Chapter 7
What a great day its turned out to be. First Celestia didn’t catch my stupidity, then I discovered an endless supply of magic and now I’m reading a book in the library. Things couldn’t have turned out better.
There are so many interesting books in this place, I had to start with something small and familiar like the everfree bestiary. Just so many interesting magical creatures, not just those timber wolves as I’ve found they're called, but hydras and manticores as well. This world is amazing.
After getting a bit to absorbed in the book of treats, an unwelcome interruption entered the room, coming in the form of a maid. “Oh, I thought the library was empty?” a timid voice rang out, “is it okay if I clean around you?” At the voice, I couldn’t help but look up to see a unicorn with white fur and a black mane.
“Sure, if your not scared of the big bad smoke monster,” she’s the first one not to run out upon seeing me. “I don’t mind.”
“Okay thanks,” she happily said, while beginning to dust some shelves, “It must be nice to get the whole library to yourself?” Huh, maybe things are looking up, another pony who’s not afraid to be near me.
“Oh, I’m not alone,” at my words the maid tensed up. I just pointed up to the bookshelf behind me, where one crescent vampire pony was hanging fast asleep. “she’s guarding me.”
“Erm, shouldn’t she be awake?” the maid said, while dusting the area around my slumbering protector. That is probably an important quality in a guard.
“Well, she’s a bat pony and looked really bored, so I said I’d wake her when something happened,” I said while looking up at her dangling by her tale happily snoring away.
At my words a feather duster hit me upon the head. Before a stern word followed, “Thestral.”
“Excuse me?” What’s she talking about? She doesn’t look very happy with me.
“They're called thestrals, bat pony is a bit derogatory,” oh okay, I wouldn’t want to offend anyone least of all a potential friend of Luna’s.
“Thanks, er,” oh no, hope she didn’t tell me her name.
“Swift clean.”
“Er yeah, Swift Clean,” Well she didn’t seem mad about that, so successful conversation is still a go.
“It’s surprising you’re willing to sit with your back to her like that,” what’s that supposed to mean? “Most ponies are scared thestrals might try to steal their blood or something.”
“Well, I don’t think that,” Those tiny fangs are kinda adorable too, I mean what’s she gonna do to your neck with those? “Plus, it’s nice she trusts me enough to sleep nearby.”
“That’s very open minded of you,” swift said with a smile, while dusting another shelf. “It’s a shame more ponies don’t see other species that way.” This maid has something weirdly familiar about her, I just can’t put my shoe on it. It’s something to do with her magic aura, it’s so much bigger than the other ponies I’ve met. Seems to be almost similar to the green aura that griffon assassin had. Really wish I knew more about magic. That’ll be the next book on the list.
“Well hopefully with me around as Luna's confidant, it may put strange creatures in a more positive light,” Clean must be some sort of equal rights activist or something. It’s a shame in a place as happy as this, things like speciesism exist. This conversation is another point for today being the greatest day of my existence.
At that thought two familiar pegacorns entered, to potentially ruin everything. Okay, I shouldn’t think like that, they’ve always appeared to have my best interests at heart.
“Ah armoured one there you are, Raven said you had hidden away in the library,” sunny said interrupting my musings. “Having fun, I trust?”
“Yes, I was just enjoying a conversation with Clean… here,” as I looked back to the dusted shelves the maid was nowhere to be seen, “she’s one of the maids. She must have found somewhere else to clean.” Wow she was off like a bolt of lightning, they don’t call her swift for nothing.
“We are glad to hear of thy success with the help Eclipse,” Luna chimed in, “We have come to deliver thou a most urgent message from Ponyville.” Urgent dammit, what could possibly have gone wrong now?
Celestia just laughed at my shock, “Sister, don’t be so melodramatic. Twilight simply asked about the wellbeing of our dear friend here.” Thank goodness. “I trust you would like me to tell her you are settling in fine.” She finished with a smile.
“Yeah and tell her thanks for asking,” Today can’t stop improving.
“Excellent, before I send a reply, might I ask if you would be willing to make a return visit for a better impression?” Wow sunny looks like she really wants me to go but, there isn’t just Twilight there.
