Assisting a Rarity

Chapter 3

Settling in

It wasn’t long before the two arrived back at Carousel Boutique. As she stepped through the door Rarity called for Coco. Not ten-seconds later the earth pony mare quickly appeared before them. She gulped slightly as she saw David and avoided eye contact.

“Coco, this is David. He’s going to be working with us from now on. David, this is my assistant Coco Pommel.” She gestured to the cream colored mare.

“Nice to meet you.” David stuck his hand out to shake. Coco returned the gesture although she was quick to pull her hand away.

“Tell me dear, have you had any luck with finding a roommate to help you with the rent and upkeep of your home?” Rarity asked as she looked at he friend. Coco meekly shook her head.

“N-no, I haven’t had a lot of time to look around.” Coco said in a soft tone. Rarity smiled and David managed to put the pieces together.

“Coco, we’re closing up early today. I want to show David around town a bit and I think he might be the answer to your rent situation.” Coco’s eyes went from Rarity to David and it clicked in her mind. David saw the small bit of panic in her eyes and stepped in.

“Ms.Pommel, if you’re uncomfortable with sharing a residence with me, I understand.” He said in a calm tone. “We literally just met and I know our species are still getting use to one another. If you’d give me a chance to prove myself I’d be very grateful.” Coco looked at him and shifted her weight from one hoof to the other before giving him a polite nod. “Thank you.”

With that, Rarity closed the store and started showing David around town with Coco in tow. Rarity did an excellent job of showing David where everything was in Ponyville. The small town even had a tavern that looked like ones he’d read about in fantasy novels. As they walked through the town David felt several eyes on him, Coco’s included. Eager to break the uncomfortable silence, David spoke up.

“I ran into a friend of yours earlier today.” Rarity looked back at him. “A farm mare named Applejack?” The white mare smiled at him.

“Oh yes, we’re the best of friends.” David nodded.

“You wouldn’t happen to know a hyperactive pink mare would you?” She nodded again.

“That’s Pinkie Pie, I take it she ran up to you and started babbling?”

“Bingo,” He said as they stopped in front of a building that looked straight out of a children’s fairy tale.The exterior looked like a fancy ginger bread house with icing, gumdrops and several other kinds of candy.

“This is Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie works as a baker here.” The three went inside and to see a tall thin mustard colored stallion at the cash register while a cyan mare was bringing a tray out to a lavender colored mare that caught David’s eye. Unlike the other ponies he’d seen she had both a horn protruding from her head that was slightly larger than other Unicorns he'd seen and pair of feathered lavender wings coming from her back.

The mare set down her book and looked up at the trio. A smile spread on her face as Rarity approached.

“Good afternoon Rarity,” She said as Rarity returned the gesture.

“Twilight, it’s been ages.” Twilight then looked past her friend and saw David. As soon as her purple eyes locked onto him, David felt as if he were being analyzed the same way a mad scientist does before pulling some Dr. Frankenstein experiments. Rarity followed her gaze and gestured David over. “This is David, he’s going to be assisting Coco and I with the new technology I ordered.”

Twilight smiled and extended her hand. David took it and gave it a good shake.

“Nice to meet you.” She said with a smile. He nodded and took his hand back.

“Likewise, Rarity is giving me a quick tour of the town.” They exited the establishment and continued through the small town until they came upon a two story house with a clay tiled roof. Coco spoke up for the first time since they left the boutique.

“This is my house.” She said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a shiny brass key that fit the large lock on the front door. She opened the wooden door to reveal a simple living room that connected to a kitchen and a dinning room. The living room had several pictures standing on shelves and hanging on walls. There was a large couch and a coffee table in front of the couch.

A fire place with a chimney was built into the far side of the wall and a television still in the box laid against the far wall.

“It’s very nice.” David commented. It was far nicer than the apartment he currently occupied. Coco walked up stairs into a hallway that led to a bathroom at the far end with two doors on the opposite side of the hallway. She went to the room on the right and opened it to show a fairly large empty room, excluding an unused queen sized bed. A medium sized window was on the far and left wall

“This is the guest room.” She said meekly. David stepped in and looked around at the room. There was so much more space. He could actually set up his desk and have an actual bed rather than sleeping on the apartment’s futon and not get a stiff neck from sleeping. “I’m sorry if it’s a little small.”

“Small? It’s like the Taj Mahal compared to my studio apartment.” He joked.

“The what?” Rarity cocked her head to the side at the strange word.

