As the train pulled up to the Ponyville station, the gray haired pony readjusted her necking and ran a hoof through her mane to maintain it's coif. Mayor Mare was no stranger to meeting V.I.P.'s and other dignitaries, Ponyville's relatively small size notwithstanding, but this situation was a completely different kettle of fish.
When she had received the letter from Princess Celestia the previous day, she had thought it as nothing more than a joke; the Princess known for her pranks from time to time. But instructing the mayor to inform the city via a town meeting quickly killed that idea, causing a potential panic amongst many of her citizens was not in her M.O.
To give the town credit, the large majority of them had taken the news... relatively well. After the Elements of Harmony had befriended Zecora, the zebra who lived in the Everfree, the town was by-and-large strong-hoofed into attending a very special play held by Miss Cheerilee's class about special sensitivity and the dangers of prejudice.
The idea of which had come direct from the Princess in a pleasant, but undeniably upset response to one of Twilight Sparkle's letters about the incident. However, there had been some extreme reactions from a minority of the townsfolk, in both extremes; with several pony's fainting at the news that a human would be living amongst them... and one mare in particular literally jumping with joy.
As the train finally came to a complete stop and the occupents inside began to stir, the mayor silently thanked the fact that her request to the citizenry had been complied with and that no crowds or paparazzi had been storming the station in a mad attempt to catch a glimpse of the human.
...Then again, that may have less to do with doing the right thing and not overwhelm their strange, new guest and more to do with the fact that she had threatened anypony to do so would receive a community service sentence. "Results are results, I suppose," Mayor Mare thought to herself.
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Although there weren't that many ponies awaiting at the station, save for the Mayor, station employees and the odd commuters, there were two sets of eyes watching the area from a vantage point some distance away. In the minds of these two, they were virtually invisible... but the third in their party was more clear-headed to realize that hiding in a bush isn't the high end in stealth. Glorious Dawn, Lyra & Bon Bon (or as the former two called themselves "Humares", much to their third member's chagrin) had decided to enact their "human research".
"Oh... dear sweet Celestia...," Lyra whispered, awestruck at the strange being conversing with the mayor. "He's even more magnificent that I imagined..."
Bon Bon rolled her eyes at her friend's remark, but was able to catch Lyra bolting out of the bush at the last moment. Dawn acted quickly before Bon Bon could even react, pulling Lyra back into their observation post before the minty mare got very far. "Wha... ...You must be outta your dang mind, filly!" Dawn growled as she gave Lyra the evil eye, "This is supposed to be 'look, don't touch'! If we just go up all hypa, he'll think we be trippin' or what?"
Inside her own mind, Bon Bon cringed at every word that Dawn spoke. She had no doubt that if Cheerilee were here with them, she would try to kill the strange pony with a book on proper grammar. "Dawn is... right, Lyra," Bon Bon spoke calmly, "the last thing you probably want is for the human to get scared of you. Or to get 100 hours of community service." Lyra looked like filly who'd been told she couldn't get a puppy.
"I know.... but he's right there!" Lyra whimpered. Dawn put an understanding face and placed a hoof on Lyra's shoulder. "Chllax shortie, if we play it real cool, this human won't wanna look anywhere else otha than our direction. Just a bit ta study 'nd it'll all pay off," Dawn said, with conviction.
Lyra looked through the branches at the group, now leaving the station after speaking with the Mayor. With Twilight and her friends hogging the human, there would be no doubt that they would hog him... but at least they would be able to observe him and they gave him a Ponyville welcome. Setting her face to match her sister from another mother, Lyra nodded her head.
"Bon Bon, notebook please!" Lyra spoke, in a manner like one about to go on an adventure, "time to commence Operation: Human Watch!" She stuck her hoof out and looked at her compatiots. Glorious Dawn gave a grin and put her hoof onto Lyra's. Bon Bon sighed and reluctantly stuck her hoof in the pile as well.
"One, two, three! Let's go Humares!" Dawn & Lyra shouted, temporarily forgetting that they were stalking quietly observing the human, Bon Bon mumbling her part of the cheer. With notebook in hoof, the three left the bush to follow the human.
