Last time on 'Get Up And Then Immediately Fall Down' Quest:
>Yet another crazy dream sequence.
>Talked with friend and some faggot about the world outside, going over a map faggot drew.
>The area around where you are is mostly forest and mountains.
>The lights suddenly came on, which you thought was strange for some reason.
>Lots of creepy laughter coming from somewhere.
>Decided to try your luck outside, heading to the main exit/entrance.
>Stopped by a security area, to see if you could get some help.
>Oh look, a pony. Whats a pony doing here?
>OHGODOHMANOHGODOHMAN.
>Ran away, was attacked.
>Woke up.
>Applejack was there. Told you were having a nightmare, obviously. Was fighting with Rarity's cat in your sleep.
>She told you everyone was OK, even though the fire was pretty bad and you hit your head hard.
>Decided to go have breakfast and see the others.
>Immediately fell down, knocking yourself out.
You are Rusty Shackleford, a human with no memory who has found himself lost in Equestria. Currently, you are lying on your back, still half asleep. Your head is pounding and you can feel something heavy on your chest, as well as a blanket.
Still resting back with your eyes closed, you give the pony that is obviously resting on you a pet. The pony stirs a little and leans against your pets slightly. They are really fuzzy. This is really nice, you think. Peaceful even.
"Rusty, you're awake!" Sweetie Belle yells, right in your ear. Your eyes snap open in shock, your ears ringing. Oh god, you think you are deaf now.
Standing directly on your chest, looking down at you with a big smile is Sweetie Belle. She's talking a mile a minute, but all you can hear is a high pitch ring. She seems really excited and starts jumping on top of you, knocking the breath out of you with each bounce.
After what feels like the third of fourth bounce, you quickly snatch Sweetie Belle in the air and hold her. You can breath now.
She's still clearly excited, her mouth still motoring on and her little legs kicking around mid air. You still cant hear a thing. Oh god, did this little pony destroy your hearing?
"-so worried about you!" You ears finally pop and catch Sweetie's rambling part way through. "And I'm just SO happy to see you're OK!"
"Thank Sweetie." You say, finally taking in some air. You sit up, setting the pony down in front of you. She still looking up at you with a big smile. You don’t feel so woozy now, but damn does your head hurt. You feel it pound with each heart beat. It doesn’t look like you've been moved since before; you're still under the shade of a tree by the slightly ruined and charred Carousel Boutique.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better," You say, rubbing the side of your head. "How long have I been out?"
"A few hours, I think. The doctor said that we shouldn’t move you, cause you might have a con... conscuster... concoast... something."
"A concussion?"
"Yeah, that!"
"Oh." Jeeze, did you really hit your head that hard? "Sweetie, why were you in that big body cast? Are you OK?"
"Oh, that." Sweetie says, looking annoyed. "Rarity. She got SO crazy after what happened with the slime. I told her I was fine, but she kept treating me like a little foal! It wasn’t that bad, but she just kept putting on more and more bandages on."
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, about hurting you, back with the slime."
"Oh it's OK." Sweetie says, smiling. "It wasn’t your fault. I fell and you were behind me. It was an accident."
You feel yourself smiling now to and tussle Sweetie's hair, who laughs. You get up and take a few tentative steps, using the tree for stability. Feeling good, you let go. You have your balance again, but your stomach protests noisily.
"I'm starving."
"Come on!" Sweetie says, trotting off with a playful bounce. "Let's go get some lunch."
You follow the little pony a bit. But after she turns the corner around the boutique, she imminently darts back to your side and puts her back to the wall.
"Shhh! Don't move." Sweetie shushes you, waving her little legs.
"What is it?" You whisper, staying close to the wall. "Another monster?"
"Worse." Sweetie says, taking a quick peek around the corner. "My sister."
Cautiously, lean over Sweetie and spy around the corner. Sure enough, you see Rarity not too far away. Her back is turned to your and she's talking with someone; that yellow and pink pony; Fluttershy, you think her name was.
"Is she still mad at me?" You ask Sweetie, quietly.
"I don’t know." She whispers, grumpily. "And I don’t care. I'm so sick of her."
"Oh hey now," You say, looking down at the little white pony. "I'm sure that what ever is going on with you two and can wok it out."
