//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Ponies Meet Boy 
// by Stoltzy92 
//------------------------------//

Ponies meet Boy Part 3

Blueben exited the large empty room slamming the door as hard as he could behind him. Without even looking back he waved his hoof at the door. Just as he had done with the door before it several small locks appeared and locked into their places once again assuring Blueben that the contents he had placed inside not too long ago were secure. The difference this time however was that instead of a steady white glow that the previous locks gave off these gave a distinct green glow.  After he went down the stairs he tried his best to get what he had just experienced out of his head. He then remembered the plans he had made with Pinkie Pie to meet some of the ponies around town. He looked at his clock and breathed a sigh of disappointment when he realized it had only been about ten minutes since his guests had left.  He went over to the kitchen to grab the box of doughnuts he had bought that day. He was pleasantly surprised to find that there were still some in the box. He went over to the couch and set the box where he had had them before. After he had set them down he walked over to his study and retrieved the object Pinkie had tried to get her hooves on earlier.

"Thank God I got THIS away from her when I did." He picked up the object and set it down on the couch. "If she had managed to actually LOOK at it………That would not have been good……." He winced at the thought of what that weird mare would have found if she DID manage to get ahold of it and found out how it worked. Especially what she might stumble upon if she discovered the……… Wishing not to think about it any further he placed the object in a new spot (Hopefully better hidden this time) and picked up a book to read so he could pass the time. Sadly, the only books he packed were books that he had read MANY times over by then. He briefly considered putting on some music but he also didn't feel like listening to any music, especially since he could not find any in his collection that fit his current mood. He looked at the clock again. Only three minutes had passed since he had last looked. He sighed with disappointment. Then he looked outside his window. Then he remembered where he was. He was in a new place with new ponies to meet and get along with. New local hot spots to discover, new locals to find, new shops to hound through. Blueben then knew exactly what he was going to do next. 

Even though he already agreed to do this with Pinkie Pie later on in the day he thought that some exploring on his own would not do him any harm. With that he stepped outside of his home locking the door tightly behind him. It was only about 2 PM in the afternoon so several ponies could be seen walking around town still going about their business as usual. A slight smile spread across Blueben's face as he became slightly eager to see what his exploration would uncover. With that he trotted straight into the center of all the bustle. 

His exploration quickly proved to be very interesting and fruitful. He liked how all the buildings were built with those hay roofs on the top of them. He definitely was fascinated by them since where he came from they were made much differently. Even that store he initially dismissed, the one with the quills and couches, proved to be interesting.  While he was there he looked at all the different kinds of quills that were on display. He had so many ideas of what he could do with the quills, mostly pertaining to what kinds of hats he could put them on.  Looking through the couches as well he was surprised at how intricate the designs on them were. Not only did they seem comfortable but they were stylish too. Blueben was very much enjoying himself. 

Finding himself back on the street he wondered where he would explore next and what he would find. His mind was imagining the possibilities. Before too long though something had already caught his eye. 

He spotted a cat wandering outside of a large purplish beautified building. It had a squished face and very fluffy fur, almost exactly like that of a Persian cat. It was white with a purple bow in its fur about the head, had on a purple collar decorated with opals. He hadn't seen any cats in a while so seeing one now was a nice change for Blueben. Normally he didn't care all too much for Persian cats but once again since he hadn't seen any in a while it was a nice thing to see. Also he normally would have left it alone but for the same reason his curiosity about the creature had gotten the better of him. He walked across the street towards the building where the cat was. As he got closer he slowed down his pace so as not to startle the cat. When he got closer the cat had taken notice of Blueben and looked straight at him with a blank look on its face. When Blueben saw that the cat saw him he just looked right back at it. The cat just sat silently looking at Blueben, the only thing moving was its tail. After taking a look around to see if anypony was looking out of fear of a misunderstanding (Nopony was paying him any attention) Blueben lowered himself onto the ground and extended a hoof towards the cat. 

The cat cocked an eyebrow and began sniffing at the hoof he was offering it. Blueben just continued lying on the ground motionless and expressionless as he waited for what the cat was going to do.  The cat kept on sniffing his hoof, looking at Blueben directly, and then sniffing his hoof again.  Blueben started kinda getting nervous of how the cat wasn't giving him any definite reaction. He hoped that soon it would decide whether it liked him or not.

