Mistress of Disguise
When Starlight Glimmer had first arrived in the Lego World, it hadn’t taken her long to notice that literally everyone always wore some kind of clothing. Granted, she at first didn’t recognize it as clothing since on a Lego minifig, most forms of clothing appeared to be just directly printed onto their bodies. She had quite a few questions on the subject of fashion in the Lego World, so it was quite fortunate that she had a friend like Rarity to help her make sense of it all.
As she followed Rarity into her boutique, Starlight had to admit that the way everything was displayed seemed rather odd to her. Not only on the mannequins, but also on the clothing racks, every piece of clothing was shaped as if it was already being worn by someone. As strange as it was to imagine, it seemed to her like she was looking at a series of incomplete bodies.
As she and Rarity walked between the display racks on their way to the fitting rooms at the back of the shop, Starlight spoke up, “I have to say, Rarity, I’ve seen what fashion is like in Equestria, but this right here is nothing like that.”
Rarity turned to Starlight and asked, “How so, darling?”
“Well, to start off,” explained Starlight, “most ponies in Equestria don’t usually wear clothes, so my world’s Rarity gets most of her business from wealthy clients who want dresses for special occasions.”
“Then I suppose I should consider myself lucky to live in a society where public nudity is considered a criminal offense,” remarked Rarity. “I imagine the other Rarity must get very creative out of necessity in order to make ends meet.”
“She recently opened a third shop in Manehattan,” Starlight pointed out.
Rarity immediately stopped walking and turned to Starlight. “With that little market share?!” she asked in astonishment. She then turned away and mumbled, “She must practically have a monopoly…”
Starlight was pretty sure that wasn’t actually true, but she decided to let it go for now and move on to another question she had. She continued, “Another thing I don’t understand is how just about everything here looks, I don’t know… more like body parts. I mean, clothes are supposed to fold up neatly for easy storage, not be stiff to point that it’s like no one had ever taken them off.”
Rarity glanced around at everything she had on display, then turned back to Starlight and stated, “I fail to see anything wrong with my inventory.”
Starlight rolled her eyes and said, “Yes, because I’m sure this is what’s considered totally normal here in the Lego World. But for a pony from Equestria like me, it just makes no sense. How do you even change outfits? Do you just peel it off like a snake shedding its skin?”
Rarity burst out laughing for a few seconds, then relaxed and replied, “Oh, don’t be so preposterous, darling. It’s actually quite simple.” She removed a sparkling blue dress from a nearby rack and began walking towards the fitting rooms. “Allow me to demonstrate.”
Starlight watched as Rarity stepped behind the wall in front of the fitting rooms. As Rarity hummed a little tune to herself, Starlight saw what appeared to be Rarity’s skirt piece and torso piece with arm pieces still attached tossed aside, and then Rarity stepped out to reveal she was now wearing that blue dress she had picked out.
“Voilà!” declared Rarity proudly as she did a slow twirl to show off her dress from all angles.
Starlight stared at Rarity in confusion for a moment before she eventually said, “I still don’t get it.”
Rarity huffed, then retrieved her discarded standard outfit and returned behind the wall of the fitting rooms as she muttered, “Then perhaps a more personal demonstration may be necessary.” She suddenly gasped in delight and remarked, “Of course! This could be the perfect opportunity to show you some of the outfits I’ve already made for you!”
Starlight took a step back and hesitantly said, “Uh, I-I don’t think that’s really necessary.”
“Nonsense, darling!” argued Rarity excitedly as she stepped out from behind the wall, now back to wearing her standard outfit. “Come along, now!” She then grabbed Starlight’s wrist and pulled her towards the fitting rooms.
Despite her protests, Starlight suddenly found herself dragged into one of the fitting rooms, then felt Rarity swiftly remove her standard outfit and replace it with something else. “Whoa! Hey! Watch it!” shouted Starlight throughout the remarkably brief fitting procedure. It wasn’t long before the two girls emerged from the fitting room and Rarity practically flung Starlight to stand in front of a series of display mirrors.
“Behold!” declared Rarity proudly. “Formal Attire!”
Once Starlight got her bearings, she looked at herself in the mirrors and saw she no longer had that hat atop her hair, her arms were bare, her torso was black and sparkled in the light, and in place of her legs was a 2x2x2 sloped brick that was the same sparkly black as her torso. She moved around a little to look at herself from different angles, then smiled and remarked, “Not bad.”
“I’m glad you approve, darling,” said Rarity. “I was a little concerned I might have gone a tad overboard on the sequins.”
