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// Chapter 17: The Plan 
// Story: A Change In Fashion 
// by Kevinltk 
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A green light lit up in Glamour’s room, bathing it in a soft glow. It was not bright enough to reveal the corners of her room, but there was enough to allow Glamour to inspect her pony self in her compact mirror.

She tilted the mirror around to inspect herself from the glowing horn on her head all the way down to her pink and black tail brushing against the floor. Once she took a thorough look at herself, emerald flames wrapped around her, and she was left in her changeling body.

Glamour sighed, staring at her changeling face, and then she glanced at her door, or rather, in the direction of the sleeping mare in the other room. She shook her head before pulling back her attention to the mirror and closed her eyes.

Concentrating hard on the image in her mind, Glamour felt her magic run through her whole body and then fade away. When she opened her eyes, lit up her horn again, and looked at her mirror, she saw her pony self once again.

A satisfied grin spread across her face. She had finally learned how to change into her pony form without having to reference a picture.

After she and Coco came home earlier, they finished their preparations for tomorrow’s contest and then decided to call it an early night. However, Glamour only took a short nap before waking up to prepare for her plan against Suri.

With Coco’s love flooding their home, Glamour had plenty of energy to practice her transformation. It took some time, but she could finally change back and forth from her changeling and unicorn forms at will. She did not know if she was going to need it, but it was no doubt a useful ability to learn. Given how important it was to foil Suri’s plan, she wanted to be sure that she had as many tools as possible at her disposal for tonight.

Glamour took a look at her clock and saw that it was almost eleven at night. It was about time for her to start her plan.

After stowing her mirror back into her bag under the pillows, she grabbed her prepared sling pouch and crept out of her room. She kept an eye on the closed door of Coco’s room as she made her way to the living room and toward the sliding door leading to the balcony. Carefully, she slid the door open, wincing at the squeaking sounds it emitted, and stepped outside.

Glamour double-checked the contents of her sling pouch. Her new camera, a healthy sum of bits, and a photo all laid inside. Satisfied that she had everything, she closed the door behind her, making sure to leave the door a tiny bit ajar for her return.

She took out the photo from her pouch, and after taking a moment to study it, her horn lit up and bathed her in emerald flames. After the magic faded away, she put the picture away and took a look in the glass of the sliding door to check her faint reflection.

Or rather, his faint reflection. Glamour was now a dark-grey pegasus stallion with a brown mane and tail. After spending so long in the unicorn disguise he created, taking on the form of another pony felt foreign to him. He took one last glance in Coco’s direction before spreading his wings and taking off into the air.

Glamour closed his eyes, enjoying the wind rushing past him as he ascended. As much as he loved his unicorn form and the new life he built with it, it felt good to finally stretch his wings again. After making a few circles in the air to get used to flying again, he took off towards the fashion building.

Gliding above the streets, he took the opportunity to take a bird’s eye view of Manehattan at night. As expected, plenty of ponies still were milling about the city, even at this late hour. Luckily, there were not as many pegasi flying about, and with all the streetlights and buildings lighting his way, Glamour arrived at his destination with ease.

He landed near the back alley of the fashion building, slipping inside on hoof when the coast was clear. As he approached the back door, his hoofsteps slowly came to a stop, and he took a good look at the familiar surroundings.

A shiver ran through Glamour’s body, and he was hit with a wave of nostalgia. This was where he first entered, or rather snuck, into the world of fashion. It also was where he first met Coco. It was hard to believe that entering the ventilation shaft high above so long ago would lead him into a whole new world. There had been tears and frustrations along the way, but it was all well worth the new friends and love that he found.

And now here he was once again. He had used his changeling abilities to sneak inside, and now he was about to do the same thing, except this time, he was doing it for another pony’s sake.

With a deep breath, he flew up to the ventilation shaft, revealed his changeling horn, and then used his magic to pop open the grate blocking his way. He flew into the metal tunnel, making sure to replace the grate behind him.

As he crawled through the vent, he had to keep his horn out to light his way. At this late hour, there were no lights filtering in from the rooms below. Eventually, he came upon another grate below him. Peeking through it, he saw the dressing room, and like Coco mentioned, there were racks of what had to be the contestants’ designs lined up in the middle of the room.

