Books are More Than Just Their Covers
It was quiet.
She liked that.
How nearly silent it was... only the light sounds of her hooves clacking gently on the tiled floor, with the soft whistling of wind whipping against walls outside and the faint clik-cliking of hangers as she traced the tip of her hoof across their edges, admiring the clothing that were so carefully hung from them.
Those articles of clothing were her pride and joy, her masterworks, her career splayed at its finest, with every silky ribbon and lacy patch shimmering faint traces of light from the light moonlight striking them through the large windows near the entrance to the building. That building, which had served as her place of residence for most of her life, and had now became the place to work on her ultimate passion and display that art to any creature that may enter and even possibly wish to purchase and wear her lovely creations for all to view...
Well, maybe not all of the creatures these days...
Rarity’s beady crimson eyes traced across her expansive library of lace and latex, recalling in her mind how just a few short years ago she had served only clothing for the upper class to brandish amongst their peers in large galas and balls up in their penthouses, yachts, theatres, and whatever place they may wish to ‘entertain’ themselves with their talks, always polished so utterly that any substance or emotion had been leeched out of them...
Her tongue slid over her fangs at that word... at the thought of leeching...
Shaking her head, Rarity knew very well what other creatures thought of her and her kind; how they disparaged and feared her bat-like features and nocturnal nature, ignoring what she actually did with her time and leaving her art to fray and gather dust for weeks on end.
All of that ignorance, and the atypical hours she was open, had kept so many from her establishment that it had let her work trend in the more private direction, made less to serve the elites and more to make the nights as memorable as possible, whether that be with lovely love-making or a depraved session of domination and rutting.
She could already feel those oh-so-familiar sensations begin to flow through her, and decided to let her wings flare outward proudly as she continued trotting around her boutique in all her unclothed glory...
However, any such parading that Rarity may have wished to do was swiftly cut off when her fuzzy perked ears managed to pick up on the faintest of wing-beats from outside, and she turned her gaze to the windows to see a figure floating down from the sky amidst the minimal light that suffused the town, and landing just in front of her store. She could tell that the creature was bipedal from its silhouette and gait as it walked up towards her shop’s door and stood before it for a moment, likely observing the ‘OPEN’ sign hung on the inside of the right window. Turning her eyes back towards her myriad clothing racks and folding her wings back at her sides to look less creepy than she’d already be, Rarity let the creature push past their reservations and pull open the door to her shop so that they may enter.
“Welcome,” She addressed her visitor calmly as she looked back towards them, managing to make out the teal hue of their body and the sharp claws they hand on both upper and lower limbs.
“Uh, hi,” They said in a somewhat brusque voice, though it was still certainly a female’s, and their own golden eyes could just barely be seen looking back at Rarity with some hesitance and confusion.
“I apologize for the darkness, darling,” Rarity said to her visitor as she trotted slowly over to the center of the wall at the back of the main room, where a switch connected to a lamp above lay, “It is my preferred working environment. Allow me to light things up a bit for you...” Flicking the switch, the lamp slowly waked and let light trickle out of it to smoothly push away some of the darkness, though only enough to make the entire room visible while still keeping the pleasant dimness and vague shadows that she loved.
Now with more visibility, Rarity could easily tell her visitor was a Dragon, with her light teal scales and electric-golden spines that formed a sparse and messy sort of mohawk, along with the generally sharp angles and strong curves of her form that made her somewhat intimidating. She also had a black satchel that previously went unnoticed amidst the darkness, with a main strap that went up over her opposite shoulder to hold it up, numerous pins and spikes poked into it in a messy and punkish manner.
Closing the door behind her, the Dragoness looked around the room and scoffed humorously, rolling her eyes as she seemed to notice all the stuff that was on display, and grinned slightly as she asked of the other creature, “Still pretty dark, huh?”
Rarity chose only to respond with a simple smile, though didn’t let the moment sit too long before getting down to business. Shaking her head to clear it away, she walked closer to her visitor and asked of her, “So, what are you here for, Darling?”
