CRISIS: Equestria - Divergence

by GanonFLCL

Chapter Sixteen: Carosuing

Twilight knew that even back at home, employees at most places of business weren't expected to be present every single day of the week, not unless they owned and operated it themselves.

That was how businesses ran in Canterlot. There was a coffee shop that she frequented every morning back when she was attending Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and she always arrived at the same time. The barista that took and made her order was not the same pony every single day; three days in the week it was a jaded pegasus mare that probably needed a coffee herself, while the other four it was an upbeat earth pony stallion that was probably drinking too much coffee, if there was such a thing.

New Pandemonium City operated under the same system, where businesses and companies didn't make their employees come to work every day, either because they weren't open every day of the week, or because they had a large enough staff that they could split duties around. She was actually surprised that they actually gave employees time off at all, considering the reputation she'd been led to believe.

In Twilight's case, the CDH library was closed once a week, and so she had today off from work entirely. Pinkie had yesterday and today off from working at The Sweet Spot, because Cinnamon Swirl had other employees besides just Pinkie; the baker was there every day, because it was her business. The Foundry was also closed once a week, and so Applejack also conveniently had today off. It was one of the few times where the group actually had time to spend together outside of dinner, and by Celestia, they were going to make the most of it.

The first order of business was who was doing what, where, and with whom, since they all knew that not everypony enjoyed the same things. There were so many things to do in this city that everypony was afforded the opportunity to do something that they wanted to and with whomever they wanted to do it, and it was generally agreed that there would be no hard feelings whatsoever no matter how things divied up.

The first group formed up when Rarity had decided that since some of them had accrued some funds aside from what they'd pooled together for furniture shopping, they could and should absolutely consider purchasing new outfits to wear on a day-to-day basis, at the very least. Fluttershy and Insipid had agreed to go along, of course. They'd headed off for some Inner District shopping center about an hour ago.

Twilight didn't have any issues with the magician-like clothing she wore outside of work, though she asked Rarity to look into something similar to her work uniform; she rather liked it, actually, and figured that wearing something like that casually would be quite fitting.

She'd asked Rarity that because she'd instead elected to go with the second group, which formed around Rainbow, Pinkie, and Velvet, who all wanted to go see a movie at the local cinema. Applejack had agreed to go along with them—she didn't have much interest in movies but it was better than the alternative, she said—and Twilight had invited Winter along since she knew the city better than anypony except Lockwood, who had his own business to attend to.

The little sextet of mares arrived at the theater just after noon, primarily so that they could make it in time for the matinée showing and save some money. The first thing Twilight noticed about the theater here in the city compared to the ones she was used to was how much larger it was. In Ponyville, the movie theater only had a single projector and catered to only about twenty ponies at a time. The theater here had twenty screening rooms, each of which could seat between thirty and sixty ponies.

The second thing she noticed was the sheer size of the selection at the concession stand, and she wondered how much of it was real food and how much of it was Dolor products. The only thing that was immediately apparent as real was the popcorn, and it was almost insultingly expensive for a tub, plus extra for real butter; concessions were always expensive, it seemed. That didn't stop Pinkie from going in on a large tub with extra butter, but the tub was large enough—as big as Pinkie's head, mane and all—to share with the entire group.

Twilight elected just to get a small cola and call it a day.

The movie selection was also much more varied than what she was used to back home, a clear result of having multiple screening rooms. Since it had been Pinkie, Rainbow, and Red's idea to come to the movies, they were allowed to choose the film they'd be watching. They picked one called Xeno, which was billed as a science-fiction horror film not suitable for younger audiences. Twilight wasn't sure about the choice herself, but she didn't see anything that she would have picked, so she went along with it.

With tickets in hoof, the sextet made their way into the theater and took their seats; Twilight sat on one end next to Winter, who sat next to Applejack, who sat next to Rainbow, then Pinkie, and finally Velvet. Everypony got comfortable in their seats, sipped their drinks and ate their snacks, and waited for the film to start; Rainbow even made a big show about yawning and throwing her foreleg around Pinkie so that they were close together, for some reason.

First, though, came some previews of coming attractions, which interested Twilight since she was used to the movie just starting up right away at showtime back home. One film looked like some sort of psychological thriller about a family stuck in a haunted hotel over the winter; another looked like a serious drama about a boxer, which seemed to be a biopic; another looked like an action film about some sort of gang war in the slums of a big city, no doubt this one.

Finally, the movie itself started. It was a slow start, but gripping nonetheless.

A starship coasted through the cosmos, its pony crew in cryosleep, when the ship received a distress call. The crew was woken up to investigate, and found a strange alien ship crashed on a moon. Twilight found herself watching with bated breath as some of the crew explored the craft and found some strange egg-like objects.

Then one of the crew members touched one of the eggs, and this creature leapt out of it and latched onto his face.

Twilight nearly leapt right out of her seat; she grabbed the closest thing to her to try and protect herself from the terrifying scene, which happened to be Winter. Winter didn't react to the scare but did react to Twilight grabbing her, mostly by taking Twilight's hoof in hers and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Don't worry, Twilight," Winter whispered. "It's just a movie."

It helped.

A little.

