Chapter 3: Tor's Day Out
Tor Ironclad
I didn’t move an inch from the spot where I stood when that gray pony and I stared each other down. Now, normally I’d never set hoof in a library, books really aren’t my thing, but there was just something about this pony that didn’t sit right with me. He made me nervous, in an a way no other pony ever had. I almost felt like my stomach churned at the sight of him, like he truly didn’t belong. Yes sir, this one was definitely trouble. As soon as I entered the place, a pony who I assumed was the librarian or something greeted me. She was a purple unicorn with a dark blue mane that had a pink streak in it.
“Well hello there! I haven’t seen you around here before.” I guess I hadn’t really made an effort to meet the locals in the week that I’d spent here. She chuckled a bit nervously; obviously something had her slightly frazzled.
“That makes two new visitors in one day! Anyways, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and…” she paused, looking me over thoroughly. It was obvious that my “decorations” had caught her eye. She became slightly more wary than before. I could tell that she knew what they symbolized. “If you’re planning on causing trouble, I suggest you go elsewhere,” she cautioned me. I felt saddened by this remark, as I had finally realized what sort of treatment I would receive from the more knowledgeable ponies in town.
“I’m sorry to have wasted your time, Miss Sparkle,” I said slowly as I turned to the door. This must have made her feel bad because she quickly tried to apologize. “I’m sorry, I was very rude to you and I promise to be more careful in the future.” This caused me to perk up. Something about her reminded me of the princess.
I tried to smile at her (though I doubt she saw it anyways. You know… the muzzle…) and replied, “That’s quite alright Miss. I’m used to it at this point.”
She smiled brightly, then furrowed her brow slightly. “I know we’ve just met, and I apologize for being so forward, but is something bothering you?”
I was a little confused. “No, why do you ask?” Twilight looked down at the floor for a moment, trying to decide whether or not it was polite to continue I’m sure. “Well, you’ve got this look in your eye, like you’re angry or upset.” No wonder I didn’t think about that. It seemed I had been in isolation for quite some time. “Oh, right. Well, it’s a long story for another time.” Her smile returned. “Okay then! I look forward to hearing it!” she replied promptly as I headed out the door.
I then realized that I had completely forgotten what I had gone in there to do! I felt stupid for getting caught up in a conversation and forgetting whom I was going to track. I turned around to enter the library, but that’s when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Something gray, something unsettling… it was definitely him! He left through the back door. I casually tailed him down the street. I was only a few feet away from him, closing in, when suddenly, “Oh my, you look simply dreadful! Come with me darling, I must fix you up!”
I had hoped she wasn’t talking to me. Sure enough, I saw her staring right at me. She was a white unicorn with a curled purple mane. I tried to brush her off, “I’m sorry, but I’ve got places to be…”, but I failed completely. “Not looking like that you don’t! I’ve seen a makeover opportunity I just can’t pass up. Come with me darling. I’m taking you to the spa.”“But…” I tried to decline, but was quickly interrupted. “No buts about it! Come on, it’ll be my treat!” She said as she dragged me to the spa. I didn’t know what this “spa” she was referring to was, but it didn’t sound fun.
When we got there, the unicorn, who I found out was named Rarity on the way over, took me to the front desk and asked for “two afternoon treatment specials”. She also whispered something about metal varnish to the ponies at the desk. With that, the ponies walked us into a room used for massages and something called “pedicures” and made me lay down on a special bed. At first I couldn’t believe I was letting them keep me here. I had a pony to chase! But in less than five minutes, I had nearly forgotten about him. I was getting the world’s best massage and I was enjoying every moment of it. She must have noticed my eyes, because at one point, the masseuse asked me, “You look like you’re in pain. Am I hurting you? Is there somewhere on your body I could relieve some tension?”“No, you’re doing great. Don’t worry my face just… does that.” I replied. A few minutes later, some other ponies walked in the room and started scrubbing my “decorations’ with large brushes and rags. I’ll admit, I had gotten a bit rusty, but they did a really good job of varnishing and shining me up. I looked better than new.
“What do you think? I requested them specifically for you! Isn’t it just magnificent?” Miss Rarity asked me. I was floored by my appearance. “It looks fantastic! Thank you. Now, I really have to go…” She casually cut me off. “We aren’t finished with you quite yet, darling!”“What more could there be?” I questioned her. I was answered by a pony with scissors and a comb. She brushed and trimmed my mane. I had a lot of sticks and dirt in there, so I suppose I appreciated it. Afterwards, We went back to the front desk. “Thank you for coming with me! My friends haven’t been going to the spa with me as much as they used to.” I hadn’t really noticed it before, I guess I was too focused on my hunt for the grey pony, but Rarity was exceptionally beautiful. “It was very nice. Thank you Miss Rarity! Now I really must be going. See you around!”
