The Old Order

Rarity and Light walk through Ponyville, but try their best to keep a low profile. Also, Light was being very cautious. Rarity noticed that everypony they pass by seems to be uncomfortable. She then notices that Light's muzzle is fully concentrating on each pony that comes near them. Although his hood was covering his face, the tension was there. This made Rarity feel uncomfortable and they were getting attention that they tried to avoid.

"Umm...Light?"

"Yes Ms. Rarity?" Light answers without breaking concentration.

"Why are you staring down all these ponies?"

"For your safety, I am looking into the souls of each creature near us."

"I see. Light, I am...flattered about how serious you are about protecting my friends and I, but what you are doing is causing a lot of attention."

"It is?" Light breaks away to look at Rarity.

"Yes. You need to be a bit more calm darling. Just be normal."

"Ah, so I do not arouse suspicion to us I must be normal."

"Exactly!" Rarity says with excitement.

"Teach me."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Teach me how to be normal."

Confused, Rarity never thought she would hear anypony having a problem about being normal. (Well, being normal in their own way anyway).

"Well, being normal is not something you can teach. You just have to be yourself. What do you usually do in your free time?"

"My free time?"

"Yes, what do you usually do when you are not on...Angel duty?"

"I pray with my brothers and sisters and do my normal training routine."

"You mean you never had time to enjoy yourself? To spend time with friends, shows, or dine in a restaurant?"

"...When you swear an oath to the Lord's Army, you are trained to lose your emotions and interests in lively activities. It is so that the soldiers does not get distracted or stir away from the light."

Light stopped in his track after noticing Rarity fell behind. Rarity stood in silence; staring at Light with eyes of concern.

"You can't feel anything or explore the joys of life? Why would you swear such an oath and put yourself through so much."

Light stared at Rarity in silence. Rarity was expecting, or rather hoping, for an answer. Unfortunately, she would never receive it as Light turned away and continued walking towards her Boutique. Although Light did not show it, Rarity could not help but feel she offended Light in some way.

Quickly reverting back to reality, she shouts to Light, "Light wait! We are not going to my Boutique just yet."

Light stops to turn to look to Rarity with confusion, "I don't understand. I thought you wish to complete your orders."

"Oh I do, but I forgot to mention that we all agreed that we needed to get you...uh...cleaned up."

"Cleaned up?"

"Yes. You see, being covered in dirt and your white robe is too...Obvious!" Rarity exclaimed, glad to have found the right words to explain to Light. "Yes! Anypony who wish to harm us can surely tell who and what you are!"

"I see. Forgive me for being so careless."

"Oh no no no, not at all Darling."

"Where should I...clean up?"

"Why the Spa of course!"

"The Spa?"

***

As soon as Rarity and Light entered, Lotus Blossom and Aloe, the Spa Ponies, appeared to greet them.

"Hello Rarity! It is so good to see you again!" Lotus Blossom exclaimed.

"The usual?" Aloe asked.

"Oh how I wish, but today is going to be different."

Rarity points her hoof at Light. "Today, I need you two to give him the works."

"Oh I see," said Lotus, "Well not to worry. We will have him cleaned up in no time."

"I would like you two to cut his mane that fits him. Oh and please be sure to give him the normal spa treatment with a massage. Put it all on my tab."

"Cut my mane? A massage?" Light questioned. "Ms. Rarity, I find this all to be highly unnecessary."

"You want to get cleaned up? This is the best way to do it darling! Now, be good while I am gone!" Rarity said with glee.

"Gone!?! Where are you-?" Light was getting tugged away by Aloe and Lotus Blossom.

"Come on Mr. Light, you do not want to disappoint Ms. Rarity do you?"

Although Light was not comfortable with letting Rarity go wherever she pleased, he did not want to disappoint Rarity nor harm the Spa ponies. Using any magic of any sort, he felt it would cause too much attention. In the end, he was forced to succumb to whatever Aloe and Lotus had in store for him.

***

Rarity soon busts through the door of the Spa in a beautiful dress. It was not as colorful as most of her dresses, but the dark violet colored fabric with small sized gems can be easily compared with Princess Luna's night sky. Along with her, she brought in a suit.

"Yoo-hoo!" Rarity announced herself.

Lotus Blossom went to greet Rarity. "Hello Rarity. Oh my, what an amazing dress you are wearing."

"Thank you. How is my friend?"

"Oh he is so polite. He did not talk much, but he was constantly asking and worrying about you when you ran off. You are so lucky to have a boyfriend like him that cares for you."

Rarity blushed at Lotus' statement, "My w-w-what? Oh no no no darling, he is just my friend."

"Oh? I'm sorry. I just that since he was so handsome and concern-"

"Handsome?" Rarity interrupted.

"Ms. Rarity? You have finally returned. You should have never ran off like that. You could have been in great danger."

Rarity looks toward to where the voice was coming from. Light comes out of hiding from behind a 4-panel room divider. Rarity blushes at the sight of Light. Light was not wearing his normal white robe. He came out wearing nothing and his white coat is much cleaner than before. With his black mane cut, it was combed and much shorter. However, it seems the spa ponies saw it fit that he kept the look of having one of his eyes covered. The exposed eye has the iris color red, rather the complete white eye from before.

"Is something wrong Ms. Rarity? You are looking feverish."

Rarity quickly regains her composure and levitates the suit to Light.

"Quickly put this on. We are going out to eat tonight!"

"A show? What about your work?"

"Oh, I finished all that while you were getting cleaned up."

