Equustale

by neorenamon

"Well getting you measured and set for a meeting with Princess Celestia was surely... an adventure," murmured Rarity as she led the three of them to the front door. The Boutique had closed hours ago and the jewel of the night hung high in the sky above them among all the glittering stars.

Asriel had a white and blue unisex gown much in the style worn by his mother, the former Queen Toriel. As instructed, the Dreemurr Royal Crest shown prominently on both the front and back of the tabard worn over the gown. He didn't wear shoes in favor of a more familiar and simpler wrap of his feet. It left his clawed toes fully able to operate while giving some padding to the rest of his feet.

Chara had a simpler outfit consisting of a top of alternate evergreen and golden stripes. The top was neckless and rather open, but not quite plunging in the neckline as she first requested. The others suspected that it could be pulled over her head or even down to her feet with minimal trouble, and that alone made it somewhat suspicious to them. The micro miniskirt barely covered her assets and one wondered what would happen should a stiff breeze should come along. Of course, bending over far enough or some other action could just as likely give anyone behind Chara... quite an eyeful. To finish it off, Chara had something like stockings that seemed to hold some special sexual significance to ponies (judging by Rarity's blush as she showed off a set of her own). They were held up by straps coming down from the belt of the skirt underneath the material of the skirt itself.

For Frisk, Rarity made her a red flannel shirt and skirt. Over that, she wore a blue fake leather vest and similar chaps. After all, real leather required the use of a living animal that pony society rejected as barbaric. The vest had red trim on the collar and down the outsides of the arms. Rarity assured her the look was all the rage down in Appleloosa even though she didn't normally consider that area an inspiration for fashion. She offered to replace the hat as well (as it didn't quite go with the rest), but Frisk assured her through touch that it had to remain. However, she did agree to have a new red silk hatband tied over the old one just to make it look a bit better. She also didn't care much for the clunky look of the revolver, but it was another thing... that just had to remain as it was. The dark brown boots were also fake leather, but thicker to get the durability one needed from such footware.

* Our heroes. All dressed up and nowhere to go.

"Who keeps saying that?!" asked Asriel as he looked up.

* Oh, you really want to know who I am?

"No," he replied dripping with sarcasm, "I ask questions just to hear myself speaking."

* Well aren't you the comedian?

"Actually we all are kind of wondering the same," chimed in Chara.

* Oh, I'm sure I'll meet you all before too long. Once you get to Canterlot, I'll be closer than you know.

"That's not creepy at all."

"Hmm..." mused Asriel as he looked about, "It looks like all the welcome mats are rolled up around here at sunset. I don't even know if this town... has an Inn or Motel. Where will we sleep?"

Chara stepped up to him and caressed his cheek as she purred, "I know where I'm sleeping, but I'm not sure about poor Frisk."

He sighed. Then a little wicked grin crossed his face.

"Oh," she purred, "What are you thinking about?"

He stuck out his dripping tongue and licked her face from chin to forehead. Her reaction was not what he expected.

"My my," she said as she licked his cheek back, "Are you trying to turn me on?"

"Do you even come with an 'off switch'?"

"Of course not."

He glanced aside to see Frisk's hot cheeks as her hands covered her eyes. "Chara dear," he purred, "We're making the innocent one over here blush. Do you expect me to carry her if she faints again?"

Chara looked as well and replied, "I'm sure a big strong hunk like you can manage, can't you?"

"I'm glad we're not touching her right now. Her thoughts would probably be too hot to think about."

"Well we have to do it sometime if we're going to have any meaningful input from her, aren't we?"

He chuckled. "Perhaps after our thoughts return to something... less naughty." Leaning close, he gave Chara a quick kiss to her lips. After a moment, he broke off only to have her return the favor.

* Frisk sees something in the bushes.

"What?!" he asked as he looked about.

Frisk was looking at a purple flank partly sticking out of the bushes on one side of Rarity's shop. Judging by her butt stamp, Asriel quickly realized it was the one called 'Twilight Sparkle'. Before he could say anything, Frisk reached out and touched her cutie mark squarely in the middle.

"Magic spells are the conjunction of the unicorn's determination and their magical aura!" shouted Twilight as she jumped almost twice her own height into the air. "Please don't send me back to magic kinder..." she spluttered as she landed before she paused to look about her.

Frisk touched her nose.

"Oh, that was... just a silly nightmare..." she replied awkwardly, "Don't... worry about it... Princess Luna does enough of that..." Her voice trailed off until it was a quiet as Fluttershy.

Reaching out to touch Frisk's shoulder, he asked, "How many hours have you been waiting out here for us?"

"Huh?" she replied, "Not too... It's not that important. I... was just wondering where you're... going to sleep tonight."

"That... subject hadn't come up before now."

"Well I have... a spare room at the library," she replied quickly, "I'm sure you can manage that overnight."

'That's not true,' replied Frisk, 'You're planning to give us your only bed while you sleep on a pile of books.'

"I... guess that's true..." she murmured, "It's... not like I haven't... spent my share of nights sleeping on books... like in the days back in Canterlot..."

"It wouldn't be very nice to have to owner of their home..." he said.

"Actually, I'm just using the Golden Oak Library as a place to live while studying friendship lessons. I don't really own it."

'Princess Celestia has all but turned the place over to you. The library wasn't even tended to before you moved in.'

"I'm sure it won't be more than a day or two... so I wouldn't mind at all."

Asriel nodded. "I shall do my best to see that you are compensated for your sacrifice," he said to her softly.

"I don't need compensation... It's just I want to help my new friends."

"That's very kind of you, friend. I'm glad to count you among them."

