To my pleasant surprise, nothing burned down in the days after my birthday as I figured out the fire magic. There were a few flares though, one of which did cause some damage to the kitchen. Fortunately, I was able to extinguish the flames very easily, keeping the damage contained.

As I was in the office writing a letter to the ponies that built the kitchen for repairs after the flares were brought under control, a thought crossed my mind. “I still haven’t gotten around to thanking Celestia and Luna for the piano.” As I was writing the letter to thank them, I remembered the 5 bit issue. “You’re not avoiding me this time, money issue.” After finishing the letter to the builders, and before the idea could escape me, I grabbed another blank piece of parchment, quickly wrote down the explanation of the 5 bit piece, and put it in its own envelope for delivery to Celestia and Luna.

After both letters were properly addressed, I took them out to the mailbox. After double checking that the one to the sisters didn’t vanish, I went back inside and to the kitchen. Things were busy again, and the kitchen had gotten swamped in the few minutes I had taken to write the letters. I did not hesitate to get back in there, and after quickly getting the gist of what was going on, I was back to cooking with the crew.

Suffice to say, things were back to normal, a big issue was off my mind, and I could not have been happier.

“Good night, everyone!” I said as the closing crew left, all of them returning a similar sentiment. Once they were gone, I took care of the final steps of closing up my home, gave Asada some TLC and snacks, and went back up to my room.

As it had since it was installed behind my back, the wardrobe full of dresses caught my attention. “I want to, but I don’t want to either.” When I put my birthday dress in there after getting back from the explosive burst of anger, I saw the other dresses that were stored in there. Some were large, elegant, and looked like the kind I would need help getting on and off. A few looked like little more than little more than tubes with necklines attached. Most looked fairly reasonable, though I didn’t have any idea how to describe some of them.

As I browsed through them again, I noticed something shiny on the back shelf behind the dresses. I also discovered that there was a back shelf behind the dresses. It was a thick spiral ring bound book, custom made by Twilight according to the front cover. I opened it and saw that the first section was made of two sets of half pages, the top half with necklines, the bottom half with skirt types, all of them done in a yellow that matched my hair and succinctly described.

After the half pages came full pages on other types of clothes. There were nearly a dozen pages on footwear alone, including diagrams of how the foot would sit in high heels or wedges, which did not look comfortable. “Where does she get all this information from?”

Reading the book was like looking at a train wreck. I didn’t really want to look at it, but I couldn’t tear myself away from it either. It was almost like a world of secrets had been revealed to me, and I was fascinated by it.

Nearly an hour later, I finished the book and set it down on the nightstand, more tired from the information in it than the full day of work prior. After changing into my robe and taking care of the nightly routine, I went to bed.

I woke up the next day later than usual, though I wasn’t concerned as it was an off day for me. “What to do today?” The book caught my interest, then the wardrobe caught my attention. “Nope. Not that. I’m good with the two I’ve worn.”

Before taking care of the morning routine, I decided to go for a run around town. I picked out the appropriate athletic clothes and got started from there.

During the shower, my mind was still stuck on the dresses. Try as I might, I couldn’t escape the thoughts, especially once I started visualizing how I would look in the dresses. “Traitorous brain! How dare you torment me like this!” The worst part of what I was imagining was the simple knowledge that I would look good in anything from the wardrobe, especially with a bit of coordination.

During my run around Ponyville, I managed to push the thoughts aside by focusing on the running. It also brought back memories of my earlier days in Ponyville, and the cravings that eventually lead to the creation of the Carne Den after meeting Gilda. It was hard to believe I’d been in Ponyville for a year, despite the recent celebration of it.

A self reflective thought came as I continued running. “I don’t like bikinis, but I’m fine with the athletic sets that are like a somewhat less exposing bikini. Weird.” I paused my thoughts to time the jump over the fence to Sweet Apple Acres. “Maybe it has to do with the water? Or that it feels a lot like a bra and panties? Maybe both.”

“Howdy, Yang!” Applejack called out as I neared her.

“Hey, Applejack.” I made a small leap into a skidding stop, coming up only a couple steps from the farmer. “What’s up?”

“Just saying hi. How do apple tarts sound for next month?”

I facepalmed as I realized I hadn’t set up the apple dessert for May. “Yeah, that sounds good. June can be turnovers, and July must have apple pie.”

“Gotcha.” Applejack quietly recited the order to herself a couple times before turning back to me. “Any particular reason you want pie in July? Just curious.”

“Well, aside from it being the first dessert we had there, it’s a bit of a traditional thing where I’m from. Fourth of July is a big day there, and apple pie is often associated with it.”

“Go on.”

I needed nothing else to be said to continue speaking. “It’s a celebration of the day America declared its independence from Britain. It wasn’t clean, it wasn’t easy, but it was the dawn of the greatest nation on the planet. One where the government stayed out of people’s lives, letting them grow and prosper.”

“Sounds like a great place to be.”

