I was cold, legitimately it was the first time that I had really been cold in this new pony shaped body and no matter what I tried it would just not stop shivering. My fur was dripping wet, and the towel that I was standing on wasn’t designed to soak up that much moisture, though it seemed to be trying its damnedest. Melody had taken my invitation to draw a bath for me as one to fully bathe me, which I had justly refused as soon as she closed the door behind her and left the two of us alone in the washroom. While that had probably seemed as a regular thing for her to do, and who knew maybe DT did have her servants wash her, now that I thought about it that seemed pretty likely, I wanted to preserve some modicum of independence.
So now here I was, finished with my forty minute soak and with my mane hanging down over my face obscuring most of my vision. My dark grey coat had been thoroughly soaked through and was now black; aside from the few streaks of blue that my mane and tail possesed I probably looked like a drowned rat, and I felt like one too. I continued trying to scrub the water from my fur with one of the monicured towels that were in the washroom, I believed that the pink one belonged to Diamond Tiara so it was the one I chose to stand on. I was really getting nowhere, I wasn’t tall enough to reach up onto the back of the sink where I barely caught sight of in the mirror above the sink. After trying and failing to get anywhere with drying myself for another ten minutes I sighed and walked over to the door and gave it a knock.
“Hello,” I called out without too much hope that I would be heard, “is anypony still out there?”
“Yes,” came Melody’s immediate reply.
“Can you…” I really couldn’t believe that I was about to ask for this. “Will you help me dry off I seem to be having a bit of trouble.”
I backed away as she gently pushed the door open, that was when I realized that ponies didn’t seem to have locks on their bathroom doors. Melody stepped into the room quietly and just as silently closed the door behind her before she daned to look down on my small wet self. She stood there as we both stared back and forth at each other for a few moments before she turned her head away and let out a small fit of laughter; I have to say that it was very unprofessional of her.
“Something funny?” I asked a little bit indignant.
Melody turned back to look down at me and after a second or two was able to wipe the grin mostly off of her face. “I’m sorry, so you need help?”
I stared up at her for a while longer before just giving in, damn I hated asking for somepony to come and dry me off. It really made me feel my age. “Yeah...I’m completely soaked and I can’t reach the blowdryer up on the counter.”
She nodded and walked to a hangar where she retrieved a dry and perfectly pressed white towel. With somepony else doing it I have to say that it was much easier actually getting myself dried off. Sure it felt a little strange being scrubbed like that, but it was a little bit nice to be taken care of like that. Where I had expected it to take a good twenty minutes to get all of the water off of myself Melody accomplished the feat in a mere three. When she finished with the towel she even took the time to fold it neatly before she put it in a nearby hamper before turning back to me.
“Alright, now do you want to do anything specific with your mane, or just leave it like it is?” she asked as she walked towards the counter to retrieve the blow dryer. My mane was pretty long, longer than my human hair had been at least, and it was kinda bugging me at the moment. Now that I thought about it, my mane had actually been slicked back when I first woke up in the woods and I know that I wasn't the one that put it like that. On that matter how did we get these bodies in the first place, that had never really been addressed and the whole ‘It happened because we talked about it’ thing didn’t actually make any sense. Had someone purposefully…
“Do you not know? I know that manestyles are a girly thing, but I could help you choose something if you wish,” Melody said, trying to be helpful.
“Um, if you could just slick it back like I had it that would be great,” I responded uncertainly.
“As you wish.” With a simple nod she sat next to me on the floor with a blowdryer in one hoof and a brush in the other as she began to work on my blue and black mane. Much against my expectations it actually seemed that unlike my coarse and curly human hair, my new mane was easy to work with if you knew what you were doing. It co-operated very easily with my new stylist and after a few minutes it was mostly dry and pulled perfectly over the back of my head and down my neck. Melody quickly retrieved a bottle of something called ‘Serum’ from atop the counter and put a small bit on her hoof before lightly spreading it over the top of my head. I didn’t really know what the stuff was for, but it smelled nice and I wasn’t about to go questioning a woman on proper hair care.
When she was done spreading the clear gunk on my prim and proper mane she stood once more and put everything back in its place before washing her hooves in the sink. “There you are, now you look quite dashing,” she said without turning around. I looked to one of the several full body mirrors in the washroom and sized myself up in it. Sure, I was no longer caked in dirt and grime, but dashing might be pushing it a little bit. Not that I would really know what qualifies as good looking in pony terms, but if it was symetrics and tone I definitely had that. Another thing I had noticed when looking the different children over at the playground was that Earth Ponies did seem to have an inherent beefyness to them that the other two races lacked.
