I woke up with Asada curled up next to me, and I scratched her ears. "You're getting big," I noted. "You are not the cub I once saved. In fact, you could probably do security here, if needed." She kept on sleeping. "Well, time to go get ready for a lazy day."
I got out of bed, grabbed one of the comfy bodysuits I'd come to love, and went to the bathroom. As I was showering, my thoughts wandered around my Displaced situation, and everything that had changed for me. From my physical changes to my willingness to stand up to what's wrong, and even fighting. I'd come to love the full auto shotguns, something I wouldn't have even touched before. I was still a peace first type, but I had power now, and it felt good.
After drying off, and while I was getting dressed, a thought crossed my mind. The different standards of clothing between men and women. A guy wearing a bodysuit, if not for a costume, or some kind of messy job, would be seen as weird, but I could get away with it because I looked good with it on. A plethora of clothing double standards crossed my mind, and it was boggling.
"Come on, Yang. This is a lazy day, not an introspective day. It's bed, then breakfast. Or maybe lunch." Thoughts cleared, I opened the door and fell into a vortex. "Oh, this. I hope it's not cold wherever I'm going."
After what felt like five minutes of freefalling, I dropped out of the portal and landed on a soft bed, the comfy sheets falling over me perfectly after impact. "This will do." I closed my eyes and let sleep come to me.
Sleep, however, did not come. A girlish squee and flying tackle got in the way. "Ahh, it's Yang Xiao Long! Sugoi!"
I looked at the literally yellow skinned blonde girl that had tackle hugged me out of the bed. "Can I help you?"
"Oh, this is good enough for now!"
For a while, I let the fangirl hug me, since it seemed innocent enough, if a bit tight and excited. Finally, I asked, "So, who are you?"
"Ah!" She seemed to have a moment of sudden realization, and in the blink of an eye, had backed out of my personal space. She was wearing a small tank top exposing some midriff, and a pair of short shorts. "My name is Abrina, and I summoned you, I guess. I mean, I picked up this choker I've never seen before, heard something, said a thing, and boom! You appeared!"
"Yeah, that's how it works. So, what do you want to do since I'm here?"
"Well. . . Umm. . . I dunno,” Abrina adopted a very contemplative pose, brow furrowing. Then, her red eyes widened, and she snapped her fingers. “Aha! I know! There’s this sleepover that’s supposed to happen tonight with a bunch of ponies, and me and Q are hosting it! Wanna join in?”
I smiled at the idea. “Well, you won’t hear any objections from me. I’ve been in pony piles before, and they are great! Also, who’s Q?”
“Q’s the guy I live with,” Abrina explained, gesturing to everything around them. “He and Charles care for me, and Q made pretty much everything in this room for me.” She sighed, smiling widely. “He’s a really nice guy. You’ll like him.”
“Everything here, eh? Do you think he could make some stuff for me? I might have some ideas.”
Abrina shrugged. “Maybe. He’s usually pretty open to new ideas.” Abrina jabbed a thumb to a door on the other side of the massive bedroom. “The main tower where he is is out there, across the bridge.” Abrina started to float over to the door, motioning for me to follow. “Come on, I’ll show you to him.”
“Sounds good to me.” As we went across the bridge, I voiced a question. “So, what are you? If you don’t mind me asking.”
Abrina giggled. “I don’t. I’m a Majin. It’s a race from the Dragon Ball franchise, one that came about from Majin Buu and Lady Buu basically continually pulling off pieces of themselves and making them into more Majins.” Abrina waved a hand airily. “Think of me as a magical bubblegum girl with the best bod around.” She winked at me.
I mulled her words over a bit. “Okay. No idea who Majin Buu or Lady Buu are, but I think I have the gist of it. What kinds of powers do you have?”
Abrina opened her palm, a bright pink orb of energy appearing in it. “Well, I can easily manipulate ki to make blasts of energy, fly, and stuff like that. I can also turn things into candy, and transform into other people, though all that’s with my natural Majin abilities. The ki stuff is just basics for any Dragon Ball character. Majin’s are just known to have it innately.” She giggled behind a hand daintily. “Heck, if I wanted, I could blow up the moon, or this planet, or both.” She smirked at me, sticking out her tongue. “I just happen to like this planet too much to do either.”
“Well, that’s a lot of power.” I conjured some flames into the shape of a clipboard and pen and started writing. “Note to self: stay on Abrina’s good side.” With the little act done, I dispelled the fire. “I also have music. Listen to this.” I decided to go with an upbeat song, and started moving with the music. A few drumbeats and a guitar started it off.
After a few seconds, the lyrics kicked in, and I sang along. “I’d drive a million miles, to be with you tonight. . .”
Abrina started bobbing to the infectious tune as well. “Ooh, this sounds good.”
“So if you’re feeling low, turn up your radio. . .”
As we kept going, we both started dancing in our own ways. It wasn’t long before Abrina started singing along to the best of her ability, which was pretty good, and well synchronized with my singing.
The song ended and we stopped dancing just as we came to a closed door. “Well, that was fun,” I said with a smile. “Really should use that more often.”
“I’ll say,” Abrina agreed with a huge grin.
“Anyways, is Q in here or something?”
“He should be up in his study,” Abrina explained, pushing the door open before walking in. Inside was what seemed to be a glorified workout room that was nearly a gym in and of itself. Abrina paid it little mind, however, and walked past all the equipment towards a set of stairs leading up. “Come on, it’s up here.”
I took a moment to look at all the equipment as I followed her up the stairs. It was impressive, to say the least. “I’m going to guess Q made all this as well, right?”
Abrina nodded, grinning. “Yup. He and I like to stay fit.”
“Same here. When the weather’s good, I like to run laps around Ponyville. It’s fun and relaxing, you know?”
Abrina giggled behind a hand. “You’re talking to a girl who routinely runs laps around the circumference of Mt. Canter for some cardio.” She winked. “So, yeah, I get it.”
“Cool.” I didn’t have anything else to say on the way up.
After passing numerous rooms with various furnishings - ranging from a kitchen, an armory, and what seemed to be a study - we reached the top floor, where I could see a pretty well-made bedroom. Golden carpet, silvery wallpaper, sky blue ceiling, a four-poster queen sized bed, and in one corner, a man sitting at a desk, writing something down furiously on a notebook.
“Hey, Q! I met someone!” Abrina said, floating over to his side.
“Hm?” ‘Q’ turned, and I could easily tell how ripped he was. Being bereft of a shirt probably helped. Thankfully, he had pants on. He had brown hair, and glasses as well as pale skin. “Ah, a Yang Displaced. Pleasure to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. I heard something about a sleepover with ponies happening.” I mentally smacked myself for not having a better way to break the ice with Q.
Q, thankfully, didn’t seem to mind as he chuckled. “Indeed. Young Twilight invited us over not too long ago.” He stood up, then started to walk towards what seemed to be a walk-in closet. “One moment, if you don’t mind. I’d like to be fully dressed before we get down to brass tacks.” Without any other words, he disappeared into the closet.
I briefly looked over my own bodysuit, then turned to Abrina. “Hey, if we’re going to be walking through town, should I wear something else? This isn’t exactly the kind of outfit you wear out and about.” I'd seen women wear bodysuits in public before, and it didn't look good in my opinion. Well, it could look good, but at the same time, it didn't.
Abrina looked thoughtful for a bit before a mischievous look came over her face. "Are you saying I can choose something for you to wear?"
"Preferably something reasonable. I know I look good, but I don't want to wear clothes that are more. . . Appealing in public."
