Chapter 1 and Prologue
Prologue: The Hooth Family
This is the story of Dimitri Hooth, and his brother, Snidely Hooth. Snidely was the president of the Bank of Fillydelphia, a bank with several branches throughout the city of Fillydelphia, and one or two in Manehattan.
Dimitri worked for his brother at the bank, a cushy, well-paying job as a board-member. This job was easy, since Snidely very rarely communicated with the board for anything, doing everything behind their backs, and of course, skimming money off the top occasionally.
As spoiled as he was, Dimitri obviously had no idea what to do when Snidely finely got caught. He was convicted on multiple accounts of theft and fraud, and sent to Hoofshank Prison. The business, of course, fell into Dimitri’s hands.
Now what does somepony do when they suddenly are in charge of a quickly failing business, and they have no experience with management, or really work in general? They skip town of course. Using the last of his money, Dimitri Hooth caught a train out of Phillydelphia, to a little, obscure Earth Pony village, where he knew he could hide away for a while, at least untill all this blows over.
And that’s where our story begins.
Chapter 1: Welcome to Ponyville!
Dimitri sat rather nervously in the train. The seat across from him was occupied by a rather quiet purple unicorn, who spent most of her time staring out the window, occasionally writing something down on the paper on the table between them.
About a half an hour into the trip, the unicorn turned to write something down, and seemed to notice Dimitri for the first time. Her eyes widened and she blushed slightly in embarrasment, since she’d somehow completely failed to see this stallion sitting across for her.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there...” She shook her head and composed herself. “I was just taking some notes on the different environments between here and Ponyville.”
“Um... That’s okay.” Dimitri averted his eyes, trying not to attract too much attention to himself.
“Hey, are you heading to Ponyville too?”
“Er... Yes, I am.”
“Oh, me too! I live there. Well, sort of. I was here in Fillydelphia for an assignment. Learning about different environments in different parts of Equestria. What brings you to Ponyville?”
“Um... Business...”
“Oh! What sort of business?”
“I’m a... Um...” Dimitri glanced at the lone suitcase sitting beside him, quickly trying to figure out an alibi. “I’m a... Travelling Salesman. My name is... Harold. Harold um...” He looked outside for inspiration for a last name. He saw the hills rolling by and said the first thing that came to his head. “Harold Chamomile. I sell... Tea.”
“Ooo, that’s pretty neat. My name’s Twilight Sparkle, I specialize in magic. I’m Princess Celestia’s number one pupil.” Twilight said, proudly.
“Hey, that’s pretty neat too.” Dimitri faked interest. At this point, he was trying to decide between two options: Jumping off the train and making a run for the hills to lead a life of quiet solitude, or somehow getting a hold of some tea to live up to his alibi.
“Hey! If you want, I can show you around when we get to Ponyville! I have a few friends who drink tea... I think. And it’s not everyday you see a travelling tea salesman.”
“Oh, that would be... Lovely.” Option A was starting to sound more and more appealing. However, a stunt like that would probably attract some attention from the train. It was probably best to just put up with the unicorn until he could lie low in Ponyville for a while.
It was mostly quiet after that. Twilight smiled and continued her study of the environment. Dimitri sat quietly for the rest of the trip, trying to figure out a way to ditch the unicorn when they got to town. It wouldn’t be easy, since Ponyville was said to be rather small, he was bound to find her eventually. He finally let out a sigh of silent submission, deciding to just accept her help and try to blend in.
“Oh! We’re here!” Twilight Sparkle exclaimed, waking Dimitri from his short lived slumber. He looked out the window to see a small village down a small path from the train station. By the time Twilight had announced they were there, the train had already come to a complete stop. It seemed she hadn’t been paying much attention anymore either, too caught up in whatever she was writing.
Dimitri stood up and grabbed his suitcase in his mouth. It was at this point she noticed his cutie mark, which was a pair of red dice, one that read 5, and one that read 2. She gave him a strange look, confused by the unusual cutie mark. He didn’t notice her glance, because he was already heading out of the train. Twilight decided not to question it at this time and to give it time.
Twilight hurried to catch up with Dimitri. “Alright, the first place you should go to is the Inn. That’s probably where you’ll wind up staying. You have money, right?” She turned to Dimitri, who avoided eye contact and remained silent, mostly because of the suitcase in his mouth. “Well, if you don’t, you’re welcome to stay with me.”
