//------------------------------// // If hats could talk... oh wait... // Story: Harbinger, randomness of George // by LucidTech //------------------------------//         George walked the streets of Canterlot with his hat firmly upon his head. Both him and Entropy were enjoying a peaceful walk through the capital’s streets during this beautiful day as the man displayed his usual carefree swagger. This time the pair were accompanied by random streaks of fireworks exploding behind them, causing many fillies and colts to stop and watch the odd displays that the biped caused.  While he strode through the busy streets with the various ponies giving him odd looks, the man couldn’t help but reflect on the events of that morning with a grin on his face. It had began with the sisters’ insistence that he introduce himself to the populace to ensure that the rumors about his presence could be straightened out. It had started with a gathering being called at the castle grounds. A small stage had been set up and several chairs had been placed around for the ponies who were coming. The princesses had invited representatives from each of the major news businesses around the city to come and ask questions of George. They were then going to release a newspaper detailing the answers to the various questions and hand it out around town so that the general populace would be in the know about the biped. Though the majority of the meeting was mostly boring, merely George answering questions through his conjured fish that acted like a microphone, there was a mare who had brought her young child with her so that the filly could learn about how to be a reporter. Because of this the filly got courage enough at one point to ask her own question and was subsequently called on by the chaotic being. “Is your hat made of leather?” she had asked, the mother had tried to excuse the question but she was too late. The man had smiled at her in response and lifted the microphone up to his hat’s mouth. A minute of silence passed before the deep rolling bass of Entropy echoed out over the gathered ponies. “I am indeed made of leather, it suits me much better than cloth, I think. Though of course I had no say in the material of my accessorized body." The hat paused for a moment in thought before continuing. "Do not cry for me though fair ponies, I have found a new life as a rather well adventured hat and I don’t think I would ever pass up my life as it is now for my old one.” The shock was almost palpable in the air and George couldn’t help but smile at the look of awe on the filly’s face when she received her answer. It was silent for the longest of moments before they were beset upon by a new set of questions directed at Entropy. It was through the gentlemanly hat that the ponies learned that the duo had been living in the wilds for the majority of the ninety years that they had known one another. The mention of the location alone sent shivers down a few spines, the wilds was an unexplored land to the south of Equestria with a notoriety of being nigh unlivable by anypony. If the never ending sandstorms didn’t get you, then the monsters that lived there would. In addition to this the ponies were treated to an abridged version of how the two had met and a brief tale of a few of the minor experiences they had had outside of the wilds. It was quite interesting to hear the what his actions had looked like from another perspective and to see the looks on the pony’s faces when they heard the stories. The man let the fond trip back to that morning die away into the past and was just starting to fully comeback into the present world when he felt something bump against his leg. George looked down to discover that a young earth pony filly had accidentally spilled her ice cream on his pant leg. The young pony looked up at George with a mix of awe and fear that was starting to cover her face. Deciding that the filly was unable to start the conversation currently, the biped squatted low to level his eyes with hers and smiled. “I’m sorry, it appears that my pants ate your ice cream.” George said as he looked at the victim of his carelessness, an 'omnomnom' sound filling the air from an unknown location. “Unfortunately I am unable to create food for others. I was however given some money by the princesses before I came out here, so what say I get you some a new cone of frozen deliciousness?” The filly merely remained completely stock still in shock as her parent rushed over. “Oh, I’m so sorry, did my daughter run into you sir?” The earth pony stallion immediately started on with a series of apologies that George waved off. “It is fine I assure you, I would like to get your daughter some new ice cream though, if you would kindly point the way to the nearest ice cream stall.” The biped said as he straightened out of his crouch to stand at this full height. “You don’t have to do that...” The stallion said as he tried to assure the biped or his innocence. “Nonsense, I came out to have fun with the ponies in town. I can hardly pass up this opportunity.” George said with a grin as snapped his fingers. An umbrella appeared in his hand following the noise. The man quickly turned it upside down and took a step into the bowl-like shape the top had formed, then motioned for the two ponies to join him. The father was about to decline the invite when his daughter looked to him with pleading eyes, the effect was almost instantaneous as the full effect of the d’aw hit him. He took an unsteady step into the umbrella as well and was quickly joined by his daughter. Almost immediately upon all the passengers being inside, the umbrella rose off of the ground and took to the skies, much to the surprise of the other ponies who were around. The stallion grasped the edge in fear as his daughter leaned over it in awe. “So, where to?” George asked nonchalantly as he looked at the father. The stallion was scared stiff by his sudden flight, but the young filly managed to point out the ice cream stall in the distance and so they set their course. A little ways travel in and the stallion gulped before slowly leaning back in the umbrella, which remained rock steady. “I’ll be honest, I’ve never flown before. What with me being an earth pony and all,” The stallion said with a somewhat quivering voice. “I apologize if I am causing you undue stress, would you like me to land again?” George said with a look to the father. “N-no, it’s actually kind of nice. Even if I won’t do it ever again it's nice to experience while it lasts.” The stallion said hesitantly, making sure to pick his words carefully so that the biped didn’t get the wrong idea. “I’m glad to hear that,” George said with a grin before turning his gaze back to the open air around them, the ice cream parlor was still a little ways off but it was close enough that the chaotic being started to descend