Now that of course seems like common sense: unicorns have magic to get them whatever they need so why would they be in shape and pegasi needed to be light to fly, but seeing as how I was probably the tallest in my class, discounting Snails, I also seemed to be a likely candidate for strongest. I didn’t really see being the strongest as something to brag about, I had been a big guy my first go around at elementary school and it didn’t really get my anything. But here and now when I didn’t really have much it was pretty cool, yea being an Earth Pony was pretty alright. I mean Steel got to be a Pegasus and he didn’t get anything out of it.
“We should head downstairs to the drawing room, the tailor is waiting for you and I believe that your brother may already be in there getting measurements taken,” Melody said as she held the door open. With my ruminations once more broken I shrugged before turning and walking out of the door and back into the hallway. When Melody didn’t immediately follow me out I turned back to catch her minutely adjusting where the blow dryer was before she quickly followed me back into the main hall. She cleared her voice as she once more regained a proper pose and began to walk on ahead of me.
I did feel much better now, and the shivering had subsided once the blow drying had started. Being clean just kind of did something for me that I couldn’t really explain, but I loved it all the same and found myself walking a little taller. Since I found myself living in this fabulous mansion and surrounded by servants I thought that I might at least try and act the part; so after a few minutes of studying Melodies poise as she walked in front of me and down the stairs I attempted to copy her canter. This turned out worlds better than when I was trying to copy Pinkie’s particularly perplexing mode of movement and I think that I may have even pulled it off.
After descending the main staircase and taking a left towards a room that I had not explored yet we found ourselves in a sort of parlor where there were several different rolls of cloth lying about everywhere. Two more maids were standing off against a wall and there were quickly joined by Melody who stood next to them silently. The maid ponies all exchanged a nod before looking ahead once more to where I assumed the action to be, but I really couldn’t see anything with all of the furniture in the way. Using my considerable powers of deduction, I figured that I should walked around the couch in order to get a look at whatever was going on, and after doing so I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Steel was standing on a small platform looking thoroughly put out as tape measures and other strange tailoring things circled about him. It didn’t look so bad except for the pair of sheers and several needles that were also spiraling in the mini-blue tornado that was doing its best to look threatening but inflict no harm. There, just a few feet away from my orange friend who looked like he might pee himself any moment, staring straight through him with a calculating gaze, was the pony that every so often would knock Luna off of my #2 favorite pony slot. Rarity, was actually standing in this greeting room and seemed to be fluctuating between boredom and serious concentration with ease.
My heart started thudding deep in my chest as I first laid eyes on the physical perfection that she so effortlessly displayed in the mere action of standing there and focusing. Every curl of her mane flowing in long waves about her with not a single strand of hair out of place, and she sheen of her coat enough for anyone to think it may be metallic in nature. The way all of her utensils operated in perfect harmony with one another as they conducted their symphony in the air about my friend who was lucky enough to be at the epicenter of her artistic musings. Now, I realize that it might seem like I find Rarity attractive, but I’m not into her the same way Spike is. I just happen to love the hell out of her character, and now I was going to have an even bigger fangasm than I did when I first spotted Applebloom.
I realized that she still hadn’t noticed me, her concentration was truly incredible, and that I had a few moments to regather myself and calm down before I made a fool of myself. I took a deep breath and held it for fifteen seconds before slowly letting it out and taking another long and slow one, after a few breaths my heart started to slow down and the tingling that had been spreading through my legs began to subcede somewhat. Rarity was still focused on whatever brilliant thing she was doing with Steel as I finished my breathing exercise and that allowed me time to once again adopt the perfect poise I had been working on in the hallway just a moment before.
The telekinetic storm of tailoring supplies abruptly came to a stop and everything floated back to a resting place as Rarity raised herself to her full height and nodded. “Yes, I think I have what we need. You can step down now darling.” Without wasting a second Steel quickly jumped off of the platform and onto the ground with a relieved sigh. She picked up a clipboard and began mumbling to herself as she walked over to some fabrics and started lifting them and inspecting them independently. Steel approached me ready to unload his troubles.
“Man, that was sooo boring,” he said woefully. It took all my willpower not to thunk him on the head again.
“Are you serious? You just got to meet Rarity and now she is designing clothes for you or something. How can that possibly be boring?” I tried to keep my voice down, as it was obvious that the maids directly behind us would probably like to listen in since they didn’t have anything else going on.
“Well Rarity is kinda...meh. Plus I had to stand there for fifteen minutes doing absolutely nothing.”
“I...I don’t...how can you...seriously?”
“Oh yea I forgot that you were totally a fangirl for Rarity,” he said with a sigh.
“I am not!”
“Oh man you totally are.”
“Must I reacquaint you with the ground again?” I threatened, trying to regain some of my masculinity.