And that's how Twilight stayed for most of the movie: her hooves tugging her cloak up near her mouth as she watched horrible thing after horrible thing happen to the misfortunate crew of that starship. She gasped and hid her face from the action on all of the particularly scary or violent moments, like when an alien worm tore out of the chest of a crew member, or when the worm turned up again—bigger, scarier, and deadlier—and tore apart the crew one by one.

Once the credits were over, Twilight vowed to never, ever, let Rainbow and Pinkie pick a movie for the group again without looking over it first. The ending was uplifting, absolutely, with the lone survivor of the crew escaping on a shuttlecraft with the ship's cat as the alien creature was blown out of an airlock, but that didn't make Twilight feel any better after witnessing the rest of the film's violent horror.

Winter seemed to find the film enjoyable from an actual cinematic perspective, saying that the pacing of the opening was just perfect; Twilight managed to critique the protagonists of the film for splitting up to hunt a monster; Applejack seemed about as shook as Twilight, but at least was able to offer her opinion on the film: too much violence for her tastes; Pinkie and Rainbow loved it, though Pinkie made an odd comment about seeing something just like it before; Velvet loved it too, citing it as the perfect blend of violence and horror, and that she found the alien creature invitingly phallic.

But now that the movie was over with and the group still had plenty more time in their day to spend, the conundrum came for what to do next.

"We could always go meet with Rarity and Shy," Pinkie suggested. "I wouldn't mind seeing what the shops in the Inner District have to offer," she added, waggling her eyebrows at Rainbow.

"As good as that sounds, I know that if we show up there, Rarity's gonna just rope us all into shopping for new duds," Rainbow said, shaking her head. She pawed at her jacket lovingly. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm just fine with what I've got. Plus, it's cheaper just doing laundry for now, right?"

"Hear, hear!" Applejack said, stomping a hoof. "Last thing I need is Rarity draggin' me through some fritzy frou-frou boutique tryin' to buy a dress that I ain't even gonna wear. This here's my work uniform as much as it's what I wear on my day off, ain't it?"

Pinkie shrugged. "Okay, okay, we don't have to go shopping. But we've got hours before we all meet up for dinner! What're we gonna do now?"

"Arcade?" suggested Rainbow.

"That's not the best 'group' activity," Applejack grunted. "Last time we went to an arcade, y'all stuck around for two hours 'cause you were goin' for some high score, while the rest of us didn't have no more bits to spend. I mean, we was impressed 'n' all, but I was bored as all get-out."

"Hey, it's not my fault I'm awesome, okay?"

"Uh, I think it kinda is?"

"Ooh, how about mini-golf?" suggested Pinkie.

"We don't have much mini-golf around here," Winter said with a shrug. "Golf never really took off in the north, y'know? Not enough space in the city for a proper course. And without regular golf, nopony wanted to bother with a miniaturized version of it."

"Aww, phooey."

Velvet beamed and waved her hoof in the air. "Ooh! Strip club! Strip club!"

Rainbow blanched. "Ew, no. Last thing I need is some dude's junk waving around in my face."

"You can sit in the back, then," Velvet huffed. "More for me!"

"What's a 'strip club'?" Twilight asked, red in the face, having never heard the term before but understanding what 'junk' Rainbow was talking about.

"It's the most magical place in the whole wide world!" Velvet said, hooves together in a dreamy pose. "The hunkiest hunks and studliest studs get up on stage and dance, dance, dance, shaking what their mamas gave 'em and taking off alll their clothes while thirsty mares throw bits at 'em." She bit her lip. "Mmmf! I can just picture it in my head."

"Ew, so can I," Twilight said, blanching just like Rainbow had. "That seems wildly inappropriate, not to mention potentially unsanitary. Who would want to degrade a bunch of stallions like that?"

Velvet pointed at herself. "Uh, me?" She then turned to Applejack. "C'mon, AJ. You're down to come see some grade-A studs with me right?" She turned to Winter. "Winter? You're in?"

Applejack shook her head. "Naw, that's quite alright, Red, I think I'll pass on the club, too. I'd feel a mite bit awkward gettin' some stallion shakin' his rear 'n' such in my face while out with all my friends like this."

Velvet tilted her head and smiled. "So you're saying maybe you and I could have a girls' night out sometime?"

"That's not what I— no! No strip clubs!"

"Yeah, I'm with Applejack on this: hard pass," Winter said. "It's not really my… scene."

Velvet rolled her eyes. "Man, you guys are laaame."

"If we're lookin' for a group activity, though, I've got a suggestion: laser tag," Winter said with a smile.

Pinkie and Rainbow simultaneously gasped and said, "You've got laser tag?!"

*****

Fluttershy marvelled at the sight of Le Bosquet D'Étoiles—the "Grove of Stars", as Rarity was kind enough to translate—which was a glamorous shopping center located in the heart of the Romantique District of the city's innermost territories. Being an official designer in a high-class fashion company got Rarity all sorts of perks that weren't typically allotted to the "rabble" of the Mid Districts, including the privilege of utilizing the Inner District shopping facilities.

The walls and floors of the mall were made of a fine marble that rivaled anything that Fluttershy had seen in the fancier parts of Canterlot, trimmed with gleaming, polished silver that caught and reflected light and with nary a blemish in sight. The ceiling was made of glass so that shoppers could look out onto the sky above, which rather than the smog-covered, orange-glowing skyscape of Pandemonium proper, was the pristine, artificial image of a star-covered nighttime sky, even now in the middle of the afternoon.

