//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Ponyville's new neighbour // by Tecuro //------------------------------// Twilight and Pinkie followed Rarity straight to where Twilight thought she would go; the spa. Lotus and Aloe, who were playing a game of chess to pass the time, suddenly sprang into action when Rarity burst through the doors, floated Steed before them and screamed “For the love of the Princesses, save him!” The two spa ponies, both of whom knew Rarity to well to argue semantics, quickly went to work preparing their equipment and before he could fully grasp what was happening Steed was being escorted into the spa. “Have fun!” Pinkie called to him, his response to her was a look that seemed to beg for mercy. Now that Steed was being ‘attended’ too; Twilight went to speak to Rarity, who was weeping dramatically in a conveniently placed luxurious chaise longue. “Rarity…” Twilight began but was unable to say much more as Rarity had begun a new surge of weeping, even louder than the ones before. “He was so young!” she grieved, while Pinkie donned an umbrella hat to shelter herself from Rarity’s tears. “Rarity …” Twilight said once again, getting more and more frustrated by the second. “Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the. Worst. Possible. Thing!” Rarity cried to the sky. “Rarity!” Twilight shouted as loud as she could, with a menacing glare. “Twilight!” Rarity, abruptly halting her waterworks, yelped with a tone of surprise (she was obviously too concerned with Steed’s welfare to notice anypony else before now) “Something terrible has happened!” “Relax, Rarity he’ll be okay!” Pinkie chimed in, stowing her hat back into her mane. “How do you know about him?” Rarity probed, with a surprised look on her face. “We were the first ponies he met,” Twilight explained, Rarity then leapt at her and shook her violently by the shoulders. “So why didn’t you bring him here yourself?!” she demanded. “It was just a bit of mud!” Twilight said in-between Rarity’s shakes. “A bit of mud!?!” Rarity roared “I’ve seen less mud at Sweet Apple Acres!” “That can’t be true!” Pinkie argued “I mean, that was just one pony and Sweet Apple Acres is a whole farm!” “Fine, I was exaggerating to prove a point,” Rarity admitted, turning her nose to the sky, “But the point remains valid! You should have brought him here right away!” She said, directing a stern look at both Twilight and Pinkie, and releasing Twilight from her grasp. “I just thought he would want some time to settle in first,” Twilight explained, while regaining her senses. “Well you should know that nopony, no matter who they are, can tolerate being so dirty for any time longer than is absolutely necessary,” Rarity rebuked at Twilight. Before either Twilight or Pinkie could respond Lotus and Aloe both appeared. Aloe announced herself “Miss Rarity?” All three ponies turned to face her. “Is he all right?” Rarity implored but instead of answering her, the sisters dramatically stood to one side to reveal a now spotless Steed, whose eyes were out of focus and whose bottom lip was trembling, and all three girls could at last get a good look at him. The gold of his eyes matched his hooves and parts of his mane and tail (both of which were still as untidy as they were before, but now mud free), the parts they didn’t match were a bold red that matched his coat colour, a previously hidden physical feature he had was half a missing ear and his cutie mark intrigued Twilight; a horseshoe with a large crack running down it. For a long time no one said anything, instead Twilight and Pinkie shot each other anxious looks, Rarity took the time to assess the now cleansed Steed and Steed himself continued to stare into space, with a look that seemed to imply he had just been violated. Eventually Rarity broke the awkward silence. “Couldn’t you have done something about his mane?” She asked the sisters but it was Steed who responded. “No… Not the mane… Don’t take that away… Let me keep him at least…” he said in a quiet voice, still staring and nothing. “I think he likes it this way,” Lotus explained, while taking a few steps away from Steed. Twilight thought it best to try and snap Steed back to the room, before something horrifying happened and so made her way towards him, albeit cautiously. “Steed?” she probed, placing a hoof on his shoulder “Are you all right?” The use of his name caught his attention and Steed looked towards Twilight, his eyes now focused on a subject, but he still spoke in the same breathy, far away voice “…I need to