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, I wouldn’t want to disturb the peace again,” It’s easy to understand why ponies would be scared of a weird armour spirit.
“Fear not my friend, for We shalt accompany thou to help put our ponies’ hearts at ease,” Luna proudly proclaimed. Doesn’t she have work to do with diplomacy and all that. I know your game you’re just trying to get out of it.
“Okay Luna, if you’re willing to come with me, I’ll go,” Don’t worry moony, I’ve got your back.
“Excellent, We cannot wait to see our precious friends once again. It has been too long,” Luna seemed pretty happy about that, she even flapped her wings a little. Well, seems like She likes the ponies of Ponyville.
“Well, if that is the case I shall send the message to my student,” Celestia said before burning a piece of paper she was holding in her magical grip. Wonder what that was for? Does burning the message cause it to teleport or something? That’s pretty cool, I’ve gotta learn that trick, it could get me out of a bind. Celestia then turned to her sister, “Please say hi to Twilight for me and tell me all about it.”
It’s a shame I can’t get both of them out of work. Just before leaving, she said one final thing to me with a sad look in her eyes, “I hope that the ponies opinion of you improves after today and hopefully your opinion of me.” she then left the library to attend to some paper work or something like that.
“What did she mean by that last part?”
When I turned to look at her, Luna became quite sheepish. “That may be our doing my friend.”
Oh no, “Luna please tell me you didn’t,” she’s told her sister our secret hasn’t she.
“Yes friend, We have informed her of thy presence within Griffonia,” She’s starting to look pleased with herself for some reason, “Worry not, for our sister was very understanding to thy situation and was only upset with thy lack of faith in her character. Saying that, We neglected to inform her of thy possession of our form.”
Okay, this is why I should of came up with an evacuation plan. What’s sunny gonna do to me? Luna how could you betray me like this? Okay, this is fine, Celestia seemed ok, maybe it was just an act to get my guard down. Hope that her feelings weren’t hurt, now that would be terrible. It’s probably a good thing Luna said something really, I never would have had the guts. I’ll apologise for being so afraid of her next time. Really don’t know why she seems so scary.
At the end of my internal meltdown, I looked up to Luna and simply said, “okay, let’s get going.”
At my words Luna stopped holding her breath in anticipation, “Marvellous, We were worried thou may hast been upset with us.” Before she beckoned me with a hoof to follow, “Come along Eclipse, Ponyville awaits.”
Just before leaving Luna seemed to remember something, “Wait a moment where is thy guard? We shall need to inform her of thine absence.”
She’s still sleeping above our heads, “She’s just patrolling the perimeter, don’t worry I’m sure the other guards will tell her what’s up.
After our brief stay in the library, the two of us set off for the pony express, which was peaceful apart from the occasional comments of pony nobles we passed.
“What is that thing?
“Is that a minion of nightmare moon?”
“Keep clear nightmares on her way.”
Apart from that, there weren’t any significant issues. Who is nightmare moon anyway? Upon arriving at the station, we boarded a very impressive carriage ,which turned out to be fully reserved for our use.
“Luna it's impressive we can have a carriage all to ourselves,” There’s so much room and the view of the countryside’s just amazing.
“Is it not my friend? We had a special royal carriage commissioned should either Celestia or myself deign to travel to ponyville.” Well, she may be proud of that decision, but that’s made this a lot less impressive. A whole carriage of space wasted just for the potential that one of the princesses may one day go to ponyville. That’s not to mention the wasted fuel on dragging about a giant slab of metal.
“Maybe the carriage could serve other purposes when you’re not using it?”
“Maybe my friend,” She’s just ignoring me on that.
Upon arrival at Ponyville, Luna immediately rejoiced, “ah the grand return, how We have missed such a quaint town.” I just followed her out of the door and hoped for dear life not to see ponies running with their tails between their legs.
Walking through this town again feels different to the first time. There isn’t any sounds at all. No little stalls set up for a market and no happy ponies going about their day. It’s basically a ghost town. Really hoping this isn’t because Celestia warned them of my approach.
“Does the town seem strangely quiet to thou? We were hoping for more fan fair upon our arrival.” At least my companion thinks it’s weird as well.