And the other shoppers were just as lovely as the architecture, dressed in impeccable clothes, their manes, tails, and make-up done up with professional standards, all of them with noses up with the typical snootiness that Fluttershy had come to expect from ponies in the elite upper class of any society. She almost felt like she was in Canterlot, and that the door to this mall had accidentally sent her home for some reason.

Of course, all this high-class fashion made Fluttershy feel dreadfully underdressed, like she was sticking out like a sore hoof, but then again that was the reason she was here: Rarity wanted to get her a fancier dress so that when and if Fluttershy was able to attend one of Rarity and Insipid's fashion shows, she'd be dressed to impress.

But nopony stuck out more than Gray Skies, who still wore her plain gray sweater had her mane and tail done up like she was in a punk band—Rainbow's description, not hers. She had to be doing it on purpose, because she had even started chewing a stick of bubble gum just to make sure that everypony around her knew that she didn't belong here with all these fancy ponies.

None knew it better than Gray herself. "Remind me again why I'm here?" she asked nopony in particular.

"Um… w-well, I thought you might like to come with us?" Fluttershy replied with a little smile. "I know you like to, um… be alone and stuff, but… I figured maybe you'd like a chance to try something new?"

"Yeah, I guess," Gray said, blowing and popping a gum bubble. "Still, this is pretty weird for me. Fashion's not really my thing."

"Oh, mellow out, sis!" Insipid chirped from the front, where she was following Rarity along through the mall. "I mean, like, Rarity and Flutterbutter—"

"Fluttershy," both Gray and Fluttershy corrected in unison; Fluttershy blushed when she realized that Gray had corrected Insipid as well; Gray didn't blush at all, and in fact her expression was totally neutral.

"Whatever! They invited us to, like, go shopping and junk? And I dunno, there's a part of me that, like, knows that I was meant for this."

"Meant for what?" Gray asked.

Insipid gestured out at the mall with wide open hooves. "This! Shopping! The mall! I feel like I was born for this! Cha!"

"I honestly can't think of a better place for you to be than with a bunch of vapid airheads wasting their days shopping with their daddies' credit cards," Gray replied flatly.

"I know! It's destiny!"

Rarity, who either didn't notice the conversation or was choosing to wisely stay out of it, finally butted in by slowing her pace so that the others could hear her. "Alright, everypony, we're here!" she exclaimed, gesturing towards a storefront. "Welcome to La Porte du Paradis—that's 'Heaven's Gate', dears."

The store was one of the largest on this level, not exactly difficult to notice. The window had several ponyquins on display with such a range of fashion that Fluttershy was certain that one could put together any sort of outfit they wanted without missing a piece. There were dresses, gowns, skirts, blouses, jackets, shirts, suits, sweaters, vests—well, there really was everything. They even had a selection of lavish horseshoes—for function—and fashion-conscious shoes like heels and boots, as well as all sorts of different hats.

Insipid's eyes went wide, and she gasped so hard that Fluttershy worried she'd suck all the air out of the mall. "Oh. My. Stars. This is, like, the greatest thing in the history of greatest things! Major. Fresh." She grabbed Rarity and shook her a little bit. "This is amazing!"

"It came highly recommended by Chantilly as the premier boutique for off-the-rack fashion, which is what we're here for." Rarity turned to Fluttershy and gave her a little wink. "After all, I'm not officially allowed to start making dresses within the Rising Star fashion line until after tomorrow's show. So, no Rarity Originals for my friends just yet."

"I'm sure these will be just fine, Rarity," Fluttershy said as they walked into the store, glancing about at the selection available. "Oh my goodness, they really do have everything. I've never seen so many outfits in one place before."

The group was approached by a snooty-looking, bespeckled earth pony mare with a thin frame wearing a fashionable dress suit. "Bonjour, and welcome to La Porte du Paradis." She gave Fluttershy and Gray a scrutinizing glare. "Are you all… together?"

"Yes, we are," Rarity said with a smile. "My friends and I are looking to get some new clothes."

"Yes, that much is obvious for some of you more than others," the mare said. She gave a brief look over Rarity and Insipid as well. "Lovers' Lane originals, hmm? You two have fine taste in fashion. It will not take long to present other options to you that should fit your tastes and body tones."

"Well, thank you," Rarity replied. "I appreciate the effort."

"What does fashion even taste like?" Insipid asked, earning a blank look from the worker, as if worried she would start nibbling her dress.

The worker mare just shook it off, then turned to Fluttershy next and gave her a more thorough once-over. "Hmm… your figure is commendable, you have a pleasing face, and your mane and tail flow quite well. Yes, I believe I can procure some outfits that can help your features pop, hopefully without giving ponies the same wrong idea that your current choice does."

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"Your skirt, my dear, is much too short. Another inch or two would do you wonders, but as it stands it draws a significant amount of attention to your flanks." The mare adjusted her glasses. "Now, if that is what you were going for, I could recommend a different store that might be more to your tastes?"

Fluttershy's cheeked reddened. "I… I had no idea!" She looked to Rarity, then to Gray. "Wh-why didn't anypony say anything?"

Rarity, who seemed just as stunned as Fluttershy, replied, "I honestly had no idea either, darling. Considering the current fashion trends, I'm surprised it's not seen as being somewhat in vogue."

Gray just shrugged. "I thought you knew."