Little did he know he would soon get his answer. After sniffing his hoof one last time the cat backed away a step and just looked directly at Blueben just as it had done before. Blueben kept his patience while waiting to see what it would do next. 
The cat narrowed its eyes still looking towards its new visitor. Blueben then pulled his head back a little bit becoming nervous about what it was going to do. Then, much to Blueben's surprise the cat then smiled at him and began rubbing against his hoof like any cat would.

"Phew…" Blueben sighed with relief. For a minute he thought the creature was preparing itself to attack him, but thankfully that was not the case.

"That's strange……" said a dignified female voice. "Opalescence usually never warms up to a new pony that quickly."

The unexpected voice made Blueben almost jump out of his skin. He took his foot away from Opalescence as fast as he could.

"I'm sorry young sir. Did I startle you?" The voice asked.

Blueben tried as fast as he could to compose himself. His eyes followed the cat as it walked inside the building the female unicorn had appeared from. The mare had a purple mane with a white coat. The mark on her flank was of three diamonds sparkling.  She was looking at Blueben with a mix of curiosity and concern.

"Yeah, you kinda did." Blueben replied getting up. 

"I was just so surprised at how she reacted to you. She has never gotten that friendly with a pony so quickly. It was months before she would even come to me when I called her." The mare went on.

"Well….." went Blueben. "I'm actually kinda good with cats. My family used to have four of them running around my old home. After they kept having accidents on the carpet and such my parents put them outside and made them outside cats. But that was a long time ago."

"Where are they now?" asked the mare still with her dignified and lady like voice.

"They're all gone now. The last of them passed away just this year."  Blueben told her.

"Oh dear I am so sorry." She said with concern. 

"Yeah it was quite a loss. He was one who was very dear to me to. I raised him since he was just a little kitten. I had grown up with that cat. I miss him a lot." Blueben went on looking at the ground. 

"Oh, you poor dear. Here, come inside. We can have some tea as I help you through your mourning." She said motioning him inside. 

"No no it's fine. I'm quite well right now. I haven't shed any tears about it in months." Blueben responded nervously.

"Oh but I insist!"  She said still trying to get him inside her home. "Mourning the loss of a loved one can be a painful thing. I want to help you through it and help you find some closure."

"I already have closure." Blueben told her bluntly.

"Then at least let me give you some tea so I can properly apologize for startling you." She said while looking at him sternly not moving from her stance.

Blueben sighed with an unamused look on his face. "Fine." He walked with the mare into her home.

He walked into the building and found himself looking around at all the various clothes on display. He only gave them a brief uninterested look since they were all only dresses and gowns. 

"Please make yourself at home darling. My personal workspace is upstairs. You can wait for me there while I prepare you some tea." The mare explained pointing at the staircase to Blueben's left.

Blueben was going to explain to her how he didn't drink tea….. but he stopped himself from saying anything concluding that it would be better if he were to just keep his mouth shut for now.  He made his way up the stairs into her private work area. He entered and instantly started walking around the room eyeing whatever he thought would even remotely interest him. There was a sewing machine, shelf after shelf of fabrics of all different colors, and faceless pony mannequins all across the room. After his brief look around he sat himself on the floor waiting for the unicorn….. who he would argue as more of a captor than a hostess……. To return. Before long Blueben was bored once again. 

"How do I get myself into these situations?" Blueben asked himself. "I guess…… this situation isn't bad….. just annoying more than anything else."

"Sorry to have kept you waiting." The unicorn entered the room levitating a tray with tea cups and a pitcher on it into the room using her magic. She then set the tray right across the young colt and sat across from him.

"Um ma'am…. I am sorry I didn't ask this sooner but uhh…… what's your name?" Blueben asked.

"Oh dear! I can't believe I forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me." The mare scolded herself. "My name is Ms. Rarity and welcome to Carousel Boutique where every garment is sheik, unique, and manufique. "

"Nice to meet you Miss Rarity." Blueben responded politely.

"And what may I ask is your name kind sir?"

"Blueben. My name is Blueben."

"So Blueben, tell me more about your cat. The one you mentioned earlier."

