Author's Note

It's Fireflower yet again with the sixth installment of my first My Little Pony fanfic still going beyond the typical oneshots I'd made from before and already using canon characters as human beings instead of their normal forms; however, this is nonetheless a Mature fimfic despite this chapter being tame compared to future ones, like before because of the brief nudity.

As usual like before, My Little Pony, or rather Friendship Is Magic, including its settings and characters belong to Lauren Faust and Hasbro; however, this concept of my fanfic still belongs to me so I will say this very line one time only: please do not steal this story or I will sue.

Lastly, let me also say that I hope you can use this chapter as a breather now much like the others before it and still have the strength to continue onward in staying tuned though the passing times since this will still be more tame; henceforth, I will leave you with but one saying only: thank you very much.

Hardboiled

Darkness prevailed throughout its boundaries, serving as the only way of how the small world worked, especially since it was a part of reality itself interchangeably. The jet–black void was all that can be experienced, devoid of sounds, feelings, tastes, and scents as not even a modicum of light bore any hue whatsoever to permeate. For a moment, it’d seemed all was completely lost, a dark fate already sealed and set in stone to say in the very least before the very beginning, utterly unchangeable.

“Bee–de–dee–deep…!” a sound rang out, quickly scaring away the golden silence which had once resided within the very colorless confines.

It wasn’t even long until the repetition of such an automated cry had became the stimuli speedily triggered another event to take place at once. Before long, the softest shuffling about had came about in a slightly reckless abandon, lower and quieter than a careless whisper all the while. As the ringing continued itself on, the noise pollution as of this moment in time was gradually amplified by the suddenly organic groaning. Soon, some quick footfalls were found to be creaking on and about, its surface area underneath them being more than where its owner lain. At long last, there was a complete silence already returning right back to the real world it’d once dominated recently, leaving the void unhurt.

Just when it’d seemed that things were more than ready to go back to normalcy, one voice low and husky with resignation betrayed that notion instantly thanks to a sigh, “okay, Eugene… you can do this: you’ve almost made it to the weekend; focus on finishing up and you’ll be done until Monday…”

It wasn’t even long until a singular flick of a switch had bathed the naked space in light, instantly chasing away the darkness as it’d became identified within all due time. The ceiling which had served as the foundation of such an illumination was suspended by about a mere few yards from the very flooring as it provided guidance quickly. The partitions currently holding up the general composition were already dabbed in a salubrious coating of vermilion wallpapering studded with carotene textures inside. The flooring itself was already basked in a tufted and orientated carpeting, rich with but a down–to–earth shade of viridian, something to provide the coldness altogether. A set of white curtains were found to be covering up a windowsill and the gateway to the outside world beyond the time and space, stagnantly unmoving as they’d hung. An enormous bed had rested nearby the frame, all donned with a goldenrod comforter white blue sheets and pillowcase already slightly out of place yet otherwise so neat. A tall dresser stood close by a short nightstand, both of them sharing a matching taupe scheme, the latter having possessed a slender lamp and clock standing atop it all. In addition, there had remained a pair of doors that were standing adjacent from the bedside with a share of wooden knobs with all the plum lacquer and textures therein.

Finally, there was the corporeal tenant: a pasty white man stood taller like a skyscraper bereft of both pride and accomplishment as unscrupulously avaricious failures were deserving so to speak. He’d possessed three lanky strands of orange hair curving firmly over his forehead out of the remaining fuzz resting on all the scalps’ fiber throughout as they barely protected it all the while. Considering the lids were now becoming wide open, the weary pupils were surrounded by fused aquamarines while the brows far above them had remained upon an edgy and slanted incline. Eugene’s face was angular, pale like an otherworldly specter yet full of life despite the wrinkles within the integuments circling about tightly with pockets of skin painted in the darker shading. Draped upon the withering muscles of the generally lanky man’s body was a silver sleeveless shirt and a stripey pair of boxers painted in green and white running downward in a small path.

Standing up straightaway, he’d walked towards the dresser in mere seconds, opening the tray to pull out a few articles of clothing: a white shirt and matching socks with silvery boxers were now resting beneath his right underarm before venturing off outside without any kind of complaint whatsoever.

With one door shut abaft Eugene completely, another was ajar on the left side, leaving himself no time to be wasted in any form whatsoever since the hallway separating between the two of them wasn’t much of a concern for walking distance though it was smaller in geometry no less. The slow yet steady change in temperature was already being suddenly felt by the lanky man’s feet, currently showing off only instantaneously its very flooring was composed completely of merely ceramic tiles in an oceanic arrangement reminiscent of its surface world’s scarce volume. Instead of a warm color shade from before, its walls were adorned with a cold purple slather, leaning into the go between of medicine and poison but otherwise inactive; however, the ceiling was colored in jet–black, bearing a singular light bulb where running electricity brighten it all up. Its accommodations thereof were all firmly gathered within his line of eyesight: a toilet, sink, mirror, cabinet, hamper, closet, and bathtub with curtains became the very things providing such relief within those eyes; after all, the fact he was up and running gave him a clear motivation.