The grate was wrapped in a green aura, and Glamour started pulling with his magic. Unlike the one outside though, this grate did not pop out easily. In fact, it did not budge at all. Prim must have had a new, tougher grate installed after he fell through it on his first day here.

Glamour gritted his teeth and poured more of his magic into his horn, and the tight space was filled with quiet grunts as he tried to tug the grate off, but it was to no avail.

A growl escaped Glamour, and he positioned himself directly over the grate. By his estimates, he still had some time before Suri arrived, but not enough to try and find an alternate route. The janitor was still somewhere inside the building, but he could not afford to waste any more time. He did not come all this way just to be stopped by an infuriating piece of metal.

His horn flooded the small space with green light, and he raised both of his forehooves. Once he charged up enough of his magic, he slammed both hooves down at the same time he released a burst of magic, all striking the grate at once.

A booming clang rang through the air, and the grate finally gave away, breaking clean off the ventilation shaft and sending it and Glamour tumbling to the floor below with another loud crash.

Glamour groaned, having landed flat on his face, but he got up and powered through his daze, picking up the fallen grate in his hooves and ducking behind the racks of clothing before extinguishing his light. Trying his best to keep his heavy breathing down, he perked up his ears, listening for anypony that might be coming to investigate his noisy entrance.

After catching his breath and hearing no signs of anypony else, he lit up his horn again. The first thing he checked was the grate in his hooves, and he frowned at the damage. His forceful entrance had put a large dent in the center of the grate. Hopefully, Prim would not notice. With a sigh, he set the metal aside and began looking around the room.

His main priority was to find Coco’s dress hidden amidst all the other designs on the racks. Most of them were sealed inside plastic bags like Coco’s, making it difficult to distinguish them from one another. Luckily, Coco mentioned that she put a sticker of her cutie mark on the bag, and after sifting through the racks, he eventually spied a picture of a purple hat with a red feather sticking out of it.

He grabbed Coco’s dress and flew back up to the hole in the ventilation shaft. Carefully, he folded up the dress and then placed it inside the shaft, out of reach of Suri’s cheating hooves. He gently patted the prized dress with a smile before landing back on the ground.

After he made one more trip back to the vent to tuck the grate inside as well, Glamour looked around the room for a suitable hiding spot. To his dismay, the task was much harder than he thought it would be.

The vent was out of the question because he did not want to risk drawing attention to Coco’s dress. He tried the changing area on the other side of the room, but the curtains moved too much when he tried to peek out of them. Trying to stay hidden behind clothing racks involved too much moving around, and contrary to some rumors he heard, standing still did not make him invisible.

Running out of time and ideas, Glamour’s search became more and more frantic. He combed the room once again looking for anything that would let him safely stalk Suri. Eventually, his gaze stopped on something in the farther corner that was on the same side as the door.

Lying on the floor were several bolts of fabric that were about as tall as a pony. An idea came to him, and he trotted over to the clothing material. He picked up one of the bolts, flipped it upright, and then leaned it against the wall. A small grin spread across his face when he saw the bolt stayed in place, and he quickly did the same with the remaining bolts. When he was done, the bolts were all lined up against the wall with an extra one lying flat against their bases to help keep them in place.

Glamour got on his stomach and carefully backed himself into the small, triangular enclosure between the wall and the bolts of fabric. It was a bit tight, but Glamour was able to get in without too much trouble. He then tested how quick he could slide in and out of the hole, and he found he could do it with relative ease.

Confident that his hiding spot was a success, he pulled out his camera. After fiddling with its settings, he whisked away his horn, plunging the room into darkness again. He was all ready for Suri, and now, all he had to do was wait.

To Glamour’s chagrin, he was left lying in the cramped space for quite some time. He had thought that with all the time he took getting into the room and searching for a hiding spot, Suri’s arrival was imminent, but as he laid in the dark, worry and impatience began to creep up on the waiting changeling. His grip tightened on the camera, and his hind legs twitched from time to time. Suri sabotaging everypony else’s entries seemed to be the most likely crime she would commit, but it was not a guaranteed thing. With no way to check the time, he wondered if it already past midnight or if Suri was actually somewhere else in the building doing who knows what.

