//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Questioning Loyalty / Cuteness Overload (Re-Edited) // Story: A Cartoonist in Equestria // by Autismo555 //------------------------------// “Boy, that Rarity is quite the seamstress, isn’t she?” Twilight asked, smiling weakly to cover that unsettling feeling coursing through her veins. “That new outfit certainly looks good on you, huh?” “Yeah. It’s a good fit,” Harold replied shyly, pulling the collar of his jacket over the sides of his head to hide his shy face. “It’s a good fit.” Twilight and Harold both feared to say another word. Shortly after leaving the Carousel Boutique from getting his haircut and his new clothes fitted, Twilight and Harold turned into the main street of Ponyville only to be met with a less than friendly atmosphere. The equine citizens of Ponyville looked at both their newest princess and her primate companion, an array of mixed reactions ranging from a cold sideways glance to an cold steel glare. Ponies pulled most of their foals close to them or quickly took them inside of their buildings, not letting them out until the “monster,” or “creature,” or any name they muttered under their breath passed by. Twilight lowered her head shyly, subjected to soaking in those stares and their murmuring as if she was a figurative sponge. Harold tried to shield his eyes away from those glances himself, but it was futile. He had already seen their faces long enough to know that those images were burned into his mind like a CD-ROM. Harold may not have made out what they said, but he knew exactly the words their mouths had motioned. Freak... monster... beast... creature... Those words and their glares hit Harold where he was easily the most vulnerable: in his heart. Poor Harold. He really wished that Lana was beside him right here and now, holding him close to her while she told off the Ponyvillians for talking smack about him and the Elements of Harmony behind their backs. Unfortunately, for obvious and tragic reasons, she wasn’t around to do so. Now he had to appease to them somehow, something that was way beyond his comfort zone. Harold was a born introvert to most people and he would stay that way. Plus, if he never really convinced the people of New York in the past, what made him think he would convince them now or later? “So anyway...” Twilight started off nervously, breaking the unsettling silence between them. “Now that you’re gonna be staying with me at the Golden Oaks Library, why don’t you tell me more about your world? I'd love to record what other information you have of your world. I might even have to share that much information with Princess Celestia once we're done." "Umm... sure, I guess." Oh, great. This was just what Harold needed. Another insider on the now-declining country he knew well as the United States of America. He had to tell Twilight more about himself and the gloomy, depressed world he lived in for so long. If he told her much about the world he lived in now, all that he would find instead was the pain, sadness and loneliness. He was sure Twilight would ask him about the history of his people, but what would he do if she asked him about today's world? Would he tell her about the poverty-stricken New York state where the rich towered over the middle and low class denizens who lived on the streets? About the current war going on in the Middle East? What about the corporate businesses and the Congress mucking up the current United States Healthcare? The sort of Healthcare where the only citizens getting the better treatment were the terrorists locked away in certain maximum facility prisons? The sort of prisons that Ahab DeMatt funded using the money he so grabbed with his greasy, grubby hands? Would he sugarcoat the sad reality of the United States and lie to Twilight? No. He couldn't lie to a member of royalty. It would be a sort of capital crime if he lied to royalty. With no other option left, Harold sighed as he knew what had to be done. "I'll have to face the music... again," he thought to himself. Twilight and the anxious Harold made their way past the cold stares and the whispers of the ponies in Ponyville, both of them not daring to peep a single word. Unless they wanted the ponies to spread even more smack talk behind their backs, Twilight and Harold needed to keep quiet. The reception was bad enough when Harold first set foot into town, but now it got worse ever since the ponies saw him return in the royal chariot. They must’ve thought the Princess would’ve dealt with him while he was in Canterlot. What a bitter disappointment. It was only a little later when Twilight and Harold finally reached the Golden Oaks Library. Harold had to process what he saw for a minute, but then he finally got the joke: the giant hollowed-out tree was the library. Windows, patios, balconies and a front door were added in through the bark of the tree. If Harold didn’t know any better, he’d say that the library was just asking to be joked at. This was what he would call, "a tree house." “Umm... wow. This is the library you were talking about?” Harold asked for confirmation. “Yes it is. This is also my home where I could be closer with my friends,” Twilight explained. “When I first came to Ponyville, before I became an alicorn, Princess Celestia arranged for me to stay in this library so I would handle the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. But since I discovered how wonderful it was to be learn about the magic of friendship, Princess Celestia decreed I would have to stay here so I could learn more about being friends. Ever since that day, I’ve been staying here at the library. It’s sort of my third home.” “Wow. That’s quite the story, Princess Twilight,” Harold complimented. "Thank you, Harold," Twilight replied. "Oh, and there's no need to address me as 'Princess.' We're friends now, so there's no need to be so formal, alright?" "Oh. Alright." Twilight focused her magic on the door. With the door wrapped up in a magenta aura, Twilight telekinetically opened it and motioned Harold inside. As the human teen walked inside, Twilight turned her head around to look at the citizens residing in the streets. All of the ponies out in the streets gave her an unamused glare, then turned away without saying another word. Their prejudiced silence was like a razor piercing into Twilight. Her heart felt like a shard of glass pierced her heart. She guessed she knew how Harold felt walking through the populated town, being the target for such horrible disdain. Twilight closed the door, as quickly and as calmly as she could. A tear dropped from her eye, as if she was hurt to see everypony in Ponyville shun the young human out of fear. Harold, however, never noticed Twilight’s sadness. He was instantly entranced by the interior of the library, everything on the inside appealing to him as if by some mysterious force. The whole library room was hollowed out to fit a crowd of little foals. The shelves that were carved out lined the whole walls, colorful books decorating them in different shades of the different colors of the rainbow. A table sat in the middle in the room, and perched in the middle was a wooden head of a horse. The ceiling depicted a sun, similar to the Sun Cutie Mark plastered on Princess Celestia’s flank. Near the back of the library were two sets of staircases, one leading upstairs, the other leading down. Twilight wiped her cheek dry from her tear and turned to face Harold. She put on a smiling mask and looked at Harold, observing his admiration to her home-slash-tree-slash-library. “So, how do you like my library so far?” Twilight asked. “Is it comfortable? Is it cozy?” “It’s...” Harold pondered to think of the right word to use. “...woody.” “Well, of course it’s woody. We are inside of a hollowed-out tree after all.” “And you live here?” asked Harold. "I do," Twilight said with a nod. "Like I said, this place is also my home away from Canterlot. I've been looking after this tree for a few years now and I've only read most of these books. Maybe during