He wondered if Twilight was blushing just a little from his praise.

"I'll lead the way," she offered as she turned about, "It's... not that far from here."

Chara moved up to touch Frisk as they followed. Frisk mentally caught Chara up on what Twilight had been telling them.

'Should we tell her what 'The Voice' told us?' asked Asriel in Frisk's head.

'And have her think we're completely bonkers too?' replied Frisk, 'I don't think that's going to help any.'

'If you think so...'

So they followed Twilight without further comment. The Library came into the view of the group as it was lit up under the white glow of the Equestrian moon.

"Are you sure that's the right place?" mused Chara, "I'd swear a place like that should be full of little elves baking cookies."

"What was that?" asked Twilight as she paused.

'Chara!'

"It's a joke!" blurt out Asriel as he elbowed Chara in the side.

"Humans... must have a different sense of humor... than we do."

"Human and monsters both," he answered.

"Don't even get me started on Smiley..." said Chara before she was cut off by two sets of glares, "what Sans the Skeleton believes is... humorous."

"Skeletons... tell joke?" she asked as she stopped at the front door.

"Yes," replied Asriel, "Skeletons are one of the monster-kind."

"That sounds fascinating. I'd love to study one some day," she replied as she used her magic to open the door.

"He'd just as likely take you to Grillby's so you can watch him get drunk on ketchup all night."

"Get drunk on ketchup?"

"Sometimes I wonder if he's really drunk or just faking it," he muttered in reply.

"Well I do notice that Papyrus tries to avoid ketchup," said Chara, "He certainly doesn't drink it straight up like Sans does."

"I sometimes have to wonder just what Grillby is putting in his house ketchup..." he mused as he scratched his chin, "It doesn't affect me or anyone I know who isn't a skeleton." Then he darkly chuckled as he continued, "Well it's definitely not the same as what goes into his Elemental Hot Sauce..."

"You didn't!" said Chara with a wicked grin.

"Oh I did... as Flowey... You should have seen the flames shooting out of San's mouth... before he used his blue magic to chuck me pot and all into the kitchen with Toriel."

"Oh I wish I was there to see that one!"

"You were sharing a body with Frisk then, weren't you?"

She nodded. "I was the original source... of the voices in Frisk's head. The one who initially translated all those monster signs... into something sweet Frisk could understand."

He nodded as they all walked inside.

"Spike is sleeping upstairs in his basket," said Twilight softly, "Why don't you go upstairs quietly while you go to bed?"

They crept upstairs to see one double-sized bed and a baby dragon sleeping at the end of it in a basket just large enough to fit his growing body. A comic book lay open and face down on his chest as he snored.

"So they have comic books in this world too?" mused Chara.

"Well it's some kind of pamphlet or booklet," replied Asriel softly.

"Well..." she added as she looked at the bed, "It's going to be cozy for three..."

"You two take the bed. I'll sleep on some books downstairs with Twilight."

"Always the gentlemonster, aren't you?" purred Chara.

He shrugged. By the time he turned, Chara was already stripping of Frisk's vest as she cooed, "No point in letting your new clothes get... all sweaty... during the night."

Judging by Frisk's blush, he could almost hear her response in his head. 'CHARA! You're... you're just too much!'

He hurried downstairs because seeing them both naked again might give him... problems later. Then he realized that nothing he would say would make any sense to Twilight, so he just imitated the way she was laying out books to form a bed. She seemed to understand what he meant without having to say or hear anything. In a matter of moments, the two of them were laid out. Each on their own bedding of open books.

Upstairs, he soon heard the sound of panting. He hoped that Chara would at least have the decency to cover themselves under the sheets before she 'amused' Frisk in some way. There was no way to tell what such a sight would have on a baby dragon he could only assume was still... impressionable. Putting a book over his head... kept the sounds down to manageable levels... until he drifted off into a deep slumber. It had been a long day for him.

"Well... Aren't you the Prince among monsters?" asked a strange voice.

His eyes opened to show that he wasn't in bed. He was in someone's statue garden. Something large with broad stone paths throughout. Off in the distance, he could see the opening to a very large hedge maze. The arch in the hedge was marked with red, pink and orange pennants.

"Who is this?!" he asked, "Show yourself!"

"Oh, just think of me as a friend who wants to help you get back to your real home. I'm sure you'll see me soon enough... so just be a little more patient."

'He must be hiding behind one of these statues.'

"After all, her high and mightiness Princess Celestia won't bother to come here to see you. She'll surely summon you to her royal presence soon enough. I imagine her chariots may well come for you in the morning."

"You don't sound like you have much respect for... this Princess Celestia," replied Asriel.

"Oh," said the disembodied voice, "We've... had our differences... in the past."

"Are you one of her enemies?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh, 'Enemy' is such a strong term. I prefer to think of us... as disagreeing on some things."

Then he heard a royal sound coming from the moon.

"Asriel, Prince among Monsters," said the regal voice, "Does thou dream well?" A beam came down from the moon as Luna stepped forth.

"Nah," he replied, "Just... chatting with the voice in my head... Isn't that right, voice?"

There was silence.

"Oh great," he muttered, "Make me look like a fool in front of a Princess, why don't you?"

"Tis not the way of the foal to have conversations with one aspect or another of they dream self."

"I guess so..." he looked about from one statue to the next. He couldn't quite place a claw on it, but one of the statues seemed to much... odder compared to the others. "Are you visiting me for a reason?"

"There... seemed to be something... off in they dream," she replied, "but whatever it was is gone now... I shall leave you to your own repast."

He sighed softly as she went back into the moon overhead. Soon, Asriel would awaken on his pile of books.