“You two really shouldn't be fighting so roughly,” Spring deadpanned as the two of us just continued staring.
“Oh...right.” I quickly let Steel up and moved away, still a bit shaken by this new revelation. Could this be for real? Flithy Rich wasn’t one of the mane 6 so how could this have possibly have come up. He had only been in a single episode, not one of the best episodes even; and he had somehow been selected. An OC could have even been forgiven, or perhaps somepony that the fandom had picked up more with and run on. This just made no sense, everyone knew that when humans go to Equestria they shack up with one of the mane 6 and eventually fall for them. Everyone knows that!
“Why?” Was all I could really manage after a bit.
“Mr. Rich here is a well respected member of our local community and has generously agreed to house a pair of colts that are down on their luck,” Spring said, taking no note of my disbelief.
“That’s right boys,” Filthy Rich piped in as he stepped forward, “we have plenty of room at my house so there shouldn’t be much of a problem. I even have a little girl around your ages so you three should all get along.” Just the way that he spoke gave me terrible Annie flashbacks.
Oh god I had nearly forgotten about Diamond Tiara. “Alright let’s go!” Steel merrily exclaimed. I glanced over to him to see that he was nearly bouncing on his hooves. Damn, I had forgotten about this whole thing too.
“Calm down a little bit,” I whispered to him.
“How can I calm down dude when we are going to meet DT; we will probably even find out her backstory.” It was already too late it would seem, the crazy train had left the station.
“Yeah that’s nice and all, but who really cares. Do you know what this all means? It means...”
“What are you two whispering about?” Spring asked, breaking my train of thought completely. It was probably something really important but whatever.
“Oh,” I said turning back to the mare, “just about how excited we are. We have been living in those creepy woods on the edge of town for weeks so a nice warm house would be great.” Did that fit in consistently with what I had said earlier? Aw who cares it got that sappy pitying look from them that I was going for.
“Well if you boys would like to follow me then the carriage is waiting just outside and we can be on our way.” Rich explained. Before I could even inquire as to what carriage he was talking about he and Spring had already turned to walk away; assuming of course that we would follow just like the good little children we were supposed to be. I sighed and set off after them with Steel next to me, equally frustrated at just being given orders and having really no course other than to follow them.
When we did step out into the harsh mid-afternoon light we found that there was in fact a carriage waiting for us outside with two stallions hooked up to it. It looked like what I had actually pictured for the half minute I knew that it existed. It was made of a plain looking wood, and if I was a betting man I would bet it was applewood though I of course had no idea what that looked like, it had a small set of stairs connected to the door that was standing open. Filthy Rich was already inside of the thing and he beckoned us in as we approached and climbed up into the vehicle. The two seats on either side of the interior were plush and covered in some purple felt or something so me and Steel sat opposite our now caretaker.
Once we were all inside and the door was closed the carriage took off with a simple word from Mr. Rich before he turned to study us for a while. “Well now we have a chance to get to know each other. Why don’t you two tell me a little about yourselves.”
Our transport bumped along the dirt path as I sat there for a little trying to think of what to say. “What do you want to know?” Steel asked.
“Well I learned a lot about your past from Spring Shine so mostly I want to know about what you two like to do or like to eat or do to have fun in your spare time,” he replied with a smile, was it just me or was this guy filling out the way to nice rich guy role perfectly. I bet he has some sort of child dungeon under the house, yea that’s where I’m putting my non-betting money.
“Well,” Steel again this time, “I like to play games and read, that’s about it on that front. I’ll eat most edible things and I relax in my spare time so that I’m never stressed out.” Well at least the guy knew himself pretty well.
“And you?” Filthy asked as he turned to look at me.
“I tend more towards reading and writing than playing a lot of different games. I eat a lot of different stuff, except lettuce or onions. Do not give me lettuce or onions. I’ll spend my spare time writing or doing something new if it should come up,” I said with a shrug.
“We have an extensive collection of books in our study since you boys seem to enjoy reading so much,” Rich said after a moment of consideration. “And as for what you would like to eat, you can tell your preferences to the cook and she will prepare meals accordingly.”
“Cook? You actually have a cook in your house?” I asked.
“Yes we do, the estate is very large and having a cook is just something that makes logical sense after a certain point. I suppose I should tell you two more about where you will be living for now.”
“Please do,” Steel said.
“Well,” he began, “the main house is on a thousand acre estate outside of town a ways. Since you two will be starting school tomorrow you will be commuting to and from school with my daughter by carriage since it is far too distant to walk there. Once we arrive I will be having Dusty show you around the estate and to your separate bedrooms that will be in the main house, and tell you any of the minor details that you require.” The way he said everything made it sound like a rehearsed speech.
“You have planned a lot of this out haven’t you?” I asked.
