A Pony's Guide To Raising An Alien Octopus-Girl

Chapter 1, Part 2: In Which Tentacled Trouble Explores Her New Home

The journey home had taken quite a while; something he had partially done on purpose, Quill had ended up needing to fly home to keep the octopus-child from being seen; she didn’t seem to mind flying, and if anything had enjoyed it somewhat.

He decided it best to keep her existence a secret for the time being, at least until he could figure out what in Equestria he was supposed to do with her; adopting octopus-girls was not exactly his forte you see.

“In, in, hurry now!” He said softly after landing on his doorstep.

Quill’s house was not necessarily a grand or a fascinating one. It was one-story and square, strong bricks covered the outside in neat, organized rows. There was a square window on either side of his door; which was rectangular with a half circle on the top part of it.

All the houses in the beach area were built of the same type of brick; it was extremely strong and magically enhanced so that it could withstand the harsh and violent weather that sometimes battered the residents of this part of Equestria. These houses could be hit by a tsunami and be left standing with only minor outer damage.

The sun was set now, and Luna’s moon had begun to rise in the sky and shine its dim light over all of Equestria. Illuminating the land in a way so spectacular it made you wonder why the ponies of old enjoyed the light of the sun over that of the moon.

His tentacle passenger clambered off his back with a curious “Mahba?” looking up at him with her large, curious eyes, and then back into the house.

“Shush now, get inside, and hurry!” He coaxed, gently nudging her with a wing and carefully looking around the dimly lit area for signs of any other ponies.

“Bagah!” She exclaimed upon feeling his wing, promptly spinning around and latching her arms around it rather firmly.

“Nyah.” Quill said softly, not expecting his sensitive wing to be suddenly grabbed and embraced. He looked over at the octopus-girl and tried to lift his wing away, only to find he lifted her with it.

Octo-giggles ensued.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re going to be a hoof full…?” He said with a slight grin, stepping inside his house and closing the door behind him.

The interior of his house; much like the exterior, was rather simple. When you entered the house the first thing you saw was the living room.

The living room was covered in a tan carpet; like most of the house was. Inside the living room was a large, over-stuffed couch, with an equally overstuffed individual chair on either side, facing an oval wooden coffee table with a chess board painted onto it; though he rarely used it.

There was a dresser set across from the couch, covered in neatly organized piles of paper; the workings of his current book. The dresser was roll-top, meaning it had a cover that could be pulled down to cover anything sitting on top of it if need be.

Along the walls were multiple bookshelves filled with books both of Quill’s making and otherwise, his house easily held a small library.

Before he even realized what was happening, the octopus-girl had detached from her hangout on his wing and proceeded to make her way over to his couch, grabbing and pulling at the cushion with sucker covered hands.

At least she didn’t have claws…

“Bah?” She exclaimed, slapping her hand repeatedly on the cushion and gazing upon it as if it were some fantastic new discovery.

“That’s my couch.” Quill stated with a smirk, trotting over near the coffee table and taking a seat on the floor.

“Ahbaga…”She said softly, latching both hands onto the cushion and proceeding to scramble up atop it in a rather hectic flailing of her leg tentacles.

Soon, however, she was perched atop the couch, looking the smallest bit proud of herself for conquering part of her new world. She proceeded to move back and forth to either end of the couch, her tentacles making a soft, wet, slapping noise as she moved around on the leather.

“Ahba.” She stated upon finding the arm of the couch and giving it a firm squeeze, then looking over at Quill and letting out a strange gurgling noise that sounded vaguely like a coo.

“Still my couch.” He said, really not knowing what else to say or do but sit and watch her.

As quickly as it had caught the interest of the strange girl, she had abandoned all need to inspect it further and quickly rolled over onto her stomach and slid off the couch, landing gently on the floor and instantly finding something else that intrigued her; the bookshelves.

Sensing that this was most likely going to end in a mess, Quill righted himself and trotted over to the bookcase the octopus-girl was moving towards.

She came to a complete halt in front of it, staring intently for a moment before letting out a soft “Gah.” And looking over at Quill curiously.

“Uh…Bookshelf?” He said, pointing at the bookshelf and tapping at the wood with a hoof.

Instantly, the girl moved over to where he had tapped and slapped her hand gently on it, exclaiming “Bah” as she did so, and proceeding to look back up at him.