Her visitor’s grin faded and she begun to look rather pensive, but moved with little hesitance to open her satchel and say, “Well, I kind of need something pretty specific...” Reaching a claw into her bag, she pulled out a high-quality garment made of blue and yellow fabric, and used both of her claws to lift it up before her and hold its top corners, revealing it to be an oddly familiar skin-tight outfit that reached up one’s neck while not quite going down far enough to cover any of the hips, with a pair of gaps on the back and quite a few small tears and creases strewn all over it.
“Oh, that’s for the Wonderbolts, correct?” Rarity asked as she recalled having a flighty friend of hers wearing a similar piece of clothing, though without the lacerations.
“The cadets, yeah,” The Dragon replied, sounding somewhat proud, but also a bit scornful. “This thing ain’t made for Dragons, and I keep accidentally tearing it...”
Trotting forward a bit more, Rarity stopped before the presented suit and looked at it more closely, letting her notice the odd stretch marks on its joints. “Turn that around for me,” She requested of her customer, and the Dragon flipped it around so that its back was exposed to Rarity, who could then see the wing-slits and the slight nips all over their edges. Figuring the issue was due to the bipedal nature and larger wings of the Dragon, she pulled back and turned her attention to said Dragon again and asked of her, “I’d imagine this is rather tight around your shoulders and you have trouble fitting your wings inside, yes?”
Her customer nodded and used her claws to quickly fold the uniform back up and put it back in her bag, replying, “Yeah, actually. I’m gonna need a version of this that actually fits my form better.”
Rarity tilted her head in light surprise due to how the other creature seemed to brush off both her ability to tell what was wrong and what was needed to fix it, responding with, “Well, yes. How-”
“I’ve seen somecreature else about this, and they said the same thing,” The Dragoness quickly replied to quell any confusion, but it was only for a moment as she followed up, “Also, I’m gonna need the thing to be made of a sturdier fabric and look practically identical to the one I got right now.”
While Rarity clearly understood the former request due to the Dragon’s hard scales and sharp claws, she blinked in bewilderment and asked at the second, “Er, if you don’t mind my asking, why exactly must they look the same..?”
Sighing in a level of irritation, though one mostly directed away from the shop owner, her customer replied, “Well, there’s some legal bullshit about how the ‘official’ suits are supposedly stronger and safer or whatever, and the captain keeps fuckin’ noticing the ones the other gal made for me were different...”
“Uh-” Rarity sputtered as she got blindsided by how casual those swear words got thrown out, and she needed a moment to get past that and a few extra to process the rest of what was said. Still feeling somewhat confused about the odd need for similarity, she asked hesitantly, “Was... was the other creature unable to make them as indistinguishable with the official suits as you needed, and that’s why you came to me?”
Inhaling to think for a moment, the Dragon replied with some uncertainty, “I mean, not really? They did suggest going to you for a better job, but it was more due to her being a crystal pony and accidentally infusing her magic into her work.”
“I...” Feeling a sense of odd familiarity about that specific character, Rarity took a couple moments to recall who her customer must’ve been talking about, and replied, “Oh! You mean Coco Pommel, correct?” Getting a nod in response, she added, “Well, I’m glad she’s been able to keep up with her work.
“Regardless,” Rarity continued as she turned around to head back towards the door to her work room, “Come with me, I’ll need to get your measurements to make a new suit.”
“Yeah, sure,” She heard the Dragon reply, with her steps trailing the shopkeeper as they trotted towards the door for a few otherwise silent seconds.
Quickly opening it and deciding some more information was necessary, Rarity asked of her customer, “What’s your name, Darling?”
“Lightning Dust,” The Dragoness replied while following Rarity into the work room, which was as dark as the main one was previously, and spotted the switch next to the door and flicked it, letting the same dim light slowly cascade over the room.