"Hmmm. . . Alright. Just let me think of something real fast, okay?"
Abrina then zipped through the balcony doors and down to her tower. Roughly a minute later, Q came out in a white T-shirt that said, ‘Dreamer at heart’ in starry letters. “I see Abrina left. Might I ask what for?” he queried.
"She's getting some other clothes for me to wear," I explained. "I don't want to go out wearing just this. Aaaaaand I think I just gave her carte blanche for what I'm going to wear." A mild feeling of dread came over me. "Well, may as well see what she comes up with. It probably won't be so bad."
Q smirked, hand going to his hip before he leaned to the side, looking over my shoulder. I slowly turned around, wondering what could be waiting for me.
It was a yellow tube top. One that looked a size too small. With short shorts of a black color, also looking a size too small. Abrina grinned as she held them up. “Sooo? Whaddya think, Yangy?”
It didn’t take long for me to look the pieces over, they were so small. “Not my usual style. I’ll go try them on anyways.” I accepted the pieces and went into the attached bathroom to change.
Both pieces were definitely a little small on me. The tube top left an inch or two of midriff exposed, and the shorts were fairly clingy. It was a little uncomfortable, mostly around my chest, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle, though preferably not for long.
I stepped out after folding up the comfy bodysuit. “Well, it’s not bad. Just need some shoes now.”
Q let out a short breath of laughter. “You know, it’s good to be right sometimes.” He said, taking a pocketful of gold coins from Abrina, who grumbled and looked away, crossing her arms. Q shook his head. “They look good on you.”
“There’s no way I can deny that,” I admitted. “What was the bet?”
“Whether or not you’d fit the outfit without it tearing. Naturally, I bet that it wouldn’t,” Q looked to Abrina. “Honestly, if you were that invested in seeing her even more revealed, wouldn’t it be better to just ask?”
Abrina blushed deeply, before slugging Q in the shoulder. “Don’t say it out loud, you jerk!”
Q simply laughed again.
I felt a blush of my own come on at the details of the bet. "Well. . . Okay then. What are we going to do until the sleepover?"
“Well, that depends. How do you feel about video games?” Q queried, still smiling.
"They're fun. I prefered puzzle games before my Displacement, but I'd be willing to give something else a try."
Q chuckled. “Well, we have a few good ones.” He looked to Abrina. “Abrina, mind getting them out?”
Abrina pouted, crossing her arms and turning away from him. “Dun wanna.”
Q snorted in amusement. “You know all that does is make you look cuter, right?”
Abrina’s blush grew. “Sh-Shut up idiot…”
I watched the conversation happen. “Okay, now I’m curious. What are they talking about?”
“I am not cute!” Abrina cried, stomping a foot in a petulant manner.
Q rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Abrina.”
“But I’m not! I’m sexy dammit!” Abrina affirmed.
Q hummed, tilting his back and forth, as if in consideration.
“How the fuck is that even giving you pause?!” Abrina cried, her face a bright orange.
Q suddenly leaned right into her face, making her blush skyrocket...and then gently poked her nose. “Boop.”
Abrina, in response, simply stood there, furiously blushing, before turning on her heel and marching to a corner of the room, grumbling loudly to herself.
“Thank you, dear,” he said melodiously.
“Shove it up your pale ass, ya fuggin’ annoyingly sexy jerk…,” Abrina grumbled, rummaging through what seemed to be a cabinet near a large TV set, complete with a console.
“Well, that was something.” I followed Abrina over and tried to look over her shoulder at what she was rummaging through. “So, what are you getting?”
“Smash Brothers 64, Mario Kart 8, ya know, all the good Nintendo stuff,” Abrina replied, before glaring over at Q as he set up the consoles. “Still not giving up on beating your ass into the ground in Smash Bros. you jerk!”
Q chuckled. “You’re welcome to try, Abrina.”
I decided to sit down on the couch in front of the TV as my hosts set everything up. “Can’t say I’ve played Smash Bros before. I’ve heard it’s good, but, well, I guess it’s time to try a new cup of tea.”
“Well, knowing how most of my challengers end up, you will either want to strangle me, quit, or both. Or, in Abrina’s case…” Q looked towards Abrina, who groaned.
“I’ll endlessly fail to beat you and endlessly amuse you, blah blah blah,” Abrina monotoned, making a ‘blah blah blah’ movement with her hand for effect.
“Well, that sounds amusing,” I noted. It wasn’t long before the game was on, and I was ready to learn something new.
I learned that I was definitely in the wrong league. Q beat Abrina pretty easily, and then just as often dealt with my stumbling around character as an afterthought. In spite of that, and learning a somewhat odd and slightly unintuitive control setup, I still had fun. “So, what next?” I asked as the game was turned off.
The sound of a doorbell rang out, and Q smiled as he stood up. “Simple, we greet our guests.” With that, he made his way to the stairs. “Come on now, you two.”
I stretched a bit as I followed Q and Abrina to the entrance, presumably. “So, are you going to tell me who our guests are or am I just going to have to wait and see?” I asked Abrina.
“Well, there’s the Princesses, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack,” Abrina began counting off each pony on her fingers. “Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy, but aside from that no one else.”
“Sounds like a few familiar faces to me.” A plan started forming in my head, and it involved Rarity’s talent. One way or another, I was going to leave with something new and stylish for winter.
Abrina grinned. “I know that look. Every girl gets it. You’re looking for something new and sexy to wear, right?”
“It’s a bit of an addiction,” I admitted. “I just get ideas and I want to see them brought to life for me to wear. That, and I want some new winter stuff. . . That’s kind of my excuse.”
Abrina giggled. “I have some sexy winter wear up in my room if you want to try it later.”
“I’ll take a look at it. Who knows, you may just have what I’m thinking of.”
Abrina giggled again and winked at me.
“Anyways, let’s get ready to welcome them. It’ll probably be more like introducing me to them, but still.”
Soon enough we reached the ground floor, and Q opened the door. A plethora of colorful figures were revealed by it’s opening, all of them bearing saddlebags for what must have been the sleepover on their backs.
“Hello everyone. Please, come in, come in,” Q greeted.
“Thanks for inviting us, Mr. Q!” Twilight chirped.
“Yeah, thanks! We haven’t gotten out of the darn library in ages!” Pinkie said, grinning as she walked in.
“Oh?” Q queried, raising a brow as he took some of the bags from Rarity, as she had the most with her.
“Yeah, we had to try and keep Egghead here from bringing half her library with her,” Rainbow said with a grin as she flew inside.
Q chuckled. “I see.” That was when they all seemed to take note of me finally, and stopped to stare.
“Qudirk, is she another traveler from your homeland?” Celestia queried, turning narrowed eyes to him. “You never told me about her.”
Qudirk raised his hands in placation. “Easy now, Princess. She only just got here.”
It was time for me to introduce myself. “I’m Yang Xiao Long, just visiting for a bit, and I’m looking forward to an enjoyable night.” I caught a few snickers coming from the resident Majin. “No, not that kind of enjoyable night, Abrina.”
Abrina shrugged. “Hey, I didn’t say anything. That was all you.”
“Ah don’t follow,” Applejack said, giving the two a confused look.
“Probably a smart move,” I said. “Innuendos can lead your mind from the roof to the gutter fast.”
Applejack turned to Twilight. “What’s an innuendo, Twi?”
“Innuendo, noun, an allusive or oblique remark or hint, typically a suggestive or disparaging one,” Twilight said as if she was reading from a dictionary or Google. For all I knew, she may have memorized the dictionary. “The innuendo, in this case, was the phrase ‘I’m looking forward to an enjoyable night’.”
