Canterlot...

Star Twinkle was helping out Rarity in her boutique, not the one in Ponyville but her new one in Canterlot, which had the name "Canterlot Carousel". Her dream of owning a boutique in the capital of Equestria came true just a few days ago and things needed to be taken care of. This is where Star Twinkle came in. His help was hugely appreciated by Rarity, especially since this was just the start of her boutique. If there wasn't another pony working for her in this boutique then Rarity would have to come here to Canterlot, leaving her boutique in Ponyville. This meant that she would have to leave her friends as well. It could not be completely avoided for Rarity to come and check out her new boutique but she could still focus more on Carousel Boutique.

Right now, Rarity was just happy that the Star Twinkle helped her out after all those changes. "It's so nice of you to offer your help, darling," she expressed in gratitude.

"Don't worry about it," Star Twinkle replied. He did not have to do much in the first place, except helping to make sure that everything in the boutique was clean and sorted. "I was staying here in Canterlot since yesterday so I figured that I should give you a hoof. Especially after everything that happened at the opening," the stallion added, unbeknownst to him though, he was making someone else in this room feel rather bad after saying those words.

It was Sassy Saddles, the manager of Canterlot Boutique. She was a slender and tall Unicorn mare with a pale cerulean-colored coat a vermilion-colored mane with light amber-colored stripes in it, and orange eyes. She was also wearing a fancy black dress.

As soon as Star Twinkle noticed Sassy's sad expression on her face, he quickly tried to damage control. "I-I didn't mean that it was your fault or anything! You just tried to help and all-"

"It's fine, really," Sassy Saddles replied. "I learned my lesson and I try to not make it happen again," she assured.

She was referring to the day where Canterlot Boutique was just opened. To summarize it, it was a complete mess. Sassy Saddles help was well-intended but they ended up almost ruining Rarity's boutique by taking more requests than Rarity could handle or preventing her to work on dresses or lines that she wanted to show and sell. One could say that both the boutique and those two ponies had a pretty rough start but it was quickly resolved and forgotten. In the end, everything worked out and the boutique became exactly what Rarity wanted. She had a lot of fun working here now in fact. Right now, she was proudly showing her newest dresses, which she placed near the entrance.

"Oh, don't you two just love my new Femme Mystique Chic line of gowns?" She asked as she levitated three rather stylish looking outfits into the room.

Sassy Saddles immediately gasped. "Sequins and sashes, Rarity, they're exquisite! Where in Equestria did you find the inspiration?" She asked in awe.

"Oh, I modeled them after the adventures of Shadow Spade," she replied.

That quickly got Star Twinkle's attention. "The Adventures of Shadow Spades? You mean those detective novels?" He asked.

"Why, yes! I'm glad you are familiar with them," Rarity replied. "Her stories are always full of mystery and suspense and, best of all... fabulous costumes!" She said happily.

"They're perfect!" Sassy Saddles complimented. But then she got a little confused by Rarity's next actions. "What are you doing?" She asked.

Rarity was fiddling around on her dresses so that they would stand straight. She also made sure that everything was in its place with almost paranoid accuracy. "Just making some minor adjustments," she said as she blew on her dress softly. "Shadow Spade believes it all comes down to attention to detail. And so do I," she explained as she continued to find more little details to take care of. She was done eventually and once more, presented them proudly to the two ponies "There! Now it's perfect."

The three dresses were now on display in the shop and all it needed was a few customers to be impressed by them. Coincidentally the door did open only seconds after...and hard.

SLAM!

The one who walked inside was Rainbow Dash and she slammed the door open. "Hey guys, how's it—" she said, being unaware of the chaos that she created by storming into the shop.

All the careful planning that went into placing the three dresses was down the drain. They all got knocked over, along with almost everything else in the shop. Rainbow Crash was the first Star Twinkle wanted to say towards the mare hovering in the hallway but he kept it to himself in the end.

"My bad," Rainbow Dash then apologized before she helped to fix her mess again. "Sorry I messed up your dress thingy," she said as she placed the dresses to where they used to stand a minute ago.

Star Twinkle rolled his eyes. "You are lucky that this isn't a shop that sells expensive porcelain," he commented.