your free time, you can read one of these books. It's really fascinating." "Thanks, but I already have a pastime of my own," Harold said. Then he looked around, quickly feeling himself becoming somber. He was reminded of something important that he lost hours ago. "Shoot, that's right. Most of my stuff are still packed away in my backpack, and that's still at Fluttershy's house. I'm not sure what to do right now since I don't have my stuff with me." "Oh, don't worry about that. Fluttershy said she's gonna grab your things and bring them on over here," Twilight assured Harold. "In the meantime, I have to reorganize my shelves today. Maybe you can read one of my books so you'd have something to--" CREEEAAK! Twilight's suggestion was interrupted by the opening of her library door. She and Harold turned and saw Fluttershy hovering inside, forcefully pushing Harold's bike by the handlebars, the left handlebar weighing down by the light blue backpack hanging by the straps. Fluttershy was able to wheel in Harold's bike until the rear wheel was fully inside of the library and stopped. Carefully, she let the bike fall onto its side, panting with relief knowing that her task to carry the heavy load was done. "Hi, Fluttershy," Twilight greeted. "Hey, Fluttershy," Harold greeted along. Fluttershy panted for a second, then happily turned to face her two friends. "Hi, Twilight. Hi, Harold. I see Rarity gave you the makeover you needed. You look wonderful." Harold rubbed the back of his head, blushing. "Aww, thanks Fluttershy." "Yeah. Thank you so much for bringing over Harold's stuff, Fluttershy," Twilight stated happily. "Harold was saying that he was missing his things and you happened to get here just after he mentioned his stuff. Nice timing." "Oh, thank you," Fluttershy replied softly. "By the way, how is Spike feeling?" Twilight asked. "Oh. Spike is doing good, Twilight," Fluttershy said with a nod. "I gave him a mug of emerald tea for his stomach an hour ago. His tummy is starting to feel better, but he's got a headache from dehydration when he threw up. He's drinking his fluids now, but he'll be walking back home in a few hours." "That's good to hear. You're still on for tonight, right?" "Of course." "Good. I'll see you then." "Okay, then. Goodbye, Harold." "Bye, Fluttershy," Harold said, smiling and waving her off. Fluttershy smiled, then turned and fluttered out of the library. While Twilight closed the door behind the butter-yellow pegasus, Harold stood his bicycle up and kicked the kickstand down, sliding his sky blue backpack off of the handles. Then he sat down and rummaged through his backpack. He took out his black sketchbook, his pencils and a jar of peaches from his backpack. He felt really peckish, what from spending an hour working on his clothes with Rarity and having barely much to eat while he traveled down the main highway. Twilight looked as Harold assembled his stuff in front of him. Raising a curious eyebrow, Twilight trotted over and pointed at the objects that he revealed from his backpack. "What do you have there, Harold?” she asked. “It’s my pastime that I was talking about,” Harold said. “My favorite pastime is to draw.” “You like to draw?” Twilight asked. “Of course,” replied Harold. “My passion for drawing started when I was only three years old and they’ve gotten better over the years. I’ve always dreamed of becoming a cartoonist. I’ve learned to draw people, animals, even creating my own fictional cities. Although, I'd like to learn how to create a storyline for my characters, but I don't have much experience with writing.” "Well, you're welcome to ask me for help in case you want to write a story, or an essay even," Twilight replied smiling. "Writing also happens to be my strong suit, next to magic, and I'm more than happy to teach you how to write out a carefully written essay." Twilight then looked around the room. With all this time speaking to Harold, Twilight took her time off of reorganizing her bookshelves so she would make the place more presentable to the local populace. "Unfortunately, I won't have time right now to teach you to write an essay. I need to sort my shelves out and then I'll be right with you." "I might as well help you," Harold offered. "I'm good at sorting things out myself." "There's no need for you do that, Harold. You're my guest, so you should sit down and make yourself comfortable." Twilight trotted up to a set of bookshelves in the back of the library. Then she stopped walking, turning to Harold with a grateful smile spreading on her face. "Still, thank you for offering to help me out but I think you should relax. You've had a hectic day saving me and my friends from a terrible fate. You've earned it." "Really?" Twilight gave Harold an affirming nod. "Thank you, Twilight." "You're welcome, Harold. Now then, where to start?" Twilight went back to the shelves and lit her horn up again, putting her hoof near her magical conduit for better concentration. All of the books in the library were levitated off the shelves, orbiting around Twilight in a formation of a dome, much to Harold's amazement. With careful precision, she gently inserted each book into a different shelf, sorted by the category of literature and arranged in alphabetical order, from 0 to 9 and from A to Z. The last time she sorted them by color and book height, the categories and the alphabetical titles were as scrambled as Spike's breakfast eggs. The customers that came in to check out the books were confused beyond comparison, prompting Princess Twilight to mentally note to herself not to arrange them by color and/or book height again. Harold pulled himself and his stuff to the round table, watching Twilight magically reorganize the books while doing so. He was bummed that he never got to help Twilight out with restocking the shelves with the books, since one of his special traits was being meticulous. Still, he was happy about one thing: he finally had his free time to draw. Harold placed his jar of peaches on the table, hungrily sampling one of the slices. Four to five days of being stored inside a backpack with its fellow peaches and dried apricots and they still tasted as sweet as its juice. After eating a slice of the peach, Harold wiped his juicy fingers and set himself on a seat next to the table, holding his sketchbook in his lap, his black mechanical pencil turning in his fingers. Harold placed his headphones into his ear, waiting for any inspiration that would help him concentrate and reflect the drawing he would do. He turned his eyes up to the ceiling. He wondered who or what he was going to draw, a good way to help him emerge from his artist's block. Would he draw the main highway at night? He had to admit, those nights he spent sleeping in the fields near the roads were serene and tranquil under the glow of the full moonlight. Perhaps he could draw that fateful tornado? It was possible he could, since the twister was the one that sent him to... That was when inspiration finally struck him. Equestria. He could draw something related to Equestria. Harold could try and draw a part of the land of Equestria. Maybe he could try and draw Canterlot Castle? No, that would be a bit of work for him and a whole lot of paper just to get every single detail on the castle. Maybe he could draw Ponyville, but he didn't get a good look it on account of the pony populace staring down at him like a pack of vultures. Just what was it about Equestria that Harold wanted to draw so badly? That was when another idea struck him in the same spot. The answer was so obvious, Harold never even noticed it in front of him. He would draw the ponies in Ponyville, the ones that took kindly to him. Fluttershy was the first of the Mane Six to take kindly of him. She did take him into her home to help with his throbbing headache. She protected him from turning into a statue and kept Rainbow Dash from striking his face. Heck, she even stood up for him when she felt Twilight and Rainbow Dash were ganging up on him, as well as trying to save him from Princess