About two weeks later…

Pistachio walked into the famous Biltmare hotel in Canterlot with his parents close behind him. He’d stayed there a few times before when he’d gone to other events in Canterlot, but it’s breathtaking grandeur continued to leave him speechless each time.

The floors were made of warm redwood, with a few places that had ultra-soft black carpeting or white marble tiles. The ceiling was vaulted in a huge semi-circle that made Pistachio feel as if he were in the center of a giant, hollow marble. A beautiful golden chandelier showered anypony that walked in with blinding light. It had hanging candles that reflected the shimmer of hundreds of diamonds that were embedded in it’s design. And this was only the lobby! He knew from experience that the Biltmare’s suits were some of the most comfortable and well-furnished in Equestria.

Pistachio arrived at the front desk.

“Name and reservation time?” the mare at the front desk asked in a bored, monotone voice.

“Pistachio. I’m here for the Grand Galloping Gala,” he said. Normally, he would’ve been very excited to tell somepony that he was invited to the gala, but after two long weeks of his parents pestering him about what mare he was bringing as a date, The Grand Galloping Gala was sounding less and less appealing.

The front desk mare opened a drawer, pulled out a file labeled ‘P’, and searched through it. A moment later, she found what she was looking for. She immediately brightened.

“Of course! You’ll be staying in one of our executive suits,” she said. Wow. He’d never stayed at an executive suit. Perhaps everypony who’d been invited would get one? Did they have that many? He certainly didn’t know.

“What about my parents?” Pistachio asked. The mare looked confused.

“They’re staying as well?” she asked in surprise. It was quite common for him to hear questions like that. Even though he was sixteen, since he had his own business, most ponies assumed that he would be living by himself. Certainly nopony expected his parents to travel everywhere with him as if he were a foal, but they did. It hadn’t really bothered him before. He’d never had a problem with his parents going places with him because he knew that it made them happy. He’d always just assumed that if he ever really wanted them to let him do things by himself, they’d respect his wishes, but lately, Pistachio had started to wonder if that was true or not.

Pistachio’s parents looked comically offended at the mare’s question.

“We would never leave our baby alone in a strange city like this! Especially in an area with such a high crime rate,” his mother said, confirming his thoughts. The mare at the desk narrowed her eyes a bit.

“But this area has some of the lowest crime rates in a hundred mile radius. The average in Equestria is much higher,” the mare said. Her tone implied a mixture of superiority and confusion. His parents raised their chins.

“All the more reason to always stick with him,” his dad said. His mother nodded. Pistachio flushed with embarrassment. The mare looked from him to his parents, then back and forth again, a knowing and slightly annoyed look in her eye. Finally her eyes settled on Pistachio.

“Alright then,” she started, ending the previous subject. “Pistachio, your parents’ room will be right down the hall from yours. By the way, Rarity sends her personal compliments, and if you need anything at all during your stay here, just call the lobby, and I’ll personally see that you get what you need,” she said.

He didn’t want to sound ungrateful, but it was always so awkward when ponies talked to him like that. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he hadn’t done anything to deserve that kind of treatment. This mare didn’t even know him. He’d much rather her have treated him like she would have treated anypony else.

“Thank you,” he said politely. The mare gave him his room key, and he and his parents walked down a hall to their left towards the elevator. After the first few steps, his mother started ranting about the front desk mare. Pistachio mentally prayed that nopony could hear her...

“Ponies these days just have no idea what good parenting is!” Plaid Stripes heard somepony say to her left. She’d just walked into the Biltmare for her first time, and that was the first thing she heard. Not the greatest first impression. She didn’t know the context, but she certainly agreed with whoever had said that. Then she realized something. She recognized that voice from somewhere. A middle-aged mare with a slightly rustic accent. Where had she heard it before? She walked over towards the hallway to see who it was, but by then, the mare had already gotten into an elevator, and was out of sight.

She’d walked over by instinct, but she still hadn’t really looked around yet. Then she heard a small jingling sound from above, and looked up to see the most beautiful and ornate chandelier she’d ever seen. It was lit with dozens of candles, and decorated with hundreds of diamonds. It wasn’t something she’d want for herself. She wasn’t really into things that were so gaudy, but just the sight of it reminded her of where she was. She supposed that it hadn’t really sunk in yet. She’d been so focused on the fact that she was invited under false pretenses, that she’d somehow brushed off the fact that she was invited. This huge, grand, gorgeous hotel was for her to stay at, and even if her dad was going with her to the gala, at least she was still getting to go. Seeing the amazing golden ceiling with shining silver accents reminded her that just like with it’s design, her own situation also had a silver lining.