“Charmed, and you may call me Rarity,” Rarity called back, “Oh, and close the door for me and put your bag over there, will you?” She requested of Dust, feeling how familiar the name was while she gestured toward a set of hooks on a wall near the door, and led her customer towards the small stage in the center of the room that she used for measurements. “Go ahead and stand up there, and I’ll be with you in a moment,” She added while gesturing to the stage, and went over towards her work desk as she tried to think of where she had heard it before.
Arriving at her desk and quickly opening up one of the drawers on it, she managed to recall how Rainbow Dash had spoken of a ‘Lightning Dust’ before, and had described them as ‘super-awesome’, which she only really attributed to things that were incredibly destructive...
Grabbing the measuring tape and her sewing glasses from off in the drawer, Rarity closed it back up and turned around to see that her customer had climbed up onto the stage, but instead of approaching her, she eyed the Dragoness for a moment as she pondered what to make of that new information.
However, she got quickly interrupted as Dust saw her stalling and asked irately, “What?”
“Apologies,” Rarity swiftly replied, though didn’t move and instead added warily, “I have just recalled hearing about you before, and... well, you were never exactly described as ‘careful’.”
Dust rolled her eyes and sighed in irritation, and muttered, “Of course, of course... I’m a fuckin’ Dragon, after all, and they always destroy anything they touch; hell, the damn suit’s evidence enough of that...” Huffing out a small flare of flame from her nostrils, she stared down at the stage and added, “Everybody sees the tiniest flame outta me, and they can’t help but get scared shitless. There’s some exceptions a’ course, but seriously...”
The mix of anger, despondence, and loneliness on Dust’s face was a familiar one to Rarity, and she sought to fix the perceived implication that someone like herself would cause that in others, saying, “Rainbow Dash already makes me tense up any time she comes in here, so having heard you be described as even more destructive than her...”
“You know Dash?” Dust asked, her irritation temporarily subdued by her confusion as she jerked her attention over to Rarity.
“Even the most crass of creatures need clothes in the winter, Darling,” She explained simply, “And, after all, she’s not known for being all that quiet.”
Smirking a bit as she seemed to recall her own encounters with the boastful Hippogryph, Dust’s expression quickly faded into a deadpan stare as she said, “I know I ain’t the most careful gal, especially in the air, but at least I know not to trash someone else’s damn shop.” She sounded rather irritated by the concept, as though she had dealt with such allegations in the past, which made enough sense when she was friends with someone who they both knew to have done things exactly like that in the past.
“Well, I apologize for ever implying you’d do such a thing,” Rarity replied kindly as she started to move over towards the stage, putting her glasses on her snout and hanging the measuring tape around her neck, “I really should take more caution with my words, darling, especially how I’ve spent years trying to quash those types of unfounded suspicions against my own race.”
Taking a moment to process that, Dust soon scoffed and grinned as she said in disbelief, “You gotta be kidding me! This place has enough lingerie to fill an entire brothel of all sorts of creatures!” Both she and Rarity could hardly suppress their burgeoning laughter as she continued, “You can’t fuckin’ tell me you’re trying to improve your image when your whole operation supports more lust than even the worst of the witches they burned at the stake centuries ago!”
“I-” Rarity tried to start, but got cut off by her own laughter, and she needed several seconds to reign it in enough to retort, “It wasn’t always like this! I...” Looking back over to the door to her main room full of all of those scanty, sexy scraps of clothing, she attempted to recall just when it all had changed from normal clothes to what she had now, and added, “I suppose it just got out of hoof...”
“Sure, sure,” Dust scoffed, but soon shook her head and turned the conversation back towards why she was there in the first place; “Anyway, if you can actually get on with preppin’ for that suit, I’d appreciate it.”
Letting her laughter die down, Rarity obliged by hopping up onto the stage alongside her client, only to quickly realize how much taller the bipedal Dust was than her. Thankfully, she had seen to other abnormally tall customers in the past and had a way to get the measurements she needed regardless.
Taking a deep breath, Rarity then hopped with her front legs to stand on her own two back legs, albeit quite a bit less stably than the Dragon beside her, who was both somewhat surprised and impressed by the motion. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long as Rarity soon tried to reach up for the tape around her neck, but that ended up throwing her off balance and making her fall forward--only to by caught by Lightning Dust wrapping her claws around her waist and one of her shoulders.
