The streets of Ponyville became repopulated during the absence of their princess. Ponies began to sweep around the streets, cleaning up any mess left behind by the riot the creature caused when it walked into their once-great village. Worried conversations and prejudiced murmurs were exchange with one another, all of them about the creature who strolled with Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony. Now that fear they all shared had swept through Ponyville like a plague, festering into uncertainty and growing detest.
“Did you get a good look at that thing?”
“Yeah. It made me want to hurl. Seriously, where did that thing come from?”
“I doubt that it came from the Everfree Forest. That thing is too ugly to even live in there.”
“There’s no way I’m letting that beast walk anywhere near my foals until I see it get out of Ponyville.”
As the ponies discussed the creature with one another, they failed to notice another pony trot into town, recently getting off the Friendship Express from a week-long vacation to San Flanksisco. Her name was Lyra Heartstrings. She was a minty green unicorn mare, having a light teal mane with a white streak. Her Cutie Mark was a golden lyre, a small portable hoof-held harp that signified her talent with playing that heavenly instrument.
Although Lyra’s Cutie Mark spoke true to her talent, that wasn’t how Ponyville would exactly define her. If anypony knew much about Lyra Heartstrings, it was that she was easily overcurious when it came to something new and unexplained. But sometimes, her curiosity also got her into trouble. As a foal, Lyra was once told by her parents that little fillies and colts were delivered by the storks and dropped by the doorstep of their new parents. Intrigued by the subject, Lyra ventured over to the Golden Oaks Library and found a book of that same subject.
After reading page after page of that book, Lyra needed five weeks of therapy to clear those images and those words out from her mind. When the sessions were over, she vowed never to make a foal with somepony else ever. But the long five weeks of therapy did nothing to wipe her curious tendencies from her head clean.
Now, whenever Lyra finds something that fascinated her, she would stop at nothing to observe it up close or far away. Even though her friends tried so hard to put that something out of her mind, her ambition to learn more would get her into sometimes serious trouble. On this particular day, her curiosity peaked again as she listened in on the ponies’ whispering while she passed by.
One of those ponies spreading those whispers was Lyra’s best friend, Bon Bon. She was a tan Earth mare with a blue-and-magenta curly mane. Her Cutie Mark were three pieces of candy, wrapped up in yellow-and-blue striped wrappers. The other pony was Roseluck, another Earth mare who ran the local rose stand. Her mane was a raspberry-like hue, with a light shade of pink running through. Her Cutie Mark was a single rose, though it was the only rose with its shape intact. Roseluck’s formerly beautiful roses were now crushed into organic potpourri during the town-sized panic attack, one-hundred-thirty-seven bits down the drain.
As Lyra trotted down to meet her friend, she could’t help but overhear their conversation as they swept up Roseluck’s roses and repaired her stand.
“How can anypony like Twilight even stand to look at it?” Roseluck asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe that creature gives off some sort of pheromone that attracts ponies so it could eat them up for lunch,” Bon Bon replied, giving off a dissatisfied snort. “For all we know, Twilight and her friends are probably monkey chow right now.”
“Gee, you think? I wouldn’t be surprised if Princess Celestia turned that thing into stone right about now, especially after what it’s done to Ponyville.” Roseluck lifted the leg of her tarnished stand up and attached the wheel to the pegs. She spun the wheel to test its rotation, which made a few successful turns without any wobbling.
“You what I have to say about that?” the candy mare asked. “I’d say the next time we see that thing come into our town again, we should get a mob together and run it out of town. If we see something walking through our streets on two legs that isn’t a dragon, then we’re just gonna have to chase it back to Everfree Forest where it belongs.”
“Run what back to the Everfree Forest?”
Bon Bon and Roseluck turned to the familiar voice. To their much-needed relief, it was Lyra, who stood next to them and listened in on their discussion. “Lyra! You’re back!” Bon Bon shouted, quickly pulling the unicorn in for a hug. “Thank Celestia you’re here, Lyra! You won’t believe what happened earlier this morning! It was a complete bedlam!”
Lyra pulled away from Bon Bon’s hug and gave her a plain, curious stare. “Okay, I’ll bite. What happened here and what’s this I hear about a ‘thing’ coming into Ponyville?” she asked.
“Errr...” Bon Bon quickly drew back from Lyra, darting her eyes back and forth, realizing too late of her mistake. If she told Lyra of the creature that came to Ponyville, then her curiosity would once again get the best of her. Bon Bon had no idea of the creature would do to her but she had a few good ideas of what it might do. It might eat her, maim her... mate with her even. Bon Bon needed to take advantage of Lyra’s other weakness.
Her gullibility.
“It was, uhh... a slight parasprite infestation!” Bon Bon fibbed, sporting beads of sweat dripping down her head. “Yeah. A parasprite came into town and started eating everything in town. It began to multiply and everypony was in a full panic! Isn’t that right, Rosie?”
