The streets of Cabterlots were busy and crowded as always. So when Havran apparated into the middle of the crowd, no one really took notice. Now that he had gathered enough money over the past week that the ponies had so carelessly dropped, he could finally go and acquire some new clothes for the school year. After all, dark billowing robes don’t seem like the appropriate attire for a school like this. Also, he was getting tired of wearing the same thing everyday. He is a simple child and doesn’t need much. But, everyone likes to wear different things every now and again.

Havran walked along the new snow-cleared streets into the shopping district, looking around at all the familiar places he stopped by when he was living in the back alleys. While looking for a clothing store to fit his style, he stopped along the way to visit the food stalls her shopped from before to check in on the ponies who ran it, including the older mare whom he had helped with her broken box of various cheese wheels. Finally coming upon a shop called “Casual Stallion”, he takes a step in.

The bell atop the door rings as Havran opens the door, ringing again once it closes. Havran walked in further, getting that warm and fuzzy feeling up and down his spine as he entered a new place with the familiar smell of fresh clothing and leather. At first, no one was here, the store seemed..abandoned but everything was still in stock and pristine. “Hello? ANyone available?” hee asked as he ventured deeper into the store. Soon enough however, he heard the hoofsteps of someone coming from what he could assume was the basement of the store rather quickly. It was a night blue furred stallion with an even darker blue main and tail. He seemed a little out of breath before greeting Havran with a smile and a wave.

“Welcome to my store young one. What brings…you…in…today?” he asked as he looked Havran over who certainly wasn’t what he was expecting. “Ah, forgive me, little guy, you aren’t exactly a pony. SO, seeing someone new put me in a bit of shock is all.” he said as he made his way behind the counter. Havran waved it off with a smile and shook his head “Don’t worry, sir. I am used to it by this point. This is quite a nice little store you got here. I assume it is strictly for male apparel?”. The stallion nodded and outstretched his hand to the right aide of the store.

“Over there, you will find the proper clothing for younger stallions such as yourself. Please, let me know if there is anything you need help with!”. Havran nodded before heading over to that side of the store. He looked around intently at what the stallion had to offer, nothing really coming to mind until he ran across a particular section of clothing that seemed more old fashioned. As he walked closer to the clothing, he noticed a black and forest green aesthetic to the clothing. And the style of the clothing made him feel so warm and fuzzy, like it was something he enjoyed wearing. A few nice black shirts with green lines running down the sleeves and a collar that stood up covering most of the neck, solid black boot cut slack and a thin long coat that had a high collar the fascin in the front to add some facial protection with was forest green on the inside along with a sleeveless version next to it for warmer days.

Havran continued to eye this collection over and over before calculating the price. Once he got the total, he huffed in slight frustration “This is damn near going to empty my wallet…but, I’d like to look at least a little normal while going to school…to hell with it then.” he said before grabbing a belt as well, if he is gonna blow his money, he may as well empty out his whole wallet. He takes the clothing and belt in his arm, the thought of stealing the clothing did cross his mind. After all, he did have his extended bag with him. It would be so, so easy…but he wasn’t going to. As much as he wanted to.

He places the clothing upon the counter top in front of the stallion who seemed a bit surprised at that collection as he rang it up “My goodness. You dress rather…maturely for your age. Most colts are into the more trendy and streamline clothing. This collection has been sitting in the back of the colts section for quite sometime. I never thought anyone would buy it.”. Havran shrugged his shoulder with a chuckle “You can say I am a rather…’old soul’. I feel like I have always dressed in this kind of clothing, even in my last life.”. The shopkeeper nodded before hitting the cash register, that old classic ‘ka-ching!’ sound coming from it as it opened.

“Alright, kiddo. Looks like it comes out to one-hundred seventy-five bits.”. Havran’s eyes widened a bit as he looked back at the tags and his calculations, then back to the shopkeeper “But sir, the cost I came out to was two-hundred fifty. So why so low?”. The shopkeeper chuckled and turned the tags around to reveal the current price, which had seemed to drop multiple times “Kid, that collection has been sitting there for years now. I can’t tell you how many times I have marked it down. I was actually thinking of getting rid of it myself until you picked it up. So, it only seems fair that you get it for the current price I have it at. I’d give it to you for free, but I gotta make a little bit of money from it.”.