“I’ll show you a picture of it later.” He said as he looked out the window to see the town. “What is that?” Rarity came up beside him to see that he was pointing at the large crystal palace at the far edge of town.

“That’s Twilight’s castle.” Rarity answered plainly.

“Her castle?” It was his turn to look surprised. “She has a castle?”

“Yes, she is a Princess after all.” His face went ashen as he remembered how informally he spoke to her.

“A Princess?” He exclaimed. “Like a legitimate Princess that rules over lands and grants titles and things like that?” Rarity nodded. “I thought there were only three Princesses?”
 He's heard of Celestia, Luna and the last name escaped him, but he was sure she was pink, not purple.

“She became one only a few months ago. I think it was around the same time the portals opened up to your world.” Coco nodded at Rarity’s words. That explains why he didn’t hear about it.

“Is she gonna arrest me for not greeting her formally?” Rarity blinked once and let out a laugh.

“Oh heavens no, Twilight is not one for formalities. In fact she prefers informal behavior rather then having everypony bow down to her.” He breathed a sigh of relief at the words and turned his attention back to the room.

“This place would work out just fine if you’re comfortable with me staying here Coco.” The mare gave a hesitant nod. He could tell that she was still nervous around him and decided to keep his distance so he looked as less threatening as possible. They exited the home and Rarity continued with the tour through the town pointing out key areas of the town.

The hours passed and the sky soon turned a dark orange color. The trio arrived back at the train station. “Well, this has been a very lovely day.” He said to the two mares. “However I must be off and start packing my things and finding a moving company for my belongings.”

Rarity reached into her purse and wrote down a number on a slip of paper before handing it to the man. “That is the number to a moving company I’ve used in the past. Feel free to drop my name dear.” She wished him a safe trip and David headed onto the train bound for Manehattan.

David spent the next week packing his belongings into boxes. The bright side was that he had very few cumbersome things aside from his computer and other gadgets. Most of his more valuable belongings were in a storage shed back on Earth which he planned on keeping until he could find a safe place to store it. He called the number Rarity had given him and the moving company agreed to move his things for half the normal rate when he mentioned he was going to be working for Rarity. David boarded the train with a duffle bag bounded towards the small town and his new life.

He stepped off the train to see Rarity waiting for him. She was wearing a fine purple blouse and pristine white pants. He greeted her politely and the two made their way towards his new home. A thought came to the man and he turned his head towards the mare.

“How do you know the moving company?” He asked.

“I helped them redesign their logo and made them uniforms when they were first starting out and they’ve been such good customers since.” She smiled as they came upon Coco’s house where the moving truck was out front. It was one of the few vehicles that David had seen since he got to Equestria. A Pegasus mare with dark brown fur and feathers smiled as they approached.

“Rarity, it’s been too long.” She said with a kind smile.

“Hello Mocha,” Rarity smiled and gave her a hug. “We’ll have to do lunch some time.” David looked inside the truck and saw it was empty.

“All your things are inside and intact.” Mocha said with a smile. David returned the smile and walked up to her.

“Thank you for your hard work. How much do I owe you?” He was about to pull out his checkbook when Rarity held up a hand.

“Just send me the bill Mocha.” David’s jaw dropped at the words.

“Rarity this is too generous. I can’t accept you doing something like that.” She held up a hand silencing him.

“No dear I insist.” He wanted to argue more but her pristine blue eyes practically screamed ‘do not fight me on this.’ The human stood aside and allowed Rarity to pay the mover for her services. Mocha thanked Rarity and went on her way. David turned back to Rarity with raised eyebrows.

“You didn’t have to do that Rarity.” She turned and only flashed him a smile. He sighed as he gave up trying to argue.

The deal is done, no sense arguing about it. He thought as he headed inside. A thought occurred to him as he walked through the door. “Where’s Coco?”

“She’s finishing up an order. Speaking of which I should probably get back as well.” She looked at her watch and nodded. David thanked her again before she walked back to her boutique. David then turned his attention to unpacking his things and setting up things in his room.

His computer was on the desk near the window and he started setting up the wifi when he heard a knock on the door frame. He turned his head to see the cream colored mare poking her head inside.

“Are you settling in okay?” She asked in her usual timid tone.

“Just fine and thank you again for opening up your home to me.” She walked inside and looked at his computer with wonder. He continued to work and soon they had a stable wifi connection.

“How do you make these things work?” She asked as her eyes ran over the mouse and keyboard.

