From Savage to Civil

by Discorded SheepcityUSA

Hairspray is evil

“Gracious Timber, however you manage to get all these knots in your mane is beyond even me.” Rarity complained, trying to comb Timber’s mane into a manner that was at least somewhat presentable, despite his snarls of protest. No child under her care would be spending their first day of school with a mane that could be mistaken for a rat’s nest. For all she knew, rats actually might’ve spent the night in Timber’s mane at some point when he was still living in the jungle.

The thought of rats crawling around in her own mane suddenly came to mind and it made Rarity cringe in disgust.

“RARARA GRAAAG!” Timber practically roared in defiance. Within the few weeks he arrived in Ponyville, Rarity had unsurprisingly gained an obsession with grooming him and making his mane look her definition of good. It annoyed Timber to no end mainly due to him despising the vile smell of hairspray.

Timber wasn’t the only one that wasn’t afraid to voice his displeasure over this either. Sweetie Belle waited by the front door for Rarity to finish with Timber, impatiently tapping her hoof and carrying her saddlebags for school on her back. “Rarity come oooon! Quit obsessing over Timber’s mane! You’re going to make us late!” she shouted, her voice cracking a little.

“SORRY, COMING!” Rarity shouted back, coming out of the bathroom with Timber quickly. Timber’s incredibly messy and unkempt mane that he’d had before (and seemed to keep resurfacing no matter how much she groomed it) was now toned down a lot and kept neat and tidy. While Rarity was smiling big at her work here, Timber did not look amused whatsoever. His face was contorted into a deep frown and he looked up Rarity with that same frown paired with angry eyes.

“Oh don’t give me that look, you look really handsome~” Rarity said, giggling a little.

Timber groaned loudly and was about to reach a hind hoof up to scratch at his mane. Before he could do this though, Rarity managed to stop him.

“Don’t. You. Dare.” she said with a little bit of a crazed smile and twitching eye. She’d spent nearly an hour trying to get that mane in order and she wasn’t about to let that go to waste now. Not when she had to deal with the awful stench Timber gave off for as long as she had. She’d actually considered wearing a hazmat suit when doing his mane, it was that awful.

“Okay we don’t have time to worry about Timber’s mane anymore, we have to go NOW!” Sweetie squeaked, quickly grabbing Timber’s hoof and running out the door. Timber hadn’t been anticipated this so he slightly stumbled forward and out the door as Sweetie dragged him out.

While Rarity waved goodbye to the two foals as they set off for school, she couldn’t help but have a heap of mixed emotions about it. She supposed it came naturally to every parent to let their child go on their own once in a while, especially where school was concerned. Though she had hoped to get him talking before school started back up.

If only Timber would’ve stopped eating the flashcards. Just because one has the word “apple” on it, does not mean the card tastes like an apple.

Well, at the very least he could read a little. That was SOMETHING.

“You’re worried huh?” Rarity heard Critter’s voice come from behind her. She turned around to see the stallion in question coming down from his room. It was from there he’d been conducting his research on Timber’s state of mind and the progress he’d been making since he arrived in pony civilization.

“Afraid so darling. What gave it away?” Rarity asked.

“I’m just gonna say that faces say a lot. And right now you’re looking like you just got a note saying somepony’s got your cat at gunpoint or something.” Critter responded, descending the stairs and trotting next to her. Rarity didn’t look very amused at his remark at all. “…Right probably shouldn’t have said that. Look, you don’t need to worry about Timber, he’s a tough kid.”

Rarity took in a deep breath and sighed, looking at the dirt road through Ponyville where Timber and Sweetie had just left. “I know, I know. I just can’t help but be afraid for him. With the way he acts, what if the other foals make fun of him? You know how cruel children can be sometimes; I don’t know if Timber could take that.”

Critter’s ears folded in worry over this. He’d always known Timber was a physically tough kid that could put up with nearly any challenge thrown at him in that department. But interaction with “normal” foals? That could actually wind up being a pretty tough problem to get down for him. Not to mention Timber was a little unstable in the anger department.

“Oh jeez...well, try not to worry about it. If anything goes south for him, he’s got his three friends to keep him in check. Everything’ll be okay.” He said, calmly trying to soothe Rarity’s nerves.

Rarity sighed again, trying to get her emotions together. “Perhaps your right. Maybe I’m worrying over nothing.” At that moment, just as Rarity was about to shut the door, a small, grey object zipped right through it and smacked Critter dead in the middle of his face before falling to the floor.

“OW!” Critter yelled, rubbing his face where a big red mark had been left on impact. “Well today’s off to a FANTASTIC start.” He groaned sarcastically.

“Oooh poor dear.” Rarity cooed, looking at the red mark left on Critter’s face. She gave it a quick kiss to hopefully feel a little better. From what she was seeing, it eased his pain a little bit, but it also succeeded in making the rest of his face red for a completely different reason.