“It’s definitely quieter than last time,” there was quite a lot more screaming last time.
Undeterred by the lack of anyone, we continued to our destination, which Luna hasn’t actually told me. It appears as though that giant tree house is getting closer. “Erm Luna, are we going to that tree looking house?”
“Yes, fine observation armoured one, that is the home of our dear friend Twilight,” oh good, I’m glad this walk through emptyville is nearly complete. Luna then continued, “Twilight’s home is ingenious, is it not? the creation of a house from a growing tree is a marvel of modern magic.”
“Cool,” to be fair all magic is a marvel as far as I’m concerned.
Upon reaching the living wood home, I couldn’t help but feel something was wrong. I can see them through the windows, dozens of ponies hiding in the dark room. Okay, what does this mean? Are we about to be ambushed again? Or could it be something worse? Like the ponies seeking shelter with their hero Twilight, who protected them from the big bad smoke monster?
Upon reaching the home, Luna reached up and went to turn the handle. She was clearly unaware of the dangers within, so I had to grab her hoof with my shoe. “Luna something isn’t right.” At that, she stopped and raised an eyebrow at me, “there’s a lot of ponies in that room. I think we should message Twilight again just to be safe.”
At my words, Luna just gave me A knowing smile, “Hark my armoured friend, there is nothing to be afraid of, We are fully aware of the events about to transpire, now come along.”
“I’m not so sure about this,” my warning went unheeded as Luna playfully rolled her eyes and opened the door. Now once Luna stepped in, I just had to follow to present a united front against the potential threat within. In the darkness at least 30 ponies were hiding around the room staring in our direction and faint whispers could be heard. Do they think they’re invisible? “Okay, now what?”
As soon as the words left my non-existent lips the lights flashed on and a deafening cry of, “SURPRISE!” rang out. In a moment of bravery, I valiantly jumped behind Luna to ensure her rear was guarded from the surprise attack. What happened next was strange, as all the ponies remained quiet watching me and the Princess I was supporting from the rear.
Luna suddenly laughed and stepped aside putting me in full view of the attackers, “Eclipse thou will make a fine protector of thy charge.” Hey, I’m good when it counts. Okay so the ponies where just having a little fun at our expense, that’s ok. It shows they aren’t too scared, I can work with this. At that I took a few steps into the room allowing a pink pony to close the door behind us.
The pink pony in question, suddenly charged forward to within a hairs breadth of my faceplate before letting loose a tirade, “Hiya smoky do you like it? Huh huh? I’ve been working on getting everyone together for two days. It took so long. They all were like smokys gonna get us, and I was like no he won’t. Then they thought the princesses had sent you away, and I knew they wouldn’t be so mean so I kept baking cakes, and now you’re here and everyone was super ready, when Twilight said the princesses had redeemed you, which isn’t true because you were always super nice just ask Luna, she knows it. So, did ya get surprised?”
“Yes, erm thanks for inviting me,” that’s all I could say before the crazy party pony sped off into the crowd shouting about how more frosting was required. Well now that’s over I’m a bit lost, “So Luna, what do we do at this party?”
Luna just gave me a smile, “Enjoy thyself Eclipse, the ponies art welcoming thou into their home. Feel free to mingle it may help improve thy image.” At that last word my one and only comrade in arms abandoned me to go and converse with the purple maned pony I believe is called Rarity. Well, no time like the present, just have to find a pony to talk to about stuff and things. No problem, how do you start a conversation with a stranger?
In the distance, I caught sight of a potential conversational target. While most of the ponies turned back to their own private conversations the rainbow maned one continued to stare at me. Well locked on target, so let’s go. She appeared to be talking to that farm pony, Applejack I think her name was. Well, that’s two ponies with one stone if I can get them to accept an apology for knocking them both out, it’ll be a load off my plate.
With that in mind, I began heading over trying to ignore a few pony’s comments.
“I’m glad Luna has that things leash.”
“Do you think they used the elements on it?”
Those random ponies weren’t my target, so it doesn’t matter. Upon closing the gap to the two pony heroes, I overheard the end of their conversation.
