The Stallion in the Library

by leonidas701

Pillow Talk

“10:45 p.m. bound for San Prancisco has arrived,” boomed over the loudspeakers of Canterlot station.

“FINALLY!” was heard throughout the station as a cyan blur came bursting out of the train.

“Oh calm down, darling.” said Rarity as she wheeled her luggage off the train, “You’re making a scene.”

Rainbow Dash’s enthusiasm could not be contained, flying in circles around her friends as they made their way off. “It feels so good to fly again after four hours inside that cramped little box!”

“It was hardly cramped,” Twilight pointed out as she began to look over a map she had pulled from her saddlebag. “We had a whole car to ourselves.”

Rainbow Dash ignored her, “No more stuffy air!” She began to add little flips to her circles.

“Really, now! Ponies are starting to stare!” As Rarity continued her attempts to calm her friend down, Trixie started talking.

“Four hours of her bitching on the train, and when we get off she starts doing this?” she groaned. She meant to mumble it to herself, but Applejack happened to hear.

“Ah know,” she whispered. “Ah can’t believe Ah’m saying this, but Ah almos’ prefer her bellyachin’.”

Trixie giggled, before saying, “Well look on the bright side. At least now she’s farther away.” The two mares had a good chuckle over that before a sharp whistle from Twilight got their attention.

After everypony made their way next to the train where Twilight was standing.

“Ok, is everypony here?” she asked.

“Uhm…” Fluttershy meekly raised her hoof.

“Yes, Fluttershy?”

“Where’s Pinkie?” she said in a quiet voice.

Quickly each mare’s head began to twist and turn as they looked over the station to find their energetic friend. It was a few tense seconds before Rainbow Dash finally said,

“There she is!” she motioned towards a nearby dessert stand, where Pinkie was all but pressed up with her nose against the glass. Quickly the group rushed to the mare.

“And I’ll have a chocolate-cherry, and a vanilla-mint chocolate chip, and- Oh hi!” Pinkie’s attention shifted her friends, asking them, “Did you know that they make ice cream filled cupcakes here! I can’t believe I never thought of that, that’s such a good idea! And the cupcakes are HUGE!!!” the overjoyed mare made wild motions with her forehooves to properly demonstrate their hugeitude. I know that’s not a real word, but I’m using it anyways. I’m the narrator. I can do that.

Twilight sighed, and shook her head. Typical Pinkie. she thought. “Okay, if that’s everypony, we should make our way to-”

“Where’s Card?” Trixie asked.

“...I don’t know,” Twilight admitted. “I haven’t seen him since we got on.”

“Oh! He said he was going to take a nap!” Pinkie said as she paid for her many purchases, “I thought it was really weird because when we left it was evening, but I guess he was just really tired. He didn’t even come out to eat any of the cupcakes I brought, and I made sure to bring enough for him too!”

Just for the record, Pinkie’s definition of, ‘enough for all eight of us!’, fits the standard definition of, ‘Enough dessert for the entire city of Ponyville, after every pony in it had gone through a particularly nasty breakup.’

“Well I don’t see how he could have slept with all the noise,” Trixie said with a scathing glare at the now somewhat calmer, Rainbow Dash. A glare that Rainbow Dash responded to with, a very mature, sticking out of the tongue.

Before the situation could escalate up to the fourth grade level of insults, Twilight got back the mares attention, saying, “That still doesn’t tell us where he is…” she took on a worried look as she glanced around the station.

“Maybe he didn’t get off the train?” Rarity suggested.

“No, we would have seen him on our way out.” Twilight’s face was a mixture of worry and concentration as she ran through the possibilities, “None of the doors were closed and there’s nowhere he could have be-” Suddenly she got interrupted by the yell of a train attendant.

“Sir?” the attendant called up the side of the car they were just using. “Sir! Sir, I’m sorry but you need to get off of there!”

As all the mares turned to look at what was happening, they saw a figure atop their car suddenly sit up.

Card smacked his lips as he blinked the sleepiness away from his eyes. “That was such a nice nap,” he said as he looked around. “Oh, are we there?” He got up, dusted off the back of his jacket, and pulled a small trampoline out of it. He made his way over to the side of the boxcar and dropped the trampoline onto the ground below. He jumped off, bounced off the trampoline, and then noticed that he was being yelled at.

