“It's open, dear! Come right in,” I heard the proprietor call from inside. I opened the door, the bell above it chiming my entry. Entering the main showroom of Carousel Boutique, it started to really hit me where I was. I was standing there, surrounded by gem encrusted horse dresses. The bright and garish (but tasteful!) decorations of the interior were just like the show. Racks of Rarity's finest were arranged in neat rows, her favorite works on ponnequins in the windows. I stared, mouth agape, for several moments just taking in the room.
I came to my senses when I heard the dressmaker call out from the workroom, “I'll be in in just a minute, I'm just putting some pins in this so I can walk away from it.” I realized, a little late, that there might be a repeat of the incident at the library if I didn't get a chance to prepare her for something she wasn't expecting.
“Take your time, miss,” I called out. “I have a request for you that's a little outside what you normally make...”
Hearing my voice as male, she must have mistaken what I meant. “Don't worry, darling. I do design suits on occasion. And if you're looking for a gift for a special somepony I can make sure you get something she'll love,” she said, her voice coming closer to the doorway. I was almost out of time.
“That's not quite,” she walked into the room, “what I meant,” I finished lamely as the second pony today gave me a disbelieving, stunned stare.
I could see the wheels turning in her head as her stare went from shock to wonder, and then slowly to calculation.
“I think you may have made a bit of an understatement, dear,” she said as she began to walk around me, studying me with her tailor's eye. “Well, I have time now if you wanted to get started.”
“That would be great, I just need some simple pants and a shirt so I'm not having to run around naked.”
Rarity hesitated. She seemed to have digested 'pants' and 'shirt' easily enough, though I don't know if ponies used those words, but there was a slight raise of her eyebrow at both 'simple' and 'naked'.
“Not that I mind somepony wearing clothes, especially ones that I've made, but what aversion do you have to nudity? And if you're going to take the trouble to dress up, why do it simply?”
Right. Ponies wore no clothes most of the time. “Being dressed all the time is a habit of mine, and the simple is because I need them quickly. My previous set has gone missing and I don't feel entirely comfortable when I'm not dressed,” I explained in as generic as terms as possible. “I can explain in more detail while you work, if you're interested?”
“Sure, dear. Anypony who dresses up all the time is quite intriguing to somepony like me.” She giggled a bit. “Though I probably shouldn't say any PONY now should I? The fitting room is right this way,” she led me through to another workroom. “Stand right here... good. Now, I'm going to take some measurements, so you're going to have to put that thing you have there down for a minute.” She turned back towards a workbench and began rummaging through some supplies.
I froze in terror. She was about to see me completely naked. Possibly more embarrassing, though, is as soon as I stopped clutching the improvised privacy screen in front of me she would be able to tell what, and who, it was. Specifically, that I had been holding a toy shaped like one of her good friends to my crotch since I arrived. Noting her back was still turned, I made a snap judgment between the lesser of two evils. I turned towards the door and chucked the Twilight doll as hard as I could... only to watch it bounce off the door frame and land nearby, still completely in view.
My luck continued. Before I could go to the doll to further its hiding Rarity began turning around with her supplies levitating around her. There was nothing for it at this point, I would have to hope she just continued not noticing. The trouble with the doll, however, did help distract me from my other problem.
As Rarity caught sight of what I had been hiding, though, she brought my attention right back to my predicament. “Ah. I, um, see why you might want to like being clothed all the time.” She politely turned her head away a bit. “It's a bit harder for you to hide what you're thinking than it is for a stallion, I would wager.”
I didn't have a mirror nearby, but I could feel my face flushing. It must be fire engine red by now. “That is definitely one reason,” I admitted. A breeze from the open window reminded me of the practical reasons why I was here. I elaborated, desperate to change the topic away from... genitals. “My species also has no fur, so it helps with temperature regulation tremendously. To boot, we have thin skins and soft feet so clothing helps us deal with rough environments better.”
These new reasons got her to turn back to me to confirm these assertions, alleviating some of the tension. Nothing is quite as awkward as a naked man with no options and someone trying politely to not stare at him. How did I know this? I'll just say make sure no one steals your bag and suit when you're in the shower at the pool.
“Now that you mention it, I can see it,” she said. “Oh! How inconsiderate of me. Here I am thinking it's plenty warm when you're probably freezing.” She trotted to the window and closed it. It helped some, but it was still pretty cold. “Now,” approaching me once more she readied her tape measure and quill. “Let's take your numbers.”
I nodded, and extended my arms out to the sides and spread my feet a little bit apart. She brought her tape measure to bear, starting with my arms. Feeling a foreign touch brushing lightly on my skin, the even colder temperature of the tape measure, and hearing Rarity's voice as she hummed and muttered the numbers before recording them, I started getting too conscious of my nudity again. I closed my eyes to try and shut out the embarrassing fact that I was standing naked in the middle of someone else's room, but this turned out to be a mistake.
Deprived of the visual confirmation that the voice beside me belonged to a pony and the touch belonged to a tape measure and magic of said pony, it became, to my now limited senses, identical to if the voice and touched belonged to a human girl. I felt an unwelcome change begin, but if Rarity had noticed it she didn't say anything. She continued her work, jotting down numbers and sketches as she occasionally came back over to check a measurement or two, using magic for most of the work. Except for when she didn't.
After a few times measuring my shoulders, something was clearly off. I heard her walk a little closer, then a quick sound of hind hooves shuffling forward a bit rapidly. The next thing I knew, I felt her hooves on my chest and shoulder, the tape measure stretched between them, the sound of her magic having ceased.
“Aha!” she exclaimed. “That's what was giving me problems. You have a bone here!” She tapped my collar bone. “Ponies don't have this bone. Hmm.”
