“You've worn magical clothing before, correct?” Steelhorn asked as she and Espirit trotted through the marketplace.

“Well, only ones that amplify my power. Never ones that changed what they were to suit me.”

Steelhorn nodded. “I see. Well, don't worry, I'll help you through it. You know the best thing? You can wear skirts now! I bet you've never worn one of those before. Well, of course not. You were a guy.”

“I've worn robes. It's not that much different from a skirt. Besides, what does me having to be a guy have to do with it?”

Steelhorn paused and looked to her. “You... don't know, do you? About clothing magic?”

“Clothing... magic? I know about it. Making it so they clean themselves, or are lighter, or allow extra movement in water, things like that?”

“No, no no. That's enchantments. The magic in clothing is... how to explain it. Ah! You know about the music spells, right?”

“Music spells?”

“You know how every so often a group of ponies will suddenly break into song, singing in perfect harmony with each other, dancing and everything?”

Espirit nodded. “Oh, yes! I've been a part of it before. It's fascinating that, no matter how loudly you sing, nopony outside of the song can even hear it. I once broke into song about my... action figures and I didn't even wake up my father or any--” He froze as he almost said servants. “--of our guests.” He quickly recovered.

“Yes, it's like that. It's an ancient, powerful spell that nopony even remembers the origins of or why it was even created to begin with. There are magics like that across clothing as well, all over Equestria.”

Espirit's eyes widened. “Really? Ohhh! Tell me about them!”

“I'll do better than that, I'll show you. Now, the basic one is the 'anypony can wear it' effect.” She stopped and bought a small red skirt from one of the shopkeepers before trotting besides the stand. “Now, as a changeling I'm best at demonstrating the effects.” She shifted into a female zebra again, before sliding the skirt on. “See?”

“Yeah, it fits.”

“Indeed. Now watch.” She shifted yet again, appearing as a much larger griffon. The skirt not only still fit, it had managed to get longer.

Espirit nodded, her eyes going wide. “W-wow. And all clothing does that?”

“Well, no. Only magicked clothing. Standard clothing will only do it if a little bit of magic is put into it. But all the magic does is help it tap into the ancient clothing spell.” She then moved so her back was to the air. “Now, there isn't anypony coming, is there?”

“No, why?”

The changeling nodded. “Okay. Now, this is what I meant by you can wear skirts now.” She shifted again, into a male zebra. Rather than reforming, the skirt around her hips rocketed off into the distance, with enough force it could have taken out one of the small shops had they been in the way.

Espirit's mouth fell open. “W-what? How... what was THAT?!”

“Male's cannot wear skirts or dresses. Nopony knows why the magic prevents them, but the moment any piece of clothing hits the mark of dress or skirt, males cannot wear it. It is physically impossible.”

“That doesn't make any... why would...”

“It's not the only thing, either. There are other garments that male's cannot wear. But mostly it's just skirts and dresses.”

“That's very strange magic...”

“Indeed. Billions of bits of research have gone into finding out at what point an outfit becomes mare only. Oh, there are a few pieces of male clothing too, though the only one I can remember is this raggedy white coat I once saw. The entire thing is just silly, to be honest. But if you've ever wanted to wear a skirt, nows your chance.”

Espirit opened her mouth to object. But now that she thought about it, the fact before today she could never have worn a skirt just made her want to wear one. “A skirt would be fine.”

“Yes!” Steelhorn said, before grabbing the younger mare's hoof. “Come on, let's go! I'm going to make you absolutely adorable!”

“W-what? I only agreed to a skirt! I never agreed to being adorable, absolutely or normal! Hey!”

“Too late, is done now!”

“EEEEEEK!”

------

Espirit stared at herself in the mirror, her face bright red. “No. I am NOT coming out of this changing room.”

“Come onnnn! I wanna see how you look!” Steelhorn said from outside the room.

The zebra looked again and sighed. Fishnet stockings, bunny ears, white socks on her front hooves. Just... no. No on so many levels. “Why did I even put this on?”

“You put it on? Eeee! I'm coming in!” The curtain started to move. Espirit turned, sent out a blast of water and knocked the changeling back, the water binding her. “Hey! No fair! I wanna see!”

“No. I don't care if only mares can wear this, just no.” She peeled it off and then looked at the next outfit. “Well, this looks... oh gosh.” A big, fluffy red suit with white trim and a big red hat. “How is this female onl...” She trailed off as she glanced back and realized it went just above her plot. “... I hate you.”

“Come on, all the mare's wear it. In fact, I've worn half these outfits in the last year for Ganry.”

“Really? What was the occasion?”

“Well, we were...” The changeling went strangely quiet. “I'll find you something else.”

“Thank you,” Espirit said before going through the garments. She couldn't imagine why there was so much magic on them to stop male's from wearing them. Sure, fillies and colts she could see, but why stallions? The entire idea just seemed so silly.

