Rarity walked out of the hotel in pursuit of the parlor she sought to visit. She waved back to the bellhop who took her bags to her room a few floors up. She looked around at the marvelous streets and thought back to all the memories she had made here. Visiting Celestia and Luna, attending weddings, fighting Changeling invaders, and even attending her friend’s coronation, she thought to herself that while she was born in Ponyville, she is truly a Canterlot pony at heart.

“Excuse me,” she asked a stallion, coated dark blue with a brighter blue mane, “do you know the way to Griff ‘N Groom?”

“Griff ‘N Groom is that-a-way, miss,” he said, pointing a hoof towards a long line before looking at it himself. He chuckled, “Good luck getting in before sundown.”

Rarity’s jaw hit the floor; she never expected this place to be so popular. She realized that stallion was right, there’s no way she’d be able to get a reservation in. Still, she wasn’t going to give up. Rarity was determined to soothe her aches if it meant worsening them by standing around for hours. The line moved about every minute, so it wasn’t going to take as long as she had feared. Still, she felt the need to ask around to understand the way the place works.

She turned to a male pegasus behind her, this time with a grey coat, a brown mane, and a Cutie Mark of what appeared to be three toy UFOs on his flank, dangled by strings. “Have you been here before?”

“Well,” the pegasus began, “there’s three ‘stations’ if you will, with room for two customers each. This place is only run by three people, so they can only accept two customers at a time. However, I do hear their services are top-notch, especially the masseuse.”

A massage, and a top-notch one at best. That’s just what she needed. She thanked the pony behind her as she went back to her space in line. However, having misjudged the size of the person in front of her, she walked right into his backside.

The person before her was not a pony, but rather a griffon. Not only that, but he wasn’t just any ordinary griffon.

“Miss…Rarity was it?”

“I’m sorry, I’ll make sure it never happens again-“ She frantically apologized, before getting a good look at who she’d run into. “Wait, a second, aren’t you Gustave le Grand, the pastry chef?”

Gustave stood up with gusto, and put one talon on his chest. “Zat is correct!” he began, “I am indeed, Gustave le Grand!”

“Quiet, you!” some mare a few spaces ahead yelled.

“Excusez-moi.” Gustave stood down.

Rarity was quite surprised to see him again, especially after their first encounter on the train. It was quite a madness of marzipan, but both of them, deep down in their hearts, admit that it was a fun adventure.

“What are you here for? I mean, you already look quite dignified, so I assume you’re keeping yourself prim and proper with this place?”

“Not entirely so,” the baker remarked, “but I do enjoy coming here on account that I have a friend within ze establishment! Mi amie is the masseuse who works there!”

Gustave hatched an idea. “I can take you there in no time! My status and your status will have the ponies of Canterlot stepping aside to let us in!”

“But I don’t suppose that’s fair, Mr. le Grand,” Rarity retorted, “exploiting my status for my own needs.”

Suddenly, a voice from behind called out to them. “Hey, you two are next in line! Move it!” Rarity and Gustave looked ahead to find a wide, empty space in front of them. It didn’t seem like much time, but their encounter and catching up actually held the line back.

Rarity nervously chuckled and waved to the ponies behind her, but not long before Gustave hoisted her onto his back. “Come on, mademoiselle! Let’s not keep mi amie waiting!” He flew Rarity towards the front door, and let her off his back when they had reached the door.

Gustave and Rarity were welcomed at the door by two smiling griffons, who acted and greeted her very flashily. One of them was a male, tall and slim, who sported a sky blue coat of fur adorned with white head feathers and wings, and a pastel yellow beak. The other was short, a bit plump, and female, who was adorned with orange fur and, much like the tall one, white head feathers and wings as well, only her beak was a deep grey.

“Welcome,” began the tall one, followed by the short one, “to Griff ‘n Groom!”

“I’m Donnie,” the tall one said, “and I’m in charge of hair-styling if you’re looking for that!”

“And I’m Primrose,” said the short one, “and I specialize in make-up and hooficures!”

“So what’ll it be,” Donnie asked, followed by Primrose, “make-up of hooficures?”

Gustave fixed his neckerchief and spoke. “Appointment for two massages, please!”

Donnie and Primrose looked at each other with uneasy smiles. Foiled again by their third member’s popularity, it seemed. “Right,” Donnie began, “just walk behind us to the massage station.”

