I learned two things after I woke up, got dressed for work, and went downstairs: One was that The Rusty Horseshoe didn’t open for business until high noon, so there was time for breakfast. I also found out that I wasn’t scheduled to be behind the bar until 3 PM, so I had plenty of time to take it easy and had gotten dressed up for no reason. If there was a silver lining, it was that I got just a little more practice in with the heels.

I was back in the partial combat outfit and relaxing in bed with nothing else to do but think and reflect. Not really surprising me, I started thinking about my clothing options and how I felt about them. My gaze rested on the barmaid set, which I decided to just call Barmaid, and I thought about how I felt when I first saw myself wearing it and when I walked out for the first time with it on.

I still didn’t like how showy the set was, nor how the stockings clung to my legs and made them stand out even more, especially with the bright yellow backing. At the same time, the set didn't feel bad to wear, aside from the heels. It was just wearing it out in public that made me nervous.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a few quick knocks on the door. "Who is it?"

"Mr. Tender," came the voice from the other side. "May Ah come in, Miss Xiao Long?"

"Sure. Door's unlocked." A moment later, he came in and walked up next to me. "What's up?"

"Ah want to apologize for being a bit short with you yesterday. It's just been a bit rough with Sweet Cider gone and three failed barmaids."

"I understand."

"Ah also have a question for you: did you hold onto any of the tips you got yesterday?"

"No, I put them all in the chest."

"Well, Ah'm sorry to say this, but you won't be getting those tips back. Ah've already booked them for the saloon’s expenses."

I shrugged at the news. "Eh, I'm not worried. It would just be more bits that I have no idea what to do with. As long as I get properly paid and can keep the dress at the end, I'll be fine."

"As far as Ah'm concerned, you've already earned that dress with the bits you brought in yesterday. Even if you left tonight, Ah’d let you keep it."

“I’m sticking it through to the end.”

“Good to know. Ah’ll see you later.” Without another word, he left my room and closed the door behind him.

With a sigh, I sat up and got the rest of the combat outfit on for a better degree of decency and, after checking the clock, decided to go for a walk through town and learn a few things.

I made it back to the Rusty Horseshoe with an hour before my shift was due to start, my mission long since completed, along with meeting many Appleloosans who came up to greet me. It was tiring, to say the least, but they were respectful when I had to leg it to get to work.

On the way in, I noticed a change in the signs by the door. The one for Speedy Slinger had been updated. Apparently, he’d recently kicked not just one, but a whole litter of puppies, and the bounty was now at 600 bits. “Disturbing kittens and puppies. That’s definitely mean, but that he’s wanted for that? Panic and mayhem, I can get, but that’s just silly.” The help wanted sign was replaced with one that said I would be at the bar at 3 PM. I glanced around and noticed a few ponies that stood out among the locals, not because of their fur color, but how badly they were handling the heat of the day and swarming around the one flavor ice cream parlor. Thankfully, they seemed so occupied with staying cool that they didn’t notice me, and I slipped inside with no problem.

Once I was in my room, I immediately started changing to the Barmaid ensemble. The dress by itself was easy enough to put on, as it was one piece. As with the first time I’d put the corset on, lacing and tying it behind my back was a tricky, though thankfully short task. After putting the stockings on, I wondered if I could get away with just wearing them and not the heels, but decided not to try it, since that could wear holes in them very easily. After taking a moment to admire the quality of the shoes, I put them on and took a moment to adjust to them and their way of walking.

Finally, I put the tight elbow length gloves on, followed by the Ember Celica. I glanced at the clock once I was done and estimated that it had taken me about twenty minutes to get dressed for the barmaid job, about four times longer than it took to get ready for the Carne Den. With the time I still had available before I had to go downstairs, I decided to pace the room and get a bit more used to the heels.

When I arrived downstairs, I was met with cheers and camera flashes. Word of my presence at the saloon had apparently spread far really fast, and the crowd made getting around to the bar a slow process since it seemed everyone wanted to get a picture of or with me. There were a few calls for questions, but I turned them all down. “Please, just let me get to work already.”

What should have been no more than, at most, a ten second walk to the bar wound up taking closer to fifteen minutes, and if it wasn’t for some of the locals at the bar getting on the reporters and spectators that were slowing me down, it could have taken even longer.

When I finally got behind the bar, I started by helping the ponies that had helped me get there first. Amidst the clamor of voices and questions coming over the bar, I stuck to my job, not giving any answers to anything not related to the bar or drinks.

It didn't take long after that for most of the bar patrons to get fed up with the growing crowd and start getting a bit rowdy with them. A fight started up in front of the bar, the local patrons actually throwing punches against the paparazzi. The patrons were mostly country earth ponies, and the crowd was mostly city unicorns and pegasi, the patrons outnumbered at least four to one.

One of the patrons that didn't get up and fight, or had just snuck his way to the bar, was a dull yellow earth pony colt with a brown vest and a stetson hat. "Miss Xiao Long?" He respectfully asked when I came up to him.

"Yes?"

"Can I have a glass of apple juice?"

"Coming up." A moment later, I had the colt's drink ready and in front of him with a sincere smile. "There you go."

"Thanks!"

The barroom blitz was, thankfully, very brief, and turned out to be very one sided as well, the paparazzi unable to fight back from the surprise attack and quickly leaving the saloon, leaving a crowd that was still pretty big, but much more respectful, even if only because of the beating they'd just seen. There was one smart unicorn, though, who had decided to stay near the doors and simply recorded on his notepad what he had seen.

Many of the bar’s patrons seemed more interested in my presence behind the bar than anything I could serve, but still bought something and tipped generously. The ones that weren’t really interested in me were more interested in their drinks, which I preferred. The less attention that was on me for my fame, the better.

Eventually, the allure of my presence started to dull and things quieted down a bit. As I was cleaning a glass, I started thinking about how I felt about the Barmaid dress. “It’s not so bad, except for these heels.” The glass went to its proper place and I picked up another one to clean. “They look good, but feel bad. How can anyone like wearing something that hurts like this regularly?” A patron put a stack of bits on the counter and left, then I collected the payment and tip. “I like taking them off more than anything. Maybe I just need more time with them?”

After wrapping another busy day with another hefty bit chest that made Mr. Tender happy, I went up to my room, sat down on the bed, and took the heels off, much to my relief. I still had no idea how anyone could stand wearing those kinds of shoes regularly, but it was looking like the answer was practice, patience, and passion. And maybe shorter heels with more support.

Once again, I took a warm shower after changing out of the barmaid dress, and once again, I had to use a heat blast to dry myself off. Someone was stealing my towel while I was showering, and while I could live with that, it was still annoying. As I was putting my clothes back on, thankfully all untouched, I hoped that I could meet the towel thief and talk with them before it got out of hand and they started taking more of my things.

Sleep came easily enough, but not having clean clothes on made it a bit uncomfortable. I could have washed my clothes in the shower and quickly dried them with some heat, but it just wouldn’t be the same as a proper wash, or just some clean clothes in general.

Author's Notes:

I am planning on this being a seven chapter arc. Fortunately, the chapters are short, so they don't take too long to write, and even less time to read.