Chapter Eleven
“No... No this won't do... If only I could just...”
You watched as extravagant clothing floated all around you, enveloped in a light blue light. It had been only several moments since had entered the carousel boutique, and you were already regretting letting Twilight take you here.
The second you walked in, you got a look from the seamstress that screamed what she was obviously thinking: you were filthy. You were a bit ragged and scruffy, but you didn't think you looked that bad still. It was evident that she thought differently.
You understood where she was coming from in the end, though. The elegant white unicorn always had issues that pertained to the upkeep of one's self; you were a walking disaster to her in more ways than one, not only with your the state of your clothing, but also with the alienating design of your clothes.
When Twilight and Fluttershy came into sight, however, those eyes relaxed and a glowing charm resonated from them instead. If you were with Twilight, then that had to mean that there was a good reason that you, a strange bipedal creature, would be present in her boutique.
After a bit of friendly chatting between the two, you were eventually brought into the conversation, instigated by Twilight herself. Rarity didn't look like she was as eager to hear you speak as Twilight was. Then again, no one here seemed as eager to listen to you as she was.
You introduced yourself in the most formal manner you could, hoping to at least come off a sliver more sophisticated then you looked. You were rewarded with a raised eyebrow from Rarity and a nod of approval from Twilight.
After that, things went pretty smoothly and you were able to prove that you were much more than you appeared to be (humanity was always known for its resourcefulness, after all.) After a bit more talking, Twilight finally came to the reason why you were all there.
“We were wondering if you had any or could make clothes for my friend here. I would pay for him, of course.” She asked innocently enough.
Rarity's eyes lit up at the thought of having you look much more presentable than you did right now. You weren't sure that was a good thing, you did not want to be in a full suit for the rest of the day.
Before you could speak up about your concerns, Rarity was already off and gesturing for you all to follow her to one of the backrooms where she stored all her clothing, both old and new.
“If he's a friend of yours, darling, then don't concern yourself with paying! We'll have him looking prim and proper in no time.”
That did not sound good. So here you were, your measurements recently taken, watching Rarity create an outfit for you that would make you kill yourself if you were ever caught wearing it. She hummed as she worked the whole time, clearly lost in her work.
You gave a worried look towards Twilight, but she didn't seem as concerned about what the end result was going to be. The only person that was going to save yourself from walking around in a monkey suit all day.
“Excuse me.” You spoke up after a moment of listening to the sewing machine's repetitive clipping. “I was thinking of something more along the lines of what I was already wearing.”
She pulled her eyes off her work, coming up to meet yours and then scanned over your current wear once more. “Are you sure you wouldn't want something a bit more.... how should I say this... Sustained?
“Well I didn't mean exactly like this.” You explained, “It doesn't always look this unkempt, I swear.”
“Hmm... very well. I suppose it would be something new, I've never come across clothing like yours before. I assume it is for more conventional uses, correct?”
“Yeah, it's more of a day to day kind of thing. You see, my kind wears clothes almost all the time.”
“Really now? That must require the need for different attire regarding the situation, yes?”
“Exactly. I was hoping I could get something more recreational since I'm going to be in them all the time.”
“Well... I can do that; and you want something similar to what you already have?”
“That would be great.” That went better than you thought it would. You were expecting her to find some reason to continue work on what she already had, it was nice to see that it wasn't the case. Either you had a bronze tongue, or you were just getting lucky.
You all watched her as she scrapped the past project and gave glances at you for reference to what she was doing. “Nothing too thick... that would be more than excruciating after a long period of time... Perhaps a mix of cotton and silk..”
Now that sounded nice; you were glad you had intervened when you did otherwise you would have been sleeping in formal dinner wear tonight. Everything seemed to be going well enough today for the most part. Well you could have used a bit more sleep but hey, what were you going to do?
You could recognize features common with your shirt as they began to form under stitch and hoof. It appeared you were going to get exactly what you wanted. It was a pleasant deep blue color too from what you had seen, that was always pleasing on the eye.
Before another moment passed you began to become self conscious of how slow this was going. You eventually became bored but you weren't sure what you could do, considering that the white unicorn was using you as a reference to her work. It was nice that Twilight and Fluttershy had stayed with you, but you couldn't talk with them or risk interrupting the very delicate process that tailoring was.
From twiddling your thumbs, to humming one of your favorite songs, you tried to pass the horribly long minutes, that only seemed to be waxing after every other one. It was like sitting in school, not allowed to rest your head on the desk and do anything. You would simply look around and at the clock, cringing after the the large hand dropped or raised ever so slightly.
What was worse here was that there was an air of expected politeness here. In reality you could just walk out, but that would take away Rarity's one reference and that would more than likely disappoint everyone here.
This was going to take all day, you just knew it. Twilight should never have brought you here, you could have just managed with what you already had. It just wasn't worth all this waiting, that was one thing humanity was never good at: being patient. Come on, today, today, please just be over.
“It is done!” She held up the end result magically with a proud grin across her face. It wasn't half bad either now that you were looking at it out in the open. It was a simple deep blue shirt with a pair of shorts almost identical to the ones you already had. All in all, it wasn't a departure from what you already had, and you couldn't be happier.
“Those look great! How did you do all that from just a bunch of measurements and using what I was wearing as reference?” You exclaimed.
“Oh please, I've had much harder projects than this one, darling. It was my pleasure to create something so... alien, however. Why don't you go into the fitting room and try them on?”