“Close enough, you got the first letter right.” He said with a smirk.

“Oooh.” She said softly, moving her hand up and tugging gently on a small book titled “The Old Pony and The Sea” pulling it out and holding it in her hands, inspecting the picture on the front with great curiosity.

“That’s a book.” Quill said; wondering if anything he was saying was actually being understood.

“Gahba.” She exclaimed, proceeding to set the book down on the ground with an unexpected degree of gentleness, then moving over to another book and proceeding to pull it out, inspect its cover thoroughly, and then set it down nearby and repeat the process.

This went on for a painstaking amount of time; the octopus-girl would remove every book she could reach and inspect its cover, then proceed to set it on the floor. Quill ended up doing nothing but following her around and putting books back for what seemed like an hour.

Eventually however, she had thoroughly inspected the living room, and appeared ready to move on to the next room; the kitchen.

Much like his Living Room, Quill’s kitchen was nothing really to special.

There was a counter in the center upon which one could cook and perform tasks of the sort, he had a refrigerator set up against the corner of the wall, with a black marble-topped counter that wrapped around half the room in an “L” Shape, interrupted only by the sink situated in front of a window, and the dishwasher to the bottom left of said sink; along with a few other kitchen appliances.

The upper half of the area below the counter tops were lined with small dark, wood drawers aplenty, and there were matching larger cabinets beneath those.

Hanging above the counter were large cabinets in which plates and glasses were kept, a good amount of them were actually empty due to the fact Quill hadn’t ever really needed or owned that many dishes.

“Babaga!” The octopus-girl exclaimed, making her way into the kitchen and beginning her task of opening every lower cabinet and thoroughly inspecting its contents with the efficiency of a…cabinet-inspecting…professional?

All Quill knew was she worked quickly, and he patiently was following behind picking up after her.

Hopefully that wouldn’t become a habit.

“Magaba!” She said; her upper half disappearing into a cabinet for a moment, reappearing shortly after with a silver pot clutched in her hands.

“Bah.” She exclaimed, setting the pot down on the floor and giving it a gentle thump with the flat of her hand, making a soft, drum-like noise.

A surprising response was given to this new noise, Quill watched as her hair-tentacles seemed to become a bit livelier in response, an amused “Oooo.” Leaving her mouth as she slapped it yet again, looking slightly excited by this unexpected discovery.

“Mahba?” She said, slapping the pot again and looking up at Quill.

“That’s a pot.” He said, silently hoping things weren’t about to get really loud.

Instead of things getting louder, the octopus-girl seemed content with what he had said and gave the pot one last look before pushing past it and moving on to the next cabinet.

Quill sighed softly and shook his head, wondering how long this would go on as he returned the pan to its drawer.

“Gaba!” The octopus-girl exclaimed suddenly upon opening another drawer, apparently finding something especially amusing to her.

Quill pulled his head out of the cabinet he had been returning the pot to and looked over at his tentacled friend.

She was brandishing a wooden spoon rather proudly, holding it out in front of her like one would a sword, eyes scanning up and down its entire surface with a great deal of curiosity.

“That’s a spoon.” He said with a grin, closing the cabinet behind him and trotting over to the curious cephalopod.

“Spaba.” She proclaimed, bringing it closer to her and inspecting it more thoroughly, however instead of setting it down like she had every other item, she lifted it up into her hair tentacles and placed it in the grasp of one of them, leaving both her hands free, then proceeding to move past Quill and re-opening the very drawer he had just refilled.

“Wait, I-I just…”

Not paying much mind to the protests directed at her, the octopus-girl searched through the cabinet for a moment and soon after, pulled out the same pot she had before, setting it down on the ground and giving a soft “Pahba.” Before reaching up and removing the spoon from the grasp of her somewhat lively hair-tentacles.

It was then Quill figured out what was about to transpire.

“Bah!” She exclaimed, bringing wooden spoon upon metal pan in a manner stereotypical of just about every young foal in Equestria.

The resounding “Donk” Was one apparently much more satisfying to the one who made it, than it had been when she simply used her hand; as evident by the giggling she produced shortly after.

At least she wasn’t a dull child.

“Donk”

“Ahbaba!” She exclaimed, giggling in amusement at her discovery; her hair tentacles seeming to almost dance around.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you’ll be the next great drummer.” He said, trying to ignore how loud her noise-making session was.