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"You've gotta be kidding me." Hal deadpanned. He put his hand to his face and gave a facepalm. In hindsight, he realized how comfortable the castle was; sure he'd felt as out of place there as he was going to everywhere now, but...
"Is something wrong, Hal?" Twilight (yes, he HAD finally gotten all of their names remembered) asked the human. He looked at her, then at the others, then back to her and gestured what the problem was. He had hoped that it was merely his eyes playing tricks at him as they made their way to Twilight's house to drop of his few pieces of luggage (i.e. his power battery). But as it was literally two feet in front of him, he had to accept the truth: he was going to be living in a tree.
"I realize that, if I remember correctly, this town was founded by... Earth ponies who were close to nature.... but come on!" Hal exasperated. 'Even Ch'p wasn't this nature extreme... and he was a squirrel!' he thought to himself.
Twilight and Spike laughed, and the purple mare responded to the human, "I know it might look a bit silly, but the inside is really nice inside." As she opened the door to let everyone in she added, "Come on, I'll show you where you'll be staying for now."
After letting the ponies and dragon in before himself, Hal crossed the threshold inside with only one thought, 'Thank goodness. With the size of these ponies, I thought I'd have to duck everytime I wanted to go though a doorway.'
As he beheld the interior of the main room, Hal looked around in surprise. "Okay... I'll admit that the whole tree thing distracted me a bit. But... is this place bigger on the inside?" Hal asked aloud. Twilight nodded and responded, "Yes it is, that always throws ponies off when they first come to visit. When this library was opened, a unicorn from Canterlot cast some spells to make the interior bigger." She beckoned the human to follow her down some stairs while the others remained. "And I'll admit: after I moved in... I might have added a few more of my own personal touches here and there. Just to make it more homey."
At the bottom of the stairs was a very large basement; what Spike said was indeed true, other than a few shelves of old books and, to Hal, some archaic-looking lab equipment, the room was indeed mostly empty. Placing his Power Battery on a table, Hal finished his inspection of his living quarters for the time being, "It certainly looks it." In a low voice, mostly speaking to himself, he added, "Something tells me Zatanna would probably like this pony... A LOT." Twilight's ears picked up on that, but she couldn't make out what he had said.
After the two made their way back up to the stairs, Pinkie gave her goodbye. "Well, I've gotta go! If I'm lucky, perhaps I'll get everything I need for Hally-Wally's ultra-mega super special awesome triple surprise party ready by tonight!" Then, pulling all of her friends into a huddle, she added, "Don't tell Hally. It's gonna be a secret." She then zipped out of the front door with a speed that even Hal & Rainbow Dash wouldn't sniff at.
With a dumbfounded look on his face, Hal pointed out the door and asked, "Does... she know I know everything she said she was going to do?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, just checking." Applejack gave a hearty chuckle, "I wouldn't worry none. Tha's just Pinkie Pie bein' Pinkie Pie." Rarity cleared her throat, "Ahem. Now that you've moved in... so to speak... perhaps we should go on to my boutique Mr. Jordan. I'm sure you'd like to get your measurements done as soon as possible."
Hal nodded and bade farewell to the others, following Rarity out the door. Shortly afterward, most of the others left for their own destinations: Fluttershy to her animals at home, Rainbow Dash to work with the weather team, and Applejack back to her farm. Twilight & Spike remained at home to, not only for the unicorn to write down the events of the last few days in her personal journal, but to await for the packages that Mayor Mare had said would be coming. The impromptu meeting with the Mayor had surprised the group; while Twilight had known that Princess Celestia would be sending word to Ponyville to inform them of their newest citizen, it had been surprising just how quickly (or perhaps for accurately, aggressively quick) the politician had moved in preparation for the human. Not only did the Mayor arrange for a large enough mattress to be delivered at Twilight's and for the group's luggage to be picked up and delivered to their homes, she had gone out of her way to make a not-so-subtle speech on just how kind and wonderful Ponyville's citizens were to new friends. As they had left the Mayor at the station, Hal had quietly asked, "Is she always that quick to earn brownie points, or am I the exception?"
All that Twilight and the others could do was put on a sheepish smile and move on.