Glamour’s ears flicked when he heard faint hoofsteps from outside the room. As the sound slowly grew louder and louder, he took a deep breath and readied himself.

The hoofsteps stopped at the door, and soon after, the doorknob began jiggling. The door was supposed to be locked, but judging by the scratching and clicking noises emanating from the other side of it, Suri had learned to pick locks at some point in time. When the noise ended with a loud click, Glamour held his breath.

The door opened, and sure enough, Suri walked in. She was wearing a saddlebag, and in her mouth was a flashlight, which she slowly directed its light over the entire perimeter of the room.

Glamour retreated further into his hiding spot as Suri scanned the room, and he even tried to curl his body into a smaller size when he saw a few rays of light filter through the fabric. To his relief, the light passed by him with no delay. When he guessed it was safe, he slid out of his hiding spot and saw Suri quietly close the door behind her and make her way to one of the racks of clothing in the middle of the room.

Suri’s experience was clearly shown when she quickly got to work. She set up a stand to hold her flashlight and immediately started sifting through the other contestants’ entries. As she worked, she frequently glanced at the door, and her ears were perked up and alert. She knew what she was doing, and she was keeping a careful watch for anypony who might come in and catch her.

Too bad for Suri that there was a changeling already watching her every move.

Glamour raised the camera to his eyes, aiming at Suri as she took out a pair of scissors out of her bag. When Suri started cutting into somepony’s dress, Glamour pressed the button on his camera, and a picture was taken with a quiet click.

Suri’s head immediately jerked up at the sound, and Glamour retreated back into his hiding spot, praying that his cover was not blown.

After a few seconds, the snipping of scissors resumed, and Glamour heard Suri mutter, “That janitor was right. Prim really needs to get a tuneup for this place.”

Letting out a quiet sigh of relief, Glamour once again creeped out of his hole to resume his watch on Suri. Every now and then, he would take a picture as Suri continued with her devious deed. He was careful to not take too many to draw Suri’s attention, and after every picture, he poised himself to swiftly retreat into his hiding spot in case Suri turned around.

Fortunately, Suri was absorbed in her dirty work and ignored the clicks of the camera except for the occasional ear flick. Glamour could not clearly see what Suri was doing, nor did he fully understand her work, but he did observe Suri doing things such as cutting off pieces to make stuff uneven or loosening threads binding accessories to fabrics.

It was all seemingly small stuff, but Glamour remembered Coco’s words. The designer and model probably would not notice something was wrong until the design was being displayed in front of the judges, and by then, it would be too late.

Glamour also noticed that Suri ignored doing any work on a number of designs. After thinking about it, he guessed that it was probably a precaution to avoid drawing suspicion to her. It also meant that she had more time to concentrate on the ones that she deemed more threatening to her.

After a number of designs were ruined and pictures taken, Glamour noticed that Suri had stopped her sabotage to focus on looking through the rest of the clothes hanging on the racks.

“Where did she put it?” Suri muttered as she sifted through the racks. “I thought that traitor left whatever trash she made here as well.”

Glamour had to bite his lip hard to suppress the urge to growl. It was obvious which pony Suri was talking about, and he could tell Suri would not have held back if Coco’s dress was not safe in the vent above them.

His anger quickly morphed into fear when he felt a tickle on his nose. The tingling sensation was all too familiar, and he knew what was coming. He tried to scrunch up his face to hold it back, but it could not be contained. Glamour dropped the camera on the floor and covered his mouth right before he let out a sneeze. Right after that, he let out a tiny yelp, and he pushed himself back into his hiding spot.

“Is somepony there?” Suri’s voice rang through the room.

Glamour covered his mouth again and tried to retreat further into his hole. Just as the sound of Suri’s hoofsteps started, his eyes widened when he saw his camera was still lying flat on the floor just outside the hole. With Suri’s hoofsteps getting louder, he had no choice but to quickly stretch out his hoof. As soon as his hoof touched the camera, he dragged it back against his body, and just in time, because a beam of light passed over the entrance a moment later.