“But how does that. . . Ohhhhh. . . Ah get it now.”
“Yes, well, I think it best we move on,” Rarity intervened before anyone else could comment. She looked to Qudirk. “Where should we place our things?”
Q smiled and gestured for everyone to follow him. “Right this way, ladies.” He said as he made his way back upstairs.
As they all filed in, chatting amongst themselves, I noticed that Luna seemed particularly quiet as she followed the rest of them. To add to that, she had considerably less volume to her saddlebags than the others.
Abrina and I followed them, and I couldn’t help but wonder about the bags, a line of thought quickly superseded by wondering what games were going to be played.
“We- I’m sorry, but...what is all this?” Luna asked, looking at the array of consoles, games and controllers.
Most of them were much bigger than the ones that me, Q, and Abrina had used earlier, and all of them Q had pulled out of a separate drawer nearby.
“I’m kinda wondering that myself. I’ve never even seen stuff like this,” Rainbow admitted, poking one of the controllers with a hoof.
Pinkie was already mashing buttons on one of them, and surprisingly, it wasn’t breaking from said mashing. “I don’t know, but mashing these things is really satisfying!” She chirped with a big grin.
“They look almost like those Joyboys that have been going around recently…” Twilight mused, picking one controller up by the cord and inspecting it.
“Joyboys, hm?” Celestia frowned as she looked at the array of equipment. “Can’t say I’ve ever tried using one of them.”
Q smiled. “Think of all this as more advanced versions of those. Ones you can simply bring home and plug in and play.” He picked up one of the bigger controllers. “I had to make controllers that would fit your anatomies a bit better, but in essence, these are, I suppose you could say, Joyboys from my homeland.”
Rainbow, Rarity and Applejack frowned as they took in the words.
“I’m not really one for that weird game stuff, though,” Rainbow admitted, crossing her forelegs over her barrel.
“Me neither. Always have too much work to do, and whenever Ah did have free time, I’d usually spend with you girls,” Applejack agreed.
“I’m not sure it’s really for me, darling,” Rarity concurred, primping her mane. “A lady can’t be seen with such things.”
Q hummed. “Well, how do the rest of you feel about it?” He asked, looking around.
“I wouldn’t mind trying it out, if I’m to be honest,” Celestia mused.
“We- er, I, am curious as well,” Luna added.
Twilight frowned, looking between her teacher and said teacher’s sister, before looking back to the gaming equipment. “Well...I guess I could give it a shot.”
Abrina spoke up. “There’s a lot of different kinds of games, you know. The ones you guys have here are mostly action or roleplay, right? Fantasy kind of stuff?” At their nods, Abrina grinned. “Well, we’ve got tons more of a variety. There’s party games with loads of minigames packed in, there’s games for making your own little civilization, or village, or managing a farm,” She looked to Fluttershy and Applejack, who perked up at those words. “There’s also sports games, and even a good few exploration games,” Abrina finished counting off on her fingers before looking to Rainbow.
“That is...a surprising amount of variety,” Luna admitted, looking at the consoles and games in a new light.
“Sports games and exploration, huh?” Rainbow rubbed her chin, before grinning widely. “Ah heck, why not then!”
“Ah wouldn’t mind trying it out then, Ah guess,” Applejack agreed.
“I, um, think I’ll try it too,” Fluttershy said, moving some of her curtain-like mane out of the way with a hoof.
“You had me at party games!” Pinkie said with a large, almost comical smile.
“Hmm...making my own civilization...that has an oddly nice ring to it,” Rarity mused, smiling devilishly to herself.
As the rest of them voiced their consent, Q smiled, before looking to me. “Well, since we have a new friend here, why don’t we let her decide which game we play first?” He offered, gesturing towards me.
I felt the pressure as all eyes turned towards me. “Umm. . . You know what, I’m going to dare to be stupid and go with Smash. I may have gotten trounced earlier, but I’m willing to try again.”
“That’s the spirit, Yang!” Abrina cheered.
“I am not going to come in last again!”
“Smash?” The ponies all queried, tilting their heads.
Q only grinned.
“How?” I moaned from my spot in the middle of the group after five rounds. “How am I still coming in last every time?”
Rainbow was laughing her rainbow tail off. “Dude, even Fluttershy beat you! That is hilarious!”
“I-It was an accident!” Fluttershy cried, trying to defend herself.
“No need to be ashamed, Fluttershy,” Celestia assured, wrapping a wing around her. “You did only what the game expected.” She shot a look to Q. “Though somepony should learn to hold back.”
Q shrugged. “Do not blame me for doing what the game expected, Princess,” Q shot back with a smirk. He looked to Luna. “Though you did much better than I thought you would, Princess Luna.”
Luna smirked triumphantly, sitting pretty at second place. “Why thank you, Sir Qudirk.”
Celestia only sighed and rolled her eyes.
“What’s the next game?” I asked. “Hopefully not one where I can accidentally walk off the stage again.”
Q hummed. “Well, for now, I believe we are in need of snacks,” At this, he stood up. “Why don’t you all wait here and discuss it amongst yourselves while I go downstairs to see if Charles is in any mood to make some for us?”
Abrina saluted. “I’ll keep everything civil, boss man!”
Q chuckled. “I’m sure you will.” With that, he walked off, heading downstairs, leaving all ten of us alone.
I looked at everyone and decided to take the initiative. “So, does anyone have anything they’d like to ask me?”
“Ooh! I have tons!” Pinkie chirped, raising a hoof.
Twilight nodded, raising a hoof as well. “Me too!”
I took a moment to decide between the lavender and pink ponies. “Alright, how about you first, Twilight?”
“Why is your skin so different from Miss Abrina’s?” Twilight queried, summoning a quill and notepad.
“I’m human, she’s majin. Different species, similar shape. Next?”
“So she’s not a mutant, but a different species entirely?” Celestia queried, raising a brow at me.
Abrina immediately jumped in. “W-Well, uh, we’re different in so many ways that we might as well be different species, but I’m still from the same place as her, ya know?” She added before nudging me, giving me a look that said, ‘play along’.
“Think of it like. . . the different kinds of ponies, but ramped up a bit,” I explained. “She’s got a more. . . I guess you could say fluid body while I’m more solid.” I pulled Abrina’s arm and stretched it out like bubblegum. “Pulling my arm to do the same thing is tougher, but when my defense there runs out, I could lose that arm permanently.” I looked to Abrina to see if it was good enough of an answer.
She nodded. “Think of me as like a…” She frowned, tapping her chin. “...Like a human made of magic bubblegum, or something.”
Celestia’s eyes narrowed before she shrugged. “I see.”
“Ooh, ooh ooh ooh! Me me me!” Pinkie urged, bouncing in place with a hoof still raised.
“Yes, pink one,” I said.
Pinkie giggled. “Ooh, pink one, I like that.” She shook her head. “Anyways! What kind of food do you like? Oh! And in terms of parties, are you more of a ‘WHAM, BASH!’” She struck the air twice at these words. “Kind of mare, er, female, or a more ‘eheeheehee!’ kind?” she asked, looking up expectantly at me.
“Well, I do have a bit of a soft spot for barbecue. I even ran my own successful restaurant before coming here. Fridays during summer were awesome since I opened the patio then and cooked outside for my guests. As for parties, well, I’ve had some bad experiences with surprise parties, but otherwise, I prefer smaller, tame ones with at least some advance notice. Any other questions?”
All the ponies, save Rainbow, Celestia and Luna, gagged at the word barbecue.