At the bottom of the bag were a pair of long brown boots, a white long coat with brown around the edges and a red belt. She shrugged and put it on. “Huh.” She spun in the mirror a few times, before shaking her head. “Ugh, I don't know why, but this one just makes me feel... silly.” She tossed it off and sighed. “Like I should be complaining about fate or something.”

“I think I found one you'll like,” Steelhorn called out, before tossing a bag over.

Espirit opened it before rolling her eyes. “A pointy hat, really? I'm a conjurer, not a thaumaturge.”

“Just look at the rest of it, it's very popular.”

Espirit sighed and pulled it out before putting it on. She looked in the mirror and gasped. The outfit was green and laced with gold, with brown booties for her hooves. Around her chest were little slots to put gems or other things needed, around her neck a warming hood was lowered. There was even a small piece of cloth on the left she could tie to her weapon. The hat looked a little silly, but other than that, well, she looked fabulous. “This... this is wonderful.”

“Delightful! It's a very popular set. The... combat mage, I believe it's called.” There was a pause. “If you get the other ones too, I'll pay for all of them, no cost.”

“Why would...” Espirit glanced down. “Including this one?”

“All of them.”

“This doesn't mean I agree to wear any of them.”

“Of course.”

“Fine.” The zebra opened the curtain and let out a yelp. “Ganry! When did you get here?”

“Wanted to make sure everything was going okay,” the griffon said with a chuckle. “I like the outfit, it looks good on you.”

“T-thanks. So, I'm done, right? Just need a staff now?”

“Nope,” Steelhorn said. “Now we need to find some magical garments you can wear, transfer their magic to those and... actually, don't worry about that. We'll find it later. Go look at the weapon vendors, we'll meet you there when we find what you need.”

“Okay,” the zebra said before trotting off, she could barely contain her excitement. Within a few moments the others were gone from view as she looked around. She'd never been at such a large market before. Canterlot had held one, of course, but it was far smaller by comparison. The group of garment stalls in Crystalopolis alone took up more space than the entire market back home. It took a few minutes, but she soon found the weapon stalls.

Her eyes threatened to bulge out of her face. Swords, axes, shields, bows, books, staffs, every weapon imaginable, ranging from made from wood, steel to even crystal. She let out delighted shriek and ran through the tents.

------

“I can't believe you bought her these things,” Gantry grumbled as he rifled through the bags. “How many bits did you spend on her?”

“I have the bits to afford it. Besides, she needed them.”

“She's way too young to be wearing things like this in public.”

“I doubt she will be. She'd far too shy for that.”

The griffon froze. “You... bought her all these outfits to wear inside? Why would you waste the bits on that?”

Steelhorn sighed and glanced up to him. “Really? It's just money.”

“It's a lot of money. Wasted money.”

“She needed it,” the changeling said. “A child like that...”

“Like what?”

“This is... a difficult time for a child at her age. Stepping out into the world on her own, no parents to guide or tell her what to do. Not to mention her body is going through all these changes and--”

“Don't want to know!” Gantry said quickly.

The changeling rolled her eyes before shifting into a copy of him. “My point is, for anypony this would be a difficult time. Many ponies start having the world open up a lot more to them. It's a time a pony wants to experiment, find out who and what she truly is.” She then glanced back towards him and smiled. “Remember when you were that age?”

“Yeah. It was rough, but I got through it.”

“Imagine if you had switched genders in the middle of it.”

The griffon opened his mouth, before slowly closing it. “Ah.”

“Exactly. It's bad enough your body is going through all those changes. Then to have it all switched around on you... it's not going to be easy. I told her another bottle of fantasia wouldn't change her back, but well... at this point in her life she could probably take a new bottle every week and end up with a different form each time. If she became a mare because she for some reason thought being a mare would be easier, then she's in for a rough surprise. Not to mention any of the other reasons she could have for becoming a mare.”

“That doesn't explain why she needs so many different clothes she'll never wear,” the griffon said with annoyance.

“I told you, it's a time she'll need to experiment, to find out who she truly wants to be. Sometimes during those times, who you are on the outside can make all the difference. You'd be amazed just how many ponies can't look at themselves in the mirror at that age without breaking down.” The changeling gave a little giggle. “Besides, everypony deserves to be able to feel sexy, pretty, adorable or naughty sometimes. Mare or stallion.”

The griffon grumbled as he looked back in the bag. “I think you're putting way too much into that. Appearances don't mean that much.”

The changeling giggled before changing form into a zebra. “Trust me. Appearances can make all the difference sometimes. If they didn't, glamour crystals wouldn't be such a thriving industry. As a changeling, I know all about how much appearances can matter. Maybe not so much how others view you, but how you view yourself.”

Ganry sighed and gave a nod. “Fine. I still think it's silly and a waste of bits, but you'd know better than I would.”

