Crossing Worlds

by Bronygirl6729

Fashion Victims

Chapter Nine: Fashion Victims

Well, it's finally here! I'm so sorry this took so long, I've been of having a Once Upon a Time season 2 marathon on Netflix. Heh, that's a fun word. Marathon...mare...a...thon...I could totally incorporate that into Crossing Worlds. Anyways, see you later and enjoy!

You yawn softly, slowly walking over to the small tree balcony. Your head feels heavy, but you open the double doors and stick your head outside anyways and look out at Ponyville, you give a small gasp. The trees arenow different shades of yellow, orange, and red. You've seen the leaves change before, but never on Earth was it so beautiful, so colorful.

"It's very pretty, isn't it?" Twilight walks up behind you and you walk farther out onto the balcony to make room. Your jaws are still hanging open in awe as a crisp fall breeze flows through your mane. Twilight smiles at you. "If you like this, you're going to love winter in Equestria." Suddenly, Twilight gasps and looks at you in a panic. "Rarity's Fall Fashion Show! Oh Celestia, I almost forgot...she wants me to model a new dress, but the princesses need me to come to Canterlot to greet the royal visitors from the Griffon Kingdom. Oh, Rarity will kill me..." She bites her lip in frustration and angst.

You tilt your head thoughtfully. "Well, do you think that she would let me fill in for you? After all, I'm a member of the group now and she's made dresses for me before." As you finish speaking, your sister's eyes dart towards the ground uncertainly.

"I...I don't know...I mean, it's fine by me, but you would have to ask Rarity, it's her show." You smile and do a hoof pump.

"Yes! I'll go see her right now!" You trot back inside happily. "She will so totally let me do this!"

"No, no, no, no! I simply cannot let you take Twilight's place, [Y/N]!" Rarity is busy grabbing pins from a pin cushion and sticking them into Pinkie's dress for the show. Meanwhile, Pinkie shuffles around as Rarity fits the dress perfectly, obviously anxious to move around again.

Your ears droop sadly. "But, Rarity..."

"But nothing! I apologize, but I cannot allow it. Now, go on! I need concentration if I want to get Pinkie's dress just right." As you look up at Pinkie, you see her physically shaking with the urge to talk. Rarity looks at her disapprovingly. "Pinkie Pie, not a word, or your entire dress could end up lopsided." Pinkie's lips quiver and she emits a small squeaking noise, but remains quiet for the most part.

You sigh and walk outside, your [B/C] ears still flat against your head. "This sucks," you mutter, kicking a small stone as you walk the short distance home. Once you get to the hollow tree, you open the wooden door to find Twilight anxiously adjusting her schedule for October.

"Well, you were-"

"Hush! No talking!" your sister interrupts, not looking up from her planning. You tap your hoof impatiently as she makes all of the needed adjustments. She finally looks back up at you, slightly irritated. "Now, what is it you wanted to talk about again?" Before you can speak, Spike walks downstairs with a bowl of popcorn and looks you up and down.

"Well, you don't look as happy as when you left," he comments, winning an annoyed glance from you.

"I said, it looks like you were right, Twi. She doesn't want me to be in her show." Your frustration turns to sadness when you say this. With a sigh, you slump down against the wall. Spike comes up and pats you on the back consolingly.

"Don't be sad, [Y/N]. I'm sure Rarity has a perfectly good reason for not wanting you in her show. I mean, it probably has nothing to do with the fact that you're still new and it couldn't be that you're not cool enough or pretty enough or-" Before he can continue, Twilight lifts him up by the tail with her magic.

"I think you've said enough, Spike," she says, putting him down next to her. "He is right about one thing though: she probably has a legitimate reason for her decision. I mean, it is her show, maybe you just shouldn't question it."

You look at your sister questioningly. "But everypony else is in it. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, even you were going to be in it!"

"Don't forget the dress Rarity that made for herself," Spike adds, causing Twilight to kick him away. You grind your teeth, getting more annoyed by the second.