“Oh, yeah sure.” The clothes gently floated into your grasp and you slipped out of the room, trying to remember exactly where the fitting room was when you had passed it. Eventually you found it out of the way near the hall you had entered into when you had followed Rarity to the back.
You quickly slipped in and shed the clothes on your back. You now that they were off of you you could see just how much white hair covered the back of your shirt. With a frown you tried to pat it off but thought better of getting it all over the floor of the boutique. Why Rarity didn't have an issue about that was beyond you, but you were glad that it had never been brought up.
It wasn't going anywhere, however. You already promised yourself that, you had went through way too much to get that shirt. Nearly starting a fight at the concert you were at, for it was the last one of your size. So no, no matter what that shirt was going to be wearable again, even if you had to restore it all by yourself.
You slid on the shorts and shirt, finding them to fit you perfectly. Rarity's talent was obviously evident in everything. Even when not in an extraordinary dress or fetching suit. The transition to clothing a biped was almost natural for her it seemed.
You looked yourself over and felt as good as new. A shower would be nice, but that would have to wait it seemed. You rounded the fitting booth several times, making sure everything was as comfortable as you were promised. You weren't disappointed it seemed, and you almost wanted to do a jump and a skip to celebrate.
Nothing seemed too far fetched for you anymore, it's not like you had to try to fit into society anymore. No, nothing like that. Everyone here had such a colorful personality it would be a crime to be so dull and drab. Still, you didn't find it in you too gleefully hop around and celebrate just yet. You were sure it was only a matter of acclimatizing to this world.
Just as you were about to push fitting room door open and tell the ponies how much you were enjoying the new clothing, what seemed like an earthquake shook the boutique violently. You fell to your knees confused as to what was happening, the fitting room's door floor open from the force of the vibration and you tried to center yourself in the doorway. That's what they always said to do in school, for some stupid reason.
After a few moments, the thunderous shaking that had rocked the entire boutique seized and you found yourself shivering with a bitter taste in your mouth. Your fist clenched with your shirt in it, you pushed yourself up onto wobbly legs and leaned against the wall for a moment.
“What was that?” You heard from the backroom.
“I better go check and see if he's okay!”
“Do be careful, now!”
You knew who was coming, and as if on cue, you saw Twilight coming into sight, and rushing towards you. You didn't have any breath to say anything, but that did not stop her from bombarding you with concern filled questions.
“Are you okay? Do you need help? What was that? What do you think caused it?”
“I-I don't know...” You choked out, your mouth suddenly dry.
"Oh but we do.. It has begun, we suggest you learn to enjoy disaster. We'll all be reveling in it soon enough."
Shit. Of course it was them, but now it didn't seem to be just you they were effecting. What did they mean by it had begun though? Could they be beginning their conquest at a time like this? You took a step down the hallway, back towards the backroom.
“Please be careful..” She pressed.
“I'm fine.” You continued step after step until getting to the backroom once more. Rarity and Fluttershy both looked concerned, but relaxed slightly when you both entered the room.
“That certainly wasn't expected.” Rarity remarked, holding a hoof up to her horn.
“That was..” Fluttershy began, but seemed incapable of going on.
“This isn't really a very active area seismically, I don't see how this could have happened.” Twilight said worryingly before rushing to the window on the opposite side of the room. “Oh Celestia..” Her mouth was agape.
“What?” You asked, coming up to her side, trying to get a glimpse at what she was referring too. You heart stopped as you saw exactly what had caused to make such a remark.
The sky was a mix of red and black, the clouds themselves falling victim to the backdrop. All light from the sky seemed to be nearly gone, yet here you all were, still in an illuminated carousel boutique. Obviously something unnatural was going on here.
You both shot each other worried glances as you were both thinking the same thing. Rarity and Fluttershy simply stood behind you two, wondering what exactly was causing you both to be so concerned.
Twilight turned to speak to them, but was cut off by a voice. A voice only familiar to one person here. A voice only familiar to you.
“It seems like the time has come for us to assert ourselves over your pathetic kind. Don't worry, when aren't the cruelest of conquerers, but we pride ourselves in our brutality.” The voice seemed to be rocking the whole land itself, almost as bad as the earthquake moments ago. “You can fight back, and we expect you too, as fruitless as it well end for you. You all seem to share a lot of characteristics with a certain human I'm sure some of you know. He was instrumental in unwittingly setting us loose upon your world. Prepare yourselves, people of Equestria, for you have an invading army of the likes of which you have never seen.”
After that, the voice abruptly ended and you were left alone in the backroom of the boutique. All hell seemed to break loose after that moment as screams and panicked words could be heard outside. You yourself felt sick to your stomach; what had you done coming here?
Rarity didn't seem to react at first, but then slowly began to back out of the room, her eyes on you the whole time. “I-I need to check on... Opal...”
Fluttershy was in a much more clear state. Curling up slightly upon the ground, she squeaked in a worried voice that would have been adorable at any other time, but sadly, this wasn't the time to swoon over something like that.
A hoof clasped itself onto your shoulder and brought you out of your observation. Large, purple eyes stared back at you, only a sense of seriousness and brooding hung over them.
“We..” Twilight began. “We need to stop this. Whatever it is.”
“I don't know if we can.” You returned, your heart sinking.
“Don't talk like that. WE can do this, all of us together. You knew this was coming, but they didn't listen.” A knowing smirk formed across her face. “Nopony did but me."