“Hmm?” Roseluck turned to Bon Bon. The latter pony motioned her eyes to Lyra for help, but she eventually got the message. “Oh. Oh yes, a full town-sized panic,” she said, giggling nervously between every few said words. “It was horrible. A-A-And somepony had to borrow Pinkie Pie’s instruments and lead them back to the Everfree Forest. That was all... just... a slight... parasprite... infestation. Heh, heh.”
Lyra kept her curious blank stare to Bon Bon, blinking twice and tilting her head slightly. “Okay, I guess that makes sense.” Bon Bon and Roseluck looked at each other, then sighed a breath of relief. “But what was that I heard about some ugly beast walking through Ponyville? Was there something that I missed?”
“Uhh... that ugly beast?” Bon Bon stammered worriedly. “That was just, uh... a, uh...”
“That was just a statue that Princess Twilight brought along from her trip to Mehayco,” Roseluck interjected. “It was pretty hideous. It had everypony retreat back to their homes until Twilight took it out of the town. You know how those Mehaycans are, always making statues scary enough to make even Nightmare Moon wet herself.”
Roseluck and Bon Bon both darted their eyes towards each other and then to Lyra for a few times. Both Earth mares grew an uneasy smile and their faces were dripping a shower of nervous sweat like a shower nozzle turned on only slightly. Lyra looked on emotionlessly as she tried to piece both her friends’ unsettled nerves and the story together.
Lyra eventually grew a smile. “Okay. That makes a lot of sense. I once went to Mehayco once and a statue of Ahuizotl literally scared the living daylights out of me. To this day, I still haven’t looked at a Rottweiler the same way again.”
Again, this was another mess that Bon Bon and Roseluck helped avoid. They sighed once more, and wiped the sweat away from their forehead before they turned to their unicorn friend. “All in all, I’m glad that you’re back in Ponyville, Lyra. How about you tell us how your trip went while we help clean up the streets?”
“Well, what do you wanna know?”
“Why don’t you start with when you got to San Flanksisco?” Roseluck asked.
“Okay. It started off when I got off the train. I went to--”
“Hey, look! Princess Twilight is back!” shouted a Ponyville citizen.
Everypony looked up to the sky and saw two regal chariots descending from the sky. Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy was on the chariot further ahead of the other, which held Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. The citizens of Ponyville were joyed to see their newest alicorn princess safe and sound, not harmed by the creature at first. But then their joy quickly turned to horror as they saw the fourth passenger sitting with Twilight, blowing into a paper bag.
The passenger, to everypony except Lyra’s horror was the same creature they saw earlier.
As the chariots touched down onto the streets of Ponyville, the ponies began to shuffle away from the site. Some brought their foals inside their homes and slammed the doors. Other ponies hid behind the buildings, behind shrubbery, inside trash cans and other places they could find. The rest stood outside away from the area, casting cold sideways glances towards the Elements of Harmony and the creature they hitched along.
Lyra looked on enticed by the unknown animal that sat with Princess Twilight and her friends. There was something about it that intrigued her. The appearance of the creature; the rags it wore on its body; the short mane formed at the top of its head... even those spider-like things at the end of its hooves that grasped the paper bag.
What did Spike call them again? Oh right, fingers.
Lyra’s intrigued was interrupted when she felt her tail yank her away from the area by the strong clamp of Bon Bon’s teeth. They cantered their away around the alleyway and at the back of a building, with Bon Bon and Roseluck pinning the mint-green unicorn against the wall, their hold on her shoulders as gentle but firm. A stern look in both of their eyes had also gave way to the real reason behind their nervous lies.
“Ohhh, I get it now,” Lyra spoke. “That ‘ugly beast’ I heard about was--!”
“Lyra!” Bon Bon snapped, her glowering gaze piercing through the unicorn’s very soul like a lance. “Lyra Heartstrings, I know exactly what you’re thinking, and the answer is NO! You are not going anywhere going anywhere near that thing! You will not look, you will not hear, you will not even think about that animal! Got it!?”
“Thinking what?” Lyra lied through her teeth. “I’m not thinking about anything.”
Roseluck rolled her eyes with disbelief. “Right. Like I haven’t heard that one before,” she scoffed.
“Are you calling me...” Lyra brought her impish smiling face close to Roseluck’s. “...a ‘lyre?’”
“Lyra...” Bon Bon sighed, shaking her head. “Look, nopony’s accusing you of lying. But I don’t want you going off and watching that creature. You have no idea what it might do to you if you get too close to it.”
“Do you?” the unicorn asked.
“No, but I’m not taking that chance.” Bon Bon let her grip loose and fell to her hooves and pointed a scolding hoof at her. “Now listen to me and listen closely. That thing was the one who caused the widespread panic here in Ponyville and most of our businesses were ruined today because of it. The last thing I would want you to do is see you spying on that thing! If I catch you doing so for even a split second, then I’ll have to kick you out of my house faster than you could ever realize it! You understand!?”
“But I don’t think--”
“Do. You. Understand!?”