“Do you think I would flippantly take in two orphans without considering the basics? You will come to find that I am an amiable stallion, but I do always think through my actions. Your life at my home shall be well provided for in every way possible, there are only three things that I need you to keep in mind and do without questioning.” Now that didn’t sound too good.
“Like...” Steel said, probably just to continue the conversation since it sounded like we would need to ask or just sit here in an uncomfortable silence. The feeling of the carriage bumping along the ground changed slightly, we probably moved onto a different kind of road.
“The first thing I need you to do is not besmirch my family name in any way, my family’s reputation keeps my business afloat. Secondly, I need you to keep your studies in excellent shape. I don’t know how long you two have been out of school and if needed I will supply tutors but you will maintain the highest marks possible, that is paramount. Lastly, my Little Diamond means the world to me so while no others can you will look after her and make sure no harm comes to her. Now I trust that you understand these three simple things that I require of you.” He looked to first Steel who nodded and then to me.
“Well... what if there is an important test at school and at the same time your ‘Little Diamond’ is in peril. I could go after the girl and save her but miss the test and fail; that would break one of the tasks wouldn’t it.”
“If that were to be the case then I would judge what would be the best course of action. You have a wild imagination don’t you Ashen Stroke? I would of course like to continue speaking to you two and we will do so at dinner, but now we have arrived and I have business to attend to.” Just as he finished talking the carriage pulled to a halt and the door was opened by an older mare with an apron on that I could only assume was a maid. “This is Feather Duster,” Rich explained, “she will take you two inside.”
The mare backed away from the door and I did once again what was expected of me and climbed out and down the stairs. Steel didn’t fare very well, when he tried to climb down behind me he slipped and fell right on his face earning a chuckle from me, which got me a glare from Feather Duster. The grey earth pony’s eyes were like fire and made me back off immediately apologizing. Dammit, I pussed out again; I really need to work on this.
When we were both out of the vehicle the doors closed once again and it rolled away down the circular driveway and back out onto the trail leading out to the pathway that lead up to the house. Now that I got a look at it the entire place was fucking huge! The driveway extended for what looked like half a mile through a field of well trimmed grass and aesthetically placed rows of trees. The fields extended for as far as I could see either way I looked and the driveway near the house was surrounded by magnificent and lush gardens filled with every kind of flower I knew and plenty that I didn’t. When I looked up at the house I had to crane my neck to stare up at the four story tall mansion, and I really had no idea how big it was since it extended so far either way. The stairs leading up to the main house were also oversized but glinted in the afternoon sun as it reflected off of the marble. Filthy Rich was...filthy rich, there really was no other way to describe it.
“Wow,” Steel managed after he had gotten back to his hooves.
“Yea, it’s pretty sweet,” I agreed.
“That is quite enough ogling,” Dusty said with a perfect pomp british accent, a classic for a maid I suppose. “We have to get you two settled in and changed before dinner with the master this evening.” Before either of us could really say much she had already given us a shove to get us moving. The climb up the stairs was simple enough and once we got to the entrance the doors opened before we could knock to reveal a massive greeting hall with a plush red carpet running down the middle. On either side of the carpet stood four, what I was going to assume to be, servants; stallions on the left and mares on the right. As we entered I also caught the sound of piano playing and immediately moved to cut off the scene before it began.
“No, no, no, no. I am not going to sing a musical number just as we enter the great big mansion. I do not care if it is expected or if this place runs off of songs as much as a Broadway musical it is just not going to happen!” I exclaimed loudly enough for everyone to hear, seriously I was not going to sing and dance for these people that would just be way too cliche.
The servants that were waiting for us just all stared back at me in confusion as the piano thudded loudly off to my left causing me to look in that direction. There on the piano bench sat Diamond Tiara and she did not look the least bit happy that my outburst had interrupted her practice, in fact she looked downright red with anger. I caught the sound of Steel laughing behind me as I just sat with a thunk. Maybe I should try rethinking what I know about this world, it really doesn’t look like any of my predictions are working out for me.
A stallion, not so old as Feather but still old enough to look in his fifties, cleared his throat to get our attention. “If the young master does not wish to sing or dance then we shall not make him in the future. My name is Dusty and I have been charged with showing you both around the estate so if you could pick yourselves up off of the floor that would be for the best as we do not have much time before the meal this evening.” With that the blue unicorn lit his horn and picked us up off of the floor, yes it looked like Steel was literally rolling on the floor laughing his ass off, and set us on our hooves. “Come this way young masters,” he said as he began to walk down the long carpeted path.
I quickly scurried along behind Dusty both to flee from my embarrassment and the infuriated Diamond Tiara; that was such a great first meeting. The path eventually led to another set of stairs which we climbed to the second story before Dusty took a left down the hallways. I chanced a look back at Steel to see that he was having a tough time trying to match our superior pace which made me feel a bit better about the moment just before for some reason.