Fluttershy had never felt so embarrassed in her entire life. Had she really been walking around for a week with ponies… gawking at her flanks everywhere she went? Wait, did that mean that Lockwood had noticed it, too? Her blush deepened as she realized that she was accidentally flaunting herself to not just complete strangers but also dear friends. What if she'd been sending the wrong message to them this entire time?

"As for you," the worker mare said, approaching Gray, "your fashion sense is atrocious, not even considering current or recent trends. This… ensemble of yours is hideously juvenile and lazy."

"That's the point," Gray said, blowing another bubble of gum.

"And it's most unfortunate that you've done so," the mare continued, giving Gray a once-over as well. "Your figure is, by pegasus standards, astounding. If you were even a little more fashion-forward, my dear, I dare say you would be the talk of the town."

"That sounds like exactly the opposite of anything I could ever want."

Rarity cleared her throat. "Gray, darling, I understand that you have your own style, and far be it from me to judge you for it, but surely you'd like to have an outfit to wear if you ever attended a formal occasion? A wedding perhaps, or the opera?"

Gray's response was, naturally, short and sweet: "Nah."

Insipid puffed out her cheeks. "Sis! C'mon, don't be such a lamewad! You're being totally unfresh right now."

"I'm not the kind of mare that cares about any of that stuff. I don't go to parties, I definitely don't go to the opera, so I don't need a fancy dress for anything."

Fluttershy nudged Gray gently. "You don't have to actually buy anything, you know?" she whispered. "Maybe… just try some things on? Humor them a little bit?"

Gray just stared at her, and Fluttershy worried for a moment that she'd sounded too assertive and was making Gray do something she didn't want to do. But then, Gray just grunted, looked at the worker mare, and said: "Fine. Whatever."

"Wonderful," said the mare, adjusting her glasses. "Now then, ladies, if you would proceed to our changing area?" She gestured to the far end of the store, where a number of changing rooms were set up, some of them in use but most of them not. "I will bring over some samples for you all to try."

Rarity smiled and gestured for the others to follow. "Ooh, this should be fun. It's not often I dare to let another pony tell me how to dress, but I'm getting a little excited to see what sort of selection they have here. Who knows, I might just pick up a little inspiration along the way, hmm?"

The next couple of hours was spent with the mares—one at a time—trying on outfits that the worker mare brought over for them. The first dress alone—which would be for Rarity to try—boggled Fluttershy's mind when she saw the price tag. There was no way that the group had the amount of bits necessary to pay for all of this, even if Rarity had already received payment for the dress she'd actually designed.

But she didn't let that get to her right now, figuring that Rarity had noticed it too and would likely have the entire group walk out of the store without purchasing a single thing as soon as they were all done having their own little miniature fashion show. It wasn't exactly a polite thing to do, but knowing Rarity she might just cave and buy a hat or something to at least ease her conscience.

As Rarity sampled outfit after outfit, she was met with some applause from Fluttershy and Insipid—not Gray, though—who also provided some commentary when Rarity asked for it, which she typically didn't. Most of the time, Rarity just gave the outfit a once-over and decided it wasn't for her, though Fluttershy had to admit that she disagreed with some of those sentiments.

There was one black satin dress that made Rarity look positively gorgeous, and naturally it had been the most expensive. Rarity had left it to the side for now, in the "maybe" pile. Everything else was discarded.

Insipid went next, and Fluttershy wasn't at all surprised that she'd been offered the same outfits as Rarity had been, only in different colors to better match her own hues, given that the two unicorns had practically the same body type. Insipid often didn't wait very long for the opinions of the others before she decided that she liked something, and so every outfit she'd tried on went into the "buy" pile.

Fluttershy did note that her suggested satin dress—this one a lovely purple—looked amazing.

Fluttershy went next, and felt a little self-conscious about the whole ordeal. It had been a long time since she'd done any "modeling" and this essentially the same thing, but at least she was just doing it with friends, not for cameras. Even so, she was a little nervous as she tried on and showed off every outfit that was suggested to her, blushing madly when she got applause from Rarity and Insipid… and most of all, from Gray.

Gray didn't react much when the others had shown off their outfits. But then Gray wasn't friends with Rarity the same way, and she and Insipid had an… odd sisterly relationship.

An outfit similar to the one she was currently wearing had been suggested, this one with a white blouse and a long, green skirt laced with pink butterflies. It wasn't terribly expensive, and she found that it was rather comfortable and best of all didn't get in the way of her wings, so she put that into her "buy" pile to replace the outfit she'd worn in; if anything, that was the most important thing to get.

Another was a flowing green-and-blue dress that resembled peacock feathers, which she felt was too loud for her tastes, and made her feel incredibly anxious because the dress "feathers" reacted with her wings, which only served to make it look like a male peacock's mating display. Looking in Gray's direction while the fathers were up just made it worse.

The next was a long blue dress made of what felt like silk, and while she liked the way it looked and flowed over her, it was much too expensive. The next was a bright pink-and-purple number with a large frilly skirt, which was even louder than the peacock dress. After that came three more outfits, none of which Fluttershy felt she could wear regularly in any capacity.

The only other outfit that caught her eye was the last one, a black, sequined lace dress trimmed with pink, which was, according to Rarity, very much in vogue and would fit in at any high-fashion function that Fluttershy might want to go to. Despite its cost, Rarity insisted that Fluttershy place it into her "buy" pile, and that they'd make it work out one way or another.