Rarity giggled a little at Critter before looking back at the floor to see just what it was that assaulted him. It looked to be just the local newspaper having come in for the morning. It looked like Derpy had missed the mailbox yet again. Though there was one specific thing about the headline of the newspaper that really caught her attention.

The fact that it read “The Devil Comes to Ponyville”

Rarity, interest now caught by the headline, picked the newspaper up in her magic and read it over again to make sure she was reading this correctly. “…Oh goodness.”

“Rgh, what, what is it?” Critter asked, still trying to get over the blush and pain in his face.

“Well Critter from what I’m reading-“ Rarity gave a sharp gasp as she looked at the picture at the bottom of the page. It was a thin and lanky pink unicorn with a flowing blonde mane wearing an incredibly thick coat of what appeared to be fur giving the camera a slight scowl. “Oh goodness gracious, Moxxy’s in Ponyville?!?!” Rarity practically squealed.

Critter looked at the newspaper she was holding and raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Okay uhhh a couple of things I need addressed here. One, who the Hell is Moxxy? Two, why’s she being called “The Devil” here? And three, please for the love of Celestia tell me that coat is synthetic fur. Because otherwise, that’s sick.” Critter said with a look of growing disgust coming onto his face.

“Well darling if you must know, Moxxy happens to be a VERY well-known designer in the fashion world, not that I expect you to keep up with that. Though, while her designs are incredibly fabulous by every meaning of the word, she’s notorious for being…difficult to work with. The nickname came about when Trenderhoof wrote an article about her work and how she came off as…well, bitter, angry, and just a tad rude. Thus, earning her the nickname in the fashion world, “The Devil.” Rarity responded, still eyeing the photo of the famous designer. “I’ll admit the nickname is in poor taste, but it is rather funny now that I look at it.” Rarity giggled.

“Jeez…she sounds like a bitch.” Critter said, trying and failing to figure out how Rarity idolizes this pony if she sounded so obnoxious.

“Critter, I am surprised at you! It’s only natural she’d be a little stressed out with the work she does! She keeps up with so many different fashion lines that the poor thing must be working herself to the bone!” Rarity explained, gasping a little overdramtically. “Why, how would you like it if I judged you on one of your off days?”

Critter flinched a little at that. He’d gotten used to Rarity raising her voice once in a while, but it didn’t annoy him any less. “Okay okay, yeesh, I’ll give you that one. I wouldn’t like it alright? Just pleaaaaase tell me that that fur coat isn’t ACTUAL fur.” Critter said, hoping to get an answer but at the same time appease Rarity.

Rarity rolled her eyes a bit. “What twisted pony would wear a dead animal’s pelt? Moxxy may be ill-tempered, but she’s not EVIL. Don’t be ridiculous.”

Critter only tilted his head a little. “…How do you know that? Have you ever met her?”

“…Well erm…no.” Rarity said, smiling a little sheepishly. “But…she’s in town so I have the chance! Oooh it would work wonders for my reputation if I could impress Moxxy of all ponies with my fashion sense! I need to find something to wear immediately! I’m going to finally get to meet her!~” Rarity squealed, quickly rushing up the stairs to her room to find a proper outfit for a meeting of such high caliber.

Critter, at a complete loss for words over what just happened looked back down at the newspaper’s front page photo of Moxxy scowling. There was something very unsettling about the picture then made him shudder a little. The way she was looking almost looked utterly spiteful, as if she was bitter over existence itself or something. Her bright blue eyes were downright the most terrifying thing about the mare in question. They spoke only rage and malice through them and damn near nothing else. It was the same look he could see when he looked into the eyes of an angry cockatrice, and those things turn ponies to stone.

Critter could feel it in his gut. This was NOT a good pony by any means.

“Oh boy…I just really hope you know what you’re doing, Rares.” Critter said quietly to himself, his face ridden with worry.

As if he didn’t have enough on his mind already.

If it was one of the bigger pony emotions Timber was able to understand right now, it’d certainly be embarrassment. That’d be because while he was walking to school with Sweetie Belle, her friends had caught up with them and were snickering at his manestyle. Timber didn’t like it one bit. Not only did the smell of hairspray (Aka, the worst thing to ever exist in his mind) stick to him, but his mane was now completely stiff.

Not to mention that his friends finding humor in the situation was really not helping.

“P-Pffff and Rarity was styling his mane for HOW long?” Scootaloo asked, trying to contain her laughter.

“Too long; and now Timber looks miserable. He hates the smell of hairspray more than anything.” Sweetie said pointing at Timber. He was taking a whiff of his own tail, gagging and coughing at the smell of it. Was Rarity trying to kill him with it? Would this end up making him drop dead sometime later in the day or something?

