Chapter 11: Nocturne in Ponyville

Carousel Boutique prided itself on excellent customer service, unique fashion services, and efficient delivery and stock.
Two years ago when Rarity returned to Ponyville under not so good circumstances, her roommates joined her, forgoing any extra education at the University to help her with the business and Titanium Rose.

Of course a Diamond Dog and a Zebra being the new residents caused quite a stir among the ponyfolk of Ponyville and Mayor Mare herself after receiving several complaints from some of the 'upstanding' citizens, went to interview them herself. She had been shocked at how apologetic they were at not getting their citizenship once they arrived and had seen how they interacted with Rarity and her foal. The obvious care the trio showed one another and knowledge the two brought to Ponyville convinced her to let them stay and she held a meeting telling the shop owners the same thing.

Paris established herself as a jewelry maker among the trio, also specializing in saddlebags and accessories, occasionally going with Rarity or on her own to gather jewels for different orders. She was also the delivery girl, going out of Ponyville to the nearest towns with packages and come back with ingredients the other two needed.

Ash dabbled in potions, hats, and scarves, she knew over a hundred different ways to color her current project and her knowledge on hats was only surpassed by the true professionals in the field.

Rarity of course had her special gem finding spell and unique fashion sense she used to create dresses and other outfits, collaborating with the other two when necessary but most of the time they each had their separate areas that they did.

Of course with the Grand Galloping Gala and the Night wing Festival coming up, orders were coming in quickly and being the only Boutique in Ponyville had quite a few ponies getting over their initial wariness towards the non-pony workers in order to get their work done.

"Ooh, I hope that seashell order comes in soon, its been weeks since the last one and I'm almost out," Rarity stared at the shelf where she kept the seashells in dismay, stopping at the sound of a coo and a smile appeared on her face as she went over to a playpen where her son was playing with his claw and hoof-sown dolls.

"Hey Titanium, Mommy's going to the Grand Galloping Gala sweetie, and she's going to make her own dress that will knock the socks off of those stuck up elite," he giggled at the face she made and she nuzzled him with affection before going back to her design and preparing the ponykin for her dress.

Downstairs Ash looked up at the sound of the door and smiled upon recognizing Applejack and Twilight,
"Hey you two, what do you need?" the purple unicorn showed her a dress,

"I just need Rarity to fix this button for me, its my Gala dress," she stated, Ash eyed the outfit with a raised eyebrow.

"I see, are you also here to place your order for the Nightwing Festival," Twilight looked puzzled.

"What do you mean?" the zebra sighed, glancing at Applejack.

"Your brother did this the last two years, you realize you have to do the same," the farmer's eyes widened.

"Ooh that, huh, didn't realize I had to do it, I've always seen him put it together himself," Ash nodded,

"Yes, generally you are supposed to design them yourself, but you also have to take into account the rules and regulations that go with it, and you have to order the supplies from an established boutique or clothing store. There are also rules against using your magic, after last years incident they have become very strict on what you are supposed to do in creating your wings. So, are there any jewels or gems you need to order, or do you just want to choose the wire outline of your wings? They each come with a function that let's you open and close your wings so that you don't have to worry about bumping into anything with them. You can choose between pegasus, dragon, nocturne, and some ponies even chose griffin or fairy wings," Twilight hummed, Applejack looking a bit overwhelmed,

"Well, I'm sure Spike would want the dragon kind and in a show of solidarity I'll do the same, and well, I don't know about gems, do you have something that resembles scales or anything?" Ash took out some forms.

"Here are forms you can fill out with information on ingredients, and while they might be in the shape of the kind you chose, you are welcome to using material not normally found on wings, someone used streamers last year," the two took the forms with them upstairs, leaving Ash to return to her work.

Paris was on a delivery run and would be coming back with the new wire sets that they needed to make for the ponies needing them. The two already had their own wings designed and set off to the side, and they planned on making sure Rarity had time to make hers,

"Oh, I should probably mention that the events being held at the Festival were announced," with a shrug she finished the hat she had been working on and glancing at the clock, decided to leave a note for Rarity before leaving, she had time to deliver before her lunch break ended.

On the other side of Ponyville, two females, a griffin and a pegasus, stared at the lump on their couch, the pale green hair peeking out from the blanket a reminder of who it was.

"How long has she been like this?" Gabby asked Trade Wind, staring at the lump on their couch, green hairs sticking out from beneath a comforter.

"Too long," was her response as she approached the unicorn, stared down at her with soft eyes, and ripped the blanket off, causing the musician to fall to the ground with an oomph.

"Ow! Trade Wind!" Lyra glared at her, the deep bags under her eyes a testament to the sleepless nights she had been experiencing,

"We're getting our dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala, come on, our personal designer will be here any moment," any irritation disappeared at that sentence.

