"What's taking so long?" she asked the Doctor, who was becoming just as impatient as she was.
"I don't know," he replied. "It's been probably half an hour, if I were to make a guess."
"Oh, has it really been that long?" asked Sweetie Belle, who had been sitting outside with them, constantly reassuring them that the measuring process was just a time-consuming step. "It feels like it's only been two minutes!"
"No it hasn't," the Doctor stated flatly. Tegan stood up.
"Perhaps we should just go inside and check," she said, walking towards the front door of Carousel Boutique. Instantly, Sweetie Belle blocked her path.
"You can't!" she exclaimed. "My sister needs her time!"
"And I need answers," retorted Tegan.
"Look, why don't I just go inside and check?" suggested Sweetie hastily. Tegan growled.
"Fine," said the Doctor, avoiding any further debate. Sweetie Belle grinned nervously and vanished in through the door. Tegan faced the Doctor.
"I don't understand why this is taking so long!" she complained. "It's unlike Nyssa to take her sweet time. How long does this measuring process take?"
"Patience, Tegan," said the Doctor calmly, although he was feeling the exact same way. "I'm sure there must be some explanation. It isn't like she's in trouble; these creatures don't show any malicious threat."
"Well they sure do know how to take their sweet time," grumbled Tegan as she walked back over to the Doctor and sat down. It was then when Sweetie Belle appeared in the doorway of the shop again.
"Any news?" asked the Doctor.
"Hm?" Sweetie Belle asked blankly. She had a hoof behind her back.
"Nyssa! Where's Nyssa?!" asked Tegan, her face growing red with irritation.
". . .oh, her!" grinned Sweetie Belle nervously. "Um. . .she's going to be a few minutes." The Doctor looked at Sweetie Belle dubiously.
"What do you have behind your back?" Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. She scrunched her face.
"Nothing," she said quickly. "Look, it was nice meeting you and all, but I've gotta go!" As fast as her little hooves could take her, the filly took off down the street. Mistakenly, she revealed the hoof behind her back, which was holding three golden bits.
"Is that some form of currency?" asked the Doctor. "Did that little horse just get paid?!"
"Paid to do what?!" chimed Tegan.
"I have no idea. These creatures are a lot odder than I thought." said the Doctor. Tegan snorted.
"I've had enough of this! I'm going to get Nyssa and high-tail it out of here! This is just ridiculous!" The mare stomped towards the front entrance of Carousel Boutique and tried to grab the door handle. She was infuriated to find that hooves were a little more difficult to use than hands.
"ARRGGH!!!"
"Tegan, just calm down," said the Doctor. "Maybe we can-" But Tegan eventually managed to fling open the door and rumble inside. The Doctor sighed.
"Oh dear."
Tegan noisily entered the Boutique with a furrowed face. She stomped in as far as she could into the main room.
"Nyssa?!" she called out angrily throughout the shop. A reply came from the back room in the form of Nyssa's voice.
"Tegan!" The annoyed mare followed the voice further back in the shop. Quickly she came to a room surrounded by mirrors, mannequins, and fabric. In the center of it was Nyssa, or at least a pony that looked like Nyssa. It was hard to tell under all of the sequins and feathers she was wearing.
"Nyssa, what happened to you?!" asked Tegan. Nyssa looked at her friend miserably.
"I don't know," she said. "I thought I was going to get measured by the tailor, and the next thing I know, she's dressing me up in all types of outfits and things."
"Where is this tailor?" Tegan walked over to Nyssa and attempted to grab at some wacky and noisy hat sitting on Nyssa's head with her hooves.
"In the other room finding something 'for accents' as she says," said Nyssa, unsure herself of how to get out of the outfit. "Hurry, get me out of this before she comes back!"
"I'm trying!" grunted Tegan. "It's impossible to do anything with these. . .these hooves."
"Use your teeth or something."
"Ick, no."
"What other option do we have?" Tegan sighed and bit down on the hat on Nyssa's head. She was able to pull it straight off.
"Now, how do I get the rest of this off?" asked Nyssa, looking at all the fancy designs draped on her body. A sudden gasp sounded from across the room. Tegan turned to see a snowy unicorn with curled hair, a pair of red glasses perched on her muzzle. Next to her, floating in the air and surrounded by a blue mist, was an extremely high-end dress.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA IS GOING ON?!" she exclaimed, the dress next to her falling to the ground. The mare then snapped right to Tegan's face.
