Author's Note

The first chapter of the new year! For this year, I want to release 12 chapters. One chapter down, 11 chapters to go.

Chapter 16: The Request!

The Request!

"Wwwwhat!?"

"Wow, how about you guys yell louder," Riki said dryly, munching on a cookie.

Riki and Spike had gathered everyone at a café, sitting at one of the outside tables. As the human and dragon chow down on some cookies, the rest are stunned, except for Liz. She just takes a sip of her water.

"Riki, do you know what you're walking into!?" Rarity nearly shouted, "Do not do it. You'll have a better time hanging out with a hungry manticore."

Riki wipes the cookie crumbs off his face, "I already said yes."

"Figures," Liz said under her breath.

"I told him to wait and think about it, but he said he already made up his mind." Spike chimed in.

"Rarity, you seem to know Blueblood." said Riki, "What's the history between you two?"

Rarity's face starts to get twisted, "We met at the Grand Galloping Gala. And I thought he was my dream stallion."

Riki knows where this is going and wishes he didn't ask. I'm not a big fan of romance drama stuff. He had already gotten enough of that listening to his aunt. He rubs the back of his head, "Oi, you don't have to talk abo-"

Rarity cuts him off, "Blueblood is the most uncharming pony I have ever met. I was treated with little to no respect. He is self-centered, self-absorbed, rude-"

As Rarity continues her rant about that awful prince. Twilight gets Riki's attention by tapping his hand, "Can you give us more details because all you told us was you are going to Las Pegasus with Blueblood?".

"Ummm, Celestia asked me to accompany Blueblood on his trip to Las Pegasus this Friday." Riki shared, "So I have to be at the castle tomorrow." This gets everyone's attention. Expect Rarity. She is still on her rant about Blueblood.

"You just came back, and now you're leaving!" Pinkie yelled, jumping across the table. She hugs Riki and starts to tell him not to go.

Riki pulls the pink pony off of him and places her back in her seat. "I'll be back Sunday."

"What happened to the guard ponies?" Rainbow asked, "Isn't it their job to do stuff like that."

"Did something happen?" Twilight said worriedly.

Riki quickly shakes his head, "Nothing bad. The guards are just going through some heavy training."

"Training?"

"Yeah, after the whole La-la sneaking to the castle. Shiny and Vanta wanted to make sure this doesn't happen again." Riki explained to them, "Celestia asked Blueblood to postpone his trip, but he didn't want to. Luckily, Luna reminded her that I have bodyguard experience."

"That's why it was so out of the blue." Liz said as she ate a cookie, "Be safe out there."

Riki gets a confused look, "You're okay with this? You're not mad or something?"

"I just worried about your injuries, that's all."

"Same here," Fluttershy said, "I don't think you should go. It has only been a week since you woke up." She scoots closer to Riki, "Does your side still hurt? What about your stitches? Las Pegasus can be a very dangerous place-"

Riki puts his hand on Fluttershy's head, "Calm down, Fluttershy. I'm doing a lot better than I was a week ago."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I helped Applejack with some apple bucking yesterday morning."

"Riki struggled for a while, then fell asleep under a tree," Applejack added, "I had Applebloom dump some water on him to wake him up." This got everyone to chuckle a bit.

Riki crosses his arms, "You weren't supposed to tell."

"Anyways, I need to know why you took that job from Celestia?" Liz asked.

"Well, Las Pegasus is this world's Las Vegas, so I have to go!" Riki exclaimed, "I can't wait to see how amazing Las Pegasus is!"

"You know Las Pegasus is on a cloud," Spike said.

"That's awesome, a city in the sky!" Riki yelled so loud it got the surrounding ponies' attention. "Sorry!"

"So you're going there to sightsee?" Liz said, a bit annoyed.

"...Yeah." Riki lied, looking away.

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

Riki pulled out his phone, and his eyes widened. He quickly stands up and says, "Shit, I got to go to work!"

"Riki, there are a few things I want to discuss with you." Twilight quickly said.

"I'll head to your place when I'm on lunch," Riki said frantically, running off to work. After that, everyone starts to leave one by one. Because they have things to do, like jobs or errands, this only leaves Liz, Spike, and Rarity.