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"Ooh, he's on the move!" Lyra exclaimed to her cohorts. Moving between alleyways and hiding behind buildings, the two Humares (and Bon Bon) kept their bead on their prey. Thanks to some binoculars & a handy listening spell that Dawn had cast, they were able to keep their figurative eyes and ears on the human, even when he was inside of Twilight's library. While Dawn & Lyra were keeping their attention on their target, Bon Bon just looked over their "notes". Despite only following him for about fifteen minutes, both Lyra & Dawn had somehow nearly filled up an entire notebook with their "important observations".
Bon Bon scrunched up her nose as she looked over the vitally important five page entry on his walk cycle. "Lyra, is all of this really necessary?" she asked her roommate, "I don't think any of this will help you two get to know him better." As she looked at Dawn's detailed drawing of his face (which looked very uncanny to the Earth pony) , she quietly added, "If anything, it'll make him get a restraining order..."
"Pony hush," Dawn shushed at the complainer and pointed at the pair of Hal & Rarity entering into a new building. "That's Rarity's Boutique!" Lyra informed Dawn, "she's Ponyville's premiere... and well only, dressmaker. I wonder why she has him going in there?" Dawn used her magic to get remove the notebook from Bon Bon's hooves and turned to a page to show her clueless ally.
"I got this right here shawnie. Based on tha, ah, legends on humans, they wore clothes cuz they didn't have protective fur like 'hus," Dawn said rather-of-factly. Lyra began to pour over Dawn's notes, admonishing herself for forgetting this fact. "Oh, yeah! He must be having Rarity make him some more clothes!", she remarked.
Unfortunately, they weren't able to get a good view of the inside of the shop from their position, so Lyra suggested they move in closer to the building. Dawn and, especially Bon Bon, were reluctant to go with the idea, but eventually complied after the excited green unicorn teleported herself to the branch of a tree near the building. After getting their way up to the branch, as well as shoot daggers at the reckless unicorn, Dawn & Bon Bon calmed down.
"Look, there he is!" Dawn pointed out. Luckily, their new observation spot was just in the right position to look through a window and see the occupants inside. "Ah... wonder wha-" she was about to add, when Hal took his shirt off. Dawn raised the binoculars up to her eyes much to Lyra's displeasure. "Nooo... I wanna see!" she whined. As Dawn & Lyra fought over their spying equipment, Bon Bon tried to calm them down, while holding onto the tree limb for dear life. Unfortunately, her pleas came a bit too late and Lyra & Dawn wound up pushing themselves off of the branch; fortunately, their fall wasn't too high.
Bon Bon groaned and grabbed the binoculars, that had hadn't fallen with the others, by strap with her teeth and was about to climb down when an impulsive idea popped into her head. "Might as well see what the big deal is,' she muttered as the put the spy glasses up to her eyes, "I mean, he's just getting meaured. No big deal." The words had scarcely left her mouth when Hal, who had his back facing the window, turned away from Rarity and dropped trou and inadvertently gave the mare the full monty. Bon Bon was on the ground in mere seconds, dragging the still fighting mares away from the Boutique, hoping the two didn't notice the blush on her face.
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It was about an hour later when Hal & Rarity stepped out of her shop, Hal adjusting his jacket. "Now Mr. Jordan, I believe that should suffice. With your measurements and the ideas for your clothes and... erm... undergarments, I should have something wearable for you in the next day or two," Rarity informed her client, still somewhat embarrassed. When Hal had told her he wore additional clothing that she hadn't seen, she had made the mistake of asking to see them. Hal had fought every urge he had to crack wise about the fashionista wanting to get into his pants, only stopping when he convinced himself that the reference would probably fly right over her head.
"Thanks in advance. I know you said they'll be a gift, but I insist you give me a bill for everything," he stated. "And again, sorry for showing you my ju... I mean, letting you see more than you probably wanted." Hal had to give the unicorn credit, she was uncomfortable with the sudden nudity, but still maintained professional control. He probably should have known better, but he had long been desensitized to aliens seeing him in the buff & vice-versa, he had to after years of communal showers back on Oa and the new Sector Houses.
Rarity's face once again flushed and she stammered, "Ahem, it-it was no problem. You merely did what I asked for, after all." In the back of her mind, she was thanking Celestia that Sweetie Belle wasn't home; the last thing she needed as for her to ask... questions. Getting back to the here-and-now, Rarity changed the subject, "Now that we're done with our business for now, might I suggest we get a quick morsel? I'm sure you must be somewhat famished."