"I dunno," She grumbles, looking sideways.
"Well, whatever it is, I can tell tha-" you begin to say, but as you try to turn back around the corner from your leaning, you sorta lose your footing on a piece of burned wood. You slip and try to correct, but you get your feet tangle around Sweetie who as directly under you. You fall, past the corner and into the open, face down in the dirt.
You're not sure how long you lay there or if you knocked yourself out again. But when you open your eyes, you see a pair of bright white hooves standing right in front of your nose. Following them up, you can see that they belong to Rarity. You think you can see another set of yellow hooves past her legs. Sweetie is no where to been seen.
"Oh uh," You start, laying in the dirt. "Its... me again. Hi."
"You," Rarity says, hearing her voice steadily rise in cadence. "You...YOU... WONDERFUL CREATURE! I could just kiss you! Oh please, let me help you up!"
Wut.
You feel your body rise from the ground, as you're surrounded in a glittering purplish, whitish light. You are set surely on your feet. Rarity smiles, but then takes on a more critical expression looking you up in down.
"Oh no," Rarity says, shacking her head back and forth, trotting around you in a circle. She stops back in front of you. "Oh no no no no, darling, you are simply a mess."
"I'm... sorry?"
"Oh no, please do not take it as an insult, Mr. Shackleford." Rarity says, looking up at you. "I've... been so rude to you ever since you came to Ponyville. And you saved me and my precious little sister so bravely from that fire. I want to thank you. Please, let me make it up to you."
"Oh, you're... welcome." You say, trying to choose your words carefully. "I... was really hoping I might be able to get some new clothes. I'm told you're a designer. I know you probably only do pony clothes, but I have some money."
"No," Rarity says flatly. "You're money is no good. I would be more then happy to make you something positively stylish."
"Oh, thank you so much Rarity!"
"No, thank you. Please, lets step into my boutique." Rarity starts to lead you to the door, but then seems to notice the yellow pony with her. "Oh my, Fluttershy darling, I almost forgot. You're welcome to join us, if you want."
"Oh I..." She stammers, looking at the ground. "I... have to be somewhere. We'll talk later."
Fluttershy turns and walks off into town, taking a look back over her shoulder.
You step into the Carousel Boutique with Rarity. Or rather, what’s left of it. The fire did a real number on just about everything. The walls are peeled, parts of the second flood have fallen through, a half chard pony mannequin is trashed in the corner and everywhere there's bits of burnt up fabric mingled with the rest of the debris. It's a real mess.
"Oh no Rarity, you' home." You say, sympathetic. "This is terrible."
"Think nothing of it, darling." Rarity says, going over to tall framed mirror on the ground that had somehow miraculously survived the fire. Using magic, she raises it and set it up against a wall and starts wiping it with a rag. "A true professional can survive anything. This fire was bad, but I'll get through it. Now stand in front of the mirror please. I will take your measurements."
Using magic and a tape measure, Rarity gets to work, measuring you head to toe, your full height, your arm span, and more, making little notes and comments as she goes. When she finished, Rarity sits in front of you, looking you up and down, rubbing her chin.
"Hmm, I've never had a client such as you, Mr. Shackleford. I have no idea what is fashionable to your kind. Is there a particular style you might be looking for?"
You think about this a bit. You are getting a free, tailor made outfit from an professional designer, even if they are a magical talking pony. Might as well milk it a little.
"Well, I was thinking, if it's not too much"
"Think nothing of it, darling. For you, there is no budget."
"Well, in that case," You start, thinking hard. "Something... stylish."
"Yes." Rarity agrees, nodding. She has a little pad of paper and is scribbling something.
"Something with puffy sleeves."
"Yes."
"A real fine material, inside and out."
"Yes!"
"And just speck it with gems, all on the front and the sides and the waist."
"YES!"
"And the collar should be HUGE."
"Enough! I have it!" Rarity says, making some finishing touches on her paper. She looks extremely pleased with herself. She hands you the paper.
You look at what she scribbled. It was actually a sketch. With an extremely eye for detail, Rarity in a few moments designed an outfit for you, a human being. It's really decked out, up and down, with bell bottoms for the pants and a small cape in the back that comes up just above the elbows. You take it all it.
"It's perfect!"
