//------------------------------// // chapter 5 // Story: Life In Lace // by Harasha the Gryphon //------------------------------// “There’s nothing like a hayburger!” Amethyst exclaimed, letting out a huge belch. Orchid turned towards the stallion-turned-mare and sneered. “Lavender, show a little self respect, please.” “Oh, umm sorry Orchid,” Amethyst said as he shrugged away from Orchid’s scorn. Something about his tone made Orchid’s eyes linger on him longer than usual. She noticed Amethyst’s movements were slightly stiffened, as if he were trying to hold himself back. “Something wrong, Lavender?” Orchid asked. “Yeah, I really need to go to the bathroom,” Amethyst replied as his face turned sour. “Well, serves you right for eating all that cheap fast food,” Orchid said, looking around the mall. “Looks like there are some restrooms over there, just try not to take forever.” “Thanks, Orchid,” Amethyst said before awkwardly bolting towards the restroom. I hope he doesn’t have any problems in there, Orchid thought. Then again, he’s been acting passably as a mare. Still, if the food court was any indication, it’s going to be a while until he’s a proper lady. Not that I want him to be, Orchid told herself. It’s the weirdest thing seeing him like this, all female and such. And at the rate he’s taken to being a mare... She swallowed hard. In her attempt to help disguise Amethyst, was she doing more harm than good? Was she making him into a mare mentally? No, he’s still the same Amethyst Shard, Orchid reassured herself. After all, only a stallion could have made as big a pig of himself as he did over lunch. Orchid sighed in relief after thinking that last bit. Suddenly, a tap on her shoulder shook her from the thought. She twisted her neck and saw Amethyst standing beside her waiting. Soon the two mares were off walking through the mall again. Eventually the two of them stopped in front of a large store located at the end of one of the mall’s larger corridors.   Orchid admired the various dresses on the racks immediately inside the store. Most were high-end dresses with fancy trimmings and various other extras. “Here it is, Lavender, the biggest clothing store in the whole mall, the feminine delight boutique!” Orchid shouted with a smile on her face. The two mares walked right into the store. Deeper in the store a glass case filled to the brim with extremely overpriced jewelry sat next to an escalator that lead to a second story of the store. Orchid watched as Amethyst glanced around at the sights: Rows of clothing flanked the mares on either side, all neatly sorted and aligned based on brands, sizes, and colors. Above them were overhanging signs to assist customers with distinguishing the different sections. “This place is huge,” Amethyst said, darting his eyes around the store. “Where do we even begin to look for clothes?” “Wait here Lavender, I’ll be right back,” Orchid said. Before Amethyst had time to respond she was already heading towards the checkout counters. Behind one of the registers was a dark green earth pony mare. Her eyes were purple, and her light green mane was done up in a simple ponytail. Orchid watched from a distance as the mare behind the register put several bits into the register she was working at. With a slight smile, the customer walked away. Since the transaction that Orchid saw was complete, she trotted over to the mare. “Hi, River,” Orchid addressed the mare. The mare turned towards Orchid, a joyful grin spreading over her face. “Heya Orchid, didn’t think to see you back so soon.” “What, can’t a girl stop by and say hi to an old friend?” Orchid asked, feigning shock. “Sure you can, but I know that look in your eye. What do you need my help for?” River asked. “Well, since you insist on knowing, my friend’s sister is visiting for the weekend, but the girl is seriously lacking in a spring wardrobe. Think you can help?”   A huge smile crossed River’s face as she spoke. “Sure I can help, Orchid. It’s my job after all. Now, where is this mare?” “I’ll take you to her.” Orchid turned to face towards where she left Amethyst. River stepped out from behind the counter and followed Orchid back to the front of the store. They found Amethyst poking at some of the swimwear with a contemplative look on his face. “Lavender,” Orchid called out, pulling the former stallion from his thoughts. “This is my friend River Oasis. She’s gonna help us today.” “Err, hi.” Amethyst said with shy look on his face and an awkward wave. “Hi there, Miss Lavender,” River replied with a smile. “Now, how about we get started on that wardrobe?” --------- The bus hummed as