Question Sted 9 - Fashion Note

All rights reserved, except for those ceded to the Whateley Academy Author’s Group.

This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy series. It may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it’s fan fiction, who cares?

This is (maybe) the ninth story about Sted “Ponygirl“ Lancaster. The entire series, at least at the present time, is:

*Pegasus (v4)
* * * Deleted scenes
*Welcome to Whitman
*Fragment from It’s A Bird!
*To Train a Ponygirl
*Aftermath
*Ponygirl’s Combat Final (game to come)
*What I did on my Christmas Vacation (second edition)
*Lizards (teaser only)
*Fashion Note <<<=====
*Aspidistra (Version 2)
*Wine Dark Sea

Out of continuity:

*Roommates

Sted grinned maliciously as she left the Crystal Hall and saw Peeper at his usual avocation of harassing the new girls. She flirted her tail to attract his attention. The result was everything she had hoped for.

“Why Peeper,” she cooed at him as she gently reached over to close his mouth and take the microphone out of his hand. “You really should close your mouth before a fly buzzes in. I’m up here. Not down there. You did have a question? For me?”

“Uh,” the usually irrepressible pest said.

“Well,” she looked around for another likely target. Good. One of the Fashion Nazis. “Darlene!” she waved. “Peeper’s got a fashion question he wanted to ask me, and he can’t quite manage it.”

“A fashion question?” Darlene said. “Peeper? A fashion question? Of course, you are overdoing sexy. I know the bare midriff is in, but a day-glo green strapless top and black hotpants are just a bit garish with your scarlet mane and tail. And they don’t match your boots. For a second I thought you were Sara, except she’s got better taste.”

“Uh,” Peeper said and then blinked. “Oh!” He took a step backwards.

“I’m a cleric,” Sted said. “I have to keep up appearances.”

“You’re a what?” Darlene almost sputtered. “That’s….”

“Incongruous? I’m a cleric in the RPG sense, not the regular religious sense.”

“So your goddess makes you dress like that?”

“Well, she’d actually prefer a lot less, and much more suggestively arranged. Like this.” She briefly directed an illusion at Darlene.

“That’s...” she sputtered.

“What Peeper saw. Remember I do directed illusions.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t go up in flames….”

“Peeper? He’s fireproof. At least that way.”

“Um?”

“I know what his secret power is.” Sted smirked. “It’s the reason he doesn’t have a girlfriend.”

“You mean he’s got a power besides not getting splatted for being Super Pest?”

“Yep. What it is should do for a couple of minutes of speculation.”

“So why would your goddess make you dress like this?” Darlene decided to get onto safer, or at least more familiar, grounds.

“She’s a ponygirl goddess. Have you ever seen any ponygirl flicks?”

“I watched a couple with ...” Darlene manifested a fan. “Talk about a hot scene! Um. Sara?”

“As far as I know, she doesn’t swing that way. Her daddy’s mildly amused.”

“That still doesn’t explain your outfit.”

“Oh, she does know appropriate. Barely.”

“That’s appropriate?”

“It won’t get me put on detention.”

“Well...” Darlene’s tone said that it ought to. “If you have to be a cleric, why don’t you get a different goddess? I’m sure there are some with a good fashion sense!”

Sted shrugged. “Frankly, we’d both like to see the last of each other. So far we haven’t found a way around the Laws of Magic. We’re stuck with each other.”

“Magic. Oh, right. Ponygirl. Ponygirl goddess. Law of Similarity. Surely you’ve got some leverage?”

Sted shrugged. “I put my hoof down on enough things she wants me to do; this one is relatively innocuous. Besides, I kind of agree with her.”

“Oh?”

“A lot of guys are at their best when they’re bug-eyed, slack-jawed and drooling.”

“Well...” This time her tone said that she wanted to agree, but thought she had to keep up appearances.

“Uh,” Peeper managed to get out, “how does it stay up?”

“It’s spandex,” Darlene said definitely. “Except...” she backed up a half step to look at it better.

“The angle on the top’s wrong,” Greasy spoke up for the first time. “There’s got to be something to keep the shape.”

“You spotted it?”

“Of course I spotted it,” Greasy sounded slightly insulted, which Sted thought was a vast improvement. “You know they passed A Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown out in Costume II to all the tech types.”

“So they did. It’s actually a devise. It’s got real interesting structural elements and it sticks like a second skin.”

“Wouldn’t that get a bit uncomfortable?” Darlene asked.

“It tends the skin. One of the things I brought back from my little adventure last year.”

Darlene got a calculating look in her eyes. “Does all of it have to stick? Or...”

“Can I make it so that just a couple of spots stick? You’re thinking draperies? Of course.”

“Bye, guys,” Darlene said as she took the microphone and handed it back to Peeper. “While Sara really is the expert on fascinating guys, what I think is that with that scarlet mane….” Her voice faded as the two girls walked away.