Revenge

by HeroeDeLaVida

Real Estate

“It’s not a lot, but…” Twilight trailed off.

In front of us was a small cottage, overgrown with thorns and bushes. The windows were boarded up and there were some holes in the roof, along with a faint buzzing sound. It had been a little after noon when we emerged from the forest. Luna had taken her leave, claiming that she was going back to Canterlot to talk to Celestia. After she was gone, Twilight insisted that I go to Fluttershy’s cottage so she could check me over and make sure I was alright. The mare in question almost fainted when we arrived and she saw how cut up and beaten I was, either from fear or shock, I don’t know. I wasn’t sure why everypony so far had been so worried. After all, I didn’t feel anything. But maybe I still had some Manticore poison in my system.

Fluttershy didn’t hesitate in dragging me into her house and lying me down on the couch while she franticly collected medical supplies. Soon she had collected bandages to cover the multiple scrapes I had acquired, and a potion to flush the remaining poison from my system. After that she started tending to my ribs. Turned out, I had fractured 2 more. Yay.

I slowly pushed my way through the thorn bushes, earning a few scrapes for my trouble. As I approached the door, the buzzing got loader. I tentatively gripped the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open…

*Whump*

…only for it to fall inward off rusted hinges. Another thing that would need to be fixed. Looking inside the main room, there was a rotting table, an old stone fireplace on the wall to his left, and three doors. One on the far wall and two on the right wall. As I stepped into the cottage, I notably had to duck to pass through the low door frame, the buzzing got slightly louder.

I walked over and lightly kicked the remains of the table, only for it to crumble even more. Behind me, Twilight was quickly losing a fight with a thorn bush that had snagged her mane. When she caught me looking at her, she blushed and gave a sheepish smile. “Help, please?”

Sighing, I walked over to the lavender unicorn and started hacking at the thorn bushes around her. After liberating her, I returned to my exploration, while she inspected the chimney. “It looks like it might need some cleaning” she called, her voice muffled by the stone around her.

I nodded dumbly as I continued my exploration. I went to open one door, which mercifully didn’t collapse, and peeked inside. It looked like this had once been a bedroom, but the room was devoid of anything except another door, which was already collapsed. Inside was a small closet.

Backtracking to the main room, I found Twilight peeking into the other door on this wall. Following her gaze, it appeared to be a bathroom. Well at least I wouldn’t have to attempt making an outhouse. Twilight trotted in and flipped a knob on the sink. I was very pleased to see a stream of water poor from the nozzle. Yay indoor plumbing.

I moved to the last door and checked inside. It opened to a kitchen, with an old wood stove, a sink, plenty of counter space along the walls. There were cupboards under the counter, and many had doors falling off it. There was a door in the back of the room that lead out of the cottage, and in the corner of the kitchen sat the source of the buzzing. I wasp’s nest was busy and in full swing. Quickly I slammed the door shut, causing it to topple inward, the unexpected weight knocking me to the hard wood floor and earning a laugh from Twilight. After I glared at her long enough, she levitated the door off me and leaned it against the wall.

“There’s a wasp nest in there.” I stated after picking myself off the floor and brushing of my camouflage coat which I had reclaimed from Fluttershy’s cottage.

“You know, you don’t have to live all the way out here. You could move in with Spike and me, or maybe Fluttershy, you appear to need her skills often enough.” Twilight said, obviously not impressed with my new choice of residence.

“No, I don’t need to be a burden to you or any other pony I meet here. Besides, if I’m going to be here for a while, I can’t be relying on the generosity of others.” Twilight huffed and walked out the door. I began to follow her when I realized something. “Hey! What do you mean need Fluttershy’s skills often!”

Twilight just chuckled at me. That is, until her tail got stuck in a thorn bush. Turning around she shot me a look for help. “Er, help, again?” I raised an eyebrow. “Ok, ok, sorry about the comment about you being getting yourself hurt a lot.

“Thank you.” I said as I once again started hacking at the thorn bush attacking the lavender mare. After freeing her, we carefully made our way out of the thorn bushes. Once clear I turned around, making a mental check list of things I would need. Hatchet to clear the thorns, 3 new doors, something to get rid of the wasp nest, and boards to fix the roof. I guess I should also get some new windows for the place.

“How do you plan on getting those thorn bushes out of there without ripping up your hands?” Twilight asked. That’s a good question. Looking down I noticed my hands were already bleeding from where I had grabbed the plants to free Twilight.

