Author's Note
The third in a now quadrilogy of commissioned stories featuring clothing TF and twinning. Yes, I do offer commissions. $20 for 1000 words.
A huge thank you to:
Evo
Korenav
FizzBerry
For supporting me on patreon.
Again, commissions are on the house.
Unintended Consequences
Many ponies were steering clear of Carousel Boutique. The wailing of a banshee could be heard throughout the town, and that meant that one Miss Rarity was upset about something. It could have been something small, like her favourite ice-cream being out of stock, or something big, like a family emergency. Some of these crises were often self-inflicted.
Today it was the latter.
“Hm. That does seem to be quite a big problem,” Twilight said – looking over the calendar hung from one of the walls. Every single day was jam packed, with several deadlines coming up and meetings scheduled with important people in Ponyville and Canterlot.
“Why don’t you just cancel some of them for pete’s sake?” asked Applejack. She had only visited to have one of her shirts fixed, but now she’d been dragged into a therapy session to try and calm her down.
Rarity sobbed dramatically, “You don’t understand! Rumours spread like wildfire in Canterlot, even the smallest blemish on my record will cast me from the high towers of the city for eternity! I’ll never be able to show my face there again, EVER!”
“Ah’ think you’re being a mite dramatic there Rares,” Applejack sighed, consoling the sobbing fashionista with a firm grip on her shoulder.
Rarity had buried herself in a huge pile of work. Dozens of dress orders brought on by a strong display at the last gala. Meetings with influential clients to network and spread her business. Having to manage Sweetie Belle as a surrogate mother while their parents were away. Even on a normal day she had little time for anything else, but now she had taken things to a truly unworkable extent. In typical Rarity fashion, she couldn’t decide which things to prioritize and which to ignore for later.
“You ain’t gonna’ get through any of these jobs crying on the couch,” Applejack observed, “Ya’ll gotta’ roll your sleeves up and knuckle down.”
“Applejack, the sleeves on this blouse are not for rolling!”
“It’s a darn figure of speech ya’ silly mare!”
Twilight was deep in thought. As it happened, she’d come into possession of something that Zecora wanted her to test that might be helpful. She dug into her bag and pulled out a lime green concoction contained with a glass bottle. “Since the opportunity is here, I may as well show you this.”
“What’s that Twi?”
Twilight didn’t fully understand it herself, but the gist of it was simple enough. She tried to explain in simple terms, “Zecora told me that whoever drinks this potion will inherit your skills. That way – you can recruit someone to help and they’ll complete the task like they’re you!”
Rarity’s eyes gleamed as several idea popped into her head, “That sounds… incredible darling! I could ask a dear to take a drink of it, and have them help me with my projects and engagements!”
“But!” Twilight insisted, “It’s purely experimental. If you’re going to use it, I’d like to observe and take notes.”
Rarity didn’t consider it a bad trade. She eagerly snatched the vial from between Twilight’s fingers using her magic and began to plant kisses on the glass surface, “Who’s a good potion? You are! You’re going to save my life!”
Twilight teleported it back, “Please don’t kiss the vial.”
Rarity decided that a strenuous and thorough application process would be needed to select her future assistant and stand-in. Rarity expected of them what her customers expected of her. A high standard of grooming and fashion, the ability to handle large amounts of pressure, to be charismatic and willing to fit in to any kind of social situation, and knowing how to sew wouldn’t go amiss either.
Much to her frustration though, all the applications that came through her door did not meet her oddly meticulous standards. No matter how many times Twilight reminded her that the potion would be doing the heavy lifting, she couldn’t bring herself to select someone who was less than perfect already.
Twilight shuffled through the pile of discarded résumés with her magic, “Rarity, it doesn’t matter how skilled they are. The entire purpose of this experiment is to see how much better they get after using the potion!”
“There are some things that cannot be transferred by a potion darling,” Rarity insisted.
“You’ll be surprised, I promise. How about I pick a random pony out of this pile, and we settle with them? The longer you take on this assistant search, the less time you’re going to have to do all of these jobs.”
Rarity’s face told of unspoken resistance to the idea – but the logic was solid. She was doing this to make things easier on herself, not harder. Decisive action from a friend was exactly what she needed at a time like this. “Very well. My fate is in your capable hands Twilight!”
Twilight mixed the papers together using her magic and pulled one from the pile at random. It was a fairly curt letter from a stallion named Starfire, who had a list of various odd jobs from around the town that he’d completed recently. She turned the paper over to Rarity, who didn’t seem very happy with her random choice.
“Twilight…”
“Rarity, just give them a chance. This potion is going to turn him into the best helper in Equestria.”
Rarity sighed, “I know. It was just that I already had a wonderful outfit prepared for them, but it’s sized for a mare.” Rarity looked over to a mannequin stood in one corner of the bottom floor, dressed in a neat and pristine white suit and skirt. It had obviously been designed with Rarity in mind, with flourishes of purple and blue that matched her mane and eyes. There was no doubt in Twilight’s mind that Rarity had hundreds of outfits spare to replace it.
Starfire was pleasantly surprised to find a return letter slipped through his door the day after submitting his application to Rarity’s store. On it was a time and date for him to attend what she described as an ‘induction’ session. He was shaking with anticipation as he knocked on the front door to the store.
“Come in!”
He grabbed the door handle and helped himself inside. The bottom floor of Carousel Boutique could best be described as organized chaos. A single work station was planted firmly in the middle of the floor space, surrounded on all sides by crates filled to the brim with fabric and other materials. Mannequins surrounded the room on all sides, each wearing a half-finished outfit. Starfire was surprised to find two ponies waiting for him. Rarity, and the local librarian, Twilight.
Rarity was very beautiful, although any mare who spent as much time and effort on her appearance as she did really should be. She was wearing a black frilled shirt and white jacket, red high heels, a pair of smart glasses and a long skirt that dropped down to her knees. Rarity escorted the red furred stallion to a small table placed next to the kitchenette, “Please take a seat!”
