//------------------------------//
// Chapter Seven 
// Story: Trials and Tribulations 
// by Divide 
//------------------------------//

				Trials and Tribulations
Chapter Seven: Decisions, decisions

The walk to the Rarity's boutique was uneventful. As the two walked inside, Rarity told Seth to sit on the stool and wait, as she had to grab her supplies.

Rarity had the professional air of a fashion designer when she came back, dragging several different kinds of material behind her with a measuring cloth around her neck. Rarity was excited to make Seth's shoes. She was excited because it was her chance to show that she could make anything look fashionable, even Seth's odd looking hooves.

"What type of materials do you have, Rarity? Us humans have to put all our body weight on our feet, so something sturdy would be recommended," said Seth.

Rarity glowered at him, causing him to stutter and say apologetically, "N-no offense to your clothing skills, of course. I'm sure you know exactly what you're doing."

Rarity measured his feet's length and width, making a tsk sound as she went. "Your feet are bigger than even  I anticipated. The width is similar, but the length is preposterous."

Seth couldn't not take the opportunity to make a wisecrack. "If I had hooves instead of feet, I wouldn't be able to stand properly, much less walk."

Rarity ignored his comment and continued to measure. After several more minutes of silence, Rarity broke it by asking, "Do you have any particular colour you'd like them to be?"

Seth looked down at his dress pants and undershirt. "Any colour you want, as long as it's black."

Rarity nodded, evidently pleased by his colour chose. "Alright, that about does it. How will I get a hold of you when your shoes are done?"

Seth himself was wondering, as Rainbow Dash never told him where her house was. "I guess I'll have to stop by later tomorrow, as Rainbow Dash is letting me stay at her house tonight."

The look on Rarity's face made Seth feel like he made a mistake accepting the invitation. "Where, exactly, is Rainbow's house?"

Rarity gave him a pat on the hand with her hoof. "You'll find out soon enough, my dear gentlecolt. Hmm. Gentlehuman? No, that sounds wrong."

"You can call me 'sir', if you'd prefer. That proper one for me would be gentleman, but I always preferred 'sir'," Seth said with a smile.

Rarity agreed to that and bid him farewell. Seth made his way to the Sweet Apple Acres farm, surprised that his feet weren't more banged up, as the grassy ground was surprisingly pleasant to walk on.

After finishing a pleasant lunch with Applejack and her family, Seth went on to Fluttershy's house near the edge of the forest. After assuring her that he wasn't anyone other than himself, she led him to the section of animals that she kept. He was amazed at the selection. Fluttershy had everything from albatross to chinchillas to an alligator. Even an umbreon. Or at least it looked like an umbreon. Seth hadn't played Pokémon in years.

(An umbreon is a Pokémon that has always been a favourite of mine. Shut up, I can do whatever I want)

"What's that animal over there?" asked Seth, pointing at the mysterious black creature with yellow rings, which looked like a dog/cat/jackal/fox thing. 

"Oh, I found him wandering the outskirts of the forest last week. I don't know what he is, so please be careful, okay?" said Fluttershy.

Seth grinned mischievously. "I think I know what he is, but I have to check something."

Seth walked over to the umbreon, who looked at him expectantly. Seth looked straight at it, and said, "Umbreon, use Moonlight!"

To Seth's and Fluttershy's surprise, the umbreon's yellow rings glowed and its eyes gained a reflective sheen. After several seconds of this, the umbreon stopped glowing and returned to its normal state, only with its head cocked at Seth.

Seth was extremely surprised that that actually worked. Holy fucking shit! thought Seth. I get to have a awesome pet! Wait, where did come from? Never mind, some things are better left unanswered.

"So it's called an 'umbreon'?" asked Fluttershy. Seth nodded vigorously, which caused Fluttershy to say, "I've never seen another one like it, and I know most animals in Equestria. How did you know what it was?"

Seth shook his head slightly. He didn't know how to explain it to Fluttershy, so he chose the answer that would not make him look insane. "The umbreon species is native to my planet. I've never actually seen one in person before, so I had to check. I have no clue as to why it's here though."

All the while Seth was talking, the umbreon was sitting down and looking at him expectantly. After noticing this, Seth asked him, "So what do you say? You want to be my pet?"

The umbreon make a sound which could only be described as a cross between a bark, a purr, and a purun-like sound. Seth took that to mean 'Yes'.

Smiling with his newfound pet, Seth was about to walk to Twilight's when he realized he had nowhere to keep the umbreon. He hadn't even thought of a suitably badass name for it yet.

"Fluttershy, I don't mean to be a jerk and do the opposite of what I just said, but could you look after him for a bit longer? I don't actually have a place to keep him yet, nor have I thought of a name."

Fluttershy nodded and said, "Oh, it's no problem. I'd like to observe him for a little why longer, anyway."

Seth was positively ecstatic with this new place he would soon call home. He was so happy, he scooped up Fluttershy and gave her a hug, which made her 'Eeep!' ever so adorably. 

Putting her down, Seth said, "You are just the most adorable little pony out there. My daughter would have loved to be here...."

He abruptly realized what he said. My daughter. 

Fluttershy, seeing Seth's mood change instantly from jubilant to grief, was understandably afraid.

"I-I've got to go. Goodbye and thank you again, Fluttershy," said Seth before briskly walking away, leaving Fluttershy frightened for the well-being of her human friend.