“Plaid! Stop gawking! It makes you look poor,” her father whisper-yelled at her, deflating her good mood. She rejoined her father, and together they walked up to the front desk.

“Name and reservation time?” asked the bored mare who was working. Plaid hesitated a bit.

“Um, I’m Plaid Stripes, and I’m pretty sure my reservation time is supposed to be at noon, but I’m here for The Grand Galloping Gala, so-”

“Darn it!” the mare said, interrupting her. Plaid was a bit taken aback. “I just put that folder away!” she continued, opening a drawer and taking out a folder with the letter, ‘P’ on it. The mare looked through it, and eventually found Plaid’s name. She read a bit further, then put the folder down on the desk and glared at Plaid and her father.

“You’ll be staying in our smallest suite. Unfortunately, all of our chefs, maids, and delivery specialists are out of town at the moment, so we won’t be able to provide most of our usual services,” the mare said without a hint of remorse. Trying to be inconspicuous so that her father wouldn’t notice, Plaid leaned over a bit to take a peek at the folder laying on the desk. She wasn’t the best at reading upside down, but she was pretty sure she read it correctly.

Plaid Stripes

Appearance: Orange coat, frizzy purple mane, most likely wearing spoon earrings.
Notes: Don’t waste too much effort on her or anypony that accompanies her. She received her invitation through blackmail. And don’t worry about her diminishing your fine reputation if she leaves a negative review. She doesn’t have much of a social standing.

Well that was depressing… And true. Luckily, her father didn’t think to look at the folder. Nor did he notice when she did. He stared down the desk mare intimidatingly.

“If my daughter doesn’t get the right treatment, I will not be happy,” he said menacingly. The mare merely blinked at him unapologetically.

“Apologies. Here is your room key,” she said, giving Plaid the key. And then they were off.

“Now I’m not trying to be rude, but why are you buying your clothes for the gala instead of making ‘em yourself? Haven’t you always wanted to do that?” Pistachio’s mother asked as she and Pistachio walked into Canterlot Carousel after settling in at the Biltmare.

“Well, seeing as it’s already two in the afternoon, and the gala starts at five tomorrow, I don’t really have the time,” he said. His mother glanced at him worriedly. She knew him well enough to know that he never turned a project down for a lack of time. He’d stayed up whole nights finishing things, and been perfectly energetic in the morning. He always told everypony that completing a design was just as energizing as sleeping. “Plus, the couture that’s already out at Canterlot Carousel will be recognized, and therefore will make a bigger statement. And I get a discount for being one of their designers, and discounts are totally on fleek right now,” he added. His mother nodded, accepting this explanation far better than the previous one.

Honestly though, discounts weren’t the reason at all. Neither were deadlines or recognition. He created designs out of inspiration. His designs were how Pistachio expressed himself, and at the moment, he just wasn’t feeling that great about self-expression. He could probably come up with something, but it would be extremely mediocre in comparison to his usual work, and he couldn’t afford to look mediocre at the Grand Galloping Gala.

Now that they were in the boutique, Pistachio scanned through the stallion section, which consisted of two small racks of suits. One of the racks was made entirely of his own designs, which were out of the question, seeing as he’d already worn them all at public events in the past. The stallion section seemed like a single drop of water in the chalice of mare’s clothes that was Canterlot Carousel. Well, at least it made the decision easier, he supposed.

As he walked into the stallion dressing room and tried the three suits he’d picked, he realized that he’d most definitely been wrong. It didn’t make it easier at all. All three of them were painfully boring.

Come on, he thought. It’s really not hard to make some decent clothes for stallions!

He found his favorite of the three. It was black with greenish blue pinstripes. Not exactly original, but at least it wasn’t monotone. He cringed internally at the word.

He looked at himself from all angles in the dressing room mirror, making absolute sure that there were no rips or stains, muttering to himself every time he saw a missed design opportunity.