"Don't listen to him, [Y/N]. Everything will be fine, I know it." She smiles sweetly at you.

You look up at her, your face expressionless. Suddenly, the corners of your mouth slowly rise to form a smile. "You know it?"

"Th-that's not what I meant." Twilight takes a step back, her left eye twitching slightly.

"You're lying, Twilight," you say, standing up and taking a step towards her. She steps back again and you continue advancing until Twilight is pushed up against the wall and you are nose-to-nose with her. You squint your eyes at her and she grins nervously. "What is going on? Tell. Me." Twilight's eyes dart from side to side, refusing to meet yours. All of a sudden, she ducks down under you and bolts up the stairs. With a loud yell, you run after her. Frantic, your sister scrambles under the bed in an attempt to loose you. "Oh, no you don't!" you snarl, grabbing her by the haunches and pulling her out.

"Let go! Let go!" she yells, feebly swatting at you with her hooves. You dodge her easily and pin her down with her hooves over her head.

"I will, if you tell me why Rarity isn't letting you join her fashion show." You grimace as she quickly shakes her head no. "Fine. Then you leave me no choice. One way or another, you will tell me!"

"Never!" As soon as she says this, you let go of her front legs and dig your hooves into her sides, causing her to automatically burst out laughing. "St-stop ittttt!" Twilight thrashes around wildly.

"Not until you tell me!"

Between laughs, Twilight makes an attempt to glare relentlessly at you. "I won't!" She swiftly pulls her now free hoof back and swings it at you, hitting you with a surprising amount of force. As it comes into contact with your face, you go reeling backwards and Twilight stands up defensively. You shake your head painfully and your sister gasps, her expression a mixture of guilt and fear. "Oh my gosh, I'm so so so sorry! I didn't mean to!" She takes a step back, biting her lip.

"What?" you ask groggily. "What are you talking about?" Suddenly anxious, you turn your head to look at your reflection in Twilight's bedroom mirror and gasp. Your left eye is swollen and bruised.

"I-I'm sorry, [Y/N], I didn't even know I could hurt you..." Twilight whimpers guiltily. Glancing from her to your reflection, you sigh.

"It's fine. You know what? If it's really that important, you don't have to tell me." Twilight gives you a relieved smile.

"Oh, thank you! I'm glad you've come to your senses. Here, let me get you an ice pack for that eye of yours." She leaves you upstairs and eventually completely disappears downstairs. After she's gone, a sly smile spreads across your face.

"Yes, you don't have to tell me why I can't be in the show because now, nopony will be in the show." Looking to where she disappeared, you give an aggressive snort. "Because if I can't have it, no...pony...can!"

You look out your window with an evil grin as the sun rises. Today is the day. Now everypony can see how amazing and generous Rarity really is. You rub your hooves together evilly and chuckle as you go over the plan in your mind again. You turn around to see your alicorn sister stirring in bed and so you quietly tiptoe back to your bed and slip under the covers. As if on cue, she then sits up in bed and smiles.

"[Y/N], today's the day!" You pretend to wake up and get out of bed, nodding. "Your eye looks like it's almost completely healed too. Are you sure that you still want to come to the show? I mean, you really don't have to if you dont want to."

You stretch and look up at her, feigning complete innocence. "Oh, I wouldn't miss this for the world." Twilight grins and trots downstairs. Once you're alone with only Spike, you quietly shake him awake. "Spike? Spike!" Grumbling, he turns over and opens his large green slits and looks at you.

"You should know not to wake a sleeping dragon, [Y/N]," he mumbles.

"Never mind that. So...did you get what I need?" You look at him anxiously.

"Well, that depends." He sits up as slowly as possible, acting as though he has all the time in the world. He finally makes eye contact. "Do you got the goods?" Rolling your eyes, you toss the bag of jewels into his claw. Eyeing you suspiciously, he takes one out and inspects it carefully. After a moment, he puts it back in the small sack, obviously pleased with your payment.

