Deep Cover Confusion

by Zerodius

Fashion Emergency

Rarity cringed. It was a fashion emergency, a serious fashion emergency. Sure, Rainbow Dash always complained about those but quite frankly, that rainbow-maned pony didn't have to worry about keeping one's cover as a changeling. It had always bothered her, to say the truth. Her long, purple mane was absolutely fabulous and all her disguise really did was highlight how breathtaking it was. That was not the problem. The problem was those ugly holes near her hooves and the whole chitin shell look of her body. It didn't matter how much she worked out to smoothen her curves and make sure she looked as fantastic as she could, the cold hard truth was that without her disguise, she looked like she was covered in some kind of weird fleshy armor instead of a magnificient coat. That and she far prefered having a reasonably-sized straight horn as opposed to that beetle-like monster she truly had on her forehead.

But of course, normally, all of her woes regarding her looks could be fixed through a copious amount of magic and a keen sense of fashion. This time, her magic was misfiring at the worst moment possible. Did she somehow mix up love in her meal this morning too much and got accidentally drunk? Did she draw in some of Berry Punch's love by mistake yesterday, thus adding an unintended kick to her last dinner?

Regardless of the reason, the very worst thing ever had happened. Sure, she thought this to herself all the time but truly, this time it was for real and she's totally going to be discovered and everypony will hate her and chase her out of town and all of the newspapers across Equestria will speak of the monstrous, terminally ugly bug-like equine that pollute Ponyville's sense of esthetics! Her outfits, she can deal with... but her magic misfired while polymorphing her head and now her ears are slightly pointier, like those... of a CHANGELING! By Celestia, everypony will notice this detail and she will be BANISHED from Equestria! It's terrible!

Worst of all, Sweetie Belle is home and she'd have to drop her disguise entirely to repair that detail! She don't have time for that, she must get to make her new outfits! O-okay... calm down Rarity. You can do this. This is not the first time a fashion emergency happened. Only, it was with just clothes or elements she could easily redo without dropping her disguise. Why? Why did she mess up? She never mess up usually!... well, she only occasionely mess up. Okay okay! She mess up a lot, happy now?!

Of course, the real reason this was a fashion emergency was because it was so late in the morning and Sweetie Belle was here. Opalescence could not speak and even if she could, she did not care about her mistress's true appearance. As long as the cat was showered with affection, she did not care and Rarity was thankful for it. Most importantly, her dear kitten could not tell all of Ponyville that the fashionetta was truly a hideous bug equine. Sweetie Belle could.

What to do, what to do?!

Then as she stared at the mirror, Rarity was struck by the obvious. A puff of green flames and her ears were now just as softly rounded as usual. This was perfect! This was-

She brushed a hoof against her ears and once again, the obvious made itself known. Her pupils were thin and vertical instead of round. How could she forget such a point?!

Okay, you're in freak-out mode Rarity. Regain your composure, think of your manners...

...

Okay, good. It may be a fashion emergency but it's a quick fix, both of them. Just two goofs. Another flash of changeling magic and the second one is also gone. There, it's fixed. That wasn't so hard. To think she almost freaked out for real! As she brought a hoof to giggle at her own silly panic, she noticed she could see through her wrist. In fact, she had that weird feeling under her hooves like she was standing on her actual, weirder legs rather than her graceful pony ones. Oh. Oh no. The polymorph spells backfired. A pair of fangs greeted her, sticking out slightly out of her mouth. Yeah... that is not good.

"Sis? What are you doing sis?" the voice came from behind the door. Rarity found herself with her blood freezing, not literally but well, she cringed.

"Errr... I am coming Sweetie Belle! Just a few more minutes. A lady must look at her best at all time!"

After a short pause, the unicorn filly muttered something under her breath and stomped off to wait some more. Rarity figured that she'd better come up with some kind of solution quickly. Maybe... maybe...

A flash of green fire, a rather large blast of magic and... well, her mane look like Pinkie's now. That... is ungainly. However, it did fulfill its purpose of covering the changeling ears. Taking her brushes with her magic, Rarity attempted to give a semblence of beauty to the now poofed-up hair. Needless to say, she was only mildly successful. And that was just a detail!

"Siiiiiis!"

Serious problems call for drastic measures. Though she hate to use these, she took brightly colored string and then, tied up her mane. It was not exactly braided in an even graceful manner but it would be at least presentable and would keep her ears covered up. Wait! She must make sure her mane is proportioned correctly and all the hairs are covered correctly! Like a pony, her ears do swivel a bit when she feel strong emotion and she can't take chances because else-

Sweetie Belle was knocking on the door now.

