It turned out that Rarity’s boutique was called Carousel Boutique, and looked kind of like a carousel. It was also her house, apparently. The whole building looked like something out of a little girl’s cartoon. Actually, the whole town did.

Speaking of the town, it was full of ponies in many different colors, both from pony to pony and on the individuals themselves. Most of them were earth ponies, but I did see some pegasi and unicorns scattered throughout. They also saw me. According to Rarity, the only reason they weren’t just running inside and boarding up the doors and windows as tended to happen when someone odd came to town was because she was with me, and her words and actions carried a bit of weight.

“Here we are: Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique” Rarity said with a flourish as we went inside. The the inside also looked like something out of a girls cartoon, with dark purples and other pastel colors dominating, along with small decorations that, while a bit painful for me to really look at, were fairly out of the way. There were also pony shaped mannequins. Poniquins? “The stairs in the back lead upstairs. The guest room is the first one on the right, mine’s at the end of the hall, and the bathroom is between those rooms. The first door on the left is a small storage closet, which you can freely use, and the second door is the one to Sweetie Belle’s room.”

“Sweetie Belle?”

“Oh, I must not have mentioned her yet. She’s my little sister. She and her friends just got her cutie marks.”

“Ri~ight. I’ll just check out the guest bedroom now.” I made my way up the stairs, which were long enough for me to step on, but not as tall as I was used to. I had to keep my steps small as not to trip on the stairs. I considered taking the steps two at a time, but decided to try it later.

I got to the top of the stairs and saw a short hallway with five doors. The last door and the one to the left of that were off limits, as far as I was concerned. I first looked in the door on the left, seeing only a few sparse winter accessories. Considering that the temperature outside was fairly decent, they probably wouldn’t see any use for a while.

After closing the closet, I went down to the bathroom. It looked like a regular bathroom, with the walls being painted a calming violet and everything inside being pristine. Everything was also oddly proportioned, at least for me. For the ponies, I was sure everything was alright.

Once I had looked over the bathroom, I went to the guest room, and I was blown away. The room was so nice and well made, it put some higher end hotel rooms I’d been in to shame. It was so immaculate, I started to feel kind of bad just setting foot inside.

I don’t know how long I was standing there, but I was eventually brought out of my trance when Rarity poked my midsection. “Yang? Dear, are you okay?”

“Huh? What?” I shook my head before continuing. “Oh, yeah. It’s just that I've never seen a room this nice, and I’m almost afraid to walk into it.”

“Thanks, darling. But please, do walk in. If you need a small push to go in, I’ll help you out.”

I stood there and thought about her offer. I must have been thinking too long because I felt something hit my back with enough force to send me flying into the room, where I landed on my front. I didn’t hit any of the furnishings, and the carpet was very soft, so it didn’t hurt much. It did give me a brief reminder of my still new female form.

“Now that you’re inside, what do you think?” Rarity politely asked as she came in.

I got to my feet, noticing that, despite the force of whatever hit me, I didn’t feel any pain, which was weird. I looked around and took in the extravagant room. It had its own closet, which looked fairly large, certainly bigger than the one across the hall was. The huge bed had a canopy over it, the dresser was covered with all kinds of detailed carvings, and a fancy desk with a fancy chair sat in a corner by the window. All the wood on them was white, which didn’t sit well with me. “Still extravagant. It just needs to be toned down a bit. I still feel kind of bad being in here.”

“Hmm. How about this: while you’re here, you can redecorate the guest room however you’d like. However, I will not lend hoof, horn, or bit to help you.”

“Bit?”

“Money.”

“Sounds reasonable. Does redecoration include. . . furniture modification?”

“Modifications? Such as?”

“The posts on this bed. I don’t like them or the canopy. Same with a lot of the colors here.”

“I’ll allow paint and rearrangement. I won’t let you do anything else to the furniture or room.”

“Aww.”

“Now don’t be like that. I’m sure you’ll get used to it. Besides, the bed looks big enough for you.

“Anywho, could you come downstairs? I’d like to get your measurements so I can make properly fitted clothes for you. Celestia knows how bad an improperly fitted outfit feels.”

“I can understand that. Let’s get this over with.”

The measurements were done, and I was curled up on the guest bed, feeling kind of bad, both emotionally and physically.

It started out simply enough, with the tape measure floating next to me and Rarity recording the numbers. However, she had to get a bit closer with the tape, and that was when things started getting problematic, especially as she got closer to. . . certain areas. I’m not sure which measurement she was going for,, but something in me snapped and I grabbed the tape measure from her magic and pulled it apart. I think it was something she was prepared for, since she pulled out another one from who knows where and flew it over towards me. I snagged it and pulled it apart too. This continued for three more tape measures, at which point she stopped and we cooled down a bit.