“Oh calm your tits,” he said with a smirk, waving off my threat as empty, “I was just messing with you a bit.”
“Yeah yeah, I’m sure I will get plenty of opportunities to pay you back in kind. Maybe even on this very day.”
“What are you going on about,” he asked, brow arched with suspicion.
“Well aren’t we…”
“Alright I believe that we have a direction to go in. I have a few ideas that I’m going to get started on, would you like to give me any suggestions of what you want?” Rarity said, beautifully and artfully interrupting what I was saying.
Steel sighed, “Can I just get my jacket back? That is all I want.”
Rarity frowned, or more closely she seemed to flinch at the mere thought of the garment. “I have seen that particular article and...how to put this delicately...it was old and ratty. There were several holes in it, and it wasn’t very well constructed. We had it donated to a goodwill organization.”
Steel looked like his brain had just stopped working, sure I knew that he loved that jacket, he probably almost always wore it whenever he could, but it was just a jacket. I used the opportunity to politely shove him aside and enter the conversation. “Hello Miss Rarity, my name is Ashen Stroke.”
Her eyes followed Steel to wherever he landed before coming back to me. “Oh yes, I believe that I was supposed to take measurements and get started on some clothing for you as well. Are you ready, Darling?” Oh god, Rarity called me Darling and it was amazing.
I nodded eagerly. “Of course Miss Rarity.”
She smiled at that. “Well aren’t you just a perfect gentlecolt. Come over here and stand on this platform for me would you please?” She made her way over to the middle of the room where I had seen her standing before and her horn began to glow as all of the objects that had been floating previously started to levitate once more.
I wasted no time jumping up onto the short platform and pulling myself to my full height. I was still woefully small in comparison to any pony around, Steel seemed to have left while I was talking to the most talented seamstress in town, which made me the smallest in the room. The measures and other devices that I had no hint as to what their function was twirled around me and went to work. Tape measures were placed over me in several different places, and each time Rarity marked down something on her paper before they were moved to somewhere else, but I didn’t really mind it in the least.
Pieces of cloth were pressed against my fur, all different colors and materials as she tried to narrow down what would look good on me it seemed. My very limited knowledge of anything clothing related prevented me from having much of an idea of what exactly what was going on, but Rarity seemed to be concentrating very hard so I did my best not to move a muscle. About five minutes in I started to understand what Steel had been talking about as my hooves started to ache for some movement. Despite that however, I continued standing there until she was finally finished a couple of minutes later. She set aside everything she had once more and walked forwards to the platform that I was standing on.
“Alright Ashen, I believe that I have several ideas for you as well. Is there anything in particular that you would like?”
I thought about it for a few moments. Asking Rarity to make another hoodie for me would be a complete waste of her considerable talents. “Is there anyway you could make me like a really cool jacket?”
She cocked her head to the side. “What kind of cool jacket?”
“Well I don’t know, like bright red with a sharp collar and stuff. I don’t really know that much about clothes and stuff really.” If I could get a jacket like that all I would need was a pair of awesome and pointy sunglasses.
She looked pensive for a second before replying, “Red is not a very good color on you, Darling.” She said Darling again, damn I loved that.
“Then what do you think would be a good color?” I asked.
“A very nice blue would go beautifully with your mane and would make the color really pop out. I think a nice cyan or aqua with maybe a purple or white accenting color.” She stared off for a second before she levitated her pen back to the paper and scribbled something more down. “Yes, I think we can get something like that done. Anything else?” She continued to look down at me for a little while longer as I scrunched my brow in concentration. Really I hadn’t thought too much about what I would want as clothing when I didn’t need pants or shirts.
“Um...no. Just some cool stuff if you can make it,” I replied.
She patted me on the head and her horn lit up again. Suddenly, all of the cloth and items she had been using before floated into the air once more and quickly began to pack itself away in the a couple of suitcases that had been in the corner. The entire procedure didn’t take more than twenty seconds and soon she had five suitcases near the door which the maids quickly grabbed and started to carry out. “I think that I can certainly make some ‘cool’ things for you and your brother.” She levitated the papers she had been writing on in front of herself as she too began to make for the exit.
I stood there and watched the greatest unicorn that I knew depart the room. Melody was the last one left with me in the room, and it took me a while to recollect myself enough to realize that I was just standing here awestruck. I blinked a few times before looking over to her. “Alright that was fun, what am I supposed to go and do now?”
She looked down at me with kind yet scrutinizing eyes. “We were informed that you and Master Steel wished to play with your friends later so your dinner has been prepared early. If you wish we can go to the dining room and eat now.”
It didn’t really take me too long to consider it, and I nodded to her as I began walking to the door. “That sounds good, what’s for dinner?”