"Crescent Spiral is coming here?" Lyra looked herself over and dove into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

"That took care of that," the sole pegasus of the cottage stated satisfied, her griffin friend looked bemused,

"That's all it took?" the question made Trade shrug,

"Last time Lyra went to Crescent Spiral for a fitting and not in the perfect health, let's just say the Nocturne was very thorough in driving the point home, I've already booked a spa appointment where Crescent will be meeting us. Oh! They are supposed to be coming out with the scheduled events for the Festival soon, are you and Zephyr teaming up again?" a depressed aura suddenly appeared in the room and she looked at the usually bubbly griffin startled, "Uh Gabby, did something happen?" the griffin sniffed,

"No, nothing just some creative differences is all," Trade grimaced,

"Oh, one of those, was it for the castle or one of your guy's side projects?" Gabby scuffed at the floor with her claw and looked sheepish at the scratch mark she left and the look on her roommate's face,

"It was for one of the greenhouses you wanted done, Zephyr got into one of his idea sessions and I had to remind him that we had a budget and it shouldn't be too extravagant. He said it was a castle for a princess and a budget shouldn't matter, we could always dip into our private fund, and you know I had to stop him there," Trade sighed, no matter how mature Zephyr had gotten, there were still parts of him that remained of the spoiled colt he had been.

"I know what you mean, but that shouldn't have been a fight to begin with, Big Mac is in charge of the accounts and has the authority to say no to Zephyr. If we use outside funds for a budget Princess Celestia herself set, that is going to lead to questions about what we've been spending the money on." Gabby sighed,

"I know, I tried to bring that up with him," later as they were in the spa, Lyra listened to what happened and frowned,

"Is everyone of us having a bad week? First I ended my friendship with Bon Bon because of her prejudiced attitude, Trade Wind is still festering from whatever argument she had with Garble," she ignored the glacial glare, glad they were in the hot tub or she would have frozen over, "And now Gabby got into an argument with her boyfriend," the griffin turned red and sunk beneath the water, muttering about how they weren't that way.

"Ok first of all, Gabby its obvious about the two of you, secondly Lyra, there was no argument between me and Garble, and thirdly, I know ending a friendship is hard, but technically she was like that from the beginning and some friends do have to overlook prejudices," Lyra scoffed,

"She got Gabby mad enough to tackle her to the ground!" she protested, the griffin sinking even deeper into the water.

"Well if it got the gentlest griffin around to lose her temper, I'd say it was well deserved," a familiar voice stated, Lyra eeped and dunked beneath the water, double checking her coat. A bemused Nocturne stared at the bubbles on the surface for a moment before raising an eyebrow at Trade Wind, "Something I said?" the pegasus laughed,

"Just making sure she's perfect for the fitting," the Nocturne ahhed and shrugged,

"We still have time to get everything else done," she eyed Trade's mane, "And someone's hair," the blue mare sighed,

"Saw that coming," a visit did not go by without Crescent Spiral getting after her for not taking care of her hair properly. She didn't see the point of using both shampoo and conditioner each time and she liked having her hair short to decrease the amount of time she needed to look after it each morning.

They returned to the cabin once their spa appointment was done to see boxes in front and a note at the top which Trade read,

"Ash delivered our hats and scarves we requested for the Nightwing Festival, and she also forwarded the packet detailing all the events they are going to be having," her eyes lit up with excitement, Trade quickly brought the boxes inside and while Gabby and Lyra had their fitting for the dresses, she was looking over her own packet. To save time the mail ponies delivered all of the necessary packets to the Boutique and Ash and Paris were in charge of handing them out to the necessary beings.

"They are doing a cart race, and Gabby they are having a glass blowing contest," surprisingly it was a popular art among the dragons, since their fire kind of helped in that kind of instance. Gabby, not being a dragon had to rely on equipment to produce her fire, but she was talented in the art of glass and pottery and had a head for making unique items that relaxed the ones who buy them.

"Goody!" Gabby sounded delighted before a squeak escaped at the punishing prick from Crescent for moving, Lyra was off to the side eyeing the packets with a pout on her lips.

"I still wish I could go," she sighed, before shrinking under their combined stares, "Alright alright! I know, my wings were beautiful," she muttered this part to herself, adding out loud, "At least we can spend time together at the Gala, I'm so glad you decided to come after all Trade," the pegasus set down her packet,

"I promised Princess Celestia that I would come to the castle and provide her sister company," Crescent paused and turned to stare at Trade Wind.

"You have permission to see Princess Luna?" she asked in a near whisper, eyes wide, Trade shrugged,

"You are free to come with me, I'm sure she wouldn't min-" she was bowled over by an enthusiastic Nocturne.