I risked opening my eyes, only to see Rarity's face inches away from mine, transfixed on my collar bone. I could feel her breath on my chest, shoulder, and the side of my neck. I was becoming decidedly more uncomfortable by the minute. I was quickly discovering that ponies could trigger quite a few turn ons: the pleasant feminine voice, the feel of breath across sensitive skin, and touching skin that was normally clothed. Vision was about the only thing Rarity was not batting 100 on here, but it wasn't because she was striking out. She just wasn't coming up to bat; she wasn't even close to human shaped so my eyes were refusing to weigh in one way or the other on the issue.
With two senses weighing in with yes and a third out to lunch, my body continued to react in ways I did not approve of. On the bright side, with Rarity balanced up on my chest and studying the anatomical differences in my shoulder, she was not in a position to notice the anatomical difference I was concerned about. Maybe, I thought, if I distracted her here long enough I could buy enough time to convince certain parts of me they were mistaken.
“So, um,” I lamely began. I knew I needed something to distract her, some topic that would keep her interest. The topics that came to mind were fashion, which I knew little enough about in my own world let alone hers, and herself. Being somewhat of a better expert on the second subject, having the advantage of watching the show, I decided to start there. Maybe I could even get to the Twilight-Sparkle-is-hunting-me-down problem, too. “I realize I've been rather rude. I was recommended to your shop by a passerby, but I didn't catch your name from her.”
She was taken aback for a moment as she was stirred from her inspection. “Oh darling, you're not the rude one here. If anything I should apologize! When you came into the store I was too busy... gawking to give you a proper introduction.” She looked me square in the eyes, moving her hoof on my chest over to my opposite shoulder to better address me. This left her face a little less than arm's length from mine. With how her hoof had slid across my collarbone on its way to my shoulder, I might need to add another minute to my delay tactics.
“My name is Rarity, and I want to give you my apologies for my faux pas. Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique.” She gave me, what on a human would have been, a winning smile. On a pony it was... confusing. “Might I inquire as to who recommended you to me?”
“Oh, uh.” Real smooth, Sam. I wracked my brain, trying to flesh out the story I was going to give her about how I got here. I didn't want to outright lie, as it would make it harder to explain how I actually got here. “I don't think I caught her name, but it was a purple Unicorn with a kind of star burst Cutie Mark. She was just leaving that big tree house a few blocks away.”
“Oh! That must have been Twilight Sparkle. She's quite a good friend of mine, in fact. She has quite the head for details, but sometimes she can forget the personal touch.” It must have been my imagination, but it felt like Rarity had put a little more weight on her front hooves at that last line. My troubles aside (I'mnotnakedandthisponyisn'tfeelingmeup ohpleaseohpleaseohplease), I could roll with this turn in the conversation.
“Twilight Sparkle... I can see how that name is fitting, I suppose. Have you known her long?”
“Not terribly long, no. She moved to Ponyville after Princess Luna's return, but I met her just before that when she was still just on assignment as the SSC organizer.” She grinned. “But you probably didn't even realize you had been talking to the Element of Magic at the time, did you?”
“The Element of Magic?” I asked in my best puzzled voice. I was still entirely nude, but my previous concerns began falling to the back of my mind as I raced to find responses that were both not terribly deceitful and not the embarrassing, unsettling truth. I would still likely need help getting home, after all, and it's best not to burn bridges. Especially when you might have to hide under them. “I'm actually not terribly familiar with it, to be honest.” Personally, I was not familiar with all of the Element lore that she likely knew. “I come from a very far away country and haven't been in Equestria very long, yet.” Technically true, but its implication that I was entirely ignorant was false.
She smirked. “I suspected as much. I haven't seen anypo-- anybody like you around here before. You must have so many stories to tell! The farthest I usually travel is Canterlot, but I've always wondered what's out there.” She paused for a moment, but when I didn't respond right away she continued and asked, “Where have you traveled to, um.” She pauses a moment and averts her gaze. I panicked a bit and took a quick stock of my body's condition: everything back to normal. Which was a relief. But what was she concerned about?
“I must apologize again. I got so caught up with your unique appearance and talking about myself it entirely slipped my mind to ask for your name,” she expounded, with a sheepish grin at the end.
I finally started to calm down a bit and relax. I didn't have to lie for this one, and the troubles of being naked had mostly gone away now that Rarity was no longer running her hooves and tape measure all over my body. There was still the issue of being naked in front of a stranger, but if she could act like a professional about it then so could I.
“My name is Sam,” I told her with a smile of my own. “And I don't hold being distracted against you, after all I'm not entirely used to ponies yet, either.” She raised an eyebrow. “There, uh, aren't any ponies where I come from.” None like you, anyway, I left unsaid.
“No ponies?” she wondered. “I haven't even heard of a country that doesn't have ponies. But I guess that makes sense, if there aren't any ponies there nopony could tell everypony else, could they?” She glanced over my shoulder again, briefly. “Oh, is that the time already? I should really get started on the first draft of this outfit for you, you must be getting chilly standing there with no fur.” She gave a light push off my shoulders and balanced on her hind legs for a moment. I stepped to one side so she wouldn't have to backpedal and she dropped back to all fours.
“Now let's see,” she began as she walked to her notes and examined them. “Oh, with all my distractions with your shoulders I seem to be missing a couple key measurements. That is, if you wanted a garment for your hind legs there, anyway.” Right, pony fashion that I had seen usually left a colt's hind legs bare. How did I not realize that difference? Luckily, it seemed Rarity had anticipated the needs of bipedal clothing.
“By all means, some pants would be very useful,” I said to name the item for her.
She picked up her tape measure with her magic. “Well first things first, I'll need you to spread your legs a bit so I can get to everywhere I need to.” The tape measure floated over and rested against my ankle.
The nature of my situation came back to me as it started to move up my inseam.
Oh crap.