“Oh, thank you!”
Internally, Rarity was rather displeased. The man clearly had no sense of fashion, showing up for his first day in nothing more than a pair of jeans and a grey hoodie! At least his figure was acceptable, with a broad chest and wide shoulders that gave him a very physical appearance. Twilight had insisted, and she had to admit there was wisdom in her words. She had needed to decide quickly, the only thing she could do now was try to make it work.
“Now, Starfire – do you know what I want from you?”
He nodded, “I read the flyer a dozen times over. You said I didn’t need any experience with sewing.”
Rarity hummed to herself, “That’s true. But I do expect a lot from you. I need someone to assist me during the busiest time of the year, and that means performing a wide range of tasks for me. Helping me with making clothes, meeting and greeting potential clients, and some menial chores that may need doing around the store that I don’t have time for.”
“That sounds good to me.”
“But, there is one condition of your employment here.”
Twilight held the small vial in her hand, “I was hoping you wouldn’t mind agreeing to helping us out with a little test.”
“What is it?” he asked, wary of the strangely coloured liquid.
“A friend of mine is trying to create a potion that allows you to copy the skills of another pony, just by drinking it. All Rarity has to do is infuse it with a magical imprint, and when you drink it you’ll learn her skills and talents.”
“Really?”
“We’re not sure if it works yet. But Zecora is the most talented potion maker I’ve ever met, so I don’t doubt her claims on the face of it.”
Rarity puts her hands together and made the final sell, “It’d be a lifesaver if you could do this for me, and of course – you’ll be appropriately compensated as an employee of my boutique.”
“Oh, and you get the advance the realm of potion science!”
Starfire didn’t care one bit about the sciences. He was just here to get paid and keep himself busy for a month or so. He weighed up the idea in his head. While the potion angle wasn’t what he was expecting, at worst it would give him indigestion for a day or so. Not to mention that working somewhere like this would look good to any future employer. “Okay, I’m okay with that.”
“Excellent! Twilight, if you’d like to take us through the next steps?”
Twilight placed the small vial down onto the table between them, “Leaving a magical imprint is very easy. The regent that Zecora has invented is very malleable, whoever used magic on it last will leave a strong, almost perfect impression. All you have to do is grip it with your magic.”
Rarity didn’t wait for any further instruction. She firmly grasped it with her levitation magic for several moments before releasing it again. “There we go, now?”
“All Starfire has to do is drink it! Of course, this is an experiment. So, I’d like to hear your thoughts on it at a semi-regular interval and to make sure that there are no side effects. Let’s say every few hours today, and then every other day after. For now, only take a small amount of it.”
Rarity brought over a small glass and placed it on the table. Twilight carefully poured out a measured amount into it using her hands and slid it to Starfire. He steeled his resolve. Now wasn’t the time to second guess himself. He swallowed down the entire shot in one go. It burned as it slipped down his throat. It tasted like cough medicine. Starfire was glad to find that he didn’t immediately explode into a bloody mess upon consuming it.
“Okay, did she tell you how long it’d take to work?”
Twilight shrugged, “No. I never thought to ask. But we should see some results shortly. It takes the average pony twenty to forty minutes to digest a liquid.” Starfire sighed, this woman was a fount of mostly unhelpful knowledge.
“While we wait, I’d like to go through the upcoming schedule with you. As I said, this is the busiest time of the year for my business. There are several important social gatherings happening soon in quick succession, and recently I’ve accumulated a long waiting list of clients.”
“You said I needed to attend some of these meetings?”
“Yes. I’d like you to stand in for me at some deliveries and fittings. I usually offer that service to my best customers – but I’m simply overwhelmed with the number of things that need to be done! It’s rather simple, so it’ll be a perfect chance for you to get your hooves wet, as they say.”
Rarity slid a piece of paper towards the confounded stallion. It was a neatly arranged calendar of everything that was happening in the coming weeks. Nearly every day was filled with two to three different deadlines and meetings. How she let things get to this state was a mystery. Perhaps as the element of generosity she was incapable of saying no. That day was the only of the week where he was the only thing scheduled.
Rarity talked Starfire through what was coming up in extreme detail. There was no way he was ever going to remember everything said. But the general gist was enough for him. “Rarity, wouldn’t it be easier to divide these jobs between you by their type? That way you don’t need to spend time training Starfire in everything.”
Rarity nodded, “A good idea. Starfire, I’d like for you to handle the tasks that require me to leave the store for the time being. The most worrying work is on these dresses and suits. Shaking hands and delivering packages is much easier, but still time consuming.”
Starfire studied the addresses listed on the schedule. In the coming days there were several deliveries that needed to be made in the town itself. Rarity had tried to organize things somewhat by grouping the jobs together on her schedule. Now it was his job to finish them off. Starfire felt his stomach grumble as the potion finally made its way into his body.
Much to his surprise, he immediately felt the effects. The schedule that before was a challenge to read and understand became much clearer. “Woah!” he exclaimed, “That’s crazy. I guess that potion of yours really does work.”
“Really?!” Twilight yelled, hopping up and down in excitement, “What did it do?”
“I can feel it, just by looking at this paper – it’s kind of like I wrote it myself.”
Starfire looked to one of the mannequins and pointed to it, “Is that one of the things I need to deliver?” Starfire could feel it. That was one of the dresses that needed to be adjusted tomorrow. He could even see the path he needed to take in his mind’s eye too.
“Correct!” Rarity smiled, “I have to say Twilight, this regent of hers is very impressive. He has an eye for the details already.”
Twilight pulled out a notepad and scribbled down an observation or two, “Surprising. That suggests it’s stronger than we initially expected.”
Starfire and Rarity were feeling much more confident about the arrangement already, and as far as Twilight was concerned that was what mattered. This potion was designed to bridge the gap between different ponies emotionally and practically. Now she could help two of her friends at once! A wonderfully efficient solution.