"All right, I held my end of the bargain. Now give me what I need." You tap your hoof impatiently as the young dragon pulls about ten buckets of red paint out from under Twilight's bed. Smiling, you pick them up one-by-one and take them downstairs to your sister's underground science room discreetly. Twilight is, to your delight, is busy in the other room. Before she can appear, you grab one of her large wooden bowls and pour the paint into it. Luckily, the bowl is wide enough to hold all of the paint. Suddenly, you hear hoofsteps coming down the hallway.

"[Y/N]? Where are you?" a familiar voice calls. "I made breakfast!" Looking around the room frantically, you grab a white tarp to drape over the bowl. As your sister walks in, you plaster a fake innocent smile on your face. "What, did you think that you could skip breakfast after I made it special?" She stops and looks at you oddly. "Um...are you ok, sis?"

"Yep, I'm doing just great." You wrap your arm around her shoulders tightly and guide her out the door. "Why don't we just go try some of that yummy breakfast you made? I'm sure it will be great!" Twilight wiggles out your grasp and looks at you hesitantly. You hold your breath as she pauses.

"Well, ok, eager beaver. Let's go." You breathe a sigh of relief as she leads you back upstairs, blissfully unaware of the paint-filled bowl. As you make your way into the dining room, she stops again and meets your [E/C] eyes. "Hey, [Y/N]...what were you doing in my science room?"

Your breath stops and your heart speeds up. Smiling guiltily, you say the only thing you can think of. "Doing what where?"

Twilight looks at you strangely. "What?"

"What?" you reply quickly.

"O-kayyy. Here, Spike has already set the table, and the muffins are cooling, so we can start with the grain." Spike, a sly grin on his face, pulls out a chair for you. The mischievous look in his green eyes is practically screaming, I know what you did. You return his look with a glare that warns, If you tell anypony, I will get you back, and you will not like it. Meanwhile, Twilight looks back and forth between both of you with a confused look. "Is there something going on here that I should know about? Spike?" The purple dragon looks up at her sheepishly.

"What, me and sweet little [Y/N] here?" He wraps his arm over your shoulder innocently. "Why, I have no clue where you would get a crazy idea like that." As if it his little spectacle wasn't bad enough, his uncontrollable laughter after he finishes speaking makes it more than obvious that he's lying. But before Twilight could question you and Spike, the kitchen timer starts ringing.

"Oh, the muffins!" Twilight yells, jumping up and racing into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Spike takes a seat across from you, his eyes never leaving yours.

"So...where did you hide it?" he asks.

"Shut up, Spike!" you practically hiss under your breath.

The dragon continues as though you hadn't said a word. "I mean, it's not like ten whole buckets of paint are easy to hide, so I'm just wondering how you did it."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" You feel your anger boil against him, although you know that you could never act upon it.

"Why not, [Y/N]?" He looks up at you smugly. "Got something to hide? You're not trying to get...revenge, are you? I know that you were taught better than that." He wiggles his finger at you teasingly.

"Don't get cocky," you growl through gritted teeth. Every small action he does just pushes your buttons more and more. "I'm not getting revenge, either, I'm just getting rid of a problematic situation. Besides, what would everypony else think if Rarity put all of her friends in the fashion show but me? What kind of princess would I look like? An antisocial one, that's for sure."

Spike holds up his hands, a grin still stuck to his face. "Hey, what you do with the product after I sell it to you is your business, not mine."

Yeah, right," you scoff quietly as Twilight walks out of the kitchen while balancing a hot plate of muffins on her back.

"Spike, help me out here!" Twilight yells as she struggles to keep the muffins from falling down onto the floor. Spike hurries over to help her set them gently on the table. As soon as the plate is safely on the table, the baby dragon burps and a note appears out of thin air. Your sister quickly levitates the note over to her and reads through it. After she finishes, she looks at you with a big smile. "Great news, it looks like the griffons won't be coming to Equestria after all...weird, I thought they were sending over exchange students. But now I can go to the fashion show with you, [Y/N]!"