"Then should we not return to the Cas-"

"Out of the question!" Rarity interrupted, "You are going to have time to enjoy yourself darling."

Light looked at the suit with uncertainty.

"Look, if it makes you feel better, the show is taking place near the castle. I would just like a true night out before going back."

Light contemplates Rarity's idea, "Ms. Rarity, this goes against what I was taught."

"You are not abandoning your duties. You said you would protect me and my friends from danger. You will be accompanying me as an escort. If you happen to enjoy yourself then consider that a bonus."

With a moment to think, Light gives a soft sigh and looks to Rarity. "I am afraid I would not be the best company for you. However, I understand and will escort you to the show."

Rarity smiles to Light, "Well hurry and get dressed!"

"See Lotus! I told you they were dating!" shouted Aloe.

Rarity and Light looked towards Aloe. Rarity's blush grew while Light remained emotionless.

"A...date...?" Rarity thought to herself.

***

"Hinny on the Hills?" Light asked.

"It's a marvelous play. I went to see it with everypony during Fashion Week. It is also the time when I made a good friend, Coco Pommel."

Light and Rarity are walking through the streets of Canterlot; on their way to see Hinny on the Hills at a theatre near the castle.

"That must have been a very happy occasion."

"Oh it was. I got to see a play, made a new friend, and won the Fashion Week competition."

"If you have seen this play before, why would you want to see it again?"

"Because I enjoyed the play. Plus, I would like to share this experience with you."

For a moment, Light was silent , but responded, "Thank you Ms. Rarity. It is an honor to share this activity with you."

"W-well of course Darling."

Eventually, they made it to the theatre, purchased their tickets, and head inside. After finding their seats, Light noticed that Rarity seemed disappointed.

"Is something wrong Ms. Rarity?"

"Oh no. Well, it's just that this is not the best view of the play."

Where they were seated, they were farther in the rear of the theatre. If the actors and actresses were performing at that moment, they would seem like yearlings performing at a school play.

Rarity notices Light was examining the room. She began to feel annoyed at the fact that he was still on guard. Also, it annoyed her that he was making it so obvious.

"Wait here a moment." Light said to her before leaving. Rarity began to feel uneasy, believing that Light had found something to investigate.

A few minutes later, an usher approached Rarity. "Excuse me miss. You are sitting in the wrong seat."

"What? But I-," Rarity began to panic as she noticed that her ticket was somehow missing.

"Not to worry miss," said the usher, "your date has your ticket. He asked me to escort you to your correct seating. He said you might have gotten lost."

"My date? But he's not my-,"

"Please miss, the show will start soon. We need to get you to your seat before it begins."

Without hesitation, Rarity got out of her seat and followed the usher. Rarity followed the usher with caution; thinking that this might be a trap. She was escorted out into the lobby, but then directed to the upper floors. She soon walked down a dimly lit hallway with curtains on her left side. The usher then stops at the second to last pair of curtains. The usher opens the curtain for Rarity and she slowly peaked her head inside. She sees that she is on a balcony, on the second floor, looking down at the stage at a much closer view than before. There are four seats before her. One out of the three was occupied by Light. She bowed her head to the usher and sat in the seat next to Light.

"Light, where did you run off to? How did we get these seats?"

"I noticed that these seats were unoccupied. I checked with the front desk and she told me that these seats were not taken. I...made some adjustments with our tickets. I hope you did not mind that I borrowed yours."

"You mean...you bought these tickets for me...?" Rarity began to feel warm and her heart skips a beat. Although this was not suppose to be a date, Rarity could not resist the thought. She had always had this sort of dream with Prince Blueblood.

"Well...I did not...buy the tickets."

"What do you mean? Wait, did you steal the tickets?"

"No of course not. I...used an illusion spell on the tickets."

"An illusion spell? Let me see the tickets."

Light gives Rarity one of the tickets. Rarity notices that the seats shown on the tickets were the previous seats.

"Those are our original tickets, but to them they see the balcony's seats."

At first, Rarity was silent. Light began to grow ashamed as he realized what he did was dishonest.

"I am sorry Ms. Rarity, I will-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he began to hear small giggles. He looked at Rarity and sees her trying to control her laughter. Her giggles were suppressed and her eyes began to tear up.

"How could you laugh? What I did was dishonest. I thought you would be mad or disappointed."

Finally able to control herself, she wiped her tears of joy and looked to Light.

"Oh Light, yes it was dishonest, but it was so clever and funny. It has been a while since I laughed that much."

Rarity, then placed her hooves on Light's hoof. "Also, it was very sweet of you to do this for me. Usually I am the one who tries to do things for others. It is nice to have the tables turned for a change."

Rarity smiled and looked deep into Light's eyes. Slowly, her face began to draw near Light's.

"Ms. Rarity, is something on my face?"

Quickly, Rarity brought her hooves to herself and her mind began to scramble; trying to think of something to explain what in the name of Celestia she was doing.

"What was I thinking!?! Was I...Was I about to...kiss him!?! I can't be...I just can't be in love with...could I...?"

"W-w-well I was umm...just wondering...oh your eyes! Umm, how did you change your eye color to red? There was nothing before."

"Oh I see. Well, I changed my eyes since you and the Mane Six found my normal eyes to be discomforting. Why are you asking me this now?"

"Oh just curious." Rarity gave off a nervous chuckle. Under her breath she spoke, "...they suit you."

Soon, the lights dimmed and the play started with it's opening song. Although Rarity had better seats and a better view of the play, she would not be able to concentrate the rest of the night.