I galloped out of the spa, looking sharper and feeling much more relaxed than before, eager to resume my chase. I hadn’t taken two steps on the street when I was interrupted yet again. This time, it was a blue pegasus pony with a rainbow mane. I was getting quite annoyed with all of these distractions.“Hey, you look like a pretty fast flyer!” she pointed out.“Who, me? I’m not really that fast…” I replied, embarrassed. It was true, I hadn’t ever really considered myself that quick as a flyer. ”Come on, I bet you’ve got some serious potential! Besides, I’ve been bored lately with nobody new to race. Don’t be such a dweeb about it, It’ll be fun! You’ll get to race me, the fastest pegasus in all Equestria (and future captain of the Wonderbolts) Rainbow Dash!” Wow, quite the introduction. “I’m sorry, but I’m really busy. Can we do it later?” Her eyes narrowed mischievously. “What are ya? A metal covered chicken?” the silence that followed that remark felt boiling hot. “Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, calls me chicken.” I said as I flew up next to her. “That’s what I like to hear! The finish line is Fluttershy’s cottage, next to the Everfree Forest! READYSETGO!” and with that, we were off.
One of us a swift pony with reckless abandon, the other a weighted down pony with absolutely no clue where he was going. I must have been faster than I thought, because I kept up with her for a few minutes. Then my metal started to weigh me down and brought me lower and lower, closer to the ground. I remembered the gray pony but decided I was having too much fun to care at the moment. We finally reached our destination, I lost of course, and Miss Dash punched me playfully on the shoulder before she took her leave. She probably had other, faster ponies to race. Now realizing how much time I had lost, I gave up on my search for the gray pony for the day. It seemed like a lost cause.
I began walking down the road back to town, when I noticed how beautiful the scenery around me was. I must have been enjoying it too much because I stopped paying attention to where I was going and bumped into something. I then noticed that it wasn’t a something, but a somepony. As I looked to see who it was, my cold, steel-plated heart sank. Lying on the ground in front of me was a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane, and she looked startled. She looked like she had just seen a ghost eating a school bus full of foals and puppies before it exploded twice. Needless to say, she was frightened, no terrified of something. I must have really plowed into her. “I’m terribly sorry Miss… You see, I was distracted by the beautiful scenery, and I wasn’t paying attention, so I…” not another word left my mouth before she leapt to her hooves shrieking all the way to her cottage. I guessed that she was Fluttershy.
That was why my heart sank. She wasn’t only scared of me, but terrified. This discouraged me greatly. It was a deep sorrow I had never felt before. I felt like I needed to fix things, so I went and knocked on her door. “Miss Fluttershy? I’m really sorry. Is there any way I could apologize? I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.” I almost broke down into tears. I guess I wasn’t as tough as nails as I thought I was. I had used my threatening looks before in my job bounty hunting, but never scared anypony that was innocent. This was the single worst feeling I had ever felt before, the feeling that I was a terrible metal monstrosity that couldn’t change. Just then I heard a very soft voice come from out of the door. “I’m sorry… I mean, you just frightened me a lot that’s all. I suppose… I mean, if you really wanted to… You could… Maybe… help me with a chore?”Regaining most of my composure, I took her offer without hesitation.
She opened the door and looked at me a second time, shyly hiding her face behind her pink mane. “All that we need to do is walk these sweet, cute, fluffy, adorable duckies to the pond in sweet apple acres.” “Miss Fluttershy, I’m the stallion for the job.” It took almost an hour, but we had finally done it! You’d be surprised just how difficult herding ducks can be. Still by the end of that hour we had walked the ducks all the way to a huge apple orchard. Once our task was done, Miss Fluttershy flew off, exclaiming, “Oh thank you Tor! Thank you so much! That would have been so difficult alone. Oh… and um… I’m sorry for being scared of you! You’re a really nice pony. Bye!” Satisfied with my work, my spirit lifted by Fluttershy’s kindness, I took a rest by the pond and started thinking about how much better I felt now.
I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to a hoof nudging me in the ribs. “Excuse me, mister, but you can’t sleep here. This is private property. When I opened my eyes, I saw an orange earth pony with a blonde mane wearing a cowpony hat. She looked very concerned at first, but soon after, her expression changed to a more defensive face. “Now there’s no need to get all angry about it! I’m just trying to wake you up!” She must have noticed my eyes. “I’m sorry, but I’m really not angry. My face kind of… froze that way. I’m sorry for sleeping on your farm. I must have dozed off. You see, I was helping Miss Fluttershy with a very exhausting chore.”She seemed much friendlier now. “Aw shucks, that’s alright! Any friend of Fluttershy’s is a friend of mine! My name is Applejack, and this here is Sweet Apple Acres!” she motioned for me to follow her.
She took me to her home and called out her family. “Everypony, we have a guest! Come down and meet him!” I met her brother; a red draft horse named Big Macintosh, her grandmother; Granny Smith, and her little sister; Applebloom. She had me sit down for dinner with them. I like that family. They’re friendly. At dinner I was offered some delicious looking apple pie. It was difficult to eat, you see, because of my muzzle. Afterwards, I thanked the Apple family and headed out of the house.