After I managed to articulate an explanation for why I thought I was destroying her tape measures when they got too close to those areas, Rarity got a somewhat grim look on her face. She apparently knew a spell that could obtain every single physical measurement of somebody at once and record it in her mind, but the actual useage of the spell was not entirely pleasant for her or the subject being measured. She’d only cast it once before, but she refused to go into detail. After thinking it over, I talked Rarity into using it on me. The winning argument from me was the preservation of her apparently high end tape measures.

All I had to do was let myself get hit by the spell’s beam, and so I did. I quickly regretted it, though I couldn’t back out at that point. It felt like thousands of tiny snakes crawling over, in, and through every part of my body. EVERY. SINGLE. PART. It felt like it lasted for almost an hour before it stopped, though it was apparently only ten seconds based on the clock. Once it was over, the phantom sensations kicked in, causing me to swat at my body randomly for a while before they stopped.

Rarity didn’t look much better than I did. Her mane and tail were still curled perfectly, but she was flat on her back and had a thousand mile gaze. If what I felt was any indication, she was dealing with all the lengths and angles of every internal and external bit of me. I decided to let her be and went upstairs to the guest room, where I curled up on the bed, the crawling sensations still haunting me. I also felt bad for breaking five tape measures when Rarity was doing nothing wrong. Hindsight is 20/20, and right then, it hurt like a Serious Punch to the feels. I wasn’t sure why I was being so emotional either. Maybe was because I had been turned female? I didn’t know.

I wasn’t sure how long I was there, but I heard some knocks at the door, followed by Rarity’s concerned voice. “Yang? May I come in?”

“Sure” I said. The door opened and Rarity walked in. “I would like to apologize for making you uncomforta-”

“Let me stop you right there, Rarity” I interrupted. “I was the one who really started that whole thing that led to the measurement spell. I reacted violently and pulled apart some of your tape measures out of my discomfort, and I am sorry about that.”

“At least you didn’t get all of them. But pulling them apart is an impressive feat in itself. Those were top of the line, and had the best tensile strength available. You could catch Rainbow Dash flying at high speed with a net made of them.”

“Rainbow Dash. . . She’s the one that can break the sound barrier?”

“Yes, but we’re getting sidetracked. I’m sorry for sending the tape to places you weren’t comfortable with. I never thought you’d lash out like that, Yang.”

“It was kind of a reflex. I don’t know what came over me. Back home, I was the last person to really get upset at anything, let alone angry. Disappointed, sure, but not upset.”

“I see. Would a bit of lunch make you feel better?”

“You have something in mind?”

“There’s a cafe that makes great food not too far from here. I’m sure you could find something there that you’d like.”

“You’re sure?”

“There’s something there for everyone, even the pickiest of eaters. If nothing else, you could always make a custom order. We can leave whenever you’re ready.”

“I’ll be down in just a moment” I said, which Rarity took as her cue to leave the room. Once she was out and I heard her go down the steps, I got out of the bed and made my way over to the bathroom. I may not have had my phone anymore, but nature still found a way to call me.

“Oh, Yang, there you are. I just finished some sketches for you to. . . Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Rarity asked me.

“You know I used to be male, right?”

“Of course. You said so at breakfast.”

“Stallions and mares use the toilet differently, right?”

“Yes. What are you getting at? Do you need help?”

“No. After I took care of business there, I was washing my hands when I realized I had gone through the motions as if I had done it that way my whole life.”

“That’s what’s got you looking so pale?”

“Something’s messed up with my head, Rarity. I’m not complaining about not having to learn these things from scratch, but that those were my natural actions is something else entirely.”

“Hmm. I can see how disconcerting that would be.”

With no warning, a wadded up ball of paper fell from the ceiling and landed between us. Rarity picked it up and read it out loud. “Dear Rarity: please bring Yang to Sugarcube Corner after you’re done with lunch. I’ll have some chilly slices of cheesecake waiting for you two. Sincerely, Pinkie Pie.

“Well, that certainly explains how this got here.”

“I heard every word, and nothing explained how it got here.” I was confused.

“Pinkie Pie, darling. Just Pinkie Pie. A piece of advice: don’t question her. Twilight did that once and got hurt. Badly. Anyways, time’s a-wasting, so let’s head out, shall we?”

Author's Notes:

Yay for having a buffer! With it, I was able to post this chapter in joy from getting to the Popular Stories section.

Also, I'm imagining Fluttershy looking for clothes at the soup store now for some reason.