“Eugh, so you’re a carnivore?” Applejack asked, a little green around the gills.
“Omnivore, actually,” Abrina supplied. “We both are. Er, well, my particular offshoot of humans eats...well, everything. Like, literally. If I wanted, I could turn this whole tower into candy and eat it.” She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly at this as the ponies all stared blankly at her.
“So yeah, she’s one of the super omnivorous types,” I added. “Next question?”
Rarity shook herself, then raised a hoof. “Wherever did you find such clothing, darling? It’s very unique. I’d love to meet its designer.”
I poked a finger into Abrina’s shoulder. “I made the slight mistake of letting her choose what I would be wearing here tonight. I’d prefer to have something more modest on, truthfully.”
Rarity blinked. “Modest? Why ever would you need to be modest, darling?”
Luna nodded. “We art curious as well. Clothing is clothing, ‘tis it not? ‘Tis not as if having less or more is scandalous, save for showing status amongst nobles.”
I thought for a moment to come up with a good answer. “As different places and species have different cultures, so too do I. You may notice that I have no fur on my body. In place of that natural protection, clothing was made. It’s been around so long that it’s simply part of the culture. Jobs, status, fashion, all of it. I’m actually very weak against the cold, so I need clothes in order to efficiently keep myself warm and alive.” Memories of the cold shower incident briefly came to mind. “But aside from that need, I actually have a bit of a. . . I suppose you could call it a fashionation with clothes.” I watched for reactions to the pun.
Rarity and Abrina giggled, whilst Pinkie giggle snorted, Celestia let out a quick bark of laughter, and Rainbow and Luna, along with Applejack, simply groaned. Twilight and Fluttershy just seemed confused.
After recovering, Abrina added, “Aside from that, our kind simply prefer having something to cover our naughty bits.” She grinned. “Q, for one, only has clothes to cover his bits. No sheathes like stallions have.”
Immediately, all the ponies blushed, many of their eyes going wide.
“That too,” I added. “And the modesty/coverage rules are different for him than Abrina and I.”
Applejack took her hat off, fanning her face much like Rarity was doing whilst Rainbow fell solidly to the floor on her plot - without falling over - wings outstretched. Similarly, Celestia and Luna’s wings had fanned out, along with Fluttershy’s, whom was hiding behind her mane as best she could.
Pinkie simply stared straight ahead at where Q had left, along with Twilight.
“...” Twilight’s horn lit up, a note pad and quill appearing in a flash of light, before Abrina gently grabbed both objects and lowered them in the mare’s hold.
Abrina looked to the others as she heard footsteps coming. “Try to think of something else, ladies, Q and Charles are almost back!” She whispered, but loud enough they could all hear.
Celestia and Luna blinked, before Celestia cleared her throat and forced her wings down, Luna soon following.
Rarity, for her part, came up with an idea: distraction with conversation. “So,” she began, looking across them all. “What would all of you prefer for winter wear?” She looked to the Princesses. “I’m dying to know what Your Majesties would like, as well as you two,” She said, looking to me and Abrina.
“As long as it keeps me warm and looks alright, I’m cool with it,” I answered, the pun getting the same reactions as before. “In fact. . . Abrina, permission to rant a bit?”
“Oh please, rant as much as you want, Miss Xiao Long,” Q’s voice answered from behind. He lowered a bowl of ribs to me. “Just don’t forget your food, hm?”
“Ooh, this looks good.” I accepted the ribs and set them down in front of me. “Anyways, something I’ve seen a lot of before, and I can’t figure out why it seems so common, is long sleeves paired with shorts or a short skirt. And I mean short, like what I’ve got on now. I’ve seen women and girls wearing that kind of combination and I just don’t understand it. I mean, sure, your upper half is warm and stylish, but almost all of your legs are exposed! And I’ve seen it quite a bit in the cooler parts of Spring and Autumn, and it looks bad. It also looks lazy, like they decided to just put on a long sleeve top and call it a day. It’s an unbalanced look, and it’s just. . . It’s bad when women do it, and I’ve also seen men with a similar look. It’s still not good either way, and it’s just ugly.” I picked up a rib and slurped the meat off of it. “Mmm, thish ish good. Rant over.”
Rarity blinked a few times. “Well… I can’t say I’ve seen these combinations to truly know what you mean, but, they do sound unbalanced as you say.” Charles walked over, offering a glass of iced tea. “Thank you, darling.”
“Of course, m’lady,” Charles said, tipping his hat to her. Rarity giggled as he went on to give everyone else drinks and Q gave them their food.
“Personally, my favorite winter wear is a fur coat,” Abrina admitted. Immediately the non-royals stopped cold and stared in shock at Abrina, who waved her arms. “N-Not from anything with thoughts or emotions, of course! Just, ya know, animals.”
Fluttershy frowned hard at that, glaring at Abrina. “Animals have feelings too, you know.”
Abrina faltered. “W-Wha- Well, I-”
Q walked over, placing a hand on her shoulder as he offered her a ham and cheese sandwich before looking to Fluttershy. “Apologies Miss Shy, but our people come from a place where animals simply aren’t as, well, sapient. Most animals back home are either pets, beasts of burden, or livestock.”
All present gasped. He raised a hand. “Again, all animals where we are from do not talk in any way, and are not sapient. I know it is hard to swallow, but that is a fact ingrained in our ways and cultures.”
Luna spoke up after a brief silence. “So...thou’rt a more bloody and chaotic people?”
Q’s lips set into a thin line. “...More than I’d care to admit, yes.”
Celestia frowned, looking down at her daffodil sandwich. “...Noted.”
I looked towards Abrina. “You do know they make synthetic fur, right? Looks the same, feels the same, insulates the same, but doesn’t come from any animals. Is there any synthetic fur around here?”
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, we have lots of that around here.”
“It’s become easier to make in recent years as well,” Rarity supplied, taking a sip of her tea.
“And even less pricey at that,” Applejack pointed out.
Pinkie blinked. “Huh. Didn’t think you’d know about that, Applejack.”
Applejack blushed lightly, looking away. “W-Well, Ah just saw it in one o’ them magazines once is all.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes at the farm mare. “Really now?”
“Y-Ya-huh, definitely!” Applejack assured, sweating a bit now.
I looked to the fashion mare. “Hey, Rarity, if I tell you my idea for some winter wear, could you make it for me? I think it’s a pretty good idea.”
That seemed to pull the conversation back away from Applejack, as Rarity answered, “Ohh, darling, I’d love to!” She said, clapping her hooves together as she set her tea down with her magic.
“Okay, so. . .” I looked to the audience around me. “Is anyone else interested in hearing this idea? Aside from Abrina?”
“We would not mind hearing it,” Luna admitted.
“Nor would I,” Celestia added, smiling warmly at me.
“It will take me a while to set the games up, but I can still listen,” Q replied, going about doing just that.
I started explaining my idea. “Okay, so: The first layer would be an insulated black fur top and leggings. Synthetic, of course. On top of that would be a marbled brown fur qipao-”
Rarity interrupted. “I’m sorry dear, but what’s this qipao you speak of? I’m not familiar with that.”
“Ah, well, it’s a type of dress where, um. . .” I wracked my brain a bit for the right words. “Okay, so it opens in a line going from the neck and down the side of the front of the body.” I traced the line along my own body for her. “Then the skirt, well, skirts, don’t make a full circle around the legs. Well. . . Take a straight skirt and make a cut along each side from the hip down to the bottom hem, and that’s the skirt portion.”