At this moment alone, Eugene now had made it possibly sure enough prevent any unwanted intrusions by locking the door right away already. Walking over to the closet door, the lanky man pulled out a blue towel and a brown washcloth from there before turning his attention to the tub. Already made aware of the current attire onto his body, they’d been completely stripped off of himself at once, leaving the skin absolutely bare.

Eugene had soon stepped inside rather slowly and carefully at once, quickly closing up the very curtains along as well so as to shut out the cold air before it’d even got the slightest chance of following after him. The lanky man had soon took his precious time studying what was now directly right upfront: the nozzle guided straight overhead hung in from the walls with the mixer tap and its three handles had rested beneath.

Calmly, he’d started to place his hand onto one handle in the middle before arranging the others nearby; before long, a heightened pitch whine was followed by a deluge of water splashing onto his pasty skin. As the cheeks upon the face had become like fresh pearls, Eugene had soon looked around to discover a singular ruby bar of soap and began to expose the very item to the running downpour into the now. Soon, it was wrapped around the brown washcloth and scoured vigorously until some thin line of foam came about in an instant; as a result, a brief sigh of relief escaped from the lanky man’s lips based on sight.

Afterwards, only the lukewarm water returned to the most dominate and sole source of sound for him to hear; of course, this alone wouldn’t even last. With the washcloth in hand, Eugene had touched both of his ears and dug into them with ease, using a singular fingertip to do so before pulling out. Now its fabric and foam interfaced with the lanky man’s face, scrubbing the pores cleanly and intently until it’d lowered itself to the neckline briefly. He’d started to cover himself with soap underneath the cheekbones and around the arms, soon slathering spume across every part of his skin over. Quickly, the muscular yet otherwise emaciated formation was already drenched by the vert same substance Eugene latched on his torso and abdomen. More bubbles had even formed as the lanky man scrubbed his legs and feet from top to bottom, making sure to clean the most clandestine crevices.

After becoming completely covered in the hot white foam, he’d moved back towards the stream and reverted back to his original form at once as the suds simply slithered down into the drain. Next, Eugene had then gotten around to turning the very nozzle off completely, quickly ceasing the concentrated inundation from making such contact with his bright skin in only a few seconds. Clad in only liquid moisture and gaseous steam all throughout the way, the lanky man had now opened the very curtains back up simply to step out of the tub carefully as to avoid a sudden fall.

He’d strutted along to the sink and found an orange toothbrush as well as with some toothpaste resting on the side, carefully opening up the cap to place it onto the corner: the tube was lifted off into his very grasp, squirting out a snow white semisolid before returning to its previous location; afterwards, the bristles were raised up to his teeth, finally making first contact. Eugene had presently felt the toothbrush running directly into the very mouth as it soon scoured over the enamel at once in such acute angles, repeatedly circulating onward and about as he’d guided the item to every part of his dentition within before pulling out from there in due time no less, watching the fibers becoming stained with a bit of claret clinging onward. The faucet within the lanky man’s line of eyesight was turned on almost instantly, giving him a clear opportunity to spit out the contents that accumulated inside since long before; as the water ran itself down into the drain, he rinsed away the remaining residuals from the orange toothbrush neatly before turning it off with but a sigh of relief from his respiration at once.

Now he’d quickly turned his attention towards the very hamper, already made aware of the fresh new clothes stacked on top of them taken along not earlier ago. First, Eugene began putting the silvery boxers over his legs after drying himself off with the blue towel; soon, he dressed himself up in a white shirt in due time. Even though that the lanky man was neither in a towel nor in the altogether, the ceramic flooring underneath him instantly gave off a reminder to put on socks. Sure enough, it was now time for him to go leave the bathroom at once, feeling refreshed and renewed by the very experience thereof he partook in recently.

Eugene retraced his very steps back towards the bedroom and quickly took some time to go and concentrate on what had already remained inside of there at once. While it may seemed nothing much had changed at all, the lanky man knew it was only at matter of time until its normalcy could ever be challenged in a heartbeat. Either way, the covers upon his bed were left a bit slightly out of sync but otherwise remained in alignment for the most part, something he’d needed to deal with.

After rearranging the linen and comforter together, Eugene sat down on the bed and looked at the timepiece with a heavy gaze: from the looks of it, his mind could barely adjust itself to the current situation at hand, much less his external surroundings too; nevertheless, he’d inspected the mechanism within his grip and pressed one of the buttons almost immediately so to speak of.

