The Reader

by GnollReader

Chapter 35: New Clothes

Sweetie Belle had been watching the fight for about half an hour now, it was a unique experience. Never had she seen anypony stand their ground in an argument with her sister before, yet the gnoll did not budge. By this point Rarity was using her best whining voice, and the gnoll countered by letting his fur stand up and bearing his fangs. To any unsuspecting newcomer, it would look like they were about to go at each others throat.

"But why not? It would look so pretty! The purple matches with your fur perfectly!"

The gnoll shook his head defiantly, "Scar will not wear."

"I even have a set in different sizes! Just let me try them on and you'll see I'm right!" she levitated several of them around him.

He eyed them with disgust, "Gnoll repeats, NO RIBBONS!"

"But why not? WHY? THEY WOULD LOOK PERFECT!" she increased her volume.

"RIBBONS IS FOR PET" he squinted his eyes at her, "Is no pet. Never."

She held his stare for what seemed an eternity, "Very well, no ribbons." Sweetie Belle almost fell off her chair, had Scar just won a concession from her sister? Rarity and Scar got ready for the next round.

"Gems. Red. To match the color of your eyes. All my designs have these, so don't you dare tell me they are for pets." She held up several of the stones with her magic.

The gnoll didn't even give them two looks. "No." he said flatly.

If looks could have killed, Scar would have been dead on the spot, burned to a crisp. "And why, if I may ask?" Rarity's voice carried the promise of death.

"Can not hunt with shiny stones." the gnoll grumbled through clenched teeth. "Scar will shine like star in sky!" he grabbed one of the little stones and held it against the light, it sparkled in a radiant red when the light hit it. "How will it hide? Can't sneak on prey or rats like that!"

"AHA!" Rarity laughed triumphantly as she got out a different set, "Crimson pearls from the shores of Saddle Arabia. Matt,..." she smirked at him "Beautiful in sunlight and yet non reflective. They are black in the night."

Scar stared at her for a moment, why would she put silly stones on his clothes? Still, if it meant that much to her... He held up a finger, "One."

Rarity put on a face of pure shock, "You can not be serious. Twenty!"

The gnoll's face did not flinch. He held up two fingers, "Two. Is serious."

"Fifteen!"

"Five!" he was starting to get annoyed.

"Ten! And not a single one less!" she stomped her hoof down decisively.

The gnoll curled his lip up further, but reading from her pose he would not be able to win any more ground on this one. He wondered if she was in someway related to the stingers. "Ten. And Scar will count."

Rarity smiled as she put the pearls aside. She would savor this victory. This round was hers. Sweetie Belle had to suppress herself from cheering them on. The final round was about to start. The final battle would be fought were the fight had originally erupted.

Rarity continued in a calm and stern voice, "Now, about the design and color scheme, we talked about this before and..."

"Yellow." Scar interrupted her with a casual voice.

Rarity gave him an evil glare "No yellow."

"Gnoll likes yellow. Like banana." he said with a stoical expression.

"No yellow. No bananas."

He tilted his head, "Celestia likes banana too."

She was about to jump him, "No yellow. No bananas" she said as she ground her teeth.

"Why not? Is pretty color!"

The fight was interrupted as Opalescence walked by the two of them. The cat was surprisingly oblivious to the gnoll's presence. It simply ignored him completely. Scar though was finding it difficult to tear his eyes off the cat. It looked, tasty. Rarity saw Scar's gaze fix the cat, "Don't you even dare think about it." her voice was as cold as ice. Scar turned his gaze back to Rarity, he wouldn't have eaten the cat, just maybe chased it around a bit and then chewed on it a little. The discussion went on.

---

"BLACK!"

"WHITE!"

"RED!"

"BLUE!"

"PINK!"

Rarity stopped, "Pink? Seriously?"

The gnoll shrugged, "Is nice color." Rarity raised an eyebrow. "What? Is pretty." she gave him a smirk, "Gnoll likes pink, is pretty." he crossed his arms, "Silly pony."

She gave a sigh, "We are obviously getting nowhere like this. Allow me to make a suggestion. I will make one with the crimson pearls, in red and black, according to your wishes and I will make a second one according to my tastes. But, I will decide on the design on both of them. Is that agreeable?"

Scar thought for a moment, "It agrees." he would get one in yellow from somewhere else later. One with many bananas on it. That would be awesome. "How many days should Scar wait?"

"Days? Pah! I will have these done by tomorrow! Leave now, I need to get to work immediately!" she ushered the gnoll outside. He lingered in front of the door for a moment. The ponies had a very strange idea of clothing.

Inside, Rarity was smiling broadly as she got to work. She had never met anypony she couldn't persuade. It filled her with a vigor unlike anything else before. "Yellow..." she chuckled "With bananas... to think... and pink!" she wiped away a tear of joy, "He may not have a clue about fashion, but he is such a darling."

---

Scar was heading back to the tree, the sun was setting and he was looking forward to a long nap. Something caught his eye, colors. Rainbow colors. A cloud was hovering low about the streets, a colorful tail hanging from it. Within arms reach no less. A grin spread his lips. Finally.

Comments

[Fanskapet]

scar you weirdo so now gnolls like yellow and pink man he must love fluttershy lol

[Aeternus Frigore]

rainbow dash is screwed

[Pupsrus13]

1875996 *insert Jaws Theme here*

[hypernova1100]

1876112 Here you go

[Seether00]

Hmm.. so Scar wants a Hawaiian shirt decorated with bananas. I may have one laying around. Nope.. pineapples.

[Morphy]

Is it really Rainbow Dash or a clever ruse? Until he gets a scent, I'm calling it a decoy.

But if it is Dashie...

(Scar is best pony!)

[Nightingalehound]

1876604 sky and earth sharks!!! Everypony run!!!!

[kyle_gaurdian_of_harmony]

a gnoll that likes pink oh my sides hurt i cant stop laughing

[XxTestName69xX]

2040220 And just what's wrong with pink? I happen to like that color.

[Lucky424]

1875927 Who doesn't?

Aw yeah, time to get the colourful pony!

[Berzerker_Mohawk]

[DerpedRainbow]

"BLACK!"

"WHITE!"

Wait, Rarity said no to black? Just about everyone looks good in black, or a dark grey. White is harder to pull off....

Then again, I have only ever seen black and red look good together on expensive collars, interior decorating, and blood in the darkness.

[Mr Swanky Hat]

Within arms reach no less. A grin spread his lips. Finally

Complacency will get you every time