//------------------------------// // Chapter VI - Insulting a 'God' // Story: The Kobold of Ponyville // by Mr101 //------------------------------// The Kobold of Ponyville Chapter VI - Insulting a ‘God’ Tak yawned loudly as he brought a scaly hand up to block the rays of sunlight that crept through the gap of the curtains. He slowly sat up and stretched, popping his little back as he looked around to see where he was. He found himself in a large bed and realised he had been snuggling against the warm body of Fluttershy, using her wing as a duvet. The kobold smiled at the still sleeping form of the pegasus mare and decided to do something nice for her. As quietly as he could, he slipped down from the bed and creeped out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Tak made his way towards Fluttershy’s kitchen and looked around. “Now… Tak will make the best breakfast aside from meat… toast!”” he grinned. From experience with raids, he had developed a taste of toast, especially when combined with jam or cheese. Aside from meat, Tak couldn’t imagine any finer food. One problem, however, was making itself well known to him. Tak had no idea how ponies made toast. The way he had always done it was by using a stick over a campfire and simply waiting. But that was because of where he lived at the time. He knew for a fact that ponies had an entirely different method for making toast. Tak grumbled to himself as he tried to think of a way to make the meal. He knew of cookers but didn’t know if they were toast compatible. It wasn’t till he caught something shimmering in his eye did he look up to the counter and saw a small silver box glinting in the sunlight. He clambered up the drawer handles and gasped with a grin as he clapped his hands. There, written into the silver plating were the words, ‘FlimFlam Co. Toaster.’  He had no idea what a FlimFlam was but he didn’t care, all he cared about was the fact he had found a device to make toast. The next stage was to fetch some slices of bread and then figure out just how the contraption worked. Tak surveyed his surroundings again and soon found a bag on the kitchen table that was clearly distinguishable as bread. With a quick movement, he scrambled down the drawers and rushed to the table, clambering up the chair in order to reach his goal. He took out two slices of bread and rushed back to the counter, frisbee tossing the bread up before he climbed back up and glared at the toaster. “Right… now how does it work?” He walked around the toaster in a circle as he tried to figure out what to do. Tak noticed a lever jutting out the side of it and gave it a firm push, jumping back as it clicked into place. He peered into the toaster and saw that some bended wires inside had started to turn red. Tak figured that the toast must come from putting the bread inside the toaster and waiting for it to cook. With a grin, he quickly placed the bread inside the toaster and saw a dial next to the lever that displayed different numbers. He pondered for a moment what they could represent until he let out a gasp of understanding. Clearly, they were levels of taste. With a proud smile of his new found understanding for pony technology, Tak cranked the dial up to ten and sighed in contentment. He decided that he ought to pour Fluttershy a drink, given how dry toast could be. Leaving the toaster alone, Tak clambered down the drawers and looked up at this next obstacle. The fridge. Unlike the toaster, he knew how this one worked having seen Fluttershy open it the previous day. Tak walked over to the nearby chair and gave it a mighty shove, slowly pushing it towards the fridge. He let out a grunt as the wooden chair scraped loudly along the floor, gritting his teeth as he neared his goal. He climbed up the chair and pulled down on the handle and with a mighty tug and opened the fridge before clambering in, immediately spotting the butter as well as a carton of something called ‘apple juice’ Whilst he carefully began to take what he needed out, he was unaware of the smoke coming from the toaster behind him. Fluttershy opened her eyes in a series of rapid blinks. She swore she had heard the sounds of something scraping the floor and yawned as she wiped the last bits of sleep out of her eyes, looking down to see if Tak was awake. Her eyes widened in alarm when she couldn't see the kobold anywhere nearby. “Tak?” she called out. She got no reply. Fluttershy quickly scrambled out of her bed, her mind starting to worry when she caught the smell of something burning. She sniffed the air and gasped. “That smells like something’s burning!” Fluttershy quickly took off down stairs, worried for the wellbeing of Tak and the animals in the house. She started coughing as she came to the base of the stairs, seeing the smoke filling the house. She quickly ran to her front door and opened it along with the windows, letting the animals escape the hazardous smoke. Fluttershy then raced into the kitchen where the smoke was coming from, she flung open the windows to let the smoke disperse and started to flap her wings to help it along. Once the smoke had died down, she heard the sounds of scraping and turned around to see Tak carefully spreading butter over a slice of very burnt toast. He was so focused on his work he failed to see or hear the pegasus until she coughed loudly. He jumped then smiled at her sheepishly. “Uh… Tak tried to make you breakfast, to say thanks for helping Tak,” he said. “Tak doesn't think it went well…” Fluttershy sighed and shook her head. She knew she should be slightly mad at him but she couldn’t help feel touched as the little kobold as he smiled