“Are you nuts?” Twilight yelled, looking like she was about to slap him, “Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to be on top of a moving train?”

“Calm down, Twinkly,” Card said as he shoved his trampoline back into his jacket, “You’re overreacting.”

“I’m with Twilight here,” Trixie said. “That was really stupid. If you fell, then, even if you survived somehow, you’d be lost.” she pointed out.

“Yes, but the important thing is that I didn’t fall,” Card half spoke/half mumbled, as he ran his hoof through his hair and across his face. “Now come on, we’re making the chauffeur wait.” He attempted to head towards the pony carrying the sign with ‘Twilight Sparkle and Friends’ on it, along with the rest of the mares, but a hoof on his shoulder made him stop.

“The chauffeur can wait a little longer,” Twilight said firmly, as she craned her head back so she could look him straight in the eyes. “We need to talk about this. That was dangerous, and reckless, and possible illegal- And just what is so funny!” Twilight said, a little bit hurt at Card laughing at her concern for him.

“It-it’s nothing,” Card said as he stopped giggling, but he still had a little bit of a smirk on his face. “Look, it really makes you two worry that much?” he asked.

Twilight and Trixie both nodded.

“Yeah,” Trixie said.

“Well then I’ll stop. Now come on, I think the rest are getting impatient.” Indeed, the five sleepy mares waiting at the stretch limo were looking a bit cross. Well, except for Fluttershy of course, that mare couldn’t look cross if she were crucified. And Pinkie, she was still scarfing down the massive cupcakes she had bought. But the other three were growing livid.

So, Card, Trixie, and Twilight all joined them at the limoscene, and in a couple of minutes they were heading off to their hotel rooms, generously provided to them by the crown.

-----One Limo Ride Through the City Later-----

“Here we are ma’ams,” the limo driver said as he pulled to a stop. “The Crown Solar Hotel.”

The ponies all shuffled out of their ride, Rarity pausing to take her case out of the trunk and to toss the driver a nice tip. By now, it was around 11 o’clock p.m., and fatigue kept the mares from making very much idle conversation. That is, until they actually got their rooms.

“So, we have four rooms, all next to each other,” Twilight said as she returned from checking the party in. “I guess the question is, who wants to be where?”

“I don’t care.” was the general consensus from the party.

Card pulled out eight sticks, each with one end colored red, blue, green, or yellow. He held them out in front of himself with the colored ends hidden and said, “Choose. You share a room with whoever gets the same color. No argument, or this will take forever.”

The group agreed to these rules and so they drew their lots. It ended up that the pairings were as follows: Rainbow Dash would share a room with Trixie, Fluttershy and Applejack would share a room, Pinkie Pie and Twilight were together, and Rarity got stuck with Card. The group went up to their floor and, after the exchange of many mutual wishes of pleasant dreams, split off into their respective rooms to get ready for bed. Let’s check in on them, shall we?

-----Rainbow Dash & Trixie-----

“I’ll take that one!” Rainbow Dash said as she dashed over to the bed nearest the balcony, shoved the window open and collapsed onto the mattress.

Trixie rolled her eyes and, seeing as her options were limited to the other bed or the floor, started to get herself ready to sleep as she sat upon the other bed. She was in the middle of hair to be in front of her face, something she did because she sleeps on her back and doesn’t like it when her hair is flattened, when she noticed that Rainbow Dash was looking at her very intently.

While moving her hair away from in front of one of her eyes so that she could see more clearly, she smirked. “See something you like?” she said flirtatiously.

Rainbow Dash just sighed. “Why does everypony think I’m gay?” she muttered.

Seriously? Trixie thought as she looked at RAINBOW Dash’s RAINBOW mane and RAINBOW tail.

Rainbow Dash shook herself out of her defeated confusion, and asked something that had been bothering her for a while. “Why are you friends with him?”

“Oh? What do you mean?” Trixie asked. “Is there a reason you’re friends with Applejack and Rarity?

“That’s not my point.” Rainbow Dash looked around for a second, like she was trying to find the right words to use. Eventually she said, “Look, you’ve known him for, what, like two, three months?”

“Yeah…?” Trixie was curious as to where she was going with this.