Celestia's decisions. To Harold, Fluttershy deserved a special drawing in his book... to be more precise, his sketchbook. Rarity also took a liking to him. At first, she was repulsed by his ape-like features, his hygiene and the state of his clothes, but that was in the past. Now, Harold felt thankful for her generosity. She allowed him to wash himself up, got his hair cut and helped him design and create a new set of clothing for him to wear for the duration of his stay. To be honest, Harold was skeptical about Rarity himself because of her posh demeanor. She always seemed so high class for a pony who lived in a small town community. But, in the end, Harold discovered that Rarity was not as ritzy as he came to believe. There was an old saying, "Never judge a book by its cover." Harold needed to learn how not to do that in a future time for him. Then there was Princess Twilight Sparkle. There was something about the alicorn that Harold liked, but he didn't know what. From what Harold could tell, during the interrogation, Twilight seemed studious, smart and determined. Was that what he liked in her, or was it her ability to cast such powerful magic? Her magic seemed to be the strongest source of energy Harold ever saw, enough power to last the city of Manhattan a full year with clean energy. After he saved her from her out-of-control magic, Twilight showed how grateful she was to Harold by vouching for him to Princess Celestia. If it weren't for her, Harold would've been sent back home or become a permanent statue in the Canterlot Gardens. Harold was sold. He knew exactly who to draw in his sketchbook. Harold opened his sketchbook to a fresh blank page. Clicking his mechanical pencil, Harold observed Twilight through the depleting dome of books being restocked onto the shelves. It was a tad tricky for him to observe Twilight from afar, seeing how there were books obstructing his view. Within moments, Harold captured his view in his eidetic memory, the picture slowly developing in his mind like a classic Polaroid photograph. Then he turned on his iPod, twenty-five percent of his battery life shown on the top right corner of the screen and gently inserted the headphones in his ears. He switched the music to "The Sorceror's Apprentice" and began to draw. ===================================================================== Rainbow Dash lied down on a small puff of cloud, the cloud she fibbed she would be sleeping on, peering through the windows of the Golden Oaks Library through a pair of binoculars. After adjusting her lenses, Rainbow Dash saw her friend Twilight rearrange her bookshelves with her magic and the young human scribbling on his pad of paper. What caught her suspicion were the pair of wires the human stuck in both of his ears. She wasn't sure exactly what they were, but she theorized it to be a part of some sort of sinister alien plot. Rainbow Dash set her binoculars down. She narrowed her raspberry-colored eyes into a hardened stare, glaring at the library from afar. "I know what you're trying to do, Mr. Hue-Man. I'm not taking my eyes off of you for one second," she said, bitterness dripping from between her gritted teeth. "I'll be watching you. I'll know when you're gonna turn and backstab my friends for your own personal goal. If you do, you'd better believe I'll be there, Hue-Man. I'll be there." "Hi, Rainbow Dash!" "GYAAAHHHH!!" Rainbow Dash jumped when a younger, tomboyish voice caught her by surprise. Jerking her head around, Rainbow Dash saw her Number One Fan standing on the same cloud, beaming with a smile. She was a young pegasus filly, sporting an orange coat and a purple messy mane, though not nearly as messy as Rainbow Dash's. There was no Cutie Mark on her flank and her wings were stubby for a pegasus filly of her age, but she wore a purple helmet with two white stripes running down the helmet. She also wore a smile, knowing she was on the same cloud as her idol and sister-figure. "Scootaloo! You scared me!" Rainbow Dash scolded, then suddenly covering her mouth after barely realizing her mistake. "Uh... I mean, you broke my concentration!" "Oh! Sorry, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo apologized. "I didn't know you were doing something that required a whole lot of concentration!" "It's all cool, squirt. You just need to learn how to not take somepony by surprise. You'll never know what a pegasus pony might do while she's laying on a cloud." Then Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow and looked back to Scootaloo with confusion. "By the way, how did you get all the way up here? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" "We got out early!" the pegasus filly chirped. "Plus, I kinda flew up here?" "Wait. You mean you actually flew all the way up here?" "Nope." Scootaloo pointed down at the ground to a recently demolished rose vending cart. Roses, parchment paper and splintered wood littered the ground, and in the midst of the rubble was a purple scooter, wedged into the ground by the front part like it catapulted somepony off of it. A lone wheel on the scooter turned until it slowed down, then ceased to spin. Roseluck looked on perturbed as her beloved rose cart was once again wrecked into pieces. The mare looked up to the filly in the cloud and waved her hoof at her threateningly. "Uh-huh," Rainbow Dash replied blankly. Rainbow Dash laid back on her belly into a hidden crouch on the cloud, her gaze narrowed to the library. Scootaloo looked at her for a moment and then followed suit, laying right next to her idol with the same rock hard glare towards the distance. After a minute of glaring out into the distance, Scootaloo decided to break the silence with a question. "So, what are we doing up here? Are we spying on somepony?" "Something like that," Rainbow Dash answered. "Really? Who?" "He's not much of a who, squirt. He's more of a what." Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash with a baffled look. Rainbow Dash passed her binoculars down to the filly, who looked through them, adjusting the focus for her to see the library clearer. "Just look through the ground floor window, squirt. Tell me what you see there." "Umm, okay." Scootaloo peered through the glass window of the Golden Oak Library. She adjusted the lenses to help see through the glass window of the library, then began to take note of everything that went on inside. "There's nothing going on inside, to be honest. All I see is Princess Twilight doing stuff with her books again. There's nothing new about that." "Look at the table in the library," Rainbow Dash ordered. "Alright." Scootaloo adjusted her lenses again and slowly moved her vision up to the circular table. At first there was nothing that she saw. But as she watched, she saw something else residing inside of the same room as Twilight was. She saw a slender figure resembling a monkey, carrying a black rectangular object and wires stuck in its ears. Scootaloo gasped as if she was shocked by the cold, but her tiny pea-sized pupils said otherwise. In her state of being frightened by the alien-like ape, Scootaloo felt herself become numb with fright, almost dropping Rainbow Dash's binoculars from her hooves in the process. "Oh... my... Celestia..." Scootaloo squeaked. "Is that...?" "Yep," Rainbow Dash replied blankly. "And... and... and did Princes Twilight...?" "Yep." "But... but shouldn't the Princess...?" "She let him stay for as long as he liked." "HOLY MOTHER OF CELESTIA!!" Rainbow Dash quickly wrapped her hooves around Scootaloo's mouth, hushing the little filly. Ponies on the ground level jumped at the shrill sound and looked around for the source of the noise. They shrugged it off and continued on with their daily lives while the two pegasus ponies kept hidden on the cloud. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Keep it down, Scoots!" Rainbow Dash whispered loudly. "You'll blow our cover this way if you keep screaming like that! Understand!?" Scootaloo gave a muffled "mm-hmm" along with a nod. Rainbow Dash uncovered her hooves from the filly's mouth and picked up her binoculars, looking through them once more at the library. Scootaloo laid next to her sister-figure and looked at her, her face contorted with much concern and anticipation. "So what's the plan, Rainbow Dash? How are we going to rescue Twilight from that... that thing?" "Nothing." Scootaloo's face was then molded into that of a confused pony. "We're just gonna lie down here and do nothing." "Nothing?" Scootaloo asked. "Exactly. I don't trust that guy one bit, even if Princess Celestia said he was free to stay here in Equestria for as long as it takes. I'm keeping an eye out on him. Making sure he doesn't do anything suspicious or otherwise." Rainbow Dash lowered her binoculars and peered at the library, sipping a glass bottle of apple juice, which she pulled from the inside of the cloud, through a straw. After washing down the apple juice, Rainbow Dash resumed to keep watch through her binoculars. "Wait. Is that what you're gonna do? You're gonna stakeout on this cloud in case that creature does anything bad?" "That's my plan, squirt. If I catch that Hue-Man doing something to Twilight, I'll kick his flank to the moon faster that you can say, 'horsefeathers.'" "Catch, huh? Catch..." Scootaloo tapped her chin, then perked up. "That's it! I know how I can get my Cutie Mark!" "Oh no, Scoots. What are you planning this time?" Rainbow Dash groaned disapprovingly, facehoofing herself and shaking her head. "The perfect way to get our Cutie Mark! I can picture it now..." Scootaloo brought her hooves up and spread them across her field of vision, as if she could see herself in her vain attempt to earn her Cutie Mark. "Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and I go barging into the library, we catch the monster and then we bring him in to the dungeons so he won't be proven as threat to you or Princess Twilight!" "Hey, Scootaloo? I don't think that's gonna wor--" "And if we don't get a Cutie Mark in alien capturing...!" Scootaloo continued, interjecting her idol through her excitement. "Then we can at least get a Cutie Mark in saving a princess of Equestria!" "Scoots, I don't think that's a good idea--" "Yes! That's a perfect idea! With me, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle capturing the monster, we can become local heroes! Or better yet, we'll become Equestria's newest heroes!" Scootaloo gasped. "That's perfect! We can be...!" Uncontrollable with excitement, the young pegasus jumped off of the cloud, hanging in midair by her stubby, flittering wings. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ALIEN HUNTERS AND PRINCESS RESCUERS!! YAY!!" "Scoots!!" Scootaloo looked back to Rainbow Dash, holding her head with a panicked face. "What is it, Rainbow Dash? That sounds like a bad idea, doesn't it?" "NO!! It's not that!!" Rainbow Dash snapped. "You're flying in midair! You know you're not ready to fly yet!" "Wait. Am I really flying?" "YES!!" "Oh." Scootaloo regrettably looked down at the ground below her. The height seemed so high for her that even the very view seemed to induce vertigo in her. With her wings flittering, Scootaloo began to scream, flailing her hooves until she plummeted down to the ground. Rainbow Dash looked down from the cloud as she saw Scootaloo fall like a lead weight, following a CRASH! and a spray of daisies and splintered wood splashing into the air. Rainbow Dash winced from the crash, but was slightly relieved that her Number One Fan was still alive. All in all, Rainbow Dash tucked herself deeper into the cloud and out of sight as Scootaloo shyly apologized to the furious owner of the wrecked daisy vending cart. "Oops. Sorry, Daisy." ===================================================================== Harold felt proud of how his progress with his drawing came so far. In only a few minutes into Paul Abraham Dukas' masterpiece, Harold was only halfway done with the sketching of Princess Twilight Sparkle. His drawing was very simple, as were the other great cartoonists in the past who cooked up superheroes and popular goofy characters most would find in the Sunday funny papers. All he had to do was start with a good-sized circle and crosshairs representing the head and the face angles, looking to the right up at the ceiling. The snout on Twilight's face was even angled to face the same direction. Next, Harold drew two large ovals for eyes, each one separated and spaced by the vertical crosshair. There, he draw another layer of lines on the ovular shapes, but trimmed their shape down to match the alicorn's magenta eyes perfectly. Once that was done, he added in two smaller ovals in each eye, looking up into the ceiling. He filled in the smaller ovals lightly (the right eye overlapped the snout, so he left most of the pupil unmarked before he could erase those excess lines out) and added in two smaller ovals to represent the reflection shown on her eyes. After adding in the nostrils and the slight smile, Harold drew the horn on her forehead, her mane, the pink and violet stripes marked at a different hue by the pencil and her equine ears. Afterwards, Harold came to the body. Twilight's body was drawn in the shape of an oversized bean, no bigger than the circle for Twilight's head. The frontal hooves, the rear hooves and her furled wings were just as easy to draw, as was her tail, but adding in the Cutie Mark was a bit tricky. Harold tried to remember; how many of those tiny white stars surrounded Twilight's Cutie Mark? Six... no, five. Five little white sparks surrounded the two larger sparks decorating Twilight's flank. With a medium layer of pencil lines outlining the Princess of Magic, Harold was almost done with his newest creation. He began to add in three-dimensional rectangular prisms all around her, signifying her books that was levitated in the aura of her magic. Before he could add in more to these books, tomes and reference guides, something unexpected happened. BAM! Twilight and Harold jerked upwards to the sound of the front door slamming open. Twilight's focus and her magic were both broken, and with it, the magic levitating the books around her dissipated. The books then fell on Twilight like a monsoon, piling up into a small mound of tomes. Harold turned his attention to the door, spotting three little silhouettes standing at the edge of the entrance. The silhouettes turned out to be three fillies, all wearing a determined heroic face, but had no Cutie Mark on the side of their flanks. The filly on the left was an Earth pony, yellow coat and a red mane. A big pink bow was attached to the back of her mane, twice the size of the filly's ears. Over her neck and down to her little hooves was a lasso, very similar to the one Applejack used to restrain Harold before. The filly in the middle was a small pegasus, sporting an orange coat. Just like Rainbow Dash's mane, the pegasus's purple mane was styled to express the form of her tomboyish attitude. On her back, she carried a fishing net, something she borrowed from Fluttershy after she claimed to be going fishing for her pet ferrets and her bear friend. Finally, the filly on the right was a white unicorn, her curly mane colored in a dull tone of pink and purple. She carried an oversized butterfly net on her back, hoping to throw it over the alien's head and use the netting to disorient his vision. Twilight poked her head out from the pile of books, her horn skewering the spine of one unfortunate novel, and jerked her head around towards to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle standing just outside of the library entrance. "Girls, what do you think you're doing!?" Twilight demanded. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of reorganizing my--!?" "Don't worry, Princess Twilight!" Scootaloo interjected. "We're here to save you!" "We're here ta save ya from that alien over there!" Apple Bloom added. "And we're not gonna let anything happen to you while we're around!" Sweetie Belle piped. "For we are..." The fillies took their hooves and raised them in the air triumphantly, each hoof touching each other as they chanted in unison, "THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!" Scootaloo used her raised hoof and brought it down like a hammer, pointing in the direction towards Harold. "And we're gonna prove ourselves to be heroes by capturing that alien over there!" she shouted. "Come on girls! LET'S GET HIM!" "YEAH!" Before Harold could make another move, he felt himself pounced on by the trio of fillies, all screaming a war cry while bringing their "weapons" down on him. Scootaloo entangled Harold's body with the fishing net, making his writhing and wriggling out of the net virtually impossible. Sweetie Belle threw the butterfly net down on him, obscuring most of his with through two or more layers of netting. Finally, when Harold was getting tired from his vain efforts of escaping the fillies, Apple Bloom threw the rope around Harold's arms and waist, though nowhere near as tight as how Applejack normally made the constriction tighter. With Harold lying down defeated by the three attack, but cute fillies, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stood atop of Harold's chest. Harold groaned from the combined weight of the young fillies while they shouted triumphantly from the top of their lungs. "YAY! WE DID IT! WE'RE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ALIEN HUNTERS AND PRINCESS RESCUERS!!" All three fillies quickly jerked their head around towards their flanks, a hopeful smile spread across their lips. Then their smile turned into a despondent frown when they saw nothing appear on their flanks. The Cutie Mark Crusaders groaned. Despite all of their best efforts to "capture the alien" in order to "save" the princess, the Cutie Mark Crusaders hadn't earned their Cutie Marks, just like all of the other times when they tried so hard to accomplish something in their lives. Feeling down on themselves with defeat, the fillies turned and formed a huddle on Harold's chest. "What do you think went wrong with our capture?" Scootaloo asked her teammates. "Maybe we didn't tie it up right in our nets," Sweetie Belle guessed. "I thought for sure that butterfly nets would work on it." "Ah think it might have somthin' ta do with tryin' ta immobilize him with mah sister's lasso as well," Apple Bloom said. "Ah must've miscalculated somewhere with usin' mah strength to tie the lasso and testin' with what knot to use against an alien of his size and features." "What are you, a physics professor?" Scootaloo asked. "I only thought fishing nets would be great for catching big fish like this guy here." "Well obviously, that didn't really work out for ya, didn't it?" Apple Bloom remarked. "At least it had better results than what your so-called lasso skills did to hold him down." "Hey! Ah'm learnin' how ta be just as good at rustlin' up some critters as mah big sister is! And don't ya dare call me a physics professor, ya big dodo!" "Don't you dare call me a dodo! I still don't know what that name even means!" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo pressed their snouts together, forming mad scrunchy faces directed at each other. Their eyes were narrowed, burning with the fires of rivalry sparked by their little tussle over name-calling and creature capturing. Sweetie Belle forced both of her hooves in the middle and attempted to separate the two fillies from commencing into a physical fight, begging them to quit their fighting. What they weren't aware of was the presence of Twilight Sparkle staring down at them half-eyed with disapproval. "Girls." With one little word, Twilight managed to stop the fillies from fighting any further. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle all looked up to the disappointed alicorn and shrunk under her gaze. Without any words spoken, the three fillies slowly crawled off the "alien," Twilight using her magic to undo the lasso, the fishing nets and the butterfly net off of Harold. When Harold was finally free of his restraints, Twilight turned to the fearful fillies, all lined up in a small row. "Girls, what was this all about?" Twilight asked, plainly but firmly. "I was trying to reorganize my library and my guest was trying to relax when all of a sudden, you three barge in here and messed everything up. If that wasn't enough, you three went and attacked my guest just so you three could earn your Cutie Marks. I'm disappointed in all of you." The Cutie Mark Crusaders drooped their heads down, afraid to meet Twilight's gaze. Their ears also dropped back as they gave a forlorn apology. "We're sorry," they said. "Oh no, girls. If there's anypony you should be apologizing to, that would be him," Twilight said pointing a hoof towards Harold. "Now then, girls, which one of you got the idea of attack my guest?" Both a yellow hoof and a white hoof pointed out towards Scootaloo, who sat in the middle. Twilight turned to Scootaloo, who shrunk even further. "Scootaloo. Care to tell me how in Equestria you came up with the idea of attacking my friend for your Cutie Mark?" The pegasus filly turned her shamed gaze away, rubbing her hoof insecurely. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I only thought I was doing something to protect you because I saw that... whatever he is in the same room with you and I thought he was dangerous. So I got the girls together and we did what he had to do just so we could protect you from getting hurt... or worse." Twilight exhaled deeply through her nose. "I know you have the best intentions to protect me, and... well, I appreciate all that," she stated solemnly. "But that still doesn't explain why you decided to attack Harold out of the blue like that." "Well, Rainbow Dash and I were watching you guys from a cloud a good distance away from the library," Scootaloo explained. "When she told me she was gonna stake this place out on a cloud so she could catch the alien doing something bad, then she would--" "Wait, wait, wait. Hold up," Twilight interjected. "Rainbow Dash gave you the idea to come over and attack Harold?" "Not really. All she ever wanted was to keep you from getting hurt." "Really?" Twilight asked, becoming as stone cold as a ferocious statue. "And is Rainbow Dash still hiding on a cloud nearby?" "Yep. It's the cloud that's just a little ways from here. You can't miss it." Twilight looked out the window, spotting a lone cloud floating ten feet above the Ponyville road. In the center of the white, plush cloud was a little rainbow tail, sticking out from its owner's pathetic attempt to hide herself inside the cloud. Twilight narrowed her eyes. Rainbow Dash lied to her when she said she was going to take a nap earlier. It was just a cover-up so she could examine Harold's actions just because she didn't trust him. This was really getting ridiculous. Rainbow Dash was supposed to the Element of Loyalty, for Pete's sake! She shouldn't go and spying on Harold just because Princess Celestia said he would contribute to the fall of Equestria. Breathing deeply through her snout, Twilight stormed out of the library and slammed the door behind her, stamping her way to Rainbow Dash's hiding place. Flapping her wings, Twilight hovered up to the cloud, the colorful tail still exposed and inhaled to prepare for her Canterlot Voice. "RAINBOW DASH!!" "WAAAAAHH!" POMF! In one moment, Rainbow Dash was hiding headfirst in the cloud, trying to avoid a hewing out from her recently ascended pal. In the next moment, she found herself jumping off in shock, plunging headfirst into the soil below. After much wriggling and writhing, Rainbow Dash popped her head out of the ground, spitting out dirt and pebbles from her mouth and turned to face Twilight. "What the hay, Twilight!? What'd you go and use your Canterlot Voice on me for, anyway!?" "You know perfectly well, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight snapped. "You said you were taking a nap in the clouds! Well, Scootaloo told me that you and her were spying on us on your cloud instead of thinking of ways you could do to support Harold in his time of