Starlight chuckled and quipped, “Let’s just say my world’s Rarity has no sense of moderation when it comes to sequins.”
“Cultural differences, I presume,” noted Rarity. “On that subject, while I am sure the Rarity you know is a specialist for outfits like these, I prefer to see myself as more of a generalist. Observe!”
Rarity grabbed Starlight by the arm and swiftly dragged her back into the fitting room. After less than a minute of fussing around, Rarity then shoved Starlight back in front of the mirrors and declared, “I call this one the Utilitarian! Ideal for passing through construction zones and mining tunnels.”
Starlight looked at herself in the mirror and saw she now had a bright red hardhat on her head with just a little of her hair past the edges of it, bright orange on her torso with highly reflective strips across the front and back, and dark blue on her arms and legs with a brown belt around her waist. She closely examined each part of the uniform and noted, “I don’t see any fashionable extras on this one anywhere. Are you sure you’re the one who made this?”
Rarity giggled and replied, “Yes, it’s true I wasn’t always fond of outfits that were strictly utilitarian, but thanks to my time spent on the LEGO Team with my friends, I’ve learned that there will be many situations in which the appropriate attire demands that I place functionality before fabulousity.”
“And in this case, it totally works,” acknowledged Starlight with a smile. She then turned to Rarity and asked, “What else have you got?”
This time, Starlight did not resist as Rarity pulled her back into the fitting room. After another minute of quickly changing outfits, Starlight was back in front of the mirrors.
“This one was inspired by the uniforms my friends and I once wore back when we attended Camp Everfree in our youth,” explained Rarity. “I call it the Woodland Explorer!”
Starlight looked at herself in the mirrors and saw she had her standard hat atop her hair, white on her torso, aqua on her upper arms, dark grey on her upper legs and feet, white on her lower legs, and a belt piece between her torso and hip joint with a belt buckle on the front that resembled her Cutie Mark — albeit oriented sideways. Starlight smiled and remarked, “Yeah, I can totally see myself hiking through the woods wearing something like this. Uh, not that I’m much for the great outdoors, if I’m being honest here.”
“As I always like to say, one never knows, darling,” remarked Rarity. As she pulled Starlight back into the fitting room, she said, “Now this next one, I believe you will find quite exciting.” After another minute of swiftly swapping outfits, she shoved Starlight back to the mirrors and proudly exclaimed, “Ninja Robes!”
Starlight saw in the mirrors that she was now completely covered in the same lilac color as her skin, though minor details such as some wrinkles, some markings printed on the front of her torso in a language she was completely unfamiliar with, and the black belt around her waist showed that she really was wearing some kind of outfit. In addition, she had a mask over her head that covered everything except for her blue eyes. “Nice!” remarked Starlight. She turned to Rarity and asked, “Does it come with a weapon?”
“I am a seamstress, not a bladesmith,” Rarity pointed out. “You’ll have to supply your own weapon, I’m afraid.”
Starlight slumped and moaned, “Awww…”
“Not to worry, darling,” assured Rarity as she pulled Starlight back into the fitting room again. “This next one will prove essential in certain situations, and I think you’ll find it to be quite ideal for its category.” Changing into the next outfit took a little longer, but once it was finally on, she shoved Starlight back to the mirrors and proudly exclaimed, “Behold… the Spacesuit!”
Starlight looked in the mirrors and saw she now wore a kind of suit that completely covered her entire body, complete with a solid helmet, though its visor was currently flipped open to expose her face. In addition to some technical detailing on the front of her torso, she also had a pair of oxygen tanks on her back, which were attached around her neck joint. As for the color of this suit, it was mostly the same lilac color as her skin with the addition of a thick aqua stripe around her knees, elbows, waist, and across the top of the helmet from front to back. Finally, printed on both of her shoulders was the design of her Cutie Mark.
While Starlight was looking over her spacesuit, Rarity had run off and quickly returned with a space helmet that was white with a purple stripe — the helmet from her own spacesuit. “Go ahead, flip the visor down,” instructed Rarity.
Starlight was momentarily confused, but did as she was told and flipped down the transparent visor piece on her helmet. She heard a faint hissing of air as the visor fitted into place.
Meanwhile, Rarity fitted her own helmet over her head, and once she saw Starlight’s visor flipped closed, she tapped a switch on the side of her helmet and spoke, “Coms check! Can you hear me now?”
