Thunderlane circled the Carousel Boutique a few times before coming in to land. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t been inside before - indeed, he usually stopped by once a month. Every other time he’d visited, though, had been during business hours. Today, Rarity had invited him to stop by an hour after she’d closed up shop for the day.
 
There was no need to worry, he told himself. No need at all. She had said she’d wanted to offer him a thank-you gift for saving her life after the incident with Lightning Dust. That was perfectly normal, especially for the Element of Generosity. There was no need for him to worry. No need at all.
 
So why was he hesitating at the threshold, his hoof hovering at the door, poised to knock? He took a deep breath, grabbed the doorknocker, and rapped three times.
 
“Just a moment!”
 
Thunderlane waited as quick, precise hoofbeats drew ever nearer. Moments later, the door flew open to reveal a positively beaming Rarity. “Oh, darling, I’m so glad you came,” she enthused. “Do come in, dear, and close the door behind you.”
 
Thunderlane smiled back and did as he was bid. “Uh, so.” He coughed into a wing nervously. “What’s up?”
 
“Oh, not too terribly much,” Rarity replied breezily, trotting over to the counter. “Tea?”
 
“Have you got coffee?”
 
“Certainly.” A large tin levitated down from the top cabinet and upended itself into a coffee machine. “Cheesecake?”
 
“Yes please.”
 
She cut a slim slice for herself and a slightly more substantial one for her guest. “Sugar?”
 
“Just cream for me.”
 
There was a long silence while the coffee brewed. “Wonderbolts training is going well?” Rarity enquired.
 
“Uh, yeah, really well,” Thunderlane agreed. “Dash’s probably already told you everything about it.”
 
“Rather,” Rarity replied. “The difficulty lies in getting her to stop.”
 
Thunderlane chuckled. “Yeah. If it makes you feel any better, she hardly ever stops talking about you and all her other friends when we’re around.”
 
Rarity smiled. “Well, I suppose that is somewhat flattering.”
 
The coffee machine beeped, and Rarity turned to attend to it. A few seconds later, a cup and saucer were hovering right at Thunderlane’s chest level. He took it. “Thanks.”
 
“Not at all, dear.”
 
Thunderlane took a deep sip. It was hot and bitter and bolstering enough to make him ask the question that had been bouncing through his skull this whole time. “So what’s the deal?”
 
Rarity paused, her cup inches from her mouth. “‘The deal,’ darling?”
 
“Why did you invite me here? Not just to have coffee, surely.”
 
“That’s quite true, but I’d prefer you not call me Shirley.”
 
“You’re trying to distract me from something.”
 
“Technically, I’m putting you at ease,” Rarity corrected, putting her coffee down. “Though I can see it isn’t exactly having the intended effect.”
 
Thunderlane said nothing. She sighed. “Honestly, darling, anypony would think I was going to eat you! I’ve only asked you here to thank you. I mean you no harm, and I’m beginning to feel a little underwhelmed by your responses!”
 
Thunderlane shifted. “Sorry,” he muttered.
 
Rarity huffed, less from irritation and more from a lack of anything more to say. “Would you care to finish your coffee, or should we simply jump into the present business immediately?”
 
“Second one,” Thunderlane said. “I don’t think any more coffee would be very helpful at the moment.”
 
“Perhaps not,” Rarity agreed. “Come along then, it’s through here.” She trotted out of the kitchen, leading Thunderlane onto the shop floor.
 
“Oh! Uh, so is it some kind of suit or something?” Thunderlane asked, glancing at the relatively small section of the store reserved for stallions’ clothes.
 
“Or something,” Rarity said, a hint of mischief in her voice that made the back of Thunderlane’s neck prickle.
 
“Here we are,” she said at length, stopping in front of a curtained-off section. “Prepare to be awed, darling.” She pulled a rope and the curtain swung away, revealing something gorgeous.
 
It was made of wine-dark satin, trimmed with fabric just the right shade of cloudy grey. It was decorated with fine gold filigree, enough to catch the eye without being gaudy. It was the finest dress that Thunderlane had ever seen.
 
He forced a chuckle. “Funny,” he said. “Very… ha.”
 
“It’s no joke, darling. It’s for you.”
 
Thunderlane’s smile was plastic. “I don’t wear dresses, Rarity.”
 
“No,” she agreed. “But you come in every so often and you peruse. You stare, you run your hooves over the material. And then you sigh and turn away.”
 
“I was looking for something for my marefriend.”
 
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Even if I believed you would come in as often as you do and still not find anything that suited her, even if I believed there was nothing in the store you could afford, you’re always looking at the darkest dresses, the richest palates. Flitter’s coat matches with pastels. You, on the other hoof…”
 
Thunderlane licked his lips. “I’m not great at color matching.”
 
“One doesn’t need to know much about fashion to know that Flitter’s wardrobe contains nothing darker than a pale rose,” Rarity countered.
 
“Not true! Her bow is magenta–” Thunderlane cut himself off a little too late. Rarity’s triumphant smile was evidence enough of that.
 
“Fine. I like dresses, okay?”
 
“Marvelous. Now, just sit down here–”
 
“No! Just you knowing is bad enough. I can’t– I won’t–” He stopped, too overwhelmed to say more.
 
Rarity’s face fell. “You know that nopony in town would ever think ill of you for this, don’t you?”
 
“I– I guess, yeah. But, Rarity, I… I just can’t do it. I’m scared, alright. It’s a lovely dress, and thank you for that, it really… it really would’ve suited me, but I just… can’t do it.”
 
Rarity nodded. “Very well. I understand, darling. I suspected you might have, shall we say, certain reservations. As such, I prepared an alternate thank-you gift which might be more appropriate. If you would just wait here, I’ll fetch it out from the other room.”
 
Thunderlane nodded, wordless, and Rarity departed. He stared at the dress for a long moment. He would look gorgeous in it. But the last time he’d tried… when he’d shown his parents…
 
He looked away. He couldn’t take that risk again.
 
He heard Rarity re-enter the room, and he glanced up. “Uh, what’s with the sunglasses?”
 
“Hm? Oh, nothing, nothing. Here we are, your token of my esteem.” She levitated forth a large crystal on a chain. “I dug it up with Spikey the other week. There are some unique properties to it which made it rather unfit for fashion, but are nevertheless quite fascinating. Take a look, darling. See if you can spot them.”
 
“Uh, I’m not exactly a geologist…”
 
“Oh, no, it’s quite obvious once you spot it,” Rarity insisted, thrusting it in his face. Thunderlane flinched and blinked, crossing his eyes to get a closer look.
 
“Uh, I don’t… oh, hang on. It’s kinda glowing, isn’t it? Hey, that is pretty neat. Hard to look away from.”
 
“Then don’t.” Rarity’s voice sounded at once distant and intimately close, echoing through his skull. “Watch the light, darling. Let all your concerns… drift away.”
 

 
She watched Thunderlane’s pupils dilate until there was nothing left but the irises. She took a deep breath in and reminded herself that this was the only way to unlock the fabulosity that somepony had cruelly sealed away inside this poor stallion. The poor dear was positively pining for a gorgeous new dress.
 
“Remember, darling, you needn’t do anything I tell you if you truly don’t want to. Do you understand?”
 
Thunderlane nodded in the affirmative. Rarity gave a slight smile. “Good. Now, would you like to try on this dress, dear?”
 
“…Yeah,” Thunderlane said, his voice distant. “I want… I wanna be pretty.”
 
Rarity’s smile widened. “Then let’s get started.”