Pumpkin Spice was an oddity. From the tip of her horn to the bottoms of her hooves, she wasn't exactly like the other ponies. Midnight fur covered her sleek, winged frame, and a mane and tail the perfect color of pumpkins topped that off. Her irises were close in shade to her mane, but just different enough that you could see when fire snapped in her eyes when her temper went over the edge of her control.
As an alicorn one would expect her powers to be on the levels of absurdity, but the truth of the matter was that she hardly had any magic at all; not that she minded anyways. She preferred living as a pony that was often underestimated, which came in her favor on more than one occasion. Living simply in the town of Ponyville, Pumpkin Spice found that her favorite holiday happened to be Nightmare Night, as she didn't stand out quite so much.
Donning her favorite witch hat, little cloak, and a cute little jack-o-lantern that she carried in her mouth she would trick-or-treat door to door with the others and nopony thought twice about it. In fact, that was how she met Penny Dreadful. She had knocked on his door in a confident manner, and when he'd opened it instead of giving her candy, he'd merely stood there. Penny had felt like he was transfixed, bewitched, hypnotized, completely enthralled with the mare standing before him.
"Are you going to give me the candy or what?" Pumpkin finally demanded, beginning to lose her patience with the stallion staring at her like she was either the greatest thing he'd ever seen, or the worst.
"S-sorry, here you go," Penny said, stuttering a bit as he gave her a hoofful of treats. His ruby eyes were still boring into her, almost as though he was trying to memorize her face. Pumpkin had merely snorted at him, then turned around and resumed her quest to obtain tasty goodies to enjoy for the next few days. The next day she'd come back to his house, knocking again with a manner that said she was expecting something from the occupants inside.
Penny answered again, wondering who and why would be calling on him when it wasn't a holiday. The mare who'd been in his dreams was on his porch, and he wordlessly gestured for her to come inside while trying to kick his brain into gear. It wouldn't do to slobber drool all over his guest, even though the thought was definitely tempting. Shaking his head vigorously, the little brown unicorn bade Pumpkin to follow him into the living room.
Going over to the surprisingly beautiful couch, Pumpkin hopped onto it without any preamble and settled herself into a neatly folded position so that she was laying down on one of the cushions. With that her persimmon gaze settled onto Penny, and she realized that his mane and tail happened to be a rather flattering shade of magenta. Without entirely realizing it, she smiled at him.
Penny had gone into the kitchen and come back with a platter of muffins and a pitcher of water floating along in his golden magic aura, and carefully set them on the table before looking back at her. Glancing down at the food that had been set out for the both of them, Pumpkin Spice decided to cut to the chase instead of wasting anypony's time.
"Out of curiosity, why the hell were you staring at me like I was Discord's gift to pony kind?" she asked him, her tone direct and very blunt. Penny winced as he settled into a wing-back chair, shifting around until he was comfortable himself.
"You caught that eh?" he replied, chagrined. "Sorry about that."
"That's not an answer to my question," Pumpkin retorted, snorting.
"Well..." Penny trailed off, looking down at the carpet for a few moments before taking a breath and lifting his head again. "Because I think you're the most beautiful mare I've ever seen."
She hadn't known how to reply to that, and was silent for a long time. Instead she took one of the muffins off of the tray and nibbled at it, enjoying the taste of poppy seed with a hint of lemon. Penny was secretly glad she appeared to be enjoying the food, he'd gotten them from Derpy herself as he adored her confections and strove to buy them whenever he was able to do so.
As the silence stretched between them, Penny cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly. "So, did you really come out here to find out why I was staring?" he inquired, faltering a little. His mind was beginning to stray, despite him wanting to be on his best behavior. He'd never had a feminine house guest before, and certainly not one that looked like her. Unique coloring aside, there was something about her that he couldn't quite put his hoof on, and he wanted to find out more about her.
Pumpkin paused in her bite of muffin, then swallowed while nodding. "Yep, that's pretty much it," she replied flippantly, before finishing off her treat.
"No other reason?" Penny asked, sounding hopeful as he hinted a little. He leaned forward a bit as he stared at her, forelegs dangling off the edge of his chair like a parody of a dog. With that question, Pumpkin put her wrapper down on the tray, then floated a napkin to dab at her mouth while she considered the implications of what he was asking. She wasn't exactly a naive pony, but she hadn't expected to be indirectly propositioned either.
"I would like a friend," she admitted, smiling at him. "In all my time living here in Ponyville, I haven't managed to make a single one."
"That's a real shame," Penny said, his tone shifting as an evil little thought crossed his mind. Standing from his chair, he shot her a wicked look as he smiled at the mare. "Hey... have you ever heard of Canterlot Crops?" The way he worded the question caused her to stare at him like he'd either just sprouted a third eye or a second horn.
"Can't say that I have... Why?" Pumpkin replied, speaking slowly as she arched an orange eyebrow at him. The beginnings of apprehension began to crawl their way up her spine, and she watched him as he began to walk in the direction of the hallway.
"I got a package from them once, care of this rather odd pony named James," Penny disclosed cheerfully, opening a door that she couldn't see.
"Uhh... Okay," Pumpkin stated, her tone full of confusion and concern. "Why the hell--" her question cut off when he disappeared. Getting up herself, she went over to see just what in the world he was up to. In a different sense warning bells should have been going off in her mind about the stallion's weird behavior, but for now he hadn't done anything too crazy so she was more curious about what he was currently doing.
Moseying around the corner, she noticed an open door and decided to head into the room to see what was going on. Pumpkin Spice wasn't sure what to expect when she entered the room, perhaps a collection or auspicious furniture. Instead, she was greeted by Penny standing beside an innocent looking door in an otherwise empty room, and he was smiling at her.
"Would you like to see what I got in my package?" he asked her then, wiggling his rump in the manner all ponies seemed to do when they were excited, punctuated by a little hop. Pumpkin hesitated, wondering just what was going on now. "I have to warn you though, going past this door means you're going to see some things," he added, his tone going serious. "It's not often that I let guests in here, so please, if you would rather do something else then say so now."
Pumpkin felt her curiosity get the best of her, even with the feeling of apprehension creeping along her body and settling deep in her belly. Just what did this stallion have on the other side of that door, anyways? With that she took a deep breath, and a cautious step forward. Penny watched her with an unusual intensity.
"So... would it be okay if I just looked? and then decided from there whether or not I want to do something else?" she inquired, and was given a nod in return. Penny then turned and opened the nondescript portal, disappearing inside. Startled, Pumpkin Spice rushed over to look. The alicorn was greeted with the sight of a flight of stairs descending into the gloom, as there were no lights providing illumination.
Heading slowly down the stairs, it felt like she was going into a basement. From there another hallway greeted her, along with a door standing open at the end. Pumpkin approached the door, peering around the corner to see where Penny had gone to. The first impression she immediately got was that the room was red, with rich, lush furnishings of black leather. Plump pillows of a matching shade were scattered around, some on the couches and chaises and others on the floor.
Some looked like they were made of some kind of fluffy fabric like faux fur, others looked like they were made of satin. There were rugs here and there, and resting upon them were various wooden things that looked vaguely like furniture, but with leather straps hanging from them. As her eyes scanned the surprisingly large room, she spotted Penny standing next to a cardboard box with writing that she couldn't read from this distance.
Moving deeper into the room, the door swung quietly closed behind her without her notice. Penny then grinned at her, gesturing to the place as he spoke. "Welcome to my dungeon."
Author's Note
Neither Canterlot Crops nor James belong to me. They belong to Damaged and Penalt respectively. You might recognize the references to James and the shop, if you happen to read Mail Troubles.
