The Reader

by GnollReader

Chapter 5: Night visit

Getting him out of the castle had been simple. He had skidded down the mountain with ease while she had flown close watching his descent. Once they had reached the edge of Ponyville things had gotten difficult. He was unsure to enter this area. Meeting a few ponies was not that big a problem, but entering a town full of them was something completely different. Even with the ponies seemingly asleep he was still weary and nervously followed her through the empty streets.

After some time she could finally see the library, "This is it, the Ponyville library."

Scar looked unimpressed, "Shiny purple pony has bad eyes. Is tree. Is good tree, big and strong, but still is tree."

"Look a bit closer." he squinted his eyes as they walked closer.

He saw a door and some windows, "Pony lives in tree? Ponies silly. Books no belong in trees."

She smirked, "I won't argue with you there, tree gum and books usually don't mix well."

They reached the door, the gnoll was looking up at the tree in wonder as he stood next to the door. She knocked, "One second!" a male voice answered. The door was opened by an annoyed and very tired looking little dragon, "You're the guest the princess wrote about? Finally! You know that Twilight has been making me clean the library for the last hour? Head on in and right through upstairs. She's preparing the guest room." he stepped to the side and pointed to the stairs.

She was surprised for a moment, but given the gnoll's position and the dark there was no way the dragon could see him. "Actually, I'm the escort." she corrected him.

He looked to her left and right, "So who's the guest?"

She turned to Scar, "Well, don't just stand there. Introduce yourself."

He gave a grunt and ducked as he stepped through the door. Once inside he rose to his full height and looked down at the little lizard. He barely made it to the gnoll's knees. If the dragon's jaw could have dropped any further it would have it the floor. He nodded at the dragon, "It is Scar. Is guest for tree pony. It comes to read books."

The dragon simply continued to stare up at him, "I'm Spike? I think?" he somehow mumbled in his baffled state.

"Spike?" a voice called from above, "Is that our guest? Wait, I'm coming down!" there was a poof as a purple unicorn teleported herself next to Spike. She found herself looking at two black legs. She looked up and froze. The gnoll looked at the purple pony, she seemed to have a hard time processing what she was seeing.

"It comes to see pony books." he flatly repeated. He felt a nudge on his leg and stepped to the side allowing Purple Haze to walk in next to him.

"Hello," the unicorn and the dragon turned their attention to her, mouths still open. "I'm captain Purple Haze and the big guy with the big teeth over here is Scar, the gnoll. Don't worry, as long as you don't use magic on him he's totally friendly." The princess had been very specific on that point, along with some others she had also told her a very unsettling story.

Spike seemed the first to relax. He turned back to the gnoll, "Dude, you are humongous!"

Scar didn't know what the big word meant, but decided that it probably meant big or something similar. Why else would the word be that big and complicated? "Spiked back lives in tree?"

Spike nodded, "It's my work and home in one." the gnoll simply nodded in acknowledgment.

When Scar looked back at the unicorn he froze. She was wearing an uncanny huge grin. Purple Haze sensed his unease and stepped forward, "Now remember what the princess wrote Miss Sparkle. Be easy on him." Twilight's grin was still widening.

The gnoll could hear her whisper four words before all hell broke loose, "A... real... live... gnoll!"

---

Half an hour later he was ready to drown himself in the next river. The purple pony was barraging him with an seemingly endless stream of questions. Most of the words she used he had never heard before. What in the thunder did 'procreate' or 'carnivore' mean? Why was she asking him this many questions and not giving him time to answer?

The fact that a floating quill was constantly scribbling on an endless stack of parchment as she showed him various books and scrolls on some topics he could not decipher quickly enough was not helping his growing headache. The shiny purple pony seemed just as lost as him, she had tried to interrupt the talking one a few times but her protest had been drowned by the constant talking. The spiked one looked bored.

"So?!" the talking pony seemed to expect some sort of reply.

He probably wouldn't have been able to answer her question even if he had been listening. All he wanted was to escape this hell, "Purple pony talk too much. It leaves." he simply turned heel and headed out of the door. He would rather have his hide set on fire than return into the evil tree again.

Inside remained a wordless unicorn, an annoyed pegasus and dragon holding his belly as he was rolling on the floor in laughter. "What did I do? Did I say something wrong?"

Purple Haze raised an eyebrow, "It's more how much you said. Did you even read the letter? I told you to be easy on him!"

Twilight cringed, "Sorry."

Purple Haze gave a groan, she could actually understand the gnoll quite well. "Wait here, I'll see if I can talk to him."

She walked out of the door and flew after him as he walked towards the edge of the town, "Wait!" she set down in front of him.

"Shiny pony run away too? Good for shiny pony! It feared it would have to come back and rescue it."

She shook her head, "I want you to go back."

"No." he started walking again, she jumped in his path, "Little pony be careful, if it steps on pony little pony be flat."

She didn't waver, "Look, I talked to her and she said she's sorry. She won't do it again, I promise! She was just happy to meet you." he considered his situation. The purple one was dangerous, he was certain she could talk him to death or worse if she wanted, but there had been many books in the tree.

"It will return,... " Purple Haze sighed in relief, "But only if shiny pony stays and watches over talking pony."

"What?"

He crossed his arms, "If talking pony talks too much again, Scar loses patience. If gnoll loses patience it goes wild, would be dangerous for ponies." She could understand his point, a gnoll rampaging in Ponyville because some unicorn didn't give it some peace was the last thing the princess had wanted. In addition, the princess had made it clear that it was her responsibility that everything went well, no matter how long it took.

She sighed, she had hoped to return to normal duty quickly but this would probably turn into a lengthy stay.

Comments

[DezzarTac]

Shiny pony's job sucks

[ElijahBleu]

purple pony not know when to shut up

[Fanskapet]

reader guy likes this

nice new pic

[GnollReader]

thank you all for the positive feedback, I'll be working hard to get new chapters going

[BronyGamer]

1614707 You no talk in broken speak, it finds lack of diiiiiii- oh forget it I can't do gnoll that well!

[XxTestName69xX]

"Shiny pony run away too? Good for shiny pony! It feared it would have to come back an rescue it."

and*

If talking pony talks to much again, Scar loses patience.

too*

[Lucky424]

What in the thunder did 'procreate' or 'carnivore' mean?
'procreate'

24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1vrth9EwD1r5xzspo1_500.gif

[ripper9294]

For some reason I keep laghing at whatever Scar says. He's so blunt it's funny. I can't stop smiling to this.

[Panicing_in_pain]

She smirked, "I won't argue with you there, tree gum and books usually don't mix well."

At first glance I thought it said 'tree cum'. My brother and I had a inside joke going on of were instead of tree sap, we said tree cum. We were, like, 9 at the time when we started the joke due to learning about the magical world of Sex Ed and, a few weeks later, learning about trees and other plants.

Boy, did my parents jaw drop when they overheard us that one time.

[Ash Bark]

This story is rated so well for a good reason it seems. Glad I found it.

[JazzyWaffles]

Inside remained a wordless unicorn, an annoyed pegasus and dragon holding his belly as he was rolling on the floor in laughter. "What did I do? Did I say something wrong?"

God. Spike is my spirit animal right now.