To Err is Equine

by RLYoshi

5: False Fronts and Quid Pro Quo

Now this is a story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside-down
And I'd like to take a minute, I've got time to kill
I'll tell you how I got chased out of the town of Ponyville!

Shaking my head to clear the horrible parody from my head, I felt my senses return to my brain. The music faded away, as did the darkness as I opened my eyes.

I was in what looked like an ordinary bedroom. I seemed to be alone, but I felt like there was somepony nearby. Pulling myself to my hooves, I took a better look around.

I had been lying on a bed pushed up against one wall, with a door on the opposite wall. There wasn't a lot of furniture in the room; aside from the bed, a set of drawers, and a bedside table, it was pretty much bare.

There was a window above my bed, which I peeked through to see that it was the middle of the night...though that'd be nearly impossible to tell if not for the moon in the sky.

Everywhere I looked, I saw buildings with lights on, ponies walking around casually, and carriages rolling both ways on the road. It was like nopony realized it was nighttime. Then it hit me: I was in the city.

I never lived in a city before. My hometown as a human was pretty calm and quiet, even during the day, and I lived on the outskirts of that for the past several years. The only times I had been in a city were either to visit my since deceased grandmother, or when I went to a convention in the United States. And only in the latter had I ever seen a city at night.

I stopped that train of thought and focused on the fact that I was in a city, not what cities I had been in before. I tried to recall any cities from the show, but I could only think of two: Canterlot and Manehatten. Well, there might also have been Fillydelphia, but that place had never been actually shown. So there was that selection, and really, none of the options were looking too good for me. Canterlot was closer to Celestia than I wanted at the moment, Manehatten was full of snobs, and I knew nothing about Fillydelphia aside from its name. No matter where I was, if it was one of those three places, I'd have some trouble.

Deciding to take a chance, I walked over to the door and opened it quietly. I walked out into a dark hallway and waited for my eyes to adjust to the light (or lack thereof). After a moment, I could see another door, as well as a staircase going down. Common sense dictated that if I wanted to leave, I'd have to go downstairs, so I went towards the staircase. Before I could begin descending, however, the door creaked open. I froze in place.

A mare's head peeked out and stared at me. I stared back. Neither of us spoke for a few seconds. I was never good at starting conversations with people normally, let alone with a pony whose house I was sneaking out of. Fortunately, she spoke up first.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, opening the door a bit wider and stepping out into the hall. It was too dark to see her clearly, so I couldn't figure out what she looked like.

"What?" I replied, confused by her question.

"You were passed out when I found you. Are you feeling better?" she clarified. I nodded slowly, and she smiled lightly. "Come on inside, we'll talk."

She stepped back into her room, leaving the door open for me to follow. I could have taken this opportunity to dash out the front door and run far away from her, but something inside me kept me from doing that. Probably knowledge that this mare was actually trusting me. I slowly walked inside the room she went into and closed the door behind me.

Since the room was actually lit up thanks to the presence of a candle (how a single candle lit up the room like proper lightbulbs, I have no idea), I managed to actually get a proper look at the mare. Her coat was light pink, with a straight light purple mane. Her tail was also light purple, but had twists of pink in it as well, and was curled up similar to Rarity's. She didn't have a horn, so she wasn't a unicorn, but I couldn't see if she had wings or not since she was wearing a dark blue robe. The same robe kept me from seeing her cutie mark...and that sounded a lot more perverted than I intended.

"Who are you?" the mare asked almost instantly.

"I'm wondering the same thing about you," I replied, sounding a bit more irritated than I intended. "And a few other things too. Such as where I am, why you're not freaking out over a Windigo, et cetera."

"I'm not exactly lacking with my share of questions either." The mare sat down on a cushion and motioned for me to do the same. I got brief flashbacks to my first interaction with Twilight, but I ignored them and just sat down.

"Quid pro quo," I offered.

The mare blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"Quid pro quo. Tit for tat. You scratch my back, I scratch yours," I clarified. "Since we both want to know stuff, let's ask questions back and forth, one at a time. No lying, no exaggerating, no conveniently forgotten details. That's usually how I figure stuff out from others."

The mare thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Sounds fine. You first."

"Where am I?" I asked instantly. Best to get that out of the way first.

"You're in my house in Manehatten," the mare responded simply. "Now, my turn. Who are you?"

...well, that whole "no lying" rule just came back to bite me in the flank...wait. She just asked who I am, not for my backstory...

"Arrell," I finally said. Not a lie, not an exaggeration, and I didn't conveniently forget anything. I just left out what didn't need to be said. "Now, who are you?"

The look on her face told me she didn't appreciate the loophole, but she didn't say anything about it. "My name is False Front. I'm a Royal Guard assigned to watch over Manehatten."

