She spent maybe an hour simply trotting around, watching the reactions she got. Ponyville was thankfully a friendly place, so she knew she’d be generally safe. Well unless she ran into that Arrow stallion again. He seemed like trouble.

“Hello! Fine day today isn’t it?”

“Oh you look lovely! I love the hairpin!”

“Hey sweet thing, need a tour of the town?”

On and on she went being reminded more and more of what she now was. She still didn’t know how to process it all. Was this what life for Big Mac, or rather Red Gala was going to be like now? Dear Celestia, it was still so strange to think of that cute, energetic and talkative mare was once the quiet stoic stallion.

What if she was to get stuck like this? Would this be her life? Being called cute and pretty? Stallions constantly trying to ask her out? M-make her their mate? The idea was both exhilarating and terrifying.

She shook her head. This was all too much to deal with right now. She needed to do something that took her mind off all this. She’d apologize to Cup and Pinkie for ‘abandoning the job’ later. Right now she just needed a moment to herself.

“Oh! Is that you C-Angel Cake?” A rather unique yet familiar voice rang over the crowds. It was feminine for certain, and carried with it a type of class. There was only one mare Angel knew that it could belong to, but why would she know who she was?

“Oh it is Darling! Wonderful!” The beautiful unicorn mare known as Rarity exclaimed as she practically danced up to her. “I was hoping to find you, and it seems I’ve arrived at just the opportune time.”

“You were… looking for me?” Angel replied, confused more now than ever. Very few ponies knew her name, and it seemed like Rarity knew all about her. “B-but I’m-”

“Forgive me dearie, but I’m very much aware of who you are, and more importantly, who you were two days ago.” As she spoke she glanced around making sure nopony was listening in. Taking extra care to glance behind her. Careful not to let the ‘secret’ out as it were.

Angel simply froze at those words. “Y-You what?”

“Let’s continue this in a bit dear. We have places to be, do we not?” She quickly spoke as she gently nudged Angel along. Too shocked to do much else, Angel found herself moving in the direction prodded. She wanted to ask Rarity quite a few things at the moment, but one look from the white mare caused her to bite her tongue.

They traveled in silence before reaching a deserted area off the beaten path. Rarity once again gave a quick glance around to make sure they were alone, before she finally turned to Angel and began to speak in a low voice.

“M-Mr. Cake, is it really you in there?” Stunned, Angel merely nodded.

“Oh how different you look!” Rarity exclaimed before blushing a bit. “I-I hope I’m not being rude darling, but when I learned of what befell you, I knew you’d look nice, but this! Why if I didn’t know who you were I’d be begging you to let me dress you. You look simply marvelous!”

“I… thank you?” Angel blurted out, feeling her own blush. Rarity wants to dress me up? Me?

It was another reminder of how much of a catch she was as a mare.

“You’re quite welcome dearie. Now. I suppose you have some questions for me?”

Celestia did she ever!

“H-How did you know it’s me!?”

Rarity’s blush deepened. “I am sorry for this, but I happened to eavesdrop a bit on Starlight and Twilight discussing how to ‘fix you’ as it were. Confused, I pressed them for information and well, reluctantly they let me in on what was going on.” She gave Angel a sheepish smile. “I feel they both feared I’d play dress-up doll with you, but in truth I think it was for the best I found out who you were, because I can tell you with certainty that if I had seen you wandering the streets before I knew that was you in that luscious little mare body, I’d have done just that and not taken no for an answer. A… problem of mine I admit.”

Rarity’s description of her body wasn’t helping with Angel’s current identity crisis. She could feel herself becoming flustered again. Even Rarity, one of the prettiest mares Carrot Cake had ever seen, was calling her pretty. It made her very self-conscious of the hairpin she had just bought, of her outfit, her mane and tail. Every little thing about her body was perfectly feminine. She felt as if it was trying to swallow up who she really was.

“Oh dear, I’ve not helped your situation at all have I?” Rarity asked, looking worried herself. “Funny enough, that’s part of why I was searching for you.”

“T-To dress me up?” Angel squeaked out, feeling herself step back. In truth she half wanted that to happen. To be whisked away to the boutique to be put into all sorts of amazing outfits, but at the same time she felt the terror that had been bubbling up inside her grow ever higher. What if this form did consume her? What if she forgot how to be a stallion somehow? What if even after she was back in her old body, she kept doing mare-like things? Would ponies make fun of him? He knew it shouldn’t matter but the whole thing still make him uneasy.

