Ch 3 Part 1: A Boutique on the Farm
Rarity and Exulus entered the Carousel Boutique where Rarity directed her hoof around “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique. It is my workshop for various fashions and other such things. My sister Sweetie Belle, as well as Opal and I, have our rooms upstairs. You’re welcome to sleep in either mine or Sweetie Belle’s rooms.”
Exulus let off a “meow,” but unlike Luna, Rarity didn’t understand meows, or at least, she didn’t put words in the cat’s mouth. She rubbed her head, what now? Wait, of course!
Rarity went to her set of fabrics and went to work. He wasn’t a customer but she saw no reason why should couldn’t at least make a cushion for Exulus to sit on and maybe an accessory. She headed up to her drawing board and Exulus followed, simply watching as she drew a silhouette of a cat similar to Exulus and drew small additions to it. Exulus simply watched the sketches.
I hope she doesn’t expect to put all that stuff on me. Yet, exulus could tell by the drawing and by Rarity’s excited smile that that was exactly what she intended to do. It made him a little nervous, but there was something else. He felt like….like he was being watched. Something sinister was about and had its eyes trained on him, as if it knew all of his secrets.
Suddenly, an attack from behind. Exulus was pinned to the floor. He struggled and managed to break free. He scampered to the far wall and turned to see what attacked him. It was Opalescence. She stared with a piercing love and some sort of grotesque lust. It was all the kinds of love that Exulus did not want.
Opal crouched, ready to pounce again. Exulus looked around, he could go left or right, maybe jump over, but it was a pretty bad situation. Opal didn’t allow him to finish thinking as she pounced at him, but was caught mid-air by Rarity, who then said, “Opal! There you are! Now I’m sure you’d like to play with Mr. Cat more, but he’s our guest, and you know you can’t play too roughly in the house.”
Exulus took this moment to scramble out the door and down the stairs where he found Sweetie Belle in the middle of the store. The two froze, staring at each other.
“Siiiiiiiiis?” Sweetie Belle called, not taking her eyes off Exulus, “There’s a stray cat in the store!”
“I know, Sweetie Belle!” Rarity called from upstairs, “He’s a friend of Princess Luna! His name is Kitty Cat!”
“Kitty Cat?” Sweetie Belle echoed, puzzled by the odd simplicity of the name. She reached out her hoof to Exulus and said, “Welcome! My name’s Sweetie Belle, I’m Rarity’s little sister.” Exulus reached out and put his paw on her hoof for a makeshift hoofshake.
Rarity then called again, “Sweetie Belle, can you be a dear and bring Mr. Cat up here? I need to take his measurements.”
“Measurements? For what?” Sweetie Belle called back.
“For accessories of course! I want him to try some on!”
Sweetie Belle stared at Exulus, who was staring back. She then leaned down and whispered, putting her hoof by her mouth for extra secrecy, “The door’s still open, you might wanna run out while you can!”
Exulus looked past Sweetie Belle and saw the door. He made for the door and got to the doorway where he turned to Sweetie Belle and said, “Thanks,” Then dashed out.
Sweetie Belle flinched. Did that cat just talk? She thought about what she just heard until Rarity called for her again, where she replied, “Oh, uhh, sorry sis! He ran out the door when I tried to catch him!”
Exulus headed straight. He didn’t know where he was going or for how long, but anywhere would be better than trying on silly accessories. He followed the roads that eventually lead him out of town and into some sort of orchard. The orchard was full of apple trees, apple trees as far as the eye could see. Exulus didn’t know it, but he’d made his way to Sweet Apple Acres.
He looked at the apples on the trees. Some were ripe, most weren’t. It would probably be a little while longer before apple-bucking season. He started to wonder what apples tasted like. For as long as he can remember, he hasn’t tasted much else but love. He didn’t know what cupcakes tasted like, or apples, or donuts, or anything else. Maybe he could try, maybe he could find an alternative to love that nopony would be afraid of.
Exulus found himself in front of the Apple family house where Granny Smith sat in her rocking chair. She stopped rocking and said, “Wha? Whozzat!?” She looked down towards Exulus but could only see a black blur. She put on her glasses and shouted, “A cat!?” Then she calmed down, “Oh, it’s just a cat! Oh my. Applejaaaack, come here, we’ve got a cat out here!”
“Comin’ Granny!” Shouted Applejack from somewhere behind the house. She eventually came around and spotted Exulus, “Well if it isn’t Kitty Cat,” She chuckled a bit about the name, “What brings ya here? Shouldn’t you be at Rarity’s?”
Exulus looked back towards Rarity’s boutique, then back to Applejack.
“Hehe, I don’t blame ya. Wulp, make yourself at home. There’s plenty a’ room in the barn and I don’t think the cows’d mind much. Applebloom’s inside and Big Macintosh’s out ‘n the field if ya wanna go visit ‘em.”
Applejack went back behind the house to do what she was previously doing, leaving Exulus with Granny Smith, who was now just smiling happily and rocking back and forth. Exulus decided to visit the two who were mentioned since Applejack herself seemed busy. Exulus made his way out to the field. Big Mac was out plowing parts of it while others were already growing. Exulus approached Big Mac from the side. Big Macintosh stopped and looked down at Exulus, then let off an “aww.”
Exulus let off a “Meow.”
Big Mac seemed to understand and replied, “Eeyup.”
“Meow.”
“Eeyup.”
“Meow.”
“Eeyup.”
This stallion is truly a sage, Exulus thought. He bowed his head to the mighty stallion and sauntered off to allow Big Macintosh to resume his work.
As Exulus made his way back to the Apple family home, he realized something: He was tired. He’d been up all day, night, and all of this day as well. It hadn’t occurred to him before, but now his eye lids were beginning to feel heavy. He made his way into the barn and shut it. There was an upper level and a ladder up to it. Exulus changed back into his changeling form, for he would have changed back as soon as he fell asleep anyway. He flew to the upper level and pushed some stray hay around into a pile. Things have been peaceful lately. It was boring, but it was nice. He wasn’t struggling to survive or having to attend to the swarm where he was only expected to do his job and do nothing for himself. He was free, and he was with these friendly ponies. They knew nothing about him, but for now, that was okay. All he needed was love and some bit of entertainment and that would be satisfactory for him.