"Who are you?! What are you doing here?! Can't you see I'm busy with an important client?!" she demanded. Tegan wasn't intimidated. She was enraged.
"So you must be the tailor?" said Tegan. "I have a few words for you, and I'm not going to guarantee a filter!"
"Listen, I don't know what you're doing here," spat the tailor, "but this pony here is a soon-to-be star model for my newest line, and unless you have an appointment-"
"That 'soon-to-be-star model' happens to be my friend Nyssa, you hard-headed animal!" Tegan interrupted. The tailor pony stopped for a minute, her eye twitching.
"WHAT?!" she exclaimed. "I thought she came alone!"
"I didn't come alone!" Nyssa finally spoke, hoping to handle things peacefully and without words that might end in violence. "I couldn't tell you anything because you started dressing me up in so many things."
"Well then," said the tailor, her nose lifting slightly in the air. "If you're not here to model, then why are you here?"
"I came here on behalf of your sister, Sweetie Belle, or I assume she's your sister," stated Nyssa. "Tegan and someone else-"
"Some. . .one?" asked the tailor, a little confused. Nyssa bit her lip.
"Er, somepony else. The three of us followed your sister to your services in hoping for adjustments to our current wardrobe."
"But then she started acting all weird, only taking Nyssa in and whatnot," pouted Tegan. The tailor looked down.
"Sweetie Belle. . ." she grumbled before looking up at Nyssa and Tegan, a little more humility in her eyes.
"You'll have to pardon me for my behavior," she said sincerely. "I am truly sorry. It's just that. . .I've had zero inspiration for a new line recently, and work here in the boutique has been slow. . .so I sent my sister out to find a pony willing to work for me shortly. And, well, it seems I may have gotten a little carried away."
"A little. . ." mumbled Tegan. Nyssa elbowed her.
"Please forgive me," said the tailor. "Sometimes I get a little carried away with hasty inspirations. I should've asked first."
"It's fine," said Nyssa, nodding kindly. Tegan sighed.
"Well, when you put it that way," she said.
"Good," smiled the tailor. "By the way, I'm Rarity. I don't think we've introduced, um-"
"Tegan," replied the grumpy mare, relaxing a little more now that things seemed normal.
"Tegan," Rarity repeated. "Well now, Nyssa and Tegan, I do believe one of you stated that you needed some tailoring. Simple tailoring."
"We do," replied Nyssa. "Our clothes have become a little baggy for us."
"What, did you all jump in the lake with low-quality fabrics or something?" asked Rarity. Tegan and Nyssa looked at each other before quickly nodding back.
"Yes," they replied.
"Well, I'm sure that I can fix something up!" said Rarity cheerfully. "But I must refuse to fix the outfits you entered the shop with. I don't mean to be rude yet again, but-"
"No, please," said Tegan. "It isn't a crime to call this uniform hideous." Rarity laughed.
"Well then, why don't I get out some useful fabrics for the both of you?" she replied. "Nyssa, I'll take this outfit from you." A blue mist surrounded Nyssa, and just like that, the pins holding the dress together were pulled out. The dress fell off, the blue mist taking it to a nearby rack. Tegan wanted to question about the mist, however-
"Nyssa!" Tegan whispered to her as Rarity exited the room briefly. "You haven't got any clothes on!"
"It's alright, Tegan," said Nyssa. "These creatures don't have the need for them, they're covered in a coat of fur, and so are you and me." Tegan still didn't like the idea. Rarity trotted back into the room, various fabrics following her again in a blue mist.
"Now, Tegan, get out of those terrible fabrics, and then I can get measurements from you both." Reluctantly, Tegan did as she was told. Just like Nyssa, she had an awkward time adjusting to not wearing any clothes, but the adjustment was short.
"Hold on, I forgot my measuring tape," said Rarity as she dashed out of the room, the fabrics dropping to the floor. Tegan turned to Nyssa.
"Why does everything in this shop float?" she asked her friend. "It's sort of. . .creepy." Nyssa put her mind to work.