Rarity adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat, “Let’s begin, shall we?”
Starfire found it odd that he didn’t feel any of his usual nervousness when he approached the front door to the manor house Rarity had dispatched him to. This was out in the rich part of town, where the houses were a shaft measuring contest between people with more money than sense. The walk through the front garden took nearly two minutes.
Dressed in Rarity’s nicest spare suit and with a carefully wrapped package under one arm, he knocked on the large wooden door three times and stepped back. A few moments later a maid arrived to open it and invite him inside. She escorted him through a lavish marble floored lobby and into a greeting room.
While it was redundant for Rarity to drill him with the manners and norms that were expected from a visit like this, she did it anyway. He rejected the maid’s offer to take a seat, placed the package on the table and stood with his arms folded behind his back. The lady of the house kept him waiting, he breathed a small sigh of relief when she finally swept her way through the arched doorway.
“Good morning!” she greeted cheerfully, “Ah, is Miss Rarity busy? I haven’t seen you before.” Lady Bright was a mare of forty years, and had a reputation of being unusually friendly, cheery and forgiving in a noble society where everyone was a miserable zombie chained down by social pressure and unwritten rules. Rarity had scheduled the easiest job first.
Starfire bowed his head politely, “The workload was becoming too much for just one pony to handle, she sent me with her regards. My name is Starfire.”
Lady Bright was quick to take the package between her own hands and open it. She unfurled the simple, yet ornate dress and held it up to the light of the room’s chandelier. “Now this is positively fetching!” she grinned, “Miss Rarity has done it again.”
“Rarity said that it should need no further adjustments, but if they are required I am trained to do them now.”
“Ah, of course. I shall don it post-haste.” Lady Bright quickly shuffled out of the room.
Starfire occupied himself with admiring the exuberant and expensive décor. On the front wall above the fireplace was a commissioned painting of the house’s family. Lady Bright was there, alongside two young children and a grey-haired stallion. Everything was carved from deep, rich wood which itself was engraved with hundreds of fine details. This was how the other side lived, it must have been a total nightmare to keep clean.
Lady Bright returned a minute later. The dress was very attractive, and more modern than the usual style that you’d see at a gala. It’d stand out, and that was what the premium price was for. She tugged on the area around her hips, “Hm. It feels a little tight around my stomach.”
Starfire felt his own body move before he even knew what he was doing. It was like an instinct had taken over his body suddenly. He pulled out the small sewing kit that Rarity had slipped into his pocket and started to work. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and turned her back to face him, “Would you like it to be loosened a little?”
“Please.”
Starfire’s hands worked some kind of magic. He quickly modified the stitching around the back of the dress, releasing some of the pressure, before tightening it against until it looked neat and tidy. Lady Bright let out a deep breath, allowing her stomach to fully expand into the dress like it was intended to.
“As expected of someone selected by Miss Rarity! Excellently done.” Starfire felt his ego get a little bigger from the praise, but he still didn’t understand. Twilight had explained the potion to him in detail, but it still shocked him how naturally he had slipped into doing the job. It was the real deal.
“Sometimes I impress myself.”
The rest of Starfire’s day was much the same. He travelled from mansion to mansion, delivering packages and making minor adjustments. Some of the clients had to gripe about not being able to see Rarity herself, but their attitude changed quickly when they saw first-hand how good Starfire was at doing the same job. At the end of the day as long as they were happy with the product, the details weren’t worth sweating over.
He finally returned to the Boutique as the sun was beginning to set over the horizon. He had managed to finish the work even faster than they had initially planned. He found himself full of zeal. A job that should have taken three days was done in one. His legs were seriously starting to hurt, but he felt some kind of satisfaction in completing the work at such a fast pace. Hopefully it would mean that Rarity didn’t have to worry so much about her schedule.
“Rarity, I’m back!”
The proprietor was currently buried muzzle deep in a pile of dresses and shirts, “Oh! I wasn’t expecting you, how did it go?”
“Without a hitch. In fact, I managed to finish everything you had lined up for me. That potion Twilight brought with her is amazing!”
Rarity seemed very happy about the news, she leant back in her chair and smiled. “Excellent. That will relieve a lot of pressure on our schedule. Thank you so much darling.”
“No need to thank me, I’m just doing what you’re paying for.”
“I don’t have anything else for you today, but you can keep that suit. You’ll be needing it again soon enough.”
Starfire looked down at himself – this was a pretty expensive freebie to be giving away for the sake of a job, but they didn’t call Rarity the element of generosity for nothing. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Starfire ducked back out through the front door and closed it behind him. Today had been productive to say the least.
Rarity had to admit that her initial doubts about the stallion were entirely misplaced. He was a miracle worker. A mountain of work had been slashed down to a rather large hill in just a few days. He’d arrive in the morning, already knowing what needed to be done, and set off on his daily rounds without complaint. He’d return hours later empty handed. He’d clean the store, and he’d even picked up Sweetie Belle from her school when Rarity was too engulfed to do it herself. She wandered why she’d never decided to hire an assistant before. A whole new world had been opened up to her.
Twilight had made her agreed upon visits, and the glowing praise that Rarity lavished upon her new hire had quickly convinced her of the potion’s effectiveness. His skills in sewing, schmoozing and tea-making had increased a hundred-fold. She almost worried that the stallion was coming for her position!
The day was beginning to wind down, and Rarity had managed to get ahead of her schedule. She took the moment to relax after such a hard week of work. Her fingers were covered in small scratches and cuts, making them sore and sensitive. A little amount of pain wouldn’t stop her from pleasing her beloved customers though. Starfire was due to arrive back at the store soon, so she decided to make some tea for he both of them.
The potion had been left in the cabinet next to her teabags, out of the reach of mischievous hands. As she reached up for her needed supplies, Rarity got to thinking. What was stopping her from slipping him another dose – just a small one. The small amount that he’d already consumed had had such incredible effects with seemingly no downsides. A little more would make him work even harder, and allow them to both enjoy their time off sooner.