"And that's why I don't like Blueblood. I can't believe I was thinking about marrying him. Wait, where is he?" Rarity looks around the table, "Where is everypony?"

"Riki, Applejack, and Pinkie headed off to work," Liz answered, "And the others have other stuff to do. And don't worry about the bill, it's been paid for."

"You were too deep in your rant to notice them leaving," said Spike, "But we decided to stay."

"I had nothing better to do," Liz said, running her hand through her hair.

Rarity's face lights up, "If you have nothing to do, how about coming with me? I got a dress for you to try on."

"That's amazing," Liz said sarcastically.

"Darling, it will be fun." Rarity beamed as she got up from the table, "Spikey-wikey, would you like to help me?"

"Absolutely!" Spike joyfully.

"This is going to be fun," Liz blandly said.

"Vinyl, I'm here!" I yelled, flinging the door over. I can hear music playing throughout the store. Looking towards the front desk to see my boss lazily sitting there. I look around the store to see no one is here, "I guess we're having a slow day."

"Hey, Riki." Vinyl yawned, "Yeah, I think that too."

"Vinyl, can I ask you something?" She nodded, and I continued, "Can I get the next three days off?"

"Sure,"

"You're not going to ask why?"

"I don't want to get in your business," said Vinyl, "Unless you're doing something amazing." I don't say anything but smirk as I rub the back of my head. "Okay, what is it?"

"Celestia asked me to grade Blueblood as we head to Las Pegasus."

"That's a big job. How much are you getting paid?" Vinyl asked, "You are grading royalty. You should get paid a lot."

"Celestia didn't discuss anything about the payment."

"I think you should ask for something since you'll be with Blueblood." Vinyl yawned, "Follow me to the back." She leaves the front desk and heads towards a door with bead curtains.

"Vinyl, have you played in Las Pegasus?" I asked, entering the back room.

"No, but I always want to." Vinyl said, with a smile, "I have been to a few clubs up there with my roommate." She then plops down on a bean bag, "Can you grab a few of those boxes on the top shelf?"

"Your roommate, what's her name again, Octavia?" Vinyl nods, and I continue, "When is she getting back?"

"She'll be back next week," answered Vinyl.

"I can't wait to meet her," I said as I reached for the boxes. "What else did you do in Las Pegasus, gamble?"

Vinyl smiles and says, "Nah, not much of a gambler pony, but… I do manage to hook up with a few guys."

I almost dropped the boxes after hearing that. "Please, don't talk about your sex life." I mumbled, "I don't want to think about two ponies banging."

"I don't just bang ponies. Diamond dogs and griffins are on the table." Vinyl told me, and I just rolled my eyes. "…Riki, are you a virgin?"

"What!? No, I had sex before." I muttered as I placed the boxes down. Dammit, why is she asking me this? "Can we talk about something else?"

"One more question,"

"Is it sex related?"

"Yeah,"

"...What is it?"

"Do you humans have sex the same way as we do?" Vinyl asked,

I walked up to Vinyl and grabbed her hoof, "No, we do it like this by holding our partner's hands. Or, in this case, hoof." Even with the glasses on, I can tell her eyes widen. I smiled, "I'm messing with you."

About to pull my hand away, Vinyl doesn't let go. "What a shame. I thought I was going to have some fun." She flirted, "Anyways, I think that's enough talking. Can you restock these CDs and break down the boxes?" I watch Vinyl leave the room, "I'm going to lunch!"

"...What!?"

"Rarity, how long do I need to stand here?" I asked, looking at myself in the mirror. A ball gown is not my style. At least it's my favorite color, silver.

Rarity walks around me, "Just a bit longer. There are a few more things I want to add." She uses her magic to adjust the gown. "Liz, isn't this fun!? I get to make a beautiful gown for one of the only humans, and you get to wear it!"

"I wouldn't call that fun," I grumbled as I dropped my head.

"Darling, stop slouching."

"You sound like my mother," I mumbled as I fixed my posture.

"You said something. I didn't hear you?" Rarity asked.

"...Nothing."