“I guess I’ll have to get some work gloves.” I said plainly. Should be simple enough. That white unicorn, umm.. What was her name? Rarity, that’s it. She said she made clothing, right? I’ll just get her to do it.

“Work whats?”

“I’ll explain when we get back to Ponyville. We need to go visit Rarity. She should be able to make some.”

“Ok. She should be happy that you decided to take her up on her offer.” Twilight said as we began to walk in the general direction of the small town. “So what do you plan on doing after you restore this house?”

Hmm… I didn’t really think of that. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. “I guess I’ll do my best to get back to my universe.” Honestly, how hard can interdementional travel be? After all, I already did once and that was an accident.

“Oh, ok. I guess that is the logical thing to do…” She said hesitantly. Shoot. I knew what it meant when women back where things made sense sounded like that, and I’m sure things couldn’t be that much different here. It meant I just gave an answer she didn’t want to hear.

“Why do you ask?” I said, knowing that there was more than just idle curiosity behind it.

And it all exploded out at once. “It’s just, I want to get to know you. I want to learn what your world’s like. How you socialize, how your governments work, how… well there’s just so much! There’s to know.” She was practically yelling with excitement by the end of her little speech. Then she continued, somewhat quieter. “I always wanted to see how much I can know, and now there a whole world of more knowledge. And it could leave any minuet. It’s just not fare.”

While she ranted, I assumed a far away look, thinking of the world I left behind. Sure it had a war slowly ripping itself apart, nations threatening nuclear war, but it also had beautiful mountains, tranquil lakes, and people who didn’t like the war that was burning the planet to the ground. What was it James had always said. Everyone’s good on the inside. Everyone. Besides, what good was I doing on Earth anyway. Just killing more people. Here, at least I could teach Twilight, and any other pony that cared enough to learn from my experiences.

I sighed. I had I feeling I was going to regret this. “Well, I don’t exactly have any leads, so if you wanted I could stop by your house every now and then to talk. You could also do your best to teach me about how things work here.”

At this is where I start regretting it. She stopped and smiled wide “You would do that for me! Oh Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” She yelled while hopping around me in circles. “Oh there’s so much I could learn. Like, what magic do humans use and how they use i-”

“No magic.” I said cutting her off.

“No magic?”

“None.”

“At… all?” she stammered, her face contorted in confusion.

“None at all.”

“How do you raise the sun and the moon then?”

“We don’t” I said as I continued walking.

“Then who does?” She asked, trotting to catch up with me.

“No one.”

“Then how do they move?”

“Gravity, or something like that.”

“So gravity moves the sun and the moon?”

“Pretty much.”

“Why would you believe that?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well it just doesn’t make sense.”

“And a magical unicorn moving it does?”

“Alicorn, and yes.”

“Sorry, but for us, Alicorns, unicorns, pegasi. They’re all just myths. Things that don’t exist.”

“So you don’t have any of that of them? But you know of them?”

“Yea. Myths and stuff. The kind of thing in stories your parents read you before bed. Magic, alicorns, unicorns, pegasi, dragons, ogers, goblins, trolls, minotaurs, all just made up.” I said. Seriously, it was like I was telling a kid that Santa Claus wasn’t real.

Twilight walked silently for a few moments, lost in thought, before finally replying. “Well that explains so much!”

Wait, it does? “It does?” I asked, uncertain on where this was going.

“Well of course. If you don’t have magic, then there’s no magic of friendship. And that would explain why your so hostile.”

What? “What do you mean hostile? And sure there’s no magic of friendship, but we still have friendship.” I replied, putting sarcastic emphasis on magic of friendship.

“So then why is all you talk about war and violence?” she countered.

“Because that’s all you’ve asked about.”

“Ok, then talk about a friend you had back in your world.”

“Fine, I will. I had a friend who’s name was James, and he was probably the best friend I had. Both of us had lived with the threat of war hanging over our heads, so we got along just fine. But he had something that was special. He believed everyone had good in them. He was one of the better influences in my life.” I said, sure that that would prove Humans were perfectly capable of friendship without magic.

“How did you meet him?”

Why always the questions that make hard memories resurface. “He saved my ass at the cost of his left eye and his dream.” I said, hoping if I put enough hostility into my voice she wouldn’t press the subject.

