//------------------------------// // Never Skip Leg Day! // Story: Night at the Mall // by Wheezyandbreezy //------------------------------// A plan of action was quickly formed and executed. They decided that they would stay after the mall had closed to try and capture the various magical items without drawing too much attention. Each hid in a different place, waiting for the lights to dim, and the cages to slowly descend. Finally the mall was theirs for the hunting. They reconvened near the bench and discussed their battle plan. "Okay, so we're looking for a protein shake, a purse." "Hand bag." Rarity reflexatorily corrected. Both frowned at her. "Hand bag, whatever." Applejack said, rolling her eyes. "And a pair of headphones. So what I think we should do is go after the pur." She caught herself. "Handbag first. Little bugger was fast. Ah think it'll take all three of us to catch it." Rarity nodded. "Yes, the little drink ran straight into the gym, and I have seen it anywhere else since. So I don't think it's a priority." "Yes." Twilight said in agreement. "We don't want these things splitting us up and THERE IT IS!" Twilight snapped rushing headlong towards the music store. Applejack gawked at her friend's lack of attention to the plan. "Or not! She said as she scrambled to follow. "Come on Rares!" Just as she was about to catch up to Twilight the purse scampered up and tangled its long strap in the farm girl's boots and tripped her. She fell to the carpeted for with an audible thunk. "Gosh dern little thing you! Git back here! After it Rarity!" She called as she scrambled to her feet. "Got it! Oop! Almost! Gah!" Rarity said as she made several near swipes at the creature, but it quickly outstripped her by several lengths. "Well common girl! Get the lead out!" The farm girl called out in annoyance as she quickly passed the fashionista. Rarity huffed and puffed as she called after the quickly disappearing orange girl. "You try!" Huff. "Running in!" Puff. "High Heels!" She had to slump down on a bench and hold her side. She felt a gentle nudge at her side and saw a drink cup present itself to her to refresh her. "Oh, thank you." She said politely, taking the cup in hand. In her oxygen deprived state it didn't even occur to her that she had just grabbed the protein shake she'd been after. It was only when she tasted the disgustingly thick, tasteless, chalky sludge that she realized her faux pas. "Oh! You little devil you!" She said, but before she could secure her grasp on the offending beverage slipped quickly out of her hand. The cup waddled its way into the gym. Rarity chased the cup into the large musty room, noticing neither that the gate opened before her to let her in, nor that it closed behind her, locking her in. Applejack fell for the same trap, the handbag luring her into a clothes store and shutting behind her. "Alright you mischievous merchandise! Where ya at! Come on! Come on out!" She grinned as she saw the purse come waddling slowly out. "There ya." She stopped and audibly gulped as the several mannequins turned their heads in unison towards her. They all began to dismount themselves and walk towards her menacingly. She turned around and tried to escape, but the gate was firmly closed and locked. She pressed her back against the gate and screamed, holding her arms over her face. One mannequin held up the purse. "Oh Em gee! I LOVE your purse!" Rarity chased the protein shake into the gym, chasing it over weight benches, and through tangles of elastic exercise band. Finally she got the drink cornered and panted heavily as she gloated. "Hah! Finally! Now I'm gonna." She stopped when she heard the sound of shuffling behind her. She screamed and fled the corner, elastic bands slithering after her like snakes. She ran past a series of racked barbells falling off of the wall like executioners axes. She was rolled off of her feet by several pilates balls straight into a punching bag that launched her bodily into the air. She landed on a treadmill that began to slowly activate just as she reclaimed her balance. "Woah! Stop! Please!" She cried out as the machine kept attempting to pull her feet out from under her. She tried to stop and let the machine pull her gently off the edge, but just as she did so a giant weight machine thudded up behind the treadmill, slamming the heavy stack of weights down like a hydraulic hammer, threatening to crush her as she did so. She yelped and sprinted towards the front of the machine, desperately reaching for the emergency stop button, but