“And Twilight’s only known him for like, five. About the same amount of time she’s known me.”

“What’s your point?”

“If it was me who spent the whole train ride on the roof, Twilight wouldn’t have acted like that. At worst, she would have rolled her eyes at me and told me to stop fooling around.”

Trixie was starting to get a little impatient, “Do you have a point somewhere in there?”

Rainbow Dash sighed and locked eyes with Trixie. “What has he done for you to make you two care about him so much?”

Whatever Trixie was expecting it wasn’t that, and she was quite taken aback. Her lack of any response forced her to resort to defensive measures.

“Why do you want to know?” she asked.

“He’s lazy, and distracted, and stuck up, and arrogant, and secretive, and rude, and feel free to stop me from insulting your friend any time now.”

“You haven’t said anything I disagree with yet,” Trixie admitted.

“Okay, so how are you such close friends? What makes you so loyal?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Trixie was troubled. Why was she so close to Card? Sure, he hadn’t given her any reason to dislike him, he had given her a job after all, -well, less gave, more forced it onto her,- and made sure she was settled in. But still, in such a short amount of time, Card had become a very important pony to her, and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why. Apparently her face made her worries clear, as Rainbow Dash quickly spoke up.

“Look, just forget about it. I’m sorry for bringing it up, I didn’t mean to bother you.” she stood up and flicked off the lights. “Good night,” she said as she went back to her bed.

“Night.” Trixie rolled over and folded herself into her blankets, but unlike Rainbow Dash, who fell asleep the moment her head hit her pillow, it was a good while before the blue unicorn’s troubled mind surrendered to the sandstallion.

Well, that was…

Boring

Shut up Aoc, just take us to the next room.

*sigh*

-----Fluttershy & Applejack-----

“Which bed do yah want?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, uh, I’ll be fine with either, you can pick first,” Fluttershy said in her characteristic whisper.

“Well then Ah guess Ah’ll take that one,” Applejack pointed to the bed nearest the balcony, “Vacation or no, it just wouldn’ feel right waking up without the sun in mah eyes.

“But we’re on the east side of the hotel…” Fluttershy pointed out, though her voice was too low for Applejack to notice.

“Welp, Ah’m tuckered like a bull at a rodeo, G’night.”

“Good night…” And with that, the two mares tucked themselves in and fell asleep.

After spending most of your time taking care of sick animals, you start to get a sort of awareness when something is wrong with one of them. Fluttershy, compassionate vet that she was, was no stranger to suddenly getting a feeling that there was something that needed her attention in, say, the middle of lunch, or even when she was asleep in her little villa. But, on her vacation the sensation was so unexpected that, when it woke her up only a half-hour after she had fallen asleep, it took her a few seconds to recognize it.

She got up out of bed, wondering what it could be, and saw a stetson-wearing silhouette on the balcony of her hotel room. She walked up to it and confirmed that it was Applejack.

Applejack didn’t notice her concerned friend walking up to her. Her gaze looked out onto the city, but her unfocused eyes showed her attention was far, far away.

“E… Excuse me?” Fluttershy said.

The unexpected sound snapped Applejack out of her reverie. “Oh, hey there sugarcube. You couldn’t sleep either huh?” she said.

Fluttershy mumbled something in response.

“What was that?”

“Is something wrong?” Fluttershy asked in a slightly louder voice.

“Huh? Nah, Ah’m fine.”

Fluttershy may be quiet, but she’s a smart little pony, and certainly a very observant one. Even if she wasn’t though, she could tell what was bothering Applejack. After all, she was there with the rest of them what they all tried to convince Applejack to come along, despite her claims of being needed on the farm. It was her who brought up the idea, very quietly of course, of bringing in Granny Smith, to assure Applejack that the farm would be fine for a few days while she went to have dinner with the Princess.

“It’ll be okay…,” Fluttershy said, awkwardly patting Applejack on the back in an attempt to reassure her. “They’ll be fine…”

“Ah know,” Applejack sighed, “It… It just don’ feel right, yah know? The idea of boppin’ around the big city while there’s work ta be done.”

Fluttershy had no idea how to respond to that, so she choose not to. After a few minutes of just standing around outside, looking at the city and the skyline, Applejack let out a huge sigh.