“Hmm…bah.” She said after another resounding “Dong”, Taking one more look at the two items before her before looking up at Quill and holding the spoon out to him.

Quill stared back blankly, unsure of what he was being asked. Did she want him to hit the pot or did she just want him to take the spoon or…

“Bahga!” She exclaimed, shaking the wooden spoon a bit.

“Uh…ok?” He said, uncertainly taking the spoon from her and watching as she bent over to pick up the pot somewhat clumsily, the proceed to shove it out in his direction.

“Mab.” She exclaimed; gurgling softly as the pot was taken from her.

“Uh…what is it I’m supposed to- Hey, wait!”

As soon as he had taken the objects, the octopus-girl had proceeded to take off back into the living room, most likely to continue her little journey of exploration.

Not bothering to put the pot and spoon back in their respective places, he simply held them in a hoof and with a small degree of haste, made his way into the Living Room just in time to see his tentacled friend making her way down the hall and turning into the bathroom.

He decided it best to follow her inside.

The bathroom was modest, with a sink and mirror situated against the wall and next to a toilet. Beside the toilet was the claw-footed bath tub, and across from that, situated in the corner of the wall was a tall, glass-doored shower.

“Oh boy…” He mumbled, finding his guest thoroughly inspecting the white, porcelain toilet.

“No, no, don’t try to-agh.” Letting out a frustrated huff, he set the pot and spoon down on the sink counter, and gently coaxed the octopus-girl away from the toilet, keeping her from further rubbing her hands all over it and managing to stop her before she tried to climb inside.

Quill managed to scoot her away from the latrine without much protest, and the girl simply looked up at him with a cocked head and a confused look.

“That’s yucky; we don’t touch that unless we’re going to the bathroom.” He said, giving an authoritative nod of his head as he finished.

“Gah?” Was all she said in reply.

Quill sidestepped a bit, and sat down, tapping the side of the bathtub in hopes of keeping his guest occupied with that; he really didn’t feel like explaining to an octopus-girl how a toilet was used at that moment. Especially considering he didn’t even know how she went to the bathroom…

Luckily for him, she seemed content with inspecting the bathtub rather than the latrine, and proceeded to make her way over towards it and peek over the edge, placing both of her tentacled hands on the edge to pull herself up just a bit.

“Wagahbaga.” She exclaimed, looking to the left and the right of the tub, before proceeding to rise up on her tentacles enough she could crawl inside of the bath tub; but not without a small degree of frustrated grunts as she used all her strength to pull herself inside.

With the slightest of giggles, she slid headfirst into the tub and momentarily disappeared from view.

Quill let out the softest of gasps and peered over inside the tub, finding the octopus-girl unscathed and in the process of righting herself; looking up at him and giving a “Bah.” Of assurance before proceeding to feel up the tub.

He watched in slight wonder as this strange girl groped and poked at every part of the tub. She ran sucker-covered hands over every smooth, rounded edge, and over the pebbly floor; made to ensure one could grip the floor well, but not seeming to find any part of it that interested her until she came to the faucet.

She stared curiously at the faucet for a moment, studying it thoroughly before slapping a sucker-covered hand on it and letting out a flat-toned “Gaba.”

“That’s the faucet, water comes out of there!” Quill said with a grin, trotting over and tapping the knob that controlled the cold water.

“Ooahba?” She cooed, looking up at him, back at the faucet, and then over at the knob that controlled the water.

She repeated this process once more, before bringing her free hand up to the knob and gently tugging on it, turning it just enough that a small trickle of water began to pour from the faucet.

The octopus-girl was overjoyed.

“Ahba!” She exclaimed, moving back and holding a sucker-covered hand under the slow trickle; her hair-tentacles becoming lively like they had when she had discovered the pot and spoon.

“I suppose you would like the water, huh?” Quill stated with a grin, resting his front legs and chin on the edge of the tub and watching as the girl continued to grab at the water in childlike bliss.

After a moment, she seemed to have had her fill of simply playing with the water, and the octopus-girl then proceeded to turn and begin trying to pull herself out of the tub, without making much progress.

Quill was going to move to help her, when she decided that she would just use him as leverage.