“This stupid building’s noises are making me paranoid,” Suri mumbled while her hoofsteps trotted away from Glamour’s hiding spot.

A sigh of relief escaped Glamour’s mouth, and he remained in his hole until he heard the snipping of scissors again. Peeking out of his safe spot, it looked like Suri had given up on looking for Coco’s dress and was now working on next to a rack on the opposite side of the room.

Glamour already had a bit of trouble getting some clear shots from his hiding spot, but now that Suri was so far away, he could not see at all what she was doing. Carefully, he crawled out from underneath the bolts of fabric and got up into a crouching position. Making sure Suri’s back was still turned to him, he raised his camera and took another picture.

A bright flash lit up the room, and Glamour’s jaw dropped for a second before he scrambled to get back into his hiding place. Unfortunately, in his haste, one of his hooves bumped into his makeshift shelter, and one of the bolts of fabric at the end slipped and fell to the ground with a dull thud.

“W-what the? Who’s there?!” Suri cried out.

Glamour cursed to himself when the flashlight shone onto his hiding spot. The flash setting on the camera must have been flipped on when he dropped it and dragged it across the floor. 

“There’s no use hiding anymore. I know you’re there. I don’t care whoever you are or how you got in here, but you’re going to regret spying on me,” Suri threatened as her hoofsteps slowly drew close to Glamour.

Glamour bit his lip. He was pretty confident he could win in a fight against Suri, even without his magic. The trouble was that he had promised Coco that he would not go overboard, and inflicting any kind of injury on Suri likely fit into that category. And even though Suri was not one of his favorite ponies, Glamour did not really want to hurt her either. It was a shame, judging by the approaching growls, that Suri was not sharing the same sentiment.

Stuck in his current form and unwilling to lay a hoof on Suri, Glamour tried to quickly look around for an escape route. The vents were still out of the question with Coco’s dress up there, and Suri was in a prime position to intercept him if he tried to make a break for the door. His eyes frantically looked around for anything he could use, and they stopped on the camera still in his hooves.

Glamour fiddled with the settings and then immediately raised it up to his face. When he heard an “Aha!” from Suri right as the bolts of fabric were pushed aside, he rapidly slammed his hoof down on the button to take a photo.

Suri yowled when her eyes were assaulted by a flurry of camera flashes in the max setting, the effect amplified by the dark room. She stumbled back as her flashlight clattered to the ground, and she frantically rubbed at her eyes with her hooves.

Seeing his chance, Glamour unraveled a long length of fabric from one of the fallen bolts and threw it over Suri, covering her entirely.

“Arrrgh! When I get my hooves on you!” the livid, squirming mound of fabric cried out.

Glamour rushed around Suri to the door, and after making sure his camera was safely stowed into his pouch, he ran out of the room.

Not sure what to do except put some distance between him and Suri, Glamour started running down the hall. Thankfully, the building kept a few lights on, even during the night. He could not see everything, but it was enough to help him not trip on his own hooves.

At the end of the hall, Glamour flinched when he heard a door slam open. Looking back, he was surprised to see that Suri had already freed herself and was shining her flashlight around the hall until it landed on him.

“You!” Suri snarled before charging right for Glamour.

Glamour yelped and took off in a sprint with Suri hot on his trail. Fortunately, with the time he spent in the building, he knew the general layout, and he led Suri in a circle as he bought time to think of something. Periodically checking on Suri’s position behind him, Glamour was relieved to find that despite her fury, Suri was not able to close the gap between them. Glamour might not be as strong as an earth pony, but his life on the run had trained him to be a much more capable runner than the dress designer. It was only Suri’s earth pony stamina that was keeping her in the chase. 

As time passed, Glamour could feel his legs starting to get sore, and he knew that he had to end the chase soon. With Coco’s dress still in the vents, he needed to somehow get back to the dressing room after losing Suri.

He had been trying to find anything that could help him, but the dim lightning and the speed that they were running in made it hard to take in his surroundings. Passing a hall near the stage area, Glamour noticed a door at the end before he ran past it. His eyes widened a bit as an idea came to mind.

