//------------------------------// // First day (part 2) // Story: Caught and punished // by TheHardie-Boy //------------------------------// I handed the stallion a few bits and took the stuff I bought from him, eager to get away from him, not that it would help. I was getting dirty looks from almost everyone in Ponyville. None of them said anything, but I knew they were judging me by the fact that I had a pony on a leash. Speaking of which, Starlight was one of the few that wasn’t silently judging me. At least, I didn’t think she was. She was moving a little slower than I’ve seen ponies walk, but I didn’t mind. She had stopped crying before we left the house, but she was still hanging her head. In fact, her horn was nearly touching the ground. I couldn’t help but feel bad for the poor unicorn. I currently had two bags of food in one hand, and a pouch full of bits in the other. Finally, we were coming up to Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack had always been nice to me, along with her siblings, so I figured she wouldn’t be one to judge me. “Hey there, Sam. What can ah do ya’ for?” she asked in her southern accent. “Hey, Applejack. I’m here to get some apples. I figured I may as well,” I told her. “No problem then. How many do ya’ need?” “About two dozen should be enough.” She nodded and walked away. I looked back to Starlight, who was sitting on her haunches. “You’ve met Applejack, right?” I asked. She simply nodded. Applejack quickly returned with a bag full of apples. I offered her a few bits, but she swatted them away with her hoof. “No trouble. Yer’ still new here.” “Thanks,” I said, looking back. There were a few ponies giving me death glares. I turned back to Applejack. “Do you mind if we come in for a minute? I don’t want to go back there quite yet.” Applejack chuckled. “Of course. Big Mac’s outta town, and Applebloom’s with her friends.” I started to follow Applejack to her barn before I looked back to Starlight, who seemed a little scared of Applejack. “What’s wrong?” I asked. She does nothing in response. “Applejack’s nice. You’ll see. Come on,” I said, trying to sound as nice as possible. She slowly starts to follow. I didn’t really want to have to pull on the leash to get her to move, and so far, she hasn’t made me. Once we get inside the barn, Applejack hands me a bottle full of cider. “Here, new recipe. Granny Smith just made it.” I take a small sip, and it tastes great, albeit a little strong. I tried a little bit of apple cider before, but Twilight warned me it was alcoholic. I was old enough to drink it, but I still made sure not to overdo it. I took notice of Starlight idly rubbing her hoof on the ground and held the bottle up the her. “Want some?” She shook her head. Applejack looked at her as well and smirked a little. She then walked up to me. “Ah see ya’ took my suggestion of the collar,” she whispered. “So it was your idea?” I asked. “Yeah. I thought she might try something, so I came up with it,” she explained. I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Anyhow, you wouldn’t be able to make me a new, wooden table would you?” “What happened to yer’ old one? Ah thought it looked nice,” she responded. “Well...we had a bit of an...incident last night, and, long story short, I need a new one,” I explained. She looked back to Starlight with judgement. “Ah see. Well, sure, ah can make ya’ a new table. Free of charge, on account of this...incident.” Starlight flinched away from Applejack. I rolled my eyes and set down the leash holding onto Starlight. “Can we talk for a minute?” I sternly asked Applejack. She nodded and we moved outside the farm. “What is your problem?” I whispered harshly. “What do ya’ mean ‘what’s ma’ problem’? Ah don’t trust her. Frankly, she’s lucky she’s gettin’ a chance to redeem herself at all,” Applejack replied. “Well, you’re not exactly helping,” I responded. “What? Just look at what she did ta yer’ table,” Applejack countered. I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “Applejack, she was scared. She’s never been without her magic before. Just give her some time, ease up on her a little. She’ll come around. And besides, I wanted a new table anyhow, so if anything, she did me a favor.” Applejack looked back into the barn where Starlight was sitting. “Just put yourself in her place. Wouldn’t you be scared and frustrated?” “Ah...Ah guess yer’ right. Ah’ll...go a little easy on her then,” Applejack admitted. “Thank you. Why don’t you go in there and just...try to talk to her?” I said. “Alright,” she said, walking back inside. Starlight was