Lyra snorted with disappointment. “Fine, mom!”
“I don’t really appreciate that tone either, Lyra. Let this be a warning to you.” Bon Bon looked around the corner of the building to check the area. There was no sign of Twilight, the Elements of Harmony or the supposed “monster” anywhere. “Looks like the coast is clear. Come on. Help me clean up the streets so we can prepare steam sweet corn and fruit salad for dinner later tonight.”
“Oh, goodie,” Lyra mumbled, hanging her head low.
The bitter taste of disappointment was left on the unicorn’s tongue. All she ever wanted to do was observe the creature herself, learn from it and watch how it moved and held stuff with its... fingers. If Bon Bon could at the very least say “yes” for this one, then their relationship wouldn’t be once again questioned, especially if it had been no more than ten minutes since she returned to Ponyville. Bon Bon promised to kick her out more than one time when she became overly curious during those other times.
But Lyra didn’t care. Bon Bon never tossed her out for all those other times and she certainly wasn’t going to toss her out for this one. All she wanted to do was wait for the perfect moment for her to be alone and watch the “monster” for herself.
==================================================================
“It’s alright, Harold. Just breathe in and breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.”
Fluttershy’s calming voice and breathing coaching helped Harold to come back from his petrified stupor. The sensation of the wheels landing on the ground was like a therapeutic hug, gentle and dulcet, washing away all of his fears. His world spun around him slowly as his vision struggled to regain itself into normalcy, thanks to his bad habit of hyperventilating at such high altitudes. Yet, as he saw through his dizzying vision, Harold noticed the streets usually abundant with happy equines were empty, save for the few that had the courage to stay but chose to look away in disdain.
Twilight glowered at her fellow ponies’ behavior disappointingly. She then turned her attention back to Harold, glued to his seat while he covered his belly with his hand, taking in the sweet Equestrian oxygen to soothe his burning lungs. “So...” he gasped. “How long was I out for?”
“About ten minutes,” Twilight answered. “I was actually surprised that you didn’t start screaming when we descended from Canterlot Mountain. I’m guessing that you were so happy with Princess Celestia letting you stay here that you failed to notice we were going downhill until you saw where we were.”
“Yeah, that... sums it all... up.”
Twilight giggled lightly. “I guess it does.”
As Harold slowly got off of the chariot, the twin chariot with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack riding along touched down alongside the first. While the other three of the Mane Six disembarked the chariot, Fluttershy gently nudged Twilight close to her and huddled down. Fluttershy then spoke to her in her usual whispery voice.
“Umm... Twilight? Don’t you think that having Harold out in the open is good for him?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well... do you remember when Ponyville went into a panic the first time they saw Harold?” Twilight answered with a slight nod. “I’ve been thinking since we heard Harold’s tragic story. You see, he had problems making friends back on his world because of whatever his parents did to them, right? If that were true, then...”
Fluttershy worriedly bit her lower lip, daring not to think about the outcome with the only human walking amongst their own ponykind. Lynch mobs, riots, death threats. These horrid ideas were all the least of her worries for the poor boy, though not as horrifying as before when Twilight listed the possible punishments Celestia would inflict on her for taking her pet phoenix, Philomena.
Twilight laid a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. She looked at her with the same reassurance Princess Celestia once gave her during the time she wanted her to help Discord reform from villainy. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. Harold will be in good hooves,” said Twilight. “Princess Celestia entrusted this mission to us and I won’t plan on letting her or Harold down. I promise.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
“You Pinkie Promise?”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
With a wave of her hoof, Twilight dismissed the armored pegasus guards, all of which gave a nod approvingly. The chariots and their drivers all took off into the sky back to Canterlot. As Harold watched the chariots disappear into the distance, he felt his shirt nudge, pulled by Rarity’s baby blue aura.
“Right. Come along, darling, let’s get you all spruced up and ready like there’s no tomorrow.” With that said, Rarity began to trot along the street, dragging the bewildered Harold through the dirt road with her magic. When the unicorn and the human got farther and farther out of everypony’s hearing range, Twilight called on five the Mane Six and gathered around in a huddled formation.
“Okay, everypony, here’s what we need to do,” Twilight started off. “We all need to play our parts and help Harold feel welcome in Ponyville. Rarity is taking him first to the Carousel Boutique to have him washed, trimmed and in a new set of clothes. While he’s doing so, all of you need to come up with a plan to help him feel welcome and meet up at the library early tonight.”
Twilight turned her glowering gaze to Rainbow Dash.
“All of you. That means you too, Rainbow.”
“WHAT!?” Rainbow Dash screamed. She rocketed away from the group and hovered in the air for a good ten feet from her friends. “Why do I have to be a part of it!?”
Twilight followed suit and flew up close to Rainbow Dash’s face. Her narrowed eyes pierced through the tomboy pegasus’s soul like a sharp lance, paralyzing her in mid-air except for her flapping wings. “Because you’ve been pessimistic all day and we’re all tired of it, because you’ve done nothing but avoid contact with or say anything positive about Harold, and because Princess Celestia assigned this task to all of us, and there is no way that even you can turn that task down now.”