It had been a few hours since their breakfast meal in Canterlot, so Hal agreed, "Sure. Got any ideas where?" Remembering that Twilight had suggested he meet as many new ponies as soon as possible (and noting his current attire would not fly for most the more fancy eateries she knew of), she made the suggestion of Sugarcube Corner. As they made their way to the sweet shop, Hal took notice of the crowd around them.
Ever since he'd gotten to town, he'd noticed that all of the ponies were a bit strange; he didn't really get the vibe that they were afraid of him, at least not too much, but they kept their distance, like they were trying to go out of their way not treat him like another face in the crowd. It all reeked of someone going out of their way to make him feel less out of place, but wound up being very off-putting.
It was at some distance away that Hal saw the building that, instantly, he knew was going to be this Sugarcube Corner. For the third time today, he'd seen one of the most impractical buildings in his life: first was the tree-library, then Rarity's Carousel Boutique, and now the love child between the Brothers Grimm & Frank Lloyd Wright. "So who works here? Please don't say Hansel & Gretel," Hal snarked at Rarity.
Sugarcube Corner, with all it's gingerbready appearance, had all the qualities any child-eating witch would love to have. Rarity, not getting Hal's reference but picking up on his attitude, answered, "I know it looks a bit strange, but this is one of the most popular spots in all of Ponyville. The whole place is owned by a lovely couple, Carrot & Cup Cake, and they employ and board our friend Pinkie Pie there."
Hal gave her a look that could only be read as 'are you serious?' and asked, "Pie. Cake. Are they related or something?" Rarity shook her head and gestured towards the entrance. She was about to walk in when the logic struck her: 'Is Pinkie related to the Cakes?' She had to admit, she had never given it any thought before...
There were a number of ponies inside the Corner, some waiting in line, most enjoying a treat at a table, when Hal & Rarity entered. Almost instantly, the whole place became silent and many of the ponies looking away from the once-thought-to-be-mythical human like they'd been caught stealing from the cookie jar. Hal rolled his eyes and made his way to the line at the register, whereupon which the ponies waiting in line decided to graciously allowed Hal to have backcuts to the front.
Mrs. Cup Cake was tending to the front, and to say she was regretting not being in her husband's position in the kitchen at the moment was an understatement. "Ah, ahem, wel-welcome to Sugarcube Corner. Can I... help... you?" the pudgy blue mare stuttered out. Hal eyed across the room and, despite knowing his order was goint to be a frosty chocolate milkshake (one of his few weaknesses!), decided to be a gentleman and allowed the lady he was accompanied with to order first. Anxious to get their orders done, Cup decided to personally deliver their order to the kitchen and zipped into the back.
Hal turned his head towards Rarity, but before he could say anything, three voices shouted out, "Cutie Mark Crusaders Human Hunters!" He had scarcely understood what was being said when Hal was suddenly covered by small ponies from out of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. nowhere! He felt his arms & legs ties up with some rope with an accompanying, "C'mon Applebloom! We gotta catch him if were gonna get our cutie marks in catching humans!" from a small, white unicorn filly.
Unfortunately, in the filly's eagerness to finally get her cutie mark, she had failed to notice her absolutely livid older sister, not even a few feet away. "Sweetie Belle! I demand you and your friends get off of my friend here," Rarity growled at the children in only a way an older sister could. In the blink of an eye, the Crusaders were in front of the upset unicorn, scared stiffless. Hal quickly managed to get to his feet, easily getting out of the would-be bonds of his would-be captors who still had to learn how to tie knots without large loops in them.
"Now, I want you to apologize to Mr. Jordan here right now young ladies," Rarity ordered. Turning to face the human, the Crusaders sheepishly gave a "We're sorry" to the now bemused human. "Me, Applebloom & Scootaloo just wanted to see if we could get our cutie marks in human hunting," Sweetie explained unhappily. Looking at their still blank flanks, Scootaloo added, "Looks like that's not going to be our special talent, anyways." Looking up at the floor, Applebloom put in her own two cents, "I hope yer not mad..."