“I’ll show you one of these days.” He took his glasses off to rub his tired eyes. He looked at his watch and didn’t realize that it was approaching dinner time. “Time flies.” He said as he heard a growling noise come from his stomach. His face flushed a little red at his body. Coco seemed to remember something.

“Rarity told me to come get you and we’ll meet her at Sugar Cube Corner for dinner.”

“I thought it was just a bakery?”

“It’s more like a bakery, cafe and sometimes a diner.” She gave him a shrug and David assumed that she didn’t quite know why either. He finished with the computer and grabbed his coat before he and the mare left the house. An awkward silence developed between the two as they walked down the cobblestone road towards the bakery.

“So Coco, how long have you been working for Rarity?” Coco took a moment to think.

“I’ve been working for her for about six months. I met her while she was at a fashion competition in Manhattan.” She seemed to withdraw as she mentioned the competition. He didn’t ask any more about the topic and saw that they were fast approaching the establishment. He looked inside the window and saw that the curtains were drawn.

As he stepped inside the door the light’s suddenly flashed on and the sound of noise makers went off. A large group of ponies with different colored fur yelled out in unison.

“Surprise!” David felt a nervous smile spread across his face as a familiar looking pink mare raced up to him.

“Hi!” She said in a high pitched voice. “I saw you last week and I thought, ‘Oh a human in town!’ I had a plan to throw you a party later that day but then I saw you leave and I got so sad that,” An orange hand clamped over her mouth and ceased her waterfall of words. David saw the familiar farm mare slowly shaking her head.

“What she means is that this is your official welcome party.” Pinkie nodded her head rapidly shaking off Applejack’s hand. Rarity then came up beside the mare.

“I take it she does this for everyone?” Rarity nodded and started introducing him to the other ponies in the room. Mainly her other two close friends; Fluttershy, a timid yellow Pegasus mare with a pink mane and tail who took care of the animals around town. The other was Rainbow Dash, a cyan Pegasus and true to her namesake, her mane and tail were all seven colors of the rainbow.

There were several other ponies he met, Macintosh or ‘Big Mac’ as he was better known. Who was Applejack’s older brother and ran things at her farm and Thunderlane was on the weather team with Rainbow. After meeting so many ponies at once he needed to sit down and get his bearings. Rarity sat down across from him a drink in hand.

“Enjoying yourself?” He nodded at her question.

“I can safely say this is the friendliest welcome I’ve had since I got here.” The other mares soon joined them. “Most of the time ponies just stare at me like I’ve got three heads.” He stated.

“Well, you’re the first human that’s living in this town.” Twilight said. David smirked at the news. He liked the thought of him being on soil unknown by other humans. He gulped as he realized he was once again talking to a Princess.

“Forgive me for not addressing you more formally before your highness.” Twilight just chuckled and waved her hand.

“Oh it’s no trouble. Just Twilight is fine.” David let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding hearing the words, but still kept up his best behavior around the Alicorn. “I had a few questions about your species, if you don’t mind me asking?” David agreed to her request provided they weren’t too personal. The lavender pony smiled and summoned a note pad and pen with magic which made the human flinch at the use of the strange force.

“I heard that your species eat meat.” The other ponies around them all turned their attention.

“Correct, although technically all humans are omnivores.”

“Omni what?” Dash asked with a shake of her head.

“It means they can gain sustenance from meat along with fruits and vegetables.” Fluttershy said speaking up for the first time. David nodded at the words. “Does that mean you eat ponies?” David seemed shocked at the question.

“No, that’s illegal, same goes with horses.” He said with a shiver at the thought of consuming one. Fluttershy seemed to relax a little at the words. Twilight cleared her throat and took some notes.

“I also hear that humans can’t do magic.”

“Yes, there’s no magic on Earth.” The ponies all raised eyebrows at the words.

“Then how do you control the weather?” Applejack asked.

“We don’t. We can only predict it and even then we get it wrong.” He groaned at the memories when the forecast said it was supposed to be bright and sunny only to have it rain buckets later on. “However, what we lack in magic we make up for in technology and ingenuity.” He gave a brief explanation of the various ways of human transportation like trains, planes and automobiles.

Soon, the man felt the day’s activities take their toll and excused himself for the evening. The group agreed that it was getting late and they each went about their way. Coco opened the door for the man and the two went to their rooms. David flopped himself down on his bed and cracked his neck before he got ready for bed and fell asleep.