Steelskin hung back as Weyul left the restaurant. He still needed to catch Gary and ask about the nightmare night costumes. As his gaze wandered, he noted the steel forks and spoons, crafted with pride by Gary himself. He shook his head as he remembered the imports from Earth that Alex called ‘mass produced’.
They tasted horrible.
#PL-05#
@Arrival + 2 Weeks@
My mouth was filled with the tang of nickel. I looked down at the handle of my fork and realized I had bitten off the end again. I carefully separated the tines of the fork into my cheek before spitting out the unintentional bite of metal.
Toe Tapper looked like he was going to say something, but was silenced by a look from Rarity. She quietly levitated her fork over to me and began directly levitating her food to her mouth. I finished my meal, being careful to keep my teeth away from the metal, especially since I knew many unicorns considered such a direct manipulation of food to be improper.
“After that excellent meal, I believe it is time to, as they say, ‘hit’ the music store before I browse the delightfully unique human fashions.” Turning to me, Rarity continued “Are you sure, my dear, that there are no places you wish to see?”
I kind of wanted to check out what they had for wilderness survival gear, since the technology in the human world was so advanced. Sadly, I wasn’t sure where or how to ask for it. Or if my adoptive parents would be okay with me preparing for leaving them. In the end, I gave a noncommittal “Can’t think of anything.”
“Well, you let me know if you change your mind,” she responded with her trademark smile.
Rarity got the bill, consulted the ‘Visitors to Earth’ pamphlet, and counted out the appropriate amount of paper money. She, of course, placed a medium sized gemstone on top before moving the salt shaker back to its original place in the center of the table and joining us as we walked into the ‘Mall’ proper. I was amused but understanding about her keeping the salt away from a colt as ‘young’ as me.
One of the first stores to catch my attention was one that sold stuffed animals and my gaze landed on a white unicorn in the window just before I heard a huff from Rarity and a mumble about ‘That ridiculous piece of entertainment.’ Right next to it was what was obviously supposed to be Princess Celestia and I let out a small chuckle as I wondered whether Twilight would be more offended at it or wanting one for herself.
“Ah, here we are,” Toe Tapper said as he trotted towards a store called ‘Guitar Center’.
It took me a moment, but remembered that it was an instrument Lyra was experimenting with shortly after the portals opened. Inside, it was clear that, while guitars were the primary instrument, there were many others the store sold. I ended up just human watching as Toe Tapper and Rarity looked around and talked with employees and fellow customers. I, myself, couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket unless the Magic of Harmony took over.
Besides the humans, a sign caught my eye:
‘NO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN’
I looked around, wondering why the sign would be there when there obviously wasn’t a stairway in this store.
“Hey, Georgette, Is Gary in the kitchen?” Steelskin asked with a jaunty smile.
She spoke in that funny Manehatten accent of hers. “You bet. But he’s deboning right now,” she warned.
“Thanks for the warning,” he replied nonchalantly before pushing open the doors and walking in.
“No ponies in the kitchen!” Garbo squawked, hiding his worry with annoyance.
At Gary’s reply of “Don’t worry, Dad, it’s Steelskin.” Steelskin’s ears pinned back for a second before he forced them up again.
“Hey, Gary, how’s it going?” Steelskin asked, trying to sound casual and carefree. He was bothered by the fact that the pile of dead chickens in front of Gary didn’t bother him in the least .
Even the smell didn’t cause me any alarm. He thought to himself.
#PL-05#
@Arrival + 2 Weeks@
Rarity’s ears pinned back as she recognized the import of the sign advertising ‘Food Court’ and hurried us past. I caught the smell of food I remembered from Garbo’s and cooperated for Toe Tapper’s benefit.
I noticed a sports store that looked more like outdoors camping than Hoofball gear. “Hey, can we go in there?” I asked, curious if there was anything that might help my survival chances on the next hostile world.
“Of course, dear,” Rarity said slightly too quickly.
As I went in, I looked around, noticing shoes on one wall, tents on another, and shelves upon shelves of all sorts of stuff. As I trotted down the aisles, I saw first aid kits of all shapes and sizes, most of which had cases made from that strange ‘plastic’ material humans had. On a whim, I grabbed one, planning to ask Rarity to buy it for me. Resting it upon my back, I continued looking around.
The next aisle over, I found a water container that was also made of plastic, but it was soft and pliable rather than the hard stuff the first aid kit used. It was like a large bag with a straw so that I could leave it in my saddlebags and take a drink without taking it out. Just next to it were filters and purifying tablets to make Earth water less dangerous.
“Oh, did you find something you wanted?” Toe Tapper asked me.
I thought quickly about how to justify it. “Well, after some real close calls, I’m kinda worried about getting hurt and it would make me feel better if I had some supplies just in case.”
He seemed to be thinking for a long time, but it could’ve just been my worry over his answer.
“Sure, I can see that.” His smile faltered before he continued. “You’ve seen a lot, haven’t you.”
Recovering his smile, he tried to change the subject. “Have you seen the magical maps they have? They call them Gee-pee-esses.”
We went over and looked at them. I noticed that they seemed like much simpler versions of Matt’s visor.
I took one of them over to one of the employees and asked “Could you please tell me how this works?”
The human gave me the standard smile adults reserved for kids. “Well, this is the power button. It turns it on and off. Over here,” he said as he pointed to a longer button, “is the volume control. This side makes it louder and this side makes it softer.”
I was pretty certain that I’d have been able to figure those out just by reading the manual.
