The Forsaken

Chapter 9 – Carousel Boutique

Anon

I spent the day recovering and was pleasantly surprised at how well Midnight had doted on me. I never had to ask for anything. He was the perfect boyfriend… or coltfriend in his case. I watched him as he moved throughout the day with his graceful actions of caring for me, but I could still see the reservedness that he held for me in the aftermath of his having lost control. It hurt me deeply to see how much pain he was trying to hide, and it was all I could do not to add to it. There was nothing I could do to make him feel better for the time being and I knew it.

The next morning came too fast, and Midnight teleported me to work, per the usual. Aloe seemed to smile a knowing smile as I waddled to my workstation, still a little sore from the weekend’s antics. I mock glared in Aloe’s direction.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Aloe’s giggle was light and gentle. “You don’t have to. All mares eventually find a stallionhood that’s a little too much for them. Do you need some oil rubbed on you?”

Aloe’s tone was a little suggestive and I smiled. “I’ll be fine, if only I can get through my day.”

Monday turned out to be on the lighter side of clients and I found myself leaving work a little early, having nothing to do. Midnight, early as always, was pleased to have arrived just in time. We walked together heading towards Rarity’s shop and I was dying to break the silence.

“So… I’d like to know more about you. Tell me your three greatest strengths and three greatest weaknesses.”

Midnight frowned in thought. “Hmm. My greatest strengths would have to be my ability to be decisive in difficult situations, my honesty, and my loyalty. My greatest weaknesses are the fact that I can be impulsive, I’m a little bit too playful at times, especially with pranks, and that I can lose control of my magic at times.”

I winced at his statement. “I think everyone is capable of losing control under the right or wrong circumstances so you shouldn’t beat yourself up over something that I’ve already forgiven you for. I also don’t understand how being too playful can be a weakness.”

Midnight snorted. “Okay. Let’s say that I decided to be impulsive and told everypony that we’re getting married, and you decided to play along with it. My playful side would push the narrative to the limits, even if other ponies were uncomfortable with it at first. If we decided to remain 'just lovers', the joke would be exposed, and we'd have a long laugh about it at everypony's expense. But… if it was accepted as fact… and everypony wished us well and a long happy life together, my loyalty and decisiveness would make me follow through with the commitment I made even if it started as a joke. At that point… I would have to hope that you were okay with it.”

I stilled, pausing in our walk. “Would you be willing to marry me?”

Midnight chewed on the inside of his mouth. “Yes. I would. After last weekend… I don’t see how I could not be willing. You accept me for all my flaws. I am a forsaken and broken pony and yet, you seem to love me. I fear that I’m a little too old for you… maybe I’m a little too wary and world wise, but I think I could love you in way that I haven’t loved in a long time…”

He paused and cleared his throat. “I suppose deciding to marry you would be both impulsive and decisive and yet… it feels so right, if only you would say yes to a proposal.”

We resumed walking, Midnight keeping pace with me. I cleared my throat. “I still don’t know how I ended up in this world and I fear that I’ll never be able to return home. If I accept my fate, marrying you would be a blessing. You are strong, wealthy, and seem to care for me. On the plus side… your stallionhood really gets me off… if only I can adjust to it. I am willing to marry you if you are bold enough to propose.”

Midnight seemed to blush, although it was hard to tell with his dark coat. We got to Carousel Boutique quickly enough and went inside. Rarity was working at her workstation.

“I’ll be with you in a moment, darling.”

Midnight cleared his throat. “We are in no hurry, take your time, my dear.”

Rarity’s sewing machine jammed up as she failed to move the fabric through with the proper timing, thrown off by Midnights reply. She jumped out of her seat.

“Lord Midnight! What an unexpected pleasure! How may I help you?”

Midnight gestured to me. “I’d like to introduce you to my marefriend, Lady Anon. She is a unique creature, and I can think of nopony better suited to the task of making her some custom clothing. She wants a few new sets of her normal human attire consisting of a shirt and pants. Additionally, she will need both a formal and informal dress for all four seasons, two general party gowns, one for day parties and one for night parties, a dress suitable for this year’s Summer Sun Celebration, a dress suitable for this year’s Grand Galloping Gala and, if you’re up to it, a wedding dress. The wedding dress I’d like to be extra special. I would expect your best white silk and lace with the whole thing accented with white diamonds.”

Rarity’s eyes got big. “My Lord! Congratulations! I’m more than up to the task. I have soooo many questions for both of you. Oh my… where to start? May I ask how you know she will be attending the Gala this year or when the wedding is? How fast do you need the project done? Is there a budget to consider?”

She looked rather pensive while looking back and forth at both of us. Midnight smiled a winning smile and tried to answer all of her questions.

