//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: Odd Aquantances // Story: The Last Man Standing // by Robobrony //------------------------------// Chapter Three: Odd Aquantances Upon arriving at Fluttershy’s cottage, the sun was starting to set over the horizon. Fluttershy lead Nathan into her home and was greeted by a little white bunny. “Oh, hello Angel, it’s good to see you again.” She greeted the little rabbit. “Angel, this is Nathan, he’s going to be staying with us.” The rabbit looked past Fluttershy and up to Nathan. Nathan got down on one knee and tipped his hat with a smile. “Howdy.” Angel just returned a mean look. “Now angel, be nice, he’s our guest now, so behave yourself okay?” Fluttershy said. Angel hopped away without a gesture. “Aint he cute?” Nathan said a bit sarcastically. Fluttershy didn’t pick up on it as she responded. “He is adorable, but he can be troublesome sometimes.” She turned to face Nathan. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.” Nathan stood back up and gave a bow. “After you mam.” He said in a country accent again. Fluttershy let out a small giggle. She led Nathan up a flight of stairs to a small hallway with two doors on either side. “The room on the right is my room, so if you should need anything, feel free to let me know. The room on the left is yours.” Fluttershy opened the door to it and revealed a room with a bed on the left side of the room against the wall and a small dresser on the opposite. There was a door to a bathroom next to it. “I hope it’s okay for you.” Nathan walked in and inspected the room. “Looks just fine to me, this will do.” He gave a smile to Fluttershy. Fluttershy smiled back. “I’m glad. Will you be going to bed now or would you like me to show you around some more?” Nathan eyed the bed, its warm comforting embrace calling out to him. Nathan began to feel tired. “I think I’ll call it a night, that bed looks so inviting. Besides, I’ve had a rough day, or a rough few months. I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in ages.” Nathan removed his guitar from his back and leaned it up against the dresser. “Okay then, I’ll just let you get settled. See you in the morning, goodnight.” Fluttershy started heading out of the room. “Goodnight Fluttershy.” Nathan said back. He promptly sat on the bed and removed his clothing except his underwear. He lay himself down and covered up with the blanket. “Oh sweet comfort how I missed you.” He stated with a grin. The bed was a bit small but he was able to fit in it just barely, his feet nearly up against the end board. The bed felt so cozy to him he almost immediately fell asleep in bliss. Morning came and Nathan reluctantly got out of bed. He enjoyed his sleep so much and found the bed so comfortable, he just didn’t want to get out, but the smell of breakfast caught his nose and drove him to get out and get dressed. “I’m gonna have to see if Rarity would be willing to make me other sets of clothes.” He stated to himself. He dawned his coat, grabbed his guitar, left his room and made his way downstairs and found his way to the kitchen. There, he found Fluttershy cooking up some pancakes. She turned and noticed him with a smile. “Good morning Nathan, did you sleep well?” Nathan took a seat at the kitchen table. “Best sleep I had in a long time, thanks. That bed was the most comfortable thing I slept in in a long time.” “Glad to hear it.” Fluttershy turned back to her stove as she continued to cook. “So, um, I guess I should take you on a tour of the town if you want to.” She offered. “That would be nice, but I don’t want to get in the way of whatever job you might have.” Fluttershy removed a few flap jacks from the pan onto a plate. “Don’t worry, I got up early and already took care of my animal friends.” “If you say so.” Nathan stated with a shrug. It was then Angel hopped onto the table to wait for breakfast. Nathan decided to see if he could get on the bunny’s good side. “Good morning Angel Bunny.” Angel faced Nathan with a hard glare. Nathan raised his hands in defense as if lasers would shoot out of the bunny’s eyes. “Whoa there buddy, it was just a greeting.” Angel turned his head away in a huff. “Sheesh, so much for cute and cuddly.” Nathan commented under his breath. Breakfast was soon served and Nathan enjoyed every bite as he moaned out in pleasure. “Oh so good.” He commented. “Fluttershy, I have to say this is the best thing I have