She grabbed the teabags and the potion and set about mixing the tea. She turned back to double check that nobody was watching, before popping the cork and dribbling a tiny portion of the potion into the stallion’s portion. “I am merely helping him with his job,” she reasoned aloud, “No need to worry about it.”
The lead weight in her stomach made her feel like a dastardly outlaw. She quickly put the potion back into its spot, even making sure to place it back down in the position that she took it from originally should Twilight notice its movement somehow. “No need to panic Rarity… it’s just a little encouragement.”
The door slammed open, “Wah!” Rarity cried as the fur on the back of her neck stood on end. She spun back around, prepared to fight for her life. Starfire was back. The strange look that he was giving his new boss was piercing. Rarity broke out into a cold sweat.
“Something wrong Rarity?” he asked.
“N-No. Nothing at all. You surprised me, that’s all.”
Starfire accepted her excuse and took a seat on the couch, “They really put me through the wringer today. I was fitting those dresses for hours.”
“Yes darling. Some of the more demanding customers are coming up. Please persevere. Here, I made you some tea.” Rarity did everything she could to conceal her devilish actions, even as her hands shook. Starfire gratefully took the cup from her and took a sip, his parched throat preceding any questions he had about her strange behaviour.
“How am I doing boss?” he asked, “Any room for improvement?”
“I’m happy to say that you’ve been doing a wonderful job. Aside from some small complaints about not seeing me in person, everyone has had nothing but praise for the work you’ve been doing.”
“I thought I wasn’t cut out for this high society thing,” he admitted, “But I’m comfortable with it now. You just need to be a little mindful of what you say.”
“I’m very happy to hear that. You’ve done a fantastic job until now, keep your chin up and we’ll be through this rough period before we know it.”
Rarity did have some bad news for her busy little bee. She had misplaced one of the packages he needed to deliver that morning, and now she’d found it. Rarity wouldn’t be caught dead missing a deadline of her own imposition. So after Starfire had finished his snack, she handed it to him with an apologetic look on her face, “I’m very sorry to ask, but we have one more job to finish today. I hope it isn’t too much trouble.”
Normally Starfire would complain about having work sprung on him when he was expecting to be done, but for some reason he felt excited to do it. He took the package from her and nodded, “Sure. It’ll have to get done eventually.”
“Thank you dear, that’s all for today. Same time tomorrow!”
Starfire ducked through the door and headed out for his last delivery of the day. It was a cool summer evening, so he took his time to enjoy the scenery during the walk. One perk of the job was that it took him out to some of the most beautiful landscapes in town – although they’d be even better without an expensive and overdesigned mansion blocking the view.
He’d become overly familiar with the rich side of town. He liked to imagine that Rarity shared his opinion of how garish some of the buildings looked. These ponies were obsessed with trying to one-up each other. Every spire had to be just an inch taller, every colour a little more vibrant, every garden increasingly expansive and unwieldly.
He’d passed the home in question several times during his other deliveries. It had a large, opulent garden filled with dozens of marble statues. Jeeze, how much money did these guys have? They could have spent it on something better! He knocked on the large wooden doors and awaited the arrival of the head servant.
A minute later he could hear the bolts on the door unlocking. Behind it was a young maid with a wide smile on her face, “Ah! We weren’t expecting you this late,” she explained.
“Sorry. We didn’t think so either – but Rarity found the time, and she doesn’t like to miss her targets.”
“Thank you. I’ve heard about you from some of the other houses. They say you’re very good, nearly as good as Madame Rarity herself.”
“That’s flattering…”
Starfire was escorted through to the reception. As usual, he placed the package down on the table and awaited the arrival of his client. Starfire didn’t feel like himself for some reason. He’d adopted a more formal style of speech around the clients, as was expected, but not this much. Rarity had been rubbing off on him again. It sounded incredibly strange when he did it.
Lady Green lived up to her name. Her fur was a vibrant shade of forest green, and her mane was a light yellow. “Oh, good evening, who would you be?”
“I’m Starfire. I have been working with Rarity to ensure the prompt delivery of all of her new projects.”
“I do hope that Miss Rarity isn’t working herself too hard again.”
“Take it as you will, Rarity finally decided to hire some help this year.”
“Perhaps you and her are related?”
Starfire shook his head, “What do you mean? We aren’t related.”
“You look like her, but perhaps I’m overstepping my bounds.”
Starfire had no idea what she was talking about. He looked nothing like her at all! Rarity was a classical unicorn beauty, he was an average earth stallion with a big square jaw and a robust, physical body. Even if he were a mare himself there would be no such resemblance. The truth was that Starfire had changed. In the twenty minutes since he left the store and his arrival at the mansion several changes had occurred to his body. Subtle on their own, but large when grouped together.
Starfire reached up and pulled a stray curl of hair out of his eyes. There was also something strange happening to his mane. It was usually straight, and he didn’t bother to style it before going about his day like some ponies did. Starfire was too focused on his job to take much notice at the time, but if he did – he would see a familiar parting beginning to form, and a distinct set of curls to go along with it.
Starfire put his nose to the grindstone and did the job. He enjoyed some pleasantries with Sunny Green, a cup of tea and a slice of cake, and assisted her with fitting the dress more precisely to her body, “You look excellent dear,” Starfire smiled, proud of his work. He really felt like he’d been a part of the project from the start. A moment later it occurred to him that he never called anypony ‘dear,’ that was something that Rarity liked to do. “Uh, sorry. That was oddly familiar, wasn’t it?”
“Never you mind,” she insisted, “This dress is wonderful. Please send Rarity my most heartfelt regards for her hard work. It’s so nice to be able to find such high-quality clothes outside of the big cities.”
“I’m not very fashion conscious myself, so I’ll take your word for it.”