Gray went last, and though she tried one more time to get out of the deal, she relented when Fluttershy gave her an enthusiastic wave.

The first outfit she came out with was a sort of layered blue dress with a silver trim on the collar and tail. It was much too formal for somepony like Gray was, by any means, but the particular shades of blue matched well with the bluish grays of her mane. Fluttershy felt she looked rather nice in it; she knew it was hard to make Gray "pop" because of her coloring, but the boutique staff was certainly trying their best.

The same could be said of most of the other outfits that Gray tried on, really. Nothing really fit Gray's… well, Gray-ness. She was too big and muscular for most traditional dresses to work on her, and her colorations made it hard to find anything that matched. For the most part, the staff was trying to make Gray's square-shaped peg fit into the traditional round hole that Rarity, Insipid, and Fluttershy all fit into perfectly. They just weren't used to somepony like her.

But then, Fluttershy saw Rarity whisper something to the staff mare, who gave Gray a quick once-over, then nodded and hurried off to procure one last outfit. This one turned out to be a slate gray satin dress—if Fluttershy didn't know better she'd say that satin dresses were this shop's specialty—that fit snugly against Gray's large frame, and had slits at the back to expose her well-toned legs.

Fluttershy found herself unable to look away once Gray came out wearing that, and had barely managed to summon up the ability to applaud it. She could feel her face flush and desperately hoped that her mane was hiding it, but knew there was no way whatsoever she could hide her frightfully rigid wings at this point, especially when Gray tested to see if she could move her own in that dress and proved that she could go to full wingspan. Full, impressive wingspan

"That dress looks simply wonderful on her, doesn't it?" Rarity whispered, leaning over into Fluttershy's ear.

Fluttershy peeped and hid herself behind her mane as best she could; she'd forgotten how close Rarity was sitting and was certain that Rarity noticed Fluttershy's blush. "Y-yes…"

Rarity just smirked, turned to the staff member, and said, "We'll take that one as well, thank you."

Gray grunted. "I didn't say I wanted it."

"Oh, hush, darling. Just take it home and keep it in your closet. You never know when you'll need something like this, after all. Maybe on a… date, one day?" Rarity suggested, her eyes shifting casually towards Fluttershy.

Gray just rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

She turned and headed back into the changing room, and Fluttershy had to bite her lip when she caught sight of just how well the dress accentuated every single curve and muscle, lest she let out another peep—or worse—and draw attention to herself. It wasn't fair that Gray had such a… powerful figure.

Once all of the outfits that had been picked out—Rarity did decide to take the satin dress after all—they headed up to the front counter to checkout. Fluttershy's jaw dropped as outfit after outfit was scanned and priced, and the grand total came out to just short of two thousand bits. That was more money than Applejack, Pinkie, and Twilight could make combined over the course of their entire stay here, and that included giving up all of the funds going towards new furniture tomorrow.

True, most of that was from Insipid's choices—she'd taken every outfit that she'd tried on and even added a number of accessories that the staff was suggesting to her without a second thought—but that was beside the point.

"Rarity, how are we going to afford this?" Fluttershy whispered.

Rarity did actually seem concerned at this point; she'd apparently been lost in the moment and forgotten that these dresses weren't cheap. "I've been paid enough bits for my first commission that I think I can afford one of your two outfits, dear, but not both, and not mine," she whispered back. "Which would you—"

Their conversation and collective trains of thought came to a screeching halt when the register made a loud beep, and the checkout clerk passed what looked like some sort of plastic card over to Insipid. "Here you go, Mademoiselle, your card has been approved. Merci for shopping at La Porte du Paradis."

Insipid smiled and tucked her card back into her purse. "Cha. Of course it was?" She turned to Rarity and Fluttershy. "Hey, what're you two, like, whispering about over there? Ooh, are we sharing secrets?"

Rarity's jaw dropped. "Darling, did you just purchase everything yourself?"

Insipid tilted her head. "Yeah? Uh-duh. That's, like, what Daddy's credit card is for! Spending!"

"But… but that was two thousand bits, dear."

"Okay? Is… is that a lot?"

"Yes!"

"So… okay, I don't understand the problem?"

"Darling, we couldn't possibly hope to pay you back for this," Rarity said, taking Insipid's hoof in hers. "Believe me, I understand everything there is to know about being a generous pony, but—"

"Oh, I'm not, like, doing this to be generous or anything," Insipid said with a grin. "I wanted to buy all of that. For. Sure."

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "But you're giving us these outfits, dear. Aren't you?"

"Yeah? So? I wanted to buy them. So what if they're, like, not all for me? I wanted to buy them." Insipid tapped Rarity's nose. "And I always get what I want. So, like, don't worry about it, I guess? 'Cause you seemed worried about it." And, with a bright smile, she added, "Cha!"

Rarity and Fluttershy shared a brief look, then returned the smile. "Well then, I, um… I certainly hope you can bring that same enthusiasm to tomorrow night's showcase, hmm? What I mean is, I hope you want to impress those judges and journalists as much as I do."

"Yup! We're, like, gonna knock their blocks off!"

"Socks, darling. Socks."

"Yeah! We're totally gonna knock their socks off!" Insipid paused, tapping her chin. "What if they're not wearing socks, though?"