"What, you're not even going to try to get back into the show?" Spike asks.

Twilight shakes her head. "No, I told Rarity I couldn't make it, and I don't want to intrude. Don't worry, I'm sure that she's completely prepared to go on without me." As she speaks, you eat a muffin while deep in thought.

"Hey, Twi, do you think you could teach me a cloaking spell? I've been trying but I can't seem to get it just right." You blink sweetly at her.

"Sure, I have just what you need in this book that I've been studying..." She grabs a muffin and gulps it down before leading you into the library. After a moment of searching, she grabs a marked book from one of the many shelves. "Here, this has a good spell for cloaking on page twenty-one. If you need any help, I'll just be in the kitchen." Unsuspecting, she trots out of the room and you rush over to the book, opening it to page twenty-one. Sure enough, the page contains the exact spell you need. Grabbing a quill, you take it over to the book and set it down while skimming the instructions.

"Let's give this a try," you murmur, focusing your magic on the quill. To your excitement, the top of the quill begins to vanish into thin air until it has completely disappeared. Curious, you tap the area where the quill was and feel a tickly material. It's still here, we just can't see it. Perfect! I couldn't have asked for a better spell. Smiling, you finish reading the page.

Cloaking/Invisibility Spell

Description: The spell developed by Starswirl the Bearded after the days of Discord's rule. This spell is unstable but can be utilized by any unicorn if necessary. After this spell is cast upon a single item, it will remain hidden from the naked eye for exactly one hour. After the time period expires, the item could become seeable but non-solid for up to ten minutes (meaning that the item could seem to have taken back its natural form but would actually behave like a gas should it come into contact with anything).

"Hmm. Simple enough." You close the book and walk down to the science room. You breathe a sigh of relief as you see that the paint bowl hasn't been touched since you were with it. You quietly pull the white tarp off of it and cast the cloaking spell. You grin as the bowl disappears. Testing the spell, you levitate the invisible bowl off of the ground and carry it carefully upstairs.

"Ready to go, [Y/N]? The show will be starting soon," Twilight asks after about fifteen minutes, opening the door for you.

"Yeah, let's go." You trot outside and Twilight brings up the rear, while Spike stands in the doorway, waving you off.

"You're not coming, Spike?" your sister asks, turning to glance at him.

"Nah, I'm gonna pass. But don't worry, I'm sure that it will go just swimmingly." He shoots a small smile at you as he says this.

"Well, ok. Make sure that the books in the far right corner are in alphabetical order by the time we're home." The purple alicorn smiles and turns around to follow you to the show. You continue to lead, still holding the paint bowl up with your magic. "Um, [Y/N]?" You jump at your sister's voice.

"What is it?"

"What are you doing? Why is your horn glowing?" You suddenly lose your breath and look up to see a pink aura surrounding your [B/C] horn as you continue to levitate the paint bowl.

"Um..." You frantically search for an idea as to why you are obviously using magic. "I-I...allergies." You do a mental facehoof. Allergies? Seriously? I am such an idiot...

"Allergies?" Twilight questions, confused.

"Um, yeah. You see, I'm keeping all of the pollen away from me with this containment spell I found." You plaster on a fake smile with a squee.

"Huh. Can't say I've ever heard of allergies, but all right."

"It's a human thing," you say quickly.

"But-"

"Oh, look, we're here!" you interrupt before Twilight can ask any more questions. In the town square of Ponyville, a large stage with a runway is set up. It's decorated all over with fall colors and fake leaves. A large red curtain covers the backstage and catwalk area where you can hear your other friends talking nervously and getting dressed. You and Twilight are some of the first ponies to arrive and take a seat in the very front row. Concentrating, you feel where the paint bowl is with your magic and position it perfectly over the stage, where it can still be dumped on the stage but will be hidden by the curtain when the spell wears off. Smiling, you settle back into your seat as more ponies begin to pour in.