Twilight’s scowling face inched closer to Rainbow Dash’s raspberry eyes. The look alone would kill, but instead, slowly brought the somewhat boastful pegasus to the ground, her willpower losing to that fearful stare. It was a good thing that she witnessed the various times that Fluttershy used her Stare on disobedient animals, or she would never have learned to do so by herself.
“Is that a good enough answer for you?” Twilight asked sternly.
“Uhh... yes?” Rainbow Dash squeaked.
“Good. Now I’ll be going to Rarity’s in a little while to check up on her progress with Harold. Would anypony care to join me?”
“Sorry, sugarcube. Ah’m afraid Ah’ve got mah hooves full right now,” Applejack answered. “Ah’ve got until tonight ta finish applebuckin’ the orchards or there won’t be any fresh apples ta sell at mah stand. But if it makes ya feel better, Ah’ll be comin’ by later tonight.”
“Me too!” Pinkie Pie chirped. “I have to go back and work double-time for all the hours I put off today. Those yummy-yummy-in-my-tummy cupcakes won’t bake themselves, you know!”
Applejack and Pinkie Pie turned and walked back to their humble abodes, the latter pony singing her pointless happy tune. This left only Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Fluttershy alone in the square. “So, Fluttershy. Do you want to check up on Harold too and see how he and Rarity are getting along?” Twilight asked.
“Oh. I’m sorry, Twilight, but I’m afraid can’t stay for long,” Fluttershy said solemnly. “I’ll be bringing over all of Harold’s stuff to the library, but I have to go back and take care of Spike’s tummy-ache. Hopefully, he’ll be just fine by tonight... umm, that is if you don’t mind?”
“I understand completely. I’ll see you tonight.”
Fluttershy smiled lightly before she gently took off into the sky. She turned and fluttered down the direction to her cottage, leaving Twilight to smile. For a minute, everything seemed to be peaceful silence. Then that silence was broken as Rainbow Dash heaved a bored hoarse sigh and stretched her forelegs. She took off into the sky, but not before being stopped yet again by Twilight.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” the young alicorn asked.
“I’m gonna go take a nap,” Rainbow Dash answered. “Why? Are you gonna stop me from doing that?”
Twilight flew up to the tomboy pegasus, an imploring look spread on her face. “Listen, Rainbow, I know you don’t approve of Harold because of the history the two of you had today, but could you at least give him a chance? He’s been through so much on his world that he needs our support to help him take that first step into a better life. The first thing that would be helpful for the both of you is to show how grateful you are to even be alive and apologize for picking on him.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but groaned like the idea had put her in conflict with herself. Twilight laid both of her forelegs onto her shoulders and looked deeply into her eyes. “Please, Rainbow Dash. Can you do this, even for just one time? I’m not asking out of Princess Celestia’s orders, I’m asking this as a dear friend.”
Rainbow Dash drooped her head down, moaning with confusion. She gently pulled away from Twilight’s grip and began flying away. She then stopped and looked back at the hovering alicorn, both eyes positioned as if she was lightly saddened or something. It looked as if both certainty and uncertainty had waged war within her.
“I’ll think about it,” said Rainbow Dash.
With that said, she zoomed off in the distance, leaving behind a brief rainbow contrail in the sky.
Twilight stared off towards the horizon as the rainbow streak faded away into oblivion. Gently, she landed on the ground and stood in the square, all alone with barely anypony in sight. Was this how they were going to treat Harold? Running away and hiding from him like they did when Zecora came to town? Would they call him names and spread nasty rumors behind that back? Twilight didn’t know, but she feared the answer would come along, sooner or later.
With an exhausted sigh, Twilight turned and walked down the path to the Carousel Boutique.
==================================================================
Harold was entranced by the inside of Rarity’s home-slash-workplace.
The interior coloration and glamorous designs had left him in a hypnotice state of awe. The colors of the giant circular pattern that made up the entire floor; the festive details on the furniture and on the walls of the workroom; even the name, “Carousel Boutique,” was just as jubilant as it looked on the inside as it was on the outside. To Harold, it was like walking through an carnival of dainty colors, except without the exploding fireworks and the garish clothing. Those sorts of old tatters weren’t even allowed fifty feet anywhere near the Carousel Boutique.
“I take it that you enjoy what you’re seeing,” Rarity asked. She was earned a subconscious “uh-huh” from Harold, still under the spell of the interior decoration. “Well, you certainly seemed to have enjoyed it the first minute you walked in here. Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, Mr. DeMatt. This is where I make everything chique, unique and magnifique.”
Rarity closed the door behind her. The bell perched over the doorway made a light ringing noise as the door hit it from the sides. Rarity once again cleared her throat, grabbing Harold’s attention like it did for the past couple of times. “Now, why don’t you make yourself comfortable and quickly wash up in my bathroom?” she asked, her tone gracefully and posh. “You’ll find it next to my room, upstairs, the first door at the end of the hallway. I’ll be up in a few minutes to collect your... *ahem* ...attire and give them the washing they deserve.”