I see Spike walking back into the room with two ribbon rolls. "Here are the ribbons you asked for, Rarity." She takes the rolls and pats Spike on the head. I swear that little dragon likes it a little too much.

"Liz, which ribbon color do you want, Pearl white or Eggshell white?" She floats them up to my face so that I can have a good look. But to me, both of them look the same. I carefully look over the ribbon, "How about eggshell." Rarity's face scrunched up, and she shook the other ribbon roll. "Pearl white?"

Rarity's face lights up, "A fabulous choice, Liz!" Why the hell did you give me an option!? She tosses the eggshell white roll and wraps the other ribbon around my waist. "Liz, what's on your mind?" Rarity questioned as she tied the ribbon into a big bow on the back.

"Nothing, nothing is on my mind."

Rarity starts to put pins in the dress. "You've been fidgeting around since the start. Don't you like the gown?"

"No, it's not that!" I said frantically, "I'm very thankful for it."

"Good!" Rarity beamed, "Now, how about some gems." She floats up a box of multi-colored gems.

"Is it because Riki is going to Las Pegasus, and he didn't discuss it with you?" Spike asked.

"It's not that," I said as Rarity placed gems on my midsection. It's about what I am going to do here." They both gave me a confused look. "Riki has a job and is taking a mission from the princess. And me, I got nothing."

"What did you do before you got here?" asked Rarity, "

I thought about it for a while, "Go to school, on my computer, and work on some of my inventions."

"What about any friends?"

"I didn't have any friends at school, never had the time," I replied softly. "Well, if I don't include any of my family members or the people my mom forces me to hang out with."

"Wait, your mom did what!?" Rarity shouted.

I took a deep breath. I really don't like talking about it, but I should tell someone. "My mom, Riki's stepmom-"

Rarity interrupts me, "You and Riki have different moms?"

"That's hard to believe," said Spike.

"Anyways, she was a member of the private school board I attended. It was for the gifted and rich, mostly rich students." I continued, tightly grabbing the sides of my dress. "Mom pushed me to make friends with the upper class, but I just wanted to focus on my work."

"Darling, it must be tough going to school there." Rarity soothingly said, "Please tell me things got better for you there?"

"Things did get better when Riki started coming to my school."

"That's good to hear!" Spike exclaimed, "But I never knew Riki was the gift of type."

"He's not. Mom pulled some strings and made him… Forced him to join the volleyball team." I said, trying not to get too upset. "Rarity, are you done yet?"

"Done! Now give me a spin, Darling!" I did a spin, and I'm not going to lie. I felt like a princess. I wonder if she can make me some opera gloves? I look at myself in the mirror, admiring the gown. The ribbon around my waist with beautiful colorful gems. Tied up into a big bow on my back. Damn, I look cute!

"You look outstanding!" Spike exclaimed.

"So, any complaints?" Rarity asked, looking up and down at me.

"No complaints here."

"Good,"

Still looking at the mirror, I ask, "So, how much do I owe you."

"On the house, Darling."

My eyes widened, "Really, this dress looks like it cost a shit ton! Look at these gems!"

"I'm looking, and they look tasty," muttered Spike.

"There has to be something I can do."

Rarity smiles, "How about you join Fluttershy and me at the Day Spa this Friday."

I had never been to a spa before, "Yeah, that will be fun." A day at the spa can really clean my head. I mean all the stuff I've been through. A good massage is what I need.

After a while of stockings, organizing, and helping consumers, Riki is finally on his one hour break. He is about to head to Sugarcube Corner, but he remembers Twilight wants to talk. Heading to the treehouse, Riki wonders what the pony wants to talk about. He stops thinking about it when he hits his head on the treehouse's door. Riki knocks a few times but gets no answer. He was going to knock again, but he remembered that Twilight's house was also a library. So Riki just let himself in. As Riki walks inside the treehouse, he yells, "Oi, Twilight!" Riki walks around a bit before calling her name again, "Twilight, where are you, purple pony!?" Riki went upstairs to the kitchen. As he waits for a response, he begins to dig into the fridge. He wished something other than vegetables and fruits were in the fridge.

"Riki, what are you doing in my fridge?"

The human pokes his head out with a carrot in his mouth. As he munchies on the carrot, he says, "Twilight, how are you doing!?"