“What do you-”

“I’d prefer not to talk about it!” I snapped and looked away. I heard her mumble something about being hostile again. I am not hostile! I just have some, ok a lot of touchy subjects.

We were just getting to the outskirts of Ponyville. Looking at all the green lawns and fresh gardens next to pastel colored houses, something began to bug me. But what was it? I scanned the area again. Nothing. Wait, that was it! Nothing. Not a colorful pony in sight. Last time I had come through here there had been ponies out and about everywhere. Now the roads where barren. Maybe a holiday. I asked Twilight about it, and her face grew a little darker.

“Oh, well… Some ponies around town don’t really trust you that much.” I raised an eyebrow, and she quickly continued. “It’s not because your human and strange or anything. It’s more of because, well… with you showing up out of nowhere, then disappearing just as fast…” She trailed off.

“Well I didn’t have much of a choice in the disappearing part.”

Twilight gave an awkward smile. “Sorry about that I was just-”

I waved her off, saying “It’s fine. As long as you don’t go around telling ponies I’m a psychopath or anything like that.”

Twilight gave me a shocked look. “Why would I do that. I’m trying to be your friend, not make you look like a lunatic.”

Well maybe because you locked me on a cloud. Instead of letting such things come out of my mouth, I changed subjects. “So where exactly is your friends shop?” I asked, looking around.

“Over on the other side of town, I’ll show you.” The lavender unicorn replied as she started trotting down the road ahead of me. As I followed her, I did my best to create a mental map of the town, for when I didn’t have the assistance of a guide. As we walked along, I did notice a few ponies outside, but they gave me suspicious looks as we walked past. Twilight didn’t seem to notice, or if she did, she didn’t care, so I followed her example and walked on.

Carousel Boutique, to it’s own credit, did look something like a carousel. The light blue walls and gilded roof seemed to display a certain carousel-ness that fit the name well. We walked up to door Twilight raised a hoof to knock. There was a muffled “Just a minuet.” and I heard trotting from the other side of the door,

Said door was then enveloped in a light blue veil of magic as it swung inward. In the doorway was Rarity, looking somewhat stressed.

“Hello and welcome to- Oh, hello Twilight. Oh my, and hello Sol. It appears Twilight has decided to be civil and let you off that cloud.” In my peripheral vision I could see Twilight blushing. “What can I help the two of you with today.”

“I need you to make me something.” I said. No sooner had the words left my mouth did Rarity gasp, pure excitement shinning on her face.

“Oh my, that would be wonderful. I’m so glad you decided to take me up on my offer. I’ve been thinking about something for you, and I was the most magnificent idea for a suit for you, inspired by the suit I made Spike for the Gala and I was thinking-”

I cut her off before she could continue on whatever tangent of thought she was about to go one. “I just need you to make me gloves.”

“Whats?” She said, obviously put down that I wasn’t here for more.

“Gloves. They go on hands.” I answered as I held up a hand, wiggling my fingers for effect. “They will need to be made of a thick resistant material, as I will be using them to protect my wands while doing work.” I explained.

The disappointment left the white unicorns face almost immediately at the thought of the new challenge. “Come in darling, if your going to have me make these ‘gloves’ I will need to take some measurements of your hands.”

I nodded then entered the boutique, ducking my head to get through the door. Inside was messy, bolts of cloth laying around, mannequins of ponies of different sizes with cloth pinned to it were spread around. Seeing me eyeing the mess, Rarity quickly apologized. “Sorry for the mess, I’m in the middle of on order for a customer from Canterlot.”

I nodded and continued inside. Rarity directed Twilight and me into a kitchen area, and motioned for us to sit down. I eyed the chair distrustingly, and chose to sit on the floor. I doubt pony chairs were meant for humans, and I was the right size so that while sitting on the floor I was the same height as Rarity and Twilight. Rarity then floated out an assortment of rulers and other measuring implements.

“So what were you thinking for the colour of these ‘gloves.’” She asked while measuring my fingers.

“A dark color would be nice. There not going to be fore making a fashion statement, just working. Also I suppose it would be nice if they were weatherproof.” I added. Thinking more I also said, “Oh, maybe fireproof as well if you could manage it.”

Twilight gave me an odd look. “What exactly do you plan on doing with these.”

“Building a house of course.” I said. Fire is a very important part of building houses.

