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// Chapter Two Filly Fashion Follies 
// Story: STAR TREK: EQUESTRIA 
// by Alicorne 
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EPISODE TWO



FILLY FASHION FOLLIES


While we sat and talked I slipped the mangled remains of my sweater over my head and off my arms. Oddly enough, it reduced the number of curious looks quite a bit…but I wasn’t about to shuck my slacks. I have my limits! I walked the remains over to a recycling station and dropped them it and let the mechanism sort and process it into reusable format for later reclamation. I walked away quickly so I didn’t have to listen to the last link I had with Home get chopped into bits.
When I examined what Solar had got me to wear my first impulse was to march back and chuck it in, too!
The purple thing she had draped over one arm turned out to be a graphic T-shirt bearing, instead of a picture, the words, “The 2 Best Things About Rodeodondo Beach!” …I fixed Solar with a glare and she simply shrugged.
“There wasna much choice in this size, I’m afraid. Th’ only other one said, ‘Rodeodondo Beach, Home o’ th’ Big Ones’ and came in an absolutely horrid day-glow pink that would have made ye look like a great wad of bubble gum.” She said, then moved around behind me and help me cram the thing over me head and tug it down. 
“As opposed to an eggplant?” I wondered aloud as I forced my head through the neck. It was a snug fit and I was already having misgivings .
“What size is this, anyhow?”
“Five-X. They wilnae hae anything bigger in stock till the beginning’ o’ th’ week.” Solar’s accent thickens when she’s distracted, I noticed. She gave the back of the thing another tug in an effort to take up any amount of slack that was left. I did the same to the front and we surveyed the results…
“Just for th’ sake o’ morbid curiosity, “ She asked, eyeing me rather wistfully. “What size o’ bra do ye take?” She arranged herself alongside me standing in profile.
I’d done more blushing that day than I did during my Starfleet Medical exams! “Well…in a low gravity environment like Earth I generally don’t bother with one. But when I do, I’m an F-cup.” I shrugged apologetically.
Alice sighed. “Well of course ye’ are! ’Tis th’ wonder of th’ world that I must be th’ only Alicorn lass who doesna need one. Och, well.” She sighed again and went back to trying to make my garment presentable.
As a shirt it was a failure. The best thing that could be said of it was that it was breast camouflage…as long as I didn’t raise my arms above my heart! The sleeves were a lot tighter than I would have liked and the neck gave me the feeling that something was just waiting for me to drop my guard before it squeezed. If I took too deep of breath I was sure it would come apart at the seams!
Solar rubbed the end of her muzzle with a hoof, obviously stifling an attack of the giggles as she circled around, taking in the sights.
“Oh, I dunno… It has a certain appeal. ‘Tis verra flatterin’ t’ yer figger, t’ be sure!” She tittered. I would have crossed my arms, but I would have been back to square one if I did so I just gave her a severe glare.
“It’s NOT funny…but is it enough to let me go out in public. What are the indecent exposure laws like out here? Back home they’d run me in wearing an outfit like this!” I squirmed a little and tried to run a finger around my too-tight collar. At which point Solar did a rather startling thing. She came around front and tsked at the lack of neck room I had. She reached up and took hold of the collar then, with a quick flick of her head, she cut the fabric with the tip of her horn! It happened so quick that I blinked! The bangle on her horn glittered in the light and, zip, I wasn’t being strangled any more and I found myself in possession of a moderately plunging neckline! 
She stepped back and admired her handiwork and nodded, pleased. She  waved a dismissive hoof. “Sure an’ ye’ll do just fine. Myself, on th’ other hoof, had best get dressed if we’re going t’ find ye summat better, doncha know. Come along right over here and I won’t be a tick!”
On the far side of the concession stands, at the entrance to the beach, were a set of square lockers like a wall of plastic boxes underneath an awning. Each one had a rather quaint combination lock on it and there were backless benches arranged in front of them. They looked pretty sturdy and I cautiously eased myself onto one and watched while Solar dialed a locker open. A lot of Ponies were there getting ready to venture out on or returning from the beach and I sat as primly as I could and tried not to gawk. Keeping my eyes on Solar was the politest thing I could think of doing…and was enjoyable, to boot!
Solar was an old hoof at this, I could see at once! She exchanged a few pleasantries with the Ponies around her as she withdrew a pair of lacy lavender undies that didn’t seem to serve any purpose other than to make her look even more beautiful. She balanced delicately on one hoof then the other as she stepped into them. (Seeing the tip of her tongue sticking out of the side of her muzzle while she concentrated on balancing was one of the cutest things I’ve seen in my life!) Reaching behind, she guided her tail through the opening. She grinned and waved her tail at me before bringing out a short skirt patterned in pale yellow and white stripes. She wriggled into it and repeated the tail waving process before she brought out short-sleeved blouse of white, almost shimmering material so light that it looked as if it would blow away on the slightest breeze. I wasn’t surprised that Solar would wear silk, it suited her. Lastly she withdrew a handbag and a pair of very pretty yellow shoes to put on her dainty hooves. She sat next to me and took her sandals off, knocking the sand off them before stowing them in her bag. She brushed her hooves off and slipped her shoes on, combing out her feathered ankles with her fingers. There were a few full-length mirrors here and there, but there were Ponies clustered around each of them. Instead, she took a brush and what I thought was a rather large, flat compact out of her bag. When she opened it, however, there was a shimmer in the air above it. The telltale sign of a holographic projection! I craned my head to take a closer look. I’d heard of the things before. A holographic ‘mirror’ that scanned what was in front of it and broadcast an image back in the same direction at whatever scale the user set. Solar had in effect, a wall mirror she carried around in her purse. A nifty thing to have and it only confirmed my growing suspicion that Solar was comfortably well-to-do. This casual reminder of wealth gave me a start as my current situation reasserted itself!