need!" "Yeah!? So!?" "So, you were supposed to think of supporting Harold, not spying on us like some paranoid mare!" "Hey, you heard what Princess Celestia said, right!? She specifically told us that Hair-Old was going to help bring all of Equestria down on its knees and he's starting by fooling you all into a trap! Well guess what, sister?" Rainbow Dash said, knocking on her head vigorously. "He's not getting to me! I'm not letting him outta my sight until he either acts or if he's going back home!" "Rainbow, that is not what the Princess said!" Twilight argued. "She said that Harold is the unwilling pawn into bringing Equestria down on its knees! He's not evil and you know it well, too!" "Either way, I'm not letting my eye off of him!" Rainbow Dash brashly replied. "Just because he had a sob story and some scars on his body doesn't mean he won't turn around and stab you in the back! If that really happened to you, then don't come crying to me for protection!" Twilight furrowed her brows. Her face was turning crimson, angered by the cyan flier's words against Harold. "Rainbow Dash, you're acting like a foal! Haven't you even seen how truly sad he was because of what happened to him on his world! He's sad because somepony that he loved had passed away and he's been alone ever since! If you were in his shoes right now, how would you even feel if somepony close to you, like Fluttershy and Scootaloo passed away in your hooves!?" Rainbow Dash shot her eyes wide open, gasping. Her shocked reaction reverted into a maddened stare, but felt rage burning inside of her. "Don't you ever say that about Flutters and Scoots, you hear me!?" Rainbow Dash yelled, pointing her hoof close to Twilight's nuzzle. "Don't you ever bring up how they're gonna bite the big one! I'm not gonna sit here and let you lecture me about when somepony close to me dies!" "Answer the question, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight ordered. "How would you feel if somepony was dying and you were there when they were passing away!? Well!?" Rainbow Dash growled, doing her best to leash the wild animal woken up inside of her. Twilight had the absolute nerve to bring up the topic of death, especially when it involved two of her closest friends! Didn't Twilight know how she felt when her magic struck down Fluttershy earlier!? She felt devastated! She felt angry! She felt saddened. She felt... alone... So... so alone... The anger inside Rainbow Dash subsided like a cooling effect on a muscle sore. Stricken with guilt, she turned her head away from Twilight, the epiphany finally dawning on her. This must've been what Harold felt like when his sister died in his... claws? It didn't matter what he called them. Rainbow Dash finally felt a sliver of sympathy for the Hue-Man, as she herself witnessed Fluttershy's temporary demise earlier today. She choked a little, holding in her other urge to get sappy in front of everypony, thinking of what Scootaloo would feel if she lost her favorite idol in front of her, too. In fact, she wondered how Scootaloo would react, knowing how she treated Harold like a bully. Like the same kind of bullies in Cloudsdale who made fun of Fluttershy because she was afraid of heights. If that was the case, then Rainbow Dash was already stooping low to their level. With every encounter between her and Harold that she could remember, another epiphany swept over Rainbow Dash like the passing wind. She was reminded of somepony bad from Harold's world. His parents... or a bully, even. She was becoming the very same ponies that she came to hate the most. She was becoming a bully. Twilight laid her hooves on Rainbow Dash's shoulders, the same sad look etched on her face. "You understand now, don't you, Rainbow?" she asked gently. "What you're feeling right now and what you've felt when my magic turned Fluttershy into stone? That was the same feeling Harold felt when he lost his sister. He's been lonely ever since and he's turning to us for our help, even turning to you for your help as well. "That's why I need you in on this, Rainbow Dash. You're the only pony I know who's completely loyal to her closest friends. If you want to prove yourself to be the Element of Loyalty, then could you please help Harold feel welcome to our pony kind?" Twilight asked. "I understand you're uncomfortable with this, but this is the only way to ensure that Harold can have a new, happier life." Rainbow Dash groaned, turning her gaze away from Twilight's eyes to the dirt road. "Mmmhhh. I don't know, Twilight," she mumbled. "After everything I did to him, I'm not sure if he'd like to see me anymore." "Hey, you don't have to worry about that," Twilight said, a slight smile spreading across her lips. "I'm sure Harold is very understanding. All you have to do is apologize for treating him badly and he'll forgive you. It's as simple as that." "I... I still don't know, Twilight. I'm just not good at apologizing to somepony who I gave a hard time." Twilight rested her other hoof on Rainbow Dash's shoulder, holding her in a firm and reassuring grip. "Don't worry, Rainbow Dash. I'll help you follow through with your apology." She flicked her head in the direction of the library. "Come on. Let's go back and see how Harold and the girls are holding up." Twilight turned and walked back to the library, Rainbow Dash reluctantly following her. Twilight made it to the door, opening it slightly with her focused magic. "Harold? Do you have a moment you can spare?" she asked, opening the door all the way. "Rainbow Dash and I would like to--" Twilight and Rainbow Dash gasped as they saw a horrifying scene inside of the library. There, fallen on the wood floors like a petrified statue was Harold, foaming at the mouth and eyes glassy like crystal clear pond water. His hands clawed at his chest, presumably over his heart, and a painful expression spread all over his face. The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood at his feet, completely terrified to the point where they couldn't scream, cry or panic. "GIRLS!! What happened!?" Twilight screamed. "How did he end up like this!?" "I don't know!!" Sweetie Belle responded with a scared yell. "We were talking for a moment... a-a-and this happened!!" Twilight quickly galloped to Harold and put her ear to his chest. She didn't hear his heartbeat nor did she feel his pulse. "Ahh, this isn't good. Harold's gone into cardiac arrest! If we don't defibrillate him in time, then he's going to die in a few minutes!" Quickly jerking her head around, Twilight faced the horrified cyan flyer. "Rainbow Dash, go out and find me a thundercloud! I need the lightning to help bring him back to life, now!" "On it!" Rainbow Dash quickly gave a quick salute, then took off like a rocket, leaving a rainbow contrail behind. Twilight looked back to the traumatized Crusaders, standing over the lifeless body of the human they just met like the scared little children they were and trotted up to them, hoping they would give her the answers she needed. "Girls, I want you to calm down and tell me everything that happened while we were talking outside," Twilight asked calmly, keeping the Crusaders' nerves settled. "Do you think you can do that?" Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo all looked at each other worriedly, then reluctantly turned to Twilight. After giving a single nod of their heads, the fillies sighed deeply and told their tale of how Harold came to have his first heart attack. ****************************************************************************** Twilight had only stormed outside of her library when the incident happened. Harold was watching Twilight stomp towards Rainbow Dash's cloud through the window, witnessing his host chew out the cyan flyer like a wild dog. It was around that time when he heard a pitter-patter of little hooves move towards him, one of those hooves tugging on his jeans legging. Harold turned to see three of the fillies who attacked him, their heads down and ears drooped back in shame, adding in a solemn, guilty look on their face. That wasn't good. Harold was prone to all things cute on his world. Kittens or puppies living in a cardboard box on the streets were cute enough, but in Equestria, that was all about to change. Harold felt his heart beginning to beat like a drum base, skipping every beat as he continued to look down at the ashamed fillies. Their saddened looks were admittedly cute. Too cute. If the fillies happened to present themselves as cute to Harold, then he would easily die from lethal cuteness. One of the fillies, the pegasus Twilight named Scootaloo was the first to trot up to Harold, and looked at him with sorrowful, glistening eyes. "We're really sorry we attacked you, mister," Scootaloo said apologetically. "We didn't mean to attack you like that." The small yellow filly wearing the big pink bow stepped up to Harold next, her big orange eyes and saddened pout was cuter than Scootaloo's face. "We all thought you were a scary monster who wanted ta eat Princess Twilight up fer lunch," she said in a Southern drawl. "Ah guess we were dead wrong about that, too." Finally, the snow-white unicorn filly was the last to step forward shamefully. She cocked her head slightly to her right, her big emerald green eyes shone with sorry tears and her frown reached down to both sides of her chin. "Can you ever forgive us for accidentally hurting you?" the unicorn asked in a squeaky voice. "Please?" The two other fillies joined with the unicorn, bring their adorable remorse faces next to each other and gave Harold their puppy dog eyes. "Please?" Harold's heart rate spiked like an alcoholic drink. Gripping his chest, he felt his breath shorten as the Cutie Mark Crusaders presented their best and their deathly cute faces. Once again, the fillies looked at Harold with sad apologetic looks, inching their faces only by little, but close enough for Harold to feel his heart rate beat like a jackhammer. Then the fillies asked a single question, one that finally slew the human teen. "Pleeeeaaaassseee?" "HRRRRNNNNNNGGGGG!" Harold's heart stopped beating. The combined levels of adorableness was proven to be too powerful for him, and with it, he fell to the floor on his back. He wriggled like a fish out of water, saliva foaming in his mouth and his blue eyes becoming transparent silver. He stretched his arm out to the ceiling, which shook as he tried to reach out for help for his dear life, even gurgling with his own saliva while trying to call out for help, too. Then, with no more breath left to draw, Harold stopped moving. He lied on the floor of the Golden Oaks Library in a position that made him look like a victim of murder, hands clasping over the area where his heart laid inside of his vessel of flesh. The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked over his body, silent and frozen like the air of death wafting in the room. They were too scared to run, cry and scream bloody murder over witnessing the possible death of the creature they tried to apologize to. Only one thing that ran through the fillies' minds as they looked down on the body. They've unwillingly become Cutie Mark Crusaders Creature Killers. ****************************************************************************** "That's when y'all came in here wantin' ta talk ta this critter over here!" Apple Bloom yelled, panicking. "But we didn't know that the creature would react to us being near him by having to roll over and die! Honest!" Sweetie Belle added. "All we did was say we were sorry and gave our sad looks to show how sorry we were!" Scootaloo cried. "We didn't mean to do this to him!" "I know you didn't mean to, girls," Twilight said assuringly. "From what I can gather, Harold must suffer from an acute case of cuteness overload; a condition where somepony's heart gives out from an extreme level of adorableness. If I didn't know any better, I'd say your apologies and your looks were way too much for Harold's heart to handle and he ended up suffering from cardiac arrest. I just hope Rainbow Dash gets back here with that thundercloud. Without it, we can't use the lightning to help restart his heart." Suddenly, as if Twilight's wish had come true in that moment, Rainbow Dash returned to the library in the blink of an eye, carrying a darkened cloud in her hooves. Quickly, without taking the time to compliment on Rainbow Dash's work to bring in the thundercloud, Twilight lit her horn, forming two cables out of thin air, each of them having a metallic clip on one end and a metallic paddle on the other. Twilight attached the clips onto the thundercloud and placed the paddles over both sides of Harold's chest, which she made bare by levitating his T-shirt off of him. When both cables were placed in position, Twilight jerked her head around to Rainbow Dash's direction. "Rainbow Dash! Give that cloud a single kick!" The cyan flyer reeled her hind hooves back and bucked the cloud, causing a clap of thunder that made the Cutie Mark Crusaders jump. A current of lightning was transferred through the cables to the paddles, creating a slight electric hum. "Girls, I need you all to move back while I perform the defibrillation," Twilight advised. The fillies all moved backwards towards the back of the library, giving them a safe distance as the alicorn readied the paddles. "CLEAR!" Twilight threw the paddles over Harold's chest, causing the body to jump from the high voltage shock. There was still no response from Harold, and Twilight began to feel completely nervous for his wellbeing. There was no way she would let him die today, not especially since she promised Princess Celestia she would help him through his pain. "Rainbow Dash! Give that cloud another kick! This time, kick it harder!" Rainbow Dash saluted. She buckled her hind hooves and then released them into the cloud, using a bigger ounce of strength into that kick. The thundercloud clapped, sending another current on lightning through the cables and into the cables. Twilight shouted, "CLEAR!!" and threw the paddles down at Harold's chest. Harold's body jolted in response to the shock. Still no response. Twilight moaned with nervousness. If she didn't bring Harold out of his state, then Celestia would have her hide for failing to even keep him alive for no more than three hours! Panicking like the three little fillies huddled at the bookshelves, Twilight frantically turned to Rainbow Dash, her eyes widened and pupils showing complete alarm. "Rainbow Dash, quick! Put all of your strength into that cloud! I can't let Harold die here and now! Not on my watch!" Once more, Rainbow Dash buckled her hind hooves and forced them into the thundercloud, a large clap of thunder loud and big enough to shake the whole library, even resonating through the glass windows. The thundercloud reverted back to white as the last of the lightning was channeled into the paddles. The electric hum was loud enough for everypony's ears to fold back in order to prevent them from being blown out of their skulls, but the noise wasn't enough to keep Twilight from throwing the paddles up in the air and forcing them down at Harold's chest. "CLEAR!!!" The paddles made contact with the bare chest. Harold's body shot up to the ceiling in response to the biggest shock it received, crashing into the ceiling before falling back to the floor, flat on his back. When Harold fell on the floor, his entire body was blackened with soot, even giving off black smoke that smelled like he was baked in an oven. Everypony held their hooves to their crinkled nose, preventing the burning smell from assaulting their sense of smell, and watched while Harold's body lied unresponsive on the singeing wood. At first, there was no sign of movement or bodily sound. Then Harold's fingers twitched, gripping the hard wood floors while the prints pushed his arm up. Then Harold's body slowly and shakily rose up from the floor, placing his hand over his straining eyes and grunted to the pain. Harold removed his hand from his eyes, only to find his entire vision blurry like the badly adjusted lens on a photographic camera. After