every time she sped up the machine raised its speed to keep her in place. Twilight chased the pair of headphones into the music shop with a stunning disregard for propriety or respect for personal property. She knocked over cd stands, she ran over a life size cardboard cutout of a singer, bending it in half, she knocked cymbals off of the wall with a deafening crash, all in the chase for the mischievous magical malefactor. She didn't notice that in her mad scramble she was slowly becoming tangled in a net of string instrument wire. Finally with one final leap she seized the headphones with a cry of triumph. "Ha! Got. Aah!" Twilight yelped as a bundle of speaker wire wrapped itself around her arms. She struggled and squirmed, but she could not free herself from the tangle of strings, cords, and wires. Suddenly the headphones popped out of her hands and slipped themselves onto her head. She screamed as the headphones began to blast eighties heavy metal on full volume. Applejack also found herself unable to move. The mannequins had a magical strength that made a mockery of the farm girl's magical super strength. She could only squirm and fidget as they slipped outfit after outfit on, and most uncomfortably for the young woman, off of her. "Oh my god, cowgirl boots are so out right now!" One would say as they slipped a pair of gold colored high heels onto her feet. "Oh my gosh, I'm so jelly of your abs! You gotta show off girl!" Another said, slipping a pink crop top over her head. They paired the tiny little shirt with a push up bra so that the farm girl's respectable c cups stuck straight out from her chest. The poor trapped girl felt terribly exposed by how much cleavage she was showing, but what was far worse was the teensy tiny black micro mini skirt and wide white leather belt they paired with it. "Fer gosh sake y'all! Ah'm half naked!" She cried out desperately. The mannequins seemed to be given pause by this comment. "You're right. . . It still needs something." One said, pretending to consider the matter carefully. They all fake gasped as one, none of them having lungs to gasp with, as they solved the riddle. "Accessories!" They cried, dragging the half naked girl by the wrists. Her high heels couldn't gain any purchase on the mall's tile floor and she was slid along squirming and struggling the whole way. On their way to the jewelry kiosk Applejack saw a sweat soaked Rarity huffing and puffing on the treadmill through the gym's large plate glass window. She called out desperately, "RARITY HELP!" "APPLEJACK HELP!!!" Rarity screeched back even more desperately. Her legs burned like molten lead, her lungs felt like they were filled with tumbleweeds, her arms pumped limply at her sides. Her long purple hair, usually so bouncy and voluminous hung in tangling, dripping strands, saturated with sweat. She had tried several times to reach the emergency stop button, but every time she did the treadmill would automatically speed up to keep her away from the button. When she'd try to sneakily slacken her pace the machine would speed up and send her closer to the mashing weights of the machine behind her. Her throat burned with thirst abs she began to cough as she puffed. "So. . . Thirsty! Going. . . To. . . Die!" Her eyes went wide as she spied the protein shake she'd been chasing waddle itself onto the panel and present itself excitedly. Rarity scowled with all the rage of one forced to run. "Not on your life!" She snarled. Rarity stared at the styrofoam cup as the miles continued to roll on and her throat burned more and more painfully. "Oh! Curse you!" She said as she snatched the cup off of the treadmill. She gulped several mouthfuls of the thick chalky mush. She gasped and coughed after the disgusting drink, but it had slaked the pain in her throat just enough. Oddly enough the pain in her legs seemed to diminish perceptibly. Twilight felt like brains were being gelatinized inside her head. Any minute she expected to feel them leaking out of her ears and onto the floor. She could feel the fast thudding drum beats in her chest so hard she was worried it would stop her heart. She felt the vibrations rattle her gritted teeth so hard she was worried they would break. She screamed as loud as she could for them to turn it down, but she literally couldn't even hear her own voice in her head. A promotional cardboard cutout of a leather clad singer waddled its way stiffly towards the trapped book worm. "What's that?" It said, Twilight hearing its voice in her head. "You want it louder? Let's