Roadtrip In Equestria

Gabriel and Spike walked side by side as they both headed for Rarity's store, Spike trying to hide his excitement. As for Gabriel, he felt less embarrassed than last time about the looks he was getting from the other ponies. They seemed to have already got used to his presence. The fact that he'd been seen accompanied by theirs on two previous occasions was probably helping. However, they still seemed to talk over his back when he got a little too close to them, but not enough to understand what they were saying. “Well, it's okay, it looks pretty quiet..."

“Hi folks!” Said the adrenaline-charged voice of someone he recognized....

“Cheers! Hi Pinkie!” Spike replied.

“I take back what I just thought...” thought Gabriel again ”Hi...”

“Gabriel! I was asking myself a question of the utmost importance!” Pinkie Pie said, grabbing Gabriel by both hooves.

The latter, taken by surprise, replied cautiously “Uh... What's that?”

“What's your favorite color?”

“What? Uh, orange, I'd say...”

“Great thanks!” She shouted, disappearing as quickly as she had appeared.

“What the... Where did she go? And why does she want to know what's my favorite color?”

Spike shrugged. “Don't look it up, it's Pinkie Pie...”

“Okay...” Gabriel tried not to pay attention to what had just happened and decided instead to observe the pegasuses of all colors flying above them. Some were twirling furiously in the sky. He pointed at them and asked, “What are they doing there?”

Spike, lost in thought, looked in the direction Gabriel was pointing and replied, “They're just clearing the clouds. There was blue sky forecast for this afternoon.”

“WHAT?!” He looked more closely and, indeed, they were literally moving the clouds with their hooves. “But... but... how do they do it? I mean... it's not like the clouds are solid! How can they move them?”

“Well, I heard Twilight say that Pegasus have a special form of magic that allows them to touch the clouds and walk on them, and all that...

Gabriel rubbed his eyes, trying to store the information. “Yeah, sure, it's all explained with magic here...” His poor brain was already overheating.

“Well, here we are! The carousel store!”

One thing was certain: Gabriel hadn't expected this. The store was cylindrical and looked, well as Spike had said, more like a merry-go-round than a real building. What's more, the building's appearance, with its decorative pillars and pony carvings, inspired luxury, which contrasted with the houses he'd seen so far.

Spike didn't wait and rushed to the door to knock, which opened a few seconds later in a light blue aura, revealing the unicorn.

“Ho! Spikey-wikey! You've come to visit me! How nice! ”

Spike suddenly blushed, stammering “Hi Rarity...”

Gabriel stepped cautiously behind Spike, and Rarity spotted him almost immediately. “Well, hello there! Um... Mr Couset, if I remember correctly?”

“Um... Yes, hello Rarity...”

“Please, come in!” Gabriel and Spike stepped into the entrance hall, Gabriel taking good care to wipe his shoes on the doormat. Rarity noticed this and seemed appreciative. “So, what brings you to my store?”

“Well, hum, I know you're probably more used to making clothes for ponies, but... Do you think you'd know how to make clothes for me?”

“Oh, but of course! Enfet, I'd love to, it would be a real challenge worthy of my talent! I mean... Yes!”

“Ha, great, I'm reassured!”

“What's more, you're in luck, I don't have any orders scheduled for today, so I'll be able to devote myself entirely to you!”

“Okay, cool...”

“Anyway, you've come to the right place! Follow me, please...” The trio headed for the workshop, which was filled with mannequins carrying dresses of all kinds and sewing equipment. Rarity pointed to a small pedestal. “Can you stand on that, please?”

“Uh, okay...”

Rarity levitated a tape measure in the same way as Twilight, which continued to shock Gabriel. Then she stopped suddenly, sniffing something, showing a slight expression of disgust. “What on earth is that strange smell?”

Gabriel blushed, guessing she was talking about the obvious stench of his clothes, which really needed a wash. “I'm sorry, I plead guilty, it's my clothes that smell like that. That's why I came, I need new ones absolutely.”

“Yes, I understand perfectly, don't worry. Well, how about you start by taking these off?”

“Uh, excuse me?”

“Can you take off your clothes, please?”

“But... what for??”

“Well, so I can take your measurements, of course!”

“Uh... is that really necessary?”

“Of course! It's the only way I can get accurate measurements!”

“Look, you can just measure over my clothes, it's no big deal if my clothes are slightly too big...”

“But, you understand, I don't like working with false measurements...”

“And I don't like to be naked!”

“But why does it bother you so much?”

“Yeah, that's right, why?” Spike asked as well, suddenly butting into the conversation.

Gabriel looked at the two in turn, then sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Damn, how am I going to explain this to them..." He finally straightened up and said, “Well, you have to understand that where I come from, other humans ALWAYS walk around with clothes on. And being naked is very embarrassing and considered obscene and... it's even against the law, to tell you the truth... That's why it bothers me so much...”

The two now looked at him with dismayed faces, then Rarity spoke again. “Mr. Couset, I understand that you have a culture... different from ours, but... could you just make a little effort? It's just for a moment, and I promise I won't take pictures or anything, if that's what you're worried about...”