“You could have tricked me. You seem to have a very firm grasp on what to do.”
“Ah, that would be Rarity’s expert guidance.”
“That suit is perfect for you – maybe you should ask her to make something for you later? A nice outfit isn’t just for others you know, it makes you swell with confidence!” Starfire had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. When you lived in a world of societal pressures, appearances did matter. That confidence came from a feeling of safety. Fit in, conform, dress the way they expect you to – and you won’t attract unwanted attention.
The grandfather clock chimed. “Oh dear, look at the time! I shouldn’t keep you any longer.” Sunny Green and her attendant escorted Starfire back to the door.
Starfire bowed. “Thank you for your custom. Rarity hopes that you’ll rely on her again.”
“I certainly will. Thank you again!”
When Starfire finally managed to return to the store, the very first thing he did was storm over to the mirror and look at himself. One mention of his appearance could have been seen as an accident, when nearly everypony did it, that was a pattern. Starfire never received so many compliments for his appearance before – it just didn’t happen.
When he saw the face that was staring back at him, even more questions arose. This was not the same pony who had woken up that morning, used the toilet, brushed his teeth and ironed his suit. Rarity hummed and circled the confused stallion. Perhaps stallion was too masculine a word, over the proceeding days he had become increasingly androgynous. His once wild and uncontrollable mane had formed into a natural perm, complete with curls. His features had softened. His broad chest and shoulders weren’t quite so broad any more either.
Starfire could only reach one conclusion. This was the work of that potion. “We should probably tell Twilight about this,” he said, “She hasn’t seen me for a few days now – maybe this potion really does have some side effects. Look at me! I’m like a different pony!”
“I suppose you are correct,” Rarity conceded. She had been so buried in her work that she had paid his new appearance little mind, “I have to say though, I find your new style rather fetching. You could trot out onto a catwalk in Canterlot and look as if you belong.”
Starfire didn’t find Rarity’s comments reassuring in the least, “It’s not like I want to look like this. And I’ve never walked a catwalk before, I’d make a total fool of myself.”
Rarity didn’t seem to find it so worrying herself, she simply walked over to the table and handed Starfire the next bag of deliveries to be made. “There’s little time for us to debate now. I’m afraid we have a few more jobs to complete today if we want to stay on schedule.”
A sense of urgency overtook Starfire that he found inexplicable. Here he was, facing some kind of strange and unknown consequence from the experimental potion he’d chugged a week before, and the foremost thing on his mind was keep Rarity’s jampacked schedule under control. There was being invested in your work and then there was this. For a moment he felt like he was Rarity.
He tugged on his overlong sleeves, “Rarity, the suit doesn’t even fit me anymore. I look like a foal in this thing.”
Rarity let out a sharp breath through clenched teeth, “That is a problem. I have nothing else left to spare, unless…” her eyes turned to the one untouched model left in the room. The suit she had designed for herself back when she ignorantly believed herself capable of delivering her work by hand to every noble in the township. The white with purple pinstripes, the frilly violet underskirt, and most dangerously – the tight-fitting pencil skirt that rode above the knees. There was simply no way that he was going to agree to wear it, even in an emergency.
She was proven correct as Starfire shook his head pre-emptively, “Uh-uh. No way.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“That colour scheme would clash with my fur horribly!”
Rarity came to a sudden stop, “…Pardon?”
“I-I mean, I wouldn’t want to wear a skirt! I’m a stallion!” Starfire kicked himself. Why was that the first thing he thought of? It had almost slipped his mind completely. He cast a weary glance at the unmoving body like it was about to come to life and force-dress him in its clothes.
“In the world of fashion, it’s in style to ignore barriers erected by gender dear. Although I do concede your second point. This is not your colour.”
Starfire put himself between Rarity and the mannequin before she got any more weird ideas. “Adjust this quick, hopefully they won’t notice.”
Rarity worked her magic and pinned back some of the looser areas of the suit. With some liberal application of pins, rolled sleeves and legs, and a little bit of prayer – they both managed to wrestle it back into an acceptable state. If any further changes happened to his body they’d be in trouble. Rarity didn’t have time to make him a new outfit now and he would refuse to wear her spare. Rarity shoved a pair of packages into his arms and hustled him through the front door, “We can worry about this later darling. The customers are waiting!”
“Yeah, yeah! I’ll be back soon.”
The rest of the day passed in a blur. Starfire ran from house to house, shaking hands and adjusting clothes until the sun set again. He dropped in to say one last goodbye to Rarity and then headed home. Rarity’s comments about his appearance had shaken him, and they’d been stuck in his head ever since. He threw down his work bag onto the couch and marched into his bedroom.
Starfire stared at himself in the full-body mirror. It was evident that something was going wrong. His appearance had changed so radically that he didn’t even recognize himself anymore. Before, he was just a normal earth pony stallion – but Rarity hadn’t been lying to him when she said he looked androgynous. He wouldn’t look out of place on the front cover of the fashion magazines he ignored during his weekly shop.
His features had softened, rounding out his once angular chin. His cheekbones had risen upwards, dragging the corners of his eyes with them. His muzzle had shrunk slightly too. At a stretch you could still argue that he was a stallion, but the unfamiliar would take him for a flat-chested mare. It was bizarre; like he was looking into a parallel version of himself who had been born the fairer sex.
Starfire took off all of his clothes and stripped himself nude. The changes hadn’t spared his upper body either. He’d lost a significant amount of mass. Thankfully no such shrinkage had occurred below the belt, his sheath had remained untouched from his cursory inspection. The momentary relief was punctuated with a sudden rush of panic.
Where was his cutie mark?
He ran his hands through the fur on his upper thighs trying to find it, or to bring out the colour that was missing. Such a convenient thing wasn’t going to happen. Before his eyes the spot where his cutie-mark used to be glowed a bright blue. Starfire screwed his eyes shut as the flash stung the back of his retina. When he opened them again he was not prepared for what was there in its place.