But apparently, he was the only one who was a little annoyed by this. "Nothing we can't fix in a stitch," Sassy Saddles assured.

Luckily, there was not too much that needed fixing so Rainbow Dash's mess was quickly taken care of. "What are you doing here anyway?" Star Twinkle then asked.

"I'm here for Princess Celestia's royal garden opening tomorrow," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Oh, yes!" Sassy Saddles said. "Rumor has it the gardens are especially lush this season. I heard that the Wonderbolts will be kicking things off with an aerial display," she explained.

"And wherever the Wonderbolts are, Rainbow Dash is not too far away," Star Twinkle added.

"Exactly," Rarity agreed. "Especially since Rainbow Dash has a chance to fly with them. So exciting!" She said excitedly, fittingly.

"Well, kind of exciting," Rainbow Dash replied surprisingly modestly. "Technically, I'm not flying. I'm just the lucky Reserve who was called in to be the backup flyer in case a Wonderbolt can't perform," she explained.

"Oh, don't be so modest," Rarity then said, encouraging Rainbow Dash's ego a little bit. "Out of all the Reserves, you were the one chosen," she pointed out.

It did not take long until Rainbow Dash was feeling excited as well. "It is pretty sweet. And I do get to stay in the castle, hang out with the Wonderbolts, and eat awesome food at the dinner tonight," she said, which eventually brought her to the reason why she was visiting the boutique. " Speaking of the dinner, you two are still coming, right?"

"Heavens, yes!" Rarity replied. "A chance to dress up, be charming, and show off my newest femme mystique couture? I wouldn't miss it for all of Equestria," she added while she took a hat from one of her designs and wore it while striking a rather fancy pose as if she wanted to show it off to everyone right now.

"Yeah, I'm coming too, it's not like I got anything else to do anyway," Star Twinkle said, not accompanied by a stylish pose.

Rainbow Dash seemed happy to hear that. "Great! See ya tonight!" She then said before she left the boutique again shortly after.

SLAM!

Once again, she slammed the door, this time by closing it. However, Sassy Saddles was prepared for that and used her magic to hold the mannequins with the dresses in place so that they would not fall over. Star Twinkle also held some of them with his hooves just to make sure. Much to their relief, nothing fell over and they could relax again.

SLAM!

As soon as they stopped holding the mannequins however, the door was slammed open yet again. Rarity immediately glared at the door let Rainbow Dash know that she did not appreciate her blasting into her boutique like that but she looked rather happy as soon as she realized that a delivery pony was standing at her door, instead.

"Ooh, the rhinestones I ordered!" She said before she hopped over to delivery pony and opened her package right away. "Oh, my," she then said in disappointment.

"What is it?" Star Twinkle asked confused once he was done helping Sassy Saddles to set up the mannequins again.

"Oh, there's been a mistake... I ordered dragon-cut stones, and these are hoof-polished," she explained before she showed the stallion a few of the stones. Star Twinkle was not sure what the difference would be in the first place but apparently, those were not the right ones.

"I'm sorry, but I've got a full load of deliveries today," the delivery pony apologized. "I'm not sure I have time to redo your order," he said.

Rarity was not too happy to hear this. At first, she just accepted that her delivery had to wait but then she decided to try something to fix all of this. For this, she removed her hat and fixed her mane for a moment, as if she wanted to look good all of a sudden. Star Twinkle was wondering what this was all about and just watched to see what she was up to.

The mare walked over to the delivery pony, her movements being a little bit more elegant and smoother than before. "Of course you don't. Your job is so difficult. Honestly, I don't know how you keep all of those orders straight," she said in a charming voice.

The delivery pony chuckled in response. "It is pretty tough, what with the boxes all being... box-shaped," he cleverly added while blushing a little bit. He was probably was a little flustered by how Rarity was talking to him now.

"Oh, y—oh yes, and I very much appreciate it," Rarity said before she put a hoof on the stallion's chest softly. "But if there was any way you could squeeze in one more little delivery, I would be eternally grateful," she said as she threw her best set of puppy eyes at the pony.

By now, Star Twinkle just shook his head. "That's what she is trying to do," he figured. He still decided to just remain silent and didn't want to get involved in all of this though.