Plaid stood in the middle of Canterlot Carousel. Her father had told her that she could look for a dress she liked, but he would have to approve it before he would let her wear it. That was much better than having to wear whatever ridiculous dress he picked out for her, so she should’ve been looking through the dozens of racks eagerly. But, she wasn’t.

Standing between two long racks of insanely expensive garments was more overwhelming than she would’ve thought. She had no idea where to start! Everything was so… Uptight. You’d think that in a huge boutique full of unique dresses, there would be at least one that was her style, but there definitely wasn’t. Though the design of each dress varied, the style was all the same. She didn’t want something that was elegant and understated or something rose red and sexy, or something that was unique like she would usually like, but was so impractical that she wouldn’t even be able to walk in it!

Despite this, she grabbed some of the dresses, picking the ones that she found more bearable. After all, anything she picked out herself would be better than something that her father forced on her. A few minutes later, her father found her. He immediately noticed the four or five dresses hanging over Plaid’s back.

“I see you found some things you like. Mind letting me take a closer look?” her father asked. He phrased it as if it were a question, but Plaid knew that he would have insisted if she’d refused. She held up the first one. He raised an eyebrow at the pink and blue polka-dotted dress.

“Too busy,” he complained. Plaid hung it up on a nearby rack before showing him the next one. He widened his eyes in horror at the monotone greenish yellow dress.

“Utterly nauseating,” he said. Plaid sighed, knowing that he would probably make an excuse for all of her choices. He did. After he was finished, he looked at her expectantly. Plaid rolled her eyes.

“So, what’s your suggestion?” she asked with fake curiosity. He smiled.

“I thought you’d never ask,” he said. He then showed Plaid the dress he’d been carrying over his back.

“Oh God,” Plaid muttered softly after getting a good look at it.

“So what do you think?” her father asked. What did she think? Ha! She doubted he actually wanted to know what she thought about the ridiculous thing.

The dress was floor length and sleeveless, and it had a slit along one of the back legs that was very… Suggestive. Although the outside of the dress was black, the inside of it was blood red, which only made the slit more obvious. And to top it all off, it was made of a heavy velvet material that looked like it would leave her drenched in sweat before the first dance was over.

“It’s definitely something,” Plaid responded vaguely. Her father gave her a satisfied smile.

“Why don’t you go try it on? It may seem perfect, but before we buy it, we should make sure it works with your… Unusual coloring.” Unusual coloring? Seriously? It was no secret that her father hated Plaid’s clashing color scheme of purple and orange with fuchsia eyes. In Plaid’s opinion, he shouldn’t have had a kid with a pink and orange mare if he was so worried about clashing.

“Okay, Dad,” she said. She started towards the dressing room on the opposite side of the store. She was so lost in thought that she almost walked into the stallion’s dressing room by mistake. Although, it would’ve been an understandable mistake. The dressing rooms for mares and stallions were right next to each other, and for some strange reason, the only indicator of which was which was a tiny symbol of a pony wearing a dress on the mare’s, and a tiny pony wearing a suit on the stallions. Plaid felt like the symbols were a bit dated, but she didn’t give it much thought.

She could hear muffled complaining from behind the door to the stallion’s room. Something about ‘it’s not that hard’, or something like that. A few feet away from the dressing room doors was a middle aged pony. Plaid didn’t want to stereotype, but she looked almost like a farmer. She seemed a little out of place in this high-society fashion boutique. But then again, so did Plaid. The strange thing was that Plaid recognized the mare from somewhere. She couldn’t pinpoint it, but she was sure she’d seen her somewhere.

The middle aged mare was distracted by a dress on a nearby rack, and walked away to look at it. Plaid’s dad hadn’t followed her to the dressing rooms, so Plaid was alone outside them. She took a moment to enjoy looking at the poofy boa around her neck before she inevitably walked into the dressing room, closed the door, and tried on the black and red dress. Even as she changed clothes though, she didn’t take off her spoon earrings. She knew they didn’t match, but she couldn’t have cared less. Perhaps she’d take them off at the gala, but for now, she would wear them as much as she liked.

Author's Note

Hi guys! Thanks for coming back for the second chapter!

Wow! It took me a while to get this chapter finished! I hit a little bit of writer's block halfway through, and wrote this oneshot to get over it. It's a comedy that touches on the difference between not believing in people's religion vs outright disrespecting them.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, be sure to leave a thumbs up, comment with your thoughts, and stay tuned for future chapters!