“You alright there?” Dust asked, keeping a strong hold on the pony’s body without seeming to screw with her balance in any way.
“J-just fine, Darling,” Rarity replied as she let the fear fall away, only to be replaced with some level of confusion. “I had just thought my balance was better than that...”
Helping the mare to right herself back onto her back hooves, Dust kept her grip on her, though that let one of her claws get the slightest trace over Rarity’s belly, and it made her reply, “You sure? ‘Cuz I gotta say...” That claw then traced its way down onto the main swell of that pearly fur, “This feels pretty soft,” And then it gave it a slight squeeze, “And chubby.”
“H-hey!” Rarity quickly swatted away the arm reaching down to her belly, though the slight wobbling due to the sudden lack of support prevented her from doing the same to the other arm. “I have dignity, Miss Dust!” She said firmly to the other creature as she stared back at her, “You shan’t ruin it by trying to feel me up in the middle of taking your measurements!”
Rolling her eyes, Dust merely replied, “Geez, gal, you ain’t gotta be such a prude--‘specially with all the sexywear you make.” Reaching her claw back to support Rarity’s chubby belly, the mare quickly pulled away, but Dust simply explained, “I do gotta keep you stable, though, so...”
Rarity stared irately into the Dragon’s golden eyes, lit with humour and a hint of lust, and took a few seconds to decide that at least her words actually made sense, and took some more time to slowly let her body fall back down into that sharp claw’s grasp, which thankfully didn’t immediately try to cop another feel.
Such relief was swiftly negated when Dust abruptly added, “You still might wanna lay off on the ice-cream, though.”
Huffing in frustration, Rarity reached a forehoof up to grab the measuring tape off her neck and quickly pull it off, her gaze deliberately avoiding Dust’s own as she started to stretch the tape over the Dragon’s body to actually begin to get the numbers she needed.
Starting with Dust’s body, Rarity kept her attention on the tape as she stretched it across various facets of the dragon’s form and made a mental note of each and every measurement, doing her best to work around the stabilizing arms grabbing her own form. It was certainly a bit easier than she was used to on most creatures that came into her shop, as they were covered in fur, which made the number to actually work somewhat vague, but that problem didn’t exist on a creature covered in scales.
“Extend your wings out for a moment, darling; I need to measure them,” Rarity requested politely, and let her client oblige and show off her expansive teal wings so that the seamstress could reach up and pull the tape across the edges of one of them, then swiftly measuring its span at each of the ‘fingers’ that stretched the wing fiber between them.
“Alright, you can put those down,” She said, letting Dust folding her wings down onto her back, and Rarity shifted her hind legs a bit to try and better stabilize herself, then used one of her front hooves to lightly push the arm that reached up to her shoulder, saying to its owner, “Now, I’ll need to measure your arms.”
Obliging, Dust slowly pulled her arm away and, once it was clear Rarity wasn’t going to fall over with the help of her other arm, stretched it out to her side and let the mare pull the tape over its length before wrapping it around her arm at a few points. Once she was satisfied with those measurements, she told the Dragon, “Now for the other.”
Taking a moment to think about how to best deal with that, Dust decided to put her free claw just next to where her other was currently was holding the chubby mare up by the belly, then pulled away that other arm so that Rarity could measure it as well.
“So, Darling,” Rarity started to speak as she took her measuring tape across Dust’s arm, “I’d like to ask; why exactly can’t you ask the captain, or perhaps the official creator of these uniforms, to make that one would be better suited to you rather than relying on a third-party like myself or Coco?”
Taking a slow inhale, Lightning Dust replied, “Y’know, I did ask the captain about that once, and she said it ‘wasn’t in their budget’--specifically, she emphasized that.” Sighing in a mix of confusion and irritation, she added, “I can’t fuckin’ imagine she meant they couldn’t afford it, ‘cuz they keep making new uniforms every time a new one so much as gets a stretch mark, but she did add that it shouldn’t matter due to ‘em being one-fits-all, which, well...” She let the silence and the current situation fill in the gaps.