“Thank you, Rarity,” said Harold. Then something important dawned on him, where it made him snap his fingers. “Hey, now that you mention it, there’s something I’ve gotta take out first.” He reached into his pocket and took out his iPod. The headphones were wrapped around the intricate rectangular design, the little earbuds dangling in the air. Harold set the iPod on the designing room table, grabbing the curious attention of Rarity.
“Harold, darling? What is that interesting device that you’re holding?” she asked.
“Oh, this thing? It’s my iPod.”
“Your... eye-pod?”
“Yeah. It’s a piece of technology from my world that I use to listen to any kind music that I have in here. Think of it like a little music player, though it can also store movies and games in it. Just be careful not to get water or any moisture on it. This kind of technology can be easily fried with just the smallest drop of water.”
Rarity leaned down to the iPod, taking in and observing its unique features. “Hmm. Well, it seems to possess such advancements to your kind’s technology in contrast to our Equestrian technology. Yet, it can also be easily damaged to water or even the slightest molecule of moisture,” she said, making a mental note to herself. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Mr. DeMatt. I shall keep watch over this like a mother does over her own foal.”
“That would’ve been nice for me,” Harold muttered under his breath, then turned and saw Rarity giving him a cocked eyebrow. “I-I mean that’s nice for what you’re doing for me.”
“Oh, don’t mention it, dear. I wasn’t made the Element of Generosity just by giving away a few bits to the local Ponvyille Sunshine Orphanage,” Rarity said with a slight giggle. “Now run along, Harold. We have so much to prepare for before I can give you your much-needed makeover.”
With that, Harold turned and ran to the staircase. If he remembered correctly what Rarity said, the bathroom was upstairs next to her room, the first door at the end of the hall. Or was the door on the right Rarity’s room? He didn’t know, she never really specified on that part. Without a moment’s hesitation, Harold climbed upstairs into the hallway. There, he saw that door, which had been slightly opened to a crack. A quick glimpse inside revealed to be the bathroom.
Although, it wasn’t like the bathroom Harold had thought would match the strikingly beautiful decor. He expected it to be more of a slightly spacious bathroom complete with a porcelain white tub with a delicate pink curtain, hung up by several golden shower curtain rings. No, it was just an ordinary bathroom. The walls were decorated in mint green square tiles. The bathtub was a regular, rectangular tub with three layers of shower curtains all held up by durable shower curtain rings.
Still, it had a shower nozzle, a porcelain toilet and a mirror with white bulbs perched over the looking. That was a plus for him.
After he stepped inside the bathroom, Harold undressed himself and turned on the water. It started off cold, then it became warm. He turned on the shower, the rainfall of clear, cleansing water spraying from the nozzle down to the clean bathtub floor. The delicate hum of the water rushing in through the pipes was like calming music to him, next to the sound of trees rustling in the winds.
He stepped in the shower, letting the shower warm him up and the water running down his body. Already he felt the loose layers of grease flow from his hair and body down the drain. The warmth itself was bliss; blissful and heavenly. Like God’s tears pouring down and washing away his troubles from today, Harold felt himself cleansed all over. He scrubbed the rest of the loose dirt from himself before he went on to the shampoo. It was a third-quarter full bottle of tear-free volumizing shampoo guaranteed to make his hair smooth and clean. Harold squirted a nice amount of the shampoo on his hands and lathered it in his hair, turning his hair into a beehive of sudsy foam.
Harold chuckled lightly. He distinctly remembered the bath nights back at home when he was only a baby. Lana would sit at the side of the bathtub, taking advantage of the shampoo back home to turn his hair into funny hairstyles, among them being the foamy beehive in his hair, a spiky mohawk that ran through the center of his head. Heck, she even used the hairstyle of “Astro Boy” that made them giggle and laugh, making several rare evenings a night to remember.
He wished he could go back in time and relive those exact moments again.
Heaving a saddened sigh, Harold rinsed his hair out, shampoo, four-day-old grease and all. He took the bar of lilac-scented soap and rubbed it on the scrubbing brush, foaming suds forming along the bristles. Then he meticulously scrubbed his body of any dirt, ridding himself of the soil and the body grease from even the hardest places that he couldn’t reach without the use of the brush. With a final rinse, Harold was finally clean, his hair now a brighter brownish-blonde and his body smelling like a fresh spring meadow. He turned the water off and pulled back the shower curtains.
“Did you have a good shower, darling?”
“AAAHHHH!!”
With a panicked yelp, Harold quickly pulled the shower curtains over himself when he saw Rarity in the bathroom, holding his clothes in her baby blue aura. “Rarity, what do you think you’re doing in here!?” he asked loudly. “Don’t you know I’m not decent at the moment!?”