“Come on Rainbow let’s give this fella a chance, everyone deserves one,” The farm pony said after finishing a mouthful of cake. “We gave Luna one.”
The response from the Pegasus was a little less positive, “Well I don’t trust a creepy looking dude like that, remember what he did the first time?” okay, so there’s a chance this could go slightly south, but gotta stay optimistic.
Now how do you announce your presence to ponies? I contemplated that while standing behind the oblivious Applejack. Well, let’s just dive in, “Hey ponies, what’s up?” At my words Applejack jumped back and spun 180 to look at me, “aside from you of course.” Okay, that might have broken the ice, maybe.
“What in tarnation are ya doing? Y’all coulda received another buck if I wasn’t prepared.” She said while calming down. Really need some pony etiquette training. “Y’all are pretty quiet on them their metal hooves of yours.” She finished with a slight smile.
I couldn’t help but scratch my helmet at that, “Sorry that’s more of a recent development,” it worked a treat against those griffons, “Just thought I’d say hi.” Maybe I should change my shoes back to their sturdier form?
“Well ain’t that sweet, me and Rainbow here had something we wanted to say to y’all,” Applejack said while gesturing to her staring friend, “We would like to apologise for the cold welcome you received, it just wasn’t very neighbourly of us, right Dash?” As no words came from her chromatic friend, the apple pony gave her companion a quick poke.
Looks like Apples gonna force an apology out of her friend, that’s just as good as her saying nothing really. “Listen closely smoky, I don’t trust you. You may have tricked the princesses with your goody four shoes act, but I’m on to you,” with each word she hovered slightly more into the air while aggressively pointing a hoof at me, “I’m watching you buster,” before she flew off leaving me wishing she never said anything at all.
“Ah shucks,” Apple couldn’t help but awkwardly laugh at that “Well she means well.”
“It's fine,” It was unrealistic to expect anything else really.
“Look ponies aren’t used to seeing fellas as different from a pony as you,” well that’s disappointing.
“I know what ponies are like in that regard,” the maids in Canterlot taught me that.
Sensing the drop in my mood the apple farmer changed the subject, “so smoky how’d ya like the party so far?” Its only just started.
Looking around I can see a lot of ponies just enjoying themselves dancing and eating cake its quite nice. “I like seeing people happy, it’s nice,” at least the other ponies are tolerating my presence, to a degree anyway.
Applejack just smiled at that, “Yeah Pinkie pie throws the best parties, there was no way anypony would miss it.” She then put down her cake and raised her hooves to me before shadow boxing, “at some point me an you are gonna hav ta go for round two, that first time took me by surprise.”
“What do you mean by that?” we haven’t done any rounds of anything.
She just rolled her eyes, “our wrestling match last time ya came. Just hit me up when y’all are available to tussle.”
“Oh,” I was starting to think she might like me; ah doesn’t matter being civil is all I need.
“Ah come on big guy, wrestling’s a way to build character there’s no need to be any negative stuff involved,” So is she saying she wants to play with me? That’s weird but ok. “I’d of easy beatn y’all if the princesses hadn’t shown up and saved ya behind.” Well, she seems pretty confident in her skill. I suppose if we were play fighting, I wouldn’t drain her magic so maybe she could win.
I couldn’t help but laugh at her words, “That kick you gave was pretty strong.” It’s hard to believe that a kick from such a small pony could launch me so far.
“Well, that’s what ya git from a famous apple bucker,” wonder what kind of job that is? “Ya’ll should see me bucking my trees.” Does she kick the trees down? That’s an interesting farming method if not a bit wasteful.
Well at least it went okay with one of those two, I’m glad Celestia suggested this. “Hey thanks for being so understanding Applejack, about the other day.”
“Aw shucks no need to worry about that,” she waved me off with a hoof.
“Well thanks for your time, I’m under the Princess’s orders to mingle, so I’m going to try and meet some others,” well that went well. Wonder who I could talk to next?
“Just one more thing,” huh oh it’s probably a bit rude of me to just walk out of a conversation, woops.
“Oh, what’s up?”