Rarity put on socks on each of her legs as fast as she could and curled her lips as to cover the fangs as best as she could. Then, she opened the door, trying to put on a regal, relaxed smile. Judging by Sweetie Belle's expression, it was not convincing. At all. Horseapples.

"Oh. A genuine fashion emergency." she said, eyes widened. Good, good, she had misinterpreted her expression for a moment. "I'll try to tell Rainbow Dash to calm down. She just arrived and she's starting to get kind of impatient. I... I'll try to explain."

Rarity nodded quickly, not wanting to risk exposing her fangs, and the little filly closed the door. Rainbow Dash is here? Oh... oh yeah. Her friends. Her dear friends who had nothing planned for today and thus, were extremely likely to show up and ask her to hang out with them. Which usually she'd love to, given she have quite a bit of free time today. But well... fashion emergency.

She look ungainly in those socks. She needs to find a way to cover those holes in a better way. Gah! Her disguise is swiss cheese today! What a nice day for her magic failing her...

She might as well restart her disguise from scratch!

... oh! Yes! She should! Given nothing is being covered, she might as well do this. With a sigh, her white coat was replaced with white chitin and she concentrated. Her beetle-like horn glowed as she conjured her magic. No mess-ups this time.

A rapid serie of multi-colored fire flashes, alternating between green and purple, and her disguise was on again, correctly this time. Removing the socks, she brushed her left front hoof against her right leg, noticing the lack of a hole. Good. Emergency fixed.

Of course, she's not sure how stable the spells are ; she casted them rather quickly and well, she's not exactly the magical genius that her lavender pony friend is. Still, it should hold given today isn't too rough.

Alright, she left Rainbow Dash waiting long enough. Time to see what she want!

ptoing!

Or maybe not. Apparently, that little hair growth spell on her mane was a bad idea and is now conflicting with her disguise's magic. She now got that big poofy mane again and that will cause more questions than she'd be comfortable anwsering.

Cutting down the mane would be too hard and take too long, especially with Rainbow Dash already in her boutique. This call for drastic measures. Sure, she won't look as fabulous as she could have... but well, her pride can take a hit in this case. She braided her mane quickly, using copious amounts of string to hold it together. It wasn't classy ; she pretty much just brute forced her mane into submission but it worked.

Alright. Good.

Wait... is that a wrinkle? Oh... oh... OH BY CELESTIA! She's too young to have a wrinkle on her neck! Where did this thing come fr-

...

It's the separation line on her shell. Her fur-covered chitin shell.

Is this some kind of joke? Did she do something particularly bad recently to deserve Celestia's wrath like this? Or is the immortal alicorn pranking her? After all, she heard that she occasionely pranked ponies, including Twilight. If so, it isn't funny.

So... polymorph spell to fill up her leg holes. She need to cast it in reverse. On all of her body except her legs. Oh goodie, she's trying to do something that few ponies can do and she's just a changeling!

She found herself sweating from the stress as she concentrated. Don't mess this up, Rarity, don't mess this up don't mess this up don't mess this up!

A flash of pony magic and the separation lines are gone! Excellent! Now she's a perfectly presentable pony! Her tiny, stubby, barely functional insect wings fluttered in excitement!

"Oh come on!" she muttered to herself under her breath. That was unlady-like but at this point, she did not care.

Rarity became the epicenter of a bonfire of mixed changeling and pony magic, the changeling unleashing a flurry of polymorphing and illusion spells. Buck subtlety and grace ; she's brute-forcing that disguise on.

As the hurricane of magic vanished, Rarity turned to the mirror. At long last, her familiar pony self looked back. She brushed a hoof against her face only to see the magic cracks and ripple, the disguise threatening to tear itself apart.

Well, it was to be expected. No way all of those layered spells would be stable or even truly compatible with one another. If her mother was here and saw her disguise, she'd drill her through basic infiltration training so fast her head would still be spinning. Sweetie Belle can probably make a more graceful disguise and she's a real pony!

Oh well, as long as nothing too physically taxing happens, the disguise should hold for the day.

Now, time to relax and go see what Rainbow Dash wants. The poor girl has been waiting for such a long time.

"Hey there, Rarity!" went the rainbow maned pony as she finally left her room. "Sheesh, you sure took a long time in there! Did you mix up shampoos when washing your mane or something? Anyway, I spoke with everypony else and they let me decide what we'll do today! So we're going to go skydiving today!" went Rainbow Dash.

The only reason Rarity's face did not turn white was because it was her natural color.

Comments

[Guardian Talon]

Ok I have to ask.
Where does she think Sweetie Belle came from?

Edit: Ok one of your latter replies suggests she's just in denial.
An unbelievably deep state of denial.
...I'll try to ignore it.