She proceeded to move over and get a good hold on his nostrils, and then with a small grunt from her, and a yelp of both surprise and discomfort from Quill, she was soon happily crawling up on top of his head, down his back, and then hopping off onto the bathroom floor with a wet “Slap”

All of this happening in the space of about eight seconds.

“You’re a fast one when you want to be…aren’t you?” He said, rubbing his nose and turning to face the speedy cephalopod-girl; who was staring up at him with a blatantly cheeky smile.

Her cheeky smile suddenly warped into a loud yawn, and as if a switch had been flipped, the adventurous octopus looked rather tired.

“And….apparently you run out of gas rather abruptly…” Quill said with a grin, watching as she moved over and rubbed her face side to side on his leg, making strange gurgling noises and wrapping her arms around it.

“Let’s see what we can do about finding you a place to sleep, hmm?” He said softly, gently stroking her hair-tentacles, and promptly ceasing that very action to avoid being grabbed by her hair.

“Tahba.” She muttered, looking up at him with tired eyes.

“Up you get.” He said, scooping her up in one hoof and allowing her to clamber up onto his back and hug his neck; finding himself not minding the feeling of her leg tentacles latching on.

Quill took his unusual passenger out of the bathroom, down the hall and back into the living room, looking around for a moment before coming to the conclusion that the couch would be a good place for her to rest.

He would soon find out he was wrong about that, but, anyway.

The octopus-girl hopped off of her ride and into the couch without really needing to be told, gently feeling at the cushion with her leg-tentacles before looking over at Quill; who was in the process of removing a neatly folded blanket from one of the chairs nearby.

The blanket seemed to intrigue the girl, and as soon as Quill turned back to her, he found her to be leaning against the arm of the couch, watching him intently; or rather, watching the blanket.

“Uh…here you go, I guess?” He said awkwardly, holding the blanket out and setting it down on the couch.

The second the blanket was released, the octopus-girl made her way over to it and as expected, began inspecting it thoroughly.

Curiously pulling at the folds and corners until what had once been a neatly folded blanket was reduced to nothing more than a crumpled and messily strewn heap of cloth.

Quill watched in silence as his guest thoroughly inspected the blanket, pulling at the fabric and running her fingers over it as if she were inspecting some ancient tapestry of great wealth. He couldn’t help but note how she was so fascinated by such a simple thing, wherever she had come from must not have had a lot of the things he had; that or she was just innately curious and had to touch everything.

Where had she come from anyway?

Was his taking her home going to cause some great conflict between pony kind and whatever race she was, or was she maybe some survivor of her civilization, maybe even the only one left?

Kinda like Superpony?

Well, other than the fact she looked super-strange, there wasn’t anything she had yet done to indicate she had any superequine-like abilities, so that could be good.

She was kinda cute though, in her own strange way. The way her hair seemed to reflect her emotion, how she seemed so curious and vocal about everything she found; even though her vocalizations were just babble, and how she seemed startlingly comfortable around him.

His life had always been sort of bland, of course he wrote, and he had fun with his friends every so often; and he was happy, but he never really had a “Plot Twist” so to speak. A great, life-changing event that would forever change him.

Was this creature his plot twist?

Quill was roused from his thoughts by the sound of the octopus-girl letting out a tiny yawn, holding the blanket in one sucker-covered hand and rubbing one large eye with the other; basically every description of a tired small child ever written.

He barely withheld a “Daww”

The octopus-girl stared up at Quill with droopy eyes for a moment, her hair tentacles growing limp and moving more lazily, then without warning, her eyes closed and she sort of…tipped over on top of the blanket.

This startled Quill at first, but upon seeing her softly breathing in and out, he realized she had actually…fallen asleep.

“Well, when you’re tired, you’re really serious about it, huh?” He said softly, honest surprise lacing his tone.

The girl had fallen on her back, leg-tentacles splayed out haphazardly and occasionally twitching as she silently slept, making no noise other than the occasional gurgle. She still clutched the blanket in one sucker-covered hand, and the other was sort of splayed out above her head.

In all honesty she looked more like a passed-out drunk, rather than a sleeping child.

Quill watched her for a moment longer, not really sure if there was something he should do or if he should just leave her be…didn’t you like, have to make sure infants were sleeping a certain way or…like, have them sleep in a crib?

