• Published 6th Nov 2012
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The Reader - GnollReader



A gnoll appears in the Canterlot library and is forced to cope with an endless amount of problems as it gets to know the ponies a bit better.

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Chapter 9: Cake

The mob turned out to be mainly just curious. Purple Haze's authority as a captain of the night guard combined with the reappearance of the supposedly brutally devoured Pinkie Pie was enough to calm them down. When Purple Haze told them he was a guest of the princesses themselves and that he had rescued three little fillies from the timberwolves their suspicions and worries were finally lost. Some of them even expressed sympathy. Scar took no notice, he had headed straight to sleep after greeting Purple Haze.

He got up again when the sun was starting to set. He smelled the air, the purple pony and the spiked back still had not returned and the shiny one was somewhere upstairs. He looked out of the window, there was still some time before the sun would be gone. He would wait until it was dark enough to hunt in the forest. Scar went to one of the shelves and picked up a book at random, 'Myths and Facts of the Everfree Forest', he deemed it interesting enough to read.

He had read almost four chapters when Purple Haze came downstairs, "Hey, what are you reading?" he showed her the book, "Is it good?" he shrugged. Most of what the ponies had written about the forest was just plain wrong or speculation, at least the stories were scary enough to keep them out of it. "So you're going to just read the whole night?" she sounded a bit disappointed.

"No, Scar waits until sun is gone. Then it hunts, it is hungry." he saw her look, "Is no pony job. Gnoll hunts alone."

Her shoulders sagged, "So I'm going to be stuck here all night waiting for you to come back?"

He shrugged again, "Shiny pony can go play with other ponies while Scar is gone. Or it can read books if bored."

"First, I don't play, I train. Second, I don't like books. Third, I have to keep an eye on you as long as you're in Ponyville."

He raised an eyebrow, "What does shiny pony train?"

"All members of the guard regularly train combat, as a captain even more so."

He put the book somewhere in the folds of his cape, "So shiny pony train fight?"

She nodded proudly, "I'm the best of my squad! I can take on anypony!"

She really did seem bored, and since she was there at his request he decided to cheer her up a bit. He got up, "Shiny pony take on gnoll then." Purple Haze picked up on the idea, this would be so much better than training by herself. On top, she be would be able to brag about how she defeated a real gnoll in combat after this. She already loved this.

---

She hated this, she hated this so much. The gnoll was wiping the floor with her, literally. Inside the library she couldn't keep her distance from him to plan her attacks and he was fast, very fast. Each time she got to close to him he would simply snatch her right out of the air with one huge paw and pin her to the ground. Or worse, he'd simply sit on her while she struggled for air.

"Little pony should take break." he was currently holding her upside down by one of her rear legs.

"How do you even move that fast? I swear, anything as huge as you are shouldn't be able to move like that!" he set her down.

"Scar is fast because it is hunter. But shiny pony always attacks the same way, so is easy to catch. Pony wants to train serious now?"

Purple Haze wasn't sure if he was joking with her, "What? Wasn't this already serious enough?"

He shook his head, "No, serious train is with teeth and claws."

She gulped, "I think I'll pass."

He nodded, "Is time to hunt soon anyway." She headed upstairs to take a shower, whatever that was.

As he was getting ready to head out the door to the library was opened and the spiked back entered, "Hi, good I found you! Where's Purple Haze?"

Scar nodded a greeting at the little dragon, "Shiny pony upstairs, shower."

"I'm here to pick you guys up and take you to the party."

There was that word again, "It has no time, Scar is hungry and goes to forest to eat."

"Dude, there's way better food at the party than in the forest! Pinkie has gone all out on cake this time!"

This piqued Scar's curiosity, "There be food?"

The little dragon nodded, "Sure is."

Free food, the thought lingered in his head. "Good, then Gnoll goes to party."

Spike nodded, "Awesome, we'll just have to wait for Purple Haze to come down."

Scar didn't like waiting for food, "Spiked back can tell Scar where party is, then it goes and he can follow when shiny pony is done."

Spike considered this, "Okay, you know where the apple farm is?"

The gnoll titled his head, "Spiked back means apple forest?"

"Yes. There's a big red barn there, the party is inside. Just knock." the gnoll nodded and departed. Free food, this was going to be good. A peaceful meal would be nice. He wondered what cake was though.

---

Ten minutes later Purple Haze came down the stairs, "Oh, hi Spike. How was your..." she looked around the room, "Did Scar already go to the forest?"

He shook his head, "No, I came to get you guys for the party over at Applejack's, but he already went on ahead."

She almost missed a step, "He what?"

"He already went on ahead?"

She gave a groan, "How many?"

"Huh?"

She got closer to him, "HOW MANY PONIES?"

He thought for a moment, "About half the town?"

She didn't like this, "And he knows? How did you get him to go?"

Spike was slowly starting to see the problem, "He doesn't... actually... know there will be ponies there. He went as soon as he heard there would be free cake."

She was already throwing on her armor, "How do these things usually go?"

"Well, usually Pinkie blasts the new ones with her..." he got a bit pale.

"Blasts them with her what?"

"Her party canon?"

She spread her wings, "Hop on, we need to hurry."

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