“I only came in here to collect your clothing,” Rarity said. “And as I recall, this is my house and I am free to do whatever I please.”
“Free to do whatever you please!?” Harold parroted. “Listen, I know this is your house, but you should’ve knocked first before you came in here! I’m completely naked, Rarity! You can’t just walk in when someone is showering, changing or not having any pants on! It’s indecent!”
“But you don’t see me walking out in public with any clothes on.”
“That’s because you have fur covering your entire body!”
“Darling, just what is the matter is you!?” Rarity asked, her tone dropping into exasperation and slowly into scolding. “You’re simply acting so uncouth! This is not the way I expected out of a young colt like yourself to thank me for taking you in and offered to have you washed up, have your mane trimmed and outfitted into something more comfortable!”
“Well, it’s not like I wasn’t counting on having my privacy invaded somewhere!” Almost immediately after he said those words, Harold regretted ever snapping back at Rarity. The alabaster unicorn narrowed her eyes, her boiling anger rising like she would tower over Harold.
“Oh, so you all you want is your privacy!?” she hissed angrily. “Fine! You may have your privacy!”
Rarity turned around in a flash, stomping her way out of the bathroom door. She turned her snout upwards and sighed a humph! as she slammed the door behind her. Harold remained still in the bathtub, bewildered by how angry a generous unicorn like Rarity could easily get. This was the first fight he had in Equestria and already he felt his stay was tilting downhill. He was to be blamed in part for the fight. After all, he could’ve told Rarity to politely leave the bathroom, but his shocked nerves saw to it that he drove her out instead.
He wondered if Rarity would accept an apology.
“Why the hell would you apologize to her!? You had a good reason to drive her out, you twit! She walked in on you while you were naked and showering!” Harold felt himself jump at the unexpected arrival of the Conflicting Voice. The sound of the voice was surprisingly similar to that of his father, Ahab’s voice, that which was still as intimidating. “That prissy little horse should’ve known better to walk in here and look at you naked like some bestial pervert! If you ask me, she deserved to be yelled at! Serves her right for violating your privacy!”
Harold shook his head violently, turning the Conflicting Voice into little gasps of wind. Still, the voice had a point. Rarity shouldn’t have walked in the bathroom while he was getting himself cleaned off. She probably didn’t mean to do so, she came to collect his dirty laundry. Harold wondered if it took just one reasonable apology in order for her to forgive him for being so rash.
He could only hope so. He could’ve explained that privacy was a strict law among humans in the first place. “I guess I’ll have to add that part into my apology as well,” Harold thought to himself as he grabbed the nearest cotton towel and wrapped it around his waist.
Needless to say, the towel he wore was a bit shorter here than the ones back on Earth. It was like wearing a mini-kilt made out of cotton. He needed some more towels so he didn't look like a native at a remote island.
==================================================================
As soon as the bathroom door slammed behind her, Rarity stomped her way downstairs to her workroom, fuming at the way her own guest drove her away from the bathroom. Her bathroom in her house, she would add. She held in her magical grasp the heaping pile of deeply-stained clothing she volunteered to help clean up and take measurements with. Now she questioned herself if she was willing to do so with the way Harold acted towards her.
“The nerve of some ponies!” Rarity yelled at herself. “Why, in all of my years of being the most generous pony in Ponyville, I have never been tossed out for doing something nice for somepony! All I did was go into the bathroom to gather up his dirty clothes! And what am I repaid with!? Getting tossed out of my bathroom-- in my house, I might add-- because a young colt like him needs his privacy!”
With her mind clouded by anger, Rarity threw the clothing onto her worktable.
CLINK!
Then the sound of something metallic snapped her out of her resentment as she turned to the clothing. Underneath the wrinkly, stained folds of Harold’s dull shirt, a single gold chain stuck itself out like a little tail. Rarity gasped then frantically levitated the clothes in the air and pulled out a circular item, split open in two at a single point at single point in the circumference. To her absolute horror, it was Harold’s pendant. He must’ve forgotten to take it off before he took his clothes off and was left in the pile that Rarity threw so callously.
Now, it was broken. The two halves were nearly split open.
This would not bode well for Rarity.
“Oh no!! What have I done!? I’ve broken Harold’s most precious treasure!!” Rarity shrieked, suddenly covering her mouth with her hooves. If she continued her yelling, Harold would come down from the bathroom and see what the commotion was about. With a deep breath, Rarity lowered her panicked voice by a couple of notches and levitated Harold’s pendant towards her.
“Just look at what I’ve done to you!” she yelled in a whisper. “This is all of my fault! I shouldn’t have been mad at Harold! And now, because of my fit of anger, I’ve destroyed such a refined piece of gold that he held so dear! If he finds out what happened, he’ll be so annoyed! Oh, I can see it now! He’ll unfriend me! Scorn me! Loathe me! Despise me! Look away from me with such disdain! Oh... Oh my... I feel so faint, I...”