The cashier had just finished putting all of the outfits into boxes, and turned to Insipid with a smile. "Your purchases are ready, Mademoiselle. Do you require assistance carrying these out?"

"Nah," said Gray, as she nonchalantly walked over to the stack of boxes and, as she flicked her wings just slightly, balanced them all on her back like it was nothing. Fluttershy and Rarity watched with rapt attention, Fluttershy in particular.

"My my, what I wouldn't give to have a stallion like that," Rarity muttered. With a little side-glance towards Fluttershy she winked and added, "So strong and courteous."

Fluttershy gulped and nodded.

The cashier just looked at Gray's display, clearly just as impressed. "Well… how about that. Huh." He shook himself out of the slight stupor he was in, then nodded to the group. "Good afternoon, mademoiselles. Enjoy the rest of your day."

"Thank you, monsieur," Rarity said with a nod.

As they exited the store, with Insipid skipping happily ahead and Gray taking up the rear, Fluttershy and Rarity lingered behind slightly enough that Rarity could ask, "Gray, darling, forgive me if this sounds rude, but if your sister has so much money… why is she living with you and Velvet?"

Gray didn't shrug—that seemed impossible with her current haul—but just tilted her head in a close approximation of a shrug. "Our dad wants us to watch over her and make sure she stays out of trouble. I'm sure that you've seen that she's…"

"A little slow on the uptake?" Rarity completed.

"Sure, if that's how you want to put it." Gray shook her head. "Leave it at that, though, okay? Our family situation is… complicated, and none of us really want to talk about it."

"I understand, dear," Rarity said with a nod. "Sometimes family matters can indeed get quite complicated, especially when financial matters are involved. I won't make any assumptions one way or the other."

"Thanks. And don't mention any of this to her, either."

"I wouldn't dream of it. Insipid is a dear friend, and I appreciate what she's just done. I couldn't imagine doing anything to upset her."

"Good," Gray said, giving Rarity a hard look. "I'm relying on you to take care of her on these 'shows' you two are doing together, since I'm not there. Got it?"

Rarity paused, then nodded, though she seemed more confident than nervous. "Crystal clear, dear. Crystal clear."

As Gray pushed ahead to keep up with Insipid, who had just bounded off to stare into the window of a candy shop, Fluttershy lagged behind a bit with Rarity. "This was a great idea, Rarity,” she said. "Look at how happy Insipid is."

Rarity smirked and smoothed her mane back a little. "Well of course it was, darling. I do tend to have a knack for planning out these sorts of things. A shame we couldn't convince anypony else to come along. I would have loved to pick out things for all of our other friends."

She then clapped her hoof on the floor, only breaking her stride by half a second. "That reminds me, we need to find a store around here that sells something similar to Twilight's work uniform. A cable knit sweater, I believe she said. Oh, she'll look absolutely adorable in it, I'm sure."

"Me too. You always pick out the best," Fluttershy said with a smile.

Rarity then gave Fluttershy a sidelong glance and a smile of her own. "So, are you looking forward to showing Lockwood your new outfit?"

Fluttershy felt her cheeks grow a little hot. "I… I think I'm more looking forward to knowing I'm not flaunting myself in front of him like I have been, apparently. I hope I haven't been giving him the wrong idea about me…"

"I highly doubt that he thinks anything of the sort, dear. Lockwood is a perfect gentlecolt, from what I've seen and heard. He would never think of you in such a way." Rarity gave a little wistful sigh. "If only more stallions back home possessed that sort of chivalrous attitude."

Fluttershy paused a moment as she watched the look on Rarity's face, that faraway hopefulness that she'd displayed once or twice before when talking about some handsome celebrity back home that she had her eyes on. Fluttershy was happy for her friend in that moment, and knew exactly why Lockwood would never think of her in such a way that she feared.

With a look forward towards Gray, she realized that she didn't mind it one bit.

*****

Rainbow slid behind cover in time to avoid being seen by an ever-watchful Applejack on the far side of the arena, sliding right next to Velvet, also in cover and watching the nearby set of walls for any sign of Twilight or Winter. In the ultraviolet light of the laser tag arena, it was harder than ever to tell the difference between Pinkie and Velvet, with only their manes and tails being obvious differentiators.

It made Rainbow a little jittery; she'd had that dream once: two Pinkies, one Rainbow. She'd needed to change her sheets the following morning.

Everypony was equipped with typical laser tag gear, which was basically just a rifle and a vest. The vests were a little clunky but still comfortable, and had spots on both the front and back which acted as target areas. The rifles were surprisingly well-made, and were said to be accurate at a distance of up to one thousand feet; considering the arena was only a fifty-foot square, that seemed excessive, but impressive nonetheless.

"AJ's over at Sector C right now," Rainbow said quietly so that nopony on the opposing team would overhear. "She's got a good vantage point over B, E, and F, so we're gonna need to distract her somehow. You got eyes on the unicorns?"

"Negative," Velvet said without taking her eyes off her vantage point. "No sign of either of them yet. I'm watching E, Pinkie's watching D." She turned to Rainbow briefly and waggled her eyebrows. "If you ask me, I should be watching the D."

Rainbow snickered, then glanced over at Pinkie. "Any sign of the unicorns, Pinks?"