Getting on his haunches to get closer to eye level with the little ponies, Hal decided to assure the trio, "Don't worry, it take more than that to get me upset. Promise to leave the sneak attacks alone, and I'll accept your apology." The Crusaders all nodded and the tension in the air started to let up.
Cup Cake had returned with their orders and rung them up at the register. "The plum tart and the milkshake all come out to five bits total," she announced to the human. Pulling out a small bag of currency from one of his jacket pockets, Hal put down seven coins and grabbed his beverage. After a few sips, he decided to pay his complements to the chef, "You know what, I've been to a lot of places in this universe, but I've gotta say: this is one of the best 'shakes I've had outside of home."
Giggling and feeling embarrassed at the praise, Cup waved off the complement, "Oh, stop. I'm sure you're just saying that to be nice." Handing tart to Rarity, Hal responded, "I am being nice, doesn't mean it's not true. You'd be surprised how many planets just can't get a handle on chocolate ice cream. This really is good... Cup Cake, is it?" The mare nodded and smiled. "Hal Jordan. Nice to meet you. If you'll excuse me..."
Gesturing over to an empty booth, Hal, Rarity, and the three Crusaders took their seats to enjoy their desserts.
"So," Hal asked the three fillies, "I hope you don't mind if I ask a question: Cutie Mark... Crusaders? What are 'cutie marks' and why are you trying to get them?" Breaking the floodgates, the three fillies informed the human that cutie marks were the special magical marks that appears on a pony's flank when they find a special talent, and that the three were the only ones in their class to still get them.
Their conversation petered out when a certain cream colored mare walked up to their table...
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"What's going on? Are those fillies still on him? I hope they didn't make him mad...," Lyra paced back and forth, nearly hyperventilating. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were rather infamous around all of town in their attempts to gain their marks, and now, due to their shortsightedness, they might have just caused the human to hate ponies! ....Or so Lyra feared.
Dawn was at a loss of words herself. She hadn't expected any of this to happen; she had no idea why all these ponies were acting so strangely, and now suddenly... this. "Les jus'... calm down. We gotta think. We gotta think..." she muttered, more to herself than to Lyra.
Bon Bon, meanwhile had finally had enough. "That's it, I'm putting my hoof down!" she shouted, literally stomping her hoof and getting the attention of the panicking mares. "We've been hiding and spying and writing pages of useless trivia all day. And I've had it. So I'm giving you an ultimatum: either you actually talk to this human, or we're all going home and leave him alone!"
Giving each other an uncomfortable look, the two mares began near-shouting protests at the Earth pony; 'they just wanted to make sure they had enough to talk about', 'they just wanted not make foals of themselves when they meet him', etc. All the excuses just served to annoy Bon Bon even more. "Fine then," the cream colored mare spat, "if neither of you will pony up, then I will."
With the calls of her friend, and Dawn, falling on deaf ears, Bon Bon walked into Sugarcube Corner. She didn't have to scan the room for very long, the human stuck out like a big sour ball in a bowl full of C&L's. 'Okay, Bon Bon. You can do this. You have to do this to get those two to stop acting so darn crazy. Just... put that image out of your mind, and talk casual,' she thought to herself, psyching herself up. While that certain mental image refused to leave, she made her way over to the table.
His back facing her, the first of the group to notice Bon Bon was actually Rarity. "Oh. Hello Bon Bon. How are you today?" the unicorn asked, getting Hal's attention of their visitor.
"Oh, uh, hello Rarity! It's been a while, hasn't it," Bon Bon smiled, trying to keep her cool, "I just wanted to meet your new friend here." Hal gave his name, but largely remained silent, looking Bon Bon over, much to the mare's mounting nervousness. "I, uh," she stammered, "is something wrong?" Bon Bon's mind was going a mile a minute, did he notice her & the others stalking him? Did he, Celestia forbid, notice she saw....!
"It's nothing major. I was just curious about your hair. Mane, I mean," Hal stated matter-of-factly. This threw Bon Bon off. "What about my mane?" she asked in return. Hal put up his hands to show he didn't mean offense. "I was just curious, some of you ponies seem to have some... unusual hair styles. Like with Twilight and Rainbow Dash and you. I was wondering if your hair grows multi-colored like that naturally. Most people on my planet have to dye their hair to get that effect," he informed the wary Earth pony.