At that comment, Dimitri quickly spit the suitcase out of his mouth and said “I have money!” Then stopped, shook his head, and picked the suitcase back up.
“Oh, okay then. The Inn’s over there.” She pointed to a tall, large building to her right and continued walking. “You’ll want to meet Rarity, I’m pretty sure she drinks a lot of tea.”
Twilight continued showing the mysterious stallion around town, pointing out Sugar Cube Corner, the Carousel Boutique, and finally, the treebrary. The entire time, Dimitri just nodded in fake interest, not actually paying any attention.
“Okay so, Rarity usually spends her time over at the Carousel Boutique, and...” Twilight stopped when she noticed Pinkie Pie walking up in front of her. “Oh, hey there Pinkie Pie!”
“Hi Twilight! Hi...” She noticed the unfamiliar stallion. She jumped in the air and let out a familiar GAASP and then bolted off in a random direction.
“Well that was interesting...” Dimitri’s attention had been captured by the display.
“Oh, that’s just Pinkie, she always reacts like that to newcomers.”
“I see... Well I think I’m gonna head back to the Inn and get settled in now...”
“Oh, but you still haven’t met Rarity! I’m sure she’d love to buy tea from you!”
“Yes, but it’s getting late and it’s been a long day... I think a good night’s sleep will do me well first.”
“Oh, well okay. Remember, you can find her at Carousel Boutique.”
“Yes yes, goodbye.” Dimitri waved a hoof at Twilight as he started to walk away.
“Bye Harold!” Twilight smiled and walked off in the opposite direction. At first Dimitri was confused, until he remembered the name Harold Chamomile that he’d created from the top of his head back on the train. At that moment, he also questioned how anypony could be fooled by such a fake name.
In fact, Twilight Sparkle was not fooled by Harold Chamomile’s alias. As soon as she got back to her library, she quickly started searching for something that could give her more information on the stallion she was sure she’d seen before during her short visit to Fillydelphia.
Elsewhere in town, Dimitri was just arriving at the Inn, just in time for an unwelcome surprise.
“SURPRISE!” The pink pony shouted, jumping out of no where the instant Dimitri stepped inside. “Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name? You're new in town aren't you? You must be because I've never seen you in town, and I know EVERYPONY in Ponyville.”
The pink one continued to drone on and on about... Well, whatever it was she was saying. It was hard to really understand at this point, partially because she was speaking so quickly it was hard to follow, but her voice was also being drowned out by other happy ponies at the party.
“So, what's your name?” She finally seemed to stop for a few moments, and gazed at him, waiting for a reply. After a few awkward moments passed, Dimitri realized that she was actually going to wait for him to reply, so he decided to, once again, go along with it.
He laid his suitcase down on the ground to speak. “Harold. Harold Chamomile.” He sighed, hoping this would satisfy her so she would leave him alone long enough for him to check in and sneak away to his room.
“Ooo that's a funny name! What do you do? I bake cupcakes and muffins and all sorts of sweet stuff. Oh, and I plan parties. I'm the best at parties!”
“I.... Sell tea.”
“Oooo tea! How exciting!”
“Yes, exciting...”
The pink pony started to ramble again as Dimitri picked up his suitcase and walked over to the reception desk. He checked in, then hatched a simply brilliant plan to distract the pink pony.
“Rook!” He mumbled with his suitcase between his teeth, then dropped the suitcase to the floor to speak more clearly. “A lonely looking pony with no friends!” He pointed out a nearby window.
“What!?” Pinkie turned to see the lonely pony. While she was looking away, Dimitri darted off to the stairwell, and headed quickly up the stairs, surprised that his rather spur of the moment plan actually worked.
At long last, Dimitri arrived in his room. He flopped his suitcase down on the floor and laid down on his bed. Now he was alone and he could finally think things through. Thinking things through proved to be a mistake, as he quickly realized he was going to have to do things a little differently.
It was at this point that he realized that everypony in Ponyville seems to know each other. That said, nothing's going to stand out more than a pony who keeps to himself. If Dimitri wanted to blend in, he knew he was going to have to do some things he wasn't used to. He would have to socialize. He would have to make some friends.
He would have to sell some tea.