Fabulous
After we finished our breakfast, Dusk grabbed a saddlebag and a few more supplies before we left the library. As we made our way into Ponyville I automatically felt unwelcome. The stares I received, the glares, not to mention the many bursts in my personal space bubble made me very apprehensive. Many of the ponies walked up to me and stared at almost every aspect of me so close it was like they tried to be living magnifying glasses. A few of them even tried to touch me, but I quickly side-stepped them before they could do anything. Dusk kept walking in front of me, absolutely oblivious to the attention I was getting while Barb kept giving me apologetic glances and looks of concern.
“By any chance, your Lord wouldn’t have told the citizens of my presence, would he?” I asked aloud.
Dusk looked up from the list and then back at me. “He should have, it wouldn’t make sense not to,” he said and went back to checking things off. “Why?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because of all the overwhelming attention that I’m getting.” I said in a very deadpan and serious voice.
Dusk looked back at me again before his eyes flitted back and forth noting all the varied looks I was getting. “Oh, it’s nothing, they’ll get used to you,” Dusk Shine said. “I mean I was new here once too.”
I rolled my eyes at that. If memory serves, Twilight Sparkle didn’t have that much trouble adjusting, neither did the locals have a problem with her either. It wouldn’t be a complete stretch to say that Dusk Shine wouldn’t have had the same experience. “Yeah, but you’re not a different species altogether,” I said.
Dusk seemed to disregard my comment before we found the grocer and he started to fill a basket with produce. I tried to help as best as I could, but I was always getting distracted by the stares. “Alright, I think I’ll go to Zicoro’s while you and Barb go to Elusive’s and get this clothes situation out of the way,” Dusk said and turned to us to confirm.
Barb and I nodded simultaneously and walked off toward Elusive’s Boutique or would it have just been called a Shop now? Either way I could only imagine how wonderful this whole ordeal would go…
Barb led me to what looked like the Carousel Boutique, but with a few differences. For one thing it had blue rooftops instead of pink and was simpler in design. It seemed like a good change to me, much less frilly than Rarity’s version of the Boutique. Barb knocked on the door tentatively and we waited until Elusive opened the door.
“Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique!” he said enthusiastically before opening his eyes to look at our expression.
I gave him a sympathetic look while Barb shook her head slowly. “You need to work on that slogan, bud,” I said as we walked in.
Elusive sighed and shut the door behind us. “What’s wrong with my slogan?” he asked.
“Nothing, nothing,” I said and held up my hands in mock surrender.
“So how was your first night at Dusk Shine’s?” he asked as he started to grab some supplies.
I shrugged and sat down on a very familiar looking loveseat. “It was alright, a little hectic for my tastes,” I said and looked over at Barb who looked a little embarrassed. “No offense.”
Barb shrugged. “None taken, he is a little scatterbrained,” she said and scratched the back of her head.
“Poor Barbara tries so hard to help out her bestest friend,” Elusive said and rubbed his hoof on the top of Barb’s head.
She blushed, almost beet red. It looked like she didn’t mind all that much though, she was smiling and looked a little dreamy when Elusive gave her that attention. So Barb had a thing for Elusive in this universe too. However, it seemed pretty obvious that Elusive only saw her as a little sister or something. This kind of love could only be unrequited and eventually Barb would realize that and go after someone who was more like her. Spike and Rarity didn’t seem to have that much in common in the show and anyone could’ve seen that eventually that wouldn’t have worked out anyway in the long run. For the time being it would have to be a schoolgirl crush. I couldn’t help but notice that Elusive had also used Barb’s full name and she didn’t seem to mind which also might mean that Elusive held more value in Barb than met the eye. I shook my head and went back to watching Elusive collect his things.
“Oh well, at least you’ll have five more of us to try out,” Elusive said and set his stuff down. “Now my question is, what is your style, dear?” he asked.
I looked down at myself and then back at Elusive and shrugged. “Much the same as I’m wearing right now,” I said.
At the time I was wearing jeans and the green polo shirt used as my work uniform. I did want to get out of that thing as soon as possible too. Elusive looked me up and down a few times and his eyes widened in what I could only imagine to be abject horror. “Oh no, no, no, darling!” he said and marched over to his desk and started to rummage around in the drawers.
It didn’t matter what gender, apparently this posh fashion designer would stick with the same pet name for everyone. He rifled through his desk flinging fabric samples, pincushions, and all manner of measuring tools all over the place. “I simply can’t have this travesty,” he continued. “This display of fashion criminality!”
When he turned back around he wore a pair of half-moon glasses and a measuring tape draped over his neck as if he were wearing a scarf. A pin cushion floated near his head and so did a strip of black fabric. “Now then, strip down if you will,” he said.
I stared at him for a long time before I realized that he was well and truly serious. “What?” I said. “No!”
I wrapped my arms around my body and stepped back. “It can’t be helped,” Elusive said and started to magically tie the strip of fabric over his eyes. “I need to measure you and I can’t very well do that with your bulky clothes on, can I?”
“Wait, what-how?!” I tried to say, but couldn’t get it out before I bumped into the loveseat and was forced to sit down in it. “How are you going to measure me while you’re blindfolded?”