Pinkie, who was positioned behind a wall just opposite Rainbow and Velvet, turned towards the pair and made several elaborate gestures with her hooves that looked more like charades miming than anything useful, including miming fishing, a bird in flight, boxing, and then tapping her tush.

Rainbow just stared at the display, a blank expression on her face. "What the heck does any of that mean?!" she hissed.

Velvet held up a hoof. "Hang on, I speak Pink."

Rainbow paused, and looked at Velvet like she was nuts. "What?"

"She said that we're gonna lure them in, then you're gonna fly over them and hit them from behind."

Pinkie smiled wide and rapidly nodded her head.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, alright. But we've gotta be careful so that AJ doesn't shoot me out of the sky."

She cocked her laser gun—the gesture was just for show since it didn't use ammunition, but it made the typical gun-cocking sound effect just for the coolness factor. "You guys ready?"

Velvet and Pinkie nodded and cocked their own guns.

The trio carefully made their way towards Sector D of the arena from their hiding spot in Sector H—all named for three-by-three grid positions so that they could coordinate better—sticking to cover so that Applejack wouldn't spot them and try to take a long-range shot. Sliding from cover to cover, laying low to the ground, and taking their time got them safely to their destination, whereupon Rainbow spotted that telltale horn of Twilight's poking up from a block of cover on the opposite side of a small clearing.

Rainbow pointed it out to her pink-coated teammates, then gestured for them to take positions while she got into a spot where she could fly over and behind Twilight's hiding place without Applejack spotting her. Once she was in position, she signaled to Pinkie and Velvet to start the attack.

Pinkie did so by walking out behind cover just barely, such that Twilight would be able to see her. This was enough to get Twilight to pop out of cover to try and take a shot, but Pinkie had already slid back into cover herself.

Velvet popped up to take a shot at Twilight, but the unicorn was taking great care to avoid exposing her chest.

While Pinkie and Velvet popped in and out of cover to keep Twilight's attention on them, Rainbow silently moved along the side of the clearing, then took to the air out of sight of Twilight, coming right up behind the section of cover pieces Twilight was using.

From there, it was easy for Rainbow to come right up behind Twilight, place her laser rifle right up against the back of the unicorn's vest, and pull the trigger.

Twilight's vest lit up bright orange.

"Tag," Rainbow said, dramatically blowing the barrel of her rifle. "You're out."

Twilight groaned and hung her head, then popped back up to smile at her friend. "Good job, Rainbow. I didn't even notice you!"

"Yeah, well, once to get up to my level, these things just come naturally to you. Better luck next time, Twi." Rainbow then popped out from behind cover and approached Velvet and Pinkie's location. "Okay, girls, let's go find—"

She froze up. Pinkie was on the floor, clutching her chest, her laser tag vest lit up bright orange. Velvet cradled her head in her hooves.

"It's gonna be okay, Pinkie," Velvet blubbered. "It's gonna be okay."

Pinkie noticed Rainbow, and reached out her free hoof. "Dashie… Dashie, they got me…"

Rainbow approached the two in a flash, swooping down to kneel beside Pinkie. "Pinkie, no! No, you can't—"

"It's gonna be okay, Dashie," Pinkie said with a sad smile. "It's gonna… be… o…" She then froze up, and went limp in Rainbow's hooves, her tongue rolling out of her mouth and her eyes rolling up into the back of her head.

Rainbow lifted her hoof to the heavens. "Noooo! Pinkiiieee!"

"What the bloody hell is this shit?" said Winter from behind them, her voice flat.

Rainbow smirked at Velvet, then wheeled around and shot Winter right in the chest, lighting up the other unicorn's vest.

Winter, however, had fired at the same time, but hadn't been aiming at Rainbow; her shot instead hit Velvet right in the chest without issue, lighting her up as well.

Winter rolled her eyes. "Shit."

Velvet dramatically grasped at her heart. "Ack! And thus, I die! Bleh." And she collapsed to the floor, closing both eyes.

Rainbow collapsed on the floor and pounded her hoof. "No! Why does everypony around me die?! What am I fighting foooor?!"

"Yeesh, tone it down a notch, Dash," Velvet scoffed, opening one eye.

"Yeah, sorry, got a little too into it," Rainbow chuckled.

"I thought it was great!" Pinkie giggled, eyes still closed.

Rainbow stretched her hooves. "Alright, guess it's just me and AJ n—"

Rainbow's chest lit up orange.

"What the—"

"Too easy," Applejack chuckled from behind the next line of cover. Rainbow noticed she wasn't wearing her hat.

"AJ? How? You were—"

"Up in the tower in the corner? Nah. That was just my hat. Figured y'all would try the whole divide 'n' conquer plan, so Twi 'n' Winter went out to bait y'all in while I snuck up on ya." Applejack blew the barrel of her rifle. "You're predictable, Dash. And it was easy to sneak up on ya when y'all're actin' all, uh… dramatic."

Rainbow wanted to be mad, but she couldn't be; the strategy had worked perfectly. She just walked up to Applejack and offered her hoof. "Good game, AJ."

Applejack smirked and shook. "Good game, Dash." She turned to the others as they started getting up and gathering around. "Welp, guess it's time we all headed back for dinner, yeah?"

"Heck yeah! I'm starving!" Pinkie said, rubbing her tummy. "I haven't had anything to eat all day!"