Unaware of what Rarity was doing to him, the delivery pony just laughed nervously while also turning red like a tomato. "Well, for you, Rarity, I'll see what I can do," he then said before he walked away. Now he was most likely trying to fix Rarity's delivery by the end of the day, just like she wanted him to.

Sassy Saddles was impressed by how Rarity managed to pull this off. "Rarity, you could sweet-talk a filly out of candy!" She complimented.

Rarity chuckled. "Oh, it was nothing. Nopony minds a compliment," she said casually.

Again, Star Twinkle shook his head. "I don't know if you should be too proud manipulating a poor pony like him," he said.

Rarity caught on how Star Twinkle was not impressed by her "abilities" and felt a little challenged now. "Yes, I'm sure something like this would never work on a pony like you, right?" she said while speaking in the same way as she did with the delivery pony before.

"Yep," Star Twinkle just replied confidently.

The mare then walked over to the stallion with a smile on her face. "Of course, not. You are way too perceptive for such things after all," she further complimented.

But Star Twinkle quickly saw through what Rarity planned on doing. "I know what you are trying to do, Rarity. It doesn't work," he said.

Rarity then moved her head closer to Star Twinkle's, close enough so that he would start to get nervous. "Must be hard for a handsome stallion like you to endure all there hundreds of mares out there that are probably attracted to you," she said, this time in a softer and more charming tone.

"...T-there are not hundreds of mares attracted to me," Star Twinkle replied. This time his voice started to no longer sound as confident as before.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Rarity replied. "Just look at those muscles for example. That alone would be a reason!" She said as she was grabbing one of Star Twinkle's legs to feel them.

The stallion quickly pulled his leg away from the mare. "T-those are just muscles that I got from my job. That's nothing special!" He said nervously.

But Rarity was not stopping now, she had the stallion at her mercy and she had way too much fun seeing him embarrassed like this. "And on top of that, you helped to save Equestria on multiple occasions! Just imagine how some mares would like to have a hero like you on their side!" The mare then was using her puppy eyes on Star Twinkle, causing him to get even more nervous now. "Maybe they are closer than you think," she then added while gazing into the stallion's eyes and slowly winked at him.

Somewhere in his mind, Star Twinkle knew that Rarity was just toying around to get a reaction out of him but in his nervous state, he completely forgot about that. His head was a mess and he even forgot how to speak. Questions of what Rarity could hint at him were circling around in his head. He wished to be everywhere else in the world right now.

Fortunately, Rarity was satisfied with this reaction and stopped. "Got you," she said followed by a playful giggle before she victoriously galloped away.

All of a sudden, Star Twinkle's mind was focused again. He realized that Rarity was just playing with him, something that he should have kept in mind while she was charming him all this time. "You did not!" Star Twinkle said in a poor attempt to defend himself.

"I totally did~" Rarity cheerfully replied.

"No, you didn't!" Star Twinkle said embarrassed which only amused Rarity more. It took Star Twinkle some time until he realized that Sassy Saddles was also looking at him. Her facial expression was basically saying "She totally did."

"No, she didn't!" Star Twinkle replied as if he just read Sassy's mind, making her chuckle afterward.

Rarity explained that she still needed to find a fitting for the party tonight and asked of Star Twinkle to come back later until she was ready. Star Twinkle went along with that and just returned home for a while. There was still some time left until the party started and the two agreed to go there together.

As Star Twinkle was walking out the door, without slamming the door, of course, there was one thing he mumbled to himself before he walked home.

"She did not..."

Later that evening...

When Star Twinkle and Rarity arrived at the castle, the party had already started. Rarity seemed highly excited about it, although it was maybe not because of the party itself but rather because she had a reason to dress up with something from her new line of dresses.

"How do I look?" She asked as she stepped into the castle, wearing a white long dress.

Star Twinkle sighed. "For the tenth time, good," he replied annoyed.

Rarity smiled. "I do love a good party but it can't hurt to show off some new dresses at the same time. Who knows, maybe someone asks me to make one for them as well?" She said, getting rather excited just by the thought of that.