Elusive lifted up one side of his blindfold to look at me. “Don’t worry I have my beautiful assistant here to assist me,” he said and pointed to Barb.
Barb bounced over saluted. “Number one assistant reporting for duty, sir,” she said.
I raised my eyebrow at the two of them, but they seemed confident in their ability.
“Now then,” Elusive said and put the blindfold back on. “Your clothes, if you please.”
I sighed and stood back up. I wasn’t that much more comfortable taking off my clothes in front of Barb, but what choice did I have now? First I took my shirt off over my head and flung it to the floor. Then I stripped off my jeans without much fuss either, but I was very reluctant to take off my underwear so I kept them in place. Barb nodded with approval. “Ok, Elusive, she’s ready,” she said.
“Very good,” he said and the measuring tape hovered before my eyes. “Let’s start up and work our way down.”
With that it went further up until Barb told him to stop as it hit my forehead. “Barbara, I want you to mark down everything I measure and make sure I am correct, not too tight and not too loose,” he said.
“Yes sir!” Barb said.
“Let us begin then!” Elusive said enthusiastically.
The tape measure went around my forehead and tightened until it was a perfect fit. Barb quickly marked down the number with her quill and parchment at the ready. It moved down to my neck where it tightened again. Barb marked down the number. “How many measurements do we have to take?” I asked as he moved to my shoulder.
“A fair few,” Elusive said. “You must forgive me for I am not exactly familiar with your body type, darling.”
I sighed with resignation as the tape moved to the lay beside the top of my head and dropped down to the floor. “Please, stand as tall as you can, my dear, but not on your tip-hoo-er,” he said.
I smiled at that. “They’re called toes,” I said, referring to the appendages on my feet.
Elusive smiled too.
“Ahem, not on your tip-toes though,” he said.
I stood as straight as a board and Barb marked down my height. This measuring went on for several minutes until Elusive had every measurement he could think of had been taken down. “Alright, I think that’s everything I need,” Elusive said and took away the tape. “You may restore your original clothing.”
I gladly scooped up my clothes and put them back on as quickly as possible. “Are you appropriate now?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“Ah good,” he sighed and removed his blindfold. “That was starting to feel uncomfortable.”
I quirked an eyebrow at him, but he didn’t comment beyond that. “I must say, I look forward to the challenge of having a completely new form to work with,” he said and marched back to his desk.
Elusive set the measurements in the center and then walked over to the shelves of fabric. “And don’t you worry darling, I will make spectacular clothes for you,” he continued as he started to pick out fabric samples. “And perhaps fix your fashion sense.”
Before I could respond, the boutique’s door opened with Dusk walking in, still marking off things on his list. He looked up for a second and then went back to marking things. “How did the fitting go?” he asked.
“Superb!” Elusive answered for me. “I will turn this female into a work of art!”
My brow scrunched up at that, but Elusive couldn’t see it. It seemed like everyone had an answer for me before I could even speak my own mind. “I think she takes offense to being called a ‘work of art’,” Dusk pointed out when he saw my expression.
Elusive turned around to look at me and I shrugged. “I meant nothing by it, darling,” Elusive said. “I believe that every female is beautiful in her own way, it just takes a certain amount of work and accessories to bring it out.”
I smirked at that. It was every pretty girl’s excuse for being a bit of a snot. Not that Elusive came off as a brat to me, he just seemed very unobservant when it came to others feelings. “It’s alright,” I said. “I know you didn’t mean any harm, I suppose it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to be considered art.”
Elusive smiled and made an ‘I told you so’ look to Dusk Shine. Dusk rolled his eyes and looked to me. “If you’re done here, we have another engagement at Sugarcube Corner,” he said.
I couldn’t help the feeling of dread that came over me when he said that. “What for?” I asked.
I could tell that Dusk wasn’t a very gifted liar. He tried to hide the smile that was creeping over his muzzle, but it was very clear to me and possibly to everyone in the room that he was planning something. “Elusive and Barb should come too,” he said and quickly trotted out the door.
This could only mean one thing, Bubble and Dusk had planned a surprise party for me. I couldn’t imagine that many ponies would show up.
We walked a little ways, Sugarcube Corner only being a few blocks away, and Dusk opened the door. All the lights were off, but as the bell above the door rang they flicked back on. “SURPRISE!”
My eyes widened at the size of the party they had already gathered. It almost looked like all of Ponyville had shown up for the occasion. My vision was engulfed by dazzling smiles and hundreds of Technicolor coats. “Welcome to Ponyville!” Bubble Berry shouted as he bounced in front of me.
I smiled at him and then out at the crowd who repeated Bubble’s sentiment. “Welcome to Ponyville!”
“Wow,” I said.
“Yeah, I couldn’t wait too long, so I made up the invitations last night, and I made the cake, and the cupcakes, and the pies, and the decorations-!” Bubble rambled.
“Ok, Bubble Berry, I think she gets the point,” Dusk said.
Bubble smiled even bigger. “Come on, we got to introduce you to everyone,” he said and started to hop over to the crowd.
