Sunny Days

Leaf looked from the pink-haired girl who was running off down the street to the perfect cupcake in his hand. He admired the evenly spread frosting and the red sprinkles that accented its perfection. The 18 year old, who was usually not social and wasn’t good at talking to people, had made a friend. He couldn’t help but smile down at the sun, which smiled back. Sniffing the cupcake a bit, he smelled the heavy scent of the cream cheese frosting and brought it up to his lips. He licked the frosting, picking up some of the sprinkles along with it. His mouth exploded with flavor.  He held his cheek, enjoying the taste. The baked treat was delicious. He didn’t usually eat sweets unless Emerald served a dessert after dinners. She usually didn’t serve any at all. Leaf peeled back the cupcake paper gently and bit into the chocolate. Sweet and delicious. Pinkie Pie had a gift. The cupcake was exquisite in every way, from its small smiling sun to the chocolaty inside.

After finishing the cupcake, he discarded the paper in a nearby trash can and made his way down the street. He looked around a bit, trying to figure out where to go next on his day out. Not facing the door to Sugar Cube Corner anymore, he looked to the left and saw a clearing that led to two bridges next to each other. Both were made of white wood and hung over a small creek. He decided to take a closer look. As he approached the two white bridges, he saw two paths extending from each of them. One path led into the Everfree Forest beyond Ponyville and the other led to a tall pink, white, and purple building. He decided to take the bridge that didn’t lead to the dreadful forest.

The entrance was a single purple door, with two diamond shaped windows, one on top of the other. On either side of the door were two more windows, and hanging above them where yellow shades. The roof of the first tier of the building was purple with large white diamond shape painted on it. Above the door stood a sign stamped with a pony. It had a pole running down the middle of the sign and into the pony making it look like apart of a carousel.

Leaf sighed. Anyplace is better than just wandering around. He opened the door to the building which also had a bell ringing overhead. At either side of Leaf there were wheeled racks with clothes hanging on them. To his left were what looked like counters for someone to cut your hair. He only assumed that’s what they were anyway. In front of him stood two manikins along with another rack of clothes on wheels. Two his right was a small circular stage with three mirrors surrounding it. Behind it and to the left  was a staircase. Next to that was another counter like the ones he assumed you got your hair cut at. A singsong voice came from up the stairs, “I’ll be a moment!”  Leaf decided to roam around the place a bit. After a girl came down the stairs with blue glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. She held a length of red ribbon in her mouth and dresses hung from her arms. Behind her floated a clip board along with a pen. Atop her head was a white horn. It wasn’t anything new to Leaf; he had seen it many times before. Some of the people that lived around him were gifted enough to have a horn, with which they could expel magic to cast spells. Some people had their own wings to glide around on in the sky. Leaf was unlucky, for he had none of these features.

The girl had purple locks, nothing like Pinkie Pie’s messy mop, but curled in elegant loops down her neck and stopped just past her shoulders. She wore a short white skirt along with a pale blue halter top. Around her neck hung a necklace of glistening white pearls. She passed Leaf, not seeming to notice him, and hung the dresses on the wheeled rack freeing her hands. Leaf could clearly see her cutie mark: three blue diamonds on her right shoulder. She stopped using her magic and held the clipboard in her hand as she checked off a few things on a check list. She took it over to one of the counters and set it down along with her glasses. She turned to Leaf with a flick of her hair. “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique.” She looked at Leaf and gasped. “What on earth are you wearing, darling?!” she shrieked as she walked to Leaf, lifting his arms. “Your shirt has holes in many places, and your pants have a gaping rip down the knee. And…those shoes!” She scowled and scrunching her nose a bit. “They will have to go.” The girl grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. “We need to fix your outfit!”

The purple-haired girl drug Leaf into a changing room where she sifted through racks upon racks of dresses and suits. “I don’t think it’s necessary to do all this…” Leaf said as he scratched the back of his head.

The girl gawked at him. “Of course it is!” She pulled a suit out and brought it over to him. “try this on.” She smiled widely.

He took a step back a bit and rubbed his neck. “Really I don’t feel it’s necessary for all this...” The horned girl glared at him through slitted eyes and took a step closer to him, “Of course it is.” She put her fingertips to her chest. “As a girl of fashion, I insist that you put this suit on.” She held the suit out to him. He didn’t take it. She growled a bit. “Fine, no suit.” She tossed the suit on one of the chairs in the changing room and went back to sifting through the clothes.

“I’m Leaf, by the way…Four Leaf Clover.”

The girl turned and held out a hand. “Rarity.” Leaf took Rarity’s hand and shook it. Thankfully, she didn’t give handshakes quite as animalistic as Pinkie Pie’s. Rarity snapped her fingers, “I’ve got just the thing! Wait here.” She ran out of the changing room before Leaf could protest.

He sat on the chair, moving the suit Rarity picked out for him and laying it on the table. He slouched in the chair and put his elbow on the table. He rested his chin on his open palm and sighed. How did I get mixed up in all this…? he wondered to himself, unaware that Rarity had returned with folded clothes in her arms. She held them out to Leaf, who stood and looked at them.

“This should suit your style.”

Leaf took them and looked at the shirt; it was pure white with no pictures or stains. The pants were black like the ones he had on but it seemed they were newly stitched, “Do you make the clothes here?” He asked looking at Rarity.

Rarity giggled, “Of course I do.” She clapped her hands together, “I almost forgot…” she bent down outside the curtain of the changing room and grabbed a pair of white, not black, converse and gave them to him. “I’ll let you change. Come out and show me when you’re done.” She walked out of the room and walked up the stairs, vanishing to the second floor of the boutique.

Leaf laid the clothes over the suit and took his shirt off. He looked at the front of it and noticed he had somehow sloppily gotten cupcake frosting on it. He sighed and folded it to where the front wasn’t showing. She then took off his shoes and set them on the floor next to the pristine white ones. He examined the new pants; they came with a belt, studded with silver pieces of metal. He unbuttoned his pants and proceeded to take them off.

He first put on the plain white shirt and tight black pants. he then fed the belt through the loops of his jeans and tightened it. He put the final piece of attire on, his white shoes, and folded his old clothes neatly on top of each other. He topped the stack off with his shoes and opened the curtain. “Rarity?” He found her at the small stage, a manikin perched on top of it. She was examining the pieces of cloth neatly laid out on a table she set up in front of the stage and used her magic to use a tape measure with the fabric. She turned to him, linked her fingers in front of her chin. “You look simply dashing!” She walked over to him and circled him making mental notes to herself in murmurs. “My best work for this style if I do say so myself.”

Leaf blew his hair from his face and smiled. “I like it. I think the shoes are my favorite.” He looked down at his toes.

Rarity nodded. “It was a bit difficult to make the pants. Black isn’t one of my favorite colors.” She shuddered a bit. “But I pulled through and I’m very pleased with their new owners.”

“How much do I owe you?” Leaf had transferred his money from his old pants to his new ones. He dug into the pocket for a moment before Rarity stopped him.

“Not a single dime, dear.” She smiled at him.

“Oh, no, no, no. I need to pay for this. It would be wrong of me not to.”

Rarity waved her hands in front of her and shook her head. “No Leaf, you don’t need to pay me a single coin. This is simply a motion of generosity.”

Leaf pulled out fifteen dollars and put it into her hand. She looked at the money, confuse. “A tip.” Leaf smiled at her and she blushed a bit.

Leaf shoved his hands in his pockets, “I better be going then.”

“Oh, let me get you a bag for your clothes.” Rarity grabbed a bag and gave it to him. “Have a good day, and I hope to see you again.” She tossed her hair and waved at him as he left the boutique.