“Hmm. . . Mhmm. . . I can see it. What about the sleeves?”
“Any style, but usually very short or none. So, I don’t want sleeves on this qipao, but I would like an attached hood. Then, with the same material, elbow length gloves and knee high boots.”
“That’s. . . Yes, yes, I can see it! The only thing I can’t quite see is how to make the bottom of the boots, but with a reference, I can do it!”
I caught a glint in Abrina’s eyes. “Don’t worry, I can help with that. Give me a moment.” She tossed her partially eaten sandwich up in the air and zipped off. She returned just as quickly with a pair of what looked like hiking shoes and caught the sandwich with the greatest of ease. “Here you go, Rarity.”
Rarity looked over the shoes. “I can’t help but notice that these aren’t exactly shaped the same way as your feet from the sides.”
“Those shoes have wedges in them, about four inches high in the back and an inch in the front. It’s a style thing, and I think they would make Yang’s new boots look great.”
“I was hoping for a flat sole. . .” I sheepishly said, already certain that the design’s fate was sealed.
“Hmm. . . Yang, I can see this looking good in two ways, and I want you to decide,” Rarity said. “It will be yours after all.”
“Go ahead.”
“Do you want the wedge in beige to go with the fur or black to match the base layer?”
I looked to the ceiling as I thought it over. “Well. . .”
Abrina leaned in and whispered, “Black would bring out the shape of your foot quite nicely from the sides. It'll be sleek and sexaay!”
That tipped the scales for me. “Black. It’ll look better.”
“Excellent,” Rarity cheerfully said. “I’m not going to start on it right now, but when I do, I’d like you there, Yang.”
“Of course.”
“There we go, all set up,” Q announced, bringing our attention to the menu screen of a Wii, complete with all the channels one would have. The words ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ was present on one of the channels.
Q started to hand out controllers and explain how they worked to the ponies.
I declined the offer to play, as continually getting smashed in Smash did not sound fun. Thus, myself and Rarity went to another room that the little golem, Charles, showed us to.
Once Rarity was done adoring the quality of the synthetic furs, she decided that it was time to start on the project. “Apologies for the wait, dear.”
I shrugged. “Eh, it’s okay. Let’s get that base layer started.”
“I’ll start with your measurements first.” She floated a tape measure up and started measuring me. At the same time, she also made adjustments on a mannequin Q had provided. “And don’t worry about taking anything off. Those clothes are small and thin enough that it won’t significantly affect the measurements.”
“Thank you.” I suppressed a shudder at the memory of being hit with a measurement spell.
“I still don’t fully understand the whole modesty thing you have going on, I will admit. I can understand the protective and style elements, though. Did you want this to be form fitting, by the way?”
I considered my words for a bit. “Well. . . kind of? Like, not a second skin level of form fitting, but also a snug enough fit that it doesn’t completely hide my shape underneath.”
“And you want that for the whole design?”
“Yeah - no, wait, not quite the same for my chest. How do I?” I wracked my brain for some term or description for what I wanted, stopping when Rarity tossed a section of fabric at my face. “Hm?”
“A picture’s worth a thousand words, dear. Save yourself the effort and show me what you mean.”
“Oh, good idea!” I brought the fabric around my chest, making a soft fitting contour fit. “Yeah, this looks about right.”
“Now see how easy that was?” Rarity hit the fabric with a spell and levitated the stiffened sample over to her. After looking it over and setting it aside, she started working on the leggings. “Do you mind doing some stretches for me? I need to see what kind of movement range I’ll need to work with.”
“Alright.” I did as Rarity requested while she worked. The stretches actually felt pretty good, and even after Rarity was done, I continued doing them.
It wasn’t long before Rarity finished. “Here’s the first part. Tell me how it fits.”
I accepted the fur leggings and went to an adjacent room to put them on. “Well, they fit quite well,” I reported before coming back out. "And they're comfortable. Carry on."
"Gladly!" In short order, Rarity had a matching top made, and like the leggings, it fit comfortably.
"Alright, I like this," I said as I hugged myself. "It's fuzzy, it's comfy, and it's warm. So toasty."
"Might I suggest you take those pieces off for a bit? I'd hate for you to overheat."
"I can't overheat. I'm immune to heat and fire. Besides, this is much less revealing."
"Heat immunity, you say?" Rarity asked with intrigue. "I can't begin to tell you how many summer days that would have been a blessing for me." She levitated some paper over and started sketching something. "Now, the gloves and boots will be difficult to mess up, so I'll save those for later. I want to make sure I have the. . . Qipao, was it?"
"Yes, and I understand. It's literally the centerpiece of the ensemble."
"I want to make sure I have the design right." The pencil started flying across the paper, making a very good drawing of the qipao shape over an outline of my figure.
"Looks good." I pointed to the head area. "Don't forget the hood."
"Of course, dear." As Rarity sketched out the hood, she seemed to get an idea. "You said this is a winter ensemble, right?"
"Yeah, thus the furs. What's up?"
"There's nothing to protect your face. What about this?" She sketched out a mask attached to the neck of the dress. With a spell, she duplicated the picture, erased the mask, and drew a small, loose scarf. "Protection outdoors, style indoors."
"Yes yes yes, all of the yes! Please?" (Maybe some indication of her excitement here besides words?)
Rarity sighed. "Oh, alright, but only because you asked nicely," she said with a hint of sarcasm. "If you don't mind, I'd like to remeasure you with the base layer on. I'm going to build this dress on the mannequin."
"Go ahead." As Rarity took her remeasurements, she readjusted the mannequin. "Now, putting this together is going to be the long part, but getting the perfect section of the synthetic fur is going to be the hard part. Any random section will not do by itself. It has to be a perfect balance of light brown and white." She started chuckling. "And here I thought brown was a terrible main color for a dress."
"I can pull it off. Of course, a good design helps."
"Naturally." She smirked as she floated up the three bolts of synthetic brown and white fur and started moving it around, looking for some part to start on. "While we're here, I have a few other questions. . ."
Rarity went above and beyond on the winter dress. I stuck my right arm in one arm hole and my head through the scarf, brought it around my back, got my other arm in, and continued the wrap once more. Closing it up was done in a modern, easy way with a smooth zipper that got neatly covered by a line of white fur.
I looked at myself in the mirror and fiddled with the scarf/mask and hood. Surprisingly, the mask didn't make breathing as difficult as I was suspecting it would. Not something to sleep with, but it wasn't bad either. With the wrap style dress, I was also able to keep most of my hair hidden underneath, and the hood fit quite neatly. Even with all my hair spilling out the front (a look Rarity and I agreed wasn't good at all), it fit well.
"This is excellent," I stated. (Same for here. Some kind of segway into her next words, like placing her hands on her hips and a smirk or something.) "Bring it on, winter! As soon as I have my gloves and boots!"
"So, how is it?" Rarity asked after I put the completed gloves and boots on.
"Well, I still wish I had flat soles on the boots," I said as I rocked side to side to get used to the angle. "That being said, these aren't bad at all. I have worn heels higher than this before."
"I'll take that as a good sign. And the gloves?"
I admired one of the elbow length hand covers. "Very good as well. I like how you slicked the fur down on the palms and fingers. Grabbing things is kind of important, after all."
"Why thank you. I do like to take everything into consideration, after all."
"Overall, I give it a %1,000 approval rating."
Rarity started hyperventilating. "A. . . A thousand?" The giggling started. "That's so far beyond good. . . Heeheehee. . ." Then she passed out from the sheer amount of happiness in her.
I checked the clock. "Well, it is pretty late. Better go find everyone."
