Artemis Sparkshower

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‘Wow, this dress really is something.’

‘And that something is scandalous.’

"I don't know, Lily... It's a bit... unicorn, don't you think?"

Standing on the ground beside the little dressing-area podium, Specialist Artemis Sparkshower's single-horned comrade looked up at her with a grin. "Of course it is; we're in a unicorn fashion shop! And I think what you're wearing ticks all the boxes: it's classic, it's modern, it's fashionable, it's elegant, and it's suitable for dancing."

Frowning, Artemis looked herself over in the triple mirrors.

It was a pretty dress -- what little of it there was. Honestly, it would be easier to describe the dress in terms of what it didn’t have. There weren’t any foreleg sleeves, for one, which was quite a shock. It was also completely without a bustle, flaring outwards only very slightly, before dropping down behind her legs. And there were no layered petticoats or train! The skirt stood alone, a few layers of tulle on top of a base of satin. There was some pleating, but no ruffles.

Artemis almost felt naked.

And with a chest made of embroidered lace, she might as well have been. But, it was a pretty dress. And the blush-pink color did seem to suit her well.

Could she really wear this, though?

"Aren't there going to be an awful lot of Cloudsdale dignitaries and nobleponies at the Gala? I... I'm just a bit worried I'll look out-of-place wearing something that's so far from a traditional Pegasus gown."

Glamerspear smirked and shook her head, and with the chains removed, there was no more jangling noise when she did so. "'Traditional Pegasus gown'? You mean those Peplosian togas?"

Stepping up onto the platform, Artemis saw her horn light up and she felt Lily lift up and adjust the skirt on her.

"This is Canterlot, filly; unicorn fashions are in. And I think you look ready to be someone's bridesmaid in this outfit."

Pacing around, Glamerspear looked her over and made a few more adjustments as she talked. "We can check out the Pegasus shops if you want -- anything to get you out of those country-mare folksy earth pony clothes -- but I think this is as close to 'the one' as we've seen so far."

Satisfied with the small changes she'd made, Lily stepped back down off the podium and Artemis looked herself over once more. It had been almost four hours since they'd left the palace after getting approval from the Royal Engineer, via Corporal Bound. Their first stop was The Strand; Glamerspear spent almost an hour picking herself out a little black dress with an outrageous price tag from Louis Valise.

Then again, everything in there was outrageously priced. Clearly, Captain Mailedhoof wasn't surviving on just his officer's pay. Glamerspear had pored over a few other accessories, and had them added to the order, but it would be up to the Captain if he decided to buy them for her. If he didn't go for it, she said she might grab one or two of them herself to round out the look.

'Never let them dictate control over the purse-strings, Sparks -- If they say you can have twenty bits, try to spend twenty-five.'

That was Lily's piece of advice for Artemis, if she should ever find herself in a similar position as a 'saltine' to a rich noblecolt. Which would be a pretty unlikely turn of events.

After the visit to Louis Valise, they’d hopped into a carriage for a trip across town to Hackney Trot, Canterlot's 'outlet mall.' The stores only sold last year's fashions, but at least the prices were more reasonable. And as far as Artemis was concerned, last year's high-fashion outfits were outrageous enough! It had taken rather longer to pick out something for her from the crowded racks of leftovers.

And the stores were busy, too -- less well-to-do ponies preparing for the Gala were mixed in with ordinary ponies in town for weekend Day Court, taking a little shopping trip on the side. But Artemis’ comrade seemed to know all the tricks and guided her effortlessly from one store to the next, honing in on dress after dress, babbling out loud as she approved or rejected each one for some reason or another.

This was the eleventh dress Artemis had actually tried on. 'Tea-length boat-neck dress in blush-pink. Tulle, satin, and lace, with chiffon rosette,' the label read. It was very pretty.

The pegasus turned in place to look at herself from the side. The lace top blended well with her wings, concealing their true size. Not that she was embarrassed about how big they were, but still, it was a nice feature, and the pale color seemed to work well against her mild cream coat. Plus, her curly golden-yellow mane looked really nice draped over the lace, and it was the same with her tail underneath the tulle skirt. Artemis felt she could see why Glamerspear was pushing this one so hard, and it's not like she was doing it out of exhaustion or anything like that. Ever since spending the night with Captain Mailedhoof, and then getting her spellbinders removed, she'd been more energetic than Artemis had ever seen her.

And more upbeat, too.

So, was this the dress?

Maybe. The wing-slits were still a bit too small for her, however.

Actually, the cut as a whole wasn't quite right -- Artemis had to go a size up just to get it to fit, so now it was too loose in other parts. Unicorn fashion designers seemed to expect that every pegasus was built skinny and lithe! Although to be fair, pegasus designers seemed to make that assumption, too...

It was hard being a pegasus with so much earth pony blood in her. Sometimes it was easier to shop at earth pony stores and then just have them altered for wings.

Artemis frowned at her reflection in the mirror. "If I get this one, Lily, I'll have to get some adjustments made. Is there going to be time for that?"

Glamerspear batted a hoof in her reflected doppelganger's direction. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure this place has an alterations backlog a mile long, like most of the city's tailors this soon before the Gala, but I'll take care of you. I didn't start off getting rich colts to buy me Louis Valise and Coco Pommel dresses, ya know."

Artemis looked down at her almost in shock. "You can sew?"