"Wonderful!" Rarity says, smiling at you for the first time since... well, ever you guess. "Let's get started right away."
You stomach grumbles noisily again and the two of you look at your gut.
"Or, perhaps we should stop for lunch."
"Yeah, some lunch would be great. I could eat a ho-" You say, but catch yourself. "-ooo a whole lot."
"Wonderful." Rarity says, setting her supplies to the side. "I can do this myself later. I have all your measurements."
"OK. So should we go to Sugar Cube Corner?"
"Yes, that would be splendid. Thankfully no one was terribly hurt in that awful fire." Rarity says, walking with you as you go to the door. But before you get there, she blocks you. "Rusty, before we go..."
"Yeah?"
"I..."Rarity says, unsure. She then jumps on you front and hugs you very tight and rubbing her had against you. "Thank you! Thank you so much for saving me and Sweetie!"
"Oh!" You are taken aback by Rarity's sudden display of emotion. Not sure what else to so, you hug her back. "You're welcome."
The two of you hug and share a tender moment together. After a long time, she lets go and you wipes her eyes.
"Right," She says, composing her self. "Let's be off, shall we?"
Walking with Rarity, the two of you make small talk on your way Sugar Cube Corner. As you go through town you see first hand how bad the fire was. Most of the houses are intact, but there doesn’t seem to be a single building that wasn’t at least touched by fire. All of Ponyville is a bee hive of activity; ponies cleaning up burnt debris, pulling down parts of buildings that are probably no longer safe, pegasi replacing the heavy hay on the roofs. No one really seems to notice you as you walk through town for a change.
Sugar Cube Corner was also badly hit, as you had witnessed first hand. The colorful exterior is nearly completely blackened and you can see some of the interior on the second floor where a wall collapsed. Out front, there is a large white tent, taking up the whole street. Its full of ponies, sitting at tables or lying in beds. Along the side adjacent to Sugar Cube Corner are a long line of tables, where the Cakes are preparing and serving food. Rarity explains that this has been made a sort of center for the injured and the ponies working on recovery efforts or just anyone looking to eat.
As soon as you and Rarity step into the shade of the tent, there’s a clatter of something falling and every head turns to you and the murmur of conversation dies. You look over your shoulder.
Yep, they're all staring at you.
"Uhh..." Oh god what did you do now? The silence is so oppressive. You slowly hold on one of you hands and give a little wave, not sure what to do. "...hello?"
All of the ponies all suddenly start cheering and there’s a thundering noise as they all clop their hooves to the ground in applause. Pinkie crashes through the tent, somehow from directly above you, landing in your arms. She throws up her arms and has a huge smile.
"It's Rusty!" She shouts and all the ponies cheer again. A number of ponies come up to you, congratulating and thanking you personally. Apparently, word of your daring rescue at the Carousel Boutique has spread like wild fire (IRONIC), not to mention how well you handled things when the fire first broke out, and the spider from the other day. You're a bit of a hero it seems.
"Three cheers for Rusty!" Pinkie shouts. "Hip hip!
"Hooray!" The other ponies shout together.
"Hip hip!"
"Hooray!"
"Hip hip!"
"HOORAY!"
"Another three cheers for Rusty!" Pinkie shouts again.
"Pinkie, no, please!" You say, setting her down.
"OK."
"Thank you everyone!" You say to all the ponies.
"Alright, alright!" One stern looking white pony in a nurse cap says, pushing through the crowd from the other side of the tent, where there are ponies in bed. "Quiet down now, some of these ponies need their rest."
"Sorry."
All of the others murmur a bit and disperse, going back to their food or leaving to go work. You stay with Pinkie and Rarity.
"How are you Pinkie?" Rarity asks politely.
"Great!" She says, chipper as ever. "It's just like a party here all day!"
"I'm sure," You say. A lot of the ponies do seem in high spirits, despite the devastation. "By the way, what happened to Rainbow Dash?"
"Oh, she's somewhere in the back." Pinkie says, jumping into the air and pointing to the back where the beds are. "I've been talking with her all morning!"
"Oh goodness," Rarity says, giving Pinkie an odd look, then giving you a side look. "Maybe we should go and see her."
"Great idea!" Pinkie says. "And I'll bring us all some food and we can hang out."