slowly towards the ground. The remainder of the slow landing was spent in silence as the dad looked up to the clouds with a small smile and the filly hurriedly looked around the town from her new vantage point. After landing, the quartet exited the flying umbrella and George snapped his fingers again, dismissing the odd thing to wherever it had been before. With a smile he then reached inside one of his pants’ pockets and retrieved a few bits for ice cream. The human tried to merely pass the money off to the father before leaving but the stallion refused to let him leave so they both entered the small establishment. “Hey Ala, you here?” The stallion asked inquisitively as he looked around. “Honey darling?” “Oh, yer back sooner than ah expected ya to be, one sec. Ah’ll be right out,” came the country accented reply from the back of the store. The moment passed in silence as George tried to sneak away, but was constantly under the watchful eye of the filly. Eventually, a vanilla colored pony stepped out from the back of the room, boxes of all sizes floating alongside her and covered in the aura of her magic. “How’s our little filly doin’? Did somethin’ happen?” the mare asked as she dropped the boxes to look at her husband and the biped who was trying his hardest to disappear into the background. “Ah, you must be the old friend of Celestia’s that everyone in town is talkin’ about. What brings ya to my quiet little shop with my husband? He didn’t get overprotective of our daughter and hoof you in the face, now did he?” the mare said in a joking tone as she looked at her blushing spouse. “Um, no actually,” George said as he reached behind his head and looked to the side, a bad habit that he had thought he had gotten rid of several decades ago. “I, that is to say, your daughter spilled ice cream on my pants and I came to purchase a new cone for her.” “Well, that’s mighty kind of ya, but I can assure ya that we can take care of that cone without the need for bits,” the mare said. “Oh, well then I’ll just buy myself a cone if that’s alright. I haven’t had real ice cream in the longest of times and you’d be surprised to find out how bad chaotic food starts to taste after a while." “Well ah ain’t gonna say no to a customer, what wouldja like?” “One scoop of every flavor please.” “Ah’m not sure ya want that now hon, we have over five hundred different flavors.” “How much would one scoop of each flavor cost?” George asked, putting aside the mare's earlier comment. “Well ah reckon it'd be about two hundred and fifty bits.” The man reached into the pocket of his pants and retrieved three, one hundred value, gold bits. “Here you go, keep the change,” The man said with a smile as he placed the bits on the counter. Without any furthur words the man rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and snapped his fingers. The two scoops underneath the glass sprung into action and before too long the man had a teetering cone of multi-chromatic ice cream. With another snap of his fingers the cone floated high above the biped until the top of the cone nearly scraped the ceiling. And yet another snap had the cone inverted and plunged directly towards George’s gaping mouth. The entire treat was devoured almost instantaneously and the man grinned at the looks of shock that greeted him. Bidding farewell to the ponies the being exited the building and left to go sit on a nearby bench that was quickly replaced by a lounge chair.         A moment of silence passed as the two friends rested themselves. Eventually the quiet had to be broken and it was the biped who did so. “You don’t talk a lot, Entropy,” George said to his headwear. “That is because I can sense the mood of a situation. I am respectful to the people talking and I don’t talk unless I need to talk,” Entropy replied. “Well the way you go about it, one might think it’s your special talent or something.” The man paused for a moment as he glanced upward towards his hat. “You know what’s funny? After all these years I never have asked what your special talent is.”         “Though I may not have a cutie mark anymore to prove it, my special talent is story telling. I used to have the foals in that town sit around and listen to my stories. They were so observant and innocent, when one of them came up to me and asked me to get rid of the witch I could hardly decline him, now could I?”         “That was very considerate of you, sounds like you had quite the life set up before you were unjustly turned into a hat. Sorry I couldn’t turn you into a pony again by the way; dark magic is some tough stuff.”         “Not really, I didn’t really have any friends due to my self seclusion. I never was the most socially inclined of stallions. And then, of course, ten years was not good on my temperament as you can well see. I fell further into myself and away from the pony I had been. You know, I had completely resigned myself to eternal loneliness as a useless piece of headgear before you came along. You, the brave knight in shining armor, come to succeed where I failed.”         “Maybe, but you still have me in politeness and storytelling.” George said with a small grin. “Don’t go selling yourself short George. For somebody with a past such as yours you have quite a lot to be proud of.”  Entropy said as his gaze glanced to the man beneath his brim and then to the sun that was approaching midday.         “I suppose.” The man said as he stood from his seat on the bench. A moment of silence passed before a wicked grin came over the man’s face.  “Saaaaaay....”         “Yes?”         “What say you that you and I go back to that old town of yours and see if you can’t get the foals to smile again? They’ll be different foals no doubt but maybe a few parents will have heard about you from their parents. I haven’t been back there in one hundred years anyway, I think a return trip is in order.”         “Though I appreciate the sentiment I don’t think I could go back there as I am. I want to remember the town as it was. And the chaos and confusion that follows us wherever we go would only wreak my perception.”         “Yea, chaos does follow me around.” George admitted.         “Think nothing of it, you are what you are and I am what I am. The important thing is that we continue on. Maybe we can finally rest here in this town with these princesses. It would make a nice change of pace. You’ve been so busy seeing everything that you never have time to examine it. Perhaps settling down with these life long friends of yours is what you need.” “Yea,” George said as he looked up at the sky, Entropy remaining on his head through some miracle or another, with a snap of his fingers a single cloud turned from white to pink and a drop of chocolate rained down. With another snap the cloud returned to normal and George watched as it floated away into the distance. “Perhaps.”