ever eaten.” He said with a mouthful. Fluttershy blushed at the compliment. “Oh, I’m sure they’re not that good.” Nathan stopped his eating, rested his elbow on the table and pointed his fork at her. “Fluttershy, while this is the second decent meal I’ve had in six months, that doesn’t change the fact these are good pancakes. You are a good cook, learn to take a compliment when it’s given.” “Well, okay, if you say so, thank you Nathan.” Fluttershy said as she turned her head slightly away, hiding half her face behind her pink mane. “Damn she’s cute when she does that.” Nathan thought. He continued eating. “You’re welcome.” Once Breakfast was done, Fluttershy led Nathan back into town to give him a proper tour of the place. Shortly after they had entered the town, Nathan started getting a strange feeling. “Fluttershy, you ever get the feeling your being watched?” Fluttershy looked at Nathan curiously. “Well, you kind of are being watched Nathan. You know, with everypony staring at you. I’m sorry about that by the way.” “No not that, I mean like, someone is watching you secretly, like they’re hiding while looking at you.” Nathan stated as he looked around. He did notice a few of the ponies in town looking at him curiously but he felt there was a set of eyes watching him that were unaccounted for. “Um, well, I don’t think so.” Fluttershy stated. “Should I feel like that?” “Probably just my imagination.” Nathan stated. He chanced a look behind him as they walked. Fluttershy looked up at him first, then followed his gaze only to see no pony behind them. Nathan and Fluttershy faced forward and were startled by the sudden appearance of a pony in front of them. “WHOA!” Nathan exclaimed as he took a step back. “Yah!” Flutteshy yelped and dropped to the ground covering her face with her hooves. “What the hell?” Standing in front of Nathan and Fluttershy was a pink, very fluffy four legged fluff ball of a pony with blue eyes staring at him. “Uh…hi?” Nathan said carefully. The fluffy pony let out a smile and a small gasp. Fluttershy finally chanced a look and saw the pony in front of them. She stood up and spoke. “Oh, hello there Fluffle Puff, you kind of scared us.” Nathan looked to Fluttershy in confusion. “Fluffle Puff?” Fluttershy commenced introductions. “Nathan, this is Fluffle Puff. Fluffle Puff, this is Nathan, he’s new in town.” Nathan looked back at the fluffy pony named Fluffle Puff. “Hi there, nice to meet you.” “Pfft.” Nathan paused a moment. “Um…excuse me?” “Pfft.” Nathan’s confusion grew as the only response he could get from this fluffy four legged fur ball was a series of raspberries. “Fluttershy….um…why is this pony giving me raspberries?” Fluttershy looked to Nathan to respond. “That’s…kind of how she talks.” “That’s how she talks? But how does anyone understand her?” “It takes a while but eventually you pick up on it.” Fluttershy stated. “So, you understand her then?” “Mmhmm, it took a while.” Nathan looked back to Fluffle Puff. “Well, a pleasure to meet you Fluffle Puff.” “Pfft.” Nathan looked to Fluttershy for a translation. “She said hello.” Fluttershy said. “Um, okay, so….would you…like to join us? Fluttershy is just giving me a tour of your town.” Nathan asked. Fluffle Puff let out another small gasp with a smile and started jumping for joy at the idea. Nathan couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He then looked to Fluttershy. “You don’t mind do you?” Fluttershy shook her head. “I don’t mind.” “All right then, lead the way.” Nathan waved his hand. The trio then began their walk through town as Fluttershy pointed out certain points of interest of the town. The first place Fluttershy pointed out was a sweets shop called Bon Bon’s sweets. At the front of the store stood two ponies Fluttershy introduced as Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings. As Nathan walked by the shop and waved to them, the earth pony named Bon Bon had a surprised look while the unicorn identified as Lyra had a huge smile on her face and was dancing on her hooves sparatically with glee. She certainly seemed very excited to see Nathan for some reason. The next place Fluttershy took Nathan by was Town hall, then she showed him Twilight’s place which was the Golden Oaks Library. Before the tour could continue though, a shout rang out. “NAAAATHAAAAAAN!” “What the…..?!” Nathan tried to turn around to see what the shout was but got halfway through his turn