Orchid and Amethyst rode back toward town. Amethyst was dressed up in a black shirt, a red miniskirt and a fancy new pair of green socks. Amethyst also donned a pair of pure white saddlebags around his waist “I can’t believe you chose that outfit, Lavender.” Orchid said. “What’s wrong with it?” Amethyst asked “It makes you look like you want attention from the opposite sex. I thought you wanted to keep a low profile,” Orchid said with a look of confusion on her face. For Amethyst, the whole shopping trip had been an ordeal in and of itself. He had spent the entire time at the mercy of Orchid and River. They had put Amethyst into many outfits; Amethyst had hated every single one of them. Apparently, so did Orchid and River. The two mares could consistently come up with a reason why any given outfit wouldn‘t work. The whole point of the excursion, so Amethyst believed, had been to get him to pass as a mare and maybe even teach him something about how females lived their lives. The only thing Amethyst had definitely learned was that the fairer sex was a whole lot stranger than he thought before all this happened. He smiled internally at the future prospect of being a stallion again and not having to worry about what color skirt went with his coat. Amethyst felt a lurch as the bus stopped at the bus stop in Maple Mountain. “This is our stop,” Orchid said as she got up and levitated a few shopping bags. It had taken hours, but eventually Orchid and River had given up and let Amethyst pick his new clothes. He had promptly picked some clothes that he had thought he would look cute wearing. Amethyst only really intended to use these clothes to ogle himself in the mirror in the morning so he figured why bother with anything serious. The shopping bags that Orchid had were clothes that she had decided to buy for herself; Amethyst only had the outfit he was wearing and the saddlebags that Orchid had bought for him. “Well, now that we’re back, do you think you’ll be OK on your own?” Orchid asked. “I need to go and put in an order for some more flowers for the shop.” “I’ll be fine; I’m just gonna head home, the less time I’m out and about the better,” Amethyst replied. “Ok, have a good evening Amethyst,” Orchid said as she started to walk away A few seconds after Orchid began walking, Amethyst turned his head and called out, “Oh Orchid!” On hearing that, Orchid turned to face Amethyst and replied, “Yes?” “Thank you for taking me out today,” Amethyst said. “You’re quite welcome Lavender, see you tomorrow then,” Orchid smiled as she departed. Amethyst waved at her until she was out of sight. Now to get home, Amethyst thought as he too departed the area. Amethyst walked down the sidewalk. As he walked he took notice of something; all of the stallions he glanced at out of the corner of his eye were staring at him. The sudden attention took Amethyst a bit off guard; he wasn’t used to having so many eyes fixed on him. Amethyst tried his best to ignore the stallions leering at him but he couldn’t help but glance at them. Buck! Orchid was right about this outfit. I gotta get this thing off me ASAP. “Hey there,” a very masculine voice said to him. Amethyst turned to see a green unicorn stallion to her immediate left with a huge grin on his face. “Nice outfit, Sweetie,” he continued. Amethyst cringed at the compliment; he knew what was likely coming next. I gotta escape this situation like now or else he‘ll never leave me alone. Amethyst thought in a panic. “Err... thanks. Hey look over there!” Amethyst pointed at a random mare on the street. The stallion turned to look and Amethyst used the opportunity to teleport away. He materialized in an alleyway. “Thank Celestia. I sure hope he’s not as good at teleportation as I am.” He rather doubted that the stallion was. Amethyst had been top-ranked in his class for teleportation back in school. Without a second thought, Amethyst ripped the outfit he was wearing off and slipped it into his new saddlebags. With a sigh of relief, Amethyst started walking down the alley again. As he walked, he turned his head to see a massive poster. On the poster there was a white unicorn mare with pink and blue hair. Her eyes were brown and almond shaped. Her cutie mark was a silhouette of a pony being stylish. She held a rose in her mouth and smiled seductively at the viewer. The poster was an ad for some mane shampoo but Amethyst didn’t care, his attention was on the mare. Under most circumstances, Amethyst would be turned on by this mare. Her build was physically perfect and very pleasing to the male eye. No arousal was present on his face though, only a