The Dragon Law

General disclaimer: I do not own MLP, characters or otherwise, it belongs to Hasbro and such. Aside from the occasional original character I own nothing but the love of the show and its fanbase.

The Dragon Law

08.        Polite Palaver

Okay, if I was going to buy some clothes I needed three things. One, a way to pay, I had no bits so I thought I’d trade some of my gems. Second, I needed to decide on what I wanted, lacking bits I wasn’t going to be picky but pockets were a necessity. Third, and probably most important, I had to not freak out the shopkeeper (you get better prices that way). Okay, after I had gotten myself under control, my heart no longer beating a mile a minute and I had stopped shaking (wasn’t lying when I said I had terrible anxiety issues). I walked up to the front desk and waited for the mare behind the pile of fabric to finish whatever she was working on.

Not a minute later the pile of cloth began to shimmer with a milky blue light. The bolts of fabric began to spiral around a in tornado of cloth, every few seconds a bit would be thrown off into a random cubbyhole in some other part of the shop. A minute or two later all but one bit of thick crimson fabric was left. It then had wound itself around a large wooden dowel rod that then floated into the awaiting hoofs of pearl gray unicorn with a pale amethyst mane that was bunched up (wait are those dreads, they are) in long dreadlocks and pulled back and tied with a dark chocolate ribbon that matched her eyes that were staring at me with some surprise and a bit of fear, but nowhere near outright panic.

“Oh, heh, I wasn’t expecting someone of your,” she stopped for a second to think about what to say (probably didn't want to offend the 'big scary dragon'), “presence, yeah that works.”

“Welcome to Threadbare Bargains,” she announced after regaining her composure, “ where you can find any clothing, apparel, and accessory  under Celestia’s golden sun at half the price of the competition no less. I’m Threadbare and what can I do for you today my fine drake?” while speaking she swept her hoof in a wide arc gesturing to her little shop.

I took a moment to look around the shop wile she put away the fabric in her hoofs. There was a soft yellow glow coming from small domes on the ceiling painted a sky blue making the room seem larger than it actually was. The floor was done in a deep green carpet while nowhere near grass it still added a natural feel. Three of the four walls were covered in cubby holes filled with various cloths and fabrics from bolts of silks to large dowels of yarn. Mannequins (or is that man-equins, mane-quins? if it was a pun I didn't get it) were arranged in rows covered in various outfits, most designed for ponies, but there was at least two larger dresses probability for griffons and one very large tuxedo suit obviously designed for minotaurs in mind.

“Well to be honest I just needed to get off the city street and your boutique was the closest place around, but now that I’m here I would like some cloths. Something with big pockets and maybe a hat,” at this the mare perked up, “but unfortunately I don’t have much money,” that causing her to deflate a little.

I held up my bag of stuff and said, “everything I have to my name is in this bag,” I pulled out the smaller sack containing my lunch and dinner and handed them to her.

“I don’t have any bits but I do have some gems, being a tailor I’m sure you you could find a use for them, I am more than willing to trade for your services,” I offered with a friendly smile.

“I’m no stranger to barter and trades, in this city it’s best to take what you can get with a pleasant smile and turn what you got into something you can be proud of,” Threadbare said as she disappeared from sight under the counter and began to rummage around, “If somepony wants to trade a day's meal for some nice clothes who am I to say no.”

“Heh, especially when one’s food is another's treasure,” I added with a small laugh.

“Right you are good sir, now where is th- AHA!” the tailor exclaimed popping up from the counter holding one of those jewelers lenses in her hoof (how do they do that anyway?) she then magic’d the lens to one eye and opened the bag of gemstones.

“Let’s see what we got here, looks like a nice spread at first glance. Some nice amethyst of moderate quality. This emerald looks fine, it has a small creak but that can cut around. I’d like this cinnabar, if not for the bite taken out of it,” she reported, eyeing me with the last remark.

“Oh well, might as well finish it,” I said snatching the gem up and crunching into it, “mmm, cinnamony.” (yeah cinnabar was like eating Big Red gum it was even chewy, how that works I don’t even know)

“Right then, if there are no more half eaten jewels in the lot I’d say we could work something out with your apparel situation,” she pulled the drawstring on the bag and stashed it under the counter.

The shop owner led me to the far corner of the shop where there stood a couple of mirrors and as small work desk. She pulled open a drawer took a measuring tape, quill, and notepad. I set my bag of stuff down next to the desk we got to work taking my measurements.

“Not many dragons I know, not that I know many dragons mind you, come into the city worried about fashion. I was just wondering what would bring you to our little riverside center of trade?”

“Actually my visit was pretty unplanned, I was flying by and somehow lost control and remember waking up in the hospital a couple weeks ago. (Not a complete lie.) They fixed me up the best they could and been in physical therapy, here’s a picture of my first x-ray,” I brought out the framed picture and held it out to her.