His smile changed to that smug one that said he was waiting for me to thank him or tell him I didn’t understand.
I hid my annoyance and asked “I mean, how does it know where it is and where the roads are?”
“Oh,” he responded. “Okay, there are GPS satellites in orbit that send a signal down to tell it where it is, and there are maps pre-loaded into it for this area of the country. If you need maps for other places, you can download them from their website.”
This time, I was hiding disappointment. “Thank you very much.”
I walked back and put it back on its hook before continuing on.
I smiled at Toe Tapper. “Oh well, it won’t work in Equestria.”
He gave a disappointed smile and we continued looking around.
“Oh, there you are, darlings,” Rarity said from behind us. “Look at these things! According to the saleshuman, they can be used to talk to each other even when we’re, what did he say? Sixteen miles?” Rarity pulled out another pamphlet titled ‘An Equestrian Guide to Human Weights and Measures’, checking it with a quiet “Hmmm...” before her eyes widened slightly in surprise. After a moment, she continued, “I will need to beautify them, of course.. These designs are so... bland.”
“So, my friends want to dress up as wargum for Nightmare Night,” Steelskin said. “...and I was hoping you could make them some fake piercings like mine.”
Gary raised an eyebrow at him. “They want the dermal spikes too, or just the rings?”
“Both,” Steelskin replied.
"Fake spikes are tricky. They wearing face masks?"
“Haven’t gotten that far yet. Bell’s asking her sister if she’ll make the costumes. I didn’t want to get too far into things before making sure you were willing.”
"You want those spikes in steel, silver, chrome, gold, electrum, aluminum? I got a special on the aluminum. You get a full head set for more than you can afford." The griffon chuckled at his joke.
Steelskin joined in the laugh. “Nothing fancy, just any junk metal you’ve got kicking around. This’ll be at night, after all.”
“Gold it is,” Gary replied, then brightened up. “Hey, I haven’t introduced you to my dad yet, have I?”
Steelskin felt the size difference between them as he was pushed over to the other side of the kitchen.
“Hey, Dad, this is my friend, Steelskin. Steelskin, this is my dad, Garbo.”
“Nice to meet you, sir,” Steelskin said, looking up at the older griffon with a confident nod.
Garbo gave his son a look. “This little thing is the Steelskin you’ve been telling me about? He’s certainly got the attitude, but he’s much too small to be the warrior you’ve talked about.”
Steelskin smiled toothily. “You may believe whatever you want, good sir. It is not my place to argue with you. Have a nice day.”
Garbo stood with his beak hanging open while Steelskin trotted for the door.
“Later,” Steelskin said to a chuckling Gary as he trotted out the door.
As he left, he heard Gary say "Spar with him, Dad, and you might think that size does not make the warrior."
#PL-05#
@Arrival + 2 Weeks@
As I was looking at some silvery ‘emergency blankets’, Rarity came over, practically fuming.
“We are leaving this horrid store right now,” she hissed as she levitated the first aid kit off my back and herded me towards the exit.
Once outside, Toe Tapper asked “What’s wrong, honey?”
Rarity covered my ears and whispered “I was looking at their hoofguards and saw packs and packs of socks right out in the middle of the shelf, almost at eye level for a foal!”
After we had walked for a couple minutes, Rarity had calmed down enough to start talking normally. “Well, at least our next stop will be classier than that filthy place. If an upscale fashion designer like Victoria Secret sells socks, at least they’ll be tastefully hidden away where innocent foals won’t be able to stumble onto them.”
Steelskin giggled to himself as he remembered Rarity looking through the lacy panties and bras with interested approval before noticing the ‘pantyhose’ stretched over fake human legs.
A familiar hum started getting louder and Steelskin stopped, braced for impact, and looked around, listening for the correct direction. Soon, an orange and red blur came into sight. The red blur separated from its place beneath the orange blur and veered off to the side as the orange blur resolved itself into a pony shape, homed in on, and collided with him.
Steelskin wound up on his back with Scootaloo standing on his stomach.
“Hey,” she said with a grin.
Steelskin returned the smirk, but didn’t bother to say anything.
After a moment of staring happily at him, she stepped off and helped him to his hooves.
“Bells said Rarity loves the costume idea and will have some designs next week...” She trailed off like she had more she wanted to say.
Steelskin walked beside her back towards town, debating whether to say anything. After a few minutes, the decision was taken out of his hooves.
“So,” Scootaloo said, working up the courage to continue. “You know how you didn’t want to burden me with what you’ve been through?”
Steelskin looked over at her in concern. As he was about to reply, she continued.
“Well, I hadn’t wanted to burden anypony with mine either, but...” Scootaloo stopped walking and started rubbing a foreleg with the other hoof.
Steelskin moved in front of her and touched his forehead to hers. “I understand. Any time you need to talk, just let me know... Actually, you want to find a place to talk now?”
Scootaloo sighed. “No, I was supposed to find you so we could have a crusaders meeting to talk more about our costumes.” She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for being so awesome.”
Steelskin’s cheeks heated up and they started walking along together towards Sugarcube Corner. Steelskin, still feeling a little concerned, spoke up. “You wanna find time tomorrow? You sound like you do need to get it off your back.”
“Thanks,” Scootaloo responded, nuzzling his neck as they walked.
“Oh, yeah,” Scootaloo said excitedly after a few seconds. “Fei has some ideas on illusions she can add to our costumes.”
“Sounds good, just don’t let Spect do anything to them,” Steelskin said, trying to make it sound like a joke.
Both of them laughed nervously.