//------------------------------// // Chapter 20: Half-Answers and Dear Friends // Story: Blank // by GameMakingOtaku //------------------------------// Chapter 20 Half-Answers and Dear Friends The next few days, Inn got some help from Twilight and Fluttershy. They would help make some tea for Inn, and go get the other tea bags from the hut. Quickly, Inn started to get some strength back. Inn could not stand too long on her own though. Today was the day Fancypants was checking out. He was at the counter paying, and saying his goodbyes. “In the end, it seems this wasn’t the town I was looking for. It was still fantastic to be here and see what there was in this quaint little place.” “H-hope you come b-back sometime.” “By the way, I never got the name of this little town. I thought is was Hoofington, but I must of done something wrong, and now I'm here.” Inn wanted to play with the fancy pony. “Well, I-I'm new here too.” Fancypants chuckles, “Oh, I see. Well, I'll still have to come and visit here some time.” ============= Inn had been putting something off. Now she knows that she might have to go and check something. She asked Twilight and Fluttershy to help her go into the forest. When the three got to the large metal structure, Inn asked to be set down and for the two to go hide and wait for Inn to come back out. A bell rang, echoing throughout the building. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other with confused faces. “Oh, how are you today? It's been nearly seven months my little pony. Come in, come in,” said Moonstone. Twilight and Fluttershy could see some of him, and got the idea that he look more than odd. Inn hesitated for a few seconds. This was not the Moonstone she knew. “Y-y-yes. We need t-to talk.” Inn walked into the house, leaving two confused and frightened friends behind. ============= Inn was sitting down, sipping some tea. Telling the new Moonstone about her visit with her parents, and her drain of energy. After some time of talking, Moonstone made more tea, making lots of noise as he did it. Inn told him that there was a nice pony she met recently. She told him about the visit to the royal castle, and he really perked up. Inn could feel her strength returning to her. “Oh my Inn, this is great. Just great! Hope you feel better soon, and can work for me again soon too.” Moonstone got up to make some more tea. They were drinking it fast. Inn could now see all of what was different about Moonstone. His face had two colors, blue, and green and the muzzle was almost the same. One half of his body was a new thing of colors. He had a new green going down his left leg, a patch of purple on his shoulder and a orange patch for his stomach and back. His hind left leg was now orange, green and red. The pink patch for the cutie mark was now gray. His chest was a bright fiery red. Then his mane, it it was orange, and looked like a much more clean and groomed mane, with thick yellow highlights. This was too weird for Inn. On top of everything else, this was just too weird. “Can I-I get some more tea? I seem to b-be running out, at my h-h-hut,” asked Inn, shoving Moonstone's offer to the side. “Oh deary me. You can have some more no problem!” he said, as she went to grab some of the bags. Inn watched him carefully, she did not know what to expect now. ============= They talked for about one and a half hours. When Inn walked out, that's walked and not stumbled, she was greeted by two eager hellos. Her friends were still there waiting for her. Inn walked up to them. “Okay, I-I'm ready to go now.” “Who... who was that?” asked Fluttershy, shaking at the image she had in her mind. “H-he is a pony t-that helps me. His name is M-moonstone. I'm... I'm starting to w-wonder about him t-though.” Inn then turns into a Goldhorn. “Oh yes, this is far better than how I felt moments earlier.” The large dear had an echoing booming voice. “I will now be the one to give you a lift.” Fluttershy's eyes was fixated on the two stubby horns of gold. Twilight was fascinated by the size, which was doubling or even tripling theirs. “Wait, wait! You can't be serious. There's no way you can go on for long in your condition,” pointed out Twilight. “I am good. I could possibly hold a form for a month now. All thanks go to Moonstone, I think I may have figured out his trick.” Inn laid down. “For now, we should go.” “What a beautiful animal,” Fluttershy said finally. ============= Two scared and tired ponies feel relief to see home. As a huge Goldhorn went fast through the forest, making a half to three fourths of an hour trip, in just ten minutes, dodging trees and forest life as it zipped past. “Land!” called out Twilight. Fluttershy was still too scared to know that she did not have to hold on for dear life. Inn turns back to normal. “Oh, t-that was fun! Let's do it a-again!” bounced