It was beyond my understanding. And hers. Which led me to wonder why she even suspected her teacher so strongly.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. It’s just she’s the only one who could have known. And she has access to the Canterlot archives. Who knows what knowledge she has books for that we don’t?”

“No Twilight, why would you be so willing to say that it’s her. I thought she was like a third parent to you.”

“She is… which is why I want to make sure that she’s not doing anything stupid. If she cast that spell on you, it only caused you harm. That isn’t what she’s like.”

“And what can we do about it? Why did she send you that book if…”

“…I’m sorry Gerry. I’ve been telling her about you in our letters to each other.”

I frowned, “Like, the dysphoria thing?”

She nodded, “I think that she’s realized how bad what she did was. But that still doesn’t excuse it. I need to speak with her, in pony. I think you should come with me.”

“How are we going to get time alone with her, she’s very busy isn’t she?”

Twilight chewed on her bottom lip, before magicking over a pair of golden papers. One floated in front of me, emblazoned with dark brown lettering. “Grand Galloping Gala? The thing that Rarity’s getting swamped by?”

“It’s one of the few times that Princess Celestia isn’t working. She could easily make an excuse to talk with us, long enough to get some answers. You can be my plus one!”

“How did you get these?” I asked, pulling it from the air and inspecting it close up.

“Celestia sends them. I don’t think the other girls are interested in going this time, so I have a lot of spares.”

“Applejack did mention going, actually.”

“Hm. She did generate a big endorsement from the Wonderbolts last time. I can see why she’d be interested.”

“I’ll ask her when I go back.”

“Okay, I’ll need to find myself something to wear. But Rarity will be really mad if I wear the same dress again…”

“Who’s going to tell her? Just keep it a secret. She’s really busy anyway.”

“Okay. Get your questions in order before we go. We don’t have much time with her. I hope she’ll be upfront with us.”

My mind was awash with concern. Of all the fucking things, Twilight wanted to walk up to her and ask it in the open. The stones on her, she was braver than me. We hashed out a few more details before I went home. I didn’t really know if what Twilight had claimed was true, I’d like to think better of the Princess than not-quite juvenile pranks that put somebodies health at risk.

I opened the door to the living room and came upon a curious sight. Big Macintosh wearing a tan jacket. The applied principles of clothes on ponies was still odd to me considering that everywhere else they just let their bits hang out like real horses. AJ and Bloom were taking their time admiring it.

“You look real professional Mac!” Bloom stumbled over the word without a care in the world, “You’re gonna’ show up all those fancy pants ponies.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Applejack turned to me with a frown, “Mac’s been wanting to go up to Canterlot for the gala using my ticket so he can try selling again.”

Mac used his daily allowance of words to explain, “Sales after the Thunderbolts ordered from us kept us in business for nearly two years. We can’t ignore that.”

“You’re going to the gala Mac?”

Applejack hopped onto a chair, “How’d you know what it is?”

“It’s complicated. Twilight wants to take me.”

“Huh? I swear that Twilight never wanted to go again. Great load of varmints living in that city.”

“We need to talk to the Princess and that’s the only excuse we can come up with.”

“Are ya’ sure about that? Celestia likes to come down to Ponyville all the time.”

“I don’t know. Twilight knows her better than we do.”

Applejack nodded along, “What’d you want to ask her?”

“About how I ended up in Ponyville. Twilight thinks that she knows something.”

“Didn’t you move from Manehattan?” Bloom asked, remembering my cover story to the letter. “What did the Princess have to do with that?”

“Uh, that’s what I want to know.”

AJ looked to Mac and sighed, “Can you keep an eye on Mac for me? If you’re going and all.”

I was pretty confident that the fully grown man could take care of himself, since when did I become the responsible one in this family? I’d never seen Mac display an emotion that couldn’t be described as extreme indifference. He was either dead inside, or a master of his emotions like a monk or something.

“Why? Do you think he’s going to start fighting every noble he sees?”

Mac shook his head. Applejack was being a worrywart again. “It don’t matter none. I just feel better knowing that he’ll be there with a friend.”

“I’ll make sure that Mac doesn’t commit treason. I could probably hold him back if I tried.”

Mac exhaled, “No you can’t.”

“Wanna’ bet Red? Bring it on.”

“Don’t go wrestling in the living room!” AJ scolded us. “Maybe I should go with you as well.”

“I was just joking around Jack, leave it to me. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get lost or married to a vein noble’s daughter.”

“Mac has all the charm of a… stallion who don’t talk much.”

“Some mares are into that.”

Mac didn’t seem offended by the statement, “I like to keep to myself.” That he does.