“Better follow him or he’ll never stop,” Dusk said and wandered over to his own circle of friends.
I let Bubble lead me through the crowd, and I smiled and waved at whoever happened to catch my eye. A few of the faces I recognized from the show, but obviously didn’t know they’re names. Bubble finally stopped at a big, red mare that I recognized as the female version of Big Mac. She was still tall, but slighter than her male counterpart. She still had his freckles, green eyes, long orange mane, but her tail resembled something that the female Applejack would have. Around her neck was a green bandana that was a perfect contrast to her coat. It looked like a leaf wrapped around a perfect red apple.
“This is Macareina,” Bubble Berry said. “She’s Applejack’s big sister, we call her Big Mac for short.”
They still called her that? I wondered if she actually liked being called “Big” in this world. “Eeyup,” she stated simply.
Still a pony of few words at least. Her voice was more high pitched and girly, but still had that southern drawl. She was cute all in all. “Nice to meet you, Macareina,” I said. “I’m Elara.”
“Nice to meet you too,” she said and nodded to me.
I smiled and then Bubble bounced over to someone else. “And these three are the cutest little foals you will ever meet!” he said and rubbed a male Applebloom’s head.
He groaned and shoved Bubble’s hoof away. “We are not cute!” he protested.
I smirked at the three ponies in front of me. The male Cutie Mark Crusaders, they were all still blank-flanks, still out to prove their worth despite it being very unnecessary. “We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” a male Scootaloo affirmed.
“Scooteroll!”
“Applebuck!”
“And Sweet Toll!”
‘Sounds like Sweet roll,’ I thought. “Nice to meet you,” I said. “I’m-.”
“Elara, a huuuuman,” Sweet Toll interrupted. “Elusive couldn’t stop talking about you.”
I felt my face grow hot. What exactly would Elusive have to talk about me, we had only met several hours ago. Plus I was actually flattered that he found me interesting enough to talk about. “I’m Elusive’s brother,” he said.
“And I’m Applejack’s brother,” Applebuck said.
“I’m kind of like Rainbow Blitz’s brother, so don’t mess with me,” Scooteroll said and flapped his wings as if he was trying to look bigger.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I said and put up my hands in mock surrender.
Bubble Berry smiled and again hopped away to another pony. I was led through the crowd for about an hour before I was released to mingle with whoever I wanted. Besides the siblings of the main six, I was also introduced to the male versions of Derpy, Cheerilee, and Granny Smith (Dopey, Cheerilou, and Pappy Smith respectively). Among the rest of the crowd were the Cakes, Vinyl, or Record, or Rec as some ponies called him, and also his classical counterpart Octavia or Concerto. It actually went better than I expected it to go. A few ponies had questions, but the others made sure that I wasn’t overwhelmed by them.
The party started to wind down after a few hours even Berry started to yawn as the last few guests started to file out. “Well, I’d say that your introduction to Ponyville was a success, Elara,” Dusk said and checked something off of his list.
I peeked over his shoulder to actually see what he’d written down and was a little surprised at how far his plans went. The first few were the things that he’d told me about before; grocery shopping, going to Zecoro, and having Elusive make my outfits. However, the other things were a little bit more surprising; “Introduce Elara to Ponyville”, “Party at Sugarcube”, “Conduct experiments”. I stopped there when Dusk looked over at me. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, who will you be staying with next?” he asked.
The mane six were now all lined up in front of me and I smiled at them nervously. “Come on, comfy cloud bed,” Blitz baited.
I rolled my eyes and looked at them all, weighing my options. Elusive was a bit finicky, but out of all of them I seemed to get along with him the most, but then again I haven’t had extensive contact with any of the others. I was already near Berry’s place so for convenience sake I could choose him. Blitz was probably going to be saved for last, considering my slight dislike of him. The others looked more reasonable than anyone else. Convenience won out in the end. “I think I’ll stay with Bubble Berry for now,” I said.
“Yay!” he said and started to hop up and down again.
There was no end to Berry’s hyper-ness. “Sheesh, even the pink marshmallow gets the girl first,” Blitz said and smirked at Berry.
“Don’t be such a sourpuss, Blitz-y,” Berry said and hopped up to his level. “I’m sure she’ll pick you next.”
The chances were slim. “Uh-huh, well now that the party’s over, I think I’ll turn in,” Blitz said. “Got a big cloud cover to kick out tomorrow.”
“Same here, at least with the turn in part,” Applejack said and followed Rainbow Blitz.
“Um, good-bye,” Butterscotch said and followed close behind Applejack.
“Goodnight, Elara, it was nice having you over,” Dusk Shine said.
“And your outfits should be done in a few days,” Elusive said before he exited as well.
Soon me and Berry were all alone. He turned to me and smiled brightly. “Okay, follow me to my house and we’ll get the s’mores going!” he said and left the Sugarcube Corner with me tagging along right behind him.
I wondered if I had made the right choice this time. Berry was fun and all, but one could only take so much of the pink, hyper cloud that was the male version of Pinkie Pie. Oh well, I was tired and ready to fall asleep as soon as I hit the bed, and I could only hope that he was joking about the s’mores.