Inn, still with a shaking Fluttershy holding onto her neck. “No!” they shouted in unison. “Ah~!” moaned Inn. “Well, me and Applejack are doing somethings to day. Have a nice day.” “Bye,” whimpered Fluttershy. “Bye, have n-nice day.” ============= Inn goes back to the Inn with Fluttershy still on her back.. It took nearly fifteen minutes after Inn got back, to clear of her back. Shortly after making her back lighter, Inn had a guest. Rarity can in to ask Inn a question. “Oh, Inn my dear, I need you to come to my shop.” “Ah, okay.” All three left the inn, two going one way, and Fluttershy going another way. ============= Rarity guided Inn to the designer’s room. There was a six pony dummies made for clothing design. “Oh, okay, ah, what d-do you want?” asked Inn. “Where should I start?” Rarity pauses to think. “I know about you, or at least I think I do. I heard you and Fluttershy talk, and I have seen what I can only describe as you but not you.” Inn looked at Rarity skeptically. “Well, I need to make some absolutely fabulous dresses for the others... Can you turn into them for me so I can see how the dresses look and be sure that they are as fantabulously fantastic as possible?” “Wait, ah, you know?” asked Inn as she backed up a little. “Yes. isn't that what I just said? Now do you mind giving me a hoof with the dresses or not?” Inn blushed, “C-can I have one too?” “I'll make you one as payment. The only thing is, these dresses are for the Grand Galloping Gala. How's that?” “Okay.” ============= The main six dresses were done. They were resting on the six manikins, and the only dress left, was Inn's. She was laying down as the fashionista went to work with on paper to draw up the dress. In just twenty or thirty minutes, there was blueprint for the dress, and they were back to work. “This, seems... odd. Wh-where are you g-going with it?” asked Inn, as she took a look at the uncompleted dress she was wearing. “Inn, dear... are you saying my work is horrid?” replied Rarity, shocked and appalled by the question. “No... isn't this d-dress suppose to r-represent me? At this point, I-I don't see i-it. How is this dress m-me?” explained Inn. “I'm sure that y-you're good, but I can't tell. I d-don't have a taste for art. I'm just lost.” “Oh, dear. Where to start. You are a very mysterious pony that blends into her surroundings. In the back there is a strip of black lacy fabric. It's to look like a tail that isn't there. The same will be done for a mane, only I will make it more stilted. The portion on the back is fashioned black saddle to help with the distinction of the white on the rest of the dress. The white part of the dress will be two parts, and the over layer will show cut outs of your cutie mark agent the same color background cloth. The only way to see them, will be to look hard, and have good lighting. The rest will be something like a... stylized casual. To show how simple you can be.” Rarity said this all while she continued to work. “Oh, ah, nice. You thought about everything.” Inn took another glance at the dress, and could see what the fashion designer had seen too. “Oh, ah, Inn... I can I ask of you another favor?” Rarity's tone seemed to be different, but it also seemed as if, she had not done anything to change it at all. “What?” “I'm going to show these in a small fashion show. It would be nice to have a little music going as my wonderful dresses are being shown. Can you play music in any way for me?” Rarity's eyes got big and puppy dog-ish. “I-I can try. I n-never have before.” Inn started to look down and away.. “That would b-be new for me. A-are you s-sure you would w-want me to-?” “If you can change your appearance, no pony will know it's you.” “O-okay, I'll think a-about it.” ============= Inn looked for the next two days. She was trying to find out just what to turn into, looking at the mixes and matches that would work the best. She thought that a simple look for the fashion show would do fine. The only other thing to do was learn about music. She had been doing so for some time, and was told that the only needed to time listening to the music. She was sitting in Inn inn, when she looked at the clock. Inn was about to be late for the preshow. Inn rushed to Rarity’s shop. Just as she had closed the door, she turned into her musical pony self. The white unicorn looked around the messy boutique, trying to see if Rarity would pop up. “Yo, Rares, where are you? Yea have a guest!” she called out. An oddly disordered Rarity came down stairs. “Whoa, what's up with the new hair due? Are you okay there?” Rarity looked at the new pony. “Who are you dear? I'm sorry but I can't make a dress at the moment. If you wish to have one made, then come back tomorrow,” growned Rarity. The unusual tone in Rarity's reply made Inn back up a little, and look at Rarity skeptically. “Yo, it's