sitting in the same spot. As far as I could tell, she didn’t even notice I wasn’t holding the leash. Applejack gave her a little tap and a small smile. “Look, Ah’m sorry Ah’ve been giving ya’ such a hard time.” Starlight gave her a confused look. She opened her mouth to respond, but didn’t say anything. “Hey, guys!” said a familiar, raspy voice. It was Rainbow Dash. “Hey, Rainbow. What’re you up to?” I asked. “Nothing much. Just thought I’d swing by...oh, she’s here,” she said, finishing with a deadpan glare at Starlight. I threw my head back and buried my face in my hands. “Not you too,” I whispered to myself. “Rainbow, Sam here was just gettin’ some apples, an’ he had to bring Starlight along. You don’t need to be makin’ a fuss,” Applejack warned. “Alright, alright. Just let me read what the collar says,” Rainbow said, moving toward Starlight. Starlight took on a serious blush and tried to move away from Rainbow. Unfortunately, she tripped on the leash. Rainbow held the charm in her hoof. “Starlight, property of Sam,” Rainbow read aloud. After, she snorted and burst into hysterical laughter. “It’s all I could get! And it’s none of your business anyhow!” I yelled at Rainbow. “Sure. Why don’t you take your little ‘pet’ for a walk then, huh, Sam?” Rainbow taunted. Starlight looked like she was about to cry. “She’s not my pet!” I shouted back. “You two should probably go. Sorry about Rainbow here; I’ll deal with ‘er,” said Applejack. “Thank you,” I said. “Let’s go, Starlight.” The two of us are our way back through Ponyville, and I had to endure the dirty looks and whispers once again. Starlight seemed even more down than before, thanks to Rainbow Dash. Once we finally get to my house, I quickly shut the door behind us. Starlight sat on her haunches in front of the couch. “Sorry about her. If it makes you feel any better, I really don’t see you as a pet,” I told her. She did nothing in response. “Let me put the stuff away, and I’ll get to work making us brunch. Until then...want an apple?” I asked, holding up an apple. “No thanks. I don’t really like apples,” she admitted, still looking at the ground. I sighed. “You know, you could’ve said something back when I was buying them. You get a say,” I said, hoping she would cheer up a little. She looked up at me. “Really?” “Yeah, you live here too. Anyhow, I’ll go make those pancakes. You do like pancakes right?” She tilted her head. “Umm, yeah.” “Alright then,” I said, walking into the kitchen. I put all the stuff I bought away, and got out the ingredients I needed for pancakes. “Let’s see; flour, baking mix, syrup...what else?” “Butter?” I looked at the table. To my surprise, Starlight had followed me in and took a seat in one of the chairs to the table. “Right, thanks,” I said, chuckling a little. I got busy making pancakes, and I finished about twenty minutes later. All the while, Starlight was watching me, her expression somewhat hard to read. All I could say for sure was that she wasn’t really as afraid of me as before. “Here you go. I’m not exactly the best chef, but Spike taught me a thing or two on how to make simple home cooked meals,” I said, presenting a plate of pancakes. “You want some whipped cream to go with it?” She seemed to light up, albeit just a little. “Sure.” I sprayed a dollop of whipped cream on our pancakes, and dug in with my fork. Starlight looked at it from a few different angles before rolling her eyes and just using her muzzle to eat. I had to stifle a chuckle as she ate. It looked adorable. “H-How is it?” I asked. She removed her, now syrup-covered muzzle from the pancakes. “They’re good.” “Good. Like I said, I’m not a very good cook,” I said. I got a bit on my fork and chowed down. They were good. We finished eating in silence. “Um...how should I clean up?” Starlight asked. I couldn’t help but giggle. “Here, I’ll run some water in the sink so you can clean up,” I said, putting our plates next to the sink. I put the plug in and started the water. As it filled up, I got a chair from the table and put it next to the sink. The chairs were moderately tall in case I had ponies over, so Starlight was able to reach the sink without much trouble. I went into the living room and laid down on the couch while Starlight did her thing. I heard the water turn off, and Starlight joined me in the living room. “So...what now?” she asked. “Not sure. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired after all that’s happened today. I’m gonna try to read myself to sleep,” I said, grabbing a book from my bookshelf. “If you wanna do something, you can...I don’t know, wash the dishes or something.” Starlight sighed and looked down again. “Alright.” I looked at her and saw her going back into the kitchen. Wait, is she really gonna do it? I only meant that as a joke. Maybe she does feel bad about what she did. If she does, maybe I can convince Twilight to let me take the leash off of her.’ I opened my book and read until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I was woken up by the sound of glass shattering. I looked at the clock and saw I was only asleep for a few minutes. I got up and stumbled into the kitchen to see a broken plate on the ground and Starlight on her haunches in the chair and head buried in her hooves on the counter, crying. ’Either she had another meltdown, or she accidentally broke the plate. Probably the latter.’ I walked over to her and rested my hand on her back. She stopped crying and looked at me with tearful eyes. “I-I dropped the plate. I’m sorry-“ I cut her off by putting my finger on her muzzle. “It’s fine. I didn’t think you’d actually come in here and wash the dishes. I really just meant it as a joke. Here, let me get that.” I scooped up the broken glass with a dustpan and threw them in the trash. “I’m not gonna make you do menial chores while you’re here. Like I said, you don’t need to be afraid of me, even if you do hate me,” I told her, walking back to the living room. “I don’t hate you,” she said, making me pause. “Really?” I asked. “No. It’s my own fault I’m in this mess. If anything...I hate myself. And Twilight and her friends too, a little, I guess. You just kinda got caught in the middle of this,” she explained. “The situation isn’t really the best for either of us, especially you,” I reasoned. “It’s not like I don’t deserve it though,” she countered. ’Now, we’re really getting somewhere.’ “Well, now’s your chance to make up for it...to fix yourself. But either way, I’m not gonna make you do chores,” I said. “I know, but I want to make this as easy for you as possible. You don’t deserve to be in this situation,” she reasoned. “You know, Twilight’s friends made it sound like you brainwashed an entire village and stole their Cutie Marks for no reason, and that you were just a villain who doesn’t care about anyone but herself, but I can clearly see that’s not true,” I said. “What do you mean?” “Save for Twilight, all I was told was that you were rotten to the core. But Twilight thought you could make up for it, and I can see she’s right,” I explained. “Really?” she asked, sounding the loudest I’d heard so far. “Yeah. In fact, even Twilight got something wrong. You’re not a villain at all. Just a little misguided right?” “I-I guess. I mean, I legitimately thought I was doing everypony in that village a favor. The whole time, I had no remorse whatsoever, though, until Twilight and her friends showed up,” she mused. “And let me guess. Once they did, all you could do was panic and try to keep things on track,” I assumed. “That, and I had just been doing it for so long, I had kinda brainwashed myself in a way. I’m not trying to make it sound like what I did wasn’t my fault, but...” “Twilight and her friends just kinda knocked some sense into you,” I finished. “Exactly,” she said. She actually chuckled a little to herself. “I’m glad to know you’re not a monster.” “Yeah, I know my appearance can apparently come off as big and intimidating, but I’m not really that different from you ponies. Although, I guess I didn’t do a very good job not scaring you, huh?” Starlight sighed. “I’ll admit I was a little scared at first, but-“ “Why, Fluttershy told me you didn’t think of ponies as pets. I can see she was wrong in that sense,” said a new voice I didn’t recognize. What appeared next was...I don’t even know how to describe it. What had one green horn, one yellow antler, a talon, a paw, a dragon tail, a blue wing, a bat wing, and two yellow eyes with red irises suddenly appeared in my kitchen. “Who-What are you?” I asked. “Why, I’m Discord, the God of Chaos, and you are a human, and that is a unicorn. Any more questions?” it responded. “Why are you here?” I asked. “Fluttershy and I were having tea, and she suggested I come meet you. Well, I’m here, but I can see you think of ponies as nothing more than pets, like Miss...Starlight, here,” Discord responded. “She’s not my pet!” I yelled. “Oh really, then why is she wearing a collar that says.” A pair of glasses appeared on his face. “Starlight, property of Sam?” Starlight’s face turned red as Discord read it. “Because-“ I started “Oh, I see how it is. She’s your slave,” Discord cut off with a sly tone. “N-No, because