"Well, umm……." Blueben rubbed the back of his head slightly embarrassed,  "Like I said I had that cat since he was a kitten. I was around 5 years old when I got him."

"I see I see." Rarity listened attentively, "Please go on."

"Well, he was a mutt basically. I really couldn't tell you an exact breed. He was a gray cat with spots of white on his chin, feet, and underside. I named him myself and raised him for many many years. He had grown into a fairly large over time. In the small town I come from there were a lot of strays in the area. But somehow someway he became a big ol' tom cat. It wasn't uncommon to find him with another cat hanging out somewhere in the yard. He had been getting quite old recently and my mother began wondering when he was going to finally pass on. One day earlier this year I couldn't find him anywhere. I assumed he had gone to find some place to die as a lot of male cats do. After that day weeks and weeks went by and not a single pony had seen hide or hair of him sense then."
"You have my sympathies. It must have been really hard for you." 

"Well, it has been awhile since he had gone so I am handling it pretty well. In fact I hadn't seen a lot of cats since then so that's why I was seeing how I would fair with yours. I was just scared I guess since I didn't want anypony thinking I was gonna try to steal it or something."

"Oh no trouble at all I completely understand." She took a brief sip of her teacup.
Blueben briefly looked around again before he quickly thought of a way to keep the conversation going without having to talk about his past any more than he already has.
"You said this was a Boutique right?" asked Blueben.

"Yes it is! My very own." Rarity proudly confirmed.

"Do you make all the clothes you sell here or do you have them shipped in from clothing companies?"

"Not at all. I make every single outfit I sell in my shop."

"Is it only lady's clothes that you sell here?"

"I can take any request whether they be colt or mare." 

"I see I see. Very interesting." Blueben tried to take a small sip of the tea that Rarity was kind enough to make for him. The minute he tried it thought his face contorted as he swallowed it. Blueben had never drank tea before so the taste was less then desirable for him.

"I must say I have never seen you around here before. Are you new in town or are you a traveler just passing through?"

"Yeah I am new in town. I just moved in today actually."

"Who all came here with you?"

"Nopony, I came here by myself." 

"My goodness you're quite adventurous aren't you." 

"I guess you could say that." Blueben said while he tried to take another sip of the tea. It went about aswell as the last time he tried to drink it.

"I must say it is so nice to have a new friendly face. For the longest time I dreaded that we would have a monstrous barbarian among us."

"Why is that?" 

"Because of something that had happened during a festival ten days ago……" She began.

"Oh yeah yeah one of the ponies who helped me move in today told me about what happened already." Blueben pointed out cutting her off. "Yeah it sounded like the guy was pretty scary."

"His clothes were all dark and worn looking, and those rings that he wore were just ughh goodness gracious. Not to mention he nearly KILLED a good friend of mine, and yet despite ALL of that The Princess STILL agreed to meet with him. With all due respect to her majesty but I could not imagine what she was thinking. Perish the thought of letting that monstrosity reside in Equestria."

"I couldn't imagine either." Blueben replied solemnly.

"But I am glad that what we got instead was a kind face like yours. Much better than that awful thing. I am happy to welcome you to Ponyville." 

"Thank you." Blueben said with a smile.

"So, what do you plan on doing for the remainder of your day?"

Blueben got up and began to stretch his legs. "I am thinking of going to explore more of the town and after that I am gonna meet up with another pony who will give me a more proper tour." Then he thought, "Or at least as bloody proper as that crazy ditz is even capable of doing." He spoke to her again, "What about you?"

"I have to continue watching my shop and then get ready for a little party that somepony I know is putting together." 

"Well I better not keep you from your shop for too long."  Blueben then walked over to the door and began opening it. "Thank you for the tea. It was a pleasure meeting you." 

"It was a pleasure meeting you aswell. You have a wonderful stay here in Ponyville."

"Thank you very much. Bye." Leaving the boutique behind him Blueben began to wander the streets of Ponyville once more. 