Using up the last reserves of his strength, Glamour picked up his speed to make one last lap around the building. When he reached the hallway, he made a sharp turn into it, skidding on his hooves, before bolting straight for the door. He threw open the door and was greeted by the sight of the alley behind the building. Without missing a beat, he jumped straight into the air and made his horn reappear. He used his magic to open the grate above the back door and dove straight into the vent, the grate slamming shut behind him.

Doing his best to stifle his gasps for air, he started shifting his body around, hearing the back door slam open as he did so. When he finally turned around, he peeked through the grate to see Suri searching for him behind the dumpsters in the alley.

Suri looked through the whole alley and even up in the air, but she eventually gave up with a frustrated groan and turned back to the back door that had automatically closed. When she pulled on the handle, the door did not budge. Suri froze for a few seconds before she tried again. The door still did not move, so she tried yet again, and again, and again.

“No, no, no!” Suri cried out as she tugged repeatedly on the door. With her entrance still blocked, she growled, turned around, and began lashing out with her hind hooves. “Stupid janitor was supposed to leave it unlocked!”

Glamour winced as each vicious buck was punctuated with a yell of “Stupid!”, but the door remained wooden and did not budge under the assault. After a few more bucks, he saw Suri slump down to the ground. She got up a moment later, her body clearly shaking with exhaustion, and slowly slinked out of the alley.

After a few minutes and no sign of Suri’s return, Glamour let out a sigh of relief. It was a stroke of luck that Suri was locked outside, and now, he was free to clean things up at his leisure. He turned back around and crawled through the vent until he arrived back above the dressing room, pleased to see the dress was just where he had left it. Carefully, he picked up the dress and floated back down into the dressing room.

A proud smile formed on Glamour’s face as he hung the dress back onto the rack, untouched by Suri’s hooves. The smile faded when he took another look around the room at all the other clothes hanging on the racks. Suri had tampered with at least half of the designs in the room, marking them for easy elimination in tomorrow’s contest. But was it necessarily a bad thing?

Suri’s plan was to eliminate a good deal of her competition, including Coco. But thanks to his efforts, Coco’s dress was safe and could reap the benefits of Suri’s work, giving her a much better chance of finishing near the top or even winning the whole competition. All Glamour had to do was leave things the way they were and return home.

Glamour flew up to the vent, only to stop in midair and frown. He sighed and hung his head. Leaving the things they were right now was no better than cheating. He might not know any of the other ponies who were in the competition, but he was willing to bet many of them had worked just as hard as Coco. Was it really fair to let their efforts go to waste?

Coco would not have thought so. In fact, Glamour knew Coco well enough to know that she would have done whatever she could to help fix everything, even if it hurt her chances of winning. 

Slowly and with a sigh, Glamour descended until his hooves touched the floor again. After all the time he spent with Coco, he was disappointed in himself for thinking of such a selfish act. He had to do something to make things right. Unfortunately, he did not know what he could do. He did not have the skills nor the time to fix every single design Suri sabotaged.

After taking some time to think about it, only one thing came to mind. It was not much, but it was better than nothing. He headed for the lobby area of the building. There, he searched around Grace’s desk until he found a pen and paper. After scribbling a few words, he headed up to Prim’s office and slipped the note under the locked door, hoping that it would be found before the contest started.

With nothing left for him to do, Glamour exited the building through the dressing room vent, making sure both grates were put back. Once he was outside, he spread his wings and flew away, but not toward home.

There was one more stop he had to make, and after a bit of searching he finally found what he was looking for. As Snap Shot’s Camera Store came into view, he recalled the friendly salespony, Shutter Bug, and how he said he worked some crazy hours. Hopefully, this late hour would count as crazy.

When he got closer, he saw Shutter Bug right outside the store. To his dismay, he appeared to be locking up for the night. He absolutely needed his pictures ready before the contest started. With no idea how long it would take to develop pictures, he had to try and get Shutter Bug to start on them now.

Glamour looked around for a second and then flew into a nearby alley. As soon as he landed, he closed his eyes and focused on the image in his mind. With a flare of magic, Glamour shed his pegasus disguise and was now a unicorn once again.

She hurried out of the alley and back to the store to find Shutter Bug trotting away. “Excuse me, Shutter Bug.”