“Yah know what,” Applejack said, “Yer right, Ah’m here now, there’s nuthin Ah can do. Might as well enjoy it.” Applejack walked off the balcony and back into her bed, with Fluttershy following suit.

You know, Fluttershy says the smartest things when she doesn’t speak. Anyway, who’s next on the list?

-----Twilight & Pinkie Pie-----

“Whee!” Pinkie yelled as she burst into the room. She leapt onto one of the beds. “Oh Wow This Bed Is Huge!” she said as she rolled around on the blankets, pushing them around and making them kick up into the air, “It's So Nice!!! I Wish Could Get One This Big Back Home, But My Room Is So Small, I Wouldn’t Have Enough Room! Even If I Did, I Definitely Wouldn’t Be Able To Get It Through The Door!” By this point, the blankets were flipped completely upside down, and were sideways in their covers. Suddenly, Pinkie stopped moving and let the blankets fall down onto her, as she said, “Wait, Silly Pinkie, You Have A Lot Of Things To Do Tomorrow Right? Right! Time For Bed! Nighty-Night!” and with breaking speed that would impress even the most paranoid of soccer moms, Pinkie dropped from sixty to zero and fell asleep.

Twilight took the opportunity to finally step into the room. Well, that could have gone worse, I guess, she thought. She took the book that she was reading on the train out of her saddlebag, planning to finish it off before she fell asleep. She shrugged off her saddlebags, clambered onto the bed that was not being occupied by a sugar disposal unit in the shape of a pony, cracked open her book and got reading. There were only about fifty pages left, so she polished off the book within ten minutes.

Once that was done, she went over the list of places and things that they absolutely, positively, had to visit during the two days they were spending in Canterlot. After a short scan to make sure she had left nothing out, she put the itinerary onto the bedside table, used her magic to flick the lights off, and went to sleep.

Don’t you look at me like that, what were you expecting to happen? Did you think Pinkie was going to spend all night bouncing on the beds, with Twilight desperately trying to fall asleep? Oh, please.

-----Card & Rarity-----

When Rarity had found out who she was stuck sharing a room with, she was very upset. This was the stallion who had been so uncouth as to ignore her pleas for sympathy when she was stuck in the freezing rain, getting dirty, wet, and miserable, in favor of attempting to torture a TABLE! Rarity was not a horribly conceited mare, in her opinion, at least not in regards to her personal looks. Even so, being submitted to such indignities as those, and then ignored by the very one who forced her into that situation, well, that cuts open a wound that does not heal easily.

She had tried to get even with him many times. She had forced him into a particularly ugly dress, only to find that he did not mind it. She had attempted to “accidentally” spill a small amount of ink onto his precious jacket, naturally she meant to help him get rid of it later, only to find that she could never get it to hit. She had even gone so far as to convince Spike to sprinkle a small amount of poison joke onto him when he was in the library, but he never showed any effects.

It wasn’t until she really thought about what it meant that they were going to be sharing a room together, that she got an idea. She would attack him in the most painful place you could attack a stallion.

Let’s see much how he likes being ignored! she thought with a sinister smile. She walked into their room, and put her plan into motion.

“Excuse me, darling,” Rarity said, turning around so that she could look him in the eye. “It’s been such a long day, would you mind if I used the shower?” Step one: Give him an idea of control.

“Meh.” Card grunted, before seeing what was in the room. “Sweet! Ceiling TV!” He grabbed the remote from one of the bedside tables, and turned it on. As he lay down on the bed, Rarity grabbed a few important items from her luggage and headed off to the shower that was attached to their room.

Normally, she would have taken some time to admire the decoration and size of the room: It was almost the size of the room they were sleeping in, which was itself big enough to house two king-sized beds, four nightstands, a massive chair, and a wardrobe. Right now, though, she was a mare on a mission. After a quick shower, only ten to fifteen minutes, during which she made sure to get all of her makeup off, she carefully dried her coat and tail, making sure her hair stayed straight and wet. She then carefully put on just enough makeup that it would look like she wasn’t wearing any, and wrapped a towel around her body just tightly enough that it showed off her curves, but loosely enough that it left a good deal to the imagination. After wrapping another towel very loosely around her head, collecting her mane inside of it, she stepped out of the bathroom.