After he distanced himself from the boutique he walked over to a nearby bridge. He looked at his watch which read 3:00 PM. "Good." Blueben said to himself. "I still have some time for looking around."  He walked over to one of the sides of the bridge and looked at the water. "But I think I'll just stop here and appreciate the scenery for a little bit."  Blueben hung his forelegs over the railing and looked at the water below. He could not see through it but he could tell that the water was pure and clean. It seemed to sparkle and shine with every rippling wave that passed through it. Blueben looked at his rippled reflection in the water. He sighed happily at another wonderful moment of peace he was experiencing…….. A shame that it would quickly be cut short.

"Look out below!!"

Everypony cleared from the bridge, except for Blueben.  Blueben didn't understand fully what was said. He looked upwards wondering what was going on. Just as he turned his head upward a rainbow streak crashed into him causing him to go through the bridge and straight into the water. The bridge itself collapsed around them as well pretty much blocking most of the river flow.

"Oooops……… I'm sorry. " Said the pegasus as she got up from where she had landed. She had a light blue coat with a rainbow colored mane and tail while her cutie mark was a rainbow colored lightning bolt striking from a cloud. 

Blueben then picked up his now dirty glasses and put them back on. Blueben silently turned towards the one who had landed on him glaring at the pegasus.

"Heh heh heh heh……….."  she laughed nervously scratching the back of her head nervously. "Here, let me get that for you." She quickly swiped Blueben's glasses from right off of his face.

"What the f……. HEY!"  Blueben was earlier only annoyed at what had happened. Now he was just plain mad.  "The hay you think you're doing?!" He began storming towards her.

"Just chill for a sec." She had taken Blueben's glasses to the other side of the now collapsed bridge. She dipped them in the water then hastily wiped them against her coat.
"You can't just take glasses right off of someone's…." His tirade was interrupted before it even began. Just as quickly as she had taken them she had placed them right back on his face. The glasses though were put on very crooked in her haste.  The pegasus couldn't help but chuckle at how he looked.  Blueben was caught off guard when his glasses were suddenly back on his nose. He looked around briefly and saw that the mare was now chuckling at him.  Seeing that made him scowl at her even more.

After straightening his glasses he took a very deep breath. "You get a B for effort but a D in actual performance." He pointed out to her how the lenses on his glasses were now very badly smudged.

"Sorry." She responded smiling hesitantly. "Pffffffff, you still look pretty funny though."

Blueben just looked at her with "annoyed" pretty much etched onto his face. 

She still struggled to hold back her laughter despite the look her was giving her. After a few seconds she just couldn't take it anymore and began rolling on the ground laughing.
With a groan and a sigh he took off his glasses and began attempting to clean them off with a cloth he found nearby.

"Sorry for having us start on the wrong hoof." She said walking approaching Blueben. "I'm Rainbow Dash, the one and only and the fastest flier in all of Equestria. What's your name?"

"Blueben." He muttered back still trying to clean his glasses, "My name is Blueben."

"Sorry about crashing into you. I was trying a new trick and it kinda got out of hand."

"Think you're sorry now? Wait till some town officials here about this." He pointed at the mess that was once a beautiful wooden bridge.

"Yeah………." 

"I am DEFINITELY not the one cleaning that up."  Blueben stated crackling his shoulders and neck. "I guess I'll see you later………… Ms. Rainbow Crash."  Blueben promptly then turned around and walked away from the pegasus.

"Hey! Where are ya goin'?" Rainbow Dash asked now flying above Blueben.

"I have an appointment with someone I need to get to."

"With who?" 

"Some weird pink pony I was introduced to." Blueben told her rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

"You mean Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow asked him. 

"Yeah, that's the one.........."

The pegasus only started laughing and patting Blueben on the shoulder earning a rather confused look from him. "Oh you are in for it now dude. She does all SORTS of stuff for new ponies." 

"How'd you know I was new?"

"You'll see. Pfffffffff… I'll see ya later Blueben." The pegasus then started flying away still laughing while waving a hoof back at him.

"What the heck could she be talking about?" Blueben thought to himself. "……. What about Pinkie Pie and new ponies? What could she be referring to?" Blueben thought and thought and thought about what the pegasus had said and what all could the strange pink pony be doing.  Oh wait….." Blueben then started remembering what all she had said to him when she was helping him move in. With a sigh  and a shake of his head he turned himself in the direction of Sugarcube Corner and started walking.

"I might aswell just get this over with."