Shutter Bug turned around and immediately perked up with a smile when he saw her. “Oh, Miss Glamour, it’s very nice to see you again. What are you doing out so late?”

“I was hoping to see you actually.” Glamour pulled out her camera. “Could you do me a huge favor? I know you’re closed now, but I really need some pictures developed as soon as possible. Do you think you can finish them by the morning?”

“Sure I can,” Shutter Bug replied. “I actually only need about thirty minutes to do it. If you want, I can do it now, and you could wait inside the store while I work.”

“That would be perfect. Thank you so much.” Glamour followed Shutter Bug back into the store and gave him the camera. When Shutter Bug disappeared into the back room, she leaned her body onto the front counter, letting out a tired sigh as she slid down to a sitting position.

She glanced at a clock on the wall before closing her eyes. It had been a few hours since she left home, and now that she was safe in the store, her body was feeling the full effects of all the flying, running, hiding, and magicking she had done tonight. She could not wait to get back to her room to catch a few more hours of sleep before the contest began.

The Fall Fashion Fantasia was going to be a huge show, but she was going to split the spotlight with many other ponies. Factoring in Coco’s fantastic dress and the pictures that were being developed, Glamour was actually not feeling that nervous about the upcoming competition. She was looking forward to what was coming, in particular, what she had planned for Suri. And once the contest was over, she could concentrate on what was most important again: her relationship with Coco.

Glamour’s eyes opened halfway, and her mouth formed into a frown. Tonight’s escapade was a success, but only because of her changeling abilities. While she did not regret using them to help Coco, she did regret the fact that Coco still did not know this side of her. She might be done running and hiding from Suri, but the same could not be said with Coco.

“Miss Glamour?”

Glamour looked up to see Shutter Bug looking down at her from over the counter. “Oh, Shutter Bug. Sorry, I guess I sort of spaced out for a bit. Are you done?”

“Yep.” Shutter Bug waved his hoof to the side where Glamour’s camera was resting next to a thick envelope. “All your pictures are inside. Um, forgive me for prying, but I could not help but notice that some of your later pictures were kind of odd.”

“Let’s just say that I was trying to take some action shots and had some trouble with the flash settings,” Glamour said as she got up and opened up the envelope to take a look at her work.

Glamour smiled as she saw the first pictures were of her and Coco on their date, including the group shot they did with Grace. It was a shame they did not get a chance to get more pictures together before Coco had to work on the dress.

When she got to the pictures of Suri, she found that some of them were actually too dark to make anything out. Luckily, she took enough pictures over the span of her stalking, and a few of them clearly showed Suri’s cheating.

There were a few hitches, exemplified by the last few closeup shots of a surprised, angry Suri, but Glamour’s plan had worked out. She and Coco now had the upper hoof on Suri, and after tomorrow, they would never have to worry about her ever again.

“These turned out great. Thank you again for your hard work.” Glamour held her pouch upside down over the counter and shook it, releasing all the bits held inside.

“M-miss Glamour, there’s no need for that,” Shutter Bug said with wide eyes as the bits streamed onto the counter. “It was an honor to do this for you.”

“Just take it, Shutter Bug. Besides, I kept you from going home.”

“S-still, this is about five times as much for a photo development.”

Glamour smirked. “I figured. Keep the change. You’re a hard worker, and you deserve it. I insist.”

“I-I don’t know what to say. Oh um…” Shutter Bug bowed. “Thank you very much, Miss Glamour. You really are a generous pony, and it’s been a pleasure serving you.”

Glamour chuckled as she packed her camera and pictures into her pouch. “You’re welcome, Shutter Bug. Now if you don’t mind, I really need to get going.”

“Of course,” Shutter Bug said with another bow. “I hope to see you again, Miss Glamour. Thank you!”

Glamour waved goodbye and exited the store. She went into another alley, pulled out the picture of the stallion pegasus, and changed into him before flying back home. Landing back on the balcony of the apartment, Glamour once again changed back into her unicorn form and quietly made her way inside.

She crept through the living room, taking one quick glance in Coco’s direction before entering her own room. Once inside, she collapsed onto her bed.

A lot of things happened today, and tomorrow promised even more things to come. But for now, Glamour really needed some sleep.