“I’m done,” Rarity said as she walked towards Card, swaying her hips from side to side. Card didn’t seem to notice her, so she used her magic to tap him on the shoulder. This caused Card to turn to face her. Now that she was sure of his attention, she spoke again. “It’s all your’s,” she said through half-lidded eyes, in a tone bordering on seductive, “If you want it, that is.” Step two: Entice.

“Nah,” Card said, turning his attention to the movie he had just started.

“Oh?” Rarity said. She then pointed at the ceiling, “So, anything good?” Step three: Seem interested.

“Oh yeah,” Card said. “It’s called The Thing. It’s one of the best horror movies of all time.”

“Horror?” Rarity raised an eyebrow, “I quite enjoy horror movies. Would you mind if I watch with you?”

“Go right ahead.”

“Thank you.” Rarity lay down on the bed right next to Card, close enough that they could accidentally bump into each other, but not close enough that it would be uncomfortable. Being that Card was lying down on his back, his forehooves crossed behind his head, Rarity chose to tilt her head a little, just enough that her head touched Card’s forehoove. Step four: Establish physical contact.

About five minutes or so into the movie, Rarity sat up. Taking care that her head was still in Card’s field of view, but not enough that she would seem to be attempting to distract him, she slowly unraveled the towel from her head, slowly making her deep purple hair cascade around her head as she shook it around. Step five: Tease.

Rarity actually rather disliked horror movies, she found them to be quite silly, with an over-reliance on shock. Still, she found a use for them. They gave her an excuse to bury her head in her date’s chest, and so give off an air of vulnerability that stallions seemed to love. What she didn’t expect was finding one that actually was scary. So scary, in fact, that after a certain point, she completely forgot her plan and dove underneath the blankets, not coming out until the end credits rolled.

But roll they did, and so Card turned the TV off. Rarity was thoroughly embarrassed, her plan was in shambles, and Card had once again ignored her in a time of very obvious vulnerability. By this time, Rarity had started to lose confidence in her ability to seduce stallions. She decided to go all in.

“Oh, darling,” she said as she rolled on top of him, her voice quavering and her eyes wide open and fearful. “That was so terrifying. I- I can’t imagine how I’ll be able to sleep, surely I’ll have nightmares.” Instantly her voice shifted into a seductive lit as she placed her forehooves directly onto his chest, “Won’t you help me wipe away those scary memories?” her hooves started to travel south and she closed her eyes and bent towards his lips.

Right before she made contact, Card’s mouth split open in a massive yawn. Rarity recoiled, not expecting the sudden turn of events.

As she sat on Card, Card smacked his lips a few times and looked around. “Would you mind getting off of me?” he asked, in a tone that was either tired, bored, or both. Without waiting for an answer, Card pushed Rarity off of him. Not hard mind you, not enough to do her any harm, just enough to get her off of him. He rolled over onto his stomach and fell straight asleep, his jacket warming him up more than the blankets he was lying on could.

Rarity was livid. She had all but presented herself to him, thrown herself at him, and he had the gall to be bored!? It would have been bad enough if he had gotten angry, or nervous, or just flat-out rejected her, at least that would have shown that she was having some kind of effect on him, but to ignore her! Rarity hastily collected herself with as much dignity as she could manage, and stormed into her bed. Still, to be fair, Card did make sure she didn’t have any nightmares. She was too busy dreaming about various ways of punishing him.

Author's Note:

I realize not much happened in this chapter, but it’s just an intro to the next arc. I also realize that Rarity is really out of character, but that scene was fun enough to write that I don’t care. Either way, I hope it managed to amuse you at least a little bit. Thank you for reading.

Comments

[Sky Hooves]

A wonderful and funny Chapter again. Cant wait to read what Rarity has in store to take revangeon Card^^

[Jayellow]

Welp, you've got me on board. Although I do think Card is a little borderline Gary Stu (as I have some trouble picking out any real flaws), I like the story nonetheless.

[Sidetrack]

I also realize that Rarity is really out of character, but that scene was fun enough to write that I don’t care.

This is the true spirit of fan fiction.
reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/slow_clap_citizen_kane.gif

[Ziper Ace]

I hope Rarity realize how stupid she is, so Card can have a better relationship with her as friends