“I like to think I give everypony a fair chance, which to be frank we all failed at on your first day,” Is that all, another apology? Well, she was just trying to keep her town safe.
“It's fine.”
She suddenly gave me a serious look, “I’m not quite finished partner. If you ever hurt any of my friends or break the princesses trust again, I will come for you. Ya here me?” well that came from nowhere. I could only stare at the sudden change in temperament. What do you say to something like that? As suddenly as it had come the ice in Apple’s tone melted and she began to smile at me, “Now git, this party ain’t waiting around.”
Okay, that didn’t go as well as I thought, hmm. Still, it wasn’t entirely negative, she’s just looking out for her friends. I can respect that. Now who to talk to next? All these ponies seem to be in their own private conversations. It probably wouldn’t be nice to repeat it the same way as with Apple, but what other way is there?
At the other side of the room, I spied my next target. A very familiar crème coloured mare with red hair. That’s a wrong that needs putting right if ever I’ve seen one, so without delay I walked over with my shoes returned to their original fully solid form, in an attempt to announce my presence.
The pony in question, was talking with two other mares who upon my approach both casually wandered off. Okay, that’s not a good sign, but I’ll persevere. She is at a party for me after all.
“Hey guys where’re you going,” she said as I stood a metre behind her. As if sensing my presence, she immediately froze in place and slowly turned her head to look up at me. This is bad, abort mission. I immediately took a few steps back to try and calm the clearly panicking mare.
“Oh erm hello again, please don’t be freaked out or anything,” Well an attempt was made. The mare in question just stared at me wide eyed starting to steadily back away from me. “So, how’s the flower selling business going? Your selection seemed interesting.” At my final attempt at mending bridges, the pony lit a figurative fire on the foundations and legged it after her friends.
Well, that was weird, why don’t the other ponies act as scared as that? It would just be my luck to walk into the most skittish pony in town the first time I arrive.
“Did you guys see that? That thing just scared Rose.”
“Is it harassing Rose again?”
“I hope she’s ok.”
“Do you think it’s going back to its old ways?”
I can’t believe it. Rose, you are the catalyst of my downfall. Looking around the room, many of the ponies that were before enjoying their time together had started to give me sideways glances. I really don’t want to be a bother. Better head back to Luna.
On the way over, I kept hearing snipped bits of ponies talking about my potential vile deeds. It was pretty disheartening. They were also moving out of my path which, while admittedly making it easier to reach my friend, made it even more clear the initial welcoming atmosphere had started to ware off. Maybe more ponies have a similar level of fear to Rose?
When I neared my safe harbour, Luna dragged me into a riveting conversation. “Hey Eclipse, Rarity is just explaining how one would don a corset in this day and age.” Ponies wear corsets? Don’t think I’ve seen any wearing anything besides work uniforms and hats.
“Darling, corsets haven’t been in fashion for at least one hundred years,” the posh pony replied with her nose in the air. Damn I still can’t believe Luna’s over one thousand years old.
“Pray tell, what else doth ponies wear to the gala if not a corset and gown?” Luna asked in confusion.
“Princess gowns are very much still in fashion, but ponies also wear extravagant dresses as well,” Rarity suddenly became a little embarrassed, “I’m actually working on some designs for my friends.”
“Is that so? We would love to see thine work,” Luna said ecstatically. That’s a great idea, if we go and see her designs I don’t have to stay here and ruin the party.
“Oh no your majesty, I don’t believe my dresses would be fit for a Princess to see.” Hey Rarity don’t ruin this for me, we need to get out of here.
“I’d like to see your designs to. You sound like you know a lot about clothes and stuff.” Come on I need this escape.
Rarity then looked at me wide eyed and started to look a tad worried, “I never took one such as you to be interested in clothes.” Hey I can like things. Granted I don’t care about clothes, but still.
Luna quickly supported me in the worst way, “Come now my little pony dost thou not see what stands before thee. Our companion is a suit of armour, that practically is clothes.” I’m more than just clothes. Wish Luna thought a bit more highly of me. “Rarity, if thy designs are exquisite enough, We may commission a gown from thee.”