…

Timber shook his head. Rarity was acting as a very loving caretaker. There’s no need to be suspicious. Was Rarity’s obsession with grooming him annoying? Yes, that couldn’t even be put into question. But was it deadly? Not at all.

The group then started to approach the school, along with the other few dozen or so foals doing the same. Some of them groaning and whining, and others of them actually looking very happy to go. Timber meanwhile, didn’t know what to expect out of any of it. All he could gather was that it was a place where foals went, Rarity really stressed him about going, and that was about all he could figure out. As they came closer to the building, Timber saw among the foals was an adult mare with dark purple fur and a two-toned pink mane and tail. Her cutie mark was also a trio of flowers with smiling faces on them. She looked to be happily greeting the foals as they trotted into the schools. This pony looked friendly enough to Timber, sure. But since he’d been living among ponies, he’d come to learn that while a lot of ponies looked mostly harmless, that doesn’t mean ALL are whatsoever.

In other words, in his mind, be suspicious. Always. Letting your guard down could result in death. Predators use the “harmless” look to lure in their prey. That’s how the predatory fanged squirrels got food in the Windless Woods. They looked like they wouldn’t hurt a fly but they have four rows of razor sharp teeth, followed by two fangs protruding from their upper mouth.

Timber was aware ponies weren’t fanged squirrels, but it didn’t stop him from being cautious.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders on the other hoof, were as happy as could be over seeing this pony, all three of them having smiles all around. “Mornin’ Miss Cheerilee!” Apple Bloom greeted her with a cute smile.

The pony Apple Bloom addressed as Cheerilee looked in the direction of her students and gave them a warm and welcoming smile. “Oh good morning girls. Did you all have a nice summer?” She asked with a cheerful tone to her voice.

“Oh yeah, our summer was awesome! I’ve been working on my flying and I managed to hover for a full eight seconds last month!” Scootaloo said happily, obviously feeling very proud of herself over this achievement.

“And we brought your newest student with uuuus~ “ Sweetie Belle gestured to Timber who stood next to them and looked very apprehensively at Cheerilee. Very clearly he was not comfortable yet despite how calm his friends were.

“Oh hello there. You must be the colt Rarity was telling me about. How nice to finally meet you.” Cheerilee smiled and reached a hoof out to him. Timber didn’t waste time in backing away and crouching to the ground, feathers ruffled and pupils dilating. He started to let out a quiet hiss and backed away even further.

Cheerilee flinched a little and withdrew her hoof. “Um…did…I do something wrong or…?”

All three Crusader fillies shook their heads. “No no, he’s just not really trusting of all ponies yet. He hasn’t even said a word since we met him; just these weird animal noises.” Scootaloo answered.

“Except ‘Rarara’ which I’m pretty sure is supposed to mean ‘Rarity’, but with Timber we can never be sure of anything that goes on in his head.” Sweetie Belle added.

Cheerilee’s ears folded and she looked at Timber again, who was still crouching on the ground and hissing, daring her to come any closer. “Oh goodness, Rarity wasn’t kidding was she?” she said with a voice laced in worry. “Well…don’t worry Timber, I’ll try my best to give you the best education possible.” She said, hoping to ease some of his stress. “I’ll be waiting for all of you inside. I know we’re going to get along great Timber, I promise.” She said as she trotted into the school.

Timber wasn’t entirely confident in this ponies’ intentions. While she did seem to want to help in some way, he wasn’t about to let himself get too comfortable by a long shot. If he acted relaxed and this pony actually did try anything funny, maybe he could catch her off guard and easily win. It wasn’t the perfect strategy but it wasn’t out of the picture either…

But just as Timber was trying to relax, the bell to the school rang, indicating all foals should get to class, and startled him. Unfortunately, he hopped right onto Sweetie Belle’s back and started barking loudly at the bell on top of the building.

“RAGRARRRGAR!” He growled at it as loud as he could, any sense of relaxation completely leaving his body. Sweetie Belle wasn’t fairing much better either, as she was now struggling to carry the weight of an out of control colt on her back.

“M-MMMMPH. O-Oh yeah…this ought to be REALLY fun.” Sweetie Belle said, struggling to keep an optimistic smile on her face.

Author's Note:

Half of this chapter was done for a while, buuuuut as for the second half...you can blame more than a few things. My laziness, College, and Undertale for being so amazing.

Which I totally didn't make a crossover with where Starlight gets dunked on...

Anyway, comments are appreciated

Comments

[Flutters Is Shy]

The link leads to a story without any chapters...

[Mr Swanky Hat]

Hairspray is evil

Why yes, yes it is.

[SageBrony07]

Awesome. Timber at school and rarity is going to meet the devil. Perfect

[Discorded SheepcityUSA]

6863327 Oh whoops. Wrong link. I accidentally linked the potential sequel rather than the actual story. My bad. Fixing now.