A loud scratch on a disk catches your attention. Everypony turns to look at Vinyl Scratch in her deejay booth. She nods at the technical pony and he shines a spotlight at the center of the stage. Upbeat techno music begins and Rainbow Dash flies out wearing a beautiful dress. It's a light blue mid-length dress with a white hem on the ends. With a daring look on her face, she struts down the runway and strikes a fierce pose at the end. After pictures are taken she walks back but doesn't go backstage. Instead, she stands right under the paint bowl that you hid from everypony's view.

"Rarity has really outdone herself," Twilight whispers. You ignore her. The music suddenly changes to a remix of a lullaby. Fluttershy then shyly pokes her head out and walks down the runway. She is wearing a white lace dress with a beautiful white crown to go with it. Her mane and tail are curled and she does look pretty. As she reaches the end of the catwalk, she ducks her head and blinks innocently.

"Woohoo! Go Fluttershy!" You immediately recognize the cheerer as Discord and roll your eyes with a smile. A sudden pang then shoots through your head and horn. I won't be able to hold this paint bowl much longer.

By this time, Fluttershy is standing by Rainbow and the music has changed to a techno-fied version of a banjo song. Applejack steps out holding a rope in her mouth stylishly. She has her mane and tail down and brushed for once and a pretty yellow and white country-style dress on. She has a white cowboy hat on for a change and white cowboy boots to match. As she reaches the end of the runway, she twirls and whips the rope, then turns around and walks back to stand next to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

Now, the music changes back to its regular fun beat and Pinkie Pie bounces out, a huge smile on her face. Her mane and tail are tied up in a high ponytail and her dress is every shade of pink you could think of, plus it has a black trim for good balance. The chest area is a light, soft pink with black edges, while the rest of the dress bleeds in to a deeper pink with black fabric creeping farther up the sides in the back. Pinkie reaches the end of the runway and gives one of her famous smiles, then walks back to Rainbow, Fluttershy, and AJ.

"Go girls! Woohoo!" Twilight cheers and claps as everypony onstage takes a bow. Next, Rarity steps onstage with a large smile on her face. She is wearing a long black and red dress with sparkly black heels. As she bows, another extreme pain shoots through your head like a migraine that won't go away. You look up at where the paint bowl would be apprehensively. Come on, just appear already! Suddenly, as everypony is waving and taking one final bow onstage, the paint bowl appears.

"Yes!" you shout, glad to be able to finally let it drop. As it falls, time feels like it begins to slow down, and for the first time, you actually have a moment to look at your friends as the red paints tumbles towards them. Fluttershy is smiling shyly and waving, Pinkie Pie is bouncing excitedly and waving at the cameras with a huge smile, Applejack is pushing her hat up and waving at the crowd happily, Rainbow Dash is striking a cool pose and saluting everypony, and Rarity...she looks proud, and happy. She is waving at the crowd and her eyes are even beginning to tear up in joy. It's now that you suddenly can't breathe as you realize what you're doing. No, no, no, no! What the heck was I thinking? I'm such a freaking idiot! I have to stop this NOW. You look up and see the paint bowl hurtling towards your unsuspecting friends from above.

"No," you say quietly, standing up. As it gets closer to them, you begin running towards them and yelling louder. "No, no, no, no, no!" You jump onstage quickly and push your friends out of the way as the paint bowl's red paint begins to fall out the side and come right at you. You brace yourself for extreme embarrassment as the paint gets closer and closer until it's merely an inch from your head. You close your eyes and hold your breath as...nothing happens. You open one eye to see the paint pass right through you and the stage floor, followed closely by the bowl. You gulp as you remember the book's words: After the time period expires, the item could become seeable but non-solid for up to ten minutes. As you look at your friends, they give you perplexed and somewhat upset faces. You don't dare look at Twilight. As you continue to stand onstage in shock, the audience begins laughing, and you know that they're laughing at you, not with you.

