A fresh breeze greeted Mender as he left the Ponyville Library and started home. Mender was satisfied with the answers Twilight gave him, and now his curiosity in that ivory door only amplified with every second that passed and every step he took. If there were any answers that she didn't give him in there, he would find them with whoever...or whatever was beyond that door.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a scream whose source came from a large, colorful building. It radiated with splashes of color all around it, with what looked like ponies suspended on the sides of the second floor overlook and another hanging just above the door. This building looked to have just as many windows in it as it had actual support structures and walls.
Thinking somepony was in trouble, he rushed over to the building and ran into the door, forcing it open in an instant.
His eyes were treated to yet more color as he entered what looked like a mixture between a salon and a modeling agency. Chairs with mirrors sat at the end of the room next to an open entryway. To his right sat a yellow flower modeling floor with three mirrors in the back, clearly a spot to carefully examine any clothing being worn there.
He spotted a ponnequin or two lining the left of the room, one of them wearing a hip looking design for a mare. If the pony in here is anything like the clothing they design, they have an eye for detail that's lost on an army pony like Mender. His job as a medic demanded a uniform where functionality was key. He wasn't too interested in how it looked so long as it got the job done.
Mender then noticed all the jewels woven into the dress on the ponnequin, and hoped there would never be a day where he'd be caught wearing something as bedazzled as that dress.
...wait, what was he doing? He heard a scream in here, there was no time to take in the sights! He didn't see anyone in the room he entered, so he rushed into the entryway at the back. To his left was a set of stairs leading up, and to his right led to another entryway where he saw sketches and strips of fabric scattered around the room in what appeared to be a chaotic mess.
Another scream came from the stairway. Reacting on instinct, he climbed the stairs and found a door at the top. He opened it without haste, and shouted heroically as he entered.
"I'll save y-" His mouth was greeted with the taste of cloth and feathers as a pillow flew into his face.
Two ponies, one filly and a mare in the middle of a pillow fight, stopped what they were doing to look at Mender.
Mender spat the pillow out of his mouth and looked back at the ponies. One he immediately recognized as Sweetie Belle, but the other he didn't. The blindingly white unicorn mare before him stood in shock, her flowing blue-violet mane and tail complementing her equally sapphire eyes. Her eyelids were tinted a light sky-blue when she blinked, and her cutie mark stood out as three glimmering diamonds.
"Mender!" Sweetie Belle ran up to him with a cheerful smile on her face. He felt a tinge of pain in his lungs, but ignored it.
"Mender?" The mare asked. Mender ignored her question.
"Hello Sweetie Belle. Trying to get a cutie mark for pillow fighting?"
"Hah, as if! Already tried doing that with the Crusaders a month ago. No, this time I'm just playing with my sister."
"Oh? Who is your sister?" he inquired.
"That would be me. My name is Rarity," the other mare spoke.
"Ah. Able Mender. I moved here about two weeks ago. It's a pleasure to meet somepony as...strikingly beautiful as you, miss Rarity." Mender wasn't joking, she looked gorgeous. He began to wonder if she was already taken with looks like those, but thought better than to ask.
"Oh, you're too kind, Mender...but why are you in my boutique?"
"Well, uh, I heard screaming as I walked by here and thought somepony was in trouble. I'm an army medic, you see, so my instincts sorta kicked in at that point."
She gasped. "You're an ARMY pony?" Rarity swooned at the thought. "I've never had the pleasure of talking to an army pony! Tell me, what was your service like?"
Mender's tone turned cold as he spoke, noticeable to both Rarity and Sweetie Belle. "It...wasn't a good service for me." He pointed to his horn's two cracks with his hoof. "If you don't mind, I'd...rather not talk about it."
Rarity understood and quickly changed the subject at that point. "Oh, alright...but if you don't mind my asking, how do you know Sweetie Belle?"
Great, another question he wanted to skirt around. He noted a bit of fear in Sweetie's eyes before it vanished with his next words. "Oh, I met her while she and the Crusaders were doing one of their...usual activities."
"Hunting for cutie marks," Sweetie Belle huffed.
"Yeah, that."
"I see. She and her friends do get into all sorts of adventures looking for their cutie marks," Rarity said.
"Yeah, and I'll bet none of them involve sending a pony to the hospital..." Mender muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing! Nothing...so, uh, what do you do here, miss Rarity?" Mender already knew the answer...sort of.
"Oh, I'm glad you asked, darling!"
Mender winced at that word slightly, but let her continue. "I'm a designer of dresses, suits, and other fabulous accessories to make anypony look their best! I also do hairstyling on occasion for some ponies that just have trouble getting their manes and tails to look right. You wouldn't believe how many clients I have that request my services, they're that impressed with my work."
"You don't say."
"Oh, but I DO, darling...and if I may be so bold, I want to offer you that chance too!" Rarity's eyes sparkled.
"Uh...come again?"
"I want to make YOU look handsome! Oh my goodness, I just thought of some great ideas for you!" She grabbed Mender and yanked him down the stairs and set him down in the entrance room of the boutique. Sweetie Belle giggled as Mender was screaming for help. No aid would come to him, he was in Rarity's hooves now.
If Mender could describe what happened to him in the next twenty minutes in a single word, he'd call it "confusion." Rarity quickly found a measuring tape and started taking measurements of his body. Every light squeeze of the tape around his chest hurt his lungs enough so that he wouldn't object. He felt violated as her nimble hooves seemed to measure everything with the tape...including a few measurements he thought were too close for comfort.
When she finished, she dashed off into the back entryway and came back with a rack of outfits for Mender to try on. She dragged him over to the modeling stand, and behind a curtain that Mender swore he didn't see anywhere in the boutique before, she quickly dressed him up in new outfits in what felt like mere seconds.
"Too short! Too poofy! Too modern! Too old! Not enough gems!" Wait, gems?! Oh Celestia, help him!
She continued for about ten minutes before throwing her hooves out in the air in defeat. "Oh, it's hopeless! I don't have anything good for you to wear! This is just the worst...possible...thing!" Rarity fell back dramatically as she dragged a couch underneath her using her magic.
It was at this moment that Mender could speak, finally out of the tornado that is Rarity in her boutique. He desperately wanted to leave, so he thought of an idea that could get him out of there before she whisked him away into fifty more outfits.
"Um...if I may say something, miss Rarity? I actually do have an outfit that I wear, but it is in dire need of, uh...a new look."
Rarity jumped off her couch, her eyes sparkling with a new determination. "Oh? What outfit is that, darling?"
"My medic uniform. I was discharged from the army, so maybe they won't mind if you make a few changes to it now," Mender said. A small smile formed across his face, his plan was working!
Rarity gasped. "You...you want me to change your medic uniform?"
"Yeah, like I said, it's an old uniform, and I think it could use your gifted touch, miss. You seem to know your way around things here, so I'll trust you with making it look great!"
"Well, when you put it like that...of course I'll work on it for you!" A smile that could reflect the sun's rays formed on Rarity's face. She was really excited about this...almost as much as Mender was at the thought of escaping.
"Perfect! In that case, how about I give you my uniform, uh, tomorrow, sometime in the afternoon? I hope you won't have any appointments by then."
"Darling, I'll MAKE time just to get this done for you!"
Okay, that sounded creepy. That was his cue to leave. He waved goodbye and quickly left the boutique, leaving Rarity to start her brainstorming of how to make his uniform outstanding.