Aw buck, Royal Guards! Everypony dip! My mind yelled, digging up lyrics from one of my favourite fanmade pony raps. I ignored it.

"Now, you're not sneaking your way out of this question," False said with a smirk. "What's your story?"

Play dumb, Arrell. "Story?"

"Your past. Your personality. Your skills. Why you're a Windigo who acts like a regular pony. Everything, Mr. Arrell. No loopholes this time." She crossed her front hooves.

So here, I had two...no, three...actually, four options. I could lie my way out and break my own rule; I could tell the truth and risk being arrested; I could suddenly attack her and escape; or I could just stay silent and refuse to talk. In reality, all of those had bad consequences waiting to happen, and all I could do was choose the consequence I could live with the best.

Time to lie.

"I woke up in the Everfree Forest a few days ago," I explained, deciding to use the same story I told Twilight and Risk before they found out I was a human. "I couldn't, and still can't, remember anything from my past."

"Lies."

Somewhat startled, I blinked rapidly before silently calming down. "Lies?"

"Lies. Truth, now." She glared, but for some reason I felt like it lost a bit of its effect because of the robe and how tired she looked.

Alright, improv time. "The truth is that...well, I'm a Windigo, but I was always different from the others, so they sent me down to Equestria-"

"More lies," False broke in, not even letting me finish. She stood up. "Third time had better be the charm, bucko, because I'm losing my patience."

Oh horseapples...how can she tell I'm lying? Do I have a tic that gives it away? Alright, no more taking chances...hate to do this, but I'll have to tell the truth.

So I spent a couple minutes recounting to False what had happened previously. How I used to be a human, couldn't remember my last three days as one, and woke up as a Windigo. I even described the show to her, but quickly added in how Equestria probably wasn't fake; just a different dimension. Surprisingly, she took all this information in calmly, even sitting back down and losing the glare. I hesitated to tell her about Celestia, but I did anyway, since I figured I might as well get it all out at once.

When I was done, I sunk down lower and waited for her to respond.

"Pretty interesting story," she commented. "Even more interesting is how true it is."

I looked up. "How can you tell when something's a lie and when it's the truth?" I asked.

"It's my special talent," False replied. She lifted up the part of her robe near her flank. On instinct, I looked away, a small blush forming. I heard her giggle. "It's fine, crazy. Just look."

I turned back and she gestured to her cutie mark. It was a mask, sort of like a drama mask you see on posters for theater performances. One half was white and the other was black. The white side's half-mouth was smiling, while the black side's half-mouth was frowning, and its eye was half-closed as opposed to the white side's, which was wide open. The final touch was a very noticeable crack in the white side, as if it had been dropped or smashed against a wall.

"I don't get it," I said finally.

"My talent is lying and covering things up," False finally explained. "And not just doing it; I can tell when another pony is trying to hide things."

"Like a living lie detector," I said in awe, more to myself than her. "But...how can you have skill at lying?"

She shrugged as she lowered the corner of her robe she was holding. "I just do. Ponies believe me when I lie a lot easier than they would others, as long as I'm not saying something that's obviously not true. For example, if I told you black was white, you wouldn't believe me. But if I told you that I had ten brothers and they were all standing behind you, about to attack, you'd believe it."

I quickly looked behind me, paranoid. Nopony was there. I heard False laugh.

"It was a lie, crazy," she chuckled. I relaxed again. "Now, you've asked two questions, so I get to ask two as well."

"Sure, go ahead," I sighed. "I don't have much else to say anyway."

"First off, what do you plan to do in Equestria now that you're here?" she asked. "And secondly, how do you plan to escape from Princess Celestia?"

"I don't know for either of those," I replied. "Besides, you're a Royal Guard. You're probably just waiting to go report to the princess that you've found me."

"Why would I do that?" False looked genuinely surprised. "You're clearly not evil."

"She thinks I am, though!" I threw my hooves up, as if surrendering. "I appear in Ponyville at the same time as her sensing evil in Ponyville. Obviously she's gonna think it's me!"

False put a hoof to her chin, thinking for a bit. Finally, she spoke up. "You know, I think I can help you."

I perked up. "Really?" Then I deflated. "Or was that just another lie?"

"I'm serious," she assured me. "But you'll owe me twice for it. Once for finding you outside, and once for this."

I nodded. "Deal." We shook hooves on it.

"Alright, I'll put my skills to work," False declared. "You can stay in my house until I've settled the issue."

"Thanks," I said with a smile – the first one I'd given her. "But...one last question."

"Shoot."

"I asked this earlier before the whole quid pro quo thing and it didn't get answered," I began. "Why aren't you surprised to see a Windigo who acts like a pony?"