Rarity lit her horn as she fell, landing on a fainting couch that she always pulled out from nowhere whenever she was about to fall. As she laid on her red velvet cushions catching her breath on her exquisite pillow, Rarity gazed at Harold’s most prized possession in her telekinetic grasp. Upon close inspection of the golden pendant, Rarity saw this was no necklace, but a locket containing precious memories of its somewhat crestfallen owner. To her relief, the locket wasn’t broken; she must’ve accidentally hit the switch on the rim that opened the cover when she threw the clothes onto her worktable.
With curiosity getting the best of her, Rarity peeked inside the locket’s interior. Then she gasped as she saw the photograph inside, her delicate eyes threatening to release her bittersweet tears. Rarity saw Harold, no more to be around seven years old, held in the gentle grasp of a girl who kissed him on the forehead while she tussled his blonde mane. If she didn’t knew any better, Rarity immediately assumed the girl to be the late sister Harold referred to in the Chamber of Forbidden Times.
What was her name again? It was on the tip of her tongue somewhere, but she just couldn’t find it.
But as the teary-eyed unicorn looked harder into that photograph, everything became as clear as crystal to her. It was as if Rarity somehow saw how strong the bond was between an older sister and her little brother. Words could not describe how touching it was for Rarity to see Harold so happy he was with his sister.
The way he laughed in his sister’s arms.
The way she tussled his mane
The way she pecked him on the forehead with an affectionate kiss.
The way that both of them smiled like there wasn’t a care in the world.
Rarity didn’t know how deeply she saw Harold’s love and devotion to his sister was; but she could tell how strong the bond was. Very strong. As she peered deeper into the photograph, Rarity could somehow feel a spectrum of Harold’s emotions glimmering from the gold surface underneath the light. She felt Harold’s joy, happiness and love; but around the same time, she also felt his pain, his sorrow and his sadness. But the two happy, loving people in that photograph... the way they played with each other... it touched Rarity somewhere inside her heart that brought her eyes to water.
It was like reliving that moment when she saw the drawing Sweetie Belle did for her and waved it off before she realized almost too late how important sisters were to each other. Maybe that was why Rarity was move by the photograph. Because like her, Harold knew how important his sister was to him. Somehow or rather, Rarity now fully understood the reason he kept the locket in refined shape while his clothes were the complete opposite.
It was a symbol. A symbol of Harold’s love and devotion to his sister.
There was no way he would let even a speck of dirt ruin that symbol.
DING-DING!
Rarity gave a startled yelp upon hearing the bell ring from over her door. Quickly, she placed the locket on her worktable and pushed her fainting couch out of sight just in time to see her customer walk through the door. There, she saw Twilight trot into the shop, smiling with relief as she closed the door behind her, the bell ringing loudly once more.
“Hey, Rarity. I just dropped by to see how everything’s going so far,” Twilight said.
“Well, I cannot deny that we’ve had a bump or two in the road,” Rarity admitted. “He drove me out of my bathroom a few minutes ago when he finished his shower because he needed some ‘privacy.’”
“Privacy is probably a custom among Harold’s own kind,” Twilight pointed out. “Maybe that’s why Harold wears those clothes. It’s most likely that walking around without any clothes on is a big no-no on his world.”
“If that happens to be the case, then he still shouldn’t have forced me out of my own bathroom.”
“You probably caught him by surprise. That could be part of it.”
Twilight then spotted something on Rarity’s cheek. It looked like a black watercolor running down from her delicate cerulean eyes. It was most likely that the liquid was Rarity’s mascara. “Rarity, were you crying just now?”
“Hmm?” Rarity looked to Twilight puzzled, but then remembered the tears she shed when she saw the photograph of Harold and his sister. “Oh, I wasn’t crying, darling, it was only allergies,” Rarity said, wiping her tear away. “Since we are headed towards the middle of springtime, the pollen count tends to up every year and they become unbearable for my eyes.”
Twilight raised her eyebrow, skeptically. “Really? Because the last time I checked on my weather calender, it said the pollen count was going to be low today.”
“Twilight, darling, who exactly are you going to believe? Some silly little graph on your bedroom wall or my own eyes?”
Despite Rarity’s attempts to sway Twilight’s suspicion, the latter alicorn was still not convinced.
“No matter, that is a story for another time! Right now, I have to trim Harold’s mane and fit him for a nice fresh set of clothes.” Rarity tapped her chin with her hoof and pondered for a moment. “But all I need is to take his measurements and come up with a design for his clothing. That might prove to be quite a challenge for me, considering that he’s not even a pony.”
“Neither is Spike, but you helped make him that costume during that incident with the extra ticket,” Twilight said. Both mares giggled when they remembered when Rarity made a stylish saddle dress for the Grand Galloping Gala. Though Spike protested against being involved in “girly stuff,” Rarity dragged the young drake into a fitting consisting of a blue outfit, a blonde wig and a green sombrero.
