then, what shall we do as to not give away the game?” Shining Armor scans around the room, Rarity getting the impression that he is noticing everything, even in the low light. He stops right at her table, his eyes brightening in a manner Rarity is not wholly unfamiliar with. “Is that!?”

Rarity yanks away the thick blue book before Shining Armor has a chance to snag it. “No, no, no! This book has already ruined one date, and I’m not going to let it ruin another!” She trots off with a haughty smirk, her tail flagging as she drops the book off in one of her storerooms.

“Ruin?” Shining Armor calls after her. “That’s how the best relationships get started! I mean, he sounds like my kind of stallion.” Shining Armor chuckles as she returns; Rarity raises an eyebrow along with a mild glare. “Cody loves it, but that took a little persuasion.” He walks up to the holes in the wall, casually pushing aside the heavy table. His horn lights, two thick rods of pink now in his forehooves. He walks up the wall, balancing on his hind legs. “Does he climb as well?”

“He attempted it once,” Rarity says, her eyes widening a little as Shining Armor doesn’t give himself any rods for his hind legs, instead pulling himself up peg after peg. Only once he reaches the top does his horn drop a shield under his hooves, letting him recover. “Said he prefers climbing trees.”

“And he likes Ogres and Oubliettes? Where can I sign up?” Shining Armor chuckles as he doesn’t take the full five minutes of a short rest, his forelegs flexing as his shield winks out. He grunts as he makes his way down, body jiggling from side to side. “Too bad it’s not a very ‘princely’ activity.”

Rarity’s eyes widen in realization. “Y-you’re…”

Shining Armor looks worried for a split second. “Said too much, did I?”

“Do your parents know?” Rarity taps a hoof against her chin as the pieces fall into place. “They must, you don’t strike me as the kind of stallion to keep that sort of thing from them. So you must be waiting for the right mare to come along and play her part. Your dam acts as the overbearing mother, pushing her stallion in any direction she can. Commoners, nobles, anypony at all, until you find the pony your heart desires and your love can be revealed.”

Shining Armor slowly nods. “Celestia knows half of the mares have asked for me, and precious few have gotten past the first date.”

“No, not the mares.” Rarity huffs. “The stallions!”

Shining Armor freezes in place. “The what?”

Rarity rolls her eyes. “The stallions, darling! You must still be heartbroken over your unrequited love of Prince Blueblood, and you are merely biding your time until you have recovered! Oh, it must be dreadful, having to have loved such a paragon of a stallion and lost him!” Her horn lights, dragging out and flopping onto a red couch as a hoof melodramatically raises to her forehead.

Shining Armor chuckles to himself. “That… would be a pretty good explanation, yes.” A smirk slowly crosses his muzzle. “What makes you think our love was unrequited?”

Rarity scoffs, shaking her head. “Because mares would have flocked from every corner of Equestria to become part of that herd. Celestia knows I would have, if I thought I had a chance. Both of you come from stellar lines of unicorns; your sister is one of Princess Celestia’s prized pupils! Who can imagine what your own foals will accomplish?!”

“A pity, then,” Shining Armor says wistfully.

Rarity sighs mournfully, glancing back at her couch and wanting to throw herself upon it again. “I don’t suppose,” she says cautiously, “that you are opposed to studding? Even an unacknowledged one?”

Shining Armor frowns. His tone becomes unflinchingly hard. “You wouldn’t ask that without a good reason. But even so, I must decline.” He takes a deep breath, like he knows the unlikelihood of what he is saying. “Once I am married, with a foal born, I would reconsider.”

Rarity nods dejectedly. “I suppose that is only fair. Still, if there is anything I can do to help, just say the word.”

Shining Armor taps a hoof against his chin, his gaze wandering to the storeroom. Outside the storm starts, rain pounding against the roof. “Do you have pink dice? Pink is my favorite color.”

Rarity laughs. “You stallions are so predictable.” Shining Armor grins, his forelegs raising in a cheer as he plops down on the ground. “I think I have a module we can run somewhere in the back.”

Next Chapter: Ch. 57 - Belt of the Deceiver Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 17 Minutes