At the mention of a potential royal commission, the purple maned pony’s eyes practically flashed bits, “Of course Princess if you both accompany me, I can show my designs. Lets go right now.” She then gave a strained smile as she walked to the trees entrance. Excellent, freedom from the staring eyes.
Just as I was about to follow along, a pink blur occurred in front of my faceplate, brandishing a slice of cake. “Hey smoky, you weren’t gonna go without trying my scrumptious cakes were ya, huh huh?” where did that pink pony even come from? One moment it was just air, the next cake.
Well, I can’t eat so its going to be a no from me. “Pinkie thanks for the offer, but maybe someone else…” as I looked into the party pony’s happy hopeful eyes it felt like I was messing with something sacred. I can’t ruin Pinkie’s day, she’s clearly trying her best to make me feel welcome. Oh, what to do.
Okay, I’ve got it. To appease the party pony, I reached forward and took the admittedly amazing looking cake with a shoe. The next step was to give the cake a sniff to show interest. Hmm strawberry’s, I think. Well, there’s nothing for it now, with a few over exaggerated movements I lifted my helmet and pushed the cake, plate and all in before covering it over to hide it from sight. “That was nice thanks.” I said while tapping my chest plate.
At my actions the mare began bouncing on the spot, “Wowee I’ve never seen a pony so desperate for cake, well toodles,” and then she just bounced back into the crowd from whence she came.
My two party escape assistants were both stood by the door waiting for me. Rarity had her mouth open in shock while Luna was just smiling at me. “Eclipse, hast thou had thy fill of cake?” I just nodded at that, “Then let us be off,” Luna said before opening the door. Dammit, now I have to carry this cake around with me.
The walk to Rarity’s home was a short one, as this town was fairly small so it wasn’t long before Rarity announced, “Welcome to my humble abode.” Gesturing for us to enter with a hoof. This place is anything but humble is all I could think, looking at the massive carousel building. It’s a bit ostentatious really, but who am I to judge pony architecture.
Once inside Rarity immediately directed Luna’s attention to some dresses, “so your majesty these here are dresses I’ve designed for the day to day life in Canterlot.” At Rarity’s words, I couldn’t help but realize a major problem. I really don’t care about clothes. Well at least I’m away from the party.
“Thy selection is quite diverse, dost thou do many custom jobs?” with Luna firmly distracting the seamstress, it seemed like a great idea to wander around the store a little on my own. There might be something interesting for me to buy, you never know.
Wandering to the other side of the shop, seemed to yield many other different styles of clothes, which I knew nothing about. Well maybe I could get some tips for my own armour designs? With that thought I heard a thumping coming from my side, which led me to a set of stairs. Descending said stairs, was a smaller than average pony. About a third of the height to be exact.
“Rarity your back,” was all she said before clocking eyes on me and stopping half way down. That’s probably Rarity’s sister, she sure is short for a pony. Just like how Luna's shorter than Celestia.
Using all of the social experience I’d gained from the party, I waved at the even tinier pony, “Hello, I’m here to look at Rarity’s clothes, wait where are you going?” well she’s changed her mind about coming down stairs.
With a sigh I began heading over to my two companions. Really thought that once I’d escaped the party there’d be no ponies to scare.
“Thy standard design's art quite impressive, however they are not what we have come to see, where art thy gala designs?”
“Over here Princess, but please don’t judge me on them alone.” Rarity sounded pretty nervous there.
Those two are still talking about dresses. Well, these clothes seem different here, almost like suits. She must make clothes for stallions as well. Looking at the suit gave me an idea. Wonder if I can mimic one of these? They might be less threatening.
With that thought, I stared at the closest suit and began to change my form. It was pretty strange changing from solid metal to cloth, but not a difficult process. My chest piece easily changed into that of a suit jacket with long sleeves. The lack of any trousers to go with the suit was irritating leaving me to make my own. For the final piece I formed a top hat to replace my helmet. Well, that was fun.
“Rarity, these designs seem rather unorthodox, if thou dost not mind me saying.”
Well, this form has a pretty major drawback. The lack of solid material really hampers standing up. Okay this is fine, seem to be relying much more heavily on my mist to hold me up, but I can deal. Walking up to the two distracted ponies, one large blue one looking confused at a dress. The other small white one seeming to be about to burst into tears for whatever reason.