Three cyan diamonds.
“What the hell?”
Starfire recognized it right away. It was the personal emblem of Rarity, the one she emblazoned on every dress and suit she made. Her cutie-mark. Starfire pinched himself, but he wasn’t dreaming. His own cutie mark had been taken away and replaced with Rarity’s! He dashed into the bathroom and desperately tried to scrub it away, but this wasn’t paint. That flash of magical light touched upon something much more fearsome than a prank. His very nature had been twisted from the inside out.
He didn’t know it at the time, but Rarity’s additional dosage had kickstarted a process that could no longer be stopped. No longer would he merely be gifted with her talents and manners. His magical soul had been touched too. It was starting to change, it was being assimilated and infected by Rarity’s very essence.
Starfire did not want to deal with this. He didn’t even know where to begin with fixing it. This was something that was way, way above his meagre paygrade. So, he did what he always did when something he didn’t understand happened. He found his pants and put them back on again before crashing into bed and shutting his eyes tight. With any luck the issue would solve itself, and he could forget all about it.
That would be far too simple, Starfire thought irritably to himself.
Whatever was happening was not a daydream or a fantasy, and it certainly wasn’t being caused by a reverse growth spurt. The copycat cutie-mark was still on his thighs, taunting him. He’d donned his usual work clothes and dragged himself back to the store. Twilight wasn’t going to be in today – she hadn’t seen him since the changes had started a few days ago. How convenient that she decided to postpone the checks right as there was something starting to go wrong.
“What in Celestia’s name is happening to me?” has asked, holding his arms out to demonstrate the change in his physique, “Is it the potion? I’m starting to look like a mare for goodness sake!” Not that he had a problem with the opposite sex – but he’d lived his entire life as a stallion and had no intention of changing it now.
The sudden shift in Starfire’s appearance wasn’t the thing on Rarity’s mind at the time. Instead her eyes were focused on the suit she had given him. It was a crime against fashion. There was simply no way that Rarity could adjust the suit again to fit him properly. He had shrunk again overnight. The suit hung from his now slim frame like a set of rags. If there was one thing that Rarity hated more than anything else in the world – it was a suit that didn’t fit properly. She was so outraged that she didn’t hesitate to rip the clothes from his body and throw them onto the couch.
“W-Woah! Rarity!”
“This will simply not do!” she yelled, “I refuse to allow you to visit our clients wearing clothes that don’t even fit you!”
Starfire covered his bulging boxers to try and protect what was left of his modesty, “But we don’t have any other choices, do we? You told me that it was the only thing you had that fit me!”
Rarity’s eyes wandered to the other side of the room. Where a particular outfit she had been saving for a rainy day was on display. Her desire to see the job done overrode her need to wear it herself. Starfire picked up on her thought process and vigorously shook his head, “No. No way, I am not wearing that.”
“We don’t have any other choice. Now be a dear and hold still.”
“How am I supposed to fit these on?” he asked, “Just because I look different doesn’t mean by privates went away. For that matter, why do I have to wear such frilly underwear!”
“Just put it on already,” Rarity insisted, “There’s work to do! We can tell Twilight about it later!”
Starfire could feel something stirring inside of him. As he slipped the underwear over his sheathe and balls, they displayed an immense amount of elasticity – somehow fitting inside of them like they were always meant to. In reality, they were shrinking fast. An elegant lady didn’t need such a brutish thing hanging between her legs, and elegant flower was much more her speed. Starfire registered this change as a pleasurable one. As he lost inch after inch of both girth and length, the tingling in his crotch forced him to lean up against the wall.
Rarity was quick to move onto the next item. She snapped the bra on over his chest using her levitation. It drooped down like a wilted flower. Slowly his chest became softer, the muscle that pushed up against the surface of his skin being padded with a thick layer of fat. His shoulders narrowed, giving his body a bottom-heavy shape that matched Rarity’s to a T.
Starfire looked down at his own chest and watched as the lower half of his body became covered over by his newly swelling mounds. Soon enough he could no longer see his own stomach or hooves, as a pair of perfect DDs blotted out his sight. Rarity had such a nice pair of breasts, why did she cover them up so much? Starfire reached up and pressed down on the spongy flesh, sending a shiver of pleasure down his spine.
If Rarity was worried about the changes happening to his body, she didn’t show it. She quickly wrapped the white blouse around him and button it up tight. This served to further compress his upper body down into a more feminine shape. “You look simply wonderful!” Rarity tittered, “Now, for the rest.”
The burning in Starfire’s new marehood was driving him crazy. He scratched the front of his panties in a desperate attempt to cool down the heat, but it did nothing to abate the feeling of need. Rarity slapped his hand away, “Don’t you stain those!” she demanded, “They were very expensive!”
“I-I can’t help it, I feel like I’m ablaze!” Starfire couldn’t bring himself to use language that was any dirtier than that in front of another pony. Rarity sighed and pulled aside the front of his panties, revealing his weeping hole and engorged clit. Rarity was very familiar with the sight of her own flower, she blushed a vivid red. If it was going to be such a problem…
Rarity slipped two of her fingers inside. Starfire jolted to attention as they brushed up against thousands of new nerves that had been freshly connected. Starfire was positively drenched, the thought of finger-fucking her own clone did not occur in Rarity’s mind – her primary concern was preventing any water damage to her precious underwear.
Rarity was vicious. She worked her arm and fingers as quickly as she could, hammering at every sensitive spot she had learned from her own personal playtime on many lonely nights. The wet squelching was distasteful, but the melodic wail of Starfire’s rapidly changing voice covered up most of it. Starfire had never felt anything like it. This was what mares got to feel all the time? Maybe stallion got the raw end of the deal after all.
“Hurry up and ejaculate, you reprobate.”