Seth took the long way to the library, calming himself down mentally as he walked. He didn't want to think about how she was doing, didn't want to think about her future, as he knew he would get angry and regretful. He checked his watch. 3 o'clock. He made pretty good time.

Feeling sufficiently calmed down by the time he reached the library, he briefly observed it. He was surprised to note that the library was inside a tree, but that wasn't the startling part. No, the startling part to Seth was that it was still alive, green leaves and all. Shaking his head in awe, he knocked on the door. He really didn't like the fact that he had to duck under almost every doorframe. He was fairly tall, but everywhere he went in Equestria made him feel like a giant. His musing was interrupted by the door opening and by the small dragon that had opened the door.

Both he and Spike, for of course it was him, jumped backwards at the same time, both uttering a curse in their respective languages. Of course,  Spike said something that would be okay to air on a children's network, however, Seth did not.

"Jeez," said Spike after calming down. "You scared the scales of off me!"

Seth, not wanting to be outdone, said, "Christ, you scared the piss out of me! But I digress. You must work for Twilight. Would you kindly go see if she's around?"

Spike complied, but only after muttering, "I don't work for her, I live here for Pete sake!"

Seth only waited for about fifteen seconds before he could hear a distinct "He's here, he's here!" and the sound of hooves on wood.

"Hello again, Twilight. Did you miss me?" said Seth with a look of complete ignorance.

"Don't give me that, you'd be excited too if another sentient creature that came from another world appeared with no explanation," Twilight pointed out.

Seth laughed and said, "Fair enough. Oh, that reminds me, I have a gift for you Twilight." Seth reached into his pants pocket and brought out his phone.

"What is it? It looks like a piece of metal and plastic to me," said Twilight suspiciously.

"You are in for a surprise, dear lady. This little device contains more knowledge than a hundred books, more music than you can imagine, and more games than I care to remember. It's yours, if you want it."

Twilight was eyeing the phone with a much different look than before. Seth would compare it to desire. "How does it work?" she asked.

Rather than explain, Seth showed her. He showed Twilight where everything was stored on the display, how to actually use the phone, and about the battery system.

"The battery system is connected to an external solar-powered charging system..." said Seth, noticing Twilight didn't understand a word he said. Sighing, he explained it simpler. "You let it sit in the sun for a couple of hours and it should work for about a day. As long as you keep doing that, it should never run out of power."

Twilight stared at the small and complex computer she held in her hoof. "How am I supposed to use it? It was designed for your species foreleg digits, not pony hooves."

"I can rectify that," said Seth. He took a stylus from a hidden compartment in the phones diamond hard case. He showed it to Twilight and said, "This should work, right. You could use it by magic, or your mouth if you need to."

Twilight had never been given a gift like this before, and she was understandably at a loss for words. "I don't know how to thank you Seth. This is the greatest gift I've ever received. Are you sure your okay with letting me have it?"

Seth laughed again. "I've read every book, listened to every song, and played every game on that thing at least once. You can keep it as long as you want. A couple of things though. First, don't go listening to any music marked as 'Dubstep' or 'Hardstyle' unless you want your eardrums to pop. Second, stay away from the book 'The Art of War' as I don't want to be held responsible for what might happen if you read it. Thirdly, try not to drop it too much. The case is damn tough, but as Murphy's Law states: If something can go wrong, it will."

Twilight gave Seth a big hug and asked, "What can I do to repay you?"

Seth just chuckled and said, "You could do your job and let me borrow some books..."

Twilight visibly reddened at the mention of her neglecting her duties. "Of course! What type of books are you interested in?"

"I like most books, but right now I'll stick with the principles of magic and the history of Equestria for now," said Seth.

Twilight brought Seth the books he desired and the two of them sat in companionable silence, one going over the magical device she was given and the other reading about the magical applications of, well, magic. Due to the nature time and it going faster than you expect it too, it was nearing dark when Seth and Twilight were knocked out of their stupor by a knocking (Hoofing?) at the door.

Seth looked up and blinked owlishly. Where had the time gone? Seth thought to himself. I haven't zoned off into a book like that since high school. He looked over at Twilight and saw that she was blinking repeatedly, probably attempting to get the screen to disappear from her cornea. She cantered over to the door and opened it, revealing Rainbow Dash.

"C'mon Seth! Time to go!" said Rainbow anxiously.

Seth rolled his eyes. "Coming Mom," he said sarcastically.

He picked himself off the carpet and walked over to the door. "Goodbye Twilight. Have fun with the phone. If you don't want a headache in the morning, I'd recommend not looking at it for more than 6 hours a day."

Nodding and promising to do so, Twilight bid them a fond farewell.

Seth started walking along the path only to be stopped by Rainbow Dash. "Where do you think you're going? My house isn't that way."

Seth stopped and walked in the other direction. He was once again stopped by Rainbow Dash. Feeling a bit miffed, Seth walked in the other two directions, but was stopped both times.

Finally losing his patience, Seth said, "Well where the hell do you live then?"

Looking up into the sunset sky, he saw something that startled him. There was a house made of clouds. No, he thought to himself. That is a mansion made of clouds. This breaks every law of physics I care to remember.

He looked back down to Rainbow Dash and asked, "That's all well and good, but how am I supposed to get up there?"

Answering his question with a statement, Rainbow unfurled her wings and turned to let Seth climb on. The statement said, "If you don't want to fly with me, you're sleeping outside."

"Well, fuck," said Seth.