A few days of hard labour later and it was time to see what Rarity had made for me. To be honest I was a bit worried that she’d have gone overboard and made some kind of mutant mashup between a dress and a suit. There was a fine line between genius and madness, as they say. I didn’t know Rarity well enough to know if she could toe it. Ponies don’t have toes. The struggles of having all of my favourite sayings based and hands and feet.

“Do you know what a toe is?”

“…Darling, that is a strange thing to be asking this early in the morning.”

“Toes and fingers.”

“I know what a toe is.”

“Just checking.” Rarity gave me a queer look and ushered me inside of her abode. The mess had been cleaned up, and instead the floor was lined with a dozen or so mannequins wearing various dresses and suits. From the eccentric and peacock-ish to the more normal style that I was hoping for. Rarity caught me looking at a dress that looked like somebody had walked through an explosion at a confetti factory.

“Not my best work. But if the client demands it, then I will deliver.”

“Maybe you should flex your expertise and force them into something nicer.”

“The gala is Equestria’s biggest fashion show, outside of the actual fashion world anyway. Every noble wants to show that they are the biggest and brightest there.” At the back of the queue, behind the frills and prismatic colours, was a deep blue suit hung off a much too small dummy. “I couldn’t get a proper mannequin made for you in time, so I do hope that you’ll forgive the poor first impression.”

“You did this for free Rarity, you can do whatever you want with it.”

“Making something this large was a challenge, not since I made that outfit for Bic Mac…”

The outfit that he was wearing the other day. I stayed my tongue because I was certain that she’d be furious if she knew he was still using it.

“…I took a lot of care making sure that the colours compliment your eyes. The deep blue is the perfect companion to your brown coat!”

I didn’t have any complaints. Rarity had played my request perfectly straight. It was a deep blue jacket with subtle gold trim around the arms, a long floppy collar that cut down the chest to reveal a large amount of pony cleavage. Dashes of a lighter cyan were splattered throughout. It was vibrant but tasteful.

“I have to say Rarity, I’m not much for fashion but I think it looks great.”

Rarity smiled, “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy. I’d love to see you in it.” The jacket was lifted off the dummy using magic and I was pulled towards a pair of purple curtains, “Here’s the changing room. Give me a show!”

I closed the curtains and silently despaired at the task ahead of me. I’d never gotten much dexterity out of my hooves, not like Applejack had. Putting on clothes using them was almost out of the question. I clawed and bit and tussled over and over, until I somehow managed to slip it on over my head.

“I think you might need to straighten this out.”

“Show me how it looks!”

I walked back through the curtains with a grimace. Rarity pouted, her horn glowing as she fixed up the terrible job I’d done putting it on. A blue ribbon flew in from behind her and wrapped my hair into a ponytail. Humantail? It wasn’t long enough for much else.

“I must say dear, you look almost handsome.”

“Almost?”

“There are limits to how masculine I can make you. I’m afraid to say that your muzzle gives the game away.”

“Maybe if I don’t talk, I can get away with it.”

Rarity giggled, “I wouldn’t worry about it darling. A mare who towers over the average stallion would injure their pride.”

“I guess.”

“Hm. This style is very interesting. Perhaps I shall explore it further another time. For now, I must finish the rest of my work!” Rarity pulled the jacket and ribbon away and packed them into a fancy bag for me, which was then hung over my back.

“Thank you, Rarity, it seems that I’ll have use for this after all.”

“Oh really? What a coincidence.”

“I’ll pay you back for it.”

“There’s no need! I did a favour for a friend, or as an apology for sticking my muzzle into things. I am a bit of a busybody, and I love gossip. I should have been more considerate.”

“It was for the best anyway. I had a very frank discussion with the family about everything that’s happening with me. And now Twilight is getting close to solving the problem. Everything is looking up.”

An optimistic assessment. I knew that things would probably get harder before they got better. But maybe I was just trying to convince myself. I needed it. I needed to say that things were going to get better.

Author's Notes:

A huge thank you to:
Evo
Korenav

For supporting me on patreon.

I'm not going to give you a sob story about myself, I don't think that I'm particularly entitled to money for this more than anybody else is for things that are more constructive and better made. I'm really chuffed to bits that at least two people in my audience were willing to give me money for this incredibly niche genre of fanfiction fuckery. One day I'd like to write full time, that's the dream, so to speak.

But obviously - writing my little pony fanfiction - especially now that the hype has died down, might limit the audience a bit. Who knows though, maybe it'll blow up again like it did in the first place one day. If every person, around 600 or so, who reads this story regularly gave me a dollar a chapter I'd be in business. That's not going to happen. I'm not wikipedia. Reading something for free and liking it enough to pay for it are two different beasts. Even getting people to read an author's note can be tough when it's too long.

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