His peak was approaching rapidly and she knew it. Rarity pinched Starfire’s clit and rubbed it back and forth with little regard for his pleasure. Starfire screamed as his new body tensed up against the wall, he pumped his hips up into the air as his pussy gushed a thick, viscous liquid all over the shop floor. Rarity deftly dodged to one side to get out of the splash zone.
Starfire gasped. Rarity whipped a rag from her pocket and quickly wiped away the mess. The callous Rarity displayed took the edge off the erotic mood somewhat. With a shirt and underwear, Rarity’s plan was starting to come together. Under the new clothes further changes were beginning to take hold. Starfire’s deep red fur was losing its saturated colour with every passing second. It spread like blotches of paint on a canvas.
“Now, onto your bare bottom!”
Seemingly unperturbed by the fact that she had just brought a former stallion to orgasm using her fingers, Rarity pulled Starfire away from the wall and dragged him over to the couch. After forcing the dazed half-mare into a sitting position, she summoned her next set of stylish weapons. A pair of matching black stockings were the first to be slid up over his newly plump thighs. They were kept simple, as they weren’t intended to draw the eye as much as the rest of the ensemble. As they sat against the surface of his body, his thighs inflated just a little more – leaving an indentation where they pressed into his flesh.
Rarity was quick to finish it off with the pencil skirt, sliding up and over. She pulled out a large leather belt with a stylish silver buckle in the middle and wrestled it on over his stomach. The skirt was meant to be worn high after all. As he breathed in he could feel his waist pinching and growing narrower. With every exhale the difference became more and more extreme. Rarity’s hourglass figure had been copied in fine detail.
Starfire wanted to shout, to object – to do anything really; but he couldn’t. All he could think about was how utterly fetching the outfit she was being dressed in was. She’d be the envy of every mare in Canterlot. Professional and sexy, modern and timeless. Her feet tensed as a pair of red high heels were slipped on.
The final touches. Rarity grabbed the short-cropped suit-jacket from the table, the ivory colour matched her fur, with light blue pinstripes running downwards to give it a refined touch. The inner lining was the same colour – a vibrant cyan that went with her eyes. The white fur that had started spreading up from Starfire’s torso had now reached his neck and face.
“I’m almost jealous that I’m not wearing it myself,” Rarity sighed, “But we can save my whining for another day – there’s work to be done!”
“R-Rarity,” Starfire gasped in a new feminine voice that was eerily familiar, “What did you do to me?”
Rarity pushed Starfire to the full body mirror at the back of the store and patted herself on the back for a job well done. The mare looking back was an… identical copy of her.
“It’s… I’m… you!”
Rarity finally snapped back to reality. Starfire’s observation was correct. Aside from the difference in their clothing and makeup, the two mares were exactly alike. She stepped back in shock, “H-How?”
Rarity was in awe. When he had spiked his tea with an extra portion of the potion that Twilight had given her, she had never expected it to have such an incredible and extreme effect. He hadn’t merely been given her abilities and talents – he had become her in the most literal way possible! It was like looking in a mirror!
Starfire was understandably freaking out, “Rarity, we need to go see Twilight right now. This is simply ludicrous! I even have your cutie-mark!” Starfire’s more colourful vocabulary seemed distasteful to him now – even though he was hopping mad with his boss for doing this to him.
“I know, I understand,” Rarity insisted, “I wasn’t expecting anything like this…”
“You didn’t seem to notice when you were dressing me in these fetching clothes.”
Rarity tilted her head to the side. Starfire’s sudden change of tone and address got her thinking, wasn’t this exactly what she wanted? She was looking for somepony to share her burden – to take on the jobs that she didn’t have time to do. But this was even better. If he’d even inherited her cutie-mark and her skills even more so than he had before, he could even take on the tasks that were too complicated before, that Rarity only trusted herself with.
“I think that every time I act like you, the transformation progresses,” he theorized, “When you put these clothes on me I could feel my body changing.” Rarity removed her red-framed glasses and bit on the arm for a moment, she couldn’t possibly be considering this, could she?
“Rarity?”
Just a little push… one more to drag him over the edge.
She moved before she thought. She turned her spectacles over in one hand and slid them on over his muzzle. Starfire was stunned, and as his face twisted through a range of emotions it changed again. Before there was still a little bit of Starfire in that face. Even the extent of the transformation couldn’t completely hide who they were originally. Now there was no mistaking who it was. Rarity.
Starfire could feel it coming, the last wave that wanted to drown him out completely. His eyes changed focus as the glasses suddenly became more than a stylish decoration. Foreign memories and experiences swelled in his mind. Friends, family, the way that she found her calling as a fashion designer. Starfire tried desperately to cling to his own memories, but this was a losing battle. The final and most insidious effect of Zecora’s potion kicked in, his actions, his desires, his very being was assimilated into Rarity’s.
He fell to his knees as a throbbing headache ripped through his mind. Rarity stood back and watched as the consequences of her actions came to their full fruition. When the double looked up to meet her gaze, her expression was a familiar one. This was what other ponies saw in her when she looked to them. A deep fear chilled Rarity’s heart – in her haste she had created a copy of herself. All for the sake of a temporary convivence she had cheapened her own existence.
She needed to find Twilight. She turned and ran through the door, leaving her new copy behind.
Twilight’s brain was overheating. There were two Rarity’s, and neither of them could reach an agreement on who thegenuine article was. “Wait a second – are you telling me that neither of you know?”
“I know I’m the original!” one of the Rarity’s claimed, the one in the red glasses.
“No, no. I’m the original,” the other one replied.
Glasses Rarity huffed and crossed her arms, “You were the one who drank that potion!”
“How do you know? You just have all of my memories!”
This debate was going nowhere fast. Twilight couldn’t discern between the two of them just by appearances alone, and both of their magical signatures were identical! Starfire had been completely overwhelmed by the potion somehow. There wasn’t a trace of him left. “Rarity, what happened?” They both bit their tongues and looked elsewhere. “Tell me the truth!” Twilight raised her voice and jolted both of them into action.