up at her nervously. “Come here, you little devil,” she giggled and picked him up in a hug. “I appreciate the gesture, Tak. But I think from now on, no unsupervised cooking. Okay?” Tak nervously chuckled as he looked at the ruined food, “Tak… thinks that’s best.” “Come on, lets go sit outside whilst the smoke disperses,” Fluttershy said as she gently flew out of the house with Tak. “Guys! Hurry up!” Rainbow cried out. “We’re right behind ya, sugarcube!” Applejack yelled back with a roll of her eyes. The girls, the cmc and Spike had met up earlier that morning in order to all travel to Fluttershy’s cottage in order to begin Tak’s introduction to the town. After talking to Fluttershy before she had gone to bed, Twilight and the pegasus had decided to start off with the last two members of the cmc, Spike and the rest of the elements before moving onto the rest of the town. Rainbow was unusually excited, but it was probably because she wanted to continue her discussion with Tak about Daring Do and had brought along two of her books to show him. She giggled to herself as she came closer to the cottage and landed on the ground. Rainbow tilted her head when she saw that the kitchen windows, living room windows and the front door was wide open. she could just about see a hazy, smoke like substance drifting into the air and outside the house sitting at her patio table was Fluttershy and Tak. Rainbow noted that Fluttershy was rubbing Tak’s back who in turn looked downright miserable. As she approached, Fluttershy lifted her head and smiled to her friend. “Good morning, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said. “Uh… hey, Flutters,” Dash replied slowly. “Everything… alright?” “Of course,” Fluttershy said with a soft smile. “Why wouldn’t it be?” “Well… for one your house looks, and smells like something was burning,” Dash said. Tak cringed as Fluttershy gently stroked his back reassuringly, “Tak accidently burnt some toast her was trying to make me, that’s all.” Rainbow nodded in understanding, “Right, well. The others are about to arrive so—” she stopped seeing Tak’s eyes grow wide. “You alright lil buddy?” “T-there are more?” Tak asked nervously. Fluttershy smiled reassuringly at him, “We talked about this last night, sweetie. Don’t worry, me and Rainbow Dash will be here. And remember, you promised to give Pinkie another chance.” Tak swallowed and nodded, but that didn’t stop him from shuffling closer to the yellow mare. As if on cue, the rest of the group appeared around the bend in the road that led from Fluttershy’s cottage. Fluttershy smiled and waved to her friends as the cmc and Spike dashed ahead of the others. “Morning everyone,” Fluttershy said. “Morning!” the girls grinned. “Where’s Tak? How is he? Can we play with him?” Spike raised a brow as the girls continued to speak in unison, “Dude, that’s creepy…” “Tak’s fine, he’s just—” Fluttershy paused when she noticed Tak wasn't there. “Tak?” She heard a muffled reply coming from behind her and felt Tak tighten his grip on her, confusing the pegasus as to when he got there without her knowing. “Tak, it’s okay…” she cooed softly. “Please come out?” Tak swallowed the lump in his throat and took a deep breath before slowly peeking his head out and blinking at the large mass—at least in his eyes—of ponies looking at him. “Oh… he is adorable!” Rarity squealed, making the kobold flinch slightly. Applejack chuckled, “Kinda reminds me of you, Spike.” “He kinda does… sweet! I can have a new friend who I can relate to!” Spike said in glee. Tak blinked, unable to see Spike from his position and tried to get a better look. He was stopped though when a sad looking Pinkie stepped into his vision. At first, he froze up, but then blinked in confusion seeing that her hair was completely flat against her body. He shrugged it off though, given he didn’t have hair and assumed it was a pony thing. “Hey, Tak…” Pinkie said softly. “I’m so, so, so sorry about yesterday… can you ever forgive me?” Tak bit his lip as he looked at her, then at the others who were watching him with bated breath. He looked to Fluttershy who was giving him an encouraging smile and he swallowed another lump that was forming in his throat. F-for Fluttershy… “T-tak forgives you… just d-don’t scare Tak like that again…” Tak mumbled and smiled at the pink mare. In an instant, Pinkie’s mane bounced back to its original look which only served to further confuse Tak. He looked to Fluttershy and she could clearly see his confusion and shook her head, giving him a clear and readable expression of ‘don't ask, we don’t understand it either’. Before he could say anything, Tak squealed loudly as Pinkie pulled him into a near bonecrushing  hug, her eyes full of tears, “Ohthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! I’m soooooo going to throw you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party!” “Tak… can’t… breath!” Before any of them could tell Pinkie to let go of him, she suddenly dropped him and ran off back towards the town with a speed that nearly rivaled Rainbow Dash. Instantly, Fluttershy was down to Tak’s level and helped him up, looking at him with concern as the kobold coughed and caught his breath again. “Are you okay, Tak?” she asked softly. “T-Tak is fine,” he wheezed. “Can’t be sure about Tak’s back though.” Tak pushed his lower half of his back and cracked his spine loudly, hissing in contentment making Rarity and Sweetie Belle wince at the sound. Applejack and Twilight stifled a giggle at the two unicorns whilst Spike, Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash and Applebloom burst into laughter. Tak grinned and