Starlight was quite surprised to suddenly hear Rarity’s voice within her sealed helmet, albeit slightly distorted with minor static. She quickly realized that this was probably how communication between people wearing airtight pressurized suits would be possible, so she responded, “Uh, yes… yes, I can.”
“Good,” responded Rarity’s voice through the helmet’s radio. “You may now flip open your visor.”
Starlight heard another faint hissing of air as she lifted the visor up. “Impressive,” she remarked, “though I find it hard to imagine I’ll ever end up using it.”
“Don’t be so sure of that, darling,” stated Rarity as she removed and set aside her space helmet. “In fact, back when our team was first formed by none other than the very same Princess Twilight you know, our very first mission took us to a major outpost on the lunar surface.”
Starlight’s eyes widened as she asked, “You’ve actually been to the Moon?”
“Twice, actually,” Rarity pointed out, “along with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. Sunset and our Twilight were not yet part of the team on our first visit.”
“I’m starting to think you girls have a lot more fun places to visit than what Equestria can offer,” muttered Starlight.
“I suppose I can’t blame you for feeling a little jealous,” remarked Rarity. As she then guided Starlight back into the fitting room, she stated, “Now, I’m afraid this is all I had available on such short notice. I’m still working on plenty of other outfits for you, such as the parka for frigid environments, the jungle explorer for tropical climate, and even scuba gear for underwater excursions.”
Once again, it took a minute for Rarity to help Starlight change clothes again. With all of the available alternate styles already tried, Starlight was now changed back to her standard outfit. As they walked out of the fitting room, Rarity remarked, “I must say, I find your standard attire to be rather fascinating. What decisions compelled you to select such a wardrobe?”
“Oh, I didn’t choose any of this,” explained Starlight. “All of what you see here was just automatically given to me as soon as I stepped through the interdimensional portal into this world.”
“Remarkable…” muttered Rarity. “I suppose that might explain why your world’s Spike made an attempt to ensure he could keep that hat of his at the end of his last visit to the Lego World. Speaking of which, do you happen to know if he was successful in keeping that red cap?”
“Well, yes and no,” replied Starlight. “I’ve been told that he did get to keep the hat, but it wouldn’t fit his non-Lego dragon head, so our Rarity made him an identical hat that would actually fit. She even custom embroidered that bit of detailing on the front. I’ve seen him wear it on a few occasions, and in fact one of them was the very first time I had ever even heard of the word ‘Lego’.”
“I’m afraid I am unfamiliar with the term ‘embroidery’, though I have a feeling it’s probably a method of detailing on clothing,” noted Rarity. “Then again, I suppose your world’s Rarity may be unfamiliar with the method of designing and printing decals that I handle on a daily basis.”
“That’s definitely something I’ve never heard of before,” remarked Starlight. “Could you show me how it works?”
“Absolutely!” agreed Rarity. As she led Starlight away from the fitting rooms, she added, “But before we get to that, as a token of my appreciation for your cooperation, I would like to let you in on a little secret project of mine.”
“And what is this secret project of yours?” asked Starlight with interest.
“As you may already be well aware,” explained Rarity, “everyone always has that standard outfit they wear just about every typical day. However, in many places, it is not uncommon for some big name people to adopt a new standard outfit approximately once every year or so, and so I believe my friends and I should follow a similar example. Now, Twilight adopted her current attire after she left the Shadowbolts, and Sunset changed hers after she had firmly established herself as a member of the team, but for the rest us, we’re still wearing the same standard outfits as we did when our team was first formed a couple years ago. Needless to say, I am convinced that we are long overdue for a new style.”
“So how’s it coming along?” asked Starlight.
“I’m still working on some of the finer details,” replied Rarity, “but the general concepts behind each of them have already reached what I believe to be satisfactory.”
“Do you think you could show it to me?” asked Starlight.
“Sorry, darling, but I’m not offering any sneak-peaks,” replied Rarity. “They are meant to be unveiled only to those they will be intended for, and I will be making no exceptions — not even for a new friend. We don’t want any spoilers leaking out, now would we?”
“Understandable,” acknowledged Starlight with a nod. “So, about that detailing thing…”
“Yes, of course,” agreed Rarity. “The detailing machines and decal printers are right this way.”
As she followed Rarity to the opposite side of the shop where the detailing machines were located, Starlight couldn’t help but think about just how different the Lego World was from Equestria, where even the simple act of changing outfits seemed to defy all logic as she knew it. Regardless, she was able to see the fascinating aspects, and rather than try to figure out how it all worked, she was willing to just roll with things and see what other wonderful things there were to experience.