//------------------------------// // (22) Life: New home? // Story: The nature of the beast. // by Kintra //------------------------------// I woke on the grass. Not surprising considering. What was surprising was that I was warm. Very warm… I looked at my chest to find apple bloom had curled up and fell asleep on my chest. What’s with this girl? I started to move my hands and realized I was locked down by fluff; the cutie mark crusader human holders were a go. “Well crap.” I wasn’t really sad but I ended up staring at the sky, watching pegasi fly back and forth to nowhere. Then Apple bloom was again the first to wake. She stretched then crawled foreword poking me with a hoof. “Git up… We wanna play…” Oh jeez...Now Scootaloo and Sweetie belle are waking up… “He up?*Yawn* C`mon Apple bloom get him up!” Oh scoots. “Yea, I’m up you three, I’ve been lying here the past hour waiting for you guys to wake.” I looked at them and frowned. Suddenly the tables had turned as they all started laughing, Apple bloom was actually laughing so hard I had to catch her before she rolled off of me. “What’s so funny you three?” Then I heard a gentle *Thud* followed by rainbow dash holding a marker in her mouth. Wait…Marker? “Oh you didn’t!” She laughed and spit out the marker. “Oh I did!” I wiped the area around my eyes, sure enough, black ink. “Rainbow… Did you make me…?” I stopped a moment for dramatic effect, and then I raised my voice till it was almost a squeak. “Pretty?” Now rainbow burst out laughing and rolling on the ground, Operation revenge is a go! I set apple bloom on the ground and picked up the marker, I sat up and grabbed dash drawing a wonderful mustache and glasses on her face before she had stopped laughing. “There, now I’m pretty and you’re handsome, I consider my revenge complete.” At this point dash had settled down enough to talk and not clutch her sides in an almost painful looking manner while the CMC still just rolled around. It was funny, but not that much... “Oh man… I have to admit Eclipse; I have never been prank-backed so quick! That was… Hehe, oh that was genius!” I smiled and ruffled her mane a bit before standing and stretching. “Ugh... Now I need to take a shower… And I still need to find a house! Not to mention I still haven’t met the apple family, I haven’t seen pinkie in almost a full day so I’m assuming she’s throwing a surprise party for me.” The cutie mark crusaders suddenly stopped laughing. “Thanks to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we now know that that is true and they were told to hide it.” Dash interrupted “Now, you’re not gonna go crash her party again are you? You really hurt her feelings the other day.” I know that. Duh. “No, I’m still gonna be surprised. I just…Well, don’t take surprises well. I will still fake it for pinkie though. There nothing I can do there. But either way, I’m more worried about the house thing.” I was too, Thorn and Be May no longer need me (Damned if I wasn’t gonna try convincing them out here though) but I still worried about Brew. “Well, you could just ask the mayor to see a listing of available housing.” Oh…WOW, FUCKING DUH. I face-palmed and dash giggled at me. “Didn’t think of that do you?” She flew up and rested her elbow? On my shoulder. I looked at her and smiled. “I work in the damn place I’ve seen the houses available, and I still didn’t connect the dots. Chalk it up to idiocy on my part.” I started walking into town, being this far meant that it was only five minutes downhill and then there the town was, But then it was another ten to twenty (Depending on distractions) to the Mayor’s office. Rainbow followed me while the CMC went off to do crusading. “So did the girls tell you about their little group?” rainbow was starting conversation? Sweet. “Nope, why? They have a band?” Wait…. “How did you know they were the cutie mark crusaders?” Son of a … Let’s see... think think think... Umm... “Shit…” Was all I managed to get out? They never wore their capes… not around me anyway; they never shouted their names… damn my honesty… “I already knew, I was just joking.” Whew! Enough truth in that to be not-a-lie worthy! “Oh, alight then.” We continued to the mayor’s house and chilled outside a few minutes. Dash kept flying around me like I had my own orbit, that is until she had to go deal with weather stuff. We bro-hoofed (YES!) and said goodbye followed be me watching her take off. Then I knocked on the mayor’s door. “Come in!” Was she always there or am I lucky? I stepped into the building and noticed her behind her desk. Doing…Not a lot. And apparently loving it. She was nothing but smiles! “Uh…Am I interrupting something?” She laughed. “No no dear, your perfectly fine, come in take a seat! Tell me what you need!” I did as I was told, at least the taking a seat part. She then pushed a few forms and a bag of bits at me which she had retrieved from behind the desk. “What’s this?” She pointed (Hoofed?) to the forms. “These, will make it official that you work for me, and that you are being paid to do paperwork and blah blah. A lot of mumbo jumbo if you ask me! (Ha-ha?) And the bag of bits is your first weeks’ pay! As well as a raise!” Fuck the what? “What? Wait. Raise?” she nodded “Now that my paperwork is caught up and everything’s been properly sorted, we are actually earning a massive excess when it comes to income! Ponyville provides a lot of agriculture to the various towns and residents, and I constantly trying to keep up was really putting a damper on our coffers! Now that everything’s caught up the bits are flowing! This town will be improving greatly the next few weeks Eclipse! And it’s all thanks to you!” I was awe-struck. I really helped the town that much? This cheery lady just smiled wide. Eyes closed and most likely imagining I was the most trust worthy person ever. Did I really help that much? “You um…Do you have all the paperwork I did? I want to look over some numbers..” She nodded and almost immedietly pulled out a large binder placing it on the desk she opened it to ‘spring, 45, 1002.’ How did the princesses know the month’s thing? Oh wait, right never mind. Mind-fuckery, I forgot a moment. I reviewed everything I did the other day, going over again and again. And when I was done I was happy, but so very sad... “Mayor… Um… Your math was off.” I didn’t want to tell her. “Off? Are we earning less than I thought?” “Well… No, were actually earning almost two thousand bits a month MORE then you had...” She bawked like a chicken, no shit. “That’s fantastic! Then why are you so sad?” I laughed... It was a little forced, but to be honest I was warming up to it all... “I just… I really helped didn’t I…? I didn’t realize just how much I did, the town was stunted… then I came in and did your paperwork and now were going to experience a boom… It just… Wow! Ya know?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or cry I was getting seriously mixed signals. Can so little really help so much? I signed my name on the paper in front of me, registering me as a Ponyville citizen and collecting my pay. “You still seem a bit down. You sure you are alight dear?” I laughed, Much less forced. “Ya know…Yea. I think I am… And knowing I helped the town this much? It makes it so much easier to just, get over the insane amount I’m being paid.” She laughed. “It really isn’t that much, but if you would like more you could come with me to public conventions and talks instead of just doing the paperwork?” I smiled. “Ya know, I think not. That’s still the Mayor Mares job. So you have at it. Also, about houses?” I was suddenly very serious, no clue why but I started humming final fantasy battle music in the back of my head. “It’s taken care of dear, construction begins today!” Whooza what? Ten minutes worth of explanation and a trip back to my favorite hill showed the skeleton model of a house being built by over two dozen ponies. Rainbow swooped down to me. “Pretty cool right? I asked one of the guys, He said it’s practically a hotel! But it’s your house! Everything is paid for; the place is even going to be furnished!” You ever blacked out? I had, but never on a hill. I know I rolled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I woke back up on a familiar couch in Twilights study I sat up with a groan my head hurt like hell and to be frank I pretty sure one of my ribs was at least bruised. “Oh good your awake.” A worried twilight came out of the kitchen floating a damp towel which she hung around my neck. “Uh…What? Ya know…What happened?” Must...focus, words. Make sentence. Be smart… Aww my head... “Ya passed out dummy! And you made me worry!” rainbow jumped off the overhang to the second floor hovering feet in front of my face. “Don’t do that again!” She poked me in the chest for each word as emphasis. “Ow, Dashie.” It did hurt... not that much but still, enough to warrant an ow. Well…Okay that’s a lie. Suddenly I was being hugged by two very soft ponies. “Umm…Girls?” I didn’t know what to do! My bronie says cuddle. My human says run! So conflicted! “You’re an idiot.” “Don’t scare us like that.” Did I almost fall into a pit of acid? What? When they backed away they both were crying. Now it was just embarrassing. “Okay, I could understand being worried, but what the heck is with the tears?” Seriously… “We uh… We had a visitor. You were out almost four hours. A scout came by and told us she had met you before. She’s staying with her marefriend in the tavern, and…we saw your leechwood...” Oh… Scout? “Ah… So…Kinda cool right?” They suddenly burst into tears. And then I remembered why. “Girls, I’m not dying anytime soon, really the leechwood isn’t feeding off of me.” Suddenly they just looked a little confused. “Yea, Uh... here.” I pulled out my necklace and flipped it over. Had the number changed? “Okay? Two hours and fifty three minutes? So what? What is it?” I laughed. “It’s my spark, The leechwood is not consuming me unless I press this pretty little gem here” I pointed to the inactive opal in the center “If I press that then the leechwood can eat my fleshiness, at least the way I understand it.” They nodded. Taking this rather well. “Now, you said scout? Where is she?” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A few minutes later I was outside an actual Inn, I’m talking bar downstairs rooms upstairs, let’s start a brawl-rpg situation. It was amazing. As I walked in Rainbow and Twi held back. “Coming?” They looked at each other. “Uh… No thanks… we don’t really like places like that, too many drunken stallions.” I just nodded, I understood. I walked in to an absolutely wonderful sight. The bar was full of people one table in particular was surrounded; in the center sat a stallion almost as big as big mac would be, had I met him. Arm wrestling a filly about half his size, and LOSING at a hoof wrestle. I walked through the crowd to recognize Bulls eye was the filly I smiled. “Show him who’s the boss BE!” she heard me and looked around till her eyes found me, she smiled. Ah man, my heart melted. She let out a fierce battle cry and slammed the stallions hoof down on the table. A loud roar of happy spectators and betters started gathering bits as another green and red filly jumped up on the table, obviously drunk. “Who wantsh tha take me home!” Suddenly an even louder cheer as thorn started dancing on the table. Oh man… How could you not love these girls? Suddenly I was swept into an auction for thorn. Everyone was betting low, fuck that. “Twenty gold bits for the drunken chick and her rowdy friend!” And just like that the area cleared. I picked up the super drunk thorn while Be walked by my side. I was subconsciously stroking her mane with my free hand; I peeked out the door to Twi and rainbow. “You two coming up?” They smiled. Of course they were!