Rarity just shook her head. “Darling are you sure this is all you want?” I nodded. “Nothing else?” I shook my head. “At all?” I shook my head again. “Could I just-”

“Nope. All I need is gloves. I don’t have time for to stand still for hours on end while you make measurements and use me as a human mannequin.” I said bluntly.

“Please?” She asked, and put on a pout face that could probably make a mountain hurl itself into the sea. I did my best not to pay attention to it. Damn. Weaponize that and she could have the whole of Equestria eating out of her hand. Or hoof. Whatever. Stupid pony world.

I sighed, giving in to her pouting. “Fine, but another day. I don’t really have time today if I want to get anything done on repairing that cottage before the sun goes down.”

“I might be able to help with that.” Twilight chirped in. I gave her an expecting look and she continued. “I found a spell in a book about creating mannequins. I always meant to teach it to you Rarity, but I kept forgetting.” She smiled sheepishly. Rarity on the other hand (hoof?) was delighted.

“Oh that’s wonderful darling. With a mannequin I could make all sorts of clothing for him! Come, lets not waste time. Cast it, and I’ll get started on making these gloves.” She then stood and trotted back into the main room. I stood and followed, Twilight right behind me.

Turning to Twilight, I waited expectantly. She began by saying “The spell takes about five minuets to cast, but it should work. I‘ll need you to stand still for as long as I’m casting the spell, okay?” I nodded, and motioned for her to begin. I hade stood at attention for half an hour while a drill sergeant screamed in my face, how bad could five minuets be?

I had to say it, didn’t I. As I was enveloped in a lavender glow, it started to tickle. Just enough for it to drive my crazy. I tried my best to ignore it but it was so demanding. Luckily, I was distracted by a certain small filly yelling from up a staircase.

“RARITY!”

On top of the stair case I could barely make out the small white filly. “Sweetie Belle. I’m with a customer.”

“But you said you would help me with my homework!” Sweetie whined as she trotted down the stairs. That is, until she noticed me standing near the wall. “Sol! Your back. Rarity said you went away and she didn’t know when you where getting back. Me and the other Crusaders were sad because we were going to see if you would help us get our cutie marks. But now that your back will you?”

“Breathe child.” I muttered, then spoke up. “I would, but I need to do some repairs to and old cottage that I’m going to be living in for a while, so I don’t really have time…”

“That’s okay! We could come help you! Apple Bloom is really good at fixing things. She fixed up our tree fort. We could totally help you!”

I sighed. I did need the help. “Well only if you girls really want too…”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS HOUSE REPAIR PONIES YAY!”

Just then Twilight finished making the mannequin. Besides me stood a perfect mannequin replica of me. “There, now Rarity can make whatever it is she wants to make for you.” I nodded my thanks to her. “I think I’m going to go back to the library and check on Spike. Goodbye.”

As she left I walked over to Rarity, who now was wearing read glasses and inspecting different pieces of cloth. “When will you have those gloves done?” I asked

“In about an hour or so. It shouldn’t be to hard.”

I nodded. “Ok, thank you. How much am I going to owe you for this?”

“Why nothing. This will be a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ gift from yours truly.”

I nodded once again. “Thank you. I’ll be back in an hour or so. Do you mind if Sweetie comes with me”

“No, as long as she’s home early enough to get her homework done.”

“I’ll make sure she’s back a little after sundown.” I said as I turned and walked out, Sweetie Belle at my heels.

“So where exactly are we going?” The small filly asked, looking around. I stopped a few feet outside the boutique.

“Well that depends. Do you know where we can find an ax at this hour?” I said, a small grin creeping it’s way onto my face.

*A/N: Once again, please comment. I enjoy reading comments from readers. So if you like it, are confused or dislike it, comment. I read them all and if necessary I will reply. Thank you*

Comments

[HighTreason25]

Okay, when I read that line, I imagined the creepiest smile.

[Axz]

a new chapter well that's fun, and not only that but it was a fun one to, which means..
"the fun has been doubled" (they relay need to but a Luna emotion in here)

Do you know where we can find an ax at this hour?” I said, a small grin creeping it’s way onto my face....
LOL
i hope you include some misunderstandings regarding that next chapter, twilight already knows he is a bit mentally unstable, so how knows hehe

[Chrome Masquerade]

“I found a spell in a book about creating mannequins.  I always meant to teach it to you Rarity, but I kept forgetting.”  

would that be "ponnequins", in their case?

[Chrome Masquerade]

563364 honestly, i think a Discord emoticon would also be appreciable