cracked his knuckles, once again making the two mares flinch in disgust. “Tak, darling. Please don’t do thaaat!” Rarity whined and shivered. “It’s disgusting.” As the others laughed, Tak couldn’t help but smile. He felt warmth inside of him and a weird feeling came over him… and he liked it. And that’s when he finally noticed Spike. Tak blinked at him and tilted his head, “Tak thought you said there was no other kobolds living here?” “Well… there ain’t lil fella,” Applejack replied. “So how do you explain him?” Tak indicated Spike with a claw. “Little bit chubby for a kobold though… taller than Tak would’ve thought possible.” Spike glared at the kobold and snorted, some fire escaping his nostrils that made Tak’s eyes widen, “Hey! I’m a dragon, not a kobold!” “... Y-you’re joking…” Tak gulped. “He isn’t, Tak,” Fluttershy replied. “And you need to apologise for calling him chub—” She was interrupted as Tak wailed and threw himself at Spike’s feet, “Tak is sorry, oh powerufl d-dragon! T-Tak meant no disrespect of c-course, Tak was j-just… blinded! Yes blinded b-by your radiance! Have mercy” Everyone stared at the kobold in confusion as Tak continued to plead with the young dragon, almost on the verge of tears. “T-Tak will do anything you ask, j-just please don’t incinerate and eat me!” Spike was taken aback by this and took a few steps back, “Dude what the hay?! Why would I ever do that?!” Before anyone could tell the kobold off, Fluttershy stood beside him in concern ready to protect him should an argument kicked off. It was then that Twilight suddenly remembered something that she had read in the book on kobolds. “I think I know why Tak acted like that,” she said. The group turned to look at her and waited patiently for her explanation. Twilight coughed softly and stood beside Tak. “Kobolds are distant relatives of dragons, and because of how large and powerful dragons are, kobolds sometimes worship them as gods or as masters. I think he started to freak because he didn’t realise you are still a young dragon and was scared he would endure your wrath.” “That true?” Spike asked as Tak nodded. Spike stifled a laugh as he wrapped an arm around the kobold who flinched slightly from the contact, “You’re a riot, Tak! Don’t worry, I ain’t gunna hurt ya, were like cousins!” “Y-yeah, cousins,” Tak smiled warmly. “Though… having the title of god sounds good, wouldn’t you say so, Rarity?” Spike asked wiggling his eyebrows. Rarity giggled as Twilight bopped his head and rolled her eyes, “Okay, romeo. Settle down.” Tak smiled again, feeling the same feeling as before wash over him. He couldn’t describe it. It just felt… nice. Like he was at home here. Fluttershy giggled and gave Tak a nudge with her hoof, “Now, lets get introductions out of the way, shall we?” After introductions were over, Fluttershy went inside to make some tea and sandwiches for brunch—in her case and Taks, breakfast— and everyone settled around the front of her cottage. As Fluttershy brought out the tray, Pinkie came bouncing down the pathway with a massive grin on her face. She came to a screeching halt, sending dust into the air making everyone cough. “Oops! Sorry,” she giggled. “Great news! I got the party arrangements all done~!” “Pinkie…” Twilight started. “Oh, it’ll be so much fun! Everypony is going to be there!” Pinkie continued, oblivious to the others worried looks. “Darling… are you sure? Tak doesn’t seem to be so good around strangers…” “And the cake! Oh my goodness you’re going to love it~!” “Pinkie, are ya listening to us?” Applejack rolled her eyes. “The music to! Oh my gosh, Vinyls said she’s gunna play for us!” “Pinks, calm down will ya?” Rainbow  said stifling a laugh. “AND THERE’S GOING TO BE SO MUCH CONFETTI—” “Pinkie!” Fluttershy shouted, finally getting the pink mares attention. “It sounds wonderful, but Tak is not used to large crowds of ponies, remember?” “Oh… yeah,” her mane deflated. “I-I’m sorry, I just wanted Tak to be really welcomed into the town… I’ll go tell everypony the party is off for now…” As Pinkie started to trudge back to town looking miserable, Tak watched her go and swallowed the lump in his throat for the third time that morning. Do it for Fluttershy… do it for you… friends… for pony. “Wait!” he called to Pinkie and ran after her. Pinkie turned around and looked down at the little kobold, “What is it, Tak?” “Tak… wants to go to the party, Tak is willing to try. For pink demon—” a sharp cough from Fluttershy interrupted him. “Uh… pink pony?” Pinkie blinked at him and then smiled, her eyes watering and lip quivering as she picked him up into another hug, this time a gentle one, “Thanks, Tak…” “So… are we going or what?” Tak asked. “Tak wants to see what this ‘cake’ tastes like!” Pinkie giggled as she leant down to let Tak clamber onto her back. “Onwards! To cake!” Tak cried and pointed to the town. “To cake!” Pinkie cheered and reared up before trotting quickly towards the town. The group started to chase after Pinkie, all smiling and chatting excitedly about the party. “Guess I’ll leave these here then,” Rainbow grumbled, placing the Daring Do books just inside of Fluttershy’s house. “Ya’ll have plenty of time to talk to Tak about Daring Do soon, Dash,” Applejack snickered as the two followed the group. Twilight helped Fluttershy close her windows and door before smiling to her, “Tak seems to be doing well, don’t you think?” “Mhm, I’m so proud of my little Tak!” Fluttershy giggled. “You’re little Tak, eh?” Twilight teased. “How cute!” Fluttershy stuck her tongue out at Twilight who blinked but joined in the giggling along with her friend as they made their way back to town.