depressed frown. “Dazzling.” Amethyst trailed off. A tear trickled down his face as he took in the mare’s appearance. Amethyst knew this mare very well--she was his older sister. Most of the time when he would be reminded of her, he would be brought to the brink of tears, but his desire to appear as a strong stallion always forced him to swallow those tears before they emerged. Now after all he had been through these past few days, coupled with the fact that he was more or less alone in the alleyway, he snapped. He immediately slouched to the ground and started crying his eyes out. Time become a nonsensical object to Amethyst as he sat there, letting several years of pent-up depression spill from his eyes. A voice became apparent to Amethyst as he continued crying, “Hey Miss, are you OK?” At that point Amethyst didn’t care who the voice belonged to--he just replied, “No, no I’m not.” “What’s wrong?” the voice asked. Amethyst’s eyes were still focused on the ground and with the tears he was producing, he didn’t see who was talking to him “I miss my family,” Amethyst blurted. “That mare on the poster was very close to me. I haven’t seen her in three years and I miss her so much. I can’t just go and see her because she models all over Equestria and I can’t ask my father about anything she’s doing because he hates me.” There was a slight pause before the voice replied, “That sounds terrible, is there anything I can do to help?” “I don’t know, I’ve never felt this unhappy before. I’ve always held my feelings back but given the day I’ve had I just can’t anymore,” Amethyst said as he resumed sobbing. A few seconds later Amethyst felt something warm wrap around his neck. Amethyst opened his eyes to see white fabric in front of his face. Is this stranger hugging me? Amethyst thought “Everything is going to be ok,” the voice said. Amethyst was taken aback. He had never been hugged by anypony before. It freaked him out, but he also felt comfortable. Amethyst nuzzled into the stranger and he felt the stranger squeeze him tighter. The embrace put Amethyst’s ailing mind at ease. He had never felt so secure before, but his rational mind realized that this was a total stranger. Alarm bells were sounding in his head at the embrace. It felt like the hug wouldn’t end, but eventually it did. Amethyst stepped back to get a better look at this stranger. Amethyst’s mid froze when he saw it was a stallion. An orange earth pony stallion with green eyes, a brown mane and a pizza for a cutie mark. “Who are you?” Amethyst asked. “I’m sorry miss, I’m Scrumptious Delight. I work in the restaurant over there.” He motioned toward a door on his left. “What’s your name?” “I’m Lavender Star; I’m just visiting in town.” Amethyst replied. “Nice to meet you Lavender, how long are you staying in town?” “Not sure really, could be a while though.” “I see. So is everything OK now?” Scrumptious asked. “I’m feeling a lot better, thank you.” Amethyst smiled. “Just doing what anypony would do if they saw a mare crying in an alley.” He seems very nice, but now that I get a better look at him, I can’t help but feel I’ve seen him before. “So you work here? Maybe we could talk again sometime, I could introduce you to my brother,” Amethyst said, kind of hoping to get himself a new friend when he managed to change back. “Umm sure, I work here most nights. Just watch yourself; the ponies who come here aren’t that respectful to mares. Anyway, I gotta get back to work. See you around, Lavender.” Scrumptious turned to the heavy metal back door of the nearby building. “Ok see you soon, Scrumptious,” Lavender said. The orange pony opened the door and walked through it. Amethyst walked away, smiling internally at having had pleasant discourse with a pony. Then it dawned on him. Sweet Celestia! That was a stallion… A stallion hugged me. Soon Amethyst’s thoughts shifted to disgust at having felt good during the long embrace. Amethyst then turned to see what restaurant he was working at. Amethyst’s mind froze when he saw the letters “Prancing Pony Bar” plastered in big green neon lights. At seeing that his mind was flooded with memories, Amethyst realized just who that had been. “Holy crap, that was the bar’s pizza chef!” Amethyst knew about him, or rather he knew about his food. The bar had some of the best pizza that Amethyst had ever tasted, though he had never seen Scrumptious before. However, Barley the bartender had mentioned, ‘We got the best pizza cook in the whole town; I don’t know what we’d do without him.’ I’ve gotta get to know that pony better, he seems so sweet, Amethyst thought as he started his walk home.