“I guess that’s true. Harold is bipedal just like Spike,” Rarity concurred. “Therefore, I think I may be able to create Harold’s new clothing in no time at all! Ooh, speaking of which, I think I’ll check up on him and see if he’s ready to have his haircut. I refuse to have him walk around Ponyville without looking like those ruffians in Cloudsdale. I’ll be back down in a minute.”
With that said, Rarity turned and went back upstairs, feeling giddy and excitement shiver through her body as she disappeared up the steps. Twilight sat down at the worktable and eyed the dirty pile of clothing. She scrunched her nose with disgust. This was like looking at a moldy hayburger she once found under her bed when Spike hid it for emergency snack time only. The odor from his shoes was no different than the green, hairy, gooey cheese that was hidden between those two fungi-covered buns. Twilight levitated the Ponies Today magazine from the wicker basket next to one of the dressers and began to read it when she heard noises coming from the upstairs.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
“Oh, Harooooolllld,” Rarity said in a muffled sing-song voice. “Are you ready for your haircut?”
CREEEEAAAK!
“GAH!!!” Twilight perked her head up from her magazine and listened in on the commotion. “Rarity!! What did I just say about knocking!?”
“If I recall, you said I should knock first before I can come in. Plus, you have something around your waist, so that gives you...” A momentary silence passed. Twilight wondered what made Rarity quiet all of a sudden. “Harold dear, what is that hanging between your legs? May I take a good look at it?”
“AHHH!! Rarity, get out!! You’re not supposed to see me like this!! What are you even doing up here, anyway!?”
“Well, I came up here to ask you if you are ready for your haircut. It seems to me that you’re too occupied with wrapping my towels around yourself to even be nowhere near ready to get yourself trimmed.” Rarity’s tone of voice sounded it was dropping. From what Twilight could tell, it sounded like she was slowly becoming agitated with impatience. “No matter, I can always come back in a little while and see if you’re still making a hideous dress out of my towels.”
“N-N-No, wait! I-I-I’m sorry for screaming at you earlier, it’s just that you startled me is all!”
“Oh, don’t pay any mind to that, darling. I should’ve known better than to violate your privacy while you were indecent.”
“Just like you did right now?”
“Touche,” Rarity replied with a giggle. “Anyway, I just came up to tell you that I’m ready to give you your haircut, now that you’ve been cleaned and dried off.”
“Alright. Just let me get this...” Twilight heard Harold grunt, followed with a relieved huff. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Splendid, darling. Right this way, please.”
With that said, the bathroom door closed following a series of hoof steps and footsteps coming down the stairs. Twilight looked up from her magazine and saw Rarity proudly trot down the stairs, telling him about how she might do his hair and in what style he so desired. His naked waist was wrapped down to his knees with a few of Rarity’s towels, like a skirt made out of white absorbent fabric.
Twilight looked in curiosity as she saw Harold’s naked body, ignoring the scars, bruises and few of the burn lesions where his mother, Devereaux doused her lengthy cigarette. The human’s body had somehow intrigued her. There was barely any hair on him, except on his head. His shape was slightly slender enough to see the outline of his ribs at his chest. Being a vegetarian benefitted in his now healthy shape, though there was rarely any muscles in his arms because he probably lacked the protein in his four-to-five day diet.
Twilight tapped her chin, wondering what she had in her cupboard that contained protein for him.
“Now then, without any further ado, let’s get your extreme makeover started,” Rarity said, revealing a hairstyling room behind the huge curtain built next to the staircase. “Mr. DeMatt, if you will be so kind as to enter here, please?”
“Thank you, Rarity,” Harold said meekly. “Oh and please, call me Harold. Mr. DeMatt was my father, and I hate him for that.”
Rarity stared at him blankly for a second before she daintily cleared her throat. “If that is what you wish for, then I won’t hold it against you. Now then, Harold, if you would please?”
With that said, Harold walked past the curtain and into the shadows. Rarity began to follow him, but not before Twilight stopped her with a concerned hoof laid down on her shoulder. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Rarity?” Twilight asked. “I know you you’re doing this out of generosity and all, but...”
“But that is exactly why I’m giving him a makeover,” Rarity interjected. “I have a theory, Twilight: If somepony is sad and needs a helping hoof, then the first thing you should do is to be as generous as you possibly can. Show them that you mean well by offering him gifts that reflects the type of pony who he really is.”
Rarity suddenly perked.
“Ooh! Idea~!” she sang out loud.
“What? What ideas have you got?” Twilight asked.
“You’ll soon find out,” Rarity replied, inspiration gleaming in her eye. “But first... makeover!!”
With that said, Rarity retreated into the hairstyling room and closed the curtains. Twilight looked astonished, not seeing her so inspired to prep up an attire for an entirely different creature. But, if Twilight knew Rarity well, she would get the job done and surprise her with an outfit of her own design. While Twilight waited for the haircut to be done, she levitated the Ponies Today magazine and read up on a recent article on page 33.
It was an article of the discovery Blueblood's scandalous relations with a Saddle Arabian mare.