Havran placed a hand up and waved it in dismissal while shaking his head “Even if you did offer it to me for free, I wouldn’t take it. I am more than happy to pay the price you are asking.” he said before pulling out his wallet from his bag “Besides, I have been shown far too much generosity and kindness as of late. While I have done a few good deeds for that kindness and attempted to decline, they insisted I take their generosity.” he said as he poured out the money onto the counter top and began counting it out. The stallion arches a brow at the sheer amount of money the child had in his possession before asking “My my, where did you get all this money? Did your parents send you out all by yourself with this?”. Havran didn’t even hesitate to answer while he counted out the money, not even lifting his head to answer “I don’t have any parents, sir. I never did. As for how I acquired the money, you’d be surprised how carelessly ponies drop money around here. This is a week’s worth of coin that I have found on the ground, in restaurants under tables, All you need is a…keen eye.” he said as he pointed to the side of his head where his enchanted eye lay under his eyepatch.

The shopkeeper looked closely at the young man’s face and then in his eyes. He looked real hard, seeking any form of dishonesty, but finding absolutely none. He smiled before nodded once he saw Havran punished the amount of coin toward him. He even placed it in nice separate stacks of ten to make it far easier for the stallion to count quickly. Once he was happy with the amount, he packed all the clothing up and placed it in a bag for him before holding it out “Well, either way, I certainly appreciate your business, young man. Come by some time again, I might be able to grab some similar style clothing for you. But, you can bet it’ll cost you a bit more next time.” he said with a chuckle.

Havran grinned back, knowing full well that things were going to be a bit more pricey next time. But, it was fair. Supply and demand after all “Fair enough, sir. You take care now. And thank you for the discounted clothing.”. On his way out, he noticed that the sign above the store seemed to be falling apart, the chunks of wood leaning against the side of the building in the alleyway. As he walked past the building out of sight of the stallion, he took out his wand and lifted it up before swirling it above his head “Reparo.” he whispered, the sign coming back together in one piece, looking like a freshly made sign.

Havran walked along the streets once more, this time he was just strolling, not looking for anywhere to go specifically before stopping in front of an alleyway, he could hear cries of help and rather sinister laughter of children coming from further down the path. He didn’t even need to see what was going on, he knew exactly what was happening. And he hated the very word it self “Fucking bullies.” he said before briskly walking down the alleyway to find several fillies circling another filly. She was covered in mud and rotting fruit, an orange pony with a blond mane and tail and beautiful emerald green eyes with three freckles on either side of her face.

Now, it wasn’t in his nature to hit females. But, there were other ways of stopping this group of mean spirited fillies, and he was about to show them what for. He pulled out his wand before shouting “Locomotor mortus!” making one of the filly’s legs lock together, causing her to fall back and flail about as she couldn’t seem to stand back up! Then shouting ‘Wingardium Leviosa!”, lifting one of the others by their clothing and dropping them down on a nearby wall hook, hooking the back of their shirt onto it and leaving them to hang there flailing their legs. No, they weren’t choking or hurt, but they certainly weren’t going anywhere after that. And finally, he casts “Incarcerous!” on the last filly,ropes flying from his wand’s tip and wrapping them up in rope securely in a pentagram knot before they drop to the ground and squirm.

He places his wand back into his inner robe pocket before grabbing the orange filly’s hand “Come on, let's get you out of here.” he said as he gave her no time to answer, the pony barely keeping up with him as they ran into a more public area. Once he found a bench, he lead her over to it and sat her down, reaching into his bag to pull out some hot water and a wash rag. He dips the rag in the water before beginning to wipe the filly’s face clean of the mud “I hate bullies, I swear..” The filly stared at him with one eye open as he wiped one of her cheeks clean “Uh..thank ya kindly, stranger. Those three have been given’ me trouble ever since i came here to stay with my aunty and uncle.” she said in the most southern hillbilly accent he has ever heard.