“They’re mainly for quadrupeds--creatures with four legs, that is--correct?” Rarity asked as she finished up on the arm, letting Dust put it on her shoulder to keep her more stable.
“I...” Dust started, and thought for a couple seconds, “I think so, yeah. Everyone else’s got four legs, and it works just fine on them. Well, except for the accidental tears, which happens to anyone with claws.”
Pulling away from her client, Rarity lightly pushed the claws off so that she could land down on the stage and stand next to the dragon once again, and she added curiously, “Do they get called out for tearing them as well?”
“Yeah,” Dust quickly replied, and folded her arms before her while she appended, “I mean, the captain’s a pegasus, so she ain’t gotta deal with that stuff herself, lettin’ her be a fag to everyone else that’s different.”
“P-pardon..?” Rarity sputtered as she suddenly heard the rather offensive term.
Scoffing, Dust shook her head in irritation and said, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure she’s just using all that shit I told you earlier as an excuse to not do anything about the problem, ‘specially given how she treats other crap that’s brought up to her...”
Rarity hopped off of the stage and trotted over to her desk, which got Dust’s attention, but the mare questioned, “How do you mean?”
“Well,” Dust started, and needed a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing, “I’ve heard how the Wonderbolts have served as a sort of ‘national air guard’ in emergency situations, despite them not having proper military training, which...” Sighing thoughtfully, she moved to the edge of the stage and hopped down to sit on its edge, “I don’t know how much that matters, given the training we deal with in the Wonderbolt training camp itself, but I’ve heard that some of those ‘emergency missions’ were to deal with terrorists or rioters, which doesn’t make any sense with the kind of training we do...”
“That... sounds illegal,” Rarity replied while pulling out the clipboard out of her desk and marking every measurement onto it, “Use of a privately-owned business--I can only assume, at least--like that to do the dirty work of a government...” Shaking her head, and double-checking the numbers on the clipboard, she added, “Even if they’re in a contract with the Princesses themselves, they still shouldn’t be able to send untrained creatures into dangerous situations like that.”
“Yeah, well, they do seem to answer directly to Princess Celestia, for whatever reason--probably just a ploy to get something out of her...” Dust mused from her position on the stage.
Shaking her head, Rarity recalled the need for a sturdier material to make up the new flight suit, and thought through the many types of fabric she had at her disposal to mark down which one would be the best for the current job. “I should’ve asked earlier,” She turned back to switch the conversation back onto the uniform, “But do you mind if I keep that uniform you have right now for reference?”
“Uh- yeah, that makes sense,” Dust replied, taking a moment to follow the switch, and then hopped off the stage to retrieve her bag. “I will need it back in a few days, though, since that’s the next time we have training.”
“Of course; I can get it done rather quickly. I must ask, though,” Rarity confirmed, then pulled the conversation back in the other direction while writing some other necessary information about her client on her clipboard, “Why do you put up with all of that? I know that being a Wonderbolt must be important to you, but...” Looking back over to see the Dragon approaching her with her satchel over her shoulder and a somewhat defensive look in her eye, “Dealing with all of that nonsense and learning just how unethical parts of their operation can be... I don’t understand why you still wish to join them.”
Stopping before the mare, Dust seemed to observe her for a moment, and only found confusion and curiosity. Sighing and opening her bag to pull her used uniform out of it, she explained in a somewhat downcast tone, “I love flying more than anything else... Feeling the rush of wind against my face and the thrill of spinning and diving around to create artworks of smoke...” Tossing her uniform to Rarity, she looked the Pony in the eyes and continued, “It’s what I live for. And more than that, I love seeing how amazed and... filled with passion others get at seeing it. Like it might be something they want to do in some form...”
Looking away for a moment, she brushed the golden spines atop her head back with a claw and said, “I love inspiring others to fly, but... that’s not something I can make a career out of. At least not normally.”