“Ah, here we are,” Dusty said as he stopped in front of a door causing me to come up short. Using magic once again, dammit I wanted that stuff so bad, he opened the door to reveal a room that looked like it should be on the top floor of the most expensive hotel I could think of. The furniture all looked incredibly plush and expensive, the bed itself could probably fit seven and there was also a desk, vanity, two dressers, a table and chairs, a bathroom, and a huge walk in closet. There was also a giant window that looked out on the estate as well as a ton of room left over in the room. “This will be Master Ashen Stroke’s room.”
I was quite frankly stunned at the sheer magnificence of the space that was apparently just being given to me. So stunned that I didn’t even notice Dusty had moved on to the next door to show Steel his room which was an exact replica of the one shown to me. “Now you two should change out of those....clothes, and dress in something more appropriate before we continue throughout the estate.”
I shrugged and walked into the room without a care, honestly wearing this hoodie this whole time was starting to get incredibly hot, but I caught Steel arguing with Dusty as I closed the door. “Alright, this place is pretty awesome,” I allowed as I looked over the scenery once again.
I took a running start for the bed and tried to jump up onto it, on the first try I smashed my face into the side of it(ow), and on the second I managed to scramble atop of it. It was so soft that my hooves immediately started sinking into the comforter and the pillow top, oh man I love soft beds. With a....definitely not a squee, I started going about removing the hoodie from myself which turned out to be way more difficult than I would have thought. After a good ten minutes I finally managed to take off the garment and stood there on the bed completely nude. I honestly would have thought this would have been a big deal to me, but it wasn’t. I now had fur all over me and I guess that made me feel more comfortable with the nudity.
I remembered that Dusty had said something about changing into different clothes and looked to the closet. The door was open but beyond that it was difficult to make out anything so I hopped back down off the bed and made my way over. I was glad to find a light switch on the wall I could actually reach once I stepped inside. I looked around at the huge closet to see that it was completely empty. “Well that’s a let down.”
A knock came from the door causing me to turn, “Is the young master all finished?” Dusty asked through the door.
“Yea all done I guess, not anything to actually change into,” I called back, and a second later he opened the door.
“We shall remedy that tomorrow afternoon when we have you and your brother’s measurements taken for new attire. Now if you would quickly come with me,” he said before walking off again. I swear, ponies have this annoying habit of just walking away and expecting me to follow.
I followed him of course out into the hallway where he stopped in front of Steel’s door and knocked again before asking the same question. “No, I’m not going to walk around naked,” Steel called back through the door.
“We have no other clothes for you to wear and that garment was most unbecoming. You really should come out so that we can get a move on,” Dusty spoke through the door once again.
“No!” Came the reply causing Dusty to sigh and shake his head.
“Wait here a moment,” he told me before walking into the room and shutting the door behind him. There came sounds of a struggle on the other side of the door for a moment before they ceased and the door opened once again with Dusty levitating a now bare Burnt Steel with his telekinesis. Okay was it just me or do unicorns really enjoy detaining people with magic? “We do not have time to waste, shall we begin our tour?”
I nodded in response and Steel merely pouted as best an immobile child could as Dusty began to lead the way. Seriously, I didn’t see the big deal with the no clothes thing, but everyone has their own hangups I guess. Dusty started leading us through the labyrinth of a mansion showing us the study, dining area, kitchens, living area, lounge, billiards room, guest quarters, servants quarters, and the rest of the west wing. We didn’t even get to the east wing on this first pass and apparently didn’t have time to today, but I didn’t really mind since how could we possibly need anything else. All of the areas were extravagantly furnished like I had come to expect, save for the servant’s quarters of course which were pretty modest. Dusty showed us the back entrance to the wing that led out to a massive garden outside that even had its own hedge maze attached. There was also an olympic sized pool and two tennis courts connected to the back of the house, and a pathway that led out into a prairie that was apparently also on the estate as well as an entrance to the wood that extended out nearby. Luckily, this wasn’t the Everfree as it was explained to us or else I would have bet on a giant monster attack.
The entire tour took more than an hour to make sure that we were quite familiar with the entirety of what we were shown, and Dusty had put Steel down after about ten minutes since he hadn’t bothered to throw a fit. By the time we were done though he was puffing and I was once again feeling a rush from using my legs for such a long time. I started to think about the extent of what earth ponies were capable of, but my train of thought was cut off as we once again found ourselves at the dining hall.
“It has come time for dinner to be served. I hope that the young masters shall have a most enjoyable meal,” he said before opening the doors to reveal the massively long table as well as Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara sitting and waiting for their meal. Filthy sat at the head of the table and DT on the opposite end; as we entered her gaze shifted to me and morphed into a glare that would kill a lesser man. I could tell already that this dinner was going to be very interesting.