“Oh no no no! I just said that was before I knew it was you!” Rarity said, much to Angel’s surprise. “Much as I’d love to do that darling, I don’t think you are in the right emotional state at the moment. Your situation isn’t like Red Gala’s.” Angel couldn’t help but notice how Rarity winced at saying that name. What was that about?

“That being said,” Rarity continued with a slight cough, “I actually wanted to invite you to come relax with me a bit.” More confusion.

“Relax with you?” Angel repeated. Doing what exactly?

“In a sense, yes. Ta-da!” She said, throwing her hoof out to point at the building they were walking toward. Angel wasn’t sure what was throwing her off more. The fact they had begun to walk again, and she didn’t take notice she was doing it, or the place Rarity was presenting to her.

“T-That’s… that’s…” The words wouldn’t leave her.

“The spa, yes.” Rarity stated matter of factly. “I think it’ll do wonders for you at the moment, and before you reject the idea outright, please note that it’s not uncommon for stallions to come here as well. Also I’d never dream of making you do something in here you aren’t comfortable with. The entire point of visiting such an establishment is to relax. It’d be very counterproductive for me to have you do the opposite.”

The words Rarity spoke bounced around inside Angel’s head for a few moments as she tried to process it all. In truth she had been about to outright reject this idea, despite the fact that Cup and he had done a ‘Couples spa visit’ before in the past, so he knew better than most ponies the truth behind the phrase that stallions came here as well.

“It’s on me dearie.” Rarity gently said, hoping to coax her into agreeing. “I’ll pay for it all, I just ask you to give it a chance.” With that she hung her head a bit. “I-I know being in a new body must be difficult, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had a bit of an ulterior motive, but I think we can both help each other out for the next couple of hours.”

This caught Angel’s attention. “Help each other out?”

“Yes darling, you see you’re not the only stallion turned mare I’ve…convinced to join me today.” Rarity gave a slight cough on the word ‘convinced’ as she spoke, waving her hoof at another mare a little bit behind them, one Angel hadn’t realized was following them at a slight distance all this time.

If she’d been paying attention, she'd have noticed the mare right away, so unique were her colors. A beautiful deep black coat, with a brilliant mane and tail of sapphire blue. Her shape was simple and cute. She reminded Angel of Twilight in a way. The mare had this air of… bookwormness? Dorkyness? Something along those lines, but still incredibly attractive. She was even a unicorn like Twilight. Something about the way those horns stuck out of their heads made them look so majestic in a way.

Angel blinked. Was she discovering she was into unicorns or something? Too much to worry about right now. She tucked that thought away and continued to study the new mare. The last thing she took note of was a very lovely blue choker she wore around her neck. It complimented her mane and tail perfectly.

Wait a sec. Deep black coat and sapphire blue mane? She knew those colors didn’t she?

“Just one quick thing darling,” Rarity quickly whispered as the other mare drew closer. “While this mare doesn’t mind if ponies know who she really is, hence why I told you she was a stallion, I made sure not to mention who you really are to them. Not my place and all, so don’t worry. She has no idea who you really are and I’ll play along with whatever you feel comfortable with.”

That was reassuring yes, but Angel Cake still couldn’t get over the colors of this particular unicorn mare. Why did it seem so familiar to her? As she pondered this, the mare finally caught up to them. A heavy blush on her cheeks as she shyly walked up to her.

“S-So h-hey there Angel Cake!” The mare cried nervously her voice going up and down. “F-Funny story, but after I left you at the table, s-sorry about rushing off like that, well I tried to find you after I uh talked to Pinkie about the cupcakes, and well a lot of things happened…”

Angel furrowed her brow. Left at the table? Cupcakes? The only pony she was at a table with when eating some cupcakes, besides that horrible Arrow whatshisname was-

Her eyes widened as the colors clicked.

“E-Evening Storm!?”

The mare sighed.

“...A lot of things happened.”

Author's Note

I simply couldn't settle with me not getting ANYTHING out on this day, so we have a very short chapter. Originally I had wanted it to include the spa visit, but perhaps this works out, because I do have part of a chapter written up that explains just how Evening Storm got himself into this little predicament.

HAPPY HEARTS AND HOOVES EVERYONE! I am hoping against hope I'll give you more updates this month. Cross your fingers.