me, Inn.” Rarity had walked to a dress that was on a manikin. Inn thought all the new dresses looked quite bad. After the introduction though, Rarity paused and looked at the guest again. “Oh, darling! I'm so sorry for that. It's been so hectic here lately. The show will start soon. Do you have a good cover name?” Not two seconds after the question was asked, Applejack came down the stairs. “Now Ah know it don't take that long ta get a dress. Need some hel-” she started, stopping as she had seen what had been taking up Rarity's time. A pony with a blue mane and tail, including two alternating hues of blue. A set of blue sunshades were on her nose too, making the white unicorn look a little hip. On the flank was a music note cutie mark. “Oh, ah, Applejack, yes, ah this here is-” started Rarity. “Yo, I'm Vinyl Scratch. I have a small music mixing company called DJ Pon3, that's pony with a three,” said Vinyl, smoothly. “Y-yes, ah, Vinyl. She's here to do the music.” “Yep, I'm here to for the show thing. Seeing as how someponies know me as DJ Pon3, ya can just call me that if you wish.” “Okay. Nice to meat you DJ Pon3. I'm Applejack.” It took a few minutes for the show to start. Scratch was rushed into her position, only told to start the music when the lights got low. She waited patiently looking over the crowd. She had seen what looked to be a big shot fashion pony come and sit next to the stage. She seen the light go dim, so she started the music. Instead of the great dresses from before, Scratch saw the horrible looking dresses from the boutique. She looked at the dresses confused. She know that there was good dresses, so why was there these bad ones? Everypony else seemed the share the opinion that Scratch had. The dresses look just horrible. “Oh those amateurish designs look like a miss mash of everything but the kitchen sink,” commentated the big shot fashion pony. The comment resulted in the crowd laughing. “It's a travesty, it's what it is. Those outfits are the ugliest things I've ever seen, oh for shame! I demand to know who has subject our eyes to these horror, not to mention wasting my valuable time!” he continued. Is Spike dumb, can he not see that Rarity was just being mocked? Thought Scratch, after Spike encouraged Rarity to come out and give a bow for her “good” work.. Eventually Rarity came stalling out slowly. ============= Inn had tried to cheer up Rarity, but it seemed to only make things worse. So for the past few days, she only tried to see if her friend would cheer up on her own. Inn was at the hut keeping some things tidy. She was neglecting it the past month or so. Out of the blue, there was a knock. “Yo, you in there?” called what seemed to be Rainbow's voice. Inn goes to the door and sees Rainbow looking a little excited standing at the door. “Wh-what is it Rainbow?” “We have this totally awesome plan to help Rarity. We just need your help. Can you turn into animals?” Rainbow said rapidly. “Oh, ah... yes I, ah... guess. What animal did y-you have in m-mind?” Inn felt a little unsure about the situation. “Oh, it's the best plan ever!” ============= Little, as littler than have been before. A small mouse scurries across the floors of the boutique. This mouse was looking for something. An unusual pray for a small mouse. This little brown mouse was looking for a white cat. A cat the was at least ten times its size. Yes, Inn was setting up a trap for Opalescence. Sadly for Inn though, she was the bait. As she went from one object to another, she couldn't help but shake. When she was in the middle of the shop, it suddenly got darker. Looking around quickly, Inn sees a towering white fluff ball, smacking its lips. “Eek!” was all the little mouse could say in response as she scurried off. The cat was fast, but the mouse was also fast. The upper hand that the mouse had, was obviously size. Using this advantage, Inn would hid under some cloth or behind some manikins until it was moved or pounced on. Her only goal now was to buy time to think of a way out. After a few seconds it clicked. Inn made an additional trap. This one was more about wits. Inn kept on dodging Opalescence's attacks, moving towards the door little by little. It was so simple, and yet it works every time. This time was no exception. She did what she could to say at least two feet ahead of Opalescence, as she looked for the tree next to Rarity's room. This gap was good for Inn learned that the type of mouse she turned into was not capable of climbing trees. She looks back and sees the gap being closed, so she quickly changes her pause into claws so she can climb the tree. The cat followed the mouse up the tree... and to a branch... the tasty looking mouse turning into a pegasus, and flies off. Another pegasus lands on the branch. “Thanks Inn. You were a big help,” said Rainbow as she waved by to Inn.