“Judging by your accent, you aren’t from around here, are you?” he asked as he continued to clean her off the best he could. “Nah, I am not at all. I actually come from a little town in the valley below called Ponyville. I was born n’ raised on an apple farm there. I came here to find my purpose in life, and wanted to become part of the ‘high standard’ social circle. But, it looks like my small country isn't gonna work here. I miss the open fields of home and the fresh apples from my family orchard. I miss bucking apples the most.”. Havran tilted his head a moment at the phrase ‘bucking apples’, but decided to not pry about it. “Aaah, so you are a farm girl. You certainly are a ways away from home, indeed. Well if you ask me, you should return home and be where you feel the happiest. Besides, you aren’t missing much here. These snobs will turn their nose up at anyone who doesn’t fit within their socialite standards. Go do you, you know?”

The filly thought hard on his words, and he was right. But she still wasn’t sure if she should return home yet. But thanks to his words, it would be a major push in that direction when she finally decided to. Once he was finished getting her as clean as possible, he put the bowl of hot water and the rag back in his bag before standing up and offering her a gloved hand “Come on, let me get you back home. I don’t want to risk having you run into troublemakers like that again.”. The filly looked at his extended hand then back up to him. She seemed to take notice of his none pony features finally, but did as instructed. He smiled and took her hand before looping her arms under his “Then off we go.” he said as they began walking in the direction of her home.

“You don’t look like you are from around here yourself. You look nothin’ like a pony. Can I ask where ya from?”. Havran shrugged his shoulders lightly as they walked along “Well, I don’t know where I came from really. I have no memories. But, I am currently staying in the dorms at Celestia’s school for magic.”. The filly giggled before looking up at him with realization of her face “Ahaaa, you are one of them magic types. No wonder you incapacitated them so quickly and so strangely. Well done, cowboy. Especially when you tied up that one like a hog. That was quite enjoyable to see.”. They both laughed at the scene as it played over in their heads at the same time. “What can I say, I hate bullies. They all simply got what was coming to them.” he said with a slightly lifted fist.

After a bit of a walk, the filly finally lead him to where she was staying and separated from him as she stood on the steps to her door “Once again, thank ya kindly. I never did get your name though.”. Havran placed a hand upon his left breast before bowing slightly “Havran Mortanius, at your service.” he said with a smile. The filly smiled back, offering him her best curtsy “The name’s Applejack. A pleasure to meetcha, Havran. I hope we gett to see eachother again sometime. Would love to learn more about ya.”. Havran nodded before vanishing into a gray, smokey, clothe like cloud before taking off back towards the castle in flight. Applejack watched in amazement as she watched him take flight without the aid of wings “Wooooaaahhh.” she said with wide eyes and mouth agape. Havran knew he was showing off at this point, and he loved it. As any child would when they have something cool to show off!

Havran finally made it back to his ‘room’ at the dorms. He placed his bag upon the bed before taking out the bag of new clothes he had gotten from that bag and began to clean them properly before hanging them up in his closet neatly on the hangers the shopkeeper had generously provided him at no extra cost. Once that was done, he walked into his bathroom and turned on the hot water before slipping into a now bubble filled bathtub. While he had a drain to let the water flow out of the tub, he had no way to get it in!. That was simple enough, however. Just using the aguamenti spell to fill up the tub and incendio to put enough fire below the tub to heat it up properly to his favorite temperature. And a few twirls of his wand to stir up all the bubbles to get them nice and frothy. Havran laid back in the tub, looking out at the magically generated rainy cliff side scene out his window before closing his eyes, thinking back on the filly he had met today “Applejack huh? I hope things work out better for her. She seems like an earnest and good hearted girl.” he said before he drifted off into a light nap, stretching out his legs so he wouldn't slip under the water.

Author's Note

I don't know if I will have him meet ALL the elements before they become the elements yet. But it is very tempting to do so. Just gotta find proper reasons for him to do so.

May the darkness grant you peace.