when something ran right up to him and under his legs, getting him on the back of something running fast. “WHOA!” All he could do in his surprise was wrapped his arms around the neck of his kidnapper. “Hey Nathan, I’m glad I found you.” A familiar voice said. Once Nathan got a good look, he realized he was on the back of a pink pony with a fluffy mane. “Pinkie Pie? What are you doing? What’s going on?!” He asked. “It’s time for your welcome to Ponyville party silly!” Pinkie explained as she continued her gallop through town. “Welcome to Ponyville Party?” Nathan asked. “Yup, it’s about to start, and we can’t have a welcome to Ponyville party four you without you.” Pinkie soon came to a screeching halt in front of a building that looked like a two story gingerbread house with a cupcake on top. Nathan climbed off Pinkie’s back and looked up at the building. “Wow, nice place, what is it?” It was then Fluttershy and Fluffle Puff caught up. Fluttershy looked the most out of breath. “Hey you two, glad you made it.” Pinkie greeted happily. “Um, Pinkie, why did you suddenly run up and carry Nathan off like that?” Fluttershy asked. “Oh my gosh! Didn’t I send you two invites to the welcome to Ponyville party?!” Pinkie asked with a surprised look. “Um, no?” Fluttershy answered. “Pfft.” Fluffle responded. “Oops, sorry, guess I got super excited about it.” Pinkie said. “Well, you’re here now, come on in and let’s part!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Nathan, welcome to Sugar Cube Corner.” Pinkie led Nathan into the sweet looking building with Fluttershy and Fluffle behind. “Wow, nice set up.” Nathan commented with a smile upon seeing the inside. Streamers, balloons, games, and tables with sweets were set up all over the place and full of ponies here to have fun and welcome Nathan to the town. “I’ll admit, some of the games seem a bit….juvenile, but it looks like she put in a lot of effort into this, I’ll just go ahead and enjoy myself.” Nathan thought to himself. Pinkie suddenly hopped up on a table. “All right everypony, before we get started, I’d like to thank you all for coming to welcome the newest member of our town, the human named Nathan!” Pinkie cheered. Nathan gave a sheepish smile and wave. Some ponies gave smiles back, others looked on curiously at the bi-ped. Pinkie continued. “Nathan here was made a prisoner of that circus that came to town when he first got here six months ago and treated like an animal, it was so unfair. Luckily though, thanks to me and my friends….well….mainly Twilight Sparkle and princess Celestia, he’s a free pony now. So let’s all make him feel welcome and get THIS PARTY STARTED!” Pinkie cheered as she leapt into the air. With that, a white unicorn mare near the back at a mixing table started the music and the party was under way. Nathan decided to try some of the sweets first and went over to one of the tables that held the delectable delecacies. He grabbed a slice of chocolate cake on a paper plate with a plastic fork and leaned against the table to eat it. As he did, the two ponies he saw earlier in front of the sweets shop approached him, Bon Bon with a casual smile and Lyra with an excited grin as she hopped next to Bon Bon. “Wow, this is so cool, a whole new species in Equestria.” Lyra stated. “Easy Lyra, we don’t want to scare him.” Bon Bon stated. Nathan gave a chuckle. “Heh heh, relax, I don’t scare easy. So, let me guess, Your Lyra Heartstrings, and you must be Bon Bon, the one that owns that sweets shop right?” “That’s right, I’m guessing Fluttershy told you.” Bon Bon said. “She did, it’s nice to meet you. Gotta say, I always did have a sweet tooth, you can be sure I’ll be coming by your shop for whatever sweets you may have.” Nathan said with a smile. “Glad to hear it.” Lyra stated. “I have so many questions for you about what you are.” “Can they wait, I’d kind of like a chance to relax a bit first with this party.” Lyra gave a pout. “Fine.” She responded dejectedly. “So, I hope this isn’t too personal, if it is, you don’t have to answer but….do you two live together?” Nathan asked. “Yeah, we’re roommates, Lyra helps me out at my shop so I let her stay in the extra room I have.” Bon Bon explained followed by a smirk. “Part of her job is my taste tester, so I’m surprised she doesn’t have a big belly by now.” “Bon Bon!” Lyra whined as she scrunched her nose in agitation. Both Bon Bon and Nathan laughed at her