Written by: DreamWings
Rated Everyone
Pipsqueak was his name; Pipsqueak was his look; but Pipsqueak was not his nature. Pipsqueak, ‘Pip’ for short, was always trying to find new and extraordinary things to do. Every day was a new adventure in his eyes. And every adventure needed a new outfit. Whether he be Pipsqueak the Pirate or Pipsqueak the Parrot (One of his best costumes so far) he always had to dress up in a different way. Nopony knew why he liked to dress up as other ponies so much but nonetheless it never stopped their amusement in it.
Pip’s parents often worried about their son’s love for fancy dress. To them it seemed rather peculiar and un-pony like, but they had to live with it because Pip was never going to change his love for costumes and nopony was ever going to change his mind.
Every morning it took quite an effort for him to search through his wardrobe and look for something he hadn’t worn before. Sometimes he wouldn’t come out for days; spending his time making a special hat or prop that he needed to complete his latest creation. Nightmare Night was a perfect time to really get his brains into gear and come up with a wonderful idea for the celebration. Foals from near and far (near being Ponyville, far being Trottingham) admired him immensely for his use of materials to make something perfect. True, it wasn’t his special talent maybe, but it’s what he enjoyed doing and would never give up on.
Today’s morning activities were no different to the usual; Pip disappeared inside his large oak wardrobe and didn’t come out for a while. He always got changed in the wardrobe for some reason and he never came out for at least twenty minutes. Every day he went in there and every day he, an Earth pony, magically came out wearing a different outfit. The friends who had been over to his house on Nightmare Night to wait for him to get ready had laughed a lot when he had vanished completely into his room for a long time. It was a constant joke among them that there must be some kind of Magical Costumes land hidden at the back of the cupboard. Pip laughed along with them; he knew that wasn’t true.
In fact Pip just really loved costumes and had brought over a large collection of them with him from Trottingham. He had outfits for Princesses, Princes, Knights, Bakers, Monsters, Desserts, Pirates, Princesses, Famous Ponies, Jesters, Continents, and Planets. He basically had every costume you could ever think of inside his room. However, this did not satisfy the little colt, he needed new costumes all of the time, wearing the same on a couple of days running would just be shameful to him. Most of the money he saved up was spent at a Fancy Dress shop in Trottingham and all of these outfits had to be bought on bulk the rare times they went back to see the rest of their family. Pip had even taken the step of going to Sweetie Belle once and begging her to ask her sister to make him a party dress (an order that shocked Rarity when she was told). Sweetie Belle only agreed because she liked Pip, he was a nice colt, and if it hadn’t been for him she would have never been able to get the pointy fangs that completed her vampire costume last Nightmare Night.
Pip was brave to the point he loved to be scared. You’d think that most ponies would be horrified and embarrassed to even consider wearing silly costumes like dressing up in a party gown so he could be a royal version of Pinkie Pie for the day. He had no fear or worries about what ponies may think of it, and was possibly the only pony who hadn’t chastised the Cutie Mark Crusaders about posting gossip about him in the Foal Free Press. He was happy with whom he was and he was happy with his costume choices.
Today however, Pip seemed to be having a problem in deciding what to wear. Every so often an outfit would shoot out of the cupboard and onto his bedroom floor. Soon a whole sea of clothes was strewn everywhere in the bedroom; you could barely even see where Pip’s puppy, Matey, had been resting. The only evidence that he was still there was small muffled barks that could be heard every so often. Pip still carried on digging through his supply; not happy with his choices. This one was too new, that one was too old, that one needed to be fixed, and that one needed more sparkles. No, Pip was not happy at all.
Ponies not from places where he had once lived before would have been extremely confused to see a colt stress so much over what they would consider a trivial decision. Ponies didn’t often wear clothes anyway right? Well, no, that’s wrong, because Pip wore clothes all of the time; a lot more than every other pony had. Even Rarity could not amount to wearing as many outfits as the young Pip had.
“No, that’s not right”, he mumbled inside the wardrobe. “That hem’s far too low.” He let out an exasperated sigh and wandered out of his hiding place. Nothing, there was nothing he truly thought he could wear today. All of his outfits were not at the same level as they should be; he needed more, he needed inspiration. Sadly, he couldn’t find it anywhere in his chest of special treasures.
There was only one outfit in the cupboard that he had never worn before and he wasn’t sure if it would be ‘right’ to wear it or not. It was so strange and peculiar that even he would blush to wear it. He wasn’t sure how much respect he would get for choosing it either; he didn’t want to lose his friends over an outfit. In the end, he supposed, they liked him for him but the problem was that wearing good costumes was what he was; it’s what he did, and nopony would understand if he didn’t keep to his own standards of dressing up. It was so unfair.
Matey barked and shook himself out of the pile he had been lost under. He shot over to his master and gave him a loving lick all over his right hoof. Pip smiled. He would have gone in his dog costume, so he could be like Matey, but he had only worn that a couple of weeks ago and it wasn’t time for him to wear that again. Pip peered around the room looking for any signs of a costume he could have perhaps missed in his clear out. Nothing. He could still think of nothing. Which meant…he gulped…he had to wear that horrible outfit after all.
Ponies gasped as Pip wandered in his new attire down the streets of Ponyville towards the school. They all stared, bewildered, unable to move from the spot. There were cries of ‘Has he gone mad?’ along with phrases like ‘Poor dear.’ And ‘Somehow he doesn’t look right today.’ Pip didn’t like it, he didn’t like that he had to wear his most embarrassing costume. He blushed scarlet as he wandered into the playground. The foals all turned and he could hear giggles amongst the crowd. They thought this was funny, but Pip didn’t find it funny at all. His friend, Snappy Snaps, moved forwards, his camera hanging around his neck. He looked quizzically at his small friend for a few minutes before asking:
“Pip, what are you wearing?”
Pip looked down at his orange stripy shirt, his light blue jeans, and his white, flash trainers. It was mortifying to dress in this way.
“I suppose,” he said. “I’m dressed as Pipsqueak the Average Foal…who wants to play football with his friends.”
Pip ran off after the ball on the floor. His friends smiled and ran to join him and soon a whole game had begun. Pip laughed and his white teeth gleamed in the sunlight. He was still the best at costumes.