The Reader

by GnollReader

Chapter 34: The bath

"Ah, Miss Rarity. It is always a pleasure to welcome you to our spa." Scar watched a light blue colored pony enter the waiting area, she stopped when she saw him. "And... this... pardon me for asking, but who might you be?" much to his surprise he couldn't read any fear from her, just genuine interest.

"Oh my, where are my manners? Please, allow me to introduce Scar, the gnoll. Scar, this is Lotus Blossom. She and her sister Aloe run the Ponyville day spa." Rarity said as she walked up next to the other pony, "Now don't you worry, he may not look like it, but he is such a darling. Always friendly and gentle with foals and polite to everypony."

"Didn't you say he was a brute and an offense to fashion?" Lotus whispered to Rarity.

"Spa pony must talk louder, gnoll did not understand." Scar commented as he watched the two with interest, the number of smells coming from the blue one was insane. "Why is white pony red?"
.
Before Lotus could answer Rarity quickly interrupted, "Just some rash statements that needed to be corrected,... hehe..." she shot Lotus a meaningful glance, "Now come on, I'm afraid we have a lot of work ahead of us."

---

An hour later Scar was actually enjoying himself. He had never bathed in hot water before, but he understood now why the ponies enjoyed baths so much. What he didn't quite understand was why the ponies had to refill the tub two times, it was only a little brown after he got into it. No reason to throw it away. Why the two spa ponies even had a tub big enough for a gnoll was beyond him.

"There we go, we're finally making some progress!" Rarity said as she and the other two spa ponies happily scrubbed him with mops. It did feel nice. Thankfully the spa ponies were senseful enough to use unscented soap, the smells were intoxicating enough to him as it were There had been a very awkward silence when he had taken off his rags, but it had passed.

"Alright, all clean! Now come on, let's get you out and dried." Scar carefully got out of the bathtub, his fur was dripping with water. Rarity approached him with a large towel, "Now we just need to... wait, wait, nonono!" it was a reflex, he simply couldn't help it. His fur exploded into a shower of water as he shook himself with wanton abandon. It felt awesome.

When he regained his senses he found himself surrounded by three drenched and soaking wet ponies. There was a blank expression on Rarity's face, "Well,.. that was... unexpected..."

---

After the ponies had dried themselves again Scar and Rarity left the spa and started heading towards her boutique. He was wearing his old rags again and had she not seen his back herself she would have protested strongly.

As they were walking down the streets something was troubling Rarity, "Scar, can I ask you something?"

"Rarity can ask." Scar replied. Why did she sound so different from before?

She almost missed a step when he said her name, "Do I scare you?"

He stopped, where did this question come from? "Why would Rarity scare gnoll?"

"Well,..." she looked at the ground, "It's just, seeing as I am a unicorn,... and with your... back... I mean... experiences with magic... and seeing how you reacted at Pinkie's party... and I did try to pull you into my shop..." she looked him in the eyes, "Are you still scared of us?"

Scar looked at her while he pondered the question, was he still scared of the ponies? He looked into the evening sky as he searched his feelings. "Gnoll will always be scared of magic..." Rarity's head dropped in dismay, "Because Scar cannot defend itself against it. Can't run or bite, can't hide. Is helpless, just like in cage... and that scares it..."

He paused for a moment, "When Scar first met Celestia and goes to Ponyville, it was terrified. Always careful of traps, always fear of going in cage again. It lives after simple rule, no trust ponies, no trust magic, always ready to run again... but... gnoll, was wrong."

He turned to her, "Gnoll has met many nice ponies, and ponies were nice to it, trusted it. Scar made friends, it never had friends before. Scar learned to trust ponies, and maybe Scar will learn to trust magic someday also." she smiled a bit, "But is gnoll scared of Rarity? No. Rarity is friend, Scar does not fear, Scar trusts." he passed her a toothy smile.

Rarity chuckled, "I'll never get used to that smile of yours... Thank you, that was very kind of you to say." they continued walking. "Does it ever haunt you? Your past?"

"Sometimes, when gnoll sleeps old ghosts come to haunt Scar. Then Scar is back in cage, and gnoll is scared because Scar does not know if cage is real or not... and gnoll thinks, what if Scar wakes up and everything was dream? Is gnoll still in cage?"

Rarity suddenly stomped her hoof down, "Rest assured, if anypony would ever try and cage you I would destroy them before they could lay so much as a hoof on you!"

Scar looked at her in surprise, there was fire burning in her eyes, "Now Scar is scared..." he made a mental note never to anger her.

"Well, just because I am a mare of high standards does not mean I can't make myself heard when I have to." Rarity replied proudly, "But look at us idling the time away while you're still dressed like that! Come, let us not be dandy, we still have to get you some decent clothes!"

Comments

[Mother3Forever]

aaaaw, Poor Scar.

[Redderject]

I get this feeling that the gnoll's vocabulary and grammar are getting better as time goes on.

[Time Squid]

The Wrath of Rarity... I feel sorry for whatever poor sod invokes that... and she's just one of the Mane Six

[stavaros-the-arcane]

Ah, the doggie shake. Silly ponies really should have seen it coming.

1868956

Well he's got more books and more practice talking to others. both would boost his language skills.

[Br2nd66]

if she gives him a tux I will die happy

[danail24]

1869956 Aaaahaahaah! What a guy!

[XxTestName69xX]

Thankfully the spa ponies were senseful enough to use unscented soap, the smells were intoxicating enough to him as it were There had been a very awkward silence when he had taken off his rags, but it had passed.

That first one should say had enough sense.

Also, I think there needs to be a period after that were.

[Lucky424]

Not scared of Rarity? You should be, she's crazy, just like the rest of them.

[Mr Swanky Hat]

2502266 hey hey hey! Stay out of fluttershy's shed!

[Windy0]

5905184 Don't you mean Pinkie Pie's head.