"That would be great! I have a lot of questions for the Night Princess and I know she's coming to the Night Wing Festival but I never thought I would be able to meet her myself! This means I absolutely have to get the best supplies for my dress to impress her, and for yours as well," she gasped in horror, "I still need to make my delivery to Rarity! I'll be right back," she zipped out, the rest of the occupants staring after her,

"You mentioned Princess Luna on purpose to prolong your fitting," Lyra accused Trade who picked her packet back up.

"Do you have proof?" the statement made Lyra's eye twitch as her horn glowed and the measuring tape flew around Trade Wind who froze as she was lifted into the air, glaring at her unicorn friend, "Put me down Lyra Heartstrings," the musician smirked.

"I think not, let's get you fitted," Trade eyed the measuring tapes with trepidation as they zoomed in, not at all enthused about what was about to happen.

When Crescent returned, it was to see Trade rubbing her throat and drinking cold water with Gabby scolding a sheepish Lyra in the corner,

"Do I want to know?" the silence made her groan, "'Well never mind then, would anyone like to tell me what's up with the so-called Mane Six? I went there to see Rarity and saw the rest of the Mane 6 making corrections to dresses that by all rights did not need any. I don't suppose you can go see what's going on Trade?" the pegasus blinked several times,

"Hold on, since when is it my duty to check on those six?" she asked bewildered, but somehow found herself in front of Carousel Boutique, "Seriously Lyra? She has way too much fun with that teleportation spell," she grumbled to herself, opening the door and giving a greeting to Ash who was watching Titanium before heading up the stairs.

She opened the door, took one look at the dresses that had been 'corrected' by the five with a miserable Rarity on the side and sighed as she overheard Spike's announcement about Hoity Toity seeing the dresses.

"Spike, go to Hoity Toity and tell him that the fashion show is cancelled, because they are not going out in these dresses," she stated bluntly, the five staring at her in shock while Rarity looked torn between relieved and worried.

"Now hold on a minute! What's wrong with these here dresses, they are perfect!" Applejack objected and Trade gave her a deadpan look.

"For Nightmare Night maybe, but to the Grand Galloping Gala? I'm not going to let you damage Rarity's reputation with dresses you lot thought were 'cool' or 'perfect'. Fluttershy, can you honestly tell me you would actually wear a nest in your mane to one of the largest social gatherings of the year?" the yellow pegasus took another look at her dress and a blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Saying that it would damage Rarity's reputation is a bit much," Twilight said hesitantly, Trade sighed.

"How about putting on both dresses Rarity made you and see which one actually looks nice," they all went into the changing rooms and Rarity approached her,

"Thanks darling-" Trade cut her off,

"Rarity, its sweet of you to think of the whole 'customer is always right thing', but there is also the whole thinking ahead and others asking where they got their dresses from and getting the wrong idea. Plus there is also the fact none of these ponies do what you do for a living," Rarity laughed,

"There you go again, you were always scolding us with a reasonable argument back in University, I know I should not let them get away with that kind of thing and if I had let them go to the Gala or Celestia forbid do that fashion show with Hoity Toity himself seeing," she shuddered,

"Glad I could help, now you can finish your own dress, and maybe design your 'wings'?" Rarity's eyes widened,

"I completely forgot about that! And the packets are here as well, I need to reserve my spot for the pepper bat reveal and pick a seat for the flying show! And our fashionista group is doing our own parade," she started hyperventilating and Trade saw a familiar red coat outside the door,

"Hey Big Mac, are you here for your order?" Rarity stiffened in the corner of her eye as the Earth stallion came in,

"Eeyup," he responded catching Rarity's eye, the two staring at one another before realizing what they were doing and looking away,

"Well thanks for your help darling, Crescent Spiral made her delivery yesterday and Ash informed me that you already received your outfit for the Festival, I'll probably end up visiting you or Fluttershy while I'm doing my wings, make them look authentic and all," Trade waved goodbye and left, shaking her head as she exited the Boutique.

'Why do I find myself involved in these types of situations, and why is it everypony else seems to think I have the solutions to the issue?' she really hoped Twilight still learned the lessons she needed to, but its not like she could say no either. Maybe she should at least minimize damage at the Gala without ruining Princess Celestia's fun? No, she was pretty sure the Alicorn planned on sneaking off to Donut Joe's no matter the outcome, or end up challenging Luna in the arena, the two have been doing it several times together in their 'citizen' disguises. Frankly Trade thought they should build an arena for Alicorns, or at least a level for them to make it more fun for the three Alicorn princesses in existence (Cadance looked really tempted to fly with them during one of their briefing sessions.)

'Better get back to work though' there was still a lot of work to be done on the castle after all.