expense. Nathan then smiled as he got an idea. “Hey Lyra, tell you what, how about on the days I come by the sweet shop, I’ll let you ask me three questions you may have.” “Only three? Why?” Lyra whined out. “Because I don’t want to spend a whole day answering questions, besides, it will give you a chance to think of what questions you really want to ask me and prepare for my visits. Don’t worry, once I find myself a job around here, I’ll most likely be coming by every day for sweets, so you’ll have a chance each day to ask me something, does that sound good?” Lyra’s frown was quickly replaced with a grin. “You bet it does, all right then, you’re on.” She extended her hoof for a shake. Nathan took hold of Lyra’s hoof and shook. “Looks like we have a deal.” Bon Bon smirked with an eye roll at the exchange. “Pfft.” “AH!” All three exclaimed as Fluffle seemed to appear out of nowhere next to Nathan. “Fluffle, you really need to stop sneaking up on ponies.” Bon Bon scolded. “Pfft.” Nathan looked at Fluffle first, then to the two ponies. “I don’t suppose either of you caught that did you?” “She said sorry.” Lyra said. “Pfft.” Fluffle let out again. “And she was wondering about your guitar.” Bon Bon said. Nathan gave another curious look to Fluffle. He then smiled and put his now empty plate on the table. “What, this?” Nathan brought his guitar to his front and presented it to fluffle. “Nice huh? What do you think?” At first, she quickly brought her head into her fur like a turtle hiding in its shell and only her eyes could be seen. She scooted a little closer, then raised a hoof and kind of pawed at the strings to strum it. Nathan rolled his eyes. “Careful now, this guitar is very special to me.” “Why’s that partner.” Applejack asked as she approached with a smile. Nathan looked to Applejack as he stood up. “Hey Applejack, I was showing Fluffle my guitar, she seems rather interested in it.” Applejack gave a light chuckle. “I’m not surprised, ain’t too many ponies that can play the guitar around here. So what were you sayin about that guitar bein special?” Nathan began to explain. “This guitar was a gift from my parents on my thirteenth birthday. I had shown interest in becoming a musician ever since I started liking country music. They got me this guitar and did whatever they could to help me reach my goal of playing for a band. They were very supportive of me. I’ve been doing everything I can to keep this guitar in top shape ever since then. This is like a symbol of my parents love for me. This guitar is the most important thing I have in my possession.” Nathan looked his guitar over with a small sad smile. “Gosh, that’s really nice Nathan.” Lyra stated. “Yeah, sounds like your parents really cared about you.” Bon Bon added. “Yeah, they did.” Nathan said quietly. “You gonna be all right there sugar cube?” Applejack asked with concern. Nathan looked up from his guitar to Applejack. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s just sometimes I really miss my folks, but there’s not much I can do about that, I’m pretty much stuck here.” He placed his guitar back on his back. “So I might as well make the best of it. I don’t suppose you know of any places that might be hiring I could work at for a job do you Applejack?” Applejack thought a moment before responding. “Hey, I know, why don’t you come work fer me and my family on our orchard, we could always use a little extra help.” “An orchard huh? What kind of orchard?” Nathan asked. “An apple orchard.” Applejack stated. “Sure, I don’t mind a little hard labor. I may have lived the life of a country star, but I’m not afraid to roll up my sleeves and get a little dirty. You can count on me.” Nathan said with a smile. “Welcome aboard partner.” Applejack spat in her hoof and extended it for a shake. Bon Bon and Lyra recoiled at the sight while Nathan just looked at it. “I’m not touching that hoof.” “I thought you said you weren’t afraid to get a little dirty?” Applejack asked waringly. “I’m not, but there are limits I have, and that is one of them.” Applejack rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She lowered her spit covered hoof and extended her clean one. Nathan accepted and the two shook. “Looking forward to working with you boss.” Applejack smirked. “Don’t you go callin me boss Nathan, just Applejack is fine.” Nathan responded with a smile. “Whatever you say boss.” Applejack let out a giggle at Nathan’s joke.