As expected, Rainbow Dash quickly approached the two as soon as they stepped hoof into the castle. "There you two are. I was starting to get a little bit hungry!" She added a little bit annoyed.

"You could have eaten something before we arrived," Star Twinkle pointed out.

"Nah," Rainbow Dash replied. "Eating in company is a lot more fun if you ask me. Now let's grab some grub!" She then said before she dashed over to the buffet.

Star Twinkle was about to question Rainbow Dash's logic but he was also a little bit hungry so he just decided to join her without any word.

Most of the guests of this party were members of the Wonderbolts so it was kind of weird to attend this party for Star Twinkle. It was not like Princess Celestia, who was attending the party as well, would just kick him out, especially since she knew him but it was still a little weird to be one of the few ponies not associated with the Wonderbolts. The other pony, of course, was Rarity, who did not seem to mind any of this and just grabbed a plate with her magic to grab something to eat.

However, something caught her attention, a smell, judging from how she was sniffing the air. "Mm, is that Juniper Phoenix I smell?" She asked, in hope that someone would answer her.

And someone did answer. "No, it's broccoli!" Rainbow Dash said as she stuffed her face into a plate filled with broccoli.

Of course, that is not what Rarity meant and luckily, someone else just happened to actually answer her question.

"Yeah, Juniper Phoenix is one of my favorite stallion colognes," A middle-aged stallion explained. The smell must have come from him.

"Oh, mine as well," Rarity replied. "It's very masculine and soft with the barest hint of floral notes. You should try it too, Star Twinkle," she advised.

"I don't really use cologne so-"

But he was interrupted by Rainbow Dash, who just earlier dropped her plate and looked at this stallion as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Star Twinkle! Rarity! Don't you know who this is?!" She asked in a hushed tone.

"A gentlepony with fabulous taste in colognes and scarves?" Rarity guessed, referring to the scarf that this stallion was wearing around his neck.

Rainbow Dash almost snapped after hearing that. "It's Wind Rider!" She exclaimed.

"Oh! So nice to meet you!" Rarity then said, introducing herself to the stallion. But judging from how Rainbow Dash slapped her own face in disbelieve she was not satisfied to hear that.

Star Twinkle then took a guess on his own. "Since this is a party for the Wonderbolts, I'm assuming that you are one as well?" He then asked.

Rainbow Dash then grabbed Star Twinkle's shoulders out of frustration. "He is the Wonderbolt! He's a living legend. He holds the Wonderbolt record in the Mustang Marathon!" She explained.

There was no denying that this Wind Rider was someone really popular and someone who Rainbow Dash deeply admired and looked up to. It was just like when she met A.K. Yearling, or rather Daring Do for the first time. There certainly a certain aura surrounding this stallion, an aura filled with confidence and experience.

Wind Rider was a Pegasus pony with a light grayish cerulean-colored coat, a dark lime greenish gray-colored mane with light gray-colored stripes in it, brilliant amber-colored eyes and a flight hat with goggles as a Cutie Mark.

The stallion smiled after hearing all the praise from Rainbow Dash. "Well, that was a long time ago. Honestly, I can't believe I still hold the record," he modestly replied.

It was then when Spitfire and Misty Fly, two members of the Wonderbolts walked up to the four. "Wind Rider, I see you met Rainbow Dash! She's one of our most promising Reserves," Spitfire said proudly. "She just might beat your record," she added as she poked the sides of the stallion.

"Really now?" Wind Rider than said with a smile on his face as he looked over to Rainbow Dash. It was almost as if he liked seeing someone challenging him.

But Rainbow Dash blushed in response. "Oh, heh, I'm nowhere near as good as you. I mean, I'm fast, but I don't have the endurance to go long distances," she said. She obviously did not want to compare her abilities with the ones of a living legend nor did she want to make herself look arrogant in front of him.

But Spitfire made it a little bit harder to keep up her modest impression. "Ah, don't be modest. A little practice and you'll be beating records in no time," she said. It almost felt as if Spitfire planned on getting a little rivalry going between the two.

Wind Rider only chuckled confidently. "Heh-heh. Well, it's nice to meet you fillies," he said before he left the group.

Rainbow Dash sighed happily. "Not as nice as it is to