Abrina walked in at that moment. "Hey, Yangy, we're about to play some truth or dare. Want to join? Offer's open for you too, Rarity." Before I could say anything, Abrina gasped, zipped over, and started rubbing herself on me. "Oh, you're so fuzzy and soft now!"
"Uh, Abrina?" I tried pushing her off of me to no avail. "Personal space, please?"
"You're like a sexy blonde teddy bear now! This is awesome!" Then she noticed Rarity was passed out. "What happened to her?"
"I told her how much I liked the ensemble. She just finished it."
Abrina giggled. “How naughty.”
“. . . I don’t get it.”
Abrina simply giggled again. “Nevermind that. Let’s just head back to the others. Everyone’s waiting.” She looked to Rarity, frowning. “Hm, can’t leave her down here…” Walking over, she tossed the mare over her shoulder. “Hup!” She then turned to me, grabbed my hand, and pulled me along up the stairs.
Soon enough we reached the top, where I saw the rest of the group gathered around an empty bottle of Apple Family Cider. Q was the first to notice us. “Ah, there you are. Come come, sit,” he said, patting a spot next to him.
I sat down near where Q suggested, leaving enough space for Abrina to sit next to him after she found some place to put the fainted fashionista. "Truth or dare with an Apple Family product. Heh." I considered the choice to be highly appropriate.
“Ah still don’t know about this, girls,” Applejack said, staring at the bottle.
“Why? Tis a simple enough game,” Luna mused, looking at the farmer.
“Got a lot of dirty secrets, AJ?” Rainbow teased, elbowing the mare.
“Wh-Wha? No! Not at all!” Applejack assured, blushing brightly.
“I’m personally more curious to see what our host has to offer for truths,” Celestia said with a smirk at Q.
“And I for yours and your sisters,” Q said with a similar smirk.
The others oooo’ed at this. Twilight seemed nervous in general, as did Fluttershy.
“I call first spin!” Abrina chirped, reaching out and spinning the bottle.
Immediately, all eyes turned to me as it stopped spinning, neck pointed towards my feet.
Q smiled. “So, Yang, Truth, or Dare?”
I thought about the question with mild intensity for a few seconds. “Truth.”
“Who was your first kiss?” Abrina said, an insatiable grin on her face as she leaned towards me.
“Well. . .” I sighed and took a moment to collect myself and organize my thoughts into something that would keep up the appearance Abrina had going. “His name’s Shamrock, he was a descendant of a pirate, and was eager to follow in his. . . I think his grandfather’s footsteps and do some piracy. The first kiss was on a train from a nearby city back to my hometown after we had a fancy dinner at a fancy place. The date was very nice.”
All present giggled, save for Q, who simply kept smiling.
“A pirate, you say? How intriguing,” Luna said, smirking.
“Dashing, at that,” Celestia agreed.
“I’ll say!” Abrina concurred, nodding sagely.
“I sense there’s more to it than that, though,” Q said, looking me in the eyes.
“Yeah, there is,” I said with a slightly tired tone. “He went back to his country for a time and fixed up his grandfather’s ship with his crew. Months passed, and then he came back, with the offer of a trip to one of his favorite places. That trip was. . . okay. It was some old buried ruins that his grandfather took him to once, far to the north. It was a cold trip there, the campground, while protected from the weather, was still rather chilly, and the trip back was cold. The ruins themselves, somehow, weren’t all that cold.” A sigh escaped me. “I had to break it off with him after that. His enthusiasm for the place got in the way of the trip actually being fun. He’s a good guy, though, and when we went our separate ways, it was on good terms as friends.”
I felt Q put a hand on my shoulder. “I’m glad you parted as friends, at least.”
Abrina squirmed, a frown on her face. “S-Sorry for reminding you of something so sad, Yangy…”
“You have our apologies as well,” Celestia said, dipping her head a bit.
“We had no idea,” Fluttershy added, giving me a sympathetic smile.
“It’s okay,” I assured. “Like I said, we left on good terms, so there’s no bad feelings. Maybe a little melancholy on my part, but nothing I can’t deal with. So, do I get to spin the bottle now?”
“Yup, go for it,” Q urged, removing his hand from my shoulder.
I eagerly rubbed my fur gloved hands together and gave the bottle a good spin. “Who’ll it be? Who’ll it be?” The bottle stopped on me. “Bad spin. Retry.” I spun the bottle again, without chanting, and it landed on Applejack. “Truth or dare?”
“Ah, eh, um, d-dare,” Applejack squeaked, squirming on her cushion.
“So much for my question.” I thought about it for a bit. “I dare you to. . . Wow, this is surprisingly difficult.” I thought about it some more, then came across an idea. “I dare you to give Fluttershy a kiss on the lips. Five seconds minimum.”
“Wh-What?!?” both mares squeaked out.
Q, Abrina, Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, and even the Princesses laughed.
Pinkie even started chanting. “Do it! Do it! Do it!”
Both mare’s faces were such a bright red, one could mistake them for the red portion of a police siren. The two looked at each other, and Fluttershy froze up, blushed so bright her whole body turned red...then collapsed.
Applejack simply giggled nervously. “W-W-Well, she’s out cold, s-so I guess it’s off the table, h-huh?” She said, slowly tipping her hat down.
“No, it isn’t,” I said. “You still have to kiss her on the lips for at least five seconds. Or, if you want, you could go for Truth instead? No take-backs if you don’t like the question.”
Applejack’s blush became so luminescent that one could feel the heat even across from her. “F-Fine...t-truth…” she conceded, fully pulling down her hat to cover her face.
“Alright. The question: How do you know so much about synthetic furs?”
Applejack squirmed mightily, face still steaming as we all waited for her answer. “Ah...may like to dress up...on occasion...a-and Ah have a friend wh-who...likes to, too…”
“Really? You like to dress up? Ha! That’s hilarious!” Rainbow slapped a hoof down on the floor.
“Let’s not go laughing at her, girls,” Celestia intoned lightly. “Many mares are the same.”
“Still, who’s this friend of yours?” Pinkie asked as Twilight silently and gently pushed Fluttershy off to the side with Rarity.
Q raised a hand. “I think that’s enough hassling her, everyone. Let’s simply continue.” He gestured to Applejack and the bottle. “Applejack, if you’d please.”
Applejack gave him a thankful smile, then reached a hoof down and spun the bottle. It landed on Abrina. “Alright, Abrina, Truth or Dare?”
Abrina grinned devilishly. “Dare me, cowgirl.” Her grin grew. “I dare you.”
Applejack gained a grin of her own. “I dare ya to kiss Mister Q here. Ten second minimum.”
Abrina went stock still. Swiftly after she froze, her entire body turned pink, and the holes on her arms emitted steam. “U-Um, I, er, uh, that is, I mean, I could, uh-!”
Q rolled his eyes, turning to face her. “Come now, Abrina. It’s a simple kiss, not like it needs to mean anything.”
Celestia seemed to be shocked, if the wide-eyed stare she gave the two was any indication. Luna looked surprised as well, though not as much.
Twilight simply smiled, whilst Pinkie, well…
“Do it! Do it! Do it!” She was chanting again.
“Come on! Come on! Do it!” So was Rainbow Dash.
Applejack was grinning smugly, chuckling to herself. “Ah ain’t letting ya go back on this one, filly.”
Abrina stared at Q, his face, his lips, then slowly, nervously, leaned forward.
As I patiently waited for the event to pass, I idly inspected my gloves, and thanked whatever powers that be that I could not overheat.