“Sweet Celestia! It looks li-,”

“Like a jigsaw puzzle,” I cut her off, “I know right! I’m not even sure how I made it out still mostly all in one piece.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything, but the reason your poor wings look, well,” she trailed off staring at the flightless mess sticking out between my shoulder blades.

I tucked my wings closer becoming a bit (okay, a lot) self-conscious of them and just gave a small nod.

She must have noticed my discomfort because the conversation petered out after that. We spent the rest of the measuring in silence. I was thinking of ways I could earn some money. I’m no stranger to manual labor, having worked in a tobacco field a few times while on various college breaks. I thought I could try the docks I passed on the way here. It looked pretty species friendly, going by some of the reactions I’ve received thus far I’d more likely get a job working docks then in a kitchen somewhere. Shortly thereafter I decided on heading to the docks once I had my cloths. As I was thinking of how I was going to go about the rest of my day when Threadbare asked me a very important question.

“You said you were flying over the city, crashed, and woke up in the hospital?”

I nod.

“And this is your first day out in close to a month?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“Have you found a place to stay?”

I shook my head.

“That could be a problem, where will these be delivered or would you prefer to pick them up yourself?”

“You mean I won't be able to walk out with some cloths today?” I answered her last question with one of my own.

“What, no! I’m not some kind of supermare, I normally have a two day waiting period for custom orders. It wouldn’t be a problem if you were a pony or even a griffon but I don’t carry anything in your size,” She stated with a frown.

"I mean I could cobble together something out of scraps now, but I take pride in my work. Due Diligence and all that, I'm not going to have a customer trot back into my store complaining about the purchase falling to pieces."

“Hmm,” I started rubbing my chin, pondering this new circumstance, “I guess the hospital would be the most likely place, we both know where to find it (I’m not telling her I’m lost, I’m a man after all. We don’t get lost, we explore) and I have a friend there that would be sure that I got it.”

“That would be fine, but you should really find a place before then, unless you prefer sleeping outside that is,” the mare commented.

“I’m a country boy, I can rough it if I need to. Although I do love the creature comforts provided by city living,” I said with a smile.

“I thought you said you didn’t like crowds? Is that a dragon thing or something?”

I began to rub the back of my head. Yeah that is a bit of a contradiction, I’m a borderline agoraphobe, but I enjoy all the action of city life. Just because I could survive in the wilderness doesn't mean I want to, and because I have panic attacks when surrounded by people I don’t know doesn't mean I want to be a lonely hermit.

“I’m not sure about other dragons but being holed up in a cave somewhere out in the mountains doesn't sound like much fun,” I gave a shrug and half-smile, “I mean, what’s life without friends to share it with.”

“Wow, that was incredibly sappy, but didn’t really answer my question.”

“Yeah, I was trying to deflect the question but seemed to have failed. I don’t like crowds but I do get lonely and about other dragons, I’ve never met any,” I said with a shrug.

Threadbare had  began to roll up her measuring tape and clear away her supplies but stopped when she heard my answer. She looked at me with her head cocked to the side and asked another personal question.

“No other dragons? But what about your parents?”

“They weren't dragons, it’s as simple as that,” I said quickly trying to look like the question bothered me then it really did, I’d rather not have to keep track of a lot of lies.

“Oh, well then, I guess that could explain why you act so much differently than I had expected your average dragon to act.”

After a short pause to take a look at the list of measurements she turned to me with a smile and continued to lead me back to the register.

“You may not be able to walk out of here with a nice suite, but I’m not about to let you leave empty-hooved, well empty clawed anyway.”

Her horn had started to glow with magic accompanied by that little twinkling sound, and the next thing I knew was there was something pushed onto my head obscuring my view. After adjusting it with her telekinesis and my vision was clear again a small mirror was floating in front of me. On top of my head rested a wide brimmed fedora of deep wine red, probably burgundy, I was never really good with color palettes.The hat had a white band and white feather to add some contrast. It looked familiar, in fact it looked like the one Spike got from Cheerilee on his birthday but with a color change. (Lazy Animators.)

After taking a minute to look at my self in the mirror I turned to Threadbare and with a smile said, “I’ll take it.”

With a smile of her own she hoofed me a receipt and order form and reminded me of when to expect my order.

“It’ll be done by Thursday morning, you can pick it up anytime between eight and four. If you haven’t made it here by then I will have it delivered to Maneaplois Central. Is there anything else you need?”

“No thank you Ms. Threadbare, I’m happy with this and hope to see you again soon, adieu!”

I gave the shopkeeper a polite bow and turned to leave, when I made it to the door I heard her call from behind.

“Hey wait! I never got your name, I suppose I could just put Mr. Dragon on the form but that's so informal.”

“Right, how silly of me, guess I was too nervous to remember to introduce myself, sorry about that. Law, my name is Matthew Law, it was a pleasure to meet you Ms. Threadbare," and with that I left.

Making my way from the little tailor's shop I was heading back to what I hope was the riverside, feeling a thousand times better and thinking that so far today has been pretty good and it could only get better.