Gabriel pondered the unicorn's request for a moment, and finally said to himself that, after all, he could undress for a few minutes, if it was just 3 seconds to take measurements. Besides, it's not like I'm going to get naked in front of a human, it's a unicorn. And she looks perfectly innocent... “Well, okay, you win, I'll do it, but please hurry up!”

Rarity smiled as she replied “I'll be as quick as I can!”

Gabriel then turned to Spike “As for you, go wait in the other room!”

“What? But I...”

“EXECUTION! I don't need anyone else checking me out!”

“OKOK...” Said Spike as he exited the room

“I can't believe I'm going to do this...” Gabriel hissed, taking off his clothes one by one until he was down to his boxers. “Well, let's get it over with...”

“Um, it seems to me that you've forgotten a piece of clothing...”

What?” No way! I'll take anything, but not that!”

“But...”

“I said no! And nothing's going to change my mind, is that clear?”

“All right then, I guess I can do my measurements like this...” Rarity began to float her tape measure around Gabriel's various limbs while noting the measurements in a notebook. Meanwhile she began to make small talk on her own. “I have to admit I'm really curious to know what it's like to live in your world. A place where everyone is OBLIGED to wear clothes... it must be incredible! Seamstresses must really make a good living there...”

Meanwhile, Gabriel was inwardly praying that this would be over soon. It was starting to get really embarrassing when she began to measure his thighs. After what seemed like an eternity, but was in fact only a few minutes, Rarity declared she was done.

“About time!” Gabriel said, hurrying to get dressed.

Spike poked his head through the next door. “It's okay, can I come back?”

“Yeah, yeah, you can come back...”

Rarity observed her notes carefully before saying, “But am I stupid? I didn't even ask you what you wanted to wear! Would you like a beautiful tuxedo encrusted with rubies and diamonds? It would suit you perfectly, I'm sure!”

“Whoa, no, definitely not! I just want simple everyday clothes, okay?”

“But... Are you sure? I mean, you can have simple everyday clothes but still chic! And I swear precious stones will have a superb effect on you...”

“No no, no gems, please...”

Rarity resigned herself, a disappointed look on her face “Very well, I must meet the customer's requirements... So what exactly do you want?”

“Well, it would be nice to have a new pair of pants and a t-shirt...”

“A t-shirt...” Rarity repeated, noting in her notebook.

“And then I'd need a hoodie... you see what this is right?”

“Of course...” she said, continuing to note

“And then, the most important thing would be to have several pairs of socks and boxers.”

Rarity suddenly stopped writing and looked up from her notebook. "Boxers? If you'll excuse me, I'm afraid I don't know what those are...”

“It's, er... how shall I put it... it's the piece of clothing I didn't want to take off...”

“Oh, I see...”

“It's, um... like a pair of pants but very short and it holds with a kind of flat elastic above and it goes under the clothes...”

“Yes, yes... I think I see... it shouldn't be a problem...”

“Great, thanks... I really need it...”

“What kind of material do you want?”

“Uh, well, you can just take normal tissue and for the pants you'd use denim?”

“Denim? It's not very fashionable these days, but I've probably got a roll left somewhere....”

“Ok great...”

“Last thing, what colors would you like?”

“For colors, uh... Blue pants, obviously... And then the rest you can do in black, that's fine...”

“In black? But come on, that's not very... classy... ”

“White stockings then...”

“Wouldn't you like something more... colorful? Like pink or purple?”

“What? No! Well listen, just make the t-shirt green and the sweater red, and the boxers and socks blue, okay?”

“Okay, and would you like some patterns? Like little hearts or balloons?”

“No, no. Plain colors will be fine."

“But I...”

“I thought you had to meet customer requirements?”

Rarity raised a hoof to retort, then dropped it and said, “Very well, as you wish.... Well, I guess that's all then.”

“Um, just how much is this going to cost me?”

“But it's on the house, of course! That's what friends do, isn't it?”

“What? You can't give me all this for free! That's a lot of work and fabric spent!”

“Don't worry, it's my pleasure...”

“No, but still, even if I admit I don't really have any money right now... I mean, no money in this world... I'll still have to pay you back!”

“Well, that's very kind of you! Don't worry about that, we'll figure it out later! Now, if you'll excuse me, but I don't like to be disturbed while I'm working...”

“Wait, how long do you think it'll take?”

“Well, these are very simple clothes, so... I should be done by noon at the latest...”

“Wow, that's great!”

“Yes, you can come back by then!” She said as she opened the door to leave with her magic.

Spike jumped to his feet and said, “You don't need any help, do you?” Gabriel could have sworn he saw hearts in her eyes.

“That's sweet little Spike, but I'm afraid you can't help me this time...”

“Hooo...” Spike stomped wearily towards the exit.

Gabriel followed him, saying “See you later, and please NO gems...”

“Of course, of course!” Rarity said as she closed the door.