go!" The cutouts cardboard hand formed metal horns and suddenly every speaker in the room began blasting a different song at full volume. The cutout bent in half to bang its head to the beat of the cacophony. Applejack was dragged squirming and struggling to the jewelry kiosk and loaded up with all manner of cheap baubles. They put a silver pendant around her neck on a dainty silver chain that hung just above her exposed cleavage. They slipped several different widths of golden bracelets on her tan wrists. They smiled a vapid faceless grin as they held up a pair of pink heart shaped earrings and Applejack winced. "Please tell me those are clip. OWW!" She yelped as they pierced her ears then hung the dainty hearts in the newly formed holes. Two of the mannequins came slowly up to her holding a large black box between them. The farm girl rolled her eyes. "Oh what fresh hell is this?" They snapped open the case and she saw a whole galaxy of multicolored plumpers, powders, lipsticks, eyeliners. "Make up!" The mannequins shouted in their insufferable Valley girl voice. "Nooooo!!!" Applejack screamed as they began painting her face. They applied a layer of stinging lip plumper to make her lips seem larger and more kissable, then coated them with a thick layer of pink lipstick that matched her shirt and earrings. They painted her nails the same shade of light pink. They had to all join in holding her head still with their cold plastic hands to be able to apply the eyeliner, light blue eyeshadow, and black mascara on her eyelashes. They powered and painted her cheeks to accentuate her face's bone structure. When they finally released her head she almost fell to the floor with relief. She raised her head slowly, looking from mannequin to mannequin, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Y'all done? Can I, like, go now?" She said with a hint of valley girl slipping into her rural drawl. The wall of mannequins parted like a barn door opening to reveal the hair salon. Applejack groaned. In the gym Rarity had hit her stride and the protein shake's gentle influence had given her the mental freedom to acknowledge how uncomfortable she was. "Ugh! I can't run in these heels!" Suddenly a pair of black and hot pink running shoes ran themselves up beside her on the treadmill and slipped themselves onto her feet. The white high heel sandals went thudding across the floor with the force of being knocked off of her feet and flung by the treadmill. She gawked in equal measure at how much easier it was to run with the correct shoes, and at how stylish they were. "Oh Um. That's much better. Thank. . . You?" She said awkwardly through her panting. She noticed the blouse was completely saturated with sweat and she begrudgingly tore it off over her head. Just as she did so a sports bra wrapped itself around her perky breasts and an exercise tank top slipped itself over her head. Her hair was wrapped up in a high ponytail and she sighed with relief. A pair of black yoga shorts wrapped themselves around her hips and legs, discarding the tights Rarity had been wearing. The fashionista looked at her reflection in the wall length mirrors that lined the wall beside her and she couldn't help but like what she saw. Her breasts bounced enticingly with every step thanks to the sports bra. The curves of her hips and butt were both accentuated and supported by the tight shorts. She felt the heat from her exertion radiate comfortably off of her exposed shoulders and neck. She couldn't help but feel a spark of enthusiasm with the new outfit. "Alright then!" She took a large swig of the protein shake. "Let's do this!" Applejack's long straight blonde hair had been given a perm to give it long golden coils. They slipped a pair of large goofy girly oversized white sunglasses into her hair on the top of her head. "Okay now hold that pose super model!" The mannequins said as they pretended to have a photo shoot. "I ain't doin it." The farm girl growled, exhausted by the ordeal. "Aww, come on girl friend!" They pulled her into an awkward pose. "Smile! You're never fully dressed without one!" They pulled her mouth into a stilted grin. The white purse slipped itself back onto her shoulder and suddenly the farm girl felt an uncontestable stiffness come over her. Try as she might, she couldn't relax from the awkward pose. She had to stand there, glaring behind her grin for eight solid hours as the mannequins chattered like monkeys. Rarity ran the rest of the night, and Twilight was trapped in the acoustic assault.