"It was a special effect, princess!" somepony yells mockingly, and your ears flatten to your head. Eyes beginning to water, you realize what you just tried to do. Before anypony can do anything, you quickly use a teleportation spell that Twilight had taught you and teleport home. As the stage disappears and is replaced with the tree library that you live in, you let your tears begin falling and collapse on your bed. I'm a terrible friend. The other girls didn't do anything to deserve to be embarrassed. Not even Rarity did anything that could deserve her show to be ruined like that. I do though. I deserved that. I'm glad it was me and not them. Oh, they'll probably hate me now. Maybe I wasn't ready to be a princess after all...

"[Y/N], what is the meaning of this?" You whip your head around to see your sister standing over you with a stern face, which softens as she sees you. "Hey, why are you crying?" She lies down on the bed next to you.

"Go away, I don't deserve a great sister like you, or friends like the other girls." You wipe your eyes and bury your face in your pillow.

"[Y/N], Spike told me everything when I teleported here. You didn't have to get revenge on Rarity for not putting you in the fashion show."

You look up at her. "I know, Twilight, I'm so sorry, I wasn't even thinking, I just was upset that my other friends were in the show and I wasn't, so I wanted to ruin the show for everypony else, so I planned to dump red paint on the girls at the end of the show. But then, at the last minute, I could really see what I was doing. I saw how happy my friends were, and how proud Rarity was, and...I just couldn't mess things up for them. But the spell, the cloaking spell that I had used to get the bowl full of paint here, it had a catch. After the bowl appeared, it would just pass through anything. So, in the end, I just ended up embarrassing myself."

"Oh, sis..." Twilight puts her hoof on yours comfortingly. "You did do one good thing though. You felt bad and were ready to embarrass yourself in order to help your friends. The important thing after making a mistake is feeling bad that you did it and fixing it. You feel bad, so now you just need to fix it."

"No need, Twilight." A white unicorn steps out from the shadows . "I already heard everything." Rarity walks over to you, and you duck your head. "[Y/N], you don't have to be afraid of me. I forgive you."

You look up at her, surprised. "You do?"

She smiles. "Of course I do, darling. You should've seen the thing I've done before just so that I could get more social connections in Canterlot. So yes, I can forgive you for this, and the other girls agree with me. Oh, and the reason that I didn't want you to be in the Fall Fashion Show was because I recently made a brand new line of dresses just for you." Your jaws fall open and Rarity continues. "It was in honor of your recent coronation, and I was going to have a show where it would only be you modeling the dresses. I just didn't want anypony to feel left out, you see."

"Oh, Rarity...I'm so sorry!" You give her a big hug, which she returns.

"It's all right, but I think you have a letter to write." You turn around to see Spike standing behind you, ready to write.

"Hey, [Y/N]...I just wanted to apologize for teasing you earlier." He smiles bashfully and you give him a small hug.

"It's ok, Spike. Now, let's write this letter. Dear Princess Celestia..."

Princess Celestia looks over her letter to the griffons and sighs. "I just hope that the griffons can end their new civil war soon, because until then, Equestria will accept absolutely no exchange students." A letter suddenly appears in front of her. "Well, let's see what's happening in Ponyville." She opens the scroll and reads its contents.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned an important lesson, maybe one of the most important ones that I'll ever learn. When a friend doesn't let you join in on something, they usually will have a good reason. Sadly, I didn't believe this, so first, I tried to find out what the reason was, but when that failed, I made a terrible decision. Instead of accepting my friend's decision, I tried to sabotage the event for everypony else, but at the last second, I realized that I couldn't do that to my friends and embarrassed myself to protect them. But, in reality, I could've saved myself the humiliation by just being in subjection to my friend's decision. Next time, I will abstain from taking revenge on ponies, even if she didn't have a reason to not include me.

Your subject, [Y/N]

Ok, this is literally the longest chapter I've ever written by a long shot. But, hey, I hope it was worth the wait. I can really see Spike taking the annoying little brother position with you, and I think he's pretty fun to use. Well, I hope you enjoyed! This is and will always be Bronygirl6729!