“Q-Qudirk, you-” Celestia began, before Abrina closed her eyes and lunged forward, wrapping the man’s lips up in a kiss.
Ten seconds passed slowly for four of those present, and none but one would say why. Q eventually tried to pull away, and Abrina whined at this, but when he placed a hand on hers, she opened her eyes like she’d just gotten a shot and immediately pulled back, blushing brightly again and turning her head away, playing with a strand of her strange hair.
“Well, that was something,” Q mused, hand over his lips.
“Ah’ll say,” Applejack said, still grinning smugly. “Yew two looked about ready to actually make out.”
Abrina whined at this, covering her face.
“Y-Yes, well,” Celestia cleared her throat.
“I believe tis th-thine turn, Lady Abrina,” Luna urged.
Abrina shakily nodded, reaching down and spinning the bottle. It landed on Celestia. Abrina cleared her throat. “A-Alright, Princess, Truth or Dare?”
Celestia blinked, then shook her head, as if it bore some fog. “Ah, um, Dare.”
Abrina gave a small smile. “I dare you to sit on Yang’s lap.”
Celestia blinked again. “I...beg your pardon?”
Instead of voicing any concerns, I went the other way. “Come on, Princess. I’m tough enough for you. I won’t break under the pressure. I WILL DO THIS WITH HONOR!”
Celestia blinked again at this. As did Twilight and Applejack. Rainbow, Pinkie, Q and Abrina simply snickered.
“You’re really funny, Yangy,” Pinkie said, giggling behind a hoof.
“Amen to that, sister,” Abrina agreed.
“Double, uh, whatever you just said,” Rainbow added, smirking at me.
“Spontaneity can be a good quality,” Q said sagely, smirking himself.
Celestia eventually sighed and stood up. “Very well.” She walked over to me, then gently sat down in my lap. She was certainly heavy, but not ‘OH MY GOD I HAVE A HORSE ON MY LAP’ kind of heavy. Much lighter than that, thankfully, but, still heavy enough to notice.
“Hmm. . .” I was half tempted to pull Celestia into a hug, but I couldn’t really do that with ease, nor would it really feel appropriate to me, given where I would have to grasp her for it. “This isn’t bad. I can deal with this. How long do you have to be here, Princess?”
“For the rest of the game,” Abrina said with a returned grin, not unlike a smug anime girl’s.
Celestia sighed, whilst Luna giggled. “All’s fair, dear sister,” she sing songed.
Celestia rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes. Now, it is my turn, correct?”
Abrina nodded. “Ya-huh. Go ahead, spin ‘er up!”
As the bottle spun, I wondered what the call would be if it pointed to Celestia and me. My curiosity, however, would not be sated, but not because I couldn’t see the bottle. “Who gets it?” I asked as I heard the bottle wind down.
I could see Celestia’s head turn to Q. “Qudirk,” she answered.
A flash of inspiration (or stupidity) struck me, and I decided to try and scratch the base of Celestia’s wings. Thankfully, I was able to reach up just enough to do that, and just as she started talking too.
“Truth or DAAAAAAAAre, oh, Goddess that’s good~,” Celestia moaned.
Twilight stared in shock. “P-Princess?!”
Rainbow blinked, wings slowly spreading out, and eyes glued to the scene.
Luna cleared her throat, placing a hoof on my hand. “Miss Yang, if you’d please,” She urged.
“Okay, okay.” I relented and withdrew my hand.
Celestia whined a bit at this, but swiftly seemed to notice what had happened as she tensed up. Slowly, she coughed into a hoof. “A-Ahem. Apologies, everypony.” She looked to Q, seeing his very large smile. “N-Now, Qudirk, Truth or Dare?”
Q simply smiled. “Truth.”
I listened in with great intensity, wondering what the mysterious guy would reveal, or if he would chicken out on the question.
“Who was Ganon?” Celestia asked.
Q suddenly went stock still. Not even from embarrassment, but shock. His eyes were wide, but there was no blush on his cheeks. Slowly though, his eyes hardened. “...Where did you learn that name?” His tone was different. Gone was the cheer, the laughter that always seemed to fill his voice. Gone was the doting father-like figure. All that remained was a rage so cold and intense that I shivered, even under the layers of fur I was wearing.
I couldn’t help but feel that this Ganon character was not a video game thing.
I wasn’t the only one. All the girls seemed scared now.
“M-Mister Q-?” Q raised a hand sharply.
“Be silent, Twilight,” he said harshly. Twilight flinched as his eyes narrowed on Celestia. “Where did you learn that name, Celestia?” Celestia frowned, slowly getting off my lap. She nodded to Abrina. Q seemed to bristle. “...You found it, didn’t you.” Abrina winced at this. “You found it, and invaded my privacy.”
“I-I didn’t mean to-” Abrina began, but Q would have none of it.
“Go back to your room, Abrina,” he intoned. “We’ll have much to talk about.”
“Qudirk, don’t go punishing her so harshly for simple curiosi-” Celestia began, but Qudirk shot up to his feet.
“Curiosity? Tell me, what curiosity propels a woman to raid a righteous man’s grave?” Q spat.
I decided to make a wise move and simply left the room. I didn’t like being angry, and I didn’t like being around people that were angry, even if I wasn’t the target.
After wandering around the tower aimlessly for what was probably an hour, I found myself on the ground floor. I would have continued my aimless walking into another area if the sight of Q storming by, still radiating rage, didn’t stop me. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice me (or at least not care that I was there) as he went by and left into the forest outside. He didn’t slam the door closed, but the force behind the sound still spooked me a bit.
Soon enough, I saw Abrina, Luna and Celestia come down. They all looked very worried. Abrina, usually chipper and spritely, looked very broken, tear stains on her yellow cheeks and short, strange fleshy ‘hair’ seeming to droop.
“I take it he is not here?” Celestia said, a frown on her face.
“I think he went for a walk,” I said. “Not going to lie, I’m a bit concerned about this mess, but I’m not going to get involved in it. The best I can probably do is offer free hugs.”
Abrina sniffled. “I-I just… I just feel so bad…”
Luna wrapped a wing around the Majin, pulling her close. “Shhh, shh…”
I decided to take a proactive approach with the free hugs and edged my way into the wing wrap and gave Abrina a hug, her body feeling squishier than before. As much as I also wanted to give her a little speech about how everyone makes mistakes and learning from them is what matters, it didn’t feel appropriate to make that speech.
“I-It’s just...I could s-see him when he went outside on S-S-Sundays, and he always loo-looked so sad, and...when I went to check where he goes one day, I just… I j-j-just wanted to know, so I could help him, y-ya know?” Abrina said, fighting back a new onrush of sobs.
“Hush, you.” I gently put her head on my shoulder so she could cry into it if she needed to. As much as I adored the new winter outfit, I knew it could be cleaned, and there were two princesses that could easily do it with magic if I politely asked. “Get the tears out if you must.”
And so she did. She buried herself in my neck, sobbing and crying like she’d just lost a friend. For all I knew, she might have. I stood there and let her get it out of her system until she wore herself out and fell asleep. When she did, I picked her up and started walking back up the tower to find her room and put her to bed.
The Princesses didn’t follow.
After what felt like hours later I found myself nearly falling asleep on Abrina’s bed, until the doors to the room opened and the Princesses as well Qudirk walked in. Q’s face was unreadable, but the Princesses looked like they were both concerned and tired.
The three of them walked over, sitting down next to me. Q looked to Abrina’s sleeping face, then to me.
“Could you wake her, please?” He asked gently.