“Oh, crap!” I observed in a brilliant display of verbal acuity.
Solar paused in the act of touching up her mane and frowned into her reflection, turning her head this way and that. “…I admit that I’ m a wee bit worse for wear after bein’ out in th’ wind but I wouldna go so far as t’ say I look like ‘crap’! We have got to work on yer vocabulary, an’ you bein’ in Starfleet an’ all! Tsk, tsk!”
I gave her a small shove that made her giggle. “I’m serious! What with all that’s gone on, it just dawned on me that all my credits are running around loose on the streets. Right now I can’t even pay you back for the ice cream let alone this, uh, shirt… much less get a new wardrobe!”
“Oh, fiffle!” Solar,  I would come to find out, never uses anything even remotely like bad language. (How can you NOT love someone like that?) “Ye mustn’t worry yourself on that account, Starry my Dear! It’s glad I am to do it. Ye’d do th’ same if I were in th’ same straits, would ye not?”
“Well, of course I would!”
“There ye are, then!”
“But….” I’ve been in combat , successfully argued down superior Officers , and even broken up arguing Tellarites! Yet I found myself stammering, looking into Solar’s lavender eyes! “But I just hate being a, a parasite! I feel like I’m taking advantage of…your good nature.” I concluded rather lamely.
“Oh Starry, Starry, Starry!” She chuckled, “I’m a big filly…no nearly as big as yerself, mind, (I quirked an eyebrow at her at that statement, and she just  smiled that radiant smile of hers! I‘ve taken a lot of guff in the Star Service because of my size, usually only once per offender. Why is it so many Ponies equate being Big with being Fat??) (And she called me Starry! Squee!!) but big enough to have been around th’ block a few times. I do what I do because I’m able to do it and I want to do it. Let me worry about how I spend me money.” She patted my knee companionably. “But yer a Dear to worry!” She stretched up and gave me a peck on the cheek, causing me to cave in instantly! The Starfleet Diplomatic Corps should really be told about Alicorns!
Solar stood and brushed at her skirt. Putting her grooming kit back she picked up one of my hands and gave a tug. 
“Come along now and we’ll get you kitted out, up ye get! Hup, hup, one-two, one two, march!”
I don’t remember much about that first shopping trip. Solar wanted to take me to a ‘Reputable Fashion Designer’ and it took all the persuasive power I could muster to steer her toward a regular retail store. My dismay only deepened once I got a look at the prices! (How can anypony afford to live on Earth!?) At least the place stocked clothing in my size…
The closest thing we had to a fight was when Solar wanted to deck me out in a skirt!
“No skirts!” I literally put my hoof down, causing the salespony (A nice enough Filly with a curly green mane and a yellow coat, as I recall.) to tactfully find something else to do nearby. 
“Why ever not?” Asked Solar who had come by with an armful of them for me to try on.
“Because,” I lowered my voice self-consciously, “My legs are bloody huge! I’d look hideous! I haven’t worn a skirt since I was a teenager. Let ‘em look at your legs, instead! They’re a lot prettier.” I added, diplomatically. Fortunately, Alicorns are more than a little vain and Solar, mollified, let the matter drop. Then she suggested something called ‘Capris’…that I rejected as soon as I saw them. The things some Ponies will wear!
Solar frankly balked at my choice of lingerie, though.
“Oh, Starry!”
“What?! It’s underwear!”
“It’s about as feminine as a hazmat suit! Ye could at least pick another color than just white! 
“Oh, come on! It’s not like anypony’s gonna see them.”
“Just look at these. Please? I wonder if there is a Victoria’s Secret nearby….?” She brought out her comm and started searching the local ‘Net.
I reluctantly began checking out Solar’s idea of underwear. 	“…You have a real predilection for lace, don’t you? And little bows, for goodness sake!? What keeps these things on, anyway? There isn’t enough fabric here to make them worth the effort…”
“Starry! Please…trust me?” She melted me with those lavender eyes and I bowed to the inevitable and let her pick me out an assortment.
In the end I had four full bags of the most feminine clothing I’d ever worn. Solar, who simply loved shopping, managed to get a bag full for herself. I eventually had to admit that I was pleased with it. Growing up in a mining colony and then Starfleet I had never bothered being a Filly or a Mare. I began my adult life as a miner back on Equestris. First metals, then gems. After a while I found I had a knack for physics. Eventually, after years of simultaneously working and studying, I became a Scientist. I became an Astrophysicist specializing in Cosmology…at least until the War came around. And, not to put too fine a point on it, the only two things most Ponies outside a Lab cared about me are mounted high on my chest. The whole idea of Romance never mattered outside of the occasional dalliance, (One-sided affairs, you’ll excuse the pun, that ended as soon as the Stallion got what he wanted.) that is. …Until Solar. Solar actually made me want to be a Filly, no, an adult Mare. She wasn’t interested in some flighty here today gone tomorrow fling with some giggling adolescent . I owed Solar so many things that day, but that was the thing, I supposed, I owed her most. How could you not love someone like that?