[Wacky]

Interesting chapter--can't wait to see how "The Devil Went down to Ponyville" goes

[StarzGecko]

You know... It would be funny if he starts marking fillies & mares to make a herd.

I mean by just licking them to know that he theirs! But I wonder what would happen if Luna came by?

[TheScrollChaser]

6903700 you do know how animals mark there territory right... yeah its not the tongue used its scent either through special glands or otherwise....

[Discorded SheepcityUSA]

7068033 You know looking back on it, him having a loincloth didn't make much sense and it's not really mentioned again so I'm just gonna take that part out. Not like even civilized ponies wear clothes anyway

[Discorded SheepcityUSA]

7069160 Oh yeah, his real family knows he exists, and he was with his parents when they crash landed, it's just his current remaining family members have no clue where he is, and he's obviously in no condition to return to them in his current, savage state. Rarity pretty much knows that it's her responsibility to return him there, but as you can see she's really attached to him and Timber has never even met his actual family. It's going to be a pretty complicated issue to deal with, especially with Rarity. We already saw the what happened with Timber leaving the Timberwolf mother that raised him so this could essentially be worse.

[Discorded SheepcityUSA]

7069216 There's kind of a big time shift between this chapter and the next so they have obviously said some things to law enforcement by then. And (don't know if you've read the latest chapter already or not so just putting a spoiler tag here) considering Critter's concerns when Moxxy is brought to his attention, it's more than likely he'll bring his suspicions to Twilight yet again to try and see if the poachers and Moxxy could be connected.

[Emperor]

I can see what you mean by the time shift.

That said, this chapter just seems so, I dunno really, illogical? They're sending Timber to school when he barely knows the language and culture of Equestria? Even if they're trying to get him to socialise with foals his own age, they have out-of-school time for that. In his current state, he'd be far more distracting in class than what he'd learn in-class, it'd be smarter to keep him out at least until he has basic language skills. Although Rarity might be busy working again, Timber is practically what Critter's full-time job is all about right now, and after a few weeks Timber would have likely warmed up enough to Critter not mind spending time alone with the Professor who could teach him all this stuff (and of course, document it for his work, which is what he's supposed to be doing).

Rarity cleaning Timber, sure, but does she not realise he dislikes the hairspray by now? That seems to me another oddity. Between Critter and Fluttershy, I'm certain one of them should have pointed out to Rarity that given the environment he grew up in, hairspray is probably not something to be applying to him daily right away.

Re: Moxxy. It occurs to me there's no small number of ways to catch her out. The easiest one is simply getting a genuine article of one of her clothing lines and examining it. Between Rarity who should know her fabrics, and Fluttershy and Professor Critter knowing their animals (and Critter possibly even having taxidermal experience), one of them should be able to notice it. There's also the fact that animal hides and skin are treated with lots of chemicals, so any trace of a chemical smell would also be suspicious. Or we could just say 'magic does a perfect job at hiding anything suspicious' and then something else would need to occur, like Pansy blabbing.

[Discorded SheepcityUSA]

7069401 I never said all my writing makes COMPLETE sense

No but seriously comments like this actually help me to improve later on so thank you for the input.

[YINGYANG]

Sweetie Belle and Timber can't date because if he's Rarity's son and Sweetie is her sister that makes her his aunt so you can't do that

[Discorded SheepcityUSA]

7367115 They're not relateeeed~

[Raiden jaeger]

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Texus]

well I think I read the rest to, after a while, I more or less don't really care anymore about Critter being Raritys special somepony, even if I didn't exactly liked how they got together. I don't know but that type of relationship was a bit annoying to me, I remember that much.

However after trying to read this again, it looked good.

[Discorded SheepcityUSA]

7587596 I probably should say by now that I've got some of the next chapter written, I just haven't had as much time to do this fic specifically as I'd like. Don't worry, next chapter's coming

[KiKo4]

*finnaly plays Genocide*
*uses cheats*
*still can't get past sans with it*
*gets dunked on*
(−_−＃)＊walks away from pc＊

[butterfield pancake]

Are you not continuing this story it's been a year

[Discorded SheepcityUSA]

8228673
I'm going to continue it, I've just taken a break from it for a while. I updated this a lot when it first released and I got burnt out a little quick, and I've just needed time to think everything else I want to do with it through.

[Efadd]

*deep breath* UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please?

[VilkaTheWolf]

This dead? Just binged it all and was really liking it!

[Discorded SheepcityUSA]

9700351
Nothing I work on is dead unless I say its dead

[Ali della Morte]

This story is great. I really wish there was more to it.

[StarzGecko]

Pls come back

[rikithemonk]

This was a great idea for a story. I thank the Author for sharing it with us. Great concept and well written.

The Monk
"The idea simply stated that when personal feelings are mixed with power, bad things happen." -Corvo