leave… take me away from this place?” he pleaded. “Its okay, Steed. We’re leaving,” Twilight said in a soothing tone of voice. “…Thank you…” Steed whispered and, looking relieved, headed for the exit. Twilight and the others stayed behind for a moment, if anything to keep some distance between them and a very creepy Steed. “Thank you,” Twilight said to the sisters, who nodded and went to continue chess game (after being paid, off course). “Some ponies can be so over-dramatic,” Rarity said, leaving the spa with her nose in the air, with Twilight and Pinkie in her wake. Once outside the three friends found that in the brief time Steed was alone he had vanished, a development that deeply worried Twilight. “Oh no,” she groaned “Where could he have got to?” “Don’t worry, Twilight. I’m sure he’ll be fine!” Pinkie reassured her, or at least tried to. “Did you see what he was like in there? He’s not in his right mind! And now he’s loose in Ponyville!” Twilight argued. “Come now, Twilight,” Rarity said “He can’t have gotten far we’ll find him, besides I’m not just going to let him run off and get himself dirty again.” “Well come on girls, we’d better get started,” Twilight said, starting to regret waking up early. Suddenly Pinkie’s tail started twitching violently. “Twitchy tail! Twitchy tail!” She blurted, and on impulse Twilight and Rarity both dove for cover under the canopy of a large tree at the very moment Steed fell from its branches and straight onto them. “Oh, sorry!” he said, looking surprised “It was an accident, I’m really sorry!” “What were you doing up there?!” Twilight demanded of him. “I didn’t like being so clean,” He explained, looking bashful (and completely disproving Rarity’s theory that nopony can tolerate being dirty) “So I thought if I hopped into the tree I could get some leaves and twigs stuck in my coat,” he explained as he helped Twilight to her hooves “but I guess the branch I was holding on to wasn’t as strong as it looked,” Steed now turned to Rarity and paused for a brief moment then said to her, “Sweet Celestia… You look amazing.” Until that point Rarity had a look on her face that seemed to imply she would do horrific and unspeakable things to Steed very soon, but the second he finished his sentence all ill will was forgotten. “Well, I wouldn’t say amazing,” Rarity said, trying to act aloof. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” Steed asked her, in a very compassionate tone. “Oh no, of course not. Just a harmless mistake,” she replied with a little giggle. “I would hate to think I almost damaged something as stunning as you,” Steed replied, offering his hoof to Rarity, who took it and gracefully rose to her hooves. “You sweet-talker, you,” She said to Steed, blushing while standing in a position that seemed to amplify her beauty. “How are you feeling, Steed?” Twilight asked, feeling more and more uncomfortable by the minuet. “Oh! Much better thanks!” He said, finally looking away from Rarity, “just promise me that I’ll never have to go through that again,” he replied with a half-smile on his face. “Only if you promise to never get that dirty again,” Rarity said, “how did you even get in such a state to begin with?” “It’s a long story…” Steed began. “… Involving a disgruntled manticore…” Twilight continued. “… A heard of Buffalo…” Pinkie added. “… And an above-average sized explosion,” Twilight concluded. “That I didn’t have anything to do with!” Steed reminded her. Rarity had the same idea as Twilight when she first heard that summarized chain of events and did not probe into it, but instead asked “So, Steed is it? When did you get here?” “This morning, I spent the night at Zecora’s hut.” “And she didn’t mind you being covered in that much mud in her house?” Rarity asked with a tone of mild surprise. “Well to be honest I wasn’t that messy when I met Zecora,” Steed confessed, looking a little embarrassed. “So you got yourself covered in that much mud in the amount of time it took you to get from Zecora’s hut to the town centre?” Twilight asked, trying to figure out how that was even possible. “Yes. Mainly because of the manticore” Once again Twilight decide to leave that story alone for now. “Well now that you’re presentable, Steed, what do you feel like doing?” “Well Braeburn said he would write ahead to Applejack to let her know I was coming so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go see her.” “Do we have to?” Rarity whined “Don’t worry; I’ll do my upmost best to stay clean,” Steed promised her, flashing a quick smile in Twilight’s direction.