Barb feels insecure about her appearance. All she thought of herself as was an ugly, insignificant dragon in a sea of ponies that easily were more worthy of attention than her. She begins to slip into depression, distancing herself from those who care about her...
Until Elusive offers to spruce her up, showing her that even though she's a dragon, she can still be beautiful inside and out.
Gonna bring this story in for the Sparity Contest baby.
Thanks to Mr101 and Flint Spark for looking over the story.
Chapters (1)
Oh, this looks good. It looks really good.
Too good . . .
WHAT SORCERY IS THIS!?
3719014
mrwgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Claude-Frollo-Witchcraft-Reaction-Gif-In-The-Hunchback-Of-Notre-Dame.gif
It must be cause its a slice of life and I never really read a story like that unless it looks good now I shall be back must read
So much r63 Sparity...
~Skeeter The Lurker
Needs AU tag.
Can we say 11th hour? Good work, boyo.
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Damn you and your AU....
THERE! Is it good for you now!
3719274
Eeyup.
>“I’m have way too many
>“Yeah. Feminine touch
fix eeeeet
3719126 dam that was good, reminds me of me a few years back, you always see the handsome guys on TV and movies get the girl and the ugly guy dies or is the bad guy and I went through a deep stage of depression and I felt so bad about myself with my zits and pimples and glasses and over weight, I had no one to help me I just started get things from people I I know like zit cream and advice from the fit people in school and know I'm not so fat most is muscle and have less zits still pretty shy though but have more friends after that tough time and I'm glad I have them
3719398
Fixed and ready
Oh.My.God. THAT WAS THE BEST FIC I HAVE EVER READ!!! Besides only a few grammar mistakes that was amazing!!!! Does anypony else feel like SpikexRarity isn't as gross as BarbxElusive? I really think that SpikexRarity is better, but you, my friend, did this relationship in the right way. Five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Oh you know... I just had a thought.... SpikexSweetie Belle is better than SpikezxWhatever the boy equivalent of Sweetie Belle is.... But you could make it work. Keep up the romance and slice of life stories, they are amazing. I expect big things from you!
-Derpy 2
PS I am reading this on my IPhone and there is some weird spacing. I know it isn't you it is my phone but does anypony know how to fix this? Thanks
That. was. Amazing.
well, besides this bein my first gender bender sparity fic; i enjoyed n' luved how elusive got barb her confidence back from those nasty thoughts plaguin her
This is SO damn accurate
PS: I really don't get her problem. I always thought that Dragons looked pretty epic. Even Zombie Dragons like the ones from FFIX look pretty awesome. I really think that ponies should envy her, not the other way around.
I saw a few errors throughout, but most were incorrect 'to'/'too' usage. Run it back through and iron those out. the less errors, the better the chance at a win, I think.
I don't read r63 stories. key word: Don't
That should mean something to you.
I very much enjoyed it, especially the ending.
And this is perfect
I want be honest: I don't like Elusine, I think that Rarity's personality can't be very effective on a male, but I love Barb
However, in this fanfic you make me like Elusive too
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There are many pretty young women out there that have low self esteem because of the "photoshop" standards people have. Many like to hide their imperfections to have a plastic perception of beauty. And when you are surrounded by a lot of people who look like that, even the pretty ones start thinking of themselves as ugly due to their imperfections and differences.
It's a plague that runs in the world and poisons people's minds. Kinda similar to this situation. However, I'll take a dragon over those haughty mares any day
This is a really nice story. This is the first Barb x Elusive fic I've ever read, and it was amazing
This addresses the issue many women have these days, self loathing due to their looks. They compare themselves to others who are supposedly prettier but don't consider their true inner beauty. Elusive was a great choice to get this message across to Barb 
that was a nice sweet story, fun read...
“The models in that book are helping make her feel less significant than she is. She’s comparing herself to the mares and personifying their idea of perfection onto herself.”
>personifying their idea of perfection onto herself
Projecting would have been a better verb to use there.
Tackling some real life issues there, nice.
Excellent work.
the world needs a lot more of elusive and less of those books/magazines. heartwarming story!
................you have my vote sir, you have it 100%
It was cute and a very touching piece. I would read it again quite a few times if it weren't for a lot of grammar issues. A lot of which involve the wrong word, wrong tense, and possession. As far as the story itself though, it was beautiful.
I wish you all the luck! Also, let me know if you want help with some of the issues and I'll help at the drop of a hat.
A perfectly done story of substance over style! Then again, I haven't seen or read anything yet that mocks this idea! Who cares what a person looks like to others, as long as there is one person who likes you for who you are, not what you look like, you'll still be able to smile!
very awesome story, also nice to see the R63 universe in your writing
Eh... It's a good story... But the narrative just doesn't work for me when it has Rarity doing this as a male...
To be honest, I feel like it might've been a better story if it was non-gender-flipped...
Unlike a number of the other commenters, I'm actually not fond of SpikexRarity. While I can grant him having a crush on her, I really don't think that they have enough in common to be anything more than that (besides, I much prefer Spikexone of the CMC). BarbxElusive, though, seems like an amazing pairing. I love their dynamic, especially in that scene when they're discussing the dresses on the way to the boutique. I did have some trouble, especially in the first half or so, keeping the R63 image/voice separate from the canon versions, but I think that as this is only the second R63 fic I've read (even counting On a Cross and an Arrow), so that's more a problem on my end than yours. The only things I might legitimately be able to pick at are not giving Dusk quite as much characterization as I'd like, and carrying "Spikey Wikey" over as "Barby Warby"—I didn't like it in canon and I still don't like it in the AU, especially if Elusive's finding her "cuter than most mares" is more in the sense of "beautiful" than "cute kid". Even then, the former can be at least partially excused as a combination of him being a secondary character and, again, me not having a particularly good idea of how he acts separate from Twilight and overcompensating by unintentionally ignoring some traits they do actually share (reading it as late in the night as I did probably didn't help either). All in all, though, this is a really fun story. Thank you!
3719400 don't let it get the best of you or you're life will be handicapped and weighed down by depression
3719014 lol
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" emoticons don't really help me much. Wanna actually... you know... speak?
You know, using "
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lol jk. ya i didnt really like the story. it just wasnt my thing 
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Still don't know what you didn't like, but hey, whatever.
3727719 i guess i didnt like the plot of it
3727719 & why does barb look like spike?
3727774
Familiar with Rule 63? It's genderswap. AKA... technically still Spike
interesting to pose a real world problem into this 'verse, very nicely done :)
Wow, a featured Barb story that is not clop. I might have to read it later just for that.
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ok
3728410
Yes, the feature box has been overrun with clop again.
Strong, positive message and excellent storytelling. You did a fine job with this story, Draconian, and you should do well in this contest.
Now that's what I'm talking about! Have a fave and like! Oh, and I'll have that sequel now. I have the feeling that this one was just the tip of the iceberg.
3729326 Seems to be that way fairly often.
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nothing to do with the story but awesome avatar
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Why thank you, good sir.