“There is no budget and no real time limit. Obviously, we will need her Summer Sun Celebration dress before the Summer Sun Celebration in roughly 3 weeks. I am hoping to introduce Anon as my fiancée to the town of Ponyville during the party as kinda of a ‘Coming Out’ announcement. I’m always invited to the Gala given my noble status, although, sadly, I rarely attend. Anon will be my date to the Gala as my plus one this year. It is my hope to introduce Anon to the rest of the nobility during the Gala as well as announce my intentions to Princess Celestia. It is rare, although, not unheard of for a noble to marry a non-pony but I would like the Princesses’ blessing. As to the wedding itself… we haven’t set a date, but it will be after the Gala. Maybe… six months from now? We wanted the dress to be prefect. It may take some time and a few revisions since it’s not a traditional pony dress but I’m hoping you will take the job.”

Rarity nodded happily. “I would be delighted to take the job, darling. Now… let’s get Anon to the measuring station.”

Rarity pulled me to the podium and started measuring me, chatting away. I looked at Midnight with a small smile on my face. Our previous conversation played in my head.

So… is him buying me a wedding dress his way of proposing? I did say I would say yes… I almost don’t care if this is a joke… this is Midnight being Midnight and if it makes him feel better then I owe it to him to play along. I want him to forgive himself. I need him to forgive himself.

It took about an hour for Rarity to be satisfied with her measurements, going through all the materials with me and showing me various designs that she had perfected over the years to get my opinion about what I would like to wear in any given situation. She also examined my current ‘normal human attire’ closely and took notes on how to match it while making the 5 sets of requested ‘normal’ clothing. She took careful notes on my likes and dislikes on materials and styles, stamping her personal policy of nopony having to pay for something that they didn’t like on the work notes. Rarity looked happy with the challenge she was giving herself

“Now darling, I have no other clients at the moment so I should have all 12 dresses done by the end of the week and your 5 sets of normal clothing by the following week. The wedding dress will take a while longer since I need to get the diamonds to accent the gown, but I should have that done as well within the next 3 weeks. Is that okay, darling?”

I smiled at the mare. “Yes. That sounds fine. Take your time. I’m in no hurry for any of the dresses… the only one I have to have anytime soon is the one for the Summer Sun Celebration.”

Rarity nodded, fully understanding that I wanted prefect dresses, not something rushed. Rarity turned to Midnight. “Am I to understand that you will be paying for this order, darling?”

Midnight nodded. “Of course. How much is it going to be?”

I frowned at Rarity’s use of the word ‘darling’ while talking to my coltfriend, though, it sounded like she called everybody darling. Rarity ran some calculations on cost of the materials plus her normal mark up for labor. She bit her lip at the total.

“Um. It’s going to be about 10,000 bits for the 12 dresses plus the 5 sets of normal clothes. The wedding dress is going to be extra and separate. I won’t be able to give an accurate price estimate until I know if I have to buy the diamonds instead of using my special talent to find some myself. Is that okay, darling?”

It was a large amount of money, and it left a sour taste in my mouth. I had gotten myself and Midnight quite a few items and paid for quite a few meals over the last week so I had a fair grasp of how much stuff should cost in Ponyville. Over 500 bits per outfit? That was more than mall prices back home. I never, in my entire life, spent anywhere near that much money on clothing, no matter how special they may have been or for what occasion they had been for. I opened my mouth to protest the price when Midnight nodded and pulled out a boulder sized bag of bits out of a magical storage portal.

“10,000 bits, as requested. As Anon said, please take your time and do it right. I’m not going to pay extra for any mistakes made that costs you extra materials.”

Rarity stared at the bits for a long moment and then shook herself from the shock of seeing such a large payment all at once. “Of course, darling. I will be extra careful. I’ll send word when the first few dresses are done and ready to be picked up.”

Midnight nodded and smiled again. “Very well. We will leave you to your work.”

We left the shop together and I was simply speechless. We walked in silence for what seemed like forever. When we got back to Midnight’s estate, I finally worked up the nerve to speak.

“Are you sure?”

Midnight paused and then frowned. “Sure about what, my dear?”

I bit my lip. “Are you sure about marrying me… you laid out a very convincing plan on how it was supposed to work for both of us. Rarity certainly brought it… and I have no objections to any of it… but I really need to know if you are sure…”

Midnight nodded slowly. I looked at him closely, looking for a sign, anything really, that told me the whole truth. My breath caught when I saw a single tear roll down his cheek.

“I haven’t been this sure about anything since the first time I proposed. I’m hesitant... but I don’t think that you’ll break my heart like she did.”

I kissed him. “Never. My heart is yours, and yours is mine.”

They entered the manor together, content to snuggle the night away.