“Welcome to NPR, the Nationwide People’s Radio, your one stop destination for public news in Equestria as well as beyond it…” it’d spoken in a voice just as masculine as the lanky listener, albeit aged to perfection by a mere few decades with some stability, “I’m your host, Crowned Patron and the time is now 5:00 AM, right on schedule for the morning bulletins live and ready. First off, the nationwide bidding to host the Equestria Games has now entered its second delay ever since the war seven years ago; this is of no surprise whatsoever considering the tumultuous turn of events leading up to the conflict overall, especially at home: of the citizens dismayed include one Rainbow Dash, many whom have remembered her as the current Bearer of Loyalty. She’d once expressed bitter disappointment regarding the recent developments since hopes for a resumption had been cut short: according to herself and many from Cloudsdale, they’d once hoped for their city’s nomination only to be given to Fillydelphia; now, it seems that Fillydelphia has also joined in the ever growing sea of frustration and anxiety at having to wait longer again. On a similar note, the Province of New Ponyland has still been disqualified from hosting the games after a scandalous trial: although merely a few years ago, the impact in and of itself had far reaching consequences than originally projected overall; even the Green Dolphin Argument had been rumored to still have shaken Equestria’s populace from all walks of like imaginable. Anyways, the record case of the millennium had centered around Dreyer Beamer, a convicted triple murderer from Peachtree: despite being seventeen at the time of the crime, he was tried as an adult for the shooting deaths of all the three Meloni sisters; as a result of his subsequent confession, he was initially sentenced to death before having it commuted to life imprisonment.”

“Beamer… it’s been a long time since I’d heard his name and what he’d done to all three of ‘em: to think that fourteen long years of pranks and somersaults would’ve culminated into this mess; it may as well should’ve been me because of what I did to him and his friends, all for a bike…” Eugene cerebrated as a chill went up his spine followed by some hot sweat falling down his face.

The lanky tenant lain onto the surface of the bed as a new speaker took it to the airwaves, this time bearing a maidenly and regal tone, “well, after having narrowly escaped death once again, I couldn’t help myself but to bear the thought of whether or not I’d lost the right to be surprised about what had been uncovered ever since. I guess you could say this had all began because of what should’ve been Princess Cadance wedding: I’m sure that many people in Equestria know this story well enough on their own and our relationship; nevertheless, the fact I’d wasted my life reading all these books made me realize how blind I was to the world. Not only did I end up having to deal with injustice on and off the battlefield, there was also the matter of what had been done in peacetime as well: Hilltop and Cirrus were a wake–up call on their own, especially since one of the enemy soldiers fought to defend our homeland despite what had been done to us following the bombing.”

“Eugene, is that you; are you up already…?” another feminine voice broke his concentration, bearing more corporeality and aging compared to the one from the clock itself, “you’d awfully changed your schedule up a bit; is there a special occasion I need to know about lately…?”

“Just my father’s visit, Miss Carrot Top: tomorrow, he’s going to be stopping over to check up on me; it’s been at least a year since he’d sent me over to Ponyville…” Eugene had answered instantaneously, sitting back upright with his feet planted firmly onto the flooring again as he’d watched the knob turn again.

It didn’t take much for the likes of the lanky man to know what was going to be arriving next as the titular visitor spoke back to him at once, “I know that… I also knew of what your friends back up north had done lately; news tends to travel fast nowadays ever since the media industry grew and the school papers aren’t limited at all.”

“I can see that too; I still remember those days of the Tattletale: spandex shorts my butt…!” he’d chuckled, struggling to stand up straight again in preparation of seeing the female’s form already, “Robby Rabbit used to be kids’ stuff compared to this…”

“At least fake news can still be considered legally satire compared to reality…” Carrot Top spat out as she’d entered the room almost immediately.

It didn’t take long for Eugene to bear witness to the entrant’s form within mere seconds of eye contact as they were now both in the space at once. Like the lanky man himself, Carrot Top stood tall, wearing orange locks and bright skin; still, she was more luscious and filled with freckles too. The ginger woman wore eyes of the brilliant green, devoid of any toxicity yet still lacking in all tranquility as she’d stared at him with a firm glance. Carrot Top’s attire was more modest with her ruby red housecoat overlaying a set of goldenrod undergarments barely within Eugene’s line of sight.

Needless to say, both barefooted gingers had gotten themselves lost in the echoes of time and space but still found the strength to hold their ground all the same; of them, the lanky man was the first to speak outright, “so, what are you going to do today anyway, if you don’t mind me asking about it, Miss…?”