“So, you need... some sort of team?” Rarity asked hesitantly as she folded the uniform up and laid it on her desk, though her attention didn’t stray from her client.
“Something like that, at least, and... well, they’re really the only one there is,” Dust finished, sounding tired, as if she had already tried to find some other team, but failed...
Nodding slowly in understanding, Rarity looked absent-mindedly around the work room, seeing the large shelves of cloth and a couple creaturequins with unfinished outfits draped over them, a stray thought managed to enter her head. “Well, what if you made a team?”
Scoffing, Dust immidiately blew it off, “Are you kidding me? I can barely hold down a regular job, much less have the budget to do something like that!”
“I mean, you hardly have to start at the same venues as the Wonderbolts themselves,” Rarity amended, looking back towards the Dragon before her, “I could help supply you with uniforms and decor if you wanted, and surely you have a few friends that could pitch in some way, or even be part of the team!”
Dust folded her arms and gave her a deadpan look, soon responding, “I ain’t got too many friends, and most of them aren’t that different to me; that is to say, crap with bits.” Shaking her head and turning back to walk over to the stage and sit on its edge again, she added, “Honestly, there’s only three of ‘em that can actually fly; Dash is one, but she’s pretty obsessed with the ‘Bolts in particular, and the other two are even more destructive than either of us...
“And, before you say anything else,” She cut Rarity off before she could get a word in, “I’ve seen how the captain talks about all the paperwork that actually goes into managing a team like that, and well...” She rolled her eyes, “It’s not like any of us have the patience for that.”
Sighing sadly and looking away, Rarity replied, “I.. suppose that makes sense. I just thought it was something you could consider...”
They both were left silent, an awkward tension hanging in the air for several seconds, before Dust suddenly asked, “You got everything you need to make my suit, right?”
Attention quickly going back to her client, Rarity recalled that she’d usually discuss payment as the final thing before working on an order, but due to the abnormal nature of it and not being quite sure how difficult it would be to fulfill the strict requirements of Lightning Dust’s captain, as well as feeling that the Dragon had probably dealt with paying for enough redundant orders, she forewent asking for the payment and replied, “Yes, that will be all for now.”
Dust seemed to raise an eyebrow at her in minor confusion, but quickly brushed it off as she hopped back onto the floor and let Rarity guide her back to the door to the main room, adding as she opened it, “I’ll be sure to have this completed in the next couple days, Darling, and you can come pick it up when you need it.”
“Alright, cool,” Dust thanked her, and flicked the work room’s light switch off as she went through the door, kicking said door closed behind her.
Rarity’s ears twitched a bit at the noise, but she didn’t comment on it, and instead only passed by the numerous racks of lingerie in the main room as she led her customer back out to the main door. Soon arriving at it and opening it, she felt a cool breeze swiftly fly inside and whip against her mane a bit, and she looked out through the open space to see the night sky above, the stars and moon only having moved a tad since she opened it last, which told her she hadn’t been talking with Dust for that long.
“Well, I’ll see you then,” She said to Dust while moving to the side and holding the door open. Getting a quick ‘sure’ from the dragon as she left, Rarity decided to confront the lingering tension and call out to her, “Just...” She saw Dust pause and look back over her shoulder, “Think about my offer, okay? I’d hate to see your career devolve from a passion to a slave-like obligation that hurts both yourself and your fans just because of some other creatures’ discrimination.”
The Dragon’s eyes looked down for a moment as she seemed to ponder it, then looked back to Rarity and replied, “I’ll think about it.” Quickly turning back to the open road outside and taking a few steps forward, she unfurled her large wings and gave them a swift flap, darting her into the skies fast enough to blast a light wake into Rarity, forcing her to flinch in surprise as it blew past her.
Sighing, Rarity turned back and closed the door behind her, hoping that Lightning Dust would truly get to live her passion, and that any event the Dragon may hold would be better for the image of her species that Rarity’s increasingly lewd business would be for her own.