that’s all I could get,” I stammered. “Oh please, I see that blush of yours. You like that idea, don’t you?” Discord countered. I looked in the mirror and saw my cheeks were in fact red. “Here, let me put her in some more suitable attire for the role.” Discord snapped his fingers, and Starlight suddenly was wearing a poofy maid outfit that, as much as I absolutely hated to admit, was pretty cute. “Discord!” I shouted. “Well, then why is she wearing a collar?” Discord said, giving me a bit of a glare. “I-It’s a long story,” I stammered. After seeing what Discord could do just by snapping his fingers, I was intimidated by his eyes. “Well, time means nothing to me,” he stated. He snapped his fingers again, and we all reappeared in the living room. I was in my father’s chair, much to my dismay, with Starlight laying across my lap. Discord was sprawled out along the entire couch. “Seriously?” I asked, facepalming. “Okay, how about this?” Discord snapped his fingers again, and the two of us switched places. I was now laying on the couch, and he was in my father’s chair with Starlight in his lap. She tried to hop off, but he had his tail tied around her. “Discord!” I groaned. “Well, she’s going in one of our laps,” he said, snapping his fingers again. I was still on the couch, but Starlight was now on my lap again. She looked up at me with a pleading expression. “Just tell him, so he’ll go away.” “Alright,” I said. Over the span of half an hour, I had told everything I was told about Starlight’s past. I had gotten so deep in the story, I had actually started to pet Starlight’s mane. “Mhm, I see, then why are you petting her?” Discord asked. I looked down and saw I had my hand resting on Starlight’s head and that she was asleep. I stood up, knocking Starlight off my lap, giving a little *squeak* as she hit the ground. “For the last time; she’s not my pet!” I shouted. “Fine. I’ll be out of your hair then. Ta-ta,” Discord said, teleporting away with his finish. I sunk back down to the couch and sighed. Starlight hopped up next to me and put her hoof on my shoulder. “Are you okay?” she asked, actually sounding concerned. “Yeah, but I don’t think getting on his bad side was a very good idea. I guess even this place has a select few that are more appealing than most. Still better than my old world though,” I said. There was a small pause. “What was it like...your old world?” Starlight asked. I tilted my head. “It was...different. Sometimes, it could be great. Other times, not so much. But compared to Equestria, it absolutely sucked.” “Your world sounds very interesting,” Starlight said. “Maybe I could tell you about it sometime,” I offered. “I’d like that,” she responded. There was another bit of content silence. Neither one of us looked at each other or said a word, but it wasn’t really awkward like it was before. “I really am sorry you’re in this whole mess,” I told Starlight. “It’s fine. Like I said, I deserve it,” Starlight countered. “It would be nice to have an actual friend after so long though.” I put my arm around her. “Well, you can definitely consider me a friend.” “Really?!” she said, seeming a little excited. “For sure. In fact, I’m sure that once you show her you’ve changed, Twilight will be your friend too,” I added. She simply smiled...until a tear rolled down her cheek. “T-Thank you,” she stuttered. I decided to fully face her and pull her into a hug. She hugged me back, and we stayed there like that for a while. “You know, I don’t know why I didn’t do this last night, but there’s another bedroom upstairs if you want it,” I offered. “Really? I get my own room?” she almost cheered. “Sure. You could even move some stuff around and decorate the way you want,” I answered. She wrapped her hooves around me again, and we hugged again. “But first thing’s first. I gotta cover that engraving on that charm,” I said, holding the charm in my hand. “About that: do I really have to wear his thing?” she asked, poking at it with her hoof. I sighed. She wasn’t gonna like my answer. “For now, yes.” “Oh, okay,” she said, her ears drooping to the sides o her head. “But...I’ll make you a deal. Twilight said she was gonna come over again tomorrow, so if you can behave yourself well enough, I’ll try to convince her to let me take it off,” I added. “Thank you. This thing is really uncomfortable,” said Starlight. “For now, I’ll go get some tape to cover those words. Be right back,” I said. I walked into the hallway and got some black duct tape to tape around the charm, thinking about what Starlight said. ’Maybe this can work after all.’