“Hey guys, look at me.” Okay, now to pull my best nobles pose. Right all legs straight as possible dammit, why doesn’t cloth stay still? The ponies in question both turned to look at me and both reacted with varying levels of shock. You can guess which one was more surprised.
Rarity took the lead, “Dear Faust, have you possessed one of my suits.” What? Did you make any trousers? No.
Luna was a bit more reserved, “Huh, We were unaware thou had such capabilities.”
“Hey, I didn’t possess your stuff. I can change my form at will, with some effort anyway.” Hey I had to do something to occupy myself, “so how do I look?”
“Well darling you look quite erm, handsome?” Rarity didn’t sound too confident there. She then got a wistful look on her face, “Wow, one set of clothes that can be anything you want. I’d never have to sew again. Luna, you're so lucky.” Hey I’m not Luna’s property.
“Yes, We art lucky to have such a good friend as Eclipse,” See Luna knows what’s up. My best friend suddenly gained a very happy expression, “Rarity thou may not need to craft us a gala dress.” Oh no, that’s not what I want to hear. “Eclipse would thou do us a favour for a moment?”
Five minutes later and I’m beginning to hate existing again. “Darling could you extend the hem down about half an inch?”
“Sure,” It took the two ponies a disappointingly short amount of time to get me on board with this. Upon agreeing the two of them started to give me various instruction on how to change myself, leading to my current form. A black ball gown with dark blue accents and high heels. Due to the two of them neglecting to design a headpiece, I reformed my original helmet, so there was something to use.
“We think thou needs a moon symbol closer to the rear,” Luna suggested, while poking my fabric behind.
“Okay, Rarity, get those scissors away from me.”
After another five minutes, I’d flipped my opinion of the situation once again. Its kind of nice to be wanted for my abilities and they're both taking a keen interest in me. The embarrassment never left me though.
“Okay darling, I think your finished. Would you stop lifting the rear off the ground? Its meant to drag along behind you.” Rarity said while trying to pin the hem to the ground with a hoof.
“That’s quite uncomfortable for me to be honest.” Do you drag your rear along the ground? I should think not.
“Don’t worry Eclipse, We believe that thy floating appearance gives off a very otherworldly appeal, would thou not agree?” she finished up pointing to Rarity.
“Okay I see your point. They do look like they're stuck out in the wind though.” Hey you try to keeping mist still.
“Okay guys how do I look?” well hope they had fun.
“Thou looks quite, erm beautiful my friend,” Luna started off with a slightly red face. Well, this is embarrassing.
“Yes, you look quite radiant. It could even be said that you were a dress fit for a Princess,” okay, well suppose those are nice things to say to someone.
“Well thanks for the advice. If I ever need to be a dress, I’ll use this one,” I say while looking down at my flowing form, “Okay, think I want to explore Ponyville a bit while the parties distracting everyone.”
Rarity didn’t seem too happy about that idea, “Oh do be careful, there’s an awful lot of mud outside.”
That made me laugh a bit, “Don’t worry, I’m machine washable.”
“Ah, We shall accompany thou,” Luna said, the redness only just dying down from her adorable face.
“Weren’t you going to review Rarity’s gala dresses?” That’ll distract them.
Luna seemed lost in thought for a moment before acknowledging what was said, “Oh yes, please explain the reasons for these strange styles.”
Just before I closed the stores door I heard a slightly pained cry from Rarity, “These aren’t my new designs! They’re hideous. Luna, you have to help me, please.” I’m sure Luna can handle that.
While wondering around the outskirts of town, I reformed my original armour due to almost collapsing a few times. Don’t think regular clothes will ever be my thing, armour all the way. Once complete, I realized I was stood right at the spot I'd entered town from the Everfree the first time.
Well, the ponies don’t really want me in town and according to that book, there’s a few interesting things to find. Maybe even more wolves to eat. That first one sure was tasty. Ah screw it, I easily found my way out the first time. I’ll only be gone an hour, so, onwards. With that, I walked back into the welcoming dark forest.