"Splendid." Rarity says and you walk with her to the other side of the tent. She whispers to you quietly. "Pinkie is one of my closest friends, but I couldn’t imagine spending an entire morning with that pony alone."
Dash is easy enough to find, what with her vibrant, colorful mane. She lying stretched out on her stomach, her entire mid section wrapped in medical gauze. Her face is half buried into a large book.
"Hi, how are you feeling, Dash?" You say politely as you and Rarity come up the the side of Rainbow Dash's bed.
"Huh?" Shes says, snapping back to reality and looking up from her book. "Oh, Rusty! Rarity! You're here!"
"Of course, Dash." Rarity says, sitting to the side of the blue pony's bed. "What kind of friends would we be if we didn’t stop to see you?"
"Pretty lousy ones?" Dash says, rolling her eyes.
"It was a rhetorical question." Rarity says flatly.
"How are you Dash?"
"I'm fine." She says, brushing off the question with a shrug. "I just got blind sided is all. I'll be out of here later today."
"Well that’s good."
"What's this I hear about you saving Rarity, Rusty? Pinkie's been yakking my ears off, but that bit sounded interesting."
You go over your little adventure with Applejack and Derpy the other night. Pinkie also shows up with a big plate of sandwiches and listens along as well, munching through two at once. You finish your story and take a sandwich yourself, as well as Rarity and Dash. It looks really light.
"What is this?"
"Dandelion with sunflower petrels, my favorite." Pinkie says, stuffing another two sandwiches into her mouth. "Although not as favorite as hay and asparagus, or a nice a rosemary and tulips!"
You stomach growls again.
You smell you sandwich. It smells like a flower garden and really doesn’t seem appetizing to you. You don’t think humans eat this... but you don’t want to be rude.
You take a tentative bit into it and chew slowly. REALLY slowly.
"Mhh!" Pinkie continues to snarf down the lion's share of the plate. "You can really taste the pollen in the flowers."
"Pinkie, dear, please don’t talk with your mouth full." Rarity says.
You take one dreadful swallow of your sandwich. Its... pretty terrible. There’s bits of flower still swimming around you mouth. You take your sandwich apart and just eat the bread.
"What's wrong Rusty?" Dash asks. Pinkie eats the bits of sandwich you set aside. "Don't like it?"
"I don't think humans eat this stuff." You shake your head. Someone hands you some water, which you drink thankfully.
"Humans sure are weird." Dash says, finishing her sandwich.
You spend some time with the three ponies, hanging out and telling stories. Things have been really busy for Pinkie; Sugar Cube Corner is in bad shape, but she and the Cakes are making the best of it. The rest of town is in more or less the same condition. The fire wasn’t good, but it's considered it would have been a lot worse, and everyone is happy for that.
After what feels like an hour or two, a commotion starts to spread through out the tent. Conversation picks up and gets louder all over.
"I wonder what's going on." Pinkie says and disappears into the crowd. She returns soon after. "Apparently the mayor has called a town meeting."
"Great!" Dash says, getting out of bed and on to her feet. "Maybe we can take some action!"
"Are you alright to walk, Rainbow?" Rarity says, concerned.
"I'm fine!" She says defiantly, trotting ahead of you into the crowd as though to prove the fact. "I'll see you guys there!"
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's very important." Rarity says matter of factly. "Come on Rusty. Pinkie."
You, your friends and a good number of the other tent ponies make your way across down to the town hall, which was mostly untouched by the fire. A little stage has been set up in front, where the crowd seems to be gathering in front of. You meet back up with Dash and the four of you find a spot in the middle of the crowd, just in front of the crowd. You sit down, so that the ponies behind you can see.
"Attention, attention please!" The mayor calls from the podium on the stage, banging her hoof on the wood for order. The crowd quiets down and listens in. On the stage with her is her little assistant you scared the other night and... Twilight. Huh
"Everyone, I know we are all concerned about our homes and we all came together as a community the other night during that terrible fire. But I have bad news."
There’s a general rummer through the crowd.
"Oh great, here it comes." Dash whispers.
"We have just received word from Canterlot," The mayor continues. An even louder murmur erupts from every one and the mayor bangs on the podium again. "I'm afraid things are not good..."