“Good. Take all these back to the house for me, will you?” Steelhorn said before tossing some crystals and clothing into the bag. “I'll meet up with you later.” She turned and started trotting towards the weapon section.

------

Steelhorn let out a soft chuckle as the weapon section came into view. Great tents and stands lined with all manner of different weapons. Crystal, diamond, steel, wood. If it existed and could be used to beat things dead, you could find it here. Rows of axes, spears, bows, pretty much every type of weapon filled the area. She expected to find the young zebra amongst a pile of canes and wands. However, she soon found that not to be true as she traveled along the sellers specializing in them.

Then she searched through the swords, axes and spears, expecting the young zebra to have found what she wanted and now playing a bit of make believe. But the young mare was nowhere to be found and panic began to rise in the changeling as she walked faster, scanning through the shops for Espirit.

There she was, sitting amongst a pile of books. “What are you doing with those?” Steelhorn asked, a bit more angrily than she'd intended to. “Those are about arcanist magics, not conjury.”

The mare didn't respond, she just sat engrossed in the book. The changeling frowned and moved closer, peeping over her shoulder. The book was blue with a golden clasp. Inside were images of ponies with giant butterfly wings. Under one of the illustrations the word 'Breezies' was written. It took her a few moments to realize the book was about old myths. “Enjoying yourself?”

The zebra didn't respond.

“Having fun?”

She didn't even twitch.

Steelhorn sighed and looked to the heavens. “I tried to be nice. Honest I did.” She then lifted up her shield, putting it behind the zebra's ears. She then bucked the metal as hard as she could. Espirit screamed and leaped into the ear, only to fall onto the ground and roll around in a wild panic, kicking and flailing as the sound of the make shift gong rang in her ears.

“AHHHHHHH!”

“Enjoying your book?” the changeling asked.

“Who, what, where, what?” Espirit asked, staring up at the woman. “W-what was that? Why did you do that? Why would you do that? You almost made my heart explode!”

“I tried getting your attention, you didn't notice. Why are you going through these books?”

“Well... I saw them and I thought some of them would be interesting. But most of them didn't make any sense. This one had legends about breezies and stuff though. It looked really interesting and I kind of got... lost in it.” The zebra looked down at the mess of toppled over books she'd made. “Well, the book I was reading. I... don't know where it is.”

“Ow...” a nearby pony said before tossing it back to them. A nasty bump was on his head. “Y-you dropped this miss.”

“Sorry,” Espirit said sheepishly before looking to Steelhorn. “Why did you do that?”

“Because it was the only way to get your attention. Honest.” The changeling held a hoof over her mouth as she struggled to keep from laughing. “D-did you manage to find a w-wand?”

“I... found one I liked. It felt... nice. I could feel my magic flowing through it. But... I ummmm...”

“What?”

“I... don't remember where I found it. There are so many shops here and it's so easy to get lost. I-I found it, put it down, then I went to look at the swords and couldn't find my way back and--”

“It's fine, it's fine,” Steelhorn said before trotting over and patting her head. “We'll find out where it is together, okay?” She then picked the book up. “We'll get this too, okay?”

“Thank you...”

“It's no problem. I just want you to enjoy yourself. Let's go.” She turned and lead the mare out from the store.

------

Espirit stared at herself in the mirror. She was strong. Powerful. The outfit she'd gotten had been powered up using these weird gem things, glamours. She could feel it flowing through her, making her magic stronger, strengthening her connection with the world around her. She'd found a weapon as well, a cane made from a vine, it blossomed with red flowers when she held it in her magic.

She felt like a real adventurer. She didn't feel that her legs were too long for her body, or she was clumsy, or weak, or foalish, or useless. She felt like a true conjurer, a pony that others could turn to for help. She puffed up her chest and waved her new weapon slowly through the air. She WAS a true conjurer. A pony who would fight for what she believed in. Who knew? Maybe one day she'd even become the hero she'd always dreamed of.

The zebra glanced up towards the small curtain that separated her small section from Steelhorn's. It wasn't much of a room, but it would work for now. She then glanced at her small bed, where her book and other clothing rested. She stepped towards it and looked down into them.

She was Espirit now. Goldenseed was back home, with his people and family. She couldn't help ponies with that body anymore. But she could, and would, with this one.

Soon all the world would know her. Maybe one day they'd read books about her, as well. But first she slowly pulled out a few items and glanced in the mirror. Maybe looking cute on occasion wasn't so bad.

Author's Notes:

Guess who's back! I have a few chapters of this ready to update and a few chapters to add for a different story as well. I'll try to add at least one day, to try and catch up.

For those curious: The gender locked clothing is one of the things that annoyed me the most about ff14 and just one of the multitude of reasons I stopped playing. There were just soooo many costume ideas I wanted to make that required you to be a female character due to the sheer amount of female only garments.
Frankly, it makes me kind of sad considering how in most other cases in the game they did a lot of work to keep the male/female garments feeling the same.