It was dark when I left. I was walking back to town, when all of a sudden a swift movement caught my eye. I could barely make out the form of a gray pony moving quickly over the hilltop. “A gray pony? Why does that seem familiar? Oh right!” I tailed him silently and swiftly. He had a bag of sorts around his neck, a sort of satchel. I was getting more and more curious by the second. We were galloping over the horizon noiselessly, him leading the way, without knowing I was even there. Then he stopped. We were at his destination; a graveyard. What was he doing here? I didn’t like the looks of this. I followed the pony through the wrought iron gates into the boneyard and hid behind a gravestone as he searched the stones opposite of my position. He must have found what he was looking for, because he stopped in front of a grave and mumbled to himself. The earth in front of the grave was freshly churned and obviously had recently been disturbed, I thought perhaps he had lost a loved one. I began to think about leaving, but I never expected his next action. With slow deliberate movements he began to dig, beginning to rip up the fresh soil as his enthusiasm grew. He was a grave robber. He searched through the dirt, tossing aside bits of pine board and chunks of mould obviously looking for something. He cursed silently, a foreign word that sounded I had never heard, something like buck.
Then he stopped moving. He stared at the pine-board coffin he had dug up, and then reached into it slowly. Almost instinctively, I jumped out from behind my hiding place and faced off against him, “Grave robbing’s illegal. You just dug yourself a hole deeper than the one that pine box was in, you hear?” The pony hardly moved. I would have expected a jump like that to surprise anypony, but an inaudible mumble was the only response. He stood stalk-still, frozen with his head was turned away from me. This made his strange tumbling speech even harder to understand.
“What was that?”
“*mumble mumble mumble* care.”
“Speak up”
“I need what I took. Why should I care?” I was aghast. “Because you just stole somepony’s relative!” His voice was quiet, but I found that sick feeling from the library return as his words burrowed into my ears. “Says here that he was an orphan. Orphans are abandoned, left behind on their own. Don’t hardly know what they are doing here, just left here for some reason. What reason? Do you know your reason? Do you know why? You are because you think you are, that’s why.”A strange breeze blew around us, and I nearly jumped at a twig snapping behind me, I spun around quickly while the grey pony continued his mumbling rant. There was definitely something wrong with this pony, something very wrong. Everything about him was disturbing in some unquantifiable way. “Look here mister, I’m here to stop you. I’ve been watching you, and I knew I couldn’t trust you.”
“I know.”
That reply threw me for a bit of a loop. “What do you mean?”“You’ve been trying to follow me all day. Couldn’t, too much hospitality. It’s really something isn’t it? So much friendship, so much happiness, but they try not to look at me. I wonder why? I can look at them sometimes, but they try their best not to look at me. But you looked at me. Response, that’s what we all need. You don’t want friendship do you? No of course not. Not from Seething Mass, Not from the gray pony that no one will see. That is fine. I had to have you follow me. The metal, it, I, I need… help. “ My insides churned as I digested what he was saying. “I’ll say! I have never heard more crazy in one pony in my entire life! You are coming with me now, or else I’ll show you why they put this metal on me in the first place.”
At the mention of my Decorations the pony, Seething Mass I suppose, looked at me for the first time. The pupils of his eyes were white, surrounded by only a solid deep purple, and wide with what I suppose could be called admiration.
He spoke. “The metal, you can understand can’t you? That metal, It’s simple really, just a few bolts in the right place, twists of wire, do you know how to make Death fly? I do. Why? I have no idea, don’t even know what that means, but I feel that I know exactly what to do. Heheh, so very odd, really…”Now what exactly do you say to that? I had nothing. Luna’s handiwork stared down at us and the gravestones, the light from the moon making the grey pony seem even more faded and immaterial. We stood there for a while, just like before, staring each other down. We expected a lot of things to happen, but we couldn’t have begun to anticipate what did happen.
A pink pony with a cotton candy mane appeared out of nowhere and started bouncing around and giggling like she had too much sugar. Seething Mass blinked twice, and his wide, pale eyes focusing quizzically at her. I just stared, wide eyed and slack jawed. We looked back at each other, equally flabbergasted. Then we looked back at the hyper pony before us. We were assaulted with a barrage of words.
“SoIsawtherewerenewpoiesintownthatIdidn’tknowwhichwasweirdbecauseIknoweveryponyintown,
*GASP*
butanyways,Ithought’theymustbesadandlonely,nothavingmanyfriendsyet’soIdecidedI’dthrowyouapartytomorrowbutyouwouldn’tknowunlessItoldyousoIhadtofollowyoutomakesureyougotmyinvitationanditwasreallyfunbeingallsneakysoareyougonnacome? Are ya? Are ya? Hmmmm?”
she said all of that, out of breath, but still as thrilled and hyper as ever. I was quite impressed, to say the least. The gray stallion looked absolutely shocked. I spent the whole day hanging out with girls, and who knows where Seething Mass had been, but I guess we’d both be at a party tomorrow. Unless, of course, I hauled Seething into jail. I looked over at him for a moment and saw what he held in his hoof. A beam of moonlight fell and glinted off of half of a unicorn horn, its shattered edges matching the ragged edge of the stump in Seething Mass’s forehead. I still wasn't sure what it was doing there in that grave, but that horn was his and nopony else’s. For what seemed the millionth time these past few weeks, I didn't know what to do.