He honestly wasn’t sure, and the fact exhaustion hit him like a brick wall in that exact moment made him gravitating more towards the idea of getting some shuteye himself, rather than trying to figure it out.

With a yawn he tried his best to keep silent, he shambled like that of some undead monster, over to his front door and locked the deadbolt; the last thing he needed was somepony breaking in, or the child on his couch deciding to go out on an early-morning exploration.

As he shuffled back into the living room, he gave the octopus-girl one more glance, as if to make sure she was indeed still there, and this hadn’t all been a strange illusion or something of that sort.

It wouldn’t have been the strangest thing to happen that day.

When he made his way down the hall, it was like he could hear his bed calling to him. Calling him to come and lie upon its fluffy mattress, snuggle into the cloud-like pillows, and wrap himself in the warm and inviting blanket.

His bedroom; staying with the modest theme, was nothing special.

In the center of the room was his twin bed, neatly made and ready for a peaceful night of rest upon its surface. White comforter and sheets folded and made up neat as could be, with three pillows set evenly apart from one another against the headboard, one to the left, one to the middle, and one to the right.

There were two windows in his bedroom, and the bed was situated in such a way that each window was the same distance from the bed as the other one was. Thin curtains hung bunched up on either side of the windows; as they were kept most of the time, Quill liked the moonlight.

To the left of the bed, was the doorway to the bathroom; not the one he and his guest had explored earlier, this one was a separate one.

To the right, was his closet. He hadn’t ever really been much of a pony for clothes though, ponies didn’t normally wear clothes and he never really had been fond of them; too constricting in his opinion. Still, his closet held a few dress suits and the like, but was otherwise empty and unused.

With a sigh of content, he slid on top of his bed and stretched his limbs out with a gentle grunt, smacking his lips and ruffling his wings a bit as he did so.

So tired…

He didn’t even feel like getting under his blankets, he was much too comfortable to do that. The weight of sleep was already upon him, his eyelids drooped, his limbs felt like lead, and his lips curled into a contented smile as sleep began to take him.

At least until the Octopus-girl realized he wasn’t in the room, and began crying.

Loudly.

Loud enough it did well to tear him away from the clutches of sleep, propel him out of bed, to the door, fumble to open said door, then make his way down the hallway and over to the couch upon which the octopus-girl sat crying.

She was standing up now, arms hanging at her sides and head tilted back as she voiced her displeasure to the fullest, her hair tentacles seemed to move and grab angrily at the air, and small tears dripped down from the corner of her eyes.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa…” Quill said softly, hastily moving over beside her and sitting on the couch.

As soon as she realized who was sitting beside her, the octopus-girl ceased her lamenting and looked up at Quill with a mixture of despair and maybe a hint of anger.

“M-maba!” She said shakily, moving over towards him and proceeding to wrap her arms firmly around his midsection, burying her face into his side and letting out shaky mewls.

“U-uh…what?” He asked; both as to why she was upset and at the fact she had stopped crying as suddenly as she had started.

Her tiny form shook ever so slightly with each exhale, rubbing her face against Quills coat and making her tiny mewls of displeasure.

“I-I don’t understand what it is you’re so upset about...It’s not like…oh.”

It hit him like a brick wall.

She didn’t want to be alone.

“Do you…want to come and sleep in my room?” He said, wondering if that would end up meaning he got absolutely no sleep whatsoever.

“Bah.” She mumbled into his side, tightening her grip on him a bit more.

“Ok, ok, ok…I guess you and I will be sharing a room for a while…” He said with a sigh, gently prying the octopus-girl from his side and looking down at her.

“You’re a mess, you know that?”

“Mahba.”

“Yeah, whatever you say.” He mumbled, shaking his head and finding himself smirking in the slightest as he slid off the couch.

“Nhhh…” She mumbled softly, almost whining; thinking he would leave again.

“I’m not leaving, I’m inviting you to come with, so…let’s go.” He said, motioning towards the hallway with a hoof.

This action seemed to get his point across, and the octopus-girl proceeded to slide off the couch and onto the carpet. She let out a pleased-sounding gurgle as she moved up next to him and gazed up, as if waiting for orders.

“Come on then, ya stinker…” Quill sighed, trotting down the hallway with his guest in tow.

Upon arriving, he found himself unsurprised to the fact that a certain cephalopod had taken it upon herself to inspect everything in his room.

This was going to be a long night.