"Well, I've noticed that everything in the shop follows Rarity or acts in a way to benefit her wanted actions," she stated. "Perhaps it's some form of telekinesis."
"Horses don't have that ability. They just gallop and winny!"
"She is a unicorn after all," said Nyssa. "Didn't the Doctor say unicorns had untold powers? By the way, where is he?"
"Probably still waiting outside," replied Tegan. "I was a bit of a mess, and he probably knew that I'd create one and wanted to stay out of it." Nyssa laughed.
"Just an odd observation," Nyssa then said, changing the subject, "but you have something on your thigh." Tegan looked at her flank. There, on top of her coat, was a symbol of golden wings.
"That is odd," she said. "What is it?"
"I don't know," said Nyssa. "I have one too, see?" Tegan saw Nyssa's symbol on her flank.
"You're right!"
"Rarity also has one," said Nyssa. "It would make sense that these symbols exist on our bodies, only each one, depending on the pony, is different."
"Maybe it's like some kind of weird birthmark?" asked Tegan. Nyssa shrugged. They ended their conversation when Rarity came back.
"Sorry for the delay," she breathed, showing that she had been in a hurry. "The tape was buried in all the outfits I sort of. . .dressed Nyssa in earlier. Let's take measurements now, shall we?" The blue mist surrounded the tape that Rarity had brought back around her neck. It then flew in the air over to Nyssa, then Tegan, measuring their height, length, width, and so on.
"Alright," Rarity said, a notepad and pencil hovering over to her in the mist and writing the measurements down. "Now for the fabrics. I don't know about you, Nyssa, but for some reason I picture you in a shade like this?" The blue mist brought over to Nyssa a sky blue swatch. Nyssa touched it with her hoof and nodded.
"Yes, this will do," she smiled.
"And now you, Tegan," Rarity continued. "We could do anything with you."
"As long as it's not the same color as that uniform, I'm happy," said Tegan. Rarity walked over to her, different swatches following her. She took the corners of each one and held them up to Tegan's coat.
"By the way," said Rarity as she was working, "didn't you mention a third friend traveling with you? Where is she?"
"He," Tegan corrected.
"Oh, sorry. Where is he?"
"The Doctor's just outside," said Nyssa. "Should I get him?"
"The Doctor?" Rarity asked Nyssa, confused.
"Yes, the Doctor."
"Doctor. . .Who?"
"Nothing, he's just 'the Doctor'," said Nyssa. "Here, let me bring him in."
"Alright," agreed Rarity. Nyssa galloped out of the room and to the front door.
"I know, I had the same reaction when I first met him too," said Tegan to Rarity as soon as Nyssa left. "Hm, that cream color looks decent."
"Or do you want just simply white?" asked Rarity.
"So many choices," said Tegan. The front shop bell chimed lightly in the air. Soon Nyssa appeared again in the back room.
"Rarity, this is the Doctor," she said to the fashion pony. "I've explained everything to him about you helping us. Perhaps you could find something for him?"
"Oh yes yes yes," replied Rarity, who was currently focused on the cream and white swatches to Tegan. "Show him in." The Doctor came from the front and to the room the mares were in. He stood patiently, noting that Rarity seemed busy.
"Hello," he then greeted when she didn't look up. Rarity glanced over at the stallion and refocused to her work. She took a sudden double-take. The fabrics that were in the blue mist fell to the floor.
"H-hello," she stuttered. The Doctor held out his hoof.
"I'm the Doctor," he greeted slowly, noticing that Rarity was having some strange trouble with talking. The mare took his hoof and shook it.
"I'm. . .Rarity," she slightly laughed before taking her hoof back and flouncing her hair. Rarity knocked the red glasses off of her nose. "Just Rarity."
"I kind of already assumed that," the Doctor replied, still trying to maintain a polite grin. Rarity just stood in one place, staring at him and pulling at her hair with her hooves.
"Rarity, is anything the matter?" asked Nyssa. Rarity just gave a flustered laugh.
"Of course everything's alright!" she said. "Everything is just fi-"
Rarity suddenly fainted.
"Um. . ." said Nyssa, unsure of what to do.
"Not to make any false assumptions," said Tegan to the Doctor, "but I think she fancies you."
"You think I haven't noticed," the Doctor said, still standing awkwardly with the fake grin on his face.