“I’m afraid it should be obvious to you, sir; it’s the same thing as usual: go to the Sugarcube Corner and see if there’s any work…” the woman in red answered almost instantaneously before turning away without so much as a single care in the whole wide world, “of course, seeing that you’ve been busy listening to NPR, it’ll be another two hours at least before they all wake up…”

“To tell you the truth, I’d just turned it on after I’d gotten out of the shower; I figure it’s only a matter of time before sunrise and I end up helping out with the rest of the harvest, ma’am…” Eugene said to Carrot Top with little hesitation.

The woman in red stopped in place prior to peeping about, “of course and you’ve been of much help lately ever since; I still can’t let go of what had happened to my sister Noi: she was just so young like that Apple Bloom girl. Come to think of it, it makes me sick knowing what they did to her and the family too: scattered across the high winds far and wide, people dying left and right, not to mention what they did to poor Applejack; it may as well should’ve been me since we’re so much alike to each other: green eyes, farming hands, and big freckles sharing the same land, at least before the whole restructuring…!”

“Yeah, I’m still sorry about what happened in the war, miss; I know it’s been only a year since my arrival so I’m a little rusty…” the man in white sighed sadly as he’d currently watched Carrot Top cover up her face and eyes directly out of his sights completely, “come to think of it, should it even be wise for me to ask about how long has her family lived here or something…?”

“Don’t be sorry about what they did; be sorry for what you did: after all, even I’m far much too smarter than what others give me credit for…!” the woman in red wailed as she’d found herself inching back towards the door again without any rhyme or reason thereof, “you may not be anything like those brutes who ruined her but you’re still gonna have to cook for yourself here!”

“Agreed…” Eugene said to Carrot Top at once.

After regaining some composure following a few minutes of teardrops, the woman in red spoke to the man in white softly, “I’m gonna go back to bed for a while; I need some time alone again to sleep and get well rested for the coming morning. There’s some juice in the refrigerator but save me at least one glass; I don’t know how much more I can take before it happens again: after all, Berryshine’s still on the wagon after closing up shop years ago.”

“Thanks for reminding me of that, ma’am; I’ll keep it mind…” Eugene replied before turning away in an instant as the door was opened yet again, this time with feeling, “I’ll see you later on in the morning ‘til then…”

“Same here…” Carrot Top cried before closing it all back up as the man in white had just done earlier ago no less.

At long last, he was back again on his lonesome with the mechanism up and running to keep him company altogether, now back onto the host’s voice at once, “in other news, the Springwheel Foundation is still in talks with the mayor of Baltimare after announcing plans of a cross–country road trip recently, despite unrest from both locals and travelers alike. The current head of the multinational corporation, Jolly Goodfellow, had been embroiled in controversy following recent development regarding some rogue employees found dead in the city of Detrot, once the home of the automotive industry, now a cesspool of crime and villainy no different from the likes old Manehattan or Fillydelphia itself. Although the evidence gathered in question remains classified, there were rumors of a secret prototypical weapon being built to combat the rising crime wave, all to serve as a keystone in paving the way for a grand renovation under the watchful eye of Omne Customer Profits following its bankruptcy many years before. This intermingling with years after a series of attacks up and down the western seaboard had left in another multinational company teetering on the edge of severe financial decline; despite being an innovative force in Equestria, their plans to expand to Neighpon have been cut short because of the actions of one Nazca Wolfkin, whom is still at large. In any case, Springwheel has been embroiled in controversy following some rumors regarding an Iorian criminal syndicate called Sanguine: despite abandoning the intercontinental trade of illegal substances from eastern Clymene to western Platom recently, there were numerous incidents of mass casualties and fatalities alike in the previous years. As such, Jolly Goodfellow hasn’t been reached for comment on the rumors to either confirm or deny them in any shape or form so to speak of; however, he has made it clear to heal the divide within Equestria and ease tensions all the same so as to avoid further disunity here and afar alongside others from Neighpon and Saddle Arabia as well.”

“It’s a tragedy, there’s no doubt about that but we must focus on the welfare and wellness of the common good here and abroad…” another masculine voice escaped from the item once more, aged as that of Crowned Patron yet just as young as Eugene no less, “I’ve personally surveilled the info gathered here in Equestria and cooperated with both local and provincial agencies. From what could be ascertained, they should have no problem whatsoever in making sure nothing like this happens again; any traitors to the Crown and Country here as well as the Foundation will not be tolerated on any level and we’ve taken extra steps to ensure the safeguards and procedures preventing such historic repeats…!”

“Good grief, it’s just seemed like yesterday we were used to the whole idea of living out our youth and adolescence; now, it just seems like we’re here in our twenties with nothing to show for it but our memories of how misspent life had been so far due to the sugar high in candy…” the lanky man in white had said softly as he’d stared at the ceiling above himself all the while.

Even with the radio on, Eugene had paid neither mind of the host or his guests of either gender whatsoever no matter what was being said overall.