More curious than evil

If Midnight would have known what she had gotten herself into, she would have just gone to the mall and endure another day in her Crystal Prep uniform. Both Rarity and Midnight normally get up very early, so they still had time until school started. Unfortunately for Midnight it meant that Rarity used the opportunity to put her into all kinds of clothes. The outfits reached from clothes that only a fashion obsessed person would wear, to simpler things, like the outfit Princess Twilight wore while visiting.

"No offense Rarity, but I'd rather not be some copy cat, you know? I want to be my own person." she said, as she took of the clothes.

"Hmm, I guess you're right." Rarity tapped with her finger against her chin. She was wearing her red glasses and her measuring tape was thrown over her right shoulder.

"And are you sure, you don't want to try the dress out one more time? You will be an eye catcher, you know. Maybe catch yourself a boyfriend." Rarity winked.

Midnight rolled her eyes. Sure she wanted to be an "eye catcher" as Rarity put it, but a dress? Maybe for school prom or something similar, but not for everyday life.

"I'll think about it. Do you maybe have something else I can try on?"

"Why of course, dear. Who do you think you're talking to?"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Rarity produced a couple of racks, various clothes hanging on them and for some inexplicable reason, they're exactly Midnight's size.

"Why don't you take a look yourself? I need to look after my sister, as well as quickly clean up the kitchen. I'll be right back, darling."

Rarity quickly left Midnight alone near one of the changing room the boutique had to offer. Like Rarity suggested, Midnight looked around the tons of outfits Rarity made first hand. The girl wondered, when her friend found the time to produce all of those clothes. After all, she still had to keep up with her school work.

There were a couple of things that caught Midnight's eyes, but in the end she decided it all looked too..."good". She wished there was at least something similar to what she was wearing, when she transformed into her true form. Speaking of which, why did the magic produce new clothes? The mirror did the same thing with every pony that came over from Equestria, according to what Twilight and Sunset told her. Shouldn't they be naked? She put this thought as another research project into the back of her mind.

Midnight was ready to give up, when something caught her attention and it wasn't something from what Rarity had produced. It actually was just a lonely t-shirt, lying on a shelve. It was a light lavender colored t-shirt, same as her skin color. Or better said old skin color. This was just an illusion after all. Looking around a little more, she found something hanging in front of the display. Surely Rarity wouldn't mind if she tried it on.

Next up, that dress looked quite nice. And over there in the shoe section, she found some nice boots. She was actually the only one among her friends who didn't wear any boots. She also found a belt, by pure chance. Finally Rarity had made a few of her personal "marks". The thing with the marks started a couple of centuries ago in the country they're in. The tradition stuck to this date.

Having everything gathered, Midnight quickly went into the changing room.

Midnight stepped out of the changing room with a satisfied smile. Her new outfit suited her so much more. It would tell everyone not to mess with her. Sure it would confuse her new friends at first, but they would get used to her new self pretty quickly. At least that's what she thought.

"Alright darling." Rarity announced her return. "I think we have time for one or two more- oh my, darling, Twilight! What are you wearing?" the fashion girl exclaimed, quickly walking up to her friend.

"Twilight" barely had time to turn around, when Rarity grabbed her arms and inspected every inch of Midnight's body, even going as far as leaning down and looking at the belt, as if there was some kind of message that needed to be encrypted.

"Why darling, this looks...magnificent. Kind of like you're a bad girl, though...if I'm completely honest" Rarity let go of Midnight at this point. "I didn't take you for the kind of person to wear something like this." she gestured at Midnight's new outfit, who shrugged in return.

"I've been thinking about these past couple of days and decided to try something new out. Spike encouraged me too to be a little more open. And, if I'm 100% honest, Sunset's leather jacket and purple shirt outfit kinda "inspired" me in the first place."

"I...see." Rarity bit her lip.