I turned to the sleeping Majin and poked her face. “Wake up.” She didn’t respond immediately, so I poked with a bit more force. That didn’t work either, so I decided to go to a more drastic measure, pulling her up to a sitting position by her hair. “You’re late.”
“Ow ow ow ow ow! Hey, stop pulling, hair’s sensitive you know!” Abrina cried as she woke up, grabbing my hand and pulling it off. Then she noticed everyone around her, and seemed to shrink on herself as she noticed Q. “O-O-Oh...H-Hey, Q…”
Q simply stared at her for a time, before sighing, clasping his hands together in his lap and staring down at said lap.
“...I’m sorry I made you cry, Abrina,” he finally said after a few tense moments.
“N-No! It’s okay! It was my fault for-!” Abrina tried to say, waving her hands frantically.
Q interrupted her. “It wasn’t. Ganon wouldn’t have wanted me to hide such things, nor get so angry about it.”
Celestia frowned, studying Q’s face. “...Who was he?”
“...My brother.”
I had no clue what to say about the revelation, and after a bit of thought on the matter, I found myself not really caring about it. It did seem like a bit of a cold thing to do, but it was also true. Since I didn’t want to get caught up in the drama, I decided silence was the best policy while they sorted it out.
“I’m sorry, Qudirk, I didn’t know-” Abrina began again, but Q once again interrupted.
“Don’t be. I’ve...always been too closed off and icy when it came to him and his...death,” he sighed, looking up to the ceiling. “Truth be told? He was a lot like you, Yang.” He glanced to me.
“Eh?” I pointed to myself. “Me?”
Q smiled and nodded. “Yes. Never seeking a fight but always willing to help, always thinking of others.” He chuckled. “He was just as awkward and bad with jokes as you, as well.”
I felt the lightening of the mood and seized the opportunity. “Whaaaaat? That can’t be possible. I worked hard to be as bad with my jokes as I am. The cram sessions were no joke, everyone looked at me funny, and I had to attend board meetings in lumberyards at the same time. The chairs had terrible lumber support as well.”
Abrina and the Princesses laughed whilst Q simply held his smile. “My point exactly.”
“Well, I think it’s good that we’re on the positive side of things. On a side note-” I turned to the Princesses. “Abrina’s bit of crying left my winter furs a bit sticky.”
Abrina looked a bit downcast at that. “I’m sorr-”
I dramatically pointed at her and used a firm voice. “Don’t apologize for that! You needed it, and I was willing to provide a shoulder. Now, I want you to apologize for trying to apologize for your tears leaving a mess on my dress.”
She tilted her head in confusion. “What?”
“Okay, that’s good enough. Apology accepted.” I turned back to the Princesses. “Anyways, I was wondering if one of you would be willing to magically clean the mess for me.”
Luna and Celestia giggled before sharing a look, then looking back to Yang.
“We see no issue with this, just a moment,” Luna began, horn glowing, before the mess on my clothes seemed to just evaporate. “There. Now,” She looked back to Q. “Why would you hide this from us, Sir Qudirk?”
Q went silent for a time, frowning as he thought. “...It never felt right to me to let others know I was sad, I suppose.”
“You know, there were times when I could have put up a strong front and just powered through things,” I said as memories of my arrival in Equestria crossed my mind. “But if I did it that way and turned down any help that was offered, well, who knows what kind of mess of a woman I’d be now?”
“Exactly. Qudirk, you can’t simply ignore your pain, even if it’s for others,” Celestia said, nodding as she wrapped a wing around the man.
Q didn’t answer, simply remaining quiet.
“Q?” Abrina spoke up, placing a hand on his. “Just...don’t hide this stuff from us anymore, okay?”
“...I’ll...keep that in mind,” He finally said, sighing.
I looked around for a moment before clapping my hands together. “So, we’ve got the troubles buried for now, we’ve made peace, and I have no idea what to do now.”
“...We could all sleep in my bed and give Yangy a nice goodbye in the morning?” Abrina suggested, looking across us all.
I considered the idea. “No objections.” As soon as I was comfortable in the bed, I was out like a light. I barely registered the others debating the idea as I fell asleep. I also barely registered them one by one joining me in sleep. I simply snuggled into the most comfortable position among them.
The next day saw me standing in Q’s garden with Q and Abrina smiling at me, a portal just behind me. The others were still upstairs, still asleep.
“Sorry we had to wake you so early, Yang,” Q said apologetically. “I know I promised, but Displaced and the multiverse are one thing I don’t think this world is ready for.”
“And yet, here you are,” I said, followed by a yawn. “Yeah, knowledge and all that. Well, drama aside, I had fun, and I got some nice winter clothes out of it.” I did a little curtsey to show off the outfit a bit.
Q chuckled. “Indeed.”
“But that’s not all you’re getting out of it!” Abrina zoomed up to me, bear hugged and lifted me off the ground, then let go. When she did, I felt something new in my pocket. Abrina only grinned as she watched me expectantly, Q smiling from the sidelines.
I reached into the pocket and pulled out a little chibi version of Abrina, a steel pencil held in its grasp. It didn’t take long for me to come to a conclusion. “Tokens, I presume?”
Q nodded. “Correct. And…” He snapped his fingers, and with a flash of light two boxes dropped onto the ground in front of me, both made of what seemed to be silver, and both roughly 10 inches by 5 inches.. “...Farewell gifts from me. Open the one on the right after you return to your world.”
I pocketed the tokens and picked up the identical boxes. “Well then, I guess I can just play it safe and open both at home. Welp, until we meet again.” I gave a casual salute and jumped backwards into the portal, ready for home.
As I tumbled through the Void, I swear I saw some masked, gentlemanly looking woman wave imperiously at me, before she was gone. “Weird,” I said seconds after she disappeared.
I gently landed on my bed, glad it didn’t make too much noise, and set to work putting things away. The tokens went in a drawer with the other tokens I’d collected, and I looked at the boxes. “Okay, right one last, left one first. . . Which one was the right one?” After some deliberation, I opened one of them. The bodysuit I’d gone over there with sprung out of the small box, along with a note from Q. “Hey, you forgot this. I went ahead and cleaned it for you as well. I also made a Saiyan monkey tail that you can put on and take off with ease. If it’s cut, it will heal. If you have it on under the light of the moon, it will grant you incredible power, speed, and durability.” I tipped the box over and the monkey tail fell out. While it looked and felt fairly realistic, it was also kind of creepy. It went into another drawer.
With the first box empty, I opened the second box. As soon as I did, there was a loud pop and an explosion of confetti, surprising me. A piece of paper was stuck on my face, so I took it off and read it. “Hello again, Yang. Before I woke you and Abrina, I decided that I had to find some way to make it up to you, since you got caught up in the drama over my brother. Since you seem rather fond of apparel for your own enjoyment, which I don’t blame you for, I wrote up the ensemble you’re now wearing. It’s designed to be worn for riding a motorcycle, or just looking good and showing off. I’m sure you’ll like it, and if there’s someone else in your life, I’m sure they’ll like it on you too. Sincerely, Q.”
“Huh.” I looked around and saw the winter fur set neatly folded up and sitting on the bed.
My door was slammed open by Searing. “Is everything okay, Yang? I heard a loud bang and. . .” she trailed off as she looked at me. A few red drops appeared on the floor under her muzzle. “Everthinglooksfinehaveagooddaybye!”
I went over to my mirror and looked at myself. “Well. . . Can’t say I blame her.”
After I was done admiring the outfit, which I decided to call Rider, I started inspecting it. “How do I get this off?”