Bon Bon put on a small smile, she had known this was best thing to do; already she knew more about humans in a few minutes than they had in hours of spying. "Nope, my hair is all natural!" Bon Bon cheerfully said, "while I can't speak for the others, especially Rainbow Dash, I find that mane dying always dries out your hair." Rarity agreed with this sentiment. With a bit of pride in her voice, Bon Bon added, "Everypony always says that my mane is silky smooth, so I'd never want to ruin that."
Against better judgment, Hal decided to mess around with the pony. "Really? Silky smooth? I'd sure like to know what that'd feel like," he said coyly. He was trying to be a smart-ass, but was thrown off-guard by Bon Bon's response. "I suppose, if you're curious, you could give it a feel. If you want," she muttered, her cheeks glowing through her fur. 'How do they do that? Magic?', the thought briefly flashed through Hal's mind. Turning his head over to Rarity for a cue, the unicorn was equally lost and merely shrugged.
Wary, Hal lifted his hand and, after a moment, began to pet the top of Bon Bon's head. It was awkward, but at least the mare was telling the truth, her mane was silky smooth. Bon Bon, meanwhile, was surprisingly enjoying having him pet her, seeing how a mare like Lyra could fixate on hands.
Suddenly, two voices shouted out a combined big "NO!" and Bon Bon quickly found herself being tackled by a green comet that took her a moment to realize was Lyra. "Bonnie, how could you!" Lyra accused, nearly in tears, "you knew I wanted to see his hands up close first!" Dawn was soon at the Lyra & Bon Bon's side, chastising them both for 'messin' up the plan'.
Hal looked around the store, everypony's eyes were on the bickering three who had apparently been watching him since he got to town. Rarity had a mortified look on her face and the Crusaders didn't know what to make of what they were seeing. The situation was so ridiculous, Hal Jordan did the only thing he could do: start laughing his ass off.
This happened to get everypony's attention, even the three members of the once proud group of Humares. Wiping a tear from his eye, Hal tried to compose himself, "I, ha, I gotta thank you. It's been a while since I laughed like that." Dawn, Bon, & Lyra all looked at each other and apologized, not only to each other but Hal for treating him like he was only something to study. It had taken their quarry to laugh at them for their actions, but Lyra Heartstrings & Glorious Dawn finally realized they'd been doing things extremely foalishly.
Realizing the two were legitimately remorseful, Hal decided to throw them a bone, "If you still want to know about humans so bad, I don't mind talking if we do it normally. Promise to stop all the stalking, and I'll accept your apology." He said the last part looking over his shoulder at the three Crusaders and gave them a wink, sending the three fillies into giggles. Looking at each other and smiling, the three mares grabbed a few empty chairs and joined the others at the table. It was, for the most part, an exchange on some facts of anthropology and hippology followed by some small talk (with Hal taking a mental note to talk to the Mayor about her little scare tactic), but it was for the first time in a while, that Hal Jordan felt completely at ease.
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Several hours had gone by and the sun was starting to set. The Crusaders, disappointed to have not gotten any anthropologist cutie marks, departed, going off to their parents', on curfew since the next day was a school day. The four mares & Hal were leaving the store when Pinkie Pie showed up.
"Oh, hello there Hally," Pinkie said cheerfully, "I've been looking for you." Trying to act nonchalant, Pinkie started to spin a story that Twilight wanted to see him at the library. Giving an aside glance at Rarity, Hal decided to play along. "Well, if my landlady wants me there ASAP, then I guess I gotta hurry. Mind if I bring some new friends?" Hal asked, with a false innocence in his voice. Pinkie looked over at Dawn and, realizing that her Pinkie Sense had failed to let her know that a new pony was in town, jumped up and gasped. "Omigoshanewponyisintown! HoldonforafewminutesbeforegoingtoTwilight's!" Pinkie said rapidfire and zoomed off, needing to correct some banners and the frosting greeting on the cake. Taking a few steps forward, Hal looked over his shoulder at the others and asked, "Shall we? I wanna see if we can surprise the surprise party."
The group began to run towards the library, a real lighthearted smile present Hal Jordan's face for the first time in a long while.