Lily shrugged. "A little. Enough to turn a cheap dress into something nice, or to fix the cut so it fits properly." Smiling, she looked around at the racks of last year's fashions. “Once I started earning bits, I used to almost live in places like this. Actually, that's not true -- Hackney Trot is unused leftovers from last year's catalogue. I mostly spent my time a step down from here, rooting around in thrift shops full of used clothing; Manehattan is full of 'em. Found some real gems that were years and years old but didn't take too much work to make good as new. I still have a few of them stuffed in the back of my wardrobe."

Waggling her eyebrows, she turned back to Artemis. “Just don't let that secret get out, okay? I don't want random guardsponies coming to me for last-minute alterations. And I definitely don't want my salt-licks thinking they can cheap out on me!"

That revelation had Artemis thinking about where her comrade disappeared to before her big date. "Is that what you were doing yesterday afternoon? We were looking for you, but you hadn't checked out."

She nodded. "Yeah. I was in the laundry fixing up my Artillery Gold-and-Blacks, hunched over a machine. I just wanted to make a couple of changes, but without my horn it wound up taking me all afternoon."

With a sigh, she looked Artemis over and tried to brighten herself up. "So, are you saying 'yes' to this dress?"

Artemis looked over her reflection once more. "I think so... I just wish my Puddin' was here to see before I decide."

"Yeah? He has vocal opinions on fashion?"

Artemis shook her head at the, admittedly, very pretty cream-and-gold mare in the pink dress in front of her. "No... Not really. I doubt he would say anything at all, actually." Turning to look down at her comrade, Artemis sentimentally lifted her eyebrows. "...But I'd just see the reaction on his face, and I'd know if he liked it or not."

Glamerspear softened her expression. "A colt of few words, huh?"

Artemis sighed again at her pretty reflection. "You don't know the half of it. My poor Puddin'... He isn't comfortable speaking in public at all. Sometimes he's not even comfortable speaking to me."

Turning around, she tried to focus her attention on the dress. But all she could see was the missing colt behind her.

"He's so gentle and so kind, but he really has trouble standing up for himself. Why, one time, the Shortcakes forgot to give him his pay at the end of the week -- just an innocent mistake, nothing deliberate -- and he couldn't bring himself to speak up about it, heading home empty-hoofed."

Artemis hopped in place to see the dress bounce. "It took me three days to get it out of him that he hadn't been paid. And then I had to come with him back to the farm, because he wasn't going to be able to ask for it without me there to support him."

The tulle and silk skirt floofed wonderfully as she pranced about. It would look beautiful when she danced around the Maypole.

Provided she had somepony to dance with.

"Communicating isn't his strong suit, even when it's just with me. But I can read him enough to know when something is wrong."

Glamerspear nodded sympathetically. "It sounds like you've got a real deep connection to him."

Artemis licked her lips.

‘Yes, this is the dress.’

"I do, but it takes a lot of work. And sometimes I think that I'm the only one who can understand him. I worry a bit about what happens when I'm not there to help."

Struggling to reconcile the vision of a happy future beside her coltfriend at the Gala with the troubles he could sometimes give her and the possibility that he'd turn the invite down, a tear escaped down the side of her cheek.

As she stood there, blinking to hold back the rest of them, Glamerspear quickly stepped up and tenderly wiped it off her cheek with a hoof. "Hey, hey hey... Look, I'm sorry if I upset you by forcing all this shopping on you."

Artemis shook her head. "No, the shopping didn't upset me. And you're right -- this is the dress, I'm certain of it."

Glamerspear smiled even as she dabbed at the pegasus’ cheek. "That's great. And we can call it a day now if you want to; we can find you some shoes, a fascinator, and a hoofbag some other time."

Artemis lifted up a forehoof, examining one of the cute little Mary Janes Glamerspear had managed to find her in matching pink. "I like the ones you found for me just now. Don't you?"

Lily nodded. "Sure, sure, I just -- if you didn't like them, I didn't want to drag you around any more today, that's all."

"No, I like them. Let's do it."

"Okay. And I'm sorry to get you upset like that. I've got just the idea for a cure, though..." Smiling, she stepped around in front of her and held her by the cheeks. “Usually, shopping is what I like to do when I'm feeling blue, but if that doesn't work, there's nothing like a good massage to take the stress off."

Artemis didn’t know what to think about that. She’d never even had one.

"A massage? You mean, like, at a spa?"

Lily smirked. "Yeah, Sparks, like at a spa. There's a nice little one, 'Spa Dalecarlia' not too far from here. How about it? My treat."

Artemis tried to smile back. "Okay. But let me pay for the dress and the shoes at least -- you can't buy me everything, Lily!"

Glamerspear nodded and then deliberately booped her snoot against hers, which made her giggle.

"Hey, I owe you for putting up with me, okay? And for being a good friend. But if you insist on paying for this, then I'll just have to treat you to a late lunch after the rub-down." Her face lit up and she looked off into the distance. "Oooh, or I know! Instead of just the regular service, I'll treat us to the 'deluxe' regimen!"

'Deluxe' regimen? That raised a few questions in Artemis' mind. She’d heard stories about Canterlot's spas, after all.

"What's involved in that?"

"The 'deluxe' regimen at Spa Dalecarlia? For a pegasus?"

Glamerspear smirked. “That'll be a back and four-leg massage, followed by..."

Dragging it out, she leaned forward and whispered seductively into her left ear.

"...a professional, deep, intense..."

‘Uh-oh…’

"... feather-preening."

‘Oh, my!’

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Suggested interlude music: Pharrell Williams - 'Happy'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbZSe6N_BXs

Next Chapter: Chapter 58 Estimated time remaining: 26 Hours, 36 Minutes