"Pinkie, you had half of a large tub of popcorn, a large soda, three boxes of movie theater candy, and some movie nachos," Twilight noted. "Plus three candy bars and another soda while we were waiting for our turn in the arena."

"Okay, besides that, I haven't eaten anything."

Applejack smiled. "Y'know, I really appreciate y'all takin' me out with ya today. It's been a rough week, and this is the most fun I've had in, well, a week. I needed this."

"We all did," Twilight said, stepping up and patting Applejack's shoulder. She froze up for a moment when she did. "Wow, Applejack, you feel different!"

"Huh?"

"I mean, I could see it but it's really different to feel it."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "The hay are ya talkin' about, Twi?"

"Your muscles! You're increased your muscle mass by a lot in the past week." Twilight poked Applejack's shoulder again, moving down the leg a little. "Must be from all the heavy pulling your do at work. I'm impressed."

"In other words, you're looking great!" Pinkie chimed in. She then nudged Velvet and winked. "Shame she's not a stallion, huh?"

Velvet rolled her eyes. "Har har." She looked at Applejack and smirked. "I mean, not to make it sound like no big deal, but I bet AJ's whole crew is built like that. It's nothing… special." She paused, eyes slowly widening, a strangely devilish grin spreading across her face. "Oh. Oh."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to say this for like the last couple of days, AJ, but you're getting ripped," Rainbow added. "Like, I'm gonna be honest with you, we're not even in the same league physically anymore. I'm still faster in the air and stuff, but you're absolutely winning the next Running of the Leaves. I might just sit out and put money on you."

"Uh… thanks, I guess," Applejack said, scratching her head. "I mean, I guess I've kinda felt a difference. I'm able to lift the heavier loads at work easier than I was a couple of days ago. The stairs don't bother me no more, neither."

She then coughed into her hoof. "So, uh, like I said. Thanks for havin' me out with y'all. This was nice."

Twilight nodded. "With everything that's going on, I think we all needed a good break to put our minds at ease."

Velvet raised an eyebrow. "Yeesh, you guys must work real hard at your jobs to be this desperate for some fun."

Twilight shrugged. "I guess you could say that. We've just got a lot of things on our minds, y'know?"

"And hey, thanks for coming with us, Red!" Pinkie said, pulling Velvet in for a hug. "You're the best Long-Lost Twin Sister in the whole world!"

"Glad to be here," Velvet said with a grin. "Thanks for having me."

"Not to interrupt, but if we're all done huggin' it out, I think we were gonna head back home for dinner?" Winter suggested.

Pinkie blinked. "Oh. Right. Yeah, let's go! Dinner time! Woo!"

Comments

[RoboRed]

The Mane Six seem to be doing a lot more bonding with this Pandimonuim Six.

It's gonna bite hard when the truth comes out.

"What does fashion even taste like?" Insipid asked, earning a blank look from the worker, as if worried she would start nibbling her dress.

pffft

[readsponies]

Pity Twilight didn't take her clone shopping with Rarity. Then you'd have Golden Dawn at Heaven's Gate. Maybe the shopgirl could have been named Solar Temple, or maybe Branch Dravidian.

[My name is R]

Rainbow even made a big show about yawning and throwing her foreleg around Pinkie so that they were close together, for some reason.

Twilight is quite clueless at this.

The movie is obviously a reference to Alien.

"If we're lookin' for a group activity, though, I've got a suggestion: laser tag," Winter said with a smile.

Aye, you would, wouldn't you.

The following translations are what I could work out without help, and are mediocre at best:
Le Bosquet D'Étoiles: The bouquet of portraits.
La Porte du Paradis: The entry to paradise.

10510937 I figured you might like my answer:

"What does fashion even taste like?" Insipid asked,

It tends to be a rather bland affair, best used as a pallet cleanser, or seasoned with blood.
What, haven't any a you ever tried bloody cotton shirt? No, just me? It was my own fresh blood, so it was sanitary enough.

This one turned out to be a slate gray satin dress—if Fluttershy didn't know better she'd say that satin dresses were this shop's specialty—that fit snugly against Gray's large frame, and had slits at the back to expose her well-toned legs.
Fluttershy found herself unable to look away once Gray came out wearing that, and had barely managed to summon up the ability to applaud it. She could feel her face flush and desperately hoped that her mane was hiding it, but knew there was no way whatsoever she could hide her frightfully rigid wings at this point, especially when Gray tested to see if she could move her own in that dress and proved that she could go to full wingspan. Full, impressive wingspan.

Hmm... So this time around Fluttershy’s takin a fancy ta Gray, is she? I... Well, I ain't a fan, but I guess it's just me, ain't it. Shoot, we've had Pinkie n' Dash since day one, why not take it another step!?
I still enjoy the story.

Fluttershy was happy for her friend in that moment, and knew exactly why Lockwood would never think of her in such a way that she feared.

??? Wait up, backspace, hold on. Why not? I mean, I have a pretty good theory, but surely you don't know that. So why do you think that Fluttershy? Just that he's a generally nice guy? That's no guarantee.

Rainbow lifted her hoof to the heavens. "Noooo! Pinkiiieee!"
"What the bloody hell is this shit?" said Winter from behind them, her voice flat.

Have you never played pretend? Actually, given your upbringing maybe ya haven't. You have no life. This is sad.