blinking a few times, Harold's vision quickly readjusted to its normal eyesight, finding his field to be populated with five ponies all giving him a look of concern. An awkward silence fell onto the library foyer. Then Harold broke the silence with a slurry, but carefully chosen question. "Alright... what the hell just happened?" Twilight trotted up to Harold, taking the question to be the cue for her explanation. "Your heart gave out when these three little fillies tried to give their formal puppy-eyes apology," she said. "We were afraid you were going to die any second, so I had Rainbow Dash help me bring you back to life by shocking your heart. You would've been long gone if Rainbow Dash wasn't around to help transfer all of that lightning into your system." Harold turned to Rainbow Dash, confusion and wonder written all over his face. "You... you actually saved my life?" he asked. "Why would you do that?" Rainbow Dash groaned, rolling her eyes while bearing an insecure face of her own. "Because... I-I-I was wrong about you about before... and I realized that trying to prove somepony against their goodwill was wrong. And..." Rainbow Dash looked back to Twilight, the latter motioning her head as if she was nudging her to do something she never thought of doing. The pegasus sighed, then inhaled deeply before she finally said the last thing she thought she'd say. "I'm sorry." Harold cocked his head, his expression blank like a piece of unused paper. He processed those two little words his equine tormentor spoke of, though it came out as fuzzy as a broken signal. Once the signal was made much more clear to him, a slight smile slowly cracked across his lips, followed with a hand extended towards the surprised Rainbow Dash. "It's alright, Miss Dash. I've already forgiven you for giving me such a hard time at first," he said, cracking into a single giggle. Rainbow Dash cocked up her eyebrows, surprised by how quickly the human forgave her. "Wait, that's it? You forgave me?" she asked, equally surprised. "After all this time, after I tried to beat you down with my bare hooves, you're just gonna say that you already forgave me?" "Why not?" Harold replied. "My sister always said I had to forgive those who would dare to hurt to me and apologized, whether they had a good reason to or not. I admit, I wanted to get back at you for pushing me and all, but I knew you had a good reason to be suspicious of me and my actions. But I guess we can put that behind us and start over. Whaddya say?" Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Eh, sure. Why not?" Harold leaned forward slightly, bringing his reaching hand out that asked for a friendly shake and smiled. "Alright, I'll start. Hello, my name is Harold Gabriel DeMatt from New York City. What's your name?" "Rainbow Dash, the Best Youth Flier and future Wonderbolts. Nice to meet you," the pegasus introduced herself, reaching her hoof out to shake Harold's hand. Suddenly, her hoof was grabbed by Harold's hands and was firmly and gently shaken by the smiling teen. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash. Let's hope we can be good friends in the future, huh?" Rainbow Dash retracted her hoof back to herself and looked to the floor away from Harold's gaze. "Yeah... I'm sure we will." The Cutie Mark Crusaders were the next ponies to trot up to Harold, still wearing their guilty faces, this time for almost putting him to permanent sleep with their cosmic-level cuteness. Just like before, the Crusaders stepped up to Harold's feet, looking at him with their saddened, glimmering eyes. It was fortunate that Harold had the ability to momentarily adapt to the cuteness levels. "We're sorry for almost killing you, mister," Scootaloo said. "We didn't know how our cuteness would be so deadly," Apple Bloom added. "If y'all passed away, Ah wouldn't live it down fer the rest of mah life." "Can you ever forgive us again?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Please?" Harold's smile grew wider, then it followed with a slight chuckle escaping his lungs. "Oh, come on, girls. There's no need to apologize for what you've done; you just didn't know how much cuteness I could handle, even from three little cuties like you." Harold gently squeezed Sweetie Belle's cheeks, which caused her to giggle from the ticklish feeling. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed suit, all three fillies filling the entire room with laughter. "So, wait. Does that mean you forgive us for almost killing you?" Sweetie Belle asked. Harold smiled. "Of course. Why wouldn't I forgive you three? You're just the cutest little fillies I've ever seen." "Aww, that's so sweet of you to say that," Sweetie Belle said, blushing. "Sweet!? Try sappy!" Scootaloo shouted. She feigned a gag and put her hoof in front of her open mouth, her tongue hanging out, as an indication that she was becoming physically sick by the sweet feelings. "There's no way that calling me cute is gonna bring a rockin' hardcore pegasus like me down to the ground! I'm too tough for you to even make me blush!" Scootaloo felt she was being looked at. She turned to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, both looking back at her with a mischievous smile. Her eyes widened and her tiny pupils began to bounce around in the whites of her whites, nervousness taking hold as she accidentally blurted out the word, "what?" "Oh, nothin'," Apple Bloom said smugly. "Ah'm just admiring that little shade of vermillion ya have on yer face." "Ooooh, Scootaloooo. Don't tell me that a 'hardcore pegasus' like yourself is blushing," Sweetie Belle cooed. "I'm not blushing!" Scootaloo snapped. "I'm just having a fever is all!" "Really? Ah think Ah know what ya must've caught." "Yeah. I think you must've caught..." Sweetie Belle nestled herself to Scootaloo, who reeled back from her playful and impish behavior. "...the love bug." "I did not!" Scootaloo snapped. "Did too!" "Did not!" "Did too!" Scootaloo then gave a battle cry and leapt at her fellow Crusaders like a lioness would do her prey. A big dust cloud began to form where the Crusaders began to fight, a fray of hooves, heads and wailing sen and heard from the cloud. Tails were bitten, hooves were jabbing into the other fighter's sides and stereotypical names were thrown around. There hadn't been this much fighting amongst the fillies since they took that field trip to the Royal Canterlot Gardens. Harold, Twilight and Rainbow Dash watched the fight with a blank expression, then turned to each other, sharing a mutual deadpanning look. Twilight lit her horn to stop the fight, but she was stopped by Harold's palm, the latter shaking his head. He needed to stop the fighting by himself, a good way to help build up his social status. Harold stood up and walked over to the growing cloud of fighting fillies and squatted to their level, hands held out to stop the fray. "Girls, girls! Could you three not fight in here?" Harold asked as politely as he could. "You're making more of a mess than you did when you all came in here." All at once, the fighting stopped and the dust settled down. When the dust cleared, Harold saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders piled up on the floor, displaying something even cuter than their sad, shameful eyes. Sweetie Belle nommed on Scootaloo's wing, who pinned Apple Bloom down to the ground. Apple Bloom's hooves were pushed into her friends' tummies, all three of them looking at them with big, innocent eyes. "Hmm?" “HHRRNNGG!” Suddenly, Harold collapsed on to the floor, his heart completely stopped a second time. Like before, Harold wriggled on the floor, foaming at the mouth and his eyes becoming glassy, clear pools. Then Harold stopped moving, gripping his heart with both clawed hands. The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood at their ground, wide-eyed in shock, then began to run around the library, creating an even bigger ruckus than before. Twilight and Rainbow Dash both exchanged a deadpanned look, then facehoofed in unison. "Not again."