She wasn't really sure what to think of this development. Granted she didn't know Twilight that well, but what she knew was that when someone decided to change their outfit to the completely opposite of what they've been wearing, it was either because they felt like they needed to change outfits in order to "fit in" or someone pressured them into doing so. Rarity suspected the former, but didn't voice her concerns as of yet. She didn't want to say something, before she was sure of her suspicions. Besides, the outfit did look splendid on Twilight and might help the girl to be a bit more open and get in contact with more than just their small group of friends.

"So, how much do I owe you?"

"Oh please, darling! You're my friend! There's no need for you to pay me."

"If you say so...huh?"

Midnight stared with wide eyes, as Rarity's pony ears and pony tail started to grow seemingly out of nowhere.

"Oh dear." Rarity chuckled awkwardly, flipping her tail around.

"If only my hair would stay that way. It simply looks divine!"

"This is simply amazing." Midnight breathed out. "I wish I knew how it works."

"Twilight, I don't want to bring up any bad memories-"

"I don't mean it that way!" Midnight snapped, causing Rarity to flinch.

"Sorry."

"No darling, I'm the one who's sorry." Rarity put a and on Midnight's shoulder. "You're just your natural, curious self. I shouldn't be worried about that. That's just silly. Forgive me?"

"Of course. And thanks, for the clothes. I think we better go, before we're too late. Spike? Spike!"

"Coming, coming! Jeez Twilight, you know that- whoa there Twi! What the heck are you wearing?"

Sunset grumbled some incomprehensible words, as she just could not find her chemistry book. It wasn't at home and it seemingly wasn't in her locker too. So where the hell did she leave it? She couldn't just buy a new one, she was on a tight budget and school box where expensive.

"Guess I have to ask Twilight to share, until I find. Or get a new one." she growled the last part, a little angry at herself. Sighing, she closed her locker and began walking to class. She hadn't seen Twilight all day, which was curious, because the girl tended to be very punctual. She hoped the girl wasn't sick or experiencing some form of PTSD because of the Friendship Games. Sunset had her own issues with PTSD even months after the Fall Formal.

"Have you seen what she's wearing?"

"I know. I didn't take her for that kind of girl."

"Maybe she's just trying to get a boyfriend."

"Remember what she wore then? I still have pictures and honestly? I think I might..."

"Dude, that's suicidal."

Ah, yes. Good old rumors. Sunset didn't get how the students her continuously believed them, when they's been proven either false or exaggerated so many times. And after so many incidents, you'd think the student body would be more weary of them. Arriving near the labs, Sunset could see a group of students gathered just outside the door. Confused and curious, she walked over to them, to see what could be so interesting to almost block the entire hallway. What she saw, made her jaw drop.

"T-Twilight?!" Sunset exclaimed.

"Hey Sunset." Midnight greeted back, going to her friend.

While she walked, Sunset couldn't help but notice that Twilight was walking a lot like Sunset did back before the Fall Formal. She looked confident, walked upright, instead of a little bend over. Her hips were swinging just a little bit, but the Equestrian knew enough about boys to know that their hormones would work overtime. And finally there was this confident, outright evil smirk.

"I...uh....nice clothes?"

"Thanks." For some reason Twilight still sounded her usual, good girl self. That was just...wrong.

"Rarity helped me-"

Further talk was interrupted by the bell signaling the first class was about to start. The gathered students went away and as for Twilight and Sunset, they walked into the lab-room.

"Twi', Rarity didn't force you to wear it, did she?" Sunset asked in a hushed tone.

Twilight giggled. "No, but I found everything at her place. Thought I'd try something new, you know?"

"It's a little drastic change, don't you think?" Sunset asked, being a little worried about her friend's sudden change of behavior.

"You sound a lot like Spike. He was going so far, as to calling me being mind controlled."

"We already had that. Twice." Sunset winced at the memories. "Sorry, if I'm a little bit overly cautious, when my friends have a seemingly sudden shift in their behavior."

To this Twilight smiled warmly. "I see. Oh, teach is here. Let's talk later."

"By the way, you got your book with you? I lost mine."