She just smirked. "As a Royal Guard, you see a lot of crazy things. As long as you don't freeze me in my sleep, we're on good terms."

---

Author's Note: Ohai there! First of these I've done in the story. I probably won't make too many of these; just when I have an announcement. Which I do here, but it's a somewhat small one.

Since I had a bit of trouble visualizing Risk and False without making an image of them in a Pony Creator, I had a feeling some of you might have the same problem, partially due to me being horrible at describing appearances. My question is this: should I insert pictures throughout chapters whenever a new main OC is introduced to show you what they look like, rather than just vaguely describing them?

Let me know in the comments below. Thanks, and I hope you like the story!

Comments

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

NO NO NO NO OH GOD NO!
I HAD GOTTEN THAT THEME OUT OF MY HEAD FINALLY, WHY!?

[RLYoshi]

1129551

[Dusk Apollo]

1128452 Just like the Ponyville citizens. When in danger, run; otherwise, run.

EDIT: Loved the new chapter, and the new 'companion'.

[RLYoshi]

1129937 More like "when in danger, run; otherwise, make snarky comments". But close enough.

[Tay the Chemist]

I'd say, don't insert pictures into the story, but you could probably make the images for you to refer to and keep in your head.

[RLYoshi]

1130024 I'm definitely going to keep them, I just didn't know if I should put them in the chapters for readers so they could visualize the characters better.

[Dusk Apollo]

1129994 Or troll.

1130037 Just put them @ the end. I no-one likes them, they can... ignore them.

[RubberBrony]

1130053

Ignorethem

[AliCentaur Br0ny]

1128452 Sweet. You're welcome. I wasn't saying that it should be a full time thing. I know that I suggested it, but there may be a possible downside/thing to watch out for while mediating. I'm not sure if Windigos always chill those that they feed from, but Arrell may need to keep himself in check and not simply drain all of the hate, especially as his power grows, to prevent accidentally freezing to death those that he tries to help. I'm glad that you like my idea and that I could help. Yay, I'm helping!

[RLYoshi]

1132210 Arrell probably won't get too much more powerful. First off, he won't try to feed on hatred, and secondly, he's too young to use full Windigo powers. As time goes on he'll get some more abilities, such as controlling when and how he freezes others, learning how to fly, etc., but he won't become overly powerful like regular Windigoes.

[AliCentaur Br0ny]

1132235 Oh, O.K.. That's good to know and it makes sense. Cool (no pun intended.)
Back to reading the most recent chapter for me. So far, I like the short parody at the beginning of the chapter by the way, I read it to the tune of the song.

[RLYoshi]

1132260 I was gonna parody the whole song, but that seemed too long, so I just shortened it. I might make a full parody in the future.

[AliCentaur Br0ny]

1132271 The shorter version fits better here in my opinion. Don't just parody the whole song, get someone to sing it.
Great chapter, I certainly enjoyed it. As to the pictures, I recommend just posting them at the bottom of the chapter.

[Mobius of the Moon]

SHUT UP BING!

[Literature]

I say just put the Creator images in the comments.
For example:

THIS IS THE ADMANTIUM GOD OF THE DEAD, CYBERFLUFFICUS:
[insert badly positioned red and black Alicorn with over-pompus jewelry here]

[Lucky424]

Living in a Royal Guard's house? Yeah, that's not gonna come back and bit you in the ass.

[Foregrip Butterfly]

I wouldn't have looked behind me. I would have however, brought up the fact that there is a 75% female to 25% male ratio between ponies and that it would be highly unlikely that she had ten brothers. I would also point out that ten is a round number that pops into ponies minds easily and that it was giving off a 'bull-shitty' smell.

[RLYoshi]

2108984 ...what?

[BioChemicalWolfGear]

2108984
I call that fact bullshit. Equestria was supposed to be a mirror image of a civilized nation with a princess cannonly. Obviously singles are out of the question so it MUST be cannon that there's a fifty fifty ratio between male and female. You fell back on the fannon facts and forget to mention any REAL ones.

Then again my interperatation itself has a few holes in it. There was never a direct ratio for male and female in the cannon episodes. INCLUDING the one where the CMC's try to get Cheerilee a date. In fact they say "all the good ones are taken." so that implies a fifty fifty ratio that still leaves singles. That means that the reason the main six don't have coltfriends is because they haven't 'found' the right stallion.

See what I did in paragraph 2? I nullified the first assumption ever recorded in the fandom that said the 6 don't have colts because there are more mares. and my first paragraph nullifies the natural birth rate of a real world horse or pony...(don't actually know that but hell its a good point)

Time to go wank off to my brilliance