“We may have…”
“…Used more of the potion than you prescribed.”
“You WHAT?”
“Volume dear!”
“I specifically told you not to use any more of it without my permission!”
“It was working so well, we just thought that we could get the work done even faster if Starfire had more of our skills!” one of them pleaded.
“And because of that, we have two of you and we don’t even know who’s the real one!”
“I am the real Rarity,” the glasses wearing mare insisted again.
“But I remember giving Starfire the potion,” her double repeated.
“That’s because you both have the same memories for Celestia’s sake! This is going nowhere. How are we supposed to know who the real Rarity is?”
“We may have to look on the bright side Twilight.”
“Yes, having myself for company is actually rather convenient!”
“Modelling our own work is easier than ever.”
“Oh, and we can be in two places at once! Now I don’t have to decide between looking after Sweetie Belle or working.”
“You look wonderful darling.”
“Why thank you! So do you!”
The other Rarity nodded in agreement. The previously tense argument had been diffused by a display of ego so gargantuan that it made Twilight’s head hurt. Only Rarity could befriend herself and heap so much praise onto her in the process. She needed to go see Zecora to try and find a way to undo this. Starfire would probably be furious if he was still buried in there somewhere.
“You two just stay here and try not to do anything stupid, okay?”
But no matter how hard she or Zecora tried, there was no way to tell the two apart. Even Applejack couldn’t detect dishonesty from either of them when they were asked who was real. The infiltration of Rarity’s memories into Starfire’s mind was so deep and convincing that he believed himself to be her from birth. Rarity knew that she was the original, but how could she possibly convince anyone else of that fact when he knew everything that she did? She also discovered that Starfire believed that she was the copy – as the memories of Rarity’s deception had also been carried over during the process.
The pair settled into an uneasy alliance. They would alternate between going out and performing the various duties that were expected of her. Sweetie Belle found it strange to have a new, identical sister to her old one – but she had long since accepted that strange things just tended to happen in Ponyville. She couldn’t tell them apart anyway.
The one concession that the original Rarity did manage to squeeze out of Starfire was their mane styles. Rarity eventually convinced Starfire to change his mane to a slightly different but still distinct style so they could be told apart by those in the know, but still present themselves as the same pony in public.
On the plus side, work was easier than ever. Rarity could take days off and allow her new body-double to take her place. Deliveries were never an issue. And when she didn’t feel like rubbing elbows with the Canterlot elite, she could dispatch her precious employee to do it for her.
The original Rarity sighed, nursing a hot cup of tea between her palms. “I suppose this isn’t too bad.”
Starfire nodded, “We were lucky that they believed we had an identical twin sister.”
Rarity and her copy were enjoying a moment of respite after weeks of hard, back breaking work. But there was still one thing Rarity would not give up on no matter how tangled their identity became, “We should give some consideration to what your name should be!”
“My name?”
Rarity pointed at Starfire in anger, “Yes, we can’t both be called Rarity. That’s much too confusing!”
“But I had this name first,” he even tilted his head in the same way that she did, it was only from an outside perspective that she realized how annoying it was!
“No, I did!”
There were still many things that needed to be sorted first. Dividing up the life of a single pony between two was hard, especially when both of them laid claim to being the original. In an ideal world the truth would be known and Starfire’s transformed body would be made to concede some of Rarity’s life and identity. Sparks flied between their eyes as they glared at each other.
“This is one of our faults,” Starfire reasoned, “So does it really matter either way?”
“Hm. I suppose we do share some of the responsibility, since you’re a perfect copy of me.”
“I’m not a copy. I’m just as good as you at… everything!”
“Oh? Is that so, that would be news to me.”
“And I even know about that beauty mark on our…”
“Don’t you dare say that out loud, you scoundrel!”
“I don’t understand your worries dear.”
“If you don’t want to keep up this act of being me and live some of your own life for once, you’re going to have to make some changes. Somepony is going to find out eventually! And when they ask what your name is, you can’t say that it’s Rarity.”
“Why not?”
“What kind of mother names both of their foals the same thing?”
“Ours did…”
“No, she did not! There was only one of us until last week, and now there are two – she had no say over what your name is! You know this already!”
Rarity was ready to tear her mane out. She had been arguing in circles about various issues for days at this point. Anything she said was easily turned back on her, and no amount of pleading from her or Twilight could convince Starfire that he was merely an assimilated clone and not the original. Twilight had posturized that a perfect imitation was as good as the real thing, which was both deeply unhelpful and also intensely unnerving.
“Are you arguing with each other again?” Sweetie peered down from the top of the stairs. The two Rarity’s turned away from each other in a childish huff, “Didn’t you say you’d figure this out yesterday?”
“This stubborn old mare refuses to acknowledge that I’m the original!”
“Old mare?! We’re the same age, you belligerent goat!”
“Stop fighting!” Sweetie yelled, stepping between them before any punches were thrown, “Am I the only adult in this house?” She pointed at Starfire, “You! Just change your name already!”
“But-“
“I don’t want to hear any more excuses! This is super confusing for everypony else! Stop being so selfish and come up with something new, you’re driving me crazy!” Rarity had never experienced such humiliation. Now her own little sister was berating her. Her face was aflame with embarrassment.
“M-Maybe I could… just change it…”
The original Rarity was quick to offer faint praise, “Thank you, Sweetie.”
But Sweetie wasn’t having any of it, “Nuh-uh. This is your fault in the first place. If you hadn’t gotten so wrapped up in your work and listened to Twilight none of this would have happened. You should be apologizing to Starfire, not thanking me.”
Rarity looked away and mumbled, “I’m sorry.”
“No. I should be the one to apologize,” Starfire responded, “I was the one who used the potion on you.”
“No, that was me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hey! Don’t start arguing again!”
Sweetie Belle would later comment to her friends that having two identical sisters did in fact, suck.