“Move forward to when I left, and it was a mess. One side didn’t like the duly elected leader, and had so much hate for him, they blindly opposed anything he said. No consideration for what he said, just automatic opposition and obstruction.”

“Kind of like the nobles that have been after you?”

“Yeah, except the nobles here have actually tried to do stuff on the side, like their original jobs. Not necessarily well, but still doing it. I wonder why nothing’s come from them lately?”

In a personal study/office in Canterlot, a pretty pony princess read a proposed bill. “A five year tariff on all imported animal products?” Celestia said to nobody before looking down at the list of who had signed the bill. The largest signature was Blueblood’s. “Not surprising, nephew. Not surprising at all.” Celestia sighed as she denied the bill and wrote down a whole list of things made from imported animal products, to be copied and sent back to those who had signed it. “The things I do for you, Yang.” It was a bad idea anyways, but the veil of the attack was as thin as dry tracing paper and half as strong, at best.

“Maybe they’re out of ideas?” Applejack suggested.

“I hope so. Anyways, I’m going to get back to the run, so I’ll see you around.”

“See ya.” Applejack waved farewell, as did I.

“That was a nice talk,” I thought as I left Applejack to her work.

By the time I got back home and to my room three laps later, my mind was firmly back on the dresses, stubbornly refusing to leave them despite my desire to not think about it. As I was changing out of the athletic clothes after jumping into my room, a little thought crept in. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try just one on for a bit.”

I closed the curtains, opened the wardrobe and grabbed a random dress. It was a small one, entirely gold and silver. The gold was very sparkly and made up most of the dress, broken up occasionally by random bits of silver. It wasn’t until I saw the silver around the neckline that I realized it shaped the gold to look like flames.

“Alright, it’s definitely a miniskirt on this, that’s easy, but what was the neckline called?” I looked around, found the book, and referred to the half pages, flipping the lower half to the miniskirt before going through the upper half. “Alright, it is. . . A straight across neckline. Rather straightforward.” I read the notes around the neckline a few times before checking the dress again. “No clear shoulder straps on here.”

After rereading the notes a few more times, I decided it was time to get it over with. After switching to the strapless bra, I put the dress on. It was a simple matter of bringing it up and zipping up the back, which wasn’t too hard, much to my surprise.

After pulling the skirt hem down a bit to make sure everything felt like it was in the right position, I walked over to the wardrobe and opened a pair of doors cleverly hidden on one of the main doors to reveal a full length mirror. “Okay, I do look good. More like I’m about to head out to a club, and that’s not happening, but I still look good. It’s not really a formal dress either, so it’s more of a private relaxation dress, I guess?”

As I was relaxing on the bed, I found myself not only quickly getting used to the way the dress felt on me, but also kind of liking it. “It’s not that bad. I still don’t want anyone to see me wearing it though.” The mere thought of someone seeing me in the minidress was enough to embarrass me.

After a bit of time, I got up, took the dress off, and was putting it back up when another one caught my attention. “It looks interesting, maybe. . . No, I said just one.

“Just one. . .

“Just one more.”

I gave in and grabbed the colorful black dress that had caught my attention. It was longer than the first one on one side, but I couldn’t tell what either the neckline or skirt type was. Before grabbing the book to figure out what the dress’s anatomy was, I decided to put it on and look in the mirror. “Now that looks good too. Looks like a sideways fiery rainbow.” I grabbed the book and picked out the neckline and skirt types. “Asymmetric neckline, left shoulder exposed, and a draped skirt, left leg showing.” When I glanced back at the mirror, now with some extra knowledge, I liked what I was seeing a bit more. A twirl played with the dress nicely, and let me see the fiery rainbow on the back.

As I walked around my room to get a feel for the dress, an idea struck me. “I have weapons and a bike with unique names. Why not name the dresses?” With the idea in mind, I was just about to leave the room when I remembered something. “I’m still wearing this dress. Gotta change to normal clothes.”

After changing back to more casual clothes, and putting the Ember Celica back on, I grabbed a small bag of twenty bits, jumped out the window, and decided to drive Bumblebee again.

I got back on Bumblebee, still with 20 bits, and took off. Hammer and Nail’s didn’t have stick-on labels at all, let alone the ones I wanted. As I left for the post office, I came to an important realization: dresses and driving motorcycles is not a good combination, at least in theory. I wasn’t about to test it, though.

I spent all twenty bits at the post office. Aside from using the Any Time Delivery to get them immediately, I also had to order them. Those took up eighteen of my bits. The last two were spent on an extra fine tipped marker with quick drying ink. On the bright side, I had gotten a few hundred labels for the eight bit order, so I wasn’t worried about running out.

Once I was back home, I found the four dresses I’d worn so far. After figuring out the labelling system I would use on the hangers and relevant storage, I got to work. The first one, from the Entrepreneur Award Ceremony, got named “Victory” and was labelled for very formal occasions. The second one, from my birthday, got the name “Burning Time” and was labelled for casual and slightly formal occasions. The glittery gold and silver one was, after lots of consideration, named “Glamour” and labelled for private home use only. The last one with the fiery sideways rainbow was named “Flamebow” and the second label was left blank, as I couldn’t think of any particular purpose for it.