"I'm doing good. I heard you from downstairs." She deadpan, "I see you're having a snack."

Riki closes the fridge as he finishes the carrot, "Sorry, anyways, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah, it's just a few things on my mind," Twilight said as she headed out of the kitchen. "Follow me, Riki."

He follows Twilight down to the basement. Riki is pretty surprised to see a lab. "Wow, this place looks cool!" Riki exclaimed as he checked out the vials with mysterious liquids. "You should bring Liz here. She'll enjoy this place!" A certain machine catches Riki's attention, "Oi, what's that?"

Twilight sees the machine Riki is pointing to, "That is the machine I use to try to understand Pinkie Sense."

"Pinkie Sense?" Riki said to himself, "I think I remember seeing that during my first day here."

Twilight shanks a little, remembering all the stuff that happened to her. "Anyway, I brought you here because I can run some tests."

"More tests, come on, Twilight." Riki said tiredly, "I'm not spending my hour being tested."

"Riki, this is very important." Twilight pleaded. "Please, I'll make it fast." She stares at Riki, giving him puppy dog eyes.

Riki rubs his head in his hand, "Fine, stop looking at me like that. Too damn cute."

Twilight blushes about Riki's comment. She quickly puts a helmet with blinking lights on the human's head. She then presses a few buttons on the machine, and a few seconds later, it starts to work. "Riki, have you been feeling… Off or weird?" Twilight asked, still a bit flustered.

He thinks the question over for a bit. He remembers a few times, well, a lot of times. "Yeah, I feel off sometimes. But after the Taboo fight, not anymore."

"Can you elaborate?"

"For first, no more voices in my head." Riki chuckled, "My body no longer feels weird, and no more headaches."

Twilight is taking a back a bit. "What!?"

Riki rubs the back of his head, "Look, I thought it was just some weird side effect of coming to this new world." Riki removes the helmet, "During the tail end of the Taboo fight, I don't remember anything."

Twilight feels for Riki. She wishes he had told her about his problems. Did Riki think she couldn't help him, or did he want to keep something to himself? "Are you hiding stuff from me?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's just you don't tell me-us the full story or anything that's happened to you." Twilight said softly, "Unless we ask you to elaborate, you just give us bits and pieces."

Riki does that a lot. It's a problem he needs to work on. "Sorry, Twilight. I will try my best to give out more information." Riki sighed, "I should tell you why I really accepted the job from Celestia."

"Why did you accept?"

"I accepted the job because I wanted to use this as training."

Twilight gives Riki a confused look, "Training? What do you mean by training?"

Riki takes a deep breath, "I was in a three day coma. After that, I just did nothing but rest. I don't want to get sloppy, Twilight." He pulls up his shirt, showing his bandaged stomach. "Every time I look at this, it reminds me of Taboo. It reminds me that I still have room to grow, to get stronger." Twilight stands there in silence as she listens to Riki's words. She never knew he felt like this. "Look, I know I shouldn't use the job for training. But being out in the field will help me a lot more. Well, that's what Sensei said." Riki checks his phone to see his break is all most over, "Dammit, I got to go. We can continue this later."

"Wait, Riki!" Twilight shouted, but he didn't hear her as he ran up the stairs. Twilight is now alone in her lab. She sighs and says, "Bye."

Don't know why, but today felt so long. After talking to Twilight, I head back to work. I spent a few more hours there before Vinyl let me leave early. I thanked her and went home.

When I got home, I saw Liz in the kitchen, "Oi, you hungry?"

"No, I'm good." Liz said, pouring herself a glass of juice, "Hey, Rarity invited me to go to the spa with her and Fluttershy."

"That's great!" I said joyfully, "You need the relaxation for the stuff you've been through."

Liz nods, "…You should head to bed. You got a big day tomorrow." She then hugs me, "Don't get too beat up on me."

I have a small smile on my face. Returning the hug, "I know, I will not get too beat up." I then headed to shower, but I stopped. Fuck it. I'm going to bed. I'll take one in the morning. I take off my clothes and slip on my penguin onesie. Falling face first onto my bed, I begin to doze off.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day.