“Did someone say massages,” a third voice began. Rarity and Gustave looked behind the two griffons before then as a third one stepped forward. The third one was of average height, about the same size as Gustave, and sported almost burgundy fur adorned with brick red wings and a golden yellow beak and talons. His sky blue eyes and yellow-tipped head feathers perked when he saw his friend. “Gus!”

“Thomas, mi amie!” Gustave walked forward, giving his friend a welcoming hug. “I’ve come again for your stellar services, and I’ve brought a customer along who is also interested!”

Thomas’ eyes sparkled with wonder. “Oh wow, you’re Rarity, aren’t you? I’ve seen some of your designs in magazines! It’s such a pleasure to meet you.” He excitedly shook Rarity’s hoof.

“You’ve got quite a grip,” Rarity said, shaking her hoof a bit. “Anyway, are the massage spots free?”

“Just about,” Thomas said, finishing up his job. He rubbed his talons on the shoulder blades of a snow-white stallion clad with a navy blue mane, as well as who appeared to be a bright pink alicorn beside him. Rarity took a peek and realized that they were none other than Princess Cadence and her husband and Twilight’s brother, Shining Armor.

“And, done!” Thomas said. “How are you feeling, prince?”

Shining Armor stretched his legs a bit, his body felt great. “I feel amazing; your hands are truly magic!”

“Thank you again, mister,” Cadence replied, as the husband and wife walked out. Rarity couldn’t help but noticed they didn’t pay Thomas up front, but rather dropped a few bits into a jar that rested next to a podium. It was clearly a tip jar.

Rarity thought long and hard about why they did not pay for their massage, but before long, Gustave was hoisting Rarity up to the massage table. “You like to think a lot, don’t you, mademoiselle? But for now, relax, and enjoy what my friend has to offer.”

“You’ve got such a way with words, Gus,” Thomas remarked, beginning with Gustave’s back. Rarity always wondered if, being part feline, griffons purred when they were happy. In mere seconds, her questions were answered when she heard Gustave purring very audibly. If one weren’t directly looking at the situation, they’d probably think someone was starting a lawnmower in the distance.

Thomas stepped aside and put his talons to work on Rarity’s lower back. With a few simple motions, she could feel the aches and pains that plagued her for almost an entire week drifting away, as she relaxed comfortably almost falling asleep right on the table! She felt Thomas stop, as he went back to soothe Gustave’s wings, and that’s when she realized just how the whole place worked. The three birds always alternated, she noticed, as she saw Donnie styling one pony’s mane and switching to clipping another’s, and she watched as Primrose did one person’s eyeliner and preened another pegasus’ wings clean. These three were very good at multitasking; no wonder why they were so popular!

When it came time to finish, Thomas let them off their tables. “Have a good day, you two!” He said with a smile, as Gustave waved and began to walk off. Rarity, however, turned around and looked at him.

“What do I owe you?”

“Owe?” Thomas tilted his head in confusion. “Oh, you don’t know, do you?”

“Are you services…free?”

Thomas nodded. “I gotta take care of some more customers before we close for the night. We’ll talk later, yes?”

“I assume, thank you,” Rarity said, trotting off.

Author's Note

For the first paragraph, I kind of wanted to go for something along the lines of “list a few moments from the show Rarity witnessed in Canterlot, and I thought it would be funny to throw in an exciting task among mundane ones. Another thing that almost was scrapped was Rarity refusing Gustave’s offer to use their respective fame to cut the line. I was about to write Rarity giving a big yes to that, but then I realized as the Element of Generosity, that’d be pretty selfish of her, wouldn’t it?

Gustave and Thomas being friends also comes from a few chats I used to have with a friend of mine. We were thinking of some interesting ideas on how the two could’ve met, and mine was that Thomas’s father was big into cooking and baking (sort of like my real life father) and once saw a cooking program hosted by the patriarch of the Le Grand bloodline. Maybe when Thomas travelled to Canterlot for the first time, he met a younger Gustave! Or maybe that’s a story for another time.

And then there were Donnie and Primrose! They were very fun characters to write for. Their color scheme, genders, and body types were actually inspired by ATLAS and P-Body from Portal 2, only P-Body is the tall one and ATLAS is the round one. Their name also comes from the term “prima donna”.