The overall theme of fire did not escape me. As I was labelling Flamebow’s hanger, I noticed something about the dress that somehow eluded me when I first put it on. “Is it. . .?” I turned the dress inside out, and it became a white version of what it was before, now with the right side being the more open one. “Oh that is awesome!” I put Flamebow back on and looked in the mirror again. “I don’t know which side I like better. The colors show better on black, but white just fits me better.”

Back at the Carousel Boutique, Rarity calmly sipped her tea. She had no clue why, but she suddenly felt a great sense of satisfaction, like a difficult mission had just been accomplished. She did not know why she felt that way, nor did she care to try and figure it out either.

As she put her teacup back down, one thought did cross her mind. “I think it’s about time for a renovation around here.”

After putting Victory, Burning Time, Glamour, and Flamebow away, another dress caught my eye. “I said only one more, and I meant it.” The more I looked at the pink silk dress, the more I felt my resistance crumbling. Soon enough, I was reaching for it. “What bag of potato chips have I opened?”

The pink dress was a kimono with white trim and tastefully placed cherry blossom petals across its surface, giving it a strong Spring feel. After I took it out, I saw a large, pale green ribbon hanging on the hanger as well, which I took off as well.

Putting the kimono on was a bit trickier than I thought it would be, especially when it came to figuring out whether to put the left side over the right or right over left. After a couple minutes of deliberation, I settled on left over right. The kimono held in place decently enough, but it was also very loose. I looked back at the green ribbon and realized what it was for. Once I had readjusted the kimono to my liking, I picked up the ribbon and wrapped it around the entirety of my waist before doing my best to tie it behind my back.

Just when I was about to give up nearly twenty minutes later, I heard a familiar voice say, “Let me help you, Yang,” before taking over and tying the bow for me. It was a bit snug, but nowhere close to uncomfortable.

“Thanks, Gilda,” I said before looking in the mirror. As I was admiring the way it looked on me, I realized a couple things and quickly turned to Gilda, stopping her from leaving. “Gilda, I have a few questions for you.”

“Oh? Uh, go ahead.”

“First, how did you know how to tie that bow?”

“King Gaston fancied trips to Neighpon rather regularly, so I picked up the knowledge there.”

“That. . . Makes sense. How did you know I needed help?”

“The chefs heard your attempts.”

“Through the kitchen noise and the floor?”

“From the smoker. They asked me to see if you were okay.”

I glanced over to the window as a breeze teased the curtains a bit. I didn’t remember opening it, which confused me. “Oh.”

“Anything else?”

I gave Gilda a stern glare. “You tell anyone about this and I will burn your feathers off multiple times. Got it?”

“Got it.” It was barely audible, but I caught a slight “meep” from her as well.

“Good.” I left the intimidating tone behind, assured Gilda wouldn’t spill the beans. “So, how do I look in this kimono?”

Gilda quickly collected herself before answering. “You look great to me. I don’t know how you would look to other, um. . . What are you again?”

“Human, the word you’re looking for is ‘people’.”

“Right, that. Them. Whatever. Anyways, glad to see everything’s alright up here. I’ll just tell them you were getting a bit frustrated trying to organize your dresses.”

“How did you?” I looked to the side and saw the open wardrobe. “Right. Rarity gave me those and the wardrobe behind my back while we were at my birthday party.”

“But she was there with us. . .”

“She coerced Searing into it. Dubious, legal, and a bit terrifying. Got a whole crew in here to build it under Searing’s guidance. Anyways, get going.”

“Right. See you around.” As Gilda closed the door behind her, I closed the window.

“Well, that was interesting.” I went back to the wardrobe and looked myself over in the mirror, even posing a bit. If there was one thing I couldn’t deny, it was simply how good I looked. Something else I couldn’t deny was just how comfortable the whole thing felt. “This is going to be a guilty pleasure. I just know it.”

I picked up the hanger the kimono was on, stuck a pair of labels on it, and started trying to come up with a name and purpose for it. “Let’s see. . . Nothing with ‘step’ works. St. Springep is lame. Springtime is too simple. No, it needs a poetic name.” I picked up the desk chair, took it over in front of the mirror, and sat down so I could get a good look at it on me. “A Japanese name is out. I don’t know enough to not butcher it.”

I made a few poses while sitting in the chair, each one looking elegant in the mirror despite the simple movements. “Something to do with elegance. Path of Blossoms?” I stood up and looked at it from a few different angles. “That sounds good.” After putting the chair back, I wrote the kimono’s name on the hanger. After a few minutes of thought, I put “Spring Holidays” on the second label.

The literal silky softness of the kimono dissuaded me from trying on any other dresses. I decided to go back to reading to kill time.

Author's Notes:

And so Yang has caved on dresses. A bit. It'll take something big to get her to go out wearing a dress. Or just an impulse decision.

If you want to make a dress for Yang's collection, click here for details.